Thank you, Elena and Cajun. I still look down into the pasture and expect to see him with the other horse that had been his pasture buddy. I'll have to look for a picture. I don't have any from competitions because all the ones I have are the kind I would have to scan, and I don't have a scanner. He was 1/2 Thoroughbred and 1/2 Arabian.
Today hubby cleaned irrigation ditches with a blade on the rear of the tractor, it does a good job but can't do it all, so there is plenty of shovel work. I did some of that this morning. My planned job for the day was to get those onion sets planted. They're still in the bags, the wind came up and it is too strong to be trying to control powdered bone meal that I want to put in the rows before planting. I had thought maybe I could get them planted Sunday afternoon, but then our son and his wife came out to visit and stayed for dinner. She wasn't exactly dressed for garden work, so we visited in the house.
Our neighbor had another new calf in his field this morning. Now there are 13 cows left, and 6 are heifers who are bred for later calves to give the prospective mothers a bit of extra time to grow. In the lamb department, there was another set of twins this morning and only about 5 of them left to produce something.
Hubby needed to do some things in town today, so I went along. We had lunch at our favorite cafe, then I put in an hour volunteering at the coop. I packaged flax seeds, scooping them out of a 25 pound bag and into small plastic bags containing about 1/3 to 1/2 pound. The bin in the cooler was empty so about 20 of them went out there, the rest are in a plastic bin in the cooler. We make small bags because flax seed goes rancid quickly. Some products that I have worked with tend to be full of static, flax seeds are in that category, they stick to the bag, to the scoop, to my plastic gloves and anything else that gets too close. We will have some of them on our oatmeal in the morning. They have sort of a nutty flavor and are full of the good kind of oils, I don't remember if it is Omega 3 or 6, but I do remember that it is good for high blood pressure.
The farm calendar often has very funny jokes on it, this month the cartoon shows a farmer talking to his banker, and he is saying "Why find new ways to lose money when the old ones work so well?"
Mary,
I still expect to see Ginger when we go to the farm. I miss her and I only had her for 2 years. Your guy must have been a regular fixture on your place. I'll bet his pasture buddy misses him to. Have you noticed any different behavior with the remaining horse?
What is the bone meal for?
What breed of cattle does your neighbor have? The calves sure are cute when they are little. We went to a friend's house and saw his calves. He has a nice crop so far.
Seems like the lambing went quick this year. Of course, that is from my arm chair vantage point. LOL
I have never eaten flax to my knowledge but I have read about it's good properties. Is it actually seeds like sesame seeds?
Yesterday was beautiful and without wind, so I put bone meal down along the rototilled strips, then ran the tiller over them again to mix it with the soil and manure. Then the planting began. I think I have all the crops in that like cool soil and cool weather. Onion sets (200 of them), Swiss chard, spinach, 4 kinds of lettuce, 3 kinds of peas, 2 brocolli varieties, cabbage, radishes, kohlrabi, and probably others that I can't remember now. The hoses were in the shed so I got them carried down the hill and watered all my newly planted areas, then called it a day.
My rows are never straight, I don't bother with sticks and a string because they were never straight when I did, the wind always made a bow in the line. My method now is to run the rototiller and follow the line the depth guide bar makes between the tines. I plant most things in double rows, making a little trench about 6 inches to the outside of the depth bar line and another like it on the other side. For cabbages and brocolli I make a zigzag pattern, making a little planting hole 6 inches out from the center line on one side of it, then doing the same on the other but about 3 ft down the row. I can plant 15 plants instead of about 9 if they were planted straight down the middle. I might have to take more pictures of my planting patterns, because, as everyone knows, a picture is worth 1000 words.
Today's weather is cooler, and very windy, with a chance of rain and/or snow showers in the next 4 days. I knew the good weather was too good to last, so that is why I worked so hard to get all that planting done yesterday. When I woke up this morning and heard the wind blowing, I smiled, knowing that my little seeds were all tucked into their rows and watered.
Bone meal is good for root and fruit development. It breaks down slowly, so will feed the crops all season. The chemical analysis is generally something like 3-16-0. The first number is nitrogen, and the manure I add has enough of that but is short on phosphorus. The hardest thing to add organically is potassium.
My neighbor's cattle are a mixed bunch. He has used bulls of black angus, brangus, shorthorn, beefmaster, tarantase (sp) and Piedmontese. The cows are black, gray, red, blonde, and everything between. Some of the 1/2 piedmontese are the color of Jersey milk cows, brown with darker noses, eyes, tails, and legs. We have invented names for these odd colors, light burnt cookies, dark burnt cookies, and peanut butter. Several years ago many of the cows had body markings in dark brown and white. One of those cows had both front legs white with a white band over her shoulders connecting them. We called her Stilts. She produced calves that looked like her, so we had Stilts 2, Stilts 3, etc. Her female calves were kinda nutty acting so all of them were sold or butchered.
Occasionally his cows get a visit from the neighbor's hereford bull, so there are 3 cows in the herd that are half hereford, very evident by their white faces. Most of this year's calf crop is sired by the Piedmontese bull, but when the heifers calve theirs will be 1/2 black angus. The reason for that is angus produce low birth weight calves which are easier for the smaller heifers to deliver.
Oops, forgot to answer the flax seed question. They are about twice the size of sesame seeds, and come in a golden color or chocolate brown. I noticed that the golden flax cost about twice what the brown ones do but I'm not sure why. They are the shape of sunflower seeds. Sometimes in those multigrain cereal mixtures you see whole ones.
I wonder if I should add some bone meal. My stuff is planted in old potting soil, composted horse manure, composted hay and composted sawdust. I may try the bone meal in one area and see if it makes a difference. Is it expensive and where did you get yours?
I covered my broccoli and strawberries for 2 nights but the temps are back above freezing now. We hardly got any snow and what fell didn't stick. Thank the Lord.
I have never heard of those last 2 cattle breeds you listed. I'll have to google them. I have a friend in La who raises an uncommon breed. It's called a French Blonde D'Aquiteinne. They are large and gentle. Great for 4H calves. And their biggest selling point is that they have almost no body fat so the meat is healthy. They have so little body fat the ground meat won't even hold together. But it is very tender and delicious.
Flax seed question. We sprinkle a bit of raw seed on our bowls of oatmeal, but it can also be added to bread. Flax seed meal might be better for baked goods.
Bone meal: It isn't cheap. Most garden centers have it in boxes of about 4#. Mostly it is associated with planting fall bulbs so it is easier to find in the fall. It also comes in larger bags that are more economical. 2 cups is recommended for 100 sq ft. Work it into the soil before planting if possible, but it can also be used on shrubs and trees, just scratch the soil around the drip line and try to work it into the top few inches. It's smelly, so dogs and other critters might do some digging. One year I planted garlic after working bone meal into the soil, and a racoon uprooted most of a row.
I became convinced that it is good for everything when I planted some lettuce plants that were in 4 inch pots. Halfway though I remembered the bone meal and added it to the rest of the row. Those plants were greener and larger than the ones without it. The neighbor who taught me about organic gardening used it for everything. I worked for her before I had my own garden, weeding, planting, harvesting, etc, and was paid in vegetables, but that wasn't all. I got knowledge! We became good friends.
She had a daughter who was a Christian, but her mother was turned off because her daughter was preachy. I let her know in subtile ways that I was also a Christian, but never pushed her. When she was dying of cancer I gave her a little booklet that gave a simple explanation of sin and salvation, and told her that I didn't intend to offend her but thought it was time for her to read it. When her daughter came to visit her the next day, my neighbor said "it's time". Her daughter thought she meant that it was time for her to die, but she said "no, it's time for me to be a Christian". So her daughter was able to pray with her for salvation a few days before she went to be with the Lord.
Such a wonderful testimony of the way God was able to use you. I know many Christians with all good intentions turn many sinners away because of their zeal. My DH and I are completely the opposite. Of course, people know we are Christians and that DH is a pastor and a preacher but we never preach at them. Everybody has to come to God in their own way and in His time. They know they can come to us and talk and many times they do. Lots of times people come to our barn to visit and they ask us questions about God. I know as long as they are asking that means they trust us and when the they need to know more they will come to us. We pray for them all and their families and count them all friends though we don't partake of the things they do. They are still our friends and we are their friends and God can work with that.
Thanks for the links. I will check them out. I love learning new stuff. I like to read.
Also thanks for the info on the bone meal. I am going to have to look for it and give it a try. Is it actually made from bones?
Yes, bone meal is actually made from bones. There is also a product called bone and feather meal, made from poultry. It would be higher in nitrogen because of the feathers.
Yesterday I noticed that one of the neighbor's cows appeared to be having trouble delivering a calf, and a few minutes later my neighbor came up though our pasture where he had been checking to see if there was enough grass for his sheep. I told him where the cow was and he went to check on her. Later I saw his pickup in the field near where I had seen the cow, so I went to see if he needed help. He had walked her to the corral, so I helped get her into the chute and we pulled a big calf out. It was in the right position but just so big I don't think she could have ever pushed it out by herself.
Day before yesterday he had another cow with a huge calf that he was able to pull in the field. That one has both front legs turned under at the first joint, so he made splints for it. It can't stand up to nurse so he has to get the cow into the chute to milk her, then try to bottle feed the calf. The calf gets tired of sucking so then the rest of the milk goes down a tube into his stomach. Hopefully in another day or two that one will stand up and find out that momma has 4 nice fawcetts!
Cajun, he probably did find out, but I haven't thought to ask him. There's always something else getting our attention. Like this:
Today started out with the fun of helping my neighbor catch his horses that escaped and lead him on a merry chase. He has them pastured with some cattle, and when he went into the pasture with his feed truck he thought they would be attracted to the hay, but instead they went out through the gate. This morning he has too much "help", his niece and nephew who are city kids, who chased the horses in the wrong direction trying to catch them, which only added to the fun and made the horses run down the road. I took the proper bait, a bucket with grain, and a halter, and walked right up to them, or more exactly, they walked right up to me.
Here is something else that got our attention this week, it's 15 miles away but still way too close for comfort. 15 miles is nothing for a wolf.
Yesterday I cleaned off an unused patch at the top of the garden where I built compost piles a few years ago, then rototilled it. I had removed all the rocks and miscellaneous things from the surface, but the rototiller found a lot more, and when it did, that made the tiller jump around in odd directions and take me with it. This new patch is for tomatoes and potatoes. Last week I had rototilled a place I intended to use, but then changed my mind when I remembered how many plants had their roots nibbled off by rodents in that area last season. I needed new ground because of potato diseases caused from planting grocery store potatoes, and burying potato peelings in the compost. I hope this cures the problem.
Today is another beautiful day, so now I'm off to the garden to get dirty!
On the home front, the weather has been beautiful for several days. I planted my potatoes yesterday and mulched the patch with strawy manure, or maybe more accurately, manurey straw. It's mostly straw, and also has some alfalfa hay in it. Today I need to fork a bunch of it into a wheelbarrow and put it on cardboard along the old asparagus row. That's a job for a calm day.
Other things on my do list today are lawn mowing, and laundry. I don't always get to everything on my list, but it is good to have a plan!
I have jury duty from May through August this year. Winter would be more convenient but I don't have the option to choose. Yesterday I was notified that I will be serving on the grand jury instead of on courtroom cases. That will be more convenient for me because they usually meet on the same day every week, except in the case of a serious crime. For instance, say there is an armed robbery, somebody is shot, the suspect is in custody, and the case needs to go forward quickly.
The grand jury is presented with the evidence the DA has for a case and listens to witnesses, but no defendant or defense attorney is present. A decision is made on whether there is sufficient evidence to take the case to court for a regular trial. It's a secret proceeding, some defendants don't even know, and then WAM, an arrest warrant is issued and they find themselves charged with a crime and bound over for trial. Other times somebody is already in custody, or know the police are onto something they've done. It will be interesting.
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