August 18-19, 2012

Sally, having a client and a class, staid back in town so this was a solo trip.

Coon Guard

Something, every week, was cleaning out the bird feeder I put out back. The perch was always torn out, the feeder empty, and the tilt door was out of adjustment (suppose to close so that heavy feeders can't get at the food). So with a little hardware to attach to the pole, I suspended this old deer feeder bucket to the post. It already had a hole in the bottom and had just been laying in the garage for years. The only problem I had was skinning up my knuckles getting the rusty nuts off that held the timer, motor, and spinner on the bottom. I'm hoping this works.

Rain

I was disappointed to find only 3 drops in the rain gauge. In town we had had two nice rains totaling almost 2 inches, but the farm was not so fortunate. The rain barrel wouldn't even put out anything. So Saturday I spent hours watering the garden, watering the trees and flower bed out front, and ran the soaker hoses on the apples and pears. I also watered the garden Sunday. And then in the afternoon just as I was about to water out front, a thunderstorm blew in and we received at least three quarters of an inch in about 45 minutes. Nice, I was so thankful.

Garden

The sweet potatoes have not died, there are green beans but they are tiny, there were only a few small tomatoes, and we are now down to one bell pepper. On the bright side there are more jalapenos and basil than we can eat, and I took home a nice cutting of chard. Other than the bermuda, the weeds aren't too bad. I wanted to tackle another section of bermuda, but then it rained.

Rain Barrel

I had one more unfinished barrel in town, so I brought it out and made it. That went fairly quick, but then I decided to build a wood stand for it versus standing it on rocks. (It is really hard finding enough flat rocks to stack high enough.) This construction project turned out to be more difficult and time consuming than I anticipated, but I believe it will work well. I really like the additional height I got with it.

Snake

I found this guy curled up under the first rain barrel poking his head out. He looked very strange, almost like he had hair on his head and neck. I looked through my Arkansas snake book but couldn't identify him. In the end, he was very shy and slunk back into the old chicken coop area in the back of the garage.

Swing

Later Friday I decided to walk the upper fields with my loppers, since I hadn't been up there in months. I was pleased to find only a few sumacs growing, but did lop 400 to 500 cedars, pines, elms and other undesirables. I came down by the swing across from the spring. It has been suspended from this high white oak limb via a rope that the McDaniel's put up, which make it over 9 years old. I new it needed to be replaced and now is the time. When I sat down to relax it snapped. I believe I will use chain and perhaps screw some bolts into the limb. (Unless someone advises against this.) The problem is I need about a 20' ladder.

August 10-11, 2012

Wow, it had been four weeks since I was out and three weeks since Sally was out and watered. During this period we had many 100 degree days, but fortunately we received some rain during that time – there was 1.25 inches in the rain gauge and the rain barrel was full!

Garden

The garden was bone dry, but many things were hanging on. The green beans weren't good enough for me, but I cooked some of them up for Tender and saved others for seeds. There were lots of little beans, which hopefully won't be to big and tough by next weekend. The tomatoes, jalapenos, basil, and chard were all doing fine, though there were very few new tomatoes or even blooms. The bell pepper had blown over, knocking one ripe pepper off (I ate it), leaving only two which I hope will turn yellow. Before watering I decided to weed since the drought had not slowed them down. I think I hauled out three buckets, and then another one of just bermuda grass Saturday. (I used a potato fork to break up the dry ground in order to get that stuff out – a very difficult job.

Water

I emptied the rain barrel in the garden. The flow is slow, so I would just move the hose around while I weeded. That wasn't near enough water, so I then reverted to the well. After the garden I moved my efforts out front. This poor maple seems to be the favorite for the deer. They've eaten most of the leaves and broken many limbs. The CDs I hung in it obviously did no good in deterring them, so I left some of Tender's hair around the base. The deer also like the baby walnut trees, a couple of which had been cropped and are now trying to put on new leaves.

Coon

I was quit surprised to find this dead coon in the back of the barn, right in the middle of the pine shavings we had used for an aisle for Amanda and John's wedding. It was just skin and bones, nothing left of its insides at all. I presume it died of natural causes and then insects hollowed it out – all within the last month. I picked it up by its tale and took it down the hill.

Mow/Weedeat

The grass had actually grown enough to need mowing. I did around the house and down to the pond, splitting the work over the two days. Saturday I ran the weed eater to clean up around the house and did the hill out back.

Dogwood

This dogwood I had transplanted from town and was doing well. The south side got stripped when this pine limb came down on it, a limb that had been dead and hanging since the February 2009 ice storm.

Pond

The pond is lower than I have ever seen it, with lots of bare shore line showing all the way around. I wonder how the fish are doing? All I saw was a turtle.

Thistle

I noticed another patch of thistle while riding the mower. It was not to far from where I found the last down in the lower gum creek area. I came back with the truck, shovel and bag. It was far gone, so I didn't do much good by bagging. I wish I had seen it a month earlier, now the seeds are scattered and I will have more to dig up next summer.

Dead Field Pine

This is the most evident sign of the drought on the place. It is a huge field pine that will be a big job to cut down and cut up. I don't look forward to that. I see other dead trees on the hillsides, but actually feel fortunate that there aren't many more given our extreme drought.

Birds

The blue bird house and nest on the hill that had eggs 4 weeks earlier seemed deserted with no sign of molestation, so I cleaned it out. I noticed a blue bird leave the house out back, so I checked it and found at least 3 eggs. I don't think I've ever seen them nest and lay eggs this late in the year.

When I arrive, the first thing I do is fill the bird feeders. But since they had been empty so long, the birds were gone. It wasn't until I was getting ready to leave on Saturday before I saw the first bird at a feeder, and one humming bird at that feeder as well.

July 14-15, 2012

Armin, our family's German high school foreign exchange student from 1986, came over for a visit and spent some time with me at the farm. After hearing about the place and reading the blog, it was very special for him to experience it and make some impressions (as he would often say).

Rain!

I was delighted to see well over an inch in the rain gauge. Though that seemed like a lot of rain, looking around you really could not tell it. We are just bone dry and the miserable heat continues. (Fayetteville is 12 inches below normal for the year and we are in the severest level drought, extreme.

Pick Garden

We finally had more than just a couple of ripe tomatoes. Armin got to pick them all. We made stir fry for dinner from spinach, chard, and onions from the garden plus a few things we brought including some pesto. It was cloudy and cool, and so we had a pleasant dinner out back sitting in the Adirondacks overlooking the valley and sipping a cool beverage – very special. Sunday we picked four cups of basil to take back for a double batch of pesto.

Water Barrel

In town I had built two water barrels, one I installed there and the other I brought out to the farm. Armin helped me get it setup on some large rocks under one end of the gutter, and close to the garden. Now I just need to round up some hose to use with it – one piece to drain it and another for the overflow. (Sally returned to the farm before me and reported it half full from only a quarter inch rain.)

Water

We spent much of our time watering. Armin watered the garden while I watered the trees and the flower bed out front. We hit them on Saturday and again on Sunday. I hope its not all in vain.

Posts

I needed a helping hand to get the large cedar posts steadied on the piers while I secured the top with some screws. The piers had re-bar coming up which fit into holes I had drilled into the bottom of the posts. I had some metal L brackets to secure the top. We tried to wedge the first one in and found I had cut it about a quarter inch too long. I tried using a crow bar to pry up the rafter, but that almost caused serious injury – I almost fell off the ladder and almost dropped the crow bar on Armin's head. I then got the chain saw and trimmed a bit off. The same operation had to be performed on the second post as well. I think they will stay put.

As you can see, the Kraut that likes fast cars and guns took delight in handling the chain saw. I'm glad I didn't show him how to start it.

Pond/Blue Birds

Sunday we walked to the pond. Armin really wanted to take a swim, but given the overcast sky, cool morning air, and muddy bottom he decided against it. On the way back I checked the blue bird house on the hill and was surprised to find a new nest and at least two eggs (it was hard to get a good look inside).

Our next stop was Colorado, where we had a great two weeks hiking in the mountains (and eating and drinking).