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Hi Everyone,
Nothing was made to last forever, but why do the things that you could care less about last longer than the things you really like. Ever wonder why your favorite piece of clothing finds its way to the rag pile long before the ones that you really do not enjoy wearing?
The Great Pumpkin
Growing pumpkins in Florida can be a tricky thing. You must start them early so that they are harvested before the green worms start eating them come fall. This works perfectly for the Florida Seminole Pumpkin—and if your blessed, it will produce two crops for you (a summer and a fall crop). The Seminole pumpkin is made to last for a year on the counter. This year I tried my green thumb at growing a Connecticut Field pumpkin. I do not believe that this northern pumpkin enjoyed the hot and humid Florida summer. The vines were gracious enough to give me one pumpkin though—but it was ripe in August, a long ways away from October and November when I desired to use it for fall decorations. I decided to see how long it would last—and I was deeply disappointed. By the end of the first week, it had little brown rotting spots on it. By the end of the second week it had black moldy spots on it—so much for Fall Décor! I was not going to lose my chance to carve a pumpkin though, and Saturday afternoon I sat down at the computer, and printed out our new logo the size of an 8 x 10 piece of paper. Then I tapped it to the pumpkin and traced it with a pen. Next I grabbed a small knife and began to cut out the letters and shapes. I love to carve watermelon baskets, but I do not believe that I have ever carved a pumpkin. I had a blast! When I was a little girl I remember Mom, Dad, and I sitting outside on the picnic table carving a pumpkin—but I am sure that Mom did all the work. Afterwards we roasted the seeds. We have not carved a pumpkin since then, and may I say that after carving this pumpkin—I am hooked. I know that my pumpkin will not last much longer, but I am glad that the grocery store supplies a pretty good assortment of them in the fall. I shall have to buy some to use as vases for floral arrangements, and to carve for table décor. I think that small ones make perfect place setting holders, or hollow them out and put a candle in them. After the pumpkin was all carved, I put some candles in it and had fun shooting it with the camera. I couldn’t help but to share some of those photos with you—and wouldn’t you agree that our new logo lends itself very well to creative projects! I guess in a few days the chickens shall have the pleasure of enjoying the pumpkin as a tasty snack. The Connecticut Field pumpkin is really only good for two things—carving and feeding to the animals. Farmers up north grow them for winter food to feed their cattle and pigs—not to mention, pumpkin is a great dewormer.
“Work for the Night is Coming, when all Work is Done”
While our week ended with some time to be creative, I will have to say that I earned that fun time very well last week. Monday and Tuesday Steve and I weeded in the garden a little bit. I had Steve mow around one of the garden beds so that I could get to the sweet potatoes to weed them. After he mowed, he headed back up to the house and he and Mom worked on packaging eggs. Since it was pretty hot, I only got one side of one row weeded. Then I joined in on the egg party and helped finish up the eggs. Papa was busy mowing down pastures and planting peas and millet for fall grazing. As I said, it was a hot one. We were almost finished with the eggs when UPS freight showed up to deliver a ton of organic corn and soy-free chicken feed. Mom and Steve quickly got the eggs rearranged in the cooler so that Steve didn’t have to go in there after he got all hot and sweaty unloading feed. On Tuesday Steve and I headed back to the garden so that I could finish the other side of the sweet potato row. Steve worked at digging up the dog fennel and other large weeds that were growing in the tunnel bed where the chickens are working as hired help to do the weeding for us. The chickens can handle short tender weeds, but tall woody ones are best dug up and discarded. After lunch we raked up all the grass that Mom had mowed down while we weeded. The lawn mower was back from the shop, and Mom wasted no time is getting the over grown lawn looking presentable again. Since it had been three weeks since she last mowed it, the grass was pretty tall. I drove the truck around so that Steve could load all the grass into the truck bed. Once the bed was full, we drove back to the Poultry compost yard and threw it over the fence. It will make excellent winter bedding—and fabulous spring compost.
While both Monday and Tuesday were hot and scorching, and we had outside chores to do; Thursday and Friday were only in the 70’s and we had inside work to do—but the inside of the Poultry kitchen is not air-conditioned, so we were very grateful for cooler temperatures and a nice breeze. Thursday we processed 49 chickens, and then Friday we packaged 29 of them whole and cut up 20 of them. We shall have a break from processing chickens for a month now. We have been processing chickens every two weeks since April. We always order 50, in hopes to have 40 come butchering day. In the spring we lose more birds, and we would have 40 to 42 birds at the end. During the summer, we have lost very few, and we find ourselves processing 49 to 50 birds—with only three people, the afternoon seems to go real slow. This is our first year to process chickens every two weeks, for most of the year (April to November). It never fails that the day we are running around trying to get set up to process, the Post Office calls and says that more baby chicks are in—and most of the time I have forgotten that they were coming and we do not have the brooder house cleaned out from the last batch. So as soon as breakfast is over, Mom heads to town to pick up the chicks, and as soon as Papa has gathered all the chickens that are ready to be processed, and has done all his chores (move the cows and chickens), then he sets up the butchering equipment and finally he gets a chance to clean out the brooder—before he cleans up the concrete in the milking parlor, eats a quick lunch, and helps us process chickens. While Mom and I process the chickens inside, Papa kills them outside. Hopefully one day we shall have a lean to on the back of the Poultry Kitchen so that Papa has shelter from the sun and the rain. As they say though---Farming is a journey not a race! Things take years to get the way you need them to be—but O how we want things NOW!
In the Dark with a Flashlight
Friday night as we were eating dinner—quite exhausted ready to prop our feet up on the sofa after standing on them for the last two days—the discussion of whether or not we should move the cows to their proper field or not arose. The cows had been too stubborn that day, and refused to leave the field that they “chill out in” after we milk them. The problem with that field is that there is only one strand of hot wire to keep them in—once out they are free to go all over our yard, into the barn and down the road. This is one of those been there done that issues. Mom was too tired to go rodeo cows,, so she said that we would just pray that God would keep the cows in—as she told story after story of episodes when the cows and calves got out and ran down the road. Papa was a little concerned, but decided to not go rodeo the cows after all. Later that night after he came in from locking up all the chickens he said that we needed to talk about the cows—he was not comfortable leaving them in the field, he wanted to put them in a more secure field so that he could sleep more peacefully. So—at 9:30 at night we grabbed our flashlights, put on our shoes and headed out to move cows in the dark—even Catalina the cat came along to help. The cows moved very easily, but the flashlights were like magnets—they attracted every flying critter that was awake. Bugs are fine—at a distance, but not dive bombing into my face, mouth, and hair. Once the cows were all moved, I opted to walk in the dark!
God’s Miraculous Plants
Speaking of being dive bombed—if Friday night’s bug affair wasn’t enough, Saturday mornings took the cake. While it had been cloudy all day Thursday and Friday, it never rained much. Saturday morning the rains rolled in about 7:30, and never quit. I headed outside shortly after 8:00 to set up for milking. Since the rain was blowing sideways I decided to lower the tarps on our milking parlor. I got Mom’s down with no problem, then I began to lower mine. When the bottom of the tarp got eye level with me I saw a bunch of bugs swarming and attacking me---wasps had made a huge nest on my tarp. I got stung three times just under my chin and jaw bone. A few weeks ago Papa had gotten stung on his hand while we were putting the shade cloth on the caterpillar tunnel. He made not a moan—but his hand and lower arm swelled up real big for a week. Leslie and Carry were helping us at that time, and one mentioned that she cries when she gets stung, I said that I yell, and the other said that she does both. Well, I found out that while I might just scream when one gets me on my finger or thigh—I did both when I had three attacking me around my face. After the wasps flew away, I ran for the house and when I burst through the door I yelled for Mom to get the lavender oil. With Papa’s sting was swelling so badly, I did some research on how to treat them—next time. The lavender oil is supposed to neutralize the sting. I was very concerned about swelling—for it was too close to my juggler vein. The lavender oil might have helped stop the swelling from getting any bigger—but it did not cut the pain. I do think that it helped to calm me down. I then grabbed some of the plantain leaves that I had dried from our garden and made a hot poultice with them. I put the poultice under my jaw and Mom wrapped some ace bandage around my head to hold it there. I then went back to set up for milking—and the pain was going away. About thirty minutes later my neck and jaw were hurting so bad—not from the stings, but from the bandage wrapped around my head. I took them off, and rub some of my Soothing Salve all over the stings. When I was all done I headed back inside the house and mixed some of my Soothing Slave, Relief Salve, Black Drawing Salve and some more lavender oil. Then I placed the goo on gauze and went to attach it to the stings with Band-Aids. I had one problem—and a good problem it was—I couldn’t find the spots where the wasps had stung me. I had a little bit of swelling, a little bit of pain, but I could hardly see where they had stung me. I did manage to find the spots and taped the goo to them. After milking, I removed the Band-Aids—before I had a reaction to them. The pain was all gone and there was really very little swelling left. I rubbed some Soothing Salve on them and went about my day. Today I have a very little bump where one of the wasps stung me, but you cannot tell the other two stings at all. I was so thankful for God’s mercy, and for the wonderful healing properties of the plants that He has created. My hero Papa took some Dawn Dish soap mixed with water in a spray bottle and had revenge on those mean old wasps. I now raise and lower my tarp with great observance.
I hope that you have had a great week, and enjoy the last few weeks of summer—for fall is fast approaching!
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare