The Farm Wife's New Hair Dryer

This might not seem like a "Farm Wife" post. But ohhhhh my goodness! I am in love with this new hair dryer from Harry Josh! Harry Josh Pro Tools This blow dryer was a Christmas gift from my sweet mother and father-in-law. They ordered it from Derm Store and it came with an assortment of free gifts too! http://www.dermstore.com/
So this is what I love.....this thing saves me time! And, I'm all about anything that will save me time. It dries my hair fast, it makes it smooth and shiny and I barely need to use my flat iron!

New Baby Calf and a Winter Hail Storm

Our weather around here has been crazy to say the least. Torrential downpours, frigid temps, damaging high winds, hail storms in December....and, keep in mind, this was all in one day.
And, to top it all off, we had a brand new baby calf born in this weather. The poor baby was born in the cold rain, just before the hail storm and high winds hit. Fortunately, my husband was home for this adventure. He misses so many of them.....
We were able to get the cow and calf in a lot with a shed and get a heat lamp on the baby. However, he was still shivering. So I took my coat off and wrapped him in it while I snuggled with him to attempt to transfer my body heat to him. All while holding the heat lamp over his head.
The cow was on the other side of the lot, behind a gate, happily eating hay. But I truly believe that she knew I was trying to help her baby. Because now she will come up to me and let me pet her. Something she had never done before.
I'm happy to report that cow and calf are doing fine.
Here's the cold, wet, newborn calf-

Here I am, snuggling the baby and holding the heat lamp on him-

Here's the hail on the ground after the storm!

And here's the sweet baby today-

Winter Wonderland

Well, I'm back! Hope you all had a Merry Christmas! We had a very warm Christmas. However, three days later, we had a belated white Christmas! We are still recovering from all the cooking, cleaning, eating, and houseful of welcomed guests. But, amidst all that, a nice snow storm yesterday gave us the opportunity to sit in front of the fire and enjoy a good book and the snowfall. 

Just Look at That Sky!

Yesterday evening I had been down in the lower pastures (what we call "the bottom"). I was checking water gaps (the fences across the creeks) and doing some repairs to those before turning the cows back in on those fields. There was some water gap damage after the recent heavy rains we've had.
As I drove back up the hill, the sight in front of me was breathtaking. I wanted to share the gorgeous view. This is my last blog post until after Christmas (unless I get a minute to share a great recipe!). Family begins arriving tomorrow and things are going to be busy!

Apple Butter

It's that time of year again.....time to make my yearly batch of Apple Butter! This stuff is delicious and so easy to make. (Plus it smells amazing in your house while it cooks!)

I started with 7 pounds of Gala apples which I peeled and cored. And, honestly, that's the hardest part of this whole process. 

Next I placed the apples in a large crock pot (and the peelings and cores in my compost barrel).  In a separate bowl I mixed 1 1/2 cups of sugar, 1 cup of brown sugar, 2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp ground cloves and 1/4 tsp salt. I poured this mixture over the apples and mixed well.

Next, I put the lid on and cooked on low for 10 hours, stirring occasionally.

After 10 hours, I added one tablespoon of vanilla, stirred that in and cooked uncovered on low for two more hours.

Next I used my Cuisinart immersion blender to puree the apples until smooth.

After that, I ladled the apple butter into half-pint jars (which I had heated in a hot water bath) leaving 1/4 inch headspace at the top. I put the lids on and processed in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Then I removed the jars and left them on the counter overnight. You'll hear the popping sound for about an hour as the jars seal. 

Then I printed some cute labels and put them on the jars and I was done! 

10 jars of Apple Butter ready to give at Christmas!

Rescue!!

Last week, while checking cows, I found one of our new baby Angus calves caught in a barbed-wire fence! He was on the ground and had his front leg caught, just above the hoof. The bottom two strands of the fence were twisted and had him caught, very tight. I tried to pull the fence apart but it was in too much of a bind. Fortunately, I had wire cutters with me and was able to cut the fence and free the baby. He had a difficult time getting up at first. The video is right after he got up. I was very concerned about the limping plus he had a pretty bad scrape on his side. I am happy to report that yesterday he was running and playing! All is well.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!

Well since I posted so many pics of my fall decorations, I decided to post a few of my Christmas decorations. I already talked about the sentimental Santa mugs, elves and snow globe. There's some pretty special old Christmas books with my decorations too. Enjoy!

This is an old Christmas record from when I was a kid. 

Love this cute snowman cookie jar from Cracker Barrel!

The kitchen tree

Cute Mr. and Mrs. Clause that I found on eBay

The master bedroom tree

And I'm STILL NOT FINISHED WRAPPING GIFTS!

Christmas Treasures; More Than Just Decorations

I know, I know.....it's not even Thanksgiving and here I  am putting Christmas decorations out. But I just couldn't wait any longer! I LOVE decorating for fall, but, even more, I LOVE decorating for Christmas.
I love fall weather, I love the leaves and the promise of the holiday season. It's such a wonderful time of year. But, all of my fall decorations are things that I've purchased. Ones that have been accumulated over the last few years. There's nothing "sentimental" in my fall decorating. And that's the thing that's missing.
I have so many sentimental Christmas decorations. They not only make my home beautiful, they make me smile, they remind me of people that I love and miss, they are a sweet memory. And that's so much more than just a decoration.
My maternal grandmother bought me the two little elves about 45 years ago. And my paternal grandmother gave me the Santa mugs around the same time. They've moved with me to every house I've ever lived in. And, after Christmas, I pack them away very carefully.
The snow globe was a gift from my mother. After I was an adult and had my own home, each year she would buy me a new Christmas decoration. This is the last one that she bought for me. The following Christmas she was very ill and it was her last Christmas with us. I've had the snow globe for 20 years.

RoxAnne's Casserole

Be sure and check out my newest YouTube video showing you how to make this super easy casserole that also freezes well!
Farm Wife Burton YouTube

Fried Okra and the Food Saver

I will be the first to admit, when my husband bought our food saver, I was skeptical. My mother had a  machine called a Seal-A-Meal (or something like that) when I was a kid. I don't remember her using it. She and my dad raised a big garden and she canned vegetables all summer long. I remember jars everywhere. I remember that her pressure cooker (which I still have, but never learned to use) had belonged to her mother. And I remember a couple of times when we sprinted out of our house because the pressure had gotten too high and she thought it was gonna blow up!! It never did.
But, I digress.....
So this food saver machine that my husband brought home is amazing. It is a fast and easy way to preserve all kinds of foods, not just vegetables. For example, when chicken breasts are on sale, I buy a large package and then re-package them individually or in packages of two. The food saver machine removes all of the air so they freeze really well.
This past summer, my aunt and uncle gave me a huge grocery sack full of fresh okra from their garden. I washed it, sliced it, and breaded it with a mixture of cornmeal, salt and pepper. I then spread it out on baking sheets and covered it with plastic wrap and let it freeze overnight. The next day, I sealed portions in food saver bags and refroze it. It's easier to get a good seal on something soft, like the breaded okra, if you freeze it overnight first. And the best part, when you're ready to fry your okra, just pull it out of the freezer, cut open the bag, and pop your frozen breaded okra into the hot oil. It tastes like it just came out of the garden!      http://www.foodsaver.com/

Update on the Piggies

If you've been following my blog, you know that a little over 6 weeks ago we had a big surprise here on the farm.....baby mini pot-belly pigs were born! We are now down to just one baby, his name is Bumpy, and he's the keeper. Oh we still have the parents, Fred and Ethel, but the other three babies are gone. We sold them to Russell Feed Store in Saginaw. www.russellfeedandsupply.com
It was a sad drive home after we left Owen, Elmer and LuLu. But I know they will be well taken care of there and they will be sold to good homes. I'm just thankful my husband let me keep one!!
We built Bumpy a special pen in the yard instead of at the barn with Fred and Ethel. He's got his own little house with a heat lamp, his own little yard, and he gets A LOT of attention.
I see a lot of Bumpy blogs in the future........

Sweet Old Jenny Lou

This donkey just makes my day. If you've followed my blog, you've already seen her in Antiques and a Donkey. But I just wanted to share some pictures of sweet, beautiful, old Jenny Lou. She's around 22 years old and she is pretty much the boss of the farm.

Hanging Out on the Dock

I mentioned, in my Catfish blog, that we had recently dug a new pond. Actually, it was two existing ponds and we had the dam between them removed and deepened both ponds, making one very large one that we refer to as our "lake". We also had a dock built and stocked the pond with catfish and bass. I've tried and tried to get those little darlings to come up and eat fish food like the catfish in the old pond do. I can see the fish swimming around but they just won't come up and eat. Hopefully, when they're bigger, they'll be interested in the worm on my hook!
(These pictures include our dogs, mine being the one actually in the water. We don't take them with us to feed the fish, for obvious reasons.)

The Scenic Views

Day before yesterday, when I was checking cows (and finding several new baby calves!) I also snapped a few photos of the scenic views on our farm. The creek that runs through our farm is called Harts Creek. That's why we call our business Harts Creek Cattle Company. Way back in 1990, my dad, who we inherited the farm from, wanted to make a better way to cross the creek with his tractor and farm equipment. One day he was at a county equipment auction and he bought a bridge, yep, a real bridge. He hired some professional people to install it, over Harts Creek, on his land. We are the only people around us who have our own bridge. It's been there for 25 years.  We drive across it. The cattle walk across it. We've let people come have family photos taken on it, engagement photos taken on it, etc.... In fact, our youngest daughter used to say she wanted to get married on it.....we'll see!