The Gully Washer

Last week, Thursday I think it was, we had a big rain. We received 2.5 inches overnight.

The driveway wash was the worst I believe I'd ever seen. Since our driveway is about 1/4 of a mile long, this covers a lot of ground. The water must have been rolling fast down the hill that night.

Not so bad, eh?

But wait. All of that gravel is supposed to be in the driveway, not the yard.

Oh dear. More gravel in the yard.

Look at those nice deep grooves that rattle a car.

This is the lower end of the driveway. Suddenly we have a new ditch!

That gravel under the fence belongs in our driveway.

Another new ditch.

Drop a wheel over that and I might be stuck!

Fortunately we have the equipment to fix this with. Many other folks aren't so lucky.

Our Great Outing

With temperatures roaming around near 100 degrees over the last several days, the air is tough to breathe and working outside near impossible.

So Saturday my husband took a rare day off from working on the farm. We took a drive.



This is us, getting ready to head out. My husband has a dip
of chewing tobacco in his mouth. Sigh.

 


This used to the Roanoke County Courthouse, but it is
now part of Roanoke College.

 


We ate lunch at Macados in Salem. They have good
chicken salad. While we were there, we watched a parade
of vehicles with confederate flags and other decorations
go by.

 


This is downtown Salem, or what's left of it. I remember it
differently than what it looks like now.

 


This is the ponds in Salem. I caught a big catfish in there
once during a fishing rodeo.

 


No trip is complete without a stop at Walmart for something.

 


Heading into Elliston, the Blue Jay Motel greets travelers.
I always take a picture of it because my great Aunt Ruth and
Uncle Ted once managed the place. Best blueberry pancakes ever.

 


Christiansburg means cars. We checked on the new Camrys.
Not impressed enough to trade in my 2014.

 


We drove through Christiansburg downtown.

 


We came across a car show.

 


We did not get out because it was really hot.

 


We went into this store to see if they had any chair
end tables. They did not have what we wanted.

 


This is what we went to look at it. Yes, junk.

 


Farm junk. Pieces of stuff that mean nothing to me.

 


The stuff does, however, mean something to my husband. But
he did not find what he wanted on this day.

And that was that. I slept most of the way home. I don't do well on long adventures anymore. We were out about five hours, I suppose.

Our great outing.

We May Not Have Tomatoes

Our tomato plants look terrible because we have horn worms. Every time we spray or dust for pests, it rains and washes it off.



The tomatoes have been damaged by a bug. Note the lack of leaves.

It is a good thing we do not garden for a living, for we would surely be failures at it.

We are not that kind of farmer. We grow good grass and have nice cattle, but we are not very good at keeping the vegetable crop going. Either the deer eat it or the beetles get it.

That's why this year we only have tomato plants. But if we don't get the beetles/worms/whatever stopped, we won't even have those.

This year, we are growing leafless tomato stalks in our garden.

A long time ago, when we were young, we had a large garden. We grew cucumbers, squash, and corn. We harvested green beans and peas. It was (and is) backbreaking work that I am no longer able to do, and my husband hasn't the time to do.

Our garden grew smaller as we aged. For a few years, we had no garden at all, but we missed having a few fresh veggies (especially tomatoes). So we planted a small garden around the side of the house where we used to have a C-Band satellite. Its removal left a large space of dirt, which we enlarged a bit and fenced off to keep the deer out.

At various times that small garden has been quite bountiful, offering up squash, beans, peas, tomatoes, and even corn. But in the last few years, squash beetles have killed every plant, seemingly overnight, and this year we just didn't fool with anything but tomatoes.

Now it seems we can't even get those to grow.

But we are excelling at tomato stalks.



In 2008, we grew corn.

We May Have Blackberries

If the sun ever shines for a long period, and the rain stops making everything moldy and damp, we may have blackberries.



Blackberries - not ripe



A few ripening blackberries.

These blackberries do not look all that appealing, frankly. I don't think they had enough of whatever they need at the right time. They are not plump and juicy looking, but instead seem a bit weak and pitiful.

They will probably taste seedy.

Reseeding the Fields

My husband decided that this year was the year to reseed about 40 acres on the farm. First he sprayed the existing grasses and weeds with Round Up.

This is not my ideal way of replanting. I prefer the old way of plowing and turning over the ground, but farmers instead spray weed killer that I feel sure is not healthy or good for anyone.

After the grass is dead, then you have to put fertilizers on it. We had the soils tested at Virginia Tech so we
would know what kind of fertilizers to apply.



The killed field.



Another part of the killed field.



As you can see, it is a lot of ground.



The fertilizer truck and my husband with the seed planter.



Planting seeds with a no-till drill.



Fertilizing the fields.



Truck full of sacks of seed.

More of the killed field.

It had been probably 20 years since these fields were last seeded, and they were mostly full of weeds and Johnson grass. We have planted orchard grass and, provided it rains, it should come up lovely and green next spring. Unfortunately, it could also lie there and not germinate, leaving the ground with nothing, but that is a risk a farmer takes any time he plants.

A Happy Man

 

Here is my beloved, doing what he loves to do best.

 

 

Play in the grass and make hay bales.

 

 

This is how we spend Memorial Day weekends around here.

 

 

Making more and more haybales.

 

 

Big suckers, aren't they?

 

This Ain't No Disco

Farming has its ups and downs. Winter is not always a downer, but the snow creates special problems.

The cattle are bedded down in the hollow around the watering troughs at the moment. They have grass to lie on, as well as hay, but they aren't keen on tromping through the deep, icy snow.

However, this morning when I rose and looked out the window, I saw one lone cow away from the herd. On second glance, I saw her newborn calf. The little one was already up, looking for a first meal, and testing newborn legs.



Snow makes it hard on an ol' farmer.

Unfortunately, another cow and calf did not fare as well earlier in the week. The momma went into labor sometime in the night, after we'd already checked the animals, and the calf refused to come out. My husband had to get a couple of neighboring farmers to help him pull the calf, and we're hoping the hapless momma will recover. She's being treated kindly, with lots of water, hay, medication, and attention.

We are not full-time farmers; my husband has two other jobs and I don't have the physical strength to be of much assistance with farming chores. Fortunately one of our young nephews is interested and always glad to help when my fellow has to be elsewhere.

If we farmed full-time, perhaps we could better time the births of calves, though frankly this time would be about the normal time for such events, if the weather patterns were as they once were. We have not had such frigid temperatures or as much deep snow at this time of the year as rule. March is when many little new babies of all kinds pop into the world, after all.

Thursday Thirteen: The Year of Soil

Did you know that 2015 is the International Year of Soil? Dirt is kind of important but it's probably not something most people think about (except to vacuum it up or sweep it out).

Here is the dirt on dirt:

1. There are three types of soil: clay, silt and sand. Most soils are a blend of all three types.

2.  Soil holds 0.01% of the Earth's water. Soil is composed of 49% Oxygen, 33% Silicone, 7% Aluminum, 4% Iron, and 2% Carbon; half of soil (50%) is air and water. The remainder is minerals and organic matter.

3. Soil is created by the breaking down of rocks, usually by weather. After the rocks crumble, soil is created by the addition of organic materials from decaying plants and animals.

4. Soil needs microorganisms to break down the organic matter.

5. Topsoil, the uppermost layer of soil, has the highest amount of humus and microorganisms. Most plants get their food from this layer of soil.

6. It takes more than 500 years to form 2 centimeters of topsoil. Ten tons of topsoil spread evenly over one hectare (about 2.5 acres) of land comes out to be as thick as one Euro coin.

7. Good, functional soil holds 3750 tons of water per hectare, which reduces the risk of flooding.
8. A single one gram of soil contains 5000 to 7000 different species of bacteria.

9. Scientists have found 10,000 types of soil in Europe and about 70,000 types of soil in the United States.

10.  Nearly 75% of the earth's crust is composed of silica and oxygen.

11. Compost is soil created from things we use daily. This is good soil that can be used in gardens.

12. Things to leave out of compost piles include tea and coffee bags (the grounds are okay, just not the bags), citrus peel, onions, dog and cat droppings, fish, meats, glossy or foil papers, plastics, metals, ash, treated wood or sawdust, artificial fertilizer, and big branches.

13. Things to put into your compost pile include grass clippings, newspaper, certain fruits and vegetable leavings, and certain types of manure, such as horse, cow, and chicken droppings.

Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 379th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Autumn Beauty