Orange You Glad?

We took a long walk through the woods on the family farm while we were up north for the Ultimate West Virginian Wedding.  If you're going to go on a long walk through the woods on the family farm, it would be smart to take along a couple of bags of carrots.  If when you run into the cows, one member of your party can throw carrots at the cows while the rest of you escape. 

Here's The Man trying to convince Anemone that she should be the carrot-carrying member.  Anemone isn't buying it.

I hate running into the cows in the woods.  First, they're always surprised to see us there, and surprised cows are notoriously unpredictable.  Second, even when they're not surprised, cows are big and nosey and not all that careful about where they step, so I always have to worry about my Goobs being stomped flat or pushed into one of the evil scrub thorn trees, losing an eye or two in the process.  To calm myself, I took a picture of these orange oak leaves.

We lucked out this time, and heard the cows coming for us (Moo!  Carrots!  Moooo!) soon enough to get up out of the woods and into the pasture.  Orange you glad?  I certainly was.  I was so relieved I took a picture of this sad orange cow.

She was sad because The Man ran out of carrots.  The Man ran out of carrots because Anemone decided she wanted to be the carrot-carrying member after all.  Stinker.

This is how I like my Goobers to feed our girls - from the relative safety of a stationary vehicle.  They're always perfectly well behaved while The Goobs are feeding them the carrots, but when the carrots run out the cows start doing their little cow dance to earn more.  It's a lovely dance, but as I said before, they're not all that careful about where they step, and they don't understand that if they trample the Carrot Bearers they'll never get any more carrots.

They don't understand this because Cows Are Dumb.

A blog, you say? What's that?

I haven't been online lately because I've been busy with my family and the farm and homeschool (boy, am I regretting taking two months off for Christmas!) and relaxing after several months of constant Goober activity.  There are a lot of things I miss about living in town (Taco Bell and DSL, for instance) but sitting in my car for hours each day waiting for The Goobs to be finished with whatever it is that they're doing is NOT one of them.  Okay, now for some updates!

We're nearing the end of our school year, and we are not as far along as I'd like.  The Goobs have both finished their math and grammar books, which is good, but neither one of them has finished their Latin and JellyMan is only about halfway through Classical Writing.  That isn't good at all.  For history we have been watching Ken Burns' Civil War series, and we will follow that up with a trip to Gettysburg.  JellyMan is memorizing Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and Anemone is learning The Battle Hymn of the Republic.  For science we've been insect collecting and bird watching.  (Yeah, I know.  But we left the dissection equipment at home.  I couldn't quite bring myself to spend 11 hours trapped in a car with sheep brains.)  We have seen some good stuff - Baltimore orioles, bluebirds, hawks, owls and barn swallows, and I was able to get this picture of a pair of goldfinches that hang around my mom's porch.

We've been busy with the garden; The Goobs have planted beans, corn, pumpkins and gourds and have tilled and weeded and staked and watered.  They painted a few flower pots for toad houses - we've seen several and they look like they could use a permanent residence.  The men have been out making hay while the sun shines, and we had a lot of excitement when the new bull made his appearance (more about that later.)  We've had wienie roasts with the family and hikes through the woods on our own, and we've hunted coyote and pinned insects and got stuck in the mud.  The Goobs have made solo trips on the four wheeler and the truck.  We've seen at least fifty deer (including a dead fawn gripped in the jaws of a wolf hybrid) and we've managed to avoid the ticks.  The guys at the feed store know our names, we're caught up with all the doings of the cousins and we're all sunburned.  In short, it's been just another trip home.

And now I'm off to look at tractors.  Woo-hoo.

Got Milk?

The (unfair) Distribution of Labor

Gender inequality is alive and well here on the farm.  If you are a man, you work. If you are a girl, you stay out of the way.  (A boy becomes a man at age 13 on the farm, but once a girl, always a girl.) Poor old JellyMan is the low man on the totem pole, so he gets all the jobs everyone else is too busy to do, like tilling the garden.

While JellyMan is tilling, Anemone (being a girl) is off in a field chasing butterflies.

The next item on JellyMan's list is to prop up the asparagus ferns.  They're so tall that they are falling over - I had no idea they would grow so much!

While JellyMan is propping up the asparagus, Anemone (being a girl) is off in a field chasing butterflies.

Next on JellyMan's hit parade is the bean planting.  Planting beans is a pain.  First you mark off five rows with stakes and twine.  Then you get a stick and make a little furrow down the whole row.  Then you drop in your beans, and then you go back along the row covering the seeds.

While JellyMan is planting the beans, Anemone (being a girl) is off in a field chasing butterflies.

JellyMan is finally finished in the garden, so he hightails it over to the barn to clean up the hay feeders.  The pasture is so hilly that if you drop a round bale of hay, the cows end up rolling it down the hill, and it gets trampled and ruined, so you drop the hay in a feeder instead.  (But sometimes Dad drops a bale in the pasture so the cows can play with it.  They have a great time.)  There are several feeders, and two of them were scheduled to be scraped and painted. 

While JellyMan is scraping the feeders, Anemone (being a girl) is off in a field chasing butterflies.

JellyMan is finally finished with his chores.  He's tired and hungry, but he's a good boy man and he shares his carrots with Puppy and the girls.

Oh, would you look at that!  Wonders never cease.  While JellyMan is off visiting the cows, Anemone (being a girl) is planting the corn, which is an even bigger pain than planting the beans.

The times, they are a-changin'!

cPride of Ownership

JellyMan and Anemone are the proud new owners of a steer.  His name is Puppy, and he likes green beans.  No, he LOVES green beans.  So does Uncle Bo, so they bicker a lot.

When I said tomorrow, I really meant the day after.

Events  beyond my control have made it impossible to publish the promised post about the rest of Hunting Island, so please enjoy this picture of one of my favorite cows until I get my proverbial ducks in a row.  Isn't she lovely?  Her name is Beverly and she is a fabulous dancer.  She's a cheap date, too.  All she wants is a little taste of corn and your undying devotion.