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Hi Everyone,
Habits—bad ones are easily made and hard to break, while good ones are hard to make and easily broke. Even animals are creatures of habit—but like us, not all habits are good. One of our newest heifers added to our herd six months ago is Belle. The sad news is that she hasn’t become pregnant yet—even though she comes into heat every month and the bull, Dijon, always takes the time to spend the day with her. We have a vet friend coming to check her out this Wednesday and we are hoping for positive news. In the 30 years we have been raising cows we have only had one other heifer that would never get pregnant—we are hoping that Belle will not be the second. Anyway—Belle has a habit that made it to where she had to be the last cow brought into the milking parlor to eat every morning. As soon as we add a heifer to the herd we start training her to come into the parlor to eat, so when she calves it will be easier to train her to be milked because she is already used to coming into the milking stall. Some heifers come in easier than others and some heifers come in easy—but do not like being tied in. Belle took some time to get into the stall, but she comes in readily now—but as soon as she is done eating she puts her body in reverse and backs out real quick like and if the hotwire is closed on the other side of the parlor she busts right through it. Since that is the wire that holds out the cows that are waiting to be milked, we have to save Belle for last so we can leave the wire open. Well, a few weeks ago we brought in two more heifers—Lacy and Next (when we call the cows by name to come in to be milked, Papa wanted to be able to say, “Next”). They were leery of the concrete at first, so I fed them out of a bucket in the grass the first day. The second day Lacy actually came on the concrete—so I fed her on the concrete and Next in the grass—while Belle was eating in her stall. The problem was that as soon as Belle would finish eating she would back out and go over and run Lacy and Next out of their buckets of alfalfa. Closing the wire wouldn’t work—because Belle backs up with so much force that she always stretches the wire causing the handle to pop off and the wire to fall to the ground. So last Monday Papa helped me create a temporary wooden gate. I took a 2 x 4 and stuck it through the panel on one side of the opening and then attached a chain to it on the other side of the opening and attached the chain to a screw in the post. I can quickly put it up when Belle is eating, and easily take it down when she leaves. The first day she finished eating and backed out and bumped into the board. Belle stopped dead in her tracks and turned around to look at the board—that had never been there before. She then went forward and left in the direction she was supposed to leave. It worked! After a week: Belle doesn’t bump into the board as hard any more, Lacy started to eat in a stall this morning, and Next is coming half way up on the concrete to eat out of her bucket now. We have two more heifers to add to the herd very soon: Noel and Bobby Socks (Papa named her). Hopefully they will be the easy kind. Noel lets me touch her out in the field and seems to be a very curious BIG girl.
Speaking of heifers—there was a new one born on the farm last week. Ella gave birth a week late to an all brown, fuzzy and feisty little girl that we decided to name Adella.
Tuesday morning found us looking to the east shortly after 7:00. It was too cold and windy outside for me—so I looked out from my bedroom window, but Mama and Papa braved the cold. It wasn’t long before a red ball of light started rising above the horizon—and no, I do not mean the sun. Soon a fluorescent white cloud started trailing behind the now yellow/white light that was climbing higher and higher in the sky. Before long one bright light continued to go north in the sky, while another object started to head south back to the horizon. The object heading south would flash brightly every once in a while—of which I couldn’t understand why, until we came inside and re-watched the whole episode on YouTube: It was the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launching Bandwagon-5 rideshare mission from Cape Canaveral. We only watched the little bit between 7:00 and 7:15. It was really neat to get to see up close what we had just seen off in the distance—to understand that the flashes of the descending object where engine burns to slow the booster down. Then we got to see something on the video that we hadn’t been able to see from our front porch—or my bedroom window—we saw the Booster land. It was nice to take some time to just enjoy that which was going on around us.
Shayne and I spent many an hour in the gardens last week. We spent some time in the Cottage Garden and some in the south Market Garden. The Cottage Garden needs a major renovation—but for starters it needs a face lift—like pulling up all the weeds. There is a forest of Spanish Needle covering every square inch—and those plants pay you kindly for pulling them up. They leave porcupine stickers all over your clothes! We are starting to see the garden beds again—and we can see the walkways (well kind of—for the walkways are about a foot to two feet deep with all the weeds we pulled up). Papa says to throw them in the low area on the farm where we throw all compostable items, Mama says to rent a dumpster, and I say let them dry out and burn them. More progress and beauty is found in the Market Garden tunnels and Thursday and Friday were spent preparing three beds (covering with chicken bedding compost, broadforking it in, tilthing it to make it fluffy, and topping it with organic compost). Then I transplanted collards, cabbage and snapdragons.
Ever since I was in my 20’s I have dreamed of training future farmers here on the farm—having an intern program. We have had a few interns here and there over the years, but they have always lived with us and that has its pros and cons. This last sickness, and Mama’s desire to visit her family, has made me think a lot more about interns—but they need a place to stay. A few weeks ago a customer (who was one of our first 20 years ago), was here picking up an order and we got to talking about my recent sickness and how I got so sick that I was close to wanting to quit—of which she said you cannot! You just need help—and I agreed. I told her that we had a shed that we could turn into a bunk house—but before we could do that the old Brooder shed needed to be cleaned out and turned into a tool shop, so that the future Bunkhouse could be cleaned out of all the tools and wood. Then the bathroom in the newest building would need to be finished. All of which would take time and money—both of which are lacking. While I was having this conversation, our worker (Shayne) was packaging eggs nearby and he came to us later and told us that he wanted to help us make these dreams happen. So yesterday, Saturday, Shayne hired a few friends to come and help him clean out the old Brooder shed. It took the three of them five hours to totally dismantle the divider walls and shelves, and sweep out all the old chicken bedding and feed dust. Now it needs a good washing and some plywood hung on the studs. Then the moving and organizing can start. Sometimes it just takes someone else to come along and help you get the ball rolling. Thanks Shayne! There is still a lot to do—but at least the first step has been taken.
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare