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Hi Everyone,
Last week had some very HOT days—but as the week passed by something in the atmosphere (or was it just me) began to give the sense that fall was near. I do not know what it is about fall but it arrives as a smell, a look, a nostalgic feeling way before the temperatures drop and the leaves begin to turn shades of red, yellow and orange. Another sign that fall is coming is the arrival of the crows—and I don’t just mean one or two, but a dozen here and there.
A few weeks ago Papa and I weaned two heifer calves: Melody (Aria’s calf) and Rita—short for Senorita (Fiesta’s calf). Hot wire means nothing to them, and being BIG girls was not their cup of tea. They were not ready to give up a good tummy full of creamy milk. So after a few days of being escape artists we locked them in the panel pen corral with Leeann and Emmy (the two bottle calves). For a few days it was just the four of them—because we didn’t need to separate the other calves. Then last Sunday night we did separate the calves in order to get enough milk to fill the Jacksonville orders, and come Monday morning there was a slight problem. Papa didn’t know which two calves were supposed to stay behind with the two bottle calves. So he asked me to go help him—and we took with us a bag of wax-based markers in colors of blue, green, red and orange. Papa’s goal was to mark the forehead of the ones staying. I chose the blue marker, but I didn’t have much success getting the calves to stand still long enough for me to put a blue streak up their forehead. Leeann was the only one who stood still for me. I managed to get everyone marked blue—but it was a shoulder here, a rump here, a few streaks across the back there. Papa soon took the marker from me and he managed to give all four calves their much needed blue mark. Come Tuesday morning just about all the blue marks had disappeared and Melody managed to sneak out with the rest of the calves. She is as sly as a fox! I put the calves away Wednesday morning—and I know who is who by their looks, so there were no escapees that day. We haven’t separated the calves since then—but we are tonight so I guess Papa will need my help again tomorrow to figure out who is who.
The Thanksgiving turkeys are growing nicely—at the moment we have 20 turkeys thriving in the pasture. Last week they were a month old and ready to leave the Brooder and head out to pasture. Our new workers are looking forward to the day when they can carry on conversations with the turkeys. They might just only talk turkey (Gobble, Gobble), but they are very much capable of answering your every question and following you around if you are singing.
The drainage sidewalk beside the milking parlor has not been draining very well—because manure has turned to mud, and weeds have taken a foot hold in the lush soil. Papa asked me to make sure it got cleaned out on Tuesday—so after lunch Shayne and I tackled it and a lot more. We mowed and weed wacked around the Greenhouse (which is beside the Milking Parlor). Shayne dug up the thorny pig weed that was growing along the concrete around the Milking Parlor and I mowed under the hot wire fence. Then Shayne shoveled all the muck and weeds off of the sidewalk and then I sent him inside to package eggs. It was 103 degrees in the shade of the Milking Parlor. I spent the next hour hosing the muck off of the sidewalk (and hosing myself to stay cool) and trying to create a drainage path so that the water could flow out to pasture instead of puddling up on the sidewalk. I ended up having to rake some of the muck and weeds off to the side in order to expose the old rock bed and get the ground low enough to drain. When Shayne joined me again later he was shocked to see that there actually was a sidewalk and a pile of rocks at the end—it had been nothing but an over growth of weeds since before he started working for us. Now we just have to keep it hosed off and weed free.
I spent an hour helping my Mama weed the courtyard on Thursday and Friday—but the rest of Thursday was spent in the house cleaning and cooking. Clayton (a young man who lived with us as an intern for five months—four years ago) was coming for dinner and an overnight visit and he was bringing his girlfriend (and a friend of hers) for us to meet. Somethings have changed here on the farm over the past four years—and many things have stayed the same. He said that the visit brought back many good memories. Friday morning he drove the girls around the farm and took time to bottle feed Leeann and Emmy. Clayton also took time to pay a visit to the beef cows for he wanted to see just how big and handsome our bull Jabez had turned out to be. Jabez was only a little over a year old when Clayton was with us. They left around 10:30 Friday morning for there were more places he wanted to show his girl and more people he wanted to visit.
Friday afternoon I finally got around to doing the one thing I had wanted to do all week—start the fall garden seeds. I have never had anyone who was interested or who I would trust to help me in the greenhouse. So I have always started my seeds alone—but it just so happens that my afternoon helper has a Horticulture degree and as he said to me, “seeds are his thing.” All his other work was done—and all that was left to do was package eggs—but wouldn’t I please consider letting him help me plant? I wasn’t too sure how it would work since my greenhouse isn’t very big or tall, and my planting station is quite cramped. The ceiling is not even 6 feet tall—and Shayne is close to 6’5”. The middle of the greenhouse has a board that goes across it to support the roof—and it is only a little over 5 feet off the floor. A week ago I had teasingly told Shayne that he wasn’t welcome in the greenhouse—because he would most likely bang his head on the center board, not to mention he wouldn’t even be able to stand up inside—but that didn’t detour Shayne from wanting to put his college education to good use. So I agreed to let him help (and yes, he banged his head a few times)—I planted the seeds in the seed trays and then he cleaned them up and watered them. My goal was to be done by 3:00 so that I could help him package eggs—and because he was helping me I was done by 3:00. I planted kale, collards, and three types of cabbage, broccoli, bok choy, mustard greens, snapdragons, and lettuce. I was surprised today that the broccoli was already starting to sprout—just two days after planting!
Saturday afternoon was spent in the house doing laundry, cooking and ironing—and I finally was able to take some time to go to the garden and harvest the first batch of okra. My okra didn’t do last year, so I am very grateful to get to eat some this year. It was ready for harvest a little over a week ago—but I never could get my act together to harvest it. I grow Burmese okra for this very reason—it is still tender even when it is 9 to 12 inches long! I had a whole basket full—and only had to throw away about ten pieces that had turned woody from getting to old. I cooked them in butter with salt and pepper and some carrots and onions. They were O so good! I saved the smaller ones to roast in the oven after I harvest some more.
I have no idea what this week will behold—for poor Mama came down sick with a cold again last Tuesday. She is still pretty miserable—and to my dismay I woke up this morning sick too. The three biggest things that have to get done are: milking the cows, packaging the eggs, and planting green beans (after the trellises are cleaned off and the soil amended). I could skip the green beans—but I so want to have them on the menu for our Fall Farm to Table Dinner. Yes, we have a date—Saturday, November 7, 2026. That is why I am busy starting the gardens now—we got to have something to eat for our fancy seven course meal!
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare