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Hi Everyone,
Let’s just say that I have spring fever! My mind and my “To Do List” are filled with projects that need to be done around the farm. Some projects require help, and some I can accomplish on my own. Some have to be done ASAP, and others are not so pressing. We could really use about ten extra volunteer hands—and if you are interested just let me know and I will gladly direct your hands to the nearest project.
Last week I did more weeding than I have done in a long time. Spring weeds have taken off and while they do not grow as tall as summer weeds, they do grow very thick—and the worst of all is the heart leaf stinging nettle. It likes to hide amongst other weeds and attack you when you least expect it. On Monday I worked the weed eater around the buildings near the milking parlor, and then I started push mowing around the buildings. I was about ¾ of the way done when Mama called me in for lunch. We were eating lunch when Mama asked me if I had accomplished everything I had wanted to do—and I said, “No”. Then she asked me if I had accomplished more than I should have—and I said, “Yes.” I agreed to let Micah finish mowing for me—but my next project was still pretty hefty. The Poultry Kitchen is built out of metal insulated walls that just snap together, and the outside seams at ground level have some kind of tape on them—which means you cannot weed eat up next to the building, and the grass and weeds have grown pretty tall and thick next to the walls. A few months ago when I was battling a few ant beds on the outside of the Poultry Kitchen I noticed that the grass was not securely attached to the ground—so I made a mental note to one day edge around the building by hand. That day arrived last Monday. I managed to get one and a half sides done before it was time to package eggs. To my delight Micah was able to clean up my “mess” and load it into the back end of the Gravely and dump it in our compost heap. He also helped me clean up two large chunks of concrete that have been lying behind the Poultry Kitchen since the new Milking Parlor was built about five years ago. We had to pry them out of the ground first—for grass will swallow up anything that sits still long enough. Then I got the tractor and we were able to scoop them up with the tractor bucket and I was able to move them to a concrete graveyard in the woods. I was able to edge another side and a half on Tuesday. I am still deciding whether to edge the front of the building or leave it until all the dirt and grass is removed to pour a concrete sidewalk in front of the building—which is probably what I will do.
I also had the chance to accomplish some inside projects too. I started some Lip Balm on Tuesday, and then on Wednesday I was able to start assembling the ingredients for my Virus Salve and my Soothing Salve. Those projects were not finished until Saturday afternoon when I spent the whole afternoon in the kitchen making salves and some Carrot Cupcakes. I usually make a three layered carrot cake—but this year I am on a cupcake kick.
Our milk production is way up—20 plus gallons on Saturday! We only received 14 gallons the Saturday before. Our winter hay supply has dwindled down to only four large round rolls of hay. Thankfully the spring weeds are growing lushly around the farm—so all the animals were moved out of their winter pastures and moved into slow rotations. The Jersey milk cows spend their mornings eating alfalfa hay and getting milked, then they spend their afternoons standing at the fence waiting to be let out—but that doesn’t happen until around 6:00 at night when Papa opens the wires and leads them to a pasture with a nice amount of spring weeds. They get to spend the night grazing, and in return they have been giving us more milk. Spring weeds are not the only reason for extra milk—we also had two new calves born. Blossom gave birth to a big bull calf the middle of the month. We called him Pistil (a part of a flower). He has a big white mark on his forehead—some say it is a heart, and others say it is a butterfly. He is usually not too far from his mama. Liberty gave birth to a little bull calf last Monday—and he does not stay close to his mama. We named him Henry—as in Patrick Henry who said, "Give me liberty, or give me death!" Thought it was a very fitting name for Liberty’s calf. Wednesday night I went out to separate the calves for the night (the older ones not the two new ones for they are too young still). I found Liberty walking around mooing for her calf and looking all over for him. I joined her in her search. I checked all four sides of both hay racks, in the tall weeds, at the milking parlor, in the chicken field, in the heifer field, in the garden, down to the pond, up around the house, in the barn, in the yard—but couldn’t find him anywhere. I got the other calves separated, and decided to go ahead and let the cows head out to their dinner of spring weeds under the stars. Then I decided to drive into their day field and check it out again. As I drove past one of the hayracks I noticed a little head peeking out from underneath the hayrack. They are only about a foot to 18 inches off the ground and somehow Henry managed to safely tuck himself completely underneath. I learned that there are more than four sides to a hayrack—there are five if you count underneath. I had to drag him out and load him into the golf-cart and drive him down pasture to Liberty who was very happy to see him and feed him his dinner of colostrum.
Thursday found me back at edging—but this time it was around the East and West Gardens so that Micah could mow around them. We finished around 2:30 and I was exhausted—but we still had another hour of outside work to do before we headed inside to package our daily allotment of eggs. Earlier that morning we had spent time pulling up and digging up wild cherry trees, oaks and other unwanted trees that were growing on fence lines or in garden beds. I decided that we would continue that search—it wasn’t as strenuous as weeding. So we drove around the farm up and down fence lines looking for trees growing in the wrong places. Wild cherry trees can be quite medicinal—but wilted cherry leaves can kill a cow in 24 hours. We placed all our tree finds in the middle of the Cottage Garden around the fire pit waiting for the next slightly rainy day so that I can burn all the dried weeds and brush that I have been collecting. We also took some time to walk back and forth and up and down one of the fields where I had lost a pile of odds and ends out of the golf-cart basket when I was driving what Micah called 30 mph chasing a steer we were trying to catch. This was back in December—and I don’t have too much longer before the grasses really start growing and everything is well hidden. O—I lost everything because I hit a hole going that fast and sent the golf-cart airborne and a little bouncy while trying to regain control. I wasn’t hurt—just lost some little things out of the front basket. We did manage to find a few electric fence balls and handles. Papa asked if we had found the putty knife—I guess we will have to go looking for that another day.
Friday I started my day out in a pretty pink dress—perfect for spring and warmer weather. Alas though, cows do not like pink and it wasn’t long (first two cows to be exact) that I was covered in poo. Spring weeds make milk—but they also make runny poo. I had to hose myself down and head inside for another dress—a peach one this time and the rest of the cows were much nicer than the first two (or were we just faster at catching it)? Later that day Micah and I were back at weed eating, mowing and edging—I did the edging he did everything else. This time I edged around the Market Gardens—and the stinging nettle was well hidden in those weeds and it got me quite a few times. I was glad when I was done. Now I must start getting the garden beds ready for all the seedlings that are sprouting in the greenhouse.
We have owned this farm for 30 years—hard to believe that it was 30 years ago when my Mama had her heart attack (the week before they signed the papers). Anyway, in all that time we have never seen a rattlesnake. A few years back our cow Emma was bit in the foot by a pygmy rattlesnake—which was pretty unsettling knowing that there was a snake lurking somewhere out there beneath the tall green grass (but we never saw it). Friday when Micah was weed-eating around the Poultry Barn (where some chickens and the ducks/goose live) he told me he had seen a Diamond back rattlesnake. I was hoping that he didn’t know his snakes very well. BUT—late Saturday afternoon Mama was out taking care of the chicks in our new Brooder and was on her way back to the house walking between the walk-in freezer and the Milking Parlor when she walked past something. She stopped and looked back and to her horror she realized that she was just a foot away from a two foot long rattlesnake. She got away from it and began hollering for Papa. I was fixing to walk out on the front porch when the garage door opened and I heard Mama yelling. I began the search for Papa too. I finally found him way down pasture feeding the dogs. I yelled at him and he came up as quick as he could—but it wasn’t fast enough for Mama. Papa was able to take care of the rattlesnake and then I was able to get a closer look at it. I guess he was only a few years old for he only had a few buttons on the end of his tail—and he was doing a good job rattling them. I sure hope it was the rattlesnake that Micah saw.
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare