One Size Fits All

We have found that a halter for a cow generally will last one year - tops.  The primary hobby of cows, that being eating grass, is very hard on a cow halter.  The act of eating grass is a very repetitive process for the cow that involves stretching the neck out, grabbing a wad of grass with the tongue and pulling the head back, ripping the grass out, chewing and then doing it all over again.  Same song, second verse.

Believe it or not, doing this numerous times a day takes a toll on the halter.  The chain on the halter that runs underneath the cow's jaw is shiny from continuous rubbing on the grass and the chain rubbing together against the grass will cause the chain to wear.  Over a year's time, the chain will become thin and eventually break in two like Clarabelle's halter did below.

Oh, sometimes I purchase a small chain link or I'll use some tie wire to mend the halter for a while, but the patchwork repairs don't hold up for long and then it is time to purchase a brand new halter.  We get the halter at our local feed store here in Jennings as we like to support our local businesses.

I was thinking that the halter is pricey at $24.78; however, for competitive pricing, I checked around on the Internet and $24.78 at our local feed store is actually a pretty doggone good price.

Here's the problem, though.  As the cows grow, you must purchase a new halter. The halters are sold in three sizes - Calf, Yearling, and Cow.  We have calf halters that we keep on the calves to break them and walk them, but they don't stay on the calf long and they aren't eating much grass, so they last for a long time and the calf halter is rotated from calf to calf and used over and over.

We don't even buy a yearling halter.  We have figured out a way to make the Cow Halter be a "one size fits all."  When I was probably 10 years old, I got a wood burner for Christmas.  You've probably seen them.  You plug them in and they get very, very hot.  You press the tip into a piece of wood and you can create all sorts of beautiful art, plaques, and signs.  At least that was the general idea.  My artwork and signs did not turn out like the pictures on the box and my creations were things that only a mother could love.  Besides that, the thing was dangerous.  It would heat up hotter than a blast furnace and give you third degree burns or burn your house down.  I loved the wood burner.  I just never got past the 'pre-novice' stage of wood burning.

My old wood burner

Hold the phones for a cotton-pickin' minute.  Forty years later (I don't throw anything away!), I have found the perfect use for a wood burner.  It makes a Cow Control Halter into a "one size fits all" halter.  By plugging the halter into an outlet and allowing it to reach the temperature of molten lava, you can gently push the wood burner tip through the nylon halter creating extra holes well past the ones that are factory made.  Once I have many holes added, I use the tip of the wood burner to melt away the hard nylon 'blobs' that are created by the melted nylon as that might scratch the cows' neck.

Adding holes to the halter

I added seven evenly spaced holes to the halter, turning this cow halter into a yearling halter.

Right now Clarabelle has a long strap that I simply tuck underneath the halter. She'll have plenty of room to grow into it as as she grows, I'll loosen the buckle as she grows until she is into the "Cow" Size.

Clarabelle is very happy with her new blue halter and quickly sticks her tongue deep into her nostril to show her exuberance with her new accessory.

I've always thought that is one heckuva trick!  My tongue won't reach that far.

Looking Back at 2016 Rainfall Totals at Our Maker's Acres Family Farm

Now Elijah said to Ahab, "Go up, eat and drink; for there is the sound of the roar of a heavy shower." 1 Kings 18:41

Hmmm...  The roar of a heavy shower.  Like Elijah and Ahab, we experienced the roars of many heavy showers in 2016 as our area received an extraordinary amount of the wet stuff.  But we'll get back to discussing that in just a minute.  We began keeping detailed records back in 2013 and each year in early January, we compile our records from the year to give us historical data that we can compare to previous years. Click HERE to read last year's post showing our records from 2015.  Detailed data helps us to identify trends and better manage the garden and livestock.  In prior years we reported our records for several items, but this year we are going to split them up into their own individual posts, starting with rainfall.

If you look at rainfall totals for our zip code, you will find that our average annual rainfall for Jennings, Louisiana is 60.35 inches.  If you average 2013 and 2014, the average of 60.35 is right on the money.  However 2015 rainfall and especially 2016 rainfall totals have skewed the average so that our average from 2013 - 2016 is actually 67.21 inches of precipitation per year.  The record-setting 2016 rainfall total was 79.30 inches or 6 foot 6 inches of rainfall for the year!  That shattered the previous years' record by a whopping 10 inches.  Check out the table I put together below:

March continues to be our driest month on average and the monsoons that fell in August 2016 made August the new wettest average month.  The August rains actually had disastrous effects on the fall garden this year.  The fall garden wasn't in at the time that the deluge hit, but that much rain delayed the planting of the fall garden until about a month later than it should have been planted.  I think later this week, I will further explain.  The rainfall amounts convinced me of two things:  I need to raise the level of the garden higher by having some additional topsoil delivered, AND I need to construct better drainage on parts of our pasture and the barn area.

"Dead" Prayers

Many times when we get cardboard boxes in the mail, I'll tear off the tape and any stickers and I'll flatten out the boxes.  I will take the flattened out boxes to the garden and lay them down on the ground where they serve as a barrier to weeds growing up.  Over time, with sun and rain, they deteriorate and become part of the garden soil.

The other day when walking out to pick some fresh lettuce for a salad for supper, my eye caught something lying atop one of the cardboard boxes - a dead Praying Mantis.

A Dead Prayer

This Praying Mantis was huge and on his back and very dead.  I began wondering what happened to the old boy.  He didn't seem to have been killed by a predator. He was a fat dude, so he was in good health.  He was quite large. so maybe he died of old age.  Old age, in this case, would be 14 months as that is the top end of their lifespan according to what Google told me.

Seeing a dead Praying Mantis is not a normal sight and as I picked lettuce, my mind began to dwell on the dead praying mantis and think of what causes our (my) prayers to die - or to go unanswered.  Have you ever prayed for something for a very long time and it feels like your prayers have died?  I have. What causes prayers to die?  Or seem to die?  Good questions.

I went to THIS LINK as well as some others to find some answers in this non-exhaustive list:

1. Wrong Motives.  When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. James 4:3  Maybe our motives involve greed or selfishness, or revenge.  The Bible says God will not honor those prayers.

2. Timing.  Sometimes no answer may be a delayed answer.  God's timing is best.

3  Not God's will.  Maybe what we are praying for is not what's best for us.  God knows best.  In fact, Garth Brooks used to sing a song called, "Some of God's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers." We must trust Him and be patient.

4. Repetitive and Not heart-felt prayer.  And when you are praying, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they suppose that they will be heard for their many words. Matthew 6:7 Sometimes in prayer, my mind wanders.  Sometimes I will go on "auto-pilot" and merely say words similar to the way as school kids we'd recite the Pledge of Allegiance.  Our heart isn't in it and the Bible says God will not hear these prayers.

5. Unconfessed sin.  Behold, the LORD'S hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear.  But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. Isaiah 59:1  Maybe our prayers feel like they are dead because we need to get things right with God and/or our fellow man.

I don't want to end up like the dead praying mantis in the garden, nor do I want my prayers to end up like him.

Then and Now - Barred Rock Chick Edition

Back on August 7 in the "A Surprise in the Loft" Post we talked about how a sneaky hen who didn't have a wing clipped flew up into the loft in the barn, laid eggs, sat on them and then hatched out three little chicks.  On August 30, in the "Chicks are Growing Up" post we reported that actually four chicks hatched out.  It wasn't much longer before we learned that two of the four chicks met an inauspicious end described HERE!

Fast forward about five months and we let's take a look at how the survivors are doing.  The chicks are no longer chicks, they are almost full grown pullets.

Heartbreak Hotel

There is one problem.  I hate to see animals in a cage, but there is a reason... or two. They live in the barn and they get in all sorts of trouble during the day.  First, while they are growing and are quite large, they can squeeze through the 4 x 4 holes in the garden fence and have fun scratching up newly planted seeds and eat vegetables. As a result, and until they grow larger, we keep them in jail all day with feed and water. At night we let them out and they roam around eating bugs and spiders in the barn.

We've learned to wait until after we milk the cows to let them out of the cage, though.  As soon as we let them out, they ran and jumped into the trough that Daisy and Rosie eat in.  The large head of a cow can prove to be a dangerous weapon to a hungry pullet.  Even when they escaped a 'head-on' collision, they would then hop out of the trough and run all around the cows' feet, pecking around to find bits of feed that cows dropped.  A two pound bird is not going to win the battle if they find themselves underfoot of an 850 pound cow.

As a result, we now keep them in the cage until after the cows have eaten and exited the barn!

By my estimation, the two pullets should start laying eggs toward the middle of February.  At that point, we'll no longer cage them during the day to keep them out of the garden and they'll be moved out of the barn.  It is hard to imagine, but those girls you see above will lay 400 eggs a year (200 each) if healthy.  Pretty soon, they will be out on their own - living wild and free like any self respecting chicken should be.

Here are some sweets you can eat BEFORE you eat your supper

We have been harvesting swiss chard, kale and lettuce and sweet potatoes and at least one of those items make up a side dish every night at supper.  We like lots of variety in fresh vegetables from the garden and although the bok choy is gone now, the beets, carrots, cabbage and spinach will be ripening soon.  As I looked across the garden, I saw maybe one of my favorite things looking very healthy and blooming - Sugar Snap Peas.

But they are doing more than bloom.  They are producing!  Although I like to pick them and eat them whole right off the trellis, still cool and crisp from the morning chill in the air, I wanted to snap one open to show you the peas inside the pod.

Like peas in a pod

The vines have grown and grown and their tendrils wrap tightly around the fencing that I use as a trellis, the weight of the foliage causing the trellis to lean right into the row of kale.  I had to take some baling twine and thread it through the growth in order to lift it back up.

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms

As I picked a few sweet peas, I spotted another sweet pea across the trellis - my Sweet Pea (wife) picking sugar snap peas.

My sweet pea

The day had warmed into the low 70's and the bees that live in our column by the side door became active and the found the white blossoms of the peas quickly.  If you look below at the 3 o'clock position in the photo, you can spot a honeybee in flight, making a beeline (pardon the pun) for the white blossom.

And the honeybee has found his mark and is busy pollinating...  Although we can't get to the honey that our bees produce, they do serve a very important purpose in our garden.

Tricia picked a nice big bowl of sugar snap peas and there are lots more to come! We'll take these inside and snap the ends off and remove the "strings".

Many of these will get eaten raw and fresh, but the remainder of them will be lightly stir-fried in a cast iron skillet in some butter.  They turn a brilliant green color that are a treat to the eyes, not to mention a treat to the palate.  If the harvest keeps coming, hopefully we'll have enough to blanch and freeze for later.

Big Lake Holiday Trip 2016

This post has nothing to do with our little homestead farm.  It has everything to do with our family's annual getaway after Christmas in which Dad & Mom get us all together on a family trip.  Everyone can't always make it, but we always have a lot of fun.  This year was no different.  Our get-away this year was only 1 hour away.  Dad & Mom rented a nice camp for the 12 of us in a camp called The Green Picket at Big Lake (Calcasieu Lake), which is south of Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Green Picket

We loaded up in the boat and headed out to where the fish were or where they were supposed to be. The first day we didn't catch much fish, but I caught some nice photos off the back of the boat.

While Big Lake is a pretty big lake, it is not very deep at all.  In looking at the depth finder, we never saw depths that exceeded 8 feet.  We fished near the shore in depths that got as shallow as 2 feet deep. We fished near 3 weirs on the southeast side of the lake.  The weirs are man-made structures that allow fresh water to flow into the lake from surrounding marshes.  The redfish hang out around the weirs and eat shrimp and other small fish flowing through the weirs.

When the sun started fading toward the horizon, it was time to head toward shore.

We did catch fish on this trip.  Landry caught a little sheepshead fish.

Then Carson pulled in the first redfish of the trip.  We found a spot near the rocks at the third weir and caught a good mess of fish in a very short period of time.  The redfish liked the chartreuse baits that we threw at them.

We brought our catch back to the camp and filleted the fish.  If you notice the picture below, Benjamin is holding a nice big blue crab.  While we were fishing, we ran lines off the sides of the boat with turkey necks attached.  It was pretty cool catching fish and crabs at the same time.  We had a net man netting redfish and another net man netting crabs.  We filled an ice chest with a nice mixed bag of fish and crabs.  We had a crab boil on the first night.  They were so good.

We played some crazy games in the camp.  This one was called "Junk in the Trunk."  We emptied two cube boxes of Kleenex, cut the plastic off the top and cut two slits in the bottom, running a ribbon through the boxes.  Then we fastened the box around the waists of the competitors and put 6 ping pong balls in the empty Kleenex boxes.  The winner of the "Junk in the Trunk" game was the one who was able to shake the 6 ping pong balls out of the box first.  It was interesting to watch the shaking that ensued.

A whole lotta shakin' goin' on...

Oh, back to the fish.  Once we filleted the fish and cut out the bloodline and all bones, we had a nice big platter of fish ready to eat.

Some friends have a camp near the Green Picket and invited us over to their outdoor kitchen behind their camp to cook the fish, visit and relax in front of a roaring fireplace.  It was a nice evening of good food and  good conversation with family and friends.

We ate a whole bunch of VERY FRESH fish. It doesn't get any fresher than the way we ate it unless we had eaten it directly off the boat.

Thanks Mom & Dad for a fun trip!  We made some good memories and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves!

Follow Through in 2017

Happy New Year!  This morning when I woke up I began thinking about the new year and the potential that lay ahead.  I began thinking about New Year's resolutions.  I never do too well with resolutions. Oh, I do pretty good for the first week and then things seem to unravel.  I've tried several things to remedy that.  I've tried to make resolutions that are more easily achievable.  I've even tried not making resolutions.  What is my problem?

Follow through.  It reminds me of this memory: When I was a young boy, my parents bought me a big book full of beautiful pictures and little stories about animals that had morals at the end of each story.  The book was called Aesop's Fables.  I loved it and read the stories over and over and over.  There was a story in there called "The Belling of the Cat"  I'll paraphrase it the best I remember it.

Image Credit

The mice held a committee meeting as things weren't going well in Mouseville. There was a cat in the house that was tormenting the mouse population. Something had to be done and had to be done quickly.  As the mice conferred, a young mouse moved forward with an idea.  Two of his friends carried out a collar that had bells fastened to it.  The mouse explained to the elders that they proposed that they should attach the collar with the bells on it around the cat's neck.

That way, when the cat came into the room, the mice would hear the bells jingling and would be able to get out of the way of the hungry feline.  Although Maw Maw and Paw Paw and cousin Pookie had been devoured by the cat, with the bell around the cat's neck, the slaughter of the mice would end.

What a great idea!  The mice put the young mice on their shoulders and paraded them around the room.  They were all so happy with the good news that would ensure their survival.  Then it got real quiet in the room  as all the mice pondered the question on everyone's minds:  Who would put the collar with the bells on the cat?

The moral of the story is that Great Plans without corresponding action are just mere, empty words. Plans, goals, and, yes, resolutions require follow through.  The mice taught me what I need this year to help me.