Gettin' Ready For Spring

We have been busy getting our garden ready for planting. Monroe has tilled the soil several times in the last month. I intended to have the soil tested before we began planting but every time I found myself at the feed store I didn't have my soil sample with me. So, when my husband says, "Today we plant.", then today we plant soil test or no soil test. Actually he is not quite that bossy he just doesn't want to fool around with minor details when he gets ready to do something. Skip the soil test, Let's Plant!! We planted red potatoes and sweet potatoes. We have some white potatoes to plant as well. We also planted a variety of lettuces, kale and onions. We will be planting carrots, butternut and spaghetti squash, cantaloupe and watermelon in February. Then in March we can begin to plant other summer vegetables according to the planting guide for our area.

We started by cutting the "eyes" of the potato off.

Then we planted the potato with the eye upward and covered the hole. It is a very easy vegetable to plant and grow. So far we have had great yields with our potato planting. However, I have learned in the few short years we have been gardening that each year's growing and producing varies greatly. Just because we had okra and black-eye peas coming out our ears one summer doesn't mean they will do well the next summer. I also learned another lesson. I tried flash freezing the rattlesnake beans we harvested last summer. Then I packed them in my food saver vacuum bags and put them in my deep freeze. When I cooked them I was very disappointed as they still were very mushy. The taste was good but the texture was not. This summer I will can them and be done with it.
Our farm animals are so funny! I had to include them in this gardening post! Every time we go out to the garden to work they all come around to see what we are up to. I never knew cows could be so curious!

Do you remember the little orphan Brahma bull with the bummed up leg that we inherited? Well, he is getting to be a pretty big fellow. He has such a calm and docile personality. His deformed leg is doing great. If he would have stayed on the huge ranch with the other Brahmas he wouldn't have been able to survive because of all the walking the large herd does daily. He would not have been able to keep up. It looks like his leg has straightened and we can't even tell he has a deformity. Here he is, coming to give us his opinion on our gardening!

And here is Missy or a better name for her would be Ms. Bossy!! She is definitely at the top of the pecking order. That may very well change, however, when Lil' Bit, the Brahma pictured above, grows up.

Then Isannah showed up hoping for some fresh oak leaves for a little snack. Doesn't she look so sweet and pleading?

It was such a nice afternoon to get out and work in the garden. It is always a rewarding feeling to plant those seeds and then see them begin to sprout and grow. Then it is time to battle the BUGS! GRRRR!!