A New Beginning

How I have missed my blogging time. There is so much to talk about the farm and our life since I shut down my old blog in the early summer. I’ve missed all of my followers and fellow bloggers. So, where to begin??? I think I’ll bring out my daily planner and go from there. Farming life is very busy WITHOUT appointments. I keep a journal and a calendar of events, not necessarily noteworthy, but they remind me of what’s keeping me busy.

My old blog ended in June of 2022 but I’ve kind of kept it going month by month in a journal and that’s where I’ll start this new blog and try to catch up to where we are now by the end of the month. I’m also trying to learn the new functionality of WordPress since I left and it’s being a challenge for this almost 70-year-old woman that is very computer illiterate!!! Grin with me please!!! 🙂 The old WordPress format was much easier to navigate.

I’ll start with June which was a very dry month around here and the greenhouse was a challenge as well as the garden. The weather was 50* one day and 80* the next. Caldwell Farms hay production is down by 200 rolls (4×5) this year due to the weather and cost of fertilizing. With little rain we were baling our pasture and may have to cut down on the herd in order to feed them this winter. Prices for everything is so unreal and there doesn’t seem to be a change in sight. Getting around this challenge meant we were rotating our four herds a lot and had to combine to smaller herds. The spring calving season finally ended in June, and we lost a total of six calves and three cows (old). Most of the calves lost were due to long births, weather conditions, and one deformity which we’ve only had one time in our fifty years. We are currently in the process of selling the calves which grew out well even considering the weather. We merit that to the good mothers they have. Our sixteen heifers produced eleven calves and the remaining five heifers did not get bred. The first one was born on the worst ice/snowstorm we had this past spring with raging wind and it came in the early hours of the morning.

Victoria our granddaughter now has her Master’s in education and working on a Masters in Leadership and our grandson, Declan, is now in first grade and growing like a weed. Unlike his Nana, he is very computer and electronic savvy!!! We’re so very proud of both of them.

Right after we had our farm diesel fuel tank filled, the prices soared on all fuels and those folks, including our son and granddaughter, will feel a real pinch for heating oil. Both have decided they should probably fill up with firewood for their fireplaces and woodstove. Our daughter and son-in-law use wood heat as we do. The uncertainty of what’s to come even has me rethinking our pantry supplies. The cellar is full except for the venison we will can and freeze but dry goods are the supplies, I think, we should stock and consider how to store for long keeping. I’m mostly concerned about the flours and products made from grains. This year our favorite grain mill has closed down due to issues grain availability, and I tried to seal up a few bags of my favorite biscuit flour and seasoned flour with our Foodsaver but since opening one bag I found it “chunky” and I’m sure it’s because of the moisture in the freezer even though it’s sealed good. Does this sound like the times of the “depression”.

Early July found us with snapping turtles taking over our ponds and our daughters. They can devour all the fish in quick order if not caught. We now have several cooked, shredded and in the freezer for soup this winter. We also had a broody hen hatch with six chicks, half roos and half pullets. I also raised ten pullets which are staring to lay eggs now, five are yellow Brahmas and five are Americanus’s. The babes are a mixture of Barred Rock and Black Australorp. I will then have four roosters on the farm and that’s three too many. I will keep the young Barred Rock and the others will be chicken soup or chicken salad.

July brought us sweltering heat, monsoons, 50* mornings and 90* evenings. Our weather patterns are unreal and causing the fruit to rot from the inside out. By the middle of the month we are back to sweltering heat and no rain.

Enough for this writing and I will start again tomorrow.