Happenings Around the Barnyard

We have managed to accomplish a lot of the goals we had for this year and the year isn't over yet. We find that setting goals and objectives are essential for managing our various projects and getting this old farm up to a level where we aren't buried in maintenance/rehabilitation and we can be a productive farm.

Back at the beginning of the year we mentioned that getting electricity to the shop was a main goal along with at least starting to renovate the big barn. We would have done it sooner but life, other commitments, and finances got in the way so we got a bit of a late start.

We ended up having three power poles placed in the back (had to get a utility easement from a neighboring farm to tie onto his line). The meter will be placed on this pole with an underground power connection to the shop breaker panel which will be in the back left of the shop as you look at this picture. I still need to start the wiring inside but that will be pleasurable and we will end up with an outside light over the roll up door, a porch light, an outside 110 and 220v outlet and plenty of outlets and overhead lights inside. I want the 220 for my welder and so I can plug in the camper up there if need be.

One of the reasons we didn't go with a complete underground system was cost but we also wanted a dedicated transformer close to the shop so we didn't get too much voltage drop for the welder.

We have noticed that cats like to be in a box of just about any type and Whiskers has taken over this old abandoned flower pot.

Judy continues to make and sell quilts and still longs for her own quilting machine.....but they are upwards of 20K...can you imagine that for a glorified sewing machine? She still holds out hope though and maybe she will win the lottery.

The unexpected and early hard frost meant we had to harvest most of the remaining garden crops and in the next post we will show how we preserve this through canning, dehydrating and freezing. We got about 50lbs of mostly green tomatoes that will go into relish and green tomato pickles while some that had started to ripen will be allowed to fully ripen. We also got a mess of bell peppers and pounds of Serrano and Thai chilies along with some herbs.

We didn't plant as many sweet potato slips this year as I am not particularly a fan but we got a good harvest and what we don't sell we will store in the root cellar. Right now they are inside hardening getting their protective skin.

We got rid of most of the old doors on the barn and rebuilt them like they should be built and we have painted the trim white which looks so much better than the dreary grey trim. A barn should be red with white trim...I think its some kind of law (or should be). The hay loft elevator door still needs to be rebuilt along with the double door on the lower right.

We have a long way to go with new framing around the windows, some structural repair, refastening some of the tin, some new posts inside, and we have a few more doors to rebuild but just what we have done so far has made the barn much more useful and the paint really brightens it up.

For some reason the previous owner made some doors that opened out instead of in like they should be and they were made of thin interior grade lumber but we have rebuilt the doors with 2x6 pressure treated lumber with Z bracing inside and heavy duty hinges and barrel bolts.

We also need to touch up the paint on the bottom of the stem walls where the previous owner painted down to where the grass had grown up instead of trimming it and doing it right. I don't mean to harp and I am sure that plenty of people could criticize our efforts as well but some of the short cuts we have had to fix are aggravating.

We only cut hay on one pasture for the second cutting and ended up with 56 bales which compares to the total of 65 bales for all the pastures we managed during last years drought. We now have over 500 bales in the hay mow and its a very satisfying feeling.

That is a lot of hay for us to have put up but there is nothing like going into an old barn and enjoying the smell of the hay, the smell of the old machinery, and looking for all the treasures in an old barn....like.....

This claw foot cast iron tub that has good porcelain and only needs to be cleaned up and the bottom painted. It has all four claw feet intact which is hard to find and we will be installing this when we remodel our bathroom next year.

Buster our bull calf is growing and doing well and we are still expecting Louise to drop her calf before Christmas.

My best friend and wife Holly sure looked pretty in the fancy gown she wore for the wedding but I confess I much prefer her like this. Riding her four wheeler in the back pasture and scouting for turkey and deer. Its hunting season soon and we are looking forward to filling the freezer as we have almost consumed all of our wild game from last year.

Holly, Judy and I have found we get great pleasure from wandering around our little farm and seeing the results of our labors. It was a blank slate and so run down when we bought it that we didn't know where to start but now we see the fences and the corrals and the renovations and building additions along with the animals and the place is alive. We both gave up high paying jobs and opportunities to embark on this journey...no regrets what so ever.

Its hard to convey some of these scenes in pictures because the sounds and smells are just as big a part of the enjoyment (at least for me) than the sights. As I took this picture the new rooster was crowing in the background, Thelma (this cow) was slurping water, the sheep were bleating and Maybelle decided to get vocal up on the hill. No other sounds other than a few birds. The smells I also find pleasing, I have always liked cattle and the faint manure smells, the smells associated with their regurgitation (cud), the smell of the earth and the fresh air all combine for me to equal peace.

Another crop we haven't harvested yet besides the carrots still in the ground and the cabbage and broccoli that are thriving are these Persimmons. We have several Persimmon trees that all bear way more fruit than we could ever want and we offer it to anyone who wants to come pick it...its just that no one wants it in these modern times. Used to be they were a staple around here but along with Hickory nuts they aren't much sought after anymore. We plan to harvest them and make jam with them but you have to catch them when they are just ripe because they are very bitter until a frost softens them and brings out their sweetness.

They are very tasty when ripe and you can make bread and a bunch of other things with them but if all else fails......

The chickens love them and we supplement their daily scratch rations with Persimmons when they are available. One interesting thing we are still figuring out though is that they tend to ferment sometimes and we wonder if we are making alcoholics out of our chickens...hmmmm

And finally for this post, we harvested the last of our Asian Pears and will be canning these for use in tarts and pies this winter. One of the things we want to improve with this blog is that we want to show more of how we do things and the next post in a day or so will show how we are preserving this late harvest. We have a NESCO dehydrator which is very reasonably priced and it is a good way to preserve food even if you live in a city and want to take advantage of some of the sales that come up in the store. Nothing finer than preparing meals in the middle of winter with food you preserved and you just can beat the taste. So until next time.... 

Day Before the Big Freeze

Yesterday it was 83, today it was 70, and tonight we will be around 30 with below freezing nights for the next three days (though the weekend will be warm again) so we had to harvest the remaining summer garden items, cover the fall garden with row covers, and prep for cold weather. Of course compared to Number 1 daughter Jen and her partner Steve who already have lots of snow, we are still enjoying a warm fall.

Boo Boo has decided its winter even though its still warm out during the day and in the evenings he has to be held and he likes being covered with a blanket. He is sound asleep in this picture with his front legs stretched out. Keep in mind this was a feral cat that we found almost frozen to death in Alaska one winter about 10 years ago...he is semi retired and enjoying the good life on the farm.

We completed our third and final black eyed pea harvest yesterday.

All together, we got almost 7 pounds of shelled black eyed peas that we have dried and stored for the winter.

And because of the pending hard frost we harvested the last of the tomatoes, the sweet and hot peppers, a couple small egg plants, and the last of the okra along with some rainbow swiss chard.

We have harvested so many cayene peppers this year and we have a ton dried and stored but we harvested more today and left about a hundred still green on the vine. We have Jalapenos, sweet banana peppers, cayene, and some little red and orange pepper we cant remember the name of that are spicy hot. We like peppers...

Maybelle comes running up and wont leave you alone if she sees you with a feed bucket and now Louise is losing her shyness and doing the same thing. We set a small feed bucket to one side for Maybelle since she is smaller than the other two but they all mob from one feed trough to another.

Thelma is still shy but what a magnificent looking animal. She has excellent lines, a shiney coat and her muscles ripple when she moves.

All three of the heifers get on well and we enjoy the nightly routine where they come down to the barnyard mooing and hollering for their treats.

And of course Louise is my favorite...and she is a chow hound. Always the last to leave the feed trough.

We also harvested the gourds today. These will be dried and finished for bird houses and spoons.

We actually use our old garden tractors to work around the farm when we dont want to use the bigger tractors and here we are hauling the gourds to the barn.

We never get tired of this and try to turn chores into fun events...why not?

Not a bad haul eh? And an update on the old Allis Chalmers, I got the tire patched up but the valve stem is rotten and wont hold air so still some more work to do. We will move it up to the shop for a winters project and we hope to be plowing with it next year.

This is just a picture of our back pasture and deer plot. Its hidden from the world and it is so peaceful in the fall. We have a ton of acorns this year and the squirrels, rabbits, deer and wild Turkeys are thick back here. Unfortunately, so are the coyotes and we think we lost the barn cats to the coyotes.

This is looking towards another of our wood lots and Bandit is busy looking for neon rainbows. Fall is a great time of the year and my favorite.

Chris planted carrots and they are doing great but he is impatient and had to pull one to check his progress.

Not much production for all that greenery! But they will get lots bigger over the next couple weeks and they are SWEET.

We also cut another load of wood yesterday and still need to split this.

And if you look at it, its all Black Walnut. Black Walnut is an expensive wood and hard as nails so it burns for a long time and very hot. We got these from trees that had been hit by lightening on a ranch where we work occasionally and it somehow seems wrong to be burning this type of wood for heat but it would have just rotted otherwise and it was too damaged to sell for commercial use.

Judy's old dog Jesse died last year and is burried up in the oak grove behind the barn. I am going to take this piece of wood, drill holes in the bottom and sink two pieces of rebar into it and make a headstone for Jesse. It will have Jesse's name and a few words on the front and then it will be varnished before we place it.

Just another fall scene of the old planter.

And at the end of the day we play best 2 out of 3 in games of yard darts to see who has to do the dishes. Judy and I are usually on the same team playing against Holly and Chris and we rarely have to do dishes......we play well because we really really dont like to do dishes.