January 25, 2018
It’s Thursday morning and after a busy week in Staunton, Mike is ready
to get something done. The loader had
been loaned out for a while and needed to be serviced and had some needed
repairs as well, so that was one of Mike’s projects when we were in Staunton at
the beginning of the week. Mike and
Gabino worked on the loader, on one of the farm trucks, and on the furnace in
the house that isn’t running correctly.
I am not sure what all else he had to do, but I know he and Gab were
super busy and we didn’t see either of them until well after dark for the three
days we were in Staunton. I watched the
girls for about 20 hours total, got my hair cut, worked at our booth at the
Antique Mall one afternoon, went shopping at Sharp Shoppers (a discount grocery
store), cleaned and wash more clothes than I care to think about. The girls have been really good for me these
past few weeks. I think they have
settled in more this semester and know more of what to expect from the house
full of adults. They do wear me out
though. I am always so exhausted when we
leave Staunton. Rory is very busy and
you can’t take your eyes off her for a minute and any time she is sleeping, I
am trying to give Analia some individual attention, or catch up on something in
the house that needs to be done. The
trip back to Laurel Fork was uneventful, thank goodness. I’m always glad that Mike is such a good
driver but especially when we are travelling pulling a long trailer and this
time with heavy equipment. We didn’t
have any trouble, but we definitely felt the pull on the steeper terrain as we
got closer to Southwest Virginia.
There’s a particularly steep stretch with three lanes outside of
Christiansburg where the semi-trucks always slow way down. We weren’t going as slow as some of them in
the far-right lane, but we didn’t have the speed we normally have when we are
travelling. I was glad when Mike decided
to park the trailer across the road once we got to Laurel Fork, rather than try
to back it in over our little bridge in the dark. I have no doubt he could have done it, but I
am always a nervous wreck when we do that in the dark. We had to carry our personal items and the
groceries I brought up the hill to the house, but that wasn’t too bad. We just left everything else for later. I thought I would sleep really well being so
tired but I had a really hard night with a lot of pain in my lower back. I have always had some back issues and one of
many reasons we cut back and didn’t do mobile produce this year is because of
the amount of lifting I have to do. I
just can’t do it all day long anymore. I
imagine years of lifting far more weight than I should have has taken its toll
on my back. I don’t do so much lifting
right now as far as farming is concerned, but I do lift my Little People who
aren’t so little. Even Rory is a big
girl for her age and I’m sure my back was just strained from lifting the girls
so much over the last few days. At any
rate, I had a miserable night but I’m hoping a few days of babying my back will
put me back in the game.
Mike brought the loader with us and can’t wait to get it off the
trailer and start pushing brush, gathering scrap metal and cleaning up around
here. He laughed last night and said his
daddy sure did like to use that loader, and I remember how much he did. Pops would run the loader with a big, ‘ole
grin on his face and would push down everything in his path when he got on a
roll. Mike is a lot like him in that
regard. Mike made mention that he hoped his daddy was getting to drive a big
combine in heaven because Pops had always wanted to run a huge combine out west. I remembered a conversation we had one time
about heaven and we were all wondering what it must be like. Everyone gave their ideas and then Pops, in
his slow, thoughtful way, said he thought we would all have jobs to do in
heaven and he figured he would still be farming. Farming is all he ever wanted to do, and is
in fact all he did, up to the moment he passed away. (He was preparing corn for planting and we
found him behind the tractor with his head up against the planter when he
passed away. He looked as if he were
smiling.)
When the sun came up this morning, it didn’t take us long to figure out
that we had a trespasser while we were away.
There were tracks all over the yard and it was evident the intruder had
larger than average feet. He must have
been especially inquisitive because he walked all around the barnyard and then
came through the small gate that leads from the garden area into our steep back
yard. At some point, it either got too
steep for him or he was frightened and we saw where he had slid down the hill,
taking some of the grass with him. We
are sure it was one of our neighbors.
The neighbors are so nosy, always watching us and looking for a chance to
interact. While no one lives directly
across the road from us, a prominent land owner and business man pastures his
draft mules in the meadow in front of our house. Evidently, one of the mules escaped and came
over to see what was going on at our place while we were away.
January 26, 2018
Yesterday was a super productive day for Mike. He got started early and in fact, refused to
even eat breakfast because he wanted to get started right away. (We later ate a breakfast sandwich for lunch
and then had a good supper that evening.)
He gathered up a lot of scrap metal and put it on the trailer, including
using the loader to pick up an old abandoned 50/60’s school bus that had been
on the property forever. At some point,
someone had used the old bus for a chicken house and it was filled with nesting
boxes and feeders. It was completely
rusted through in spots. I had worried
when we bought the property that the bus would sit there as an eye sore for the
rest of my life. But, true to his word,
Mike got it moved. Once the bus was
moved, we discovered a large, cinder block structure underground. We assumed it might have been a cistern, but
it was much larger than the cisterns that I have seen and it was completely
dry. There were no pipes going in or out
of it and there was a hole at the top.
Someone had taken a five-gallon milk jug, cut the bottom off of it, and
placed it in the hole. It fit perfectly
to fill the hole. My mind instantly
began thinking about what we could use it for rather than just fill it in with
dirt. I thought perhaps we could turn it
into an underground root cellar, but we will have to see if that is practical
and if the place is even salvageable. As
Mike pushed down some brush and piled it up, he uncovered an old piece of
farming equipment that appears to be a horse drawn harrow. It is in pretty poor condition.
I made some single pie crusts yesterday and used one to make a
strawberry pie. It tasted pretty good,
but didn’t turn out very pretty. I have
another crust that I think I will use today to make a cream pie of some
kind. I love the lard crusts. They are just so much better. We didn’t raise any hogs last year with all
that we had going on in trying to transition.
We didn’t want to ask the kids to have to care for them as they can
sometimes be a real pain, especially if they get out of their pen and start
roaming. I hope to get some babies this
spring and raise them as feeder hogs and then butcher in the fall. I am missing not having our pork. I am glad that I still have some lard and
that it has not developed a strong taste.
One of my projects yesterday was to remove the ashes from the
fireplace. We let the fire die out when
we go to Staunton and when we return, the cold ashes need to be removed. Mike has been doing it because there wasn’t a
lot he could do outside when the weather was colder, but with the warmer
weather, I told him I would take over that project freeing him up to clean up
outside. I also filled the wood box, and
then Mike wanted to know if I would make a fire since the evening temperatures
were starting to drop. I laughed and
asked him if he thought I could do it right. ( He and I both know that I can
build a fire, but Mike likes to tell me how to do things and then I just go
right ahead and do them my way anyway.)
By the time he came in, I had a roaring fire going in the clean
fireplace and I was happy to know that I hadn’t lost my skills. When it was so bitter cold, Mike and I took
turns waking up and adding wood to the fire but last night, although cold,
wasn’t terrible, and fire died down overnight.
I secretly hoped Mike would wake up before me and build another fire so
the bedroom would be toasty when my toes hit the wood floor, but alas, that
didn’t happen. The house wasn’t
uncomfortable though and cooking breakfast warmed me up. I always turn the oven on warm and put our
plates inside to heat the up so that when I put our eggs and toast on them,
they stay warm longer. Afterwards, I
open up the door and let the heat escape into the room and that always takes
the edge off the cold. That and the hot
coffee I make in the old enamel percolator help with the morning chill.
January 27, 2018
After breakfast yesterday, Mike and I took the trailer loaded with
scrap metal to the nearest scrap yard which was about thirty minutes away. I am sure we were quite a site with that old
bus strapped down on the back of the trailer and all the rusted-out metal as we
headed down the highway. Watching that
huge crane and massive claw pick up that bus like it was nothing and drop it on
the mountain of metal was pretty cool. I
was impressed with the crushing power and strength of that claw and yet the
precision the operator had to pick up small items as well. It was fun to watch. I would have gladly paid to have that old bus
removed from the property, but it was nice to get some money from the scrap
yard for our efforts. Afterwards we made
a stop in Hillsville to pay our propane bill and then we headed home. Mike immediately went back to work outdoors
as he continues to pursue reclaiming the property from neglect. I took a few minutes in the afternoon to walk
the “back forty”. The wind was blowing
pretty hard and it was quite chilly but still a nice walk. I worked on hauling enough wood to get us
through the night. There was some dried
wood that Mike had left on the ground, some odd pieces that he didn’t
stack. I picked those up and put them in
the wheel barrow, hauling them down from the barn. Then I got several wheel barrow loads full of
the old wood that was cut and stacked in the bottom part of our double decker
chicken house. The old, commercial
chicken house had a wood stove in it at one time and there was a good bit of
maple wood stacked there. There is no
telling how old that wood is or how many years it has been stacked there. There is enough dried wood on the property to
last us for years with the downed trees that need to be cut up, which is
another reason I would love to get a wood stove or wood cook stove in the
house. For now, we are using the old
wood and cleaning it up. Every time we
build a fire it feels like a dual-purpose scenario. Not only do we get to enjoy the fire, warm
ourselves, and keep the fuel bill down but we are also cleaning up piles of
wood that have been sitting here on the farm for many, many years. The maple wood has been setting for so long
that it is covered in inches of dust and dirt and cobwebs. It’s nice to be able to use it for something
purposeful rather than just throw it on a bonfire.
I love to use my cast iron cookware when we are in Laurel Fork. I really miss it when I am in Staunton. Nothing beats cooking with cast iron and
using pieces that have been around for decades just feels good. We have been eating so much beef because we didn’t
raise any pork last year. The beef is
delicious and we are blessed to have such great food and to know where our food
originates. However, we are kind of
getting tired of the same menu all the time.
Last night I wanted to mix it up a little bit and while I used the same
old ingredients, I presented it a little differently and the meal ended up
tasting really good. I made meatballs,
cooking them up in my Wagner skillet.
Then, I used my Lodge skillet to bake the potatoes. I peeled them as this time of year after
being stored for so long, they are beginning to sprout and shrivel a bit. I put a little butter in the bottom of the
skillet and melt the butter and warm the skillet in a hot oven. Then, I placed my halved, medium sized
potatoes in the skillet and put them in the oven to bake. On occasion, I turn them so that all the
sides get browned. Once the potatoes
were cooked and sprinkled with a little salt and a lot of pepper, I added the
meatballs and the covered the entire dish with a white sauce and sprinkled with
parsley. I was able to keep this dish in
the oven on warm for a good while to keep it hot until Mike came inside. (I never know how late he will be for supper
and I try not to use the microwave.
Eventually I hope I get brave enough to just throw it out. At this point, I rarely use it anyway.) I made some broccoli to go along with the
meal. I had intended to make a cream pie
with the crust I made yesterday but when it came down to it, I decided to use
the last of the yellow cherries I had in the freezer here at Laurel Fork and
combine them with a pint of sour cherries I had canned to make a cherry
pie. I turned out really good and I
liked it even better than the strawberry pie.
January 29, 2018
The rain and the snow first take turns, then they fall together. It’s a dreary, wet, cold Monday but I am
tucked inside the warm house with the Little Girls and the smallest one is
finally taking a nap. Fussy has been the
best descriptor for her and it had already started yesterday evening when we
arrived back in Staunton. This week is
going to be mostly focused on the kids and grandkids. I’m watching the girls today, getting
together with the twins tomorrow, and have the girls again tomorrow night. Thursday and Friday I will be keeping Analia
while Alissa attends and speaks at a conference in North Carolina. Alissa and two of her friends, also in the
Masters program at James Madison will stay overnight with us in Laurel Fork. I don’t plan on getting much done this week
other than spend time with the Littles and their parents. But, it looks like it is a good week for it
because the weather is not supposed to be very nice and there’s probably not a
lot we can get done outdoors anyway.
Backing up a bit, we didn’t get much accomplished on Saturday
either. It rained pretty hard at times
and was just generally wet and muddy.
Mike, who loves basketball and played twice a week up until he hurt his
shoulder and had rotator cuff surgery, watched UVA play on TV. Sunday, it was still drizzling in the morning
but folks seemed to be cheerful and in good spirits at the little church we
have been attending. The homemade
muffins and coffee probably helped and of course, all the warm hugs from new
friends. We hung around the house where
I made a deep-dish pizza for lunch and then headed back to Staunton late
afternoon. By the time we reached the
Interstate, it was raining pretty hard and the weather coupled with the heavy
traffic made it a tough drive for Mike.
Back in Staunton, I stopped at the Dollar Store to get chocolate chips
for Alissa who was making cookies. She
had a delicious soup ready for supper.
I am thankful for these routine, uneventful, normal days that might
seem a bit boring.