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Here on the farm we have planted a few fruit trees, a fig or two, two plums and a nectarine. The fig we planted last year, and it was going good until the freak spring weather we had this year. It started budding and had a few leaves coming on when the late freeze hit, I really thought it was gone.  But that little tree really recovered nicely.

Fig Tree

As I was Making the rounds yesterday, I noticed some large figs on the tree. Now just to be clear the actual fruits have been growing for a month or so, so they didn’t just pop up yesterday. The difference is they are twice the size of the smaller unripe ones.

Figs

We did finally get some rain this last week, maybe the extra water made them swell a bit. Whatever it was it worked, hopefully we can keep the birds off of them too!

Lucille Is Getting Close!

Lucille, one of our milk cows, is about to have another calf for us.  Last year Lucille surprised us by calving a week after we had her Artificially Inseminated. This time we put her out with a bull and let nature take its course, should be any day now!

Lucille, The Expectant Mother!

Here is the view from the front!  I’ll keep you updated!!

Lucille Front View

Until next time!

Picked a few ears of corn the other day and look what I found!

Since the high heat is in place here in South-East Texas there is not much in the garden that is thriving, other than watermelon and corn,see the last post!  So today I thought I would get another compost pile going, it’s really easy the way I do it , so come check it out!

The first thing I did was to build a cage out of Red Brand Goat Fence, you can use what ever you have around your place, we just had some extra.  I took a 10 foot piece and connected the ends to make a cylinder, it works perfect for contaning the pile.  I put this cylinder in an out of the way place , its gonna be there a while, and start gathering my materials.  Since I live on the farm out here materials are easy to come by. I use mostly old hay that has gotten wet, and bales that fell apart around the haystack, plus grass clippings from mowing around the house. We also have an abundance of chicken, cow and donkey manure around here so that is a key ingredient as well.

Old Hay

Let’s Assemble!

With the materials gathered up I first put down a layer of hay, 1 to 2 feet deep, then water it down with the water hose , it will compact down quite a bit.

1st Layer of Hay

The next layer is a layer of grass clippings, I used about 2 full bags from the mower for the grass layer it works out to about 5 to six inch layers.

Bag From The Mower Full Of Clippings.

Layer Of Grass Clippings

After the grass goes on I dump in about two five-gallon bucket fulls of chicken manure over the grass layer and then wet it down, it helps to keep the dust down as well as adds to the needed moisture in the pile.

Five gallon Bucket of Chicken Manure.

From there it just goes layer upon layer , just like lasagna!  I put about five layers on this pile and will keep the water going on for a few more days, as you add water you will see the pile begin to compact down.   After a few weeks you can turn the pile over a couple of times to get the air moving again, this will speed up your compost, or you can just let it set and it will still work, it will just take longer.

Almost Done

So there you have it, started compost pile ready to cook.  You can continue to add kitchen waste, more grass clipping, fall leaves, whatever  just make sure you keep the pile moist and it will do fine.    Check back in a few weeks and I’ll update how this particular pile is going!

Thanks for stopping by!

Corn in a raised bed

With the triple digit temps we have had for the past month and some odd days most of the garden is looking a little weak, but not the corn …or the watermelon for that matter!!

Watermelon Patch

The cucumbers have run their course , the tomoatoes are slow to bloom in this heat , but these two , they just keep on truckin.  The corn stands at least six feet tall, and the WM has covered abour a 10×10 area from one single mound of about 4 seeds.   The corn has put out tassle and the melon are small but growing bigger by the day, cant wait for some fresh corn and a lage slice of watermelon.

Sorry I’ve been away, had a computer blowout and the heat isn’t doing anything for the garden.
We have had triple digit heat here in my are for at least two-weeks now, probably more but that’s my estimate! As for the computer , im back up and rolling strong with a new 64bit machine, so far I love it. So Till next time , stay cool!

If you have ever thought about a market garden for a little side money or as an actual business venture then I would suggest this book to you.
This book doesn’t tell you how to grow vegetables, It highlights several people who have started a successful market garden, most on less than an acre.

Some of the other topics covered are membership gardens , community supported agriculture, farmers markets and and even selling vegetables on the side of the road from a card table.

In the first chapter the author guides you through the steps he took to make $36,000 from his back yard using tools he had laying around the house.      Throughout the book he sprinkles in stories of regular folks and their success stories.  One example tells of a couple in Maine who made $25,000 off a rocky hillside selling vegetables and cut flowers.

As I said earlier , this book wont tell you how to grow the crops, but it will spark your imagination, and maybe you will open up that next niche market!

Now try to stay cool out there!

Jon

End Product

Last time we talked about getting the hay equipment ready, today we get down to the actual haymaking so to speak.

Let’s Cut shall We?

Cutting the hay is really like mowing a large lawn, except you don’t mulch up the grass clippings, you just cut it close to the ground and let it fall over.  You do this operation with a disk cutter, some people use a sickle bar mower, either one makes one cut at the bottom of the tall grass and allows it to fall over for the curing process. The disk cutter uses several disks that interlock parallel to the ground  and rotate to cut the grass , working like a meat slicer. The sickle bar also runs parallel with the ground but has blades  like a hedge trimmer that move back and forth over a fixed bar.

After the whole field is cut, the grass is left to cure out on the field, until it reaches the proper moisture content. This operation can go one to three days and helps to prevent moldy hay.

Hay drying in the sun

Now Comes The Rake, Then The Baler.

The rake is a contraption that looks like a torture device from the middle ages, it has several wheel full of skinny, metal fingers that when pulled behind a tractor and deployed correctly rake all the now cured hay into a windrow.

Raking a windrow

The tractor pulls the rake around the pasture to make essentially one long windrow that spirals around the pasture, allowing for the baler to follow the row non stop.

So far if everything has gone right, like sunshine thru the whole process, wind that doesn’t blow the rows out of your field, etc, the we bring out the baler.

Round Baler

This is a large machine, it stands around ten feet tall, and it is complex too.  You have to grease, oil, tighten belts, adjust rollers, oh the list goes on and on… Naw its not really that bad, as long as you stay on top of it. But let it go and your bales look like a bomb exploded inside one.

Anyway, the baler hooks on the back of the tractor and by way of hydraulic controls starts the inner workings, the driver lines up on the row and the fingers in the front of the baler begin to take the hay into the roller.

Round Baler in Action

The roller inside winds the hay it has taken in around a spool until it gets the right amount for the bale size selected, our were set to 4 x 5 , when the bale reaches the right size the driver stops the tractor and allows the baler to complete the roll and wrap it , either with twine or bale wrap, we used the twine.  When the bale is rolled and wrapped , teh baler splits openand out pops a lovely bale of hay.

The nest part is the cleanup and storing the hay, they are usually stacked end to end with as much overhead cover as possible.

Pasture after hay is cut and baled

The finished Product

So there you have it, that’s the way we do it around here, Tell us how you do it where your from?

I know hay really isn’t a vegetable, but it is an important crop none the less.  Hay can have a complete crop cycle from planting or sprigging to harvest and storage, in our case we don’t plant, we just cut the coastal bahia grass that is already growing.  Now the breakdown for those of you unfamiliar with the process.

We have an agreement with one of our neighbors to cut our hay, for payment he takes a portion of the hay for himself. He takes most of the hay for himself due to the fact the he owns the bailing equipment.  It works out to be a good deal in the long run, that baling equipment aint cheap!  Anyway, we get enough hay to feed our livestock thru the winter, so the deal works out good.

Step 1:  Equipment

Steve, our hay guy, has his equipment at our place at least the day before he is going to cut. He usually brings two tractors , one to rake while the other pulls the baler, the disk cutter , the rake and the baler.

Massey Ferguson Tractor and Disk Cutter

The equipment is the most important part of the baling. If the equipment isn’t maintained the whole baling operation will suffer.

The baler is a complex machine and must be kept in top condition to put out the best quality bale.

Once the equipment is set then its on to the next step the actual cutting and raking.

Next time: The Cutting!  Stay tuned

Hay Rake

Mulched Asparagus

Here is the asparagus bed that I planted this earlier this year. All of the crowns came up , which is good.  In fact they are really doing well, they all have three or four ferns coming up, with extra shoots too.     I have fertilized once so far with a weak shot of fish emulsion, Then a thick layer of grass clippings for the mulch.    The first couple of shoots came up around the size of a pencil, but with the fertilizer and mulch they have gotten a little thicker and quite a bit taller when they open up to the fern stage.

Here is my mulch maker, its a Cub Cadet, It has side discharge, mulch or bagging capabilities. For my purposes the bagger is king!     I use this to gather grass clippings for the compost and for mulching beds.  In the fall I run it over leaves to pick up for the compost as well, it works great.

Cucumbers growing up the trellis

The cucumbers we planted have really started to climb, and they are just loaded with cukes. I think now that I should have made two separate trellis , one for the “straight eights” and one for the pickling variety I planted, but no, I had to mix them together. I can’t tell one from the other until they grow up a bit, oh well, they both taste just fine.

Fresh Off The Vine

I’ve been picking them for about a week now and have gotten about 40 or 50 cucumbers, I’ve given most of them away, but gonna pickle some here soon.

The only pest problem so far has been one lone Goat and her kid, I looked out the front window the other day and she was leisurely walking across the front yard like she owned the joint.  After I got her back in the pen I noticed the damage to the cucumber vines, several leaves were eaten back to the main vine.

In all about a 2 foot circumference hole was eaten into the vines, no real damage though, just large leaves, I don’t think she likes the little Gherkin sized cukes hehehe.

Hole where the goat ate the leaves off.

The full viev of the trellis