Little Sprouts

Today gave the first sign of life for our peach tree. Our plum tree, too, just came out of dormancy a few days ago. Its always a bit nail biting how long it takes of warm weather before they show signs of greenery. Our bare root blackberries still have us wondering their fate.








Another little sprout had a first today... Gloria had her first day of school. The beauty of homeschooling is that it can start at any time. She's been recognizing letters and shapes for weeks now even though I've never tried to teach them to her. Saturday she accurately counted the 4 eggs she helped me pick out. So, today was her day. We started after a good nap and went for a half hour. We practiced holding a pencil and crayon properly, tracing lines (and eventually letters), we sang and practiced enunciating the harder to pronounce letters in the alphabet song, learned the letters A and T by name and shape (no sounds too much as of yet) and worked on our first scripture verse: Romans 16:19. We added motions because "excellent" is a bit hard to say and all those little words in between the biggies get glossed over anyway. She's a singer and a dancer all the way... it may be hard to just memorize things straight and not dance and sing with it just for the fun of it. Here she is with her new big box of crayons to commemorate the day. She did great. We're going to keep it to twice a week for now. We'll gradually increase over the next couple of years so that kindergarten isn't a shock to everyone's system.

I've been overhauling the beds in one garden the last couple days. Double digging (digging out one small section, putting it in a bucket, shoveling out the next section and dumping it in the first, repeating all the way down the line until you put the contents of the bucket into the last remaining hole) and adding composted cow manure. I have all our squash in one solid block which I will spray with copper sulfate right from the get go to hopefully keep anthracnose away... or at very least concentrated to one area. Peppers and tomatoes are in beds though the sprouts were still a bit on the small side. Corn and red-seeded asparagus beans are looking great- every seed sprouted. Have those growing together in one bed. Gloria and I planted more seeds this morning- more corn, cowpeas, watermelon, okra, rattlesnake pole beans, and nasturtiums.

Gloria also got her own "garden" this weekend- a long window box (that a little brother can't dump over) that she got to plant, all by herself, nasturtiums (pretty flowers) and canteloupe (seeds from a melon we bought from the store). She's very proud of it, but its 100% hers so we'll see what happens. I expect something will sprout and she'll have more to be proud of.

The fig tree is holding its own right now. No new life on the affected areas yet, but root regrowth would be first anyway. I'm still putting sugar down occasionally and watering a bit everyday so it doesn't get dried out with its damaged root system. I think I'm winning.



Gloria and I also fertilized all our veggies and herbs today with "Sea Tea", a liquid fish emulsion fertilizer. She had a great time with the sprayer and was such a help when it came to cleaning it and running fresh water through it. She watered the blackberries with the sprayer and loved every minute. She's already looking forward to Thursday when I said we would spray again (copper sulfate). Its nice to have a helper.

Troubleshooting

A lot of farming in Florida, or maybe farming in general, is troubleshooting. Figuring out what's killing your plants and killing it before it completely destroys your investment. Yesterday I noticed all the leaves on one side of the fig tree were wilted. I've learned my lesson on procrastinating when dealing with garden pests so I immediately hit the books. Most likely nematodes, a common pest around here. Treatment? Dissolving a cup of sugar in a gallon of water and dumping it on the roots. Next mix compost in with the soil. Next add marigolds. So I did all three. One can also snuff them out with plastic... however I already had plastic at the base as a weed barrier. Another option is to drown them and leave the hose on them for an hour or so. I'd rather not take that approach as it seems a bit extreme on the water supply. If worse came to worse, I'd rather use a chemical. We're not getting more than a half a dozen figs from it right now anyway. But the hope is that it starts to get better and then I know I'm on the right track. If it starts getting worse I only have a matter of time before it wilts the rest of the leaves as well.

I bought a host of fertilizers yesterday. Again, troubleshooting. I think my main gardening problem is not enough fertilizing. I usually throw down a slow release fertilizer once in that vegetable's lifetime and plant it in compost. Several experts have strongly suggested using a liquid fertilizer weekly. I'll try anything at this point.

We also found a potentially rabid racoon in our yard yesterday. Broad daylight and it was just sitting in the road watching the cars go by. Did you know Animal Control doesn't deal with that? No, we're supposed to hire a trapper and do it for them. But if its not rabid, you better not kill it or you could face a fine. Sorry. I find that ridiculous. Coons are hardly an endangered species. Another neighbor knew an animal lover with a trap and dealt with the issue. The kids were happy to be able to go outside again.

A De-bucked Chuck and more

While I've done very little today, I'm feeling the need for "butt jobs" and so here I am, giving a... maybe-not-so-quick update.

1) Yes, Chuck has been de-bucked. We had a friend come over to help us do the deed. I was thinking I'd like someone else just to hold him as I wasn't going to get myself and our baby around his trashing horns and feet, but I also didn't want to go cutting on him without him being held totally still. Randy and I are both very glad we had, not only an extra set of hands, but this particular extra set of hands. A good southern cowboy who's done it all, Joe. He had better ideas for tieing him, did the slicing himself without and ounce of the timidity I would have had and even took the "jewels" home to fry up for dinner. It was over quickly and Chuck's healing well, but is still moving slowly and warily.

2) Still no kids, but I keep looking at Noel thinking its going to be anytime. She looks a little dilated, but then again, humans can be dilated to 3cm weeks before birth.

3) A month or so ago Randy and I found a pile of chain link fencing and poles on the side of the road. We actually were driving home from buying Chuck and already had the trailer hooked up so we gathered it up and brought it home figuring we'd find a better use for it than land fill. Randy's outside now putting it up inside the pasture. There was enough there to almost make a complete pass across and we had enough leftover from the outer pasture fence to make up the difference. This will give us a temporary partition so we can allow one side to grow up before its getting eaten and trampled then vice versa. It won't be a permanent fence as we still have the ENORMOUS piles of scrub to get rid of before we can put in fencing exactly where we want it, but that day is coming and this will work for now.

4) We ventured to Rockledge Gardens yesterday, quite the haul for us, for a particular variety of black raspberry- Mysore. I've looked for months for this plant. They called a couple days ago saying they got some in so we went and grabbed it. We only got one on account of it being bigger and pricier than we would have liked, but if the rumors are true, this is going to be a great producer for us.

5) We ordered a set of meat birds and some replacement layers from a different hatchery- S and G Poultry. We're really excited about these birds as they aren't the commercial get-em-big-fast-and-off-em-before-they-keel-over-dead breeds, but ones that are bred for taste, good health and good foraging ability.

6) We also ordered a pair of pecan trees and a pair of hazelnut trees from Burgess. I'm really surprised by their prices- worth it for even an experiment.

7) Most of my seeds are up now: corn, okra, lots of various squash, pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cowpeas, and beans. I also have several different fruit seeds planted, but those take months to germinate so I'm not expecting anything yet. I was hoping to at least get a couple beds ripped out and overhauled with a fresh load of compost today, but that will wait until Monday when I'm hoping my back end will feel a bit lighter.

8) We're still battling an early rising rooster. We noticed he was crowing at the moon as it came up over the house the other morning at 5am. We've tried wrapping the pen in black weed cloth with moderate success. I'm concerned about doing that in the heat of summer (when sunrise really is 5am) because I think it will make the pen too hot with too little air flow. Its not so much for us that we want to hush him up, but more for a dear, sweet neighbor who would never complain about anything, but has happened to mention that he wakes her up. We need a system that works because continually buying chicks, particularly if NAIS really goes through, just isn't feasible for long term. If anyone has any tips on hushing up a rooster, please share them!

9) We're also considering getting into mixing our own grain rations. A hardware store in town (who's owners happen to be good friend's of our's) is going to be ordering from a company that also carries feed supplies. We'd have access to corn, minerals, soybean meal, oats and a host of other raw materials. We haven't calculated any cost savings nor are we sure we could store the unmixed portions of various ingredients critter free, but its kinda attractive to be able to mix whatever level of protien we need with whatever minerals we want in whatever quantities we want. If anyone knows of a good resource for grain recipes, please pass them on.

10) We lost our honeybell tangelo this winter. The last frost that wasn't supposed to be a frost at all. The root stock has new growth, but nothing from the graft up. So we're thinking about grafting our own... probably something a bit hardier than a honeybell. We tried to find an affordable grapefruit tree to no avail, but we then read that they will grow well from seed. So, that's exactly what we're going to do! God's design is great, isn't it!

11) As for family stuff, we went camping last weekend and had a great time with gorgeous weather. Randy took this week off for a "staycation" and its been so nice having him around. Baby Superfly (our placeholder name for #3) is now 15 weeks old and I'm officially in all maternity clothes. Gloria still insists that Superfly is in her tummy instead, but I think she'll get the concept soon. Aaron is completely bipedal now. Its nice to let him outside and know he can stay upright... though he still won't keep his shoes on.

Blessings to all. Butt job is now complete.

Family-Friendly Living

"Every child enters adulthood with special memories. I think that too often those memories come mainly from holidays, vacations or special events. What I've tried to portray in this chapter is that my powerful emotional memories have nothing to do with special times, but are instead a recital of mundane tasks done with long-term emphasis. Because each task held a philosophical underpinning for tomorrow, its significance carried an elevated value. And so instead of my most precious memories being relegated to festivals, holidays and vacations, they are a stream-of-life collection from the house I live in, the paths I walk and the places I see every single day. And that is rich."

Taken from "Family Friendly Farming" by Joel Salatin.

I know I'm about to step on toes... but hey, that's the priveledge of a blogger. I get to write whatever I want and you can choose whether or not to read it. I recently spoke with a young mother of a single child. She was quite surprised to find out I was expecting my third... because you see three children is far too many. She explained that they would probably not have anymore kids because taking grand and glorious family vacations was too important to have the expense of another child. I stood in complete shock. I didn't know what to say, so I said nothing. What I wanted to say was, "I've been to the Grand Canyon. Its nice, but kids are WAY better. I've been to New York City... trust me, go with kids. I've backpacked Europe. Definitely, scrap it for the kids." I suppose its easy for me to say. My passport has 2 inserts of extra pages to hold all my stamps and visas. But what I say is true- there's no comparison to raising children in good wholesome values.

Our family doesn't take vacations. The last one we went on was 2 days to Miami for a Kenneth Copeland conference... and we took our little 2-door Ford Focus to save the extra 5-7 miles per gallon. We crashed at friend's aunt's condo and packed our own meals. We occasionally go camping where we split the expense with Randy's parents. And when we're feeling rather extravagant, we build a chicken pen. Is such frugalness worth me staying at home when I could be bringing home an extra $30-35,000 a year?!?! Absolutely. I'll eat nothing but beans and rice for decades if it means I get to build my children's memories from "a recital of mundane tasks." Yes, Gloria loves going to the zoo and going camping. But she equally enjoys things she gets to do every day: feeding kitchen scraps to the goats, watering plants with Mama, pulling weeds to feed the chickens, filling waterers and feeders, reading stories on my lap... and yes, her most recent favorite- hanging laundry on her own clothesline that Mama made "just for DoeDoe". (Unable to quite say GloGlo, she calls hersef DoeDoe). Her feeling of specialness jumped 50 points that day... and it wasn't because we put a few thousand dollars on the credit card for a Walt Disney World vacation. I gave her an opportunity to do those mundane tasks in a unconventional way. We go for a walk to see the horses and cows and she talks about it the whole next day. We go to storytime and she feels like she's been to the moon. Make a bowl of popcorn and she really thinks she's entered the gates of heaven. I don't think this is the sole product of being two. I think she's accompanied with these memories rich emotions of love. Remember that on the next major family event... is it cased in stress, tension and harriedness or is it an opportunity to just relax and love? Kids aren't as interested in seeing places as they are in seeing you. So instead of stressing out over a day trip to Busch Gardens, mow the lawn with a kid in your lap then eat watermelon and spit the seeds at each other. And that, my friends, is rich.

Everything Butts

Kids are great. Last night, Randy and I were having post-dinner conversation, Gloria and Aaron (so we thought) were having a great time in Gloria's room playing with blocks. Then Gloria comes out to proudly show us the white stuff all over her hands. My 1st trimester nose quickly identified it as Desitin and I went running off to Aaron's room to find what other damage had been done. Nothing serious... then I found Aaron. Evidently Gloria thinks her brother is a butt-head. Its very difficult to discipline while laughing so I left Randy with that task and I took Aaron the bathroom to lather his head up twice though he still smells like a desitin and easily goes spikey.

Today I finally did what I have been planning to do for weeks... set Gloria up with her own clothes line. I used twine from bales of hay tied to our current pole and stapled to the garden fence... perfect GloGlo height. Then I made her (she "helped" and sat on my lap during the sewing process) her very own "clip bag" that she can wear just like Mama, but not have it drag on the ground like Mama's does when a little girl wears it. She's fascinated with the cloth baby wipes we use. We have a set for bottoms and a separate set for faces and hands for after meals. She loves to hang up and fold them all. So here she is diligently hanging her wipes. She had a great time and cried when there were no more wipes to hang. I love having her help me!

Weekend Adventures

Every Saturday morning, Randy asks what's on the to-do list. Its usually rather extensive, but its always fun- working together as a family outside all day. This Saturday was no different... except what we were trying to do:

Castration- yup, we tried. Chuck has his "buckhood" for another week. We tried catching him in the morning only to get him riled up and avoiding us. We waited for the afternoon feeding then managed to catch him while his head was stuck in the bucket. And when we finally got him tied around a tree, Randy holding him steady with all his might and me, literally, bringing up the rear, we discovered he's already much too, shall we say well developed for our handy castrating device to work. This device stretches a small, tight rubber band open to fit over the testicles. Then you release the band from the device. It cuts off circulation and they eventually just drop off with very little discomfort to the animal. I was NOT happy about the prospect of trying to do the job with another method so believe me when I say I tried to make those suckers fit. It wasn't going to happen.

Catching a rooster- we traded "Baldy" with some friends for another rooster. Baldy was a hen that got pecked bald in the re-shuffling of the pecking order. We pulled her out and there was no putting her back in. Our rooster had been killed in the reshuffling and our friends said they had one that nothing was going to be able to kill. We put him in a separate pen to get him used to pen life first as he had been free-ranged previously. We had him a week and were working on ways to get him to not be so noisy in the mornings when he managed to escape from him pen while the lid was opened briefly to change waterers. A wild goose chase ensued. We finally gave up. In the evening we were able to capture him relatively easily and so threw him in with the hens. By Sunday morning his head was bloody and he was cowering in the corners, bloodying the corner posts. I pulled him out before leaving for church, but we forgot about him until after dark. We tried and couldn't find him. I didn't know if he could survive the night. Come 6:30am we hadn't heard him and I thought for sure he was gone, but a few minutes later he let out a mighty crow. He's still strutting his stuff all over the front yard. He managed to ward off the coons, foxes and bobcats, but can't stand up to a few fiesty hens. ???

Eggs- We got our first obviously pullet eggs. Pullets are young hens and the first eggs they lay are going to be quite small. But our other layers aren't too old themselves yet so for them to throw out a smaller than average egg isn't unheard of. But Saturday we got 2 that had to have been from the newer batch of birds. Can you pick them out?

Blackberries- I know it doesn't look like much, but this is a blackberry bush. I had ordered 6 bareroot plants from a friend, 3 different varieties. All are thornless. I would have rather had thorns as they will double as pasture fence reinforcement, but the thornless are more disease resistant, particularly to anthracnose which is all over here. We also had 2 blueberry bushes to plant so the majority of the morning was spent in digging holes. Aaron was a big help in spreading the mulch. He had a great time!

Pruning- I finally pruned all the dead branches off of everything... just in time for close to freezing temps to come again! But all is fine. I learned the hard way that nightblooming jasmine is cold sensitive. That sucker is DEAD. Oh well. It won't feed us so we might as well put in something that will. One orange tree was having some nice new growth. I fertilized it (as with all the others) and now the older foliage that survived the winter has dried up and dropped off and even the tiny new growth is wilting. I've treated this tree the same as all the others and the others are looking great... any thoughts???

Noel and Annabelle are looking close to kidding. I'm hoping they'll hold off a couple weeks, but I don't know how likely that is. At least not for Noel... she's huge. Annabelle looked enormous for ages last year. We've started reluctantly giving them a daily dose of grain though. The research shows that it drastically increases the milk production and the health of the kid for grain to begin in the 3rd trimester and carried throughout the lactation. And the only thing it does to the milk is dilutes the CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), but doesn't add anything negative nor decrease the amount of CLA in each milking. There's so little information out on grass-fed goats that a lot is up to us to figure out. We got rather low milk levels last lactation going strictly grass-fed. It looks like we can double our yield with just a little bit of grain added to their diet each day. Its worth it.