Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Haying at Last

The weather is still very hot and humid.  The rains have let up somewhat.

The cut about 15 acres of hay yesterday and it is now waiting to be raked.  The showered on it very briefly yesterday evening.  We still have a chance of getting it wet, but it was past time to get it put down.  Max is making all the decisions regarding the hay.......I get  torn  between wanting  it  cut and afraid it will get rained on.....I am not good at making decisions whether they are large or small.

I haven't done much outside the last two days  for one reason or the other.  I did finally get 4 bales of straw mulched on the garden fence border and the sweet potatoes.  I hated to do it but I resorted to herbicide for some weed control.

We put the trail camera out to see what was happening around the compound during the night.  First night in the chicken yard we caught zip until we turned the girls out the next morning.   Then we did another night and I put  the memory card in backwards................no excuse for that dumb thing.

We  put it out around the feed room last night and just caught ghost figures of light colored cats moving about.  We did get

some nice shots of some of the  cows (Jersey and friends) when we moved it the the gate in front of the garage.
From night camera
Varmint No.l before he took the memory card out.



We have been enjoying our morning coffee on the new porch.  This morning it was just 72° which was perfect.

When the sun came up I took a picture or two:


This is the seedling peach right outside the kitchen window.  I didn't  realize it had peaches until they turned color.



This is the hill of Long Island Cheese Squash (pumpkin) that I planted in the new bed in front of the gas tank.  I thought I would use it as ground cover so I wouldn't have to cut  the crab grass.  It  worked!  I am guessing it is at least 15x20 feet.  I still need to wade in and pull some taller lamb's quarter.



and another gift from the birds:



This is a perennial rudbeckia 'Herbstonne' that has been growing here for several years now.  I should figure a way to stake it because it gets 6 feet tall in really good years and tends to lean or fall.


The only productive thing I have done is make a  batch of Lemon Thyme Shortbread Cookies.


This recipe is from Bonnie Plants:
If time is short, you can bake the cookies immediately. However, placing the cookies in the freezer to firm before baking helps the cookies maintain a perfect shape as they bake. You can substitute chopped fresh rosemary or lavender for the lemon thyme.
Servings: 2 dozen
Ingredients
  • 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon thyme leaves
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Combine flour, thyme leaves, and salt in a small bowl, and set aside.
Process butter and sugar in a food processor until smooth and well combined, stopping to scrape down sides. Add vanilla; process 15 seconds.
Add flour mixture; pulse 10 to 12 times until dough pulls away from sides of bowl and forms a ball.
Divide dough in half. Roll each half to ¼-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface, adding just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking. Cut with a 2-inch cookie cutter, and place cookies 1 inch apart on parchment-lined cookie sheets. Place cookie sheets in freezer for 20 minutes or until cookies are firm to the touch.
Bake at 275 for 30 minutes or just until edges begin to brown. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.





10 comments:

  1. Another enjoyable post! I hope your hay doesn't get too wet to be raked up. What a worry!

    Hope you'll catch a picture of the varmint to ease your minds and you can figure out what to do next.

    Peaches, sunflowers, rudbeckia, morning on the porch, fresh baked cookies. It all looks good to me.

    Enjoy the rest of the week dear Glenda ~ FlowerLady

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    1. Well, the hay is iffy................been drizzling all morning. Such is life on the farm.

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  2. Hi Glenda, you should delete that jerk Steve comment. Total idiot. Anyway, nice to see the critter cam in action. What a lovely view from your 'new' porch! Bet you are really happy with how it turned out. My deck is festooned with 3 new shade umbrellas this year and it's very cheerful out there now. Wow - surprise peaches. What a treat.

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    1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  3. Glad you pointed that out Kris! If I start having that kind of thing, I will quit blogging!

    It is fun each morning to check the camera....just got Max's knees this morning.

    I hope you are enjoying the shade umbrellas. I have to remind myself to stop and enjoy the peace. I bet you do too.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Unless you get totally overwhelmed with idiot comments, please don't stop blogging. Don't let them get between you and your avid followers. Just delete the stuff. I have that prob every couple of years. When their comments dissapear, then so do they.

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  4. Glenda,

    Beautiful pictures as always!!
    Don't let bloggers who say bad or hurtful things bother you, just delete them. You can also eliminate anonymous bloggers from placing comments on your blog.

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    1. I guess I was just shocked because this was a first for me. At least it wasn't some obscene thing like I just found in my spam folder.

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  5. I don't allow Anon commenters on my blog and so far that one thing has made a big difference in the "quality" of comments. Of course, I don't get many comments but oh, well. Mostly those Anons are just trying to advertise their site. If I got much of it, or obscenity, I'd start moderating and delete stuff like that before it gets posted. They give up when they don't get to see their rude comments posted. Nothing shocks me, and ugly opinions from folks I don't know don't bother me because I don't much care what they think. Sad fact is that there are a lot of people that get their kicks being rude online, where they're safe from being punched in the face.

    Great post, we're getting rain, hope you don't get any till the hay's up. I know hay gets "spoiled" and can't be fed to horses if it's been wet, but does that go for cattle, too?

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  6. If you can get the cut hay dried thoroughly before baling, not much is lost. If it is baled too wet and molds it becomes mulch! Looks rainy again today so it is very iffy as hay at this point.

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