Sunday, January 20, 2013

Another week




Sunday, January 20, 2013
Saturday morning was down around zero and neither Fern nor I enjoyed milking. She gave less than 1 1/2 gallon.
Sally did not let the sheep in with the cows thus preventing them from getting at the new round bale. It was perched in the hay ring atop the uneaten old hay and she was afraid it might tip over. Also, Milton, the steer, finds the sheep annoying, or perhaps amusing, and chases them around which encourages them to jump into the hay. Fern had all day Saturday to eat her new hay and today she had a lot more milk. It was about one and three-fourths gallons.
Martin is home from Tucson and he came up today to pick up his dog. He did many useful things around here including speeding up my computer, fixing Sally’s virus control, also went to the dump for us, and more. We gave him some good bean soup. That I made yesterday..

Monday, January 21, 2013 Martin Luther King Day
It was six degrees when we got up, went to a high of eighteen but was quite windy and unpleasant. We got nine eggs and nearly one and three quarters gallons of milk.
We let the sheep into the beefer pen today with some reservations about the round bale, but we were not happy about their access to water when in their pen all day where they just have a single bucket. In this cold weather it freezes up quickly. The large bucket in the beefer pen has a heated water tub. The sheep did go right over and drink.
I managed to do some editing today. Sally threshed some more wheat grain and worked on her weaving. We had a lovely dinner of chicken livers from the Luick’s home raised birds. They were sautéed with bacon grease and soy sauce.
When we were coming back from the barn in the gloaming Willie showed us that there was a fine big box over by the gate., presumably left by the UPS man. Willie was a big help dragging it over to the house. It proved to contain a large screen monitor for my computer so that I can see better. It was sent by DS Bret.

Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Nine eggs today, one and three fourths gallons of milk. It was about 5 degrees and got up to about 14. We kept the sheep in until about noon, then let them out to play.
Sally and Willie took advantage of a lack of wind in the morning and walked over to her little house. It was looking very good and keeping warm inside. She was glad to see that she still has half a tank of fuel. A couple of months ago someone was helping himself from the tank.
We defrosted some of the new porkchops. I prepared them using a recipe I developed which involves peanut butter and soy sauce. They turned out perfectly and we ate every nibble except for the bones for Willie. Sally made shortcake and we had it with strawberries I had frozen (warmed up in the Aga) and clouds of whipped cream.

Thursday, January 24, 2013
It is not any colder, it just feels that way. Another day starting around -10 with a high around +5F, mostly sunny but with a biting wind is leaving us all tired, yet reminding ourselves that is even colder farther north. The cold seems to have become cumulative. It is harder to heat the house and the water system warming box in the barn can’t stay warm.. Besides the light left on inside it, Sally puts four ½ gallon jugs of hot water inside it and by evening they are starting to freeze.
The chickens don’t seem cheerful. We got nine eggs again and Fern gave 1 ¾ gallons of milk. Putting the machine on her this morning was no fun. The hoses on the claw are too cold and stiff to flop down as they need to do to close off the vacuum as necessary. Plus the pulsator wasn’t working at first because it had slid out of position. Sally arrived in time to help attach the cups.
Later on Sally cheered us up with a tart made with four kinds of fruit and jam from the frig and a chocolate biscotti crust using biscotti she found in the freezer. of course I whipped cream again.

Friday, January 25, 2013
Almost a gallon and a half of milk, and ten eggs. It wasn’t quite as cold, about zero instead of ten below. Sally was having some work done on her little house and had to jump into the car and go see the workmen before milking. They tried to fix the Monitor heator but no luck. Quite disappointing.
Things went a little better in the barn this morning. Fern has been coming in very dirty for no good reason which prolongs the milking occasion.
Abby is flying back to Maine tonight and we look forward to seeing her tomorrow with Mark and Annie.
I just received an invitation from Sally Fallon to speak at the November 2013 Wise Traditions conference in Atlanta, Georgia.

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Saturday, January 12, 2013

Saturday, January 12, 2013
When I turned on the radio at 5am the first thing I heard was “Watch out for freezing sleet and icy roads everywhere.” Martin is here to drive Rebecca and the boys to Biddeford where they were picking up Martin’s family. They had found they were all on the same flight to Phoenix and so were traveling together. This way the little cousins will have more time together.
Sally made an apple pie for breakfast and we had some primo jowl bacon from the new pork. . They all left a bit early because of the roads but in fact did not report any trouble.
Sally has severe laryngitis but says she feels quite well. So far I am fine.
This evening after an extremely simple dinner we started the salt cure on the two pork bellies. It will take 4 days.
Martin cleaned and dried out the intake valve on my milking machine vacuum pump and it ran well this morning. I got 1 ½ gallons of milk, also 14 eggs. I did not milk until the folks left at 9:30 but Fern forgave me for being late and was on her best behavior apart from making a cow flop when I was all done..

Sunday, January 13, 2013

Over a gallon and a half, thirteen eggs.
It was overcast and damp most of the day, about 32F. Martin’s dog Milo is staying with us this week and he is doing his best to be cooperative. Martin set up an electronic fence around the periphery so he can go in and out but not run away. He likes to play with Willie.
We heard that my grandson Roger, fourteen year old son of DS Bret in Fairbanks, became lost yesterday when he was downhill skiing and went down the wrong side of a hill. He became disoriented trying to figure out how to get back to base and went the wrong way. He became lost in a vast swampy area. It was dark and he had to abandon his skiis when he got stuck in a raspberry thicket. He finally came out on a powerline but then turned the wrong direction. He kept walking on the powerline and finally came to a musher’s cabin with a musher in it who had a cell phone. We don’t know the whole story but he was gone many hours. It was about 11 pm when he finally called. Meanwhile there was a considerable search going on for him with snow machines, volunteers and search and rescue dogs, but they were hampered by darkness and he turned out to be miles outside the search area.

Monday, January 14, 2013
Bret writes:
Roger was lost for 6.5hrs in the dark hiking in downhill ski boots. Popped out at a musher's house on Murphy Dome road and called me on a cell phone from there.
I spent the day today retrieving his skis. He is one tough kid. It took my almost 4 hours to get his skis back, my knee is inflamed and my hip hurts. Wet boots from breaking through overflow. Two search and rescue guys with a dog tracked him through the swamps. I talked to one on the phone today, who had gps coordinates to his skis, and he said Roger was 'truckin'' through that black spruce and swamp. They had to go around stuff that he went right through. I followed his tracks for a while, and I tell you, I would not want to keep that up for long!

Over a gallon and a half of milk but only four eggs as I didn’t have my light with me to check upstairs. But the weather is warm so the eggs should be ok.
The weather was so warm (over 40) that Sally opened the gate from the barn yard so the animals could go out. A bunch of bare patches had appeared in the pasture and the animals wanted to go and try grazing. They seemed to be having a fine time. The sheep were frisking around.
We took a little walk down to the vegetable garden and looked at the fruit trees. Soon it will be time to prune them.
We drove over to Rumford so I could get my flu shot.
Sally talked to her son Raphael who is in the California desert working on the tortoise project again. He said it was pretty boring.

Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Fourteen eggs, over a gallon and a half of milk.
Seemed like there might be a sheep in heat again.
Sallyused the leaf fat fat to make lard today and made about six pounds. This is the pork fat from around the kidneys. It makes the finest lard. Maybe tomorrow we’ll make up the rest. That will be the back fat. I finished up the dry cure of the bacon; after three days I decided it was plenty ready. We had a little test piece and it tasted pretty good.
The weather was warm again today and Sally and Willie took a walk. They reported that the snow was only a few inches deep over most of the fields. Later on when it was time to bring the sheep in, Sally got a bit mixed up with them and Willie had to be particularly heroic in his sheepherding. Sally told him what a good little dog he was.
Max said that he was looking out his upstairs window and noticed that his cow wasn’t drinking her water, she was just sniffing it. The water was perfectly still and undisturbed; they hadn’t drunk any at all. He went down and realized that there must be electrical current in the water. He had dumped it that morning and scrubbed it out and thinks he must have damaged the heating element. He swapped it out with another tub that they have and Nellie came back and took a big drink but the heifer still wouldn’t risk it.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

About a gallon and a half and eight eggs. It was just starting to snow when Sally went out for the early pass, giving the animals their breakfast. By day’s end it had snowed about three inches or so, and stayed about twenty degrees.
We’re still eating leftovers from when Rebecca and the kids were here. Today it was leftover bits of lamb made into a soup with potato and green onion.
Sally caught and dressed off another rooster but there’s still quite a few there.
Speaking of roosters, I was mistaken last week when I said Bertie Wooster was a Seabright. Marcia tells me he is an Auracana Summerhill. Next time he flew at her face she caught him and gave him the seinging aaround treatmenet. Now when he sees her he goees the other way.
Ted Flagg showed up around eight o’clock to plow the driveway. It’s always fun to see him.

Friday, January 18, 2013
At daybreak it was -6F and at nightfall was 7F above. There was bright sun. Martin’s dog Milo, doesn’t like the cold. I opened the door for him to go out and halfway out when the cold hit him he doubled back in.
Fern thought it was too cold for milking and I was inclined to agree as by the time I had the stiff cold machine on her my fingers were in pain. She kept edging away and pooped and peed to express her disapproval. She gave less than 1 ½ gallon.
I am getting plenty of eggs.
Max came today and brought me a big round bale and more milk from their cow so I don’t run out. We had a nice visit.
Sally worked on the wheat she planted last spring that we had stored up in the carriage house attic. She beats the stalks in an old pillowcase to get most of the grain off the stalk and then whirrs them in the Cuisinart using the plastic blade. This beats off the chaff. Then she soaks it very briefly in a bowl of water so that the chaff floats and is skimmed off, leaving the good grain at the bottom. Then that is drained and dried. It looks great.
She also made more lard.

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Saturday, January 05, 2013

Saturday, January 05, 2013
Most of the day the temperature was in the mid 20’s but with a cold wind. I got 14 eggs.
Granddaughter Rebecca, Sally’s DD, and little Torleif and Halfdan are here and today we were joined by DIL Amy and little Hannah and Henry. We had a fine day with lots of eating and outdoor activity. The wind let up enough for sledding. Rebecca and Amy helped with the sledding and all had a good time except for Halfdan who had a bad cold and cried quite a lot. I made black bean soup, among other things, and Rebecca made a blackberry crisp. In the midst of all this, besides doing most of the cleanup, Sally and Rebecca defrosted the chest freezer. So now we have enough room for the pork when it arrives. Amy stayed for supper which gave the cousins time to get nicely acquainted. This was the first time they had met as Rebecca’s family lives in Alaska.

Sunday, January 06, 2013
Nine eggs and a gallon and a half of milk.
Halfdan was clearly much sicker when he woke up this morning. He was quite feverish and limp. Becky decided that he needed to see a doctor so Sally and she and Torlief made a run into Rumford to the emergency room. They tested for flu which he didn’t have, and said she should give him more Tylenol and Ibuprophen. Meanwhile Sally and Torlief went grocery shopping and had a lot of fun. Torlief requested broccoli, and said it was all right if Sally bought cauliflower but that she could have his. He also recommended buying plenty of bananas and strawberries. The strawberries proved to be quite a hit. When they got home the little boys ate them all, Halfdan having perked up.
I was just finishing the noon chores when they got back. Willie had spent the entire time they were gone sitting by the gate in the snow, waiting for them to return. Halfdan felt so much better that they were able to play with him in the snow later in the afternoon. It had been quite cold in the morning but warmed up to about 25.
I worked a couple of hours today on my editing. My eyes were feeling better today and not any worse. I am counting on a miracle and expect to get it.
Rebecca made a fine pasta dish using local sausage, my home canned tomatoes and fresh vegetables. The boys ate a lot.

Monday, January 07, 2013
Nine eggs, over a gallon of milk. It was twenty degrees in the morning and again warmed more later. We had stayed up very late watching the new season of “Downton Abbey” and had trouble waking up and getting out to the barn. The boys however were full of zip. They were very funny, with Halfdan imitating everything Torlief does, to the best of his ability.
After washing the morning dishes, Sally and Rebecca and the boys went to Weld to buy cheese and stamps and to go to DD Marcia’s house at the lake. By then the weather was really lovely. They had a fine walk down the access road. The lake is now frozen over and one party has risked driving his truck onto the ice to set up an ice fishing hut.

Tuesday, January 08, 2013
It was -10F this morning and doing the barn chores was misery for both Sally and me. She had to drag the hose back up to the house and hang it up by the Aga to thaw. I had a lot of trouble with getting the machine onto Fern because it was so stiff and cold as were my fingers. When there is another day this cold I will summon help from Sally to hold up the claw while I attach it. Fern wasn’t looking forward to the icy machine, I guess. She kept edging away. In addition to these complaints, Sally is coming down with the kids’ cold.
But I am happy to say that Halfdan (20 months) is noticeably better and it’s very charming watching the two boys play together. He did go into a very amusing rage at supper time when his mom took my magnifying glass away from him. He ran through the house pumping his arms. He wanted awfully badly to examine things. I said he could use it at the table with Rebecca present. He then had a fine time observing a ladybug off of one of the house plants. He parted with the glass briefly so that Torleif (4 ½ ) could have a look.
Torleif collected the eggs. He found 9.
Fern gave 1 ½ gallons.

Wednesday, January 09, 2013
The temperature today was more humane, 10F. Most of the day was in the 20’s. I heard a lot of cackling but found only 5 eggs. Evidently the hens have concealed a nest. Sally says she will search tomorrow in bright daylight.
Sally and Rebecca and the little boys went to Farmington. They said they had fun shopping at the thrift store and Nina’s gourmet shop, and they also got a sandwich at.
I chatted for a long time with DD Marcia in California. She’s having trouble with Bertie Wooster, her Seabright cockerel. He is attacking her. I told her of a trick that I learned from Claire (a forum member) which is to take it by the feet and whirl it around.
Sally now has the boys’ cold and has a bit of a sore throat and a headache.
The vacuum pump seems to be letting me down. It took forever to milk and it’s very difficult to get the claw on. We got less than one and a half gallons which I attribute to vacuum problems.
Rebecca made a pumpkin pie from the variety called Winter Luxury that I grew last summer for the first time.. I hope I can get the seed again. It is of superb flavor and texture.

Friday, January 11, 2013
Sally came in from here early barn visit with discouraging news. Fern was back in heat. Sigh. I called for the AI tech and he came about 3pm, good timing for breeding. I had him use the same bull, Alexander. If she does not settle this time I will order a different one nest time.
Rebecca was busy all day packing for travel tomorrow. DS Martin is here and will drive her and the boys to Logan airport in Boston together with Martin aid his family. They are taking the same flight to Phoenix.
The milking machine has been sluggish and I felt was not doing a good job. Martin brought it in and dismantled the intake. It had ice and water in it. The parts are now on the Aga drying out.
A big event today was getting the new pork. Max and Mttra brought it all here. We are dividing their largest pig, 262 hanging weight, four ways and storing it here. It sure looks grand. We sorted it all out into separate bags. I plan to do the bacon myself using Fergus Henderson’s dry cure as I have dome before.
It will be hard to say goodbye to the Bentzen family tomorrow. I think they had a good time. Halfdan is largely recovered.
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Saturday, December 29, 2012

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Eleven eggs today, and a gallon and a half of milk. All went pretty well as usual in the milking room except for an untimely manure drop., But Fern is touchy on off front teat. It seems to be a bit sore and scabby and I am concerned that Milton may be trying to suck again. Later in the baranyard I saw her rest her head on him in a way that looked friendly but then she butted him hard and chased him around .
Willie and Sally walked over to her little house; she said all seemed well. She then walked around the field a bit. She said that there had been a deer through recently, and they saw two grouse. One was sitting by Willie unobserved for some time but then lost its nerve and thundered off, startling him.
We have had several chickadees on our birdfeeder and one or two redpolls. Today the redpolls came back bringing all their friends; there were probably a couple dozen. There is also a downy woodpecker and some we think were starlings.
It was an evening like a Japanese print, all grey, white and black.

Sunday, December 30, 2012
Seven eggs; a gallon and a half of milk. Fern walked into her stanchion nicely and wasn’t antsy but did keep shifting over to the side to get her hind feet off the mat. Her left front teat is still scabby and touchy.
There was a huge windstorm that blew snow all around and caused whiteout conditions. It was at its worst when Sally was giving the animals their lunch. She could hardly see to return from the barn. It had obliterated her tracks just made going out. It also caused huge drafts from two of the windows in the kitchen revealling that those windows had not had their storm panes pulled down.
When Sally was checking her daily online paper called “Alaska Digest”, she noticed that a huge cyclone was hitting Anchorage and Kodiak with winds up to one hundred miles an hour. She said she doesn’t ever before remember hearing of a cyclone in Alaska. There were reports of a big drill rig being towed from Alaska down to Seattle which was threatening to run aground on Kodiak Island. The tug had lost power in all four of its engines in huge seas. The Coast Guard was on scene trying to rescue both the boat and the crew and has apparently been successful. The tow ropes parted several times during the rescue because the winds and seas were so extreme.

Monday, December 31, 2012
Eighteen eggs (found another new nest) and over a gallon and a half of milk. The animals seem to be eating a lot of hay. We are still sprinkling molasses water on the hay along the inside of the hay ring to encourage them to clean up before their new bale arrives; this seems to be effective.
The saga of the Alaskan drill rig continued. The tow ropes are made of steel and nylon and are about ten inches in diameter, but even with two huge tugs towing at once, the tow ropes have snapped several times in the huge seas.
Sally’s daughter Rosemary was travelling home to Cordova AK as the cyclone approached and she said she had a rough trip but got there safely. She didn’t spend the night on her boat though as it had gotten pretty cold.
We both attempted to read James Howard Kunstler’s 2013 predictions for the world and US economy. It was long and highly detailed, not encouraging, and I haven’t finished. It certainly renews one’s focus on sustainable living.
It was about ten degrees this morning and still very windy, but as the day went on the wind died and it became sunny and pleasant. The ice on the kitchen windows melted and that enabled us to properly close the storm windows. It immediately became much warmer in the kitchen.

Thursday, January 03, 2013
We got eleven eggs today and just over a gallon and a half of milk.
Yesterday Mark and Annie came and took me to the optometrist in Rumford because my vision has been deteriorating rapidly. He gazed into my eyeballs and said I needed to see the specialist, Dr. Hamzavi. I got an emergency appointment for today.
While I was at the optometrist,, Sally’s daughter Rebecca, husband Torsten and small sons Halfdan and Torlief arrived for a visit. They are to stay ten days except that Torsten had to leave today to go back to work. Halfdan has a cold and was not able to enjoy our fine dinner of lamb rib roast, but we enjoyed it for him. Sally made another blackberry pie.
This morning was minus five degrees and the water was frozen up in the barn. Milking was slow and painful and it seemed to take hours to get the water running again. Later today Max came and took me to the Hamzavi appointment in Lewiston. They ran a great many tests on my eyes, shining lights in them and taking pictures and said my right eye was going the way of my left eye with wet macular degeneration. He gave me a shot in my eye of Lucentis. I have another appointment for another shot in one month.
Max and I stopped at the Bread Shack on the way home and got a snack. Meanwhile back at the farm Rebecca made a lovely spaghetti and Max stayed to have some. He also fixed the sink drain which has been giving us awful troubles, running out on the cellar floor.

Friday, January 04, 2013
About a dozen eggs and a gallon and a half of milk. It was eight degrees this morning but it warmed up to nearly thirty over the day. Rebeccae and Sally and the kids walked around the garden and field in the morning. Sally showed her all the different apple and cherry trees. The snow in the field was a little deep for Torlief but he did very well. (He’s not yet five and Halfdan is about a year and a half.)
I cooked a brisket for dinner and started a new batch of cream cheese. Rebecca made chocolate chip cookies. At chore time they all came out to the barn and looked for eggsl throughour the barn. We all got to watch Willie enthusiastically helping to herd the sheep into their room. Afterwards Rebecca pulled the boys around in the wheeled cart on the plowed driveway. Willie wanted to ride too, so she put him in and he loved riding with the boys
After cooking all day the brisket was still tough so we put it back into the simmer oven for tomorrow. Mostly we had mashed potatoes, cole slaw, and strawberries and cream for dessert.
I’m pretty tired from my two days of eye appointments and didn’t try to use my eyes much today.




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