Monday, January 2, 2012

New Year's Resolution

     So it really is a cliche to come up with a resolution for the new year. We all do it and I can't think of ever really sticking with a resolution for more than a few weeks. Lose weight, exercise, drink less, blah, blah, blah. But every year we do it all over again. So here goes...
     I'd like to make this blog a priority for myself.  I am going to post often, try to give a glimpse into farm life, and inspire others to try something new. I've joined the Daring Bakers and will be showing you each Daring Bakers Challenge at the end of each month. So here goes my resolution...

     It's been a busy weekend here on the farm. We built a new fence in the middle of the main property by connecting a garden fence corner and the chicken fence. We still need to put up some field fence around half of this new pasture so we can put the goats back there without them going somewhere they aren't supposed to. Animals are a lot like children and will do whatever you don't want them to. But we did get all the cows moved from the cow pasture to the back of the main pasture. The goats will move back there too so we can give both pastures a break.
     We also went to Rendon to pick up an old truck from my childhood home. My dad is giving my daughter her great-grandfather's pickup truck. A 1967 Ford. So we first picked up a parts truck, and then went back and got an old van. And when I say old, I mean it. It's older than I am - ancient! It was one of my dad's from the good old Rick's Van Shop days. When we finally figure out the year, I'll let ya know. I'm guessing the 60s.We are picking up my daughter's truck next.
     In between that we also made a pound of butter from our sweet cow, Brindle's, milk. Then I made a loaf of bread and started smoking meat. I did a brisket, Pike's Peak roast, and a Boston Butt. We munched on them for dinner tonight along with the bread that was supposed to be for sandwiches tomorrow.
     It should go without saying that this is just a small amount of what goes on around here. Every day there are animals to feed and water, chicken nest boxes to check and clean out, a cow to milk twice a day, and animals to inspect to make sure they are staying healthy. If I am able to get old produce from the store, we cut it up and feed to the animals. The pigs get most of it, but the chickens love tomatoes and the goats love old lettuce. Also each day we clean out our slop buckets. In the house we have a bucket for the pigs that gets everything left over but meat. This includes banana peels and apple cores. Another bucket is for the dogs. They get all the leftover meat and bones (excluding chicken and turkey). My kitchen shop also has a slop bucket for pigs. The puppies are starting to wander around the barn, so today we started taking a few out to be with the goats. It was pretty funny as the goats aren't quite sure what to make of them. The puppies, of course, think they are hot stuff!
     The kids start back to school tomorrow, and that makes me a little sad. I've enjoyed turning my alarm clock off and being woken up by Wyatt because he's starving. It's been nice having the kids home to help around the house and help Pa build things. But it will also be nice to have a schedule again... I think.

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