New Life Old Farmers

LOTS seems to be going on around here this June evening…

The wind is blowing.

Number Two Son’s ukulele is playing.

My Girl is making a racket getting ready for work.

The old dog is snoring…and Agnes is bagging up…and that’s just the normal stuff!

We have a few family members who say that they are going to be happy to visit us when all of the work is done here at the farm…hahahaha…sure thing we’ll never see them.  Luckily for us, we’ve acquired some fun family members, who like to visit us, who love the farm and love to tackle a project or two…oh, yes…we are blessed.

Dear John, Dear John’s Wife and Turk the City Dog are here for a week.  The Scamp is settled in and we are doing our best to keep Dear John busy, but not too busy…like last year, when we asked him to restore 125 year old windows.  Dear John is an amazing wood worker, so when he asked if we had a project he could work on, My Loving Spouse and I quickly agreed…the banister!  The banister paid the price was uninstalled, during the great bathtub move, and needed to be re-installed!

When I left for work yesterday, Dear John was already knocking out old nails from the banister bits.  By the time I returned from work today, the whole job was almost done!  The final coat of white paint is all that is left to apply.

We didn’t know that we’d need a ‘Dear John Back Up Project Plan’, but this is Glory Farm…where the projects never end, so of course we had just the thing!

I have been on the hunt to build the perfect cutting/storage sewing table.  My plan was to build something from re-purposed parts, be it book cases, dressers, filing cabinets or old kitchen cabinets.  It had to be tall and it had to have a way for me to add storage.  We found an old school cupboard at the Architectural Salvage store.  It was tall.  It was sturdy.  It had wide drawers for long tools and two filing drawers just perfect for holding fabric.  (How My Loving Spouse got them to discount it is another tale).  It just needed a clean up….sanding, staining, some repairing and a bit of varnishing….

Oh…..Dear John….By this afternoon, not only was the banister primer drying, but the drawers were all out sanded and the base stained….and looking gorgeous.The cutting table is going to be stunning and so wonderfully useful.  I am lucky to have it and the space to build the sewing studio.

But what we are ever so grateful for are those people who care for this special place, care for us and share their time and their talents with us.  Taking part in the restoration of Glory Farm and in the making of memories…and we cherish them both.

 

The morning after our first go at our new sport and the smiles are still in place, but unfortunately the Advil has worn off.

We’ve been visiting a ranch here in town that sponsors horse gaming…speed patterned events where horse and rider compete against themselves for times.  The National group is Pattern Speed Horse Association and unlike many horse show type options this one is for families and is affordable, $90 signed the whole family up nationally and locally for the whole year!  

Speed, Accuracy, and Timing in the Equine Athlete….

So says one website, however as the most novice rider on the fattest horse (yes, fattest not fastest), I was hoping to just stay in the saddle and not knock anything over.  I had absolutely no plans for ‘speed’ and could be heard saying more than once when a new patterned race began,

“Okay, what are we doing?”

My Loving Spouse and I rode in a combined total of 8 races and stayed in the saddle 7 times…  Unfortunately, My Loving Spouse was the one bucked off at the end of his ride.  He is set to get a knee replacement in 2 weeks and the Doctor told him he must not have any scratches or cuts on his leg, so I suppose one could say that it was a good thing he landed on his shoulder…?

So, why did we sign up for this adventure/new sport?

1.  We realized we can easily work on this house all the time, and needed something to do with the horses that wasn’t work.

2.  It is fun.

3.  The people…

The races are challenging and as you are only competing against yourself, personal bests are all that matter, however we have found that the people are truly unique.  This is a family sport with grandchildren and grandparents riding the show together.  Riders with multiple horses and fancy set ups to a single horse with simple equipment.  Most of these racers ride like thunder and the sound of pounding hoofs was a reality that set my beautiful Beau on edge the first time we heard it.  Luckily there was an experienced rider there to help teach me how to get him under control…and that is it….the biggest reason we wanted to go.  The people are genuinely helpful, kind and extremely encouraging.  They love this sport and want you to like it too.
As I successfully trotted around the course, occasionally breaking into a gentle lope, they cheered me on with advice and praise as if I’d broken a record.  Great fun, a great feeling as I learned sooooo much and my horse skills improved by the minute and the only problem might be getting bugs in my teeth from smiling.A beautiful place to spend a great day, a lot of new people met, a lot to work on with our horse and another reminder from the owners of the ranch that provides the arena…

‘we are to share with others what we are given’

and we are blessed.

 

We are waiting on B14, and no, it is not a vitamin.  B14 will be the ear tag on our new calf, well…our only calf…for now…

Almost all of my cattle education has come from Our Friend the Farmer, who was Cattleman of the Year, (yes I am sort of bragging).  He pretty much didn’t know he’d be playing teacher to a middle-aged-cow-loving-novice when we moved in, but so far I think it has been good for him, a bit like comic relief, plus we like to feed him and we all know My Loving Spouse is a great cook.

We are watching Agnes closely now as her ‘time’ is coming.  Our job currently is to see if she is ‘bagging up’.  This will be the first sign that labor or calving is near.  Even if you do not live on a farm, you should be able to imagine which part of the cow’s anatomy bags up, if not just ask a very, very pregnant friend (I don’t recommend you ask someone who is not your friend, that would be weird).

After the calf is born, we will give it an ear tag.  Ear tagging is important, as it is like their name and you can keep your records about when you gave who their shots and who was born from whom, etc.  Our Friend the Farmer has a very good system, tagging the new-born calves the same number as their Mamma’s so if something comes up, he knows exactly who goes with who.  He has a color for the bulls and a different color for the heifers…  I’ve been trying to talk him into buying pink and blue, but surprisingly, he doesn’t seem to care very much about what color they are, just as long as there are enough tags or if they are on sale.  When he weans the calves, they get new ear tags, their grown up ear tags.

He uses the first number to align with the year of their birth and all of that year get the same color, so our heifer Agnes was born in 2012.  He then just numbers them 1 to whatever.  So, I have our system all ready to go….Agnes needs a new tag which will be A12, as in Agnes born in 2012, then we will work our way through the alphabet, so we are waiting on B14…our calf will either be Bessie or Bob born in 2014!

I’ve never pierced anyone’s ear or even tagged a cow for that matter, I maybe might need some help.

Can you imagine how much I LOVED this birth announcement!!!

No, this is NOT…THE Grandchild, because

a.  He is not born yet

b.  I don’t know how to crochet a hat

c.  The kids would NEVER let me do this

…but you know I LOVED this as soon as I saw it, so well done!

I want to give ALL the credit to where it came from at American Cattlemen on Facebook.

Now, I’ve got to go and see if Agnes is bagging up….

 

 

The peonies are blooming.  One of the prettiest flowers, large and vibrant and best of all hardy!  They have been here for a very, very long time.  We are grateful for the beautiful ones we have, and would like to have more about the garden.  Luckily for us, due to the Ellensburg Farm Exchange on Facebook, I’ve not only learned how to propagate the seeds, but will be swapping some of our pink seeds for a fellow gardeners red ones.  It takes a few years for them to come into bloom, but a mass of peonies is what I’m going for, so I can wait.

It has been so rewarding to see some of the flowers I’ve planted, come back this spring.  It feels as if, the colorful flower garden of my desire (currently existing only in my mind) is finally on its way to being a reality.

The host of purple Iris’s that were dug up, separated and transplanted by my visiting friend 18 months ago are starting to bloom.  Last spring we had just one bloom, and this year about 75% of them are blooming.  I love their rich deep color and am grateful that they were saved.  I think of my friend every time I see them.Our raspberry patch is looking healthy and we should have a great crop this year, if we can keep the chickens away from them!  The raspberries were planted with starts from a friend who was thinning their berry patch over a year ago.  This weekend I added a few boysenberry vines, a gift from another friend…

Easily a simple reminder to myself, my garden and my life are so much richer with friends.

It might not come as a surprise to you, that I have a thing for old stuff…especially, ‘Architectural Salvage’.   If you’ve sat at our dinning room table, you soon realize that it was fashioned from a French Door, I ‘rescued’ from the side of the road.  Many years ago when I found out, that there were actually stores that sold architectural salvage, I was practically giddy!  I have more than one friend that have been drug through the Architectural Salvage stores in downtown Los Angeles with me, because the stores were not exactly in the best part of town and I often needed help dragging home a treasure, but mostly because I loved to share the magic!

I’ve found two wonderful salvage stores in Seattle, Earth Wise and Second Use.  A cutting table/storage unit for the sewing studio is what prompted the trip over the hill.  My Loving Spouse had his eye on some old radiators (that we did not buy), but there was a lot of anticipation as we never know what we might find…

I would have bought this gorgeous old gate, if

a.  I needed another dinning room table

b.  I didn’t have the longest list ever of projects already started

c.  I was thinking fast enough to find something to justify spending the money on it

There are always plenty of bath tubs, sinks, toilets, doors and windows…

Ding dong…need a doorbell?

It is important to keep your eyes open and look high and low or you might miss some little item…

Knowing these beautiful windows have a home while awaiting their next location, just sort of makes me happy.

Beautiful old door knobs or glass knobs for cabinetry are a must in old homes…

Some things are a bit of art in and of themselves…Did I mention, you might not know what you will find?  My Loving Spouse fell in love with the pipes to an old wooded organ, someone bought him one for his early Father’s Day present.If you have a thing for pink…well, you are in luck… There is plenty of ‘trash to treasure’ items, stuff you’ve never heard off or seen and always the unexpected.

We even found what we went for, but that is another story…

Today is a ‘Snow Day’.  The ‘snow day’ is planned by the school calendar for the Friday before Memorial day.  If we had taken a day ‘off’ during the school year for real snow, we’d be going to school/work today….but we didn’t so can you say…’longer long week-end’ and yippee! On top of a day off, it is also windy…strong wind, which makes for a good reason to stay inside, so I am going to pretend that the house is clean and spend my day off sewing.  I have a few projects to finish up and I was ready to get going, so with my coffee by my side I got an early start…meaning while I was still in bed.  Now I knew I’d need to be careful not to spill my coffee on the quilt I was binding (hand sewing), but I might have also maybe learned that you have to be careful not to sew the quilt binding straight through onto the sheets on the bed as well…so after fixing that…I decided that perhaps sewing in bed was not the best idea.  I did however, finish the quilt I was working on for E.  E. is the smallest of my 10 nephews and still young enough to enjoy a whimsical robot quilt.   I learned how to ‘fussy cut’ and applique the robots on, which was a new step for me, also if you are not a sewer/quilter you can just ignore those last comments, as they probably do not make sense.  I very gratefully snagged this pattern from my new internet friend Debbie, even though she doesn’t know I exist, her directions were wonderful and I want to make sure I give credit where it is due. I m on a roll, as I also finished a ‘sprocket’ pillow for My Other Girl.  The fabrics are from the wedding quilt I have in progress for her.  The pillow was easy and I am so appreciative of yet another creative internet ‘friend’, that so generously shares their ideas and their great instructions.The pillow was easy and fun and I had all the stuff!  Well, okay, I didn’t have the buttons one covers in fabric, but I do now. Now it is just lunch time…what to do, what to do… start some new projects!  Perhaps, a few more pillows, or bibs, or perfect my chicken-feed-bag-trash-can…

My big sister came for a quick visit.  Well, she really is not very ‘big’, being about 6 inches shorter than I am.  She is my older sister, but if you have older siblings, you know they can get a tad cranky at this stage of life, if you identify them as ‘old’ (even if they are…sorry, a momentary younger sibling slip).  Suffice it to say, that my average height, mature sister born before me came for a quick visit….phew.

She has been to the farm a handful of times since we moved here, so she sees the progress we have made and it is quite rewarding.  She also said, she’d be willing to help out, so we dug into our plethora of work gloves and got to it, adding pickets to the rails on the vegetable garden fence.  She was slightly intimidated by power tools, which of course made me question whether one of us was switched at birth.  However, after she got going she quickly fell in love with the process, which not only got the fence put together but also settled the question of her birth.  

We not only put the finishing touches on the fence together, but had a great chat as well.  It was a sweet afternoon.

My Loving Spouse left me in charge of the fence building, because I’ve gotten so good at it he wanted to plant his seed potatoes.  He was planting them in an upright ‘container’.  The container was a wire structure lined with a burlap coffee bag.  Step one might have been the hardest part…evicting the Damn Cat from the 150 pound coffee bean bag.Then he added dirt, potatoes, dirt and water…we’ll see how this goes, but it should be a fun experiment, if nothing else.We were all pleased with the work we’d done.  My Big Sister had also brought a children’s book from her stash, yes a book about cows for me to save and share with THE Grandchild and a bottle of wine that we didn’t save at all.  Yep, it was a great visit, thanks Sis!

I was right!  I do have the best job ever!  I love being in the elementary school as the librarian’s assistant.  The only down side is that it is only a morning position, but it is a fun, full morning that speeds by each day.  I’m finding all kinds of new books to love!  A few about tractors…who knew, John Deere was a writer!

As well as some great new books about cows!  My Librarian dug out this book for me, as soon as she learned a had a teeny, tiny cow obsession.  The book itself is a hoot….Sixteen Cows includes almost a completely authentic replica of Whoa Nelly, of course one difference is that in the book, Who Nelly actually drives.The kids are the very best part!

They turn to me for sage wisdom like, “Do you have any scary story books?”

…and I ask them if they like to have nightmares?  Usually followed by my asking them to tie their shoes…

I get to act a teeny tiny bit crazy,…. because I have the power to let them check out books and because I am old enough to get away with it.  I taught a class of 9 year old’s a new word…’exempt’.  As each came to me to check out, I inquired brightly, “Are your shoes tied?”  If they had velcro or slip ons, they were…’exempt’…and they left for the day with shoes tied and a new word in their vocabulary as My Librarian was laughing.

Fifth grade boys can turn library book check out into a competition with a bit of testosterone running.  These books were turned in this week by one group and let me tell you, the picture does not do them justice.  They are too big to fit on the shelves and they each weight about 10 pounds!

I love this sweet school, where even the yearly ‘jog-a-ton’ money raiser is done in a fun way.  They call it the ‘Wacky Fun Run’ with kids and teachers dressed in crazy costumes, clothes inside out or back ward, capes, caps, tutu’s and a couple of teacher’s dressed as Thing One and Thing Two…  I ran walked with my afternoon class, stopping only to do some dancing or tie some shoes, which is when I came up with a great idea of next year…I’ll have a ‘Pit Stop’, where we’ll pull the kids off the ‘track’ and they can come into the ‘Pit Stop’ where…I’ll tie their shoes.

Hopefully someday years from now…the kids from this school will say to one another…remember that crazy lady in the library?  The one with the cow, shoe tying obsession?….but I’m hopping that when they say it there will be a smile on their face and a feeling that they knew I was someone who cared about them.

Dear Friend,

I was thinking of you as I was planting our vegetable garden.  Your green thumb would love our rich wonderful soil and although you’ve spent your life in So. California, if you were here you’d somehow know just what to plant and where to plant it…unlike I who had a plan, that quickly went astray once the seeds were actually going into the ground.  You’d be planting with great enthusiasm and delight.

I know I planted too much of somethings, but I suppose that is what thinning is for.  I’ve not really ever gotten very good at thinning.  It is so hard to pull out good veggies that are growing…well, except for zucchini…I do know one plant goes a very long way and as it is we picked out a yellow and a green on this year, so that will be double trouble.  This years’ zucchini chutney will certainly be colorful.  I tried very hard to not plant too many pumpkin seeds, but really can one have too many pumpkins? After all, THE Grandchild will need a very nice pumpkin or two.

Friend, I miss your laugh and your creativity.  I was thinking of you as we drilled holes in the ground to ‘plant’ abandoned old cement drains into the garden standing on end, filled them with dirt and they are now ready for herbs, horseradish and for invasive plants like mint.You’d love how I fashioned parts of an old arbor into my bean climbing support.  I turned the two ends upside down to fix into the earth.  Last week I’d removed all the suckers from the orchard and they were perfect for weaving into the arbor.  This was quite fun and I think will be very functional…best of all, as you know…it looks really cool too!  I just wish the photo was better, but some things are hard to capture on film…or what ever is in my phone that lets me take pictures.

I have been encouraged that the flower garden across the front is coming back in as well and the Shasta Daisy’s are doing well.  The weeds are out and the grass is trimmed with an old wooden border to make mowing along it easy.  As soon as the fence is done, I will plant more flowers…they will be protected from the wind, but unfortunately not the chickens.

My Loving Spouse and I even started to plant the posts for the rest of the garden fence last night.  I wanted to wait for him, as I do not seem to be able to put fence posts in the right spot and did not want the rest of the fence to be crooked, as it really is a pretty fence.  The corner post was established and it was when we began on the East side, that I noticed that if we stayed this course, my flower garden would end up inside the vegetable garden..grrr.  My Loving Spouse suggest we just ‘move’ the plants.  I know, he didn’t really have any idea how hard I’d already worked to have the flower garden in place…hours and hours….  So we dug up the corner post and re-posted it so as to protect the ‘established’ flower garden AND I promised My Loving Spouse that I would acknowledge to the ‘world’ (or at least to the blog-o-sphere) that he’d moved the post willingly and without complaining for which I am quite grateful for.

Isn’t it amazing how when you even water the garden, it not only looks so much better, but you can almost hear the veggies growing?

Well, I’ll keep you posted at how things progress taking you with me in my thoughts and heart, but especially when I am in the garden…

love,

your friend