For the Love of the "Garden"

We're getting our second garden site ready for next spring although this is a dangerous job.  

Notice the boys in their hazmat suits!!  

We must protect them from all those nasty chemicals, you know, like, old rotten hay bales.

My plan is a 'no-till' garden so we're spreading some old hay on the new site for next year.   

The hay should decompose over the winter and help build the soil.   

I just finished reading, "The Plowman's Folly" by Edward H. Faulkner.  Wow, what a book!!  I'm looking forward to reading it again and his second book, "A Second Look", once I get it in the mail.

Even though the work was hard, we did have a few laughs here and there.

Resting?  The guys tell me this is hard work.

 

I thought this video was funny because that's Elizabeth driving the car on our road.

Our busy road, one logger truck today.

No, Esther didn't jump, Barrett pushed her off!

Ready and waiting for those young strapping boys.

October 2015
Sandy

My Friend and those "Nasty Crabapples"!!

Crabapple jelly and juice.

When I was first married we lived in a condo on the second floor.  Our unit was on the end and had windows on two sides (a blessing in disguise); while the inside units only had windows on one wall.

I loved making our new place a home.

Just outside our kitchen window was a crabapple tree.  In the spring, it would bloom with almost- intoxicating, amazingly sweet smelling blossoms!  As the years went by, the tree grew taller and wider as the branches began to reach over our rail and out onto our deck as if trying to get as close to our window as possible.

Then, the crabapples would follow--and oh, what a mess they would make!  

Next to the tree, off of the parking lot, was the walkway with three long risers that led to the door and then into our building.  Sometime early in the Fall, our side entryway was almost always covered with the crabapples that had fallen from the tree.

Then, the bees would come.

I remember asking people questions about the crabapples and what I could do with them--if anything.  Everyone I talked to said that they were good for nothing and all they do is make a mess.  "Aw", I thought, "Really?"    

After we moved out of our condo, I longed for my crabapple tree!!  Oh, how I missed the spring and the smell of those blossoms!

I tucked the memory of my tree very deep down inside of me and forgot about it.  Until now..................almost twenty-seven years later!

When we were on our trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Rancher's Wife and her husband, took my girls to their friend's house to pick crabapples because they were going to make jelly.

Crabapple jelly?!?

"You can't make jelly with those nasty things", I thought when I heard what they were going to do!

While I was away, they juiced the apples and then let them sit overnight so they could get as much juice out of them as possible.

A few days later, after I came home, the girls and I went over to start canning the jelly.

When the jelly was finished, I would have to say that I was a little reluctant to try some since all I've ever heard was how crabapples were good for nothing.

My first taste was not what I had expected.  I didn't really like it.  Even though we put a lot of sugar into it, I still found it to be too tart.

Then, I had my next bite.

Then, I tried it again.

Then, we had it on some warm, fried bread that the Rancher's Wife had made us for lunch.

Now I was hooked! 

This jelly was soooooo good!!  It tasted so clean and fresh!

 I'm really surprised that I liked the jelly because I'm not really a "jelly" person.  I rarely--if ever--eat jelly at all.

I didn't grow up in a canning family, but I can remember when I was very young, my mom canning some mint jelly, which she covered with wax; and when I was first married, I canned some salsa.  But that was the extent of my experience.

It's too bad that I had to move over 400 miles away from where I grew up to learn how to can and taste farm fresh food.  And we've only just begun!
I can see a lot more canning in our future!

When we brought the jelly home for the boys, I couldn't believe how much they liked it too!!

Oh!  If I could only go back and gather all of those crabapples from outside my kitchen window; I would make crush them.  And squeeze them.  And drain them.  And then,

make them into jelly!!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

That day we canned eleven pints of jelly and a gallon and one-half of juice.  When we run out, we'll be able to make more with the extra juice.

I have learned so much from my friend--the Rancher's Wife.  She and her husband have been an incredible blessing to me and my family.  I wish that all of my friends had someone like that in their life.  Maybe you do and I just don't know about it.  But if you don't, please find someone like that;  your life will be so much richer for it.  They have so much to teach us younger ones! 

When I grow up, I want to be just like my friend, the Rancher's Wife.

September 2015

Sandy

   

Fresh Garden Potatoes!

I decided that it's about time for me to start walking once again.  I've let my life get a little bit out of order in so many ways that it's time to get back on track and stop neglecting myself.  I know when I take care of myself, I have more time to take care of others. 

 

I woke up at 7 o'clock this morning, a little later than I would like to get up, but that's better than what I've been doing.  I'm working on not staying up so late so I can get up earlier.  The day seems to be so much longer when I get up early.

Our garden is pretty much done for the summer but we still have a lot of potatoes in the ground.  On my way back home from my walk, I stopped in the garden to "dig" up as many as I could carry in my shirt that I turned into a little "pouch".   

The only things to fall upon these Kennebec potatoes were rain and sunshine; nothing else.

So far, out of all of the things that we grew in the garden this year, potatoes have been my favorite thing to harvest.

It's almost like magic!

I pull away the hay that we used for mulch, and there, just under the dirt, these amazing treasures sit.  

 Everyday is a gift!  

And so is the ability to garden.  

I look forward to getting another chance in the future to see what it is that we can harvest. 

Happy Gardening!

September 2015

Sandy

 

Barnyard Clean-Up -- "Clearing Land" for..............................

Coming Soon!!

Fresh milk, homemade ice cream, butter, yogurt, kefir, and cheese.

Plans are underway for the new milking barn that we're going to build.  

Landon has a Jersey heifer that's due in a month or so and we'll need a place to milk her.  

Then soon after that, if all goes well, we'll have 2 more Jersey's following suit.  

 

This is the first phase to prepare the site for the new barn. 

 

These are our "spooky" trees that we had to cut down!

No really, these trees have never had very many leaves since we moved here, so instead of thinking that they'll come back "full and bushy", we assumed they were dead.  

So down they came.  

It would have been nice to keep them because they looked really interesting, but a dead tree can be a dangerous thing.  Even so, it was hard to see them go, especially now since the road out to the pasture looks so bare--but hopefully not for too long because......................... 

...............................I was thinking that a few sugar maple trees lining the road would look

 really nice planted close to where these trees came down, so we'll see.

The limbs of the trees all but fell apart as we were moving them to the fire.

This tree was so stubborn!  

Oh, and not the best way to take a tree down.  Thankfully no one was hurt!

 

I know you can't tell from this picture, but these little fire piles are from the old barn that was left by the previous owner before we got here.  Unfortunately, most of this wood was rotten so we just burned it where it was instead of trying to move it.  Once this is cleaned up, nails and all, we'll have a little more work to do before we can start building the new barn.

We're going to try and use as many natural resources here on the farm as we possibly can.  So that means lot's of trees and rocks, and mostly, lots and lots of muscle and sweat.

Roast Beef Anyone?

Kuzco, our Jersey bull, came over to check out the fire.  

Now don't you think he would have known it was hot and walked away?  Oh, No!!  

Barrett had to shoo him away a few times before he became roast beef!

As soon as we start moving forward with the barn, we'll post some more pictures.
Until then, enjoy the most wonderful time of the year!!
 

Smiles!!

Sandy

September 2015 

 

I'm in Love, I'm in Love, and I Don't Care Who Knows It!!!

Albuquerque, NM from the top of the Sandia Crest Mountain.

Trip to Albuquerque, New Mexico

Last week Landon, Tanner, Emma, and I returned from our almost two week trip to New Mexico for the  *ABQ Fashion Incubator "Boot Camp".  (More about that in another post.)

We've never been that far southwest, and it seemed to me that we were in a foreign country; not so much by the people we met, but by the terrain of the state.  Once we left the plains of Texas, all the "greenness" soon disappeared from our view.

The clouds are amazing in New Mexico!

New Mexico

I've heard very little, if really anything at all of adobe/cob houses.
(The link above will take you to some ideas of the endless possibilities one can create.)

My only exposure to them has either been through movies, pictures, or from a girl from our church who recently gave a missionary report. There, they built an earth home of some sort.  Quite honestly, I didn't really like the look of those earthy houses from what I had seen.  To me, they either looked very warm or just plain, hot! 

A quick driveby snap shot of some adobe houses in Albuquerque.
(I am so fascinated at the fact that these houses have been built all over the world!  
Oh, if I could only go and visit them!! ) 

 One of the first places we stopped, in Albuquerque, was a little coffee shop that was an adobe.  As soon as we walked inside, I was instantly "in love" with this building.  It's hard to describe the "feeling" that it had on me; but, instantly, I felt the warmth of this place.  Oh, how I wish I had the words to tell you!

The house was over a hundred years old and it was made with adobe bricks.  The owners showed us around the house-turned-coffee-shop, and told us what was original to the building and where the addition had started.

In the backyard, towards the back of the yard, they had--"built" into their landscape--the hundred year old wooden frames that were used to build the adobe bricks for the house.  Off to the side of the frames, were some extra adobe bricks sitting in an organized pile that looked to be part of the fence.

My world just exploded!!

I was in LOVE!!

You know, sometimes I just wonder, what. is. wrong. with. Me?  I'm not normal!!  

Ever since I was young, I have been fascinated with the making of things and how they are put together.  Since I'm not afraid to try something new, I'm always putting things together and creating.  Of course, there are some things I enjoy doing more than others; but when it comes to purchasing things, my first thought is--"I can make that so why buy it?!"

If you ask my family, I'm sure they will tell you that I drive them crazy at times because I'm constantly coming up with news ideas for us to do.

If I was normal, I think I would find different ways to use my time and not waste so much of my mental energy thinking of what I/we can do next.  I don't like to just sit around and be idle; and when I say idle, I mean wasting time.  What I really mean is, I like things to be a certain way and when I'm happy with the way things are then I'll leave them alone, but until then, I'm always wanting to, "Just make it right, pretty, comfortable, and homey, etc." (you know what I mean).

Oh, if could only wake up every day and just do life and be happy, I would.  I'm just not that way and don't think I ever will be.  I've even prayed that the Lord would make me "normal" and take this crazy creative side away from me!

Now don't get me wrong, I love to be home and do things around the house!  I love being a wife, mom, and a home maker!  I just can't only do that!  I need to be creative.   

I love people!  But not cyber people, real people that I can touch, laugh and cry with.  I need to be able to read their expressions and really get to know them!

Whew!..................
I was really going off on an tangent, wasn't I?  Alright, I'm going back to the reason for this post.

This trip has really opened up my and my families eyes to what is possible in the world of "natural" building.  There is no limit to what we can do if we put our minds to it.

   Even if I had all the money in the world, (which I never will and that's more than fine) I would still do things myself--there is so much satisfaction in getting your hands dirty and completing a project!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

We now have some plans to do some natural building here on the farm.  We'll see where those ideas take us--so keep in touch.

Here is a quote from the MaryJane'sFarm magazine that I just brought home.   

"Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass 
under the trees on a summer's day, listening to the 
murmur of water or watching the clouds 
float across the blue sky, is by no means a waste of time." 
 John Lubbock, 1894

Oh, and, just so you know; as much as I love people, I also have a very strong need to be by myself reading a good book or spending time alone with the Lord so I can rejuvenate myself--
I just couldn't function without my down time.
Happy Dreaming!!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

*Yes, we know that Landon is called Tanner in the photo.  He didn't want me to let Kathleen know.  Funny!  I should really tell her, I think.  Kathleen called the boys by different names because we didn't know at the time we signed up for the class, which two of the six boys were going to be able to go to the "Boot Camp" and she needed to get the dog tags printed.

Our official dog tags from "Boot Camp".

Sandy

September 2015

Man Down

Even though the head gate is rusty, it still serves it's purpose, but only if it was installed properly.

   
Two of our heifers have pink eye and we needed to treat it right away so that is wouldn’t get any worse.  And since we were going to have to go through the trouble of bringing those two girls up, we thought we would bring up the rest of girls and do everything we need to do at one time.  The cattle needed to be wormed and they needed some fly spray. 

Our way of worming is a small pinch of tobacco, and the fly spray consists of Scope mouth wash mixed with a little bit of water in a spray bottle; something that we heard about from a friend (now whether the methods work or not, that we can talk about later).

In order for us to get to where we could "treat" the girls, we needed to round them up and put them in the corral.  Once we got them in the corral, we could run them through the shoot and into the *head gate. 

Now, we've used the shoot and the head gate quiet a few times before; once to pull a calf and other times to worm the cattle.  And THANKFULLY, we haven't had any problems with either one because if we did, it could have been devastating, especially since The Rancher and his wife and The Farrier, who has also doubled as the "vet" have been here to show us and teach us what to do while using them.

But this time it was different.

Barrett, Tanner, and Cooper were able to, without any trouble, get the girls into the corral and run the first heifer through the shoot and locked in the head gate without a problem.  She took her tobacco and got her fly spray and she was off.  She didn't have pink eye, so she was off and back to the corral with the other girls in no time. 

After they were done with her, I called Barrett over by me because I needed to ask him a question.  I was standing near the hay barn which is about 10 yards away from the corral where they were working.  I was working with the new Jersey cows that we just brought down to the farm.

So Barrett walked away and left Tanner and Copper to put the next heifer in the shoot and lock her in the head gate.

Once she was locked in, Cooper grabbed the spray bottle with his right hand and put his left hand on one of the posts that was attached to the head gate and started to spray her.  Then, as Tanner started to walk away to grab the LS200 to put in her eye to treat the pink eye, he heard Cooper starting to yell.  So he turned around, and could see that the heifer had just "freaked out" and pushed her head down so hard that the bottom of the head gate had come loose and the top of the gate had caught and pinched Cooper's finger between the gate and the post.

So Tanner quickly ran back to the gate and pushed in the bottom of the gate which let go of Coopers finger and freed him from the post.  And just as Cooper had taken a few steps back while shaking his hand in pain, and as he started to walk around the corral while trying to hold back the tears, the heifer reared up again, but this time, while still locked in the gate, she completely ripped the head gate off the eye bolts. 

You can see how the bolts are just sitting on the eye bolt and not secured.

Barrett and I heard the commotion, and looked over as Tanner was calling for Barrett.  Then both of us went running over there.  As I got closer I could see that the heifer, who is over 700 pounds, and who was still locked in the head gate, had pushed her way forward out of the shoot.  And the force of her trying to get out, along with the weight of the head gate, had caused the gate to slam her head face down into the ground and her front hooves to stand on top of the gate.

I thought for sure we were going to loose her and wow, what a mess we were in!

The bottom right eye bolt that had been bent at some point before we came to the ranch.

Not knowing how or if the guys were going to be able to get the gate off her neck or not, I called to Shane because I thought we were going to need his help.  He had just come home from work and was in the house which is about 100 yards away from the corral.  First I yelled to him, but then I realized that he might not have heard me, so I **whistled as loud as I could.

He was out the ***door in no time, and was headed over to the corral.

Once Cooper realized what was going on with the heifer, the pain that he was having seemed to disappear for the time it took him and Tanner to pick up the head gate and get the heifer to stand up.  All I can say it that there was a lot of adrenaline flowing at this point, in all of us!

As the heifer's head came up off the ground, she turned and was violently trying to walk backwards with the 200 lb. gate around her neck, while Tanner and Cooper tried to hold it up off the ground.  And just before she rammed herself into the back of the corral, Tanner was able to flip the lever that opened the gate and she was free.

And there she stood, as if nothing had happened. 

After she was free, Tanner and Cooper carried the head gate and set it up against the back of the corral and the pain that Cooper was having in his finger came back in full force.

Then Cooper and I headed for the house.

As we were quickly walking back to the house, I asked him what had happened to his hand and he said that the tip of his finger was smashed in the head gate. 

I knew right away that we had to bleed his finger to relieve the pressure that had built up under his nail.  So while we were trying to get back to the house as quick as we could, I asked Cooper if he knew where a small drill bit was that we could use to bleed his finger.  He said there was one in the barn by the house so he went over and grabbed the drill bit as I went into the house to prepare to drill his finger.

When I got in, I asked Emma if she could do it because I was starting to think about what had just happened and how it could have been worse.  And also, thinking about the pain that Cooper was in, I was starting to get sick so I didn't think I could help him.

Well, Emma gave me a look that I took as, No, I am not doing that!

At that point I told myself that I had to do it and just that fast, I immediately composed myself and got to work.  There was no time for me to have a melt down and feel sorry for myself, I needed to do this because I didn't have time to take him anywhere; it needed to be done now. 

I quickly cleaned the drill bit that Cooper brought to me and then I realized that it didn't have a sharp tip on it and it wasn't going to work.  So I asked him if he knew of another one and he said he did.  So he went back to the barn and brought me another one.  Well, same thing:  no sharp tip!

This kid was in so much pain that I, I mean he, didn't have any time to waste and here I have him running back and forth trying to come up with a drill bit that would work!!

Deep down in my heart, I knew what I really needed to do, but I didn't want to do it.  Why?  I don't know!

No, wait a minute, I do know!  This was something that my husband always did, not me!  But he wasn't here and now I was "the one".  Anyway, all I know is that I was wasting time and putting it off and enough was enough!!

I asked the girls to get me a ****needle and a match so I could heat the head of the needle, but Cooper grabbed the torch instead that just happened to be close by, so I used that instead.

Once Cooper lit the torch, I put the needle into the flame to heat up the tip, then I stuck the nail with the tip of the needle where the blood was pooling and it didn't do anything.  So I did it again, and this time, with more force, the tip of the needle punctured the nail so that some of the blood came oozing out, but he was still in so much pain.  I think I did it 3 or 4 more times and finally, I was able to get almost all of the blood out to relieve most of the pressure.       

When we were done, we had him hold up his hand and put pressure on his finger and try to get him to soak his finger in Epsom salt when he felt he could.  He was starting to get light headed so we just made sure that he was comfortable and that he wasn't going to try and get up anytime soon.  He was down, at least for now.

Unfortunately, Cooper, was right in the middle of raking hay when this happened, so I though that he wasn't going to be able to finish, which is not a good thing, because once you start the process of making hay, you have to keep at it until it's done.  You never know when the weather is going to change, and if it rains on the hay, we could loose the whole crop. 

Thankfully, a couple of hours later into the evening he was feeling better and was up and walking around, but I still thought that he wasn't going to be able to finish the hay and we would have to put one of the other guys on it.  But thankfully, by the next morning, as if nothing had happened, he was right back on the tractor, back to raking the hay.

We've had enough "accidents" happen in our lives that we've been able to learn a few things here and there, just like other people.  And that helps us to be able to do some quick fixes or treatments that we might need to do.

The last time we had a smashed finger, it was Shane that we had to take to the doctors office to relieve his pain.  But this time, when the doctor bled his nail, blood went shooting all over the office.  It was quiet disgusting, but Shane felt so much better and we just laughed at the whole thing once he was done.  Actually it was pretty “cool” and the Doctor wasn’t phased by it at all.   

We live pretty close to a small hospital if we really need to go to one and we also have Air Evac, but there are times, just like what happened to Cooper, that we need to be able to take care of somethings ourselves.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

When I was younger I worked as a life guard and along with my "life saving" training, we also had some basic training in first aid, but it's been a long time now, and I think it’s time to take another course.  This time I think our whole family needs to take a course because you never know when we might need it.

One thing that I've realized, and I guess I have known all along, is that when you're hit with an emergency or an accident, don't panic.  It's easy to say and it sounds good in a book, but when real life situations happen, that's when you really need to work at not going into panic mode.  Stay calm and think about what you need to do to help the other person.  And then, do what you need to do as far as calling for help,

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Coopers nail looks really good and only time will tell if he is going to loose his nail or not.  And soon, this too will become just a memory.

And as far at the heifer goes, she hasn't shown any signs of trauma and so far she is doing great.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*head gate - This head gate was here when we purchased the property so we had nothing to do with it's set up.  But now looking back, we should have checked to make sure that it was in working order and that it was properly secured.  But who would have thought to have done that?  And unfortunately, that's why things are called "accidents" because you don't anticipate things going wrong.

**whistled - My dad taught me to whistle when I was in 4th grade and I practiced and practiced until I could whistle, first with 2 hands and 4 fingers; 2 fingers from each hand (index finger and middle finger), then with 2 hands and 1 finger from each hand (index fingers), and then only one hand, making a "circle" with my thumb and middle finger.  It's not very "lady like," I know,  but it sure has come in handy a lot of times in my life. 

And I don't tell you this because I think I'm something special - not at all.  It's just something that I learned when I was younger and had no idea how important it would become.  Only Shane has learned other than me and he can whistle really loud without any fingers.  My family knows to answer to my whistle and it's soooooooo much louder than I or anyone else could ever yell.

***door - When I asked Shane later if he heard me, he said that he heard me call, but when he heard me whistle, he told Emma that something was wrong and they both jumped up.

****needle - After talking to The Rancher and his wife about what happened, they said that they have done the same thing with a paper clip instead of a needle.  And that makes sense because the tip of a needle is a lot smaller than the tip of a paper clip.


Sandy
August 25, 2015

Chickens on the Go

Kind of a side view of the trailer.

     Here is the beginning stages of the our new chicken house on wheels. 

     It's built on the base of our old pop-up camper that we used to camp in when the kids where younger.  Boy, did I love that camper!!  It was an old Starcraft camper from 1984.  It wasn't in fashion anymore, but it was very "homey" and I loved it.  It was hard for me to let it go, but I had too. It was beyond repair according to my husband, and I didn't want to believe it!!

     In April of 2009 we were headed west for a week of luxurious condo living and skiing at the Grand Timber Lodge in Breckenridge, Colorado.  We were sooooooo excited!!  We started saving money about two years before our trip so needless to say we were anxious to get going.

     But we sort of had a dilemma.  How were we going to move 12 people over 1000 miles in our 15 passenger van along with all the skis, boots, poles, food, winter clothes, and more for our family?  We couldn't really rent a trailer and we didn't want to borrow one, so what were we going to do?

      Well, along with my husbands creative idea and family input, we decided to use the base of the pop-up camper that had been sitting in the back yard for a while.  Because the camper was in bad shape and we couldn't use it anymore, Landon went ahead a while before and ripped it apart and scrapped what he could so that the only thing that was left was the frame and the wheels.  Then he parked it in the back yard to "store it" until we could come up with a use for it. 

     Well, that day finally came and we knew just what to do.

     So, in less then a week, we had our new "storage transport on wheels" built, electrified, and painted and we were off!! 

     Nothing like waiting until the last minute to do a project, huh!?!  Yea, we're bad at that!!

     Once we all took our seats in the van and started for the mountains, I realized that there was no way we could have done this trip without the camper. 

Colorado mountains here we come!!

The only picture I could find with our newly built trailer.

Landon, Barrett, Shane, and Dakota

     After our Colorado trip, the new trailer became our transport for camping trips, day trips, and moving junk trips and then it became our doughnut trailer to transport all of our "stuff". 

     And after years of use, it had to be retired because it was beyond repair, again.  But we haven't forgotten about it and once again it was ripped up and thrown away; all but the frame and the wheels.  And at this point, the "scrap" is waiting to be hauled over to the burn pile.

     And so the building begins again.  This time into our mobile chicken house.

     This is Tanner's project and so far so good.  He's had very little construction experience, so along with his dad and his brothers input, he's off and running.  And what a great way to learn!  Sure he's had to change plans here and there as we talk about things, but that's okay.  He'll get it done and done well. 

     As far as the details go, we can talk about that later.  But since the floor is already done, I can tell you that it's made out of expanded metal so that when the birds "mess", most of it will fall through the floor and fertilize the ground as the house moves across the pasture.  And, it should be easy to clean also.

     Tanner says that he should be done with it by the end of this week, so we'll see.  I hope so, because I'm anxious to get it it filled with some baby chicks!!  We would like to get one more batch of chickens grown and processed before winter sets in.

     Oh, and just a quick question before I sign off.  Have you ever eaten a chicken that was grown out on fresh pasture?  If you haven't, you're in for a treat!  It's hard to explain how fresh and clean these birds taste.

The front of the trailer.

August 18, 2015
Sandy