(DF) MISCELLANEOUS AND SOMEWHAT RANDOM UPTDATE TO RECENT POSTS

First off, about Friday's rain.  Actually, though the morning mist was very nice and beneficial, the rain just didn't happen.  It didn't happen Saturday as forecast either.  Seems that Isaac didn't care to travel quite this far west, but did send some cool, damp weather (though short lived) our way.  By Monday, it was back above 100 degrees and has been there every day since.  There was rain again yesterday, and you probably already guessed, it was in the parking lot where I work but not here on the farm where I should be working. A RANDOM THOUGHT JUST OCCURRED; maybe if I come home, the rain will too, soon to be followed by bill collectors of course.

Remember the pumpkin vine pics I recently posted?  I believe I posted them Friday morning while it misted outside.  The next day, rabbits found the new leaves and stripped about half of the biggest vine.  The pumpkins are alright and still growing and new leaves are coming on to replace the ones eaten.  My first and most obvious question was about the why of rabbits who had shown no interest at all, suddenly stripping the vine.  The answer seems to be a simple one, though it took a couple of days to figure out.  The cool misty morning washed the leaves clean and dampened the ground enough so I didn't have to water Friday.  In the interest of water conservation, I had been saving bathwater to water the plants.  Seems rabbits don't like the soap in the bathwater.  As soon as I resumed watering, the chewing of leaves abruptly stopped.  I can't say soapy water is better to water with than rain water, but if the rabbits eat up the plants in question, the rain water won't do them much good.  I SURE AM GLAD THE FUZZY LITTLE CRITTERS DON'T LIKE SOAP!!!!

That leads to the ongoing topic of water conservation.  Yes, every drop must be saved if possible, and I continue to do so.  This leads to a water saving topic mentioned in a post recently; composting toilet system.  I decided a few weeks ago to try it out based on the methods recommended in "The Humanure Handbook". Years ago, when I lived totally off grid and somewhat primitive, I composted the cleanings from an old fashioned outdoor toilet.  The resulting compost was buried deep beneath my tomato plants (at the advice of an acquaintance who had lived in a third world country for a time).  The reasoning being that any pathogens would be underground and not come in contact with the fruit.  This composting venture yielded great tomatoes but was a smelly, fly infested endeavor.  By contrast, the methods described in the previously mentioned publication, at least so far I am pleased to say, have not produced any appreciable odor.  Likewise it hasn't drawn flies either to my facilities or the compost pile, and there have been no scavengers digging around in the compost.  The internal temperature of the pile has also been plenty hot enough to kill any known pathogen (in the unlikely event that any were present in the first place).

Back to water conservation.  The composting toilet system saves about 30 gallons of water each day, water that can be used better almost anywhere than in the septic tank.  As an added bonus, each time the toilet is not flushed, is a time when the well pump doesn't kick on.  Over the course of a month, that adds up to quite a few times the pump doesn't kick on (approximately 150 times in fact) and that should translate to some savings on the electric bill.  I won't know just how much savings until the next bill comes in but I will pass that information along later along with more details.

If it sounds like I am complaining, I'm not.  Well alright!!!! maybe I am just a bit, but in truth, the things I am complaining about, I am also truly grateful for, simply because of the information and experience I am gaining and the growth it forces.  Even the most frustrating and just down right hard things in life deserve gratitude.  May we always be grateful!!!!!

(DF) WORTH WATERING UNTIL THE RAINS COME???

Saturday night (August 25th) it finally rained.  Not much of a rain, only about an inch, but it came gently and all soaked in.  The following day, another three quarters of an inch or so was added to that, settling the dust here at my place for the first time in well over a month, even though people living one mile east of me claim to have had more rain than that on three or four occasions during that time..  Strange how much difference a mile makes in the weather.

All through this extremely hot and dry summer, I have been carrying water to the plants with no hope of making them produce, just hoping to keep them alive in anticipation of a cool rain.  Please do not doubt that I have often been discouraged, disgusted, exhausted, depressed and down right angry at the sometimes obvious futility of carrying so much water for what might well be nothing.  I had begun to count the myth of rain and cool temperatures right up there with Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy.  One question became always present.  "IS IT REALLY WORTH WATERING UNTIL THE RAIN COMES?"

When the weather finally cooled a little, my hope was renewed somewhat, but it certainly didn't leave time to rest from watering.  My special "pets", the pumpkin vines, had been being watered every day while the other plants were on a two or three day rotation.  With cooler temperatures, the pumpkin vines began to look better and actually grow a bit.  The Saturday night and Sunday rain made all the difference.  The vines burst into growth and began to bloom.  Taking no chances on bees and other insects (and I am normally a major advocate of letting nature take its course) I made certain the first female bloom was thoroughly pollinated.  This was done on Monday afternoon.

The pictures (taken Thursday evening) do not do justice to the results.  The largest of the small pumpkins is now a bit larger than a softball, and the vines are going wild with growth and blooms.  Today,, so far we have had heavy mist and light showers all morning, and there is hope of heavier rain through the rest of the day and tonight into tomorrow, thanks to the hurricane turned tropical depression passing nearby.

So for the question of whether or not watering and hoping were worth it,  Right now it feels like a resounding YES.  With not only the pumpkins doing so well, but also tomatoes and peppers blooming again, I am glad I watered enough to keep them all alive until the rain came.   As an added bonus, the green beans and summer squash I planted Saturday, just before the rain, are up and today's moisture should get them off o a good start.  With a little good fortune, the cupboard will be stocked from the garden this winter.

(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) THE DOWN SIDE TO FOUR WHEEL DRIVE

As you may already know from Anna's post, it rained quite a bit last week (almost 9 inches here, in 4 days). In some areas, that wouldn't be a problem, but here at my place it only takes about six inches over a few days, to completely saturate the ground. Everything else is run off. By the time it is finished raining, the saturation has made it down to the clay layer underneath and water runs from the base of every hill, in the form of clear, rushing springs.

Thursday evening came around, still raining and I had been dealing with a sore foot all week, so I fired up the old 4X4 Chevy truck and drove up to the back pasture to feed the horses. Well, actually, I drove almost up to the back pasture, thanks to saturated soil and the down side to four wheel drive.

Don't get me wrong, I really do like my four wheel drive, and in most situations it is wonderful. Anyone would probably agree that (at least in theory) four wheels pulling will take you through things better than two wheels pulling. Fact is, that works in practice too, USUALLY.

Now we get to the exception and the downside. When two wheels spin in soft mud, they go down into that mud, so the back end is down. If the other two wheels are spinning and the mud is soft, they go down too, and now, the whole truck frame is on the ground, spoiling any possibility of it coming out under its own power. It becomes like a turtle on a rock, flailing for all it's worth and going nowhere. This is exactly what happened Thursday evening, leaving me no choice but to walk back to the house and devise a plan to get it out. By "get it out", I really mean, get it out without too much damage and with no injuries. Not always an easy task.

Saturday, I had to work but was scheduled for an early day (7 am to 3:30 pm), so when I got home, I hooked up the tractor and trailer, loaded an old sheet of heavy plywood (to use as a jack platform), and headed up in the field, where I also loaded some rocks. A Hi-Lift jack is probably among the more dangerous tools I own, but is all too often the only real tool for the job. This was one of those times.

I waded ankle deep water to place the plywood over the mud at the back of the truck, with clear water shooting a couple of inches high from quarter sized holes in the mud. Carefully jacking up the back end of the truck, high enough that both rear wheels were suspended above the deep, water filled pits they had created, I then filled those pits with rocks and let the truck back down. A WORD OF WARNING HERE: Please do not lift the entire end of a vehicle with any type of bumper jack unless absolutely necessary, it is very dangerous. In this case I had little choice because the only part of the bumper that wasn't completely buried in the mud, was the top edge above the license plate ............. fortunately there was no problem this time. The front end was easier, with only one wheel completely down and up where there wasn't water standing.

It took a couple of tries, but once the frame was off the ground and the wheels on top of rocks instead of down in a water pit, it pulled out fine. Needless to say, I took it home a slightly different route to avoid having to do it all again. Next time, I will avoid large areas of mud, at least with a full sized truck. Some vehicles work better in lots of mud than others and mine is not one of the better ones for that application. Good luck with your own mud boggin'.

(DF) UNEXPECTED COMPUTER DELAYS

On the farm, there is always something coming up to change one's plans without notice. It is always necessary to be able and willing to roll with whatever comes up and make the best of it, no matter how much it interferes with the flow. Yesterday provided just such an opportunity.

It was my full intent to work on some outside projects as soon as the much needed rain stopped, then to write another post after dark. Instead, as the rain let up, I left my computer alone for a few minutes and returned only to find that it had become infected with a nasty virus. Off to the computer shop I went to get it cleaned up.

A few hours and some cash later, (OUCH!), I made it home in time to feed the animals, eat a bite, enjoy the earthquake, (yes, I did say, earthquake and it WAS small enough to enjoy), and do a few things in the house. Honestly, there was time for a post, but I was too fried from dealing with the computer all day.

The good news is that my computer is now clean and updated, and better still, it didn't transfer anything to anyone else. After cleaning up some unused files and changing some settings, it is also faster. So even though it was a delay, expense and annoyance, there is still a bit of a bright spot, as usual, and with this morning's rain starting to let up, the work I intended for yesterday is still there waiting for me.

(AF) Rainy Day Ramblings

Seems overnight the trees began to turn their brilliant Fall colors. Only, this year, they aren't near so brilliant. The extreme summer's drought put a major damper on our usual spectacular explosion of color. Still, the Hickory trees are truly breathtaking! Dave and I took time yesterday evening to stand back a moment and enjoy and savor their amazing beauty. It doesn't last long and you certainly don't want to miss it. No sooner than the leaves turn their fiery colors, they are then gone in a blink! So I told Dave that I must take some pics in the morning before their beauty disappears.

But this morning I woke to rain . . . . . a moderate soaking rain that just won't seem to stop. So the colorful leaves are kind of wilted and soggy looking. We need this kind of a rain, we need it very badly, and I am truly thankful for it, but it kind of caught me off guard. It shouldn't have because all my body's natural 'weather predictors' were going off yesterday, but the weather man had said it would rain yesterday, not today. It did rain yesterday, only a very slight sprinkle, and I figured that must have been it. Then last night they changed the forecast and said it would rain today, instead. And now, when I had BIG plans for outside work, I find myself sitting here looking out the window at the cold rain while I mentally reorganize my day. Somehow I will learn to make my plans around my body's weather predictions, NOT the local weather stations!

My little Fall garden is loving all this rain! I have a few things in the ground, but most of it this year I planted in a Fall Container Garden, using a variety of containers. And right now all my veggies are looking bright and perky. It will be a close call tonight as to whether or not to cover everything up. The predicted low for here tonight is 35°F, but obviously, I don't trust the weatherman right now. That temp doesn't leave much allowance for a possible freeze. Just an hour away at Dave's, he is under a freeze watch for tonight. Amazing the difference a few miles makes! And West of me, in the Texas panhandle, there is ice and snow on the radar!!!! Brrrr...... I am sooo not ready for that kind of weather! And there is still so much to be done around this little farm before Old Man Winter moves in and settles down.

So now, I am off to stir my batch of Pear Butter and then figure out what to do with all this laundry I have ready to hang out because it looks like another round of rain will be moving in in a few minutes. Course, rain soaked laundry smells absolutely wonderful after it dries, so maybe I should take advantage of this brief break in the showers and run out there and hang it all out. Mmmm... yes, those are the best sheets in the world to sleep on!