Shelling Pecans

Saturday I was finally over the flu, so when D returned from a local pecan cracker with 10 pounds of cracked beautiful Desirables (that's a pecan variety :) !) we all sat on the back porch, spread them on the plastic tablecloth and shelled them. After weighing them into 1-pound bags, we delivered our first "prize" to friends and neighbors, reserving some in our fridge for soon-to-come Thanksgiving pies! The nuts were grown in an irrigated orchard in northern Georgia and make us even more excited about getting our trees in the ground and growing.

We pick up our first tree order next Saturday from Lake View Pecans in Bailey. D is taking Friday through the whole next week off to dig 3' wide, 4' deep holes at each tree spot with a rented bobcat with a 3' auger attachment. We will then hand mix lime into the soil (just a small amount) before refilling the hole, then he will subsoil both across and down each row which should break up any "glazing" done by the auger. After the subsoiling is done, we will use the tractor to smooth out the rows and will then replace each measured marker for the exact center of the hole. Our plan is to then be able to simply use manual post hole diggers for the hole and planting of each pot. We will probably try to get all of the NC trees (85 of them, 4 different varieties) in the ground before Christmas, but definitely by New Years. I will hand water and tend to the trees in the pots between this Saturday and the day they go into the ground. After New Years we will be going to Texas to get the rest of the trees (385 total but just two varieties). That's the plan. We will see what reality brings :) !

Placing "the" order

Tomorrow I will confirm with both of our suppliers the exact quantity, variety and size of each tree that we plan to plant next winter. We have "finalized" our layout (again!) but of course we will revise it if we cannot get the exact number of each variety that we want because we really feel like it is more important to get the good quality of trees as long as we can get almost all of the varieties in the quantities we want. The local farm supply place is scheduled to come and lime (1.5 tons per acre) tomorrow and then D will begin discing it in before we plant ground cover. I am still researching exactly what type of cover we need to plant at this time of year (usually you would plant it in the fall).

Tonight it is supposed to be down to about 30* so I spent a little time this evening covering the fruit trees with sheets. It looks so funny to look out and see two rows of sheets swaying in the cold north wind!! We will see tomorrow how much damage has been done. I didn't cover the blueberry bushes because they are still so small that I was considering plucking the blooms off for one more year anyway, to help advance the growth of the branches.

There is a possibility of some slight showers overnight but no further rain in sight for the rest of the week. Once the fields are limed it really would be good for it not to rain until we get them disced and sowed with some cover.

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.