Pictures: this moment

[JSinMO]

Son just came in the house and said I need to go to the back pasture. Looks like the neighbors came over for a visit. About 10 or 12 of them!

Some new people leased the property behind us I guess they have some fence patching to do. Cows are smart enough to find the hole in the fence but then once they get through they’ll never find there way back home!
I guess we’ll let them sleep over and try to find the owners tomorrow.

[Eugen]

Like to know more @Eugen . What bread do they raise over there ? How are they kept and do they graze or dig everything up like the ones over here ?

So sorry Dave, I missed your question. This was a breed named 'bazna', which is a heritage type breed. Very tasty and more fat. Most people raise the great white breed. However, a few, raise the mangalitsa breed, which is the tastiest pork I have ever tried.

As for how, pigs here are usually raised on grains (ground corn, wheat, and sunflower), kitchen scraps, and alfalfa. Almost every household in rural areas raises a pig and has a grain mill to grind the corn, wheat, and sunflower together for feeding the pig. The pig is usually kept in an enclosure like 15x15 feet, cement floor, lined with straw in a corner, where the pig sleeps. Each household has this enclosure behind the house, where the "garden" is. They call garden the stretch at the back where people plant veggies and have fruit trees. My inlaws have an area behind the house, maybe 150 feet by 60 feet, with a few rows of grape vines, 4-5 prune trees, 3 peach trees, and a few other fruit trees, as well as several rows of vegetables. My inlaws are in their 70s and they still work the veggie patch: garlic, potatoes, tomatoes, and other veggies. Oh, and they have a chicken coup as well in that area. I think I've said it before, the "lawn" here is a very small area in front of the house. All the space behind the house is cultivated and/or used to raise animals. I'll post pictures soon.

[Harry]

Your description of the area sounds beautiful Eugen. I wait in anticipation for the pics. Harry

[JSinMO]

Our Bradford pear is putting on a nice show!

[JSinMO]

While I’m on the mend me and son decided to take a short road trip in the Mustang. It needs to be cleaned up but I think it still looks pretty good for a 2011 model.

On the way home we stopped at an old greasy spoon dinner truck stop that seems like it’s been there forever. I remember my parents stopping there when I was a kid and it was old then. We couldn’t help ourselves and had to go across the road and visit Ozarkland.

Ozarkland is one of the few old roadside attractions / shops that seem to be left around here. Kind of neat to walk around.

Even though I can’t wait to get all healed up and going again being able to do this together was a really nice experience for both of us.

[Harry]

Father son roadtrip sounds like a blast. I’m sure you’ll remember it for many years to come. The only one I ever had was when my son decided to move to Oregon. We loaded up a uhaul trailer and his Jeep Grand Cherokee and headed West. There were a few memorable things that happened along the way. Harry

[Eugen]

Pictures from Saturday evening.


I had to move this little peach tree because it was right where I needed to dig with the backhoe. Right after I finished the replanting a stork landed right next to me. I think they're attracted by tractors working in the field. It probably gets small creatures out of cover providing food for the storks. There are lots of storks here.

[DavidBarkey]

, @Eugen do you have marsh land near by ?

[Eugen]

, @Eugen do you have marsh land near by ?

No Dave, no marsh land at all. I've seen literally hundreds of large nests in the area, made on top of hydro polls.

[MattA]

Here is our achievement for tonight. That's Lily my 6 year old riding without training wheels for the first time. She even executed turns perfectly. I'm probably a little late teaching her. Wish we had done it last fall. It's been a struggle to build her confidence in balancing. What worked was dropping her seat and removing the pedals to make a coaster bike. After learning to coast in the street, she was cruising down the driveway. I put the pedals back on and off she went