Poppy the Country Girl at Heart: Another Day on the Ranch

Welcome to Poppy’s Blog!

Thank you for joining me on this beautiful Sunday

Here is a story I wrote on Friday - Another Day on the Ranch

As I settled in my ranch, I noticed the pine trees that lined the west side of the
property were turning brown and dying. I called an arborist. He came out on a Thursday and said I had a “soil compaction problem” which caused the beetles. I said, OK. What do I need to do? You need to till the soil around each tree at a depth of about 9 inches and add a layer of amendments. He pointed across the road to the neighbor’s horses. He said grab some of their horse manure and mix it with some of your dirt on your property and make a pile in the middle of your pasture. Every day turn the soil with a pitchfork. You will then be able to use this aged manure around the pine trees once it is ready. I will be back in 2 weeks to check on you. As I sat there, I grabbed some dirt and formed it into a ball that did not come apart. So basically, I had clay dirt. I was watering and nothing was going to the root and my pine trees were stressed. Not to mention, I was stressed too.

After he left, I walked over to the chicken coop and picked up two of my hens. My sexy new jersey giant, and a barred rock hen. I took them over to the trees and set them down. As I watched, they started scratching and eating the beetles. My other chickens started to make their way over to the pine trees. I figured I had a few weeks before my aged manure would be ready. Why not give the chickens a feast for a couple of weeks?

The following day, I went to the neighbors and they let me take some manure off their hands. I then drove over to the Rental Depot on Riverside and looked at the tillers. A young man approached me and asked, “what are you looking for?” I said, I need a tiller in about 2 weeks. He then went on and said do you need a front or rear tiller? I was puzzled at that point. But I continued and said, it needs to be able to easily move around my pine trees and small spaces. The kid looked at me and said, “great let's get the paperwork going for a front tiller.” After I finished the paperwork, I asked him what is the difference? He said the “rear tillers are good for larger open garden areas. I learned something new today.

Every day, I went down with my pitchfork, let the dogs out of their kennel and opened my chicken coop. I then went over to the pile of manure and turned it. It smelled but my only thought was, it will help the stressed pine trees.

Two weeks came along, and I picked up the tiller and it had a bladed wheel. The kid said, to make sure to hold it in place so the tiller will dig deeper. I said, ok. As I drove home, I said to myself about a thousand times, “I can do this.” I got home and drove into the pasture and dropped the tiller. I turned it on, then I engaged the choke, and pulled the cord and it started. I pushed the choke handle in. I did exactly what the kid said, to hold it in place so it would dig deeper. I started on top and came down to the bottom, then went back up with the wheelbarrow and dropped manure around the trees and tilled one more time. I then dropped the drip lines and made sure they were not clogged with earwigs. For some reason earwigs loved curling up in the heads. I started around 7am and finished a little after 2pm.

I made my way into the house and was ready to kick my boots off when I looked out the window and saw the arborist parking outside of the main gate. He started walking towards the pine trees and I met him halfway. He saw the chickens scratching near the pine trees and said, "they too will assist with the war against the beetles." We started from the top and walked along the fence line. The drip-line was on and he was extremely impressed. He said I did a great job. As we said our goodbyes. He looked at me and said, "I thought for sure you would hire someone to do the work." I said, “No, I enjoy being outside and learning about beetles, aged manure, front and rear tillers. He let out a laugh and said, a pretty lady with a sense of humor. I smiled and said, thank you.

Let me leave you with this quote - Your only limit is YOU!