Straightening the Pantry

Well I finally bit the bullet and straightened the pantry shelves.  They were getting out of hand and I needed to take stock of things before the weather turned off cold.  I detest hauling in groceries when it's raining and snowing so I keep a stockpile of the common things we use such as soup, canned vegetables, etc.  I also keep a few things that if we were to be snowed in for a few days we could survive comfortably.  Things include powdered milk, canned goods, packaged mac and cheese, etc.  We do not have a fireplace, but we have a gas stove top and a generator that would keep the refrigerator and furnace running.  It will not power everything, but enough we would be okay. 

This is the first year that Sprout has helped me do this.  We organized her school snacks and breakfast food so that she knows where it is and when she is low.  We also organized the things that FarmBoy claims he can never find so that if I'm not here she can help him out.  She was actually excited to help.  I let her make some decisions on where things should be so that she was a part of the process and so that she could find things.  We talked about what I keep in stock and why.  It's part of her maturing and being able to run a house by herself.  It took several hours to get done, but it was a good sense of accomplishment.

I'm ready now to start thinking about Christmas shopping.  I buy some stuff all year long but really after Labor Day I really ramp up and start making lists.  I sort through what I have bought and having hiding in places and then start asking for suggestions from folks.  Again when the weather turns off yucky here I don't like to go out so if I can't order it on line then it's likely I won't be buying it.  This year Sprout wants to make cookie baskets for the neighbors and since she's a pretty good help now it's probably going to be something we do.  We live in the country so our neighbors aren't all that close or plentiful, but they all love to see her working with her livestock in the pastures and yard. 

Fall is coming and I'm getting ready.  It's time to start cleaning up the hoses and such outside as well.  I'm kind of a list person so this weekend will be a bit of list making and a bit of checking things off.  I'm sort of excited. 

Friday and night shift.

Well we made it through the first full week of school without a major meltdown.  Sprout wanted to do band again this year.  After realizing she wasn't going to have much free time with this addition she has quickly changed her mind.  It's a blessing.  She just doesn't have time for it.  She's already in choir and volleyball, but one of the biggest reasons is that 4H doesn't end at our house after the fair is over.  We have breeding ewes and starters calves that have to be tended to at least until next year's fair.  The starter calves that we have at the fair become the next year's steers.  They need to be walked and worked with several times a week to keep them in show condition.  They are easier to handle as large animals when their training continues through out the year.

Our breeding ewes just need to be fed and handled some so they are used to us.  It makes it easier to check over the lambs when they are born.  It also makes them have less stress if they are used to you and less stress is always best for any livestock.  We don't get new starter calves and pigs until late spring so they aren't usually an issue.  This year our dairy heifer is going to a new farm that wants her for the milk.  We retain ownership, will have her bred, and will get the calves back from her.  If they are female they go back to them after showing them for two years.  If they are steers we will split the meat with them after showing for two years.  They want to have a small herd of milkers so we will continue to breed additional females.  We just don't have enough time to milk twice a day.  It's a good arrangement.  Sprout is happy her cow is going to a good home.  She's really attached to this one for some odd reason.

The ewe we have will be going to the breeders, but the cow will be artificially inseminated ( or AI ).  We have a friend who for many years had a dairy and did all of their AIing.  He still has the tank to store the semen that we order so we don't need to buy one.  I'm excited this is the first time we've had this done.  Lily the cow is one of my favorites I must admit.  She's very sweet and has distinct markings that make her pretty in my eyes.  Her breed is sort of rare here.  Holsteins are the most common breed in our area, but Lily is a line back breed.

This is a Holstein and a borrowed pic.

This is a line back and also a borrowed pics.

The line back breed is trying to make a comeback and we are doing our part to make that happen and since it's not one of the "recognizable" breeds of 4H you fall into an other category when showing dairy which puts you into the grand drive automatically.  Just gives Sprout more showing opportunities.  More chances to be in the ring.

FarmBoy goes back on nights starting this weekend which means I go into work a little later than normal on Monday since early care doesn't start until 7.  I have to rely on my calendar heavily now to keep my hours and everything else straight.  I'm grateful for google calendars to sync us all up, but I love have my happy planner to keep me going on all the little things I don't put into google.  The weather here is feeling like fall and it's way too early and a bit scary.  I'm afraid that winter could be harsh and long this year.  I'm planning on straightening my pantry shelves and see where I need to start stocking up this weekend.  We can get enough snow here in the winter to shut down the roads for a day or two.  I try to be prepared for that and so that I don't have to buy much in the winter.  I hate carrying in too much when it's cold and snowy out.

Back to School

Sprout is all back in school and we are trying to get into our school rhythm.  Volleyball has started and swimming is ended so I'm washing different sports things.   The transition has been a bit hectic with fair so close to the start of school.  Sprout wears uniforms and we usually pack away her collared shirts for the summer and unfortunately I haven't found them yet.  She can also wear dresses that don't have collars so I've been saying wear a dress until I find them.  Her patience is running out so I must go on the hunt tonight to find them.

I'm trying to get back into the weekend cooking rhythm too.  Because of games and practice I tried to cook several meals over the weekend to reheat during the week on nights I don't have time to cook.  This weekend I've got to reorganize my pantry shelves so the kid can find her snack food more easily.  They are allowed to take a snack in daily so I buy things like protein bars, crackers, etc that are quick to grab when she's preparing for the day.  She also has things that she can put in her lunchbox if she chooses to pack lunch.

Sprout attends a small private christian school and we are blessed to be able to afford it.  It is the only school she has attended so far, but this will be her last year.  We have thought and prayed long and hard about it.  We feel that God calls us to be in the world, but not of the world and we can't keep her from the world forever.  The school she will go to merges their elementary schools at seventh grade so it's a good time to merge her in.  She's looking forward to it.  The new school has a pool so she will be able to be on a swim team.  There will be a few things that she doesn't have now like Spanish, but that will pick up again in high school.  Her current school has she has had Spanish since kindergarten.  I think learning a second language early is helpful for them in the long run.

Praying her year is good and I can get my act together and find her uniform shirts.

Fair is over and thankful Thursday

Well the 2019 county fair is over and I'm glad.  It started out really hot, but ended with really nice weather.  Check in went pretty smoothly and by the time I got off work the sheep were safely in their stalls and the cattle were being washed.  They were loaded and we officially were headed off to finish the first days setup.  Once the cattle were safely in their area and watered we went for our annual tradition of going out to dinner and discussing what all needs to happen in the next few days.  It's pointless to plan more than a couple of days because things change daily.

Saturday was just watering, washing, preparing for the first show the next day and trying to stay cool.  I drove separately after making ham salad and loading the coolers for the first day.  It was not a bad day and we had probably one of the earliest evenings of the week and it was needed.  

Sunday came early at the house with FarmBoy loading the pig up at 5:30 am to get them loaded into their stalls.  It was a hot day even that early so it was nice to get them in before it got worse.  The feeder show starting at noon.  So he got to come home and chill for a little bit until we needed to head in for the day.

Sprout did fairly well and was in the middle of the pack.  We figured that is where we would be since he was not the biggest and was younger than several in the group.  All in all it was a good start to the day.  Next was beef showmanship and here's where things took a bit of a different turn.  Showmanship is the only place that heifers and steers are in mixed groups until the grand drive.  The groups go like this beginning ( grade 3 to 5 ), intermediate ( grade 6 to 9 ), advanced (grade 9 to 12), and master which means you have won advanced the year before.  These groups don't quite follow the 4H guidelines, but are close.

Showmanship started off okay.  Her steer is a bit of an anxious cow so we took him in a bit early to see how he would do and it wasn't great.  We ended up bringing up the feeder calf to calm him down.  I wondered how he would do with others, but once he's in a group he calms way down.  He just doesn't like to be alone at all.  Showmanship starts and he is placed next to a heifer that was in obvious heat.  She keeps trying to back into him and he gets fussy and Sprout has a bit of a hard time handling him when they are all lined up parallel.  When they go to take a lap Sprout doesn't hold him quite far enough back and he tries to mount the heifer and Sprout is caught in the middle.  He steps on her and catches her knee in his front knee that was bent and she couldn't hang on to him any longer, but she tried for all she was worth.  The handlers stepped in at that point and pulled him out to the side to calm him.  Sprout was trying to get him back as soon as possible to get back in line and to get back in the running, but even though she got him back she was not chosen for the top 2 and that was okay.  It was definitely a learning experience for her.  Our steer and dairy heifer are in together and we never have this problem so it was really unexpected.  Sprout was a little hurt but not too bad.  

Back at the stall we were frantically trying to find things that would calm him down and we got something from the Sullivan's truck that we gave him.  Heifers showed first so we knew we'd have a lot of time for it to take effect.  In the mean time we just let him chill with his calf buddy.  It seemed to work and when he went back in for steers ( after the rain delay ) he was just fine and she won the fist class.  She went back in for the finals and ended up 3rd overall.  I was proud of Sprout for one not crying in the arena even though she was hurt, not giving up during showmanship, and for getting back in there and finishing showing for the day with very little complaints.  

Monday dawned it we were onto the sheep.  FarmBoy and Nanny1 had done rough cuts on the the sheep at home so it was mainly touching up and making them look pretty.  Sprout's knee was still a little sore so we were letting her rest some.  I got the lovely pleasure of washing July her sheep and lets just say she doesn't like being washed and the wash racks were full, it was crazy and I was soaked.  Thank goodness I brought more clothes with me.  Once everyone was clean we had time to just rest before she showed.  I forgot to take pictures of the first lamb, but she was the middle of the pack as was her second one.  The best of her lambs got left at home with an abscess that would seal over so we figured that was where she's be.  She was happy and that it what mattered.  Her showmanship was good, but we decided not to do showmanship to let her knee rest.  The cattle was released to come home in the evening so we loaded them up and cleaned out the stall after she was done sheep showing.

Tuesday was pig day and I came in after washing was done and everybody was shiny and ready to go.  We got to the arena with little problems with both pigs.  Her landrace was last in her group of three and we figured that would be the case.  We had trouble getting him to gain weight at first and he was a bit on the small side.  The spot pig was third of 5 and we were a bit disappointed at that.  He looked really good and walked well.  One that scored above her could barely walk so I'm not sure what the judge was looking at, but just how it goes sometimes.  The same judge did showmanship and only was picking the kids that had won a heat previously.  Sprout was very disappointed, but got over it pretty quickly.  

Wednesday Sprout volunteered for mini 4H with her sheep.  Since there were a few Minis that didn't show up we got to go sooner.  We went home to catch a rest before the swine open show.  I fell asleep and they just left me.  I was worn out.  She had fun, but didn't place all that well.   Sheep got to come home that evening so her ewe was loaded up and brought home.  We moved the lamb over one pen so he was close to other sheep.  Swine was also released so both the pigs got to come home in the next load.  The barn at home was full again.

Thursday started with FarmBoy going to check on and feed the one remaining sheep.  I took the opportunity to go get her school supplies.  We take things in this Friday so they needed bought, but she needed the break too.  We were back at the fair that evening for the livestock auction.  A 4Her can auction one animal and local businesses bid on them.  The 4Her receives the money from the auction and from the meat since the animal is sent to a meat processing plant.  Sprout has a 4H checking account that she pays for feed from and this is where the money is deposited.  We buy the animals and she pays for the feed until her money runs out.  It gives her the whole picture of what it costs.

All in all it was a good fair.  She's right where we think she ought to be.  We add more and more to her livestock training each year and she's slowly moving up in her results so by the time she's in high school she's going to be a tough competitor.

I'm thankful there were no major injuries and that we only have one major disagreement while we were at the fair.  FarmBoy is  slob and not organized and it just overwhelmed me one day.  After that it was rather uneventful.  One thing I do is pray before she hits that ring and mainly it's for her safety.  I also pray she learns something.  Sometimes it's a hard one.  I also pray to thank God for keeping her safe and for all the blessings we receive during fair.