No Photos Yet

I know, I know I promised some photos of the new onion crop. But with all the activity around our house these last few weeks, just haven't gotten there yet. First we had Thanksgiving, then we celebrated Jesus Birthday (Christmas) And then I had a Birthday. Not to even think about the cold and wet weather, you know what I mean dark and Drury kind of weather. Anyway I just haven't done it yet. But I will.
I wish all a very HAPPY NEW YEAR !!! I think we gonna need it. Don't forget those Blackeyed Peas for luck, and some cabbage would not hurt.

We Did It !!!!!

We got all the onions planted, and rain coming tonight. Now you tell me, how blessed can one get.

I do hope it is a slow gentle rain and not one of our famous down pours. I did take a few photos. So here they are. In a few days when the plants start to grow I will get photos of them.This is my Son, tilling plant residue and cover crop.

And this is yours truly, plowing rows for the onions and being cold.

This is the girls planting the onions, they are so good and super fast.

This next photo was taken this morning just before I left for the farm. I think it is just too wonderful not to post for all to see.

Onward Through The Fog

Thanksgiving day is now over but giving thanks is not. Be Thankful each day.
Christmas in looming near. I am happy to be part of Christ Birthday.
Our weather has turned cold and wet, but is still mild compared to you Northern folks.
But now is the time to plant onions in our area. I picked up the plants yesterday Approx. 29,400 plants. Not a lot but about what we plant most years. These are the Texas Sweet Onions. Really good and mild, you know fresh eating onions. Not those Strong make you cry type. Any way the field is ready to plant, so my son and I will be making rows and planting in the morning. I have 3 girls that plant each year for us. They are real fast and make no mistakes.
I really hope we can finish before rain starts in. Weather man says rain is possible. I will post a photo after we finish planting. Although when first planted they are hard to see, onion plants are small and have no tops.

Thanksgiving

Giving Thanks is what its all about, I have so much to be grateful for I haven't a clue where to start. I would think that if we all reflect on our past and daily lives you would find more blessing that you could ever imagine.
Yeah, I know we all have some down days but we also know that there are better times ahead.
I look back on my past childhood and find such wonderful memories (good and bad) but they are all part of what we are and what we have become. I posted this photo of a wild turkey because it is the symbol of thanksgiving. Growing up we always had a roasted chicken hen, turkeys cost too much and we didn't raise turkeys. But what a feast we had with all the family, it was truly a thankful day. One of the things I remember most was having iced tea, (sounds strange huh) Not really when you realize we didn't have any ice most of the time. Growing up in the country we had no electric power, ice had to be brought from town. Every kid got a small chip of ice wrapped in newspaper, we would all run around playing in the yard and sucking on our ice chip. I think living and growing up in the rural south has a lot to do with who I am today. And I am happy knowing who I am.
Each morning when I get up I walk outside to look at the world, And say thank you Jesus for this day, thank you for all my blessing for they are great. Happy Thanksgiving !!

Are we ready for 2009 crop year

Naw, we are not ready, but we are working on it. Maybe pick what peas we have left next week.
It is almost time to plant onions again, time surly flies when you are having fun. All of our Chiles are gone for the year. The seed people are sending out the catalogs and some are calling on the phone. Wonder what new things they might have this year. I always look forward to the new catalogs, you know just to ponder what might be good.
I am a little spooked on what seed and fertilizer might cost this coming season. And the irrigation supplies. Who knows it may be cheaper this year than last year, well we can dream can't we.
The fields have been mostly all mowed, starting to disc and maybe plant a winter cover crop. It is a little late to plant cover. It never too late for weeds, they are better than nothing, they hold the soil from washing during winter rains.
Got the blueberry field all clean of weed and stuff. maybe a good crop this coming year. Later ya'll

Sneaking By

We did sneak by with the pea crop, well some of it anyway. Frost did not get them all. The poly spray helped a lot.
As did the weather, Remember this is Texas the temp today is 76 degrees. The plants that did make it through the freeze are perking up, they like this warm sunshine. Matter of fact so do I.

Well It finally Happen

Yep, freeze it happen this morning 30.1 deg. I am not ready for cold weather. But what the heck this is Texas it might be 90 deg. next week.
We did however have one more picking of Habanero Chiles still in the field, and several fields of peas. I am pretty sure they have gone by the way side, but one can hope not. When the sun comes out we will know for sure. We did spray yesterday the pea fields with a poly coating in hope that it would hold back the frost.
I am hoping that this coming year will be better economically not just for us but the whole country. Everybody talking about change, we already have the greatest country in the world we just need to take care of what we have.

2008 Winding Down

We have had a pretty good year crop wise. I haven't kept up with the blog like I should have, Sorry.
I have had some health issues but am over coming them.
I am looking forward to this coming year and maybe growing some new things, Things that I haven't grown before might be a fun thing. I truly like growing plants of all kinds, I also like for them to make a profit if I can. Who knows what might be out there, I am open for any thoughts you might have.
I was in hopes that this Blog would generate some different ideas other than my own, so speak up don't be afraid you are among friends.

Happenings as of today

We have been very busy with the Chile crop. Production has been very good and the wholesale prices have been steady. We did however loose some Jalapeño production due to the Salmonella
scare. All the buyers stopper buying Jalapeños. Just like they did tomatoes.
Managed to kill most of the tomato growers and did put a hurt on the Chile growers as well. Being we a re a small farm didn't hurt us too bad. We did loose several pickings. Mind you there was nothing wrong with the Chiles, just could not sell them.
Oh well we have over come all that (I think).
Our second planting of peas didn't do much, lack of rain was the reason. It has been super dry, but is getting better, rained yesterday and may rain again today.
That means we will try and plant more peas, as soon as it drys enough to get in the field.
Our Habanero crop of Chiles has done great and the price has been super. Looks like we might loose our pickers, they are Moms and school is about to start. Maybe not I hope they can stay they have been really good, Best we have ever had.
We did loose our cooler unit, it burnt up had to get a new one. Cooler man said $6000.00 to replace, so of course I went into sticker shock. You have to sell lot of pepper to pay for that.
I toured the net looking for a better deal of which I didn't find. My monetary rate is still running back in the 50's somewhere. After about 4 days I called the cooler man and said just fix it. And he did, so we are up and running once again. Thanks Ralph.

Chile picking

Well, sorry about that, posting that is.
The Chile harvest has started and have been supper busy. Seems like the older I get it doesn't take much to make me super busy.
Any way, I haven't taken any new photos but I will. ( I promise) I know photos make the blog more interesting, It does for me any way I like to see photos. A blog with photos is kinda bland.
We did harvest Banana and Cubanelle Chiles yesterday about 2000 pounds. Was able to sell them, a happy thing. I do however have 900 pounds of Cayenne that nobody wants. I think we all picked Cayenne at the same time.
We are about to plant some more Southern peas, purple hull they sell really good here in our area. Just finished picking the cream peas, they did pretty good. Would of been better had
we received some rain.
Rain, got some night before last, not much but some it was welcome. I could just hear all the plant and trees rejoicing.

Beans and Onion Harvest

5-24-2008
We have finished the onion harvest, What a nice crop, we have been truly blessed.
Onion production about 15000 pounds. And boy are they good. Super sweet taste.
The little bean field I posted about earlier, has been picked. It produced 80, 32 pound sacks.
Will pick again in a few days.
We do need some rain, got all the peppers planted, plowed and fertilized. Now we need some water. I guess we will start hooking up the irrigation lines Monday. The other bean field will be picked in about a week. The purple hull and cream peas are coming along. Just having some trouble with the aphids. They are easy to control.

Whats Happen Now?

Things are coming along pretty good. We will be picking Beans in about a week. The onions are ready to harvest. This will consist of pulling and let dry in the field. The onion crop turned out really nice this year. We are supper happy about that. And they are all sold, another good feeling.
All the Chile plants are planted (at last) the rain has kept us out of the field several days.
We have had 15.25" rain so far this year and it is raining right now. And I really need to plow .
Will lose another couple days because of it, But I am not complaining yet (well not to much)
I am just hoping the weeds don't get a head of me too much. Wishing you all happy growing. Farmer Bill

Beans 5-2-08

The Beans are looking good, I am happy farmer. We have baby beans !!!
We count on the onions and beans to help pay the way for our Chile plants. The Chile transplants are costly much more so than the seeded crops. Mainly because the seed is expensive and they are in the greenhouse for about 3 mounts. We have started planting the Chiles, but rain has slowed us down. I will not complain about the rain, not yet anyway. I would like to get all the Chiles in the ground though. It will happen.

Old man Winter

Well, looks like we will have one last round of cold weather. Weather Dude says it will be 31-34 degrees in the morning. We will be doing all we can to protect what we have growing. Sometime it works and sometime not. This is why I never plant our pepper crop until after tax day April 15 .
Just thought I would throw that in, maybe you forgot. I have seen a killing frost on the 15th, lost a whole crop of plants trying to be early. So now I just wait. I know we are all ready for spring, I am not ready for summer. Our Texas heat can be really hot. Oh well, you know farmers are never happy with the weather.

Fresh Bulb Onions

The onion harvest is underway. Most will be cured and sold dry, but fresh spring onions are a real treat. They don't stay at this stage long so we eat and sell all we can. Sure wish ya'll had some, boy are they good.

Planting Has Started

First , I am sorry for not posting more often. But Planting has started, so my time is short sometime.

We have panted some shell Beans, they are up and doing fine, We did find a few aphids on them yesterday. Time to start killing bugs. Sure seems early for bugs but what ever.

Planted a small batch of sweetcorn, just for us to nibble on. That is if the coons don't get it first.

Yellow summer squash planted, not looking all that good yet, maybe a little cool. Cucumbers are next. The Chile plants are doing great in the greenhouse. We should start planting them next week. OK ya'll I am off to see the wizard and plant some peas.

Spring is Coming

The weather has warmed up, especially at night. All this means that the ground will also be warming up. We have had rain and wind the last few days, and a little cooler.
We did manage to plant one Field of beans last week, they are not up yet. But with the rain they should be up in a few days. We will be planting another field of beans in the coming week.
I haven't been over to the onion field in a few days. I might just go have a look at them.

Baby's in the Greenhouse

You can see the difference in the Chile plants. They are coming along, I sure hope they will be ready to plant in the field come mid April. I also hope I will be ready myself.

I am a happy farmer, what more could one ask for.

Latest Photo of baby Chiles 3-12-08Baby Chiles 2008

Well, I have been telling you about the Chile baby's, Here they are. This is the Pepper crop for 2008. I could list all there names but wont right now.

If the weather is right about April 15th, they will be going to the field.

This photo was taken 3-12-08
As you can see the growth is coming along really nice. We may be able to pull some spring onions in about 2 weeks. (weather permitting).
There has been lots of rain, we really need to plow but is just too wet. Course ya'll know farmers are never happy, (well almost never)
I am happy with this crop of onions. It is almost time to plant, beans just need the ground to be a little warmer. If we plant too early the seed may rot.



Report 2-11-08 As you can see in the photos below the onions are doing very well. I truly hope that they continue. I am on my way to the greenhouse to check on the baby pepper plants. I will take my camera, It is pretty cloudy so don't know how the photos will turn out. If they are any good I will post them. I may post them anyway. More rain coming today, we need it.

Sweet Onions "Cherokee Sweets"

The Photo above was taken the day we planted. 1-20-08

They really are growing, Even with all the cold weather. The above photo was taken 2-10-08

Not Much Happening

It has still been cold and wet.
Our friend and main man Camacho has returned for this growing season. I don't know what we would do without him. He is one of those people that is worth $50.00 hour you just pay it. We treat him more like family than an employee. He has been with us along time.
We have managed to get the grapes pruned, and have started cleaning up the blueberries. We let the blueberries go way to long. this is not the time to prune them, but we are going to anyway. At least half of them. reason being they set fruit buds in the fall, so pruning now means that plant will have no fruit.
But we should have lots of new growth come this fall, and a much more manageable crop. Onions not growing much but they look fine. May need to fertilize them soon, might give them a boost.

An update for 2008

A lot has happen in the last few weeks.
The weather has been wet and cold., we did make it to the greenhouse with seed. So will have baby plants soon.
I have been real sick with the flu, Maybe I am just getting older but this thing has kicked my ass. Only today have I felt like getting up and about.
My Brother passed away also during this time, I was so sick I could not even say good by. He was 17 years younger than myself. I will miss him, he was my only Brother and my friend.
Our onion plants are doing well, That is all we have planted so can't talk about much else. We do have the fields ready to plant.
The next thing will be planting some beans and maybe some sweet corn. The beans will be a sale-able crop and the corn will be for our own use.
Oh, and we did plant a couple of rows collards and turnips. Just for family food.
We have been shopping for a small disc to use between the rows for weed control. Something new to try this year. I hate weeds, we really need to try planting on plastic mulch. I would have to buy new equipment and just don't want to do that right now. Maybe next year. If the sun comes out I can post some new photos.

First Post 2008

Well the old is out and the new is in. So I am wishing a Happy New Year to all my friends and readers.
This last year has been a good one, I am looking forward to 2008.
I have learned about another site that I think is great. I was reading another blog of one of my farming friends. http://boulderbelt.blogspot.com/ She said, I just bought a Water Buffalo.
My first thought was why would you do that?
Well after going to this link I now know why.http://www.heifer.org/
I think this site is so cool. I just bought some pigs. This is the greatest gift one can give. please check it out.
Farm report
Not much going on so not much to report. I have received all the seeds that were ordered. I can't believe the cost of seed this year. Course my monetary rate is still back in the 1950's some where. Yea, I know I am older than dirt but I did see myself in the mirror this morning, so its gonna be a great day.
Sorry about that my mind wonders sometime. as long as it keeps coming back I'm OK.
The onions are the only thing we have planted and they are looking fine. We will be starting seed in the greenhouse in about 2 weeks. So there will be some new photos soon. More later