Shalali Infante and Pint-Size Farm, located in New Mexico, breeds miniature jerseys, Nigerian dwarf goats, and American Guinea Hogs shipping animals all over the U.S.

This morning the girls gave a LOT of milk.  I think it is the increased alfalfa I’m giving them.  I’ve decided not to feed the grass hay with the seed heads in it, as we’ve had 2 abscesses.  We got 4.5 gallons this morning and another 2 gallons this afternoon.  WowWee.

So, a little background from the week before.

Tuesday- Molly stepped in the bucket while Jimmy was milking her, so I don’t know what she gave. Dante & I volunteered for Obama on Election Day.  We canvassed a neighborhood and then phone-banked for about 2 hours.  Then we came home to milk in a hurry and go to my parents’ for an election party/dinner.  It was incredibly exciting to see the results coming in and to know that night that we had the new President Elect that we wanted!  We came home from my parents before the results were totally in.  At home, the boys and us watched Senator McCain’s concession speech.  I was grateful that he ended his campaign with such dignity.  Then we watched Obama’s acceptance speech.  WOW.  He is such a powerful speaker.   So, needless to say, we stayed up too late.

Wednesday- The next morning we got the rest of my hay.  It was a very windy cold day!  My brother, Micheal, brought his semi-truck down and we (Andre, Dante, my dad, Michael, his friend, Gerald, Sweete & her husband, Kyle, and the people who sold the hay) loaded 325 bales.  On the way home, we lost 6 bales due to the wind.  They flipped over the truck, over the inside lane of the freeway and onto the median.  Four of them disintegrated and 2 stayed intact.  We put the 2 in the trunk of the car (we followed Micheal in our car).  Several vehicles stopped immediately to pick up the hay, it was amazing.  We got home by 3:30 and unloaded by 6:30.  Again, we had to park the big truck a block away (it won’t fit down our street), and load the hay onto our diesel Cummings and the little farm truckand then unload it at the house.   We ended up leaving the last two loads on the trucks to unload the next day, as it was dark, cold, the cows and goats needed to be milked, and we were very hungry. My mom made us dinner, which was a huge help.  We went over there afterwards and had a great meal.  I was so tired, as I had gotten up extra early so we could be on the road by 9:00.  We did the morning chores and I made burritos for our lunch (for everyone) by 9:00.

Thursday, Molly was a Holy Terror.  She was incredibly kicky and awful.  Jimmy brought Hidalgo (Dante’s buck) home.  Jimmy also put a bell on Coco.  I don’t know if it was Hidalgo coming home or the bell or what, but she was terrible. She only gave 4.7 pounds, and Jimmy couldn’t empty her out.  Sweete came around 3:00 pm to help make butter.  We washed almost 5 pounds of butter and got 7 quarts of buttermilk.  She also practiced milking more.  Kyle, unloaded the last of the hay out of the trucks for me.  What a sweetheart.  Molly again was a complete idiot.  She gave 9 pounds and started hopping up and down.  She managed to hop over the bucket, so we didn’t lose any milk, but she landed on my inside thigh, so I have a huge bruise to show for it.  I ended up breaking a pitchfork over her leg, as she kept kicking me.  I was ready to put her in the freezer that night. Sweete , Kyle, and Rowan (their 1-y/o son) stayed for dinner.  Two chickens, rice, cheesy broccoli, and apple pie with fresh whipped cream.

Friday, Sweete came again to help in the morning.  Molly was still problematic, but not so bad as the day before.  We stuck Sally’s abscess to see if it was ready to come out.  Not yet.  I took Sally for hoof trimming, and when I was unloading her, she stepped and pivoted on my foot!  Of course, I was not wearing my steel toed boots, as Dante had gotten her for me, so I didn’t go through my normal routine of putting them on before I go out to the animals.  OUCH!!!  I got ice on it really fast, and that helped it.  I didn’t end up having any bruising, or too much sorness, which is amazing.  After we got back, I rototilled the garden for the last time.  Now I need to bring in the manure to start the sheet mulching.  With David’s help, I also got a bed of garlic planted.  I still need to put a layer of compost on it and give it a good watering on a warm day.  Sweete came back again, to milk in the afternoon.  My parents came for dinner.  I made left over chicken, rice, broccoli, cheesy casserole.  My mom brought a salad and homemade ice cream and I made a blueberry pie.

Saturday, Sweete helped again the morning (she’s trying to build up her milking muscles).  Molly still antsy, but getting bettery daily.  We took the bell off of Coco, as it was drying me crazy, and I wanted to rule that out as a source of aggravation for Molly.  After milking, I washed kombucha bottles and bottled kombucha.  After evening milking, we went to my cousin’s for an Obama party.  I took baked maccaroni and cheese.  Very yummy. Dante went to our aunt’s house with our cousin, Kepren, for the night.

Sunday, I didn’t milk Dante’s goats, I let Pinto Bean do the milking for me.  Then we (The Chicken Ladies) butchered turkeys and 2 of my roosters and 1 of Amy’s chickens.  We butchered 10 turkeys (David and I decided to keep 2 and butcher them before Christmas).  Sweete & Kyle helped and learned butchering.  Linda brought 2 of her turkeys and we butchered them.  David left for a week OOT around 10:30 in the morning.  My parents brought Dante home as I was still butchering when it was time for him to come home.  After milking, the boys and I went for a burger and to buy a tarp for the hay (it looked very much like snow or rain).  We had bacon burgers at Chilis.  After we got home around 7:30, Dante and I tarpped the hay.  Finally, I skimmed 10.5 gallons of milk and set out 2.5 gallons of cream to culture for butter, and a bunch of milk to clabber, and I saved 7 pints of cream for shareholders.  Finally, I was able to bathe and go to bed. I slept very well.

Now, for today, my Errand Monday.  The tarp broke loose in the wind last night.  While I milked Molly, Dante went and retied it down.  We also put pallets on top of the stack to keep it from blowing up.  After milking, we had to leave for art class.  After I dropped Dante off, I went to Costco for groceries and then to the Co-op for more groceries.  It is nice to have food in the house again.  I also got a “compost” box from the co-op filled with Swiss Chard and bananas and cauliflower for the piggies.  When we unloaded the car and put away the groceries, Dante and I went out to milk.  After milking, I finished dinner.  Andre had already gotten the beans started.  I browned some ground beef and heated up some frozen red chile and tortillas.  Now, I’m going to bathe, lay in bed and read a little and then go to sleep.  Oh, I also ordered a paper journal that looks really neat.  A friend read that I was looking for one, and so she recommended this one.  Journal 10+.  I think it will be perfect for me.

I could not sleep this morning, wondering how the election turn out is going on in the Eastern United States.  Dante and I are going to volunteer today for Obama.

I also have been thinking of different ways of dealing with my chickens.  Moving their coop is not as easy as I had anticipated it would be.  I think I need to re-think my chicken set up. I am also going to try a different tactic with their food, mixing the clabber and more food with warm water.  They seem to eat the food better if it is a little mushy.  I just want to make sure they eat what I do.  I’ll be experimenting on this.

Tomorrow we get hay.

Well, yesterday morning it sure seemed like Janie was in heat.  She was mounting Fin, the bull, Molly, and Fin was interested in her.  Molly was trying to do some mounting to, but I think she was just caught up in the hormone rage.  I did not see Janie standing for Fin, so…I don’t really know for sure, but I bet that is it.

Yesterday Molly gave 20.4 pounds and Janie gave 22.5 pounds.

We discovered that Oreo had an abscess on her cheek.  Dante and I decided to deal with it at the afternoon milking. We also discovered that Pinto will nurse on Coco if we have her in the stanchion.  Dante is going to utilize him to milk her out until she is off antibiotics.

I started the beans fefore we left for Dante’s art class.  While he was in art class, I went to get dog food and try to find a write in journal to keep records better.  I was hoping to find one with a couple of months of 2008 and all of 2009, but those were already gone.  I went back to the art class, parked, and read Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal by Joel Salatin.

After art class, we picked up some tortillas and came home.

***WARNING- GROSS OUT MATERIAL BELOW***

To deal with Oreo’s abscess, we took some hot water with Betadine in it, a syringe with a very large bore needle (16 gauge), alcohol, rags, and peroxide.  The pus in the abscess was so thick, it would not come out the hole from the needle.  I had to go inside and get our scalpel.  I cut about a 1 cm slit in the abscess.  The pus was like sticky caulking.  ICK!  After we got it all squeezed out, we flushed the abscess with peroxide once, and then with the warm betadine water.  We will continue to flush it with betadine/salt water for a few days.

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After milking, David started the ground beef to go with the beans while I bottled the milk.  Neighbor Chicken Lady (Amy) came over so we could trim the turkeys’ wings, because they are getting into my garden area.  We got them all trimmed, and then spotted one of my chickens in a tree.  She is taller than me, so she grabbed the hen, and I trimmed this wing (for the turkeys, I had been holding the turkeys and she trimming the wings).  Well, like an idiot, I managed to cut a huge wedge of my left index finger base knuckle.  We took the chicken to the coop and discovered all the chickens were outside their coop.  I had left the door closed when Sweete and I fed the chickens on Sunday.  Poor chickens!  By then, Other Chicken Lady (Dianne) arrived and we all put my chickens back into their coop.

On Friday, Coco, Dante’s goat went into labor.  We’ve been waiting and waiting and waiting for her to go into labor.  She did not progress at all.  Her water broke at 9:15 and there was no progression after 2 hours.  I decided to check her to see if I could tell if the baby was stuck or something.  She was not dilated at all and I could not even feel the baby.  We decided to take her into the vet.  He ended up doing a Cesarean section and the baby was already dead.  It was breech and not engaging, so her cervix would not dilate.  He felt the baby had died the day before, as the placenta was already turning brown.  It was very sad.  The kid (a buckling) was perfectly formed and full term.  Dante brought him home to bury here.  Coco is doing well.  Dante has been milking her and she seems to be feeling better.  She will be on antibiotics for a total of 7 days.   After we got home, it was time to milk and then get ready to go to a Halloween party for Dante.

Saturday had the normal routine chores.  We got out a little late for some reason.  For breakfast we had leftover blueberry oatmeal and ham.  During milking, Mom-Mom (my mom) showed up to give Dante condolences.  She also brought us Obama signs for our yard.  After chores, I skimmed 14.25 gallons of milk.  I got 3 large and 1 small butter churns full of cream, and I had 7 pints of cream for shareholders.  I don’t know exactly how many quarts of clabber either.  That was 29 bottles of milk in the fridge - no wonder it was getting very tight in there.  Janie and Molly are each giving right around 2.5 gallons of milk a day. After I got the milk skimmed and the clabber and cream set out to culture, I got the roast in the oven.  After evening milking chores, I got the potatoes going and rototilled the garden again.  It still did not get wet enough, so I planned to set out the sprinkler again on Sunday.  While dinner was being finished, The Bourne Identity came on, so David and I watched it while finishing dinner and then we (gasp) ate in front of the TV.  The boys didn’t want to join us.

Today - Sunday, David (DH) got the sprinkler going in our garden before I started milking.  Today my apprentice came to work.  She is a shareholder who will be working one day a week and 2 weeks a year for her share but she is just apprenticing right now - working wtih me to learn all the routine and how to milk and things like that.  She normally comes on Fridays, but she needed to switch days this week.  She is getting better and better at milking, building up her stamina.  After we milked, I showed her how to churn butter.  Once of my butterchurns had a break in the wires, so it would only work if the cord was held in a certain position.  It quit running, so I took it out of the churn, and of course, the wire connected right then and splattered the milk room and me with butter and buttermilk.  David and I fixed it.  We had to take the motor off of the lid and find the break.  We used a butt connector to fix it and then put it all together again.  That will make butter making easier.  I do have 3 motorized butter churns now, and today I used them all at the same time, and still needed to use one again in another churn (all the cream cultured from the day before).

After the churn fix, David and I took down the elm and mullberry that were growing under the house in the front.  We also trimmed up the lilac in front of the house (got all the dead wood out and shaped it a little).  We got the boys to help us take all the branches with leaves to the goats and cows.  After that, we tackled the apple trees.  I’ve been wanting to cut out the dead branches in those trees since we moved in here.  David decided he wanted to take down the dead pine tree in front of the house.  At first he started to climb up it, and was going to top it and then we would cut down the rest.  Well, after he started climbing, he didn’t feel that was a good idea.  We decided on cutting it down about 4-5 feet up. That way, hopefully, it would not take out the wall separating our yard from our driveway.  Actually, that part of it was my idea.  It worked!  The tree went down into the driveway.  It was propped up on its branches, so it was fairly easy for David to cut up into logs.  He would cut away the branches for a few feet, which I piled up as he cut them off.  Then he would cut that section into logs, which I also piled up as they came off.  He repeated this process until the top looked like a branch itself.  After this was cleaned up for the most part, I departed for the ease of computer work.  I did the shareholder billing today (2 days late).  Then, of course, it was milking time again.  After milking, the boys and David moved the pile of branches into the back yard.  We will use some for kindling and some for a bonfire.  While I was milking, David got dinner going (leftover roast, mashed potatoes, and gravy from last night).  By the time I bottled the milk, washed the milking equipment, and rinsed the sprouts, dinner was on the table.  Wow!

After dinner we decided to play Scrabble.  It was a fun game.  Dante trounced us with 128 points; I came in second with 123 points; third place we to Andre with 112 points; and David got 89 points.

Now, it’s time to bathe and go to bed (I hope).

Molly gave 7.4 pounds and Janie gave 7.2 pounds this afternoon.

Hurray, I can tell you I’ve gotten the garden rototilled and the papers were graded (inbox empty) for at least one point during the day.  As I sadly turn my head to the right, YIKES, the inbox is full again.  As for dinner, we went out.  We had to get Dante some Halloween stuff at the Spirit Store, and I still didn’t have any great inspirations for dinner, so we dined out.

The rototilling took a lot more effort than I thought it would.  Of course it was much easier than hand turning the soil with a shovel, but…still work.  I went over it about 3-4 times breaking up the sod more and more each time.  That is after I finally got the thing started.  I realized to REALLY make sure the switch is turned to the ON position if you want it to start.  I figured out this nugget after about 10 pulls on the starter cord.  It worked great though.  First time we’ve used it.  (Thanks Jim).  After going over it several times, I decided to sprinkle it, and then go over it again with the ’tiller in a couple of days.

Well, time for bed, so Good night!

I really want to get back into the habit of my journal.

This morning, Molly gave 14 pounds and Janie gave 15.8 pounds.  For yesterday there were 2 eggs (ARGH!)

For breakfast I made ham, hashbrowns, toast, and scrambled eggs.  While cooking breakfast, I got the milking stuff ready to go out - mixed the cows’ and goats’ sprouted grain with nutritional yeast; put wheat sprouts and bean & corn sprouts into the chickens and pigs feed buckets; rinsed the wheat sprouts; rinsed the bean & corn sprouts; got the 6 wash cloths (to clean the cows udders), the hot water, the udder butter, the cows’ milking pails, the goats’ milking bowls, the milk tote, and the milk filter together; I put a quart of clabber into the pigs feed bucket;  I got a half gallon of clabber to take out to the chickens; and got the egg basket.  All of this I loaded into the wagon to take to the barnyard.  I managed not to burn the toast too badly and got everything else cooked and finished at the same time, so breakfast was hot on the table.

Today was Jimmy’s day to help (the man I’m buying Molly from - he comes Tuesdays and Thursdays).  We took 3 bags of feed to the chicken coop, which is in the southernmost part of the pasture.  I gathered eggs and fed the chickens while he went back to start milking Molly.  Dante (DS2) and I raked the barnyard, scooped manure, and I bedded down the Loafing Shed with some fresh straw.

After I bottled the milk and cleaned up the milking equipment, I decided to start my journal again.  I should be back on this evening to fill in the rest of the day.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to list rototilling the garden and getting all papers graded as accomplishments of the day.  I also have to figure out what to have for dinner, as our chicken of last night did not leave enough leftovers for dinner tonight.

Last Tuesday morning, Carmy kidded with a very sweet little buckling (boy). He is a trouble maker, causing us to take too many breaks to hold and cuddle him. Carmy is coming along nicely in the milking department. She still needs me to hold her legs so she doesn’t kick or step in the bucket, but she does let down quite well.

Here is DS2 with little Pinto Bean (Pinto the Conquerer).

After milking, today was mostly spent in the kitchen.

I use a weed-eater to clear a path to run the electric fence when I move it every day to set up the new paddock for the cows.  This morning, again, the weed-eater died.  The cord broke off right where it comes out and I could not pull it out to put in a new one.  So, once again, the machete was my weed-eater.  ARGH!  We have tried several heads on the weed-eater and they all are very poor designs.  I guess I need a commercial head for it.  I’ll have to look into that.  A friend told me about using a cordless shrub-trimmer to cut a path for the fence.  I found one at Lowe’s, but I think it won’t be powerful enough.  I’ll try it in the morning, but I am dubious.  ARGH.

While I am messing with the fence, DS2 is cleaning the barnyard.  Even though we are doing the fence, we seem to take the same amount of time for morning chores.  There is much less mess with the cows out in the pasture and eating out in the pasture, so clean up is faster.

After milking Molly & Janie, bottling the milk, and cleaning up the milking detritus, I started cooking.  I got the bread rising for the rustic loaf I planned for my friends’ dinner.  While the bread was rising, I mixed up the muffin dough (added the rest of the ingredients to the soaked flour).  Once the muffins were in the oven, I got the bread in the oven.  As soon as the bread was in the oven, the muffins were ready to come out.  I mixed up the meatloaf with fresh herbs from my garden, salt, pepper, bread crumbs, carrots, celery, eggs, and cream.  I strained some chunky tomato sauce and covered the top of the loaf with that. After the bread came out of the oven, I sauted some yellow squash and zucchini (sliced thinly) in coconut oil with lemon thyme and parsley from the garden and garlic.  Somewhere in there I boiled the elbow macaroni and made a  white sauce with sauted garlic and cheese for the baked macaroni and cheese.  I mixed this with the cooked elbow macaroni and covered it with grated cheese and bread crumbs.  I put the sauted squash in a baking pan and topped with grated Parmesan.  After I cleaned the kitchen, I made the salad.  I loaded everything into the trunk and took it over to my friends’.

Their baby is so beautiful and sweet.  I got to hold her and snuggle her, and sniff her breath and her neck and her head, and most wonderful of all, I got to give her back to her mom when she started crying

I got home in time to milk late.  I got SHOCKED by the fence pretty badly.  I was not paying attention and leaned into the trunk line.  OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DH put the leftover lasagna in the oven and we ate dinner while watching a movie.

When the movie ended, I went out the move the chicken wagon and the chickens’ fence.  I got eaten up by mosquitoes.

Now it is time for bed.  Goodnight!

It has been so long since I posted. It’s been really busy. The highlights- Sally dried herself up about a month ago. About a month ago, I started training a friend’s cow, Molly, to milk, as she was a very skittish first time calver and pretty much tried to kill them when they milked her. She has been here with her calf and has been learning lots of good manners. With DS2’s help, she is turning into a great family milker. Janie was inseminated 2.5 weeks ago. We’ll know next Wednesday or so if she took. If not, I’m hoping to bring back the bull, but we will see.

The pasture is up and gorgeous! The cows are on it, being rotated daily. The goats are a little leery of the electric fence. The pigs are being let out during the day, after morning milking, but before afternoon milking as they have no manners while I’m milking- that whole liking milk so much and wanting to be in the bucket awaiting it’s arrival.

The portable chicken coop is done, and the chickens are 3-4 days behind the cows. It is working well. The only problem is it ended up being heavier than I thought and the front axle is bending. My dad and I are going to replace the front axle with a rear axle from an older Chevy Sprint. Hopefully very soon.

Today, I cleaned my desk off. It had 2 months’ worth of paper stacked up on it. I went through and shredded everything we didn’t need and filed everything we did need. I think there were about 10 pieces of filing and a whole garbage can of shredding.

My new goal is to keep the check book balanced daily. So, yes, I balanced the checkbook today! I’m also going to try to keep up with this journal more…so….hopefully you’ll see more posts here.

We had lasagna for dinner. I thawed some Marinara sauce I had made a month or so ago. I made homemade ricotta cheese from this afternoon’s milk and used purchased mozzarella, and the Tinkyada rice noodles. Very yummy with salad and garlic bread.

I started 2 batches of muffins for tomorrow and bread. A friend had a baby, and I’m taking a meal to them tomorrow. Meatloaf with beef and lamb, baked macaroni & cheese,  salad, sauted zucchini and yellow squash, and fresh bread along with blueberry muffins. We’ll be having leftover lasagna tomorrow.

Time for bed, goodnight.

I’ll update more after the day is over. Obviously I don’t have milk totals yet. DS2 and I reseeded the pasture and then let the ruminant animals out (not the pigs or chickens) to graze it down and hopefully mash the seeds into the field. We irrigate tomorrow again, and we’ll keep them off for another month, but then I think we’ll be able to start letting them rotate through it. I need to get the electric fence up and the chicken wagon coop built one way or another.

I may try to get in more garden fence posts today. This evening DH, DSs, & I are going to work on the berm of the pasture, so I probably won’t have time to work in the garden today. It seems the only bearable time to work in the garden is before noon or after 7:00 as it is so hot these days. We CLs are also supposed to move some chickens tonight. ARGH. I need a clone.

If as you read my catching up posts and wonder why this time my memory seems to be so much better than before, I have a secret.  I started keep a little notebook that I jot down the details of the day so when I go to post, I don’t have to scratch my head and wonder what I did this morning or a week ago.  It is really nice actually.