New Herford Calf, Fall Garden clean up

Since I last posted we have been busy getting everything finished for winter.  Needless to say the fall house cleaning came to a complete standstill.  We have been trudging along trying to beat the fall rains.  When I woke up and it was raining I was thrilled that I can catch up in the house.  I even had to schedule grocery shopping around all the work.  Thank heavens I keep stocked up on food.  I feel that if I have a 30 day supply on hand going into winter we won't get slammed with a blizzard.  We will have to see if that works out again this winter.

Every day has been spent picking gourds, gather what has been left in the garden, and gather hickory nuts. My gourd drying racks are almost filled, the last of the hickory nuts are picked up, and the vegetable garden is done.  I pulled down the last of the tomato plants yesterday.  I have two more days picking gourds and I will be done for 2012.  That will give my husband time to get lime spread on the hay fields, garden, and pastures.

October 18 we had another calf born.  He is a big one, we stayed with her for two hours that she was in hard labor.  My husband was 5 minutes from calling the Vet in when here he came.  I named him Bruiser because he was so big and he probably bruised her on the way out.  I felt so sorry for her, but she is fine and so is her baby.  Here is a picture of him he after Mom cleaned him up.

We have done several other projects in the last twelve days and I will post more about that later.  I need to get back to work.

 

 

 

 

 

Do Herford Cows Wear Raincoats?

We babysat for 4 of our grand kids last weekend.  The main topic of conversation for the two youngest ones was "Do you Cows wear rain coats when it rains?".  Of course my answer was "No they like to stand in the rain".  Then came the "Do they wear winter coats, hats and boots when it snows?".  Again the "No they like to stand out in the snow ".  Finally after every weather question they could ask, they were satisfied.  That is our job as grandparents to answer all the seemingly obvious questions we all take for granted as adults.  I grew up on a farm and just understood how things are. After we have returned to this life in our retirement year, now is our job to share all this with our grand kids.  We enjoy them and all their questions and I just hope we are giving the right answers and they are learning about this way of life.  Grand children are the greatest joy there is, and you do not understand how much joy you receive until you experience them.

Speaking of joy, yesterday was clean out the barn and spread lime day.  We had borrowed a skid steer form the neighbors and it really wasn't a horrible job.  My husband was operating the skid steer and spreading the manure on the pastures with hos tractor and spreader, I was the boots on the ground with all the hand tools person.  I am definitely experienced with these and the day went just fine. It was a long 10 hour job, but we beat the rain and it is done till spring.  Of course it was impossible for me to stay clean but unlike last spring I didn't fall in it.  When that happened it was up half way to my knees when I was pulled to ground the only option was to roll out.  I thought it was solid ground and it was a nasty experience.  None of the cows got out and everything ended up just fine.

We do have one calf that is really fun to watch.  The little heifer that was born Sept. 15 of this year chases cars.  She runs the length of the fence on the road side chasing any car that pasts.  We may have to watch her, she may end up a jumper and we will be calls in the middle of the night she has escaped.  Keeps life interesting.

Another Hereford Calf Born

At 7:15 pm Monday, October 8, 2012, we had another addition to the herd.  A little Hereford bull calf was born.   We are awaiting the arrival of 2 more before fall calving is complete.  He is a little cutie, but all babies are cute in my book.  Mama was a 2 year old heifer, but she calved easily without any help from us.  We always leave them alone and let them handle it.  We have been very lucky with the girls, one set of twins a year and all live births without any calves being rejected.  Yea, no bottle feeding yet!!! 

These pictures were taken yesterday at around 2:30 pm so the calf is approximately 20 hours old.  We are very pleased with the little fellow. 

With all this going on trying to get every thing wrapped up before winter gets here I am at the point of total disorganization at the moment.We will get every thing done somehow. 

I am slowly trying to clean up the rest of the garden, we had frost on Monday and Tuesday Night so the garden is done.  I am fighting a weed patch trying to get gourds pick to dry.  We have to clean the barn (scoop out with the tractor and loader then spread manure on the pastures), spread lime in the feed ways of the barn and the holding pens (yes I will be helping with this).  I have fall cleaning to finish, store all canning supplies, store potatoes, do some mending, make a blanket for youngest Grandson's Birthday, clean my workshop, continue to gather Hickory Nuts(they should be done soon), and I probable will find more to do. 

Here are pictures of Mama and Baby Boy.

The Joy of Gardening, Cutting Hay, and Fall Cleaning

Last week we received 5 1/2 inches of rain.  My garden is on sand and drains well, but this week we are getting more rain.  I am not complaining because we need rain now to have a garden and crops next year.  I will not even complain about snow and severe cold.  In short we need a normal rainy fall and a cold snowy winter.

I still have quite a bit to harvest in the garden, but I did manage to get all the potatoes dug before the rains started.  I do not think I will be making anymore tomato juice this year.  If I do get enough tomatoes to juice and can, then that will be wonderful.  There are still gourds, lima beans, peppers, and cotton to harvest.  Yes I planted cotton (in Southern Indiana) to see it grow.  It has beautiful flowers and I am still waiting to see the cotton to appear. 

My husband cut hay again last Saturday, rain was not in the forecast until Tuesday.  Well it is wet and will have to be picked up with a pitch fork.  We have two pitch forks so I guess I will be helping. 

All these little things make life interesting.  We definitely do not get bored around here.

Since it is cold and has been raining since Saturday afternoon, I have tackled fall cleaning.  I am thrilled to say I have 2 rooms done, from top to bottom, closets, drawer, and rotated clothes.  After all the house is cleaned I am setting a goal to deep clean one room a month so it doesn't have to take so long twice a year to get it done. It will make normal cleaning a lot easier and hopefully I feel like I am always behind.  Sounds like a plan to me, I will keep you informed if it works out.

The good thing about any type of cleaning and or organizing you find things you forgot you had or those misplaced items.  It's an a-ha moment when you find things.  I am looking for a land line phone I bought last spring to use when we loose power,  just a plain jane, no bells or whistles.  I know I bought two of them, but I can only find one of them, the one that is plugged in.  Its is here somewhere, along with a big flashlight.  Sometimes I put things up so my grandkids don't play with them and then I can't find them.  I found a stapler after six months of looking for it.  You just have to love grandkids, they tend to keep us on our toes.