Revised Birthday Post

It has been pointed out to me that I had better recognize this 19th birthday or else!

****Really, we were just joking around about putting his birthday on here. He knows I love him.
This is my special boy and they have been 19 wonderful years...literally, years full of wonder, watching a fascinating person evolve from a red headed baby with bright blue eyes.

His early years were a harrowing struggle for him and for us, as he had asthma so bad life was a constant terror. (Not much different with either girl. They all have asthma and common colds still cause uncommon and sometimes dangerous problems.)

He barely grew at all until he went on a nebulizer program at 2. Holidays in hospital cafeterias were the norm for me. He, or sometimes Becky, was upstairs in croup cribs, which looked like cages for zoo lions. Many were the nights I somehow crawled inside those cage/cribs and spent the night cuddling and listening to my little ones struggling for breath and praying my heart out.

Thank God for a great pediatrician, the right specialists and the simple act of growing bigger lungs so they could breath. Thank God for great kids who make every day an adventure. They mean the world to me. Happy birthday kiddo, many happy returns.

Neighbors

I think this pair of Canada geese has plans for the heifer pasture just behind the kitchen. They make a lot of noise and fly whenever we go outside, but they seem to settle right back down in the same spot. As long as they don't actually bite me I am good with it.

Farm Income Available to USDA

I can see the reasoning behind this, but it feels wrong and intrusive. Even if you are upfront and honest in your dealings it just has a snoopy feeling about it.

Birding Between the Lines

Only on Christmas Bird Count day can I set aside farming, writing, housework and being mom to just go out and bird watch. All day and with complete focus. The rest of the time it is a part time task sandwiched in between real work. That has yet to stop me from enjoying watching and listening for the birds around us.

Even though I was still pretty sick with this nasty thing we all have, something half way along the road between just a cold and not quite flu, yesterday was a spectacular day for that between the lines sort of birding.

I was doing dishes, so I looked out the window over the sink (one of the finest household features a woman can have) and there was a herd of turkeys scuttling around the horizon on the heifer pasture hill.

Out to fight with the stove. Certain sick male people let it go completely out dead. It is somewhat challenging to light large, green, wet rounds of wood (the splitter tractor is dead) from scratch. However, I used the intervals while I was waiting to see if it would take a hold to wander around listening and watching. Over at the side of the lawn was a flock of passing goldfinches so large that their calls were loud enough to drown out even the Thruway. They were creating such a din I thought they were Sassenachs (English sparrows) but instead there was this huge flock of dim brown/grey/green not changing feathers yet finches.

I happened to look up toward the pasture and our resident red tailed hawk was lazily swooping over the horse pasture, not bothered much by a pair of bedeviling crows. A speck over the river was at first dismissed as just his mate hanging around hunting half-heartedly, but something made me look closer.

A bald eagle, sailing the sky like he owned it, heading north to the big lakes on a tilt of a wing as if they were just an acre away instead of half way to Canada. I know there are places where eagles are as common as crows, but in Upstate NY they are still a thrill. I was duly thrilled.

The whole day was like that. Pine Siskins and house finches joined the gold finches in emptying the feeders in record time. I didn't have time for the camera, but they kept the hours full of interest.

Finally, at day's end, as the pear tree and the big spruce were making pen and ink drawings against the peach glow of a watercolor sunset, I leaned on a fence post up in back waiting for the woodcock. Milking was done and I wanted a few minutes quiet before going indoors. There are no mosquitoes yet. It isn't quite freezing so such waiting is possible and even pleasant.

Geese were everywhere, racing up and down the valley debating with their haunting bugles where to settle on the river for the night. Although the woodcock didn't show up until this morning's dog walking session when he was competing with a robin for backyard performing rights, it was a sweet and peaceful time. I watched until it was too dark to see their silhouettes against the sky.

Three geese came up from just behind the fence to the heifer pasture and flew so close above me that I ducked. I could hear the air rushing through their feathers as they flew, like someone opening a rustling curtain in the sky.

This is a fine time of year. I like it.

Sick Puppies

That is us. The boss brought this bug home from the farm store along with some nuts and bolts and such. Then he very generously shared. We still have to work and all but we sure ain't doing any more than we have to.

JournoList

There has been a great deal of discussion over whether there exists a left-leaning conspiracy in the main stream and not so main stream media. Check this out and see what you think.

An alternate title might be, Hen Fruit on the Pysiognomy

Killdeers

From a dearth to a dozen in just one day. They were screaming around the lawn when I took the dogs out under the notdawn moon. Wonderful!

*** If you have a minute check out the video of our mockingbird on the View. He isn't quite the virtuoso he will be later in the summer, but he is still pretty cool

Two Year's Work

Went into this lovely quilt my mom made for Alan. Over the years she has made others for the girls, me and other family members, but I think this one is perhaps the piece de resistance. Notice the turkeys and deer for our favorite hunter, the little Scotsman for the times when he attended Scottish games in his kilt (back in the day). And tractors for the farmer and drums and cymbals for all the years in band. I guess she knows our boy pretty well. We love you mom!

Timberdoodle Time

When I walked out of the milk house tonight on my way over to the house to make cole slaw, the belt on the vacuum pump was squeaking. I thought to myself, that sounds exactly like a woodcock's wings when it is doing its sky dance. Most years we have one or two in the horse or heifer pasture over by the house. Hearing them is to me one of the best things about spring.

I grinned to myself as I sloshed through the mud because I knew that it is almost time.
Then as I walked into the house yard I heard the sound again. Almost the exact same twittering, whistling, squeak, just up by the corner. A glance at the almost full dark cobalt sky revealed a spiraling bird, just coming down in the corner up by Jack's yard.
I paused.
Waited.
And there it came, that nasal, buzzy peent that is one of my very favorite sounds.
They're back.
It IS time!

Sunday Stills...Water

This one was fun. There is water everywhere, although this week most of it is in a solid state.



This stuff was formed when we had a tremendous wind one night....so bad that it blew away a wheelbarrow tub that houses my long, long garden hose. That has sat in the same spot for two years and never moved. It also heaped up the water on the garden pond, which had momentarily thawed, then froze it in curves. I thought it was sorta, kinda neat.



More Sunday Stills

If by chance you missed...

Farm Side Fridays, they are absent because the paper took the column off the webpage. Guess you have to live locally and buy the paper if by chance you want to read it.

This is a small portion of the sugar bush on the farm from the photo the other day.

Liz and I are off to man the Farm Bureau booth at John Deere Days today. Come on down, enjoy a good time and stop by and visit...Sign up as a member of the organization that serves as the voice of agriculture, both in the state and nationally if you can. Among other benefits for your bucks you will get Grassroots, a newspaper which will keep you informed on important rural issues much sooner than the regular medai. Even if you are not a farmer your support helps efforts to inform both the public and our legislators about our industry. Have a great day!

PS, can't wait for tomorrow's Sunday Stills water...it was a fun one!

For a Friend

Rain and Remembering

Us

Golden and Galloping

Our Horses

In Meadows with Blue-eyed Grass

I Disagree with National Animal ID

The concept is being spread all over the Net that dairy farmers are in favor of mandatory NAIS, the national animal ID system.
I have very harsh words for that idea and I really, really, really would like to print them here.
Just think about the inevitable byproduct of the male bovine digestive process, the one that has the initials, BS, and you will have my opinion on making NAIS mandatory. As has been repeatedly proven, we can already trace cows and other livestock and we can trace them quickly. How long did it take them to find out where the first BSE cow in Washington came from? No time at all. And they keep touting stopping mad cow disease as an excuse for this intrusive program. A big waste of time. We already have more safeguards in place than we need. For Heaven's sake you are much more likely to be struck by lightning while riding an elephant in the circus than to contact BSE.

The groups that are making this claim are not dairy farmers. They are mostly folks who sell ear tags and maintain for-fee databases of animals. It is just a case of follow the money. Take for example the Holstein Association, Holstein USA. One of the things they do is maintain the registry for the purebred Holstein herd in this country. Another thing they do is sell ear tags and keep records on the critters that wear them. Of course they want to force everyone into a position where they have to buy their products.

And the whole ear tag thing is a sad and sorry joke anyhow. Please take a minute, click on this link and read this story about the cost of tags and their efficacy.

However, IDairy is in Washington telling Congress that I want mandatory ID on our cows. They claim the idea of buying expensive tags that the cows will promptly lose in the feed throughs and maintaining records of every time one moves anywhere is my plan for a good day. They are lying. I swear I am about ready to cancel my membership in Holstein USA. I already pay them for three memberships for family members, plus a good chunk of change for every calf born on the place. Now they want me to pay them to keep track of and tag cows that we already keep track of and tag. Bull byproducts to them!!

This kind of program should be MARKET DRIVEN. If consumers want meat and eggs from micro chipped, ear tagged, tattooed, pass ported animals they should pay a premium for such products. I assure you, if there is money to be made in the marketplace by tagging cows or keeping track of every time they take a breath, farmers and ranchers will do what it takes to get the money. However, what the government wants is for those same farmers to pay for the program whether anybody gives a hoot about it or not. Bah!

Randomly Yours

Traffic in the town of Glen

A really pretty farm on the way over to Coby.
They have an amazing sugar bush

Amish corn shocks

Inside door knob sitting porch

Outside door knob sitting porch

Before and after the mockingbird

Just a few pictures from a road trip yesterday and a couple of door knobs. Everybody takes pictures of door knobs, right? Also before and after the mockingbird worked over an apple on the sitting porch.

Home again, home again, how bout that driveway?!

Farms Keep NY Green

Last week World Dairy Diary (which is fast becoming the go-to place for breaking news on the dairy industry) posted a great video about dairy farming put out by people who know the real story about dairying. This week they have a post about the billboards which are being placed here to tell the truth about our business.

And it is the truth. Despite the absurd price situation they are facing right now, farmers across the state and the nation are doing anything thing they can to stay on the land and keep their animals. Some simply can't, but quitting is a tremendous, life-altering heartbreak. I thank the New York Animal Agriculture Coalition for the campaign and WWD for keeping me informed about it. See both the billboards and the video at the NYAAC site.

BTW, Senator Charles Schumer, accompanied by Kirsten Gillibrand and a number of other senators, followed through on a promise made to farmers at a local meeting, which Liz and I attended a short time ago. If you read my post about that meeting you will see a little John Deere back pack, which accompanied the cutest farm boy you could imagine. His mom, with whom my kids did dairy judging and dairy quiz bowl over the years, asked the senator to find a way to provide foreclosure protection for farmers akin to that being offered to homeowners.
Schumer said he would look into it.
Apparently he did so and I thank him for it. Farms are falling like dominoes around here and believe me, Northview is far from immune to what is happening. It costs roughly $16 to make 100 pounds of milk (around 11 gallons). We are getting paid around $9. I don't care how many cows you own, that is a losing proposition. We love our cows and our land. We want to keep doing what we do. I hope we can.

***(Liz talked to a kid in Texas yesterday about dairy farming down there. He told her there isn't a cow left for miles around, due partly to the price situation and partly to drought. Empty buildings and pastures everywhere. Beef farmers aren't in a much better situation there either. This is a crisis. Growing food is not something you just walk out and do. There is a tremendous amount of knowledge involved in care of the land and the creatures. America's farmers are aging fast. If they can't make a living and pay their mortgages and raise their families they are going to quit. The Soviet Union is still importing huge quantities of food because they killed their farmers and put people who didn't know how on the land. Zimbabwe is suffering a crisis of staggering proportions because they killed or displaced their farmers and put people who didn't know how in their place. I hope this nation learns from their experience. Before it is too late....which may be sooner than expected.)

The Birds are Back

Yesterday was another wild one. We had about every kind of weather they make for late winter here in NY.
The sun shown.
It rained.
It snowed.
It was cold and dark.
The sun came out again. Our little creek could be heard from the house as it enthusiastically moved melt water downhill.

The stove needed some TLC around noon so I went out with some assorted kindling material (denim scraps from quilting burn quite enthusiastically). As I stood in front of it amid drizzle and flakiness I heard a sweet singer, first of his kind for the year. Normally a few song sparrows hang around all winter. For the past several years a very tame one rummaged round the heifer barn yard, singing right at us from the fence as we walked by and fluttering out from under the truck right at our feet. However, this year I haven't seen one since maybe last November. I think the tame one may have died or moved along, because the one singing at the stove was different. Lighter colored with a much different song. However, it sang from the same perches as the old one and seemed to want to cheer me up, as it circled right around me, trying out trees and bushes for a new sound stage.

From behind the hill I could hear hundreds of red winged black birds, the biggest flock yet this year (and only the second one I have seen or heard). They set up a din back there as long as I was moving logs and shoveling ashes.

Geese are back too. I think this is the first recent winter that even the resident geese were forced to move south as I haven't seen any in months. There are still only a handful, a gaggle here, a pair there, but I am sure before long there will be thousands. Soon we will have robins, although they seem to show up quite late here on the south side of the river. This is kind of a hard time of year, trying to get by with only one tractor and praying that it doesn't get stuck (no way to tow it out.). Calving is starting so Liz won't be getting much sleep, although the boss will do the midnight checks and she will nap daytimes. Milk prices are so bad I have never seen worse. Four farms off our truck are out of business now and another neighbor sold out to the Amish.

The birds don't care. They are burning their bridges and getting ready to nest, devil take the weather. Maybe they know something we don't.

Global warming here at Northview Farm.
And here is a good post on the topic at Carpe Diem. Be sure and check out the comments.

Wild Weekend (no not that kind)

The Tower

What a weekend we had here at Northview! Saturday started out pleasantly warm and calm with a few sunny breaks in general cloudiness.
Outdoors was the place to be.
I dug out the door of Nick's run so he soon can get some exercise without endangering the old sheep and channeled some running water away from the back porch.

Probably not what you expect to see in Upstate NY,
but Liz says ice floes are building up against the bridge in town...

Then just after the sun went down a BIG thunderstorm hit. Alan and I were on the bridge when lightning flashed bright pink all around us. He hit the dirt, as he is terrified of it (with good reason) and I almost tossed my umbrella.

It was pouring.

Remember the three feet of ice on the bridge and in the barnyard? It was deep enough to channel the entire flow of water off the barnyard and probably some off the hill right in through the barn doors. Water was running across the floor into the gutters several inches deep and flowing out onto the platform and into the milkhouse. The girls started milking while Alan and I went out to shovel, scrape, scoop and dam (and damn) with assorted tools, up to and including the skid steer.

Eventually we got the flood diverted and the water indoors receded to where it didn't quite reach the cow beds.

Outside the big windows, looking in

When we went back inside Crunch was loose and running up and down the manger bawling and fighting all the cows who were still locked up.

Chaos.

Insanity.

She is a big cow and she was enjoying herself immensely so it took us a few minutes to get her locked back up.
Then the boss showed up innocently wondering why we were so far behind. We wasted no time in informing him about all that had gone on in his absence.
We did not get out of the barn until really late Saturday night.

Then Sunday morning the vacuum pump malfunctioned so I missed my morning off. I should probably be disgruntled, but I am so grateful to be warm! The sun is shining and it is nice enough to go out and chop up the crispy carcass of the Christmas tree and burn it up in the outdoor stove....great fun....and to take photos of how different everything looks with the snow melting fast.

Still more ice. I took these from the lawn and the river is quite a ways away so...

Sunday Stills...moi

The Sunday Stills challenge this week is self portraits. I am allergic to having my picture taken, really, really, really hate it, so you won't see many photos of me around. I almost blew off this assignment or cooked up some clever way around it...like maybe a tastefully decorated paper bag. However, early one morning, I looked in the mirror and thought...well, this is about as good as it is going to get. So here it is...moi

Blind, Deaf and KindaTippy

But at fourteen he's still quite a Mike

Cow Tax Bill in Congress

A sensible bill cosponsored by a New York Senator. Whaddayaknow....