Preparations
Posted on June 26, 2007 - Filed Under animals, dog, farm maintenance, fruit, vacation, vegetables
We’re going on vacation! We have a lot to do over the next few days and we’re feeling the pressure to get it all done before we leave. Thankfully, we have a neighbor and a friend who tends to the animals and our property when we’re away. Otherwise, we would be homebound.
Buster makes a good guard dog when we’re away (he’s quite menacing when a stranger enters our property). The only problem is he doesn’t have anyone guarding him. He doesn’t obey our neighbor, so he spends most of the time we’re away sitting on our porch and running the property. It’s not the most ideal situation since he’s basically running wild in the country, but you try making a 65lb ball of fur with teeth who can run faster than a jackrabbit go back into his kennel when he doesn’t want to. It’s kind of like when you were in high school and had a substitute teacher. You took advantage of the situation. Smart dog.
Today, John finally got all the pasture and yard mowed. Phew. It takes about 10 hours to do our entire property. And it’s a never-ending process. Once you get done with the last area, it’s about time to start mowing the first one again. When I was younger, if I had a fever, I would always have these nightmares involving never-ending tasks: climbing unending mountains of rolling logs, swimming in a huge lake with no land in sight, etc. Mowing could easily fit into this feverish category or substitute for one of Dante’s levels.
We did let the goats out to help. There are several areas around the house and barn that you can’t take a mower. Did you know you can rent goats to eat shrub on your own property? As a matter of fact, the city of Tallahassee used to have their own herd of goats which they would rent or lend to its citizens to maintain overgrown areas. Of course, they discontinued the program. Good ideas and government have an uneasy relationship.
I plan on bringing zucchini, squash, beets, red cabbage, blackberries, herbs and maybe a watermelon and/or melon to share with friends and family. First, I have to figure out how to decapitate a cabbage. The outer leaves of a cabbage get huge and from stalk to tip, the plants are a good 3 feet tall. The little baby cabbage head is snuggled gently in the middle. Its removal may be a bit rough and violent.
I also have to figure out if the melons are ripe. We have 1 watermelon, 1 honeydew and 1 kind of cantaloupe to be determined that might be ready. I’ve tried the thumping method, but I’m just not feeling confident about it. There are some other supposed tell-tale signs, but none of them seem to apply to any of our melons which could indicate they’re not ready and I’m being overly anxious. However, I think come time to leave for vacation, ready or not, I’m picking. That’s one way of finding out.
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