Plan B Life

A storm came through and it's too muddy to till.  That's a constant problem in the spring.  When it's dry I'm busy and when I have time, it's muddy. 

So, we cleared another garden area.  Underneath a pile of leaves were some parsnips waiting for us.  Parsnips are a roasting root that taste like carrots but have a smooth, almost creamy texture. 

They are long rooted and not easy to dig.  Several broke off, but we have a good harvest here.  I think we'll have roasted vegetables tonight — cubed parsnips, potatoes, carrots, and turnips tossed in olive oil and seasoned.

With rain falling, we decided to get a load of wood.  We bought this from a forest products mill in town.  After we got it all home and stacked, I'm not sure we got a good deal.  This is green wood that will have to dry ("season") all summer and then be split in the fall.  It cost $150 for a cord.  We can buy seasoned, split wood for $175 a cord.  Hmpf.

Yesterday morning as we got ready to milk, we noticed some dancing activity in pasture.  Sure enough, Christina was in heat.  The breeding we did in January didn't take.  Dang.  We called the AI guy and he repeated the job.  When he arrived we were unloading wood and he jumped in and helped.  The girls said they hope Christina goes into heat every time we have to stack wood.

If this one takes, it gives Christina a Dec. 3rd due date.  That's later than we'd like, but I guess we deal with it.

The milking machine is going better.  We are now able to get it on Christina without significant emotional trauma.  It seems like we're getting the hang of it in the barn, but cleaning is still clumsy.  We're spending 10 minutes in the barn and 30 in the kitchen cleaning.  We've got to figure out how to clean faster. 

So much of living off the land is dealing with what the land presents and constantly changing our plans.  We wanted Christina to calve earlier, but we'll deal with this change.  We wanted to till today, but it's muddy so we figured out the next best thing to do.  We are living a Plan B life.  Perhaps this is a good Lenten discipline, learning that our Plan B may be God's Plan A, and then be thankful.

Milking Machines Are Not Easy

With a new cow coming, we decided to buy a milking machine.  I've heard so many people say how much they prefer them and I don't think I have the strength to milk two cows.  We did lots of research and last week we dropped $1,400 on a system from portablemilkers.com.  It's a NuPulse which is supposed to easy on the cow and easy to maintain.

When it arrived our elation turned to tension.  After reading through the papers they sent, we still didn't know how to put it together.  We called the people we bought it from and they walked us through it.

Then we had to figure out how to clean and sanitize the thing.  Several hours later we had the machine put together, cleaning figured out, and we thought we were ready.  We'd watched a video on youtube and it looked easy.   We headed out to Christina.

Things went badly.  When we turned on the machine Christina jumped hard, then I couldn't quite hold all those milk cups in my hand.  I finally got one on her and she jumped away.  The cow on the video had a tiny little udder while Christina's udder is mature and hangs down.  There was no room to work down there and I couldn't see what I was doing.  I knelt down to try again.  This time, after getting one on and accidentally twisting it, Christina's leg flashed up and I was back against the wall before I knew what happened.  But she kicked like our Christina, I wasn't hurt one bit. We turned the thing off and hand milked.

Several hours later my heart rate had normalized and I had watched several youtube videos to figure out other ways to attach those cups.  The best video was made by kids, wouldn't you know (watch pt. 1 and pt. 2).

This morning we headed out with a new plan.  First, my husband rigged up a place for the pump to sit outside to reduce the noise.   While I washed Christina, we ran the pump so she could get used to the sound. 

Then we put a towel down so I wasn't trying so hard to avoid the floor.  I held the claw and two cups in one hand while my husband and I each took the others.  After getting those on, we each grabbed another one and got those on. 

As we stood back, hands free, we told Christina, "you're doing it!"  Wa hoo!!  She stood there and didn't seem to mind the sucking action.  She was machine-milked for most of her life, after all.  Look at how that claw hangs way down, almost touching the floor.  Milk was squiring into the bucket so fast.  Within maybe 4 or 5 minutes, the flow slowed way down.  We let it go another minute or two (we probably shouldn't have), and then turned the machine off.  The cups slid gently off her teets.

Christina tolerated all of this, but she wasn't happy.  She jumped as we got her ready.  She stood with her head down, pulling back on her stanchion.  When we poured the milk, we found she gave noticeably less than normal — she typically gives 2.5-3 gallons in the morning and this morning only gave 2 gallons.  We figure her stress prevented a full letdown.

Then we came inside to start the cleaning process.  I've read most people do it in 5-10 minutes.  It took us closer to 20-25. 

In the end, the whole process took us twice as long as hand milking, but we were stumbling at every step and we'll get much faster quickly.  And I don't have to stretch out my hands, trying to stave off carpel tunnel.

Happy Mardi Gras!  By Easter we'll have this all figured out.

Hey Look, a Garden Spot!

We are taking a week off of homeschooling to get the spring garden ready.  This week as Lent begins is a week off and our next week off is the first week of Easter.  I'm feeling pretty proud at getting things so scheduled so nicely.  That is, until we walked outside this morning.  It was 35ºF and breezy.  Ugh.  And it's supposed to rain later.

Some people clean out their garden in the fall; I've read about them in magazines. But we leave everything where it stands until spring forces us to clean up.  Well, it's time to clean.  We pulled the corn stalks and threw them to the chickens.

The livestock fence we used for trellis had to be taken down.  The vines pulled off relatively easily now that they are dry and dead.

We planted a row of turnips for the cows last summer that has to come out so we can till.  They've been under a bed of leaves all winter and many look fantastic.  Some look icky (they went to the chickens) but the cows have a lot of turnips to look forward to.

I pulled the last of the carrots.  Many of these were planted last spring and were too big.  If we had dug them last fall they would have been woody.  Today, after a winter of freezing, they are sweet and crisp.  Wow! 

We've been eating on this kale patch all winter and I can't decide what to do with them.  I don't want to till them under because they'll keep feeding us for another month or two, but it's not convenient to till around them.  ...hmm...  I'll keep thinking.

I wasn't going to prune the grape today, but we discovered that its vines went way out into the garden.  They'll get in the way so they had to go.  We also moved a volunteer grape that we discovered last year.  I hope it comes up and produces like mad.

After two hours work, we were exhausted and the garden was cleared enough to get the tiller in.  Tomorrow (we hope) we'll do the first till and then start spreading compost.

Chickens Are So Easy!

With the lengthening days, our egg production is going up.  And these are young hens so they are laying like mad.  Our record so far is this basket of 38 eggs the other day.

I was thinking how easy chickens are, and then it occurred to me that it's because I do almost nothing for them.   Our 10-year-old twins are the chicken tenders.

They love the chickens.  They take any excuse to be with them.  If a chicken escapes the pen, I don't even have to mention it, they notice and drop everything to go cuddle the chicken.  Sometimes it gets brought to the door to get its picture taken.  Here is Merifeather, a Polish Bantam that is our only roster.

In the last batch of chicks, the twins got some pet chickens.  Here is Chirp, their little white Silkie.

The twins do everything with the chickens.  If one of the chickens isn't doing well, they run out, quarantine it in a little pen, give it food and water, and have nursed more chickens back to health than they have lost.

Their love for chickens means that they keep their water and food filled, they run after them when they need gathering, and they collect the eggs.  It also means that my camera comes in with bunches of surprise pictures of chickens. 

...like this one, which at least included my daughter...

... and this one of Anya, an Arucauna, on the fence.  And then when the photos download, I hear cooed over my shoulder, "oh, they're so cute!"

So I stand corrected.  I guess chickens are some work.  They're just easy for me.

Cow Party Day

The poop piles around the cow shed had to be moved.  They had migrated forward and it was time to get them out of the way, along with all the muck in the shed.  We hired a guy with tractor, who cost less than renting a tractor ourselves.  That's a winner!

The day started with getting the cows tied up out of the way.  Beefy got excited as soon as he heard the tractor.  He bucked and mooed.  He stayed pretty wired the entire time and we had a hard time getting him tied up. 

Christina just watched from a distance.  When it was finished, the steers ran over and promptly climbed on top of the new pile.  Beefy ran over to the feeder, got a bite of food, ran back to the pile, bite from the feeder, back to the pile. Goofy cow.

Several hours later when we went out to milk, we discovered that our daughters had failed to latch the gate that keeps the cows separated.  They hadn't left it open, only unlatched, but that's all it took.  All four cows were together and Christina was down 1.5 gallons in milk.  While we milked, pepper didn't even get up, he just layed down.

I told them all that partying would get them in trouble.  Sure enough, this morning pepper had diarrhea, probably from binging on milk.  We gave him some probiotic and we'll keep an eye on him.

Be praised, my Lord, through our sister Mother Earth

Most high, all powerful, all good Lord!

All praise is yours, all glory, all honor, and all blessing.

To you, alone, Most High, do they belong.

No mortal lips are worthy to pronounce your name.

Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures,

especially through my lord Brother Sun,

who brings the day; and you give light through him.

And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendor!

Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.

Be praised, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars;

in the heavens you have made them bright, precious and beautiful.

Be praised, my Lord, through Brothers Wind and Air,

and clouds and storms, and all the weather,

through which you give your creatures sustenance.

Be praised, My Lord, through Sister Water;

she is very useful, and humble, and precious, and pure.

Be praised, my Lord, through Brother Fire,

through whom you brighten the night.

He is beautiful and cheerful, and powerful and strong.

Be praised, my Lord, through our sister Mother Earth,

who feeds us and rules us,

and produces various fruits with colored flowers and herbs.

Be praised, my Lord, through those who forgive for love of you;

through those who endure sickness and trial.

Happy those who endure in peace,

for by you, Most High, they will be crowned.

Be praised, my Lord, through our Sister Bodily Death,

from whose embrace no living person can escape.

Woe to those who die in mortal sin!

Happy those she finds doing your most holy will.

The second death can do no harm to them.

Praise and bless my Lord, and give thanks,

and serve him with great humility.

—The Canticle of the Sun,
Saint Francis of Assisi, 1224