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| Going to see the pigs in the shade. |
The dog and I walked up the paved road to the watermelon patch and turned around pretty quickly due to the heat of the fast rising sun. We walked back down the shadier part of the road where it was cooler. The day promises to be a hot one with the possibility of big thunderstorms brewing. For now though it is peaceful and quiet but very hot for this early in the morning. Many times during the summer the dog and I will walk south on the shady dirt road that goes to the pig farm to escape the heat. I have posted a photo of the pig farm road showing the over hanging trees which make it a lot cooler down there. There is a pecan orchard on the right with about 100 trees that are around 50 years old planted by a neighbor for the land owner. He told me he planted the root stock in pots and then when the root stock was a couple of years old he grafted the 100 trees with I think 4 varieties of pecans. Once the grafts had taken hold he went out and dug all the holes and planted the trees and tended them for a couple of years. He told me that once the trees were started the land owner paid him $15.00 per tree. That is a lot of work for $1500.00 but if you knew the guy who was doing it you would know that as far as work goes this job was a piece of cake for him. He is quite a character and full of stories about this area as his family moved here in 1949. As he tells it all the roads were dirt trails back then. Anyway the orchard he planted is not tended now so it produces pecans erratically. When there is a good crop the owner cuts the grass low and hires a machine to shake the trees to make the pecans fall and when they are on the ground a crew comes and picks them up with a vacuum harvester. There is usually not even one pecan left on the ground after the machines get finished. In bad years the owner still cuts the grass but he doesn't attempt to harvest any pecans. The neighbors and I go and pick up the pecans by hand while crawling on our knees. I take my my pecan cracker with me and crack them in the field so I don't have to deal with shells in the house. I like to have pecans in the freezer over the winter. They are a good snack and are delicious in blueberry muffins. Now I am hungry so I have to go. Thanks for coming by. Have a good Labor Day rest.
