Misadventures of the Monster Librarian

Ok, not really, but there were two more new calves born Tuesday night/Wednesday morning; went down this afternoon to see them with M and the girls--adorableness ensued.  Since, of course, I forgot my camera I will have to post pics later, so until then here is a pic of Don Curlyone and Laska, two of my favorite calves. Laska (brown) and Don Curlyone (white)

This is our newest edition, a male calf born last Thursday night to Curly Horn s, one of our dairy cows. This little guy was named Don Curlyone by the Farmers (get it, get it?) They're so clever--tee hee.   Anyway, he is flipping adorable! See how good he was for his first photo shoot!? Don Curlyone with his next door neighbor.

I promised pictures in my last blog , so here are a couple of gems: Ok, it's short, but I felt accomplished that I finally downloaded something (albeit short) of Farm goings-on! Some of the bulls/oxen running towards me when I stopped by to say "hi," earlier today.  Our lovely bare apple trees. Notice the bucket on stand--that's for sand, as in sand-your-walk-way-it's-covered-in-snow-and-ice! I can't believe it has been in the high 50s/low 60s all week!  Our Tolkein-esque apple trees!  Hanging with the boys: bulls and oxen. The road home. Note the snow sprinkled on top of the leaves. We had a freezing rain/dusting of snow this past weekend!

I realized that I haven't written much of Farm life lately, so: Well, Kitchen life is far less exciting these days due to our lessening fresh Farm produce. I feel like lately I haven't the energy or patience to step outside my cooking box with our routine fall bounty. From the Farm gardens we are getting: kale (dino and curly), chard (Swiss), cabbage, parsnips, turnips, leeks and this week we still had some broccoli. We are now breaking into freezer stores to utilize some things which the garden processed and froze this summer, and are also using store bought produce more and more (insert HUGE sad face here).  Nothing tastes as good as fresh AND recently (like that morning!!) picked produce. Much to our delight we had a few calves born in the last couple of weeks, taking us to a grand total of 5 heifer (girl) calves, which is exactly what we wanted. Hooray! After Jasmine (you may remember her from here ) calved we lost her to milk fever . (Will have to post pictures of the...

Thank you, Ms. Viorst, for creating a children's book which speaks to that shitty-day feeling we can all have sometimes. Yesterday's milking was a  Series of Unfortunate Events : The cows weren't waiting for me right at the gate. I had to walk all the way down to the bee hives and staff gardens to get them, which is fine, since it was a lovely day and I was enjoying the weather and the sun. However, when I got to the cows they all decided to play the we-don't-know-what-we-are-supposed-to-be-doing game. It took lots of prodding to get them moving. While crossing the street with the cows (traffic waiting for us--minimal traffic, yes, but traffic still!) three of the cows decided it was really important to stand in place and act as if we'd never done this before. Beasley (cow) picked a fight with Samantha (cow). I literally had to step between them and do some Jerry Springer relationship-saving work. I put Samantha (cow) in one of the pens to nurse some of the cal...

You know how sometimes you offer your help and then regret the offer as soon as the task is at hand? Last night Farmer MacDonald stopped by looking for my housemate, RugbyGirl, because there were cows out of the pasture. As I listened to Farmer MacDonald, two thoughts popped into my head: 1. I had never been to this particular field where the cows were now out. 2. The times I've helped get the cows back into the pastures before I've always had fun doing it. So, I thought, "why not?" and offered my help to Farmer MacDonald. I pulled my hair into a ponytail, pulled on my muck boots, hopped in the bed of the Farm truck and we were off; navigating the windy and hilly road out of town, past the town beach. We pulled off the road, alongside a picturesque field which I have driven past many times before; admired as a spot where the changes in our New England seasons can be viewed at their greatest; a field of tall grasses and reeds, hedged in the back by a row of trees an...

When I went to milk the cows this afternoon there was nary a cow in sight. Leaving the dairy barn yard, I crossed the Farm's "main drag," intersecting streets to get into the pen which leads out to the fields near the beehives. This is the best time for milk--the cows out to pasture, eating lots of yummy grass and in turn, nourshing us. Great article about this here. Once inside the pen still no sight of the ladies. I called, "HEY BOSS!" cupping my hands to try and and boom my voice through the woods. I clapped. I whistled. Nothing. I walked deeper into the woods. Trudging out further away from the street I followed the fresh cow prints, evidence of the cows' daily path, and found myself slightly out of view of the road. I was for once looking out--the perspective then mine was that of the cows all summer. I saw cars passing by, though I wasn't quite as visible to them; felt the way that the trees running parallel with the road provide a wall; looked ...

I won't go into a long extensive blog about the hows of milking, since I think I covered some of it here , but rather just share some of the stats. If you look at the blog (from link above), you will notice some names have dissapeared from the list, this means that the cows have either been moved to other barns or fields or they have errmmm..."joined the kitchen team," meaning food. The newer additions are calves which grew up to become milkers! Josephine: 25 lbs (a.m.) 20 lbs (p.m.) Total: 45lbs Joann: (this is Josephine's daughter) 14 lbs (a.m.) 14 lbs (p.m.) Total: 28 lbs Tara: 14 lbs (a.m.) 9 lbs. (p.m.)  Total: 23 lbs. Curly Horns: 20 lbs (a.m.) 26 lbs (p.m.) Total: 46 lbs Jasmine: 15 lbs (a.m.) 16 lbs (p.m.) Total: 31 lbs Sylvia: 13 lbs (a.m.) 12 lbs (p.m.) Total: 25 lbs Emily: 26 lbs (a.m.) 26 lbs (p.m.) Total: 52 lbs Stella: 30 lbs (a.m.) 20 lbs (p.m.) Total: 50 lbs   Also in the dairy line up for milking soon are: Sushi (who'll you'd...

As I hear about the snow that is being dumped all over parts of the East and the Midwest and well, everywhere it seems, I look at our blank canvas wondering if we really will get the forecasted snow. I like winter, but I am ready for spring at this point. Reading this article by Friend of the Farmer  made me long for summer, when the Farm's gardens are in full bloom and the Kitchen is reaping the enormous bountiful benefits by way of vegetables and fruits up the wazoo. Winter at the Farm is a time when I am reminded of how much I miss fresh Farm grown produce; forced to remember as I lean into the freezer and paw with cold fingers, pulling out bags of processed and frozen Farm veggies. Thinking of supporting local got me to thinking about our cows, (this is beginning to sound like If you give a mouse a cookie ), actually one in particular, Sasha--who was one of the cows I learned to milk on about 6 years ago!--who was just taken to the slaughterhouse. It seemed str...

I think that as Farmers, in this very distinct community, that we all have our moments where we stop and think, "what the hell am I doing?" It is very difficult to do work in the field that we work in under "normal" circumstances, but then add the fact that we live in the midst of where we work, well, that definitely throws a HUGE wrench into things. Lately I have been having a lot of those aforementioned wonderings. And yet, there are days that start winding down like today; days which catch me, shake me hard, rattle around the marbles upstairs, and almost shout, "SEE!" I was very tired this afternoon, recovering from a visit with my old college roomie College Kim--her and her boyfriend were here for just hours yesterday en route to visiting his family, who happen to live in western MA--and two trips to the airport in two days (one to pick up College Kim and one to pick up returning Farmer S today). And of course today also happened to be my milking da...

I will forgo writing down the statistics of my Monday night milking shift—my first I’ve had in a month, due to work coverage and vacation—and instead tell of the comical end to my day. But before I do that I will just mention that since last I wrote, a couple changes have happened. The meanie queenie of cows, Stella, is pregnant and is being dried out, therefore is only being milked in the mornings right now. Praise be to God! Stella has this amazing double kick which once made me do a Neo-esque back bend to avoid catching a hoof to the face. We are now also milking two cows new to the Dairy Barn: Joanna (daughter of Josephine) and Tara. Anyway, during the warmer weather the cows go out into the pastures to enjoy things like alfalfa, which they L-O-V-E! I normally walk them to the pasture kitty corner to the Dairy Barn yard, however, they are now going to the pasture right across from the Dairy Barn, which apparently is a HUGE, CONFUSING change because first the cows decided to just st...

The cow is of the bovine ilk; One end is moo, the other, milk. "The Cow," Ogden Nash I picked up some of my old habits when I returned to the Farm, one of them being my Monday afternoon milking shift down in the Dairy Barn. After several weeks working alongside Farmer MacDonald I am back to milking by myself (for the most part--with an occasional helping hand with a particularly sassy cow). So, in the spirit of cataloging all things Farm, I thought I would share some information on milking and also one days milking stats. We are currently only milking 9 of our dairy cows, and yet that produces enough milk to provide our Farm community (of about 100 people) with milk (skim and whole), cream, cheddar cheese (mmm...so good!) and cheese curd. (We also sell our cheese to the public). Most people have that very Hollywood-city slickers-meets-Laura Ingalls Wilder mental picture of milking cows. No, dear readers, we don't sit on stools, rhythmically squeezing m...

(I know TSOldtimer ...I stole this line from your blog, you are tre clever!) Friday found me waking at 6ish to TSOldtimers gentle prodding of, "you coming to milk with me?" I choose a little more sleep, and a visit to the barn with Mummy Dearest and kiddies. I reaquainted myself with some of the cows that I too had milked at one point, in what seems years and eons ago. There is nothing so wonderful as the smells of a farm in the morning, especially in the summertime, when everything smells green and dewey; as though a heaviness has been left on everything from the nighttime. The cows waved their earthy smells towards us with each flick of the tail, meant to ward off buzzing flys. They welcomed us with moos and head tosses and a few inquisitive and frightened looks from the newest batch of calves, who backed into pen corners to avoid us. That Friday, June 15th was Amos' 21st birt hday. Amos, Mummy Dearest, TSOldTimer, and Lil Bro and I had a brunch that was truly a team e...