Today is the Day!, Wedding and Reception

The weather was fabulous! A true Michigan fall day. Sky a rich blue without a cloud in it, gentle breeze, cool enough for a sweater during the reception. The temperature in the tent was comfortable with the sides in place, no need for the tent heaters. Cut grass, level lawn, and no bugs! Bob cut, rinsed, and spun the lettuce. The last of the wedding fare from the garden. Sarah asked him if it could have been a little fresher! The wedding was beautiful. Full of family and friends. A true blessing for Katelyn and John. We were greeted by Peter, Sarah, and Randy back at the farm. The setting was perfect. A true Midwestern family gathering. Two Scottish Clans, Campbells and McPhersons, joining to celebrate John and Katelyn! The pre-party appetizers included fried pickles with hot pepper jelly, melon balls wrapped in ham, Gouda bites, grilled focaccia with eggplant and red pepper chutney, goat cheese spread with crackers, fruit display, and sliced leg of lamb with black bean puree on crackers. Bagpipe music floated through the air, pictures were taken, friends were greeted! The dinner started with a mixed greens salad with beets, carrots, parsnips, parsley root, and roasted nuts, with goat cheese and 321 vinaigrette. The entrees were served after Uncle Mac gave a short history of the McPherson family and farm. Platters of grilled chicken with lemon and rosemary, grilled chicken with blueberry BBQ sauce, grilled lamb chops with oregano chimichurri, butternut squash lasagna, ground lamb stuffed peppers, roasted root vegetables, applesauce, Aunt Mary's rolls, and jam were served family style. A toast was made to the new couple with blueberry and raspberry brandy. The desert table boasted wedding cheese cake; apple and blueberry pies, brownies, and Grandma Campbell's oatmeal cookies. The reception continued with music and dancing in the barn. The after party began at 10:30 with the service of lamb kafta with green siracha, grilled pb&j sandwiches, and roasted pepper quesadillas. The day, wedding, and reception could not have been more beautiful or delicious! Everyone loved the food and danced until the lights went out. Thank you Uncle Alec and Aunt Karen, and Craig Yeiter. Your gracious consent allowing us to have the reception on the farm and all the work to get it ready was beyond our wildest dreams. Thank you Ken Balama for prepping the lawn and all the work at the house...painting the deck, filling woodpecker holes, brush hogging pastures, wiring freezers into the generator panel. Thank you Ric and Sandi...you know. Thank you Peter and Sarah for working with all our ingredients from the farm, being flexible, and making magic! Thank you Katelyn for asking me to do this, a better gift you could not have given me. At last and most importantly, thank you Bob! Thank you for your knowledge, sweat, persistence, stool running, late hours, cheese making, and love. Your are my world. So what is next? Less lambing and more cheese making. Less gardening and more kayaking. Less watering and more cooking. I planted the garlic the week after the wedding, planning for next year. Some things don't change. Come visit us in northeast Kent County. Live well, Carmen

September 15, 2012; Today is the Day!

Today is the day! We started early. Michelle and Bethany began the task of flower arrangement. Michelle and I cut buckets of flowers and took them to the granary for final arrangement. The flowers were beautiful. I ended up with far more than we needed. A far cry from the few scrawny plants I kept watering in June. These arrangements were placed on the dinner tables, cake table, and gift table. Mike sprayed the surroundings for the small gnats that surfaced over night and cut the large sunflower stalks and placed them in the barn. The groomsmen, including Tim from England, set up chairs and tables, carried heavy plants, and got extra sides for the tent. The salsa and jam favors were labeled and brought from the house. We placed the LED lights in mason jars to light a path from the barn to the portable bathroom. Ric and Sandi have been here for several days doing everything...horseshoe pits; hanging lanterns, grapevine, and pictures; arranging, carrying. Randy Kilborn arrived mid-morning with the waitstaff from Saburba to place linen, set tables, organize the area for Peter and Sarah, put flowers on the cake table, set up the bar, and figure out any last details. It was wonderful to here him say...I'll take care of it! Did I mention, all this activity occurred before I left to get my hair done? We could not have done any of this without everyone..Thank you!

The Week Before the Wedding

John and Katelyn arrived thankfully, to begin the final preparations and set up for the wedding. We have been setting up the reception across the street for several days now. John has vacuumed the barn until the floor is spotless. John's parents, Mary and Tracey arrived on Tuesday. They were immediately put to work repotting all the plants and shrubs, helping Grandma Susie make 10 Blueberry pies, and sewing ribbon on the bench cushions. We've carried flowers, benches, lights, hoses, cords, vases, jars, and pictures to the barn. How will we ever get all these things back across the road when the day is done? The Mertens family, my sister's group from Nebraska, arrived a day early. Thank goodness! They were also set to task carrying, spraying for bugs, cutting flowers, and general heavy lifting and set up.

Produce to Saburba, September

I took 35 chickens, all the lamb chops, and two legs of lamb to Saburba. Within the last week I've made several trips to Ada actually. Arriving at the back door of the resturant with coolers, bags, and containers filled with vegetables, herbs, and Goat's milk, Chevre and Gouda. Sarah jokingly told me to stop bringing produce to Saburba. What a great feeling, being able to bring the majority of what we started, what we planned on bringing. Planning from September of last year. Planning, breeding, feeding, cleaning, lambing, kidding, milking, weeding, watering, making, pressing, flipping, worming, inoculating, stool running, dehorning, vet visits, c-sections, burying, egg collecting, picking, roto tilling, canning, freezing, tomato worm picking, watering, watering, and watering. Taking produce to Saburba has it's benefits as well, great coffee and the corners from oohy goohy bars. Ahhh....Carmen

Tomatoes and Salsa, September

There are soooo many tomatoes. I've made sooooo much salsa and canned sooooo many tomatoes. Enough is enough. Anybody want tomatoes, need tomatoes? Bob did a fabulous job trimming, picking tomato bugs, keeping the fungus at bay. Too fabulous. The peppers will be as prolific as the tomatoes when they are finished.....which will be after the wedding. A few are available now but not enough for the pepper and goat cheese appetizer. Peter will have to think of something else. Peter did make pepper jelly with some of the peppers I gave him. It is sweet and hot at the same time. The lettuce will be ready and there will be plenty...more than enough. Arugala, spinach, butter crunch, and mixed greens. Carmen

Last Lambs to the Market

Bob took the last three lambs to the market. These three were smaller than the first group. Two were LuLu's. She had mastitis and the two never really caught back up. Leila's single lamb was really stressed during the weaning period. She hung out with LuLu's two lambs but always seemed alone. She also never was very interested in the grain I gave them....what! I know, how could she not be interested in grain. She got shoved out of the feed trough when the bigger lambs were around. When they left she picked at what I gave the other two, preferring the alfalfa hay to the grain. CeeLo Green is lost without his friends. He tried to strike up the same relationship he had with the lambs with the goats. The goats thought his attention was a great game and turned his advances onto a game of chase. Not to be turned away, CeeLo tried being in the goat stall with them. He ended up under the divider gate, stuck. I rescued him, finally breaking the news...it is not the same and the lambs are not coming back. I did not tell him there was no Santa Claus, I'll save that for another day. The information given to him today was enough. No use in completely crushing him. With CeeLo Green out of the game the goats turned there attention to the hapless John McEnroe. Bob had opened the stall door to the chicken area and the younger hens and John Mc. had been enjoying their first day in the outside world. The goats chased John McEnroe, caught his tail feathers in their teeth and, after pulling them out, ate them! Katelyn was not impressed with the goats....how could they do that? Quite easily actually. They had great fun. John Mc was not worse for the wear, just minus tail feathers. Bob opened the middle pasture gate for the goats allowing them to roam into that pasture. They now spend the majority of their time there munching the thistle weed. Thistle must taste like chicken feathers. Carmen

Lamb Mix Up, August 2012

Bob picked up the lamb order from the market. As he was leaving he realized something was wrong with the order. He went back inside and discovered that the two largest animals, LuLu and the largest lamb had been processed as the wedding order. The second largest lamb had been ground into burger and stew meat. The two smaller lambs had been processed correctly according to our order. The ewe and the largest lamb were combined into one order box making it impossible to determine mutton from lamb! I was devastated! All this effort to provide lamb for the wedding and it was sabotaged. We can't serve mutton and the beautiful second lamb in burger and stew meat! Emotions were running high. Bob contacted me at work with the news. He said that when the error was discovered Mr. Geukes was very disappointed as well and wanted to make the situation right. He offered to give us two of his lambs from his farm in exchange for the ewe and the largest lamb. These would be processed the last part of August and would be available for pick-up the first part of September when we brought the last three lambs in. This solution was the only viable solution. We accepted his offer, still uncertain as to wether we would use this lamb for the wedding or try and use the two smaller lambs. Would there be enough meat with the smaller lambs? After several discussions, Bob and I decided to try and use the smaller lambs for the wedding. The whole premise was to use food from the house. If Peter didn't think there would be enough we would make more chicken and possibly use some rabbit. Don Jones and Al Valk were willing to buy two Geuke's lamb halves instead of our halves so we could use our's for the wedding. Jordy Whalen decided to wait for several more weeks and purchase our lamb from the second batch of lambs to go the the market. You don't realize the emotional investment in this project until something like this mix-up happens. Hopefully there will be enough and if not, we have a plan B that is acceptable. Carmen

CeeLo Green and Market Lambs, August 2012

CeeLo Green immediately adopted the three remaining lambs after the four oldest lambs and LuLu went to the market. Geukes Market in Middleville has a distinction from the State of Michigan for being a humane market. The receiving area is clean and comfortable for the animals, there is always fresh water, they do not accept ill or injured animals, and their method of dispatching the animal is quick and painless. Bob took the four largest, oldest lambs and LuLu to the market. The two largest lambs will be for the wedding, the two smaller lambs will be sold to friends, and LuLu will go to Mel Trotter ministries as stew meat and burger. LuLu is the ewe that had mastitis. It was Paul Shetterly's opinion that we not rebreed her but send her to the market. Paul also took the other two ewes to his place for breeding. They will stay there and I will get several lambs in trade for them in the spring. Bob and I decided to get lambs from Paul to finish out instead of breeding our own. Hopefully this will mean getting more sleep in February during lambing season and not having to worry about castrating, worming, tail docking, or medication administration. CeeLo has resumed his debugging duties and the three lambs have graciously accepted his attention. We decided not to tell CeeLo that his new friends will be making their own trip to the market in about a month. Best to just wait for an opportune moment. Carmen

Second batch of meat chickens, August 2012

Brian the Chicken Guy, brought his chicken processing operation to the house and processed the second round of meat chickens. He has a small trailer that he loads with his killing cones, propane tank, water dunk tank, table, and defeathering tumbler. Quite the operation. He was able to humanely dispatch, defeather, and process the 25 birds in a little less than two hours. Amazing considering it would have taken Bob and I at least 6 hours to do the same job. His feather remover tumbler thing is pretty slick, removing all the feathers in mere seconds. That probably was the worst job when we did our own chickens, removing the feathers. Feathers seemed to be everywhere, the birds never were completely defeathered, and the question always was if they had been dunked long enough in the hot water. Too hot, the skin tore. To cool, too many feathers remained. Arghh! Did I forget to mention the smell of warm feathers and chicken manure? As Brian was processing the chickens I made a single cut down the back bone, opening the carcass so it could lay flat. I then vacuum sealed the chickens. Sandi was unable to assume her duties as chief carcass cutter, something about being out of town for her mother's birthday. What some people will do to get out of a little honest work. At any rate, her knife wielding skills were sorely missed. Brian did have miserable weather to work in. It rained the entire time he was processing the chickens. How nice to have him come to the house though. The stress on the chickens is nonexistent and we don't have to scramble to get them to him and then pick them up. I can say this as I watched him work in the rain through the front room window of the house. Nice and dry. I think I'll make a pot of coffee while I wait for Bob to bring me another batch to seal and freeze. Carmen

Bug's horn sites are infected, August 2012

I knew it. Bug's dehorning sites on his head are infected. In other words, green pus is pouring out of his frontal sinuses. Sigh. Thankfully the scabs came off the burn sites creating an opening for the pus to evacuate from. I called the vet and they suggested using a dilute Betadine solution to irrigate his head, twice a day. The finishing touch is to spray the sites with the blue antiseptic/fly spray. Initially I got a lot of drainage out of the openings. This must have relieved the increasing pressure in his frontal sinuses. He was not excited initially about having this wound irrigation done, crying desperately. After several days he seemed to almost enjoy the procedure, realizing the pressure in his head was going to be reduced by the process. Dahlia's dehorning burn sites did heal nicely, no sign of infection there. Once again, it is imperative to properly debud the kids in the first place. You think you are burning the buds long enough when in reality you are not. It is harder on them to go to the vet and be dehorned than it is to burn the buds adequately in the first place. Did I mention that I am the one to take them to be dehorned, care for the initial burn sites and then the subsequent infections. Did I mention that? Carmen

Potatoes and Salad Greens

Bob dug the remaining potatoes yesterday and stored them in the empty stall in the barn. They will cure in the dark, warm barn for several days and then be moved to the root cellar. The crop is huge and the potatoes look great. We ate a couple that had been missed ad subsequently run over with the rototiller for breakfast yesterday..delicious! After the potato plants were pulled I weeded and rototilled the rows, prepping for planting salad greens. Bob put down organic fertilizer along the rows. The rows were marked, staked, and planted with mixed greens, arugula, spinach, butter crunch lettuce, and kale. I must say, this area of the garden looks great! Weed free...amazing for this time of year. I'll have to get a picture for posterity!

CeeLo Green, Cuban Cock Fighter

Bob found a picture of a chicken that looks like CeeLo in his book about Cuba. The chicken in the book was a champion cock fighter. CeeLo will never be a cock fighter but, Bob thinks the title will give him stature amongst the other chickens. For now, he continues to roost in the spare stall at night, and follow the lambs around during the day. eating bugs and enjoying the protection afforded by the lambs. We haven't broken it to him yet that his new found friends will be heading to the market soon. Better to let him think that he is a cock fighting chicken for now.

Bug

Bug remained droopy after his dehorning until yesterday. I finally caved in and gave him his own grain bin. Violet was pushing he and Dahlia out of the way at feeding time. Their heads are still tender from the dehorning and they can't push their way in to get their share of the grain. I was also concerned that Violet would make herself sick eating too much grain. Violet, who usually gets shoved aside, is enjoying the turned tables, shoving the others put of the way without difficulty.

Season of the Tomato Worm

It is the season of the tomato worm. We are picking and squishing tomato worms everyday. They are disgusting, fat, green worms that squirt green juice when you step on them. They also cling to the tomato plant and then your fingers when plucked from the plant. I have resorted to wearing gloves when picking the worms off the plants. That way, if they curl around your fingers, you can't feel their small legs grasping your skin. I do derive great satisfaction from stepping on them. Green juice squirts like a stream of water from a hose! Ha! Take that you, you...sorry, I got carried away. At any rate, I think we are keeping ahead of them. The plants are large and lush with fruit. Carry on worm crushing troops...continue the good fight...the thrill of the hunt. Accept nothing less than complete annihilation. Geez...

Kid Dehorning

It was my turn this week to make the vet run to Ionia. I took Bug and Dahlia to be dehorned. We were unable to burn their horn buds adequately this spring and they kept getting larger, to the point where Bug actually got his head caught in the hay manger. It was the proverbial goat rodeo getting them both into the horse trailer, each going in different directions. They are very strong for small animals! The whole dehorning process took about an hour. Each got sedation and local medication around their horns. The vet used a scalpel around the base of each horn and then a hack saw to remove them at the base. He then cauterized the area with an electric iron. Each got pain medicine and a reversal for the sedation. Getting them out of the trailer and back into their stall, once we were home, was much easier. A little grain for enticement works every time. Dahlia perked up immediately, I am once again her friend. Bug, on the other hand, wants nothing to do with me. He'll come around, it just might take until next year! I've been on vacation this week. Katelyn was here for the first part of the week for yet another dress fitting. The bridal shop seamstress just can't seem to fit the dress to the woman. She may have to think about a different dress. We did succeed in ordering supplies for the reception and made many phone calls to finalize some plans. The rest of the week has been spent on the garden. The rain finally came this week, a blessing. Today I have been in and out, working around thunderstorms. I am going to have to inspect the damage once the rain stops. Hail accompanied the rain during the second storm. Tomorrow I want to work in the front flower bed, weed bed is actually a better term. The weeds survived the drought very well and found great comfort in the front bed. Carmen

Heat, July 18, 2012

How naive I was several weeks ago. The heat did not stop, the drought spell has continued. This is being reported as the worst stretch of heat with drought since the 1980's. Everyone is miserable. The lambs do not seem to be losing weight but I don't think they've grown either. Bob had last week off. He did all sorts of glamourous things with his time such as watering the garden, filling water tanks, weeding, and best of all....running stool samples to the vet in Ionia. Running stool across county lines is a thankless and dangerous job. Well, not either one of those things, just makes it sound more intriguing. The first run was made Tuesday morning. One of the ewe lambs was droopy, meaning she looked like she'd lost weight, was moving more slowly to the grain trough, and her mucous membranes were very pale. Flashes of Lucy's illness and death came flooding back. The verdict was nematode worms. Thankfully not coccidiosis! Still dangerous, we wormed each lamb for three days with a worm medicine more specifically for nematodes. The initially afflicted lamb is holding her own but is still not interested in grain and has not regained her lost weight. The second stool run was made Thursday morning. Violet, one of Sweet Pea's kids had diarrhea. The diagnosis this time was coccidiosis. We treatment course for the three kids was five days of oral medication. Last year we treated four lambs for 14, yes, 14 days with oral medication. A 50 pound kid is much easier to catch and treat than a 100 pound lamb, and a 5 day medication course beats 14 days hands down. I've picked blueberries for several weeks. A hot and sweaty job. The yield has been remarkable considering the crazy weather this spring. I found a recipe for blueberry BBQ sauce....unreal! Maybe everything should be slathered in blueberry BBQ sauce for the wedding dinner. Bob thinks this is a great idea! Carmen

Heat, July 6, 2012

The weather has been incredibly hot, ninety degrees and warmer for the last five days. Today will be the last day for a day or two. Bob and I have been watering the garden twice a day and the plants continue to be stressed. The water pressure in the garden is better since Mike Dyer from Dyer Drilling came and deepened the well by eight feet. He replaced the original pump and installed a smaller reservoir. He did not have to install a new well! We still cannot run the garden hose full blast, as Bob would like. The water stops completely, but the pressure is maintained enough to run a sprinkler. The cost for the adjustments is significantly less than a new well. The increased pressure and volume are adequate. The grass across the road seems to be holding it's own. I did set up a sprinkler and will start to water over there tomorrow. It does need to be reseeded. I would like to do that within the next week so new grass will be ready by September. The animals are suffering in the heat. Bob enlarged the chick area and set up a fan for them. The plastic was removed from their area so a breeze can get through. They all pant but none are sluggish, moving away from stimulation easily. The pastures are turning brown and are becoming bare, eaten to a nub by hungry sheep. I have resorted to feeding more hay. Katelyn was here for the weekend. We made a kist of people to contact and things to do. Minutiae, as Bob would say. Better to do now than rush around closer to the wedding. Katelyn picked blueberries on Sunday in the heat, a rotten job. I have since picked twice. We now have enough for ten pies for the wedding. She also helped me get hay from Bob Roth. He had many questions for her as he always does. I have started to dehydrate the herbs. The chamomile did not survive the heat so I don't have any for soap for next year. Unfortunate. Maybe I can use carrot greens with the chamomile essential oil. Hum.....Carmen

CeeLo Green, June 30

CeeLo Green has escaped the horse stall! I found him roosting on the gate in the goat stall no worse for wear. I decided to let him have his freedom come what may; cats, rooster, kid goats. After all, his continued efforts to escape should not be taken lightly. With such determination he might just have the gumption to survive. In the evening I returned to do evening chores and found him sitting on top of the lambs picking bugs out off their wool. The lambs seemed to enjoy this, actually seeking him out. Gently touching him with their noses, pick me, pick me! CeeLo has made great alliances with the lambs, he removing the bugs, they protecting him from outside forces. Who knew? Katelyn and I took Ruthie and Sweet Pea to Lisa's last night. Lisa will have them to milk. Ruthie will come home in September to contribute more milk to the wedding cheese making effort. As we pulled out of the drive Ruthie ran along the fence following the truck down the road. Sigh, she will be back soon. The kids were distraught as well. They calmed down some by late evening. It will take time. Carmen

New Chicks, June 24

The new chicks arrived today. We ordered 25 meat chicks and 10 Buff Orpington egg chicks from the hatchery in Iowa. The exotic chick has yellow down with a tuft of yellow down on it's head. It looks like it had an athletic sweat band on too tightly and the band pushed the down up into a pompon. CeeLo Green got moved into the empty horse stall to grow a little larger before he gets released into the barn yard. I got meal worms from Tractor Supply as a treat for him. He enjoyed them immensely. My way of helping him adjust to being alone. I also filled in the hole he was digging under the stall door, his valiant attempt at making a run for the outside. I felt sad for squashing his flight to freedom. Soon enough little bird. Carmen

Chickens, Jam, Watering, June 17

Monday, June 11, was chicken D-day. Bob loaded the chickens in the truck and took them to visit Brian before work. I wish I could have seen it! Ah well, the mental images I had were probably more fun. I picked them up around 4:30pm, later than expected. This extra time was filled with making a batch of strawberry jam and pasteurizing milk. Sandi came and helped freeze the chickens. The process included making a single cut down the backs of the chickens, filleting them open to lay flat, remaining in one piece. Sandi was a filleting machine! Cutting all the chickens and removing the necks in no time. For a small women, perhaps 95 pounds on a good day, she can wield a large knife with the best of them. With Sandi filleting and removing necks, I manned the food sealer. Making bags, packing birds in, and sealing. We moved so quickly the sealer could not keep up, eventually refusing to work for the last three birds. These birds were placed in two gallon freezer bags and the air removed using the Ric method. This scientific method of packaging is performed by placing the bird in the bags and squeezing all the air out by placing your hands and entire body around the bag. Sandi is an expert at this and will provide an instruction manual to follow. Our new chefs made a visit to the farm on Tuesday. The 9th Bridge chef felt the size of the reception was too large for her to handle. Sara and her friend have their own local first catering business and are excited to take on the project. We discussed the menu and produce available. I then introduced them to the animals. The kids kept trying to chew Sara's skirt. No manners! This last week was spent watering and watering again. So hot and dry. Last night the rain finally came. The grass for the wedding tent and the garden got a much needed drink. The heat will come again but, at least for today, everything is wet! Carmen