We really appreciated the extended mild weather this fall, giving us an opportunity to get a few more things on the "to-do" list done before snow and cold. Over the past couple days, our weather has turned colder and wet. What started as rain ended up as several inches of white stuff. There were mixed reactions to the way it looked outside when we got up this morning...
I've been trying to do a better job of taking pictures when I've been around the past couple weeks to give you a peak into the fall projects. However, I'll spare you any pictures of snow- there will be plenty of time for those later on..;) Hope you enjoy.
Photo credit for the first picture of the post and this one: Grace
The annual cattle drive happened. I don't have any pictures of the actual event, as I spent most of it in the woods trying to help find a cow that didn't follow the herd (essentially, I was no help!). Calves were sorted off and hauled to a separate pen that day as well, and here are a few pictures of that.
The ranchers...
Nate and Matt's calf crop (with a couple cull cows in there too)
This one has a funny lookin' face.
Grace and I went scavenging for some late apples, in hopes to make one last batch of apple juice,
But you have to beat the heifers to them! We joke that these cows stand around waiting to hear an apple fall and then go rushing to eat it! We shook this tree of apples that we didn't want in an effort to distract them for a bit.
We also picked the remainder of the apples that were in the orchard. They were the last thing we had to harvest. It's a good feeling when all the gardens and orchards are harvested. The apple juice was the last thing we canned and we have concluded that season for this year. Silas got the gardens dug too, which doesn't always happen in the fall- so that's a bonus.
This is a jar of calendula flowers that I dried. When I was taking them off the dehydrator tray I realized that they were nice fall colors. I decided leave the jar on display for a couple weeks before putting it in proper storage (a cool, dark place.)
Gypsy is quite the dog... She likes to inspect the back of the Gator after we've delivered hay to the sheep and goats.
Also- the baking mood struck: Chocolate Chip cookies filled the cookie jar to overflowing, and peppernuts filled this gallon jar. I'll let you guess as to how long they lasted.. (Hint: don't guess more than a week!)
Family music practice- we don't always make it happen, but our goal is to get a weekly practice session in. Some nights we are more energetic about it than others...
We were grateful to have the opportunity to share our music during a morning worship service on Sunday. It's always a privilege to do that! Looking forward to Town Hall Music night on Saturday, and then it's time to practice Christmas music! 😲 Not sure how it can already be that time of year again.
Grace and Matt have been putting a lot of effort into an experiment for feeding the dairy cows hay/balage on pasture. One of the negative things about feeding round bales using ring feeders, is that the cows tend to tear up the area around the feeder, and only deposit their valuable "fertilizer" in those select locations. Part of the goal was to try to be gentler on the pasture, and spread their "valuable nutrients" (call it what you want...) more evenly. I asked Grace to take a few pictures to share with y'all.
Matt uses the bale grinder to chop bales into windrows. The cows have access to one windrow at a time.
Grace has been going and moving the polywire fence a couple times a day as they finish each row.
They don't eat every last straw- but they never do- there are always parts of forage that do not get eaten. But it's not wasted, really, as it breaks down and provides nutrients to the soil.
The "leftovers" are pictured below. (don't look to close, as yes, the dark piles are what you think they are...) It will be interesting to see the quality (and quantity) of grass that this area produces in the coming years.
On another note, Dad and Mom are currently undergoing training to learn how to deal with Dad's current medical condition. I don't usually talk about this side of our life, and can't share details here but it's part of our current reality. We would appreciate your prayers, for our folks specifically, and for us all as we adjust to this new stage of life. It's not an easy road, we don't know what the future holds, but we know we don't walk alone. We are grateful for the support that so many show to us, for the many prayers offered on our behalf, and we continue to trust that our Heavenly Father has a plan and a purpose, though we don't understand it currently. Thanks!
Until next time,
Emily and the crew
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