Trip from Texas

Friday, Dec. 26 - rose at 4:30am, was at airport at 5:50, flight to Atlanta then after sitting on the tarmac, left 2 hours late for Austin.
Arrived in Austin about 1:30pm, picked up at airport by Mrs. Lisa Berdoll who graciously fed our hungry tummies before giving us a tour of both their retail store as well as the orchard and some of the harvesting buildings. The Berdolls are some of the nicest people ever, and we got to meet their daughter (Jennifer) and son-in-law who are buying the store on Monday, as well as their son (Brandon) and his wife who works at the retail store.
After seeing the orchard and Hal's new sorting machine (which he designed himself to re-sort pecans to his own more stringent specifications), we stocked up on some fantastic pecan products at their store and got a few pointers from Hal about planting the trees. They had already loaded up our order (85 Desirable and 235 Pawnee trees that are 2 year-old grafted onto 2 year rootstock, as well as 12 young Pawnees that have been budded but not yet forced, and one large Pawnee that will go at the entrance to the farm).
We drove to the closest Home Depot, bought a padlock to help protect our lifetime savings packed in that truck!, and hit the road just before dark. We drove down to Houston, and on into Iowa before stopping for the night. (Yes, Iowa! - Iowa, Louisiana, that is :) !). Saturday morning we fueled up at Waffle House and got gas for the truck, and hit the road. We crossed Louisiana amidst scattered light showers, marveled at the acres and acres of rice fields, drove across the southern edge of Mississippi, and on into Alabama. From Mobile we headed up to Montgomery, then on to Atlanta by about 8:30pm Saturday night.
Derwin was feeling very achy and feverish by late afternoon and by the time we reached Atlanta was into a full-blown flu. I had thought I would trade off driving with him when needed but a 16' truck loaded with everything it had taken us 30 years of marriage to save, and our two lives at stake if I made a mistake on a rainy, foggy interstate was more than either of us wanted to risk. So we stopped for the night and although D got very little sleep between coughing and headaches, he hung in there to drive us the rest of the way home on Sunday evening (he's amazing!).

Plan for planting:
1 - Unload trees under garden shed cover where can be wrapped/covered if freezes below 15 degrees or so before planting
2 - Subsoil the tree holes where they've been dug with 3' auger in at least 4 places (2 times across each hole)
3 - Level off each hole if sunken
4 - Dig 9" hole for each tree
5 - Remove from pot and plant in hole, packing in well, and then watering
6 - Berm about 3' from trunk around each tree (to hold in irrigation during dry spells before irrigation system is put in); mulch inside the bermed area
7 - Put up electric fence to keep deer out
8 - Wrap tree protectors around each trunk and put up bamboo supports & tie them
9 - Get sprayers, insecticides, etc. ready for spring
10 - Mark varieities with more permanent markings at each row
11 - Log varieties and planting info (weather, etc.) in computer database
12 - Water as needed
13 - Determine/file tax information
14 - Continue to monitor and log weather and soil conditions throughout winter and in preparation for spring fertilizers, etc.

Update

No rain yet this week. The fruit trees so far have escaped damage from two cold nights but the weather is supposed to be exceptionally warm for the next few days so we don't need to be concerned about that. Bridgers came yesterday and limed all 14+ acres with 1.5 tons per acre and D began last night and continued again tonight discing it in. He got stuck in the "soft" area again so not only did I get to drive the tractor but took my first drive on the backhoe, too. Maybe I'll turn into a farmer after all :) !
EO and I finished reading his "Farming with Father" book today as part of his school and it has been a delight to read it to him and let him read some of the words, too. I think it's great that some of the first words he reads on his own are "farm, cow, tractor, hen, hay, help, rain...." What a blessing to be where we can see God's hand in everything and it makes it so much easier to realize the temporary nature of what man creates compared to God. Oh, to have my children understand first hand that they should be grateful for every ray of sunshine, every drop of rain, every stalk of wheat, every refreshing breeze, every buzzing bee and blooming flower, every breath and beat of our heart, every morsel of food to eat and sip of water to drink. we are truly blessed.

Update

Rained twice so far this week - about 1/10th on Sun night and about 4/10ths Tues night/Wed morning. More rain projected later this week - Praise the Lord! The drought continues but if we can get some more rain more consistently it might break the trend. Burn Ban is still on (since 2/13). No news from relatives about possibility of leasing land to plant trees on so tonight we decided to pray for 3 days about planting in the next few weeks. If the burn ban continues and we do not get an enthusiastic agreement to lease the land we will stop trying to make it happen this year and resign ourselves to the fact that no trees will be planted until next winter. It is very discouraging, especially to D and along with continued layoffs and demotions at his work, so please pray that we will persevere and also that we will have wisdom both in decisions and their timing.

14th Annual Pecan Conference

Last Saturday D went to the state-wide pecan conference and learned lots of wonderful things. At this point we are inevitably frustrated that we have done all this work and yet it seems that we probably will not be able to get trees into the ground until next year.

One of the interesting things D learned was that our brief knowledge and "gut feel" for overseas opportunities seems right on the money. We just wish we already had the trees in the ground about 5 years ago but as the old saying goes "When is the best time to plant a tree? 10 years ago. When is the second best time to plant a tree? Today."

Unfortunately, the burn ban has been reinstated adding to our frustrations and complications but what would farming be without furrows (on the brow)? So trying to look "outside the box" we are talking with a relative about leasing some unused farm land of theirs to plant on immediately but so far we haven't gotten an answer. Please pray for us to make wise decisions in the use of our (limited) resources.

As far as other information from the conference, most of it just confirmed our choices and decisions to date including sources of trees, varieties, layout of the farm, etc. A lot of new and interesting information regarding irrigation was very valuable as well as some sources for crackers/shellers that are local.

Update

Well, the piles are still burning (sort of). With cool temps, sleet, some rain and little wind it is amazing that they are still smoldering. Unfortunately this is because they are not burning nearly as well as we had hoped and this week we will meet with some grading people to see what needs to be done to get rid of all of the massive amounts that still remain. Next weekend D&I plan to attend an all-day conference by the NCPGA and he has had to work all weekend last weekend and this one on his construction job so almost no progress has been made in prepping the land. We haven't heard back from our source in Texas to see if he still has stock of varieties we want or not and it is looking more likely every day that we will just clear and plant ground cover this year and plan on planting trees next winter. It's a hard pill to swallow but there is no sense in rushing and not having the land and soil right before the trees get planted. Pray for Godly wisdom as we decide how quickly and exactly how to proceed.

Update

1 - Planned D's trip to SE Texas to see orchards and nurseries - probably the end of this week
2 - Revised (again!) orchard layout - adjusted two more rows to be Pawnee after discussions about availability of productivity
3 - Dug 9 three-foot holes (7 on our land, 2 in Gran's pasture) to determine "perkability" - as of 24 hour mark, more than half have completely drained, remaining ones have from 2-6" left. Will recheck tomorrow morning (about 40 hour mark) and tomorrow afternoon at 48 hours. Recommended by Texas growers to determine whether soil composition is good and for which varieties on which part of the farm.
4 - Attended the last part of "Pecan Day" at Oak View in Raleigh. The good turn out at this event is a good confirmation that we are proceeding with the right idea. Mr. Bill Bunn and his wife were there and although we missed his presentation (busy fixing the tractor - which did not want to start on this cold morning - and attaching the auger to dig the holes) we were glad to get to see his slide show and see him for a few minutes. He had pecan halves, in-shell pecans, pecan pies all for sale; samples of cinnamon and sugar pecans as well as "roasted"/salted ones and taking orders. We bought enough halves for two or more pecan pies for the church supper next Sunday :) !
5 - Still unable to burn due to burn ban; still praying for rain!
6 - Still awaiting bulldozer for final grading (supposedly mid-week this week)
7 - to be done this week; finalize some cash flow projections including fencing, lime and ground cover costs; finalize D's trip (he will check Monday am about taking off work since they just had 20% of their workers laid off last week); discuss plantings on family land; continue research for crackers/shellers

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 :)

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.