Crazy Lazy Cats

I do not want to sleep in a box,

I do not want to sleep on a tractor

Sam I am....

Are you sure, because they, for some reason, are really comfy!

Our Blue Fordy Tractor

I'm not going to lie. I thought Pop & EJ were a little crazy when they insisted we needed a tractor for the farm. When Pop purchased this blue beauty we were still living in a tiny house in the middle of town. We hadn't closed on the farm yet and we had to store the tractor at our house. You can imagine the looks we got when people drove by and saw the tractor sitting in our front yard. We aren't totally WT so EJ cleared out the garage so we could store it in there.

This tractor fills each of the grandsons with wonder. They LOVE this thing. Honestly, I think all the guys feel this way. From the oldest to the youngest. Something about a tractor. Bubba started telling everyone that this is his "blue fordy" tractor. We think he heard us talking about the forty acres and got confused. Either way, this tractor is lovingly called "Fordy."

I must say, the guys were right. Fordy is an invaluable resource here at the farm. I am beginning to understand the purpose of these big boy toys. They are a huge blessing and save many back breaking hours of work. Come to think of it, you men are pretty darn smart.

New Big Boy Toys...

Ok you can put the comma in the title wherever you want so that's why I left it out.

So I spent the better part of my Saturday driving to get a tiller and quick connect for the tractor. I was fortunate enough to be able to borrow my uncle's pickup. However I drove it over 125 miles! Not the most fun thing. Because of a party that evening I was unable to play with my new toys then...dang! Just so you all know that was to me like taking a 4 year old to another Christmas party after you've just opened THE COOLEST present at home and you left it there! Now you understand?!!

Here is the new quick connect installed on the tractor. For those of you like me a year ago who knew very little about tractors; a quick connect is much like it sounds; it allows you to quickly connect to implements and disconnect from them. WAY COOL! So now I can just sit in the seat and flip the levers on the top of it and drop off the implement that I don't want and get the one that I do without having to get off the tractor! YAY! The implement on the tractor is the NEW (to us) tiller! Sixty-six inches...it's a beautiful thing. I know you guys out there are jealous...but it's mine! It also can slide to the right (in this picture) and be hanging off center to go right up onto a fence or house! HOW COOL AGAIN! Can you tell that I get excited about little things! I'm an easy date for Farm Chick! And of course the boys Bubba and Wubba LOVE the tractor and anything that goes with it!

This is a view of the work that I did today! The string on the ground is where the fence will be and you can see where each bed is going to be with walkways in between. There's going to be approximately 7 beds with many many vegetables in them! YAY! On Farm Chick and I's date night we ended it at Barnes and Noble and I bought the "Vegetable Gardeners BIBLE." Yeah, I must have a little something wrong with my head!

So the greatest thing is that I was able to get this done in about 30 minutes or less. Now I plan on going back over each bed many times digging deeper and getting out the grass; this was just a first time through and test run. Again, I hadn't played with my new toy yet and I was excited!

Again the boys LOVE the tractor.

My plan is to put rabbit poop and horse poop on each bed here in the next couple weekends and till them in real good. On a side note our neighbor tells us that rabbit poop is some of the best poop...no...not to eat, but for fertilizer! On top of the poop I'll add some straw and this should give it a month or two to really break down the hardness of this soil and make it good garden soil. Then I'll till it one more time right before I plant each thing. Hopefully this will make for a good crop.

I've also been looking into a drip system or making my own. I did some research online and found somewhere where you can get a fantastic system that's customizable for rather cheap! So I think that's the way I'm going to go rather than hoses and sprinklers or a PVC drip system that I make.

By the way if there is anyone interested in that book that I got it's by Ed Smith and again it's called "The Vegetable Gardener's BIBLE." I'm rather simple and like big pictures to explain things, and this is just the ticket!