Neighbors, Gardens & Cows

We were expecting rain last night (which we got... thank you Lord!) and so Michael and I wanted to get a few things done in the garden before the rains came. He got out the tiller and I got out the hoop hoe (wonderful tool) and we started in. We did not quite get everything done that we needed to before milking time. We had heard the Wonderful Neighbors out working in their garden earlier. However, we heard their voices again, but they were much closer. Here they came bringing their garden tools and were coming to help us in our garden. Now, THAT is being a WONDERFUL Neighbor!! We told them we were just stopping to milk, and they volunteered to do the other things we did not get to. We had wanted to push the plastic down around the cabbage and pull some grass growing up there and finish putting the straw around the potatoes. What a blessing. They brought along their work supervisor. I have heard people say lately that the supervisors and managers keep getting younger and younger, but this is beyond anything I could have imagined. Here is the supervisor of the garden workers. :) She sits in her plush cart watching everything very closely.

Here is WN Mom and the 2 younger WN boys. They are putting straw around the rest of the potatoes.

Here is WN girl taking care of the cabbages.

I tried to interview the supervisor, but she just smiled and continued to watch her crew. :)

I want to tell you these children are OUTSTANDING!!! After they finish up our garden chores, they actually race to their house to ask the WN Dad if they can help us milk? They are TRULY earning crowns in heaven. :) The WN Dad wins points because he allowed them to help us!!

Buttercup was disgustingly filthy. Some days I think she finds some mess to lay in so that we have to work a bit harder. I am sure all of you have seen a car wash, but have you seen a cow wash? She had to have a bath before we could milk her. Here they are bathing Buttercup.

Two little war wafes stopped by.... just kidding. These are the younger WN boys. Their Mom said they looked like war wafes. I think they are cute as buttons. They were watching the cow being washed. My the smaller one sure does have big feet?

Here are our cow milkers last night. They do a good job and have fun while doing it!! They are a real blessing to us.

The younger WN boys love to feed Bert and Ernie their bottles. Then it is a race to get out of the pen before being slimed by the calves. If you have ever had the priviledge of giving a calf a bottle, you know that they get lots of slimey saliva and milk all around their mouths. As soon as you pull that bottle out, they are putting their mouth on anything looking for more milk. If you or your clothing are in the way.... Yup.. you get slimed.

I want to say a HUGE public THANK YOU to our Wonderful Neighbors for the blessing that they are to our family. They help us in so many ways. THANKS NEIGHBORS!!!

Several of you asked about our homemade fly spray from the last cow post. Here is what we do. By the way, this is not super long lasting, but it does last beyond milking time.

We make Vinegar of the Four Thieves. You can read more about it here.

Recipe

* 2 tablespoons Rosemary
* 2 tablespoons Peppermint
* 2 tablespoons Wormwood
* 2 tablespoons Sage
* 2 tablespoons Lavender
* 2 tablespoons fresh, chopped garlic
* 2 quarts of apple cider vinegar

Directions

Combine 12 tablespoons of the premixed herbs and 2 quarts of vinegar in a sealed glass jar, and steep in a cool, dark place for 2 weeks or so, shaking daily. Then, strain out the used herbs, and retain the herbal liquid mixture.

Add several cloves of crushed garlic, and close lid. Let soak for three days, and strain out the garlic fiber and discard.

This liquid tincture needs to be stored in a cool place, like the refrigerator. It can be preserved for a very long period of time by canning. To do so, fill canning jars with boiling liquid tincture to within one-half inch of top. Cap with rubber seal canning lid, tighten ring, and turn hot jar upside down; leave it undisturbed until it cools to room temperature. This will cause the jar to seal. Don’t forget to date and label it.

That is the recipe as it reads. To this we add citronella essential oil. You have to shake the sprayer several times while spraying the cow to keep it mixed well. It says to store it in a cool place. We go through it fairly quickly and have to keep a batch brewing. There is a lot of area on a cow to spray each night. :)

We were also asked about how much milk Buttercup gives. She is a good milker, but since we only milk her once a day, we get that much in one milking. When we milked her twice a day, we got around the same amount of milk (Maybe a bit more) over the 2 milkings per day.