It might be a pretty sure bet that most of you have been enjoying the pleasant spring days, lately, near as much as the rest of our folks. The forecasters seem to surmise that the likelihood of a late freeze or frost has probably passed us by, and I’d probably concur on that one as Easter has also passed over. As mentioned a few times prior, Momma always waited ‘til after Easter to put out tomato & pepper plants. She did like to plant a row or so of radish every couple of weeks, so they would be staggered out & we’d have radishes up until warm weather.

We would usually wait until the 1st week of May to plant the Okra seed as it likes a warmer soil, but Willy Ray Harvell has some that’s already emerged. I do have some extra seed stored of an ol’ Heritage variety that goes back to the Harkey, Hawkins, Ellis families of Wallace Creek & Sloan. Some call it Deer horn & others call it Cow horn, but it all looks about the same to me. Momma also liked to soak her Okra seed overnight prior to planting. Skinny Shaw even used to soak his bean seeds, but that seemed a bit odd to me.

While speaking of gardens & some of the better gardeners around our parts, Arnie told me that some kind souls must have thought his needed some help with tilling as they drove up over the curb & plowed into his garden the other night. Must have been right after the rain last week, as he indicated that the vehicle was still stuck there the next morning.

I haven’t had the opportunity to stop by and check on Skeeter Grumbles’ garden as of late, and it’s pretty hard to “windshield” check it since he built the big privacy fence all the way around.

Tennessee said that I should come by & thin his onion plants a bit and that usually includes pulling a few weeds as well. He usually has some of the best red onions around but has seemed to fall out of favor with that variety the past couple of years.

One of the local gardeners told me last week that they covered their early tomato plants with buckets before the night of the freeze & left one uncovered as they happened to be one bucket short. Anyhow, all the covered plants froze & the lone one left was the uncovered plant. Sometimes nature dares defy all reason.

Jarvis Shaw visited with me a while Monday afternoon, and said he & grandson, Cameron, stayed in the pasture trying to lure in a Turkey tom for the table. Though they hunted long & hard, they didn’t seem to have much luck with getting a Gobbler, but Cameron did manage to plug a couple of feral hogs. Shaw & yrs. truly spotted the remains of one of the hogs in the pasture on Monday as there were a couple of Cara-Cara (Mexican Eagles) stalking around & scavenging the carcass. Jarvis also added an oddity, that they saw a Whitetail buck over the weekend that still had his antlers intact. The latest I’ve ever seen one with antlers was April 10 a few years back, but the 19th about takes the prize in my book.

Some of the Pecan producers have the big sprayers hooked up & seem to be putting on the pre-pollinate application of Zinc on the trees. It hasn’t been as easy as it should seem as there have been very few days as of late that the wind was still enough for spraying. Most of the materials, not to count the mere cost of application, are a bit too expensive to be left blowing in the wind.

You might want to mark your calendar for Monday, May 4, as the day for the San Saba Pecan Field Day down at Mill Pond Park. There are a lot of knowledgeable Pecan folks on the program and I hear that Betty Ann & Tommy are frying fish for dinner. You might want to go ahead & get your pre-registration done down at the County Agents’ office, & they will be sure & have enough fish for all. You can also add to your credit of CEU’s for the Private Pesticide applicator’s License.

I hope you took some time on Tuesday to recognize the commemoration of San Jacinto Day, when Sam Houston’s rag-tag troops cornered Santa Anna and his marauders down on the bend of the River a bit up above what is now Houston. I’m certainly assured that the Mayor & yrs. truly did as did most of the Aggies around the world, as well as out around——————Harkeyville!!!!!