Have people forgotten?

The other day I was thinking...does anyone really remember what this symbol above means?  I can guarantee you that if you asked a group of 100, well over half would say "it means recycle!" Actually, I'd bet 80% said recycle...

Wrong.

In actuality, it stands for the "Waste Hierarchy," and as a hierarchy, it contains an order of importance.  That order of importance is noted by the three arrows - Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle.  You see, America has a problem (among a million others); Americans like to simply throw money at a problem to solve it.  Many people are extremely lazy, but manage to pull in quite a bit of money working at their jobs.  They can't be bothered by actually taking some initiative and working, though - that's what work is for silly!  So, most people have twisted the symbol above into just meaning Recycle.  By doing this, they are eliminated the more important waste management strategies, Reduce and Reuse.

Ask most elementary-age students what they think of when they hear the word Recycle, and they'll likely answer "collecting cans and taking them to the can recycle bins" or "collecting paper and putting it in the paper recycle bins," or maybe even "collecting plastic bottles and putting them in the plastic recycle bins."  See the problem?  We've taught the younger generations that the answer to America's wasteful tendencies is to pay someone else to process it into something else.  I don't think it's necessary to tell you this, because it's pretty well known, but those recycling plants are not working for free - it costs more to recycle than it does to just trash it.

So how do we solve it?  By reinstating the 3 R's - not a "recycling" program.  Reducing our use of products is the most sure-fire way.  The next way, most often overlooked, is Reusing, and that's my "specialty" of sorts.  We can look around and reuse so much stuff that is being thrown away.  (Before I proceed, let me point out that I am FAR from what you would call a "hippy enviro-nut.")  These things are just too easy.  In the last week, I picked up a ton of cardboard being thrown out.  I ripped all the metal staples out, removed the tape, and laid down this cardboard in the garden to break down for next year.  I also picked up a ton of manure, which was sitting in a pile, smelling like crazy, and running off into who knows where.  It will be composted on top of the cardboard, with hay on top.  It sounds crazy, but I promise you it doesn't smell at all.  Then last night, I picked up a large plastic "house" type thing my friend was trashing.  It'll be a perfect compost bin.  And it looks snazzy too :D

So remember, the next time you're driving around and see 1,000 bags of leaves on the curb, stop and grab a few.  If you see a large barrel being trashed, maybe you could use it for a rain barrel...heck it doesn't even have to relate to gardening.  You can make millions of things out of barrels, scrap wood, etc.

So, I leave you with this.  The real one.

So...so...exhausted

Went and picked up another ton of horse manure today.  I'm glad the garden is almost done, because this is backbreaking work.  It will be nice when we have our own house and land and ... wait a minute.  I'll have to do this all again.  Agh!


lol


Good night all! :D

Seed buyin time...

Well, there's a TON of stuff about to happen.  It's all waiting on Wednesday (aka, payday).  So not only have I listed off the seeds I'll be buying, but I've also added a few other projects I'll be diving into.  They're not really related to gardening/homesteading, but what the heck, they're neat.

Seeds to buy:

Tomatoes
Roma
Brandywine 
Perhaps a cherry variety (not sure yet)

Cucumbers
Marketmore 76 (slicing) 
Double-yield Pickling

Beans/Peas
Mississippi Silver Crowder
Kentucky Wonder Pole
Dark Red Kidney
Black Turtle

Peppers:
Emerald Giant Peppers
Joe's Long Cayenne
Jalapeno

Potatoes
Yukon Gold
Red Pontiac

Corn
Silver Queen

Strawberries:
Jewel

Onions
Some Yellow variety, some white variety

Lettuce
Iceberg (head)
Little Gem (Romaine variety)


Broccoli
Any Kind


Carrots
Danver's Half-Long


Beets
Any kind



Another project I'll start tomorrow is building a smoker.  I'll upload some photos of the process along the way...should be fun.  It'd be nice if I had some chickens I raised, to BBQ in it.  Argh.

Another thing on the agenda is to order my Mustang parts.  If you haven't seen my other blog, I'm restoring a 1966 Ford Mustang Coupe, and I'm ordering a truckload of new suspension parts. 

Last, I need to make a couple more trips out to Venus to get some more manure.  Spring is right around the corner, and I'd better get the bed composted before it's too late.  So hopefully by Sunday I'll be done with that, because things are about to get crazy.

Have a great week everyone :-D

An Amazing Resource

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/ 

"PlantFiles is the largest plant database in the world, with information and photos for 183,506 different plants! View our 282,047 images and read our 112,742 detailed and helpful comments. Search for a plant by its common or botanical name using the green button below, or scroll down the page and browse through hundreds of popular cultivars, or search for plants by their characteristics (height, hardiness, etc.)"

This website has a TON of great information.  If you haven't seen it before, I highly recommend checking it out!!

Back to it

On the list for the next couple weeks:

Need to set up a little area where I can start some seeds.  Last year, the tomato seeds and pepper seeds did not do much, at all.  That's why we have nurseries :)  But this year I have a secret weapon - Christmas Lights.  More on that later.

While the ground is nearly ready for the garden there's a few other things that need my attention.  I'm ordering 250 feet of soaker hose off of Amazon, which will be run all over the garden.  I also need to build some trellises for the beans, and build the tomato cages.  Whew that is going to be a lot of work, in the middle of a cold cold winter.

I need to order a LOT of seeds.  I have a list in the livingroom, but I'm sitting in bed typing this and don't feel like going to get it.  Here's what I know of:

Lettuce (Romaine, Iceberg), Corn (?), Potatoes (various kinds for backing, mashing, soups), Goliath Tomatoes, Carrots (Danvers probably), Peppers (Jalapeno, Bell, Habanero, Cayenne, Ancho/Pablano), Beans (Kentucky Wonder, Crowder, need to think of some more), Strawberries (Jewel), Cucumbers (A bush slicing variety and pickling variety).  Also I'll need a huge assortment of herbs/flowers which repel bad bugs, which include: Anise, Borage, Coriander, Carraway, Mint, Peppermint, Bee Balm, Onions, Nasturtiums, and about 15 others I can't think of at the moment.

And last, sadly, I still need more manure.  I'm liking this "lasagna method" - it appears to be working great.  I just wish I had easier access to it...and a tractor, lol.

Unattainable Dreams

This is, by far, one of the most rambling-thing I've ever written.  But I feel it is very important for me to write this.  All of these thoughts over the next few paragraphs are what is going through my head in a span of about 5 minutes... Imagine what my days are like.  I don't hope for a result from the post.  I just hope that it will put my mind at ease, somewhat.

I lie awake at night, my mind racing.  Depression hurts, but this is not a normal type of depression, whatever that is.  I constantly think to myself, "What am I doing?" These dreams I have, I want them badly.  But they always seem as if they are as far apart as the sun is from the moon.  To most, I would seem a confused, mid-life crisis sort of character.  After all, I have a fantastic job, house, family...and yet I long for something more.  I can find 100 different things to do, every day, and yet I am so bored.  The time spent sitting in a porch swing could fill more books than the work done by 10 people behind a desk and computer screen.  Why?  Because it's real.  These dreams, they depress me, because I want more than a keyboard and screen that tells me I succeeded at something.  I want to feel the earth - the WHOLE EARTH - to offer up a bounty of reward, thanks to my hard work and dedication.  I want to run - run with dogs, with kids, with my best friend - and not hit a barrier.  I want to live life with the seasons, not against them.   I have almost unlimited access to nearly everything I need here, as well - but why!?  I often wonder "if it was 1am, and there were no stores to go get a package of clear plastic forks, would I really be freaking out right now?  No!  Because I wouldn't know any different, and would have no reason to worry.  I would just have to do without." 

Why do I want this so bad?  I have no idea, honestly.  Other than the fact that I have chosen to live in something that goes against the very nature of this country (or so it seems, but actually doesn't...regardless I'm making a point), I could do this in my own backyard.  I could grow some vegetables.  I could even have a few chickens.  But it just doesn't feel right.  It mentally hurts me that I am stuck here...and I am bothered by that a little - surely no one should feel like that.  I think being raised in East Texas part of my life is starting to come out, and my old self is really pissed off at my new self.  My new self wonders, though, worries about the changes that would happen with family and friends.  My new self wonders, "you don't really know if you'd like this 'other life' anyways - you would be so screwed if you changed your mind."  My new self is the voice of reason, and my old self is... me.  And for now, I will continue to want, to dream, to desire something more fulfilling, and it will continue to depress me.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.  I apologize for my insanity. :P

Frustating!

Apparently, one is supposed to plant blackberries, raspberries, and strawberries in mid-Autumn - not Spring.  So, because I didn't do enough research (which is very uncharacteristic), I likely will not be able to plant these items.  I have the room, but because I have laid down all the manure, I am fairly certain it will kill the plants, if planted.  In addition, I didn't order from www.noursefarms.com so I will have to buy them locally. 

It's not a terribly big deal, it's just that I set all that room aside for the delicious fruit I hoped to be eating next summer.  And now, it looks like I'll have none of that.  But the room has already been set aside, so I'll put something there in the spring. 


In other news, I took a huge leap of faith, and spoke with my neighbor about borrowing her land for some poultry production.  After several days (seemed like months), she responded and said she wasn't interested.  But it was worth a shot.  One little motto, if you will, that I've been going by lately is this:

“We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal, and then leap in the dark to our success.”

Henry David Thoreau

  

A blog post

Just for the sake of posting.

I wish I could type out a long post, or heck, a series of short posts...I'm just too busy & don't have enough gumption to write one.  You see, our computer has some terrible problem with it, and shuts off routinely, with no warning or anything.  It can make doing work EXTREMELY frustrating.  So I'm left with my work laptop, which takes about 20 minutes just to turn on (no thanks).

Hopefully soon I can get back to posting, catch everyone up, and hopefully somewhere along the way, some work will get done as a side effect :-D  

Knee Deep in Horse Crap

And it was great.

Well, as great as being knee-deep in partially-composted horse crap can be, I guess. Let's just say it felt really good to finally be able to do work.  Sitting in a chair, or being limited in any way, drives me crazy.

Let me explain why Sunday was a good day.  I talked to a lady who lived not to far away, about coming out and scooping up some manure and loading it for my garden.  We set up a time, got directions to her house, and I loaded up the shovels and headed out.  The directions she gave me were somewhat confusing - I knew the area well, but I could have sworn there was nothing down there but miles and miles of pasture, just past where the freeway dead-ends.
    Well, after taking a left, then a right, I realized I was on a street normally hidden from the busy freeway.  Wouldn't you know it, the name of the street was the same as my last name!   A pleasant premonition, perhaps?
    So, I made my way to Ms. Audra's barn, where I found several horses staring at me.  I can only imagine what they were thinking... Ms. Audra told me where to find the "poop piles" and wow - they were huge.  So, I started scooping, and filled up the bed of my truck.  As I was leaving, she mentioned that next time I should call her a couple days in advance, and they would just use the tractor.  Awesome.
    Back at home, I started the tedious task of unloading the manure, wheeling it to the back yard, and piling it on the cardboard.  About halfway through this process, I realized I did not have enough cardboard.  This is quite the predicament - what do you do with 250 excess pounds of horse manure?  Well, I made a big pile.  That ought to piss off a few neighbors :-)
   So, this week I'll continue my trek for composting materials.  The garden is approximately 1/3 prepped for Spring.  With fall about to hit, I should be able to throw a TON of leaves/grass on top, and get it really going. 
   Next week, I'll be putting up a fence.  I'm still not happy about the idea of a T-post / Chicken wire fence, but it is what it is.  Maybe y'all have some ideas?  It's got to be: a) less than 3' tall, b) inexpensive, c) be accessible to enter and exit through some type of gate, and d) have enough clearance to get by (without snagging) gathering vegetables.

Hmmm, that's a thinker.

I couldn't think of a way to tie this in.  So, what the heck.  Here is a picture of some Charantais melons I have growing in the back

Shamless Plug

Check out my wife's blog (below)!  She's just getting started.  Ought to see some funny stuff in there...I know because I hear about it daily!

http://khardy04.blogspot.com/

Credit

Before I start, I'll reference (again) Joel Salatin's book "You Can Farm."  If you haven't read it, trust me, it is not a book on 'here is how to milk a cow,' or 'here is how to plant potatoes' - it's more philosophical...or something.  Just read it!

So, credit.  Is it a good idea to inform the readers (and the internet) of my financial status?  Heck yes - if I can make just one person second-guess taking on any form of loan or credit, I'll be happy.  Many years ago, in high school, I was lectured and lectured by tons of people I know - NEVER GET A CREDIT CARD!  I understood why, and firmly believed what they were saying, but after a while, things got tough.  Being in college and paying for it by myself wasn't easy.  I was going through some rough times with my family, and had moved out, and did not receive any support from them (as my choice).  So, one school loan here, a second there, then a credit card to pay for something, and another for this & that.  Eventually, between Katie and I, we probably had 15-20 loans/credit cards.  It was getting out of hand, and we knew it.  The way credit card companies operate, if you aren't aware, is to have you pay a minimum payment.  This minimum payment is the devil.  The minimum payment will keep your credit happy, sure.  Why wouldn't they be happy with you paying them a ton of extra money?  With the minimum due, you're paying primarily the interest that the account is generating per month.  If you're only paying interest - you'll never pay it off.

Now, the link.  We drove by a beautiful property that has been for sale for several years.  It's right across the street from our church, is in a good neighborhood, and actually borders a locally-famous farm here.  They have recently been cleaning it up and making it prettier, to sell it quicker.  On the new sign, they have offered financing for the property, and it started a conversation between Katie and I.

With financing a property to be used as a farm, you take on a different situation than financing a house (mortgage).  It would be nice if we could all pay cash for our homes, but if it's not possible (and for most people it is not), the owners work to pay off the house.  As they make payments, they lose money, but gain equity, so it's not really a loss, if it's paid off quickly.

Now, for a large property to be farmed, the income is derived from the farm.  If the property is not paid for, the income goes directly back to the bank, which then gains the owner equity.  Problem is, a lot of these properties are massively expensive.  The owners are then strapped down to the farm, and it becomes like a prison to them.

...now, a breather and an exclaimer:  This does not mean someone cannot finance a farm, and pay for it farming.  It doesn't mean they're going to feel locked in a prison.  These are just a few of the people I have talked to, who do things "the way we have always done them" simply because.  Heck, a lot of people think if you're making $200 per acre per year, you're making a good profit.  Insane.

The moral to all this is, and this is just as much for me as it is for the readers, is to be smart about your finances.  I don't claim to be any type of financial genius.  I just know, by the end of the year, we will have paid off another 3 credit cards.  We've taken, in less than 2 years, our total debt from around $217,000 to $166,000 (with most of that being debt actually being the mortgage).  A lot of people congratulate me on that, but honestly, I hate that.  It never should have been that bad.  We have come a long way, and I can only wonder how far we would be if we did not pay all the ugly interest that goes along with it.  I know that in some cases, it's absolutely necessary.  There's no way I could have gotten a job in my field without a degree.  But it sure makes me cringe every time I pay that bill.

With that, I'll end the rambling for the evening.  But, I'll mention this post might lead to another, dealing with leasing.  And chickens.  And cows.  Baby cows.  :-P

Goodnight all!

The Homesteader's Rifle

As most of the readers of this blog know, I like to hunt.  Hunting is a very important aspect of our environment, but it gets a bad rap.  As with most things, the few bad things make the news, and people react in an uproar.  However, most hunters are conservationists and strongly disagree with poaching, over harvesting, and illegal marketing of pelts/meat.  Hunting is important because it helps keep the animal population in control.  In Texas, the number of whitetail deer are closely monitored by game wardens, civilians, and Texas State Biologists, so their numbers do not get out of hand.  Ever hear about someone hitting a deer in their car?  That happens a lot here in Texas, and the State tries to balance the fine line between over harvesting, and keeping the public safe.  It's not an easy job.

With Fall fast approaching, it's time for deer (and several other animals, for that matter) to begin their annual mating.  This coincides with the beginning of most hunting seasons.  While watching a video about hogs yesterday (I am determined to get a hog this year), I ran across a video that brought up something called "The Dog Bowl Theory."  The author had a very interesting point.  He stated that if a domesticated dog were brought to the wilderness and released, it would likely die.  The domesticated dog does not know how to get food - he knows that food magically comes from the food bowl.  Now picture humans and grocery stores: an eerie resemblence.  There are millions of people in the US that have never seen a cow, hog, or chicken butchered.  What if, tomorrow, there were no grocery stores.  Poof: gone.  What would people do?  If I had to guess, I would say most would simply starve to death.  Another small percentage would probably die of poisoning (thanks to poisonous or contaminated food).  I don't mean this to be a doom & gloom post, but the sad fact is, a lot of people have no idea how their food gets to their dinner plate.  Heck, they don't know how it gets to the Styrofoam tray covered in cling-wrap.

So why do I bring all this up, related to hunting?  Well, I made a purchase recently :-D.  I purchased what I consider to be the all-American all-around perfect gun.  The Marlin 30-30.  This small lever-action rifle is powerful enough to take literally any animal in the United States (seriously, they have killed everything from bobcats to Moose with this tiny thing).  It's a valuable tool if one has access to hunting land, as it can cheaply provide meat.  I paid an amount so small for this mint-condition rifle, I feel bad about posting the price.  Hopefully it will pay for itself soon - it already has provided a bit of protection when today, 7 cops showed up in our neighborhood looking for someone on the loose who was feared could break into a house to get away. 

So let's say I kill a average sized deer and hog.  That's going to be over 120 lbs. of meat, easily.  We like to use most of the deer (along with a bit of the hog for the fat content) for hamburger meat.  That's a lot of hamburger meat we do not need to buy at the store.  And it tastes exactly the same as ground beef, in my opinion.   Maybe a very slight (nearly unnoticeable) spicy flavor to it.  Then we use the rest of the pork for sausage.  Mmm, you cannot beat Spicy Sausage that you harvested and made yourself.  If only there were wild cows, we'd have it made!   Mmm wild rib-eye! 

To make this purchase, I sold my shotgun to come up with the cash.  I like shotguns for a lot of reasons, but I am not an avid bird hunter.  If I ever want to go bird hunting, I'm easily able to borrow a shotgun from a friend or family member.  So I figure the good outweighs the bad.

Here is an image of the rifle, though not my exact one.

Until another day, happy shooting!

Firewood Time

I really need to get an actual firewood schedule lined up.  We have been cutting it in the summer for the past several years.  After our annual Hurricane in East Texas, we go cut up the downed trees - thanks to Mother Nature for making things a little easier.

However, this is a silly approach, and actually a bad idea.  The wood does not have time to properly season from June/July to December.  I think what we'll have to start doing is going to cut during Spring Break, in March. 

We also did not get to cut for a variety of reasons this year (the broken foot, the grandpa's arm surgery, etc.), but hopefully we'll have enough from last year to last a while.  To tell you the truth, I know we won't, because this Winter is supposed to be exceptionally cold. 

As for now, no time to cut firewood.  It's time to scoop poop!

I'M BACK!

FINALLY!  It seemed like an eternity, but I'm finally back on my feet.  I won't say it's 100%, but it's really close.  Enough to allow me, at the very least, to walk to the kitchen and do simple tasks.  Probably another week of taking it easy, and then I'll be back on the search for manure, hay, and other organic stuff to throw in the garden. 

Till another day, Yippee!

Ahh, September.  Not my favorite month, but up there.  This year is off to a great start though.  The weather has turned cool, the Rangers are in the hunt for the playoffs, and ... oh wait, still can't walk.  But I do really enjoy the cooler weather!

Here's a great video series (just going to post the links) about Polyface Farm.  I really want to go there!!

Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYWYU5V8JOo

Part 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfw2ybbRTYs

Part 3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrxmgR-vYms

Melancholy

I hate to say I am depressed, because that is not really the word to describe it.  I just feel so helpless and useless.  Having a broken foot is awful.  Since I last posted, in addition to completing...nothing... I have had a follow-up in which I learned my foot has not healed, at all.  He said I'm looking at another 2-3 weeks on crutches. 

I have been too unhappy to come post on here, because there's not really anything to post about.  Heck, I haven't even been in the garden.

Eventually I'll be back on my feet, working in the garden.  Until then, stay safe and garden extra for me :-D

Dangit

It WAS broken.




On the other side of that, I played an inning of softball with a broken foot.  That's pretty beastly, haha. Possibly stupid, too, though.

Working in the garden is about impossible...

When you have a broken foot :(

Still not 100% sure if it is broken, but it sure feels, and looks, broken.  Will probably give it a day or so to calm down and get some X-rays on it.  Really sucks :( 

I got NAILED in the foot on a throw from the outfield in our softball game.  Just a really dumb mistake on my part...so, just about everything is on hold, now.





hahaha, who do you think I am?!  Yea right!  Not working for me is, frankly, ludicrous.  I'll use my crutches and find a way to get around.  Probably won't be doing real intensive tasks, but, I'll do something, that's for sure.

Stay safe out there people!

I love the heat

But come on...at least give us some rain or something!

I had a clever idea the other day.  I called a horse boarding facility.  Of course they were ecstatic someone wanted to come take some manure.  So looks like Saturday I will get another truckload and bring it home.  The only problem now is finding more cardboard and newspaper. 

Until later, keep cool!

Set at 150 and bake for 7 months

Lasagna!

Well, somewhat.  More like the most disgusting version of lasagna ever.  A layer of newspaper/cardboard, a layer of cow manure and rabbit manure, followed by a layer of hay.  In 6 or 7 months, I'll till it into the ground, as it will have (hopefully) composted into rich, nutrient-filled soil.  I still hope to get a few (3? 4?) chickens in the early spring to go through the garden one last time, devouring pests and pulling up weeds.  Speaking of devouring, I'll also order 1000 Lacewing eggs and 1500 ladybugs from somewhere (like Amazon.com).  That should take care of some of the pests.

Here's how the lasagna gardening went:

1) Spend hours gathering a lot of crap

2) Lay newspaper on ground.  Pile crap on top.  Pile hay on top of that.

3) Finished lasagna garden!

Also, I did it again.  I changed the plot layout.  I know, it's sad :(  I'm too much of a perfectionist.  But, to be fair, I only did so to incorporate more companion plants and to move the corn far away from the tomatoes, which is bad pest-wise.  More on that later, though.  The prep for 2011 is coming along nicely.  Just need to track down a lot of manure.  All that above (about 1 truck load) covered slightly less than 1/4 of the garden.  Lots to go.  

Eh, what the heck

I planted some corn.  It's the "late" variety, so I really don't know if it will do anything.  But why not, right?

Also my cucumbers are finally growing well after I hand-pollinated them.  I picked them too early last time, so this time I'll wait till they're very dark green.

Well, I am tired.  It's nearly 11:00 and I've been following the drama at the courthouse in downtown Ft. Worth for the past 14 hours or so. 

http://twitter.com/aandro

Good night.

We know what you are and we don't like it.

Farmer.
Redneck.
Idiot.
Dirty.
Low-class.

I'm tired of it.  It hurts, to be honest.  I am tired of the negative judgment farmers get when they just want to do their job.  Maybe we farmers have a negative judgment about you!  Probably not though...we're nice people.

I'm always amazed by the responses & looks I get when people see things I am doing, usually when "prepping" a garden.

That's a lot of work, why would you do all that?
That was a nice lawn, why did you mess it up?
Why are you getting manure to put on your garden?  That's disgusting.
Why don't you just buy fertilizer?
Why why why why?

Aggravating.  The so-called "city-slickers" are always appalled when farmers scoff at them.  It's not to say the farmers are doing things the appropriate ways either - many farmers have disgraced the business of farming for years to come, and it will take effort on both sides to win the other over.  For example, let's run through 4 quick answers from the above questions:

1) Work is part of life.  Being lazy in life is one of the most wasteful things one could do with a life.
2) A "nice lawn" cracks me up.  I have realized Americans are so perverted in what we call "wealth" (which is not really wealth, but that's a different discussion altogether).  We bask in the greatness of our green lawn, which we pour hundreds or thousands of dollars into every year, to gain _______.  That's right.  Absolutely nothing.  Except praise and bragging.
3) Manure is smelly.  So how do you get rid of it?  You can let it sit by itself, where bacteria will soon enter it, cause diseases to run off when it rains, getting into the soil, plants, and eventually entering your environment in some way.  Or, you can take that manure, properly compost it so it heats up, kills bad bacteria, and place this compost on a garden bed, which will properly fertilize the garden as God wanted.
4) I don't know - would you eat meat that was 2 years old, but was treated with a chemical so it was "still edible?"


So maybe I'm standing on my soapbox now, screaming a little too loudly.  I am just tired of it though.  People do not like things different, simply because they do not like things different.  It's the dumbest argument I've ever heard, but people stand by it. 

So most of this above was for prepping a garden.  This is like, I dunno, 1/12th of what a farmer will normally do.  So I could go on, but I won't.  Instead, I will go to sleep and wake tomorrow, with this in the back of my mind.  I'll do what I do while people look on, and I'll do it with a proud but heavy heart.

For real

I need to stay on top of blogging...


So today is hot.  How hot?  106 degrees hot.  Frankly, though, I love the heat.  I don't work outside all the time, because I don't want to injure myself, but I do work for 15-30 minutes, then rest for 30 minutes.  I think it's a Texas thing...we just love the heat.

So what have I been doing?  Working on the super large garden, of course.

First, we staked out the "plot" - 35' x 23' - and and edged out the perimeter:

Don't let the tiller in the above picture fool you - it broke 4 times, and I was too tired to pull it out of bed (those things are heavy!)

Next, after fixing the tiller (which took way too long), I started tilling.  Tilling is some dang hard work!  But, with a lot of muscle and sweat, I got it tilled, for the most part.

Cultivating with a tiller makes for somewhat light-work, but it doesn't do it all.  If you're still new at gardening, cultivating essentially gathers the soil several inches down, pulls it to the top, and in the process pulls weeds from the stronghold in the dirt.  This, then, kills the weeds.  Supposedly you can leave the weeds there and they'll eventually go back into the ground or blow away, but I hate weeds.  I rake them together then burn them.  Die weeds die!  Hahaha

Today I also came across something incredible - the power of a useful tool!  I think we all have something like this:

But, as many of us know, this tool can be one of the must frustrating to use.  It can feel like you're swinging a sledgehammer, somehow trying to dislodge a weed - how the heck!?!?  Well, believe it or not, lower-priced hoes do not come ready-for-use.  You definitely need to spend a few minutes sharpening the edge.  I spent about 5 minutes putting a grinding (at a 45 degree angle) the edge of the shovel and took it out for a run. 

Wow!  What a difference.  It easily chopped 3" under the soil level to kill the weeds.  There was no more whacking away with all my strength.  It made the job 100 times easier. 

Well that's all for now.  Time for dinner  :-D  

Buy this!

This is such a fantastic book.  The only thing I didn't like about it was the Title.  It's not really a "how-to" per se, when it comes to physically farming, but rather a change in the long-time approach of farming.  You can read some it it here on Amazon.  But I really urge you to buy it! 

Relax

Ludovico's got this:



I am loving this composer.  I heard a song of his the other day - his music is so relaxing, and yet, so bone-chilling.  Take a few minutes, sit back,  (ignore the video if you want, it's kind of weird), and relax.

Rut

Ugh.  I'm tired.  Tired of work, tired of the same thing, over and over.

Anyways...on to Thursday. 

Getting ready!

I picked up a landscape edger today, and ordered the landscape fabric.  I have finally done it; I've created the perfect garden!  Haha, well maybe not.  But it is a pretty good design, if I say so myself, and at least it fits my yard/slope/location well.  Below is the layout of my garden.  It didn't scan well because pencil & paper isn't the clearest thing in the world.  Oh well.

Click to Enlarge

From Blog Photos

Some things I have written on the bottom of the picture:

245 Corn plants
110 Bean plants
5 Blackberry plants
5 Raspberry plants
45 Potato plants
22 Pepper plants
16 Tomato plants
7x5 Strawberry bed (not sure on # of plants)

Also scattered throughout the garden I will have lots of Onions, Borage, Carrots, Marigolds, Nasturtiums, and anything else I can think of that will keep pests away.  If you haven't looked into Borage, do it!  That stuff is amazing!

Not much new on the chickens.  I did talk to a realtor who kind of gave me half of what I was looking for.  She did write that a maintained coop would not cause the resale value of a nearby house to drop.  That's good info.

100th blog post

Took a while longer than I had hoped, but here it is: the 100th blog post. 

I've been monitoring the corn pretty closely lately.  I picked an ear today, but it very small and not done.  I also picked several carrots and a funky looking cucumber.   The cucumbers did not pollinate well (nearly at all), so I went out with a little paintbrush and pollinated them by hand.  Not sure how it will turn out, but hopefully well.

There is also some really big news on the horizon!  I'm currently writing up a paper which I will be presenting at our HOA meeting.  I'm both terrified and excited.  I have a lot of points I would like to cover, but due to time constraints, I have 4 main ones.  Here's the paper/outline below.  It's not completely done, but mostly.

___________________________________________________________

Raising Chickens

Introduction

Noise

On a normal day, in our neighborhood, we hear helicopters, airplanes, dogs barking, children, cars and trucks driving by, sprinklers, lawnmowers, and sounds from the pool and the park.

A hen produces very little noise.  Normally people think of the morning crow of a rooster, however, these are not allowed in Arlington.  A hen makes a soft clucking noise, which is not usually audible beyond 25 ft.  The loudest a hen gets is after laying an egg – which occurs one time a day (or less) for a few minutes.

Smell

Chickens themselves do not smell.  Chicken manure does have the potential to smell, which is also true of cats, dogs, and other pets.

A medium-sized dog will generate, on average, 0.75 lb. of manure or feces a day.  A medium sized (4 lb.) hen generates, on average, 0.05 lb. per day.  Obviously, with Arlington’s maximum of 4 chickens (0.20 lbs./day), this would still pale in comparison to the amount of feces a dog produces. 

In addition, a dog’s waste contains harmful bacteria and parasites, such as roundworms, tapeworms, and hookworms.  Chicken waste is “compostable” unlike other pet manures, which means it will easily and safely break down organically into the Earth.

Why do people think of odor when they think of chickens?  This answer could vary greatly, but the most likely answer is because many of us have been to a farm or large commercial operation where chickens are processed.  Many of these places are poorly-ventilated, crowded, and not maintained properly.

Arlington Ordinances and Structure

Section 5.02 Keeping of Fowl

A person commits an offense if he:

A. Keeps or maintains more than four (4) fowl on one-half (1/2) acre or less or at a distance closer than fifty feet (50') from any habitation located on another's property; or

E. Fails to keep any fowl of the Order Galliformes [this includes chickens] contained within a coop or pen.

F. Keeps or maintains roosters except in an area zoned as agricultural.

Basically:

A person cannot have more than 4 hens on ½ acre or less.  They must keep the hens 50’ away from a house on another person’s property.  They must be contained within a coop/pen.  And last, no roosters!

The structures above are clearly small.  Chickens require very little space to roam and sleep.  An average sized doghouse is plenty big enough for multiple hens to sleep in, and a hen needs about 6-8 square feet of roaming space.  This is smaller than a 3’ x 3’ fenced in section – incredibly small.

Property Values

Here I will be placing several (2 or 3) letters from local Realtors stating chickens are no more negative to a property-value than a poorly maintained dog house, etc.

Closing

Raising hens offers our neighborhood a unique opportunity to raise animals which are intelligent, social, entertaining, low-maintenance, clean, and quiet.  They’re quieter than nearly every noise we hear through our community, and cleaner than most family pets. 

Most everyone here cares for this community and shows it by maintaining the neighborhood and keeping it beautiful.  I wouldn’t expect that with raising hens it would be any different, so I ask you all to consider overturning the HOA regulations on prohibiting chickens.

Appendices

Appendix A:

Suggested Additional Ordinances

a.       No coop shall exceed 6 feet above grade and must allow for a footprint of at least 2 square feet per chicken housed in the coop.  The maximum single coop footprint size is 40 square feet.  Coops must be located in the rear yard of the lot.  Coops must be kept clean, sanitary, and free from standing water at all times.

b.      Maximum number of chickens allowed per residential lot is 4 hens.  No roosters are permitted.

So, as you can see I have some work to do, but hopefully it'll go over well.  I'm appalled by some of the great papers people have written and put online.  Using that info and my own, maybe I can channel debate from high school and come out on top.  

Peek-a-boo

Uh wow

(Note the yellow flags.  The one on the left is hidden in the shadow)

So I went out and measured carefully, and staked out the new garden.  It's a whole lot bigger than I previously had measured (that's what I get for measuring by benchmarks rather than an actual measuring tape).

As you can see, it dwarfs the 8' x 5' corn/beans/squash bed.  A little comparison: 8 x 5 is 40 sq. ft.  The new garden is 840 sq. ft, or, 21 times larger.  Awesome!

Here's how much width it takes up, from the back fence to the house:

Really pretty sky today :-)

It is 16 inches from the fence on the left.  And at 24' long, it is slightly more than half the width of the backyard.  Also notice the window in the top right, of the neighbors upstairs.  Hope they enjoy looking at corn and tomatoes, haha.

What to think

I hear people say sometimes, "I just don't know what to think.". That statement came to me with an unfortunate event last night.  The Rabbit with No Name was apparently killed by one of our dogs sometime in the last couple days.  I went outside to find Sparky the dog trapped in the rabbit's pen, and I saw the hutch door open.  Walking over I saw the rabbit dead under the hutch. 
 
It was partially my fault; I left the door unlocked (but closed) when I went to go get a new lock, and forgot to re-lock it.  I take the blame on the rabbit getting out.  

But you know, when I found the rabbit and the dog, I was not as distraught as I would have been, say, 10 years ago.  The rabbits was a livestock animal and did his job of providing manure well.  Can't blame the dog, really, as he is a dog and that's what dogs do.  It's unfortunate that the rabbit is gone, but I have a different outlook on it now.  Of course, this could all be because I am obviously older now, but I think part of it has to do with all the reading of these farming books.  The death of an animal, while sad, is part of life on the farm.

Katie ended up going to the store and buying me You Can Farm by Joel Salatin after I probably annoyed her with my raving about how great it was, last night.  Lol, she's the best.  I love this book.  

So, onto some less farmy news.  As I mentioned in my last post, I'm at a technology conference in downtown Dallas.  Have I ever mentioned how much I hate Dallas?  We just don't get along.  Dallas is not my style; Ft. Worth is more fitting.  But anyways, I've noticed there's a lot of "green" movement among major corporations.  While this is good, I see a lot of it as fake marketing dribble.  

 Alright, well, the Rangers are on and it is pouring outside.  Time to sit on the couch in a fort of pillows and have a good evening.  

Pardon me, may I have some manure?

Last night, I spent a good part of 2 hours reading Joel Salatin's book You Can Farm.  What an amazing book.  I only read through a few chapters (I didn't buy the book but instead, read it in a Border's store, hehe), but I just find myself repeating "yes!" and "exactly!" to the opinionated paragraphs.  

Still need manure for the new garden.  I do have some funny news though.  Every year, our church's youth group goes on a Choir Mission trip where they do work and sing at churches in the area.  To raise money for these events, they have a "servant auction" fundraiser, where you can bid on them (making a donation to the trip) and they will come work for you.  So I bid on two high school guys to come help me shovel and till.  I plan on getting a lawn chair and several glasses of lemonade, hahaha.  But honestly, that is stinkin hard work, so I'll be helping till the 700+ sq. ft. garden and adding manure and soil amendments to it.  

As for now, I'm sitting in downtown Dallas at a technology conference, and it's time to go home.  I'm tired and have been sitting in seminars all day.  Time for a nap.     

Yum!

Just had some Gold Yukon potatoes from our garden (smothered in onions, bacon, cheese, and butter), and some of our farm-raised chicken, smoked on the grill for an hour or so.


Chicken Rub

Potatoes

As for now, back to the drawing board (literally) for next years garden.  I kind of wish I could have it done soon (well, instantly would be nice) so I could plant the fall garden.  But, great soil is not made overnight.   

6 long, hot days

I have been all over the central and east part of Texas.  While I had a blast, I'm GLAD to be home and cannot wait to sleep in my own bed.  I'll definitely write up a long post about it, but I thought I would share why the lack of posts.

As far as the gardening side of things, a big thanks to my Mother-in-law for looking after the garden and animals (and the house) while we were gone.  She also pulled a couple tomatoes that were ripe and needed to be picked.  Can't wait to try another one, but this one I won't eat by itself.  I'll put it in a salad or something. 

This week (along with 150 other things) I am going to try to work on preparing the super-large bed.  I need lots of soil amendments and cover crops for this fall/winter. 

Until then, time for a nap.

Speaking of tomatoes

I ate one of my own today.  It was good; albeit a little strange.  Afterall, I haven't eaten a tomato in years and years.

Sort of had a gel-paste type taste, around the edge of the tomato.  The area closer to the "core" of the tomato was more liquid-y.

Anyways, hopefully there will be more to try in the coming days.  Hopefully this will help me get back on the track of eating veggies!

Also, more on the "expansion:"

I set out this year with one goal of using the Square Foot Gardening technique, as it has many advanatages.  Halfway through the year, I am impressed with it, but I also realize with a little more work, and a lot less money, one could drastically improve the yield of one's garden.  Nothing personal, SFG, you're just a lot of $$. 

So, I'm been messing around (like always) with drawing up new plans, erasing old plans, erasing new plans, and starting over again, and I'm thinking about putting in several rows.  Cultivating, adding minerals and soil ammendments, more cultivating, cover cropping, more minerals and ammendments, more cultivating, and then plowing.  Lot of work, but I believe this may be the 2011 plan.  We'll see.  As for now, I need to work on a way to make it look somewhat nice.  After all, if you aren't pleased with how your garden looks, you probably won't be as eager to be in it, which defeats the purpose, in my humble opinion.

Tomatoes!

I had heard from my grandpa several times about his friend George's amazing tomatoes.  Still though, it seemed to be a slight stretch of the imagination.  I mean, no tomatoes could be that big...

Well, I WAS WRONG!  I finally got to go out to George's house and check it out.  I took some pictures to show you all a size comparison.

Below is Katie standing next to the plants.  Katie is 5'3" to give you some perspective.







Here is the 2 rows of his tomatoes, along with some peas and elephant garlic (on the left) that he grows.



So, some stats.  Some absolutely ridiculous stats:

Every other day, George goes out and picks the ripe tomatoes.  On average, he picks over 200 lbs. of tomatoes EVERY DAY!!

The tomato plants are, on average,  7 feet tall.  He waters them 13 hours out of the day (which he said raised his water bill $100 a month! lol).  The average size of these tomatoes is about the size of a softball.  They are big and they taste good!

So, what's the secret to growing these?  Well, I won't give all the details, but I will say this (and you can search the internet for the rest) - Epsom Salt.

We had a blast out at George's beautiful place.  When you think of the perfect garden, this comes pretty close.  He had (if I remember this correctly) 13 Peach trees, 13 Pecan trees, tomatoes, Elephant Garlic, patio tomatoes, peas, squash, and peppers.  Not to mention a beautiful house and property.

As for me, it's time to get to bed and enjoy the rest of my vacation!

Impatient

Say, what's that there?

Why, it's a carrot (of edible size!)!





That's better, a little cleaned up so I can...



Well that did not last long.

What to do with the rest?



"Thank you, kind sir." says The Rabbit With No Name.

Hot

103 degrees.



But, we have a pool and a bounce house outside (random, I know...?)

Apparently there's a block party today.  Of course, no one knew about it, no one got an invitation, and it's scheduled on a day that could fry eggs on the sidewalk.  Awesome.

2 quotes

1 of which I made up...

"Expanding 10% takes 100% more work."

For this reason, I'm in trouble!  haha...Actually the planning is going well.  I am working on ordering some plants that are extremely hard to find.  I'll update that when I have an answer, though.


The other quote, an old proverb, is: "A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow."  I need to focus on this.  I'm a perfectionist, so doing things where they do not reach optimal working conditions really hacks me off.  I'm also extremely frugal.  This is what makes me a good engineer, and (probably) an annoying person, lol.  For example, I figured out how to save approximately 8 feet of PVC pipe, by routing it in a different manner/direction.  It probably would have cost me like $2.00 extra for 8' of PVC.  I don't care, I like saving money :-D


Thanks for stopping by!

Getting warmer...

It's supposed to be 102 this weekend...and June is just getting started. 

Not much of interest on the garden.  I pulled some onions, and they were tiny.  If I had to guess, I'd say I planted them too deep.  But honestly I'm not sure why they're small.  The rest of the stuff is doing it's thing.  I have like 5 or 6 tomatoes now!  What a shock, since I thought they were all dead, lol.

Oh! Potatoes!

I'll remind you, I planted 6 seed potatoes in the really nice SFG soil.  I also planted 6 seed potatoes in the awful, clay filled, never taken care of flower garden by the back door.  Well wouldn't you know it, the potatoes that came from the terrible garden were just as good, if not better, than the ones in the SFG!  Also, some (more) bad news about the potatoes in the Square Foot Garden.  Remember how they all turned yellow and died?  Apparently that is not normal.  At first I was thinking it was potato blight.  I was told though, that it was way too early to be blight.  What is it?  I have no idea, still.  It might be blight.  If it is, though, the blight did not infect the potatoes, but rather stunted their growth.  That's why they were somewhat small.

Anyways, I'll be watching more carefully in a couple months when I plant for the fall.  Speaking of which, I have a LOT of work to do, with getting the beds ready, putting up new fencing, and ordering seeds. 

Oh yea, I do have one more idea I've been throwing around in the old noggin.  I'm tempted, really tempted, to get 1 or 2 chickens (even though they're blatantly outlawed :-P ), to use as "pest control" in the spring, before any planting is done.  Basically, I would put them in the garden, turn them loose, and let them eat bugs till their heart's content.  Then, what to do with them?  I have no idea.

Growing

 

Days in the ground
Plant	# Days
Lettuce	112
Potatoes	85
Carrots	85
Onions	85
Peas	71
Nasturtiums	71
Tomatoes	54
Bell Peppers	54
Rosemary	54
Green Beans	54
Cucumbers	54
Corn	50
Beans	50
Strawberries	50
Squash	50
Charantais Melon	15

 Well, like I said in my last post about the garden, I used a fertilizer on Friday, May 14th.  It has made such a difference, and it gives me hope that the vegetables will do alright after all.  The beans - wow.  They developed their "runners" a few days ago and they are off to the races.  They're climbing approximately 4-5" a day.  I'm sure I could sit there and watch them grow.
I've also been doing a little planning for next year.  I guess it's never to early (actually, it probably is :-D).  The fence is in pretty bad shape, but is holding its own for now.  I'll be putting up T-posts and 2' chicken wire all the way around.  I hope to expand the SFG beds, to somewhere between 4 and 6 beds (the problem there is, I need to come up with stuff to put in those beds).  But I'll also be putting in a few long&narrow beds.  These will be used for blackberries and grapes.  Yum!

In addition, I was reading an issue of some magazine, I forget which one, and it had a picture of one man's SFGs.  He had cleverly laid down soaker hoses all throughout each of his beds, and hooked it up to a PVC pipe on the corner of the bed.  He then ran all these PVC pipes to one central location, and connected this to a garden hose.   So he was able to water 4 beds simultaneously, and since he used soaker hoses, he helped prevent against fungal diseases on the leaves.  Very cool!

Processing a Chicken, part 2.

Caution: there are some graphic photos.  If you're not interested in seeing them, don't scroll down.

It was time for round 2:


The thirteen remaining chickens sat in their pen, quite a bit larger than the last time we saw them...which was weird, because it had only been 1 week.



Into the holding pen they go, and they were none too thrilled.



But, they're really not that fast.  3 were quickly secured by zip-ties around their legs.



Sister is helping too!



You put each chicken in a "cone" made of sheet metal, upside down.  It keeps them from flapping around.  Also, it drains the chicken of blood which is not only cleaner, but safer regarding bacteria.  Woot.



You cut their neck, swiftly.  It kills them instantly, though the body jolts around for a few seconds due to involuntary muscle spasms dealing with the nervous system.  I'm not a vet, though.  That's just an educated guess.

Somehow we missed getting a picture of the scalder, but you can figure it out.  You dip the dead bird into a giant tub of water around 150 degrees, for a few seconds.  This helps loosen the feathers.

We then plucked the feathers, in a 2-part approach.  We'd run the Clucker Plucker briefly to strip most of the smaller feathers, and then pull the rest by hand.



And as promised to so many people (cough cough, family members who doubted this would ever work, cough cough) video proof.



Though I will say, this was one of the first times we used it, and it took me a few tries to get it right.  Eventually I'd have the whole bird done in ~30 seconds or less.

Next was the eviscerating.  The basic approach was:
1) Cut off head
2) Cut off feet at "knee" knuckle-bone.
3) Separate membrane around neck and crop, esophagus, and trachea
4) Cut below keel bone and open to inside of chicken.  Work hands (carefully!) around innards pulling them away from membrane lining.
5) When innards are loose from inside, pull out through the open area you cut above.  If possible, pull crop along with tubes.  If not, cut them and pull them from the top.
6) Leave everything still attached, and cut tail off.  Be sure not to hit gland inside tail.
7) Cut out gizzard, heart, and livers.  Be extremely careful not to nick the gall bladder.  If you do, green bile will pour out all over the place, and anything it touches is ruined.
8) Pull lungs out
9) Pull kidneys out.
10) Wash bird and chill.

Part of the eviscerating:



Completed chicken:



Later, I cut up some chicken into pieces, and we had a nice meal :)



Wash, rinse, and repeat!

Lots to get to

As if anything ever slowed down around here...might take a few sittings to get through this entire post.

Around the Farm:
It has, unfortunately, been over a month since I posted the "Days in the Ground" table.  Feel kind of bad about that.  But anyways, what's done is done, and below are the current stats:

Days in the ground
Plant	# Days
Lettuce	107
Potatoes	80
Carrots	80
Onions	80
Peas	66
Nasturtiums	66
Tomatoes	49
Bell Peppers	49
Rosemary	49
Green Beans	49
Cucumbers	49
Corn	45
Beans	45
Strawberries	45
Squash	45

Charantais Melon                10

As you can see, the lettuce has been in the ground over 100 days.  The Lettuce has been an interesting adventure.  It began by getting 12" of snow dumped on it, and had some trouble getting going.  But once it did start, it grew very well.  I have learned this year that it grows A LOT better when you give it A LOT of water.  Who'da thunk it?  Even so, it did not perform as well as hoped, with only 3 plants really producing any lettuce of eating size.  The worst news of all is, it didn't really taste good.  I mean, sure Lettuce isn't supposed to taste like a T-Bone steak, but it had a bitter-type taste to it.  Could have also been that the leaf I had was not the freshest, and I normally would eat it with carrots, salad dressing, etc.  I chalk this up to a half-success.  Next year I will grow it in a slightly different location getting better sunlight, and it will be in a cold frame (can't wait to finish building that).

Next, potatoes.  Wow, what a crazy vegetable.  In the Square Foot Gardens (SFGs) I planted 6 total plants - 3 Red Noreland and 3 Yukon Gold.  The Red Norland immediately shot out of the ground, followed a couple weeks later by the Yukon Gold.  I noticed the Red Noreland plants appeared to be turning yellow above ground, and slightly brown/black.  As far as I can tell, this meant they were "done" growing.  The stalks and leaves eventually all shriveled up and died, and when I pulled 2 Red Noreland plants, I had 14 potatoes.  More on that later.  Overall, I think these went pretty well.  Still eager to see how the rest of the potatoes will do.  In addition, I planted 6 "test cases" (3 of each) in a clay filled bed, with really poor soil, and I really did not pay much attention to it, other than watering it when I remembered.  After pulling up 3 of those plants, I found potatoes that were just as good or better than the SFG's.  Needless to say, that was surprising.  Encouraging, though.  Hopefully next year will yield more potatoes per plant, as opposed to 1 or 2 per plant this year. 


The carrots are confusing me.  2 squares, same soil, same water, same location in sunlight.  And yet, one is producing very well, while one is not.  After checking one today, it is about 1/2 the size of my wife's pinky finger - not very big. 

The onions - not too much to say about these.  They appear to be growing well, though I need to dust off the top level of soil so they will expand.

I had a beautiful red bloom on one of the Nasturtiums this morning.  Dang, I really wish I had taken a picture of that.  It's gone now, unfortunately, but it sure looked good!

Tomatoes & Peppers - you suck.  Supposedly easy to grow and very tolerant, they have been a complete failure.  I'm not terribly upset about it though.  This isn't to say they're done for the year, but they are nowhere near where they need to be.
*edit* As I wrote this a few days ago, something amazing happened - two tomatoes showed up!  They really look like peppers, so I'm kind of confused, but I'll let them keep growing and we'll see how they turn out.  Pretty cool :)  Bell Peppers though, are still producing nothing.

Rosemary - Well to be honest, I wasn't even sure if this was planted.  I spilled the seed pack, haha, so I was *hoping* one just happened to land where it needed.  Haven't seen anything.


Beans & Peas - The Green Beans are growing very well, albeit a tad short.  They have just produced runners and starting to climb.  The Peas have been hit by bugs very badly.  They still seem to be growing but it must be hard when you're being targeted above everything else by the insects.  After putting down a fertilizer (more about that later) they SHOT up, from approximately 3" tall to approximately 7" tall in just a few days.  Amazing.

Cucs and Corn - Growing well, but still early.  Eager to see how these turn out.

Strawberries - I don't really know, to be honest.  I still think that I may have just planted a bunch of dead strawberries, but on the other hand, I have a lot of "green stuff" growing there.  It might be weeds.  I have no idea.

Squash - Eh.  I just don't know yet; the verdict is still out.  Some really bad winds broke them over but they appeared to recover.  They have flowered, but they are FAR from the size of other people's plants.  They were planted a tad too late, but they really should be doing better.

Cantaloupes - Just planted these a few days ago.  I put some stones behind the plant so they will absorb some heat, which melons love.  They had a few sprouts, but pests attack one of them.  I can't wait for these.  Really hopeful these turn out well.


Livestock

First off, the rabbit.  I just do not know about this guy.  To be honest it seems like he has turned more into a pet.  Reason being, the manure he produces, when dried and put into the garden, merely attracts TONS of pests and they end up killing plants.  That's definitely not what I wanted.  So, that leaves 1) figuring out what to do with a ton of manure, or 2) breeding him for meat/selling rabbits.

While breeding him with a doe may not be extremely difficult, it's the sweltering weather in Texas I am worried about.  Not to mention needing a market for the rabbit and/or meat, governmental restrictions on selling meat, etc.   Not sure how that would go, but it would be an undertaking to say the least.

Secondly, the meat chickens.  Words can't express how I feel about this.  Literally - I have tried to come up with some.  It just feels so...right.  First off, it was dang cheap, which will surely grab my attention any day.  Secondly, (from what Tara says!) they were fairly easy to raise.  They were humanely raised and humanely killed.  We had our first dinner with the chicken last night, along with some potatoes from the garden.  The chicken tasted amazing.  The potatoes tasted...weird.  It was like tasting a potato for the first time.  When people told me "you will be so surprised how your food tastes straight from the garden" I frankly brushed it off, but wow was I wrong.  The potatoes had an earthy taste, not in a bad way though.  Delicious.  We made some spicier than normal chicken, and it was delicious as well.  Very happy with this :)

I would really like to put up some pictures, but since the last two weeks have been an absolute disaster, in nearly ever aspect, they'll just have to be put up later.  I promise.  As soon as everything cools down.

And last but not least, the great Fence Debacle.  Another 5 fence posts have blown down.  I have now realized I am in the wrong business - you can make a killing off removing fence posts and installing new ones.  Wow.  Unbelievable.  No thanks, I'll just cut my arms into pieces installing my own :-\

Alright, if you haven't been able to tell, this post was written over several days, so it's kind of a conglomeration of crazy stories.  Another one occurred last night, just when I thought it was all winding down.  I went to the garage to turn off the sprinklers for tomorrow (didn't want them to spray on the fence-pulling stuff in the back yard - go figure).  When I went into the garage, I noticed water on the ground.  What could that be?  Then I looked up and saw that my clock was off.  The power had gone out (it's a GFCI outlet, so just the outlet goes out).  Well, I wanted to say a lot of words that shouldn't be said.  I thought them, that's for sure.  I also wanted to punch some things.  Over $200 worth of meat, down the drain.

After cooling off a little (no pun intended), I checked the meat in the freezer, and did some investigation.  It had been approximately 27 hours since the freezer went out.  The meat was still frozen, but it had slightly thawed around the edges.  I think it will be safe, obviously if cooked to the proper temperatures and handed carefully.  Just really, really irks me.
     Then Katie came to my aid.  She pointed out that, on a "real" farm, you might not lose your freezer power to a freak outlet, but you might lose 20 chickens to a coyote.  You might have a herd of animals inflicted with some disease, and you have to kill them all to save themselves.  While mine happened a little farther down the food chain, nonetheless it happened.  Just time to move on and don't give up due to an accident.

Thanks a ton for checking in and reading my blog.