happy birthday

Yesterday 10-23-12 was

                      This sweethearts First Birthday! Dandelion aka Dandie. Happy Birthday. 
She is a welcomed addition to our farm. She was born on a beautiful day, much like yesterday afternoon. We were so excited to have a little heifer calf!  She's very sweet and loves to be loved on. I swear she thinks she's a big dog! She will lick you and rub her head on you. She will even moo at us if we don't come see her, and she thinks we need to go give her a little pat. Yes I'm quite fond of her, and her mother. In case you didn't notice!!
I was gone all day yesterday and didn't get home until dark. I was helping my SIL give her house a "face lift". We were painting! So I had to get a pic of her this morning.
Have a wonderful day all!

happy birthday

                                            Today is this big, beautiful, brown cow's birthday!

                                              Happy 5th Birthday Magnolia aka Maggie!!!!

and then...

this is what we do...

 load up the poo and...

spread it on the field.
And when I say we, I really mean my husband. He does that. I've never had the chance... We have lots of poo on a farm, but I don't need to tell you farmers that! It's really a wonderful thing!
And you thought this post was gonna be about haying! ha! Tricked ya!
 Oh and I have to show you this...

With some of the hay we left at the farm the kiddos built a little "hay fort." How's that for imagination?! They played there for hours!

And just because she's so dang cute, and getting so dang big...

Dandie.

Have a great day all!

maggie's pedicure

This was not what I was going to post today, but I thought it was interesting, so here you go!
Well today we were able to get Maggie's hooves trimmed. I have never seen it done before, so I wanted to be around when it happened. It's not like I "go to work" I live at where I work, and usually am home. But I had some errands to run and drop my boy off so he could have a sleep over with his best friend/cousin for his birthday. His cousins, not my boy. Well I was rushing around town to get everything done. Thankfully it was early enough this morning and the stores were not busy. Phew. Shopping in the early morning or late at night is the time to go. Although the store is more stocked in the am. Anyhow...
Back at the farm. Maggie came right in when I called her. She only came part way for my husband, so I came to his rescue and she came right in!! Haha. I like to tease him about that. Well she got led out and put into this contraption.

 Aren't you glad you don't have to go in one of these to get your pedicure?! I'm assuming. I've never had one before! Hahahaha
Then

Then these belts go around her and give her a hug. No it doesn't hurt the cow in any way. Maggie looks like shes giving me the harry hawk eye saying "I'm so embarrassed, and how dare I take her picture of her like this."
Then this

He uses a cutter of some sort and off come the extra hoof that needs to be trimmed. I'm glad I had the camera in front of my face so the flying hoof didn't hit me in the face, one piece hit my forehead though.
Then

The back. Their legs get locked into the metal with a chain. That way they can't kick.
That's it. Then they are let down, and put back out in the pasture. Safe for everyone. Only took about 5 minutes. Dandie didn't get hers done, she's not big enough, and her hooves are fine.
Now aren't you glad you know how a cow gets a pedicure? I am. I thought it was cool to watch how it was done.  Makes me want a pedicure now!!! ;-)
Have a great day 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!

beautiful site

Oh how I love this site!! So beautiful. Our Jersey cow happily outside munching on any blade of grass she can find. Can't wait to put her out on a bigger pasture, and see how our milk changes along with the amount of cream!!! Oh yummy!!

Yup ole Maggie moo out eating grass. Such a wonderful day. Such a perty cow too!
Have a fabulous weekend all!

totally bummed

Bad news is Maggie is not preggo. She bled out yesterday. Boo. Now if we catch her next month that means a calf in December. Boo.
The good news is we can now better track her heat cycle because we know when she bled out. Yay. We can breed her again next month. Yay!
I know just what ya'll wanted to read! Right! haha
Just part of farm life. I just thought I would share. Just kinda bummed that she didn't settle. Here's to better success next time!

battle of wills

For the last few weeks I have been working on training Dandie to freely go into her stanchion. We put Maggie outside and keep Dandie in the barn, where she runs around loose. We can't put them together because Dandie would try to nurse. At this time we don't have two pastures and can't make two because the ground is frozen and it would be kinda hard to put a stake in the ground! Matthew hasn't been around to put Dandie out and keep Maggie in and I don't want to do that on my own for the first time. I have no idea what Dandie would do, if she would do anything. I'd just assume have Matthew home just in case. So I go out around 4:30 to put her in. I always pet her and love on her first. Then grab some grain in her bucket and shake it by the stanchion. She just looks at me. I  grab her halter, catch her, and to put it on. She plays hard to get. Then I gently pull her head forward, and she pulls back, and plants her feet or in her case hooves! I keep pressure on her head and I'm talking to her. She keeps pulling back, then takes one step forward! Then she gives in after a few more seconds and walks forward to her stanchion with me guiding her where I want her. I lock her head in and praise her, give her lots of love, and of course the grain. She loves her grain. Then I get a little bit of grain for Maggie and call her in, and she comes in and eats her little treat until her supper when we milk her. The grain is just the bribe to get her in. That is what I have been doing every evening with Dandie. She's been getting better. Her will to not go in is not as strong as mine to get her in! I want to get her to come to her name and the shake of the grain. Well tonight I went out and she jumped right up and came over to me. I talked to her and rubbed her soft, thick brown neck. She licked my coat and got my face too. Calf kisses. I got some grain out and she knew what was coming, as she figured out about two days after I started this. She was near her stanchion and saw her bucket and I shook it and called her name. She came right over and stuck her head in her stanchion as I quickly locked her in and dumped her grain in her crib in one swift move! Success!! I loved on her and told her what a good girl she was! I was so pleased. I couldn't believe it! She did just want I wanted her to do. Watch tomorrow she'll make me catch her and pull her back into her stanchion, ;-) but for tonight I was just so pleased that she's learning! What a good little girl!
I'm just guessing here on training her, I've never done this before! But it seems to be working, I mean she came this evening. I think I'll keep it up! Besides I'm having fun too, and she's such a nice little heifer, and we like her that way!
Have a great night all!

dandie update

Phew, we made it through the night without any problems. Both Maggie and Dandie settled down and slept and ate. Although last night when Matthew milked Maggie didn't let her milk down, and we figured she wanted to save it for Dandie. We were told she might not let it down and she didn't. Well this morning we were woken up by a very loud cow. Maggie was full and wanting to be milked. We got 17lbs. That translates to 2 gallons and a pint. Most we've gotten in a while!! Dandie didn't like that idea of her not getting the milk and then the two of them started bellowing to see who could outdo the other! It was a bit loud in the barn this morning. But we did notice that Dandie had drank all her water, ate some grain and hay. She has even pooped, and peed. We are so very thankful for that, means all systems are a go, she's eating and feeding herself to fill up her belly. They lay down for a while, then get up eat and moo. I did see Maggie lick Dandie's face this morning. 
We had Maggie AI'd this morning. She was showing signs so we put a call in and tada! They didn't have any of the bull named Stone, so we chose a bull named Denali, who is actually not going to be available anymore. Stone is Dandie's father. So now we wait and pray that Maggie doesn't come back into heat and she settles. In 60 days we'll have her preg checked, if she doesn't come into heat before then. And if all is a go we should have a calf sometime in October!! Yaay!!
Have a great day!

poor dandie

Oh for today is the day! What day you ask? Well...

Weaning poor Dandie.

 This is when he started to build her stanchion. The hens decided to eat Dandies grain. It's a little narrower then Maggie's, but she's also younger and smaller and we are praying we won't still be here when it comes time to be milking her, and have a bigger barn. I did help by handing him things and holding the wood as he cut some pieces!

 Here it is all done with Dandie in it. Looks nice dontcha think?

 Now if you look real close she is sticking her tongue out at me! I'm on her poop list. She has all the hay, water and grain that she wants. So far there has been little mooing on either of their parts. She jumps around and pulls her head and pushes her butt down to try to get out, to no avail. Matthew looked at me and said "wait until she's hungry, then you'll hear her." Oh boy. At some point we will move her water and grain bucket, but for now it has to stay there on the side.

She looks really cute here, but  I think she is really not happy with Matthew who is standing right next to her, and she's giving him the evil eye, and he's on her poop list too! He put her in there after all. The kiddos all ran out side to go see her, and feel bad for her. We all do, but it's time and I try not to humanize the whole thing too much. It's part of her life and the next step to becoming a productive member of our farm. Granted it will be a while before she pays for herself, you get what I mean!

Here's My Man reading a book ("When Life was Young on the Farm" by C. H. Stephens), in case you were wondering, in the barn right next to Dandie. He's sitting out there with her to make sure she doesn't strangle herself. We know a dairy farmer who lost a cow that way. Somehow managed to fall down and couldn't get her footing to get back up. Kinda scary. We would all be devastated if anything happened to Dandie. She's such a sweet little calf.  I'm sure during the night we will be up to check on her as well.
We decided to wait and wean her when it had warmed up. Last week it was so cold and windy that we didn't. We didn't want all that stress of being taken away along with below freezing temps to have a negative affect on her. We figured that her having all that nice warm milk in her belly would be better then cool water while it was so cold.  This week is supposed to be warmer, 30's-40's! It can't be too bad they are right next to each other and can lick each other.
Oh and we think Maggie is in heat today!!! Hooray!! We have a call into the AI Tech and should be getting a call back from them soon!! Very excited about that! I'll keep you posted!
Exciting times are coming here on the farm! I can almost smell the spring! hehe

just so you know

Alright, so I again changed the look of the blog. It's winter now, and "it's snowing to beat the band" as my husband likes to say. Although not much has come down, yet. I think the back ground is nice with the snow and the trees. The white text of the letters was too hard to read, so I made them blue, and a little larger. Hope it still works out. I get bored with the look, and have yet to figure out what I want for my own picture on the top of the blog, so... I know just rambling on there.

Can't see it snowing in the picture, but it's just a blah kinda day. The sky says it all!

I know ya'll will be excited to to know this!;) Maggie finally showed signs of being in heat this month! We haven't seen any of that since she had Dandie. Not really sure why, or if we were just so into having a heifer and making sure she grew strong and healthy we didn't notice, or having a calf on her for almost 12 weeks, and us milking what is left out after Dandie is done, took it away. Anyways, I was milking one night and noticed and told Matthew, he called the AI Tech, but she bled out the next am. Missed it, but we wrote on the calender to keep an eye out for it around the 21st of this month! So I will let you know if we get her AI'd! Dandie's daddy is named Stone. Not sure who we will use this time. Will have to wait and see who the AI Tech has available when he/she comes. We are starting the (and by we I really mean Matthew) building of Dandie's stanchion so we can wean her. Oh boy that's not gonna be fun. I'll let you know how it goes... Gonna hear lots of bellowing, but it's time. She has had a great start to her life being right with mama from the start. We figured Maggie could do a better job taking care of her washing, eating and loving on her then we could. Granted us humans love on her lots, and make sure they are cleaned out and have food and water, but you get the drift. Dandie is a great little heifer. She moos at us if we don't stop in and say hi to her. She loves to chase the chickens around her pasture, I think she just wants to play, but the chickens run for their lives! Kinda funny. She will play with me when I'm out cleaning her stall, and rub her head on my thigh, and jump around, so I squat down and jump around with her and rub her head. I really like her, as do the rest of us, in case you hadn't noticed!
 Well I have to run, we are having supper at my in laws tonight, it's my MIL's birthday, and I need to start cooking and finish up...eerr start with the rest of my daily chores! And maybe dig out the kiddos ski pants...
Have a great day all!

aaawwww

Just couldn't resist this...

Maggie and Dandie in the pasture on this beautiful day! I had to sneak outside really quietly to get this picture, but I'm so glad I did, makes me go aaawwww.
The weather has been really mild for us so far. We've had some snow, but then the temps go back up to the 40-50's, and it all melts! Crazy for us, but I love it! I was tempted to mow the lawn the other day just to say I mowed it in December, but I didn't. I decided I'd mowed enough this summer! But I've been hearing on the radio that it's supposed to do something tomorrow, like snow. We shall see! Until then...
have a great day all!

fall snowfall

I went to bed Saturday night to this

Snow. It added up real fast too. That's looking out back of the house. A heavy wet snow at that!
Sunday morning I woke up to this

And this. My lonely clothes rack, getting buried in snow.

And this was a little later in the morning. It finally stopped around 10.
More snow. And no power. AAaahhhhh! Thankfully we were ready, kinda. I'm so thankful for our wood stove. Makes winter power outages so much warmer!
When Matthew went out to milk the cow he quickly realized how much snow we got. 12-14 inches of heavy, wet snow. I was going to drive up and check on our neighbor, and went out the shed door and saw all the snow. Matthew was shoveling to get into the cow barn, and I realized I wasn't driving anywhere. The car was buried in snow. I really didn't want to walk all the way up there in 12 inches of snow, so I instead went to feed the horses, sheep, and check on the chickens, and Matthew decided he would take the tractor up and check on our neighbor and see if she needed anything with the power outages. I milked the cow so he could get going. I had to dump the milk, because we had no way to cool it and we needed to get to church, and with all the snow and moving it around we were a little behind. Just as we were about to head out the door to church our neighbor called and said his cows were out and was wondering if we could help get them in. They were way down to a different neighbors house, which for his cows was a surprise. He has beef cattle and they don't really do that far. I guess with the snow storm and loss of power they decided to go for a walk! Maybe they were confused. It's not time for snow, in my opinion. So Matthew put his snow boots back on and headed out the door to help. The kiddos and I stayed home. I was glad we were home to go and help. Our neighbors have helped chase our cow a few times and have stuck through till she was in, so it was only right that we help. I would have, but didn't have anyone to watch the kiddos. It took them 3 long hours to get the cattle back in. They had them rounded up, until someone drove by and scared them off, back into the woods. So back to square one and rounding them up, again!
The power had turned back on right when Matthew left, and I was happy, but I decided I better get some more water for the animals and the, ahem, toilet! I didn't know if it would stay on with all the wind, and knowing how wet the snow was I figured better be safe then sorry. Boy I was glad I did too. The power was only on for about an hour before it flickered and then went back out for a long time.
We left later in the afternoon to a fellowship meal and hang out with our church family, and the power was still off when we left. On the way to the party we heard on the radio that tons (they gave a number, but I don't remember it) of people were out  of power and probably would be for a while. I was again glad I had refilled up the buckets, and if all else failed we could melt snow in the house by the fire place. Thankfully when we got home that night it was back on! (Matthew had come home and done chores while I stayed at the party, and when he got home it was still on! Phew!)
Then Monday morning when I got up the sun was out and it quickly warmed up to the 50's!! The kiddos went out and played in it and made some snowmen and snow horses! They also deiced shoveling sounded like fun, so they did that too!
Now most of the snow is gone. Just a hard and fast reminder that winter is quickly knocking on the back door and we need to make sure we are ready, and I mean completely ready for it! Yikes, it came fast, and let us know that we still have a few more winterizing projects to do before it comes to stay!!

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!

tickled pink

Do you see what I see???

We are so excited to  announce the birth of our newest addition to SweetLand Farm! A healthy heifer calf!!!! She was born yesterday around 2 pm! As you can see it occurred outside in the pasture. I took this photo shortly after she was born, she's still all wet and had yet to stand up. I only got so close and then zoomed in. Maggie is very protective of her, and we didn't want to interrupt her just yet. We had no idea what sex she was at this point.
Let me back up a little.  We had gotten home from church and we were expecting company soon. We had a few things to get done before hand, and had Little Matt go check on Maggie and he comes running back down that he thought she had calved. Matthew and I went up and low and behold there she was all wet and just a cute as anything. I had grabbed the camera just in case! She was up in the left hand corner of the pasture way in the back. What a great place, quiet and sheltered. We left her alone after we took the kiddos up to see our new baby. The weather was great yesterday too nice and warm for a fall day. Later that day we had to get the calf in the barn and milk Maggie, but to first make sure the calf was eating and got some of that good colostrum. I got to pick her up and carry her a bit too, she's probably about 50 pounds. Nice size baby girl. She was still wobbly on her long legs and to get them in the right direction was a work out. She reminded me of Bambi when he goes on the ice, legs going everywhere. Maggie was talking to her lots too once we had them in the barn, and just loving on her, drying her off with her long tongue. Matthew helped her get into position to eat

Took to it like a champ! Our company arrived and we had to show her off, but they all had to stay out of the barn because Maggie was nervous with all the people she didn't know, and we didn't want anyone to get hurt. They all thought she was cute! We left them alone to bond until it was time for milking to relieve Maggie a bit. Then again left them alone and peeked in the window to check on them from time to time. They were both tired. No wonder, having a baby is hard work, and trying to stand is too!
I got up around 4am to check on them and they both were laying down sleeping. So I didn't disturb them.

 Here she is still wet and in the barn. Still real shaky on those long legs!

This morning after eating. Her pink tongue and a little milk on her nose! Check out those lashes. Enough to make any woman jealous!

Here she is this morning resting. Her belly full, and now it's time to sleep. We decided to name her. Little Matt picked out her name. He had it picked out with the last one, but it was a bull calf,  and now we used it with this one. It's Dandelion, but we'll call her "Dandie". I think we are all smitten with her. I mean she's a baby and just so darn cute. Now we pray she stays healthy and strong. We are thankful for her and the blessing she brings to our family farm.
Have a great day all!

maggie pictures

This morning while Little Matt and I were out doing the chores I took the camera out with me. I was able to snap a few pictures. (My camera has been acting up lately. Not really sure why. The pictures have been coming out blurry and unfocused. And often times there is a black spot in the picture. Not a huge black spot, but it looks like smoke or something. Again not really sure why. Maybe it's dying. I think I would be lost without my camera. I tend to take it everywhere, most of the time, unless I forget it!! hahaha! I would like to get one of those fancy ones, maybe next time around I'll get one. I still like mine, and it works, usually!)
Anyways!
It's a cool, damp morning with dew on the ground and a fall chill to the air.  The sun is up, but the clouds are covering it so it looks misty out. I could see it through the feather looking clouds, and tried to get a picture, but it didn't come out nice. The weather has changed back to fall weather, and I turned the heat on to take the chill off this morning. I didn't think a fire would be necessary, just some warm air to warm me up. Burr!
So here are the pictures of Maggie and the broilers like I said last night. No calf as of yet! Believe me when that calf drops I'll be getting some pictures on here! I'm excited for the big day!

I know it's her hiney, but you can see the calf on the side and how big she is on that side!

big mama! i think she's a nice looking cow

looks like this guy is hollering, but he's really just trying to get the fresh grass. he stuck his head out of the wire to eat some. guess it's greener on the other side of the fence! we had just moved them too!

Have a great day!

busy times

It's been a busy month of October for me. Actually since the middle to end of August it's been busy for me. With the garden produce, the canning, home school, and well life, it's been busy. I'm almost done canning for the year and am very pleased and thankful for what got done. It will be nice when I'm all done, I still have some apple jelly and apples to go. I'm gonna try to can some apples that are cut up and see how they taste. Just something different. And freeze some for pies this winter!
Both our gardens are fully harvested and resting for the winter. The fences are down and the lawn is mowed.  Matthew put some manure on one of them and the hens have been out there eating the worms and doing a great job of spreading it around for me! I'd like to get some garlic, (since, someone, ahem, who shall remain nameless tilled it up last fall) planted. We shall see.
We ended up getting 217 bales of second crop hay in this past weekend! The whole field didn't get hayed either! The weather was perfect for it, hot and sunny during the day with no humidity, a slight breeze, and cool nights without the dampness that usually comes this time of year. A bit of an Indian Summer! It's been so nice, I've even just gone out and sat in the sun for a while, just to enjoy it. We had a neighboring farmer come and mow it, we just didn't have time, Matthew has been very busy at the mill. Last year we didn't have extra hay and had to buy it this spring. We had a bit of a wet spring. Now this year we have gotten almost 1000 bales from the field we lease. The chicken manure we put on it last year really improved it! We are thankful for that!
My SIL and her kiddos came over today and we canned the last of the carrots. Just gotta tell you that we got 3 bushels of carrots from our garden this year! NEVER had that many carrots! EVER! So I thought that was cool. I split the last bushel with her, and will give some to a friend of mine. We decided to try with the last 6 quarts to cook them with honey water. We'll see how they turn out. I like to put honey on the carrots once in a while, and thought if they were canned with honey water that maybe that would give it more of a honey taste.
Maggie's due date is tomorrow. So we'll have to wait and see if she calves. I'm tempted to go sit on her. I don't think she'd like that though, and I'm not into cow riding. I'll leave that to the pros! I should get a picture of her to show you how big she is. I'll do that tomorrow if she doesn't drop that calf tonight! Would be nice to see a picture of the ole cow on the blog. Been a while. It's been nice having the last 60 or so days off from milking. I have a feeling when I start milking her again, when Matthew can't, my hands are gonna burn! I'm looking forward to it though! Ha! Now how many women look forward to hand milking a cow and having their hands burn!? She seems to like the broilers that we have and often sleeps near their tractor. Speaking of the broilers, we didn't harvest them. They were too small on Saturday, so we'll see how they do this week. I think because of the heat we've had they have grown. They tend to grow slower in the fall due to the cooler weather. But these guys sure do love to eat the fresh grass we put them on every morning. Maybe I'll snap a picture and stick them on here too! Ugly looking things that they are!
 Here are a few pictures of the haying that took place this weekend. I mean check out that sky! So beautiful!

A couple kiddos running along behind the baler. I'm so pleased at how good it looks. I told Matthew it looks good enough to eat!
Have a good night all!

i'm back!!!!!!

OK. So my wonderful husband surprised me with a computer late this morning!! Thank you honey!!!
It's all up and running. And I only had to call tech support... once, oh ok twice!! Hahahahaha. Computers and I we are so compatible!! That is in there for my sister. She'll get a laugh out of that!! I hope!
Well now that I can blog, my brain won't work, I have so many things I want to share. So watch out I may just keep on rambling!
So much to do, but I think I'll blog for a while, then get busy...

Well remember how we got a rooster.Still have him, and he still wakes me up at 4-4:30 every morning. Grouchy is what that makes me. We locked some hens up with him. All but one, she was the low one on the pecking order and was never around. I thought something had gotten her because she was gone for weeks. She was never with the rooster. Then she came out from under the cow barn. She was thin and pale looking. She ate some food and then went back under the barn. We figured maybe she had a nest, but didn't know if any of the eggs had been fertilized. She didn't come out until a few days later. Still alone. She went back under the barn for a few more days. Then Emma comes in the house her large, round blue eyes wider then normal and a smile on her face and says "Mommy come see what I found! The hen came back with some babies!" We (myself, DaLaney and my mom were here at the time) went outside and saw 5 little fuzzy butts running around with a very proud mama hen. She is very protective of them and even tried to attack Maggie for going in her barn! Guess she got a little close to her babies. Other hens come around and mama gets ugly and will attack them if they get too close. They run like the dickens when she comes at them too! They are sooooo cute! I'll try to post a picture of them...

I did it!! Wwwwaaahhhhhoooo! Sorry just a little excited about that. No tech support involved!

We have stopped milking Maggie too. She is getting dried off because she is due October 12. She was still giving about 1.5 gallons a milking and we had been milking her for 13 months. Due to all the trouble we had getting her AI'd. Guess she's a good little milker. Thankfully we have not had a problem with her getting too swollen and uncomfortable. She seems happy enough to munch on hay and lounge around all day in her dry paddock! Ah the life! That worked out well because I had to have my wisdom teeth out, I kept putting it off, so no milking or heavy work for me. Bad time to have it done right in all the harvesting and canning get busy. But I'm on the mend, and as of right now I still don't think it's worth it. I'll let you know if I change my mind. I'm ready for a nice grilled stake and a green salad! Sounds good to me!!
Well that's all for now! I gotta get caught up on all the blogs I follow, and some canning done! Hope all is well with you all!!

sunshine hooray!!!!!

Abby decided to lay down and eat her grass out in her grass pasture this afternoon. She has done this since she was a filly. She'd always lay down in her pile of food and eat it. I like that she still does. I had to get her back to or she would have gotten up. I'm glad I have a pretty good zoom on my camera! Time Out was out with Maggie. The two have been together everyday for three days. Oh and notice the brightness and how lush the grass looks?!  That's due to about two weeks of rain, and humidity. We were finally able to get up fencing and put the horses out on grass. This picture with Abby is our back lawn, I no longer have to mow it, the horses do!! Not to mention get Maggie on some more pasture that was ready to be grazed. We noticed a huge increase in her milk. When it was time for milking her udder was full! She has gone up in milk 1.5 gallons a day! That is just putting her on fresh grass! She's on the end of her milk cycle too, we'll be drying her off in August, so she'll calve in October. Not really ideal for wanting a grass based dairy to dry her off in the peak grazing season, but considering all the trouble we had... anyways we are very excited to to see the increase in her milk, and are really encouraged to think how much more cows will give just getting them on spring grass! We have even cut back on her grain as well. We are not graining her for maximum production either, we give her half of what she was getting at the farm we bought her from, because we don't need as much milk as she can give.  But it is very exciting to see the increase and we look forward to having a more grass based herd in the future! This is the first spring that we have had a cow and milking! We have learned so much, and know we have so much more to learn, but it will come in time. Hard to believe that we have had Maggie for almost a year, we got her in June! Wow has that gone fast!
Kinda funny, only because everything turned out alright, don't think it would be so funny if it hadn't! Shortly after I took this picture I had to go get Time Out and lock her in her stall. She was chasing Maggie, and then she decided to take the fence down. She was a little confused and didn't like the shocking she was getting from the fence. She trotted all the way to her barn, then decided to scream for Abby. Abby couldn't care less and continued eating. Maggie was looking a little miffed when I went and had to get her in her stall. She really didn't want to come in yet, it wasn't time for miking, but a little bit of grain shaking near her head lock and she came in, after throwing her head around and pawing the ground to let me know she was not amused. Maybe Time Out was just practicing her team penning skills she really wants to have!! I got the fence back up, and put back together, and told Matthew when he got home we needed to make sure it was the way he had it set up, and we need to fix a few fence posts before putting Maggie back out.
Soooo now it's back to fixing fence and more walking! But when you have a grass operation I guess that's what you do, walk, and a lot of it!! Good thing I like to walk!!
Have a great night all!!

yard work rambling...

I like yard work. I certainly like it better then house work and cleaning the toilet! There is always more things to do then time allows.
My lawn was in need of mowing and I got it done, and the rain hasn't started yet! Matthew was gone this morning so I got busy. The kiddos cleaned up their plither of toys all over the yard while I mowed. I only hit a few rocks that got thrown onto the lawn by the plow man plowing the neighbors driveway with that last snow storm we got on April Fool's day. Oops. Hope I didn't damage the blade...
 Last year we fenced in the what we call the "back lawn" for the cow, but well that didn't work out so we put the horses on it. Cuts down on the hay in the summer for them, and that cuts down a lot of mowing on my part, the horses do it! Takes me about an hour to mow the lawn. After I got the lawn mowed Matthew came home, I had just literally stopped the mower when he pulled into the driveway. We had lunch and he was off to plow the neighbors garden, so I cleaned the horses stalls, then raked up the rocks on the front lawn and cleaned it up. The kiddos raked the rocks on the side lawn. They did a really good job at it too!
We were able to put the cow out on fresh grass the other day. It's finally ready and dry enough! She's really happy about that, now the butter will be a darker yellow! Changed real pale yellow once she wasn't on grass anymore.
I'm done rambling. I was just pleased to get so much work done this morning before it rained. Oh I also made a cake to take to my in laws for supper tonight for our monthly meal together!
 I also have a picture to share with you!

"I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be doing here, but it just feels right!"

says the little Partridge Rock hen. She was just sitting there happy as you please this morning. So we had to take her picture! She's got a ways to go before she'll lay her first egg, but it looks like she'll do just fine!
Have a great weekend!