576

Hi Everyone,

               I don’t know about you, but starting your day off with a missing dog isn’t the best way to start the day—but thankfully I didn’t know about a missing Yasha until later this afternoon. We might not have made it to church if I had known, and I would have worried all day. Papa did start his day off with a missing Yasha. He looked for her—but it was dark outside and he never found her. Later this afternoon when he went to do the evening chores, around 4:30, he went looking for her. Mama and I were using the binoculars to see if she would come out from under the chicken houses—but only Aliya came out to greet Papa. I put on my socks and shoes and headed outside to help look. I saw paw prints in the driveway, and saw a few go down the dirt road a little ways and then disappear. I also saw mama and baby wild turkey prints on the side of the road. I walked the road for a little bit—until I saw a car coming and then I ran back to our driveway because I didn’t feel like eating dirt, and I thankfully got to the driveway before the car passed me. I headed into the back field and disturbed some quail that flew off out of the woods and across the road. Then I walked back to the heifer field and stepped over the hotwire and went over to the back fence so that I could see the neighbor’s pond in hopes to see if Yasha was hanging out there. I was heading to the garden when Mama yelled from the porch that Yasha was under the shade in the back field. I found her happily resting in the coolness of the shade. She was glad to see me, but was content to lie at my feet with her head in my lap. She seemed quite tired and thirsty. Papa was coming up the lane by now and he found us—and Aliya was close behind. Papa said that Aliya heard Mama tell him that we had found Yasha and so Aliya came to greet her too—and she was most excited to see her. The dogs then walked back down the lane toward the pond—but Aliya got lazy half way down and jumped in the Gravely to ride the rest of the way (Yasha doesn’t like to ride). When we got back to their field the dogs walked right back into their field. The hot wire was not set up right. The top wire is over the dogs head, the middle wire had been hooked on the top wires hooks, and the bottom wire was buried in the tall grasses. We had found the cause of Yasha getting out—for she never challenges the hotwire (Aliya does daily, but Yasha never). Papa fixed the wires while I made sure that Yasha had a cool drink of fresh water. I am so thankful to the Lord that Yasha was found safe and sound.

               All last week we got up at 5:00 in the morning in order to get the cows milked before the workers showed up and started making a bunch of noise. I will say that getting up at 5:00 and having the milking down by 8:00 sure opened up a lot of time to do other things in the morning. Monday morning Mama and I harvested the rest of the green beans and then we sat down and snapped them all. We didn’t get them all snapped before I had to answer all the emails in order to get the bread order placed. Then it was time for lunch and at 1:00 some garden helpers arrived. Hannah and her two girls have been a blessing every time they have come over. The have helped weed, transplant and plant seeds—but last Monday they helped me dig for buried treasure. It was time to harvest the red potatoes and they were eager to help. There were two 20 foot rows and by 3:30 they were all dug (by hand with the help from a potato fork) and laid out to dry. After they left I came inside to cool off and get something to drink—and rest a little before I headed back out to wipe off all the dried sand and box them up. I was thankful that Papa came out to help me. When I headed back inside Mama and I finished snapping the rest of the green beans—but we were too tired and it was too late to can them that night. So Tuesday morning when breakfast was over we canned the beans—to our dismay they really didn’t do real well sitting in the cooler after being snapped.

               I did manage to find some time to do a little herbal fun. I do not particularly like harvesting thyme—too tedious. This year though I specifically planted it for one reason—to make herb posies. Tuesday I finally got the chance to grab my clippers and a basket and head to the garden. I harvested some oregano from the Cottage Garden. Then in the Market Garden I harvested parsley, sage, thyme, and winter savory. I harvested some rosemary from the courtyard. I then cleared off the kitchen island and filled it with six different piles of herbs. Then I took a little from each pile and made little herb posies with them. Next I grabbed some crochet string and tied the bundles together and placed them in the dehydrator to dry. When they were all dry I placed each posie in a bag and vacuumed sealed them—flat. Mama said that I ruined them. She says that they will probably all crumble. I guess the next pot of soup or stew I make will tell me the truth.

               Our barn yard took on a totally new look last week. Monday morning right after breakfast I heard a big BOOM, followed by another big BOOM. I grabbed the camera and got there just in time to watch the third dump truck dump his load and hear the back door go BOOM! The crew spent Monday leveling that dirt. Then Tuesday they put in the ten 6 x 6 posts. On Wednesday they put the metal trusses up and the purlins. The metal roof was attached on Thursday and the plumbing and electrical crew came in Friday to put in the plumbing for the bathroom and milk house sink. The builders shall return on Tuesday to frame for the concrete and then order the concrete—so maybe by the end of this week we will have a concrete pad. Mama spent a lot of time watching the building crew with her video camera in hand. We were able to post a Barn Build 101 video of the progress the other day.

               Keeping all the farm vehicles running at the same time always seems to be a challenge. Saturday morning while we were milking we watched as Papa caught a ride with Steve back down to his tractor which was on the other end of the farm. Our first thought was that Papa ran out of diesel—but then they hooked the Gravely up to the tractor to tow it. So then we thought that it had died—but when they drove past us I could tell that the tractor was running (so that Papa could have some steering power). Once they parked the tractor Papa came over to tell Mama and I that the “speed” stick on the tractor had detached itself so that Papa could not set the speed. My brother-in-law, Gary, came over with his boy and spent hours helping Papa take it apart to find out what is wrong. Needless to say, they haven’t gotten it completely apart yet. Papa told me tonight (after we put Yasha back and noticed that the sheep are scattered all over the farm) that he was going to move the chickens and dogs to the north end of the farm and was going to put the sheep in the south end of the farm behind hot wire—but the tractor broke and he cannot move anything. To make matters worse, we have someone coming tomorrow to buy our old chickens—and then Papa needs the tractor to clean out the chicken house so that he can put fresh bedding in it so that we can move the other house of chickens in to it and then he can take the other chicken house and clean it out and put on a new roof so that the new laying hens can finally go out to pasture—so that the poultry barn can be cleaned out so that the month old laying hens can be moved into the Poultry barn until they start laying eggs. Now without the tractor none of that can be done—yet we only have two weeks to accomplish it. There is never a dull moment on the farm.

               We got to spend Saturday afternoon with my sister Nichole, and she was telling me that they just bought two little mulberry trees. I asked her if she had ever tasted one and she told me that she had never even seen a mulberry. So we made a special trip to the garden and we walked all around the mulberry bush picking off the little black juicy berries and popping them into our mouths as we turned our fingers purple with the juice. She really liked them and said that she wasn’t sure two trees were going to be enough. We then went and snacked in front of the sugar snap pea trellis. It was a very delightful afternoon snack.

Until next week . . .

Serving you with Gladness,

Tiare