I don't know where everybody else is this week. Hmmmm. Guess I can't tease you this week Harry. Date looks good. Not much happening in my little neck of the woods. Here is a little picture of my tomato patch. That is about all my excitement right now...

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and one more view..

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Are we still in July? Good job, Harry.
Pretty spiffy looking tomato patch, DD.
Heading off today to the Gold Coast, a mere 1100km, to return daughter and her *new* old car to semester II. Not looking forward to any aspect of the trip....where's my sense of adventure gone?
Hope to see you all on Sunday.
Take care
Rose

Today is the first day we have had in about a week with no rain. It was sunny and very hot. One of the hens hatched four of her eggs today. K.K. (one of the little girls that I babysit) and I discovered them about lunchtime today. There are two black chicks and two reddish gold ones. They seem happy and healthy so far. Hoping the rest of the eggs will hatch tonight or tomorrow. Only had 8 eggs under her. This is the first chicks that I have had to hatch out since I start my little chicken flock.

We are preparing some veggie beds for more field peas and a couple of late fall tomatoes. DH is planning to plant some pumpkins in my mom and step-father's garden. It maybe too late for pumpkins but he wants to try.

When I first started talking about buying some animals (rabbits were my first choice) hubby wasn't too keen on the idea. Now he goes into feed stores and ask about feeds and suppliments for "my rabbits". Seems animals and working in veggie and flower gardens sort of grows on you. I am glad he is enjoying the animals too. Means I can have more. LOL

I am watching my New Zealand white because she is supposed to deliver this week. We are going to need to build more rabbit hutches. Maybe we will have enough rabbit fertilizer for all our beds next spring.

That is about all going on here. It is too hot and humid to do too much for any period of time outside.

Hope you all have a great week.

Jan

Rain, rain, rain, and more rain. Jan, we are still getting it everyday. I would gladly send a little to someone if I could package it. Not trying to complain about the water, I just can't get anything mowed. It will be two weeks Thursday since I have mowed the lawn, and it is getting really high. I also need to bushhog a couple sections. I just don't want to do this while everything is soaking wet. Even my garden is too muddy to work in. On top of the wet is the humidity. It will melt your face off (if you wear makeup) and glue all your clothes to you. You peel your clothes off more than take them off. Thank heavens for air conditioning.

Still have some fencing to do within the next two weeks. It is in a really bad place, and I have been putting it off because I really don't want to work that part of the fence alone. The problem is that to get to it you have to walk off the roadway, but in an area where people are constantly running off the road. The road was poorly built in that there is a serious curve there, but no banking of the road. People unfamiliar with the road are forever taking it at breakneck speed because they can't see the curve coming up on them. What I really need to do is just move the fenceline. Just can't do it right now. Maybe I will contract out that little job. The more I think about that, the better I like it.

Have a good day tomorrow.

More hot/dry here. Will finish split/stack of the wood then off to town to pick up the ladder. Maybe get those walnut branches down to size.

I would post a picture of my two tomatos except:

1. I am still not set up on photobucket (just laziness)
2. I would need a very close up lens.

Checked yesterday, the gopher for sure got one plant and the second looks like it is going too.

Talked to neighbor yesterday. I was way off on harvest guess, he says at least another 3 weeks. The little cutting that was done was in fall barley and that patch ripened ahead of schedule.

Harry K

Greetings from Jordan's Croft,

Love that tomatoe patch. Didn't have the time to put in a garden this spring. Our pasture has turned green, finally, after a week and a half of rain. We really needed it.

Lost an entire hatching of ducklings to a critter. 22 eggs and ducklings gone. The hen-duck has since moved to the duck stall and found herself a nest box.

Rooster attacked the horse ball the dog was playing with. Flat out flailed it with his claws. I about laughed myself silly! But the rooster may have to go if he gets mean. we don't need him for eggs. I wanted him to protect the hens, and as an orniment, he's sooooo pretty!

There were a couple of "face off" moments with the dog, (A Jack Russel) who simply took the ball and hid it. After killing the one chicken, he seems to have lost all interest in killing the grown ones. (Or maybe the roo came after him and taught him better?)

Saw the "what is a farmer" thread, and am sorry to see the farm folks go. But this is a gardeners forum, maybe on an agricultural forum they will find the support they need. Bless them, I know what a hard life farming is. Farms, even 20 acres and less, are getting scarse around here. I've looked for years before I found our place.

On the bright side, we 'crofters' (croft is an Irish word for a farm of 10 acres or less) or homesteaders who are making some side money are getting some use out of our land. Anything is better than MOWING 5 to 10 acres! I see alot of that around here too. All GRASS, maybe three trees, no flowers, no nothing! What a waste of land! Our place was like that for years. I have an aeral photograph of it, all grass! I need to get another photo of an after wtih barns sheds and fences. What a difference in just 6 months!

Enough of that.

Have been planning the garden beds for next year. Still trying to grow trees from seed. Need some redbud trees for the front yard. Got some of the posts for the gourd trellis. Will try to get that put up (with concrete) by fall. Going to put it around the shed for double duty, shade and decoration.

Still working on the website, almost ready to post. The four-legged duck is still alive, have a good photo on the pc. (got rid of that (*&^%$##) virus finally.) Am almost ready to start cleaning up gourds and making cat-lures from feathers. Should have a product to market via web-site, or Ren-faire soon.

Need to research some commerical websites, and look for places to link to. Market research is in order too. I may not be a farmer in the traditional sense, but I've got the drive to be an e-commerce presence.

Fair-skies to the wet, and rain to the dry!

Kitty

So as a newbie, I am going to assume that we can post our plans/accomplishments for the week in the "Journal" threads?

There's a whole lot going on at the farm with construction projects. A couple of months ago, the farm owners sold off a third of the farm (100 acres) and decided to "downsize and upgrade." The part they sold contained the office and stud barn, so this means we have to build newer, better ones. Well, apparently they are trying to see how many projects they can have going on at once. As of today, they are: framing new stud barn, putting block walls up on new breeding shed, framing new office, tearing out old fencing and putting in new fences in reconfigured paddocks, painting new fencing, remodeling older barns, rewiring older barns, burying electric cables throughout farm, running water to new buildings/paddocks, tearing up part of the road and re-routing it, building a stone bridge over what it now a dry creekbed, and to top it all off, we are prepping our yearlings for September auction at Keeneland. WHEW! It is quite interesting to watch the progress in all these different projects, but I am glad to just stick with my horses.
My foals are getting big and I have about 15 (of 38) weaned. Can't wean anymore until the fence guys finish replacing a field they just ripped out. We're starting to see some foals with snotty noses and runny eyes--a product of the dry, dusty weather we've been having. The farrier is coming out tomorrow to trim foals, which is always exciting--I should have some new bruises afterwards.
Not much going on at home. Trying to get step-daughter's stuff packed up for Girl Scout camp next week. It will be her first time camping, and we are both excited about it. It's the same camp I went to as a child. Then we will go to Mammoth Cave after she gets back, for a little vacation, which is something to look forward to.
I guess that's about all. Hope everyone is having a great week!

Jen

Today is the first day it has not rained here at least once during the day. And, when it has rained, it has rained hard. My vegetable plants seem to be handling the water okay, but some of the flowers around the house are another story. Tried to mow the grass this evening, but it is now so wet and so long that it kept jamming up the mower. It is supposed to be really hot this weekend so that should dry things out a bit.

jen: welcome and yes, post away. You might fill us in a with a few more details. Sounds like you are renting and raising horses in a BIG way. Have a family? Raising any other animals? You get the idea.

Hot, Hot, Hot. High 80s, low/mid 90s for the week. Haven't done anything except a little mowing and split a bit of wood all week.

Did get the black walnut trim job underway today. First time ever that I was able to work from a ladder very comfortably. Even looking down didn't bother me. Working height put my head about 16 ft above ground. Fortunately teh ladder I promoted to bother is a commercial grade 24' so it was very stable.

Have most of the problem branches off, still considering removing the entire tree. There is another one only 12" away so removing the problem one won't even leave a hole. Just have to get Alma to agree to it.

Passing on visiting the wood patch this week. No point in getting out there as long as the hot weather continues even if I am in withdrawal symptoms from chainsaws. Have 6 to 7 cord already made. Room for only a few more before I run out of my permanent wood racks and have to resort to 'chimney stacking'.

Looks like Emily is also going to disappoint every one in teh middle of the states. Saw on the news last night that S Texas hadn't had a decent rain since Thanksgiving but are now getting it from Emily. Too bad as it is ruining the cotton crops.

Harry K

In reply to Harry, yes, I'm involved with horses in a big way. Only have two of my own, but I'm the broodmare mgr on a T-bred breeding farm, where I have responsibility over about 70 mares, 38 babies (as of today). We finished foaling season at the end of May, and breeding season ended last month, so now we are gearing up for the September yearling auction. While I am supposedly only working with mares and foals, I pretty much do everything from driving the horse van, mowing, fencing, giving tours, and translating stuff into Spanish for my employees, who don't speak any English. I am the Jen-of-all-trades.

I do have 2 horses of my own. My DH surprised my at Christmas by buying a pony mare for me and my step-daughter (age 7, and our only child). It was a surprise mainly b/c I had been kind of looking at this mare, but she was waaay over priced so I had turned her down. My poor DH got ripped off! But I do love my pony, her name is Muffin (kind of a Seabiscuit spin-off), and she is a spotty Appaloosa. She's a sturdy 12 hands, and DSD and I like to ride double on her and play cowgirls, etc. I noticed at X-mas that she was kind of pot-bellied so I gave her a strong de-worming. Then, in late Feb. she was getting out of breath faster when we were riding her, so I had her palped, and OOPS! There's a foal in there! She foaled on April 26, a beautiful palomino colt we named Buckwheat (aka Bucky).

So, as far as my family and critters, I have 1 husband (married 3 years, but lived together for 6 now), 1 step-daughter who lives with us every other week, 2 pound-dogs, 2 ex-barn cats, 1 250 gallon aquarium (have 3 other empty ones), and the pony and foal. DH works for Kentucky State University Environmental Education Center. DSD will be in 2nd grade in the fall.

Now I am going to bed because the farrier is coming back tomorrow morning to trim my 16 weanlings, and I am going to need all the strength I can muster for that!

jen, thats so interesting a life. hubby and i live on a farm in the missouri ozarks, both retired, kids all grown and married with kids and grandkids of their own. we have 3 pasture ornaments, also called horses, registered arabian, a tri color triple reg mare, and a dbl reg appy--pretty to look at.chickens, dogs, cats--all the rest.
harry, i've wondered for some time--what do you do with all the wood, fuel? or do you sell it? noone around here will cut wood in the summer, tried to order 20 rank the other day, was told cutting wouldnt start till october.
cant say as i blame them tho, supposed to be 102 today, very little rain this summer. lil over a inch in several months-think witrh a bad summer, it will mean a bad winter?
last winter was mostly warm, hardly any snow.
everyone take care.

All I have to say is "it was dang hot today". My thermometer on the porch said 102 when I came home at 6:30. This area is under a heat advisory with the humidity, making a heat index of 105 or better.

DH and I took turns mowing down by my shop, grass wasn't every high but the weeds were looking terrible. We got plenty dirty with the dust whirling about.

Will have to water everything tomorrow again, no rain in sight.

Not much else going on, just trying to stay cool.
Donna

Well, I finally got enough of a dry spell to get my lawn mowed. We haven't had a hard rain for a couple days, but in the heat of the day it will rain just enough to wet the grass and clog up the mower. Took me twice as long as normal because I kept having to stop and unclog the mower. And, every mower I used died on me. Got them all started again though it took me a little bit. I think really they just got hot and tired and needed a break.

Not complaining about rain, just would like it to organize itself better and space itself a little more evenly. I probably shouldn't complain at all when so many of you are bone dry.

It wasn't too hot today, but tomorrow is supposed to be another story. Hot and humid. And it is humid here.

Have the web site finished. Here is the address:

Here is a link that might be useful: quaddie the 4-legged duck

Gonna be hot again today, not like back east and down south but anything over about 85 is hot to me. So far this morning I have managed to accomplish killing two hours in the cool of the day playing here on this magic box.

Got most of the problem branches off the walnut tree yesterday. Was fun as there was a strong breeze blowing. Had a mountain of brush off of it with more to go. Finally decided enough of being on a swaying ladder and turned to loading brush. One of the tree plantings I did 25 years ago was to make sure I had PU access into the garden area. Took some back and forthing but did get it there. Chopped brush and used Alma's new anvil shears to cut all the small side shoots off the branches. Don't know the brand but it is a nice tool. Will be able to load all the brush on one load if I continues really chopping it small.

One more trip up the ladder today to remove the last big problem branch. Also attach a cable up there. Need to cable it back to the PU, add about 3 5gal buckets of water to the middle, reef it tight and fall the tree. It wants to go the wrong way. Although Alma never really said it is O.K. She didn't say NO! NO! so I take that as agreement. I am sure that I am reading it right, right??

Subject removal of the locust. In addition to bringing up more morning glory seeds when the stump was ground it apparently has caused the roots to send up shoots. I am finding them all over up to 30 ft away from where the tree was. Handy dandy spray bottle of Round Up always convenient.

Ceresone: I heat almost totally with wood - 5-7 cord yearly. Sold a few cords twice but it really doesn't pay. I use 'wooding' as both recreation and physical excercise. Currently building a good stock so I can continue heating with wood when I can no longer cut more.

Checked the 1/2 acre of hay that I want to go to seed. It is looking dry and strawy now but the seed heads still seem firm. Will wait a bit more then lay it down with sickle bar mower and chop it up with the riding mower. Always fun in the hottest part of the year.

Just about finished with watering for this stretch. One more move of the sprinkler chain after breakfast and that's it for another 4-5 days.

Harry K

Goodmorning All - another Beautiful Day on the British Columbia Coast. Finished delivering mail on two of the rural mail routes so the girls could have a few days off. I enjoy it. Get to see a lot of folks I haven't seen for years and there are a lot of retired folks on one of the routes that have nothing else to look forward to but take a little walk to the mail box and visit. Love them all. One route goes up into the farming area. Someone asked once if they could raise a goat alone with cows. There SHE still was -- resting amongs the eight full grown cows and calves, she must be a few years old. Harry, you are talking about going up a ladder to prune some trees. I kept looking at a cedar branch that was coming too far out over our driveway. Finally, my DH roped a ladder onto the inside of the branch and sawed it off. We have a lot more by the house that needs trimed. I had seen a "polesaw" sticking out of a box of a gardeners truck once. My husband looked into getting one. The gas ones were $700-900 Canadian BUT he settled for $179.00 + PST & GST electric one. Because our power goes out so much, we have a good generator so we can run this machine anywhere the truck can go with the generator in the truck box. This one is a PoleSaw with a detachable 10" bar. The pole extends so you can trim branches up to 15 ft. high without the need for a ladder. Two saws in one; a pole saw to reach high branches and detach a conventional saw for cutting up the branches. It's not heavy, even at my age, I can use it. The dew should be off the back lot now so I can crank up the "gas weedeater" and get busy. The area got so overgrown, the blackberries taking over with me working and all the rain. As soon as I can get it fenced in, my daughter is going to take turns riding her two horses down here, also, have to get rid of ALL the fox gloves I left to bloom --- I've read that they were poisonous. Take care folks - please - keep the "farm life" section going.

As someone who post occasionally upon this journal I have a comment to make!

IT'S GREAT TO SEE SO MANY NEW POSTERS AND READ THEIR ENTRIES.

Nothing new to input about the daily times here, mowing - watering - feeding - working, the normal routine stuff and of course it is hot hot hot. We were blessed with rain showers earlier in the week, nice to see some fields green up and hopefully will produce another good hay harvesting.

all take care and enjoy the week.

Roxann

Not much going on here in the heat. It was 104° yesterday and very, very dry.

Just the normal, check the cows, keep salt blocks out for them; mow a few weeds here and there and water the garden.

The cows seem to be surviving. they have good water and lots of shade trees. We still haven't had to feed hay, but that is coming soon if we don't get rain.

Harry, what kind of wood stove do you use? or do you have an outdoor wood furnace? We toy with the idea of using some wood heat this winter, but I would like to change stoves. We probably have enough dead oaks to last a life time.

gld

Well, technically this is next week here but the way I feel I'll just pretend not :)
Survived the trip down the A1 tho' when the only heavy shower fell and both the wipers and the electric windows in this elderly car failed, I was *not* happy. DD used her nut and suggested they'd work when we restarted the car. They did. Left DD to her landlord issues with fingers crossed and had a couple of days catching up with old and new friends. One is in a fight for her life with cancer and we just found out the extent of it this trip. Newish friend (met on the Oz forums) took me out see her pre-retirement property in some pretty undulating country to the NW of Brisbane. Winter so far has been unseasonally warm and there have been no frosts yet. But traditionally mid-August is seriously dry and windy in time for the state show, the "Ekka". Thankfully the country people and the livestock are appreciated for the flavour they bring to the grand parade and the sheds.
Last week of jury duty coming up.
Take care everybody (how are the bruises, Jen?)
Rose

Another hot, humid day here. The lawn has finally dried out enough that you can give the grass a decent haircut. Didn't do that yet, but it is on the agenda for this week. Instead I used the lawn sweeper (a decent investment if you have a lot of lawn), and cleaned up all the clippings from Friday and yesterday. I put them in between the rows in my garden. I guess I put down about 60 ft, 3 inches deep, and about 20 inches wide. That's a lot of dadgum clippings! It looks a lot better now. Good for the garden too.

Have to go back to work soon. Before I go, I need to get the car serviced, the pastures bushhogged, some fences repaired, and the side of the barn finished. There are other things I could do, but these are the projects that I don't want to bother with for awhile.

Have to get up early and get going on the fence. Once it gets hot I don't want to be out there!

I'M ON VACATION!!! YAY!!!! I haven't really had a week off in 2 years, so I am excited, and just had to brag. Of course, I'll spend the first part of the week running errands such as Dr. and dentist and financial planner, which I never seem to be able to do b/c I'm always at work. And I have to sort through all the junk in the "box room" and organize for a yard sale. BUT AT LEAST I'LL BE INDOORS IN THE AC!!!

Rose--I actually didn't get too bruised, although I did have to bite one of my weanlings on the ear, because he was going nuts while we were trying to trim him. It's an old horseman's trick that I was afraid to try until about 2 years ago, but it actually works quite well at getting their attention. Kind of an emergency twitch. Only, I realized after I let go and closed my mouth that he must have laid in some poop sometime recently, because it left an AWFUL taste in my mouth! Ha! The Mexicans really got a kick out of that one!

This week has been pretty busy. Yesterday was DH birthday and we had family party for him. Our granddaughter brought us a baby chick from the county fair for Granny to raise.

It has been so hot and humid here that we have had to really watch the animals to see that they stay cool and have plenty of water.

And as I said in another post, a chicken snake robbed my nest of eggs that were due to hatch the 31st of this month.

My rabbit that was to deliver the 22nd never delivered. I am beginning to believe I got a lot to learn about breeding and raising rabbits. LOL.

The peas that we planted are coming up. That is if the cardinal leaves any of them. I planted them pretty thick so maybe the birds will leave a few. And maybe we will get some rain on them in the next few days. I hate having to water everything every week. We are on the county water lines and it has chlorine in it. This water just doesn't do as well as rain.

A new week begins tomorrow so here's hoping the best it can be for each one of you.
Jan

Hello from New York! The weather, the last few days has been fantastic..Lower humidity, high eighties temps, and every few days, mild rains. I'll take this anytime.
Probably the last week of currants, blueberries and wild berries tho. My slugs are on the wane as well. Tomatoes, corn, pumpkins and assorted veggies are all coming on. More weeding! Saw a hummingbird moth yesterday. Means summer is in full stride.
This weekend,on saturday, after mowing and brush hogging, I had time to relax. I love relaxing. Could make a career out of it. If only I could figure out, how to make a living from it :) First time this summer, I actually fell asleep in my hammock. Always surprises me to look at my watch, when I awake, and see an hour has passed.
Today tho, marks a week of my favored girl dog passing. She was thirteen and a month, and had liver cancer. I came home and found her unconscious on the bathroom floor. Carried her over my shoulder, to the vet. She passed in my arms. Thirteen years of wonderfull unconditional love. I miss her so... Might sound corny, but time goes swift..express your love for those who care about you..life is short.
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