Lots of Chores Done

I had a super good morning after a very crummy night.  Still having sleep problems but I survive!

Today was a beautiful sunny and warm day.  It wasn't windy at all when I went out at 8 AM.  First on the list was to skim  the previous  milking.  I ended up with 2 full cups to go with the two cups in the fridge.

Next on the list was dormant oil spraying.  With our many drizzly days and high winds this was the first time I saw a 3-day window to get this job done.  I couldn't do the peaches and plums because they were in full bloom but I did the apples and pears and one prune plum which blooms late.  A first for me!  I hooked up the garden cart that had the sprayer in it and loaded the battery and hooked it up and it was a go the first time!  Usually I have to charge the battery but it held over the winter months.  I mixed the oil and began in the garden first where I have two pears trees that are just showing buds, no color at all, and there is one apple with nothing showing.  Then off to the orchard where I discovered an iffy tree had died over winter.  I sprayed a peach that is a late bloomer, a prune plum and another apple.  Two plums Superior and Shiro were in full bloom.

I have more fruit trees to plant:  A yellow delicious, an Arkansas Black, a Red Haven peach, a North Star Cherry and a Wilson  Delicious Apricot.  My old apricot tree is about half dead and we were worried the cherry tree was fading.

I decided the entire orchard needed  mowing so I disconnected the garden cart, lowered the blade and mowed .  I headed back to the garden and mowed around it.  I discovered a few short asparagus tips that I will keep my eye on.  Several have died out but I have two nice clumps left.

Was going to mow the front yard but was very low on gas so decided to quit for the day.  Max will have to fill the mower for me.  I can't handle those 5-gallon cans.  I need to check  we may have gasoline in the tanks out back that just have hoses that I can fill with.

I came in and made butter.  I got 11.4 oz. from l quart of heavy cream.  I am getting quite a supply in the freezer.  Max said the calf is starting to take more milk so we may have to start separating them  the night before we milk.  But as it is, we are getting more than we need.

Miscellaneous pictures:

This is the seedling peach outside the kitchen.  It had a few large peaches last year.


This is a new flat-cupped daffodil that was in a mixed bag from White Flower Farm:



I wanted to take more of the different daffodils but the wind got up extremely powerful this afternoon and it was impossible to hold the  bloom and photograph.  I hope the wind doesn't bring rain!

Another Day in my life.......

It was a very cool, cloudy day here yesterday.  I worked outside and got lots of different things done.  First I sprayed herbicide along the concrete building  that edges the west side of the orchard.  It has sort of bays with concrete walls that aren't 'mowable' with the riding mower and I hate that much string trimming.  While out there I also thinned some more on the two peach trees and the Shiro plum. 

I always miss a branch or more and have to catch them when the weight of the fruit makes it drop down to get my attention,


I still have the one Liberty apple......I feel like I should bag it so nothing gets it before I do!  No fruit on the apricot or prune plum. 

I had enough spray to hit most of the fence row around the orchard.  When we get lots of rain, the weeds grow just like the garden plants.....big culprit back here is dock and wild carrot and something that looks like a vining geranium that is so tough you can't cut it with the trimmer.

I don't like using herbicides but sometimes have to.

I am in the process of killing all the brome from the cellar.  I am tired of trying to keep it out of the yard and flower beds.  It self-seeds everywhere.  The cellar will look pretty ugly for a while but so be it.  The other killing job is eliminating the euonymous from the brick chimney and the vinca major from around the foundation on the west side.  I don't know if what I used is strong enough to kill it.  I should know in about a week.  I wonder if crimson clover would work as a ground cover on the cellar??

I came in and fixed leftover beef and noodles with a side of mixed veggies for lunch.  Later in the afternoon I picked about 2 quarts or more of strawberries and we had a dish for supper.  I may make jam with the rest today.

Pictures

I don't really like to grow clematis this way but I have a couple of viticellas that I let ramble.  This one is climbing over an alba rose.  I love the albas even though they just bloom once in the spring but their fragrance is wonderful.



The poppies are still opening,

The Fruit trees are Blooming

Up at 3:15 AM, 51° and supposed to be unseasonably warm all week.  The rains fizzled out here; we may have received 3/4 inch total.  Fickle weathermen!

I have begun, slowly. to clean up flower beds.  More and more daffs are blooming.  I finally remembered to uncover my whiskey barrel where I had planted hyacinths and tulips last fall.  I waited so late they were bleached badly but trying to bloom.  I had layered a flake of hay over it to keep the numerous cats from using it as a litter box!  I hope to get their full green color back.

I think this is Ice Follies,
 

The chickens have been laying really well.  I am trying to pull lots of henbit and chickweed daily and give them.  There isn't a blade of grass in either of their yards.

Our helper, A, has worked  several afternoons this past week trying to keep the neighbor's cows out, but they are still getting on us so they are going to use some corral panels we have and see if that works.  If they weren't on starvation, I am sure they wouldn't be so interested in our grass.  We have to get it stopped some way!


The Orchard

I have been pruning the trees and watching with a great deal of worry the buds  on them.  The apples are still safe and most of the pear trees, but some of the peaches are fully opened. They can just tolerate a few hours of 27-29° before the fruit will be killed and that most likely will happen.  There is nothing to be done.

Of course, the two apricot trees are blooming,

The Kieffer pear is showing color on the buds too,

The plum in the west end of the garden is in fully bloom, it could stand to loose a few blooms,

The plums in the new orchard have a smattering of blooms. This is the Queen Rose,
,
This is the Madison Peach which is supposed to be a very cold hardy one.  I am keeping my fingers crossed.  At least it isn't opened yet, but this week of 80° will probably change that.

I think this is the Red Gold nectarine tree,


The cows got into the orchard and drug the electric fence all over it.  They didn't damage the trees but they chewed off most of the labels on the trees so I am guessing on some.  I should have done a map of the trees, but didn't.  Very careless of me!

This is the Gloria Peach.  It is a later variety and no buds are showing color yet.


I think this is the new Harlayne apricot tree, no tag......That's the Queen Rose plum in the background.



Thankfully, the apple trees are all in this stage so they should be good,



and this is the sorry little  Liberty apple which was a replacement when the wind broke off the other one at the graft.  I think I will be sorry I bought this one.  It seems to be a weak tree but it did survive the winter and has a few buds on it.  Note, the cows also ate the ties and I grabbed a piece of electric wire so the winds  wouldn't break this one off.  I have some nylon stockings to use for replacement ties.
 


Cows

I tried to get a picture of Jewel (Jersey) but she is so nosy and friendly I ended up with her face.  That is Willow's baby in the background.   She isn't nearly as friendly (like her Momma).

I tossed  some henbit on the ground in order to get this one (she didn't care for it!)
She is getting taller than I expected.



Breakfast is calling.........

The Orchard

This is supposed to be our last hot day; then down cooler than normal and with a tantalizing promise of rain. I only get excited when I hear it hitting the awnings!

I hope I have mowed and watered the orchard/garden area for the last time. I do hope to till it before the ground freezes.

We have 8 fruit trees back there: Liberty apple, Gloria Peach, Madison Peach, Shiro plum, a Santa Rosa type plum, Stanley plum, a nectarine, and another apricot. If the weather permits, we could get a few peaches next year. I may order three more trees, dwarf this time. These are semi-dwarf. I want an Arkansas Black apple, a crabapple (they can be great pollinators), and another sour cherry tree.



and this is our winter supply of hay. It is just south of the orchard.



and this is the gate between the two area that opens into the whole 20-acre field.
We have these two areas fenced off with hot wire.



This is taken looking west to the barn with the new doors, the holding pen where the babies are and Willow who now has access to the hay storage area that has lots of grass, dried I might add, for her to graze....or she can attack the hay. We keep a stock tank of water inside the barn lot to the left of the picture.

I have plans to do some mowing around the house where the grass has been growing because of the water it gets when I water the foundation beds.