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.

I remembered to make pancakes!

We used the dehorning paste on the little goat kid.  YUCK.  It was awful.  He screamed and screamed and screamed.  We decided that we will suck it up and get the disbudding iron.  That at least is only while it is being done.  As soon as you stop burning it, then they seem to be okay.

The boys and I put of split (lengthwise) cattle panels up between Amy & Colby’s yard and our yard over the top of the fence to keep Zed inside our yard.  He was jumping over the 5-foot tin fence to get into their yard to play with their Beagle. That evening, I saw him trying to get over, and he jumped right into the fence and bounced off and landed on the ground.  I hope he learns from that.  It was pretty awful work though, with all the Pyracantha.  I got a thorn slapped into my upper lip- it bled for about 10 minutes.

I baked 2 loaves of bread, about a dozen English muffins, about a half dozen pita breads, and 4 flat breads (I forgot to let the first batch of pitas rise, so they are just flat bread, but YUMMY).

Sweete milked in the PM.  She said Annie was in a RAGING standing heat.

I shaved Buttercup, to make picking the ticks off of her every night easier.  Poor littler girl, she has so many ticks.  As a result of shaving her, we realized just how FAT she is.  She needs a diet or some exercise.  I guess I should try and take her for a walk every day.

Milk Stats: We milked 7.31 gallons; Sally gave 26.7 pounds or 3.24 gallons; Janie gave 22.2 pounds or 2.7 gallons; Annie gave 11.3 pounds or 1.37 gallons (down because of her heat); we collected 23 eggs or 1.92 dz.

Ground and soaked flour for bread.  I mixed brown rice, red wheat, oat groats, and spelt.  I planned to make pancakes, English muffins and try pita again the next day.

Worked on budgeting.

Milk Stats: We milked 7.38 gallons; Sally gave 26.8 pounds or 3.23 gallons; Janie gave 21.1 pounds or 2.55 gallons; Annie gave 13.2 pounds or 1.59 gallons; we collected 23 eggs or 1.92 dz.

Irrigation day.

As soon as milking was done, I washed 3.25 pounds of butter.  Then I skimmed 8.75 gallons of milk for butter and clabber.  I made 4 qts of yogurt with the afternoon milking.

I was in charge of opening all the gates from the main ditch down to our little private ditch.  I didn’t have to do much, because someone used it in the morning, and just kept it running, so I just made sure it was in fact open all the way.  When I was finished, I turned management over to the neighbors, and I don’t know when it got shut down all the way.  Hopefully, it wasn’t too late.  During irrigation, a storm started coming in.  We also overflowed into the Apricot yard and the Old Chicken yard again.  I had the little truck loaded up and was able to kind of stay on top of it.  It was odd to be shoveling dirt to stop irrigation flooding in a rain storm.  Ah, the joys of living in New Mexico.

We had chicken and rice.

Milk Stats: We milked 7.06 gallons; Sally gave 25.4 pounds or 3.05 gallons; Janie gave 20.8 pounds or 2.49 gallons; Annie gave 12.7 pounds or 1.52 gallons; we collected 24 eggs or 2 dz.

I got the boys to load up the little white truck with dirt in anticipation for irrigating tomorrow.  They filled in all the trouble areas and then reloaded the truck in case we still needed it for leaks.

I went Swing Dancing at the Height Community Center.  Andre decided not to go, as he was still having some eye trouble from his migraine yesterday.

Milk Stats: We milked 6.83 gallons; Sally gave 24.8  pounds or 2.97 gallons; Janie gave 19.9  pounds or 2.38 gallons; Annie gave 12.4 pounds or 1.48 gallons; we collected 28 eggs or 2.33 dz.

It was very very very hot.  We put the boys’ box fan to blow on Penelope and the piglets, as it was just too hot.

Andre again drove us to and from Pansy’s for his algebra lesson.  While he was there, I picked up another box fan for the boys so we could just keep the one out in the barn there for the hogs.

We had left over chicken for dinner.

Milk Stats: We milked 7 gallons; Sally gave 24.4 pounds or 2.95 gallons; Janie gave 20.1 pounds or 2.45 gallons; Annie gave 13.1 pounds or 1.6 gallons; we collected 24 eggs or 2 dz.

We keep finding babies when we go out to milk in the morning.  Check back, I’ll add the details of the day soon.

So of course Penelope is a great mama.  We brought in some grass clippings from our pile from the landscapers so she could make a better nest for her babies.  We also had to take several baby breaks from our chores, so needless to say, we were very late finishing milking.  It is so hard to get anything done when there are such cute babies all over the farm.

We did bees.  We had the usual crew, Amy, Sonya, and Bethany.  Another couple came to see how the top-bar hives work.  They have the Langstroth hives and are wanting something simpler.  There was a lot of new honey and lots of half-capped honeycomb, but not much was ready to take.  We took 2 combs.  That will yield probably between 1-2 quarts.

I took a little nap before the afternoon milking.

I put in a chicken for dinner before going to milking.  After milking, I went and dug some potatoes for mashed potatoes.  Then I cut some greens (chard and kale) for dinner.  I made chicken gravy with the oil from the cooked chicken and the liquid from the simmering giblets.  I also made the cream o’ root vegetable soup I made for my cousin last week who was in the hospital.  The only improvement I made was to saute the beets and carrots in bacon grease.  A friend/shareholder was picking up her milk around dinner time, so I asked her to stay for dinner.  She put all the 10 pounds of dehydrated carrots into a 1/2 gallon jar for me (yes they shrunk that much).

After dinner, Kyle, Sweete, and I dug potatoes.  It wasn’t easy, and there wasn’t the yield I had expected.  The end we started on didn’t get enough water at first, so I’m hopeful that as we work back, the yield will increase.  We got eaten by mosquitoes!!!!  ARGH!

Milk Stats: We milked 6.72 gallons; Sally gave 23.3 pounds or 2.82 gallons; Janie gave 19.8 pounds or 2.39 gallons; Annie gave 12.5 pounds or 1.51 gallons; we got 24 eggs, or 2 dz.

Sweete milked this morning and called us to tell us there was a new baby kid out there

We planned to put the cows back out on pasture (they’ve been restricted to the barn yard as we irrigated on Sunday, and we need to wait until the pasture dries out a little so they don’t tear it up), but the grass has not grown enough.  This heat is stunting growth.

I covered the passenger seat on the Milk Lorry with a feed sac.  I’ve been having Dante drive it as much as possible so that he can learn about handling a vehicle.  Well the seat is black and burns my legs every time I sit on it.  So, now it has a nice new white cover.

After milking, I folded the cow laundry on time (the towels we use to wash down the udders).  Usually, I wait several days, using the towels out of the laundry bin and putting the dirty ones on the floor until I get them folded.

I jarred the honey from last weekend.  We got over 1.5 gallons.  I also melted down and filtered the bee’s wax.  I need to take some to Pansy, so I can get some more udder butter.  She uses it in the salve she makes for me to use on the cows’ udders at milking.

I put back together the fridge in the barn, the one that died in the milk room.  It was cooling a little bit, and the freezer still worked.  I hope it will keep cool enough to keep the carrots from rotting out.  I also thought Dante could keep his goats’ milk in that freezer.  We’ll see how it goes.  It was like putting together a puzzle.  Both my father and I took it apart, so I had no memory of how it all came apart and therefore had more trouble putting it back together.  I had to manufacture a piece, as we must have lost it.  I had to be creative, but finally got all those #%^^ doors back on and sealing.  It’s turned on and hopefully will stay cold enough for the carrots and probably some lacto-fermented stuff.

Sweete milked in the afternoon.

We had left over lasagna and some cut up tomatoes (first from the garden) and some cucumbers that a shareholder brought.

Milk Stats: We milked 6.55 gallons; Sally gave 22.5 pounds or 2.71 gallons; Janie gave 19.9 pounds or 2.39 gallons; Annie gave 12 pounds or 1.44 gallons; We collected 24 eggs or 2 dz.

I woke up at 4:30 am to have a video chat date with David who was just going to bed.  I ended up going to bed much later than I planned because of my visiting last night.

Sally continues to improve.  I’m giving her nutritional yeast and some sucanat to stimulate her appetite.  She is like a junkie when it comes to that stuff.

I took a nap.  I got maybe 30 minutes of sleep and that was quite helpful.

I tied up the tomatoes to the trellises with strips of old T-shirts. I also weeded the tomatoes.  There was a lot of amaranth growing taller than the tomatoes.  I fed the weeds to the pigs.  There were 3 ripe tomatoes!  the first.

We went to my parents’ for dinner.  They made burgers and beans and wonderful ice-cream parfaits.  Yummy.  Andre drove us there and back.

I gave buttercup a bath tonight with me.

Milk Stats: We milked 6.89 gallons; Sally gave 25.3 pounds or 3.02 gallons; Janie gave 19.7 pounds or 2.35 gallons; Annie gave 12.7 pounds or 1.52 gallons; we collected 26 eggs or 2.17 dz.

Andre got registered for his next semester at CNM

Sally is doing better and better.  She still has a lot of gas; she has been farting a lot and long.  Fortunately, I don’t notice any smell.  Dante says he does, but I think he just expects to smell something to go with that sound.

After milking, Andre drove us to Pansy’s for his Algebra lesson.  I stayed there and actually fell asleep on the couch during their lesson.  He also drove us home.

We went to the bank as all of us had to make deposits.

I washed 3 pounds of butter.  Then I skimmed 8 gallons of milk.

Uncle Kenneth came by and gave Andre another driving lesson.

For dinner I made lasagna with homemade ricotta and mozzarella.  It was tasty.

After dinner, I went out with Bethany to Applebee’s for margaritas.  When I got home, Chris was just finishing up consulting with Amy & Colby and came to get their milk.  He and Amy brought some beers and we all stood around the milk room visiting and drinking a beer.

Milk Stats: We milked 6.75 gallons; Sally gave 20.9 pounds or 2.52 gallons; Janie gave 22.5 pounds or 2.71 gallons; Annie gave 12.6 pounds or 1.52 gallons; We collected 24 eggs or 2 dz.