family milk cow

We have decided to sell our milk cow, and our Amish friends bought her as they were in need of a milk cow.  Their milk cow is getting older and only are able to get milk out of two of her four quarters.  Lazer has given us plenty of milk and cream over the past few years, but we need not be tied down right now with all that is going on with Jim's health otherwise we would not have gotten rid of her.  We did breed her back with a gender select (heifer calf) and we think she has settled (meaning she is pregnant).  We are going to get the calf when she freshens (has the calf), and the calf can be weaned from Lazer.  Here she is with her calf and we kept him.  Lazer is shedding her winter coat and that is why she looks kind of mangy.

We didn't want to give up our milk cow, but plan to start milking again when her calf is old enough to be bred and we'll have Lazers calf to milk.

So, in the meantime our Amish friends will keep us supplied in milk and cream.  We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends not only Amish friends but non-Amish friends nearby.

spring freeze coming

I planted some jumbo tulips I found in town last week.  I got them in the ground just in time to have freezing temps come in the next few days. Guess I should have waited a bit longer :) I'll have to make sure to cover them as we have frost warnings.  We did put a space heater in the greenhouse as I did not want to lose all the plants in there, so hopefully it works.

We have had a wet spring, though not overly wet but wet enough to cause flooding in areas and the Wisconsin River is higher that I've seen in a few years.  We passed this truck on our way to the chiropractor; he apparently did not heed the road conditions as he was coming around the curve.  He was pretty stuck that was for sure.  Glad he wasn't hurt; this is not the first truck that either went into the field or overturned the truck carrying a load of corn heading to the granary which happened last year, though I did not get a photo of that, and no one was hurt in that accident either.

On our way to Jim's treatment in La Crosse, we drive though a really pretty valley and usually when it's very cold out this valley seems to be the coldest in the surrounding area.  The fog in the valley was so pretty we had to stop so I could take a picture.  The creek doesn't usually have this much water in it and it was flowing pretty good.

I know spring is here, but it just doesn't quite feel like it yet.

in between the rains

It has been raining all day off and on, so in between rains I took a walk with my walking companion.  She always has to be ahead of everyone, no matter who is with her :)

We stopped to see the cows in the back pasture.  Jim is mowing the pastures in between the rains as well.  The cows do not like the tall grass, but it's been raining so much it has been hard to mow.

We made it to the road, and I never tire of this view.

Looking towards our farm everything looks so green compared to last summer.

 

By the time we both got back home we were soaking wet from the tall grass that we went through, Suuvi was pretty wet as well.  

I will not complain about the rains, but it can let up just a bit ;)

the milk cow

 

The heart of our farm.

One evening before a storm rolled in, we got the animals all settled in so that they would remain safe.  I know they are just animals and can probably weather any storm that comes, but we like to make sure they are all hunkered down and out of the elements, with the few shelters that we have they can go in to get out of the rain or even hail.  

Our milk cow gives us milk, with the milk we make cheese, yogurt, butter and enjoy the delicious cream.  With milk that gets too old but still good we feed the other animals with it.  The chickens and pigs love it, and we enjoy the eggs and meat that they provide.  When Jim milks the cow any cats around will get a treat, a bit of milk in a pan there in the milking parlor, and the cats keep the mice population down.  The manure from the cow fertilizes our pastures making them lusher, and the manure gets put on our gardens in the fall to fertilize them as well.  The gardens feed us, and the pastures feed her.

It's a circle on our farm, and it starts with our milk cow.  

She is the heart of our farm, and we love her so.

making hay before the rains come

Oh, my goodness, we definitely have been busy here, and I keep saying that, but we are. We managed to cut hay and get it baled up for a total of 180 square bales for our first cutting of the year.  We have far surpassed last year's total in the first cutting of hay.

Summer has started out so differently than last year.  Someone said that we have almost caught up to where we should be as far as moisture in the ground, this person digs holes for a living so he definitely would know how deep the moisture should be in the ground.

The gardens are doing well and so are the weeds :)  

Tomorrow is summer solstice, the longest day of the year.  Where oh where did the year go, yikes!

life on the homestead

Everything is green here and we still need to get a few more seeds in the ground, but it has been raining here and the ground is pretty wet to till it up.

Our barn cat had a litter of kittens, they are just adorable.

Another storm came the other day and rained for two days; we got a total of 4.5 inches.

We planted spinach last fall and had been able to pick it most of the winter and early spring.  It's starting to bolt now but we are still managing to get a good amount from our picking.  My husband and I love a good spinach salad and with a homemade dressing it's delicious.

 

Jim plowed and area to plant corn.  The corn we have grown is for feed to feed our animals in the winter when we have to supplement their food.  Here the chickens decided to follow Jim when he was plowing the field.

Life here on the homestead has been busy and will continue to be busy all the way till the fall after all the harvesting and canning is done.

laundry day and food

I love hanging clothes out on the line and I love my Amish clothesline.  We live near the Amish, and this is the type of clothesline most of the Amish women use, and I just had to purchase one myself, I think the clothes actually dry a lot faster so far up in the air.

For hubby's birthday he wanted steak on the grill, so we went to the town butcher shop/deli to get a couple of nice steaks to grill.  We didn't eat all the steak, so hubby got the idea to make a sandwich he saw online.  He kind of made his own recipe from the picture.  It was more of a grilled sandwich you had to eat with a knife and fork.

How we made it...recipes 

Bread...we used homemade wheat bread.  

Sliced steak...enough to put on a sandwich.

Sliced onion

Garlic clove

Ghee...about a tablespoon or you can use butter.

Mozzarella cheese...enough for a sandwich

Jalapeño slices...you don't have to put them on the sandwich if you don't like anything hot.

Sauté the onion and garlic in the Ghee.  Add the sliced meat to heat up but not over cooked since it was already cooked.  Add the slice jalapeño slices to your meat mixture.

Butter your bread and put it together like you would a grilled cheese and cook it the same way.

This was a really tasty sandwich, and we had a little bit of potato salad leftover from the steak meal and it was the perfect side dish to go with the sandwich.

I have to say last weekend was not only a nice one it was a tasty one.