Saturday, November 10, 2012
Three eggs, nearly two gallons of milk.
Recently I switched to using the Surge milking machine as DD Sally does the washing-up and it is much easier to do. All th parts except the bucket and the pulsator go in the dishwasher.. I’ve been trying to find something to rest the bucket on to raise it into position without my having to hang it on the surcingle.. That lift to set it on the wire it very hard for me. Fern is wonderfully cooperative with my experiments.
Sally and Willie walked around the fields and then worked on a damaged part of the fence that Nancyfound two days ago. She had caught sheep getting into the garden. Martin was here. He and Milo went out hunting birds, they got one woodcock, and then he worked on plowing the paddock field.
We had a visit today from Heidi Wilcox. She is the Chief of Police in Farmington. She came with her little boy, Cooper. This wonderful woman says I inspired her to get a cow following a conversation a while back at a meeting we both attended. I had forgotten. She came to buy my book. She said that my explaining that cows could be flexible and one could do OAD milking was what she needed to hear. She now has a Dexter due in a month or so.
Amy and the kids arrived about 5. Martin asked me to cook the woodcock so he could prepare appetizers. One just uses the breast meat. I sautéed them in ghee with toasted sesame seeds and oriental seasonings. Then he sliced it thinly and put it on olive shortbread with slivers of racklette cheese. We also cooked some delicious Luick chicken livers which we cooked following the woodcock.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Slightly under two gallons of milk, 1 egg. There was a hen with a chick sitting on a popular nest though, so I’ll check that in the morning.
Sally made a raspberry pie this morning as Martin and Amy and the kids were coming over for lunch. It had a quark cheesecake layer, a layer of thickened raspberry sauce, and lots of whipped cream. I made a vegetable soup with well-seasoned browned meatloaf mixture stirred into it.
Martin and his family cut up some firewood and brought it into the carriage house. He also tried again to start the pickup but no luck. Then they went for a nice walk in the fields.
DS Martin and DD Sally got together and dressed off the duck I was recently given by neighbor Germaine. She said his name was Rupert. She had to get rid of him because he was wearing out her two ducks with his amorous attentions. I called him Rupert Murduck.
I made butter and we got to work on our saved up last cabbages, making them into sauerkraut. A whole five gallon bucketful of cabbages, shredded and pounded down made a gallon of sauerkraut. That was exciting. For dinner we had sautéed bunching onions from the garden with one of Mitra’s pork chops and one of our little squashes baked.
Hannah (6) sang the songs she had learned in school for Veteran’s Day. She sang The Star Spangled Banner, It’s a Grand Old Flag and My Country ‘tis of Thee, all the words, solo.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Today it rained hard. It seemed like a good day to go shopping since one could not work outdoors. Sally and I went to Farmington, but first to New Sharon for grain. Then we met Mitra at the Better Living Center for the health food store shopping. They have nearly everything one needs. We then convened at the Thai restaurant for a jolly lunch.
Then onward to the bookstore and the thrift shop and home about 4 o’clock.
All the critters were fine except the young poultry, which were all ravenous..
I am pretty tired. We ate warmed over soup and cocoa and watched the wonderful Woodie Guthrie special on PBS.
Wednesday November 14, 2012
Got one egg and a bit under two gallons of milk. It was a fine clear day, not a cloud. The cows’ water tank had a good half inch of ice on it.
About noon the actors from the church working on their Christmas pageant came by. They wanted to film their shepherd leading the sheep. We showed them how to do the gates and left them to it. When Sally went out she saw the shepherd striding with his staff through the barnyard with Willie swirling around him happily and the sheep watching from a judicious distance.
Sally worked on the fence for awhile and then made an apple pie with gleaned apples. It also included some reduced apple cider that I made last year. We heard that Sally’s daughter Rebecca and her two little boys Torleif and Halfdan will be here after Christmas.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Milk down to 1 11/2 gallons today. Sally suspects this is because she was not able to keep up with the freezing over of the stock tank. We need to set up the indoor water system now. It was down to 19F this morning. The day was bright and sunny.
Sally and I took a walk by the river. There are many new young trees in the riparian zone where the animals are fenced out. I was interested to see a vast new area where equisetum is spreading out. It has a powerful root system and will help with protection of the bank.
Sally worked several hours on replacing old fencing around the sheep paddock. She went to Dixfield for more posts. It not only now looks a lot better but is unlikely to be breeched for a long time.
Friday, November 16, 2012
Yesterday we got only one egg, today three. Milk was back up to 1 ¾ gallons. Because of freezing we have set up the indoor water system and cows hate change. Fern does not want to drink out of it. I put a little molasses in the water as an inducement.
Sally and helper Nancy spent all day working on burning builders’ scrap over at her house across the river. The weather was perfect and they had a good time but Sally came home all tired out. I fed her a lamb chop and freshly picked Brussels sprouts with mashed potatoes.
Our local paper ran an editorial this morning suggesting that the recent election of Angus King showed that people supported windpower. Sally wrote a letter to the editor arguing that in fact there was no such mandate, that in fact people voted for King because they had little choice.
Son John is off to Dubai to assist scientists there with upgrades to his oceanographic program, which they use. In the photo he is at home in Adelaide preparing a series of laptops as teaching aids.
He also sent pictures of the landscaping he and Lou have been working hard on.
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