April Snows Bring May Flowers

April 9,2018
Photo credit: Liane Layhew
no filters,iphone 6

The hunt was on for the daffodils! Everyday we were outside, mostly the Wife, walking the front yard and counting little leaves bursting through the ground. All of the sudden there they were! Fourteen perfectly random daffodils and one tulip. None of us know where the tulip came from, but there it was!
And the day came when one bloomed! And the Wife envisioned fourteen, at least, cheerful  yellow blossoms greeting every passer-by. What the wife did not foresee was the three year old Farmer's Daughter...also knows as "The Ninny-nator". Destroyer of makeup bags, ruin-er of rising bread loaves, picker of flowers...The Ninny-nator.
And the first beautiful yellow daffodil bloomed, the Wife took a picture! And The Ninny-nator Farmer's Daughter picked it.  Running behind the Wife and smiling grandly, she showed it to everyone.  Everyone-crestfallen-said, "No, Ninny.  No picking the pretty yellow flowers."
And the next day a new daffodil bloomed in a different location.  And the family cheered!  And we reminded the Ninny-nator NOT to pick the flower.  And she nodded her head in agreement.  And at about two o'clock in the afternoon-she picked it. And the Wife was sad.  She saw a death to her vision. There would be one flower a day.  One flower...and if a passer-by was there at just the right time, and looked in just the right place, providentially the passer-by would see one lovely, coveted, happy yellow daffodil. That was the reality.  And the Wife sighed-she took the flower from the Ninny-nator, gave her a lecture, but knew the war was lost.  If it wasn't a Ninny-nator who would pick the daffodils...it would be someone or something else.
Flower #3 met it's demise to a Frisbee.  Flowers #4 and #5 to the windstorm.  Flower #6 to the dogs.  Flower #8 went MIA. Flower #9 was too close to home plate in our family kickball game. Flower #10 was under the child climbing the magnolia tree. The tulip hasn't bloomed. We think it has seen the fate of those who went before, and has retreated back underground.
Someday...someday you will drive past our little patch of heaven here out west...and you will be delighted with a field of happy yellow daffodils in spring. Someday...

Daffodil Flower #1, April 25, 2018
Photo credit: Liane Layhew
no filters, iphone 6

Just two small words...manure fork

Excited the children with a manure fork this week. It's what Dear Farmer and the Wife picked up on their date...because we know how to thrill our children.
When they rush downstairs(because they aren't actually sleeping when we walk in from our date late night) and the question is "what did you bring me?" They were all just hoping we would say "a manure fork", I am so sure!
Shoulders slump, feet thump back upstairs, certainty that the other shoe will drop in the morning, they trudge back upstairs to bed.
With no messing around, the Wife got people moving into chores the next morning. Take that brand new shiny manure fork to the barn, she told the WhizBang!Farmer's Daughter, and clean the floor.
About half way through the job a tragedy struck. The locking nut fell off disconnecting the tines from the handle. And the nut was lost! WhizBang!Farmer's Daughter concealed her joy and delight well as she broke the news to the Wife. The manure fork would remain new and relatively shiny until a new nut could be bought.
Not to fear, the Wife still has the old pitch fork. The job isn't nearly as neat as it would have been with the manure fork, but it'll work.
The floor of the barn is now clean and fresh. Next date: locking nut for the manure fork. And this time, we'll tighten the nut before chores.

Raspberries for Breakfast

We have the most giant patch of red luscious raspberries right outside our back door. 
When the Wife was a littlest girl she had a raspberry patch that she used to eat breakfast in. A cup of milk from the kitchen and out the door to the raspberries for a morning graze.
 
This morning, while the Wife was cooking oatmeal over the cooktop outside, the Chicken Dinner Farmer's Daughter followed her out.  But she didn't stay with the Wife.  She continued past the Wife and began a morning graze...in the raspberry patch.  She was happy and completely content eating berries. 
The Wife did finish up the oatmeal, and took it inside for everyone for breakfast.  Chicken Dinner happily brought in a few berries to add to her oatmeal, as well as a few to share with siblings.

How can you not just LOVE raspberries from your own backyard for breakfast?

The Bear Cub Puppy Grows Up

Yesterday the Haus Frau Farmer's Daughter had a long and beautiful day to spend outside.  She spent it out there with the former "bear cub" puppy, 'Mate. 'Mate has grown into a ruggedly handsome aussie-teen.  He's tall, sleek, and has just enough puppy left in his face to call him "adorable" as well.
The Haus Frau Farmer's Daughter has been teaching him not to jump up on anything...
this is a huge ordeal for this breed.  The instinct of the Australian Shepherd is to stand and lean on cattle to move them, if that doesn't work, they move to the front for the nose.
Interestingly enough, no one wants a dog jumping up on them after the rain with muddy paws, or on a Sunday morning as we make a mad dash for the van to get to church on time! Nor does anyone want a dog nipping them at their nose if they aren't doing what it wants.  So, training was necessary on this level.
'Mate has been doing great!
He also has instinct to herd the animals to a location where he can see them all.  This means every chicken that goes behind the garage, the house, or in the woods is getting flushed out and driven home. 'Mate is quite the task master, we've watched chickens pant because he won't stop.
Of course, the Haus Frau is finding that 'Mate demands her attention at all times.  There's no downtime for a working dog-until the sun goes down.  He loves working all day!  Doesn't matter what the weather, doesn't matter if the Haus Frau has sniffles, or would really rather go to see a movie.
Responsibilities always come first on a farm!
The Haus Frau Farmer's Daughter is doing good at training her first farm puppy/dog. It hasn't been the "cake walk" she thought it'd be, but she's making it a sweet time anyways!

Multi-tasking...

There are a lot of things Dear Farmer can do.
Multi-tasking, however, should not be one of them.
Dear Farmer has a habit of working in his head on a project, "listening" to the Wife talk, all while actually working on another project.
Surely I exaggerate, you say? No.  I am totally serious.
The fact that he does this, and does it on a very (all too) frequent basis, can fool most people into thinking that he can do it well.
The Wife concedes...usually he does do it well.
EXCEPT!  Except if it is late at night.  Late at night and driving.  Not a good combination.

Example: Dear Farmer and the Wife were out on a date.  Another "hot date" to the local farm-implement store and lumber yard.  While in these locations the Wife had opportunity to think on the present "tiny house" project we have going.  Think and think...and then release on Dear Farmer.  The conversation on the ride home was lively and funny and insightful.  And un-knowingly to the Wife...Dear Farmer was building the ideas into the plans of the "tiny house" in his head.  He was measuring lengths and angles while the Wife continued on the conversation about wash-tubs and clothes lines...
Then it happened.
As we were driving down the highway, approaching our turn-off to home...Dear Farmer didn't slow.  At all.
Not even a little. And the turn was coming up really fast!
The Wife did a little yelp ("turn.").  He didn't respond.
The Wife did a little more forceful yelp ("Turn!").  He blinked and looked around bewildered.
The Wife got all out bossy ("TURN, NOW!").
 Dear Farmer finally responded, "WHY? WHERE ARE WE?!"
"At the ROAD we LIVE DOWN!", the Wife elaborated in a rather forceful voice.
Dear Farmer yanked the steering wheel, stomped on the brake and turned (not a delicate movement by any means).
"What were you DOING?!", the Wife laid into Dear Farmer.
Sheepishly, Dear Farmer responded..."I was working on the tiny house, and driving home from Illinois on a Sunday night."
So we could either say that Dear Farmer was multi-tasking...or displaying signs of early-onslaught dimensia.  We'll go with the multi-tasking.
Dear Farmer, being his wonderful multi-tasking self, was figuring out the gutter system for the tiny houses, thinking about his upcoming commute to see us at the family garden on the Illinois farm and then returning to the Northern Farm on a Sunday evening, all while talking with the Wife on our drive home from our "hot date".
But late night, the worlds in his head, and in reality clashed...and he almost missed the turn to home.

Lots of laughter, lots of elbowing, and some good chuckles from the Farmer's Daughters, the Nordic Ninja, and the Wife.
We love our Dear Farmer...even while he's multi-tasking.

Hey! They clean up pretty well!

Permit me a proud moment of bragging...because I have good cause, not bad character...

This past weekend the Wife had the pleasure of working at the Farmer's Daughters' Prom.  The Wife had the joy of shopping for dresses with the Farmer's Daughter and the Haus Frau Farmer's Daughter.  We looked at hairstyles, accessories, shoes...lots and lots of shoes...we talked logistics of time-frames and conversations with people-we-really-like versus other-people.  It was a pleasure to spend a month of planning and seeing the results of age, maturity, and life-experience.  We had a great time.  Then came the moment of truth...the Wife left the Farmer's Daughters with the beautician and went to the Prom location for set up and preparation.  Having already been briefed by the Haus Frau Farmer's Daughter on good photography-know-how(the Wife was the photographer #2 for the event)...the Wife was off and running!
It was between the pictures of the appetizer table and drink fountain table that the Wife was able to see the most beautiful girls in the event walk through the door.  The Farmer's Daughters, with their BFFs(who are also farm-girls) walked in like Greek Goddesses(a look I think they were pleased to have attained).  They floated on clouds, laughed liked music, and conversed with ease...making all in their presence feel like royalty. And all the Wife could think was, "They clean up pretty well!"
See, covered in the muck and damp from the rain.  In the middle of feeding a bottle to a calf, or hay to a horse, a farm-girl is pretty impressive.  It wasn't a charade for an evening.  They weren't playing a part.  They really are these beautiful Goddess looking ladies on a day-to-day basis, just cleaned up for the "Ball". They are beautiful on the inside as they muck stalls, wipe off grime and bend down to clean gooky-noses all out of love. Daily they are disheveled and dirty with no make up on...But when that farm-girl can get cleaned up and walk with the best-of-them(in high stiletto heels) in a situation so opposite from her day-to-day...THAT'S pretty impressive.

The Wife's Log: April 14, 2016

The day started like any other day. The Pied Piper was sent outside to milk the goat, he returned in the house fifteen minutes later whining that the goat was not cooperating.
The Farmer's Daughter had to leave for work, but went down to milk the goat for the brother instead.
Meanwhile, the Haus Frau Farmer's Daughter (who just had a birthday) madly was doing her own chores so she could go and enjoy her new kayak on the pond.
The Wife drove the Farmer's Daughter to work and sent the Farm-boy Trio out to help Dear Farmer finish preparations for the incoming 1000 chicks this morning.
The Haus Frau Farmer's Daughter finished her work and pleaded to go kayaking on the pond. She took with her the Pied Piper.  The Keeper of the Flame and WhizBang! were anxiously anticipating the soon-to-be chick delivery. It is always amazing how the Wife can find jobs for waiting people to do...they began a job and disappeared "under the radar"(which means the Wife doesn't see them again)...
Left alone in the house with the smallest Farmer's Daughters, the Wife tried desperately to get dressed and clean the kitchen from the onslaught of breakfast.  With three "helpers"...it was going slowly.
In walked the Farmer's Shadow, who had a cold for the past few days and couldn't manage to get up and collect eggs.  He had been feeling well enough to make a dime, and brought in three dozen eggs that he found. He began sorting through the hay in the egg basket for the eggs in the middle of the kitchen floor. Hay all over one's kitchen floor, does not make a cleaning process go faster or smoother.
While changing a diaper and giving orders to the egg sorter a faint "Mother? Mother?" is heard above the roar of life.  The Haus Frau Farmer's Daughter was back with the Pied Piper--both wet.  Apparently all of kayaking is fun, except for the part when the electronic device slides out of the back pocket and lands in the murky bottom of the farm-pond. Tears were shed over the device that she was sure kept her world revolving...but lesson learned:  Don't go kayaking with anything in your pockets.
During the tears, and before the laughter, the chicks came in. Out went the Keeper of the Flame and the WhizBang!Farmer's Daughter to settle them down in brooding houses with Dear Farmer.
Into the house whooshed the Farmer's Daughter with a friend for a lesson on the attachment of fake eyelashes.  Upstairs echoed giggling and laughter. Downstairs we were preparing for a (hopefully) early lunch. With four helpers making lunch, snitching ingredients, and generally causing chaos lunch did happen.  All were called with a whistle.
Downstairs whooshed the Farmer's Daughter with friend to the next appointment.
In came Dear Farmer...the 1000 chicks were short...by 800???  On the phone went Dear Farmer to find out where 800 chicks are peeping currently.  In came the children to snarf down food, all are excited about being next to try out the kayak.  The Youngest Farmer's Daughter Trio is just too small to kayak.  Great tragedy's of life are often solved by popcorn and a movie about a dancing British mouse.  Which works once again today!
Clean up in the kitchen goes much faster without help.
The Pepper Goat was arguing with the Garlic Goat, and the Garlic Goat snapped the Pepper Goat's neck. Tears shed over the loss of a pack-goat, but quickly recovered with another ride on a kayak.
The Nordic Ninja is over to replace headlights and tail-lights with Dear Farmer. The Farmer's Daughter whooshes back home to change into work clothes and whooshes out again to evening work.
No one can find the 800 missing chicks currently, they are somewhere in the USPS(where I am sure someone is going mad listening to unrelenting peeping). Dear Farmer is working to build and wire infastructure, while at the same time keeping the phone nearby in case he hears word of the chicks.
And now, onto those dinner preparations...at 6pm the whole family will be at the table, there will be laughter of the fun, remembering the losses, and encouragement that we can all do this again tomorrow.
This is an amazing world we live in!

Dear Farmer Gets Comfy

When the day is done, and the work is at a point where Dear Farmer can sleep(because work is never actually done), Dear Farmer comes inside the house all excited.
The woodstove is still blazing, the weather outside is muddy and wet and cold (spring in the North! Yippee.), and Dear Farmer begins the process of getting comfy.
Aching joints and sore muscles get oiled. Bumps, bruises and nicks are identified and patched up. And then he sits down in front of the stove.
Off come the wet socks to be hung behind the stove, wool is a wonderful material!  It's kept his feet warm and dry all day!
Off comes the crocheted hat from the Farmer's Daughter (also wet), to be hung to dry.  He loves this hat! It's his favorite!
Off comes the flannel button down shirt. It's also dripping wet.  We make sure we take everything out of the pockets...the pens, the notebook, the index cards(his field and herd logs), and the immense amount of hay. Into the laundry it goes. He's now down to his T-shirt.  He goes and changes this for a dry and clean one for the rest of the evening.
And finally the pants come off. No, this is not a strip-tease!  The pants are covered in muck and mud, poop and hay, and don't forget the occasional egg that he's sat on accidentally while working on the chicken coop.
(Seriously, would you want your husband sitting around the house in these pants???)
To put everyone's mind at ease...he's wearing polar fleece PJ pants under his work pants, so he's not in his undies! So, the pants go into the wash as well.
And now, Dear Farmer is officially comfy.
With all the work clothes off, the house shoes on, lounging in a T-shirt and PJ pants...he's ready for some good conversation and coffee.
Sounds like it's time for some Country Hospitality!!!

This Farm has Princesses

The Bucket, the middle-younger Farmer's Daughter, loves to DO just about anything...as long as it works into the current play...
"Mama, you be the Princess Mama, and I am the Princess Mermaid.  What are we doing Mama?"
Usually the Princess Mermaid's Mama responds, "Unloading the dishwasher." After that job, there's plenty more!  Anything can be done singing and laughing as long as we are Princess Mama and Princess Mermaid.
Chicken Dinner, the youngest-younger Farmer's Daughter, tags along with the Bucket.  She tries desperately to be a princess, but past looking cute is yet mastering anything else. Apparently her primary job in the house is to "seek and destroy".
The Bucket tries to wrangle and teach, but Chicken Dinner is young enough to not care about her sister's direction and will march off in her own tornado.
Over-seeing the entirety of the Princess Population is the Oldest of the Youngest Farmer's Daughters...Me-Oh-My!  She is the one that has to be the boss over everything, even if she doesn't know what's going on...she is the oldest of them!  And having the three bigger Farmer's Daughters always bossing Me-Oh-My! around, she knows how it should be done:

"No, no, Bucket, Princesses do it this way!"
"No, no, 'Ninner Dinner!!! Don't Touch that!!!"
"NOOOO!  We will play this or NOTHING!"

Me-Oh-My! Can be ruthless...


Before I had three Younger Farmer's Daughters, I had no idea Princesses could herd goats, use chickens as confetti that they throw to imaginary admirers, or dance through cow-pies in high-heeled play shoes.  I never foresaw a princess dress riding on a tractor, or a tiara-clad little girl dunking chick-heads.
All of this must prove that Princesses really can be everywhere, and do everything. Even farming.

Late-Night Hay Feeding

Dear Farmer was all in a tizzy...rain was coming!
 Lots of rain, over a relatively short time, makes the fields very sloppy for the tractor.
Sloppy for the Farmer.
Sloppy for the feeding process.
Dear Farmer HAD to get fifteen very large square bales out into the fields before the rain came and he would not be able to traverse the tractor-path due to rain.
Hooking up to the hay-forks and loading a helper(WhizBang!Farmer's Daughter) onto the tractor, out they went....two bales at a time...this means they would need to make ten trips to get the cows the needed fourteen bales of hay and three new-to-us feeders into the fields.
They started the process at four-thirty in the afternoon. Tractors don't move very fast.  The process of just picking up two bales can be time consuming.
By five the rain started coming. Little drops can feel really big when you're in an open cab riding in the open fields.
By five-thirty the temperatures started dropping. The two made a quick dash inside for winter coats and gear.  They were feeling the cold chill quick!
By six in the evening the wind kicked up. They were on trip six and just hoping to get in before...
By six-fifteen it was pretty dark.
By six-thirty it was dark and the family was sitting down to dinner...feeling a little bad that we were eating grilled pork chops(Dear Farmer's favorite meal) and he was still on a tractor working. DONE!  Now they just had to park the tractor back down at the machine shed and walk back home in the cold, dark, rain.
Dear Farmer and the WhizBang!Farmer's Daughter sat down to dinner.  We had the food warm, the woodstove hot, and the fellowship lively.
Dear Farmer won't be doing that one again soon.  He can sit back and enjoy the rain...

The Farmer's Daughters Are In Charge!

Dear Farmer had to leave the farm for a night.  It meant he wouldn't be home to do evening, morning, or afternoon chores.  He had to leave the Farmer's Daughter in charge of the chores.
The Farmer's Daughter was excited! Dear Farmer was leaving as the weather was warming up to a balmy 40F!!!  Chores are actually a whole lot more fun when the weather is warm and sunshiny.
Dear Farmer left the HausFrau Farmer's Daughter in charge of the kitchen.  Armed with four pounds of butter the HausFrau Farmer's Daughter had the "okay" to make anything she wanted!!!  Kitchen work is actually a whole lot more fun when the ingredients you want are being provided for you.
Dear Farmer left with the WhizBang!Farmer's Daughter.  She would be in charge of keeping him awake while he was driving, and entertainment while on the road.  She's very excited to have Dear Farmer all to herself for a full 24 hours.
There will be a day when the littlest Farmer's Daughters will be in charge...but that's not yet.  They are busy dancing like princesses and cuddling dollies.
Dear Farmer is just pleased to be able to hand over responsibility to these three daughters and know everything will be done just how it should be.

The "Polar Bear" puppy and Farmer's Daughter

The Farmer's Daughter became the caretaker of the the "Polar Bear" puppy-a Great Pyrenees- the moment she saw it.  The puppy, at nine weeks, was the size of our full-grown Australian Shepherd.  She was instantly in love. Affectionately referred to as the "Polar Bear" this pup is playful, smart, and a self-thinker.
The Farmer's Daughter has been taking her for regular walks around the perimeter of the farm property.  The two have a grand time.  As the Polar Bear is so large, her strides are pretty big as well, so she keeps up with or exceeds the strides of the Farmer's Daughter, the walk is done in a relatively short time.
Currently, because it is wintertime, the fields are damp enough to have created ice intermixed with the snow. The Farmer's Daughter, while on the walk today, slipped on the ice and landed flat on her back.  The Polar Bear saw the Farmer's Daughter down on the ground behind her.  The Polar Bear stopped, picked up the end of the leash that the Farmer's Daughter would hold, walked it over to the Farmer's Daughter(still on the ground), and licked her face as if to say "Get up and let's keep going!"  The Farmer's Daughter is thrilled! This was proof positive for her that there is a relationship between the two(girl and dog) and that the Polar Bear will be a good guardian dog for the farm. Ahh, if we only could all have a Polar Bear in our lives...

The Farmer's Daughters' Bedroom.

It's a never ending cycle, and worse in the wintertime than the summertime.  House cleaning.  More specifically...bedroom cleaning.
Some days the bedrooms look like the destruction of the third World War, some days it's just more of a laundry explosion.  It all depends on how cold it is outside.
If it's VERY cold outside, it's the latter rather than the former.
We are constantly cleaning bedrooms.
Organizational tools are for bedrooms that only have one or two children in them.  The Farmer's Daughters are in a large room together.  That's six daughters in one bedroom the size of the living room.  First of all, that's a lot of girls/hormones in one room.  Second, that's a lot of stuff in a room.  Thirdly, that's a lot of laundry in a room.
The Farmer's Daughters do a great job of organizing...but the Smallest Farmer's Daughter Trio, they don't read.  Labels are stickers waiting to be peeled off. Bins look pretty-especially when emptied all over the floor and used to place blankets in lovingly for doll beds.  Folded laundry is for wimps that don't have a little sister to hide more important things from.
So organizing has flown out the window for the Smallest Farmer's Daughter Trio.  Instead we have streamlined their laundry and belongings in the bedroom.  Sounds nice, but now we have the issue of the Smallest Farmer's Daughter Trio getting into the belongings of the Bigger Farmer's Daughter Trio.
The Eldest Farmer's Daughter solved her problems by taking over the walk-in closet...she's made it her bedroom, it has a door with a lock on it.  All her stuff, her bed, her dresser and herself fit very neatly into the closet.  And when she comes out of the closet every day-she doesn't care that she's brunt of her brothers' joke because she and her stuff are all safe from little hands.
The Haus Frau and WhizBang! Farmer's Daughters have the brunt of the little sisters now.  They have devised a method to keep the little sisters on their toes and out of their stuff.  Ever played "Hide and Go Seek"?
Their organization is very similar to finding the needle in the haystack.  Laundry is shoved in drawers and under beds, hanging from baskets and in hooks.  Prize possessions are given homes each week.  Keeping them on the move keeps the little sisters from finding and raiding them-candy, Ipods, lotion, and chapstick-these are a few of our favorite things.
Heaven help us if someone can't remember where the electronic device was moved to this week.  The hormonal meltdown is equal to a nuclear reactor detonating.
Going off The Wife's Mother's rule when she was a child ("I need a path from the door to your bed.") is the beginning of cleaning the room.  If The Wife says this to the Farmer's Daughters they know that the next day will be cleaning the Smallest Farmer's Daughter Trio Quadrant, followed by the next day of the Farmer's Daughter cleaning out her closet/room, and so on and so forth.  By day five, it should all be clean and we can relax on day six. To make the mess again, and begin the whole process all over again the next week.
O the joy.
Someday all the Farmer's Daughters will look back on having shared a room together with fondness and laughter.  Someday the Farmer's Daughters will use the same phrases their mother used and her mother used and I might think her mother had used..."If you can't find a place for it, don't keep it!", "Make a path from your bed to the door."  You know those, maybe you use them too.  Someday the Farmer's Daughters will have clean bedrooms.

The Snow, the Skis, and the Farmboy Trio

We finally have snow that is staying on the ground!  This can only mean one thing at our farm-it's time for winter activities to begin!
The favorite activity this year appears to be cross country skiing.  The Keeper of the Flame (oldest of the Farmboy Trio) is finally big enough to wear the boots and actually move the skis where he desires to go.
He's been waiting a long time (2 years), because the boots we have are the Wife's and she wears a woman's size 7...as the Keeper of the Flame is shorter than the Wife, it was a wait he did not know if he was going to endure alive.  Who cares about being taller than your mother? The Keeper of the Flame wants his feet to fit into her ski boots!
This new freedom he has comes with strings...he has to share the skis with the Wife(who actually owns them, so she gets first dibs) and all the Older Farmer's Daughters.  But wait!  There's more...
The Pied Piper wants to ski also.  Because "anything that the big brother can do, I should get to do too", is the Pied Piper's frame of thought.  The Pied Piper didn't want to believe the Wife when she said his feet weren't big enough for the boots, or that the skis were too big and he was too small, or that he had to wait a couple more years to grow a little older....these were all mute points.
So no less than three times in the day, the Wife has rescued the Pied Piper from death in cross country ski-related activity.  First he was well stuck on the ground with skis all discombooblated and poles sticking and pointing in dangerous positions.  Then he was precariously balanced betwixt tree and poles with skis dangling in the air(note: skis do not make you fly).  The Wife's all time favorite was the "hill" he created down the slide and was attempting to ski down it (the skis are almost longer than the slide).
The Wife introduced snow shoeing(we have a pair for every family member), skating (a black pair fit him perfectly), but who cares about all of those?  The Pied Piper was born to cross country ski!
Don't forget about the Keeper of the Flame, however.  He has been patiently waiting for this moment to come in his life, he gets dibs before his disobedient brother!  So upon waking every morning, in order to assure that the Keeper of the Flame gets the skis, he is the first one up and dressed with chores done and he's out the door and on the skis, blissfully enjoying the serenity of a crisp winter morning on the farm...cross country skiing.

Dear Farmer is "Old Fashioned"

I know that title surprises you, doesn't it?!
Dear Farmer spent the day battling the weather.  Freezing snow and rain mix pelted him all day.  Add to that the loveliness of high winds and biting cold, it was perfect winter weather for the North.  That is what Dear Farmer worked in all day.  Walking back and forth between hay feeders, with hay and without hay to get more hay. Opening and closing hydrants for water tanks.  Carrying feed buckets for the chickens, watering the chickens, gathering eggs, building pens for the goats and "polar bear"-puppy in the barn, so they were sheltered from the weather, and chasing calves (who were jumping through the feeders) back into the barnyard.  That was all Dear Farmer did, all day, twelve hours.
Now when Dear Farmer walked in the door to the house(frozen) he relaxed in the warm room next to the woodstove...and picked up a book.  Totally oblivious to the bug-eyed teenage Farmer's Daughters sitting on the couches in the room.  The girls had a crazed look in their eyes.  The look that said, "I haven't talked to anyone but my family ALL DAY!"  There were dolls on the floor mixed with legos and pattern blocks, a nice array of board books and wood chips decorated the area directly where he sat thawing.  But he didn't notice.  Suddenly, as if the veil had been lifted from his face, he saw everything.  The Farmer's Daughters, the mess, the twitching eyebrow on the Wife's face.
"Eh?" , said Dear Farmer
He was answered (enthusiastically) by all the Farmer's Daughters all at once.  Though it sounded like dull humm of an outboard motor in water, there was one common thread he could understand from all the girls..."The storm has taken out the internet!"{GASP!}
What that means is on this particularly miserable day, while all the children had off school-work, they were cooped up inside and not one of them could stream a video, not one could text a friend, no one could check out the blogs, the news, or social media of any kind.  It had been a day where all they can do was read a book or talk to eachother.  They played games together, they painted eachother's nails, they drew pictures of animals, we had conversations.  It was a great day!  But quite frankly the Wife was ready to have everyone go to bed, her ears had begun to ring from so much interaction. (thus the twitching eyebrow).
But the internet being gone was no big deal for Dear Farmer.  He was glad it was gone...we had an old fashioned evening.  All was quiet, the Old Fashioned kind of quiet.

The "Dog-days" of Winter

I know that the "dog-days" are in summer!  I know all about the stars and WHY it's called the "dog-days" of summer...but on the farm we have experienced a new phenomenon.  Maybe you have as well...when it rains it pours...dogs.
The Hausfrau has for months been wanting to breed our farm dog (a purebred Aussie) and sell puppies.  Part for the money, part for the want of a puppy, part as insurance that when/if the farm dog dies...there's a replacement.  Searching for another purebred Aussie (unpapered) within the Wife's required hour travel radius has not been easy.  Search has been limited.
Meanwhile, the farm is purchasing a Great Pyrenees puppy to guard the meat chickens we produce in the summer...keeping the predator issues at a minimum would be maximum. The search for the farm (as the Wife is not the one driving) has been much expanded.
Wouldn't you know the two would be found within days of eachother?!  Isn't that just the way it works?
On one end of the farm we have housed in a chicken pen a "polar bear" puppy.  She's nine weeks old.  She's absolutely adorable and squeeze-ably soft. The Farmer's Daughter is in love.  She's announced she'll never get married or have children, just this one "polar bear".
On the other end of the farm we have crated in the house a "brown bear" puppy.  He's seven weeks old. He's absolutely fluff-ably soft and roly-poly cuteness.  The Hausfrau is in love.  She's announced she will have the cutest puppies ever and the best herding dog on the farm.
The farm dog we have has been the "Queen Bee" of the farm for five years.  She feels totally inundated with puppies from every angle.  Of course, the Hausfrau has plans that she will have her own litter of puppies... but to not have even been pregnant and all of the sudden have puppies...everywhere, puppies!!! She's a little discombobulated.  She feels as though the sky has been falling.  Or maybe...it's that the "Dog-days" of winter are here.

Cows Go Take a Hike!

Due to Dear Farmer's excellent containment fencing-we haven't had cows get out in the road(also the front of the house) in a while.  No, instead they decided last night it would be nice to take a hike...ahem...in the back 40.  So, when Dear Farmer went out to do chores in the morning...he was missing about half his herd.
The call went out in the house for "all hands on deck!" and we sprung into action.
The Hausfrau Farmer's Daughter had to watch the house...clean up breakfast, make sure the walls didn't cave in.
The WhizBang!Farmer's Daughter had to watch children...dressed, chores getting done, and making sure they all stayed safe.
The Keeper of the Flame had to do his chores and take care of the animals at home.
Everyone else just had to obey the "biggers" in charge.
The Wife got all bundled to go out and help Dear Farmer.  The cows were back...Wa-a-ay back...out past the nearest neighbors and down almost to the next township.
Thankfully Dear Farmer's voice can carry pretty well on a crisp morning.  "Come On, Cows! Let's Go! Let's Go! Let's Go!" , he shouted as he clapped. The cows heard that call eighty acres away and 'bellered response. They were on the move, the hike had to be made back home.
While Dear Farmer was calling and clapping the Wife took the farm-dog out for a "training session". The farm-dog was all excited to get to move the cattle around!  Farm-dog helps, be we usually lock her up when it's important to have the cows go where we NEED them to...because she's just not that good yet.  But this time, she did okay.  At first she was really careful and listened really well to us-but then she got cocky and tuned us out.
 All-in-all the hike home went well....the cows are back in the pasture, the house is still standing, the chores were done, the animals were cared for.  Just the beginning of the day....

Pack Goat Training: Day One

Always in a quest to make animals more useful, we are endeavoring to make our goats "pack-goats".
How is this useful? I am so glad you asked...here's the story....

So, throughout the year (the winter especially) the Wife is looking for ways to keep the Farmboy Trio busy in positive and character-building pursuits.  A lazy boy is eventually a naughty boy.  That's the Wife's theory. In the quest to make animals constantly useful, and mixed with the need to engage three little Farmboys, the Wife found an article on "Pack Goats".  Does anyone else remember the picture of the goat with the straw hat and sweet little backpack on his back from Richard Scarry books?  Goats pulling carts of children and fencing supplies, children taking goats on adventures with packs full of supplies, Dear Farmer getting his lunch delivered to him via "pack-goat". That was exactly what the Wife thought of!  Add to that the picturesque thought of a brother leading his goat which is pulling a cart with his sister in it(both children clean and smiling faces) and you have a Wife on a mission!!!
"Dear Farmer, we must train our goats!", declared the Wife, and off she went in search of training material.  Dear Farmer, I think, mumbled something that was probably an "okay" and rolled over to go back to sleep...because it was probably very late at night and as soon as the sun goes down, so does Dear Farmer. Anyways, the Wife has been reading blogs and watching youtube videos like mad to learn how to teach the Farmboy Trio to train the goats.

Well, today was the first day of training.  It started to rain at about 9am, and it hasn't stopped since.  But neither rain nor lack of time was to dissuade the Wife from setting out with four children (Farmboy Trio and also WhizBang!Farmer's Daughter) for goat-training day number one.
The Keeper of the Flame has decided to work with "Garlic", a brown Billy Goat.
The Pied Piper is working with "Pepper", a black and white Billy Goat.
The WhizBang!Farmer's Daughter is working with "Paprika", a dark-brown doeling.
The Little Farmhand(Dear Farmer's Shadow) was working with "Cumin", a light brown doeling.

Step one: Entice the goat to always be your friend by feeding them a peanut.
This was very easy.  Everyone got this one, no problem.

Step two:Put collar and leash on goat.
The Billy Goats got a little concerned during this process, the doelings didn't notice what we were doing, they were looking for where we had pulled the peanuts out from.

Step three: Take the goats on a long walk.  This will build up endurance.  Make sure you tell them where to go, not them telling you where to go.
And here's where the rubber met the road.  In the rain there were children walking, running, laughing and grunting.  Goats were pulling and tugging, nibbling and nudging, jumping and bucking.  It must have been quite a sight for the cars driving by.  Rain and cold with children and goats all over the place in the mud and fields.  It was the Little Farmhand that couldn't get "Cumin" to cooperate.  Plead with her as he did, she was more interested in getting out of the rain than playing with the little boy.  He was crushed.  We told him that we would do it again on a day when it's not raining, maybe she will be better.  But in the end, the only thing that made life any better was sitting by the woodstove and reading a book with the Wife.

Well, day one went well. We'll consider it a success, if for no other reason, because the humans got out there and did something productive. The goats didn't lay around the hay barn all day just getting fat, they were expected to get out there an do something as well.  Everybody ready for day two???

Dear Farmer's Favorite Holiday-Thanksgiving!

Why? Because there's no gift giving involved.  Because there's a focus on gratitude to God.  Because there's a meal involved, with turkey!  Because we have one super-amazing family that gathers together and doesn't pretend to have a good time, they actually are having a good time! Because it marks the end of the busy season, and the beginning of rest.
Our tradition is to go to gather with family where-ever the Wife's Grandma (the Amazing Farm-Wife) is.  As the matriarch of the family, where-ever she goes is designated "the Family Thanksgiving" house.  Some years ago she traveled to our cottage for Thanksgiving, and then to our farm...so we hosted.  Nowadays she stays closer to home and the family gathers at Fabulous Aunt and Uncle's home.  That is where we will be this year.  It will be a small crowd...Dear Farmer and the Wife.  Honorable Son #1, The Farmer's Daughter, the Hausfrau, the WhizBang! Farmer's Daughter, the Keeper of the Flame, the Pied Piper, the Farmer's Shadow, the Little Farmer's Daughter Trio, The Millibilly Cousins and their 9 Millibilly Children, the Bike Doctor and the Doctor's Wife and Grandson, Donald Duck-Uncle and his boys, Huey and Duey, Un-Cool Photographer, The Overcomer Uncle, Great Uncle, Great Aunt, Great Cousin, Fabulous Aunt, Fabulous Uncle, Awesome Grammy and The Amazing Farm-Wife-Grandma. Just a small contingent of the broader mob we call FAMILY.
Happy Thanksgiving from Dear Farmer's Family to you! We hope you enjoy your day as well!

The Goats Preferred Warmer Weather

Really, can you blame them?  Just a couple short days ago they were nibbling on pasture grass.  Today they are eating dry hay.  A couple of day ago they were sunning themselves on the deck.  Today they are laying on a bale of hay out of the cold wind and off the cold ground.  We are all pretty sure that when they come out to greet us, they are saying, "Where did the sunshine go?"
When the Wife strapped on the snowshoes to take the goats on a walk they looked at her with eyes that said, "Is this what we have come to?  You expect me to...what?"
When the Farmer's Daughter and the Pied Piper went out to milk the goat she tentatively got on the stand and looked back at them as if to say, "You warmed your hands, right?!"
Everything moves a bit slower in the cold. The goats are nice and insulated between the forage from the woods, the pasture and the chicken feed they gorged on when Dear Farmer forgot to cover the bucket. Their winter coats have grown in nice and thick, thanks to the alpine heritage.  They really are ready for winter.  However, I think they are praying for a quick spring with the rest of us.