Tag Archives: drought

Jul30

It Was a Scorcher Today

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Growing up in the Central Valley of California, where summer temps reach the 110° F or warmer, I thought I knew heat.  It was mother loving HOT today.  A friend said last night that when you have a fan going in a blistering hot house that you turn it into a convection oven.  Well, I believe I’m fairly well done now.  “They” said that the temps would be between 105°-107°F, yo no sé, all I know is….what was I just saying?  Sorry, I’m a bit sun-scorched.  One day, I’ll live in a house with air conditioning, but right now I’m putting in my time, on this whole homestead thing…I’m earning my stripes so to speak.  Chime in though, tell me I’m crazy.

See more pictures, of Heidi, Laura and I doing our thing at dusk, because that’s the way we do it around hrrrr.

Visit:  Ozark Alternatives

And thanks : )

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May7

Car Accident

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Today we were supposed to welcome two WWOOF’ers coming from Little Rock area, originally from Japan, Shiori and her friend Kyohei.  Unfortunately someone hit her car as they were preparing to leave town.  So, we will welcome them on monday instead.  In other news, Farmer’s Market take two tomorrow.  Paul, the kids and I will b e standing out in GORGEOUS weather hustling.  I’m so glad the weather will be nice.  Last week, if you read, rained and only a few people showed up.  Hopefully the crowds manifest themselves tomorrow.  Also, to all of the Mother’s out there, Happy Mother’s Day!  I can’t forget to call mine tomorrow, I’ve been so busy, I didn’t even mail a card…I feel bad Mom.  I LOVE YOU.  It’s because of her that I have a green thumb.  What a true inspiration she has been in my life.  Shiori, Kyohei, we will see you Monday afternoon.  To all of my other WWOOF’ers past, I hope your journeys are going well.  Thanks for the post cards ; )

Sep12

Excuse me, where are my manners

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We have had a wave of exceptional help lately that has been a positive force in this whole circus.  I can say “Thank you” until I’m blue in the face at them, I still don’t think it would do justice to the amount of appreciation that Paul and I have.  Thank you again though, for good measure.

Everybody, meet Rose.

She has been a tremendous help for us these past few weeks.

This particular day we harvested the seeds from my spring cilantro and seeded a new bed with them.

Everybody, meet Beth.

Also a big help.  Beth is interning on the farm.

Everybody, meet our county fair Grand Champion!

Everybody, meet our first place winner!

Now in this picture are more volunteers, Jason and Jen.  I don’t have better pictures of them, sorry Jen and Jason.  They too are a great help.  This is a picture of the work party today.

Sep12

Community Garden shots and Beyond

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During the dry spell, I also took photos of the state of the Community Garden and our North beds.

Entry, south side.

Path, overgrown, but still there.  These next pictures are examples of what’s going on in the community garden as of two weeks ago, give or take a few days.  These examples show the effects of the heat and the lack of water.

Our neighbor Cliff planted Zinnias amongst his tomatoes, they were beautiful.  Even in this “on the way out” thing they had going on.

These next pictures are of the North beds.

Arkansas Travelers.

Weepy Okra.

Overgrown, dead, raspberries.

Cherry tomatoes.

“Rachel” peppers.

Watermelons, that never got any water.

Example of the heat.  Dead grass.

Cherokee Purples.

Brandywine, heirloom.

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Sep12

A look back, like a week and a half…

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I have mentioned before that it was really DRY here.  It didn’t rain for six weeks.  Due to this lack of rain, a lot of things died.  Those that did not die, suffered.  Here are a few photos.

Pathway through some peach trees to my house, dry grass.

Victory garden, the Japanese Maple Paul planted wilted and turned brown.  The tree is still alive, it just got heat stroke I guess.

View of Victory Garden from the deck.

The grass in front of my house.  I just couldn’t believe it.  It died.  But it has been raining, so now it’s green.

More views of Victory garden.

Suffering.

Herbs that died.  I believe this to be my oregano.

Sep9

Rain

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We have received an enormous amount of rain within the last couple of days.  It’s great, really…even though it’s a little too late, but I’m not complaining.  I’ll take it.  Lately, we have been pulling out summer crops, weeding and prepping for fall crops.  Paul broke his foot two weeks ago and hasn’t been able to do any work on the farm, so I have been up with the sun and taking care of business…and have witnessed a little “shoe on the other foot” action.  I didn’t realize all of the chores Paul did everyday.  Kudos.  It has in a way made me feel really bad-ass.  I have calluses on my hands, blisters upon blisters, I deal with chickens, twice daily……ehehhh.  He needs to heal.  I keep bugging Paul to blog.  He as a page at the top of this blog, but he says that he’s too busy.  Mmmmmhmmm.  Your foot is broken, you sit…I think you can type down some thoughts.  Please leave comments to let Paul know that his voice needs to be heard.  Thank you.

Aug31

Dry and more dryness

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Our area of the world is extremely dry at the moment.  I returned to Arkansas from California anticipating rain and lushness.  It has not rained once since I’ve been back.  Due to this lack of moisture, a lot of our crops failed.  Here on the farm we have no water to irrigate with.  Well, we do, just no time or resources to make it happen.  We went into this year “dry farming”, which means we mulched the heck out of everything and let Mother Nature take over.  Imagine my fingers doing a pinching motion when I say we are this close to performing a rain dance.  Something has got to give!

A few days ago we planted lettuce, spinach, chard and kale seed in a bed in front of our house.  This means I have been hauling in water twice a day to water them in.  However, with low humidity and high winds I feel like my effort is futile.  We will see.