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.

Our agricultural County Fair

We spent most of Saturday at our local County Fair. 

This is a pretty big tradition up in our area and it is highly agricultural driven.

It brings together all types of people.

The dairy cow families are the backbone of this institution. Going hand-in-hand with the 4-H and the FFA.

You can walk endlessly through the Dairy Barns and see all the beautiful, jerseys, Guernsey's, Holsteins and milking shorthorns.

In our case talk extensively with most of the families, as my husband has been in this area for several generations and they know each other quite well.

The social aspect is a very big part of the Agricultural Fair in this area a lot of farmers know each other and they go way back. But they tend to be so busy that they usually do not get to socialize, the fair is a wonderful opportunity for this.

Those of you who don't know what an Agricultural Fair entails here's a breakdown.

Ours last for a full week if you show animals, you are committed to staying the whole week. 
Generally, you get the same space in the same Barn that you had last year.
This is a bit of a tradition as well, your friends can find you pretty easily. 

It is both highly look forward to, great fun and extremely exhausting for the people and animals participating.

The people and animals get thrown out of their normal routine. 
The cows, horses and other creatures find themselves tied into a stall for an entire week when they are likely accustomed being out on the field running and playing.

The farmers look after them to the best of their abilities under the circumstances.
They take them out for exercise a lot and make sure that they have everything they need, but it is still very tiring and grueling for the animals. 
Like people, some animals enjoy the experience more than others.
Usually badly behaved critters get left home next year.

By midweek most people and animals have what my husband calls "the fair stare". 
Where you are so tired and overwhelmed from all the extra fun and extra work that you've been having, that your just sort of a fair zombie. 

There are those who can hardly wait for the fair to start, and those who cannot wait for the fair to end.  If these two people come together in a married couple it proves to be a long week for all involved. 

It is also very well worth the time.
 The children get to show their animals and learn a lot about fair competition and how to properly care for their creatures.

If you win an award at a local fair you have the opportunity to go to a higher level one, and so on.
 publicity for your farm business as well as education for your children, it truly is something lovely that should be done at least once in a lifetime.

There is the open show which is any milk cow (etc.) can be showed by any aged person. 

Then there is the 4-H which goes from the ages of 6 to 18 and generally they show calves yearlings and Heifers.

 Then there is the FFA.
For those of you who do not know what this is,  "Future Farmers of America" my husbands family has a long history with this group.
 They go on field trips, exposure to as many different types of agricultural as possible as well as educate The general public.
 The FFA is a great program that I support highly even though I was never a member of it.

The other very large Tradition at our local County Fair is the tractor and truck pulls. 
This brings a very large crowd and goes most of the weekend at the fair. 
Even though I very much dislike it because it's Extremely Loud, very polluting and kind of a waste of fuel, (just my opinion,) it is very popular among the country set.

Another large part of our County Fair is the horse show which is much more my speed. 
They do barrel racing, gymkhana, and several other horse-related activities.
 This also is very large and important part of this Fair. 
The horse barns are quite Extensive and a permanent fixture in the fair.

The agricultural reaches far beyond just animals, with the antique equipment Barn.
Historic farm demo building and education.

 they have a beef Barn where the beef cows are, probably the 3rd largest animals group, horses being second.
 They also have the poultry Barn which I tend to enjoy because of all the pretty chickens and ducks and other fowl.

There's the rabbit Barn which hosts all variety of creatures from rabbits to gerbils to hamsters and chinchillas. 

There is the 4-H Barn which is filled with crafts made by the 4-h-ers
They are usually quite stunning because these kids tend to be very creative. 

There's an adult version of this Barn called the Craft Barn as well, any manner of thing you could make, baked or grow are present in these barns.
 There's also a large following for the photo contest which I very much enjoy as well and have often wanted to enter but never had the chance. 
(I always remember it far past the cutoff date to send in your photos.)

Another very large Tradition at our fair is the food! 
It is very much looked forward to, extremely unhealthy and slightly expensive but everyone has a fair food tradition. 
My husband broke his tradition and tried a blooming onion for the first time this year.
 I awoke the next morning to find him looking up recipes to attempt to make it at home, so I have a feeling he liked it. 
Mine is the gravy fries with the locally grown potatoes those cannot be beaten!
 Even though they are $8 for a bowl, they are absolutely delicious and well worth it, in my opinion.
 I save up some change all year just to have those. 
You also cannot leave the fair without having a maple something, especially in this area of the country.
 this year I chose the ice cream but you really can't go wrong whether it's the maple cotton candy, the maple ice cream, the maple shake, the maple candy or the maple butter.
 As well as several other maple flavored goodies. 

I did notice that a booth had a new type of treat, which had maple bacon on top of a fried dough.
 Lots of people seem to be eating but, to me and my family, not being big grease eaters as a general rule, felt like it would just be too much of a good thing. 

I realize that some places like the interstate fairs and larger ones are much more commercially driven, but down here out in the country agricultural is probably 80% of Our Fair.

Which causes for a very interesting mix because you have people coming from all walks of life out to see the animals witness the tractor pulls play in the Midway and ride the carnival rides, that I avoid like the plague, I just paid $8 for some wonderful gravy fries, why would I pay to throw them up?
No disrespect to the people who run them.

As I've already said, we know lots of people at the fair.
 We spend half of our time catching up with friends.
This year we had a home base at a good friend's booth and the dairy barn. 
Where we were able to leave our things and go sit and rest when we got tired because there's a lot of walking associated with seeing everything you want to at the county fair. 

Even though we were there for most of the day we still didn't manage to see everything that we had wanted to. 

My uncle lost himself in the music tent and we didn't see much of him for the rest of the afternoon, between that and the comedy show which he was enthralled with. 

My husband and I got split up for a while, I was able to relocate him at the piglet races which are always enjoyable but seemed a little too familiar to home right now.

As I sat with my friends at Dairy Barn we visited and people watched.
 As people milled in and out of the Barnes it's very easy to see who is who the farm people and who is not.
Farm folk tends to walk right by with a glance and a slight smile over at the cows.
Well, the townspeople come in, point out how pretty the cows and asked questions, "like if we got a cow would it eat our chickens?"
(a very small girl asked me.)

Now, this is right up my alley because as you know I very much believe in and enjoy educating anyone who's interested in farming.

There is a whole other set that attends the fair.
They do tend to wander through the animal barns, only because they might as well take in everything at the fair.
These people are very easy to spot because they're wearing generally pristine and expensive clothes and occasionally high heels as well. 
I witnessed one pair of teenagers walking through in their Gucci heels turning their noses up at the smell of the cows and tripping over the sawdust laying in the dirt alleyway. 
My good friend and I giggle slightly amused at this, as she Whispers to me that is not fair attire and I wholeheartedly agreed. 

No judgment placed upon these young women but,
they obviously had no clue what they were getting themselves into when they prepare to go to the fair. 
Our Fair is in a very large Farmer's field that the rest of the season gets hayed.
There are a lot of permanent buildings in this area that obviously are not a part of the field.
There are very few places and actually have a cement walkway most of it is gravel dirt and grass, not a place you'd want to be wearing stiletto heels, Just for future reference. 

There also tend to be animal poop in quite a few places.
 Their owners are very good at cleaning up after them, but it still happens when you are taking them to and throw.

I love our country Agricultural Fair I left feeling very happy slightly tired and extremely proud of our areas Farmers!
The animals were all pristine extremely well cared for and just beautiful to behold.
 I went home to my barn to do my chores and I was extremely proud to be who I am and live where I do. 
Most people misunderstand farmers and do not give them the appreciation that they greatly deserve and even though a handful of people were exposed to these farmers at this week-long celebration they still left the fair not fully understanding them. 
Hopefully, there were a handful of people that have their opinions of us change for the better.

Butchering day

Butchering is not something I take lightly. 

I have been seasoned into this task, helping and wanting to be a part of it since I was a very small child. 

It is never easy to kill an animal, and I do it with the utmost respect and in the most humane way possible.

I know that reading about this subject will be distasteful to some of you. Just remember, whether you're a vegan, a vegetarian, or enjoy a thick steak off the grill, you are only here because our ancestors hunted and consumed animals. It was how everyone survived back to the hunter/ gatherer times up until about sixty years ago when many people grew animals for food, and almost everyone had a garden filled with vegetables for the family to eat.

Once upon a time, there were no grocery stores!

 I believe that as a society, we have become too far removed from understanding where our food comes from. This is one of the reasons I started this blog in the first place.

Please don't think that I am cruel to my animals! I am, in fact, the exact opposite. I take pride in the fact that my animals are happy and healthy. Just know that their sole purpose on our farm is to be grown for food. It would be a waste of all my commodities and hard work if these animals were not put to their intended use.

I realize that many of you may have a difficult time understanding or even being okay with the fact that we butcher our own animals. 
We do it with respect and in appreciation that it gives its life to feed our family. 

It is done quickly and with the least stress possible on the animal, while in some commercial slaughterhouses, the animals are a lot of times mistreated, often using electric prods to make them move, they hear, smell and see death all around them and most likely are very afraid. This is the meat you might purchase in the markets, packaged neatly in styrofoam plates.
(please understand I am not lumping all slaughterhouses in this, I am sure as with anything there are some humane and respectful ones out there.)

Contrast that with our method of butchering out doors in the fresh air. One bullet, while eating something yummy, and it's over. No fear, no crowds of animals, no electric prods, just a few pets of affection and appreciation, surrounded by the people who have loved and tended you all of your life. 
A peaceful end.

It has been proven that animals butchered under stressful conditions emit stress hormones (like adrenaline) which toughen the meat and change its flavor. 

This is likely to be the meat sold every day. 

This is not anything we enjoy. It is done with a lot of sobriety and appreciation for the sacrifice that the animal is giving for the health of our family.

Everything we eat, we kill, be it a pig, a pea, or a pumpkin. 
It is the circle of life that has gone on for millennia! 

No disrespect to vegans and vegetarians. 

I believe in live and let live. Please don't judge me, as I will not judge you.

Last week we butchered YumYum. It was a necessity. When her time came to deliver her babies, she became aggressive and tried to kill each and every one of them.

What else could we do with a pig that became more aggressive as each day passed? 

I couldn't in good conscience send her to the auction. What if the purchaser intended to breed her? I would just be passing my problem on to another farmer. What if she injured someone in that family? 

Should I continue to feed her and use up resources and valuable pasture area on a pig that had become dangerous? To what end?

When one animal becomes aggressive it impacts all the other animals as well. It causes tension that makes all of them uneasy. There was a good chance that she could injure or kill one or more of Primrose's babies if they found a way through the fence, (which, in time, happened After YumYum was gone.) I could no longer use her as a brood sow, so what purpose could she have on our farm?

      PORK!

It was the best use for a now mean pig. It had gotten so I couldn't go into the pen with her. I couldn't trust her anymore. She would bark and stalk me from the other side of the fence. She was also stalking the cow! (Just for reference, the cow weighs 1600lb. YumYum weighed 530lb.) The Vet. said it best, "She took the test and failed, now it's time for her to go."

My stress levels have gone down now, not having to deal with her aggressiveness every day. Primrose seems happier too. I'm sure she felt the danger to her babies even though they were penned separately. Prim would often send warning barks through the fence at Yum Yum.

I have written in the past about how smart and funny pigs can be. This is still true. The reality is that there is another side to these animals. A mean pig is downright dangerous! They can do you severe harm especially as big as YumYum was. Again I refer you to the similarities between pigs and dogs.

Would you keep a vicious dog? Unlikely! You would probably give it a few fair chances and if it didn't change, euthanize it! 

This is the tack I took with YumYum. The only difference is that she wasn't a waste of life. She had a good purpose of nourishing and sustaining our bodies with hers. We appreciate that fact regardless of her behavior. 

There is no pork better than home grown pork! 
THANK YOU YUM YUM!