Teresa & Mike CHS - Our journal

[Mike CHS]

We have had a couple of busy days getting things done that had been on the back burner. We had to modify the fence on the handling area since we finally got a company to come out and give us an estimate on gutters for the shop add-on.

We harvested all of the broccoli since they looked like they were getting ready to start flowering. I didn't count but there was a dozen or more heads. We cut it up and blanched and froze it on flat pans so we could freeze in vacuum bags. We are starting to get green beans and zucchini and the winter squash is starting to form. We finished off the root plants since the heat was getting them spicier than we care for but we were getting tired of them anyway.

We got the biggest bed weeded since the melons and squash vines are filling the bed in pretty fast. Melons are starting to form and I saw yesterday there was a couple of volunteer cantaloupes coming up but I left them alone since there was room. We got our first okra yesterday and I did them with zucchini and steak on the grill. The okra has only been in the ground for less than a month but I transplanted them from starts in the house. Most of the tomatoes are doing well but I think I got a few of them with some over spray from when I was spraying the drive with glyphosate. We are going to swap them out today with some plants that I had started last month. We are still getting lettuce in spite of the heat since they are planted in raised beds in the orchard so they only get morning sun.

 

[Baymule]

My cool weather plants were done long ago...…. I have Amish melons that are bigger than softballs, waiting impatiently for them to grow and ripen, same with watermelons, but some of those are about soccer ball sized. Picked tomatoes last week! The garden is coming along, on phase 2. Cool weather plants are gone, hot weather plants are just beginning to make or just coming up due to pulling up cool plants and planting hot weather seeds.

Nothing beats fresh veggies!

 

[Mike CHS]

Our incubator is starting to look like a popcorn popper. I was looking in and in a matter of seconds we went from none hatched to 6 of the chicks out.

 

[Bruce]

Picked tomatoes last week!

Watered tomatoes last week! And this week! And the rest of the garden as well. I have to do it again after dinner tonight unless it rains. Radar shows we MAY get a little rain but I'm not holding my breath. There is cloud cover so at least that should help it from getting any hotter today. Sharky the pool thermometer is begging me to throw in some blocks of ice!

 

[Mike CHS]

We have had threats of rain for three weeks now but nothing yet so we have been watering also. I'm glad I decided to lay off my "neat" look on the paddocks not being used as the taller grass and weeds is shading the lower growth that our sheep like.

We did get another dozen tomato plants in the ground this afternoon and a couple of no heat jalapenos name Coolapenos. One of them had a couple of small peppers that I tried and they had great taste without the heat. I've tried low heat peppers a couple of times and they were still hotter than I like now. I used to be "the hotter the better" taste but no longer.

 

[Bruce]

Sounds like a "hot" pepper I could tolerate. I'm a total wimp when it comes to hot spices.

 

[Mike CHS]

We got a little over 1/2" of rain this evening which isn't near what we need but I'm happy to get it. There is more of the front coming through tonight but it seems most of it is passing west of I-65 with us being east of I-65 by a couple of miles.

The chick count isn't increasing fast but we are up to 9 now. A couple of the chicks are 1/3 the size of most so we are assuming they are the exotics we got from a friend. A couple are the black sex-links (ours) and the rest so far are from another friend. Our cat has been sitting on top of the couch staring at the incubator so we will secure her in the loft for the night.

We are going to work on the last of the ewes hooves tomorrow and then move Max in with the ewes and Pete (the wether) into the paddock with the ewe lambs. Pete has made me wish that I had not banded him but I did so because he was so small. He has since gotten some growth and is probably around 150 pounds which is small for a ram but decent for processing. I won't like it since he is so tame but I keep telling myself I have enough pets. He is a son of Max but his dame is a Ringo daughter who is our gentlest ewe that has the exact personality that Ringo has. You can go out with a bucket and he will patiently stand there till you show that he is allowed to have some.

 

[Mike CHS]

It's bed time and Puddy was still in the watching mode on the incubator. So she gets to spend the night outside so the cheeping chicks get to live another day.

 

[Mike CHS]

I think probably most on the forum have been involved with hatching poultry but if you haven't I snapped a quick picture of the chicks doing their thing while we had the top off to add some water. There are 14 chicks out now.

 

[Mike CHS]

Teresa just talked to a friend of ours and supposedly she has three Mosaic hens and one rooster she wants to sell that we will buy if she doesn't change her mind. She is talking about selling her place and retiring so not sure if it's a knee jerk reaction to something or if she is serious. She is the friend that owns the stable and kennels where Teresa worked at.