Around the Farm

 I finished building an archway over the garden gate.  It adds a welcoming feel to the garden and will look great with my purple hyacinth beans climbing on it later this summer.

 I made use of Abe's dog house as a temporary maternity suite for a broody hen.  My last hope since I am down to six chickens after losing some to dogs and foxes.

 The dirty dozen downsized to the dusty half dozen.

Bees from my hive swarmed and clustered on a limb of our cherry tree.  About an hour later they flew off to a new home somewhere.  Mae and I followed them to the woods where we lost them in the sky.  

Latest plantings in the garden include beets, carrots, more radish, more lettuce, and parsnips.

No pictures of milk and milk products since my cow is being treated for a mild infection in two quarters of her udder.  I hope to be back in milk soon.  

Sam

Our new addition to the Henderson Homestead arrived last Tuesday.  A little dun colored bullock that is doing well.  We missed the delivery again.  One moment Roxy is grazing in the pasture and about an hour later Ann comes back from peeking in the barn and lets me know we have a calf.  He is really a good looking calf.  All cattle are together in the back pasture and Daffy has accepted that he is not Momma's main priority any more.  The weather has been great so a few more plantings including lettuce and radish plus some work with the bees have occupied my time.

Fatherhood and Farming

It's an interesting combination as you may have gotten an idea of from earlier posts.  Grinding venison meat in the basement with Mae in the car seat ring a bell?  I never saw myself being a mostly stay at home father but I did always enjoy farm activities with my grandparents when I was a child, so I feel blessed to have an opportunity to share the same with my daughter.  Although sometimes I feel like the step in time chimney man off of Mary Poppins.  Beating the drum with my leg while honking a horn and playing symbols with my hands etc.  For example I had a very interesting afternoon last Wednesday.  I was making borscht and wrapping up feeding Mae while things were simmering on the stove.  I heard our dog Abe really growling at something.  You can really tell when something is a threat to him versus barking at deer or jet aircraft.  Yeah, he even chases low flying military jets.  I stepped out on the porch in my socks to take a look and saw a fox run across our front yard and into our neighbors pasture.  I was about to go get some shoes to check on the chickens when I saw another fox run under our deck.  I ran around the house to the basement to grab my trusty broom stick.  A distant relative of the stick, a noble weapon, but if play station came out with a cave man game it would be the weapon you start out with until you acquired enough points to earn a rock or spear.  I felt some reservation about crawling under the deck with a scared wild animal so I sent in Abe.  I think he knew I meant business from my tone of voice and he took care of it.  Permanently disabled I did the final duty with my trusty stick.  Quick and effective.  I found all thirteen chickens in the barn either huddled in safety or totally oblivious.  I have always been intrigued by foxes.  I think they are gorgeous and intelligent animals.  So before I started the task of skinning it I ran back inside to check on Mae and put her down for her afternoon nap.  Back outside with my knife I did what I thought to be a pretty good job of skinning my first fox cape.  I will have to find out how to go about tanning it.  Abe thought he was top dog for the rest of the day.

Outside of fending off foxes some signs of spring are showing.  Crocuses have bloomed and my indoor cabbage seedlings are coming along.  I enjoyed a trip home to Missouri and Arkansas to visit family and attend my grandfather's 80th birthday.  My friend Chris and his six year old daughter Ella came to visit.  It is always nice to see others enjoy the farm.  I have been busy cutting and burning brush, starting to build fence, preparing garden beds, some work on the old truck, and some beating on the drum and honking the horn and banging some symbols!

Brains and Brawn

Don't tell me wife that I used her new immersion blender she got for Christmas to make a brain smoothie.  Don't worry I didn't drink it.  Brain tanning is a process used by native Americans and many other ethnic groups across the world to turn animal hide into a useable fabric.  I am curious who first thought of using brains, but it works.  I am not sure of the exact chemical process, but apparently brains have oils in them that penetrates the fibers of the skin allowing them to be worked apart to produce a soft flexible leather.  Worked is the key word.  The indigenous populations did not have cardio machines because they made buckskin.  There is no rowing machine out there that works as many muscles as this.  I even got my mother -in-law in for a few reps.  The hide has to be worked continually as it dries, but the work is worth it.  The last step will be to smoke the hide.

What Came First?

For many of the projects I would like to get to I need a work bench to work efficiently.  I had some simple plans in a wood working book and some scrap lumber I could use.  I only had to buy one board and some screws and bolts.  It seemed like many of the instructions for the work bench assumed you already had a workbench, which makes since if you want to plane a board to make it square and true.  It made me think of the riddle of whether the chicken or egg came first.  In order to get a chicken you must have an egg, but to get an egg you need a chicken.  In order to make a workbench you need true squared boards, but to make squared boards you need a work bench.  I guess my work bench is less than perfect, but I plan to attach my vise so I can crack some walnuts this weekend.  On a sad note we lost two chickens this week.  One to blindness and one to dogs.

Happy Feet

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  Mae's first Christmas went well and I think she enjoyed her moccasins I made for her.  I was able to make some good progress on this years deer hide.  It looks like a hide now and not just some wet nasty hairy mess.  The dehairing step is probably the messiest and does not have the best smell.  With the hair removed and the hide rinsed well it feels like a wet shammy.  I strung it up on a simple frame made of two by fours and a few bolts.  When the hide is dry it tightens up like a drum.  I do stray a bit from the traditional method of scraping with tools made from stone, bones, or metal.  The hide needs to be scraped to remove the outer membrane (epidermis) in order for the dermis to absorb the tanning oils.  I used a rotary palm sander, which I imagine saves a bit of time.  The hide now is almost like poster board.  The next step is almost magical and it takes some brains, literally!

Buckskin and Babies

Now that Christmas is close I thought I would make Mae some little moccasins.  I made a pair for myself a couple of years ago from a deer hide I tanned.  It is a messy task, but I was pleased enough with the outcome that I wanted to try again this year.  So step one is get a deer.  My wonderful neighbors allowed me to hunt on their property so I put up a deer stand I made in a spot where I had seen some sign.  It turned out to be a good spot, almost too good.  One morning four deer bedded down right in front of me.  Unfortunately for me it was a very cold morning so for about three hours I had to remain mostly motionless.  I really enjoy just sitting in the woods.  Almost every morning I saw a gorgeous red fox.  I saw a few bucks, but didn't have a chance to shoot, so the second to last day of season I shot a doe.  I am one to want to use as much of the animal as possible so we now have four packages of venison burger, five packages of venison sausage, various roasts, steaks, and tenderloin, a few bags of jerky plus more meat to make into jerky, one hide, and brain (used in the tanning process), and some trimmings for the dogs, all in our freezer.  Mae watched as I ground away.  Fatherhood and homesteading have some interesting combinations.  I did think it would be a good opportunity to teach the physics of simple tools when she gets older though.  The hide is fleshed (all the bits of fat and meat left on after skinning removed) and will  next be soaked in a basic solution to slip the hair.  Thankfully I have some buckskin left over to start on Mae's moccasins.