(DF) UNFINISHED PROJECTS AND TOO BUSY STARTING NEW ONES TO FINISH

As always, there are plenty of projects needing done and not much time.  I have been, for some time now, working on a wide range of projects.  Projects that are started but seem never to get finished.  VERY DISCOURAGING!

The goat fence has been officially ongoing for a very long time, and it is not alone.  Though a couple of solar panels are now finished, they are not yet installed.  The greenhouse is not covered either, though all of the materials are ready.  Fruit and nut trees are still in pots, but not planted.  The list goes on and on.  You may have also noticed that I haven't written much lately.  Now, it is time to start thinking of planting some  early garden crops such as potatoes and onions.

There are several reasons for this lack of finished projects.  Money (and the getting of it) is one factor (lets face it, a job takes a lot of time).  Unexpected delays such as family illness, car trouble and such is another.  At the end of the day, with all excuses and other factors aside, one big reason is that I have a serious personal issue.  I have a terrible tendency to start more projects than there is time and energy to complete.  Then, I get bogged down, loose focus and take on more projects.

Money is a necessary evil in our society.  We have grown accustomed to such luxuries as driving cars, using electric lights and power tools, wearing good clothes, and the like, all of which cost money.  Unfortunately, making money takes time and energy (time and energy that could be spent finishing projects which might make more money in the long run).  My current corporate job is low pay and though my hours have been cut back drastically, an erratic schedule doesn't allow much daylight time to work on other projects.

Like the need for money, emergency situations such as family illness or auto repairs take time and resources.  Taking a family member to the hospital and subsequent Dr. visits and treatment takes time away from the farm and, sometimes, the corporate job as well (simply because family needs are one of my extremely high priorities).  Thankfully, recent vehicle repairs have been relatively minor, only serving as minor delays and major annoyance.

As for project overload and lack of focus, I have come to believe that the solution is more about setting priorities and goals than about available time and resources.  More about self discipline than about time vs abundance of projects.  Now if I can just put these concepts into play.  Yes, I am working on this but it is taking time to change a lifetime of bad habits.  Please don't misunderstand, there is slow but continual progress on a number of projects during any given week, and that progress actually gets those projects finished in due course of time.  Of course, there are also projects that never really get finished such as cutting hay in summer and firewood in winter (they get finished for the season but are back in full force for the next round).  These ongoing chores also take time away from more permanent accomplishments.

Those projects which, through persistence, get finished, serve to encourage.  Getting the garden tilled up early in the winter was just such an instance.  A few passes with the tiller at a setting, over a period of time and the project was finished.  The tilled soil was allowed to freeze and thaw and to take on the winter snow, making it much nicer to work with now for spring planting.

Friday, with some focus and hard work, a good section of fence row (a long term priority and over due project) was cleared and a big pile of firewood cut in the bargain.  In the afternoon, four rows of onion sets were planted and two more rows Saturday morning.  Yes, there is still some fence row left to be cleared and there are still more onion sets to plant, but noticeable progress was made. noticeable progress is always encouraging to me.  Now if I can just stay focused.  Wish me luck!

(DF) WINTER 2013 - 2014 UPDATE

Yes it IS winter!!  Local people are heavily complaining about this being a "really bad", "extremely cold", and countless other exclamations describing this winter.  At the same time, wedged between the arctic blasts, there are days that are almost hot. My memories of winters past make the cold temps seem almost normal.  Well, normal based on my childhood at least (which was a few years back).

Having grown up on a small dairy, my winter daily routine often included breaking thick ice on the stock ponds so the cattle could drink.  Yes, I did say daily, and yes, I did say thick.  We had an old chopping axe we sued for this purpose, and it was a hard job chopping through, even when I was older.  This routine would begin in early December and last through much of February. Though temps have been really cold this winter, chopping ice would not be needed daily (if I had cattle).  With frequent warm days, some in the 70 degree range, the ice is intermittent. 

What IS worse than I remember, is the roller coaster ride the temps are taking and the wind.  Sunday (1/26) the high was just over 70 degrees, Monday was very windy and a high in the low 20;s, with some predictions of single digits for nighttime low. It has been up and down like that all winter so far.

Problem is that the cold seems extreme here, mainly because over the past 30 years or so it has been pretty mild.  Sure there have been cold times, some with ice storms or deep snow.  This has happened occasionally but briefly every winter, Just enough to remind us what season it is, only to warm back up for prolonged periods.  Being used to the warmth, the contrast is brutal..

Now, to find the good in all of this.  For one, the repeated freezing and thawing of the ground helps loosen the soil, hopefully leading to a good growing season.  There is also the consideration of how well insect pests survive the extremes.  Grasshoppers have been a real and increasing problem the past few years, so we will hope the harsh winter helps knock down their population.  I am sure there are other positive considerations that don't currently come to mind (please let us know in the comments if you think of any).  Hopefully, there is enough positive to offset the cold cracked fingers, the inconvenience of heavy winter coats, broken pipes, extra animal feed and all the other negative aspects.

All in all, whether it is colder, warmer, windier, or more of a roller coaster ride than "normal" is not really the concern.  Whatever else this winter is, was, or will be, right now it is JUST PLAIN COLD.  So stay warm and remember, it will be summer soon, and we can complain about the heat.

(DF) BUILDING A GARDEN MY GRANDMOTHER'S WAY

All too often, I hear people talking about how they wish they could have a garden but their soil is not right.  They complain of rocks, clay, lack of organic material and any number of other drawbacks to their soil.  They never seem to consider "building" a garden, but instead, simply assume they can't have a garden.

My own garden suffers from these same afflictions.  It is rocky (nice chunks of white chert), high in clay, low in pH, and low in organics.  It is also infested with grass and weeds, and is a bit too shaded in the afternoon.  Because my garden is such, I can understand.  What I can not do is sympathize.

Though I have lived here at Dave's farm for quite a few years and grown quite a lot of vegetables during that time, my garden has never been all I would have hoped for.  The garden spot was used for veggies before my parents bought the property, during the time they lived here and after I bought it from them, but I still don't consider it a proper garden.

The reason my garden is not a garden, has nothing to do with the piece of ground.  That's right, NOTHING to do with the ground.  It is, in my opinion, completely due to the practices of the people using the ground.  The main method used for gardening this piece of ground has consisted of plowing, planting, tilling and harvesting.  Since I have lived here, I have added some compost and removed some rocks (though not enough of either), but I also neglected this piece of ground, leaving it untended and growing nothing but grass at various times over the years.

I have begun tilling up the ground in preparation for next spring (yes, it is my intention to turn this deficient piece of ground into a proper garden).  While tilling under grass and turning up rocks and clay, I found myself thinking of my Grandmother's garden, and her method of gardening.

The piece of ground my Grandmother gardened was bordered on two sides by cow pasture.  In this pasture, more rocks grew than grass.  What soil there was, consisted of little more than hard clay.  When my Grandparents moved to that property many years before, what became the garden was no different than the pasture across the fence.

My Grandmother, for many years, removed rocks as she worked the garden.  If she heard her hoe hit a rock, the rock was placed in a bucket which, when full, was carried out and dumped.  The rocks were continually replaced with compost, chicken manure or anything else that would make garden soil, including such things as snakes and opossums caught in the chicken house, and spoiled milk.

By the time I was old enough to remember, she was still burying small animals, digging in compost and carrying out rocks (by that time, the rocks were no bigger than small marbles).  Her garden produced like none other I've seen and the soil was the easiest worked.

Knowing the kind of garden she created and the rock pile she created it from, I can't complain about my garden soil, or sympathize with others who complain about theirs.  I can only attempt to follow my Grandmother's example and build a garden from the ground I have available, and encourage others to do likewise.

Garden soil, at least in this part of Oklahoma, doesn't usually just happen.  The only thing that just happens on this type of ground is rocks and trees.  Anything else has to be built, just as houses and barns have to be built because they don't just happen.  Building a proper garden is not easy or quick.  It takes years, hard work and a love of the earth and growing things.

May we all eventually build and enjoy gardens as productive and easily worked as my Grandmother's.  In return, we will eat well and have the satisfaction of knowing we will leave one piece of our earth better than we found it.

(DF) FALL GARDEN? Ok, so it's a little late

Like a lot of people, I grew up with garden planting time being in the early spring and again in the fall.  Well, not really fall, but more like summer (early to mid August) for a fall crop.  Based on how things were done when I was a kid and how things worked with the climate here, I have continued that practice all of my adult life.  So why am I planting in October?

There are a couple of reasons.  The first, and less logical reason is that I have been unable to work in the garden all summer and simply couldn't stand not having something growing.  Lets face it, the ground needs worked up in order to get a handle on the grass anyway.  It is hard for me to have nicely worked garden soil in warm weather and not plant something in it.  The second, and more logical reason is the simple (or more complex, depending on how you look at it) fact that the climate here is not at all like it was when I was growing up.  There is now no way of honestly considering when the first hard freeze will be, or the rainy and dry seasons either, for that matter.  My memories of seasonal change in the past are certainly not what we are living today.  In recent years, I have seen some strange things, like picking vine ripe tomatoes for Thanksgiving salad.

I will reserve the memories of past climate for another post, but with the erratic climate in mind , it makes some kind of twisted sense to keep planting as late as possible.  No I am not planting corn, green beans and okra this time of year, but things like turnips and beets can take a lot of cold without much damage.  I did plant a few blackeyed peas a couple of weeks ago (though I doubt they will have time to make) simply because they are good for the soil and if they freeze, I can till them under.

Yes, it seems late even for turnips, but if the extreme weather holds off a bit, a good mess of turnip greens is always food on a cold evening.  And who knows, they may even make turnips.  As for the main garden, It is not tilled up yet but hopefully will be in time for planting a LATE cover crop of rye or winter peas.

(DF) SNAKE!!!!!: an unwelcome guest in the hen nest

Before I get started, let me make it very clear that I do not really dislike snakes (at least in their own habitat).  I would also like to say that I am not an advocate for killing any creature (and yes that includes snakes, bugs and poison ivy) without a really good reason.  Considerations of scary or annoying or even dangerous don't qualify in my mind as good reasons.  For me personally, and each of us has the right and obligation to make such decisions for themselves, what qualifies as good reasons are few.  They include the need for food, an immediate threat to oneself or others, with others including not only other humans but any creature one is responsible for the survival of, such as domestic animals and pets that we have agreed to care for.  Sorry, that wasn't supposed to be a full essay, so now to what I was really saying.

Recently, I have noticed that the daily egg count has been less than stable.  Some days there will be six or seven and other days one or none at all, sometimes for a couple of days in a row.  With no sign of broken eggs or other evidence, my obvious suspicion was a snake.  My suspicions were right, and Sunday afternoon I surprised a large black rat snake (commonly known in this area as a chicken snake) in the hen nest, with bulges to show two eggs already swallowed and another on the way.  The nests have doors that open into the blacksmith shop so I don't have to open the chicken pen to gather eggs, making the variety of implements for dispatching the intruder somewhat considerable.  In seconds, the snake was dead and laying beside the path, still dripping egg from its mouth.

As I have already stated, there has to be a good reason for me to kill anything, and to kill one of these non-poisonous snakes is a particularly shameful loss around the farm.  Normally, their main food source is rats and mice, which everyone wants to keep under control for obvious reasons.  However, once they get started eating eggs, they don't stop.  And why should they?   Snakes aren't stupid and an egg is a wonderful source of protein, with the added benefit that it does not try to run away or put up a fight.  This is where the reason for killing the snake comes in.  Eggs are the reason for having the chickens in the first place and a threat to someone's food is a potential threat to that person because it takes away that nutrition.  As an added factor, if there are chicks present, they are just another snack to the hungry snake, and a large one like this particular individual of about five feet long can kill a full grown hen.

Yes, the good reason was really there, but such a total waste of a misguided predator.  Or was it a total waste?  I remember quite well how much my grandmother loved her chickens and how much she hated anything that was a threat to them.  She hated snakes in particular and would kill everyone she saw, no matter what kind.  She also believed it was a terrible sin to waste anything, even a dead snake.  To keep this sinful waste from happening, she would bury any snake she killed (or anything else that invaded her chicken house for that matter) in the garden.  Partly as a result of this practice, her garden soil was very rich and productive.  With that in mind, the snake in question is now in the compost pile under manure and bedding from the goat stall, where it will enrich the soil for next year's garden.  And egg production should be a bit more stable, at least until that blasted squirrel finds a way to get in the chicken pen, but that is another story.