Planting, weather, Victoria, edible mistakes

Poor Mama was worn out last night. She and Grandpa had been at the farm planting potatoes from about 8:30 to after 4 p.m. For her that is a very long day. With the winds steady at 20 to 25 miles per hour with gusts up to 40, it was a brutal day to be outside all day. All told, they planted 300 pounds of potatoes along with two rows of peas and one row of corn. The potatoes took up only about one third of the total area Grandpa and I plowed so we will fill the remainder with field corn so we will have our own chicken, hog, horse, donkey, and cattle feed next winter – if all goes well.


I planted a row of peas and a row of half-runner beans in the garden at the house. It will be interesting to see how they come up because my hands do not do well with the motions required to meter out an exact count of seeds in a certain area. My rows will be a little more sporadic than those done by Mama and Grandpa. But if the Lord blesses we should be able to gather from the unevenly spaced plantings also. I got to plant another seedless grape, two more blueberries and a hyacinth last night before working in the garden.

All seeding of the meadows and fields is on hold due to the weather. The forecast is for severe weather over the next several days –starting this evening. We are afraid that there will be too great a chance for washout of the freshly planted seed if we do get the volume of rain predicted. Flooding is expected in the Dallas area and we are expecting up to five inches locally through the weekend. Rain has been forecast for much of next week also. So whatever we get in the ground today will be all that gets done for many days. At the very least, God will have made good on His promise to fill the tanks on the property.

Victoria was in good spirits when we picked her up last night. She even said she was glad to have her job and very glad to be able to go to work after missing so many days. She was hugging Mama last night, not letting her go, and happily remarking on the fact that she loved feeling better. Mama kept saying, “Okay Victoria, let me go.” But it was all in fun – and it is good to see her feeling better.

I will travel back to Amarillo today, leaving Mama here through Saturday. With the weather predictions and the need to be back in my office, it seems like a workable solution. We drove separate vehicles when we came because I was expecting to go to training in Odessa, TX. She is in no hurry to leave but I have work I need to be doing and the best place to get it done is in Borger.

She is holding out to go to Trade Days this Saturday. I am not sure why but I do not relish the thought of sitting around for the next several evenings with nothing to do except watch the rain. That can make for a very long evening. I turned over to Grandpa the $200 I have been saving for pecan trees we are planning to buy at this months Trade Days. Mama was disappointed that I did not give it to her, but I know Grandpa will be in Bowie this weekend even if Mama is not. I also know that Grandpa will only spend the money on pecan trees so I am more certain of my purchasing power with the current arrangement.

I ordered a catalog from a hatchery I had found through reading an ad on Craig’s List. We were all looking through it last night because of the tremendous variety of all types of fowl they offer for sale. What attracted me to this company was the text offered with each fowl offered, listing weight, hardiness, egg size and color, temperament and a brief history of the breed. It was more thorough than anything I have seen yet. I asked Victoria to study up on the various breeds of chickens to see what we could try to raise after we kill off the roosters we now have.

Grandpa as been very disappointed in the hogs we bought. We will find someplace else to buy pigs next time. We should be able to fatten and eat these, but they are not the temperament of animal we would like to have around.

One of the blessings of a farm is that you can eat your mistakes…horses excluded.