Raft Excursion~4th Of July Weekend!

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Callens Honey Farm

Independence Day conjures up all kinds of thoughts and memories to many of us, for me mostly of fun.  It’s a day that causes us to reflect upon the fact that we enjoy many of our freedoms because of the selfless actions of others.  While I realize that we are losing some of our freedom, we still don’t have it too bad in the USA. 

After a very long week with plenty of farm work, the kids were looking for some fun on Sunday (yes we do have fun on our farm) and since we can’t afford a boat , let  alone a pontoon, the boys decided to build a raft.   They wanted to build one strong enough to go down the Yellow Medicine River, but needed to test it out first on our local slough.  After a bit of work and planning, around an hour or so, we were loaded up and ready for the test run.  Would this funny looking raft hold us and if so, how many  of us at one time?  It did float and held 8 people and 1 dog, but could have had a few more riders.  Several of us passed up the opportunity using the excuse that the babies needed watching.

 The raft Luke and Peter built, or more correctly threw together, utilized 50 gallon plastic barrels, old wood planks from an old building, straps and screws.  It worked pretty well and the only mishap was when they lost a barrel briefly which was quickly fixed by Luke and Peter jumping overboard, much to the delight of the leaches, to re-attach the barrel. 

 Most of the fun happened on the 3rd of July because for Fred the 4th was a work day since he’s unable to be home all of the time.  We cooked out and played volleyball on Sunday.  We worked with the livestock most of the morning of the 4th, then we had a picnic lunch and later butchered a huge hog.  After that, we watched the fireworks from several of the area towns, visible from our yard, not so hard to do since we live on the plains which are very flat.  You can see for miles out here.  Caleb and Peter set off our own fireworks display while we sat around the campfire.  Everyone was rejuvenated for this weeks work which has been extensive and you can see by the timing of this post, started earlier this week, how Friday is almost here! 

 

 I’ll be posting, when I get a chance, the procedure/photos  that we used to butcher the hog for those of you who have never seen a hog processed and might like to try it.  I also hope to post soon the table tops  on my pizza oven that were completed last week.  Perhaps it will rain, but in the mean time, there are gardens to weed, lawns to mow, lambs to be wormed, fences to be moved, basil and zucchini to be harvested, hops to be weeded again, dishes to be done, laundry to be hung, folded and put away, meals to be planned and prepared…….sounds like life to me:)  Life may not be easy but it is very good, praise God for that! 

For those of you who may not know, if you hold your computer mouse on any of my photos it will give a small explanation of the photo.

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~First Honey Super Added~

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Callens Honey Farm

Yesterday we went to check the hives and add a third hive box to three of the 8 frame Minnesota Hygienic hives.  The bees were very busy bringing in their loads of pollen and nectar after having been put behind a bit because of all the rain and unseasonably cold weather we’ve recently received here in Minnesota.  I wore a suit and was thrilled at the close up view I experienced.  Beekeeping continues to thrill and amaze me, especially when the kids describe to me exactly what the bees are doing at any given time.  What an appreciation I have for the bees, their hard work and the honey they give.  By the time we made it home, I had a camera full of bee photos, only a few of which I will share here.

Having the hives placed in a partially shaded area helps to keep the hives from getting too warm.   When the air in a hive gets to be above 93 degrees (that’s approximately the normal temperature in a hive) the worker bees must fan their wings by the entrance to pull air into the hive and cool it.  The less time the bees spend fanning, the more time for collecting nectar and pollen; hopefully things will progress faster.

Later in the evening, after work, Fred went and put a queen excluder and honey super on hive #7, a ten framer. It was the only hive ready for one just yet, but by the end of this week or the beginning of next week some of the others should be ready for a super as well.  Eventually we’d like to have all the honey bees in the standard size of ten frame hive boxes. 

On the way home we stopped to see this cocky ring-necked rooster pheasant (below) walking in the grass.  The entire farm where we have some of our bees is full of pheasants, ducks, geese and deer.  There are also a good variety of fruit trees growing wild such as plums, cherries and elderberries. 

The now abandoned old homestead of Fred’s grandfather always looks so beautiful and we love to drive the redneck rig over to check on the bees.  Somehow it helps to make us feel connected to the days gone by and to the people who used to occupy the lovely farm, now home to loads of wildlife, and now honey bees.  Fred always stops to describe something of how it used to be when he was very young, to our children.  There are still to be found, scattered throughout the old grove, some old honey jars that Fred’s grandmother used to fill with her own honey.  Below is the old barn that we pass on the way up the very long driveway heading to the area in which the bees are located.   I think it’s lovely!

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~A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words~

Posted on June 26, 2011 by Callens Honey Farm

Another busy week has flown by very quickly.  The following photos were taken at some time this week by either myself or one of the children.  As I looked the photos over, I  was thinking how lucky I, formerly a city girl, am to have married my husband Fred, a farmer.  Twenty-six years of marriage, 9 kids, two grand babies, with two more on the way, two new sons through marriage and living on a farm, what more could I ask for?  Life is good, hope you enjoy the pictures just as if you had been here with us.  We worked this week and enjoyed Sunday Mass followed by some fun and family.

 

 

 

 

 

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Barn Dance 2011~ The making of a dance!

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Callens Honey Farm

Some call it the social event of the year, but for us it is a gift to our friends and neighbors.  Getting ready for the barn dance takes a lot of time and planning.  A week before the dance we had a huge mess of straw, hay, dust, dirt, farm equipment, cement mixers, generator, lumber, rafters, wool, coal and even a setting turkey hen to deal with.  We started to clean last Sunday and pretty much worked on cleaning the quonset out all week in between regular farm and home work.  We also had to move and wall paper the outhouse, hang the hand sanitizer, candles, mirror and toilet paper. 

I never did get a before photo of all the hay bales that had to be moved out first, but the entire front end was full. After the building was empty, Fred came through and swept the cement floor with a large square bale of alfalfa.  It worked pretty slick.  The strong South winds helped to blow out some of the dust as well.

After the first sweeping we started building up the straw and hay bale bleachers.  This also created plenty of dust. 

Next we set up the stage, swept and started vacuuming which was done three times  because the dust kept settling.  We also had to rewire a new light on the roof, which is a job none of us wanted to do.  Gravel was hauled in front of the barn so that there would not be any mud tracked in.  Then the tables were set up and the lights and decorations hung.   We also scatter pine shavings all over the floor just before the dance to make it smell good and help make the dancing easier on the cement.

 

Friday night came and went by very quickly.   Chores were done a bit early.  The following are some photos of the fun had by all.  One unique thing about this event is that there is such a wide range of ages all having a good time together.  Fathers are seen dancing with daughters, brothers with sisters, and mothers with their sons.

 

 

 

God held back the rain and severe weather that was all around us.  I think there was a tornado warning in our county as well.  Thanks to all the folks who came and made the dance so much fun.   To those of you who could not make it, we missed you and hope to see you next year.

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Fishing, Lambs and Bees…..

Posted on June 9, 2011 by Callens Honey Farm

The days are flying by quickly and we have experienced some very hot and humid weather.  For those who do not live out here in Minnesota, you may not know what it feels like to get battered with hot winds.  It’s like having a hair dryer, on high setting, on your entire body all day. 

Clayton took the kids fishing on Sunday evening and they came home with three nice Catfish.  I fried them up for breakfast in our own butter.  They tasted wonderful and rivaled any fish filet you can buy in a restaurant.  They all had a wonderful time.  I stayed home to watch our grandchildren  so that Jessi and Luke could go on a dinner date. 

On Monday, the Twins, Francesca and I headed for Watertown, SD to haul lambs to the sale barn.  It was 101 degrees but we were pretty spoiled having borrowed Clayton’s truck which has air conditioning! 

The sale barn had an unusual amount of feeder lambs, cull ewes and fat lambs.  We were the last ones to arrive with our load and I made Frenchy back up the trailer.  She  hasn’t lost her touch and I was thankful.  We ended up getting a better price than we had been quoted and the buyer treated us well.  The lambs averaged 56 pounds and there were 10 of them @ $2.60 per pound.  The 3 first time ewes he let us put in as fats with another one that did not breed this year and they brought $1.50 per pound.  Then the older cull ewes that the kids picked out for various reasons (bad mother, too old, bad teeth, fence jumper etc.) as ones that we no longer wanted, brought in 46 cents per pound.   Marisa phoned Fred to ask him how much he thought we received and he guessed wrong several times, but needless to say he was very pleased with our totals!

On the way home we stopped at a couple of stores and ended with a stop at Menards where Frenchy purchased a pretty big pool for all of us to enjoy; this was Peters’ idea having swam in our baby pool on Sunday.  It took all day yesterday to fill the pool, having had to turn the water on and off around watering horses and other livestock.  Now the kids can have another fun thing to look forward to at the end of the day.         

Yesterday, we loaded up the Redneck rig and went around to our bee hives and weed whacked, trimmed a few young trees, removed the last of the syrup feeders and hauled fresh water.  Marisa was brave and decided not to wear her suit because of the heat.  We ran out of twine in the weed whip and so after Fred arrived  home from work last night they went back to finish the job and bring one last pail of fresh water.  There was plenty of bee activity which was very pleasing.

Today I spent most of my time weeding the gardens with my youngest three kids and making mozzarella cheese.  It amazes me how much they talk during those weeding sessions and how much I learn about them as indivduals.  Not that I don’t spend time with them every day, but when we are out there working for an extended period of time, there’s really nothing else to do but visit.  I wouldn’t change those precious talks for anything.  The soil is unusually dry and very crusty due to so much rain earlier and then very quick hot dry weather.

The older kids were busy moving and building fence again for the sheep and milk cows and Maggie had the job of setting up more electric fence to rotate the horses to the other side of the farm.  At one point, Clayton pulled up to the garden on horseback to direct Caleb towards a waterer that was overflowing, patiently explaining to him how it should be accomplished, even as I was wondering how in the world my younger son would be able to do it.  It’s nice to have older kids around to help guide the youth and encourage them in learning new skills.

Now at the end of the day the girls are watering their flower gardens and the guys are all out weeding the hops and the kitchen now clean once again still smells of home made pizza baked earlier in the evening.  The weather was cool today and is supposed to go down to 47 degrees over night and be in the upper 60’s tomorrow.  Talk about a shock to the system.  The kids all took a swim today and are still shivering hours later!

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Callens Farm~Early June

Posted on June 3, 2011 by Callens Honey Farm

June is usually great for growing an excellent crop of weeds.  The favorable weather helped to bring the weeds to the surface and now we are trying to stay on top of them.  It’s not very easy though with the rest of the chores that need to be done as a priority over weeding.  I am comforted knowing the value of the children learning how to work hard early in life, praying that it will help build them into the good souls we want them to be. 

So far this week we weed whipped the garden edges, weeded strawberries, fixed a broken gate, cleaned and hauled manure from the steer pens, weaned 8 calves and 19 piglets, culled 9 ewes, purchased 2 new Hampshire sheep bucks, (cost $600)weaned and weighed 23 more lambs, (choosing and marking the heaviest for sale next week bringing in $2.45 per pound) transplanted 50 raspberry plants to the secret garden, hauled a tank of water down there and crawled over fences to hand water all of the transplants.  Then we moved a heifer in with the milk cows, burned the Gypsy Moth nests in our fruit trees, fixed and hung new electric fencing, strung electric fence in the road ditches for the horses to graze, weeded the flower beds, weeded the hops again, had one cow bred artificially for $40, up $10 from 3 months prior.  Somehow, we even managed to eat well, do a bunch of laundry, babysit the grandbabies a few times, help Jessica and keep the house somewhat tidy!  Unfortunately, I am stuck with more of the dishes lately, spring work throwing the dish washing schedule off quite a bit!

Yesterday, while watering the raspberries on the far end of our farm, Rowdy started going crazy and his focus seemed to be somewhere in the hood of an old school bus.  Bravely, Maggie crawled up on top of the hood and struggled to open the very heavy hood and managed to do so after several tries.  I held my breath in anticipation. Well, would you believe there was something hidden in that hood, only I could not identify it.  She slammed the hood down in record time and flew to the ground!  Thank goodness for cell phones, I called Clayton (because Fred was at work) who was riding one of his customers horses and told him to bring a gun, which he did, but it seemed to take forever.  The hairy critter turned out to be a racoon, the very same coon we believe had been eating our duck eggs.   That wasted some of our precious time,  but we were all glad to get the culprit. 

Just before that bit of excitement, beloved Rowdy, who is really Francesca’s dog that she left behind, was called into the butcher shop to get a garter snake that had slithered in to cool itself.  Yuck, snakes and I don’t get along very well and Rowdy keeps the population under control, which is rare for dogs, who don’t really like the taste nor texture of snakes.  Who says it is boring on a farm?

Soon we will be checking on the bees but have left them alone for now to build comb in the upper hive boxes.  There appears to be plenty of activity and as always, they and the sweet honey we hope they produce in abundance, are in God’s hands!  One thing for certain about bees is that they are constantly educating us and we never seem to stop learning new lessons from them.  There is a lot more to beekeeping than meets the eye.  A good portion of it involves steady observation!  Even then, we are at the mercy of so many obstacles, yet hope our efforts in the end, will be fruitful.

Now as I type, the girls have drawn up a new and revised “to do” list which is hanging on the refrigerator door.  It looks long, but we will see how much we can accomplish this coming week.  We are all looking forward to tomorrow, Sunday, a day of rest and for some of the kids, fishing!

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Balancing Fun and Farm Work!

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Callens Honey Farm

Part of being livestock farmers, a very large part, is that you are pretty much obligated through necessity to be here all of the time.  After all, there is livestock that count on us, pretty much like infants need their mothers.  It is a committment that we take seriously.  It took this city girl years to figure it all out, but not for my kids.  They were born into this lifestyle and know that they are totally committed and all fun has to be worked out around the farm schedule.  It just takes a bit more planning.

While that may seem hard to some, it is what makes things go more smoothly, keeping us on track.  We all know what is expected and we have learned to work around chores to fit in some rest and relaxation time as well.  It’s the kind of action that builds character and helps make a person responsible, hopefully carrying that off with them when they go out and tackle the world.  It’s a choice of duty first, pleasure later, which is a valuable lesson to be used in any persons life.

Well, since this was a holiday weekend, the kids thought it would be fun to camp out.  Not here on our farm, which has been done plenty, out of necessity, but down  at a lovely farm with a gorgeous pasture 5 miles South.  It is a place that, over the years, I would take the kids  to do creative writing sessions on the sandy beach.  The beauty of the river and sandy beach seemed to bring out the creativity in the children.  This is the spot they chose for fishing and camping.

 This location was convenient for a few reasons.  The main one being that the kids could still come home to do chores and then go back for more fun.  Camp was set up on Sunday after Mass.  Frenchy has a huge new tent and everyone fit in there perfectly.  I ran 4 of the kids home to do chores and we were back in time for supper.  Fred, Mario and I were not overnight guests for this outing, nor were Jessi, Luke and their babies.   Peter enjoys cooking very much and took over that job.  He introduced us to chili dogs with cheese among a variety of other treats.   He also cooked up the only fish we caught all day, a four pound Catfish!  We played campfire games late into the night and warmed up over coffee and cocoa. 

At 4:35 A.M. I was awakened by hail pounding on my window.  I thought I heard the phone downstairs and ran to see that I had missed a call.  The kids were all bailing out due to very severe weather in the form of lightning, thunder, hail and rain.  They left the truck in the pasture, choosing to get that later in the day, driving home in the 15 passenger van.  Even with the turn of events, they still had a blast.  Some went back to tear down camp while the rest did chores.  The festivities continued at home here in our kitchen with even Luke and Jessi joining us for a second breakfast.   The afternoon  was spent weeding the hops, because after all, it was not a Sunday.  Not too bad of a weekend and all are refreshed and ready for this week and the list of jobs we hope to accomplish.  One of the huge jobs on the list will preparing the quonset for the Barn Dance on June 17.  We hope to see those of you from Minnesota and South Dakota at the dance!

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Thoughts and Accomplishments.

Posted on May 24, 2011 by Callens Honey Farm

 Living on this farm is in a sense like living in a monastery.  It’s not that we are perfectly organized, far from it.  Everyone has his or her position on this farm and is heavily relied upon to complete certain given tasks. When one person is missing or ill, the others find out quickly how much that person accomplished during any given day.  Happiness flows and becomes almost like a gift from Heaven which comes to us from the efforts of our long hours of labor.  There are so many blessings that flow from this kind of life, a life of work, prayer and play. 

Lest it look as though we are always working, do not be fooled.  We make our work fun and play hard whenever we can grab some action.  Even as we tackle difficult, hot and monotonous jobs you most likely will find us harmonizing songs, practicing for the barn dance or playing word games and occasionally engaging in scary storytelling.  There are also deep conversations and the chit-chat of planning what we are going to do for fun when this particular job is completed.  I am always happy when I come upon the kids and find them happily engaged.   Sometimes though, I can hear bickering going on as well, and occasionally some dirt throwing, but not very often as it is not supposed to be allowed. 

After all of the work is completed and the night has come to an end, we end our day pretty much as we have as long as I can remember, with the family rosary.  Our time of thanks and petition, given whether we are tired or not, busy playing or wanting to do anything but sit around, often time with droopy eyes and heads nodding.  But as with anything else in life, we need to be dedicated to our God and our prayer life, which puts us in direct contact with Him,  otherwise all we do becomes meaningless. 

Time flew by rather quickly this week and we accomplished quite a bit.  Once again, the rains have come and given us a break.  At least an outdoor break since many things can be completed within the walls of our home and many out buildings.

On Friday the Asians came and butchered a beef for a wedding which was held on Saturday.  That was interesting to observe methods that to most of us would seem somewhat crude.  Then we weaned 57 young lambs from their very relieved mother ewes.  The farm instantly became a loud concert of bleating, sad lambs mourning this passing on of comforting nourishment.

The sheep that had been grazing our front farm paddock were moved up to Luke and Jessi’s paddock for some fresh grass, giving the other area time to replenish the rich green grass.  Fences had to be moved as well, which was very time-consuming.  Then there were the gilts that we moved into new housing with the very friendly boar.  Just in time, we moved a large sow, who surprisingly is without a name, into a farrowing box stall barn.  Caleb thinks there were around 10 piglets born to her soon after the move.

On one of the days the Twins starting pitching manure out of the barn and that job has to be completed sometime later today.  Completed two days ago, was the project that claimed our old greenhouse as a new chicken house, which now houses our spring chickens born in the incubator in March.  They grew very well.

Then yesterday, Maggie, Peter, Frenchy and Caleb  fixed the horse fencing which is finally in good working condition.  Frenchy is on her way over to put up the horse fence in the road ditch which used to be her job in years past.  Maggie will be helping her.    The horses are also rotational grazed here supplemented with hay.  Silvana mowed the yard and orchard and Fred mowed the hops field in the dark one evening after work,  with the tractor.   Peter weed whipped the hops plant individually as well as the fruit trees and the entire yard after work.  We like it to look neat, like a park, so we feel like we actually went somewhere pretty during cook outs and dinners on the front porch.

Yesterday the Twins and I went to check all the bee hives again and found that we had to add hive boxes and Fred went and put the boxes on last night in the dark.  Everything looked very good and we are all pleased.  We found good brood patterns, honey being made and lots of pollen.  I am always amazed at how the bees operate as a colony and never get bored watching them.  Marisa also weed whipped the tall grass aroung all the hives.  Fred’s cousin has started raising bees this year and came along to observe this activity.  Another friend and her young son started raising bees as well and was calling the girls from the field for bee advice.  It is so exciting to see so many people taking interest in beekeeping.  The more bees the better for everyone. I got the redneck rig stuck in the old farm site that used to belong to Fred’s grandfather.  Some of our bees are kept exactly in the same spot that his grandmother kept her bees so many years ago.  Somehow we were able to get out of there but the ground was wet beneath the fresh road grass.  

Already today the milk cows and some of our young heifers have been put out on pasture.  They’re really enjoying all of that fresh green grass and yellow dandelions.  Looking forward to what the rest of this day will bring.  I know lunch is burritos and the strawberries are being weeded.  The kitchen is clean and ready for the next mess.  Fresh lilacs have been brought in for their very lovely scent and beauty.  Normal chores are finished.  May God bless all of you who are reading this.

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