610

Hi Everyone,

               Today is the first day of winter—but last Monday could have passed for it in my calculations. The low was in the 30’s and the high was barely 50—but the worst part was the wind that blew Old Man Winter right into your bones. I was very grateful for my new down insulated coat. My cheeks and hands were pretty cold while milking, but as soon as the milking was done—I hibernated inside. I answered order emails until lunch, and then after lunch Micah and I worked together in the kitchen. When you work for Shepherd’s Hill Farm you never know what a day may bring forth, and last Monday found Micah on what we call KP Duty—peeling potatoes. Very seldom do I notice just how small my hands are (one lady at church has always been amazed that I can play the piano since my hands are so small). When it comes to peeling potatoes I really notice just how small my hands are—and just how many injuries to my hand and thumb I have had. I am always grateful when I can rope someone in to peel the potatoes for me. Micah peeled and I cut the potatoes and packed them in the canning jars. Then I filled the jars with cold water and pressure canned them. I didn’t have a very big harvest this fall—I planted majorly sprouted potatoes that were almost past planting and then the worms found the plants and ate them. Micah and I at least harvested more than we planted. I usually send the little potatoes home with my workers—because they are harder to peel, but this time we canned every last potato because there was not too many of them. In the end we had 16 pints of potatoes ready for use for potato salad, mashed potatoes, fried potatoes, to toss in a soup or a pot pie, or just to eat plain with butter, salt and pepper.

               Do you procrastinate? I find that I do in some things—more things than I should. Our milking claws have rubber inflation tubes that must be changed out twice a year for the amount of cows we milk and the amount of times we milk. Changing them out isn’t very easy though. When my sisters were home and we were a 100% woman ran farm taking the rubber tubes off of the metal part or snapping the inflation tubes into the metal tube sent us to the floor many times. It was like a game of tug-of-war. We would put so much pull into it that when the goal was accomplished the person with the most pull usually went flying. Now we have male power on the farm—and I always tease them on claw change day that I hope they ate their Wheaties. Even though I have help to do it, I never seem to find the “right” time to change them out because I can always find something else to do in life. Well, I decided that last Tuesday would be the day. So as soon as we were done milking, Micah and I cut the old rubbers off before he washed the claws. Then I headed out to the garden to harvest another section of carrots. I was glad I did—because the rats were finding them. Once the carrots were harvested I parked the Gravely in the shade and headed inside. Mama wanted me to make some White Bean Chili for lunch. When lunch was over I headed back out to the carrots and had Micah help me set up my washing station—a piece of hardware cloth sandwiched between two pieces of wood on the edges. Then he went back to washing the milking equipment and I started clipping all the tops off the carrots. I fed the tops to the chickens and then I got all my paperwork and bags ready to harvest the veggies for the JAX delivery. When Micah finished the dishes we headed out to the garden to harvest. When we got back we put up the carrots that I had harvested and then we packaged eggs until 4:00. Then it was time to put the new inflation tubes into the claws—and it was Micah’s first time. I do not think it took him long to understand why I procrastinate changing them out.

               It was drizzly and rainy all day Thursday—but I didn’t mind for we spent the afternoon canning carrots. Once again Micah peeled, and I cut them up—but I didn’t pour cold water over them. I am not a fan of canned carrots. When we get more carrots than we can store in sand Mama always gets the idea of canning them—and I protest. I like to dehydrate them—but you only need so many of those too. Then one year I realized that we love a good creamy carrot soup, so why not can them in broth! It worked, and this year I wanted to can some more “carrot soup”. I placed about three tablespoons of chopped onions in the bottom of each jar, a teaspoon of salt, a half a tablespoon of lemon juice, and a pinch of pepper. Then I filled the jar up with one inch chunks of carrots and the last thing I did was to fill the jar with boiling chicken broth. I pressure canned them at ten pounds of pressure for 30 minutes. We processed 14 quarts of carrots—and now all we have to do is open a jar, heat it up, and puree it.

               We may have been farming for 30 years—but we still have lots to learn. This is the worst winter we have had for milk production in sixteen years—if not ever. I couldn’t understand why until I talked with a fellow dairy man who has been farming his whole life. Drought and an early cold snap caused the cows to go months with limited forage—so what has worked in the past for winter feeding was not going to work this year. When you milk fifteen cows and only get five gallons you know that something is wrong. Separating the calves at night and two newly freshened cows has been very helpful—but we still were not getting the production we needed to supply our customers and make ends meet. To make matters worse the feed store quick carrying the alfalfa pellets that our cows like, and the two brands that they do carry have mixed reviews from our cows. Some of our cows will eat any kind of alfalfa pellets; some will only eat the old brand and some will eat the one new brand but not the other. When the cows don’t have a trough of enticing alfalfa pellets they are not very likely to come into be milked. It was getting so bad that I had to push some of my cows into the milking stall. I spent a good portion of Thursday and Friday on the phone and the computer trying to find the brand of alfalfa pellets that our cows like, and talking with our fellow farmer to find out just how to feed our grass-fed cows to help them be in the best condition and to help increase their milk production. We already keep them constantly supplied with all the coastal hay they can eat, but we were encouraged to increase their alfalfa hay consumption from one bale to six bales. The hope is that they will produce enough milk to cover the added costs. I guess we will know by next week if their production will increase or stay the same. The good news is that the recent rains have caused all the winter grass seeds that Papa planted to sprout—so fresh green grass for grazing is just a month or so away.

               Two weeks ago I attended a bulb growing class—and while I was there I signed Mama up for the next class which was a woodland floral arranging class. Mama went to that class Friday afternoon and came home with a very beautifully arranged floral box. The instructor was surprised that I didn’t attend but I always tease that floral arranging and I do not get along. I grow lots of flowers—but I pick them and fill a bucket with them and bring them into Mama to arrange in vases. I do arrange some flowers from time to time, but I enjoy watching Mama arrange them more.

               Saturday was spent milking cows, harvesting for the Gainesville delivery, taking care of customers, and cooking—for we had dinner at church today. I also took some time to post our next event on the farm—our “Winter’s Bounty--A Farm to Table Dinner” that will be held here on the farm January 31, 2026. I hope that you can join us! I cannot believe that next year is almost here. Until then we shall continue . . .

Serving you with Gladness,

Tiare