Weary

Today I'm feeling weary; blog weary.  It has reached the point where I don't seem to be able to come up with any subjects of interest to anyone.  Oh, there are the faithful few who comment each time I post something and I'm thankful for them, but it really isn't worth my effort or the time it takes to prepare a post now.   I know a lot of people have gone to Facebook, which I don't do, nor do I text, so perhaps that has taken its toll on blogging.

When I first started writing for the blog, it was to be about my quilting, but I never found many women who wanted to share words with me about this.  I made a few dolls, doll clothing, and stories from my childhood to write about.  I'm a FarmHer, and only one other person connected with me on work I do in the chicken houses and on the farm.

So, for now I'm going to be absent from my blog.   I'll continue visiting your blogs.

Thank you, and may God bless each of you.

Charlotte

A New Chapter in My Life

Yesterday I started a new chapter in my life.  I became great grandmother to a 7lb 4oz  baby girl, Emalyn Claire.  I haven't seen her yet, only a picture right after her birth.  Of course she's beautiful!  I'm Mama Charlotte to the grand kids, so now I suppose this makes me Great Mama Charlotte. ;) 

Hot, Dry Farm Work

Everyone complained about how cool April was and then how fast the hot weather came in May.  Well, here we are in June, expected to be hot and humid, and everything is dry.  Perfect weather for cutting and baling hay. 

We started the hay season yesterday and continued today.  I wondered, at age 70, if I could make it through that season, and here I am at 77, still in control of my senses and physically able to drive the tractor and rake the hay for the farmer.  

You never know exactly what to expect when doing farm work.  Take today for instance: I was raking the last of the hay when I noticed something on the right front tire.  Assuming it to be a stick I decided it needed to be removed, so I put the tractor in neutral, set the park brake and got out to see what it was.  Surprise of all surprises!  This is what it was!

A deer shed!  Deer antlers grow in the spring, mature in the summer, then are shed in the winter.  They are rarely found in nature because they are eaten by rodents since they are rich in calcium and other nutrients.  Anyway, a rodent didn't find this one, I did!  I had sense enough not to pull it out of the tire and when the farmer caught up with me, he took a small saw from his tool box and cut it off, leaving a "plug" in the tire.

I watched the tire carefully all the way home to make sure it wasn't going flat.  The farmer took it off and has taken it to town to have the tire repaired.

Another incident to record in our journal of farm happenings.

Stay cool,

Charlotte

Farm Update ~ Winter into Spring ~ 2018

At the end of last summer,  an eighty something row crop farmer told my farmer, "Well, I made it through another year!"  We felt a little the same way, having completed the hay season.   The last day we baled I was so tired that night I couldn't go to sleep for a while.  The rains were just right last summer for the meadows to produce grass for more than one cutting.  The farmer says we put up 1400 round bales of hay; that's a lot of grass and more than enough to feed the cattle for a year, but it's always good to have extra in case next summer is dry.

Of course row crop farmers can call an end to their harvesting "another year", but with chicken farmers it's "what goes around, comes around" with no noticeable beginning or ending to a new year.  We have just finished the first flock of chickens for this year, having had to keep them for eight weeks, longer than any we have ever raised.  The company wants a larger bird; I suppose consumers demand larger portions to eat.  When we first started raising chickens they rarely weighed as much as four or five pounds in six weeks times; however the word obesity was rarely heard of either.

Because of my cataract surgery last spring, we didn't have much of a garden, but by late summer we planted peas and I froze enough for the winter.  A lot of our fall and winter weekends would find us getting in firewood for the furnace.  The farmer took the tractor and dump trailer to the edges of the fields and brought in logs which he sawed into usable lengths, then split them with an attachment on the front of the BobCat.  I loaded the pieces onto the bed of the side by side and brought them to the house to stack.

In December, the farmer was sick; he thought he had the flu but it wasn't anything like I remember the flu being.  He continued feeding the hay and helping in the chicken houses then spending the rest of the day in his recliner.   Much of the Christmas joy was lost because we both felt bad for a while.  On the 21st of December we had been married for 57 years.

The Christmas card from our older grandson and his wife announced that we would be great grandparents in July, and since their "reveal" party we know the baby will be a girl; our first.

 The month of January was mostly very dry but we did get about two inches of snow and around 10 inches of rain fell in February.  Although everyone thought we had a really cold winter, I didn't think it was too bad.

I stayed busy in the sewing room too;  two aprons,

 

  two quilt tops, one large top and one baby top 

two baby quilts,

and two crocheted baby blankets.

The quilts and tops were all made using scraps; however, not to worry, I didn't use near all of them.

And now spring is upon us; robins are scratching through the old leaves, buttercups are waving in the March winds, and the cattle are searching for every little sprig of green they can find.  We'll start a new flock of chickens in two weeks and then only a short span of time until it'll be back to the hay meadows to start "through another year".

Charlotte

Pictures and Cameras

This week I have started a project of scanning  old pictures from albums: the kind of albums with sticky pages and plastic coverings.  Over the years, most of the coverings have come lose and many of the pictures have come unstuck, falling out when the albums are opened.  I had also taken out a lot of the pictures to use when I wrote my book for the grandchildren.  Mama had given me two of her albums and others to my sister.  There are several pictures with no name(s), and while I remember some of them I want to record the ones I do know.

We didn't have a camera when I was little, so there are very few pictures from my early childhood. The pictures I have were mostly made by relatives who had come to visit my grandma, and some by the local photographer whose office was up a long flight of stairs in a building downtown on Main Street. 



Working with these pictures made me think of my passion for cameras in years past.  ( I wrote about the first camera I had in a post for August 17, 2011, The Camera.)   My sister, Wanda, bought a real camera while she was in high school and  my first real camera was given to me when I was in high school.  We only used black and white film; colored pictures were just too expensive for us. 

When the Farmer and I became seriously involved, we each chipped in $15.00 and ordered a 35mm camera from Sears, Roebuck, which was replaced several years later by a better 35mm, and we were able to make colored slides with it.  We took lots and lots of black and white pictures of our little girls too (duplicates show up everywhere!), especially after the Farmer began developing his own film.  He set up a darkroom in the bathroom and when the two oldest girls were teens, photography became a hobby for them.   (My maternal grandfather had his darkroom set up in his cellar in the 20s and the pictures were printed on postcard sized paper.)

How things have changed in just the last few years!  I now have a small digital camera but I can't take very good pictures with it because of hand tremors.  It has advantages over those first cameras though.  With those first black and white pictures, it might take weeks to complete the roll of film, then the roll had to be packaged up and mailed to be developed, and then returned, only to find some of the pictures were no good.  New cameras give one the option to delete anything she doesn't like.

And now there's the cellphone technology: instant viewing and sharing, even videos.  What can possibly be next?

Whew!  This is long!

Charlotte

The Year 2016

When the year 2016 began, I thought it would be interesting to keep a calendar record of the days we had chickens.  I marked off each week with a colored marker and this was the result:

  Overall it was a good year for us.  However, with the growing demand for antibiotic-free products, we felt the results toward the end of the year.  It means we lose more birds but the cost of the utilities remains the same and our work increases.  

We had a very good year for hay, baling around 1100 round bales of good quality hay.  There were  at least 100 calves sent to market.  I missed out on working the cattle this fall; the farmer had three men who came and helped so I lost the job of catching them in the head gate, having ear tags ready, and keeping records on which cow or calf got what.  I like working the cattle; as I have mentioned before, it sends a flow of adrenalin through a person to get right in the middle of them and sort them into different pens.

2016 saw us reach the age of 75, still able to do the work with only an occasional Aleve, and a blood pressure pill for the farmer.  Our oldest granddaughter got married in December and the youngest grandchild turned 18 in November.  How fast they've grown up!

There was plenty of rain, except for one dry spell, to have a good vegetable garden.  I froze lots of purple hull peas, okra, and greens.  The dry spell came just as the corn was putting on ears so there was no corn this year.  The peas, tomatoes, okra and greens continued to produce into October.

I'll leave the sewing room projects for another visit.  Thanks to all who have stopped by to leave a comment even when I was lazy about blogging.  

Charlotte

Mystery Solved

Ilene, aka therockwhisperer, identified the plant as an amaranth, the species being Love Lies Bleeding.  She said she has been trying for years to get one started.  And here I have cut the plants down!  The weeds we have in the pastures are also from the amaranth family and they take over if left.  They have sharp stickers and make millions of seeds; it's a terrible plant to have in a vegetable garden.  Maybe this plant wouldn't have been so aggressive but I just couldn't take the chance.  There are a lot of good pictures of its blooms on the internet and I'll admit, it's an interesting plant.

So thanks, Ilene, for sharing your knowledge.  Wish you could have had these plants.

And, thanks for all who commented about the mystery plant.

Charlotte

After reading some latter comments, I wanted to add that the flower in my header photo is called a Spider Lily.  They reseed every year, although I've never been able to get one started from purchased seeds.

Farm Update ~spring 2016

Recently I heard a song, Fall Away,  which made an impression on me.  These are some of the words: "...when you're happy the years fall away, but when you're blue, days go by 'a draggin..."  I must be terribly happy; this year is rapidly falling away!

Our winter was not so cold this year and we both made it through with not so much as a cold.  I had dreaded my "new" job,

thinking I would have to stand out in the snow and ice when I waited at the gate while the farmer put out hay for the cows.  But I had a heated side-by-side to sit in while I waited, and we had no snow anyway.

Now we're a month into spring; the early garden seeds have been planted, irises, foxglove, daisies, and columbine are in bloom;  the third flock of chickens for the new year have been started.  We've sent calves to market and vaccinated cows and small calves.

There was a rash of cattle rustling in our county during the winter, which made all the farmers around us watchful and uneasy.   The farmer decided to use branding on the cattle as a means of identification.   (I hate having to be a part of this.)

There are a lot of new baby calves.

I try to spend an hour or two in the afternoons to work on the quilting project, until I hear the farmer's footsteps coming down the hallway, and he asks me if I'd "like" to do this or that. lol  I'm on the 9th row of twelve rows.

 

"When you're happy, the years just fall away."

Mouse in the House

As quick as the blink of an eye
something seemed to fly by!
Eek!!
There's a mouse in the house!
I must set a trap!
And for sheer ease
I'll bait it with cheese;
but now I'm wondering,
which will he like better,
Velveeta or sharp cheddar?

So I put a small bit
on the paddle's tip
and set the spring in place.
Mouse has waited all day
to come out and play,
and when the lights go out
he runs round about,
right past the trap by the wall.

He passed the cheese.
He wants a treat;
something gooey, soft and sweet.
He didn't think I'd hear him
as he wriggled and chewed inside the sack.
But he didn't know I had quite a knack
for listening for little mouse smacks.

I grabbed the sack by its top
and he jumped and he jumped to no avail;
he couldn't escape from this cat food bag jail.
I'll take him to the barn where there are cats.
No more mouse in the house, and that will be that!

                                                                  Charlotte

Summer ~ 2015

In spite of a slow start, due to so much rain, we've had a busy and productive summer, and it goes on.

This has been the view from the back window of my office tractor several days this summer.  I've raked over 1000 bales of hay;  we still have two fields left to cut but will wait until these big chickens are gone.  There's always a worry to leave them on hot days when we go to the field, although we have a monitor that calls when the temperature rises, and a generator if the electricity goes off; we aren't too far away either.

All our hay is hauled, except 175 bales, and insured.  I hate to "put all our eggs in one basket", as the saying goes,  in  case of fire.  Should something happen to the hay, insurance money would help, IF we could find more to buy.

Two days were spent gathering in calves to send to market.  I like to work with the cattle; get right in there with them, and let the adrenalin flow.  

The garden was successful for the most part and I froze good things for next winter; now I will plant turnip green seeds and hope for one more thing to freeze.  We're going to miss the fresh tomatoes.

Not every day was spent in the field so I have worked in the sewing room too.  The flying geese quilt has been up for most of the summer, and the last border is now visible after working on it a few hours in the afternoons.  My left hand has a tremor that shakes the whole frame some days, thread just will not go in the eye of the needle some days, leaving me to wonder how much longer will I be able to do a reasonably good job on my quilts.  I don't need the quilts, but it brings me so much happiness to make them.

Isabelle needs new school clothes; I'll show you some of the ones I've made soon.

Summer sun is slower coming up over the tops of the pine trees now, and the chores must be finished not long after 8:00 p.m.  Mornings feel cooler but give way to hot afternoons, so we know the fall season will be here soon.

Have you had a good summer?

Charlotte

Two weeks ago, our older grandson got married.  This was the place they chose for the wedding,

on top of a bluff!  

The trail going down to the spot they had picked, was so steep that a man stretched a big heavy rope from tree to tree for us to cling to on the way down.

Guests were seated on square bales of hay.

Informal ~ but very nice.

An extension of the bluff.  I would have felt much more secure if I could have worn my lace-up shoes and jeans.  The heights really bothered the farmer; he kept holding on to me.  I guess he was afraid I'd fall on the rocks.  Or, was he thinking, "If I fall off, I'm taking her with me!"

Charlotte

A Repost: Standing the Test of Time

Forty four years ago we moved onto our own land, ten acres, with plans to build a new house. The Farmer was just finishing work on his doctorate at the university, and after feeling more or less as a stranger in the big city, I felt happy to be in the country again. We rented a trailer to live in while the house was being built, and had it put in the shade of this mulberry tree.

The month was May, and the berries were at their peak of ripeness, falling and covering the ground underneath. We set up a swing set for our three little girls who now could run and play without the confinement of a fenced back yard, and their beautiful childish voices echoed across the land as they sang "Jesus loves me, this I know; for the Bible tells me so." And every night their little feet and the seats of their panties were stained purple from the mulberries.

I have no way of knowing how long the tree had been here before we bought the land, but it's weathered many storms; perhaps the three trunks give support to one another. It is just outside the yard fence and the cattle take shade underneath its branches in the summer, wearing away the dirt from the roots on that side of the fence.

The dead limbs are signs that the old tree is under stress; most of the time, before I mow the yard, there are several sticks to pick up.

But the roots inside the fence must be providing moisture for the tree, because once again, the limbs are full of green berries, and when they get ripe there will be a mass feeding for the birds, raccoons and terrapins, not to mention the flies who come to drink in the intoxication of the souring berries.

I guess old-timers used the berries for making jelly, but I don't particularly like the taste of them.

I wonder how long a mulberry tree can stand the test of time. Do you like mulberries or do you have a tree on your property?

Charlotte

[This was originally posted in 2012; watch for an update tomorrow]

Current Project

A blogging friend asked me to show the current project I have going.  I found this pattern in the April, l999 (issue 37) American Patchwork & Quilting magazine.  Since it's a paper pieced project and uses lots of tiny scraps, I jumped right in on it.  That was a couple of years ago, and this winter and spring I picked it back up and plan to finish the piecing at least.  The name, Scrap Apple, comes from the fact that it's the Pineapple block made from scraps.

This was with the picture: "Quiltmaker Betty Lenz pulled scraps from her stash to make the 120 foundation pieced Pineapple blocks for the center of this quilt.  She also used scraps to applique flowers on a solid black background for a stunning finish."

The blocks are six inches, finished, and I have put a dime on the pattern to show how small the pieces are.

I have pieced 88 of the 120 needed, so I'm getting there.  I try to piece at least one block each afternoon.  I love doing this, picking and sorting through the little colorful scraps and seeing the finished blocks made from pieces so small that most would be thrown away.  I think it will be a pretty quilt.  "Waste not, want not."

A follow-up to the previous post:

Easter Sunday came on my birthday this year and so the girls brought supper that evening.  One daughter brought a bag of 50 gladiolus bulbs to give half of them to me.  Ah-ha!  A perfect chance to "pass off" the little doll head!  While she was busy with something else, I offered to open the package, then let her count out the bulbs.  When I opened the bag, I slipped the doll inside with the bulbs; he's almost the same color and size.  She put her hand inside the bag, and said, "I think this one must be ..." (rotten) and lifted out Shelby.  We all had a big laugh!  Isn't laughter supposed to be the best medicine anyway?

Have a good 'un!

Charlotte

A Splendid Gift . . .

came in the mail today.  Sherri (www.littlecabincreations.blogspot.com) read my post about Isabelle and my intentions to sew for her.  She left a comment that she had two new patterns she would like for me to have if I wanted them.  Of course I said YES!  The patterns have a good selection of styles to choose from and I'm thinking the first thing I will make is a pair of springtime pajamas.  Now I need to put away the quilt block sewing and sew for Isabelle.

I think you would enjoy a visit to Sherri's blog; she makes sweet, sweet cloth dolls and beautiful clothes for them, all by hand I believe.

Thank you, Sherri ~ aren't blogging friends nice!

Charlotte

Isabelle

I want you to meet Isabelle, my American Girl doll ~

This is how she came to live with me:  Our children and grandchildren were all here at Christmas for lunch.  When we had finished eating, they put gifts on the table for the Farmer and me.  One gift was a rather long box, and thinking it was for the both of us, I told him to open it, but the girls said, "No, this one is for you!"  I took the first wrapping off, and there was another layer of Christmas paper; "So it's one of those gifts!" I thought.  But under this layer was a box which I immediately recognized and I was so excited and exclaimed, "I know what it is!  It's an American Girl doll!'  They had pooled their money and bought her for me.  I love these kids!

The papers that came with her say she's a dancer, but living on the farm with me will make her a country girl.  She'll be dressed in print cotton dresses, trimmed with buttons and rickrack (I never learned to attach lace very well), flannel nightclothes, plaid and denim play clothes;

 she'll sleep in a homemade bed with homemade sheets and pillowcase, and patchwork quilts.

I really like her, and I've wanted a doll this size to sew for; now I have plans for all kinds of things.  Ahh ~ how much she would have been loved 64 years ago ~ smile~

Charlotte

Remember these blocks?

These, with many more blocks, are what they have become:

a big, colorful quilt top.  The scrap pile seems no smaller ~ sigh ~  Most points matched up perfectly which made me happy.  What do you think about using black in a quilt?  I think it makes the colors pop!  Now on to another project....

Charlotte

Drab

seems to be the perfect descriptive word for the month of February and the beginning of March.  Can't even see the mountains (this is just a hill) and I think I've only seen the moon two times since the new moon.  We've had a little snow, enough to make the ground a sloppy mess to trek through while doing the feeding.  But, we've lived with it, knowing full well that it won't be long until we're wishing for rain and cool summer breezes.  "Que sera, sera!"

The Farmer had asked for extra time out before getting chickens again, to give his leg time to recover.  (By the way, it's o.k. now.)  I think "they" gave us two or three extra days, just long enough to make me want to retire, so yesterday we filled the houses again.  (You're saying, "Oh no! not another picture of chickens!")

There were twins this week; what a cold, cold time for babies.  I don't see how people can raise cattle in the northern states where it is so much colder.  We have them in the barn with their mother.  (Terrible picture of them :(; too dark inside the barn)

This morning the Farmer sent off a load of hay that was purchased last summer but only now being picked up; sometimes we wonder if we should have kept it since this winter more hay has been needed.  This load went up the mountain in all this fog.

So, there you have it: my life these days.  There have been some quilting projects tucked into a few hours most days that I want to tell you about; a wonderful Christmas surprise gift and a fun tradition my girls and I have going; some crochet work ~ just give me a few days to catch up.  Writing a blog post takes up so much time because I sit and wait and wait for the pictures to load. 

Until next time, be happy!

Charlotte

Winter Pastime

You all know how much I love to work jigsaw puzzles.  It's just a natural thing for me to do after the stress of December, the dreary sunless days, and long nights between supper and bedtime.  The Farmer gave me two puzzles this year for Christmas gifts.

I worked the most difficult one first, 1000 pieces, QUILT MONTAGE.  I don't have time from farm chores, etc. to sit and work full time, so it took me about a week and a half to finish this one.  When I started it I wasn't sure it was workable, but by taking it one section at a time it was.

The second one, 500 pieces, FARM LIFE, was much easier to work because the pieces were larger, and well, not as "busy" as the first one. And, by the way, a window screen is a perfect thing to put the pieces together on; it holds everything in place and keeps pieces from falling onto the floor.

So now my desire to work a puzzle for the winter has been satisfied and I'll take up the crochet hook, needle and embroidery thread and make something to show for my time.

Mary, at www.visitswithmary.blogspot.com, posted a fantastic poem about puzzles today; check it out!

Charlotte