Farm girls!

I am very proud of who I am.

Not just because I'm a good person and I do my best to be, but also because I'm a farm girl! 

Farm girls are amazing creatures we can still be soft and lovely but also strong and tough as nails. 

There's a fine line to walk when being strong enough to throw around bales of hay and sacks of grain that weigh about 50 pounds.

Fix fence and fight a bovine off if need be, wrestle a Pig into submission.

 Catch chickens when they get out, But also be a girl with pretty eyelashes, soft hair and perhaps even designs on her nails.

 I know this may seem contradictory but it really is a farmgirl's way. 

I know some farm girls don't believe this, they throw themselves into the work as if they were one of the men, trying to prove themselves. 

I've seen this many times over, However, I don't believe it's the way we should be.

We are still girls after all. 

This doesn't mean we are not capable of hard work and keeping up with the guys, but it does mean we are made differently.

Our bodies function differently, our muscles work differently. 

I may not possess the strength my husband has but that doesn't mean I can't get the work done. 

If I truly can't do it and I'm risking hurting myself to push through, I will ask Super Farmer for help, but I'm smart, maybe I need to do it a different way than he would! 

Part of a farm girl's beauty is her ability, her strength, her no quit, I can do it attitude.

Now I, as I'm sure many other girls want to feel pretty and attractive. 

                    I also, as many other girls, struggle with body images now and then.

Remember I'm not a little skinny girl, I work hard, I have actual muscles and because of my family genetics, I'm big-boned and broad-shouldered regardless.

 It's still nice to feel feminine. 

I have a closet full of high heels and dresses, granted I don't get to wear them very often but sometimes I wear them to the grocery store because, hell, I want to! 

Women are wonderful!

 We can do amazing things that men can't and we shouldn't try to make ourselves alike to men.

 We should just be the very best woman we can be! 

To all, you farm girls out there keep working hard, remember to wear gloves!

Sad News

Life is hard. 

This is probably not surprising to you. 

No matter what walk of life you are in things are difficult, they go up and down, ebb and flow. 

This is not a complaint of what we've been through, it is not asking for any sympathy, I'm just going to give you the facts. 

The facts are sad.

Our brood sow Primrose came down with an illness on Friday afternoon, she didn't want to eat her food. her tail was droopy and she seemed lacking any interest in anything.

Now a pig not wanting to eat their food is pretty surprising, and a bit concerning!

A call to the vet was made but it was late in the day and I did not have time to receive an answer from them.

Of course, this had to happen over a long weekend.

Saturday morning she was laying in her house and answering me when I spoke to her, but not much else.

My concern grew, I called several other vets none of them were open and had any emergency services for anything other than a small fluffy cat or dog. 

I, being desperate, called one of my pig farmer friends and ask them advice. They gave in abundance, by Saturday evening I got her to eat some supper, she was even excited about it! 

I hoped things were improving. 

We suspected she had ingested some fencing, we had recently changed where her paddock was and there was some old chicken wire buried under the ground that I did not know about.

She had symptoms that seem to go along with this illness.

I was able to get her to eat supper again on Sunday and thought we were out of the woods.

Even if she had ingested some fencing, pigs are very tough!

If she was able to pass it or throw it up, as her body was trying to do for her, she may well recover and be alright. 

As you all know this is a pig that I had no intention of butchering anytime soon so I was rather fond of her! 

She was a good mother and a friendly pig, pretty easy to work with.

By Monday evening she was going into the muscle convulsions that go with Hardware disease, the term for when a cow or pig or other animal does ingest some metal of some kind.

In cows, it can be helped with them being force-fed a magnet.

Also because a cow is a ruminant and has 4 stomachs, a veterinarian can perform a local anesthetic procedure and remove the metal. 

Pigs are built more like humans and this cannot be done for them.

I talked to a good friend of ours who knows a lot about Veterinary Care and we decided she needed to be put down.

This is was very hard decision for me to make and I cried profusely while making it. The decision was made that she must be put to sleep before she suffered in any prolonged way.

As we were preparing to take action she passed away on her own accord.

This was very heartbreaking to us as it has been a tough year for our farm, and this was just the icing on the cake! 

We rushed her babies into the barn to remove them from any contamination just as a precaution.

The vet has since visited and everyone has gotten a clean bill of health along with a tetanus shot just in case.

I will always remember Miss Primrose as one of my favorite pigs, she was kind and beautiful and will be sorely missed!

Her daughter is shaping up to carry on her bloodline and her kindness on our farm.

Rip Primrose. 

What you talking about?

When strolling into our local grocery store on a Friday afternoon.

I was planning to stock up on non-GMO popcorn and lightly salted potato chips, for a much-deserved movie marathon weekend after three straight weeks of work. 

I absentmindedly look up with the large lettering on the front of the building and I saw many pigeons that gathered there, without thinking about it I start cooing to them, as I would any other animal on the farm. 

One by one their heads popped over the edge of the large letters looking down at me like, "what you saying?" 

I then noticed strangers were looking at me very bizarrely. 

I realized they were all looking at me like I had three heads because, well, I was talking birds!

  I shut my mouth and quickly went into the store. 

It's become so normal for me to speak to animals in my life, it is second nature now. However, it can also seem very odd to the General Public. 

I can imitate many different animals and birds.

here is the list of sounds I can do well,

Horses.
 Dog.
 Chickens (not roster).
 Goats,
 Pigs.
 Many wild birds.
 Cats.
 Gerbils.
 wolfs, coydogs.
 Human babies (oddly enough.)

Here are the sounds I try imitating.
well, the animals answer at least, but I think I don't sound just right.

Turkey.
 Dove.
 Pigeon.
 Rosters. 
Sheep.
I know, I know, I'm odd.
I'm okay with that.

Chickens

If pigs are the comedians of the barnyard then surely the chickens are the spoiled entitled children. 

If you place anything down for a moment they automatically think that you've brought it out for them. 

They will travel anywhere into the barn even if it's not their area. 

They do not move out of the way of the tractor backhoe or other vehicles until the very last moment! I have seen my husband backing up the tractor and a chicken moving out of the way just in time for the very large back wheels to brush its tail as it leisurely steps out of the way. 

This causes some serious problems when doing construction work around our new barn. 

It has been a very bad week for the chickens on our farm. 

We have two hens with chicks at the moment one clutch of four and one clutch of three.

(a group of baby chickens born at the same time are called a clutch or brood, the baby chickens themselves are called chicks.)

 Since we have been preparing to, and pouring the cement floor in our barn the chickens, babies included, have needed to be kept closed in their homes. 

This is not only frustrating for the chickens but it is also frustrating for us, because it means they need to be fed more because they are no longer free-ranging. It also means that their pens get dirty a lot faster, which is not healthy for them and difficult for us, because they need to be cleaned out much more often. 
For the safety of all chickens involved and for the well-being of our new cement floor, it was better they stayed in for a few days.

Here's what happened, we spent two days grading the Barnyard and preparing for the cement, setting up forms and all that entails. 

The first day we had the chickens out but as they were running around underneath the tractor and backhoe, I decided to leave them in the next day. 

Chickens seem to think that any new ground you dig up with the bucket or backhoe is purely for their benefit to find new bugs, so they run underneath the bucket with only a few inches to spare, sometimes even less. 

With this in mind, I was thinking about when we pour the cement they would be running over to see what this new grey stuff is, and was there any insect in it for them to eat? 
They would be crushed by the weight of the cement as it comes off the cement trucks spout.

After it had been poured I knew they would be walking on it, which would leave chicken footprints in my entire Barn floor, as well as the cement potentially burning the skin on their feet.

My other concern was for the babies, much more innocent than the adult chickens and substantially smaller. 

If you think it's difficult to see a little Golden Chicken under your wheels when driving the tractor, attempt to do this with a little baby that is about the size of an apple. 

We have one chick that is gray and very much looks like the ground, in fact in a photo, we couldn't find her. 

As fun and amusing as chickens can be there also slightly on the annoying side, as I have already stated they think everything in the world is for them!

Every coffee cup you set down, every Pig pot, everything that they could possibly reach, get to, eat, scratch or nest in they will. 

This is led us to the chicken's wars, that my husband had to put up with last summer. 
The chickens were eating everything in the garden. 

My husband actually had to put an electric fence around the garden to keep them out. 

Or my Hayloft, they nest in, poop on and scratch lose my hay. 

Not healthy for the cows eating it, also annoying for me. 

First, we put a baby gate at the top of the stairs, this worked for a while. 

The chicken poop on my steps was getting deep. 

They then learned to jump over it. 

(Yes, chicken are birds, they can fly but domestic chicken tend to keep flying to a minimum)

Next, my super farmer husband put a chain-link gate at the bottom of the stairs. 

This help until the chickens learn to jump/flutter onto the steps from the back.

So this leads to my uncle putting kicker boards on the once open stairs, And a board along the railing because we knew that was the next mode of entry. 

This has seemed to fix the problem. 
However, we did not know that there was a chicken already nesting up there. This is the hen with the 4 babies.

We brought her down and popped her into a chicken condo and she hatched out a healthy brood. 

I could go on about the chicken wars, but I think you get the idea.

As good, egg layers and bug eaters chickens are they are not the Einsteins of the barnyard. 

They are equal part joy and frustrating.

A Micro Farm tour

Please enjoy these photos, a close up look at the farm.

I hope you enjoyed this micro-tour. please come again.

Farm sayings

As far removed as our society had become from the days when almost everyone had a small farm or knew someone who did, I think you would be surprised how many mainstream sayings are based on farming or country life. 

Here is a list of the ones we use often. 

whether you know all of them or just a few I am sure you have heard them in a non-farming context.

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. (My horse always thought so.)

Sowing your wild oats.

Feeling your oats. (FYI, oats are packed with energy. A horse on oats tends to get peppy.)

Raising Cane. 

Bottom of the barrel.

I've got you over a barrel.

Like shooting fish in a barrel. 

Your growing like a weed.

One bad apple can spoil the whole bushel.

That's just a drop in the bucket.

Don't kick the bucket.

Don't upset the apple cart.

Falling off the wagon.

The squeaky wheel gets the grease.

Don't be a stick in the mud.

They bought the farm. 

Like finding a needle in a haystack.

Hit the hay

The early bird gets the worm.

As the crow flys.

Make hay while the sun shines.

Winds from the West makes the sap run the best.

One stitch in time saves 9.

Hoe your own rows.

 Sticks out like a sore thumb. ( Farmers usually need to be the master of everything, so we've Carpenters when we have to be. So we're not practiced at it, hence the sore thumb.)

Mind your own beeswax.

Got a bee in your bonnet?

As busy as a bee.

You're the bee's knees. 

You hit the nail on the head. 

Water under the bridge. 

Reap what you sow.

Reaping the fruit of our labors.

As slow as molasses in winter. (My family is arguing whether it's February or January and if it was going up a hill at the time, but you get the idea.)

Don't count your chickens before they hatch. (we had a chicken just hatch 4 babies, she was setting on 12 eggs.. so true!)

Don't put all your eggs in one basket.

He's a good egg.

Don't let it ruffle your feathers.

Don't get your tail feathers in a knot. 

Not a spring chicken anymore.  (a spring chicken is also called a pullet, it's sort of like a teenager.) 

As rare as A Hen's teeth. (A chicken doesn't have teeth, so, yeah that's rare!)

Like a fox in The Henhouse.

Don't try to weasel out of it.

As sure as the sun comes up as does the rooster crows.

Cock of the walk. 

Can't read your kitchen chicken scratching. 

As the old rooster crows the young rooster learns. 

Building a nest egg. 

Henpecked.

Winging it.

Running around like a chicken with its head cut off. (alright this is a little gruesome, but when you cut off chickens head there muscles spasm, and they do flop around frantically. Not to worry they don't suffer.)

Like water off a duck's back. (ducks secret oil that makes their feathers waterproof. chickens don't.)

Like a duck to water.

He's an odd duck.

You're a Sitting duck.

This is great weather, for ducks! ( My great grandma would say this on rainy days.)

You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. 

Happy as a pig in mud.

Eating like a pig. 

Clean as a blue ribbon hog at the county fair. (That one makes me smile)

In hog heaven. 

your room looks like a pigsty.

pig pile!

Sweating like a pig who knows he's dinner. 

Bring home the bacon. 

Looks like we butchered a pig and no one wanted bacon. (Alright, so I heard this one on the Big Bang theory, But I love it!)

Taking to it like a pig to mud.

Can't put a lipstick on a pig. (well you could, but she still be a pig.)

What bull dropped that on the barn floor.

Grab the bull by the horns. Or eh, you know.

Bull pukey, BS. Ect.

Why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free.

Holy cow. 

Bull in a China shop.

Hoofing it. 

Don't poke the pull, (Realy, just don't!)

Seeing red. (the color red can send a bull into a rage, not sure if it's true or not, probably has something to do with blood, bovines don't like it.)

Shut the door, you weren't raised in a barn. (my response to this is, "I was actually.")

Like shutting the Barn Door after the horse is out.

As stubborn as a mule.

Looking the gift horse in the mouth. (you can tell the age of horses by its teeth, so don't look to see how old the horses is, just say thank you.)

Don't put the cart before the horse. 

Healthy as a horse

Horse patootie. 

Don't beat a dead horse. 

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. 

Getting a little long in the tooth. 

Over the hill. 

As playfully as a kitten.
When the cat's away the mice will play. 

A cat can have kittens in the oven, but that doesn't make them biscuits. 

Don't let the cat out of the bag.

As nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rockers.

Pussey footing around. (Them little Kitty's can be sneaky, that's why they are good mousers.) 

You look like a drowned rat. ( that's just never good.)

Got your goat. 

As ornery as an old goat.

In two shakes of a lamb's tail.

Pulling the wool over my eyes.

A wolf in sheep's clothing.

Following like sheep.

Getting goosed. (yes gees do poke you in the butt often, I'm sure that's where it came from)

Goose necking.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander. (A gander is a boy goose.)

Slicker than goose grease.

Shooting the breeze, or sh**.

Chewing the cud.

Chewing the fat.

Don't get your dander up.

Sick as a dog.

That puts my hackles up. 

Can't teach an old dog new tricks. 

That dog ant gonna Hunt.

You lay down with dogs you get up with fleas. (one of my gramps favorites)

Referring to greens as, rabbit food.

Multiplying like rabbits.

Down a rabbit hole.

Lost in a rabbit warren. 

The straw that broke the camel's back. 

As my family was helping me remember these, we realized very few old saying weren't related to farming somehow. These are all so common that my autocorrect knew what I was typing, out on most of them. Hope you enjoyed this. If you think of any I missed please add them in the comments section.