Just a few pics

I've been out roaming the countryside with my Tablet trying to get some good pictures of veggie fields down here in Georgia. And, I have to say it has been extremely hard to get good pictures...because it is so darn sunny!

The picture above is of a road that I thought was beautiful. I mentioned last time about the red soil down here. The color in paints is actually called "Georgia Clay". So, this was the first picture on my way down the road.

This is the second field I saw...notice the color of the soil in the fields is a dead looking gray sandy color. True. It is sandy. And, they do spray it with all kinds of chemicals to keep the weeds out, so the part about dead might be true also. This field contains tomatoes. Six rows then a space for the truck, then six...for acres and acres and acres. The tomatoes have stakes every two or three feet. The rows are hilled up, then have a black plastic cover, the stakes and tomatoes are put into the plastic. This field might be ready to harvest in another couple of weeks as the green tomatoes are getting big. 

When they harvest ('they' meaning the field hands, mostly migrants who move from field to field during the season...some stay with one company for about 5 months) will walk down the rows picking the fruit. A wagon will ride down the large rows with containers for the goods, sometimes with a tarp over the top to keep everything shaded. Altho I've seen stuff out in the sun also.

I tried to get some pics of other crops. There are squash, cabbage, and peppers. The peppers are staked like the tomatoes, altho closer. There are acres of tobacco that are about thigh high right now. I saw one farmer out in his field spraying the tobacco, using a large John Deere tractor. (Not sure what he was spraying with.) The peanuts and cotton are coming up, most small still.

It is really hard to get a picture of the acres and acres of produce. When I see a field of 50 acres of squash, I wish it would show up on the camera like I see it. But, the scope of it just doesn't show. It is amazing to me to think of our little farm with a couple thousand plants, and then see these fields with...I can't even come up with the number of plants they might have. And, much of this is done with larger equipment now. So, I went to the graveyard...small farm equipment graveyard, for a look.

But, even tho there are small farm graveyards full of small veggie equipment...there is also hope!! I picked up a Georgia Farm Bureau brochure for all the farmers markets. It was soooo great to see that their Farm Bureau supports their small farmers. HINT! And, there are lots of little farms selling eggs and produce alongside the roads. 

We can also go up to the produce buyer place in town, which has a "farmers market" all the time. Some of the large veggie farms around here bring their produce to be packaged at places like this and then some gets sold locally (altho much goes to big stores like Walmart).

It is a whole different way of farming than what we are trying to do. We grow so much less, on so much less land, with such small equipment, with only a couple of people, and with the struggle of keeping our markets. (Thanks a ton to all of you who are keeping us afloat this year!) I can't say we compete well with all this...there isn't much of a competition to be had when they sell for pennies. We will never feed the world, they won't either. But, hopefully we will be able to have our land healthy enough for the next few hundred years. Will they? 

Georgia grown

Well, it is the time of year for me to go to my family in Georgia. And, while here this year I thought I would try to get some pictures of some of the vegetable production down here. Kind of a compare and contrast of central Illinois vegetable production.

To start off with tho...it is beautiful here! The sky is blue, the clouds puffy white, and the tall pines wish wish. The privets are blooming and the smell is so heady and intoxicating...well it is enough to make a person lightheaded even. The fish crows don't caw caw like up north, they conk conk. And, to this southern kid...the white peaches are always sweeter down here. (Yes, Marty, I will try to bring some home!)

Then there is the soil...red clay color or tan sand. It isn't black and loamy like the farmland in central Illinois. All the country road cars have a coating of red on them. You can always tell someone who lives down a country road.

Sometimes I wonder how they can grow anything down here in soil that looks so dry and dusty. But, they do...beautiful veggies and lots of them. Rows and rows and acres and acres of cabbage, tomatoes, and squash. The farmers markets are already full of good food and the people are putting up their blankets, tents, and fold up tables along the roadsides...watermelon, peaches...yum.

I also like to look at the farm implements. There are a couple of good junk yards or sale places for them. Little stuff that we can't find in Illinois. Tiny two row planters and transplanters, cultivators, tiny tractors, etc. Everything a small produce farmer in Illinois dreams of, mumbling about in their sleep...drool dripping onto the pillow..."mmm, planters...mmm, tiny twactors".

As I travel I hope to have time to get some good pictures to show you. So, check back!

Different year...every year

It's cold and rainy out today...again. I find it interesting how each year is so different. Last year at this time we had harvested our green garlic a month and a half ago. This year it is still struggling to grow and get green. Last year we had been selling tons of mustard and other greens from the hoophouse, and this year it has been too wet to get the hoophouses tilled (the water is seeping under them and percolating up). Last year we had our potatoes (all 1500 or so pounds) planted the first of April. This year...still waiting for the ground to dry so we can plant them. And last year our spring wheat was hardly germinating due to the dry weather...this year it is filling in nicely. Makes for a different and more difficult year financially too when there is less to harvest early in the spring.

So, with it so wet and cold, we have been working on getting other projects done. I was able to get all our blackberry plants tied up and they look terrific (last year not so great). We have mowed every week now for a month and our wild harvests look much better than last year. We took apart the picket garden fence and now it is too wet to repair and paint it so it sits against the buildings until it dries out some.

Marty grew some terrific looking bok choi and brussel sprouts in the basement. So, the other day we were able to get them all in the field area...three rows of each. They looked beautiful and there was moisture in the ground still to help them along. He went out yesterday and the deer had ate all of them except for eleven. Last year the deer didn't touch them...a different year, every year.

We also have lots of tractor and equipment problems this year. Our large tractor is broke so we are going to scrap it and get some money for it. Thought we would use the money for another tractor. But then our 5' tiller broke and can't be repaired. So, today the guys are loading up scrap metal, old equipment, the big tractor, and taking it all to the junk yard to see if they can get some money to buy a new tiller. The tiller we need all the time, the big tractor only a couple times a year. So...a different year for equipment too.

Pictures...well, there isn't much that I have right now. I didn't want to take my tablet out in the rain and then have been lax on the nicer days at remembering. But, this is my little garden of ginger. It's an experiment. I put the ginseng (bought at the grocery store and somewhat greenish) in a bag with moist soil for about a month. When it began to sprout I planted the pieces in this dish and they are coming along nicely. Then after a week or so I put them in bigger pots and out in the greenhouse to get more light (since there isn't more heat). We'll have to do a good job at keeping them moist.

I'm off to Georgia to visit my family and best friend next weekend. Looking forward to seeing what is growing down there. Now that I have this nice tablet, I will try to get some pictures and show you the difference between growing veggies in Illinois and growing them in Georgia. Look forward to some pictures later!

Walk in the woods and the pig mover

Spring!
Well, it is really here now...temps in the 60's, rain and more rain, and flowers and trees coming out. This is what most people consider spring...me too.

A walk in the woods this morning showed some great stuff...lots of wildflowers like trillium, bluebells, dutchman's breeches, and Virginia water leaf. The edibles to collect are wild onions, ramps, and mountain mint. A search for mushrooms proved that the weather, even tho very wet, is still too cold. Maybe in another week I'll see some.

And...on the past edible/not currently edible side of things...I found my first owl pellet!! That was way cool. I've never found one in the wild. I brought it home to disect it and pull out the little bones to see who it was that unfortunately (for him) was et. I started collecting bones this year, figuring that someday I will become a bone woman. Some of you may know the story of the bone woman. If not...well, a good research project for you!

In the barnyard - chicks are doing good and giving me about 2 1/2 dozen eggs a week. I have to get to them before the egg eaters do (Coookie chicken and goofy duck...and her name isn't Cookie like you eat, it is Coookie like crazy or whatever). We got the pigs lined up in their cages on pasture, and the babies out of the barn into a "baby cage" until we can get a bigger one built. Will and I plan to castrate two of the three little boys today. We'll keep the third as a breeder boy for later.

Our latest greatest (besides the outhouse in the woods, which really came in handy today) is the pig moving contraption on the truck. Didn't cost a dime (most important). And works pretty well. It was due to my complaining that I can't be moving 30 cement blocks, and 12 cages, and still walk upright when I get old.
Here it is...

It is a 4x4 piece of wood tied to the truck, with bolts on each end, and on each bolt is a hook on a chain. We put the hooks on the cage and then back up with the truck. Now it might seem this takes more gas...a little bit. But, we have to carry the water out to the pigs anyway, so we take the truck to do that anyway.

And, you might ask...why don't you use a dolly/wheel contraption like Joel Salatin. Well, the cement blocks were too heavy and we have to have them so the cages don't blow away in the wind. (I believe Joel lives in a part of the U.S. where there are less wind turbines.) And the dolly thingy still takes quite a bit of strength when you are moving a 10x4 foot cage with two cement blocks on it. I'm finding our system works really great and stand by it for single, weaker women like me.

Next big project is to put some kind of skid on the front of the cage so they go over the clumps of grass better without bending the cages. Another day...as it is raining again!

Beeves on green

This is the happy trio on pasture.
Right...big mama...Surprise.
Middle...stubby legged blocky guy with a flat face...Budley.
Background...my buddy...Bernie.

They are really happy that the grass if finally getting green and they have been eating it to the nubbies. Budley is a really funny little guy. He can't hardly get two inches off the ground, kicking his heals up with delight. He only really likes Will and won't let me get within six feet of him. Unfortunately for him (and for me too I guess), he is going in to the meat locker later this month to become food for us.

Lots of people question us about stuff like that. How can you raise them from babies and then kill them? Well, it is hard after you spent two years feeding and caring for them (and chasing them around when they get out). I like Budley. But, he was born a boy beef and we told him (and us) from the very day he was born that he would have to be food. If he had been a girl beef then we could've kept her for breeding. But...

It is hard tho. Especially when it comes time for my buddy to go in early this fall. This is my buddy...

Bernie.

He loves me. Gives me kisses, as you can see. He is great, comes right up and wants lovin. He plays chase, kickball, and scrub faces with me. I won't be able to take him in...even tho that is what he is for. That is his purpose in life...food. But, he is my pal. So, Will (who doesn't play with him) will take him in. Will is also going to take Budley in. And, I feel sorry for Will cuz he is the one that bottle feeds them when they are little.

In some ways I think of becoming vegetarian when going thru this time of year. Butchering time I mean. Or buying meat from someone else. Sometimes I envy those people who don't know where that chicken mcnugget (gives me creeps even saying those words!) comes from. No name chickens, no name butchers, no name boxes, no name whatever else they add to it that kills us slowly...don't get me started. But, as I've heard..."ignorance is bliss". Is it?

On the consolation side of it. I am thankful that Bernie and I get to play, that he is outside in sunshine and with fresh grass to eat, that he is happy. I am thankful that he has a purpose in life...sometimes I wonder if I can say the same about me. If my purpose was to live happily in order to someday die and feed lots of people...well...I wonder if that would be okay for me too. In the meantime, enjoy your furry friends and the love they give you!!