Corn

Busy day today. I finished up planting our corn, planted our neighbours corn, and went over to Stacy's and started planting Gilbert's corn. I have 2 more farms after Gilbert's to plant corn for. Jesse planted barley today, and is packing it and the corn tonight and picking rocks. I guess we need a picture of picking rocks for May. What's packing?

Coring A Pineapple

This weekend we were fortunate to have Tanya come visit with Emma, Madilyn, and Sarah. This morning we cored and ate a very tasty pineapple with our handy dandy tool that our very good friends Fia and Jaap gave me when I visited them in Holland last September.

What do we do with all this poop?

I spread almost 200 loads of manure last week. At 20 minutes a load.


Last load and Empty!!

Jesse Spreading Lime

Jesse Harrowing

We had a busy week. Here is Jesse harrowing with a new John Deere tractor we were trying out.
Very windy week here.

My Old Brown Truck

The brown truck turned 20 this week. We bought it on May 12th, 1988. It still kinda looks good if you don't look too close. We have a lot of memories associated with this truck. Cattle shows all over the Maritimes, the North American International Livestock show in Louisville Kentucky, the trips to the Royal in Toronto and the World Guernsey Conference show in Stratford Ontario in 1989. And all those trips to Oklahoma to get trailers. (Peter came with me once and drove when I got tired..I didn't stay tired long! What composure I didn't loose going through the Airline to Bangor, was lost approaching toll booths at 100mph!) And Grandpa and Sarah had a good trip too...which Salem were they looking for anyways? This is a pic of the truck on the way back from dropping heifers off at the dry pasture tonight. The dry cow pasture..ahhh...fond family bonding memories are made there too! Anyone want to go help catch some dry cows ?

A Mother of a day

Today we had Grandma; Sheila & Art; Stacy, Gilbert, Kara & Bradford; Jesse, Carrie & Victoria all home for a Mother's Day lunch. Here is a pic of all the mothers and of course there was one who didn't want to be in the picture.

I guess llamas can fly...

Well, maybe not fly, but they can jump fences...Willard has been out a few times but never broke the fence! We are still going with the premise that he will return to the same spot to poop..Seems to be working so far. We got the cows out on Tuesday, spread a lot of manure this week and today got a rain day to get the bookwork caught up. Got April done and the HST filed. Tonight I talked to my good friend Barry Martin, the fellow that taught me all I needed to know how to farm. (Or as he would put it, the things you shouldn't do).

We hope Llamas don't fly.

Today we got some dry cows down to the dry cow pasture, our first ones out of the barn this year, and the 2 goats(Billy&Emmagoat), sheep(Santa), horse(Ginger) and llama(Willard, who if you remember is in charge of this blog) are out today too. We don't know how well the llama will respect 1 strand of electric fence, maybe we will know by morning!

Cows can Fly!

Sarah spent this past week with Tanya and her family, helping out with the new baby and also was on hand for Emma's 6th birthday. Here she is with a flying cow that Nanny & Papa found in the airport in London.

This Week

We spent this week getting back into the swing of things, and started our spring work. Here we are using the new set of plows.

While we were away

The farm was well looked after while we were away, here is our star pulling a calf. Remember Superman?

Homeward bound

On Monday we took a cab to Heathrow airport, and thanks to web check in, but more importantly, Sarah's cane, we were only 10 minutes from the time we walked into the terminal until we were thru security and in the midst of countless bottles of liquor and samples at the duty free. And that brings us to Sarah Allison, who wasn't born when we were at the airport in Halifax, but was by the time we got to Norton. Tanya did tell us that she would have her baby before we got home.

Sunday, April 20th

Saturday was spent relaxing after a busy week, then on Sunday we drove out to Windsor castle.

Friday, April 18th

Today, after visiting the farm again, we went to Chartwell, the home of Sir Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of England during World War II, and one who was largely given credit for the Allied victory. Then back into London, and we had a very enjoyable stroll (cold and windy, the buds were blowing off the trees and we thought it was snow!) down The Mall to look at Buckingham palace, then back past Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. Friday evening we took in the musical Grease, a presentation of the school where Ainslie, Liam & Cameron attend.

Thursday, April 17th

Today we again took the tube to Charring Cross train station, and then caught a train to the town of Seven Oaks to visit the dairy farm of someone that Sarah had known in Cape Breton. Henden Manor, apparently the former home of Anne Boleyn, one of King Henry VIII's wives. An enjoyable train ride. We watched 250 cows being milked in a double 24 herringbone milk parlour, had dinner at the local pub, then spent the night in Anne's room.

Wednesday, April 16th

Today, Sarah headed out with a bus load of ladies, to Stoke on Trent, to go browsing in china shops. She had been looking forward to this for ages, which is more than we can say for the owners of the china shops! Luckily, the damage was minimal and Sarah had a great time.
Bruce & Carrie were in for a more cultural day, and they took various tube rides into London, first to the huge O-2 center, where they took in the Tutankhamun ( King Tut) exhibit. Very impressive, lots of gold to be seen there. Another tube ride took them back to downtown London, to the Lyceum theatre, and a very impressive Lion King performance. Carrie was awestruck with the whole performance. They grabbed a burger at "MacDonald's on Strand" before heading home.

Tuesday, April 15th

Today we traveled to the small village of Swavesey, to visit the very old Parish church of St Andrew. There is a bell in this church dedicated to the Mitham family, apparently there has been a Mitham involved in ringing the church bells for over 250 years, since at least 1747. There were a lot of Mitham gravestones around the church, we even found one for Sarah!

Monday, April 14th

Today we visited Hampton Court Palace, famous for being the home of King Henry VIII, and all his wives. We saw the splendor of the palace and gardens, learned some history, and Bruce & Carrie had a bit of fun in a maze in the garden.

Sarah Allison

I have been remiss in announcing the birth of Sarah Allison Harvey, born Monday, April 21st. A daughter for Tanya & T J, and a sister for Emma & Madilyn. I am sure I will be told if I didn't get that spelled right.

Sunday April 13th

On Sunday we took the tube to downtown London.

The London marathon happened to be on, there were 35,000 runners.

Saturday, April 12th

Today we visited Salisbury Cathedral, a very impressive church.
We were impressed with the size of the church,
the 2 huge pipe organs, and all the history in the church.

Then before we left the city of Salisbury,
Carrie & Sarah found the British equivalent of a dollar store!

Our next stop was Stonehenge! (Jesse said we saw some rocks)

Friday, April 11th

We are home now from England and have a few pics to post. Our first day was spent relaxing after our trip, and then on Friday we visited the oldest pub in England- the Royal standard of England, apparently 900 yrs. old. Here is a pic of Bruce & Sarah with our friends, Stuart & Ann Marie Moors, our very kind hosts while we were in England.

Jesse Screwing Up...

Here is a pic of Jesse doing what he does best...but we are happy with what we have got done on the chicken barn. Maybe 3 more sheets of plywood today, but oh well...

Off to England

Here is a pic of Bruce, Sarah, & Carrie after packing for their trip to England. They are going for 10 days. I wonder if there is a llama in England to post pictures for them there. Jesse is staying home to look after things..Yikes...He got his wish though, we had 3 calves today, so there should only be one cow calve while he is alone. Or maybe we have smart cows??

Kings Barn

We used to look out our kitchen window and see the neighbours barn across the road. I guess we won't do that anymore. I wonder what year that barn was built?

The Week ends with wine

This week we spent most of our time working on the chicken barn. We also did our regular chores which takes a bit of time. We are pleased with what we got done this week. Milk is up, so that's good too. Tonight Bruce & Sarah bottled a batch of wine, here is a pic of Sarah putting the shrink wrap on with a heat gun.