Saturday, April 16, 2011
Calving has begun
Sunday, March 27, 2011
March In Like a Lion and Out Like a Lamb
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Kept in the Dark and fed lots of. . . compost?
I guess I always knew the day would come when I would have to say goodbye to the "Bourbon". Yes, the beloved Mom Mobile, the 94 Chevy Suburban. I've been thinking about for awhile (5 years) but I just can't seem to hang a For Sale sign on it. It was my kids' childhood car. Cross country trips, soccer games, brownie troop, lacrosse tournaments, horse shows, ultimate pet mobile. It is the only vehicle I ever bought new. (And you know they issued them to every mom in Portland, Texas, hell every town in Texas for that matter.) That Kiss & Ride line would of been a whole lot shorter if we were all driving Subarus)
Back to my story. . .When Quentin was 2 or 3 and he would have a meltdown usually in some very public place, he would scream for his favorite things his "Bourbon" and "Purple Crack". At the risk of looking like a degenerate parent, I would try to hustle him out as fast a possible because I was usually wild eyed myself when he got to that point. Listening to him wailing, "I want my Crack, I want my Bourbon" at the top of his lungs usually made an entire store become deathly silent. I had to explain on more than one occasion that all he wanted was to take a nap in the Suburban and have his favorite snack, Raisin Bran cereal. The cereal came in a purple box. His other favorite was "dip dip", Italian salad dressing. So it would sound like my baby wanted to dip tobacco, drink bourbon, and snort crack at 2 years old. Gee those were some fun days! Thankfully, Quent 's command of the English language has improved since then.
Fast forward. I have a parking lot of vehicles that need to move on. Tractors have new homes, cars are being traded around and now someone just stopped to see if I might want to sell the "Burb". Not being too helpful I said they were welcome to look at it if the wanted to dig it out from under 3 feet of snow because I wasn't about to. Dang, if the guy didn't come back today and dig it out and give me a deposit for it. Oh no. I can't come up with anymore excuses why I can't sell it. I know all the Cowboys in Reber are tired of listening to me say I want to sell it but just can't. I guess I can.
Mushroom spawn arrived yesterday. I looked at the tracking from my phone because I wasn't home when it arrived. Said it was left on the porch. Well it wasn't it was left by the road about 500 feet away from my porch sitting on a snow bank. I was a tinch annoyed. I'll have to start it down in the basement since it will be April before I can put it in the mushroom beds outside. I got some oyster mushroom spawn for the 4-H kids to practice with. We will grow those in recycled clementine boxes in coffee grinds and shredded paper and some other composted stuff. It is a fun indoor project for next week.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Tomorrow's just another birthday
Well. there he is Cletus the boar. He enjoys digging himself a very deep nest under the hay and straw. He also enjoys dumping out his food and water. So I am not really certain how much he is eating but he is still growing and doesn't look ribby so I'll leave it at that.
We have lots of snow on the ground and we are still digging out from last week. Lots of barns have collasped in the area under the weight of it. A North Country "handy" item to have is a Snow Rake, that you use to pull the snow off the roof. When we first came up here and folks would mention a snow rake I thought it was like going on a snipe hunt. You know something you tell newbies to waste their time looking for and you get a good chuckle out of it.
But signs on spring are pressing onward. I had chicks delivered last Sunday, the day before we had another foot of snow. But they are as cute as can be and are doing just fine. I got an assortment of Buff Orpingtons, New Hamshires and Delawares, and the exotic freebie is a Polish Crested.
I placed my order for package bees and a few extra Carniolan Queens for spring arrival. I hope to requeen a few hives or make some splits. There were quite a few swarms last year so I thought I might try to use the pheromone and capture one or two o start Nucs. I've been reading the Honey Bee Democracy so I thought I might use some of this knowledge before I forget it. But if the spring weather is bad it won't matter anyway. Last year was an excellent bee year.
Monday, December 27, 2010
Noel on the Farm
Christmas Eve was spent at the in-laws who have a traditional oyster stew fest. We supplied venison chili and cornbread as a counterpoint. Yes, if you were wondering, the buck was farm harvested . Anyways, friends and neighbors stopped by before heading off to midnight services. The best part is most of these folks sing in their respective choirs so they all can carry a tune and the piano can set them off into Christmas carols at the tinkling of an ivory key.
Christmas sees Gillillands all over the world enjoy the same breakfast of Susie Eggs, which some child 100 years ago changed the name from Eggs a la Suisse. When I got married my grandmother-in-law Ginny handed me the recipe and shared the family story, and I've been preparing them for 30 years myself. Eggs, cream, gruyere cheese, bacon, breads and grapefruit - you can see why we are comatose once it's all been consumed. Our bodies are stunned by calories, and a nap is the required remedy.
Pacing ourselves, we finally get to the day-after-Christmas feast of the Massive Bounty of Free Range Turkey: forty pounds of whole turkey with all the trimmings. And there you have it! Now with that mission complete, we are into my favorite, leftovers mode. Yeah!
My mother, Pat, worries that the animals are having a rough time in the snow and cold. I assure her that the heat is tougher on them. The can all go in or out of shelter and they prefer to stand in the wind and snow. They all have access to plenty of hay and water that is kept ice free with de-icers. Ponies with a snow pack covering them means that there is a layer of insulation between them and the weather. If they didn't have it, they would be blanketed or kept in the barn.
Sunday, October 3, 2010
first fire in the fireplace
Chauntel was supposed to keep this blog updated but I think she found out there are way too many other things to get done on farm before you can sit on your butt and type in a few words. She is very thankful to be back at St. Lawrence. She did find out that she will be heading off to the UK in January for semester abroad, good for her.
Quentin returned for his 18 hours of summer. He flew back from Ft. Knox boot camp to return to Norwich University just in time to start studying. However it seems like the VT. Nat. Guard has always got him doing something on the weekends. They just finished FEMA training and a good thing because we had about 5 inches of rain. So much for my babies.
I have increased my sheep flock. Just yesterday I picked up a "starter flock" of registered purebred Katahdins. It has taken me over a year to purchase such a thing. They are hard to come by. My "practice sheep" are the darling Shetlands and then I added on the French Girls otherwise known Ile de France again not so easy to find. They are nice and friendly and love to be petted. These Katahdins are about 4 times the size and they seem a bit jumpy (as they were up, up & away when we were picking them up at their previous farm) The thought "Danger Will Robinson" did cross my mind especially when we were picking out a ram. The other farmer had a hotshot hanging on the wall (now there is an electrical note to self) Ben Wever has us zen-trained when dealing with animals so that was an eye opener to Shaun & I. The Lady said that she had had an unpleasant incident (this is North Country code for multiple broken bones or some such 9-1-1 event) and wasn't about to let that happen again. Uh huh! You can bet I won't be taking me eyes off the ram and he is small. Maybe I should of stuck with those tiny Shetlands.
Anyone have a suggestion for the ram lamb' name? His Daddy was Southern Gentleman from Louisiana. Maybe Reber Rhett?