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Hi Everyone,
When summer began and Mom started mowing the front yard, she realized that the south side of the lawn was getting a little thread bare . . . so she told Steve to move the ducks from the back yard to the front yard and start moving their pen around the south side of the front yard in order to fertilize it. Then life got busy, Mom got sick, and two hurricanes huffed and puffed and Mom never got another chance to mow the front yard. Around here grass grows two and three feet tall in the summer when it doesn’t get mowed or grazed. Pulling the hoop houses in tall grass is next to impossible, and our front yard grass is now up to my knees. So last week Papa said that it was time to move the ducks out of the yard and out to the pasture with the chickens. Steve, Mom, Papa and I headed out to the duck house first thing Monday morning. Papa and I caught the ducks and handed them to Steve to put in a cage and a box while Mom controlled the doors and lids. Then I caught up Goose and we hooked the hoop house up to the Gravely and headed for the pasture. Steve parked the hoop house in line with the other hoop houses and then we did everything in reverse—I put Goose down in the hoop house and then Steve handed Papa the ducks and Papa handed them to me and I put them down on the ground in the hoop house. Later when Steve went to feed the chickens and ducks he let Goose and his five ducks out—the other nine ducks have been the craziest ducks from the get go for they refuse to leave their house and roam around during the day. It didn’t take long for the five ducks to find their way back to the house—they just squeezed through the fence, but poor Goose was a little lost for he was too big to fit through the fence, and it took him a little longer to find the gate. The five ducks and Goose always spend their days hanging out in the yard, the courtyard, around the milking parlor, under the vehicles, under the wood shed, at the barn—they just roam. Come night they head back to their house and spend the night locked up where it is safe. It took them quite a few days to figure out where their home was now. Their home used to be in the back pasture by the garden until Hurricane Helene picked it up and smashed it. Then we moved them in with the other ducks in the front yard. Now their house was moved again—but after herding them to bed the first few nights they were soon waiting for us to open the door of their house every night.
Have you ever heard the saying “a pea brain”? Well last week—last Monday especially, our cows gave us the REAL meaning of a “pea brain”. When we would call a cow in to be milked—she would refuse to come. When she finally came—she would try to go out the Exit before she went to her stall to get milked. When she did go into their milking stall—she refused to eat. Not just one cow—but many! At one point I went to go after my cow Ella, but to my dismay she turned and bolted right off the concrete—because someone forgot to close the gate behind the cows when they came in. When Ella bolted, all the other cows on the concrete left with her. Round and round we chased the cows until we finally got them all back on the concrete waiting in line to be milked. So what was the problem? The cows have been grazing in the pea fields (pastures that Papa over seeded with Iron clay peas back in August). The cows don’t want to eat anything but peas, and when one cow gets done in the milking parlor she heads down toward the lane and waits for Papa to come along and put her back in the peas. Then the other cows get antsy thinking that the cows that are already done might get back to the peas before they do (but the whole herd goes back at the same time). The cows had “pea brains” that day, Thankfully they were in their right minds come Tuesday.
My goal Monday was to finish the deer fence that I had started last Saturday. When I checked the Garden Shed I found out that we did not have enough green plastic fencing to stretch the two 50 ft. sides. No problem—I would just go to town and pick some up—or so I thought! Thankfully Mom suggested that I call the stores to see if they had any in stock—and to my dismay no one had any (well one store had a 3 foot high fence that was only 25 feet long—but I needed 4 foot by 50 foot). I ended up having to order the fence; therefore, I decided to spend my afternoon weeding in the West Garden in hopes to get the beds ready for planting so when the fence came in I would be ready to plant. Needless to say only one fence arrived on Thursday, and with processing chickens and a farm tour I had no time to put it up. To my dismay the other fence isn’t supposed to arrive until next Thursday. All I want to do is plant my spinach and transplant the snapdragons—but I cannot even think of it until the garden is deer proof. When some people arrived for the Farm Tour on Saturday they said that they saw 7 or 8 deer crossing the road near our driveway. Ugh!
I spent most of Tuesday in the greenhouse potting up chamomile, parsley, and plantain (the herbal weed), and planting some more lettuce seeds. Papa worked on building a new hoop house (since Hurricane Helene smashed two of ours and tore up another). Mom worked in the first Market Garden tunnel getting the stakes put in that mark the rows and pathways and stringing the string so that we know where level is when we add the compost to the beds and woodchips to the walkways. In the afternoon I joined the egg party, and after that we all (the Tavernari family and I) headed up to the chestnut orchard to collect chestnuts. The number one word that came out of our mouths was “Ow”. The burrs of the chestnuts are very spiny, and it doesn’t take much to poke your fingers with one. We spent about thirty minutes gathering nuts and I was pleased with my collection. No one really wanted to quit for the nuts were everywhere—but they had to get home.
Thursday found Papa wishing that winter was over—even though it was our first day of low 40 degree weather. We even got a little frost out in the low lying pastures. Actually, none of us like cold weather. I have decided that winter is nice if you get to put on heavy sweaters, curl up on a sofa under a cozy blanket and read a good book—but if you have to wear heavy coats to milk cows and long sleeves when you dig in the dirt, and a list of other inconveniences then winter is not enjoyable. Anyway, once we got past morning, the weather really was nice. We had a family that was supposed to come and help us in the garden, but health issues prevented them. We had so much to get accomplished in the Market Garden so that we could transplant out a bunch of plants that we desperately needed the help—but Mom and I both had the attitude of “well, I guess we will just roll up our sleeves and get this accomplished ourselves.” We hadn’t shoveled very many five gallon buckets of compost or filled very many five gallon buckets with woodchips before our bodies were telling us that we really were not cut out for the task ahead. While Mom and I both started out on the beds and walkways, Papa would soon be arriving and Mom would have to help him attach the rabbit fence (plastic coated hardware cloth) to the sides of the tunnel—and then it would just be me filling up the buckets and dumping them in the beds and walkways. After an hour I was ready to call another set of friends that have some teenage boys, but Mom had another idea. She called my brother-in-law next door and asked if we could borrow my 14 year old nephew for a few hours. Brandon gladly came over and had a blast. He said that he thought the work would be harder, but found it very easy (O the joys of youth). Once Steve finished washing all the milking equipment and picking up some grass that Mom was able to mow, he was able to come and help us get compost and woodchips and we actually finished all eight beds and seven walkways. Mom and Papa were also successful in getting both sides of the tunnel covered with the hardware cloth.
Friday morning the Post Office called to tell us that a new batch of chicks had arrived. Then later that day we processed a batch of chickens that were nine weeks old. We were all grateful to actually have that batch to process for they were the batch that lost their houses during Hurricane Helene and were left out in the elements all night. We were surprised that we only lost five of them, and thankful that 53 survived. We teased that they were special birds and were of good strong stock. Later that afternoon when we were done processing and packaging the chickens Mom and I headed to the first Market Garden Tunnel and transplanted collards, kale, broccoli, sage, lettuce, cabbage, and Swiss chard. It was a long and exhausting day—but I was so happy to have the garden planted. We had to put up some makeshift rabbit fence across the ends before we could come inside since Mom and Papa have not had any time to put up the end walls yet. The tunnels are rabbit proof—but not really deer proof, so hopefully they do not pass by that way before the plastic top is on and the end walls are built.
Saturday was the BIG day. Our annual Fall Farm Tour was to start at 11:00. We got up at 6:00 and got breakfast done first—while Papa was fixing it I set up the milking equipment and Mom put furniture and plants back in their rightful places on the porch after being moved all over because of the hurricanes. After breakfast I bottled the kefir and packed the Gainesville order, while Mom washed down the picnic tables and covered them with the red check oilcloth tablecloths. We got a late start milking—like around 9:30, which made it nice for a few early arrivers to the Farm Tour. They got to see me milking my last cow. We had around 50 people here. It was so nice to meet so many of our customers that I email back and forth with—but have no idea what they look like. I also got the chance to catch up with an old friend who surprised me by coming. I haven’t seen her in a year or two. The children had a blast playing in the Little People Barn, riding on the hay wagon, seeing the chicks, and playing in the new hoop house that isn’t finished yet. WE toured the milking parlor, the greenhouse, the milk house, the Brooder house, the chicken and duck hoop houses, and the poultry kitchen. Then we took them on a hay ride—but with so many people we divided them into two groups and took two hayrides. We drove past the pea fields, the laying hens, the sheep, the chestnuts, the beef cows, the milk cows and the Thanksgiving turkeys. Some people brought their lunch and gathered around the picnic tables to eat. I think that the last group left around 3:30. We were exhausted. We rested for a little bit and then I cooked dinner—fast food (steak, home canned green beans, noodles, and some home canned pears.
Yes, it was a busy week, and a very enjoyable week.
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare