Cherry Blossoms

The Truth About Life on the Farm - Part 2

2013-01-25T10:31:00.000-08:00

photo from wiki

To continue from part 1, I have another story about the authorities. My son worked with a Mennonite man a year ago who told him this story and yes, it's true. When this man's farmer friend went outside every day, he found large cat prints in the snow, what he thought to be a cougar, which were never found around his area. He called the authorities for help and they refused to even come out. He called them numerous times and when they finally came out, they declared up and down that they were not the prints of a large cat.

His mom lived in a trailer on his property. After weeks and weeks of trying to get help daily from the authorities, he went out one morning and found these prints yet again, this time up and over the steps of his mother's trailer. The large cat had been there in the night and this, understandably, scared them badly. He figured that enough was enough, took a gun, killed the cat and buried it near his house. Suddenly and finally, the authorities showed up, full force, en masse, crawling all over the farm, demanding to know where 'it' was. The guy stuck to his story - the official's story, actually - that he didn't 'know anything' because that was basically what they had been telling him all along, that he 'didn't know what he was talking about'. When they told him that they knew that he had killed the cat and must have buried it because they had a tracker chip in it and they knew for sure that it was on his property and they wanted to know where, he simply said something along the lines of "There's no large cat here. You said so yourselves, remember?" After that they gave up and left. I'm sure that they were assuming that the intimidation factor would work but not this time.

Makes me wonder what's going on with the bear that's living up the road here!

At any rate, living in the country, even in places where it's supposed to be civilized, can still be dangerous.

The Weather Outside is Frightful

2013-01-23T20:00:00.000-08:00

Up until a number of days before Christmas, we'd had very little snow. We usually have snow starting anytime after mid-October. Hallowe'en is usually very cold and rainy but sometimes snowy. So not having snow until Christmas was a really nice break for a change. The last time I remember a fairly snowless December was 1993 when my 3rd daughter was born on Dec. 4 and I drove to the hospital in the rain.

But now that we're into January, the weather is more than making up for lost time and the snow is really coming down, day after day.

This used to look like...

...this.

This used to look like...

...this.

This...

...used to look like this.

This used to look like...

...this.

I usually don't mind living where it snows so much but every so often, I wish that I could live somewhere where I could actually plant a January Garden!

My January Garden

2013-01-22T10:02:00.000-08:00

I was reading a post called "January Garden Chores" on http://littlefarminthebigcity.blogspot.ca/2013/01/january-garden-chores.html that I found on http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2013/01/homestead-barn-hop-95.html#more-4412.

I couldn't help but smile because, as I was reading, I looked out the window and saw this:

and remembered when it looked like this...

You can see the clothesline in both (one yellow and the other darker) and also the tree-filled fence row in the background although the fence row is almost impossible to see in the top photo.

My January garden needs this...

instead of this...

The Truth About Life on the Farm - Part 1

2013-01-21T12:18:00.001-08:00

I was reading a post recently on http://annesfunnyfarm.blogspot.ca/2013/01/farm-friday-living-dream-life.html that made me smile and definitely agree with everything on it. There are things that go on on 'real' farms, hobby farms, ranches, that would make city people cry, scream, protest unless they were suddenly confronted with the same situation. Instead of handling it themselves, they would call in some authority...and usually be sorry for it afterwards. If they had to handle it themselves, they'd find themselves faced with some pretty tough choices...it's me and my child against the wild animal, for example - the same choices that country folks have had to face for centuries.

The problem with the authorities is that they have to do things 'all official like' and that takes time, too much time, too much red tape, sometimes repeating the story too often on your part and eventually the authorities usually need someone to blame. Besides, they are usually too far away to help and if someone's hurt, you've got to handle it right now. A neighbor's teenage son last year decided to climb nearly to the top of the barn in order to jump over to the round hay bales that were piled sky-high. He miscalculated the distance and found the toes of his shoes clinging to the top beam and his hands clinging to the top of the top bale, his body straddling the air in between. He had nowhere to go...he couldn't get back onto the beam and he couldn't get onto the bale. He had nowhere to go but down...fast. An older brother who was on his way back into the house for supper and was therefore the only person left outside, heard his panicky screams for help but didn't know where they were coming from. First he had to find his brother then run to the house for help. The dad climbed up to the beam and straddling it, held onto the boy while others held the ladder up under him, even though there was no way that he could reach the ladder. They were hoping that if he fell, there would be the slightest chance that he would grab it on the way down. Somehow, the dad got him to let go and pulled him back onto the beam and all ended well. The authorities could never have arrived on time as the boy's arms were starting to give out before his older brother even found him. He never could have lasted long enough for outside help to arrive, over half an hour. If the authorities had been involved, the ordeal would not have ended when the boy's feet safely hit the ground. There would have been a huge investigation, stupid charges laid and lives destroyed even more. In the country, you have to learn to do for yourself for more reasons than one.

2013-01-19T08:10:00.001-08:00

My son used to leave his window open sometimes, even during the winter. He was always hot and didn't want blankets. When he woke up one morning last winter and found this, he laughed and found it kind of funny (I didn't!). I've noticed though that he's never left his window open since. Guess it was colder than he was willing to admit!

A Tribute to Our Beautiful Dog

2013-01-17T08:00:00.002-08:00

This is Lukie (Lucas), one of the sweetest dogs ever! (Doesn't everyone say that...and it's always true!)

Before we bought this farm, we came to see it quite a few times, either to see it, talk about it more with the agent as we couldn't get a straight answer from the agent about anything and then to sign and resign the deal. Sometimes I came along and other times one or more of the kids came. During those visits here, the kids all fell in love with Lukie who belonged to the previous owner. The kids asked me if we could keep the dog at which point I explained that dogs are completely a part of the family, unlike furniture, equipment, etc. and go with the family, not the farm.

1 week before closing, the agent asked us if we wanted the dog. So much for my explanation to the kids. We couldn't imagine how anyone could leave their dog behind by choice, let alone a single man with 2 teenage boys who had grown up with the dog. We knew that, even though this man was downsizing (not by choice), he still had to have room at his new place for his 18-wheeler (he was a trucker with his own truck) and surely if you have room for a huge truck, you have room for an itty-bitty dog. Oh well...their loss was definitely our gain!!!

The agent told us that Luke (he had a different name at that time that I didn't care for) was 5 years old but the neighbor told us later that he was 8 years old. Her dog was 7 and they had bought that particular dog because he looked like Luke who was 1 year old at the time. They thought that Luke was just the most wonderful dog so they wanted one just like him. I guess the owner and agent (who were good friends) thought that we wouldn't take the dog if we knew that he was older. A shame that they lied because we would have taken him anyway, no matter what!

Luke had always been left in the garage (with the garage door open year-round) his whole life on a pad and blanket and not allowed into the house. We let him in the house that first night. No dog of mine was going to sleep outside, alone, at night (unless he was a working dog that was supposed to stay with the sheep or something like that) and it took about 6 months of bringing him in every night for him to stop huddling against the door, seemingly worried about whether he was truly allowed in or not. After 6 months, though, he became very confident and relaxed in the house. He became very good at scratching at the door to get IN, not OUT!

About 10 months after moving in, our house got struck by lightning. This happened late in the evening and the hydro guys came at 2:30 a.m. We spent the next 2 days checking to see what was damaged, talking to the phone people, internet people, plumber (the well pump was done) and insurance people. It was after that that I noticed that Luke wasn't responding to noise and jumping to his feet at the slightest sound. He had always been a very jumpy dog, seemingly worried that he was in the way if you barely touched him or even looked in his direction. This meant that he never seemed to relax completely or go into a deep sleep. Suddenly, after the lightning strike, we could make all the noise we wanted and he never moved. At first, no one believed me that he was deaf so of course, they had to 'test' him and came to the same conslusion - that our previously nervous dog was deaf and no longer responding to any of our sounds. We were told at the time that when this happens to dogs because of the thunderclap that accompanied the lightning strike, the dogs usually recover but Luke did not.

After this incident, Luke became a lot calmer and much less nervous, mostly because there was so much happening around him that he did not know about and he was now sleeping soundly, so soundly in fact that a touch would not wake him up. We learned to touch his butt end with our toe to wake him instead of petting his head because he would wake with such a start that he would whirl around with his mouth ready to snap. He would never, ever try to snap otherwise. We learned to use hand signs to communicate with him.

He had one major flaw that we could never correct - he liked to stand in front of vehicles coming in the driveway, whether challenging or welcoming. Our neighbor came in one day in a big pick up truck and drove over his paw. It took him quite a while to recuperate from that but it did not teach him a thing as he continued to challenge any and all vehicles. If we knew ahead of time that someone was going to be driving in the driveway, we kept Luke inside and out of harm's way. Sometimes though, DH, who works at a feed mill, would order feed while at work and not call us to let us know so that we could keep Luke inside. Our house is quite a ways off the road and the barn is past that. The driveway takes a fairly sharp incline right before the house and big feed trucks, amongst others would need to increase their speed to get up this little hill except suddenly there's a dog standing on the driveway, blocking their way and challenging them. They either have to continue on, hit and likely kill him or stop and end up sliding backwards down the driveway and have to start over. Pissed more than a few people off!

He was now about 10.5 years old and having trouble getting around inside the house because of our slippery wooden floors but the minute he got outside, he could still run like the wind. We've had other dogs for 24 years and none could ever run like that. 2 days ago, only my son and I were home and I went outside and found him dead. He seemed to be a little 'off'' the day before and he was definitly getting older but I always hope that they'll never leave us but of course, they always do. I'm still grateful that he went from natural causes. I'll always love him and miss his sweet, gentle, eager to please personality. R.I.P. beautiful Lukie!!!

Homegrown Beef

2013-01-13T15:16:00.000-08:00

We held this black calf back months ago after all of his barn mates were shipped out to market. We got him butchered around Christmas time and he's now in our freezer.

The bottom photo shows the freezer full of beef (under the chickens) and the rest is in the other freezer (photo above) with enough space (we hope) for the pork.

I know that some people are squeamish about this kind of thing (eating a living thing) but there are only 2 choices: stop eating meat completely (not an option for us) or continue to eat meat, realizing all that that entails.

Old Farm Sign

2013-01-12T14:33:00.000-08:00

This hand painted mural is inside our side porch over the doorway. I have no idea who painted it but it's beautiful and if we ever take out the brick wall to make room for a new kitchen, it'll be taken down carefully and preserved.

This strip of marble is underneath the above mural, joining the living room and the side porch. If we ever redo the side porch (it's on the south side of the house and very hot all summer and very cold all winter - a few degrees above 0 - due to no heat) I'd like to save this little piece and incorporate it into the new room. The floors are different heights so I'm sure that it would have to come out. There's not much about this farm house or farm that I like but every once in a while, I find some little thing that tells me that, at some point in time, there must have been some love shown to this house.

Icy Pines

2013-01-10T16:19:00.000-08:00

Snow-covered trees are one of the few nice things of winter. I like the colour contrast in the above photo. It proves that my camera is actually not set on black and white as there's so little colour in the surrounding landscape.

My Garden Paradise - Part 3 Garden Benches

2013-01-08T12:20:00.000-08:00

What could be better on a bright sunny summer day than to lean back on a pillow-covered garden bench with a cool, cool drink, whether soaking up the rays or nodding off in the shade?!

www.rosecottagegardensandfarm.wordpress.com

I like this bench but it's missing something...

www.rosecottagegardensandfarm.wordpress.com

...ahhhh!!! That's better! More style and colour but especially comfort.

www.rosecottagegardensandfarm.wordpress.com

Even though this bench is minus any pillows, the curved back looks soft and inviting!

www.rosecottagegardensandfarm.wordpress.com

Yes, I would love that lovely corner, thank you! I'll just go and get my book and curl up!

www.sunset.com

I could so take an afternoon nap here. It looks so warm and cozy!

For Part 2, click here.

My Garden Paradise - Part 2 Fence

2013-01-07T00:35:00.000-08:00

www.gardening-inspirations.com

www.asoftplace.net
I've been thinking lately about my perfect, ideal garden and what it would look like. I know that gardening is not the normal thing to be pondering at Christmas but if I start now, I might actually be ready for spring planting this year.

The fences in the above photos are beautiful, both the wooden rail fence and the white picket fence. There are other styles and building material of course and lots more choices in colour but I have a thing for the traditional white picket fence.

I've had a few gardens over the years but none have ever had a fence even though they certainly needed one. We lived on our first farm for 9 years and every year, without fail, DH would leave the barnyard gate open and the entire dairy herd would find their way to and through my garden 5 or 6 times each year. There were other directions that they could have headed in but it was always my garden. The straightest path of least resistance perhaps?

DH had torn up all of the lawn in order to level the land and put down new grass seed. We couldn't afford turf so we had to do the longest, slowest and cheapest way that we could but it was fine since there were only 2 of us at that time. The instructions were clear - DO NOT walk on the seed-covered dirt until the grass had grown in enough to hold the weight. The only problem? The cows did not get the memo! They left deep hoof prints in the soft earth and DH filled them in the first few times but then gave up. Those holes are likely still there 25 years later, filled in with grass and waiting to twist an unsuspecting ankle. A fence may not have saved my garden and new lawn every time but it would have deterred the cattle more often than not.

Our second farm had a white picket fence that the previous owner had taken down. He knew that he was only going to live there for 1 year so I'm not sure why he had to destroy it. When we were moving out 11 years later, we found an old farm photo from the '30's or '40's that showed the fence and the original owner told us that the fence had always been repaired, replaced as needed and repainted. Such a shame that it was gone.

When we moved to this farm 2.5 years ago, I quickly realized that there no good spot for a garden. There's only 10 - 15 feet on one side of house and about the same on the other side of the driveway and the rest was field.

Not much room beside the house. The field to the left is where I had my second year's garden.

The previous owner of this farm had let the whole farm go for a few years due to a divorce and everything was in tough shape - the house, the barns and the fields. Since every acre of the 150 acres was old hay and needed help, DH decided to leave certain fields alone in order to concentrate on other
fields. He gave me the corner of one field on the far side of the driveway for my garden that turned out to be fabulous soil because it had been left alone for so many years. Our feet would sink deep into the soft dirt and it was stone-free, a real rarity on any farm. When DH heard all of this, he decided to use this field instead of leaving it alone for an extra year so there went my garden. My revenge? It turns out that only my little gardening corner of the whole field was stone-free! Happy stone-picking!

The second year, I put my garden in the field in the above photo, right next to the house. The good thing about this location was that it was easy to pop out to pick the veggies and weed, even if only for a few moments. Water was available here and I could look out through my kitchen window and see if weeding was needed, whether the kids were doing their weeding or picking or not or just to enjoy watching the garden grow. The negative? It was easy to see if weeding was needed! Immediately after moving in, DH started working with our next-door-neighbour farmer who loves to spray - extra - and the spray would always waft over onto my garden, guaranteed. My gardens have always been free of chemicals (except for one year, many years ago, when I put some powder on my potatoes to get rid of Colorado Potato Beetle) so I don't appreciate it much.

Putting a garden on the edge of a field does not spell permanence because, in my case at least, it means moving said garden each and every year. My 3rd. summer here (this past summer) I decided not to have a garden because of the whole 'location, location' problem and not sure yet what I'm going to do this upcoming summer. For me, a garden with a fence means stability and commitment because who wants to move a strong, solid fence around, year after year?

www.idealbuildingconcepts.com describes this fence as:

Recycled Branch Fencing

"A unique garden fence designed from detached tree limbs"

www.123rf.com

www.favim.com+

www.veddw.com

Even though I usually like order and symmetry, there's something about the unevenness of each board that I love!

www.star-foreveryoung.blogspot.com

www.khakidevil.co.uk

Now THAT'S a garden fence!!

For Part 1, click here.

For Part 3, click here.

My Garden Paradise - Part 1 Arbours

2013-01-06T13:28:00.000-08:00

www.gardening-inspirations.com

Besides a fence, I would love an arbor like the one above. Of course, it would not have to be white as there are so many choices available, so many colours and so many plants that can be grown up and over. The arbour feels like a gateway into paradise, into an old British-style 'secret garden', into a hidden oasis of peace and calm that would best be experienced from the comfort and viewpoint of a pillow-covered wooden bench, tucked away in some shady corner of my little slice of heaven.

www.tripadvisor.in

www.lanarkdecar.com

www.classic-garden-elements.co.uk

www.decorfortheoutdoors.com

www.gardenweb.com
The above arbour is one that I can totally see me making (or getting DH to!). I'm pretty sure that we have some old doors left around here and what a great way to repurpose, get a free arbour and save money!

www.chiotsrun.com

I love the above arbour. You have no choice but to come close if you want to know what lies beyond. Curiosity will get the best of me and draw me in to see what hidden treasures and moments of joy await!

For Part 2, click here.

Farm Girl

2013-01-05T17:09:00.000-08:00

All 3 of my daughters were home for the Christmas holidays. 2 have gone home and my last daughter, who loves the country the most, is dreading returning. She's enjoying every last moment with all of the animals before she has to leave.

Heading for the barn with cat food. And showing off her new teeth. She just got the top braces off in mid-December.

Feeding the kitties, rubber boots and all.

Greeting Wilbur the pig for the last time. She's heading home tomorrow and Wilbur is heading to the butcher on Monday.

Does that look like a smile on Wilbur's face?

Maybe Wilbur will eat her first!

That feels sooo good!

The calves enjoying the new slant bars...

...so she joined them for their supper.

My youngest son agreed to go with her to the barn to take the photos. I didn't think that he'd keep his housecoat on and wear crocs!

I guess he's had enough and heading for the warm fire!

A Few Hardy Survivors

2013-01-02T08:21:00.002-08:00

Icy Trees

2012-12-31T11:15:00.000-08:00

Christmas Kitty

2012-12-29T17:08:00.000-08:00

Icy Dirt Roads

2012-12-28T16:34:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day Coyote

2012-12-26T12:57:00.000-08:00

The above photo (header photo) was taken Christmas Day in our back field. We've always gone for long walks back into the bush during the day with 2 dogs for protection but no gun. Maybe we'll have to rethink that. I have noticed that if I go for a walk when the sun's going down, my 2 dogs refuse to go any further than 100 yards or so past the barn, leaving me to decide whether I want to go further on my own or not. It isn't so bad during the summer but this time of year, they just refuse to go any further. I figure that animals are smarter than we are in such matters so I'll take a cue from their fear and not go any farther, either.

I just found out that a bear has taken up residence 2 roads away. Actually, there must be 2 bears since there's now a cub. The dead-end road that she lives near has been a great place for a few hikers and local joggers because of its seclusion. My 2 daughters biked up there when we first moved here but they won't be this summer! A lady who lives right near that road used to jog there until she found herself on the path, trapped between the mother and cub. I think she jogs somewhere else now!

Farming - The Hard Life

2012-12-21T07:10:00.000-08:00

Feeling grateful yet? Teenage poultry farmer dishes straight talk

Posted: 11/10/2012 12:01:00 AM MST
Updated: 11/11/2012 12:12:20 PM MST

By Shelby Grebenc
Special to The Denver Post

Shelby Grebenc has been raising chickens for both eggs and meat at her family's Adams County farm. In this 2011 photo, she holds Chipmunk, one of her Americana hens. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)

Over the past year I have been trying to earn money. I have been doing this by helping plant a big garden and then selling lettuce and other vegetables that I raise at farmers markets.
I also have chickens and I sell eggs at a local dairy, farmers market, and from roadside signs telling people how to get to my house. I also sell live chickens and broilers.
People around me use words like "organic," "farm fresh," "local-food movement," "free range" and "sustainability," and I thought farming might be a good idea since we sort of do this for our family anyway. My dad raises our own cows because he does not want my brother or me exposed to growth hormones and antibiotics that are used to raise commercial meat. Dad

Shelby Grebenc, 13, collects eggs at her family's farn in unincorporated Adams County. She'll get as many as nine dozen in a winter afternoon from her 100-plus hens. (Cyrus McCrimmon, The Denver Post)

thinks this is one of the reasons that my brother and I are thinner and smaller than our friends. I think it could just be that we work our tails off.
I charge $4.25 for a dozen of my eggs and $20 per broiler chicken based on my costs. Baby chickens cost me around $2 each. I lose around 10 percent of them because they just die for no reason when they are little.
An egg-layer chicken takes around 28 to 32 weeks to lay its first egg. A broiler chicken takes six to 20 weeks before it is ready to eat. All during this time, I have to feed, water and keep them warm. The layers are not laying eggs to sell yet. Heat lamps use electricity, and an electric bill can be around $200 per month.
A pound of chicken feed costs me 23 cents a pound if I order it in 6-ton batches. Each chicken eats around 2 pounds of food each week and produces around seven to 12 eggs per week. Egg cartons cost me a nickel each. I have to clean the chicken coop, gather, wash and package eggs, and then I have to have sawdust for bedding and nesting boxes. I pay $5 for each broiler chicken to be slaughtered, USDA inspected, packaged and flash frozen.
I also have to pay my dad for diesel to drive the chickens to the only USDA-inspected chicken processor in this state, which is in Nunn, close to 100 miles from my house, and a day or two later we have to drive back and pick them up.
I had to buy fencing for a pen because the foxes and the coyotes eat a lot of my birds because they are free-range and run around in the pasture. You can see there is not a lot of profit for me, but I don't do too bad for being 13 years old.
Thing No. 1 that I have learned about farming: People talk a lot, but it does not mean much. I have people who want lots of eggs tell me to deliver a certain amount every week. I have to save up the eggs to do this, and then they change their minds and don't want them.
Thing No. 2: People all say words like "farm fresh," "sustainability," but they don't want to actually pay for what it actually costs me to make it. Almost everyone tries to talk me into lowering my price or asks me to give my eggs away for free.
Thing No. 3: Perception is everything. I have chickens that lay both white and brown eggs. The chickens are raised side by side. They all get the same feed, and they all run around in the same pasture together. People perceive the brown eggs are better, so I have trouble selling white eggs.
When we are at the farmers markets, if Dad is sitting with me, I don't sell very many eggs or vegetables. If Dad is not sitting with me, I sell like crazy. Just how do the people shopping at the farmers market think that I got the great big F-350 truck that I am selling the eggs and vegetables out of down to the farmers market?
Thing No. 4: Farming takes a lot of time. I have to get up early so that I can feed and water everyone and be on the school bus by 7:50 a.m. When I get home I have to collect eggs, feed and water everyone again, and then package eggs. Then I get to do my homework.
Thing No. 5: Marketing. I collect my eggs in a 5-gallon bucket. This is practical, because it holds them all in one trip. If I have customers coming over when I am gathering eggs, I put my hair in pigtails, and I use a small straw basket and make lots of trips. People like to buy eggs from little kids skipping through the pasture with a basket of eggs.
Last thing: Farming is very hard work. I don't make a lot of money doing it, and people do not support what you are doing. I live out in the country. As new folks move in, they complain about the name of your farm, smells, mooing cows, bleating sheep and crowing roosters, even though these things were there before they built a million-dollar house and moved in. I do not plan on farming in the future.
If you want sustainable, wholesome, pasture-raised organic, hormone- and antibiotic-free food, you have to support it. You can not get these things by talking about it and not paying for it.
The next time you shop at a farmers market, think about what it cost me to grow it. Don't ask me to take less and then tell me you can get it cheaper at a big-box store. I know you can — but it will not be as fresh or as good as what I have, and you won't make me cry.

Read more: Feeling grateful yet? Teenage poultry farmer dishes straight talk - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/athome/ci_21967690/feeling-grateful-yet-teenage-poultry-farmer-dishes-straight#most-popular#ixzz2DkbuEgzu
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This article was posted by http://backyardfarmyard.blogspot.ca/2012/11/the-real-cost-of-farm-fresh-eggs.html on

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There's no way that I could have said it as well as she did. She is so dead-on and funny to boot. We've been rolling our eyes at this kind of stuff for years, at how ill-informed and gullible people are, at all of the fancy names people give things - organic, farm-fresh, local-grown, free-range, sustainability, wholesome, pasture-raised, grass-fed, hormone-free, antibiotic-free - because that's how things were farmed for centuries. It was only when customers start making demands about their food that farmers started to change how they did things. Due to ill-informed consumers bitching to governments, officials started making new laws that never favored the farmer, but instead made life more difficult and more expensive while pretending to satisfy the consumer.

My 16-year-old son raised chickens to sell for the past 2 years and will likely do it only for us next year. Last year, he was given a full extensive list of customer names, addresses and phone numbers from a well-connected neighbor who sold birds of all sorts for years but she was done with it. When my son called the numbers, most of the people turned him down even though they knew where he'd gotten their names (one lady called to verify). Our final impression was that they bought from her because they considered her a friend and were not about to buy from anyone else even though their only other option was the local big box stores.

The first time that we raised meat birds ourselves (before our kids were born), they pretty much all turned out fine. We knew NOTHING about raising chicken for meat or for eggs but after having the first year turn out so well, we thought we'd learned it all. Ha Ha!! Not quite! The next year, we raised 50 for meat and 46 died. 4 made it to the butcher shop and into our freezer. Later I went down to the freezer to dig something out from under the 4 nice, huge birds and set them out on the old canning shelves beside the freezer. We found them right where I had left them - the next day. Thanks to my stupidity, we did not get a single bird that year. We've done it off and on over the last 24 years and still run into difficulties. I can only imagine a 13-year-old kid having to go through this - and then being harassed when she tries to sell them.

If we let our birds run free range outside, we would have to build a chicken coop first then do all of the fencing as well. Even if the foxes and coyotes couldn't get to our chickens, they'd hang around looking for any little morsel - and that could easily be our new kittens as they follow their mamas outside for the first time and are not quick enough to get away. We just leave our meat chickens inside the barn for their safety but maybe someday we'll be able to afford to do the whole outside thing properly...but it ain't cheap.

Coyote Bait?!

Referring to thing #1. The guy who used to pick our eggs up begged us to keep our promise to him whenever we promised him a certain number of eggs each week. When we asked why he was so adamant, he told us that every week, a bunch of farmers from a certain religious group would promise him X number of dozens of eggs. When he would go to pick them up, there would never be as many as promised. They would nonchalantly mention that customers would come to the door and want some so they would just sell them. The guy who picked them up had to drive 2 hours to the city to deliver them and going with half of a load wasn't really worth it but the people in the city were waiting for their eggs and if you want to keep your customers happy, you have to deliver anyway, regardless of your loss.

Referring to thing #2. She said it all and all so true.

Referring to thing #3. The whole brown vs. white thing cracks me up. (No pun intended.) When I was in school, brown eggs were considered "farmer eggs" meaning something that only farmers ate because they couldn't afford white eggs. White eggs were better for you, better quality, just better all around. Then suddenly, brown eggs made their appearance and were not very successful so the new info. that was put out about them was about how brown eggs are actually much higher in everything good and much lower in everything bad. (It was later, just a few years ago, admitted to the press that this was misinformation purposely put to the public in order to promote a flailing brown egg industry). And of course, all of us sheeple (yes, my family included) rushed to the store to buy. So much so, that when hubby and I bought our first laying hens we also wanted only brown eggs, too and so did our customers. Until Easter!! Suddenly, people thought that all of our brown-laying hens could lay white eggs for 1 or 2 weeks leading up to Easter and I guess they thought that our hens would then revert back. They were very upset that they couldn't get white eggs for 1 week a year!

Referring to thing #4. Amen!! Ain't that the truth!!!

Referring to thing #5. Oh my goodness!! So funny!! Exactly why we don't tell people that our chickens are kept in the barn and not running around outside. Perception is usually everything and reality doesn't matter.

Referring to the last thing. Years ago, some city people here built their houses on acreages then complained about all of the things that she mentioned, especially the smell. They tried to officially shut the farmers (and I mean ALL farmers, near and far) down by taking them to court. The courts unbelievably ruled in the farmers' favor and the verdict was final... shut up or move out. Farms were there first and you chose to move in...too bad. Isn't that why the people moved there in the first place - for the mooing cows, bleating lambs, cock-a-doodle-dooing roosters, clucking hens, the beautiful scenic panarama?

http://dissenttheblog.blogspot.ca/2011/04/and-bleat-goes-on.html

Who can resist that 'bleating' smile...

www.theanimalzone.com

...or this sweet, pampered calf?!

http://gallery.xemanhdep.com/2009/06/18-beautiful-fields-photos/

No wonder so many people want a slice of the country!

Just in case you think that I'm being too harsh...I spent 25 years growing up in the city and 24.5 years on the farm so far so I kind of see both sides fairly evenly. But trying to cajole, intimidate, threaten or whatever farmers, market gardeners, kids growing and selling farm produce into lowering their prices or giving their products away for free would be akin to me going to my lawyer, dentist, orthodontist, eye doctor, Walmart, grocery store, taxi driver, city bus, etc., etc., etc., and asking them to give their services/products to me for very cheap or better still, free. That would be great, absolutely fabulous!!! After putting braces on 4 kids so far and only 2 more to go at a cost that started out at $4,000 per child but rose to $6,000 per child and will likely be $7,000 and $8,000 for the next 2 kids, I would love it if my orthodontist would give her services for oh...maybe like $500 or even free!!!Think it might happen?

91-year-old Canner, Henrietta Truh

2012-12-17T04:48:00.000-08:00

Getting into the Business of Canning

At the age of 83, Henri Truh had a commercial kitchen installed in her home so she could can large quantities of vegetables and fruits for her Tru-d-lites business.

by Donna Palmlund

Henrietta (Henri) Truh sells her canned vegetables at two farmers markets a week during July-September.The De Smet Farmers Market can be found just off the intersection of US Highway 14 and South Dakota Highway 25 on Thursday afternoons from early July through the end of September. That’s where ninety-one-year-old Henrietta (Henri) Truh can be found with her tables of canned foods at the back of her Ford Explorer.
   On Wednesdays, she loads up the tables and jars of canned produce and heads the Explorer toward Salem Farmers Market, about 46 miles away from her home in . Both of the small markets are about 30 miles in the opposite directions of her home in Carthage.
   She is well known in this part of South Dakota for her canning and baking skills and has become a perennial favorite of customers at the farmers markets. In turn, she likes dealing with the local customers as well as the pheasant hunters and tourists traveling through the area.
   “You sure get to meet a lot of nice people,” she said.

Canning becomes a business

Henri has canned produce for more than eight decades, first learning to do so at age ten or eleven under her mother’s supervision. She took over the family canning responsibilities after her mother had a new baby.
As a child, Henri also milked cows, worked in the fields, did housework, and helped look after her younger sister. She had to leave school when her was needed even more at home by the time she had completed the eighth grade at age 12.
“I didn’t know what the word play meant,” she said.
Six years later, she was able to reenter high school and finish her education. One of her freshman classes was home economics, which required a series of lessons about canning. She recalls going home from school and telling her mother that she had just “learned” how to can tomatoes, which brought both of them to laughter. Henri already knew her way around the kitchen through years of experience.
At age 83, Henri decided she wanted to have a commercial kitchen installed, so a new room was planned and built as a separate addition to her existing house. The new kitchen included five large sinks, a large refrigerator, a restaurant-sized stove with twin ovens, and adequate shelving for storing pots, utensils, canning equipment and jars of finished products. A large work table was special-built for her by the Glendale Hutterite Colony in Frankfort, S.D.
She was asked why she would invest in such equipment, “Everybody’s got to have a hobby,” she replied.Henri Truh's canning hobby turned into a business after she had a commercial kitchen built onto her home at age 83. Among the 900-plus jars canned this season, at age 91, under her own "Tru-d-ites" label were a variety of vegetables and her famous dill pickles stuffed with hot peppers.
Henri’s hobby became a business, which she named Tru-d-lites, a play on her last name. Her kitchen quickly got busy. She says the business took off a lot more than she expected it to do.
“People are ready for home-made products, whether they are canned, baked or sewn,” she said.
Like all commercial kitchens in South Dakota, Henri’s kitchen is inspected twice annually. Commercial kitchens have to meet state standards for sanitation and safety regulations to keep their licenses.
The only problem Henri now sees with her kitchen is its size. She wishes it was bigger, and she has advice for anyone thinking of adding a commercial kitchen.
“Build it twice as big as you think you are going to need. ”

Specializing in pickles

Canning vegetables and fruits may be routine to Henri, but she excels in pickles and makes several different kinds. In 2011, she canned more than 900 jars of dill pickles alone. One of her specialties, and a favorite with local customers and tourists alike, is dill pickles stuffed with hot peppers.
There isn’t much she doesn’t can. In addition to pickles and her home-made sauerkraut, she puts up seasonal produce as it become available – cauliflower, pickled garlic, peppers, pickled beets, eggplant and many other vegetables, along with fruits and her uniquely flavored jams and jellies.
Some of the produce she uses for Tru-d-lites products comes from her son’s big garden. However, she buys most of the raw produce from the Pearl Creek Hutterite Colony, located near Iroquois, S.D.
“They have good stuff,” she said.
Henri offers customized canning for customers who bring in their own produce, often with their own favorite recipes for her to use. She will accommodate the customer accordingly.
“If I can’t find a recipe, “she said, “I make up one of my own. Recipes are only guidelines.”
Henri is also known for her baked goods. She fills custom orders every week for about a dozen pies, many cookies and often for apple kutchen – a German coffee cake that is the official state dessert of South Dakota. Although her baking is by special order, she usually takes a few goodies along to the markets.
In addition to all the cooking she does, she also uses another of the life-long skills she learned as a child. She embroiders tea towels depicting Laura Ingalls Wilder themes.
Her tea towels are sold in the gift shop of the Laura Ingalls Wilder Pageant Society, which was formed to preserve Laura’s legacy. The annual Pageant is held three weekends in July in De Smet, which has several of the landmarks and preserved buildings mentioned in Wilder’s books and on the “Little House on the Prairie” television series.

Adding life to years, years to life

Henri attributes her longevity to the fact that she makes all of her meals from scratch.
“I’ve stayed on this earth so long because I’ve never made a meal from a box – don’t know how,” she said.
This busy lady shows no signs of slowing down. She loves to can and bake, and she plans to keep doing both for as long as possible.
“It’s not work when you are doing something people appreciate,” she explained.

~ Donna Palmlund is a staff writer/photographer for The De Smet News in De Smet, S.D., in which much of this article about Henri Truh first appeared. Thanks to Donna for expanding on her original article and to Dale Blegen, publisher/owner of The De Smet News, for permitting us to share Donna’s photos and information with FMT readers.

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Well, if that don't inspire ya, I don't know what will!!!!

Chicken Pot Pie Recipe

2012-12-15T10:42:00.001-08:00

This is one of our all-time favorites, Chicken Pot Pie. In our family, every recipe gets a rating out of 8 - 8 members in the family and how many like it. This gets a 7/8 as one son doesn't like different foods put together in casserole-style dishes or main course pies but that just means more for the rest of us! I ususally give him the same ingred. separately on a plate.

RECIPE

Preheat oven to 400 d. Fa.

1 can of Cream of Chicken Soup (or homemade recipe made thicker.)
1 cup of cooked, chopped chicken,
1 cup of potatoes, diced (I use uncooked but it doesn't matter),
1/2 cup of diced carrots, ( " ),
1/2 cup of diced onions, (can be fried or raw)
1/2 cup of kernel corn,
1/2 cup of peas.

Mix all ingred. together. Cook empty bottom pie shell at 400 d. Fa. for 7-10 mins. Add mixture and cover with uncooked pie shell. Bake at 400 d. Fa. for 15 mins. then lower oven to 300 d. Fa. and continue baking for 45 mins.

Note* I found that a total of 4 cups of ingred. worked fine. You can add more chicken, fewer vegetables or any combination of different veggies. I've used celery, broccoli, cauliflower, turnip, cabbage, green and yellow beans, brussel sprouts (not all at once, of course!) and it turns out fine. Just a matter of personal preference.

Feeding Wilbur the Pig Table Scraps

2012-12-14T05:13:00.000-08:00

Wilbur, get out of the trough! Then we could feed you this...

...nummy supper!

First, let's have a back scratch.

Now, this is called anticipation!

At last! Dig in, Wilbur. Enjoy!!

Stacking Wood

2012-12-13T13:18:00.000-08:00

My 2 younger sons just love to stack the wood on the front porch - NOT!! They've been fighting over who does what. One likes to take the wood off the hay wagon and dump it onto the porch but not actually stack it because he figures that he can't do it well enough - he's not a details guy, at least not for stacking wood. The other would rather take his time and stack it just so, thereby driving the first one crazy with his pickiness and each one thinks that the other is doing less work. To me, their differences seem like a match made in heaven - one empties the wagon first and the other one stacks later. That way, they're not getting in each other's way, holding each other up and the stacker can be as fussy as he likes. Besides, fussy stacking is good. Last year, the stacking wasn't done as well and the pile fell over and then it will roll everywhere.

'Wagon unloader' taking a photo of 'fussy stacker' who seems to be debating where the next piece of wood will fit.

It helps to have big sister, home from university and full of enthusiasm. 'Miss Enthusiasm' knows that she doesn't have to do this very often since she's seldom home at this time of year.

I'm surprised at how much wood we've used already this year and it's been a very mild year with very little snow compared to most years. You can see the new, freshly cut wood going up and over the older wood. We only cut up fallen trees or cut down dead trees.

Cementing the Manger

2012-12-11T15:30:00.000-08:00

The manger before. The cement was too low for the cattle and they had to kneel to eat.

I'd never seen this kind of cement mixer before that hooked onto the back of the tractor. It's a lot smaller than a big cement truck and can therefore fit into smaller places than a big truck but doesn't require the manual labor than a small electric one does.

Gravel and cement powder...

...mixed with water (this trough was set up only for making cement because if it was left out, the cattle would break the hose and the hose would freeze)...

...and mixed at this speed...

...and poured over old, broken pieces of cement removed from the barn...

...will cover all of the above sand on both sides of the middle walkway...

...to make a smooth manger like this! A lot of work but worth it and way cheaper than hiring in professionals.

New Railings for the Manger

2012-12-09T09:31:00.000-08:00

Weeks ago before all the cement work started and before the really cold weather hit and while there were no cattle in the barn, my son took the old headrails out of the barn manger and welded new ones. Headrails are the bars that the cattle put their heads through into the manger to eat and they keep the feed in the manger and the cattle out unless you have an old, run down barn like ours and the bars are completely gone or very loose. When the calves would first arrive at the farm or when it was needling time or any situation that got them riled up, they would be up and over the bars and into the manger. Somehow, it was easy for them to jump into the manger and difficult to get out. The new ones are solid, much higher and by keeping the cattle out, they help to keep the feed clean (cows pooping in the feed isn't the best idea!) and prevents injuries that might occur when jumping the railing.

The above finished bars are also called 'slant bars'.

Above is a metal band saw for cutting the pipes for the bars.

Both the railing on the right and the railing on the left were just newly done but the railing on the right was made from steel that had sat around for a year and had lost its oily film that most new steel comes with. The pipes will then form a light layer of rust that is easy to paint over. The pipes on the left will have to wait until next year to be painted (until the oil is gone) unless we want to use some sort of chemical solvent to remove the oily film right away. I'm not very keen to do that in a barn that either has cattle in it now or soon would. Waiting a year, though, will mean a little extra work as there will be lots of manure on the rails that will have to be pressure washed to get them clean before painting. The paint color is John Deere Green but I'm not sure why we had it sitting around as we certainly cannot afford John Deere equipment. Oh well, it's as close to John Deere as we'll ever get!

The equipment safely sequestered from the new cattle that had just arrived that day. We had hoped to wait to buy more calves until after the barn work was completed but DH was worried that prices would rise in Dec. so we got them anyway.