Mornin’ Folks,
I know that I say this every week - but MAN has it ever been busy around here -let me TELL you. But first, repeat after me. Rain is good. Rain is good. Rain is good. There, now I feel better… The first piece of news is a bit anti -climactic: we need another week to get these veggies up to size before making the first spring deliveries. BUT - at the risk of jinxing things (I’m throwing salt over my shoulder as I type - K?) I have to tell you that the vigor and health of what is sitting in the ground at this moment is - well, it’s truly a sight to behold (whisper - And I am so anxious to get them to you, I can hardly STAND it!) So for this week, some pics of these lovely vegetables will have to hold us all over for a little while longer. There’s also some (more) really really GOOD news to share with you… But right this minute - I gotta RUN (I went to VA over the weekend to pick up my THIRD ton of potting soil so we could pot up the 2,000+ MORE seedlings that NEED to go into the ground but can’t since the ground is STILL sopping wet and it’s STILL raining outside and I gotta go figure out WHERE in the world am going to PUT all these things in the meantime - and, Neil’s honking the horn for me to get in the truck and run the table saw over to the winery so the painters can work inside on the baseboards since it is RAINING AGAIN and…)
Photos of the farm April 1 - 10
Spring Delivery Info
I am (REALLY, REALLY) sure that we’ll deliver next week (April 22!). What we
will most likely do to make up for the 2 delayed deliveries is extend the
deliveries one week beyond the original date (making the last Spring
delivery June 10th - instead of June 3rd) - plus add ½
of a share extra to 2 of the 11 remaining deliveries.
Sanders Ridge is an
official Bonded Winery!
We (finally) received our Basic Permit from the TTB (that’s our Federal
government’s Tobacco and Alcohol Tax and Trade Bureau - for
short). Folks - words can’t describe how daunting the application process for
this permit has been. The background checks, and amount of information
requested, phone interviews, and reems of forms and reports - not to mention
fees - ugh… (and we started the process over a year ago!). And talk about
anti-climactic - we’d been corresponding exclusively by telepone and Fed Ex for
over a year - then not a word from them for over 3 weeks and then one morning,
there in my email inbox amongst ½ zillion other unopened emails (I had almost
deleted it along with the usual ½ ton of spam I receive daily!) - was a one
liner from the an agent with the TTB saying “Attached is a copy of your Basic
Permit. Your paper copy will be mailed at a later date. Good Luck.” That’s
IT!? After all the formalities of the pasy year, I was expecting an armored
clad SUV rolling up to the vineyard with a covey of federal agents hand
delivering a suitcase of documents. (or at very least, a phone call!) So - we
can officially sell our wine. (Now if we just had the tasting room open… The
Winery and Restaurant construction is coming along well - though we are still
afrfaid to schedule an official opening date.)
Easter Cows (and the major mix up…)
It’s (another) BOY - and a GIRL!
Three weeks ago, I wrote to you about the birth of M’s little bundle joy. (M is one of our three Texas long-horn heifers) Well, on April Fools Day morning, Lilly and Kate - our other 2 heifers had their babies - together (literally!). It was a rainy cold day (duh…) and we were watching them closely that morning as they both had been showing signs of getting close to the time. Sure enough - both of them disappeared from view and we followed them down by the little pond behind the barn - and there they stood close to the farthest bank (of course). As was the case with M when she calved, Lilly’s calf had already started to emerge while she was standing and then at the last minute almost, she lay down and finished the birthing with just a few hard contractions. I was watching with binoculars. Kate and M were standing by Lill’s side and I could see that Kate’s baby was starting to emerge from her as well! Lilly’s calf wasn’t moving. All we could do was stand and watch. We didn’t want to upset Kate. Kate was standing there in labor and she and M started licking Lilly’s still little calf - while Lilly got her self together to stand up. M, M’scalf (who was 2 weeks old), Kate, and Lilly all three standing at the end of the pond licking this lifeless white calf - with another set of white legs ¼ way into the world It was an unbelievable sight. They were all three licking and nudging the little guyso much - horns everywhere - so it was hard to tell if it was moving on its own or not. Just about the time that he finally lifted his little head, Kate went down and birthed her little one with just a few hard contractions. Lilly and M went to licking Kates baby - which was up and moving almost immediately. Kate got up and she and Lilly started doting it - and seemed to forget about the other one until it too finally struggled to get to its feet. When they both went to check him out, we could see that at that point - all of them were looking very confused about who belonged to who. They sniffed the calves - then each other and then back again. Each calf would try to pair up with a cow but the cows would move away trying to get their noses on right… (We couldn’t figure out which one belonged to which either- as they are both all white with just a touch of red on their ears. The calves knew, we think, but the Mom’s didn’t. For the rest of that day until dark we watched them both give most of the attention to the stronger calf. Both had evidently gotten to nurse - but the stronger of the two stayed more active, so we were really concerned that the weaker one wouldn’t get enough to eat. Neil decided that if neither of the cows had claimed just one baby by the next morning, we would have to pick a pair. As soon as the sun came up the next day - we got into Keith’s truck and drove into the pasture to see what was hapenning - prepared to load up the weaker calf and then get GW to come rope a Mom to pair it in the barn to bond with. Well as we turned into the back pasture - we saw 3 cows standing each with her own snow white baby by her side. The weaker calf didn’t stand as long - but it was standing, and it looked much stronger than the night before - so we knew it had been getting some milk and was going to be OK.
We still aren’t sure if they ended up paring with their birth Moms but in the end it really doesn’t matter as any calf within licking range is getting smothered with licks and and love nudges and prods - by all three doting Mom/Aunts - who watch over and scold them equally too. It’s the most fun I think I’ve ever had watching animals. The three calfs are snow white and clean as a whistle - frisky and mischievous - playing together like little puppies all the time now…
Neil said in all his days of cattle farming - he’s never seen two cows giving birth together and he’s never know a breed that was so attentive to their young. The Moms are sharing their little treasures with us too - and aren’t getting too concerned about us hanging out and watching them. Feel free to come out and see them too.