We’ve been working on machinery over at the farm lately, getting ready for planting season.  Since I’m just working around the shop all day the dogs come along.

They spend the day harassing the various varmints at the farm, chasing mice in the buildings, digging holes in the fields, and evidently rolling in the mud.

There’s a country music song about how it’s impossible to have too much fun.  If you’re a dog on the farm, that’s not true.  Here’s what too much fun looks like:

Too Much Fun

After a big day at the farm, there’s nothing left to do but sleep it off.

I went to a local implement dealer last week to buy a mower.  We have a lot of acres in various conservation programs and we need to mow those acres at least once a year to keep the weeds and brush down.  We’d been borrowing a neighbor’s mower for a couple of years, but we’re doing enough acres it was time to stop freeloading and to get our own.

After we closed the deal on the mower, the implement dealer asked me, “Now, whose boy are you?”   Good grief, I thought, I’m 52 years old.  I’ve been making my own way in this world for 35 years now.  Is it really relevant at this point in my life who my father is?

Nonetheless, I am very lucky to be my father’s son.  So I was proud to tell him, “I’m Bon Zumbrun’s boy.”

The warm weather finally overwhelmed my common sense and I planted peas, lettuce, and potatoes today.    I planted 2 kinds of peas, about 30 row-feet all together.  I planted about 10 hills of russet potatoes and 10 hills of red potatoes.

The bees agree with me.  I went to see visit the hive and they were buzzing in and out.  I was considering feeding them, but they were coming back to the hive heavy laden with pollen, so I figured they’re doing all right.

The chickens agree with me too.  We continue to have an abundance of eggs.  We’ve made more egg noodles, and the eggs continue to pile up.

Spring is here!

6 weeks ago I made cheese. Today was the moment of truth; time to taste the cheese.

Here’s the cheese after I waxed and labeled it.

Ready to be sliced

I probably should’ve aged it longer, but impatience won out.  Out came the knife and…

Sliced Cheese

It looks great!  A nice rind, a clean, creamy interior.  A wonderful cheesy aroma.  That’s all nice, but how did it taste?  That’s what really matters.

It was tasty!  It was like a Manchego, fresh and creamy and tasting of milk.  Was it the best cheese I’ve ever eaten?  Definitely not, but it pleasant to eat and very fresh tasting.    I’m very pleased with the result.

I’ve been running an elderly version of WordPress for my blog.  Today when I logged on to add a new post my virus checker freaked out (avast home edition 4.8,  I know it works now).

I sniffed around on the server a bit and discovered the php script for my page footer had been modified on March 7th.  I hadn’t changed it, so I contacted my overwhelmingly capable system administer (and youngest son) and he ferreted out the attack was coming from someone in Holland.    He blocked them, and I set about upgrading to the newest (and presumably securest) version of WordPress.

It was a bit more pain to upgrade than I hoped, but once I eradicated all traces of the old version my blog was back on-line.

I had a big stack of farm magazines to read on this cold and rainy Saturday that didn’t get touched since I’ve spent all afternoon flailing with this.  What did learn from this?  I find myself wagging my head like J.K. Simmons at the end of  “Burn After Reading” and saying, “I guess we learned not to do it again.”

The Girls (our flock of 8 Buff Orpington hens) are infected with Spring fever and have been laying lots of eggs after a winter slowdown.

The Girls.

With eggs piling up in the refrigerator it’s a good time to make egg noodles.  Debbie and I will both be getting busy soon.  Having egg noodles ready to pull out of the freezer for a quick meal will be nice.

The recipe is about as simple as it gets.  3 eggs, 2 cups of flour, and half a teaspoon of salt per batch.

Here’s some rolled out and ready to be cut.

Noodles rolled out and ready to cut.

 The little hand crank pasta machine makes it easy.  And the final result that used up 9 eggs.

The Final Product.

 I’ll let them dry the rest of today and then divide them up into half pound lots and freeze them in freezer bags.

Thanks for the eggs, Girls!