It is crispy. Very crispy. My understanding is that we could obtain government disaster relief for the livestock... but we won't do that. The less the government is involved in our business the better. We have accounted 4 acres per animal for our cattle and pigs are primarily in the trees and get grain and milk.
Whatever the case, it has been strange here. 100+ during the day and then in the 70s at night. I remember last year it was in the 80s at night. You almost feel like you need a jacket on after being in the heat all day.
The garden is looking pretty rough. This isn't very good corn country and I have to agree. I'd plant some sorghum but at these temps the seeds would just bake in the ground! So here I am just struggling to keep the garden watered. Well, our pump lost a great deal of it's integrity and can't produce enough pressure. NOW I can barely keep it alive. We're hopefully and prayerfully getting a new pump this weekend!
It's a significantly better pump than what we had.
Please keep us in your prayers! We need rain and good finances to keep us moving forward!
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Morning...
There's this time of early morning that's just lovely ... Everything seems to be waking up and coming alive. The dew is heavy and sparkling in the early sun. The gentle noises and nuisances make you stop and listen. And then an escapee pig comes grunting it's way up to your front porch and your morning truely begins... This used to be more common but we've managed to reduce the occurrences significantly. Usually we have a problem pig not a whole herd. Our pigs do fairly well behind electric fence but after 8 years of raising them we've learned that a couple solid panel pens are extremely useful. A few t-posts and cattle panels are sufficient for building a holding pen.
Anyway, apparently I'm a morning person but unfortunately I'm so tired it's hard to wake up. We work hard all day and I generally get to bed around midnight or later making it difficult to wake up at 5 am. I'm happy if I'm crawling out of bed around 6 am. Enough bemoaning life... lol.
Anyway, apparently I'm a morning person but unfortunately I'm so tired it's hard to wake up. We work hard all day and I generally get to bed around midnight or later making it difficult to wake up at 5 am. I'm happy if I'm crawling out of bed around 6 am. Enough bemoaning life... lol.
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Perceptions of Reality
When I was a little girl
... well, more like a hopeless romantic teenager, I fantasized of a pioneering life. So while my DH and I, with purple fingers, were busy collecting mulberries I recollected such fantasies and shared them. I ended the conversation with this: "I've lived my fantasy now. Can we move into reality?" We both laughed about it.
But what of reality and fantasies? Who's living in reality and who's in their fantasy? I lived the middle class life once already. It feels like a fleeting memory that dimly lingers in the back of my mind. It amazes me how easy I had it and just disregarded it all. Turning on a light switch didn't leave a myrid of worries about the power I'm taking from something else. I rarely have light in the house after dark. We have a strange LED lantern that has a solar cell on top that gives enough ambient light to get around. The hunk of plastic has lasted longer than most things I buy! 2 years now and it looks it! I have a solar cell leftover from building our solar panel I'd like to see if I can build a brighter one as a project with the boys...
... well, more like a hopeless romantic teenager, I fantasized of a pioneering life. So while my DH and I, with purple fingers, were busy collecting mulberries I recollected such fantasies and shared them. I ended the conversation with this: "I've lived my fantasy now. Can we move into reality?" We both laughed about it.
But what of reality and fantasies? Who's living in reality and who's in their fantasy? I lived the middle class life once already. It feels like a fleeting memory that dimly lingers in the back of my mind. It amazes me how easy I had it and just disregarded it all. Turning on a light switch didn't leave a myrid of worries about the power I'm taking from something else. I rarely have light in the house after dark. We have a strange LED lantern that has a solar cell on top that gives enough ambient light to get around. The hunk of plastic has lasted longer than most things I buy! 2 years now and it looks it! I have a solar cell leftover from building our solar panel I'd like to see if I can build a brighter one as a project with the boys...
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Irrigation
After a month with no rain, a spigot has been turned on!
We had started irrigating the garden before the rains. It was dry as a bone and tilling was out of the question as it was like concrete out there. Our soil contains a great deal of silt. It makes things a little difficult some times and rather slick. We've found tire chains to be extremely useful. The road into our property is unimproved. Little more than a rutted dirt track. It's not uncommon to be mudded or snowed in. Though with the chains we are able to get in and out if needed.
Anyway, back to irrigation! We, happily, have a pond. It didn't go dry in the awful drought last year so we're thinking it has some ground water feeding into it. So a friend gave us a sauna pump. I was humored too. It pumps something like 81 gallons per minute. It seems to be slower than that though. We used garden hoses last year and wasted a lot of gas last year until we gave up using it. This year, we bought 400' of 3/4" irrigation hose from Tractor Supply.
We found that pumping straight up to the height of the highest part of the garden then straight across was easier on the pump. Otherwise, we're looking at a new pump sooner rather than later. A well would be preferred before that so we can quit hauling water from town.
Aside from all that, I've started digging my potatoes from the mid-March planting. They're looking pretty good! Now we need to get our root cellar dug for aging cheese and storing food. It's in the works and going to have ground broke soon for it... I'm pretty excited!
We had started irrigating the garden before the rains. It was dry as a bone and tilling was out of the question as it was like concrete out there. Our soil contains a great deal of silt. It makes things a little difficult some times and rather slick. We've found tire chains to be extremely useful. The road into our property is unimproved. Little more than a rutted dirt track. It's not uncommon to be mudded or snowed in. Though with the chains we are able to get in and out if needed.
Anyway, back to irrigation! We, happily, have a pond. It didn't go dry in the awful drought last year so we're thinking it has some ground water feeding into it. So a friend gave us a sauna pump. I was humored too. It pumps something like 81 gallons per minute. It seems to be slower than that though. We used garden hoses last year and wasted a lot of gas last year until we gave up using it. This year, we bought 400' of 3/4" irrigation hose from Tractor Supply.
We found that pumping straight up to the height of the highest part of the garden then straight across was easier on the pump. Otherwise, we're looking at a new pump sooner rather than later. A well would be preferred before that so we can quit hauling water from town.
Aside from all that, I've started digging my potatoes from the mid-March planting. They're looking pretty good! Now we need to get our root cellar dug for aging cheese and storing food. It's in the works and going to have ground broke soon for it... I'm pretty excited!
Monday, May 28, 2012
Muuuuulllllbeeerrries!! Yum!
It's mulberry season! The time of year when copious amounts of little purple berries freely and bountifully fall haphazardly to the ground from bushes and trees. Most of my mulberries are fairly large trees. I have one that is a small tree that verges on being a bush. The boys climb that one... otherwise we lay plastic sheeting underneath a couple trees to collect the sweet, little berries.
So what am I doing with them? Making jam and syrup as well as canning them whole. I hadn't really been able to do much canning or food preservation in general the last couple years. Haven't had terribly good facilities and have mainly just been trying to hang on by my fingernails.
Canning on my woodstove has been pretty neat! I like it much better than a standard burner stovetop. I can just slide my pots to a cooler spot and I set my jars right on the stovetop on a warming tray and they stay warm for canning a feat that was always difficult before!
So far I've made 20 pints of jam and canned 11 pints whole. I have to figure out a syrup recipe yet. All I know for certain is that my hands will be blue for awhile.
So what am I doing with them? Making jam and syrup as well as canning them whole. I hadn't really been able to do much canning or food preservation in general the last couple years. Haven't had terribly good facilities and have mainly just been trying to hang on by my fingernails.
Canning on my woodstove has been pretty neat! I like it much better than a standard burner stovetop. I can just slide my pots to a cooler spot and I set my jars right on the stovetop on a warming tray and they stay warm for canning a feat that was always difficult before!
So far I've made 20 pints of jam and canned 11 pints whole. I have to figure out a syrup recipe yet. All I know for certain is that my hands will be blue for awhile.
Still Surviving ... barely.
I have been busy! Well, buried may be more appropriate. We have an overwhelming amount of things to get done around here and we can't seem to get ahead.
My second DS has injured himself far too many times this week. Well the first injury had dual involvement with his older brother and the backside of a splitting hatchet. The second involved rapid decent out of a tree. The boy is going to turn me grey early.
Otherwise, we're trying to get our rabbit proof garden fence done. It seems to be a slow process especially with the heat coming and the ground turning to concrete.
Survival has been busy.
My second DS has injured himself far too many times this week. Well the first injury had dual involvement with his older brother and the backside of a splitting hatchet. The second involved rapid decent out of a tree. The boy is going to turn me grey early.
Otherwise, we're trying to get our rabbit proof garden fence done. It seems to be a slow process especially with the heat coming and the ground turning to concrete.
Survival has been busy.
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