Orchids

Here they are! Six new additions to the two orchids I already had:



Epidendrum


Potinara


Dendrobium


Miltoniopsis

I also scored a couple of young, non-blooming orchids for just $3 each. There are so many great deals at the Flower Show on the last day. Though it was a little intimidating trying to push through the mob of orchid-hoarders at every booth! People become crazed when confronted with cheap, gorgeous orchids.


And the Phaelenopsis I've had for several years already. It blooms twice a year for several months at a time - simply amazing!

And outside, the crocuses are blooming! These giant striped ones are my favorite.

This Week

Sorry my postings have been so inconsistent - the cows have taken over my life! But things (specifically Tess...) are finally settling down. She's finally trusting me again, and actually going into the stanchion to be milked. It sure beats milking her in a stall when she's trying to spin in circles! She's giving a lot of milk now - 6 or 7 gallons per day, in addition to what the calf nurses. I'm slowly working my way back into the cheesemaking, so most of the milk for now is going to our friend's pigs. But I did make butter today! It was quite pale for Jersey butter, but then again our grass hasn't come up yet. Give it a few months and it will be golden, even orange. I let the cream culture (sour) overnight to give it a bit of tang, then churned it in our KitchenAid stand mixer as usual.

The (still nameless) calf is doing very well. He is astonishingly active - I've never seen a calf run so fast and buck so much for so many hours a day! I'll have to get a video.

My mom would like to point out that in the back of this picture, you can see Cheerio the horse. Cheerio is our Quarter Horse mare, and she just celebrated her 13th birthday. I'm not sure how celebratory this occasion was for her, however, since she had to wait an extra minute while my mom made us sing "Happy Birthday" to her. She had eyes only for those carrots.

Coming this week:
Update from the greenhouse
Photos from the NW Flower and Garden Show!
My new orchid purchases
AND... my new chickens!

Birth of a Calf

This is pretty much how we found Tess at 6:30 in the morning, though there was just one hoof out. I had checked on her at 3:00 am, when she looked just the same as the night before.




And within an hour, he was out!


She jumped up and immediately started licking him. Fortunately the sun was just beginning to come up - it was freezing.


Within 10 minutes he was already attempting to stand up, and 20 minutes later he stood all by himself.




Just 45 minutes after birth, he was ready to explore his new world.


And then he got flattened, but we won't think about that...


He now lives in the stall most of the time, and I let him out three times a day to nurse. If the weather is nice, I can leave him out in the pasture with Tess.

The New Calf

The sun was out for all of 20 minutes today, during which the little calf got to run around outside with his mom. Because of the cold and wet I have to keep him in the stall, but I let him out to nurse four times a day.
He seems to be doing just fine after his stepping-on three days ago.



I've been milking Tesla twice a day, in addition to what the calf takes. She gave about 10 quarts at each milking so far, but once the swelling in her udder goes down she'll start producing more.
By Friday her milk will have transitioned from colostrum (super rich, high-protein milk with antibodies for the calf) to normal milk.



She's constantly mooing to him and licking him (a bit too much, judging by his expression!)







We're still trying to think of a name for him. Somehow it keeps coming back to Flap Jack...

Baby Calf is Here!

Tess had her baby - a bull calf - at 7:30 this morning. Unfortunately she stepped hard on his abdomen soon after - we had our vet out and he gave the calf painkiller and antibiotics. We still have to wait and see, but he seems okay. We have seen him poop/pee with no blood, and he is 100% active and alert and he has nursed, so he just might make it. I'll keep you updated.


The first two photos are from this evening, so you can see he looks alright.

Tomatoes are up!

When I actually have tomato tomatoes, I'll have a lot more exclamation points...

The first tomato seeds sprouted a couple days ago, just 4 days after I planted them. I planted 8 seeds of each variety (of the seeds I had already; my Pinetree order just came yesterday(!)). The seeds are nice and cozy in the greenhouse with a heat mat and a cover, and a space heater for tonight since it is dipping into the 20's.


The greenhouse, pre-tomato seeds.

Garden in Progress

Here is the main garden on our property. It lies on the south side of the barn, next to the greenhouse. It's the perfect spot for warm-weather crops such as tomatoes and peppers, because the wall reflects a lot of heat back into the soil, and the structures help to lessen the wind. Most days this spot is at least 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the property - maybe even 20 on a really hot day. It's not huge, but I can cram a lot in here!

I spent at least 12 hours forking up the sod (this garden just sat for the past two years, growing grass and weeds), and picked out all the horsetail roots and quackgrass runners by hand. Hopefully that will make weeding easier in the long run. The quackgrass is relentless - it can send runners 4 feet through the soil and pop up a new grass plant every couple inches. Even a tiny piece of root becomes a new plant.

Then, to be absolutely certain no weed will thrive, I covered the whole area in wet newspaper. This is the foundation of a 'lasagna' garden. The theory of this gardening method is that by laying down newspaper or cardboard, then alternating layers of compost, leaves, straw, grass clippings, etc, the weeds underneath will be smothered and the worms will start to work through all the sod. After a season, everything will have broken down into really rich soil, and both the newspaper and sod will be gone. But I wanted to be on the safe side with that quackgrass and pulled it all out. And I smothered everything, just to be sure!


Here is the garden, covered in newspaper, with a little compost just to hold the paper down overnight. I'm using partially composted horse manure.


And then a layer of rotting straw. Yum!


Then a good thick layer of the compost. The area where the manure pile was needs to be finished.

Next I'll cover it up with black plastic until it's time to plant (March/April for broccoli, lettuce, beets, etc, and May/June for tomatoes, peppers, squash and cukes).

I let the cows do all the work in the other area (you can almost see it behind and to the right of the barn). We fed their hay in one spot all winter, so they've tilled it, pooped in it and churned it up with a bit of old hay for good measure. Come May I'll rope it off and plant squash, pumpkins, and melons there. And maybe some potatoes.