After a long pause

Well, here it is nearly 2 months after the storm and my last post. I do not know if I can ever adequately explain the devastation that the storm wrought. I do not ever want to go through such devastation again. Emotional devastation that is. The storm caused everything in my life that was slightly off-key, slightly off-center to become huge, magnified out of proportion. And now I get to try and rebuild my life on so many levels.

And yet....I find myself planning for next year, learning from my errors, desiring to begin again. Yep, it's official. I am crazy. ;)

Job 1:21

wee....
"The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."

THAT is my verse of the week/month/year.

Up until last evening, we were having an outstanding garden season. But at 5:50 p.m. July 22, that all changed. A very sudden, very ferocious storm came up with wind, rain, rotating clouds, and massive amounts of hail. Hay in the pasture was as tall as my rib cage. It now is about 6 inches tall. The pumpkins are nothing but pock-marked green orbs. Carrot tops have been sheared off at ground level. Pepper plants that had been loaded with tiny fruits are now nothing but little sticks. Cucumbers are smashed into relish. I have never seen such destruction since I was a child.
We lost 5 windows on the house and 3 on the garage. Fortunately, the 4 calves we have all survived (yes, hail can kill), and some of the plants might come back once they get pruned and have some time to recuperate.
I will be replanting peas, lettuces, spinach, beets and any other crop that will have a chance to fruit before frost, within the next 5 days.
The photo above is what is left of the potatoes. Below is what is left of the tomatoes and a pumpkin--PRE-CARVED!
Through all this, I know my God is in control and I can say "it is well with my soul"

Donna

Summertime

Yep, summer has hit! It has been a month since I have been able to sit long enough to update this. We have been weeding, and raising chickens, and weeding, and haying, and running produce here and there, and weeding, and having company and did I mention WEEDING????
Life's good, just too busy right now.
My dear husband mentioned that I need to fill you in on my "adventures". Let's see, where to begin... the new laying hens are growing up MEAN! They like to jump up and try to spur my arms when I feed them. Other chickens have not learned not to bite the hands and arms that feed them. My forearms look like they have been in a war zone. (Okay, I exaggerate a bit, but not much.)
And take a look at the mower we have! What an interesting learning curve that has been. The mower is an antique horse-driven implement. We don't have horses. We pull it with the pickup. I, oh wonderful super-human woman that I am, get to drive said pickup. Not too fast, not too slow, round and round the pasture we go. Did I mention the pickup doesn't have much for power steering? I have biceps like never before in my 44 years! My job is not as difficult as Lyn's though. He has to bounce around on that thing, lifting and lowering the correct lever to avoid getting the mower bar (upright in the picture) plugged up with cheat grass. Nasty stuff! We have also had to learn to communicate by hand signals for go, stop, left and right. I am SURE we will laugh about this someday. The first time we took the mower out he mentioned something about one of us having some fun doing this. We still aren't sure which one that is.
There are other adventures to tell but will have to wait as I hear the bindweed mocking me and the chickens howling for supper. I guess I'd better get back to it.
D.

Doggies--gotta luv 'em

So it's been a very wet week with rain nearly everyday since Wednesday evening. But that's good for the crops and hay and I would much rather have it wet than go through the drought we have had in the last decade.

One thing I get to do every week for our CSA customers is bake bread. I absolutely love it! The house smells great, I get to experiment with different recipes and some of the outcomes are well, rather unexpected.
The picture above is one of the loaves that a customer was supposed to receive this past Saturday. I had made Challah (Jewish sabbath bread). It was outstanding, if I do say so myself! Fragrant, chewy, a soft crumb, ahh lovely. Then the dogs came in for the night....
Normally they are not left alone and thus, don't get in trouble for say, eating things they aren't supposed to get OFF THE COUNTER. However, Thursday evening, something went amiss.

It had been pouring rain while Lyn and I did chores and we were soaked. I was changing into dry clothes in the bedroom, Lyn was getting a dry jacket as he needed to go out again. The dogs were left alone for maybe 3 minutes max--and boy did they enjoy the Challah! This is why I do not bake on Friday for Saturday delivery. So Friday I made more bread and all were happy, especially the chickens as they got to finish what the dogs began. I love the dogs, I really do, but Thursday I was thinking non-loving thoughts towards them.

Oh well, it's just bread. Have a great week!

Market season is here!

Well here we are at the end of a very long week but a very good week. And we managed to get to 2 markets today! Lyn went to Rapid City and had a good day, for opening day, while I manned the Chadron market, also having a good day. It is so fulfilling to see people appreciate our produce when we work so hard to give them the best we can grow. Lyn also delivered our customers their first CSA packages. YUM! NOTHING like fresh spinach! (We just have to keep Popeye out of the garden :D.)
Every year I learn more about preparing for market before the opening day of the season. This year was no exception. Now that we do two markets on the same day, we have to have duplicates of certain items. A thought that didn't really hit me until about 5:00 this morning as I was packing salad greens for Lyn to take to Rapid. We have a special container we have used for lettuces in the past, now we need 2 of them. Thus, I was running through our local department store at 6:45 with a big plastic box, trying to get Nichole to work on time at 7:00. There was only ONE aisle open...and the clerk and customer were CHATTING about?? ARGGGGH We pulled up at the hardware store at 7 o'clock exactly. Then I rushed home, fed chickens and calves, changed clothes (darn calves--messy little buggers keep using my jeans as their napkins), ate some breakfast and back to town. Good grief it's no wonder I sleep so well.
A thought to leave you with:
To be a success, one must begin.
Donna

May 24, 2010

Well it's been very busy around here, thus my lack of updating this site. We have laid plastic mulch and been planting pumpkins, squash, and cucumbers as well as green beans. The lettuces are up and delicious! and the spinach too. The hi-tunnel green houses are coming along, but, as usual, are taking more time that Lyn or I would like. The fryer chickens are enjoying their pasture buffet and will be plump little things in another month. We have received about 2 inches of rain in the past 2 weeks so everything is growing well, especially the weeds. ARGGH!

Nichole has been working very hard at her schooling and will be finishing a semester worth of school in less than 3 months. Homeschooling is so flexible! She is also working part-time in town at a hardware store and enjoying the cash that comes from that. She had a great time at the local prom. Her friend is a really nice young man that is going to be a senior here next year. If Nichole keeps going as she has been, she will complete 2 years of school in one--for some odd reason, she's looking forward to that. I think she is more looking forward to being in college and not having to help with the weeding ;D.

Hopefully, I will make it back in a more timely fashion next time.
Take care.
Donna

Rain, rain go away..but only for a little while :)

Hello again!
Well the cold I had last week was actually bronchitis. So after a course of antibiotics, I am ready to go again. (Thank You God for antibiotics!) However, we are getting rain today, and tomorrow, and Wednesday and maybe snow Wednesday night and Thursday--so I get to catch up on paperwork, housecleaning and other sundry inside duties. I am fitting in little outside chores between rains, so am not completely shut-in.
As I wrote earlier, we have bottle calves, three of them, and boy are they cute! I did the ultimate rancher/farmer no-no. I named them. They are Phil , Teensy (see photo), and Baby Girl (lying down). Phil is the largest, Baby Girl is the shyest, and Teensy is a preemie that has had a bit of a hard time lately. If it would warm up and the wind stop blowing, I am sure he would feel much better.
We had a hard frost late last week and lost one row of our peas, but the other 2 rows were a different variety and tolerated the weather better. Hopefully, this week will be the last of the colder weather, but considering I have seen snow on the 6th of June, one never knows!
We are still taking orders for CSA packages and broiler/fryer chickens so if you are interested, let us know.
Here's hoping you have a great week!
Donna

HAPPY MAY DAY!

May has arrived! Am I ready? Not really. This is such a busy month and I have been sick all week. I have a rotten cold that has settled in my lungs. I can't get enough air to do the things that need done. Earlier this week, when I wasn't quite as sick as I am now, I did manage to get 2 of the 5 or 6 stumps dug out in the yard. This place was definitely a fixer-upper when Lyn bought it and it has taken A LOT of work to get it to where it is today. There is still more to do, of course, and we are hoping to have a decent lawn this year.
One of the infrastructure items that Lyn has been working on this week are new high tunnels. For those of you who don't know what a high tunnel is, it is an unheated greenhouse. We have one full of strawberries already. The others will be filled with vegetables as insurance against any possible hail or pest damage to the garden. The frame will probably go up this week. Plants will go in sometime in the next 2 weeks. Which is great because I have tomato and pepper plants that are yelling at me every day to get them in the ground. They have the most annoying voices at 5 in the morning! :)
I leave you this week with a picture of our strawberry tunnel.
Happy May!

4/25/2010

Spring is about babies and, boy, do we have them! Baby chicks, baby calves and honey bees all arrived in the past 10 days, and "baby" vegetables are making their appearance in the garden. And, just like our own children, they will all be grown up in the blink of an eye.
The weather has been cool and wet so we are not able to do as much outside as we would like, but there is plenty of indoor work to do. Since we start all our tomato and pepper plants from seed, I have been transplanting many of them into larger pots, taking care of some home school chores, and refreshing my calf-feeding knowledge.
Just in case you think all we do around here is work, let me tell you about the fun we had last night. We went to the family dance in Angora. WHAT FUN!! People of all ages from knee-high wee-ones to grandparents and a bunch of twenty-somethings enjoying an evening of good, clean dancing fun. It had been a while since Lyn and I had gone dancing as we don't enjoy going places where the air is blue (either from smoke or language). We had such a good tome that getting up to feed the calves and take care of the other chores wasn't a very big deal even though we got home a 1:00 a.m.
Tomorrow starts another busy week, so I will leave you with a picture of our bees.
Happy Living!
Donna

Hello again!
We have had really nice weather this past week, if you don't mind the wind! :) We have been busy with everything SPRING! I am tempted to put away my winter sweaters, but every time I do, it gets cold again. Maybe just half of them will go into storage.
Nichole and I planted 90 conifers this week. The salad greens, radishes and peas have come up. And the large four-legged vermin most people call deer have gone away for a while. At least they aren't going to demolish the peas for now!
We continue to await the arrival of new kittens. Curly is getting quite large and is lying around quite a bit, just waiting. Every day we wonder how much bigger she can get. Some of us are getting impatient for the arrival. the picture doesn't show how big she is getting, but it sure is cute.
That's all for now. More trees are waiting to be planted, dishes to be done, and Nichole has a job interview today so I'd better get moving.
Donna

snow and rain have come and gone

Okay so the snow came and left. The rain came and left snow in its place. And the snow left and mud came in its place. We are finally drying out and getting acquainted with the bright, glowing ball of fire in the sky again. YESSSS!
The gardens are drying out and Nichole and I are hoping to resume planting the spring crops this weekend.
Since the gardens need some time to dry out, I decided to get started raking the lawn today. Great idea--until I rolled my ankle. Now I am gimpy and hoping that tomorrow will be a better day.
The day light hours are lengthening which means supper is getting later in the day as well. Another month and we should be eating around 9:00....at least we are not bored and we sleep really well.
See you all next week.

4-1-10

Ahh Spring! So where's the snow? You know how it is in the northern plains. Spring arrives and the snow hits really hard. So far not this spring!

Just to let you all know, Nichole and I planted salad greens, beets, peas, and radishes in the garden yesterday. By mid-May, we should be enjoying fresh produce. The tomatoes, peppers and eggplant that I started in March are up and doing well. Good thing, the little buggers haven't had enough sunlight in the past few weeks.

Lyn placed a chicken order for some more layers a few weeks ago. They should be arriving soon.

Nichole got a new-to-her pink lariat this week and has been practicing on her "steer" Pugsley.
She wants to paint her steer pink, too!

Newsletters to our customers will be going out in the next 3-4 days.

The new website is up and running. Check us out at www.harmony-ent.com Thanks to Brandon for creating this site. We love you man!! After being up for only a few weeks, we already have people contacting us for CSAs. YIPPEE!! We love our customers!

Hopefully I will be updating this blog every week. Check in on Fridays and see if I can get it done.

Donna