A Good Kick in the Face
Yesterday was a beautiful day. After all the storms and tornadoes, that were kept well clear of my gardens but wreaked havoc in other towns close by, the day dawned fine and clear if a little drippy. Allison was the 1940’s Kitchen Mama. Kim was the chicken lady and gardener (plus seamstress but we will get into that another day).
The crops are growing as we watch them. Fast. But the walking is marvellous.
The turkeys are growing just as fast as the crops. Yesterday they were moved into the turkey house, built by Fede. For the longest time they stood still in the corner, wondering where their boundaries were, then ever so slowly they have moved out into their new world.
Also yesterday while Kim was sorting wool Allison and The Cadet and I went Across The Way. While searching for wild kittens we all climbed into a grain bin. I love these bins.
This is my favourite shot from that series.
It was a good day.
Later in the afternoon, yesterday, Lady Astor walked straight into the milking shed and John was not around so I decided to be an opportunist and milk her by myself. I reached down to clean her udder and she up and kicked my right in the face. I have a very stupid cut right down the side of my nose. And a bit of bruising. I was deeply hurt – emotionally of course – plus a little bit physically. I milked her anyway with blood from my nose dripping onto the floor with the occasional sleeve wipe. Mumbling to myself about ungrateful cows. After a bit Lady began to kick up a fuss again (Pun Intended – I think the expression Kicking Up a Fuss was coined by a dairywoman who had had quite enough of her bloody kicking cow) so I gave her back to her calf.
Soon we will begin the process towards breeding her – maybe she will settle a bit after that. Fingers crossed of course.
Allison made Shakshuka with kale for dinner – DIVINE!
I hope you have a lovely day.
My head hurts.
Lots of love from your friend on the farm
celi
63 Comments on “A Good Kick in the Face”
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thekitchensgarden 
Oh Celi, your poor face. And mucky cow hoof and an open wound are not a good mix. Please tell me it’s healing cleanly and that you won’t be walking around with a nasty black eye. The Lady really is no lady, and she’s a man’s cow, that’s for sure.
Some lady! Is there nothing you can put in front of her back legs to block her kicks while you are milking? How very ungrateful of her!
I had let the physical and metaphorical guards down, back to the drawing board for her! But she will only be milked this season – hopefully Aunty Del will take over next year..
Oh, goodness! It’s a wonder your face isn’t cracked. I had a horse place a hoof on my face and cracked my eye socket and my cheekbone. I hope you are okay!
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
For cow protection and life saving I had a sudden image of a motorcycle helmet while milking … Wouldn’t it be good? – Sorry for joking, but who knows?
I have seen a cowshed once, where all tails of the cows were bound with a cord and during milking it was possible while sitting beside that cow milking to pull that string which was led over an high fixed crossbar (ridgepole?) – and the tail moved high. . But: Maybe the cow’s kick comes quicker sometimes that one can pull 😦
Don’t know whether it is explained well enough though 😦
…or even a hockey mask 😉
Oh NO! Your poor face! Hope you feel better soon! That Shakshuka looks wonderful (I went searching for a recipe online for shakshuka with kale, but if you’d like to share Alison’s recipe I’d love to see it!!)
I have it on paper – I will write it for you, it is tasty! c
Howdy! If you would like to make shakshuka, visit this link http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/shakshuka-and-kale
I doctored up the recipe a bit by sauteeing (is that a word?) garlic and onions and garbanzo beans in the cast iron skillet before adding the other ingredients. In addition I added chopped parsley to the tomato sauce and on top at the end as a garnish.
Kim and I discovered that Mario Batali calls Shakshuka “Eggs From Hell”
That looks yummy. I would sprinkle the feta on top and bake it with the eggs . Great job Allison.
Allispon, do you think that Swiss Chard would work instead of Kale? We have that is the garden right now!
It did have feta on it–great minds think alike!
Funny you should ask about Swiss chard. There was a combination of kale and Swiss chard in the shakshuka.
Thanks!!!
The inside bin shot with the numbers looks like a stage. But then, everything is a stage to me.
Me too, we are dancers and actors FOREVER! c
Perhaps she doesn’t like her name. Lady Astor was, after all, more than a handful. 🙂 I hope you heal soon and well, c.
A kick in the face is worse than a kick in the stomach, but it sounds as though it was both – metaphorically.. hope you’re not too bruised…love from the freezing antipodes
Ouch, that must have hurt. I hope you are healing well, keep a close watch on that. The baby turkey looks so cute and dinner looks wonderful!
Oh no that’s horrible – hope it’s a clean cut and you are treating yourself gently. She didn’t break your nose did she?
I very seldom actually break, i get bent a little but never break.. c
Isn’t it amazing how quickly those large, seemingly cumbersome, animals can move!!? I am sorry you are hurt. 😦
I let my guard down – so how is your hereford? I must come over and look!
Abigail and the calf are doing well. I am very sad that we will have to sell Abi and Pumpkin Pie … but we don’t want to keep breeding this fault and putting them through the distress. You know how bad it can be when they step on their udder/teats!
not a tough decision that one – miserable but the only one. i am looking for a couple of hereford weanlings – do you know anyone?
Are you looking for feeder calves to fatten? I will keep my ears/eyes open. Also, is there a county fair near you soon? That may help you locate a breeder near you.
Ooooouch! An attack like that on your health and beauty is dastardly from an animal you care for so well. What a lovely supper you had. I’m glad you had a bit of time to play.
Did you see that Kate from http://talltalesfromchiconia.wordpress.com/ has won a prestigious award with her Worldwide Friends quilt?
love,
ViV
Yes! Isn’t that brilliant! Thank you for sharing.. c
Our kate did us proud with her wonderful Quilt!
Couldn’t have done it without all the others and their unrelenting support and confidence in me!
Ice that owie! Lady Astor is no lady for sure. Oh she is for John, but no others! Who is the wool from?
So sorry to hear that you have gotten a too-well placed kick in the face from Ms. Astor. Eesh! We used to eat at a very ancient little hole in the wall “restaurant” in Jerusalem where the baker put all the fixings for shakshuka on a thin pizza crust and cooked it quickly in his very ancient wood fired oven built into one of the walls of the old city. It was amazing! I still dream about how good that was, and of course, find it difficult to replicate :*) But the addition of kale sounds marvelous.
Mmmm. Mouth watering.
She had three bags of wool. They are from Minty, Tilly, and Marcel who were sold on sometime last year. We were skirting the wool to prepare it for putting in the mail to go to the processing plant. It will be cleaned and turned into roving. We had a little pile left of the bits that wouldn’t be sent. Allison and I are trying to decide what to do with it. Any ideas?
You can spin the locks, but they should be washed first. Or wash and dye them and use for needle felting. Depending on how much you have, there are places that will felt unspun wool into sheets or you can do it with smaller amounts. Google hand felting wool. Or let the birds have it for their nests.
Oh, a final lovely remnant from the sheep.
Put them in the garden as weed control, plus fertilizer. It’s all organic and will break down.
Not a nice cow at all. It is hard to feel she is deserving of much understanding, ‘Man’s Cow’ or not, when she acts up this way. I hope your face heals well Miss C
Oh, Celi, so sorry about the kick in the face. I was reading down down down the post hoping the title was metaphorical, but no, it was a real kick. Ouch. I’m going to have to look up shashuka. No idea what that is! But yum.
Oh, no! Sending positive healing vibes your way! (As always, your shots are gorgeous. Daily inspiration!)
~Theadora
Oh my sweet dear friend. If I was there, I would give your sweet head hogs and snout kisses! XOXO – Bacon
Oh dear, I bet that hurt! I hope it feels better soon 😉
Your silo pictures reminded me of a murder in Hannibal – I’m not a big fan of the show itself, but the murders are like works of art. It was as if Spencer Tunick had made a sunflower out of naked bodies.
Head/face injury is no joke, especially with a headache. Suggestion: I encourage you to just get checked out. As a person who has had several blows to the head from sports and accidents, I can tell you from experience it’s not something to ignore.
I know the emotional hurt of being kicked, hoofed, or head butted (Daisy deer whacked me in the eye socket twice as a youngster – quickly jerking her head up when I was bent over her). I’m not sure it’s intentional but when you have a relationship with an animal, it does hurt deeply, emotionally. You may have a bit of a concussion. Follow your gut and maybe take it a bit easy the next days/week. I’m sure swelling in the face makes for part of the discomfort. Get a cool gel pack to ease the inflammation.
I love photography in agricultural buildings – especially old barns where shafts of light filter through cracks and slats. Your eye for interesting shots really gives your readers a “feel” for your place… what you live and breathe.
Ouch! I hope your face heals quickly. Arnica cream is amazing for bruises.
Oh, how adventurous your day was, yesterday. How nice to see you walking the dogs…
Your “The turkeys are growing just as fast as the crops” made me smile. The one on the photo looks nice and it can be seen very well how nice it has developed. Kim checking wool – what a job!
I enjoyed your visit into that bin, thanks for sharing, I love adventures like that – and I like that gorgeous photo of that roof best, too. Just beautiful. – But your adventure with Lady Astor beats everything. And it’s worrysome. Poor Celi. Still hurting. I’m so sorry for you. Not a good cow at all, so evil she is.
I hope you have been reconciled with the world at the end of that day by that wonderful Shakshuka. It’s an oriental dish, isn’t it? What a carefully prepared and pretty laid table!
Have a nice and lovely day!
So very sorry to hear that Lady Astor was behaving badly and that you got kicked. Do take care of your poor face and nose. The shakshuka sounds so good I’m going to look at the recipe right now. Maybe dinner tonight as I have some kale I need to use up.
Oh what a terrible pain to endure. That cow is not to be trusted. Just terrible. why isn’t she grateful you are milking her and keeping her nice and clean…and healthy…that’s what I want to know.I hope you heal quickly, Celi.
Your grain bin photos are so special. And the one of you with Boo and Ton walking so close to you when they could choose to be off by themselves is priceless. They adore you!
Ouch and triple ouch! Celi do not neglect your face. I was not kicked in the face but blacked out and fell like a tree in a storm. I came to in time to realise my face was bouncing off the ground! A passer-by insisted she call an ambulance. At the hospital an X-Ray was taken and read, grazes were cleaned up, and I was given a booster Tetanus shot. Two days later half my face was numb so I went back and had more X-Rays and a scan, which proved there were four breaks to the bones in my cheek and close to my eye. That was 2011 and my face still goes numb. Please do not neglect yourself, John, the animals ans we the Fellowship need you! Healing hugs from across the pond.
Oh, my dear! That sounds horrible… – I wish you all the best, Grannymar! Never shall happen again!
Irmi
Thank you irmi. After five blackout falls My cardiologist was brought in to see what was going on inside. he immediately stopped my BP meds, banned me from driving until he had an answer and began a long trawl through cardiac tests. After eight monthes with no more blackouts it was decided the meds were at fault and I happily driving again.
BP meds means blood pressure med, doesn’t it? So you have had a very good and watchful cardiologist. Thank goodness…
You got it in one, irmi. Blood pressure meds. Alas, I have terrible problems with all meds. I carry a printed list of current meds and all those I have problems with, at all times. it makes visits to Drs and hospital easier.
Please do listen to the fellowship, and to Littlesundog and Grannymar in regards to concussions and such, as often you don’t know you have one. I was once kicked in the mouth by a cow, made my way to my neighbors, and she put me to bed as I couldn’t answer many of the simple questions she asked me! Do be careful with Lady Astor! So wonderful to see you in the photos! xo
Lots of good tips already for your poor face, so I’ll just add that, if it were myself, I’d go to my chiropractor to have my neck checked out. I’m hugging you from here…
Love the pop of colour pics of you, Ton and Boo in the fields… but bloody Lady A, she’s bugger of a cow and it’s not that cows are dumb -the opposite that makes it worse… she has a willful streak that one. Looking for wild kittens sounds fun!
Damn. I’m so glad she didn’t get your eye, or break a bone in your face. As patient and gentle as you’ve been…maybe time for milking hobbles? Not painful or unkind, just restricts the movement of hind legs during milking.
Take care of yourself – so many critters (the ones who are NOT trying to knock you out) depend on you 🙂
OUCH!!! Cow kicks can’t feel good at all. I hope you are okay.
The girls and I are still taking horseback riding lessons and other than being thrown from the horse, my biggest fear is getting kicked by a horse. So far the only thing that has happened is having my foot stepped on by my horse. That was nothing compared to a cow kick in the face though.
There is a place in Bloomington/Normal called Rader Family farms. They have grain bins with just enough corn in them that the kids can climb in a play in the corn with buckets, shovels, trucks, etc. Very fun!!!!!
Thanks for the lovely post. I hope your face feels better soon.
Noone who has borne five grown children or is grandmother to three [on my last count] is ‘entitled’ to have the profile you do!! Entirely unfair to the rest of the female human race! Hope the ruddy face heals – if the mucky print reached the chin areas . . . take a wee bit of care re infection: not a good place!! ehamama says . . .
Lots of wool to sort! Hope your face heals quickly. That must have been awful! You look so cute in your dress, I envision the winter “clown suit,” so it’s nice to see summer attire. So that’s what the inside of a grain bin looks like. I’ve only seen the outsides of them.
I have a scar on my face from when one of my emus (now re-homed) accidentally clawed me when I was getting him over a fence. So I hope your nose heals! Shakshuka recipe please x
Oh Celi, so sorry to hear about being hoofed in the face. Do hope you are feeling better today.
🙂 Mandy xo
I know this post is a couple weeks old, but I stumbled across this today and wanted to share http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2014/04/milk-cow-kicking.html. Probably things you already know, but hopefully there is a little learning in the post somewhere.