Our Fourth Year On The Farm

We are now beginning our fourth year on the farm. We bought the farm on July 30, 2019. We moved to the property on August 23, 2019 after living in our city home for 18 years in San Antonio. Between July 30 and August 23 of 2019, we prepared the property to move into and we finished packing up and cleaning our San Antonio home.

It is hard to believe that we are beginning our fourth year of owning the farm, something I never thought we would own. It has been a very good place to have a gardening business. I do not miss the traffic of the city or the crime. I think it is a bit hotter out here with a lot of snakes, spiders, lizards, and horrible stickers. There is sand everywhere out here but no water and very little rain over the past 12 months.

Our Fourth Year - 8/1-8/7/2022

Our fourth year on the farm. This drone shot shows just how much we have accomplished. Our business is by the road, the first 6 buildings.

Our fourth year on the farm. This drone shot shows just how much we have accomplished. This shows 7 properties. Ours is the one with all of the buildings. The first 4 are business buildings.

Monday, August 1, 2022 - our Fourth Year

Fluffy clouds are over the orchard as I go out to get the eggs late this afternoon.

Good Monday morning. We are starting our fourth year by being sick. We were both sick by the time we got home from dropping the kids off to their parents this past Saturday. We sent them to church camp last week and wouldn't you know it, they came back sick. Almost every time we are around the grandkids now, we get sick.

Our son, Matt was ill all night long with a high heart rate. When I turned my phone on this morning, I found out that he had taken himself to the hospital and is on IV antibiotics and fluids for dehydration and infection. That was four hours ago and the doctor still has not told him what is going on.

So I had to go out and unlock everything, feed the fish and get money in the register before anyone got here. I grabbed the time cards and brought those in to David. Then I forced myself to go take care of the outdoor animals. I have a deep cough now and David still has a sore throat. Fun times for all of us.

One of the part time temporary outdoors guys is off today and the other came in at 7:30am and left at 9:30am. I asked Linda to keep an eye on the store and wait on customers if we have any.

It is 10:45am and only 90°. It should hit 102° today. Today is our payday plus I had to write the check for the trash pickup for this month. $234! That is insane. They are charging us for gas now in addition to the obscene rate they were charging. Our bill went up more than $35. We asked for a smaller dumpster but they said they didn't have any. We asked to change to once every two weeks instead of every week and they said that would only save us $20 a month so we are scratching that. We are looking around at the different trash companies to see if we can get a better rate. This is insane.

Good news! Matt is being discharged. He does not have covid or an infection. What a crazy way for us to start our fourth year on the farm!

Matt is now here on the farm to celebrate our fourth year. Actually, he is here running things as he is not contagious. The doctor told him to drink a bunch of Gatorade and not to do anything strenuous until he is fully hydrated. In this heat, it is easy not to realize that you are not drinking enough if you are working outside.

He is over in Production, making sure everyone is doing what they need to be doing. David and I are managing by text and calls.

I just started a loaf of Hawaiian bread. I ordered some of the Hawaii bread mix. This evening, I am going to start some sourdough. I have not had a chance to do sourdough lately. My head is hurting and I am coughing deeply. My nose is clogged again.

As school begins this week and over the next several weeks in our area, I will be surprised if we get any customers because everyone is making sure their kids have school supplies and clothing. Even the seed orders are way down right now. People just don't have the extra cash with gas prices so high and with food prices getting higher and higher.

I went out and got the eggs at 4:45pm. At 5:20pm, I took the eggs to the store and to my surprise, three of our team members were still here working. Had I known, I would have waited. They left right after I appeared. I am currently filling the pond because it is really low. I need to put algae killer in but they need water more.

Filling the pond. It is looking clearer. I need to put in more algae killer.

There was a lot of mail and a lot of packages for me to bring over to the house. It would have been nice had they carried them over to our porch since we are sick. Anyway, David made dinner and I am waiting for the Hawaiian bread to rise. I also just started another load of laundry. i feel so tired and I need a nap.

On this, the first Monday of our fourth year, we had zero customers and just a few online orders, just like it normally is in August right before school starts. We do know some school districts started last week and some today. It is way too soon.

Tuesday, August 2, 2022 - Our Fourth Year

This is the pail of eggs I collected yesterday. They are now in the store waiting to be sold. At the beginning of our fourth year, we are getting about a dozen eggs a day due to heat.

Good Tuesday morning! I am still sick and so is David, such a great way to continue our fourth year. I actually think I slept fairly well last night. I woke up twice and took medication both times. My cough is deep so I need some meds to stop it.

Matt is feeling much better and is at work today. It is miserably humid out there. I went out at 7am to unlock everything and feed the fish. One of our part time temporary workers showed up shortly thereafter so there is no way that I can do what I need to do and not come in contact with anybody. They are showing up way too early. No one should be coming through the gate before 7:30am. I hate for anyone to see me in a mess when I am sick.

I had some Hawaiian bread for breakfast but I don't have much of an appetite. Hopefully, I can lose some weight. I was supposed to have a hair appointment today that I should have had three weeks ago but could not get in due to their schedule. Now I am scheduled for the 18th so I am really going to look bad when and if I finally get in.

This photo is from last week when I was setting the canned foods in the farm store, unpacking boxes. We made a whole lot!

The Farm Store is open if you care to come by at 5029 FM 2504. We are open until 5pm and we have four dozen farm fresh eggs, lots of home canned and home pickled veggies, strawberry preserves, pecan coffee in various pecan flavors, pecan treats, shelled pecans, and a whole lot of Non-GMO seeds that are mostly heirlooms. Come on over. It is time to get your fall seeds!

Our raised garden beds are being prepared for our fall garden in our fourth year. David says we are planting lots of flowers this fall. I will be planting snapdragons and a few other cool weather flower seeds in front of the farm store.

It is 1pm and 103° Fahrenheit. The humidity is high, just feels nasty. The outdoor people are gone for the day and the few we have on staff are trying to get everything done. We had one couple a little while ago go in the Farm Store. They didn't buy much. As I said, this time of year has always been our slow time because back to school is what everyone is spending their money on. This year it is worse because prices have jumped up significantly on food and gas.

It looks like someone is at the store right now. I can see a vehicle across the parking lot that is not familiar. I hope someone is with them. Our people handled it.

I have spent most of the day doing social media posts and hacking up a lung. David has been sleeping for most of the day. Matt says things are going well out there but I feel like we should be out there making sure things are getting done.

Well, Nacho has been here, filling up some of our newer raised beds with soil by the driveway. This is our fourth year on the farm and we are still adding raised garden beds.

We have had a few more customers. Not much else is new. I hate being stuck here in the house when there is so much to do but I cannot pollute our people...Meanwhile, the grandkids are feeling fine and going on about their lives while we cough and sneeze here. Matt is doing well today so I am thankful.

Wednesday, August 3, 2022

Here is our empty farm 3 years ago facing FM 2504. You can see our orange outhouse and the dumpster on the road. Our fourth year shows very little emptiness.

Good Wednesday morning. Welcome to day 5 of feeling miserable. I feel worse today than all of the other days combined plus I am so sick of being a shut in. David is feeling much better. Nacho is outside doing things. Some of our people are here. We had to let go the two outdoor guys as everything is dead. Hopefully, we will get some rain and cooler temperatures soon. It does not show that in the weather reports.

Matt took the two puppies to the dog groomer. Lucy is upset that she did not get to go and she keeps looking out the window for Matt and the puppies.

David's Garden Seeds® needs to have more online presence. Please share us with a friend or two who like to garden.

I had to write three checks this morning and now I have to do some other work. Nacho came and did a bunch of work. I do not know what but I did have to write him a check at 3pm.

Today it hit 105° and we had a heat advisory. Still no rain. The chickens put out quite a few eggs today.

We are still waiting for the electrician to come and add some outlets and have been for a few weeks. I do not understand this...

It is now 6:30pm and I feel like total crap with a pounding headache and a stuffed nose. I should be feeling better, not worse. Fun times.

New Sale For August

Use FALLSEEDSALE at checkout this month for 15% off your seed purchase with a minimun $20 purchase.

Today, we started a 15% off FALLSEEDSALE with a minimum purchase of $20 as the July sale ended on July 31. It is good to start our fourth year off with a sale, especially during a slow time such as summer and back to school. Fall gardens need to be planted at the end of this month so hurry and get your fall seeds so you have time to grow your fall and winter food!

Thursday, August 4, 2022

This morning's sunrise was when I was outside. You can see the generator, the tank for it, and the carport, things that we are grateful for in our fourth year.

Good Thursday morning! I am feeling much better today about starting our fourth year and my deep cough seems to be gone, at least for now. I slept pretty good, only waking up three times and I was able to breath all night long without a problem.

I am currently filling the pond. I fed the fish before 7am and put the de-chlorinator in there. Then after waiting for 30 minutes, I went out to turn the water on. Matt drove up then, the first one here. One of the guys called in. He called in yesterday also.

The air feels pretty good outside today, nice and cool, not humid like it is most days. It is 84° and it should hit 106° today so it will be a nasty scorcher.

Today, I should get a bunch of packages from Amazon, mostly my subscriptions like vitamins and household goods as well as dog medications. Lucy is on an arthritis med and a liver med and I get those from Amazon.

I made eggs for David and me and now I am ready to work from home. It is nice to be in the house, but it gets old after a few hours.

The pond is now filled. Matt is working out in the greenhouse. The dishes are washing. The sourdough I started on Monday is coming along. I still sound horrible so I will not be out in the store yet.

The Amazon packages came with monthly subscriptions for medications and household items, nothing exciting. It is 2:40pm and 101°. I fell asleep at my desk twice a little while ago but I seem to be awake now. I hate being sick, don't you?

We had zero customers today in the store.

I have been planning out our fourth year, at least on this website. I can make certain plans, but we all know things never go exactly as planned. For instance, who would have guessed that David and I would be sick this week? See what I mean? I will do my best but I may have to change things as they come up during our fourth year on the farm.

This evening, around 8pm, I went out to lock up. I checked up on the fish since I put algae killer in the pond at 5pm. I saw something not right floating in the inner pond. I grabbed the net.

A nasty dead gopher was floating in the pond.

Here is a closeup of the dead gopher. I was so freaked out by this thing but I could not leave it in there overnight for the fish to get polluted.

It was a nasty dead gopher, floating upside down. So disgusting! If you know anything about living out here, you will know that we are plagued with these rodents. They dig all over the property in the back, making the ground uneven. Then they pull down our plants and eat them underground. So I was glad that we got one even though we were not trying. They just keep making holes all over, especially under the weed barrier. You think you are walking smoothly across and all of a sudden there is a hole and a hill and you are lucky if you don't trip.

Friday, August 5, 2022

Sunset showing my greenhouse on the left and part of our home on the right as well as the Production Building a bit further out as we begin our fourth year.

Good Friday morning. I am still sick. My nose is clogged and my throat sounds very low and very dry. I was up and down throughout the night, coughing and trying to breathe. I am so sick of being sick. Week one is now in the books.

I went out early this morning to feed the fish and unlock everything. The fish looked fine but the water has already gone down quite a bit so I need to put more water in. I just did that yesterday.

There have been a few customers in the store today, including one of my friends and because I am sick, I could not visit with her.

I have been planning the weekly topics of our fourth year today as well as writing some new articles for the website.

Tomorrow, we are having a big blowout in the Farm Store with a lot of seeds for just 95¢ a piece. I already have some of the seeds set up out there. I went over once everyone went home and put out a bunch of seeds on a table for 95¢ each. We are overstocked on a lot. Our second most popular seed, the Butterfly Hummingbird Wildflower mix, is now on sale and if you want beautiful spring wildflowers, get them now and plant them in October in Texas for spring blooms. At this price, you can buy a bunch of them.

We also have a lot of vegetable seeds on sale for 95¢. David is adding more varieties right now.

Also, the canned, pickled, and dehydrated foods are all on sale for this weekend. Come by the Farm Store tomorrow and load up on seeds and canned and pickled veggies.

Saturday, August 6, 2022

A different angle of the pond with falls. Note the new light rock topper in place of the extremely heavy rock to clean the sponge filters easily for our fourth year.

Happy Saturday! Today is day eight of me being sick. I feel good now but I sound terrible with my voice, runny nose, and coughing. Our fourth year has started with a lot of our overstocked seeds being just 95¢. Some are listed above and others can be hunted on our website. I do not have a complete list of them yet. David is still marking some of them down on the website.

I went out early this morning and unlocked everything. The fish look fine except someone had eaten a pack of peanut butter crackers and tossed the plastic wrapper with our price tag in the pond. If they had put the wrapper in an indoor trash can, the wrapper would not have been in our pond. I had to fish that out.

I fed all of the animals out back. It is so humid out that I had to come in and change my sopping wet clothes.

Pamela and Sue Ellen, the puppies, ripped apart their new kennel cushion and pulled most of the stuffing out last night. Yes, the brand new thick one that I just spent a fortune on.

I am doing laundry and getting some vacuuming done. David is sick so he is underfoot. I hate that I have been cooped up here all week long because we had to get sick again.

I vacuumed most of the house and my second load of laundry is going. I checked in my greenhouse because the thermometer says it is 103°. There are two air conditioners on in there and the guys closed the vents. The door was also closed. I opened the door and saw the water is leaking all over the floor. I opened the vents and put some trays under the air conditioner that is leaking water on the floor and turned off the water to it. They put in a bunch of plants from the big greenhouse, some citronella and some trees.

I immediately noticed that a big branch was partially broken off and all of its leaves are wilting. I grabbed some pots and rooting hormone, along with my clippers and clipped off six pieces to transplant. I then watered them.

A lot of the newer plants were not in trays so they could not be watered. I put trays under all of them, moving things around because the hose does not reach all the way to the back. I watered everything. By the time I was through, I was dripping with sweat. I had to change for the second time today.

I nuked some frozen stuff for lunch and now we are in the den watching The French Connection for the first time. It is considered to be one of the greatest movies ever made and we have never before seen it.

Shay is working alone today. We have had no customers in the Farm Store but the orders are coming in. We gave Matt off since he has had a rough week going to the hospital on Monday. He worked last Saturday while we were taking the grandkids back to their parents.

We ended up having one visitor who came into the Farm Store but bought nothing. Of course, it is tax free weekend in Texas and that means everyone is out shopping for school clothes and supplies before the kids head back to school. Some districts have already gone back. I honestly did not think we would have many but I thought at least three or four groups of customers would come out and take advantage of our sales. Then again, there is something about staying home in the air conditioning when the heat and humidity are so bad. This summer, this is exactly why traffic to our farm has been down so low. The weather and the ever escalating food, clothing, and gas prices.

We are looking forward to a much better fall.

Sunday, August 7, 2022

Our fourth year started with empty flower beds in front of the Farm Store. We pulled up the dying zinnias due to extreme heat. In just a few weeks, we will be planting cool weather flower seeds.

Our fourth year has started off strangely with us being sick. Neither of us has had a chance to go out and work and supervise because we have not wanted to get anyone else sick. Here it is Sunday and we are still coughing so we stayed home from church. I have the essential oil diffusers going and David is napping in the den. I went out early this morning at 7am and the humidity was thick. I came in wet with it which I hate. Yesterday, I had to put four different outfits on from humidity.

As you know, we are slowly rearranging the Farm Store as well as everything else to make it look better. I have to take down all of the art and bulletin board and redo that as well. I may get over there this afternoon and do some work.

The main greenhouse & 3 hoop houses taken 8/4/22 right before sundown. Our plan is to put up a few more greenhouses during our fourth year, 1 for citrus trees.

Our Fourth Year Continues

Here are some of the eggplants we picked today. Our eggplant bushes are still putting off a lot of eggplants in different colors for the beginning of our fourth year.

08/08/2022-08/14/2022 - August Garden Chores

08/15/2022-08/21/2022 - Fall Garden

08/22/2022-08/28/2022 - Fall Garden Seeds

08/29/2022-09/04/2022 - Fall Garden In Texas

09/05/2022-09/11/2022 - Plant Fall Flowers

09/12/2022-09/18/2022 - September Garden Chores

09/19/2022-09/25/2022 - Bioengineered Food

09/26/2022-10/02/2022 - Heirloom Seeds For Sale

10/03/2022-10/09/2022 - October Garden Chores

10/10/2022-10/16/2022 - Plant Onions

10/17/2022-10/23/2022 - Wildflower Seeds

10/24/2022-10/30/2022 - Plant A Winter Garden

10/31/2022-11/06/2022 - Container Garden

11/07/2022-11/13/2022 - Container Garden Ideas

11/14/2022-11/20/2022 - Register Your Garden With The Government

11/21/2022-11/27/2022 - Sugar Substitutes

11/28/2022-12/04/2022 - Cooking Oils

12/05/2022-12/11/2022 - December Garden Chores

12/12/2022-12/18/2022 - Let's Talk About Flour

12/19/2022-12/25/2022 - Christmas Treats

12/26/2022-01/01/2023 - Types Of Sugar

This spectacular sunset went down on December 16, 2022. So beautiful for a cold night in December during our fourth year!

01/02/2023-01/08/2023 - Start Homesteading

01/09/2023-01/15/2023 - Spring Seed Varieties

01/16/2023-01/22/2023 - Plant Tomato Seeds

01/23/2023-01/29/2023 - Herbs For Inflammation

01/30/2023-02/05/2023 - Flowers That Grow Well In Shade

02/06/2023-02/12/2023 - Vegetables That Grow Well In Shade

02/13/2023-02/19/2023 - Starting Seeds For Spring

02/20/2023-02/26/2023 - Food To Grow Fast

02/27/2023-03/05/2023 - Garden Vegetables To Grow

03/06/2023-03/12/2023 - Deer Resistant Plants

What a great sunrise during our fourth year. It looks like there is fire in the sky. This sunrise was on December 16, 2022.

03/13/2023-03/19/2023 - Plant A Spring Garden

03/20/2023-03/26/2023 - Types Of Milk

03/27/2023-04/02/2023 - Homesteading In Texas

04/03/2023-04/09/2023 - Fish Pond

04/10/2023-04/16/2023 - NPK Fertilizer

04/17/2023-04/23/2023 - Build A Greenhouse

04/24/2023-04/30/2023 - Plant Seedlings

05/01/2023-05/07/2023 - Rabbit Manure

05/08/2023-05/14/2023 - Succession Planting

05/15/2023-05/21/2023 - Garden Soil (potting vs germination mix)

05/22/2023-05/28/2023 - Getting New Baby Chicks

05/29/2023-06/04/2023 - Shade Cloth For Plants

06/05/2023-06/11/2023 - Weed Your Garden

06/12/2023-06/18/2023 - Cool Weather Garden

06/19/2023-06/25/2023 - Tour Our Farm In Photos

06/26/2023-07/02/2023 - Summer Growing In Texas

07/03/2023-07/09/2023 - Tilling Soil

07/10/2023-07/16/2023 - Nightshade Plants

07/17/2023-07/23/2023 - Legume Plants

07/24/2023-07/30/2023 - Our Fall Garden Seeds

Thus ends our fourth year on the farm...I want to take the time to thank all of my readers and all of our wonderful customers for your support during our farm adventures. We are so blessed to live here and own this wonderful business. All praise goes to our Heavenly Father from whom every good and perfect gift is given.

David's Garden Seeds®

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