Wow, I'm really falling down on the blogging job. Sorry about that.
Nothing is really new here except the things that naturally happen when you live on an arctic farm. It's cold, finally snowy and the critters are wishing they lived in Florida. Honest! I saw the three breeding turkeys perusing a pamphlet for Disney World the other day. I think it came by airmail... get it?
We finally got some snow last week. It's not nearly enough to last the entire winter but at least it's something. It gets cloudy and snows a bit then clears off for a couple days then gets cloudy for a few hours and then clears off, etc. It's very weird.
Sped, our crippled piggy, meets the butcher in two days and the four butcher turkeys, I think, are getting butchered on Saturday. It's not too soon for Thanksgiving but they will have time to come out of rigor. I can't imagine trying to cook a turkey that is in full rigor. YUCK!!!
In happier, less gory news, I milked my cow tonight! No calf yet but she is bagging up. She's only half-way through her pregnancy but it's pretty common for first-calf heifers to bag up four months early. I was freaking out, imagining her going into labor around Christmas and trying to save this tiny, premature calf but I guess it's normal so I can quit panicking. As for the milking, I was checking to feel the progress of her bag, since I'd noticed that it was loosening up last week, and felt a hard, dried thing on one of her teats. It came right off and she was leaking a little so I squeezed and out came a drop of milk! Cool huh? She doesn't have any problem with me messing around with her udder, so long as she isn't eating. When she's got food in front of her then she wants to be left alone. So much for distracting her with grain or something while she's being milked. She even moves her leg back to make it easier. Hopefully, she'll be a great milk cow.
I've decided to move out, or up rather. We have two bedrooms and a bathroom, unfinished, upstairs and I've decided to turn them into a suite for me. Mom hates the idea of taking her sewing stuff upstairs and I can't fit in my room anymore, (hahahaha!!! I'm not that big, but I have a lot of stuff). It'll be nice to have a room for sleeping and a room for hanging out, doing crafts or goofing around on my laptop while Dad is watching tv downstairs. We already have a toilet, it's just not installed and a shower and vanity don't really cost that much. I can't wait to get started!! Mary Beth quit her job so I don't watch Kelley and Riley anymore but she is going to try to get hired on when WalMart opens in February. She stilll owes me a couple hundred and I think Bonnie is pretty much set for hay so, yahoo!!!!!!
I was going to post pictures of my mayonnaise making but the pictures are on my camera still... which is at Kathy's... down the driveway, sooooo, maybe next time.
Nothing new is going on with anybody else in the family so far as I am aware. Except, our van is paid off so Mom and Dad's medical bills are going to start getting paid off and when they are, Dad is going to get his shoulders looked at by the same guy that did Mom's knee. Dad doesn't realize it yet, but that's the plan. Mom's knee is still a little sore but healing great. Hopefully she can refrain from injuring herself further for awhile.

~Pam

The Countdown Begins

The pig and four of the turkeys are on their detox diet before they get butchered. We detox them to rid their bodies of the soy that's in the grower. We are getting the pig butchered by a professional but the turkeys are being done here. We've got one of the turkeys sold I'm pretty sure and if we can get some help with the butchering then I might pay the help with a turkey. If they can stomach it after the process that is. We'll see. We are keeping three of the turkeys, a tom and two hens for breeding stock. I'm pretty sure, in our political climate, that the fewer animals we have to buy the better. I'd just as soon "the man" not know how many food critters we have.
Bonnie is doing great. I think the calf is moving around a lot because she is constantly flicking her tail at her haunches and staring at her butt. I feel sorry for her, kind of, but I know she'll get used to it and might not be so confused next year, or the year after...
I managed to get some brome hay since she doesn't like timothy and alfalfa is ridiculously expensive. I think I have enough to see her through most of the winter now with the remnants of a round bale of timothy and 16 bales of brome. Dad built a feeder so it's not on the ground anymore, being stomped, peed and pooped on. Hopefully, the waste will be kept to a minimum this year.
Charlie is still in Wasilla.
Mom is stil at the district.
Dad is stil unemployed, but working on Kathy's house.
My work is fixing to be cut severly since one of my moms is quitting her job. Nov. 7 is her last day so I'm not sure what's going to happen there. They are trying to buy a house so I'm not sure if she's going to be looking for something else or if they are just going to tighten their belts and deal with it. At least, with the new custody agreement, I know the days when I have India and Phaedra, and it's pretty predictable.

The weather up here is being weird. It's frozen a couple of nights but when it clouds up, indicating snow, it usually warms up and rains. It's odd for October to be so close to over with nary a snowflake in sight. At least it's warm though, instead of really cold but just no clouds. Nothing says autumn like walking through the backyard, trees still clinging to the last few, yellow leaves, feet whooshing through the ones on the ground and having turkeys gobbling. I love this season, it's my favorite one.
Okay, that's all I've got for now. I'd post a really good picture I got of Baby Hoffman, but I need to get Jo's permission first since she was between Baby Hoffman and my camera. (If you don't know who I'm talking about then disregard the above monologue. If you do then pop on over to her blog and ask her if I can post it. Heehee)

~Pam

What a strange week!

So, strange things have been going on this week. It started when Tony and Kiki went to court for their final settlement conference and Tony got awarded visitation with India. They switch Phaedra every week and the week that Tony has her, he gets India for four days too. India's biological parents (specifically her mother) were trying to keep her away from Tony but she was really suffering from the lack of a dad's influence. Hopefully this will even things out for her a little.
Then, schedules are being changed and shifted and my life is very, very hectic of late.
Then, the kids have all been sick but I've managed to avoid the brunt of it, despite repeated and severe exposure. I chock it up to cod liver oil, oysters, kefir and kombucha in massive quantities. I have sore tonsils and a bit of extra mucus but that's about it. WooHoo!!!!!
And finally, I managed to give Riley a syrup shower the other morning. I was leaning over, giving the bone from his pocket to Dozer, so Riley could eat his french toast and I heard a very indignant, "PAM!". I looked at Riley and started laughing as the pool of syrup on his head started dripping down his face and onto the chair. All three of us (me, Phaedra and Riley) had a good laugh while I wiped most of it off so he could eat. He had a shower when he was finished and he was nice and clean when his mommy got home.
We had giant wind last night. It somehow shorted the power at Kathy's. Apparently, the transformer is bad so it's not gonna be a couple minutes to get it fixed. I was really grateful that my dad got the buildings bolted together. That trailer, perched on it's eensy, weensy blocks, would have hit the ground last night without that giant addition holding it steady. I'm thanking the Lord for keeping the trees upright and off all of the houses and critter. And I hope I never go through wind like that at night again. During the day is fine cause I'm aware, not laying in a bed, helpless to dodge crashing foliage.
So, all in all, a very strange week, but it had it's moments.
Later,
~Pam

This is Turnagain Arm, in June.

K, this is gonna have to be fast since it's late and I got Riley in the morning. I haven't found a website that documents the size of a calf the entire pregnancy but I did find one that says how big they are for the first six months. At this time her calf is between mouse and rat sized. I guess a disclaimer is needed here: She has not been palpated or pregnancy tested but she was in with Obi for three heat cycles and didn't cycle after the first week she was there. We know she cycled while she was in Talkeetna since Obi can tell the difference between a receptive and non-receptive cow and he was definitely interested for a week or so. Soooo, barring a positive pregnancy test, which are expensive and complicated (ever try and predict where a cow is going to pee?), I'm just going on Obi's instincts and assuming she is pregnant.

Night,
~Pam

P.S. Bovine pregnancy tests actually use blood or milk, not pee but the joke wouldn't work that way.

Bonnie is...

Almost home and pregnant. Tony's plan to bring her home next weekend, to give him time to put a roof on his addition, fell through when Bonnie got loose again. This time she ate everything in his garden, except the potatoes, and then refused to go back into the corral. He spent two days trying to catch her before calling in reinforcements. He got a lead rope on her but never could keep a handle on her long enough to get her tied back up to her tree. Last time I talked to him he said he was going to get some more hands to help and then tie her to the tractor and then it was into the trailer. I called last night and talked to his son who said they had caught her and nobody got hurt. I imagine Tony will be glad to be rid of her. I guess I've got some planning to do if I want to convince him to do this again next year. Or plan to have Obi down here next summer, either way, it's going to take some planning.
So, in honor of her first pregnancy I present a ticker to mark the days. Tony thinks he knows the day that she was bred so we're going by that, July 4th. Also, if I can find something, I'm going to post how big the calf is during her pregnancy. Stay tuned cause I'm still searching for such a thing.

Girl Videos

These are montages for India and Phaedra. There is music so crank up the music! Raisa's is in the April archives for those who missed it.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Making Real Butter

So, for the past month or so that we've been getting our raw milk I've been shaking the cream back in. We needed the extra fat, in a readily assimilatable (check it out, I created a word!) form and I was just plain lazy. A few days ago I decided that it was time to start making butter instead. I skimmed last week's gallons (two) and got two pints of really nice, thick cream. Think about that, each gallon had a pint of cream on it! And one of them wasn't even a full gallon. I love those cows!
On a side note, butter from GRASS-FED cows is an excellent source of Vitamin A and it assists in the conversion of beta carotene to vitamin A in our own digestive tracts. The beta carotene from the grass is converted to vitamin A by the cow and excreted into the milk because babies cannot make vitamin A at all. Considering the diet of the typical American, y'all need more grass-fed dairy in your diets. Good stuff it is!
Anyway, here's my process for making butter. Actually, I sometimes make the kids do it by shaking jars but that's only when I want them to be busy for awhile. :-) We even have a song for it: "Shake Shake Shake
Shake Shake Shake
Shake Your Butter
Shake Your Butter!"
Sorry, got a bit sidetracked there. Now, on to MY butter-making:


This is the second pint. You can see the line of cream at the top of the milk.



Two pints, ready for butter-making. This is very close to the color of the cream. The pure white cream that you buy in the store isn't naturally how it should look. Yellow cream comes from the beta carotene in the grass that happy cows eat. But not necessarily in California.

Taking a whirl in the food processor. I used to use the blender but the cream gets too thick and makes a pocket above the blades, thus preventing the formation of butter. I like the food processor better cause it holds more and it's faster.


This is the butter and butermilk, separated. I haven't added any colorants to it and it really is this yellow. Again, the beta carotene does this to it.

separating the butter and the buttermilk. I might give the buttermilk to Carol so she can make me a buttermilk pie. Or I might make buttermilk pancakes or buttermilk waffles? The possibilities are endless! I let the butter drip for awhile and then went to my next step.

This is the butter, floating in a bowl of cold water. I work the butter while cold water, from the faucet, rinses the extra buttermilk away. I can't save it all! You work the butter in cold water so it doesn't melt and stick to your hands, and you have to knead all the buttermilk out so the butter doesn't develop a rancid flavor. I worked in some salt after this, in the food processor but I forgot to get a picture.

Finished butter, in a pint jar. I got almost a pint of butter and a pint of buttermilk. Not bad for a day's butter-making.

Later,
~Pam

Creation of Real Food and hair pics

The pig roast was last Saturday and it was a smashing success! We had many more people this year than we did last year and not as many leftovers. I took Kelley and Riley (Kathy's grandkids and my newest charges) to it this year. The girls were not available for the pig roast so they missed out on the fun. Anyway, here's some pictures of the piggy experiment that my dad conducted. He knows that the method works, just maybe not on pigs...


Dad tried to skin him with air. He inserted an air nozzle just under the skin and pumped the piggy's skin full of air. The pig is no longer living for this! Unfortunately, it doesn't work on hogs. It just seemed to inflate his fat, rather than separate the skin from the fat. Oh well, lesson learned. He and Jeff (the ex-owner of Pastor and Anita's house) skinned him and Pastor roasted him Friday night/Saturday morning. He was delicious!

And now, on to the newest hair pictures...


This is India's hair. It's growing back from a big chop that I did about five months ago. She thinks she needs to have it cut again but really, she just needs to be taught how to take care of it.


Phaedra's beautiful, brown hair. Her hair is darker than this picture because of the flash but you can tell how long it is. It's naturally straight and these are the remnants of braidwaves. I believe, unbraided and brushed straight, her hair is down to her tailbone. She, unlike India, never wants to have her hair cut. Her dad trimmed the ends a few months ago but she has grown back those missing inches and a little bit more I believe. She needs to be taught how to take care of her hair too. But her Dad needs to learn as well since he lets her leave it down all the time so it gets tangled and dirty and damaged cause she's just 4 years old. Apparently, he CAN braid, but he just doesn't. I guess it's a short-haired guy thing.

Well, that's all I got for this post.

~Pam

Well, hmm...

It seems Bonnie faked me out last month. According to Tony, she did not cycle when I thought she should. He thinks maybe she was just going into season when we got her down there and maybe she has already been bred. Obsidian was very interested in her, in a more-than-friends sort of way, for about a week. Tony saw some mounting behavior but not the actual deed itself. It's not surprising since a cow is in standing heat for a very brief period of time (standing heat is when she will stand still, in case you couldn't tell). He's got the twenty-first day of her visit marked on his calendar so he'll know to start watching her then. If she goes back into heat, as evidenced by Obi's behavior then he'll be able to tell and if she hasn't cycled again in that time then she was bred as soon as she got there. My cow might already be pregnant! I just got the coolest idea!!! It'll be the next post though, not this one. Forgive the randomness of the post, I am exhausted. Aren't I always?

Things continue along back at the ranch. Dad's deckhanding plans fell through so he's not sure what he's going to do for money this summer. This is especially bad cause we NEED to get a barn up before spring, and for that we NEED to get the concrete poured before it freezes and that's going to cost major coin. I don't think my piddly paychecks are gonna get that done but we'll see. Mom is still doing summerschool stuff for the district and starting to gear up for the start of regular school. Charlie is still keeping on in Wasilla, doing the same old stuff every day.

Well, I don't have any new hair pictures to post that aren't on Facebook and I think that anyone who's interested in that stuff is already on there so...

I'm gonna end this before my brain melts. Night!

~Pam

Moodini, Part Three

All righty, this may come out a little garbled and delirious cause I'm really tired. But, I can't go to bed cause I'm waiting for Phaedra to get here cause she's going to her dad's house tomorrow cause her mom doesn't want to see the guy and it's just a crazy mixed up mess.

Here's the second part of the story that I'm sure you've all been just been on pins and needles for.

I called Tony (Asher is his last name, come to find out) on Sunday afternoon, just to check on my child. He said everything was going great, Bonnie and Obi have really gotten to be buddies. and he only wanted to skin her once! In twenty four hours she had already been threatened with her life!
Apparently, sometime Sunday, Tony was out in his driveway pulling logs down to his sawmill. He happened to glance up toward the house and saw this white cow in his garden, chomping on his cabbages! Since the only other cow on the place happens to be black, he knew immediately that Moodini had struck again! He grabbed a pail of grain and ran over there. When he got to here she realized her cabbage chomping fun was over and just waltzed right back into the corral with Obi. Upon closer inspection, Tony discovered that she had somehow unhooked the line from her halter!? Still can't figure that one out but she hasn't done it again.
I called him yesterday evening and she is staying tied up like a good girl now. He's going to start watching for signs that she's going into heat this week though. Hopefully Obi is better at detecting it than I am and she won't rebuff him. It'd be really nice if she takes the first time so Tony can bring her back at the end of the month, confident that Obi did his job. I'd keep my fingers crossed if I believed in that sort of thing.
Night,
~Pam