We've had a good week - one episode of scattered thunderstorms Friday morning, but the rest of the week has been harvest friendly. Stan finished first cutting, started second cutting, put in over a 1000 feet of drainage tile. I get tired just thinking about it all. He's up chopping some hay that he cut Thursday night and our granddaughter is back discing the field that was tiled. This is her first tractor driving job and she was a bit nervous, but seems to be doing just fine.

How exciting! I remember when I was first trusted to drive a tractor. I felt very important.

It's not a busy time for us. No rain means nothing is growing - not even weeds! I noticed the hot wire on one of the pastures wasn't working well this morning, so I'm about to go take a - probably - long walk.

I started digging a ditch for a new drain line yesterday; today I have a soaker hose laid out preparing the next section of it. I had been postponing the job "until it rained"; I finally gave up on the rain.

Hello, depending on your crops, this is a very busy time. For us, here at Roblyn Farm, where I have my flower business, the main crop we have are Christmas Trees. So, this time of year we are very busy making sure the baby trees have enough water, cutting the grass and keeping the weeds down, spraying for bag worms and the like.
I live here in a separate part of the main farm house, and my daughter and son in law live in the other part of the house. Yet, if I need them, we are very close and they can be here in minutes. I have a tropical house plant business and sell on the internet mostly. JBsPlants is the name. I have a field of daffodils that I wholesale in the Spring. That of course is another forum. We also have a large veggie garden here on the farm. So I think we are definitely farmers.I wanted to pop in and show you our baby tree field and say hello to all of you wonderful farm people. Without you where would we be?

Our Jersey Fresh products are in full swing here in NJ at this time of year. Blueberries are just about over in parts of the state and going strong in the other. Weather has been unreal. Too much heat, we finally got our badly needed rain. The irrigation lines are in the baby field just waiting for the next bout with another dry spell. Here are some of our babies.

I love the baby-trees-through-the-seasons pictures!

What cool pictures, all the little trees arrowing toward the barn - former dairy? Silos always have me wondering. Of course you have a farm! No doubt about that.

Jess has had two good tractor driving experiences now, and hasn't had to drive on the road yet, so she was very happy about that. Right now, she's mowing lawn and her brother is driving tractor. They are both here for the day and Stan got his millet planted for late season grazing. She asked if would be ok if she used the push mower to clean up where she misses with the lawn tractor. I said sure, I prefer pushing close to things myself. Ok, so I can't even use the big mower - too hard to steer. The push is good for little jobs and I can get away with it if I'm careful.

porkpal, I keep hoping you'll get some rain. We've gone almost a week without and I'm watering things. Can't imagine what you're going through. We've had some dry spells in the past and it's just unfathomable what it must be like there.

Yes Kathleen, the farm we live on was the front part of a large dairy farm. The big farm house and the silo are now another part of the subdivision, plus there is a nice size development of big houses with large lots where the old hay fields used to be. The barns are down of course. I lived here in the one big house back in the 1980s before I bought my own farm up the road. The original farm house burned down prior to that. We tried to maintain the newer barns (they are over 50 years old) for our vehicles, and there is another long polelike barn at the rear of the big barn. It was a lovely farm when the cows were here. Now is is subdivided of course. We are located on the corner of the property which makes it great for the Tree business at Christmas.
We have New York City people who come to buy trees each year. They love to cut their own. We are also very close to the Joint Base of McGuire, Ft. Dix and Lakehurst. We give Military people the best deals also. I love the silo, my bird room looks out to it. The big planes use it for a marker when they land at the base. I want to paint it red, white and blue and put a flag on it but no one will go up to the top anymore. The young bucks no longer have the nerve they one time had. So it remains in disrepair. So sad. The inside has some lovely fern growing in it. Other than that many call it an eyesore.

I've been to Fort Dix a couple times. Lived there as a baby in the late sixties while my father was stationed there. Then my brother had Basic Training there and I went to his graduation, would have been around 1989.

Lana, you would not Ft. Dix now. So much has changed and those of us who live here are just waiting to see what is next. The wars are different but the men still ship out from here and train here. I can hear the guns practicing depending on which way the wind is blowing.

We went to Fort Dix once in the 80s to see my uncle. They were searching all of the cars for drugs, but let us in our pick-up with a camper on it without a look. Must have been our clean-cut looks and two adorable little girls.

Another hot, humid day, but a bit less humid than earlier. The sun is clearing the clouds away and Stan has hay down to chop and help to do it. My hired girl and I cleared out some more roses while it was still not too hot and will probably spend part of the afternoon rearranging the living room. It is still in winter mode and not really fan friendly.

With all that rain we had last week we are getting ready in case we have to irrigate the babies again this week. When will this weather settle down and just be summer. No heat waves. It is almost August already and then it really get hot here. Yikes. I am not ready for more dry and hot weather. Must go now and water the gardenias. They are drinking like steers.

Hope you get your hay in. Great weather for that. The tomatoes next door are going to need water soon. They must have 5 acres of them and they are growing like weeds. I have a few but I keep the soaker hose on them and just use it when necessary.
Have a good evening.

I grew up on a farm. We ran 70 to 100 head of mixed beef cattle and raised strawberries and a big garden. Now I live in the mountains of eastern Ky and don't have much space. I do a bit of SFG gardening and some containers. I do manage to keep a few farm animals. I have 40 chickens, 1 duck, 3 dogs, 4 goats (waiting on some more babies any day), 4 turtles and 7 horses. I will start milking th doe with the new kids on Monday. I'll start the latching with them on Sunday. I have my 2 DGSs here for the summer and we are having a grand time!

Your place sounds wonderful. I adore the kids when they are small. I had thought of going into breeding meat goats here in NJ. There is a large number of Mexican and other nationalities who enjoy goat meat. Have you ever raised meat goats?

No. These are the first goats I have ever had. They are all African Pygmies. I chose them for several reasons. I have a muscle disorder so the small size was better for me to handle. I wanted them primarily for milking and their milk is closest to cow's milk in that it has the highest butterfat content and highest sugar. They also give a good anount of milk for their size but don't cost much to feed. We do plan to eat excess kids. I also had the first 3 does given to me so that was a plus.

I am so enjoying watching these kids. They are growing so fast. I like to watch them hopping around like rabbits. I have them on the hillside where there are some rocks for them to climb.

Two years ago, a standardbred horse breeder friend of mine started raising sheep. He needed a place to bring the Mothers when the babies were weaned. He ask me if I would babysit with them for a few months and of course, having a beautiful pasture that was sitting vacant, i said o.k.
I had what they loveingly called their "Sheep Day Care". He would bring and take back sheep to breed, sell, whatever, and I would feed them until it got really too cold. Sometimes I kept them all winter and that was a chore for my and my arthritis getting up and feeding that flock of only 8 or 10 but they had to be cared for. I had a good time but after about three years, I had to quit because the meadow was needed to plant more Christmas Trees. I used to love to watch them play and jump and some were so loving.



Barney was the sheep kisser and they seemed to enjoy it.

We manage to keep busy although we do not farm full time. My hubby and I help our neighbors with sheep and cattle (me) and tractor work (hubby). Our 80 acres is mostly pasture, and at the present time we have yearling cattle grazing on it. Yesterday my hubby was mowing thistles and got down below the irrigation ditch and suddenly the tractor was stuck clear up to the hubs! He had a nice walk back to the house, got the smaller tractor and some tools and went to remove the brush hog and put a drawbar on it. He came back all muddy. I hosed off his arms, they were mud almost to his shoulders. This morning our neighbor came with a bigger tractor to pull it out.

It's always something!

Our weather has been cooler than normal so everything is about 2-3 weeks later than normal. Today's forecast high is 80. Neighbors all around us are busy haying. Sometimes I wake up to the sound of a baler. The extra humidity overnight helps the hay pack nicely. Our climate is very dry, perfect for curing hay, but baling in the afternoon produces bales that don't pack as well as morning baled hay, unless there is a thunderstorm nearby that raises the humidity.

I'm deep watering my vegetable garden today. Picked the first of the peas yesterday and missed a few, so I snacked on them this morning while I was moving hoses around. I need a drip system, or so my truck gardening neighbor tells me. The tomatoes have some of those leaky hoses under plastic, that is as automated as I've gotten so far, but it does sound like it would save a lot of time. However, I hoe and weed while the water runs beside the rows, move the sprinkler to another row, and go back to work, or snacking....

We need some of that rain that some of you have had too much of. Our beef cattle are grazing the smaller hay field now, and they may be going to market in a few weeks unless pasture conditions improve. There is no hay to buy, and we have very few round bales left from last winter.

I feel so bad for you guys in Texas. We are drier than usual but nothing like you all are having to deal with. My prayers are with you all.

Local farmers were able to make a sorghum harvest. I've never seen it so short! The corn around here just dried up. I noticed a couple of farmers had put it up in round bales. The cotton in the fields looks like miniature cotton plants. We are not going to have to sell any cows - I don't think - mainly because our pastures are significantly under-stocked. They are eating dry, brown grass but are holding condition well - so far.

We've gone dry here. Still green, for the most part, but there are things drooping. It always amazes me how fast the ground can dry up.

It's a day off, as soon as Stan gets morning chores done. Today is our 40th anniversary and we are going to go off and pretend we're tourists, Chautauqua County's second largest industry.

This year has been so difficult for all farmers, but wow, those in TX are getting nothing but heat. I am so sorry. It is always either too much or too little. What has happened to this world? Another heat is coming or way next week. This is our fifth heatwave and I am relatively close to the ocean and usually it does not stay hot for more than a few days at a time. The storms get nasty at times, but at least we get some water.

The crops here in NJ are all coming in at the same time. Our veggie farmers are having to have auctions to move the crops before they rot in storage.

Right now one of their other problems is the stink bugs. They are even having seminars on how to deal with them. What next?