Margret Sloan

Here’s one last photo from the trip to Oklahoma that I wanted to share. Most of the gas stations sell more than gas, although it is almost impossible to find one that has an automatic car wash on the property. They just don’t waste money on washing cars out there.

The gas stations have a small convenience store and often a deli or cafe. some have tiny truck stops, which offer a shower, land line telephone, and a place to stretch out for a bit when you are too tired to keep driving. The land line phone is important because there is little or no cell phone service out there. You can drive for hours without any cell signal, even with AT&T “nationwide” service.

Several gas stations also service the farmer, who don’t have to pay some of the road taxes on gas and diesel for farm equipment. Also, farmers need other things, like antifreeze, propane, grease and hydraulic fluids. These are dispensed from pumps off to the side of the gas station at various prices per gallon, as shown in the photo, above.

Something I’d never seen before our trip to western Oklahoma: tire signs. Evidently the farmers take old tires and paint on the tires with big white letters “No Hunting” and then sling them over a fence post every hundred yards or so.

Back home, we buy little rectangular white on black plastic signs from Wal-Mart or the Ace hardware store that say “POSTED” and just tack or nail them to trees along the property lines and roadsides.

But I guess the old tires are something the farmers don’t have to buy and are a fine example of recycling and resourcefulness. Besides, the closest Wal-Mart is an hour and 10 minutes away in Kingfisher, and with the price of gasoline, you can’t just run over to the Wal-Mart every time you need something. This is a small Wal-Mart – they don’t even sell gas at this one, but it is the birthplace of Sam Walton, so they had to have one, even if it’s just a small one.

Out in the country you make shopping lists and save up for one big shopping trip, maybe once a month or so. The whole family goes and makes a day trip of it.

On the way home we stopped at one of the clusters of new wind turbines so I could snap a couple pictures. There are miles of them running alongside a back road, and you can get right up next to them – close enough to hear the low whoosh whoosh sound of the blades as they turn. The farmers are still planting crops around the base and some ranches have their livestock sharing the fields with the turbines.

There is no whine or anything like a motor noise. It’s very quiet and peaceful with just the whoosh whoosh and an occasional bird chirping from a bush or fence post.

The past two days have been unbearably hot. Yesterday it was 108 degrees and today it hit 111 degrees, and I think it topped out just about the time that we arrived at the cemetery and had to stand out in the blazing sun for the graveside ceremony. Thankfully, we had a little of the legendary high plains wind to take the sting of the sun away.

I’m sure the heat isn’t so bad if you get used to it, but we are accustomed to being inside an air conditioned house or office. My sister-in-law has air conditioning, but a lot of the old farmhouses out here do not. She keeps the thermostat much higher than we do at home, and it was uncomfortably warm the entire visit. I would much rather be too hot than too cold, but I sure wish there had been a more gradual adjustment to the temperatures.

It seems there is always some wind, which is very different from back home. The wind is a good thing for a lot of reasons and one of the most unique and rewarding good things is that some companies are now harnessing that wind by erecting huge wind turbines. They look like space age windmills and are generating electricity for the power companies.

We tried a small vegetable garden this year and I must say that it is a great success. We have so many tomatoes off of just 2 tomato plants that we are already giving tomatoes away to friends at work. The jalepeno pepper plant is putting out all the hot peppers I’ll need for the rest of the year. My green pepper plants are very slow to bear but they are strong and healthy and there will be an abundance of actual peppers in just a couple weeks.

We are thrilled at how well these basic vegetables have done and I think next year we’ll go ahead and have a full garden. I have plans to put in a raised bed over in the side yard and I want to grow a bigger variety of vegetables. I found a great site for organic seeds and sprouting supplies, so I can plan the whole thing and set up a schedule and make a serious effort at growing my own healthy foods. Years ago I had great success with a huge garden in Virginia. Everything I planted was from seed or sprout – no cheating with mature plants bought at the hardware store!

Maybe you already know about the Handy Pantry web site for organic seeds and supplies. If you’ve got any gardening tips – especially for raised beds – please share them with me in a comment. I would love to hear them.