As you well know, I have been gone for awhile. Life on the farm does not make life simple. It can destroy a routine in just one day. Summer was scorching - the hottest summer we have ever had, quote the locals. My garden - well my garden didn't produce much accept some cucumbers and spaghetti squash which is still to be picked. My tomatoes decided they would make an appearance, much to late, and as of last week the 16 bushes were full of green tomatoes and some starting to ripen. OH GREAT!!!! "A day late and a dollar short" as my grandmother used to say. Woke up this morning with 27 degrees outside. Anyone interested in "frozen green tomatoes"?
I took 3 1/2 days off from the farm 2 weeks ago. Left on a Sunday afternoon in my truck, pulling my big horse trailer, loaded with my Foxtrotter mare, Cory, and my big wonderful Ugly mule, Denver. Drove to an 800 acre ranch north east of here, "Eagle Ranch" where you can camp, ride the trails and just enjoy. The weather had cooled so we had a wonderful time. I say "we" because a couple of friends went along with their horses. We had a great time.
Arrived home and went to kiss my sweetheart husband and found his right arm was in a sling. The day I left, he tripped over a curb and broke his collarbone. When I had called while on my trip to check in ,he did not tell me because he didn't want me to worry or think I had to come home. Goodness.
Well, that is why I haven't been blogging. And this next part of the blog is especially for the Kim Kardasian's of the world. Good gravy!!! is all I have to say each time I see her reality show where she won't even sit on her bedspread/comforter because it is some special silk. This real housewife of rural Missouri had to step up to the plate. Winterizing has to be done. What is "winterizing" in Missouri? Dust off the wood burning stove and make sure it is clean and ready to go. Get out the wood splitter, call one of the son's and grandsons and have them come to help cut wood, split wood and stock wood in the barn. Next, make a wood bin inside near the stove so I don't have to go out as often to bring in wood. Cleaning off the wood stove turns into a "Chinese Puzzle" in my house. The beautiful plant that was enjoying itself on top of the wood stove, basking in the sunlight all Spring and Summer long now has to find another place. Of course, the place where this plant sits in the winter has been taken up by something else. Long story short......it turned into reorganizing the front room. Then, Kim Kardasian, when you start moving furniture around, if you live in a barn and in the country, you have to dig out the vacuum and begin vacuuming all the dust, feathers, dog hair and whatever that has been hiding behind that piece of furniture.
Okay, chain saws are screaming and cutting up logs, logs are being split, then thrown in the back of a pickup and brought into the barn where they are then being stacked neatly. Then we have to winterize the gas driven machinery = putting in an additive in the 4 wheeler, the mowers, cars, trucks and various other pieces of farm machinery so when the temperature dips, the gas won't gel. Then our hay field has grown up and ready to be cut for our 2nd cutting of hay, which will partially be our feed for the winter for the horses and mules and the rest for our hay customers. In order to get ready for the cutting of the hay, I hooked up 2 garden carts to the back of the 4-wheeler (ATV). My husband could operate the 4 wheeler while I sat in the back wagon, leather gloves on and loppers (branch cutters) in hand. We drove out into the 40 acre field and drove up and down looking for Black Locust suckers and more debris from the tornado last May.
You ask, "What the heck is "Black Locust suckers?" Black Locust is a tree that grows in this area that has very long and sharp thorns. The thorns are so sharp and strong that the thorns on the young sucker trees can go right though a leather sole on a boot. The mature trees are full of thorns on their trunks and many on each branch. The thorns easily get to 5-6 inches long. So finding these young trees or "suckers" is necessary as I don't want them cut and end up in our hay bales. Trees out here grow like weeds. I am always cutting down or lopping off or digging up trees where they are not wanted.
We filled 4 wagons full of these suckers - it is a long, hot and tedious job taking many hours. I would love to issure a special invitation to Kim Kardasian to join me next time.
Next, after the hay is cut and raked (they rake it into "wind rows") they then begin to bale it. This process takes about 3 days in all. After the baling is done, I then will begin bringing in the hay from the field. If it sets to long in the field it kills the grass underneath the bale and leave dead spots. These bales are round and weigh approximately 1500 lbs. I have to put the hay spikes on the big tractor then go out and spear each bale and bring it in. You can leave the round bales out in the weather which is just fine. The hay is rolled and wrapped very tightly with a netting so when it rains or snows, the rain and snow runs right off of it instead of soaking into it. Each bale is equivilant to 16 square bales of hay, approximately.
Okay, moving on - Bring in all the Humming bird feeders as they are all gone now. Put out and fill all the bird feeders for the Tit Mouse (bird), Cardinal, Sparrow and Blue birds. I have 6 feeders that hang outside of one livingroom window and we love to watch the birds feed, fight, play and just rest all winter long. I also have to make warm places in the barn for the barn cats. I set up boxes covered with old throw rugs and filled with an old towel or rug. We have a tub of water for them in the barn so I set the heated water tub we have their water won't freeze. Also I have to install the water heaters in the horse troughs and take off the automatic waterers which would automatically fill the troughs all Spring and Summer long. During the winter we have to haul out garden hoses and fill them ourselves. Now, we make sure the horses have a place to get in out of the ice and snow and wind. I have a large stall inside the barn which has a door that opens out into the pasture and I open up that door, place a water trough in it and a salt block. The horses will filter in and stand for awhile. The little horses (minatures) have a separate pasture and have a leanto barn which has tarps attached to the sides to stop the wind. The Minature horses have exceptionally heavy thick coats unlike the large horses so they are able to handle winter much easier. They probably all do just fine without the stalls or the leantos but this mom would suffer more just worrying about them.
Lastly make sure the generators are dusted off and ready to go when asked to perform as we have several power outages during the winter from trees limbs falling on power lines etc. NOW WE ARE READY - except digging out the winter gloves, if I can remember where I put them, dig out the winter jackets and coveralls, the Muck Boots and heavy socks and flannel sheets. It sounds overwhelming but I love every minute of it. The colors in the trees are incredible right now - announcing winter. Then we will get a very hard freeze one night and the next day within one hour, all the leaves on the trees will fall. REALLY, it happens that fast.
Thanks for visiting and hope I didn't bore you - Please come back.
FOLK LORE: You can tell if you are going to have a hard cold winter if you check to see where the squirrel nests are. If they are built close to the trunk of the tree, winter will be hard. If they are farther out on the branches, it will be a mild winter.
COUNTRY RECIPE: Fried Corn - Fred Davis
2 - 3 corn cobs
2 Tblsp Butter
1/4 c of milk
salt and pepper to taste
touch of sugar if needed
Cut the corn off the cobs, then scrape the corn cops to remove the "milk" which is the juice of the corn - scrape all into a frying pan.
Add butter, milk, salt and pepper and sugar, if needed. Cook and stir for about 20 minutes. This is very good.
HAVE A GREAT DAY!
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