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Post by davida on Dec 11, 2012 11:01:54 GMT -5
Came in this morning from milking outdoors in the freezing cold and had a glass of the warm fresh milk. One of life's small great pleasures. The Jersey milk was as rich as a milkshake. Wish I could share with each of you.
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Post by raymondo on Dec 12, 2012 21:47:13 GMT -5
It's been over 50 years since I've had milk that fresh! Wonderful.
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Post by davida on Dec 12, 2012 23:44:56 GMT -5
It's been over 50 years since I've had milk that fresh! Wonderful. Ray, Wish there was some way that I could share the fresh milk with you and refresh those memories. |
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Post by circumspice on Dec 13, 2012 0:38:54 GMT -5
Speaking of greens. I started on my Cattle Panel greenhouse the other day. 3 cattle panels 16 ft. by 50 in. 2 4x4 posts layed out parallel to each other 7 feet apart. drilled and staked with 2 ft sections of 1/2 in re bar. 1 panel end is layed on one 4x4 fence steepled to it , then the other end is attached to the other 4x4 thereby creating a 7 ft. arch. repeat 2 more times and tie pieces together with tie wire and wahlah. box in back and front, install door and it will be done. 6 mil clear plastic 20 ft x 100 ft. enough to cover3 time or so and we will see what happens. AND YES I STILL HAVE GREENHOUSE ENVY.. thanks to bunkies pics...  |
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baby daddy
gardener
Laugh when you can, Apoligize when you should, Let go of the things you can't change.
Posts: 132
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Post by baby daddy on Dec 15, 2012 17:32:46 GMT -5
Davida, yes probably combination of 4x4 posts and 2x4's, My wife and I went to an auction today and I picked up a screen door for $3.00 that will be used for the entrance, checked a Lowes and 6 mil. plastic 20 x 100 is 75.00 so I shouldnt have that much in it. Weather permitting and time, I plan to do some more soon.
Circumspice, Will try and take some pics tomorrow or soon anyway. It's nothing fancy but the majority of items were available from past projects and repurposing materials ( junk) that I have laying around... Johnny
By the way, it was a cloudy breezy 56 degrees today. Im lovin it..
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Post by davida on Dec 23, 2012 20:11:05 GMT -5
When having a family milk cow is not fun: I have made numerous posts about the pleasures of our family milk cow, Peaches the Jersey. Sometimes it is not all rosey. I came in Friday night from working in the area of exceptional drought. I felt like I breathed and swallowed a gallon of dust. Arriving home at 7:30 and planning on milking in the moonlight (we milk 365 days of the year outdoors), I started chilling and would shake uncontollably when I got out of the truck. After 30 minutes, I made it out of the truck and 1 1/2 hours later the chores were finished. The funny part is that I was bundled up like a polar bear and slid off the milking stool and was laying flat on my back thinking "Isn't life grand". Changing subjects. There is an old country song named "Chiseled in Stone". It is a story about a young man going to the bar after having a big fight with his life. He sits down by this old man and he tells him: "You don't know about lonely, you don't know how long nights can be, until it is chiseled in stone". www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUTyH8ZYZdAThis Christmas season, please let the ones that you love know how much you love and appreciate them. One of the best gifts that you can give is a letter of appreciation where you tell your loved ones all the things that you appreciate about them. And men, if you can read it aloud, all the better (I am told). This could be the last Christmas that you get to spend with them, make it count. |
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Post by davida on Dec 23, 2012 20:30:57 GMT -5
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Post by oxbowfarm on Jan 1, 2013 21:08:46 GMT -5
Now that we're in the slow time of year I finally got around to building a new shaving horse. The first two that I built since we've owned the farm were the Roy Underhill "split your shaving horse out of a log" style. But the first one was too heavy and the second was too light and cracked in half. Turns out I really need a shaving horse, especially since all our market signs are essentially shake shingles with words painted on them. Threw this one together with mostly scraps of hemlock lumber left over from the hoophouse hipboards. Managed to peel quite a few bean poles with it today.  |
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Post by raymondo on Jan 2, 2013 3:05:10 GMT -5
Such a simple but clever device! Time well spent methinks.
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Post by steev on Jan 8, 2013 20:39:36 GMT -5
Yesterday and today I high-graded prunings from my work to start pots of two nice caning roses and Wonderful pomegranates; next Winter I'll pot up those that have rooted to separate gallon pots; the second Winter they'll be robust and ready to plant out on the farm.
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Post by 12540dumont on Jan 9, 2013 14:03:59 GMT -5
Today I sent out seeds:
Wolfcub
Synergy
Raymundo
Ferdzy
Bonsai Outlaw
Ottawa
Keen 101
Ogeechee
John in Fl
Garnetmouth
Circumspice
There's a few more to go.
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Post by steev on Jan 9, 2013 22:05:29 GMT -5
Yes, I must do that, too; also got to prune my grapes for you and Jo.
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Post by synergy on Jan 9, 2013 23:57:15 GMT -5
Set up three meat rabbit does and a buck for organic meat production .
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Post by davida on Jan 10, 2013 10:29:15 GMT -5
Set up three meat rabbit does and a buck for organic meat production . Synergy, Congratulations on the rabbits. They can feed both you and the soil of your garden. With the rabbit meat and the homegrown poultry that you recently put in the freezer, you should have an excellent protein supply for the winter. I have not started raising rabbits because of the grandbabies. It was hard enough to explain why Harry Houdini, the grass fed steer that they had hand fed alfalfa cubes, suddenly disappeared from the farm. Are you learning alot in the university courses in Sustainability, Climate Literacy and Climate Change? Take care and keep up the good work. It's exciting to hear about your progress. David |
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Post by davida on Jan 10, 2013 11:00:30 GMT -5
After milking twice a day for 13 months, we have switched to milking Peaches the Jersey to once a day. We were getting 2 1/2 gallons per day with twice a day and are now getting 1 3/4 to 2 gallons a day. Hopefully, she is 70 days PG and we will milk until 90 to 100 days before calving and give her a rest. Peaches is one of the hard to find, old line homestead bred jersey cows and we AI'd her to a good jersey bull so we are hoping for a cute little heifer calf to be Peaches II. Many Jersey cows, especially in dairy areas, have been bred for extreme milk production and are not useful on a small homestead. Since our area is not a big dairy area and since I searched a 5 state region to find her, we would certainly like to have some heifer calves from her.
Since I like to present both sides of the homesteading equation, I will tell you the ugly. With Peaches last pregnancy, the calf died inside of her and was so swollen that the vet could not extract the calf normally. The vet said because of her small body and large udder, that a C-section would get poison in her body cavity and she would almost certainly die. The second option was to put her down immediately. The third option was to let the calf "rot" inside of her and pull the calf out piece by piece after rotting inside of her for 2 weeks, The odds were 20% to 25% of her living. She lived but you cannot imagine the stench that the vet and I endured for 90 minutes to get all of the calf out. After a flushing with a garden home, we were on our way home to give her alot of TLC. My milking helper has 2 young daughters and I have two young granddaughters, so Peaches had alot of child-like faith prayers for her. The rest is history.
I know this is a gardening forum but to me the garden is most useful as part of a homestead. If you get tired of my homestead posts, just let me know and I will keep the posts strictly to gardening.
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