Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[farmerjan]

Nice sunny day again. Warmed up to 74 so actually warmer than yesterday but had a breeze..

Got a sorta "hoop cover" over the yellow squash plants. They are flowering.... I cut off the big sunflower heads that the birds have started to work on. Left the 4 or 5 that are bent totally over from the weight, and the leaves are still greener . Will get the seeds out of the cut off heads in a couple of days as they dry more.

I cut off the butternut squash from the vines and loaded them in the wire mesh wagon, and cannot pull it. . Guess I will have to load them in the cart behind the mower to get them to the house. But they are up off the ground so the bugs won't work on them... saw a bunch of the d@#%ed stink bugs around the butternuts as I picked them up... HATE THEM......
I want to weigh some of the crenshaws anyway... told a friend that she could come get a couple since she makes "pumpkin pies" out of them and to save her buying some... might get a pie out of it...

DS cut some more hay today. Tomorrow I will go and start raking what he had already cut Sunday, then Monday...... Tractor and rake is at Deb's... that is where I will start... then work my way towards the barn... Get a bunch done tomorrow... more Friday afternoon... DS will be at the car thing in Hershey PA for Thurs and Fri. He said he almost cancelled, but how many more times will his friend be up to going... and he has cancelled a few times in the past... so said, the he// with it, he was going to go.
Guy called and plans are to chop the corn on Monday... EVERYTHING all AT ONCE..... so I need to be available to help with running the tractor on the pile to help pack it....

Of course, now have 3 farms want to test... that put it off... . I haven't answered 2 of them yet... One I am doing Sunday afternoon.... will get back to the others tomorrow or Friday... At least I did get some boxes of bottles today... maybe I can do one of the farms on Sat aft.... have to call him and see what his schedule is because he gets one of the part-time fill in milkers to come in to help when I go test.

Got all the laundry off line... in the house. I am eating some soup and then I AM GOING TO WATCH A MOVIE.... and fold clothes.

Cooling off... down to 57 already. Forecast says low 40's, even possible to 38-39...

Best laid plans..... POOF.... just as I was getting ready to hit send, DS called..... he got the truck stuck at the farm, could I come down and help ...... so I went down, he had to use the backhoe to pull it out since the hydraulics are STILL apart on the tractor... since they didn't have the right parts... and he couldn't pull the truck, and steer it at the same time... so after getting it out... went to help hook up the tedder to the other tractor so I can tedd the OG he cut out back at the farm that is very thick he said....
Then helped him take the carb off the dump truck so he can drop it off on his way by tomorrow for a friend to take it apart and rebuild it or whatever it needs. Then he took a 5 gal can of diesel, and hydraulic fluid, up to put in the tractor I use with the rake... and left a car at his house so when I rake at deb's and go to the other places there close, I will have a way to get back home and leave the tractor there. I can drive to the farm to do the tedding and then back home, since tedder is on a different tractor..... then on Sat I will take tractor and rake down to the farm and rake the field that I tedded, and the other smaller field of plain grass hay, there... It won't ruin the grass hay when they start hauling the "chopped corn" from that back field, to the barn to the bunk. And he will be around to take me back to get whatever vehicle I left at the place I went to, when I the got the tractor.

Musical vehicles... but try not to drive the tractors any extra trips back and forth especially on the road... and not with this long rake behind it.... so need to have someone to be able to pick up and drop you off, or at least leave a vehicle somewhere that you can leave the tractor and rake without back tracking...

So, my plans to watch a movie, fold clothes, and spend some time using the small exercycle to start increasing my stamina and leg muscles more... all went down the drain. Maybe do some of it tomorrow eve... but I will be on the tractor for several hours tomorrow... and might go do the tedding late tomorrow afternoon so it will be all spread out for the sun to hit it on Friday... and I can rake more on Friday... DS won't be here to do any baling until Sat mid day anyway. And there will be plenty to do ....

Now, I am going to bed.

 

[farmerjan]

Up to 43 this morning... sun is coming up across the hill, breezy so going to be cool even in the sun today. Weather forecast says frost and freeze warning this evening... I have some plants that will need to be covered or brought in later... I will uncover the squash today and recover this evening...

Going to eat here shortly... Can't do much in the field for a couple hours until the dew dries off... Especially at Deb's where she sits down in a bit of a holler so takes some time for sun to get up over the backside hill and the trees. That's where I will go first since the tractor and rake are already there. Need some breakfast... then get my butt in gear.

 

[farmerjan]

Was down to 40 this morning but supposed to be warmer for the weekend. Got to see about getting things moved around for the bigger cool down the first of the week. Sun is coming up over the trees across road.

Spent 5 hours on the tractor raking hay yesterday and got all done except one place here close. It will take about half an hour... but since I didn't go by it with the tractor like the rest, I forgot he said he cut it.
So got to get the tractor and rake and come back up here and rake it.
I was maybe going to try to get the other field tedded out, but DS had texted me and said that if I had time to go move the heifers we took back to a pasture after finding out they were pregnant.... to the next section up. So I decided to get that done, since it was going to get dark soon and was getting colder anyway. Had to drive up in there and go shut 2 sets of gates to the next fields... they all followed right up the "roadway" and I got the 2 sets of gates shut and then came back down and shut the gates they had just come through so they will stay there and eat.

By then it was getting dark. I went to his house and fed the dogs and took a shower and washed my hair since my water pressure has gotten really bad. He said he will look at it, but then he had his knee surgery, and could not get down under the house . Now that he is getting around better, he should be able to do it... so as soon as we get the corn chopping done, I will get on him about it. Also want him to put the heater down there for the winter... since I sometimes have some frozen pipes to the kitchen when it gets real cold. Can set it for 45 and it will hardly come on but then I won't have to worry about them freezing. I can't get down there because you have to crawl up and out and can't crawl on the knees... They dug down the crawl space so the furnace and all could get put down there; but there are no steps or anything, just an earthen sloped bank to go in and come out, under the house in the back. I close the large "doorway" but it is like a 3x6 size... 3 high and 6 long.... and a panel that fits in and then has slide bolts to hold it in place.

I am going to put out a gal jug to make sun tea today; get the dishes done and have the appt at the massage therapist. Shoulder is really aching after yesterday, so that will help. Then when I come back, I will go tedd out the thick orchard grass field, and get the little field I forgot raked... That will about do the day... Oh, got to go feed the calves at the barn too.
DS should be home late tonight.

So time to get on it so I can get everything done I need to do.

 

[farmerjan]

Well, long day but got alot done... Went and had my massage therapist appt... she really worked on the shoulder and did more on the thighs.... boy were they tender... can't believe that those muscles were so sore... she also worked on my neck some and it felt better too.
Got home and got on tractor and got all the hay tedded out. It is drier than he seemed to think it would be... and it tedded out nice. Then I came and got the tractor and rake and went and raked a 10 acre field that I didn't know he had cut (or forgot he told me), there at his green barn... then I came up and raked that little piece at the nurse cow pasture I forgot. Then took it back and got the car... Came home and switched to the forester with the feed and went up to the nurse cow pasture and fed the calves and fed some to the cows. Had to go and get 2 calves and a cow to come up to eat... This cow never comes to call... She will gladly eat but does not see any reason to come like the rest when you holler for them... one of the calves was hers; and she sees no reason to come either... They will have to already be up around the barn/catch pen in order to get them in... They will never come just if I call them. Need to do it when they are up there when we are going to preg check the rest of them... calves need shots and bull calves need to get banded too.

Got back to the house at dark.

DS called, they got back about 5 and he said he went directly to the field and mowed more. Then got a flat tire on the front of the tractor... it has been going soft on him. Glad it didn't go flat on me. He also reminded me about some hay he mowed down the hill at Dennis'... but he is going to mow more so not a big deal that I didn't go rake that yet...
So, I will get the tractor and rake to doug's farm, where I tedded the hay.... and get that raked probably on Sunday.
DS has to go pick up the meat from the last steer he had done, tomorrow morning early. He has to deliver a 1/2, I think; it is over an hour away, parents of a good friend of his, so is meeting a guy who is going over near there, to a stockyard sale tomorrow... and deliver the meat, then both will go to the sale... He will be gone most of the day. He wants to get the tire off and changed and all and finish 1 row left to mow in the morning after he gets the meat. I guess that the other half he is putting in his freezer or the freezer at deb's he has been storing some in.
Will need a vehicle when I take the tractor/rake to doug's, so either he can pick me up when I take the tractor/rake there, or sometime we can take a vehicle there.... somewhere along the line will have to have a way to get back.... You know, the musical vehicles thing again. But it can wait til Sunday.

Deb is coming out Sunday now, she is off Mon for Columbus day, then working from the farm Tues/Wed and leaving with a friend Thurs to go to some horse event and will be back at the farm the next Sunday. She is bringing her cats out, and I said I would check on them and feed them those few days she is gone... otherwise she would have to get her neighbor there at her other house to take care of them for a week... since the friend is coming to the farm and they are leaving from here to go south somewhere I think she said. Not a big deal to go in the house and check on them and feed them a couple days.

So, now there is a change in chopping... it is going to be Wed/Thurs... works better for the guy doing the chopping, and we are going to buy another 50 tons of corn for silage and they are going to chop that next week starting Monday, so it will work out to put it directly on top of ours and then cover the pit for it to ferment. With the weather being so much cooler next week, it won't hurt it to sit for a couple days before "sealing it up" to "ensile"...

I had already set up a farm for Sunday eve and arranged for one for Wed morning... just texted back another one that wanted next week, and told them we would be chopping on Wed/Thurs... and they are the one that I get home late from... so I said I could do it tomorrow... Sat aft or Monday aft... but I had other ones already scheduled around the chopping planned. This will give DS time to get most of this hay already raked, baled... he wants to sq bale the stuff I tedded... plus the rest will get rolled. So I will rake the tedded stuff on Sunday, and he can bale it Monday... I will have to leave to go test cows Sunday aft anyway... and then anything else he has mowed, can get raked sometime in the next few days, and baled later in the week. I have to work the mill for the Apple Butter Festival on Sat so am unavailable but should hope to get some of it, if not all of it, raked . And he can rake hay too once the stuff is chopped and in the pit until he gets more the following Monday. Probably be like 5-6 more truck loads I guess... thinking that a silage wagon is around 8 tons, so a truck will hold a little more... Guessing here...

Tomorrow I want to get the crenshaw squash and the butternut squash weighed to see what they produced. Some of them are huge... Then see about getting things moved around to get the plants in the house on Monday as night temps are supposed to drop to the 30's and we will likely get some frost.
Then after we get caught up with the hay, it will be time to get the potatoes dug and the garden finished up for the winter. I want to get the few peppers picked tomorrow and see what there are for tomatoes... not alot. And keep a check on the sunflowers so I can cut them off before the birds get to working on them too much.
In between I might get some more mowing done ???... Maybe the end of next week...
Making my list so I don't forget the myriad of things and places I need to go and do stuff. .

I am going to go to bed early... I ache, from the massage therapy, and the tractor work, and all that.

Tomorrow will be busy with the squash weighing and transfering to the other cart to move it all... and all the things I want to try to do outside. One nice thing, weather is supposed to be mostly sunny for another 10 days... slight possibility of showers on Tuesday.... one forecast says 30% possibility, other one just says partly cloudy. Ought to have the sq bales of hay done on Monday and the wagons in the barn. If any other gets a shower, it is doubtful it will be much. The air is so dry, no humidity, so the hay is drying good except for the stuff along the edges where there are trees and the sun doesn't hardly get to it. Nice not to have to deal with humid conditions this year. That means less tedding too, so fewer trips across the field so better for less time and less fuel and wear and tear on the vehicles.

Don't think I have the energy to fold clothes and watch a movie tonight either...

 

[fuzzi]

Well, long day but got alot done... Went and had my massage therapist appt... she really worked on the shoulder and did more on the thighs.... boy were they tender... can't believe that those muscles were so sore... she also worked on my neck some and it felt better too.
Got home and got on tractor and got all the hay tedded out. It is drier than he seemed to think it would be... and it tedded out nice. Then I came and got the tractor and rake and went and raked a 10 acre field that I didn't know he had cut (or forgot he told me), there at his green barn... then I came up and raked that little piece at the nurse cow pasture I forgot. Then took it back and got the car... Came home and switched to the forester with the feed and went up to the nurse cow pasture and fed the calves and fed some to the cows. Had to go and get 2 calves and a cow to come up to eat... This cow never comes to call... She will gladly eat but does not see any reason to come like the rest when you holler for them... one of the calves was hers; and she sees no reason to come either... They will have to already be up around the barn/catch pen in order to get them in... They will never come just if I call them. Need to do it when they are up there when we are going to preg check the rest of them... calves need shots and bull calves need to get banded too.

Got back to the house at dark.

DS called, they got back about 5 and he said he went directly to the field and mowed more. Then got a flat tire on the front of the tractor... it has been going soft on him. Glad it didn't go flat on me. He also reminded me about some hay he mowed down the hill at Dennis'... but he is going to mow more so not a big deal that I didn't go rake that yet...
So, I will get the tractor and rake to doug's farm, where I tedded the hay.... and get that raked probably on Sunday.
DS has to go pick up the meat from the last steer he had done, tomorrow morning early. He has to deliver a 1/2, I think; it is over an hour away, parents of a good friend of his, so is meeting a guy who is going over near there, to a stockyard sale tomorrow... and deliver the meat, then both will go to the sale... He will be gone most of the day. He wants to get the tire off and changed and all and finish 1 row left to mow in the morning after he gets the meat. I guess that the other half he is putting in his freezer or the freezer at deb's he has been storing some in.
Will need a vehicle when I take the tractor/rake to doug's, so either he can pick me up when I take the tractor/rake there, or sometime we can take a vehicle there.... somewhere along the line will have to have a way to get back.... You know, the musical vehicles thing again. But it can wait til Sunday.

Deb is coming out Sunday now, she is off Mon for Columbus day, then working from the farm Tues/Wed and leaving with a friend Thurs to go to some horse event and will be back at the farm the next Sunday. She is bringing her cats out, and I said I would check on them and feed them those few days she is gone... otherwise she would have to get her neighbor there at her other house to take care of them for a week... since the friend is coming to the farm and they are leaving from here to go south somewhere I think she said. Not a big deal to go in the house and check on them and feed them a couple days.

So, now there is a change in chopping... it is going to be Wed/Thurs... works better for the guy doing the chopping, and we are going to buy another 50 tons of corn for silage and they are going to chop that next week starting Monday, so it will work out to put it directly on top of ours and then cover the pit for it to ferment. With the weather being so much cooler next week, it won't hurt it to sit for a couple days before "sealing it up" to "ensile"...

I had already set up a farm for Sunday eve and arranged for one for Wed morning... just texted back another one that wanted next week, and told them we would be chopping on Wed/Thurs... and they are the one that I get home late from... so I said I could do it tomorrow... Sat aft or Monday aft... but I had other ones already scheduled around the chopping planned. This will give DS time to get most of this hay already raked, baled... he wants to sq bale the stuff I tedded... plus the rest will get rolled. So I will rake the tedded stuff on Sunday, and he can bale it Monday... I will have to leave to go test cows Sunday aft anyway... and then anything else he has mowed, can get raked sometime in the next few days, and baled later in the week. I have to work the mill for the Apple Butter Festival on Sat so am unavailable but should hope to get some of it, if not all of it, raked . And he can rake hay too once the stuff is chopped and in the pit until he gets more the following Monday. Probably be like 5-6 more truck loads I guess... thinking that a silage wagon is around 8 tons, so a truck will hold a little more... Guessing here...

Tomorrow I want to get the crenshaw squash and the butternut squash weighed to see what they produced. Some of them are huge... Then see about getting things moved around to get the plants in the house on Monday as night temps are supposed to drop to the 30's and we will likely get some frost.
Then after we get caught up with the hay, it will be time to get the potatoes dug and the garden finished up for the winter. I want to get the few peppers picked tomorrow and see what there are for tomatoes... not alot. And keep a check on the sunflowers so I can cut them off before the birds get to working on them too much.
In between I might get some more mowing done ???... Maybe the end of next week...
Making my list so I don't forget the myriad of things and places I need to go and do stuff. .

I am going to go to bed early... I ache, from the massage therapy, and the tractor work, and all that.

Tomorrow will be busy with the squash weighing and transfering to the other cart to move it all... and all the things I want to try to do outside. One nice thing, weather is supposed to be mostly sunny for another 10 days... slight possibility of showers on Tuesday.... one forecast says 30% possibility, other one just says partly cloudy. Ought to have the sq bales of hay done on Monday and the wagons in the barn. If any other gets a shower, it is doubtful it will be much. The air is so dry, no humidity, so the hay is drying good except for the stuff along the edges where there are trees and the sun doesn't hardly get to it. Nice not to have to deal with humid conditions this year. That means less tedding too, so fewer trips across the field so better for less time and less fuel and wear and tear on the vehicles.

Don't think I have the energy to fold clothes and watch a movie tonight either...

I'm worn out just from reading your list!

 

[farmerjan]

Thanks @fuzzi , Friday actually was not near as busy as Thursday.... Sitting on the tractor is not as hard as some of what we do...Plus Thursday I was in and out of 6 different fields... a couple are rather small and maneuvering that long 7 on a side wheel rake is a PITA in the smaller tight fields. Friday I only had to do the one 10 acre field that has some trees/rocks to rake around one part... and the small <2 acres at the nurse cow pasture but only had to worry about the electric fence along one side... that is where they didn't want the cows to get on the driveway so the DIL didn't have to get cow manure on her vehicle wheels... so we ran the fence in the shortest direction we could when they were going to have vehicles parking there for that family get together...but he doesn't want to mow it with the lawn mower otherwise... so now we make hay off that piece...

I am going to confiscate it (might be 2 rolls of hay) since there are no sprays or anything used there... I need mulch hay, and after all the grief I have gone through with some hay with residual herbicides that cause a huge problem in the garden... and some of the manure from the calf barn, the calves eating some of that hay that had come from fields that had been treated... that wound up killing alot of my flowers in the tubs when I mixed it in without thinking it could hurt...because the residual carries through the manure and will be still detrimental for at least 2 years afterwards, in the manure....It will dissipate after 2 years or so, exposed to the light and rains... it only affects the broadleaf plants... of which most vegetables like tomatoes and peppers, and some others are... but surprisingly does not seem to affect the potatoes.. but did affect the dahlias and hollyhocks and such I had planted. It doesn't affect the normal grass so what I brought home I will just spread out on the lawn here and by next year should be "cleaned out" . But, I will not get anymore out of the calf barn to use since it is protected from the elements so will stay in the manure... if the barn gets cleaned out, it needs to just get spread on the pasture there .
DS and I have discussed it and he says he will not use any of the sprays that have the long acting residual in it anymore... Grazon being one of the "bad ones"... but when you have customers that will not buy any hay with weeds in it, you have to do something to kill things like pigweed and horse nettle.... it's a never ending fight...

Today will be more "physical" with moving/weighing the squash... got alot of "piddly" things that need to be done. Including weed eating which I just do not like doing.

Started out with temps down to 48 so warmer last night. Already a nice 65 out there. Sun out and air is warming up. Will get even "hot feeling" by this afternoon I think. Going out now to get the squash all loaded on the cart and let the tractor/mower, haul it up near the house so I can weigh the stuff. Need to clean out the back of the little ranger p.u. I think I will transfer them to the back of the ranger for now so I can use the cart for more stuff. I have a neighbor I called to offer some of the crenshaws to, she makes pumpkin pies out of them... so need to have them where she can come get a few too.

Going to see if I can come up with a couple pallets to make a compost bin so that stuff can get put in there and not blown away... chickens will still be able to get into it... can take off one side so they can scratch it if need be. But want a place to put some of the garden "trash" to break down.. especially with some old cardborad and stuff that did not break down in the garden yet... pile in a "compost bin" to let it break down and not have it blow all over the place or have to haul it to the dumpster with the other trash.

Time to head out there to do some more stuff...

 

[farmerjan]

In for some late lunch. Took the stuff off the back of the ranger, put some stuff in the garden that was trash leaves and such. need to get up under the tool box to clean out some leaves, but the rest of the bed is washed out for now. Got the crenshaw squash weighed... heaviest is 22 lbs... a couple in the 18-20 lb range. No wonder I had trouble pulling that wagon over the rough ground in the garden with them; the TOTAL weight was 159 lbs I think... Brushed all the dirt off and they are on the back of the ranger.
Washed the butternut squash off as they had more dirt on them for some reason... Will go back out and weigh them. I went out and the cotton picken birds had gone after some of the sunflowers I cut to dry... so they will get covered to finish drying... Not the ones still hanging that are totally hung over... I am going to look when I am at Walmart and see if they have any type of bird netting. They had the summer stuff on clearance shelves and there was some garden type stuff there. I didn't think to look through it the other day.

There are only a couple of peppers... and most of the tomatoes are either very green or some have rotten spots from all the rain that we got all at once from the hurricane residual rains and such.

Going to go out and get all the hoses picked up and brought to the carport while I have the cart on the mower...

It's a nice 76 out there now... Eating a sandwich and a glass of milk and heading back out to do some more. The real work will be when I start digging potatoes in a couple weeks.

Had a farm text me back and they want Monday evening... that's the late night... I do have to take meters so will get them in the car maybe later or tomorrow.... but I don't have to leave until about 4 so will have plenty of time to do raking before I have to leave Mon aft.

 

[Mini Horses]

Picnic supplies....those net umbrella things you set over food. For the sunflower heads.

Or in a box with screen over top.

 

[farmerjan]

I think I am done for the evening. My back has been aching the last couple days... don't know where that came from... couple tylenol cut it down to a dull ache...

Got the soaker hoses all rolled up into the clamp things I keep them in. All the regular hoses rolled and ready to go in the cart to all go to the carport. Got all the soaker hose parts in a box to go out on a shelf out there too.
Picked the peppers and found more than I thought.. about 6-10 I think there were. Going to make a pan of sauteed onions and peppers... The new yellow squash plants actually have little squash coming on them... they are covered back over for the night but it isn't going to get that cold this evening. This is where that hoop house would be nice to grow more crops and extend the season way into the late fall/winter...

Da#% if the birds didn't work on one of the sunflowers that was bent all the way over... so they are all cut off to dry now. Cotton pickin' birds can clean up all the ones they spilled on the ground. The cut off heads are all covered with a piece of lightweight cardboard... and they are sitting on a piece of concrete reinforcing wire that I used as a round cage to grow cukes ... that didn't come up this year. so I laid it down on it's side, and the sunflowers are face up with the piece of stalk I left on each one when I cut it, stuck downwards through the wire... and laid the large piece of light cardboard over top of them. It is sorta draped over them and covers them quite well... so maybe they will dry that way. They are up off the ground so plenty of air underneath them... Best I could do with what I had at the time... I will shuck them out of the heads in awhile.

Meters and hoses in the car for the Monday night herd. Bottles for all 3 scheduled herds, are in trays to take... and the bottles for the Sunday herd , are already in the car.

Weighed the butternut squash..... there are 22 butternut squash, total weight is 65 1/2 lbs m/l.... one weighed 5 lbs !!!!! Most are in the 3 lb range... So between the 2 bunches , there was over 225 lbs or so.... not bad... but I couldn't pull the wagon with them over that rough ground.

I can't seem to stop yawning...

I took a small ribeye steak out of the freezer, so plan on making that this evening.. Might saute' some onions to go with it...
It's nearly 7 and already nearly dark out. cooling off fast too... hit a high of 77 today. Been nice to work outside.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Weighed the butternut squash..... there are 22 butternut squash, total weight is 65 1/2 lbs m/l.... one weighed 5 lbs !!!!! Most are in the 3 lb range... So between the 2 bunches , there was over 225 lbs or so.... not bad... but I couldn't pull the wagon with them over that rough ground.

That's quite a haul!