A quick getaway

After the long and difficult start to 2009 we decided to try a little mini vacation, which we felt was much deserved. Of course, our version of a vacation does not involve much rest! It all started when the place in my heart for a dog that had been vacated by Hank three years ago was finally filled when we decided to get a livestock guardian dog to watch over the chickens. Too many losses to raccoons (and events that resulted from those losses) convinced even Chris that a LGD would be a useful addition to the farm. The dog will warrant a post of his own, but for now just know that the dog I found for us was located near Pratt, KS, a 9 hour drive from home. Never missing an opportunity to turn an errand into an adventure, I felt compelled to see what else was going on in or around SW Kansas and lo and behold I found the annual steam tractor show in Pawnee, OK just a couple of weeks away!

So at the end of April we set out for a "quick" trip to OK and KS, squeezing in two half days of steam engines between three long days of driving. We picked up the dog on the third day and by day four we were home.

The weather was horrible at the steam show but the sight of up to 10 steam tractors all under steam at once, driving around the grounds, was well worth it.

On day 1 we were totally unprepared for the thick mud, rain, and brutal wind. We only lasted about an hour. By day two we were ready for anything! This was Chris' first major outing since his injury and he did amazingly well given the conditions.


This little quarter-scale tractor (I think) was Scotty's favorite. He talks about it all the time to this day.
This Minneapolis engine was Chris' favorite. They had it running at full steam which was quite impressive I must admit.
It was a nice break between a tough winter and a busy farm season. Chris and Scotty are talking about going back next year!

Finally, bedrooms for the kids

When we moved into the house over three years ago there was a lot left unfinished. We did not complete the planned bedrooms for the kids at that time because they were so young that they didn't really need their own rooms and we just wanted to be done and moved in so we said we'd get the rooms done "someday." Well, that someday came this winter after Chris' injury. The kids were ready for some personal space and in the light of Chris' disability we also needed to create an office/spare room where we could potentially put an intern to help us out on the farm.

After the injury we received an outpouring of offers of help as well as some financial gifts from family members too far away to help in person. We took those offers and decided to go ahead with the room construction. The first thing we had to do was clean out the entire West half of the house, otherwise known as the playroom. My mom spent several days down here with me helping to sort through all the mess and put everything in boxes. Here is the "before" photo after clearing stuff out.


Our friend Aaron is a talented carpenter and in just two days he had the majority of the three rooms framed. This was a difficult job because of the earthen-plastered walls and floor which are inevitably NOT square, but Aaron figured out how to deal with it.



After the framing was done, my Mom's friend Paul and his wife came down to spend a day on the project. They even brought a helper and lunch for everyone!

We got much of the rock on that day and I even ventured up into the attic to work on the wiring. It was an enormous boost for us and it was so much appreciated.

The following weekend my brother, his wife, and my niece Aris volunteered several hours to painting.


Here's the view of the rooms from the outside.


The kids enthusiastically helped with the painting. Fortunately the paint was clay based so it washed off the floors easily.


Scotty demonstrates the use of Eliza's little climbing wall on her bunk bed.


More photos of the finished rooms coming soon!

CHRIS WALKED WITHOUT HIS CRUTCHES!!

He made it about 20 paces to the kitchen and back. That's a pretty major accomplishment for someone who hasn't walked in 3 months.

I'm getting ready to upload some photos and get the blog updated. Stay tuned!

Update

Chris began an 8 day hospital stay on Feb 10 and
returned home two days ago. The treatment in the hospital was very
difficult and I felt that he needed someone by his side 24/7 for the
first five days or so because he was so heavily sedated and basically
helpless, but still had moments where he would come out of it a bit and
be unable to find the call button for the nurses (who were generally
wonderful but understaffed). Several of you came to the hospital to
visit or take shifts with him, and I can't thank you enough for that.
It meant so much to him and it was a great comfort to me knowing that
you were there while I was dealing with my other responsibilities, not
the least of which was spending time with the kids, who are
understandably a little freaked out by all this. Many of you also took
the kids for certain periods during the hospital stay so that I could be
with Chris, and that was just as valuable to us. Many, many thanks.

We had hoped to see great improvement after the treatment but it appears
that at best we have only slowed down the progression of the disease
(CRPS II). This does not mean that he won't improve over the coming
weeks and months, but it has been a disappointment for us that the pain
has not subsided much. He is currently on an intense cocktail of
medications designed to reduce pain, inflammation, anxiety, muscle
cramping, etc. These are serious meds that currently leave him somewhat
"altered" and give him trouble with memory, motor function, and so on.
Basically he is pretty loopy. Between the pain and the meds he is
unable to care for the kids on his own at this point, so I am in need of
backup kid care on occasion.

He has had good moments and bad moments since coming home. He is trying
very hard to remain optimistic, but he slides back every so often,
especially at night. We both slept well last night though, which has
helped us to start this morning with some energy and hope. We are
waiting for the medication regime to settle in with his body and we
expect that he will get more used to it and that it will become more
effective. We are pursuing physical therapy and other healing
modalities that we hope will help him. And of course we are counting on
the "tincture of time" to be a great source of healing. In the short
term, we are developing coping strategies for each of us that are
designed to minimize stress, which exacerbates his pain.

So that's where we stand today. As for the farm, we are going to take a
look at our plans for this season and we will obviously have to
streamline our activities. But the reality is that the farm must be a
source of income for us this year and the show must go on! The season
is beginning now and there are even some things to start planting over
the next few weeks.

One thing we are going to do right away is build the bedrooms on the
West side of the house. The kids are past being ready for their own
rooms, and we have decided to build a third room that will provide
housing for a live-in farm intern. This week my mom and I are working
on clearing out all the toys and clutter from that side of the house so
that we can begin construction ASAP.

Struggling

Ah, it's sure been a while. I was alerted to this fact by my dear friend Crystal, who has my blog listed in her sidebar along with how long it's been since I've posted here. Yikes. 5 weeks.

So I uploaded the photos from my camera, which dated from just before Christmas, so I could do a few blog posts. Problem is, I can't do it yet. There are photos from New Year's Day where we blew the steam whistle in our annual tradition for good luck, but those are too hard for me to look at right now because things took a turn for us just a week later.

Here is the last photo that I took "before."


It was a delicious dinner that I made especially for Chris from our own chicken and potatoes. Yummy hot wings. We had a great night that night--we felt so hopeful and optimistic for this year because Chris was finally going to leave his stressful job and we were going to become full time farmers.

Unfortunately, two days later he was injured in a farm accident. He should have healed within a week or two--or at least been able to move around and so on--but the injury has caused a horrible side effect called CRPS, or Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, also known as causalgia. It's a nasty nerve disease where he suffers from unbearable pain in his foot and lower leg (the injury was to his upper leg) because of nerve damage. Look it up--it really sucks. It's now over a month later and he has been severely disabled ever since then. It is getting worse every day.

Tuesday he goes into the hospital for several days for an aggressive treatment designed to stop or slow down the progression of the disease. All we can do is hope that it helps at least enough to let him walk without crutches.

I really want to get back into posting here soon. We have actually been getting a few things done, even so far as installing the greenhouse film! We are not letting this stop us, but I must admit that life is definitely challenging at the moment. Hopefully we'll see some improvement in his pain and mobility by this time next week and I'll be able to catch up with the blog.

For now, please send healing thoughts our way, or pray if you are so inclined. We are strengthened by everyone's support, even from far away!

Catch-up time!

****Scotty has a new (to him) train set but requires supervision and help with it. We are out in the shop with the trains and I'm going to use this time to try to recap the last six weeks here in one post.****

First and foremost on our minds has been the economic situation and we have spent much time thinking about it, discussing it, and figuring out ways to prepare. I hope you all took my advice from my last post and visited www.chrismartenson.com and watched his crash course on the economy. He has finished it now so it is worth visiting again if you haven't already.



Needless to say we have been very busy as always. Here is a load of 100 bales of hay that Scott cut and baled out of one of our paddocks at the end of September. Scott and I loaded and unloaded each and every one!



Much of the last part of September involved getting ready for things. On Oct 1 we had a class of around 40 extension agent trainees from all around the West and Midwest come to the farm to learn about sustainable farming and to practice their curriculum which involved advising small farmers on techniques such as managed intensive grazing. Stuff like this always results in a last-minute cleaning frenzy around here, but it was nice to have them here and we got some good advice and input.

Then there was another frenzy to get ready for our fall festival. We had debated whether to do it or not and we fussed over what date to pick, but we finally settled on doing it October 5. October is usually a very safe bet around here with regard to the weather, but Murphy's law won out and as it happened (now that it's the end of the month) the only rain we got this entire month began on the evening of Oct 4 and lasted for 24 hours! So our fall festival was cold and rainy while the rest of the month has been glorious. Oh well, we went ahead anyhow and it turned out to be a great time.

The night before we had Sylvia's family down to help us get ready. One of the biggest projects was to dig a big hole in the ground into which we built a big fire. We lined the hole with rocks and bricks and kept the fire going all night. Early on the morning of the festival we stuck a huge turkey, two chickens, and a leg of lamb (all from the farm) in the hole and buried it all in there to cook all day.

Sylvia's oldest son Will was a big help and he actually slept outside in the rain (under cover) to tend the fire, which we had to shelter with some sheet metal against the drenching rain.

I stayed up late getting all the meat ready. Will and Chris helped me with the turkey, which was probably 40lbs (that's what we get for procrastination). After sticking some herbs and garlic under the skin, we wrapped it in several layers of chard, collards, sunflower leaves, and corn leaves, followed by a tight wrapping of chicken wire. The entire bundle was then lowered into the pit the next morning.

This photo shows the turkey before it got its top layer of leaves. The water jugs are there to keep the chicken wire from rolling up. The turkey was so big we had to work on the kitchen floor!
Later it was just me, my glass of wine, and the rest of the meat. I decided that chicken wire would be overkill for the chicken and lamb, so I just wrapped those in leaves and foil. The lamb had a nice Moroccan spice rub and I did the chicken Greek style, with lemon, butter, olive oil, and oregano.


Despite the rain, which had made everything cold and muddy, we still had a great time and the food was amazing! A couple of people told me that it had been the best chicken and turkey they had ever eaten. That's the way to cook a big turkey all right!

After we dug out the meat we filled in the hole a bit and built another fire to keep us warm. Look at that tall corn in the background! We had planned to do a corn maze for the kids but the whole cornfield was a muddy mess. Oh well, maybe next year.


I didn't get any photos of the finished meat but there were no complaints!


Later in the afternoon the sun peeked through a few times and we had a couple of short downpours. Still, we managed to have a wool spinning demonstration thanks to our friend Megan.


Here are two beautiful skeins of Navajo-Churro wool that Megan has spun. The lighter one is from one of our fleeces!
The fall festival would not be complete without steaming up the tractor! They tried to move it but it got stuck in the mud so it ran as a stationary engine. That doesn't diminish its beauty and appeal, however, and it was one of the highlights of the day. And Scotty of course was in steam engine heaven.


Scott used the steam hoist to give rides to the kids in the ore bucket.


We also ran a steam line to the smaller vertical engine which we used to grind corn with the burr mill. The late afternoon sun and cool temperatures made the steam engine a great place to take photos. Credit goes to my mom for these great shots:





So even though it was wet and cold the festival was a success, and one of the highlights of the month. It was good to get our minds off the economy for a few hours (although there was a late-night fireside discussion about it among the lingerers).

After the festival was over it was time to get back to work on harvesting. We butchered our last batch of chickens with the help of our friend Kim. Here we are in our outdoor processing area, complete with a stainless steel sink that we scored at a salvage yard.

We don't have a scalder, so we heat the scald water with a propane weed burner.
We do have a fancy homemade chicken plucker though, which works beautifully. Scott made it from the Whizbang chicken plucker plans. I highly recommend it--what a dream it is compared to hand plucking!

After letting the carcasses chill for a couple of days I cut them up for freezing. That was a lot of work but between the poultry, beef, and lamb from this year we won't be buying meat at all!

We harvested all the corn and we are piling up the 15 ft long stalks to feed to the animals this winter.
I cut a few ears and peeled them to save the husks for tamales. I've never done it before so it will be interesting! We have to wait until the corn dries so we can grind it for the masa. And we have to figure out how to make masa! All in good time.....
One of the big events of the month was Eliza's haircut. She had been resisting having her hair washed and combed for quite some time but with relatives coming to visit and other public events it was really time to come to a solution on her hair. She suggested we cut it shorter which would prevent more tangles but unfortunately she didn't like the results. I think it's absolutely adorable and it has indeed been much easier to maintain. Because we cut off all the old, sun bleached hair it appears much darker now. And the bangs are a big change, but nice because her hair is no longer hanging in her face.
She does like how it looks in this photo of her flying, but otherwise she says she is going to grow it back out. I'm enjoying it while it lasts!
.

Meanwhile, fall colors appeared and the harvest continued to come in.



Mid-month we had the wonderful pleasure of a visit from "Pa" aka Roy, who is Chris' grandfather on his dad's side. Pa came with friends of his from 8 hours away and we are so grateful to have had the opportunity to show him around the place.


During Pa's visit there was an open house event for a steam locomotive restoration project here in town. It just so happened that Scott's band Holy Water and Whisky were playing at the event, so we all went down for trains and music.
Someone had brought a restored WWII truck which is just like the one Pa drove when he served in the war. The owner of the truck invited him to sit in it and suddenly it was as though Pa was a celebrity! There were five or six people (myself included) with cameras snapping bunches of pictures of Pa in the truck. Pa made us all laugh when he said "it's much more fun this time."

Eliza continues to dislike her haircut, but the rest of us love it! I couldn't stop taking pictures of her.

Maria does the sound for the band.

My mom gets the band's newsletter and had already planned to attend this event--it was great to see her! And you can see in this photo how much work the restoration team still has to do.


To make the day even better, Scotty's best friend Dan and his family joined us as well! Dan's grandpa works on the restoration project so Dan has been down to the site many times. Scotty and Dan enjoyed looking at all the real and model engines on display.


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After Pa left we received a wonderful gift from Chris' mom and Barry--a canoe! Chris quickly took advantage of the last of the nice weather to take the kids on a little canoe trip on the river. I had the job of helping to carry the canoe, take photos, and pick them up downriver. They had an absolute blast! The kids swam a bit, they stopped at a sandbar and ran around, and they saw some cool birds and fish. Thank you so much for the canoe!





One week ago my dad arrived, driving his pickup truck from Wisconsin to spend a few days at the farm helping us out. It was great to have him here for such a long visit and we got a lot done! The first couple of days were spent dismantling the tomato, cuke, and bean trellises in the West garden beds as well as rolling up row cover and T-tape. Dad also helped Chris start to lay out the greenhouse foundation and he helped me dig out some old beds and plant them with winter greens. We had a great time and we can't wait for him to come back (and bring Ann with him next time).

Here he is helping Chris pull t-posts with the tractor. Dad got pretty good at hooking and unhooking the chain quickly. They must have pulled 50 posts!


Dad's fallback job over the 5 days that he was here was to shuck corn. We had a huge crop of dent corn this year that we will be drying and grinding. Dad probably shucked 3 or 4 of those wheelbarrows full of corn!







And then just two days ago my new niece was born! Aris Ann joined us on October 27th. My brother and his wife are first time parents and we could not be happier for them. Aris is a little pixie, just 6lb 10oz and she's got little blonde peach fuzz and a porcelain complexion. She is so different from my big, dark babies that I'm just fascinated by her. Welcome, Aris!




Dad was fortunate enough to be here for this birth. This is grandchild number six for my parents. It is also wonderful for us to be able to welcome this new life, because Dad's mom, my grandmother, passed away just a week before Aris was born.


And of course Mom couldn't wait to sing Baa Baa Black Sheep to her new granddaughter.


Which brings us to today! We will be hosting a permaculture class here this weekend so we once again have to get the place picked up but hopefully we will have a period of relative calm after that so we can really work on regrouping after an incredibly busy last 8 months.

Scotty is just thrilled with the train set, which is a combination of trains and tracks from both Chris and my family. Thanks everyone!