Pine Trees

From an email we received last March:

Pine trees know when it's Easter...
Begin watching in the tops of the trees about two weeks before Easter. Usually about the first week of April, depending on the weather and the spring growth as to when the little yellow shoots will begin to sprout and then branch off and form a cross as shown in the photo.

When Easter Sunday arrives you should be able to see the little crosses on top of the pine trees.

As literally millions have seen the little crosses on top of the Pine Trees about 2 weeks before Easter....being another witness of HIS AMAZING GRACE to the human race!

Pass this on to your little children and teach them that the Pine Trees know when it's Easter!

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth,
will draw all men unto me. JOHN 12:32

Well, most years!!!

About two-thirds of the time with phases of the moon and the first day of spring, we celebrate Easter in April. We watched our pine trees all last spring for the new growth to form the little crosses. But in vain. This year we were fixing dinner on the last day of March - something caught my eye outside the kitchen window...

Prooomph!!!

Well, maybe they do bloom!!!

Below are photos of the Cedar-Apple Rust galls that have spewed their spores. They always bloom after a rain, which we had yesterday.

Photo of the gall pre-prooomphing can be seen in last Sunday's post .

What's blooming???

Lots of stuff!!!

It's not a flower, but it is the something different on the cedar trees.

Cedar-Apple Rust

Cedar-apple rust is just one of several similar fungal diseases which could be broadly classified as Juniper-Rosaceous rusts. All of these rusts have very similar disease cycles but differ in exactly which juniper and rosaceous species they infect. The fungus spends part of its life cycle on a juniper host and part on a host in the rose family. It requires both hosts to complete its life cycle. All of these rust diseases are caused by species in the genus Gymnosporangium. Cedar-apple rust is caused by the fungus known as Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae. Two other common juniper-rosaceous rusts are hawthorn rust and quince rust, although there are many more.

Examples of juniper hosts include eastern red cedar, southern red cedar, Rocky Mountain juniper, some prostrate junipers, and Chinese juniper. Examples of rosaceous hosts are apple, crabapple, hawthorn, quince, serviceberry, and pear. Some commercial apple varieties are highly susceptible to cedar-apple rust with both direct fruit infection and defoliation of infected leaves. (from the Cornell University Plant Clinic website)

Flowering Crab Apple

As we drove on the golfcart Saturday afternoon, I was taken back some 40 years and around 300 miles to the north. The pair of Flowering Crab Apple trees were planted to the east side of the house in Daylight. Oscar Womack had given Dad the trees when they were just skinny sticks. They served as the outfielders when I would toss a ball into the air and strike it with the bat that Uncle James turned for me on his lathe. Their scent would fill the yard as bees would gather pollen and nectar. The sweet/sour marble sized apples of fall give me my taste for lip puckering foods today. And the jelly... buckets of Crab Apples stewed down with enough sugar to give you an instant case of insulin shock, place into pint jars and placed into the kitchen cabinet for spreading onto a hot biscuit.

I wonder if they are still standing?!?!

Paulownia Blooms

And the Dogwoods will be blooming soon!!!

As Dad would say, "How can you idenify a Dogwood tree???

By its bark!!!

Over the River...

The lyrics to the traditional song just don't fit us. We only have to cross the lawn and pass the cedar trees.

We loaded our dishes on the back golf cart and headed for Mama's house. Sissy and Buddy brought the majority of the meal and it was delicious!

While I was taking photos of the cedars, our 'across the road' neighbors were headed out to Grandma's also. And like us, they only had a short drive. In fact, the back of the farm shares property boundaries with his parents farm.

Metro and Geli made sure that the chicken was turning 'round and 'round just right.

Yummmmmmm, roasted chicken...

The full menu:

• Roasted Chicken
• Beef Brisket
• Honey Baked Ham
• Dressing (don't dare call it stuffing)
• Peas (from the fall garden)
• Turnip Green (again from the garden)
• Onion and Turnip Roots
• Ambrosia
• Cranberry Sauce
• Pumpkin Pie with whipped topping

Family, Food, Friends, Fun

A Number 2 Warsh Tub

Last year's pecan crop on the farm was nil even with a half dozen trees that should bear nuts. Pecan trees goes through alternate year bearing cycles and some how the large trees decided to take a "rest" together. And last year we only had a couple of small trees that even produce enough nuts for a couple of pies for Thanksgiving.

Even with the severe drought that the Southeast is experiencing this year, pecan production in Georgia is reported to be 35 - 40% better than last year.

After about 45 minutes of rolling the ground we have enough nuts to fill a number 2 warsh tub and an 1000% increase of our pecan harvest versus last November.