Sunday, July 25, 2010

We're Done!

All right, Mother Nature, we're baked. You can turn off the oven now.

I don't know about official temperatures, but our thermometer on the kitchen door has been wearing out the 100 degree mark. Enough is enough.

Rain is forecast for the next week or so. We'll see if it materializes. In these hills and ridges, rain is a hit or miss proposition. We didn't get much the last time rain was forecast.

On the bright side, the tomatoes are developing nicely. I didn't put them in the ground until June, but think they'll be ready to pick before long.

The goats are venturing out even at midday. You'd think they'd stay in the big shady barn, but no -- they have plans as they've progressed to pastures new to them. There must be enough yummy stuff out there to give them the incentive. They don't come back to the barn until it starts getting dark.

I heard a cow in labor two mornings ago and see her with her new calf. Cows have been switched over to the pastures near the houses and barn, where much standing hay is available. They're doing a moderate job of chomping it down. My husband took the opportunity to try to mow the stickweed and dried grass in some of the resting pastures. Stickweed is a nasty plant that NOTHING eats. As far as I know, it has no use at all except to take over where it can succeed against other plants.

Peaches and pears are on the trees but we really need some rain so that they do not just dry up on the trees.

Okay, Mother Nature, you've got your orders. Now, come on and deliver.

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

July

July is a month, like February, that you just want to get through -- preferably in one piece.

We're expecting temperatures up near 100 F. this week. I don't even care much about temperature. Just give me the humidity forecast. There is no chance of rain for many days.

My husband was getting in as much of the neglected hay as possible this past weekend. His round baler could not make bales because the hay was too dry. Picking up square bales and putting them in a hay wagon is not something to look forward to in the heat.

I found one lone sunflower out in a field when looking for nearly nonexistent blackberries. Every year has its own unique agricultural yield. This is the first year that blackberries have been scarce on our farm.

Beans, on the other hand, have been extremely prolific. The freezer is full of them and some are in the dehydrator, cut up small, for vegetable soup in the winter.

The wasps are as mad as hornets! I've been bitten twice so far and travel with a can of spray in the cup holder of my UTV. I even had to spray inside the mailbox, as wasps were building a nest inside.

So, I'm up early. The daylight is already full out. I must drag myself down to tend to the animals while I can still breathe. The vegetable garden needs a little bit of water so that it can get through the heat of the day. I can hear the bulls in neighboring fields getting their daily rage out of the way before the heat builds.