Adventures in Haymarsh

Month: February 2021 (Page 1 of 2)

Duck Eggs vs. Chicken Eggs

The Master Chef this morning for breakfast cooked up a duck egg and put it in one bowl and a chicken egg and put it in the other bowl.ย  I believe the final vote was three to 2 in preference of duck eggs over chicken eggs.ย  The duck expert on the farm claims that White Peking ducks have 200 eggs a year on average and the Rouen ducks are not actually very good layers.ย  Part of the discussion was how duck eggs are a bit more grittier.ย  I, for one, prefer our fluffy, tasty, chicken eggs.

Family chore time ๐Ÿ’™๐Ÿ’›โค๏ธ๐Ÿ’š๐Ÿงก๐Ÿ’œ๐Ÿค
A duck egg.
โ€œThe family is one of natureโ€™s masterpieces.โ€ โ€“George Santayana
Cozy Saturday Mornings @ ๐Ÿ .
Stations of the Cross last night. Stations of the Cross has become one of my favorite prayers over the years. The simple, meatless, soup suppers afterwards are enjoyed by all. Community and gatherings are so important for the human soul. We feel very blessed to live where we do, where the Parishes have really “kept calm and carried on.”

Much Joy ๐Ÿ’–

There is so much joy being a Homemaker.ย  Feeling entirely Blessed to be a part of these little ones’ lives full time.ย  I’m going to miss the little pitter patter feet sounds and the simple joy that is contagious around children.

So excited to greet the Big Brothers as they arrive home from school.๐Ÿ’™๐Ÿ’•๐Ÿ’›
We’re getting some moisture! God is good!

Loss

We lost a big, beautiful, bred, 5 year old, Black Simmental/Cross cow on Saturday.ย  It’s sad and frustrating because there was no apparent cause of death.ย  I keep going back to the saying, my Grandma used to say, “If you are going to have livestock, you’re going to have dead stock.” My Dad shared this article he just read, I guess we’re not the only ones.

It’s really fascinating watching the daily patterns of the yearlings and heifers. There is a heifer that always takes the lead and as soon as she starts moving the rest follow. They have a grazing pattern, napping/rest pattern and heading to water pattern.
I know it’s Lent…but yesterday our second and I were grocery shopping and the Valentine’s Day flowers were free, and we just thought there was enough life in the flowers to make a pleasant sight, so it looks a little like spring in the dining room. Also, we had a dusting of snow last night and then a morning rain shower. It’s so dry here, we’ll welcome any kind of moisture. ๐ŸŒง๏ธ
…& now we’re having a snowstorm.
The boys enjoy filling in their Lenten calendars. If any of you mothers of young children would like to use this countdown too, let me know.
She loves to “read” her books.

Unthawing a Fountain โ›ฒ

There is a fountain that we have, I believe it was installed in the early 90’s, it’s supposed to have a minimum of 50 cattle on it to keep it from freezing up, but right now there’s only Grandpa’s and our horses on it, well, it froze up good.ย  It causes much inconvenience when it is not working… Even though it has a heater.ย  So today with this heavenly weather we are working on unthawing it.ย  Andrew and Simon added heat tape to make it less likely to freeze up again.

Grandpa’s horse, Captain.
Sunday was 40 above, so Grandpa used a team and gathered firewood, it was nice to see a team in use again.
Admiring the team of horses.
Our horse, Buster.
Daddy heading back for more boiling water.
Gathering eggs.
Loving this glorious weather!
A Rhode Island Red hen with a couple of Barred Rock hens in the background.
A Handsome Hunk & Ginger.
Mid grilling Andrew had to go change out a fuse for a well, so I was asked to tend to the grilling. If I could capture the smell so you could smell this aroma, I think your mouth would be watering.

Autumn Supper

Andrew is encouraging us to work through our squash, so tonight for supper we had pork chops, hubbard squash, garden potatoes, and Montevideo apples we got on our latest trip. The apples were past prime but really tasty peeled, fried in butter, brown sugar and cinnamon.ย  God is such an amazing provider.

The tasty apples.๐Ÿ˜‹๐ŸŽ

Brrr ๐Ÿฅถ

It has been cold these last few days, windchills dropping us in to forecasted -40 below.ย  I guess this is supposed to keep the riff raff out… although I’m always tempted to look at Hawaii real estate when it gets this cold, just not sure how to move a herd of cattle that close to the equator ๐Ÿค”.ย  I admit we’re due for these temperatures.ย  This is the coldest it has been all winter.ย  Everything takes a little bit longer, the fountains need to be checked to make sure they’re not frozen over even though they have heaters in sometimes they just can’t keep up.ย  Even the machinery kind of creaks and groans on days this cold.ย  Grandpa always make sure to put extra straw down for the animals to lay down on.

Bundled with loose layers, hats, mittens and scarves as they head out for night chores. Rain, sun, snow, sleet, frigid, hot, you name it, chores need to be done. Oddly, if you ask them, they will probably tell you they like doing chores. The 2 year old was begging with tears to go with the big boys…they had to promise to check in with me halfway through chores to make sure he was warm enough.
My brother and me doing chores a few decades ago.
God gave some people a built in scarf.๐Ÿงฃ
Andrew took boiling water to show the children, “it’s cold outside.”
Tossing the boiling water in to the air.
Water vapor.
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