Barns & Brothers

Its Good Friday and the grill guy came.

My brother brought my mother to visit.  My brother brought lots of good food.

And he cooked it on the grill that he also brought in his itty bitty car.

My brother knows how to cook.    He is a grill master.    He enjoys grilling even when it is raining, sleeting and snowing, like it was today.

He made dozens of kabobs.

Scallops with mangos, squash and peppers.

Sirloin and tuna kabobs.

After we ate I took my little brother on an exclusive Muddy Barn Tour.


First step was chosing the right pair of boots:

Then we went down and checked on the herd.

Nice brother carried the bales of shavings out of my new farm truck and thru the mud to the calf shed.

He was wearing my jacket, my hat and my boots and the cows thought it was me until the last 20 feet when all of a sudden .........

they gave him "the look" and quickly got out of his way.

 
That is when I noticed this:
 
 
 

 
 
    Gwen has "blown her plug."   There is a calf on the way.   
 
Anyone want to guess date and gender of the new calf?
 
I have a cow book I will send to the correct guesser.
 
After we left the herd, I drove North towards rural backroads that I had not explored yet.
 
Mother Nature was giving us a good variety of weather challenges.
 
The new farm truck handled them all with ease.
 
First barn we saw was refitted to feed Holstein heifers.
 
 

 
 
These same heifers spent the summer in a field near me.
 
One of these Holstein heifers is Red!
 
 

5 miles later I spied these well camouflaged hoofed beasts.

 
 
There were about 50 of them in a hundred acre hillside area with 12 foot fencing.
 
 
 

 
 
 
When I drove up the road I saw this:
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
More places need to actually post these signs since the human population is so stupid when it comes to all animals, domestic and wild.
 
As we drove up a mountain and reached the top it was snowing and foggy too.
 
 
 

 
 
On the way down we found this long ago abandoned barn.
 
As the farming profession goes into oblivion, so do the farms, land and barns.
So go the genetically healthy diverse breeds of livestock and fowl.
 
Farmers live to feed us.      No farms, no food.
 
Importing our food is not the smart answer.
 
 
 

 
 
Up the next mountain was this enourmous barn.
 
 
 

 
 
With an interesting weathervane.
 
 
 

 
 
 
When the driving is a little less hazardous I am coming back to this place to see what kind of cattle they have.
 
 
 

 
 
 
Closer to home I found this barn.    Empty.   As it sits and patiently waits.
 
 
 

 
 
 
Waiting for someone to fix it up and keep it warm with healthy livestock.
 
 

 
 
This is what the side and roof look like on this once very efficient dairy barn.
 
 
 

 
 
We returned home and had more kabobs, fresh root veggies and salad with my own home grown lettuce.
     
 

 
 
I then gifted my brother with some rare heirloom seeds, plus some trumpet vine seeds my deceased dad left behind, for his garden at home.  My brother is going to do all large container gardening this year. 
 
I really can not wait to get planting in my garden.



Next thing I know, my brother is turning over parts of my still frozen garden.
 
He is a great Guy and it has been a really Good Friday here.
 
 
 

 
 
After he and my mom left I returned to the herd to check for any new calves.
 
Instead I found Red Sox Rally sleeping soundly.
 
 
 

 
 
 
He has those protective eyelashes that I hope all the new calves will be born with.
 
 
 

 
 
 
Here's wishing all of you a wonderful Easter from the herd at TailGait Farm.