Monday, July 7, 2014

Peach Cobblers and Cutting Hay

Back in the middle of April, an unusual cold front came through and the temperature dropped to somewhere around 28-29 degrees.  At the time, I was sure that low of a temperature meant that there wouldn't be any peaches this year, but I was surprised that one of the eight peach trees I have was loaded with peaches (a couple other trees do have a few peaches).  In between eating myself sick on those peaches, I've been wondering why this tree had so many peaches that survived the freeze and the others didn't. 

So far I'm still trying to figure out what the reason for so many peaches on this tree might be.  Some sort of micro-climate around this tree?  More fertility available to this tree?  This tree bloomed earlier or later than the others?  A combination of all of the above?

Whatever the reason, at least I get to have a few peach cobblers this year.
Enough tasty peaches to satisfy my peach cravings for the year

I started cutting some hay a couple of days ago since it's supposed to be in the high-90's and without rain for a week or so.  When I cut hay, I use my favorite type of mower, a disc mower that can cut a 16' swath at a time (one of the few pieces of equipment I've never regretted buying). When it revs up it almost sounds like a jet engine and I can fly through a field cutting about as fast as I care to drive. 

This year, I started off by cutting some volunteer crabgrass in a wheat field.  Whenever I see those fields covered in a nice stand of grass it always makes me start thinking about converting those fields to grass and buying more cattle to graze them instead of trying to plant something like wheat or sorghum.  Then a few days later, the cattle do something that irritates me, I start thinking about getting rid of them and growing more cash crops.  But, in the end, I still tend to lean more towards raising cattle.


Now that's what I call a mower

Green, growing grass always makes me feel good
Whenever I see green grass blowing in the wind on these fields in the summer, I always wish I could have seen this country back when it was still prairie, before it was all cut up into a mix of fields and pastures, and crisscrossed with roads and fences.

6 comments:

  1. I often fantasize about visiting this place or that back before people were around to see what it looked like. I can imagine me standing there admiring the view right before a saber tooth tiger took my head off!

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    1. I'd be satisfied just seeing what it looked like around here 150 years ago, seeing what things looked like 10,000 years ago would be even better.

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  2. "Whenever I see green grass blowing in the wind on these fields in the summer, I always wish I could have seen this country back when it was still prairie, before it was all cut up into a mix of fields and pastures, and crisscrossed with roads and fences."

    It would have been something to see, wouldn't it? The incredible vastness of it. Like an ocean.

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    1. There are areas of big bluestem in some of my pastures that will grow 5-6 foot tall if everything goes right, it's almost hard to imagine millions of acres of that type of native grassland filled with buffalo, elk, and deer.

      Heaven on Earth would be riding a good horse through that sort of landscape with a good rifle and just hunting to feed and clothe myself.

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    2. "Heaven on Earth would be riding a good horse through that sort of landscape with a good rifle and just hunting to feed and clothe myself."

      The way I feel myself.

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    3. I figured I couldn't be the only person that thought that way.

      Just don't start telling everyone else about our version of Heaven on Earth or the crowds will show up and then they'll eventually want to start "civilizing" the place by mowing all the grass, building houses, and putting all the animals into zoos.

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