Complaint Free Wednesday

Normally on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving we here at Northview are frantically cooking ahead, cleaning the house, fitting chores in between etc. However, this year I am planning on spending any free time that I have complaining about the government. This guy made me do it.

He may wish folks would quit griping about the barrage of bad legislation and total insanity coming out of Washington today, but d I don't think he is going to get his wish.

Opening Day

It is opening day of the southern deer hunting zone here in upstate NY. Can't say as it is my favorite time of year. I love venison and our freezer is devoid of meat other then three sets of pig ribs.. As landowners we get a couple of dmp permits and three of us have regular licenses. I am hoping somebody fills one of our tags.

It is a worrisome time too though. Despite our posted signs strangers will be wandering over our property. Along with that willingness to break the law in pursuit of a deer usually comes disregard for safe hunting, sensible gun handling, fair take and the location of other people. And livestock. After all, if you freely walk past a posted sign to hunt someone else's land you are willingly breaking one hunting regulation. How much do you care about the others?

The Jersey heifers were brought in off the hill yesterday. They are the wrong color for the "if it's brown it's down" crowd and the heifer pasture abuts some land belonging to a housing development, which is a source of many of the sneaky clowns we will be unwillingly be hosting.

Hunter in chief is out in his stand already, waiting for the sun to rise. I wish him luck. I wish all you hunters out there a safe day...just please hunt the state lands or places where you have permission. .....I don't mean to be so cranky, but I am tired of calling the police on the ones we find, sometimes right in the pasture with the cattle....

Ball of Sunshine

Up in the heifer woods. This little bit of glade is on the WEST side of the pasture woods and this was taken at sunrise and yet this one little spot just glowed, with reflected light I guess. I wanted to go up there and bask in the beauty, but it was milking time so I settle for a fardistant shot from the porch and attention to daily duty.




And this is the best I could do for a shot of the faster-than-a-speeding-bullet cat food can stealing moves of our resident cat burglar. This is Gael, racing by with a stolen cat food can lifted from Elvis' breakfast. Periodically we needs must clean her can collection out of her crate in the pantry where she stashes them for future use....not sure what she wants to do with them...maybe build a space shuttle?

A Request

Things aren't going well for the family of one of my very favorite bloggers. If you can find it in your schedule and your heart, please go offer Sara some words of strength and kindness. (I know you are the kindest folks there are.)

Project Laundry List

What a great idea! We have never had a drier, although now that the washer has retired from the fray, I sometimes use them at the laundromat. We have instead two clotheslines made from really heavy rope. (None of your skinny little grocery store lines for this farmer. It takes some serious twine to keep overalls and suchlike off the lawn.)

In the winter we have my grandma's old laundry bars, the boss's late mother's set and two modern ones. I must be weird because I think a line of clothes ebbing and flowing in a nice brisk breeze is a lovely sight. Maybe I don't watch enough TV. Anyhow, there seems to be a movement back to doing the drying like grandma did and I am all for it. I have a suggestion for all those anonymous note senders who like to whine about other people's laundry....look the other way.

He Thinks Your Duck Call's Sexy

After months, nay years, of annoying us all half to death with turkey calls, Alan has switched to goose calls...and duck calls...(who knew that I could miss those turkey calls so much?)

Anyhow, this afternoon he went out after turkeys. Not seeing any he leaned on a wagon right behind the cow barn. Off and on he heard a little rustling in the brush nearby, but didn't pay much attention.

Practicing those duck calls on the hundreds flying over you know.....

Then something made him glance to the side. And there less than six feet away, staring intently at him, was a six-point buck. I guess it would be hard to say which one of them was more startled. That pesky call might not appeal to me or to duck, but deer...that's a whole nother story.

Congressman Rogers on the Healthcare Debacle

Sent to me by a good friend who suggested I forward it..... Take a couple minutes to watch it if you can. There is a lot packed into a short four minutes.

Around the Water Cooler

Liz has this shorthorn/Holstein bull calf for sale. Fifty dollars. He will make a nice compact steer for anybody who wants to raise some beef in the back yard. He is well started and a real lively guy.

Or the farmer equivalent, up in the parking lot at LJ Hand Farm Store....the boss was talking to a prominent local farmer yesterday, a fellow we think a lot of. We are kind of out of the loop up here on the hill, but the boss's friend knows everybody and all that is going on in the farm community.

What he heard was some really horrible stories that actually made us feel lucky as we face problems we have never seen before here at Northview. A lot of our neighbors are in trouble and just waiting for beef and heifer prices to take a jump to sell out. If and when that happens this county is going to look a lot different than it does now. We are better off than a lot and that is a pretty darned sad thing to say about the industry that is the backbone of this rural county.

Paterson's New Plates=GREAT BIG FAIL

Channel 9 is saying that this plan may be scrapped. Something about millions of ticked off drivers, a lot of very unhappy DMV workers, facing the prospect of taking care of those millions of ticked off drivers in addition to their regular work....Alas, you know and I know (and Cumptico-Calico) that our good gov and his cronies in Albany will just stick their hands in our other pocket so they can go on spending like fools. Still this plan had egregious written all over it. I hope they do dump it.

Macro Monday

It is almost Thanksgiving, so here is one of my favorite Thanksgiving cacti.

For more Macro Monday....

Sunday Stills, Fur, Fins and Feathers

Fur,
a little bit 'o' my milking shorthorn baby, Northstar
and below, Athena the Schaufelcat

Fins,
a carved pickerel, the only fins around,
Done by a friend of my parents

Feathers
A barred rock hen
and Saturday dinner (rooster below-we had five roos in our tiny flock far too many)

For more Sunday Stills.....

Haying in November

Winterberry Holly Photo by Alan

Is a pretty darned weird thing to be doing. However, that is what the boss has been up to. We had so much rain this summer (I blame China) that he and Alan had a terrible time getting in feed. Now whenever we have a day or two of decent weather he is chopping a load here and a load there, just to try to stuff enough in the bags to make it through til spring.

Yesterday he took off a field on Seven County Hill that was covered with brown and green fluffy, puffy grass. He canvased up an old hay wagon and chopped it into that resulting in the nicest bedding you could imagine. It was so nice to let the girls inside last night and to know that they had wonderful, soft comfy beds to lie in. Bedding has been kind of short and this was so much nicer for them. I limed the walkways and with the new bedding and the nice, white floors the barn was pleasantly bright for work.

They are calling for rain again today so probably no haying. No lack of things to do, although if I had my way he would get to sleep in his chair today. He is pretty darned tired out. I have to get my old guitar out, dust it off and hurry up and learn Steve Earle's Dixieland for tomorrow. Family get together planned and middle brother (the one with the talent) and I are going to play a bit I guess. Trust me, I will not be playing like Steve Earle...instead just a few bare and bony chords will escape from my arthritic fingers and tarnished strings. Liz is making chocolate cuppy cakes and Alan's newly famous pumpkin bars should be forthcoming as our contribution to the event.

Have a good one anyhow. It is Saturday and you know what comes after that.

Yeah, that's right...Sunday

Real People

Real farms
Real cows
All gone

Laura

We have a George too.
HT to Jeff at Alphecca.

A Fisher of Liz

Or was it a pekan? Anyhow she met one on the bridge between the house and barn yesterday when we were walking over to milk. She gasped, it snarled and the encounter was over just that quickly.

Personally I have never seen one, nor had she, but she described it perfectly. There were tracks....BIG tracks.....tracks at least four inches long from front to back. That is a big footprint!

Here is a story about how fishers are becoming quite common in the area.

And here is another story that makes me glad that this one snarled at Liz and then went on its way.

And here is a pretty good description of the critter and the lifestyle of the snarky and furry.

Wonder if this guy is behind the demise of our dear Lucy and the sudden absence of a favorite barn kitty, Calico Girl.....and the clawing of the ag bags. We were blaming coyotes and we certainly have those too. If you want to read the whole story check out Friday's Farm Side.

Apple A Day

Went to our favorite orchard yesterday to pick a bushel of apples to store. (If we get a chance I am going back for more before they close.)

We had the place to ourselves as the season is winding down. It is so beautiful up there. There is no place like home, but Bellinger's Orchard is sure a close second. There was no shortage of apples either. The trees are still weighed right down with varieties ranging from standards like Ida Red to new ones I had never encountered before like Ruby Jon.

We almost filled our half bushel bags with Northern Spies and Ida Red. Then came the fun part...wandering among the trees looking for tasty looking apples to test drive this fall to see if we want a larger quantity next time. Alan nibbled a dropped Empire that he picked up and was sold immediately. He probably picked half a peck of them just for his own entertainment.

We also grabbed a few Pink Ladies, a couple of the aforementioned Ruby Jons, some Ambrosias, Granny Smiths and some Winesaps. (It does look as if our tree in the yard is a Winesap as the apples look just right.)

To me a couple bags of good hard apples in the front hall is like money in the bank. No, better than money in the bank...it is apple snack season. We have been making applesauce whenever we get any apples. There is still time for more spiced apple jelly.......Liz bakes a mean apple pie. Alan has suggested expanding his pumpkin bar franchise to include apple bars....

Yeah, I think I do need to run up and grab another bushel before they close...which might happen this week.

I Got a Raise

The Winterberry Holly is amazing this fall.
This patch was filled with robins having a feast on their way south.

Well, almost....been writing the Farm Side for 11 years...been paid the same the whole time, except for the first couple of weeks. When I got my pay this month it reflected a significant raise. Of course I was tickled about half to death.

At Lykers

Alas, being a reasonably honest soul, I called the controller at the paper...and yeah, it was just a mistake. Oh, well, I enjoyed the imagined glory while it lasted...lol

Eclipsed wood duck, identified by Alan
at fifty mph as we passed,
and photographed by him as well (we went back and parked for that)

And Alan and I raced off to spend the money on groceries over in Cobleskill...now I just have to write four more columns that are already paid for. My cupboards are now crowded with things with which we can make other things.......and this is good.

On a sugar maple stump

Macro Monday

As you can see, I Have been climbing up to dust in high places. Why this pretty shelf is above the head of anyone my size is beyond me, but I do get to look at it every now and then when I clean the dining room.



For more Macro Monday

Sunday Stills....Currency

Or maybe coinage...I love wheat pennies and save all that I find. When ever I come across one I put it in a little Saki cup on the mantel in front of the old picture of the boss's mom all dressed up. After a few accumulate then I put them away and start again.

for more Sunday Stills...

Objects in the Mirror

Lately I have been cooking mostly wild game and the odds and ends of past beeves and porkers, dug out of the back of the freezer and turned into unexpected things, which are (amazingly) pretty darned good. Those gristly shank bones...a little vinegar, some spices and some time in the oven and they become the basis for soup or chili that is hard to beat.
And I never made turkey soup before. Turns out I'm not too bad at it.

Applesauce from the Winesap tree that Grandma Peggy kept. The apples have always been terrible, mealy, harsh, bitter, blah. This year I left them on the tree until this week. Who knew that they are a variety that needs some good hard frosts to flavor up? They are fantastic! And not a worm in the bunch. I am going to get out the shepherd's crook and shake down the few that are still hanging on.....before the chickens get them


One pound of sausage that was hidden behind the ice cubes, sauteed with onion, garlic and lovage, topped with a can of green beans and a big bunch of instant mashed potatoes, whipped up with an egg, some grated Parmesan and garlic powder....bake for an hour and a half and get out of the way, they will be back for seconds.


Just around the corner is deer season. The hunter in chief is also the guy who cuts up the deer with me. He took meat cutting class in college last semester. That should help us turn any that he gets into a better product for better dining. Now I just hope that he is successful.