It has been very busy around here on the homestead. We have been canning, and gardening, church camp, etc. We have had a very crazy week. We had a calf born last Tuesday that was a little too early I think. I thought he was going to die. We took him and his momma to the barn and he was like a noodle he was so limp. We started rubbing him and I got some colostrum down him. I started giving him some vitamin B shots and we rubbed and stretched him every two hours. He took a good bottle on Thursday morning, but still didn't get up. We checked on him after lunch and he was standing up! I thought all right! Well that afternoon the boys were in the barn doing some cleaning and they left the gate open to the barn and the pony got in. They started to shoo the horse out and the horse jumped over the calf knocking him down and then steped on his leg and broke it. At first I didn't think it was broke, but by Friday morning it was swelling. Friday I got some pvc pipe and vet wrap and some duck tape and made him a splint. I put it on so that he could walk on the pipe and not his leg. Saturday morning he had managed to get up and get out of the barn and we found him in the front lot with his mom , but now he had gotten snake bit under his mouth or on his jaw. I was swelling pretty fast. We have been doctoring him for the bite and the broken leg. He has been taking the bottle really well and this morning we finally caught him nursing his momma, but I just don't think she has enough milk. He was almost jumping around this morning. He didn't look so good this afternoon, but it has been really hot today. It is by the Grace of the Good Lord that he has lived as long as he has.
Yesterday was a busy day. We cleaned out the feed room in the barn and organized it, cleaned out the hen house, hauled some wood chips and filled in some holes in the chicken house where the chickens had dug out some big holes. The kids mowed and weed eated and I canned 10 quarts of tomatoes. Today I have been making blackberry jelly. I am going to work on VBS songs tomorrow. We are having VBS next week and I am going to help with the music.
The kids have also been very busy getting ready for the fairs. We are having our county fair early this year and so it has been a mad rush around here to get calves ready in time.
It has been really dry here so far. We finally got a really good rain Sunday. Our well is going dry, so we have been praying for the Lord to send some rain. Our garden is about all gone except some tomatoes and peppers. We are going to try and plant a fall garden this year. We have a family member who is willing to give us a couple of pumps to put in the pond to water with. We have been praying for one and God is Good!!! So I would like to plant a fall garden and try to get some veggies put up. I have so far put up around 50qts green beans, 30 qts tomatoes, 600 ears of corn that I cut off, 25 qts of peas, I also have quiet a few peppers that I have been drying and some I have been cutting up and putting them in freezer bags. I did not get to put any squash up because we either sold it, ate it gave it away or fed it to the pigs. Oh and I also got several gallon bags of brocolli put up. We still have potatoes we have not dug up yet we have been going out there everyother day and digging potatoes but we are eating them as fast as we dig them up. So, that is one thing that I want to plant for the fall. I read somewhere that potatoes love to be planted behind sweet corn, so that is where we are going to try and plant them along with some fall peas, and more brocolli. I would love to try and figure out a way to have fresh lettuce and greens all winter long under a hoop house of some kind. I also want to get some fall onions planted and I have a huge bag of garlic that I need to get out for next year. We did not get any okra or cucumbers planted this year. We just ran out of time.
We are seriously considering buying a couple of jersy cows to start milking out. We have about figured where we could build a milking parlor. The thought of fresh milk and cream to make butter and Cheese, just think of all the goodies that I could make! We just have to figure out how to get the funds. LOL This is something that has been on our hearts for several years now. We are praying earnestly that God will provide the way.
Well better go for now. Maybe one of these days I will be able to post some pics of all our happenings around here
God Bless Ya,
Tara
Poor little guy! What a rough start. He sure sounds like a fighter tho. We have had some calves and critters that have made it through pretty crazy things, too. Hope all turns out well. Keep trusting God for even this, somehow it will glorify Him in the end.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great garden harvest! We are opposite up here, we have had too much rain. I will be lucky to harvest anything this summer as we need some sun so things can dry out and grow in time.
Have fun at the fair!