A day where I don't fall on my butt isn't a day worth remembering.

I am not yet functioning.  I drink half caffeinated coffee.  I wish we had the real stuff in the house right now.  Although it would make me sick, which is why we don't have the real stuff in the house.   Kit had a  hard night.  I spent most of the night sleeping with her on my chest. I think she had bad dreams. I love how cuddly she is.  How secure she feels when I hold her.  I'll miss that, so I'll try not to let one night of poor sleep affect me too much.  Its just hard in the present.  I'll try not to yell, more than normal.  Try to be patient.  Try to find the energy to get done what needs to get done.

Kelsy finished this year's Math.  Before you get too impressed she started in January.  But still she had a month left.  YAY KELSY!!!!

We castrated the calves yesterday.  That involves catching /tackling the calves, laying them on their side, putting a really small, really strong band around their testicles.  Like I said, these guys are big.  Another week or 2 and our castrator would've been too small.  We would have had to cut them out then.  Do you know some people eat calf testicles?  They are called Rocky Mountain Oysters.  I told Colin when we were done doing this I was taking the family to the Turkey Testicle Festival.  Actually we missed it by a few days.  Its held the day before Thanksgiving and its for real.  I love embarrassing that kid.  Anyway, taking the calves down was a job.  The best thing to do is get their head and gently but firmly turn it sideways or towards their back, then they are much more compliant.  Then we take a leg and put them on their side.  Well one of them came at me and I put my arm around his neck and he kept going. I held on, fell on my butt, and he came with me. Chris flops on top an Colin holds his legs and I put on the band.  We let the calf up, he looks around like "was that it?" gets up and goes and eats his hay.

I also got most of the tree limbs down around the electric fence yesterday. So that fence will be goat proof and horse ready.  Yes I said horse. We are going to be taking in a horse by the name of Shakespeare.  He is a 20 year-old former parade horse and a perfect gentleman.  He still has a lot of life in him, but like all of us he does not have the energy he did as a youngster.  He was first rehomed because he was low man with the other horses where he lived.  Always pushed out of the shelter, never got enough hay.  So a friend of ours took him.  She thought her kids would be excited for a horse, but she found after a month they weren't so excited anymore and now he's wanting for a little more attention so she offered him to us.  Colin & Spencer have wanted a horse forever.  The girls and Tin are very excited too.  We'll see if the novelty wears out or if we have horse people here.  Colin and Kiki will get bored with this horse.  But its a perfect first horse because he already knows everything.  Now the kids can learn with a knowledgeable horse.  And he's so mellow.  He'll help a person gain confidence.  We'll see what happens.

*****SOAP BOX WARNING******
Last night we watched a movie called Fred Claus.  Chris had wanted to see it, so that's fine.  I noticed something in the movie it had in common with The Santa Clause. An adult in the movie was not given a particular toy at Christmas and it altered the outcome of their life negatively.  Now as a 40 something adult Santa gives them the toy and they are reduced to tears, they see the error of their ways, and change their outlook on life.  What??  No wonder parents tackle each other over "Tickle Me Elmos" or simply spend too much money on Christmas. If we don't give our kid just the "right" gift our children will be ruined.  What pressure!  Our kids will not be ruined by their lack of material possessions.  It is not their toys that create who they are.  I was going to say unless you want a spoiled brat, but even that isn't created by the toys, that is created by everyday indulgences.  Now don't get me wrong.  Everyone loves a gift, especially my kids.  Its trite but true, its not the gift, but the thought behind the gift.  Ask any mother who is given a handful of  dead dandelions & thistles lovingly picked by their 4 & 6 year old.  Its the idea that someone cares enough about you to spend time and thought on you.  In this day of busy lives and packed schedules, I think the gift of time is even more precious than it once was.  The memories it makes. Even the memory for a child working on a masterpiece he is creating for his grandmother.  While he draws that picture he thinks of her and what she means to him.  I think that is a gift.  And in 10 years making that picture he gave to his grandma will mean more to him, and had more influence on who he is,  than that PS3 he got from her.  Or that Superman cape he didn't get.

Ramblings - Last Sunday of November 2009

Very pleased with all we got done yesterday.  Chris does not feel the effects of the new sleeping machine, he does not feel energized by it.  But I am seeing some changes.  He's got the energy to do more around here.  We both notice he's not using the bathroom at night and he's has actually had dreams.  So the machine is working.  According to the Dr. it will be another week or 2 before we will see the full effect of the machine.

We got the ram lambs & wether moved yesterday.  Once we figured out how we were doing this it was was pretty easy.  Essentially we had to move ALL the animals -  3 steers, 7 goats, 16 sheep & Festus the donkey - into the smaller new ram pen, and then grab the 3 boys staying behind while we pushed them back into the big pen.  Worked slick.  Festus stayed behind.  And Princess, a goat,  goes wherever she pleases.  Anyone want live sheep or a lamb for eating this spring/summer be sure to let me know.  We have some beautiful sheep.  But 16 is our max I believe.  We will simply be improving the flock from here on out.   I love looking at the sheep and all the colors.  Its a bad thing about them being in the woods.  Its good for the ease of hay and extra shelter from the elements, but I miss not being able to see them as easily.

Chris got more straw, helped with ram pen, cleaned out the trailer, finished tallying what pigs to sell, (Pigs anyone?), cut some more pallet wood, called the processor for a sow, helped Kiki chase Nike (the champion jumper pig) back in the pen, looked at the snowblower, helped Colin with some school work, got us caught up on laundry, and made breakfast & dinner.  That's my man!

Today we need to castrate the new bulls.  That is a 2 to 3 person job with calves as big as ours, so we need to do it while Chris is home.  Colin and I will finish the electric wire around the fence.  We ran out of insulators yesterday. I bought some more last night.  And Chris & I will finish cutting the pallet wood.  I'll need to gather up all the extra hoses for the year soon and have one dedicated hose that we drain after use.  Winter is definitely in the air, so its time to be ready.  I think that will fill a morning.  Calli has rehearsal, Spencer wants to see a friend, Colin & Kiki want to see another friend, & Chris & I want to do nothing this afternoon.

While Colin & I were working on the fence yesterday he wanted to know when we were going to see some friends of ours.  I said, "Monday we might go bowling."  "Ok, when will we see them again after that", he asked.  "Wednesday for 4H", I answered.  "Really", he says and thinks for a moment, "That is 2 days next week plus art on Tuesday, we better get done what we can while we can."  Just when I think he'll never get it.  Speaking of Colin, he has started his own blog.  http://the-random-colin.blogspot.com 

Indie got out for the first time in 2 weeks yesterday.  When I set up the new ram pen I had to open the driveway gates.  He went for a long walk.  About an hour later he came back and sat about 3 feet from where I was working on the fence. When Chris & Kiki came home with the straw he came back into the yard with them.  He is our dog and belongs to us and this property. He has stopped a coyote attack at least once. He responds to our praise and our scolding.  He greets me every morning with a tail wag and puppy postureing. But he cannot bring himself to allowing us to touch him.  What a day that will be.

We did pretty well on our list yesterday.  We got 4 calves, weaned and dehorned for $50 each.  A most excellent deal that saves us great amounts of $$$ in not buying milk replacer.  They are good sized and everyone is excited because they will be easier to take care of.



I did get the pigs measured and have a fairly good idea of their size.  We have pigs from 200lbs down to 35.  I repaired the sows pen I also built the feeders a new pen and moved them into it.  One weaner got left behind with the sows.  Oh well.  I'm not worrying about it right now.  Here they are this morning.  I guess they prefer sleeping under the sky instead of one of the 3 shelters we have for them.

 

We did go to USCellular as well to check out a new phone.  They have a free phone offer right now, but because I already I have an existing plan that does not expire until February I have to upgrade to a data plan to get the free phone.  While it would be fun to have internet on the phone, I can think of lots of other things to do with $20 a month.  I did worked about 10 minutes with Bear.

We planted a few seeds last night too.  Chris wants us to try an indoor tomato stand.  I already have lettuce growing in a tub over the refrigerator. Its doing pretty well but I need to get the light on a timer, I think its being left on too long.  I would like to get the cinder blocks laid out today in the garden so it will be ready in the spring.

Still need to separate the rams.  And we did buy saw blades so we can finish cutting up the pallets.  We should also start the snowblower and make sure its ready to perform. Oh and kids put ta bag of trash on the ground last night, instead of the trash can.  We'll need to pick that up.  Need to clean out the trailer too.

While our first freeze came very early this year, I am thrilled with the warmer than normal weather we've had this Fall. Its cold enough today I expect Tin won't wear shorts out today.

On Thanksgiving Day the kids got quite dirty in the our muddy yard.  So we were the mean parents and made them all take a bath.  The youngest boys were of course not pleased by this until we told them they could take a bath with Kierstyn.  Then it was a party!  A gentle, no splash, very well-supervised bath.  Here is a picture.  Don't report us to Child Protection Services.  No one was harmed in this bath.

My To-Do List

We had a very nice time yesterday at a friend's house for Thanksgiving.  Always a good time and good food.  Calli even managed a sleepover.  For us peons its time to work. I have a very long list of things to do today.It wasn't supposed to be much and all of a sudden its ballooned to a dozen HAVE to get done to day items.  I need to call the extension office to inquire about grants for a Mobile Processing Unit. I want to buy a setup for processing chickens, turkeys, ducks, quail, etc easily at home rather than carting them to Janesville to have them professionally done.  This setup includes a plucker - most important piece, a scalder with thermostat to get that perfect scald, a dunker and cones.  I was thrilled this Fall when we did 25 in 4 hours. Supposedly you can process 25 birds in an hour, and with the plucker I believe it. De-feathering is the most time-consuming part.   With the processor charging $3.50 a bird, the original cost of the bird at least $1 + shipping you have $5 into the bird before you feed, heat or anything else to them.  And of course we never include the cost of labor (eye roll).  It is very cost prohibitve to have someone else process.  We want to buy this equipment for ourselves and to rent out to other small time farmers like ourselves. I think a lot of people would benefit from it. In truth I do not have to call the extension office today, but I need to stop procrastinating on it.

I need to call a friend about calves.  Its time to get 4 of them.  If we are lucky we can go pick them up today too.  Which also means I have to make sure the calf pens are ready.  That includes creating 1 more pen so we have 4 pens right by the front of the house.  The more we walk past the calves the more attention they get, and the sooner it is we'll spot anything going wrong with them.  Catching things going wrong with calves early is the key to keeping them healthy. This call does need to happen today, and if she has calves ready we MUST pick them up today.  On that note, it also means we have to pick up some milk replacer from the feed store also.

I HAVE to measure pigs.  We have someone interested in buying some of the weaners so I need to know what weight we are at so I know what to charge.  This isn't as easy it might sound.  Pigs don't just stand for you to be measured.  It takes a little bit of finagling.  I must admit putting a tape measure around a pig's chest is easier than putting it on the scale.  Then we need to move the weaners.  Could be 5 minutes, could be an hour.  Then I can refasten the gates to the pigpen that the pigs thought were unecessary.  I happen to disagree, so back up they will go, and electrice fence will come down.  We also need to call the processor about butchering a sow.  We are trying someone different this time and we aren't exactly sure of their timeline so we really need to make the call.

I should seperate 2 of our ram lambs from the rest of the flock.  They were not doing their job, probably because they were too young, so we brought in a seasoned ram.  Well apparantly the young rams just didn't know what to to do because now we have the old ram, the 2 young rams, and a wether (castrated boy) chasing whatever poor ewe is chosen.  No one is actually breeding because they are too busy fighting and knocking each other down.

I need to work with our dog Bear.  I haven't worked with him all week.  Oh my, was it really last Friday the last time I did training with him.  Not good.  15 minutes is plenty for both of us.  But it HAS to be done.  Speaking of dogs, dog food is on sale at Farm & Fleet until 1pm.  It would be a very good thing to get there and take advantage of the sale.  While we are there we can buy a new blade for our circular saw.  We need to cut up some more pallets.

Finally we need to get some wood in the house.  It hasn't gotten too cold in here yet, but we know its coming.  Its good to have soome wood waiting in the house ready to burn instead of traipsing out in the rain or snow.

Did I forget anything?  Oh yeah we'll have to pick up Calli at some point, and what will we have for dinner?  As long as nothing else comes up we should be ok.

Thanksgiving 2009

Having children, 6 of them, I often heard "That's not fair!"  My standard reply is "you are right, life isn't fair, and you got the better end of the deal."  I don't hear the cry of "that's not fair" so much anymore.  I suppose when you get a predictable response its not worth saying.  Being Thanksgving I thought I'd give my thoughts on what I am thankful for, even if its been done a thousand times.  When a person is focusing on their blessings its harder to focus on the smaller harms of everyday life.

Of course I start with my family.  My caring, loving, supportive, husband that works hard at the office and at home.  Rarely drinks, doesn't gamble, never hits and may yell at the children more than he should but quickly follows it with a hug, a kind word or a tickle match.  I never wonder where he's at or who he is with.  Everything he does he does for us.  He would do anything for me.  He is my favorite person in all the world!  I could not have gotten luckier.  I am thankful for him.

My children - They are healthy, loving and hardworking.  They are curious, intelligent, and eager.  They are funny, persistent, and strongwilled. They are beautiful inside & out.  None of them have any health concerns we cannot treat or overcome.  None has a major learning disability that we cannot work with.  None of them has such a personality flaw that we have sent him or her to live in the woods... permanently.  We have amazing young people living in ths house and I am thankful I get to know them and be a part of their lives.

Our extended family and friends who care and supports us.  People who want to know what crazy thing have we done now.  I'm thankful we have people who love us and sometimes drives us crazy, as I'm sure we drive them crazy. People who knew us when we were young.  People who knew we were making a mistake and loved us anyway.  People who thought we made a mistake and later realized we didn't and love us still.  People we have shared laughter and tears with.  We have shared ideas, plans, ambitions and dreams.  I am thankful for you.  You are the people who have made my life worth living.

I am thankful to live in this country where I can still farm, and have 6 children, and speak up for or against the current President. I can homeschool or send my children to a decent public school.  I have roads to drive my car on.  I have police and fire department that helps to protect me and my possessions.  I have eyes to see the glorious sunrises, and ears to hear laughter or whines of my children.  We are deluged with hats and mittens and shoes.  We have plenty of good quality food to eat.  Our water is clean and good-tasting.  The roof over our head keeps us warm enough and certainly dry.  I am thankful that a child with $300 in his wallet really wants to spend it on a PS3 because all of his needs and many of his wants have already been met.

I hope on this day of Thanksgiving you too can agree that Life isn't fair and you got the better end of the deal.  I know I did.

Need to keep it short today, but I will post.  I am making this a habit!  In any case Kierstyn needs to nurse so I might as well do it while I post. Kiki thought it was cool that I have a blog.  Yes I can write and bore anyone who reads it - AMAZING!  Chris just went to pick up chicks, hopefully our last shipment for this year.  We get an assorted group, so its like chocolates, you don't know what they are.  Ok maybe not quite like chocolates because there aren't any chicks with holes in their middles, but in any case different colors, different feathers, its fun to see what they turn out to be.

We are thinking about stopping breeding pigs.  We'll just raise feeders.  We will do breeders again, but we'll do purebreds.  Then we can sell as show pigs too. I'm glad we started with these pigs as breeders.  They are easy keepers (other than fencing) and while they weren't free, the investment in them was considerably less than purebred or heritage breed pigs.  The kids are reluctant.  They like the pigs and see the pigs bring money back to the farm.  I was suprised anyway.  We are talking about less animals and they said, not the pigs.  It makes me happy to hear them have an opinion on the farm other than "I don't want to work."  

Chris has returned,time to take care of these chicks.

Happy Thanksgiving Eve.

Treya

We live in the country in a house that is over 150 years old in some places.  We have mice.  This past winter, early spring we were catching 2 - 3 mice in traps a day.  Then 1 a day, then 1 every few days, and then none.  All summer our mouse traps stayed empty.  Qwerty, our 18 year old cat caught his first mouse this summer shortly after Kit was born.

So we knew we were not mouse free, but certainly mouse-less.  This past month our traps stayed empty but I have seen increasing evidence of the vermin.  Then last week I saw a little demon poking its head out from behind the woodstove.  Outside I might consider it cute.  Inside its war. We cannot do poison, we do not want to harm our dogs and children. The traps are proving inefficient if not completely ineffective.  I put the call out on Freecycle for a mouser.  Almost instantly I have responses.  Within 4 hours we had in our possession Treya, a beautiful approximately 1 year old female cat that likes to catch flys.

If she can catch flys she can catch mice right?  Mice are bigger and don't fly.  She and Qwerty get along well.  She loves the kids.  She has even come and sat on Kit's lap (while I was holding Kit) and let Kit pet her which was something like swatting and pulling of the fur.  Kit clearly loved digging her hands into the kitty's fur and Treya did not seem to mind a bit. She even seemed to enjoy it.  So far this new addition seems like a good fit.  Now we'll see if she can earn her keep.

I'm still sore from yesterday. Gary, a friend and mentor died in a silo accident just over a year ago.  The last of his beef cattle sold last weekend and now his family is going to bulldoze all the former animal lots.  So they offered us most of the fencing at really good prices.  We have to take most of it down, load it and haul it.  Additionally they had a scrap pile that we could salvage through.  I found about 40 cinder blocks that I want to use for raised garden beds. I also pulled some good old wooden posts, either for the garden beds or as a border for a path that would hold pea gravel.  Maybe we'd end up with less mud on our feet.

Gary was a farmer from birth.  He never thought we were crazy for wanting to live this life.  His confusion was why everyone didn't.  He LOVED farming.  When we met him he did crops, including hay which is why we sought him out.  We then discovered he did pigs and steers as well.  We bought our first pigs from him.  When he got out of pigs a short time later he gave us quite a bit of his equipment.  He bought our first calves for us.  Helped us a bit, and then got mad at us for asking too many stupid questions when he was trying to get corn in.  Oops.  He planted our hayfield, and then baled it.  We paid him for his services, but his knowledge was invaluable.  We'd do our research and have our ideas and we'd tell him what we wanted to do, and talk it over with him.  He'd have his suggestions and I always felt we got what we wanted.  He never pretended to have all the answers, but he had a lifetime of experience.  We could not by that.  When we bought our breeding pigs he came and took a look at them, he thought they were nice looking pigs.  I'm sure he was thinking what in the world were we doing breeding pigs when there was no market for them.

Now we needed feed for those pigs.  Gary offered to deliver feed at cost.  He'd find out the current market prices, mix our feed, and deliver it for cost & fuel.  I really don't know what he got from it, other than knowing he was helping us out.  We'd chat a bit.  He'd commiserate with us on keeping the pigs in.  Told us he never heard of a pig that could climb, but we had one. He might feed our ducks.  He liked ducks, but too messy for his farm.  That was one of our last conversations.  He wanted some ducks when we butchered them.  He helped us fix our barn cleaner.  Invited us to come swim at their swimming pool. Talked about how I couldn't believe he was celebrating his 62nd birthday.  Farm living had been good to him.  We saw Gary frequently between feed deliveries and hay cutting.  A lot of small talk happened. While we only met his wife and son, who both got roped into helping Gary help us, we got to know all of his family through his stories, whom he loved dearly.

Gary was the janitor at the school for health insurance.  It had evening hours and was less work in the summer, so it worked nicely for a farmer. At one point he arranged a meeting with the band teacher at the local school so our kids could be in band. On a Friday we went to the school to meet the band teacher, and I mentioned Gary as being very helpful  in relation to setting up this meeting.  Mr T the band teacher agreed.  We talked some more about band.  We were interrupted by another teacher asking when Mr. T would be at a wake. We talked band some more and again Gary came up as being helpful.  Mr T agreed that Gary was a great guy and very helpful.  Then he paused... and asked me if I knew.  Knew what? I asked.  Already knowing this wasn't going to be good.  Gary had died on Wednesday.  There was a silo accident.  His leg was seriously injured.  He was picked up by helicopter and flown to Madison. He died of a heart attack in the air and was pronounced DOA. It may have been the leg injury and the blood loss.  It might have been silo gasses.  It might have been shock. In any case a healthy, vibrant man, who was healthier than a man half his age was gone. Just like that.  Most of his organs and bones were donated to others.  Seems he would have wanted to keep on giving, from what I knew of him, that was who he was.

Thanks to Mr. T we made it to the wake and funeral.  We waited in line to pay our respects to Gary and his family at the wake for over 3 hours.  There were hundreds of people there.  When we finally made it to the family they all knew us.  All this time he was talking about his family, he was telling his family about us.  And apparently it wasn't all bad because they didn't start laughing at us.  No, instead they embraced us and we embraced them and we shared our misery and memories for a short time. Being farmers to the core, Gary's son let us know that our hay had not been forgotten and he'd be by to cut it within the next week.  Even now it leads me speechless that our needs and his father's obligations were in his thoughts at that time.  But I guess it makes sense.  Our hay getting cut was definitely a concern for us, but that was our problem, not his.  A farmer's obligations don't stop for anyone dead or alive.  Animals, still need to be fed and crops still need to be harvested. It needs to be done, regardless of what you'd rather be doing.

We are reminded of Gary constantly.  The hayfield he planted, the barn cleaner he fixed, the pig feeder he gave us, the comments he made, and now his fencing.   We are thankful for having known him and all the guidance he gave us in our first 2 years on the farm.  And I give thanks to all of the farmers and friends and family who have helped us get to where we are.  Life is good, and for the most part people are good.  We just need to live it, because tomorrow it might be gone.  But the pigs will still need to be fed.

I love being up before anyone else. The house is quiet. No noise. No whining. No pressures of the day yet weighing on me. Well maybe, but I'm ignoring them. One by one young people wake up and give me a hug and a good morning and a smile. Even baby Kit will give me a smile. Usually Tin tells me he has a headache and needs to watch some Betty Boop so it will go away. Usually I say ok. I think that is about to change. Last night we ordered satellite TV. Its been nearly 1 year since we've had any tv reception, 3 years since we had more than 2 channels. Little in this world is all good or all bad, and Television is simply a tool. It has good programing and bad. Commercials are some of the worst programming as it gives a kid (or adult) with a bad case of the gimmes more fodder. Nothing we have is ever good enough, we have to have more. It has to be newer, bigger, smaller, smarter, faster. I worry about the ensuing battles, but maybe it will open their eyes. I remember when Colin had the great epiphany, "They just want you to buy their stuff." There is some great programming too. We learned much from the History and the Discovry channel. It was after watching a show on the Edmund Fitzgerald that we went to Duluth and Colin already knew most of what we saw, but it was so real for him. There is much good information on the airwaves, certainly more educational that "Betty Boop" or "Popeye". And entertainment has value too. We look forward to watching GLEE or even the new Scrubs. Chris likes to point out with the DVR we can watch shows later, we are not a slave to the tv. And that is where my worry is. TV is a time waster. In a family where we never have time, how can we give away more? And yet we watch movies. Too often in my opinion, so it should not detract too much on that front, unless we start watching during the day. Sometimes it could be helpful, and beneficial even. But then 1 show becomes 2 and "gee this looks interesting: and before you know it an afternoon or evening is gone. My biggest concern is me. I'm am not immune to the power of television. I find stuff interesting or amusing or apalling. I enjoy the escape television provides. Its easier to say yes than deal with the fights of saying "time to turn it off". I know what I need to do. And I know I can do it. For myself and the children. Having television in the house again will be a change. I must admit it will be nice over the winter months. I just hope we make this a change for the better.