Chuck says I am high maintenance, and not in the treat me like a princess way. For crying out loud I live in a 384 square foot house and my bathroom is an outhouse- so no princess here! But while coming home from work (I will get to that later) I hit a deer, and now I have whiplash and have to go to physical therapy everyday this week. I have to say things started going down hill for me when I got pregnant. I mean my brain sort of went mushy, and not that I think I am a great driver but I am pretty good, hitting the city bus- not so good. Anyway then there was the whole spilling boiling water on my arm, besides other things I shall not get into. I think I need a time out from accidents for a while. Other than that things are staying busy. And oh yes the job. Well winters are slower for us so I decided to try and get a part time job to bring in a little extra money. Nothing fancy but something to keep me even busier. When I was in college I worked for a big box store doing loss prevention (fancy term for catching shoplifters), then I moved on to a grocery store and then a big box hunting and fishing store, and now I am security again for an establishment not to far from where we live. It is not bad I work two to three times a week when Chuck can be home with the kid.
The calf is doing well, we are still not sure if she is blind. We are sure that she can at least see shadows. We have named her Beatrix, 'B' for short.
Next week the ram goes in with the ewes, so we should be expecting lambs in May, a full month before this past year. The average butchered size this year was around 40 pounds- not bad, next year maybe closer to 50 pounds, which for 100% grass fed is right where we want to be.
As for the butcher that we went with this year, we were fairly pleased. They really worked with us when it came to getting the animals in for processing. However I was told that we would be getting nitrate free bacon, ham etc. but that turned out to not be true so we have found another processor that we are going to try next year and they are nitrate free. Thing is that I had to schedule the processing dates already and they are booked already into next October! We are thinking that we will raise 12 pigs again next year we have orders already in for half of them, even the lamb spots are filling up fast! We have added 2 ewes so we have the potential to have 20 lambs if everyone twins, but I doubt that will happen so maybe around 15.
It is a weird feeling to be just finishing up one farm year and already feel overwhelmed for the next one. I have already been receiving seed catalogs, and I am not even done with preparing my garden for next year!!
The block had to be sealed from water, we had many ideas but this one was the winner
Done and ready for fill
Filled
Ramona checking things out- dew claws up! (get it instead of thumbs up- hahaha)
Had to put some boards under to lift it up onto the block
Lined up ready to go
Since there was not enough room to push, with it being so close to the house and the deck, we had to pull it
Now that there is room a little push
Half way there
Just a little further
Finished
The inside- plenty of room!
First off I should say my Dad is a big pain in my butt, however I don't think I would want it any other way. I don't think I would ever say he was a great Dad, but then again I am not sure what makes a great Dad. He worked all the time, he complained and fell asleep at our school concerts, never really knew our friends, or got involved in our social life. But then there was the side of him that you really would not expect, he took us out to breakfast for our birthdays, and always got us chocolate milk (something I still crave around my birthday). In college he would send me cards with a stick or two of gum in it. The first time I thought what the heck is he doing- one stick of gum- crazy old man. But then if you knew my father you knew it was something else and sure enough there was a 50 folded up in the gum. He bought me my first car, my red Wolfsberg edition Jetta, oh how I loved that car. He made all the beer and the wine for my wedding, I think he was even more popular then Chuck and I at our own party! So on second thought was he a great Dad, yeah, but still a pain in my butt:)
The calf is doing well, we are still not sure if she is blind. We are sure that she can at least see shadows. We have named her Beatrix, 'B' for short.
Several of the women in the knitting group spin, in fact one of them is spinning up some wool from one of our ewe's for me. I am not sure what I am going to make with it. The idea that I can make something out of wool that comes from our farm it an amazing feeling. I still have to pick colors to dye the yarn. I am not sure how much yarn will come out of wool from one ewe but the woman who is spinning it says a lot! I almost hate to just make hats out of it- maybe one day I will graduate to making a sweater for myself- would that not be wonderful!
I have now made socks for the kid with another pair on the way. I knit a scarf with a cable pattern, which has yarn from one of our ewe's. I have made lots more hats and I am trying to knit a pair of mittens for the kid.
At this point it had been about a half hour and it was 10am so we decided that if by 10:30 she had not progressed we would think about pulling the calf. Chuck was nervously walking back and forth and really worried that the calf might be in danger. By 10:30 I had went into the barn where she had moved to and watched her, she seemed to be more at ease when I was there and then she had a contraction and it looked as though she barley pushed. Chuck came back and she was following him around and seemed really needy. So we decided she was trying to tell us she needed our help. Chuck went and got the chain to pull the calf, put it around the calf's legs and waited for a contraction.
It was amazing Lu Lu let him put the chain on and then when she had a contraction and he started pulling she was pushing as hard as she could. The calf came out- back legs first (it is supposed to be front legs and head first), and alive!! 
We were so happy to see it alive, and a little heifer to boot! (A heifer is a girl cow that has not had a calf.) Lu Lu went to work cleaning the calf up and that is when we noticed the calf's eyes. 
They both seem to be cloudy, were not really sure what this means- is she blind? We spoke to some other farmers about this and they had not heard of such a thing, everyone thinks she will grow out of it so we will see. Lu Lu has really not settled down enough to let the calf nurse, or at least we have not seen her nurse and when we are out there Lu Lu wont hold still for her. So we milked Lu Lu so that we could give a bottle to the calf. 
Right now it is so important that the calf nurse because she needs all the colostrum she can get. Lu Lu is quite the pain in the butt to milk but she will get used to it, we are going to try and milk her every few hours instead of trying to do it all at once. The cats in the barn are in heaven, getting a little extra colostrum milk. As you can see it is a deep yellow color. 
We are still thinking of a name of the little one. Last year when Althea was born we decided that we would name them in Alphabetical order by year. So the new one needs a 'b' name.
We have water! At the house that is. This will be so wonderful this winter to be able to have water close to the house- and I will be able to wash clothes and bathe in a tub all winter long at home!! We are moving up in the world. As I seem to always say things have been busy. We are finally done processing all animals for the season. Tomorrow we pick up the two lambs and the smoked pork then our freezer will be complete! Well almost on Tuesday I pick up a couple of fresh Turkeys that I traded for ground beef. One will be on the Thanksgiving table the other, well I am not sure yet but we will find something for it to do.
