Today Around Here...

It was 16* this am and the weather report says it's supposed to get up to nearly 60*! Sheee-yoouu! And tomorrow into the low 60's. That's flat nuts, but I'm going to take advantage of it. =0)

Firewood to split, dog's yard to pick up, probably be able to pry T-posts out of the ground this afternoon. They were around the corn patch, but the new high tunnel is going there. And hopefully I'll be able to get that compost experiment started, Darius! At least get the bin built. Put away the outdoor Xmas decorations. Oh, and grind flour and make bread! Yummy!

What's everyone else up to today?
Jay

This message was edited Jan 18, 2009 8:10 AM

Got my peppers and some cabbage and swiss chard seeds planted in a flat on a heat mat yesterday. Instead of building a cold frame, every year I buy 8 bales of hay and make a cold frame with a sheet (or blanket if it gets below freezing) over it to harden off my seedlings. Then I mulch the peppers with the hay when I'm done with the cold frame. I started sweet potatoes in a box with dirt on a heat mat about 3-4 weeks ago and they are sprouting! I pull them off when they get big enough and put them in pots to continue rooting, then harden them off when it gets warmer. In our area, you used to be able to buy bunches of sweet potato slips, 60 plants to a bundle, for about $5. Two years ago these bundles were no longer available and all I could find were 9paks of rooted sweet potato plants for $2.49 - that's right, the price went from 8 cents per slip to 28 cents! So, I've been growing my own slips for the last few years.

Nights are cold here too but not that cold. The days are too pretty to not 'start' something. I'm planting peas in containers and will start some spinach this week. Started some other veggies indoors this week too, eggplant for instance. A bell pepper I brought in is blooming so it is spending afternoons outside. The bees already found it.
I'm not a homesteader but if I could have one wish that would be it. I lurk in this forum a lot!

Maybe you're a homestead seedling! =0)
Nice to see someone else from NM.

Gonna study on your system there, Lwolf. You use actual hay or straw?

Straw - it's cheaper. Around here it's wheat straw that's gone from $3/bale to $6-$8/bale. Actual alfalfa hay is sky-high. When I get it built this year, I'll post a pic. Around here I usually start hardening cool weather plants around the first of March to set out the end of the 3rd week of March. The old-timers around here say to plant all cool-weather stuff on St. Patrick's day, but I've come to the conclusion that this is a good time only for underground stuff (potatoes, peas, onions) and set out above ground stuff (brocolli, cabbage plants) at least a week later or they get frozen many times - we have very erratic temps like you do! Around here it's the wind that will kill seedlings before the sun does, so I keep a sheet over everything for the first week, just to get them used to the outside, then take the sheet off in the evening for an hour or so, then two hours, then three, then overnight to get them used to the wind, then start with the 1,2,3,6 hours during the day before exposing them to the sun all day.

Yeah, the winds. }=0P And it's drier here, so it just plain sucks the life out of things. Biggest improvement I made to my technique was row covers.

Sheesh, it's almost worth it for you to drive out here to get your straw... still $4 a bale. Right now I've got oat, but often it's wheat. I actually feed it to the donks on the cold nights to help them stay warm.

Old timers say don't plant til tax day around here, April 15th. But they don't know the difference between cool season and warm season plants, and the weather's changing rapidly up here... we should be getting below 0* at night right now, and we're not even down in the single digits. So all bets off for planting dates.

Gotta go...
Jay

Looks to be another gorgeous day here, so here's the plan...
Finish filling the compost bin... boy, that is one pain-in-the-neck design. You have to heave the materials over the 4' side... better pay close attention to wind direction.... pfffft, pitoo =0) But if it will heat water, I can live with it.

Work on pea beds... scratch in gopher repellent, haul some more dirt over. Soon, Soon!

Maybe go up to Mora to get some wood

Start clearing of seedling racks, which are currently buried under all the 'stuff' that gets tossed in their direction when they're not being used.

And who knows what else will present itself?

Lwolf, do you plant your potatoes in the ground, or layer as they grow?

My current home is on only one acre. Since I don't have a tractor, I have a friend that comes and cultivates my garden twice a year - the rest of the time I use what I call my "foot-plow." I'm not sure what it's really called, but it's got one cultivator tine and a big wheel in the front that you push through the dirt - good aerobic exercise! I use this to lay out my potato row and plant in the dirt. It doesn't work so well because I can't get the row more than about 4" deep and around here we usually plant potatoes deeper than that. I try to keep up with mounding dirt up while hoeing, but with 15 90' rows and all hand labor, things get away from me pretty quickly every year. I'm always amazed as how much food I can get out of such a weedy garden! This winter I actually met a woman who wants to help me garden - I can hardly wait! Hard to believe that after 35 years of hand labor and hips that hurt all the time from bending over, I still get excited about gardening every year, but I do! 20 years ago I raised flowers to sell with a friend and we cultivated a one acre garden with her Arabian/Belgiun cross - it was some of the most fun I've ever had. I was thinking when I get a farm to buy an old, well-trained horse (I've had it with fiesty horses - too dangerous!), maybe a mule, but you're making me rethink this - maybe a donkey instead! I don't know much about "Mammoth Jacks" - I see signs for them, but have never worked with one. Are all "Mammoth Jacks" actual jacks - uncut males? Or are there "Mammoth Castrated Jacks" or "Mammoth Jennies" too?

Mammoth Jacks are a breed, so they come in all forms... jacks, jennies, and geldings. To be legit, a jenny must be at least 13.2 HH and a jack must be at least 14 HH. It's not about color (though some slick folks will tell you it is) it's about size.

I got a flyer from MidWest Leather that shows a one horse riding disc... intriguing. I think my guys could pull that no problem. I've got a friend uses a walking cultivator with a 3-up of mammoths, which seems excessive to me. But then I've never cultivated, so what do I know? But I'd be more inclined to just swap out animals when they got tired.

I don't think you'll find a farm-trained donk, though. Mostly they're just used for riding and driving. They're not hard to train, though, if you've worked with horses.

What you've got is called a High-Wheeled cultivator (wonder where they got that name? LOL) and it has various attachments: scuffle hoe, plow share, 5-tine cultivator. Lehman's carries them.

Great you've met someone who wants to help in the garden! =0)
Jay

I get the impression from your posts that donkeys are easier to work with? My experience with horses is that if you don't work them every day, they don't want to work and make your life hard! But then again, both horses I've worked with were draft/riding crosses and I've since read that if you cross a draft horse with a riding breed, you end up with a big horse with an attitude!

LOL, I can believe that! That every day thing is why I gave up horses; I don't do anything every day any more. =0)

Donkeys are pretty laid back dudes. Even when they panic, they only go so far before they stop. I get along with them (most of the time) but not everyone does, so I'd suggest visiting one of those places and messing about with them a bit first.

If I were to get a horse for small acreage cultivation, I'd go with a Fjord. I tried both this last spring at the Small Farmer's Gathering, and the Fjord has the mellower attitude. The Halflinger is a little hotter, a little quicker. You can find both already broke to cultivate.

I've worked a Suffolk, a little bigger draft horse, and they're nice, too. I think they run between 15 and 16 HH.

SO is ringing the dinner bell, gotta go before she throws it to the dogs...
Jay

I had a friend with a Suffolk stallion and he would let the guy knock out tunes on his forhead he was so mellow! They are a great breed if you have lots of feed. You went to the Small Farmer's Gathering as in the Small Farmer's Journal in Sisters, OR?

Yup. We had a great time, snow storm and all. I'd love to go back this year, but I think if we go anywhere it'll be to a rug hooking gathering... it's her turn to pick. =0)

Anyway, they had all sorts of horses to run through the sale, and so I stood around and watched 'em for 3 days. Of course, loved the Belgians, but they are HUGE! Some nice quarterhorse, Percheron crosses, several Halflingers, some Fjords, more Belgians, Morgan x Percheron, a couple of nice grade ponies, two nice span of mules (who by the way are far more alert than your horses)... just all sorts of work animals. No donks. Probably couldn't get them in the trailer. LOL

Came back with harness for all the donks. Very little in the way of single horse equipment... a few walking cultivators, no plows, some harrow sections. Tons of carts and buggies and wagons and several sleighs.

Yeah, I think the Suffolks are a good, easy going breed; they've kept 'em mellow. I only worked one for part of a day, but watched it all weekend and liked what I saw. Stood next to a Belgian while holding a harness and thought "there is no way on god's little green earth I am ever getting this up there!" LOL

No kidding! I laughed out loud at your last sentence - it is HARD to get all that harness up and over a big horse all right! Another point for donkeys!

And Fjords! Anything under 15 HH. =0)

I only mention Fjords because I'm not sure donkeys will walk out fast enough to run some of the ground driven stuff, which is rated to horse speed, so a Fjord or a team of Fjords may work better with stuff like manure spreaders and mowers.

But that's just thinkin' cause I've not got that far yet.

But a donk for sure will drag, cultivate, disc and probably plow. I'm hoping to someday down the road get my two boys going well enough to get one of those pull behind motor-driven brush hogs for the pasture.

With a partner, one of you can lead the donk, and one can steer the cultivator. Piece of cake then.

That's exactly what we used to do - one person lead and one person cultivate. In the beginning we had a big old horse named Charles that was slow but couldn't (or wouldn't) walk a straight line, then we had Dessie - much younger and always wanted to go fast. With her, my friend and I would walk side by side, one person with the reins walking in the next row over and one person with the cultivator. Worked good. Of course, our neighbor could work her and the cultivator at the same time - he thought we were crazy!

Yeah, the day I spent plowing behind a team of ponies, I was so busy trying to deal with the plow and not fall down in the furrow, that there was no way I was going to handle the reins as well. The old guy who owned the ponies took the reins and must have dispared of the future of horse farming. LOL

OK, it looks like we've got spring weather from here until... spring. When it will freeze and dump 3' of snow on us. %0 Long range forecast looks clear and warm. Up front it seems like a good thing, but long range I think that means we're back in the drought. Have you had drought there in AR?

Yesterday I found out that all the raw materials I thought I had for my little compost experiment (determining recipe to maintain temps) had already composted! How rude. Now we'll just have to fill the bin on a daily basis, which is going to take a lot longer. Bah, I'm disappointed.

Did get the outdoor Xmas lights taken down. And it's not even Valentine's day yet. =0)

Did get into the flower beds and start cleaning them up and rejuvenating them. I've let them go over the last couple of years, so there's weeds and the soil is poorish. Scratching in the compost, I found the daffodils are starting to come up. That means the flowers will probably get killed by frost... it seems to happen every other year. Bummer.

Spent the evening finishing up my seed list... more flowers this year.

Today I think I'll work on the flower beds some more...

Cloudy and 50* here today. Woke to 16*.

Got a PU truck load of hay yesterday, I've been unloading it this morning, only 4 more bales to go. Got all my seeds ordered yesterday, and picked up some milk from a neighbor. We're trying goat milk yogurt today... using the dehydrator to keep it warm. The book says the trick to thick goat milk yogurt is to add a little rennet, so this is our first go with that...

Taking it easy today, so there's just dinner to make after the hay's unloaded... plenty of time to sit and read a bit.

homestead seedling reporting in:
We sure have different nighttime temps. Our low was 41, right now it is 58 and yesterday we had a high of 67. Peas are about 2 inches tall, have one bell pepper about an inch and a half (pepper itself - not the plant). I think the eggplant I've started indoors is going to be tough to grow. Still haven't started the spinach which I've been meaning to do.
Enjoy your take it easy time.

You're definitely making me jealous...
we had mid-60's up here this week, but dropping down to the mid-teens.
How's the reservoir? There hasn't been much snow up here this year... Taos has gotten a fair amount.

Reservoir is going great considering we have had almost no moisture all winter. Last night we got .04 of rain ... at least there was enough to measure. Lots of storms have passed just north or south of us.

I passed a couple of small burn scars by the side of the road on my way to Taos this last week... it's been dry, that's for sure. Glad to hear the reservoir is doing OK.

And soooo jealous of your little pepper plant. lol

Got the jalapenos sliced and in the dehydrator before they rotted in the fridge. =o)

I'm radically stoked... the feed store called yesterday to let me know the high tunnel greenhouse had arrived. I'm going into town to pick it up today!

Hooo-hooo....
Jay

Here it is... wishes in a box... the greenhouse...

{{sigh}}

I'm excited for you... you just HAVE to post pictures as your project goes forward :-)

Oh trust me, you will hear about it. LOL

Well???? Surely it's not still in the truck. Where is the play by play? There are 2 of you. One can take pics while the other huffs and puffs and works on a hernia.

Yup, it's still in the truck. And it's going to stay there for a while. The ground is too frozen to drive the anchor stakes. And I'm booked solid til the middle of Feb. anyway.

On the High Tunnel DVD they mention using a jack hammer to drill the pilot holes for the ground stakes. I may look into that when time permits, if there is even one available in our little burg.

Otherwise, it's just another reason to go nutz waiting for spring...

=o) Jay

Won't you need your truck for anything else? We are always hauling something. Hope you get that thing up soon. It's a truck full so it will likely be a big job. Good luck with it.

Fortunately, we don't use that big gas hog much; we've got smaller vehicles for everyday. There's a couple of months worth of hay in the hayshed... that's about all we use it for--hay hauling.

I'll probably unpack, unload and repack it sometime in Feb., but it's not urgent. Thank heavens!

10* here this morning, but the sun was out full force, so it made it into the mid-50s by this afternoon. The farrier came out today and trimmed up all the donks, SU got this week's bread made, and I've started straightening up the potting area in the pumphouse, getting it ready for seed starting in a couple of weeks. How in the world did I end up with soooo many cans of paint? And millions of dead flies... >=oP

Maybe the paint fumes killed 'em?

I think my pumphouse was the retirement home for last years flies and they all just died of old age.... now they're dry and crunchy underfoot. Fly dust.

You could put 'em in the compost pile.

Nah... that's too far away, I just toss it to the wind...

and let the rain settle it?

LOL
Yeah, right. Rain...
Maybe when the little bits get out your way.
Next time you notice the dust motes in a shaft of sunlight, just think of my old, dessicated fly dust...

So that's what that stuff is. I wondered.

hanging my head, please don't rip my 'homestead seedling' badge from my sleeve (hope that reference isn’t too obscure)
here's what happens when you forget to bring in the bell pepper (night before last.) I don't think it is completely dead, just mostly dead. I hate to cut off the baby bells but there are only two viable leaves on the whole plant ~sigh

OOOOOH NOOOOO!!! Man, I hate that. =o(
I think this promotes you to Homestead Sprout or something... sort of like you're not a real cowboy til you get bucked off 3x. You're not a REAL homesteader til you've lost your crops to weather... LOL

I'd cut it way back or the roots will wear themselves out trying to repair all the damage. Maybe like about half, to just leave a couple of leaf nodes on the stem. But I've never had this particular plant hit by frost... anybody else?

It was 23* here this morning, so it must have been above freezing down your way last night? Don't you just hate that... the ONE night it drops and THAT's the night you forget.

Supposed to get in the mid 50's again today. Think I'll order a couple of giant rotating compost bins to handle the manure from the stalls... our pile is getting too big. If we compost and sift, we can sell the end result for a bit. Send a letter off inquiring about the single horse riding harrow. Finish straightening the seedling rack area. And start getting ready to go away for a week.