Spring Is Trying To Sprung

Hey Everybody,

Thought I'd give you a glimpse of Spring in NW Ohio. Winter doesn't want to let go this year, I guess it's making up for last years early heat. Even with the cold temps, the new growth is trying to push through.

Asparagus is coming. We saw the first shoots a week ago and this is all they've grown. We would be picking it already if we would have a couple of warm nights.



The rhubarb is fighting the frost. The bigger leaves got stung by frost but there are a lot of small stalks coming. We planted this in 2011, but last years drought set it back enough I don't know if we'll be able to harvest any this year, we'll have to wait and see.



Strawberries are filling in, these got whacked so hard by last years drought, I didn't think we'd have any this year. I'm glad I waited to tear up the bed.



The garlic is growing well, it doesn't care what the weather is doing. I think we lost about a third of what we planted, but we should still have enough to get through the year, we just won't be able to share as much with family & friends.



Last picture is the horseradish. The old bed and the new bed are both showing lots of new shoots. A little heat would make this grow so fast, it'll choke out the grass.



I think that's it. All the neighbors are chomping at the bit to get in the fields and get corn planting started. The last few years early Springs kind of spoiled everybody.

It's time to order new chicks so we can keep out egg flow constant, as the old hens slow down. We'll put a new batch of pigs in as soon as the weather decides if it wants to warm up or stay cold. We've got customers wanting to fill their freezers, so we need to get the porkers started.

Thanks for following,

Tim

I was wondering when you'd be back--good to hear from you Freezer Pig!!!

Thanks!! Good to be back. Too cold and wet to do much this morning, so I took the camera along when I did chores.

I'll keep my eyes open for things that might interest people in The Big City. Any requests??

You've yet to post anything I didn't want to read more of so just keep doin' what you do!

New chicks arrived this morning. We are going to try Gold Comets this time. A friend of ours has some and says they are egg laying machines.... we'll see. It'll be nice to have a different color of hens running around for a change.




The next picture was taken the first of May. I planted peas April 6 and we started getting rain the 10th. They are almost 6 inches tall now.



Pretty much all the corn is planted in the area and a lot of guys are done with soybeans. We are just hoping for a little rain now. Been working in the garden the last few days and will mostly have that finished up by the weekend.

A pair of swallows have returned and finished the nest they started last year. Looks like the old nest that has been used for the last 3 or 4 years is going to be empty this year, that pair must not be around anymore.

New pigs will be arriving Saturday, we have a few new customers and a lot of old ones returning for halves/wholes. It's a nice feeling when people call and want to know when they can get another pig for the freezer..... makes me feel like we are doing something right.

That's it for Spring updates, it'll be Summer before long.....

Tim

........ and just like that, it's over. The 2013 growing season is over. The pigs are gone and the barn will be empty until Spring, we almost did a Winter batch, but talked our customers in to waiting a couple of months, the pigs are OK with the cold, it's us that suffer trying to keep waterers thawed and such.

All the soybeans in the area are harvested and the corn is almost gone. I love to see empty fields for a change.



The garden is all worked up and ready for winter, our pantry and freezer is full again, we are ready to be snowed in.



The asparagus has gone to seed, it won't be long until all the growth turns brown for the winter.



The new hens that were just chicks at the beginning of this thread are all grown up and laying eggs for almost a month now.



We lost one of the new ones to a coyote last week, we are gathering what we need to rid ourselves of these predators. They have been around for a few years, but they never bothered us, war has been declared now.

Just finishing up a few projects around here while the weather is still semi nice. We have lard to render one of these weekends, we'll wait for it to get a little colder.

Hope everybody had a good 2013 growing season, it was about as close to perfect as it gets around here.

Tim

Tim, glad you had a good year after that tough drought last year.

Your posts are always a treat. I hope you have to chance to fertilize your garden with some ground coyote bones.

TomInSkokie wrote:Tim, glad you had a good year after that tough drought last year.

Your posts are always a treat. I hope you have to chance to fertilize your garden with some ground coyote bones.

Ditto Don't be a stranger!!!

boudreaulicious wrote:

TomInSkokie wrote:Tim, glad you had a good year after that tough drought last year.

Your posts are always a treat. I hope you have to chance to fertilize your garden with some ground coyote bones.

Ditto Don't be a stranger!!!

This has been one of the strangest years ever. It seems like it just tumbled along, one thing leading to the next, we were never behind or ahead, just always busy. The weather was generally good, but it's like nature was making up for last years drought. Every time we turned around, there was something coming out of the garden or the fruit trees that needed to be taken care of.

My wife has decided she would like some venison in the freezer. It looks like I'll be going deer hunting for the first time in more than 20 years. We are usually happy with a few packages of venison burger we trade with a friend for sausage, but she wants to can some this year, se we need a whole deer. Hopefully, it'll only take a day or two to get the job done.

Maybe that will be the next step by step thread...... the harvesting and processing of a deer, from hoof to can.

Hmmmmm.......... I'll have to take the camera along to the woods, I promise no graphic photos.

Tim

Please do!

You could also post anything you consider "too graphic" elsewhere (butchering photos?), and let people choose to click or not.

Wow!! No pressure to bag one now..... LOL

If I manage to get one, I promise I'll do a step by step thread on getting it in the freezer/cans. I've been thinking about it for a couple of days and I'm actually getting kind of excited, like I used to, when deer season was getting close.

Right now, coyote eradication is on my list of things to get done. Our freezer is full of steer and pig, so it's not like we really need venison in there too. If we get a foot of snow and some nice freezing temps right before opening day, I'll be more enthused about heading to the woods before the sun comes up on opening day.

Tim

Well, we are only 3 days from Spring 2014 on the calendar, but I think there may be a little more Winter left for the real world. I took the camera along this morning for chores, it was a crisp 8 degrees the first trip out. I'm sure everybody in the Chicago area is tired of looking at snow, but I'm going to show you some anyhow.

We have probably lost close to 2/3 of the snow in the last week, there is still plenty in the drifts for another week or so, assuming the temps get back above freezing.

The asparagus patch, the old dead stalks really caught the snow, even the tips were completely under the drift for most of the winter.


The garden is under here someplace, I can actually see some bare ground in spots.


The horseradish is under here, I can't wait to dig the new roots. We are out of last years supply.


The field across the road. Up until the middle of last week, our mailbox was completely covered with snow, 18 inches deep at times. We just kept the front shoveled out so the mail man could keep doing his thing.


That's ice , not snow in the background. This whole end of the field was under water Saturday, it is draining down slowly.

It was a funny year. With over 7 ft of snow for the winter, the fields stayed pretty bare for most of the winter. Every time we'd get a flake of snow, it would come on a 25-35 mph wind. This would blow the flat fields clear and pile it up on the edges of the roads where the snowplows kept pushing it higher and higher.

So now we have fields with just enough melted snow to stand water, and the ditches at the edge of the roads under piles of snow that will still take a few weeks to melt out. Luckily, we haven't had heavy rains, it's been a nice steady melt so things haven't flooded too bad. The ice went out of the big rivers last week so everything should start flowing a little better from here on.

Even with all the wind and snow and cold, it has been a really sunny few months. The storms only last a day or two, then the wind calms down and the sun comes out for a week before it turns to poop again. It's a lot easier to take bad weather when you have blue sky and sun for a few days to get your wits about you before you have to brace for another shot.

The buzzards have been back for a couple weeks, we saw our first Robin yesterday and we've seen a couple of woodchucks poking their noses out. I still like winter, but I'm about ready for something different, I just hope it isn't going to be a dreary wet cloudy spring. Hopefully, the sunshine will continue.

Keep your chins up, Spring is coming. In two months you'll be able to put winter of 2014 as another notch in your belt. Just remember, anybody can live on the east or west coast or in the south, but it takes a special breed to make it through a real Midwest winter.

We're all survivors......

Tim

Absolute Truth.

Freezer Pig wrote:...it takes a special breed to make it through a real Midwest winter.

Speaking as a curmudgeonly old man born and raised in New England--this is the best winter I've seen since I moved here (about 30 years ago).

Best wishes to all for a great growing season!

bean