Why we pasteurize ,,,

The cows came home after the state fair.

We brought the kids' Guernseys home because the farm where they were staying ran out of room.

So we got a used, vintage, one-cow De Laval bucket milker and are starting to milk again.

The girls, Peaches and Zola, produce "golden Guernsey" milk with a lot of cream. We are feeding a bucket calf, the cats, the dog, the chickens and us of course.

Years ago when we milked a whole herd, we got a home pasteurizer and used for all of our milk in the house. We had milk for the table and I also tried making fresh mozzarella cheese. Our vet recommended pasteurizing because we were milking in a herd situation.

It sometimes happened that one of the cows would kick her milker off and it would land on the floor. Before we could get to it, it would keep vacuuming up whatever: Grit, dust bunnies, cow hair, chaff, and worse. There was a filter at the end of the line before the milk went into the bulk tank, but still ... um, yeah  ... not appetizing.

Now that we are milking just two, why aren't we drinking raw milk? People always say, "Our parents and grandparents did. And they never got sick." Or so people will tell you. Actually, parents and grandparents did get sick. My grandma mentioned "summer complaint" that sounded an awful lot like food poisoning. They just might not have been able to track it back to raw milk.

Well ... even though I am all for individual freedom and responsibility ... I feel like I've done my due diligence.

Back in the day, some of the superbugs out there did not exist like they do in present-day cattle. One in particular, E. Coli H157 (or something like that) developed fairly recently and is now wide-spread in US cattle herds. Maybe even ours.

In addition to E. Coli, cattle can carry a wide assortment of other germs that unfortunately can make us pretty sick.

That's a lottery that we do  not want to win, so we're not buying a ticket. Instead we pasteurize all our milk and go from there.

Planting time

Soybeans are done.

Corn is next up. Year before last we got a newer, bigger corn planter so it takes less time. Also, DH and DS1 disked everything as smoothly as possible so Grandpa won't get jolted so much if he plants.

Now I wish I had taken a picture of all three of them in the same field, because Grandpa has not been able to do as much.

Maybe I can catch all three of them together when we make hay later.

A reluctant reader ...

As you might guess, my Dear Husband (DH) is a pretty busy guy. Right now he and our oldest son -- the baritone player -- are on tractors plowing and disking the fields. We hope to plant corn soon. This week they have plowed and disked at fields on three different farms. The beef cows have started calving. There were plow points to replace, tractor tires to repair, crop prices and weather forecasts to monitor.

So I was surprised last week when he picked up a copy of my book. He sat down with it and started reading.

He kept reading.

When he came in at night, he picked the book up and kept reading.

When he was done he pronounced it good and wondered what would happen with the family in the story. Then he started to read the other stories. He is not a historical romance reader at all. Mostly he reads the Bible and the newspaper and a couple of farm magazines.

For him choose to read our book and enjoy it was a touching complement.

Since my book is coming out ....

...well, actually, my novella is included in a four-in-one collection, one of Barbour Publishing's "Romancing America" books.

The working title is "The Quakers of New Garden." At this point it's scheduled to come out in April.

My story takes place at the Levi Coffin House historic site in Fountain City (Newport) Indiana, part of the Wayne County Quaker settlement that served as a hub of the Underground Railroad. I set the story in 1840 and wondered what would happen if an injured slave hunter recovered at the Coffins' house, especially if he challenged the beliefs of the Quakers around him.

For that reason I've decided to change the direction of my blog and add more about Indiana history, not just the farm.

To research my story, "New Garden's Crossroad," I visited the Levi Coffin House in Fountain City, the Friends Collection archive at Earlham College, and the National Underground Railroad Museum in Cincinnati.

Over the weekend I hope to write more about these sites, and include pictures.

AWOL

I went AWOL from my blog for a year because I started working at a local factory. My BIL said to look at it as a mission field. Wow, I don't know where to start.

I'm going to call it a blessing in disguise. Although I was ready to quit after the first 15 minutes, I stayed because the benefits included affordable health insurance. (I wonder if it might be cheaper to pay as we go, but, at our age, our health could blow at any seam. I digress.)

In the mean time, DD started 4-H saddle club with a borrowed horse. One thing led to another and we ended up with a horse and pony. But, anyone can ride either one of them, which is a major blessing.

On Black Friday at a farm auction we bought the kind of newer, larger corn planter DH has been eyeing for two years. We drove it home through holiday shopping traffic, which was a trip.

DS1 started playing baritone in band.

DS2 is getting bigger all the time and becoming a better reader.

Crop prices and weather are always something to watch.

Wild weather ...

We were on the warm side of a weather front that brought blizzard conditions to the lake-effect areas of Michigan. So we only got an inch or two of snow but winds were howling.

At the restaurant I took trash out before closing up. The gusts roared through the tree tops and sounded like a freight train.

My in-laws noticed the big wooden doors on the bank barn flailing in the winds -- some gusts over 50 miles an hour -- and Grandpa backed one of the tractors up there to pin them down. He must have had a terrible time trying to walk against the wind.

They cautioned me about the doors while I was at the end of the lane with the truck, waiting to pick up the kids.

But, guess what ... someone pulled in and needed hay for their horses.

DS1 went up in the hay loft and threw bales down into the calf pens' alley way and we carried them out through the old milking parlor. But at least we got it done.

I was only out for a few minutes at time with the hay and doing chicken chores but my face is windburned and hands are chapped.

Winter is here. Happens every year about the same time but we are still taken aback by the first spell of really bad weather.

A family tradition continues ...

"Leaves three, leave it be. Berries red, never dread."

We found out the hard way that DS1 is sensitive to poison ivy. While helping Grandpa clear some brush they handled some vine-wrapped limbs and branches. The vines were not Virginia creeper as they had hoped.

I haven't seen someone blow up with poison ivy that bad since I was a kid. Poor guy.

Other than that, the kids had a rip-snortin', hog-rootin' good time at Grandma and Grandpa's, who let them stay up late, eat candy 24-7 and watch crime shows.

Wish I could trade places with the kids sometimes!