Another weekend is behind us. Looking in the rear view mirror, I can say that is was productive and exhausting, with a dash of fun and surprise tossed in for good measure.
The big project for the weekend was fencing. We are putting in some new pastures in order to get the animals on some good grass before winter. After discussing it with our landlord, we outlined a plan and started work. We’re using 4″ x 4″ wire ‘goat fence’ with T posts for the straight runs and log posts for the corners.
I knew all along that driving the T posts into the ground would require some effort, but I seriously under estimated the resistance of the hard baked Georgia clay. It was like hammering into bricks. My arms, shoulders and stomach muscles are totally shot; broken down into hamburger. It will be Wednesday before I am recovered enough to install any more. Fortunately, I shouldn’t need to do any more of those before the weekend. We need to put in the corners, but I’m renting an auger for that. I have no intention of digging a half dozen three foot post holes in this clay with just my shovel and post hole diggers. There are limits to my stupidity.
Hopefully, by the end if the long Holiday weekend, we’ll have everyone on fresh pasture and can begin the rotational grazing again. What a relief that will be.
Over the weekend, we had a guest tour our garden here in the burb. A young mother from a few miles down the road stopped by, with her two wee sons to have a look at what we do, with an eye to starting her own edible suburb next year. It is always a delight to share possibilities with others. We had a wonderful time showing them around and talking veggies.
As we strolled through what’s left of the summer garden, we showed here the sweet potato patch and I decided to dig one up to show her how they grow. I was totally surprised when I stuck my trowel in the soil and pulled out a sweet potato nearly as long as my forearm. Seriously it was almost a foot long, 3 to four inches around and weighed close to two pounds. We were stunned. I reached for another tuber and got the same result. We sent a bag full of the monster taters home with our guests as a gift. Some things just have to be shared.
Last night, when we returned home from the farm, B and I dug up a half a dozen or 10 plants and came away with about 40 lbs of sweet potatoes. Each garden fork full of soil unveiled a new wonder. If these sweet potatoes are half as good as they look, we are in for a real treat. We will have plenty to store in the basement and we’ll freeze a few to see how that works.
It’s 6:00 a.m. Monday now and time to do the rabbit chores. My body aches and begs for a nap. My mind is racing with projects that need doing. My soul is satisfied in a weekend well spent. God is good. My wife rocks. The work is hard. The results are worth it.
Rabbits, here I com.













