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Hi Everyone,
If I could sum last week up in one word it would be—challenging! Praise the Lord for supplying the strength we needed to accomplish what each day required of us!
Thankfully the only thing on my “To Do List” Monday was to transplant some daylilies from the Cottage Garden to the Courtyard Garden. They were growing in a place where the weeds are growing like outlaws in the Wild West and if I didn’t save them this year they would have been choked out for good. I did get them dug up—but not exactly how I thought it would happen.
We had just finished eating breakfast when we realized that our worker had not showed up to work. It was a few hours later before we learned that he was recovering from an allergy attack. That meant it would just be the three of us running the farm that day. Since Papa had to put out the hay and bring in the cows (something that should already have been done by 8:30 in the morning), I decided to use the delay to go dig up the lilies. I first stopped to water the North Market Garden tunnel—but noticed that the multiplying onions were 100% ready to be pulled out of the ground and dried for planting in August. If I waited too long they would rot in the ground and I would lose them—and they are not easy to come by. You have to find an old-timer to replace those bulbs. I decided that there was no time like the present so I headed into pull up the onion bulbs and pull up the weeds in the row while I was at it. When I finished there I headed to the Cottage Garden to dig up the lilies. Getting to them required climbing around some brush that I really need to burn, and making my way past some weeds and briars. I found the lilies on the verge of suffocation. I pulled away the big bully weeds and dug up the lilies. To my Mama’s horror I dropped them off in a bucket of dirt for her to find a place to plant them in the Courtyard Garden. I had done my part—now she had to find the time to do her part. They are still sitting in the tub of dirt by the water hose—time was not on her side last week.
With Micah gone for the day, Papa had to do all of Micah’s chores and his chores—move and feed the laying hens, move and feed the sheep, move the cows, move and feed heifers, move and feed the bulls, move and feed the meat chickens, and feed and let out the ducks and Goose. Papa was not done with his chores by the time Mama and I were finished milking the cows. Our tanks were full of milk—and they were too heavy for Mama and I to pick them up so we had to have Papa come in from the field and bring the milk in and then help Mama filter the milk and help me wash the milking equipment. Trouble brewed before Papa got to us and we had to wait—because Papa let the cows out to go to some fresh pasture and he had left the wires open from moving the chickens and the cows went into the wrong field. So he had to run them out of that field and on down the lane to the correct field. While Mama and Papa bottled the milk I worked on washing my share of the milking equipment. Papa washes the tanks, milk hoses and the claws—and I wash all the buckets and small parts. When Mama was done she headed inside and at 2:15 she came over to tell us that we needed to take a break and come in for lunch. I was happy to have just finished washing all my parts—but Papa was not done yet so after lunch he had to come back and finish. Then he had to go back out and finish his “morning” chores. It was 3:30 when I decided to head to the garden. I weeded the South Market Garden tunnel and then I dug up a six foot section of red potatoes. I had planted about 12 potatoes in that section back in February and they were ready for harvesting—so I did and reaped a five gallon bucket of some really nice sized potatoes.
Tuesday morning rolled around and once again we were faced with the fact that our worker had not showed up to work. Unlike Monday with no real agenda—Tuesday was booked solid and there was no way that we would have time to bottle the milk and wash all the milking equipment. You see, Tuesday’s “To Do List” read like this: milk the cows, make yogurt, bottle kefir, Mom doctor at 1:30, Papa get hay, groceries, pick up our Azure order, move chicks to pasture, give a fence tutorial to a new farmer in the morning—there was no time to bottle the milk and wash the equipment. I told Mama that we had no choice but to call Steve on his day off and ask him to please come in and help us out. Steve has been semi-retired since last September and we haven’t once called him on one of his days off—so I was hoping he would understand that this was an emergency. Steve very kindly came in—even though he and his wife had planned on go kayaking on the river that day. We “Thanked” him with a bag of fresh potatoes and we gave him Friday off (he usually works Wednesday thru Sunday and has Monday and Tuesday off).
So Papa had all of Micah’s chores to do again—but half way through his buddy showed up to learn about fencing, and Papa roped him in to helping him finish all the chores. Mama and I got the cows milked and then I helped Steve bottle the kefir and then I made the yogurt. We got a quick bite to eat and then we headed out at 1:00 to go to Mama’s doctor’s appointment. There we found out that Mama’s liver and thyroid are “REALLY” messed up and the doctor ran some more tests on the liver. Then Mama and I headed to Hobby Lobby to check out the Patriotic décor—for it was time to pack up our spring décor and replace it with our summer décor which has a Patriotic/canning/summer picnics vibe. When we were done shopping we headed over to the grocery store to pick up some much needed groceries. It was after 4:30 when we got home and I had just enough time to head to the bathroom and change my shoes before I had to jump in the van with Papa and head over to pick up our Azure order. It was after 6:00 by the time we got home—and then there was dinner to fix and eat and all the receipts to put together for the JAX delivery the next day.
Wednesday is our delivery day to Jacksonville and Papa has all he can handle with his chores and the packing—but once again our worker didn’t show and Papa spent his morning hustling to get everything done in time. Mama had to pack his lunch for him—for he had no time to fix it. Thankful it was Steve’s day to bottle the milk and wash the equipment. As soon as I had all the receipts printed and emailed and Papa was on his way I headed to the garden. I still had forty feet of potatoes to dig up (78 plants). My goal was to have all the potatoes dug by Friday night and I figured if I did a little every day I would accomplish it with ease. I was able to dig up a third of the 40 feet of potatoes and got about 3 five gallon buckets.
Poor Papa wasn’t getting much done in a day besides the morning chores with Micah gone all week—but thankfully Steve was here Thursday to bottle and wash. This gave Mama a chance to weed in her Courtyard Garden and I headed to the garden to dig up more potatoes. I was told that lunch would be served at 1:00, and after I had dug up half of the remaining potatoes I looked at the clock and saw that it was only 12:30. I thought to myself, “I think that I can dig up the rest of the potatoes in 30 minutes.” It was almost 1:00 when Papa starting whistling at me to let me know that it was time to come in for lunch—and I only had 4 plants left to dig up—and dig up is just what I did! By 1:03 all the potatoes were dug and I had nine feed sacks with potatoes on them laid out to dry. After lunch Mama and I headed over to package eggs—the one thing we had not had any time all week to work on. We packaged about four 5-gallon buckets of eggs in about an hour, and our plan was to do the other half on Friday (but that never happened). It was 3:30 and we could have packaged more eggs, but I had to wipe off all the dirt on the potatoes and get them picked up and packed in crates, boxes, and baskets for Papa to carry upstairs to our cool room for storage until we have time to can them. I weighed a few of the buckets and realized that I had planted 20 pounds of red potatoes, and had harvested around 230 pounds of potatoes—now that is a really good increase.
We had hoped that Micah would have been well enough to return to work on Friday (since we had given Steve the day off), but alas it was just the three of us again. One customer stopped by and when he heard of our extra work he asked, “So one extra pair of hands really makes that big of a difference?” To which we answered with a big YES! Once all the morning chores were done—by late afternoon, Papa had to travel about 40 minutes away to get some alfalfa pellets for the cows and sheep. Our local feed mill was out of stock, so Papa had to travel—but the good thing was that the other place gave Papa a military discount and because he paid by check instead of credit card he got 3% off too—which meant he got the feed cheaper than he does two miles done the road from us. It ended up being a dollar cheaper per bag—but when you buy 20 bags that is a big discount (at least it paid for his gas to get there). Mama spent her day on the lawn mower, and I weeded in the garden trying to get ready to plant sweet potatoes. Papa would have loved to have spent many hours last week mowing on the tractor for that terrible Pepper Grass that is taking over our fields (and makes the milk taste nasty) is going to seed and turning brown. The nice thing is that the weed is fixing to die out—but the thousands of seeds it has produced is a nightmare. I told Mama that we need a large mower with a large bag to mow the fields and collect all the seeds. We cannot graze our milk cows in the fields where that weed grows heavy—which leaves us with very few fields. I had a horrifying thought the other day as I realized that if every field was covered in that weed we would not have any grass for our milk cows. We need to get with a soil manager and find out why this weed got a foot hold in our pastures—like what is lacking, and how can we get rid of it naturally.
When we finished milking Saturday morning Papa needed Mama to drive around and find some pastures to move the milk cows to and to figure out where to move the beef cows to. I rode along with Mama because when she was done I wanted her to take a detour and take some time to walk through the East Garden with me. She had only seen it in the video I had made last week. We found lots of cantaloupe on the vines—and some were growing between the squares on the trellis and they were quite stuck. I guess when they ripen I will have to cut them in half in order to harvest them.
Come Saturday afternoon I was exhausted. My “To Do List” said: make pickles, make elderberry syrup (for my allergies), iron (I am way behind-poor Papa), practice my piano, clean the canners (from the last time we canned green beans), start the herbal oil for 2 of the salves I make, and change out the spring décor for the summer décor. I walked around the kitchen so tired I could hardly function. Mama was working on décor and after a few decoration failures she wanted a shopping trip—and I gladly went along (just so I could sleep in the car). When we got home I was a little more energized so I made some jello and some chocolate syrup (for I have been craving chocolate of late). Neither one was on my “To Do List”—and I never did get anything on that list done but playing my piano. When Papa got home from deliveries we all took some time to relax before he started the evening chores and I had to cook dinner. When Papa came back from the evening chores he told us that Goose had died. He was eleven years old and the last month or so we had noticed that he was getting a little slower and that he wasn’t his “honking” self. We had the privilege of enjoying him for quite a few years. He brought much laughter and love to the farm—laughter as he was intent on attacking Mama (as all geese do), and love that got him in trouble and exiled to the pond for a few days. You see, when he first started roaming the yard he was so friendly that everyone stopped to pet him—and then he grew to demand attention (which was not safe for visiting children). So we sent him to the pond with the other geese—but while he was there something came in and ate them and Goose waddled as fast as he could back up the lane to his beloved ducks for he said that it was not safe at the pond. We decided to treat him like we do our bulls and rams—no petting! It worked, for Goose stayed with his ducks, roamed freely through the back pastures, the gardens and the yard at times—and he kept his distance from us as he protected his ducks. I remember a time when I would be working in the garden and he would find his way into the tunnel where I was working and insist on sitting in my lap. He shall be greatly missed.
To leave you on a funny note I will tell you a tale about green grass and cows. The cows eat hay all winter—and hay is pretty dry, and the cows poop is too—but not a lot of milk is made. Come spring and summer when the grasses start to grow green and lush the cows eat to their hearts content and all the extra green grass makes lots of milk—and lots of mushy poo! When the cows come into be milked they politely let down their milk—and as soon as they are finished eating (and sometimes beforehand) they also let down something that is brown and smelly—and has a tendency to go everywhere and cover everything if you do not catch it in time. We have a customer that comes like clockwork every Friday—and this Friday we were running late since Micah was not there to help. About the time I would expect him to arrive Miss Bonnie decided to give me a lot more than her creamy white milk—I got splattered with brown clumps which required me to have to hose off my dress and give it a good wringing. I was thankful to be cleaned up before our customer arrived—but I wasn’t done milking. In the people world there are women who get satisfaction out of going to work every day, and there are women who get satisfaction out of staying home and taking care of their children every day. In the cow world I believe that there are cows who enjoy working for you by giving you all their milk, and then there are cows who enjoy being a mama more and they will only give you a portion of their milk and they hold the rest for their calf. Sally loves to give every drop she has (I have to purposely leave one teat unmilked when she is raising a calf), but Sundrop on the other hand only gives you so much—and when she has given you all the milk she cares to share, you had better take the claws off or else. We had just reached that point with Sundrop when our faithful customer showed up—with some friends, and Sundrop greeted them with a royal display. First she pooped everywhere—and Papa wasn’t able to catch it all. I got the milk claws off of her but she was not happy. She backed up and started to swing on her rump rope. When I attempted to untie her leg she started kicking slinging the rope with its metal clip on the end back and forth. I told her that we had company and this was not the time to pitch a temper tantrum—but she didn’t agree. I told the customers friends that life was not usually like this—and the customer agreed, for he had been to the farm during milking many a day and as far as he knew the cows were perfectly sweet tempered cows. Why do children and animals show off when people are watching?
I hope you are enjoying your summer—and since this week is National Garden Week (June 7 to 13)--and there is no better way to celebrate it than to get your hands dirty in a garden I am inviting you to join me in the gardens here at Shepherd's Hill Farm this Monday (June 8) and Tuesday (June 9) anytime from 1:00 to 4:30 in the afternoon. Bring some garden gloves, something to drink to stay hydrated and a hat to give you shade--and don't forget two helping hands!
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare