Sunshine…

…on my shoulders…

Apparently I’m on a music kick this week. Lucky you!

The sun finally showed up Thursday afternoon. Which I think I already mentioned.

Had a rough morning with Daisy, I think we were both pms-y. Lost about a cup of milk, and she gave me a little warning brush with her back foot to my shin. But after that, we were good again. Plus I was feeling rushed, trying to get to town and back before lunch.

Mom and I got Mt. Airy shopping done, and we did get back right at lunchtime. Town was a madhouse. Argh. I really dislike shopping. I dislike shopping more than I dislike turnip greens. That’s saying something.

I think it’s a good afternoon for a quick siesta and then a walk. Feeling a bit run down and worn out today.

Cold Cows, Wet Dogs and Cranky Horses

‘Tis the farm life! We had some wicked weather last night, torrential rains, high winds and alot of lightening. When I got out to do the milking this morning, the storm system was taking its final gasp with a drenching downpour. Blue rode over in the back of the truck anyway, and looked like a drowned rat (and smelled even worse!). Sully was waiting at the back of the barn, and when he has to stand in the rain, he gets really cranky. Can’t say I blame him! I let him inside to eat his grain, which he did gladly. Then I went to get Daisy. The poor cow was standing all hunched up and shivering to beat the band. I felt so bad for her!

I got her into the barn and brushed off as much of the water as I could, then threw one of Sully’s blankets over her. She was so calm, just standing there watching me. Then I went on with the normal routine. By the time I got ready to milk, she’d already warmed up enough to stop the shivering.

By the time I was done with the chores, the rain had stopped and the sky was clearing. At least I didn’t have to carry the milk to the house in that downpour, it would’ve tasted like skim milk!

Took a nice long, 2 hour ride this afternoon. Mom walked with me for over half of it, then we washed out and refilled the water tank. The we looked after Elizabeth (ok, Mom did!) while Jenny tended her honeybees.

Brown Landscaping, (Mark and Jacob) came by this morning and whipped our jungle of a lawn into shape. They did a great job, and it’s much appreciated!

Speaking of Singing…

Yesterday morning when I milked Daisy, she seemed a little tense. I was about a quart short for the morning’s bucket, but I couldn’t figure what problem there was, if any, other than that the weather was miserable. My hands were tired, too… I’d wondered if the previous day’s gardening had perhaps fatigued them.

Anyway, she came in this morning, I tied her, brushed down her udder, washed her udder, secured her tail to her leg and poured her grain. I used the udder wipes to disinfect her, stripped out the teats, then started milking. She was eating contentedly at this point, but Blue was a bit restless, moving back and forth between me and the door. I told him to lay down and stay, then I started humming. You guessed it; Moon River. I hummed and milked, and Daisy finished licking her bucket. The milk was flowing easily.

I switched to Somewhere Over the Rainbow when I got tired of our first selection, and I looked over at Blue, and he was dozing with his chin on his paws. Then I realized that Daisy was breathing really heavily, so I glanced up at her, and she was dozing, too! And the milk kept coming.

Got my normal 1 gallon and nearly 3 quarts, and luckily I didn’t drift off, fall in and drown. I can see the headline now: “Milk Maid falls asleep and meets tragic end in own bucket of milk!”

Silly.

Humming

The 2 songs I most often find myself singing around the house? Moon River is the first, and the second is And I Love Her as covered by Harry Connick, Jr. But most often, it’s Moon River. “…wider than a mile…”

Apparently that song resides somewhere in the back of my mind, and is most likely to erupt when my hands are in dishwater.

Ta Da!

I know, two posts in one day, right? But I had to share our first attempt at making butter. Yes, Mom and I made actual, yummy, yellow butter!

I decided to use my Hamilton Beach Blender, which has been a disappointment in so many ways, but I keep giving it another chance. It does make great smoothies. But it leaks a little. Anyway, we started with 3 cups of cream skimmed from yesterday and today’s milk. I blended it on low setting, which is still pretty high, for 5 minutes. I think that would have produced your more traditional butter texture, but I don’t know for certain. I thought maybe we could get more, so I ran it for another 3 minutes, and it became more whipped.

We strained the buttermilk off through cheesecloth and ended up with 2 cups of buttermilk.

I’d had a deep wooden bowl soaking in cold water this whole time. It is now my official “butter bowl” because it worked great. Placed a very goopy butter splat in the bowl and ran ice cold water over it to cover it. I then stirred it and worked it with my fingers, straining out and replacing the water about 6 times before no more buttermilk came out.

We added a little sea salt to it, and I worked that in while squeezing out the rest of the water with my fingers. We shaped it into a “stick,” and presto chango…

She really should have auditioned for The Price is Right!

And a close-up…

How perfect is that?

We put it in the fridge and it was hard within an hour. And it tastes fantastic. I was hoping it would make a little more, but for a first try, I am thrilled.

Stay tuned for future adventures in all things dairy…

The Lure of Lilacs

White flowering shrub growing at the back of our house.

No, that’s not a lilac!

I just can’t resist a creature crawling on a lilac flower. Actually, I can’t resist lilacs, period. The three bushes in our south-facing side yard cause me to pull out the camera every spring. If only I had smell-a-vision!

For those of my readers who may be technologically compromised, click on the above image. It will take you (in a new window) to Picasa, and you can select the option to view the images as a slideshow. I was hoping to embed a slideshow in this post, but couldn’t accomplish it!

Enjoy the show!

Establishing New Routines

I am enjoying Daisy way more than I thought I would. I got into the whole cow thing mainly just to assist Jenny; I was resigned to milking once a day, and twice when needed, and to the extra fence work, hay stacking, poop scooping, etc., and while I didn’t mind the idea of all that stuff, I did not anticipate enjoying the milking as much as I do. This morning, I got very close to 2 gallons of milk in something over 20 minutes. Daisy is so good during milking. And the taste of the milk is out of this world. I skimmed more than a cup of cream off a half gallon of it this morning. I’ve been drinking a glass a couple of times a day, as a snack, or a refreshment. I’ve had none of the mildly lactose-intolerant symptoms that had previously caused me to stop buying milk altogether.

Sully isn’t too sure what to think. I think he’s a little jealous. I am trying to increase my riding time this week, just so he doesn’t get nasty on me.

Blue is adapting to the fact there’s a cow he’s not permitted to herd. But I had him with me this morning un-restrained for the first time, and he listened very well. He sat in the corner and watched with interest, but didn’t make a sound.

I threw up the divider fence in a couple of hours yesterday. It needs a couple of permanent adjustments, but is holding for the moment so both Sully and Daisy can enjoy grass simultaneously. Sully has already plumped out and glossed up in just a week of good green grass. He looks so much healthier. We rode on Monday, and he was really good, and had just the perfect amount of get up and go.

I did actually show a 1 lb loss this week, in spite of some cheats here and there. But while I have cheated, I’ve been careful that it’s not more than one per day, and that I’m on point the rest of the time. Of course, my exercise last week was pretty astronomical.

One thing I am enjoying about morning milking is that Steve drops me and Blue at the barn, I do my thing, and then I walk home. It’s exactly 2 miles, and I do it in just over half an hour. I’m really enjoying the regular activity again. I then come home and get my articles done in a couple or 3 hours, depending.

I can’t wait to try making some cottage cheese…

Daisy and Tulips; A Picture Post

I got this shot before my ride today; Daisy moos at me every time I call her name, which is pretty funny.

They survived the hail storms after all.

Another angle.

A closeup of the variegated tulip.

This is the cap Steve surprised me with one night last week; I think he found it at Willis Gap General Store.

Better Luck

So apparently there isn’t too steep of a learning curve this morning. We cut our time down to 40 minutes, and kept the majority of the milk in the pail this morning. My aim has improved, too. I think I only hit my pantleg once!

Daisy is getting used to the paddock, and Sully’s getting used to Daisy in “his” paddock.

Milkmaids

It’s official. We are very unskilled milkmaids. Daisy arrived late yesterday afternoon, so our first experience at cow milking happened at 7:30 last night. While we weren’t naive enough to think romantically about the process, we were naive perhaps in thinking we could be finished before 9pm. On the bright side, though, Daisy turns out to be a very patient cow, only kicking the bucket over three times and never attempting to bully or harm us in anyway. Ok, she did step on Jenny’s foot a couple of times, but I’m not real sure who was at fault there!

We had no plans to use the milk from last night, due to Daisy’s having been dewormed in the last day or so. We’re supposed to give the medicine until Monday to clear her system. And we don’t think we actually got all the milk. More got tired and decided it was good enough!

We finished all 6 strands of wire fence late Friday evening before the rain came in. We did a monstrous amount on Friday. Jenny, Elizabeth Rose and I went to town before lunch and did banking, grocery and farm shopping. We hit the fence, so to speak, directly after lunch and worked until nearly 8pm, until it was done. In the middle, we ran over to Ledford’s and got a pickup load of cow hay, and threw it into the loft. I was so sore Friday night, and too tired to care.

My worst injury from this whole fencing deal is a pretty annoying case of poison ivy. I figure we got off easy. In that regard.

It poured rain for the first 2/3 of the day yesterday, and the winds are still howling. Sully spent his second full day on the grass. It’s hard to say what Daisy and Sully think of one another, as they only met in the confines of the barn where Daisy stayed last night. She’ll go out in the paddock today, and they can grow accustomed to each other over the electric fence.

My eating, while not terrible, wasn’t great this week. Well, two days this week. We had fried chicken and biscuits on Friday night. I’m curious to see where I’m at if I can ever get rid of the water I’m now retaining. My fingers look like sausages!

Hopefully tomorrow will see the return of a normal routine, with the exception of milking, which hopefully will decrease in length! I’m not sure I want to spend 4 hours a day milking… do I like milk that much???