Hay Day (Part 1)

This is going to be a post that has two parts.  Have you ever started watching a TV show and you look at your watch with about 5 minutes left to go and say to yourself, "How are they going to solve this mystery in 5 minutes?"  And then the words, To Be Continued... flashes across the bottom of the screen.  Tricia experienced this the other day with a Matlock show on the inspiration channel.  She said, "I wish I would've known it was a two part show.  I wouldn't had invested an hour of my time on it."  Well, because of old Matlock, I'm telling you up-front, this is a 'two-parter.'

At this point we have plenty of grass in the pasture.  The problem for the cows is the heat.  The cows lay up in the shade all day.  Like clockwork, they wait for the slightest sliver of shade to appear and then they go wait in it until the long shadows of the afternoon allow them to graze in the shade-filled pasture in relative comfort.  They'll eat in the late afternoon and early morning and when there is a full moon - they'll eat at night.  

Daisy in the shadows

Although we have plenty of grass right now, like the fable of the ant and the grasshopper, we must be like the ant and prepare for the late fall and winter when there will be no grass.  If we fiddle around now, come winter, there will be no hay.  So that means we need to be putting up some bales of hay now.  We have a neighbor down the road that bales some good bermuda hay that the cows have given two hooves up approval rating to.  The neighbor's daughter called us up the other day and let us know that he was baling and was wondering if we were interested in purchasing our usual amount.

We told him that we'd like 90 bales.  90 square bales is the maximum amount that we can store up in the loft of our barn.  He gives us a special price if he doesn't have to touch it.  That makes good sense.  He bales it and leaves it in the field where it drops off the baler and me and the boys go pick it up.  I told the neighbor's daughter that we' be there as soon as I got off work the next day.  So the next day we arrived.  I always think that a field of fresh mowed hay is one of the prettiest sights there is. 


90 bales of hay in the field

Since we're in the middle of the field, Benjamin drives and Russ and I stack the bales of hay in the bed of Russ' truck.  Benjamin's job is to drive very slowly between the rows of hay.  Child labor laws?  Check.  Underage driving?  Check.  Two strikes against me right there.

Getting instructions from big brother

Once we get a full truckload, we head back to the house and unload it and come back for more.  We originally started putting 18 bales per load, but discovered that we could stack differently and get 22 bales on the truck. 

Truckload of Hay

Benjamin did a good job of driving and Russ did a good job stacking the hay.  Russ works during the day at a plant nursery in town and wasn't exactly fired up about being in the hot sun this afternoon, but he was a good sport and we got the job done.


Let's bring this load home

Russ rode up on top of the bales on the way home.  It is only a half mile down a black-top road to our house.  When Benjamin pulled into the driveway with Russ perched up on top of the hay, Tricia was just heading out to the barn to milk Rosie and I could tell immediately by the look on Tricia's face that she was not pleased with yours truly.  It was one of those looks of concern coupled with one of those "What are you thinking, Kyle?" looks that I get from time to time.  We were being very safe, though. 


Hay man

On the second trip Russ drove.  We had the Tacoma weighted down.  The sun was beginning to dip in the horizon.

Wide Load

As we got home we stacked it in the driveway.  I had checked the weather forecast and there was no chance of rain.  We wanted to split the work in half since we began the job after I got home from work at about 6 o'clock.  Normally, we pick up the hay and hoist it all up into the hay loft in the barn on one day, but we normally pick up the hay on a weekend when I'm off.  If we tried that tonight, we'd run out of daylight.  

Backing, Unpacking, and Stacking

Benjamin and Russ helped to stack it crossways, "tying the hay together" to ensure that the bales don't fall down.  We took an opportunity to get some ice cold water each trip home.  Loading hay is a hot job.

Bales of hay in the driveway

While we were unloading the hay, we were under close supervision.  Our every move was inspected with scrutiny.  I'm not talking about Tricia.  See if you can see the USDA Hay Inspector in the photo below.

An interested observer

One additional thing about loading hay, a shower never felt so good.  Not only are you hot, not only is your back hurting, but you have hay seeds, dust and pieces of hay that are all over you, making you itch like crazy.  Anyone who's moved hay before knows exactly what I'm talking about.

Messing with hay is an ITCHY job!

So I'm going to go take a cool shower right now and tomorrow we'll meet up and finish the job.

To Be Continued...

Picking & Cooking Okra

I always plant a row or two of okra in the garden.  It is a high producing crop that is drought & heat tolerant.  We plant two varieties from seeds we save each year.  The first is a Clemson Spineless okra:


Clemson Spineless Okra

The next variety is Burgundy Okra.  It's obvious why it is called by that name! 

Burgundy Okra

Okra is a crop that you must diligently pick each and every day.  It will produce from here on out until December or so.  You can see all the okra blossoms that are about to open.  Each one will yield an okra pod.  You want to try to pick them when they are young and tender.  If they get too large they will get tough and woody.  You can tell what I'm talking about when you try to cut a pod that has grown too large.  I usually just throw those into the compost bucket.

Clemson okra about to bloom

Here is the same thing on the Burgundy okra.

Burgundy okra blooming and setting pods

Okra plants have a lot of leaves that block out the sun.  That enables the plant to maintain the moisture levels in the soil to help the plant grow and flourish. 


Okra plants full of leaves

We have okra in our fridge non-stop and it is always a nice, easy side dish to prepare.


Okra for supper

So let's get supper started.  First grab a couple of tomatoes from the garden and dice them up. 

Chopped up Tomato

Here is a little trick that we use with okra.  Lots of people don't like okra because of the slime factor.  When you cook it, it can get really slimy.  We always add a cube or two of frozen lemon juice.  The lemon juice counteracts and nullifies the slime.  So throw a cube of lemon juice in the pot.


Lemon juice cube

Next chop up some onion and all of your okra.  This won't take you long. 

Chopping up okra and onions


Put the chopped okra, onions, and tomatoes in the pot with the lemon juice.


A colorful pot

 Add some water to the bottom of the pot, put the cover on and cook until tender.  The Burgundy Okra loses its color when it cooks.


Okra & tomatoes

We eat lots of okra around here!

Heirloom Tomatoes Coming In!

On our Maker's Acres Family Farm we have seven different varieties of open-pollinated heirloom tomatoes planted, including:

• Black Krim
• Abu Rawan
• Money Maker
• Valenciano Yellow
• Thessaloniki
• Amish Paste
• Arkansas Traveler

They are all ripening right now and...  Okay, before I go on, I feel like I need to confess something to you.  Something that will get be branded as a heretic, un-American and a heathen, for sure.  I don't like raw tomatoes.  There.  I said it.  I don't like them and never have.  I have tried over and over again to like them and my tastebuds just won't get on board.  I have seen the sheer enjoyment and ecstasy on people's faces while they are eating a slice of homegrown raw tomato with a little salt and black pepper.  I keep trying to like them, but it just doesn't happen for me.  I love tomatoes cooked - just not raw.  Two things in this world I don't like: raw tomatoes and mayonnaise.  Now that I have that admission behind me, I can move on with today's posting.  

A nice fat homegrown tomato

Each afternoon I grab a produce bucket and go out to the garden and pick tomatoes.  Even though it has been dry for the past couple of weeks, I really haven't had to water since I mulched around the base of the tomato plants with straw.  It helps retain the soil moisture and saves me time watering!


You say Tow-may-to, I say Tow-mah-to...

Tomatoes ripen from the bottom up.  Some heirloom tomatoes, like the Black Krim, have green shoulders, even when they are ripe, like shown below:

Green 'shoulders' on a homegrown tomato

There is something very rewarding about walking through the garden in the evening after it starts to cool off and pick vegetables.  I like to go down each row and pick a variety of stuff.  In the photo below you can see several types of tomatoes, sweet corn, cucumbers green beens.

A cornucopia of fresh veggies

Here is the variety from another day's pickings where you can see several varieties of squash, burgundy okra, Clemson spineless okra, as well as numerous types of tomatoes.


Fresh pickin's

We have a problem, though.  As it warms up considerably, the pest pressure is mounting.  As I walk through and pick tomatoes, I see numerous stink bugs and worms and birds causing considerable damage to tomatoes that are ripening.  So, I've begun to pick them when they are not completely ripe in order to allow them to fully ripen indoors away from the pests.  No sense in growing these tomatoes since January 1 only to feed the stink bugs, worms and birds, is there?


Laying them out on a tray (Tray #1)

We've always put them on a window sill to ripen.  In reading a lot of articles on ripening indoors, many folks say that picked tomatoes don't need light to ripen.  In fact they say to put them in the dark.  So we're going to try that and report back on this method.  First we lay out the tomatoes on several trays.  One thing you want to do is check them often.  If you have a bad one in the bunch that is leaking tomato juice, it is best to remove it as it will cause the rest to go bad as well.


Tray #2

Now we'll cover them with newspaper and set them out of the way.  Some people say to put a banana with the tomatoes to help them ripen, saying that bananas give ethylene gas, a necessary agent needed in ripening.  I did learn that tomatoes showing color don't need a banana as they make their own ethylene.  Warmth also helps in the ripening process, so we'll put our trays of newspaper wrapped tomatoes in the warmest spot in the house. 


Cover them up

We'll check these after a few days.  I'm also going to pick some that are mostly green to experiment with how long it takes them to turn red or IF they will turn red.  We're going to be blanching a lot of them and canning a lot of tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes and homemade salsa.  Yum! 

I'll leave you with a photo of a fresh picked, sliced, homegrown tomato.  Tricia said it was delicious and "meaty."  I'll have to just take her word for it. 

Pass the salt and black pepper, please.

Odd thing is, I love Pico de Gallo.  That is made with raw tomatoes, but the onion, pepper, lime juice, and cilantro is the flavor that really comes through.  Maybe one day my taste buds will change. Who knows?

Jimmy Crack Corn and I Don't Care

There is an old song that is still sung today that dates back to the 1840's with the phrase in it "Jimmy crack corn and I don't care."  I have never had any idea what it meant.  I looked it up on Wikipedia today and there are wide disputes as to what it means.  Some of the thoughts include:

• Cracking corn means opening up a jug of corn whiskey,
• Crack corn being related to the term, 'cracker', a slang for a rural, Southern white,
• Cracking corn was an old Shenandoah expression for sitting around gossipping.

Wow, and all this time I assumed it must be about harvesting and shucking corn (removing the husk and silk)!  You learn something everyday! 

Well, despite most of our corn being knocked down and ruined in several strong thunderstorms that blew through that I ended up feeding to the cows AND some of the corn being eaten by Nellie, the goat, craning her neck over the fence and eating her fill, there were still a few plants that survived that we could harvest.  I had two different varieties planted at different dates.  The corn below is an heirloom Stowell's Evergreen Sweet Corn that is not ready yet.  You can tell it is not ready because the silk is still a pinkish-red color.


Not quite ready yet

Here is some that is ready.  You can tell it is ready to harvest when you can feel that the corn has filled out and the silk has turned brown and begins to dry out.  This one is ready to pick.  Each cornstalk has two or three ears on it.  I picked a bucket-full of some earlier planted white sweet corn and brought inside, looking forward to eating some  fresh picked sweet corn. 

Ripe and ready to pick

Tricia decided that she'd shuck it all and blanch the first batch while I was at work.  When I got home and asked about it she told me that the quality of the corn was disappointing.  As you can see below, the cob did not completely fill out with kernels.  This can be caused by several factors, namely pollination problems.  The pollination process was discussed in an earlier post and I won't bore you with it again.

Another culprit is photosynthetic stress, brought about by a stretch of cloudy days, excessive heat and drought conditions.  We've had our share of all of those, so I don't know the exact culprit, but the yield was hurt and the corn was 'ugly' as you can see below.


Cobs that are not completely filled out

But we're going to eat and enjoy the harvest we've been given!  Sometimes things happen and you just have to roll with it.

Looks like we'll have to eat two ears instead of one!

I had my hopes up from the one ear that I pulled the husk back on when harvesting.  I must've pulled the only pretty one in the bunch to take a picture of!


Mmmmmm

So Tricia removed the husk and the silk from the first batch of harvested corn. 

Corn husks

This makes a big mess in the kitchen so we have the broom ready.  When removing the husks and silk, there are almost always worms eating the tips of the corn, so you have to remove them and cut off the affected areas.

Making a mess in the kitchen

To blanch corn, once you've shucked and washed the corn, get a big pot of water boiling.  Once it has come to a boil, dump the ears of corn into the pot and cover.  You'll want to boil for 7 to 11 minutes, depending on the ear size.  Then remove the corn from the boiling water and submerge in ice water for an equivalent time to quickly stop the cooking process.  Blanching stops the enzyme action which can hurt the flavor, color and texture of the corn or any vegetable for that matter.  Then bag them up and freeze them.


Ready for the freezer

Then it is ready for whenever you are hungry for a nice ear of corn slathered with butter.  The cob is loaded with flavor as well and shouldn't be thrown away, but used in soups and then composted.  We're hoping our harvest of the corn planted later will be better.  We'll post when we harvest the corn from those stalks.

Upgrading from a single-wide to a double-wide

Now that the Cornish Cross meat birds now reside in our freezer, the chicken tractor that they occupied is now vacant.  This tractor is a spacious tractor with roosting bars, a hanging bell waterer and a hanging feed trough.  The fact that everything hangs allows you to push it each day with ease.  You don't have to reach down and pick up items off the ground prior to pushing it one length forward.  To a chicken, this is prime real estate, allowing them to be safe from predators and to forage on fresh green grass each day.


A view of the amenities of this posh real estate

You can observe from the photo below that part of the chicken tractor has a roof and part has a chicken wire top, allowing the birds to choose whether to lounge in the sun or shade.  Russ and I made some minor repairs to the tractor.  This is just routine maintenance that a landlord must do when a tenant (meat birds, in this case) moves out.  We're going to allow our 25 pullets to upgrade their current living arrangements from their current 'single wide starter home' into a bigger dwelling.


Movin' on up!

Here is their single wide that they've occupied for the last 8 and 1/2 weeks of their lives.  We moved them out of the brooder and into this tractor when they were 2 weeks old.  You can see how this tractor has protection from the elements on two sides, which is especially important for small birds.  The larger tractor is wide open to the elements which allows for air flow and sunshine to disinfect things. 

Cabin fever

One nice feature that the smaller tractor has is a hinged roof that makes it easy to get inside or lean over to fill feed troughs and waterers.  When the birds are younger and not able to fly out, I'll open them up and allow sunshine in.

A sun roof option

Below is a picture of the happy pullets on fresh grass.  If you could see how 'factory' birds live indoors and in small cages, you would know why our birds think Our Maker's Acres Family Farm is heaven.  Well, we're about to make things even better as we're going to give them a little more elbow room.


Life is Good!

I got my fishing net that I've extended the reach by duct taping an old hoe handle to and started snaring the pullets.

A bird in the hand...

The other birds were all frightened by me grabbing their buddy with a net and huddled up in the corner. 

You bunch of chickens (literally)!

One of them actually jumped up and flew out and escaped and I had to go running through the pasture chasing her with the net.  See the escapee below near the turkeys?


On the loose

Finally caught the girl and put her into her new home.  My plan is to leave them in this tractor until they begin to lay eggs and then open the door so that they free range during the day and they'll return to roost each night in the tractor.  If things go as planned they'll be laying in around 14 weeks and it can't come soon enough.  The current hens' egg production has dropped significantly with the heat of summer.  We're only collecting 8 - 10 eggs per day and that is with 60+ hens!  Not good.


A bird's eye view

 Here is a closeup shot of the hanging bell waterer and the hanging trough full of feed.

Just hanging around

In no time the pullets had grown accustomed to their new home.  It is supper time.


Ringing the dinner bell

 I think the pullets are happy tenants in their new home.