Recently in Farm Life Category

....if you go metal detecting after supper with no pants on.

 

Thankfully it was still in the 60's when he wandered outside to dig for treasure.  And there is Elmo underwear beneath the tunic top! 

Once in a while we get a dose of snow here in Northwest Georgia.  The snow is usually just a dusting that quickly melts the next day but it's enough for some boys to battle in a quick snowball fight.  This was the scene tonight when we got home from our Wednesday night small group.  I launched the first volley and it was "GAME ON"!  I lasted about 10 minutes until the lack of preparation (i.e. gloves) got the best of me.  William and Cooper lasted a little longer until they saw my hot chocolate.

Enjoy your winter wherever you are!

 

We are blessed with the arrival of Zta Kate Burns.  Born yesterday evening (December 20).  Mom and Baby are doing very well.  Grandparents and brothers are thrilled.  Dad is very proud!

7lbs. 1oz.

20 inches

Hair - Thick and dark like a Burns! :)

What a Chrismas gift!  God Bless - Mike

 

 

 

I promised everyone an update on the visit from my Dad.  As anticipated, it was less than a couple of hours before he was out in the garden pulling weeds.  We managed to tame some of the weeds but when you grow without sprays and pesticide this is a never ending task.  We also have a nice organized basement/packing area with storage shelves for all of our tomatoes and produce - I couldn't have done this without his help.

We are very grateful for the help around the farm and the boys enjoyed spending time with their Grandpa.  Grandpa also got to see our oldest, Cooper, get baptised as well as watch Eston enjoy a birthday cake with three candles.  

Dad has made it safely back to Kansas and is having a restful "vacation" from his vacation at Burns Best Farm.

We love you Dad!

Tonight I was working out in the tomato patch and noticed some black droppings by a few of our Green Zebra plants.  This could only mean one thing - the dreaded tomato hornworm (see photo).  I quickly investigated and sure enough found a good sized worm blending nicely on the underside of one of our stems.  I picked it off the plant and showed it to our oldest, Cooper, who just the other night told me that he wanted to be an entomologist. 

I was impressed that he even knew what an entomologist was.  Anyway, we observed the offending bug and doing what men do, quickly put it down on the ground and smashed it.  Hopefully another tomato plant saved.  Of course minutes later William and Cooper were looking for more of the bugs so that they could smash them.  There's something about bug guts that provides boys with the "ooooh gross" factor. 

Normally when the boys catch bugs they run them over to the portable chicken pens and feed them to the hens - it's free family farm entertainment to see which hen can catch the bug first.  However, a friend of ours informed us that the hens have a strong distaste for the tomato hornworm and to exterminate in the field.

Hot day + dirty boys= Fun in the tractor bucket

Photo Copyright D.P.Burns, 2007

We have had a little liquid heaven in the last 10 days or so, and while I am thankful for it, the total accumulation is not even an inch. A couple of times the dirt has actually changed to a darker color, but there is nothing that could remotely resemble mud going on here.

Our first crop to arrive in any quantity is summer squash. Mike started transplants of yellow crookneck and a lovely scalloped pattypan squash; he also direct seeded both of those plus an Italian zucchini. The tranplants have been bearing now for a couple of weeks. (Those plants direct seeded look good but are still a few weeks away from production.) The squash tastes great and I have roasted and stuffed the pattypan a couple of times. It has a nice sweetness that comes out when it's roasted.

We are now approaching the end of our third week with no measurable rainfall. The last measurable amount we had was a quarter inch, and that was after two weeks of no precipitation. In that it's been six weeks since I last posted a blog entry, I would explain most of that time away being outside watering the garden trying to keep everything alive, and the rest either educating my children or goofing off.

The beets germinated nicely and are coming along fine after stalling in the first two weeks of April due to the cold weather. My potato plants took about a month to send up replacement green shoots to repair the freezing damage. I lost three or four, but all three varieties came back in some form.

I did. Peaches. Blueberries. Apples. HAY, for crying out loud. All of it, frozen and worthless because of this cold weather. With more on the way for this weekend.

Blackberries are the only fruit we've got left for the year. That's a dent in the ol' wallet.

All of the blueberry plants were in full bloom last week after two weeks of glorious warm weather. And all of those plants now have withered, brittle blooms after the deep freeze that hit last weekend.

I will be very surprised if we get enough fruit from 260 bushes to make a couple of pies, some smoothies, and if we're really blessed, I might be able to freeze a couple of quarts for the off-season. There won't be enough to sell at market.

My potato plants are looking like goners, too. The leaves are mostly dark brown and the stems seem soft, which I can't think is a good sign. Never having grown potatoes before, I'm not exactly sure what a dead plant looks like, but I'll be shocked if any of them survived. The wheat straw mulch, although applied thickly, does not seem to have worked. I should've gone with plastic. Rookie mistake. I don't know....it was so cold for four days, it might not have made a difference.

To say that I'm crushed is a bit of an understatement right now. I'm pretty heavily crushed.