Sick and tired

The door is open.

Last one standing

Did some demo work on the barn today. It felt great! I just can't do enough fast enough. Darn day job. Here is a picture from the 2nd and today to show off what I did.

Incarcerated

Sully has been bullying the girls too much recently, so I put him in with our buck named Spot. Now Spot has a new boy toy and Sully has been put in his place. Let me out of here!

Lined up

Talked with the attorney today, things are lined up. We just have to sign the papers next week and it will be a done deal. My head is spinning and I feel giddy! Picture of Lavender, future cash cow in 2012.

Cows

The cows eating hay outside.

Sick day

Used one of my sick days today to fix fence and clear debris off of little end of the barn. It felt good to get stuff done, especially in the daylight. Going to talk to my parents tonight to make sure we are all clear about the details of the farm deal. Picture of the home stead from up on the hill in the horse pasture, while I was fixing fence.

The cow jumped over the moon

Fun was had by all tonight. My wife had to take my son to the hospital to get stitches in his head. Tulip jumped over a short wall and out of the shed. It took forever to dig out the pipe gate in front of the shed. I just let them out in the pasture. They can go in and out of the shed now, not over the wall.

Negative numbers

Coldest day of the year, school was canceled because it was so cold. Here is my sophisticated way to try to keep the water in the barn unthawed.

Failure

Got the water unthawed in the barn. Took some pictures showing just how bad off the large hay mow is.

Fire

A neighbor's house (a mile away) burnt to the ground today. Every one was OK. Water is frozen in the barn...rrrrrrrr!

Took some long exposure pictures of the house from the horses round bale feeder.

Looks like the house is on fire.

Frozen

Cold doesn't begin to describe the weather. the cows seem to be staying quite cozy in the shed. On the other hand I feel bad for the goats in the ice box of a barn. Photo of my funny shed bum of a horse.

Premature

Thank you petunia for the wonderful night.

Believe

I can do this... I can do this... I can do this...

I just need to know that other people believe in me and support me too!

The old milk house

As long as I can remember it has always been referred to as "The Old Milk House" . We have pastures that have there own names. That's what I like to think of as real, intimate farming! I know what it means to have roots, to love the land; because of tyring to leave and not being able to.

Milk house

The somber milk house...that we intend to resurrect this year! Have to take matters into our own hands concerning the acquisition of the farm. My father has come to a stand still.

Rat trap

Found this guy drowned and frozen in the barn tonight. We have a rodent problem, a BIG problem! When we tear down the barn, they get poisoned. HA HA HA!!!

Escaped

The baby goats escaped while I was in the barn tonight. They ran around and bounced stiff-leg ed. They are a riot!

Cabin fever

Waiting on the world to change, I have ambition now! I'm afraid that I'll be all worn out by the time good weather comes around. Picture from tonight up on the hay in the hay mow.

Hay wagon

Pictures of me loading the hay wagon, that has always had wheels in some state of falling off. Cheap communist crap!

Musical cars

Took ford truck to mechanic tonight. We are down to one vehicle right now, so frustrating at times. Here is some pictures of the type of building I've been considering for a heifer/horse barn. Sorry that one photo is such a bad photoshoped picture.

Goat play

Over whelmed with all the possibilities for the farm this year. We let the "baby" goats out to play this evening. Cute and amusing as always. I had a video ready for tonight, but this old dog has to learn new tricks first. Here is a still frame from the video.

Providence:

Our rental hole gets crushed. Insurance company pays off mortgage plus some. Neighbor next door from rental wants to by lot. If and when deal goes through we will have a substantial start on our farming venture this year.

Barn collapses, which gave me the motivation to talk to my father about acquiring the farm. Supervisor at work tells me knowingly that I won't be happy until I am farming full time. etc...

I have watched God's hand move time and time again recently, and I am overjoyed, humbled, in awe and in tears!

P.S. Here is a photo of the house, all warm and waiting for me, while I fill the horses water tank.

Stuck

I had been feeling stuck today, like the old Allis Chalmers. But my father come over tonight, insisting on paying for the pork we gave him, and we talked more about getting the farm into our names. I think he sounds all for it, we just have to keep him motivated. GO DAD GO DAD GO DAD...

The devil drives a snow plow

Played chicken tonight with the hose and my arch nemesis The Snow Plow . Basically, when the plow comes it means I'm done watering the cows and horses. Picked up pigs today. I'm very pleased with the amount of meat; it looks, smells and tastes wonderful. It's going to be a late night tonight rendering the lard. (boiling oil)

K-9 in the sky

This afternoon there were two rainbow colored sun dogs in the sky. Got out of work early so i was able to do choirs while the sun was still up. I can stand the snow and cold but the lack of daylight gets to me some times. Pick up the pork from the pigs tomorrow. First time raising pigs, I'm very excited.

More wood and playing chicken

My father dragged home a tree top to cut up for fire wood. Easiest way to do it: drag, cut and stack. Used the hose to water the cows in the shed. So when I heard the snow plow coming I had to run across the rode, disconnect the hose and quickly pull the hose out of the rode. Have to keep my life exciting some how.

Wood, insurance and other hard things

My father has been talking to the insurance company to see if he can submit a claim for the barn, and get some money to help fix it. Found out tonight that insurance companies will only pay out 1/5 of the actual cost of repairs on older barns. New barn old barn, you still pay the same premium. Go figure! Dirty no good blood sucking... There, my first official rant. Here is a photo of my father's wood supply that is for sale, getting kind of low. Just a couple of years ago he cut 100 face cords of wood. I can slowly watch him winding down, getting old. It feels like things can't move fast enough for me, so I can relieve him of the burden of taking care of the farm. I know he has to stay involved to stay active, but it needs to be more low key for his sake and my mothers.

Dirt sicles

I 'm so thankful I'm able to use a hose to water the animals. Good bye buckets...as long as I am able to keep the hoses unfrozen. Very anxious to clear the debris of the little hay mow away. Once that is done we can cover it with a tarp, and move the animals back in all snug and warm.

Here is a photo taken in the little end of the barn under the little hay mow. When the snow melted off the roof it ran through the cracks in the floor. Some of the melted snow must of found something nice to percolate through to make these dirt sicles.

The Plan

The plan for this year is to get my father's farm in our name, tear down and rebuild the barn, and buy milking cows to start shipping milk. I would quit my job and work full time on the farm. On Saturday I talked to The Man (my father) about our desires for the farm. Once I let him know what we wanted to do, I told him it was up to him to decide whether he wanted to give or sell the farm to us, or tell us to get lost. I have roots here that I want to grow deeper, I love the land, it is part of me. Now I'm waiting on him, because he didn't outright say any thing for or against the idea. Here is a photo of the cows waiting for me to deliver there hay in the horse shed this evening.

collapsed

Little hay mow collapsed Tuesday December 7th, it seems further away than that. We got dumped on with snow Sunday and Monday. By Monday evening we had four feet of snow.It wasn't in good shape to begin with, but the snow drifted to six feet or more on the east slope of the roof. We spent most of the day reeling, trying to figure out what to do. We knew we had to get the animals out of the barn. By the way, the animals where fine in the lower part of the barn. we decided the easiest way was to send most of them to the auction. We cried thinking about getting rid of cows that we had worked to nurture, and loved. We had 13 now we have 4. It use to be so enjoyable to take care of them every night with my wife and kids, but now I take care of them by myself and it is such back-breaking work. We no longer have our own milk supply, no more home made butter, yogurt, kefir. This is only a setback and not a defeat we have many hopes and dreams for the new year, I hope you will stick around for the wild and crazy ride!

Late start

Had friends over for new years eve, didn't get to take care of animals till after they left. Temperature over 50 degrees, so I was able to use a hose to water cows in horse shed. Here is a photo of the hay mow door/opening while the light is on inside. Silhouette of hose cart in foreground.