Peanut's Plan...Thwarted...

This is Peanut...

Her plan is was to take over the farm.

She is the matriarch from whom every cat on the farm has descended. She's a lovely cat...very affectionate...very dominant...a fabulous mother and hunter...but we just couldn't let her do it.

Her plan has been nipped in the bud.  Literally.

Poor Peanut.  I think she's a bit miffed.

Doing the Mundane...Among Other Things...

I've had folks ask already..."what needs to be done in the barn in the morning besides milking and feeding?"

Well...it used to be what I often did...but now the truth would be..."what does Jim (or Daniel) do in the barn in the morning and what do you sometimes help with?"

After milking (which I do help with) and feeding, the mundane morning work must be done.  Cows poop.  A lot.  Anywhere.  And everywhere.  So...the manure must be cleaned out of the gutters every morning,  Dry corn fodder or straw is then put into the gutters to help reduce splashing and to help provide bulk that carries the manure up the elevators and into the spreader.

You can also see the white barn dri that has been spread on the entryways behind the cows.  It makes a nice, non slip surface to walk on and helps to keep the barn clean...

Fresh sawdust is tossed under the cows to help keep them clean and dry. The sawdust is stored upstairs on the barn floor, and shoveled down through a hole in the floor into a cart, which is then pushed through the barn to wherever it is needed.

On a side note, a little fyi.  If you look closely, you'll see an orange tag above the cow on the right.  She came into the barn in heat this morning, and that sign indicates to the breeder which cow needs to be serviced...

We were hoping that the heat and humidity were about gone, but it's really sticky outside this morning.  So the cows are staying inside today with all the fans running.  We have five of these 48" fans, along with some smaller hanging fans that help to keep the cows comfortable...

After the routine morning work is finished, the heifers and dry cows at the other farm need to be fed.  Then after lunch, who knows what might need to be done?  There are a bunch of cows that are ready for their vaccinations. Maybe that's one thing we'll do today.  There's always something!

Looking back on the past couple of weeks, which have been super busy...

The silos are full...

Fifth cutting hay is finished...

Rye grass has been seeded in the fields where corn silage came off...

Some of the pens are cleaned out, now that there are some bare fields to spread the manure on...

The West Lampeter Fair has come and gone for another year...

Now we wait for the beans and the remainder of the standing corn to dry and be harvested...hopefully in another few short weeks.  Then there will be corn fodder to bale and more pens to be cleaned out.

I've always said that I think fall is the busiest time of year here...and I think I'll stick to my story!

Happy Birth Day...

We were beginning to wonder if she was ever going to have her calf...

All in her own time...only one week late...

I never get tired of seeing the babies stand up so soon after birth.  They wobble around for a while as they find their legs, but soon they're up and running!  This little big guy has had his first bottle of colostrum and will soon be settled in for the night.

Happy birth day bully!

It's Feeling Like Fall...

Over this past weekend, the weather has made a big u-turn, and it's beginning to feel like fall.

We'd had a long stretch of dry weather...it was beginning to feel like a drought, but that's sure changed.  On Thursday we had 4" of rain...and on Saturday another 1" +.  Along with the much needed moisture, a lot of the humidity has disappeared, and temps yesterday and today have been in the 70's.  It's wonderful!

We're in between projects right now...Jim just mowed the first fields of fifth cutting hay yesterday...and we're hoping to refill silo at the end of the week. The quiet has been nice.  Fall things are happening, and it's nice to be able to enjoy them.

I began cleaning up my "garden" yesterday...

My pepper plant and two late tomato plants that didn't die still look happy, so I left them standing.  Everything else went into a pile in the middle of the garden and will be fodder for a big bonfire in a few weeks.  When we clean up leaves this fall, I'm hoping to spread them all over the garden as mulch for winter.  I was really happy with how few weeds I had this year by mulching instead of rototilling, so I'll try it again next year.  Keeping the clumps of grass at bay is the biggest problem...but with lots of mulch, they pull easily if I get them when they're small.  That's the challenge!

The chickens have decided that they like table scraps after all.  Here they're chowing down on an over ripe watermelon and some pumpkin waste...

Speaking of pumpkin...our neighbor gave me a big neck pumpkin last week. This morning I chunked it and cooked it up.  Now it's cooling and hopefully I can make some pumpkin whoopie pies out of it later today.  I've eaten them often, but have never made them before, so I need to find a good recipe...

And last but not least...and not nearly the most exciting...the birds have ruined our sidewalk!  The second half of this summer, they've begun roosting in the maple tree right beside our house.  This is what everyone who comes up the walk to our door gets to walk through.  Lucky them...and how embarrassing for us!  I try to sweep it often but I would have to get on my hands and knees several times a day with a bucket and scrub brush to thoroughly clean this mess up, and that's just not feasible.

Last week I was walking out to the car when splat...something landed right on my face.  It was horrible! I guess we should put up a sign..."walk at your own risk!"

Maybe we should have started slamming the door...or started making some kind of loud noises weeks ago to scare them away.  I guess maybe it's a matter of pride...but it's embarrassing!

Next week is the Lampeter Fair, and we always look forward to that week.  I'll be busy there on Tuesday and Wednesday...and hopefully we'll all get over there a few evenings for supper and seeing friends.  I can't believe it's actually that time already!

2015 Canning...

It feels so good to be filling up my canning shelves again!

At the beginning of this summer, my shelves were almost bare.  There are a few jars on the top two shelves that are left over from last year...some pickles, apple pie filling, a few tomatoes, some relish and applesauce.

I'm thoroughly enjoying my small garden this year, but I'm still finding things to can.  I bought several baskets of tomatoes for salsa and plain canned tomatoes, my sister gave me some peaches, Jim's cousin has a couple of pear trees that gave more than she needed, and a neighbor also had some extra tomatoes that she didn't want to go to waste.

All of my cucumber plants died, so I didn't make any more pickles this year, but our raspberry bushes are out doing themselves, so I've made several batches of jelly with plans for more.  The jars in the front are sour cherry jam, made with cherries from Jenna's violin teacher's tree.  I picked them while Jenna had her lesson...

The fun thing about preserving is not only seeing how the shelves fill up, although that's fun...but remembering where everything came from!  In years past, most of it came from my garden, but I'm finding it just as rewarding to do it this way...

...and I'm thankful for my friends who have shared in their abundance!