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| All |
Hope all our farmer friends and neighbors, a hard-working 1% of the population, have a safe and productive day as they go about the business of growing our food and fiber.
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| The colors |
We are pretty much done farming for the year. Days too short to bale hay, the garden mostly finished, except for those amazing late planted beans that are still thriving as we wait for frost. Time to bring the machinery down from the hills.
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| of the season |
The weather couldn't be much nicer. When I went out on puppy walk this morning the stars were so bright that they reflected off the upstairs windows.
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| do |
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| not |
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| necessarily |
Then with the dawn came fog like smoke, shrouding the maples in mystery until they seemed to glow from within like traffic lights set on caution or maybe even stop.
And yes, I would like to stop this season right here in its glorious tracks. Pause. Halt.
Arretez.
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| come from |
The only downside to the best of October that I can see is the crick in my neck from looking up for warblers. They are everywhere. Speaking of which, dear friend from Ohio, I think I saw your warbler this morning...a pair of them in fact. But of course, no binoculars so I can't be sure. I will sure be watching for yellow with a midnight cap flitting in the honey locust.
That and how short it is.....or at least the good part.
Anyhow, Happy National Farmers Day, whether you are a farmer or just enjoy their products.
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| Maple trees |
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5 comments:
I wish I could send a thank you bouquet to all of you for what you do.
It is National Farmers Day but I don't think many farmers had much of a celebration, they all had to work. My daughter took the day off from the farm but spent the day catching up all the house things that get left undone when you farm. They are still losing trees to Greening and the paper says it will be five years before there is a treatment for it. In 1966 there was a low crop and this year it will be that low again they think. My kids sell to Florida Natural and Simply Orange. It hurts me too see them work so hard and lose most of there crop. They still spray and trim and spend money for about half the crop they usually sell. It is a good thing they have SOS and landscaping plants to sell or this year they would not break even. People just don't realize what a gamble farming is and how hard people work to bring food to there table. I seem to get started and then need to tell you a story.
Jan, that is a very kind thing to say. For us all we do is grow hay for horses now.....
Ellie, boy do I ever know where you are coming from. We know so many people who are struggling so hard and barely keeping above water or selling out to the Amish who snap up every farm that comes on the market. They came after ours hard when we sold the cows and we had to be downright rude to stop them coming every day and going through the barns without asking and all. Now I hear shotguns going off, boom, boom, boom, boom, before dawn every morning back on our border. Too dark to be target shooting so I figure by the pattern of the shots they are taking turkeys out off the roosting trees. The state had to shorten the turkey season this year because of too few birds. I suspect i know one of the reasons.
It makes me sad to read about your family's struggles. I hope they do find a treatment or cure for greening as soon as possible. Besides helping farmers, I love Florida citrus. I couldn't believe how incredibly good the grapefruit we bought in Jax Beach were. I ended up eating grapefruit every day all winter, even though what we get up here is nowhere near as good as fresh bought a few miles from the grove. And a funny thing...since the kids were tiny, I have always bought Florida's Natural, in part because we really like it and in part because it has real farmers involved and doesn't come from foreign countries. I am glad to realize that I may have drunk juice from oranges raised by your family.
And I love it when you tell me stories! I love learning about ag in other states and talking to people involved in other aspects of agriculture. And I love stories. So please continue whenever you feel like it. Thanks. We are off to Alabama in a few weeks and I can't wait to see what is growing in that state.
Tropicana imports concentrate from Brazil, when it comes into the docks in Tampa it really smells bad. My son in law usually tries to not let his family use any fruits or veggies from other countries if possible. They have very few laws about insecticides and things that are banned here can be used there.
Ellie, I avoid Tropicana...never buy it, ever. We try our best to buy American everything, but it is hard. I am researching a way to tell American garlic from Chinese. We grow our own, and in fact I need to get some ground ready and plant some, but it horrifies me that it is barely possible to buy American any more.
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