The Great Flood of 2011

The past week we've had almost non-stop rain.  At first it was nice, but now it's just getting old.  The creek has risen dramatically, and our fields have flooded for the second time this spring.  Also, the basement in our hired man's house flooded, forcing the downstairs occupant out of his room.  Hopefully things will start to dry up this week! 

Here are some shots I snapped yesterday.  This one was taken on the road from my house to my in-laws' house:

 This is the concrete bridge over the creek.  Usually the water is contained underneath the green part of the bridge.  Now it's come out of the banks:

And going up the ramp to the bridge, looking to the left:

Turning 90 degrees from the above spot one can see a fenced-in pasture.  The fence crosses the creek here, and the water is almost to the top of the fence! 

Here's the same fence, viewed from the hired man's house.  We'll have plenty of sticks to pick up when the creek finally goes down:

Today when I went out I had to dodge branches all along that same road as in the first picture.  The water rose even more during the night!

We usually don't get flooding like this, especially this late in the season.  The water will kill some of the hay, but overall it should help it grow.  Of greater concern is the threat of the road being washed out.  My brother-in-law drove out here from town today, and he went through 2 1/2 feet of water in one spot on the county road.  Good thing he has a 4-wheel-drive!  We need it to survive out here!

Mud Boots

Spring Happenings on the Ranch

Just thought I'd give you a peek at some of the goings-on around here.

We've planted carrots, spinach, peas, cosmos, kale, lettuce and broccoli in the garden. 

That's a brussels sprouts plant that overwintered.  I'm hopeful but not too optimistic that we'll get any sprouts.

That's dirt on her face, not freckles.  She loves being outside in the garden.

We bought 50 pounds of Kennebec seed potatoes.  It was very sunny when we planted the potato patch, so we tried to protect the baby's head. 

Our potato patch consists of 4 rows of potatoes, each about 100 feet long.   We planted them in the middle of a field to be farmed. We are hoping to grow enough potatoes to feed us all winter, with plenty to spare.

We have lots of baby chicks growing.  Most of them are for meat, just a few are for eggs.  This picture was taken 2 weeks ago, and they are already alot bigger.

Most hatcheries sell Cornish Cross for meat chickens.  They are bred to grow really big really fast.  They are ready to butcher in 6-8 weeks.   Many die of heart attacks before they are ready to be butchered, especially if they have access to chick feed at night.  Their legs can't support the weight of their bodies, and it's just gross.  This year we decided to try Araucana chicks instead. They won't be quite as big as the Cornish Cross, and they should be ready to butcher in 12 weeks.



We've started branding our calves and hope the weather cooperates so we can finish this week (but it doesn't look promising).  We've done some farming, trying to grow our own cow feed to save money. 

What are your spring happenings?

The Graft

When a calf dies, we often try to get the mother to adopt a calf whose mom is either unable or unwilling to take of him.  A calf might die because of a birth defect, but the cow will go on to produce healthy calves in later calving seasons.  We want to save her, instead of sell her, especially if she is a "good" mom, so we try to keep her milk production up until we have a calf that needs a new mom.  Candidates for adoption would be calves whose moms are sick, crazy, or who don't have milk.  A sick cow cannot care for her calf because of the physical toll it takes on her body.  The crazy cow kicks her calf away, sometimes killing him before we can get to him.  Then there is the occasional cow that doesn't make enough milk, and her calf doesn't thrive.  In these cases, we will take the calf off its mom and "graft" it to a good mom.  A good mom is healthy enough to take care of the calf, has plenty of good quality milk, and likes her calf.  She cleans him off when he's born, encourages him to nurse, and stays near him. 

Tonight my husband had to put down a calf who wasn't going to pull through a severe infection.  We had another calf whose mom wasn't making enough milk, and we'd been bottle-feeding him for at least a week.  Bertha brought the live calf down to the shed in the calving pasture.  Together we skinned the dead calf.  Almost as soon as we were finished, the dead calf's mom walked into the corral, mooing for her calf.  She stood right where her calf should have been, sniffing the ground, eyeing us with suspicion.  We chased her into a pen right outside the shed.  She could hear the sickly calf inside.  We took the skin and made holes for his arms and legs.  Then we slipped the skin on the calf.  It looked like a very warm coat.  Then we let the mom inside.  She sniffed the calf.  She knew something was different, but she kept him close by, mooing softly at him.  We coaxed them into the pen, got the cow into the head catch, and positioned the calf to nurse.  He took off right away, eagerly slurping down the warm milk.  She calmed right down, and pretty soon we let her out of the head catch.  The calf went right back to nursing, very peacefully.  A situation that could have been sad (for the good mom) and costly (for us) had a happy ending for both. 

Happy Mother's Day

This morning my 2-year-old left the safety gate leading into the garage unlatched, so the baby quickly crawled in.  He ran after her to "check on her".  A few minutes later he called out, "I'm brushing her hair!" "That's nice," I said.  Then he came to the doorway and showed the "brush" he had been using on my baby's head- a little broom we use to clean the floor!

Happy Mother's Day everyone!

Happy Easter!

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter Sunday.  My day went pretty well.  I ended up cooking most of the Easter meal, kind of on accident, but everyone was very complimentery of the food.  I made sweet potatoes, corn pudding, and a broccoli cheese dish from Cook's Illustrated.  The main dish was a ham.  My husband's grandmother brought out an ice cream cake for dessert!  What a treat!  We ate at my in-laws' house, as usual.  In the afternoon we cut up some beef.  My sister-in-law brought her fiancee out to the ranch for the weekend, and it was nice to get to know him a little better.  I give him the thumbs up.  The weather was gorgeous, the food was good, the company was pleasant, so all in all it was a great holiday.  For Lent, I gave up reading blogs, which is kind of challenging when you have your own blog.  I am looking forward to catching up on what's been going on around the blogosphere this week!  Happy Easter!

How to Use up Leftover Ham

Easter is this Sunday, and what is better for Easter dinner than a ham?    But how to use up all those leftovers?  Here are my top 5 favorite recipes.  Three of them are soups, just because soup is so nourishing when made with real bone broth. 

Mexican Ham and Bean Soup

Split Pea Soup (this will be on next week's menu for sure!)

Summer Corn and White Bean Soup

Goat Cheese, Artichoke, and Smoked Ham Strata

Not exactly Real Food, but Taste of Home's Broccoli Ham Ring is a yummy snack!

What is your favorite ham recipe?

Jamie Oliver Tonight!

Hey Real Foodies,
Don't forget Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution is on tonight, 8/7c on ABC.  Can't wait!

The Bovine Cesarean

A couple of weeks ago I got to assist with a bovine cesarean!  This was the first c-section they've done in the 3 1/2 years I've been here.  Butch and Bertha called me to let me know what was going on.  I raced down to the barn with the kids.  I was pretty nervous and giddy with excitement.  The cow was already in the head catch.  Bud gave her a shot in the spine, and then several shots around the area we’d be cutting.  The cow stood up the whole time.  Bud started cutting her, then he let me take over.  It was very strange to cut a living creature like that.  I am used to cutting up the cows when we butcher, and this was like reverse butchering.   She didn’t bellow or moo or anything.  I worked very slowly.  Butch was standing between me and her leg, and several times she tried to kick me away.  As the painkillers started working, her kicks became half-hearted, and eventually she stopped.  Bud later explained that the cows have a greater survival rate when you don’t completely block all the sensation.  They are pretty tough animals.

Anyway, once I had cut through all the skin and muscle, Bud took over.  He let me feel around inside her abdomen but I didn’t really know what I was feeling.  Then he cut the uterus and quickly pulled the calf out.  The calf was severely deformed.  His organs were all completely formed, but there was no skin over them.  They were exposed.  He had skin over his arms, legs, and head.  Normal presentation for a calf is front feet first, followed by the head, then the rest of the body.  This calf had presented his intestines first.  His back legs were folded back over his head, almost touching the front legs.  She never would have birthed him herself.  Bud guessed he had only died a day or so before the cow had gone into labor.

After we pulled the placenta out Bertha sewed up the uterus with catgut.  Bud scooped out as much fluid from the abdomen as possible.  He told me that amniotic fluid in their abdomen will kill them.  Then he sewed up her skin.  He pursed the skin together, making it “pucker”.  He said that way it won’t scar.  I tried to help with one stitch but didn’t quite get the hang of it, so he finished the job.  Butch washed her off with disinfectant and we let her go.  She just walked away as the painkillers were starting to wear off. 

Bud told me later that he was impressed with my cutting because she hardly bled at all.  The cow survived, although we did sell her.  Many cows can go on to have normal births after a c-section, but we don't take the chance.

What I Did Today

This afternoon, my husband's grandmother came out to the ranch.  She and I each took a 4-wheeler to the calving pasture.  We were going to take cow/calf pairs out of that pasture.  While we were looking for pairs, I noticed one cow about to give birth.  The amniotic sac was hanging out of her.  I made a mental note and moved on.  When we were done putting out pairs, I drove back to check on her.  The bag had burst, and I could see hooves sticking out.  I noticed the white parts (bottom side) of the hooves were up.  This means the calf is either backwards (breech) or more rarely, upside down.  This is a problem because the calf usually suffocates before the cow can get him out.   I called over my husband's grandma and asked her to go back to the house to get my father-in-law.  While she was gone I guided the cow to the barn.  When my father-in-law got there, we chased the cow in through the back gate.  She was almost in the barn when suddenly she turned around and started running towards the gate.  I hopped off my 4-wheeler and swung the gate in front of her.  She paused, giving me about a half a second to jump in front of her and lock the gate.  She turned and ran back towards the barn.  We finally got her in the pulling pen and pushed her into the head catch.  I slipped some straps over the calf's feet.  My father-in-law put the calf puller on her and pulled the calf as far down the bar as he could.  A natural occurrence during childbirth is the release of maternal fecal matter.  This is no different in cows.  At one point, this cow squirted my father-in-law pretty good.  I am laughing about it now as I type it.  But at the time he told me to cover her anus so that wouldn't happen again!  He had to manually pull the last third of the calf's body out because it was so long.    Finally, the calf slid out.  He was enormous.  My father-in-law released the head catch, and the cow mooed over her calf.  She liked him.  She will take care of him.  I am so proud of myself for spotting the backwards calf.

I'm Still Alive!

I am very busy calving our older cows.  They are easier than the heifers in some respects- you ususally don't have to fool with each and every one, but they require alot more time riding around on the 4-wheelers.  Fortunately I enjoy doing that.  Unfortunately for my blog, I have less time in the house.

Last week I assisted with a bovine c-section.  It was pretty exciting!  I hope to write more about that later, if I get a free minute. 

The weather has been very rainy, but at least it's slowly warming up.  I got my brussels sprouts started, so far only have 3 sprouts, but I'm excited about that! 

Have a good weekend!

Meal Plan 3/28 through 4/3

We've been without power for about 24 hours now.  One of the less pleasant things of prairie life is the tendency toward power outtages, even when the storm is nowhere near you!  Fortunately we've got generators so we can still take hot showers! 

The good thing about the power being out is I was able to make time to plan my menu for a month.  This should ease the burden a little as we head into the second part of calving season (the older cows).  

Here's what's cooking this week. 

3/28 Mon- Beef Taco Soup

3/29 Tues- Beef Fajitas (slow cooker) w/ avocado, tomato

3/30 Wed- hot dogs (I think they're uncured), baked beans

3/31 Thur- steak, fried potatoes, sautéed broccoli

4/1 Fri- broiled salmon, roasted potatoes, peas

4/2 Sat- cavatini (from freezer), steamed spinach

4/3 Sun- leftovers

The Green Omelette

I once ate this dish at a breakfast restaurant.  They used only egg whites and called it "White Lightning".  I've kept the yolks because the fat keeps me fuller longer.  You could make this into a proper omelette, but I find it easier just to scramble everything together in the pan.

For each person you'll need:

Butter
1/4 cup chopped cooked  spinach (I use frozen)
1/4 cup chopped cooked chicken (preferably seasoned with Mexican seasonings)
2 eggs
1/4 cup shredded cheese (I like Monterey Jack)
1/8 cup chopped avocado

Directions:
1.  Heat butter in skillet over medium heat.   Add spinach and chicken.  Cook until heated through.

2.  Break eggs into pan.  Scramble all ingredients.

3.  When eggs are almost done, add cheese.  Cook until cheese is melted and eggs are cooked to your liking.

4.  Top with chopped avocado.  Serve immediately.  Also works great as a filler for a breakfast burrito.

How to Dice an Avocado

It is possible to cut up avocados with minimal mess!

Cut an avocado in half and remove the seed.  Leave the flesh in the skin.

Slice the flesh lengthwise.  Cut gently so you don't puncture the skin.

Slice the avocado horizontally.

Scoop out as much as you want with a spoon.

So easy!

Have a Counting Party

Are you trying to teach a little one about numbers and counting?  Why not throw a counting party? 

There is a Barney episode called "A Counting We Will Go" in which Barney and his friends throw a counting party.  My son wanted to watch the episode over and over again.  I was inspired to throw my own counting party for him.  My parents, mother-in-law, son, and daughter were the only guests, but we had a great time.  I plan to do it again when my daughter starts learning her numbers. 

To set up the party atmosphere, we decorated with balloons and put on crazy hats and beads.  We also got out the New Year's Eve noisemakers to make it more exciting.  You could even send out invitations to family members, decorate with streamers, and set out finger foods that can be easily counted (berries, grapes, and carrot sticks are healthy choices, but my son really liked the chocolate chips).

So what do you do at a counting party?  You can:

- sing songs about counting
   - The Ants Go Marching One by One (be sure to march around the house while you sing)
   - 99 Bottles of Pop on the Wall
   - Knick-Knack-Paddy-Whack
   - Roll Over (There Were Ten in the Bed)

- write out the numbers 1 to 10 on a big piece of poster board and let the kids color in the numbers

- count things like stuffed animals or toy cars

- read books that mention counting or numbers, such as
   - Ten Little Puppies by Marian Harris
   - 1 is One by Tasha Tudor
   - The Poky Little Puppy by Janette Sebring Lowrey (the puppies count themselves)
   - Baby's First 1-2-3 Book by Amy Barton

- recite the nursery rhymes "One Two, Buckle My Shoe..." and "Ten Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed..."

- for older kids, play games involving counting and numbers, such as Hide-and-Seek or Hopscotch

Our counting party only lasted about an hour but we had a lot of fun.  Doing something out of the ordinary such as having a party makes learning exciting.  Let your imagination run wild and you too can create a fun learning atmosphere for your child!

How do you teach your kids to count?

Meal Plan 3/21- 3/27

Ahh, spring is really here!  The snow has mostly all mnelted, although there still are a few tiny patches here and there.  The mud is drying up, and there was actually dust last night when I herded the heifers into the corral.  I didn't mind in the least!  The fields have all been flooded, and now the creek is starting to go down just a little. 

To do this week:  get my seeds started!  Yikes!  I can't believe it's almost April!  I've been so busy working outside that I just haven't had the time or energy to think about the garden!  I need to start my brussels sprouts at least, and maybe some broccoli.

My parents came in last week and helped around the house so I could help outside.  We had a counting party with my 2-year-old, which I'll tell you about tomorrow. 

Yesterday we cut up some beef, so fresh beef is on the menu all week.  Here's what we'll be eating:

Monday- Beef Enchiladas, Corn
Tuesday- Hamburgers, Fried Potatoes, Sauerkraut, Fresh Fruit
Wednesday- Shepherd's Pie with asparagus
Thursday- Beef Ribs, Beer Batter Cheese Bread, Peas
Friday- Fish Chowder (from America's Test Kitchen- new recipe)
Saturday- Homemade Pizza, Spinach
Sunday- Leftovers

Meal Plan 3/14-3/20

I'm starting with Monday this week since I didn't get my menu planned until this morning.  We are knee deep in mud, but that's okay!  The snow is finally thawing and it's warming up!  I'm hoping to take some pictures today to post later this week. 

Monday- Manicotti stuffed with venison and cottage cheese, with homemade pasta sauce, served with fresh apples and oranges
Tuesday- eat in town
Wednesday- Homemade Pepperoni Pizza, oven-roasted broccoli
Thursday- Chicken Breasts over Salad, quinoa
Friday- Broiled Tilapia Parmesan (except I'm using Cod), salad, leftover quinoa
Saturday- Meatloaf, served with carrot sticks and fresh fruit
Sunday- Roast Beef with Potatoes and Carrots

Frugal, Homemade Facewash for Sensitive Skin

My mom has extremely sensitive skin.  For years she used this homemade facewash, until she found one product she could use.  This is a frugal, simple, easy to use recipe.  It takes seconds to mix up.  Just keep a container of oats where you keep your facewash, and you'll be good to go!

Homemade Facewash:
Mix 2-3 tsp dried oats (instant or whole) into 1/4 cup water.  Let sit for a few minutes (use this time to brush your teeth and put on your pajamas).  Rub oat mixture onto face.  Rinse. 



Frugal facewash


That's it!  So simple, so easy.


And using it will make you so happy, as you can see in this picture of me:


I love my homemade facewash!


Okay, I was just goofing around in that picture, but I think you will enjoy using it!

Linked to WFMW.

Mardi Gras King Cake

Are you looking for a G-rated way to celebrate Mardi Gras?  Look no further than the King Cake!  It's called a King Cake after Christ the KING.  Traditionally, a little plastic baby (representing Baby Jesus) is baked inside the cake.  Whoever gets the piece with the baby gets to make the cake the next year.  I just set mine on top because it's less mess.  A King Cake is really just cinnamon bread dough baked in an oval, topped with a powdered sugar glaze and green, gold, and purple sprinkles (the Mardi Gras colors).  I like to let the kids help with that last part!  I also like to decorate with beads like they hand out at Mardi Gras parades.  Here is the recipe I used for King Cake.

Happy Mardi Gras everyone!

No Meal Plan This Week

Sorry if you were hoping for a meal plan, but I don't have one for you this week!  I knew I should get my act together and just plan for a whole month, but I didn't.  We are busy calving and packaging cat litter, and it's bitterly cold to boot.  I'm planning to pull casseroles from the freezer, eat leftovers, and mooch off the in-laws.  Have a good week!