Hay - Time to Roll Another Bale Out

On October 20th I rolled out a round bale of fresh baled hay that I purchased from a neighbor.  He had delivered seven 4 x 5 round bales to our house.  After rolling one out and putting the hay ring around it, the cows came running and started eating on it.  The round bales of hay weigh approximately 880 pounds each.

I looked up some information and learned that a basic rule of thumb for hay consumption is this:

A cow will eat roughly 2.5 pounds of hay per day for each 100 pounds of body weight.

Interesting.  Let's see how this works out.  The bale behind Rosie and Daisy below was given to them on October 20th.

The Hay Buffet

I would assume Daisy weighs 900 pounds, Rosie weighs 800 pounds, and Amy weighs 700 pounds, a total of 2,400 pounds.
2,400 pounds divided by 100 equals 24 (hundred pounds of body weight).
24 x 2.5 = 60 pounds of hay theoretically consumed per day. (according to the rule of thumb)

On the evening of October 26th, I pulled the hay ring off of what remained around the round bale.  Cows are notoriously wasteful.  If you don't have a hay ring around it, they will waste a big portion of the bale.  If you leave the hay ring around the bale to the end, they can't reach the middle and "clean it up."  Once the hay ring was gone, they got busy cleaning it up!

Rosie and Amy finishing up the bale

Rosie and Amy took advantage of the fact that Daisy was busy taking care of her new baby calf, Luna, and they gleefully ate what was remaining of the round bale. They mostly kept their heads down eating, but paused from time to time to chew.

Almost done

Finally on the evening of October 27th, the cows were done.  The round bale was officially gone. The minimal amount of hay laying on the ground would either rot into the soil or I'd rake it up and use it as mulch in the garden.

Mooooo-ve over and bring us another bale!!!

So let's see if the rule of thumb worked out.  

It didn't.  According to our calculations based on the cow's weight, they should have eaten roughly 60 pounds per day.  The bale was gone in 7 days.  At 7 days they should have eaten a total of 420 pounds of hay, or approximately half the bale.  But the bale was gone.  Our cows must have big appetites or the weight of the round bales is off.  Rule of thumb aside, the girls actually ate 5.23 pounds of hay per day for each hundred pounds of body weight.  That is interesting information to know in order to gauge our hay inventory.

Welcoming Luna! Our New Baby Heifer

Our alarm clock went off early Tuesday morning, and we went out to the barn to do the morning milking and chores.  The entire area was lit up brightly due to a full moon.  Tricia remarked to me how big and beautiful the moon was, surrounded by clouds like a halo, casting everything in a brilliant glow.  It immediately came to my mind that this full moon might induce an early delivery! Daisy's due date was November 3rd, but we've always heard the old wives tale that, even in humans, the full moon causes babies to be born.  We both wondered if this would be the case...

Full Moon on October 27, 2015

I received a call from Tricia as I was leaving work later that afternoon that Daisy had indeed had her baby!  Does that prove the full moon theory?  I'm not sure. Daisy's delivery is just anecdotal evidence, and if you search on the Internet, you can find studies that show some correlation, but many university studies say that the moon's stage doesn't have anything to do with the date of birth.  I don't know, but the moon affects the tide and many other things.  The body is made of 80% water. I'm not convinced that the moon doesn't have some effect on labor and delivery.  

When I got home, I walked out to the pasture and saw Daisy being very protective and mooing lowly. What do you have there, Daisy girl?

Moooo!

Well, looky here.  It's a baby.  A cute little brown calf, still wet, laying in the grass!

Daisy's Baby

First things first.  Is it a little heifer or a little bull?  I curiously lifted the back leg as Daisy comes close, mooing and telling me to leave her baby alone.  Immediately I see four little teats, proving that Daisy's baby is a HEIFER!  Daisy's previous babies were all bulls - Romeo, Stryker, and Bully.  It's high time for a little girl from ol' Daisy Lou.  So far this year, Rosie gave us Clarabelle - a heifer, Daisy gave us this little heifer and Amy will be calving around December 31.  We're 2 out of 3 so far, and we're hoping for all girls from our 3 Jersey milk cows.

It's a GIRL

Daisy continued to lick on her little calf, cleaning her up.  She was being very motherly.  We think that she was born around 2 pm that afternoon, and from what I could tell, I don't think she's been up yet.  It looked like she wanted to just lay in the grass and sleep.

The spit bath

I always get involved when maybe I shouldn't, but I lifted her up and she wobbled on spindly legs, very weakly...

A Shaky Start

And then she plopped back down.  The curious hens came to welcome her to the neighborhood and hopefully convince her to stand.  She appeared to ignore their encouragement as well as mine.  For some reason she just appeared a little weak.

Welcome to the Barnyard, little one

We were prepared for this from past experience, especially with Clarabelle, and had a product called Nursemate ASAP.  It is concentrated colostrum and is supposed to get the calves up and nursing faster.

Red Bull for the heifer

I unscrewed the cap, opened her mouth and pressed the plunger down slowly while it was on her tongue.  She immediately began sucking and licking and swallowing - all good signs.

Let's get you started, little girl

It started misting, so I moved some fresh hay bedding into the stall in the barn where Clarabelle usually stays.  I didn't want Daisy and her little calf out in the weather, so I evicted Clarabelle from her stall and went to get the new inhabitants. As she wasn't up to walking yet, I had to carry the heifer to the barn, and I was followed very closely by a big protective momma!  I sat the calf in the hay, closed the gate and left them alone for a while.

Daisy is not real happy with me

Tricia and I went back to the barn after we ate supper and noticed that Daisy had delivered the placenta/afterbirth in the stall. 

Delivery of the placenta

As the cows always do, they promptly eat it, chewing and slurping loudly.  Many think it is done in order to get rid of it so it doesn't attract predators who would endanger the newborn calf.  The placenta is also full of nutrients/antibodies, so it could be for health reasons as well.  In fact, people at my office told me that they are marketing placenta in pill form for humans to take as a supplement for this very reason.

To see the cow chowing down on the placenta is not a pretty sight.  Daisy actually started choking on it, and we thought we were going to have to do the Heimlich maneuver on her, if we could figure out how to do that on a cow.  Fortunately, she eventually dislodged it and then started the process all over again. 

Lovely

Now back to prettier sights!  Daisy's little girl is a beautiful light brown, honey color with big ears, big brown eyes and long eyelashes.  She is cute.  Still kind of weak, though, even after taking the Nursemate ASAP.  We tried to help her get up, but she's a lazy little thing and was content to just sit there in the hay.

Pretty little heifer

There's no time to sit, though.  The clock is ticking.  It is very important that the calf gets colostrum within the first 6 -12 hours.  The colostrum gives the calf nutrients as well as passive immunity from the antibodies contained within.  The gut closes after 12 hours and disables the calf from absorbing the antibodies in the colostrum.  We went to work encouraging her, but we were having little success. 

Where is it?

She did have a strong sucking reflex on my finger, though, and so we went and retrieved the big bottle/nipple.  I milked out some colostrum into the bottle.  A cow that has just delivered doesn't make a whole lot of colostrum.  Her milk hasn't come in yet. While her bag is swollen, it is not full of milk yet.  I filled the bottle about half full with everything I could get out of Daisy's teats, put the nipple on the bottle, and offered it to the little heifer.  BINGO!  She took to it immediately, sucking the bottle dry.

Drinking the colostrum from her momma!

She perked up immediately, wagging her little tail as she drank the colostrum. Happy and satisfied, we put them back in the stall and turned off the lights in the barn.  As Tricia and I walked back to the house, we realized that we hadn't named her yet, so we went inside and, along with Benjamin, started brainstorming good names.  Blue Belle?  Hazel?  Bessie?  Lulu?  Then Tricia came up with the perfect name:

LUNA, appropriate since she was born on the full moon.  Welcome to Our Maker's Acres Family Farm, Luna!

From Acorns Come Mighty Oaks!

"Faith sees a beautiful blossom in a bulb, a lovely garden in a seed, and a giant oak in an acorn." - William Arthur Ward

Driving into the driveway this afternoon, I felt/heard a familiar sound underneath the car tires.  That sound would be hundreds or even thousands of acorns being crushed.  Pop, pop, pop, pop, pop.  The live oak trees are dropping them by the thousands, and they cover almost every square inch of ground in various stages, from bright green to dark brown in color.

When we're in the barn milking the cows, the acorns fall and hit the tin roof of the barn, making a loud bang, startling us, but not the cows.  They are too busy eating. The acorns are gathered up by the numerous squirrels in our yard and eaten and/or buried in the ground.  In the spring, Tricia pulls a bunch of live oak seedlings out of the flower beds.  I'll generally replant some healthy live oak seedlings into pots to grow some live oak trees to replant.

Usually, though, I'll forget to water them in the summer and many of the young live oaks in my little gallon pots die due to my neglect.  As I walk across the yard this time every year, I am amazed at the power contained in those little acorns.  From just a small seed, a giant oak emerges that lasts for generations.  If those oaks could talk, oh the stories they could tell!

We live in a world where you get most anything immediately.  Everything is convenient.  Just drive through the drive-thru window and pick up your fried chicken, prescriptions, doughnuts, etc.  Drive up to the ATM and get your cash. You don't have to wait for anything.  All of our desires can be met immediately and this drives us to want and consume more and more.

You still have to wait, however, for a stately oak tree to grow.  Mature live oak trees aren't something that grows overnight.  It all begins with an acorn.  That tiny acorn holds the potential of such immense beauty and strength.  To me the wonder of the acorn points to our Great Creator.

Here is the beautiful crown of a live oak in our backyard.  All of this came from a tiny acorn!

Then Abram moved his tent and came and dwelt by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there he built an altar to the Lord.  -Genesis 13:18

God created these mighty trees and they stand, sometimes for ages!  The photo below is a picture that is believed to be the Oak of Mamre mentioned in Genesis 13:18 and is near Hebron in the Palestinian territories.  Many believe the tree is where Abram entertained the three angels in Genesis 18:2 and think this tree is around 5,000 years old.  The main trunk of the tree is dead, but a shoot sprouted off of it and now grows.

Permanence.  Stability.  Strength!

"Oak of Mamre 1" by Copper Kettle

I found a few facts from THIS LINK about acorns and live oaks that were very interesting to me:

• An average 100 year old oak produces 2,200 acorns a year.  (Seems low considering the amount of acorns on the ground, but I'm sure our trees are a lot older than 100 years.)
• Only 1 acorn in 10,000 will grow up to be an oak tree.  (The survival rate goes down considerably if one of those was one I planted in a pot!)
• The USS Constitution was made out of lumber from a live oak tree.  This vessel became famous in the War of 1812 after canonballs bounced off of its hull.  That's why they called it "Old Ironsides".
• The "Seven Sisters Oak" in Lewisburg-Mandeville, Louisiana is believed to be the oldest living live oak in North America.  It measures 37 feet, 2 inches in circumference and is believed to be over 1,000 years old!

They say big things come in small packages sometimes.  This is certainly true of the acorn!

Picking Butterbeans

This spring I planted two types of lima beans on a trellis in the garden made with a concrete reinforcement panel - speckled lima beans and Henderson lima beans. They both climb like Jack's magic beanstalk, and the only problem with that is that they can climb so high that it is difficult to pick the pods from the uppermost vines. Since the fall garden is in full swing, and the leaves of the climbing lima beans are falling to the ground, I figured it best that I get out there and pick the stragglers before the beans shatter to the ground or sprout in the pod.

I grabbed an 8 cup measuring cup and walked out to pick some beans.  The remnants of Hurricane Patricia were still coming through our area.  I dropped 5 1/2 inches of much needed rain on Our Maker's Acres Family Farm and an easterly breeze was blowing as I began filling the measuring cup with lima bean pods.  Or maybe I should call them butterbeans.  I like the term butterbeans for them a bit better.  When cooked with some sausage, they are creamy, rich and delicious, just like butter.

When Russ was just a baby (now he's 20!), he had a serious, life-threatening condition that required a lifeflight transport to New Orleans for emergency surgery. He was only a day old, and I remember one of his flight nurses on his transport team nicknamed him "her little butterbean!"  I still remember that.  Anyway, here are three butterbean pods, plump, full and ready for picking!  Some pods are brown and the beans inside harder and dry, but that's okay.  They both are good eating.

Henderson Lima Beans

It didn't take me long to pick two quarts of butterbeans and some Purple Beauty Bell Peppers.  It was nice outside and while picking, I watched the cows munching on the hay bale and the chickens chasing down bugs in the pasture.  Penelope the peahen was making her daily trek from the pasture, over the fence, into the yard and up into the very top of a live oak tree where she roosts for the night.

2 Quarts of  Butterbeans

Here is a Henderson Lima Bean:

Henderson Lima Bean shelled

And here is a Speckled Butterbean:

Speckled Butterbean shelled

I enlisted Benjamin's help and we sat on the floor and shelled the butterbeans.  It is an easy job.  The pods pop right open and the beans go in one bowl and the pods go into another.  The beans, obviously, will be eaten while the pods will be composted right back into the garden soil.

Shelling Butterbeans

In just a little while, we were done.  We had a beautiful bowl full of fat butterbeans.

A Bowl of Butterbeans

I can't wait to eat these cooked down with a little sausage or tasso for some smoky flavor and served over rice, with some buttery cornbread on the side.

Preparing for Daisy's Baby

Daisy (on right) will be calving in about a week

Daisy is carrying a calf and her due date is November 3rd.  She is fatter than she's ever been.  We are watching her very closely.  She was born in 2007 and has given birth to 3 calves - all bulls!  She's never had a heifer, but we're hoping that she ends that streak.  She has never had any trouble while calving, but we still will watch her very closely as her due date approaches.  Things can go wrong, and we want to ensure that we are prepared and observant.

This afternoon it rained and it was welcomed.  It hadn't rained in about a month and in the past 24 hours it has rained 3 inches.  We were happy about it and the cows were too!  Daisy was so frisky. As fat as she is, she was running and jumping and kicking!  While I was watching her, I checked her closely to see how far along she is in her pregnancy.  I noted that her vagina was 'flabby' and swollen and this is a sign that things are moving along.  Her bag is just starting to swell slightly, but isn't all big, tight and full of colostrum yet, and that lets us know that we have a few days left to go.

We have a stall in the barn that we can put her in with lots of hay for her to eat, but also to provide dry bedding for her and her calf.  But we also do a few things to prepare for potential problems.  We have a tube of calcium paste that we can give her if she shows any signs of milk fever.  We also have some frozen colostrum ready to thaw and bottle feed the calf if for any reason, the calf can't nurse within 6-12 hours.  We always save some colostrum for future use by milking out some each time we have a momma cow deliver a calf and then we freeze it.

We will post as soon as she calves and of course, we're hoping for a little heifer as opposed to a bull.
 

Broadcasting Rye Grass Seed before the rain

This morning I had to be in Houston for work in my 'real' job.  That meant I had to wake up earlier than normal.  At 3:30 am I rolled reluctantly out of bed, showered, dressed and my bride handed me a big cup of coffee and a kiss as I headed out the door at 4.  At 6:57 am I was in downtown Houston in four lanes of traffic with red tail lights shining for miles and cars bumper to bumper all doing 20 miles an hour. I finally made it to the office, got my stuff done and exited the concrete jungle with the quickness!

I got home in record time and was happy that there was daylight remaining.  I put on my 'work' clothes and headed back out the door.  There was work to be done.  It hasn't rained here in 26 days, and then it was only 0.3 of an inch.  We're dry.  Real dry.  But this weekend, there is a strong chance of rain and high chances of rain for the days that follow.  I've been waiting on this as it is (past) time to plant rye grass.

I basically used THIS GUIDE for seeding rates but changed up the ground preparation for planting.  In advance I purchased some quality rye grass seed and got my spreader ready.

100 pounds of rye grass seed

I filled the little spreader with seed and adjusted the setting so that it matched the seeding rate.  We have a very small operation, so rye grass planting is a manual thing.  Last week I put the cows on the paddocks that I'm going to plant and let them eat it down.  Today I was able to just broadcast the seed with my spreader, pushing it up and down while watching the seeds scatter evenly across the pasture.

Spreading the rye grass seed on the pasture

When planting rye grass without plowing to work up a seed bed, it is very important to ensure that the seed comes into contact with the ground.  So once I've finished broadcasting the seed, I get on my riding lawnmower and set the mower deck to the second lowest setting and mow the pasture.  This shakes the seed and forces down to the level of the soil.  It also spreads the grass clippings on top of the seed, acting as a light mulch.  Once it rains this weekend, it will wet the seed and encourage germination.  The grass clippings will keep the moisture on the ground from evaporating.

Mowing over the seed as the sun goes down

Finally I was finished planting one of the two bags of seed.  It got too dark to do any more.  I'll finish planting the final bag and mowing it in tomorrow.

Getting it done until you can't see anymore

Once it is planted, there will be nothing else to do besides wait for the rain to come. I'll broadcast some chicken litter over it later to encourage growth.  As I drove the mower back to the house, I looked up at the moon and the stars and the quiet peace that is country living.  And I counted my blessings, appreciating country living and the ability to work outdoors.  If the rye grass comes up, our cows will be grateful for that as well. 

Picking a Peck of Purple Peppers

Well okay, not really.  A peck is actually a unit of measure.  To help you define how much a peck is, Wikipedia tells us that two pecks equal a kenning.  Well that didn't help at all did it?  It also tells us four pecks make a bushel.  Now we're talking. Although I didn't actually pick a peck of purple peppers yesterday, the alliteration sounds nice, doesn't it?  I did pick a few and will likely pick several pecks of purple peppers before all is said and done.

We grow several types of peppers from seed that is started way back in January. The peppers are really producing now and I have been harvesting some for Tricia to cook for us.  Although Benjamin doesn't eat them, Tricia and I love them.  Let's take a look at the Purple Beauty Peppers we grow. We purchase them from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.  Like most of the plants we grow, they are open pollinated, heirlooms so you can save the seeds year after year. Here is one ready to be harvested now!:

The Purple Beauty Pepper

These pepper plants are compact and bushy and they just load up with abundant fruit.  This is not a hot pepper at all.  They are similar to a green bell pepper (sweet), except they are deep purple - almost black.  They are green at first and then they turn purple.  If left on the plant they will turn red, and some people say that that is when they are at the peak of flavor.  We always pick them when they are purple.  The beauty and novelty of the color of the pepper is nice.  As far as size, it is not a large pepper.  The largest I've picked is about the size of a tennis ball.

Prolific Purple Peppers

All of our peppers (Jalapeno, Chocolate, Purple, Anaheim, Criolla Sella) have really struggled this summer in the heat and dry weather.  {Note to self: Purchase pvc pipe and put in irrigation as soon as we get rain and the ground softens enough for digging!} Now that things have cooled off a little and I've begun to water the garden daily, they have perked up and begun to produce nicely.  Here is a haul of green beans and peppers from one afternoon this week.

Tricia cooked up a nice mess of fresh green beans and then washed and sliced the peppers.  In a cast iron skillet with several pats of butter, she cooked the peppers down and we ate the sauteed peppers as a side dish.  So sweet and flavorful.  Pretty soon if the plants produce, I'll promptly pick plenty pecks of purple peppers!

And the Cows Came 'a Runnin'

It hasn't rained in a month.  Even though it is not as hot as it was, it is very dry. There is a chance of rain toward the weekend and as far as I'm concerned, it can't come soon enough.  The grass in the pasture is parched, withered and dying in patches.  The cows are sad!

To supplement the diminishing pasture, we rolled out the final round bale of hay that we had left. The cows turned up their nose at that hay until the pasture withered and now they have eaten most of it.

Dried out Grass

While we have 100 square bales of Alicia Bermuda grass put up in the hay loft, we try not to start feeding that until it gets cold and frost has killed the grass.  The gentleman that provides our round bales works offshore 14 days at a time, so I emailed him to go ahead and deliver 6 or 8 bales of hay to the house.  He was offshore when I contacted him and put in my order.  Today he was able to deliver seven bales of hay to the house.  He unloaded them with a tractor and stacked them along the property line.  Tomorrow I'll cover the hay with a big tarp to protect it from the weather.

The Hay Man Delivered

The hay was freshly baled and smelled great.  Due to a very wet spring and a very dry summer, he told me that he's only going to get two cuttings this year, down from the normal 3 and sometimes 4 cuttings.  He asked how many bales we would need to make it through the winter.  I told him between 24 and 28 bales, and he said he'd put them aside for me.

The seven bales he delivered cost $175 in total and are 4 x 5 in dimension and weigh approximately 880 pounds.  In total that is over six thousand pounds of hay imported to Our Maker's Acres Family Farm.  Most of that hay will go through the cows and come out the other end, fertilizing the pasture and adding organic matter and microbes to the soil.  The remainder will be used as mulch in the garden. Nothing goes to waste!  I think this is a good deal - good for the cows, good for our soil.  A win-win scenario.

Round Bales

The cows were way in the front paddock eating what little grass was left.  When they saw the tractor and heard the noise, they were curious.  When they saw the hay being unloaded and one of the bales moved into the pasture, they came running! Daisy, the lighter colored Jersey on the right is fat, fat, fat.  She'll be calving in late October or early November.  She's eating for two.  Actually Rosie is too, since she's still making milk for Clarabelle.  All three of the girls high-tailed it for the fresh bale and tore into it like there was no tomorrow!

"Thanks for the hay!"

I watched the cows eat and eat and eat.  Cows don't really smile, but I could tell that they were content.

Hay.  It's what's for dinner

I talked to the gentleman who delivered the hay about different techniques of planting rye grass.  I'm going to try to get some broadcast on the front pasture in anticipation of the rain and then mow on top of it to scatter the seed and get it in contact with the ground.  He told me an interesting way that the "old-timers" used to plant rye grass.  He said their technique involved allowing sheep to plant it. They would feed the sheep sweet feed mixed with rye grass seed and then the sheep would walk around the pasture "planting" the seed along with fertilizer!  That's pretty smart!  Our Dairy Goat, Annie could have helped in that effort, but she's still at a neighbor's pasture down the road getting bred.

The cows are happy to have some good hay to eat on in the absence of good grass in the pasture.  I'll keep my eye on the round bale.  It will be interesting to see how fast three cows can make a bale of hay disappear.  I read that a Jersey cow can eat 2 to 2.5 pounds of hay per day for every 100 pounds of body weight.  

Russ Has It All Figured Out

This blog post could also be titled, "Natural cures you can find on the LSU campus if you get ill". Weird post, I know, but stick with me until the end.

This weekend was nice and cool - perfect fall weather.  My parents gave us tickets to the LSU game in Baton Rouge  and Benjamin and I headed east.  Tricia held the fort down while we were gone.  We made a full day of it and took in all the sights, sounds, and tastes of the pageantry on gameday, including seeing Leonard Fournette, the current leader for the Heisman Trophy walk down Victory Hill.

Leonard Fournette #7

Benjamin and I took our seats in the stadium and prepared to enjoy the game - a big SEC slugfest versus the Florida Gators. Somewhere in the North End zone (right above Benjamin's elbow) are Laura Lee and Russ, having fun in the student section. To the left of the scoreboard is the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.  Pistol Pete actually played in the Cow Palace, but Shaquille O'Neal played in the PMAC.  In the distance right above the scoreboard is Kirby Smith Dorm.  On the very top floor (14th floor, but actually the 13th since there is no 13th floor in that building for superstitious reasons) right in the very center (Room #1407) facing us in the picture, is where I lived 31 years ago as a freshman.

Almost time

We watched the Pre-game and the band played the Alma Mater and National Anthem...

"Where stately oaks and broad magnolias shade inspiring halls..."

And then the players took the field amidst a fireworks display.  We watched a great football game and the Tigers emerged victoriously against the Florida Gators...

"Boom!"

Prior to all that, though, we were led on a tour of medicinal plants on the LSU campus by our oldest son, Russ.  Russ is a Horticulture major who is in his Junior year at LSU in the College of Agriculture.  He has been working on some ground-breaking (pardon the pun) sweet potato research.

The type of information he showed us is absolutely vital if you find yourself tailgating before the game, get bit by mosquitoes and catch malaria.  Or if you ate too much at the tailgate party and were experiencing dizziness, stomachaches and dysentery. What would you do?  Well, you'd want to quickly go to the corner of Highland Road and Tower Drive, just across from the Cow Palace.  It is easily within walking distance of wherever you are on campus.  There you will find (right behind Russ and Benjamin in the picture below) a bunch of American Beautyberry plants.

THIS FACT SHEET tells you what you need to do with the roots, leaves and berries in order to combat those ailments listed above and get you back to the tailgate party in short order.  The purple fruit is good to eat, too.  Russ and Benjamin snacked on a few berries.  One more thing, that fact sheet said that in the early 20th century, farmers crushed the leaves of the American Beautyberry and rubbed them on their arms and legs to serve as a repellent for mosquitoes and biting insects.  So this was OFF! before there was OFF!!!

Russ & Benjamin in front of some American Beautyberries (See the appropriately colored purple fruit?)

So you've solved the problem of malaria and dysentery while on campus, but alas, another malady has overcome you.  You have a toothache.  How are you going to enjoy your time in Tiger Stadium with a throbbing, painful tooth?  What to do, what to do?

Well, you would quickly make your way to where Highland Road and Nicholson Extension intersect and you would look for the tree (below) that Russ and Benjamin are standing in front of.  That tree is called the Toothache Tree.  It is called that because chewing on the leaves or bark causes numbness to the teeth, tongue and mouth.  According to THIS LINK Native Americans discovered its medicinal qualities and used it when they had a toothache.  There was not a CVS or Walgreens on every corner, but they knew where to find natural remedies for their ailments nonetheless.  The toothache tree is easy to identify because it has some unusual 'pyramid-shaped' growths on the trunk of the tree.

Russ & Benjamin in front of the Toothache Tree

Russ & Benjamin promptly chewed on some leaves and both confirmed that their lips and tongues were numb and deadened like when you get a shot at the dentist.  I abstained from chewing the leaves in the event that this was NOT the Toothache Tree and they got a stomachache.  I wanted to be sure I could drag them back to the American Beautyberry bushes so that they could get relief.  Ha ha!  But Russ is a good student and was correct in his plant identification.  We walked back to the tailgate party and the numbness wore off so that they could enjoy boiled shrimp, barbecued ribs, and shish kebabs.  Russ has it all figured out and we appreciate all the knowledge he dropped on us!

Pickin' Green Beans in the Fall

October is generally one of the driest months we have.  It's kind of odd, because October is usually a month of stellar weather, when clear skies, cooler temperatures, nice breezes, and finally, relief from the long, hot summer brings enjoyment.  The problem is that the dry spell coincides with the planting of the Fall Garden, and those seeds and young plants need water to grow.  This means that I spend a lot of time in the late afternoon until dark-thirty watering plants.  For the last couple of weeks, the bok choy is laid out on the ground looking exhausted.  It is only after a good soaking from the water hose that the bok choy perks up.

There are other plants growing that are producing right now.  Green beans, for instance.  Nourishing rains would have equated to greater yields, but I mulched real good around the plants to retain soil moisture and we're happy for the beans we get.

A few nice beans on each plant

I like to pick the green beans when they are young and tender.  Fresh green beans are so good to eat. There's really no comparison of fresh green beans to the canned ones.  Although canned green beans can be great with new potatoes and bacon, it is not a similar product as fresh picked green beans, lightly cooked so that they are still a little crunchy and have that brilliant green color.

While bending over straddling the rows, I carefully picked each green bean that was sized right and left a bunch to continue growing for a few days.  There were beans in all stages of development, from the ones I picked to eat for supper, all the way to the blooms you see below.  That is good news and means that we'll have staggered crops to enjoy with our meals until the first frost knocks the beans back.

More green beans coming soon

I picked a nice bucket of beans, the first of many, I hope, and brought them inside and gave them a good rinse and then put them in the crisper in the refrigerator.

First bucket of Fall crop green beans

The next day Tricia cooked them in a skillet, basically stir-fried them, and they were delicious!  Rain is finally in the long range forecast for this weekend.  I'm thinking that a good soaking rain would refresh everything in the garden and get things growing again and that means more green beans to enjoy as a great accompaniment to our meals.