I am writing this blog while sitting in the 5th wheel we are currently living in on the South Farm. This farm is about 30 miles NE of Glasgow, MT. Because we don’t have a place to live yet, Odin had been looking for a 5th wheel trailer to buy to at least get us through harvest. He found this one, for a good price in Billings with a 5th wheel hitch in the deal as well! We had also been keeping an eye out for a 4 wheeler, so that chasing cows and running back and forth between the trailer and the fields would be easier! God provided at just the right time, and we found one in Great Falls that had minimal miles and the guy who had it kept it in pristine condition. This was all within a few days after the wedding and before we had to start harvest! Boy, the 4 wheeler has come in handy! Rio even does well with it, so it makes running him and Luna down to the pasture, which is about ½ mile from the yard, much easier.
We are in the middle of harvest right now and have only had 1 set back so far. Odin combined about 100 acres and then the next field of wheat had too much moisture, so we had to wait a couple days. This has been a great crop so far. Odin’s uncle’s dad, told Odin that this is a “once in a lifetime” kind of crop! We are very grateful! The weekend of our wedding, there was a big hail and wind storm that went through this area and crops only 1 mile away were flattened and destroyed. The only damage we had was that the heads of the wheat were bent over, making it hard to pick up. The combine Odin is using is about 30 years old and doesn’t have some kind of rake-type attachment that helps to pick up the wheat off of the ground that newer combines have. It makes harvesting the wheat REALLY slow. Odin has to have the header about 3-4 inches off of the ground and can only go about 1.5-2.3 mph, so that he doesn’t pick up rocks. Odin’s uncle from the North Farm, finished harvesting his Canola crop, so he brought that combine down and so now with 2 combines, it is going a bit faster.
Even as slow as this harvest is going, Odin says we’ll have a week or two after finishing harvest here before we have to harvest the wheat at the North Farm. I guess the plan during that time, is to help Ryan Wall (Odin’s friend that he runs cows with) to pick up the 5,200 round bales that they baled on his farm and on the leased land Odin and he has. That many round bales should get us through 3 years!
While we waited for the wheat to dry a little, we drove north and checked on the cows. The land that Odin leases for pasture, are spread all over the place. Some of it is between Ryan’s farm and Scobey and other pasture is north of Scobey. But, without those leases, it would make having cows more difficult. Most of the cows were good, but in the one pasture, which is at the North Farm, the number of cows tripled! It turned out that the neighbor put his cows in his CRP and they decided that they didn’t like it there and wanted to be with our cows! Goofy, critters. Anyways, I guess the guy is in Seattle or something right now, so Odin opened the gate into the CRP so that our water supply wouldn’t take such a hit. Odin says that there is no way we are gonna get them separated without some corrals, so I guess that will have to wait until this fall, when the cows get trailered back to Ryan’s yard for the winter. The cows in another pasture were good, but the neighbor’s red angus bull was in the pasture with ours again. Odin has chased him out several times now, but the bugger just keeps coming back. Odin was wondering what kind of “open cow” numbers that guy was expecting this year. I hope it was a lot, because with the time that his bull has been in our pasture, our cows have probably been “covered” twice, but I don’t know about his!
Rio and Luna are sure enjoying the farm! I turned them out in the pasture here at the South Farm and they were pretty thrilled having 580 acres to frolic on! Of course, it took Luna less than 2 days to have a run-in with the barbed wire fence. I went out yesterday morning to go riding and saw that the fence was down for about 50 feet. I thought it must have been the cows that knocked down that much, so, I rode the 4 wheeler down the fence line a ways, until I saw Rio and Luna and they looked alright. So, I ran back to the yard and got some fencing supplies and went to fix the fence. I’ve been working on getting Rio to come whenever I call, which works really well if you bring grain to give him when he shows up), and this little skill paid off! While I was fixing the fence I’d whistle and call him and sure enough here he came, but Luna was on the wrong side of the fence. I don’t know how something that small, (well I guess she is not that small anymore, but not the size of a cow) could have taken down that much fence, no matter how bad off the fence was. Anyways, I got her to the right side and she had cut herself pretty good on her one leg and had superficial cuts on her chest and one side of her rib cage. Now, they are closer to the house in a little area I fenced off with hot wire, so I can keep an eye on her leg. Hopefully she learned a lesson to appreciate the fence and I can turn them back out in the pasture. She needs to learn one way or another, I just wish she’d have learned it without having to cut herself. Rio sure has a healthy fear of the fence. He sees the wire gate move when I take it down to let them out and he definitely keeps an eye on it until it is back up. I’m wondering if her lack of fear for objects could be partly because she is so fearless, because of being a bottle baby? Half of the stuff, Rio will look twice at, she couldn’t care less about. Who knows?
Calli thinks she is in heaven out here on the farm. I’ve never seen her so tired and dream so much! She gets sooo excited about riding in the combine with Odin and loves to go for rides with me. When she gets tired of running, which actually happens now, she’s ready to ride on the back of the 4 wheeler when I have it with me. Most recently, she has decided the place to ride on the 4 wheeler is on my lap, which is sometimes challenging. When Odin and I are on it together, she insists upon riding between us. She is such a character. The cows sure are curious about her. I guess they haven’t been around many dogs, so they must think she is a coyote. They are starting to relax around her and hopefully they can eventually tolerate each other’s presence.
My role in harvesting has been cook and “go-fer”. Thanks to the generosity of our friends and family, I was able to purchase a Kitchen Aid mixer. I’ve had my eye on one for a long time! It is wonderful. I was even able to get a few attachments, like the ice cream maker and the shredder/slicer attachment! They both work really well. Living in a trailer has definitely refined my housekeeping skills, because there isn’t much room to just “leave the dishes until tomorrow”. Hopefully these new habits will carry over to a house, when we get one! :o) It’s been kind of tough to keep up with the appetites of these farmers! They finished one of my apple pies off in 2 meals and there are very few left-overs. I helped a little, I suppose. I’m not working right now, so I am enjoying trying out new recipes and baking. My mom, gave me this cookbook/photo book called “The Pioneer Woman Cooks”. It was put together by this lady, who lived in the city, but married a rancher in the middle of nowhere. Nebraska, I think. I guess my mom thought there might be some similarities between this lady and me! I tried one of her recipes (she does not spare on the calories in many of them, but that makes them extra good) and I thought I’d share it with you. Odin can be a “hard sell” when it comes to meals, but he really liked it and even rated it 4 out of 5 stars (it’s the only way I can get a somewhat concrete measurement of how much he likes a meal and it is something that Mommy used to do and mark down in her cookbooks)! So, here it is. It is pretty easy to put together and doesn’t take too long.
Comfort Meatballs (Makes 6-8 servings)
Meatballs
1 ½ pounds ground beef
¾ cup quick oats
1 cup milk
3 Tbsp very finely minced onion
1 ½ tsp salt
Plenty of ground black pepper
4 Tbsp canola oil
½ c. flour
Sauce
1 cup ketchup
2 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp distilled white vinegar
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
4 to 6 Tbsp minced onion
Dash of Tabasco
In a bowl, combine the ground beef and oats. Pour in the milk, then add the diced onion and salt. Add the black pepper, then stir to combine. Roll the mixture into tablespoon-sized balls and refrigerate them for 30-45 minutes to firm. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat the canola oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Dredge the meatballs in the flour. Brown the meatballs in batches until light brown. As they brown, place them into a rectangular baking dish (9x13). Stir together the sauce ingredients and drizzle the sauce evenly on the meatballs. Bake for about 45 minutes or until bubbly and hot. Serve!
Well, until next time!
