Gardening, Eclipse, budding out, more chicks, more pigs

Mama and I went to Bro. Craig Shaw’s house yesterday before FBI class to see his garden setup. He has two large garden tracts. One is over a third of an acre and the other is about half that size. He has almost the same vegetables planted that we do, but he is about two weeks ahead of us on some of those selections. He has a large selectin of plants in his small greenhouse that will be put in his garden very soon. 

In our garden we have potatoes, onions, and lettuce coming up. Th pepper seeds Grandpa planted have not germinated yet. It is too early to plant sweet potatoes, cucumbers or squash, but those are on Mama’s agenda. I would like to see some pumpkins and watermelon sown somewhere in the garden, but I will have to wait. 

We did set up a couple sprinklers to water the garden. It took several tries to get the reach of the sprinklers set, but once we did, they are doing a great job of wetting the whole garden. Our garden plot, by the way, is considerably smaller than either of Bro. Shaw’s garden areas.

Mama and I were up a little earlier than usual this morning. The forecast for the lunar eclipse, where the earth’s shadow crosses the moon, was set for the 5 am to 6 am hour of the morning. We were there to see the start a little before 5 am. It was beautiful! The sky was clear despite the prediction of heavy cloud cover. Mama and I were able to get several okay pictures of the eclipse, but no camera, especially a phone camera, can do justice to the absolute beauty of such and event. 

Once again, we are in my favorite time of the year. Everything is budding out as Spring approaches. Since we have had an unseasonably warm February, all the plants are getting a head start. My pecan trees are now three years old but still only about four feet tall. Both are looking good as we head into Spring. The blackberries I potted are doing very well after I rescued them from the dry area we tried to plant them in. Both grape vines survived the Winter and are now showing signs of life as well as the roses we have planted in an opening in the back patio. Of course, all the plants we wintered over in the sunroom are doing well. 

Bro, Shaw gave us six tomato plants that he had grown from seeds. The seeds he used are the fifth or sixth generation of the heirloom seeds they have been using in their garden. That does give me a bit of hope since they are able to sell tomatoes at a market stand they set up each summer. Mama and I are also going to plant a few of the seeds he gave us so we can try our hand at tomatoes again. None of the local greenhouse plants we have bought over the past several years produced a single tomato. 

Still, I am not getting my hopes up. I do think that our garden will be better off this year since we have a watering system in place. That was always an issue. That and the soil that needed constant tilling to keep it soft enough to allow water to get to the deeper roots of our plants. I would like to see Grandpa succeed this year. It means a lot to him.

Yesterday, I set up our small incubator. We placed fifteen Banty eggs in it. We have had very consistent success with this incubator. I still do not know why Mama insists on hatching more chicks, but I always go along with her. The seven we hatched out several months ago are never separated from each other. Thick as thieves, they are always in a group, and they are very friendly. In fact, they will come running to us every time we go outside. 

When Mama was entertaining the King children, they had no problem picking up the chickens and carrying them around. The twin girls and the youngest son were quite enamored with the Banty chickens. Unfortunately, six of them are roosters and will soon be sold. Maybe the batch we have in the incubator will be more hens. Time will tell. 

A week ago, Norman shot several wild hogs. One of those eliminated was a sow with several piglets. Yesterday three of those piglets showed up trying to make nice with our domestic pigs. They are tiny, and as such are cute as can be. Sadly, we cannot rescue them. 

They will need to be dispatched but I do not have the heart to do it.