I survived week 1

The week is practically over and I have survived. I am really excited about work and am learning a few new things along the way. I'm so psyched that I have even begun to reconcile our bank statements :)

This week we were surprised to find 18 eggs on the side of the nesting box, lol those crazy chickens. We will need to fence the yard when we get our refund as the free rangers keep wandering into the road and have been getting hit :(

We got a great deal on hay from our regular hay guy that should take us nicely into March. The cows are very happy about this development as it means they don't have to wait for a good deal at the sale barn anymore. Hay is cheapest at the sale barn when the weather is not too cold, but very expensive if it is really cold that week.

We are looking at our options for transportation as I have the only vehicle and that means that we will start to lose our source of pig food. :( I don't want to have to grain them exclusively, so we will need to find a cheap but reliable vehicle.

Saturday is my sister's birthday, I made her an infinity scarf . . . actually it's not a true infinity scarf as there is a seam. I don't have circular knitting needles so I did it as a regular scarf and sewed the ends. :)

Stove buying

I am having the hardest time buying a stove :( The space in my kitchen is made for a larger stove, fitting of a good old country kitchen or a large family kitchen :) The stoves at the store are for the smaller family and leave my space with tons of room to spare. The stove that came with the house was a standard and while the burners work the oven does not :( Since Christmas is the season for baking, that is a little bit of a problem. A stove {oven} must be found!! The delightful pawn shop in Medford buys stoves from restaurant closeout auctions, I called and was told that they may be getting one on Thursday. The problem is, I don't know if I should wait that long. What if it falls through :( My sis is skeptical about used stoves but there is no way a large family can afford a new 36" or larger stove. :( Well, I'll let you know how it turns out, right now I am still undecided. Thoughts?

We've decided to build it

A milking machine that is. :) I have been trying to get one because my hands hurt so badly, but they are over $700 used and $1400 new. Dh decided there must be an easier way, so I talked to my dad (the smartest guys I know) and figured that with his degree in mechanical engineering he was just the kind of expert advice we need for this project. The task seems simple enough, right? I'll get back to you on that. The goal is to spend less than $700 on this machine, we scoured the internet (the abundant source of knowledge) and found this article that talks about building the machine. The article is very helpful as it gives great information about the specifications of the vacuum pump (the most expensive part of the deal). Let me just say now, figuring out what vacuum pump will work is really a technical type thing and I'm glad that daddy has a clue because it is all Greek to me. (I've been meaning to brush up on my Greek) Anyway, here's what we've got so far:





Except for the ring (gasket) in the back left all the rest of parts came with the unit I bought ($118 including S&H). This is the first pieces. The next item was to find a vacuum pump with the following:
1) Single phase
2) minimum of 1/3 hp (this is his recommendation for milking 2 goats, the industry standard is 1/4 hp for 2 goats, since my Dexters produce much less milk than traditional dairy animals I have gone with this as opposed to the 1/2hp which is the normal recommendation for cows.)
3) 1,725 rpm

That criteria led me to many many websites, and finally I found this:


I called the company that manufactured this and got lots of great info so I bought it. ($78.95 including S&H)

The last pieces are:
1) a KF-25 fitting and clamp to connect the hose to the pump,
2) some hose,
3) a gasket for the lid,
4) a cart to bolt the vacuum pump to for easier mobility
5) belly strap

Aside we will need a few milking supplies:
1) milk strainer
2) udder wipes
3) teat dip

That seems to be all that is missing at this time, I'll go look for a more complete list and get back with you :)

New rule

Well we're finally back from picking up the hay mover. Let me just say, that was an ordeal!! Dh was running an hour late for us to leave to pick it up and it was almost 3 hours away from my work. But the time we got there it was very late and I was so tired. The trek home would be even longer as we live an hour from my work. :( Not to mention the fact that we had to stop by work to pick up the car.

So the new rule is: No purchasing of farm equipment(no matter how pretty) that is more than an hour from my job, and definitely no attempting to pick it up during the week.

We had so much to do this morning that I ended up taking off work to get it all done and get a bit more rest. Somehow going to bed at 2am means that driving to work at 6:30 is out of the question, I can't imagine why that is. Our middle 2 went in for Pre-K testing and HG is tickled pink that school will be starting soon, SM is working on being excited.

Amused, thankful and other ponderings

I was driving to work this morning when I was forced to slow down at the outrageously slow town closest to mine, just then I noticed a very familiar sight, cows. Not just any cows, actually it was just 1 cow really and she was on the wrong side of the fence. I was so tickled by this, I am so happy that I am not the only one who's cows feel a need to walk the highway :) Had I not been running late I would have stopped and knocked on the door or something. Of course driving through small town America means there is no AT&T coverage for miles (i.e. a big town), so there was also no way to call the county sheriff. Luckily the house is just outside city limits and there are many neighbors nearby, we have no neighbors for almost 2 miles all around (I really prefer that).

On a complete other note, I was browsing craigslist and found what appeared to me to be the stanchion I desperately need to begin milking, YAY!! The price is beyond reasonable and while it is not close by, I talked to the owner and they will be coming to the city in a couple weeks and they will bring it :) That means I only have to drive an hour to get it, YAY!!!! :) This is definitely an answered prayer. Have I mentioned how much time I spend on craigslist? Let's just say, they should probably employ me. :)

I was talking to the owner of my stanchion and musing that they really never bothered to show people how expensive farm living really is on Green Acres. I mean, I've never actually seen the show but I know the concept. It only occurred to me last night that it's a good thing that guy was a lawyer or they'd have been much poorer. So here is a tip or two for those looking to make the move:
1. Never buy animals in the spring, unless you want to pay a premium. If you wait until the end of summer/fall then the prices fall dramatically as farmers don't want to have to buy as much hay. Avoid sale barn animals if you can, if not make sure you have an area that they can be quarantined for a week to 10 days.
2. Never trust existing fencing. Actually there is no fencing that I would trust even if it were new. Electric fencing is wonderful til it grounds out for some reason, then it becomes nothing more than smooth wire. Barbed wire is the equivalent of a human back scratcher, don't use it for livestock. Whatever fence you do use, check it at least twice a week, you animals are working on it daily.
3. If you wait til the end of the harvest, tractors get cheaper. Also auctions are a great place to pick up tools.

I'll think on it more and get back to you if I come up with anymore. And just so you know, I submitted my paper last night, it's not great, probably not even good, incredibly incoherent but that's not the point. :)

Riding the purplewave

So I am totally addicted to purplewave.com an auction site rocks!!! I am currently bidding on several restaurant quality items from an Inn that is closing 3 hours away. I googled the stove and found out that it would cost $3000, WOW!!

Anyway, the auction is due to end on the same day as we are closing on the house so everyone pray that I have a smooth closing and a comercial kitchen for a fraction of the cost. Did I mention I'm also bidding on the dishwasher, beautiful high powered piece of machinery.

Oh if I could just take the whole kitchen and the tables and chairs, scratch that, if I could just transplant the whole Inn here, that would be divine. It totally feed into my retirement plans of a B&B but we'll have to work on that a while longer.