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Hi Everyone,

               When this week began I had no idea how the week would go. I had big plans, but God had other plans. Last Sunday I found myself on the ill side, and come Monday I really only had enough energy to milk the cows. So instead of pulling up peas in the garden, harvesting okra and cayenne, and potting up seedlings in the green house I was confined to the house. Being house bound really isn’t that bad once in a while for there is always a list of things to do inside. I thought that I just might get some sewing done—but first I must catch up on answering emails, placing orders, and finding things that we desperately needed. I knew that really and truly I needed at least two hours to just go through the emails. With everyone else working outside I had all the uninterrupted time at the computer I could possibly need—which was a good thing because I needed way over two hours to accomplish all that I needed to do. By the end of the day I was caught up—and I could breathe a sigh of relief. I felt much better on Tuesday and once again God opened a door of opportunity that allowed me to get caught up on something that I was not advancing very fast with.

               A month ago I started seeds in the green house for the fall garden—and they were more than ready to pot up. Life was too busy though for me to get much time in the green house. I had managed to get the broccoli all potted up the week before—but since we processed chickens on the Friday, decorated the house for fall on Saturday, and worked in the house on Monday I had not gotten another chance to pot up any more seedlings. For nine weeks we have been creaming one to three days a week which really takes up a lot of gardening time. Two weeks ago was the first week that we hadn’t creamed, and then this week the calves started drinking their mama’s dry. We might be feeding 22 milk cows right now, but with 16 calves running around we only have four cows that we get 100% of their milk. That means that once I put a cow into eat then I can wander off for a little bit. The greenhouse is right beside the milk house—so I can bring in America, Jam, Ana, and the bull (Dijon) to eat; and then I can step over to the greenhouse and pot up some plants. Once I start hearing movement in the parlor then I step back over to the milking parlor and swap out the cows. Dijon only gets 2 scoops so he is done first. Then I bring in Emma, who eats so fast that she finishes about the same time as the other three who were first. While they eat I head back to the greenhouse, and then back to the parlor to let in round two (Sundae, Amy, Rosepetal and Decci). I run back to the greenhouse for a little more potting up or watering and then my gardening time is over and it is time to start milking the cows. This method allowed me to get everything potted up by Saturday—and some things replanted that didn’t come up good (Swiss chard, lettuce, parsley, and thyme) or planted (celery from seed that I saved last year).

               Help is always welcome on our farm. People are always asking if we are hiring, and while we have enough work to employ 50 people, we do not have the funds to pay 50 people. So when people come along and want to roll up their sleeves alongside us and give us a helping hand just so that they can gain experience in farming—it is a blessing, and most welcome. For years one of our customers has talked about bringing her children out to the farm to learn—but it never happened until two weeks ago. It was a Wednesday and we were busy packing orders and arranging flower bouquets when Brenna showed up to help. She is only 14, but she has a servant’s heart and an eagerness to be busy. She helped Mom with the flowers, and then she helped me with the packing. She enjoyed herself so much that the next week she asked to come back. Her Dad brought her, and on their way out they stopped by the Post Office to pick up a batch of baby chicks for us. Brenna’s first job when she got here was to count the chicks and put them in the brooder so that they could eat and drink—and of course that was a cherished job. Then she joined us in the milking parlor where she was a little hesitant to enter after hearing stories of people being painted with poop from explosions out the back end of a cow. We assured her that she would be at the “head” of the cow mixing up the alfalfa for them. It wasn’t long before she was petting the cows, then she even found her way out to the other end and took upon herself the responsibility of tying and untying the cows tails. She was quite at home by the time we were done milking. I had a late order for flowers so Brenna headed to the garden with me to pick zinnias. I picked them and she stripped the leaves off—great team work! We delivered the flowers to Mom and then we headed over to the milk house to pack the orders. Usually I pack the milk products and Mom packs the meat products—but Mom was busy making 7 flower bouquets. I gave Brenna the milk packing sheet and told her which ice chests to use for each drop and then I grabbed the meat packing sheet and headed into the freezer to get the meat. When she was done with her job then she helped me bag the meat. Brenna was such a big help—and I have no idea how we would have gotten Papa off on time without her help that day.

               Thursday arrived and I had two goals: harvest the okra and the cayenne peppers, and plant the bok choy in the garden. I had one row in the caterpillar tunnels that was already weeded and was pea vine free. The bok choy grows similar to lettuce, so I thought that it was ready to just plant out into the garden instead of potting it up. So after milking I headed to the garden. I got the harvesting done first—and too my dismay I lost a lot of okra because it had been over a week since I had last harvested it and it needs to be harvested every day or every other day. When the okra and cayenne were all harvested I then focused my energy on the bok choy bed. While the bed had been weeded already, a few more weeds had popped up so I removed them and then I remarked the bed and Steve topped it with compost and broadforked it in for me. Then I marked the rows and began the process of transplanting over 100 baby bok choy plants. Papa was busy mowing behind the cows and sheep and Mom and Steve were busy putting up a new fence to move the heifers.

               Friday was another chicken processing day—and we had 55 chickens to process. It was the first batch all year where 100% of the chicks survived from delivery to processing. The Tavernari family came to help us, and Brenna came too. She wanted to come for the whole process, but her Mom didn’t get her here until time for packaging. The process went really smoothly and we were all amazed that we were making record time—it did help that for once we were able to start on time too. Once we were done packaging then the Tavernari’s and I tucked all the chickens into the freezer and cooler and cleaned up the poultry kitchen; while Mom, Steve and Brenna headed out to pasture to rake up some grass that Mom had mowed behind the heifers. It was 4:00 when everyone was done and the Tavernari’s and Steve had headed home. Brenna was to be with us until 5:00 so we headed to the courtyard to pull up all the white zinnias that had seen better days—like before the bull and the cows stomped through them late one night. The area looked a lot better once we removed all the dead plants. Now it just needs mowed and some kind of fall flowers planted, at least with the zinnias gone we can now see the bleeding heart vine.

               Saturday I was able to finish planting and potting up—well, except the sage because I ran out of 2 x 4 pots (but I have more on the way). Mom worked on cleaning and decorating a portion of the front porch while I harvested the okra, practiced my piano and got some ironing done. While we did a lot last week—I felt like it was a lot more relaxed and not so rushed. I guess life slows down when you can get your hands in the dirt.

Serving you with Gladness,

Tiare