apples, apples, apples!!!

Now I have lots of apples to process! Five buckets of apples! Hopefully I'll get lots of applesauce from them, and maybe a few pies too!! The house will smell wonderful! I love applesauce and the kids do too. Matthew likes it on ice cream warmed up, kind of an imitation apple pie!! Me, not so much. Due to time constraint Matthew went and got them. Would have been fun to go pick together, but like I said time seems to be an issue this week, just not enough of it, and it was now or never! I have tried canning apples in a pie mixture, but yuck. So I buy apples for pie, and just make applesauce, and cider, we've even made hard cider, and that was very good! Now Rachel is in fruit heaven with all the apples in the house. Makes me wonder how many apples she'll eat before I get them all done! One day last year she asked for an apple, and I said of course, a little while later she held up what was left of her apple and asked if she had to finish it, all that was left was the hard core part of the apple, maybe a seed of two and the stem! She had eaten just about all of it, literally! I told her that was fine and tried to hide my smile of amusement and told her she did a good job! Now let the applesauce making begin, tomorrow!

the noises of my life

This week has been a bit of a blur for me.
 Little Matt had a Cub Scouting award thing this week. He got multiple awards, and both sets of grandparents were  there to see him get his new awards! He's already gotten his Tiger, Bobcat, Wolf and Bear badges. Now begins the 2 year process of getting his WEBLOS badge. He enjoys cub scouting, is learning a lot,  and has met several other boys in town who do it as well.
I've managed to make 8 pounds of butter, clean the house, bring in more of the harvest, (pumpkins and squash, that are sitting in my living room) get the meat birds killed, um or harvested if you don't like the word kill, packaged and frozen. Not to mention sloshing around in the rain in the middle of the night to get the cow in, to no avail. I also got caught up on the laundry and hung it on the line instead of using the dryer! Been to town a few times and still have not done any grocery shopping! Oh well.
The weather today was wonderful. So I took advantage of the warm weather, and sat in it for a while as the kids played outside.The sun was out and there was no chill in the air. We all ran around outside this afternoon in t-shirts! It has been rainy the past few days so it was nice for them to be able to get out and get some exercise and run off that extra energy! The horses were feeling frisky today as well. They put their tails in the air and ran round the pasture bucking and kicking and blowing out their noses. That was nice to watch!
I've been milking Maggie a lot this week, so it seems like I have. I'm finally getting the knack of it too, and my hands don't hurt, as bad, when I'm done either. I do enjoy milking her. She just stands there and falls asleep. I like the quietness of milking, just me and the cow. I listen to her stomach, the sound of her chewing her hay, the slight clanking of her bell on the stanchen , the kittens mewing as they wait for some milk in their dish, the hens clucking happily as the eat bugs, the sounds the kids make running around laughing and playing together. Their excited voices when Matthew, "Daddy", pulls  in the yard!  I love it! All of it!
 I love the sounds of my life. They are wonderful noises, and  milking the cow has made me stop and listen to the sounds of my life on the farm. I cherish them, and look forward to more noises on the farm as it grows and the seasons of life change.

2:30... am

I woke to the sound of rain. Heavy rain.  My eyes wouldn't focus on the bleary red numbers on the clock. I sat up and thought  "Oh no, the cow is out!" Never did I think I would wake up and think about my cow in the middle of the night, getting rained on. I poked Matthew and asked if she was out, and his sleepy response was yes. He also informed me she would not come in. I glanced at the clock. 2:30ish,  the numbers were still not clear.  I didn't listen. I proceeded to get dressed and put on my knee high rubber boots, stumbled outside with no flashlight because "Mr. Nobody" didn't put it away, anybody else have one of those? stumbled around in the dark, got some grain, after more fumbling around with the cover of the bin, to bribe Maggie, sloshed around in ankle high water and called for Maggie. I couldn't see anything, it was dark and cloudy, I was not fully awake and the rain was pelting my face. I couldn't find her. Good thing she has a bell on or if she had come up to me she would have scared my half to death. When she walks, she walks slowly, and without that bell I never would have seen her coming or heard her. That would make for a good post!! Haha! Never know what would have happened. I think we both would have jumped! I called and called and shook the grain can. She didn't come. I gave up, after wondering around in the dark, wet pasture, feeling guilty about not getting her in. I went back to bed, it was almost 3am, but didn't sleep. It wasn't cold last night, a balmy 40 degrees. I still felt bad. Come to find out she was at the very top of the pasture in the corner, just as happy as could be in the morning. It took some convincing for her to come in the barn and get milked too. Stubborn cow!! Oh well. Maybe next time I won't be in such a pucker to get her in. Probably not.
"Mr. Nobody" is a wonderful poem the kids memorize for language arts, along with many others, it's a great poem. Maybe sometime I'll write it up. I know I have at least one in my house!!

wonderful!

Today was a great day! The sun was out and there was that chill in the air letting you know it was fall in Maine.
We got some "winterizing" done around the farm. The dreaded tasks you have to do before snow comes, along with things you have just put off and put off until you stop and say alright let's just do it and get it done! Well, we got some done. Not all of it, but at least a start. Then we left the rest of the chores and went to my families for lunch and "family bonding!"  I love the fellowship we get by eating together as a family. Wonderful things can happen as you cook, talk and laugh with your parents and siblings. Sharing stresses of life and making jokes at yourself go a long way in making it seem better. Whatever it may be, and help you to cope and know your extended family has your back. No matter your mood. We had good food, lots of laughing, at each other, and the kids had a blast playing with their cousins.
On another note...
I think that traditions are something to be made from the life experiences that you have. Taking what each one likes and combining them and making your own. I don't think they need to be set in stone, but rather made as you go through life. Don't get me wrong, I like some of the "normal" traditions like turkey on Thanksgiving, but I'm not opposed to having, lets say a Mexican taco dip and chips on the same day too! That is what I'm talking about! Why not shake things up a bit and create new traditions as well as enjoying the "old" traditions!! Isn't that how traditions become traditions?!

life and death...

Today we had both on our farm. Isn't that the way of it? I'll start with the death. We, well actually Matthew harvested our old laying hens. We were not able to save any of the meat from them, because they were 3 years old and too skinny for some reason. So, note to selves next time around we will only go 2 years with them. Oh well, we are still learning as we go. We, yes we both buried them out in the manure pile, dug a hole with our tractor, it has a front end loader on it, and in they went. Matthew said it was a mass burial. I kinda laughed at that, kinda gross I know, but that is farm life. We still have our 1 year old New Hampshire reds, only 5 of them though. Will be nice if they are all laying... I wonder though. Hard to tell, will find out soon enough.
Now to the fun part! Life...
We knew Maggie was going to be coming into heat soon, so we have been keeping an eye on her, and well, all the signs are there. We called the AI tech, and let them know to come and check her. Well she did, and said that she is definitely coming into heat, and that we should breed her now, because  of the way she felt, she could be in a full standing heat by the afternoon. "Oh no" was my first thought. Matthew was at work, at the mill, and I had no idea what bull he had picked, so I called him and thankfully he came right home. We chatted with the AI tech and decided on a bull, and I'm not joking, his name is Denali! Yup! Our daughter is DaLaney, and we had tossed the name Denali around for her while I was pregnant! Oh that was too much. But he is a nice bull, he's young, and he has some good qualities too. With all four children out in the barn, Maggie was AI'd. They had a few questions, and we told them enough to answer their questions, and they were happy with that. Hopefully now there is a calf growing inside her! Now, in about 21 days we should know weather or not she settled! Oh we are so excited! Having missed her last 2 heat cycles, we didn't want to miss another one. Now we wait...

daniel boone

Now what does Daniel Boone have to do with farming? Well, not much. But hang around with me for a minute and I'll tell you a funny little story.
As I've said before our son is a fan of the movie, and often acts like Daniel Boone and his sisters play and hunt  right along with him. I have to say I'd rather have them act like that then, well some of the other "role models" that are out there, if you can call them that. Anyways...
Yesterday I walked by his room, (I just happened to notice out of the corner of my eye as I sped  by, with a handful of wet, dirty, towels) and saw that his room was all dark and his window was covered up. I turned back and looked in and saw he taken some Boone looking clothes, his coon skin hat, drew a face on a paper plate (not sure where he got the paper plate),  hair and all, and cap gun, and put them up on his window with my clothes pins!  I got a good laugh over that, just seeing it hanging in his window. How wonderful an imagination is that?! Later he proudly came up to me and asked to go in his room, and see what wonderful thing he had created for me to see. He told me "That's Daniel Boone"! I smiled and tussled his dirty blonde hair and looked at his handsome, young face and those wonderful blue eyes. I am so very thankful for such wonderful, creative children! I told him that that was great, and wait until he showed Daddy. He grinned and couldn't wait to show him either.

good quote...

Think about it...
"Life's not the breaths you take, but the moments that take your breath away..." George Strait
What are some of your moments?