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Hi Everyone,

Happy New Year! My week has been so crazy that I totally forgot that last week we went from 2024 to 2025. I remember as I was working in the kitchen New Year’s Eve I thought how nice it would be if the kitchen was 100% in order, all the laundry was washed, the house was all vacuumed and dusted, and all projects were complete—but the thought came too late in the year and there was only a few hours left until the clock struck midnight and 2025 was here. I can say that my spice jars were all refilled and ready to help with my cooking in 2025.

It seems that half of my days are spent milking cows and the other half is spent trying to accomplish something, but feeling like I am accomplishing nothing—or at least not the things that I think I need to be doing. Monday we had a family stop by for a farm tour of our dairy operation on Monday. They are interested in purchasing a Jersey heifer sometime in the future. While they were here my brother David stopped by for a visit. He didn’t expect to stay long, but he left the key on to his scooter while he sat there talking with Mama. So he was here a few hours while the tractor charged up his scooter’s battery. After lunch I talked him into helping me to transfer all the chickens from the cooler to the freezer. Then his battery was charged and he headed home. Papa, Steve and I headed up to separate the beef calves from their mama’s—for it was time to wean them. Thankfully it went very smoothly—but we did a lot of walking up and down hills and across the farm. We had a goal of building a hay shelter for the bulls by Monday night—but it wasn’t until Monday afternoon that we figured out just how to design it. By the time we finished with the calves it was going on 4:30. Papa had to get feed before we could go to town because the feed store would be closed by the time we got home—but Mama needed to go to the bank in town before they closed at 5:00. So Papa headed to the feed store, and Mama and I headed to the bank with the plan that after dinner they would go to town to purchase the panels and covering needed to build the hay shelter for the bulls. Things do not always go as planned and we got home at 5:45 because Mama and I stopped to look at some sheds. Our milk house needs to be replaced because it is rotting and we are trying to figure out what is the best way to replace it—another shed or a building built on sight. When we got home Papa was out doing the evening chores, and by the time he finished it was too late to head to town before dinner, and dinner was going to be too late to head to town after dinner. So we put off what we could not do that day until the next day.

As soon as the milking was done Tuesday morning Papa and Mama went to town to purchase the supplies for the bulls hay shelter. I worked on answering emails and putting the orders on the spreadsheet. When I finished that I took the empty house opportunity to play the piano to my heart’s content. Shortly after 1:00 my parents got home and it was time for me to finish making the yogurt and we needed to eat lunch before I joined the egg packaging party at 2:00. After lunch Mama and Papa headed back out to pick up some minerals and hay for the cows. When the eggs were done—and to our delight we actually packaged 102 dozen eggs, I headed inside to the kitchen. Some of my spice jars were empty and I took the time to pull out my bulk herbs and refill and remix my seasoning jars.  It was New Year’s Eve and shortly after it got dark the neighbors blessed us with a firework show. They did it early in the evening, and if anyone shot any off at midnight I didn’t hear or see them for I was fast asleep.

The New Year started off at 6:00 with some time to read my Bible before the day started. We got started milking a lot later than normal because Papa and Mama had to figure out where to store the 1200 pound bale of alfalfa hay and figure out how and where to feed it to the Jersey milk cows. So it was definitely after noon by the time I finished milking that day. Mama worked some more at cleaning the garage. I worked on paperwork—answering emails, figuring out who gets milk and who doesn’t, and printing out all the calendars and spreadsheets that I need to “run” the farm and gardens for 2025. Papa spent his day moving animals around the farm. He also worked a little bit on the bulls hay shelter. When I was done with my paperwork I headed to the garden to harvest the vegetables for the Jacksonville delivery.

We usually deliver to Jacksonville on Wednesday’s, but since it was a holiday we postponed it until Thursday. We may not have had a relaxing first day of the year, but once Papa was on his way to JAX Mama and I did manage to have a relaxing afternoon. In the middle of that afternoon my sister Nichole showed up with my sister Samantha. Nichole lives next door, and she had picked up Samantha (who lives in Pensacola) from the bus stop. Samantha had come to visit for a few days—it has been a year since we have seen her. She helped me with the evening chores that night and it was nice to have someone to do them with.

Friday morning when Papa headed out to start his chores he found a chore buddy. One of our customers has recently bought 10 acres and knows very little about farming so he wanted to come and hang out with Papa and help him do his chores. He helped Papa bring in the cows, feed the chickens and the sheep, and I am sure that he was well greeted by the dogs Yasha and Aliya. Since Papa helps me in the milking parlor until Steve arrives, Greg got to see what milking is like to. Thankfully the cows were kind and didn’t try to paint him brown. The main thing that Greg was able to help Papa with was the bulls hay shelter. Not too sure when or how it would have gotten done without Greg’s help for it required muscles for assembly—and that disqualifies Mama and I. I was hoping to get to the garden—for I have so much to plant and transplant and prepare, and so little time before it is too late. But alas that didn’t happen. So I finished working on some cow paperwork. My sister spent the night at my other sisters and spent time with her family on Saturday.

I milked the cows and then Mama and I packed the Gainesville orders on Saturday morning, and then we relaxed for a little bit before we headed to the kitchen to turn some fresh pears into some pear chutney. It was a project that had been on the “To Do List” for weeks—and how thankful I was that the pears survived the wait. Samantha came back while we were in the middle of making chutney. Dinner was late that night because cutting up pears, peeling and chopping ginger (after I went to the garden to harvest it), measuring six cups of raisins and waiting for the concoction to come to a boil and thicken takes way longer than you could imagine. In the end we bottled 20 half pints of chutney and one pint of chutney—and it tastes really good (which was a blessing since it was a new recipe and something we had never done before.

Samantha went to church with Papa and I today—Mama is suffering from bronchial asthma after having a cold a few weeks ago, so she stayed home. When we got home a nap was in store and then Samantha and I headed to the kitchen to cook dinner together. Growing up one of Samantha’s favorite meals was Beef Stroganoff Squares. The first time she ever made them she made a terrible mistake that made us a little sick. The recipe called for 1 cup of fresh parsley. We didn’t have fresh parsley, so she used dried parsley. Anytime you use the dried version of an herb instead of the fresh you are supposed to use only 1/3 of the amount. My sister did not know that and she used a whole cup of dried parsley—the equivalent of 3 cups of fresh parsley. Too much parsley can have a toxic effect on the body, and we didn’t feel that great after the meal, plus too much parsley really doesn’t taste that great. It was years before we ever let her cook that meal again—but she got it right the next time and we enjoyed the dish. Saturday night Samantha mentioned that she was craving Beef Stroganoff Squares and I couldn’t help but to satisfy her craving—but this time we would cook them together. I made the crust and she made the filling and it turned out perfectly. We have enjoyed our time together, but it will come to a close tomorrow morning when she catches the bus back to Pensacola.

My goal this coming week is to get a lot of garden work done—but it is supposed to be freezing cold and I have a hard time not hibernating when it is that cold. Sitting outside milking in the cold is “torture” enough—but I will admit that life is always more pleasant in the garden, especially if the work is in the Market Garden tunnels.

Serving you with Gladness,

Tiare