Rain, beautiful rain!!

Got over 3 inches of rain in the past 3 days - what a praise and not a coincidence that our church had a special prayer for rain this past Sunday. What a relief. Now may we just get more to replenish all these long months without it.

Daily Journal

To do this week:
Finalize order for trees
Begin burning piles (yippeee!!)
Price lime (need 21 TONS!!) and determine delivery date
Determine if water tank we saw for sale in Creedmoor is a good deal or not;
Get prices on parts for tank set-up from various suppliers
Confirm NCPGA membership and find out when next meeting will be
Reply to NCDA marketing expert about potential of markets
Speak with Johnston County Coop extension agents about pros/cons of pond irrigation versus digging new well
Call Soil & Conservation and find diver to work on large pond drainage
Check on used cracker/sheller equipment and local production
Anything else that comes up that I also don't have time for :)

Pecans and Bees

Interesting articles that I have read lately about bees and the "CCD" (colony collapse disorder -aka: nobody knows what's going on) and in two articles people blasted commercial pecan growers for trucking around the bees. FYI - pecans are wind pollinated, not bee pollinated so although other nuts and fruits and veggies are dependent on bees, pecans are not. That being said, I think we are seeing the results of long years of "artificial farming" where large corporate "farms" are so interested in profits that they have caused immeasurable damage to the environment and the consumers' health all for the sake of the dollar. Just another wake-up call to revert back to God's natural way of doing things rather than man's greedy way. We are seriously considering clover as a ground cover in the orchard (probably a white/crimson mix of annual and perennial as recommended by Oklahoma extension service and depending on the availability of local seed) because it is not only good for the soil but encourages beneficial insects like ladybugs and caterpillars. That being said, we really want to have hives not only for the clover and any honey they might produce but also to see if honey bees will do any better here than in other places since they are getting so scarce. It means more management on our side to make sure that any chemicals we do have to use, including fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides are "non-toxic" and as natural and organic as possible, which we would do even without bees. No chemicals? Not sure but we definitely will be very selective in both the choice of chemicals and their quantity if it becomes a necessity. We have now chosen 7 varieties whereas most new orchards are using 2 or 3 new varieties. We really feel that what we might give up in "mammoth size" is more than offset by having more native varieties that do not require so much chemical treatment and the cross-pollination of these trees is so much more natural than the "forced" ones in large orchards. (Photo above by Russ Creech)

Daily journal

"Spit" of a rain today (less than 1/16") but happy for anything at this point. One loader worked about 6 hours to pile stumps; looks like he might have it ready to burn in about 2-3 more days. Need a dozer to smooth after he finishes . Will have to have more rain before we can begin burning. Soil report came from NCSU - need 1.5 TONS of lime per acre - ouchhh$$ !! Am online now looking for a deal on lime. Still no decision on suppliers - awaiting return calls/emails from 2 prospective ones - one in NC, one in TX. Trying to weigh pros/cons of container vs. bareroot.

Quote of the Day

Will Rogers:

"You got to do more

than just live in the country

to be a Farmer."

Everything I ever needed to know....

... I learned from..... no, not Kindergarten, not even the internet. I learned it from those who have blazed the trails before me. Those who've "been there, done that" and care enough about those who come along behind them to help them avoid the pits and find the paths. So I want to say a big ole "THANK YOU" to those who we have talked with over the past few weeks/months who are great farmers. They know the land, the crops, the troubles and trials, the rewards, the headaches, the "tricks of the trade" (aka: Plain old hard work, optimism in the face of severe trials and the gumption to carry on when everyone else says you're crazy). We have had the privilege of meeting some of the best "old timers" around and pray that it is the beginning of long friendships with them. Now on to dealing with root-borne diseases, lack of pecan seedlings this year, and other fun problems. Seriously, if it ain't fun to figure out how to deal with constant and new problems, don't consider farming!

Varieties and Layout

The layout of the farm is finished. Depending on availability, the plans now are to have the farm mapped out in 4 zones for different varieties and for irrigation purposes.
We divided the farm with each block within a zone representing 36'x36' for each tree. From East to West and North to South, the first zone is almost 400' wide x 360' long. The second zone is about 680' long (also 400' wide). Both of these zones are on the Eastern side of the farm with neighboring woods to the East and a dry creek bed (wet only during rainy times) to the south of the second zone and we have left about 72' of "buffer" where we will plant ground cover, put up an electric fence and use to spot "pests" that need to be hunted on both the east and south sides. We plotted the orchard in these two zones (East to West) 2 rows Pawnee (54 trees) , 2 Kiowa (54 trees) , 4 Pawnee (108 trees), 2 Kiowa (54 trees). The winds are usually west or northwest to east/southeast so we have the Kiowas on the Western side of the Pawnees. The rows are almost exactly north/south.

The remaining two zones are broken into one large area (360' wide x 680' long) and one small area that is actually part of our "yard" on the 2 acres surveyed off with our home. The smaller area is only 18 trees, 6 each of Cape Fear, Stuart and Nacono; sort of our "test" area for these, none of which we chose to be a large part of our commercial production (for now) but wanted to have to see how they do. The larger area is planted with (East to West), 2 rows Oconee (34 trees), 2 Sumner (34 trees), 4 Desirable (68), 2 Forkett (34). There is also another 70+ feet buffer on the west side of the farm that adjoins a less densely wooded area. Again, we chose to have the Forketts to the west of the Desirables.


Total tally: about 400 trees (after taking away those rows that will be shortened due to the southern ravine), 136 Pawnee, 86 Kiowa, 6 Cape Fear, 6 Stuart, 6 Nacano, 34 Oconee, 34 Sumner, 68 Desirable, 34 Forkett = 400. Right now supplies of most varieties except Pawnee and Stuart are very small so unfortunately rather than dealing with one source we will have to deal with several. In addition, our main supplier no longer sells bare-root and we now have to decide whether to go with a less reliable supplier or spend almost double the amount we planned to purchase container grown, and if the latter we also have to figure out a way to get that size and weight of a load from Texas back to NC! Stay turned to see what new problems arise in the next episode of "As the Pecan Turns".......

Choice of Varieties

There are over 400 varieties of pecans in the world, but only about 100 that are commercially viable. So far we have researched in detail about 14 varieties that can be grown in NC and that we felt would produce the type of pecan we want to market. But with limited acreage at this point, we really need to hone it down further so after long talks with several "old timers" in the area, I think we have decided on the main varieties we will plant. Off I go to the spreadsheet to map out where/how many of each, taking into account wind conditions, lay of the land, size of rows, pollination production and receptivity, woods nearby, irrigation needs, size, color, shell strength and shellout of pecans, and a host of smaller variables. Good thing I enjoy jigsaw puzzles because this is like a giant 3D puzzle and I'm missing the box cover!

Blog of Pecan Orchard Farming

This blog is for us to "journal" our adventures into pecan farming. It's my notes about decisions and mistakes that we will make. It will include tidbits of information and resources for us to return to whenever needed. And it is a record for our children and others about how and why we got into the pecan business.

" I know of no pursuit in which more real and important services can be rendered to any country than by improving its agriculture, its breed of useful animals, and other branches of a husbandman’s cares."

GEORGE WASHINGTON, letter, Jul. 20, 1794