That makes more sence to me =)
Triple Digits!! Drought! Grasshoppers!! Is there any Hope?
terri,
Many hay growers have their hay sold before it's cut. That way the quality doesn't degrade before it's sold. I went into La Grange yesterday just in time to see three 18-wheelers full of hay and heading south. They looked clean and new. No age rings. Boy, never in my wildest nightmares did I ever dream I'd be extolling the merits of hay! LOL
to help cool off make some cool ties using the polymer granules you put in the soil to help hold water
cut a piece of cotton fabric about 4 inches wide and long enough to tie around your neck. Fold it in half with right sides together and stitch along the long edge with a 1/4 in seam sew one end closed.. turn it so the right sides are out.. youve made a long tube...then stitch across it about 8 ins up from the bottom end that is already sewn shut. add about 1 and 1/2 table spoons of the granules to the tube then sew it closed about 8 ins fron the oppisite end then turn the open edges inside towards each other and sew them closed to finish the end of it.. soak it in cold water overnight and then wear it around your neck to help keep you cool.. I used them all the time in AZ while outside and they work great! you can buy them pre made but this is cheaper if you want more than one..Ive also made smaller ones to wear around my wrists and they help too..
Where do you buy the granules?
Lowes has a big jar for about 13.00 but Ive also found them in a smaller package for about 3.50 at a garden store.. that size filled about 5 of them..I found out about them when I lived in Az I bought a few pre made ones then I found how to instructions. I make them and give them to my biker friends..
Thanks, I have seen the ones they sell before and kept saying...I can make one of those. LOL!
Yes, bettydee, the semis were pulled in this morning across the street for a second load. They only just finished baling yesterday and loaded two semis before we left work. It rained overnight (YOOOHEEE) so this second load might be a little wet. Only just a couple of months ago this fellow across the street had several bales out in front with sale signs on them. There were a lot of signs like that around here. Now all the bales are gone.
Such a shame! Whoever has deep pockets and can order large quantities ahead of time gets dibs on them. And the other livestock are in such need!
Charlene and others....
I did my rain dance and was blessed with a nice two days of rain. Hope some of you got some as well.
Still waiting!
I did make an interesting discovery concerning grasshoppers. Since I'm living in the middle of a pasture, I'm cursed with Bermuda grass in my yard, but in this case it may be a blessing. I've been using a sprinkler to water a circle at least 4 feet beyond the crown diameter on my fruit trees. The Bermuda grass with those areas has greened up and is attracting large numbers of grasshoppers from other parts of the yard. Even my DH noticed a difference in the number of grasshoppers found in other areas. Now, to find a pesticide I can safely use around my fruit trees. So far, the dratted grasshoppers have only gone after the new grass growth.
This has some good info on killing adult gresshoppers and some fruits and vegetables how long the product stays on.
http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/icm/2003/7-21-2003/grasshoppersize.html
I sure hope you all get some rain soon and the slow drenching kind that sinks in.
I hope this helps. My heart breaks I can not do anything to save you from selling off your animals. This is heartbreaking.
We have been blessed with rain here. We got four inches this weekend. We have had overcast days with some misting off and on since then. It has been cloudy all day today with tiny little bits of sprinkling. Everything has come back to life that had any life left in it at all. My most expensive brugs are the ones that just didn't come back though. Oh well I'll just get some cuttings and start them again.
For anyone wanting to use the water crystals for the kerchiefs or for your plants here is where I buy mine: http://water-keep.com/ I buy four five pound containers with shipping it is $96.00. You can buy much smaller amounts if you want to. If I hadn't been using water keep crystals on my plants I would have lost many more than I did. They are especially good for hanging baskets that always dry out so quickly. I don't follow the instructions for planting in the ground as that would take too much. When I make a new bed, I use it as if planting each plant in a pot. That way I only use what is needed for each plant. The instructions call for you to mix it in with the soil when planting in a bed. It goes a long way and is worth it's weight in gold. I first tried the large crystals, but now I use the fine granules for everything. I like that best.
The overcast weather has made it cool enough to work outside and I am getting more shade cloth up to get ready for another heat wave. I am really relieved to be getting this break from the heat.
My DH said he wishes it would have come before he had to sell the cows. My own outlook is that it may get bad again. Things always happen for the best even though we can't see that at first sometimes. There will be more cows to buy when the time is right.
Charlene
I like you attitude Charlene, we got some rain here too, and it has been a very nice break.
Josephine.
Charlene, I am so glad that you got the rain and relief from the heat! I hope a lot of farmers, ranchers and others who depend on rain to be able to produce crops, plants and livestock got what they need for now. Enjoy!
Thank God ... the weather is almost pleasant! I actually went outside today.
Sylvia, be careful, you'll get a tan!
I am brown as a bear myself! Lot's of sun and I don't use sunscreen. I hate the stuff. It runs into my eyes when I perspire. I wear a hat, but that is to keep my head cool. I don't want to be a hothead. LOL I put a wet towel under the hat and keep rewetting it when needed.
It is overcast today. I love working outside when it is like this. Especially since some of the plants are showing signs of life again.
I found two new (to me) wildflowers yesterday. They are both purple (favorite color on flowers). I dug one and pulled one. The ground was like cement. I am hoping they will live for me. I haven't been able to photograph them as of yet. If they are not completely wilted, I will try to get that done today.
Charlene
Charlene, I hope they turn out to be very nice plants, the Verbenas that you gave me are all doing well.
Josephine.
Josephine, I went ahead and cut the tops off for ease in transplanting stress. Here is a photo of one on DG though: http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/22824/ They are Texas bluebells or Eustoma grandiflorum.
The other one is not in clear enough shape to photograph. The flower part has just completely wilted and they really weren't open very well to begin with, so I will just have to wait and see if they survive and bloom again to id them.
I love the bluebells, I am hoping for success with them. I got one good clump and the leaves haven't wilted so there is hope.
Charlene
Charlene, my dermatologist insist I wear that darn sunscreen too. I tell him how nasty and greasy it feel on my face. I told him i dont understand why I got to wear that stuff and a hat too. then he send me home with 50 assorted sunscreens which he swears is not greasy! I will bring you some to the next roundup. lol
Josephine, I need your help. I want to root some of that Mexican Flame vine for the next round up, but it will not do it for me. I tried to root it in water ... and it wont take. I forgot that receipe you gave me... maybe you or sheila can give me some directions.... pretty please. :)
Sylvia, here is the link to the rooting mix;
http://davesgarden.com/community/blogs/t/frostweed/4101/
Be sure that you take the cuttings from the growing tip, and that the space between the nodes is not very long,( the more nodes the better rooting)
I am not familiar with flame vine, it could be that this is not the right time for it to root, but you can try it and see what happens.
Good luck,
Josephine.
Sylvia, I saw this on another site and I've been wanting to try it on something myself. You could try this also if you'd like. If you can locate a runner in the ground by that flame vine, they are supposed to be easy...just cut the runner into pieces of a few inches each and bury them just under the surface of the media. Try both stems and runners, if possible.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/propa/msg1020340019335.html?19
I have tried the clay pot method and didn't see any better results than I did with Frostweed's method for multiple cuttings. She does them in the large hanging basket size pots also, about half full of medium. Sets them in the drip trays and covers them with clear plastic cake cover domes. I used the deep drip pans, the type for hanging baskets I had; just cut the hooks off. It makes a terriarium of sorts, just keep the bottom pan filled with water and leave them in the shade. They need warmth but no direct sunlight so outside is best.
Here is a pic of two of mine, yes they needed watered. I used the small pot with the juice jug on one. Don't put holes in them, and keep water in the tray.
Josephine, I forgot which thread I was on so, I thanked you on another thread too. :)
Linda, the Flame vine is a runner? I am going to try both methods. I did not know you needed a top on it too.
Thanks All!
wow! Took a long time catching up on this thread. Just had about an hours rain. Don't know how much as it is too dark to see the rain gauge.
All the work everyone has put in for months now for a veggie garden, flower garden, hay field, whatever....up to the whims of nature. Last forecast I heard said more rain and cooler temps this week. I hope that is true for a widespread area. I have spent more time pulling and cutting down "fried" plants than I did putting them in the first place. Blessed with cool a/c and a clean bed...parts of the world have our woes and more..
Christi
Christi, glad to see you over here. I hope your hour of rain was a good one. I know what you mean about the pulling of the fried plants.
The AC is the best part of my breaks indoors!! That is the one thing we don't want to forget to thank the good Lord above for when prayers are said. I don't know how we ever survived without it. We did though and other than a bit of humidity in the house it wasn't too bad with an attic fan.
That humidity could be a buger though. I always tried to keep the little ones Sunday clothes put back in the closet a few times before having to wash them. One time, I didn't realize that my little angel had dribbled something on the white lace on her red velvet dress that I had made for her. That humidity caused it to mildew. So much for that pretty dress! Good thing I had her picture made for Chistmas already! There was no getting the mildew out.
I guess if we had to go back to the old attic fans we would eventually get used to it again, but in the meantime, let's hope we never have to face that challenge.
Things are looking much better after the little rain from last weekend. Now to keep it watered and have it stay that way. I have some things that I was close to digging up to toss out that have started to leaf out again under the shade cloth and of course after the soaking from the rain. That gives me lots of hope!!
Charlene
We will be blessed with a chance of rain everyday this week and lower temps too!!
They just had a story on the noon news about the ranchers in Texas and their plight. About selling livestock off to try to survive. They mentioned the money available from the government. And something I've never heard about...not sure what it was about, but they said something about the government might be renting ranchland. In the Hill Country area, I'm afraid about more ranches getting into the hands of greedy developers who don't care about the area, just wanting to get rich off of developing and selling off land. Every ranch or farm that disappears means we're closer to a doomsday scenario with water sources drying up and wholesale destruction of the environment and some beautiful semiwild places. Not to mention that we'll eventually be more dependent on other countries for food.
See if you can find the news story on internet and post the link for us.
It's pretty hard to find things on their website...I tried, but it didn't pop up. But I found this on assistance to ranchers:
http://www.texascattleraisers.org/drought.html
Livestock losses means the cattle have to die in greater numbers than what the rancher normally experiences. Unfortunately, it does not help ranchers who sold their cattle because they couldn't afford to feed them.
I had an appointment to fill a declaration of pasture loss today. The Farm Service agent said they have not received any specifics of the bill. To be eligible for monetary help with pasture and hay losses, the rancher had to have bought insurance last year. You have to jump through a bunch of hoops and in the end, the payment doesn't come near covering a fraction of the cost of maintaining a herd. In 2007, we received slightly over $300.00 as aid for the 2006 drought. That didn't even cover the cost of purchasing 40 bags of range cubes. Forty bags would supplement our cattle for 10 days. The drought lasted 1-1/2 years.
I was meaning the tv station website with video or stories. But if that is the help they were referencing, like Betty said...it wouldn't help folks like Charlene that had to sell. Thanks
Sheila, like Betty said the help is way too little and way too late. It is sort of like the commercial of the guy showing the child the really nice toy and then giving him the little tiny piece of junk toy. I guess you could say that the kid should be happy that he at least got something. We also got a small government payment the last time. I don't remember what it was, but it was like sticking a bandaid on a leg that is just about cut off. It just doesn't do the job.
We are very likely not going to try to have cows again like we used to do. We may on a small scale buy some in the late winter that are bred. We will let them calve and raise the calves for a few months. Then we will take them all to the sale before winter comes again.
We know someone who does that and he comes out with a little profit due to not feeding animals over the winter.
There is of course a risk in doing that. Sometimes you will buy a cow that had trouble delivering or one that "throws" calves or one that has a bad teet. Those are often the cows that the rancher will send to the auction. You just have to hope you are bidding on some that are being culled due to overstocking or some other reason besides being problem cows.
So much for cow talk. LOL
It rained here this morning!! Yahoo!!
Charlene
LOL! Well we talk about what we know.
Loving this rain the last week. We got about 1 1/2" last night, hope you enjoyed some also.
The last two rain events have given us 5 inches, Wow!!! I can't believe it!!!
Wish I could order the same for everyone.
As of yesterday we have had a summer with 36 days of 100 or more degrees and this July has turned out to be the hottest on record. It was 101 today and no rain at all in the forecast.
We've hit new records as well.