While I’m busy transplanting over-grown tomato seedlings into very tall Styrofoam cups, Will is out at the end of the Wolf Road, cutting up the ash logs for firewood and hauling them home to split. Today, before work, David went out and gave him a hand. With two men working, they filled up the truck! I can’t wait to split it all up — I love firewood!
We’ve had two calves born so far, both nice heifers. Will was hoping for a bull calf to keep as a bull out of our purebred red Angus cow, Beauty. No dice — it was a girl. Oh well, she’s big, healthy, and feisty, doing laps around her mother when she was only two hours old.
Yesterday David went down into the goat pasture with me to unhook the woven wire fence, pull the steel T-posts and re-pound them. Last summer the electric fencer quit working and I didn’t notice it. Well the goats stuck their heads through the wire to nibble tree leaves and twigs, pushing the fence posts crooked and leaning out. Now all the posts are straight and sturdy. All I have to do is clip the fence back up to it and the fence will be nice and tight again. I’ll be happy when our new electric fencer gets here. We use 12-volt fencers powered by old truck batteries that still have life in them. The 12-volt fencers have a more powerful jolt than do even the more expensive solar fencers. That jolt keeps the stock believing in that wire, I’ll tell you.
Will took the crawler/loader out into the Sand garden and spread out the piles of manure he’d hauled out of the training ring in the winter. Under the piles there is still lots of frozen snow and he wants it to melt so he can get the garden tilled up. All that manure will do wonders for the garden!
Our spring peeper frogs are now singing in the beaver ponds and irrigation pond right below the bedroom window. I love their jingle bell song; it sounds just like bells ringing. Today I’m planting my first daylily plants I got on the online Lily Auction, my favorite addiction. The ones I planted last year and the year before are coming up nicely. I can’t wait until they bloom with all their fancy forms and colors!
We’re still busily filling seed orders for folks. I’m amazed how many big seed houses are sold out, closed or not taking orders. And here we are, the “little guys” keeping on keeping on with 90% of our inventory still available. All that harvesting last fall paid off! — Jackie
I would love to have a wood stove, cook and heat, but my husband had a house fire wen he was very young. It scared him so no wood for us. I think he will go for an outdoor heater but nothing inside.
Yep, I can understand your husband’s fear. When I was a child we had a house fire caused by an electrical problem and can still remember it. We LOVE our wood stove but are also careful with the fire and make sure the stove pipe is cleaned regularly.
I enjoy as always hearing from you. I am busy here trimming trees and preparing to clear or prepare a piece of property to build a log cabin on. Looking forward to meeting up with you in August. Bette Axiak
Wow, what a fun project!! A great adventure. We’re looking forward to having you here for our fall Seminar!
Jackie sounds like you guys have hit the spring ground running. We love the busy spring just wish we had an extra few hours in the day, still cool enough to work comfortably. one of the favorite times of the year. We were wondering your thoughts on bottle calf’s for meet and what type of milk goat’s you’d recommend. We found a place we can get ether Jersey, holestein/angus cross, hoolestein, or guernsey bottle calves varying in price between 50 – 200 dollars, 3 days off the tit. Thanks for all your help.
Bill & Judy
We’ve raised many bottle calves for meat. Any calf will make tasty meat. Jerseys and Guernseys are cheap but do take several more months to get to butchering size. Holsteins or Holstein/Angus crosses cost more but then get big faster so it’s just a matter of deciding which you’d prefer.
I am a former buyer of your seeds and am so happy to hear your seed business is still going strong. i was going to let you know, i purchased Calima bean seed from you a few years ago and i didn’t plant them all. they have been in the envelope you mailed them in, along with other seeds, since that time (2016 i think) the package had an expiration date of 2018 but decided i wanted to grow them again this year. So, before i got my hopes up, i put three bean seeds in a wet napkin in a ziploc baggie…To my great surprise all 3 germinated and took off!! So, i have an entire raised bed planted with about 30 bean plants of your Calima bean seeds and they just popped through the ground about a week ago. I can’t tell how you pleased i am!!! I feel this is a testiment of the quality of seeds you provide! I had some zucchini and hopi pale gray squash seeds also, but their expiration was 2015 and to my dismay, they didn’t germinate but i was hopeful but feel that is just too much to expect from such old seeds :) I try to spread the word of your seed store down here in Oklahoma. Love your blog. Been reading it for a few years now :) Blessings,
Samantha, if you have more of those 2015 seeds you might want to try your germination test again because 5 years isn’t that old for those seeds unless they were stored in a very hot place or subject to chemical fumes. You might try a 24 hour very warm water (but not boiling) soak (good quality water, not highly chlorinated, maybe even distilled); hydrogen peroxide; keeping the seeds warm after you put them in a paper towel and ziplock bag. Paper towels with the least chemical residue will also help. There are many old seed germination techniques on the Internet. Those seeds don’t usually need cold stratification, but it is another technique you could try.
Thanks so much Samantha. Like Zelda, I wouldn’t give up on the squash seeds as they’re really not that old. Give her tips a try!!
Last fall you showed a large squash and mentioned using it for animal feed. I am looking to expand our winter feed for chickens and cows. I don’t see anything like you described in the online catalog.
That was Theron’s Winter squash. We just trialed them last year in our North garden with dozens of other varieties. We were amazed at the size and productivity. Unfortunately we couldn’t save seeds as they probably had crossed with other C. maxima squash out there. This year we’ll be growing them in isolation so we can save seeds. Sorry!
Glad your business is doing well and people can still get their seeds! Here in Iowa we are having a 80 degree day before more rain comes tomorrow.
Rain? We could sure use some. It’s very dry here and the fire danger is through the roof. We pray for an inch or two. But they’re saying “snow” soon. Yuck!
Love your blog Jackie. Glad your weather is nice enough for all of that work! No better feeling than being productive. I’m also glad to hear you have lots of inventory as I have just mailed out an order. Stay well, can’t wait to get all of those seeds!
It’s so pleasant working outside, now that the snow’s gone! I feel like I’m running in circles like our happy dogs.
Jackie- I love wood too! I always feel rich when my wood shed gets filled up in the spring. Better than money in the bank! We got spoiled with very warm weather the first half ofApril and now we’re back to regular cool rainy days. That’s ok though because I remember wild fire season well the past few years and so I’m not complaining about the rain. The seedlings in the garden sure love it too. Sure beats tap water!
Keep calm and garden on!
We’re lacking moisture here and could sure use some of your rain. Like you, we remember wildfires and hope none hits near us.
I’m so glad your little seed business is doing well. Our Seneca Sunrise corn is coming up nicely. I checked the lily auction out. That does look like fun!
Love your blog Jackie. Glad your weather is nice enough for all of that work! No better feeling than being productive. I’m also glad to hear you have lots of inventory as I have just mailed out an order. Stay well, can’t wait to get all of those seeds!
We really love working around our place. Like Will says, it’s not WORK; we just have fifteen different hobbies!
It’s so funny that we didn’t start out wanting to start a seed business. The Hopi Pale Grey squash started it all just because I didn’t want it to go extinct! I LOVE the daylily auction and it’s so easy to buy, too. What great plants!!
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