Wicked Old Witch

She was green too, that Wicked Old Witch of the West. 

 

I've been reading "small farm" blogs - finding popular ones.    I can see why some of these are popular:  cute kids, cute bunnies, cute chicks.

The pumpkins look a lot like mine.    If I weren't on a farm, wouldn't I want to focus on the chickies?  And, the authors are doing good marketing, too.

But, some days I just don't want to go there.   Farms are not always "clean".   There is that pesky manure, and lots of bugs and mud, and occasional blood.  There are the inevitable injuries to oneself, and one runs into wild living things with machinery from time to time, which is one of my least favorite things.

I must have mowed the pasture 7 times this year, trying to reduce the weed seed load.   I won't really know how well this worked until things come up next year.   I've already warned George I may have to use the same amount of gas next year for mowing.   Sometimes we measure our emotional costs with gas - the price goes up and down at the pump too.

Most of the grass clippings were allowed to drop and nourish the pasture.   It is already looking more lush.   One cutting was collected and went for mulch in part of the spring vegetable garden.    It was lovely stuff that made everything look tidy, as well as discouraging weeds and adding nutrients to the soil.

 I decided I could really use some clippings on part of the "put to bed" fall garden beds so....I've been out for a couple of days hunting mulch.   This ideally involves aiming for spots where leaves have fallen, which gives me the double benefit of grass clippings with nitrogen and dead leaves with carbon.   Of course, it is fall, and there is a lot of dew in the morning.   And, we've had lots of rain.

So, things are kind of wet.   I think the mower on the small John Deere and its grass catcher jammed maybe...17 or 18 times one day.   To clear it, I turn everything off (mower and tractor), then get down on my knees and stick my hand under to where that really, really sharp blade whirls around, and painstakingly pick out the stuck grass.   Then, I open up the "tunnel" on the side of the mower, which carries the clippings up to the catcher, and stick my hand in up to my shoulder, and pull out the packed grass there.   Then I whack the top of the "tunnel" to get any grass clippings to fall out of that part.   Then I get up and move around to the back of the mower and open up the "catcher" to see if the top if the tunnel going into the catcher needs clearing or the thing just jammed because the bags are full and need to be emptied.

If you want to play the witch, this is a great way to turn your hands green.

Oooooooooh, look out, here comes the Wicked Old Witch!!  :)