Looking things over, looking ahead

Yesterday was beautiful and the evening after I got home was a continuation of that beautiful day. When I got home I changed and went out to the garden to spread out the manure we had put there last Saturday and Mama got back on the tractor and brush hogged more of the pasture Grandpa had left for her to do. What she had already done looked very good. What I did looked like a wreck but there is not a good way that I know of to make spread manure look nice.

When she was finishing up for the evening I had her drive us down by the big pond so I could see how much water was in it. It is probably as low as I have ever seen it, but there is still water in it. I guess it is about six feet deep at its deepest channel but what water is there is barely sufficient to provide space for many fish; although the turtles seem to like it very much.

We then drove through the meadow to see how the winter wheat was faring. It looks like it will finally be taking off. There is a lot of green starting to show in the areas where Grandpa over seeded the wheat. It will be several more weeks before the coastal will start to show signs of life. That grass requires a ground temperature of 70®F or more before it will come out of its dormancy. Right now the ground has retained some water below the surface but it will not be many more weeks before it will be as dry as the surface.

We really need more rain but there is not much promise of it according to all the predictive models the weather people are putting forth. The Lord is still in control but I have talked to Mama about holding off for another year before I try to get an orchard started again. Losing every fruit tree we planted in the last two year has not been the most encouraging experiment I have ever participated in.

Anticipating the spring and hoping for the best, I pruned back the grape vines we have nurtured for the past three years. I have no idea if they are dormant or dead but I can at least give them the best chance to succeed if there is still some life in the roots. The two peach trees I pruned back last night are probably lost causes but it did not take much time to get them ready in case there is still life in them also.

Fortunately, all the animals (Mama’s babies) are doing well. She has her chicken order almost ready and it looks like we are going to get about twenty new little ones. I did have the conversation with her that I do not want to feed and house forty chickens so at least twenty of the forty will have to get repurposed. She will have to decide who gets put in the freezer and who stays in the coop.

She is not looking forward to those decisions but it will have to be done.