Long Time, No Post

ots of stuff has happened since I last posted… . We’re still in a cool wet period of weather, so the garden is just sitting there.  Unfortunately the weeds don’t just sit there like the vegetables.    We have a powerful lot of work ahead of us when the weather breaks this week.  I say that with confidence because the running joke in the Pacific Northwet is that summer begins July 5th.  And that’s not too far from the truth most years.  Sorry to all you folks who are roasting in the heat.  We are still stomping slugs in the garden full-time.

All the calves have been born and are doing great.

I almost killed my dear sweet cow…by buying feed grade molasses at the feed store.  I may be exaggerating a little, but when I ran out of my Y2K stash of Blackstrap, I picked up some molasses at the feed store.  Alas, I long for the good old days, when molasses acted and tasted like molasses, not some dark, runny, extremely salty liquid.  The industrial food chain has a lot of links in it these days, and lots of room for mistakes and places to hide inferior products.  By the time a commodity product reaches you it has passed through many hands.  Some profit minded, and some just not being conscientious about their jobs.  Needless to say, I had a high producing cow, trying to get over mastitis and I give her poor feed.  I spoke to the feed store just to let them know, and they offered to refund my money, but it isn’t their fault, I am sure the product was not right from the get-go.  So another lesson learned, in a hard way.  I will only buy human grade (whatever that is anymore) molasses from now on.  Even if other cows can tolerate the feed grade molasses, I know Jane cannot.  She stood many days with her head down, she tried to eat but was just off, mouthing at her grain, barely grazing, turning down third cutting alfalfa – all the while producing massive quantities of milk and wasting her body reserves away to do it.  You have to be careful with a dairy cow, they are programmed to produce milk at their own expense.  A call from a friend feeding the same molasses was the turning point, since neither of our cows were too keen on it, we decided to stop using it.  I still had a little of the good stuff left and changed back that night.  The change in Jane was like night and day, she readily ate and was eager to go back to the pasture.

In the five days since, I have regained my friend back.  She is eager, inquisitive, and has a voracious appetite for pasture, hay, a little grain and her minerals.  I shudder to think of the outcome if I had kept up with that molasses.  Almost too simple of a solution.

On a brighter note, (at least for us) we now have 400 pounds of chicken meat in the freezer, and one less chore to do.  We processed chickens with a neighbor and their chicken chores are done for the year too, and we can concentrate on getting in some hay!

The fatted calves are heading to market while the grass is in its prime.

Tomatoes are starting to set fruit.  Indigo Rose is new to us this year, and sure is a looker.  I hope it tastes as well as it has grown.

The greenhouse is pumping out the veggies.  I am so glad I decided to treat the space as a covered garden instead of just a hothouse for warm weather crops.  We are eating well these days!
And the little princess of the barnyard – Blake – is providing us with many bovine cuteness moments.  And some not-so-cute moments too!  Lots of material and photos to post about, just need to find the time… .

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