Hay

Todd mowed hay on Saturday and we baled it Monday. 200 small square bales and 12 round bales off of 9 acres. Not bad.


Of course, the fun part comes now in that all the small squares need unloaded. And I got drafted to help, as everyone that normally helps is on vacation or busy with their own hay. My job is to toss them from the wagon (or the ground - wherever they end up with the kids dragging them to me at the front of the wagon) to Todd, who stacks them. I moan and groan about it, but really, it's not bad - a great form of exercise...

bales we unloaded last night:

bales we will unload tonight or tomorrow night:

15 acres to go - but that hay is not ours. The guy we "rent" the field off of, we get first cutting, he gets 2nd cutting, we get 3rd, and we bale it (he has kids to unload it).

My finish #5 is just about done - I just may get it done this afternoon when I get home. Hopefully.

PS - and to my winners - I'll be contacting all of you within the next couple days - I can't email you from work with my home email, so I have to do it from home, but we've been so busy...

See ya,

Kris

More Halter Breaking of Calves

I had to work Friday (7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.), and Saturday (6:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.) due to our district conference for the Church that I work for - what a fun and inspirational weekend it was.

And while I was working, Todd manned the farm:

This is the AMAZING chute Todd built - we brought the self-locking gate on the front this spring, he built the sides, back and floor, and even I can run a calf up into it, lock them in, put the halter on and walk them out the front - though I have been told (and told again) not to do this on my own just yet). Fine with me - I like to supervise - at least in the initial phase of halter breaking! And the great thing is, with the help of the skidlaoder, this sucker is portable all over the farm.

look at that nice butt!

The calves are doing better. Not great yet, but .....Todd can at least walk them without getting drug all over the place.



The girls who are showing them at the fair in just about 6 weeks came over last night and washed and blowed them out (think high powered hair dryer). Both calves are so calm, really - we have had some really wild ones in past years, but these, they just might do the trick.

I also spent some time on finish #5, and freezing more green beans. I'll have pictures of finish #5 by tomorrow hopefully.

Tonight we are going to look at some new calves to possibly buy - more on that later, but never, ever let hubby convince you after 15 years of raising cattle that it is necessary to switch breeds....

Kris

Brilliante (?) weblog

Thank you to Lyn, Lib and Arizona for this wonderful award! And I pick..... wait, does that mean I get to pick more than 7 since I received this from all 3 of you? While I can certainly think of that many, here's as many as I can do:

Angie, Amanda Jean, Katie, Jacquie, Spoonful of Sugar, AJ Quilts, Kristie, Crazy for Primitive Quilts, Amy, Lynsey, Gina

And really, anyone who has ever commented on this little old blog is SO deserving of this reward - you all have made my day! I do go and read each of your blogs, and enjoy ALL of them. I've loved having a whole new circle of friends here in cyberspace.

Kris

And the Winners Are:

Thanks to all of you who have posted here - so I drew 4 names:

Jacquie

Dawn

Lib; and

Beth

I have so appreciated everyone's comments over the months I've been blogging! And since I am now settling back into a more relaxed life style (read kids camp, weekend working, and girl scouts are done) - I'll be making something special for each of you. I'll be contacting each of you via email - or you can send me an email (tkjtbair at verizon dot net) with your address and any color preferences you may have.

What We've Been Up To

Our county fair is in 43 days. We have friends who girls are showing 2 of our calves as feeder calves at the fair (and then Jessie will show them as steers next year at the fair).

We've been halter breaking these 2 calves:

With 1 more coming in to be halter broke this weekend.

And I got these dried and in my spice cupboard:

I found the tags buried in the center of each plant: cilantro on the left and flat leaf basil on the right. Of course, the cilantro I am going to have coming out my ears - this is about a 1/3 of what I dried the other night (the basil has a little bit of a burnt smell to it, so the next batch I'm going to have to watch closer and see if it's just the basil, or if I actually burned it in the dehydrator).

Such fun.

Kris

P.S. Unfortunately, the 30's pinwheels will probably not be one of my 5 in July - but it is getting closer to being done. I have another project in the works for my 5 by the end of July - and it's fitting for a patriotic couple of months.....more later on that though.....

Finishes #4 for 5 by the end of July

Here's a sneak peak at finishes 4:

I can't show them fully, until the person they are intended for receives them, but....there are 2 done. And while not necessarily quilty, they are something I've wanted to try for a long, long time (since Jessie was a baby). so....

1 more to go, and that should happen over the next few nights....

Kris

A Call for Help

I finally made it out to my garden - I start harvesting my herbs....

and the little tags I put in the garden are no more.

I think this is cilantro:


I think this is some sort of basil:


And I have no clue what this is:

Edited to add (10:00 p.m.) - the bottom one is a weed. I had it all picked to put in the dehydrator after the cilantro and basil, and Todd came home - why in the heck are you drying a weed?!?!?!? LOL - like I said, the weeds are growing good!!!

Anyone think I am wrong??? If so, please speak up!!

Some of my herbs were flowering (the oregano I think) and if I am remembering correctly, they aren't the best harvested when flowering, so I just cut them off below the flowering parts - is this true? Or can I dry them in the dehydrator while flowering and use them???

Like I said....HELP!

And it's amazing how quickly the weeds take over after being away from the garden for a week!! Oh well - I know where I will be for an hour or so each evening for the next week....


Kris