I need to get a wood stove

Towards the back of our property they have been clearing an area to be able to put in a new electric transmission line. This runs all along our property and along most of the neighbors. I have to say I am not particularly happy with this but because of a right of way given to NYSEG back in the 60's by my in-laws and all the other previous owners of neighboring properties there is nothing I can do about it.

The picture doesn't do a good job of actually how big of an area that was cleared. That whole empty area though was all wooded. Quite a few years ago we cleared some of our property and fenced it in for a pasture for the heifers and this transmission line will run right over it, in fact I think a pole has to go right in the middle of it. I went down one day when they were cutting down the trees and found it depressing how quickly with that monster of a machine the can cut and move those trees into piles. It looked as easy and quick as me plucking weeds from the garden.

Now that it is done we are trying to look at the positive side of it. I have always wanted a wood cookstove and now might be the time to get one. There are large piles of logs all along the sides of the clearing so we might as well put them to use. Because of the area it will take to put in a wood cookstove( the clearing needed away from the walls) I might not be able to get one in the kitchen, unless we want to give up using a table. We are definately going to get some sort of woodstove though so the logs just don't sit and rot and save on our heating bill also.

Then my husband said if we can get the rest stumped out( they stumped a side of it for a road) and after a few years for the roots to rot so it can be plowed there can be 6-7 more acres of hay or cornfields.

So I will keep thinking positive things about it even though I wish it was still a wooded area.

Making Jelly

I was able to get the night milking off last night so I made some jelly. Now with the dandelion jelly I made this spring I also have grape, cranberry cider, apple, cherry, and peach wine. I also made some blueberry( not in the picture) but it did not come out quite like I wanted, it is almoat like I could spread it out and let it dry and it would make fruit roll ups. Last year the only jelly I made was the dandelion so the family should be happy with the selection they have this year. I still have more grape to make and we are going to make some apple cider so I will use some of that for jelly also. I will be doing applesauce tomorrow and then I have to can my pumpkin and then my canning ought to slow down and be about done.

With all the rain lately the cows have had to stay in the barn cause the pasture is so muddy. I don't know if they are happy about it or not. When it is raining when we are done milking they are happy to go in the barn but I am sure they would like to get out there during the sunny spots. We had a new calf yesterday, it has ben some time since we had one, it is like feast or famine. We did have a heifer that couldn't freshen by herself and had to have the vet up. It was coming backwards and she must have tried all night cause it was already dead when the vet got here. Unfortunately I think the stress the poor girl went through she died also. She just wouldn't eat afterwards even when it was brought right to her. It is sad but sometimes I know it happens.

I am hoping the sun shines soon again I have some painting to finish up on the outside of the barn. I started about a week ago and ran out of paint so I hope I can get it finished before it gets too cold. Nothing like the last minute but I have been so busy I never made it to it. Looks like maybe Friday, I hope so!

Time for corn chopping

Well the corn chopping has began. We have friends and neighbors who are helping us and it has been a huge blessing. The picture above is a picture of the corn field out behind the house, it was taken about a month ago. You can just barely see the cows at the end of the road in the picture, I think they were trying to figure out how they could get in the corn field. It has been a good year for us with corn, field corn and sweet corn.

My cat, Horatio, hangs out in this corn field about all day every day so since they are chopping this field now he is under house arrest. I wouldn't want anything to happen to him. He is not too happy about it though and is always trying to escape. I catch him peeking out of any window he can get into and when I know a lot of people will be coming in and out I have to put him in the bathroom. He will be very depressed when we finally do release him and his cornfield is gone.

I put up a lot of bags of frozen sweet corn and so did some of the relatives. The neighbor said we planted enough sweet corn for everyone on our hill. We tried to make sure everyone knew to pick some cause there was a lot and would hate to see it go to waste. We definately willl have plenty to make it through till next season. Hope it does as well then!

Getting canning and freezing done

It has been quite some time since I have posted on my blog or even read some of my favorites I like to read. I have a lot of catching up to do but the garden and farm keep me busy. We are now milking 84 cows. I never had plans to be milking that much I was quite happy with no more than 65 but the heifers keep freshening and now 84. Hopefully dry off time for some of the others will be soon and I can cut a little time off of the milking time.

I have been getting canning and freezing done. Yesterday was the first of the corn, it is finally ready. I put up 30 bags last night and hope to do a lot more of that tomorrow. Today will be shredding and freezing zucchini. I love zucchini brownies and bread and hope to make them throughout the winter. So far this garden season I have made dandelion, cherry and blueberry jelly, canned pickles, relish, beets and banana peppers. Also at the beginning I got some peas frozen but not enough going to plant way more next year. The tomatoes are ripening and I will be canning them and making some tomato and pizza sauce. My pumpkins look like they will be ready early and I read an article saying it will be an early apple season this year so I want to be ready for that, I want to make a lot of applesauce and I love apple bread and hopefully some apple pie filling. Whew, I better get to reading a couple of my blogs and get to that zucchini.

It has been some time

It has been awhile since I have posted. I am also way behind on reading the blogs that I like, I am trying to catch up on them. There is just always so much to do the computer definately takes the back seat.

Calves seem to be popping out almost every day. So of course now calf feeding time takes longer especially with all the bottles I have to do. We seem to be getting about 50% bulls and 50% heifers, I can live with that especially now because the bulls don't stay too long and that means less bottles to make.

We made it to pick cherries before they were gone and I was able to get some jelly made. The peas got picked and frozen and I have been picking cucumbers and zucchini. Soon it will be time to make pickles. I still want to be able to make it to pick some blueberries.

With all this sun and hot weather, hubby has really been at the hay. We usually make wrapped bales but with this stretch of no rain we are trying to make the dry hay we need and save the wrapped ones cause never know when the rain will come again, although I wish we could get a good rainy day right now. At least with the dry hay I don't have to help wrap it after night milking so that saves me time to do other things. The grass is about dead though so I guess that saves me time mowing the lawn. I love to go bare foot though and miss the soft green grass so for now it is flip flops.

Hope everyone is staying as cool as possible, we are surely trying. It is only bad when I get to milk and rub up against the sweaty cows. I tell them I am glad I am not a cow right now, poor girls!

Hay season has started for us finally

We have finally started our hay. We put in twice as much corn as we did last year and hubby finished planting that a few days ago and was ready to start mowing hay when the rain came. We needed the rain though so it was welcome. Today though he mowed a small field next to our barn and so hay season begins. Hay season always means late nights and quick dinners for us. We wrap a lot of our hay for baleage so usually after milking is done at night I go help wrap the hay. Alot of times we are finishing up around 10:00 or 10:30 so that is where the quick meals come in if you are even in the mood for anything at all or we grab a sandwich around 4:00 just before I start milking. Hope we can really get at it though because the corn planting put us behind a little and the fields are ready.

I did take advantage of a rainy day and made homemade spaghetti sauce and homemade bread, I love it! Sorta of like a goodbye to big meals for a while or until another rainy day comes. I even made a quick batch of cookies.

The garden is doing well and I am thinking this year will be a much better year than last year which will mean lots of canning and full shelves of home grown food. I am keeping my fingers crossed. I am a little disappointed with the strawberries I put in though only about half of them are growing but I guess I will stick some more in next year.

My son just loves the new little girl goat that we got. She ( he named her Shannon) slips right through the gate when she sees someone coming and comes to see us. My son loves running around the backyard with her. She follows him around when he is doing his chores also. Her brother stays in his pen and doesn't seem interested in following her, I think he figures he will get more milk while she is gone.

Well computer time is limited these days and I am pooped, the days go by so quickly with all I have to do. Enjoying it though and I hope everyone else is also!

New critters and lots of gardening done

It has been quite awhile since I have been on. I just don't have too much time for the computer lately. In fact I only got this time because I was going to weed the strawberries but it started to rain so here I am. My son is loving it because what used to be my computer time is now his.

I have most all my garden all planted but with a new garden spot this year and the old one I still have lots of room so I am going to find some more to put in. I wasn't going to do beets this year but they are going in now. I just can't see letting that space go to waste. I am not sure what I am going to do with the rest quite yet. If all goes well with the weather and we have a much better year this year then last I told my husband I should be able to can and freeze alot and still have a produce stand ( lol). My husband has most all the field corn pllanted and this year he put me in a lot of sweet corn. It will be a busy canning season this year. The DR mini tiller my husband bought me is great and is going to save me huge amounts of time weeding.

We are starting to have some more calves, we have had 4 in the last 6 days and it will only get busier from here. I have some new goats, 2 does and twin nubian kids, and I also have some new chicks. I was going to get an incubater and hatch my own but my neighbor has a huge one and he is doing quail and pheasant eggs and is doing some of my eggs for me. First we sent him a dozen eggs and got 7 chicks and now he is incubating 42 eggs for us. So this year I can save the expense of an incubater. He also brought me two baby guniea hens, he knew I wanted some more ( we have 2 now) and when he saw a sign for them for sale he got me 2. Lots of new crittrers around here. Of course a couple barn cats had some kittens also, we will be looking to get them a home if possible. Anyone need a kitten?( ha ha)

Well like I said it has been awhile being on the computer so I am going to catch up on reading some of my favorite blogs.