Fall At Last

September 23 marked the first day of Fall, but as that day came and went, it sure didn't feel like Fall.  It didn't feel like Fall two weeks after that date.  But on October 7th, we woke up to a north breeze blowing.  You can see the little garden flag by the live oak tree whipping in the wind. This morning, we had a low temperature of 58 and as far out as I can see in the forecast, I see no more 90 degree weather.  Hallelujah!

The heat was stifling this summer, but more than that, the drought really took its toll on us and the animals as well.  This drought decimated the grass in the yard.  It is starting to come back now after the 1 1/4 inch rainfall we were beneficiaries of last week.  I fear, though, that we lost two azaleas, two magnolia trees, and most of the monkey grass in the landscaping.  The lack of rainfall also meant that there's no grass in the pasture.  We've had to resort to feeding hay WAYYYY earlier than we normally do.  The condition of the cows and goats is poor going into the winter compared to other years. 

But Fall is here.  We can rejoice in that.  The live oak trees have produced a bumper crop of acorns and they are falling all over the ground.

This afternoon I watched two fox squirrels jump from tree to tree, with their bushy tails flashing in the wind.  They're no-doubt fat on this diet of acorns.  Squirrel season opened Oct 7th and runs through Feb 29th.  There's a daily bag limit of 8.  I think I could sit in the front yard with my 12 gauge and thin out the population.  I'll put some in the freezer for sure.

Because the grass is non-existent in the pasture, I've been stringing up the temporary electric fencing powered by the solar charger and rotating the cows through the yard again.  The crazy thing is, I only mowed the yard (by machine) two times this year!  That's good on the gas bill, but I'll need to crank it and run it.  Pretty soon the pecan trees will drop their leaves and it will be time to pick up pecans.

Now that it has rained, I've been working hard to get the Fall garden planted.  I'll show the progress in a future posting.  October 1 marks the date that you can plant garlic in our zone.  I ordered some and it came in the mail.

I opened the bag.  We're hoping to have a good crop.  I had given up on garlic as the past several times we planted it, we had large harvests, but it was hot and humid and the garlic wouldn't cure.  It all got soft and rotted - even though we had it on racks drying by a fan.  This year I decided we'd give it another shot.

I broke the cloves up into individual pieces.

In the garden, I pulled back the wood chip mulch away, exposing the soil and then gently worked the soil with a garden hoe.  It worked up nicely.  I used a planting knife to dig 2" holes and planted the garlic (root side down) in the hole.  I spaced them 4-6 inches apart and watered them in.  When they sprout, I'll mulch around them.

Fall is nice time of year.  The mosquitoes are still pretty bad, but the mosquito plane was flying tonight.  Hopefully, that will diminish the population.  Looking forward to cooler temps!

Gifts From Above

Our preacher was giving a sermon in which he was making the point that often times we don't look UP to give God thanks for the many blessings we have in our lives.  He told the story about some hogs that he has in a pen under some oak trees.  He said he was watching them and as a fat acorn fell out of the tree, they would run over and gobble it up, never looking up to see where it came from.  Many times we're like that old hog.  When we are showered with blessings, we don't look up and thank God.

Today Tricia and I walked outside underneath the live oak trees.  There was a constant crunching under our feet from stepping on gazillions of acorns.

We don't have hogs, but we do have goats - four of them, to be precise.  The majority of the live oaks don't stretch above the pasture, so the goats don't have access to most of the acorns hitting the ground.

Tricia got a rake and a #10 can and filled it up several times, pouring hundreds of acorns over the fence.  The cows and goats came a running.  The cows sniffed around curiously, but they don't eat acorns.

The goats, however, were a different story.  They feasted.  All we saw is their lips moving rapidly and heard the crunching of hundreds of acorns being devoured.

Unfortunately, like the hogs in the preacher's sermon, the goats didn't look up and give thanks for the 'showers of blessing' in the form of acorns.

A Living Souvenir

When my Dad got his undergraduate degree from USL (University of Southwestern Louisiana) in Lafayette, Louisiana, if I'm remembering the story correctly, USL gave the graduates an acorn from one of the live oak trees on campus.  My dad gave it to his grandmother and she put it in a coffee can and later planted it in her yard right smack dab in the middle of Kinder, Louisiana.  There it grew and grew and grew and now is a big live oak.

I like things like that - growing things that have some significance and have sentimental value.  I've posted in the past about doing the same thing by planting an acorn from an Alamo Oak when Tricia and I were engaged in San Antonio, Texas.  I also have an 8 foot tall oak tree that I grew from an acorn I picked up in Tallahassee, Florida during a difficult time in our lives.  In a time where many things are disposable and are here today - gone tomorrow, I like the idea of being able to look at a tree and tell kids and/or grandkids stories about memories surrounding the planting of that tree.  It gives some semblance of permanence or a living legacy or heritage.

Since LSU's alma mater begins with the words: "Where stately oaks and broad magnolias shade inspiring halls," I thought it would be a good idea to replicate USL's oak tree tradition and give my daughter a live oak tree grown from an acorn picked up from campus to commemorate her graduation from LSU in the spring of 2016.  The only problem was that I couldn't find any acorns in May.  I remedied that on a recent trip to LSU for a football game.  As we walked around campus, I picked up acorns from several oak trees around campus and put them in my pocket.

Future "Stately" Oaks

Last weekend I planted the eight live oak acorns in a terra cotta pot on the back patio and I keep the soil moist by watering them every other day.

Two acorns about to be covered with soil and watered

I'll keep checking on them and hopefully will soon see sprouts emerging from the soil.  In a post from earlier this year that you can read by clicking HERE I told the story about a book called The Man Who Planted Trees.  That book was inspiring to me and reinforced the idea that you can make a difference by planting trees.  That's one of the reasons I came home with a pocket full of live oak acorns from a football game.  We'll see in a little while if any of the 8 acorns germinates.  If not, I'll fill my pockets on my next visit and we'll try this out again. 

Planting Shade Trees

"A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit in." - Greek Proverb

That is a thought provoking quote.  A sentiment like that describes people who look past selfishness and look toward doing things for those who will come after them. That is a pretty noble thing to do, especially knowing that the recipients will not be able to thank their benefactors as they'll be long gone.

I remember in college we had a Psychology course that taught us about Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs.  You probably recall the pyramid.  The needs started with physiological needs on the bottom that must be met for human survival and progresses upward through Safety, Love & Belonging, Esteem, and finally Self-Actualization.

In Wikipedia, I found the following quote pertinent to our discussion on planting shade trees:

In his later years, Maslow explored a further dimension of needs, while criticizing his own vision on self-actualization. The self only finds its actualization in giving itself to some higher goal outside oneself, in altruism and spirituality.

We have some enormous live oak trees in our yard.  They add value to the land and their presence on the property was the driving factor in our decision to purchase our little homestead.  They provide shade and comfort on hot summer days. There's no telling how old they are.

They provide beauty and their sprawling branches provide shelter and homes for numerous birds and squirrels who, along with us, also enjoy the benefits of someone who, well over a hundred years ago, decided it would be a good idea to grab a shovel, dig a hole, and put an acorn in the ground in rural Jefferson Davis Parish.

The shade I'm thinking about today, however, is not necessarily literal.  Let me explain it a little bit. Driving in to work each morning on a long 50 minute commute, I generally listen to the radio.  It's pretty much all talk radio, news, sports, and Christian talk.  Some time back, I tuned in to James Dobson's radio program and he had a gentleman on named Dennis Swanberg.  You can read more about him here.

He got my attention because he said he lives in Monroe, Louisiana.  As I listened more, he impersonated Billy Graham, Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, and many more.  I was laughing out loud.  That dude is a character!  Then he got real serious and started talking about building a legacy.  He said:

"None of us are self made.  We're all sitting under 'shade trees' that our forefathers, families, and friends planted.  Now, it's your turn to leave a meaningful legacy by planting your own shade trees for others to sit under." - Dennis Swanberg

That really got to me.  Especially when thinking about parenting - the hardest job in the world. It made me think of all the mistakes I've made as a Dad.  Times I just dropped the ball.  Realize it or not, we're planting acorns right now in the words we say, the actions we undertake, the character we portray.  Just the way we live out our lives are seeds.  It was a good reminder to me that I should do more things to encourage others and live in such a way that I bring glory to God so that I can make a generational impact - even one for eternity!  First in our family and then to those in our sphere of influence.

Standing in the Shade

I have been so blessed to have been the recipient of other people's shade trees. Numerous people have given of their time, money, and wisdom and made an impact on my life.  I'm sure if you think about it, you have experienced the same. My prayer is that I can do the same for others and be to others what very wise people have been to me.

For example, Benjamin has developed a keen interest in collecting coins.  He's a budding numismatist.  Several people have given him coins to 'seed' his collection. One particular gentleman that lives in South Texas that Benjamin's aunt introduced him to mailed him some coins that had considerable value.  We communicated to the gentleman that we felt reluctant to accept them.  Here's what he said:

"As I get older (he's in his 80's), I realize that I don't possess anything.  I'm merely a custodian and temporary holder of items that I'm constantly looking for someone else to give them to."

We should all aspire to be modern day 'Johnny Appleseed's' planting seeds wherever we go so that mighty oaks spring up, casting their shade and repeating the process.

Psalm 1:3  (NASB)

He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.