Watering Trees

 A few weeks ago we received about half the trees we were planting this year. Once they were in the ground the need to watered in. The Farmer was out doing that so Micah and I went out to say hi. Micah loves to help so he was holding the hose too.

He fell once and totally face planted. But what toddler (or boy) stops if they get mud on their face.

Of course he couldn't leave without play on the gator. This boy loves the gator and to go on rides.

Today we finished up planting all the trees for this year thanks to the work of friends, family, and a couple hired help. I'll get up pictures hopefully soon.

Orchardess

As of today I feel like I can officially be called an orchardess. Before today my involvement with our orchard has primarily been taking pictures. But this afternoon I helped The Farmer mark out where he will be drilling holes for the trees we have here (about half of what we are planting this year). He was able to get started on punches the holes today which is really good because the trees REALLY need to get in the ground.

Lessons learned today:
Jeans are hot

Allergies are no fun and especially no fun when pregnant

SPF 15 is not enough on skin that has not seen the light of day in at least six months

And now we must observe a moment of silence to three tress lost to the hands, I mean mouths of gophers. Micah did enjoy playing with the poor tree, notice the lack of roots. (Shaking my fist at the gophers). But all in all three isn't that bad. Plus The Farmer has gotten back at those gophers. Hehe.
 

God is Good

This is why we put our trust in God. He never fails us. Many times it is hard to see that in the midst of a crisis, or His works are not seen until looking back through the lens of time, often years. Still there have been times in our life that we can see God working and His power right away.


Last week I walked out with Micah and The Farmer to see what he had been doing with the trees. See the white trunks, he painted all the trees that way. The theory is it will reflect warmth from the sun in the winter and early spring so the trees don't come out of dormancy too early.


While out their I was curious about the trees that the deer had gotten to. The Farmer showed me new growth on some nearby trees and said all the trees that were hit have new growth! Which means all of them survived the attack of the deer. Now of course it is time for them to start shutting down for the winter. But I am so happy to know that so far they are all alive. God is good!

Trusting Him

Agriculture is a true test in trusting God, not that everyday life isn't, I just feel it more acutely when your livelihood is dependent on a crop that has so many uncontrollable variables affecting it. Thankfully we have faith and confidence in the One who does control those variables.

After The Farmer got back from AT he found the trees had cherry slugs and one other pest on them. It took a bit of research to determine what those pest were, but once he knew, he was able to spray the trees and that took care of it.

Last weekend in just two nights deer penetrated through all the trees and 60%-80% were eaten on. About 25% of them were heavy hit, requiring pruning. Those trees won't grow anymore this year. Prayerfully they will next year.

We could stress and worry about the trees. But that would be carrying something that is not ours to carry. We thank and praise God during the "good times" but He commands us to thank Him in all things. Who is to say what is good and bad when we don't have a full view of eternity anyways? If I say I have faith in God but then worry and question Him when challenging times arise, would that not be a selective faith? How could I even have a selective faith? Either I have faith in God and assurance in His sovereignty or my trust lies in myself. We chose to trust Jehovah Jireh (God who provides). He is proven Himself to us time and time again. How could we do anything but trust Him.

Trees

So here is what The Farmer had to do to get the trees in.

First off he tilled up the rows. Then he measured out the spacing for the trees. Then the digging began.

Man I would be sore having to look back like that the whole time, and I think he was though he didn't really say or complain about it at all.

eeek watch out don't let the tractor get you

Here is an up close look at the auger doing its thing.

"I'm a God fearin', hard workin' combine tractor driver; hoggin' up the road field in the p-p-plower t-t-tractor; chug-a-lug-a-luggin' 5 miles an hour"

name that song


You want to make sure you don't fall in those deep holes.


The trees first sit in this fertilizer stuff. I have to call it stuff because, well I don't know what its called.

The Farmer then goes along dropping the little trees in the holes.

He is followed by the guys we hired for the day who plant the trees.

And the trees are in, we got them all in the ground in one day. (Remember we is used loosely). Thanks Greg for helping too.


Next up is "head off" the trees. What proved to be the hard part with this was it needed to be dry. And well it hasn't exactly been dry. The forecast finally looked dry this past Friday so The Farmer got busy, took him about two and half hours (which is a lot quicker then I thought it would be). Heading off the trees entails cutting them down to all the same height and stripping them of all but 4-6 buds. Those buds will be the main branches. So now we have little stubs of trees.

Fencing

A little late on this since the trees are already in the ground but I'm sure you would still enjoy seeing what we have been doing. We is a term used very loosely around these parts.

The perimeter of the property is cleared.

The plan was to fence the entire property in so The Farmer wouldn’t have to move any fence. Unfortunately the weather was so bad (snow and rain), making the ground too wet to work on. Giving him only a few days to get the fence up before the trees needed to go in the ground. So he did have to put up a temporary fence along the east fence line.

Fencing begins with putting in wood posts every 100-150 feet and then metal posts every 20-25 feet. And a "H brace" is put every 300 feet or so.

Then the fence is put up. The Farmer made the fence unroller from an old weight lifting frame. Frugal farming! The fence gets stretched periodically while going up. Also, after he passes every wood post with the fence C goes by and puts on clips, securing the fence to the post.

The fence goes on the outside to make it stronger against the game trying to get in. Let’s be clear the fence is for deer and elk. If a bear wants to get in, it will get in, and likely destroy an entire tree. We get deer, elk, bear and other sorts of critters around here. The herds of deer and elk vary but there are times in the field across the street will we see about forty elk. They are big big animals.

Any-who back to fencing, when The Farmer runs out of a roll of fence and has to start another one they have to be connected. At first C was thinking of just winding these together by hand, which would take him an hour to do the connecting. Or he could buy these thing-a-ma-jigs and be done in five minutes.

In my mind time is money too, as it seems worth the extra dollars to save almost an hour of time. The Farmer will still be adding a wire a foot above the fence to make it that much taller. Deer and elk can jump surprisingly high. Not that I have seen it or anything, that's just the word on the street....errr..forest...field...country...whatever.

Well there you go folks if you ever need to put up a game fence now you know how.