My Budding Photographer

Gave the camera to the boy the other day and this is what he came back with.

They just don't pose like this for me!

I think I need to hire him to do my pictures from now on.

Mabel seems to agree.

Blustery Days of May

range cows sheltering "neath the spreading juniper tree"

April showers did NOT bring May flowers to this part of Northern Arizona this year.  Maybe that's because we didn't have any April showers...While other parts of the country are experiencing late spring snows, here on the Homestead it's balmy temperatures and blustery winds.  Early mornings and late evenings are the best part of the day, not just because of the delightful play of light and shadow, or the gazillion stars that are visible, or the overwhelming quiet, but also, those are the times when the wind dies down or stops.  

This time of year I like to have my morning prayers outside, sometimes walking the property with a homestead dog or cat tagging along.  This is when I find the freebies - wild growing plants and herbs to add into the daily meals.  Dandelion greens for salad, tender horehound shoots before they send up flowers for cough syrup.  Soon the algerita bushes will bloom - or not - and I will know which ones to watch for fall berries.  Ditto the prickly pear cactus.  These fruits are bitter and take determination to collect because they are protected by thousands of tiny stickers, but they cook up into delicious syrups, jams and jellies in the fall.

Another month and I'll have to get out early in the morning just to get the outside chores done before it gets too hot.  But for now, spring on the Homestead is a welcome respite from frozen water pipes, frozen water troughs and generally cold bones.

Naked Llamas and Fat Cows

Last week we sheared the llamas.  They had not been shorn in so long it was almost a new experience for them.  The "baby" had never been shorn.  I gave the wool a good dip in bleach water to kill any bugs and eggs and then laid it out on fences, chicken netting and empty cages to dry.  The llamas, visibly taken aback at being suddenly naked, kept coming over to look at their former coats.  They seemed to be trying to figure out what on earth we crazy humans were planning to do with all that wool.

Meanwhile, Mabel the Marvelous Dancing Jersey Milk Cow, has finally acquiesced to breeding and is once again with calf.  I think she got wind of a little conversation I had with the butcher, but it seems to have worked.  Now to feed her for the next 9 months until the calf gets here and she starts giving her rich, creamy milk again.  Sigh.

The llamas have proceeded to soil their new coats by rolling in the dirt.  I wonder if the neighbors will do a double take when they drive by and see them without all that fluffy hair.  Now I just need to get some wool cards and parts for the spinning wheel.  I've got four 30 gallon bags of llama wool to clean, sort and spin.

Catching Mabel

Despite all my best efforts, sometimes the animals still get through the fence.  When a fifteen hundred pound jersey cow decides the grass is greener on the other side of the fence, not much is going to keep her in.  So when Mabel decided she wanted a night out with the girls (the neighboring rancher's cows), she just plowed right over the fence.  Luckily, my neighbor, being a  neighborly sort of person, called me and asked if I had a cow and informed me that she was out with his cows.  I searched my entire property and no Mabel.  So I drove over to where he said he saw her, but no Mabel.  I stopped the car and got out and walked the area, finding no trace of her.  I shook the can of 4way grain that I had with me.  Still no luck.  I listened hard, but it was so windy I couldn't even hear the sound of the jeep's engine fifty feet away from me.  Night was  coming on, so I drove around the area in a two mile radius, but no Mabel.  With heavy heart, I went home.  Maybe I could find her in the morning, just past dawn, before the wind came up again.  I prayed she would stay put with my neighbor's cows and not go wandering off with a range herd.  I might never see her again.

After a fitful sleep, I got up and brewed some coffee, gathering lead ropes, halter, grain buckets and some muffins for breakfast.  As soon as the sun peeked over the hills, I got the boy up and threw his clothes over his jammies.  No wind yet, so once again we started with the "point last seen", and there she was, big as a dairy cow, grazing in the middle of my neighbor's field.  I shook the grain bucket and called her name and Marvelous Mabel, who can hear two oat groats rubbing against each other ten acres away and come running, TURNED HER BACK ON ME!!  I walked up to her and hooked up the lead rope and showed her the bucket.  She obligingly stuck her snout in and came up with a mouthful of grain.  I got back into the jeep, holding the lead rope, and coaxed her this way, all the way out to the road, at which point she jerked away from me and ran back across the field into the trees.

Resigned to my fate, I locked up the jeep, got the grain bucket, an extra satchel of grain and the milking halter and hoofed it after her, my son following with an extra lead rope and yet another satchel of grain.  It didn't take long for us to catch up to Mabel and her friends.  The friends ran and hid, but Mabel came for the grain. I slipped the milking halter over her head, with its training chain, and let her get a couple mouthfuls of 4way.  Then we began the one mile trek home.  Mabel only tried to sneak away twice, but the training chain gave her a gentle reminder to stay on course.  Thankfully, it was not as slow-going as I thought it would be, and we got Mabel back into the barn without further incident.  After a ten minute break and some refreshment, we headed back for the jeep.  Without Mabel in tow, the hike was much shorter, and we were back home in time to wash up and go to church.  Lessons learned?  Always keep your cows bred.  Do not let a cow in heat out to graze - especially if your fence needs reinforcing!  Check your fence lines regularly and repair!

It's Raining, It's Pouring

We are having some crazy rain here on the homestead.  It's been raining a couple days a week all month.  Mabel the Marvelous Dancing Jersey Milk Cow has been through the fence twice, and is currently on timeout in her corral.  The roof is leaking all over my closet, that's what I get for a fear of heights.  On the other hand, we have some wonderful green grass coming up all over the place.  Need to fix the fence so we can let the animals out to graze on it.

Princess, the crea, comes to sniff my ears and my tea in the mornings, when the weather is nice enough to sit out in the back yard for a few minutes.

In the sewing room, we're replenishing the winter wardrobe with jeans, jammies and flannels.  In  the kitchen, we're trying new recipes for whole wheat cinnamon rolls - yummy - sourdough starter and hamburger buns.  We've sold out of oatmeal and castille soap, so it's into the workshop to make a couple batches for holiday orders.  We also need to finish getting our wood in for the winter.  There's nothing like a cozy fire in the woodstove to warm your soul on a gray day.

Hope you're getting set for an enjoyable winter, too!

My Precious, My Birthday Present!

Mabel the Marvelous Dancing Jersey Milk Cow endowed me with an early birthday present of soft, cuddly Dexter/Jersey bull calf. Eager to imprint my baby, in hopes of bonding and thus avoiding future confrontation, when he is 900 pounds and I am still only - never mind! I began playing with him and petting him, talking and mooing to him (cooing is for human babies - mooing is for cattle).

It took us a while to name him. My first thought was "My Precious, My Birthday Present", at which Maryruth wrinkled her nose and made gagging noises. Right. Might bode ill for the meat, anyway. If that makes no sense to you, then I can recommend some good reading and/or movies - The Lord of the Rings Trilogy - maybe you'll figure it out. If not, you'll still be seriously entertained and even better educated. Next, I suggested Daxter, at which my son, the Daxter fan, gave me a blank look and asked "Why?" So, okay, for the moment I was stumped. We did end up settling on Daxter the Dexter a few days later.

On day 2 we managed to milk Mabel and got a gallon and a half of colostrum. It didn't make much of a dent in her bag, but she looked much relieved and she sure didn't turn down the extra hay and sweet feed. She did, however, true to form, dance as we milked her. But she missed our feet, and the bucket, so we count that as victory.