Saturday, August 5, 2023

Autumn is coming !

 

All the quirky weather we have had in the last several years shows no signs of stopping. To date we really had a very mild summer and no one will hear me complain. Autumn is showing itself in the casting of longer shadows , cooler mornings and not the traditional periodic heat waves that are typical of July and August . I must admit I am still trying to get over being stuck in daylight stupid time without even a by your leave by the government of our county. It must be nice to play God. Thank you I feel much better but my clocks are  and will be set on "standard" time forever. I just do the math if needed.  

I had the delivery of 58 bales of alfalfa the winter hay for the goats. Last year I was able to stretch the same number of bales at about 125 pounds each last for October through June  and expect the same effect this year. Of course the big thrill was the price was down to $18 a bale. These are the coffee table rectangle bales. Nice to shave a bit off the price to go to other items. Such as fire wood. As some of you know, heat  with a wood stove. After eight years of having 42 acres for our wood needs it seems strange to have to purchase wood . But it was my choice to buy my wood and not pay PGE for it and the propane delivery. As I was only two years into  a new stove much more effective than the older one I loved but was very old and large in the cabin from the last owner.  All in all despite our crazy wet, snowy very cold winter I burnt only about 3 cords total. I have a bit of pine left over and will buy 2 cords of oak and 1 cord of pine to get through this winter. I also have the remains of the oak trees that died this winter to the amount of rain, melted snow and low temps to use also. 

    
 The present garden at the junction of the new fence is going to the right.
           

First section of the new fencing going down hill in the next photo.


Down hill run past the Blue Aptos and the drive in gate just past the left over fencing 
After the gate is the L turn that goes a bit out with a potential pen with shelter.


This is the current garden . My Black mission fig is happy in its home . Has a dozen figs developing on it . This is its third year and for a Mediterranean loving tree I am amazed it made it through the winter!

The garden is plugging along. It is by no means a huge amount in fact not enough for even canning. But it was started three times due to two false starts when winter decided to hang around and now yes, the cooler temps this summer. The great news is I got my fencing guy to fence off an L shape and hope for a relocation for the garden this coming year. I will keep some of the existing raised beds in the original garden such as my first year asparagus where they are. Redesign it for all creatures veggie wise that do well in not needing full sun and more herbs. I am thinking about putting down the ground cover of a variety that can be walked on but doesn't require constant watering and no mowing. Also able to withstand walking on. There are several types just have to decide.  

The barn still needs to have some weather proofing on the SW end. The way our storms come in I need to have two more barn doors larger but the same design as the one I had put in on the tact room entry which also gives access to all four stalls.  Since the previous owners had both of the ends open when the winter winds hit from the SW it blows right through the front stalls and out the backs of the back two stalls. I have finally decided that since they had horses and only lived here for 13 years before myself that the was a period when the state was in drought and the weather much tamer in the winter and much hotter in the summer. Other than that I would like to think they would have protected their horses from the 65 MPH winds we now get.

The above photo shows the sliding barn door I hope to add for the SW end of the barn giving an easy slide to cover the end keeping the weather out of the barn this winter.





3 comments:

Leigh said...

"daylight stupid time" LOL!!! Appropriately said.

The coming of autumn makes everybody cheerful! I can't believe the price for that alfalfa. Around here, they want $18 for a 45 pound bale. If you can find it. It's all imported from other parts of the country.

The pups are growing! Nice to see your garden too. Sounds like you have a good garden plan to implement. It takes time to figure out where things will grow happily.

Mama Pea said...

Great to see all you've been working on. (With the two adorable pups' help, too, of course!) Some of the trees surrounding us have already taken on a yellowish tinge, we've noticed. Perhaps lack of rain in our earlier drought and now being in the same rain-less period again. That hay you've secured for the goats looks great. And having enough firewood for the coming winter? Such a good feeling!

Goatldi said...

Leigh
Thanks for your stamp of approval! I really hate when folks get down and dirty but I am also so done at this point. The "game being played is dangerous in addiction to stupid." Lets walk away from the table.

I have always heard that what the rest of the country calls alfalfa isn't of the quality ours is. Also the bales are lighter and more often than not round bales. All I know is that in 1986 when we began our dairy goat adventure I was getting a load yourself 120# rectangle bales for $5.00 each.I somehow don't foresee that coming back ;-(

The new garden is the compost for all the cleaning from the barn and coop this autumn and winter. Then in late winter I will break my no till rule once to work to rent a tiller and make sure all that precious compost gets in the ground before the rain/snow starts. I really want to be able to plant in the spring. It will be in the ground instead of raised beds. Primarily tomatoes,green peppers for stuffing , corn, and a few other full sun lovers. The first garden will be herbs, potatoes, garlic and so on.More tolerant of less sun.

Mama Pea thanks for your comments. Yes wood in the winter is most certainly a comfort food for the mind. As I type I have a young man who has done a good amount of work for me this year. He is knocking down the 58 bale retriever load and stacking on pallets in the barn.
Wyatt is 16 a Sophomore FFA/cowboy and has been a huge help with the overwhelming amount of weed eating we had from all the wet both liquid and frozen we got this year. He dug out my buck barn that was always shoved to the bottom of my list. Love this kid he doesn't need to be shown as his family is much like mine in our chosen way of living. He is in fact priceless lol!