New Things

Worm casting tea bags and bulk

I have been working on getting some products  together to sell to nurseries and here on my web site.

I had thought about it before, but I was  selling  a few things on Craigslist.. and I just figured it was enough...then I got a call from a nursery that wanted to know how many worm castings I could produce. They said they were buying from out of state and  Dallas..they were hoping  to find a local source.

I would say that is when I seriously realized that I could produce a viable product that I could actually sell, legally!!!

My daughter has been my companion as I have worked through the permits, licenses, packaging (no plastic Please!!) , pricing, design... and I foolishly told her I was going  into Austin early in the week to take some things around to a few stores.

 I tried to weasel out of it, but she insisted so I loaded up the car and went to a few locations....  I got no affirmatives, but I survived.. and next time it will be easier.

 I have done a lot of things in my life, but this is the most challenging by  far. This is really stretching me. The idea of going into a store and asking strangers  to buy or carry my product is scary... I don't know exactly why. The idea of rejection I suppose.

But... I am not going to give up I am working on methods to produce  greater quantities and getting a bar code so I can approach larger places....

It made me think about my Dad who was a traveling salesman, among other things.. I had a few conversations with him in spirit. It made me realize what a brave man he was...

My products will be listed on the web page very soon along with some things Juliette made and is going to try to sell to pay for her trip with the girl scouts next year.

Wish us luck... Please.

When my oldest son was little he was fascinated with tornadoes.

He had a tornado in a bottle, and was always swirling things up.. and he would put little toys in the bottle, people, cars, animals and make them all get caught up in the tornado.

He just loved them... . He knew all about it, the sounds they made, the eerie  color before the storm, how strong they were...

One day after school we were under a tornado warning, and he was terrified.. because he knew all about what might happen.

The next morning his teacher asked "how did Ian react to the tornado?"  I told her he had cried and tried to hide. Neither of us realized until then that he was fascinated with them, but he didn't like them.. he was amazed at what their potential was....

Yesterday Oklahoma got hit by a tornado that killed at least 90 people  The storm hit 15 minutes after the warning siren went off, and school  was in session.  Families were separated. Kids and parents were not together.... I can not imagine not knowing how my kids were during something like this...

I guess I am writing this to suggest that we all take a moment to remember these people who were affected
by this tornado and to say a silent prayer. A prayer of thanks for all the good in the world, for the people we love. Also a prayer for all the families suffering  in Oklahoma, but not just there, all over the world.
A prayer about when the good Lord does not keep us safe, say a prayer for us all, to realize how much we need each other. Keep your children close.

Amen

novella in her old stanchion

This has been a very busy time for us here at Novellas Farm.

On Tuesday, Lana Rose ( Novellas new calf ) will be 2 weeks old. Having a new calf around is always fun, but  the work load increases.

For one thing I have started milking, not too much but Novella is producing more milk than the calf can consume and Lana has her favorite quarters and tends to leave Novella with 2 quarters that need to be relieved. So... it works out nicely.

My husband Jerry, for the longest time has been disgusted by my milking stanchion. Honestly it was pretty bad, the barn where it was located has wood floors and since cows slip on wet wood we put down rubber mats. The thing is that the mats leave a gap between them so all kinds of funky stuff gets in there and grows.. and milking stimulates more than just milk let down,( if you know what I mean)...

So Jerry decided to bring me up the hill into the pole barn and build me a cleanable area to milk.

Isn't it horrible?

We decided to make the area the same size as the barn itself ...
I am lucky,  my husband can build anything and sometimes I just take it for granted. So I didn't get  real excited about the project ,  I was used to my dirty little hole.




Any way.. here you can see the form being built.

starting on the form

fill has been added and covered

It is kind of amazing how this guy knows how to do anything... who knew that's what that metal wire stuff is used for?

Time for the pour!

We discussed whether or not to get a cement truck for the pour or to hand mix it... for about 2 minutes.
Then I remembered when I made stepping stones and mixed cement in the wheel barrow ( such hard work , it took the fun away!) and I insisted we call a cement truck.

It was too heavy for any one but these two

Jerry and my son Ian worked to get the cement where we wanted it....

Ian's first concrete pour

Its heavy horrible stuff and I consider myself to be sort of anti concrete ..... put it has it's place.

Novella looks good here!

Here is Novella in her nice clean stanchion...
I LOVE it! 

I can wash her hooves when she enters... and when she messes up I just get my little hose and wash it away.

Jerry had the wonderful idea to put the stanchion on the side of the pole barn nearest the garden.Then
he had the boys dig a trench to lay a drain line into the garden, this way all the water used goes to my garden plants!

A hose is a big deal!

 As you can see this is just the bones so far. I will custom design the area and Jerry said he will put every thing where I want.
There will be a sink, counter, shelves, walls and a dutch door so Novella can look outside while  she is being milked.

Thank you Jerry!

FYI cement is the wet stuff, concrete is the dry
you probably already knew..

Juliette baked me this pretty cake

This weekend was my 50th birthday, and I chose to do  absolutely nothing but stay home and work in my garden and watch a movie.

I enjoyed myself but the main reason I stayed close to home was because Novella was due with her calf on the 5th, and she had her last calf early so I wanted to be around to keep an eye on the situation.

Of course nothing happened... just a regular day.
Sunday, same thing, nothing at all, Novella was showing signs that she would go into labor any time though.

She had the loose vulva.... (you don't hear about that everyday) with strands of mucous,
and she was bagging up like she was expecting hungry twins.... . Still though nothing.

My husband texted me during the day and asked " are you a Grand Moo yet?" ( that makes him a Grand Poo by my reckoning).

loose vulva and mucous

Then yesterday afternoon I noticed Novella was acting like her first stage of labor had begun.

 She kept going off by herself and laying down in woody areas and she would raise her tail like she needed to poop but nothing would come.
Finally her tail was just really loose,  I could  lift it and move it all around. That's a sure sign the pelvis is loosening up.

So I put her in one half of the pen and closed her off

bagging up

from the other girls...

I cleaned up her pen, and put down fresh hay,
fresh water and just kept an eye on her.
Next I got the milking area all cleaned up and ready for after she calved.

I gathered Iodine and small scissors for the umbilical stump, flash lights, rags, towels and pulling chains for a worst case scenario. Lastly I dug out a jar with a nipple and lid, and the "Essential Guide to Calving".
Then we just took turns waiting and watching.

here comes the water bag

At first Novella ate and layed down.
She spent a few hours just getting up and down and pacing around.

The other girls stayed by the fence lending moral support.

Every time Novella got up she would sniff the spot her hind end had just left and lick up what ever liquid had leaked out... I am sure this was to keep predators from being attracted to the smells of birth.

Finally around 8:30 her water bag emerged and popped. Now, any moms out there understand that at this point I began to really "share her pain" as they say. Now  Novella was officially in Stage 2 of labor and really hard contractions were coming.

She spent another long hour up and down and making soft sounds but always when she got up she would slurp the birth liquids from  the hay.

the amniotic sac

About 9:30, the amniotic sac appeared.
According to the book, if the calf did not appear with in 45 minutes I would need to intervene ( in other words put my arm in and feel what was the problem).




Around 20 minutes later Novella went down....

See those tiny white hooves?

 strained ....and a pair of tiny white hooves appeared! Facing correctly! Next a little nose and then with a gush... then whole calf was out!

Amazing!

cleaning her baby

Juliette bottle feeding the baby

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Novella got to work cleaning her baby


After a calf is born it is important that they nurse or get fed colostrum as soon after as possible. The thing is they are so weak and the mother is so full of milk that usually we need to step in and lend a hand.

After trying to let the calf nurse and having Novella kick at her and just generally be so excited about the whole event we put Novella in her stanchion
(not so easy) and milked colostrum from her
(while after birth got all over me).

Then Juliette gave the baby a bottle.

Everyone got to bed around 1 a.m.

This morning Juliette was doing her math and she looked at me and asked, "I think last night counts for science don't you?"

Yeah, I think so. 

 

at the entrance on Friday

This weekend I went to the beach.

It was just my Mom and my kids. I usually invite my Mom to go with us when it is just the kids and me, she really can't go by herself, it is up to my siblings and me to take her on trips.

 My husband had to stay at home with the animals. I am also aware of the fact that when we go out of town it is like a little vacation for him.

Seeing as the cows are due to have calves this  month I really felt like I had to take advantage of the opportunity to get away for a few days.

When a cow is milking I have to be home all the time, or have a calf nursing to relieve me of milking.
 I quickly made reservations to rent a small house in Port Aransas for a few days.

When we arrived at the Real Estate office to pick up the keys, the agent told me it was Sand Fest!!!
I myself had no idea what that meant.

Set up and ready 

 Well let me tell you, what it means is a ton of people having an actual festival on the beach.
Vendors setting up booths, lots of booths with all that sand! And the cars! oh my goodness!
On Friday I walked over with my daughter from the
square end of the beach ( we are squares) to look
around, and we saw all these piles of sand set up for the sculptors to work on.. as you can see there is no fence around them here on Friday.

So on Saturday we thought we would go down again, along with my 83 year old mother to see how things were getting along.
We set out to drive at first, but realized there was absolutely no parking, period.

the one i could see

No problem, we would just walk slowly down the beach, for the few miles and look around. We set off, very, very slowly ( 83 year old mom is not fast). Finally we arrived and guess what?
There was a fence all around the sculptors! and a sign saying 3.00 entrance fee!  Now I would have happily paid the 3.00 but for some reason I don't keep my wallet in my swim suit, and I don't carry my purse on the beach!


This is the only sculptor I could get a shot of.... it made me wonder about the venders.... how much money could they possibly make? Oh and the band,
is the salt air really good for the instruments?
Am I the only person who wandered down there and had to turn around and say forget it! ?

That night it rained, and I thought about all the people who had worked so hard! I just don't get it.
It takes all kinds as they say.

Myself , I had a wonderful time. There is nothing like the sounds of the beach, the ocean, the birds ( I love pelicans) the dolphin ( yep there were still some at this time of year)
But I am glad to be home too.  My foolish boys got way too much sun, it was time to go.

I am glad Novella has not had her calf, she's due this weekend.  May 5th actually...
Will keep you posted.

In the Eyes of the Beholder

A friend sent me this amazing video link that I would like to share with you.
http://mashable.com/2013/04/15/dove-ad-beauty-sketches/

You have to watch it, and then think about what it means.
For me, it means that my perception is colored, and often not for the better. I think all of us have grown up
believing we are not enough.
Not pretty enough,
Not thin enough
Not rich enough
Not smart enough
You get the picture. I ask you why?
It isn't just women, it's also our sons, husbands and brothers. All around us are people who don't realize how absolutely perfectly wonderful they are, all around us are other people who believe they aren't enough.

Vain, conceited, egotistical, selfish .... we have been raised to believe it is wrong for us to see ourselves as
beautiful, talented, smart.... why? It hurts no one to believe in ourselves, in fact it hurts everyone when we don't. You know the routine, some one says you look great, we say, oh no look at the zit on my nose, look really carefully at how ugly I am, I am not perfect. Why do we do this?

I ask you, everyone who reads this to allow yourselfs to really feel good about who you are, no measuring yourself with some one else. Do you compare apples to oranges? Let's make this world a better place by starting with ourselves. By really loving ourselves we  love others more.
I think our survival depends on it.

You're beautiful, every single one of you and so am I.
Doesn't it feel good?

 

__._,_.___

Yesterday I went to my  first bee "trap out".

During the spring and summer, bee keepers will be asked to come to peoples property to remove bees.
Which is a good thing. I imagine not too long ago folks probably just reached for a can of Raid or such to kill the bees.

Fortunately these days people are realizing that these creatures are very important and  for the most part want them removed and not killed.

So what happens is this;
Mrs. Brown or whoever, realizes she has a bee colony on her property. She is afraid some one is going to
be stung and she will get sued. (really, that's the truth). She calls a bee group and tells them where the bees are and someone in the group goes to take care of the problem.

If the bees are someplace the bee keeper can get into he or she will perform what is called a "cut out".
They will cut the comb and tie the pieces into a bee box, find the queen and take home a new colony for themselves. Basically it is just moving the entire colony intact more or less.

A trap out is different. If the bees are located someplace that can not be accessed, like a wall or a tree that the owner does not want removed the bees or as many as they can "trap out" need to be removed and the hive stays behind and sealed up.

That was the case with these bees. They were in a tree and there was no way to get to the entire hive.
So we put out an empty bee box with frames, inside we placed unpasturized honey and a wooden
stick with a drop of lemon grass oil ( bees love lemon grass oil).

Next we placed a cone with a one way door on it at the entrance to the bees hive.
As foragers left they were not able to enter the hive again.
All went well until the cone was in place.... as more and more bees left the hive and others began to return with their nectar and pollen and were unable to return to their hive the place filled with bees, none too happy.

At this point, for some reason, (actually because I had been there for over an hour and had to get home), I decided to leave. I walked about 20 feet away, and began to remove my veil, and then of course I got stung.
The worst sting yet, on my nose. I could feel the poison working through my sinuses, it hurt!!!!

I rushed home to take some medication and put clay on the sting, but I swelled like a pig anyway.

So sweet of my husband to take my photo!

Hopefully the bees will move into their new box. Today is rainy and cold and they are in for a really hard time. As it is, the queen and her attendants will be sealed up in their hive in few days. She will not leave the hive unless they swarm. The bees that move into the new box will be given a frame with brood from another hive, they will rear themselves a new queen and there will be a new colony started.

I must say, it was an educational experience, I learned how to do a trap out, and to not rush with taking off
my veil!