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The Symphony of Spring

Mar 10th, 2010
by Peacefulacres.
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It’s spring fever.  That is what the name of it is.  And when you’ve got it, you want – oh, you don’t quite know what it is you do want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!  ~Mark Twain

As I stood at the window yesterday soaking up the glorious sunshine, I saw the most amazing sight!

Life!

It’s astonishing to me how every Spring, no matter how formidable the Winter, the bulbs are determined to push through pounds of dirt that might defy them otherwise.

I find it encouraging.

No matter how agonizing the Winter of our lives, Spring shows our determination to force our way through the difficulty and pain.

The day the Lord created hope was probably the same day he created Spring.
Bern Williams Quotes

I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden.  ~Ruth Stout

No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn.
Hal Borland Quotes

Posted in: Babesia/Malaria, Barnyard, Faith, Farming, Gardening, Health, Homesteading, Jersey Cows, babesia, bartonella.
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Seed Breeding

Mar 9th, 2010
by Peacefulacres.
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I know you expected something else like cow breeding….but I really thought you might like this. I find so much really good stuff at Cooking Up A Story.

Frank Morton explains in the video that there are 3 things that you need for seed breeding: observation, understanding your environment, and understanding the form that best suites your environment.

It’s my goal to select seed from the plants that grow the best in my garden, especially since it’s those seeds that will grow my food and then be my seed again the following year. I only want the best.

I have one seed that I got from Cooks Garden 4 years ago called Emerita Green Bean.  It did exceptionally well here and I saved seed from it that first year. I’m glad I did because I haven’t been able to find it since. EDITING: I found the Emerita Beans just last night in John Scheepers Seed Catalog!!! The catalog is absolutely beautiful! Have a look!

It’s a very good tasting bean with lots of flavor. It doesn’t get stringy or tough. The plants are loaded with beans and it’s seeds are easy to save.

Last year I planted it basically for the intention of saving the seed at the loss of green beans in the freezer. I’ve got a pretty good supply of seed this year to plant a crop for eating/storing and saving.

I’m not even going to try and convince you that I understand genetics….if you’ve been reading here for very long, you know that I don’t! I do understand that if my heirlooms aren’t protected from the pollen of other heirlooms of the same genotype, then I’ll begin to loose the genes of the original seed. If that’s not right….please don’t tell me…I do understand in my own simple way!

My Father In Law, Dr Gerald Coe, Ph D, seems to have figured it out though….check this out from International Journal of Plant Genomics. He’s the most humble man I’ve ever met.

“We describe discovery in Beta vulgaris L. of Coe1, a DNA transposase gene within putative long terminal repeats (LTRs), and other retrotransposon-like features including both a retroviral-like hypothetical gene and an Rvt2-domain reverse transcriptase pseudogene. The central DNA transposase gene encodes, in eight exons, a predicted 160-KDa protein producing BLAST alignments with En/Spm-type transposons. Except for a stop signal, another ORF encodes a Ty1-copia-like reverse transcriptase with amino acid sequence domain YVDDIIL. Outside apparent LTRs, an 8-mer nucleotide sequence motif CACTATAA, near or within inverted repeat sequences, is hypothetical extreme termini. A genome scan of Arabidopsis thaliana found another example of a Tnp2-domain transposase gene within an apparent LTR-retrotransposon on chromosome 4.”

I’m not sure, but basically this says he’s created a “hairless” sugar beet. He spent his entire life researching sugar beets for the USDA and this is his fame…a naked sugar beet. He had nothing to do with GMO sugar beet crops. He was retired by the time GMO hit the market. We did have many heated discussions about it though.

Dr Coe is pictured in The Smithsonian Magazine in 1982! I’ve hidden it away or I’d show you his picture….it’s of a small man bent over “his” fields with his thread bare blue shirt, green Dickie pants, and his Texan straw hat. He’s still known at the “farm” (the USDA research labs) as an incredible man. A man that rode his bike to work everyday and killed every deer that ate his crops. Not necessarily from the work he did but from the man he was.

It’s funny. He thinks I’m the best farmer he’s ever known. I count that an honor from a man with a brain bigger than my head. He’s amazed at how much food I can grow in such a small space.

If only I could introduce him to a few of you who I have learned so much from!

Anyway….I sure can go down bunny trails can’t I?  You’d of thought this was an eulogy, but Dad is still kickin! He can’t quite understand why he hasn’t come back from his ATV accident at Thanksgiving time….he is only 88! Anyway………..

I only grow what does well here.  Not what does well in Maine or Texas. I save only the best seed as Frank Morton describes.

I just thought you’d like this little video.

Posted in: Barnyard, Family, Farming, Gardening, Homesteading.
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I’m Mellow Yellow!

Mar 8th, 2010
by Peacefulacres.
4 comments


“You are quite the powerful thinker. It’s this talent that allows you to overcome a plethora of great obstacles. Luckily, this doesn’t affect your ego and you give off a pretty easy-going appearance. You enjoy the finer things in life and also have an attraction to art. If you can help it, you try not to rock the boat. But you also can’t stop yourself from searching for new ideas, methods or styles.”

CrispSeptember Photgraphy (aka…Sweet Girl) had this CUTE Color Quiz on her site yesterday and it is so sweet….kinda like her….funny thing is…I’m not sure what she means by some of the things said…. I was like….hey, what do you mean….“this philosophy that probably allows you to be comfortable in conditions that would normally bother others”…… WHAT does that mean???? What….like ME? Are you saying I bother you???

Then I took my Color Quiz. It’s just so true. It’s me. Even down to the “IF you can help it, you try not to rock the boat.” That’s too funny…it’s ME!

Okay, this really was CUTE! Go ahead and take your Color Quiz over at True Value Hardware! OMIGOSH now I’m taking quizes at a hardware store…next it will be at Tractor Supply Co.! Which animal are you more like quiz! They really should do that. Don’t ya think?!

Posted in: Family.
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I’m A Dork

Mar 5th, 2010
by Peacefulacres.
7 comments

I don’t really know what’s happened to me. I was this typical…ok…maybe that’s it…I’ve NEVER been typical. I’ve tried, but to be perfectly honest…I’m not. It never fit right..typical that is.

  • I homeschooled back in the 80’s when they told me I “couldn’t”….and my kids and I are friends today.
  • We didn’t do tiny tot sports or big kid running around. I wasn’t a soccer mom.
  • We did do piano and guitar lessons…I know dorks.
  • Sweet Girl’s friends think I’m a modern day hippy.
  • I’ve been eating organic before it was cool and quite fashionable.
  • We’ve been “green” before green was a color.
  • I’ve been married to the same man for nearly 30 years.
  • I talk to my adult kids….and sometimes about very personal subjects…including SEX ..although I blush!
  • I grow most of our food right here.
  • We pack a side of beef in our freezer each year.
  • We have 2 Jersey heifers.
  • We have 18 laying hens.
  • We’re raising 50 Freedom Ranger chicks for meat birds….raised by Label Rouge standards!
  • We drink raw milk.
  • I cook from scratch.
  • I sew.
  • I knit.
  • I spin wool.
  • I throw mud and make pottery.
  • I shop 1X month and hate it.
  • I hate shopping, especially for clothes.
  • I hate “going to town”! That means the city….I hate, hate, hate it!
  • We live on 5 rural suburban acres surrounded by McMansions. We’re zoned RR (rural residential)…they say I can have animals so I do! Farm animals that is!
  • I DON’T drive an SUV!
  • I wear the bumper sticker….“NO FARMS NO FOOD” and not OBX. (Outer Banks for you other dorks)
  • I’m “Born Again”! I was a Jesus Freak in the 70’s! Jesus is still the lover of my soul after nearly 40 years! And the feeling is mutual!!!
  • I come from a dysfunctional family….we’ve got a little bit of everything and everyone….we’re all unique children of God!
  • I’m not preppie…never have been, never will be…not that I have anything against preppie people…but it’s just not comfortable…and I only do comfortable.
  • I’d rather go to a BBQ than a Banquet.
  • I’d rather camp in a tent than sleep at the Hilton.
  • My house is clean enough to be safe but dirty enough to be comfortable.
  • I’d rather have a farm then a manicured lawn.
  • I’m fighting an “incurable” infectious disease that they told me I couldn’t kill….I AM! I’m winning that battle!

Yeah, I don’t think you’d say my life is a typical suburban mom’s life. I really am a dork. Don’t get me wrong…I’m not against any of these things…they just aren’t me!

I do dry my hair every morning after I shower. I do put on a little make-up and clean clothes. But fuss I don’t do.

My sisters would of told you that I fussed more than any of us growing up. But not any more.

I’m really comfortable in my own skin… FINALLY. And frankly I really ought to be after nearly 52 years. I will go out in public “as is”.

I like staying home! That took years of therapy, but I’m finally glad it stuck and it’s paying for itself! Home is where my heart is.

And that leads me to the newest addition to my life….a new addition or two to the farm.

I’ve wanted a milk goat before I wanted a Jersey cow. Ok…I never wanted a Jersey cow…Honey did…not that he really even wanted a cow…but if he had to pick one over the other…and he did..he chose the Jersey cow(s)! Okay…so maybe I twisted his arm just a tad…but he willingly chose the cow(s)! ;)

The (s) was my doing. It gets me every time. You can’t have just one herd animal…..you have to have at least 2.

Honey finally gave in and is allowing me to acquire a milk goat(s)….do you know how long I’ve been waiting on these heifers to become cows????? It seems like an eternity. A cow’s gestation is 9 months a goat 5. A goat is much smaller and takes less to feed and care for…it’s manure is MUCH smaller! I can load them in my mini van….(I’d love a truck!)…but as I’m finding…one thing at a time!!!

Case settled. I’m going to look at Sophia next Thursday. Her name alone has won my heart! And since Sophia can’t live alone….the heifers aren’t enough for her….well, Tiny might come along for the ride to keep her company. Tiny will be her companion until she kids in mid April….or there is Annie who is also ready to kid in June….and she needs a home too.

Can’t you see it now….Sophia’s Soap!

(Ann did you hear that…another name sake…another picture for your office!)

See, I told you that I’m just not typical. I like straw stuck to the cow poop on the bottom of my boots. I love my Carhartt and my relaxed fit Wranglers!!! I love talking to animals more than people.

Okay so there might need to be more therapy sessions for that….but I’m a dork…what can I say!

Posted in: Barnyard, Faith, Family, Farming, Fiber, Food, Gardening, Homesteading, Jersey Cows, Knitting, Pottery, Quitling, chickens.
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