Exhausted

It is official, I am so tired. And I am not functioning too well today. The boys are on Spring Break, and I would love to sleep in.

My husband is almost done turning over the potato bed. I know I claimed a square footage of 1,200, but I was wrong. Very very wrong. Turns out that is is actually 5,000 sq ft.

The goose are now too big for the brooder, so yesterday I cleaned the nursery and they will be going out there today. I also cleaned the chicken coop. Smelled like something died in there, but I couldn't find the source. I have sent the check out for the bees, we are getting 2 hives and our good neighbor 1. Speaking of the good neighbor, we have been watching him till up 1/2 his land. He plans on growing his own feed. There is no way we can on the amount of land we have a available with the cows, but I plan on sharing my garden with them, at least growing treats for them like beets and sunflowers.

Still no new calf. But Edie is very mooooo'dy. She has no time for scratches these past few days. It's let me in the stanchion, do your thing, let me eat, and gone. Mama is relaxing a bit more, and Uma is allowing us to touch her. She was licking my husbands face yesterday. She is now comfortable enough with us that she is trying to get us to play. And even though she is a tiny thing, compatibly for a cow, she can still knock you down rather easily. Now that she can be approached, it is time to begin the halter breaking. My oldest has volunteered to do this. I will be sure to get a video of him being dragged through the fields to share we you. You can bring the popcorn. Mine won't be ready until the end of summer.

Tomorrow we are having a birthday party for my husband. I have been saving banny eggs to marble for this feast. However, the other day I walked into the house after milking and my 4 year old immediately informs me that the middle son has broken some eggs. This has happened before. I asked where the eggs were and went into the fridge to see just how many had been broken. All my egg cartons were gone. That's when a very angry mom got the 2 very scared boys to show me where the eggs had gone off to. The bathtub was covered in 72 banny and standard sized eggs, all were broken. I had to walk out of the house as t not say or do something I might later regret, I was livid. Do you know how long it takes to get that many banny eggs out of 8 hens? Now the boys have to earn their suppers by working with our food suppliers, be it garden, chickens, geese, or cows. They will learn to respect their food, that is after I made them clean the mess up themselves.

Those of you coming tomorrow, remember sides dishes, and we will see you then. Everyone else, have a great weekend. I might be able to take a nap.

Daucus carota sativa

Carrots have been around a long time. They have their roots in ancient Greece, were no corsage was complete without the carrots delicate foliage.

Carrot seeds are small, to help make it easier to plant, mix the seeds with clean, dry sand. Using about a teacup full of sand for every quarter ounce of seeds. After thoroughly mixing, spread through your trench. You can also sprout them for about four days between two sheets of wet paper. They do not fare well if planted, then transplanted.

Carrots can get along well in just about any type of soil. But you need to try to get rid of all the rocks, and pulverize the soil well. Hummus from your compost heap can do wonders when growing carrots.

They are weather hardy, as P~ recently discovered. Wintering your carrots are great, you can plant up until the first week of August. First plantings can begin as soon as your soil is workable.

If you have loose light soil, the seeds should be covered without 1/2 inch of dirt, less if your soil is heavier.

Weed carefully, and wait until the first hard frost to dig them out for storage. While you are waiting, thin them to about 2 inches apart, eating the very young carrots.

You can can, store in a barrel covered with hay and earth or just go ahead and eat them. nummy carrot cake, which is one of the great things to make right before your stored carrots turn rubbery.

Carrots come in all types of colors. We are planting white, red, purple and orange this year. All are wonderful in nutrional value, but the oraganer the carrot the more beta carotine.

Good luck with your carrots.

This would be me, being proud of myself

For the last two nights, I have been away from home during the milking hour. The night before last I took my oldest to boy scouts, my husband milked and he got very little. Lat night I had PTC with the middle son's teacher, and when I got home, my husband was still out in the barn. He got a total of 3 squirts out of Mama. Here is where I get confused. My husband milked cows as a kid, he was the one that showed me how to do it. My technique changed however as I watched Uma, the calf, nursing. I had to show my husband how it was done.

After Edie was done with her routine, I called Mama back in. I asked darling husband what he was doing when he went to milk her. Awww got it, he is skipping the brush down. I tried to explain to her that a little foreplay was necessary to get Mama in the mood. She is still a little tense about the process, but now knows what is expected of her. I should husband how to brush her as it really doesn't take long. Then we wash her with the warm fuzzy rag, ain't no gently about it, and dry. Then we get to the milking. Even after my husband's attempts, I was able to get the usual amount. It isn't much as I am competing with a calf, but there is a little more each time. Funny, I guess you can take the country out of the kid.

Tired of cow talk yet? Not me.

But I know that it is coming up on gardening season, so feel free to interrupt me with your questions or topic suggestions. Tomorrow I will go on and on about carrots. I was asked a question in comments, where I did answer it, but thought an entire post on it might help others just starting out on their gardens.

And Tim, I spoke to soon. Yesterday morning my hands did start hurting. Maybe I should blame you for putting that thought in my head. ha!

I knew it Wouldn't Be Easy

Yesterday we anchored the neck chain. The same ones we have seen throughout dairy books and homesteading books. We got Mama in it at a time that is normally not milking time as I knew she wouldn't be happy and if it was milking time she would not relax enough to let down. She was ticked! Once the grain ran out, she discovered she couldn't back out, and she fought it. I was getting upset by watching her, but then remembered what our dogs do when they are getting lead broke. It was the same type of fit. After awhile she did calm down and I was afraid that she would no longer enter that stanchion on her own. But later that night she did, and we did not put the chain on her. I picked up a dairy feed and management lecture book, and plan on growing as much as my own treat grain as possible.

Eddie's udder is getting larger. Not sure how much bigger it can get before that baby pops out. She can't be comfortable. Just looking at her makes me ache in memories.

We are coming up on gardening season once again. The potatoes shall be in next week, along with all of our cooler weather vegetables. I have a line on some local bees as well, I will be calling him later today. I am excited!

A weekend in review

We milked, and filtered. We are having an issue with keeping Mama in the stanchion long enough to milk her out. We tried putting something behind her to stop her from backing up. We saw the previous owners do such a thing. It was a no go as she tried to turn around in the stanchion. I am slightly afraid to use a neck chain with her. She isn't use to it, or milking. Anyone have any suggestions?

Eddie is easier, she will stop to get scratched and allows me to clean her up without being in the stanchion. We have noticed that her udder is slowly getting larger, yesterday evening however, it was huge!

This weekend, my 10 year old went camping as a boy scout. This meant no parents. How sad. They headed south, to Ok. He had a blast and even got to pet a red fox cub.