Sunday, February 17, 2013

There is supposed to be a picture of me. Martin said he would send it otomorrow.
Sunday, February 17, 2013


Yesterday was cloudy and about 20 degrees, not as sunny as the day before. Sally and Willie walked down by the river and saw the first pair of mallards. They flew off. Sally decided to gather seeds from some Northern Spy apples to plant down there, just for fun. The seeds came from Northern Spys that I bought in the fall as they are particularly good pie apples.
Sally and Abby got the big hay ring loose and the waste hay spread around. They also put hay, a few flakes at a time, out the back window of the hay mow to keep Fern happy while she was shut outside. They allowed the sheep to come out and mingle so they could have fun too.
Today Fern gave over a gallon and a half of milk (perhaps reflecting my adding alfalfa pellets to her diet) and about fifteen eggs. The weather today was cold and blowy and snowy and generally bleak. Abby spent a long time splitting firewood and hauling it up to the house. I managed to get in a couple of hours of editing.
My granddaughter Maia Luick (age 16) in Fairbanks did well at the Academic Decathlon, for which she has been studying with her team ever since August. She won four medals and her team won the State championship. We also heard that my grandson Eli Simmons (age 14), also from Fairbanks, won an Insight award in robotics.

Monday, February 18, 2013
About a gallon and a half of milk and a dozen eggs. It blew violently all last night and all of today, and it was quite cold too. It was zero when we got up and never got above twenty.
We had an annoying time with the milking machine today. It had pressure but refused to pulsate. We worked on it a long time before figuring out that the pulsator wasn’t seated properly. We had tried to seat it numerous times but somehow hadn’t succeeded. Whenever it won’t work I panic. Thhe problemt invariably turns out to be something stupidly simple.
Sally and Abby worked for a long time taking pictures of me. Here is a sample:


Later, Max came over with alfalfa pellets and cow minerals. He helped us to solve a couple of my current computer dilemmas.
We heard from granddaughter Caiti that her daughter Lily is very ill. The doctor thinks it’s a Norovirus.
When Sally went to bring the sheep in, one ram had a very bloody head. She thinks he had knocked off his little spur of horn. He didn’t seem to mind it.

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

It was about ten degrees above when we got up and later warmed twentyfive degrees thanks to bright sun. The injured ram appears fine. Two of the ewes seem certainly to be pregnant and we are hopeful about the other two as well.
It was so nice that Sally and Willie went for a walk around the fields. Willie showed great interest in the groundhog hole down in the Pocket Field. Later on they went down again and sprinkled apple seeds around outside the fence of the main field. She dug little holes in the snow and dropped them in. An older resident stopped to chat and was glad to hear what she was doing. He said people aren’t taking care of their apple trees. He also spoke well of the apple tree by the river which he said was a Yellow Transparent. We hope it’s still there as it was very close to the water.
We are cautiously optimistic that Fern’s production will go up in response to the alfalfa pellets. She is getting two quarts a day. So far it hasn’t gone up much but at least it’s stopped going down.
It was so sunny and cheerful outside that Abby and Sally were able to clean out in the buttery and the carriage house. Sally also made another blueberry pie using blueberries that I bought from a neighbor last summer. Abby took another gallon of clabber to the hens who are responding very well- we got about eighteen eggs today.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Wegot a pint more milk this morning, about one and three fourths gallons. Abby collected the eggs at midday as usual and got about eighteen. Sally killed another two roosters.
It was about thirty degrees in the morning and got up to around forty, under a full sun but a bit of wind. I took a walk around the garden and the snow was very slushy. Sally and Willie walked around in the field but had to come back because it was very hard for Willie to walk He kept breaking through the crust.
Dr. Cooper stopped by for lunch. We didn’t get to talk much though because my son Martin was on a talk show on the radio. The subject was the climate for business startups in Maine. The panelists all agreed that Maine was the best place in the country to do a startup.
Abby has a new job as a live-in caregiver in Belgrade, Maine. She will be caring for an elderly doctor who has had a stroke. She starts next Monday. There go all our cookies.
Yesterday Sally and Abby were thrilled to get Season Two of Downton Abbey in the mail, a gift from Mitra. They were particularly pleased to get it since Abby has to leave and they wanted to watch it before she goes. We’ll also be able to watch the last episode of the third season together on Sunday night. I’m not watching Season Two which I have already seen- I close the door and do my editing.

Friday, February 22, 2013
Sixteen eggs and a gallon and a half of milk. We were alert for signs of heat from Fern as it is three weeks since she was bred, but so far nothing except that Milton was bellowing while I was milking.
One of the setting hens was off her nest today so we checked and her eggs had disappeared down a crack in the haybales. Since she had clearly given up we dismantled the nest. She’d been setting a long time and must have gotten discouraged. The others are doing fine. Also, Sally got word today that her housesitter in Alaska found new baby chicks in her henhouse. She is quite excited.
Martin came to breakfast with his kids Hannah and Henry. They ate up all their scrambled eggs and cheese that their Auntie Abby made them and a lot of milk and toast and jelly as well. They are very nice little kids and have good appetites. We are planning a big family dinner today for them and a friend of theirs. I have an eggplant and corn casserole in the oven, and baked pork chops, all from the farm.
It has been a lovely sunny day. Martin and the kids worked outside on the woodpile, and Sally walked around the fields and found a chrysalis on an apple tree twig. She brought it back with its twig for Abby to identify- she’s very good at that- and then will take it back and tie it to its tree again tomorrow.
Mitra and the girls have gone on a tour of colleges. Sounds like a lot of fun. Max is running the farm by himself. He has not used thhe milking machine before.

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February 09, 2013 Saturday

February 09, 2013 Saturday
The great storm Nemo bore down on Maine last night but concentrated on the southeast regions. The Western Mountains where I live was spared the worst. I don’t think we got more than a foot of snow. There was plenty of wind to rearrange it into pretty good sized drifts, though, and the plow has made the mailbox inaccessible, knocking it sideways. We did not even bother trying to reach it, as the mail lady doesn’t leave the mail if the box is compromised. Ted Flagg came in the afternoon and plowed the driveway in case we need to get out.

In Portland where DS Mark and DIL Annie live, her car was completely buried in snow even inside the parking structure in their building. The snow blew in sideways. DS Martin farther south in Biddeford sent a picture of their back deck that has a 40” railing; the entire deck was filled with snow to the top of the railing. And here are Mitra’s cows eating their pickled hay during the blizzard which started on Friday.

DIL Mitra sent a picture from yesterday morning while the sun still shone. Her cows and poultry were blissfully resting next to the big hay ring which was covered by a big blue tarp. Seeing that tarp was a light bulb moment for Sally and me. Voila! An answer to our endless struggle to keep the sheep from jumping into the hay ring to eat standing on the hay! Sally lost scarcely a moment before tying a blue tarp over our hay ring. So far this appears to have stopped the sheep. Here is the picture of Mitra’s barnyard:






Abby got up at five and lit the fires and let Willie out for a little walk. Evidentially she’s been watching too much Downton Abbey. (Then she went back to bed.) Now she is making a cheesecake with quark that I made yesterday. It will have a peach topping.

We got a gallon and a half of milk and eleven eggs. We found a hen on a new nest but haven’t looked under her yet to see what kind of eggs she has (old or new).

February 11, 2013 Monday

I climbed up on the hay bales and braved a very fierce little black setting hen. There was only one egg under her and it appeared to have been frozen. She would not leave her nest.

DD Sally took her a little dish of clabber. She was starving and ate every bit. Sally gave her two good eggs. We also gave two eggs each to two other persistently setting hens and have marked the calendar for April 4.

Sally whacked one rooster yesterday and another today. They are so annoying. The poor little hens daren’t leave their perches for fear of being pounced on by six roosters. I do so admire Sally’s willingness to dress off the damned things. One feels like shooting them. Sally points out that they are another farm crop and not to be wasted. If you kill them at the end of summer they are virtually free meat. At this time of year they are all stuffed with expensive feed and are costing me money. Thanks to Sally, I always have a chicken to boil for soup or stock.

Sally put the sheep in their own paddock today and carried them their hay so that the cows could eat alone. The tarp over the hay ring is doing its job of keeping sheep from hopping on top but they still push in wherever the cows are trying to eat and make them very cross.

Sally and Abby were all set to go shop in Farmington today but then we heard from Max that the weather was turning bad. It did indeed start to snow and has not stopped all day.

Feb. 12, 2013 Tuesday

Twenty above this morning and the milking machine worked much better. We’ve been putting molasses on the hay in the morning after milking and saying “Molasses, Fern” to teach her the word. She has learned very well and comes hurrying to get it. Today we gave the cows the nearly empty bucket and they cleaned it out very well.

We put the sheep in their paddock again.

Abby volunteered to drive to Farmington and Sally went along as her boots were in such bad shape that she was forced to buy new ones. They shopped at a lot of little stores. They met Max and Mitra at the Better Living Center and got some extra milk from them. Farmington is a particularly charming little college town with fine brick commercial buildings and classic New England residential architecture, mostly white clapboard, with shutters. They brought home alfalfa pellets for Fern, and black sunflower seeds for the wild birds. They got home about three o’clock very anxious for their tea.

February 14, 2013 Thursday

1 ½ gallons of milk & 14 eggs. Temperatures remaining bearable, around 35F. Sally dressed off two roosters that I had caught last night; a huge cauldron of stock now simmers on the stove. Sally & Abby went to town & fetched Northanger Abbey to watch tonight from the Library, and two bags of feed from Towle’s. I went down & watched Sally trim apple trees in the garden. I worked on editing most of the day til we sat down to Abby’s dinner of mini meatballs in gravy over rice & homegrown Brussels sprouts, and for dessert the doughnuts she’d made earlier. Then we treated ourselves to watching the movie.

We heard from DS Bret that Maia’s Samoyed Cecil had come home, after having been gone for 10 days, with the appearance of having caught its foot, possibly, in a trap, and very skinny. This was in Fairbanks & he must have been close to freezing to death. The trappers in Alaska are allowed great license. We think perhaps he had been freed by the trapper at last, as his foot was more or less in one piece.

February 15, 2013 Friday

We got about 14 eggs today and less than a gallon and a half of milk. This is the third day we’ve been supplementing with alfalfa pellets but haven’t so far seen any increase in the milk supply. Fern loves it though.

We’re continuing to keep the sheep in their separate paddock. Today it was sunny and warm and the sheep were digging through the snow looking for grass. The snow is only a few inches deep. Abby opened the gate so they and the cows could mingle and go out into the south field to see if they could find more grass there.

It got up to around forty degrees and seemed warmer than that in the sun. It was so warm that I knocked the snow off the chaise longue so as to sit in the sun, but instead went down to the garden and watched Sally prune the fruit trees. We agreed on various major pruning decisions. Willie kept his eyes on our progress.

For supper we had leftovers of the Brussels sprouts and meatballs from yesterday. Abby made a delicious coffee flan. We also had little heart shaped red gelatin treats made from organic cherry juice. I made a topping that Sally suggested by whipping cream and adding quark cheese (similar to ricotta) and honey. I will make this again soon as it was fantastic.



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Saturday, February 02, 2013

Saturday, February 02, 2013
One dozen eggs and a gallon and a half of milk. I called Nate, my AI tcck again this morning and he was already on his way. He arrived while I was still in my bathrobe. Sally had gone off to see the workmen at her house and I saw him wandering around the driveway. I was soon into barn clothes over my pajamas. He came in and suggested a different bull, Epic, an A2A2 bull with a good reputation for fertility. Sally came back and we put Fern into her stanchion. Nate said that she was in perfect condition for breeding. He had a lot less trouble inserting the straw than his colleague who came last time.
Then we heard that Martin would be over in an hour or two to drop off the kids so we raced around cleaning up and then took the opportunity to watch the last episode of Pride and Prejudice, which was wonderful. (Of course it’s the BBC filming with Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehel.) Martin never showed up till nearly five and we thought he had surely fallen through the ice.
During the afternoon I was thrilled to get a phone call from Mark saying that he had gotten a wonderful job offer from CMMC (Central Maine Medical Center) in Lewiston.
At five people showed up for a nice family dinner: Max, Mitra, Roshan and Shireen, as well as Martin and his kids. Amy stayed home this weekend. We had braised shoulder of lamb, brown rice pilaf, salad and homegrown Brussels sprouts. Abby made a delicious banana cream pie. Martin brought the wine. We all had a great time. We raised a toast to Mark.

Sunday, February 03, 2013

We got eleven eggs today and about a gallon and a half of milk. It was back down to zero this morning.
We figure that most likely this time Fern has settled but I am thinking that her due date will be right on top of my trip to Atlanta next November. I guess we’ll figure something out.
Sally and Willie went for a walk around the fields. Most of the snow is gone thanks to all the rain and thaw we had last week. The low places in the fields are frozen ponds from the rain. Martin came over about noon. He had wanted to ice skate but we ladies were otherwise inclined and he’d already taken the kids out at the lake skating this morning. Martin kindly carried on with helpful repairs and problem solving with the various computers here (mine, Sally’s and Abby’s) that keep up linked to the world.
Abby made another batch of cookies, chocolate chip that resemble Florentines.
Sally made bread. She ground flour for it from the wheat I raised last summer. She had threshed just enough recently using the plastic blade on my Cuisinart. It was perfect bread. What a thrill. I have never grown wheat before.

Wednesday, February 06, 2013
It’s 8:30pm and a very cold. A violent wind has come up and Abby has volunteered to go out to the barn and close the outer door to the beefer pen to prevent too I helped her to find a cold-proof coat and other gear. Our motion lights are working week so her path is lit.
Yesterday was taken up by a trip to Lewiston to see my eye doctor, Dr. Hamzavi. Abby drove me and all went well. But I didn’t get another darned thing done all day despite closeting myself while the others watched Downton Abbey.
This morning started out with quiet weather and Ally and Willie took a walk all the way to the brook. Sally reported beaver work.
The cold has crept in again behind the dishwasher and frozen the pipes. Sally and Abby have insulated and hung blankets and set up heaters so far to no avail.

Thursday, February 07, 2013
Abby did not go to bed last night until she had the dishwasher going again. Hurrah!
It was right around zero again this morning. I had failed to bring my boots into the kitchen last night so had to stick my feet into freezing boots. This was a poor start to chores but everything else went well thanks to Fern being a very good little cow and DD Sally doing all the watering and feeding. In the very cold weather it is difficult to get the teat cups on since the little rubber hoses on the machine are so stiff. Sally goes around to the far side of Fern and puts the two on that side on, and then holds them in position until I get the other two in place. Fern gave 1 ½ gallons which seems to be the best she can do as a first calf heifer in her 14th month of lactation. This is not quite enough for family needs if I want to make any dairy products.
DS Max came over and brought feed from White Water Farm. I try to get all my feed there because he sells only non GM feeds. We were nearly out of firewood and he split us a lot. We were able to give him some of the good blueberry and apple pie that Abby made last night.
We also had our semi-annual visit from the piano tuner, Gordon Large. He recommended we use the humidifier. He’s going to repair the felts in a place where a mouse had taken up residence.

Thursday, February 8th
We got a gallon and a half of milk today and a dozen eggs. It was pretty cold again today (10F) and the hoses on the milking machine were again very stiff. Sally again helped with getting the teat cups on Fern .She then filled lots of containers with water as we are supposed to be getting a big snowstorm and may lose power.
We’ve been putting molasses onto the hay in the feeder for the cows and sheep, mostly just for fun. I’m giving Fern about two pounds of grain (COB) each morning and putting wheat germ oil on it, about a quarter of a cup. I also add a handful of kelp and a handful of diatomaceous earth (DE). She also gets about a pint of grain in the evening. She is in good condition. Milton also gets about a pint of COB in the morning and another at night. He’s looking good too.
Abby filled lots of containers in the house too just in case. She also brought in a lot of firewood and made Snickerdoodle cookies from nephew Roger’s recipe.
Sally finished the seed order and worked on an order for floating row cover. These are from Fedco Seeds. We had a lot of seed left from last year and only needed corn and squash. We are hoping the corn seed comes as it is in very short supply nationwide due to the draught.
I made a Swiss steak, a popular back in the 50’s. We had it with mashed potatoes and a tasty cabbage fry that Abby made, and ate in front of the TV where we watched Downton Abbey reruns.




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Sunday, January 27, 2013

Sunday, January 27, 2013
On Saturday dear Mark and Annie picked up DD Abby from The Hilton where she had stayed overnight after a late flight from CA and drove her here to the farm.
We all had a jolly afternoon followed by a dinner of roast shoulder of lamb. We also baked one of our turban squashes. Sally made a blueberry pie. Annie and Mark were not able to stay overnight so the dinner was early. During the afternoon we had a brief visit from Max and Shireen. They brought me some feed.
Mark and Annie installed my new wide screen monitor from Bret. I can now see it much better.
Cold weather continues. It was about zero early this morning but got a bit warmer during the day. We are on the fifth day without our dishwasher. We think something is frozen up in there. Today we had a hairdryer blowing on it for awhile. Tomorrow perhaps we will try it longer. All the animals continue to seem happy though, except the hens are not laying well. I only got five eggs today, and a gallon and a half of milk.

Monday, January 28, 2013
Slightly warmer today. Sally and Willie got to go for a nice walk in the fields. Sally wore snowshoes though the snow wasn’t that deep. She found that the gate to the main field needs to be closed as the snow was deep and crusted enough for the sheep to get over the fence and into the road.
Abby and I went to Rumford grocery shopping, the first time in several weeks. We also stopped at the Free Store and Abby got some new clothes. After we got them home Sally washed everything.
This morning Sally found a dear little hen laying her egg in a vulnerable spot where the cows walk. She closed a gate to close her off and protect her. Later on I found three eggs in that spot.
I collected 10 eggs today and Fern gave over a gallon and a half of milk.
Sally made salmon chowder for our supper and Abby made a fine lettuce and avocado salad.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013
One and a half gallons of milk this morning and 10 eggs today.
We have had a day of respite from the cold. It reached 40F today. All the frozen surfaces melted and created a vast ice slick between the house and barn. Even Sally agreed to walk with a ski pole. School was called off. The prediction is for the cold to return tomorrow.
Dr. Cooper stopped by at lunch time. Abby whirled around and glorified last night’s leftovers, a chicken dish. She made it into a curry over pasta. She also made a nice lettuce and cucumber salad. There was enough remaining of the custard that I made yesterday and it all went very well.

Thursday, January 31, 2013
It was forty degrees this morning when we woke up. When Sally went out to the barn she reported that it felt hot outside. About ten o’clock in the morning after we were done with the barn chores Sally heard a great roar of wind and we were struck by a violent storm with wind and rain. Sally ran down to the barn to close the windows and got soaked.
The rain and warm weather still hasn’t gotten rid of all the ice. It is still dangerous walking to the barn.
I’m afraid that Fern is coming in heat again. When I collected the eggs in the afternoon the cows were running around after each other, but I didn’t see any mounting behavior. Abby came down to the barn too and stapled plastic over the windows.
Abby made wonderful almond-walnut cookies, and Sally made a quiche with my new homemade bacon. We ate it while we watched another episode of Pride and Prejudice.
Had a gallon and a half of milk today and eighteen eggs. The increase in eggs is no doubt a result of additional clabber that they are getting.

Friday, February 01, 2013
We got a little less than a gallon and a half of milk, and ten eggs. Fern was very quiet during milking- we’d been looking for signs of heat and decided she wasn’t in heat after all. But when Sally went out to give them their lunch things were all different. She and Milton were all circling and jumping, unmistakably in heat. We called Nate, my AI tech, but it was too late.
We discovered that Martin and his two kids were coming tonight so we scurried around and made spaghetti. Abby made more cookies.
While waiting for Nate (who didn’t make it) we watched two more episodes of Pride and Prejudice.
When Martin arrived he had a surprise for me, a propane powered generator. Sally had fun reading the instructions.

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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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