Hard work goes a LONG way...

TheWhen we moved into this old farm house almost four years ago, I had a list a mile long of projects to complete!  I have tackled quite a few of those projects, but keep adding new ones!  I decided that with this last nice week of good weather, I would tackle our wooden deck/porch.  This sounded like a quick and easy project...I was wrong!

To start, I headed to our local Lowe's.  I spoke with a very knowledgeable lady about how to care for a neglected deck.  She led me to a wonderful product!  She told me NOT to power wash my deck, which I was planning on doing!  She took me down an aisle to the Olympic Deck Wash.  I can't describe the awesomeness of this product!  I simply poured the product into a garden sprayer (which I also purchased), then I simply sprayed the entire surface of the wooden deck with the Deck Wash.  I sprayed the spindles, the floor, everything!  I had so much fun!  I may have gotten a bit carried away though.  I went through THREE of the bottles of Deck Wash.  These were 2-1/2 gallons EACH!  Thankfully, I have a bit left and can do our wooden doors and our pool deck.  Whew!




I was instructed to let is set for about 15 minutes, then hose it off, which I did.  I then had to let it set for a few days to ensure that the surface was dry.  We had a couple downpours, which really put me behind schedule!

Then my porch went from being old, dingy, grimy and slick when it rained (because of mildew I'm guessing) to this bare, dry, stripped down wood.  It was an improvement, but still, it needed some major work!

So back to Lowe's I went, for more advice!  Wow!  There sure are a LOT of options for paints, stains, etc!  I was overwhelmed, to say the least!  I am SO thankful for my wonderful Mom who helped me out!  We finally settled on a chocolate stain, so the wood grain would still show through.  Our roof is brown, our house is white.  We did shutters and storm doors in black, so we figured the wood deck should match the roof to tie it all in.  It was an awesome choice!

It took us THREE days just to stain the deck!  It is 200 square feet of beauty now!  Before, it was an embarrassment!  Lol!

Here is a link to the stain that we purchased.  It is AMAZING!  I can't stress this enough!




So, now that the deck is done...who wants to see pictures?!?!  Be prepared to be amazed!

The BEFORE, with the water hose...

The DURING, the left side is stripped bare, the right side has some lovely stain on it!

(Notice the floor is still bare!) 😬

Here are toe shots of the DURING awhile I was staining the deck.

The floor AFTER!!!!!

The lovely railing! It's just beautiful!

Ok,so there's a little 'how-to' and maybe it will inspire you to tackle a project!!!!!

My FAVORITE day of the year!

Today, My Farmer let me sleep in a little! We have one sick kiddo, so I was thankful for the extra rest! But I couldn't sleep too much...I was too excited! Today is my favorite day of the whole year! The day we work cows! 

My Farmer called all of the cows up to the corral and the corral yard. The cows meandered around while munching on some fresh grass. My Farmer & I got everything prepared last night. We only give our cattle one single vaccine called Blackleg. It is only used once when they are young. We also gave them a minimum dose of wormer. That's it. That's the ONLY things the cows get all year long. Tags are sorted, needles are purchased, everything is set!

My farmer got all of the cows into the corral holding lot. Then he came to get me. Out we went. He would walk the cows, one at a time, up the corral lane. We had another person catching the cows in the head gate. When the cows were stopped, I would pour the wormer on the cow, then I would give each calf the blackleg injection. We would call out the number of the animal, it's sex and what we did to the animal. She recorded ALL of the information in a notebook for us. It is a family job when we work cows! We really missed our oldest son who is sick with a sinus & ear infection. Our youngest son didn't really help much, but he had a great time learning! 

All of our cows were ran through, then they were turned into a new field. They were SO happy to get some new grass!

Yes, today was a LOT of work, but we have a wonderful time as a family! Some years it's a horrible mess with cows being mean or jumping a gate. Some years you lose your temper or patience. But this year...this year was perfect! Even on bad working & sorting days, it's still a wonderful experience. 

Time to re-prioritize

I am the most forgetful person! The kids laugh, my husband is my human calendar, it's bad...like really bad! My kids ask if I have my keys, phone, sunglasses, purse, etc. before we leave the house. My husband will text me reminders through out the day. I utilize the calendar app on my phone. You would think I could remember things!

A dear friend of mine loaned me a book, a wonderful life changing book! It's called 'The Best Yes', by Lysa Terkeurst.  My dear friend is always looking out for me. She is good for my soul. She brings me back to reality, she prays with me, she laughs with me & she's even cried with me. I love her! Anyway, she saw how overwhelmed my life was. She knew what I needed. I needed to see that I was telling everyone Yes, whether I had the time or not, whether I wanted to or not, at any cost, I couldn't say no! I can only read a few pages at a time in this book...it hits home. It's sad and embarrassing that I let my life be decided by so many other people. So...it's time to take back MY time. It's a slow, painful process, but the world will go on if I say NO. They will just ask the next person on the list....the world won't stop! Lol!

So, by freeing my life of other peoples needs, I'm hoping to be more mindful of small things, like my keys, phone, purse, etc. Then maybe my sweet little kiddos can worry about more important things, like whether the kitty cat has had enough snuggles for the day! 

Welcome September!!!!

With the start of a new month comes many new things on our farm! Believe it or not, we're still calving!!! We calve just about all year round. Many farms try to have all of their calves in a shorter (8-10 week) time frame. We have never got around to doing that. Ha! So, calving year round seems to work for us! We had two calves in one week recently. One was born on our oldest sons 11th birthday! So, of course, we let him name the baby heifer calf. 

We purchased all of the strawberry plants & most of the raspberry bushes at a local nursery this past weekend! We got them in the hard, dry ground last Saturday & have been hauling LOTS of water to them daily. We already have raspberries and strawberries producing! We are SO excited to be able to add those to our farm for ourselves & our customers!!!

As I said before, our oldest son turned 11 years old recently! Wow! I can't believe how fast time flies! He should still be a toddler! He is an amazing,,tender hearted, kind, caring young man. He has a sense of humor like his dad! He is a bit shy, until you get to know him! He is an amazing young man & I'm so proud of him! I'm so thankful that god chose me to be his mom! 

With the unofficial end of Summer coming up this weekend, we have been doing lots of things on the farm. We have closed our pool. :-( We are cleaning things up and preparing for the inevitable....Winter! Yuck!

Well, time to get back to the stove & finish fixing supper for my family! 

A wonderful Summer....

It's been amazing! I absolutely LOVE having my kids home! It's fantastic!

Let's see, last week my kids showed in our local county Fair. My youngest is still too little, but next year! My middle one is in her last year of Mini, she was awesome! She showed a 265 lb. Holstein steer. My oldest is in his 2nd year of 'real' 4-H. He showed the same Holstein steer as my daughter, he showers an 860 lb. Holstein steer & an 1,010 lb. Holstein steer. He also showed in Showmanship. He came home with 2 second place ribbons & 2 third place ribbons. The next day he showed a Holstein heifer calf. He won Grand Champion in Showmanship. He also won 1st place in his class, then followed up by winning Grand Champion in overall Dairy Heifer. So it was a good day!

I've been canning like crazy! I've done tomato juice, green beans, blackberry jam & peach jam! Yum! 

I've also whipped up some AMAZING recipes lately! Chocolate banana brownies! So good!!!! Even the kiddos liked them!

So, I finally purchased the 21 Day Fix program. It seems like a basic idea, but I LOVE to cook & bake & wonder how the containers will all work, so we'll see! If nothing else, I hope to eat more veggies!!!

We just finished doing hay this past week! Whew! That was a huge undertaking! I believe we are going to have to purchase another baler before next year! 

Here's a great picture I took tonight from my back yard! It was so much more amazing in person!

So much has happened...

It's been a while since I wrote a blog entry! I tell myself every single day that I should write, but get sidetracked. 

Our local Farmers Market is going well! Vendors have increased & more people seem to be coming weekly. We have lots of repeat customers & many new customers weekly! We are so glad that people are questioning their food and where it is raised! 

So, we have added a lot to our farm lately! We have our breeding cows, our replacement heifers, our stock for freezer beef and lots of babies. We got a new bull almost three months ago. He is just now old enough to start doing his job. We are always studying cattle and breeds and finding ways to better our herd. We always have docile animals and polled cattle. (Polled cattle are cattle that are bred to NOT have horns.) This is a bit safer for us. 😉 

We also have our laying hens. We have five layers and 1 rooster. I love my chickens! I never thought I'd be a chicken person, but I love that they eat our veggie scraps and give us tasty, delicious eggs in return!!! 

We also have our two Tamworth pigs. One pig has had 5 babies. They are so sweet!!!! Again, I never thought I'd enjoy pigs, but I do! (Side note...I love all animals!) 😜 Our piglets are growing so fast! 

We also have 3 baby bottle goats that I JUST weaned, whew! Four babies taking bottles at the same time every day takes some coordination! Ha! I was so glad when the kids were out of school for Summer vacation to help more with the feedings! We also have 1 billy goat. They are great little weedeaters! They actually prefer the weeds to grass! So they are great to put on hillsides or anywhere that it's hard to weed eat!

We also recently got a new dog. We already had a Great Pyreenes, but added another one! 

As you can see, we are more old-fashioned farmers, where we have a little bit of everything and are not focused soley on one production method.

I got to help with a heifer birthing process this past Friday night! I am almost always at My Farmers Sid when a cow is having a difficult labor and delivery. Usually my father in law is also present. He has years of experience and is always so helpful on the farm. So I'm always there, but never too hands on since My Farmer & my father in law are helojg the Momma.

This past Friday night though, my father in law was out of town. My Farmer got home from his other farming job and noticed a heifer was in the field, having what seemed to be a difficult labor. I was just serving up supper when he walked in the door. So I threw it back in pans, threw on my boots and headed out to check on the Momma. We cut her from the herd and were walking her up to the corral. (She was in the furthest paddock/field from the corral.) We got her about 1/2 way there when she decided she didn't want to go. So she turned and went back with the herd. After much walking in the field, My Farmer was able to lasso her and get her to some shelter. I got to be hands on and help deliver this new baby calf. Oh and side note again...it was raining, no pouring while all of this was going on! We were drenched, slipping in the mud, hip height in water at times, it was not my idea of a fun Friday night! 😉 right as we get the calf delivered, our cities tornado sirens start going off! So we made sure Momma and baby could see each other and bond, then we headed back to the farmhouse. 

My Farmer later went back to check them. The Momma had decided she wanted no part of being a Momma! So we checked her day & night, with not much luck in getting the Momma to give this baby any attention. So we took it back up to the farmhouse. We built a small pen for is 102 lb baby and started bottle feeding it to ensure a good, healthy start. 

Today, My Farmer and my father in law worked cattle and put the Momma and baby together in the corral. Momma cow decided that she wanted to try to be a Momma! She let the baby nurse! So, we turned the rest of the herd back out to the field, took one cow to the processor and left Momma and baby in the corral pen to bond. 💗

Our newest baby that we needed to bottle feed. We are keeping a very close eye on him while he and his Momma are trying to bond.

Some of our piglets and one of our Mommas.

My Farmer had to clean out some water lines. So our water tank, which is fed directly from a pond, was out of commission. The cows had another pond behind them to drink from, but were quite happy when their tank was full again!

Some of our goats! They are so sweet!

The 1st day of Summer Vacation!!!

I love Summer! I love having my kids home every day. I love the relaxed, laid back Summer days. I love flying by the seat of our pants. I love that each dy is something new, an adventure. I usually stick to a schedule during the school year, with lots of variables thrown in...daily! Ha! But overall, I have a schedule that I follow, not only for my benefit, but the farm, our kids, etc. Now with Summer Break here, we can enjoy each day to the fullest! 

Today is the 1st day of Summer Break, so we got up a little later than normal. Then we drove about 30 minutes away to some Amish friends we've made. We had pre-ordered 5 gallons of strawberries when we picked up our last 5 gallons. So, not only did we pick up our 5 gallons, we bought 2 more also! Then we went to another Amish families home to get some spinach & lettuce. She cut it out of the garden while we waited. Yum! 

We came home & dug into the strawberries! 

Then I excised to try a new recipe! I found a recipe on the Pioneer Woman that sounded good, so with a few tweaks to the original recipe, I made homemade granola bars with a delicious choclate layer. Yummmm.... The kids kept asking me for more "dessert"! The have absolutely NO clue that these "dessert" bars have wheat germ, organic rolled oats, raw, organic local honey, organic molasses, almonds, etc! 

These bars were pretty easy to make & fairly quick! After they finish cooling, I'm going to wrap them up & put them in a container to TRY to save them for breakfasts this week! 

Up next, egg muffin breakfast cups! I'm going to cook up some sausage, add a bit of salt & pepper, a little spinach & green pepper or possibly a touch of kale, (if I can successfully hide it) and put it in muffin cups, then pour whipped eggs into the muffin cups. Then I will bake them & have healthy breakfasts for the week!

So, back to the kitchen I go, while the kids play & build forts all over my house! Welcome Summer! We've missed you!

Your local farmers....

I've been reading a fantastic book. It's by one of my favorite authors, Joel Salatin. If you are wanting to learn out the food system, check out his books. Our local library carries them. I tend to check them out & love them so much that I end up ordering them to refer back to often! 

There's a great section in the book that talks about how some people consider farmers unintelligent, that they don't know better & stay on the farm, not furthering their education. This couldn't be further from the truth! Farmers are quite intelligent and care about their land. So while many of their friends go to a popular college & move away for a high paying job, we go to college, spend the same amount of money for our education, then come back to the farm. Farmers won't get rich, but it's a passion. It's a desire to leave this land in better shape that we when we got it. It's a love of the animals, a desire to educate our small towns and to provide the option for people to have healthy food from a sustainable source. 

So, with that being said, here's a little background on My Farmer and myself. 😉

We were high school sweethearts. 💕 We were set up on a blind date. I was a city girl, he was a farmer. After high school, we went to a 2 year college. We got married 1/2 way thru our college years. We pushed on & finished. We both got our degree in Business. My Farmer majored in Retail, I majored in Marketing. We started farming while in college, borrowing some ground from My Farmers family. My Farmer worked off the farm to pay for the future farm we wanted, while I stayed home to raise our children. Two farms later, we are where we belong. We have both furthered our education. My Farmer takes many classes each year to learn new methods about sustainable farming, mob grazing, etc. He also works off the farm at a major university's research farm. So he farms around the clock! I am a few months away from receiving my Bachelors degree in Elementary Education. While I'm in 'school mode', I will continue on to receive my Masters in Education & Agriculture. 

So take comfort in knowing that your food is our full time job. We love each animal and sometimes we are up all night long during a difficult birthing process or to protect baby lambs or goats from predators. We weather storms to protect our animals. We spend every waking hour making sure all are comfortable, have fresh water and are healthy. Our days & nights are spent producing high quality, safe, lean, beyond organic foods for our family and yours!

We love the land, we love our animals & we love our job.  We are Right Where We Belong. 💕

Planning ahead...

The past two weeks were 'last minutes throw togethers' a at dinner time. I didn't plan ahead very well and felt like I was playing catch-up each evening. I have been rushed around with farm work taking up more & more time, also increasing my own school work load so that I can take my summer off to enjoy with my kids, along with all of the kids activities and field trips and the numerous field trips taking place here. So I sat down this afternoon with a stack of new recipes that I printed off and planned supper for each night this week.

I'm not sure which night is which yet, but here's the line-up!

Ranch Chicken Sandwiches with homemade potato chips and broccoli with cheese.
Pepperoni Pizza Burgers with homemade french fries and a side of raw veggies and ranch dip.
Speedy beef & bean burritos with Spanish rice and fresh sliced tomatoes
Fried Round Steak, Potatoes Au gratin and I've yet to figure out which veggie will go with this!
I am leaving one night free because we will either grill out, have homemade subs or possibly go out to eat.

Saturday night we had breakfast for supper, so I whipped up a bit extra for My Farmer to grab a quick breakfast sandwich each morning before heading out on the farm.

I'll post pics & recipes soon!

Friday & Saturday I ran down to some of our Amish friends to shop at their greenhouse to buy plants for my garden. My Farmer already had everything planted by Saturday afternoon! We have tomatoes, and lots of them, cucumbers, broccoli, watermelon, banana peppers, basil, cantaloupe, zucchini, green peppers, maybe more! Ha! I know that My Farmer planted 64 tomato plants for me!!! Early Girls, Better Boys, Beefsteak, grape tomatoes, Roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, sweet 100's, stripy cherry tomatoes, pink tomatoes, striped tomatoes, LOTS of tomato variety!

Here's my first batch that I purchased!

A trying night....

Last night, My Farmer checked the cows after he got home from his other farming job. He noticed one of our cows in labor & things just seemed a bit off. He watched her, then left to let her labor for a bit. He went back about 15 minutes later & not much had changed. So we all went down as a family to check her again. My Farmer & I thought we had better walk her up to the corral to keep a closer eye on her. My Farmer started walking her from the back field up to our corral while the kids & I drove the 4 wheelers & opened gates for them. Two hours later, we got her in! What should have taken 15 minutes took us 2 hours! She decided she could do things on her own, so she ran thru hot wire, decided to go for a swim in one of our ponds, and would tease us by getting within feet of the corral gate, then turn & go the opposite way! We finally called the rest of the herd up & just ran them all thru. We just separated her out once she was up there. She felt more comfortable with her herd nearby. (She's one of our younger cows.) 😉 

My Farmer was able to check her and it looked as if the calf was really big, making her delivery difficult. So he decided that she would need help during her delivery. My Farmers dad stopped by & was able to help out! Actually, My Farmers dad has even more experience with farming & was able to jump right in! (It's so nice having family nearby!) they were able to get the calf delivered pretty quickly, but sadly. It didn't make it. It was a huge heifer calf & was so pretty. Sadly, the labor & delivery was just too much for it since it was so big. 

I am so glad that all 3 of our children were able to be there with us & witness the entire process. It's a hard lesson, but one that they took in stride. We've watched countless births from 4-wheelers, trucks, our yard and porch, but this one was different. This one was hands on. 

After checking the cow, we decided she would recover just fine. So we let her out of the corral and she walked to fresh grass, ate a bit, then moved right back in place with her herd. 

A lot is happening...

Wow! A lot has happened since my last post! We have held two field trips and booked many more for this Spring! I have 4 booked in one day next week! 😬 We love sharing our farm with others & teaching them about the type of farming we do! We hosted 37 children & their chaperone along with 2 teachers. (It was a local preschool.)

 We gathered all of the children on the square hay bales to talk to them first. We welcomed them, thanked them for coming, talked about how things would work & gave out a few warnings, (stay with your group, don't wander off, ask before petting.) Thrn we broke them into groups. We were able to have 2 high school students spend the day with us helping talk about animals, moving groups, etc. 

I took my group to our Tamworth pigs first. I had our pigs in a trailer and asked the kids to guess what was in the trailer just by using their ears. The kids had so much fun guessing! I explained how the pigs are a year & a half old, both had babies in their bellies & how both mommies came from litters of 10! I explained that these are a heritage breed of pig & they LOVE grass to eat! The kids were surprised to learn that pigs don't actually stink! Pigs, (just like any animal) in a feedlot will stink! Animals with fresh air, grass, and room to roam, won't smell! Then I let the kids stand on the edge of the trailer, a few at a time to pet the pigs.

Then we moved over to the Holstein bottle calves. We have 4 and the kids loved hearing about how cows produce milk and beef. We talked about the size of the bottle and let the kids pet them.

In our front, bottom field, we had a herd of beef cows and the bus got to drive right next to them. The kids thought that was great!

Then we moved over to the turkeys. The kids enjoyed hearing the tom turkey gobble. His defense is to puff up really big & gobble to protect the hens. One of our turkeys even laid an egg during the field trip!!! The kids thought it was so cool! We talked about how turkeys give us eggs to eat and meat, especially for sandwiches & Thanksgiving!

Next, we moved over to the quail. Not very many children knew what they were, but loved seeing how a full grown bird could be so tiny! Again, we explained that they are used for eggs (which are very tiny) and meat.

Our next station was the ducklings! The kids enjoyed quacking at the ducklings and watching them play in the water.

Our next stop was the goats! We had a friend, one of the high schoolers, bring her momma goat and the twin babies! She got the twins out for the kids to pet! This was a hit!

We also had another friend bring her hair sheep over. We had 2 babies and they were so sweet! The kids loved petting them also!

The following station was our laying hens! We talked about laying hens, meat birds and what we got from them. Sadly, our chickens were a bit frightened & wouldn't lay an egg for the kiddos!

We also had our bunnies for the kids to pet & play with. The bunnies were so good and the kids loved how soft they are!

Finally, I took kids over to a table and helped them plant an organic seed, (either organic tomatoes or cucumbers) in organic soil and biodegradable pots. Then they got to take them home.

The kids had a little time to revisit their favorite animals for a bit before leaving. They each got a picture on a tractor & were sent home with a treat bag full of coloring sheets, stickers, etc. 

It was a great day and we really enjoying being able to educate both kids & adults!

The scent of Spring...

I love Spring! Ok, so I love any season that isn't Winter! Ha! I love the smell of the sweet, green grass. I'm not particularly fond of the wild onion smell, but it's a sign of Spring, so I tolerate it! I love the smell of the sweet lilac bushes that are blooming. One of my favorite smells!!!! I have them planted around the house so I can smell them all the time. I wish the smell lasted longer, it comes & goes so quickly. I can't say that I love the smell in the cow fields! Haha! 

I adore landscaping & any projects where we are working on the farm or our home. I love finding colors that pop in my flower beds. I love finding colors and smells that draw your attention. 

I love sitting on my porch, closing my eyes and just listening...I can hear the birds chirping and singing, the kids playing in the backyard, vehicles far off in the distance. Just sitting, finding a quiet, peaceful moment is easy to do when you are out in nature. There's always work to be done, but to stop...take a few moments and just listen. It's refreshing! It makes you regain your peace and ready to tackle your next project. 

So go out, find a quiet spot and relax. Listen to the sounds, smell the flowers, take your time and refresh your soul. 

Our old farmhouse...

Our old farmhouse sits atop a nice big hill. The views are breathtaking! The long gravel driveway is fine, (until Winter!) and we are surrounded by pastures. 

I'm quite frugal, My Farmer is too. So we try not to use heat or air, or even my dryer, if there's another way. Which leads me to my post...our old farmhouse was built prior to central air conditioning. So we sit stop this hill with windows on every side of our house. We have lots of sun in the daytime and perfect natural breezes. I'm so grateful for the fact that I can open windows and have the most amazing breeze run thru our home! The smell of fresh air, the curtains flipping around the room, I...LOVE...IT!!!! I'm an outdoors person anyway, so what better way to bring the outdoors in! 

I'm thankful for the people back almost 100 years ago who built this house, who based it's location on the weather, who took the time to know the land and know the farm. With their foresight and skill, they crafted our home. A home that I love, a home that I've never felt more comfortable in, a home that fits us, a home that feels like home more than any place else, a home filled with love. 💗

Well, time to get back outside! We are getting the farm ready for our upcoming field trips!

This picture is the before. It sat empty for awhile.

The picture below is the after, from this weekend.

Another new adventure!!!

Ok, now that the offer has been accepted, we can share our exciting news! This moved a lot faster than we planned! We bought a commercial greenhouse! It's been a dream of ours for a LONG time! We passed one up years ago & have regretted it ever since. So we got an opportunity to buy another one & we figured we better buy it! This greenhouse is 30 x 60 and has WAY more room than we need...now. I'm hoping in the near future we can fill it up & run out of space! We bought the furnace to heat it year round and we bought the irrigation system and all the tables. We are so excited!!!

We had to disassemble it on the Nursery lot & move it to our farm. Thankfully. We are only 1 mile away. Whew! We also hired some great high school & middle school boys to help move things. They were a great help! Then even stayed & helped destroy the old hog barn. 

Years ago, the previous owners of our farm had cows, crops & hogs. When the market dropped out on hogs years ago and the owners got older, they quit raising hogs. So the old hog barn has been falling down for years & has been an eyesore & quite dangerous. It already had a concrete slab for a floor, so we decided to take the old hog barn down & erect the new commercial greenhouse in it's place. 

The new greenhouse has not been reassembled yet because we have so many field trips scheduled for the months of April & May. We love having kids out! We love to share our knowledge & see the kids play, have fun & learn about sustainable farming! 

This was the greenhouse before we disassembled it. It had been used as a storage facility for a couple of years before we bought it.

The picture above is the new greenhouse.

The picture above & below is part of the old hog barn.

This was a picture of the old hog barn before we tore it down.

Keep watching for updates!!! We'll post field trip pics soon too!

SPRING!!!!!

Oh how I've missed this time of year! I don't like Winter, but middle through each day, knowing that I'm one day closer to SPRING!!!! We are gearing up for our busy season. Well, maybe I should clarify, busy seasons! Spring, Summer & Fall are very busy! Winter is just a tiny bit slower, but farm life is always busy! 

We've had some opportunities to add some exciting new things to the farm! Once they are finished, I'll post pictures!!!

Guess what animal we are adding to our farm?!?! Goats! Have you tried goat roast? Goat pepperoni? Goat chops? Or my favorite, goat brats?!?! If you haven't, you don't know what you're missing! Don't knock it till you try it! Some of my kids are super picky, one will try just about anything. They all went back for seconds on the goat roast! AND, they knew it was goat! Ha! So, success! 

I'll be posting some recipes soon! We have done a great job with sticking to our no packaged foods and our eating out only once a week! It's going well! Plus, we've tried lots of new & exciting recipes! I feel most comfortable in my kitchen! It's my favorite room in the house! My family gathers around the bar in bar stools while I'm cooking or baking & they do homework, play games or just talk. I love it!

Here's a great pic I took recently of our farm! It's so pretty!

So...I may have an obsession...

As a mom, I rarely get to watch t.v.  Oh, don't get me wrong, I have plenty of chances to watch kids t.v. programs! I also get to watch a show or a basketball game at night as a family, but when do I get to watch whatever I want?!?!

We just recently got t.v., so I'm using the DVR to catch up! I DVR every single Pioneer Woman show! Then, when My Farmer is working all night long, I try to stay up to catch up with him for a few minutes when he comes in to warm up. So, while I wait on him, I watch the Pioneer Woman!  I sit here with my ipad in my hand to pull up her website & print off the recipe that I love.

Tonight, we had Glazed Apple Pork Chops (with yummy diced apples), green beans (that I grew & canned) with added jowl bacon (from our pig) to give it some extra flavor. I also fixed some Mac & cheese for the kiddos. My Farmer seemed to enjoy it too! I also made a loaf of white bread. For dessert, we had some Baked Fudge. Oh...my...goodness!!! Pure bliss!!! Wow!!! It's hard to describe, it's got a thin, crispy top layer, but the inside is a gooey goodness! Wow!!! I got 8 thumbs up! 😉

Farm updates....

It's been awhile since I've written a blog entry! Oops! Sorry! Things have been busy on the farm!

I must thank a dear friend of mine who has introduced me to the Pioneer Woman t,v. show! Oh...my...gracious!!!!! She is who I want to be! Haha! No complaints from my family! I have been prepping great meals, printing off tons of recipes & having fun making things for them to eat! Last night I made raspberry butter, for our Fench Toast this coming weekend. It looks amazing! I am really looking forward to trying it! I also made my homemade chocolate chip cookies this afternoon, with the help of my adorably cute 4 year old! I also threw in some southern style buttermilk biscuits, (frozen, not homemade), scrambled 1 & 1/2 dozen eggs, then fried up some of our pork sausage patties. So we had a big breakfast, for supper! Then, after cleaning up my kitchen, I look the leftovers & got breakfasts ready for the rest of the week! I combined soft shell taco shells, sausage, scrambled eggs & different cheeses, wrapped them up & threw them in the freezer. I wrote what Type of burrito each was on the foil, that way My farmer can grab one the night before, throw it in the fridge, then just zap it in the morning.

I'm finishing up my current semester in college, so have been taking lots of finals. I have a paper to finish for one course, then one last final so that I can enjoy a few days off before starting up my next semester. Whew!

Things have been super busy in the farm too! My Farmer has been working 80+ hours on his farming job off our farm. We have had a few baby calves recently too. We are currently shopping around for a new herd bull. My Farmer is lucky to have a large bull sale at his work & helps to take care of them, so he gets to interact with them frequently, watch their rates of gain, know their bloodlines, etc. We sold our last bull in December, so we are going to be syncing up our cows & heifers naturally so that we can attempt to have more calves at the same time. This seems counter productive, but is actually easier on us. Yes, it's round the clock work at times, but we find it to be better than having calves 12 months of the year. There are advantages & disadvantages to both of course.

All is well on the farm. We are really looking forward to the snow melting & Spring making it's way here, we are an outdoor family & love the breezes, smells, and activities outside!

Busy time...

Wow! It seems like it's been forever since I last wrote! A lot has happened! We had 2 ER visits with our oldest, lots of traveling for our kids sports, my college classes, and our farm! Spring is right around the corner, (Whoo-hoo!!!!!)

We have increased our customers on our CSA. We have also increased the Share options. We offer 4 share options to choose from. We have met lots of new people over the Winter with the CSA & sales. I look forward to the Farmers Market this hear. We'll get to see current customers & meet lots of new faces!

We will have quite a few field trips coming up in April, so we are planning for those. I'm anxiously awaiting planting time in the garden!!!! I can't hardly wait!

There are always projects on the farm. We hope to replace some of the barn roofs this year. A few barns are in desparate need. We are hoping to repainted the kitchen cabinets, ok, I use the term, we quite loosely in the previous statement, 😉 Actually, it's only myself that cares, but My Farmer is one of the most amazing men ever, so he is going along with the plan. I spend so much time in my kitchen...cooking, baking, canning, homework with the kiddos, etc., so I feel it needs an update.

Time is moving WAY too fast. As my sweet, little 4 year old hops around the house, I realize that next year will be an extremely hard year. He is my youngest & he will be starting Kindergarten. 😥

Tomorrow is class Valentine parties for each of our kids. So I will be running from class to ,lass to enjoy their parties. Then, My Farmer is taking our daughter to the local Daddy-Daughter dance. They will both dress up, he will give her a corsage, then take her to a local church for an evening of dancing. I think it's a great program for our local community! I love that it's usually a sold out program. Next month will be Mommy-Son night. It's a night of bowling! I'm looking forward to taking both of my boys!

As far as Valentines Day goes, I am a very lucky lady. My Farmer tells me daily how much he loves me and is a wonderful man! So Happy Valentines Day everyone!

So far, our commitment to cooking at home has been successful! Week #1 was a success! I utilized my crockpot and always had a nice, hot dinner ready when My Farmer got in. I have thousands of recipes, (mainly sweets!) and the family has thoroughly enjoyed all of the yummy desserts that are available! 

My oldest son played 9 basketball games this weekend! He was on the winning team for our county elementary school basketball! They played a great game & are county champs! It was an intense game! Then one travel team lost and the other travel team came in 2nd place for the tournament! So overall, a fun, but exhausting weekend! 

New baby calves have been born on the farm & I LOVE looking out into the fields & seeing the sweet babies romping around! We are trying very hard to increase our herd. The 1st year we purchased the farm, we had over 70 head of cattle. We had to sell over 1/2 of the herd due to a horrible drought. We felt that the quality of our animals should be protected, rather than the quantity. It was a hard year, but we have been slowly building the herd back up since then. In one more year, we should be back up to those numbers! 

Retail meat sales have been tremendous this month as we ran a special on certain cuts. We are clearing our freezer space for pork that we will be offering. 

The weather has been amazing!!! I am NOT a fan of Winter!!! Actually, I hate everything about it! Ha! I enjoy being outside & Winter makes that hard! So this nice, Springlike weather has been greatly appreciated!!! I'm looking forward to clearing a barn out, re-roofing 2 barns & getting some landscaping completed this year on the farm.  We have 3 field trips scheduled for April & have 2 more that are pending. So that is a fun & exciting time!

We received our new heirloom & rare seed catalog in the mail this week & are marking TONS of things that we need!!! Finishing up the greenhouse soon will be necessary to get my seeds planted! 

Enjoy your week everyone!

Trying something new...

After a busy weekend of basketball, we are turning right back around & playing more basketball! My oldest had a tournament all weekend in a nearby town. This mom was sure excited that we didn't have to travel too far! My oldest played 4 games on Saturday & 2 on Sunday, which meant we had to miss church. 😟 This evening, my daughter had a basketball game & the oldest had basketball practice. Do you see a theme here ?!?! We really love basketball! My oldest will be playing for 4 teams, my daughter plays for 2 teams & my youngest plays on 1 team. Yes, I think it's a safe assumption to say, we are obsessed. Haha!

So my goal for this week is to fix supper every single night this week. Now, normally we'll eat out once, sometimes twice. With all of our running for basketball, deliveries, practices, etc., there are times it's easier to just go out, but I HATE eating out, whether it be sitting down or a drive thru. I really don't even like sitting down at a really nice restaurant. I produce healthy, lean beef, so I really don't enjoy the taste of commercial foods now!

With each day of the week having multiple games & or practices for multiple children, it would be easy to go thru a drive thru, but my goal is to have a healthy supper nightly. Now, we all may have to eat in shifts this week, but at least it's home cooked. Tonight we were lucky to all sit down together! I threw ribeye steaks in the crockpot today, added a touch of organic beef broth & had them for supper. I also roasted some organic brocolli & cauliflower, but forgot to set them timer & left them in too long! Yuck! So I also boiled a few potatoes & added a touch of milk, salt & pepper, a sprinkling of shredded cheese & a couple slices of crumbled bacon. Yum!

We have gradually switched to organic foods over the years. We are now mainly organic. My best piece of advice is to start small. Find one food your family loves & start buying an organic option. Don't buy a 'regular/processed' option any longer. My suggestion is to start with a fruit or veggie. Look up the Dirty Dozen fruits/veggies list & find what foods are best to switch. (Strawberries, lettuce, peaches, berries, etc., anything with a soft outer covering.) After you are use to always purchasing that product organic, add another one. This is a great way to not kill your budget! Over time, it just happens.

So our main goal or focus this year is to no longer buy snack cakes or cookies. We switched to organic potato chips & limit the total number of bags to 4 for a month. So, next on the list was the snack cakes & cookies that are too easy to grab & full of junk. So, expect lots of recipes to come! I have made peanut butter cookies, (recipe shared on my Food page), chocolate chip cookies twice, a chocolate cake, and tonight Glazed Peanut Butter Bars. (Recipe to follow.) I figure it must be healthier to make our own treats than to purchase premade items. Ours is at least fresh, plus, I can use local pastured eggs, organic or homemade butter, organic flour & wheat & even organic chocolate. Now, if I can just discipline myself to not eat this stuff during the day! 😉

Glazed Peanut Butter Bars
3/4 c. Butter, softened
3/4 c. Creamy peanut butter
3/4 c. Sugar
3/4 c. Packed brown sugar
2 tsp. water

2 eggs
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla

1-1/2 c. Flour
1-1/2 c. Quick cooking oats
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

GLAZE:
1-1/4 c. Milk chocolate chips
1/2 c. Butterscotch chips
1/2 c. Creamy peanut butter

In a large mixing bowl, cream the first 5 ingredients. Next, beat in the eggs & vanilla. Combine the last 4 (dry) ingredients. Gradually add to the creamed mixture.

Spread into a greased 15" x 10" x 1" pan. (I used a 13" x 9", so we'll see how these turn out!) Bake @ 325 degrees for 18-22 minutes, (or longer if you use a different pan) or until lightly browned.

For glaze, melt chips & peanut butter. Pour over warm bars & spread evenly.mcool completely on a wire rack before cutting. Enjoy!

**I have absolutely no idea where some of my recipes come from. I have thousands in my collection that I have copied from magazines & changed over the years.**

Brrr.....

Brrrr...it's sure cold here! The wind is bitter & blowing, the temps are hovering near 0. I was made for warmer weather! I can look forward to Spring days, windows open, laundry flapping on the clothesline, all while wearing flip-flops! Yes, farmers wear flip-flops! Ha! Shoes of choice (at least for this farm girl) are flip flops or boots! There's really not much else! I'm counting down the days until March 1st, which is MY 1st day of Spring! Once Marxh hits, I feel a big sigh of relief that Spring is on the way!

Even though it's bitterly cold, we are having calves born! We lost one before the real cold snap. The momma was a 1st year heifer & even though My Farmer & his dad had to help the momma, they still weren't able to save the baby calf. Momma is doing better now, which is a relief! The others that have been born & are staying warm with their mommas in a barn. They all still go out & enjoy grass everyday.

Now that the new year has arrived, seed catalogs are starting to arrive! I can just sit & dream & plan about our upcoming gardens! We saved many of our seeds from last year, but always enjoy adding new things to our gardens each year.

Installation of the greenhouse is at a stand still. We ran out of decent weather before we could get it finished. We have some great & exciting plans for some new ideas for the farm! We are so excited!

Well, this weekend will be fun! We have basketball tournaments for our oldest! We love getting to spend time together as a family & with lots of our friends!

Stay warm & look forward to Spring!

The lessons we learn...

Well, I learned a valuable lesson today.

Yesterday, I put a Prime Rib Roast into my crockpot, making my home smell heavenly, all day long. It looked great, smelled amazing, (a taste test revealed that the taste was phenomenal) 😉 I was pretty happy! So I pulled out a quart size Mason jar of Roma green beans, that I'd canned this last Summer, a pint of red potatoes, that I'd canned and some organic pasta to make some Mac & cheese. Yum! I was pretty thrilled with the prep work & this delicious dinner for last night! But, after 2 basketball practices, we got home so late, that I just tossed the crockpot I to my fridge. My Farmer told me that he & my oldest sampled it & it was great! Yay! So tonight's supper was pretty well ready, just warm up & enjoy! Then came the lesson.

My oldest son is 10 years old and a bottomless pit! He eats all the time! He is tall & thin, like his Daddy. He is also quite athletic, so everything he eats, he burns off. His favorite place in our house is standing at our fridge deciding on his next snack! Haha! He smelled the roast & told me it smelled awesome & asked if he could try some. Of course!!! I'm pretty proud of it, so I'm willing to dole out a sample or two! So, I carry on, starting laundry, cleaning the house a bit, hooking up portable heaters at the kitchen & bathroom sink. I've discovered that the cold water lines to those 2 sinks are now frozen. Oops! And My Farmer is out fixing the heat on my car in the frigid temperatures! Now,I've noticed my son is eating out of a bowl at this point, but didn't really question it. He's a big boy, he can make his own snacks. (You know where this is going, don't you?) as I check out the roast, I notice quite a bit is missing! Ok, there is the strip of fat, the 2 bones & 1 piece of meat left! Hahaha!

So, I tossed some frozen Tilapia in the oven & used the rest to round out our dinner. I love to cook & bake and I'm so glad that my family enjoys my food! So, next time, I'll be putting at least 2 Prime Rib Roasts in my crockpot!

I had a meeting tonight. I met a wonderful lady who was so full of knowledge! After speaking with her in this meeting tonight, I realized...I'm too hard on someone. 

I question this persons decisions...every...single...time. 
I get sidetracked easily & don't give this person my full attention...ever. 
I put this person last...always.
I put the weight of the world on this persons shoulders.
This person is me! As a mom, wife, etc., I place too much stress on me. It's not my husbands fault, my kids fault, but mine! I am OCD, Type A, whatever you want to call it and I will admit I struggle with letting go...(Ok, how many of you are singing, 'Let It Go' from Frozen now?!?! Sorry!) why do we put so much stress in ourselves? I have always wanted perfection, in everything! The perfect house, the perfect children, the perfect house, the perfect supper, etc...You get the idea. 

So, it's time to step back and breath. It's time to make changes, make discoveries, have more fun and learn to let go of the stress and the goal of perfection! 

Back to Normal...

Today, our children had to go back to school after a 2 week holiday break. It was bittersweet. I love having our kids home all the time! Now, with that being said, I got a ton of errands & farm work done today! The 2015 price list needed updated-check, bank accounts needed set up for the business account-check, bills paid-check, invoices were sent out to CSA members-check, homework for the kiddos-check, 2 new hogs were delivered-check, our trailer that we loaned out was brought back-check, 1 child had basketball pictures & a game-check, and the carpool schedule is set up for tomorrow-check! I will pack CSA boxes tomorrow & get them ready for delivery or on farm pick up.

Now that the kids are back in school, it's time to start another project! I think painting the family room & the boys bedroom is first on the list! I started the boys bedroom, but need to finish it! My boys are huge Purdue University fans, so it's a Purdue basketball themed room! I'll post pics when it's finished!

A New Year, A New Adventure...

As the new year starts, I have finally decided that I need to start my blog. I will be quite honest, I have put it off for a year now! It seemed overwhelming! A friend of mine started hers, so I figure I might as well! A bit about me....I love farming! We raise our animals as beyond organic. We sell at Farmers Markets & as a mobile vendor. Our main focus is beef cattle. We are working with another local farm to provide our customers with chicken & eggs. We recently started a Winter meat CSA. I love that our community is starting to question where their food comes from & are demanding locally grown, organically raised, fresh food!

This blog will cover all the stuff that I love! I love cooking & baking, so there will be recipes! I love organizing, cleaning & changing things around the house & farm. There's always multiple projects going on. So, I'll post pics, details, and info on how to do these projects! I am intrigued with the notion of homesteading, so as I learn more and make more, you'll learn with me! I also love primitives! I see these amazing places online & imagine what my old farm house use to look like!I can't  stand idle time, so I'm always keeping quite busy.

In addition to all of this fun stuff, I help at our church with the youth program and I'm back in college, full time. I went to college once, majored in Business, started my own business, now, I'm going to further my education.

But my most favorite thing about this farm and my life, is the great family I have to share it all with! My parents and my in laws live within a few miles of the farm, so frequent family visits take place. My Farmer & I have 3 great kids who are active in sports, so that is a fun thing that will take time to do, together!

Thanks for reading & learning along with me!