Weird Spring!

To say that "life" has continued to be weird around here would be a gross understatement! Part of the reason there is sooooo much time between blog postings goes back once again to the old adage of if you don't have anything nice (or positive) to say then don't say anything! Well.... with that in mind I probably should just post a picture and not write much because it's been pretty un-positive. While we have graciously been spared the death and devastation the weather has been dealing out to areas like Joplin and Tuscaloosa, we have had our share of weather issues. Here we are almost into June and Susie and I are JUST now getting into the garden to turn ground and plant. With a 40 mile drive to work each day, I try to keep my eyes open for every one's gardening progress and I must say that I am seeing very, very few gardens that have been planted or even worked up so I guess it's not just us. (Somehow I find very little comfort in that!) As far as the Pima cotton progress goes after planting close to 300 plants, I THINK we have 30+ that have survived and they look really bad! At this rate, IF we get a harvest, we may be able to make "his and hers" matching Q tips.

As you can see from the picture, we are already dealing with "nasties " which is really out of the norm since we usually don't have to worry about these bad boys till in the fall! I've already scored one rattler and one copperhead so far and Susie has one copperhead under her belt so far as well. It's getting to the point you don't venture through the door unless you scan the ground FIRST!

Cotton Update!

OK.....I haven't lost it QUITE that bad....I realize that this is NOT a cotton picture! Actually it's a picture of the columbine (Aquildgia canadensis to be exact) that grows out our back door but I wanted to see if anyone was paying attention.

As far as the cotton goes, I'm starting to wonder if there is going to be much to report this year. We have already planted and RE-planted the crop and from the looks of things, it could stand to be re-re-planted but at this point in time, there isn't time to start again and get a crop from it. I'm not sure if the poor growth as been caused by cold temperatures, lack of sun light, the fact I used newspaper starting cells, or if it's just the way Pima is. I was suppose to have growing shelves with heat pads and grow lights done before we started these seeds but the planer broke and we ended up spending too much time finding parts and repairing it to wait till it was finished. Next season should see it finished and i hope it makes a big difference. Although it's been years since we raised white Pima, memory tells me that we had this problem last time as well! Depending on how this all plays out, I think we may well go back to the open pollinated heirloom colored cotton next year....assuming there IS a next year growing season.

Susie and I spent yesterday out in the garden hand turning ground and putting as much of what was left in hopes that maybe it would get growing but the ground is still rather cold and of course we had yet ANOTHER storm come through early this morning! We are praying for whats IN and praying for a break in the crazy weather so we can get the rest in....not to mention the never ending mowing! To date we have all the yard mowed but haven't been able to do either of the fields yet which stinks. The grass is already almost taller than our poor mower can handle and with push mowing over 4 acres, ANYTHING that causes problems or delays really causes a snowball of problems. Besides the cruddy weather, the gas prices are going to be really interesting with this years mowing. We took our cans into town yesterday and filled up and spent more for just this time than we use to spend for an entire season!


On a positive note, not only have we been spared the death and destruction that others in the south have faced this past week, but the wild flowers were really amazing this spring! We were worried what they would be like since the area around us had been basically clear cut last year and things are REALLY tore up. Some of the flowers we are use to seeing were gone but others were spread far and wide. The biggest thing we have missed this year were the mushrooms. With all the habitat gone, we have only found one to date....but it was sure good!