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Hi Everyone,
Life is screaming “Fall” all around me. The sycamore’s leaves are starting to turn brown, and even the sweet gum trees are taking on a purple tone. The goldenrod is starting to burst forth with its yellow plumes, and the sky is starting to ring with the caws of the crows—when their shiny black feathered bodies are not perched on the top of one of the fence posts as they take a look around the farm to see what to do next. They love to scavenger behind the ducks—for they leave food behind when their pen is moved to fresh grass every day. They are also constantly on the lookout for any “stray” eggs. When we had geese you had to find the eggs faster than the crows or they ate them for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Years ago we used to have open ended chicken houses and one day we came home from church to find baby chicks strung all over the place. The crows would fly in the opening, pick up a chick, head up into a tree to eat it—and drop it—therefore causing them to repeat the theft all over again. Those chicks were in our yard, in our fields, under the trees—and in the neighbor’s yard too! We quickly put an end to open ended chicken houses. Crows can be quite pesky, and they can be very humorous. I have seen them turn over a dog food bowl to look for any left overs that might be hiding underneath. While we always seem to have a crow or two hanging around the farm, they seem to multiply as fall arrives. When we first moved to the farm 27 years ago I was introduced to a few birds that I had never seen before—like the Meadow lark, the Red-winged Blackbird, and Brown headed cowbirds. There was one bird that we couldn’t figure out what it was for a long time—the Uh-oh bird. We never saw it, we just heard it. It said “Uh-oh”. I do not know how long we lived on the farm before we actually caught sight of the Uh-oh bird, and to our amazement—it was a crow. That crow didn’t warn about a passing “Car, Car”, I guess he was just constantly warning about troubles and trials and hidden surprises.
Last Monday was Labor Day—and it was the first time in many years that Steve didn’t have to go to work. He used to work down at the Ichetucknee Springs and he always spent Labor Day helping everyone else have a great day tubing down the river—he was responsible for getting the customers into the water with their tubes, and then picking them up later. Then for the last three or four years he has worked for us seven days a week. Last Monday was officially his first day of retirement and part time working. He and his wife are having a blast working in their yard to make it pretty. Steve now has Monday and Tuesdays off, and then he only works for three hours a day Wednesday thru Sunday in order to bottle the milk and wash the equipment. God’s timing was perfect when Micah stopped by to ask for a job. He works Mondays thru Saturdays helping with the field chores (heifers, bulls, chickens). On Monday and Tuesdays he also is in charge of bottling the milk and washing the equipment. Since Monday was a holiday we let Micah go home as soon as the milking equipment was washed. We spent Labor Day—laboring! There were cows to milk, chickens to feed, and sheep and cows to move to new pastures. I started some lettuce seeds in seed trays in the greenhouse, and then I headed out to the East Garden to harvest some cayenne peppers and okra. While I was there I also did some weeding. Mama and Papa worked on the porch step railings until 4:00—and I came in shortly after. We all decided that it was time to rest from our labors for a while. We had hamburgers for dinner and I made some baked apples and had Papa make some ice cream.
With Labor Day behind us, and the morning temps dipping into the low 60’s the feeling of fall was heavy upon my spirits and I told Mama that it was time to take down the summer décor and replace it with the fall décor. We managed to get the dining room table redecorated, and some of the garland swapped out over the doorways—but we haven’t managed to finish swapping it all out yet.
I had planned on weeding in the West Garden on Tuesday, but my heart strings pulled a little closer to home. Mama has been managing the Courtyard gardens for the last year—because her health hasn’t been able to let her stray too far from home. Some of the areas were getting too over grown and I decided that it was time to give her a lending hand. The strawberry patch was well hidden—but I uncovered it and the cats said, “Thank you for exposing all that dirt I shall use it for my bathroom.” UGH! The rock bed was totally hidden too—but I managed to expose them also. The rock bed grows bigger and bigger all the time. It all began when Mama put up a garden hose and she chose to put rocks around it. Then over time as I would weed around the rocks I would end up with more dirt that needed to be covered (and we always seemed to have a stash of rocks—so I would add a few more). Then I would weed the rock area, and more dirt would be exposed—and I would add more rocks. It doesn’t grow by leaps and bounds, just a little here and there. Once the strawberries and the rocks were uncovered I headed over to one of the roses and weeded under and around it—my hands and arms were not happy with me, but that is part of gardening with roses (they never say “Thank you, for helping me see the light of day”—or maybe they do by producing a beautiful display of roses—or is the rose display saying, “I am sorry for attacking you when you were being so nice to me.”)
Another sign of fall on the farm is the arrival of our winter stash of hay. We are thankful that we had a lot left over from last year—because a certain new barn has been taking more than its fair share of money. Matter-of-fact, it was being so stingy that it had to be sent to time out for a while. We need to sell some heifers. Last year we could have sold every cow on our farm twice (but we only had a few to sell)—but this year people just ask, but don’t buy. We can rest assured though that God will supply when He deems it best. In the meantime, we are very grateful that Papa was able to stack 100 rolls of hay into the barn—and the hay was cheaper than it has been in the past because our hay man retired from the hay business and leased his hay field to another hay farmer. The new hay farmer doesn’t charge a delivery fee—so that saved us lots of money.
I didn’t get to spend much time in the garden last week—but I did spend some time in the green house. I planted lettuce on Monday, herbs on Thursday, and Cool Season flowers on Saturday. We cannot wait for the lettuce to be ready to eat. We only eat lettuce that we grow—and lettuce doesn’t like to grow in the summer here, even though summertime is when we like to eat lettuce. I planted mullein, plantain, winter savory, thyme, and parsley seeds. I filled trays up with dirt and then I sprinkled the seeds on top. Herb seeds are pretty tiny and like to be exposed to the sun in order to sprout—therefore you do not cover the seeds with dirt, you just gently mist them with water. I noticed today that some are already starting to sprout—the lettuce is up for sure. For cool season flowers, I started some statice, calendula (for my salves), carnations (for my Mama), and sweet peas. I also replanted the rudbeckia—I think I covered the seeds with dirt the first time (which is a no-no) and only 2 out of 72 have sprouted.
A few weeks ago I planted bok choy and mustard—and they are growing like weeds and are almost ready to be transplanted out into the gardens. Therefore, I had best get my act together and get busy weeding and prepping the beds.
I hope that you are enjoying the last days of summer—I know we are! Yet, I am also enjoying the first tastes of fall which really is my favorite time of the year when it comes to temperatures. Fall is still warm with a touch of coolness. Winter is too cold, and I do not enjoy it when the north winds blow. Spring is still chilly with a touch of warmth, and summer is hot with the south winds that keep us refreshed. Each season has its pros and cons, and each one has its own unique beauty.
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare