Farm Happenings

There is lots going on at our farm in the past couple of weeks!  Last Thursday evening our heifer "Red" looked kinda funny in the pasture.  She is the one that had an enormous bag but the hind end wasn't really puffy yet.  My hubby went out to check on her(I would have but I was getting supper ready) and I got a call a few minutes later telling me that he could see hooves.  Of course, I dropped everything and rushed out hoping to see the birth.  I did see it and my daughter got to too!  It was the first birth she has been home for and she was so excited!

I did get photos on my phone (which I will post later this week) of the entire birth and, believe me, Red was an all-star. I should have taken my camera out there, but I was hurrying so I didn't miss it altogether.  She had a beautiful heifer calf that is, of course, solid black.  Glad it isn't the kinda icky brown that she is.  We love her anyway.

The very next morning I went out to do chores and our heifer "Tiny" had a little membrane hanging out.  After a bit she didn't seem to be progressing.  I was all over the pasture that morning looking at her and the others.  I left her alone for a while and when I returned an hour later to check on her all the cows were in the barn lot, including her.  I walked around the corner of the barn and nearly stepped on a new black calf.  A little confused at first, I finally came to the conclusion that since the calf was cleaned off and I saw him stand and drink for awhile, she had already had him when I first saw her!  What I was seeing was the afterbirth, but there was so little of it I couldn't tell.  I felt like such an idiot that the calf was probably bedded down in the pasture I had just been in a little while before.  He was a healthy black bull calf that wasn't as small as I thought he might be considering she was our smallest pregnant heifer.  

All the calves, we have 4 now, are doing really well and were jumping around the barn lot tonight.  They all seem very happy and healthy.  It is extremely exciting having so many!!  We have 1 cow left to calve and my son has one to calve also.  Each one is just as exciting as the last and I feel blessed to have witnessed 2 out of 4 births this year so far.  

In non-animal related happenings I was able to, with my daughter's help, get our garden all planted this evening.  Actually we have 2 gardens!  I always feel so good about getting that done in between the weather!  It was extremely windy here but that didn't stop us!!  We have some new crops this year and I planted some more herbs, too.  The asparagus has begun and I need to get out in the pastures to check it again soon.  The rhubarb is growing well and all the fruit trees are beginning to bud.  

I love spring and all the new life it brings!

Garden Pros and Woes -Part 2

Last year was the first time I tried bush beans.  I had tried green beans in the past and they always flopped.  These bush beans did amazing last year and I froze about 10 quarts in addition to the ones we ate fresh.  This was all off 2 rows.  This year I planted them again and once again they are doing amazing.  They did have a rocky start that I am still not quite sure what happened.  The seedlings sprouted and only about half of them came up.  The others died, I imagine, due to the extreme heat/dryness.  Almost all of them that came up had no leaves on them?  I haven't ever had this happen before.  I quickly replanted them and now have a bountiful harvest for the past couple months.  We all love to have garden green beans in the winter!

The potatoes were not so wonderful this year.  They had never done well in our garden so last year my husband tilled me a potato patch in a different area.  Last year we had tons of potatoes and nice sizes too.  This year I believe the weather got to them and the plants died very early.  The potatoes we did get were mainly tiny ones with a few that were nice sized.  No big ones like I like to use, though.  The potatoes are a lot of work to have the harvest so dissappointing!  Next year I am seriously thinking about turning the potato patch into a pumpkin patch. 

This year was my second year attempting broccoli after a wonderful first year.  Again this year we had plenty to freeze from our 4 plants.  I love broccoli plants -they are low maintenance and it tastes so much better than store bought broccoli.  I planted 4 more plants hoping to get even more into the freezer.

Another crop that excites me early each spring is our asparagus.  I never realized I liked it so well, but when we moved here we noticed there were patches everywhere!  It was in all the pastures -a patch here and a patch there.  Every spring I harvest as much as I can and either eat it or freeze it.  This year I planted some new plants up close to the house.  We will see how they end up doing.  Every time we go asparagus "hunting" it's a long hike to get it, which provides all of us our daily exercise.  

One of my favorite things about gardening and living in such a wide open place is that I can do just about whatever I want to with the garden.  I can plant anything I want to and wherever I want to.  The other great thing is that it gets the kids involved and teaches them about planting and growing your own healthy foods.  They love to help plant everything and watch it grow.  They also love to help pick everything and of course help eat everything!

HAVE A GREAT DAY!