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Hi Everyone,
The time has arrived---a little too quickly, to change our time once again. If I could have slept in this morning, maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad. Since we no longer have someone to milk for us on Sundays, that meant that we had to get up at 5:00 this morning to milk the cows. I could almost bet that Papa had to wake them up just like he had to wake me up. While my clock said 5:00, my body said it was 4:00---and I am sure that the cows thought the same thing. We did survive, but I slept on the way to church, and on the way home. The disadvantage to living so far away from church is that you have to get up real early to get all the chores done so that you can get there. The advantage is that you can catch up on some sleep on the way there and back---well, that is all but Papa who has to drive.
The week started with a race---and time has been racing ever since. We headed to the garden Monday afternoon, and while Mom and Steve tackled the white flower bed once again to remove more of that pesky elderberry, I marked out the borders of one of the spring garden beds so that we can get it prepared for planting this Thursday and Friday. At first I thought that we would just till all the weeds in, but as I strung the wires I saw that most of the weeds were large thistles and Carolina Geranium. They would be better off pulled up, than tilled in. Since the weeds were so big, and easy to pull, I had great confidence that it would not take very long to tackle the whole 16ft by 48ft bed. While Steve and Mom finished up their weeding, I began mine. When they had finished, they came and joined me. I figured that if we each took about a five foot section, we could just sweep down and be done in no time. I was already ahead by about 8 feet, but it didn’t take long for Mom and Steve to catch up. I needed help with a giant thistle and called Steve over to pull while I shoveled. It was then that we found out that he was racing. Realizing that he had begun last, he was determined to beat us to the end. He came over to help me, and quickly headed back to his five foot wide section. I got stalled as I came upon last year’s trellis, and found myself having to weed up one side of it and down the other. Mom got stuck in the middle of the whole bed. She found a big patch of fireweed and Bermuda grass. Steve was making great progress and as he finished his side, he headed across the top and met me at the end of my side. I headed over to finish the end of Mom’s row. Then while Mom continued in the middle, Steve began to pick up the piles of weeds and take them to the chickens, while I weeded an old lettuce bed to prepare it for carrots on Tuesday. Before we could finish it was 4:30 and time to quit for the day. We cleaned up and I began dinner---but was interrupted when a couple showed up to buy two female turkeys. I now have only three left.
Tuesday was long and exhausting! We had a lot to do before the freeze hit that night---and Mom and Dad had to leave around 1:30 to head to a doctor’s appointment in St. Augustine. We got the cows milked and the milk bottled. Then while I bottled the kefir, Mom and Steve headed to the garden to figure out how to cover the blooming lemon tree so that we would not lose the blossoms to the freeze. The old cover we had did not fit over it any more. Then they thought of the 10ft by 10ft pop up tent that we have. The garden bed that the lemon tree is in is 10 by 10. So that was perfect. While we couldn’t cover the sides, we could at least cover the top in hopes to keep the frost off. When I was done with the kefir I headed to the garden to help them. The craziest thing we did was to pick up the orange tree that is in a large pot and put it in the wheelbarrow. We had the hardest time getting that pot up the last two inches to get it into the wheelbarrow. Once into the wheelbarrow we wheeled it over to the garden shed and had just as much trouble getting it out of the wheelbarrow and into the garden shed. Trying to figure out how to anchor down the tent was another trouble. We finally decided to put the legs in five gallon buckets, fill them up with dirt and then place a large stepping stone on top. Then we tied the tent frame to the bucket handles. It was going on 1:00 and Mom and Dad needed to eat lunch before they left and I needed to make yogurt—then eat lunch. After lunch Steve headed out to feed some animals and then he worked on some eggs. I cleaned up in the kitchen, and then I took Moises home. When I got back I put together the order for the Jacksonville delivery and then Steve and I headed to the garden. While he picked up the rest of the weeds, I prepared a bed to plant five rows of spring carrots---Scarlet Nantes. Then Steve headed to gather the eggs and I harvested the veggies for Wednesday’s deliveries. Steve got back before I was finished, and he helped bag the veggies. Then we separated the calves for the night and brought in the sheep. We locked up the turkeys for the night and once all the veggies were in the cooler we were done outside for the night---and it was almost 6:00. I came in and had a bunch of green onions to clean up to fill some orders, the receipts to make for the delivery, soup to cook for dinner, and laundry to finish up. My brother David called asking to come over and borrow the printer, so he came over and kept me company until Mom and Dad got home. After dinner there were receipts to finish up, dishes to do, and lambs to feed. Around 10:00 bed became my best friend for the next eight hours.
If ever there was a Wednesday that we were grateful that the Crane boys were at the farm, this Wednesday was tops. We always enjoy their help and company, but the order was so big that we all said that we could have never got it packed on time without them. As it was, Papa was thirty minutes late and had to change the first drop off to the last. When the Crane’s arrived, Samuel helped us with the milking, while Peter and Timothy helped Steve package eggs. When the milking was done, Samuel helped bottle while Timothy and Peter helped pack the vehicle with all the ice chests after I had filled them with all the goodies. Then Peter cleaned up the milking parlor and they headed out to gather the eggs for us---so that Mom and I didn’t have to do it later or Papa have to do it when he got home from deliveries at 7:30.
Feeding the lambs has become a time of laughter and excitement. There are six very hungry lambs waiting for their bottles every six hours. If we have three or more people to help bottle feed them, then all goes smoothly. When we only have two----well it is a big challenge!!!! For one person has to hold three bottles. When we open the door, all six lambs come running out. This allows us the opportunity to walk in with no problem. Then all the lambs come running and leaping back in. They can jump pretty high too. We hang the bucket of bottles on a hook and then we grab our bottles and try to get the right lambs on the right bottles. They are like hungry piranhas, as they mob us, all of them fight for a bottle----pushing and jumping and butting. One person might get all three lambs on their bottles, but the other person may be struggling to get their three attached to their bottles. In the meantime, one will come over to the other person and push one of the lambs off of their bottle and try to take over. It is a fiasco trying to get everyone on the right bottle. Once all the lambs are happily nursing and we are sitting down---it never fails that one will butt its bottle and send it flying. Then it tries to take over another bottle while the person tries to hold two bottles in one hand and pick up the bottle that was sent flying. You also have to make sure that you keep you face well out of the way---for when they butt the bottle you had better watch out.
Thursday was another full day, and the “To Do List” was forever long, and in the end impossible. We got the milking done----which always has to be done first thing every day of the year rain or shine, sick or healthy, cold or hot. It is really the most relaxing job that we do, and is usually most enjoyable---except for Taffy who has this habit of picking up her foot and stomping it down, and squatting to pee a hundred times while I am milking her. She knows that it is bad manners to pee in the milking parlor, but she has to go so bad that she dribbles the whole time. The days that she just goes pee, are so much easier, for then she stands still. After we milked the cows we had gallons of whey to bottle from all the creaming that we had done and the skim milk that we had set out to make curds and whey. Sometimes I ferment the skim milk, and sometimes we just put it in buckets and Papa has to spray it out in the fields as fertilizer. When we came in Mom needed to rest for a little while so I took advantage of some free time and worked on planning where to plant what in the garden. After that I made yogurt and we had lunch. After lunch the goal was to clean the house---for we had company coming on Friday to help out on the farm. Mom cleaned up in the kitchen, and I tackled folding a bunch of laundry. Then we got a phone call saying that the man who was offering to do our electric and plumbing in our Poultry Kitchen wanted to come over and see what all he needed to do. He arrived around 4:00 I think, and we spent the next few hours deciding where to put lights, water, electrical plugs and light switches. After he left Papa had the evening chores to do----which since it was dark was not as many, for you cannot separate the calves in the dark. When Mom and I came inside we had to finish cleaning up the kitchen and I had some Vanilla Pudding to make for Banana pudding was on the menu for Friday night’s dinner.
Friday morning we had just finished milking the cows when our company arrived---a family of seven. Some helped bottle the milk while others helped me bottle the kefir. Some helped by doing a great job putting the label stickers on all the jugs. Then we rearranged the meat in the freezer. The way we had it packed I had to search through many boxes trying to find a certain cut of meat ---freezing to death when I couldn’t find what I was looking for because it was all mixed together. So we pulled all the boxes out and with nine people we made quick work of putting each cut in its own box. Then it was lunch time. After lunch the Mr. helped Papa take the tent off of the lemon tree in the garden. It had done a good job protecting the flowers of the tree. Then we all headed to the milk house for an egg party---that is all but Papa. He had to spend most of his day on the road going and getting feed and hay. With nine people doing eggs, we could accomplish one five gallon bucket in ten minutes. When all the eggs were done we took a kombucha break on the front porch before we headed to the garden to weed. We weeded for about an hour then the two older girls and I headed inside to cook dinner while the others went to separate the calves and bring in the sheep. The family is interested in getting some lambs, but they wanted to taste it first---so for dinner I browned up some lamb chops coated them with some mustard sauce and cooked them in the oven for an hour. Then I cooked some green beans and potatoes that we had canned. The girls were my food preppers as they washed up all the fresh lettuce that I had just harvested, and they peeled the carrots and the beets so that I could add them to the salad. We had an enjoyable time working together and getting to know each other. Dinner was very scrumptious, and the lamb was a success. Then to top it all off we served them banana pudding---of which they had never had before. After we were all done eating we sat around the table singing Scripture songs. We had a wonderful time of fellowship. They left around 9:00 and Papa headed out to do the chores and Mom and I headed to clean up the kitchen---first things first though we had to wash the table linens for we were expecting more company on Saturday. Just as I was almost finished with the dishes and Mom was needing help bottle feeding the lambs she remembered that it was Friday night and that I needed to do the receipts for the Gainesville delivery. So at 10:00 I headed to the computer, and Mom and Dad headed out to feed the lambs. It was a late night---but it was Friday night and Papa has always said that we can stay up as late as we want on Friday nights, but sometimes we stay up later than we want. The good thing was that we could sleep in on Saturday.
Saturday dawned bright, but at 7:00 it was not early. We got breakfast fixed and ate, and then Mom and Dad fed the lambs and I set up for milking. After we milked we did a little bit of housework---cleaned a bathroom, swapped two mattresses because one was 100 years old and caving in the middle, and washed a bed. Then we had the milk to bottle and the orders to pack---along with harvesting some vegetables. When I got the orders all done, I made a kefir drink for Papa and I. Then there was laundry to do, and dishes to finish. We took a little bit of time to relax, before we dust mopped the floors and made the bed. Around 2:30 we fed the lambs and then our company all the way from Canada arrived. We have known the Limbeek’s for 15 years. They come south in the winter for a little break every year. Sometimes they have stayed here and ran the farm while we took a vacation. Their son has come and stayed for a week at a time to help out on the farm. When they got here they were more than ready to stretch their legs and the men folk gladly helped me bring the cows in from the green field. We had a lovely visit with them, although it was too short as they were heading further south this morning.
This week looks to be exceptionally busy as we prepare the garden beds to be planted with the spring vegetable seeds come Thursday and Friday.
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare