A Guessing Game

What do you think is going on here?

(I'll give you three clues and we'll see if you can figure it out, okay?)

CLUE #1:

CLUE #2:

(I didn't get an actual picture of the second clue, but here is my own re-creation:)

CLUE #3:

OKAY!

Moment of truth....

Why are these vehicles having their diesel inspected?

They are searching for:

A.) illegal farm diesel

B.) illegal drugs from Mexico

C.) cheap diesel being brought to the US from Mexico

D.) homemade BioDiesel (cooked-up out of discarded fast food vegetable oil)

And the answer is.....

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

(Wait for it....)

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

(Keep going....)

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

*

A!

(Farm Diesel)

Farmers use a lot of fuel to power farm vehicles and machinery: tractors, generators, well pumps, and pick-up trucks (to name a few).

Since they buy SO much at one time, they buy it at a discounted bulk rate (just like you buy your peanut butter by the gallon at Costco) and it is stored in large tanks on the property. The nozzle is similar to that of a regular neighborhood corner gas station in the city and you pretty much just park in front of the tank and "fill-er up".

Here is an old, rusty pump attached to a small empty fuel tank next to our house and the garden (I'm thinking it just might date back to the 50's):
So, what (you ask) is a "bulk rate?"

Currently, I'm not sure because it's always fluctuating. It used to be (recently), however down to almost half the price of the diesel you would buy at the local gas station. Half! So, if "Road Diesel" is $3.00 per gallon at Circle K, farmers would be paying about $1.50-$2.00 for farm diesel.

(Wait a second...Did I say pick-up trucks earlier?)

Yes!

One stipulation, though:

If you fuel up your pick-up truck with farm diesel, then that truck should NEVER, ever leave the farm or ranch. Even after that tank is empty and refilled with road diesel, traces of the residue can still be mixed-in and detected for quite a while.

How would anyone ever know?

Because "Farm Diesel" has a red dye added to it. If you are pulled-over by law enforcement or the Arizona Department of Transportation (above) it is possible that you will be inspected. They test for it by taking a long cord and slipping it down into the fuel tank (sort of like checking your oil).

Is the consequence worth the savings?

Well, you'd have to decide that for yourself, but in my personal opinion: A minimum fine of $5,000 and MANDITORY JAIL TIME is enough of a deterant for me to never even think about it.

* * *

We know of a guy who was running "Red Diesel" in his fleet of local dump trucks (big no-no). One truck was in an accident and ended-up spewing a little red "fuel" on the road. The ADOT officer didn't make much "noise" about it, but found all the dump trucks around town and pulled them ALL over at the same time (with the help of other officers). The owner of the company ended-up owing $75,000 and did, in deed, spend time in jail.

Now, about those other possible answer options:

B.) A stash of empty drug mule backpacks was found on the ranch last month.

C.) Many locals DO bring cheap fuel up from Mexico.

D.) BioDiesel is a very real thing, totally legal, AND better for the environment.

(...but those are all stories for another day.)

* * *

*CORRECTION: Ben has just read this post and corrected me on a minor information mistake. Apparently you CAN drive a farm pick-up truck (containing Red Diesel) off the ranch. However, you have to have the truck registered as a "farm vehicle" and you have to be within 150 miles of your ranch.

"Oh, so THAAAT'S why all these trucks driving around town have 'farm' plates. I guess the weekend trips to Vegas are out, though."

Fresh Start

Remember a year ago?

When we planted a quarter-acre vegetable garden?

That was too big.

It was great when we were feeding the pigs from it, but not so nice when I was out there picking weeds. It was my very first try at a garden of any sort. I had wanted to plant a garden every spring for YEARS. With all that bottled-up green thumb energy, by the time I actually had the opportunity to put those dreams into action, I went a little overboard. I didn't want to look back and regret not planting on a larger scale.

Fertile farm ground + abundant water + all the space you can imagine

The scale was too large.

We decided to tone it down a little this time and plant a fruit tree orchard over part of it. Is this the right time to mention that I've wanted to plant fruit trees for YEARS? I didn't grow up with gardening. NONE. Yet, I have always admired the ability to take care of something, feed it, water it, watch it grow, and actually feed your family from it. There is a reason why it is so therapeutic to dig around in the dirt. It's good for the soul.

We are planting our own little orchard, just outside The Cottage. It will be next to the Picnic Spot, the Swing, and the first thing we see when we look out our front door. I'm going to make walkways and place a park bench in the center of the orchard. I even have a water fountain out in the shop; I think it belongs out there now, too. Can you picture it? It will take a few years, but I think it will work.

Two families live at the Ranch Headquarters: we live in The Cottage, and our partner lives in the other house with his family. Tonight after dinner we spent our time burning the former garden spot and getting it ready to become an orchard.

There is something cleansing about a fire in the spring. A fresh new start. I like it. It feels good.

These are the trees we have so far:

2 Fuji Apple

1 Santa Rosa Plum

1 Japanese Plum

1 Bing Cherry

1 Black Tartarian Cherry

1 Desert Gold Peach

1 D'Anjou Pear

(We still need a Bartlett Pear Tree, so it can stand next to the D'Anjou tree and they can pollinate each other--I learned this last night after a Google search. Go figure.)

I would also like to add an apricot tree and a pomagranate tree (although those look more like bushes.)

I also have:

2 Blueberry bushes

2 Blackberry bushes

4 Red Raspberry bushes

2 Thompson seedless grape vines

2 Red Flame grape vines

(I've just learned that the Red Flame are wine grapes. I'm not interested in making wine. Oh well, maybe they will just be pretty on a trellis.)

Emma is ready to work:

Check-out Emma's pretty hair flower with a button center:

I demonstrated to Rich how to take a picture with my camera:

The kids are ready:

Ben almost caught himself on fire while checking ESPN scores on his cell phone...

(the rest of us were UP wind--on the other side of the fire.)

Should I remind anyone here that Ben used to be a Firefighter?

No? Okay.

All the kids ended up back at our house, watching "Bee Movie."




Tomorrow, WE PLANT!

Monster Garden

Today's harvest sitting on the dining room table.

I'm afraid we have created a MONSTER!

People tried to warn us not to plant more than one or two zucchini plants.  But on planting day those who were in charge of planting row #5 were just a little enthusiastic and ended up planting NINE (two to three seeds each).  Do the math: we have somewhere between 18-27 plants (since nobody was designated as "plant thinner").

The plants started producing this week.

The monsoon season has also officially begun.

Take a look at the picture above.  Every day we find that many zucchinis plus one or two more.  The other thing I have learned about zucchinis is that if you DON'T pick them and leave them for one or two days then when the daily monsoon moves in, they soak up the rain and blow up like water balloons.

I wish you ALL lived close-by.

You would be receiving a bag full of fresh vegetables every day.

I'm making Stuffed Zucchini with these bad boys for dinner tonight.

Four rows of sweet corn.

Our first butternut squash is growing!  That's going to make some yummy baby food, I hope. 

(Note:  Whoever was in charge of row #1 planted 6 of these (12-18).

HEEEEEEELP!!!

For some recipes and ideas of what the heck to do with zucchini, go HERE.

(I have it bookmarked.)

Planting a Garden....Farm Life-Style

Watering the spot for the future 1/4-acre family garden at the headquarters.  Those little storage tanks are for fuel (one diesel, one unleaded) because that's what you do in farm life: buy fuel in bulk and store it around the farm.

Well, it's spring time on the farm....

So it's time to grow something.

We've decided to have a big family garden this year...

It's about a quarter-acre.

I've learned that it is pretty handy to prep the ground for a family garden when you live on a farm.

This is what you do:

Step 1. Water the ground (it isn't city water, so it's free).

Step 2.  Hook the ripper up to the tractor.

Step 3.  Drive the tractor around the designated spot (it's doesn't take long).

Voila!

Ground is prepped and ready for rows.

Although THIS area has never been gardened before, so we uncovered a few surprises:

Some old rusty pipes...

Some sporting equipment...

And some old tree roots.

(yes, that's Ella being carried in my sling)

Luckily, I received more help from three-year old Erin...

Than I did from Tank...

No seriously, Tank, just relax.

Just CHILL, we've got it covered!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

~Photo: New Pumpkin plants in our kitchen window.

In an effort to more fully embrace the farm life experience (and live more "Green") I wanted to get a good garden started this year...

But I've run into a few obstacles:
1.) I've never done this before
2.) We're moving to another farm soon
3.) For some reason the windy season is extra long this year
4.) It's difficult to get a variety of started vegetable plants (other than peppers and chiles) when we live in the middle of NOWHERE in the Southwest.

(All of these factors make starting a good garden quite difficult.)

Don't worry, though. Of course, I came up with a solution: I've been starting my seeds indoors with Jiffy-7 pellets. Over the next few weeks, I will nurture my little seeds into plants, which I will then acclimate to the outdoors and plant into the ground at the new location.

Ta-Dah!

After asking around for advice on LOCAL gardening, I've made a list of this year's schedule. I am mostly excited that EVERYTHING grows great in this valley except citrus (the chilly winter season is too long). A lot of people don't realize that the high-desert Southwest can be so fertile and crop friendly, but it's true.

This is what's growing in my windows right now:

Jack-O-Lantern Pumpkins

White Lumina Pumpkins

Zucchini Squash

Butternut Squash

Yellow Squash

Cabbage

Eggplant

Cucumber

Green Beans

Peppers

Cantaloupe

Watermelon

Sunflowers

When we move and start the garden, we will add:

Sweet Corn

Peaches

Apples

Red Corn

This is what we will plant in the Fall:

Broccoli

Potatoes

Onions

Peas

The OTHER new (Green/Organic) adventure our family is starting after we move:

Vermicomposting!

(Oh yes! I expect to have the darkest, richest, soil in all the land!)

Learn all about it HERE.

Interested?  Find a bin HERE.

Find the worms HERE.

"To Everything There Is a Season...."

~Photos by Nancy

I've mentioned many times how much I love the Pecan Trees:

The musical sound they make when the wind blows through,

The various shades of green they turn with the seasons,

Their beautifully gnarled trunks and majestic branches,

And the sound of the owls "hooting" from the shade of their leaves.

Did you know:

1. When starting a new pecan grove, you have to order the trees TWO years in advance.

2. After planting the grove, the trees will not start producing for 7 years.

3. They are an expensive thing to farm (cost to start + cost to maintain for 7 years without a crop yield), yet are one of the most profitable once they start producing.

4. When it's time to harvest the pecans, a small tractor-like machine pulls up in front of the tree and an "arm" comes around and grabs the tree truck.  Then, the tree is shaken until all the pecans fall to the ground.

(It's actually pretty funny!)

Can you believe what a difference just 60 days makes for a Grove of Pecans?

The following pictures were taken in the grove across the street from our house.  I stood in the same spot (next to the well), but the pictures were from different angles.

From this....

To this....

Stay tuned for more pictures as the seasons change!

Is There A "Baby-Sitter" Instinct?

~Photo by Nancy

Did you know that cows get babysitters?

Well, it's true.

New (cow) moms usually hang out with other new moms and their babies.  Once in a while, though, you will see one momma cow and a bunch of babies together.

Where are the other moms?

I learned from the Ranchers that the cows will actually leave their babies with the one "sitter" cow, while they wander off for a little "alone time".  I didn't believe it at first.  Could the need to get a little "Me Time" be a part of Mother Nature's way of keeping a good balance?

Could following the example of a COW make us better moms?  It sounds funny, but it's something to consider, don't you think?

*     *     *

Okay, so here's another funny thing that cow moms do...

When the calves are still tiny, the momma cow will plop the baby under a bush or some scrub brush and walk away.  The funny thing is that the baby will not move....no matter what...until momma gets back.

One day, while Ben was out helping a Rancher check his cows, his job was to find the new babies that had been born that week;  Just to make sure they were all accounted for.  Counting over and over he just couldn't seem to find the newest baby of them all.  The mom was grazing, so he was confused.  "Could the baby have been taken by a pack of Coyotes during the night?" he wondered.

After wandering around for a while he finally stopped, put his hands on his hips and looked around.  As his head dropped down before taking another step, he noticed the teeny-tiny calf under his foot.  He had to stumble in order to avoid STEPPING on the baby calf, who stared up at him with big glistening black eyes.

*Photo by www.idahofair.com*

Mail-Order Chicks!

~Photo by Nancy

"I do so like Green Eggs and Ham!"

It's that time of year again and the farmers are getting ready to order their chickens. The serious ones just start hatching new chicks from their current flock. Everyone else orders their chickies from a hatchery like Murray McMurray or Privett and ship them. One can also order them from the local Feed Store, but they're more expensive.

We were pretty new to all this last year, so we just sat back and watched the rest of the town; we observed and learned. THIS year, we are ready to place our orders and begin our family chicken farm. We are excited for a few reasons. One of which is knowing where our poultry and eggs are coming from, what they're being fed, and what's (not) being pumped into them in order to produce more (remember my history with the Pituitary...I'm a little sensitive about "Growth Hormones"). I've heard arguments both ways concerning Growth Hormone in Poultry and Dairy, but I'm willing to make an effort to "just play it safe," you know?

I've even made a deal with a friend: He will get fresh eggs in exchange for slaughtering some chickens every couple of months, cleaning them, and dropping them into our deep freezer. (I won't be able to stomach that myself...let's just be honest.)

So as we have scanned through the McMurray online catalog, we have decided what our order will consist of (follow the links for more information):

An assortment of Brown Egg-Laying Hens

Americanas (for green and blue eggs)

Guineas (to keep the bugs away)

Ducks (use the eggs for baking and the bird for Christmas dinner)

Geese (just for fun...that's all)

Turkeys (for Thanksgiving, of course!)

Cornish Rocks or White Leghorns (they make the best roasters)

I'm also planning on being "one of those" who hatches more chicks from the current flock.

Wish me luck!

Myth-Buster:

I noticed in the supermarket that the "Organic Free Range" eggs are brown and in clear plastic containers (so you can see how brown they are). Before I moved to the farm I thought that meant they were healthier.  NOT SO!  Studies have proven there is NO nutritional difference between the colors of the eggs. The truth is that some hens lay white eggs, some lay brown, and some lay green and blue.  All can be Free Range and Organic, but the color is NOT the indicator.

*The above Photo is of ACTUAL fresh barnyard eggs (from our neighbor) on my kitchen counter. Yes, that one is a REAL green egg.

"The Fabric of Our Lives"

The science behind cotton candy has always fascinated me from the time I was a little girl visiting the annual carnival. Later on in life, I was asked to help at a cotton candy booth at a fair.

It was a dream come true.

I had a BLAST twirling the sticks and spinning gigantic beehives of pink sugary fluff. Everyone loved me as their "Cotton Candy Lady."

I felt like I was a celebrity.

Some farmers in this area grow cotton. We didn't, so I don't know very much about the Cotton Crop. Those neighboring crops, however, are being harvested right now.

We were driving down a dirt farm road a couple of days ago. With cotton being harvested on both sides of the street, heaps of white fluff laying all over the ground almost created the feeling of fresh snow. Almost. (Okay...not really, but doesn't that paint a picture in your mind?)

I am a very "touchy" person. As I walk through stores, I have an over-whelming desire to touch everything. I imagine it was not very fun for my mom to take me through a store as a child, and I have to admit that this tactile compulsion has not diminished with age. I LOVE to touch things: to feel texture and experience life through my fingertips.


Which is why I suddenly screamed, "Pull over!" after realizing that I had never experienced the feeling of freshly-harvested cotton. When the car came to a stop, I jumped out the door, hopped over a culvert, and started to gather my samples.

Twisting it between my fingers and pulling it apart, a thought came to my mind.

"This is a familiar feel...I've felt it before...what is it?"

And then I realized: It feels exactly like the Cotton Candy you buy at the state fair.

It almost changes the way I feel about my Hanes Cotton Tees. Almost. (Okay, not really.)

Cowboy Hats: Function vs. Fashion

Everyone around here wears a cowboy hat. And I mean EVERYONE.

Have you ever seen the movie "City Slickers"? Billy Crystal's character decides (while shopping with buddies for "cowboy attire" before they start working on the guest ranch and driving cattle), that he is going to be true to himself and wear a baseball cap instead of the traditional cowboy hat.

For the movie trailer, click HERE. (but give it a couple minutes to download.)

By the way: There is one of those "Guest Ranches" not far up the highway from where we live. Sometimes when we drive in the wee hours of the morning, cattle will be standing on the road. I weave my way through their herd while honking my horn.

When I moved down here, I decided that the location of my home will not define me. For example: Just because I live on a farm does NOT mean that I am going to start wearing bib-overalls. I am not going to start changing my likes and interests just because of where I live....I am my own "me".

My husband agreed.

Which is why he initially always wore a baseball cap around the ranch. However, we learned a lesson quickly about hats. Although they are a trendy accessory in other parts of the country, down here people wear them for a reason, and it isn't in the name of "fashion".

Ben wore his cap for a week. After that time he was convinced to try a cowboy had by the horrible sunburn on his neck and the top of his ears. From the first day, he was instantly in love with his cowboy hat. There are two main reasons (that WE have discovered) which supports the idea that wearing a cowboy hat makes living on a Farm or Ranch more comfortable.

Protection: The design of a cowboy hat is meant to shade your face, neck, and tops of the ears from the sun, yet is curved up on the sides for shoulder clearance.

Comfort: The hat height has a function too. As your head sweats, the vents in the top of the hat breathe, creating a sort of "cooling system" for the top of your head (which therefore affects your body's overall temperature). This is also the reason why you see cowboys wearing bandanas around their necks (see picture above). Yes, it is true that you can use it to cover your face from wind and dust, but you can ALSO get the bandana wet with water. As it sits on the back of your neck it (once again) creates a cooling effect.

That's it.....
From now on, I'm wearing my cowboy hat to the beach!

Got Milk?

What do you do when a new calf is born and an hour later still isn't eating? Well, you make a bottle, of course....which is what I did for the first time.

I thought it was cute watching three ranchers stumble into my kitchen in their loud, dirt-covered work boots, and ask for my help. My first response was, "Are you serious?"

However, now I can say that I know how to "make a bottle" for a newborn calf. Here's how:

1.) Pour a half-gallon of whole milk into a large glass bowl.
2.) Add an egg and mix with a wisk.
3.) Heat in the microwave (stirring occasionally) until lukewarm.

VOILA!

By the way: When we went back out to give the bottle to the calf, he was finally standing up and eating....Yay!

(I didn't have to wait long to get this picture.)

Pivotal Necessity

Back in "the old days" (and still in some parts of the world and country), farmers used to rely on the weather to sustain their crops. If there was a serious drought, then say good-bye to your crop and your income.

Now, in this area there is a LOT of water running in an aquifer under the ground. It's there all the time, SO on the farms throughout this area Center Pivot Irrigation is the watering method of choice (unless it's a pecan grove, which uses Localized Sprinkler Irrigation).

For a history lesson on irrigation and definitions of Irrigation practices throughout the world, click HERE.

When you're up in the sky in an airplane, and you see all the circles on the ground below, then you can be sure that those crops are watered with Center Pivot Irrigation. For a complete descritpion of how it works, click on the link above....or just think of a compass (the kind that draws circles).

Here are some interesting things about pivots that you may not already know, unless you've lived on a farm...

*You can program the pivots to complete one rotation as fast or as slow as needed (anywhere between 8hrs and a few weeks).

*The water flow is amazing: 900 gallons per minute.

*If you take a sprinkler head off, it makes a great High-Pressure Car Washing hose.

*The pivots come in a variety of sizes but the ones on this farm and the farms in this valley are almost 1200 feet long (that's about 4 football fields) and covers a 125-acre crop.

*The best part: Pivots make it possible for ONE person to farm what used to take DOZENS of people to maintain.

There's more technology used, out here in the middle of nowhere, than you might think.

Field Of Dreams

Just in case you were wondering what a brand new field of corn looks like...

~Photos by Nancy

Corn or Green Beans?

Have you ever noticed that when people taste some kind of exotic meat (like rattlesnake or aligator or grubs), they describe it by saying, "It tastes like chicken." If our diets were comprised of mostly rattlesnake, then would we describe chicken as tasting like rattlesnake? Hmmmmm....

Today, after a trip to town, Ben drove into one of the corn fields before taking me to the house.

"You've gotta see something."

This isnt' the first time I've heard this. Infact, I hear it all the time. He gets a funny look on his face and acts all giddy and excited. Then, I am left in suspense, wondering what it will be this time.

"Pins and needles, Baby....pins and needles!"

Jumping out of the car, he said, "wait here" and disappeared into the corn field. The corn really IS "as high as an elephant's eye" this time of year. Those song writers really knew what they were talking about!

A few feet into the edge of the field, I could see one of the stalks shake back and forth and although I couldn't SEE Ben, I knew where he was. And then he appeared; walking back to the car with two teeny-tiny ears of corn. I thought they looked funny with their little fluffs of corn silk hair popping out of the top of the thick leaves.

Handing me one he said, "Okay, now peel it."

I felt like I was peeling a hairy banana. Once we got most of the outer leaves off he said, "Okay, now eat it...corn silk and all!"

We chomped into the 5-inch long corn cob. It was SOOOO good. Sweet and juicy, it popped and crunched in our mouths as we chewed. Infact, we grabbed two more for the road.

"I know this taste," I pondered as we drove away. "It tastes like fresh home-grown green beans....but crunchier."

Weird.

A corn on the cob that tastes just like green beans?

I just don't know what to believe anymore.

Sky Cowboys

~Photo by Nancy

Did you know that pilots have their own special maps of the sky?

There is a map that labels the air space areas. We looked at one recently, and since Ben knows what he's looking at when one of those is placed in front of him, we learned some interesting things. Mainly that the area above the farm is considered a MOA (Millitary Operations Area).

We kind of knew that already since we frequently watch the military jets practicing their dog-fighting skills. It's loud, and it's cool. It's especially cool when they practice at night. The flares they set off light up the sky like fireworks.

So what does that mean for planes that are NOT of military nature? It means they have to fly UNDER the MOA, which is 300 or 400 feet off the ground.

I was reminded of this a few days ago when the crop duster flew by our house.

There's one man that does all the crop-dusting in the area. He flies a bright yellow plane. In order to know where he's at from the sky, he uses roads and buildings as his signs. Whenever he's coming to spray, he uses our house as a point of reference. It's sort of like he's stopping by to say "Hi" and "Good Bye". Every time he does it, though, it sounds as though he's going to land on the roof.

I decided that I was going to take pictures. I was laying in bed in my sleepy groggy state early in the morning, when I heard the thundering engine pass by the house. I threw back the covers and jumped out of bed. I scampered around for my glasses, a pair of flip-flops, and my keys. Storming out the door I jumped in the car and headed for field #5.

Did you know that they have little toilet paper-looking markers that they drop out of the plane to keep track of where they have already sprayed? Cleaver.

Have you ever watched these planes maneuver gracefully and effortlessly around in the sky...turning sharply in every direction?

Back and Forth...Up and Down...

It's mesmerizing.

Although, the pig weed that's trying to kill the corn crop probably DOESN'T think it's beautiful.

"Pass The Honey, Honey!"

Bothered by seaonal allergies?

Did you know that if you eat local honey, your body will build up an immunity and you won't suffer from allergies anymore? A few days ago we bought a bunch of Local Raw Wildflower Honey, honey which was made by bees that gathered their "honey-making" ingredients from the wildflowers growing all around the farm.

I know of people here who will start eating a teaspoon of honey everyday (on their breakfast toast, etc.) and they swear by it.

Just another example that God really HAS provided cures for our ailments all around us in Nature. Now, I am NOT above popping some Advil for a stinky headache, but I also think it makes our bodies very happy to "mix it up" with some natural cures as well.

"Leave the Claratin in the cabinet, and pass ME some more of that HONEY!"