Ohiofarmgirl'sAdventuresinTheGoodLand-where ya been? whatcha been doin

[bibliophile birds]

Biblio - is the fire on the mountain getting close to your place? We can see the smoke from ours.

actually, the fire IS my place... you can see the saga in picture form here.

so, Tuesday night my brother comes screeching in, grabbing stuff left and right, totally freaking out. he informs me that there's a fire on property on the mountain (we go to the top of the mountain if you are looking at the pictures). he and my dad spent 4 hours on horseback trying to find it, but the wind kept shifting and it was getting too dangerous. naturally, the fire department can't get a truck ANY where near it and the forestry service couldn't come out til the next morning.

they finally got up to it yesterday morning and found a four wheeler in the middle of the blaze. so we don't know if someone was riding up there and it just caught fire or if someone set it on fire deliberately. either way they were MASSIVELY trespassing.

all attempts to put it out have failed. they started a fire trench which did nothing. now they've been setting "back burn fires" all day, so instead of being a smallish fire (~2 acres) it's now like half the mountain... luckily it's not come down close to the pastures, houses, or barn. yet.

who knows what it will look like tomorrow.

(sorry for hijacking OFG. back to regularly scheduled programming...)

eta: to make matters even worse, we've had about a million random people pulling onto the farm to watch the fire. i know people are naturally curious and that they aren't trying to be a problem, but the last thing you really want while watching your forest burn because of trespassers is MORE trespassers.... even the harmless ones.

eta2: just realized that there is ANOTHER fire burning in the park. i believe it's over closer to your place, so maybe THAT's the smoke you are seeing... who knows at this point.

 

[freemotion]

Free how long do you have to let your wine age? Congrats by the way!

My tomatoes went in at the right time and I still have nothing but greens. Free did yours ever ripen? I guess we just didn't get hot enough this year. (I'm not complaining!)

Dunno on the wine aging, I'm thinking at least a year. Then experiment if any is left. I tend to give such things as gifts if they are good. And four adults can go through some wine, even without being lushes!

I saw a few ripe looking tomatoes today from through the fence, but didn't have time to go pick any. They can wait. I planted 35 plants in a new garden, rich with compost, and it is an absolute jungle in there! I decided to let them sprawl, as there was just too much going on here this spring and something had to give. It was ok in such a dry year, but I really think my soil is too rich and I'm getting more plant than fruit.

The potential is enormous, though. I think I'll finally make some fried green tomatoes this weekend, to go with the three Georges.

 

[freemotion]

Whoa, BB, hope they get that under control SOON!!! Will you get rain tomorrow?

 

[kcsunshine]

Ooo. Too close for comfort. Sorry OFG - we did it again. You all just go on and enjoy your early Friday. Good night.

 

[ohiofarmgirl]

** catching up **

Bibbird - HOLY CRAP! hope they get the fire under control!!!

Free - been meaning to ask whatcha gonna do with them roosters....

BBH - seriously i'm too tired to drink.. i'm fixin to go to bed! but you and D carry on...

AL - i always make the same peach/berry/apple pie:

mix together in a big bowl and let set a few minutes:
* fruit to fill a pie plate really full
* coupla shakes of tapioca
* a couple tablespoons, if that, of brown sugar
* shake of cinnamon
* splash of vanilla

lard crust, of course, or same filling as a cobbler/crisp

baked in a slowish oven to allow the fruit to get all melty



now where is the ice cream.. yum!

'night now. i'm out. see you tomorrow!

 

[bibliophile birds]

Whoa, BB, hope they get that under control SOON!!! Will you get rain tomorrow?

40% chance.

we just heard that their strategy is to basically let it burn so long as it doesn't get out of control (whatever that means) and doesn't threaten the lower part of the farm (where all the "important" things are). so.... sure. i guess i was just being a bit naive and sentimental when i was thinking about the forest as important...

thanks for the thoughts guys, it does help.

 

[AL]

One of the bright spots of living in FLorida.... we can plant any of our spring crops now.


ETA - I had left this reply marinating while I went to a meeting (yes, corporate monkey ).
I hope all works out ok, BB, be safe!

 

[Farmfresh]

Whoa, BB, hope they get that under control SOON!!! Will you get rain tomorrow?

40% chance.

we just heard that their strategy is to basically let it burn so long as it doesn't get out of control (whatever that means) and doesn't threaten the lower part of the farm (where all the "important" things are). so.... sure. i guess i was just being a bit naive and sentimental when i was thinking about the forest as important...

thanks for the thoughts guys, it does help.

So sorry to here your news! I hope they can get it out soon. The good thing about it is that at this time of the year most trees are still very green and full of sap. It will probably destroy the undergrowth and a few trees, but the majority of them (although possibly damaged) will probably come back and better than ever.

My grandpa used to set our woods at the lake on fire - on purpose! I was always so mad at him when he did it. After a while I noticed that amazingly the fires did seem to be beneficial in the long run.

Now I am becoming more and more amazed about the prairie that they burn near us in Kansas every year to third year. We went to watch them burning that in late April. It looked like the surface of a weird and black moon. Then we went back in early June and it was so green it hurt your eyes. Nature is amazing. Try not to worry about your forest too much.

 

[kcsunshine]

Wow, Biblio, that fire must be something. I can smell it from my house. It must be unbearable at yours.

 

[Dace]

Oh Biblio....I know how frightening that is. I am saying a prayer that the fire gets put out quickly wwith minimal damage.
Update is when you can.

We have a fire going here, not too close to where I am but these things move fast, so I am paying attention.

OFG, I am copy & pasting that pie recipe...sounds super delish!!