The Broken Toe and The Cow Manure Harvester

Friday Evening arrives. I am frantically trying to make pizza for my children, two of whom are home for the weekend (due to the fact it is my daughter's 18^th birthday) and two of whom are at the football stadium getting ready to march in the band. We are soon to leave to go to the football game ourselves. As I quickly move through the hallway, I decide (unknowingly to me) to cram my toes into a 15 lb bag of potatoes sitting in the hallway. They were left in the hallway by my ever helpful husband who carried them in from the car and set them there instead of opening the door and putting them in the basket in the pantry where they go. Oh well. At least he moved them from the car. Cramming ones toes into potatoes is not a pleasant experience, I would not recommend it. But, being the “tough” mother of four that I am, I continue to walk to the kitchen and stand at the stove saying, “Man, that hurts. Owwww!”

My first born son is standing there watching and shaking his head.

I walk out to the garage to get cheese out of the freezer, and when I am headed back towards the door to go in, I suddenly realize that I can not walk any farther. This is when my ever helpful husband chooses to appear. He looks at me, as I stand leaning on the car with a bag of cheese in my hand and says, “What's wrong with you?”

I begin to cry, which makes me mad, which makes me cry more, but my toe hurts! “I think I broke my toe,” I wail.

“Well, do you want me to do something?”

I think, but do not say, “No, just stand there and look at me holding this cheese and crying.”

He very calmly says, “Do you want me to help you inside? Grab a hold of my arm.” As he sticks it out three feet in front of me. Men!

I finally reach a chair with all this help. My eldest child, first born of my heart, says, “What's wrong?”

I say, “I think I broke my toe.”

“It can't be broken. I watched you do it. It didn't hurt that bad right away. It isn't broken.” You see he knows these things. He is a Lifeguard, and has taken First Aid. He will tell you on any given day, “Legally, I have to stop and offer aid whenever someone is hurt.” Hmmm. He didn't offer “aid” when he “watched” me kick the potatoes. Silly boy.

“I think my toe is broken. It is swelling.” We all watch my toe swell. Weird, I know. But what can I say...

The pizza gets finished, I try to put on my shoes, noway. I debate not going to the football game to watch my darling two youngest children march in the band for two minutes at halftime. What kind of mother would I be if I missed such an important event in the life of my youngest children, who are short changed anyway, being the youngest and all.

The next day is my oldest daughter's 18^th birthday party. I have cooking to do and a broken toe. My dear friend comes to help. Thank goodness. The party was wonderful. The food delicious, but my toe hurts.

By Sunday, my toe is feeling some better. It is black, but not as swollen. My ever helpful husband comes in and asks, “Do you want to walk to the pond with me?” Did he forget?...

I go outside to walk to the pond with him, he has a wheelbarrow with a pitchfork in it. Obviously this is more than just a leisurely walk to the pond.

“I am going to walk to the pond to get cow manure,” He says.

“You are going to get cow manure from the pond?” Not only does my toe hurt, but my brain must hurt too.

“That is where they congregate,” He informs.

So we proceed, me slowly limping along with my broken toe. And him having to walk very slowly pushing the wheelbarrow and occasionally stopping to toss in a pitchfork of cow manure. We arrive at the pond. I sit at the picnic table and watch him as he moves from pile to pile filling his wheelbarrow. Romantic, I know. I bet you wish you could do such romantic things with your beloved. When the wheelbarrow is full we head back. I ask, “What are you going to do with this wheelbarrow full of cow manure?” Knowing that he has been known to store it in a tub in the garage. Lovely. Yes, bet you want that too. Now, don't covet.

“I am going to spread this wheelbarrow full on your garden.” He replies.

“Oh. Good. It needs it. Thank you.”

“I think this would make a good job for one of the children. Do you know which one I am thinking of? He can be a Manure Harvester. I am sure he will be thrilled.” We both laugh.

I go in, my toe hurts.

(I know you are wondering what else he does with cow manure, why was it in the garage? He puts it in his bee smoker and burns it to smoke the bees. See you learned something new.)

And that is the story of The Broken Toe and The Cow Manure Harvester.

Molly in the Garden

We are starting to plant the garden.  The Sugar Snap Peas are up.  Potatoes are planted, along with some broccoli, cauliflower, and a few peppers.
We were working in the garden, Jerry, Jack, Molly Jo and myself.  Jerry had gone off to do something.  So Jack and I had finished the task of putting the seed potatoes in the rows. Molly Jo was supposed to be covering them up with soil.  She was using a garden rake. Which she didn't know how to use, by the way.  Jerry had showed her, but as Jack said, "Molly, it is not a broom.  You can't use it like a broom."  In her defense, the dirt was a little hard to move with the rake.
Oh, well.  She was complaining loudly.  So, I decided I would cover up the row next to the one she was working on with my hands.  I was pretty quick and got ahead of her.  She decided she would get rid of the rake and use her hands too.  As she is covering the potatoes with dirt using her hands, Jack says, "Molly, you want to hear something funny?"  All the time he is saying this, he knows the reaction that is coming.
Molly says, "Whatever.  Tell me, Jack."
"The pigs peed in this dirt,"  Jack says.
Well, you can probably guess the rest.  She came unglued.  "OOOooo.  Gross.  Nastiness.  I am not eating these potatoes, they are growing in nastiness."  She wails as she grabs the rake, she looks at me with a look that could make roses wilt.  Jack and I are cracking up.  It was quite funny.

Spring! What's happening at the farm...

Hopefully Spring has finally arrived. Jerry has the worm bin almost ready for the worms to live in. This should be interesting. At the very least it drives the kids crazy and that makes it worthwhile all by itself. Worms are supposed to make the very best fertilizer for your garden. We used an old bathtub that Jerry got from his dad to make the bin.
The hogs go to freezer camp in a couple of weeks. I am excited to have the sausage and bacon for breakfast. Jerry doesn't think we got a very good feed conversion rate with them. We will have to wait until they are weighed at the butcher to know for sure.
In the garden 700 onions are planted. We also planted a row of snap peas. The seeds we started indoors of tomato, cabbage, and broccoli have not done so well. We will have to build a new set up next year. With the proper kind of lights and the right distance from the seeds. I will probably use some of the tomatoes anyway, but still buy some more plants. I want to plant 100 tomatoes, broccoli, and other vegetables. This should really cut our food bill. We have some more grape vines and a plum, pear and two almond trees on their way for the orchard. I hope we get some fruit this year. The strawberry bed is planted with 150 strawberry plants. They are growing and looking good. The garlic I planted in the fall is growing as well. I am looking forward to planting my herb bed. I plan to plant Italian Parsley, Cilantro, Basil, Rosemary, Oregano, Thyme, and several others. Jerry built me a solar dehydrator so I can dry the herbs for use this coming fall and winter.
The other big project on the "farm" is the bees. We are just waiting for the time to pick up the bees. We have the boxes all ready for them. We will attend the Big Bee Buzz this weekend to learn more about bees. Jerry built a "bee vacuum" to catch swarms. This should really be interesting.
New chicks are supposed to arrive in April. The hens in the Hen House are laying eggs. I always seem to have more than enough eggs. Turkeys are also supposed to arrive sometime later next month.
Spring is a very busy time for us "wannabe farmers". Real farming is a lot more work than virtual farming, just so you know.