Winter on the Farm

Living in Northern Wisconsin is a lot of fun for a lot of people. I am not one of those people. I do not enjoy snow or the sports one would engage in when it snows. I like to fish, but there is no way I am going out on a frozen lake to do so. I'm from Florida, so the cold and I do not get along, and I absolutely do not like snow.

That being said, for farmers wintertime should be a time of semi-restfulness, right? Don't count on it. Crops have to be planned for spring planting and equipment needs to be maintained so it actually works come spring and summer. Animals have to have extra care, especially if they are kept inside a barn, after all, either way, they can't feed themselves and there isn't any grass to graze on. If a farmer has a dairy, forget about any rest. As much as snow gets in the way and adds more work, it is also a necessary evil. Economic impact on the community that depends on it aside, snow, and a lot of it, is needed for soil moisture when planting time comes around. A good layer of snow is needed to protect hay fields. It keeps some warmth in and the freeze out. Doesn't make sense, does it? Snow also helps weigh down the grasses so that the freezing cold and ice isn't able to heave the delicate plants and kill them off.

We got some snow, but not a lot and it got really cold. Then we got the January thaw, which is temperatures in the forties that got rid of what little snow we did have. Then it got cold again, as in way below zero. I'm going with the notion that all that nice alfalfa and clover we planted is not going to come up this year. Also the unseasonal warmth we had last year during January and February sent our fruit trees for a loop. They bloomed out and then the blooms of course froze when winter returned and we got no apples. It affected the entire state's crop of apples and cherries and other berries and fruits that grow up here. There is a good possibility of more of the same this year.

Now comes the 'fun' part. It got so cold last week that our entire water system froze. We've been having to take a torch to the cow watering system, as in pipes, bowls, and mechanisms so they could drink for several weeks now. We have a barn full of cows so that is a lot of water bowls and pipes. When I say the entire system went down, I mean no water to anywhere, including the house. We had to use an old drag-type spray rig to water the animals by hand (think buckets) and buy water for the house. Thank goodness we have relatives nearby so we could get water for the animals. After finally giving up getting things going on our own, we had to call a well company to get the ice out of the lines. I give up using the automatic watering cups for the cattle though. Until it warms it a bit, I'll just have to keep on using buckets. Even though there are a lot of cows, it takes longer to thaw the lines than to just give them a bucket and babysit them to make sure they don't dump it over accidentally. The barn cleaner chain also froze down so we couldn't run the chain to clean the beds out. I thought we were doomed to the old Armstrong method (two strong arms, a shovel, and a wheelbarrow). The tractor can be used, but it still has to get to the tractor, which cannot fit into the bottom of the barn where the animals are. My poor husband spent hours with a sledge hammer breaking the ice loose so we could get that cleaner going again. He's not too keen on the Armstrong method either for cleaning.

Next week, it's due to get way below freezing again and we might have to do this all over again. Thankfully we got some snow and so we pushed a nice pile around the building where the well is to keep some of that heat we keep going in there where it belongs. So, wish us luck.

Think this is unusual? Probably not. Farming is like that. On good days, the work is not too bad, the equipment works the way it's supposed to and things go smoothly. I do enjoy my cows in spite of all the work, and bucking hay and scraping stalls is some great exercise. But the bad days tend to be really bad, and most farmers know what I'm talking about. Like to gamble? Skip the casino- go into farming.

Never Again- Part II

Eva sat beside her cousin's bed at the hospital. A nurse came in to check on Janelle and eyed her curiously. "You should see the other guy," Eve told her, when she saw her staring at the now black and purple bruise on her cheek. She wasn't smiling. Janelle had been in a coma for a week and the doctor's didn't know if she'd come out of it or not. She spent every moment she could at the hospital after work.

Ed made bail, but he was not allowed to go near Janelle or he would be revoked. He was charged with attempted murder of Janelle and assault and battery on Eva. The district attorney was waiting to see if Janelle pulled through. If not; the charges would be upgraded. Ed had also been put on administrative leave from his job due to the incident. The two conditions made Eva wary of going home as Ed just sat glaring at her through his living room window and drinking himself into a stupor. He made a gun-shooting gesture at her once and the deadly serious look in his eye made her shiver and run for her house. He had just smiled an evil, self-satisfied smile. Eva was told by the deputy that he couldn't do anything about Ed since he hadn't pointed an actual gun at her.

Eva often wished Ed would go on and move since he only rented his house. She was buying hers and it would be more difficult for her to move. It was just a small and modest home, but it was all hers and she'd be damned if he was going to run her out of it, the miserable, drunken son-of-a-bitch.

Janelle stirred and it made Eva jump. She had nodded off holding onto her cousin's still, cool hand as she hadn't gotten much sleep lately. "Janelle? Can you hear me, honey? It's Eva," she said. She pressed the call button on the bedrail that went to the nurses' station.

"Is there a problem?" a nurse asked a few minutes later answering the call.

"I think she's waking up," Eva called out. "She's moving around a lot all of the sudden."

"I'll be right there," was the reply.

A minute later the nurse came in followed by an intern who checked Janelle's eyes with a small pen light as the nurse checked her vital signs. He nodded at the nurse.

"Well, is she waking up?" Eva finally asked.

"Yes, she is trying to come out of it," the intern answered. "We'll have to wait a bit longer for her to become fully awake before we can check for any brain damage. She may have some rehab to go through; learn to do things over again."

"What things?"

"I don't know. It depends on how much damage was done. She might be just fine or she might have to learn just a few things. She also might have to learn to talk and walk and use her motor skills all over."

"Oh, God," Eva said. "I should have used the cast iron."

"Excuse me?" the doctor said.

"I stopped her husband with an aluminum skillet; I should have used the cast iron one," she replied.

The doctor raised an eye brow. "How did he turn out?"

"I guess he's fine." She indicated the bruise on her face and her cousin lying in the bed. "I'm not giving him the chance to do this again. I hope they put him away for years," she added with a shake of her head. She wiped away a tear.

The doctor cleared his throat and nodded. "You should go home and get some rest yourself. You look tired. We'll call if there are any more changes."

Morning on the Farm-What a Way to Start the Day

It's a great way to start the day. You go out to the barn and something just seems--wrong. It took a minute to figure it out. Someone was missing- Black Jack the steer. Suddenly there he was, on the wrong side of the barn in the feed aisle. Oh man! He had somehow managed to unhook the clip holding his neck chain. They seem to be rather talented in that area of late.

First one must catch the naughty fellow, and believe me, he is not all that small- about 300 pounds. He also has decided he just isn't ready to go back to his stall quite yet, so he ran up and down the aisle with me calling after him. The aisle isn't that big and it's not worth chasing a cow around the feed aisle, you just have to wait for him to calm down a second, although every time I walked up to him to put the rope on his head, he took off again. Hmmm. He's being extra naughty today. Usually I can get him the first time, but then, he has made quite a mess of things and he may be under the impression I'm going to get onto him somehow. It's a cow; it doesn't do any good, as I have told my husband repeatedly. Finally, I got the rope the on his head and he decided at that point to just drag me down the aisle, only I jerked the rope to one side as one would a rein on a horse and he stopped in his tracks. "Now, if you're quite ready to go back home," I told him, "I can clean up this mess and feed everyone." I also told the other cows to give him a hard time since it was his fault they wouldn't be fed for a while as I had to clean up the feed aisle. Yes, I know it doesn't do any good to say such things to them, but it made me feel better.

He still wasn't ready to go back home but I got him out of the feed aisle and into the center walkway, so I tied the rope off in his stall (which thankfully is literally across from the short walk aisle between stalls on the side where he had taken refuge.) I got behind him and gave him a little smack on the rear to get him motivated. He tried to turn and run down the walk aisle but when he reached the end of the rope, he flipped completely over. I just smiled and chuckled a bit. "So, are we ready now?" He got up and went to his stall. I had to motivate him to go on and cross the gutter and move forward enough to hook him back up, but he went.

My goodness, what a mess he made! He managed to knock down five of six bales of hay we had thrown out of the hay mow the night before and pulled the hay string off of two of them, scattering one all over the place. The hay that had not been eaten was no longer fit to eat as he had hygiene issues (that's safe wording right?) in the hay so I had to spend twenty minutes just cleaning the hay out of the aisle and making sure I could actually give the cows their grain before haying them again. At least the concrete was not in need of disinfecting since it all managed to land in hay piles. (That was good trick too.)

Since we have a doorway (minus an actual door) leading to the silo room (we aren't using them) we blocked it off with a piece of plywood and some old straw bales to insulate the barn against the cold. It is at the end of that walk aisle between stalls I mentioned earlier. The water lines and bowls tend to freeze there if it isn't blocked off in the wintertime. That rascal pushed on those bales until he broke the cords holding the plywood up and knocked it over. The bales actually stayed in place, thank goodness. After the mess was cleaned up and the rest of the chores were done, I went outside and around to the other side of the doorway and put the plywood back up, only this time I nailed it to the framework and them braced it with some long two-by-four lumber. Let's see him knock it over now!

Have you ever had days like that?

A few Ideas for This Holiday Season to Keep it Local

It's the time of year when people give gifts. I have noticed a lot of people just go and pick something off a shelf without much thought to what they really are getting for someone and then there are those who put a lot of effort and forethought into their gift giving. If you are one of those people who put effort into your choices, this is for you.

There is a lot of emphases on keeping it local this year, and it should actually be all year. But here are some ideas that will help you keep it local. We know about going to local stores run by local people rather than hitting the big-box department store franchises with all their made-somewhere-other-than-here merchandise,  but have you thought about the actually made 'here' as in in your neighborhood? Believe it or not, there are still farmer's markets running in some areas. They may not be held out of doors since it is wintertime, but there are those who move to an indoors location, at least through the holiday season. They are not selling fresh produce, but rather jams and jellies, pickles, relishes, home-canned vegetables, things made with the produce that didn't sell, homemade soaps, lotions, cosmetics, greeting cards that are beautifully done either by hand or on their computers, embroidery work or other needle work, quilts. These people spend their 'down time' in the winter months making what is now considered cottage industry products. They are beautiful and very thoughtful as gifts.

I have gone to church bizarres and craft shows held at malls or in the park (in warmer months) and school gymnasiums. They too have home crafted items such as knitted blankets, needle point and woven rugs, crocheted items, handcrafted baby clothes and blankets, embroidered table linens and bed linens, altered sweatshirts and tee shirts (some of them are whimsical and very cute), scarves or sweaters, mittens, and hats, handmade jewelry made from locally found materials (a rock tumbler and small drill can give material for truly beautiful and unique jewelry). They have artwork and of course the greeting cards for all occasions, dried flower arrangements, wreaths, pottery, handmade decorations, stuffed toys made at home so you won't find any two actually alike, hand carved wooden toys and sculptures. Someone might be parting with  antiques handed down through the family such as vases and bowls, or jewelry boxes. There is a workshop that makes unique boxes in our area and they sell in their tiny shop at their home and other local venues. Imagine giving someone a special handmade keepsake box. How about a landscape painting or slice-of-life scene all framed and ready to go? Maybe an artist took just the perfect photograph and framed it that someone would really appreciate. I saw some photographs just the other day at a local art museum/coffee shop where all the items were for sale. Man, were those nice photographs- I wish I could find that perspective with my camera.

This isn't to say that they will be inexpensive, although they are probably are very good quality; better than that cookie-cutter made-in-China stuff you find at Wal-Mart. You will find find bargains if you look, but isn't it about the thought and not the price? If you're a crafty person, do it yourself, just remember to get your craft goods from a local store or supplier!

Happy holidays and good shopping!

Think Before You Speak

I know people get nervous when they are being interviewed, but really, the other day a Dallas Cowboys fan was asked how they felt about the tragedy regarding the death of Jerry Brown due to one of his teammates driving drunk. Her comment was that she hoped "everything would turn out okay." What? Everything turn out okay? How can that happen? Jerry Brown who was only 25 years old and going to be a new dad very soon is dead and the last time I checked the only one who could change that hasn't come back yet. Did she think it would be "okay" for Josh Brent to get away with killing another human being after getting behind the wheel drunk. This isn't the first time he has done so either. He was just off probation last year for another OWI arrest and he was driving without a valid license.

Here are some questions I have in this matter: What makes these people think they are above the law? That they can drive under the influence of anything and skate by? Much less kill someone while doing it? Why would anyone want them to? How can an organization such as the Dallas Cowboys stand behind someone who does this and has been convicted of doing so before (driving while intoxicated). Is that the example they want to set for the youth of today for acceptable behavior? Is it any wonder that people think it is okay to drive drunk, take a chance of killing someone, maybe you or me or one of our children or grandchildren? I have seen multiple DWI, DUI, (whatever they want to call it) arrests and people are still getting away with it.They are using poor judgement, to say the least, and depraved indifference for public safety when they take a chance they won't be caught or get into an accident.

People need to think before they put someone, sports figures or celebrities, on a pedestal and give them a pat on the head and tell them everything will be "okay" when they act in a dangerous fashion. It's not okay with me, and it shouldn't be with you either.

Community Theater Excellent Opportunty for Children

With the economy pretty much in the tank schools are making extreme cutbacks and of course the first things to be cut are the arts. It's been well known for years. I have noticed that people are passionate about keeping sports in schools, but not as loud when it comes to art, music, and drama. Why is that? If you think about it, you have to acknowledge that not everyone is cut out to be on the team for whatever sport the school has and I do know that schools are also cutting sports or are consolidating with other districts in order to continue participating. I understand the team work concept that sports teach, and that some kids get scholarships from playing sports, but not all kids who participate in sports get a scholarship. Just like not all kids who participate in the arts get a scholarship. One can argue however, that the arts can appeal to more students, and one doesn't often get injured participating in music, except for the occasional dance injury, or art (which can lead to many careers such as architecture, graphic design, web design, etc.). Does anyone think about how drama (theater) helps students? Try acting if you can't read and read well. Theater helps with confidence, overcoming shyness (as it did me), learning to multitask, which is important in most jobs, keeping grades up if their parents (and the schools) make it a part of participation, staying active (learning dance steps and when to do them). I had two left feet and I learned to dance because of community theater.

I was recently contacted by a new company out of Chicago called Compass Creative Dramatics because of an article I had written years ago regarding community theater. They are trying to raise awareness of the importance of community theater for children and plan to take small productions to several cities throughout the Midwest. They have testimonials on their website and videos on their YouTube page of people telling their memories of being involved in community theater. I, too, gave them some material. They are trying to raise money to get the project started and what a worthy project it is! Check out their website http://www.ccdramatics.com/index.html and their YouTube page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeMxvqipOto .  Hey, if you have something to add to their testimonials, go ahead; I'm sure they would appreciate it.

I have to wonder if more people in other areas endeavored to undertake such projects the void left by the schools would be filled and children would find something to do who might otherwise just sit around the house vegetating, or get into trouble 'just hanging out'. There isn't always a Boys and Girls Club (or such other club) available for them; I know there isn't where I live, but there is a small community theater. Get involved, won't you?

Green Acres is the Place for Me!

Okay, so this time of year, we don't necessarily have green acres, but do you remember the television show Green Acres? I do, and I can still get it when the weather cooperates. Growing up I lived on a farm pretty close to that one, sans the closet door emergency exit. We were only there for a little while, but I thought all farms were that way at the time, even though my grandparents lived on a farm with a nice house. I always liked the barn my grandparents had, even though the boards didn't quite meet and if the wind blew it went right through it. I think it was supposed to be that way since my grandparents raised tobacco and they dried it in there- this was before the fancy drying buildings with the heaters and blowers on them.

We moved into yet another farm house when I was a teenager. It was huge, but the bathroom was an add-on and it wasn't level so the bathtub didn't drain properly. It didn't have a barn, but it was a crop farm and they raised watermelons the year we moved out. I loved walking the fields to the fishing pond.That was cool. The house was oddly laid out too. If one wanted to go into the kitchen or the dining room, they had to go through a porch that had been enclosed. We found snakes in there once in a while. Come to think of it, we did at the other one too. Yuk. 

My husband and I moved onto a rented farm shortly after we married and it had a nice house- one of my favorite houses where I have ever lived. It had small outbuildings but it had a lot of acreage and we raised beef cattle and raised wheat, soybeans, and truck cropped vegetables that we sold at the State Farmers Market in Thomasville, Georgia. I enjoyed that too. We had live water on the property, which means a spring-fed creek to cool off in on really hot days. That was nice.

I have lived on several farms over the years and my husband has yet to put me in one that is Green Acres-like. We did live in his old homestead in Missouri where he grew up that was interesting. It was built on a log foundation with rocks around the edges. A groundhog had gotten in where the rocks had been removed to retrofit plumbing for the bathroom (yes, it was that old). The rascal had gnawed his way almost all the way across the floor joists. He was huge! My son and I watched him through the living room window eating flowers and acorns in the front yard. There was squirrel that used to hang out on the front porch and look in the door through the baby gate and my other son. I think he tried to talk to it, but since no one knows what babies are saying, who knows? We moved into a newer house a couple years later and it was eventually torn down. We had cows and hogs then.

In Wisconsin we lived in a huge house with six bedrooms and a hidden toilet at the top of the stairs. That was interesting! Careful going up those stairs man! It was an old house and we couldn't quite figure out what rooms were supposed to be what in the lower level. The bathroom was built into an alcove under the stairs so it was small and it had a pocket door for an entrance. I still really liked the house, even if it was too big and the bathroom too small. Now we live on another farm with a big old barn - I love big barns. The house actually needs more rooms just to accommodate grandchildren. But, oh man, do I have fun with the cows. They are a bunch of characters. My husband thinks I spend too much time with them since most have names and I can pet them like dogs. But then I have fun on my little tractor too, and wandering the nearly 120 acres with my Labrador retriever. And, I have creeks all over the place- the dog really likes those. Too bad it snows and has to ruin everything.

I have been  in cities and to tell you the truth, I can't sleep there. I can't breathe there. It is way too loud and the houses are too close for my comfort. So, yes, the line in the Green Acres theme song holds true with me, and the only time I'd wager anything is to say that it probably does with a lot of farmers too. "Green acres is the place for me," and especially, 'Take Manhattan; just give me that country side!"