To our readers, faithful farm supporters, and friends we wish you a blessed holiday season and a New Year filled with personal peace in spite of the chaos that surround us. We are thankful for your presence in our life; whether your presence is evident only here online or we are fortunate to know you in person, your encouragement and friendship means so much to us.
December 14, 2017
Last weekend with our girls and the grandkids was incredibly busy and
so much fun. Seeing the children really
enjoy their time with us at Laurel Fork and having all of them there together
to spend two nights was just perfect. We
traveled back to Staunton together on Sunday.
Our car is still in the shop (after having hit the deer on Thanksgiving
Day) and the truck we have in Laurel Fork is having issues with the brakes. Mike drove Alissa and her two girls back and
I rode with Kristin. It was great to
have that time with Kristin to just talk.
We don’t get a lot of time together like that. The children slept and we talked for close to
three hours as we traveled. Getting back
to Staunton, there was of course a lot to do.
Mike had been gone for two weeks having stayed in Laurel Fork the week
before when I came home. He had to catch
up with hay customers, run personal errands, and he helped Matt out with the
feeding down at the home place, among other things. Monday, I had Analia and Rory while Alissa
taught at Blue Ridge and I always do all the cooking for the whole crew when I
am in Staunton, so I prepared steaks, macaroni and cheese and peas for supper. Tuesday, I was stuck at the house without a
vehicle and was going to attempt to get some items priced for the antique mall,
as well as clean and pack some more of our things to move to Laurel Fork. However, those plans were interrupted when
the third beef heifer decided to calve (or should I say try to calve). (Recap from
last week’s journal entries: We lost two
calves due to difficult births as a result of the calves being too large to
pass through the birth canal.) I had
been watching her all morning and I called Mike to tell him that she was in
labor and very uncomfortable. Rather
than wait and lose another calf or possibly even a cow, Mike decided to come
home and pull the calf. Gabino was with
Mike, and the three of us got the cow into the stanchion in the little milking
shed (an old box trailer that we converted into an area with one stanchion so
that I could milk my Jerseys). She was
still feisty enough, having not tried to the point of exhaustion to give birth
like the last one that Matt and I handled, but she still had the calmer
disposition that is typical of a Hereford.
Mike palpated and found the calf to be positioned correctly but it was
as we suspected: the calf was very large.
Because of the size of the calf, it took a good bit of effort and time to
get it pulled. The head just did not
want to pass through the birth canal.
This time, since I did not have a baby on my back and could jump in and
get my hands dirty without putting a child in danger, I was able to work with
Mike and try to ease the calf’s head through, working my fingers and hands
around his nose and head. He was so big
and his forehead was pressed high behind the pelvic bone. It took some intensive pulling and more time
than we would have liked to birth the calf.
When his head finally came through, we got stuck momentarily at his
hips, but finally, with a big push from momma cow and pull from Mike, the calf
was on the ground. He wasn’t breathing
at first, or if he was, his breaths were shallow enough that we could not
detect them. His eyes were fixed and I
put my hand over them to see if he would blink.
He did not. I began wiping the
afterbirth off his face, clearing his nose and mouth and Mike began massaging
his heart. We worked quickly and I was
talking the whole time: “Come on baby
calf. You have got to live. Take a breath. Come on.
You can do this. Live. We got you this far, you have got to
try.” He just lay there, occasionally
taking a short breath. Mike continued to
work on him and I ran to get some towels we keep on hand to use with the
animals. I threw them down beside the
calf and began using one to rub him dry, still talking to him. We had turned the cow loose from the head
gate but she was in shock, hurting and wanted nothing to do with this baby we
had just forcefully pulled from her body.
(Not an uncommon situation with a heifer who has had a traumatic
birth.) It seemed like forever, although
it was just minutes, and the calf began taking normal breaths. His eyes still looked fixed but there was
life there. We continued to rub and
stimulate him. Fortunately for us and
the calf, at that point the sun was shining the warmest it had been all day and
it didn’t feel half bad outside. Momma
cow finally came outside but wouldn’t even look at the baby. We hoped that she would lick him, stimulate
him, and talk to him to get him going but she wanted nothing to do with
him. At this point, Mike was able to get
the calf to sit up but he had to prop him up with a bale of hay. The calf was extremely weak. We quickly decided to try to get momma back
in the stanchion and see if we could get some colostrum from her. She went back into the milking shed but
refused to put her head in the head gate.
Mike said, “Just stand there beside her and I will just milk her standing
here.” I retorted sarcastically, “And
she is going to kick the crap out of you.
There is no way she is going to stand there.” Boy was I wrong. She stood there just as calm as can be and he
milked out enough colostrum to get the baby started. However, baby was not strong enough or ready
to really try eating. Mike managed to
get a tiny bit of colostrum down him and then he tucked mom and baby safely in
the only building we have with a door on it (as all the other out buildings are
three-sided run in sheds). We got momma
cow food and water and bedded them down with plenty of straw. At this point, the wind picked up and the
temperature started turning bitter cold.
I was so glad that the sun had been out and it had not been unreasonably
cold while we were pulling the calf. I
still had one Jersey cow in milk, having not pulled her bull calf off of her
yet. I pulled her into the barnyard with
the Hereford and her baby in case we needed her milk or needed to try to get
her to adopt the little Hereford x Angus calf.
I cleaned up the parlor from the birthing mess and then went to the
house and pulled out some frozen Jersey colostrum I kept on hand for
emergencies. After allowing the baby to
rest just a bit, we warmed up the Jersey colostrum and Mike got a little bit of
it down the calf. The calf still would
not stand and his sucking reflex wasn’t good.
Momma cow was fine but still was not taking an interest in the baby. Later when we went to check on them, Momma
was mooing over the baby and the baby seemed stronger. He ended up taking a bottle.
Tuesday evening, I had Rory and Analia while Alissa went to class. Gabino came after a while and took Analia to
a special dance rehearsal for a recital they are having on Saturday. When they got back home, we had supper. I had made soup using some I had frozen
previously and adding to it from the veggies we had in the refrigerator. Rory had made a mess eating potatoes and
carrots out of the soup, so I gave her a bath in the kitchen sink, and then I
cleaned the kitchen. Wednesday morning
found the calf even stronger and very much ready to eat. He ate aggressively for the first time and
was able to stand and walk around on his own, although he was still
wobbly. Mike got him to nurse from his
momma as well. It was bitter cold. The wind had been howling at 40 mph all night
and the ice was frozen thick in the troughs.
I had to work hard to bust it. I
gave all the smaller animals hay (the cows have round bales) knowing that the
hay helps to keep them warm in the winter as their bodies digest it. I knew I would have a time with the milking
machine since it was so cold and sure enough, I did. I had to fight with it for a while and Mike
came and helped me adjust the pulsations to adapt to the freezing temps. I got Promise in and milked her and then
turned her back out with plenty of hay.
The water was frozen up in the milk kitchen, so I had to take the
milking equipment into the house and clean it up there. Rory was very interested in the milk bucket
and kept sticking her face down in it to look at the tiny bit of milk pooled in
the bottom.
I worked a while in the house and then took care of Rory for a few
hours while Alissa took Analia to dance class.
I don’t usually keep the kids on Wednesday but I had offered to keep
Rory so that Alissa and Analia could have some alone time together. Analia has really been struggling lately
finding it hard to share her mommy with work, school and Rory. Rory was good for me and played a little and
then took a long nap which allowed me the opportunity to clean the kitchen
floor and the bathroom that Mike and I use.
I did some online Christmas shopping as well. Later, I priced items for the antique
mall. Mike and I took them to the booth
later in the afternoon. I had to go out
mid afternoon and break the ice on the watering troughs again so the animals
could drink and to take more water to the Hereford who was in the stable with
her baby. Early evening, Mike filled up
the round bale feeders, I topped off the watering troughs and broke ice for the
third time. I fed the mini horses, goats
and Jersey heifers and I brought Promise in and milked her again. While it wasn’t warm, the milking machine had
been sitting in the warm house and the milking shed was slightly warmer than it
had been that morning, so the process went a little more smoothly. At this point, although we had not seen the
new baby actually nursing his mother, it appeared that she had been nursed and
his stomach looked full and he seemed content.
He refused the bottle, not being hungry at all. Seeing that we probably would not need to use
Promise as a nurse cow and would not need more milk from her (and also because I would be heading to
Laurel Fork and unable to continue milking her), I turned her back out with the
other Jersey cows. We did separate out
her bull calf so that he can no longer nurse her, and we will dry her off and
give her time to regain her body condition before she calves again in the
spring. After getting the milking
equipment cleaned up, I made supper for everyone, read books to Analia, made my
nightly call to grandma and then went to bed exhausted.
December 15, 2017
We hung around Staunton a little longer this week because we wanted to
make sure that the new little calf was strong enough and nursing well enough
from his momma to leave him. We also
felt like we could stay longer because we won’t need to return this Sunday in
order to take care of the grandkids on Monday, as Alissa is finished with this
semester and will be home with them. We
are very much looking forward to this week in Laurel Fork and being able to
stay in one spot for a total of nine days before hitting the roads again. In the past nine months, we have made the
trip to Laurel Fork once a week, sometimes for as much as five days and one
time, when we had a Jersey cow done, only for a few hours to mow the grass and
then return back to Staunton. For
farmers who for years rarely left the farm to travel, we sure have been racking
up the miles in the last nine months.
Mike has been a trooper about doing the driving and never complaining
about the time on the road. He has
mentioned a few times that he would like to just be able to stay in Laurel Fork
and not have to make the trip back, but he has been good about doing what we
need to do in order for me to keep my commitment to Alissa and the girls. With this semester coming to a close, we only
have one more semester until Alissa will finish her Master’s Degree. I am not sure who is more excited about that,
her or me……or possibly Mike. We got a
later start back than we anticipated.
Mike wanted to bring some better-quality hay up for the momma cow that
just calved, since she is being kept in the barnyard a few more days and
doesn’t’ have access to the round bales.
We also needed to go to Staunton and back to pick up some medicine for
Mike’s mom who has a bad cold or sinus infection and got a prescription from
the doctor. Then we got delayed by some
surveyors who were working at the neighbor’s property and checking the boundary
lines for a pending sale. They had
gotten shocked when crawling through our electric fence and wanted to know if
we would turn the fence off for them as they worked. It gave me an opportunity to also warn them
about our Jersey bull who can be aggressive.
I had gone inside at Mike’s moms to get some of the potatoes we had
stored in the basement to take with us to Laurel Fork and when I returned, I
had a missed call from a credit card watch who detected suspicious activity on
my grandmother’s debit card. That ended
up being a challenge to get sorted out and took me several hours on the phone
as we traveled trying to take care of that issue. At one point, we had stopped in Roanoke to
try to get a bite to eat, as neither of us had eaten all day but I was on the
phone with the credit card company and Mike decided to drive a little further
before we got something to eat. However,
there’s not really any choices of places to eat once you leave Roanoke and go the
backroads to Laurel Fork. We ran into
another problem as we traveled. When we
got to the Parkway just outside of Roanoke, we found that it was closed. We then had the choice of backtracking to
Interstate 81 which would have taken about 20 minutes or find an alternate
route. We decided to stay off the
interstate and sought an alternate route.
Eventually, we took some side roads that let us “sneak” onto the
parkway. (There are a lot of people who
live off the parkway who have to have access to portions of the road to get to
their property and while the main entrances to the parkway are blocked, there
is access from the less traveled roads.)
There was still a good bit of snow in the woods and there was ice on
portions of the parkway. Of course, the
parkway is not maintained in the winter and we knew we were on our own,
literally. Occasionally we would see a
car cross from a side road over the parkway to get to another side road. One of those cars, not anticipating a soul on
the parkway, never even stopped.
However, we were far enough away from them that it wasn’t an issue. We had made it to Rocky Knob before we had to
stop. We had been hoping to make it all
the way to Mabry Mill because from there we could access 58 and would only be a
few short miles from home. At Rocky
Knob, we were about 25 miles from home but the gates were shut tight across the
Blue Ridge Parkway and we didn’t know any way around other than go back a few
miles and get on Highway 8. We ended up
taking a series of backroads, twisting around through areas of the Buffalo
Mountain preserve and coming out eventually at Highway 58 just a few miles from
home. With all the detours and route
changes, we managed to make an almost five-hour trip out of what should have
been a three-hour trip but we did get to see a lot of beautiful scenery and we
made it home right before dark. By this
time, we had not eaten in about 24 hours and we made our way down to The
Crooked Oak, a little hometown restaurant just a few miles from our house to get
a bite to eat. Once we had been home a
while and I had started the laundry (washing bedding from all the company we
had last weekend) and put away the cooler full of our homegrown beef and
veggies that I had brought with us, I made spinach and artichoke dip and we had
that for a late-night snack. It was good
to be home, to find everything in order.
The house was warm with the new furnace and the green light from the
whole house generator greeted us assuring us that even if the power went out,
we would be comfortable. We had a house
full of food and memories from last weekend and the company of each other along
with the promise of more than week just to ourselves. We are blessed.
December 17, 2017
Thursday and Friday, we never left the property. Mike worked some on the interior portion of
the barn. It has just been too cold to
work on the outside, especially to do any staining. I worked to get things in order after our big
weekend last week. Unfortunately, we are
having some issues with our new furnace.
We have been able to keep the house warm but we had the system set up so
that we could pull hot water that has been heated by the furnace or we can flip
a switch and use the electric hot water heater.
We realized that something wasn’t right because the furnace was running
constantly to heat water and we switched it over to the electric hot water
heater. When we did, the furnace started
cutting in and out and making a terrible noise as it transitioned. (This is a brand-new furnace.) In addition, the water never would heat, even
after all night switched over to the electric hot water heater. So currently, in order for the furnace not to
run nonstop, we have to go flip a switch in the basement and pull the hot water
heated by the furnace when we need it and then flip the switch off so that we
are not using unrealistic amounts of fuel to heat water. Mike is very frustrated, to say the
least. The regulator also is not working
and the pressure is building up and has to be released periodically on the
furnace system or it blows water all over the basement. The men are supposed to come back out Monday
to take a look at it.
We have been watching a lot of deer move around the house now that deer
season has ended. I guess the deer are
relieved that all the hunters are out of the woods and that they are able to
move freely now. And speaking of deer,
we checked on our car that is in the shop after hitting the deer on
Thanksgiving Day. Our total repair costs
were already at $4000 but once they started tearing it apart, they have found
additional parts that need to be replaced so they are waiting on the insurance
adjuster to return and approve the changes.
It is not looking like they may have it another month or more.
Saturday, we decided to attend an auction at our favorite auction
house, D&R Variety Auction in Galax.
It’s about a 45-minute drive for us.
Everything takes a little longer to reach because of the roads here in
South West Virginia making things seem a little further away than they would
seem in the Valley where one can hop on the Interstate and go 70 miles an
hour. That is part of why we like it so
much here though. I took along two new
Mary Oliver poetry collections that Alissa had bought me and intended to read
the whole time, but didn’t get far. I
had anticipated being bored and not seeing anything on which I would want to
bid. Or, as it has been recently, if I
did see something it would sell for a much higher price than what I wanted to
spend. I got sucked in fairly early but
backed down on a good many bids. After
looking around before the auction began, I had seen several things that I
wanted to have the ability to bid a little higher on in hopes of getting a
couple things I wanted for the house.
(Mostly what we buy, we resell to try to make a profit on it.) There were some great, vintage dish drainers
that I really wanted but I dropped out when the bid went high. However, I did not back down when the vintage
soap holders came up. There were some
that fit over the sides of old claw foot tubs and then some that mount on the
wall for the sink or tub. The brass
holders were way out of my price range, bringing over $40 but the wire ones,
although still high, were much more reasonable.
I got one to put over the edge of my tub and then four more to
sell. However, when I got home, neither
of the type that goes over the edge of the tub would work on my modern tub (oh
how I wish I had a claw foot tub!) and I ended up putting both of them and a
wall mount in the box to price for the antique mall. I kept back two of the wall mount type, one
for the downstairs bathroom and one for the kitchen sink. There were also boxes and boxes of vintage
kitchen items that I got reasonably enough that I should be able to resell and
make a profit on them. I had fun going
through the boxes once we got them home and pulling out a few pieces to display
here at the house and then putting the rest in a pile to be priced. I also got a great deal on some vintage
Christmas bulbs and one box of vintage, Italian Christmas lights all in the
original boxes. It’s getting close
enough to Christmas that I probably won’t be able to get those items in our
booths in Verona in time to really have a chance at selling them this year, but
they will store and keep until next year.
At one point, there was a table full of items that were not selling
individually, so the auctioneer sold the whole table for one money. I got the whole table of boxes, most of which
I could not tell what was in them, for only $4.
I typically won’t buy large lots like this because there is always so
much “junk” that has to be handled and disposed and I really dislike the time
it takes to pack it all up, sort it, and then find homes for everything that we
can’t use or sell. However, this table
ended up being a great deal. There was a
lot in there that we can use personally as we work around the place, such as
new in the box electrical components, weather stripping, and a microfiber mop
still in the plastic. Just those items
would cost more than the $4 I spent.
Then, there were plenty of other items that we can sell. Because of the volume of small items, we had
needing to be priced and because the garage was far too cold for us to sit out
there to work on them, we decided to designate a room in the basement to
process antiques. Mike worked to unload
the truck and I worked to sweep and arrange the room. It’s a small room and already has a huge,
vintage freezer in there (a non-working beast of a machine that no one has the
desire to move) but it will work and it is relative warm in there. Once we got everything inside, Mike was done
and ready for a break from all the “junk” but I wanted to see if the Christmas
lights I got worked. Out of nine sets of
lights, I got all of them working but one strand of Italian Christmas
lights. I may package them with the
working box that are the same type for extra pieces and parts and sell them
that way. I am not one to hold onto and
stockpile things and while it probably would be wise to hold onto them myself
in case I come across some in the future and need these for parts to repair
them. However, I can’t stand for things
to pile up. That’s one of the hardest
parts for me about selling antiques and vintage items. I want to move it in, price it, and move it
out without any residual leftovers. Mike
on the other hand, is the type to hang onto things because we “might” need it
someday. I had also picked up a
revolving Santa and reindeer tree topper in the box that retailed for
$70.00. I wanted to put it together and
make sure it worked before I priced it and put it up for resale. That ended up being quite a project. The Santa in his sleigh can either sit on top
of the tree or there is a base so that he can be placed on a table. There were no instructions to put it
together, but it didn’t take too long for me to get the idea of what needed to
be done. However easy the concept, the
practicality of getting it together was another story. Getting the cord through the base and the
piece fitted and turned just right proved to be almost impossible. After trying and almost giving up for a good
thirty minutes, I was finally able to get the chord part of the way through,
attach the Santa to the base and then ease the chord under the Santa the rest
of the way so that it set under the base as it was supposed to. Then, I could not get the lights to
work. I figured it was a simple matter
of replacing a bad bulb and it was, but it took me forever to find the right
kind of bulb that would fit in the socket, but after about an hour, I got the
whole thing working.
Analia had her first dance recital on Saturday. We were not in Staunton to see it and I felt
a little sad about that. Alissa sent
pictures and she was precious. We were
worried that the noise and activity of the event might cause Analia to be
uneasy but Alissa said she loved it and didn’t want to get off the stage when
it was over. Gabino had taken time off
work to be able to go and I think it was so good for Analia to have both
parents there and focused on her. She
has felt so displaced with Rory’s birth and all the attention given to the care
of a new baby. This was a special time
for her.
December 18, 2017
It was so nice to be able to relax Sunday and not have to make the trip
back to Staunton. We went to church and
then I made lunch. Afterwards, I priced
over 50 items to take to the antique mall the next time we are in
Verona/Staunton. Then, we went back to
church for a Christmas cantata. I hadn’t
realized that the ladies were bringing in food for afterwards and didn’t take
anything but everyone insisted that there was plenty (and there was) and we did
stay. I typically don’t stay if I don’t
bring anything but it seemed the right thing to do rather than run out the door
after the musical presentation. The
church was full for the first time since Mike and I have been going there. They had collaborated with the Presbyterian
Church in Hillsville to put on the production and there were a lot of folks
visiting from that church as well as family members of people who regularly
attend Buffalo Mountain. The best part
was seeing Mrs. Childress so excited about the crowd. She must have been but a child when Rev. Bob
Childress started Buffalo Mountain Presbyterian Church back in 1929 but she
remembers the days when the church was vibrant.
Every Sunday we are there, she tells Mike and I how happy she is that we
are there and you can tell that it’s genuinely important to her. The church also handed out little packages of
fruit, candy and gum. They said it had
long been a tradition of the church. The
items were placed in a small white bag and tied around with a ribbon. Having read the book THE MAN WHO MOVED A
MOUNTAIN and knowing a little bit of the history of the church, it was pretty
neat to sit there with Bob Childress’ family and the community that he promoted
so many years ago and see that although it is struggling, there is still life
and love there and Rev. Childress’ dreams for that community continue to
live. When the lights were turned out
and the Christ candle was used to light the smaller candles and each person
passed light from one to another as we sang Silent night, I got tears in my
eyes. Candle light services always bring
tears to my eyes. There is something so
tender about the semblance of our sharing light with one another. So fragile and beautiful is the flame. We can share the light or with one breath we
can smother someone else’s flame.
Christmas to me is there in the candle light each year surrounded by
family and/or friends, not in the hustle, bustle, decorating,
buying, giving and getting gifts. This
year, we are doubly blessed with two services, the one this week with our new church family and the one next week with Mike's family.