About Our Blog

The Blog   

Some days I blog w/o checking for errors - you'll know it when you read it

Aug 11, 2009 
- started combining wheat.

heifer doing wel

Aug 10, 2009 
- swathed, wheat then oats.

heifer doing wel

Aug 09-10, 2009
- we finally got rain.

heifer doing wel

Aug 06, 2009 
- sold hay to neighbors.

heifer doing well

Aug 05, 2009 
- got 6 bales... DID NOT work well w/300 Farmall.

heifer doing well

Aug 04, 2009 
- baled roadside... then got rained on.

heifer doing well

Aug 02, 2009 
- Threshing bee.

heifer doing well

Aug 01, 2009 
- got Sadie.

toured vineyard, toured ranch, flat tire... Mills Fleet Farm

July 31, 2009 
- cut ditch hay.

cut 4 miles, swather stopped... rained bigtime

July 29, 2009 
- cleared hay... worked on mike's bathroom... Madison worked on cleaning church yard for community pride... Grant came over to look at waterer project.

Not mu

July 28, 2009 
- finished pasture, baled hay at night... got lights working in hey shed.  moved cattle back to pasture

Not mu

July 27, 2009 
- worked on pasture...very hot.  raked hay... worked on mike's bathroom

Not mu

puga had pigs

July 23, 2009 
- swatted alfalfa, chore at neighbors, chas went into hospital

Not much el

July 22, 2009 
- started to pick-up bales, signed grant contracts, brought Harry to butcher

Not much el

July 21, 2009 
- Picked up farm plow

Not much el

July 20, 2009 
- Grant approved

$77,901

July 12, 2009 
- Bromance... I think... put harry outside

Our little Co

July 19, 2009 
- Making hay

Not much else to do around here but make hay.  After chores, I check the ditch hay I mowed a couple of days ago.  The grass-hay looked great... nice and dry.  The other ditch hay, with alfalfa and/or clover in it was still a little damp - nice and dry on top of the windrow, but towards the bottom - green.  So, in the afternoon I went out and raked it all, turning the bottom to the top and the top down under... hoping it will be dry enough to bale tomorrow.

Listening to the forecast, I decide to do a little baling after supper.  I figured I could get a head start for tomorrow, before it rained.  The stuff I baled tonight was the grass hay.  I was able to get it all baled before dark.  My sister Shelly helped me get the bales home.  She has a tractor with a bale spear.  With that, we put the bales onto a hayrack - 8 bales total.  I gave her the9th bale for helping me out... besides... it wouldn't fit on the rack.  It was a productive day.

Oh yeah!  This morning, I did a little wiring in the hay shed.  I now have all the wire in place in the loft as well as down below.  I have yet to wire the fixtures to the switches.  Once that's done, we will have plenty of light for late-night, outdoor chores.

July 18, 2009 
- Dead opossum

With Carol gone to Grazefest, an intensive grazing conference, near Duluth, I had the day to myself.  It started out early enough.  At 4:10AM, Ellie (our dog) was crying next to the bed.  I think she thought she was missing something after hearing Carol, Madison drive away with friend Kristine and daughter Anaya... all going to Grazefest.  I let Ellie out... then in again - we slept till 8:00AM.

Since the girls were gone, I first did my chores, then theirs... I even hand-milked one of their goats.  It wasn't so bad.  Last night we had coyotes run through the farm and 6 of the cattle were out because of it, so I wanted to double check the fences.  I checked them around midnight last night, but in the dark, it's easy to miss something.  It all looked good this morning.

I then called Farmer Mike.  I wanted to know if he wanted some help with the bathroom he was remodeling.  He told me to come over... with jigsaw in hand.  I'm thinking I'm getting a hot meal while Carol is away - I don't care what I have to do for it.  Mike and I tore up some old rotted flooring and replace that w/o ruining anything we weren't suppose too.  Come early afternoon, Mike neighbor (a carpenter) gave us a hand with some sub-flooring and sheet-rock hanging.  I think we made good progress.  Next step:  me doing the taping.  All my "mudding" equipment is at another friends place.  I need my pan and knives ASAP, so I can get started.

Oh yeah... the dead opossum... I found an opossum in the yard this morning.  I thought the coyotes killed it as there was another in the pasture.  When I talked to Carol, on the phone, she mentioned that Kristine ran it over coming into the yard this morning.  And... once they got rolling to Grazefest, Kristine hit a deer, near New London, MN.  It must have done some major damage to Kristine's van, as Carol said every time they made a left turn, the tire rubbed on the fender... they were hoping to get home after the conference w/o problems.

July 17, 2009 
- Making hay

Yesterday and today, I've been cutting hay.  It should have taken only one day, but between several minor break-downs, eating and doing chores, it took two.  I even was able to cut some of the hay next to the highway... so that will be a nice bonus this time around.

Later in the day, we went to pay our respects to the family of Chuck Kneisl.  One of his sons (Jim) is friend of mine and a daughter (Patty) was in my class in high school.  Other family members I knew as well.  Chuck once owner Chuck's Welding and Repair in Kerkhoven, MN.  He was probably one of the best tractor mechanics around.  He ran the shop with his son Dick.  It was nice to see friends and neighbors at the review... but it was sad to see Chuck, knowing he was gone.

July 15, 2009 
- More bad news about our food supply

The meat you buy could be contaminated.  Check it out:  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31766160/ns/health-food_safety .  Representative Louise Slaughter,  reportedly Congress's only microbiologist states, "We should be able to buy food without worrying about exposing our family to potentially deadly bacteria that no longer responds to medical treatment."

July 14, 2009 
- Rain & cutting wood, planning barn

We finally got a little rain... not a whole lot, but what we did get, totaled over ½ inch...I wish we had gotten more.

Carol and I resumed our plans to rebuild the old hog barn.  The farm is growing and we need the space for both animals and hay/straw storage.  The cement work is still in good shape, consisting of 3 ft side walls.  At 26'X44', it sure would make things easier around here.  We thought if we did most of the work ourselves, we could save $2,000-3,000.  At first we were thinking of a single-story structure - like it used to be, but then looked at some roofing designs from the past and though for a few $$$ more, we could have some much need storage.  The roof style [I think] we decide on was a Gambrel roof.  From what I read online, it is one of the most efficient roofs out there.

the barn won't look like this, but it gives a person an idea of what a Gambrel Roof looks like

The barn in the lower left of the graphic best represents what we are planning to do with the old hog barn.

In hopes that we will one day rebuild the hog barn, I continued to cut limbs and logs from the downed trees.  The cattle sure love the leaves of the the Box Elders I was cutting down.  By now, when I start the chain saw the cattle come running.  Maybe I should bring the saw into the pasture with me when I need to move cattle from one pasture to the next.

July 13, 2009 
- Another hawk killing & I started cutting trees near old hog barn

I think we have all but one of our milking goats in full production.  We are getting over 2 gallons of milk/day... which isn't too bad considering we have goat kids still on the mamas during the day.  Luckily for us, we have been selling quite a bit of the access milk to customers who are finding there way to our little sustainable farm.  Most of the the folks who buy from us love the idea that our animals are naturally fed - no hormones and no antibiotics in the feed.  Other than a handful of the critters are 100% grass fed, with most of them being cage-free.

We had another hawk killing this morning or last night.  I think Carol mentioned that we have lost a total of 7 meat birds since the death of our Corgi herding dog, a few weeks ago.  Before our Corgi died, we didn't loose a single chicken to hawks.

Carol and I are playing with the idea of rebuilding the old hog barn, again.  Whether we do or don't, I decided to remove some of the trees the once grew over the barn roof (they were too close to the building).  The trees were in poor shape as well as being too numerous in the small area they are in.  The area looks so much better with some of those trees gone.  If and when we build the barn, I will decide if we should take out the other trees.  I'm not too worried about it now.  The trees that are left are all leaning away from the building site - they should fall in the opposite direction of the structure.

July 11, 2009 
- Everyone is leaving...

Our dairy goat Lucy has been close to her due-date for the last week.  Our visitors have been wanting to witness the birth, but it didn't look like it was going to happen.  We figured Lucy would go into labor shortly after everyone left for home.  About a ½ hr before Amber & Craig were to leave, their son Erick comes running out of the barn explaining that Lucy was pushing.  She was in labor.  I bet it didn't take more than 45 minutes and the whole thing was over.  Lucy had twin doelings.  Unlike most of our other dairy does, this birthing process went perfectly - no problems... and both doelings were born in the diving position (head first w/hooves infront).

July 09, 2009 
- Cattle out.

We all but finished the hay shed.  In all reality, it could be left as-is and be perfectly safe and functional.  Craig, thank-you, thank-you.... thank-you!

Towards evening, I heard the cattle starting to moo.  I guess I didn't think much of it... they do that from time to time.  Carol and I were talking, when she mentioned the cows sounded like they were in the backyard.  I shrugged off the notion of the cattle being out.  I was tired.  Then around midnight we had a car pull into the driveway.  A very excited gentleman stated our cattle were on the road.  OH CRAP!!!  I quickly ran outside and ran to the road.  They weren't on the road, but they were in the ditch, eating.  As Scottish Highlanders usually are more concerned about getting back to their pen than they are running away, getting them back into their pen took all-but 5 minutes.  The question remains, why did they get out?  After the guy, who alerted us to the cattle being out, left, I grabbed the MAG Light and headed out to the small 'L' pasture to check fence.  Then I discovered why the cows in the 'L' got out - they didn't have access to that pasture... I forgot to open it up for them.  They were in the winter pen and they were hungry.  Needless to say I opened the gate to the 'L' pasture.  I'm glad not all of the cattle were up here.  I have a few head using the pasture north of the creek.

July 08, 2009 
- Tiff is here

Craig and I worked on the hay shed for the last couple of days with great progress.  If we didn't do anything more to it, it is a 1000X better than it was.  We have a grand total of approx. $600 into it.  WOW!  What a huge difference.  Craig is a hell of a guy.

As we were relaxing around the the fire pit, we could see Tiff's car coming closer to the farm's drive.  She had brought son Ki and her adult friend Eric (I guess she thought she needed some adult conversation on the trip... lol).  They were ⅔ into their vacation - zig-zagging across the northern plain's states.  They did miss the world's largest ball of twine in Darwin, MN and the SPAM museum at the Oak Ridge Mall, in Austin, MN.

Nearly everyday we have had rain showers... a few minutes worth, then sun... wait a few hours, then some more rain.  Unfortunately, we have not gotten any real usable amount of moisture.  It's getting old.

July 06, 2009 
- Started working on the hayloft

With little rest, Amber's husband Craig wanted to do something... something like work.  Once he convinced me he wasn't much for lounging around while on vacation, we started a task that would both make a difference and keep Craig & I busy for a few days... we started rebuilding the 2nd story hay shed floor.  My dad was a recycler and had constructed a partial floor in the hay shed with used lumber.  It was under-built as well as starting to rot in the corners.  The floor needed to be rebuilt badly.  Last summer, while stacking hay, it started to collapse. To keep it from ending up on the ground, I had put fencing posts under it until I could feed up the hay.  I digress...

After some quick measuring and some figuring, we were off to the lumber yard.  The first big purchase came to $300.  Not bad.

everyone wanted to be involved in the reconstruction project.

As you can see, we had lots of little helpers and my sister Amber being the beer runner *bless her heart*.  We started on the far end... it seemed to be the easiest, since there was no floor in place.  First thing we had to do was true-up the 6"x6".  The process wasn't pretty.  It involved a 1-hooked chain, a come-along and the farm truck.  Long-story-short, we got it pretty close to perfect.

July 05, 2009 
- Craig & Amber arrived last night

After months of waiting, my sister Amber's family arrived.  Her, her husband Craig and 2 boys - Erick & Seth.  They pulled-in after midnight.  They will be here for about a week.

July 03, 2009 
- Chicken dog

Our little Corgi, Duncan, has been gone only a short while... already we are seeing the value he had on the farm.  Since he was killed on Monday, we have lost a broiler chicken everyday to the hawks - 4 days = 4 dead chickens.  4 chickens = $40+.  We are now realizing that Duncan was not only a herding dog, but he was also a guardian dog.

I recently heard someone say that McDonald's was going to come out with a special burger, in honor of Michael Jackson.  It's called the McJacko.  They're going to slide 50 year old meat between 10 year old buns.