Auction Day

This past week we spent a day at a farm auction.

This one was kind of unique, one of those once-in-a-lifetime chances, as the family selling out were old order Amish farmers. They planned to move back east somewhere (Iowa or Ohio, etc.)

I realized, while walking around their place, that this auction would be much like one if we were to ever (God forbid!) sell out. Generations and years of accumulated stuff, from antiques to knick-knacks to junk, stuff buried out in the trees, rusty machinery, etc. It was grand.

We picked up a few small items at the sale. The place was absolutely PACKED with people - hundreds of people tromping down this poor family's place -- until it was a hog-wallow muddy mess. Steven wanted some special items-- a hand-crank seed sorter and an old cast iron forge with hand-cranked bellows. But both items went too high -- to the out of state antique dealers who were there and drove up prices on everything.

I tried to stay back in this photo and not get any of the Amish in it,
since they prefer to not have their photo taken.
Doesn't really show just how many hundreds of people were there.
It was like a Carhartt coverall convention!

Steven (left) and Mickey (a neighbor and friend) look over the old forge
and some of the other equipment offered. The wagon there in
the background went for about $4000.

We were there from 8:30 am to after 5 pm -- finally had to get back home to get firewood cut for the forecasted storm. And they weren't done yet!

More Snow

It certainly has been a snowy winter. Reminds me more of the winters I remember as a child than the ones we have had the past few years. In the past month, as well, we've had more foggy days than I can ever recall -- makes us feel like we are living in London instead of Kansas. Kansas is supposed to have wind, which blows fog away. Not lately.

Late last week we got another 7-8 inches of snow. It was beautiful, I have to admit. Although I'd rather not drive in it, and cutting and hauling in more firewood last weekend pretty much did my body in for the week.

We broke down and purchased some alfalfa hay from a neighbor for the goats, rather than making them dig through the snow for grass, to keep them on our pasture-only management program. Besides, the three gals are pregnant mama goats, and we want their kids (which should arrive mid-February) to come out healthy.

As you can see, they couldn't even let us set the bales down for a minute to open the gate to the storage area. The buck jumped up on top of one of the bales, which was already precarioiusly perched on top of a plastic bucket. They munched away, not waiting for us to cut the wire and dole it out properly to their hay area.

I'm tired of snow now. Ready for spring. Steven has already ordered all his garden seeds, got the seeds he saved ready, and has seedlings started indoors. He is browsing his Stark Bros. catalog for his next fruit tree purchases. We have spring fever full blown.

Checking the orchard trees planted last year

Lilly and Bella are glad to see us out and about.