Wintertime Preparedness on the Farm

The calendar says today is the first day of winter. I wonder who thought that up- it's been winter here for weeks. The snow is very deep and of course it is very cold. I live in northern Wisconsin, though, not Hawaii (although that is a dream of mine someday) so snow is expected, if not appreciated.

                                            To give you an idea of how deep it is already.

Most people know to keep gear in their car in the wintertime such as cat litter for traction, a shovel to dig out if necessary, a blanket, a spare pair of socks (important to keep your feet dry and warm), some food that won't ruin like nuts or granola bars, and water. A small board is also useful in case you sink in and need to put it under the tire to help you drive out. But are you prepared for just going outside? Case in point below.

Last year we had issues with the waterline freezing and we had to get a water tank to go get water for the cattle. Unfortunately, the tank was frozen to the ground and had about ten inches of snow around it. We had to get that tongue unstuck and attached to the truck, but I had the wrong gloves on. I was wearing leather chore gloves instead of insulated gloves and let me tell you, frost bite is not fun. I didn't have it severe enough to loose fingers, but it was excruciating when my fingers started to warm up and now I have issues with pain in my fingers when they get even a little cold. I'm lucky I didn't get it on my face too, because I wasn't exactly wearing the right protection there either. I was wearing a large knit scarf, however, and that is probably what saved my face.

Now when I go out in the cold to do chores, or hunting, and it is cold, as it has been here since early to mid--November, I gear up. The tractor we use for feeding hay has no cab and so we are exposed to the elements. I wear a mask to protect my face, along with a hooded coat, and if I am wearing a hooded sweatshirt, that hood is up too. I also wear some seriously insulated gloves. The kind I have is actually for hunting. They have individual fingers, but the ends are cropped off so that one can pull the trigger and get a good grip on the weapon. However, they also have a thick mitten covering that folds back out of the way to keep the ends of the fingers covered when the fingers don't need to be exposed.

                           A good stocking hat is needed when exposed to the cold to protect your face.

 Gloves are important to protect your hands at all times.Thin leather gloves are NOT appropriate in freezing weather. If your gloves get wet, change them immediately.

One problem of course with wearing all the gear is that when turning to back up the tractor, the hood gets in the way and I end up pulling it down so that I can see where I am going. That is where having that stocking hat helps tremendously.

During hunting season we had to have all orange clothing, so I had the insulated coveralls, the scarf (close enough to orange), a knit hat, a billed hat (I attach a clip-on flashlight to the hat), and the hood of the coveralls to protect my head, and the gloves for my hands. I have some thick insulated coveralls that look like overalls and a big coat for farm chores. Because of their color, which is brown, they were not a good idea for any out of doors activities during hunting season.

It was very cold- below zero- during hunting season, but I was warm in my insulated clothing. I wondered if maybe I had on too much, but I never broke a sweat, and it was a quarter mile to my hunting blind walking though a good four inches of snow. Always carry water with you when you will be outside for any long periods of time during the winter. The air is dry and you need to keep hydrated. As an asthmatic, the cold air is dangerous for me to breathe and water can prevent the dry air from causing me to cough and inhale more freezing air into my lungs. On a lighter note: being bundled up like this also caused my glasses to fog up and then the fog froze. It's a little hard to see that way!

Always let someone know where you will be so if you get stuck or stranded somehow, even on your own property, they will know where to look. You should let them know approximately how long you will be gone as well. I know from experience that just because you have a cell phone, does not mean you will have a signal to call for help. Stay warm and stay safe.

Boy is it Wintertime!

Living in the country the way I do one really knows it when winter hits, whether the calendar agrees or not. This morning it was -17 when I got up, and the wind is blowing. There are several inches of snow that has accumulated over the week out there and somewhere in the middle of it is at least a quarter-inch of ice. It froze the barn door shut. Now that will be a trick getting open!

As I might have mentioned, I work off the farm as well as on the farm and I have to drive thirty miles to get there (sixty round trip). Let me tell you it is no fun driving on the ice. Even though I am going slow (really slow) my car with brand new tires does not like to stop and it is all over the lane. The wind was so hard the other day it created high drifts in our driveway that I had to just stomp on the gas to get through because I knew, unfortunately from experience, that if I went slow or stopped, my car would be there until the tractor dragged it out of the drift. I'd hate to think how high those drifts would have been had that driveway not been plowed out the day before.

With weather like this it makes me appreciate that I have put up so much food from my garden. Homemade soup made from ingredients I put up seems to taste better than commercially canned soup, but then I really don't care for commercially canned soup anyway. Baking bread and pie also helps to warm the house and fills the air with delicious smells.

It seems like a good day to work on my book or read one. I have also done quilting and worked on projects for Christmas gifts during winter months, and I have discovered a lot of people around here do that too. The embroidery and knit projects done over the winter is often offered up for sale at the farmer's market come spring and summer. I have seen some fantastic works for sale and when I asked when they had time to do them, they said over the winter when they didn't want to go outside, except to feed the animals of course.

What are you doing this winter to stay warm and occupied?

Apple Butter Making Days

We have a bumper crop of apples this year in spite of the weather. My dear husband has been picking the apples for me since I was working six days a week. He hasn't even scratched the surface of the apples as he just more or less stood in one spot and picked basket after basket. We, so far, have ten quart bags of apple slices for pies and such in the freezer, two quarts of applesauce frozen (I'll some later), a couple pounds dehydrated for snacking, and eighteen pints, and eight pint-and-a half jars of apple butter. I actually am thinking of making more! I am going to can some applesauce. It is really good for baking, not just eating (hot with butter and cinnamon) or cold. I also have four quarts of juice. We are eating them as fast as we can but I think we may get tired of them. Man, they are good though.

                                                  Really big apples from our trees this year.

   Two batches of apple butter simmering. It takes hours to cook it down to desired thickness. It must be stirred nearly constantly. Sure smells good!

Jars of yummy apple butter. Look out biscuits! Yes, those are Blue Ball Mason jars in the front. And the Dehydrator is running in the background. Apples are everywhere!

Canning, canning, and More Canning!

For such a bad start to the gardening year, I sure got a lot grown to can for the year. We had a hard frost the second week of September and when I was not at work, I had to finish canning the veggies. I don't know how the apples survived the frost, or the butternut squash, but I have to pick that next and put it in jars and the freezer. This is the first time in years I have had to buy more canning jars!

I tried to do a panoramic (sort of) shot, but I don't have that function on my camera, so some of it got shot twice. I also have zucchini and green tomato relish that gone done after the pictures were taken. I'm  not sure where to put them, or the apples and butternut squash, since, as you can see, the shelf is quite full now. At least they have a cool basement to be placed in. We butchered a cow and all my venison from last season had to be canned, so they are in the first picture. then bread and butter pickles. The second one is dill pickles, yellow squash, corn and some sweet potatoes. The third is corn again, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, and strawberry-rhubarb jam. The zucchini will probably be put before the jam (I'll have to move the jam). I do have a small shelving unit next to those shelves which is used for storing stuff that can totally be tossed, so I'll probably toss them, and use it to put the rest of the goodies on. No, if can just find a nice BIG bag of white potatoes (mine didn't do so well!) I can can those too, just so I have them. Busy, busy, busy.

It's time for the corn to be harvested and the soybeans will be close on too, if, as suspected, the heavy frost didn't ruin them. I've seen a lot of fields that are black because of the frost the beans are a total loss. Ours hadn't had a chance to make beans yet, so we aren't sure how they came out. Only time will tell, but they probably won't do much. Who needs a casino? I'm a farmer. We gamble every time we put a plow in the ground and plant something.

Why I Buy American

There has been a campaign for Americans to buy American.  I am a big cheap skate- there's no getting around it, but when I can, I do buy American. I was in the store the other day doing some shopping and I was looking for shaving cream for my husband.At Dollar General they had a store brand completely comparable with Barbisol, right down to the size of the can, and there's was $.35 less. Do you know why this cheap skate paid extra? The store brand was made in China and the Barbisol is made right here in the United States.

I also went to Wal-Mart. They used to have an entire campaign around their goods being 'Made in America' and one day they just stopped. I wonder why? I happened to need canning lids. I am canning a huge amount this year and had run out of lids (the flat part that seals the jar for those who don't know what I'm talking about). They were all out of my trusty Ball and Kerr lids so I got their brand (Mainstays), which was actually pretty cheap. I got three packages that comes out to thirty-six lids. Of the thirty-six I used thirty. I tell you what, I have never, ever seen lids buckle before; one even did it when I screwed the cap (ring) onto the jar before I even put it in the canner. I replaced that one with a newly sterilized one and put it into the pot and secured the lid and commenced to pressurize the canner. I kept hearing a whistle I couldn't account for. This was the second time in two days I had heard this. I finally figured out what it was when I opened the canner and found for the second time in two days, jars with the lids bulged and literally buckled underneath the ring. What the???? I looked at the box and, you guess it- Made in China! I will never buy anything else but Ball or Kerr lids again (unless I get where I can afford those nice Tattler Reusable lids. They are expensive and you occasionally will have to replace the rubber ring, but they are reusable, so in the long run, they end up being less than the other ones and there is less waste. They are also made in the USA!) Now, however, I am worried about those other twenty-eight jars of food that did seal. Will they stay that way?

Has anyone else noticed how much the quality of clothing (including your socks and undies), linens, and other goods went down hill once they were no longer made in the USA? China has now been approved to export chicken products to the U.S. Excuse me; this is the same country that stretched out the pet foods they sent to us with Melamine and it killed our pets with painful deaths. They even put it in infant formula sold to their own people for their babies. Why on Earth would I buy food made in China? Watch out for your chicken nuggets! I understand Smithfield Foods has been bought out by a Chinese company. No more Smithfield hams for me. But then, I like to grow my own anyway, so I guess I'll get those pigs sooner rather than later.

Buying goods made in America means we are supporting Americans by saving their jobs, and by doing that we are improving our economy and the quality of what we buy. Why would you buy anything made anywhere else if you had the choice?

FYI: I am not being paid to put Tattler Reusable Canning Lids on my blog!!

Canning, Canning and More Canning!

It's a good thing I have an actual three days off this weekend. I have a lot of canning to do. Last Sunday we got a dozen jars of Bread and Butter pickles made and they are already delicious! I went out today to pick some more cucumbers and found one I missed last time..oops! The squash that ate Wisconsin is still growing and I think Chaos can see it grow because she growls at it now. I had to do a mercy killing of some of the stalks just so I could find the squash to pick it, but the butternut ones are growing through (and over) the cucumber fence and the watermelons, but then I have cucumbers and watermelons in the squash and and watermelons also on the cucumber fence. What a mixture! Thought I'd check on the tomatoes to see if I had any ripe yet, as they got a very slow start, but it looks like they might be taking off now so I'll keep my fingers crossed that we won't get a frost. We usually do about this time of year. I stumbled upon the carrots that I didn't realize needed dug, but I dug them in a hurry when I saw how large they were. No wonder the Rabbits are after them. I have included some shots below of the produce.

             Look at the size of those carrots!  I do think I should plant them further apart next year though.

                          Basket of goodies: cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions. I need to dig those next.

I guess I missed this one. Ummmm... how am I going to get that out of there? Hubby says to just pull it. It skinned it up some, but it came out. Going to make some more pickles out of this.

Seriously, Cops Need to More Education on the War On Drugs

This year has been either a funny year or a sad year, depending on your point of view, for police everywhere in regards to people attempting to produce their own--FOOD! Earlier this year someone was raided in Illinois by the cops because a neighbor reported they were cooking meth (methamphetamine) in their yard, out in the open for all to see. They were boiling maple sap to make syrup. Then I see an article from 2002 from Texas, albeit they appear to still have not learned the difference, where cops raided, pulled up and burned someone's okra patch because they thought it was marijuana. Now, I see a tomato farm (also in Texas!) has met a similar fate. What is going on? Is it a war on drugs, or a conspiracy to make sure people get all their food from the grocery store? And, just were in blazes so they think their food comes from; thin air?

See the articles I mentioned:
War on Okra:  http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/766790/posts

Garden of Eden Raided: http://www.upi.com/blog/2013/08/15/Texas-cops-raid-farm-for-mariuana-only-find-tomatoes/1401376601319/?fb_action_ids=677794512248742&fb_action_types=og.recommends&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map={%22677794512248742%22%3A618968541481378}&action_type_map={%22677794512248742%22%3A%22og.recommends%22}&action_ref_map=[]

Maple Syrup Raid:  http://www.10news.com/news/watercooler/illinois-syrup-operation-mistaken-for-meth-lab02152013

Busy Time on the Farm- and Why Deer Season Can't Come Soon Enough!

These days it is really hard to get the chores done as I am having to work six nine and ten-hour days a week off the farm and my husband has ten to twelve-hour days at his job. We somehow are getting it done, a little later than it should be, but it is getting done. We bagged up our first crop of alfalfa hay to make silage in individual bags. These are not cheap, even though the bags are re-usable, so you can imagine how put out we are with the deer that they are using those bags for practice butting heads and are tearing holes in them as a result. The holes lead to excess air getting into them and thus rots the silage, ruining it. We have special tape for the holes, but if not found soon enough, it will be too late. We did get about three hundred small bales of hay for the mow and I don't know yet what the final tally is of the round bales of dry hay from the second crop.We should have three crops of hay, but with the lack of rain, it's just not going to happen.

                                                There are fifty silage bales we do not need ruined!

My apple trees are loaded this year, and even though I did prune them back, the limbs are still extremely heavy so between the deer having a snack- grrrr- and the wind, my limbs are breaking off or attempting to do so. We need rain to help them fill out too, or they will stay small rather than being the fat, juicy apples they have been in the past. Also thanks to the deer, I have lost two of three plum trees we planted in honor of our son joining the Navy.

                        Damaged apple tree thanks to the deer. Hunting season can't come soon enough this year!

Our corn is nice and tall, but not filling out all that well thanks to the lack of rain; same goes for the soybeans unfortunately. I understand that due to all the rain we had in the spring and the extremely long cold season, many farmers throughout the Midwest weren't even able to plant this year, and crop insurance doesn't help if you never got it planted in the first place. Wisconsin is in the top three states for not getting to plant. We are right in the heart of the worst hit area. Another problem with the corn for us is, you guessed it: the deer. The way my husband explained it, the silks on each ear is attached to the kernels (one to one) and the tassels on top of the plant pollinate the kernels via the silk strands as well as the rain going through them to help fill out the kernels. The deer keep eating the ends off my corn destroying the silks and therefore ruining the corn ears, if they don't just outright eat the corn- stalk, cob and all. Are you seeing a trend here? The critters are not helping my soybeans either!

We do have the squash that ate Wisconsin! In my raised bed I planted okra (does not grow well in Wisconsin), yellow crook-neck squash, butternut squash, cucumbers and watermelon (also does not grow well this far north). Yesterday I picked a bushel of cucumbers and now I will really have to bust my you-know-what to get the pickles made since I am at work so much and have very little time. I also got a half bushel of yellow squash. Somehow I have more plant than squash. I'm not kidding. I took a picture last week (see photo below) and this week we got about a quarter-inch of rain and it got even bigger; as in waist high! I push the leaves aside and call out: "Anybody down there?" when I'm looking for squash. The butternut has grown across the garden too in all four directions and is now mixed with the cucumbers and watermelon plants and through the yellow squash and okra, and is growing over the logs and into the yard all four directions. Composted cow manure, even years old, is something else. I'm thinking of top dressing my regular ground level garden and tilling it in this fall. I'll have to spray it heavily with Round-Up to keep the weeds out, but it should rejuvenate the soil nicely for next year.

                                                 The squash plants that ate Wisconsin!

Update on Night Shade
I got a call the other day from the folks who sold us the sheep we used to have. They had previously bought hay from us but distance and gas prices made it prohibitive to get more. They bought hay from someone closer to them and had spread it out in their sheep pen for the animals to eat. The farmer who made the hay either didn't know about night shade or didn't care. This year it sprouted up in the sheep pen and took it over and now they have lambs and some of their prized rams dying left and and right. They were just pulling it up and throwing it in the woods adjacent to the pens. Yikes! I told her to get it out of the woods immediately and burn it, being careful not to be near the smoke and get it or the animals out of that pen. If there is too much to pull up- and it sounds like it might be- they need to spray it with Round-Up or the generic equivalent, and not the ready mixed stuff either. You can buy it in concentrated form and mix it yourself, which is what we do, and then double the recommended amount of the chemical to do a really good job. As directed it will work for spraying crops, but if you are trying to get rid of night shade, you're going to have to double it and kill it good and dead, and then apply again when it starts growing again, because it had already gone to seed (the berries) and they will regrow. Of course nothing else will grow in that pen for a while, but when the night shade stops coming up, you can quit spraying and a few months (I think it's twelve weeks for gardens before one can plant tomatoes which are related to night shade) replant with a good quality grass seed and keep an eye out for that deadly weed.

How is your garden doing this year? Is the lack of rain ruining it? Or too much rain? I had better get busy now. I have pickles to just waiting to be made!

Deadly Nightshade

Well, I want you to get a good look at the plant below:

Chances are if you have some ground that has been neglected or ignored, such as an old garden spot, or a field you don't normally mow anyway, it's there. This plant is called nightshade (it gets berries on it from the blooms) and it is extremely toxic. The berries start out green and then then turn black. Several years ago when we lived in Missouri we lost a couple cows and when we opened their mouths to see if they ate something (before we did a dreaded necropsy/autopsy by actually opening them up) we found several leaves of nightshade in their mouths. It only takes a few leaves and the berries are worse. Last year I had several sheep die on me and one I saw dying. It was very sad to watch but he went so fast I didn't have time to call a vet (not that I have ever heard of a cure for nightshade poisoning). My son asked me if I had checked the pen for nightshade, something he knew was there growing around the silos but I didn't. We just barricaded them to keep the sheep from getting behind the silos, but they jumped it and went in anyway. I found the half-eaten plants and knew he was right.

When you mow your rural lot or yard or even weed your garden (I found some in mine this year for the first time), before you get the bright idea to be helpful to the farmer next door and feed the clippings to his animals rather than composting, please ask their permission first. If you see nightshade on your lot, don't give it to them, and in fact please do pull it up by the root- using gloves you will dispose of. You'll notice I am touching this one and I thought afterward how stupid that was and immediately washed my hands. If they mature and go to berries, the birds will plant them for you. If you burn, don't be anywhere near the smoke (or your pets) as this is also toxic. I'm not sure of the toxicity to humans, but I wouldn't chance it. By the way, nightshade is related to the tomato plant, so don't give that to them either.

Thank you from a farmer!!

Heat Stress is Hard on Everyone- man and animal

August is coming and it's supposed to be the dog days of summer- so hot you want to lay around like a dog and just sleep and stay cool. July was hot for us in increments. Those increments were enough to cause real problems.

I have an outside job (a/k/a off farm job) at a factory about thirty miles from home. As metal buildings do, when the temperature outside reached into the nineties and the humidity made it feel like it was above one-hundred, I got sick. There didn't seem to be enough to drink, even though I was drinking plenty. I sweat until I stopped and I got nauseated and a headache. Those are signs of heat exhaustion. I've had it before and it is no fun at all. In the days that followed my stomach was upset more often than not and I was so tired I could barely do the chores, but of course they had to be done.

Now, my cows don't seem to be all that bright. During all this heat, the bugs (flies, gnats, mosquitoes, etc) really did a number on those big beasts, but would they go under the back rub with the insecticide that would have kept them bug free? No. They went around it and even broke the fence several times to prove they weren't going under it. They had several pastures available with lots of trees to get shade out of the hot sun. They chose instead to stay out in the field under the sun. We have a cow water fountain that every time one cow takes a drink, it refills with cold (ours gets really cold too) water, but they didn't drink as often as they should have. This puts tremendous stress on animals even when they do stay in the shade and drink that life-giving water. By the time we got them to come up to the barn yard where we could do a good inspection (the barn is where the water is) they were pitiful and in only a couple of days. Since I was down and out, too sick to do much more than lay on the couch, my husband and his brother got the cows in the barn where they could be fed grain (it was time to worm them anyway), get a good dose of that insecticide sprayed directly on them ( they didn't like that) and get plenty of water, and of course there is a big fan in there. One of my prized heifers just keeled over dead. I had just seen her a few days earlier and she was fine, so it hits really fast when it hits. We had a few that had pneumonia over the last winter and the stress caused it to come back on them. The rest of the cows were turned back out after a couple of hours and those sickly ones were left in the barn. They had dropped half their weight already. We nursed them back to health and are giving them lots of hay and grain and the fans are always running to keep them cool. The rest are doing very well out in the pasture since it cooled down a bit, but those others are staying right where they are for now.

I once had a dog that wouldn't let us cut his hair or brush it (not speaking dog- no really, I don't- I have no idea why). One week it was extremely hot like this year. He had a heat related event and wandered off. It rained and cooled things down, but he was gone for about four days before someone got him caught and figured out who he belonged to (thanks to his dog license!). They came to see us and we went to get him. He barely recognized us and weighed under fifty pounds, about a ten pound loss for him. We got some protein into him and a lot of water and eventually he snapped out of it, sort of. That was when his health did a down turn and he started losing his hearing and sight. Every change in the weather seemed to do something bad to him. He got arthritis and found it difficult to walk at times. Before he finally passed away, he was nearly completely deaf and blind, but somehow he recognized me whenever I petted him or gave him a hug.

The bottom line is, in the extreme heat, you need to check on everyone, young or old, usually healthy or not, and keep an eye on your animals. You may not be able to tell until it's too late that they are suffering; just assume that they are. Me? I bought a rain bird water for a garden and I will put it on a post so that when it gets really hot my cows can get wet a little bit and maybe cool off. It isn't practical to put fans out in the field, and they really don't want back in the barn; they're more comfortable outside. At least now they are going into the trees like they're supposed to.

Chicken Butchering Time

If you don't know where your food comes from, really, then you probably don't want to read this post. If you do, and you understand what a small family farm is about, then go ahead. This is for you!

I got baby chickens in May specifically for butchering. I keep seeing on the packages in the store that the chicken has been 'enhanced with a ___% solution' (fill in the blank). For what?  To fatten it up and make you think you're getting more than you are, because when you cook it, all that 'enhancement' cooks out and you have a much smaller piece than you started with. And, you don't know what is  in that 'solution' other than water (a lot of water) and a lot of salt. I don't mind raising my own meat. I have a cow in a pen right now just to get butchered and if I figure out where to put a pig, I'll get one of those too. Yes, it is expensive, but I know what went into it so I feel safe eating it and I'm not paying for any extra 'enhancements' (thinking of pink slime here).

Yesterday was time to butcher those chickens. I got out my turkey fryer (a gas burner on a stand with a tall aluminum pot) and a large tub with a lot of ice. I am the chicken wrangler, and my husband is the chicken slayer. I caught them and he tied them upside down and then beheaded them. If you don't tie them somewhere, they will fly, headless, all over the place and make an even bigger mess. It is very surreal. We had water boiling in the turkey fryer to scald the chickens. Holding them by the feet we dunked them in the boiling water a couple seconds and then the feathers came off pretty well. Rinse with the water hose and remove the guts, rinse again and remove the feet and toss them into the tub of ice water. We took them into our butchering room, a/k/a the old milk house, with the stainless table (all cleaned with bleach, I assure you) and then cut them up and put them into a fresh tub of icy bleach water. Rinse again to get rid of the bleach and then bag it up and freeze it. Why the bleach? To kill any salmonella. We're pretty particular about that. Aren't you? 

Sequence of the chickens' lives:

 

Baby chicks arrive very hungry. 

                                                          Yep, same chickens, all grown up.

                                                       Finished product, ready to freeze and eat.

Hey, at least I didn't take pictures of us killing, cleaning, and cutting them up!

 

 

If Rocks Were a Cash Crop, Farmer's Would Not Be Poor!

We've been working like crazy trying to get our planting done. Every time we get the field ready, it rains, a lot, and then it has to be done all over again, or it rains and washes away all the seeds. One thing that seems to grow without mercy (other than weeds) is rocks. I'm not talking about the smooth stones people use to adorn the outside, and sometimes inside, of their homes; I'm talking about fifty or sixty pound boulders and sometimes larger. The really big ones somehow get planted around, but the others have got to be either smashed back into the ground or picked up, and the really big ones do not smash back down. I spent six hours on a tractor today running a rock roller after we planted (finally) the soybeans. My husband has picked so many buckets of rocks prior to planting he has lost count and I still had to get off the tractor to pick more that were just too big. Rocks are evil things out to destroy harvesting equipment so they have to go. I sometimes wondered why I didn't just lower the bucket and roll a few of them, but then the other ones would have fallen out and I would have had to re-load all over again.

It's not just us. There are huge rock piles all over the country where farmers have had to pick those things up, and they just keep multiplying. You'd think they'd run out at some point, but no, they always find their way to the top, usually just in time to destroy a combine head or a silage chopper, or a hay mower or baler. So, if rocks were a cash crop, farmers would never be poor, which would be good since it costs so much to repair the damaged equipment. Anyone want to come help pick rocks? I have plenty!

Silly Bulls and Rascal Rabits

The funniest thing this morning... I went to the barn to do the chores and I found the silly bull in the water tank! I guess he needed to cool his heels a while. We have a set of head locks out there too. Those are where the cows stick their heads to get to the feed trough and they can be set to lock so that the cattle can be vaccinated or sorted, (or castrated- but he got away when we did the other bulls), or any other assorted things one would need the cow to stay in one place for. Their heads can't come out when in the locked position but the rest of them sure can move. We didn't have it set to lock but we had the adjuster bars in it (so that smaller cattle can be caught) and he somehow got his head in it and I like to have not been able to get him out. Sometimes you can say, "I bet he won't do that again," and sometimes not. Time will tell with him. He doesn't learn all that well, so I imagine I will be dislodging him again the next time he decides cool off in his water tank.

After all the rain we had this spring and summer, most of my garden had to be replanted and every time it rains the weeds grow like it's raining Miracle Grow. My strawberries are a lost cause (one plant survived) and the sweet potatoes were DOA except for three and they died shortly after planting. I don't get it. I have run that tiller more this year than any other and the season is just getting started, mostly because of the replanting, but I usually can get by with only a couple rounds of the tiller and I've already been through there four times this year. I had a nice stand of peas the last time I tilled it; the operative word here being 'had'. Last winter we had rabbits for the first time since we moved here in 1998. I suppose we've had some, we just didn't see them; but this year they are really making their presence known. They get on the porch via high steps, and climb some other ones to get onto our deck and look through the glass doors taunting our poor dog. They ate the strings off of about ten bales of grade A alfalfa hay in the machine shed and of course left 'gifts' everywhere. I told my husband he needed to nip it in the bud and get a small gave permit and then go hunting. He said they weren't hurting anything other than the taunting of the dog of course. I had visions of my garden being nibbled to the ground. Yep, my nice stand of sweet, sugar snap peas are all but gone. They are working on the lettuce and the green beans now.

Just wait until small game season rolls around again. I'll get the permit. Can you say hasenpfeffer?

Mystery Weeds!

I have mentioned that someone has to walk the fence daily to make sure it is still attached and working since deer seem to like tearing it down and sometimes those cows just don't care if they get shocked. I went around a few weeks ago and sprayed underneath the fence to kill off any weeds and grass that could grow into the wire and ground it, preventing the electricity from finishing the circuit. There were areas I couldn't spray because they were too close to water or just plain standing in water (we've had a lot of rain). Trees got in the way of the tractor too. Imagine that; trees don't just move so the tractor can get through!

I have come across some wild strawberry plants growing out there that produce all plant and almost no berry. Odd that I can't even get tame strawberries to grow in my garden but wild ones are taking over the woods and cow pasture. There are some other weeds growing too and I had to look them up to make sure they weren't really 'weed' weeds. I swear we didn't plant them. Turns out it's wild hemp, also known as a variety of pig weed, and just so you know, the ingredient that causes one to get high in the real thing, THC, is not in hemp, so trespassers beware. We won't take it lightly if you come on to our land looking for something that isn't there. Sure looks like the real thing though. What do you think?

                                                   Wild Strawberries and the 'Mystery Weed'

                                         I swear it really is wild hemp or pig weed. Looks real though.