Fall Planting

Under the heading of "the fence saga," we put up new fence around the chicken pen.  Those adolescent chickens have been getting over the top.  Every few hours the twins have been tossing a dozen chickens back into the pen.  If they stayed in the yard, it'd be no big deal, but when they get into the neighbor's yards, the dogs enjoy them too much. 

I was hoping it would be a quick job this morning, but it took all morning to get the new wire up.  At least the chickens seems to be contained.

Our new fruit trees are looking good. These peaches on a tree we planted just over a year ago are ripening up.

Tomorrow our flood irrigation comes, so today we cleared out several beds and put in a bunch of seeds for a fall harvest.  I've never been very good at planting for a fall crop, but many of our spring vegetables didn't do well, so I'm motivated to grow some more.  Today we planted carrots, shell peas, snow peas, parsnips, lettuce, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, turnips, beats and kale.  (wow, I need a rest after typing all of that).  The next few weeks will require our diligent to keep them moist while they're germinating.

Dairy Visit

Today we visited the dairy we bought Christina from.  The people we bought her from are such wonderful people and have been an amazing help to us as we've learned to care for cows.  We took some cheese as an expresssion of appreciation.

We all had such a good time seeing all the cows.

First the girls cuddled the cows.  One of the highlights was meeting Christina's mom, Christine.  She was laying down in the shade and seemed to enjoy the girls.  We also met beefy's mom and sister.

After cuddling Christine, then they cuddled the calves.  Those babies were so silly and affectionate, just like I remember jerky being.

Then they cuddled the heifers.  These girl calves are about six months old. 

Finally, after visiting all the cows and getting a tour of the milk barn, the twins went back and cuddled Christine some more.  They just sat there, enjoying the time with her. 

Now that we're home, I'm getting hollered at that we need to print out the pictures to show Christina and jerky and beefy, so I guess I better get busy.

Christina Anniversary

Christina came to us one year ago today.  I remember that first day, so full of excitement and trepidation.  Our first week with Christina could have been straight out of a sit-com, with buckets getting kicked, taking an hour to milk, and a shy cow trying to teach us a few things.  We knew so little.

We've learned a lot over the past year.  We've dealt with milk fever, mastitis, and bloat.  We know just how much hay a cow eats, how to get a cow to come when she'd rather not, and how to get a stubborn leg out of the way when we milk.  We've also learned about cow kisses and hugs.

After that first week of sloppy milking, we now milk with strength and speed, usually finishing in 15 minutes.  A year ago I dreaded milking; today I enjoy it.  With my hands moving rhythmically, birds chirping quietly, and Christina enjoying her massage, milking has become a peaceful and grounding part of my day.

The rhythm of our lives has changed.  Milking and caring for cows keeps us at home with new routines in the mornings and the evenings.  Cheese making is a regular part of our week. Moving hay and cleaning the shed are part of our annual cycle.

A little while back, a friend asked us "so how long are you going to keep this up?" It's a good question. We are city people who've jumped into this sustainable living thing.  When will we go back to "normal?"

Parts of this life are difficult.  We work hard.  We used to just get up in the morning and have breakfast.  Now we get up, clean the cow shed, feed the cows, milk, filter the milk, pour the milk, and an hour and a half later, finally have breakfast.  Evenings are similar. 

My arms get tired from milking and stirring cheese.  My back gets tired from hay and shed cleaning.  Sometimes we're just tired and we don't walk to milk, but we have to get up and head out because Christina needs us.  And then there are those unscheduled needs — injecting calcium when she had milk fever and treating mastitis.

But every day we are reminded of the benefits.  Twice a day we bring a full pail of heavy, dense milk into the house.  After 12 hours in the frig, almost a quarter of it has separated into velvety cream.  I've never known milk to be so satisfying, so hearty, so succulent.

This last year I have learned how to make most every dairy food — cream cheese, butter, yogurt, mozzarella, fromage blanc, ricotta, cheddar, colby, parmesan, and romano.  Every one tastes better than I ever expected.  Even our aged hard cheeses aren't just good, they're the best I've ever had.

With those pails of milk, security comes into our house.  We are fed not by the money in our wallets but by the creative work of God, through Christina.  Instead of skimping, like we've done our whole lives, we have a sustained abundance.

With Christina came calves.  One we bought from the dairy where we got her.  The other one she birthed last November.  These calves will be meat for us in the coming years.  In the meantime, they are a part of our family.  One of the steers has taken to laying down every day before we go out to clean the shed.  When my daughters see him laying down, they always go cuddle.  I don't think that laying down is a coincidence.

A friend came over the other day and had lunch with us.  It was a typical lunch for us.  Bread had just come out of the oven and she helped me churn some butter.  She took a bite of warm bread with fresh butter and exhaled, "I'll just have this."  After a few slices, she added some apricot jam we made last summer.  Seeing the look of pure pleasure on her face was a reflection of the joy that is ours everyday.

There are days that seem too full of everything and I think, "I could give this up."  But then I think that giving up the work today would mean no Christina milk tomorrow, and I realize I am completely committed to this lifestyle.  Some things are worth hard work.  Yeah, I think we're into this for the long haul.

Today we celebrate Christina and we thank God for this life.  Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!

Fencing

When I've read about people living off the land, they always seem to be building fence or mending fence or moving fence.  I'm beginning to understand.

We ran new fence for the chicken pen.  Our chicken pen was too small for so many chickens, and we'd like to enlarge our orchard, so we finally got around to moving the fence.  We've been planning on it all season so we just let the weeds grow, and boy did they grow. 

You can clearly see the line of the old fence after we moved it.  The chickens swarmed into the weeds and are happily doing them in as fast as they can.

With the chicken pen up against the pasture, we have the option of making an opening and letting the chickens into the pasture.  There can be a lot of bugs over there, the chickens' very favorite thing, and very healthy for them.  When the little chicks get bigger, we'll probably do that.  Maybe they'll eat some of the flies!

Hard Work Before Sabbath

With homeschooling back in full swing, big projects can only be done on Saturdays.  Today it was moving hay.

We got another load of alfalfa hay.  We won't need it right away, but we will this winter and we just as soon get it put away.  It didn't go far, only into the hay shed (car port), but those 88 bales add up quickly.  It took all morning and afterward my husband and daughters were beat.

Meanwhile, I worked on turnips.  The row out front has grown big and was ready for thinning.  The turnips themselves were small, but the greens added up to a lot.  I washed them four times to get all the crud off, blanched them, dipped them in ice water, and then spun them in the salad spinner.  The green filled four quart bags.  These will be fantastic boiled like spinach or put in soup.

One row of potatoes was looking pretty sorry.  Were they full of mold or just ready to be dug?  I headed out with a bucket and shovel and discovered very few with mold, so they must just be ready.  There weren't as many as I'd hoped, only half a bucket in half a row, but they look good.  The girls think they should get cooked into french fries right away.

Now it is time to nap and rest.  Thank God tomorrow is sabbath.  At sundown our work ends.

Extra Milk

My teenage daughters suffer from lack of iceberg lettuce.  I prefer Romaine and leaf lettuce, but they like the pale white stuff. I don't think there is any way to grow iceberg in Idaho, but we can grow head lettuce.  It takes a long time to develop so there's really only one crop.  These were planted in April and are just now ready.

We are getting the fencing redone around that weed patch to let the chickens in.  It will be fun to see how quickly the chickens demolish those 4-four high weeds.  One of the little chickies watched the work from the branches of a tree.

One of our milk customers is out of town this week so we had extra milk, which we're turning into extra cheese.  Yesterday I made a parmesan.  Today it sits in a brine to salt up before it goes into storage for ten months.

The day before that I made a cheddar.  Today it dries on the shelf, getting ready to be waxed and then age for 2-6 months.

Today I'll make another cheddar. 

We were big cheese eaters before we got Christina, but now with the best tasting cheese we've ever had, our cheese really doesn't last long.  It takes me a while to make cheese — two hours of stirring plus about four more of being around — so I won't let the kids eat it as fast as they want.  It seems to me that a cheese should last longer than the amount of time it took me to make it.

Difference of Good Tools

The life of pulling weeds and hoeing hard dirt got us thinking, again, about spending some money on a good wheel hoe.  We've heard good things about Valley Oak Tools, so we ordered from them.

The hoe arrived a few days ago and we've been using it each morning.  It's really miraculous how much we can get done with this tool.  Our daughters can use it even on stubborn weeds. 

Here my daughter worked an area for about ten minutes.  I think the same area would have taken me an hour with a hoe.

I did three furrows and cleared two bed in about 15 minutes.  It would have taken me over an hour to do all that.  The wheel hoe takes some strength to push, but no more than the same amount of time with a hoe.  My arms feel it, but my back doesn't feel it at all.

Praise God for the smart people who come up with these tools that make our life sustainable.

Eggs?

I haven't had much luck with carrots, and I love carrots so I really want them to do well.  They don't come up much and those that do often die when they're little. But my Dad told me a trick.  He said to lay a board on top of them after planting and leave it there for about a week.  Then prop the board up so it shades the bed for another week or two.  I sure hope it works. 

He said you can start carrots right through the hottest part of the summer this way.  So we tried it.  The irrigation water came in and soaked the soil well.

Our egg production has dropped.  It used to be about 8/day and now we're down to about 5/day.  With kids eating scrambled eggs every morning, that just isn't enough.

Production went up with the longer days but then it started declining.  Maybe our chickens aren't getting enough to eat.  We feed them grain, kitchen scraps, and weeds out of the garden.  Maybe they're not getting enough calcium.  We give them back their egg shells and occasionally a little extra calcium.  Maybe they've gone into a molt.  I don't understand molting well and there isn't much I can do about it.  Or maybe they're getting old — they are two and a half years old.  I can't do much about that either.

But we can deal with food and calcium.  We got a big bag of crushed oyster shells and a bag of commercial chicken feed.  We'll see if it helps. 

Chicken Coop

Having chickens means dealing with a dirty coop once in a while.  I read about a "manure management plan" that made sense to me.  You clean out the coop in the spring and leave it alone for a year.  We can do that!  The idea is that the manure will build up over the summer and compost a bit in the winter, providing some heat in the coldest months.

Today was the annual coop cleaning.  My ten-year-old twins took turns going inside the coop and scooping everything out.  It was dirty work, but they did a great job, don't you think?

They spread several inches of nice clean straw after they were done and it was like a brand new coop.

The old manure is on the compost pile now, cooking away for the next year when it will be wonderful on our garden next spring.

Wheat Harvest

The wheat isn't full yellow, but the book says that it should be cut when you can still dent the kernels with your fingernail but not mash them.  The kernels at the top have passed yellow and become brown.  They are so hard I can't dent them, but the bottom ones are still slightly green and mashable.  We decided to go ahead and harvest. 

I held the stalks while my daughter cut them off at the ground. It worked, but it was cumbersome.  I totally get the scythe now, which a person can use all by themselves and much faster.

My other daughter held the cut wheat to collect a bundle.  It was scratchy work, but essential.

When her arms filled up, we tied the bundles up tight.  The bailing twine from the hay was perfect.

When it was all done, we leaned our harvest up against the house to dry.  They need to dry for about two weeks and then we thrash them, knock off all the little wheat heads.  It looks pretty good.

After we were finished, I pulled up some big thistles that had been hiding along the fence and were about the bloom.  I threw them to the chicks and was surprised to see them swarm over the spent plants.  At least those nasty thistles make good chickie food.

Trellises

Here it is July and we are finally getting the green bean trellises put up.  My husband sank two posts and then screwed in a top bar.  My daughter and I ran twine from the top bar around a lower bar, held in place just by the twine.  It's not very sturdy, but it doesn't need to be.

After we got the strings all done, we helped the little green bean runners find their way. They are already several feet long, so it wasn't too hard to wrap them around the twine.  There is something about these wooden structures that makes the garden seem complete, although we only got half of them up.  Tomorrow it will look so nice.

It occurred to me that I wanted to start some seeds the first of July for a fall crop — Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and echinacea.  I put these out, nice and wet, in the full sun.  If it gets too hot, I'll bring them inside for the heat of the day.

We have one week left before we start our new homeschooling "year" with still a lot left to get ready.  I just love the beginning of new year, so many new books to look forward to, so many new interesting things to explore. 

Assigned Rows

Last summer, we assigned each of the kids (and ourselves) rows that we were responsible for weeding.  We hadn't gotten around to assigning rows for this season until a few days ago.  Then, this morning as I was walking in from milking, I found all four girls out in the garden weeding.  No asking, no whining.  They were just out there beating the heat.  Why didn't we do this sooner?!

Blanching has become an every evening activity.  Tonight it was peas and cubed turnips.  After shelling a big bucket of peas, I blanch them, bag them up, let them cool, and put them in the freezer.

When I got this blancher, I didn't even know what it was.  It was in my Grandma's things after she passed away.  It matched the canner she gave me, so I figured it had something to do with canning.  It was only later that I figured out what it was for.  You put water in the bottom kettle, and then the top piece strains out the water after the vegetables have boiled for 30 seconds.  It makes blanching so easy and quick.

And Then There Were Fewer

This morning we headed to the front garden. It was way overgrown with weeds.  In two hours, with all of us working, we got the whole thing done.  It's amazing!  I wish we'd taken a before picture to show you, but here is an after picture.  We found all kinds of good stuff growing down underneath the big weeds.

Instead of tomato cages, this year we're trying to trellis the tomatoes.  I hate the way the cages flop over by the end of summer, and we have a lot of tomato plants.  We put up livestock fence down the row and now I'll try to train the plants up it. 

I think I just need to weave them in and out as they grow.  I added a few twist ties, just to get them over next to the trellis.

We have gotten so much weeding done this week, but it is taking its tole.  Bending over every morning and pulling hard for several hours has made my back stiff and my arms weak.  We have had fits and starts in weeding — getting lots done but then ignoring it so long they come back strong.  I think it's time to try a new approach.

Harvest Begins

We have been spending the mornings in the garden, getting as much done as we can before the heat hits.  The weeds got away from us while we were working on the cow shed so there's a lot to do.  While we're out there, we're noticing many things ready to pick, like this beautiful head of cabbage.

Here is today's harvest — head lettuce, cabbage, radishes, turnips, and shell peas.

We just finished our last read aloud from last "year" but with so many peas to shell, I think we'll start another one tonight.

Last fall we planted some carrots, hoping to harvest them in early spring, but when we pulled some in March they were kind of woody.  So they've been sitting in the garden ignored.  They are now five feet tall and blooming, but they're shading the tomatoes so they have to come out.

In the last week the wheat has gone from solid green to lots of yellow.  It's time to get out the book and figure out when we harvest and dry and all of that.

Our neighbor discovered a badger burrowed under his hay shed.  He got rid of it, but now we wonder if it got some of our chicks.  They don't stand still long enough to count, so we won't know until butcher day when we can count them.

Holy Shit

After two solid days of moving manure piles and getting a good four inches of muck out of the cow shed, it's time for the final detail work.  My husband gets in a scoop and the girls shovel away to fill it up. It's heating up and this isn't pleasant work.  Blessedly we have a swimming trip planned this evening.

Those piles of manure translated into a bigger turned pile than we expected.  When you get frustrated and say, "that's a pile of shit," now you have a visual reference.  What you don't have, unless you come on over, is the smell.  It's not overwhelming, but it is pervasive and unpleasant.  The girls set up fans in the shed while they work and last night we slept with the windows closed. 

While my husband and daughters are outside working, I'm inside cooking.  First I skimmed milk, froze some, and froze some cream.  Then I made bread and started yogurt, sour cream, ice cream, and butter.  I hung a fromage blanc and moved frozen strawberries off cookie sheets and into bags.

My long day yesterday ended with a bag of broccoli for the freezer.  Last year I was lazy and didn't pull the plants and discovered they gave a larger crop in the fall.  So I'll be lazy again and see what they do this fall!

Busy days like these make me wonder about the meaning of life.  Sometimes it seems like life is all work with little interruptions for leisure and relationship.  I am not the first one to think this way.  The ancient Israelites named toil as a result of original sin.  "Cursed be the ground because of you!  In toil shall you eat its yield all the days of your life" (Genesis 3:17).

Pope John Paul II wrote a encyclical about work that gives a different view, not as punishment or as meaningless drudgery, but as cooperation with God.  When we work, we are creating something new.  My husband and daughters are creating a new manure pile and new cleaned shed.  I am creating new bread and new yogurt.  When we create something new we are creators, but we only do it in cooperation with The Creator.  In that view, work is sacred because God is sacred.  Work isn't something to be endured until "real" life happens, it is real life because God is present.  In fact, work is a fundamental way that we experience God because of the way God is with us when we work. 

Christ spent only three years of his life in ministry, the bulk of his life was spent in manual labor as a carpenter.  Did he feel the presence of God the Father as he cut and carved and sanded?  Do I feel the presence of God the Creator as I stir and bag and knead?  Do my kids feel God's strength as they shovel and scoop?  It's one more reminder that God isn't a feeling, because sometimes I don't feel God, but that's because of my lack of sensitivity, not because God isn't there.