Personal record largest (and exhaustingest) cider pressing

So we finally found time to press cider. We have apples from our orchard and donated from a neighbor's- John's. We had two large garden carts full. We started in the morning but as you can tell from the photo it extended into the evening. Here's our back-porch operation:
We pressed enough for five 5-gallon carboys!. We pressed these apples and then added crabapple juice we had pressed before to fill these carboys- there was a total of 5 gallons of crab apple juice so we should have plenty of tannins in our cider this year.

Then we moved the carboys into the house, let the cider warm somewhat closer to room temperature and added the yeast and the air stops. Our entire bodies hurt, and we are tired. So we cleaned up and went out to dinner. We will add the sugar in small aliquots later as there is not a lot of room in these carboys for fermentation. We will try to take it slow.

Visiting sheep, gravel, stuck tractor and sick goat

So by Monday we had several ewes visiting the rams on our farm.  There's Madison from Jackie's (in the back),

and Corinne from Bethany's (behind Jocko),
and Gwendolyn from Nancy's (in front of Lewis).
We are expecting three more to come visit this next weekend.  

Then we decided to forgo apple pressing and deal with the more pressing issue of the upcoming storm and more predicted flooding.  I covered all the farm equipment with tarps and tin sheets to try to prevent water damage, and we ordered 14 yards of gravel and proceeded to use our small tractor to spread it in the now moist barn.  As you can see it is a muddy mess:
But we managed to get a decent layer of gravel down before the steering went out on the tractor, and it was completely stuck in the mud.
Then we spend the rest of the afternoon hauling the tractor out of the muck with several chains and ropes from the truck in the driveway and managed to get it on the grass outside of the gate.  Since there's still no steering it's going to sit there until it is fixed.  We still have 2/3 of the gravel left that still needs spreading, but we have no tractor and are not excited to do it by hand- particularly trying to drag it though the soft mud.  So it also sits for now.

In the midst of this Tom and I both noticed that our older doe Candy had her tongue stick our to the right and her right ear drooping.  She otherwise seemed fine, but we decided to call the vet out.  He arrived in the middle of the gravel hauling and looked at her.  He couldn't find anything else wrong, and she did not have a temperature.  So he was worried that she had a brain tumor but thought there was still a chance it could be a dental infection so brought her back to the office for x-rays.  The x-rays showed a small density on the right skull so it probably is a brain tumor but since she's looking so good and not suffering we opted to put her on penicillin and thiamine and see how she does before euthanizing her.  So Tom and I went to the vet's office to pick her back up with her medication, bring her back and administer two IM shots.  Now we are hoping for the best.

By the way, it's our 7th first-date anniversary so after the day's excitement we cleaned up, got dressed and went out to a nice dinner.  The rest can wait for another day after the waters recede.

Visiting sheep, gravel, stuck tractor and sick goat

When It Rains, It Pours..........Literally

So I come home from a long shift of sleepless work and find this:

A flooded barn.....with 8 inches of water......Yeah!!!!!  

From snippets of news I heard that there was 3 inches of rain yesterday and 4 more expected today.  I first moved the animals that live on the ground on this side of the barn- 5 sheep, 5 goats and a hen with her chicks.  The rabbits in elevated hutches I left.  The stalls are so far not flooded so the goats went in the pen that normally houses the chicken food- they are not thrilled.

Then I considered my options and called Tom who is on a sheep delivery/hunting trip with the truck.  I have no way of getting straw since I have my compact commuter car, and I can't have anything delivered since a truck couldn't get within a football field's distance of the barn with the flooded pasture.  So I ran to the closest feed store with my little car (and my muddy knees) and asked them to fill it up with bags of shavings.  Now nine bags of shavings are on the water in the barn (surprised that much would fit in my little car!).  Although a lot of it is just floating on the water- hopefully it will absorb some anyway and elevate the level of the barn floor so less water is inclined to seep in.  We will see if this works and see what four more inches brings in!

Butchering Day

So today's the day. We are butchering Hana, our Highland cow. I bought her for Tom as a combination housewarming and birthday present after we bought our farm. She has produced many great calves for us but is getting difficult for us to manage. She knocks down barb wire and fencing with ease. Electricity doesn't faze her, and she can jump fences surprisingly easily for her bulk. She also eats a LOT. We have her better behaved daughter Dana to breed with so Hana will become meat. It's, of course, bittersweet. Hana's antic are good for stories, and she was our first cow as well as a sentimental present. But reality and common sense needs to take precedence. I am going to stay clear of the house, and poor Tom has to catch Hana and drag her to the butcher truck.

The more difficult decision for me is to have some sheep butchered for the first time. I am a vegetarian, and Tom doesn't like lamb or mutton so there has been a reason to butcher until now. We have too many sheep and especially rams. I was considering having four butchered, but it looks like I found a good home for Monty as a black breeding ram. This is much better since he will make nice lambs. And it looks like I talked Tom into keeping Hazelnut, our yearling wether. I sheared these four sheep in preparation for the butcher's visit on Saturday and just love his fleece. He's a wild sheep but otherwise not a problem (not like rams are) so he gets a reprieve. That leaves Mortimer and Comet. They are both grey, cryptorchid rams. They have very nice fleeces but can't be used for breeding and have ram behavior. I really don't need ram companions so there's no reason to put up with ram behavior just for their fleeces. So again reality and common sense need to preside.