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Hi Everyone,
May I say that the weather outside has been most frightful, and the only fire that I found to be delightful was at our friends house on Christmas Day. Yes, it has been cold enough for us to have a fire in our wood stove, but you have to be inside to keep a fire going, and as farmers we tend to live outside. I am not looking forward to January since we have already had three nights in December where the temperatures dropped into the 20’s for close to 12 hours. That is considered a pretty hard freeze. Last year one type of our ginger plants never died back—they are melting as I type. The freezes turned their leaves completely brown and they are starting to disintegrate. The roots are fine, and they will return next summer. The nice thing is that with their tops all dead we should be able to dig them up and move them. They grow about seven feet tall, and they have totally covered up the sprinkler in their area of the garden. We really need to move them to another bed, but it is hard when they are tall and green. I keep a journal of what is blooming in the garden each month, and this month only has one flower listed—the Florida Narcissus. For the past few years the roses have been blooming at Christmas—but not this year. The pinks are usually blooming too—but they suffered greatly during the summer, and only a few survived. I do think that one of the plants might have three blooms on it. The only other plant in bloom on the property is my white and pink flower Christmas cactus. Some of the wildflowers were blooming—as in the sweet alyssum, but the freeze killed them flat. There are many other wildflowers that are green and growing, but it will be spring before they blossom. It has been very informative to walk through the garden and see just what can really survive 12 hours of 25 degrees, and what cannot. I have a feeling that the daylilies might even go dormant this winter. The Ponderosa lemons in the garden are huge trees, and we have now harvested all of their lemons. Time will tell whether or not they succumb to the freezing temps—but just in case they do not I have planted 20 or more seeds from one of the lemons to ensure that we keep the variety thriving. If the seeds sprout, I may have lemon trees for sale one day—for we do not need 20 of them. We have a Hamlin orange tree growing in a pot under a huge oak tree. So far the freezes have not affected it at all, and if come spring it is still alive and green (the lemons are losing their leaves), then I told Mom that we need to go ahead and plant it in the ground under the oak tree so that is can grow bigger and produce more oranges. It gave us about 12 this year and they are very juicy and sweet—but small. We have found out that the caterpillar tunnels do not keep the plants from freezing—they just protect them from frost. So no, I cannot grow summer vegetables in the winter, but the tunnel does help to keep the leaves from being ruined from frost. The onions, carrots and spinach are doing great out under the stars—they have not been bothered by the temps in the 20’s at all. They say that collards and kale are sweeter once it gets cold. The cabbages, collards and the kale seem to do just fine in the cold weather under the tunnel, but the broccoli still gets its leaves burned under the tunnel. Mom went to open the tunnel this morning since it was supposed to get into the 60’s it would be too hot in the tunnel for the winter veggies. It was 30 degrees outside when she opened the doors and sides, and she said that the leaves had frozen water droplets on them. There is one thing that does help everything survive freezing temperatures better—and that is being thoroughly watered. In the greenhouse and on the porch we have kept a heat lamp on some plants, and it has helped greatly. The corner of our front porch, which is on the south side of our house, looks like a conservatory—for we have a ginger plant, the lime tree, the aloe plants, my Christmas cactus, mums, and some other flowers all nestled together so the heat lamp can keep them warm. The Christmas cactus is doing well—and is blessing us with tons of blooms.
Last week was full to the brim with life on the farm—and off the farm. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday we did manage to spend some time in the garden. Mom and Steve weeded two days, but on Thursday they worked at getting the end of the new caterpillar tunnel covered in plastic to help keep the plants toasty during the freezing nights. I transplanted some spinach and bok choy to the garden, potted up some herbs (parsley, thyme, and sage), and harvested the rest of the lemons.
Monday afternoon we sold some sheep to a family who was very excited to purchase their first flock of sheep—three ewes. A mom and her two daughters were set to be the happy shepherds. About an hour before they got here Papa headed up to the chestnut field to bring the sheep down to the sheep barn—but he had to go through a green field to get them to the barn, and they wanted to eat green grass more than they wanted to keep moving to the barn. We were going to go help Papa, but then he got them into the lane heading for the barn. So we came inside and got lunch on. We were sitting down eating when Papa came to the back door and said that he needed help. Yasha had pushed the sheep to fast and they had scattered off into another green field and Papa couldn’t get them out. We finished eating and headed outside—and our excited trio had just arrived. I told them that I had to go help round up the sheep, and that it would be best if they just waited at the house because sheep truly do run from strangers. I interrupted Steve’s lunch and we headed out to help Papa. He and Steve headed down to the other end of the 2 acre field to push the sheep toward the barn and my job was to call them. All went well until they got back to the lane—and they saw no purpose of crossing the lane and entering the barn. All of a sudden I wished that I had a bucket of feed, but I didn’t. I looked around for something to imitate a bucket of feed, and I found an old five gallon, orange Home Depot bucket and a piece of a 2 x 4 block of wood. So I put the wood in the bucket and began to shake it and walked into the barn—and they all followed. Papa locked the gate and then I headed back up with Steve to return him to his lunch and so that I could grab a coat and get the waiting trio. Back out at the sheep barn each person picked out their own sheep. The youngest wanted a small white ewe, the other daughter picked out a bigger cinnamon colored ewe, and the mother picked out a speckled ewe who was so calm that I think she was one of the old bottle babies. Once the sheep were all caught and in a pen, they got to notice the character of the sheep. The big cinnamon colored ewe was on the flighty side—she kept trying to ram her way out of the pen. Not only was she very skittish and scared, she also was pretty fat and had a nice size udder. The mom suggested that her daughter pick out another sheep, for she didn’t like the “character” of the ewe, and she feared that the ewe would lamb the next day—and they didn’t want lambs so soon. Thankfully she was able to find another cinnamon colored ewe, with a sweeter disposition. They named their ewes: Freckles, Cinnamon Toast, and Snowy. Once the lambs were loaded up Papa had us pull forward so that he could let the sheep back out of the barn and take them back to the chestnut field—and they could watch them leave the barn. All went perfect at first—then Papa asked me to let Yasha out of the panel pens (where he had put her to get her away from the sheep). Yasha wasn’t too sure about leaving her new found security station—of which in one hour she had dug a massive hole to China. I finally convinced her to come out, but instead of running down to catch up with Papa she jumped in the Gravely with me. At that moment I looked down the lane just in time to see the sheep turn into the front field—instead of going on down the lane. Papa forgot that he had the wire open so that I could bring the people that way to the sheep barn. So naturally the sheep turned at the first opening in the fence. I hurried on around the back way so that I could close the gate at the other end that led to the front yard. Back and forth and then I drove helping Papa to shoo the sheep out of that field. Once we got them back to the lane I went back to the other end of the field to pick up Yasha again—she had bailed out when I stopped to close the gate. With Yasha back on board I headed back to Papa and the sheep—that had just crossed the lane and busted through some more wire into another green field. This time I put a rope on Yasha’s collar and used her to help shoo the sheep back down the hill to the lane. From there Papa and I stayed on foot and walked the sheep the rest of the way. I thought for sure that we would lose them again in the next field but thankfully only one sheep jumped the fence and when she realized that no one was joining her she came back through and joined them. Then we were back into the green field that led back to the chestnut field—but with the dog behind them they kept moving. They thankfully went right on in to their field, and once I got Yasha in there I kneeled down to pet her. As I kneeled there I realized that my knee was getting wet. I first thought that the ground was still wet from the rain, and then I wondered if I had kneeled in some poo. When I stood up I looked down and saw nothing, until I pulled my dress around and there it was—a BIG brown, wet spot of poo. Papa and I had a good laugh—especially since it turned all my layers of clothing brown and even my knee. As they all say: “No one can do it like Tiare!”
I do believe that Tuesday’s are the busiest day of the week. It is egg day, and we have preparations to do to get ready for Wednesday’s delivery, and we have to do whatever we didn’t do on Monday. Last week was no exception. We got the milking done, and then I worked on putting all the orders on the spreadsheet, while Mom worked on finishing up the winter décor. Steve and Mom then headed to the garden to weed and I headed to the greenhouse to pot up the herbs. Then I had to finish the yogurt and we ate lunch. I put a chicken in the oven before we headed over to package eggs with the Durmaz family. I took a two week break from teaching piano lessons, so I was able to help a little longer than usual. A little bit before 4:00 I mentioned that I needed to go grocery shopping when Papa headed to town to get ice for the delivery the next day. Mom said that before we head to town we needed to separate the calves first. Papa was busy taping plastic to the area where his back window used to be on his truck. He had gone to get diesel in the big tank—but it slid forward and busted out his back window. UGH! Since Papa was busy I took Steve with me to round up the calves and lock up the ducks. It was 5:00 when we made it back to the house and Papa was ready to go. He helped me get the groceries and I helped him get the ice. When we got home he headed out to gather the eggs, feed the dogs and lock up the chickens for the night—and I finished dinner.
Wednesday night while Papa was finishing up his deliveries in Jacksonville I headed outside to do the evening chores for him. Thankfully the calves are becoming pros at being separated and I was able to separate them by myself. I then headed out to feed Jill, lock up her chickens, and feed Yasha. We have to walk up a steep hill to get to Yasha, and when I turned the Gravely off I heard I little “baa” way off at the top of the hill. It was the first lamb of the season. Can you guess who the mother was? Yep! It was the cinnamon colored, big and pregnant ewe that the people didn’t want to take home on Monday. The little lamb was chocolate colored, but I do not know whether it was a ewe or a ram though for it was dark when I found it, and I haven’t been back since. Papa said that another ewe has had a little white lamb.
Christmas Eve we spent with family—my sister Nichole and her family, my brother and his girlfriend’s daughter, and my sibling’s birth mother and father—but before we could enjoy the evening with family we had a lot to do to get ready for the freezes and the meal. Once the milking was done I harvested the lemons—and I was not really sure that I wanted all of the lemons off of the tree. Lemon trees have two inch long thorns, and the lemons that were left were up close to the trunk and on the bottom of the tree. That meant that I had to weave my way through a bunch of thorny branches to get to each lemon. It required a lot of perseverance to continue to pick the lemons after each poke and scratch that my hands and arms received. Mom, Papa and Steve put plastic over the end opening of the new tunnel, and I harvested lettuce, green onions, and collard greens for our Christmas Eve dinner. When I was done there I headed to the greenhouse to plant some lemon tree seeds and to pot up the herbs that I had started from seeds. It was 2:00 by the time everyone was done and so we ate a quick lunch and I began to work in the kitchen while Mom vacuumed. The first thing I did was to make some Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. I used cassava flour instead of the wheat flour, and I used maple sugar for the sugar. They turned out really good, and Mom was excited to have a cookie that she could eat. Next on the menu to prepare was meatloaf. Mom worked on a salad, and washed the collard greens. Once the meatloaf was in the oven then I started the collard greens and opened some jars of canned potatoes. My sister brought some broccoli and green peas and dinner was complete. I was starting the collards when Papa came in and said that he was going to have to close the garage door in a few minutes. I looked out the window and saw a huge black cloud. I quickly asked if the ducks were locked up yet, and Papa said “no”. I pushed my pot to the back burner and was going to head out, but Mom said that she would go so that I could continue cooking—and Papa decided to go with Mom. They didn’t make it to the ducks before the rain came down like sheets and the wind was blowing 30 mph. After a little while I remembered the garage door and ran out to shut it. Just as I got back inside the laundry room Mom and Papa were knocking on the door to get inside. I had shut the garage door just before they came around the corner of the house. Right behind my parents was my sister with her family. It is not very fun showing up to a dinner engagement in the midst of a terrible down pour! Everyone came inside pretty wet—thankfully some had coats, we had towels and the drier came in handy for my nephews clothes. We had a lovely evening together.
Christmas Day dawned early at 6:00 as we got up to eat our breakfast and get our chores done so that we could head over to the Crane’s for the day. There were plenty of complications along the way. First off when the cows were coming in to the milking area they took a detour and went through the gate that Mom and Papa had left opened in the rain. Steve and Papa had to run after them to keep them from getting out into the yard and turn them around. Then it was so cold outside that it took a few hours for the tractor to warm up so that Papa could put out hay for the animals. The next problem arrived when Papa went to move the cows into a new field—and found the wires were all down and he had to put them back in place. We were able to leave for our friend’s house a little after 11:00. The day was spent in many different ways. We visited with each other a lot, and once everyone had arrived we sat down to a delicious meal. After we ate we took turns sharing things that we were thankful for, and then we spread out. The men folk headed for the target range, some of us toured the gardens. I visited the wood stove a lot and had myself two cups of hot tea. With the high for the day only being 45 degrees, it was too cold for me. Around 6:00 we ate dessert and then we gathered in the living room and we sang Christmas carols and other hymns while I played the piano and their son Samuel played the violin. I was after 9:30 before we left for home and close to 11:00 when we got home—and it was already 28 degrees outside.
When we woke up Saturday morning it was 24 degrees outside—and everything was white. My goal for the day was to get the cows milked and get back inside. I will tell you a funny story—when I went next door to get some kefir out of the cooler so that I could make some pancakes for breakfast, it was so warm inside the cooler that I thought the walk in cooler was broken. I checked the thermometer and it read 36 degrees—that is cold when the outside temp is 50 and above, but when the outside temp is 24, then 36 feels pretty warm. I didn’t get everything done on Saturday that I wanted to get done, but there is always tomorrow. We did go over to my sisters though, for she wanted us to see her Christmas decorations.
This morning we got up at 5:00 to head outside and do the chores and milk the cows in order to get to church by 10:00. It was 25 degrees outside—and may I say it was COLD, COLD, COLD!!!!!!! There were no polar bears waiting to take my place and milk the cows for us. Ever try to bend over when you have 7 to 10 layers of clothes and coats on in order to stay warm? Today we had a problem that we have never had before—the air hoses froze up. Thankfully it didn’t happen until our last three cows. We almost got the cows empty before there was no more air to make the claws pulsate and pump the milk out. I had to finish the last little bit by hand. We hope that the only problem was that the condensation in the air hoses just froze solid—which means they should work tomorrow. Hopefully!
Tomorrow we shall wrap up the chicken processing for the year! On Tuesday we shall package the eggs for the last time this year. Wednesday we will make our last delivery to Jacksonville for the year, and Thursday maybe we shall end the year weeding in the garden.
So until next year . . .
I am serving you with Gladness,
Tiare