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Hi Everyone,
Last week started out with me officially being a year older. I got to spend my birthday doing the things I love most. While I milk cows 365 days a year, it was still a joy to be able to milk the cows on my birthday. When you do what you love you really do not need a vacation—although I will admit that to have one day a week off so that I can vacuum the house would be a blessing. I have more energy to vacuum in the morning than I do any other time of the day. Anyway, I was grateful to have sweet cows to milk and I do find it a relaxing job—most days. Once I was done milking I came inside and answered emails and put the orders together. When lunch was over my friend Lydia came over for the afternoon to visit. Mom and Steve harvested some of the Ponderosa lemons—they were not all ripe yet. Then Lydia, Mom and I harvested the first picking of green beans. Yes, that third planting of green beans actually produced GREEN BEANS. I am so excited! Usually I do not really enjoy harvesting green beans—but I will say that I am enjoying every bit of harvesting, snapping and canning these green beans. We have harvested the green beans three times so far and have canned 27 pints with 10 more ready to be canned. Not only did we harvest the first batch of green beans on my birthday, I also pulled up the first carrots. What more can a person ask for a birthday dinner than Chicken Piccata (click here for my recipe), fresh green beans and fresh carrots! When we were done harvesting Lydia and I came back to the house and sat on the back porch and talked for hours—what girls do best!
Tuesday Papa ended up being much sicker than he had been and was on the verge of pneumonia. Mom thought that she had a case of asthma, but the lung specialist that came to treat Papa assured Mom that it wasn’t asthma—but that she was sick with Papa’s cold. Papa’s oxygen level and heart rate were not right and he couldn’t walk very far, therefore Steve and I teamed up to do the afternoon chores. Steve gathered the eggs and we both separated the calves. Later that night Papa was going to go outside to lock up the chickens and feed the dogs—but Mom said that he wasn’t allowed out in the evening air. Mom was going to attempt to do the chores, but I knew that she was afraid of the dark so I told her that I would go. I do not know how many times in the last two weeks we have “missed” Clayton. Four months ago we didn’t know what it was like to be spoiled, but since Clayton moved in he has done his fair share of spoiling us with all the help he gives us on the farm. He went home to his family for a week around Thanksgiving, and then he was only back here for six hours before he left for Pennsylvania for a week. He was offered the opportunity to go and visit a dairy farm and see how they operate—but the timing couldn’t have been worse for little did we know how sick we would all be while he was gone. We even had to hire someone to make the deliveries for Papa on Wednesday. Anyway, I headed out to lock up the chickens—which was really the easiest part of what I had to do. Feeding Yasha and Aliya was easy too—but it was also fun to get some doggy loving. Aliya loves to have her belly rubbed and both dogs will sit calmly at your feet to be petted. The hardest thing that I had to do was give the calves, heifers, and bulls some hay. We were out of square bales, and since Papa was sick he wasn’t able to pick up more hay—because the truck is broke and won’t start and so he has to hook the trailer up to the van in order to buy hay. So I had to go to the milk cows hay rack and pull off big armfuls of hay and take it to the other cows. Taking a small armful to the calves was no problem. Then I took a huge armful or two to the heifers—and that wasn’t too hard (just awkward). BUT . . . then I had to take some to the bulls! I filled my arms with hay and headed toward the area where the bulls are. I needed to step over the hotwire in order to get to their hay rack—but Jabez (the South pole bull) met me head on trying to eat the hay out of my arms and leaving me no space to even step over the wire. I have to admit—they were a little intimidating! I headed further down the wire—but they quickly followed. So I headed back—and they quickly followed. I went back and forth a few more times and finally I got ahead of them enough that I could step over the wire and get to their hay rack before they did.
With Clayton gone Mom and I were doing the milking once again together. Once we got the cows milked on Thursday Mom and I headed to the garden. There were green beans to harvest, and then Mom and Steve weeded while I transplanted lettuce. I was so tired of the worms or rats eating my seedlings in the greenhouse that a month ago I planted seeds in the tunnels in little seed beds. I planted four kinds of lettuce, chamomile, catnip, thyme, and parsley. The seed germination was not great—but quite a bit of one of the lettuces actually did sprout and I was able to transplant them into the garden rows where they can grow big (instead of being crowded in a little space). Then I headed up to the house and grabbed some more lettuce seed and some flower seeds that had arrived in the mail that day. I had planted strawflowers and snapdragons back in October—but something ate them so I reordered seeds. I wanted to plant them all in seed trays in the greenhouse—but I didn’t want anything to eat them. So after I got the seeds tucked into their little seed tray beds I generously coated the soil with cayenne pepper. Then I rubbed lots of peppermint oil around the edges of every tray. May I say that the smell of peppermint was so strong that I couldn’t go near the greenhouse for the next few days!
To my dismay I woke up Friday morning realizing that I was sick and poor Mom had taken a turn for the worse—and to make matters worse we were scheduled to process chickens that day. We thought that we would have to process alone, but our helpers still agreed to come over and help—of which I was most grateful for I did not have the energy to do it all alone. When we finished with the chickens I came inside and did some computer work for about an hour. Mom started getting the green beans that we had harvested on Thursday ready to be canned. About the time that I finished at the computer she asked if I was going to help her can, and I said “Yes!” I wasn’t in the kitchen very long before the doorbell rang—it was a customer and I went to take care of him. I wasn’t back in the house very long before the phone rang—and it was a customer and I took care of her. Then I came back inside and was trying to help Mom when we realized that I had mixed the unwashed beans and jars with the washed beans and jars—and therefore we would have to treat them all as unwashed. Then the phone rang—and it was a customer and I left again to take care of her. When I got back Mom had settle the matter much easier, because the unwashed beans and jars were cold, and the washed ones were not—mom had to wash those jars over again. We got the jars all prepped and loaded in the canner and then I was ready to start cooking dinner—but the phone rang again. Before all was said and done I had left the kitchen four times to take care of customers, but the green beans did manage to get canned and I was able to cook a pot of chili for dinner.
Saturday marked my deadline for swapping out the fall décor with the winter décor. I have been chomping at the bit for the last two weeks because I was so ready for some pretty lights. Our winter garland in the dining room is greenery with white lights. I went up and down the stairs I do not know how many times taking up the fall décor and bringing down the winter décor and then taking back up winter’s empty boxes. The theme for the table was “red, white and greenery.” Years ago I had made a green tablecloth so we put it on the table, topped it with white plates and red and white napkins with a white basket full of winter greenery and red candles for the centerpiece. Before we were done Clayton arrived back home—and we were glad to see him and catch up on all his news. We must have stood in the kitchen for over an hour listening to his stories. Then Papa got back from the Gainesville deliveries (yes, he was feeling well enough to make the delivery) and Clayton emptied out the van of all the ice chests and then Mom, Clayton and I headed to the garden to harvest some more green beans. When we got back to the house I started dinner and Clayton headed out to help Papa do the evening chores. This morning Mom was very glad to have Clayton do the milking for her, as today she has not felt very well. I guess that we shall enjoy the spoiling for a little while longer.
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare