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Hi Everyone,
When the month of May rolls around, Mama usually gets sick on her stomach and the heat bothers her. Every year she says, “I do not know how I will handle the heat in July and August.” I remind her that once she starts sweating she will feel better—and that the summer rains will keep the extreme heat at bay most days. This is only August 9th and so far this month we have had almost 8 inches of rain—and when it rains the temps drop down into the 70’s. The positive of summer rains is that the cows have plenty of grass to eat—the negative is that there is more grass than the cows and the sheep combined can keep up with. In the summer we need 100 head of cattle to graze the pastures—but in the winter 30 head is too much.
There is always gardening work to do on the farm. Steve used to say that weeds were his job security. In 2008 we started a quarter acre raised bed Cottage Garden (slide show halfway down the garden page). The plan was to grow all our vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers in a beautifully patterned English garden. We soon decided that we just couldn’t grow enough okra, green beans, sweet potatoes or pumpkins in the raised beds—so we put in six long row garden beds to grow some crops in abundance for canning. Over the years the Cottage Garden changed from mainly a vegetable garden to a garden of fruits, herbs and flowers—mostly ornamental. It was beautiful in its glory days—but when my sisters left home Mama and I just couldn’t keep up with the whole garden. The whole back third and side third of the garden became overgrown with weeds—and if I had a massive dirt moving machine I would demolish those areas and turn them back to grass land. A few times a year I manage to manicure a third of the garden so that it is glorious and a sweet place to enjoy the beauty of God’s Creation. I love to share the gardens with others, and I dream of building a picnic pavilion where the weeds reside now and adding a few little cottages where people could come and camp out in the garden. Dreams take time and to my dismay dreams take money—so in the meantime I will work on controlling what I can.
Our last worker Micah and I had created quite the burn pile around the fire pit in the middle of the garden—but it has been so dry that we could not burn. The daily rains this month gave us enough moisture that I decided that it was time to burn. I also decided that it was time to give the Cottage Garden some TLC. Shayne and I spent Monday and Tuesday weeding and pruning in the Cottage Garden, and then on Thursday I lit the “bonfire” in the middle of the garden. As it burned we continued to weed and prune—feeding the fire and the chickens along the way. Dry matter went to the fire, and green weeds went to the chickens. The fire pit is in the middle of a 20 foot diameter concrete circle in the middle of the garden. I had the fire pit full of dead branches and weeds, and the concrete all around it was full of dead branches and weeds. Before I could start the fire, I had to create a walkway around the fire pit so that I didn’t set the whole concrete pad on fire with all the debris. Dead rose branches like to snap and crackle and cause the fire to flame big when you add them to the fire—so if I added too much leaves or fresh weeds to the fire I just had to add some dead branches and the fire was good to go again. We worked until 4:00 in the garden on Thursday—and the garden is looking so much better. When we first started working in the Cottage Garden it really was overwhelming when you looked all around. I didn’t know where to start. I would start on one bed, then turn around and see another bed and want to go work on that one. I told Shayne that the best way to eat an elephant was one bite at a time—and the best way to tackle an overgrown garden is one weed at a time. One of the beds that Shayne was able to turn to dirt is ready for a facelift and we decided that the best thing to plant in it would be some marigolds. When planting in the Cottage Garden there are two rules: It must be pretty or useful and it must be deer proof. I really enjoyed working in the Cottage Garden last week—and one nice thing about it is that a good portion of it is in the shade. This coming week we will have to work in the North Market Garden—some of the beds are getting weedy and I have some freshly sprouted zinnias (fall colors) to transplant to the garden. We only have two or three days to work in the garden, for Thursday and Friday we will be processing chickens. Speaking of fall—I will be starting the fall garden seeds in a week. Hard to believe that lettuce, collards, carrots and kale are not too far off.
While Shayne and I worked in the garden he commented that I was the best Boss Manager he had ever had. Some managers evidentially tell you what to do—but don’t do it themselves, or they check on you once in a while and spend the rest of the time sitting at their desk. When I tell my workers to do something a certain way—trust me, I am doing it that way too. While I do have some “administrative” work to do on the computer, most of my time is spent working right beside my workers. I told Shayne that I don’t hire people to do my job, but to help me do the things that are too hard or heavy for me to do. I love gardening—I just need help doing it. Now if someone wanted to clean the house I would gladly let them do “my” job. The funny part is that thirty years ago when Mama would ask if I wanted to work outside or clean the house I would opt to clean the house every time. I hated working outside—for I didn’t like to get dirty or sweat. I still wonder how I managed to love riding horses. As the years went by I slowly began to fall in love with the outside work, and out of love with the inside work. Part of that just might be that I enjoy doing house work during the morning hours—but that is when we milk the cows. Later in the day I am too tired to dust, vacuum, or clean bathrooms. I still enjoy laundry and cooking though.
It is a good thing that I enjoy the kitchen, for I spent the afternoon in it Saturday. Mama and I got the cows milked in the morning, and then I packed the orders for the Gainesville delivery. Just as Papa was leaving I noticed that one of the calves didn’t go back out to pasture with the herd. I was heading out to put the calf back with its mama when a customer/friend showed up to pick up her order. I asked Emily if she wanted to go with me and she did—so we jumped in the golf-cart and headed out. Papa had told me to go get the mama and let her come and get her calf—the mama might have been mooing for her calf, but she was not leaving the shade. Thankfully I just had to drive up to the calf, and it jumped up and I chased it around the hay rack once, and then he headed out and I got back in the golf-cart and followed it down the lane to the pasture where it found its mama. Emily had questions about the difference between milk cows and beef cows, so after we drove around the Jersey milk cows, we drove up to take a look at the Murray Grey/South Poll beef cows. Then I remembered that the heifer field had both milk cows and beef cows together so I drove out to their field so she could see the difference side by side. Milk cows are not fat, but the beef cows are broad enough that you could set the table (plates, forks, spoons, knives, napkins, glasses and a floral centerpiece) on their backs. Emily left around 2:00 and I headed straight for the kitchen. We were out of hard-boiled eggs for the turkeys, we were out of chocolate syrup for a perfect hydration drink called Chocolate Milk, and we were out of Horehound candy—Mama caught a cold a few weeks back and it has now turned into asthma and the horehound cough drops help to eliminate a good portion of her coughing attacks that seem to turn her inside out, make her gag and gasp for air (leaving her quite exhausted). The first thing I did was make a tea of horehound, peppermint and thyme. While it simmered I cooked the coco syrup. Then I washed both the pots and started some hard-boiled eggs (I have learned that the best method is to steam them for 20 minutes instead of boiling them). While the eggs cooked I started the horehound candy. For one hour I stood at that stove stirring hot boiling syrup (our candy is made with herbal tea, cream of tartar, maple syrup, butter and lemon juice). The syrup has to reach 240 before you add the butter, and then 300 before it is done and you add the lemon juice. I think that the temp stands still at 219 for at least twenty minutes and you begin to think that your thermometer doesn’t work. Then slowly it starts to rise, and after about 45 minutes it reaches 240. Then it takes about another 15 minutes to reach 300. Once it is done you pour it in a buttered dish and let it cool a little before you start scoring it. You have to score it over and over, but you cannot wait too long or it will harden and you will not be able to cut it at all. I remember the very first time we made horehound candy. Once we got the candy scored enough to separate it into pieces (and while it was still warm) Papa, Mama, my two sisters and I stood around the kitchen island and rolled each piece into a little ball and then we dropped them into a glass jar and put the jar on a shelf in our cupboard. To our horror the next day the balls of candy had all stuck together—the warm air made them just sticky enough to slightly melt together. We had to chisel the candy to get it out of the jar. Then one day one of us slipped with the butter knife and shattered the jar and we lost all our candy. We no longer roll each piece into a ball, we just score them into squares—and we have learned to store them in a plastic container in the freezer! They stay loose and separated this way.
It was 5:00 by the time I finished the candy and the kitchen was a mess from all my cooking projects. I had one project left—to juice a watermelon, but Mama laid the law down and told me it was time to get the kitchen cleaned up and start on dinner. I complained at first, but I soon saw her wisdom. That night I dropped into bed and fell fast asleep at 9:00.—which is where I will be heading again real soon.
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare