http://www.greerfarm.com/index.htmlGreer Farm Blog: Farmer's don't blog.enSid GreerCopyright 2009 Greer Farm2010-03-08T20:48:42-06:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 Mon, 08 Mar 2010 20:56:11 -0600Sid GreerFarmers don't BLOG2010-03-08T20:48:42-06:00http://www.greerfarm.com/blog/files/4b42d48945b6232d6795d0c9c0164d8e-380.html#unique-entry-id-380http://www.greerfarm.com/blog/files/4b42d48945b6232d6795d0c9c0164d8e-380.html#unique-entry-id-380
Our other John Deere tractor a the home place got sick and we had to bring the larger tractor home to push it up on a trailer to take it to the shop. As you might expect, it started the first time once in Mt Pleasant at the John Deer repair facility. We took advantage of having the tractor home and gave it a good bath before sending it back into the trenches for another two months of feeding.


]]>Sid GreerFarmers don't BLOG2010-03-08T20:12:54-06:00http://www.greerfarm.com/blog/files/6508fd0f84bed014c48f8ed44ad81cab-379.html#unique-entry-id-379http://www.greerfarm.com/blog/files/6508fd0f84bed014c48f8ed44ad81cab-379.html#unique-entry-id-379
February saw a variety of pot pies including seafood, wild mushroom and blackberry. Sid got into the act and grilled romaine lettuce outside for a special salad. Chef Eva even ordered special hand ground grains for this class and from the frozen north, leaf lard to make an extra crispy crust.

Last, but not least, a large group of friends from Dallas stayed in cabins and tackled a special topic; cooking from Julia Child's first cook book, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. As in the film Julie & Julia, lots of fresh butter and cream ruled the day as mouth watering dishes were prepared and enjoyed by all: Potage Parmentier, Flambeed chicken, risotto pilaf, timbale de Brussels Sprouts and reina de saba.

All of the classes have been a culinary adventure for those that made their way out to our farm. The year has just started and the beginning of spring brings two classes in March; a culinary celebration to honor the Irish and a special Easter dinner.



]]>Sid GreerFarmers don't BLOG2010-03-08T20:00:20-06:00http://www.greerfarm.com/blog/files/7573357e51ffdc70f70dee93384ab752-378.html#unique-entry-id-378http://www.greerfarm.com/blog/files/7573357e51ffdc70f70dee93384ab752-378.html#unique-entry-id-378
Last month, we were blessed with a special event. A winter snow storm that left over 10 inches of light snow all over the farm. The berry field was magical. Alas, it lasted only a day or so and as luck would have it, we lost our electricity for thee days.

I have no intention of living where the winter is harsh and the snow endless for months, but we did enjoy our snow day on the farm.

]]>Sid GreerFarmers don't BLOG2010-03-08T19:17:30-06:00http://www.greerfarm.com/blog/files/d09068a537794543233585ca4af2c115-377.html#unique-entry-id-377http://www.greerfarm.com/blog/files/d09068a537794543233585ca4af2c115-377.html#unique-entry-id-377
Occasionally you run across a poem that has as much meaning today as it had several thousand years ago. I try to live every day for today, not yesterday or tomorrow. I seldom if ever look back on my yesterdays, I normally enjoy all my todays and except for an addiction to making lists of what needs to be done, do not look to far into my tomorrows. I too want to be happy for for what has been.

Happy the Man

Happy the man, and happy he alone,
He who can call today his own:

He who, secure within, can say,

Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.

Be fair or foul or rain or shine

The joys I have possessed, in spite or fate, are mine.

Not Heaven itself upon the past has power,

But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour.

"Happy the Man" by Horace, from Odes, Book III, xxix. Translation by John Dryden. Public domain.]]>Sid GreerFarmers don't BLOG2010-02-11T17:21:35-06:00http://www.greerfarm.com/blog/files/5ab39f9183d8218cdaf4ab4ae3fb8393-376.html#unique-entry-id-376http://www.greerfarm.com/blog/files/5ab39f9183d8218cdaf4ab4ae3fb8393-376.html#unique-entry-id-376J. Frank Dobie

]]>Sid GreerFarmers don't BLOG2010-02-11T14:03:15-06:00http://www.greerfarm.com/blog/files/0ef2f8f595dfdd3e64748626305fc480-375.html#unique-entry-id-375http://www.greerfarm.com/blog/files/0ef2f8f595dfdd3e64748626305fc480-375.html#unique-entry-id-375We did pay $201/month with a $2,500/person deductible. Well hang on to your hat folks, effective April 1 it will be $875/month. That is just a 335 % increase. The deductible remains the same unless we can get covered in a different program, but at the same cost.

I am mad as hell at the indecisive Democrats, Republicans and Tea Party, just say NO folks, that do not support health care reform. If you think lawsuit reform is going to reduce health costs enough to make it affordable you are smoking more than toilet paper. I guess none or their friends or family have never had a preexisting condition!

Do you know what a significant cost driver of medical insurance and medical cost s. It's the folks that do not get any and still go to the doctor and hospital when sick or injured and do not pay or, get the pay-a little a month of the rest of their life plan. It is folks like us that buy insurance that are carrying them.

Then there are the Republican politicians that have 100% free health care for life (and never have introduced a bill to take it away) and say NO to everything except their annual pay increase. Oh they say yes some like for their ear marks. Most times the ear mark is in a bill they vote against too. Also, how many of them showed up to take credit for a stimulus project they voted against. Real hypocrites. They make Judas look like a nice guy.

Then there are the Tea Party folks that say no one should pay taxes and the government should stay out of our life. That is fine until they have a kid or grandkid wanting to go to college and takes the free cash under a Pell grant, or they want nice roads, good schools, lots of public services, and such. They are so sad that the banks and our financial institutions were saved. I guess they wanted a great depression. As for health care, they do not want government making decisions for them. Where the hell have they been. It's the big fat cat insurance companies that tell all of us what to do now. They tell the doctors how to treat us. Oh yes, I forgot, if you do not have insurance you get all the free care you want and n one to tell you what you can have. Nice!


A Tea Party web site sells these signs. Why not a YES sign for progress for all of us?

I do not want to forget the Democrats that also can't figure out whether to stand or sit to urinate on these issues either. There is lots of fingers to point their way too. At least most of them want some type of reform and are wanting to support our financial system so we do not have a total collapse.

No I am not pissed off. I am mad as hell. I pay taxes and a part of them goes to pay health care for those that do nothing to get insurance. I pay high insurance rates to carry these same folks. As far as I am concerned, if you can not prove you have insurance or a way to pay at the door, you should be allowed to just stay in the parking lot of the doctor's office or hospital. Why should you receive any health care?

So, the next time any of you say we do not need health care reform and how you want to eliminate all taxes, make a list of everything you plan to give up. Start with the basics: low cost and abundant food, sewer service, water to drink, electricity, roads and bridges, education, prisons for the bad guys, healthcare, police and fire protection. I am sure all of those that provide these services to you will work for free in your Tea Party Republican utopia.

I am not in favor of taxes higher than necessary. I know there is a huge amount of waste in government. I have no doubt that our politicians of both parties are far more interested in their own hides and getting re-elected than they are worrying about doing right for the country and its citizens. But, what can you expect from a voting population that seldom vote and when they do seldom vote in fresh people.

It just came as a big shock to me that I have two choices in health care. Pay out the nose and have insurance or join the slackers that buy none and expect someone else to take care of them. I took the hight road and will figure out how to pay it. I am not about to ask for health care for free.

Before I get off my soap box, a special one finger salute to Sen. Selby of Alabama for holding up all 70 of the President's appointments because his state did not get a tanker contract from the military that went to a USA plane maker instead of a French one he supported. This Senator is a classic example of why our political system is broke. I am sure they need jobs in Alabama, but to give them to a French company over an American one!]]>Sid GreerFarmers don't BLOG2010-02-10T15:33:47-06:00http://www.greerfarm.com/blog/files/7aac00e82f6624755401a87445323264-374.html#unique-entry-id-374http://www.greerfarm.com/blog/files/7aac00e82f6624755401a87445323264-374.html#unique-entry-id-374
This morning I found what I thought was a single 250 pound or so mamma pig and a hand full of piglets in the woods. We had been checking the fences to be sure there were no holes under them or wash-outs. Getting my trusty 30-30 open sight lever action rifle, I returned and did not see them. It was very hard to get through the brambles and brush (where is Brer Rabbit when you need him) , but I finally got her in sight and got off one shot. Missed! The woods were too thick to get a clear shot. That shot set off a hog stamped that sounded like a lot more than one mom and a few small pigs.



I ran as fast as I could in the thick forest, but they were ahead of me and eventually out ran my effort to catch up. I got to a clearing where I could see into a flooded bottom pasture and some black and brown hogs were in the distance running. Running as best as a 60 year old can in steel toe boots carrying a rifle, I got to where I could clearly see. I was not dealing with a mama and piglets, but 15 fully grown wild feral hogs each weighing over 250 pounds and 15 or so piglets. They were more than a quarter mile from me and had run into the east fence with no place to go. I took off southeast of them and opened a gate into a forest where they could free range if I could get them there. Back tracking and walking in foot deep water in the bottom pasture the big hogs kept made several runs toward me. I did not have enough bullets to fight them off if they kept coming and I was too far from a tree to get up on a limb.

I took several shots, yelled, waved my cap and finally they turned in the direction of the gate. It was a sight to see so many feral hogs on the run with a long string of piglets behind them going as hard as they could to keep up. My strategy worked and that herd of trouble makers went out the gate except for four piglets. I got two of them and two got away. They are small so I do not know if they will make it alone. If they do, I hope they are the same sex and not a breeding pair.

Feral hogs are destroying the rural south. I think the only thing worse than the wild hogs are our elected politicians. They have a lot of the same attributes; self indulgence, self preservation, rooting where ever they please and leaving a trail of distribution in their wake. I was lucky today that none of the hogs made a run direct at me and we were able to get them out of our pastures and outside of the hog proof wire line. We still need to deal with the two piglets that got away, but maybe mother nature will handle them. As for the politicians, nothing is going to fix that problem.




Characteristics of feral hogs

• Adult weight
100 to 400 pounds or more
• Adult height
3 feet (males are generally larger than females)
• Color
Varies from solid black, brown, blond, white or red to spotted or belted
• Feet
Similar to deer tracks, but toes are more rounded
• Gestation period
115 days
• Litter size
Six on average
• Number of litters
Two litters per year and young may be born any time of year
• Social group structure
Travel in family groups called sounders, comprising sows and their young; boars are generally solitary, only joining the group to breed.

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