Farewell to Daisy

So this post is hard to write...

I can remember being a little boy showing sheep in 4-H.  They were "market lambs."  I wasn't smart enough to figure out what that meant until the day of the sale.  I could hear the auctioneer arriving at a price for someone's animal and then asking, "Where do you want this animal to go?"  The answer I heard burned into my brain: "Manuel's Slaughterhouse."  The truth of what a market lamb was hit me like a ton of bricks.

I ran and jumped in the stall with "Fluff" and "Snowball" and hugged them and cried.  And cried.  And cried.  These were my friends.  I walked them every day.  They followed me around.  My dad was about to call off the sale, when logic finally settled in on me.  They were wethers.  This means they were castrated at a young age.  They are no good for breeding and only good for eating.  It was hard to do, but I relented.  This is life.  It is hard, but it is truly a blessing to be at the top of the food chain.

Fast forward forty-something years later, and I'm in the same situation.  Daisy was the calf that came alongside "Momma Cow," our first Jersey milk cow.  Daisy grew up and became a great show cow and milker, providing milk for our family for years and years and provided us many calves.  She is the matriarch of our little herd and quite bossy.

She's eleven years old and as she's aged, she's run into a problem.  For two years we've tried to have her bred, but she won't get pregnant.  Bulls breed her, but she is never able to get pregnant.  Try as we might, we cannot get a positive test.  The veterinarian has looked at her and found nothing wrong, but she is unable to get pregnant.  On our 3 acre pasture, we just don't have room or money to just "put her out to pasture" and let her live out her days without providing calves or milk.  The sad day came when we realized that Daisy couldn't stay with us anymore.  Saturday we loaded her into the cattle trailer...

And we took her away.  That's all I can say.  We both told Daisy we were so sorry.  She was a good cow and was with our family for 11 years.  We took very good care of her and provided her a good home and peaceful surroundings.  Our Maker's Acres Family Farm was like "cow heaven" to her, I'm sure.

As Tricia walked away with Daisy's halter in her hand and we drove away in the truck, pulling an empty cattle trailer, the same pain from forty-something years ago gripped my heart.  I feel like a big baby, but it is an emotional thing to me.

Farewell Daisy.  We will miss you.

Cornerstone Christmas Caroling - 2018

Come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!

We sing that song at this time of year, but truly that song can be sung all throughout the year as we should ALWAYS come and adore Christ the Lord.  This past Sunday afternoon, our little country church - Cornerstone Baptist Church, met for worship and fellowship as we sang Christmas carols at the VA Home and both nursing homes in town.

We walked the halls singing about the Christ Child and the hope and joy that his birth brought. 

Many of the residents that we were singing to joined in as we sang old familiar carols, sung year after year.

We sang both in large, common areas as well as stopping by people's rooms to sing.  Some sat by their doors, singing with tears in their eyes.  Others couldn't get out of bed, but remembered the lyrics and joined us in song.

Our church secretary made Christmas Carol song books for us and by singing the first and last verse, we were able to sing a wide variety of carols that we all love and cherish.  After three hours of caroling, we met back at the church for prayer, fellowship and snacks!  It was nice to sit down and visit with each other and all were definitely glad they came.  We set out to be a blessing to others and by the end of the day, we could honestly say that we were blessed by the opportunity to serve King Jesus by singing to the dear people at the VA Home, Jeff Davis Living Center, and Camelot Brookside.

A carol that I only learned a few years ago, but has become one of my favorites is "O beautiful Star of Bethlehem."  A star led the wise men to Jesus.  Wise men still seek Him!  Jesus gave us a Light to light the way!

Here are the lyrics:

O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shining far through shadows dim
Giving the light for those who long have gone
Guiding the wise men on their way
Unto the place where Jesus lay
O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shine on

O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shine upon us until the glory dawns
Give us a light to light the way
Unto the land of perfect day
O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shine on

O beautiful star the hope of life
Guiding the pilgrims through the night
Over the mountains 'til the break of dawn
Into the light of perfect day
It will give out a lovely ray
O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shine on

O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shine upon us until the glory dawns
Give us a light to light the way
Unto the land of perfect day
O beautiful star of Bethlehem
Shine on

A Quick Garden Stroll

Yesterday we looked at the three rows of carrots in the garden and talked about the surprise of finding some tomatoes growing up from seed in 'volunteer' fashion and transplanting them.  Today we'll peek in at the other items in the garden.

First off, I must tell you that the fall garden this year is very disappointing.  The very wet months of August, September, and October meant that things that I planted succumbed, and any of the things that I did manage to plant was planted two months late.  Better late than never, I suppose.  After that gloomy introduction, let's look at something bright and cheery.  Some of our Lemon Girl sunflowers sprouted up from seed that had fallen from some of the flowers from this summer.  Their blooms confirmed the resiliency of nature and at the same time was humbling.  How is it that you work so hard to plant things... and fail due to weather, and yet, some things just come up on their own and thrive?  I stopped to admire the flowers just opening and saw that a honeybee had arrived to enjoy the sunflower along with me.

This row of Russian Red Kale is coated with a thick coating of morning dew.  Kale, the ubiquitous hipster vegetable, gained such notoriety in the last several years.  We like it and grow it each year, but I must admit, for greens, I like Swiss Chard, mustard, and bok choy a little better.

This year has been a bad year for Romaine Lettuce.  Romaine grown in mostly Yuma, Arizona, was linked to an outbreak of E. Coli that sickened many people and caused a recall of romaine from supermarkets across the country.  We'll be enjoying some homegrown Red Romaine lettuce soon, hopefully without e. coli!

Black Seeded Simpson Lettuce is always a favorite in the garden because it grows great, big, leafy heads and is beautifully green colored and tasty. 

The young lettuce patch is planted for aesthetics as well as taste.  I like to alternate the reds and greens.  Tricia did warn me that we needed to pick the lettuce earlier this year as we find that lettuce that we allow to get too big is bitter to the taste.

At this point, the cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage all pretty much looks the same.  We've been fortunate so far to not have much damage at all from pests.  We'll keep our eyes open, though, as caterpillars love feasting on their leaves almost as much as we do.

We'll begin harvesting some items from the fall garden soon.  I was reminded by a seed catalog coming in the mail on Saturday that it isn't too early to begin thinking about the spring garden.  Why, I'll be planting tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant from seed in about three weeks.

A Few Things to Knock Out in the Garden

The short days of winter mean that by the time I get home, it's dark.  Due to darkness, there's not really anything to do until the weekends because you can't see anything.  When weekends come, there's a lot of catching up to do.  This past weekend I had a big on-going project that I've been working on for years now.  Each year a good family friend rakes up her yard and gives us roughly 20 BIG garbage bags full of leaves.  Instead of taking them to the dump, I take them to the garden.

Each year I dig trenches about a foot and a half deep in the garden and pour the leaves into the trench.  I stomp the leaves down into the bottom of the trench, throw some cow manure in the trench so that the bacteria begins to decompose the leaves, and then I pour more leaves into the hole.  Finally, I cover the leaf filled trench with soil.  A couple of things happen here:  First the organic matter loosens the soil, adding fertility and a habitat for earthworms.  You ought to see the earthworms in the areas that I filled with last year's leaves!  Adding the leaves and manure and covering with soil raises the level of the garden, leaving it high and dry when it rains.  The buried leaves act as a storehouse for moisture during drought, giving the plants sustenance during dry times.

My next area of work was one I am not crazy about doing- WEEDING!  The winter weeds and grasses will take over the garden very quickly, especially if I can only work the garden on weekends.  One must remain vigilant to stay on top of things.  In the photo below you can see a few carrot plants on rows dominated by weeds.  Time to get busy!

Weeding is a tedious job.  Due to the close proximity of the weeds next to the plants, it is a task that is done by hand.  You have to be real careful not to uproot vegetable seedlings.  In the photo above, the carrots are almost completely hidden by the leaves.  In the photo below, the weeds have been removed, leaving only the carrot seedlings.

Now that we've removed the grasses, the seedling has no competition for soil nutrients and water.  The plant is also able to let the sun's rays reach it, which results in faster growth.

While pulling weeds, I happened across some seedlings growing in the garden that were NOT weeds.  There were seven nice tomato seedlings that came up volunteer ~ perhaps from compost?  Anyway, I dug them up and potted them. 

All of the tomato plants are very healthy.  I will attempt to keep them alive during the winter months and then transplant in the garden once it warms up.

I normally plant my tomato, pepper, and eggplant seedlings on January 1st and then transplant in the spring.  Finding these plants was a great gift.  If I can successfully get these plants through the winter, I'll have a great head start and hopefully, early tomatoes.

Birds of a Feather...

Chickens are interesting creatures to watch.  They are entertaining and have their own personalities.  They have habits and rituals like people do.  For instance, they roost at the same spot each night.  It is a similar phenomenon how people sit in the same pew at church each Sunday morning.  We have our spot, by golly, and no one is going to take it from us!

Our hens also go through the same things each year at the same time.  One, for instance, is the reduction in egg output as the number of daylight hours go down.  Another is their propensity to molt at this time.  Not all, but some.  You can see the Black Star hen below has not started molting.  However, the Barred Rock behind her?  She is a sad spectacle to behold.

Just look at this sad looking bird, would you?  She looks embarrassed that I am taking her picture with her feathers looking so undone.  Here's what's going on.  After a year of full feathers, the tired, worn, faded feathers are falling off.  They are being refreshed with brand new feathers that will cover the bird and keep her warm throughout the winter months.  As ugly as she looks now, be patient.  She'll look like a million bucks shortly.  Amidst the faded feathers, you can see the new ones coming in.  Right now they are just pin feathers - feathers that are rolled up tight.  But they'll keep growing and push through the hair follicle to emerge as new feathers.

Soon the molt will be over and this hen will look presentable again.  Not only that, but her new feathers will keep her warm as the north winds begin to blow.  A new feather coat just in time for winter!

Long Before Social Media

Long before social media people still kept in touch with one another and kept abreast of the goings on of family members, friends, and associates.  Local small-town newspapers were great in getting the news out to the community about newsworthy events.  The communicated not only world news, but events that kept the ladies at the beauty shop entertained and gave the men having a cup of coffee at the counter at the drug store something to talk about.  At the kitchen table, over a cup of coffee, you could find out what everybody's been up to.

Last week my uncle forwarded me a news clipping from The Oakdale Journal dated March 25, 1948 he thought I would find interesting.  (I did!)  Oakdale is a town 25 miles north of Kinder, the town I grew up in.  It is the largest town in Allen Parish with a population of about 7,700 today.  I'm not sure what it had in population back in 1948.  I enjoyed reading this newspaper clipping:

Doesn't reading that transport you back to "Mayberry" and to a much simpler time?  "Little Ronnie Sonnier" is my Dad, and I'm sure glad that he recuperated from his bout with the measles!  

Spider Webs Filling the Sky

Sunday afternoon was a beautiful day.  Blue skies, sunshine, cool weather and a nice breeze completed the recipe for a glorious day.  As I took care of a few 'to do' items in the garden, I glanced upward and saw that the sky was filled with spider webs floating in the air, being carried by the breeze.

Tree limbs, fences, everything was covered in webs.  If you look closely in the photo below, you can see the sunlight reflecting off of the webs caught in the power lines.

In reading on the Internet, I learned that these are indeed tiny spiders that climb to a high location and releases stings of spider webs into the air.  The wind catches the webs like a parachute and carries the spiders away.  They have been found over 900 miles away from shore in the middle of the ocean and as high as 16,000 feet up in the air.  Just below you can see a very long web that has landed and is draped over the live oak tree and caught in the fence.  It would be interesting to know how far away it traveled from prior to landing here.

Why are spiders doing this?  They are dispersing to find new habitat.  Most of us hop in a car or truck or call uber or lyft, but these tiny spiders have it all figured out.  Eventually, though, they land just as they did below.  Welcome to Our Maker's Acres Family Farm.

I for one, hope that as soon as they unpack, they get busy eating pests in the garden!