The Cows have arrived!

Well...it's finally happening!   After 4 years of blood....sweat.....tears and a  LOT of HARD WORK, our dream is coming to fruition!  On the 17th we had two beautiful Belted Galoway cows delivered to the farm.

We should be expecting calves from them both in the next couple of months.  These are such a docile breed.  We can walk right up to them out in the pasture and pet them.  I think they'll make great cows for our farm herd.

You might have noticed the electric fence that they are grazing close to.  We have chosen to use a rotational grazing system.  Our farm is broken up into 5 different paddocks.  The perimeter is standard 5 strand barbed wire fence.  The interior is diveded with the electric fence.  The cows are moved from pasture to pasture as the grass is eaten down.  This allows for newer more tender grass for the cows and should also help with some of the plants being eaten that they wouldn't normally eat.  Some weeds will be eaten when they are young and tender, but not when they get older and tougher.

It's spring and has been in our area for the last couple of weeks.  Last week we received about 3 inches of rain and the grass is showing it.  There is just more grass than those cows can possibly eat. 

We've also purchased 4 more cow/calf pairs as well as another pregnant cow and a bull.  They are to be delivered soon.  I just hope they are all as happy as the Galloways are!

Stay tuned....There's more to come!

MOVING TO THE FARM

Oh my Goodness!!!  It's HAPPENING!!!   WE ARE MOVING TO THE FARM!!!!!

Things have progressed a little faster than we had first anticipated.  We get to move to the farm!  So now comes the dreaded task of packing :(

As I begin this process of packing my life, I stop every so often to think of the things that I have that once belonged to someone I loved.   They have passed from this earth only to leave “things” behind.  But then again maybe not, since I am having wonderful memories of these people…..they have also left these behind.  These memories are for us to enjoy and keep us mindful of who we ourselves are.  We are not just here and now, but we all have a past.  Sometimes good and sometimes bad, but we are a collection of these things.  What we choose to do with these things is up to us.   I have chosen to make  an amalgamation.  I choose to take  all the good things, pile them all together and try to make myself the best person that I can.  Hopefully, any of those who have passed already would be proud of who I am and what I am doing with my life today.   I also hope that after I’m gone and my “things” are left behind, someone also holds them and remembers good memories of me.

Installing Cattle Waterers

Cattle Waterers

As part of putting this farm in to use for cattle, we needed to install three freeze proof waterers. We will

have electric fences separating the place in to five different paddocks as we are planning on utilizing

rotational grazing. That required a backhoe to come and dig the water line. It needs to be approximately

24" deep in our area as that is the freeze line.

First, in the country you've got to find out who has a backhoe

and when they can come. So, after asking around, a name comes up, you ask around about their

reputation and then you give them a call. You have to find out what they charge and if they can do the

job. Then find out when they can come and hopefully they show when they say they will. Before the

digging even started, we located a plastic pipe manufacturing facility that was fairly close (35 miles) and

spoke with them about purchasing 3000 feet of pipe. No problem....they have what we need. So we load

up in the wonderful green and white dump truck (that's another story) and head off to get our pipe. The lines all get dug

and now comes the part of laying out the pipe and gluing them together.  It also helps when you can get your son to come and help!!

 Everything works pretty

good...we have a few snags such as a few of the pipe pieces not fitting snugly enough together to make

a good seal. Somewhere in quality control, they missed these pieces. So....you cut them apart and

reapply the glue and move on down the line. Once the pipes are all laid and a riser attached, then

the insulated tube is dropped over your water pipe to insulate it from freezing.  This tube will meet up with the tank to form a good insulative barrier.


 

Then backfill....

It never hurts to have a dozer around to help with the process!   Work smarter not harder!


Now you're ready to

 build forms for the concrete that will be poured as a base for the waterers.   

After the concrete is dry, remove boards and set the tank in place.  These come with instructions so it's pretty easy.

We had 3 waterers so 3 forms were needed.  They were built to extend past the waterer a bit.

 This gives the cows

something to stand on and keeps the ground from getting muddy and nasty around it.  We had considered mixing our own concrete, but instead decided to call the local concrete company and have a

truck sent out.  We needed 3 yards and that was just too much for us to mix up on our own.  So, now…….concrete is set…..now comes setting the tanks.   The last thing to do after checking for leaks, is to fill in the lines.  That’s when that bulldozer came in real handy!!

First semester of senior year over and in-between seasons

Oh my....if anyone is still reading this, you're probably wondering if I've fallen off the face of the

earth.  Not to worry....I'm still here and have survived the first semester of my senior year in the Early

Education Program.  Whew....it's been busy this last several months.  I've been in a classroom

placement twice this semester for three weeks at a time.  During those placements, we have several

assignments and projects to keep us busy just in case we thought we were in charge of our lives and

time .....ha!   Then came the final two weeks of the semester....we were back in our classroom with our

instructors and then came the finals!  But you know what I realized after they were all done....those

should be the last finals I ever have to take as this next semester is interning and I don't know how you

could give a final over that...but I'd better not give anyone any ideas either!



Now I'm in-between seasons.  I just got finished washing one of my pumpkins that I had used for a fall

decoration.  Then I chunked up what would fit in the pressure cooker and it's doing it's thing right now.

 I hope y'all haven't wasted a good thing like that.  You can use it anywhere pumkin is called for in a

recipe or stir it into soups, cakes or cookie recipes to fortify them.  Pumpkin is one of the super foods!

See the little bowl off to the side.....be sure and save your seeds to replant for the next season.  Wash

them off and let them dry before storing them til spring.  I save old pill bottles to store seeds in.  You

can write on them with a permanent marker so you'll be sure to know what you have next spring!

After you've pressured the pumpkin about 15 minutes, check to see if it's soft enough to scrape from

the rind or peeling.  Scrape it all out and then store in plastic bags, jars or freezer boxes in the freezer.

Uhm um good!

Now that the Thanksgiving decorations are down.....I can begin the Christmas candy and cookie

productions!   Last night I dipped the bon-bons and have started the chocolate dipped ritz crakers with

peanut butter between them.  Tomorrow it will be the rolled sugar cookies and white chocolate dipped

chocolate sandwich cookies!

Long time, no post!

Sorry for being gone for so long!  School is taking a lot of time so far this semester.  This is week

number two of our first field placement.  I'm in a 3rd grade classroom from 7:45 til 2:30.  Then it's home

 to do a little work on one of 5 lesson plans we have to teach sometime during this placement, and work

on supper, clean a little house, maybe do a little laundry....you get the picture.  There just isn't enough

time in the day to get everything done!

But just keep watching....I'll be back!

Canadian Fishing Vacation

Every so often, after working hard for an extended time, we like to reward ourselves with a vacation.

 We're not beach people, so don't look for us there.  It's been extremely hot for an extended period of

time here where we live and we love to fish, so, where else, but Canada for us!   About 5 years ago, we

found a resort in Sioux Lookout, Ontario that we fell in love with.  We looked and searched around and

couldn't find anything any better again this time, so we made reservations once again at Fireside Lodge. 

Alan and Audrey have such a wonderful place and are such wonderful hosts!  Audrey is a wonderful

cook and we ate way too much good food and  Alan has all the info for the lakes so we caught a lot of

fish.  Another plus was it was cooler than at home.  Now don't think that it was coat weather, but at least

it was a good 25 degrees cooler than at home.  We wouldn't even be able to go out and fish at home, but

were able to stay out all day there on Vermillion lake.   We were hoping to be able to see a moose this

time, but they just didn't show themselves.  We were still though rewarded with the awesome beauty

of that area.  If you ever get the chance, be sure to travel there!

This is a picture of our last evening we got to fish.  We  had fished all day, then gone in for dinner. 

There is enough daylight to get about 3 hours of fishing in before dark, so we like to take advantage of

it.  After all, we did travel quite a ways!

The Story Goes On....Finding the Perfect Farm

Have you read the post   5 Pine Knoll: Continuation of story.  That would be a good place to start so that

today's post will make a little more sense.   Now  I want to tell you how we finally found the

"retirement farm".  After purchasing the 80 acres at Almartha, which is for sale now, we began the

search again for   the retirement farm.  
    
     We were always checking the internet, picking up the local real estate papers and reading the 

newspaper, looking for that perfect piece of property.  We found one that fit our requirements in the

size as it was 160 acres.  It was listed with a realty company and we made an appointment to go look

at it.  The real estate agent took us to the property and gave us the tour.  It was totally fenced and was

mostly pasture, which was good.  The bad was that it was on a highway, so you get the noise from the

traffic....not something we wanted to listen to the rest of our lives.  So the hunt was on again.  We

went down the highway to another real estate office and told the agent that greeted us what we were

looking for.  Low and behold, in his hand he had an refused offer on a piece he thought would be just

what we were looking for.  When we originally began the hunt again, and we had realized how far

away from the lake the other piece is, we added that as one of our necessities.  This time, I didn't even

ask how close this piece was to the lake, as it was getting pretty hard to find what we were looking

for.  As we drove up to the place, we could already see that it was pretty overgrown, but we can see   

past that....that's a problem that can be fixed.  The agent walked some of the property with us and tried

to point out the corners.   We were already pretty impressed....it was large enough...it was gently

rolling.....it was a mixture of woods and pasture, although very overgrown....it bordered the lake......it's

lookin' pretty good.  We thanked him and told him we'd be in touch.  We planned to come back the

next day and hike the property so we could get an up close and personal look at it.   We came back the

next day, hiked it and  found most of the corners.  It's not a straight edged piece of property as it

borders Bull Shoals Lake and the government take like or Corp property follows an elevation mark so

we have several zig zags and   lots of corners.  We made an offer and it was accepted....yeah!   Closing

happened about a month later and we were then the proud owners of 180 acres!  Now the work could

begin!