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July 26, 2007

I'm still alive

Trying to put together a resume, trying to get the farm in shape, not even trying to get the other house cleaned up - what's the point!

A cat found our farm - of course - her name is now S'mudge.

I have to get moving - hope everyone is good!

Posted by Beth at 6:32 AM | Comments (5)

July 19, 2007

My new favorite song

Posted by Beth at 8:25 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack

July 17, 2007

Time for hay . .

Here is my new category: FARM!
(as requested by SeeJane Mom)

This is the time of year when the hay is mowed, raked, baled and brought in. We had one of the Parson's Brothers come and do the work. The deal was this - we got 110 square bales, and he put the rest of the hay in big old round bales, and kept the round bales for himself in payment. Seems pretty fair to me!

It's very nice brome hay. no weeds at all. However, the yield was not what it should have been because it never got fertilized this year due to Mr. Camp's (the previous owner) illness and death.

Nonetheless, we should be able to get by for most of the winter with the square bales (which are actually rectangular) for our two horses. They will have plenty of wonderful pasture until late in the autumn, then we can start supplementing them with hay.

John and I brought some of the hay in tonight, but those bales of fresh hay are pretty heavy, and lifting them up into the Ford 4x4 is extremely strenuous work, so John did the bulk of the work. We still have probably 50 bales to get into the barn tomorrow - Have to try to do it after the dew is off the hay and before it rains tomorrow night.

And then, we will need to move all the hay to the other barn as soon as it is repaired - because I don't want all that hay in the big barn, It makes me sneeze and I'm afraid it could be a fire hazard.

John decided that next time, we are going to have a party to bring the hay in - with a prize to the person who brings the most bales into the barn from the field. And beer. A keg, maybe! That would be a lot more fun, and we can get our friends to share the work.

This is our first crop! John took pictures, hopefully he will get them posted tomorrow.

Posted by Beth at 10:57 PM | Comments (7)

July 16, 2007

I've been kinda busy

Between traveling for work and doing stuff out at the farm, I've been a little busy. Found out last week that I have become redundant at work and I have 5 weeks to find another position there or I will no longer be employed.

Life is like that - always surprises!

At least I won't be traveling for awhile. I was getting pretty worn out from the stress anyway.

So, if anyone needs a semi-techie old broad, let me know!

Posted by Beth at 6:36 AM | Comments (9)

July 7, 2007

How I got lost in our 'front yard'

So, there were a bunch of people at the farm on the 4th of July. John had his first shooting party, I guess you might call it. We had targets set up in the back and folks were trying out their shooting abilities. It's kinda cool, because we can shoot from the back deck and not bother anyone!

Well, our son, Andy, and his girlfriend, Ashes and her younger sister, Sam, had driven up from Manhattan, Kansas to see the farm and spend the day with us. They were kinda bored, as we have no television (we are debating whether or not to get satellite tv) and no computers out there as yet.

So I thought, heck, I'll take them out one by one on the Ranger (fancy utility atv) and show them the front 40 acres - our front yard.

Now, this is not your typical farm - with lots of open acres of stuff growing. This had been a dairy farm. There is pasture and woods and a couple of fields of good brome hay. So you cannot look out from the front door and see to the end of the property.

Sam said she would like to see it, so we got on the Ranger, buckled up and I started driving. My thought was to try to drive the fence line - that way I'd know where I was. We started out doing pretty well - the grasses are very high - 3 to 4 feet, but we could see where we were going. There were depressions in the grass where deer had slept, we found a stock tank (little bitty pond for cattle to drink from) and a bleached out skull of a cow.

We had to enter the woods to explore further back, and things went well for a few minutes. And then, it seemed that we were deep in the woods, and the driving was, well, challenging. I told Sammi that I'd get us out of the woods in just a few minutes, as she is a city girl, and was getting pretty weird about bugs. And, she was getting smacked by cedar tree branches and vines as I tried to make our way to a meadow, where the bugs would not be so ubiquitous.

I discovered that we had some creek beds with very high banks - too high to get an ATV across. So I drove away from the fence line and alongside the creek to find a place suitable for fording.

I found a place to cross, only there was a fallen tree in the way - so, I spent probably 30 minutes moving the damn tree - fortunately, it was only about 10 inches in diameter, but it was about 20 feet long, and I'm not super strong, so it was a slow, slow process. I finally got it moved to the side and I drove across the creek and up into a meadow.

At this point I had not mentioned to poor little Sam that I had no idea how to get back to the house, I figured that I'd be able to see it at the high point of the meadow we had just entered. But no such luck. The beautiful meadow, with wildflowers and grasses, was surrounded by woods. I could not see past the trees. I knew I needed to head north, but it was around noon, and I had no idea which way north was. I finally stopped the Ranger, turned off the engine and listened for gunshots. (the folks plinking away at targets back at our house). That helped - I heard them shooting, and I knew which way north was.

That was good - but I still had no path or idea where a path would be to get us out of the woods.

I could catch a glimpse of our pond now and again, but there was a lot of brush and woods between us and the pond. It took a long time to get to it - lots of back tracking and getting out and moving branches and rocks. But we finally made it to the pond. Almost as soon as we got to the dam, a beautiful Great Blue Heron flew from the water up into a tree - Sam was amazied - darn those things are gigantic!!

From the pond, we were able to drive up the very rocky hill to the gate and then back to the house.

In the future, I will bring a compass, some water and a walkie talkie with me. I'm thinking I need to make some wooden signs that say : POND - THIS WAY, or WILDFLOWERS - THAT WAY, and most importantly - HOME - THIS WAY!

Posted by Beth at 6:00 AM | Comments (6)

July 6, 2007

Make your choice - I'm kinda busy

Okay, I have time for one blog entry today (after this one). Shall I write about how I got lost on my own land?

Or...

What to do about an algae bloom on a large farm pond?

Or ...

The many choices for purchasing stuff to build horse stalls in an existing barn? And how most of those choices are identical?

Or ...

Guinea Fowl?

Let me know, then I'll write.

Posted by Beth at 6:25 AM | Comments (7)

July 5, 2007

Please donate to Soldiers' Angels

This will stay on the top of my blog until July 5th. Soldiers' Angels has a hard time getting donations this time of year.

If you are unfamiliar with Soldiers' Angels, check out their web site. It is a great organization that has a lot of projects going. And none of the donated money goes for salaries - it is all volunteered time and energy.

So, look to the left - on my sidebar - there is a donation button - click on it and give.

Posted by Beth at 9:22 AM | Comments (1)

July 3, 2007

Farm Update

Yesterday, John bought a Polaris Ranger for the farm - it will be delivered today. Last night, we bought a Ford F150 pickemup truck. It was made in Kansas City, Missouri, we like to buy local when possible. It is a 4x4 truck, and come to think of it, so is the Ranger.

Now, I have to make up my mind about horse stalls - you would not believe how many manufacturers of horse stalls there are!! And the prices, wow - they are all over the map. And John is looking at compact tractors.

John invited some friends to the farm on the 4th of July. We have no furniture as yet, and the only thing we do have ready is a place to shoot the guns - target stands, targets, fun, fun, fun.

I was doing some cleaning there on Sunday, and John was looking kinda bored, so I said, "John, why don't you go out back and shoot a gun?".

Heh, he did. Now I know what to do with the man when he is bored - he can go shoot guns and at the same time, be happy.

Have to get ready for work!

Posted by Beth at 5:28 AM | Comments (1)

July 1, 2007

Wow, so much to do!

Today, I decided to start with the Fly Lady cleaning method - shining my new sink. And yes, it needed it.

Since we have a couple of months to get all moved, we have the luxury of preparing the house and barn before we move there. So, I went to Wal-Mart this morning and spent nearly $200 on cleaning supplies and a few other things the new house needs. You know, like hummingbird feeders.

So I got some cleaning done and I filled two hummingbird feeders with nectar and hung them on the deck (which is covered - it is lovely!).

I did not expect to see a hummingbird for days, but within an hour or so, a hummingbird came to the feeder!

And then, to make things nicer, my new neighbor, Cheryl (lives 1/4 mile from us), gave me the biggest African Violet I have ever seen in my life! It has to be 14 or 15 inches in diameter -and it is blooming beautifully! OMG - I cannot kill it! Alan and Cheryl, our new neighbors, are just darling - they are a few years older than us, and completely retired. Cheryl is the daughter of the man whose farm we just purchased (he passed away last February) and she has given us all kinds of history on the place.

And yesterday, we did purchase a washer and dryer - I bought the GE front loading - yeah, I know, it is not as cool of a set as the LG and some of the others, but I just could not justify the huge price difference - nearly 1,000 bucks! And it is just John and I now - no more trying to keep up with Andy's clothes! Of course, we will have the horses there, and that means, I will spend a lot more time outside with them, but I could spend that thousand bucks on fencing!

Tomorrow, John has to meet the guys delivering the new washer/dryer out at the new house. Then, when I get off work, we need to go and buy a truck. We want the full bed, so we will get a regular cab - we're thinking an F-150 or F-250.

Then, we have to buy a utility ATV - we're thinking a Polaris Ranger, and we are going to need a tractor and some kind of brush cutter - that either the ATV or the tractor can pull.

Yikes. It's really daunting, but the land is so, so beautiful!

And hummingbirds!!!

Posted by Beth at 6:15 PM | Comments (7)