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Hi Everyone,
The other morning I knew that it was time to change the clocks back when I opened up my curtains and wondered why the contractors had arrived at the house next door—so early in the morning. They were working by the light of their vehicle lights. Then I remembered that it was 7:00 in the morning even though it was still black outside. A few minutes later I headed outside to go over to the milk house to set up the milking equipment—and I found that it was too dark to even enjoy the beauty of the courtyard as I walked through it. The only thing awake outside were the crickets, and the occasional crowing rooster. So I guess that it really was time to start the day. There was one benefit to it being dark outside at 7:00—I was able to watch the beauty of the sunrise. The clouds in the sky became on fire as the morning began to appear, and after a little while I just had to abandon my morning chores to take some time out to get some pictures—even if it did make me late for breakfast. Hey, sunrises only happen once a day and beautiful ones that you can capture are rare—or occur when we are still inside behind the curtains. As I watched the sky change colors as the sun began to rise, I also listened to the birds wake up. The wrens and the warblers are the first to awaken. While they are very tiny birds they have the loudest chatters. They are followed by the crows, and then around 7:30 the Phoebe birds began to sing. I see the mockingbird lately, but for some reason he is not singing much these days. In the early summer he sits on top of the chimney of our house, or the electrical pole at the milking parlor and sings for hours. I am afraid that by the time I head outside tomorrow morning everyone will have been awake for quite some time, but the neighbor‘s builders will not have to shoot nails in the dark, and just maybe I will find it a little easier to climb out of bed at 6:00—cause it will be old time 7:00.
Gardening 101
Monday morning when we finished milking Mom headed to town to pick up some more compost. Then while she painted the doors of the house, Steve and I prepared two beds in the garden and then I planted spinach. Little by little the fall garden is being planted. Next on the list will be garlic and onions. On Tuesday I was able to transplant some lettuce and collards out to the garden, and then I potted up the broccoli, second batch of collards, bunching onions, leeks, and cabbage. With some seed trays empty I was able to plant more lettuce, and some more Swiss chard. I am trying to plant lettuce every three weeks, and while the first batch of Swiss chard sprouted very well, potted up very well, and was transplanted very well—but then some little black worms came along and ate every last piece of them.
Ducks Unlimited
Last Friday we moved the ducks out to the back pasture by the garden, and we left them locked up all weekend—in hopes that they would adjust their GPS to stay back there and not come back to the yard. Monday morning we opened their door and they came out and enjoyed their new life in the pasture. That evening we headed out around 4:00 and they were already inside their pen ready for dinner and to be locked up for the night. The next day when I drove out in the Gravely to lock them up, they took off for their house as soon as they heard the Gravely. They were perfect for three days—then come Thursday it rained and they had this nostalgic memory of grand puddles of water at the milking parlor after a good rain. That night when I headed out to lock them up I found no ducks! They were nowhere in the pasture, they were not at the Poultry barn visiting the chickens and other ducks, and just as I was fixing to head to the house to declare the case of the missing ducks I caught a glimpse of them in the water puddles at the milking parlor. UGH! Later that evening Mom helped me escort the ducks back to their house. When the ducks were let out Friday morning they bee lined it for the milking parlor. Within a few hours they had made their way under the gate and into the front yard. We shooed them back quite a few times. Saturday was a repeat! Today we decided to leave them locked up for the day since we would be gone to church all day. Somehow we need to keep them out to pasture and out of the yard before we end up with no ducks.
To Rain or not To Rain
Thursday morning when we were done with the milking I headed to town to run a few errands. I was looking for some yellow onion bulbs—but they were sold out, so I came home and ordered some seeds. I have tried to grow yellow onions twice—and both times they were a flop. Both times they were over taken by weeds, and onions cannot grow when they are suffocated by weeds. I am determined to figure it out—and I guess this year we shall be starting with seeds. While in town I did manage to get some rye grass for a cover crop in the garden, and I picked up a yard of mulch for the walkways in the market gardens. When I got home it was time to finish making the yogurt and eat lunch. Just as soon as we were finished with lunch the heavens opened up and the rain came down. I made a mad dash for the truck—for I had left the window down and Mom made a mad dash for the brooder house—because she didn’t know that Steve had already closed the door. We both got back in pretty damp. It wasn’t long though before the sky was clear and we all headed to the garden to empty the mulch out of Papa’s truck. Two walkways were ready for the mulch—so Steve and Mom filled them with mulch while I weeded the other row. We were emptying the last of the mulch when the sky got black and the rain started to come towards us from across the pasture. We scrambled as fast as we could, but we still got drenched before we made it back to the house—and then it was time for a hot shower. It was then 4:30 and I had a little bit of time before I needed to cook dinner, so I decided to make some lotion bars and finish the batch of Soothing salve that I had started back in September.
Pass it on
Friday was another chicken processing day and on Thursday my brother-in-law met a lady at the farmer’s market whose husband had bought 200 broilers and they had never processed one chicken in their life—and it was time to start processing them. My brother-in-law had mercy on her (for they didn’t even have any equipment) and he called us to see if the lady could come over and learn what she could. By the end of the day she was very ready to tackle the job that lay ahead of her—with confidence that she knew what she was doing. Before she came over she didn’t think that she could gut a chicken, but she soon found out that she could. We were blessed to be able to share the knowledge that others have shared with us. I remember the first time we processed chickens—we had no idea what we were doing and the only logic we had was to make the chicken look like a chicken from a grocery store. The worst part of the whole ordeal was that we had raised our 20 birds in a very small place. We never moved them, and by the time we butchered them they were knee deep in manure mud—and may I say that they tasted terrible. It was a few years later before we attempted the process again, but this time we raised them on grass, moving them to fresh grass every day. Those birds were a total success, and we have raised our own ever since. In a few days we hope to have the new documentary on our Pastured Broilers up on our YouTube page. I will let you know when it arrives!
Questions and Answers
The fair is in town, and my sister and her husband manage one of the concession trailers there. So on Friday my niece Makenna (7), and my nephew Josiah (3) came to spend the weekend with us. What fun we have had with them. Makenna has not been ready to go home yet—because there is so much to do at Grandma’s house. That is usually the way most young people feel when they come for a visit or to help out for the week—there are cows to milk, eggs to collect, orders to pack, weeds to pull, plants to plant, meals to cook, laundry to do, and toys to play with. Saturday morning when we milked Mom had Josiah help her, and Makenna helped me. It is so cute to see a 3 year old dump feed into the trough, or to hear a 7 year old say “Aunt Tiare, you milk that cow and I will milk this cow”—even though she cannot milk at all. There was a lot that she could do to help though—mix up the feed, teat dip the cows, let me know if the claws are fixing to fall off, wash a cows udder, and even help strip out the teats at the end. While all this was going on I was steadily answering questions:
How do you know when it is time to milk the cows?—when the clock says 8:30
How come do cows have 4 teats?—because that is the way God made them
What is in that cup?—soap and water
Why?—to wash the cows teats
What is that red stuff?—iodine
Why?—to keep the bacteria out of the udder after we milk the cows
What is this cows name?—Ellie Mae
How do the claws work?—they pulsate to make the milk come out
How?—the air hose sends air through it causing it to squeeze the teat
On the other side of the parlor, Josiah was sitting in his chair holding the milk hose watching the milk come out of the cow and head into the seven gallon milk tank. He enjoyed petting the cows, and dumping feed into the troughs.
After milking she helped me pack the orders and then we headed to the garden tunnel to harvest kale and bok choy for our Gainesville customers. The kale was too tickly for her, but she insisted on cutting every leaf of the bok choy. At first I would pick out the leaf for her to cut, and before long she knew that she was looking for big, pretty leaves and could tell me which leaves she needed to cut.
After lunch Makenna and I headed out to the garden to plant some Echinacea that a friend shared with me. We continued with our question and answers:
What kind of flowers are those?—Echinacea
What do they look like?—I showed her a picture
Are we going to plant them in the flower maze (what she calls the cottage garden)? –yes
Are these weeds?—yes
Can I dig holes?—yes
Can I rake?—yes
Can I plant them?—yes, dig your holes bigger (then I went behind her and planted them right)
Do we have more flowers to plant?—no
But I want to do more!!!!! O the enthusiasm of a child.
We were not in the garden very long before a mosquito had found her. I sent her to pick me a plantain leaf and I chewed it up and put it on her bite—but the sting didn’t go away! Then I realized why—that mosquito bit her about seven times and they were swelling up nicely. I didn’t feel like chewing up anymore plantain leaves—for I was still spitting from the last one, so we headed back up to the house to spread some of the Soothing Salve on her bites. That was much easier than chewing up leaves and the pain soon disappeared. By today you cannot even see a glimpse of any of the spots where that pesky mosquito bit her.
It has been a very enjoyable week, and although it is only 9:00 right now, yesterday at this time it was 10:00—so my eyes are falling asleep and I must close and go to bed.
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare