Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Samples packed and at the vineyard for pickup. Talked to the owner.... she with her husband have it and then their son added a brewery to the operation so they do beers and wines. Known them for years. Watched the 3 kids grow up... She said with these humid days and little .1 inch showers they are having a problem with powdery mildew in the grapes. At least the forecast is for 7-10 days of no rain or anything so will help them out also.
Took a couple bags of stuff to the dumpsters and recycled some other stuff here.

Got the soaker hoses into the garden on the bean rows finally. It got to 94 earlier, so hotter than I expected. Will give them 6-8 hours of water I guess. Turn them off when I quit for the night. Would rather water at night but I know I will forget to turn it off in the morning and at least I will be reminded when I go lock up the chickens. In the mornings I am thinking of things that need to be done and I know the water will not be in the forefront of my mind. So, soaking now and turning off before bed will at least get them a chance to soak some of it up overnight. Then picking tomorrow ... maybe evening, I think and getting them into the freezer...

Nothing in the trap but I found one of my biggest ALMOST ripe ready to pick tomatoes gnawed on this morning. And one of the pepper plants looks like it was sat on and a sunflower broken down... REALLY getting on my nerves.

Sent DS a text about what's up .... nothing yet.

Getting ready to go in and see about the cucumbers. Had to sit and take a lunch break. Going to run the clothes through a second wash as they still have a bit of the cow/iodine/barn smell... And have got most every thing moved around to open and defrost the freezer... want the cukes "working" first. It ought to defrost good with no humidity in the air.....

And, I did actually get the chicken out of the freezer on the 2nd trip outside... so will be able to put that in the oven tomorrow.....

Okay, lunch break over...

 

[farmerjan]

8 pm and am in for the night. Chickens in crates....
I have decided to leave soaker hoses going for the night. Ground was so dry, the plants are just starting to look a little better... I have written a big "NOTE TO ME" to remember to turn the hose off in the morning. Pump has not kicked on more than a couple times all day so it is not drawing much water .

Got the freezer door open and turned it off. Filled a big freezer chest with stuff from 2 lower shelves, off the door and what I could get out of the middle shelf... several of the cardboard boxes I use in it to contain things on the shelves, are stacked and covered with a blanket to keep frozen. Hoping it will defrost fast. Alot of frost on the top shelves... Think it might be time to consider a new, bigger one and keep this one for when we need a place to put beef when he has it done and until it gets sold... sometimes if he is selling it in smaller "lots" like 1/4 or something... Really need to get another big freezer chest from the barn, to put the rest of the stuff in as I can get it out... Should have gone down before but I got side tracked in the garden for a bit.
I think that the big groundhog I saw once is back... another tomato gnawed on and some leaves off another sunflower. It could be a deer going over the fence... the ground is so hard that hoof prints would not show and of course there is mulch down although there are weeds coming up many places now.

I did dig a short row of one variety of potatoes... an early variety that was in the bag of "surprise ones".. Envol is the variety.. supposed to be big potatoes... the seed potatoes did not have very many eyes so a very short row... not alot of potatoes but very nice ones... got over 6 lbs from the 2 lbs planted.. but they are very nice and uniform sized... There were only about 8 hills... I think I got to the end of the section/row I had marked, will check tomorrow for the "dividing rock" since alot of the sunflowers were eaten early that I usually plant at the end of rows or end of varieties of different things I plant. Not many per plant but no "baby sized ones" . I am keeping track of what I am digging and what kind of yield. They should have been planted earlier since they are an early variety... would have done better with less heat since I got them in only about 3 weeks before the end of June... it was dry and then got rain and got hot. I will probably try them again... We'll see.

Talked to DS; he is still down at the hospital every night... and admits he is not getting much done with the things that need doing because of it. I asked why he still needed to go every night and he said she is not doing good, alot of pain, has an infection, is very depressed and won't let others come to see her "like that"... all bloated with the fluid... the daughter wants to go and she won't let her come... she is being soooo selfish and immature.. other company would help her moods... she doesn't want the other friend that has stayed with her several times, like when she got hurt when she got thrown... to even come and I told DS that he needs to tell her that she ought to be thankful that someone wants to come and stay in there with her during the day and that he HAS GOT TO GET THESE THINGS DONE AT THE FARM.... but that is all I said.... her sister told DS yesterday that she would stay at the hospital later some of the evenings, so he could get some things done on the farm...her mom comes in nearly every morning when DS leaves to go to work from there... and stays nearly every day if her sister doesn't come... But the sister has the 2 kids and her house cleaning business and our county started school this week so she has to take care of them and all that too...

He did cut 2 smaller fields of sorghun yesterday, 6 acres and about 4 acre section.... and was cutting the other 14 acre strip this evening. Said he has not finished the bush hogging yet... was going there to do some more after he finished this field of sorghum.... then go take a shower and go to the hospital. He says he is not getting things done that need to be done... I just listen.
Tomorrow I will go tedd the sorghum-sudan grass out as it will be quite dry on top and very green underneath. I will do the 2 fields he cut yesterday... then do the one he is cutting today either Fri or Sat... he is going to dry bale it since we have this window to make it. Says there is going to be alot of it... it would make very good "baleage" ... but that is more time consuming, and an added expense in the wrap... and they will eat it pretty good dry baled and he says the stems are pretty small so there won't be alot of waste... It will be faster to just bale it and not have to take the time to wrap. If the weather was iffy, we would "wet bale" it and wrap it, but this week is good for drying so might as well...

We will get another cutting off it providing we get some rain at the end of this 7-10 day dry spell, and we don't get an early frost. It does not survive any type of frost. Then the plans are to put 1/2 the 14 acre strip into orchard grass... and the part that had alot of johnson grass in, into a cover crop for the winter and then corn next year. Only 6-8 acres in corn... the 2 fields into sorghum again... and the 10 acres of sorghum across from my house, into orchard grass for hay, for next year. There is an FSA program that is paying a bunch for establishment of grass/hay on crop ground... and I told him when he explained it to me that he might as well take advantage of this... why let everyone else get "paid to put in hayfields"... Have to leave it in hay for 5 years... well that is no big deal for us as our orchard grass fields are often good for 5-8 years before the fescue and weeds start to get to be too much....so works out. He is going to put the O.G. field at his "green barn" into something else as the fescue and some weeds have gotten real bad and it is about 6-7 years since he planted it... all the disturbing of the grass etc when they put in the tower a couple years ago... alot of weed seeds awakened... time to redo it so he will put some of the "crop fields" into this grass program and then renovate this field.... and put it into corn/sorghum/cover crop for 2 years... then back into O.G.....
He got damage permits for the d#@#ed deer... and we will be using them to try to cut the population down some... I especially want some of the ones here harvested... He said he watched a 6 pt buck going out across the field when he was cutting this afternoon....they are every where... I sympathize with @Larsen Poultry Ranch and the sorry s.o.b.'s in her garden too...

Temp hit 94 on the recording thermometer... not much humidity but it was hot for us.

Got the clothes run through a 2nd wash with some washing soda to help take out the odor and will hang them in the morning.
I'm still just blah from the real late night... going to sit and watch a movie and fold some of the huge pile of clean clothes on the couch. Tired of living with all the mess....

Hope to be able to fall asleep and get some good rest tonight.

 

[farmerjan]

Got the freezer all cleaned out finally, going in to take a few towels, dry it out and repack. Took more stuff out this morning; shut it last night but left it off, so it thawed the ice a little which helped but did not thaw the food out.... food was pretty "hard", inside, the "ice/frost" had it still frozen, so packed and covered and checked it a little bit ago and it is all in pretty good shape. Needed to take a break...

Spent 3 hrs fighting the sorghum... it was still too green and spent all that time in 1st gear, low range.... to get the 6 acres tedded out...it has a slip clutch on the tedder and it constantly started to slip so I had to do alot of clutch work to stop the forward motion of the tractor as it "caught up" to the thickness I was putting through it; tomorrow I hope to get the other field tedded more easily as it has dried out more on top so it will feed into the tedder easier... won't even attempt the 14 acres until Sunday... DS is cutting the last 10 acres in the field across from my house... will finish it tomorrow... he said he might run the bush hog over it to cut it up into shorter stalks... we have done that before... it is really thick...and was tall...

I did remember to turn off the soaker hoses this morning. Haven't even been out in the garden today. Maybe tomorrow afternoon....

Headed in to get the freezer towel dried inside and get the packages dried off and put back in there... gotta grab something to eat too...

 

[Ridgetop]

Too bad about the girlfriend being so bad, but she needs to let others come to visit and let DS get on with his work. Another way for her to manipulate him and keep her claws into him I suppose. So frustrating for you. He knows it but won't just cut her loose like he should have some time ago. You are right, nothing you can say can change things.

 

[farmerjan]

Too bad about the girlfriend being so bad, but she needs to let others come to visit and let DS get on with his work. Another way for her to manipulate him and keep her claws into him I suppose. So frustrating for you. He knows it but won't just cut her loose like he should have some time ago. You are right, nothing you can say can change things.

He's as much at fault as anyone... he does not HAVE to stay there with her. She needs to get a life and grow up and stop trying to be so self important... Yes she has had some rough times... worse than some... BUT.... grow up and get over it... other people have had tough lives and are not so manipulatively needy or self absorbed.

 

[farmerjan]

Long day on the tractor tedding... having to go at 1/4 the speed in the lowest 2 gears...and a few minor problems with a roll pin that came out of the u-joint connection... used a threaded rod with bolts, because I had no idea where things were and Jim was at a dr appt so another guy that helps out some got it going temporarily..... but only got 2 rounds and it snapped... Jim couldn't get a hardened roll pin big enough at the local auto parts place....... so got a hardened bolt to use and I got the field finished. 5 hours that should have taken 2-3 max....
Clothes on the line and another load of towels and such I used when defrosting the freezer are in there and will get hung tomorrow.
Nothing in the traps but another low down tomato was chewed on and another small sunflower stalk was broken down. BA$T#RD ..... No time to sit out there with the gun for hours.... but if it is the big ground hog I think it is, his time is coming...

Will probably rake the sorghum tomorrow for him to bale... told him in a text that he is going to have to bring the bush hog to the farm and run it over the rows to chop the sorghum up a bit... it is too tall/long stems and they get wound around the fast moving teeth of the tedder... it can't throw them out behind it because the long stems get caught up in the whirling teeth since they are so long... We have "bush hogged the rows" in the past when it is this tall... then it will tedd out and rake so much better... I hope I can use the rake tomorrow to get this raked and not have it get caught up...it is drying really nicely with being tedded out....

Hope to pick the beans tomorrow and pull the plants... we'll see what kind of day it turns out to be... It was after 7 when I got home and got the chickens in and made some deviled eggs and ate them for supper since I didn't really want a sandwich.... too tired out to cook tonight. Will get the chicken stuffed tomorrow... it was still half frozen this morning in the fridge and luckily I left it in there... since I was gone so long. It felt pretty much thawed out tonight, so will make the stuffing and get it in the oven tomorrow eve...

Just for sh!ts and giggles... the date on the "bargain buy" lemonade is July 2025... so definitely not out of date... I looked when I was rearranging the freezer... Need to go check the other walmarts when I am out.

Got 2 farms scheduled for next Wed and Thursday and a chiropractor appt on Tues... plus the tedding and raking... not to mention the beans and whatever all else I get out of the garden... I do have some yellow squash I want to cube and blanche and freeze for winter... I like it mashed like potatoes... so need to salvage some of it for eating enjoyment this winter.

Took the garden plan paper out with me and found the end of the row of the Envol potatoes that I dug... had another plant or 2 so a total of 8 lbs from that variety... out of 2 lbs seed potatoes... so made back what they cost, at the average price of potatoes in the store... They are really nice sized and shaped ones....

Hit 92 today here... nice breeze and no humidity so was pleasant if warm....forecast for 95+ on Monday and 90's most of next week....
Going to bed....

 

[Ridgetop]

Hope you can get more lemonade at that price.

 

[Baymule]

I buy frozen lemonade too, it is so good when I’m hot. It was a big hit when we were roofing the house.

 

[farmerjan]

Beautiful 55 out this morning. Dry air, no humidity... Already up to 70 but will not top 90 so a great day ... Sunny...
Will probably spend a good part of the afternoon on the tractor raking the sorghum-sudan that I have tedded out the last couple days. It was drying perfectly with the sun and no humidity the last 2 days even though it was sooo difficult to get it tedded due to the long stems on it.
Supposed to be some smoke from the canadian wildfires hitting us again.... and temps are going to get back into the 90's most all next week.
Want to get the beans picked, and can spend the cooler evening getting them done and into the freezer. It will be a good evening for the chicken to roast in the oven too...
Feels like fall... guess this is a prelude....

 

[farmerjan]

In for some lunch and a break.

Wound up in the garden piddling around. Picked all the purple beans and they are COVERED with flowers again so did not pull them. Picked all the wax beans and pulled them and one and a half rows of the green beans and pulled as I went. There had to have been a mix up of sorts as some of these green beans have 3-4 ft "runners" so I think there are pole beans in this mix. Nice big beans though. I will pull the rest when I pick them though. Then checked the cucumbers... HOW IN THE WORLD did I miss so many big ones....????