While our 1st cutting of hay gets rinsed off (again....and yes, today is June 20th) we are freed up a bit to catch up on some other things...like the blog! I could go on and on about some of the challenges we have been facing, but the fact of the matter is that we have done all that we can do, and things such as the weather are out of our control. So while we wait and prepare to finish the hay, haul the compost barn out, and start 2nd cutting, we keep busy with some other things....
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| Monday I picked up 4 flats of berries. I started at 10am, and by 5:30pm I had 61 jars of jam-enough for almost 2 years and some for gifts. 7.5 hours every-other-summer is SO worth it! They recommend consuming home canned goods within a year, but I have not had a problem with the product into the 2nd summer. I've also found that doing all of the berry prep first, then the jam making, is much more time- efficient. |
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| Tuesday we managed to get what we had baled hauled home and wrapped! Now we just have the 2 fields and pasture to get baled and wrapped, then its on to hauling compost and starting 2nd-already! |
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| We paid the wrapper off this week! Only one month early, we saved about $2.00 on the interest. This picture is from the day that we bought it, almost 3 years ago. :) Happy Day-both of them! |
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| Today, since it is raining, Rick and the boys are taking a load of scrap to the junkyard. It's a win-win for us...the farm stays cleaned up, and we get paid to recycle! |
FINALLY...the best part of this past week. This is "Bessie". She is actually cow number 486. See that red collar she wears? It holds what is called a "responder"-an electronic device that robotic milkers use to identify cows that go into the robots to be milked. No, we didn't get robots. My dad called and said he had a cow that was just recently fresh. She gives 80lbs milk/day. The issue is that her recent calving has caused some udder edema (swelling), making her udder a tad too low for the robot to milk her. He asked if we were interested in her staying with us for awhile. I said "sure!"
Bessie has been so much fun. At home, she gets to go to the barn to get milked and eat grain whenever she likes. Here, she is on a much more structured schedule, and she doesn't care for it too much. She waits at the paddock gate and hollers. She moos continuously in the holding pen. She complains on her way down to the paddock. Dad said she was a little bit of a pet, but I think he forgot an "s" in between the "e" and "t". She likes to be petted, and is in no hurry, ever. Bessie had been milked in my dad's parlor before he and Mom got the robots, so she comes into the parlor well. Bessie puts our milking herd numbers to 120, with 6 left to freshen yet.
May God bless you this week, and if you need rain, may God send it your way.....
-Terri
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