Wordless Wednesday: In the Heat of Summer

Calf and Tomato Update

The new bull calf (three days old) is healthy and adorable.  Mostly all he does so far is sleep and eat, but he is cute doing both.  Tonight,  it cooled off a little bit after a miserably hot day, and he was quite spunky, racing up and down the compost pile and  making his poor mom follow him all over the pasture.  He is not  so wobbly any more, leaping and bucking and  racing back and forth around his mom.

Lariat has a long-suffering mom expression  on her face as he nurses.  Her back teats are still very swollen and probably pretty uncomfortable. I have been giving her raspberry leaves to help reduce swelling.  Yesterday evening, I  let the  big cows in the pasture with her and the calf. It was a bit scary at first -  they were rather rowdy, pushing in to see him.  Lariat made herself a body guard and tried not to let them too close.

After supper I realized I hadn't seen Lariat near the cow fountain, so I took her a 5-gallon bucket of cool water and she emptied it in one big slurp. I guess she was too concerned about protecting her calf to get a drink. So, I have been taking her buckets of water and bits of hay and grain to make sure she is getting enough sustenance.  Tonight she brought her calf into the middle pasture with the other big cows, and she drank at the fountain, so everyone must be settling in with the new member of the herd.

Today my key farming goals were  doting on the cows and staking the tomatoes.  I am both proud of and embarrassed by the tomatoes, which had  become an impenetrable jungle in the high tunnel. I had no idea they would grow so huge so fast!  Many of them are much taller than I, possibly over 8 feet if stretched out.  I don't know whether to blame the  thick layer of compost or the occasional fertilizing with excess raw milk.  This is the "before" photo.  My goal was to forge a path between the two rows of tomatoes.

There are so many big, beautiful tomatoes coming!!  When I planted them I drew a map of which of the 8 varieties I planted where, but now they are so tangled together I will have to wait for them to ripen to figure out what most of them are.

My new favorite garden supply is  velcro tomato tie tape.  (you can see  wrapped it around a vine toward the bottom left of the photo.) It is soft so it doesn't  cut into the tomato stem, yet strong. You can cut it to whatever length you need and it can be repositioned.   I worked my way down the center aisle of the tomatoes for two hours, pinning up the unruly  vines and  pinching off the suckers.  It was SO HOT and sweaty in there -- a 90+ humid day, and then add in at least 10 degrees for the greenhouse effect.

While staking, I found the first two full-sized tomatoes of the season ripe and ready to  harvest (probably "Earliana.") We ate them for supper tonight, in BLT sandwiches made with Rog's wood-fired sourdough bread, homemade butter and dark red leaf lettuce from the garden.  Oh, yum!!

The "after" photo.  I ran out of velcro and didn't quite make it to the end of the row, but now the high tunnel is nearly navigable. I also discovered a huge clutch of chicken eggs hidden in the dense tomato jungle.  Dang chickens!  Tomorrow I must poultry-proof the high tunnel so they do not destroy our tomatoes!

You wouldn't think staking tomatoes would be such dirty work.  It's actually not dirt, but  a stain from the tomato plants.  I have now scrubbed my hands with soap and a hand brush several times, and taken a shower and washed my hair, yet my hands still look pretty dirty tonight.  Guess it will have to wear off.

Our New Baby Arrives!

Midafternoon yesterday I went out to check on Lariat, who was about a week overdue to have her calf, and she was standing off by herself. I gave everybody a bit of hay and she did not join in to eat it--that was a sure sign labor had begun; she is such a chowhound.

I checked on her every  15 minutes or so, and finally, when the  hooves appeared, I relaxed a bit--the calf  was positioned properly for a normal birth.  Lariat bellowed with every contraction, standing, laying down, trying to get comfortable.  This stage with just the hooves born went on for a very long time.  I was getting nervous about it taking too long but then I recalled with both Lariat and LaFonda's last calves this stage seemed to go on forever, so I had left for a moment and came back and found the calves had been born and I had missed it!

Between contractions Lariat was nibbling at the leaves on a branch, so I pulled a few wild raspberry leaves from over the fence and she gobbled them down. Raspberry leaves are supposed to be good to prevent  engorgement of the udder, so I ran across the pasture to the garden and picked a few stems of raspberry leaves from the garden for her.

I could not have been gone for more than two minutes at most, but when I returned, there was the calf in a slippery mound on the ground. Missed it again! His body was a tangle and  his head bent back, so I straightened him out and saw he was a bull calf and was breathing.

Lariat spent along time cleaning him off. Meanwhile, all the other cows were mooing and thunder was rumbling --a storm was brewing. 

I was very anxious for him to stand up and take his first drink so we could move them into shelter before the rain started. 

Proud mom proclaiming her accomplishment!
I don't have any photos of the next part, the stressful part. Right after this photo, heavy rain began to pelt us. All the other cows were closed in the middle pasture, so we  barricaded their entrance into the loafing shed. I hefted the calf and ran to the shed, Lariat trotting beside me mooing. We got the cow and calf in and closed the gate so the other bovines couldn't enter.  Everything seemed to be going relatively smoothly as I got hay and water for Lariat and tried to get the calf to nurse, until the other cows decided they wanted in to check out the new member of the herd.

Somehow LaFonda stuck her head through the  narrow gap between the gate and the barn and then she barged her way in, pulling the gate hardware out of the wall. Suddenly, all the cows were in the  shed, crowding around Lariat and her calf,  Lariat whirling around to stay between  him and all of them - I was so worried he would get stepped on by somebody and was trying to push the big cows away. Plus,  to heighten the drama, it was lightning, thundering, pouring and hailing. Even if I tried to lure the other cows out with treats or grain, there was no way they were going out into that weather.  The calf hadn't nursed yet and it had been almost two hours since he was born, so I was also getting panicky about that. I had been trying to maneuver the calf to the teats, but Lariat wouldn't let him back there. Now with the chaos of the storm and cows and the baby being so worn out from trying, it seemed hopeless.
I tucked the calf in a corner to protect him from being trampled and ran  through rain to get stored colostrum out of the freezer, a calf bottle out of the barn,  start thawing it (why did I freeze it in a big   gallon block?!) and post my problem on the family cow message board. Within moments, several people responded that I needed to get mom and baby away from the other cows and try not to worry that he hadn't eaten yet.

Rog suggested we move her to the milking parlor, the only other cow-secure space we have, but Lariat had never been in there and I wasn't sure she would enter the barn., I scooped up the baby and carried him through the rain to the stall and Lariat  trotted closely beside me, entering with no problem.

Lariat has never been hand milked and usually  does not allow me to touch her udder, but she allowed me to get a stream, and I introduced the baby to the taste of  milk on my fingers. Within a few minutes he was  drinking, not very efficiently  but I could tell from his glugging sounds that he was swallowing some. And his tail was wagging furiously.
It was 10 p.m. when I went in to take a much-needed shower and eat some supper.

This morning we had to move them out of the  stall so I could milk LaFonda, but all that rigamarole went smoothly and Lariat and the calf are now settled back in the stall for a quiet day.

The calf is so cute --looks just like his big sister, Jitterbug. Now we need to come up with a name...Storm? Thor? Or, keeping with the dance theme,  Charleston?  He's so  black and shiny--Licorice? Suggestions welcome.

Wordless Wednesday: July Prairie Walk

Gadzooks!

Each of the past few weeks my CSA members have been getting a couple of baby zucchinis in their boxes. Last week I decided to leave a few zukes to grow full-size. Whoa -- that may have been a mistake.  We now have humongous zucchinis, which I call GadZukes.

I left the CSA members a note telling them that this was the last week for raspberries and  French Green beans, the yellow banana peppers are very HOT, and the holes in the kale are to prove it is organically grown.  Then it stated that they are required to select a zucchini to go with their box. That will teach the last person to dawdle; he or she will probably get stuck with the gigantic club-sized GadZuke.  On the bright side, it will make a lot of zucchini bread.

It is a pretty sweet CSA box this week, if I do say so myself:  Lacinato kale,  fresh garlic, onions, banana pepper, raspberries, haricot vert, and a very generous zucchini.

It has been so hot the chickens are slacking off and I did not have quite enough eggs for the egg shares. Our  dear neighbors Betsy and Don also raise chickens with the same farming philosophy and they came to my rescue so nobody would be shorted. I am sure the CSA members won't be able to tell any difference....but if you DO get a funny-looking egg, it must have come from one of Betsy's chickens!  :)

Feeling of Accomplishment

Yesterday Rog and I worked every which direction around the farm and accomplished much.  The miserable heat spell had broken with cool, dry Canadian air blowing in during the night and I actually had goosebumps going out to do the chores - not that it was cold, but the 35-degree temperature drop was such a drastic, welcome change.

The cooler temps  energized us and we worked happily all day. Here are some of the things we checked off our To Do list:

Rog got up early (he is a true farmer now, starting farm work at 5:30 a.m. to beat the heat) and installed the windows on the garden shed. They are just inexpensive barn sashes but he made them double hung and openable.  I spent most of the day priming and painting the windows and the shed. It is looking so adorable!   Now I can make the mosaic arched windows and it needs trim above the arches, a door, and the porch. Then plant the flowers around it.

Our wonderful garden volunteer Lynn weeded out the old  beds where the peas and volunteer squashes had been and planted new summer beds of chard, kale, beets, radishes and carrots.

After painting the shed, I weeded  the herb beds.  And weeded and weeded.  The weeds have had a heyday in the hot weather and it was too dang hot to put a stop to their exuberance.

The  birdhouse gourd plant also loves the hot weather and has clambered all over the gourd tower, full of blossoms and many baby gourds. I am kind of relieved only one plant survived the late frost, or it would be a jungle!

We have been battling an algae bloom in the silo pond, but after a couple doses of flocculant have clear water again. We shop-vacuumed out the flocculated algae from the bottom of the pond and Rog added a water conditioner with microbes that are supposed to discourage future algae blooms. It is great to be able to see the fish again! Each evening we  sit on the dock and dangle our feet in the water, sipping a glass of wine and watching the moon rise. It's almost as good as living on a lake.

Another surprise batch of four chicks yesterday.  The hen is teaching her offspring that there is always a bit of yummy grain left in the milking parlor after I milk the cow.

No sooner did I upload the previous photo than Rog came into tell me there were some motherless chicks in the middle room of the barn. I went out and captured four chicks running around the stored equipment, peeping frantically. I suspect this is where the mother had hidden her nest  and  these chicks could not make it out of the room (they have to get over a pretty high foundation) so she ultimately gave up and left them. I set them down by the other chicks and the hen immediately gathered them into her brood.

Happiness is having plenty of raspberries for  the CSA members AND for yourself! This batch is destined for raspberry wine.

No photos of our other accomplishments yesterday, but add:  installing a window fan in the summer kitchen, making a batch of yogurt, getting a load of pea gravel and spreading it around the hose bib area, laundry  and scything down the thistles and other weeds growing along the pasture fence.

Washed work gloves drying on the fence.  Time to go pull on a pair and mow the lawn before the farm store opens and the music begins. It is going to be a comparatively lazy day,  relaxing with friends and farm visitors this afternoon, playing and enjoying the music.

Too Darn Hot

Oh man, it has been unbearably hot and humid the last few days.  Today it was 100 F with a heat index of 115 degrees. We have enjoyed spectacular sunsets, though, thanks to the terrible forest fires in Colorado.

The animals have been moving kind of slow, hanging out in the shade.  The cows like to stand with their front hooves soaking in the kiddie pool, which I fill up with clean, cold water every day. Poor Lariat's due date  was yesterday - I hope she goes into labor after this hot spell or at least during the night when it is a little bit cooler.

If you drove into our yard inteh afternoon lately you wouldn't even know we have poultry -  all the birds are under bushes or buildings or in the barn seeking a shady spot.

We have three broody hens that I worry about - it's way too hot to be settled inside a plastic 5-gallon nesting bucket - but I can't  dissuade them. Earlier this week we were surprised by a hen with a family of 10 pretty chicks - I have no idea where she  secreted her nest.

The goose is pretty much full grown now and quite entertaining.  She (or he?) is  curious about everything.  This morning she was playing with a feather.

Rog and Chad have made significant progress on the little garden shed despite the heat.  Cedar shingles on the roof are completed,  trim is installed, wainscoating applied on the bottom and narrow lap siding on the top.  I have begun priming and painting.

Yesterday was our regular CSA box pick-up day, but since it was Independence Day, some members picked up Tuesday and some today.  This week's contents included: fresh garlic, onions, Swiss chard, raspberries, either sweet banana peppers or French green beans, zucchini, and a bunch of mojito mint. Even though I started early in the  morning, I was drenched sweat while harvesting for these boxes.

Flat cat on a mat.