Lovely overcast Sunday morning

Just a fluffy layer of low lying clouds to moderate the morning sun. How delightful.

Finally got a good night's sleep after one heck of a busy week. All the summer product except melons is in full harvest and word-of-mouth has really piled on a lot of new customers so we've been scrambling all week. So many things have happened that it all sort of blurs together and now I can't remember enough details to comment on it all.

This morning will be a little more rest time then I've gotta go out and water, fertilize and harvest. Grapes and canning tomatoes are coming in thick and heavy now so I'll also be painting up a new, larger sign for them.

Wishing you all a restful and/or productive day.

Good and busy

Had some good days lately. Tomato season is approaching its peak and we'll soon start rolling out cases of canners. Today we begin the grape harvest which should pick up our sales a bit. Gotta get signs made for that.

Would love to stay and detail stories of customer's folly and nature's wonder, but the fields await and the sun is rising.

Have a great day.

Insane in the rain

Wow! from 20% chance of rain to 100% rain.

This is a really unusual summer drizzle. Sure to crack the cherry, pear and big beef tomatoes. Bummer. It is the farmer's lot to practice acceptance. What else can one do in the face of totally overwhelming forces?

From the radar image it looks like the worst of it has passed but lots of little showers for the next few hours.

Yesterday morning a largish 4 point buck came prancing through the sunflower patch besides our selling room. Our customers and Sparky were equally excited. Dad and I were just contemplating 100 pounds of venison jerky. Well, maybe that was what Sparky was thinking of too, but probably just the thrill of the chase.

I'm gonna spend today cleaning up and resting. Glorious, glorious resting.

Wishing you a restful day too.

One more day

Our last day of the week and I will really enjoy sleeping in tomorrow.

Business has been pretty good. A little slower with it being county fair week in Josephine county. That's par for the course. But we had a lot of watering, weeding and fertilizing to do so nobody had time to enjoy it.

This next week we'll start bringing in some of our green seedless grapes. Scrumptious! And the corn is peak of the season now, big ears and oh-so-sweet. I love it when we have product which I am 100% confident in.

Well, gotta go pick squash. Y'all take it easy.

busy tired

Had to do the dentist/teeth cleaning thing this morning (thanks Kristy!) so the rest of the day I was short an hour. Extra crushy sort of day.

Would love to regale you all with tales of wildlife and the idiocies of our customers but am waaay too tired.

Have a wonderful evening.

2nd week blues

My Sunday is November.

Got 2 weeks behind us but the work is still piling up. Weed control, fertilizing and of course the convoluted logistics of watering. Bad enough on its own but add outside scheduling conflicts and it makes a Rubik's Cube look like tic-tac-toe.

Had one amazing little delight amidst the consternation. Came back from farm#2 and was refilling the settling pond and noticed some sort of large insect crawling around on the bottom. Bent down to get a closer look and the thing jetted off. Only one critter moves like that in Oregon waters: Crawdads! So that was a fun little discovery. Now I'm a crayfish farmer too.

It's been blessedly cool here this week, hovering just below 90. Perfect tomato growing weather, 58 degree nights and 89 degree days. Great for the corn too.

Gotta go. Y'all have a fine day and a balmy breezy evenin'.

Bring it on

In the article "China threatens 'nuclear option' of dollar sales" we see that China is threatening to call in its trillions of dollars in trade deficit.

As someone who has been forced to buy the faulty, defective and poorly constructed chinese products which have displaced so many sturdy, functional and finely wrought American products due to their slave-labor low prices I would just like to say one thing: "Bring it on you commie bastards." There is nothing I would like more than for my country to be forced to STOP TRADING with you due to our inability to pay.

And while we're discussing it, how about you pay for all that technology you've been "borrowing", hmmm?

Busy Saturday

Pretty tired, had a good days run. Sold lots of peaches today. Corn sold good too. We're into the "Incredible" variety now so people are getting pretty enthusiastic. Most customers have been ok, though we have had some complainers due to our "Please Don't Peel the FREAKIN'! Corn" policy.

A bunch of hard work is waiting for me tomorrow. Mostly moving water and doing weed control in the last planting of melons, pumpkins and squash. So much for a day of rest. Glad planting is finally behind us (unless of course we lay in a fall garden starting end-of-August.)

Hope your day is restful and interesting.

Tired Friday

Pretty good day today. Busier early, a few good long spells for reading in the afternoon but lots of one dollar sales after that. Lots of work, little money.

It was HOT again today. Only 3 days left until the peak of summer is past.

The corn pollen is really bugging my eyes these days.

Hope you all rest well and dream happy.

Good day

We were delighted to discover that Charley had taken down the saw-horses and surfaced a stretch of driveway-side all across our entrance this morning. I was thinking that maybe I had exaggerated how much that interruption was affecting our business, but was I wrong! Saw a definite and clear upswing in customers today. Really a big improvement, almost back to the traffic flow we had last week. So I am grateful for that.

It is HOT! today. Only 3 more days or so to the half-way point between the summer solstice and the autumnal equinox. The summit of summer if you will. Damn! I'd like to take a day and go rafting down the Rogue followed by an evening at the drive-in theater. Ohhhh,, those days are gone ;-)

Wishing you each and all a spirited companionship.

Slow Tuesday

Our landlord at farm#2 black-topped his driveway last weekend and until he gets the saw-horses and other barriers out of the way our customers are having to avoid them to drive in. Net result: a bunch of people are slowing down and then just driving off instead of pulling over. I'd guess I'm losing about 80$ a day because of that.

On top of it, today, ODOT was plugging pot-holes on the road; totally killing traffic. It was a Very slow Tuesday.

Gotta go get cleaned up and do some watering.

Y'all have a great day.

Working Sunday

Spent most of today putting down fertilizer and moving sprinklers. Needed to rest but that option wasn't available. Maybe next Sunday.

Getting up early to pick squash and move irrigation.

Hope you all have a lovely night.

Bizee

Rhymes with dizzy. Feels similar too.

Posting will largely be suspended until Sundays due to extreme workload: harvesting, watering, selling etc. etc.

Hope you all are well and calm and happy.

Good opening day

Saw lots of my "regular regulars" today and a few newbies. A couple of "yearlings" stopped by too. All very happy that we were open so they could get their good munchies again.

Kinda tired from standing all afternoon. Gonna go have sloppy joes now.

Y'all have a fine evening.

Wednesday is Open Day

Scramble, scramble, no time to ramble.

Wodin's day we open.

Sunday serenade

Crickets and cars racing the night's silence for each their own goal.

I've drawn a half circle, a sort of protection in the driveway outside my room. Mosquito repellent has more than one purpose. The night seems to throb and roll, warm and still outside the barrier I have risen.

Around the yard a few incense sticks burn, filling the air with a surreal perfume of nature and artifice.

The radio is playing Billy Joel's "Don't Ask Me Why"

Cornfield Camera

Got some pics 'cause my public demands them. This first one is the cornfield at farm#2 and the second one is the big sprinkler gun running at farm#3, next door.

Wounded in action

It had been a great day. Watering was well under way, the fertilizer had been put down on the next two fields of corn. Dad was busy unhooking the fertilizer spreader from the Massey-Fergusun's three-point. I was cutting gladiolas to take home to mom. It was 4:45. I forgot that I had put a new razor blade in my pocket-knife. My thumb immediately informed me of what I had forgotten. The blade went in about 2/5ths of an inch. I staunched the flow with a paper towel and drove the truck down to get dad. Don't think I'll need stitches but you should-a heard me cussing. I freakin' HATE this sort of carelessness. Think I might need to get a prescription for my AADD, maybe I can get some Provigil which sounds like a pretty interesting substance albeit quite expensive.

So today I'm working with an extremely minor handicap, bandaged thumb syndrome. Still managed to get the base coat of paint on our "Opening Soon" sign.

Soldier on, and may your day be wound-free.

Weed

Technically, that's a plant growing somewhere you don't want it to. Rather an egotistical definition but there you go.

Since these (extremely odd) rains have blown through weed control has become our paramount activity. My least favorite work and one which I must pursue diligently for the next several days. Fortunately I have more machinery these days to help facilitate the procedure.

The higher humidity is accelerating our corn too so we are suddenly faced with harvest starting around the 25th. Luckily we've still got last years signage and of course the metal building which I still think of as new even though it's 3 years old. So we can just open with very little prep work.

Oh yeah, and I pulled off the first big tomato yesterday. So we should have corn, tomatoes, black berries, cabbage, beets, onions and potatoes for our opening. Not a bad line up for an early starting season (we usually open August 1.)

May all your weeds be easy to pull.

Are you part of the Long Tail?

Arnold Kling had a great article a couple years back, about the gradual atrophy of the right-left dichotomy which has dominated our American political system for so long. He was spot on and many of the trends he mentions are becoming quite visible. The 2008 election may well spin in unexpected directions do to this phenomena.

Lovely night of rain

Of course I wish it will last a while into the day, so I can have an excuse for taking the day "off" (I'll still end up working but at least not so hard outside)

It was so wonderful to wake up at 3am to the sound of rain and the site of puddles lacing the driveway. The yard lights from a number of neighbors illuminated just the puddles and silhouetted the fruit trees making for quite a picturesque scene.

This morning the dust is all gone and the air smells heavenly.

Well, gotta get some breakfast and do some work. Y'all have a magnificent day.

Pretty Ok Sunday

Spent the morning working at farm#2, spraying weeds again mostly. Moving a little pipe and some other chores, getting just about ready for some corn harvest action, ate our first couple of ears of sweet corn today. I had forgotten how freakin' good that can be. Still a little young but I can tell I'm gonna have some happy customers when it is ready.

Wasted the afternoon in a delightful splendor of laziness, just catching up on some math reading I've been meaning to do. Really starting to enjoy my WebBlazer program which lets me chew through wikipedia entries quite quickly. Have started learning what I need to do to make it into a Firefox extension. Already have it coded to work as an Internet Explorer browser helper but want to get it working with at least one other browser and that'd have to be Firefox which I think works pretty great.

Well, gotta get to bed early for tomorrow mornings awakening struggle. I wish I could wake up early and energized like I used to do.

Y'all have a great night and lovely morning.

But no subsidies for the Savage Farmer

Here is a great article about how the US government is throwing away millions of dollars subsidizing suburban lawns and farms owned by millionaires. The department of agriculture provides me with loads of informational resources and things like soil testing (for a fee) all of which I am grateful for. But our government unfairly provides subsidies to large farms while leaving people like me out in the cold. Nothing is offered or available. I just have to struggle on my own against the lower prices artificially created when a thousand-acre broccoli farmer in California (for instance) gets a big fat check.

Sunburned knees

Had a good start to the day spraying weeds around the watermelon patch. Everything is still pretty soaked from the big downpour Wednesday but we've been doing a little advance watering just in case it turns real hot again.

Spent the whole afternoon mowing the walk-ways in the first cornfield with the riding mower. My sunblock ran out about 2:30 and I was there until after 5. So now I'm nursing the subject in question. Ouch, thank goodness for Solarcaine.

Very tired. Long, hot, dirty day of work with little or no time to pursue my sidelines, leaves me spent and weary. The sunset was beautiful, high whispy clouds drenched in the colors of full summer.

Wishing you all peace, strength and mischief.

Storm/corn update

Hooray! The corn has suffered only a tiny amount of damage, less than 10% I'd guess. So we are feeling rather a bit UP about that. We've still lost some grapes and tomatoes but we can recover from that.

Loads of summer squash starting to come in and the beets have reached a delightful size. Think I know what I'll be having with dinner.

Gotta go wash off herbicide. Hope y'all have a super-duper day.

Whicked Freakin' Storm

I was typing in the first few words of a post yesterday when suddenly the lights went out. I had just warned mom and dad that a large thunderstorm was visible in the nexrad image, heading our way fast.

5 minutes later all hell broke loose. Huge drops of rain started splattering down. Withing seconds the ground was evenly wet and it really started to pelt. Dad dashed down to the greenhouse and pulled the sprinkler we had left in there so it wouldn't punch a whole in the deflating greenhouse. Air supported means no support without electricity. He got out as the wind started to heave and whip the greenhouse. He only made it into the north barn before lightning started to split and roar overhead.

Whirlpools of rain and huge walls of slate gray fury spun and crashed across the landscape. Drunken storm giants on a rampage!

Almost an inch of rain fell here in about 20 minutes.

The giants thundered off towards the northwest, no doubt taking time to linger on the edge of Grants Pass for one last drink.

This morning, the aftermath. Several of the neighboring tree tops have been smashed to the ground, thankfully none on our property. But dad and I will have to shift redwood branches just to get out the driveway.

Our grape plants have several huge "footprints" across them. I'm anticipating that we will have lost about a third of our corn.

Uhg, gotta go. Y'all have a wonderful day.

Blazing sun Baffled by Birthday hat

Looks sort of like a newspaper heading, doesn't it?

Water suddenly came swooshing back into our ditch. It had vanished sometime late last night. So I dropped my plan to rest in the afternoon and dashed out to move sprinklers. It was HOT! but the hat Bro gave me for my birthday and the sprinkler plume kept me reasonably alive.

Don't think I'll have any trouble getting a nap now, a little dizzy from the heat but plenty of fluids and an air conditioner will see me right as rain.

Take care.

Sunday in the Crunch

We've reached that stage in every year during which all the work piles up together. Planting, fertilizing, soil prep, weed control, watering are all due and harvest is imminent. Of course once harvest starts several of that list will be over with: soil prep and planting.

And it is also getting quite hot these days which means a split shift, morning and evening with a rest episode during the hottest part of the day. With so much on my mind it has been hard to sleep but that's ok, I use the time to read and work on programs if I can't sleep.

Gotta go get some lunch, y'all have a great day.

Hot Friday

Man! the sun was just Blazing out there. But at least there was a pretty nice breeze and the humidity wasn't too high. Dad jumped into the pond shortly after we got back from planting beans, pumpkins, winter squash and the yearly flower patch. Only one planting of corn, cukes, squash and watermelon left. After next week, glorious! done with at least one job.

I would've gone swimming too but I had some reading to do plus I'm still working on some gnarly programming design problems. Pulled out my old WebBlazer project and started dusting it off. I think people might like it, it's sort of like reading on speed. It allows one to stream the content of web pages through a single focused window in a different fashion than usual, much faster albeit a considerably different experience. I find that my reading and retention rate go up about 50% when I use it. It is really awesome when used with wikipedia which didn't exist when last I was working on it. Hopefully I'll have a version back up for people to try by fall.

Well, gotta go soon to brave the heat and rising humidity of evening. Hope you all have a delightful night.

Independence

Happy Birthday America !!

Yesterday dad and I were setting up the big gun sprinklers at farm#2 when Gary the neighbor stopped to chat with me. He said "What are you guys doing working on the 4th, don't you know it's Independence Day?"

"I don't know" I replied "I feel pretty independent. No body is telling me to be out here working and if they did I'd probably punch 'em in the nose."

Yesterday afternoon we went to my niece Charlie's annual fourth of July barbecue/luau.

What Fun! Great food, great company and all the independence you can stand. My great niece Kaycee was a riot. She kept the great grandparents fully entertained the entire evening and brought everyone else sodas between her escapades. Lainey Joe (great niece#2) is still quite small but showing her first signs of play and wonderment. At least wonderment to me. It is a delight to see her with her grandparents (although thinking of my sister as a grandma makes me suddenly a little more weary...) who clearly love her and her sister so much.

Afterwards we went to the Glendale fireworks show at the high school. Simply super. I love just about any form of pyrotechnics and between all the youngsters setting them off around the track, a few illicit ones brought from mexico no doubt and the huge display that the mill and local firemen put on it was a visual smorgasborg. Kaycee was an absolute riot, she loves fireworks too and did the classic kid thing: running in circles and spinning until you fall down.

Wishing us all another fine year of independence and fireworks.

Hot Day, cool spray

Spent the noon and afternoon hours working beneath the full on blazing sun. Removing weeds from corn fields is hot, difficult work. The only thing keeping me from getting sicky was the delightful, rainbow filled plumes of irrigation drift which blew my way from the big sprinkler. Probably catch something unpleasant from the river water anyways but at least I didn't cook in the infernal solar gaze. Even with SPF50 on my arms still got a little red.

Only 2 more rows of tomatoes to stake and one last planting of corn. Flowers, pumpkins, winter squash and a few other miscellany and about next week planting season will be over.

Of course, the 65 day corn has fully silked ears already which have even begun to lean away from the stock, a sure sign they are going to sprint to ripeness. Either that or they are going to be really huge ears which is unlikely with an early corn but would give me a couple extra days until the pressure of harvest kicks in. Wishful thinking sometimes give us the courage to dog it out...

Hope you all have a courageous day.

Some politics

This was sort of a mind-blower. After El Presidente Bush pardoned Scooter Libby today I found a link to Clinton's pardons, just to compare. Whoa! He sure pardoned a lot of pot-heads and rum runners. Ol' Slick Willy, those were the days. When no one inhaled and the muslims still loved us.

Let's see if this works

Been working on my "Shores of other worlds" software in my rare and precious few minutes of spare time (usually eating into my sleep time unfortunately...)

Along the way I needed to test some sine wave subroutines and I wrote another simpler program which with a little modification and some extra controls made an interesting little package. Reminds me of some of the whacky sound makers I designed on the ol' TRS-80 model 3.

Anyhow, if you'd like to play with it, you can download a copy here: http://www.4shared.com/dir/3131504/1813f8fc/sharing.html or HERE I put it in both .exe and .zip formats so as to make it as easy as possible for someone to download. If you don't have the right files to run this, leave a message and I'll hook you up with fresh copies. Most people with win98 and darn near anyone with winXP should be able to run this. I think young kids will find it especially amusing.

Wonderful world of welding

Spent most of the morning moving water and all the rest of the day welding cross braces onto tomato stakes. Should have all 700+ tomatoes staked by Monday or so. Will try to get a pic of the finished field up around then.

Welding is fun and interesting. I am fascinated by the patterns that form in the arc plasma and in the liquid puddle of metal beneath the welding arc. The sound and physical sensations give me the impression of struggle with an angry beast to produce a desired result. The wind would come up behind my back as I was running a bead. As I braced my body against it and covered the shield gas from being blown away with my wind-shadow I got a gripping feeling of fighting some tremendous force, willing it into an intended motion and manifesting something ... specific.

I'm not terribly fascinated by the sensation of a hot blob of slag finding its way through the top of my shoe and between my toes. Yee-ouch!!

Well, gotta go out and drive those stake in now, y'all have a great day.

Happy Birthday, brother

I don't know if my brother will see this or not, but it's about as likely as him checking his email today, so I'm wishing him happy birthday here too. I'll by him three bucks worth of something he likes instead of a card next time I see him.

Dad and I spent this afternoon repairing a busted irrigation riser instead of finding Bro' a nice gift. Spent most of the last of my pocket cash on that too.

But a delightful little shower just arrived a few minutes ago to lift my spirits. I know just like dad says, it'll bring up more weeds and make other troubles. But I can't help it, I love rain.

Wishing you all a fine "Brother's Birthday"

Good Wednesday

Got a pretty good start today. Got the corn planted at farm#3, Shawn Smith's place. Threw a handful of mixed sunflower seeds into the seeder which will surprise everyone later, spotting the field with bright golden, yellow and red color.

Then ran into town to pick up a few treats for mom's birthday. Got her a nice little wind chime, unfortunately couldn't find one made in America. She said she didn't want a cake so dad came up with an idea from her childhood: we got donuts and ice cream instead. She was delighted.

Spent the rest of the afternoon welding up new support stakes for the tomato rows. The old wooden stakes we've been using for years have broken down too far. These new units will do a much better job and make it so much easier to tie the wires up. Our method of "controlled sprawl" really works good. Convenient for picking, good support and easy on the plants. Also lends itself to the use of many tools which reduces the need for labor.

Got back to the old farm a little before 5 and took mom and dad out for dinner at Karen's Kitchen, 9001 Rogue River Hwy. Great burgers there, especially crunchy fries which I love.

Tired now, going to bed early tonight so I can beat the birds out in the morning.

Have a super day.

Near the peak

Almost to reach the tipping point in our work load. Only three more corn plantings left and about a month out from first corn harvest. Will be switching to the big guns for watering in the corn fields which halves the number of times we move pipe.

Would've had corn planted today, right after fertilizing the second and third plantings but our truck got a flat so we had to change plans to accommodate that. Will plant the third from the last field of corn tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow is mom's birthday so dad and I are going to leave for work early and when we've done with moving pipe etc. bring home a cake and some of the lovely gladiolas which are just now starting to flower at farm#2. I'm thinking of getting her a new wind chime as several of her old ones have broken down a bit. We all love wind chimes here.

Bro just stopped by and we've been shooting the breeze. So nice to get to visit but it doesn't happen terribly often anymore. He dropped off a neat copper and glass hummingbird feeder for mom's birthday gift and gave me a really nice, big straw hat for mine. Take that! ozone hole. His birthday is the day after tomorrow. Three cancers in the same family, what're the odds? 1:1.

Sending you a day of subtle passions and intense mellowness.

Robotic Workers Unite !!

I've been saying it for years: automation is the way to grow in agriculture.
Now Vision Robotics in California is picking up the refrain.
They are preparing robotic systems in order to replace human migrant workers.
Finally!
More details here: Wired Magazine
and here: Vision Robotics

Fortunately my own farming systems won't compete in the same work space.

Cool Sunday

What a delight the weather has been today. Hovering around 75 at the hottest with an occasional brisk breeze to keep the sun scald away.

Just (finally!) got the white corn planted. Will put in 2 more plantings before the planting season runs out. That's the story with everything now, like the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, the first week of July looms in the distance. Still time to do some cukes, maybe a few more cantaloupes, pumpkins for sure and some winter squash if time allows.

Then it'll be hoe-hoe-hoe until the first week of August and opening. Man! Am I ever looking forward to that first meal of fresh sweet corn.

Hope your day has been pleasant.

Everyday Glory

The setting sun cast a lambent and buttery light across the wooded hills above our farm. It had been a tough day and my body was tired but as I moved the small sprinkler in the interlaken grape row my mind was invigorated by a rush of all the complex and vivid little things which appeared before my wandering eyes.

Grape vines twisting their tendrils in grasping reach of air. Red blackberry thorns like the blood they so often draw. Flickering grey and green cottonwood leaves. Shrubby. verdant. dark and pungent evergreens and junipers. Swifts in flight and jays in silent contemplation. Broken bits of three year old plastic irrigation pipe I still haven't gotten around to disposing of.

Made some good progress working on my sound sculpture today. Almost have the various surf down perfect, really sounds quite a bit like standing on an ocean beach. Working today on some chirps and cheaps and a few buzzes to make up the "small animals" section. Still have to elaborate some control mechanisms although I may just make a demo version that plays in its own esoteric walk.

Joy to you all.

Disconsolate Birthday

Had to look that word up to make sure I was using it right: Disconsolate

Work's been a frustrating struggle all morning. Probably not going to get my birthday wish and to thoroughly spoil today's mood my cousin Galen called with news from Kansas that his mom, my mom's sister, Aunt Pauline, passed away this morning. I can do nothing but remember my aunt and pray for her family's comfort.

41 years I've been on this planet and this mess we call life is more confusing than it was when I was 5. If there's a message in this series of events the author is being quite inscrutable.

I wonder where my lady is today. Alone in her universe as I am in mine, is she beset by similar quandaries? Or does the mirror image of our lives move her gracefully towards a fine day of unruffled pursuits? I hope it is the latter.

Wishing you all comfort and success in this momentary struggle.

The toes of summer

I was so busy that the solstice just slipped by quietly. I usually spend more than a moments effort reflecting on that agriculturally significant date.

It is a cool and lovely morning here in the pacific northwest. One of the wild turkeys was out grazing beneath the bird feeders. Lots of water in the ditch and with the cool weather it might even stay there until tomorrow morning.

Reflection deflection

A strange and striking fact was just mentioned to me by my mother.

I will be turning 41 the day after tomorrow.

That is just so hard to believe. Except for the rapid rise in daily aches and pains I still feel like I'm in my twenties.

But it aint true.

Today water is in the ditch, although not as much as should be. A quick drive up Rogue River Hwy. showed a bunch of the upstream A-holes still running sprinklers and soaker hoses all over the place. Mostly they'll shut them off right around 9 or 10, before the ditch-walker can come along and give them grief. A few will continue to steal water, as if they own the world.

Off to work, jiggity-jag. You have a great day.

Recovery

Got a minor case of heat stroke yesterday while putting down fertilizer and planting corn. The blazing sun reached out to touch me. But after an early bedtime and a night dreaming of water falls I am feeling much better.

The momma turkey was out with her half grown chicks today. They were mournfully inspecting the mostly dry irrigation ditch. There were still a few puddles so I'm not worried about them yet. Tomorrow is the first day of our watering cycle so all should be well.

Working on getting tomatoes staked this week. They're almost too big already. Some of the fruit is the size of golf balls. Most people don't know that the tomato is actually a berry.

Gotta go plant the next cycle of summer squash.

Happiness.

Proud Granpa

Got these pics from my sister yesterday. May not be important enough to write about for John C. Dvorak but me and my family wanna crow like the morning rooster. You can spot Randi near the middle of the bottom pic walking to get her diploma. You can also see some of Ashland's lovely terrain.

Cherry pickin' Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all you fathers out there.

Dad and I started the picking cherries before the birds came along and wiped them out. We got about a 5 gallon bucket 3/4 full of them. Bro stopped by and gave dad an air mattress for floating on the pond. I, being a poor man myself, got him 40 ounces of Budweiser delight. He was kind and shared a glass with me over dinner.

I never had the good fortune to become a father but since the choice was largely out of my hands I feel little in the way of regrets. I recognize the missed opportunity mostly in the abstract. My many friends who are fathers report mixed feelings on the matter but mostly universally say that it is a remarkable experience.

Tomorrow we start back at work in Bro's welding shop to get the second fertilizer spreader finished. Seems a bit odd to be making a piece of complex equipment for farming if this is going to be our last year of big scale farming but the welding experience is worth something if nothing else. Plus it will be a really nice piece of machinery to own.

Wishing you all a strong, supportive and nurturing night.

Lovely day for a graduation

It was cloudy when we arrived in the steep city of Ashland which kept the bright morning sun cool and moderate. Band members and gown clad seniors where milling towards the stadium where it was all happening.

Mom, dad and I took a school bus/shuttle from the parking area on Mountain Ave. and arrived at the stadium in a timely fashion. A quick ring-a-ding on the cellphone and we'd found Sis high in the stands.

What a view! Ashland and the Mountain Arena in particular have a stunning view. Rolling hills of brown grass studded with bright green juniper and pine, high distant mountains, thickly wooded nearby mountains and a stark cliff rock outcropping across the valley. Too complex to describe elegantly but elegant in its own right. Like a total idiot I had forgotten my camera.

SOU has a lot of students. After Cassie's high school graduation my mind was incorrectly tuned to the scale of things. But the commencement went smoothly with several memorable speakers. An odd note, at both Randie and Cassie's ceremonies one of the speakers emphasized the importance of taking risks. Of pursuing our goals despite our fears and uncertainties. I never ignore when the universe feels it needs to repeat itself.

Wishing you all a risky, adventurous day.

Busy, busy, busy

Tired, tired, tired

Going to my niece Randi's college graduation tomorrow morning. Hoorah! She's got here bachelor's in science for physical therapy (I think! what a terrible uncle I am)

Very hot busy day, going to bed soon.

Peace and joy to all.

Ahhhh... water

The ditch is the most full it's been all year. Don't know what the irrigation district did, but it's about time.

That A-hole at 6751 is still running his sprinklers but so long as we get plenty of water I'll be able to resist the temptation to chuck a burning bottle of gasoline against his front porch.

Numerous sprinklers and drip systems are running and I swear I can feel the plants becoming happier.

Mom's new kittens are being quite rambunctious.

Wishing you all a very fine, wet day.

Muddy water morning

It's a little after 6 and mom is still sleeping. I'd like to think it was the prayers, but I have a suspicion she took a whole one of her sleeping pills. Either way, good for her.

Mom and dad went to Glendale Sunday and picked up a couple of kittens from my niece, they're rough housing it up in mom's sowing room. That'll give her something to do when she wakes up.

The water is finally starting to trickle back into the ditch. Dad zipped up the road and saw that there were still about 8 houses watering their gravel and weeds. Unfortunately I can't just take my shot-gun and go knocking on their doors to talk to them about it. Hopefully GPID will send someone down to have a word with them. Some of them will shut down before they go to work this morning but no matter how you slice it they are stealing from us.

Well, gotta go get to work. Y'all have a fine morning.

not such a good day

Worst news first to make the rest seem less important. Mom got a call from her older sister in Kansas today. Their oldest sister, Pauline, has apparently suffered a brain embolism or stroke and is unresponsive. Tough time for mom tonight; everybody pray that she gets some good sleep despite this, ok?

Lesser worst news, the ditch is still dry after four days of the pigs upstream gulping it all down for their lawns and driveways (you read it right) and on top of that news has come out in the paper that we will be assessed additional billing by the Grants Pass Irrigation District to make up for a short fall due to bad bookkeeping. The amount goes up per acreage, looks like we'll be nailed to the tune of about 350$. Still a month and a half out from cash flow and the universe is tightening the screws.

Sorry to my usual readership for the angst; You folks all have a lovely and serene evening/night/morning or whatever.

Silicon Score

Water running on the corn field smells sweet like malt or molasses. Overhead an osprey wheels and kites, her piercing cry drifts down on a mist laden breeze.

I find it a fascinating coincident that long before the digital age mankind was exploiting silicon for its many useful properties. Today's wonderful find in the realms of magic and manifestations was a delightful little reflection on mankind's dexterity with silicon.




I find about one of these every year or so, getting a nice little collection put together. Not of any archaeological value since they come from tilled fields, but quite a thrill for me every time none-the-less. In the same manner I've put together a good pile of jasper, agate, chalcedony, carnelian, fossilized and agatised fossilized wood plus many other unique example of quarts and silicon.

Beneath the blazing sun and bright blue sky, the earth refulgent gives me tiny gifts for my perseverance.

Have a fine and shiny day.

Class of 2007

We were proud and delighted to attend my niece Cassaundra's graduation last night. The ceremony was (no doubt blessedly to the seniors) short due to some steady showers of rain. Afterwards we went to her mom's parents house for cake and visiting. Cass was radiantly happy at her final escape. "I can't hardly believe I've finally graduated!" she said at one point in the evening. I certainly remember that sensation. She's one tough little gal; rock on Cassie!

Here's the best two pics (all the rest turned out a bit blurry no doubt due to the rain) Cass is the one sitting down ;- |

Late Spring rains

It's raining, it's pouring.
The old man is out dragging a box-scraper across the corn field.

Well, actually I'm pretty sure he's sitting in the car staying dry and warm between showers.

I was out gathering stakes and cross-pieces for putting up the tomato wires when this thorough and heavy down-pour chased me in.

Wow! It is really a soaker.

Lovely gray and blue and white drifting wings of clouds and blowing squalls. You can see the storm giants treading along the bottom of my watermelon field, looking for things to hit and blow away. They're actually invisible but you can see the rain being pushed before them as they stride across the hills and fields.

Goin' out to clean-up in barn shortly, if I can.

Have fun, the rain will.

Shifting gears

Moved our corn planting up a day in order to accommodate last weeks smaller planting and also in preparation for the upcoming Labor Day field plantings. We try to position one of the succession plantings on either side of Labor Day so we have two fields to pick from if we need to. Big business on Labor Day weekend.

Dad spent a good chunk of the day cultivating the first planting of corn, sort of against my wishes. I would've preferred to give the mini-sprayer we built another chance to do the job, which so far was looking like it worked fine. But the evidence of his senses wasn't enough for dad and so he went puttering into the field with the tractor and sweeps. Cultivated corn tends to lodge and have poor root systems but I couldn't dissuade him from his paranoia towards imminent weed problems so we'll see how that turns out.

Farming isn't always smooth soil surfing, sometimes it can get a little rocky.

A wonderful dust-settler blew in this afternoon. Shot down some of my plans but gave me a nice pause to work on one of my small software project, a sound sculpture I am tentatively calling "Shores of Another Planet" it's a live render of sounds, not just a static loop like an mp3. Pretty tricky, challenging and fun. When I get it working right I'll post a link to a demo for y'all.

Hope everyone has a fun, safe night and day.

Grapes in flower

The grapes fill the air with a sweet, musky perfume that brings me a sense of peace and contentment.

Saturday mornings we spray pre-emergent weeds on last Tuesday's planting of corn. The very first planting of 65 day sugar-enhanced corn has gotten taller than my ankle so we should be good for a mid-July harvest in that field.

I did some soil surfing on the terracer this afternoon while dad was working the settling pond. Not as fun as the full out cultivator run but still cool.

Mom wasn't feeling so hot today so dad and I vetoed Saturday night pizza and went with microwave tv dinners instead. Not the same as the old aluminum tray dinners of the mid-70s by a long shot but still some pretty good chow. I love the 21st century.

Have a great evening.

Difficult Thursday

Started early and rocky after only 5.5 hours of sleep. Then pushed about 65 pounds of sprayer up and down about 4.5 miles of corn row until after 12:30. Weeds should die wonderfully.

After lunch retrieved the big sprayer for some cosmetic repair work and refitting. Should work a lot better now. Needed it at the old farm for weed control around the roads and etc.

Took a two hours break during the hottest part of the day, between 3 and 5. Got to about 94 degrees here today. Scorching, the blazing sun has arrived. A few weeks early at that but the tomatoes seem to be loving it. Supposed to cool down mondayish which will be a good time to get the last of our pepper and cabbage plants in. Tomorrow if all goes well beans and squash will get planted.

This evening I mowed a huge patch of weeds and cover from the northern most, lowest patch of terrain here at the old farm. Chased a couple of yearling deer out of there while I was at it. Lots of people think deer are special animals, but to me they are just a gianormous long-legged rat, desperately in need of eradication. There was alot of traffic on the driveway after I got them out of that region so there's some hope that with the cover gone and them chased several fields over from where they had been that maybe at least for tonight they might stop crashing through my fence. We've got a plan to augment the fence with several hundred feet of polyester fiber mesh called "Deer-X" which should keep them once again constrained.

Very tired. Wish you all the best, peace, happiness and pleasant dreams. Good night.

Water Wednesday

Set sprinklers at farm#4 this morning. That's next door to farm#3 which is across the fence from farm#2 which sort of makes it all the same place but let's try to keep things straight here.

Then mom and dad ran errands in town while I moved sprinklers at the old farm(#1) I also replaced the filter on the tomato drip system and ran a few more of my minor experiments. Ran some silicon solar cells through my ball-mill thus reducing them to a fine flake. Will be tinkering with that as part of a coating for some intricate ceramics I will be working on this winter, I hope.

After lunch dad and I put the finishing touches on the sprayer which I have dubbed "Scorpion" due to its appearance during an early stage of its development. Sort of looks like a land-speed record baby carriage now, but who cares as long as it kills weeds.

Lots of damned mexican bean beetles (also called the cucumber beetle) flying around the melon patch this evening. Will have to do something about that as soon as the ground dries out enough to drive on.

Going to bed soon, early to rise and all that. Hope you all have a refreshing and restful night.

Corn Seed Tuesday

Spent the morning planting corn at farm#2, also put some driptape on the gladiolas there too.

Came home around noon to help my delightful niece, Randi, with her homework for a web-design class she's taking at SOSU. Javascript was giving her a little trouble and did me too for about 5 minutes. It's been about 3 years since I did any sort of serious javascript design and I had to discuss the methods and techniques with her until my brain got on the right track. Then I could show her what need to be done for her current, almost the last, assignment. The funny part was that when I fixed the code she was working on, it still didn't work. I was baffled until I took a moment to stare at the code she had written. There was an "l" where and "I" was supposed to be. Man! those three pixels difference can kill ya!

This afternoon dad and I nearly finished our new "scorpion" sprayer for killing weeds between the rows of corn. This will reduce our need for pesticides and improve the quality of the corn.

Dinner time! Have a great evening.

Boatnik weekend

For those who haven't had the pleasure, it is Boatnik weekend in the illustrious city of Grants Pass. This is a recreational event which culminates in a jetboat race on the wild Rogue River. I am, as every spring demands, too busy to attend.

Today we were spraying pre-emergent weeds in the most recent corn field when a PVC elbow on the roller pump suddenly blew apart. What a mess! So just about an entire day got used up in repair work instead of the things we had planned. Pretty typical struggle for our farming operation.

Got to see Bro today, he's just back from a 21 day stint of welding at some place called "Wheelerbrator", I think. He has to work again tomorrow and then the company is giving everyone Memorial Day off because they don't want to pay holiday pay. They've already screwed up the entire crews weekend and now they want to be chincy? What a bunch of jerks.

Speaking of jerks, saw some ass in a two-tone blue van with a big American flag wheel cover on Rogue River swerving and weaving, driving 35 miles per hour; obviously drunk as a skunk. Didn't get close enough to get his license and even if I did with no Federal O&C funds there aren't any cops to call anyways. Hope he doesn't kill anyone but his self.

Gotta go water some plants. Y'all have a fine Memorial Day weekend...

Water in the ditch !!

There's water in the ditch,
there's water in the ditch
a-high-ho-the-dairy-oh!
there's water in the ditch!

Death of a link

For a bit over a year now I have been enjoying the rants and meandering thoughts of a delightful gentleman from egypt. At the right, further down this page you'll see his link "Rantings of a Sandmonkey" I am saddened to announce that "Sam" as many of his readers call him will no longer be blogging with us. He has been so threatened and harassed by agents of conformity within Aegypt that he had to quit for fear of his and his family's safety.

I used to think Egypt was just a lot of sand and bloody, murderous barbaric muslims. Then Sam enchanted me with stories of his friends, family and current affairs of Egypt. I was particularly amused by the story of his father telling him to smoke some hash before he went to a wedding he was dreading. His mother said "You better not!!" I just had to laugh. It was so, human.

But now, I'm forced to return to my original view of Egypt: Bloody, barbaric muslims.

No greater disservice could have been done to the spirit of Egypt than depriving the world of the voice and views of this one smart, kind, caring and wholesome individual. Good luck, Sandmonkey.

Corn Tuesday

For another couple of weeks our Tuesdays will continue to be dominated by corn planting and then in early-mid June we will split our plantings into 2 smaller fields twice a week. This allows better accommodation to the warm days of August and to the added demand showing up around Labor Day.

Earlier today we also planted 2 more rows of tomatoes, bring the total in rows up to about 650 or so. Here's the pics of the rows I promised earlier (will show with tomatoes when they're all in...) :

Sunday sprinkles

A lovely little shower is settling the dust outside, giving the air that sweet-spicy perfume.

Dad and I will be planting tomatoes as soon as this shower passes. Still no water in the ditch but we'll risk the extra labor of having to hand water for a while to get the plants in before they get too lanky. This morning we were up shoveling on the settling pond we are putting in for the drip system and it was so quiet I could hardly believe it. Just a few crickets and once in a rare while a car on the freeway.

This afternoon we'll be heading up to Glendale to my sister's for a little celebration of mom and dad's 50th anniversary. Their anniversary is actually Wednesday but this is the only window of opportunity we could all get together and my brother will still have to miss it because he's out of town on a welding job. Cole's is a great place for him to work and I'm sure they'd have given him the time off but he just couldn't afford to miss the hours.

Hope you all have a lovely, peaceful day.

Corn status: Good

The corn shoots are popping up all over the place and not a single sign of burning so far. So groovy.

Dad and I finished pulling the agmulch and driptape for our tomatoes this morning. 10 rows about 240 feet long should accommodate about a thousand tomato plants or more. Will seriously try to get a pic to show you by tomorrow morning.

Other good news: The water is running at Charley's place (farm#2) so today we had sprinklers going. What a delight that is, seeing rainbows and water in the air. We are supposed to have water in the irrigation ditch already but so far the Grants Pass Irrigation District is doing its usual poor job and slacking on us. Those idiots think everyone in the district just raises hay and apples and that nobody needs the water yet except for their lawns which can wait. I wish I could apply the sort of angst I am experiencing to the people who are the cause of our water woes. The Oregon Water Resources Commission, Department of Fish and Wildlife, Patagonia, Sierra Club and assorted land developers would all be writhing in agony while I clapped and laughed like a young boy seeing his first clown.

Ooops waxed a bit vicious there. Sorry about that to my gentle readership. I'm sure you can relate though.

Have a fun day of red and white checkered table cloth, barbecue and watermelon.

Corn and partially tomatoes

Did a bunch of grunt and shovel work early this morning then ran into Grange Co-op to get fertilizer. Got there a little too early so we (dad and I) went exploring up Dowell Road. Lovely little area back there.

Got back and moved the tractor over to farm#2 where we planted corn seed. This time with the few modifications we had made the seeder and fertilizer drops worked super. 16 rows of corn planted and the first field showed its first sprouts today. So far everything looks healthy, keeping fingers crossed for when the corn gets into the subsoiled fertilizer. If no burning is apparent all will be ultra-super.

This evening we have been re-ripping the tomato rows. Were going to put down plastic but the soil was still too hard. The duckfoot rippers are doing a wonderful job of pulverizing and loosening the ground. Probably wont get anymore tractor work done tonight, too tired and supper is weighing me down.

A lovely little bird a little smaller than a bluejay has been serenading the neighborhood for several days now. A cheerful warbling call that is melodious and fluid. I've spotted it a few times and I'm almost certain it is an evening grosbeak.

Whew! it was hot today. Going from lower 70s to 86 in a few short days makes the body a little susceptible especially beneath the stern and staring sun. Not yet a blazing sun but giving us a little taste of the whip to forewarn.

Early tomorrow morning I will be spraying fruit trees. Think fond thoughts for me while I suffer the discomforts of protective gear.

Wishing you all cool water and deep shade.

Happy Mother's Day

The most ubiquitous title in the blogosphere today.

Started the day out spraying for pre-emergent weeds in our first corn field. Got a pretty good start on the day even though we usually resist work on Sundays. Just couldn't take the risk of not getting that job done. While we were at it one of the local osprey put on a short acrobatics show for us, hunting mice or small birds in our field no doubt.

Wrapped everything up at farm#2 by about 10:30 and hoofed it for home to take mom out for dinner. Did some shopping first, getting the last of our equipment (I hope) for the season. Then we went over to the Tin-Tin buffet in Medford. Our first visit and despite the one bad review I had from a customer at the fruit stand they had some really good food. All of it was freshly produced and kept quite hot. They could've had more spices for my taste but mom and dad loved it and I was not disappointed by any of the numerous dishes I tried, sesame chicken, General Tso's chicken, coconut shrimp, egg rolls, chicken and broccoli, barbecue boneless spareribs, vegetable lomein, the list goes on and on. I only managed to try a small percentage of all their dishes.

I've taken the rest of Sunday off to recover and meditate a bit. Had a sort of falling out with an old friend over some of George Carlin's acerbic wit. A matter of illegal immigrants and gasoline prices. There was a time when this sort of thing would've shook me up, but I just am too old and don't have the energy to get offended or excited anymore. I figure 30 years is an unusually long time for a friendship and we had a really fun run of it, no reason to expect something like that to go on forever.

Wishing you all, and your mothers, a fine and mellow evening.

Cantaloupe Friday, cucumber Saturday

Yesterday we planted hills of cantaloupe pretty much all day. Dad and I were thoroughly tired by the end of the day and we still had to go out and take some measurement with the laser after supper. Doing a land moving project at the old farm and have to get those elevations just right. Man! were there ever the mosquitoes last night and that skintastic OFF product with picaridin didn't hardly protect at all. I hate DEET, it irritates my bronchitis but at least it keeps the damned little buggers away.

Today we'll finish planting the cantaloupe and get started on cucumbers.

Yay! Saturday is pizza night.

Wishing you all wellness and happy surprises.

Watermelon Thursday

Woke up with a crook in my neck and a crimp in my shoulder and pectoral muscles. Probably from spraying yesterday, an unusual posture and lengthy exertion can lead to such affects. Naproxen didn't do the job so after a while I took an acetaminophen and that finally seemed to loosen up some tissue. Was really quite painful until then.

Today was another day of unnecessary struggle. But we finally got the first watermelon in the ground. Four 360 foot rows. Had to dig mounds and put water in them before planting because the field has gotten too dry. Of course we were supposed to have water in the ditch several days ago but thanks to the bunglers who run things we're probably still weeks away.

The day itself was quite lovely, the shadows cast in bright spring sunlight were sharp and clear. Dark green trees and lush grasses decorate the landscape. Soil is warm to the touch. But despite this natural grandeur I was reminded again today that our farming days are numbered in a somewhat more countable region. Dad will be turning 70 this summer and I'm no spring chicken anymore myself. Spring is a time for hope, optimism and enthusiasm but the bright sun hides few truths.

Wishing you all a spiritually uplifting day.

Blasted

Sorry I haven't posted lately, I know how lonely the blogosphere can become without me ;-)

My modem apparently died, unbeknownst to me. So I've had no internet service for about 4-5 days now. Since work has been raging like crazy I didn't have time to look into it. Today mom ran an errand for me and stopped at Charter and they came through with a new, smaller modem (for a price of course) a little tinkerin' on the phone with technical services and the thing is up and running fine.

On the subject of work: Corn is in the ground! 44 new rows of 4 kinds of corn are already swelling with incipient moisture. We put it in yesterday beneath the blazing sun. Wind blew grit, fertilizer and dust over me all day long as I followed the seeder checking for jams or skips in the assorted menagerie of devices on our seeder. Walked over a mile and a half trailing that balky apparatus. But we got a bunch of more bugs hammered out and with just a few more tweaks the rest of the corn season should be a blast to plant.

I dropped dad off this morning to do some more land work at farm#2. While I was there I quick stuck in assorted sunflower seeds at the end of each corn row. This seed is third generation restarts from a field of mixed types we planted about 4 years ago so there is great variety in the flowers that are produced.

Gotta get back to work soon. Hope you are all doing well and happy.

The last two leisurely days

Going over to bro's shop this morning to put the finishing touches on our pre-emerg sprayer. Slight overcast makes it seem another cool spring day with no pressure or deep concerns. But the waters can be deceiving....

Monday the whole mess will come unraveled as the temps approach the high 80s. All our major crops must go in this week!

On a somber note, my best wishes and prayers go out to the folk in Kansas who have suffered devastation this morning. I have relatives scattered all over the mid-West and my family has a long history in Kansas, especially the city of Montezuma, Garden city and Dodge city areas. Greensburg is just around the corner from them. So this disaster is making me very apprehensive.

Like my dad says, "Take care of your work and the rest of your life will take care of itself"

A lovely and beneficial day to everyone.

Dreadful anticipations

Oh no, the weather is getting good again. That means less blogging and more back aching work. Was too tired to type last night after working on a bunch of more welding. But here's at least one of the pictures I promised the other day. This is the 14 gallon spray rig I'll be using on the fruit trees shortly:

A day of vicissitudes

The assorted changes and alternate courses that one's experiences might suddenly take.

Started the morning with am entertaining breakfast with Del. Proceeded directly to a hair cut next door to the diner. Rain was profuse by the time I left there.

Got home in time to turn around and go back to get plants with mom. Brought home about 400+ assorted pepper and tomato plants.

Had lunch and went directly to Bro's welding shop to work on a trailer for one of the new spray rigs (pics tomorrow) we were using some scrap steal which had paint on it so by the time I was done welding, burning paint fumes had made me nauseas and given me a headache.

Got home and had dinner. Lovely, lovely, lovely post rainstorm landscapes greeted me on an evening walk after super. The verdant hills made vivid and glorious by a shining golden spring's sunset light. Got many pictures some of which I'll share tomorrow too. Saw a dang stellar blue jay steal some poor birds baby from the nest. It is difficult to dispassionately watch nature play out her some times cruel designs perhaps because I delude myself into often thinking I am not caught up in the same design, subject to the same vicious forces.

Despite that unsubtle truth, let me wish you a fine and fortuitous evening.

Tomato fertilizer Tuesday

Put down a new blend of fertilizer for our tomatos. We used to run out lime, triple 16 and calcium nitrate but this year we went with lime, 11-52-0, muriate of potassium and calcium nitrate. This allowed us to lower the amount of nitrogens relative to the amount of calcium and potash while still providing plenty of nitrogen and nitrates in particular which are a better source than ammonium. We ran a couple of control rows using the old formula to see if the incident of blossom end rot goes down with this new combo.

Dad picked up 720 tomato plants this morning from his friend David James at Greenleaf industries. Great place to pick up some garden plants if you happen to live in southern Oregon.

Now enjoying some chicken soup while the rains gently sweep the countryside clean of dust. I love the smell of a spring rain, don't you?

Delightful night-full.

Monday, monday

Spent the morning in Medford picking up fertilizers and other chemicals, drip tape, groceries etc.

Got home around noon, after lunch helped dad put down lime for the watermelon field. Watered the remaining lettuce plants and mowed until supper time. Lovely alternating balmy and cool evening breezes. Dad ran the cultivator and drag through the field we had just limed.

Grapes are just starting to bud up their flowers. Should be open in a couple weeks, probably not long after this next rainy spell clears out. Gonna have to spray the apples for scab and coddling moth around then too. Doesn't matter what any one says, when push comes to shove people will buy ten times as many sprayed apples as they will unsprayed. I dare any organics-only person to contradict me.

Will be putting in tomato rows tomorrow and that is an involved process! Hopefully I'll remember to bring my camera along so I can show y'all a pic of our equipment and methods.

Wishing you a playful spring night.

Bonfire of time

Today went by so fast and it seems like I got so little done. Some spraying, worked on the pump, tank and lines for the foliar feed applicator. Mowed and sprayed weeds in the vineyard. Feels like I was mostly busy but haven't got highly visible results to show for it. Lots of mental struggle today, looking for parts, arranging things etc. which is always difficult to measure while still being taxing.

Dad on the other hand made huge showing with the small ripper and the new chain-link drag I welded up a couple days ago. He also ran the field plane around what will be the tomato field so land work is totally falling into place.

We have a couple days of showers coming Tue.-Thur. which has caused us to postpone planting corn. Will spend a little of tomorrow and/or Monday calibrating the new fertilizer drops in the white corn field. We use a different seeder for that but the fertilizer can still go down first.

It's a pleasantly balmy spring evening. That special yellow color which I love so much has started to return to the sunlight which shines down our valley each evening now. Hard to be too down when such beauty abounds.

A happy night to you and yours.

Infuriation

After painstakingly constructing our expensive 7+ foot deer fence we expected and were having no predation on our broccoli, cauliflower and other greens. But last night the small doe and perhaps another deer managed to find an opening they could get through. In short order they devoured about 600$ worth of plants and the labor that it took to put them in and tend to them.

No doubt those environmentalists are chortling in glee at yet another example of nature exacting its tole on man. Stupid farmers trying to impose their will on mother nature, we don't need them we can just get our food from the all-organic grocery store.

It would be so easy to blame myself for this because I wasn't more careful in tending to the fence. It would be equally easy to sit up tonight and gut shoot every deer in the neighborhood; but of course I would never do such a barbaric thing. I will make another attempt to remedy the fence and hopefully will be able to at least keep the deer out of the grapes for the rest of the season. Unfortunately it is now too late to do anything about early greens and salads. Will re-till that field and plant it to artichokes or something else.

Take care and stay alert; there's a lot of things out there waiting to take a bite.

Done at last!

As Professor Hofstader's law says "It always takes longer than you think it will, even if you take into account Hofstader's law" If you ever get a chance to read Godel, Escher Bach: An eternal golden braid I challenge you to do so. It's a bit heavy but some brilliant thinking.

Tada! the glorious improved corn seeder with fertilizer applicators and additive drops:

Will beginning seeding tomorrow afternoon after getting fertilizer at the local Grange Co-op. Whoa! filled the truck with gas in Rogue River today, $3.21 a gallon. Gonna make the fertilizer drops extra valuable as they save one whole set of trips through the field.

Happiness to you.

Another day of welding

Almost, almost I say! done with the fertilizer attachment. Only two small parts to finish attaching in the morning and then, Fini!

Really kinda hoping it will rain a bunch tonight and so take the pressure off. Only 30% chance as of last night. No idea what the current status is. Probably going to sleep before I find out. Oh well, might just have to call on one of the fifty little gods. (Anyone theologically minded please don't take me so literally!)

Have a delightful day/evening/night/morning.

Scramble, scramble

Weather has turned good and we are in a tizzy trying to get the last bits of cutting and welding done for the corn seeder. Should be ready to field test tomorrow afternoon. Man! this agricultural design can be as mind bending as software engineering. So many different intentions working together towards a single purpose all having to mesh perfectly and move in the correct manner and synchronization.

Saw a big osprey or small eagle fly over today as I was exiting the greenhouse. My glasses were still foggy so I couldn't pin the variety down any closer. Looked really cool though.

The big deer fence is finally a success. Had one interloper that lost quite a bit of hair to the barb wire so we stretched one more length of smooth wire at the top to reach 7+ feet. No new incursions since. The cabbage will be safe.

Wishing you all a smooth, mellow night and a venturous day.

Mixed day

Sort of like a soft-serve ice cream cone with vanilla on top and chocolate on the bottom.

The day started with soil prep at farm#2. Once the equipment was hooked up to the tractor I left dad running the new harrow while I ran to town and bought parts for the fertilizer spreader. After all the errands were done I ran back to farm#1 and planted crookneck and zucchini. The rain really started to pick up just as I finished with that so I ran back over to farm#2 and got dad who fortunately had just finished. Now the corn ground is all ready for planting within the next week whenever the ground dries out enough.

After lunch we ran over to bro's welding shop and I laid down some heavy tracks. Also got a chance to play with a plasma cutter which he had picked up on sale. Very, very fun. Can't wait to cut out some truly groovy stuff.

Now having pizza for dinner before turning in.

Wishing you all a stream of productive, rewarding moments and refreshingly blissful interludes.

Seeder progress

Spent the whole day welding and boy are my arms tired. Looks like we'll have the new fertilizer drops built in time for our first planting of corn. What a labor saver that will be.

Good night everyone.

Day of discomforts

Ooohh!
Constantly changing air pressure makes me ache. Bruised my lower back when standing up too soon and accidentally hit a metal loop on the hoist. Minor head cold and/or allergy sniffling, sneezing, aching etc. Sinuses changing size with the different waves of air pressure blowing through with the storm pushing against my wisdom teeth, unnngghhh. Working on cold concrete while wind and rain lash the tin roof of the welding shop. Small, burning sparks of metal embedding themselves in my clothes and skin. Nothing good on the radio.

But the storm was lovely. Dark grays and blue, sublime white and misty shear.

Tired and sore, I wish the world a lovely night and virtuous day.

Planting onions in the rain

Got just shy of a thousand feet of onion planted yesterday afternoon. Showers blew in as we were finishing the last two rows of reds. Nothing makes me feel quite so alive as working in the rain.

Going back to bro's welding shop this morning to work on the fertilizer drops for the corn seeder. Couple of hours there then we'll come back for planting broccoli, cauliflower and some other plants which should be safe now that the deer fence is complete.

Wishing everyone a safe, peaceful day.

Rainy Saturday

Delightful spring rains! supposed to persist until about afternoon, gotta love it.

A hummingbird was sitting on the floor next to a shelf in my bedroom yesterday afternoon. I hurriedly gathered it up and carried it outside before the cat could get it. I think it came in through an open window. Black cat, sleeping on the bed, never even noticed. I carried the poor thing towards one of our hummingbird feeders but he flung out his wings half way there, changing from the dull green when I found it to iridescent orange and took flight towards one of the flowering apple trees.

A day of equal freedom to you.

Work, then more work

Finally had a chance to take a pic of our new "harrow" or whatever you care to name it. Now we're working on a fertilizer spreader to mount ahead of the corn seeder. Pre-fertilizing will be a huge advantage in labor, time and weed control.

Well, I'm tired so going to sleep now. Sweet dreams.

Rae Ann writes again

The vicious momma has some funny and thought provoking things to say about the recent "Imus in the morning" racial slur controversy.

I'm a Hoe: Updates of Past Stories

Busy, busy

The new cultivator/ripper/drag device worked great on its test run. All my welds held. Unfortunately the ground is too wet for us to just immediately put it to use but when it is time to plant corn it'll be really nice to have it.

After we got through with the test run we just spent the day cleaning up the shop. Was a lot easier with the equipment moved out so we did a thorough job of it.

My good friend Steve spent a chunk of yesterday evening chatting with me. We've been out of touch for about 2 or 3 months so it was a pleasant interlude. He is thinking of selling his house and buying a small farm to raise grapes and hops on. Another interesting alternative as to the future I might choose after mom and dad sell the farm.

Wishing you a night fraught with adventurous dreams and a day fraught with sublime mundanities.

Dirrizlizlnizzz

No reason for that title, just felt liking being different.

Showery sort of day all day, spent the morning welding and painting equipment then came back to farm#1 to finish putting up some fence gates. We made the mistake of putting out some early plants before the last 3 gates were finished and the deer finally took notice and gobbled a bunch of them down. Fortunately we hadn't put in terribly much yet but it was still really aggravating. The state claims ownership of the animals but won't pay for the damage they do, help me to control them or allow me to shoot them at need. My only option is to bleed off money and time of my own to construct obdurate fences against them.

Tomorrow we'll be testing the new ripper so wish me luck; it's all made from my own welds so no one else to blame if it falls apart.

Have a wonderful evening.

Happy Easter

I'm not a very religious person but I love holidays. Lots of pagan trappings to this spring right of passage but I don't care. Bunnies, colored eggs and chocolate; who could argue with that?

Been too busy farming to blog lately. Yesterday we put in about 200 mixed cabbage and lettuce plants. Will probably do about 500 more today or tomorrow. Also getting lots more welding experience in while working on the boom'd sprayer and the ripper/drag for soil prep. Just what I need, another alternative occupation should I decide to stop farming.

This is one of the most beautiful Easter mornings that I have seen since I was a kid. The sunlight was slanting in beneath a few eastern clouds with an amazing pastel color highlighting all the flowering trees. A sublime perfume fills the air combining with the other elements of natural beauty to envelope my every sense in wonder.

Have a very happy day.

Workflow

This morning got a late start because of the flu I'm still struggling with. Dizzy, dizzy when I first get up in the morning. But my head cleared after breakfast and we sidled over to my brothers welding shop to work on the ripper/dragger. Got another couple of good hours of welding experience in, pipe welding today.

Then came home for lunch and several hours of chores, a trip into Rogue River, etc. after 3:00 I gave dad a brake from plowing our new field at (technically) farm #3.

Now there is a fascinating experience not many people get in the modern world. A steel plow churning and turning earth under and over. The deep rumble of rock, soil and stone. The hissing, ripping, shredding sound of dirt and root-mat being torn up and flipped over. All overlaid with the deep rhythmic throb of a diesel engine. This is a power that hearkens back to ancient Sumeria when the first farmer turned land to create a new circumstance for his people.

I was plowing the field which used to belong to a good friend, Byron. He passed away last winter after we had already made arrangements to plant his field with corn. As luck would have it his grandson bought the land and we were fortunate enough to get a second chance. It made me a little sad that he wasn't there to see this day of turned earth but I know that at some level of existence, he was there.

Wishing you a night of pleasant dreams and a day of thrilling discoveries.

Good Monday's work

Today started out frosty which made me fear for the recently transplanted lettuce but they weathered the threat just fine.

Spent the morning and early noon welding on the ripper dad and I are constructing. I really enjoy that welding even though it is a bit uncomfortable of a chore. We're over half done on that job, 2 or 3 more days and we'll be able to try it out.

After lunch dad worked the cornfields at farm#2 while I finished prepping the onion, beet and turnip beds. Would've got the beets in already but that stupid little seeder got jammed and I had to spend the time fixing it. By then the day was just about done, will seed in the morning.

Had a brief jaunt into the library to return my books. All Jackson county libraries will be closing on April 7th for an indefinite period because the federal government refuses to pay its property taxes. Wonder if we can report them to a credit agency? Wendy, one of the many nice ladies at the Rogue River library who will soon be unemployed, told me that many people think it isn't going to actually happen. One lady upon being told they were closing on April 7th said "I've heard the stories..." as if it is some kind of urban legend. And apparently most people in the county think along the same lines. It will be vastly amusing (and distressing) to watch the ripples of domino effect spread from this event. Mark your calendars world, everyone has seen what happens when Bugs Bunny flicks a pebble down the slope of a snowy mountain.

Wishing you all a fine and felicitous day.

Go to the source

The power of blogging sometimes fascinates me. 2 brothers in Iraq (of all places) have stirred up their own little hornet's nest amongst America's mainstream media. Michelle Malkin has details here.

Planting and carpentry

Got the first row of lettuce planted and watered in just about the time my bro called needing a hand putting some siding and a window in his house. So dad and I finished up and drove over there. Spent the next 5 hours doing carpentry. The weather was lovely with many puffy clouds blowing around in fanciful layers. The work was easy, just pulling off siding and holding boards. Lots of standing around and staring at the hills. A pleasant time to spend doing something useful while in the company of family.

Not much else to report.

Have a great day.

Planting day

Will shortly be putting in onion seeds, broccoli plants, lettuce and an assortment of other early crops. Should be an interesting early start to the season.

I'm still struggling a little with the "dizziness flu" or whatever it is. Really weird, sort of like having a beer in terms of lightheadedness, vertigo etc. Might even be pleasant if it weren't imposed and damned inconvenient. But as long as I'm up and moving around it doesn't cause too much trouble.

Well, back to the dirt. Hope your day is fun and learningful.

Gettin' on

Been busy doing a lot of welding. Also came down with a head/stomach flu Tuesday afternoon which has made me less than sociable. The weirdest symptom has been a persistent dizziness, perhaps an inner ear infection or something.

Ok, enough grossness. The spring weather is keeping me busy too, trying to get plants and fields prepared for the oncoming avalanche of growth. It is at times like this that I regret not having any additional help. Automation can do much of the farming procedure but some things require direct human intervention.

Hope your day is fine and healthy.

Rainy day welding

I love the smell of ozone.

Dad and I spent the morning in bro's welding shop working on a 3-tier spring tooth crust buster. We put together 6 pieces of 3 inch thick wall tubing to make 3 pieces of tubing 10 feet long. Dad did the cutting I did the welding. That will be the part of the machine's frame which holds the spring tooth fittings and two four foot pieces of 2 inch by 6 inch square tubing will form the sides, probably by tomorrow afternoon. Should be done with the whole thing by Thursday and then we'll start on some fertilizer spreading attachments for the tractor and corn seeder.

A little note of support for our blog-friend Rae Ann, who's father-in-law is very ill and possibly hovering on the edge of that inevitable journey. From each of us a prayer to help her and her family through this difficult time.

The rain really started pouring about 10am and hasn't let up yet. These rapid air pressure changes always make me a little queasy and achy. Supposed to thunder and lightning a little this afternoon, that should be fun.

Joy and happy spring rains to you.

Plowing, fencing

And other stuff too. Working on some of my chemistry and materials experiments on the side. But mostly just the plowing and fencing. Only one more length of wire and 4 gates to build and the big deer fence will finally be finished.

Supposed to rain tomorrow. Might be nice to have a lazy Sunday, but even then I'll be busy with projects, clean-up and etc.

The last field plowed up real nice. We hung a pallet and some chain-link fence under a pipe sticking out the side of the plow and it did a world of good smoothing off the soil. About half that field, 96' by 300' or so, is ready to be planted now. Will probably push in lettuce, cabbage, bean and pea seeds for starters and/or stab in a bunch of 288 plugs of lettuce, broccoli, and assorted stuff dad sprouted in the little greenhouse. Also hope to try for early cukes, squash and melons as an alternative to taking a weekend at Reno. May even gamble an early row of tomatoes.

Wishing you a smooth weekend.

Broken Implement of the week #1

The first installment in a column I've entitled "Broken Implement of the Week" each week will feature a new broken implement, as we bust 'em!

This is the wide-spacing 2 row corn cultivator we used to operate in the golden jubilee fields we first raised 19 years ago. Dad and I busted it when trying to clean up some plastic mulch rows on Tuesday March 20th, 2007. First we busted one wing, then we broke t'other. Cause of bustin': poor welding and too many rocks.

Strangely appropriate

Only because it assuages my ego:

Guy is The Sun

Happiness, Content, Joy.

The meanings for the Sun are fairly simple and consistent.

Young, healthy, new, fresh. The brain is working, things that were muddled come clear, everything falls into place, and everything seems to go your way.

The Sun is ruled by the Sun, of course. This is the light that comes after the long dark night, Apollo to the Moon's Diana. A positive card, it promises you your day in the sun. Glory, gain, triumph, pleasure, truth, success. As the moon symbolized inspiration from the unconscious, from dreams, this card symbolizes discoveries made fully consciousness and wide awake. You have an understanding and enjoyment of science and math, beautifully constructed music, carefully reasoned philosophy. It is a card of intellect, clarity of mind, and feelings of youthful energy.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.