Friday

I think, if people don't mind, I'm going to skip the TGIF post this week.  

This week has just been nuts.  Actually the past 2 weeks since coming back from Madison has been nuts.  I cannot stop thinking about work.  It's not negative, I'm not worried about if I'm doing anything right.  But there is just so much happening and I can't seem to focus on just one thing for a little bit.  Planning an increase in meat production, a purchase of a new farm, planning the infrastructure of an another farm, understanding the reorganization of Thanksgiving Farm, planning a dairy, winter projects, managing 4 people, breeding cows, breeding sheep, breeding pigs, raising chicks.  My brain might explode.  And I just can't stop thinking about any of it!  Just now I had to stop myself from researching nutrient components of milk in different breeds of cow.  I get home from work at 6:30 or 7:00, shower, then jump back into work.  It's weird having to force myself to stop.

So, there's a lot going on in my little farmer life.  And I feel great.  I feel confident.  I'm learning so much.  I was just thinking tonight how this week I just experienced experience.  That one day when I'm and old farmer, I can tell the young, spry farmer my experience of breeding a cow, or treating chicks for an unknown illness (and how it worked!)  Another weird thing - for the first time since being here I could see myself being here for a long time.  I had the 5 year plan in my head.  But today I see myself here for a longer time - 10, 15, 20 years.  I thought that maybe I'd go back to my old farm in a different position and when I was ready.  Who knows, I could.  And it's scary to think about the future in those years.  But it feels good.  

 PS: They have started the work on my new house!!  YAY!!!
   

Baby!

Geesh, things are not slowing down!  I apologize for not updating this (gee, not writing eveyday)!!

Well, Thanksgiving day we had a surprise - our jersey Gertrude had a calf!  I think I may have mentioned this last week.  Here are some cute pictures I made Lakes take of me.

 Aaawww, doesn't it look so natural for me?  I love dairy cows.  And that calf is super cute.  I'm trying to find him a brother - momma has way too much milk.











It's been pretty chilly this week, and we have had our first snow fall of the season.  It's been beautiful, and I'm surprised how I have felt a little giddy over it all.  There's nothing like the first snow.  Then comes the time where it never seems to go away.  Then I get grumpy about it. 

The Future Pasture

Whoa, things are busy.  I'm a little surprised.  It's a good kind of busy though.  I don't feel stretched and I'm not freaking out.  Yay!

Last Thursday, Thanksgiving, Lakes and I frost seeded on of pasture of 17 acres.  Frost seeding is a nice way to seed without totally tearing up the earth and reduces labor.  You spread the seed during the time of year when it freezes at night and is warm during the day.  That freezing and thawing of the ground will help push the seeds down into the earth.  We also have our breeding ewes pasturing on that piece, so their little hooves will help push it down into the ground too.  There is a risk of frost seeding now versus the spring is that the seeds could bud and die if we get a warm weather spell then freezing cold weather.  But people do it so we are testing it out and we'll see what happens in the spring!

 Red Clover seed!

 Me mixing the inoculant to add to the seed.  It helps protect the seed from bacteria etc...  You shouldn't breath it in, hence the mask.

 Adding the inoculant to the seed!

 Lakes mixing up the seeds.  All the seeds need to be coated with the inoculant.

 Spreading with broadcaster!

They were hard to find, but here's one little red clover seed.  Stay safe little seed!  See you next spring (hopefully)!

TGIF

Oh my.  So much has happened over the past week.  And I haven't even been able to debrief about the Biodynamics Conference!  

How Am I Trusting?

The little things in life.  Today I got home from work at noon and just starting picking up my house.  I changed my room around, ran errands in town, found a yarn store!  (That's a bad thing).  The weather was beautiful and I got to enjoy it with a 3 mile run.  What I always feel during those little things I can always trust. 


 How Am Grateful?

I am grateful for everyone in NY who has helped me make this my home.  Yesterday we all got together and had a Farmers' Thanksgiving.  It was great to be all together.  And I made sweet potato biscuits and eggnog.  Though the eggnog didn't come out to great - a little too thick.  But the biscuits came out awesome.  

Then, we went over to Chatty's house for a 2nd dinner.  That (surprisingly) was really, really enjoyable.  Mrs. Chatty is a wonderful, funny woman and she put on an amazing meal.  It was so nice and relaxing.  I had fun.
 

How Am I Inspired?

Cows!  Last night, Gertrude the Jersey (our only cow) had a calf.  SURPRISE!  Of course  it was never written down, and I am pretty ashamed that I never even noticed that she was bagging up.  Please, don't hold it think less of me.  

I decided that I either 1) had an answered wish of wanting a dairy cow or 2) that someone heard me tell my boss yesterday, "I get to sleep in tomorrow!"  After some running around this morning, trying to get equipment together and scare of having to milk a Jersey out by hand, I was able to milk a cow for the first time since June 29th, where I finally pulled off my "Dress Up Milking" (heals, dress, and all).  It brought a smile to my face.  I want to run a dairy farm.  

 How Am I Practicing My Faith?

I'll be honest - I haven't been good about meditating or working out since I was gone to Madison.  I think this week I've been putting my faith into work.  Trying to organize for the winter and plan for the future.  Putting my energy into work (which is something I can change and work at) allows me to have faith in other areas in my life - like relationships ::eyes rolling::   

Ingenuity At It's Best!!

I know it's been a little bit!  But I'm back in NY feeling really refreshed and ready to go!  Woo!

Chatty has been a great person at the farm.  Yes, he has pretty limited experience with animals (hence his tendency to get really loud around the cows so they kick him or not knowing how to move sheep so they run down the street), he is pretty handy.  While I was gone to Madison, he made the coolest thing ever:

It's a rack to hold our moveable fencing!

I know, it doesn't seem like it's that big of a deal.  But 1) it's organizing the 30 rolls that are 50 feet long each into something more manageable and 2) you can move the whole rack!  So in the summer time we can put them near gates where we'll set up the fence for the sheep or chickens, and just grab and go.  And also put back and go.  It's perfect!

I love simple, yet so handy ideas.  They make me oh so happy.
 

Madison

I'm in the Cheese Capital of the World, Wisconsin.  I'm here for the 2012 Biodynamic Conference.  It's definitely interesting, and when I get a little more time to write about it, I will.  But tonight I just feel really excited.  This has been such a great escape, such a needed break.  And I feel very excited and motivated about my job again.  Not that I really lost that motivation, but I sure was pretty tired.  It feels good to be around all these people who are so excited about what they are doing and what direction they want to go in, what direction they want the world to go in.  It's wonderful.

I'm also so excited to start working on plans for a dairy farm.  That is going to be one of my winter projects, along with organizing the rest of the farm.  Winter is going to be a very pleasant (and probably shorter than I'd like) time of year.

More to come!!

Breath

I did that a lot today - just breathed.  I'm pretty exhausted.  But I did have a nice conversation with my boss, and hopefully after I get back from Wisconsin I'll have a two day weekend - like a normal person!  Woo woo!

But enjoy these beautiful pictures - moments like these get me out of my head.

The sunrise was beautiful in Lookout Pasture.

 Could the lighting be any more perfect?

 I love this heifer so much.  I think I might name her Lorelei.  Thoughts?