The early morning cool greeted me as I bumped along in the electric buggy, cruising down the path into the woodlands. Recent rains made for a muddy slide down the sloped pathway, as most of the soil in this area has a lot of clay in it, which really makes for slick travel, especially by … More A Quiet Time
My work clearing downed branches and limbs in the orchard had come to a standstill for a few weeks, since early Autumn rains arrived as they generally do in September. But with the wind and rain, even more limbs came down. Many trees were already on overload with too many pecans and the rain only … More The Ebb and Flow of Life
Exasperated, I carefully made my way back up the slope, watching behind me as I made the ascent to the house. Foolishly, I had gotten a little too far away from the protection of the buggy and left myself wide open as a target. Just the day before, I had been working on a little … More A Force to be Reckoned With
A series of late-summer rainstorms brought more than four inches of moisture to our area of Oklahoma last weekend. We surely needed a reprieve from the heat, but now the humidity was sweltering. As FD and I drove the buggy around the property on Sunday morning to check on storm damage to the pecan trees, … More Who’s The Boss
When we purchased the pecan orchard last August, FD and I were both aware the property had a thistle problem along its south and west boundaries. For much of the autumn and winter months, when the thistle plants were in the rosette stage, FD would pry the dinner plate sized plants up with a shovel … More A Sticky Situation
When I was eight years old, my folks bought a small house on the outskirts of town. They had been renting farm land for many years but, one day out of the blue, the land owner decided to burn all his buildings on the property and lease the whole thing out to a company that … More Summer Friendships
After taking the previous week off to spend time with Emily and Sidney, a niece and nephew from Nebraska, FD and I had a lot of mowing to do yesterday. Just before Em & Sid arrived, the drive shaft on the brush hog mower broke, so mowing in the orchard came to a stop. The pasture on … More Fawn Season
Lately, the weather has been favorable for continued work in the pecan orchard. There are times when I feel like I have not made the slightest dent in all of the cleanup that needs to be done on the fifty-two acres of land and, more specifically, in the orchard itself, where 142 pecan trees have dropped limbs … More The Consciousness of Mindless Work
I have found myself tired and weary lately, mostly having set the bar way too high with expectations of myself for the work to be done on Ten-Acre Ranch. Mowing and gardening has started early this year – about a month ahead of schedule. Acquiring fifty-two acres of an adjoining pecan orchard last fall added … More Surrendering to the Flow of Life
FD and I have not ventured very far from home for a visit with family or friends in more than a year. Our dogs, Bear and Zoe had many health issues and, on top of that, we took on raising orphaned deer, Emma and Ronnie last spring. But with Zoe leaving us six months back and Bear’s passing only a few … More A Lot of Fence Action
Almost every morning when looking out the kitchen window while finishing up the last of the breakfast dishes, I can find Emma and Ronnie deer, grazing in the yard. Of course, this time of year there are numerous weeds growing, and my herb and lettuce bed is sprouting all sorts of greens that deer like to nibble … More Shadowing Your Mom At Work
Day by Day the Farm Girl Way... 