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

Habanero Chiles

Processing Chiles

Slide Show

Cherokee Sweets Planted

Well, I did get a few photos of the just planted Onions. We call ours Cherokee Sweets.
(1) They are grown in Cherokee Co. Texas
(2) And they are Sweet.
So here is the latest photo. I am having one heck of a time trying to post click-able photos.
Just hang with me and I will get it sometime soon. (maybe)
Well I Did It
You can now click on the photos to see them in there true form (larger)
Thanks to a very good Internet friend for helping me. Thanks BirdGirl.

Onion Plants arrived

We received our onion plants Monday. Really nice plants. I think they were dug one day and we had them the next. The roots were not even dried out.
We started planting Tuesday morning, (with a short crew) only three people. But did almost finish. Planted all but three box's, but planted them Wednesday morning. Finished by 10:00 am.
I made the rows so they are a little crooked. But hey, you can plant more in a crooked row. So I have been told. Anyway all looks great. And guess what it rained Wednesday night, now how cool is that. I will wait to see a few new true leaves then will fertilize with some ammonia nitrate
We grow sweet onions so cant have any sulfur, sulfur makes them hot.
I took some photos with my cell phone, but they look like crap. I will take some better ones and post them later.
I have ordered all other seed and have received most of them. Only the pea seed from SeedWay has not arrived. I know it is early but if you don't order early you may not get the seed you want.
One of the other thing I noticed this year is the cost of seed has increased greatly.
Believe it or not the onion plants were cheaper this year for some reason and were better plants. (I be counting my blessings)
Had to order tractor fuel today, this is off road diesel $2.87.9 per. gallon. Boy I hate it when that happens. Later ya'll

Onion Plants Ordered

Well, I ordered the onion plants yesterday. 10 boxes = 36000 onion plants. Not quite what we planted last year.
The field is all ready, just need to make the beds. Won't be doing that until the day we plant. Plants should be here in about 2 weeks. Planting crew all lined up and waiting for a call. I do think all will go smooth. Of course one can't control the weather. Maybe I should post a photo of last years crop. Just to give an idea of what we are doing. Besides I like to look at them myself.
Tractor work
We have been servicing the equipment, have one older tractor we are putting new brakes on. (we really have several older tractors) And a couple of newer ones. Maybe someday soon I will post some photos of them. Anyway most of you know the drill, new filters, oil, grease check nuts and bolts and stuff.

Its Raining

Friday after Thanksgiving, plowed some fields, planted some cover crops.
And it Rained Saturday. Now how cool is that. Not a down pour mind you, but a slow soaking rain. And looks like it might do it again today.
Don't we have lots to be thankful for, I know I do.
Although the weather is cold it is not freezing (yet) at least not every day.
Different subject: Yea, I know I think too much, I call it mind wondering.
OK its raining we have two deer legs, (what to do) Sausage. My Son came over and we made sausage (pan type) didn't feel like making links. So we have these deer legs, remove meat from bones, grind. Sure looks lean, but just happen to have a pork butt in the cooler. It is ground and added to the deer meat, spices added and mixed. At this point you gotta try some, we decide it needs more sage and pepper flakes. With the added ingredients it is really good. Packed into one pound packages ready for freezer. Now that was what I call fun work.
Don't think of a rainbow, Think of it as a SunBow.

Its Over

Well frost has finally frozen. We had a killing frost the other night. Of course it killed all the rest of the Chile plants.
We did have a wonderful harvest this year, for which I am very grateful. It is now time to plant for the coming year. We have already started working the onion ground. Hope to plant the last of December.
Planing how to manage the grass in our fields, I am in hopes that we can master that (we will) somehow make it better.
We have been looking at some of the specialty crops that might be more profitable. Like Asian vegetables, and some of the different type of Chiles.
Not being a large grower i think you have to look harder.
We need rain, but in the mean time I do wish the new seed catalogs would come. I really like to see what is going to be new for the coming year. For some reason some of the seed company's don't send catalogs until after planting time.(duh) I hope every one has a wonderful and Merry Christmas. More later Bill