Money, money, money

Today we are talking money---it’s payday for the ladies (they get paid twice a month) and are getting more grivna since we are making more milk- they get paid more. They wanted to be paid a percentage of the amount we get for the milk (it's how they were paid before)- they keep track of how much milk each of them actually get from the cows they milk.
Unfortunately it looks like the amount we get paid for milk (and thus the amount they get) will be going down this week. The milk buyers say that they can’t continue to pay the 4 grivna a litter they have been paying for milk- Garry is going to try to get 3.7 but we’ll see if we can keep at least 3.5 a liter. Bargaining has started with stories of not being able to sell the milk...or sour cream... the price is dropping in the market... We have been talking with Danone, but Garry doesn’t want to hurt the buyers who have been buying our milk all winter.

The reasons for the milk price drop seem to be because the supply goes up now, cows are calving in the villages (nine months ago the cows went out to eat the spring grass- so it was prime time to get pregnant) meaning the price drop starts in February. I am sure it will be the same story in May when all the village cows get on the grass and make piles of milk.
Another theory I heard today is that during Lent the Orthodox population is not eating fat, contributing to the dropping demand for sour cream. Sour cream and cottage cheese is what the milk buyers make out of the unsold milk, and they are staples for cooking Ukrainian dishes.

Garry has found out what all the employees do with their pay- and he says it’s a great example of the importance of family to the average Ukrainian. Maxim sends about three-quarters of his salary to his mother to pay a debt that his family owes in his home village.
The milker ladies are Yana and Luba. Yana is 27 and her parents still live on the farm where the herd of cows came from- where she used to milk the cows before we bought them. She goes to visit them a few times a week, and is using her pay to buy two cows and two heifers that we didn’t buy from the lady farmer for her mother to set her up to milk cows. She has also bought the last two bull calves that were born here and is paying us for the milk they drink. I assume they will end up at her parents in the spring.
Luba is older and divorced. Garry found out that she has 3 sons but only one has a job so she is supporting them. Ukrainians finish high school at 16 – so they must be older than that. Jobs are hard to get and most don’t pay well. This is partly due to the world economy.

Garry tells me that even though the temperature is still down (-17 C at 8 pm tonight) the wind dropped off today and the barn warmed up inside to keep his big pipe in the head rails from freezing- although they were thawing the waterbowls this morning. It seems that Garry is going to get to try out his new feed ration at his new job consulting at the other farm, he met with the boss today.
Maxim was cleaning up the manure outside today, but is starting work on welding the vacuum line for the milking system that we hope to get working before spring. Victor and Maxim have been busy shopping around to the steel and necessary parts for it. The milker ladies seem excited about trying it out now.

Baby its cold outside

This morning it was -20, and if there were frozen water pipes yesterday at -14 C –you can bet there were frozen waterpipes in the barn today! Yesterday Garry had watered one side of the barn with the old hose and bucket method, before it unthawed in the afternoon. Good thing I had my valentine to keep me warm.
Today, for the first time the big black pipe that carries the water from the milkhouse out to the water bowls was frozen- before only the lines between and to the bowls froze. Garry and Maxim finally got the water unthawed about 2 o’clock. They took apart all the plastic lines, brought them into the milkhouse and poured hot water over them. Fortunately everything unscrews apart in the waterline- except the main waterline in front of the cows is the 3/4 inch steel headrail- Garry thinks that it may be froze solid in the morning- he says it is partly frozen- water just going though the center. The cows just don't drink enough when the get it going for them again- the ration with all that wet brewers' grain makes them less thirsty. But he's ready to go back to the hose and tub method if needed (he even put the hose in the milkhouse tonight so its thawed and ready)for a few days until it warms up and the headrail line thaws out again.

Seth and Jonah didn’t think it was as cold as yesterday when they went for their morning bread walk today- less wind according to Jonah. This explains why they came home with a little pail of ice cream. The wind is not helping in the attempt to keep things warm - the house is not as warm again- everyone is wearing a sweatshirt or fleece inside except Jonah (he did put on a thermal shirt when it was cold when we first came back- he seems to have a higher metabolism than the rest of us). Maxim seems to be running the little electric heater in his room full blast- the door popped open this morning so I snuck in a turned it down- feels like summer in there- good thing he has a small room. Explains why he never wanted a fan last summer when we were putting the air conditioner in our bedroom.

Yesterday the red and white bred heifer that came with the herd in September calved, she had the second red and white bull calf in a row now- the heifer calf streak is definitely over. Yana is milking the new one, and Garry says she talked to it the whole time she was milking this morning- pretty girl- good cow—and so forth according to Maxim. Sounds like the heifer was no trouble to milk- sometimes fresh heifers are none too sure that getting milked is a good thing and stomp around (or even kick) until they realize it feels good to get rid of all that milk from their udder!


Meanwhile I cleaned the fridge- since we didn’t get to go shopping Sunday afternoon we are looking at a lot of empty space! We bought the European-style one with the fridge on top, freezer on the bottom (last summer when we had so much stuff in the garden we bought the upright freezer next to it. It isn’t quite big enough when we have company, but bigger ones are taller and I have to stand on my toes to reach the back of the top shelf! You can see my winter clothes dryer next to the fridge.


Hope to get into Metro today- or I’ll need to pick up a few things in the village- like butter- and they only have unsalted butter in the stores here in Nikolipolia. We found out during the first October we were here- after a couple months of eating toast that always tasted “off”- that one brand has a line of "salted French style butter” it says that in English even- but we didn’t know to buy it until we were visiting someone! Look for the green and gold wrapper ...mmmm – turns out everything is better with the salted butter you grew up eating. It costs a little more, so we buy cheaper unsalted brands for cooking, and save the good stuff for spreading on bread.




Just got back at 6:30- here's the road going there around 4 pm- this side was better than the way back. A few places the plows had not plowed the outside lane enough- but had plowed the median grass- a little soft to drive on! It was good to see they were out trying to improve things moving some of the banks back- last year they waited until it melted. You can check out the temperature -11 and the road temp of -4on the highway just on the other side of the oblast(regional/county?) line.


We loaded up on groceries and headed home- it was interesting watching Garry drive in the dark- a few places where the snowbanks were high (6-8 Feet)the lanes got skinny- some place one - one and a quarter or half a lane- making traffic squeeze (more times on the return trip), watching out for trucks, slow cars, fast cars and potholes, making us glad to arrive home safely.

Garry's new job

On Saturday Garry phoned his mom to get his brother’s phone number (Charlie’s 50th birthday) and asked her if I had written on the blog about his new job. I told him I might have if he’d TOLD ME about it! So when he was at the farm with the big herd last week to talk about the crop planting, he somehow volunteered to do some herd managing, and will get paid a percentage of the increased milk payment. Which is why he was over there on Thursday and Friday mornings, checking the place out, before he suggests changes to make. The farm is in a village about 10 km away, named Molazaharina (or something like that).
Now the story Garry was telling Victor and Maxim about the guard trying to chase him off the day after they were over there to talk about stuff makes sense. They were laughing because he said one of the ladies gave the guard a talking too- waving her finger under his nose all the while (it is typical of older ladies scolding someone.)
I know Garry wants to change the ration- they will need more than the 4 ton of brewers’ grain they picked up on Tuesday. He says the ration is way too dry because they are feeding dry corn silage and straw- the brewers’ grain will increase protein, moisture, and make the corn silage last past June first. Spend a little to save a little later, and make more milk. The herd there is averaging 10 liters a cow a day, and our herd is doing 20 liters. The cows there could make more milk with better feed for sure as genetically they are at least as good as the ones we are milking.
Garry tells me that everything is fed the same ration, at the same time, milking cows, dry cows, and heifers. They go through twice a day and throw some grain on top. Not all the milking cows can get to the bunk to eat the grain, so first priority will be getting the grain to the milk cows. Getting more brewers’ grains mixed in the ration will fix this- they won’t need to feed additional grain, and everyone will get some. Right now with the 4 tons they bought last week they are putting a small amount in.
He says that the fresh feed is being fed on top of the old feed that was not eaten from the day before. Next change- getting that swept up and fed as part of the dry cow and/or heifer feed, so the milking cows get the best stuff possible. He says he watched milking in the parlor, there are meters so he could see how much they were giving- the highest producer had 12 liters (they are milked twice a day, I believe) and most were at 6 or less. From the number of young calves in the calf barn, he doesn’t think many cows have calved recently. He says the calves look good, all work in there is done by hand- there is no shortage of workers- but thinks they may need more protein.
Another change he wants to make is for the springers (dry cows who will be calving soon) seems like they are getting the worst accommodations on the farm- they get moved to some tiny stalls with no straw for bedding (remember straw is for feeding cows here.) So he tells me he is going to spend a couple hours a day over there for the first two weeks- then just check that things are being done right for a couple hours a weeks after that. He takes a thermos full of coffee with him and his new travel mug when he goes, instead of playing spider solitaire on the computer while drinking coffee in the morning.
Guess it will keep him from underfoot- the boys and I are finding we are just getting schoolwork going in the morning when Garry and Maxim come in for coffeetime, and turn on the TV, boil the water, and wonder what I have made for breakfast or cook their own (don’t be fooled- Garry had toast and coffee before going outside and Max usually warms up leftovers in the microwave first thing in the morning. Jonah has been taking my computer- the one they use for biology into their bedroom, where they do their math lessons. Still the computer program with the other courses is Garry’s one on the desk in the kitchen and the same one everyone else is checking the internet on.
Monday morning- still no internet up- we are supposed to be getting a different internet service today, but we’ll see how that goes. Of course I put a new phone card on our internet credit on Friday- in the middle of posting the internet cut out- now we have a 50 grivan credit with Kievstar.
Garry came back from the other barn today wondering why they bed up the bred heifer barn beautifully while the milk cows and sick/springing cows get no straw. He says the milk cow barn looks like the stalls are only cleaned when the alleys are scraped (and that does not happen everyday.) The springers had a little old silage under them, but the cows are all so dirty (which means mastitis must be a problem- udder infections from bacteria entering the udder- cows produce less milk and lower-quality milk- there are white cells fighting off the infection.)He’s also wondering if the cows relay get fresh feed everyday- or just when its gone. Yesterday’s low temperature (it was -14 C again at 7 pm last night) must have frozen the water over there sometime on the weekend- someone had a hose and was filling the barrel when Garry was over there, and the milk cows were fighting over it which means they had been without water for a while. Since milk is mostly water you can bet production was down a lot this morning.
Garry says he picked up a lady walking out to the highway from the other village, she knew who he was and talked all the way to the turn on the highway to Nikolipolia, where he dropped her off to catch a marschuka . She wanted to know all about us and our farm here, sometimes she talked so fast he couldn’t understand her, but he answered lots of questions in Russian. He also tried his phone while he was in the other village- he says the cell tower is there- but still didn’t get through to me- the network is still messed up.

Snowy Sunday

The sun is shining brightly on the snow- it’s Sunday one o’clock in the afternoon. We are supposed to be at church in Dnepropetroesk for the church luncheon today. Hopefully Garry is there, he took off with a lot of milk in the car this morning (and the salads I made last night) saying that it would be better if only one person got stuck in the snow. He hoped the highway was plowed and figured that if he got stuck between the village and the road that he’d phone and Maxim could bring the tractor to pull him out. It took longer to get things done in the barn this morning- Garry said it was like a blizzard when they went out to do chores this morning. It was minus 12 C, this morning, got up to -6 for a high. Then they used the loader to clean the driveway of snow, so they could get the car around from the side of the house to the other side in front of the barn to load up the milk, since the tires were spinning on the ice under the snow.

One problem with his plan of going it alone- no internet service this morning also means that cell service (we have 3G cell phone internet from Kievstar) is poor- the network has been down or calls aren’t getting through- my phone rang half an hour ago- I could see it was Garry calling- but when I answered nothing – my phone informed me I had missed the call. So I’ve tried phoning him but either no network or user busy, so who knows what happened. Based on when he phoned I’d guess he made it and church was over. 1:20 and the phone rang- once again Garry and I missed connecting - my end Hello! Hello! So I put on a coat and shoes and went outside (where it sometimes works better) and tried calling him back- TWICE- with no success getting through. There is at least four maybe six inches of new snow, that’s drifting in the driveway again. The drifts in the front yard look to be 2-3 feet high.

Last night at 9:30 pm we discovered the pretty snowflakes of the afternoon had turned bad- that’s when the lights went out. The snow had coated the trees and apparently the powerlines, and the wind picked up- in fact after Garry went outside to see if the ladies needed help- they are normally just finishing milking at that time but still are finishing up and washing things until about ten. Maxim had already gotten there- he was visiting a friend in the village, and had turned on the tractor lights so they could see what they were doing. The boys had found a light a wind-up flashlight (after lighting matches- why can boys always locate matches? Still shudder to think of the time our son Josh – about nine- and his cousin Adam spent a Sunday afternoon lighting matches in my bedroom and hiding them under the cupboard while we were milking- of course they couldn’t understand why I could smell it later) and we had managed to turn on the battery powered push light over the toilet – the bathroom as no windows and with the number of times the powers out, it seemed to be a good idea. Fortunately the batteries still worked. So we all went to bed (the boys watching Friends on battery power) and were amazed to wake up and find the lights on- they came back around 4 am- normally power outages are only fixed in daylight.

Got through to Garry at quarter to three- they were still eating lunch, church was packed and he said all the milk sold. He said Victor had only sold about half of his usual amount of milk as his church had poor attendance because of the weather. He said he was glad we didn’t come with him- only one lane open on the highway with a foot of snow in it- the other lane had 4 foot drifts. Hopefully the highway has improved when he comes back this afternoon-although the wind is still gusting and blowing snow around occasionally. Turned out that was a bit too hopeful- he got home around 5:30, says it’s crazy- the highway’s still not plowed, sometimes only one lane is drivable but the crazy fast driving SUV’s are still trying to get people to move over so they can blow by the slower cars, even when there is no place to go, or a giant drift coming up. Let’s hope for real plowing soon- the sudden unplowed lane was the cause of many accidents last year- and some speedracer/passer cut in inches in front of our car at one of the sections where there was a wall of snow blocking the slow lane- scary when you’re sitting in the passenger seat. No warning signs, so unless you drove it everyday, surprise- check out my posts from last February and March. Garry said he saw a jackknifed tractor trailer and three cars in the ditch on the way home- all going in the other direction, toward Dnepro. Apparently in the morning, he was the only car on the road, although it took longer than normal to drive in- and he had wait while Victor found men to carry the milk at his first stop. Since Garry’s back is better now, he wasn’t taking any chances on reinjuring it. He left the milk in the car at Morningstar until after the service; since it had already started, and then found men to carry it in- his plan to drive it to the door was foiled- the guard was not at his post (he had given him a gift of a bottle of milk last week.)

The boys were disappointed when they went outside today- they couldn’t finish the snow fort they started yesterday, the texture of the snow has changed from that nice packing snow of yesterday. So they did their biology tests after lunch. (Congratulations on 98% on the immune system Jonah- best grade this year!)

Maybe the internet will come back up so I can upload this post! Not yet – just woke up at 1:30 am. Hey its 5:30 Sunday afternoon in Manitoba, hi everyone- what’s for dinner? Internet and phone service has fianlly come back up- Monday afternoon 2:30.

Snegbaba

It feels warmer today- around zero C, wet snow falling, the kind for making snowmen or snegbabas – snow babooshka- or grandmother. Seth and Jonah worked on this one after lunch and before we did the weekly Biology review (to prep for the test.)We had an inch or two of snow last night, while the wind was blowing. I do not think they have ever made a snowman in Manitoba in February- too cold. In Manitoba the snow doesn’t stick together except in fall and spring for snowmen and snowballs. It does crunch and squeak underfoot and sparkle in the moonlight however. Thirty below will freeze the inside of your nose if your take a deep breath – at least the first few winters.

Garry reports that the cows were up in production again- over the 550 liter mark yesterday, even though he has been cutting back the amount of sunflower meal that he had been feeding. In fact, he is going to cut it out altogether since the ration says the cheaper ground wheat will be fine with the brewers’ grain. He has found someone to plant the corn and alfalfa for him in the spring, so he won’t have to buy a seeder or corn planter. He is planning to buy a used manure spreader, and of course the milking equipment and milk cooler in the spring. Right now the milk stays cold enough but we want to have refrigeration before the hot days arrive in May.

Garry just came in from a walk to the store and tells me that Seth and Jonah are having a snowball fight with the boys down the street- they were going to get a candy bar before we started Biology- this extra work on Saturday isn’t going well this week! It seems boys are the same everywhere when it comes to snow. I guess I’ll get to work making the Tim Horton’s style double chocolate donuts recipe I found online.

Giant feather pillow fight snowflakes are falling outside now, and Garry bought me an early Valentines' present- Raffaello- the snowflakes look as big as the coconut covered balls.

Cooking in Ukraine

Breakfast time! Its the biscuit-ham-egg homemade mcmuffin alternative this morning!
Since we just got back to Ukraine from Canada, I will tell you why I cook differently here. I mentioned in the “what we miss about Canada” post that I make the basic yeast products when we want them- in this photo I'm boiling bagels before putting them in the oven last week. (everything except bread- if you enjoy a heavy unsliced bread- white or dark, come to live in a Ukrainian village- it’s delivered to the store by truck daily- the boys walk down to buy it every morning-along with a treat of candy or ice cream bars.)


You gain a real appreciation for the phrase “ the best thing since sliced bread”_ when you saw up ¾ a loaf of bread for dinner everyday- Maxim doesn’t think it’s dinner unless you he has 4-5 slices of “hleb” even if the mail course has biscuits or cornbread in. Dinner is sometime between noon and one (most Ukrainians think 2 pm is a good time for dinner.) A real Ukrainian dinner consists of soup, a salad (not a green one with lettuce though) and the main course with a meat and potato or grain/macaroni/rice, followed by tea. When we had the Ukrainian guys here building the barn I had to feed them once a day, so I made this kind of meal for them. However Maxim has had to adjust to a more North American style menu after he came back to work for us- lucky for everyone he likes spicy food.

Except for Saturday pizza night, it’s often make your own at suppertime, Garry bought an electric sandwich maker last year, and he and the boys love to make pizza sandwiches with it (added bonus- he slices his own bread for them.) The boys like to warm up leftovers in the microwave. I am still waiting to get a new microwave- last summer Garry tried to dry corn silage in it- to test how much moisture was in it- left Jonah “watching it” and it caught fire inside the microwave. So when I got back (and still) everytime someone uses the microwave I smell burnt silage (the guys insist they can’t smell it- but it drives me crazy!)


We bought a new drip coffeemaker this month(its in the bagel picture) we’d been looking for a new one, since the one we’d been using from Victor’s bed and breakfast would not keep the coffee hot (although it cooked the counter underneath) but Metro only had little bitty 2 cup size ones- or really fancy expensive expresso machine kinds. We got a nice big and inexpensive one at Foxmart, and a new toaster to boot. The toaster we bought after arriving has not popped up the toast in more than a year, and we burnt many slices of bread with it. So this time we did not buy the cheapest one. We bought our second electric kettle before we left for Christmas- the first one quit working while making hot water for tea when we had all our visitors from church that Sunday- It just couldn't stand the workload, I think! I also have a crock-pot. You can get bread machines, juicers, meat grinders, food dehydrators, blenders, or food processors if you want one.

I also go through a lot more baking powder here, muffins, biscuits, pancakes, cakes and cookies. I finally bought a 500 gm container from Metro- the most common way to buy baking powder here is a set of 5 tiny bags with about 2 tablespoons in. Baking soda is more commonly used in recipes here. I am still trying to find a brownie recipe that works well here- I think it’s the sugar which has a thick texture and sort of unusual smell. I had to add flour to my muffin recipe to make it the right texture- it was more like cake batter than muffin dough. For pancakes you need to make syrup since there is none to buy in the stores- we got a recipe from Canadian missionaries when we arrived in July 2009. You need cream of tartar to make the syrup- they gave us that, and a bottle of maple flavour.

One thing I was prepared for- when your recipe calls for a can of mushroom soup, make white sauce – thanks to PJ, the wonderful hostess we stayed with during Summer English Institute in 2008- there’s no Campbell’s soup here! You can find knorr brand broth powder at Metro, and a brand of cup-of-soup like products. So plan on dirtying a few extra pans when you cook here. I spend more time on cooking here than at home- but I am not spending hours everyday feeding calves, the kids point out.

In the summer there is an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables but now in February its mostly potatoes, onions, carrots and cabbage for the inexpensive choices. There are tomatoes, cucumbers, mushrooms,and green peppers at Metro also, and sometimes I get some for variety. Lettuce is sometimes there (then we have tacos!) Celery is so expensive (compared to home) that I use more onions and a sprinkle of celery seed in recipes. I have been experimenting with many kinds of cabbage salads and side dishes this year.

Good news- since I started this post two weeks ago, I have fixed my favourite brownie recipe, using something I noticed when I accidently made a nice cake last year when I put the sugar in with the other ingredients that got boiled on the stove before adding into the batter. I melted my butter on the stove, then added the sugar and cooked it for a minute. This nicely combined the sugar into the batter when I cooled it, and added the eggs and dry ingredients, so there was no hard sugary crust on the bottom of the pan.

mid-February

It was amazing to see how much snow had melted when we drove into Dnepropetroesk Wednesday morning - it was about 9 degrees on Sunday, and the sides of the road were nearly melted away, fields were clear, except for the shady spots, and places where it had been piled. It was melting all day, with some big puddles in the low pots on the road when we drove home around 5 pm- the road temp sign a few miles before the turn into the village was working (for the second time in the last year) and the air temp was three and the road temperature was plus 2. The temp dropped below zero today with the wind blowing so yesterday’s puddles have ice on tops and the snow flurries were flying for a while, as you can see in the photo.
I haven’t posted in a couple days so here’s the latest news- after taking it easy for a few days, swallowing a few Advil when I could talk him into taking them, and some free unskilled back massages by yours truly- Garry says his back is improving, although he’s still standing up really slowly.

Yesterday it was warm (above zero) and Garry and the boys and I spent most of the day in Dnepro- monthly team meeting was in the morning, it was good to see everyone and catch up on the news. One family just returned from a vacation in Egypt the week the riots broke out- luckily they had planned to spend all their time snorkelling in the Red Sea at their resort, so their trip was unaffected. Good thing we went last year- it was really strange to watch the news last week and see fire bombs flying in front of the museum we visited last May. The boys enjoyed playing Killer Bunnies, and some playstation2 with other teens. I had brought some spicy soup for lunch, and Orben did not need to add any hot sauce. When I say spicy, I mean edible, but hot.

We made a few other stops to trade stuff with a friend at the mall, and to buy the boys a new TV for their gaming station in their room- we had been trying to find one since Garry had given the “old” one to the milker ladies when he had satellite hooked up for them in October. All the stores had lots of flat screens – but no old-fashioned cheap ones. Garry and I had bought a few small appliances(coffeemaker and a toaster) at Foxmart about ten days ago, and discovered a whole row to choose from, so we told the boys we’d take them to get one when we were downtown.

Garry is excited- he thinks he has now secured about 80 acres to plant this spring- maybe 60 in corn and the rest in alfalfa (with peas and grain as a covercrop.) On Tuesday the “big dairy farmer” that we buy some stuff off (where we bought jhome-beetpulp in the fall) sent a guy over with a wagon to buy 4 tons of the brewers’ grains. His farm feeds corn silage and straw, and milks about a hundred cows. We are now milking twenty six, and are making over 512 liters a day. We have a new milk buyer- the original two, and the new one that started buying in January can’t take it all (at least not at the current price.)






Maxim has been working on welding and rebuilding the precept (wagon) we have been borrowing for about the last year from Serosia, one of the neighbours. Every time they use it something else falls off it. He got a lot done with the warm weather while Garry was resting his back, but ran out of welding rods yesterday. I took a photo of the progress just before dark today.
They are still looking for the parts they need to fix the one Garry bought when he returned in January- as you can see it’s a two-parter! They think they have the model number now, and hope to find the broken part. You can see why Garry was checking out the nice-looking one on the trailer at the farm show. It was made by KAMAZ, the company that makes trucks in Ukraine (former Soviet-style) the most common truck on the road (think dump truck like-not pickup truck- you hardly ever see a pickup truck here.)

Finally, Garry and Victor spent some time changing/fixing tires in that cold wind this afternoon- they went somewhere and had both the front and rear driver's side tires blow when they hit a big hole going slowly (like 10 or 15 km/hr Garry says- Victor was driving.)
Hopefully Garry and Maxim have better luck driving the highway tonight- they are going to see a basketball game in Dnepro. I turned down the chance to go, I prefer games when I am the mother of the players. By the way- congrats boys I hear you won last night in Winnipeg- and what do you mean Micah played part of the game after having spent most of the day at the hospital?