Summer Heat!

Who knew when we were busy freezing our booty's off on February that we would ever manage to see summer! It was so darn cold and icy that I thought I was just gona freeze over and maybe, just maybe thaw out in July!  But here we are, in the midst of all the summer rush and it is just awesome.
Here on the Backwards Homestead summer is a really busy time of year. We are haying this week, and with all of the rain we are several weeks behind, which is really frustrating. As the grass matures, the nutritional value declines. Not to mention that that the weeds take the opportunity to grow huge and who wants to eat icky weeds?! Not these animals! I do really like haying time because the fields look so pretty with their new haircuts and they hay smells SO good! Of course, that sometimes changes when we do small square bales. THAT is hard as heck to enjoy in any way shape or form...

Long way to the back of THIS field!

Lee just clicking along

Mmmm Hay! Tractor not to bad either!

But, it is not all good! We did have a mishap. The wheel bearing broke on the tractor. BOO!

Also in the summer gardening is full steam ahead. We also got a late start with all that as well, so the garden is just now starting to bear enough to start canning and pickling. This is really one of my favorite things of summer. I LOVE putting up all the bounty of summer and then popping open a can of fresh home grown veggies when the ice and snow is blowing cold! Last winter was the first year that we really ate mainly out of the pantry. Now I have jar after jar ready, sitting empty, waiting to be refilled with the summer bounty.  Today I will be canning summer squash and making dill pickles. I know, it is not politically correct to can summer squash, but it has been something my family has done for generations and I stand by my ancestors methods, lol Go squash!
I think I should have been born in a different century because I just love canning and all the other old fashioned stuff. Here is a picture of a few jars I did last year, I will get updated ones as soon as I get started!

Summer is also exciting because we usually have new babies on the farm. It is the time for hatching chickies and all sorts of littles! This summer we are expecting our first little of baby pigs. We are really excited and Charlotte is getting quite round. Soon we will have to separate her and Wilbur so the babies can be born safely. Boars are not so sweet and cuddly when their babies are born, and will sometimes kill and eat them. ICK! How rude is that!?! So, to avoid widespread carnage in the hog lot we will give Charlotte her privacy when she gets ready to give birth.

Charlotte and Wilbur! That is Her Royal Roundness in the shelter, lol

Sadly we had to take Mr. Moogurgles off to freezer camp. He was getting just too hard to handle so he and Keg made their last ride a few weeks ago. I was such a crybaby! We take our animals to the local Amish processing facility and I was so shameful in my grief that I am sure they wanted to throw homegrown veggies at me and take my self sufficiency badge!! We do love our animals, so it was very sad to see them go, but such is this lifestyle and not to mention that safety has to be considered with anything we have here on the farm. Having an angry bull charging your butt every day is not too healthy! Still, we are sad and I miss his unruly self. Keg too, as grumpy as we was too!

Flossie, Mr, Moogurgles and Keg

Our meat chickens are growing too, getting nice and plump! I actually had to harvest, butcher, murder, however you look at it, one early. He was getting big and having trouble walking. So, I did the deed. It was hard, but I had steeled myself to the fact it had to be done. He was a little small, as they still have a couple of weeks to go before they are at their prime weight. Here is a picture of the finished product!

On a lighter note, here are the rest of the meat birds, and the Turkeys being spoiled by Katrina. I know they say not to play with your food, but trina has a soft spot for all animals. I wonder where she got that trait?

Last but not least, here is a video of Trina and Madea the turkey. Madea thinks Trina is a turkey, so they scratch together every afternoon.

Well, until next time! If you are reading this, feel free to leave a comment below, I would love to hear from you!

Mr. Moogurgles and The Oh So Scary Day!

I have been slacking! I swore I would post at least every week and this spring has been SO busy! There is no way to catch up in one post, so I will touch on a few of the highlights here on the farm. But bear in mind, if I ramble, I am having to take medicine for a back injury!
First off we have managed to get not one, but three gardens tilled and planted! I am so excited because that means more for for us to put up for the winter.

The apples and other fruit trees did manage to keep their fruit through all of the freezy temperatures, which also makes me very happy! I am totally out of blackberry jam and cowboy candy, so come on little plants! Winter makes me so darn droopy, so when we get to garden and see all the green plants poking up through the dirt, I could not be any happier!
We also had a huge issue with cow love earlier this month! Flossie needed a man, and Mr. Moogurgles was more than happy to fulfill her every dream. But in the process he hated anyone and everyone who even looked at his woman!
Roger and I go to feed one morning, and he has jumped the fence.  I figured this out when I rounded the barn he greeted me with a roar from the middle of Flossies pen! Ok...I yelled at Pud'nin that we had a problem! Mr. M. did not like Ellie. At all! So he was busy trying to toss her over the moon! How rude! We did manage to whisk her out, after he tried several times to punt Pud'nin!
So, here we are, with a amorous bull, in with our cow. I have to milk her. There is no choice. Pud'nin is so brave! He distracts Mr. Moogurgles with a bucket of feed. (Obviously Mr. M. is a typical male), which he promptly butts with his head after grabbing a nibble! I grab Flossie, and we run to the barn. Mr. M. Is NOT happy...We start milking Flossie and we hear his bellowing out in the pen. I am very nervous, after all, I have seen the running of the bulls on television! Plus, my shirt was red!! I was doomed!!
I sneak to the back of the barn, lay flat and look under the wall...I do NOT see his feet! O.M.G! I tiptoe to the front of the barn, slip out the front door, pressed against the wall...sneaking, ever so quietly sneaking..Just as I peep around the edge I see the blue feed bucket flying through the air and hear a roar from Mr. Moogurgles!! Believe me, I did not waste time getting back inside the barn! I yell at Pud'nin. " He is out!!" We quietly close the sliding door on the barn, and click the latches.

Now we wait. We have the object of his affection, in the barn, and he knows it.
I am now standing with Flossie, on her lead right behind the closed door, and then I hear it...then I see it!  He is snorting, UNDER the door! Dust is flying up in the air, he bellows...Flossie, betrays us with a MOO!!! I tell her she is a traitor, darn love sick cow!!
We hatch a plan. Desperate times call for desperate measures! We want to live!! We will wait for him to go back around the barn, then we will open the door. Then I will run with Flossie to the gate, getting her IN the pasture. If all works well, he will then see her, run through the gate, and voila, all is well.
We are holding our breath, waiting for our opportunity. Finally I hear him attacking the blue bucket again, so I know he is around the side of the barn. Ever so slowly, we open the door...I make a break for it while Roger goes to make sure Mr. M. is not coming.  I open the gate and get Flossie to lumber in the pasture. Then I hear it....the pounding of hooves!
At this point I realize the flaw in our plan....I am now IN the pasture, holding the gate, with Flossie on her lead. IN THE PASTURE. To get out, without shaking the hoof of the bull, I will have to either go through 4 strands of hotwire, or over the gate. I look up, he is still coming, I am yelling at Pud'nin, unhook the hotwire, get the gate, unhook the wire!!! He is running back and forth trying to do what I said...I was looking at the strands of fence, they were so close together...I am not a small woman. To get out, I was gona have to straddle an electric fence. Or, maybe this?

 Hmmm, not a pleasant thought, but, the other option was to manage to jump on a swinging gate, at the same time a really mad, lust blinded bull, came bellowing through, while letting Flossie off her lead. After one more consideration of the parts of my body that might be zapped by the fence, I chose the gate hurdle. Amazingly, I made it over, and slammed the gate. Never think that a fat older lady cannot get her booty off the ground with enough motivation! A raging bull on one side, and getting your nether region zapped by an electric fence, instant motivation!!
Now we have yet another problem. Flossie had to be milked, twice a day, plus Ellie has to nurse, at least twice a day. Mr. Moogurgles, could not have cared less about either of our problems, he had his own wooing and mooing to tend with.
So twice a day, we had to have one of the guys, or sometimes two, stand guard with a hot stick, while we stole Flossie for a few minutes. He stood at the fence, bellowing, and literally kicking dust over his back like a cartoon bull!

 That, was the longest week ever! I can only hope, that he managed to do his job, and Flossie is with calf. If not, we are in for another Rodeo in about 2 weeks! HELP!
Hey! Don't be afraid to leave a comment, I would love to hear from anyone who reads the posts! :)

Sunny Morning

Today was really sunny which was really nice! Even if it is freezy cold! The animals are beginning to look much better with the warmer temperatures, and also getting a bit of Spring fever. Funny how a little sun can make you feel so much better! Wilbur is settling in nicely, and he is even having quite a bit of interest in Charlotte. (Ahem). lol She is not quite ready to make things facebook official yet, and is giving him a bit of the cold shoulder. I imagine if things go well, and Wilbur can manage to woo Charlotte successfully, we will have piglets by August at the latest. Cross your fingers!
Here they were at breakfast waiting for me to serve it up! He was chasing her around when we arrived, but nothing like a bowl of corn to postpone romance! As you can see, they were not as gentle on their feed bowl as I would have liked. Getting in their pen and fixing their pan twice a day is getting old! Especially when you have to go in with two rather massive piggies. Let me tell you, when they were named LARGE Blacks, they were not kidding, lol

Flossie was all itchy from all her winter hair coming off. She decided to have a scratch on her hay roll! Can we say eww! Who wants hair in their hay? Not me! Right now she looks all splotchy and almost mangy! I brushed and brushed her yesterday, so maybe soon she will be all sleek and smooth.

You also get a pic of Ellies booty! Darn calf, should have cropped that out, but such is farm life. :) The rest of the cows come up and visit with Flossie and Eleanor every day. I would let Flossie out in the pasture, but I am worried that Ellie might be a booger to catch, and Twist might not be too welcoming either. Hopefully we will have a pen for Ellie when it is time to separate her from Flossie, and then we can start training her to be a calm and obedient milker when she grows up! She sure is looking lovely, all stocky and full of energy. I must say, she is one of the prettiest calves we have had here on the farm. I am quite proud of Flossie and Mr. MooGurgles, they made a fine little baby! Here the others are visiting.

Here is Ellie in her Cameo, all vogue and glamorous! Hasn't she grown!

Porter was out of the family picture this morning, he was busy getting a big drink of water. He has really come out of the winter looking fine and fit. I was a bit worried this last winter when it was so darn cold. He was only about 5-6 months old when winter started, and the other cows were not as accommodating as they could have been. He was basically the outcast,:( Now he is one of the herd and is growing quite fast!

Pud'nin and I also had some big helpers this morning, or should I say some new livestock! Here they are looking of of the trailer.

 

Look out, they can be wild!!

Payton looking through a piece of ice that was on the water trough, Cool!

Kaelis face when Grandpa was telling her that all the straw in the compost pile was what they made Mini Wheats out of...Really Grandpa?!

Here are a couple more pictures of my helpers. Even Blu thought he would get in on the action! But I will say, he was probably hoping for a bowl of milk. But, these days Eleanor is getting the bulk of that, so he will just have to wait until this afternoon! Jayne was off chasing squirrels, so I will have to try and snap a picture of her today too, but let me tell you, the camera has to be fast to capture that girl! She is a fireball!
I know that I am really enjoying this sunny weather! Stay tuned, before you know it I will be starting the garden and getting the new chicken pens ready for our new projects! I know I can't wait!

"I Be the Pappy!"

Ok, so I have watched Eddie Murphy in "Life" too many times..lol But, I thought since Flossie gets so much attention that I would give a shout out to the bull with the Mojo! The Incredible, the persevering, the ever so handsome  Mr. Moogurgles!

Ok, Ok, hold your applause, lol Is that not the finest specimen of a bull that you have ever seen?! Well. in the last 10 seconds at least?
The happy couple met almost two years ago at a small farm in Graves County Ky. Mr.M. was a mere calf and Flossie had just given birth to her first son. They arrived here after Pud'nin, Joy and I had found out that a very nice man just happened to have a milk cow for sale. We rushed over and came home with Flossie, Mr Moogurgles, (who had yet to be named) and Flossies newborn. Unfortunately Flossies baby got sick and passed away to that big pasture in the sky within a few days of their arrival.
Without her baby Flossie mourned, and was very sad, but she continued to give yummy milk and barely paid Mr. Moogurgles any mind at all....He was just a wee lad and she was no masher! So, lady that she is, she waited patiently until he was of age.

Here is Mr, M as a baby!

Then it happened! Mr. M. became a man, err, bull!! We knew it had finally happened when he started making this odd moo gurgle sound, tongue out, giving us the "eye" . Hence, the name! This was just what Flossie had been waiting for, patiently, all these months. We were actually concerned that since he is pretty small, and Flossie is taller, that we might have to find a nice big hill for him and Flossie to spend an afternoon...Ahem..But, where there is a will, there is a way!
The rest is history, always the picture of discretion we never saw a thing. One day the Dr. Chad, our Vet, came and told us that Floss had a little bun, well, a roast, in the oven. We were thrilled! Who knew that the little calf that arrived with Flossie that day, would become such a regal creature and give us a new little calf!? And to think, it all started with a breakfast at Spankys!