Crazy Life

I'm going to warn you up front. If you can't handle knowing how the beef on your table gets there, don't look at this post. After this week, I have a lot more appreciation for my Dad, for butchers, and for the cows we enjoy. 

I'll start from the beginning of this week, to give you an opportunity to stop reading. This was kind of a crazy week. I had a three day weekend due to Veterans Day and we had a couple projects planned. The cow was an unexpected third project that surfaced late in the weekend. The Hubs talked to his sister this weekend and she asked "Don't you guys ever slow down?" Well, no. I have a hard time laying on the couch and relaxing when there is so much that can be done outside. 

Last weekend, we started working on the retaining wall planter beds that will surround the house. The Hubs helped me start the wall - the leveling of the bottom course is the hardest part - and then I spent a lot of time on my knees leveling, stacking, etc. The dirt was surprisingly easy to dig through - we've had a lot of rain lately. Last weekend's weather was really nice for outdoor work. In fact, this was not even a project on the list last weekend. We were supposed to be inside finishing the island so it is more presentable for Thanksgiving dinner, but then decided we couldn't let such a beautiful weekend go to waste. 

The planned project for the weekend was pouring concrete on Monday. My Dad and one of his coworkers came over (my Dad is a concreter), and my brother helped, too. I stood at the end of the driveway and flagged down the concrete trucks. We live 20 minutes out of town, and I had to tell them to back in our driveway, which I'm sure the drivers loved, since we have a hilly driveway. 

Before the concrete, Dad and my brother went out to check on a cow. She had in been in the barnlot for several days because she was slow getting around. One of her legs was hurting her and she was laying down a lot. When they checked on her, she had rolled down the hill, under a barbed wire fence (breaking the lower wire in the process) and was laying down in the main pasture. After we finished concrete, I went to the farm with them to check on the cow. She was still laying down. We tried to help her up, and even tried using the tractor to help her stand and/or move her back into the barnlot. It wasn't working. The cow was in pain; she was scared and nervous. She was old and probably had arthritis.

Dad called around to several processors and they all said the same thing: We can't take a cow after she's been skinned, gutted and quartered. The cow has to walk off the trailer when she arrives. 

We were left with two options: 

1. Let the cow die in pain, and lose all the meat because we have to bury her. 

2. Kill the cow and process her ourselves, so that we don't lose the meat. 

Luckily, the Hubs recently purchased several pieces of equipment because we are processing our own deer this year. Also luckily - the weather was forecasted to be pretty chilly for a few days this week, so the cow could hang and "age" in the shed instead of in a processor's freezer.

After watching several YouTube videos on the subject, we decided we were ready. My Dad got a thermometer from the Vet and her temperature was within the safe range where we didn't need to be concerned about getting sick from eating her. (Keep in mind the biggest thing I'd butchered to this point was roosters. And my Dad had not helped with butchering a cow since he was in elementary school - over 40 years ago.) I must say I have immense respect for the decision my Dad made - I'm not sure I could have made the same decision in his shoes. Taking a life is not an easy choice, not a decision to be made quickly or lightly. This cow had been alive for over a decade and had birthed many calves which were sold over the years. She lived a peaceful life compared to cows in feedlots. She experienced open pastures and had a pretty awesome farmer as her caretaker. 

The Hubs and the Awesome Farmer

I don't know the live-weight of this cow, but it was a lot. Here's a photo of the cow after she was skinned, gutted and be-headed. She hung upside down in the barn from Monday evening until Thursday morning. 

Yes, that is the same tractor that I rode in my wedding.

Even Grandma helped 

We started around 9am on Thursday and finished around 12 hours later. 

I am grateful for the butchers that can mentally do this every day. I could not. This is heartbreaking work, and dangerous tools are required to complete the job - a gun, knives, a meat grinder. (In fact, about 20 minutes into the butchering yesterday, I sliced off a chunk of the knuckle from my left middle finger, about the size of my pinky nail. I spent the rest of the day with my finger wrapped in gauze and one-handedly operating the meat grinder. No, there was no point in going to the ER as there was nothing to sew back on/together.)

I am grateful that we were capable of doing this and that this cow will continue to provide for us for many months.

After this experience, I have a lot more appreciation for how this meat gets from a farmer's field to my freezer. I am convinced that if everyone had to do this, we would have a lot more vegetarians in our world. 

We were not very experienced in butchering, and our tools were not as professional-grade as what you'd find at a meat processors. We only got about 200 pounds of meat from this cow. (And a lot of skin, bones, sinew.) I have a lot more confidence now that if we were required to be self-sufficient, we could be. 

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I Promise This isn't Photoshopped

Yesterday morning I went to the farm to walk Freddy. After his walk, I always feed him. Lately, the kittens have been getting in Freddy's pen and eating his feed. He doesn't try to scare them off; he just lets the kittens eat his feed. 

So I put some feed on the sidewalk for the kittens so they would leave Freddy's food alone. 

Except there's a different animal the kittens have to compete with now. 

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Freddy's new home

Freddy is moved into his new "home" at the farm. Dad and my brother built a fence between the old house, shed and cow pasture so Freddy can run around without being chained all day. He is currently chained at night so he doesn't get a wild hair and chase after the cows in the pasture.

Mom's parents donated this dog house to Freddy. Dad painted it and the fence silver. I think this color is temporary... 

You can see the cats don't mind him too much. He's learning to be diligent about eating his feed as soon as I put it out, otherwise the white cat decides to munch as well. 

Freddy's view all day. Jealous?

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Farm happenings

 Freddy is starting to get the hang of this whole "sit" command...Unless he is distracted by chickens or kittens and then you might as well pick him up and remove him from the situation.

 The chickens (and roosters) are getting huge!

Yesterday I harvested a couple cukes, 3 Cherokee Purple tomatoes, about a cup of blackberries. Also about  10 sweet 100 tomatoes that I gave to Dad for his lunches (not pictured).

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Pink Eye Adventures

Time for a story. The kind of story that will leave you rolling on the floor laughing after you realize that the cows are alright. 

I'd tell you to close your eyes to help you imagine, but then you wouldn't be able to read the story, so maybe you should take a break after every couple sentences. 

A couple weeks ago, Dad noticed that several of our cows have pink eye. This can be caused by several different things, but in our case is probably a combination of the tall grass irritating their eyes and flies that carry the virus. 

Pink eye in cows is treated similar to how it is treated in humans. Eye drops. Except cow eye drops are in a big spray bottle. 

So, imagine our herd of 25 cows plus nearly that same amount of calves plus one bull. In one of the fields in the bottomland. Imagine that about eight of them have pink eye. 

Now, imagine that Dad and I are on the four wheeler chasing after each cow that has pink eye. He's driving. I'm holding on for dear life with one hand and  holding on tight to a spray bottle with the other hand. When we get close to a cow that has pink eye, I spray her eye as best as I can, without laughing too hard because I can't believe what we're doing and I don't want to fall off the four wheeler or accidentally spray one of us with cow pink eye medicine.

Sometimes, the cow is surprised by us and doesn't run at first. But after the first spritz she understands that "Hey, what's coming out of that spray bottle is not very comfortable in my eye" and then she runs in circles. And is chased by us on the four wheeler. Each cow/calf takes about 5 minutes to get treated with pink eye spray. 

(I hope you closed your eyes and imagined that four-wheeler cow chase.)

Then, last week, Dad had a genius idea. We would trick the cows into thinking we were just feeding them. Well, we would actually feed them some grain in several piles in the field. And then when they least expected it (while they cows were thinking "Mr. Farmer, this grain is delicious"), we'd sneak up and spray them.

Except some of the cows realized what we were doing, so we would pursue on foot. Some of the cows would run pretty far away, so Dad would crinkle the feed sack in his hand to make it sound like he had more feed, and would hide the spray bottle behind the feed sack. Then when the cow got close, he'd spray her.

It was hilarious. The pink eye is now clearing up.

I apologize for the lack of photos of the actual pursuit of cows. I was busy running with a bottle of pink eye spray. With my phone in the only logical place where it wouldn't fall out of a pocket into a cow patty - my sports bra.

Here's a photo of Dad and my brother spraying for pink eye in the barn lot on Monday night. Quite an adventure.

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Building fence

Saturday and Sunday, Dad and Daniel were building a new fence. Freddy and I investigated. I helped by driving the tractor that held the spool of wire. Dad and Daniel did the hard part: driving the stakes. Freddy walked with us until he got too hot and then he sat under a tree. I didn't leash him to the tree but he stayed there for at least an hour until I came back to get him.

Freddy wore himself out! 

Pulling the wire tight

This is the field we're building against. Dad plowed and planted this field in a mixture of grass for haybales. It really is that color of green. This is the kind of view I like to see when I'm in the field: no hint of civilization, just a peaceful view of trees and grass. 

But this is the view we now have for about 15 degrees. Our new neighbor decided to cut down all the trees on his slope and build a house. He has a beautiful view of trees and fields, but now our view is interrupted by a dirt slope and a house. 

I hope he plants trees.

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Today's harvest

Today we got tomatoes, tomatillos, two cobbler potatoes that mom found sticking out of the ground, a zucchini, about ten cukes, some jalapenos, a big pile of green and yellow beans and about a cup of blackberries. A pretty huge harvest!

Dad and Daniel were working on building a new fence today so Freddy and I went in the fields to observe. Freddy got really hot so I took him over to the creek where the cows hang out. He LOVES to jump around in the water! I was a little sad that I didnt have my phone, but I'm sure we'll play in the creek again.
Then I gave Freddy a bath in an old clothes washing tub. He was not too excited about that and promptly rolled in the dirt. Next time I need to remember an old washcloth (so I can scrub his ears) and an old bath towel. Sorry there weren't any wet dog photos. Next time!

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Yesterday on the farm

I harvested more tomatillos, beets, THE FIRST TOMATOES, and some jalapenos

The chickens hung out in their yard for a couple hours. Freddy stood guard and barked when they got too close to the fence. (Even though they can't get out of the fence.)

And then Freddy took a nap after dinner because he was worn out.

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Strawed Out

Friday night after work, Dad and I (my brother showed up for the second load) went to a neighbor's farm to get straw bales. We don't grow wheat/straw on our farm, only hay. We loaded 180 bales on 2 wagons.

Before the load

During

Since it was just me and Dad, I was responsible for driving the tractor. It doesn't seem like a difficult job, but it requires a steady speed, slow enough that the people loading can hike their bales up and not get ran over by the wagon, but fast enough that they aren't waiting for you at the next bale.

 Dad was stacking, and occasionally we'd stop and get a big pile of bales together. Then I'd hike them up to him.

After

Stacking bales really requires 3 people: driver, stacker and hiker.

Saturday afternoon we put them in the barn loft. We don't have a bale elevator; we use bale forks that take 6-8 bales at a time. That process also really requires 3 people, but Dad and I did that alone: driver, rope puller, and fork-placer. Sorry there aren't any photos of the barnloft process; I was driving the tractor yet again... :)

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Putting food by: Baled and Canned

 Earlier this week, Dad baled 2 of our fields. We got 33 bales off about 18-20 acres. According to Dad this is a little low; he usually gets closer to 40 bales from these fields. But it's been VERY dry this year.

Last night we canned the beets I harvested yesterday morning. We used a recipe out of an old church cookbook. The recipe was submitted by Alice Birk, a family member. (I think the wife of my paternal Grandpa's brother, Glenn.) The recipe was for 6 pints, but we cut the recipe in half. For three pints we used:

1-1/2 c apple cider vinegar
1 c water
1/2 c sugar (we actually used closer to 3/4 c)
a sprinkle of canning salt (not in the recipe, but will help the beets stay firm)
2 tsp pickling spice (I still had some from Penzey's spices)

Grandma already boiled and peeled the beets, so we simmered them for a few more minutes in the vinegar mixture to dissolve the sugar. Then we boiled the jars in a water bath for 20 minutes. Since they are high acid, they don't have to be pressure canned.

This was half a row of beets, or just one package. Grandma said when she was growing up they planted two rows across the garden about a foot wide, so about twice what I planted. I'm not sure how many pints they put away, but it was enough to last the whole year!

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Farm & Garden Update

 Of the 37 chicks, I counted 10 with large combs.

Run rooster run!

 The peppers are setting on. We have several bell, jalapeno and banana peppers.

 The beets are bulging out of the ground. This morning I pulled the Red Ace beets. Grandma is prepping them for canning (cleaning, boiling, peeling) and then we'll can them tonight.

 There are still some radishes. My foot on the left for scale. These are huge and Grandma says they aren't hot like radishes typically get when it's dry and they bolt. These are Purple Plum; definitely planting them again for Grandma. (I'm not a radish person)

Some of the peas have set on; you can see the peas forming in the pods. 

 Most of the (21) sweet potato plants survived the dry spell.

 Blackberries are almost ready to pick! There was one yesterday that was all black but when I pulled on it didn't budge, so I'll eat it this afternoon.

Japanese Beetles arrived. I pick them and squish them. The main thing they're eating is the grape vine leaves that are growing in the blackberries, so I've also been pulling grape vines.

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What's New

The chicks are now using the larger 3-gallon waterer. I filled it and the one-gallon waterer so they would get used to the larger one and not freak out about not having the smaller waterer. Everything I read about chicks is that they are creatures of habit and they get stressed out at the smallest changes.

 They are eating tons of food. I fill up the long feeder and they empty it out in 24 hours.

 Some of the summer squash have set on.

 Freddy and the white cat are pals. Freddy likes to jump at the cat and the cat playingly smacks him.

Some of the blackberries are turning. They might be ready to pick this weekend.
The japanese beetles arrived. They are eating the blackberry leaves. My preferred method of killing the beetles: squishing between two leaves. Less mess than squishing with my fingers, and no pesticide residue to harm the honeybees.

 The peas finally set on. This seems really late for peas. I'll blame it on the lack of rain.

 We have a new calf!

 A baby praying mantis decided to set up his home on one of the cabbages.

And Freddy gets upset if I don't let him into the chicken house with me. He has become quite the shadow. I'm going to try to start training him how to sit, shake and stay in the coming weeks. He's doing pretty well on potty training. We'll see how well he does with me being gone for five days and depending on others to walk him.

The honeybees are going through a quart of sugar water every 1 to 2 days. Last weekend when it was near 100 degrees, they went through a quart a day. I think I'm going to set up a bird feeder in the orchard, too, so they get other hydration besides the sugar water.

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