A what?  Never heard of it?  Rather sounds like something full of fat and calories, doesn’t it?  In a way it is!  Had Peter Rabbit ever been read to you as a child or by you as a parent, this old Middle English word may be familiar.  Peter Rabbit had a larder, and so does this PFO.  The question is do you?

What is a larder?  It is a storeroom where food is kept.  Perhaps the word pantry has taken it’s place in our vocabulary.  But doesn’t the word larder sound much more fun and intriguing?  It rather seems that the grocery store is everyones’ ‘larder’ anymore.  After all, there is so much food there.  But think about that for a moment.  It does seem like an endless supply.  However, it has been said that local grocery stores supplies would last only three days in a crisis!  Think about how quickly milk, eggs, and bread empty with a forecast of inclement weather.  Everyone is at the grocery store shopping then.

 Home-grown, home-made  products for the larder.

It is true this PFO shops at the grocery store.  However, she also has her own larder filled with homegrown, home-canned goods that are not only pretty to look at but they are a comfort as well. Canning can be hard work.  No, canning is hard work!  But once the learning curve is conquered, the ‘bigness’ of it is manageable.   Also, canning some foods is downright simple and fun.  Good tools, as always, makes for a good job.  Some of our canning tools belonged to our grandparents.  Jars and collars are recyclable.

What a gift! A home-canned product!

Another big plus of canning is all the ingredients are in your control.  You know  what is in your food, and where it came from.  There are no unpronounceables  in those pretty little glass jars.  They are real food with real value.

Some canning is downright fun and easy.  

Should you ever be fortunate enough to receive a home-canned product, a couple things to bear in mind:  Home-canning is safe, however, because it is not laden with preservatives,  it will not stand in refrigeration weeks upon weeks.  One last timely tip—if you liked the yummy gift, clean the jar (and the collar), and return both back to giver.  You may just end up with another fresh goody next season!   Yum, yum!

We rounded these old tools up from our grandparents!

Must be the mild weather and sunshine that has brought them out in force today.  After all who does not like to be out in this lovely, pleasant weather?

Every farm has a drag queen, and the weather is the dictator of just when one will see them out.  Not only weather, but field conditions must be good for the queen to be out as well.  A field cannot be properly dragged if the ground is too soggy, or full of snow.

Today was the day and this PFO was the first queen out on the fields this morning.  At this moment there are two others out working their fields.  It is a perfect day for dragging fields.  It is also a necessary job here on the farm.  The land benefits from dragging.  Cow and horse manure is broken up and spread over the ground and nourishes it.  This in turn brings blessings to both man and beast.  When the land is loved and well cared for everyone reaps.

Was a perfect day for dragging fields.

Spread horse and cow manure is very nutritious for the land.

This day began with a sprinkling of rain, which called for a change of plans in the work order of the day.  Scratch off dragging the fields.  An hour or so later a gentle breeze blew softly over the land , the sun smiled through the clouds, and this PFO decided to get a goin’ outside while the getting was good.  Job done, checked off.  Yes.

It is hard to see the result so close to the ground.  But step up on a rise in the land and look.  The fields are beautifully cleaned.  They surely look as if they have been brushed with a giant soft hairbrush.  Love the land and it will love you back.

Before the drag queen worked.

After the drag queen worked.

Love the land and it will love you back.

This is what we call our chickens—our chuckles.  The name came about because of no glasses.  Texting my Colorado sister a couple weeks ago without glasses caused this new lexicon to our farm life vocabulary.  The blurry text surely looked like the word ‘chickens’ and thus a new word is born—our chuckles!

It has turned out to be a wonderful name.  These girls surely make this PFO laugh everyday.  Laughter is a good, powerful antidote for life.  It is simply too hard to stay grouchy around these girls.  They will not have any of that.  They are expressive, talkative, social critters.  Their names are perfect chicken names:  Beatrice, Doris, Henrietta, and Tabitha.

It is too hard to stay grouchy around these girls.

The dogs are most interested in them.  We are training the dogs to ‘leave it!’.  One is learning better than the other.  It can be done though.  The horse farm where Duke was purchased had hens, peeps, FIVE dogs, cats, and a herd horses all living happily around one another.  One of the dogs had recently been adopted, and was still learning what was and what was not his.  There was actually a chicken nest in the corner of one of the horse stalls with 8 eggs in it!   That PFO (also a gal) sure impressed this one!

The farm where our horse, Duke, came from had a chicken nest in the horse stall with eggs in it!

This is the goal here at Blue Rock Horses & Farm.  To have the chuckles busy eating grubs all around the stable.  It is good Duke is so accustomed to them.  He will help us train the other horses, who act as if they have seen the boogie man.  You are invited to come out, spend some time with the girls, and let them brighten your day!

Duke will help train the other horses not to be chicken of the chickens!

It was required.  The girls had to take one semester of Shop Class, and the boys had to take one semester of Home Economics.  That was a LONG time ago.  There is probably no such thing now in high school requirements.  This is too bad also, for every home that this PFO has been in since those days all have lamps (ok, except for the Old Order Mennonites).  Repairs still need to be made.

Years ago in high school Shop Class was required for girls.

There was good thinking behind those old requirements too.  After all, not every guy or gal got married or they lived alone before getting married. Guys should know how to cook and keep a house, and gals should know how to do simple repairs and use basic tools.  The internet offers instructional videos on virtually everything know to man, and this is a big help. One cannot ask it questions though as it runs, which many times leads to additional learning.

We learned how to change sockets on lamps.

Oh well, c’est la via.   This old PFO was happy to stir up old shop class memories to do this simple repair on a lamp.  The joy of success!  By-the-way, was it mentioned an instructional u-tube video also helped with this little project?  Ha!  Thank goodness for both.  Let there be light!

Let there be light…

It seems smart, when one has free fuel, to use it.  The free fuel here at Blue Rock Horses & Farm is wood.  With a wood stove in the  basement and fireplace on the main floor, this fuel is welcome heat.  The one thing not free about it though is gathering it.  Oh well, just another reason to be beckoned out-of-doors into beautiful fresh air and thoughts.

Moving out to this 14 acre farm last summer made two tools obviously necessary for this PFO.  First things first, a Z-trac John Deere mower was purchased.  Before the ink dried on that sales ticket, the baby chain saw arrived.  Every working farm around has a ‘farm boss’ chain saw or similar.  These are for the men to operate.  This PFO can hardly pick it up, much less start the engine and carry it!   That is why we brought the baby home. The blade is the smallest one made.  It truly looks like the toy ones the boys used to play with as kids—it’s just far more fun!

We brought the baby home!

A word of caution to all those PFO gals that think they may like one:  Know what you are doing before ever using one yourself.   I have spent hours watching my husband, mother (Yes!  Mom had her own), and other knowledgable operators working these machines.  Safety is the priority always on the farm.  There is little room for error with a chain saw.  One must be comfortable and educated to use it. Proper safety equipment must be worn.  But what fun it is once learned!

Soon to be a pile of firewood!

Also, do not be surprised at possibly getting a marriage proposal when purchasing your new baby.  Once the sales guy finds out you are purchasing this saw for yourself, he may just mention that he is available for marriage should your current one fail!

I have spent hours watching safe operators run them.

So here is a photo of the work ‘the baby’ and this PFO got done before the rains came this week.

A nice little start on the wood pile.  Before the rains came.

Ready for ice skating??

It is hard to enjoy a good, cold drink of water when it is frozen.  This is especially problematic for the birds.  We feed the them year ’round out here at Blue Rock Horses & Farm.  It is a well known fact that this PFO (Primary Farm Operator) is not happy unless she is feeding something!  The idea of another electrical cord running over the frozen ground is not very appealing though, so it has not been done.  It has been so cold that the floating heaters keep only a part of the water thawed.  The heaters in the bottom on our tanks do a better job.  This is FAR from a complaint though.  Years and years ago when I was the kid of the PFO (my mom), I had to break ice daily and wrap pipes with heated wires to keep them from freezing!  Times, they have gotten better at least in this regard.

Sometimes the floating heaters keep only part of the water thawed.

However, a little discovery was made quite by accident while out feeding this freezing 12^ morning .  Our water troughs tend to get lower than usual when it is so bitter cold outside.  Who wants to stand in the freezing weather waiting for icy water to fill the trough?   The trough in the Littles’ paddock was too low and needed filling—ugh.  Here is the scenario;  run to put hose is trough; run to turn it on;  hurry! hurry! to be sure hose is in trough and not pouring out to freeze all over ground (sometimes they pop out of trough when water is turned on); run back to unhook and drain hose as quickly as possible before water freezes inside the hose itself.Whew!  Job done, hopefully it will be warmer in next couple days.  If not, the heated trough itself has thawed many a hoses—just drop it in for a couple hours!

A little Titmouse was on the rim taking a sip!

Something caught the corner of my eye as I was working around the barn.  I realized it was a little Titmouse that had quickly noticed the full trough and was more than happy to oblige its’ offer of water.  Unfortunately camera was not in hand.

Now this PFO has to be more careful to keep the water full to the rim, so the little birdies may come and have a satisfying sip!  Another little job here at the farm…

You, Whoopie-pie, will have to come inside for your water!