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Stash Bash – Nothin but a new milk cow

By on May 2, 2013 in Farm and Garden, Stash Bash

Yikes!!  Has it been a week since I last talked to you?  My goodness, you wouldn’t believe what we have been up to!!  I have had no time to work on anything that I could call a stash bash  (has that ever happened before here?) or than the fact that most of the things that we built this week were done with wood and fencing we already had around for the most part (has that ever happened before here?).  Well,  I am not sure if I have ever told you about my fiasco with milk cows.  Lets just say that I have not had the best luck.

I have been ripped off, had cows sold out from under me right before I buy them and well, it has been a long journey to here.  Last Saturday, I went to visit my friend Peggy at the farmers market.  I had been telling everyone and anyone who would listen that it is time to buy another milk cow.  With the price of raw milk we pay about $250 a month just for milk, that doesn’t include the hefty price we pay to buy real, good for you products like butter, cheese etc.

Well, I had found someone selling a milk cow online locally and contacted them.  The next day at the farmers market, Peggy tells me that she knows someone with a Jersey, in milk!! Wouldn’t you know that it was the same person??  That seemed like fate to me.

I made a date to go and see the farm and meet the owner and of course the cow : )  It turned out that we had lots in common and ended up talking for quite a long time over a cup of tea.  Lots of cow and milk talk to be had.  Lots of learning too.

A few days later after the boys and I scrambled to build a big cow pen and turn a corner of the barn into a milking stanchion, our cow was being delivered.  I didn’t sleep a wink that night, thinking that in the morning I would embark on a milking adventure.

When she got here I was super nervous.  I have only had one cow, Miss Chloe, and she was a beautiful, terrible, aggressive cow who would try to kill me anytime she could.  My beautiful Chloe ended up having to go to the butcher after 7 months of trying to tame her.

I reminded myself as I had to handle this new cow and get her off the trailer that she was not Chloe and she was a nice one.  I had milked her at the farm and she had let me scratch and pet her out in the field.  This was my cow now and I had to put aside my fear and take care of her.  Erica and the boys stood there with me and we led our cow to her new pen.  We gave her hay and water and spent the rest of the afternoon petting her and giving her treats.

The next morning we milked her (that is a story for another day) and had to give half the milk to our piggie because she stuck her foot in the pail. I felt victorious!  I felt like a super hero!!  I made milk shakes for the kids and we have been doing this all week : )

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or follow me by email at the top right hand of the screen to have future posts sent to you. Tricia (Crunchy Catholic Momma)

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Farm Security

By on April 20, 2013 in Farm and Garden

Thank you all for your opinions, comments and encouragement.  Though more than half of the comments were slowly eaten by Blogger (grrr) I did read each one.  I truly am grateful to each and every one of my readers, you all mean so much to me…you know that, right?

Baby animal duty has us up pretty early lately around here.  Luckily, baby animals grow up quickly, and baby humans do not : )  As much as I am cherishing every minute of my own sweet baby being in my arms, I do need him to sleep a little more at night so that this farm momma can get going a little quicker in the morning (more complaining about that in the near future I am sure).

One of our new farm babies is Fiona, our new Great Pyrenees puppy.  She is a livestock guardian dog and will be in charge of farm security.  She might look small now but she will grow to fill the big shoes of head of security!  We are so excited to have found her after looking for quite a while and not finding a pup that we could afford.  She is now being trained by walking with me the perimeter of our farm every morning and she hangs out during the day with the chickens who are her main customers.  Hopefully having a farm dog again will mean losing less of our chickens to predators.

I am now off to work on the new cow pen.  I expect our cow to be here in another week or two at the most.  The wonderful woman we are buying her from will be teaching me to hand milk on Monday morning….soooo exciting!!  I hope to buy a milking machine soon but until I can afford another big investment like that, I shall be a milking farm momma!!  (hmmm sounds kind of like a blog name haha just kidding)  though I wonder if Farm Momma would work better than Farmish Momma.  Yikes, this is kind of like naming a baby!! or rather renaming a baby! or a five year old.  I hope you all have a great Saturday!!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or follow me by email at the top right hand of the screen to have future posts sent to you. Tricia (Crunchy Catholic Momma)

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