Pecan season

Is almost here.

We lost a bit over half of the trees old enough to produce.
But at least one is giving it a go. :)

Thank God for all your blessings. Be safe and God bless.

The temps say it is still summer

Temps during the day this week -- mid to upper 90s. It was 100 when we were in town this afternoon.

But the Spider lilies say it is fall.

Autumnal Equinox later this week. I love seeing the Spider lilies in the fall. It is crazy. They can not be there one day, then after a rain they'll be 4-6 inches tall, or more!

I did a little mowing this morning. Middle son landed a part-time job, so I went out for a bit until about noon. I could tell when I started getting.. the first touches of too much heat. I was drinking plenty of water, but that doesn't always help. I got inside fine, though. No graying of the vision or anything like that. I did get the slight pressure in my head that said I was getting too warm. I decided to listen to that today. :)

But I will probably go out again in a day or two. Pecan season is almost here. Need to get ready!

Sorry for the blur. My phone camera doesn't like to take a picture of what I'm looking at. Ha!
I picked that pecan and cracked it open after I came in. Shared it with hubby. He said "I could eat more of those." :)
How do we get ready for pecan season, you may ask? We mow crop circles, basically. With the pecan tree in the middle. Mow a circle that is as big in diameter as the branches are sticking out from the tree. Long grass may be good for hunting rabbits; but short grass is better for picking pecans.

You all be safe, and God bless.

It was pretty windy

While picking pecans Saturday. And noisy, too.



Just push play and I think it will work. I don't do these often, so let me know if this is a fail, haha.

You all have a blessed week, and a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Just a few pictures from the farm

This is why they call it 'picking pecans'.

We mow the grass really short before the pecans start falling. But once they do start falling, it's hard to keep up enough that you can mow again without mowing pecans, too; so you have to pick them out of everything else that is falling. And pecan trees have a LOT of leaves.

This is the way I like to pick them in the fall.

Just above my head, within easy reach. As the pecans fill and are ready to fall, the branches get heavier, and lower to the ground. :)

We had noticed the last week or so huge brown areas in the pasture. When we went out, we realized it wasn't grub damage, but seed heads. And of course, it is fall. Maybe? Haha. I was joking with someone yesterday that soon Louisiana will have two seasons. Summer and fall/spring. The weather patterns are still adjusting from all the volcano activity a few years ago, that shifted the Earth's axis. Hubby figures it will take a few more years yet for the weather to settle so we can see what the new normal will be.

There are a few flowers still blooming, too. They are small though. :) If you click on the pictures, you can see them better.

Well, that's it for today. You all be safe and God bless.

Saw this little one

When I was out picking pecans a couple days ago. Thought maybe it was looking to build a nest, but it might have just been looking for bugs.
Not sure how many we've picked so far. A couple hundred pounds or so. The rain slows us down. They don't like wet pecans, understandably, because they can fungus or mold. Same if the ground stays too wet for too long.
But we do what we can and it will all be fine.

Now we need to watch the ads for turkey sales.

Have a blessed day!

The farm yesterday

Spring is in the air and the pecan trees are waking up. I will share some of the pictures I took yesterday.

Pecan flowers.

Wild dew berries or blackberries. They are related. We only just learned about dew berries and probably have both on the farm.

No telling what happened to the missing branches of this magnolia tree; but we think owls may nest in them. We hear hoot owls a few times a year when all is quiet at night.

The next four pictures are of one of the old Live Oaks on the farm. Hubby used to climb it, using that branch as the starting point, when he was growing up on the farm. You can see more wild berries at the bottom. And of course poison ivy. If it was a cash crop, we'd be rich, with all the poison ivy on the farm.

This old oak tree was hit by lightning at one time. You can see half of it seems dead. Hubby keeps saying he wants to cut it down; but Pileated Woodpeckers like old growth trees. Woodpeckers of all kinds have looked for food on it. And when the pasture grass is tall, owls sit on the bare branches at night to hunt. Besides, half of it is still alive! So for now, it stays.

I want to comment on the last two pictures in this group. Never been able to identify it. It is a vine. It has never flowered. It has leaves, and some of the nastiest thorns! If you click on the pictures, you may be able to see them. We have tried to kill it. Hubby got scratched by it when mowing the other day. When we first got here in 2008, it was so long it was growing into the 'corner oak' and it took a bit for me to realize there was a vine 'biting' me and not a mosquito or some other Southern denizen. I keep telling hubby we should train it along the fence line and it would take a bit of trying for anything o get through.

Hubby's climbing oak.

The gate oak

Corner oak.

And today?

One tornado warning passed. A night of rain predicted.

You all have a blessed week!

Another rainy Memorial Day

I actually like it to rain. It seems appropriate to me. I thank everyone who has given their life to keep others safe. And I thank everyone who works to keep us safe. God bless and comfort them, their families and friends.

A few things around the home.

Baby pecans.

The onion tub took a beating in the last thunderstorm we had.

If you ever consider 'planting bags', don't consider this one. I already had the dirt in it and didn't want to take it out when I realized the poor design of it, but we finagled it for this season. The tomatoes seem okay despite this.

We bought a watering tank from Tractor Supply and planted some more of the tomatoes. They are from Burpee. A Bush Steak, as I recall.

I am all about not having to bend over so much. Hubby has his 'toys', so not so much.
Something about the weather or the corn seed isn't working. It has been very poor germination this year.

We have baby apples.

This tree is a dwarf Stark's Cinnamon Spice. We also have two dwarf Double Delicious. They all have apples growing. Last year we lost the entire crop to some sort of disease. I need to get spray and try spraying them, I guess; but I would like them to grow without that, if possible.

And that is all I have today. Hope you all have a safe, blessed weekend.