We need a name . . .

For our new little lady, Notch apparently it is Blackbird that had her baby :)

Home-grown Dinner

Can't wait till we have corn, zucchini and yellow squash too :)

Potato progress

Today we dug a few potatoes up to check the size and general health. They seem perfect, but I've never grown potatoes. They will make a nice addition to tonights roast :)

Happy Father's Day

Lyrics:

I know a girl
She puts the color inside of my world
But she's just like a maze
Where all of the walls are continually changed
And I've done all I can
To stand on her steps with my heart in my hands
Now I'm starting to see
Maybe it's got nothing to do with me

Fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers, be good to your daughters too

Oh, you see that skin?
It's the same she's been standing in
Since the day she saw him walking away
Now I'm left
Cleaning up the mess he made

So fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers, be good to your daughters too

Boys, you can break
You'll find out how much they can take
Boys will be strong
And boys soldier on
But boys would be gone without the warmth from
A womans good, good heart

On behalf of every man
Looking out for every girl
You are the guide and the weight of her world

So fathers, be good to your daughters
Daughters will love like you do
Girls become lovers who turn into mothers
So mothers, be good to your daughters too [x3]

It's a . . .

Baby #7 is a BOY :) Our pattern continues, lol :) We are all really thrilled, though I will need to work on getting boy things again as our last boy just turned 5 last week :)

In other news the meat sale was a hit, 4/5 feeder pigs were sold and 1/2 calves were sold as of this post :) Mama sow and babies are all doing well, they have migrated to the big barn with the cows. Jack and the girls are restless, they long for the freedom mama and the piglets have, we will be evaluating the housing this week.

The storm brought many branches and limbs down, rendering the electric fence useless. We are workingto get it back up.

Jon Stewart on Obama

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The Consequences of Feminism

The heat and the mosquitoes

Last year I was fortunate to have gotten 5 fans of which 3 still work. They are my life and travel around the house with me :) So I guess they are more of an entourage, lol. During the day the mosquitoes are a bit better so we can open the windows without worry (most of our windows don't have screens, yet). Since this is the cooler part of spring/summer the breeze that blows is very refreshing. As the day wears on however the mosquitoes become unbearable, they are like swarms of bees and they are HUGE! They are so so big you can feel them land before they even attempt to suck your blood. It is hard to tell the difference between them and the flies sometimes :( If only there was a perfect time of year with no downsides . . .

Got Beef?

We picked up the beef from Quinn today, there were 5 boxes, very small compared to most but he was a really little bull. His hanging weight was 313lbs and excluding organs and soup bones we got 232lbs of meat, not bad. I was amused to see the bull fries (I had not thought about it as part of the order), I have no desire to eat it so the dog, cat and/or pigs will have the pleasure, the same with the heart and tongue - which is really long. I am really impressed with the number of steaks that 1 bull (even a small one) gives.

I know most people don't like to name their animals if they will eat them but we do believe that every life has purpose and we raise our animals the best, most natural way we can so that they provide the most nutritional benefit. We have had Quinn since he was a tiny little thing and watched him grow into a strong, ornery bull, he had a great life and we will miss him.

On a side note, Missy will be skipping her trip to the butcher this month as we were not able to get her loaded last night :( I figure there must be a good reason so I will hold off a couple months and see what comes of Pinky's impending pregnancy.

Strawberry Jam

Today we had the opportunity to pick strawberries at Kansas Mom's farm and thanks to her tip about where to get pectin at a great price we were able to make some jam. Now, technically you're not supposed to remove the coupons from the box before purchase but hey. Pectin was on sale buy 1 get 1 free @ $2.55 and there is a .50 coupon inside that Dillons doubles, so we got the last 6 boxes for .28 per box :) A 4lb bag of sugar on sale for $1.88. Since I don't own all the canning apparatus we opted for the freezer Jam recipe in the box and made a double batch. I opted to use the blender instead of potato masher, and was advised to use more pectin to compensate. We got 11 1/2 jars (half pint) and the kids enjoyed the 1/2 jar thoroughly and are eagerly awaiting the other 11 jars to set :)