Planting Onions!

I know it has been far to long and I am truly sorry. My only excuse is I have had a Senior in high school, and three other Senior citizens who have been keeping busy.  I know I should still have found time for you but all I can say is...PLEASE Forgive me!

Any good farm has to have a garden. Well it is planting time here in our errant climate. Even with our exceptional drought we still plant and hope and pray there will be enough moisture to keep it alive, growing and producing. 

An expert or at least very experienced gardener starts with a straight line! We (actually my father-in-law) is a rustic farmer and you use whatever is laying around. In this case the board laying there sunbathing is the perfect width for distance between onion rows. The post and blue string make the row straight. There is another post at the other end of the row and pulled tight. 

This is a baby onion. These come in a bunch of usually a hundred. They are usually a little dirty and wilted when you buy them so soak them in a little water.

Each onion gets its own little hole for a home! The hole are dug quite nicely by your fingers. 






Then you cover it up and tuck it in for the growing season!

You plant your row of seasoning giants along side your row marker--the blue string. The blue string by the way is left over from baling hay.  Recycling was invented by farm people.  Nothing is ever wasted! 


              

                                                                                                                               



Onions are a bulb type plant and the fruit grows underground so you want to stagger the planting so the onion can expand and make a nice size bulb.  You can see they make kind of a zigzag pattern.

And when they are all in the ground, they need water and sunshine and a little night time rest to grow. Sounds like taking care of our children.

Wow look how quick that onion grew!!! Just kidding, that is a turnip left over from the fall garden. 







Spring is coming! These ducks are slowly flying back north to their summer home. Thanks for taking me back after my long heinous from reporting. Wishing you large doses of spring sunshine! 

Lambs Quarter

Potatoes and onions growing!

Spring is gardening time!


 Any self respecting gardener knows though you plant before spring gets here!  Potatoes and onions are always planted in late February to early March. These are both root crops (which means they grow--their fruit below the ground) so they can take a little more cold than tender veggies that are more sun loving! 

But today's crop is known as Lambs Quarter.

Lambs Quarter up close and personal.

This little known plant is rated #1 as the most nutricious plant with the USDA! It is well known in naturalists' circles. It packs a powerful dose of antioxidants and vitamins that we need in our bodies.  It is a natural blood enhancer too. The funny thing about this little weed, I mean healthy plant, is it comes up anywhere and is usually mistaken for a weed.

Just pinch-off the top 

 It springs up around the edges of my family's garden. One family member remembers picking it out of the ditch as a child! You just pinch-off the young tender leaves. You leave the plant for regrowth. (Its cousin is spinach.)

And then you wash it, wash it, wash it.
You might check for bugs or worms at this point too--just saying!

Pick a heaping amount because it cooks down. Although you can eat it raw in salads and sandwiches, I have not tried that yet. 

Too cook, get your water boiling and drop the greens right into the boiling water. They will turn the most luscious shade of green rather quickly. (I know I should have thought to take pictures of the cooking process but I did not--please forgive.) 

Only leave the leaves in the water for a few minutes and then remove.  The cooking water is loaded with powerful vitamins too so feel free to drink up! This step tenderizes the plant and brings out the nutrients. (It also kills anything you might have missed earlier--see picture--lol)

 Now switch over to your skillet and saute these little greens with the seasonings of your delight. We used bacon drippings, butter, olive oil, garlic, onion, garlic pepper and a smidge of salt. Also vinegar or Tabasco as a topper if you like. Simply delicious!  

Take a minute at your next meal and thank the good Lord for the farmer who raised the food you are about to eat! 

PLOWING!

Upper left before chiseled and sweep, on the right after.

I know I have been too long in returning but please forgive me! I could use a million different good excuses but none of them are really that good. Anyway, I hope you enjoy learning a smidge about plowing on the farm!

Plowing up volunteer wheat~volunteer means it comes up from a previous crop.
 

Plowing is what farmers do to make a crop even better! It either prepares the soil for planting, spreads the moisture around, kills weeds, or keeps the dirt from blowing, just to name a few.  It is pretty continuous on the farm depending which crops are being grown and what the weather has been like. 


 For example, last year during the drought there was not much plowing going on but now that the rain is coming so are the weeds which means more plowing is needed to keep the weeds under control.

On the left is a weed ripped up from plowing.  See its roots. The one on the right is still nestled in the ground, growing bigger by the minute. 

Here comes a "Chisel and sweeps plow"! It is turning the soil over for a seed bed, and killing weeds.  The sweeps are behind the chisel and living up to their name, they sweep the ground making it smooth and level.  I think it is interesting to note that an inch and a half rain had occurred just a few days before.  It had been so dry the soil quickly absorbed the moisture. 

Can you smell the fresh dirt scent as this plow turns the soil over? (This country girl loves that smell!) There are many different plows for a variety of purposes. 

 Most plows serve more than one purpose and serve more than one type of crop.  The plow below is called a "Big Ox". I like to think it was so named after its predecessor--oxen.  They were used to pull plows before tractors.

This big boy is used to RIP the soil good and deep. This breaks the hardpan so the soil will be loosened up for the planted crop's roots to go down deep. (Sometimes that is where the moisture is when it has been dry.)

You can see how deep it ripped the soil here.  You can also see very little moisture in the underneath soil.  Thank the good Lord, we have been blessed with rain since this picture was taken.

Thanks for spending a little bit of your time with me today and don't forget to thank the Lord for your own blessings!

 

Baby Calves

 

 the "Three Musketeers"

Think you could find this guy in a crowd?

Love those eyes!

Baby Calves are soooo many things!  They bring to the farm what children bring to a home! I love watching them discover the world running on the green carpet of winter wheat. They always seem to remind me of the promise of spring or a renewing of life.

 ( I know sounds sappy--lol@ms)

They  are funny, cautious, full of energy,  always wanting to run, play, eat, and want their Mama.  We have taken calves that weigh in the neighborhood of 400 pounds or more and they will bellar (slang for a loud mooing calf) and cry for their Mama all night long. 

To give you and idea of how large that is, a newborn calf will weigh roughly 75 pounds. They get up and are able to walk within a few minutes.

Mother and child so precious, but soon the Teenage years.

As soon as they stand up, you can guess what they want next--Mama's Milk! They must have their Mama's colostrom for survival.  And Mama cows are ready for them to eat or suck to relieve their pressure!

He is saying
"What chew be looking at?"

Instead of a milk mustache he is going for a milk gotee!

They eat pretty much as often and as much as they want.  Mama has to eat enough wheat, hay, cake, and minerals to keep both her and the calf going. Plus she has to keep up with the active little booger.  AND, AND she has no daycare, no mother's day out, and she would never ever leave her baby with mean ole' onery Bull-daddy!!!

"You kids get back over here"

And then before you know it, they are leaving home! (teenagers!) 


Actually in about 6 months they are weaned from Mom and forced to eat green lush wheat, yummy praire grass, cow cake, molasses, and other delcious cattle delecacies! (again just like their human counter parts--you know Tacos, burgers, and cokes) 

Here's hoping you get to lay down and rest in some green place today too!

TRACTORS!

Tractors are a way of life for farmers. They are as necessary as a Firetruck is to a fireman, or a cupcake to a baker, or a heckler to a stand-up Comedian.  Most people kind of romanticize tractors with farm life.  (I can say I have had a romantic moment or two on a tractor but nothing to write poems or blog about!) You might notice too, that our tractors are not green and yellow.  Many people think that is the only color tractors are made in but it is just a brand like Chevys or Fords. 

This one is called "One-eyed Jack".

This guy has been here long enough
 to have dirt blown in under it. 

You can look around our farm and tell we are long-term farmers.  Farmers tend to "marry" their tractors  and they never ever divorce/trade-in their tractors for a newer model.  (At least not in this family.)  They are sometimes put out to pasture, but most of the time they are running as much as possible.  

This one has a brick so the little ones can climb-on
and pretend they are plowing!

The old smaller ones are used for plowing the garden spot or filling in a water hole in the dirt driveway.  One a little bigger might be used to move hay bales, or pull someone out who is stuck in the mud down the road (when we are not in a drought as we currently are experiencing).  

This tractor is named "Vera".
(Yes, we name our tractors!)
((Quit LOLing))

The one with the front-end loader might be used to take out an old stump or move a big rock, or if necessary dig a hole to bury something.  In days gone by they were the work horses that did the plowing, planting, and cultivating.

Today's tractors can plow ten times the ground of the old tractors.  They have 435 horsepower. That means there motor has the power of a really big bunch of horses.  One hard working farmer can farm as much land as 20 farmers could years ago. 

My Darlin' plowing up volunteer wheat and weeds!

What we really all need to remember about tractors is they provide many things for us.  All kinds of food for our ferocious eating habits are planted, groomed, and harvested with tractors.  Much of our wardrobe is made possible do to the hard work of tractors. Why even the very towels we use to dry off with after our showers can be traced back to the tracks of a tractor somewhere.  

So the next time you see a tractor, whether it is slowing you down on the road somewhere, in a parade, or just a picture in a storybook or magazine remember how many great things get their start behind the wheels of a tractor!

Next the plows behind these big rigs! May you find a little Country Sunshine this week!