Sweet Summer Pickins

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I took the leap and ordered 150 blackberry plants!  Half of them will be shipped this week and the other half next week.  Ronny is working on tilling the part of the garden they will be planted in.  Fig and peach trees and strawberries will be planted too.  Turkey manure will be the soil amendment that we will till in before planting.

I decided on two blackberry varieties:  Arapaho and Navajo.  Being the Aggie Mom that I am, Texas A&M University Horticulture Department was my resource of choice for information on blackberry varieties.  http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/extension/fruit/blackberries/blackberries.html

Arapaho Blackberries are an erect, thornless plant that produces a medium, high quality fruit.  It is very productive and resistant to Double Blossom and Rust.  This is a new variety developed in 1993 at the University of Arkansas.

Navaho Blackberries are an erect thornless plant that producess a dense hedgerow that ripens later than the Arapaho with even higher yields.  The berry is medium-size and sweet.

I am really looking forward to learning lots about blackberries and how to raise them.  Be on the lookout for blackberry recipes on this blog!

I get to go to Chicken Care 101 with my twinster neighbor, Becky Thursday morning.  She is going to show me the ropes then.  We are getting our rooster from her and she will be my go-to-person on chicken raisin'.  I can't recommend the link www.mypetchicken.com too much.  Check it out!  The chicken coop will be built after the blackberry planting.

We have had a warm winter and spring is filtering in without us realizing it.  I enjoyed a great walk on the back of the property with the dogs yesterday.  Here are some pictures I took with my new camera.....having fun learning to use the different features of the camera.

Thorny Mesquite

Donkey skull out in the pasture

Reflections

Red Sky at Sunset Means Storms in the Morning?

Something fun that I will be doing this week is taking a canning class.  I already know how to can but know that I can learn so much more.  I am taking the class at Aquaponics in Desoto.  Aquaponics is an interesting farming technique.
Check out their website http://www.aquaponicsandearth.org/aboutus/who-are-we/

Signing off for now.  Hoping for more rain tonight so we can continue with a healthy drought recovery here in our part of Texas.  Happy Farming!