Technology

The other day a cow had a calf. She'd lost her ear tag, and dad wanted Kris to know which one she was. So he took a picture of her from both sides with his iPhone.

My mom talked about it later and said, "Remember when I used to have to draw all the cows?"

We used to have registered Guernsey cows. Part of their registration papers included a blank cow picture and my mom would draw their markings on. Both sides and the front of their faces. It seemed like it always took a long time to sketch all those cows and get their markings! It worked, regardless.

Other farmers register their cattle, and of course they take digital pictures for their papers. It's just another one of those things I'll tell my grandchildren about. We used to have phones that hooked to the walls, and we had a party line! We used card catalogs in libraries! The internet didn't exist when I was born! And ... grandma used to draw the cattle's markings to identify them!

They won't know what I'm talking about, of course. They'll be too busy on their iPhone 7000.

Milkers

Today, Kris was supposed to meet me at a funeral of a family friend. I was genuinely surprised when he didn't. My phone was in the car, but I knew that something had gone wrong on the farm. Sure enough, when I left, I read his text telling me that the milkers weren't working and he had to go help. It's one of those things you can't put off. The cows had to get milked.

He called the people who fix them, and eventually they were able to get them working again. Good thing, since we were hosting a party with my entire family (coming from out-of-state) and Kris' family (coming from out-of-town).

It was our annual Anderson Olympics, which we've held for many years. We play different (silly) games and award points.

Kris was a little late, the milking got done later than usual, I'm glad people work on things like this on Sundays, and ... we have a new Anderson Olympics champion.

The final game had us moving an Oreo from our foreheads to our mouths without using our hands. Another surprise - we didn't eat them with milk.


Mike Wardin, Kris' dad, 2011 Anderson Olympics Winner

Moving day

All the calves are in the new barn! Josh and Kris moved all the calves from the old barn to the new barn today. They took trailer-loads of calves over in groups of eight. We went down to see the big excitement ... they all walked around and checked out the straw, their food, their water, each other. They kicked in the air and ran around. It seems so much better than their old barn, especially in this warm weather.

When I went down there later just before dark, they were all lying down and it was silent.

It'll be strange to not have calves right next door. We've been able to walk over there to see them for years - as long as I can remember. It's a new era. Improved conditions for them and for the people feeding them.

A nice finish to the day, not a surprise after the start. This was the first thing I saw this morning - a hint of a rainbow.

But it's a humid heat ...

It says it's 95 degrees outside. Yesterday and today have been blazing hot. It hurts to stand on the cement, the grass is prickly, and the cattle are hot.

They stand under trees for shade and go in the barn, and they pant. Milk production always goes down when it's hot because they don't eat and drink as much. We're hoping the weather breaks for their sake, since their preferred temperature is 50 degrees. My swimming lesson students, on the other hand, are really enjoying it.

Chance of rain tomorrow, which would be great for the corn, as well as everything else. (It's impossible to not talk about the weather when you're a farmer.)

Also ... we moved the seven week old calves into groups in the new barn today! We removed the dividers between their pens and made up two groups of eight. Kris said they jumped around, excitedly checking out their new pen, and tried to suck on each other's ears.

Kris said that the new barn is so well-ventilated that it's about 15 degrees cooler in there. He suggested we all sleep in there tonight. So far the box fan is doing the job - what, you thought a house with bees in the walls also had air conditioning? Nah. Imagine what critter we'd have living in that! - but if I find him gone, I'll know just where to look for him.

Honey

Bruce, a guy who works for our barn builder, and Kris tackled the bee issue today. For the last week I've been explaining honey dripping from my ceiling to various babysitters and houseguests. (You don't have five bowls of honey in your living room? It's all the rage!)

But today was the day! Instead of cutting into the wall, like we thought we were going to have to do, Kris suggested we try from the outside. They got on the roof and pulled out the arch above the window where we initially saw the bees.


Bee free arch


Bee full arch

What did they find? Honeycombs - lots of them. Saturated with honey. Apparently it was going to be dripping for a long, long time. They threw them off the roof onto the ground and hosed off everything. No bees, though, which made the job easier.







I'm going to monitor the dripping to see if any more honey comes or if that was the sole source.

Many people I've told about this have never heard of having bees in your walls. But if you look for it on the internet you'll see it's really common.

Yes, living in an old farmhouse has its downsides. Not enough outlets. Having to seal it for bats. Living too close to the road. Random liquids coming from your ceiling. But when Bruce commented on how beautiful the old woodwork is, it makes me happy about the upsides. Plus, we really like living where we can see everything that goes on between our barns.

And did I mention we have free honey? Lots and lots of honey? Free range, organic, from ancient (dead) bees, AND filtered through 130-year old walls! Spun like that, it'd be perfect for selling at a farmers market. I can't wait to see what money-making material this house will produce next. Have you seen how much bat guano is going for?

Hot

There were five calves born yesterday, and four calves born today. That includes a set of twins each day! (We love twins around here.)

Today was really hot - in the 90s. Last year, we would have been done keeping new calves 20 calves ago, but this year we're keeping more. So there's still more bottle feeding, teaching how to drink from a bucket, and hot days ahead!

After a sweaty day at work, Kris finished the day in the pool. Some dairy farmer friends of ours were building a pool this past spring, and they asked us if we used ours much. I swim nearly every day it's open. As a swimming lesson teacher and lover of water, I think it's totally worth it. Kris - especially on days like these - totally agrees. He doesn't consider it a shower, though. My kids on the other hand ... to them, chlorine is just another form of soap.

Destination

I don't think of our farm as a vacation destination, but ... my friend and her son are visiting from North Carolina, and part of why she wanted to bring him was to do farm things. He rode in a tractor, saw calves, saw fields, played in barns, milked a cow, fed calves, and helped bottle feed a newborn calf.

And then the little things - like a neighbor's stray chicken in our yard. You rarely get that in the city. (Rarely, but not never. Urban chickens are getting popular!)

As he was pulling up weeds and feeding them to calves, my friend said, "I'm so glad he came with me. I just can't replicate this experience."



I joke about how many children's books there are about farms. I always ask Kris why they don't have more books about other professions. But there's something obviously entertaining about farms. They're fun! No matter your age or where you're from.

Even if you live here all the time.