The time has changed...Fall Back an hour, but my body clock will not adjust for awhile...so I am up very early. I am not fond of the time change this time of year. It gets dark too early. It seems like there are far less hours in the day for me to jam pack everything I need to get done into what daylight hours I have...and it will get worse and worse. But, I can only work outside until dark and I am able to get all my poultry put up before My husband gets home from work, so he doesn’t have to go out there.
Yesterday was rather busy. It is suppose to get down in the thirties later this week...it may be our first freeze of the Fall. The leaves have just started changing really, I wanted to get some good pictures this year. Our place has changed so much since we bought it that I would like to document it a bit. I have the majority of my fruit orchard in...although a few trees have died and I will replace them. It is tough getting them established in the sandy loam unless they have a really good root structure. If we have a drought year, I have to water every three days or they will die. Two of my Elderberries didn’t make it, that I planted this year. I never could get the Native Cherry tree going well, but the roots pretty much broke off in the box they shipped it in. I had one of my pear trees that we planted the first year break off about a foot above the ground. One of my peach trees I planted two years ago died too. I have a second year Golden Delicious apple tree that was attacked by Carpenter Ants and almost killed too, half of it appeared to die...I finally broke down and started using ant granules on it when the Organicide and Neem Oil didn’t kill them. I cut a lot of that tree back, it has some new shoots and is starting to come back, the peach tree also had shoots come up and after they got about five feet tall, I picked one and cut the rest off, the Asian pear I did the same...but at the moment it has about six shoots, I will pick the straightest soon and cut the rest off. I moved a couple of blueberry bushes to hopefully better locations...maybe they will start growing and produce better in the next year or two. We shall see, I am hoping I get better at maintaining the trees and all of them produce soon. I would like to sell the fruit eventually.
I worked out in the garden a little and on my front porch. I had started a bunch of plants and didn’t get them all planted because I got a little carried away. I had a bunch of starter pots with dirt and dead plants in them, so I broke up the dirt and put it in five gallon buckets for next springs plant starts. I want to build a greenhouse, but have not done it yet. I need to build some raised beds too. The moles and voles wiped out my garlic plants last year, I didn’t get any...so, I will have to do raised beds with maybe wire bottoms so they can’t get to the bulbs. I need them for strawberries and asparagus too...if I am ever going to have any. Anyway, since battling poison ivy, I haven’t worked outside as much as usual, but I did get some flower bulbs planted. I am hoping to make this place beautiful one of these days...I have a long way to go, but I will get there...eventually.
Yesterday, I had my neighbor stop by with a friend of his. He wanted ducks, I have a lot of males...He wanted 15. I should have captured them the night before, but a lot of people say they want critters and then don’t show up when I catch them...so I didn’t. He showed up! The younger males were easy to catch, but the ones out in the big yard...not so much. My neighbor, the man wanting the ducks and I finally caught five more to add to the ones I had caught...he took ten home. Which was good for me...I needed the money to help pay for getting my freezer repaired. The repairman showed up to take a look at the freezer, not two minutes after my neighbor and his friend. So, between running around the yard trying to catch ducks...when bribery didn’t work and the repair guy...I felt a little like a ping pong ball, running back and forth getting nets, talking to the repairman, trying to get the money together to pay the repairman, catching a duck or two, going and talking with the repairman again...he had to order a part. He will be back today to install it. He wanted all the money up front, I said I don’t like paying for something I haven’t received yet...he accepted the service call money and with the money from the sale of the ducks I will be able to pay him in cash today after the repair is made. I guess I need to measure a few things too...right now, that freezer is out on the porch. We had to take the broken freezer out of the house to make room for the new freezer. I have to figure out where we will put the old freezer. I have a room that is only 9’x9’ that I want to create a large walk-in pantry in...we may put it in there...but, I don’t know if it will fit through the door, if it won’t...then we may have to move my egg fridge and the beverage fridge into the room...and put the freezers side by side in the laundry room....if they will both fit.
I need to do a duck inventory too. I probably have more male ducks that I could get rid of...my females will appreciate my getting rid of ten males. Poor things get overwhelmed by their amorous behavior and many of my females have been injured from the males grabbing their heads. The skin around their eyes especially. The few females in my recovery area would have been hurt again come spring, if those male ducks had not gone away. We had been talking about butchering some...that is why we need another freezer. But, it is not something we really wanted to do.
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