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Hi Everyone,
Well, I spent the first week of 2026 with a head cold. The positive was that it gave me some down time. January is the time to look through seed catalogs, check my seed supply, and plan when to plant what in the greenhouse or garden. Being sick meant I really didn’t feel like doing much and I tried to keep to myself so as not to share my germs—so sitting around with my garden calendar and seed stash was a nice way to spend my afternoons. There is still much to plan and seeds to purchase, but at least I got a start.
I was hoping to spend quite a bit of time in the sewing room—but when your head is foggy critical thinking isn’t the best thing to do. While I enjoy sewing, I do not get to sew as often as I would like—or need too. Therefore it requires a little extra thought. I did manage to spend some time hemming a shirt I cut off, mending two jumpers that I tore on the rebars in the garden, and running gathering stitches on the waistline and hemming the skirt of a new jumper I started over a year ago. None of it required any thought, and it put a few outfits back into my quickly shrinking wardrobe because my clothes are getting old and worn out. As I said—it is time to sew.
Tuesday and Friday were spent mostly in the kitchen—with a little bit of time in the garden. Tuesday I made and bottled kombucha. Then I finished adding all the ingredients to a batch of Soothing Salve and got them all melted together and poured into little jars. Then there was yogurt to make. It was about 3:45 when Micah and I headed to the Market Garden to harvest the veggies for the JAX delivery. We harvested broccoli leaves, collards, mustard greens, kale and cabbage. The chickens enjoy harvest day for any spent leaves, insect eaten leaves, or the extra leaves of the cabbage are fed to them. Thursday morning we were 100% out of chicken feed. I waited a few days too long to order. Oops! So Micah and I harvested a bunch of greens out of the garden to tide the chickens over until the feed arrived—which happened to be that afternoon at 4:00 just as Micah was heading out to collect the eggs for the day. Perfect timing!
Friday’s kitchen duties entailed making some hard boiled eggs and a new batch of elderberry syrup—my go to for allergies and sickness, and I was going through a lot of it last week. Then I made some chocolate syrup for some chocolate milk—and to dip some fresh off the vine strawberries in. The strawberry plants in the greenhouse and on our front porch are starting to produce some nice sweet strawberries. A strawberry that is allowed to ripen on the vine and get warmed by the sun is the sweetest and best to me. I also made some roselle jello. We make a roselle tea and then we add honey and gelatin. I did get to spend a little over an hour in the garden weeding the onions—well we were not weeding the whole time. Our manure spreader is broke at the moment, so all the manure collected daily from the milking parlor has been going into a large orange wheelbarrow. Then every few days it is taken out the concrete compost bins in the garden. The front half of the one bin (an 8 ft. by 8 ft. concrete pad with three sides walled with concrete blocks) was about two feet high all the way across—but the back half was empty. There was no way to dump another wheelbarrow of manure in the bin. I grabbed a garden rake and pushed the manure to the back of the bin and leveled it all out. Then I went to the barn and got the tractor and filled the tractor bucket up with some woodchips from the local electrical company. This combo should make great compost in a year. Then Micah went and got the wheelbarrow to dump it—well; dumping is no longer possible, so he had to shovel it out of the wheelbarrow. I shall continue to lasagna manure and woodchips till it is full. Papa was supposed to fill the bin up with compost from the chicken houses—but the manure spreader broke. I guess I had better figure out a plan B real soon.
Papa spent a lot of time last week finishing the new hay feeders for our milk cows. I was hoping to get a video of it tonight—but it was getting late and when I went outside to film the battery was too low on my phone. There is always tomorrow! The extra hay has been very helpful. We have had three new calves born in the last six weeks—so their mama’s are giving us more milk. We added a few cows to the milk tank, but we also had to dry off a few cows that are due to calve in the next six weeks, and a few who just needed a break. To our delight when the milk was bottled on Wednesday we got a total of 12 ½ gallons. Yippee! We need 18 to 20 gallons a day to fill all the orders, but 12 gallons is a great improvement from 5 to 6 gallons we were getting a few weeks back.
The Bible says that laughter doeth good like a medicine—and last week when I was sick I needed a good dose of medicine and for some reason bulls seemed to be just the right topic to cause me to have a few good laughs. Last Monday I was talking with a friend for her birthday. We had a lovely conversation and discussed the possibility of me going her way for a visit in February. It is something we have wanted to do for years—but since I have to milk the cows’ everyday it hasn’t been possible. The one time I was going to surprise her with a visit on her birthday her Mom called me that morning and had to cancel because there was sickness in the family. While we were discussing our upcoming plans she shared an even bigger dream for next year. She loves to travel—and would love to take me with her. I had a good laugh when she said that she wanted me to accompany her to a Bull sale and Rodeo in South Dakota next year—but when she mentioned a trip to Scotland I laughed and laughed and laughed. There is nothing wrong with dreaming—right? I may not want to see South Dakota in the winter, or have the health to visit Scotland—but if I ever get interns trained to milk my cows and make the yogurt and kefir, then just maybe we might find some place to visit together. Then on Wednesday a friend came over and asked if he could ride our Jersey bull—Dijon. A yeah—I laughed. Of course the answer was no—but the thought I totally understood. I used to tell Mama (until she forbid me to ever mention the idea again) that I wanted to ride a bull—not a wild bronco bull, just a sweet gentle bull. Those who know me best know that a wild streak runs through my veins. I could totally relate with my friend. I have never ridden a bull—but I have managed to sit on Dijon once. One day the cows had been waiting to come into be milked for quite some time—and many of them had given up and decided to lay down for a nap. Dijon was one of the relaxing cows (bull). When I walked up to him he didn’t budge and I just couldn’t resist having a seat. It didn’t faze him one bit. No one saw me, so no picture was taken. Ever since Wednesday I have so wanted to repeat that moment—but the one chance I had when Dijon was taking a nap we were too busy to “stop and sit on bulls”. If it ever happens I will be sure to share the picture with you.
The week ended much better than it began—for I am feeling much better. I am so thankful that the Lord kept my family from getting sick with my cold. Grandpa has enough problems with his lungs that getting sick should never be on his agenda—or Mama’s for she spends a lot of time taking care of Grandpa. It is a delight to have him with us. Most of the days are spent putting together puzzles with him. The 300 large piece puzzles he can do practically by himself—but the 1000 little piece puzzles are very stressful to him and we have to do most of them. He sits there for hours though and finds a piece here and there. Sometimes he can get so stressed over it that we suggest the idea of boxing it up and getting out an easier one—but he is no quitter. Once he starts one he is determined to finish it no matter how hard it is. I guess the positive is that the 1000 piece puzzles take a week to do and the 300 piece puzzles are done in less than two days.
Well, the last time I looked at the clock it was 9:00—and now it is 9:45. How time flies when you are having fun!
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare