Family Day

Now that we have less going on a the farm we can spend more time as a family on the weekends.  Yesterday was a full day at the farm, beginning with chores in the morning.  It was only about 35 or so out so we all bundled up and Bea helped me milk while Dan fed the pigs & chickens. I wish I had our camera. While I was milking, Bea was standing next to me warming up her cheeks on Patches' tummy - rubbing her face back and forth through her fur.  It was very sweet. Patches is so soft and smells so good, like hay and sunshine. (Please don't believe that cows are dirty & smelly.) Bea is starting to get the feel for milking and every time does a little bit more.  We've just gotten a glimpse of the cold mornings that are coming. Soon it will be too cold to have her at the farm early in the morning.  

We fed our own kitties and the family of barn cats their milk and brought the cows out to pasture.  And then on to our big project for the day - collecting leaves for compost.  We've put out signs for a leaf drop, so we'll see if anyone else adds to our pile.  Bea and Dan had a great time jumping in the big leaf pile.  

At the end of the day we hung out watching the cows eat (waiting for them to eat until contented  - if we try to bring them back to the barn before they've had their fill they can be naughty).  They were in the corner of the field where our neighbor store's his round bales, so a great time was had playing hide and seek and climbing  and jumping off of them.

We also had our first fire of the season last night, so it really felt like a day of ushering in the cold weather.  It is so nice to sit with Bea in front of the fire with the lights out right before bed time. 

Family Time

What a week for the family! Last week we welcomed Bea's cousin Kaleb into the world and yesterday we celebrated her great-grandmother Irma's 100th birthday! My big brother Travis was here for the birthday festivities and Bea had lots of fun playing with her Uncle T. It is always a whirlwind of activity when Travis is home. Somehow his vists always coincide with particularly busy times at the farm. Travis and Dan went over to New York to pick up our seed potatoes. Yesterday there was a bit of a potato cutting party, with both our dads, Travis, and the apprentices Cheryl and Aliyah cutting up our spud seeds. Bea had a blast climbing on the hay in the barn, making trips up the mountain and spotting elephants!

The cows are eager to get out into the pasture, but we are waiting for there to be enough grass. The sheep got out yesterday and had a high time grazing around. Coco was not happy about staying behind in the least. Patches is much more mellow. Coco is the boss, chasing Lulu around and bellowing when she doesn't get her way. We missed Patches' heat one more time. We always think it is too early and wait for stronger signs, but then we end up missing our window of opportunity. Maybe next month....

Quandry

Many of you, dear readers, know that our road is often (all winter at least and a good part of spring and fall) flooded between our house and the farm. This means that instead of the half mile walk/bike/drive to the farm we have to drive 3 miles to get to the there. Yes, a huge inconvenience and waste of gas. My most recent quandry concerning the flood is this: Since Dan has multiple tasks to do at the farm other than the milking and chores he most often ends up doing the milking. I'm torn because I do want to take on the milking, but does it make sense for me to drive to the farm to milk and drive home when Dan just has to turn around when I get there to go down to the farm to do his work.....? The clincher of course is Bea. Ideally we'd all load up in the morning and go to the farm for the whole am, but those with a 2 year old will know it's never that clear and simple. Dan made a good point this morning, that things don't always have to make sense... yet. Of course there will be that time in the season where every single thing we do should make sense. We have to be as efficient as possible when things get going, it's a survival mechanism.
We're not there yet, though. My looming concern is how to keep Bea occupied during the 25 minutes it takes me to milk. In the midst of the season things can get really crazy down there and I'm hoping that Bea and I can manage the milking on our own without having to pull Dan out of his work. Dan is getting faster, it only takes him 15. Hopefully by the time it rally matters, I'll be down to 15, too.
That being said, Bea loves the farm and I'm sure she can manage on her own for a few minutes. As we sat seeding in the greenhouse the other day we watched her go out to the chickens, into their trailer, come out with two eggs and announce she was on her way to feed them to the pigs. What a farm girl!

Winter Visits

Yes, the new pictures on the slideshow are of our farm. And of course the beautiful girl is our Beatrice. Our winter is cruising along with morning animal chores and random wintery tasks. This week we met with another farmer to talk shop a little bit -Jonathan, hired a part-time summer worker-Jonas, had a drop in visit with our other summer part-timer Rachel and had a visit with ex-apprentice Alissa and her friend Megan. Winter is a good time to catch up with fellow farmers. During the season we don't have much time to shoot the breeze. Usually when we are in touch it is about a crop issue or a quick touching base to make sure everyone's surviving ok.

Welcome Patches & Coco Rose

Yesterday our new cows Patches & Coco Rose came to our farm. Patches is a sweet little Jersey who we are going to milk and Coco Rose is her geriactric companion. She's an old girl at 10, but a real lovey of a cow. I think they may have some home sickness for Debra & Local Farm but I imagine they'll settle in soon. Lulu, our ewe, seems a little miffed. I'm sure she'll soon realize the cows are nothing to be afraid of.

This morning was our first milking and I was pretty excited. Unfortunately it didn't go as smoothly as I expected. Whenever I milked Patches at Debra's it was always a breeze. She was pretty unsettled this morning and put her foot in the bucket twice! Ack! Then it seemed like she stopped letting her milk down although it seemed she still had milk. I asked Dan to see if he could strip her out, being paranoid of not getting all the milk- and causing mastitis. She seemed to let down a little more milk for Dan at the end. We took home a little more than a quart. Which means we spilled about a gallon when she kicked the bucket over.

I'm sure tomorrow will be much better. I can't blame Patches for needing some time to adjust. Bea was champ and sat for a long time across from Patches and watched patiently.

It is such a big change to have cows at the farm. For us, it is a huge lifestyle change. Especially for me - it is really grounding - connecting me to the farm in a way I haven't been before. (The veggies are really Dan's realm.) But I don't mean just the chores and the milking. Each animal has a different energy. I'll write more on this later... It is almost supper time! We are so happy to have these lovely creatures with us. I can't wait until tomorrow morning!