Ben a busy week at the home/farm.

[Box of frogs]

I took a week of vacation to get some things done around here I’ve been putting off and to get the back field ready to plant.

I am so damn tired I am a walking zombie. Here’s what I’ve been up too
Plowed the back field
Set the rows (38 rows 200 feet long)
Used the disc bedder to build raised furrows
HAND fertilized the rows (btw - 13-13-13 prices have tripled since last season)
Doing this job by hand was a back breaker- I can’t afford to broadcast the whole plot with fertilizer at 27$ a bag. So I hauled a bucket up and down the rows with 1/2 a bag at a time- not the best idea I’ve had but it worked.
Going to plant Friday if the weather cooperates.
12 rows corn, 2 rows squash, 4 rows purple hull peas, 4 rows limas, 4 rows butter peas, 2 rows collard greens, 1 row cantaloupe, 3 rows watermelon, 1 row Roma toms, 1 row better boy toms, 1 row jalapeño, 1 row bell peppers, and putting in pumpkin later in the spring.
The watermelon and pumpkin will be my cash crop.

Brought in 10 tons of crush-run to work on the driveway and make a second parking area at the carport.

The best part of this week was hiring a guy with a skid steer to do some forestry mulching. Those machines are freaking amazing. I am recovering a shit load of land that was unusable due to the heavy undergrowth and nasty ass wild privet bushes.
I should be able to keep it all maintenanced with the bush hog once he’s finished. I got 2.5 acres of the 9 acres cleared that I want to recover from going wild under the previous owners time here.

BoF

[Box of frogs]

Oh yeah - the new chickens arrived today so I had to break out the brooder and clean that whole set up.
I have them all fed, watered and exploring their new digs on the back deck.

BoF

[hawgrider]

Busy busy..

Keeps ya out of the bars and pool halls. :bigthumbup:

[Slippy]

That's some "grown ass man" work right there! Good job BoF!


I took a week of vacation to get some things done around here I’ve been putting off and to get the back field ready to plant.

I am so damn tired I am a walking zombie. Here’s what I’ve been up too
Plowed the back field
Set the rows (38 rows 200 feet long)
Used the disc bedder to build raised furrows
HAND fertilized the rows (btw - 13-13-13 prices have tripled since last season)
Doing this job by hand was a back breaker- I can’t afford to broadcast the whole plot with fertilizer at 27$ a bag. So I hauled a bucket up and down the rows with 1/2 a bag at a time- not the best idea I’ve had but it worked.
Going to plant Friday if the weather cooperates.
12 rows corn, 2 rows squash, 4 rows purple hull peas, 4 rows limas, 4 rows butter peas, 2 rows collard greens, 1 row cantaloupe, 3 rows watermelon, 1 row Roma toms, 1 row better boy toms, 1 row jalapeño, 1 row bell peppers, and putting in pumpkin later in the spring.
The watermelon and pumpkin will be my cash crop.

Brought in 10 tons of crush-run to work on the driveway and make a second parking area at the carport.

The best part of this week was hiring a guy with a skid steer to do some forestry mulching. Those machines are freaking amazing. I am recover a shot load of land that was unusable so to the heavy undergrowth and nasty ass wild privet bushes.
I should be able to keep it all maintenances with the bush hog one he’s finished. I got 2.5 acres of the 9 acres cleared that I want to recover from going wild under the previous owners time here.

BoF

[Inor]

I took a week of vacation to get some things done around here I’ve been putting off and to get the back field ready to plant.

I am so damn tired I am a walking zombie. Here’s what I’ve been up too
Plowed the back field
Set the rows (38 rows 200 feet long)
Used the disc bedder to build raised furrows
HAND fertilized the rows (btw - 13-13-13 prices have tripled since last season)
Doing this job by hand was a back breaker- I can’t afford to broadcast the whole plot with fertilizer at 27$ a bag. So I hauled a bucket up and down the rows with 1/2 a bag at a time- not the best idea I’ve had but it worked.
Going to plant Friday if the weather cooperates.
12 rows corn, 2 rows squash, 4 rows purple hull peas, 4 rows limas, 4 rows butter peas, 2 rows collard greens, 1 row cantaloupe, 3 rows watermelon, 1 row Roma toms, 1 row better boy toms, 1 row jalapeño, 1 row bell peppers, and putting in pumpkin later in the spring.
The watermelon and pumpkin will be my cash crop.

Brought in 10 tons of crush-run to work on the driveway and make a second parking area at the carport.

The best part of this week was hiring a guy with a skid steer to do some forestry mulching. Those machines are freaking amazing. I am recover a shot load of land that was unusable so to the heavy undergrowth and nasty ass wild privet bushes.
I should be able to keep it all maintenances with the bush hog one he’s finished. I got 2.5 acres of the 9 acres cleared that I want to recover from going wild under the previous owners time here.

BoF

Damn! Just damn!

Take a day and recover, you deserve it!

[Sasquatch]

I'm right there with you. Most of my "vacation" days are spent working on the house.

[Dwight55]

.............
Plowed the back field
Set the rows (38 rows 200 feet long)
Used the disc bedder to build raised furrows
HAND fertilized the rows (btw - 13-13-13 prices have tripled since last season)...............
BoF

I really wish I was joining you . . .

My "garden" this year will be on a 4 ft, 5 ft, 6 ft, 8 ft step ladder . . . a walking plank . . . and extension ladder . . .

With a drywall knife . . . taping knife . . . putty knife . . . roll of drywall tape . . . spatula . . . sponge . . . bucket of water . . . either on the ladder . . . in my pocket . . . or in my hand.

Somewhere there will also be multiple different buckets of paint . . . maybe wall paper . . . maybe just ceiling trim . . . not sure.

May lay some bricks around the wood stove . . . whole thing is up in the air . . .

Moved in in Jan 97 . . . and it needs a "facelift" . . . it was supposed to get last summer . . . but the garden came first (I told my wife) . . . and she wouldn't buy that excuse two years in a row . . . so the garden is off and out. Maybe a couple tomato plants in buckets on the front porch . . .

Gonna be one ugly summer in my opinion . . . but at least it WILL BE summer . . .

May God bless,
Dwight

[Prepared One]

I took a week of vacation to get some things done around here I’ve been putting off and to get the back field ready to plant.

I am so damn tired I am a walking zombie. Here’s what I’ve been up too
Plowed the back field
Set the rows (38 rows 200 feet long)
Used the disc bedder to build raised furrows
HAND fertilized the rows (btw - 13-13-13 prices have tripled since last season)
Doing this job by hand was a back breaker- I can’t afford to broadcast the whole plot with fertilizer at 27$ a bag. So I hauled a bucket up and down the rows with 1/2 a bag at a time- not the best idea I’ve had but it worked.
Going to plant Friday if the weather cooperates.
12 rows corn, 2 rows squash, 4 rows purple hull peas, 4 rows limas, 4 rows butter peas, 2 rows collard greens, 1 row cantaloupe, 3 rows watermelon, 1 row Roma toms, 1 row better boy toms, 1 row jalapeño, 1 row bell peppers, and putting in pumpkin later in the spring.
The watermelon and pumpkin will be my cash crop.

Brought in 10 tons of crush-run to work on the driveway and make a second parking area at the carport.

The best part of this week was hiring a guy with a skid steer to do some forestry mulching. Those machines are freaking amazing. I am recover a shot load of land that was unusable so to the heavy undergrowth and nasty ass wild privet bushes.
I should be able to keep it all maintenances with the bush hog one he’s finished. I got 2.5 acres of the 9 acres cleared that I want to recover from going wild under the previous owners time here.

BoF

You wore me out just reading this.

[MountainGirl]

I took a week of vacation to get some things done around here I’ve been putting off and to get the back field ready to plant.

I am so damn tired I am a walking zombie. Here’s what I’ve been up too
Plowed the back field
Set the rows (38 rows 200 feet long)
Used the disc bedder to build raised furrows
HAND fertilized the rows (btw - 13-13-13 prices have tripled since last season)
Doing this job by hand was a back breaker- I can’t afford to broadcast the whole plot with fertilizer at 27$ a bag. So I hauled a bucket up and down the rows with 1/2 a bag at a time- not the best idea I’ve had but it worked.
Going to plant Friday if the weather cooperates.
12 rows corn, 2 rows squash, 4 rows purple hull peas, 4 rows limas, 4 rows butter peas, 2 rows collard greens, 1 row cantaloupe, 3 rows watermelon, 1 row Roma toms, 1 row better boy toms, 1 row jalapeño, 1 row bell peppers, and putting in pumpkin later in the spring.
The watermelon and pumpkin will be my cash crop.

Brought in 10 tons of crush-run to work on the driveway and make a second parking area at the carport.

The best part of this week was hiring a guy with a skid steer to do some forestry mulching. Those machines are freaking amazing. I am recover a shot load of land that was unusable so to the heavy undergrowth and nasty ass wild privet bushes.
I should be able to keep it all maintenances with the bush hog one he’s finished. I got 2.5 acres of the 9 acres cleared that I want to recover from going wild under the previous owners time here.

BoF

Wow. Dont know what your regular job is, but it sounds like you'll need to get back to work to rest up from your 'vacation'!

Thanks for posting this BoF. It's possible, seeing all the potential at TenOaks, for us to forget the reason we're making the move... and that is to have an easy life for the rest of our lives. Your story is a good reminder to stay on our plan. I applaud you, your efforts, your wanting to do all this... and I truly hope you're doing what you want, and that it's also a labor of love... life is so short, gotta enjoy each day best we can, cause who knows how many we have left. Warmest regards. :)

[Box of frogs]

... and I truly hope you're doing what you want, and that it's also a labor of love... life is so short, gotta enjoy each day best we can, cause who knows how many we have left. Warmest regards. :)

Thanks MG,
I am absolutely doing what I want to here around the farm. This is a dream for me to be able to provide for myself and share with my family what I can grow on my own land. Its for sure labor, sometimes of love and sometimes of necessity.
If this seasons planting come through I will have enough veggies in the freezer and dried bean to last me through the rest of the year. The chickens that came yesterday are to replace the 8 adult birds that we lost to dogs over the winter, but that is another story.
Once I've reclaimed some more of the overgrown wooded ares the next job will be fences and then COWS !!!
Two more years of 9-5 and then I should be able to stop working (if jack ass Biden doesn't bankrupt the nation and my 401k first) and do the farm thing everyday..... that will be bliss
BoF

[Box of frogs]

18283

18284

After fertilizing yesterday a lidacaine patch on my back was wonderful.
Moving around like a human again instead of the hunchback of Notre’dame

[Piratesailor]

Excellent work!!! I”m very impressed.

We almost lost two of our horses the other day. They somehow managed to get past a temporary fence and into my wife’s garden. I’m glad she wasn’t armed at the time. Luckily, no damage. Permanent fence going up next week.

Do you have many critters causing issues?

[Jester-ND]

3-day blizzard here with 40+ mph wind and 20-30 inches of snow... we ain't done shit....

[Box of frogs]

3-day blizzard here with 40+ mph wind and 20-30 inches of snow... we ain't done shit....

Holy shit.
It was 78f here today. Move south brother.

BoF

[Box of frogs]

Excellent work!!! I”m very impressed.

We almost lost two of our horses the other day. They somehow managed to get past a temporary fence and into my wife’s garden. I’m glad she wasn’t armed at the time. Luckily, no damage. Permanent fence going up next week.

Do you have many critters causing issues?

We don’t have any livestock at this time.
Only chickens, we are covered up in deer though.
BoF

[Jester-ND]

Holy shit.
It was 78f here today. Move south brother.

BoF

Hard pass brother..... too many people the further south I go....

[Box of frogs]

Note to self;
Next year buy an two row towable seeder.

Those little push planters are not all they are marketed to be. I had a time of trouble getting it to work properly in the raised rows.

BoF

[T-Man 1066]

Note to self;
Next year buy an two row towable seeder.

Those little push planters are not all they are marketed to be. I had a time of trouble getting it to work properly in the raised rows.

BoF

I got a 12 row IH 900 I could hook you up with! :smashfreak:

[Box of frogs]

I got a 12 row IH 900 I could hook you up with! :smashfreak:
I’m not sure if my Kubota would even pull that much attachment.

[T-Man 1066]

Yea full its about 12000 #'s. My 1066 is about all it wants.

[Box of frogs]

Picked the first corn of the season this evening.
Shucking and stripping it off the cobs tomorrow night
Should have another load by Friday about 1/2 this much then two weeks before the rest of the rows are ready

BoF
19099

[Box of frogs]

Picked another 250 +/- ears tonight.
That’s the second picking on the first 5 rows of corn.
The next 5 rows should be ready in 10-14 days.

Me and Mrs Frogs have put up corn in vacuum bags this week. We shucked and shelled 330 ears !
This batch I picked tonight is going to the local farmers market tomorrow for sale.
I hope to make enough to pay for the seed for the entire garden.

BoF

[hawgrider]

Dang frog you have it going on you do! Nice!

[StratBastard]

We don’t have any livestock at this time.
Only chickens, we are covered up in deer though.
BoF

Ooh! I'll bring the jacklight. :bullseye:

[White Shadow]

Lots of impressive gardening / farming going on. Personally, I can't even be trusted with a plastic house plant.



Not sure I would want to eat anything that came out of the soil on this lot either. Odds are pretty good there's some icky stuff in housing development top soil in this area of the state.

[Mad Trapper]

Lots of impressive gardening / farming going on. Personally, I can't even be trusted with a plastic house plant.



Not sure I would want to eat anything that came out of the soil on this lot either. Odds are pretty good there's some icky stuff in housing development top soil in this area of the state.

Get yourself a christmas cactus, this one I got from my grandmother. It's ~70-80 years old

19204

[Box of frogs]

19205
19206

Boxed up last nights corn - 320 ears
Sold it all today at the town square market. Met some nice people and listened to their stories about their gardens. Also answered a bunch of questions about growing corn for the townies.
We did make enough to cover the cost of all the garden seeds and maybe a 12 pack of good beer. Hopefully the watermelon pays for the fertilizer.

My long range plan it to have the crops pay the property taxes each year. Corn alone is not going to get that accomplished. Going to have to figure out a more profitable crop that doesn’t include a jail cell.
BoF

[Michael_Js]

This weather is destroying a lot of our crops...we don't have acres of anything, but just 4 rows of corn, about 20' per row. We have corn about 1.5' high that is starting to grow tassels! No knee high by the 4th of July this year :( What a mess...

[T-Man 1066]

Lots of impressive gardening / farming going on. Personally, I can't even be trusted with a plastic house plant.



Not sure I would want to eat anything that came out of the soil on this lot either. Odds are pretty good there's some icky stuff in housing development top soil in this area of the state.

Not sure what part of pritzker's anti-paradise you are in, but I'm near rockford, and there is a superfund site about every 1/2 mile around here I swear. Plus we like fires here in this county, think chemtool last year.

[White Shadow]

Not sure what part of pritzker's anti-paradise you are in, but I'm near rockford, and there is a superfund site about every 1/2 mile around here I swear. Plus we like fires here in this county, think chemtool last year.

Rockford? I'm sorry. At least I'm out in Will County, but there is no shortage of contaminated soil/sites. There are a lot of WWII and earlier military sites in NE IL as well as lots of industrial oopsies over the years. Housing developers don't care where the black dirt comes from, just so long as they can throw some grass seeds in it and move on.

[Slippy]

Get yourself a christmas cactus, this one I got from my grandmother. It's ~70-80 years old

19204

Beautiful Christmas Cactus! Ours is probably 20 years old +/-. A few months ago we trimmed it back a bit and re-potted it. The last couple of years it wasn't flowering and the soil was hard, compact and looked pretty bad. Hopefully this will do the trick.

Some say keeping it in a dark damp area of the house most of the year helps with blooming?

[White Shadow]

If I had one of those it would probably spontaneously combust. Hostas have died under my care.

[Prepared One]

Beautiful Christmas Cactus! Ours is probably 20 years old +/-. A few months ago we trimmed it back a bit and re-potted it. The last couple of years it wasn't flowering and the soil was hard, compact and looked pretty bad. Hopefully this will do the trick.

Some say keeping it in a dark damp area of the house most of the year helps with blooming?

I have heard that as well but when I tried it I didn't get any results. Then again, I kill fake plants so there is that. Going to get another Christmas Cactus and see if I have any better luck here.

[Box of frogs]

Ok since it’s near the end of the garden season here I thought I’d post my lessons learned this year
1) bigger ain’t always better. We went big for the first time and planted over an acre in garden. It was impossible to keep it up and work M-F. If it rained on a weekend and I could not get out there, the weeds were 2 foot tall next weekend. Weed control was our biggest issue
2) deer are smarter than humans and will eat anything a goat does. They ate some of everything we planted. They are all of something’s we planted. They tore up my butter peas and purple hull peas to the point I plowed them under. I did not know this but deer eat pumpkins and watermelon. The stomp a hole in the rind to break them open.
3) The corn we were able to harvest and keep was great. Filled the freezer with 350 ears and sold another 400 ears. I may just plant all corn next year.
4) Closer is better. The garden is all the way on the back side of the property. I think I am going to put in a smaller area closer to the house next season for tomatoes, squash, peppers on hopes that the deer will not venture up to the house

BoF

[T-Man 1066]

Did you set up an electric fence?

[Box of frogs]

Did you set up an electric fence?

No. If I had seen the deer apocalypse coming I probably would have done two strands on 4 ft t post

Most all of the rows came up without the deer eating the spouts. I figured to myself, hey the deer won’t be a issue. I was wrong.

BoF

[T-Man 1066]

Deer are smart. Why eat buds when humans will do the hard work, grow great plants, thats when they go in. Coon's do this too. 4 legged, 2 legged aint that smart.

4 foot fence, deer fart bigger than that. They are also democrats. They need to be removed!!! A deer's most natural environment is the deep freezer! Tell all your friends!

[Chiefster23]

Deer are not afraid to approach your house. 2 days ago a deer squeezed thru a 10 inch gap in a fence to eat a tomato plant just 8 feet from my back door. Ate all the tomatoes and about half the plant. We are over run with deer here as no one hunts them anymore.