We are excitedly awaiting the next farmer baby to join us and the cow that always seems to share a due date with me has already had her calf! A beautiful Jersey heifer has joined the farm and Lollipop is her mama. She’s inside a hutch in the field with the other calves until she’s big enough to drink her bottle without them stealing from her! She looks like a baby deer, so please take a peek at her!
She is finally able to drink her bottle unassisted. I really don’t mind that she always beats me.to having her baby except that means I “get to” (or have to) help bottle train her calf! It’s like doing a weird exercise. You have to stand with the calves head between your knees, bend over her, preferably with a flat back so you don’t get too crippled, then keep one hand under her chin and one holding the bottle. Understand that the bottle holds about a gallon of milk so it’s really heavy, and she doesn’t exactly like what is going on…..both factors combined with the weird position make this all very uncomfortable. Oh and the 38 weeks pregnant is just a slight complication for me. Then you have to figure out how to reach back and scratch the top of her tail to encourage her to suckle. Basically pretending you are her mama who would be licking her!
I find that kind of maneuver normally is a challenge, but was downright impossible for me in my current state. So the young farmers came over to help with the scratching part. When Farmer Johnny came to her front end to check on progress she got excited and butted the bottle. This is fairly normal as it’s how they get the milk to “let down” out of the cows udder. Johnny was in the wrong place at the wrong time and the bottle went crashing into his nose. He no longer felt the same about this calf as he did before. I think he has since forgiven her. And I shouldn’t leave out that with my feet and ankles swelling from the heat and pregnancy I can really only wear flip flops. During all this she was stepping on me with with these tiny cloven feet that were not so squeaky clean.
I finally was satisfied that after an hour of trying she had taken about a cup of the huge bottle I was offering her. BUT she certainly had the suckling part down. I left her alone to think on things and soaked my tired feet with some lavender oils. Thankfully farm girl Maddie was around for the next attempt. I just went along for moral support. By that evening she was fully trained and loving her bottle! Praise the Lord!
We had another challenge this week. Food security is important to us. We go to great lengths to plan for our food and yours to be in constant supply. I’m sure you can imagine with the pandemic we have to plan further ahead. We have butcher dates booked for the pigs and cows until the end of 2021. I’ve never had to plan like this before, but local butchers are very popular now! We also secure our seeds and baby chicks very far in advance. Just part of keeping things going so we can feed our community. Well when our 400 baby chicks arrived in the mail this week (they come as day old chicks from a hatchery in PA), about 75% of them were not alive. We have had a few losses before, but nothing like this. A post office along the route must have left them in a hot truck or loading dock and they got too hot. Thankfully the hatchery is able to replace them next week. We were so grateful and sad for those poor chicks. We have since found a hatchery that will drive them down directly to us in a van with AC. That will be a switch we will make for next time. Again, thankful for the Lord’s provision.
We are super thankful to our local butchers and all the extra work they are taking on to feed as many folks as possible. We are blessed with several to choose from and they are all small enough to be able to work safely and stay open during these times. The pork sausage this time will only be available in loose and not link as they aren’t currently offering links. They do this to be able to speed up their process and serve a few more people. So it seems a small sacrifice to serve more people around us and I’m happy to be part in their efforts for providing local food with no limits.
Well if you are still with me, it’s time for the exciting recipe I couldn’t wait to share with you all. I won’t be tired of summer squash for month’s after this recipe! We made scalloped squash with tons of fresh basil and a jalapeno. AMAZING. I used this recipe and just added a full bunch of chopped basil and tons of onions and garlic and one jalapeno. I hope you try it. I also plan to add some chopped cooked chicken to it and make it a one dish meal.
Ok, well if you don’t hear from me for awhile it’s because I went into labor, but don’t worry the crew will carry on with all the necessary food systems. We may just have some radio silence from me! I doubt the girls will have time to write the blog since they will be farming, cooking and cleaning. OH and the herbal shares this month are still geared towards taking time to pamper yourself. The herbal tea is called Peaceful, because we all need a little of that right? It’s got Rose, chamomile, lemon balm, marshmallow leaf, holy basil, bilberry leaf, hibiscus, lemon peel, and cinnamon chips. Farmer girl Kelly and I made it up. Then a chapstick and a skin repair salve. This salve is based on my friends oil recipe that she healed her skin cancer with. Use it often on any abnormal skin patches. It has loads of farm fresh herbs and essential oils (plantain, geranium, lavender, oregano, ginger, frankincense and myrrh. Enjoy!
Blessings,
Jessie and the team
