Tears Of Joy!

LITERALLY

It Rained! It Rained! It Rained!   Yeeeee Haaaaawwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This afternoon the sun was shining brightly. The predicted high had been about 79° F. (I figured I would believe that when I saw it), but of course, it made it to near 90°.F. Then all of a sudden the clouds drifted in, the thunder began to deeply roll, rumble and shake the ground, then the sky opened up and the rain poured out. I can't possibly tell you what a BEAUTIFUL sight it was!!!! Great, big, giant, enormous drops of rain.... loads of them! It rained hard for a little bit, changed over to a moderate, garden variety shower, then a light, soaking drizzle for awhile after that. I don't think it could have been more perfect!

It came too late for many of my veggies, but many others are already perking up. I am hoping and praying that they aren't too far gone and that today's rain will burst most of them back into growth and production. Oh, how I want a big mess of fried okra on my plate!!! And fried zucchini, and fresh salad, and, and, and..... well, I have really missed my fresh veggies this season.

I just checked the weather and they say we have an even better chance of rain tomorrow. (happy dance, happy dance)  It will interfere with the flea market, of course, but that is OKAY. We need the rain even more and, with as badly as sales have been at the market lately, it will be far more cost effective, at this point, to miss a day for my garden to survive and produce. They even said our high tomorrow will only be 70°F! WOW!!!! After last week's 105°.F, that is an enormous drop!  Plus, varying degrees of rain chances over the next 4 days.

Maybe I will get a good mess of fresh veggies yet, this year.

(AF) Wooo Hoooo! It's RAINING!!!

   

HAPPY DANCE ..... HAPPY DANCE!!!!  It's RAINING!!!!  

 I sure hope it makes it to Dave's Farm, too! The last two times it rained here, it didn't at Dave's. It is so dry here that, by today, my weeds were badly wilted and beginning to get crunchy! So I can't even imagine how dry the plants and pasture are over at Dave's! Besides it being too long since it last rained, the high winds we have had have further dried things out. I gave my cucumbers a little drink today (Monday - had to haul it to them in the wheel barrow) but they really needed a lot more. They said we didn't have a chance until at least tomorrow night.... I'm so glad they were wrong. Course, I was out there a midnight bringing in things that I didn't want to get wet (had planned on doing that tomorrow). But I am not going to complain so long as all gets watered and the hail misses us.

My power keeps flickering so I should probably get off of here and just kick back and enjoy the crackles and rumbles of the storm, the fresh, clean air breezing in the windows, and the soothing sounds and wonderful fragrance of the falling rain as I drift off to sleep...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz   WAIT! Drift off to sleep? I hope not until after it is over because I don't want to miss it. I really enjoy a good storm that ISN'T tornadic or damaging. How about you?

(DF) GARDEN DAY RAMBLINGS (part 1) ....... what to do about weeds

Ok, it is actually garden weekend ramblings, but you know what I mean. With my new job, my schedule has been 9am to 6pm, five days a week, which has been leaving me with just enough time before dark to take care of the goats and chickens. This leaves me the weekends to catch up on all the necessary everyday maintenance type stuff that there wasn't time for all week. However, middle of last week that changed. My daily shift became 6am to 3pm, which leaves me some time to get things done of the evening........ sure hope this change lasts. My days off vary week to week but who cares, it is time to work at home.

With my new schedule, I managed to get things caught up a bit in preparation for Sunday and Monday off. The Saturday evening storms threatened to change plans but there was still hope. Sure enough, there wasn't anything one could consider a storm here at dave's farm, just a moderate wind and some relatively gentle rain. At this point, I will shift focus a bit to storms nearby, but please bear with me.

As I was saying, there wasn't a storm here, the closest thing being low thunder in the distance. On the other hand, one of my co-workers who lives less than twenty miles away, had a tornado touch down. It destroyed his barn, commercial chicken house, lots of timber and landscape trees and took the roof off his house. I found out today that while I was being grateful that the storms had missed, he was beginning to sort through the devastation. Just shows how strange and erratic the weather can be and gives pause to reflect. Please remember my co-worker in your thoughts and prayers, he needs all the help he can get.

Now, back to my ramblings. Sunday started calm with intermittent light rain and a trip to town to pick up dog food (which I didn't think I was out of until time to feed the little dog, Poopei). The weather cleared while I was gone and I proceeded to dig up the garden, as soon as I got back, to play catch up on planting. I had already planted tomatoes and peppers a couple of days before (though there are still tomatoes and cabbage that aren't quite big enough to transplant) so now it was time to start on the main garden. Grass and weeds had pretty much taken over already, so I would have to take care of that.

When I am working at something, especially when it is quiet and in nature, I tend to let my mind wander a bit ........ alright, more than a bit, and left without proper supervision, it sometimes goes some unusual places. This time, it only turned to thoughts of weeds, and of course, questions. We all know what weeds are, and where to find them, and hopefully some earth friendly ways to deal with them. But, what are weeds REALLY? Obviously, they are things we don't want in our gardens, right? NOT SO FAST WITH THE WEED KILLER!!!!!!

Looking at the "weeds" in my garden, there were a variety of edible plants that I grew up with, some of which Anna mentioned in today's "Tightwad Tuesday" post. In fact there were at least nine of the dozen or more plants I grew up picking as wild greens. Some of these (and a few others growing among them in my garden) also have some medicinal properties. As Anna said, free food and medicine. Doesn't sound like weeds to me, in fact, I took time to harvest some of them before I got under way.

Now, as for the ones that don't count as food or medicine (at least not that I know of) there was the question of what best to do with them. Before I move forward with this, let me say that I DO NOT advocate the use of herbicides, especially in the garden. In my mind, it is like setting booby traps for home defense without knowing who or what will get killed in the process. They kill types of plants, not individual species and it has, so far, been impossible to convince me that they are safe for the environment. I must be careful with this subject so I don't get on my soap box and over react. Sorry! seems I already got on the soap box.

At any rate, as my thoughts wandered on this subject, it occurred to me that there is no real problem with weeds in the garden and that they actually belong there. The problem is that no body wants them actually GROWING in the garden. If they are not growing, this means they are dead and dead weeds make compost. Compost is a good thing in the garden and since different plants incorporate different nutrients from the soil, what better way to get rid of them than to dig them back into the garden.

Some grasses are not so easy (in my garden, it is Johnson grass). Johnson grass spreads from the roots as well as seed. The roots are segmented and each segment will grow an new plant. Anything that breaks up the roots will spread the grass and soon it can look more like a hay meadow. More tilling means more spreading and this is where many people reach for the poison, and continue with the roto-tiller. I will try not to say too much against garden machines in this post as it deserves a full post of its own (likely a second part of this post so stay tuned). Point being that there are other ways to deal with this nuisance. The best way I have found, is to work the ground with hand tools and pull out every root you find. Each new shoot that sticks its head up can be easily pulled or cut with a hoe (which is the equivalent of grazing, which this grass does not tolerate well). The blades themselves can be dug into the soil or used as mulch with no problem. Soon it is under control.

Bermuda grass is another story, as the grass itself will take root if in contact with moist soil, even after it looks dead. In other words, if you dig it into the soil, you have spread it, so the only way to remove it without poison, is to dig it up and remove it from the garden completely.

I know it sounds like I was doing more thinking than working, but in the midst of it all, on Sunday afternoon and Monday, I did get quite a few onions planted as well as some cabbage, brussels sprouts, broccoli, green beans and carrots (Anna got a bit carried away buying onion sets and plants, but if they do well, we will have plenty of onions this winter).

Sorry about the lack of pictures, but if my camera will work (if the batteries are strong enough and I can remember to use it, that is) I will try to post a few with part 2, where I will be talking about machine age farming and such. Hope to see you there.

(AF) Storms Weren't Bad Here

I could complain because I did so much storm preparing for nothing, but it really wasn't for nothing. Although the storms weren't near so bad here as they predicted they might be, it was good to have the preparation practice. It REALLY let me know that I am not near ready for a disaster the size that that one could have been. It also got me to thinking that not only do I need to get a bug-out bag put together, instead of just talking about it, but it got me to thinking that, besides one for on-the-go, putting one together in something that is totally waterproof and burying it somewhere close might not be a bad idea. Without a storm cellar, if everything got blown away, I would have several days' worth of supplies safe and sound (so long as I could find where a shovel blew away to.

We did get some storms, but they didn't come in until Sunday morning (once again, just in time to close the flea market, so NO sales all weekend - nor all week for that matter). We had a couple of good, old-fashioned, stormy rounds ... lots of noise, flashing and wind ... a couple of brief, heavy downpours.... but nothing really serious. Then it was periodic small showers throughout the day, all totaling a little over half an inch of rain. It was what I called 'garden planting' storms.... plant a little, rain it in, plant a little, rain it in . . .  In my neck of the woods, it was actually just exactly what we needed. And Dave got even less. As bad as it was in other parts of Oklahoma, we were really very blessed, here!

I actually got to spend quite a bit of time out in the yard in the later afternoon and evening. It was wonderful! The air was so crisp and fresh after the rain. And the fragrance of the fresh rain, mingled with the scent of the damp earth and the strong aroma of the very stirred up wild roses across the road was absolutely intoxicating!!! It's the rainbow after the storm that only your nose can appreciate. And I savored every moment of it as I set out a few tomato and hot pepper plants. I just had to get out and dig in the damp dirt for awhile the moment the storms passed, yet the hearty rumbles of thunder could still be heard.

Just as it was getting dark, my phone rang. It was someone wanting to take Little Rover (aka Honey, cause he is the color of honey and just as sweet) to his new, Forever Home. He will have a great new home, and have a teenage boy to romp, rough house, and play with, but oh, how me, Dusty, Bubba, and Clyde (one of that cats) miss him!!! Bubba has cried more than me, even, and he has tried every way he could to get the cats to play with him, but they slapped him too hard and he had to play with Dusty instead. (Clyde with snuggle at sleep time, but not rough house) My Honey (which is what I ended up calling him the most) seemed to be pretty sad about leaving, too, but I am sure he will adjust to his new family very quickly and have lots and lots of fun. And I will fondly smile each and every time I put on my work pants that are full of tooth holes around the ankles from his and Bubba's energetically rambunctious play. Best of all,  Honey, and the boy that wanted him, were my angels .... literally the answers to my prayers this weekend. Just in the nick of time, it gave me exactly what I needed to pay a bill that would have been disastrous if even a few more hours had gone by.  Honey will always hold an extra special place in  my heart. He is truly my angel! 

(AF) Saturday Ramblings

Today is one of those days where you start out in one direction, but suddenly your direction gets changed and you just veer over and flow with it without missing a beat. The storms aren't suppose to be moving in until later this evening, so I decided to go ahead and set up at the flea market for a few hours. I got up, did my morning chores, changed my clothes, got the puppies down for their nap, filled up the fluids in the car (yep, it's getting old),  then Dusty and I headed for the flea market.

I wasn't half a mile from my house when sprinkles began to appear on my windshield. I was really hoping it was a flock of birds passing over, but of course, it wasn't. So I really hoped it was just a passing cloud and would stop as quickly as it appeared. But it didn't. The further I went, the heavier it came down until I had my wipers cranked up several notches. By the time I reached the first town (flea market is 2 towns away) I had decided I probably wasn't going to get to open after all. I called out there and sure enough, the ones that were already there were closing up and heading home.  So I decided to take advantage of the unexpected 'free time' and walk around browsing at a couple of stores. I am always running in for what I need and right back out, with very little 'browse' time.

I decided to first head downtown and stop in at the Farmer's Market to see if they had any Blackberry Mint. I have been looking for some for a couple of years and can't find any. I love that stuff!  But as I got into downtown, I realized that was a HUGE mistake. They were getting ready to start our biggest parade of the year - the one celebrating our annual Azalea Festival.(beautiful pics here)  So I decided real quick I needed to turn around and head back for the East Side of town. But with every turn I made, they were just blocking that street, the streets were thickly packed with masses of people toting umbrellas, kids and blankets, and I seemed to be trapped in downtown! Finally, a police officer on a bicycle stopped to see what my frustrated look was about. I said that I was trying to get OUT of downtown. He had me wait a moment while he directed some people across, then escorted me out. What a relief! But geez... I went from heading out to open up at the flea market, to needing a police escort!!!

Then I went to see if the bread store had in any of their 'feed' bread. Turned out I wasn't the only one stopping in for the same thing. But we were all out of luck.... they were totally out. I thought I was going to "cheat" and get a cupcake. But I looked at the price and changed my mind. The last time I bought one in there it was about 35cents. They are now 90 cents each and that is for day old! I didn't need the crap in it anyway, so I left.

I went to my favorite little 'hole in the wall' type grocery store and was excited to just get some 'browse' time in there. You never know what new item and/or bargain they are going to have in there, often changing by the day. I was in luck this time as they had just gotten in a bunch of new stuff and put a bunch of last month's stuff on closeout (It is one of those stores where they purchase stock from truck wrecks, insurance write-offs, store closings, etc., and sometimes they get too much and have to clear some of it out to make room)  I ended up getting about 7 bags of groceries for around $23.00!! But telling you what all I got will be a post in itself.  I will say, though, that the best part was the fresh Jalapeno Peppers for 29¢ a pound!  Yep, if the rain holds off long enough, I will have to fire up the grill, stuff them with cream cheese, wrap them with bacon and grill them... mmmmm.....  Oh, and I got my cupcake (59¢)- shame on me. But Dusty did help me eat it.

 One more store (where I ended up buying nothing), then I was about to head home when I got a call that someone was coming to pick up a puppy. So timing was really working out. And Gidget went to her new 'forever' home today. Gosh, do me and the boys ever miss her already! Dusty was whimpering before they got to the end of the street with her! And he is still moping. She is such a sweetheart, but I am happy to know that she is going to such a wonderful new home and will have another Boxer to play with.

I have been taking advantage of what has turned out to be a beautiful day and working outside ever since. I just came in to take a short break and ended up writing this post. Although overcast (sun peeping through now and then) it is hard to believe that it is going to do what they say it is going to do here. The rain stopped long ago (rained just hard enough, long enough, to close the flea market). But, in order of priority, I am continuing to batten things down, a few at a time. I also made it a point to tell the girls (goats) that I absolutely forbid them to kid during the storm! They are good at that, you know. My body is agreeing with the weathermen, so I am moving a little slowly, but still moving. When you quit moving, that is when you stop moving.  Next, I am going to go figure out how to cover my Tater Tub. Then, if time still allows, I am going to pick a big mess of fresh Lambs Quarters while it is so pretty and tender, as hail, wind, and even heavy rain that is followed by strong sunshine, tends to really tear it up. So to all of our wonderful readers... have a safe and wonderful Saturday!  (or Sunday if you are already there)