Thursday, June 28, 2007

I'm back

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while--it's been a crazy couple of months. I've been to two weddings (best wishes to all involved), three musicals (Chicago--great show; Wicked--still L's favorite; Spamalot--meh). My dad and I did some light renovation in a bathroom at L's request--new paint, countertop, fixtures, and accessories. I've signed on and twice visited a deer lease in west Texas. I rented a gigantic wood chipper (a Steve Buscemi special--12" intake with a big deisel engine--the kind you see the pros dragging around behind the bobtail trucks). The limiting factors on what it could grind were 1)how fast I could poke stuff into the spout, and 2)how big a log I could lift and jam in there. I ground a pile about 30 feet across and five feet high into three pickup loads of mulch for the garden. I've also moved 2/3 of the mulch from the pile to the garden, and spread about 1/3 onto the garden. I've cleaned out the turkey house, turned the soil in their pen and planted some forage, plugged some leaks in the house, and built good tight doors for the front. I did this because I was expecting some chicks June 5th. Or maybe the alternate date, June 19. Or possibly this week. If they don't come this week, I'll have to call the hatchery to see what the deal is.

Also, after three years of extreme drought, we've had a very wet May and June. We've gotten rain at least once a week, and the best(?) week featured about a foot of rain. That means I've spent lots of time mowing--I've probably averaged four or five hours a week, although it's been unevenly distributed--eight to ten hours one week, followed by none the next. We've gotten about seven inches this week, including five inches on Tuesday.

The big news is actually L's. She's pregnant. With twins. That has been a whole 'nother experience, which I won't recount here. She's thinking about starting her own blog; I'll give you a link when / if she does.

Finally, with all the rain, my garden has been growing. My strawberries have done incredibly well. They put on a few little berries in April (enough for a snack every three or four days). They went nuts in May--we picked a quart every two or three days in mid-May. They've marched gamely on through June, putting out about a pint every three days. We've gotten spoiled with fresh strawberries just coming out our ears for two months. Now, I just need to find some clotted cream....

Our peach tree put on gobs of fruit--so much, in fact, that it broke a huge branch out of the tree a couple of weeks ago. Also, I discovered that the peach life cycle--too hard, perfect, rotten--has about a fifteen minute picking window. The peaches weren't ready last Tuesday; on Saturday, half of them had fallen, and another quarter were rotting on the tree. From the branch-busting load of May, I actually harvested about four pounds of peaches. At least we don't have to chop and freeze a ton of peaches.

As for the rest of the garden, I picked some nice collards and broccoli. I dug fifteen pounds of potatoes from a patch about as big as a desk. I planted a few ("few" = 20 plants, in 11 varieties) tomatoes. I'm also starting to get some okra, green beans, and purple-hull peas. I've got about a dozen pictures to post later.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is good to "read you" again. And I can finally get on to answer.

I remember a few decades ago when my grandad, a retired wheat farmer, made a crop of peaches. For some reason, probably a late freeze, there were few peaches. But the tree gave them its best effort, so those peaches were humongus. The few branches were so laden down that he propped up them up with boards. Grandad made the local paper with his crop.

Congrats on your nice garden. We're looking forward to pictures.

And let L know that if she wants to write about the twins, she has an eager audience.

Anonymous said...

Hey Cosin,
Glad you are back. Really get a kick out of reading of your 'agri adventures'. I have harvested over a dozen cantalopes and 10-12 pounds of tomatoes so far. Earlier I had lots of squash; vines seem to be making a comeback now. Peppers will be ready in the next few days too.

Anonymous said...

Congrats to L and you on your little ones. Wow.... Twins just the way I wish we had them...ole well worked out well anyway.

We will keep y'all in prayers.

Congrats again!

DB

Anonymous said...

Congrats on twins! You are in my thoughts and prayers.
Ecklund