Spray Day...

It's that time again...

The beginning of this week (thank goodness before all this heat and humidity set in!), Jim and I walked through the corn fields, checking each field to see if we were going to have the Hi-crop sprayer come to spray late emerging weeds and grass that will potentially stunt the corn's growth.

Yesterday the sprayer came to spray a few fields.  I like this picture framing the Farmal M and manure spreader...

He brought his fuel and spray materials on this truck.  I found it interesting..the two metal tanks are old milk tanks!  The one to the far left carries diesel fuel, and the others on the back of the truck carry various spray materials...

This shows you just how tall the rig is...

And there he goes...

Last year I rode along with the driver to get a unique perspective.  You can see that here.  It was really fascinating!

This year I was busy picking my green beans, and was happy to get in out of the heat as soon as possible...although that air conditioned cab would've felt pretty nice!

I hope you're all finding ways to stay cool!

Still Growing...

Just a quick post today to show you...

...it's still growing!

Way over my head by now (I'm 5' 5"), it's probably 6 1/2' tall by now!

It was planted on April 30th...that's 78" in 57 days...almost 1.4" per day! 

Bread and Butter Pickles Recipe...

Pop, pop, pop...

It's the sound of jars sealing on the kitchen counter!

The cucumbers are growing fast this year, and today I made my second batch of pickles.  I used to make a lot of pickles using the packets of pickling mix, but last year found this recipe for "from scratch" Bread and Butter pickles.   They've  become one of our favorites and are super easy to make!

I've had only one casualty so far...a jar broke in the canner in my first batch.  That was a mess, but we have 11 pints so far, and the way the cucumbers are looking we'll have a lot more.  I need some more recipes...  


Do you have any favorites to share?


OLD FASHIONED BREAD AND BUTTER PICKLES
slice thinly:
1 gal. cucumbers
2 large onions
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Stir to dissolve, and pour over sliced cucumber mixture.  Cover with heavy plate to hold down under water.  Let stand 3 hours.  Drain thoroughly and pack in jars:
 1/2 cup salt
Ice water to cover
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Mix together in saucepan.  Heat to boiling and fill jars, leaving 1 inch headspace:
8 cups vinegar
4 cups sugar
4 tsp mustard seed
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp tumeric
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Process in boiling water bath for 10 minutes

One thing I like about this recipe is, that if I don't have enough pickles to use up all the "juice"that the recipe makes, I can just store it in the fridge for a few days and reheat it to do the next batch.

Give it a try...it's easy, and the pickles are delicious!

Smell That Fresh Country Air...

I made the mistake of hanging out our bath towels to dry on Saturday...

It was a gorgeous drying day, with a strong south air, but...

...it was also a great day for hauling pit manure.

Take a whiff...can you smell that fresh country air?

...and More Blooms...

Years ago, I planted a lot of zinnias and sunflowers, and put a sign out along the road that said, "Pick your own flowers...$1.00 per dozen".  But my garden sits just a little too far out of sight of a busy road, so much to my disappointment, it never really got off the ground.

However...I've never had to plant any sunflowers since!

Every year I get a ton of volunteers, and I never know just what variety they'll be!  I always transplant them around this huge rock that sits right in the middle of my garden...

...and the first ones began blooming just in the last few days...

I love their cheery faces, and I'm anxious to see what other colors might have come up this year!

Here's another beautiful flower...actually it's a Patty Pan Squash blossom.  If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you can see a tiny squash beginning to grow just above the upper right corner of the flower.  (It's blossom hasn't opened yet)  This is the first year I've grown these, and we've found them to be delicious, sliced really thin and sauteed in olive oil...

This is a variety of Lamb's Ears...

...and my "Annabelle"  Hydrangea finally looks like it's going to make it this year, after a couple of years of looking pretty sad.  Maybe it's all the rain we've had?

And last but not least...here's that good old corn stalk...still growing taller and stronger!

Do you think it will be over my head next month at this time?

When To Mow Hay...

A friend asked me recently to do a post about baling hay...the "how do you know when it's ready to mow" part.  So, BP...this is for you!  :)

It's been about three weeks or so since we baled our first cutting of hay, so last week, Jim checked out the alfalfa fields at the other farm to see if they were ready to be cut again...

The grass you see in the field is orchard grass that was intentionally seeded along with the alfalfa...

It's grown so fast!  This was what Jim was looking for...the alfalfa is in what he refers to as "early bud stage".  The flower buds have formed, but it's not in full bloom yet.  This will make nice hay that is high in protein...

Here are a few buds that are in full bloom.  It's definitely time to mow now before the whole field is blooming...

He listened to the weather forecast, and it sounded pretty good.  If the hay was mowed on Friday evening and Saturday morning, and the forecast (which was for hot temps and sunshine all weekend with only a slight chance of thunderstorms) held out, it would be ready to bale on Monday...before the rain came on Monday night/Tuesday (today).

The hay was mowed, and the forecast held out!

On Monday morning, Jim raked the hay into windrows, exposing the hay on the bottom that was still a bit damp, to the sun, and preparing it for the baler to pick up....

The rest of the day got a bit busy, so I don't have any pictures of the actual baling or unloading.  (But if you look at the previous post about baling straw last Thursday and substitute the straw with hay, you'll get the picture!)  :)

We prefer to bale our hay this way.  It's labor intensive, but in our opinion, there's nothing better for a cow's rumen than good quality dry hay!  It can be challenging to work around the weather...if the forecast just isn't favorable (3 days of hot, dry sunshine), Jim might mow the hay and bale it at high moisture into round bales, wrapping it to preserve it.

So...two cuttings of hay are now complete.  Depending on the weather, we should get at least  three more cuttings off of the fields this summer...maybe even four.

For now, we'll enjoy the day of rain we're having today.  The kids can now "officially" enjoy their first "real" day of summer vacation!

Barley Straw 2012...

June is typically when the barley is ready to be harvested, and the straw baled for bedding.  I took this picture last week; the grain is dry...and the heads were beginning to droop on the stalks...

Thursday afternoon the combine came to harvest the barley.  We watched the sky in the west as we finished up milking.  There was a chance of thunderstorms, and the sky got darker...and it got windy...
The combine finished in the slightest of drizzles, and we watched...and waited...as the storm...went around us to the south. 

We are fortunate, and thankful to be spared the storm.  Rain on top of straw makes for a difficult time in getting the straw dry enough to bale.  Wet straw can't be baled and be good for anything. (at least not for what we need it for!)

Jim's baling here, and is about to switch out his full wagon for an empty one...

It was hot yesterday, but there was a nice breeze.  As you can see, the straw was flying as they unloaded all afternoon.  Itchiness...

The wall of straw and fodder in the upstairs of the barn had been nearly depleted.  No longer!  Jim estimates that he baled about 1100 bales of straw yesterday...

We had good helpers, and they had the chance to take breaks between wagon loads.  The dogs stayed nearby, hoping for a dropped crumb as they had some snacks...

After Jim was finished baling, I drove around the field to pick up a few bales that missed the wagon.  Murphy and Snickers tagged along.  Every time I stopped, Murphy hoped I'd let the truck door hanging open so she could hop in for a ride...

Then this morning, Jim blew the straw out of the baler before he put it away...temporarily...

...there's hay to bale on Monday!

The grain yield was excellent this year, and it was sold as a cash crop.  Today, Jim is cleaning out heifer pens and spreading the pen pack on the barley field, and next week, late corn will be planted, giving us a double crop on the barley fields.

And so...summer "vacation" begins!

Taking Back the Garden...

Today I finally had the chance to take back my garden.

Jim was busy baling hay, and the kids, who are home from school now, did the morning barn work.  So...I took the rototiller to the garden and waged war on the weeds.

This is what the whole garden looked like...it was being taken over by "pig weed", or "Purslane", as I found out the correct name for this tenacious weed in the comments on my last post.  The tiller took care of most of it, but I planted my two little corn rows too close together to get the tiller between them, and did this area with the hoe.  The ground worked up nice...

...and thanks to the advice of George, another blogger, I discovered that the chickens enjoy eating Purslane...

How convenient!  The garden is right next to the chicken pen, so I can just toss it over the fence!

I wonder if I'd just let them out to wander in the garden, if they'd keep it in check for me?

Hmmm...don't think I'll try that!  Give them an inch and they'll take a mile...I'd like to keep the veggies for us!

What's Growing In the Garden...

With all the rain we've had (over 3" in the past two weeks), things in the garden are growing in leaps and bounds!

So, tonight while I was thinking about what to make for supper, I decided to go to the garden and dig up a potato.  These red potatoes were planted on March 14th...I haven't seen many blossoms, and the plants are still quite green, so I wasn't sure what I'd find.  Here's what I found...

The potato skins are so thin yet, that when they're scrubbed, the red comes off.  They tasted so good with browned butter poured over them!  I pulled the beets too, and we'll have those tomorrow.

The radishes are also growing fast.  They're so fun to just pop in your mouth for a quick snack.

I never planted Romaine lettuce before, so I wasn't sure when to harvest it.  We used it tonight on our burgers...

And last but not least, this is what is growing the best of all...

We call it Pigweed.  And. It's. A. Pain. In. The. Neck!

You can pull it out and hang it over the fence to dry, and six months later it will still sprout and grow!  (That might be a little bit of an exaggeration, but not much!)

It's been too wet for me to rototill, and I'm afraid it's taking over my garden!  My neighbor says that it's edible...I think her family from Italy ate it as a salad...but I'm not so sure I want to eat it!  Has anyone else heard of this?

For now, I declare war on the Pigweed!

Spud Gun Fun...

What does it take to spice up a beautiful Saturday afternoon?

How about some Spud Gun Fun!

Our friends made this contraption yesterday, and brought it over for some entertainment this afternoon.  First, you load it with a potato...

 

Then you ram the potato the whole way into the barrel...

Then you add some propellant, and quickly put on the cap...

...and fire...

...aiming away from anything important, of course!  KABOOM!!

I don't know just how long this entertained everyone, but it was quite a while...at least until the potatoes ran out!

Nothing like some home made fun!