Cleaning Up the Fencerow

In South Louisiana hard jobs are best left to a brief sliver of time when the temperature is bearable.  This weekend was one of those weekends.  My To Do List has been cluttered by an item that I kept putting off and it was high time to scratch it off the list.  I'm talking about cleaning up the fencerow that borders the south perimeter of our property. 

Just over the property line is a wooded area that we don't own.  It is a jungle of sorts - filled with Live Oak trees, China Berry trees, Chinese tallow trees, Willow trees, and finally, privet.  Privet is in the ligustrum family and bears small white flowers in the spring.  The other thing they do is take over the land.  If you turn your head for five minutes, its encroached upon your land. 

Every couple of years I have to sharpen my ax and machete, put on gloves, and clean the privet out.  I have an electric wire that runs along the perimeter fence powered by a solar charger.  I tie into that wire to run cross-wires to partition the pasture into 7 paddocks to control the cows' grazing.  The doggone privet will grow into the fence, touching the wires and grounding out the electrical current.

Here is a look of the overgrown fencerow after I began chopping and had gotten about a third of it cleaned up:  You can see how overgrown the fencerow has become.

As I chop the privet, I toss the branches over for the cows and goats to eat.  They really like to eat it.  The photo below shows the third of the fencerow that was cleaned.

I try to clear out an area roughly five yards wide to provide a buffer zone to my back fence.  I do realize I am on my neighbor's property, but they are absentee owners and if I didn't do this job every couple of years, my fence would be in ruin.  I've learned that if you merely chop the privet at ground level, many shoots of new growth sprout from the trunk as if angered by the chopping and proliferate toward our property with a vengeance.  My technique involves chopping below the ground surface to clip the roots, and then pull the plant up.

I'm not going to sit idly by as the privet moves forward.  Chop!  Chop! Chop!  As I go I pick up fallen trees and throw them back into the forest.  I can see animal trails in the fencerow where countless nocturnal animals travel.  I'm sure one of those travelers was the possum I killed in the hen house the other night.  You can see below that I am three-quarters of the way done.

At last I made the final chop, opening up the overgrown fencerow.

I backed up and took a photo from the beginning of the fence to the end.  You can compare the first photo of this post to the last and see what a difference it makes.  Oh, that is the hen house in the foreground.

It looks nice, but as with anything, it takes maintenance.  In another couple of years, I'll be out doing this same job once more.  Privet doesn't sleep.  As I type this, privet is out there re-grouping, plotting, strategizing to launch an offensive and lay siege to our fence.  We will stay watchful and vigilant against the onslaught of the privet.

Rolled Out Another Bale

The grass in the pasture is all dead now.  The freeze burnt it to a crisp.  The cows still graze out there, clipping the "freeze-dried" grass down to the ground.  Then they come looking for hay to eat.  The cows finished off the first round bale that I had rolled out last week.  By my estimation it takes about 7 days for them to completely devour the round bale.  On the sixth evening, I go out to the bale with my pocketknife, cut the twine off and pull it out, and then I lift the hay ring off of the bale and roll it out of the way.  The cows are then able to reach the hay in the center, and are able to clean it all up. 

When a new bale is rolled out,  it is a joyous event for the cows... really for every animal in the pasture.  They come running and begin rubbing their heads on it.  In the photo below, you can see the remnants of the bale they just finished in the bottom left.  The new bale is positioned just a little bit over. 

The hay ring protects the bale from much waste.  However, it doesn't keep the goats from getting inside.  They'll climb up on top of the bale.  The chickens like to make nests in the hay, too.  We constantly find eggs in the bale and check it for nests every day.

While we're talking about the cows, I want to report on the milking.  We're still milking two cows a day - Rosie and Clarabelle, but there milk production is starting to fall off a bit. This happens over time and is a reminder that it is time for them to be bred, calve and freshen.  We enjoy fresh milk with every meal.

As I was putting milk in the refrigerator, I saw how rich our Jersey cows' milk is.  You can see a perfect illustration in the photo below of the old saying, "The cream always rises to the top!" 

Sometimes we just shake it up and drink whole milk.  Many times, Tricia skims a lot of the cream off the top for coffee, to make butter or ice cream.  A couple nights ago, she used it to make whipped cream that we ate on top of a slice of warm persimmon cake.  Talk about good!

Saving Seeds - This Time Flower Seeds

A few years ago I purchased a package of zinnia flower seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom seeds.  I just wanted a little color in the garden.  I actually planted the seeds right outside the garden last year.  When they flowered, I collected all of the seeds from the flower heads and saved them over the winter.

This spring I had some room in the garden and I planted a double row of the zinnias.  They all came up and they bloomed and bloomed and bloomed - from early spring right up until the first freeze.

Temperatures in the mid-twenties in November were like a light switch being turned off, making the vivid colors of the zinnia blooms go to dull brown. 

If "a penny saved is a penny earned," what is a seed saved?  I decided to find out Sunday afternoon after church.  It was a tedious job, but someone had to do it.  I went to the zinnia patch and plucked every dried flower head off the stalk.  They were dry and brittle.  Most of the seeds had not shattered and fallen to the ground.  I was able to pick them in the nick of time.  I quickly filled up a bucket and a cup with seeds.

It is going to rain for the next couple of days, so there will be lots of humidity in the air, but once it dries up a bit, I will shake up the seed heads, separating the seeds from the flower heads and stems.

Then I'll store the seeds in a container that I'll label.  Next year I'll do it all over again.

Checking In On The Winter Garden

This post is going to be a little photo-heavy.  I was home this weekend, so it was the first time in a couple weeks that I was able to observe the garden in daylight hours.  Tricia and I alternated rows and were able to weed the garden.  It is much easier with the wood chip mulch covering the garden soil.  I think it discourages some weed growth.  With the weeds that emerge, it is easier to pull them up by the roots since the soil is softer with the mulch covering.

Let's take a look at what's growing.  Here is a row of turnips.  I'm not a turnip fan.  We'll mainly feed them to the cows.  I'll thin them out, though, and we'll eat the turnip greens.

Here is one of the breakfast radishes.  Radishes grow so quickly.  We primarily eat these in a radish dip with crackers.  They'll be ready for harvest in a week or two.

We plant several varieties of lettuce.  Here is some Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce:

Some Red Romaine:

And some Rocky Top Mixed Lettuce:

Some Mustard Greens:

Some Beets:

And Cabbage:

Unfortunately, a very early freeze this year dipped temperatures into the low 20's.  This decimated my broccoli and cauliflower.  I lost about 95% of them!

The sugar snap peas made it, though, and I'm training them to trellis right now.  They'll be climbing in no time.

The carrots were slow to germinate and a little thin, but I think they'll be fine.

Here is our row of spinach:

You can see that our garlic has sprouted.  I'll soon be mulching these:

Here is some rainbow chard:

Bad news in that our bok choy and kale seed that we saved over the years succumbed to poor germination.  We'll have no bok choy or kale this year.

I did see some cilantro sprouting up volunteer this year, however.

Overall, the garden was planted later than normal.  Thus, it is a little slower to grow than in previous years.  Usually we are harvesting kale by now.  I think things will be fine if we don't have a hard freeze in the next few weeks.  Perhaps later this week, we'll give a critique of the Back to Eden Garden method we're trying so far.

We Hope It Will "Take" This Time

We were disappointed to see Luna go into heat again.  We had brought her down the road to be bred about three months ago.  A friend of ours has a registered Jersey bull and charges $100 - $150 stud fee.  The fee is guaranteed in the sense that if the cow is not bred, we keep bringing her back until she becomes pregnant.  The friend only lives about five miles down the road.  The close proximity is important to us because if the cow we bring to have bred is still in milk, we travel to her each day to milk her.

We track our cows' cycles and when we noticed Luna go into heat after having been exposed to the bull, we contacted our friend to schedule the services of his bull, loaded Luna up in the trailer and rolled north on Highway 26 to Hathaway, Louisiana.  We unloaded her from the trailer as the big bull came to check out the new girl. 

On Saturday we got a call from the friend with an update.  The bull and Luna stayed together for several days and although he didn't see the breeding take place, he saw signs of breeding on her tail.  After that the bull and Luna stayed on opposite sides of the pasture.  Hopefully a fertile seed was planted.  We made arrangements to go pick her up Sunday after church.  We hooked up the trailer to Benjamin's truck and made the short trip.

We retrieved Luna and the big bull came up to the fence to tell her goodbye after we got her out.

He had mud caked all over his head.  Bulls are notorious for rubbing their heads all over everything.  What a muddy guy!

When we pulled back up to the house, Luna was excited when she heard the cows at home moo-ing to welcome her back.  She lifted up one ear in anticipation.  I take that back about the cows welcoming her back.  They were probably lamenting her return.  Luna, although a runt, is the bully of the pasture.  She has lots of self-confidence and thinks she is big and bosses the other cows around.
 

We opened the gate and let her back into the pasture.  She glared at us and then trotted off to re-assert herself as Queen of the pasture.

We are hoping that she is bred this time.  One thing that worries us a little is that she is fat like a beef cow instead of a dairy cow.  We have been told sometimes that will affect their ability to become pregnant.  We've got the date marked on the calendar.  If she comes in heat again, we'll make the short trip back to try again.  If at first you don't succeed...

The Reference Sample

In my real job away from Our Maker's Acres Family Farm, I work for an oil company.  We distribute fuel, oil, and lubricants to our customers.  I may bore you for a minute, but stick with me.  There's a point to my story.  Product integrity is very important to our business.  We have numerous measures in place to ensure that our customers get high quality oil for use in their vehicles, equipment, and other machinery.  I'll briefly discuss one of the safeguards.

When we get oil in from the refinery, we pull a reference sample, label it and keep it in a cabinet for use later.  The oil is then pumped in a tank.  Later when oil is ordered by a customer, we pump it out of our tank and into a truck for delivery.  Every oil has different qualities and is engineered specifically for its end use.  The oil on the left below is a turbine oil, the one in the middle is hydraulic oil, and the one on the right is a motor oil. 

Reference Samples

Now you wouldn't want to put a hydraulic oil in an engine.  You want to be sure to check and double-check things.  What you want to do is pull a sample from your nozzle in the truck BEFORE you transfer custody to the customer.  Then you compare this sample to the reference sample.  Several checks are made.  First, you check the color.  Each oil has a distinct color.  You hold the sample next to the reference sample and ensure the color is the same.   Then you check for water.  If there is water in the oil, it will be on the bottom, milky, and separated from the oil.

Color is good.  Clarity is good.  No water in this oil

Then you check for sediment.  Dirt and grime, if in the oil, will be evident in your sample.  Viscosity is also checked to be sure it is within tolerance of the oil's specifications.

No dirt or grime or contaminants

You NEVER want to take a chance of putting impure oil or the wrong kind of oil in the customer's tank or piece of equipment.  Putting contaminated oil in equipment could cause the machinery to fail.  This could cost the customer a lot of money.  Contaminated oil OR the wrong kind of oil put in the application could cause injury or death.  It is serious business. 

At the end of my checks, as a final safeguard, I walk into the warehouse and I hold the sample from the nozzle of the truck up to the reference sample.  If the oil is the same, I give a thumbs up on the camera.  If, like in the photo below, the oil is different, it fails the test and I reject the oil.  It does not get accepted for use.  It is impure, dirty, contaminated, or the wrong kind of oil.  The oil is then quarantined.

Failed the Test!  REJECTED

Sorry I took a long road to get to the point, but here it is...

We live in a world of moral relativism - a world where everyone has "his truth" or "her truth."  We are asked to be tolerant of sin and bad behavior that would have been called shameful in recent past.  False teaching has crept into churches.  Bad behavior is lauded and moral virtues are ridiculed.  Of course we are not without fault.  In a fallen world we tend to justify our foibles and peccadillos. 

Jeremiah 17:9“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

If only we had a REFERENCE SAMPLE.  Somewhere that we could go and analyze worldly thoughts and ideas or for that matter theological opinions.  Something that we could compare against to determine Truth, to determine what is pure and right and good.  I have good news for you.  We can go to the Bible.

We see a great example of this in the Book of Acts:

Acts 17:10-11 King James Version (KJV)10 And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews.
11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

 The Apostle Paul found that the Bereans were noble because they listened to his teaching and then compared it to the Scriptures to determine if what he was teaching was correct.  We should be like the Bereans, using the Bible as our reference sample to ensure that things are truthful, good, pure, and right.  If they do not pass the test, we should reject them.  The stakes are high!  The consequence of accepting corrupted ideas, impurity, sin, false teaching could not only lead to injury and death, but effects that could last for eternity.

Two Goats Gone

One thing about goats is that they multiply.  They have a tendency to have more triplets and twins than singles, so in no time at all the pasture is full of goats!  They are very cute when young and are so fun to watch.  They have the best little personalities.  This year Annie (Nubian momma goat) had triplets and Oreo (La Mancha momma goat) had twins.  Two of Annie's kids died due to parasites.  We've had quite a time this year fighting parasites!

We decided that we needed to downsize in order to make things easier.  It is quite a rodeo getting to the barn every day during feeding time.  All the goats (Annie, Buckwheat, Oreo, Andy, Salt and Pepper) rush to try to get into the barn before the cows arrive.  The cows can be quite mean to the goats, using their heads as a battering ram to violently push the goats into the wall.  When you try to open the gate, the goats are all up around you.  It is especially annoying when you have your hands full of milking buckets and wash buckets.  It is a real chore to try to get into the barn without one of the goats knocking into you and causing you to drop something on the ground.  When we come out with a bucket of hen scratch, the goats get all under your feet, making it hard to walk.  Sometimes they'll jump up and pull the bucket down and make us spill it.

We need things to be a little easier.  Tricia put Oreo and one of her doelings, Salt, up for sale.  In a short time, we had someone who had agreed to purchase.  Sunday afternoon, we bid farewell to Annie and Salt.  The purchasers showed up right at the time when we had to meet to go Christmas caroling, so I missed telling Oreo and Salt goodbye.  Tricia stayed behind for a short while to make the transaction, but got distracted and didn't get a chance to get pictures.  Oh well.

So now there's just Pepper left.  Pepper is Oreo's doeling.  Here she is on top of the old freezer we use to store feed.  She's always hopping on top of something! 

Although she is a La Mancha, her Daddy is Buckwheat, who is a Nubian.  Pepper inherited the long ears of her daddy.  Tonight at supper I asked Tricia if Pepper was acting sad that her momma and sister are gone.  Pepper didn't cry a bit.  She's acting normal.  We're planning to keep Pepper for breeding stock.  Oh, and Tricia said that it was much easier around the barn at chore time with two less goats!