the barn and inhabitants

 I am thankful for all the critters in my life. They are a blessing to work with and they keep me sane - most days!    

because my darling, you're getting a bargain

I love my sister, I really do, even when she gets annoyed with me because in my life it is so hard to make plans for pretty much anything. I'll admit, I've never been really good at planning or much of a planner but know that sometimes having a plan works and is a good thing, like getting out of debt, it's a great plan, and we're getting there. She's a planner to the nth degree, I respect that, I get it, but even when I try to make a plan it's likely to be unattainable, for example the past 24 hours... grab a cup of your favorite beverage and settle in, you're in for a wild ride!

We were all set to head out the door to go to the feed store, grocery store, errands and to pay some bills yesterday afternoon when Andrew ran to the bathroom with a bout of "intestinal distress" so we decided to forgo the trip to town and stay near the toilet, er I mean home. Not a huge deal right? I decided I could just go tomorrow and it wouldn't really be an issue, so that's what I planned to do. At some point during the afternoon I think to myself, 'It's been a while since I did any knitting, I should try to finish up that second sock tonight.' I'd been reading and getting some things that needed being done on the computer which is much easier to do with the new laptop I might add, which hadn't left a lot of time for knitting so I planned to get to that after dinner and evening barn chores. When we got the the chicken coop we found a hen in obvious distress. She was separated from the rest of the flock and very droopy. I scooped her up and brought her into the house. I noticed she was as light as a feather; quite literally, and set her in a cat carrier until I finished the barn chores and could get to her. When I came back in I palpated her abdomen to see if she was egg bound but quickly discovered that was not the case. Leghorns; as she was, are not known for being especially winter hardy for this area, but it's not unheard of to have them in a laying flock here and we have two others that are doing just fine. I whipped up a batch of the only thing I could think of to get into her; warm water, sugar and a dash of salt, which is what I'd had success with in the past with a couple chicks we almost lost. I also made a batch of warm oatmeal, chopped apples, flax seed and apple cider vinegar. I'd read recently in a Mother Earth email where that worked for another flock keeper especially with the colder temps we've had recently, I figured I'd give it a try. So when the oatmeal was ready and cooling I took an eyedropper and tried to get a bit of warm sugar water into her as she would not drink it on her own. She was not interested in the oatmeal either.

Some may say I spoil my animals, and to that I say, "Well, that may be how you feel and that's fine, but as a caretaker of creation I feel it's my job to do what I can for the animals entrusted to my care. Besides, they spoil me with fresh eggs every day!" My gut told me that we would lose this poor girl but still I tried, sliding my fingernail against her beak to open her mouth and get the liquid into her, she swallowed, opened her eyes, looked at me and shut them again. Several times we did this but it was no use, she passed sometime in the night. I stayed up with her for a while and had her wrapped in a towel to help keep her warm. Needless to say, I did not get to the knitting last night.

When I woke up this morning I checked in on her and found her gone and felt sad because I couldn't 'fix it.' Later I headed out to the barn for morning chores, rolled back the door, looked down and saw water, quickly thinking it was strange to see that there as it hadn't started thawing yet, then looked down the rest of the isle and was devastated! The pipe had burst in the barn and was spewing water everywhere and obviously had been for sometime! It's an odd time for the pipe to have burst as we've not been using it since sometime in December, but it happened and now I had to deal with the issue now at hand. I ran back into the house and shut off the main water supply as it was the only one I knew where it was, I looked around for the barn shut off and could not locate it then went back to the barn to survey the damage come up with a plan.

Garlic peeking his head inside the barn trying to figure out what happened and why it is interfering with his breakfast! The center isle of the barn was completely flooded as were all the stalls! Standing water mid calf deep in some places!
At some point I went back into the house and called Ron, not expecting him to wave a magic wand from his office to make it all better, but just to have him listen for a minute, I was stressed! (Afterward I felt like an idiot for calling him at work because I didn't want him -or anybody for that matter- to think I couldn't handle this...) Then I quickly called my mom because I needed to laugh about this, before I cried. I detest crying! We had a good chuckle too!

I fed the animals outside in the paddocks instead of the stalls and once they were fed they seemed not so worried about the whole flooded barn thing. Then the kids and I grabbed buckets and started bailing the water out bucketful by bucketful.

As much as I miss Hyacinth I'm so glad that she was not here for this, I cannot imagine how horrible it would have been for her to have had to deal with this! It was at that point I realized the grace and mercy I was seeing and that was the beginning of my thankfulness. I was thankful Hyacinth was not here, she would not have been able to escape the rising water the way the other goats did. I was thankful I hadn't thrown hay down from the loft last night like I needed to. I was thankful I hadn't made it to the feed store and had had bags of beet pulp, grain and alfalfa cubes that would have been ruined. I'm glad the other goats had deep bedding that made an island type situation to keep them out of the water. I'm thankful if wasn't more water that had spewed out. I'm thankful I'd put a raised floor in the chicken coop instead of them being on the dirt floor where they may have drowned if they hadn't been able to get up to the perches. I'm thankful for the flat edged cat litter buckets which made bailing the barn easier. I'm thankful that I'd purchased a new muck bucket a few weeks ago so we could throw all the soaking wet hay into and lug it out easier; the metal one we used to have rusted out a while ago, and for the new muck fork Ron gave me for Christmas. Thankful for the tall rubber boots all three of us had so we could work and not have soaked feet. Thankful for the thin wool socks I'd knit last year to wear in those boots! Thankful that it wasn't a barn fire, just some flooding!

I was feeling so blessed that I was not expected at a j.o.b. somewhere and could deal with this situation and not feel like I might loose that j.o.b. because of it. Thankful that I had the kids to help me get the barn bailed out. I was thankful for so many things today and saw the mercy of God and His protection in all of this.

How does that saying go, 'work at doing something you love and you'll never work a day in your life.' or something like that. I don't know who said it but it's very apropos to today. We were in the barn cleaning up from the flooding for most of the day, and though it wasn't the most fun task I've had to do on the farm it didn't seem like work either. Andrew loved it though! It also got me thinking about small farmers, like myself (some people may not consider me a farmer and I'm ok with that, I've never lived my life by someone else's definition and I have no intention of starting now. Incidentally I believe these people would also say I'm spoiling my chickens.). Thinking how much of what we as farmers do is a labor of love and how we choose to live this life because we cannot imagine doing anything else or want to do anything else. How many people do you know would want or choose to spend a day in March (read really cold day) in Maine bailing out a barn that is completely flooded? How many would feel happy doing it because it means you are exactly where you were meant to be and doing something you love and cannot fathom doing anything else? See what I mean, a labor of love? I'm so thankful that I do not have to do Ron's job, I've peeked over his shoulder a couple time when he works from home, he's tried to explain what he's doing and mercifully stops when I start twitching and I shudder to think about having to do that. I'm so glad he enjoys his job and loves doing it but am thankful I do not have to do it, on the same hand I think he's glad he does not have to do mine.

I was watching a news clip recently about the struggling dairy farmers here in Maine and one farmer was interviewed and talked about how he didn't think that many people knew how little farmers make, what they actually live on. He said his farm yearly took in over $750,000.00 but netted around $20,000.00 that's what he and his family live on. Would you choose that? What would you do if you had to live on that or provide your own food? Would you consider paying a higher price for a gallon of milk, a pound of bacon, or an ear of corn a bargain of it meant you didn't have to invest your time in it? Why should a farmer (or soldier for that matter) work so hard and have to live on so little? What is the cost of that bargain? I am fortunate that Ron's job is what we live on and it has good benefits but I would like to get to the point of... well honestly I'm not sure, just further along that where I am with the farm currently.

Ron surprised me midday by coming home to help and with the help of a water pump he just picked up at Tractor Supply. I mentioned above that I think he's glad he doesn't have to do my job, farming is not 'his thing' which made his effort and willingness to help even more appreciated. His damsel was in distress and he was on his way. He changed out of his work clothes and put on some clothes to work in. Took the pump out of the car, read the instructions and lugged it to the barn to fire it up. Ron is a rule follower, me not so much, which makes the fact that the pump would not stay on even more frustrating, he followed the instructions to a t and every time he got it started and it was sucking water it would just die. Needless to say it'll be returned tomorrow. So I continued to use the buckets to bail the water out, knowing the weather was to turn very cold tonight, like -2! I had to get it done.

And we did! Then I decided to figure out what happened, which is when I discovered the burst pipe. (no idea why this is suddenly underlining itself.)

The barn water hose after the heat tape (which had stopped working), insulation and (burst) pipe were removed. It was tough because the temperature was dropping and everything was all wet which made our fingers freezing cold! I'd been through three pairs of gloves already! Ron and I muscled the old pipe off so I could take it to the local hardware store to get a replacement, because if we didn't get this fixed we had no water in the house until we could get a plumber out here to fix it!
Ron put the new pipe back on and I wrapped the heat tape around it and insulated it and we were good to go, hopefully not have to deal with this again for a while, or at least until we get a frost free hydrant!
We came in from the barn, thawed slightly and I cooked a huge pot of quinoa, stir-fried some veggies to add to it and looked forward to eating it. On one of the trips inside to the bathroom, or to get a drink, to warm up or something today, I ran to the basement, grabbed a frozen chicken from the freezer and stuck it in the crock-pot with a little water and an onion. It wasn't fancy, or the best thing I've ever made, but it was warm and there were a few other things that needed some serious attention.

So there you have it, another day in the life of this small farm farmer. A day for me that is not really unlike any other day really. I didn't go looking for a handout, grant, bailout, subsidy or any other 'out,' most small farmers I know don't. We just do what needs doing because it needs doing; so please remember that next time you're at a farmers market, joining a CSA, or stopping at a farm stand. The farmer may sell eggs for 4.00 a dozen or a pound of meat may very well be 7.00, the CSA share might run a couple hundred dollars and there is a reason for it. The reason is my darling, you're getting a bargain!

reputation

*Isn't this picture tranquil?

I read a sign once regarding a good reputation - hard to earn, easy to lose. I don't know who said it, but it stuck with me. It's one of those things you just cannot argue with, like fact. Which leads me to what I'm thankful for tonight, I'm thankful for the reputation I have and by that I mean all of it. The good the bad and the ugly. I've got a reputation for being a straight shooter, not one who dances around and sugar coats things, impulsive, a hard worker, quick tempered, good in crisis situations, not always patient, refined, somebody who flies by the seat of my pants, a lover of animals and orphans, and others I may or may not know about. The reputation I'm talking about tonight is the animal lover part of me. Since September I've been asked to take in 5 alpacas, 1 horse, 3 ducks, 2 dogs, 1 cat, 5 goats and a Beta fish. Some might see this as having a reputation of being a sucker, I look at it as a blessing. (Did you hear that? Ron's head just exploded!) Lots of the animals here at From the Country Farm have come here as rescues of some sort or at one time or another. I consider it a blessing for two reasons; one being that I'm seen as a good steward or caretaker of Creation and two because most of the animals that I've been blessed with have something I can use to help pay to take care of them. (Garlic does not nor do I expect him to pay his own way, it is not possible to put a price on what he gives me.) I love working with textiles and natural fibers and creating things and what have I been blessed with, a milking goat to make soap, cheese, butter, ice cream and milk. Two fiber producing goats to make yarn with, a llama and 5 alpacas that have such wonderful fleece to make into even more yarn which I can sell to help with the cost of their care!

I am thankful for all of it, the reputation I have and the blessings I've received because of it.

that's a lot of feet!

Yesterday I looked out into the field and thought "Wow! That's a lot of feet!" I counted and between all these feet, the cat, dogs, laying hens, pigs, kids and I there were 102!

big numbers

I was doing barn chores last night and did a head count, realizing that when the turkeys get here next month we'll be at 90 animals that I'm responsible for. My head swam for a minute, I'll be honest. I now that number will be greatly reduced around the 4th of July, then again in October, after the turkeys and pigs are "harvested," but still 90 animals all at once is a lot to take care of. I have been so blessed with all of them and I feel great knowing that the freezer will be full and it's good homegrown food that we raised right here on the farm. Each animal that will be harvested will have been allowed to experience grass, sunlight and fresh air. The chickens will have been allowed to be a chicken and scratch and peck with toes and beaks intact. The turkeys too. Pigs will be rooting around in the dirt feeling the cool earth against their bodies instead of biting tails off other pigs out of boredom and frustration smashed into a concrete pen. Yes, it'll be sad to see them go but so rewarding at the same time, knowing I worked with nature instead of against it, and to me that feels right.

While I know scooping out feed and hay to my 90 animals makes for a large grain bill; however, while at the barn where the kids are working with their 4-H dairy cows that subject came up. I was thankful that my feed bill is small compared to having to feed 80 THOUSAND POUNDS of feed every day. WOW! BIG numbers!

Mom calls them hay burners....

.....I call them black gold makers!

This is some of the compost that I just pulled from our pile. I've put some in the raised potato bed. I planted 1 lb. 12 oz of seed potatoes, wonder how many pounds I'll harvest later.

Buds

They just seem to "get"each other.

*The kids want to change her name to Holly Holstein because they think her face looks like a Holstein. I have an idea that Andrew had cow's on the brain, again.

You know you're a farmer when...

...you purchase clothes that will easily disguise the color of dirt and horse poo. In fact it is many times a prerequisite, it's not style, fashion or necessarily modern, which by the way I've never been into, I'm a functional, comfortable gal and if it's stylish or trendy, well it was just a coincidence! When I consider a purchase it's hummmm, it's comfortable, affordable, functional and bonus I can wear it in the barn! It's got large/deep pockets for carrying hand tools or eggs in and hay won't stick to it. Case in point, today my sister and I were in town for errands and a bit of shopping and went to a store where vests were offered for sale. I'd been thinking that I might like a vest and saw a plaid one on the rack, I tried it on and put the hood up, uh no way, faux fur and colors that were clearly not going to work for me. Mental note, when my sister says it looks nice remove garment and immediately walk away is apparently to her 'looks nice' means I look like a lunatic! Moving along, I saw a red one, tried it on and thought it might work in a different size, my sister said they also had blue, blue is usually a good color for me. Well not this blue! Wow! So I walked over to the rack and saw black, gray, green and the red and blue that I'd already tried on, then I spied the brown, off the rack and into the cart it went. Knowing full well that I'd be able to hide the dirt and manure that comes along with owning animals.

Blackberry - after shearing

He was SO happy to get his wool off, I think he felt like a new man! Er, well a new goat at least!

Meet the Cast - Blackberry

Blackberry, because when he's in full wool he looks like a blackberry or so the kids think.... He came to From the Country Farm as part of a package deal with Strawberry. He's a Pygora (a cross between a pygmy and an angora) wether and yes, his fiber spins like a dream!! When he first arrived he just stood in the corner of the barn and shook, he was so freaked out, he was in his 4th home and he's only 1 1/2 years old. I was told that he'd not been handled much by any of the previous owners (because of time constraints and his young age) and thought it was unfortunate given the fact that he's adorable as all get out and people want to touch him. We took it slow with him, we figured we had time, he's not going anywhere. we started out by going out to the barn and just sitting in the stall with him one at a time. Strawberry was fine, she's kind of nosey and an in your face type of gal, if you let her. Many times we'd just sit for a few minutes and avoided eye contact while he shook(he's a prey animal and did not want him to think we were going to eat him, we're vegetarians!), as the time that he shook got less and less, we could start talking to each other and to the goats and he really started warming up to us. This summer in fact he's started approaching us if we're outside and sometimes even follows us around like a dog! In fact he was so comfortable with a friend of ours that he walked right up to her and checked her out! He's come a long way and I'm so happy he's comfortable around us now. It was so upsetting to inadvertently be the cause of stress to him. I mentioned in a post about watching chickens run being very amusing, well when Blackberry (or B for short) runs it is equally amusing. He'll run and kick up his heels and toss his head like he's... I just cant think of an appropriate term other than to say ...like he's B.

Meet the Cast - Strawberry

Strawberry as she has come to be called, (well in all fairness she had that name even before we ever thought about getting goats,) is a purebred Nubian doe. Andrew again, he started saying shortly after we got Coreah that he wanted to live on a farm and have a goat named Strawberry and a pig named Scramble. (We had a pig for a short while and let me tell you, I do not see any in the near future, but that's a story for another day.) She belonged to my sister for a short while but she decided not to keep her as she wouldn't stay behind their fence, knowing what we have for fencing and all she asked if we'd like her, one catch, she was part of a herd that could not be seperated, she had a buddy, a little pygora wether that was part of the deal. I talked to my saint of a husband we decided we'd try it. So December 26th 08 they came to live at From the Country Farm. I really didn't think it would be an issue with all the herd animals getting along seeing at they are all herd animals anyhow. They all blended together nicely. FYI she stays behind our fencing... ours 'bites' a bit more than my sisters did.

Meet the Cast - The Golden Girls

Other than lots of poo, our farm was not producing much; one shearing from a llama cria is nothing to write home about. (I did though, as it was exciting for us.) The garden was at fledgling stage having just been planted, it would be a while before we were eating from it. So we opted for some laying hens. Well, technically day old chicks would be more accurate. I like options so to have choices as to what we could get was thrilling. I had raised and shown poultry in 4-H as a kid but what I had had been given to me so this was very exciting. I let the kids pick out 2 chicks each, thinking I'd cover the bases in case something happened to one of theirs... you know..... I figured they'd pick two of the same, (silly me) they are my kids, they like options too. Faith chose a New Hampshire and a Silver Laced Wyandotte, Andrew chose a Light Brahma and a Rhode Island Red. My niece also chose a Light Brahma, but it would live at Twistie's farm because their hens wouldn't accept it into their flock. Rounding out the flock includes a Buff Orpington, Golden Laced Wyandottes, Black Astrolorps, Barred Rocks, and an Araucana, for a total of 12. To make a long story short we do not have the Light Brahmas, we got the Araucanas instead, due to a mix up at the feed store..... I say Araucanas, but we are down to just one, the other turned out to be a rooster and has since been dispatched. My son was heartbroken, and we'll leave it at that. I call the flock as a whole 'The Golden Girls', but they are each named individually, we have Sophia, Dorothy, Blanche, Rose, Knit, Purl, Gimp, Screech, Queenie, Merrily, Queen Hatshepsut, and Little Mouse. (FYI the rooster was named King Tutankhamen even before we knew he was a rooster! That'll teach us!) For over a year now we've been producing our own farm fresh free range eggs! The yolks stand up SO tall and proud and the color is almost an orange-ish yellow, far superior to those supermarket eggs in my opinion. Talk about local!

(On a side note: cage free does not always mean not-confined, <-my soap box for today!)

In addition to eggs, the girls provide us with entertainment, you have not see funny until you've seen a chicken run! They are also great recyclers, they turn kitchen scraps into delicious eggs! Yum!

Meet the Cast - Dakota

Meet Dakota, Garlic's buddy. The first winter we had Garlic seemed like it would drag on forever, and I think he felt that way too. We had SO much snow and ice that it felt like at any moment we'd start seeing polar bears! That said, I think Garlic would have welcomed the company, he seemed really sad and lonely, spending days in his stall with only his head poking out as if to say 'Damn, it's still here!' Wishing it away did not work for either of us. So in the spring we added a llama to our farm. Dakota (named by my daughter after a horse she dearly loves at another barn) was smitten with Garlic and I thought the feeling would be returned, it was not. Garlic could have cared less for Dakota, he was not the least bit interested in making friends, eventually Dakota's persistence paid off and now when I take Garlic out for a ride he'll whinny back to the barn for his friend.

Meet the Cast - Garlic

We moved in, got settled, ok, now what? Empty barn?? Seriously!? NO way! So the search was on for a horse, I knew what I wanted and what I didn't, much to my delight when I was perusing the online ads I found what I wanted, a young paint mare in foal, green broke (read in this case - wild as parts of Africa.) Had the vet come out to do a pre-purchase exam on her, (she was not in foal after all, but continued anyway.) found some issues, but that did not deter me, my mind was made up. I felt feeling pretty excited about it all. Through divine intervention I ended up stopping at a local horse dealer/tack shop/feed store to pick something up for my sister on the way to her house one afternoon. Knowing that we were looking for a horse but not knowing that I'd already decided on the paint mare the kids mentioned to an employee we were looking for a horse. For reasons I'll never know he took us out back, to the place where they kept the horses that were not for public view, aka 'the skinny pen' to show us a couple horses, I went along out of sheer curiosity. He brought up two horses that were clearly in need of some groceries and lots of tlc, an Appy mare and a Quarter Horse gelding who'd both seen better days. The Appy was beautiful, but too small for me to feel comfortable riding. The Quarter Horse was is worse condition, it was May and he was still in most of his winter coat and despite that you could easily see his ribs and hip bones. In my head I thought he looked like a geriatric bag of bones; the poor thing looked pathetic but had very kind eyes and I felt bad that another human being would let him get into this condition. The four of us talked a bit, my 2 children, the employee and I, but I knew that I'd already decided on the paint mare so we left. I felt a tug on my heart strings for this poor animal, knowing I just wanted to take him home and care for him, make him well. This image of him and the hold he had on my heart would not fade, so the following week I 'found a reason' to stop in again, though it was over an hour drive from our home. I inquired about that poor horse and was taken to see him, he'd been moved to a new pasture but still skinny. The employee told us that he remembered us and hoped that we'd come back and it felt like an honest statement. I knew instantly when I saw him that I could not leave him there, so I went into the store to purchase him and have them deliver him the following day. No history, no pre-purchase exam, nothing, just pure faith and the belief that it was the right thing to do. I drove home feeling more like a child on Christmas eve waiting with anticipation you can feel all the way to your toes than an adult who'd just taken on a huge responsibility. I grinned like an idiot for days!

He was delivered early the next morning and I'm sure the guy who dropped him off drove away from our home laughed all the way to the bank but what they did not know what that I was the lucky one as they had just sold me solid gold at rock bottom prices! My life changed forever that day. You see when I was a little girl I had drawn a picture of a bay horse with a blue halter standing in a stall inside a red barn with white X's on the doors and at that moment that is what I had. At the place where I bought him he just had a yellow livestock tag around his neck but when he was loaded that morning they grabbed a blue halter and that what he came home wearing. You see dreams really do come true.

Meet the Cast - Harley

So I kind of feel about dogs like Lay's feels about their potato chips...you can't have just one. That's how we ended up with Harley, our Boxer. She and Coreah were fast friends and played very well together.

Seeing we lived within city limits at the time, we were not allowed to have any livestock, so the dogs were the beginning. My husband was hired by a company far enough away from our first home to cause us to move, much to our delight! When discussing our new home his requests were a garage and high speed internet; mine were different, I wanted land and a barn. After many months of looking we were about to throw in the towel and settle on a house that had a few of the things we wanted. In fact the day we were going to make an offer on another house is the day this house found us and we made an offer on it that night. We'd have moved in that night too if it hadn't been for all the official paperwork and all. We'd found it, land with a barn, garage, high speed internet and it came with a house as well! (To be quite honest, it was the land and barn what we bought, the house was just an added bonus.) My husband says he did not have a list of things that he wanted in a house but this house was it as soon as he saw it. My mom loves architecture and rode shotgun with me while we were house hunting all those months, so needless to say she came with us to see this house. As we drove in the driveway she said "welcome home." I knew right then I was home. Getting out of the car and walking through the barn and around the property brought me to tears; this is truly one of my childhood dreams come true. My family was blessed to have found this property, in ways that I simply cannot put into words.

Meet the Cast - Coreah

How'd we get here from there? Well, my son Andrew popped the bedroom door open one morning and said, "Mommy I need a puppy!" We got one a few months later. An American Bulldog whom he named Coreah. It was his version of a character of Veggie Tales, but he was only 3 years old at the time. It was hard to say no to those big squishy cheeks at the time, but I digress.

We got Coreah when she was 4 months old, what a tank even at that stage. Here she is in all her glory at almost two. Watching over 'her' kids of whom she is fiercely protective.