Denise Domning's Blog, page 30

Farm Helplessness

This morning a coyote trotted boldly across our fields to snatch a Buff Orpington.  What was Sedona doing?  She was lying in her bed on the porch watching this “Nature Show” as if it were television.  Not a peep from her.   Now, I was dashing across the field armed with the nearest tool I could find (a rake…what I thought I was going to do with it hasn’t yet registered), screaming at the top of my lungs.  And Brighty?  Her hooves were flying as she protected the Buckeyes and the turkeys.

But that dog did nothing.  Ed, you’re on notice.  We are getting a farm dog, no ifs, ands or buts.  I will not stand helplessly by as varmints steal my critters.

Farm Sadness

Little Surprise didn’t make it.  We called the vet when after an hour he hadn’t gotten to his feet.  When Dr. MacDonald came, he informed us that Surprise most likely had been born healthy and vital, but that coyotes or some other predator had gotten to him during the night. Leah remembers hearing the coyotes last night making a lot of noise.  I didn’t hear anything, and neither did Ed who had trouble sleeping last night.  Apparently the reason the calf was half out of the corral was because the predators had dragged him out.

The doctor suggested putting him down; we were all thinking about internal injuries.  Leah and I agreed.  Ed’s presently digging a hole for him while Brighty says her final goodbyes.

As Ed was putting the backhoe on the tractor to dig the hole, he said to me, “That’s farming.  You make one mistake and something dies.”  Of course, he blames himself but none of us knew she was THAT pregnant, not even the trained vet.  If we had, the coyotes wouldn’t have had a chance to get to him.

But I think Ed’s comment points to a terrible flaw in the way we think in our modern culture as compared to the Medieval people about whom I write.  They experienced death in some form, whether that of the animals they ate or the children who died so easily, every day .  Here in America, our culture actually entertains the idea of “defeating” death.  We keep our kids away from the funeral home for fear they’ll be traumatized but what is a natural and every day event.  In doing so, we’ve disconnected ourselves from REAL life and that’s a shame.

Still, poor little Surprise.

OMG!

Brighty had a full term calf this morning and she’s still pushing. The vet is embarrassed. More to come??? (Pictures to follow)

More fertility here on the farm

More Farm fertility.  Another 500 plus plants hit the soil today: spinach, beets and lettuce.  I put them in last spring’s lasagna garden, the one closest to the barn.  What had been bagged compost, straw and cardboard is now rich, black, wormy earth.  It was a joy kneeling in it, using my hand fork to set in the tiny seedlings.  It even smells good!

This may turn out to be a winter to remember, especially with that garden enclosed in plastic sheeting.  Wouldn’t it be something if I managed to keep the tomatoes until Christmas?

 

Moo-zel Tov Brighty!

Farm Fertility!  Ralph the Bull did his job after all.  Brighty is with calf, due in late spring.

This is very good because we really weren’t looking forward to eating her.  Thanks Dr. MacDonald (really, that’s his name—his practice is EIEI-MacDonald).

 

Seedlings

I spent the day turning empty garden beds into something more fruitful.  More than a 1000 plants went in today and that’s about half of what I need to plant.  Kale, spinach, lettuce, tatsoi, cabbage, more lettuce, beets, bok choi, more lettuce.  And I haven’t even gotten to seeds yet.

The worst of this is…it’s still hot during the middle of the day here.  I think I sunburned my neck.  Yuck.  I’m a REDNECK and I don’t make near as much money as Jeff Foxworthy.  Well, dang.  Then again, The Seasons Series–the box set of my first five books–is presently #5 on Amazon’s Free Kindle Bestseller list.

Imagine that happening while I’m plugging plant after tiny plant into garden beds gone loamy and black through worm work.  That’s enough to make me smile…and go find another bottle of Lambert Bridge Zinfandel to celebrate being sunburned in November!  (Of course I’d rather be drinking their Petit Verdot, but I’m out.  Shelby will send more soon I’m sure.)

Tomorrow: the barn garden.  1000 more lettuce plants to go.  If only there’s some way to keep the chickens from penetrating the bird netting and digging up my few cabbage plants!  Why they do that and avoid the other seedlings is beyond me…as is how they manage to find the tiny holes in the bird netting that let them into the garden.  Stop it, I say!

Blame this whole post on sunstroke in Arizona in November.

Farm Miraculous! After skinning the chickens the raccoon...

Farm Miraculous!  After skinning the chickens the raccoon had left us–and learning that hens have a fascinating ovarial contraption for producing eggs, I started into a day of gardening with Leah, who’s taking over our bucket garden.  While we were working on refreshing the watering system, Leah glanced at the ditch and cried out, “Otters!”

There, bouncing and playing in the water near the orchard was the mama otter and her four babies.  Although four of them scattered when they realized we were looking, one stayed back and eyed us as if curious about what we were doing at the top of that strange hill.  It floated on its back in the water, blinking up at us.  Where was the camera when I needed it?!

It was a little gift to make up for what was taken earlier in the day.

Farm Frustration: I used to think raccoons were cute, ...

Farm Frustration:    I used to think raccoons were cute, even when they were coming into my Scottsdale house and eating our cat food.  But this morning at about 4 AM, a raccoon penetrated our temporary chicken coop–a chain link fence enclosure covered on all sides and the top with tarp.  It punched a hole through the tarp, then reached through the chain link fence and grabbed two hens by the necks and killed them.  With, I’ll mention, no possibility of getting any of the hen through the chain link and into its mouth.  Nasty creature!  Well, the dog is eating chicken this week.

 

Turkeys can swim!

News flash!  When a turkey hen takes off from the porch, aiming for the ditch bank by the barn and chokes, she drops into the Mason Ditch and calmly begins to paddle her way to the bank.  Once back on dry land, she shakes off the water and struts off as if nothing at all is amiss…  Who knew?

First Cheese!

I used half my little wheel of Gouda for the hot dish.

Tonight we had hot dish.  For those of you without a Scandinavian background, hot dish is a category of food that appears at church (Lutheran, of course) potluck dinners.  Growing up, hot dish meant leftover vegetables worked into tomato sauced-ground beef.  And, for most of my extended family, hot dish is a favorite, easy weeknight meal.

But tonight’s hot dish was something special for me.  Although my Norwegian grandmother might laugh at me for this, tonight’s hot dish was 100% local and over 50% from our own farm.  The beef, potatoes and onion were local; the Poblano pepper and oregano were from the garden, as was the canned tomato sauce.  But what set tonight’s meal apart was the Gouda.  I made it almost two months ago from Brighty milk.  It got a definite “thumbs-up” from Ed.   In fact, he liked it so much we discussed cheese-aging chambers at dinner.

I made cheese and it was good.  Pardon me, but I’m grinning over here.

In case you want to make “Hot Dish” for yourself, the recipe is pretty darn flexible and easy:

 

1 pd ground beef (locally grown, of course)
2 tbsp of leftover bacon grease or some sort of oil if your ground beef is very lean
some onion, chopped (as much as you like)
some garlic, chopped (if you like it and as much as you like)
1 tbsp of some fresh herb, such as oregano or marjoram or mexican oregano or
2 cups canned homegrown tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 to 3/4 pd of fingerling potatoes
sliced or grated cheese to top it, as much as you like

In a large skillet brown the ground beef with the onions in the fat, if you’re using it. Add the chopped garlic and herbs. Once the ground beef is cooked through add the tomatoes, salt and pepper and potatoes. Cover the skillet and simmer gently until the potatoes are cooked. Top with cheese, then cover again and simmer a little longer until the cheese is melted, and serve.