The year before we moved to the land, we learned as much as we could. One of the most elegant things we heard was that, given a choice of minerals, cows will eat the proper nutrients that they need, and then excrete those minerals onto the deficient soils. A biological soil test of sorts.
After we moved here and got ruminants, we tried to always make sure they had kelp and salt; we offered clay and humates, but they weren't terribly interested. But it's never been as good as it could; we've grieved for our cows and their gradually releasing placenta; grieved the slow breed-back. We figured it was a matter of nutrition, and when Phil headed to his veterinary class in spring 2010, he learned of the Helfter Free Choice Minerals. That sounded like what we needed.
But the special box, which had spots for the 14 separate mineral supplements, was $1000; double that with minerals included. And so the cows have been stressed while we tried to earn the money needed.
But now, behold Phil's brilliance. He figured that if he bought a rubber mat, that could be strong enough and water-proof for a lid. Put in wooden divisions (sealed well with caulk), and there's a box with fourteen spots.
He labeled each box, so we'd know what to put in each container, and know what the cows devoured most quickly. (He had bought metal brackets, but realized after the fact that the wood worked even better.)
We love the healthy smell and beautiful colors of the minerals.
In order to prevent the bottom rotting out, he put 2"x2" runners on the bottom. The whole box rests on those, shielding the box from friction and damp.
How to move the minerals regularly, though? With about 140 pounds of minerals at any given time, plus the heavy wood box, even he can't carry it about when he moves the cows daily.
Creatively, he designed it to fit in the tractor bucket. He ratchets it down, and moves it easily.
With minerals on the front, and hay on the back, the tractor becomes a cow support system.
The curious cows came over to see what the new box contained. We suspect they stayed there most of the day, as when Phil went back at dark, one was still there. The cows had almost finished the Sulphur, the B-vitamins (especially important for stress), and the Iodine.
When we watched how happy and focused the cows were—what a great moment. Delayed for a couple of years, but finally accomplished.
***
This afternoon, we headed down to the lower pasture, new chipper in tow. For about two hours, I separated branches while Phil fed them into the chipper, which shot them out into the bed of the truck.
We ended two hours later when the truck bed was overflowing with beautiful, tiny chips.
Phil had us start at the entrance of the lower pasture. Two years ago, he had knocked down a swath of trees. We couldn't quite feel motivated to burn the downed trees, and so the lower pasture has been covered with debris for two years. And while piles of downed trees isn't as bad as, say, a pile of concrete rubble, it's not very beautiful.
So we were ecstatic—truly overwhelmed—at how wonderfully the chipper took our downed trees. It truly did self-feed, and the power of the PTO, combined with the 8" diameter, meant that the chipper took just about everything.
We cleared a section, well covered in downed trees and branches, about 40'x40'. Not bad for two hours.
Phil then couldn't get the truck to run, so it is stuck in the lower pasture, but he'll deal with that tomorrow.
While we worked, the boys had a great time. Isaiah took photos.
Jadon played in the creek and took photos, too.
Joe and Abraham found little twigs that fit their hands: light saber bases. They had wonderful fights, complete with sound effects.
***
To round out an exciting day, I went to check on my bees. I expected to find them mostly clustered, hibernating still. And there was a section that was doing that, presumably surrounding the queen, who has (presumably) begun laying already.
But there were bees crawling on both inner and outer cover, bees foraging, moving. I had expected few; I saw so many. I had expected tranquility: I found vitality. Marvelous. I had one pesky girl who kept trying to sting my face. The whole time I was checking on the food stores and overall hive health, this bee kept flying into my veil: thwunk, thwunk, thwunk.
After the hive was all assembled and I was walking away, another bee achieved her desire: she stung me on the forehead through the veil. Because another bee was buzzing my head all the way up the driveway to the house, I couldn't check the sting. It wasn't until later that I actually looked at it: stinger still intact.
And though I tried to scrape it off with my fingernail, it would not come.
Through the afternoon, my vision was unimpaired, but now my left eye is (again) swollen shut. It is very odd: half my face is normal, and half is puffy.
But the thrill that the hive is doing well, that the cows are fed, and the pasture will be cleared without burning: a swollen eye is not enough to dampen my enthusiasm.
No comments:
Post a Comment