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Hi Everyone,
I am DONE with winter! Last Sunday we received 5 inches of rain, and then winter set in for a miserable week. Tuesday night we got another inch of rain which turned to ice, sleet or snow sometime in the early morning. The historic snow storm stopped just an hour west of us and an hour north of us—and I am most thankful. My sister and friends in Pensacola got 10 inches of snow. Dealing with the freezing temperatures was more than I cared to handle. It never got above 34 on Wednesday—with it being 32 most of the day. Thursday’s low was 29, Friday’s was 22 and Saturday’s was 20. Brr! thankfully it warmed up pretty fast on Saturday and it was in the 40’s by the time I went outside at 9:00 to milk the cows. While I froze milking the cows this morning at 30, I greatly enjoyed the warmth of 74 degrees this afternoon. I am looking forward to the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s this week—and it may even hit 80 one day. Yes, this is why I love living in Florida, for I need spring to start by February 1st. Easter (which is when we always get our last cold snap) is the end of April this year, so I know there will be more cold days ahead, but hopefully the worst is over.
We take very few holidays around here—mainly because the cows need milked every day and the animals need fed every day, and there is always something to do on the farm. Last Monday though we declared a holiday—it was Inauguration Day! I have only seen the Inauguration twice in my life—once in 2017 for the 45th President, and then now in 2025 for the 47th President. Of course we still had to do all our morning chores, but the goal was to be inside by 11:45. Mom probably turned it on around 11:00 and got to enjoy the military band playing Patriotic music and hymns. Then Papa and I joined her just in time for the Inauguration ceremony. Then we watched Biden fly away, and we followed President Trump to the luncheon, watched him inspect the Military troops, and sign some Executive orders. Around 5:00 we “attended” the indoor Parade, and then later that evening we “went” to the Commander in Chief Ball. Then it was 11:00 at night and we retired for the night. We had thoroughly enjoyed our day of History in the making.
On Tuesday I bottled the kefir, made kombucha, packaged eggs, and harvested lettuce, kale, onions, and cabbage before the major freezes arrived. I wanted to make sure that the freezing weather didn’t destroy any of the vegetables that were needed for our Farm to Table dinner. I didn’t need to worry though, for the tunnels protected everything very well.
When we got up Wednesday it had just finished raining and nothing outside was frozen—just wet, but by 7:30 everything had iced over. Steve didn’t come into work until noon—which is when I finished milking the cows. Papa did Steve’s field chores and Steve only had to bottle the milk and wash the milking equipment—and then he could go home. I had to bundle up good and head out into the cold afternoon to harvest ginger, parsley, thyme, sage, rosemary, and winter savory for the Farm to Table dinner. Poor Papa had a very trying day. Trying to stay warm was trying enough, but while he was out in the pastures doing chores the sheep got out and scattered throughout other fields, our nurse cow Ana bypassed her field and took a long walk around the lane to go in the back way, and one of the calves he chased round and round until it got dark and he had to finally give up—she refused to separate that night. He realized we needed more alfalfa pellets and orchard grass hay so he headed off to the feed store to only find them closed due to the cold weather. Animals can handle being cold, and they can handle being wet—but they cannot handle being cold and wet. Papa’s troubles didn’t end Wednesday, for Thursday morning he went down to the well to clean out the sand trap and the valve broke off. So we were without water for an hour or so while Papa went to town to buy a new part. Then Friday morning one of the water pipes in the field broke and Papa had to fix it too.
Wednesday is usually our delivery days to Jacksonville, but due to the icy roads we delayed the delivery until Thursday. It took me until noon to get the milking all done, which meant that Mama had to handle the packing all by herself. Shortly after we got Papa off Brett and Jenni Kalacrow—our dinner chefs, arrived to pick up all the groceries for our Winter’s Bounty Farm to Table Dinner. There were carrots, potatoes, lemon juice, lime juice, herbs, kale, milk, brisket, chicken, and ginger—all fresh from our farm and gardens. Then I was able to relax a little before I had to go back outside and do the evening chores—which thankfully went very smoothly for me. To my delight, Lacy—who had refused to be separated the night before was the first calf out of the field for me that night.
In the last week we have had three calves born—all bulls. Two are first time heifers: Sundrop and Dolly. Sundrop calved last Sunday night and Dolly calved Thursday morning. Then Saturday morning—the coldest of all, Ella gave birth to her little bull calf. The only struggle I had with Sundrop—was getting her into the stall every morning for she is a little high strung, but she did fine with having her leg tied back and being milked. Dolly on the other hand is more relaxed and calm—but she did not like to have her leg tied back. She kicked and kicked about pulling my arms off. I finally had to let go of the rope and we all backed up so as not to get hit by the now flying rope and metal clip. Then I had Papa push on her side so that she had to stand on that leg and while he was touching the metal bars he also managed to touch the hotwire and had a very shocking experience. Dolly was getting a little stressed—and when a cow gets stressed they start to go poo, and when Papa went to clean up her pile of manure she kicked him in the leg. We finally accomplished what we set out to do, and I finally got her milked. Every day gets a little easier.
When we set the date for our Winter Farm to Table Dinner back in November, I could only hope that by January 25 we might start to get a little of February’s beautiful weather early—but when the 10 day forecast came out we saw that it was going to be COLD the night of our dinner. We thought of moving the dinner into our Poultry Processing Kitchen—but all six picnic tables would not fit. So we decided to wrap the barn lean-to (where we usually have our dinners) in clear plastic. Then Papa wanted to use tarps, and we needed to find a heater. We spent hours on Wednesday buying lap blankets and looking for heaters and finally we found a convection heater that would heat 1800 sq. ft. –the lean- to is only 450 sq. ft. We had no need to worry about anyone being cold now! Then when I came in from milking Friday morning at noon I saw an email that said: “Due to inclement weather your delivery of the heater has been delayed!” HELP!!!! Mama had spent all morning trying to find tarps or plastic and local stores did not carry the sizes that we needed—you had to order them. How would we keep everyone warm? Then we realized that we had no choice but to move the dinner into our Poultry Kitchen—and since we only had 20 people signed up for dinner we would only need four tables, and they fit just perfectly into our room. Mama and I then spent the rest of the day washing down the picnic tables and the walls. Later that night Mama and I strung some of our Christmas garland and lights on one end, and Mama and Papa took the string of outdoor lights down from our outdoor dining area and strung then up in our indoor dining area. I had to do a little sewing on the table runners and make a curtain for the front window. It was 10:30 at night when we finished.
Saturday morning Mama was able to start washing all the dishes while I milked the cows. Then she got the tables set and we “borrowed” some wreaths from the house to decorate in the dining area. The tablecloths are green so that we can match table runners from every season with them. For winter we went with red and black plaid. With all the tables set and the décor done I could finally get around to washing all the heads of lettuce and the green onions. Brett and Jenni arrived around 1:30 I think and started setting up their stuff. It never fails that people are always arriving while I am picking flowers of plants for the table floral décor. This time I clipped a whole bunch of holly branches with their bright red berries and placed them in pint sized canning jars for the floral décor on the tables. It was now 4:00 and the evening fun could begin. The “Welcome Table” had stuffed eggs and hot Sunshine herbal lemonade tea. Then we went on a hayride around the farm and finished up at the Market Garden tunnels where we were served Braised Brisket sliders on sourdough brioche with Carrot slaw—talk about melt in your mouth goodness! Then we headed to the dining room and were greeted with some fresh country sourdough bread with whipped butter and some roasted garlic and herb spread. Carrot Bisque came next followed by a fresh garden salad with creamy Italian dressing and topped with Parmesan Reggiano. The main course was Fire Roasted Cornish hens, sautéed kale and roasted potatoes. For dessert they served a lemon ricotta cheesecake. Everyone had a lovely time and I have never seen our butchering facility look so lovely! Everyone left around 8:00 and to our delight the dishes were all done by 8:30. The serving help had been able to wash the dishes as they came off the tables since the sinks were in the room next to the dining area. It was a lovely evening and everyone was wondering when the next one would be—and guess what, I know that answer! We are having a Pizza Dinner March 8, and a Spring Farm to Table Dinner April 5—and I do believe that lamb will be the special then.
I hope that those of you who enjoy cold weather had a lovely week last week—as for me, I am greatly looking forward to enjoying this week. I cannot wait to get my hands in the dirt again, for I have onions that need to be transplanted out.
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare
