Olive

Opal had her calf last Monday night around 8pm. She had a little heifer we named Olive. The birth went very well, quick and easy. The excitement really started afterwards, because she gave birth in the open pasture and we had to move her and the calf to the barn. As soon as she gave birth, Opal’s instincts kicked in as if a switch had been activated. She became super vigilant, and being out on pasture, exposed, she was very anxious about the smallest movemets. The cats were driving her crazy moving through the tall grass, and they were drawn to the birth site and kept coming towards her. The other problem was that the when the baby stood and started walking around, she didn’t know anything about the electric fence and kept walking into it getting zapped. At one point she got on the other side of it and Opal was getting frantic. In addition, Ed and I had not seen the baby nurse, and we had read that it was best if she got colostrum in the first 2 hours after birth, so we were worried that with all the stress of the open pasture, the cats, and the electric fence, it was making it harder for both mother and calf to nurse.

So at around midnight, we decided to move everyone into the barns at the other end of the field. We moved Jasmine first with no problem. She had been with Opal throughout the birth, and we knew that they’d get stressed if separated. When we got to moving Opal, Ed picked up the calf and we thought about putting the lead rope on Opal, but then we decided not to, thinking that she’d just follow wherever her calf was being taken. This is not how it happened.

We took a few steps and Opal walked nicely with us. Then she bolted and all we could see was her behind, running surprisingly fast for one who’s just given birth, between the carrot beds and the apple trees, udder swinging from side to side. Ed said that things were going from bad to worse, here we were in the pitch dark, with a newborn calf and a loose cow frantically running across the fields, possibly getting hurt. Fortunately we did not panic for too long, because we walked to the barn with Olive still in Ed’s arms, and there was Opal waiting at the barn door.

Things got much better once everyone was in the barn. Opal and Olive settled in one stall, and Jasmine in the other. We still did not see Olive nurse, and Ed we tried putting her on the teat, which didn’t work, and eventually we went to bed exhausted, but at least knowing that everyone was safe in the barn.

It was around 1:30 when we went back to the house, and I slept until next morning at 6:30, but Ed heard the wind pick up during the night, and it was blowing strong at around 3:30am, so he got up to tie the chicken coops to the ground so that they would not be blown away (happened in the past).

The next day, we still had not seen Olive nurse, so we ended up milking a little colostrum from Opal and giving it to Olive in a bottle. This was not easy. Opal was very cooperative, but Olive was not. She did not want to drink and the whole thing was a struggle. I was not too worried because Olive looked good and perky. Ed and I called some people more experienced with cows that we are, and they said that Olive is probably nursing when we are not there, otherwise she’d be bleating and looking weak. Finally, that night, while I was out voting at a town meeting, Ed saw Olive nurse, and after that we were much relieved.

Now, we’ve been trying to milk Opal since Friday. At first we tried in the stanchion and it was a mess, she was trying to get out and was very stressed about her baby who was in and out of sight. Her eyes were rolled up in her head – not an ideal state for milking. Later, we tried milking in the open pasture, which went much better as far as Opal being comfortable. But we barely got any milk. We milked again yesterday and got maybe 1.5cups in all. Today a friend is coming to show us how he milks. We’ll see how much he gets. It feels like Opal has a lot, but I think maybe our milking technique is not good, and maybe she’s not letting down for us. Or maybe it’s too early to expect a lot, like, 1 quart, for example? We’re on the step part of the learning curve, obviously.

The vegetables are mostly doing well. But the flea beetles are bad this year, and I’m worried about the kale. They’re on it, and on the collards, and making a mess of both of them. I have a second planting of kale which I will put in a different part of the field. And I ordered a special cover which is supposed to protect against flea beetles, and I plan to put it on the kale. I do hope it works because it was very expensive. I feel that we need to do all we can to save the kale, since its popularity has increased dramatically in the past two years, and now everyone wants it.

The flea beetles are beginning to go on the eggplants too, but we’ll cover them after we transplant them this week, and hopefully that will stop any damage.

Carrots, beets, chard, peas, strawberries, lettuces, spinach and tomatoes are all looking good.

Here are some pictures:
First time we saw Olive nurse, a great relief.

 Olive and Opal

Aiyana with one of Cutiepie's chicks

 Sena and Aiyana homeschooling

Peace

New chicks

Sena and Aiyana have 3 hens and a rooster which they’ve saved from the soup pot, and are now fully responsible for. This spring, they let one of the hens, Cutiepie, sit on eggs, and this week, 3 out of 7 eggs hatched. The first chick died because he somehow fell out of the nest and could not get back under his mother. But the other two are doing well, and Sena and Aiyana are very excited. They check on the hen and her chicks many times during the day, making sure that they have all they need, and that nobody falls out. We built up their nest too, so it’s a little safer, and so far so good. Here's Cutiepie with one of her new chicks:

The cows are now in a pasture close to the house, and I can see them from the kitchen window. I love taking a peek at them every once in a while as work in the kitchen. Before this, they were on a pasture towards the back of the property, where we could not see them from the house. I like it much better now.

My cheddar came out really well. I aged it for 4 weeks and then tasted it, and we all agreed that it was too bland. I put it back in the “cave”, which is actually my root cellar, and let it age another two weeks. When I took it out, my expectations were pretty low, but the girls loved it, and ed and I agreed that it tasted like “cascaval”, a tasty cheese they make in Romania. I had to add a little salt, because the recipe called for too little, but other than that I am very happy with my cheddar. I am in the process of making another wheel, this time three times larger. Sena and Aiyana are pretty picky about cheddar. We’ve tried a lot of different types from the grocery store, and the one they like is Cabot, which I agree tastes good, but it’s not organic and I don’t trust their practices and the integrity of the ingredients that go into the cheese. So I am relieved that they like my cheddar even better, and that we won’t have to buy Cabot anymore. I thought the chances of that happening were pretty low…

Everything outside looks beautiful. Spring is a magical time of transformation that takes place right before our eyes. Everything is fertile and new life and growth are everywhere. Right now there are tiny bright green leaves on the trees, and the apples and peaches blossoms are about to open. The grass is growing quickly, which makes the cows happy. Many different birds call from morning till night, and bees and butterflies fly all over the field. When I can stop and pay attention to all this, and for a moment get over myself with my worries and fatigue, it feels so beautiful and real and mysterious that it’s almost too much to bear.

Peace

Some recent pictures

Cousins: Sena, Aiyana, Julia, Stella and Lucy

 Aiyana with Lucy

My mother, the girls and I went to Stonington a couple of weeks ago, for an Oceanography class that Sena and Aiyana were taking. It was a foggy day.

 My mom, Buca to the girls

 Buca, Sena and Aiyana

 Empty docks

 Aiyana and her doggie friend, Yo.

 Aiyana wearing a scarf

I just found out that these lovely flowers are called grape hyacinths. They come up wild on the edge of our field, and smell delightful.

 These are hyacinths I planted two winters ago and they too smell heavenly.

 What my hands look like at this time of the year.

 Midnight

Peace

The leaves are out!

Ed saw a fox this morning near the cow pasture.

Yesterday after the rain, I looked outside, and to my surprise, I could see that tiny leaves had appeared on many of the trees. It’s like that every year, one day the trees are bare, and then, seemingly quite suddenly, the leaves are there. It’s a lovely pale green color which surrounds the trees like a halo and makes everything seem more vibrant.

Yesterday the cows got out of the pasture. Their paddock was close to the road, so we’re guessing that something must’ve spooked them on the road, and they ran the other way. Fortunately they did not go too far, and were still in the enclosure of the electric fence, in a safe spot.

Today Sena and Aiyana and I are having our tea party. We have one every Sunday. We use the fancy china cups I have from my grandmother Mamaia, and we have herbal tea and biscuits. We knit and talk and just hang out. Sometimes we pretend to be fancy ladies and we act in a very dignified manner. Mostly we just have fun.

The peach and apple trees are in the ground. The blueberry bushes just arrived on Friday – we will get them planted this week. The kale is looking like it’s recovering after the frost damage last week. Everything else in the field is looking good.

I love this time of the year, but I’ve been feeling tired over the past two weeks. I think it has to do with seasonal change and the increased level of physical activity that came with it. I started taking a multivitamin again, the New Chapter Organics brand that helped me in the past. I hope it works this time. I certainly need all the energy I can get at this time of year, and can’t drag myself around feeling being tired.

peace

The kale and peas got hit by the frost we had last week. They were not killed, but set back with damage to the leaves. Hopefuly with the nice weather we're having now and some rain they'll come back nicely.

Tomatoes are looking good. They're in soil blocks right now, and will not go in the grouind until early May. We keep them in the green house during the day and bring them in the basement at night to protect them from the cold, since our greenhouse is only heated by the sun. This is quite an undertaking every day, bringing them back and forth, given that we have about 450 plants, but tomatoes are a very important crop for us so we must do everything we can to take good care of them.

Everything else that we planted so far is mostly coming along nicely. We're starting to see the usual culprits as far as insect pests for this time of the year: imported cabbage butterfly, flea beetles, and a little cutworm. The fleabeetles have damaged a bed of arugula already and i plan to stop planting that crop until the flea beetle cycle is done (a few weeks?). Cutworm damage has not been bad at all yet, have only lost a few beets, but we'll have to see how things continue to go. It's really interesting to notice these patterns over the years, the insect pests and their cycles. Since we do not use pesticides, one practice that is part of our tools is to time our crops based on pest cycles in such a way as to avoid peak damage times. For instance cutworms are very active in spring and they slow down considerably later in the season. Another important tool is to attract beneficial insects and encourage them to stay on our farm. We call them beneficial because they kill pest insects. We attract them by planting flowers and herbs that they like, and by not spraying pesticides, which kill target as well as non-target insects. I already saw a few beneficials like wasps and bumble bees.

Opal is "bagging up", which means that her udder is getting visibly larger, as she approaches birth. Today we're having a large animal vet come and meet the cows, and us. Hopefuly won't need him but we want to establish a relationship anyway.

We've been giving Opal and Jasmine treats from the greenhouse every day. They love claytonia best and second best, lettuces. For me, the treat is simply spending time with them. They are beautiful animals. I love their presence, their unhurried ways, the way they smell, the way they stretch their necks to be scratched. They brought a whole new dimension to our farm, and it feels more whole now. I also feel more whole, and I am grateful to them for that.

Peace

(Tuesday 4/15)

I always forget how busy this time of year is. As soon as the weather warms up, as it did over the past week, there’s an explosion in plant growth, and everything wants to go in the ground. Onions, kale, broccoli, cabbages, chard and other plants, which we started as seedlings in soil blocks as far back as February, and which were barely growing until a couple of weeks ago, have since been picking up and growing visibly overnight, and now must be transplanted in the ground. We have also been working on transplanting apple trees, and are expecting a shipment of blueberry bushes and peach trees at the end of this week, all of which need to go in the ground ASAP. This urgency combined with the fact that the soil is wet and unworkable for days at a time make this time of year pretty stressful. Today and overnight we are expecting 2 to 4 inches of rain, so I’ll just have to postpone any planting until the soil dries up in a few days.

(Wednesday 4/16)

After writing the above, we ended up getting snow overnight, and the ground was covered when I got up in the morning. I inspected the plants and everything seems to have held up fine. But tonight we're expecting a low of 25F, and I am worried. We covered everything, but some of the plants may still get damaged.This is April...

This week has been much warmer and as a result we’ve seen a spurt in plant growth. The spring peepers are out every night, and in the morning, many birds call. The cows have been shedding their winter coat and replacing it with a soft, fuzzy, new one.

I’ve been busy with the usual: cooking, homeschooling, planting, taking care of seedlings, harvesting and selling at the farm. I’m also training myself and Opal for milking. Her calf is due in early May and I have to be ready to milk her then. I’ve been training her to come out from the pasture and into the stall where I’ll milk her. She comes for greens. I put a bucket of claytonia or mizuna or other some other fresh greens in front of her stanchion and she comes right in. Then, while she eats, I sit by her side and touch her belly and udder, similar to what I’ll be doing when milking. So far, she hasn’t tried to kick me yet, because she’s such a good cow. But I am not expecting things to go too smoothly at first. I’ve been warned by enough people that at some point I’ll be in tears. For now, I’m doing what I can to get both of us used to the milking routine.

I love being with the cows. The nicest thing I did for myself lately, (other than lying in bed with Sena and Aiyana telling stories at night), is to sit in the pasture with the cows and be part of the natural world. It’s peaceful and grounding.

It’s a beautiful day today. I hope you enjoy it!

Peace

I put pictures of snowdrops up every spring. They're very special.

Jasmine and Opal on the move. In the background is their movable shelter and stanchion where we're going to milk them.

Opal. She's so cute and very pregnant.Today her baby was moving a lot, I could see ripples going through her belly, and I felt it kicking too. She's due to calve in early May.

Peace