Just Another Saturday Night in the Sticks

Yesterday Orrin was working in the cow enclosure, building a winter shelter for them. He purposely left the gate open to see if they would go out and wander around a bit. Turns out, they did. They walked out and happily ate grass that they found around both houses (mostly there are old weeds and trees in their enclosure, so the grass was much more welcome). At one point, Orrin lured the cow back into the pen with some hay, but when the calf didn't follow, she turned right around and left again before Orrin had a chance to shut the gate. A little while later, the calf decided to make a break for it, and started trucking down the driveway. The cow wasn't going to be anywhere the calf wasn't, so she quickly went in pursuit.

At this point it was about 5pm, and Orrin ran into the house to tell me they were heading down the driveway. He grabbed a flashlight and a handful of hay and ran after them. Oliver and I jumped in the car and took chase, hoping we could get around her, and then stop her from going any further. I did get around her, and stopped her from heading down the part of our road that is more populated, but she headed the other way, down a rough one-lane track only usable by ATV's in that section. There was only forest in that direction for several miles, before one would reach the next community. Oliver and I sat in the car for about an hour blocking the main road, as the sun set and visibility went to nil. I kept the headlights on low, and kept hoping to see the cows heading back towards me (at which point my plan was to start honking to get them to re-direct back down the driveway instead of try to get past me). Unfortunately, the plan never happened. I called Zane around 5:30 and let him know what was going on, then called him back around 6 when there was still no sign of Orrin. I didn't really care about the cows by now, I just wanted to know that Orrin wasn't lost or hurt in the dark woods.

Shortly after 6pm, I decided to head back to the house to get a bunch of warm clothes, as Zane was heading over, and we thought we'd walk down the old track to go see if we could find Orrin. I had just finished throwing clothes in the car, and started driving back down the driveway when I saw the flashlight heading my way. Orrin had made it back in one piece, but without the cows. He and the cows had headed through a swampy area and were almost to Farmville when darkness came, at which point the cows decided to stop running.

Once Zane and Dave (Z & O's dad) showed up, we all drove around to the south side of Back Cornwall Rd, and Zane and Orrin headed out into the woods and down the road (back in the direction of our house) to find the cows. Orrin hoped that they would have stayed put for the night, but unfortunately that was not the case. Between the darkness and the steady snow falling, they were unable to find them.

We had a fitful night of sleep, wondering where they had ended up, and hoping that they would not be accidentally shot by a hunter mistaking them for a deer. In our area we have seen quite a few hunters this month, and thought that could be a possibility.

Orrin headed out around 6:30 am this morning to drive back to the last place he had seen them. Oliver and I woke up a little before 8 am and I tried to reach him on the cell but there was no answer. Around 9 am, a man dressed in hunter's clothes drove up in his ATV and asked if we were the folks missing a couple cows. I confirmed that we were, and he said he had just seen them on the south side of the swamp, on Back Cornwall Rd. After thanking him for the information, I walked back into the house to hear Orrin leaving a message on the machine. I managed to grab the phone before he'd hung up, and asked if he'd seen them. He hadn't, so was happy to hear the update.

He called back a little while later, having located them, and was trying to lure them with hay back up the road towards home. At the swamp, she decided she didn't feel like going that way right then, and turned back towards Farmville! I called Zane again, and he and Elva came over. Elva stayed with Oliver, while I grabbed some apples, carrots and more hay, and Zane and I hopped in the car, planning to get to the end of the driveway, and then walk south, in the direction of Orrin and the cows. Halfway down the driveway, once again there was Orrin, with both cows! I pulled over, parked the car, and grabbed some hay. With Orrin and Zane coaxing them from behind, I somehow ended up leading the way, trying to stay ahead of the cow and giving her hay once in a while to keep her interested, as the calf trailed along beside her.

Shortly thereafter, we had the cows back in their enclosure. Phew! Such a relief. Orrin met several of our neighbors on the other side of the swamp, and they were all as helpful as they could be. The man in particular who came to tell me that he'd seen them was incredibly kind, as without his information who knows how much longer it would have taken Orrin to find them.

The moral of this story: don't trust that a little bit of hay is enough to get a 1000 lb cow (and her calf) back into her enclosure, because if she doesn't want to come, there's no forcing her. Leave them there in the first place!

November on the farm

It is hard to believe over a month has passed since I last wrote here. Nobody appears to be paying us, and yet we are so busy working around the farm. Not to mention the time it takes to look after a little one. Oliver seems to be figuring out some new thing every day, and it is getting harder and harder to keep up with him!

So much has happened in the past month. We finished planting the rest of the garlic, for one thing. Then the greenhouse parts finally arrived a few weeks ago, and within a few days we had the frame up, with the help of Zane and a friend, Jake. We've continued to tighten things up, attach the various pieces to the frame that will hold the plastic, and build the endwalls. We hope to gather some folks together on Monday morning for a couple hours to get the plastic on (we've been told "the more people the better!").

We built an A-frame shelter for the pigs, out of wood from an old deer blind that we found on the property, and we plan to build a shelter for the cows soon, as well.

We've also acquired 3 pigs and 2 cows in the last couple of weeks. We got both types of animals from two different farmers locally, who sell at the weekly farmer's market. The pigs were about 10 weeks old when we got them, two boys and a girl, and are a heritage breed called Berkshire. The cows are a mama and bull calf, and the mama is pregnant with next year's calf. We plan to keep the mama cow to breed, as well as the gilt (female pig), but the other's will be food at some point, so we won't be naming them. We think we'll name the cow, but haven't come up with one yet.

I've had some interesting emotions associated with getting these animals. I was immediately intimidated by how big the cow is (Orrin thinks she's about 1000 lbs), but in the week that we have had her I have seen how docile she is, and am not as scared of her as I was at first. Also, the only thing keeping her in her fenced area is a thin line of electric wiring. Fortunately, she's respecting the wire and has stayed put (the calf has gone under the wiring and gotten out a couple of times, but goes back to his mama at the end of the day, so we're not worried about him being out as long as she's inside). The cow has also cried a fair bit this week, we think because she misses having other cows around, and she cried a lot when the calf got out of the fence and she couldn't go with him. I felt bad for making her sad! It hadn't occurred to me that she would have emotions too, and be lonely. With the pigs, I have found them to be very cute, so I'm hoping they lose their luster as they get bigger, since we are going to be eating them. I think the idea of eating these animals is a bit of a challenge for me, but I like meat, so I will need to come to terms with it.

It is really starting to feel like a farm, now that we can look out the window of the house and see the animals up on the hill.

We are also starting to think about getting to work on completing the other house. Orrin has been finding some great deals on windows, doors, sinks, a wood stove, etc. through Kijiji, so we are gathering the pieces we will need. Once the greenhouse and cow shelter are complete, we will be more focused on getting windows set and siding on, to start.

We want to name the farm at some point, but inspiration hasn't come yet. We may not feel ready to name it until next year, after we've been here for a while.