October
16, 2004 Saturday:HEIFER DIARY 2004-2005 CONTINUED
STARTING FROM SEPT 25, 2004
GO TO CURRENT ENTRY THROUGH JANUARY 20, '06
September 25, 2004 Saturday:
The fine weather turned to gentle rain this evening. The pasture is almost as green and lush as in May. Possibly because of this, Helen seems very little interested in her new hay. I do hope it is good hay.
I stayed busy all day mostly in the house. I put up eight pints of tomato sauce and six quarts of tomato juice. I made two loaves of cracked wheat bread. I soaked 1 ½ cups of cracked wheat overnight in clabber and added this to plain white dough. It made a puffy well flavored loaf.
A second elderly lady in Dixfield now wants cottage cheese. These ladies say they can't stomach commercial cottage cheese and long for the dry, flavorful product they remember from childhood over which they poured cream. So, today I put up two quarts of cottage cheese for them. I charge only $3/quart. Such a bargain.
The middle of last week I picked some late ripening elderberries and today made them into cordial. All I did was fill a two-quart glass jar with elderberries, add a cup of sugar and top it up with vodka. I have been taking an occasional nip to see what I think of the flavor. It may need more sugar. The cordial should be ready by Christmas.
Also today I picked another half bushel of tomatoes and left them down at the garden for somebody else to carry up. My back has not totally recovered from that 450 bales of hay. I have not processed the last lot I picked. It is still sitting in the buttery.
The bantam hen that raised three chicks over the summer has now told them they are on their own and started a new nest. I found it today with two small beautiful blue eggs in it. I took one. I don't intend to let her raise another family this year. The young birds go around together acting bereft. I keep a pan of mash for them in the grain room, which they consider their home, having spent their chickdom there.
Helen gave just over four gallons today. I got 10 eggs.
September 26, 2004 Sunday:
While tidying in the barn, I picked up and overturned a cardboard box. Underneath was a trapped hen, poor thing. She must have hopped on the edged of the box and it flipped over on her. I don't know how long she was under that box, but more than 24 hours I think. She did not seem much the worse for wear. She wandered off with a slightly weaving gait, disoriented I would say. I watched her for awhile but she acted pretty normal.
I have a batch of red tomato chutney on the Aga. I prefer it to the green tomato type of thing. It is very versatile. Many adults prefer it to ketchup.
I got a dozen eggs but forgot to write down the milk this morning so I am not sure what Helen gave.
September 27, 2004 Monday: There was a big surprise waiting for me this morning, a surprise the size of a cow. When I went out to the barn for my early trip to let out the chickens, who but Helen should be lying down chewing her cud on the lawn by the big barn door. I think she said, "Oh, good, you finally got out of bed." She let me lead her right back inside the barn. Fortunately Albert and Sammy had not gotten out. I discovered later that she had busted through a place that Sally Lakness and I patched up the day Murphy came and all the cows got out on the road. This was a bit of fence leading into the small horse paddock. I believe it will hold them now.
Helen gave barely 4 gallons today. I got 14 eggs.
September 29, 2004 Wednesday:
The shelves in my cellar are getting crowded. Today I made six jars of sweet cucumber pickle. This used up the large cucumbers. I labeled the 16 jars of red tomato chutney and carried everything down and arranged it. I still have done no plain canned tomatoes. I picked more today and carried them up from the garden. But it is going to be too much for me. A lot will go to waste if it frosts tonight.
Helen gave only 3 ½ gallons today. There were 12 eggs.
September 30 Thursday:
It did not frost and I picked more tomatoes, mostly the small variety.
I spent a happy half hour with my Japanese saw tooth sickle whacking out the invasive wild raspberry that wants to engulf my stone wall. At least I freed up my rosebush, Fantin Latour. It looks great. I fed it twice this season with whey. Whey is ideal rose food. I just pour it on the ground under the bush. Or, I make a foliar feed by adding water 3 to 1.
I also cleaned out around one rhododendron, one peony and my tree peony.
I canned 10 quarts of tomatoes. But I am still way behind.
Helen gave 4 ½ gallons today and there were 12 eggs.
October 1, 2004 Friday:
We had another beautiful day here. I picked tomatoes and beans and pruned out my raspberry canes.
Martin came up for the weekend. His Amy will come tomorrow. She had to attend something at the museum where she works. My granddaughter Helena came with him and did the driving. She likes driving his little Toyota Prius.
Helen's production is declining. She only gave 3 ½ gallons today. My hens aren't doing any better than anybody else's either. Only eight eggs today. There are several gallons of unsold milk in the refrigerator. Maybe I will make them some more clabber.
October 2, 2004 Saturday:
It is beginning to really feel like fall now. The days are much shorter. Every morning lately has been foggy. In the foggy dark morning I make an early racing trip to the barn in my bathrobe to let out the chickens while passing traffic can't see me. I need to fix up a light on a timer for them. Pretty soon it will be too cold for this sort of excursion.
I noticed mushrooms coming up in my old horse stall. The common mushroom, agaricus campestris, favors horse manure and that is what these mushrooms appear to be. I brought some in to study. Yesterday I ate a bite of one raw. It tasted just right and I am none the worse, so I have started watering them with the wash water I take to the barn. I expect a nice patch of mushrooms. More have already come up.
I made the qvark cheesecake from the recipe posted by Midge. This was not the first qvark cheesecake I have made but is the first using that recipe. It was a big hit.
Helen did not give more over 3 ½ gallons today. There is plenty of green grass, but the nutrient value has fallen. I am starting to put out hay, but they are not very interested in it. I got 11 eggs.
October 3, 2004 Sunday:
Helen and the boys did not show up for milking this morning. I called and swept and tidied the barn and still no cows. Forty minutes later, seriously picturing disasters such as hunters or impoundment by crabby neighbors who found them in their garden, I was heading back to the house to check my phone messages and change into boots. Then they appeared as though by a magic trick heading into the barnyard. Cows sure can sneak up quietly.
We had a beautiful fall day, but probably the last day for the flowers. Hard frost is foretold. How I loved all my zinnias and nasturtiums and marigolds. Helena and her friend Nick carried up some more boxes of tomatoes that I picked this afternoon.
Helen gave slightly under four gallons today. There were a dozen eggs.
October 4 2004 Monday:
Helen was waiting nicely this morning.
Last night some critter got into the buttery and tore into the dried fruit. I think it must have been a raccoon. The chickens got a bonanza of spilled raisins and other treats.
There is a black hen in the barn, one of the unconfined group, that is hobbling around with a broken leg or something. I caught her, but I could not figure out where she is injured. I fixed her up in the grain room with chicken fed and a pan of sour milk. I also have another orphaned kitten. I suspect it is the sibling of Tiny. It is slightly more mature than Tiny was but it still cannot figure out how to eat properly. I have tried a wee pet bottle, a spoon, a medicine dropper and a saucer. It fights and dribbles and gets very little down. It spends most of its time by the Aga either sleeping or yowling.
It came in foggy so we were spared a frost.
October 5, 2004 Tuesday:
Yet another frost free day, but surely the last. It is supposed to go down into the 20's tonight, so I picked a big bouquet of dahlias.
Max came over and finished up the lawn mowing that Mark could not get done on Sunday. He also went to the mill and got me two dustbins of sawdust. That should last until freeze-up, after which it becomes a solid, unusable block. Then I will have to get along without it until spring.
My lovely spring water has not been running in the kitchen for a couple of weeks. Max and I went up the mountainside to have a look at it. Nothing was blocking the outfall line. Back at the farm, Max connected a hose to the high-pressure domestic water supply (I have a good drilled well), attached this to the pipe in the cellar where the spring water enters the house, and back flushed it. It requires two female connections on the hose in order to do this. He took his car and raced back up to the spring and was able to observe water rushing into the spring. Then we let that drain back and before long water was again flowing from the spring. Presumably there was an air lock in the line. I am so grateful to have it running again.
Helen gave four gallons today. There were 12 eggs.
October 6, 2004 Wednesday:
I have been wondering what to name this kitten I am fostering. I think "Nuisance" would be about right. Although it probably does not weigh above 7oz it runs screeching after me whenever it sees me. I have taken to creeping about the kitchen in hopes of not waking it up. It has now decided it can eat out of the tiny pet bottle but it does not suck. It chews on the nipple with its back teeth while I squeeze out the milk. It did get down a bottle and a half today. I am feeding it a mixture of creamy milk and goose blood. Goose blood? Yes. I defrosted a package of goose giblets that have been living in the freezer for a year and added the blood that seeped out when I defrosted them. Truly yucky, but he goes for it.
We got our killing frost last night. It was down to 23F. Everything remotely tender is gone. Without their tops the purple potatoes cannot be grow any bigger, so I dug them up. My daughter Abby wanted purple potatoes and I failed to order any seed, so finally in July I took a chance and bought a handful of them from the supermarket. They had been treated with growth retardant hormone, so I had few hopes for them. Abby planted them in a good spot with lots of rich manure, but for weeks they did not come up. Then somehow they decided to grow and they put up a huge top. There were just three or four small potatoes all together in a nest, but they made a plant two feet high and three feet across. I dug up a third of a bucket of table-sized potatoes and there were many small ones that would have come on if they had not lost their top.
Helen only gave 3 ½ gallons today. I got 15 eggs. The weather was beautiful.
October 7, 2004 Thursday:
I was awaken by the phone a little before my alarm went off (It is set for five AM). It was my oldest son John calling from Townsville, Northern Queensland, Australia, to tell me he has accepted a position as Research Fellow at James Cook University. He will be developing computer modeling of fresh and ocean water mixing around the Great Barrier Reef. He sounded very happy.
It was still dark when I hung up the phone. I went outside and saw the moon and Saturn.
Little Nuisance is pretty lively. He has become more efficient at drinking from the pet bottle and drank at least three ounces today. I can't move in the kitchen without him chasing me yowling for another feed. The rest of the time he snoozes in a sunbeam or by the Aga.
It did not freeze last night, but was in the low thirties. The house was cold. I discovered late last night that cold air was pouring in through a broken windowpane in the bathroom. It must have been broken for several days. A double layer of curtain was in front of it. I stuffed a bath towel in the hole. I broke down this morning and turned on the furnace for a little while.
Helen gave 3 ¾ gallons. I guess the hens outdid themselves yesterday. Today I only found 7 eggs.
October 8, 2004 Friday
Well I did it again. I went off and left the electric churn running and over-beat the butter. Now I have about two pounds of butter filled with buttermilk. I left it unsalted.
People have been remarking that Bagel is getting more of a dark red hue, not the buff color he used to be. I wonder if this could be the raw meat diet.
Only seven eggs again today. I have noticed yolk on some eggs. This means egg eating. Bad news.
Helen gave 3 ¾ gallons today. She is being friendly and cooperative for the last few days. I screamed at her last week and tied her tail back with a hay string because she kept whapping me with it on purpose. I guess she wants to be friends.
I am amazed how much green grass I still have.
My kitten, Nuisance, is doing pretty well. He played with Lulu, Max's dog today, and played with a ball.
My son Mark and little Hailey came bringing my new friend Nina Planck to visit for the weekend. We are having a good time chatting about nutrition. Her particular interest is local food.
She came to the barn and watched the milking. Helen was well behaved.
My orphaned kitten looks like he/she will make it. I ran out of goose blood with which I had been fortifying its milk and have defrosted some colostrum for it. It clearly likes it.
Helen gave 3 ¾ gallons today. I got 11 eggs.
October 10 Sunday
Nina and I kept very busy. We walked back down to where yesterday we found some fence damage and fixed that. On the way back we spotted an old truck tire in a shallow part of the river. Nina took off her shoes and dragged it to the riverbank. Later my son Mark and she went down in his pickup and got it up the bank and hauled away. Mark took it to the dump but they refused it and he had to bring it home. It seems homeowners just have to store things that they will not take.
Nina dug my crop of Finnish potatoes. There were some purple potatoes among them. These are all now drying out and awaiting storage. Nina also weeded the comfrey out of my raspberries and manured them. I should get a good crop next year.
We all went up to camp and I waded in the lake. The fall colors are getting brilliant.
Max and the girls came over. He and Mark rode their mountain bikes and then we all had dinner. I stewed a home raised chicken and Nina prepared a number of vegetables dishes, which were a hit. These included baba ganoush, an eggplant dip that everyone likes a lot.
Nina assisted with the milking.
Helen gave 3 ¾ gallons. There were 10 eggs.
October 11, 2004 Monday
Mark and Hailey and Nina left after breakfast.
This was another fine day with deepening color in the hills. The predominant hue today is a misty apricot.
Helen gave 4 gallons today. Perhaps the pile of comfrey that Nina threw over the fence yesterday gave her a boost.
There were 10 eggs.
October 12, 2004 Tuesday
My car has some kind of front-end problem that I hope to get fixed before I drive to Portland on Saturday. The Maine Cheese Guild has asked me to speak informally at their cheese day at the Public Market. They have me out on the plaza so I hope it does not rain.
I wish I could bring Helen. She would pull in the audience.
On the way to pick up a part for my car I stopped at Walmart and bought a pair of dairy boots. All the ones around here leak.
I have two more trays of tomatoes drying in the Aga simmer oven.
It rained and blew hard most of the day. Then it cleared and we had a gorgeous sunset. What a treat it was.
Helen gave 3 ½ gallons. There were 8 eggs.
October 13, 2004 Wednesday
Bagel and I took a lovely walk today across the river on Sally's field, the Oxbow Field. There are plenty of highbush cranberries. I hope to have time to pick them.
I see there are tracks on the field. Somebody has driven a pickup over it.
Sally has planted many trees including an Amur Maple from seed. It forms a round bush and is more that four feet high. It is covered with tiny fiery red leaves.
I dug my carrots and also brought one of the mangels up for Helen to try. These are a beet meant for cows and are a gorgeous orange color. I whacked it up for Helen's dinner and she loved it.
Helen gave 3 ¾ gallons today. I found eight eggs.
October 14, 2004 Thursday
That raccoon is determined to get into the buttery and help itself to the food kept there. This morning there was a pile if wood chips by the door that is between the buttery and the shed. It had chewed the edge of the door so that it could get in and eat more raisins. Now the door is too gappy to keep it out so I wedged in a shovel and tied the door shut with rope. We shall see what morning brings.
Helen has been behaving very well but her production is falling. Only 3 ½ gallons today, and 8 eggs. She is beginning to eat some hay. I am going to keep on giving her one mangle at each milking until they are gone. I planted only a few. She really likes them. I cut them up into chunks.
October 15, 2004 Friday
We had warm rain most of the day. The cows kept right on grazing. Helen's rumen was stuffed when she came in this evening and she had not been near her hay.
Production continues to be disappointing, 3 ½ gallons again today, and I had to fight for that. I got eight eggs.
The raccoon was frustrated by my elaborate lash-up last night involving a shovel. Don't those things hibernate? I don't want to go through this every night.
I picked over the last of the tomatoes that were in baskets in the buttery and canned them up. I got another six quarts and would have had twice that if I had got at them sooner. I threw a lot down the bank. The chickens won't eat many tomatoes. I must have left two bushels in the garden that I did not manage to bring in before frost hit.
Max and Mitra and the kids are driving me in to Portland tomorrow so I can address the Cheese Guild. This will be a treat.
October 9, 2004 Saturday
My son Mark and little Hailey came bringing my new friend Nina Planck to visit for the weekend. We are having a good time chatting about nutrition. Her particular interest is local food.
She came to the barn and watched the milking. Helen was well behaved.
My orphaned kitten looks like he/she will make it. I ran out of goose blood with which I had been fortifying its milk and have defrosted some colostrum for it. It clearly likes it.
Helen gave 3 ¾ gallons today. I got 11 eggs.
October 10 Sunday
Nina and I kept very busy. We walked back down to where yesterday we found some fence damage and fixed that. On the way back we spotted an old truck tire in a shallow part of the river. Nina took off her shoes and dragged it to the riverbank. Later my son Mark and she went down in his pickup and got it up the bank and hauled away. Mark took it to the dump but they refused it and he had to bring it home. It seems homeowners just have to store things that they will not take.
Nina dug my crop of Finnish potatoes. There were some purple potatoes among them. These are all now drying out and awaiting storage. Nina also weeded the comfrey out of my raspberries and manured them. I should get a good crop next year.
We all went up to camp and I waded in the lake. The fall colors are getting brilliant.
Max and the girls came over. He and Mark rode their mountain bikes and then we all had dinner. I stewed a home raised chicken and Nina prepared a number of vegetables dishes, which were a hit. These included baba ganoush, an eggplant dip that everyone likes a lot.
Nina assisted with the milking.
Helen gave 3 ¾ gallons. There were 10 eggs.
October 11, 2004 Monday
Mark and Hailey and Nina left after breakfast.
This was another fine day with deepening color in the hills. The predominant hue today is a misty apricot.
Helen gave 4 gallons today. Perhaps the pile of comfrey that Nina threw over the fence yesterday gave her a boost.
There were 10 eggs.
October 12, 2004 Tuesday
My car has some kind of front-end problem that I hope to get fixed before I drive to Portland on Saturday. The Maine Cheese Guild has asked me to speak informally at their cheese day at the Public Market. They have me out on the plaza so I hope it does not rain.
I wish I could bring Helen. She would pull in the audience.
On the way to pick up a part for my car I stopped at Walmart and bought a pair of dairy boots. All the ones around here leak.
I have two more trays of tomatoes drying in the Aga simmer oven.
It rained and blew hard most of the day. Then it cleared and we had a gorgeous sunset. What a treat it was.
Helen gave 3 ½ gallons. There were 8 eggs.
October 13, 2004 Wednesday
Bagel and I took a lovely walk today across the river on Sally's field, the Oxbow Field. There are plenty of highbush cranberries. I hope to have time to pick them.
I see there are tracks on the field. Somebody has driven a pickup over it.
Sally has planted many trees including an Amur Maple from seed. It forms a round bush and is more that four feet high. It is covered with tiny fiery red leaves.
I dug my carrots and also brought one of the mangels up for Helen to try. These are a beet meant for cows and are a gorgeous orange color. I whacked it up for Helen's dinner and she loved it.
Helen gave 3 ¾ gallons today. I found eight eggs.
October 14, 2004 Thursday
That raccoon is determined to get into the buttery and help itself to the food kept there. This morning there was a pile if wood chips by the door that is between the buttery and the shed. It had chewed the edge of the door so that it could get in and eat more raisins. Now the door is too gappy to keep it out so I wedged in a shovel and tied the door shut with rope. We shall see what morning brings.
Helen has been behaving very well but her production is falling. Only 3 ½ gallons today, and 8 eggs. She is beginning to eat some hay. I am going to keep on giving her one mangle at each milking until they are gone. I planted only a few. She really likes them. I cut them up into chunks.
October 15, 2004 Friday
We had warm rain most of the day. The cows kept right on grazing. Helen's rumen was stuffed when she came in this evening and she had not been near her hay.
Production continues to be disappointing, 3 ½ gallons again today, and I had to fight for that. I got eight eggs.
The raccoon was frustrated by my elaborate lash-up last night involving a shovel. Don't those things hibernate? I don't want to go through this every night.
I picked over the last of the tomatoes that were in baskets in the buttery and canned them up. I got another six quarts and would have had twice that if I had got at them sooner. I threw a lot down the bank. The chickens won't eat many tomatoes. I must have left two bushels in the garden that I did not manage to bring in before frost hit.
Max and Mitra and the kids are driving me in to Portland tomorrow so I can address the Cheese Guild. This will be a treat.
The weather turned out fine for my trip to Portland. I got everything done and was ready to leave by 9 am. Max and Mitra and the girls drove me down, which made it a fun day. I was glad I had done little to prepare for talking to the Cheese Guild people about cows since they had done little to notify anybody of my presence. The Cheese Festival was held at the Portland Public Market, which occupies a huge new building. The loudspeaker was loudly urging everybody to come to the big Cheese Cracking at the very time I was invited to talk. At least I was not in a forgotten classroom, but out on the Plaza next to a nice pen of Nubian goats and a sweet red Holstein calf. This was at one of the entrances to the market and next to a busy downtown sidewalk. There was a steady stream of upscale shoppers to the market and a considerable representation of street people who rolled their eyes, babbled and dragged along their pathetic possessions. I was only expected to be there for one hour. After this we went inside. My son Mark arrived from the nearby Maine Medical Center where he works and he bought me excellent fish and chips. Then we all walked down cobbled streets to the marina where we were joined by my son Martin.
Helen was mooing when I got home. She obviously knew I had been gone and returned home. I was late milking her but she didn't mind. She gave 3 ½ gallons again today. There were 11 intact eggs, but egg was smeared onto the eggs in one nest. This has been happening a lot.
October 18, 2004 Monday:
Helen's production is inching downwards. For the last few days I have increased her grain a little to see if I could get any bounce from this, but no. This late in lactation it is unlikely. She's in her 14'th month. Yesterday and today she ate quite a bit of hay. I refilled the feeder twice. It rained all yesterday afternoon, so they stayed in. She has been coming in very clean lately because she likes to stay outside almost all the time.
Abby, my daughter, stopped in today and we walked down by the river. We were able to pull up a couple of old metal stakes I found two weeks ago and couldn't get out of the ground. There are still a couple there. I marked them with flagging.
My daughter Sally hates to see a tree in pain. Last year she put a spiral plastic wrap on a wispy pine tree on the riverbank. The sheep had gnawed it. Today I noticed that it has made a fluffy new top. It still does not look strong. Maybe I should stake it.
This morning I lifted the dahlia tubers. I expect a hard frost tonight. Dahlias are a nuisance, but these certainly were spectacular. They got about 5 feet tall and had innumerable 6 inch pale yellow flowers.
Speaking of a nuisance, Nuisance, my kitten, is hungry all the time and still will only feed from a shot glass. It is a lively little thing.
Helen gave barely 3 ½ gallons today and I only got 6 eggs. Two silly hens have gone broody. I'm not letting them have any eggs.
October 19, 2004 Tuesday:
Everywhere I went today folks remarked on the fine crisp weather. Last night was cold. It was 23F at my house. I don't believe it got above 50F all day. I stopped at the farmer's Union and picked up a new cattle weight tape. Mine disappeared. I also stopped at an orchard stand and bought a peck of Milton apples. They are an old fashioned variety. I bought some there a couple of weeks ago and they made beautiful pink applesauce
Helen gave 3 ½ gallons again today. I got ten eggs. Sorry to say I set the box down carelessly. It tipped over and dumped them all; five broke.
October 20, 2004 Wednesday:
I seldom see as many people as I did today. The piano tuner came, also a neighbor to whom I sold two yards of cow manure for $20 (bargain!), Doug Fine, a reporter, and my daughter Abby who to my eternal gratitude raced around with the vacuum cleaner.
Doug Fine is a friend and neighbor of my daughter Sally in Alaska. He is on a book tour. Occasionally you hear him on NPR. Last year he broadcast from the top of Kilimanjaro. We had a fine visit. I got to tell him lots of things about cows.
With what was left of the day I made some more lovely pink applesauce with the Miltons I bought yesterday.
It is getting colder now every day. It was 24F this morning and did not get above 50F. I had the furnace on for a while.
Helen gave less than 3 ½ gallons. There were eight eggs.
October 22, 2004 Friday:
It is beginning to feel like November. The days seem so short and the sky is overcast.
Son Max came over to help me winterize. He repaired an awful gap in the weather stripping on the kitchen door and rolled up many hoses, put in more nails and hung them up in the cellar. He fired up the Kubota and removed the manure pile that has accumulated outside the beefer pen in the last two months. The Kubota does not have forks on the bucket but he was able to get most of it. Then he back flushed the spring line to see if he could get it running again. I had assumed it had another air block. This did no good so we were faced with the fact that the line was broken somewhere. We called Bagel and took a walk down to see if we could find the trouble. Sometimes it is easy to see a fountain of spray or at least a fast dribble, but there was no sound of water to be heard. We stood and stared at the line where it crosses the brook and is buried in sand. Max spied a slight unnatural effect of the current, a little boil-up. He crouched down and began digging. That was it! The more he dug the bigger the boil-up became but without a shovel he could not get to the problem. We went home and Max drove to town and purchased 300' of new line to splice around the problem. We agreed this made the most sense.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I canned up my applesauce and made cappuccino for my dear cousin Marcia.
Daughter Abby had arranged to take my extra roosters to be dressed off Saturday, but then dear granddaughter Helena and her young man, Nick, offered to do them at home. Nick is a real country boy and has all the equipment. Hurrah!
Yesterday I found a sneaky place the hens have been laying and got 13 eggs, but today only nine. Both yesterday and today Helen gave about 3 ½ gallons. I made 1 ½ lb butter today and have enough cream to make it again tomorrow.
For my dinner I roasted some root vegetables in a clay pot, beet, onion, garlic and carrot. I also put in a small mangel to see if roasting would bring out any more flavor, but it still tasted very bland. Roasted root veggies with butter make a satisfying meal.
My granddaughter Helena brought one of her brothers and her particular friend Nick over this morning and they dressed off five roosters. They did a beautiful job. Nick owns a wrought iron stand that has a propane gas ring and holds a big deep pot for scalding birds. He set it up and boiled water out in front of the barn. Usually I have to heat water on the Aga and then they do the plucking in front of the garage. Feathers are blowing around the driveway for months afterwards. I had the fellows save the feet this time. After they did the chickens they brought over a splitter and split some more firewood for me.
Sons Max and Mark spent a couple of hours this afternoon repairing the spring line. To my great joy, it is once again running at a good clip.
I stood in the kitchen frying doughnuts. I used my Grammie's recipe. It is simple and tasty. The doughnuts were so popular that I stirred up a second batch. I fried them in a mixture of beef and pork fat. They turned out crispy with a three dimensional flavor impossible to achieve with vegetable based fat.
Helen gave a tad under 3 ½ gallons and there were nine eggs.
October 24, 2004 Sunday:
Helen was limping this morning on her left front leg. When I let her out tonight she lay down by the hay feeder instead of eating.
Mark made a temporary repair to the front gatepost. It is now possible to close the gate if needed.
Helen gave well under 3.5 gallons today. My customers are taking nearly her whole production. However, one couple is about to move to Laguna Beach so that will reduce the pressure on the supply.
10 eggs. Weather cold and bleak.
October 25, 2004 Monday:
Helen didn't seem to be limping so much today. I could not see any limp in front. But when I let her out after this evening's milking I could see a limp in her front left shoulder again. Maybe she strained it on some hilly place.
I have been wondering if I should start collecting some of the herbal materials I have here on Coburn Farm. I have comfrey, burdock, viburnum trilobum, coltsfoot, witch hazel, hawthorn (oxyacantha), barberry, Valerian, to name only a few.
Helen gave 3 ½ gallons today. I suppose I should not be entirely discouraged. I was looking back in this diary at April and see that before the summer grass came on she was giving only 3 gallons.
I found 10 eggs. Under one hen it was a scrambled eggs mess. One or more eggs had broken. I am finding this fairly often.
October 26, 2004 Tuesday:
Helen was not limping so badly today, but I could still see it. She ate a lot of hay. I put the weight tape on her and it read 1091 lbs. Albie weighed 928. From a distance they look very much alike. Tomorrow I will try to measure Sammy.
My daughter Abby has been suffering from an intractable diarrhea that came on after she took an antibiotic for an abscessed tooth. She suffered with the problem for almost three weeks before going to a doctor (or mentioning it to her mother) Tests identified the bacteria as Clostridium difficile. It is difficult to treat. C. difficile produces a neurotoxin which paralyzes the gut. The immobilized gut creates favorable conditions for C. difficile but prevents re-colonization by normal gut flora. The body is defenseless against the condition. C. difficile is common in day care centers. Antibiotics, especially certain ones, enable the condition by wiping out normal gut flora and permitting the overgrowth of C. difficile. Thus most antibiotics are contra-indicated, or simply useless. Other forms of diarrhea are characterized by excessive gut motility (peristalsis). Drugs such as Lomotil or Immodium that slow the gut are prescribed. These must not be taken when C. difficile is involved. What you have to do is try to get the gut back in business with normal contractions. The suggested diet includes foods high in soluble fiber (pectin) such as apples and pears. These support bacterial fermentation by the normal flora, which flourish and inhibit C. difficile by their metabolic products (volatile fatty acids).
I also got the idea that colostrum and whey would be helpful. One of the main jobs of colostrum is to coat the gut with proteins that foster colonization by healthy flora. And Claire Weldon gave us a dramatic account of the efficacy of whey in assisting survival of WWI soldiers with wounds in the gut. So I gave Abby colostrum saved in the freezer from Helen's last calving, and made her some curds and whey (clabber). She is still very weak but says that the colostrum appeared to be the most effective food so far.
Max came over today to help me and I gave him two laying hens to add to his flock.
October 28, 2004 Thursday:
Abby has now finished off two quarts of colostrum and a couple of pints of clabber. She believes the colostrum has cured her. Her twin sister and husband have driven up from Virginia and will take her back down there. They took me out to dinner tonight, an unusual event for me. Abby was well enough to come down and set my hair (Another unusual event. I usually look like a Polish hen.)
This morning I dug around in the garden to see if any potatoes had been overlooked, and lifted the beets. I also transplanted several perennials. It was down to 24f this morning, so any more transplanting had better get done pretty quickly.
Because of going out, I skipped the evening milking. I carried Helen's pan of grain out into the barnyard for her. When I got home tonight I went out to the barn and saw all three bovines sleeping inside the barn. I had expected they would decide to sleep inside tonight and left fluffy bedding spread out. But they pulled out more.
The
tiny kitten I was nurturing in the kitchen last week, Nuisance, has a new home
with my son Max and his wife, Mitra. She loves kittens. She took it right to the
vet and got medicine for its cough and bought it a new nursing bottle. Its name
is now Harriet Nuisance. It is a lively scampering little thing and plays all
the time with their dog, Lulu.
October 29, 2004 Friday
Helen gave three gallons this morning. That is one gallon more than usual due to not being milked last night, when I would have gotten about a gallon and a half. So that half gallons was lost. Tonight she gave one gallon plus about two cups. Skipping a milking definitely depressed her production. She is eating a lot more hay now. That may help. I put a piece of salt block into the feed tray in front of her milking stanchion. She licked it like crazy, mostly from boredom I believe. They have a salt block in their run-in all the time so she is not lacking.
We are having a nice warm spell. It got up to 50F today and the heavy cloud cover broke up for a while and gave us some sun. Son Martin and his fiancée Amy came up for the day. Martin rearranged the garage so that he could get his Kubota in alongside my car. He put the Minneapolis Moline inside the Beefer Pen, as I call it, in the space beneath the haymow where the cows eat their hay. Last winter the cows damaged it by chewing on the wiring and radiator hoses. I need to think of a way to stop them. Martin wonders if a tire would amuse them. After lunch they left to winterize their camp. Before supper Martin trimmed Helen's hooves a little bit but one did bleed.
I only got 6 eggs today. Helen gave 3 ¼ gallons of milk. During this morning's milking I left her to go start the manure pitching. When I returned I discovered on quarter was still full and hard. I panicked for a minute thinking, "Mastitis!" But the problem was that one of the little vacuum hoses was crimped so that quarter was not milking. Then I sat there for another five minutes while it milked out.
Helen has an annoying new way of teasing me. She waits until my back is turned and makes a big plop. Were she to do it when I am watching I would catch it on the shovel. This has happened at every milking for a week so I know it is on purpose. I checked for the location of the whorl on her face to establish her temperament, but she is so fuzzy that I can't find it. There is little doubt that she is the naughty type.
I met my new neighbors to the north. They have a better view than I do of my lower field, the Pocket Field. They said that the other day a bull moose was in the field and Helen ran it off. She stomped her feet and chased it.
November 1, 2004 Monday:
My vet stopped by today and I finally was able to get a pregnancy test on Helen. Yes, he says there is a big calf. It is due about the middle of March. After my experience last spring when she came in heat when I thought she was five months gone, I needed somebody's arm in there to really confirm it. When I dry her off after the first of the year she will have been milking a year and a half.
I did not know ahead of time that my vet would be by today so I had to get Helen back in after he called about 10am. After her experience yesterday when she was trapped in her stanchion for two hours and then had horrid toenail clipping, she was quite suspicious about coming back in. I opened the gate and she walked halfway thorough, then stopped and stared at the house, lawn and driveway. I was not sure if she was checking for strange vehicles or strange men, but she was not taking any chances until she saw the coast was clear. Once again she had to wait two hours.
Max was here too. He changed out one of my bathroom taps that had a problem. Then he went down in the woods and did a proper repair to the fence where Helen and the boys have been going through to visit the neighbors. He also scrubbed out the stock tank and moved it inside the Beefer Pen for the winter. Helen stood outside at the old spot pleading for water and by dark had still not been willing to drink from it in its new location. It isn't like she doesn't know where it is. She stood right next to Albie while he drank, but I guess she has her principles.
Helen gave a little over 3 gallons today and there were seven eggs.
November 3, 2004 Wednesday:
A very cold wind blew in today. I lost both power and telephone for several hours. My telephone is still out. It felt very strange to know that all my usual methods of communications were absent. And, so many of one's usual activities depend on electricity. I prepared myself for hand milking early so there would still be daylight. However, the power returned before it was time to milk.
This morning I took an axe down to the garden and chopped the huge cauliflower plants. Some I threw over the fence for the cows, some I carried to the chickens. The chickens finished theirs off within a half hour. Something has been hopping into the garden and eating the broccoli and Brussels sprouts plants. All their leaves are gone. I could not see any tracks.
In yesterday's election Maine failed to pass an initiative that would have made it illegal to hunt bears with dogs, traps or over bait. I do not know enough about hunting bears with dogs to be able to comment intelligently, but trapping and baiting are patently cruel and unsporting in my opinion. The arguments used by the hunting enthusiasts were embarrassingly untruthful and specious. Other states don't use these methods, yet are not overrun with bears.
Helen gave 3 ¼ gallons today. I got eight eggs.
November 4, 2004 Thursday:
They are telling us to expect snow tonight. I piled the hay feeder high, then stood and watched. Albie didn't want to eat. All he wanted to do was bully Helen. He kept making her go around and around. Every time she started to eat he made her move. I have never seen this behavior before from him. In the past she has always bossed him. He is getting almost as big as she is, and of course since he is not trying to produce milk and grow a calf, he has more time and energy for mischief. He may have to go live in the freezer sooner rather than later. I just learned my granddaughter Rosemary and her husband Nate will be visiting me starting November 17. They are both able and willing to butcher, I think. That is, if they have time. I don't know their plans.
Helen gave 3 ¼ gallons today and I got 8 eggs.
November 5, 2004 Friday:
I found a simple way to defend my old tractor against having its wires chewed by Albie and Sammy. I dragged an old 12 foot 2x6 down from the loft of the barn and put one end through the steering wheel. It slants down just right to block their access to the wiring.
Weather was cold and blustery today. Bagel and I took a walk around the fields, which was fun despite the weather. I think I need to pick up some Dr. Scholl's insoles for my boots. The ground is getting cold. I visited my old dog Muffin's grave. I miss her a lot. Her grave is now nearly invisible in the pasture. I have a sturdy wind chime in a nearby tree to make tinkling music there. A ravine below has a pretty little brook running through it lined with moss. The young leaves of forget-me-nots carpet the area. I must not forget to go admire them next spring when they bloom.
Helen gave 3 ½ gallons today. I got 8 eggs.
Helen was rather naughty when she came in this evening. I could think of no reason for this except that I am gradually switching the animals onto new time. On the old time it was 6pm when I got to the barn, not my customary 5pm. She walked ahead of me as always, but pooped all over everything on her way in to the milking room. Then a few minutes later when I went back to get something she did it again, which had to be on purpose. She managed to get it all over the outside of the milking machine necessitating my carrying it outdoors to hose it off. Ungrateful cow. She had a big serving of apple peelings with her dinner too, gift of Cousin Marcia.
Son Max came over for milk with little Shireen. He also brought his dog Lulu, She and Bagel love each other and had a fine time rolling and chasing. Bagel took a long nap after they left. Max reports that the tiny kitten, Harriet Nuisance, is thriving. She is great friends with Lulu and sleeps with her, or under the wood stove. Harriet N. gets a meal of raw liver every morning.
Max filled two dustbins with composted cow manure for their garden.
I forked a cartload of chicken litter out of the hen house.
Daughter Abby tells me that I never mentioned what happened to the black hen that had a broken leg least month. She slowly got a little better each day until now I can't tell which of my six black hens she is.
November 7, 2004 Sunday:
My Surge milking machine has been slowing down lately and not responding to adjustment. I have not been sure if the vacuum pump or the pulsator was at fault. Even with its intake valve in the Off position the pump was low. But, the dumb thing varies all the time anyway. I blame this on barometric pressure, but what do I know? I have not had the pulsator apart in six months to clean it, so brought it into the house and dismantled it. I always lay it on a newspaper and lay out all the parts in their proper relationship. Anyone who has done this will know that keeping it straight is not easy. It has to be turned over after the covers are unscrewed and this changes the relationship of everything inside to everything already taken off. It is also hard to keep all the bits properly oriented while reaming out its many mysterious air holes and wiping down its oily surfaces. The innards do not lock together.They slide around on each other and are held together by those covers I mentioned. The whole thing has to be turned wrong side up and held together manually while you replace the four screws in the covers. So, I did not get it back together right. And I had to take it apart again. And again. I was trying to calculate the number of permutations possible. It was at least ten, and the light was fading when finally, either by luck or with the assistance of the guardian in charge of pulsators, it worked. You know right away when you assemble the milking machine and turn on the electricity. The pulsator has no "maybe". Either it works or it does not. Just in time for milking, it worked. Helen was very good tonight.
After milking Helen lay right down and her breathing sounded labored. I am going out later to see if she is chewing her cud. She gave 3 ½ gallons today. I got ten eggs.
November 8, 2004 Monday:
The milking machine worked fine this morning, but then this evening it was unable to maintain pressure sufficient to pulsate. I had to flip the slider with my finger for each pulsation. Had I not already had the machine on Helen I would have just gone back to the house for the bucket and milked by hand. With this manual flipping I was able to get the usual amount of milk, somewhat to my surprise. Helen was very good.
This afternoon Bagel and I took a walk by the river. I had along a bag and trowel and dug up some composted wood from a rotting stump for my African violets. I found a place where the cows have been going down to the river to drink. Albie and Sammy don't like Bagel and they milled around and hopped up and down in an annoying way. I finally chased them away with the command "Back". I taught them both this command when they were small and have been brushing them up on it lately so that I can set down their grain pans without being mobbed. They are very cute the way they back off and stand side by side while I set down the pans. Another cute thing they do is stand still and stretch their necks while I get the burrs off of them. They especially appreciate having the burrs pulled out of their ears.
The strange little witch hazel flowers are opening. It grows by the river.
I got tired of cheese sandwiches and made myself a lentil stew for dinner. It wasn't half bad.
November 9, 2004 Tuesday:
Due to the milking machine refusing to work, I milked by hand both times today. I have scarcely milked for a year and a half. I was not sure how it would go. My hands feel fine, but between my shoulder blades sure hurts. I need a spa! Helen behaved perfectly and I got the usual amount of milk, I think. She came in very clean both times. Once a day is as often as I can usually manage to carry out the plops. Today because of numerous trips to the barn to see if my latest attempt had made the pulsator work, I was able to keep up with them. Now that they are eating hay and wasting a lot, Helen gets a better bed. I have to make the whole room into a bed. If I only made a bed for Helen, Albie would steal it.
I got a little over three gallons from Helen today and eight eggs.
The weather has turned cold. The prediction for tonight is down in the single numbers.
November 10, 2004 Wednesday:
It was down to 15F this morning. I got up early enough to see the crescent moon and Jupiter, a lovely sight. There was a good half-inch of ice on the stock tank, which is now indoors. Next thing I must do is put in the submersible heater.
I am still milking by hand. Helen does not seem to care. Actually, I thought she was quieter with the hand milking, but either her production is going down or I am not getting it all. She and the boys look very comfortable in there in their hay nests. They are eating a lot of hay. We are tossing around ideas and plans for slaughtering and butchering Albie. One problem is, none of us is sure exactly where to shoot so as to be sure to drop him with one bullet. Avoiding stress is the whole point of home killing.
The neighbor dogs were back again today pestering the cows and getting them all excited, always bad for cows. The larger dog, a male Lab, got in with the chickens. The chickens were so roiled up and flapping that the air was like smoke. Max arrived in the nick of time and he got to the hen house just as the dog was biting down on a Barred Rock, a new layer. He sat on the dog until I got there with a rope. The owners are worried and concerned about their dogs running over here, and I hope will be able to keep them home. I called the animal control officer because I could not find their number. I think they now realize that we take it pretty seriously. Until they moved here, the folks and their dogs were city dwellers. It's a different world.
The hens were so frightened that they did not lay their usual number of eggs and tromped on some that were in the nests. So I only got five.
I got a routine tetanus shot today and a pneumococcus pneumonia shot. My shoulders don't feel too good.
November 12, 2004 Friday:
Max and Mitra and the little girls came over today. We had a lovely lunch of hamburgers made with half homegrown beef and half lamb from a local source. I also made a pie that I saw on TV. It did not have much redeeming nutritional value. It resembled a fudgey brownie with pine nuts. Lately I have been fighting a sweet tooth, but I think this pie got me over it for a while.
Mitra loves pomegranates. After extracting the juice from one she gave the red seeds to her chickens. They went totally crazy for them. Her two Buff Orpingtons, recent acquisitions from me that never venture outside the hen house, forgot their fear of the unknown and joined in the feast.
Max winterized my hen house today using hay bales and cardboard. They will have much warmer quarters now.
I have written before about the difference between vegetable shortening and real animal fat. Animals know that vegetable shortening is not good for them and they will not eat it. I once left a container of it out in the buttery all winter thinking that maybe the cats would lick on it. They never touched it. Last month I set a pan containing a mixture of beef and chicken fat and homemade lard out for them. This was fat I had used for frying doughnuts and I didn't intend to use it again. They have been licking it every night and now it is completely gone.
Now just as Helen's supply is dropping off, my customers desire for raw milk is growing. I have totally sold out the last few days. Tonight a lady sat in her car for half an hour while I milked so she could get her gallon.
Helen gave 3 ¼ gallons today. I only got seven eggs.
I'm still milking by hand. Daughter Abby and daughter-in-law Amy are taking pity on me and ordering a new pulsator off eBay. Milking by hand is not really a hardship right now with the temperature only down to 20F and Helen only giving 3 gallons a day. Nonetheless, I will be very glad to get it. The temperature is sure to fall soon.
Max and Mitra and the girls went out for a Sunday breakfast and saw an amazing sight. They saw a Golden Eagle being pursued and driven by a raven. Mitra said the wingspan of the eagle looked like six feet. It was only about 30 feet away from them.
Things are coming together for a humane slaughter of Albie next Monday. It will definitely quiet things down in the beefer pen. Even though Albie is really sweet and I love him, he has taken to teasing Helen, he is over 900 lbs., he eats a lot of hay and contributes to the ten to twenty deposits I have to carry to the manure pile each day. With him in the freezer my hay will last longer and I will have easier clean-up. Plus there is considerable interest in beef within the family. And, of course the clincher: I didn't raise him for a pet.
November 15, 2004 Monday:
I took a drive over to Max and Mitra's today and delivered their milk. The kitten they took a couple of weeks ago, Harriet Nuisance, has doubled in size, but still looks tiny. She pre-empts Lulu's bed. Lulu is their lively black dog, a Lab mixture. They play together all the time. I took Bagel along. He and Lulu love each other. They run in great happy circles. Mitra took them for a walk in the woods while Max and I went to a food store that sells nothing but locally grown food of the highest quality. They have beef, lamb, pork venison, chicken and turkey, all frozen, and a number of dairy products and vegetables. I bought a lot of things including bacon and thick slices of ham cured without nitrates.
At this evening's milking I could feel that the fingers of my right hand were all sticky. I looked at them and they were bloody. Helen has a small cut on her left front teat. It did not seem to bother her much. I just grasped firmly and tried not to let go. That worked.
Every day lately I find evidence of broken eggs. This is aggravating.
I found a new nest with one egg in an unused manger. I left the egg to encourage the hen to keep laying there. I got only six eggs today.
Helen gave three gallons.
November 16, 2004 Tuesday:
Max and Lulu stopped in today. He unloaded the grain I bought yesterday and moved the manger back under the hay drop. The cows keep pushing it around. The weather was lovely. I went along with him on an errand up to camp. He needed to put antifreeze in the sinks, toilets and sumps at Martin's camp. The lake was beautiful as always.
For supper I fried some of the nitrate free bacon that I bought yesterday. It is excellent. One has no idea how superior the flavor is without the rank taste of nitrates. One understands why pork has been such popular meat for thousands of years. It's because it tastes so good.
Helen gave three gallons again today. I only got six eggs.
November 17, 2004:
I taped Albie at 990 lbs. That is a gain of 2.8 lbs/day since I taped him in October.
Helen taped at 1111 lbs, a gain of 4.95/day. I don't know if I believe these figures. I did increase Helen's grain after the previous taping. It showed her nearly 100 lbs less than in June. I think I will cut her back again. The added grain is not doing anything for her milk production. It seldom does towards the end of lactation and she has been going 15 months. Today she only gave 2 ¾ gallons. I don't want her any fatter.
I didn't tape Sammy. He was too ticklish. I will try him again in a day or two.
Only got six eggs.
Bagel and I took a nice walk to the river. I picked more witch hazel.
November 18, 2004 Thursday:
My granddaughter, Rosie and her husband, Nate are here for a few days. They repaired a treacherous bit of broken fence out by the driveway. Nate got out the Kubota and used it to move an old metal hay feeder from the paddock to in front of the barn. Tomorrow we will see about getting it inside the beefer pen. I am in hopes that it will make Helen less wasteful of her hay.
Rosie and Nate took a long walk into the hills with Bagel. They were gone for about two hours. Bagel does love outings.
After supper this evening Rosie made lasagna noodles for tomorrow. I am going to attempt a wild mushroom lasagna that I heard about from my daughter Marcia in Virginia. She had it at a new restaurant in The Plains.
Helen gave a scant three gallons today and I got only four eggs.
November 19, 2004 Friday:
Rosie and Nate started the day by climbing Tumbledown. It is a beautiful mountain that can be accomplished up and back in half a day or less. The top is mostly exposed granite and there is a nice lake on the summit. Bagel went along. They said he got pretty tired. At the end he was just dogging along, not bounding through the woods. I had streamers of orange flagging tape on him, as his coloring is much like a deer. I have been up the trail countless times starting when I was a baby in an apple basket on my father's back. That was in the days before people had back packs as we know them today.
Later they worked on clearing some dead wood from the copse at the end of my driveway. Nate started repairs on the metal hay feeder. The bolt on one upper corner has disappeared allowing the sides to spring apart. He is fixing it with a piece of metal bed frame.
Rosie and I made the wild mushroom lasagna. We all thought it was very good. Rosie used spinach with cream cheese (made by draining yogurt) in a Béchamel for the first layer. Then a layer of sautéed mushrooms. I made a sauce to go on top of dried tomatoes (from my garden) blended with Parmesan cheese that I made last year, garlic, herbs, and orange flavored olive oil. Nate ate three servings and then finished off Rosie's.
Fresh lasagna noodles do make a nice difference.
Helen had a lovely day. It was quite warm and sunny. All three bovines cleaned up on the small new area of paddock that Rosie and Nate fenced yesterday and opened for them. Helen gave three gallons. I got six eggs.
Such fine weather we are having for November. The woods are hopping with hunters, but my granddaughter, Rosemary and her husband, Nate, who are visiting from Alaska, were not to be discouraged from several long walks. Sons Max and Mark went mountain biking.
Nate got the old metal hay feeder moved into the beefer pen. It takes up a lot more space that the former one, but they still have plenty of room. It is too soon to tell how it will affect hay wastage.
My daughter-in-law Mitra came to the barn with me tonight to watch the milking routine. They think someday they might have a cow. They already have a fine group of Coburn Farm chickens.
We had a lovely dinner with all of us. I served a side of Coho salmon shipped frozen from Cordova, Alaska last August. Rosie and Nate caught it.
Helen only gave 2 ¾ gallons today and there were only four eggs. I have not had any extra milk to make clabber for several weeks. And, with the cold weather the bugs are pretty well gone.
November 21, 2004 Sunday:
I was awakened ahead of my alarm today at 5am by the sound of the plow going by. When I looked out the window all was white with snow. It is wet soggy snow. Helen and the boys spent a lot of time wandering around the fields anyway, trying to graze. Then they came back in and ate their hay.
Rosemary and Nate left this evening on their trip to Europe. They are going first to Rome, then around the Adriatic including Croatia. They want to see places where people are still farming with animals.
Either due to my hand milking or the natural course of events, Helen's production is lower every day. Only 2 ½ gallons today. And only six eggs.
November 22, 2004 Monday:
Today was Albie's date with destiny. All the arrangements went much as planned. Max showed up after breakfast with his friend Tim. They got the tractor out, raised the bucket, and arranged chains on it. I had all three animals, Helen, Albie and Sammy, shut in the beefer pen. I did not want him to be alone during the wait until the men arrived. With help from them, I let Helen out the back door and kept Albie in. I gave Max a pan of grain and went into the house. Albie was my friend and I preferred not to be present. They opened the big double doors on the front of the barn and Albie stepped forward to eat the grain. Tim dropped him with one point blank shot in the forehead. I had gotten the exact location for the shot from friends. Albie died eating grain, one of his favorite activities. They put the chains on his feet and hoisted up his carcass with the bucket. Tim cut both jugular veins and bled him out. He re-opened the veins after a while to get rid of clotting and give a better bleed-out. Then Tim backed his truck under the hanging carcass to load it. Martin arrived with the company van, but they decided it made better sense to use the truck. Max and Tim drove the carcass to the slaughterhouse, a 45-minute drive. Martin stayed with me and sawed some wood and took care of both of his tractors, the Kubota and Ford 9N (Century).
Helen was not alarmed at any point. She gave her usual dwindling supply today, a bit over 2 ½ gallons. I got six eggs.
November 23, 2004 Tuesday:
So far as I can notice, Helen is not pining for Albie. But, she does seem irritable. I finally tied her tail up this evening to stop her whapping me. As for myself, I already notice I have to put less hay down. The one who misses Albie is Sammy. He is not accustomed to being alone during milking. He goes around and around the barn bawling. Come to think of it, that is probably what was bugging Helen.
Max kindly went today and picked up the liver, heart, tongue and tail for me. I should be out in the kitchen right now packaging them.
The snow is mostly gone. In fact the weather is odd. The prediction is for it to go up to 60F tomorrow.
November 24, 2004 Wednesday:
Not until today did I get the liver taken care of. I have evolved a way of doing it which makes it easy to have any number of slices as required without defrosting more than needed. First I slice the liver into serving pieces. I spread wax paper in a large baking pan and arrange a single layer of liver slices barely touching each other. Then I lay on a double layer of wax paper. Then another layer of liver as before. Separated by a double layer of wax paper, the layers do not stick together. When all the liver slices are layered in, I put the entire pan in the freezer for a couple of days until the liver is frozen solid. It all comes readily out of the pan and into a big plastic bag. When I need a slice I just have to tear it off from its sheet.
I was able to milk by machine tonight. I got up my courage to try one more time to see if I could get the thing together correctly based on a suggestion from Cricket. This time it worked. I am still looking forward to the actual instructions, which Kevin hopes to be able to send after turkey season. Helen did not much like it when I changed from machine to hand milking and she did not like it any better when I changed back. In fact she tried to kick it off. But I just said, "Now now, brown cow" a few times while patting her rump and she settled down. But, I know I did not get all the milk. Total for today only 2 ¼ gallons. I hope she will let me catch up in the morning. Six eggs today.
November 25, 2004 Thanksgiving:
Things went badly this morning. I chugged out right on time to the barn and dished out the breakfasts. Helen came in absolutely filthy. It rained an inch and a half last night (no telling how much snow it would have been had it been a more seasonable temperature) so Helen and Sammy stayed in and stayed damp. Helen had created a disgusting wallow for herself. When it came to cleaning her left front quarter, she kicked. I soon discovered that underneath the layer of poop was a nasty cut on her teat. It was the triangular cut that is diagnostic of a stepped on teat. As such cuts go, this one is small, exposing only about the area of a dime, but bothered her enough to require acrobatics on my part to get it washed up. I consoled myself that milking a cut teat by machine is a lot easier than by hand. By this time Helen was letting down all over the floor. But to my dismay, this morning the machine would not pulsate. It would pulsate reluctantly when I flipped the slider with my finger, and I tried this for a while, but Helen became irritated and kicked off the machine when I tried to put the cup on the cut teat. She also kicked off the surcingle. By then I knew it was going to be me and her and the pail. I had to go back to the house to fetch it. By the time I returned Helen had made her second big poop and peed on everything. I kept telling her all would be fine and she should try to be brave, which I think she did, but I had to tie up her tail. It too was filthy. She stood for milking better than I dared hope, but by this time she was out of the mood and did not let down well. She seems to find it less painful if I wrap my hand over the cut and don't lift it away between squirts. Sammy still bellows the entire time he is apart from Helen, so we had his background music.
Thanksgiving dinner was marvelous. We started with roasted red bell peppers and eggplant on French bread. Max's wife, Mitra, roasted the turkey, made the stuffing and a salad and brought it all here. I made mashed potatoes with creamed garlic, a colorful mix of my own garden carrots and the last of the Brussels sprouts, and a pan of rolls. Max made a pumpkin pie with a locally grown heritage pumpkin. Helen contributed a big mound of whipped cream. My son Mark brought the wine. My granddaughter Helena helped all day with everything including the clean-up. She has a great mind for detail and remembers everything that needs to be done.
I hand milked before dinner. Mitra came with me to the barn. She likes to observe everything. Helen came in clean and was quite well behaved considering that her teat probably hurts as much as ever. I slathered it with vitamin E. She gave three gallons today. I have dropped all but two of my customers because of her declining production and will be dropping them too pretty soon. Then just the family will have milk until I dry her off.
After dark I caught two Bantam hens for Max and Mitra to add to their little flock. They have been reading on the Forum about raising turkeys. They paid a lot for today's bird and think it would be fun to raise a few next year.
There were seven eggs.
November 26, 2004 Friday:
As the weatherman promised, it is much colder today, down in the low 20's. Helen managed to be nice and clean this morning. I milked by hand. During the morning, my granddaughter Helena, who has an aptitude for fixing things, applied her skills to my pulsator and installed a packet of replacement parts. These were a lot of little washers and gaskets. We took the unit out to the barn to test it with the vacuum pump and I am pleased to report that it now works fine. This evening I milked Helen with the machine and she was perfectly cooperative, although there was some tail swishing when I got near her cut teat. But she did not kick. The cut is healing fast. Sammy still bellows when she leaves and does not stop until she comes back.
Helen gave 2 ¾ gallons today and I got six eggs.
I took Mitra's suggestion to medicate the food that I give my collection of young barn cats. They have all been sniffling. I am sprinkling Terimayacin (sp?) on their kibble. They all look better already.
The weather is strange. It rained hard much of the day and now at night it is still oddly warm, about 40F. The power was off for some hours. I thought I might not be able to write. It went out just as I was leaving the barn. I had put on my headlamp because everything was dark and wet. So, I had little inconvenience. With the Aga, my running spring in the kitchen and the good little kitchen fireplace everything was cozy.
My son Martin and his fiancée Amy were here all weekend. They sorted through family photographs for pictures they will use in a video montage at their wedding. It was lots of fun. They also got in more wood for me. Martin always helps me in the barn. Helen was way down in the pasture this morning, but ran right up when she saw Martin. She was so sure he would have an apple for her, as he usually does. Apples are her favorites. She gave 2 ½ gallons both yesterday and today. I got 6 eggs.
After a couple of hours the lights came back on. The hard rain continued. As I sat writing water began to fall on me. Now my roof is leaking very badly. I had to get up and put towels on my books and papers and plastic over the electronic equipment. This is not good news.
November 29, 2004 Monday:
There was so much rain that Maine rivers are at flood stage. Had it been snow it would be up to the windowsills. Max was hoping for snow so he could try out the old Scout with a plow that he bought. Bagel and I walked down to our river, the Webb River. It was up to the top of its banks. A small tributary, usually a trickle, which derives from springs on my pasture, was so full that we had to detour around. I visited Muffin's grave. I retrieved pieces of her wind chime that had been torn off during the storm.
Sammy continues to moo mournfully all the while I am milking. This morning he got the door open and came in and joined us. I have been leaving that door unlatched so that Helen can open it with her nose when I turn her out after milking. She gave 2 ¾ gallons today. I only got five eggs.
December 1, 2004 Wednesday:
I'm surprised that I still have power. It has been storming rain since last night. Of course, this meant that Helen came in filthy both this morning and tonight despite my best efforts to make her a dry nest. Since she does not understand a whole lot of English and may not have understood my muttered insults. Tonight it took me 15 minutes to get her cleaned up for the machine and only five minutes to milk her. Had I been hand milking I might have just skipped milking. But, I ended up with a perfectly clean filter. She gave barely 2 ½ gallons today. And I got only five eggs.
The flap of skin from Helen's cut teat has finally fallen off.
The wind is so high that I shut Helen and Sammy inside. I think the river has gone over its banks. The rain and fog were so thick that I could not see properly from the house. I had nice company today or probably would have bundled up and walked down with Bagel to have a look.
December 2, 2004 Thursday:
The wind blew violently all last night and most of today. I thought my windows were going to lose panes. It is quiet and clear tonight and we are told to expect the single numbers tomorrow morning. Max came over and helped me set up an area heater in the chicken room. Four hours later it was quite comfortably warm in there.
I thought Helen's cut was healing pretty well, but tonight when I had stripped her after the machine my hand came away all bloody. She is being a pretty good sport about it. She moos a little bit and begins swishing her tail when she knows I am about to touch it. She gave 2 ¾ gallons today. There were seven eggs.
My granddaughter Rosemary and her husband Nate wrote the following today. They are traveling in Europe with their backpacks. They are the ones that fish for salmon in the summer.
Sounds like you guys had a heck of a Thanksgiving dinner. I'm jealous. We have been eating lots of wonderful cheeses and bread, but thanks to the fall of the dollar that's about all we have been eating! Well, we supplement it with fruit and sausage, of course, but we're trying to limit ourselves to eating hot meals only once every three or four days.
Luckily, breakfast usually comes with the room, and now we're in Eastern Europe that is a very substantial affair, with platters of salami and cheese, yogurt, rye bread, muesli, etc.
We spent the last few days in the Slovenian Alps, walking between villages. Up there, horse drawn agriculture still seems common. Many houses had goats or cows tethered in the yard and chickens strayed through the streets of the villages. Very pretty country.
Now we are in Ljubjana, the capital, waiting for a train that will take us on to Croatia.
December 3, 2004 Friday:
Twice now somebody in my herd of two, and the finger points at Sammy, has picked up the submersible water heater and pulled it out onto the floor. Fortunately it was not plugged in either time and fortunately I saw it lying there. I feel sure that if it had been plugged in, the hay on the floor could have ignited. I also feel reasonably sure that if it had been hot he would have left it alone. However, it is now fastened down in such a way that he can't pick it up any more. The silly booby still moos and bellows all the while I have Helen in for milking.
It snowed all day but there was little accumulation.
I am amazed how much less hay I am using now, partly because I am not feeding Albie, partly because with the new hay feeder they waste less. There are still almost as many poops to carry out. They are inside a lot more now.
Helen came in quite clean both times today. It was down to 15F this morning. Colder means drier, so the Beefer Pen stays in better shape. Still, it is mostly luck where she decides to lie down. She gave about 2 ¾ gallons today. Kevin sent me a copy of the Surge Manual, which has prompted me to alter my milking technique somewhat. I hope to be more efficient. I never had an instruction book before.
Rosemary wrote today as follows:
Nate and I are now in Zadar, Croatia, a small port city with a beautiful old town where the streets are paved in marble. The food is much cheaper here than it was in Italy and Slovenia, thank goodness. Yesterday we had both lunch and dinner in restaurants, a treat since we got caught in a Mediterranean downpour whilst hiking in the afternoon. We were exploring a national park full of extraordinary lakes and waterfalls. No one else was there at all and the lakes were so flooded that the wooden paths were floating in places. Suddenly the skies burst open with thunder, lightening, torrential rain, etc. We took shelter for a time in a cave, and then made a run for it. Just as hope seemed lost, a four star restaurant appeared before us, stocked with waiters in tail coats, blazing fires and shining bottles but without a single guest. It had the strangest fairytale quality. We lunched on lamb stew thickened with cream and eggs, local slivovitz and sweet pancakes, then continued on our way to Zadar, where we found a room for the night in the apartment of a young man whom I believe to be a ballet dancer. This afternoon we are continuing on by boat into the Zadar archipelago.
The people here have been extremely kind to us. It is a pity there is such a language barrier, but the faces of the people I see all look both healthy and intelligent, such as is, sadly, not the case in so much of the US. They must eat well, I think. Yesterday we passed two different smallholdings where people were in the process of butchering pigs.
Cheaper food notwithstanding, we are indeed looking forward to hot meals back on the farm. We talk about it often. It is so nice to feel that someone is taking care of you, and food prepared with love is far better.
December 6, 2004 Monday:
Last night was the coldest so far this year, 10F. My lovely spring water that runs into a granite sink in the kitchen was not running this morning. The line runs above ground in a few places and freezes. Now it will probably not run again until April or May. I have tap water from a well, but the flavor does not compare.
Also, this morning my furnace quit. The oil company sent a man out to get it going. He got it working, but said it is an inefficient, older design that is wasting oil and recommended I replace it. The cost seems overwhelming.
Helen gave 2 ¾ gallons yesterday and I got eight eggs. Today barely 2 ½ gallons and only seven eggs. All the critters seem comfortable. I chopped up some old suet for the barn cats. They seemed to appreciate it. It stayed cold all day.
Here is another letter from our travelers:
I think it is fascinating to see how well small farming seems to be surviving here in Croatia. We have spent the last three days exploring some of the islands near Zadar, all of which are under cultivation although at first sight they seem to be wild. The dense woods contain olive and almond trees, the bare slopes support sheep and the bees are returning to a hive in someone's yard. Here and there, at the end of stony lanes, were small villages. Each house had a large vegetable garden, orange trees, a donkey or chickens. In the larger market towns women sat at stands selling oranges and cabbages, honey, walnuts, fresh olive oil, home dried figs and homemade cheeses. The cheeses we have tried are delicious, reminiscent of your queso blanco, but made from sheep's milk. We have also noticed men fishing from bridges and quays, apparently while on their way home from work.
Last night we went to a restaurant that was empty except for us as it was Sunday. I ordered white ravioli in a spinach cream sauce, and Nate had spaghetti Carbonara. After the waiter served us, he sat down to talk. I told him how much we liked the food, and he promptly explained that all Croatian food was delicious because it was all locally produced. And, that because it was delicious it was also healthy. I thought it sounded exactly like something one of us would say, but here he did not seem to be a voice in the wilderness. He also told me that when he was a very little boy two of his cousins who had grown up in America had come to visit him, and that he had refused to believe they were his cousins because they were three times as big around as he was.
December 7, 2004 Tuesday:
It has snowed all day and is still snowing. It is wet, wind driven snow that is icy. I think all the animals are comfortable. It is not so very cold, only around 20F. Helen's production continues its downward trend. Today it was not much above two gallons. There were seven eggs.
Sammy continues to bellow while Helen is in being milked, but he is less persistent. Helen never seemed to like him much. He was a bottle-fed adoptee. Nonetheless, his bellowing disturbs her and she nearly always lifts her tail. She likes to wait until my back is turned, so I can't catch it on the shovel.
December 8, 2004 Wednesday:
My new beef is ready to be picked up. I overcame procrastination and went down to the cellar with a basin of hot water and disinfectant and cleaned my Number Two freezer so as to have it ready.
Dear Max came over today and got out the Kubota, which started right up despite the cold weather and it being diesel, and scraped the icy berm left by the road plow at the end of my driveway. We have had steady snow and sleet for a day or so. It was so wet and windy that it packed down to two of three inches. I switched to using my sled for hauling the milking machine to the barn.
Helen's cut teat is still not healed. I am applying pure vitamin E to it. This is working better than any of the salves I tried. She gave a bit over 2 ½ gallons today.
And, how about this! I got a dozen eggs, all from the layers, none from the ones that live in the rafters. I attribute the better laying to their heater and being able to provide them some clabber now that I cut down on customers, and more cracked corn. The corn gets all the timid ones off their perches and down where the feed and water is.
December 10, 2004 Friday:
It is snowing again and this time the weatherman says he is serious. So we will see. It is above 30F and could easily turn to rain. I left the back door of the Beefer Pen open in case Helen and Sammy decide to go outside and save me some clean-up. When it is this humid nothing dries out in the barn and Helen inevitably comes in dirty. I had to tie her tail up this morning during the ten minutes it took me to prep for milking so that I would not get it in the face.
Because of her low production and the good progress of healing of her cut I milked by hand this evening. She only gives one gallon now in the evening and is seems not worth the bother to wash the machine. She gave 2 ¼ gallons yesterday and 2 ½ today. Sammy still comes around and stands under the window where I milk and makes mournful noises. That is mostly when Helen begins pooping and peeing. She can't really be missing him. In fact the first thing she did this morning after I turned her back out was butt him amidships.
The hens have not managed another big day of laying. Yesterday and today they only laid seven.
Rosemary is now in Dubrovnik. She writes:
Last night our dinner plans were slightly upset. We went to see our landlord in the early evening, as we were planning to leave town very early in the morning. He invited us in to sample some homemade wine and then he started talking about boats. Apparently he found us an adequate audience, because it was almost three hours later when we managed to slip out. I was more or less pie-eyed by that time (I could not refuse his hospitality), and thus, although I did enjoy dinner, I'm not sure what it was like.
We are in Dubrovnik now, after a rather harrowing crack-of-dawn bus ride along a highway better suited for mules than anything else. Alaska has some amazing roads, but this was definitely the most dramatic I'd ever seen. Luckily, we were met at the bus station by our landlady, who gave us coffee on her terrace. Very nice lady. She mentioned that she spent three years unable to leave her house during the war, and we noticed shrapnel scars in the terrace. I am becoming more and more ashamed at my ignorance of what happened here.
In the afternoon it was so hot that we went swimming, to the stark amazement of passers-by, all of whom were wearing parkas. We couldn't
explain to them how different the weather seems to us. They just thought we were mad. Anyway, I should go. I still haven't reached my aunt or my friend, but I think I now have a handle on the telephone system used here, so I hope for future success.
It snowed enough Friday and Saturday for my man to come and plow me out. It was heavy, icy snow and not a really pretty storm. It is not even cold, only about freezing, so the eves are dripping constantly. The Beefer Pen where the cows spend almost all their time does not dry out properly. I decided to see what shavings would do for the area. I bought two bales and opened one in there this morning. I forked out enough to cover the worst wet spots and left the bale in the corner for next time. There was no next time. Sammy attacked the bale and mashed it all around. Now I am going to try using some poorer hay for bedding. It was cheaper than the shavings. I will give the remaining bale of shavings to the layers.
My granddaughter Helena helped me today to put plastic on some of the walls in my milking room. My daughter Abby sent me a little dairy heater for the area. So far it has not been cold enough to cause me any suffering, but when it is I will be ready.
After Kevin sent me the Surge instruction book I put a number of the suggestions into practice, also installed new inflations. I will make better use of the machine in future. I have decided to go to hand milking. Helen is only giving 2 ½ gallons or less with twice a day milking so this will be easier than hauling the machine to the barn.
There were eight eggs today.
December 13, 2004 Monday:
Helen was sweet and friendly today, but she only gave 2 ¼ gallons. Maybe she felt like eating some of that poor hay I chucked down to use as bedding. It is not dusty, but I think it was rained on twice. Cows do like a change of feed. But, poor hay displaces better stuff partly because it remains longer in the rumen and much of it passes through. It is high in indigestible lignin.
The hens got back up to 11 eggs today. I gave them that bale of shavings.
Max came over today and made a carpentry repair to Helen's feed trough and the hundred-year-old flap door in front of it that used to have leather hinges.
December 14, 2004 Tuesday:
As promised, today was much colder. It was also bright and clear, the first such day we have had for some time. It made Sammy very frisky. He ran round and threw his heels in the air. I thought it best to stay out of his way. While I was mucking out he even managed to nudge open the door into the main part of the barn and ran in there to stomp around. At this evening's milking for the first time since Albie went away, he did not bawl while apart from Helen.
Helen's cut teat is still not completely healed over. She is awfully good about being milked, but I know it must hurt. All she does to make her statement is make a big plop. Max came over again and helped me haul around some hay bales to further block drafts in the barn. We both stuffed hay in cracks and crevices. Then we went together to cut me a Christmas tree. I figured to get one from the cluster across the road from on the riverbank. The only one I could find that met my criteria of not being important to holding the bank was a wispy pine. Definitely a Charlie Brown tree. It is a white pine.
At this evening's milking I used the new diary heater that my daughter Abby sent. It made a significant difference
Helen gave a scant 2 ½ gallons today. There were nine eggs.
For those interested in the report from Eastern Europe, here is another letter from Rosemary. Cordova is the Alaska fishing village from which they fish commercially.
Saturday night I was stepping into an internet cafe in Dubrovnik to post off a message to you when I heard someone shouting my name and turned to see my friend Pepo running down the street. I don't know if I've described him to you before? He is a Croatian man in his fifties who works in Cordova in the summertime as a net mender, deckhand and stone mason. He was very excited to see us, and immediately offered us to live in his house for the rest of the winter, borrow his car, etc. We went out with him to his farm, which is in a village just north of Dubrovnik, and stayed there for a couple of days. It is a lovely place. He lives in an eight hundred year old house built of stone, with a large outdoor kitchen room in which all of the cooking is done over an open fire. The house is surrounded by olive trees, figs, pomegranates, oranges, grapefruits and vines, growing in something of a jungle. He said that ordinarily one would keep sheep to keep the brush down in the orchard, but he is unable to because he works in Alaska half the year. All the same, he produces an unbelievable amount of food and liqueur from his land. He also has an encyclopedic knowledge of traditional Croatian medicine, and gave me a recipe for a cough syrup that may help Mum's lungs a bit. We had a wonderful time at his place, and will return after visiting Belgrade to help him for a few days with a land clearing project.
This morning, we left Croatia on the bus, and traveled all day up through Bosnia. Very lovely, barren country, but the people seemed extremely poor, and the fields were littered with trash- also, presumably, land mines, which are still a constant danger here. Many of the houses were pocked from machine gun fire, and many more seemed empty. At the moment, we are stranded in a Serb-controlled suburb of Sarajevo waiting for an overnight bus, and Sarajevo is the grimmest of all, since it is a city and thus seems poorer than the countryside could ever be. Tell Mum not to worry though, we are being careful to stay on the pavement. And the people seem kindhearted and courageous in the extreme, as we have found everywhere throughout this area. Tomorrow morning we should reach my aunt in Belgrade. We will stay with her for a few days, and then, I think, travel back to the coast via Montenegro.
December 16, 2004 Thursday:
Yesterday and today were aggressively cold, right about zero. It takes the fun out of working in the barn. My fingers get very cold while mucking out. The little heater is able to raise the temperature in where I milk sufficiently that I can remove my coat, just wear my sweater while milking. I hate milking in a bunchy coat, so this is a big plus. Helen goes all bug eyed when she walks in and sees the heater.
Max came again today and helped me move around some more hay bales to stop drafts in the hen room. We also turned their heater up a notch. At 2:30 when I did the midday round of chores I turned on the milking room heater to pre heat the area, as I have been doing, this time to its highest setting. I wanted to see if the wiring could take them both at once. Nothing happened.
When I arrived with my bucket about 5:30 all was dark in the barn. No lights would go on. I groped around and found the barn flashlight. The breakers in the box in the barn were all on. I unplugged the hen room heater, then went back to the house and into the cellar to find the main breaker and turn it on. I suppose when either the heat tape of submersible stock tank heater cycled on it over taxed the system. My first thought was for the tap. If the heat tape on it goes dead I am in danger of losing my barn water. But all is now restored. From now on I will turn off the hen's heater while I am milking.
Yesterday I got 11 eggs, today eight. Yesterday Helen gave barely over two gallons, today 2 ¼.
December 17, 2004 Friday:
It was so cold and blustery that I shut Helen and Sammy inside. After milking this evening I opened their door back up so that I could muck out. By then it was six o'clock, no wind and a bright moon and stars. Both of them marched right outside to look at the moon I guess. Anyway they chose to stand out there quietly for fifteen minutes.
Helen gave just above two gallons today. I have started freezing cream in pint freezer jars to help us through that awful time that is coming when I have to dry her off.
The hens must like their life pretty well. I got 13 eggs today.
It was down to zero again this morning. This takes the fun out of barn work. I left the heater on low with the hens and put a thermometer in one of the nests. It was only 10F in there. The sun shone for much of the day. Helen and Sammy stand outside to enjoy it, but go back in where there is hay on the floor to lie down.
Helen's cut teat is now healed over. She has stopped switching her tail when I grab that teat so I know it is no longer touchy.
Max and Mitra and her parents from California were here for dinner. Mitra came to the barn with me to "job shadow". She tried milking and really got the hang of it this time.
Helen did not give much over 2 gallons today. I got eight eggs.
December 19, 2004 Sunday:
It has been so cold that I have had to stop using my outdoor fridge. The milk was beginning to freeze. I knew this was a risk and I caught it just in time. Unfortunately I forgot that the veg drawers were likely to freeze first. I had them stuffed with my carrot crop. Carrots are no good thawed. My loss, Helen's gain.
The hens in the heated room with a rather dim 24 hour light laid 13 eggs today. They also get all of the table scraps and clabber when I have it. The bantams and bantam crosses in the rafters have corn every morning and ad lib chicken mash, but they are not laying at all, leastwise not that I can find.
Today was considerably warmer. 20F felt balmy.
I Express Mailed some of the new (Albie) beef to my sister in California. She had herself a hamburger today and said it was the best ground meat she ever tasted.
Helen gave a bit over 2 gallons today. She has developed an annoying habit of making a big plop, which she must save up, during milking at the point when she finishes her grain. I keep loose hay behind her so it does not splash. I have been telling her I don't like this but she does it anyway. Tonight I stood up fast with the bucket, as always, but this time I screeched at her and brought my elbow down hard on her rump to make my point. I wonder if this will make any difference.
December 20, 2004 Monday:
Helen was happy and cooperative this morning. As the day went on the temperature sank from about 20F to zero at milking time. There was an icy Canadian cold front blowing in their back door so I kept it shut all day. Maybe that is why she was crabby this evening. She danced around the entire time I was milking and even raised her foot. Also, she made her usual huge plop. When I let her back out she went out of her way to pick a fight with Sammy. She gave just a bit over two gallons today. I got nine eggs. The hen house is cold despite their heater.
December 21, 2004 Tuesday:
This was the coldest morning to date, -15F. Doing the barn chores was painful. If it gets much colder I think I will have to get warmer gloves. The milking room heater does make it possible to milk comfortably. All of Helen's whiskers were covered with frost. It would have made a funny picture.
I made two big loaves of Russian Rye today. They turned out very well.
Helen's production was down this morning and I noticed that she had drunk no water since yesterday. I could not see anything wrong with it. I put my finger into it while touching dirt and could not detect any stray voltage. I saw her playing around with the edges of the water so I figured it must be safe. This evening when her production was down even more and still no water had been drunk I got a flashlight and confirmed my growing suspicion: Sammy had pooped in the tank. I know it was Sammy because steers make a formed lump, not a plop like a cow. So despite the cold and late hour, I got a bucket and bailed out the tank. I had to just pour that water on the ground next to the tank, which makes a mess and will freeze, but I threw old hay onto it. I rinsed out the tank and started filling it. Helen drank as fast as the water came in. She gave under two gallons today. There were nine eggs, ten if I count a soft shell.
December 22, 2004 Wednesday:
It was about 4F below zero this morning. When I went in with Helen to let her in for milking I heard peeping. Not what one should hear at this time of year. I have suspected a hen was setting in the haymow. Several of us have looked for nests but had no luck. The peeping sound was muffled. By the time I got back from locking Helen in her stanchion, no more than a minute, the peeping had stopped. I ran around looking for a chick and did not find one. But I knew it must have either gotten back under its mother or be frozen. It would not last more than a minute in this cold. After milking I searched some more but with no audible clues among more than 300 bales of hay it was hopeless. I had to go out on errands but Max was coming over for milk and I asked him to look. Somehow he found her. She was against the outer front wall of the barn. I am sorry to say the chicks must have begun hatching more than a day ago because they had ventured away from the nest. The poor hen could not leave because she was blocked in by hay that Max had piled up last week to cut drafts. She had been trapped ever since. Most of the chicks had fallen through a crack and were down below in the snow, frozen. Three were still alive under the hen. Max put them all into a cat carrier. Then he found that one of the chicks that appeared frozen quivered slightly. He brought it in and set it on the hearth to thaw out which it obligingly did. Now the family of two yellow chicks and two black stripy ones is next to the Aga. The mother hen was terrible hungry and thirsty. I fed them clabber and wheat germ. If chicks don't have a proper waterer, they have to have their drink in a flat saucer. This is messy and wasteful, but in even the shallowest bowl they will drown. I always start chicks on yogurt or clabber to colonize their guts with benign bacteria. This prevents coccidiosis. Now I am boiling eggs to give them mashed hard-boiled egg for breakfast. The second feeding principle is plenty of high-grade protein, if they are not going to follow their mother and get bugs. They will not live more than a day or two on corn meal alone. They will even die if fed 18%-20% layer mash.
Helen was a bit strange this evening. When I opened the door to let her in for milking she ran out into the moonlight and started for the field. I had to canter out there and head her off. She gave just two gallons today. There were a dozen eggs.
December 23, 2004 Thursday:
The chicks are still in their cat carrier next to the Aga awaiting one of my sons to carry a largish chicken coop up from the barn. I will have to put it in the cellar, I guess, unless I can induce somebody to accept the little family.
I had to reach into the cat carrier a few times to root out the little black chicks and get them up to the dish. They ate yogurt cheese, hard boiled eggs, clabber, wheat germ and bread crumbs. I gave them a cat food can full of sand.
The weather is weird. It had rained hard most of the day and a warm 40F wind is blowing. Helen gave two gallons. I only got seven eggs.
December 24, 2004 Christmas Eve:
Mark, Martin and Martin's fiancée, Amy, have come for Christmas. The boys brought a chicken coop in from the barn and stapled plastic all over it. Otherwise the chicks would be able to go through the chicken wire. The coop is about 4'x2'x14". They put hay into it and carried it to the cellar. Now the little black hen and her family are ensconced there. She looks a whole lot happier. She was getting desperate in the cat carrier. It is about 50F in the cellar. The chicks won't need any extra heat because their mother keeps them warm. I will just have to try and remember one more set of animals to feed.
Helen's days stay much the same. If the sun shines and it is not windy she and Sammy stand outside. Otherwise they spend their days in their run-in eating hay and chewing their cuds. It is dry and comfortable in there. The room is 30'x30'.
There were 12 eggs today.
Christmas, yesterday, was a lovely occasion spent mostly over with Max and Mitra and family. I skipped the evening milking. I got home about 7:30, so could have done it, but was not in the mood. I went out and put out hay and cleaned the Beefer Pen, their run-in, and picked up the eggs. Only nine eggs, eight today. This morning Helen gave about 1 ¾ gallons, tonight only ¾ gallon. I hope skipping a milking does not knock down her production too drastically.
The hen and chicks are making it ok in the cellar so far. They seem to eat a lot. All four chicks are alive at this writing and the hen does not seem too upset about being in there. The cellar is pretty cold so the chicks spend most of their time under their mother.
The submersible heater in the cows' stock tank got pressed up against the side and melted a hole in the side of the tank about halfway up. Now it has a leak and can only be filled to that point. I will leave it unplugged now most of the time for safety's sake while I plan what to do about it.
The weather on Christmas Day was around 20F but sunny and no wind. Today is colder and it snowed much of the day. The roads are icy and treacherous. Max wanted to bring his kids and in-laws over to see Lake Webb and Martin's camp, but at the bottom of their two mile hill the van just drifted forward about five feet at the stop sign. It had already fishtailed onto the verge once on the way down. They turned around and went home.
December 27, 2004 Monday:
It snowed much of today, pretty snow. The hard, icy, rained-on snow is under there making a treacherous layer on the driveway, but traffic is moving normally on the road. Getting to the barn is tricky. I have not figured out what to do about my stock tank. I have to fill it now twice a day and without the heater it is half frozen. Tonight is predicted to fall well below zero.
The chick family in the cellar looks pretty good today. But, I am making a plan for moving them to the barn next time I have help after this cold spell.
Helen gave two gallons of milk today. There were 11 eggs.
December 28, 2004 Tuesday:
It was just zero this morning. I put on extra layers and did not suffer except for my toes and fingers. I must be getting used to it.
The worst thing was my Aga was out this morning. It holds heat a long time and boiled water ok for my tea, so I did not immediately notice. I supposed it went out about 4am. By the time I put the kettle on for my barn water it had cooled enough so that kettle would not boil. I built up the fire in my little kitchen fireplace and made ready to cook on it. The fireplace has a crane in it and I have a wrought iron grate that fits into it nicely. It is easy to cook in a fireplace except for the constant need for the right wood and the fact that all the pots and your fingers are soon sooty. The gas company man arrived about 11am and filled the tank, although it was not empty. He also started the Aga burner quite readily. But, it stayed lit only 5 hours, so now I must have a burner service man out tomorrow. It is a real downer to me when my Aga misbehaves.
Nothing wrong with Helen, though, except she gave barely 2 gallons today. I should be grateful for that in this weather. The hens laid 14 eggs.
My chickens in the cellar seem reasonably happy. They are getting clabber and chopped hard-boiled egg along with regular layer mash. I gave them a teaspoonful of cod liver oil in their clabber. One little black chick is not quite so forthcoming as the rest. When I put water in I make sure he drinks, and all drink, before putting out the food.
December 29, 2004 Wednesday:
It was a lot warmer today. I think it got above 20F. Helen and Sammy spent a lot of time outdoors. Helen mostly stands around. If there is a little sun she faces it and soaks it up. Sammy is looking for mischief. He keeps attacking the dead burdock near the barnyard and getting his tufty bits jammed full of burrs. He likes it when I claw them out.
A burner service man came today and replaced the thermocouple on my Aga and cleaned and tuned up the burner. It is going nicely now. What a relief. My little kitchen fireplace, which is at waist level, is a loyal friend. I had tea water boiling on it in five minutes. But those blackened pots are a threat to my disposition.
Tonight instead of coming in when I opened the door for her, Helen turned around and marched through the snow and around to the far side of the barn. She has always much preferred the gate around that side because she does not have to make it up any ramp. I went out front and shook the gate to show her it would not open because it is blocked by a snow bank. She was most reluctant to give up her idea. I went back and filled her water tub, cleaned the beefer pen, shook around dry bedding and called repeatedly. No response. So, I had to traipse all the way around by starlight to bring her in. I slipped and fell on an icy stretch, my first fall of the winter, but was not hurt at all.
Helen gave two gallons. I got eight eggs.
December 30, 2004 Thursday:
Helen did not get away with running out into the dark tonight. The moment I got to the barn while she and Sammy were still lying down chewing their cuds, I scooted through and shut their door. I find I do have a few twinges from slipping on the ice last night (shoulder and bum). Don't need any more.
Helen did not make it to 2 gallons today. I am stripping faithfully and pondering herbs and molasses, but the trend seems relentless. She does get apples or carrots every day, also kelp, vitamin E and diatomaceous earth. My best hope at the moment is for increasing day length to have an effect.
I got 10 eggs plus one more that broke in my pocket. What a mess.
December 31 New Year's Eve:
The thermometer stood at 20F at dawn and the temperature climbed steadily all day. It reached 40F. There was no sun. The eves were still dripping after dark when ordinarily things freeze up again. The cows stood around outside despite occasional drizzle. I notice the traffic was moving slowly, so I expect the roads are bad. I hope there are no accidents.
My chick family in the cellar continues to thrive, but the hen is getting annoyed with her confinement. Maybe tomorrow I will be able to move them to the barn.
I got nine eggs. Twice now one of my "rafter" hens has laid an egg. It is a nice large egg and she is laying in a convenient spot.
Helen surprised me by giving nearly 2.5 gallons today. I picked up some apples yesterday stored in the cellar from my cousin who is in Florida. There are lots of mushy ones that I gave to Helen. Maybe these have perked up her production.
A well-matched pair of highly decorative roosters started the New Year by having a cockfight in the barn. One tends to think of cockfights as bloody affairs to the death, but that never, in my experience, occurs among free-range roosters on the farm. These roosters fight by dancing up to each other and standing about a foot apart, lowering their heads with their hackle feathers fully extended to form a sort of tutu around their necks. They swipe their beaks on the floor like somebody sharpening a knife. Then they rush at each other and bump breasts and both jump straight up in the air flapping and grappling. While in the air their feet are up so that their spurs jab forward. Or, one leaps over the other's head and lands behind his adversary. During this maneuver the adversary turns so that they are again facing each other. It is only the bantam roosters or those with bantam blood that fight. The heavy birds just chase each other. This pair drew no blood and scarcely lost a feather. I once saw a pair fight all day until both were so exhausted that they were just walking up to each other to bump chests and could not even manage a jump. They had bloody heads, which they sort of laid on each other's shoulders during the grapple. Both were back to their customary activities the next day. These Coburn Farm spontaneous cockfights are very amusing to watch.
Well, my chicken's egg laying streak seems to have crashed. Only four eggs today.
Helen gave a bit under two gallons.
January 3, 2005 Monday:
The chickens redeemed themselves today. They laid a dozen eggs, 10 before 8am. I gave them a bucket of high protein scraps from some freezer rejects to cheer them on.
Today was very mild. It got up to 40F.
I made yogurt and butter. This will likely be the last butter I make this lactation. Helen only gave about 1 ¾ gallons today.
Sammy still carries on bawling while she is in being milked.
January 4, 2005 Tuesday:
Our warm weather continues. It was in the 20's all day (It seems warm to us). I did not even switch on my milking room heater. I did leave the chicken room heater on low. It is such a dark room even with the light on. They are doing so well that I don't want to do anything to discourage them. They laid 12 eggs again today.
At evening chores I discovered a young rooster squinched up on the self where I feed the cats. When I nudged him he barely moved. So I picked him up and discovered that his toes were all tangled up and his legs tied together with one of those flimsy strings that pull off of feed bags. I have seen this happen often enough that I am always particular to put the strings into the trash bin but that one strayed. I had to use the knife to get the string off. It took more than five minutes. It was embedded around one toe so that the toe had turned purple. I had to hold him upside down and he made the dying chicken squawk the entire time. This of course set off the entire barn. Once I set him down again he was able to walk pretty well.
During milking Helen was antsy. She never would stop shifting and dancing and of course pooped. I told her to shape up. Later I realized I had forgotten to give her apples. No doubt she could smell them. She gave 1 ¾ gallon today.
I find that the Biodynamic magazine, Lillipoh, has given KFC a very kind review. It is accompanied with a photo of cows, underneath which is an Irish saying: "Everybody is nice until the cow gets in the garden."
January 5, 2005 Wednesday:
Lillipoh magazine had a recipe for chai, which I followed. This morning I started the day with it. I liked it a lot. Chai is served sweetened and I never sugar my tea. I put a bit of dulce de leche in that I had also made yesterday. I must say, it was an agreeable start to the morning.
UPS, guided by some unseen hand, brought me a fine pair of warm leather gloves today. I think I am on the way to greater comfort in the barn.
I just hope I am not also on the way to a frozen water hose. I have a snap-together hose fitting. I always disconnect the hose and hang it high up to drain. Today I could not get the thing apart and had to leave it connected. I tried to shake the water out of it but that seldom works. I expect Max tomorrow. He is a good problem solver.
Helen is shaving her production a bit more each day. Today she again gave 1 ¾ gallons but I had to really work for it. There were ten eggs.
January 7, 2005 Friday:
I solved the hose problem myself by unscrewing the fitting at the back. The hose was indeed full of ice and I had to bring it indoors to thaw it. It's only about 15' long so I was able to coil it in my industrial size kitchen sink. After thawing, the snap-together hose fitting went together OK. Getting it apart again is the problem.
Also on Thursday afternoon, the new 16-gallon water tub arrived. I dragged it to the barn but decided against installing it because they had not finished the water in the old tub. I would have had to dump it and that would have created an ice skating rink in that corner. This morning the water was about gone and they were thirsty. I hauled the old tank outdoors and put it under the eves where it will suffice to catch melt water when we get a thaw. They always like that melt water. I stabilized the new tub by putting it in a corner and setting a nail on the walls each side of it. Then I hooked a chain onto each nail. The chain wraps across the front of the tub and locks it into the corner. They took to the new tub right away and drank while it was filling. The only glitch was when Sammy nudged open the door to the passageway where I was running in and out. He did not know enough to back out, instead made the dumb cow choice to try to turn around in what amounts to a chute. Being only one year old he finally managed it by standing on his hind legs but it was not a graceful maneuver. Helen was clearly worried. I could tell she was frowning but I don't know if she was blaming him or me.
Evening: Helen definitely likes the new tub. Animals are usually reluctant to accept a new tub right away. The fact that she did probably shows how much she disliked the former set-up. She drank it right down this evening. But, so far it has not boosted her production: 1 ¾ gallons yesterday and today. The hens are responding well to getting clabber again. Today I got 15 eggs.
We had about four new inches of snow yesterday and another two inches today. It got up to 25F. No family came this weekend so far but I expect max and Mitra and the girls tomorrow for lunch.
Here is an exceptionally easy recipe for a bar cookie that I got off a raisin box. Not counting assembling ingredients, it took about three minutes including time in the Cuisinart and patting it into a pan.
Butter a 9"x13" baking pan and preheat the oven to 325F
1 ½ cup old fashioned oats
1 cup packed brown sugar
¾ cup flour (I use whole wheat pastry flour)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salts
½ cup butter at room temperature
¾ cup golden raisins (Sultanas)
1/4 cup dried apricots, chopped
Mix together the dry ingredients.
Work in the butter
Add the raisins and apricots.
Pat into the pan. I flattened it down with a jam jar.
Bake 20 to 25 minutes
Cool before cutting into bars.
January 10, 2005 Monday:
My daughter Sally arrived today from Alaska. She will be here a number of weeks. She loves the farm. She found her old boots and took Bagel for a snowy walk around the field. For dinner we had liver sautéed with onions to get her restored from losing two nights sleep with travel. Bagel got the gristly bits.
Helen gave a slightly skimpy 1 ¾ gallons today. I started putting blackstrap molasses on her food. It is from a $6 health food store bottle that I have had on hand a long time. I thought she might as well have it.
I got 13 eggs.
The weather has turned warm again with a new snow shower every so often and sunny periods interspersed. We now have a good snow cover. The X-C skiers in the family are happy.
January 11, 2005 Tuesday:
This was a fine clear winter day. Sally and I went across the bridge and had a look at her little vacant house and field. Everything was as it was left. Bagel enjoyed the trip. Later we took him along on an expedition to buy cat food, which he also enjoyed. When we let him out of the car he took off after a neighbor cat that had been here all day having swearing matches with the resident toms. They both shot down the driveway arriving at the gate just as a truck roared by. The cat swerved but I think if Sally were not yelling at Bagel he would have run right into the truck. That cat ran farther and faster than I have ever seen a cat run.
Max reports that the chicken family is growing well. He tells me they are getting necks and wing feathers. The one that was frozen and thawed on the hearth is still the smallest, but he sees to it that it always gets food.
Sally milked Helen tonight. She had been out both yesterday and this morning to talk to Helen in the paddock and get reacquainted. Helen was perfectly cooperative and did not miss a beat. I did the mucking out. Sammy hung around as he often does hoping I will play with him. He wants to kiss. He also wants to push me with his head and he shakes his head a lot. I don't allow him to push me. At these times I remind myself, "Joann, you do not want a cow with horns."
Helen gave 1 ¾ gallons again today. I got 16 eggs.
January 12, 2005 Wednesday:
Sally did the milking today and I did the hay feeding, watering and mucking out, cat feeding and poultry care. Helen continues to be well behaved for Sally. It helps that I am now in with Sammy mucking out so he is not alone; otherwise, he still bellows. Sammy still goes out every day and barges around in the cockle burr patch. He stands like a lamb while I try to claw them out.
Sally took Bagel for another walk around the field and they saw fox tracks.
And in really exciting news… we have had five bags of fleece hanging from the rafters in the cellar since last June when her son Rafe sheared our former Jacob sheep at the farm where they now live. The people did not want the wool. (Contrary to the belief retailed by PETA, shearing sheep is not cruelty. They can die if left unshorn.) Sally went down today to look at the wool and discovered that one bag that was packed especially full was smoking. It had begun to heat up and compost. That was a near thing. My Guardian Angel has her work cut out for her around here. I had just had a look at those bags yesterday.
Ten eggs today and 1 ¾ gallons of milk.
January 14, 2005 Friday: We awoke this morning to rain and slush. Either because we are having a thaw or thanks to the molasses I am pouring on her feed, Helen gave nearly two gallons today. There were a dozen eggs.
Yesterday on her walk with Bagel, Sally found where the fox had cleaned out a mouse nest.
I got one of the roosters out of the freezer and simmered it today. It came out very tender and flavorful. We had creamed chicken for supper.
Andae, my sister's twenty something horse, has had a rather startling accident. She was walking her dogs past Andae's stall, which looks out on the dirt road that leads to her place. He was in his stall. The very pleasant teenage boys that live in house up the road came walking along with their friendly golden retriever. Barby's dogs, Comet and Susie, went into one of their frenzied barking fits with the circling visiting dog. Andae clearly thought Barby was under attack. He leapt over his half door striking his head on the lintel. He took out a great section of lintel along with most of the door and fell at Barby's feet in a stunned heap. After a bit he recovered his senses (using the term loosely, this is a horse after all) he stood up with blood streaming from his head. He had scalped himself right down to the shining bone and knocked fragments from his poll. A long wedge-shaped streak of head bone was exposed.
Barby lives in California on the Bay Area's Skyline Boulevard, a long, twisty road through the coastal hills. It took three hours for the vet, who was in Half Moon Bay on another call, to arrive. The vet gave Andae tranquilizers that allowed him to work on a standing horse with Barby holding a rope. I forgot to ask where and how this rope was attached to Andae. But Barby, who is 75, had to stand there holding him for an hour and a half while the vet cleaned and sewed several layers of muscle and skin back in place. Barby, needless to say, is much in need of prayer and consolation. Andae will take plenty of time to mend and he won't let her near his head. The vet will have to give the after care, I think. One of the young lads stayed and repaired Andae's stall while the other took their dog home.
Andae comes close to being the most important thing in Barby's life. Her devoted care of Andae is the focus of her day. Her other horse, Athena, died of a terrible colic two years ago when Barby was laid up with back surgery and had paid help taking care of her animals. These horses' mother, May Day, lived to 40 with Barby's care. I surely hope Andae makes it. I don't even want to think about what it will do to Barby if she were to lose Andae, who leapt to her defense.
Barby told me on the phone that Andae had an uncomfortable day Thursday, but Friday was pleased to go out to graze for about two hours. So far his wound looks pretty good. Lee Anne says horses have amazing powers of recovery. So also says my daughter Marcia, who also has a barn full of horses. She remembers one that had its facial sinuses caved in by being kicked, and recovered. Barby feels that if she can get Andae through a week without infection she will begin to relax a bit.
Two weeks ago my son John sent me a pair of lovely red velvet beaded cushion covers purchased in Indonesia but made in Kashmir. My daughter Sally, visiting from Alaska, has made little down-filled inserts for them. She used the down we saved from plucking my geese after they were killed two years ago. It was very fine down. For any who may not be familiar with geese, traditionally they are plucked each year. You just pull out the down from under the breast feathers in spring. It is similar to shearing sheep and does them no harm. The goose would just moult out its extra down anyway.
I found a molasses product that I am about try. It is solidified in a big blue tub similar to the one I bought for Helen's water. It weighs 200 lbs. Sally and Max got it into my car over in Farmington, but when I got home we just left it where it was. It is too heavy for us to move ourselves. Rosie and Nate are returning tonight from Europe. I am counting on Nate to get it out to the cows.
Helen's production has picked up a bit just as I am nearly ready to dry her off. She gave 2 ¼ gallons today. I got a dozen eggs.
January 16, 2005 Sunday:
Rosie and Nate, my granddaughter and her husband, who have been traveling in Eastern Europe and Italy, returned last night. They are energetic and took two long walks at today's temperature in the low teens. They also got the 200 lb tub of solidified molasses out of my car. They moved it into my Beefer Pen, the run-in where my cows spend most of their time. Helen was onto it trying to lick while Nate was still rolling it across the room. She and Sammy both spent a lot of time licking it today. All they succeeding in doing was smooth out the rough surface. At this rate it will last them a year. I ate a chip of the stuff that was stuck to the plastic covering. It didn't taste much good to me. It was medicinal and not sweet.
At the farm in Croatia where Rosie and Nate spent two weeks, their farmer friend told them to take all of the home made olive oil they wanted. They only felt able to carry two liters. We had some on our salad tonight. It was so very good. They also brought figs dried among bay leaves. My goodness these were good. The people are so poor and war ravaged, but their food is wonderful. They also visited Rosie's aunt who teaches at the International School in Belgrade. She eats only American food. She has Crisco shipped to her from Germany. They spent their last week volunteering on a farm in Sicily. Italian men were always walking along the street shouting and gesticulating, apparently arguing. Come to find out they were talking about what they had eaten, what they had cooked (they love to cook) and what they were going to eat next.
Helen didn't give much today, not quite 1 ¾ gallons. I got 11 eggs. The weather was cold and overcast.
January 17, 2005 Monday:
Barby says that Andae is doing well. There is a little swelling under one edge of the wound, but so far that is all. What she was really excited about is his personality change. Andae has always been the archetypical wuss. He was born on the place with his grandmother May Day and mother Athena always in his life. He never showed the least independence and since they passed away has been notably timid about going out to pasture alone. Barby has often stood at the gate to keep him company so that he would graze a little. Or, if he was left alone he would begin nickering and calling if he heard her hanging out clothes or working in the garden. Now it looks as though he has faced his worst fears and gained freedom. He now enjoys going out in the pasture and does not hang about the gate. She even had to go and fetch him once.
Here at Coburn Farm, Nate worked much of the day on the roof trying to clean the flue that serves my wood stove. It smoked so much each time I tried it this winter that I had to give up on it. Nate discovered that a flue tile has broken and fallen in. None of us has any idea what to do about this. I will have to get professional advice.
We ate the last of the salmon caught be Rosie and Nate and shipped frozen last summer. They of course had plenty of fresh salmon and had some canned in Cordova AK where they fish. They were pleased to taste the flash frozen fish delivered 2nd Day Air by UPS. It was excellent.
Milk was down again tonight. Not much more than 1.5 gallons today. There were 14 eggs.
January 18, 2005 Tuesday:
Cold today! The temperature hung around zero all day. Barn chores were not a lot of fun. One egg froze in the chicken room even though there is a heater on in there. The cows are eating a lot of hay to keep warm. The self-heating water tub is working out well, although I have to fill it twice a day and sometimes more. It holds 16 gallons.
We all went to Farmington today and stopped in to see Max and Mitra, my son and daughter-in-law. Their house was cozy. I got to see the hen and four checks that he and I rescued. He has a nice warm hen house with a separate apartment in it for the little family. They are thriving. The black chick that was frozen and had to be thawed out is still the smallest.
We took them what will probably be their last gallon of milk until Helen calves again. On Saturday I will go to once a day (OAD) milking for a week, then dry Helen off.
Back at the farm, Sally and Nate dressed off two small roosters. I have two big black ones that I had hoped to get killed, but I could not catch them. Probably I can tomorrow when I put out the morning corn.
Rosie left sourdough rising while we were away and made baguettes for dinner. We ate them dipped in the lovely new olive oil. We had that with bouillabaisse that she also made, plus an applesauce cake. She is a great cook and highly organized. In college she cooked in the school cafeteria and also cooked in the family bake