The farm gets Brush Hogged

I had been trying to cut the weeds, grass and brush with a riding lawn mower I had gotten about an acre and a half done in Ooooh two or three days of work off and on. at that rate I might get the place mowed down by the middle of July.

My neighbor said he would do it as he is also the one that shares my hay field. But, his brush hog was down for repairs and I was getting tired of looking at the place with all the weeds and brush.

I guess he got his mower repaired and came to my rescue with his big John Deere tractor and huge brush hog. He looked like he was enjoying himself out there chopping all those weeds and brush. Grunt, Grunt more power says the "Tim Toolman". The writers of that sitcom must have been rolling on the floor laughing at that one.

The old place looks nice now that one can actually see it without all the weeds and stuff in the way

What a day is like

Saturday began work at 7:30 am
Filled gas trimer with fuel and oil mix and got it running started trimming around the house then worked on the barn entrances, moved on down the road trimming where the mower can't go, got to the mail box and turned around and came back. Put up the trimmer. Took a walk through the front pasture with dogs checking on whether or not I could us the mower, saw the mailcarrier deliver the mail went to the mail box to fetch it, waved to folks passing by rewarded dogs for "sit stay". Walked back to the house with the dogs. When I got to the house I had a soda got the mower running and mowed the yard and some of the fence line. I went to move the pick up truck and the yellow lab wanted in so I let her ride in the truck as I parked it in another spot so I could mow under where the truck had been, she thought she was going for a ride I guess. When I got out of the truck she wouldn't come out, she didn't want to miss any truck rides:) Still to wet to take the mower into the field so I brought it back to the barn.

Now it is lunch 12:30 made a PBJ and drank a soda, put some cookies in my mouth and pocket got the ladder out of the barn got my hammer knee pads and caulking gun went up on the roof and caulked here and there trying to get the places I thought the leaks might be comming from. While up there it got to hot took off my sweat shirt that was wet and covered with grass from trimming and mowing and threw it down on the ground; the knee pads went with it next as they are the wrong kind and didn't do any good. I was looking around and noticed that I hadn't cleaned the rest of the siding on the second floor north side so I got down off the roof and got out the cleaning brush and cleaner went up the stairs to the second floor and tried to reach the mold from the window with some success. I couldn't get at some of the mold so I came down the stairs got out a new brush hooked up a new hose got some rope out of the truck tied it to the hose and threw the other end up on the roof of the pantry so I could get it from a window on the second floor. Went back up stairs opened the window climbed outside washed as far as I could with new brush got myselft wet and covered with cleaner, chased cat back into the house she wanted to be out on the roof with me I guess. Went down the stairs and outside chased the geese away from my little dog tried to roll up the new hose and it kept kinking up on itself. Got the hose put away noticed the chicken run was drier now and went over and let the girls out to play and got seven eggs. Put away the eggs the brushes the hose got out the tools for building my square foot raised bed garden boxes. Built three boxes got them in the garden. I then thought hmmmm might as well plant something I got out the box with the seed envelopes and pulled the ones marked pumpkins and went around the garden to the west side where it was not so wet and dug up some spots and planted the pumpkin seeds. Took my garden tools back to the barn, put the other tools away, rubbed the dogs belly, got the shower bag off the porch where it was laying in the sun warming my shower water took it the wash room hung it up and the got a soda checked my email answered my mail petted the cat. It is now 5pm

Sheesh where did the day go?

I am back-oh you didn't know I was gone?

I took a trip to visit family in Idaho. It has been a long time since I have seen them and I missed them so much. The visit went well, got to spoil the kids and watch them play baseball, and pick them up at school and watch them at Brownies. Children grow so fast in blink they are past each stage of their young lives. (sigh)

We caught up on the comings and goings of the various family members and all the things the children have been up to since I was there last. It was very hard to leave when the time came.
On the way home all I could think about was was how they looked and how much I missed them.

When I got home I found that my dear urban dog had an encounter by the local rural skunk and was still ordor-iffic if you know what I mean. Nothing like a skunked dog in a warm car to enhance the journey home....

The rest of the animals were in fine shape and the house looked good the siding was cleaned in my absence so the house is looking better all the time.

The chickens are now laying five to six eggs a day and all of them are not laying yet... so there are enough eggs to go around. We built an addition for the geese so they can get out of their jail now and get some sun and play in a big wash tub of water. They are still not friendly critters....one of them laid an egg...just one egg... don't know which one either and they ain't tell'n... I spent most of one afternoon catching up on mail... A neighbor has two horses for sale, one is green broke to pull a buggy the other is still a young thing... I am tempted to get them, they are sisters and look very nice and healthy. I would need to get a trainer to help me with them but it might work out....

Since I have been home I have had a refridgerator put in the house and bought a used riding lawn mower. I have mowing all day and I got tangled up in some barbed wire and had to trek back to the house to get my wire cutter and then trek back to the mower. When I started to drive the mower back to the barn to work on getting the rest of the barbed wire cut off the blades I ran out of fuel.... sooo I trekked back to the barn and got the gas can and trekked back to the mower to fill it up. Luckily the mower started and getting the wire off was not a big problem and it still mows :)

Frick and Frack the delinquent geese got out of their encloser today and strutted around the farm looking like they were in charge. So far they have hung around... how long they will is in question, they are very independent critters.

I spent a lot of time in the sun today and I am paying for it now thank goodness I wore a hat.

Frick and Frack are back and they are not happy

My neighbor brought Frick and Frack (my wayward geese) back this morning. He said his kids just herded them into his barn with no trouble at all, hummmph. I bet there would have been trouble if I had tried it. I noticed he was very careful how he positioned himself when he helped me get them into the new cage (Goose Jail #1). We mentioned to him about the geese making alot of noise and as he drove off he said "ya, but you'll get used to it" as he smiled. Hmmm, me thinks I got the geese back because he wasn't about to get used to their noise.

When ever I go near them they hissss, and honk, ruffle their feathers and act tough. I guess I am going to have to bribe them into at least liking me a little.

They better get used to their new home, they are going to be there a while.

Photos to be posted later.. sigh

The Great Goose Caper

I went to the Amish/Mennonite Sale and Auction Saturday. I was bound and determined to come home with some live stock; my first choice was chickens and or geese.

The poultry barn was crowded with people and birds of every age and description and making it feel more rural part of the barn was where the horses were kept before they were auctioned off. The sights and smells were dramatic. there is nothing quite like the smell of an old barn full of horse sweat/manure and bird shit mixed with tobaco smoke and that feeling I get just before I spend money sort of nervous anticipation. I was getting real intense, spending money does that to me.

The bidding on the stock was held outside the barn in the weather which was cold with a light wind carrying some small snow flakes. There wasn't enough snow to cover the mud though. I got to bid on my birds two geese. This was my first time bidding at an animal auction and I was over anxious; I ended up trying to bid against myself and the auctioneer looked at me and said I have you at fourteen already! I tried to be a little less intense and go with the flow I got the bid on the birds and I ended up buying some pullets also and took them all home.

The geese were not happy about the trip home. and when I put them in the barn and let them loose they were mad. They strutted about and glared at me as if to say "come on just try something we'll kick your butt"!

I left them some food and water for the night; the real fun was in the morning.

Went to the barn to check on the geese and they were waiting for me. I forgot to put my dog up and when I got the barn door to slide open I had to use both hands and swoosh in went my dog a yellow lab and there go the birds!

I yelled at the dog who had a confused look for me and decided to heck with the yelling old lady I am having a run at these geese YaHoo! The next thing I know we are in the barn yard I am mad at the dog and concerned about the now free and loose geese. They strutted about the barn yard and made like they owned the place. The dog was still confused. Then the blasted dog barked and one of the geese flew over the pasture fence and its mate followed and they headed for the farm pond.

For the rest of the day the geese played around on the pond and ignored the world, they had found their play pen. Being Sunday I had to go to the next large town to buy equipment, feed and stuff for the geese and the hens I bought. When I got back the geese were gone they had moved over to my neighbor's pond; a much larger pond and that pond had something mine didn't, geese. So, there swim my geese fat, sassy, mean stinkers wagging their tails and blowing me off.

The neighbor's kids may be able to catch these wayward geese, but their Dad said that the geese would just come back again as geese like to be around other geese.

Sigh, another lesson learned the hard way.

So much has happened

In the past few weeks this ol' farm has been a busy place.

The siding project is almost done; just need some facia nailed on and the washroom is completed, next is the west end of the house under the porch.

A new roof was put on by a local carpenter as I have a thing about heights ( I get dizzy licking an airmail stamp). Also the carpenter rebuilt the mudroom porch for me as it was about to fall down do to rot. Gee, owning an old place is so much fun one gets to meet so many nice people who will cash your checks :) Carpenters, Electricians, Plumbing supply stores etc.

I have had an electrician wire the wash room for electricity and put in a 200 amp panel and service for the electric Co-op. The electric Co-op stake engineers, two guys in a truck, came by three times to figure out how to bring in the electricity. The Co-op construction crew came ned this Thursday. I noticed that they had left and I went into the wash room and tried out the electricity..... ha! I couldn't get it to work. G r r r r eat, I was a more than a bit frustrated and gave the electritian a call and told him that I couldn't get the electricity to work. As usual I ended up looking rather silly; I hadn't checked all the electrical outlets just the GFI one. All I had to do was reset the GFI plug by pressing the aptly named reset button and Viola, there was electricity. I then tried the plugs and the switch for the florecent shop lite and everything worked. I had to apologize to the electrician for bothering him for nothing, he took it well and to his credit didn't say something condencending.

Friday I went to town and bought some wire and other electrical stuff and wired a light in over the kitchen sink. In the process, I had to crawl through the attic over the kitchen where I discovered to my dismay that the previous owner thought that just putting small buckets under a leak was fixing a leak in the roof, one bucket was full by the way; from now on he will be referred to as the DPO, D....n Previous Owner. That just means one more thing to be fixed; sighhhh. Any how I got the light over the sink to work. I am so proud of myself. I also put a bigger bucket under the leak and will seal the roof when the weather warms.

Saturday, today, was the big sale and auction that had been advertised for some time here. We thought we would be early by arriving a half hour before the scheduled opening.....nah things were in full swing and had been for some time. The weather was cold, windy with snow fluries, I was cold all day, but determind to come home with some stock for the farm. I missed out on the chickens I wanted but got twelve pullets (females) black stars that supposedly had started laying and two geese mating (I hope) pair; goose and gander known here after as Frick and Frack( no I don't know who is who). The gander, the big one that hisses, is not impressed with me or anything else, he and his mate are in the barn tonight; they are making themselves at home by strutting about and making threating sounds if anyone comes into their part of the barn. The geese have water and some cracked corn to keep them overnight. Sunday I will let the geese out and see what happens. I may be running for safety when the gander gets loose :(

The hens are in the hen house with feed and water and one hen has already laid an egg, a double yolker.... I thought she was going to lay an egg by her behavior pecking at and arranging the hay in a nest. Sure enough there was an egg! I have to get to the feed store tomorrow and get some chicken gear; feeder, waterer, and some nutritional stuff so they can lay good eggs.

This place is beginning to look and sound like a farm now and in a short time smell like one too!

The auction was a marvel of sights and sounds; livestock of all description: hogs, horses, hens, dogs, calves, ducks, tools, farming equipment, lumber, household stuff including the kitchen sink. A great cornicopia of all the things needed in a rural society. There where hundreds of people there coming and going buying and selling at the various auction sites, there were at least four auctions going at the same time. There also were individual sellers as well as food stands; don't forget the snow fluries and cold and standing in the muck wishing you could take a break, but can't or you might miss the the item you wanted to bid on.

Being a community with Amish, Horse and buggy Mennonites and very conservative Christians as well has a host of characters that might have steped out of a ninetenth century scene complete with costumes and manners. This was a muck boot, mud splattered cross section of rural America. I loved every cold shivering minute standing shoulder to shoulder with farmers of all varieties and persuasions today. My body aches, I'm tired and I have been thankful in my prayers for such a wonderful day.

To top off the day I got to listen to my favorite radio program the Prarie home companion with Garison Keelor. I like sitting and listening to this program on radio, it is like an old friend my favorite part is the news from Lake Woebegon.

Well the birds should be on their roost with their heads tucked under a wing and I am headed for my bed also. What a day, what a week.....
I hope all will be well for the night; remember lots of things like chicken.....

Some photos to share with my readers

Like the dog, somedays the best place is close to the stove during the winter. Other times the outdoors seems to call one to come out and see the beauty that nature has wrought. Truly I feel blessed to be here and doing what I love.

Spring is just around the corner there are flowers peeking up through the sod, and some bushes show signs of life as they turn green and yellow. The cycle of life goes on...

Photos of the new cabinets are posted

These are the new cabinets for the kitchen. I think it improves the looks of the kitchen and it sure makes working in the kitchen better.

We have had some storms come through lately that were rather intense and tested my siding that I put up recently. At least I didn't have to pick up the siding pieces in my neighbors pasture; I did have to make some adjustments though. Sixty mile an hour winds can be awsome in the middle of the night with the radio announcer telling you to take precautions and stay away from windows!

The cat got another mouse yesturday and of course had to present me with the trophy, thanks cat....

In an act of faith I planted five trees, two peach, two apple, one cherry; let's hope they are happy and grow. I still have to select a spot to put my rubarb roots and two willow trees are waiting to be planted near the pond.

The other evening there were eight deer in my garden, very pretty, but they could destroy a garden in one night. I will have to come up with some sort of way to keep them out of the garden. Hmmm more thinking again, I sure am burning up the the ol' brain cells ;)

The Kitchen cabinets arrive

1. I thought over the expenditure for kitchen cabinets for some time. Folks who know me know I will agonize over spending money like ..... well, let's say I do too much think'n and fret'n. I went to a local cabinet company and they came out and measured and we discussed the possibilities.
   
   I could have saved money and finished and installed them myself, but in the end I decided that it was better to have a pro do it instead of my doing a poor job with good materials. I think they look great. Once I down load the photos I will post them and show them off.
   
   Twelve feet of counter space and six drawers, four double cabinets down and two cabinets up. I think it looks like it belongs to the house. Now I have to get the water line hooked up and the drain line also. That will take some work unless I wait until the electric service gets put in so I can use power tools Until the the sink is hooked up I'll wash the dishes in the sink using plastic dishpans and catch the drips under the sink with a bucket...love them buckets. I enjoy doing the dishes now because I can look out my kitchen windows and see the fields next to my house and two farms visible from my farm.
   
   I am waiting for the soil sample results that I sent to the county extension office. I am sure I will have to lime the fields and maybe spread some fertilizer and seed also. Another task will be to repair/replace the fencing where needed this is requiring even more thought. I will have to decide what kind of fence and that will depend on what kind of livestock I will have. Maybe it isn't the wood stove I smell burning maybe it is my brain cells heating up...
   
   Okay, so there will be a horse or two, two sheep, a calf maybe a cow or dairy goats. Hmmmm, looks like I will have to go with stock fence with electric fence to back it up. The chickens will free range so I only have to repair the hen house for them. It sure will be nice to have my own fresh eggs one day.
   
   I have been so busy lately; I got an electrician to come out and quote me a price on getting electric put in the house. The Rural Electric Coop has had their stake engineers out to the farm twice and they have staked where the poles should go. I sure hope all this works out. I have been siding the washroom or trying to put siding on the washroom. Seems that there are no level or plumb lines and I end up redoing things and snipping here and there to make it fit. I am still wondering how I am going to get the sofit to fit..... sigh.
   
   Dogs love riding in the truck now more than ever, cats are sassy and on the hunt, I am on a first name basis at the building supply stores, laundramat and bank; haven't heard from the mouse lately.

Telephone Saga Redux

The other day I was doing something that required some thought and I suddenly realized that the dogs were barking ??? I looked out the window and what to my eyes did appear but the vision of not one but two telephone trucks coming up the lane to my house!!!

Oh joy, stared, stunned at the vision of two men, two trucks and yes they where there to complete the installation of the telephone. Yes, it took two men to put one jack in the house, maybe that is why it costs so much....sigh

So I guess I can quit my bitch'n, complain'n and fuss'n about the telephone company ....nah
I am have'n to much fun with this, let's see what happens next....

It is so much fun to use the phone now that I don't have the cord going out the open window :)

It doesn't take much to make me happy I guess.

We had more snow and the weather was snowy cold and windy, I spent most of my time splitting wood and feeding the stoves. Recieved my seed order in the mail next will be the trees I ordered; then the chickens....

I have ordered a new door for the mud room; I sure hope it fits, if it doesn't it will mean a lot of work to make it fit.

I have a backhoe man coming to dig holes to test for the septic and another man coming to fix the metal roof, then there is the electric company, they are supposed to come and survey for the poles to bring in the electric line. Sheesh we are gett'n all modern now ain't we ?

Well nothing has happened yet so I am still using the oil lamps and biffy pot.

Life is good,

The telephone Saga

I have been trying to get a telephone put in to the farm house and there has been one miss communication after another or no communication. Seems there are a few people at the telephone company without communication with each other. They also don't know much about telephones in rural areas. Twice I was told I could not have a phone because I didn't have electricity!

Needless to say this mis-communication between the various offices and sub-units and contractors caused me a lot of frustration. If I wanted to talk to the telephone company I had to get in my truck and drive up the road about four miles till I got a clear signal and then call on my cell phone and hope that the call didn't get dropped by the cell phone company....arrrgh

Many appointments were made to come to the farm and check the line and finnish the job and no one showed up. Some of the appointments were down right lies. Grrrrr.

Lo and behold I came home from town one evening and there were trucks working on the the telephone line to the house. They put in four poles and a wire said they would be back with a splicer and left. The following day they came picked up their equipment and left. No line to the house just a tall hitching post right next to the barn.

Well, the following week I was back on the cell phone to Altell and got the run around almost daily. this went on for two weeks and then all of a sudden out of the clear blue this man shows up with an old telephone truck and says he is going to get the phone hooked up but needs to find the signal and he has to start about five miles away. He left and I didn't see him until the following afternoon. He got the signal to the pole at the barn and because he felt sorry for me he rigged a line from the pole to the house.

I hooked up my extension cord for my phone to this line laying on the ground through a temporary box the man attached to the house. The next day two men showed up with a trenching machine and buried the cable; they said the big deal was over grounding the telephone line, but the telephone poles were grounded. The shook their heads and buried line and hooked my extion line to the box on the outside of house; the line leads through an open window. They said they didn't do the inside work that Altell would take care of that.

That was over a week ago; I called yesturday about the completing the work and the customer rep. left me on hold for a while and when she came back she said that the schedualer was trying to reach the tech and that the job would be finnished by five pm. Guess what? The job is not finnished. I had to come in town and do some business so I will be on the phone again tomorrow and around and around we will go again at least for now I don't have to use my cell phone and drive miles up the road to use it.

Sure is a nice hitch'n post though.

Feeding the monster

The idea and premise is that heating with wood is a good thing; yes it is a renewable source of fuel, yes it does work and the thing is so do you...
I am fortunate that I can get wood, occassionaly, from a local pallet factory, the bits and pieces that are of no use to them. This is inexpensive and it comes by the dump truck load. The company when it has a truck load and gets to my name brings a dump truck to my farm and the man dumps the load of wood in one big pile. You would think that was a good thing right? Wellllll yes and no. There is wet wood, dry wood, wood to big for the stoves and one shouldn't leave it out in the open as it will get wet in the rain and snow; so what to do?

I and who ever I can con into helping has to sort the wood into piles tote, carry, lug, drag, lift groan, sweat and cuss this into stacks that can be covered with something like tarps to keep the rain off the wood. Then the daily feeding and pleading with the two iron monsters to keep enough heat in them to keep enough heat in me to do it over and over again. You see I heat and cook with wood, I also heat my wash water on the kitchen wood stove. So the tank has to filled by hand and is by a large kettle. Remembering to keep the tank on the kitchen stove filled is important as it takes a long time to heat the water if it should run dry; I might be slow but I do learn, from now on one pot or kettle out one pot or kettle in.

The kitchen stove requires regular feeding as it has a small fire box, if I am lucky I can get the fire to last a couple of hours; if not I have to start over making another fire again so the idea is not to let the fire go out. The gathering room stove is a huge rectangle boxy thing that can hold a lot of wood and I can get three four hours out of it; because I haven't learned to operate it well yet. So, there is this continual padding back and forth on cold days between the stove the wood stack inside and the wood stack outside and working outside splitting wood and lugging it inside to keep the house warm and .... you get the picture even on a good day or night there is something to do. I am learning, slowly, but I am learning how to do all this and get other things done also.

Yes, feeding the monster keeps you busy :) P.S. Cats are having the time of their life hunting the little mice; no comment from the mice....

Urban Cats 4, Farm mice 1

Well things are going okay at the farm so far. The pets are settling in and the city cats are learning what fun it is to catch them little mice. The dogs are having a ball running about and learning about the farm.

The unpacking is about done still have a few things I just don't know what to do with-something will have to go. I have a lot more useless clothing that will have to find a new home and a few bits and pieces of furniture that will will also find a new home.

The telephone situation is still up in the air-I have been led to believe that it would be put in on January 9th and it didn't show up. Today I cornered a man in a telephone truck and he checked on the problem and now it is scheduled for the 17th. We shall see. Seems that the neighbor next door wouldn't let them put a new pole in on her property to bring a line over to mine. So, the telephone company called the electric company and as the electric company has a right of way through her property and they will put in a pole so the telephone company can use their right of way. The way I see it more companies more ways for things to be messed up. This I think will be a saga.

Otherwise things are going along at a much slower pace and because there is no phone or cell phone available things are very very quiet at the farm. For access to the world wide web I use the local library. So that limits my options also. My life has changed pace quite a bit, from rush rush do it now, right now, to well sure we'll get her done-soon enough :)

Got to love this country life :))

What a mess

Moving is such a pain in the ***. I have moved many, many times and I still haven't gotten used to it. The house is a mess. I know it will look better after the 'stuff' is in the truck but until then I have to live in the clutter and confusion.

I am worried that some important document will be lost or mislaid some how and I will be in a panic trying to find it.

Details, lots and lots of details, I have to close accounts and change addresses in so many places and of course it all has to be done now. Aaack, where's my panic button! Of course I have already packed stuff that I shouldn't have ....yadda yadda ....sigh I guess it all will work out somehow, it always does. I am having my last photo taken today in uniform. This is like my graduation photo, like when you graduate from school or military training, it marks the passing of time and events.

Tomorrow I return my government property and sign out for the last time. Once the big doors click and lock behind me that is it, the career is all over. All the sweat, work, worry, striving is past, gone and my memory there will quickly fade.

My official first day of retirement will be Sunday January 1st 2006. I think it will be like any other day. I will be still packing and cleaning up flitting about until Monday when I pick up the truck, load, clean house and then....Tuesday am hopefully early am on the road to Kentucky. And another adventure begins.

What is essential??

I have been reading in the news about how many people feel that you need to be connected with technology these days. How odd that I am stepping back from all this ipod, tivo, cable tv and living without electricity. I am living without the flush toilet also. Am I in my own "survivor program"?

No, I don't think so, I am taking the farm just as it is and will put my own mark on it. I have found that I have become to obsessed with the internet. As a tool it is useful, but a lot of time is wasted looking at none essential things and just wasting time. As a communication tool email is very useful and as a research tool the computer does make the world more accessible. The problem is that I use it and then don't stop and do something else; you find more and more things to look up and it just keeps on going like the energizer bunny, going and going. The next thing I know the room is dark and hours have past. I will be restricted for a while, using the computer at the library to catch up on my mail and shopping etc.

I will have a telephone, as an emergency communications device, and to stay in touch with family and friends. One day I may have a solar power source to run the lap top computer; just not pleased with the looks of those photovoltic panels. I am sure I will get over that and get something to power the computer.

On this farm there will be lots to do, as on any farm, wood needs to be stacked, chopped and carried inside, animals fed and cared for, gardening, repairs to the house and fences, finnishing off the upstairs bedrooms, daily chores (cooking,cleaning,washing), seasonal chores (planting,harvesting,canning,birthing,haying) I must not forget egg gathering and milking :)
That is just the essentials; oops forgot taking a nap and reading the latest bestseller playing with the pets, daydreaming and trying to remember what it was I went into the room for (?).

Oh, ya, I was talking about the things that are essential. Food, water, and shelter are essential; I will learn what else is essential as I go along.

My Barn

I have been thinking about my barn lately. My thoughts are how I am going to use this barn? I have been thinking about getting live stock and I have made contact with a lady about buying some icelandic sheep, they don't need a barn just a shed to keep out of the wind and some shade when it is hot. I have also been looking into getting either milk goats or a cow.

Now I know getting a cow is a big proposition; they are a lot of work. Once they have a calf and you get them milking it is a twice a day thing until you dry them off months later. Some cows give more milk than a family can use; so when I came across a breed that is small and gives less milk than the larger breeds I began to think of getting one. The breed is called Dexter, they came from Ireland and were bred for the small farms there a long time ago. Of course cows produce more than just milk and its products, they produce manure; lots and lots of manure, as a matter of fact the large ones can produce tons of manure.

This manure thing could be a problem because one has to move it from where it falls to where it will do some good. Now when the cow is in the pasture that is not a big problem the cow just moves around and makes deposits here and there. It is when the cow is in the barn there is a problem. Sooner or later somebody has to shovel it into something and move it. That somebody being me of course and the thing to move it in is called a manure spreader; something else to buy. So, you pile the manure into the spreader and pull this thing around the fields and it throws the manure all over the fields as the wheels turn. My advice is not to get to close to this operation in action; you might get banned from the house till you take your ***** clothes off.

My second choice is a Jersey cow, they are smaller than most of the milk cows but finding one for sale is not easy and they are copious producers of rich milk and cow patties; definitely going to need a manure spreader.......

The goat thing is a whole other story.

My woodburning kitchen stove or humble hearth with a heart

My wood burning kitchen stove has no chrome it is plain, as plain and black as can be. It is modern in a way that is odd, it has a temperature dial and the draft turns with a knob, but even with these additions the stove is plain. Not ugly mind you, just plain. It has a good size fire box and gives off a great amount of heat. On the top of the stove is a rectangular box with a top that has a hole at either end and slides back and forth so one can pour in water as this is a basic water tank that just sits on top of the cooking surface and heats the water. In the rear of the tank is a comercial style coffee faucet; which makes it easy to drain water into a bucket.

There are no timers or designs attached, no lights or bells there are few moving parts, a draft knob and doors for the fire box, oven and ash pit. The oven is not self cleaning though remains clean if you are careful with your cooking. There is no on off switch either-to lower the temperature one moves the pot or pan about the flat surface from very hot to warm. If warm is to warm one uses a trivet. A trivet is a device usually of iron that sits on the stove and raises the pot up about an inch, more or less, and lets the heat escape and cools the pot. The cooking surface is steel, it can be brought to a dull sheen when scrubbing, but that is not needed the sheen won't make it work better. Only the cook can make the stove work better by feeding fuel at the rate needed to maintain or increase heat output or move the cooking food about the stove to regulate the cooking speed of the food.

I have moved a rocking chair near my stove as it is comfortable to sit by the stove and read or hold a pet and day dream near the stove's warmth. The crackle of the wood burning inside and the smell of wood burning and food cooking tugs my soul in some basic way. I guess, like the dog that sleeps several feet away from the stove, I know my comfort zone and hanker for it.

In Praise of the white 5 gallon bucket

One of the most useful objects on a farm or rural home is the common five gallon bucket.
If one had exsisted during Wm. Sheakspear's time he would have written a sonnet to it as he did a rose.

The bucket carries all manner of objects in all kinds of shapes and states; liquids, solids, granular, mixed as in filled with trash. However there are other less obvious uses for the white bucket. It can be used to as a step stool by the lighter folks or with a board laid across makes a nice sitting bench. It can be used to protect the tender plants from frost by covering them at night.

I have used one as a door stop and to bring home fish from the lake; I also have used one as a stool to rest on while painting or planting. Feeding animals is common using a big white bucket and once they get used to being fed from or by a white bucket just the sight of the thing and maybe a few pebbels rattled in it will bring some animals running for their dinner.

Of course you can mix all kinds of things in it like feed, planting soil and fertilizer; mixing cement for small jobs is possible also. With ice it will cool your favorite beverage. With a tight lid it stores food like cornmeal and flour. With the addition of a nipple it can be used as a calf feeder. There are liners that lap over the edge and convert the bucket into a tool box. For light loads it can be used to wash clothes or yourself if need be. Collecting things like when beans are harvested the bucket comes in handy or when collecting squaw wood those small dried pieces of wood found on the forest floor.

Even when it leaks from a crack it still can be used for a trash can. They are good for holding things while your sorting out a pile of something like in the garage or barn. One turned upside down over a fence post marks the spot were you worked last so the next day you know where to start again with what ever you were doing.
The uses for the simple white cylinder go on and on. I wonder if people in other lands use the same bucket or do they use something else?

The move begins

With a great deal of trepidation the move to the farm has begun. I don't know If it is because I am getting on in years or just my cautious nature showing through but the the move has had its stressful moments.

I was in luck this time around as Samantha was home and she loaded the truck almost completely by herself I got to help with some of the larger pieces after I got home from work.

The following morning bright and early we loaded the dogs and headed our vehicles toward Kentucky. It was a long ride with making stops for the animals to have a break and give us a rest as well. Our little caravan made its way across the the Smokey Mountians into West Virginia and on into Kentucky. We had walkie talkies that kept us in touch with each other during the trip.

We arrived at the farm before sundown and unloaded some of the things we needed for the night and pumped up the airmattresses; these mattresses turned out to be a good thing after all. I had my doubts, but with space and money concerns seemed to be a good idea; who knew they would be comfortable ? We got a fire started in the big stove in the 'Meeting Room' as the Amish would call it. The stove kept us warm for most of the night with a few loadings of fuel during the night. By morning the fire was out; it was cold as the outside temp had fallen to 28 degrees during the night, but we did get some much needed rest, we would need it because we had just a short time to unload the truck and turn it in to the U-Haul place.

Things didn't go well at the U-Haul store as we got there about ten minutes to closing without our papers for the truck. We were told that we would have to have them faxed from Virginia to turn in the truck and to do that we had to drive to the nearest city and find a U-Haul store that had that ability. Well, to make a long story short, we didn't have to do any of that, it all could have been handled over the phone-somebody wanted to get off work on time.

We got the house put together and made progress with the woodstoves. Learning to use them was a learning process. As time went on we got good at starting fires and stoking the stoves and even did some nice cooking on the kitchen stove-which also has a large hot water tank on the back. This tank came in handy for our shower baths, there was plenty of hot water from the this tank.

We got to fix the water line to the farm several times as each time we had thought it was fixed it would break at another spot. We think that we have it fixed now, but keeping an eye on it until it proves its self, so the hole is not filled in yet.

The neighboring farmer harvested the hay field and got the third cut off that five acres; only 91 bales. He also disked the garden and we had a chat about the pasture and what to do with it. The pasture needs to be bush hogged (cutdown) and replanted. The hay field should be fertilized and resown. I will look into having all that done later in early spring.

I got a real feel for living in a place without the usual ammenties; electricity, indoor plumbing, hot water heater, central heat/air. The oil lamps take getting used to-the small ones from Wal-mart aren't good at giving out light. The larger ones they sell are better. The Alladin lamp that costs a lot of $$ works fine if you keep a careful eye on it. The propane camping lamps give the most light, but the light is harsh and the the lanterns make a hissing sound which you get used to quickly. I bought a large Dietz lantern and it gave out very good light for the price. The lamps and lanterns give off heat as well as light and that is a benefit on a cold night.

Speaking of cold nights flannel is defenitely in fashion when the temps fall. Flannel pajamas, nightgowns and sheets and if your feet get cold like mine some nice fluffy socks too. Getting up in the middle of the night to feed the stove is a treat. I get up at least once or more for the loo anyway and seeing as I am up I put some wood on fire and get back to the warm bed. Soon enough the rooster crows and your up and at 'em getting the fire going, taking the dogs for a morning walk and when you get back to the kitchen making your favorite breakfast including toast and coffee. The toaster I use is a one sold at camping stores and toasts four slices of bread at one time, one side at a time and rather quickly. One has to keep an eye on the toast or you have rather well done toast in a fashionable shade of black to go with coffee.

The dogs had a wonderful time, checking out the barn, pasture, garden, chicken house, all the rooms of the house-there are nine rooms counting the large pantry, and the mud room. They also got introduced to the Amish horse and buggies. They responded to the new scenes rather well and looked very happy and very tired at night. After the evening meal there is a quiet time in the evening before getting ready for bed. This time, at first, was used for talking over the day and making lists of things to do the next day. Then when we got things caught up it became game time; we played board games until it was time for bed. There are so many things that have to be done one has to make a list and choose what to do. When I move in full time the list will get longer and the chores will increase as well; such is life on a small farm.

One disappointment was not getting the telephone installed. I will have to call the company and find out what the problem is as we had an appointment and they didn't show. It will get put in just that it will take time.

I enjoyed myself this trip, I felt at home, the place grows on you, plans come to mind and it feels right. I have chosen a place for the fruit trees, a place for the compost pile, another place for the green house. I have lists of things to repair or replace in my mind such as gutters for the house and over the barn doors, finnish the siding on the washroom, repair the porches, paint the kitchen and put up shelves, build boxes for the firewood, put up more curtians, replace the mudroom door, finnish the mudroom interior, so forth and so on. Then there are the pastures and fences to repair and gates to fix, the ramp to the second level of the barn has to be redone, and live stock added too. Whew! There is a lot of work to do :)

What people ask me

Here I am on my first overnighter at the farm fixing breakfast very early in the morning; note pressure lamp, wood stove with camp stove on top, old lady getting her bread ready to toast looking stylish in her black go anywhere sweats.

Here are the questions I have been asked concerning the farm so far.
How are you going to live without electricity?
How are you going to keep your food cold?
You don't have indoor plumbing?
How will you keep in touch with people?
What do you use for light?
What kind of animals will you have; would you eat them?
What will you grow in your garden?
How will you keep the food you grow if you don't have refrigeration?
Won't you get lonely?
Can you cook on a wood stove?
How far is it to a grocery store, big town, doctor, hospital, ect.
That is a lot of acres how will you be able to do the all the work?
How will you be able to use a computer there?

I think that this era is far removed from basic living. They depend far to much on technology and convienences so solve their routine life problems. Most of the world would envy the above picture. Having a fine stove(s) to cook with, ample light, abundant food and clean water to drink in obviously large suroundings. Everything is relative I guess. The questions have made me think how different my life experiences have been than the generations that follow me.

I look forward to lighting my oil lamps in the evening and hearing the crack and pop of a wood fire in the stove with the smell of wood burning in the air, the tea kettle whistling and steaming the air that is heavily scented with dinner cooking on the black stove. I would make a pot of tea and take it to my favorite rocking chair to have a sit and sip while waiting for supper to be done. Maybe if I am curious I will listen to the radio for the news or better yet not listen to it and enjoy the moment and give a small silent prayer of thanks to be here and able to enjoy the moment.