Chatroom

[flourish]
 All Forums
 Cow Community and Chit Chat
 Chit Chat and Daily Weather Report
 the love month, February

Note: You must be logged in to post.
To log in, click here.
To join Heritage Jersey Organization, click here. It’s FREE!

Screensize:
Format Mode:
Format: BoldItalicizedUnderlineStrikethrough Align LeftCenteredAlign Right Insert QuoteInsert List Horizontal Rule Insert EmailInsert Hyperlink Insert Image ManuallyUpload Image Embed Video
   
Message:

* HTML is OFF
* Forum Code is ON
Smilies
Smile [:)] Big Smile [:D] Cool [8D] Blush [:I]
Tongue [:P] Evil [):] Wink [;)] Clown [:o)]
Black Eye [B)] Eight Ball [8] Frown [:(] Shy [8)]
Shocked [:0] Angry [:(!] Dead [xx(] Sleepy [|)]
Kisses [:X] Approve [^] Disapprove [V] Question [?]

 
Check here to subscribe to this topic.
   

T O P I C    R E V I E W
maryjane Posted - Feb 03 2020 : 1:59:32 PM
All is well here. Ian went to the processor last week (I have 74 Ian straws in my nitrogen tank). Miss Daisy is for sure pregnant, due October 7. Buttercup is due April 29.

Today is our 27th anniversary, Ms. Milk and Mr. Muck. A movie called Honeyland is playing in our little downtown historic theatre, so we're going to make a night of it.

Here's a trailer of the movie. Janet, you should try to watch it somehow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B27ORUHlp6E
15   L A T E S T    R E P L I E S    (Newest First)
NellieBelle Posted - Mar 01 2020 : 10:16:40 AM
Your Cherry Slab pie looks mouth watering delicious. I need to use up some cherries in the freezer. Time goes by so fast and it gets away from me. Beautiful day here with 56 degrees with a slight breeze. Making progress with the sauna. Probably have it done just in time for summer heat at this rate. Ha! Enjoy your Sunday!
maryjane Posted - Feb 29 2020 : 9:13:20 PM
Ashley grabbed some pie cherries from our freezer and made her first ever cherry slab pie. Here's what was left after our initial diving in. We have you to thank, Janet, for introducing us to the slab pie idea, both sweet and savory. Thank you!!!!

NellieBelle Posted - Feb 28 2020 : 04:13:53 AM
Good morning! No, we haven't made it into the sauna yet but getting closer. Our new neighbors came and helped us last evening. We couldn't move it back into place until we had one panel up because the screws went in from the outside and we had to do that before pushing it back in place. And it was too heavy for just Joe and I. So between all of us we got it moved. Then we enjoyed coffee and chocolate cake and a nice visit. Joe and I can finish putting it together and get the electrician to come hook up the heater, then we will be able to use it. Looking forward to it. One more glass panel, the glass door and the top. Shouldn't take long. We are to be in the 60's over the weekend. Snowdrops and pussy willows in bloom and many bulbs starting to peek up through the ground. Your garden greens looking good. I was going to do some planting yesterday but we put a couple of panels in front of the cupboard where my seeds are so will get them out this weekend.
maryjane Posted - Feb 27 2020 : 4:46:00 PM
Are you basking in the heat of a sauna yet, Janet? Well, spring showed up here today. My bees were out, I was out, my girls went out onto pasture (mainly for entertainment because there isn't any grass yet).

Today also (yay sunshine!) the greenhouse got a makeover, clean-up, and a few seeds planted. Last year's plants are waking up and tonight I was able to pick greens for a large salad, enough to feed all of us.









And "our" log cabin is coming right along. I think I'm fascinated because it's a rather inefficient kind of house to build. And I doubt they know how riddled with holes it'll get from flicker activity. None-the-less, I love it that someone's long-held dream of a log cabin is coming true, come what may. The tall horizontal logs are rough-hewn, almost hand-hewn looking with lots of knots and imperfections. I suspect they'll show on the inside in some sort of vaulted ceiling. Once our "somebody" moves in, I'll have to dress up like Laura Ingalls Wilder and take them a basket of biscuits.



Honeyland sounds like a powerful movie. I still hope to watch it. Nick and I pooped out after dinner and came home to bed. How's that for acting our age?

NellieBelle Posted - Feb 20 2020 : 11:26:57 AM
1 degree this morning and suppose to be 50's on the weekend. Up and down weather. MaryJane, I watched the movie Honeyland, and my emotions were all over the place. I was thrilled, angry, sad, and I think I would call it overall heart-wrenching. Sauna arrived yesterday up at the lumberyard so will we will probably work on that this weekend. Five new orchids arrived this morning, so I'm getting them settled. Cows are doing well and I guess I'm just waiting impatiently for spring to finally arrive.
NellieBelle Posted - Feb 15 2020 : 10:19:00 AM
Good afternoon! Lots of sunshine and melting with 46 degrees so far today! Feels mighty good. I guess we don't know how we'll end up in later stages of life, but hoping I will be able to hear, and see good enough to read or listen to books. This is a day to be outdoors and there is plenty to do so will head outside. May your day be full of sunshine and goodness.
maryjane Posted - Feb 15 2020 : 07:39:53 AM
Poor Benjamin and little Peter. Janet to the rescue, soon.

You've had some serious cold. We received a light covering of snow in the night, but there was one day this past week it got so warm, my bees were out and about.

When my mother was on her last days, she could only communicate with little cards we'd made for her. Her favorite card to hold up was "LOVE." My daughter and I took turns reading Anne of Green Gables to her. When she wanted to drift off to sleep, she'd hold up her LOVE card. Also, I'd read my first book in a studio for Random House (sold on a CD), so sometimes we'd let that play for her. So yeah, books. Great way to be in another world, another time, another place. Nick listens to books all the time using little ear buds that communicate with his iPhone. He bought me a pair for Christmas, but I have yet to use them.
NellieBelle Posted - Feb 14 2020 : 07:32:47 AM
Good morning! Your grand girls are becoming "Little Women" (going with book theme). I love the thought of the class dressing up as fairy tale characters. Mia is darling in her red cape and basket. What fun! I told Joe if I happen to have a stroke or can't communicate when I'm older, be sure someone reads to me. My fairy garden was overgrown and you couldn't even see Benjamin Bunny or Peter, I had to give it a hair cut. I will empty it out and start anew when the weather is pleasant outside. I have so much repotting to do. -8 yesterday morning and -2 this morning. Suppose to hit the 20's today. 40's tomorrow. Ready for the warm up.
maryjane Posted - Feb 14 2020 : 07:12:54 AM
Oh, and happy LOVE day!!!
maryjane Posted - Feb 14 2020 : 06:59:57 AM
That's a nice amount of milk, 14 to 16 bottles/day. You must be milking both of them twice/day, right? And little beekeeper apprentices!? Wonderful!!! You'll make a great tutor.

Little Mia knocked on my door this morning wearing a red cape. She asked, "Nanny, do you have a Little Red Riding Hood basket I can take to school today?"

I had the perfect basket.



This month is reading month at her school so every Friday they dress up as fairy tale characters. There's a big sign in the hallway that says, Reading Kingdom. Mia reads non-stop. Stella tends to get into a book and never put it down for two days but then moves on to other things again until a book grabs her, then it's nothing but that book.

Nick and I took Brian, Ashley, Adria, and Alina out for pizza last night to celebrate Adria's 10th b-day. Do you believe it!? I can't. Pizza is her favorite so she ate almost an entire pizza by herself. We also gave her a gift card from JoAnn fabrics, her favorite place to browse/shop. She loves to sew and craft. This weekend she wants to get started on a fairy garden.

My grand girls are becoming environmentally aware, so I brought 6 forks and 6 cloth napkins and water from home so we weren't using any plastic. I always have a set in my purse for me but it was fun to see Adria's eyes light up when I pulled out enough gear for everyone, plus I could see the other diners checking us out. I was loading bulk almonds into a cloth bag recently at the grocery store and a woman commented that she was going to start doing likewise. Little ripples.

I'm looking forward to working more with mason bees, such wonderful little critters.

NellieBelle Posted - Feb 12 2020 : 08:22:31 AM
I suppose I should get more Mason bee houses up pretty soon too. Looks like it's going to warm up early this year. They are the first little bees we see out and about around here. Then the hatching will start from last years bees. They head right for the creeping mahonia first thing. I have replacement tubes in the basement. See what I need and go from there. Out new neighbor's teenage boys want to start beekeeping. How exciting! I need to get some books and info gathered up for them. Thrilled that they are interested. Spring will be here before we're ready. Suppose to turn bitter cold tonight and tomorrow then back up again Friday and weekend. Still milking Nellie and Darla. Right around 7-8 gallons a day.
maryjane Posted - Feb 12 2020 : 05:35:34 AM
Lots of new-life news, Janet, chicks, honey bees, roses, and three pregnant cows! I've written down their due dates for a future count-down. All girl calves this time, right?

Your blooms are precious Janet. You should get an award for that butter-cream begonia. I suppose the blooms are your reward, but to grow those in the dead of winter is quite the talent/pursuit.

I'm going to get started providing nests for mason bees this summer, aka orchard bees, genus Osmia, family Megchilidae. I've put out a few little houses here and there, but this time I'm researching how to easily provide nests for them in a way that makes it easy for me to harvest the cocoons so I can increase the population of the intensely productive mason bee (they use mud to build nests).

I'm enjoying a large poster I bought, Backyard Bees of North America. I see so many different pollinator bees here--I want to get better at identifying them and giving them a hand up in the housing/habitat realm.
NellieBelle Posted - Feb 11 2020 : 09:25:01 AM
Good morning! Beautiful day here also. Looks like we have a -0 day this week and then the temps will climb up again. I have small early bulbs popping up already. I will probably cover them with mulch today. The usual goings on here. Cleaning out the brooder house. Chicks ordered for end of April. Honey bees in April. Roses ordered and arrive when weather is warmer. Cows pregnant (at least I believe so) and due dates are as follows. Darla-Aug 5, Millie-Oct. 11, and Nellie-Oct. 20th. Cleaning out the greenhouse and getting livestock tanks ready for new planting and growth. Orchids still blooming, as well as begonia, and primroses, They are so pretty. Cleaning up yard of sticks and walnuts before the cold blast comes. Enjoy your sun-filled day!
maryjane Posted - Feb 11 2020 : 08:18:48 AM
After plenty of winter weather, we've had a string of sunny days, just beautiful.

Here's an update on the log cabin going up. There are now large, tall skinned pine trees set vertically headed for the sky. Not sure where it's headed architecturally, but it's fun to watch its construction. Often when we drive by we're stopped on the road as large trucks unload something.



My girls, Buttercup and Miss Daisy are doing well. Miss Daisy continues to bless us with her milk, Buttercup with her childlike curiosity. I picked up another milk customer, which is a good thing, taking just one bottle/week. Sometimes, my milk customers also buy some of my honey.

I do believe I'm going to take a few minutes before I milk this morning and grab a quick bike ride in the winter sunshine.

Hope all is well with you and yours.

NellieBelle Posted - Feb 03 2020 : 2:29:17 PM
Happy 27th Anniversary MaryJane and Nick! We just had our 28th in December. I am slipping. I meant to get a card sent but things just get away from me anymore. Your movie sounds like a good time. Enjoy! Yes, I will try and see it sometime. Thank you! Congrats on the cow pregnancies. If Nellie took last time she will be due in October also. This is day 23 for her and I haven't seen any "heat" signs. Fingers crossed. Yesterday we had 55 degrees. Joe and I cut up wood that we had piled up. That was how we spent the morning. Very enjoyable. Today is cooler and I have the wood stove going. Breezy and no sunshine. Have a wonderful evening and now I best look at the trailer of Honeyland.