Farm Auction Finds

I have said in previous posts that you really have to be careful if you attend farm auctions because you can get carried away. Yesterday we arrived at one about 1000 and there were several items (like steel topped work benches) we wanted but the elderly lady holding the sale said folks had started showing up at 0500 so we were a bit late. But we ended up with a couple things for next to nothing and we are pretty pleased.

Lots of the old farms around here are in real bad shape and the one that had the auction was no different. The very nice lady told us her husband had passed away a year or so ago and she was moving closer to the big city (Springfield) to be closer to her kids. Her house and the immediate yard were as neat as a pin and you could just imagine all of the family memories they contained but the barns and out buildings were in bad repair and lots of the equipment had sat for years. You might think it was a depressing scene but like so many of the hardy people we have come to know around here she was very upbeat and the prevailing attitude is this is part of life and I'm off to the next chapter; I hope I can be as stoic,

We have been looking for thing to get our new pole barn shop up and running; mostly we are looking for shelving, cabinets, work benches, a parts washer, tire balancer, tire rack etc. We have two shops and the one attached to the house is fairly well equipped but the new pole barn is spartan.

These three items we got for about $3.00 total. The little bookshelf will hold my shop manuals (and with as many vehicles and equipment we have I have a bunch), The metal shelving unit will be rebuilt and hold various cleaners and fluids, and the unit on the right is a cupboard under a heavy duty Formica work top with a couple of shelves above...and its a heavy son of a gun.

This little rolling bench (it has caster wheels) cost us $0.50 and will get cleaned up and a new top affixed and will be perfect for a place to put tools and parts while working on equipment. You can just roll it around as you go. Most of this stuff could have been built by us but not for that cheap and its kind of pleasing to have these older things with their implied memories and their working patina.

We gave a couple dollars for this old block that I imagine was used in the old barn to bring up hay into the hay mow. We already have several from our own barn and we didn't need it but it just has a pleasing look to it and I cant resist these old things. For the price I know I would have regretted it if we hadn't gotten it. It has "Meyers O.K." cast into it and I am trying to find information about it. The obvious thing was that  O.K. stands for Oklahoma but we haven't been able to find a community of Meyers and its odd to have the periods after the O and K for Oklahoma.

As you can see its well worn and I am guessing its from the mid 20th century.

So what is this? This wasn't from the farm auction but we found it at an old store and gave a couple bucks for it. I'm not much for pinups even in the shop but we collect old advertising and this was something that stood out. She isn't nude and shows nothing (she is wearing a long chiffon dress) but its classic 1940s pinup art. The date on the back says 1948 and its amazing to look at this photo and think that was 64 years ago; this young woman would now be in her late 80s at least.

This is another photograph we picked up. Its hard to see but she is dressed to the nines and standing next to an early 1950s Chevrolet Bel air and we suspect it was part of some type of advertising of the time. It too will go up in the shop.

But its not all farm auctions. Crops are still in full swing and our watermelons are ripening in stages and we are selling them and eating them...

Cantaloupes and passion fruit have done well even in this heat and we sure enjoy their fantastic flavor.

These berries are Elderberries and we didn't even know what they were until a short while ago. We thought they were a weed bush and we almost cut them down but an old farmer showed us the difference between Elderberries and Poke berries (which are poisonous). For some reason we have a bumper crop but we don't really know what to do with them yet. 

Next week we harvest apples and will can them. We have one pint of last years canned apples left so we don't want to let these go to waste. None of them are real big but they are sweet and juicy and they add a much needed element to the winter diet.

And we are still awash in Tomatoes. We have canned stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce of various types and now we gave Salsa a shot using our hot peppers, our tomatoes, our onions, and most everything else except the Cilantro because ours burned up in the heat.

It is the best salsa I have ever had. Even after the canning process (we had to open one to try it out you see) it tastes of the fresh ingredients and its just the right level of hot. I like really spicy things but the gals don't so this is a nice compromise.

Now that the heat has abated somewhat the critters around the farm are a lot happier. We have wild turkeys everywhere and they make a showing all the way down to the barn yard. Come hunting season you would think there were no wild turkeys in Missouri. People say they are dumb birds but that sure hasn't been my experience.

The barn cats all like the cooler weather too and there has been a lot of playing going on when they should be working at killing mice and moles. We will let it slide for now.

And finally, the long suffering Maybelle has finally recovered from her eye infection and been released from isolation and rejoined the herd, She literally jumped for joy when we opened the gate from the isolation pasture and its fun to see such an animal cavort around and kick up her heels.

Harvesting and Canning Starts

The drought that has hit the Mid and Southwest continues unabated and agriculture is in the beginning stages of big trouble in our area. We are down 7 inches of rain for the year and at our farm we have had 1/5 of an inch of rain since April 1. Temps have been record breaking with this week having 3 days of over 100 which is unheard of here in June. The first cutting of hay in the area was about 1/3 normal and no one expects another cutting unless the weather really changes...even the weeds are dying! I was talking to a cattle farmer today that is thinking of selling off a good portion of his heard because he is now having to feed supplemental hay.

I relate all that so you can appreciate the effort that we have expended in keeping our truck garden irrigated and producing. But even with irrigation the corn is stunted and with the high heat wont be very sweet, the sorghum is only about 6 or 7 inched tall when it should be a couple feet tall, and everything else just needs constant attention. So far water availability is good from both the county we are connected to and our two wells but who knows what late summer will result in. And on top of that, I am a fireman and the fire danger is extreme. But our gardens are producing and we will at least have enough to freeze and can  til next year...just not much to sell.

I really dont know why but our cucumbers are doing great in all this heat and they dont taste bitter. We are making dill pickles, sweet pickles, relish, we eat them in salads, and I like to make a greek spiced yoghurt with cucumber and minced garlic....good stuff.

Each year we try different dill recipes and this year we added garlic cloves. We are pickle people..we like all kinds of pickles and its satisfying making your own.

These black berries we picked yesterday and some others from a couple days ago will go into jam. I plan on picking some more tomorrow but the heat is really drying up the berries on the vine and the vines themselves look like someone sprayed Roundup on them.

Another thing in this heat is you have to harvest when the crop is at its peak and delay of even a day or two can ruin the crop. This was our first harvest of peas and we will have to pick again tomorrow and then a couple days later to keep them from getting ruined on the vine from the heat.

I shucked the bowl on the right and Holly did the one on the left.....hmmm.

We blanched all these today and put up 7 bags in the freezer. I used to hate peas and still cant stand the thought of those gross things we used to get in school lunches (remember those and the memory of the kid who vomited in the lunch room on a warm day? or is it just me?). Now I love fresh peas, just lightly blanched or steamed with a bit of butter and salt and sometimes some miced mint.

Today we also harvested leeks (will be for a roast chicken dish and sauce), beets (canned some and the small ones will be lightly pan roasted and eaten tomorrow) and yellow onions for the larder and for a customer.

And finally, this is our second crop of peaches but I forgot to take picturees of the first bunch. We have a couple more trees of peaches loaded but not ripe yet, the pears are hanging on, and we have two apple trees loaded with apples though they are really small this year. These peaches are soft and juicy, they taste like your imagination thinks a peach should taste like, and you can smell their peach smell from about 5 feet away.

Soon we will be awash in tomatos, our cabbage will have to be made into Kraut and slaw, the cauliflower looks good and then we should be harvesting corn soon after....but man we need some rain.

7 Oct Update on the Farm

This week has been mostly about fall chores and prepping for winter though with temps still in the 80s and some tomatoes still on the vine its hard to think of winter but...they have to be done.

We have been cutting wood, harvesting, figuring what to do now that Thelma and Louise are in Estrus ( we want to wait until spring to introduce them to a beau) and of course cooking.

Just a few snaps of the activities.

I just thought this picture of Holly in front of one of our apple trees was great and it reflected the fall colors starting to happen around here.

We still have lots of flowers in bloom but the leaves are falling, the nights are crisp and its definitely feeling like fall.

This years black walnut crop was huge. The friends we let harvest them earned a couple hundred but its back breaking work and this picture shows that even right after they were all picked up (literally the day before this picture was taken) more fall to the ground awaiting harvest.

This was our first sweet potato harvest a couple days ago.

All smiles as we find that our efforts have been rewarded.

This was from just a couple mounds and all we did was add sawdust to the soil, a little fertilizer (organic of course), cover it with a permeable ground cloth, plant the slips and then we forgot about them til now.

Maybelle follows us around like a puppy when we are in the pasture, always looking for treats.

I have been trying to get some pictures of Thelma and Louise that shows their size as they are quite large now but so far it just doesnt come across. They are in estrus and a bit randy but they look good and we are waiting to introduce them to a bull until early spring.

And..another cooking picture. Last night we made a pot roast with our garden vegetables and herbs, some red wine, caraway seeds, mushrooms, and a side of roasted herbed potatoes.

Some friends of ours that have the cattle ranch where we have posted pictures of us working the cattle offered to let us cut wood on their acreage so we have been dilligently trying to catch up after my lay up. In return I am going to work on the ranch and was told tonight I will be operating the big tractor (cab, turbo diesel, big enough for 1000 acres big) next week and it sounds like an experience. He has been somewhat of a mentor to me and I have learned a lot about handling cattle and all things farming and look forward to any opportunity to learn more. 

We cut the wood, loaded it on the truck, unloaded it, split it and stacked it all today. Of course Bandit was on hand to supervise.

And we continue to clean out the bottom floor of the barn and are hauling and cutting old unusable wood for kindling. This was done a couple days ago and is just a start.

The leaves have started to change and its gone all quiet except for the coyotes who have been active lately and the sound of Bobwhite quail.

We have a couple of chainsaws but I really like the Stihl MS 310 the best. Its easy starting even when hot and it has enough power for the oak and hickory we are primarily cutting. My only complaint is that its so heavy.

The second Sweet potato harvest we did today was even better than the first..

Big potatoes with virtually no blemishes.

We harden them off in the sun, then take them inside for a few days then wrap them in newspaper and store them in the root cellar. They will keep all winter and make up a big part of our winter starch.

We are finally making headway on the old wood pile. I was really sweating it after being layed up with the back surgery and though its hard work, there just is nothing more comforting or enjoyable than spending a day in the woods cutting your winter fire wood.

We still plan on cutting 3 or 4 more cords over the next week or two but we are getting there.

This is the haul we are storing in the root cellar and we gave lots away as a lot of yields werent very good around here this year due to the drought.

And finally, our second black eyed pea harvest with lots more to come.

We are tired but satisfied to be getting back into the "get something done everyday" mode. If you live on a farm you know how harvest and fall chores go, the inside of the house is totally neglected, the smell of earth is all over us, and we are scrambling to stay up with it all. Its a very satisfying time of the year.