Fall is Here!

Suddenly the summer is gone and fall is here, which means - IIIIIIIIIYYYYAAAAAAHHHHHH! We have just a few short weeks to get everything done before we go to pick up the trees!!
Needed:
* Finish remarking each tree hole accurately (now that millet has been bushhogged)
* Put up fence (may wait on this until next summer unless we have problems with the deer in late Jan/early Feb)
* Dig almost 400 holes at least 4' deep and 4' wide ("ripping") and then mixing dolomitic lime with the soil, refilling the holes and leveling off
* Dig the actual tree hole (with auger attached to tractor - see next note!)
* Plant clover in the "alleys" between tree rows
* Get new radiator and water pump for old (very old!) tractor which of course has a very rare-type of radiator that has to be ordered from (are you ready to hear this??!!) - IRELAND! We've researched and called and talked to everyone we could find and evidently this type of radiator is now only made by one company in the world, so you can guess that it is not easy to get and of course not cheap! Since this is our only tractor, we don't have a choice (well, the only other choice is a new tractor and that's not really a choice!)
So right now we are "dead in the water" until the tractor is fixed or we decide to pay someone to do some of the holes. One supplier is ready for us to come get our trees in the next two weeks and then I will be the mother of 85 "babies" that I will have to tend to carefully until the spring. That brood will grow to over 400 after our January trip to Texas, so talking about being an expectant "parent" :) !

Other than the new trees, the other happenings are:
* Pick up, sort and collect nuts from a few local trees to try to grow rootstock from in the next two years (especially one very prolific old tree at the old homeplace where Derwin's Dad was born)
* Pick up, sort, and shell pecans for personal use and possible sale
* Develop website
* Finalize tax and other paperwork
* Prune and tend to certain berry and fruit trees that need fall attention
* Continue watering and tending cabbage and collards in the garden
* Gather and dry black walnuts from MIL's farm
* Cut/split more firewood for the winter

And try to keep the house and yard in order, do school with the children, teach Awanas, and all of the "normal" things to do on a farm and with a family! I am just so very thankful for our health and the opportunity to do so much together as a family. That's what makes it all worthwhile!

Misc happenings

Planted 10 pecans in large pots yesterday, from Pawnee nuts. Just experimenting with them. D finished bush hogging the fields and realized that he had run over about a half dozen volunteer trees from near Coy's old house. Next spring we will check around before he bush hogs to see if any of them would make good root stock. Got the disc tire replaced today, ready for D to use next week (he is off all week and we hope to get the rest of the sections cleared and planted in millet). The centipede in the back yard is amazing - it is not quite 2 weeks since we planted and it is looking like a golf course already. We've watered every day but it has been well worth it. Two corners of the yard have "leaked" seeds out in the orchard area so we already have some centipede started there (which is fine since that's what we want in the whole orchard eventually). One pound of centipede is almost $30 so the more it spreads naturally, the better.

Tractor Woes

The tractor engine is still running after several repairs. Unfortunately the wheels just aren't moving :) ! Right now it is in my front yard with the wheel broken off and the axle propped up on a chunk of wood (I feel a redneck joke coming on here!). I am just very, very, very thankful that it broke off when my dear hubby was watching carefully and near the house. He slowed down as he saw it start to wobble and was stopped and dismounted by the time it came off. The evening before he had been in the far corner gigging until long after dark, and on a slope at that. I can only imagine what might have happened with him pinned under it. Thank you, Lord for protecting him. Today I will do my best to find a new (used) tire rim to fit so we can try to get it (safely) running again.

Prepping the land

Praise for rain in the past few days but so far still no lift of the burn ban. In the meantime, D has spent all of his waking hours gigging the land and we now have lots and lots of rocks and roots to pick up to keep us busy while we wait for that ban to lift! Today I finalized the number count on the varieties based on our "master plan" and adjusted for the poor availability (many growers are saying they have the smallest stock they've ever had due to the drought, heat and late spring freeze). In other news, I have gotten prices for the nurse tank and trailer (looks like AgriSupply has the best price), a 24" auger to dig the holes, a sprayer that can be attached to the tractor or the ATV, various insecticide and herbicide prices, prices for lime and zinc, nickel (if needed), and a trailer hitch for the ATV in order to pull the wagon D bought today to use for many things, but for now especially to haul the roots and rocks we will be picking up for days (weeks?) to come! Moving along, just not as quickly as I'd like but then again I always said "Rome wasn't built in a day.... I think a few hours should be plenty."