We just went through a doozy. It started last week when David went into Walmart for a tire appointment. He’d ordered two front tires for his car as his were worn out. He waited for an hour and a half, and the guy finally told him they couldn’t find his tires! They issued a refund for him and when David got home, he looked at it and it was for one tire only. He got that straightened out, then his refrigerator crashed. Luckily, Elizabeth had a dorm-sized fridge that they could cram all their food into. Then, the generator died. He ended up having to buy a good used one from Facebook Marketplace.

Of course, having very hot weather has not been fun. The tree leaves are turning and falling, way early this year. Even though they’re beautiful, we’d rather see green leaves.

Our leaves are changing way early this year and falling too!

Then the bad luck switched to us! Will’s been haying like mad. But he’s had breakdowns way too often. The power takeoff shaft broke off his big tractor. He came home and got the next biggest tractor. The baler broke, over, and over. Finally, he got it fixed and was baling near dark when the wiring on the tractor caught fire! Luckily, he got it out and it just melted the insulation off the wire to the starter, which must have shorted out. The neighbor started helping him as rain was forecast for Tuesday. And his baler broke down! After a couple more fits and starts with minor breakdowns, Will finally got the field done.

Oh, I forgot to mention that on Sunday, the cows got out and went for a long walk, all the way to the highway! Luckily, friends and neighbors (and the sheriff’s office!) called to let us know. We got them in with no trouble, but it sure left us frazzled. Now the cows are in “jail,” eating round bales instead of pasture grass. Bad cows! I’m sure hoping our bad luck streak has left us.

Our sweet corn is coming on like gang busters! The seed corn is nearly dry and our friend, Heather, came today to bag ears to keep the birds out of the cobs while it dries down. Blue Jays love sweet corn, right off the cob.

Our sweet corn is ripe, so we’ve got weeks of good eating ahead!

We also picked our first muskmelons — Oka melons — and they will be for dinner tonight. I can’t wait! Boy, do they ever smell great. Unfortunately, the voles think so too; we found several that had mouse holes eaten in the bottoms, with seeds and some of the flesh eaten up. Our plums are ripening fast on the two trees we were given by friends and planted by a dear neighbor who has since died. We call them Homestead plums as they were from a very old homestead, dating back over 100 years. They are not wild, American plums, but larger and a different color. We love eating them and I think I’ll make canned plum sauce out of some. Yum!

We’ll be having Oka muskmelon for dessert tonight.

— Jackie

29 COMMENTS

  2. Agreed on the week. We made hay as well, and broke a tractor tie rod in the process. We did get to go to the lake Sunday for a few hours with the kids since it was just shy of 100 here. It was only the second time we made it there all summer, but it sure was fun. I’ve started getting tomatoes finally from the garden, just in time for a possible frost on Thursday night. I am hopeful we are close enough to the Lake we don’t get it. It’s been a long dry summer. We have already fed out more hay than I want to count. There just isn’t any here. We keep praying we can pick up more hay ground but haven’t been successful yet.

    • Don’t we ALL have those weeks? Whew!! We’ve got the cows in lock-down and feeding round bales but we have a lot this year and even a bunch left over from last year, so we’ll be okay. I hope you skipped the frost! Tuesday night it’s diving down here, so we’re praying it won’t frost. Eeek!!!

      • Danny and Wanda, on yt’s Deep South Homestead were told there is no hay. And they have cattle and were getting ready for winter in far south Mississippi. A couple years ago, traveling through east Oregon and east Washington, we’ve never seen so much hay; huge mountainous hills of millions of acres, on farms. Back then I couldn’t understand like now, why there is a shortage. Guess we raise a lot of cattle in this country, as well, horses.

  3. Wow what a week! I hope things improve for you and yours. I’ve been down for about a month and not getting anything done. I hate that. I still have foods in the garage I have to get into the house still. Canned goods mostly. I’m praying they didn’t get affected by the heat much. When the movers off loaded the truck they stuck everything in the garage. I’m worried about a freeze doing the canned goods. So I was busy hauling in stuff today. At least we didn’t have any thunder storms hit today. We had hail and rain with them. Our apple tree looks sick and only a few apples on it. I have to try and figure out if it is salvageable. I going to ask neighbors about it and call the county extension office see if I can help. Never had an apple tree before so this is a new thing to me. Hope things are better now for you!

    • Greetings from far north California, A hall-ful of buckets of fruit and vegetables sat nearly 3 weeks while I waited for the husband to get the propane filled so I could can. He was told there was a leak, so couldn’t be filled. No company would let him repair(was $189 for them to fix), nor sell him the part. I kept praying about the issue and he found a mom ‘n pop company who gave him the part, and they came out and filled that day! Been canning like crazy now and catching up.

  4. I have no farm equipment stories but did harvest 97 pounds of plums from my golden plum tree. I call it a “golden egg” plum as the fruit is the exact size and shape of a large golden egg. I’d be rich if it were only so! The goldeness makes for beautiful spiced plum jam and Asian plum sauce. But this year I’ll just dehydrate all that fruit and have it on oatmeal or as a snack. I’ve cut the tree way back because it is producing way too much fruit for us!

    • I’m dying to pick our plums. Today, it’s raining. Like an all day rain. So, I don’t think it’ll be today! I want to can up a bunch of plum sauce as it’s so good on everything. Your golden plum sounds amazing!

  5. Strangely enough we still haven’t had a killing frost on my place in Copper Basin Alaska. It hit 32 twice and I put heat in the green house and hoop houses just in case but the potatoes aren’t singed yet! Otherwise it is very fall like with the fire weed done and spreading fluff, the trees turning and too many wet days after drought conditions in July and early August. Slowdown from a cold bug going around the family. Snow on the higher mountains, it can stay there for now! Hope you are doing better with all the hassles.

    • So far, so good! no frost here yet, either but we’re kind of holding our breath for next Tues. night. We need to dig our potatoes as the vines have died down. I hope your cold bug goes away!

  6. wow ! tires! incompetence from business’. then the rains and wildfires. Here i thought i was having it rough this morning chasing a renegade hen that really y took off- to the neighbors! finally got that under my arms and yep one wing is very short. no more flights. guess i should be thankful. prayers to the homeowners who ve lost so much more than just a home. haying -its murphy’s law- hay equipment break downs especially when rain forecasted. been there! lets hope and pray voles ,fires, breakdowns, heat wave are finished with us this year.
    we went through some extreme heat waves here(100-112 for a week) normal high is 100 one day or two. found puttin shallow pans of water in the poultry runs, they would rush over when cooling water down several times a day and just stand in it. .
    everyone take care
    Mary

    ps, enjoy the produce pests leave you

    • We have! We ate Oka melons until juice ran down our shirts in front. Yum. I’m afraid we made pigs of ourselves, but who can help it??? I hope your heat breaks and you get normal weather. It’s been so crazy this year everywhere!

  7. The rain in northern New England has taken a short break. We had 15″ in July and 8″ in August; normal rainfall for those months is 3-4″. All that rain did terrible things to the garden, the tomatoes just couldn’t handle it all and finally gave up, although the handful of tomato plants I put in the greenhouse are beautiful. I’m afraid the onions aren’t going to fully bulb up this year, there just weren’t any sunny days in mid-summer when the long day onions need it.

    I wasn’t too upset about the moderate temps, mostly in the 70’s, during July and August, but now summer has hit us full force. The past few days have been approaching 90º, unusual for Vermont in September. This year’s pullets are 4 months old and are having a bad time in the heat. I haven’t let them out on pasture with the big chickens and the geese yet, so I moved a fan next to their screened run (it’s in the shade) and have been dipping the panting ones in a bucket of cold water to help them cool off quicker. Seems to be working. One more day of this and I think it’ll be over, then it’s back to a week of rain. Even the bees are unhappy in the heat, they’re spread out all over the outsides of the hives, even though the hives are in the shade. Still too hot for them.

    We finally got a roofer out to give us an estimate on the barn roof which is leaking like a sieve. It’s hard to get anyone to even check out a job, they’re so busy and short handed. The roof will be on before it snows, so I’m happy about that. Now we’re just waiting for the next crisis – there’s always something going wrong.

    • Yes, there is. But we homesteaders are a resilient bunch, aren’t we?? We were in drought, and you were drowning. Wow! The weather has sure been crazy, hasn’t it?? Glad to hear you’re getting a new roof on your barn before winter.

  10. I had a similar experience with tires at Sam’s Club. Waited three hours. And that was with an appointment! Well, I sure hope the bad news has ended for you all. I guess all you can do now is try to relax a bit and enjoy our cooler Minnesota weather (finally!), and the fruits of your labor.

    • Not much relaxing going on here, as we’re at the start of harvesting season. But we’re so glad the weather’s cooled down and we’re getting some rain. Three hours is awful!! David had an appointment too but wouldn’t have waited 3 hours; he had to go to work.

    • Thanks Wendy, it seems to have. Now if we don’t get a frost on Tuesday when the temperature is supposed to dive.

  12. Hi Jackie- never rains but it pours! Speaking of which we FINALLY got rain last night and continuing today. It’s been 4 months of drought here. The wildfire situation in our province has been horrendous and the worst of it is that my dear sister lost everything in the fires. Her beautiful home, gardens and all her outbuildings. Absolutely nothing left. We are all devastated for her. Luckily she has good insurance but it’ll take months before she can begin to rebuild. Her whole community looks like a war zone. So many lost everything in these fires. The one blessing is no human lives were lost, but unfortunately not so lucky for the many animals both domestic and wild. Life is a bumpy journey that is for sure. Glad you got hay in. It’s in very short supply here due to the drought. The good news is I had the best tomato harvest ever. I’m very grateful for that!

    • I’m so sorry about your sister’s loss from the fires. That’s so very hard. Even with insurance to rebuild, the shock is so great it will take her lots of time to recover. I’ll pray for her and everyone who experienced such a tragic loss.
      It seems that about everyone has some of those awful times in their life. But it doesn’t make it any easier, does it?

  13. Last week was one of those weeks ending with my husband’s favorite goat kid dying. Now it’s so hot that I’m trying to get the tomatoes picked and processed before they cook on the vine. Should be cooler tomorrow & hopefully we’ll get some rain. We’ve been getting just enough to keep the gardens going but could use a lot more for the well. The Seneca Sunrise corn is fantastic!! Even some with husks that have started drying are still sweet and tender. My peppers also are not producing as well as I’d like – putting out lots of blossoms now. Hoping for another month of growing time.

    • I hear you! Our peppers are the same; lots of leaves and now flowers, but few peppers. I’m hoping for a late fall with no frost in between! I’ve got to get at canning tomato products right away. Boy, are they ripening fast!!

  14. For those of use who are not in the 2% club, it is always something. But what sets us apart from most is the ability to roll with the punches. This Labor Day/post Labor Day heat is just nuts. I remembered cold but *never* this kind of heat for this length of time.
    Checked my bird baths after dinner tonight – one was bone dry (saw a doe who is almost winter colored mind you taking a good long drink today). The other, which holds 3 gallons was down by half. The other was as expected “down”. Filled/topped them all off – we need wildlife.
    Picked a few paste tomatoes and another slicer will be BLT/BAT ready this week.
    Starting to stock up for the winter – I think short fall, early winter in my neck of the woods. Between the woods, garden, and color of deer, winter will be hear sooner than later. How much snow we get is a roll of the dice. I think we’ll be hand picking deer corn earlier than normal too (and hope to NOT be under the weather this year. If I am, I will pay whoever my sibling finds to help).
    As the saying goes, this too will pass. Perfect storm of equipment “issues” for you and your neighbor. IMO, things all equal out in the end.
    So are DED (David, Elizabeth, and Delilah) in their home full-time?

    • We got a good long rain this morning, so our drought is helped. I’m sure hoping we don’t get an early, short fall, as almost all our crops are late this year because of the goofy weather. I’ve got tons and tons of tomatoes ripe now, so I’ve GOT to get at canning as well as seeding them out. Last year we had record breaking snowfall, so I’m hoping we don’t get another dose.
      Yes, David, Elizabeth and Delilah are in their new home full time and are expecting a new baby girl this October. David’s in a rush to get ready for winter, double time.

      • Our last frost date per Old Farmer’s Almanac is October 8 which far later than I ever remember. Regardless, I think winter will be here sooner than later (the does are getting darker by the day and the one fawn is growing like mad, barely see any spots on it). Leaves are falling already. Except for one tomato plant, we’ll be breaking down the garden this week (I’ll harvest the catnip which is the official companion plant of my homestead).
        May their baby arrive before the first snowfall (which we all know can be anywhere between flakes and a blizzard).
        I opted to *not* know the gender when I was pregnant. Nothing you can do about it and face it, the first few months of baby supplies is gender neutral. But glad to hear no non-environment friendly “reveal” party happened. Save your money and let a happy event be just that.

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