From Soggy to Sauna...

My goodness!  It's hot enough out there to just about wilt!

Can it really be just two weeks ago that we were wet and cold and worried?  The fields were waterlogged...so much, in fact, that we were concerned about the corn rotting in the ground.  The rain was relentless...

We were chilly...flannel shirts in May?

Well it's sure changed in a hurry.  The past week has brought muggy sunshine to good old Lancaster County...the corn is up (and mostly doing better than expected), the grass needs cut every 4 days or so...and the flannels have long been forgotten.  Actually, they're still hanging in the barn, waiting to be washed and put away until fall!  The calves' water buckets need filled often...the fans are all running in the barn...and it feels like August out there.

Just after lunch today, I checked the thermometer.  In the sun, it read over 100 degrees.  Yesterday at my neighbor's it read 90 degrees in the shade! 

So what do you do when you need to cool off?

You find a cool spot under a bush, dig a hole, and settle in until sundown.



On another note...yesterday I received an "award" from fellow blogger Debbie at Swampbilly Ranch!

I'm new to this, but apparently I'm now to tell you seven things about myself...and pass the award on to someone else!  So I'll give it a shot...





1.  I am the youngest of four girls...and I am/was  NOT spoiled...don't listen to them!!

2.  I met my husband when I cashed his paycheck at the drive-up window of the bank where I worked...22 years ago...

3. I ran my first 5K this spring...slow, but I finished...

4.  I don't like to write!  But story telling is fun...
5.  I would much rather be outside in my flower beds than inside cleaning my house...

6.  In eight grade, the year the Phillies won their first World Series, I could have told you just about everything about every one of the players...and I do mean everything!

7.  Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate

I enjoy reading a number of different blogs, but I think I'll pass this one on to Buttons, at Button's Thoughts.  Stop by and check out her beautiful pics and interesting posts!

Gardening...Then and Now...

There are all types of gardens...and all types of gardeners...

Jim's Grandma D was an amazing woman.  I could write an entire post about Grandma...and maybe someday I will.  But for now, let's take a look at her garden...



I'm not sure exactly when this picture was taken, but it must be in the 1940's or 1950's.  See the old car in the driveway?  And there's only one silo by the barn...now there are two. 

But look at that garden!

Grandma and Grandpa had five children, and that garden went a long way to feeding their family.  I wish I knew what all was in there...I know there are lima beans and sweet corn, (and some tobacco plants as well), probably green beens, peas, and who knows what all else.

Now take a look at my PIDDLY garden...

It's in the same spot as Grandma's garden, but  a  mere fraction of the size!  The white fence you see in the background is at the same place as the one in the picture.  The road is behind me and the house is to the right.  Much of her garden has been replaced by a chicken pen, a goat/calf pen, and lots of grass.

My green beans survived the rain last week and have now taken off growing...the zucchini has blossoms already... cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes, potatoes, beets and onions are thriving.  So were the weeds, until a few days ago!  The far end of the garden is reserved for our favorite...lima beans!  I'm hoping to plant them this afternoon or tomorrow.

The picture of Grandma's garden hangs in our kitchen...and in the heat of the summer when my garden feels huge (to me!) I can look at it and remember just how piddly it is!  But it feeds our family...and fills our freezer and canning shelves...and that's what really matters!

 

*Linking to Farm Girl Friday and Farm Friend Friday

Seeing Some Green...

We've anxiously been waiting to see some green...

In the corn rows, that is!

This field was planted on Saturday, May 14th..

The rain began on Monday evening, May 16th, and continued all week, off and on, until we had received an overly generous amount of almost six inches.  We were concerned about the corn seed possibly rotting in the ground before it came up. 

Two days ago, in that same field, we began to see this...

It's very faint, but if you look closely, you can see those beautiful green rows of tiny corn stalks emerging from the soil!   That's what we want to see!

We're not out of the woods yet...  Some fields look better than others, and a few more days of the hot humid weather that we've had now will give us a much better indication of the condition of the other fields.

We are so happy to be seeing green, and considering all of the weather issues that we've been hearing about from around the country, we have so much to be thankful for. 

Thank you God, for green !

May Showers...

If April showers bring May flowers...what do May showers bring?

Mud...  Frustration...  Worry...

But in the midst of it all...BEAUTY...

I sent Jenna on a mission tonight during milking to take some pictures of what's blooming right now in our flower beds.  These are some of my favorites...

Johnson's Blue Cranesbill Geranium...

I enjoy the many varieties of Iris that we have.  Most of them were given to us by a neighbor years ago, and they've multiplied...

This Geum...not typically my favorite color...has grown on me with it's cheerful face...

I love the water drops on these Coral Bells...

The Lilacs smell wonderful...

So...even though we've been drenched with between five and six inches of rain this week...it's wonderful to find God's beauty in the midst of it all!

*Linking up with Farm Friend Friday and Farm Girl Friday

Planting Corn...

It's been an interesting spring...and a busy week!

We've had so much rain that it's been difficult to get into the fields to plant anything.  This past week, however, we had beautiful weather.  The sun came out and the winds dried out the ground enough to begin planting corn...(and begin baling first cutting of hay)  There were a lot of happy, and busy farmers!

On Thursday evening, the custom corn planter arrived.  Jim had all of the seed ready and sorted according to which field it was to be planted in.  He plants several different varieties, so that the corn is ready to be harvested at different times as we need it.  Some will be designated for silage, some will be for refilling the silo several weeks later, and some will be combined or picked as ear corn.

On Friday morning, Mark, the guy who plants our corn, headed for the fields.  He planted all day and came back on Saturday to finish. 

On Saturday morning, I caught up with Mark at our neighbor's farm, where we rent some ground.  I rode a few rounds with him to get a few pictures. 

 He can set the population density on the corn planter according to the farmer's request.  This year Jim had him plant the corn at 32,000 seeds per acre.  Here, he is refilling the planter.  There is a meter inside the cab of the tractor that tells him if the corn is being planted evenly from all of the seed boxes.  When the seed gets low, it beeps, and he knows it's time to stop and refill.

This picture is taken from the cab of the tractor, looking out the back at the planter.  You can see the rows behind that have been planted.  Off to the right, you can see a single line in the field.  This line is made by a marker that is off to the side of the planter...when he turns at the end of the field to come back, he will center the hood of his tractor over that line to ensure evenly spaced rows. 

The corn is being no-tilled into the ground.  Last fall after the corn was harvested, Jim chopped and baled the corn stalks on this particular field for bedding (corn fodder), and the ground remained untouched until this spring, other than spreading manure and fertilizer.  In other words, there was no tilling done...this is the way that we now plant all of our corn. Some corn is planted into soybean or rye ground as well.

This is the very back of the planter.  The two wheels with spikes on are closing up the row where the corn was planted, and the chain drags the loose dirt to help cover the row even further.

Now what we need to do is....wait. 

We had .5" of rain on Sunday, which was perfect for washing the granular fertilizer that was spread into the ground!

We are so dependant on the weather for just about everything that we do!  Hopefully the corn will sprout and grow quickly, since the ground has warmed and we've been having warmer days.  The 2" inches of rain that we had this evening in the course of an hour however, present some questions...did any of the corn wash away?

Hopefully in a few short days, we will see tiny green sprouts peeping through the soil!  I'll keep you posted!

Of Mice and Hen...

Yesterday afternoon as I was mowing in the chicken pen, I saw a commotion...

When I saw what was going on, I ran for my camera.

She's on the run, but do you see what this young hen has in her mouth?...

It was her special prize, and there was NO way she was going to share!



She ran around the pen for about ten minutes, with about a dozen other hens at her heels. She even outran the bullies old ladies!

Am I so naive that I didn't think a chicken would catch and eat a mouse?  Just because I'd never seen it doesn't mean it isn't possible...I saw it with my own eyes!

Rhubarb Recipes...

Do you like the taste of rhubarb?   

We do, and Jim's Aunt and Uncle have a large patch of rhubarb that they are willing to share.  This is the time of year that it's found in abundance, so I've been scouring cookbooks, looking for new recipes.  

Here are a couple of new recipes that I tried this week...

Rhubarb Bread...and Rhubarb Jelly...

Rhubarb Bread

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup oil
1 egg
1 cup sour milk
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups rhubarb, chopped

Topping

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp melted butter
1/2 cup chopped nuts

Combine ingredients and pour into 2 or 3 greased loaf pans.  Sprinkle with topping and bake at 325* for 40-50 minutes.

Best served warm, this bread also tastes great spread with butter and fresh Rhubarb Jelly!

Rhubarb Jelly

5 cups Rhubarb, finely chopped

4 cups sugar

1/3 cup strawberry gelatin

Mix rhubarb and sugar; let stand overnight.  Cook 5 minutes and add gelatin.  Stir well and put into jars immediately.  Seal.

*I didn’t seal the jars, but instead put them in the refrigerator.  We’ll use them fast enough, or I might give some to a friend or two.  The jelly seemed rather runny at first, but when chilled, set quite nicely.

If you have access to rhubarb, give them a try...I won't guarantee they'll last long!


*Linking to Farm Friend Friday and Farm Girl Friday...

Like Kids In a Candy Shop...

Jim baled the first hay of the season tonight.

After they were finished unloading, he and the kids shoveled the loose hay off the bottom of this  wagon into the hay racks in the meadow...a bedtime snack of sorts for the cows...

You'd think those cows had died and gone to Heaven!  They surrounded that wagon like their very lives depended on a taste of that hay!

Just like kids in a candy shop!

Breathe Deeply...

Breathe deeply...

Ahhh...

There's nothing quite like the smell of freshly mowed hay...

I wish I could bottle it up!

...and just for fun...

I snapped this picture of our Amish neighbor mowing his hay in the field next to ours...

Wishing for all of you a beautiful spring day!

Seeding Alfalfa...

One of the first things that farmers in our area do in the spring (as far as field work goes) is to seed alfalfa.  We have always tried to seed alfalfa the first week of April.  This year however, because of the extremely wet and cool spring that we've had, the alfalfa has gone in later than usual...up to a month behind schedule!

Most of our crops are put into the ground using the no-till method, with one exception being alfalfa.  Alfalfa can be no-tilled, but we don't usually do it that way. 

 A stand of alfalfa will last for several years before it is rotated with either corn or beans, and Jim didn't put in any new stands this year.  So... since I don't have any pictures of the seeder in action, I'll try to describe it to you!

The ground where the alfalfa will be seeded needs to be very smooth and finely worked.  After discing to break up the clumps of dirt, and spring-hiring to smooth the soil, we usually go on a rock picking expedition.  Any stones or rocks bigger than our fists are gathered out of the field and added to the rock pile.  (Did you know that most farms have one of those?  Just check out behind the barn, or in some out of the way place and you'll surely find it!)

Then it's time for the seeder...

The wheels on the seeder are for transport only...they will be removed for use in the field.  The seed is poured into the seed box on the top...and those  heavy rollers on the back tightly pack the soil over the freshly seeded alfalfa...

The seeds are tiny...

If all goes well, with the right combination of rain and sunshine, the field will soon look like this one.  (I "borrowed" a picture of our neighbor's field!)  The green haze that you see in the top picture is the alfalfa beginning to grow.  The close up at the bottom is of the leaves just beginning to form...

This alfalfa will grow quickly, and the farmer will likely get three cuttings of hay from it this year.

We own one of several seeders that are in the area; neighboring farmers rent it by the acre.  Just the other day, an Amish neighbor brought it back and was chatting with Jim for a bit.  He remembers using it way back in 1977, right after Jim's dad purchased it. 

 It's made a lot of rounds, and I'm sure if it could talk, it would have lots of stories to tell!

Pullet Eggs...

Have you ever seen pullet eggs?

Two weeks ago we acquired fifteen new chickens...pullets...eighteen week old layers.  They've spent the past two weeks adjusting to their new surroundings and establishing themselves in the pecking order.  They're still a bit camera shy...

...and now they've begun laying their first eggs.  I put one of the eggs that our older chickens are laying in the basket beside the pullet eggs to show the size difference...

They've got to be some of the cutest looking eggs...complete with a yolk and a white, just like a "regular" egg, but in miniature form!  In a few short weeks, they'll be laying with the big girls, and I expect that we'll get a few double yolkers in the mix. That's always a fun surprise!

Welcome, ladies!  I hope you're enjoying your new home!


Linking up to Farm Friend Friday and Farm Girl Friday!

Colors of Spring...

Spring is by far my favorite season!

Warmer weather...more hours of daylight...colors...hearing the birds sing...mowing the grass...seeing neighbors outside...getting more eggs from our chickens...planting garden...the feel of fresh dirt between my fingers...new life...these are just a few of the reasons I love spring!

Here are a few samples of the colors I've been seeing and thoroughly enjoying this week...

...and yesterday afternoon I got the first part of my garden planted!  I put in potatoes, onions, zucchini, cucumbers and two varieties of green beans... 

The potatoes and onions should have been planted earlier, but it's been so wet that it just didn't happen.  I put the tomato cages in place yesterday, so I'll know just where they're going; right now they're hardening on my porch until the danger of frost is over.  In late May, the lima beans will go in, and the weeds will have started to grow vigorously. (if only we could do away with that part!)

It just doesn't get much better than this!