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Hi Everyone,
If you have read my last two journals you know that life here on the farm has been very trying of late . . . and I didn’t even share all of it. When Monday began this week I thought for sure that this week was going to be just as bad—but things took a turn for the better.
Monday morning the cows came in for their morning alfalfa hay. It really is a sight to see as the cows eagerly await the opening of the wire so that they can make a mad dash for the hay racks. It is like turning a kid loose in a candy store. Then once the cows reach the feeders all you can see is a long line of cow’s butts, tails, and full udders. That day there was one cow missing from the line—instead she was curled up on the ground a good distance from the other cows. From time to time she would lay out flat and stretch and toss a little. It was Ella—and it seemed that she had a tummy ache. Did another cow punch her in the gut? Was she gassy from too much green? Did she have a twisted gut—or a flipped stomach? We didn’t know, but we did know that she was not acting right—besides that she was still mooing for her calf who had been locked up for the night. She came in to be milked like normal—but she didn’t eat all of her food like normal. I called the vet, and he said that he would come and check on her after lunch. In the meantime, one of our first time heifers—Aria, went in labor. She wasn’t progressing either. Mama and I went out to check on her and the first thing we saw was one big hoof—and we knew that it would be a bull. There should have been two hooves—with a little nose sitting on top. Mama wasn’t sure if Aria would be able to deliver the calf without help—and she wasn’t sure if the calf’s life could wait until the vet arrived in an hour. My sister Nichole and I delivered a HUGE calf once with the help of an intern—while Mama was making the JAX deliveries—so I was sure that Mama and I could deliver the calf with no problem. The hoof was big, but it was nowhere near as big as Samson’s (the calf) was. We watched a little longer and to our delight hoof number two arrived. We had to move Aria to a cleaner field before she calved, so we got her up and navigated her to a different field. She then walked around until she found the “perfect” spot and lay down and began to push—but the calf was BIG. Mama and I worked together with Aria to help the calf enter the world. Once the head was out all went quick and easy—and the calf wasn’t as big as we thought and it wasn’t a bull. Aria had given birth to a little heifer. Since Aria is a musical term originally used to refer to any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer—we decided to call her Melody.
When the vet arrived he found Ella still lying around. We brought her into the milking parlor—and she picked up right where she left off earlier and ate the rest of her breakfast (it was still in her trough). The vet checked her over and said that everything sounded perfect—no life threatening problems just a little bit of gas in her small intestines. Praise the Lord! The cow was fine, the calf was fine—a new week had dawned brighter.
The week was very cold—and I prefer to be like a bear and hibernate during such weather, but the cows still need to be milked and other outside chores need to be done. I did manage to do a little of both. Inside the Market Garden Tunnels was nice and warm and I was able to transplant some lettuce one day, and Micah and I were able to weed a little Thursday and Friday. I also spent time inside making fire cider (horseradish, onions, ginger, garlic and cayenne pepper fermented in Apple Cider Vinegar), and Honey Garlic (fill a jar with freshly peeled garlic, cover with honey and let ferment for a month, burping it daily—lasts for years, use when sick). It is my favorite way to consume garlic. We also spent quite a bit of time packaging eggs.
We had scheduled a Farm to Table Dinner for Saturday, January 31—but when the weather man predicted cold rainy weather I cancelled the event. I was really discouraged about it, but I am glad I did for the winds were fierce—25 mph and the temps were in the 30’s by 6:00. Taking care of our animals became top priority. Mama really wanted the sheep to have access to the Sheep Barn—but it was being used to store part of the winter hay supply. The calves would be in half of the barn, the big cows would be fine, the chickens had lots of body heat—but the lambs had no warm place to hide. By Friday night we knew that somehow we had to prepare the Sheep Barn to house the sheep. I woke up around 4:00 Saturday morning and my mind began to wonder how in the world we would accomplish the task—and I wondered how in the world I could help Papa accomplish it. All I could do at that time of the day was make a list in my mind of what needed to be done: move the hay bales out of the barn, spread old hay around on the floor for warmth and sanitary measures, put boards across the front opening of the barn where the wall was missing, hang the plastic back up across the front opening to block the cold wind, put fresh hay in the hay rack, mow along the fence line so that we could install electric hot wire netting across the field attached to the Sheep Barn to keep the sheep from roaming the whole farm, move the sheep, and move their water and feeder—and with my list made I fell back asleep until 7:00. There was milking to do, customers to take care of, orders to pack, morning chores to do, a delivery to be made, and feed to be bought all before any prep could be done. While Papa made deliveries and bought feed, Mama and I worked in the house—especially the kitchen where so much life happens and some time was needed to do a little cleaning, organizing and tidying up. We were working in the kitchen when I looked out the window and saw little white flakes floating around in the air. I asked Mama—is it snowing? Sure enough it was! I grabbed my camera and coat and we ran outside to enjoy a little bit of Florida snow flurries. It didn’t last long, and the snowflakes melted as soon as they landed. I did manage to get a short video of the snow to prove that it actually snowed here.
When Papa got home around 5:00 I was almost finished cleaning and was fixing to start dinner—a hot bowl of chili for a cold day. I managed to get all the dishes washed—but not dried before Papa came in asking for help. I had some cast iron dishes that needed to be dried and Mama came to the rescue as I headed outside to help Papa. The wind was fierce and the temps were in the 30’s and dropping fast. I shod my feet with my insulated boots, I covered my body with my brand new goose down parka, and I covered my head with my Grandpa’s new fur trapper cap that he got for Christmas. Papa needed help attaching boards to the wall opening and then he needed help putting the plastic back over the opening. The boards were the easy part—the plastic was a different story. Once he got it completely attached all across the top the wind caught it and was blowing the plastic straight out twelve feet above our heads. When we got it back down I stood on it and helped pull it to the side so that Papa could attach the sides to the barn. Sometimes I felt like it was going to throw me off the plastic a few times. Once we got the plastic attached we unrolled the hay in the hay feeder and then we took down the electrical netting from the field the sheep were in—and we were just fixing to put it up across the barn field when I heard a man’s voice step out of the dark and say, “What can I do to help?” I screamed! It ended up being my brother-in-law. He and my sister Nichole had come over to visit and he saw that we were outside working so he came out to help. We put up the fence and then we headed to the front yard to string some hotwire to move the sheep from one pasture through the yard into the Sheep Barn field. Papa drove his tractor up and Gary and I drove up in his vehicle. We stopped by the Poultry Barn to lock up the chickens, ducks and goose. It was the first time ever that all the chickens were inside their house. Usually about 30 of them are huddled up sleeping outside in the doorway. I guess they said that it was too cold to sleep outside. It didn’t take too long to get the sheep to follow Papa across the yard and into the new field. Then Papa had to move the water and see if the sheep could find the barn. Gary and I grabbed the egg buckets and the dog food and headed out to feed the dogs and gather the eggs. I also had to turn on a few hoses so that they didn’t freeze. It was around 8:30 by the time we came inside. Dinner was not cooked—and we were cold and hungry. Chili was no longer on the menu—but oatmeal was. It was around 9:00 by the time we sat down to eat.
This morning was COLD outside. The hot water in the Poultry Kitchen didn’t work—the pipes were frozen. We made one Florida born mistake though. Since the hose to the milking parlor was working Papa dumped the frozen water tub in the milking parlor so that he could fill it up with fresh water—but the puddle of water froze all over the concrete making a big sheet of ice. It was slippery for us to walk on it—and it covered the exit where the cows left the milking parlor. We told the cows to walk cautiously and slowly. Some walked on the ice like pros, some slid but kept their balance, some slipped and fell—and one (Merci) found that it was slippery and refused to exit out that way. Thankfully with all the layers of clothing supplied by family and friends—and a borrowed hat from Grandpa I stayed nice and warm. My hands and chin suffered the most—but not too bad. The best part was that we (Mama and I) were done by 9:00 and inside for the rest of the day. Papa had spent his morning sitting with Grandpa, so when breakfast was over (around 10:00) Papa headed outside to do all his chores. Thankfully it was almost above freezing by then—it had been 20 with a wind chill of 17 when we went outside at 6:00.
Tomorrow I will take a tour of the gardens to see how they survived. I already know that the onions and celery have suffered greatly from the last few freezes—and the celery was looking so good and ready for harvesting. So far the lettuce, spinach and the collards have been fairing the best. I am anxious to see how they survived the teens.
I hope that you are surviving winter just fine.
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare