Halter Skelter

A couple mornings ago I was up at 6 a.m. making coffee when I was surprised to see the neighbor dairy farmer ride into the yard on his 4-wheeler. He had come to tell us that our cow had gotten out of our fence--in fact was at their dairy farm. I woke up Cadence and we ran there to discover Lariat (our Dexter cow) running around the outside of the pen containing the young heifers. We weren't exactly sure how we were going to herd her home down the gravel road. Cadence ran back home to get a bucket with Lariat's favorite treats when Lariat suddenly bolted homeward. I stopped traffic on the road and used my instinctual herding technique to drive her toward the fence. It was a high adrenalin way to start the morning (no need for that coffee.) We realized then we really need to focus on getting the cows used to wearing a halter and walking on a lead.

Sara and Cadence had just begun putting a halter on Lariat and Reuben a few days earlier. Now, each evening they are doing halter work. Cadence is working with her Jersey steer, Reuben. He is growing so fast and he is so affectionate he needs to be well-mannered so he doesn't hurt anyone inadvertantly.

Sara is working with Lariat because she dreams of actually taming her enough too be able to milk her. Fortunately, Lariat is highly motivated by calf starter kibble.

Reuben balks a bit occasionally but doesn't seem to mind the halter much. He would follow you anywhere anyway.

Lariat follows the bucket of treats. She feels entitled to her evening treat and bawls crabbily if we are late with it.

Cadence ends the training session with a bit of grooming. Since Reuben doesn't have a mother to lick him clean, it is important we brush him regularly.

Sara discovered that Lariat also LOVES the young pampas grass, so she is using that as an incentive. She lets us pet her whole body now - even touch her udder- but doesn't like us to stroke her forehead the way you always see people pet horses. I suspect it will be quite some time before she allows us to milk her.

A Few Farm Blooms

We have color! Stuff is starting to bloom!
Last week at the Farmers Market I purchased a pretty begonia - called "Bonfire" - for a hanging basket in the hummingbird/butterfly garden bemeath the windmill. The farmer selling it assured me that hummingbirds and orioles find this plant irresistable. I haven't seen any hummingbird action at this begonia yet, though.
I found some of my favorite Victorian-looking snapdragons. This variety is called "Chantilly" and will be up to 48 inches tall.

The first Icelandic poppy is blooming by the patio.

Geraniums and chives I tucked under the windmill on impulse last fall are now flowering.

Nasturtiums may be my very favorite flower (I even had them on my wedding cake.) I couldn't resist buying this darling fringed variety when I found it at Sargent's nursery where I work. It's named "duckilicious" --I hope that doesn't mean our ducks will find it tasty!

Far Range Chickens

For some reason, one of our chicken tractors (we have two, each with 53 birds) became a very tough neighborhood. One day last week we lost a chicken who was pecked to death by a gang of peers. A few days two more were killed and Cadence rescued two in the nick of time who had been attacked, but not fatally.
Sara and Cadence mulled over the options and decided to let the chickens in that tractor loose to be totally free-range birds. Then, a pecked-on chicken would have a better chance of escaping his attackers. There would be a greater risk of losing a few to predators but that wouldn't be as bad as losing them to cannibalism It will be an interesting experiment to see which birds grow faster and fare better--those in the other chicken tractor or the totally free-range chickens.
The minute the chickens were let out, our older dog Nutmeg raced into the pasture and plopped down among them. She has turned into an amazing farm dog who takes her duty of watching over the chickens very seriously - even though she appears to be lying down on the job in this photo. Toward evening I went out to see how the chickens were doing and they had all settled in under the tree that fell over into our pasture during the big wind. Great chicken shelter! We needed an excuse to leave that tree there a while.

Buff Chicks

It is difficult to believe that next fall these twelve tiny chicks will be my new egg layers! They are Buff Orpington female chicks that I picked up on Friday at the Pine Island Feed store and that I chose because they are supposed to be very gentle, sweet, big hens who are great layers of brown eggs.
The chicken grower drives them up from Iowa so they don't have to go through the stress of being mailed. When I picked them up they were in a little box like a Happy Meal. As I carried the box out to the car, Cadence asked, "Want fries with that chicken?"
The chicks are currently living in my office in a small plastic swimming pool. Tomorrow I have to figure out a more secure home--they could jump out if they tried. So far, the dogs and cats seem to respect the chickens, ducks and geese as animals that are important to the people and that must not be bothered. So don't worry, Shamu (the cat in the corner) is just curious about the commotion in my office.

Something Fishy

My skyway mural is finished and I finally had a sunny day off work to take a few photos of it. The mural is part of Rochester's Art in the Sky project. Six artists painted murals in the downtown skyways. (A "skyway" is an enclosed walkway above the street - so wimpy people don't have to venture outside during Minnesota's freezing winter weather!) Tjis is the view from down below on the street.

My fish design was inspired by the morning walk I used to take along the Zumbro River in downtown Rochester before we moved to the farm. There are huge carp that live in the Zumbro and congregate by the little waterfall across from the Government Center in spring.

I have to admit, the carp don't really look very much like this (it's called artistic license.)

There is one brilliant golden fish among the ordinary drab carp - perhaps he was a pet goldfish that was released and grew to be wild and huge. You rarely catch a glimpse of him so every time I do see him I consider it a lucky omen.

I think what I like best about how the mural turned out is the shadow design it creates on the floor.

Lettuce Be Grateful

Tonight we made delicious BLTs starring the first lettuce from our garden - our very first garden produce. I can't wait until the BLTs also feature home-grown tomatoes!

Here are some of the lettuces in the garden. With rows of plants growing now, the garden is starting to look pretty. I promise to post a garden update soon.

Cadence has spent many hours hand-digging a trench along the fenceline where she intends to plant hills of the Three Sisters--corn with beans climbing up the stalks and squash winding underfoot, in the Native American tradition. Digging has been slow going in our heavy clay soil with dense pasture sod. Today we rented a rototiller ($30 for 2 hours) - a temperamental, unwieldy machine which Cadence cursed every step of the way, but we have to admit, it probably saved 8 hours of digging.
This evening Sara and Cadence drove to town to pick Rog up from work and get the groceries for our baking marathon for Saturday's Farmers Market. I stayed home to feed the cows and chickens and make dinner--but in the middle of my chores got a call that there had been an accident. While driving in Rochester rush hour in bumper-to-bumper traffic, the car ahead of ours stopped suddenly. Rog was barely able to stop in time, and the car behind was able to stop, but the next car plowed into everybody and created a 4-car pile-up. Our little Vibe was smashed front and back and appears to be totalled. This has been the perfect, hard-working little car for us and is my very favorite of all the cars we've ever had. Why couldn't it have happened to our battered old, ugly Contour instead? But, on the bright side, nobody in any of the cars in the pile-up was seriously hurt. We are very grateful for that.

Memorial Week Work

Life is running at full throttle these days! May has pretty much whizzed by, way too fast. I can't wait for those promised lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer. Since I can't seem to fit in regular blog posts, here are a few highlights from the past week.

The Dexter cows are becoming much more friendly. Lariat, the mom, allowed me to brush her--she is shedding and itchy and has been rubbing against the fence posts, so I know she actually enjoyed it. Lasso, the steer calf, now approaches me curiously and has let me pet his nose a few times.

Cadence cut down many armloads of dried pampas grass and hauled it into the barn for future use as animal bedding.
Sara ended her restaurant prep chef job. She is focusing on finishing her documentary film project and is thinking about doing some small town Farmers Markets.

Our Rochester Farmers Market stand has sold out every weekend. Seems like however much bread we make, it is gone by 10 a.m. We are definitely at capacity for what we can bake in our wood-fired clay oven and our inside oven, so Rog wants to build a bigger brick oven soon.
This weekend we found some wonderful fire-bricks for the new oven (through Craigslist) which Rog and Sara hauled home from Wisconsin in our little trailer. The bricks are so pretty, but will be used to create the interior arch of the oven, so you won't be able to see them.

Cadence has been testing out making various kinds of pasta to sell at the Farmer's market. We have enjoyed being forced to devour her tasty experiments.
On Tuesday, I spent 5 hours mowing the entire estate and afterward it was spectacular-the farm looked like a beautiful park. Then, two days later, dandelions sent up their seedheads everywhere and the estate was a sea of downy dandelion puffs. We don't want to use chemicals to control them--but Rog had a great brainstorm idea: to shop-vac them. It was a clever thought, but turned out to be not very practical for a 5-acre yard.
The ducks and geese are doing their part to control dandelions by feasting on them, but unfortunately they don't seem to like the seeds.
Sunday we filled up one of the kiddie pools and let the goslings swim for the first time. They had a splashing good pool party.
The granary continues to gradually be transformed into a rustic cabin. The next step is to install more windows...then wall insulation... flooring...doors on the north side... bathroom...kitchen...

Finally we had a perfect sunny, warm windless day that I didn't have to be at work and I was able to check on my bees. I have now mastered the use of the smoker -this very cool-looking tool that calms/distracts/confuses the bees while you intrude on their hive.

When you wave a bit of smoke over the open box, the bees retreat between the frames, some peeking out curiously. One at a time I took each frame out, covered with honeybees, and held it up to the light. I saw plenty of cell construction, stored pollen, nectar in all different jewel colors, and - best of all - baby bee larvae! The bees are busy dawn to dusk and seem content. I have been feeling confident enough to not wear gloves while handling the frames- so far, no stings.