Friday, May 29, 2009

Victory Garden? How about Recession Garden!

I found a great link from a fellow Blogger: The Beginning Farmer, I refer to his blog on a regular basis. This link is to Yeoman Lawyer / Farmers Blog. (He has 2 blogs, both very interesting). Yeoman wrote a short piece including photos of Victory Garden posters. These posters are from previous World Wars, in which extra food was needed for troops serving over seas. These posters are popular today, because of the current economy. Many of these are being reproduced to encourage families to grow a garden, to help themselves in this troubled time. Link: http://yeomanlawyer-yeoman.blogspot.com/2009/05/victory-gardens.html
Please Check the blog links of others as many are information filled.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Happy Birthday Cayla!

Happy Birthday to my wife Cayla! We had a wonderful cookout last night, with family and cake. She got some peach trees, yummy!, that will be planted very soon; also received flowers and an iron plant hanger.
Kenny, Kyle and I nearly finished putting the haybine back together, thanks to them for the assistance. The reel is in place, belts need put back on, bolts tightened and everything needs a final check over. Then we'll be ready to mow with it. Pictures will be posted soon.

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Make Hay While The Sun Shines

The old sang "Make hay while the sun shines" is hold true this week. Wow how the seasons have changed, the hot sun is out and its hay season again. Andrew (neighbor) and I have been mowing hay this week preparing to bale. Above is Matt's tractor (neighbor and Andrews brother), that we have been using to mow the hay. Below is a close up picture of raked hay rows in the above pictured field. Make sense? Anyway, we have had frost 2 days this week so far, lost a few seedlings to it, but thankfully nothing else. We're gonna shoot for firewood hauling and fence building after all the fields have had the first cut of hay mowed off of them.We did get a chance to plant our new apple trees. They are doing well. No calf or calves yet! Is the Vet right? are we crazy? Both? We'll keep you updated. I was recently looking at Mother Earth News online and read an article about Athens, and it made me think Isnt Athens County such a beautiful place to live? Link to the article: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Nature-Community/2006-08-01/Great-Places-Athens-Ohio.aspx

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Jays First Hair Cut

Yesterday was hair cut day. After a pretty warm friday of outdoor activity we decided that Jay's hair needed a trim. Little boys that play outside and get dirty hands (sand box and such..) then wipe their forehead, that combinations all bad. So we cut his hair, same buzz cut I get and he loved it. He didnt seem to bother his forehead as much yesterday. And hes loves to fell his hair, its so funny. Sad to see it go, it makes him look older. Tear, Tear...Photos follow.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Happy Mothers Day


Happy Belated Mothers Day to all! sorry its late. Above are my 2 most favorite people, helping out, putting up temporary cow fence. Yes, on Mothers Day, LOL. What a great day it was for Mom: Breakfast in bed, Opening gifts from Jay, church, Home for lunch, then outside for the afternoon. We worked in the garden and moved cow fence.The cows are now a fresh piece of ground. If you know our farm its the field by the pine trees, which has never been grazed since we have had the farm. The cows are loving the cool shade of the pines. Sally, the cow that is due to calve anytime is getting closer. Her teets are beginning to swell with milk.
Grass fed beef. This type of beef is said to be superior to grain fed beef. The following is a quote from Consumer Reports: "Grass-fed steak can also have higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids, which may help reduce heart-disease risk. Grass-fed ground beef usually has more conjugated linoleic acid, which might improve the immune system and help fight cancer, atherosclerosis, and type 2 diabetes, lab and animal studies show." here is a link to the article:
These are pictures of our cattle grazing one of the lush green pastures on our farm.

Friday, May 8, 2009

May

Spring is here! I mean things are really growing, fast. Grass has been mowed a few times already. The pastures are grazable. (is that a word?) Anyway, we put the cows out on their first patch of fresh spring grass. We start by fencing the area- some perminent fence is up, but electric covers the rest. Then so not to expose the cows to fast, we turn them onto the grass for an evening (when bellies are almost full, they wont gorge on the fresh grass- which could in some cases have bad effects). After a day or two, turn them out all the time until the grass is down- including weeds, then rotate to another pasture and repeat. The raotation allows grass a regrow period before being grazed again. Pics of cows in field below.

The garden is coming right along. So far we have in the ground Potatos, Tomatos, Green Beans, Bell Peppers, and Banana Peppers, also some sweet corn. Potatos and green beans (bush type) are this years expirements. Potatos which I thought would surely not take, have grown tremendously and are going to have to be divided and placed in another row. We planted them high density, to see if they would even sprout. Wow, they have. We have been hand hoeing occasionally to reduce weeds, incorporate air into the soil and allows soil to better absorb water and drain.

Jay has been playing as usual, loves to play outside. We recently took the saftey front off his crib because he can now climb, and that would be a long fall. Hes so proud of his "big boy" bed.

As some of you may know my mother in-law Rita wrecked her car last week. She fell alseep while driving for work. The car rolled mutliple times, trapping her, they had to cut the car apart to get her out. She was then flown by Med-Flight to Columbus. She is doing well, at home now, lots of bumps and bruises. Thanks for your prayers. Car pic below (Notice the top is not attached.)