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Hi Everyone,
Sleep—it is a vital part of a person’s well-being, and last Monday I found out just how miserable lack of sleep can make you. I didn’t sleep very well (or much) the night before and found myself on the exhausted side before the day had even begun. Everyday life doesn’t adjust itself to your amount of sleep. New days do not ask us when we rise, “Did you sleep well?” If they did, our days might go a little differently when we do not get enough sleep. Last Monday Papa needed to go to Jacksonville to get some more milk jugs—but first he had to update our Resale Tax Certificate with the jug company. They had emailed me the info months ago—but I just couldn’t figure it out. So I sent Papa with the tax certificate paper the last time he got jugs and they told him how to do it online. Well he never got around to it until Monday morning. He was in the middle of it when Mom told him that Steve needed help getting the Poultry Barn cleaned out the rest of the way so that they could get new bedding spread in it and the new month old chicks moved into the Poultry Barn and out of the Brooder House. I told Papa that I would finish up the paperwork so that he could go outside. He was waiting for a passcode to come through the email, so I waited. When it came in I put it in and started following the directions—until I hit some road blocks. I went round and round with the computer and finally tried to call the company but the phone rang busy—and I know that big businesses phones do not ring busy. I tried to go online to find another phone number but the computer was acting up. It took me close to forty minutes before I could finally find the correct phone number and talk with a human being—and all was well in less than five minutes. It was going on 9:00 and the cows needed to be milked—but Papa was busy helping Steve so there was no one to get our cows but Mom and I. I told Mom that I would gladly walk down (for Steve and Papa had both of the vehicles at the Poultry Barn) the lane and bring up the cows—I needed some time to unwind after dealing with the computer and a nice long leisure walk sounded great. So I grabbed some hay for Anna (so she could eat it while she nursed her calves) and I leisurely headed down the lane. I got to the cow field and opened the wires and all the cows gladly came out and headed up the lane toward the milking parlor—well, all the cows but one. Little Miss Betsy (who was just a week old) was up the hill hanging out with the sheep—and she didn’t come down hill with everyone else. So I headed up hill to shoo her down—and when she got down she turned around and ran back up hill, so back I went up hill. We went up and down the hill a couple of times and round and round the field a couple of times. I was getting more and more exhausted, and my leisurely stroll was turning into a fast paced marathon. When I finally caught up with Betsy I grabbed hold of one of her legs and made her walk three legged down the hill. Once I got her to the lane I could let go for she was happy to walk up the lane and join the rest of the cows. By the time I reached the milking parlor I was more ready for bed than I was ready to milk the cows. It was 11:30 by the time we finished milking that day. I had a long list of things that I needed to do, but I was getting so sick from lack of sleep that all I could manage was to answer the emails. After lunch and some more computer work I did manage to take a short nap—but the phone rang just as I was falling asleep. It was going on 4:00 when I finally felt like doing something besides paperwork. I had harvested some Marjoram on Saturday and had it drying on the dehydrator. By Monday night it was dry and ready to have the leaves stripped off the stems—so I began the tedious process of pulling the dried leaves off of a couple hundred stems. I got about a third of the way done and decided to go to the garden to harvest some squash and zucchini (because I wanted some for dinner) and I harvested a basket of sage to put on the dehydrator once I got all the marjoram off. When I got back to the house it was time to start dinner—and finish the marjoram in order to have space in the dehydrator for the sage. It took Mom and I until close to 8:30 or 9:00 to finish the dishes and the marjoram—but at least I had managed to accomplish some of my goals that day. I did manage to sleep real well that night.
Tuesday was busy milking cows, bottling kefir, making yogurt, packaging eggs and putting together the orders for the Jacksonville delivery on Wednesday—but at 3:30 I managed to make a quick trip out to the garden to harvest the multiplier onion bulbs that were dying back. I pull up all the plants in May and let the stems dry out. Then come August I can separate the bulbs and replant them, and in a few months we have fresh green onions to eat.
For the last two years we have been low on our milk supply—after we sold all our A1 gene milk cows, and two of our good cows got struck by lightning, and about five of our cows got too old and ended up having to be sold or they died. Patience has paid off and we finally have enough milk to go around. We actually have more milk than we have orders for which means we have to cream. I postponed it as long as I could, but last Thursday we finally had to pull out the cream machines and cream the milk. It makes yummy cream—but it makes hours more work (because it takes longer to cream than it does to bottle the milk, and you have to wash all the parts to the cream machines), and you have to figure out what to do with all the skim milk. Usually I will make quark (a soft cheese) and whey with some of the skim milk—but since our milk house is “missing in action” (been torn down and having a new one built) I do not have a place to make the cheese and whey. I do not see the milk dropping off any time soon, so I am sure that once we get into the new milk house we shall be able to make some cheese and whey then.
For the last six years we have had one family or another help us process chickens every other week in exchange for “free” chickens. The first family moved away, and then a month ago the second family said that they would not be able to help us anymore. When we processed chickens two weeks ago we just happened to have three people volunteer to help us—but that was not the case this past Friday. It was just the three of us! Papa went out to catch up the chickens at 6:30 Friday morning. Then after breakfast he did his morning chores and Mom and I milked the cows. Then Papa had to get the scalder going and sharpen the knives. Around 11:00 Papa starting cleaning things up and getting things set up so that we could start butchering around noon. We were all ready to begin at noon! Papa caught the birds, managed the killing cones, scalder and the plucker. Then he sent the birds through the window onto the gutting table where Mom and I made them look like a chicken you would find in a grocery store—just a lot tastier and healthier. It took us until 3:00 to get all 54 birds processed and in the ice bath. We took a quick lunch and then we began the packaging process. The stock packs, liver and hearts were the first to package. Then we weighed every chicken (that was strong man Papa’s job)—some went to a sink of ice water to be cut up and some were packaged right away. Once all the whole chickens were package I started cutting up the rest of the chickens (24 to be exact) and Mom packaged and labeled them. Papa was then able to go back to his clean up job—he had to wash down all the equipment and scrub the floors. It was 8:00 that night before Mom and I finished cleaning up our items: tubs, cutting boards, knives and tables. Then Papa scrubbed the floor. With help we are usually done by 3:30. We were exhausted and our bodies were screaming at us—and the BIG question was “What is for dinner?” Mom came up with Pizza—thanks to our frozen pizzas from Kalacrow’s Wood Fired Pizza. We popped two in the oven and dinner was done in 20 minutes with no hassle. I had to laugh when Papa was praying the blessing on our food and he said, “Lord, please help our bodies to recover.” After a good night’s sleep they did recover for the most part. One thing we all know—we need knew helpers soon.
Saturday afternoon Mom and I spent time working together outside. We had to pick up pavers from where the hot water heater used to sit and dig up some more ginger before it got buried in concrete. Then the garlic needed to be harvested and more lemon squash and zucchini. I was supposed to grow the lemon squash up a poll (trellis), but I never got around to it and now the plants are lush and sprawled all over the walkways. They are producing abundantly though.
They start the finishing work on the new Milk House barn tomorrow—so things should start changing daily now. The first step tomorrow is to frame in for all the sidewalks and porches around the outside of the building. Then they will start framing and putting up the walls. That also means that we will be getting up at 5:00 every day until they are done—so Good Night!
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare