Granny's Homemade Ways: More Winter Games and Lessons for Boys and Girls, January 14, 2010

The good news is that Mother Nature has given all of us a break for a few days! The temperatures are warmer and the wind has died down and that means outdoor play days for all the horses and animals. We were able to take horse blankets off and give them a good airing out. The horses got a good grooming along with a back scratch too!.

The only down side to warm weather is MUD! Although the pastures and paddocks are designed to keep the horses from tearing up the ground near the gates and the doors to the barn, there still is an awful lot of mud in the pasture for the horses to get into. Although muddy hooves can be a big cleaning problem, it is a real challenge to clean a horse that has decided to roll in the mud! These 1000+ pound animals become large mud puppies when they decide to roll. My own horse, Penny, rolled and was such a mess! Her halter was full of mud and stuck to her mane. The main problem (no pun intended) is that it is too cold to give the horses a bath. So instead we dig out the cowboy brush, also known as a mud brush, and we brush...a lot. If the mud is dried, we try to get out the chunks and use hair conditioner-just as you do- to soften up everything and help to get the mane comb through.

As we enter the middle of January our thoughts turn to spring and planting. Planting and growing things are an important part of life at Tickle Belly Farm. To make the best use of our land, we plant acres of hay which is then used as bedding and food for the horses. They hay is harvested and bundled into bales and stored in our hay barn. We have a special machine which breaks up the hay into small pieces so that it can be used for our horses' bedding. "Bedding" is the straw that is placed on the floor of the stall so that the horses can stand or lay down in comfort. The rest of the hay is feed to the horses on a daily basis. Some horses get a "flake" or small armful of hay while others get a little more. The amount is usually determined by the size of the horse and their appetite. One can not afford to waste hay these days!

We also have a large vegetable garden on Tickle Belly Farm. Tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, green beans, squash and carrots are just a few of the vegetables that we grow. We plant a lot of carrots because we share them with our horses. Of course they also enjoy the fruit from our small orchard and strawberry patch. I'll save the story of our orchard and our annual strawberry race for another time.

Do you like flowers? I certainly do! Tickle Belly Farm has been blessed with a wide variety of flowers and a few small ponds. But I still like to add new and unsual plants each year just to keep the garden interesting. The seed catalog just arrived and I think that I would like to invite the butterflies to our garden. There are so many kinds of plants I don't know where to start!

When you get tired of looking at the snow (and mud) perhaps you can plan a garden. It is never too soon to start planning! I've included some crafts and even a story to help you think about spring and the lovely gardens that will grow again.

Since the weather has let up a little, how about putting on your coat and boots and taking a walk in the woods? We are out to find fruit tree twigs and sprays from flowering shrubs. We are going to make them blossom while the ground is still covered in snow!

The best time to do this is around February 1st. Cut the twigs or sprays and place them in well heated water in a warm room. The water will need to be changed every day until the twigs or sprays grow roots. Remember, the water needs to be very warm but not hot.

The twigs or sprays will blossom in a few weeks. When the root are several inches long, you can transplant your new plants to flower pots. Then, when spring really arrves in a few months, you will have new plants to put in your garden! Happy Planting!

(This story is one of many that were published in 1924 in a large, hardcovered book called "The Annual Mammoth Book" by Whitman Publishing, Racine, Wisconsin.  This book has Bible stories, Mother Goose fairy tales and other stories like "Black Beauty". But what I have always loved were the short stories-all 365 of them- that were meant for daily reading at nap or bedtime. I would give credit to the author but unfortunately, none of the authors of the daily stories are listed. I hope that you enjoy this one!)

One day a naughty little Sunbeam decided he wanted to see the world. He ran away from his brothers and sisters while they were at play.

That night when Mother Sunbeam called them and learned that one of them was missing, she said, "I must find him. He is too young to be out in the world alone."

She put all the other Sunbeams to sleep, then started to search for the runaway. She spent many hours trying to find him.

The little Sunbeam had spent the day dancing in and out of corners, whispering to the flowers and singing with the birds. He was very weary when night came. He crept into a piece of glass and went to sleep.

Mother Sunbeam searched for him all night. When morning came, shw was weary. She sat on a rock to rest. "Where, oh, where, could he have gone?" she wondered. Looking about she saw a piece of glass. There in the glass was her gleamimg Sunbeam, fast asleep.

She was so happy to find him unharmed that she locked him in the glass. So the runaway Sunbeam became the first diamond.