Hi Everyone,
Monday started out as a normal day on the farm……………………………Mom had to run some errands in town, and bring home some much needed groceries. Eli and I got the milking done, and once Steve was done feeding and moving all the chickens, turkeys and ducks he headed to the garden to start weed trimming. When Momma got home, she jumped on the lawn mower and mowed the garden. After Eli and I finished with the milk, we headed to the garden too. Eli weeded, and I planted some more beets---only a few came up from my last planting. I also replanted the rutabagas---for only about three seeds out of 100 sprouted. Lastly, I planted another row of carrots---thankfully the first row is thriving nicely. Really and truly, the garden is not sprouting very well for us this year. I might buy some new seeds this week, and replant a lot of the winter greens this Thursday. After lunch Mom, Steve and Eli all went back to the garden to weed. I took some time to finish sewing Mom a much needed new apron. Then I came to the computer to catch up on the emails and orders for the Jacksonville delivery on Wednesday. A little after 5:00, Mom came in and said that she wanted dinner done by 6:00. I was in the middle of replying to a new customer, and was attempting to finish my email before I started dinner. All of a sudden I heard a loud BOOM!, followed by another BOOM! When the third BOOM! went off I ran out on the porch to see what was going on. There were two more BOOMS! The noise was coming from across the street, so I looked over towards the neighbors to see what was going on---thinking at first they were shooting off guns, then wondering if an electricity transformer was exploding. To my utter shock, I could see a huge ball of fire up in the trees near the road. Papa was out doing the chores---or at least had driven down pasture to gather the eggs, before he was rudely disturbed by the loud BOOMS! He came up in the Gravely, and I met him at the gate. We headed out to the road to see what was going on. What we found was a tree that had been snapped about five feet off the ground and had fallen across the road and was resting on the electrical wires. One had already snapped, and the tree was still flickering with fire. We came back up, and Mom called Clay Electric (our power company), and then she called 911 since the tree was on fire, and we were only able to talk to a computer with Clay Electric. Then Mom and I got in the van to drive back out to the road to see the "action." We took the van, because Papa had headed back out to gather the eggs in the Gravely, and the golf-cart sits in our garage broken until the money tree is found. Just as soon as we got in the van, there was another loud BOOM! With it came another large ball of fire. When we got back to the road the second electrical wire had broken, and was lying on the ground with the first. The tree was still laying across two more wires, and where it touched the wires, it was flickering with fire. I thought for sure that I would get to see the third wire snap, and another ball of fire------------------------but the electrical people got there and fixed it all before that happened. Needless to say, dinner was not done by 6:00.
Tuesday morning Eli milked so that I could work inside. After the cows were milked, then I headed out to the milk house to help bottle the milk and the kefir. Then we packaged the eggs. After lunch we finished the rest of the eggs. Mom and Steve mowed the lawn and got all the edges weed trimmed. Around 5:00, Mom and Dad went off to visit with some friends from church, and I stayed home to relax and get the Jacksonville orders done.
Wednesday morning was full to the brim. Eli and I got the cows milked, and then while he bottled the milk, I packed the orders. Then Papa came and loaded the ice chests into the van, and filled them with ice. Milk has been pretty low, and we needed all of Wednesday's milk to fill the order---actually, I needed more than what I got on Wednesday in order to fill the order. As it was, I filled most of the order, but had to cut a gallon or a few half gallons from a few people's orders. Once the milk was all packed, I headed inside to finish up the receipts. Then my piano students were ready for their lessons. It is neat to see how each student has their own likes and dislikes, styles, and gifts. Then we got to relax for a while. Around 5:00, Mom and I headed outside to separate the calves for the night. When we came back in I worked on my ironing. I got all but two pieces done before Papa called and said that he was in town---and it was time to cook dinner.
Thursday we made progress in the garden---the Cottage garden raised bed section. We were able to turn seven beds to dirt. Thankfully Steve, Eli and Mom had removed all the big five to seven foot tall weeds the week before. This enabled Mom, Eli and I to remove all the small weeds. Friday Papa bought me some more compost dirt to put in the beds---the old beds were only eight inches high, and Mom made the new beds eleven inches tall. I am wanting to plant wildflower seeds in some of the beds that we turned to dirt, but they need filled with more dirt first. A few beds house the Florida Narcissus, and the bulbs are sticking out of the dirt, so more dirt needs added to their bed too. The mullein should start sprouting soon, so I am glad that it's bed is weeded also. Monday and Tuesday are great days for planting flowers---and I plan to plant quite a few: rudebeckia Black eyed Susan, a few wildflower mixes, and some Larkspur and Borage. The garden is in full bloom right now----with flowers that I did not plant. The sunflowers are on their second round for the year (first they came up from last year's seeds that fell to the ground, and now they came back up from this year's seeds that fell from the sunflower plants). The zinnia's have re-sprouted also---everywhere and they are very lush and healthy looking. Then there is the bright orange cosmos that has re-seeded and is blooming again. The biggest focal point in the garden right now is the bed that is full of California Daisies. We have supplied one of the widows at church with eggs for many years now. She always wants to do something nice for us in return----but we do not eat sweats, of which she is an excellent baker. One Sunday she was so desperate to do something nice for us, that she invited us to her house to gather some of her flower seedlings (California Daisies and Mexican Petunias). We planted them in our back yard along with our elephant grass---before we knew how invasive elephant grass was. The Mexican Petunias bloomed a year or two, but the California Daisies survived. The problem though, was that the elephant grass took over, and the Daisies were swallowed up in the forest. Every October we would spot a flower or two, but not very many. This spring as we were preparing to bring the sheep into the yard to graze down the weeds, and to eat the elephant grass, we were fencing off the rose at the back gate arbor so that they couldn't eat it. As we were working, we saw a bunch of baby California Daisy plants. Here was my chance to remove them from the yard, and move them to the garden. I pulled up about twenty little plants. Then I weeded one of the beds in the garden, and planted them. To our delight, they loved their new home, and grew and grew and grew. They are about ten feet tall, and are bright yellow---full of Daisy blooms.
Friday morning we milked the cows and headed to the garden to weed some more. This time we tackled one of the beds that had been invaded by elderberry. It took all day weeding on this one bed. In the end though---it was all dirt, except for the two Wedding Gown Bigleaf Hydrangeas, and the one white crepe myrtle bush. The goal for this bed is to plant only plants that have white blooms. Being that the bed is 10 ft. by 10 ft. we have a lot of space to fill.
Saturday morning Mom and I milked the cows. While she bottled the milk, I bottled the kefir. Then I packed the order for the Gainesville delivery, and got the receipts done. After Papa left for the delivery, Mom and I rested. I also spent some time looking into the poultry laws. We are getting a shed, and our first idea was to house interns in it. Then after some research, we are not sure that interns are the right thing for us. We have tried it before, and we either had those who were rebellious and just wanted a place to live that was not at home with their parents, or we had those who came from the city, and wanted to tell us how to run our farm---like quit work by 10:00 in the morning and spend the rest of the day on the porch in the rocking chair with a book in hand. So our next idea was to turn the shed into a Farm Stay---a little "house" that people could rent and stay in for one night or two and enjoy farm life. Then we talked to the zoning law people, and found out that we could not legally do that in our county. So……………for years we have wanted a chicken butchering facility, and it looks like we just might be able to turn this shed into that. I would love to have it done by the time we butcher the chickens and turkeys in November----but the list of things to do to make it all happen is pretty long! I at least found out that there are no building laws for an exempt poultry butchering facility.
Around 4:30 Saturday afternoon, I decided to head out and check on my turkeys. Papa had told me at breakfast that one had been killed in the night. I have one turkey nesting in the last nest in the turkey house, and another one is laying eggs in the middle nest. The middle nest needed cleaned out, so that the turkey could have a fresh nest to hatch her eggs in. So, I grabbed a flat shovel, and filled a tub with some fresh straw. I took the four eggs out, and placed them in the first nest. Then I shoveled the old woodchips out and into the poultry barnyard---compost yard. Once it was all cleaned out, I filled it with the new straw, made a little indented nest and put the four eggs back in. Before I came back to the house, I wanted to check on the turkey that had been killed. Papa said that there were feathers all over the neighbors pasture. I found the area, and followed the trail. Just about three feet on the neighbors side of the fence, surrounded by briars, was a nest of about twelve eggs. I had no idea that the turkey was nesting----but evidently she was, and some predator found her in the night on her nest. She put up a good fight--but lost. I jumped the fence to see if there were any eggs that I could salvage. I managed to save six eggs, for the rest were either broken or too gooey from the broken ones. I then set the eggs on the other side of the fence so that I could climb back over without breaking them in my pockets. My first step was unsuccessful, for the staple that was holding the barbwire to the fence post, broke lose. Then to my dismay, one of the bulls came over to investigate. He came right up to where I was, and began to rub his head up and down on the post that I had attempted to climb. It was as if he was saying, "You are not coming over here!" I tried to shoo him off, and grab a big weed to try to push him away, but he just looked at the weed, and looked at me. Then he began to eat grass---and head for my precious eggs. I yelled at him to move on and get lost---and of all things, "DO NOT TOUCH MY EGGS!" Thankfully he did turn the other way, but he kept an eye on me. I decided to head to the corner of our property and climb back over there---but the bull was still keeping an eye on me. Even if I did get over the fence, the bull was only about ten feet away from my eggs, and I would have to walk through the open pasture to get back to the turkey house. I was not sure if the bull would leave me alone---nor was I sure that I could out run him. I have only played chase with an ornery cow once in my life. She was a big Pinzgauer heifer. Penny was mean, and everyone told us that she would calm down when she got bred---that didn't happen. Then they told us that she would calm down after she had her calf. Well, the day she had her calf, we sat in the back of the pickup truck watching as she threw her calf around, up in the air and into our brush pile. We decided that the best thing to do was to load her and her calf into the cattle trailer and take them to the auction---which just so happened to be that day. Anyway, one day I had gone out into the pasture to play with the lambs, and on my way back Penny found me. She chased me around and around a tree. Then I noticed that the cattle trailer was not too far away. I wondered if I could get to the trailer, and inside before she caught me. After a few more rounds around the tree, I bolted for the cattle trailer. I just barely got the door closed before Penny had her head on it. After a while, she gave up, and I was able to make my next dash for the corral. Our pasture at that house had lots of trees to dodge behind, our pastures at this house have no trees---so I was not very game on heading across the open pasture with a bull that does not want me around. Then I remembered that Mom was out on a farm tour. She would soon be coming by the garden and poultry barn, and I could just yell for her to come and pick me up in the Gravely. After about 15 minutes, I heard the Gravely coming. Then I saw that it was on the other side of the fence, and was not coming my way. UGH! After waiting and waiting, all the bulls decided to head to the far end of the field---and after a few more looks my way, the bull who was "bullying" me decided to move on. I climbed the fence, grabbed up my eggs, and went back to add them to the nest of four eggs that I had just made. To my dismay, the turkeys had already thrown them all over the place. I gathered them back up, and added the six I had. This morning I think that one of the turkeys were in there laying a new egg. I am hoping that she will take up nesting soon.
Well, that was enough excitement for one week. We shall see what this new week shall behold. Until then, I will be…….
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare
Monday started out as a normal day on the farm……………………………Mom had to run some errands in town, and bring home some much needed groceries. Eli and I got the milking done, and once Steve was done feeding and moving all the chickens, turkeys and ducks he headed to the garden to start weed trimming. When Momma got home, she jumped on the lawn mower and mowed the garden. After Eli and I finished with the milk, we headed to the garden too. Eli weeded, and I planted some more beets---only a few came up from my last planting. I also replanted the rutabagas---for only about three seeds out of 100 sprouted. Lastly, I planted another row of carrots---thankfully the first row is thriving nicely. Really and truly, the garden is not sprouting very well for us this year. I might buy some new seeds this week, and replant a lot of the winter greens this Thursday. After lunch Mom, Steve and Eli all went back to the garden to weed. I took some time to finish sewing Mom a much needed new apron. Then I came to the computer to catch up on the emails and orders for the Jacksonville delivery on Wednesday. A little after 5:00, Mom came in and said that she wanted dinner done by 6:00. I was in the middle of replying to a new customer, and was attempting to finish my email before I started dinner. All of a sudden I heard a loud BOOM!, followed by another BOOM! When the third BOOM! went off I ran out on the porch to see what was going on. There were two more BOOMS! The noise was coming from across the street, so I looked over towards the neighbors to see what was going on---thinking at first they were shooting off guns, then wondering if an electricity transformer was exploding. To my utter shock, I could see a huge ball of fire up in the trees near the road. Papa was out doing the chores---or at least had driven down pasture to gather the eggs, before he was rudely disturbed by the loud BOOMS! He came up in the Gravely, and I met him at the gate. We headed out to the road to see what was going on. What we found was a tree that had been snapped about five feet off the ground and had fallen across the road and was resting on the electrical wires. One had already snapped, and the tree was still flickering with fire. We came back up, and Mom called Clay Electric (our power company), and then she called 911 since the tree was on fire, and we were only able to talk to a computer with Clay Electric. Then Mom and I got in the van to drive back out to the road to see the "action." We took the van, because Papa had headed back out to gather the eggs in the Gravely, and the golf-cart sits in our garage broken until the money tree is found. Just as soon as we got in the van, there was another loud BOOM! With it came another large ball of fire. When we got back to the road the second electrical wire had broken, and was lying on the ground with the first. The tree was still laying across two more wires, and where it touched the wires, it was flickering with fire. I thought for sure that I would get to see the third wire snap, and another ball of fire------------------------but the electrical people got there and fixed it all before that happened. Needless to say, dinner was not done by 6:00.
Tuesday morning Eli milked so that I could work inside. After the cows were milked, then I headed out to the milk house to help bottle the milk and the kefir. Then we packaged the eggs. After lunch we finished the rest of the eggs. Mom and Steve mowed the lawn and got all the edges weed trimmed. Around 5:00, Mom and Dad went off to visit with some friends from church, and I stayed home to relax and get the Jacksonville orders done.
Wednesday morning was full to the brim. Eli and I got the cows milked, and then while he bottled the milk, I packed the orders. Then Papa came and loaded the ice chests into the van, and filled them with ice. Milk has been pretty low, and we needed all of Wednesday's milk to fill the order---actually, I needed more than what I got on Wednesday in order to fill the order. As it was, I filled most of the order, but had to cut a gallon or a few half gallons from a few people's orders. Once the milk was all packed, I headed inside to finish up the receipts. Then my piano students were ready for their lessons. It is neat to see how each student has their own likes and dislikes, styles, and gifts. Then we got to relax for a while. Around 5:00, Mom and I headed outside to separate the calves for the night. When we came back in I worked on my ironing. I got all but two pieces done before Papa called and said that he was in town---and it was time to cook dinner.
Thursday we made progress in the garden---the Cottage garden raised bed section. We were able to turn seven beds to dirt. Thankfully Steve, Eli and Mom had removed all the big five to seven foot tall weeds the week before. This enabled Mom, Eli and I to remove all the small weeds. Friday Papa bought me some more compost dirt to put in the beds---the old beds were only eight inches high, and Mom made the new beds eleven inches tall. I am wanting to plant wildflower seeds in some of the beds that we turned to dirt, but they need filled with more dirt first. A few beds house the Florida Narcissus, and the bulbs are sticking out of the dirt, so more dirt needs added to their bed too. The mullein should start sprouting soon, so I am glad that it's bed is weeded also. Monday and Tuesday are great days for planting flowers---and I plan to plant quite a few: rudebeckia Black eyed Susan, a few wildflower mixes, and some Larkspur and Borage. The garden is in full bloom right now----with flowers that I did not plant. The sunflowers are on their second round for the year (first they came up from last year's seeds that fell to the ground, and now they came back up from this year's seeds that fell from the sunflower plants). The zinnia's have re-sprouted also---everywhere and they are very lush and healthy looking. Then there is the bright orange cosmos that has re-seeded and is blooming again. The biggest focal point in the garden right now is the bed that is full of California Daisies. We have supplied one of the widows at church with eggs for many years now. She always wants to do something nice for us in return----but we do not eat sweats, of which she is an excellent baker. One Sunday she was so desperate to do something nice for us, that she invited us to her house to gather some of her flower seedlings (California Daisies and Mexican Petunias). We planted them in our back yard along with our elephant grass---before we knew how invasive elephant grass was. The Mexican Petunias bloomed a year or two, but the California Daisies survived. The problem though, was that the elephant grass took over, and the Daisies were swallowed up in the forest. Every October we would spot a flower or two, but not very many. This spring as we were preparing to bring the sheep into the yard to graze down the weeds, and to eat the elephant grass, we were fencing off the rose at the back gate arbor so that they couldn't eat it. As we were working, we saw a bunch of baby California Daisy plants. Here was my chance to remove them from the yard, and move them to the garden. I pulled up about twenty little plants. Then I weeded one of the beds in the garden, and planted them. To our delight, they loved their new home, and grew and grew and grew. They are about ten feet tall, and are bright yellow---full of Daisy blooms.
Friday morning we milked the cows and headed to the garden to weed some more. This time we tackled one of the beds that had been invaded by elderberry. It took all day weeding on this one bed. In the end though---it was all dirt, except for the two Wedding Gown Bigleaf Hydrangeas, and the one white crepe myrtle bush. The goal for this bed is to plant only plants that have white blooms. Being that the bed is 10 ft. by 10 ft. we have a lot of space to fill.
Saturday morning Mom and I milked the cows. While she bottled the milk, I bottled the kefir. Then I packed the order for the Gainesville delivery, and got the receipts done. After Papa left for the delivery, Mom and I rested. I also spent some time looking into the poultry laws. We are getting a shed, and our first idea was to house interns in it. Then after some research, we are not sure that interns are the right thing for us. We have tried it before, and we either had those who were rebellious and just wanted a place to live that was not at home with their parents, or we had those who came from the city, and wanted to tell us how to run our farm---like quit work by 10:00 in the morning and spend the rest of the day on the porch in the rocking chair with a book in hand. So our next idea was to turn the shed into a Farm Stay---a little "house" that people could rent and stay in for one night or two and enjoy farm life. Then we talked to the zoning law people, and found out that we could not legally do that in our county. So……………for years we have wanted a chicken butchering facility, and it looks like we just might be able to turn this shed into that. I would love to have it done by the time we butcher the chickens and turkeys in November----but the list of things to do to make it all happen is pretty long! I at least found out that there are no building laws for an exempt poultry butchering facility.
Around 4:30 Saturday afternoon, I decided to head out and check on my turkeys. Papa had told me at breakfast that one had been killed in the night. I have one turkey nesting in the last nest in the turkey house, and another one is laying eggs in the middle nest. The middle nest needed cleaned out, so that the turkey could have a fresh nest to hatch her eggs in. So, I grabbed a flat shovel, and filled a tub with some fresh straw. I took the four eggs out, and placed them in the first nest. Then I shoveled the old woodchips out and into the poultry barnyard---compost yard. Once it was all cleaned out, I filled it with the new straw, made a little indented nest and put the four eggs back in. Before I came back to the house, I wanted to check on the turkey that had been killed. Papa said that there were feathers all over the neighbors pasture. I found the area, and followed the trail. Just about three feet on the neighbors side of the fence, surrounded by briars, was a nest of about twelve eggs. I had no idea that the turkey was nesting----but evidently she was, and some predator found her in the night on her nest. She put up a good fight--but lost. I jumped the fence to see if there were any eggs that I could salvage. I managed to save six eggs, for the rest were either broken or too gooey from the broken ones. I then set the eggs on the other side of the fence so that I could climb back over without breaking them in my pockets. My first step was unsuccessful, for the staple that was holding the barbwire to the fence post, broke lose. Then to my dismay, one of the bulls came over to investigate. He came right up to where I was, and began to rub his head up and down on the post that I had attempted to climb. It was as if he was saying, "You are not coming over here!" I tried to shoo him off, and grab a big weed to try to push him away, but he just looked at the weed, and looked at me. Then he began to eat grass---and head for my precious eggs. I yelled at him to move on and get lost---and of all things, "DO NOT TOUCH MY EGGS!" Thankfully he did turn the other way, but he kept an eye on me. I decided to head to the corner of our property and climb back over there---but the bull was still keeping an eye on me. Even if I did get over the fence, the bull was only about ten feet away from my eggs, and I would have to walk through the open pasture to get back to the turkey house. I was not sure if the bull would leave me alone---nor was I sure that I could out run him. I have only played chase with an ornery cow once in my life. She was a big Pinzgauer heifer. Penny was mean, and everyone told us that she would calm down when she got bred---that didn't happen. Then they told us that she would calm down after she had her calf. Well, the day she had her calf, we sat in the back of the pickup truck watching as she threw her calf around, up in the air and into our brush pile. We decided that the best thing to do was to load her and her calf into the cattle trailer and take them to the auction---which just so happened to be that day. Anyway, one day I had gone out into the pasture to play with the lambs, and on my way back Penny found me. She chased me around and around a tree. Then I noticed that the cattle trailer was not too far away. I wondered if I could get to the trailer, and inside before she caught me. After a few more rounds around the tree, I bolted for the cattle trailer. I just barely got the door closed before Penny had her head on it. After a while, she gave up, and I was able to make my next dash for the corral. Our pasture at that house had lots of trees to dodge behind, our pastures at this house have no trees---so I was not very game on heading across the open pasture with a bull that does not want me around. Then I remembered that Mom was out on a farm tour. She would soon be coming by the garden and poultry barn, and I could just yell for her to come and pick me up in the Gravely. After about 15 minutes, I heard the Gravely coming. Then I saw that it was on the other side of the fence, and was not coming my way. UGH! After waiting and waiting, all the bulls decided to head to the far end of the field---and after a few more looks my way, the bull who was "bullying" me decided to move on. I climbed the fence, grabbed up my eggs, and went back to add them to the nest of four eggs that I had just made. To my dismay, the turkeys had already thrown them all over the place. I gathered them back up, and added the six I had. This morning I think that one of the turkeys were in there laying a new egg. I am hoping that she will take up nesting soon.
Well, that was enough excitement for one week. We shall see what this new week shall behold. Until then, I will be…….
Serving you with Gladness,
Tiare