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Hi Everyone,
My week started out with my dear friend Lydia spending a few days with me for my birthday. She came in Saturday night and stayed until about 4:30 Monday afternoon. We crammed in as much as possible in our short amount of time together (we usually get to spend a whole week together, but this time we only got two days, and one of those days was spent together at church). One of Lydia’s highlights while she was here was to get to work with our one week old calf—Heidi. Mom is determined to halter break Heidi and make her tame while she is young. Her mother, Macy, is very sweet and friendly, and her sister Merry was born gentle and loving. Merry loved to hang out with us in the milking parlor and still today Merry loves to get attention out in the pastures when we visit her. Heidi has a different personality than either her mother or her sister. Heidi is independent and doesn’t care to be sociable. So when Heidi was just a day old Mom put a halter on her and the first thing Heidi did was to throw herself down flat on the ground and lay there forever. Everyday Mom will catch her up and love on her, walk her on the lead rope, and then tie her out someplace so that Heidi can get used to going where you want her to go and standing where you want her to stand. When we have company (my aunt and then my friend Lydia) they get the job of loving on Heidi and Lydia also took the job of teaching Heidi to walk on the lead rope. Heidi has come a long way—but she also got smart this week. She learned that if you come in with the cows, that crazy lady will catch you up and take you where you do not want to go. So a few days she ran back out to pasture before Mom could get a chance to catch her up. Then yesterday Heidi was on the concrete with the other cows and when Mom went to catch her up Heidi decided to hide in the middle of all the cows—right tightly too! She is no dumb calf, and is very full of spunk for when Mom gets close to her she starts kicking her back legs out at Mom. I think that we have a little spit fire on our hands! You can see Heidi here on YouTube channel: Meet Heidi.
When we were done milking the cows and playing with Heidi Mom asked Lydia and I to do the breakfast dishes and then she said that we could have the rest of the day off. The breakfast dishes are usually done before we milk the cows, but we had to wash a bucket of duck eggs that morning instead of doing dishes. Once the dishes were done Lydia decided to clean the ceiling fan in the kitchen while I took care of a little bit of business (answering order emails and getting a jug order put together for Papa to go pick up in Jacksonville). Then we grabbed a quick lunch and headed down to our 1915 house. Lydia had never seen inside—for the last time she was here was two weeks before we bought the house. So we toured through the house and then we headed out into the woods to see the giant sinkhole. While we were admiring the sink hole I heard Mom call my name—Mom and Steve were on lunch break and since Steve hadn’t seen the sink hole they decided to come down and join in on the fun. Steve was able to walk all the way down in it—and I was most envious. I am still waiting for my chance to head to the bottom and walk around and see all the beauty in the bottom. When Lydia and I made it back to the house we put the cows back out to pasture (because on that day there was still green grass in the fields). Then we walked through the garden for a little bit and then it was time for Lydia to pack up and head home—but first we had to make us a cup of hot chocolate.
When I awoke Tuesday morning I looked in the mirror and found a 48 year old me. The Lord has been very merciful to me all these years and He has been very gracious. I am who I am by the grace of God, for without His saving grace I have a sneaky suspicion that I would be a totally different person. Having my birthday fall on a Tuesday this year meant that the day would be spent working—but that was okay after having five days off (Thanksgiving Day until Lydia left Monday night). First things first—there were cows to milk. America, Liberty, Sally, Abby, Rosepetal, Bonnie, Emma, Rosa, Ella, Sunshine, and Rosy were all glad to see me and get their alfalfa treats—and I was grateful for every drop of milk that the ones in milk gave me. Then there was kefir to bottle, and some weeds to pull. My brother David bought me a harvesting apron, a pair of gloves with built in digging claws, and some gardening tools. So I was eager to try them all out. Since it was supposed to freeze that night I knew that I needed to harvest all the green peppers and the cayenne peppers—and they totally filled my apron up. Then I grabbed the gloves and did some weeding. I found that they are great for digging—but not for pulling. I bet that they will help me dig up the sweet potatoes just fine. Next I got into the tool box and pulled out a few tools and soon found out that my new favorite tool is a little weeding knife. It helped pull the weeds up so fast and easy and I do believe that it shall save many a neck and shoulder muscle. As 1:30 rolled around it was time to head inside and get a bite to eat before we attended the egg packaging party. I did end up being late to the party because my sister Samantha popped in for a “birthday” visit and my friend Emily (Lydia’s sister) showed up with a little vase of flowers for my birthday—zinnias, roses, and sunflowers my three favorites! After the egg party I had to work on orders and then go to the garden to harvest the vegetables for Wednesday’s delivery to Jacksonville. When I came back inside it was time to fix dinner—and bake my dessert. I baked some white sweet potatoes, broiled some rib eyed steaks and Mom helped make a salad with the fresh lettuce from the garden. Then for dessert I made some fudgy chocolate brownies. While I cooked my little sister Nichole stopped in for a little visit to say “Happy Birthday” on her way home from work. For my birthday my parents got me a Samsung Galaxy phone—but I will not be using it as a phone but as a camera for taking pictures and videos. Now the fun begins on learning how to use it. Mom and I are known for messing up everyone’s phones when we touch them, and now we have to figure out how to use our own. Once dinner was over the enjoyable part of the day was over for it was now time to put together the orders for the Jacksonville delivery—which means deciding who gets milk and who doesn’t get milk since the cows are only giving us 10 to 11 gallons of milk a day (we need 18 to 20 gallons a day to fill all the orders).
We woke up to “Florida snow” (frost) Wednesday and Thursday and the temperature was 28 degrees. The fields were all white until the sun hit and then when the frost melted the grass was no longer green but brown. I took a stroll through the garden and was amazed at what survived and what died. The garden is its own micro climate—but in the garden are little micro climates. I found some plants shriveled up and others perfectly green—the only difference was that some were under the oak tree branches and the others were not. To my biggest dismay the zinnias in the garden tunnels were hit—they were not totally destroyed like the ones in the open in Martha’s Vineyard (they turned totally brown). The white zinnias in the tunnel were two toned—white and brown. The plants still had green to them. The red zinnias looked better than the white ones, but probably because their color was dark enough to hide the brown. I do not know if I will get one single bouquet out of my red and white zinnias—and they were loaded with flowers ready to harvest.
Papa spent Friday planting more fields with winter grass seed, emptying the manure spreader and mowing a few pastures. Mom and I took a trip north into Georgia. We were out of salt for the animals, and we found out that it was cheaper to go an hour and a half away to pick up the salt from another farmer than it was for us to order it from the company—that is because the farmer can order a whole semi-truck load of salt and get the shipping price per bag a lot cheaper than I can ordering just one pallet—now if I could only get the minerals and our chicken feed that cheap.
Saturday morning started earlier than I intended but I couldn’t toss and turn any longer in bed so instead of enjoying sleeping in until 7:00, I found myself getting up at 6:00. My mind was spinning with things to do. I went next door to the milk house to set up the milking equipment and then I bottled the kefir. I got back inside around 7:15 and while Mom and Papa were getting breakfast I packaged the remaining turkey meat and broth and some chicken and broth into the containers to put them into freezer for future soups and pot pies. After breakfast I grabbed my new phone/camera and headed to the garden to do a “What survived the first freeze!” video. I still have to get it edited. Then it was time to milk the cows. Once the cows were milked I washed up the kefir jars and utensils, and then I packed the order for the Gainesville delivery that afternoon. I spent my afternoon catching up on my ironing and enjoying the rainy weather that makes life inside very cozy.
Life here on the farm is so busy right now and there is so much to do. Trying to prioritize what to do can be very hard for everything seems pretty pressing. Barns need cleaned out so that the animals have a place to get out of the weather and have a dry place for their hay. Fences need fixed before animals can be moved into the fields. Plants and seeds need planted—but beds need to be prepared. Yep—there’s a lot to do and I had best go get some sleep so that I have the energy needed to do whatever finds itself at the top of the list tomorrow.
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare