Raising Tadpoles

Back in earlier spring when it rained a LOT, Alec discovered a puddle full of tadpoles near the barn.

LOTS of tadpoles!

Well, inevitably the day came that the tadpole puddle began to dry up... and you can imagine what was happening to the poor tadpoles. So, Alec and I went to the dollar store to find a tadpole pond.

We put a child's pool... our tadpole pond... in the shade of the back yard and filled it with creek water.

Then we put a chair near the pool... and voila ... our own little tadpole nature center right in our own back yard!

We feed them dog food.

We just toss a couple pieces into the pool, and they latch on!

They have really grown! Some of them are starting to grow little back legs! We put rocks in the pool for them to climb on, but they mostly still stay in the water.

I found one sitting on the rock... no tail!

Soon we can fix the rocks so they can climb out if the choose. We saved their lives!

A Photo Tour...

One of my favorite things to do is to pretend I'm a real photographer.  I love to pretend that I know what I'm doing, that I'm skilled at the fine art of photography... the mixing of light and dark at just the right places... I take several pictures to keep on hand for my blog.  Many are (in my opinion) pretty great pictures, but they've never made it to a post.

So for today, I'm going to give you a little tour... show you around and introduce you to some of my favorite things, animals, and people here on our farm.

The old cabin in our backyard.....

Steve can usually be found near the barn.....

New boots....

HIS and HER tractors.....

Black and white of the farm....

Fall harvest last year.....

Piece of dandelion fluff on a fence post....

Fresh apples....

A goat....

Our cat Mo watching the gold fish....

Lilac blossoms...

The donkey Ellie Mae

Chloe....

I didn't read the fine print....

I don't remember signing up for this......

.... but maybe I didn't read the FINE print.....

I, Stephanie, take you, Steve, to be my wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, and to spend unlimited hours working in the pumpkin patch, even scraping tiny bug eggs off the underside of each little leaf, until death do us part....


After careful review of my wedding vows, I finally realize what I have signed up for by marrying this farmer....It WAS in the fine print!  So now, I am spending my evenings looking for itty bitty bug eggs like this...

These are eggs from the squash bug.

And this is the squash bug himself...

And this is the squashed squash bug.... I seriously get a lot of pleasure from mashing these evil things.

We planted our pumpkins at the end of May.  We almost doubled our pumpkin patch since we had done SO well last year.  It was either beginner's luck or ignorance... or a little of both.  This year things started off well -- those tiny pumpkin leaves burst through the ground after just a few days, and we were so excited!....
But after a week or so, we realized they were not healthy-looking.  Steve did a little investigating work and discovered that our pumpkin patch was being eaten by bugs!  The next step was to do some research.  After some "Googling" we identified TWO problem bugs... the cucumber beetle, and the squash bug.

This is the cucumber beetle.  This one was already dead (a victim of the insecticide) when I snapped his photo.  These little guys can cause serious damage to the pumpkin patch as they deposit their larvae in the stem, causing a condition called bacterial wilt.

This is (we think) bacterial wilt.  After further research, we sprayed the leaves with the recommended insecticide, which promptly killed the cucumber bugs... but we are left with the devastating after-effects as seen above.  We aren't certain if our poor pumpkin vines will come out of it.  Many of the vines appear to have stunted growth.

Then we have the problem of the squash bugs as mentioned before.  The squash bugs apparently hibernate in the leftover debris from a pumpkin patch.  We had a healthy harvest last year, yet we didn't realize that the pumpkins more than likely attracted squash bugs late in the summer.  They ate their fill and then they hibernated in the debris that we unwittingly left behind for them (Now we know we should have destroyed the   debris by burning completely all the old vines and rotted pumpkins).  In the spring, the squash bugs come out of hibernation and lay their eggs on the backs of hundreds of pumpkin leaves as seen here.....

The only way to effectively get rid of these squash bugs is to spray the adults with insecticide and then destroy every little egg.  (The insecticide doesn't work on the eggs --).  So, guess who has been picking itty bitty squash eggs off pumpkin leaves and putting them in a bucket?!

They come off quite easily if you do it correctly.  Just what is the correct way to take squash bug eggs off pumpkin leaves?... well, you kind of have to roll them to the ends of the leaves and then pinch them in your fingers.

Then you drop them in a bucket.  Then you have to be VERY careful not to kick the bucket over and spill your itty bitty eggs... like this...

Yes... I really did do that.  (Did you ever have that feeling that you should just shoot yourself in the foot?)  I chose to not pick up every single one of these, but instead I mashed them repeatedly with a rock.  I actually documented this with a picture....

Pathetic...

So anyway... I spent 3 1/2 hours this evening and about 2 hours yesterday evening picking eggs of pumpkin leaves... checking the underneath of every single pumpkin leaf... one... by.... one...

And all the while I was thinking... $3.00 / per pumpkin?  And I was trying to think of cool, original, thought-provoking quotes to write here in my blog.... like "no one ever becomes an expert on his first try."  (I just made that up, but I'm sure plenty of people have said inspiring things such as that at times such as these).

Here's another quote... Ladies, before you marry a farmer, READ THE FINE PRINT!"  

good help

It's a little later than we'd like.... but since the weather has been so rainy and the ground too wet until very recently.... today was planting day.  

And as you can see, we had an outstanding crew to help!  

My two nieces were here visiting today, and they were all gung-ho to start helping.  They work for ice-cream, so we couldn't turn them down!

This is Ally Rey planting corn.  Notice that she's barefoot... WV girls don't need to wear shoes in the garden.

This is Naomi Jo taking a break by the tractor.

It was hot and exhausting work......

The plowed fields stretch as far as the eye can see.  Most of it will be planted in jack-o-lantern pumpkins to sell in the fall.  Only this end will be our vegetable garden. Steve surveys the work to be done.... and the West Virginia heat is unforgiving.... 

Naomi Jo says it's time for a real break... time to pay up!

The rest can wait until tomorrow.... after all, we have two special farm-hands that need paid.

Mmmmmm ... the pay is good!!

"Thank you, Uncle Steve!"

Yes... it's all good. 

Indian Summer, firewood, and potato cakes

Last week was quite chilly... with daytime temps in the 40s and nighttime in the 20s.  This week, however, we welcome our Indian Summer with sunny weather and temperatures in the upper 60s!  Nevertheless, we must continue to get ready for winter's fury.... firewood and more firewood.

I had some leftover mashed potatoes in the fridge, and decided to whip up a batch of mashed potato cakes.  I'm not real sure if this is a common dish to everyone else, but I do know that it was a REAL treat at our house growing up.  Anytime Mom made mashed potatoes for supper, she usually made sure she had enough for leftovers, and the leftovers always ended up being potato cakes for the next day's meal.  I usually do the same.  If you've never made them, you don't know what you're missing!  Take your cold, leftover mashed potatoes, add an egg and some flour and mix until they are nice and stiff.  I usually add a sprinkle of onion powder and a dash of cumin, but they taste fine plain.

Next, you add dollops of the potato mixture to a skillet of hot oil. 

Fry the cakes in the hot oil, turning once when they are brown and crispy on one side.  The idea is to have a solid crispy outside, and a soft middle! 

Mmmmm... a true delicacy!