monday confessions

Because Mondays are never my finest days, and I haven't done a Monday confession in  while...I thought I'd share a drowned rat...

Oh wait that's me! hahaha (Not my finest pic, but I'm being honest!) 
So it rained a little (insert lots of sarcasm here) yesterday while I was doing evening chores. I was soaked and wanted to show my husband how wet I got. Oh and it stopped raining when I was all done with the chores. Fantastic! He and the kiddos went out for the afternoon for personal reasons, in support of his family.  I stayed home to do chores because they wouldn't be home in time.
But it worked out for me! I got a last minute invite out with my sisters!! We do that a lot, last minute stuff.  We went out to eat and then did some shopping. I got three new sweaters, well new to me. We went to Goodwill and other stores!! Awesome sweaters too! It's that time of year here. We had lots of fun and lots of laughs at each other. All in good fun. I love being with my sisters and just being silly with them. The relationship I have with them helps keep me sane.
Happy Monday all! Keep it real!

oh you gotta read this

The joys of living in Maine! OK, it does have it's perks...just not winter. Or at least I wouldn't consider winter a perk. The ocean is the perk!  Anyways... I won't kill you with any more Snickers bars, but they are amazing! But check out what we did today. The whole family got to go to the ocean this time, but...

We didn't go swimming! And we didn't even get a flat tire! So no overnight...

We went sailing!!! Some people we know own a boat and invited us out for a ride! I mean who could say no to that? It was so wonderful to get away for the day! No this isn't the boat either. My camera died and I didn't get a picture of the boat we went out on. But isn't this a beauty?  Such a perfect day for it too. Just enough wind to keep us moving and calm enough seas so no one got sea sick! Not even me! I was concerned that I might. I'm not a fair ride kinda girl. Makes me whoosy watching some of those rides. I mean bleck! Spinning, tilting, flip flopping back and forth, and spinning some more! Bleck! I can handle the slide with the kiddos and the merry go round. I don't really care for the farris wheel, it's so high and you hear of horror stories of it being broken and getting stuck up there or falling..., no maybe it's just me. I go only when the kiddos ask. So I was hoping I wouldn't be retching over the side of the boat! Nope no retching. Thankfully. I can hold my head up high and smile!! :)

 My baby. What a goof. She lost her hat shortly after this was taken. But we turned around and went and got it. The family that we went out with works well together, and it was nice to watch them get the hat back. They practiced their "man over board" skills. The girls got a little scared when the boat turned because it tips to one side and feels like your falling, I think it's called "wheeling" Boat terms are so different then my regular vocabulary I couldn't keep it straight! Anyways...

 My boy. He's headed off to Boy Scout Camp tomorrow. Sniff, sniff. I'm excited and nervous for him, and me. He's never been away from home to a camp before. I'll pray all week for him, and will be relieved to have him back home. But he loved the boat. He thought it was really fun!

 My girl taking to the Captain's daughter. She asked all kinds of questions, and they were all answered. She enjoyed the ride once she felt comfortable on the boat.

 My middle girl. She just got glasses and she loves them! Purple is her favorite color, and so her glasses are lavender. She was peeking around at me and I snapped her picture.She came and sat beside me and rested her head on my arm just soaking up the sun, and enjoying the sea. I liked that.

 My man loving this day! He tells me when we go to the ocean that if he had grown up by the sea he would have been a fisherman. He loves the ocean and being way out there in it, and on a sail boat no less!

Here we are! Having a blast! We had some watermelon with mint on it. If you've never tried that combo I recommend you do! Was very good.

Our Captain and First Mate (I think that's the term), his son. A self portrait after the one above! 

 That's me and my baby. Don't see me on here very often. I'm always behind the camera! I like it that way!

 One of the light houses we saw. Beautiful. We saw a seal just before this was taken too. My camera wouldn't turn on, and I didn't get it's picture. Was bummed too. We saw two of them. That was cool. The kiddos loved that!

Here we are all done and headed back to shore. The ride was over and it was time to get back to reality.
It was a wonderful day spend with wonderful people and on the ocean made it better! Our first time sailing!
On the way home we got some food at the golden arches. We very rarely ever get food there, but the kiddos were thrilled. It was a real treat for them! And then when we got home we had a homemade snickers bar! Ha just had to throw that in there!!
Got home to do chores, my man milked and I cleaned the pig pen! Ahh the life of a farmer!

fun at the ocean

We went to the beach. No let me re-state that. We went to the ocean! Ahhhhhhhhh I just love the ocean! The smell, the sounds, even the gulls flying over head. First time this summer. It was nice for us to get away from the farm for a day...or so
 Now let me fill you in on our adventure! (Long post and some pics are headed your way! Go get some coffee, and a cookie, I'll wait.)
My husband had to work and couldn't come. My mom came and picked up the kiddos and I. One of my sisters takes a vacation down to the ocean every year for a week. So she invited us down for the day. The motel she stays at has a pool, hot tub, sauna, and like 5 grills, a patio, play area, and best of all is about 500 feet from the ocean! The kiddos were up at 6am, I think they were a little excited, 9am didn't come fast enough for them. I brought my knitting and worked on that on the drive. It was a beautiful day, full sun with just a light breeze. We get to the beach and the kiddos took off for the water. Once they hit the water they let out a little yelp. The Atlantic Ocean is never warm. It was cold! It was low tide when we got there and could go way out.  They had boogie boards to ride the waves and all! Ahhh just a day of fun, and laying in the sun! Just what we needed. Time just is not an issue on your day off, and you get home whenever you get there! The kiddos thoroughly enjoyed playing, as did I!
Here is what we listened to...

Us in the ocean!!
We had a picnic on the hotel patio late in the day. While I was grilling the kiddos played in the pool, heated you know. It was nice for them to go in because they were chilly after the ocean. They liked the hot tub too! I got hot in the sun grilling so I ran and jumped in the pool. I did a cannon ball in the water and came up on the kiddos. They thought that was funny. I felt better and went and finished grilling. More fun on the beach after lunch.

 My view most of the day. Unless I was in the water playing with the kiddos. Not a lot of people there either!

The waves! Ahhhhhhhhh so beautiful!

Well later that evening when we were getting ready to leave, someone in the hotel asked us when we came up from the beach if had the silver van. Yes, was our response. We were told we had a flat tire. Very flat. (No pics, had put the camera in the motel room, or I'd have 100000000 pictures.  I have lots more, but won't put them on.) No problem. Just dig out the spare and head on out. The kiddos went up to the motel and went in the pool. They didn't care, it just meant more time in water with their cousins! Well it took us a few minutes to find the spare. Some "genius" that designed this newer van decided the back is not a good place for a spare. No they put in in the front between the driver and passenger seat underneath. Because that's SUPER convenient to get out let me tell you. NOT. Well we get that out and low and behold again some genius had a donut for the spare!! (For those of you who don't know, a donut is a much smaller tire, and not ideal for long travels to drive on, and you can only go 50mph on them). My parents had recently bought this van too, so they had no idea this was the case. OK, not so cool for a long drive on the highway ... now what. Well we took the flat tire off and found not 1 but 2 screws in it! OMW! We were so thankful that this happened in the safety of the parking lot and not on the highway! We put the donut on and thought what would be our best move. You know there are some folks who always have an opinion and are rather loud and free with their advice, well we had one of those, but choose not to go with it. We did have some help from the motel manager, he was helpful. Well, we sent my sister to the store to get a new tire mounted and balanced. That sounded like a good idea. She called a while later. My mom, other sister and the kiddos were fixing up a late supper for the sleepy, hungry kiddos when she called. Walmart told her they would only sell her 4 new tires, but they closed in 10 minutes. We were about 20 or so minutes away. Not gonna work, and we only needed 1 tire, not 4! Then she went to VIP. They said sure, we can do that, tomorrow at 1:30. SOoooooooooooo Mom and I decided at that point (it was late and no one else was open) we would just stay the night and go to VIP the next day. We called our husbands and told them. Then got our room. My sister had to leave and do chores at her farm and couldn't stay and play. My other sister was staying until the next day anyways so we were gonna party! We got showers and settled in and got an extra cot for the room. Snacks and some TV on the beds, and a very late night for all of us. All and all it was fine!
The next morning we walked down to the pier and got some DD coffee near the ocean. Mmmmmmmmmm iced coffee after a long late night was a must have.

 My babies foot print in the sand.

My kiddos walking down to the pier with the ocean lapping their feet. When we got back we had to check out of the motel, and sat on the beach for an hour or so. We still needed to kill time and the kiddos didn't like just looking at the ocean. We had no place for a bathroom, changing or block from the sun. Everything was packed. So we went shopping for a while, had a "tailgate" party in the parking lot for lunch, then packed up and headed to VIP to get the new tire. We get there and they said it would be a hour, but maybe two hours before they could get it done. This was now 1:30 when they said it could be done. Now what?! We parked in the shade, got some chairs and blankets out. Then walked down to the DD that was right down the road and my mom treated the kiddos to a coolatta, my sister and I got iced coffee, and mom got tea, unsweetened. Then walked back to VIP and hung out there for over two hours. We had an adventure, and the kiddos were great! We had food, water and shade, and some grass for them to play in. We all wished we could have gone back to the beach, but didn't have enough room in my sisters little car. I was very glad I brought my knitting. I'm working on a new baby blanket for a friend. Nope not to get paid for it, but a gift! I'll show you that soon too. When the van was fixed we left for home. It was 4pm when we left. The ride home was uneventful, thankfully! All and all the whole thing was great fun! An adventure I think the kiddos will remember for a very long time!
We got home for chores, late chores. The cows were waiting for us, my husband wasn't home, and the kiddos needed to eat...I did also notice that my husband had put down some hay. That's what we will be doing this weekend...my day of relaxing at the beach seems like it was a long time ago!
Have a great weekend all. I'll have some pics of haying to share soon I'm sure!

gardening time

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! OK I feel slightly better now. Not really. We planted our gardens the other day. It was beautiful out! Nice and sunny! Our little seedlings were doing so well. That night we had a light rain! Ah perfect. Then I look at the 10 day forecast and now I want to not have planted our gardens. Basically they are calling for rain, rain and more rain, oh and some thunder storms for the next 10 days. Fantastic! Now where is that sarcastic font? It's poring out there. I have a feeling one of our gardens will be a wash out. It's low enough and if this rain keeps up it'll drown the seeds. I'm concerned about the tomatoes. I have 30 plants! I really need them to do well, we want to save some seeds from them, and I need the tomatoes. I'm just praying that it really doesn't rain that much, and things will look better. I'm just not really wanting to look at the 10 day forecast again for a few days! I'm trying to look on the bright side of things. Here are some pics of the gardens.

 Ah the wonderful tomato! I love tomatoes!! I'm not one for going barefoot in the garden, or ever. I don't really care to have the dirt in my toes. My hands, that's another story. I love dirt under my fingernails and covered in warm dirt. During canning season my hands are usually stained from what I'm canning. Carrots and beets are the worst. I don't mind though. I know, I'm weird. I'm ok with that.

 More tomatoes. I have 8 pepper plants too.  I just really hope they are not green peppers. Yuck. The pic on the package was purple, so I'm going with that.  The rope is so I can keep the row straight. Drives my husband crazy if they aren't. I just laugh.

 My loves. Planting carrots. My boy every year gets his tractors and plows and plays in the garden with them. He's over there in the tomatoes. The hay field looks amazing. Too bad it's not ours to hay.

One of the kiddos took a picture when we were planting onions. I zoomed it and cropped it and just got our hands. I love this picture.

 Here is garden one. It's the one we started in, and over the years have gotten bigger. And now we have..

Garden number two! This one has never done amazing. We piled the manure on it over the winter to let it compost down, put more manure on it, and tilled it all in. The soil looked so different afterwards. So we are hoping that the manure works.The rototiller, corner of the horse fence, and bike add to the pic don't you think?!

Oh and with the wool, I was asked a couple time what we do with it. Currently nothing. I have a spinning wheel that my husband bought me, and yes I spin wool and love it, as do some of the kiddos, one gal in particular. But I'm hopeful to getting it washed, I could, but really don't want to. A friend lives down the road spins wool and has offered to help me with the washing of it, and maybe I'll take her up on it. I just haven't gotten around to it. When/if I do I'll let you know and snap some pics. I have worked some of the wool "in the grease" and it's beautiful!
 I have more posts of what I've been up too. So come on back! Have a great day all!!

my weekend in photos

 Well sorta. I won't include all the laundry, dishes and cooking I did. But there was a lot of it. I had 7 kiddos all weekend. So needless to say I was busy.

 I just LOVE  these flowers. They smell amazing. They don't last long enough as far as I'm concerned. Our little lilac bush is small and doesn't have lots of flowers, but it's growing. It's a shoot off my MIL"S massive tree. When the wind blows I can smell the lilacs in my living room. I have some in my bathroom and kitchen too. Couldn't resist.

 A long time friend of Matthew's came over Friday to hang out. Then decided to work with Time Out (T.O)  We didn't get her tied into the shaves of the cart, but she did get introduced to them. She really didn't like them at first, but once she realized that these long, scary looking poles were not going to kill her, she was fine with them being there. Still have a little work to go before she's ready for the cart, but we are that much closer to getting there!! And we'll be working on it too! Now that the weekend is over!

Maggie chewing her cud under the apple tree. The grass has taken off. It's increased her diet, she's out all night, we've cut back her grain, and she gave 29lbs of milk the other day in one milking! That's about 3.5 gallons of milk.  That's a lot of milk. Looks a little like this, plus some...

So now I'm making lots of butter, and cheese. I need to try Cheddar, but it's really involved. That and I don't have a cheese press here. But I really want to try. I'll let you know when I do it. Maybe when we are done home school and my morning's aren't so busy... It's expensive to buy and we all love it and I like to cook with it.
Sunday evening we had our boy's cross over ceremony into the Boy Scouts. He had done another camp out on Friday with the Boy Scouts and had a blast. This time it didn't rain on them! He and his friend crossed over together. They have been in scouts since they were Tigers. Just little guys. Now to see how they have grown, and changed is wonderful. My boy has really come a long way.  We are so super proud of him!

Here he is getting his awards for all that he has accomplished this year in Cub Scouts. He's still a little bashful when he has to stand in front of everyone. 

 Here he is getting his Arrow of Light Badge. That is the highest honor the Cub Scouts give. It's a lot of work to get it too. It's the only badge he can put on his Boy Scout uniform from Cub Scouts too, (along with his WEBLOS badge takes 2 years to earn that badge). He and his friend both earned that badge! He'll be marching in the Memorial Day parade with the Boy Scouts this year too. Oh I can't even tell you what I feel in words. Kinda like a heart popping moment of love and pride when I see him growing into a fine young man.

His WEBLOS and Arrow of Light badge. That is how they will go on his shirt, when her gets it.
Have a fantastic Monday all!

this and that

Didn't realize it had been a while since my last post. I've popped in and read some posts here and there when I've had a few minutes to sit. We've been busy.
Last night we had my BIL and SIL's kiddos over, well three of the 4 of theirs. My boy went out camping again with the Boy Scouts and some Cub Scouts. This time out in the woods. He'll be crossing over into the Boy Scouts on Sunday. Sniff, sniff. He's growing up so fast. We are having a small get together in the evening with family to celebrate his hard work. So I guess I better get the house cleaned up.
I've started hardening off the seedlings in the house to get them planted outside. Got a week or so to go before they can go out full time in the garden. I'm going about it different this year and not shocking them. And slower too. I think I did that last year and that was part of them not doing as well, that and the late blight. Oh well, lesson learned.
One of my sisters came over and we cooked some yummy food. I don't have any pics because I couldn't find my camera. But OMW I'll tell you that we had His and Hers Burgers from PW's new cookbook! Amazing! With some homemade pesto, and mayo, (Thanks to Candy C over at Lazy J Bar C blog). I used her mayo recipe, very yummy. And this time I used a blender and it whipped it up the right way, unlike the first disaster I tried. Oh and the dessert we made was PW's Pot De Creme. I think that's what it's called, not sure about the spelling, but basically it's chocolate, vanilla, eggs, and hot coffee. With whipped cream on top. Trust me it's wonderful! But don't eat a lot of it, it's SUPER rich, but I savored every bite. And besides cooking I had a nice visit with my sister.
I made cream cheese, eeeerrrrrrr well I tried to make cream cheese, but it was not edible. I tossed it. I'll have to try again.
We went to a friends house for supper. Had chicken parmesan and that was really good. I've never made it before, but had had it. The kiddos asked if I could make it sometime. So I'll be making it sometime!
It's a great day here today. Full sun! Oh how wonderful it is, after all the rain! The ground is really wet, and the grass is tall and thick. My husband mowed the lawn last night with a riding lawn mower. We need to get another push mower. Last year I managed to break the shaft and it was awful to try to mow. Felt like my arms were going to shake off. Thankfully it was the end of the season, so it was OK. haha. Now that the lawn monster has been tamed I can get out there and mow. I like to mow with a push mower. I like the exercise. Besides my kiddos always bring me ice cold water while I mow. And pick me more flowers while I mow and put them in cups on the counter to surprise me when I'm done. To make the house pretty.
The laundry is drying out on the line, the kiddos are running around in the fields, my man if off to the mill, and I need to get some cleaning done so I can sit in the sun and work on my knitting!
Have a wonderful weekend all!

moving fences

Sunday afternoon was such a beautiful day. So beautiful that after church and lunch that I took an hour long nap! Yup I did. I've got a terrible head cold and it's like an elephant is sitting on my chest and in my nose. Yeah. Awesome. So after my nap we all went outside and put up the pasture for the cows. It's really a two person job. We set up the perimeter, then we will section it off and rotate the pastures. The grass is still not real thick and lush all over, it's early here, but it's coming nicely. We just needed to move the pasture so they didn't go through the fence to eat the greener stuff. We are all for rotational grazing! Actually grass based is what we want, but due to our situation we do what we can! It's what we are striving for. So anyways... Walking around the field with an elephant is not really all that great. Plus with the new life that is springing out everywhere causes me to sneeze and blow my nose every few steps. My husband told me to go sit and take it easy. I didn't listen and said I was fine as I gasped and wheezed and sneezed the whole time. haha The kiddos were out there with us talking, laughing, and running around the field. It felt so good to be out and have the sun on me and listen to them and chat with my husband. Joel Salatin has said if you wanna be a grass farmer you better like to walk, or something along those lines. So true as I learned last year! But you know I enjoy walking around the field with my man catching up in our conversation and spending time with him. The kiddos are never too far off and their laughter and chatter bounce off the air and surround me like a warm blanket. The cattle mooing at us to hurry up and move the fence so they can go enjoy it. Then watching Maggie go out last night as the sun was finally going to bed, and listen to her munching happily on the lush green grass. The slight sound of her hooves sinking a small amount into the water logged earth, after all the rain. To watch her flick her tail and shake her head and see her ears flop back and forth. The sun seeming to glow off the soft brown of her coat. The contentment I feel surrounded by the things I love.

apple blossoms

sun setting as we finish up the pasture

It was a good Sunday in the country for this country girl.
Have a great Monday all!

my boy

Just gotta say I'm glad last week is over. It was a great week, just really busy.
Yesterday was a beautiful day. The weather was amazing!!!
We all over slept on Sunday morning. Not the best day to oversleep. But we were able to get all the chores, kiddos and ourselves ready and out the door for church. It was close but we made it on time! I think we all were still over tired from last week really!
Anyways we had to rush right off after church to get to our son's very last Pinewood Derby with the Cub Scouts. He's raced for 5 years. For his last year he came in first for the fastest!!! He took it all in stride. He smiled, and chatted with the other boys, and never really seemed to get too concerned about where his car was in the race. He's not really got that competitive spirit like his mom, he's laid back like his dad. Which is fine. We're all different. He's a good sport and that is important. Whether you win or loose is not the point, we tell him, it's how you play and conduct yourself. Really truly it is. I hate to see poor sportsmanship in any sport. Takes the fun out of it. You can be competitive and win, and still be a good sport about it. Or vice versa!
Here is the winning picture of the last race! His is the John Deere car!!

All the boys that entered did a great job too, and the cars were great! Fun to see all the different cars they make.

Here he is with all his cars. Yes he has a theme. Why do you ask?  He liked to keep the same design too. Why change a good thing was his thought. He was happy, had a good time, and congratulated the other racers on their wins. Good sportsmanship is key with us as well. This May he will be "crossing over" into Boy Scouts. sniff, sniff. My boy is growing up so fast. He started in Tiger scouts. wwwwaaaahhhhhhhhhhh. Makes me happy, proud, and sad all at the same time.
When we got home from the race we all changed and went outside to enjoy the rest of the afternoon. The kiddos played and had fun in the sun. My Man and I sat in lawn chairs beside each other and chatted. Sigh. It was a really great, restful Sunday.
Today the weather is beautiful as well! I'm so glad. So I shall go outside and enjoy some of this wonderful sun we have!!
Have a great day all! 

my weekend

Me driving the tractor in front, towing the one behind!

Pretty sweet I think!
We had to move some of our equipment out of a barn. We have a John Deere tractor we bought last fall, that we had to move. Well, it didn't want to start. So I got to drive the big tractor and tow my husband down the road! Yup I told my man "I'll tow you any day baby!!" He smiled and winked at me, and I returned it! We did get it started, but I had fun driving the big tractor! I mean it's a diesel after all. I did forget to wear ear plugs and it's really loud. The previous owner put glass packs on it. It was ssssssssooooooooo cold. I was wishing I had put on my Carharts. I had some layers on, but was still cold. But once we were done moving things around we had a fire in the stove and I had a glass of iced coffee. I know I should have had hot cocoa, but I wanted coffee! That's just me though.

We had a nice Easter. Morning chores, church, home to check on the animals, to my in-laws for a late lunch. Mmmm yummy ham, Easter egg hunt for all the kiddos, well the younger ones. There were 16 of the 17 grand children at my in laws yesterday! Yup you read that right. What a family heritage my in laws have! One was home with his parents because he was sick, poor little guy. Home for evening chores, jelly bean hunt, kiddos to bed, my man and I had a glass of wine and chilled on the couch together, by the fire place! Phew! Busy, but good!

My beautiful kiddos. They each had a new outfit for Easter Sunday! They are getting so big. Wwwwaaaahhhhhh. Love them so much it hurts. I love to see the amazing young people they are becoming. What a blessing they are to us.
Have a great day all!

dancing

Aaawww he loves me!
While at my in laws he grabbed me and spun us around. He does that from time to time, just because he can!
Happy Valentine's Day all!

clean up

Ever clean out your recipes? I have some that I thought looked good, and have saved, but once reading through them and realizing that I'd never make them. Not to mention I cook entirely different now then when we were first married. I have had some recipes for years and never have made. Some call for those wild ingredients that I never have on hand and would go to waste because it only goes in that one recipe. So I decided to clean them out and throw them, to make room for the new ones I have found online and from friends. I try to organize it by main dishes and desserts, then extras like horse cookies. Yes from time to time I make cookies for my horses, they love them! So much better, now I just need to get them on recipe cards and in the cookbook. I like to use the old photo albums, they are perfect for them.
I also have a little photo album of recipes I use only when canning, like spaghetti sauce. I'm always rummaging through the cookbooks to find them, then finally the light went on and I put them together, and put them in the canner. So next year when I start canning they are all right there in one place!! Brilliant! Only took me years to figure that one out...
Anyhow, life is kinda slow, and by slow I mean farm wise things, most of all our equipment is undercover before the snow comes, again. Everything around the farm is picked up, like the kiddos summer outside toys, and the like. Barns are winterized and now we just wait for the snow. It has been such an awesome fall. We had an Indian summer, and so far it's still been mild for Maine weather. Some cold, but mostly warm sunny days, like in the 60's!!  No kidding, I've loved it too. I'm sure winter weather is coming, but it's been so nice to have some mild weather and not have to keep the fire going all day, but at night to keep the chill out and not have all the winter gear out!!!
I'm sad to have to say this next part. You remember all our wonderful chicks that hatched out and mama hen left them? Well we had five. One was a rooster and the rest were hens. Well three days in a row someone hit them. I guess they thought playing "chicken" in the road was fun. Makes me soooooo mad. They hit three hens, figures. Then we killed the rooster. Didn't want to deal with him over the winter, and don't want chicks. So we have the one hen from the five babies left.
Well I have tons of things to finish, so have a great day all! Just thought I'd let you know what I've been up too. 

Thanksgiving

From all of us at SweetLand Farm we wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving!  We hope ya'll have a great day!
 Enjoy your day with your family and friends. I know we will be!

Eat too much turkey and watch too much football!

my morning

I milked Maggie this morning for the first time this cycle, and I'm sure I'll have many more milking's with her too. Matthew had to leave very early this morning for work, so the kiddos and I had chores. I don't mind, I rather enjoy taking care of things on the farm. Probably a good thing too. I was having a hard time getting into the swing of living on a dairy again. I have really enjoyed having the time off, and was thankful we dried Maggie off when we did. It really isn't ideal to dry a cow off in the middle of the season of growing grass when your wanting a mostly grass based dairy cow, but that's how it worked out. I wouldn't complain if that is how it works our again. I was so busy with the gardening and canning and all that good stuff milking a cow was the last thing that was on my mind. I'm sure we would have worked out something... but it was good for me! We tend to share the chores, and the work load of the farm. It's nice to work together as a team. The kiddos are always willing to lend a hand too.
As I went outside to milk this morning it was 7:15. The sun was still coming up, and it was a brisk morning. The kiddos were getting up and dressed, so it was quiet when I went out. I had the milk pail in hand by my side, gloves and wipes in my back pocket. My cowboy - eerrr my girls would pop in and say "cowgirl boots mommy"! here, as they clinked the hardening ground. The crows were out and I heard them cawing to one another, and strangely enough I liked that sound. Abby and Time Out were out in the pasture basking in the sun that was starting to warm them up. Abby let out a friendly winnie to welcome me and say good morning, as she always does when she sees me. The sheep were just getting up and let out a good morning baa as I walked to the cow barn. The baby chicks greeted me as well with happy hungry peeps, and ran after me to get some grain. I greeted all the animals with a good morning. It felt good to be outside with a milk pail in my hand, the cool, damp, fall weather on my face, my hot breath blowing out  into the cold morning air as I called to the animals. I peeked my head in the cow barn and both were laying down. I said good morning to Maggie and she got up while I was getting her grain and minerals. Dandie got up and bounded around the barn as I brushed Maggie down to get the hay and sawdust off her. I decided to wait a while to see what Dandie would do. She was too busy showing off for me to be bothered to eat. She ran, hopped, and bounced around me. She would come up to me and nuzzle my boot or leg, and jump when I would reach out and pet her. Then she would put her head down and jump sideways, so I scooched down and copied her, she looked at me and jumped the other way as I laughed. She flicked her tail in the air and jumped up on Maggie's stanchion, then back off and fell flat on her face. That made me laugh as she got her long legs untangled and shook herself off. She looked at me as if to say she meant to do that and decided to stop being silly, for about a minute. Knowing I had to get things in order and start milking to get it done I sat down and the kiddos came in. Dandie had new people to show off for! As I sat on the stool and started milking and the milk came down and hit the empty pail with a swish, squirt, noise I realized I had missed milking. The munching sound of Maggie eating, the grumble of her belly, her occasional mommy moo to Dandie, the calf being a goofball,  the kiddos laughing as they played with Dandie and then ran off to help feed and water the other animals for me. The older two helping Rachel get dressed and ready to go with her Aunt, cousin, and grandmother for the day and making sure she had on matching clothes and shoes and socks on her feet. What a blessing to me to have them be so willing to help me without me having to ask. I quickly warmed up as I milked and the pail quickly filled with warm milk and the snish, swish  noise it makes as it fills up. My hands were burning slightly, but not as bad as I had thought they would, and I was glad of that. I relaxed into the rhythm of milking and the noises that I love so much and was glad I had to milk this cool fall morning!

apple cider pressing

A number of years ago we bought a cider press. It's come in very handy too. We've even pressed pears in it and made pear cider and mixed it with apple cider. Just an interesting twist on the flavors. I'm not a huge fan of pear juice, kinda pulpy. We freeze some and turn some into hard cider. Both are yummy to enjoy in the winter! It's all arm power to turn it, the ole arms get a work out. The kiddos even give it a whirl, the older two can do it, the younger two need some help.
 Alright, so I'll break it down per photo. Kinda 101 cider pressing! It's fun.

 This is what our cider press looks like. Very basic and simple. There is a handle on top that twists down when it's being pressed, but I didn't get it in the picture.

This is where you put the apples to be ground up. You can see the teeth of it too. They are sharp and will cut your fingers in good shape.

Grab some kiddos and have them start grinding up the apples. My sister and brother in law came over to join in the fun. They have 4 kiddos too! The red wheel turns the grinder.

 Gotta keep on throwing in apples and grinding to fill up the bucket. I love the sky in this picture. It was so beautiful to look at, so many shades of blue and gray! It's over looking the cow pasture and the hay field.

Here is the bucket under the grinder. The mesh bag holds in the apples, and we fill it to almost the top before we cover and press it. But this is what the apples look like.

 Here it is covered and starting to press the apples! Yummy! The kiddos can do this part too, to a certain point, until it gets too hard to turn the handle. You can see how it collects in the wooden part of the press and then comes out the hole into the bucket.

This is for My Man. He loves this part when the cider is coming out and looks really good. Love the color of it. We like to grab a cup and drink some to make sure it tastes just right! It usually does. Yes we drink it raw. I know shocking right? We know where they come from and use clean apples, and we are careful when we press it as well. We have never had any problems come from drinking raw cider.

This is the pumas (left over apples). We feed them to the pigs and our neighbors cows. We throw it in the bucket of the tractor and it's easy clean up. The mesh bag makes it handy too. When we dig out the cider press we wash all the parts and bleach it as well. Then when we put it away we wash it and make sure all the parts are clean, dry, and then store it away until next season!
Well that's all there is too it! Easy, right?!
Have a great day!