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Hi Everyone,
“For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.” (Psalm 91:11) What a blessing it is that God cares for us! This morning we got up at 5:00 to get our chores done so that we could leave for church around 8:45. We drive an hour and ten minutes south to go to church every Sunday, and we like to be on time when we can—which isn’t very often when you have stubborn cows or catastrophes. This morning our timing was not too bad—even though Papa lost about 20 minutes trying to get our cow Analee to come out of the field and up the lane with the other cows to get milked. Analee had given birth to a cute little bull calf on Friday—and being dark thirty this morning, she wasn’t too sure where her calf was, even though Papa had just put it under her nose. Just when he thought that she was coming nicely, she turned around and ran up the hill to where all the sheep were. He finally put the calf in the lane, and let Analee find him—which would cause her to then be in the lane. With Papa being detained from following the herd up the lane, Penelope decided not to stop at the barn to feed her three little heifers that she gets to be mommy too. Instead she followed the herd up the lane to the milking parlor. When Papa caught up with the herd, he then had to coax Penelope back to the barn to feed her calves. Fast forward a few hours and we found ourselves all loaded in the van and heading down the driveway—when Papa noticed that the van message board said that the front right tire only had 35 psi of air in it. So he pulled up to the garage and grabbed the air hose to fill it up. Upon checking it out, he found that the right front tire had plenty of air in it. The van was registering the right back tire for the front tire—for it was low on air. Papa filled it up, but upon investigating, they found a nail in the tire. It took a good ten minutes (and a cut hand and a cut finger nail) to get the nail out—and then we really had an air leak. Papa planned on sealing the hole, but could not get the tools to work right while the tire was still on the van. So he jacked up the van, took off the tire…………………………and then the jack fell over sending the wheel hub crashing to the ground. Papa had to go to the barn to get the tractor to pick the van up so that he could get the jack back under it. After some good tries to repair the hole in the tire, Papa decided that it would be best to put the spare tire on, and take the other tire in to get it fixed. It was now 10:30, and Papa’s dress pants were ready for the laundry, and with the heat index being 100, he was ready for a shower. I can at least say that the delay did allow me to get the breakfast dishes done. At 11:00 we were ready to load back up in the van, but this time instead of heading south to our church, we headed east to another church where our friend Timothy Crane was having graduation services at 2:30. Our original plan was to go to our church for Sunday school and the morning worship service, then to head north to Jacksonville for the graduation—but God had other plans. Sorry that we missed the preaching at our church, but grateful that we were still able to attend the graduation, we found ourselves on interstate heading west. We were almost to Jacksonville when I heard a loud engine revving behind us. I turned around to find a pickup truck on our tail—and he was mad that we were in his lane. Papa couldn’t get over just yet, because a semi-truck was in the other lane. As soon as we were safely past the semi-truck, Papa went to change lanes—but the pickup truck decided to pass us instead. His road rage was not over, for as soon as he was barely past us, he cut in front of us and slammed on his breaks. I was so thankful that Papa was able to break fast enough to keep from slamming into the back end of the pickup truck—for since we were going 70 mph, it would not have been a gentle crash. I was glad when the little blue pickup sped up and disappeared out of sight—and I wondered if he would make it to his location alive. When we finally arrived at our destination we were very grateful to be there, for truly the Lord has his angels watching over us this morning. The graduation ceremony went well, and to our surprise Timothy quoted the whole book of First John—all 105 verses from memory. His family and friends did a wonderful job with the decorations, and since Timothy has a heart for gardening, the decorations and gifts were geared in that direction. This fall Timothy and his Dad will begin their own construction company, and Timothy will be putting to good use all the electrical, plumbing, and building skills that his father has taught him over the last ten years. That means that Timothy’s days of helping out on the farm are numbered—why do people have to grow up?
Green Thumbs and Red Okra
We do not get to spend as much time as we would like in the garden lately—because the grass is growing so well that the lawn and garden need mowed every week. I did get to spend two days in the garden though. Monday and Thursday Carry and I weeded, and weeded, and weeded. The middle bed had not been weeded in a while and the crab grass was getting a hefty root system. I used the triangle hoe to cut off the roots, so that Carry could easily clean up the fallen weeds. It is a man’s job though, but Steve was busy weed trimming and push mowing. Later that afternoon when Steve finished his jobs, I asked him to finish the last ten feet of walkway—and he made it look so easy, and did it very quickly. Maybe I should have weeded someplace else and saved what I considered very hard work—for him to do. Carry and I also planted a rose bush and a Philippine Violet that have been hanging out in the water tub by the garage since March. Then there was okra, yard long beans (red and green ones), cucumbers, yellow squash and everglade tomatoes to harvest. Saturday when I was in the garden harvesting, I walked around the pumpkin patch. I have three different kinds of pumpkins growing in one garden bed. Two are doing great. The French, Rouge vif d'Etampes pumpkin, or Cinderella Pumpkin has vines growing in every direction, and it is loaded with large 2 foot diameter pumpkins. Then the Seminole pumpkin—a Florida native, is also growing in every direction with extra, extra large butternut shaped pumpkins all over it. The third pumpkin is a Connecticut field pumpkin—which looks like the typical pumpkin that you would buy at the grocery store to make a Jack-o-lantern out of. My joke has been that the Connecticut pumpkin does not like Florida—for once it got hot, it practically disappeared. At the beginning, it was growing the best, and had set quite a bit of pumpkins and then they were gone—or so I thought. As I was walking around the pumpkin bed Saturday afternoon I found a very large Connecticut pumpkin—I was ecstatic!!!! I do not know if any more are hiding, but I at least have one to enjoy. I was surprised to see that it grows green with white squiggle lines all over it. When ripe it turns orange. I just love it when vegetables change colors when ripe. We even have watermelon that grows green, and then the skin turns yellow when ripe. One year I was having such a hard time finding all the green okra that I decided the next year to grow red okra so that I could find it easier. Did you know that red okra grows on red okra plants? So much for being able to find them easier!
Fowl Play
This week we played musical pens with the ducks and chickens. We had a new batch of laying hens arriving on Friday, so on Tuesday Carry and Steve took the three week old meat chickens out of the brooder house and moved them to the chicken tractors in the pasture. Then the house was cleaned out and fresh bedding was added so that 100 new laying hens and six new rooster chicks could have a nice secure and warm place to grow for about a month. Laying hens grow a lot slower than the broiler meat chickens. The hens will be ready to lay eggs in four to five months, but the meat chickens are ready to harvest in eight weeks. Then the ducks needed to be separated. We had five drakes (males) and two ducks (females)—not the best ratio for a happy life. So, since we have two ducks and a goose in the chicken yard, we decided to add the two ducks and one drake to the chicken yard. The goal is to get them all used to the new house—as in going in and out, and going to bed at night. Then we plan to move them to the turkey side where they can roam the orchard and garden. Needless to say the first two ducks and goose do real well going to bed every night, but the three new ducks don’t even know what the inside of the chicken house looks like. It is a good thing that I heeded Mom’s advice to train them in the chicken yard—where they are safe. Otherwise, they would just be sitting ducks awaiting the next fox, skunk, or raccoon to pass by their way. The four other drakes were taken to the pond to live with another drake and four geese.
Harvest Time
I have to say that harvesting the garden can be a lot of fun when you get to share of the fruit of your labors with others, or you get to make a whole meal from scratch. On Thursday we cooked a meal for some of our customers who live just done the road. They just welcomed a new baby into their home a few weeks ago, and we decided to give her a cooking break. How fun it was to fry up some of our chicken, cook up some potatoes and green beans, and slice up a fresh cucumber—all from our farm. While we delivered their meal, our meal cooked in the oven. In order to cook enough fried chicken for us and our customers, I cooked two skillets on the stove, and one skillet in the oven. The oven skillet was only half way done when we left, so I added some sweet potatoes and some okra, squash and onion to the skillet to finish cooking while we were gone. It was scrumptious. Then Saturday night I harvested okra, yard long beans, and a bunch of herbs: sage, basil, oregano, thyme, and savory. Then I came inside and put the soup pot on the stove. In it I browned some stew meat, and then I added some carrots and onions that we had already harvested last month. Then I added some store bought celery, salt, and pepper. I poured in some home canned turkey broth, and added some of our white sweet potatoes from last fall. Lastly I added in the okra, beans, and herbs and let it all cook for an hour. We cut up a cucumber and dinner was served Garden to Table, and it tasted excellent. I am glad that I made a big pot—for lunch will be easy now. Lately, another way of sharing our harvest with others has been drying herbs. One day last week I was turning my dried cayenne peppers into powder. I had a mask on—for if breathed it is worse that black pepper. Carry came into the kitchen and I forewarned her of the dangers—but she thought that she would stick around for a little while. She actually lasted for a long time, but when the cayenne went a little air born, Carry ran outside. When I was all done and took my mask off—I made my exit pretty fast too.
Garden Calendar
Many people keep asking me when to plant this or that in the garden. I was able to spend a lot of Saturday updating the Garden page calendar with the dates of when I will be planting everything from sweet potatoes (tomorrow) to sugar snap peas New Year’s Eve. So check it out—and let me know what you think. I hope that you find it very helpful, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask. I love talking about gardening.
It has been a long day, and my eyes are closing fast—so good night (or good morning to some of you).
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare