Missing Mom

 A lot has happened since my last post, Mom went in for a routine procedure and her heart stopped, they got it going and transported her. She seemed to be doing okay in hospital but she passed the day after my birthday unexpectedly. This has been so hard for me to take, she has lived with jim and I for 11 years and needed my care 24/7. She was my Mom but I also was her caregiver, It's been 3 month and 9 days and I still feel lost, I miss her so much. One of the things that hurts (this may sound odd) but it's when I walk out the door and don't say Mom I'm checking on the animals be back in 10 minutes or grocery pickup be back in 30 minutes. Hope one day I can walk out my door without the ache I now feel.

No matter how Mom felt she always had a smile,, I wish I could say love you one more time.

I cut my finger off (almost)

I was fixing fence (December 4th) and my husband was also fixing fence but he was at the other end of the property. I didn't think about the size of the post hole driver I was using, Jim had the long one and I had the short one. To make a long painful story short, I hit a rock while putting in one of the posts. I moved the post back and forth then hit it another time.  It didn't budge so I (like I have many times) raised it up and slamed it down as hard as I could. Since I didn't think about using the short driver when I raised it high it came off the post and when it came down I missed the post. This caused it to run down the side of the metal post and catch my finger on top of post and with handle of driver smashing against it. I was wearing rubber gloves,  I knew it hurt really really bad but when I pulled my glove off I realized I had almost cut my finger off. It was hanging by a tiny piece of skin. So now (1/20) I'm still stuck with my hand bandaged up doctor says for at least another 5 weeks. If after the 12 weeks the bone doesn't heal the hand surgeon said they will have to remove that piece of bone. I am lucky though, my husband has been within a few hours of home, so no motel stays and my son has been feeding the cows and sidney takes care of the other animals. After all these year I can't believe I did this.

Cowboy Candy, made with jalapenos and nalapenos

 I have been canning for a good number of years (at least 30) but I ran across something different that I just had to try this year. Of course with most things on the internet I ran across tons of different ways to make it. This got confusing until I realized I just needed to add the ingredients I new my family would like.

One major thing is we like hot but not to hot....I grow jalapenos  and a less hot nalapenos so I went with a 50/50 mix. I also thought my family would like chopped instead of sliced (thought would be better for mixing with cream cheese etc for dipping).

The finished product was really good! Jim even likes it on his morning eggs. Next year I think I'll try one batch with just jalapenos, since the 50/50 is so mild, just curious.

The recipe I used was (so I don't forget) 

1 1/2 pounds jalapeños 

1 1/2 pounds nalapenos 

6 cups sugar

3 teaspoons garlic powder

2 cups apple cider vinegar 

1 teaspoon celery seeds

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Next year since we are using more as a condiment than dip I think I will slice them.

I also left the seeds in because most of the heat comes from the membrane inside the pepper.

I just put the last of the canned jars in the root cellar yesterday and the turnips and sweet potatoes go in today, then I'm done.

Can't believe I got out the seed catalogs to look over already, but can't wait for next year :)

Root Cellar (summer project)

 

This is always the most exciting part for me, breaking the ground for the start of a new project! I was surprised at how deep he actually had to dig, ended up about 6 foot (there will be 3 foot of dirt on top). We were lucky though (or I guess hubby was) that he didn't encounter any rocks so this part of the adventure was accomplished in a day.

Molly's dirt pile, she became really comfy there over the weeks (almost a month) because

After we got this poured it rained and rained for almost a month

Finally it dried up enough that we could start pouring again

Felt good to see it start taking shape

Here it is all finished with the vents and door in and the paint sealer on, dried and waiting for hubby to start back filling

Jim was making one of our ponds deeper so he used some of that dirt for the cellar top also. We had more rain so we had to stop for a few more weeks.

But when all was said and done (Jim had cellar covered), Mrs Molly got her dirt pile back. This is her go to spot now, she sets on the small hill and looks down onto the lower field and barks. Since this area is downhill past the creek she has a fairly good site advantage.

Molly, my protector, my friend

 This is my (every morning) quiet time, its after Jim leaves for work and before Mom and Sid wake up, its almost 2 hours. My time to read a book on my kindle or just think, its always so calm setting on the couch with only the light coming from the fireplace. Well this morning I had a lot to be thankful for mainly my Molly.

Molly is my Great Pyrenees, she is just always here, she seems to know everything that goes on. I never really realized how good of a thing that can be! Yesterday I was walking/checking/repairing fences, we have about 3 miles of fences to keep up, so I had walked a good ways from the Polaris. I know this sounds odd but all of a sudden I got this "I'm being watched feeling". I should not have, but I ignored it and went back to removing the tree from the fence, but I couldn't shake the feeling. I stopped working and slowly started fanning the trees, looking, I didn't see them at first but when I made eye contact my first thought was my Polaris is way to far from me and also they are between me and it. It was 2 big dogs looked about 80 pounds each, boxer mix, beautiful full of muscle dogs, at least as big as Molly. 

I turned to slowly walk away but they started forward, I turned back and again made eye contact and slowly started walking backwards to the open field behind me. But with each step I took so did they, they were keeping their distance, not growling but not waging their tails either. On the way I found a stick and slowly picked it up (just in case) , I'm not saying they were going to hurt me, I just couldn't tell. I finally got into the open field and slowly kept walking still backwards. The dogs both stayed in the tree lines, but as I'm walking up the field (sideways now) they are walking still in the trees. The house is farther away but the Polaris is still between me and them, so I start to walk slowly toward the house.

Then I heard barking in front of me, and out of the trees comes Molly, I was so happy to see her! She ran past me and into the upper field, all I hear is animals running. My legs were so wobbly I just stood there trying to catch my breath, in just a few minutes Molly comes running back to me and we both walked home. Like I said I'm not saying the dogs were going to attack, they may have been acting this way because they were afraid/curious of me. But all I could think of at the time was I have lost two 4 month old calves to something in the last 10 days....

 Setting here now looking at the fireplace and listening to the rain hitting our tin toof, I can't help but think I may have just gotten really lucky. I learned a few more important lessons (even at my age), don't get to far from the Polaris, dont ignore a funny feeling, and always keep a stick near. Remembering yesterday I thank God for my Molly, everyone needs a gentle giant that would protect you no matter what.

Around the farm

 

Doing one of my normal daily chores, riding around and checking/counting the cows and looking the fences over. 

King of the tiny mound...this is one of the calves

This is Ruby, she will be my milk cow next spring, just turned 3. She is such a beauty.

Its nice to see the water still trickling in the creek beds, with all the rain we got off and on this year none of our creeks dried up. But all to soon everything will be icy.....

Nigerian dwarf goats

Meet Buckie and Dot, I have never had this breed before but from what I’ve read they have a higher milk fat content than some breeds so next summer I guess I will find out.

They are the cutiest little things! Their personalities are adorable, they make me laugh every day.

Getting ready for winter

Starting with the hay for the cattle, I am moving bales today and it looks like I'll be getting a bit of help from Molly my gentle giant. 

Carey electric pressure /water bath canner

Decided to splurge a few days ago! Hubby went in to pick up my animal feed, and he did come out with just animal feed, but sometimes I/we get a little side tracked in the best way. Since I now have a glass top stove I’ve been concerned about using my canner, and because of this I didn’t can anything last year only froze. Well while hubby was in Orschelns getting animal feed he noticed their display of the electric pressure canner was on sale (last one). He came out and loaded the feed then told me, so I went in to check it out and came home with a canner! It was on sale for half price (Never have been able to skip a sale when it’s something I would use a lot). Once the initial excitement was over and we got it home I was a little bit nervous while unpacking it. I started over thinking (I don’t take to changes very well). So far though the only disadvantage I have found is that I can’t put as many jars in it as I could my old canner. I am now canning again and once I made the first batch my reserves went out the window I’m now hooked, love love this electric pressure canner. So far I have canned:
18 pints zucchini relish
24 1/2 pints blackberry jelly
8 1/2 pints peach preserves
16 pints bread and butter pickles
8 pints sweet pickles
18 pints lime pickles
12 quarts green beans
12 pints salsa
16 pints whole tomatoes
The garden is still producing tomatoes and cucumbers (I can way more than we need so I can give some away.
Also froze 6 quarts peach pie filling.
Peaches got away from me this year, the trees were loaded and starting to ripen, went to check again 3 days later and a lot were already on the ground and something had taken a bite off from almost all that hit the ground. I did get about a half bushel so I can’t complain, animals need to eat too.
I think I have broken the Carey in pretty good. My garden will be finishing up soon, so next on the list  is to start canning soups and stews. I really like making these for mom, she is on a low salt diet and it’s hard to find canned soups that are low (enough) for her.

Meet Bo

A lot has happened since we finished our house (that took many, many hours) but was well worth it! Moms room is next to the bathroom which makes it easier for her to get around. All in all I would say things are going pretty good! We got a new addition 2 weeks ago in the form of a mini donkey it belonged to my nephew who got it from a petting zoo. The little guy is 2 years old and as sweet as can be. I fell in love the first morning he “loudly” greeted me.  😊

This is Bo and he says hello

I’m glad I am starting my blog again, it kinda feels like greeting an old friend! One you didn’t realize you missed and then think why did you stop....

Beautiful day for December!

 It was a gorgeous day! temp got to almost 60 degrees, perfect day to get a lot of work done outside.

Jim got a “new to us” tractor yesterday ours had bit the dust and it was either get another tractor or sell my cows, since my ladies are a big part of our farm family I didn’t want that to happen.  So guess what our Christmas present to each other is.  :) it's a 1999 doesn't look like it though was taken really good care of.

I was scraping the ground this morning with it but I didn’t get as much accomplished as I wanted because the cows started playing with the small pile I had made. I sat on the tractor and watched for a bit and they were having so much fun I decided to finish tomorrow.

Stubby is our new addition she is Ellie's calf (Ellie is our Dexter) stubby loves to eat and sleep in the hay ring (so happy she is a girl) This is Ellie's second girl, her first was short britches. Short britches and stubby are half Dexter and half Angus so now I have 2 Dangus's! 

Moving in and Lacy's eye warts

I can't  believe it's been this long since my last post! The ground breaking began on our house in October of last year with the first hurtle of a rock (really big) that Jim had to drill out....

Little did I know how many long hard hours we would have in our future. I would do it all over again but it sure has had its good and bad days. If all goes okay we should be  finished moving in by this weekend. Now the work we have been letting fall to the way side will have to be repaired/replaced (fixing fences, barn needs some work etc...

Lacy contracted eye warts last month, I called the vet and was going to have him come out but Jim said it usually goes away on its own.

He was correct it's been 3 weeks and almost all gone. He saved me a vet bill :)

Family Outing

I feel  so blessed that Mom is still able to go on our family outings.

She will be 89 on the 30th of this month.

And of course Sparkey and Jim enjoyed themselves, they are inseparable when Jims home. 

Sparkey is always so calm on his road trips, it's alway look straight ahead and don't miss a thing! 

Contractor started this week :)

A friend of my nephews delivered 4 loads of gravel

He also dropped some more chat near the cattle guard.

Contractor framing, getting it ready for concrete.

My grand daughter loved watching this (I did too)

Now it has to set a few days

Jim picked a persimmon and split the seed, really don't like to see a spoon!

Huge rocks removed, ready for gravel

We picked up the jackhammer and air compressor Friday, Jim worked all day Saturday on both rocks. I felt sorry for him, I had no idea the jack hammer weighed 90 pounds, plus the hose weighed about 10 pounds. I wonder how many times he lifted it up and down, I know I never could have done it, maybe drag it from place to place but never lift it! He took a half hour break once and it still took over 10 hours. I thought he would be really sore come Sunday morning but he wasn't, he said he works hard on a daily basis at work although he did sleep like a baby!

Sunday Jim and his dad dug the line from the well close the house, (can't get to close until the concrete is in) pulled the electric line into the conduit then buried the line. They also did the same with the water line.

Then they ran over the ground to smooth it from where the rock  was removed the day before. The ground is ready for the white chat to be dumped monday into the hole, leveled out then the foundation poured. There is a lot more work to this than I realized. This time last month I thought the hardest part was cutting up the trees, clearing the brush and loading to take to the house. On plus side we have all of winters wood setting out back, just needs split and stacked.

Finished cattle guard, a hiccup on digging and mom's first time riding a lift.

We have the cattle guard complete one thing to check off! :)

We also would have had the basement hole finished but Sunday we ran into a rock literally, a really big rock!

There is also a smaller one close to where Jim is standing, but it won't take long to remove that one

So it looks like we have to fork out the money this weekend and rent an air compressor and Jack hammer to take the tops off. We borrowed a small jack hammer from Jim's brother, but it's to small for the job, hoping it's not to expensive to rent come Friday. The glass is still half full at least we only need it for the weekend. (This may be the first hiccup, unfortunately, I'm sure it won't be the last).
Mom got a ride Sunday at church, after the revival we were having dinner in the basement and this is the only way I could get her there. On the way down she was not happy with me but she was more comfortable when using it on the way up and actually smiled.

Also in the photo is a friend of mine and a gentleman from church. They were sweet and walked up with Mom while I pulled the truck around the front of the building.

Moving the cattle guard

I am so excited! We talked about building a house for 20 odd years but that's all it was was talk. We are finally going to do it :) first things first we had to move our cattle guard down the road a bit and we also fenced off 6 acres so the cattle won't bother the construction workers when they do the basement. (Also don't want cow prints where there shouldn't be cow prints) we are having the basement poured and the outside walls put up with roof on then Jim and I will do the rest as we go along. I think we will learn a lot about construction. I figure your never to old to learn something new and I also think it will be fun, in a get frustrated, more than likely cry a little but it's the only way we can do this kinda way.

When we finished with the concrete for the cattle guard Jim had to have his best buddy's paw print on it.

Pinkeye with 3 cows

We have had a few problems with the cows this summer, not sure if it's just the rain or the temp also. One cow had mastitis, then sugarplum came down with pink eye, started treating the one eye then the next day it was in the other. She spent 10 days in the lower lot by herself then on the 10th day she seems to be doing better, she just needed treated one more time then turned out. Thinking yay almost all done (never count your chickens before they are hatched) I went to check on cattle in the field again and Callie has it in both eyes and Sister in one. I swear when it rains it pours around here! Lucky me hubby was home (Saturday) so with my daughters help we got the 2 cows up, treated Sugar plum again put patch on her eye sent her out into field, then treated Sister and added patch. Callie on the other had got treated and put in the lower lot because it's in both she has trouble seeing so now I start all over again. Fingers crossed none of the others come down with it and the 3 affected will regain all their sight. Can't wait for this summer to be over, we keep out fly blocks and spray them routinely but the Flys are still so bad.

Sugarplum isn't to happy with me, give it a few weeks and hopefully she will forget the shot and med in eye 3 times a day. When she sees me now she squeezes her eye shut and backs up.

Fruit salad

I woke up the other day thinking of a very special lady and realized we are going to my oldest daughters new house for a BBQ this weekend and I know what I will bring!
My hubby and I were together for about 9 years before his grandma passed away, I had know her since I was about 8 through church, her and my mom were friends. I knew her by Grandma Ernie way before hubby and I met and got married but after she really was Grandma Ernie (hubby's grandma)! She is missed a lot and this is something that screams her name and makes me smile. This was one of her favorite things to make and bring to family functions, she would make it up the night before and store in quart jars. The next day she would just take it out of the fridge and since the lids were on just put in a bag and she was ready to go. She also made lots on purpose so as we left each of us had a jar to take home. Here is as close to her recipe as I could remember.

1 package strawberry jello
1 package cherry jello
1 can pineapple,  crushed
1 cup peaches
1 quart strawberries
3 bananas
2 cups grapes, purple and/or white
2 cups apples, red and/or yellow
1/2 to 1 cup coconut flakes
1 jar cherries
1 can fruit cocktail, think grandma may have also put in juice

Follow the instruction on the packages of jello, then add the fruit above (sliced into bite sized pieces) or the fruit of your choice (this recipe is very forgiving) stir and store in quart jars, or containers of your choice, (I love wide mouth canning jars) leave in the icebox until jelled. You can also add other fresh/frozen fruit. The above is just how Grandma made it (close to), she made this fruit salad more during the summer when most of the ingredient she could pick herself. Wish me luck that I am close to her recipe, if not hopefully someone in the family will know what needs added this weekend. All grandmas recipes were in her head sadly, I don't think she ever wrote any down.

Some projects I get antsy with and want done now, I need to practice patience

Hubby found me a milk cow (Jersey) in April for a really good price. It was kind of a friend of his has a friend that has a small dairy farm (12 cows) and said he would sell us a 2 1/2 year old that just had her first baby. I was so excited! I cleaned out the side of the barn for my dairy cow, had it all ready then hubby came home looked at the barn saw problems I didn't see.....so like usual my clean barn, get cow ended up so much more!

The roof of the lean-to had separated from the barn and was slowly falling in. Jim used the tractor to raise the roof up to reattach it then realized it was to far gone.

With the supports being lifted with the tractors help when he lowered it back down everything pulled loose and the roof came down.

Jim ended up having to push it over. Thank goodness for sweet nephews and daughter that came and helped me clean it all up.

Next Jim had to level the ground before we could add on the new lean-to, about this time I was feeling really good like it might just get done in time to still be able to get Chile (the dairy cow).

Before we could do that though the boards had to be replaced that pulled off when we pushed to lean-to over.

On weekend 4 we pulled out the big guns and my father in law came out. :) Jim and him framed it and added the roof, good thing we have a dust to dawn light in the yard or they would have been finishing it by moonlight and the moon was not full!
Now that we had it framed the next Saturday all we had left to do was put walls on both sides, door on the other and head catcher inside Then the next day to pick up our jersey.

That was 3 weeks ago and it has worked out so well! Jim made a cow milker so it only takes me on average 5 to 6 minute's to milk her twice a day but then I spend at least 3 hours a day making cheese, yogurt, butter etc from the milk. I made some junket the other day that everyone liked and Velveeta cheese that was also well received.