Hey Alex, I love your wish list! I don’t see any reason why you won’t attain everything on it, and then you can start another list! Your enthusiasm is inspiring. Keep sharing your ideas and your great stories. I hope that you have an awesome vacation!

I loved what you had to say about growing up. I got tears in my eyes. If you ever open that school you were talking about, then be sure and let us all know where to come and visit! When I grow up, I want to have never-ending patience, lead a not-so-hurried life and live somewhere, where I can’t hear the cars whizzing by.

My own climate is much closer to yours. Here in the high desert of Central Oregon I’m still growing tomatoes and basil and flowers and veggie starts in the house and trying in vain to harden them off each afternoon outside. Alas! The night temps have been 16 and 22 the last two nights. Yes, too frigid for tomatoes. So they are now 2′ tall and starting to flower. I keep waiting. Even with Frost Blankets and surrounded by jugs of water for the thermal mass… it’s iffy. Sigh. Oh for a greenhouse!
Love the look of that basil. Yum! is right!
Susan

You can grow basil in Alaska. Wow. I live on the Central Oregon Coast. We had a present the other night of air from Alaska (thank you so much) that brought us a frost warning, so I wrapped my jasmine in a blanket and covered the plants that had wintered over in the house with more blankets.

It’s in the 40s at night here now, and in the 50s, usually in the daytime.
But in my particular place, I can’t grow basil, nor tomatoes nor peppers. Hot here is about 70, which happens rarely. And we get a lot of wind in the summer, too.

But the forests are indeed very green, the alders are out completely as well as the underforest, so everything is vivid new green, just beautiful.

Great topic! Lately when things are busy and stressful and I am unable to make it to the beach during the day (which is my favorite place to go to de-stress), I will take some time at night to either pop in a cd or pick a station on Pandora and bust a move/rock out/bee bop around the house. My cats really love it if I sing along too >^..^<

Hello Alex from your farmgirl sister in the wilderness north of Nenana! Spring is the time my stress level rises. After a long winter(and you know how long this one has been) of planning and devising all those summer projects by the time the snow is melting I am starting to feel overwhelmed worrying about how I am going to get it all done in our short summer. I find the best stress buster is to just get outside and take in nature. Pretty soon I’m cleaning a flower bed or moving planters to the greenhouse, raking fall leaves or just sitting in the sun watching the dogs play. These are my "aaahh" moments. Now if I can just find my "to do list". :)) Have a great summer!!

So much going on! Thank you for sharing!

Nancy
http://www.liveasavorylife.com

Happy Spring Alex! I so loved this post… I can smell the hay and Duke and feel the soft fuzz of your baby chicks too!
You are right, something about being around " the farm " IS soothing, comforting and just feels right. I hope for your very own farm one day! Sounds like you will be right at home there!
thanks for a wonderful post!
Deb ( your beach blogging sister )

I Loved this article. I am also a huge animal lover but not to the scale of your farm. I just love all of them, but the photo that I thought was adorable was Maybe! Soooooo darn cute! I just want to pet him. I think the next step is to write a book with lots of photos telling us about what it like having a farm. I could picture myself on a porch, in a rocking chair, with a cup of coffee or Green Tea, smelling the hay, and reading a book like this! Think about it!

HAPPY SPRING TO ALL OF YOU!

Loved this article and so fun to see the photos. "Birthing" is one of the few things that is missed by my husband after we quit dairy farming in 2001. The thrill never goes away. Pulling calves…even calf mouth to mouth…getting the little bugger to drink out of the bucket when we needed to start milking mama. Nurturing that new life…so cool. Another memory of much younger days as you speak of eating the chickens…scalded feather smell to pluck them. Have had several conversations with people about this recently. A smell never forgotten. Blessings, Gail

Alex,

I just wanted to drop a quick line to let you know that I love your voice and writing style. You have very quickly become my favorite farmgirl blog (no offense to any of marjanes other fabulous farmgirl blogs meant). Keep up the good work and thank you for sharing your unique perspective.

Sharon

I enjoyed this article very much! It was fun following the progress of the eggs and how the children experienced this along the way – all the teachable moments! Standing on eggs!! I’m tempted (sort of) to try that. 😀
I love the kind of school you have. It’s just the kind I would love to have started myself, or to have had available to my daughter when she was so young. Keep up the great work!

——————-

Thanks Theresa! Louise’s Farm School is a great program, and I’m honored to be a part of all of the fun and learning that goes on here.

What a wonderful post! You bring a breath of fresh spring air to my gardener’s mind…imagine doing all that in Alaska! Wow! Keep up the great work, indeed!

——————————————————————–

Thanks, Nancy! Agriculture is a challenge in Alaska, but it’s a challenge I’m eager to take on!

Ahhh, so many memories come flooding back whenever I read your post! Alaska is definitely a beautiful and unique place….My husband and I lived in Alaska for 13 years, our firstborn son was born there, I attended APU but back then they did not have the school/farm – what a wonderful and fun opportunity – and we were the first in our neighborhood to plant a garden…we even had a resident young bull moose one winter who enjoyed our raspberry bushes and we had one inquisitive enough to peek in our kitchen window. And, oh yes, I’ve been to the peak of Pioneer Peak 🙂 Thank you so much for your posts – Alaska has a special place in our hearts and Palmer especially since it is farmgirl country. Enjoy your chicks – we have one hen who hatched out 2 in February and we have a broody hen now on a nest of 5 or 6 – gotta love spring! ————————————————–Thanks for the Alaska connection, KJ! I’m looking forward to climbing Pioneer Peak this summer!

Yes, I am a Mary Jane. I have a broody hen and we bought 6 eggs from someone with roosters and have put them under the hen. Unfortunately, the other two hens keep laying their eggs on top of the broody hen and I broke one of the good eggs while trying to get the other unfertile eggs out. April 7 or 8 is due date. Hopefully we get some chicks. I have never raised them but the hen was on the nest broody for so long we decided to give it a try.
————————————————————-
Thanks for the story, Mary Jane! Good luck with your eggs and chicks!

A good flashlight in a dark closet works great. Just hold the egg right on the light lens and you can see everything. This is definitely ‘chick’ season. I’m trying to resist the temptation of buying half a dozen. My will power is seriously weakening. ;o) If only all the children in this nation could benefit from such a wholesome education.

I’ve had the opportunity to travel overseas when I was younger 🙂 🙂 i still love to travel. However, I’m at the point in life, where I just want to stay in one place. I’d love to have a place with a yard big enough to grow my own food 🙂 ): That’s a dream of mine!!!

Alaska is GORGEOUS. I went there to visit my grandmother, once, when I was a child…before she moved back to California!!!

Love and hugs from the ocean shores of CAlifornia, Heather 🙂

I really enjoyed your blog Alexandra! Thanks for sharing! Happy Spring! :o)

As someone who used to travel to Europe almost every summer and who hasn’t been in 10 years, I’m definitely wanderlusty but not as much as I probably should be. Rather, I’m more interested at this point in doing nothing on vacation which means being at the beach, lying in the sand, maybe reading a book. Hopefully this contentment will last!

Welcome Alexandra to the MJF blogging team! I’m awed by your sense of adventure and it makes me feel as though age 20 isn’t as far away as it is in reality. Yes, I had wanderlust!! Yes, I followed it – not globally, but in this country as much as opportunity allowed. I loved back-packing into the mountains.

What a grand trail you are on. I’m so looking forward to seeing what your world looks like when it isn’t under all that snow. Louise, your inspiration, was quite a woman!!

My wanderlust hasn’t really waned, you find ways to follow it in a way that works for your age. Sleeping in the ground is over for this farmgirl…but I have a packhorse and a new little glamper. Love the FRESH view of your farmgirl wilderness! Take me where I may not walk anymore ;o)

There are seasons in our lives. I traveled with my parents as a child, being somewhere new every two or three years. Loving the experience of new cultures and environments. This life did not allow us a planting season or animals.
I then settled for 35 years to build a home in the country, and raise three children. My husband and I farmed and were almost self sufficient for years. Raised animals and enjoyed the wandering wild life. I have had the comforts of a warm fire and the cat on the hearth along with the faithful dog by my side. All these years of living on the farm, loving every minute of it, I still yearned to travel and experience life away from home. Only having two cats left on the farm now, I can only hope they will be fine without my presence for a few days at a time with only the company of my husband. I plan to have only seasonal gardening and travel when the earth rests. In a life time you can do all that your heart desires.

Welcome aboard! I look forward to reading your posts and learning more about one of the few states I have never visited when I was a full-time RVer. Congratulations on becoming the Rural Farmgirl!

Thanks for the welcome, Adrienne!  you must have an RV full of stories after Life as a full-time RVer!  Alaska waits for your visit, Best, Alex

Dear Alexandra,
Welcome to MaryJanes Sisterhood. I love reading about how other women share their interests,knowledge, and love of our country and sisterhood values. Congratulations and I look forward to reading about your farmgirl experiences. Blessings,
Toni

Thanks for your kind words, Toni. Best, Alex

Welcome Alex! I love to see "newcomers" because it means there is still hope for me! I grew up on a very large, family owned, dairy farm. It is my hope someday to go back. I have spent nearly 30 years working in one of those office jobs in order to get good retirement and health insurance. I have only 4 years to go, and then I hope to be able to get back to cows, chickens, and llamas! The older I get, the more certain I am that I want to get back to my roots. I have done the "responsible thing" that my parents wanted me to do, which means staying at a job long enough to earn retirement benefits and security. But my "life" will not really start until I can get back to the country and the farm where I grew up. All these blogs are such an inspiration to me. Please keep it up – you never know the effect you might have on someone, or that maybe on a particular day, they needed to hear just what you had to say! Love, Annie

Thanks for your kind words, Annie.  While you may not be incredibly happy with your position now, it’s refreshing to see that you are still inspired to follow your dreams.  You are an inspiration to me! Best, Alex

Welcome! Looking forward to getting to know you better through the adventures and musings you share. New beginnings can be exciting and so full of optimism if we let them.

Thanks Jo!  New beginnings are time consuming but oh-so rewarding!

Welcome, Alexandra! I’m excited to read your blog. Sounds like you are a true farmgirl 🙂

hi alex i’m so excited to hear more from AK! i too farm in Idaho and always dreamed of being a pilot in AK. I grew up in a flying family in Chicago and love the idea of being somewhere so remote and beautiful. stay warm!

Thanks Kate!  I love those Idaho farms, and I love that you are from the midwest!  Any flying in your future?  Best, Alex

Welcome, Alex! I’m looking forward to reading your blogs. The first picture of Pioneer Peak is breathtaking, and Taz is a real cutie, too. Glad to "meet" you! Big Farmgirl Hugs!
Your blogging sis’, Nicole (Suburban Farmgirl)

Thank you, Nicole!  I love your blog, as I am a born and bred Suburban girl. I’m lucky to live out here with cute animals and awesome views! Cheers, Alex

Welcome Alex! So glad to have "met" and cant wait to read more about your life adventures! Taz looks like the ultimate farmgirl- calm,gorgeous, and totally in control of her surroundings! I have a dog named Rose Marie who fits the mold well too. She adopted my family after someone dumped her at the end of our farm lane about 8 months ago, and has slid into the role of boss dog without a hitch. That is saying something about her diplomacy considering we already had four other dogs! Anyway, welcome and glad to meet you!

Thanks Meredith!  Taz is the best–you describe her to a T (for Taz).  I can only hope that my future farm dogs will be as great as she is.  Your Rose Marie sounds like she was meant to be part of your farm from the get-go! Best, Alex

Welcome, its good to meet you. I’m from the midwest, I live in Michigan. I enjoyed your post on Alaska and look forward to many more of your blogs.

Thanks Kimberly!

Welcome Alexandra, I’m looking forward to reading more!

Thanks Debbie!

Welcome Alex! I will be looking forward to your posts. I am from Southern WI and just like you, I am inspired by the dairy farms that are part of my State’s history and hopefully, future. Louise sounds like an amazing woman and a wonderful muse. I am so glad that she is being recognized for her contributions and spirit.

My Hubby is in love with Alaska and wants us to move there. I am not so sure. I have been looking for a hobby farm in the Driftless Region of WI for the past couple of years. I look forward to your posts so I can get a glimpse of Alaska through your words and pictures.

Diane, you make me yearn for the Driftless area–such a beautiful, secret place.  In college I dreamed of having a farm and teaching near Viroqua, spending my weekends canoeing on the Kickapoo river…

Cheers, Alex

Welcome Alexandra . . from Alaska!
Thanks for sharing your life with us and I trust your experience as the Rural Farmgirl "Blogger" will one of tremendous reward.
Grew up on a farm here in southwest Colorado where I still live (returning after a few years in the Arizona desert) with my hubby, dog, cat, llama and hobby herd of Longhorns.
WELCOME!
CJ . . . aka "ceejay48"

I have a warm place in my heart for Alaska. My daughter and son in law lived in Anchorage for 3 years and I was there when their first son was born. Then our son went to school at UA at Fairbanks. I’ve flown up 4 times and miss that there is no one to visit now. Love your pictures. And I will always dream of being there again someday. Welcome aboard!

Thank you for the kind welcome, Brenda!  Alaska is a beautiful place and I feel very lucky to live here (at least for the time being). It’s great that some of my readers will be able to identify with my experiences.  Cheers, Alex

Welcome from me too! I live at the end of a dirt road in a growing rural town in northeast San Diego county. I am looking forward to hearing your stories. You sound brave and open to new experiences. I predict that you will have a very interesting life.Thanks for sharing it!

Thanks for the warm welcome, Lorrie!

Hey Alexandra! It was so great to read your blog & read about you & what you’re doing in AK! I love the photos & the history. I live in rural Isanti County, near Braham, MN & I noticed you’re from around here. We have a little hobby farm & we’re so happy to be doing the whole organic thing with chickens, apple trees & honeybees. Everything we’ve made or remodeled has been with recycled materials. My husband remodeled a little room for my writing and art studio, using all reclaimed wood that is 101 years old. Our chicken coop is made out of reclaimed materials and this spring we’re making a greenhouse out of materials that were advertised online. We’re looking forward to getting a larger animal like a cow or sheep. I love coming online & reading people’s stories, I’ve been a reader of Mary Jane’s farm for about 4 years & it was what inspired me to get out of the Twin cities in the first place. It is beautiful here with the sun rising almost due east now, & we have Common Redpolls at the feeder which I haven’t seen before. Happy Spring! Peace, Love & joyous farming! <3

Carolyn, your farm sounds perfect!  I hope to one day have a very familiar situation in nearby NoDak! Thanks for sharing and enjoy the balmy MN spring! Best, Alex

Dearest Alex, The Pederson family…many generations of MJF farmgirls deep in North Dakota are so proud and wowed to call you our own! Through the many generations of stewardship and conservation for the land we have been allowed to call our own, each generation has not only preserved but renewed our responsibility for the soil we hold dear. With your environmental education you will be able to take it one step further and share it with people who do not have our opportunity.
New beginnings while seemingly linear are full circle for some in my family. Happy Farming and we can’t wait to read more.

Thanks Gail!  I have you to thank for my first exposure to MJF (coming in a future post!).  Love you and miss you!

I don’t live on a farm but am 86 years old and love to read the blogs. I can just relax and think what a great life you are all enjoying. I liked haveing lots of flowers and a big garden. Loved canning fruits and vegetables. Can’t do things like that now but we are still quite active and I like reading because it reminds me of the past. I live in Springfield, Il, and all our kids and grandkids live here but one. He is a park ranger in the Grand Tetons in Wy. My best to all of you. Louise

t

2011 taught me the value of friends both old and new and the joy of family. It also taught me to be a farmgirl as I started farm life with family on a small farm and have animals to love and care for. 2012 is the year to gain more knowledge – to grow strong seedlings and a better garden and to learn to be more frugal while making time always for family and friends. I can’t believe how busy you are when you are no longer working a full time, out of the home job! With all of the hardships in the world today it is a blessing to have a home, people to love, and things to do each day. Life is good!

I love what you shared Libbie! All one needs is wide-open spaces and time with the family 🙂 blessings in 2012!

What did I learn?

That giving up is pointless.
That hard work brings its own reward.
That there is no such thing as "luck," there is opportunity that we take or not take.
That the death of one thing often leads to the beginning of something wonderful.
That life is short and we should never forget to enjoy ourselves!

First time blogger here…
It’s rewarding to read such enthusiastic entries from everyone! Libbie you are indeed fortunate. What a lovely and rewarding life you have so vividly put into view for all of us. Yes, indeed it is the simple things in life that should bring us the most joy, void of the fast pace world’s complexities and anxieties. This last year, 2011, has been a rough one for me. I am making all efforts to positively and productively embrace 2012. I too make out-of-reach expectancies of myself as new years enter and old years fade. In fact I have outdone myself for 2012’s resolutions! I will ease the tension I have placed on myself and take your advice Libbie by adding, "more often than not" to those over-zealous demands.

Good job

How nice of you to share a moment with Evelyn and her calf. I am sure that not all farmgirls at heart have milked a cow. Merry Christmas. Bonnie

Thanks, Bonnie! What I REALLY wish is that you all could come and milk with me IN PERSON! Oh, well…next best thing, I guess! xoxo, Libbie

I swear by bag balm- after cleaning the udders after milking- I liberally apply bag balm to them. It keeps them soft, and helps sanitize them. I find this keeps down infections. Bleach tends to dry out udders- so this would be really good for you to use.
We lived across the street from a dairy farm and I milked a cow every morning for our personal milk. The owner/neighbor believed in me learning the old fashioned way as a kid- and I learned to love it. I use bag balm on goats as well- and even my own hands. I always keep a tin of it on my farm. Good luck with your new girl!

I have used Bag Balm – and I just love it, too. I hadn’t thought of the anti-infection part of it, though! Now it’s on my next shopping list… Thank you! xoxo, Libbie  

I don’t know that I could milk a cow like I did grpwing up on the farm now. We milked about 10 cows by hand and had quite a bit of milk. We strained it and put it in gallon jugs. When the cream rose to the top it was removed and we churned it to make butter. The buttermilk was used for made from scratch biscuits. As a family of seven children and our parents we made two large cookie sheets of biscuits for breakfast. I would use the sifter and sift Martha White self rising flour into a big dishpan. Then I would hollow out the center and pour in about four cups of buttermilk and a about cup of melted butter. I would use a spoon to begin with stirring the milk and butter while scraping a bit of flour from the sides. When it reached a workable consistency, I used my hands and pan kneaded it til it was just right for biscuits. Light and fluffy. I would take a handful and roll it around and then place it on the greased cookie sheets. When I ran out of dough I flattened them til they all touched. Then they were baked in a preheated to 400 degree oven. They rose and filled the pans while baking. They amelled heavenly and went well with the rest of the meal. Often when we came in from school and changed our clothes to go to the fields to work we would poke a hole in a left over biscuit and pour cane syrup we had made in and let it soak up and repeat til we had what we wanted of the syrup in the biscuit. On the way to the field we would eat those syrup filled biscuits and be ready to pump the water from the hand pump so we could all get a drink of water before starting to work. And if you really want a treat make biscuit pudding out of left over biscuits. It is like the bread pudding people made out of bread but we didn’t have light bread so we used biscuits. Yummy.

Oh Alice! Those biscuits sound WONDERFUL!!! Thank YOU for making them "with" me. xoxo – Libbie

Hi! I so want a cow, but we haven’t ventured down that path yet. Do you milk once or twice a day? What do you do with all the milk? do you drink a gallon a day? I haven’t gotten a handle on how we would handle all that milk if we did get one. Here is Texas iwth the drought I am glad I don’t have one right now. enjoyed the article!
Thanks,

I miss life on the farm. I live in the city now, but dream of a small farm someday soon.(we have the land, need to build the house) I grew up with milk goats. The process is very much the same.

Now, you have to do this two times a day, right?

Nice story- thanks for sharing. The note from the boys was a definite hug. It’s been many a year since I tried to milk a cow, but I remember Grandpa Lloyd milking Jers and Old Gerns at our farm in Ohio when I was a kid. Mamma and Grandma Grace would make caramels out of the cream and sell them for a dollar a pound ( this was in the ’50s). My job was to cut the squares of waxed paper to twist them in. Your boys will have such memories, too.

I grew up in the 4-H program, we showed and milked dairy cows, Jersey. My school teacher lived on a big dairy farm that I spent time on each summer with my dad. He put up silage with her hubby, and I kept her youngest son company, riding his pony which wouldn’t behave for him, we would do clean up after dinner, and go out to pick goose berries for her for pies,on the creek, take out lemmon aide and cookies to the guys, and get everything ready for the evening milking. They did 100 or more twice a day. Galen and I would get all the feed ready, and bring in the gang when it was time. We would make sure the wash water was always clean and hot, and that the milk was running through the tubs, and not getting plugged going into the tanks. and let the girls back out again. It sure didn’t seem like work, we enjoyed it, and each other. We were pals, and we learned alot together. Then Dadand I would go home and milk our 2. the only problem I had was one of our cats jumped off of something, landed on my cow, Star, while I was milking her, clawed her as she slid down her side, Star freeked out, jumped forward, and stuck her foot in the milk pail and messed up the milk which had to be thrown out. So my suggesstion would be to keep the cats out.

We are contemplating farm life and a cow would be fun. I have never been around farm animals and am a little apprehensive. It looks like a fairly simple thing to do. I am reading everything I can get from the library.

hopefully soon, down on the farm.

I am currently milking 2 nubian goats. For nyone who cant do the commitment of a cow gots are great. the cream doesnt rise to the top though like cows milk. That is becuse goats milk is naturally homoginized. So if you want cream for butter or other things you will need a cream seperator. I also milk from the left but this is because of how my milking stand is set up. When I strain my milk I use a big milking funnel (available from Hoeggerfarmyard.com) and it fits on a mason jar. I dont use the paper filters though. I use butter muslem (like cheese cloth but finer, available from cheese making supply houses) and I fold it in 4 and strain my milk through that. i wash it out after each use and hang it to dry. Also the jars I store my milk in are place in the freezer before I go to milk. The milk cools a little faster then i put the milk in the fridge. i milk twice a day. Happy milking!!!

WOW how amazing, Our Dexter calved on Dec 1st and we just started milking her in much the same way, sharing the milk with her calf. Brought me back 20 years to my first homestead milking experience in Pennsylvania (when I would nurse my baby while milking!)
Thank you for sharing such a sweet story.
Not too many folks know someone who can milk in our neck of the woods!
Happy HOlidays, love the note from your boys too!

Oh I just love this! Thank you thank you! I am a suburban girl who now lives in Kansas country and love the farm life, even tho i dont do a lot of it, i live next to it. I have always wanted to milk cows and have chickens but until I get the nerve I live vicariously thru people like you! THis was wonderful!

I am so glad to hear that living a "farmy" life is interesting to you – I was a suburban girl who moved to the country, too, and let me tell you – there’s no going back for me! Go right ahead and get the chickens – you’ll love them. Then you can move on to a cow from there! Thanks so much…..xoxo, Libbie

We milked 2 cows and my brother raced – hated it when I won. We would pour the grain in a trough in the yard and have to be finished before she walked away. It’s funny how careful you are about washing Evelyn’s bag. I don’t remember anything more than brushing off the straw and big pieces. The milk was strained and separated (we had an electric) and the skimmed milk went to feed the calves while the cream went downstairs into the cream can for sale. Our milk was kept in gallon jars in the fridge, whole milk before it was separated, and I loved skimming the cream off the top. Took it for granted, really, fresh cream for baking and coffee and porridge. Those 40 below prairie winters (I grew up in Saskatchewan) seem so far away, now — I have been living in Hong Kong since ’92. Thanks for the memories.

This brings back memories for me! I loved going down to the barn and milking our one Jersey, Mikki. She was so adorable and very old, but she gave 4 gallons of milk a day, minus one bad teet!! The mornings and evenings with her, the smell of the old hundred year barn, the quietness of the open fields beyond, bring a sigh to me right now. I loved those times and the cats loved it too!
The saddest day was when we took Mikki to auction because she was getting so old. I couldn’t stand it! My husband took me back out to the auction yard to try and see her, but she was gone. I always figured she ran away and is out there in a beautiful green field somewhere, at least I like to think she wasn’t made into glue. If you see her let her know that I still love her for all the great milk she fed our family over the years. Bless you!

I love your stantion set up in the picture. I want to do the milk cow thing and have done it a few years back but I run my ranch myself and I bartend so the hours of that are not condusive. Plus if i have to go anywhere there is no one to take my place. Must tell the story a few years ago when I did try the milk cow thing. I answered an ad in the paper for a holstien named Oreo, who had had one calf. the owners had raised her from a calf as a pet and low and behold found that their kids just didn’t want to do all that milking. (surprise). She had never been tied up, just lured around with left over vegetables from the grocery store from where the owner worked. (cute) She was very tame. I bred her to my beef bull. I put a colar on her and when she was ready to calve put her in the barn with nice fresh hay. I watched her calve and even took pictures. that went well and then I new I had to milk that 10 gallon udder by hand or I thought she would soon explode! I tied her to the wall by her collar but she kept kicking at me to I tied her back legs together and that helped. and i spent the next 3 hours trying to get her milked out. It just kept coming and coming. Even though I let the calf (cookie) suck on her all the time too. somehow I preservered and went out to milk her every day twice a day. the milk was wonderful but I was bartending so I Would milk her in the afternoon and then after work at 2 am in the morning. I thought I must be a crazy person. If anyone in the bar knew what a did when i got home at night! After a few weeks my arms started to go knumb in the middle of the day when I wasn’t even milking and plus they were getting very big ungirl like muscles. So I bought a portable milking machine ($1,000). that worked pretty good and saved me from carpel tunnel syndrome, but there is a lot more cleanup of equipment involved. but the milk stayed fresher longer because I could get it cooled faster.
I am very proud of myself for that endeavor and plan to do it again but here is what I learned
1. First of all i like your idea of just milking the back 2 teats and letting the calf milk the others. Brilliant.
2. If you only milk your cow once a day or only milk a certain amount out of her,her milk supply will adjust to that. just do things gradually. Beef cows do that naturally.
3. Its better to use a cow with less milk production and more butterfat, like a jersey or something.
4. Half gallon canning jars are perfect for keeping milk in your fridge. the milk cools faster in the smaller container and you can pour right out of it like a pitcher without spilling.
5. milking by hand is simpler as long as you don’t have a 10 gallon cow.
6. It would be so great to have a house husband who could do all the cooking while i did all the taking care of the animals and gardening. Plus who was a great electrician, plumber and mechanic and had lots of money to buy tractors and equipment and stuff. Lol! We can dream

We all have so much to be thankful for at this time of year and we all need to remember that. I’m so thankful for my family, for having a home, food to eat and the ability to cope with my daily medical problems. Life is good.

Barbara, I agree. Life IS good. xoxo, Libbie

A lovely list of "to be thankfor fors".
I have so many things that I can’t list them all, but never-the-less I know what they are and I am so thankful!
Good on you for all of your wonderfulness.

Thank you so very much! Many hugs and much love, xoxo, Libbie

Happy Thanksgiving, Libbie. I especially thankful for my good health and the wonderful place I have to live, for my husband of over 30 years, my children and their children, for good friends without whom my life would be dull. I’m thankful for my sister and her children and their children. Mostly I’m thankful for my Heavenly Father and His Son.

God Bless you and yours.

Esther, thank you for sharing your "list" with me. Blessings to you, and much love, xoxo, Libbie

Libbie: Beautiful post and thank you for sharing. Truly enjoyed the pictures as well. There are so many small and simple things to be grateful for hiding amongst the crack and crevices of our lives. May we be fortune enough to sit quietly and observe for a moment the many blessings we have to be grateful for. And may we do this frequently. You know it has been shown that a grateful heart creates a happier person. Any one working on a badge? This would be the perfect time to start that gratitude journal. Sending you warm wishes and lots of love. Justine

Justine, after reading your lovely words, I’ve started that gratitude journal with my long list. And I’m keeping it going – for the Sisterhood badge AND for myself. Sending those warm wishes and love right back at ya’! xoxo, Libbie 

Loved your post Libbie! I sure miss you!
Evelyn sure turned out pretty. Doesn’t really look much like Mona at all..isn’t that weird..but they are both such pretty cows. We are lucky farmgirls!
Your boys are growing up so much!
You have a great week.
Love, Jenny

Oh, Jenny – I sure miss you too. How can it be that we live so close and still see each other so very little? We’ll have to change that, huh? It’s way interesting that Evie and Mona look so different – and you’re right – they’re both just darling!!! Much love, xoxo, Libbie