Discoveries

On the farm in Illinois, we had three peonies bushes.  Sprouting out of the ground, year after year, we would watch their golf ball size buds, covered in ants, split open in a dazzling ball of fluffy-looking flower.  These lovely flowers are old-fashioned, short-lived, elegant and sought after.

An old legend, passed on from generation to generation, is that a peony flower will not open without the help of ants.  Turns out this is simply legend.  The ants seek nectar found of the opening flowers; check out this article  Ants and Peonies 

I've planted at least a half dozen peony plants since I arrived in Jackson.  To date, not a one of them has bloomed.

Over the long holiday weekend, Mike and I got to spend quite a bit of time at the "Franch" - the name "Tin Cup Ranch" is in consideration.  We cleaned out some unbelievably gross couches out of the garage, cut a big yard's worth of grass, and found an amazing and most likely, very old peony plant.  It's dark red flowers are just beginning to open under the warm, western sky.  Here is a treasure!

Today, the weeds on the 60 tillable acres were sprayed.  Soon, half the acreage will be planted with an alfalfa grass mix.  What to do with the other 30 acres??  We don't have enough pipe to water the entire place.  I have been researching dry farm crops.  Sunflowers?  Millet?  Peas?  I don't know what there will be, but leaving ground bare and fallow is not this farm girl's idea of good farming!!