Our Ruby Red Grapefruit Tree

Back in May in THIS BLOG POST we chronicled an addition to our little citrus grove by adding a Ruby Red Grapefruit tree.  I am somewhat ashamed to admit that the tree itself looks worse right now than it did four months ago.  Right after we planted it, we went into a severe drought with high temperatures and the tree was obviously stressed.  Despite the fact that it never grew or added any new leaves, it clung to life and after the recent rains, we were greeted with this sight:

Blooms!

I think that the tree appreciated a respite from the sweltering heat and dry conditions and responded with some very sweet smelling blooms.  I must admit I was a little surprised at blooms on the tree at this time.  None of our other citrus trees are blooming, as they are loaded down with fruit that will ripening in just a few months.

Sweet smelling grapefruit blossoms

If you look real closely in the photo below, you can see a tiny greet circle just above the center of the picture.  That is the baby grapefruit.  Now, I learned from reading a few interested things about the grapefruit tree.  First it takes somewhere between 8 - 11 months for a grapefruit to mature.  Grapefruit do not continue to ripen once you pick them and they get sweeter the longer you leave them on the tree.  The Ruby Red is a delicious, sweet fruit that I really enjoy.  When I was younger, I would cut them in half and spoon sugar on top of them to make them sweet.  There is no need to do this with the Ruby Red!  Finally, in order to promote growth of the tree, you should remove any fruit that set for the first two years.  So, I'll watch the tree and if any fruit sets, I'll pull them off.  I've already noticed many blooms falling since I took this picture.

Tiny fruit forming

The first production of fruit on these trees in the third year averages 25 pounds, but increases to 250 pounds by the tenth year!  The tree doesn't require pruning, except to remove dead limbs and mature trees are even cold-tolerant with temperatures in the mid-20's!  In cold weather you can throw a tarp over the tree to protect it from the low temperatures and I've read about building a "soil bank" around the trunk of the tree from Thanksgiving until March.  You want to be real careful removing the soil in the Spring as the trunk will be real tender:

Image Credit

I've never tried this practice of building soil banks before, but it is one I'll explore if/when the cold weather gets here.  The soil forms a barrier that protects the tree from the cold and even if the entire tree is killed from the cold, the tree will re-sprout above the graft.  Many times I've lost a tree in the cold, only to have it re-sprout, but beneath the graft.  That's no good as the growth is from the root stock, not the productive fruit tree.  This practice of soil banking is supposed to be an effective tool and I'm going to employ it.

Removing competing grass around the base of the tree

Finally, This Article gave me some additional insight into caring for the tree. Grapefruit trees don't like competition from lawn grass, so you are supposed to keep a 1 foot circumference area around the tree free of grass. The trees don't like to be mulched as they'll get foot rot for which (unlike foot rot with our cows) there is no cure.  

Looking forward to Ruby Red Grapefruit from our own tree.  Like most things, though, I'm gonna have to be patient...

New Life in the Barn

Last month we told you about a broody hen that was sitting on some eggs in the barn.  Three eggs to be exact.  We marked them with a marker and removed any other eggs from the box.  Over the last three weeks the Black Star hen dutifully sat on three brown eggs only getting up to quickly go eat some rice and drink some water and then she was back on the nest.

Broody hen on her nest

A few days ago Tricia turned to me and said, "You hear that?"  I'm kind of deaf, so I answered, "No." She could hear the chirping of a little chick.  As we approached the momma hen began clucking loudly and fluffing up her feathers.  She didn't want us anywhere near her baby chick.  You can see the little black chick snuggled up next to the mom as momma hen looks down with pride at her newborn.

Freshly hatched chick

Here is the little chick once we moved the mom away from her.  We gave her a few more days to sit on the other two eggs, but no babies ever came out.  I would assume that these eggs weren't fertilized. Even though we have a 1:10 rooster to hen ratio, sometimes this happens.  I was disappointed as I expected at least two to hatch.  The chick is black, with some slight coloration on its wings.  I would guess that this is a Black Star, just like the momma hen sitting on the nest.  A Black Star is a cross between a Rhode Island Red Rooster and a Barred Rock hen.

33.33% hatch rate

Momma hen is very protective over her little one, leading it to safety and clucking loudly.  She will lead her baby to food and water, and we have been watching with interest as she teaches the chick to eat little pieces of food and drink little bits of spilled milk from when we milk the cow.

Follow me, little one.

The focus was off on the camera, so I was unable to get a good shot, but here is a blurry picture of the new baby in the barn.  Mother hen didn't like it one bit that I was holding her baby and let me know it by pacing around my feet.  When I put the chick back on the ground, the hen pecked me hard on the finger.  Serves me right.

A Handful

For the first 3 or 4 days, the hen kept her baby in the barn sequestered from the other chickens and animals.  Today, the hen and her chick ventured out of the barn and walked around the perimeter.  

A field trip

Of course we won't know if this is a pullet or a cockerel for quite some time.  We like to allow a broody hen to sit on a clutch of eggs once a year and we also like to put some eggs in our incubator and hatch out some chicks.  However, this year we decided to go ahead and make an order to have some Barred Rock day old chicks mailed to us so that we can replace some of the chickens that have died over the past year.  We'll show you those birds once they come in the mail.

Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?

Image Credit

September 11, 2001.  A day most will never forget.  Alan Jackson didn't want to forget it and wrote and recorded a song about his emotions on that infamous day. According to THIS ARTICLE:

The song is based on the September 11 attacks, a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda on the United States on September 11, 2001. Jackson had finished walking outside and returned indoors to discover news of the attacks on television. He immediately wanted to write a song expressing his thoughts and emotions, but he found it hard to do so for many weeks. "I didn't want to write a patriotic song", Jackson said. "And I didn't want it to be vengeful, either. But I didn't want to forget about how I felt and how I knew other people felt that day." 

Finally, on the Sunday morning of October 28, 2001, he woke up at 4 a.m. with the melody, opening lines and chorus going through his mind. He hastily got out of bed, still in his underwear, and sang them into a hand-held digital recorder so he would not forget them.  Later that morning, when his wife and children had gone to Sunday school, he sat down in his study and completed the lyrics. 

Initially, he felt squeamish about recording it, much less releasing it, because he disliked the idea of capitalizing on a tragedy. But after he played it for his wife Denise and for his producer, Keith Stegall, and it met with their approval, Jackson went into the studio to record "Where Were You" that week. On Stegall's advice, Jackson played the finished track for a group of executives at his record label. "We just kind of looked at one another", RCA Label Group chairman Joe Galante said later. "Nobody spoke for a full minute."

Here are the lyrics to that song:

"Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)"

Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day?
Were you in the yard with your wife and children
Or working on some stage in L.A.?
Did you stand there in shock at the sight of that black smoke
Risin' against that blue sky?
Did you shout out in anger, in fear for your neighbor
Or did you just sit down and cry?

Did you weep for the children who lost their dear loved ones
And pray for the ones who don't know?
Did you rejoice for the people who walked from the rubble
And sob for the ones left below?
Did you burst out with pride for the red, white and blue
And the heroes who died just doin' what they do?
Did you look up to heaven for some kind of answer
And look at yourself and what really matters?

[Chorus:]
I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell
You the difference in Iraq and Iran
But I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith, hope and love are some good things He gave us
And the greatest is love

Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day?
Were you teaching a class full of innocent children
Or driving down some cold interstate?
Did you feel guilty 'cause you're a survivor
In a crowded room did you feel alone?
Did you call up your mother and tell her you loved her?
Did you dust off that Bible at home?

Did you open your eyes, hope it never happened
Close your eyes and not go to sleep?
Did you notice the sunset the first time in ages
Or speak to some stranger on the street?
Did you lay down at night and think of tomorrow
Or go out and buy you a gun?
Did you turn off that violent old movie you're watchin'
And turn on "I Love Lucy" reruns?

Did you go to a church and hold hands with some strangers
Did you stand in line and give your own blood?
Did you just stay home and cling tight to your family
Thank God you had somebody to love?

[Chorus x2]

And the greatest is love.
And the greatest is love.

Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day?

Alan Jackson asks a good question.  Many people can recall what they were doing when John F. Kennedy was assassinated.  I can't because I wasn't born yet.  Others can recall where they were when we landed a man on the moon.  I can't remember that either because I was not yet 3 years old. But I can remember vividly the day of 9/11.  Can you?

I was farming at the time.  I remember the day was a beautiful one, with brilliant sunshine and a clear blue sky.  We were plowing some land and I had dropped by the shop to pick up the grease gun to grease the bearings on the plow.  We had a television in the shop that was always on during the day, and I stopped in front of it as they were showing images of the World Trade Center. There was smoke coming from one of the buildings and the host of the Today show was talking to reporters about what happened.  News was slow coming in and they were speculating that a small commuter plane had accidentally flown into the side of the building.

Then the second plane hit the other building and everyone knew this was an attack. It was no accident.  All I could do was watch with a sickening emptiness as the camera showed people on the upper floors and the streets below littered with paper. The smoke got thicker and people began jumping out of the building.  Later, with a rumble and billowing clouds of dust, the buildings came tumbling down.  And then news came out about the Pentagon attack and Flight 93 that crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania.

Part of me wants to say that as a country, we lost our innocence that day, but I know that evil has existed since that fateful day in the Garden.  Sure, America has been attacked before in an ambush 60 years earlier on December 7, 1941 when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, but this was different.  These were innocent civilians in peace time on our shores.  The horror!

The photo below was taken by me in 1987 during a trip to New York City.  I took this picture looking up, craning my neck to see the top of those towers.  I was awestruck.  They were huge and symbolized strength, permanence, and might.  We took the elevators to the observation deck and viewed the panoramic sights from atop the mighty tower.

My pic of the Word Trade Center Towers from 1987

It is hard to imagine that those towers are completely gone.  Something that seemed so permanent was brought down in a matter of 102 minutes one September morning, bringing down with it the hopes and dreams of the victims and those of their families.  The World Trade Center towers, as it turns out, were not permanent.

It is easy, even 14 years later, to succumb to thoughts of anger and bitterness, and I know that is not productive.  I think Alan Jackson summarized the better way to channel my emotions:

I know Jesus and I talk to God
And I remember this from when I was young
Faith, hope and love are some good things He gave us
And the greatest is love.

The twin towers from a distance (Aug 1987)

Testing Clarabelle's Genetics

Clarabelle just turned 2/1/2 months old and she is growing nicely fueled by Rosie's milk.  There is a long list of things to be done with a young calf.  As shown HERE, we dehorned her.  As shown HERE, we began the process of breaking her so that she'll lead.  We sent off the paperwork and had her registered with the American Jersey Cattle Association.  At four months of age, well have her vaccinated against brucellosis.   In between all that we've treated her feet for footrot and given her two penicillin shots to control an infection in her head caused by her knocking the scab off from de-horning.  There's lots to do, I tell ya!

Today, we'll show you how we recently collected tail hair samples from her to send off to determine if she has A2/A2 genetics.  One of the things we're aiming for is to get our little herd to all A2/A2 genetics.  Daisy is A2/A2, Rosie is A1/A2 and Amy is A1/A2.  Clarabelle's dad was A2/A2, so there is a chance that Clarabelle will be A2/A2.  Do you remember Punnett Squares from biology class dealing with dominant and recessive genes?

So what are A1 and A2 genetics?  Well, milk is made up of mostly liquids and some solids.  Of the solids, there is a protein called beta-casein and there are several variants of this protein - A1 and A2. A1 is thought to be a mutation that occurred a long time ago.  This article, in the Health Effects section, discusses some studies done that showed that some of the peptides created during digestion of A1 beta casein proteins may cause negative effects in humans.  As a result, there is a growing market for A2/A2 dairy cows.

In order to determine the genetic makeup of you must send in a hair sample.  Who likes having their hair pulled out?  Certainly not Clarabelle, so we tied her up.

A Captive Calf

It is important that the switch of the tail where the sample is to be gathered must be clean and free from dirt or debris.  A dirty tail hair sample renders it unfit for DNA testing.  Tricia brushed off Clarabelle's tail.

Cleaning up the little girl's tail

Now it was time to take the sample, so I grabbed her tail.  She didn't like that much.

The sample must comprise about 20 hairs, and here's the tough thing: The roots of the hair must be attached.  Some of my samples from her tail had no roots attached, so I had to pull a lot more than 20. Although it takes longer, I figured out that you get a better quality sample by just pulling one or two at a time.  

Pulling a sample.  OUCH!

Once you get a good sample of tail hairs with the roots attached, you twist it a little and tape it on the form that you request from GeneSeek.  Information can be found AT THIS WEBSITE.

We just sent this off to the lab in Lincoln, Nebraska and look forward to the results. A2/A2 is what we're looking for.  We'll just have to wait and see...

Putting Fall Potatoes in the Ground

In THIS POST from November 28th of last year, I posted a review of our first ever crop of Fall Potatoes.  In it, I explain how I reviewed the LSU Vegetable Planting Guide that gave September 10th as the cutoff date for planting fall Potatoes.  Last year I figured that a few days wouldn't matter and planted them on September 23rd.  Only 13 days late and that wouldn't matter much, would it? Well, it did.  At harvest time around late November, the frost had burned/killed the potato plants and I dug the potatoes up.

I remember vowing that I would follow directions from here on out.  The date range listed is there for a reason.  LSU is an AGRICULTURAL and Mechanical University, after all, and they have studied, experimented and set the dates for our planting zone for a reason!  My goal of having year round potatoes is still attainable.  I just need to prepare and plan better.  This year I did just that, planting our fall crop of potatoes on September 2nd - well ahead of the cutoff date.

This spring, due to above average rainfall, our yield was cut short due to soggy soils that contributed to potatoes rotting in the ground and/or sickly yellow plants.  We still harvested a nice amount, but not the bumper crop that we had last year.  In planting fall potatoes, you don't purchase seed potatoes at the Feed Store like you do in the spring.  You simply save some of your potatoes from the spring harvest to use as your seed potatoes.  Tricia kindly separated out some of our smaller potatoes to serve as seed.  I think we have 24 seed potatoes ranging in size from a golf ball to the diameter of a nickel.

Seed spuds

I was thinking about just buying some potatoes from the store to plant, but read that they spray something on them to keep them from sprouting.  That's another reason you should try growing your own potatoes or at least wash them really, really good.  In the Spring, I always cut the seed potatoes into several pieces ensuring that there is an 'eye' on each piece.  These are so small, I'm going to plant them whole, and that's okay.  Some people plant whole potatoes in the spring.

Gardening can be a lot like war sometimes.  There are victories and defeats.  To the victors go the spoils, but there are casualties, too.  Our spring crop of potatoes saw its share of casualties.  I figured it would be appropriate to plant the fall crop with an old Entrenching Tool.  This is a collapsing military spade that I'm sure you've seen in Army Surplus stores.  According to This Article they were used as far back as Julius Caesar's time in the Roman Legion.  In modern times they were used for digging latrines, fortifications and (painfully) as an actual weapon.  During WWII they were sharpened and used by German and Soviet forces in hand to hand combat in close quarters in the Battle of Stalingrad.  Thankfully, we are at peace, and I can serenely dig a hole (or 24) to deposit my seed potatoes in, burying them 4 inches deep and 12 inches apart into the soft, loose soil.  It is remarkable how keeping the soil covered by hay keeps the soil pliable and virtually weed-free.

Using a military folding spade to plant fall potatoes

The potatoes were planted in the same row that our cowpeas currently occupy and are currently under the canopy of their leaves.  However, the cowpeas will be finishing up soon and like the batter on deck, the potatoes will step up to the plate to take their place.  Batter up!  I'll have to move some of the vines of the pumpkins to make room for the potatoes when that happens.  The pumpkins, as you can see below, are primarily vining toward the west, but some of the New England Sugar Pie Pumpkins have started running toward the east, over the row of potatoes.

Peas, Potatoes, and Pumpkins

If we can get this figured out, we'll have potatoes year-round, accomplishing our goal.  Potatoes take between 90 - 120 days until harvest, so we'll report back our successes (or failures) at that time.

"Lâche pas la patate!"

Pickin' and Shellin' Cowpeas

Yesterday we talked about how the ants are farming the aphids in our cowpea patch.  Several things I read mentioned that this doesn't really harm the peas.  I'm not smart enough to know if that's true or not.  It is certainly unsightly and it just seems to me that your peas would be much healthier and productive if there weren't bugs sucking the nectar out of the plants.  I know it is certainly easier to pick the peas when there aren't ants biting you as you pick them!

Purple Hull Peas

To give some credence to the fact that the aphids don't harm the plant, we did go out and harvest a bucketful of peas the other day.  Because my soapy water concoction I sprayed on the peas wasn't successful in dissuading the aphids and ants from making their habitation on the peas, I had to pick peas with the water hose handy.  After I would pick a handful, I'd spray my hands off before the ants could bite me.  I also threw the pea pods in a bucket of water and sprayed the peas with a steady stream of water to wash the aphids and ants off.  I was mostly successful in picking peas without many ant bites.

Soaking peas to get the ants/aphids off

Once the peas were bug free, I brought them inside and Tricia and I stood up in the kitchen and shelled them all by hand.  Of course if you are doing this commercially, there are pea shellers that you can purchase that make the job a little easier.  One of these days I might look into picking up a second-hand pea sheller.  

For now, I feel that sometimes there's nothing wrong with doing things manually and not being concerned with efficiency. With all the modern technology we have and time-saving devices we employ, I often wonder where the big blocks of time go that we are accruing by being so much more efficient?  I don't know where it goes, but I assume we quickly fill that time with other tasks.  

Tricia and I were able to talk as we shelled the peas.  Pea shelling is not an exhausting job, and it doesn't require much thought at all.  Once you get going, you can put your fingers on auto-pilot and get the job done.  You don't need any tools except your finger nails to get the pod opened.  Once cracked open, you just use your thumb and forefinger to open the pod all the way.  Then running your thumb on the inside of the pod from top to bottom, you loosen all the peas and drop them into a bowl. The peas dropping in the bowl make a satisfying sound.  Repeated work fills the bowl and you can watch the progress.

Purple Hull Pinkeye Peas (appropriately named)

In no time at all, it seems that all the peas are shelled and the bowl is filled with a myriad of plump peas.  I planted Purple Hulls, Blackeyed Peas, Ozark Razorback Peas and Holstein Peas on the row, and it doesn't matter to me that they are mixed when we eat them.  All I know is that they taste good and are good for you, too.

In fact, This Link tells me:

"Nutritionally, southern peas {the purple hull pea is a member of the southern pea family} are a good source of protein and one of the best sources of dietary fiber available.  They are also very high in folate, a form of B vitamin that is important in the prevention of anemia, cancer and birth defects.  In fact, orange juice, which is often advertised as a good source of folate, has only about 10 percent of the amount found in a serving of southern peas." 

We're all done!

I think that is a lovely bowl of fresh shelled cowpeas.  A cow pea, medley, if you will.

A cowpea medley!

The Purple Hull Peas are greenish in color with pink eyes.  The Blackeyed peas are tan colored with black eyes.  The Ozark Razorback peas are mottled tan with brown spots.  Finally, the Holstein peas, appropriately names are black with white spots - just like its namesake dairy cows.

Pretty Peas in the Palm of my hand

We dropped all the pea pods into the compost bucket and they will be composted, improving the soil for the next crop.  Nothing goes to waste.  Everything either gets eaten or goes back into the soil.

Zero Waste

Our preacher talks about growing up in the Depression era.  He speaks about how times were hard, but they never went hungry - eating beans and rice one night and for variety, eating rice and beans the next!!  I tell you what, peas and rice is a mighty fine meal.  Tricia cooks the peas with a little sausage thrown in for smoky flavor and we serve it over rice.  I like to serve some pickled jalapeno peppers over the top, splashing some of the vinegar onto the heaping mound of peas and rice in my bowl.

Peas & Rice for Supper

In a few more days, there will be another mess of peas to pick and shell AND EAT! Pass the peas, please...

Competing "Farmers" in my Patch of Cowpeas

I have several varieties of cowpeas that are maturing right now, including, Black-eyed peas, Purple Hull peas, Ozark Razorback peas, and Holstein peas.  As soon as they began to bloom and put on little pods, I noticed a couple of things.  First the pods and stems were covered with little bugs.  A closer look showed that they were aphids.  But, they weren't the only insects on the cowpeas.  There were ants running up and down the plants.

Aphids on my cowpeas

According to This Interesting Article the aphids are actually being herded like farmers and ranchers herd cows.  Ants are the farmers in this instance.  Instead of using a 'hot shot' like farmers and ranchers use to provide an electric shock to cows to keep them in line, ants use chemicals on their feet to tranquilize the aphids so that they stay close.  The reason the ants want their herd of aphids close is that the aphids provide something that the ants want.  The aphids eat the plant and then secrete a sugary excretion called 'honeydew' that the ants eat.

A heard of aphids on the ants' "pasture"

You can see a couple of ants on top of the cowpea leaf checking the herd and then having maybe having a snack of some sticky-sweet honeydew.

The competing farmer in the cowpea patch

So all that sounds fine and good, I guess, but not for me.  The aphids make a sticky mess on the pods and when you try to pick them, the ants bite you.  I have to do something to get rid of both the aphids and the ants and wanted to try natural means to do so.  I mixed up some Dawn Dishwashing liquid with some water in my garden sprayer and sprayed the leaves of the cowpeas real good with the sudsy concoction.  The soap is supposed to remove a waxy protective covering on the insects causing dehydration and death.  Those that don't die, will leave.  

Spraying a soapy solution on the peas

I coated the leaves with a heavy coating in hopes of making the farmers and their herd of aphids either die or leave for greener pastures.

Did it Work?

So did the soapy water experiment work?

The day after my application, I was real encouraged.  The cowpeas were completely clean!  The aphids and ants were nowhere in sight.  Unfortunately, two days later, they were back with a vengeance, covering the plants even more than previously.  I quickly picked the ripened pods and threw them in a bucket of water to wash the aphids and ants off.  For next year's crop of cowpeas, I'll make sure that I have Neem Oil on hand.  I don't have any right now, but I have since read that Neem oil is a good natural way to control aphids and ants on cowpeas.  

If at first you don't succeed, try try again.  The garden is only big enough for one of us, and I'm not leaving.  Many times I have enough trouble getting a crop in.  I certainly don't need competing farmers in my garden.