Category: Latest From High Reaches

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Choosing Tomatoes To Grow

Perhaps it would be easier if I grew the same kinds every year. Instead, I end up choosing tomatoes to grow each winter.

Winter? Yes. That’s when the seed catalogs arrive. Those seeds must arrive at my mailbox before the end of February so I can start my little transplants the beginning of March.

What’s the Difference?

All those pictures look so appealing. How do I choose which ones to grow? The first thing is determinant and indeterminant.

Determinant tomatoes grow to a certain height, put out all their blossoms, develop all their fruit and quit. This is great if you want all your tomatoes at one time for making sauce or salsa. It’s not great if you want fresh tomatoes all summer.

Indeterminant plants send up branches that keep on growing all season. Although these are called vines, they really aren’t as they don’t twine or have tendrils to hold them in place.

These plants blossom continuously over the season. Their fruit ripens a few at a time. I like this best, so I choose indeterminant plants.

first tomato not going to farmers market
This tomato will turn red. Tomatoes are a gardening favorite and choosing the right ones can be challenging. I found this Bonnie’s Best to be a nice tomato, but a bit on the small side.

Aren’t Tomatoes Red?

If you believe that, you’ve only seen them in grocery stores. Catalogs have them in red, pink, yellow, striped, blue, white and green.

My preference is for a red or pink, a yellow or striped and a paste tomato. This last is usually a long fruit with small seed sections inside reducing the amount of moisture and increasing the amount of flesh which is great for cooking.

A piece of tomato trivia: A regular tomato is 95% water, more than a watermelon at 92%.

The full flavor is found in the red and pink varieties. Yellow and striped tend to be less acidic and sweeter.

How Big?

Those huge tomatoes may be good bragging material, but they may not be the best choice. Cherry tomatoes make great snacks needing daily picking.

Bigger tomatoes can vary considerably. I prefer those with a mature weight of about a pound. These make nice slices or are enough for two salads.

Time to Maturity

Even a light frost decimates tomato vines. My season runs from May (to miss last frosts) to the end of September. That’s roughly 120 days.

If, when choosing tomatoes to grow, I pick one taking 95 days from putting in a transplant to first fruit, I’m not going to get many tomatoes. I try to stay around 80 days.

There’s a lot to consider when choosing tomatoes to grow. Those delicious fruit are worth all the trouble.

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Garden Planning Exercise

Spring fever hit early this year as weather vacillates between winter and spring. One way I cope is doing a garden planning exercise.

Such an activity seems essential. It often ends up being busy work.

Beginning

My garden is a mishmash of beds, raised beds, permanent plantings, unwanted plantings, outside influences and an eternal weed invasion. It helps to walk around to refresh my memory about the number and placements of the beds. I get to make a side list of things to do and prioritize them at the same time.

The walk around lets me remember how and what was planted last year, how it did and plan changes. Much of my planting is locked in now due to a couple of large black walnut trees.

schematic for garden planning exercise
A garden schematic doesn’t have to be to scale. All it needs to be is complete for all the planting areas. I have several permanent plantings: the flower section, garlic, walking onions, hollyhocks, Jerusalem artichokes and garlic chives. The bamboo thinks it’s permanent. The others are planting areas. The big question is how much I can squash into each area trying to remember the plants can get big.

Paperwork

Doing a schematic of my garden has turned out to be important. Somehow I keep miscounting the number of garden beds when it isn’t written down. Planting a nonexistent bed or ending up with an empty one makes a mess of any plans.

There are five beds down one side of the garden. These get leaves, walnuts etc. on them so no tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, sunflowers or other sensitive plants can grow there. I can grow beans, squash and okra.

Three beds are in the back along with narrow beds along the shade house. This year tomatoes will be in the beds. Lima beans, butternut squash and sugar pie pumpkins will grow over the shade house providing shade for snow peas, Napa cabbage, Chinese celery, bok choi, beets, greens and leeks. In the fall rutabaga and winter radishes will move in.

The raised beds are listed for greens and carrots. One side garden will smother under monster squash, favorite of the goats. The other, away from the black walnut tree, will have sunflowers, tomatoes and peppers.

Undecided Places

Three beds are not assigned yet. I have another monster squash, watermelon, extra peppers, bush limas and mung beans going somewhere. Perhaps I will have winter melon too.

So much for my garden planning exercise. Now reality can take over.

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Winter Eggs

I like eggs and use them year round. That means my chickens need to lay winter eggs even though they normally wouldn’t.

Chickens are what is called a long day bird. This means they naturally lay eggs when the days are growing longer or are long as in spring and summer, then stop in the fall. Since chickens lay eggs to raise chicks, this puts hatching at the best time of the year.

Domestic chickens don’t usually raise their own chicks. Some breeds don’t get broody and try to set. Other breeds are a disaster breaking the eggs they try to set.

Columbian Wyandotte laying winter eggs
The Columbian Wyandotte hens settle down into a nest pretending they are invisible. They seem to like staying in the nest. Perhaps they are warmer sitting there. They do leave winter eggs behind.

Instead, domestic chickens are supposed to have one mission in life: laying eggs. That leaves the tie to daylength a problem for people like me who want winter eggs.

Using Lights

I have two ways to encourage winter production. One is using lights. This developed thanks to my goats.

Over the winter I milked after dark so the barn lights were on until long after the sun had set. Now I milk before dark, but walk out to turn the barn lights out later on. (This is one of the adjustments to getting older.)

Not All Lights Work

When the first energy saver lights came out, I put them up in my barn. Changing light bulbs out there is a nuisance and these were supposed to work for years.

Egg production almost ceased that fall. It didn’t start up again until mid-January with longer days.

I went back to incandescent bulbs and had eggs the next winter.

My next experiment was with Daylight LED bulbs. A friend assured me these do work. They didn’t for me, although I suspect I needed more wattage.

Rhode Island Red hen laying winter eggs
I find the Rhode Island Red hens are nervous and easily upset. This one was sitting quietly until I aimed the camera. She began to panic. I left so she would settle down again as I do appreciate those winter eggs.

Raising Pullets

My second method is to raise pullets each spring. If the chicks are hatched in April, the pullets should start laying about October into November and continue laying over the winter.

There may be other approaches that work. These two work for me and result in plenty of winter eggs.

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Snow Days

Weather forecasts said snow was coming to the Ozarks. The kind six to ten inches of white stuff enforce.

Up north in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, ten inches isn’t much. The big snow ploughs race over the roads and life continues.

In the Ozarks ten inches is a big deal as so much at one time is rare. There are no ploughs to clear the roads. There are trucks with blades to shove the snow to the sides of the roads where it builds into a berm and slowly melts.

Snow Falls

After dark, when I locked my chickens up for the night, flakes were starting to fall. The temperature remained a degree or two above freezing, so it didn’t stick on the ground. It did freeze to branches and electric wires.

More kept falling over night. The temperature didn’t drop much, so it was a wet, heavy snow.

In the morning four inches was piled up on everything. The temperature was slightly above freezing leaving gutters and roofs dripping.

birds waiting to eat
This year has brought a lot of finches along with the juncos and sparrows to our bird feeder. Purple finches predominate, but goldfinches are around too. They perch in a neighboring peach tree waiting for room on the feeder so they can swoop in for a sunflower seed or two.

Wet Snow

Heavy, wet snow is hard to clear. It sticks to the shovel. It crunches down into ice.

The chickens and goats had snow days looming. Neither likes to be out in the white stuff.

Wet snow on tree branches brought down trees downing electric lines for over 1600 residences. My barn lights went out leaving the chickens and goats in a dimly lit barn. They were not impressed.

Birds mob feeder on snow days
Our bird feeder is cobbled together and used year round. Visitors vary in number. Snow days bring in record numbers of birds. Cardinals, various finches, red-bellied and downy woodpeckers, blue jays, morning doves, titmice, chickadees, nuthatches and sparrows are common.

End of Snow Days

The next morning brought the electricity back on. The barn was again light as the chickens were still locked in.

The clouds broke up and sunlight turned the back wall of the barn warm. The goats stood around soaking up the rays.

Roofs began to melt off. Some pasture grasses were visible again. And the reason we moved to the Ozarks was reaffirmed: Snow only stays a few days.

Read more about Ozark nature in “Exploring the Ozark Hills“.

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Bad Weather News

Floods, tornadoes and such are definitely bad weather news. The pictures and stories about these are terrible.

In my corner of the Ozarks, these events are not happening. There is another, more silent disaster threatening.

Now, I am not a winter enthusiast. Snow is nice out the window from a warm room. Cold is to be avoided whenever possible.

That means our recent warm temperatures have felt nice. Walking and working outside without heavy coats on is great. Even in winter gardens need things done.

However, I would forgo this pleasure to stop the approaching ecological disaster.

Necessary Cold

Plants around here expect cold weather to last until March. They sit tight waiting for warm weather to announce the spring growing season. Warm weather like the last few weeks.

Greeting the New Year were wayside speedwell flowers spread across part of the yard. These bloom during any warm spell all winter.

Speedwell flowers not bad weather news
These Wayside Speedwell, Veronica polita, flowers may be small, but their summer sky look cheered up New Year’s Day this year. An international traveler, these are tough plants blooming when winter offers even a week of warm weather.

The daffodils and iris have started to grow over a month early. Both can take a lot of cold, but not common February temperatures.

Slippery elm trees are almost in bloom as are several maples, a month early. Flowers don’t survive really cold temperatures.

Many of the usual spring plants around the yard such as plantains, shepherd’s purse and white avens are looking like spring is coming soon. That does not bode well for the many spring ephemerals such as bloodroot and trillium.

Many plants are annuals. If they sprout now and get killed by cold before seeding, many will not come up again.

Trees with frozen flowers produce no fruit. Two of the last three years have seen few pawpaws for this reason.

Floods and tornadoes affect people as well as plants so these get bad weather news coverage. But the silent disaster of warm winter temperatures for weeks is bad too.

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Planning My Garden

Planning my garden is actually a waste of time. Every year I go over what worked and what didn’t last year and vow to change things this year.

Hah.

Every year I look over the crops I grew, which I liked, which were a nightmare. And I vow to make changes.

Hah.

Garden Changes

There isn’t a lot I can do to change my garden. The size and shape are finite. The black walnuts won’t vanish. Weeds will do their best to take the place over.

Planning my garden comes down to arranging which crops will go where. Even that is restricted by the black walnuts as these kill tomatoes and peppers.

Climate change has altered weather patterns. March is often too cold to plant even peas and potatoes now. Drought and flood alternate.

This sounds so discouraging. But, being a gardener, I persevere. And planning my garden is the first step.

planning my garden includes Zephyr summer squash
Zephyr summer squash is a favorite and will grow in my garden again this year. Last year the leaves werre huge and four feet high hiding the numerous squash near the ground, a few of which got too large. The goats didn’t mind as they love summer squash too.

What To Grow?

The monster squash was a problem last year. I don’t eat much of it. The goats adore it, getting it parceled out over the winter. So the monster vines will be back.

I’m trying a second kind of long bean this year and will need to add a trellis. The posts are there. I’m checking around for some wire.

Snow peas are a favorite. The last couple of years they don’t come up because of the cold. When they do, summer heat cooks them. This year I’ll try a short variety in my plastic-covered shade house.

The regulars will be back: red, yellow and paste tomatoes; sweet peppers; Zephyr squash; butternut squash; okra. Spring will be mizuna, napa cabbage, bok choi, cylindra beets, cabbage, turnips and lettuce. Maybe some carrots in the new raised bed.

It’s fun planning my garden. Now I need to finish mulching, weeding and setting up trellises so the garden can grow.

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Using Plant Identification Keys

Several of my plant guidebooks include plant keys. The directions for using plant identification keys are simple.

How to Use a Key

Each numbered entry has two choices. You pick the one that describes your plant. It directs you to the next numbered choice. One choice at a time you progress through the key until you arrive at a name for your plant.

I had my students devise keys in my classes. Each group was given a set of cards with imaginary creatures on them. They made up a series of choices and passed it to another group who was to use this key to identify the creatures.

It sounds so simple. Why is it so difficult?

using plant identification keys to confirm this is a black walnut bud
I thought getting a bud from a tree I knew would help me learn about the winter plant key. This is from a black walnut and has a very distinctive look. One part of the key asked me to split the twig lengthwise to see the pith. This is the soft center of a twig. In the case of the black walnut, the pith has a line of chambers. Other twigs have a solid pith. In cross section the pith can be round or have shapes. The practice did help a little.

Do you speak botanese?

The trick to using plant identification keys is understanding what the choices are. This understanding depends on knowing what the terms mean.

I have a new guidebook: “A Key to Missouri Trees in Winter” that uses terminal buds. I’ve looked at small plants for years, ignoring the trees. They are far over my head and I don’t climb trees.

That must change if I want to complete the Dent County Flora. This winter I am trying to identify some of the many trees growing around the place.

This book uses terms like opposite and alternate which I know. I think I know lenticels. Then there are leaf scars, pith, rounded or pointed and bud scales.

The terms aren’t too hard. It’s identifying them on the buds.

oak buds
Oak trees don’t drop their leaves so I could look at the dried leaves on this tree and see the silvery bark in long strips. The leaves put this tree in the white oak group. There are several species in the group. The winter key was the place to try. Except I ended up at Carolina Buckthorn, not oaks. I backtracked from oak and might know where I made a mistake, not that I won’t make the same mistake in the future. On the oak key, the bud keyed out to white oak. I’m waiting for spring leaves to confirm this.

How am I doing?

So far the oak bud – I know it’s an oak – keyed out to Carolina Buckthorn. The black walnut bud did key out correctly. I cheated on the Osage Orange and Sassafras.

Simple as they are, using plant identification keys is not simple. There are several more trees I do know like redbud and dogwood I can practice on.

Then again, spring isn’t that far away. Leaves will appear.

cover for "Exploring the Ozark Hills" by Karen GoatKeeper
Many of the nature essays in this book are about plants found in the Ozarks.
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New Year Planning

Beginning a new year in January is an arbitrary thing. Still, coming in the middle of winter makes new year planning easier as fewer distractions are happening.

Resolutions are self-defeating for me. I miss a few days and give up on what may be a very good idea. I prefer setting goals with a looser timetable.

Garden Planning

My new year planning begins with the garden. Usually the garden is mulched and waiting by the end of December. I’m looking forward to next spring.

Garden planning has changed a lot in the last few years. I love growing potatoes, but can’t now. The springs are too cold and summer comes too suddenly leaving my potato plants frozen, then cooked.

Still, seeds will be ordered in January. Seedlings will get started in March. I do need more room for the winter squash and don’t know where to find it yet.

Livestock Planning

February is time to order baby chicks. Last year I raised Columbian Wyandottes. Which breed will I order this year? Chick catalogs are fun to browse through.

New year planning for goat kids is in October
Nubian does are getting fat. There are five bred for March kids and all look like they will have twins. Their new year planning now is centered on eating enough food to keep both them and their kids healthy and warm. My planning is in having the barn ready and kid friendly by the beginning of March.

Goat kids will arrive in March. Even though I don’t keep any new kids now, they are still special. In a few years there will be no kids to enjoy, so I will make the most of these before they are sold.

One aspect of my new year planning stays much like last year. I will go hiking and taking plant pictures. This has been a good year. I’ve added over 30 new plants to the Dent County Flora.

As usual, there are many I found, but didn’t get back for those last pictures. And the stash of unidentified plants remains long.

In many ways, the new year will look a lot like the old year. In one respect it will be very different. A health scare has made my new year planning special as I want to make the most of it.

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Raising Bottle Baby Kids

When I started raising goats almost fifty years ago, the few books around recommended raising bottle baby kids. Now I let my does keep their kids and everyone is much happier.

There are times when raising bottle baby kids is unavoidable. The third of triplets, small kids, rejected kids, sick mothers are all reasons. And the bottles and nipples appear on the sink.

Supplies I Use

After trying several methods, I settled on one easy for me. I usually use lamb nipples, although the ones for a lamb bar are easier to put on a bottle, but harder for me to get locally.

Soda bottles work well. I prefer the 20 ounce size. If one gets too dirty or doesn’t work well, it’s easily replaced. Different brands have different shapes, so I can use one bottle every time for one kid marking it for the amount of milk.

There is a supply of frozen colostrum in my freezer replaced every kidding season.

raising bottle kids creates pet goats
I should know better. This Nubian doe kid was rejected by her mother who preferred buck kids. At that time I could take time to walk out with the herd in the morning. My little doe was delighted. When I couldn’t go, she would stay behind calling me. High Reaches Agate still stands by me as the herd goes out to be scratched (her favorite spot is over the shoulders) and still asks me to go out with her.

Raising Bottle Baby Kids

I’ve used replacer, but prefer fresh goat milk. Newborns get colostrum for twelve hours.

Newborn kids don’t drink much at a time. I feed them often that first day or two, whenever the kid is hungry. Temperature is important for them, about 100 degrees.

Once a kid drinks six ounces at a time, it’s ready for a four times a day schedule. There was a time when I did this every six hours. Now I leave an eight hour gap at night so I can get some sleep.

Bigger kids eat more, up to eight ounces a time. Using fresh milk lets me feed as much as a kid wants each time.

Once the kid starts eating at around ten days old, the bottles of eight to ten ounces can show up three times a day. The kids are sleeping through the night so I generally do bottles at milking times and noon.

At about six weeks old a kid is ready for twice a day, twelve ounces a time. And so am I.

raising bottle kids at work
Pest was a small Nubian buck kid and couldn’t nurse his mother. So he moved into the house and a bottle. The problem was that I worked cleaning at a local laundromat. The solution was to take this kid that had trouble standing up with me. He had a wonderful time captivating all the laundromat patrons and walking around on the tough carpet. Pest is now a two hundred pound spoiled brat of a wether blissfully unaware he was supposed to be goatburger several years ago.

The Problem with Raising Bottle Baby Kids

Dam raised kids are friendly when handled a lot. Bottle babies are pets.

And I must sell all my kids now, even the bottle babies.

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Saving Chilled Kids

I’ve always had my goat kids born in March as the weather had settled. No more. Now, even in March, I may be left saving chilled kids.

There are few things about raising goats worse than going out to find a doe had her kids on a frosty dawn and they are lying there, limp. It doesn’t take long for a newborn kid to die of hypothermia.

My Preparations

Before I go out to the goat barn on cold mornings, I start the fire in the wood stove. Wood heat is radiant heat. It warms you quickly, completely.

There is a supply of kid goat coats in the milk room. A few old towels are in another pile.

Next is checking the barn for new kids. Goats usually twin and I’ve been watching my does as I can usually tell whether they will single or twin. This is important as newborn kids can get separated.

saving chilled kids success newborn Nubian buck
Newborn goat kids are small and wet. They can not keep themselves warm for several days. That sets them up to get chilled. Hypothermia is an emergency to watch for and treat when kids are born in cold weather.

Saving Chilled Kids

If I find a newborn kid, the first step is to dry it off as much as possible. This is what the old towels are for.

A chilled kid can seem normal, but its mouth is cold inside and it doesn’t want to nurse. Such a kid is bundled up and taken to the house, put in a box bedded on old towels and placed near the wood stove.

If the kid is limp, I towel it off anyway. It may be alive and will move a little, usually trying to cry. The prognosis isn’t good, but this kid is also put near the wood stove.

Getting Kids Warm

It’s tricky telling when a kid is warmed up. They warm up on the outside quickly, but not on the inside. If such a kid is taken out to the barn, it will chill again.

A fully warmed up kid is up, active and asking to nurse. Its mouth is warm inside.

This kid gets a goat coat and taken out to the barn where its mother is usually delighted to have her kid back.

Cold, Not Chilled

Nubians talk a lot. The kids talk to their mothers. Sometimes a kid will have a higher, begging sound and call over and over.

If the kid isn’t hungry, it is cold. A goat coat will often warm it up.

Saving chilled kids isn’t always possible. But those that survive to run and play later on make the effort worthwhile.