Farm Business

Important Farm Business is advertising at the road. Nacho and his helper are putting up one of our new signs by the gate for traffic.

What does farm business mean? In San Antonio, we had the seed business only. At first, it was in our home and in late 2015, we moved it to a rented storefront in a shopping center. It was convenient with a post office and a cafe nearby. Then we bought property out in the country. Nothing is by us so it is best for our team members to bring a lunch.

Out here, on the farm, we also have the farm business that we try to incorporate into the seed business, all under the name of David's Garden Seeds®. Sometimes, we have plants, vegetables, fruits, eggs, rabbit meat, and home canned goods to sell. Those foods come from our animals, raised beds and our field out back. Trying to get our farm workers to understand that we want to plant more than we can eat has been difficult. It is a new way of thinking for them.

Our Farm Business 5/10-5/16/21

Monday, May 10, 2021

Our gate with flags by our new sign from the road. It looks good!

Good Monday morning. It is overcast but hot and humid at 83° Fahrenheit. This morning, two of our indoor crew dug a trench that is needed to work the new outdoor watering system from the tank. They got it done quickly. Now we have to wait for the electrician to show up and do something so everything can get hooked up. I have not been given much in the way of details on this project but it is farm business for sure.

Matthew and Jerry were coming back just now getting supplies and a truck delivery driver was parked outside with a large shed. He said he could not get through our great big gate so he loaded the shed on the back of the truck Matthew was driving. Hard to believe a truck cannot fit through our giant gate. LOL! Farm business includes the shed that will be covering the pumps and things for the tank watering system.

Today was payday so I had to write a bunch of checks.

The pest control guy came today and sprayed for an assortment of bugs.

The electricians are here working on hooking up the well water to the large tank out in the backyard. Once they are through, the shed will go up, covering all of the gadgets out there.

Molly is loving life in the house. Tomorrow she goes to the vet to see if she is chipped. She will get a bunch of shots. She has torn up quite a few dog toys and she has eaten two pairs of shoes so we need to keep all doors closed and put everything up.

The grass pollen is high again and my nose is all clogged up. I have my essential oil diffuser going in the store with peppermint and eucalyptus.

The pond vacuum came but I have not opened it yet. We need to vacuum the sand out so we can see the fish.

More farm business is that Jerry picked up some Peck No More for the hens so he and Matt can put that on the hens in the morning and see if it helps.

Molly sitting on the couch with me watching TV at night. It was chilly!

Molly tore up two pairs of my shoes this afternoon. She also tore up three dog toys and two bathroom rugs with foam inside. All doors must be closed at all times. Kitty is terrified of her. She hides all of the time. Hopefully, she will get used to all of her energy.

We made chicken in the microwave air fryer this evening for dinner. It was pretty good but it sure makes a mess. Our new microwave is also a convection oven and an air fryer. The microwave that came with the house, a Whirlpool combo with oven, shot flames out the last time we tried to make popcorn. The oven works fine, but the microwave has a nice hole inside where there is cardboard-like material that burned during the popping of the popcorn. Their technician is finally going to come out this Friday, May 14. It only took about six weeks....

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

Our hens have now been pecking each other.

Good Tuesday morning! Matthew put Peck No More on the hens this morning by himself. The chickens are doing well but they are still pecking each other. The babies are fine and growing strong. They will be nine weeks old tomorrow.

The guineas are doing well, enjoying life now that our neighboring guineas are gone. It is quiet now when we go out in the back. Our guineas are not upset like they were before.

Comfort Commander, our air conditioning company has now spent most of the day here installing two units in our store so we can take the window units down.

The electrician had to come to do some work before they could install the air conditioning. We need some plugs run in the gazebo but the electrician said a new box will need to be installed first.

The air is starting to get pretty cool in the store. These new units are nice. There are two in the store.

David took Molly to the vet this afternoon for shots. She tore up another shoe before she left. The vet visit was $418! Turns out Molly is not chipped. She is approximately 24 months and still has puppy traits. She has an infection so we got antibiotics for that. She got her rabies shot and tag so that went on her collar, probably her first rabies tag and her first collar. She had a heart worm test and then the heart worm shot that is good for a year.

Dark clouds formed over our newly cleaned pool with our happy flamingo.

A rainbow appeared over the greenhouse after the storm.

The dark clouds started rolling in around 4pm. I closed the store just before 5pm and it started to hail while I was out in the back yard trying to get the dogs to pee. The hail was tiny, smaller than a dime. Then the rain started and it poured. Dinner started cooking and the power went out, followed in 15 seconds by our generator which kicked on for several hours. After 9pm, while in the living room watching a video, the generator went off and the electricity came back on.

After that, the weather was fine all night long. It is much cooler outside now and the high will be just 72°.

Farm business today included weeding and watering. There was talk of harvesting some squash which I have not even seen but no squash was put on my front porch or in my garden hod. I really want to get photos before they pick things. Most of the time I am stuck in the store so I cannot get out and see what is really going on.

Wednesday, May 12, 2021

Happy 8th week birthday to our new baby chicks. Everything is wet and cool outside. The sand feels like the tide came in and went back out. I doubt there was any hail damage with the small pieces of hail I saw last night, but you never know.

I don't think there is anything too special about farm business today, but I could be wrong. I would like to stay in the house today and get things taken care of but Matthew has to run an errand at 10am so I need to be over in the store.

Last night's storm did not do much damage except for some of the brick retaining wall got knocked down on the southern side of the house. David said it was all of the water. That is scary. He says he needs to get some grass growing there so he will try to buy some from the grass farm across the street.

The storm also broke one of our new Mountain Laurel trees by the gate. Now there is only a partial tree standing.

Our kitchen cook (one of several) made pickled dill eggs yesterday in our commercial kitchen. They look pretty good. I cannot wait to taste them. Next time, I want to try some made with beets and some made with jalapeno.

Pickled eggs are looking good!

Thursday, May 13, 2021 - Lots Of Farm Business

The USA flag and the Texas flag now grace our gate. They look beautiful! Now folks know we mean farm business.

There is a lot of farm business going on today. The welder, Sandon, came by to hang the Texas flag and the USA flag on our gate that David purchased. They look so good. Sandon's company is called Sand Hill Welding & Ranch Services if you would like him to do some work for you.

Some of our team members are building a shed to place over the new water tank electric pumps back by the greenhouse. Others are planting and some others are assisting Nacho of Top Notch Lawn Care with fixing our retaining wall that collapsed due to heavy rain the other night. They are bringing in dirt to fill in the erosion plus a pallet of grass will be placed to help stop future erosion. They went across the road for a pallet of grass and placed it. It looks pretty good now.

There is also some landscape talk going on by the pond so that will look even better. The pond needs to have the sand vacuumed out of it today. Nacho started building a fence with a gate for entry into the pond area from the back of the store and he will also place various rocks around the pond, maybe next week.

The guys in the back got permission to burn the big burn pile they have collected.

Way out back above the orchard, the burn pile is finally on fire.We've had a burn ban. Whenever we want to burn, we have to call the sheriff. Farm Business 101.

I brought all fresh, new eggs out to the store so if you want the freshest farm eggs, now is the time to get them from David's Garden Seeds® Farm Store. Come on out to the farm and see our beautiful gate and pond.

Molly is all groomed and looking sweet in her new scarf.

Molly, our new stray, is still chewing things up. She is now up to destroying six pairs of shoes, a book signed by Roma Downey from Touched By An Angel, and a brand new padded bench that holds blankets in my living room. From now on, she cannot be in the house unless we are in the house. She is out in our backyard playing. She has her toy that her ex owner dropped her off with, a chewie, a big dish of cold water and a blanket so she is having a good time. She got groomed yesterday and she looks adorable.

Nacho and his helper will be hanging our signs today as well.

Figuring it all out...

Part of farm business is trying to build things...

Nacho hung a bunch of signs, all but the giant one that goes on the roof facing the road. Hopefully, he can come back next week and get that one hung.The signs look really good, but the one that is not yet hung will be the big item that makes people notice us. Of course, the gate is already getting a lot of attention, especially with the flags added.

Hopefully, when you visit, you will see where you should park and not go back by the house. Yes, people have gone back by the house.

Production building, also where deliveries (packages) should be left on the loading dock. Each time a package comes, we have a treasure hunt wondering where it was left on the property.

Hopefully, when you visit, you will see where you should park and not go back by the house. Yes, people have gone back by the house.

No more guessing...Now our farm store is clearly marked! Farm business means marking the business on the farm.

Our road sign clearly shows that we are a farm business...David's Garden Seeds®. Please come on in to our farm store and get some garden seeds.

Take a selfie with our logo in the gazebo while enjoying the relaxing sound of water rushing over rocks. See our fish in the lit pond. Relaxing farm business.

Our new gate looks extra special with the flags.

Friday, May 14, 2021

Matthew moved the waterlilies to better cover the hoses in the pond.

Happy Friday! Today is cool and a bit overcast but no rain expected. The fish are coming up a lot more in the pond. Matthew got down in the pond and vacuumed some of the sand out. He also moved some of the water lilies around so it looks better. Now that the lights are fixed and figured out, we have them changing colors and flashing and that helps with seeing the fish as well. They are swimming back and forth from the pond at the falls to the pond in the gazebo as a river connects the two.

There was a big rock in the river, sort of blocking the way. Nacho noticed it yesterday and told me it wasn't supposed to be there. It turns out that our grandchildren knocked it into the river when they visited two weeks ago and were climbing on the rocks. It looks so much better now that Nacho got it out of the river and put it back where it is supposed to be.

I had three sets of customers come in today. That is good because we have had zero customers in all week. They bought quite a bit of seeds, a plant, and a dozen eggs. I really thought people would buy up the eggs because they are farm fresh and organic and certainly a whole lot prettier than the plain brown eggs that the grocery stores have. I think the main problem is all of this covid nonsense still going on, creating fear. Texas is open but a lot of the mayors are still insisting people wear masks and cower in fear. Our governor opened Texas and said no masks but people aren't listening.

Farm Business: The new shed right in front of the water tank houses some electric pumps to make watering our property easier with well water.

Farm business also includes lots of weeding, watering, and planting. Watering has now been made easier with the water tank and the electric parts that were installed. Phil finally got the new shed for these parts built over them to protect them from the elements.

Saturday, May 15, 2021

The Farm Store with the gazebo. Visitors can access it from the parking lot or from inside the farm store.

Waterlilies floating in the pond.

Hello. It is overcast. I got some chores done at the house and then went over to the store to feed the fish.

One thing I did after filling a bunch of orders in the store was to label all of rows of plants growing in the grow tower. Everytime someone comes in the store, they ask what is growing. So now they will know.

As soon as I opened the store, it started raining. It is now 1:44pm and it is still raining. I closed up shop at 1pm as it was pouring and the internet went out. We did not have a single customer and with no internet, we cannot take sales unless people pay in cash. Almost everyone uses a card.

That is okay. I am happy to be in my comfortable home. Everything is a muddy mess outside now but we do need the rain for our garden plants. Watering with a hose is not the same as when God waters our farm with his rain. The plants all respond better and green up quickly.

David also closed his office because there is nothing you can do without the internet. He is comfortable in the den with the dogs where we have internet.

My back and hip are killing me. Not sure if it is because I have been lifting heavy things like chicken waterers and chick feed or if it is arthritis brought on by the storm. I took pain pills hours ago and still have some pain.

Farm business includes pretty much nothing today. I was going to get some gardening done today but it is still coming down and everything is muddy. None of our people showed up to work today, even though four of them have not worked the entire forty hours this week. Most of them don't believe in making up time even though we have offered it to them.

Our worker who had a stroke on Wednesday is still in the hospital. Right now, they tell us he is blind in one eye and his legs are not working, but that is all we know. We hope and pray he makes a full recovery.

More farm business includes filling our seed orders. I am getting quite a few Etsy seed orders each day. I fill those myself because I do not want to give my Etsy password out to others. This week, I have added about 20 seed products, increasing my seed varieties on the Etsy store to 144. There are plenty more to add, just never enough time to add them. I really need a helper but it is so hard to find good help.

Around 3pm, the doorbell rang. I opened the front door and a young man grabbed the screen door handle and opened it. That kind of freaked me out, like he was coming in to get me. He was aggressive. He asked for David. I asked who he was. He told me he was starting work here on Monday. David says we are interviewing him on Monday. He is the son of one of David's friends. He will be part of the outdoor crew but someone needs to teach him that you don't open someone else's door. You wait for them to open the door.

I took a bag of trash out around 4pm and there was a new Hoover vacuum in a box sitting on my front porch. I thought that David ordered me a new vacuum until I read the tag...our manager, Jay, ordered himself a vacuum and had it shipped here by mistake instead of to his house. I called and let him know...LOL!

Good news! The lady who came to interview to help me clean and organize the house called this evening, just before Svengoolie. She had to stay out of town longer than she thought but she will start next Friday with us to see how it goes. We are going to have the house cleaned on Thursday because we already had it scheduled so she can concentrate more on organizing the first time.

We got Pizza Hut pizzas to watch Svengoolie and had a fun time watching The Fiend With No Head...LOL!

Sunday, May 16, 2021

Good Sunday morning. We awoke to a thunderstorm with a ton of rain. Ethel still will not go potty. I tried going out with her twice but she refuses. She is so stubborn (like her daddy)! We won't be going to church all the way in San Antonio today because of the storm. We can watch online.

I will be folding a lot of laundry and putting things away today. There is always plenty to do when you are hardly ever home...

I made ham, eggs, and hash browns for a late breakfast and they were delicious. Then made a chocolate pie for lunch.

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