Farmerjan's journal - Weather

[Mini Horses]

My butternuts have always stored well. Too many? My chickens love a fresh veg winter treat so I'm happy with extras.

 

[farmerjan]

Temp was 50 last night. Sun is up and spreading across the field, across the road from the house.

Forecast is saying a 20% chance of scattered showers tonight ... not much and gone before daybreak. Will have to talk to DS about raking the orchard grass I tedded out to see if he is going to get it sq baled today. Otherwise, might be better to leave it to rake on Monday morning... just in case. Expect we will talk here shortly to get some things coordinated and get the tractor moved to doug's farm.

Need to eat some breakfast, been lollygagging around enough, and then get started on something on the list.

 

[Ridgetop]

and most of the tomatoes are either very green

I read somewhere that you can pull out or cut off the tomato bushes and hang them upside down on the porch or in the basement and the tomatoes will ripen. Haven't tried it since I did all my gardening in southern California but read it in a gardening magazine for cold climates.

 

[farmerjan]

Monday late night. Been busy 2 days.
COLD today... sunny but windy... 46 up to 62... compared to the balmy 77 yesterday it felt like "frigid" ... but that is because the wind was going right through you.
Sunday I got things in the car for work... Got on the tractor and moved it to doug's farm. Spent 3 hours raking the tedded out hay (6 acres DS said) and the 4 acres of patchy thin grassy hay on the other side of this big field of multiple strips of crops and hay. Then DS ran me back up to get my car so I could go to work...
Came home right near dark and he and a guy that helps some, were taking a wagon load of sq bales to DS's green barn up the road... I stopped... and then he needed a ride back to get the truck and 2 more FULL wagons of sq bales... from this 6 acre piece I had raked earlier... and he hooked them up tandem and took them up the road to the barn... then hooked the 3rd wagon to the back and pulled them all into/and through, the barn. He got the last one inside the sliding barn doors, then we unhooked the back wagon since there is quite a few feet between it and the middle wagon (long wagon tongue) and backed the truck and the other 2 wagons back a little bit...up tight to the 3rd wagon..... so that they would all fit in and be able to slide the front door shut too.... Over 550 bales from the 6 acres of that real nice fine newly planted orchard grass hay.... More than he thought....
He also had rolled some of the hay... did all that I had raked at Deb's on Thursday when he was gone... and rolled some of a couple of the other fields and then left some for more sq baling of "just grass hay" that he has some sales for...
I finally got home at 9 or so I guess...he called me at about 11... he had to go to his father's again... that makes 4 times this week.... it is getting to him with his father's moods and "neediness" and then his father gets verbally abusive... has always had a sarcastic and somewhat nasty attitude to DS.... tells him to get out and then gets apologetic... I think there is some senility going on there, but he has always been very demeaning to others... one reason I got divorced.... couldn't take the put downs and mental and verbal abuse.... He said he left the one wagon out with some grass hay on it, but the stars were out so the 20% chance looked to stay west of here....

Famous last words.... Got up and it had rained a shower... less than a tenth... but DS said hay was wet on top... there were some puddles in a couple spots... but when he went to check the one field in the subdivision... it hadn't rained there... It was cloudy and WINDY and chilly this morning... He said not to be in a rush to rake the other "field" of orchard grass at doug's ... I did not tedd it.... and it has some weeds in part of it so he mowed it after I had tedded out the "new section", so that I would not rake them together... Plans were to go rake it then take the tractor and rake down to dennis's field 4 miles down the road. I got the samples packed, got bottles in the car, and about 11 or so headed to doug's. The sun was "in and out" and it was WINDY... and COLD..... compared to the day before.
I wore a long sleeved pullover, a regular sweatshirt... and put on the lightweight hooded sweatshirt... ball cap and headphones... and GLOVES.... and raked the other 5+ acres of OG.... then went and filled tractor with fuel on the way out of the farm and went down the hill and raked about 1/2 of the field there that he had cut... 10 or 12 rows mowed... so 5 (or 6) windrows of raked hay. It was totally dry... I don't think they got any... or very very little out of the overnight shower. DS came and got me just as I got done at 2:45... took me to the car and I had to go home and get my boots as everything else I had put in the car but forgot the boots... and I left for testing....
Stopped and dropped the samples at UPS... stopped at the "Sunday farm" I tested and created a report they wanted, in their computer... had all the specs from a report I had on my work computer... then ran by the PO and dropped a letter, and headed to test..... 80 miles north... Got there at 5:30... set up and started milking around 6:15... done at 8... meters had to run through wash cycles and I finally left there after talking to the farmer some... about 9:30... ran into a couple places of night construction/1 lane stuff coming down so slower going... stopped at the barn about 11:15 since I saw lights... DS was getting a few more things finished up since he has a dr appt Tuesday.... and it will be a long day since it isn't until 10:15... I will be driving... we will leave by 8.
He got some other stuff moved around at the barn and the "girl" that went to the PBR with us for my birthday, came and helped him get the plastic liner all in the pit and things ready for chopping... and another neighbor came and helped him get the sides on the wagon that they had taken off for that "mock convention" that the W&L students did several months back... that we pulled wagons and trailers for.......

Sooooo, he can do some more sq baling of the og I raked today... and whatever grass hay he can fit to fill up the other 4 or 5 wagons he has.... do what he can when we get home from the dr.... and the rest will wait until we are done with the corn chopping....
I have to test Wed morning early... then get home by 8 or so... and they should hopefully be chopping by 9 or so.... and I will spend the better part of the day in the tractor back and forth driving on the chopped corn to pack it so it will ferment/ensile.....

I just ate since I was hungry, getting home so late... will go to bed and get up at 6:30.... to be ready to pick him up at 8... he is tired tonight... and it shows. Said he had to take a break for an hour or so... head got hurting and dizzy... and it is in part that we have been pushing the last 2 1/2 days ... since he was gone Thurs/Fri to the car parts flea market... and Sat to deliver the meat and the stock yard... Oh yeah, he managed to pick up 6 more steers/bulls so now has 16 bought ones....

They are calling for the first snow in WV in the next 2 days... 1 inch or less... but the heifers are going to have to come out of WV as they are about out of grass... as soon as we get our corn and hay done the next couple days...

Yikes.. it is after 1... going to bed....

 

[Ridgetop]

OMG! Back to nonstop tedding, raking and baling again. Time goes by so fast! It seems like you were just planting the potatoes yesterday!

 

[farmerjan]

Wed morning... 34 at the house... had a good frost on the windshield when I went out to leave to go test at 3:30.

Yesterday we left a little early to go to the dr appt... AFTER we put 2 wagons in the arena at Deb's that he had sitting there... because we were getting some more of the sprinkly stuff... just enough to make it damp... we went by Rural King for a couple things, at Dr at 10:15... he said he felt better when he came out... and I guess was relaxed a little because he slept all the way home... I got the samples from Monday night late, packed.... dropped off the pole saw at the barn with the batteries charged for him to trim some branches/limbs, for the trucks that will be hauling the chopped corn today for the silage. Deb had come in late Sun and had her friend coming Tues aft so wanted to go out to supper... but then she left late so would be late getting here so we went earlier to eat right here local.... and DS came right about 7:30 as it was dark and he had gotten most everything ready at the barn. We ate, saw some neighbors that we have 6 heifers at their place to keep their grass eaten down... and Deb and her husband had actually bought her place from them... so talked a couple minutes... Deb and I left and she dropped me off and was going to go to the store since her friend was going to be late... and she knew I needed to get some sleep to go test.
It was cloudy and a few sprinkles off and on but nothing really to amount to anything. Hay already raked will dry out on top and be fine to bale in a day or 2 again... I think that all that is cut is now raked... so he will start cutting again tomorrow or something... then I will be raking maybe Sunday????

Sat is the Apple Butter Festival at Wade's Mill so I will be busy from 7-8 a.m. until 4-5??? I will sleep good Sat night !!!!

Left at 3:30 a.m. tested, things there went well as usual.... Left and got home and texted DS and asked when he wanted me at the barn. He said he would call when they got to the barn, so I said I would pack the samples...
They are packed... and they are ready to put in the car. I will take them with me, drop them off at the vineyard even if they aren't open until noon... Sun is out so they will be okay outside the door....

Had to scrape the windshield this morning... car thermometer was 30 when I left the farm about 7a.m.....
I had brought most of the plants in, and covered the spider plants that are a little hardier..... will go out and uncover them in a little bit before I go down to the barn.

Ate some breakfast... pretty much ready to go... It's cold out there... I think I will be in a cab tractor today though.... so no wind at least.

Hay that was raked will be fine to bale in a day or 2 after the sun gets the damp evaporated off it.... dry out the dampness...
Gotta go....