Paper gardening

I'm pleased to report I have a blog post up at Lehman's called Paper Gardening.

Please hop over and read it!

Birthin' another baby

Saturday afternoon as I was starting some early outside chores, I happened to notice little Hickory nursing off Amy.

Let me repeat this: Hickory, who is Sparky's calf, was nursing off Amy, who (at the moment) didn't have a calf.

It's not unusual for calves to "double dip" from other willing cows, but this took on the air of absolute gorging. Greedy Hickory nursed and nursed and nursed, while Amy just stood there and took it.

After a while, Amy laid down, and Hickory still tried to figure out how to get the good stuff.

Then Amy stood up. Then she laid down. Then she gave low moos. And half an hour later, Hickory was still sucking down the milk.

So I clipped Amy's halter to a lead rope, and I tucked her into the barn, which was set with soft bedding and fresh hay. Inside the house, I told Don, "I'm about 75% sure Amy is in early labor."

A couple hours later, near evening, I said, "Since nothing's happening, maybe I'll go ahead and let Amy out of the barn."

"Don't bother," he told me. "You'd just be tucking her back in within an hour."

He was right, but since Amy didn't have any water, I filled a bucket and brought it into her pen; and saw...

She had dropped that calf literally 30 seconds before I walked in. "Not wasting any time!" I gasped, as I dashed into the house to grab my camera (which I had foolishly left behind). "Good call!" said Don, referencing my concern about tucking Amy into the barn in case she was in early labor.

The amniotic sac was still around the baby's head, so Amy got to work removing it.

The weather was chilly but not the bitter, bitter cold we had over the last week (-6F in the mornings), so I'm glad Amy held off until things improved.

I couldn't take many more photos since it was getting so dark in the barn, but I was able to determine Amy's calf was a little boy, and he wobbled to his feet and got his first drink of colostrum (what Hickory didn't suck down first, ha ha) in due time.

Today's weather has been beyond hideous. We've had blizzard conditions: howling wind, blowing snow, drifts closing our driveway and the road, etc. If ever I've been glad to have shelter for the animals, it's days like this. Amy is rather bored, alone in the pen, but at least she and her baby are sheltered from the elements.

Here's the view from the pen. What's not terribly visible are the sheets of sideways-blowing snow. Yowza it's been a wild day.

This little guy (so far unnamed) is Calf #3 out of 5. We can only hope the two remaining cows choose more decent weather to birth their babies...but if not, we'll be vigilant.

Two-day meat pie

It was my turn to host our neighborhood potluck last week. I wanted to make something different, and spent a few days noodling around what it should be. In the end, I decided to make a (beef) meat pie. Not terribly creative, perhaps, but it was tasty.

It took two days to make. The first day, I took two chuck roasts and put them in the Crockpot (sometimes called a slow cooker).

Then I peeled and diced five potatoes...

...which I also added to the Crockpot. I also added about a quarter cup of Worcestershire sauce and nothing else.

I let the meat and potatoes cook slowly all day. Then in the evening, I took out the meat...

...and shredded it. Then I put the meat and potatoes in the fridge overnight.

Mr. Darcy got some of the fatty scraps, which he thought was just a splendid idea.

The next day, I started the pie itself. I chopped up two onions...

...then I added peas, carrots, and garlic. Isn't it wonderful how much of this pie comes from homegrown or home-raised ingredients?

Here's the filling mixture, ready for the pie crust. For spices (in addition to garlic), I added salt, thyme, pepper, sage, and mustard powder.

Making the crust.

I made one large (9x13) and one small (9x9) pie.

As it turned out, thanks to the nasty snowy weather outside, only two families made it to the potluck, so I only cooked the smaller pie (and put the larger one in the freezer for a future potluck). I baked the pie in the wood cookstove's oven.

A nice hearty meat pie -- perfect for nasty snowy weather.

Here's the recipe I used:

Meat pies (1 large, 1 small)

Into the crock pot:

2 chuck roasts
¼ cup Worcestershire sauce
5 medium potatoes, diced
Simmer all day, then shred meat and refrigerate overnight

Filling:

Shredded meat + potatoes
Two jars carrots
1 jar peas
2 chopped onions
½ cup water
To taste: garlic, salt, thyme, pepper, sage, mustard powder

Crust:

6 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups lard
¾ cup water

Dozens of new ebooks now available!

For quite a while now, Don and I have been working on creating a whole bunch of new ebooks for our Country Living Series. In keeping with those we published originally, these new low-cost ebooks are designed to cover unique aspects of rural living, livestock care, preparedness, simplicity, frugality, and rural businesses. All ebooks are in pdf format.

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Additionally, readers of Rural Revolution can get a further 10 percent discount on their total orders by using the promo code RURAL on the checkout page.

Finally, we're looking for other blog or website owners who would be interested in pitching our library of country knowledge on their sites, either by mentioning it with a link, or by posting an advertisement. If you have such a site and want to participate, contact Don at ruralrevolution@hotmail.com. He will provide you with a unique site-specific discount code that you can give to your readers so that they can have a 10 percent discount as well. Not only will you be providing your readers with a valuable resource, but for each order we receive that uses your code, you (the site owner) will receive a further 10 percent of the sales price. If you're interested, contact Don (ruralrevolution@hotmail.com) for further details on payment options and help with designing an ad for your site.

We're very excited about this project and plan to increase the number of books regularly until we become one of the best resources for self-sufficiency on the internet. Thank you to all my loyal readers for your support over these many years.

Valentine's Day snowstorm

For the last few days, we've had cold, clear, sunny weather.

When we took Mr. Darcy for his walks, he could chase sticks and romp around on bare, snow-free ground.

But all that was about to change, in a big way. We had weather moving in.

We're pretty much perpetually battened down this time of year, of course, though we did lay in a bit more firewood for the occasion.

The biggest advantage during snow dumps like this is -- we don't have to go anywhere. We just stay home. What a blessing.

It was fascinating, yesterday afternoon, to watch the clear blue sky gradually get blotted out by incoming clouds.

Below the high cirrus clouds, everything was thickening up on the horizon.

Even the sunset managed to look vaguely ominous, if picturesque.

When we woke up this morning, Valentine's Day, the world was transformed. Here are some before and after photos.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

The new calves, Hickory and Ferdinand, don't mind the snow at all.

(It helps they have a nice cozy barn to curl up in.)

We're keeping a sharp eye on the other cows with regards to calving. I believe Polly is next -- it looks like she's starting to bag up -- and since we're expecting about a week of nasty, unsettled weather, I'll pull her into the barn at the first sign. At least with Jerseys, it's easy to predict imminent birth a few days in advance.

Happy Valentine's Day!