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Hi Everyone,

               Life doesn’t always go as planned—and today was one of those days that didn’t go as expected. Papa woke me up at 5:00 this morning so that we could get the cows milked and our morning chores done in time to leave for church by 9:00 (our church is an hour south of us). All went well, the cows and chickens cooperated, and we were on time! We climbed in the van to leave and the van began to make a strange sound. The more we drove down our driveway the more noise it made. Papa stopped to check the oil—but all was well. We drove back up to the milk house to ask Steve if he had any ideas—but he didn’t. So we decided to drive down to our mechanics house—and without hooking it up he wasn’t sure either. We all decided that it probably was not a good idea to drive the van an hour south with it making an unknown noise—so we came home. A little over a month ago I was taking the cows back after milking when the golf-cart started making a terrible grinding noise. I had to use it to carry a lazy calf back to the field, but after I got the calf returned I walked the rest of the calves down the hill and to their mamas. Then I slowly drove the golf-cart home and parked it. When Papa checked it later he found out that the axel was broke. To think that the tire could have fallen off while I was driving!!!! So the golf-cart has been jacked up ever since then. Papa bought a new axel—but with everything we have been doing here on the farm he has not had any time to fix it. Then the other day when he finally got some time to work on it he found out that he needs a special tool to get the bearings put on the new axel. Then the Gravely began making noises, and a week ago Papa said that the noise had gotten too bad to use it any more. That means that all chores have to be done by walking or in the truck. Years ago before we ever bought a golf-cart all the chores on the farm were done by foot. If you had to carry a lot you put it in a wheelbarrow. We then progressed to an old riding lawn mower with a wagon pulled behind it. The other night I had to harvest vegetables, but Steve was picking up grass in the field with the truck so I had no transportation to the garden. So I grabbed a little wooden cart with old-fashioned metal wheels and put my tubs and bags in the cart and headed to the garden. It worked really well, and I was amazed at how much easier old-fashioned metal wheels rolled compared to our modern day rubber tires. The golf-cart and the Gravely sure do make chores much easier though, and with so many people going in so many different directions it is best when they all are in working order.

               Monday morning started bright and early as we headed to the kitchen to cook breakfast shortly after we got up at 6:00. Mom had been called in for jury duty, and she had to leave for town by 7:30. She was not very enthused about this adventure, for courts make her nervous. Did I mention that from 8:30 to 11:00 every morning of the year Mom and I milk the cows—no vacations and no time off. Mom tried to get out of jury duty but none of the excuses applied to her, and she is seven months shy of being 70—when you are legally old enough to turn down jury duty for no reason but age. Mom also has a problem with passing out with perfumes and lately she has been having a seizure a month and they come on unexpectedly. So Mom doesn’t drive anywhere by herself anymore, but we had a problem—Mom insisted that Papa help me milk, which left no one to go with Mom to town. I tried to tell her that I could milk the cows by myself (even though I have never done it before, and it would really take me a lot longer because I wouldn’t be able to milk four cows at a time—although I probably would have attempted it). So Mom headed to town and Papa headed out to pasture to do part of his morning chores—move and let out the laying hens, and I did the dishes. Then at 8:30 Papa and I met up in the milking parlor and got the cows milked. After milking I headed to the garden to put up the one deer fence that I had (the other one wouldn’t arrive until Wednesday). Just as I was attaching the fence to the last post I saw Mom drive up. O how we had prayed that she would not get picked—but what a story she had to tell. She had been picked to sit on the jury stand (hers was the last name to be drawn). Mom had to answer the questions they asked about her and then listen to the case—but that is where the trouble began. Listening was not easy for her—well, listening wasn’t the problem, hearing what the people were saying was the problem. Mom had to let them know a few times that she could not hear what they were saying. In the end she was not chosen for the case—and she believes it was because she was having “hearing” problems. Getting old and losing your hearing does have some advantages—but now that she is out of jury duty I think that we all would like it if she could hear better around here. Getting old and losing your hearing has its disadvantages too.

               We worked in the garden a lot last week weeding and mulching—but we never got enough accomplished that I could actually get the spinach, snapdragons, ranunculus, and garlic planted. I also wanted to start some onion seeds in the seed trays in the greenhouse. We did manage to get the white sweet potato row harvested—actually Mom managed to harvest the sweet potatoes. I pulled up a few, and pulled all the vines off of the row, but then I was needed to fine tune weeding an area that was full of nutgrass and I had to do some Dawn Dish soap war on some fire ants that had a huge bed in our garden. The Tavernari guys dug up the ant bed first and dumped them in the drive lane, and then I doused the remainder of the bed with tons of water and dish soap. The bed was so big that I believe we shall have to do battle for a while. The sweet potato harvest wasn’t very big—just half of a five gallon bucket out of a 20 foot row. A little discouraging, but at least we got some. There have been years when we have gotten none. I was afraid to harvest the red sweet potatoes, but when I took a sneak peek into them this afternoon I think that we shall have a bumper crop.

               Thursday afternoon was spent cleaning out the hay barn. Yes, I said hay barn but if I had taken a before picture you would have wondered how in the world we stored hay in it. I am always amazed how an empty space can be made full with things that do not belong there. Every fall we empty the barn and fill it with hay, then as the hay dwindles the space seems to get filled with other objects—and come fall we have to empty it all out again. So Thursday was spent cleaning the barn and Papa spent Saturday filling the barn with the first load of our winter hay supply. This hay came from Tennessee and our cows really LOVE it. We have 70 rolls coming from Tennessee and 200 rolls of coastal hay coming from a local farmer. We will get more hay from Tennessee this week and then the next week we will have to start transporting the local hay to our barn—before the poor man’s barn collapses on our hay for it was his only barn left standing after hurricane Helene, and only the part housing our hay is still standing the rest was destroyed.

               We got our last batch of chicks in the mail last week. They are the last batch that we will process this year. Can you believe that the middle of December is just eight weeks away? The last two years have been pretty rough raising chicks after so many chickens were destroyed due to the “so called bird flu”. The genetics were lost, but ever since July we have been finally seeing some good genetics arriving in our chicks. The chicken industry can fix a crisis pretty quickly. An egg is laid daily, and it can be hatched in 21 days. Then the chick is old enough for breeding in five to six months, and then more eggs can be laid. The beef and dairy industry is a lot different. A cow is pregnant for nine months—and she only has one calf a year. Then the calf has to grow for two years before it is bred, and another nine months before it will calve. So it is approximately four years from conception to milking, and three years from conception to beef on the table. We are trying to build our dairy herd back up after we sold some and lost some—but it takes time. This year we added three new heifers to the herd, but only two got bred. The other one will not take for some reason. So come January we will have two new cows to add to the milk tank. Then come December we will add two more heifers to the herd—and hopefully by next fall they will be in the milk tank. I won’t count my gallons until they’re there though because anything could happen between now and then. We lost two cows to lightning last year, and almost lost one to a rattlesnake. We are so grateful that the Lord spared her life and she is in milk with a calf by her side.

               Yes, our days are full—fuller than normal. Our list of things that need to be done NOW is too long, and hands are too few. Every day we do our best to take one more bite out of the elephant—for that is how HUGE tasks are accomplished “one bite at a time”. This coming week I hope to plant everything that I need to plant and harvest the sweet potatoes (four rows). There will be more hay to stack in the barn, and chickens to process. To our great delight we will also be spending time this week preparing for our Fall Farm to Table Dinner. We still have seats available at the tables, and if you are interested you should reserve yours today. We finalized the menu today and it sounds scrumptious:

Farm tour hors d’oeuvre

~Beef tenderloin crostini~

 At the table

~Fresh baked baguette with whipped butter & garlic confit~

~Pumpkin bisque~

~Tossed greens with roasted chestnuts & a citrus vinaigrette ~

 Main Course

~Apple cider braised chuck roast~

~Mashed potatoes~

~ Sautéed Bok choy & garlic~

 Dessert

~Roselle cream puff~

~Herbal tea~

 ~There will also be a welcome snack, and a mocktail served at the table~

We would love to see you there!

Serving you with Gladness,

Tiare