FarmerChick--Farm Journal

[2dream]

Lori - that weather rock is never wrong.

Weather patterns are changing here in Mississippi too. Here it is the first part of June and I have windows open to let the cool air in. I remember June days when the temps were already in the high 90's and that was bright and early in the morning.
We don't start having cold weather until January. I hate it when we need shorts and tee shirts on Christmas day. All the planting calendars seem to be suggesting planting times that are to early now. I remember when I was a little girl having to wear pants under my dress because it was cold in September. (Those were the days when girls could not wear pants to school. If we wore pants we still had to wear the dress or skirt.) Now September seems to be more like August use to be. One of our hottest months.

 

[FarmerChick]

HHmmm....I don't know 2dream.

Shipping/handling on a free rock might be expensive..HA HA...post office shipping by weight, how heavy is this weather rock??? HA HA

At least with a weather rock it has no parts, no breaking therefore no money to fix it....my stupid thermometer on the back porch is broken...useless thing..HA HA


Yes weather is changing. I am just like your area. I told Tony all our cool weather crops will have to be planted in October now, not Sept. Sept. here is HOT and it used to be the cooling down time....not anymore.

Seems like it shifted about a month each way......warm weather coming a tad later, hot weather staying a tad later. Hmm....oh well we can adapt.


overcast today....and I got laundry needing to be done??? EEErrrr.

can we ever win?

LOL

 

[FarmerChick]

nothing much today....the usual work and all.
feed animals fast as I can to get that over with and want to do a load of laundry. will hang out but overcast, so I am sure I will end up with a short time in the dryer.

hope that sun pops thru today????? tomorrow is supposed to be sunny...we shall see.

gotta box orders for the post office. stupid post office closes at 10:15 on Saturdays. who closes at 15 after the hour??? what is that...LOL-LOL

so gotta get moving and get those orders done and mailed.

off I go to get some work done and check in later...today is not going to be a back breaking day...not in the mood...LOL

 

[FarmerChick]

So busy and hard to get on the site to post but got a minute now.

Update on hay situation....we put down just a few acres and got 30 large round bales....we have tons in the barns so not putting anymore fields down. That leaves like 60 acres of hay to reseed and will do a fall cutting hopefully. Got the baler fixed...UGH....something always breaks and alot of work to fix the stupid equipment.

Soap sales thru the roof. Trying to figure a way to make the soap biz easier...more streamlined. But in the end it is just me making soap and I make it to midnight sometimes..HA HA...just alot of work but I like it.

Got the pool clear finally. Had enough with it so I took a water sample to the store and they fixed me. $60 later I have a crystal clear pool now..HA HA....Nicole and I to swim a bit now....at least there is tons of sun finally.

Big T-storm last night but sunny now.

When it dries out today I have to mow the world!!! The rain is making it impossible to keep weeds and grass at bay but that is OK...go with the flow right?


Alot of work for nothing........I wrangled all the baby goats and put them in the side pasture with their own barn. Getting ready to take to auction. Kept my 4 nice does for replacement in the herd, the rest in the other pasture. Most were super easy to catch and move and then there was the 10 pain in the butts....even 4-5 month old bucks are super strong..LOL and catching them was a pain!!! But I got everyone separated, all done great......and I leave up to the house and look down about 1 hr. later, and all mommas and babies were together again. I forgot to secure the gate. YUP--all that hard work to separate meant nothing...LOL---so alot of work for nothing! Decided to just leave them alone for a bit. Tony can't take them to auction for 2 weeks the way his work falls, so not bothering again! Worst part was Nicole the whole time (while helping me, ugh) kept saying she was hot and wanted to go back up to the house..LOL.....so hard to do longer work jobs with a 4 year old at the barns. But she is learning well and knows more about farm animals than most adults right now. So that is good!


Almost bought a horse the other day. Yea, want one real bad. Want to ride again, but with Nicole being so little not the right time. I have no time. BUT as soon as she is in "real" school I will have 5 days per week to ride. Yup, I need "my time" and it will be coming with the school year. So she has 1 more year of pre-school and then onto the "real school" time and then I will buy a horse or 2. Right now it would be a pasture ornament and don't want to do that...if I buy one I must have time to ride! So holding off but it sure was fun to check out that horse! Getting that itch to buy..HA HA HA


Farmer markets doing very well. Dad did just over $700 and Tony did $1400 on Saturday. Banking tons of money this season. Need to save up big money for a new truck. (Of course all that isn't profit..lol...alot of expense in there) but doing very well so the economy didn't seem to hit the markets much. So happy about that.


What else?

Hmm...got to trim goat hooves soon.

Got to get in the fields and do some maintenance work on produce crops.

Corn growing well! They love the rains!

Got to get my kitchen and pantry organized. Need to get that done but no time to really get the house worked on. Just working to keep up with farming and markets and such right now. Love my new pantry but have to use it..HA HA

Supposed to go to Mom and Dads today to goof off at the lake and bring Dad soap refill for sales, eggs to sell etc. for Tuesday market....but have to stay home and make soap...>Will go tomorrow to reload him for Tues and Thurs sales. No time today. Have to work and get ahead. So will make soap today til the afternoon then Nicole and I will swim awhile. She is good at playing by herself so I can get work done but then I have to give her some time also....so play this afternoon we will.....somewhere between the tons of mowing I have to do..HA HA

Tony (TODAY) starts his normal work week again. Yup, his company is back to their regular schedule starting today.....YEAH!!! So no more unemployment checks and hopefully no more mandatory overtime etc. He only works 3 days this week to put everyone back on their standard schedules. So that is good for him. 3 --12 hr. days is enough...haha---but he will then start his 4 day schedule. Good thing is now I can try to schedule my camping vacations.

Since I know his working days now I think we will go to the river for a few days and veg out. Got my camper back the other day. All warranty work so no money...WEE....love that. Get something fixed with no payment. Gotta be happy!



This post is taking a long time to write. Working on soap in between typing...so gotta go. Need to concentrate on work.

Nicole is in my soap room with me and we are chatting and she is telling me that she is "frustrated" with having to work so much. She said she is 4 years old and should play, not work....Hmmm....maybe she is right. All work and no play--you know. And I told her she doesn't know what frustration is yet anyway..HA HA...at least not the meaning of the word.

So gotta get moving and get soaps done and eggs done and go outside and do some playtime with Nicole. By the way, her conversations are insane sometimes..HA HA...4 year olds sure come up with some crazy talk..HA HA

had more SS stuff to talk but can't right now---bye!




off I go.....see ya'll later

 

[FarmerChick]

Farming is rough!

New transmission for the monster International tractor along with some other work it needed---all to the tune of $7,000. Yup, just shoot me now OK!!!!

UGH
UGH

always something that just knocks you down and down and down

and along with the rain....my goodness the rain. Big thunderstorms are here big time!!!!

Mom and Dad lost their canopy over the dock at the lake, lost their biggest pine tree that was fab, lost 2 Bradford pears in the front yard and the neighbors also took damage hits to homes and trees. Nothing to me but their area got nailed.

Pool is clear....big deal! COOL outside....and rainy and nasty and miserable......geez where in the hell is summer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sick of this crap big time now. I need the sun and it isn't around...BLAH!


Gotta get a camping trip going. I need to get the heck away from all this mess right now but the way Tony's days fall for work it doesn't look promising.....but I think I will have him take some vacation days cause I must get out of Dodge and have a change of pace.


So ya'll can tell my mood today...HA HA AH

washing tons of eggs! and I mean tons! All sell so that is good but the work is getting very old after 10 years of washing eggs..HA HA


Tony took the truck in for work.....only $250 but I don't need that bill now either......UGH and BLAH!


Whacked the heck out of my hand. Blood everywhere. Swelled up monster size and sore as heck. I don't think it is fractured but I sure nailed the puppy. Getting a tad better now....but OW you know!?


Too much work in this busy farm season. Gotta slow down and truly starting to back down at the end of this season.

I did the unimaginable today. A store called to stock my soap and I said NO.....can you believe it. I never would think I would have done that decision...but I did. I can not keep up with the demand hardly....I make soaps at all hrs. of the day and night like a mad woman so I told the store I was at my limit and couldn't handle any more customers. WOW.....that was a first.....but I had to do it even though it killed me to say no. One step for me in the right direction I guess....right?


not much more other than usual work.....got some South Carolina sweet corn and freezing it from the market. My corn isn't ready and I wanted some of this delish corn so shucking and husking and all that jazz and get a small load into the freezer.....good timing too cause I used up the last of my corn a bit ago. When my fields come in I will make sure I freeze a ton of it.

About 1.5 acres of watermelons are gone...yup, damn deer....they parade thru and ate all the plants as they came up. Got about 1/2 acre left...who knows what might come of it. Not replanting, too much like more work and I don't need more work..HA HA


off to finish up some jobs.....hope everyone is doing fine!

 

[2dream]

FC what the heck did you whack your hand with? a sledge hammer? Glad its better.

Can I have some of your rain? Please, pretty please with sugar on top. It is so dry here that when I turn the water faucets on dust comes out first. Weeeeeellllllll. Maybe not quite that dry yet. But pretty hot and dusty here. We have to water the garden constantly or lose it. I know my water company is lovin me right now.

I bet it was hard to say no to the soap order but......you can only do so much.

 

[punkin]

Good grief!! Nicole is right. Too much work.

I know how you feel about the tractor expense. We get a good week of hauling and then, BAM!! Lots of money for repairs and maintenence.

And yep, not all that money is profit. Gotta put it back in the biz.

I hope your hand get better soon. Maybe that was a big painful sign for you to slow down. Way to go on saying no to more soap orders.

 

[FarmerChick]

FC what the heck did you whack your hand with? a sledge hammer? Glad its better.

Can I have some of your rain? Please, pretty please with sugar on top. It is so dry here that when I turn the water faucets on dust comes out first. Weeeeeellllllll. Maybe not quite that dry yet. But pretty hot and dusty here. We have to water the garden constantly or lose it. I know my water company is lovin me right now.

I bet it was hard to say no to the soap order but......you can only do so much.

hey 2dream...I thought you guys had my type of weather....are these storms missing you??? Hmm...might be time for a move!
UGH---the water company? Yikes that means spending money!!

yea hard to say no on the soap order, but I had to draw the line. I am over loaded and finally hit my limit and said NO....yikes, to turn away biz seems insane to me but I don't regret that decision now...

Save your garden though! You sure worked too hard to let it become a dust bowl!


My hand was a stupid thing......I was winding open the monster umbrella we have on the back deck......I got it to full open and went to lock in the handle and it just spun at warp speed back a few turns and just slapped the top of my hand and opened a gash and OW OW OW......LOL----dumb way to get hurt don't ya think...HA HA


I will live though! HA HA

 

[FarmerChick]

Good grief!! Nicole is right. Too much work.

I know how you feel about the tractor expense. We get a good week of hauling and then, BAM!! Lots of money for repairs and maintenence.

And yep, not all that money is profit. Gotta put it back in the biz.

I hope your hand get better soon. Maybe that was a big painful sign for you to slow down. Way to go on saying no to more soap orders.

I know YOU know the expense of big equipment punkin...it stinks doesn't it! but we have to pay to keep working don't we? UGH

yea saying no to the order was hard....to turn away biz seemed nuts but again, I don't regret it at all.

NOW I JUST WISH there was some sun and decent weather to swim a bit and enjoy summer! Where is summer? Sure ain't in NC right now. UGH

oh well, have to find other ways to enjoy myself--lol

 

[2dream]

All that rain is going around us. Does not even hit our radar. We seem to have some type of high pressure stalled out over us that is holding the rain off and making our temps above normal. Its suppose to be a 100 today. To early in the year for us to be this dry. This is August weather. I don't know. But have already had to put fans on the chickens and rabbits. The dog even has his own persoanl fan. No breezes just hot, dry with a gazillion % humidity that makes you feel like you can't get any oxygen. Zaps the life right out of ya.

Glad the hand is better. Save me a bucket of rain. I may have to drive up to get it. LOL