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Hi Everyone,
Back in the beginning of summer one of the ladies at church was talking about the little ice box watermelons that her father used to grow. I have been on the lookout for the perfect watermelon—not too big, good storage and easy to tell when it is ripe. A few years ago I tried a watermelon whose rind would turn yellow when ripe. They were very easy to tell when ripe, they were the perfect size, but the problem was that it had no flavor. I have tried to grow big watermelons—but the critters would eat them before they ripened. So when the lady mentioned ice box watermelons I decided to give them a try—if I could just find some seed. The local seed store was sold out of them. I found some sugar baby watermelon seeds on line at Hoss Tools and planted some the middle of August. I was happy when they sprouted and enjoyed watching them grow longer and longer. I could have jumped for joy when I saw the first watermelons starting to grow—there were just two of them. Many more have started growing in the last month, but I do not expect them to ripen before it freezes. To my delight I was able to harvest those two watermelons on Saturday, and I sent one to church for the lady who told me all about them. She called me later and told me that it was exactly the kind her father used to grow. Now for the scary part—is it really ripe? We shall find out tomorrow when we cut it up.
Last week was extremely busy, and some days I had to rely on God’s promise where He says, “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” On Monday I was delighted to find out that it was still a good day to plant root crops—and I took full advantage of it. First I had to build a cage to cover the horseradish plant—the turkeys had found their way into the yard and had pulled most of the leaves off of the plant. I probably spent an hour figuring out how to wrap chicken wire around the tub. Once I had the horseradish protected then I planted some onion seeds in a 72-cell seed tray, two rows of radishes between the multiplying onion rows, and a bed of elephant garlic from cloves that I was able to save from last year. Steve worked on weeding the middle bed, and then after he had it piled in the truck I talked him into helping me pull up two rows of the spent flowers in the cut flower garden. The truck was full to overloading when he was done. When I came in I put some more cayenne peppers on the dehydrator and made some more roselle tea.
When Tuesday rolled around there was kefir to bottle, kombucha to make and bottle, and yogurt to make. Then I pulled out the ironing board and listened to a story on the radio while I ironed some of Papa’s shirts. After lunch we had an egg party and Steve and Mom headed out to the garden to start working on the caterpillar tunnels so that we can get the plastic covers back on them before it frosts. Before they could do that though we had to move our wooden “Little People Barn” out of the garage where it has lived for the last two years since we built it and my friend Lydia painted it. Some of the paint was indoor paint so we couldn’t leave it out in the weather until we sealed it. Well, the winter grass seed finally arrived in a big one ton tote. We usually store it in the barn—but the barn is full of hay. The only place we had was the garage—where the “Little People Barn” was. Papa moved the barn out, Mom and Steve removed all the spider webs, and then Mom sprayed it with a sealer. She had enough cans to give it one coat, we shall have to get some more to give it more coats. When I was done with the egg party I taught piano lessons, and then I headed to the garden to harvest bok choy and roselle calyces for the Jacksonville delivery. I was shocked to find that the roselle had reached the end of its season, so I ended up cutting all the branches off of the roselle and sitting down and cutting off the calyces. I got half of them done before it was time to come up to the house and fix dinner. We put the rest of the branches on the back porch and while I cooked dinner, Mom finished cutting the calyces off the stems.
We usually do not separate the calves on Wednesday night, so I had no cows to milk Thursday morning. Since I am just feeding my cows I take the opportunity to read while the cows eat. When the milking was over (for Mom’s cows do need to be milked) I headed inside and she headed out to mow the pasture behind the heifers. Our friend Emily came over with her children to bring me some pretty pictures, a Scripture verse and a beautiful bouquet of flowers. They had heard that I was struggling with my health and they wanted to take some time to “cheer me up”. It was so sweet and thoughtful. I then spent some time in the sewing room mending some of my clothes. After lunch I made yogurt and then I headed to the garden to trim back the okra (I had harvested the last of the okra, but some of the okra pods I am letting grow and dry out so that I can save the seeds). I also harvested some more cayenne peppers—it seems that this is the year to grow hot peppers.
Friday dawned cold and dreary. The rains began early, and lasted until Saturday morning—with it misting on and off the rest of the day. We milked the cows-except for Ellie Mae. She is one of our older cows and she was so very cold that she was shivering and I decided that I would leave 100% of her milk for her calf. Once we were done we headed inside—out of the cold, rainy weather. Poor Papa though was still outside. He had planted two rounds of seed on Thursday, and when he finished his chores Friday morning it was only misting so he loaded up the seeder in order to seed another field. To his dismay the rain came down heavier once he got out in the pasture. Then the cows needed to be put back and by the time he got inside he was soaked from the rain and chilled to the bones. He asked for some of my “fire cider: horseradish, onions, cayenne peppers, garlic and ginger fermented in apple cider vinegar”. It is a good tonic for when you think you might be getting sick—so I was concerned that he was getting sick. He assured me that he wasn’t, but that he needed something to help his insides warm up. That stuff is hot as fire—so I guess it would do the job. He had a big swig of it and then he headed for a hot shower. When he came out I had a cup of hot tea for everyone. Mom and I spent the rest of the day in the kitchen making and canning roselle tea, Papa ran some errands in town (at least the heater works in the van).
As Friday evening began the rain became heavier and heavier. We had only received .34 inches of rain all day, but by the next morning we had received almost two inches. The low was only 50 degrees, but the wind had been blowing heavily and the rain had been pouring down all night—and when we headed out to do our morning chores, Mom and Steve found 7 dead ram lambs in the ram field, and Papa found 7 dead sheep in the big flock. We were shocked! By this morning we had lost a total of 13 sheep. They say that animals can handle being cold, and they can handle being rained on—but they cannot handle being cold and wet at the same time. Mom talked to a pig farmer yesterday and she said that their pigs didn’t fair very well either. The animals do not have their winter coats yet. We did not separate the calves Friday night or Saturday night so that the calves would have shelter and could nurse on their mommies all night. Saturday morning Ellie Mae was not the only cow shivering—the majority of them were. It was nice to feel their warm dry bodies when they came in to be milked this morning.
We have a lot of preparing to do for the coming winter—and the fall cold snaps. One barn needs walls; another needs a concrete floor to get rid of the mud build up and to make it easier to clean out. The caterpillar tunnels need their plastic covers (well one did get done on Thursday), and one still needs an end wall built. We need firewood, and a place to stack it. Thankfully the barn is full of hay. I think that we shall be busy preparing this week.
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare