Morning at the Homestead

I am getting back in the habit of taking a very early morning stroll about the immediate homestead.  Max will be happy to note that I am also letting the girls our to graze!

He had warned me that the Light Brahmas are prone to fly up on him............that would unsettle me to the point of flight!  However, they didn't bother me at all. He said it was because I was not carrying any feed with me (which I will now never do).

They immediately began pecking on the ground around my feet.  I found out later that DH had scattered some bird seed to call them in last night.

Once that was cleaned up they spread out.  Note there is still some standing water in the run.

I was near the small group of cows that we keep near for feeding grain and whatever.....I have lost track of the reasons.

Cattle this time of year look mangy.  This is due to lice which will disappear as soon as the sun starts shining on a regular basis.  They will also loose the longer hair and slick up and look much prettier.

This is most of the group at one of the new (expensive) bales of hay we had to buy.

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We have a few with horns due to the introduction of the Jersey genetics.  At some point we will have the heifers dehorned and sell or butcher the horned bulls.  See the new baby.  He was born to a poor old, crippled cow that will not get better but she still bred and calved.  We will hopefully not get her exposed to a bull again and sell her.  I am embarrassed for anyone to see her.  The dark red and lighter one to her right are the retired milk cow and the temporarily retired milk cow, the Jersey.

I think that is her baby next to her with the horns.....she will get dehorned.

The Yard

First the clump of daffodils that were the first to bloom,

I saw another lonely little clump back by the gas tank, but most are in the bud stage.
I like how Mother Nature mulched lots of things with windblown leaves.  I never ever rake leaves.

Some perennials are sneaking through the mulch but I fear for my new roses.  They are dark black.

                                                       The above is daylilies in Kerria Bed

                                                                   Sedum near smokehouse

                                                         Variegated sedum in Kerria Bed

This is a new salvia I planted late last fall.

Chore Sharing

It is a perfect fall morning here.  Mid 50's and sun is almost up.  It will be a sunny day.

Well, day two of sharing chores is behind and it went well.  Of course I took my camera so have tons of cow pictures and some farm scenery.  Max just drove the farm truck and all gates were open so I only had to get out for some pictures; some were taken from the truck.

We got back and Jewel (the Jersey) was waiting for us.

Unfortunately, she decided she wanted to save the milk for her huge calf.  We just got one bottle.  We will show her! She was kept away from him last night again and we will milk this morning.  Surely she will let down and we will get a few bottles.

Max walked me through the milker routine again and then I went inside the parlor area and began the attack on the mess!  Max is great with the animals and set chores but he doesn't notice the surrounding things going undone.  It will take me a few days.  I already have a huge trash can filled.  I have a set of shelves to put up which will help with organization.

I did notice  that most of the farm needs clipping again and I am trying to talk him into having it done all at once.....I may have him convinced.

I will show some random shots of the farm:

This is one of the 'twin' ponds; the other is across the fence from this one.

This is a zoomed shot of the cow in the shadows above, drinking.

This above is what I will call the breeding circle.  When a cow is in heat, most young males and the mature bull will be circling her until she will stand still for him.  Bull is on left behind the cow.  I actually got a shot of him servicing her, bu twon't show that.

Our trees are just beginning to show color.  This is taken on the back 40.

The tall tree looking plant next to the house is a dwarf nandina bush that this year shot up to tree size.  I like it and will leave it be.
The one by the screened porch never gets over 4-5 feet tall which is the norm.

 This is the Korean Boxwood before clipping.  It was hiding the windows....I actually like it better this way, but it was getting out of control.

The new hedge cutters worked great.  It will look better in a few weeks when the stubby ends won't show quite so much.

Now a favorite rose picture.  This rose goes by several common names:  The first rose of summer; the last rose of the year, and Parsons rose.  It is a china rose and has been with me for many,  many years.  I keep my fingers crossed the mite that causes RRD doesn't find it tucked between the east building
 and the well house. 

 All for now.

Back in the Saddle Again (for a while anyway)

I have taken a long hiatus from blogging......again.  Maybe with cooler weather and less mowing, I can get back in the groove.

We have had some nice rains, but not as heavy as others in the near area.  We are still nice and green and ponds are full and pastures are green.

I recently bought a bushel of Jonathon apples from a local orchard.  They were beauties.  I finished the last of them this morning. I saved all the peels and cores and added just enough water to the pan to get them started.  I cooked them until soft and then strained  the juice for jelly.  I ran the pulp through the Victoria Food Strainer and made applesauce.  I did the jelly this morning the old-fashioned way with no pectin.

It was a small batch so just got a quart of pink sauce and the little jars of apple jelly.  I tested a half slice with butter on some 8-grain whole wheat bread.  It was very tasty.  I got a good jelly consistency using the sheet of the spoon test.  It took about 20 minutes.

It seems I took another little break.....

New Start:  September 23, 10:50 AM

The news is I am another year older.

I won't try to back track because it was just mundane daily things...which is what my life is, but I love it that way.

We are still mowing.  Trying to beat the predicted heavy rain of Sunday.  Not too much left to do.  We are really looking forward to the 60° next week.  Enough of this 90° + stuff!

The chickens have let up laying by about half.  Max did find a 4-foot long blacksnake in the hen house and  few days  ago and released it in the nearby barn lot!  He knew better.  I suspect the snake is back snacking on eggs.

I have plans to attack the cellar wild zone and the garden with DH's help next week and clear-cut and mow!  It will be a first if we get it done in the fall.

Cooking

I made a new recipe  this morning.  Once again  from Thibault's Table blog.

Oatmeal Scones with Maple Syrup Glaze

 

Scones

2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 Tbsp. cold butter
1 cup heavy cream  (Option: Substitute Buttermilk and add 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda)
3/4 cup frozen raspberries (blueberries, blackberries, red currants, etc..)
extra cream and sugar

Glaze (Optional)

2 teaspoons softened or melted butter

1/2 cup of powdered sugar

few tablespoons cream or milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix all ingredients together.  Thin with additional cream or milk if necessary.


Preheat oven to 425°F. Mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in butter until it resembles coarse meal.  Stir cream in to flour mixture. Mix quickly with fork just until dough starts to come together. 

Tip out on to lightly floured surface. (Will look shaggy)   Using hands gently pat mixture to flatten. Now fold dough like an envelop. Turn and fold again.  Do this at least three to four times. Before the last turn, push frozen fruit (Raspberries, Blueberries, Red Currants, etc.. ) into dough. 

Finish with final fold and turn and roll or pat dough into round.  Cut into six or eight triangles. Dough can also be cut in half and rolled into two smaller rounds.  Cut each round into 6 to 8 smaller scones. Or use a biscuit cutter to cut round scones.  This whole step should only take 30 to 45 seconds.   

Do not over-handle.  (Tip:  I  may have over handled a tad so go gently here)

(Folding forms layers which makes for a very flaky scone).

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes.

Option:  Drizzle with glaze.

I made a glaze with some powdered sugar, some Maple Syrup (real), and a bit of milk.  worked beautifully.

 We decided this was a keeper and a nice change from biscuits for a late breakfast.

Next project was making oatmeal bread using extra gluten since oatmeal doesn't have any.  I thought it might make a lighter bread.  I will save that for another day.
It was interesting but I have another recipe I want to try first before deciding to add or not to add.  All this keeps me out of the hot sun but in a hot kitchen!


Yard 

Salvia farinacea always gets a more vibrant blue in the fall

I have been away so long, I am having to relearn lots of blogger things....how to add picture for one!  So, enough for now.

Jewel Calved

Up at my usual 3 AM.  Read in chair until Max got up and turned on the coffee.  He sets it up the night before but I wait until he is up because I want it fresh for him. 

Today is sunny and will be warmer than yesterday.

We had MIL out for Max's birthday dinner.  He requested a fried chicken dinner and that is what he got.  Chicken and gravy, mashed potatoes, peas, cole slaw, deviled eggs, hot rolls and chocolate cake.  I will not be cooking today! or maybe all weekend. 

She was ready to leave by 2:30.  I think she is now more comfortable at the assisted living  place than anywhere else unless it is a trip to Branson or some restaurant.  Whenever their bus goes, she is ready.

FARM
 
Max told me Jewel, the Jersey milk cow, was starting to calve.  She is in the lot on the west side of the house. She was finished l0 minutes later with a dark red bull calf this time.  She had a heifer last year.  She must have bred back on her first heat.  I never see her in heat or bred so it is a guessing game.  Baby was up and nursing within minutes.


That large red head in the background is her last year's huge heifer calf looking on.  So far, she hasn't attempted to nurse but we will be watching her closely. 

This shot shows her last year's calf and the baby nursing on the far side.

We have two in that lot that need to be de-horned (thanks to the Jersey breeding).


I took my first walk since the Prednisone has worn off somewhat.  I walked west down to the pond near our west border.



Took some miscellaneous shots of the cows that are currently grazing some stockpiled grass by the pond and in the north field behind the pond area.



Tried to catch Max checking the cows in the truck but couldn't see with the sun on the camera so barely got him in the picture



 This is what cows always do when  they don't turn tail and run when someone new shows up.  They turn and stare at the strange new thing (me).

Catch up Day ---- Again

We had our last sub-normal cold night last night, 4°, then normal January temperatures will settle in for a while, 30's and 20's.

The puppies have remained outside and done fine.  They have now taken over Sugar's pen and she has taken over my kitchen corner.  So far that has worked out OK.

Our granddaughter has been visiting since last Wednesday.  That worked out to our benefit since  DH has had a bad spell of shortness of breath and her BF has been coming over each morning to help with chores.  I  also got off  my lazy backside and  did the close-up chores for two days, the chickens, the penned calves and the puppies.  He really isn't supposed to be outside in very cold weather in the best of times.

Chest x-ray and blood work was all normal.  I think it may be the beta-blocker coreg.  He has just been taking it a couple of months and that seems to be when his troubles started.  The nurse has agreed to him stopping it.  It has been 3 days and we both think he is improved.  He sees the cardiologist Wednesday.  Maybe more tests are due??  We will see. 

We both think selling the beef cows is in our near future.  Sad but we knew it would come eventually.  I hope to keep a few head and a bull  but we will see.

Chickens are still giving us 3-5  eggs a day!  I am impressed.

We had all five dogs in the kitchen; it was near impossible to get a picture of all of them.  They are in this shot.  Do you see the third puppy?

From puppies January 8 2015

We are taking our GD and her BF to Lambert's for lunch today to thank him.  He refused payment.  I did cook him a good, country breakfast each morning!

September is Almost Gone

and where did it go?

To be doing absolutely nothing of importance, I am amazed at how fast the time goes.

Life is running pretty smoothly on the farm. We have had lots of fall babies born.  More are showing their Holstein genes this year.  There can't be much Holstein blood left in them, but I was told many years ago by a neighbor that it could flare up out of the blue and that seems to be happening.

I had DH do some pictures for me.  I always enjoy what he takes.  Usually he has a different perspective from mine.

These are of Jewel, the Jersey milk cow and her "baby" that should be weaned very soon1



and Jewel,



This is a shot of the silo and the blue sky above to old barn.

and I will leave this one just to show how we are doing better about piling debris back here.  We now just pile it on the trailer and then we can remove it to the back of the farm,



This is the west end of the Milk Barn (freshly painted) It is just east of the garage where DH was standing,



The chickens are still laying nicely.  They haven't begun to molt yet.  Surely they will and then production drop quickly.

I talked with my Sis yesterday and she was talking about expired driver's licenses....I told her I had never let that happen.....something told me to check.....My license was due on my birthday 9/22/14!  Egads.  Usually the state notifies us; not this time.  Guess where I am heading today!!

I was up early again, 3:30 AM, so I am trying to get back in my old  routine of up early, enjoy DH's coffee (he brings it to me at the computer, I have to brag a little...these are some of the blessings of retirement!) while I do my thing on the computer.  Maybe I  can begin  posting a little more.

It is still quite cool.  We are loving it and so do the cows.

Speaking of the cows, I have been wracking my brain about when Willow is due and wondering about my new girl, Jewel.  I could vaguely recall thinking I would give Willow a rest from her usual August calving.  She is getting pretty old.  I also didn't want them calving at  the same time either.

Well if I wrote it down, I haven't found it.  DH found in his drawer where he keeps all things he wants to remember written down on various things (even though I have bought him several notebooks for this) that we turned the bull in February 22 and I finally found by using search on the blog where Jewel has her first heat April 3. So if she settled then we should be looking for a January 10 calving.  Willow is so sneaky, I haven't a clue but she will be fine on her own out with the other cows.  Jewel is still up close to the house.

and here she is looking very fit these days,



I  took this the same day, This is the field east of the house, called the East 20,



Note the bull in the background along the fence; he is on the move early because the neighbor's bull is across the road talking to him,



Random Cat Picture

GD took these when she was down, I think she has a very good eye for photography.





This is probably the pond on the old farm, I think we have seven ponds....



I like this because of the color of the old grass and Sugar.  Her tongue is hanging about because she ran along side of the ATV the entire time they were out,

It's a beautiful morning in the Ozarks!  but a little chilly and so much dew that I got wet almost to my knees checking a  calf in the east field.



See that tiny head peeking over the grass?  I thought it was a new baby but on closer inspection saw that it was one born a few days ago.  I saw more thistles......an ongoing problem.  We have decided mowing is the best method of control.  I don't like herbicides and it gets pretty expensive to keep spraying.

While I was out doing my 'walk about', I turned on the sprinkler in the garden and at the dining room porch  beds.  While we aren't seriously dry, I thought they could use a drink.  I will leave them on about an hour which figures about l inch with our pressure on the well.

I haven 't accomplished a lot over the last week.  I did make us a rhubarb pie from the rhubarb my Sis gives me each year.  DH wasn't  thrilled but he ate a piece whenever I did.  I hope she won't have to supply me next year.  I have a year-old plant and just ordered two Starkrimson Rhubarb plants from Stark Brothers (who else).  The are currently residing in two large flower pots and have already sprouted large leaves.  It looks like they will have a nice red color (I hope).  I did my normal routine of cooking and housekeeping (very little).

We did have DH's mother out for Mother's Day.  We had picked up the new corn-fed beef on Saturday morning so we were able to test out some steaks for dinner.  We all thought it was very good, tender and juicy.  There was lots of marbling in the red meat which is what we were striving for by feeding corn for 90 days.  She requested a peach cobbler, but I had to substitute apricots....out of peaches now.  She brought  me  a 'hostess' gift.  It was a new large rain gauge that I can read by just looking out the back door.  No more bringing the can in the house and measuring with a ruler!  She's the best MIL to be had.

Gardening

I finally planted the sweet corn and Cherokee Trail of Tears pole beans (that's what I am watering this morning).  I also got my long row of new strawberries planted. I hadn't ordered from Stark Brothers in Louisiana,  Missouri in a very long time and was very pleased with the product and quick service.  I bought 25 strawberries and two rhubarb plants and received them within a week or less.

I hoed out the row of cauliflower  and broccoli but didn't quite finish the tiny little bed of spinach and carrots.

I harvested a gallon bag of cilantro (all self-seeded).  I washed, dried and chopped it.  Then flash froze it and put it in a gallon bag.  I should be able to measure out what I need easily.  I use it in my salsa recipe.

I still need to get the tomato and pepper plants planted and hope to begin that today.  I keep getting interrupted with something.

Weeding

I am currently working on the light pole and new bed around the generator.  The goal is to finish that today.  I did two hours day before yesterday and then the trimmer refused to cooperate.   DH was going to finish mowing the west yard and the mower died.  I hate to let him near my equipment.....he always has bad luck....I will see if it will start this morning, if not, a trip to Bolivar is in our future.  I am sure I just flooded the trimmer.............

The snap peas I planted this year were new to me and the jury is still out.  I keep pulling pods off and they don't seem nearly as sweet to me as previous ones.  The are lush and very tall.  I did two different varieties as you can clearly see.  I keep waiting for the pods to fill out more but it seems very slow to me.  I  will water them deeply today and see if that helps....if not, I will just harvest at  this stage.

One the strong winds blew part of the row off the fence.



Flowers

This always amazes me.  For  two years now this rose campion has grown out of this stump in the humming bird bed.  It seems to do as well as the ones growing in the dirt.

This is the first year  my clematis Jackmanii Superba has bloomed nicely.  I manage to accidentally cut it down a couple of times while  trimming the last two years....that doesn't speed up things at all.



As you can see by the feeder, the hummers are back.  We saw  several  Sunday. Still no orioles and not too many butterflies. 

The Sale Barn Again - a Rainy Day-Clematis and Lilies

Day before yesterday we got another 1/2 inch of rain.....on my recently tilled and dry garden.  A wonderful gift.

That meant yesterday was too wet to work outside in the garden so I made bagels....it doesn't take much to get me  cooking.  I am having two small ones with cream cheese with my coffee  right now.

From Blog May 2012

I was right at the stage of putting the dough in the bucket to raise when DH popped in the back door slightly wet from the showers and asked if I was  ready to go....Go where?  He had loaded a cow we wanted to sell and was sitting in the drive to go to the sale barn.  He always wants me to go with him. At first I thought I couldn't and then decided we could get  there and back in about an hour....the rise time.

Well, we almost made it.  The dough was just pushing the lid off the bucket  when we got back. It didn't hurt a thing.

Part of farm life is getting rid of animals that don't pay their way.....this heifer calved last year and we had to have the vet  with her.  He suggested then that she was probably damaged by the difficult delivery and we should move her on.....we did.  Mondays are Cow and Bull sale  day so off we went.  Next project will be rounding up more calves.

This is the first day of our 'cool down' and the high is supposed to be 70°.  A perfect day to work outside.
DH has promised to put up cattle panels in the new garden/orchard area and I will put the tomatoes back there.

I have all of the backyard garden tilled and will put peppers there.  I will also put pole beans and sweet corn  out....not all on one day!  but hopefully, this week.

I need to harvest the self-seeded cilantro and freeze for later salsa.  I also found several self-seeded basil plants and tomato plants.  That saves me some work.

Colorado Potato  Beetles showed up overnight on the potatoes.....I resorted to Sevin dust.  I suppose it is all washed off....I need to keep a close eye on that.  They can strip the plants quickly.  I wish I felt safe going completely au naturel, but certain pests are more than I know how to handle.

I am still fighting fireblight....cutting more limbs off the two trees most affected.   Now I see some of the papaver somniferums(poppies, annual) are curling over and turning black....looks exactly the same as the trees.  I am leaning heavily toward the idea of cutting down the pear tree that is so bad.

Flowers

The first of the lilies are blooming.  This one was recently rescued from being surrounded by weeds in the driveway bed.  It is Dani Arifin.



I see I missed a little cheet (on the right with the seed heads).

and the clematis, Harlow Carr,



This is a wonderful, vigorous clem.  The picture was taken on the garden side of the fence.  Most of the flowers on the garden fence bloom the most on the north side of the fence , the garden side, because the sun comes up and hits the fence first.  At first, I fought it and tried to tie various things to the other side, but it was a losing battle...then I thought OK, I can just enjoy the fence when I am gardening and sometimes that is a pretty long time.  I get to see dark pink roses and white and purple clems and soon white lilies while working which is very nice.  I think there are also two pink clems. 


Blog

I am trying to restructure the blog so finding things will be easier.  Bear with me while I do some trial and error working on this thing.