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Hi Everyone,
When they say that spring on the farm is a busy time of the year—they really mean it. Spring has truly sprung around here, and we are busy as bees. Sometimes though, we have to learn flexibility along the way. Busy and flexible are the two words that sum up this week very well. Being busy was the easy part, being flexible was a different story.
This week was the count down to the day we plant the rest of the garden (April 11), the day we process our first batch of chickens in our new Poultry Kitchen (April 12), and when a Farm Tour for a church group in Jacksonville was to take place (April 13). As of Monday, the drainage system for the Poultry Kitchen still was not done, and we needed to seal the concrete floor, but we couldn’t seal the floor until we washed it down, and we couldn’t wash it down until the drainage field was dug and pipes were laid—and poor Papa needed to be home to do it, but things kept coming up that he had to leave the farm to go do. So, on Monday, Papa “checked out of life”, and focused on the drain field. By that evening it was all done, and now we needed to seal the concrete. Trying to figure out which product to use, we called another farmer and asked them. They told us not to seal the concrete, for every time they pressure washed theirs, the sealer was flaking off. That was the best news that we had heard all day. We could now classify the building done—now all we need are sinks and tables.
While Papa dug ditches, Steve, Mom and I installed five trellises in the garden. We all weeded some, and Steve tilled some, and then Steve put the rest of the dirt that we had at the base of the trellises. They were now ready for us to plant the seeds on Thursday. I also marked off five more beds, where I planned on planting green okra and acorn squash. With the beds marked off, now all we had to do was get more compost to fill them up.
Tuesday morning Mom and I milked the cows, and then Steve and I bottled the milk and the kefir. Then we got to move into the Poultry Kitchen. There wasn’t much to move in though for we still have to find tables and sinks. Steve and Papa moved the scalder and the plucker into the back room. Then Steve, Mom and I moved two small freezers (to store the bags of ice in until we get an ice machine), the two long ice chests, and the vacuum sealer machine into the big room. Papa installed the hoses and the sprayers, and we were set to go. Come processing day we would have to grab the stainless steel table out of the Milk house in order to have a table to gut the chickens on. Once the building was set up with what equipment we have, it was time to package eggs.
Wednesday was delivery to Jacksonville day. Once we got the orders all packed and Papa on his way, I taught piano lessons. Then later that afternoon Mom and I headed to town to buy some more compost and some much needed groceries. We have needed groceries for the last three weeks—but we have been too busy to go, and when we do have the time we are too tired. I ran into an old friend from elementary school (like 30 plus years ago), and she told me that she does the shopping for other people, and then delivers it to their house. I sure could have used her during these last few busy weeks. J Once we arrived at home and got all the groceries put away, I had to do a little cleaning and tidying in my bathroom and guest room—for my friend Lydia was coming up Thursday morning to help plant the garden, process the chickens, and help with the farm tour. She had painted the little people barn for the farm tour back in February, so of course she wanted to see how the children enjoyed it. Once the cleaning was all done, Mom and I could sit down and relax for a little while until Papa got home. He thankfully was home on time that night. The week before he got home at 10:00 at night—for he had to sit on I-10 for about 2.5 hours waiting for an over turned truck accident to be cleaned up. At 9:00 that night I realized that Papa was going to be late, and that it would be best to go and do the evening chores that he usually would have to do when he got home—lock up the chickens and the turkeys, and feed the dogs. Poor Mom on the other hand had been commanded by the doctor that she was to have no stress after 9:00. Having her husband stuck on interstate an hour from home and her daughter out doing chores after dark all alone—was what we called stressful. My chores took a whole hour because—the heifers were out of hay, so I had to go back to the barn and get a bale of hay. Then I forgot to get the dog food, and had to come back to the house. Once out in the fields, I found the sheep scattered between about five fields—with some of the lambs being separated from their mommas. So I decided to bring them all up to the sheep barn for the night. Getting them all out of the separate fields wasn’t as easy as pie though. One group couldn’t wait for me to unhook the hot wires, and they busted through them breaking two of the three wires. I fixed one of them, and then headed up behind the sheep. Then it was so dark outside that I couldn’t find out which field Jill and her chickens were in. They get moved to a new field every day, so if you do not keep track daily—well, you may not be able to find them in the dark. Sheba and her chickens are always easy to find, for she stands at the fence wires waiting for you to come. Jill was more content to just hang out at the back of the field where the chickens were. I finally found them, and thankfully it wasn’t foggy, or I may never have found them. Do you think that a fox would have found them if it was too foggy for me to find them? Anyway, I got inside just minutes before Papa got home. He was glad that the chores were done, and that a bowl of hot soup was awaiting him.
Thursday began the first of three crazy days. As I was setting up the milking equipment our friend Emily showed up to pick up some things that belonged to her. She heard how busy our days were to be, and that we were even due to receive baby chicks at the Post Office that morning. She was heading to town, and gladly offered to pick them up for us—what a blessing that was. After milking, Mom set up the brooder house for the new chicks. Then we bottled the milk, and Mom focused on scrubbing the milk house floor. I headed inside to gather all the seeds for planting the garden. I had grand ambitions of having the truck load of dirt emptied before lunch, so that right after lunch we could head to town for another truck load of compost and be able to get all the seeds planted in the ground before we were truly planting by the moon in the dark. First off, milking took longer than expected. Then gathering the seeds took a good 45 minutes. Lydia arrived and we took a while to “Welcome our Friend”. Then it was lunch time. It was about 1:30 when we finally made it to the garden. To my dismay, Mom was not planning on joining us—her goal was to mow the garden and lawn. How I wished that Steve was working that day, for between our backs and necks, neither Lydia nor I should be pushing around wheelbarrows full of dirt. We had just climbed out of the truck when I noticed that we had company. A family at church had arrived to assess the tractor and the golf-cart which are both in major need of repairs. He is a mechanic, and can help us get it done cheaper than what prices we had been quoted. Lydia and I came up and visited for a little while with his wife that had come along for the ride. Then Mom, Lydia, Mrs. Canova, and I headed to the garden. We toured through the herb and flower beds first. Then Lydia and I went back to work, and Mom and Mrs. Canova walked through the rest of the garden before they headed back to the coolness of the house. The first things we did was to scratch up the dirt where I wanted to plant zinnias, sunflowers, orange cosmos, luffa sponge, gourds, and cotton. It was really fascinating to learn about cotton seeds. I was surprised to find them wrapped in fuzzy cotton. The company was out of stock on the white cotton—but did you know that cotton also comes naturally brown and green? I hope that they grow, for I hope to be able to show it off during a fall farm tour. Once the flowers were planted I put the pumpkin seeds in their little circles in the middle of the bed. I had the most fun planning this bed, I just hope that it all grows, blooms, and produces. Then Lydia and I planted at the base of all the trellises—there was watermelon, lima beans, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, and noodle beans. When all the prepared beds were planted, we began to haul dirt to the five beds that I had marked out. We got four and a half beds done before we ran out of dirt. We planted them with green okra and on the fence line we planted acorn squash. It was 4:30 and we were exhausted—and out of dirt. I would have loved to rush to town and buy more dirt before they closed at 5:00. By the time we cleaned up all our tools though, it was too late. To my dismay, we had only gotten half of the garden planted. When I came inside, I also realized that no one had made it to the butchers to pick up the lamb. Oh well, Friday would be a new day.
Friday did dawn bright and early—and the schedule was full. As soon as breakfast was over Papa took the trash out for the week, and headed to the butchers to pick up the lamb meat. Mom went and picked up Moises, and then she headed to town to get another load of dirt. Since Friday was another good planting day, Mom’s idea was to milk the cows, process the 45 chickens, and then finish planting the garden. That was our plans, but that is not how the day went. Since Mom was gone, Lydia and I set up for milking, did the dishes, and fed the lambs. We were able to start milking about 9:15. When Mom got home she joined us in the milking parlor. When we finished milking, Papa said that the scalder was hot, and that we were ready to start processing the chickens—but we still needed to set up the soaking tubs and the table for gutting. So, Moises took over bottling the milk, and we set up on the Poultry Kitchen. Then we had some technical difficulties and we were delayed until 3:15. Working in the new building was very nice, and will be even nicer when we get the tables and sinks. We finished the last bird at 6:15 (I think that we are some of the slowest poultry processers). Then we had to chill the birds, and clean up the building. It was 7:00, and we needed to eat dinner—O where, O where is that in house chef? We finished eating around 8:30, and Papa went out to clean up, bring in the sheep, and lock up the birds. Mom headed back to finish cleaning up the building, and Lydia and I did the dishes. While we were doing the dishes my friend Amelia called. At 9:00 I got off the phone to help finish the dishes, feed the bottle lambs, soak breakfast, do the receipts for the Gainesville delivery, and get a shower. Just as we were heading to the shower, Mom told us that we all forgot to turn off the garden water. We didn’t want the walkways full of water while we had tours through the garden. So, Lydia and I grabbed my flashlight and headed out to the garden to turn off the water. It was almost 11:00 by the time we climbed into bed—or should I say dropped into bed.
Saturday finally arrived---and we were nowhere near ready for a farm tour. While Lydia and I cooked breakfast, Papa started the chores, and Mom did some clean up worked on mowing the garden. Then Mom and Papa hooked the Little People Barn up to the tractor and moved it to the garden. After breakfast Mom went back to her mowing, Lydia did the dishes and made the lamb bottles, and I set up for milking. Then Lydia and I fed the lambs and I started milking. Lydia swept the cut grass off of the sidewalks, and Mom finished her mowing and did some more cleaning before she could join me in the milking parlor. The first of the tour people arrived and Mom visited with them until Papa finished his chores, then he became the people greeter and Mom came to help milk some cows. When we got to the last cow, Mom brought the group over to see a cow being milked. Then they toured around the “farm village”—brooder house, feed room, milk house, and poultry kitchen. Lydia helped Moises bottle the milk, while I packed the Gainesville order. Then half the tour group went on a hay ride, and the other half headed out back for a garden tour. After the milk was bottled Lydia headed to the garden, and I finished packing the order. I had a few fresh chickens ordered, and since the day before had not gone very smoothly, we didn’t get them packaged. So I packaged them, and then headed to the garden to harvest some collards. Everyone really enjoyed the hayrides and the garden tours. They got to meet Sheba—one of the chicken guard dogs, watch the sheep head off to a new pasture, see the geese at the pond, and go from one end of the farm to the other. When it was all over they had a picnic on the front porch. Then we made up some bottles and let the children feed the lambs. One little boy was so excited that he was going to get to feed a lamb for the very first time ever. It was a little after 2:00 when they all left, and Mom and I headed to the Poultry Kitchen to package the chickens. We worked until 7:00—when we just couldn’t go any more. It was once again time for dinner, and time to get ready for Sunday at church.
It is now once again time for bed—so that we can start another very busy week here on the farm. My number one goal is to finish planting the garden.
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare