Sonlight Garden

Not your typical day

We were all set to have a productive day. I had started our morning routine and we were getting ready to hit the books. We wanted to get our school work done in time to join friends at my friend Mary’s house for an afternoon picnic and bon-fire and to visit our cow Rosie who had just calved a month ago. Mary has been keeping my cow Rosie for the last 14 months.

 Mary called me mid morning and said she had to cancel our plans. She sounded upset and I asked her what was wrong.  “ Maddie died last night.” she cried.

Maddie is one of Mary’s five Jersey cows, one of her best cows. She explained to me her night. Maddie came in for her pm milking with a swollen face and foaming at the mouth. She was up all night with her in the pasture by her house, trying to keep blankets on her to keep her warm. She tried different homeopathic remedies. She called the vet out twice. The vet thinks she ate a toxic weed.  Around 4am Maddie took off through the pasture, plowed through barbed wire fences and headed down to the wooded swamp on the far edge of their property.  They located her early in the morning. The poor thing had finally died. I feel so sad for Mary. You really form a bond with these animals. You work with them every day and they feed your family. You truly do appreciate them.

 Mary also wanted me to come and pick up Rosie. She was afraid the other cows may get into whatever she got into and she didn’t want another tragedy.  She also needed help. Maddie was in the woods and we had to get her out of the woods and onto a trailer. She wanted to bring the cow in for a necropsy to find out exactly what had happened to her. I loaded up the boys and we headed over there.  I am not going to go into the sad details of how we got the cow out of the woods, except to say that it was a huge challenge. When I walked in there, and saw where she was, I thought to myself, “this is going to be impossible”.  I am also going to say that I am so proud of my boys. Joe went right in there to help without a moment of hesitation. The maturity he showed blew me away. He is becoming quite the young man and he gets this whole farming lifestyle. He knows life and death.

Someone out there helping asked me how I knew these ladies. I smiled and said “through the cows” “us crazy cow ladies, we get addicted to these Jerseys and this lifestyle and we form a bond. We are there for each other.”

 So why am I writing about all of this? Well I always want to remember how Joe became a young man right before my eyes. I want to say how thankful I am for these friendships with these women. They are always there when you need them. Mary has taken my cows for me my last two pregnancies, without a moments hesitation.

 So now, instead of two Jerseys in the pasture I have four. Once again, we will set a knew schedule to our days as I set up a new milking routine with two cows.  I am thankful for these animals and how they provide for our family.

 

Randomness

I was going to post the Simple Woman's Daybook today, but there is going to be nothing simple about this week. We have a packed week with the doctor, dentist, meetings, grocery store, and practices. I really should be sitting here and writing out a master plan for the week or I will forget something.

 Well, the pigs are settling in. I think they are really obnoxious but I am getting used to them. There is literally no food waste in our house which is fantastic. That part I like. They have become our new watch dogs. Every time someone walks outside they start squealing and making pig noises, LOUDLY. The other night when we arrived home from trick-or-treating the kids said. "The pigs are sleeping. Everyone be quiet so they don't wake up".

 I have started separating Rosie and the calf at night because the calf has been taking all of the milk. the nerve! The minute Rosie senses any movement in the house she starts mooing away,  which then starts the other cows mooing. And they don't stop until they are fed. Then I step outside to do the morning chores and the pigs start "squeal, squeal, snort, snort" The horses then decide to join in. I have started singing "Old MacDonald" when I walk outside every morning. It really is quite comical. Ahhh it is so nice to be needed.

 The landscapers are almost done. We are putting up a picket fence around the garden beds to keep the dog out. It looks so pretty so far. Notice how I said dog and not dogs. Our Renegade died last week. He was one of CC's puppies from her first litter. He got into something toxic the vet believes. Unfortunately, we don't know what the something toxic was which is a little unsettling. The kids have now started asking when we can get another dog, but I don't think that is going to happen. One dog is just fine. Dogs don't get into as much trouble when there is only one.

 Well, I am going to get off of here and start my day. I am going to try and post before and after pictures of the garden beds this week. Have a great day!!

Appalachian Splash

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is Appalachian Splash. We are "looking" at Splash as a potential horse for us. She is 5 years old, half Arabian and half Paint. She is very sweet, with very nice ground manners. Very important with a lot of little children around.

 We are looking for another horse with the same type of personality as our horse Dixie. A horse that the girls can go and tack up and take on a trail ride all by themselves. Julia did this a couple of weeks ago and had a blast. Even Catherine our next "crazy about horses" girl  rode her. We'll see.

Our Newest Addition To The Farm

WARNING: GRAPHIC COW BIRTHING PICTURES!!

 Well we were getting ready to load up into the van last Thursday to get to our Dentist an hour away. We were twenty minutes ahead of schedule. (a small miracle for us) I get Amelia clicked in her seat, the rest of the children are starting to pile in the van. I glance over to the pasture just to see what Rosie is doing. She was acting a little different in the morning. Her udder wasn't HUGE but had looked a little bigger. Her tail looked as if it had flattened out a bit. I thought birth may be possible that day, but then again I have been saying that for the last month. Anywhoo, Rosie kept sniffing the ground and walking in circles. That was definitely different. I tell the kids that Rosie is going to deliver, We run over to the barn, Joe runs back to get the camera. I take the camera and go into the pasture with her to see how she is progressing. When I noticed the calves feet starting to come out I told the kids they could quietly come into the pasture with her. We were able to see the whole thing!! God is so good. I have been praying that we would be able to see Rosie give birth.

 Oh and the other cool thing. I was able to assist. Nothing major but I played a little part. When the calf came out it landed with it's head under it's body. It wasn't breathing and Rosie was not getting up to start to clean it off. I tossed my camera to the kids and ran over and lifted it's head out from under it's body. I pulled it's legs and drug her closer to Rosie and then nudged Rosie and said "Hello!! you are needed over here, I am not going to lick off your calf." I lifted the calves legs and saw little tiny teats! Yippee, a heifer (girl).  Rosie came to her senses, stood up and did her job. Daisy, our mini Jersey was there to offer support also. We then ran from the pasture, children climbed in the van, I ran inside and cleaned up and off we went. Oh, and we ended up being late for our appt. but it was so worth it. So here are some pics.

 

 

 

 

 

Puppies!!

Aren't they cute? Don't you want one or two or six? Our black lab CC had puppies again, with our neighbors Australian Shepard/Blue Heeler mix again. They are free to a good home. We kept a pup from her last litter and he is the sweetest dog. Oh, and speaking of her last litter, this will be her last litter. We have her appointment made to have her fixed. These pups really are a nice mix, and they have been handled from day one by children. They are great family dogs.

She Waits

Every morning as I open the blinds to my bedroom to greet the new day, I am met with her face staring back at me. She makes sure that I notice her by letting out a loud MOO. "Yes Rosie, I know you are waiting" I answer. She knows our routine. She knows I am going to open that blind every morning. She knows that I am going to be out soon to give her her hay and relieve her of her burden. It does not matter how long it takes me to get moving in the morning. I have to sit in the quiet and have that first cup of coffee. I sit and have my quiet time with God. I say my morning offering and ask the Blessed Mother to intercede for me as I start my day "Pray for me to be the Mother that you are, patient, kind, loving, Holy." Sometimes it takes me over an hour to get outside since I first opened the blind. But still, she waits by that fence until I come out the door with my coffee in one hand and a bucket in the other.

I like to think that she enjoys the rhythm of the morning as much as I do. It is predictable, it is constant. We can't take a day off. We have become friends this cow and I. I talk to her in the quiet of the morning, I milk her and she munches on her food, her eyes half open. She is content. I appreciate her for the milk she provides for my family. I do feel blessed to have this cow. I like to think that she appreciates me also........That is what I like to think. But in reality, I really think she just wants her bucket of food!

Our New Chicken Tractor and Some Advice

Here is the chickens new home. It is a portable chicken coop. The idea is to move it to a new area of pasture each day. The chickens spread out the manure, eat the bugs, and leave, ahem, fertilizer on the ground. In the end you have, healthier chickens, healthier eggs, and a healthier pasture. The boxes attached to the right of the coop are the nesting boxes. All you have to do is lift the lid and check for eggs. It is pretty cool.

And now for the advice. If you ever decide to move to a farm and you think "Now that I have all this land I am going to get a dog." And then if you think " Wow, those Labrador Retriever puppies are so cute and I heard they are very smart dogs, lets get one of those."  DON'T! Because it will inevitably eat your flock of chickens. They are bird dogs you now. And then when you have beautiful garden beds (like mine below) and the sprouts are coming up and you can just picture all of the beautiful vegetables you are going to put on the table. The cute, smart, Lab will dig up your garden beds. Not once, but twice. They like to dig you know.

Up next: Pretty, expensive, white vinyl picket fence to go around the beautiful garden beds to keep the cute, smart, dogs out. UUUGGGHHH!