End of my hiatus

So much has happened since I last blogged.  For starters we now have 8kids, only have a small cow family and 2horses (yes I am aware that I was the one totally opposed to getting horses since they didn't fit into the 4M's).  I wish I could go into all that has happened but I will say this, thank you to all those who prayed for us and continue to do so.  

Eva (Treva and Lot's baby) is all grown up and has given birth to her own little heifer, Lulua.  Dh found us a little bull, after we unsuccessfully tried to rent/borrow one for over a year, on the radio no less, lol.  We named him Adam, he came from a purebred longhorn herd and apparently his mama liked to sneak out at night, his sire is the neighbors bull and since he isn't a longhorn, Adam was a reject (at least to them).  Thankfully he was the perfect size for our little Eva, God took care of the details :)

AR has taken control of much of the daily chores now that DH is working more.  We were able to teach Eva to milk in the last few days and she has been doing a wonderful job.  Lulua is with mama all day and is doing very well.Cricket is a wonderful little quarter horse we got as the previous owners were out of hay, she is a joy and the middle kids are having a blast riding her.  She enjoys being ridden without a saddle but also doesn't mind being saddled.  Naveah, was given to us by a neighbor who is currently boarding her other horses here.  She is very much the Type A personality but she doesn't scare Cricket.  The cows however aren't nearly as thrilled with the new horse arrangement though.  As soon as things warm up a bit they will be in separate areas but for now they are all learning to play nice ;)
In addition to all the other changes on the farm I have actively resumed my weight loss journey. I am not following any one plan too strictly as they all seem to have a bit that doesn't quite work for me so I keep tweaking the way I eat to find the right combo. I have enjoyed participating in my first dietbet last month and I plan to do another this month. For those not familiar with dietbet it is a "game" where you bet on you, basically that you will lose 4%body weight within 28days. For anyone looking for a little extra motivation, I encourage you to give it a try.
I sure missed you guys, I'd love to hear what you've been up to these last 16months :) God Bless.

Déjà vu, irony and sweets

Dh was in a car accident this morning (yes it was a year and 3 days ago) . . . this time none of the kids were with him, thank God! Some cows escaped their fence and came running out onto the highway (yes I am fully aware of the irony). As dh tried to avoid the brown cow, he slammed into the black cow. She flew over the car and was last seen slowly walking away. The local police officer made it out and verified what happened, took pics and secured the scene as they waited for the deputy to arrive. Dh believes the car is totaled, guess we'll know more later. Please keep us in your prayers, especially DH as he has to be on the road so early in the morning. :( I don't think I'm gonna be catching up on my sleep after all :(

In other news: stay tuned for our next blog giveaway and review :) The kids and I have been busily working on hot process soap making, lots of baking and fun gifts to share. If you still have someone on your list that you haven't found a gift for, here are a few of our favorite homemade gift ideas from across the web.

1. Hot Chocolate on a stick (with Marshmallow)

2. Marshmallow Bonbons

3. Cream cheese chocolate fudge or peanut butter fudge

Sorry I've been so quiet

There is so much I'd like to say but can't . . . shouldn't. :( So much is going on and all I can do is ask for your continued prayers for our family.

Small farm update: Twitchy was hit by a car, Spunky was sold. The big pigs will be going to the butcher next weekend. Cows are on total lock down with hay and chickens are yet to be butchered. The trials of this summer have not been a result of the difficulties of farm life, more like the difficulties of small town living. I hope to look back on this summer (now moving merrily into Fall) and laugh but for now it seems unlikely (not impossible).

Baby update: JM is doing very well, he is much more awake and alert this week and has recovered very well from his bout of Jaundice. The local dr seems anti breastfeeding but we are taking it a day at a time. My little man nurses like a champ even though he is petite. He will go back next week for another weigh in.

Birthday season is upon us once again. AR is going to officially be a teenager next week and HG will be 7. We are all excited. We will do all that we can to make it special for them both. We are scheduled to see some friends next week so they are very excited about that too :)

GH is adjusting very nicely to JM, she loves to give him kisses and hugs. She is also acclimating to her new bed. Though she is not too thrilled about it yet.

Please keep my mom in your prayers also as she will be going in for surgery in the next two weeks. Thanks

Down to 1

Notch seemed to have made a speedy recovery while at the sale barn last week as they "nursed" her back to health, the day after the sale they went to move her via fork lift and she promptly jumped out of the bucket. Monday, however, she mysteriously too another fall and wouldn't get up just in time before getting a chance to cross the stage. We are now in the insurance process, though we haven't heard much about what all will be needed. I am guessing that she will be put down :(

The truck appears not to be salvageable. The options don't even include rebuilding the existing engine. Though the mechanic did say that we might have some luck trying to find a wrecked truck that we could switch the engine out, I'll look into that tomorrow I guess, there is no way we could afford a rebuilt or new engine at this point. So now we are down to just the Focus.

On the bright side, baby looks good. He is head down and weights about 5 lbs 5 ounces. He seems rather cramped, but just a few more weeks. He has more than enough fluid and the cord looks good, as do his tiny little organs. :) It was nice to see him this week and I'm glad he is getting in position :)

Chip seems to be a electric fence jumper :( Which explains why we are constantly having to fix it, he will be steered soon, hopefully that will tame him down a bit, he should make a very nice beef steer. Dolly is a WAY better mama than Blackbird and has practically adopted little Ebony. DH went to bring them in for the night and all the cows came in and Dolly raced back to the pasture to get Ebony, Blackbird hadn't even noticed that she was missing.

Ebony is still as tiny as ever. She will be a true miniature, it is so odd to see her next to Chip who is only 5 days younger. She still looks like a newborn or a big toy and can easily be picked up, not that she likes that at all. This makes her a fencing nightmare as she can easily stoop down and crawl under the electric fence. This drives Dolly crazy.

Well as always keep us in your prayers, thanks :)

No bull

The 6 heifers mysteriously showed up in our corrals that night, DH was quite surprised to see them locked down with Meg when he got home. We decided that a kind neighbor must have thought they were ours and not seeing any vehicles home, had penned them for us. We call the Sheriff back to let them know that we now had them so that their owner could be found.

The next day (yesterday), Dh worked 1st and almost an hour after he got home we got a call from someone claiming to own the heifers. It seems they are his "problem" children, lol. He brought his tractor down and even pulled our car out of the ditch :) While we waited for him to come back with his trailer I asked dh to find out if he has a bull we could use. Turns out he lost his bull earlier this year :( As the two continued talking it suddenly dawned on him that that might be why his heifers have been breaking out, I know my girls are sure getting antsy waiting to be bred back. Cows aren't as bad as cats when they are in heat but they aren't too far off, lol.

Our neighbor in the smaller town has promised to loan us one of his bulls next month when he pulls them out of the cow pasture, so it will not be too much longer. Once they are settled they will calm down and settle into their winter routine. That will be a pleasant change of pace. I am now further convinced that a bull is a good investment, even if you just keep him for a short time. As of right now our girls are back to their barn, oh, chip turned out to have been behind the barn the whole time, lol. We'll see what a handsome bull he turns out to be next year and hopefully won't need to buy a bull.

Oh, as for the fencing issue, it turns out that the deer in the area seem to like to jump the hot wire, which they never seem to fully get over so it knocks it down and/or breaks the insulators. Many thanks to the farmer who picked up his rogue heifers as we would have never figured this one out. I don't know that there is a whole lot of alternative but we'll sure be looking.

Meg is also doing much better now that the heat has moved on and she can graze freely all day. It is amazing how the heat can affect cows. He calf is still kicking, as we eagerly await her (yes I'm optimistic) arrival :) Cow buying Tip: it is not wise to go cow shopping alone (if you are inexperienced) and assume pictures will be very good for the person who advises you. Even the best expert should at least see a cow in person before deciding one way or another. Shadows can play far too many tricks on the eyes.

My boy is amazing

As I previously mentioned the cows escaped and were no where to be found. Dh got a jump start for the truck and went to work. AR went outside to see if they'd come home and spotted the runaways 2 pastures over the highway. He called Dh at work and was pumped to go get them home. I was concerned. For one thing I didn't realise how far away they were until I decided that this was not a job for him to do alone so I went to help. It took him a while to get to them and as he walked further and further out I wished that he had a horse or something. I also was a bit disturbed because it looked like far more than the number of cows we lost. He remained calm and walked back and forth. They apparently were checking his endurance because they really took him on quite the walk. They started to circle around him and from where I was standing I was scared for him. There was a whole lot of them and just him. They were kicking up a lot of dust and it got harder to see him, my heart was racing and I was screaming for him to just come home, but he was too far to hear me. He slowly brought them closer and closer to the road and finally he got 4 across while I stopped traffic and he ran them into the corrals. We hadn't really thought through the next steps, we got more across the road but were only able to get one more in as the others were still loose by the barn. Not quite sure what to do next, it felt like a stroke of divine intervention when they all walked into the second corral and we were able to lock them down and leave the main gate open once more. At this point the cows had begun to run back to the middle of the pasture across the road. I was not pleased, but AR was such a trooper he just went back out and worked them back in, while I directed traffic as needed. There were 6 Hereford heifers running with our cows, he managed to get our group free of them and every cow (except Chip) was accounted for. For some reason the Herefords lingered on the side of the highway for sometime after, we were worried that they would try to cross as they had seen ours do and then cause an accident. We called the sheriff as they were rather afraid of us and we didn't want to spook them. They eventually did cross the highway and ran up past our property, hopefully they are headed home. Tonight I am so proud of my boy, I didn't realise he learned so much and he could handle the cows so well. It was amazing to watch and see how much he has grown.

No good deed goes unpunished

Three days ago dh brought home a dog from work. It was an odd looking little thing and very frightened. He was told it has been abused by it previous owner and the person who rescued it couldn't keep her with pit bull and Rottweiler that she had. My dh is an animal lover, though he'd never admit it. So the little lady came home with him without much question. The next day I looked at her and noticed that her stomach seemed unusually large for such a small dog. Her teats were also protruding, now I'm no dog expert and my experience with the little critters is very limited. Dh asked around work and he was told to check her teats for milk. Well AR is the only person she likes so he was able to tell us that there was in fact milk. We set up the old chicken room for her, but of course she prefered the laundry room. Oh, we've named her Mini, in case you're wondering. This morning we woke up to 3 new puppies and their mama sleeping in the laundry room. I imagine bubba will be in his glee once they can play.



As if that was not enough excitement for the day, dh went out to feed the animals at lunch and the beef cows were missing. He got in the car to go look for them and as he went to turn he bottomed out the car in a ditch. He walked back to the house hoping to be able to take the truck but sure enough the battery has died and still no cows to be seen. It is now past the time for him to get ready for work so he had to call in. :( Turns out that the corner of the electric fence came off/broke (not too sure) and that dropped the fence for them to leave. He and AR took off on foot to try and find the cows, hopefully they can find them and get them back in without incident. A girl can hope anyway.

It is time

As summer begins to wind down it is time to cull the herd and plan for the next year. This year we have opted to sell all the cattle, dairy included. Winters are hard for us as there are lots of extra expenses and well everything is tougher in the cold, lol. We may buy a few cows before spring but we'll see how that goes. As of right now we have a more pressing need and that is to get a van. We have found one that we like so now we must get the money as we are not willing to finance anything more, as Pa (Ingalls) would say "cash on the barrel". We have other debts that need to be paid and it would be nice to ring in the new year without them hanging around our necks. No we're not selling the farm, we're just downsizing the winter operation and trying to get back to a better financial place. It is not likely that we will be doing milk again, except for our own home use, frankly it's not worth the effort on our part. We will likely move to a grass fed cow/calf type model and work on fencing a pasture for our pigs. Sustainability is very dependent on the ability to adapt quickly and the winds of change are blowing in this small farming environment and throughout the country. God willing we will follow where He leads and adapt as needed.

It's that time of year again

That's right. It's time to get the septic tank pumped. JOY! I called a company in a neighboring city and once again I am hoping that he shows up. It's more like praying he shows up, given last years experience it will be nice to pay the regular rate instead of twice the price just to get someone to come out.

On the upside, Dh was able to get the truck out of the ditch thanks to some kind neighbors, though it did involve a lecture about encouraging us to fraudulently enroll our children in the local school. Don't get me wrong, I pay pretty high property taxes around here and it would be nice to see that money stay local, couple that with the fact that we have the largest family of school age and/or soon to be school age children and I can understand the position. I only have 1 teansy little problem with it, and really it's so minor it could easily have been missed . . . it's wrong. Good now that we've cleared that up.

Meg seems to be having trouble with the recent heat wave, pray that she can hold out for the vet who comes back from vacation tomorrow :( I have been having DH and AR hose her down every few hours to keep her cool and we have mixed up a mini electrolyte replacer for her to drink (she really seems to like it, but that might be the molasses flavor). She is drinking very well, and even eating better, her breathing had been labored at the start a few days ago but is not anymore. She still isn't going out with the others but is getting up and around to eat and drink. This summer has been brutal, I really wish we could do more. The heat makes it so hard for them to eat and keep their weight on :( So many have died this year that it is scary. I am thankful that we haven't lost any but they are thinner than I'd like them to be.



I have added a Reviews tab to the blog, be sure to check out my latest review of last week's giveaway item. I made some curry chicken in one like it last night :)

Summer is never complete without

A good "truck stuck in the mud" story. That's right folks after 2 years of living on the farm we have successfully gotten every vehicle we have owned stuck in the mud at some point during the summer. This summer the truck is stuck in the ditch by the highway as a couple of our calves decided to take the scenic route to get back home. Dh and Ar got them rounded up and back home, in the mean time a passerby (must have been a city dweller) panicked and called 911 thinking there had been an accident.

You can just imagine Dh's surprise when 3 sheriffs showed up to check out the accident, lol. They made sure he hadn't been drinking and no one was hurt, then had to call off the ambulance and fire truck. On the upside, it's nice to know that we have such a great response time out here, lol :)

It all worked out to be for the best, God has a very funny sense of humor, I had parked my car earlier that evening at DH's job and we took the truck to Wichita. We were tired so we came straight home, which is when DH discovered the calves we loose. A co-worker picked Dh up for work and he was able to get the car home :) All's well that ends well :)

To answer a few questions I've gotten on the living room remodel: yes this was a DIY project, my sis, her hubby, my mom, AR and DH worked for 2 days painting and getting the floor done. The week before DH and the kids got the carpet up and the tack strip and staples removed. Curtains are still in progress and furniture is tbd :) The black ceiling fans will be replaced with white, likely from another room in the house as we have many.

You maybe having a bad day when . . .

You wake up to find a pig and a cow (Patches) out by the road. Then after you get then back in, an hour later you find that the larger cow (Blackbird) have completely busted the fence. Luckily, I'd sent AR to check on the animals which saved the nice officer a trip to the house :( AR, the officer and a kind stranger attempted to fix the fence. AR then rounded up the cows to get them back to the barn. This did not go over well with Notch who attempted to charge him, so he left her be. Dh is attempting to convince Ms overprotective back to the barn. This should prove interesting as she is not known to be easily persuaded. :( I will not miss her when she's gone to the sale in a few months.

Independence Day baby :)

Happy Independence Day everyone! Notch had her baby about an hour ago, sex tbd as she is HIGHLY protective and attempted to ram DH when he approached the baby. Blackbird's baby is to be called Ebony. We are keeping an eye on her as DH is concerned that Blackbird may not be feeding her enough.
**Update** it's a boy :) His name will be Chip.


In honor of America's Independence Day, here is Ray Charles and America the Beautiful live @ the McCallum Theater

Mama pig took the babies for a walk

For some reason Mama pig has become impossible to contain. This evening I woke dh up to do chores before going in to work and not 5 minutes later a stranger pulled up to the house. Mama had taken the babies for a walk by the highway 8| AR and DH rushed out and got them back in the corrals. Mama has trampled and dug up my garden over the past few weeks :(

Black Jack, Missy and Pinky have had to be locked down in the corrals as the dug under the fence of their old pen :( Missy seems to be the only one that minds, and has assisted Dh in finding all the weak spots. :roll eyes:

Dh is looking for a part-time 2nd job to help catch us up on bills, as am I. No leads yet. I am thankful to have my swagbucks to get amazon gift cards for books for the kids, it is a life saver with 3 kids b-days in summer and 3 in winter.

The cows decided to press their luck last night and rush Dh as he entered the gate, since it was dark their little escapade cost us part of the electric fence :( Dh worked a double shift today so we'll have to assess the damage Wednesday or Thursday.

The kids and I are having loads of fun this summer, focusing mainly on Religion, Math and Reading

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.

Weaner pigs and a mama sow

We got 5 (1 is still waiting to be delivered) weaner pigs and a soon to be mama sow. She is due any day now and my oldest is in his glee as he is the owner of the sow. She is HUGE!!! She seems so very uncomfortable, but I don't imagine being pregnant with multiples is very comfortable. Jack is very eager to meet her and missy and pinky are set to meet the butcher next month. (If you are going to want pork, please email me or send a message via our facebook group). Piglets will be available for sale in a few weeks once they are weaned.

The beefies broke the fence by the pasture as they decided to sample the grass on the other side. Thankfully only 2 got out, pickle and notch. They are now on lock down with the bale of hay, hopefully dolly and blackbird will give them a good talking to.

The kids are so excited and we are really thankful that we were able to get them a piano last week. Makes piano lessons a bit easier to practice. Of course now I hear it all day long but that's the point right? :)

The garden appears to be coming in very nicely, pray that we get a bountiful harvest from our small attempt. We have been diligently watering and hilling and trying to weed (this one is still not our strong suit). The corn appears to be coming up in 3 out of 4 rows we planted (we did a very tiny plot). The strawberries are starting to come in, the blueberries are looking good, so are the grapes, blackberries and raspberries. The peach tree is really taking a beating from the wind, but the smaller cherry trees are fairing well. The squash and cantaloupe are coming, we'll see what else comes in as it bears fruit, they kids planted lots of seeds in various locations of the raised bed so some are a mystery, lol.

We're still here

I meant to update sooner, thank you to all who emailed, we are fine the tornado was a few miles sw of us and continued moving east until it had past us an then crossed the border about 6 miles east of us.

I have been really tired, to the point that I physically ache :( Hoping the dr will have some answers next week. Thankfully it does not inhibit homeschooling :)

We have had a steady increase in demand, we are thankful for this and I have ordered additional jars to keep up. We thank you for you continued prayer for the success of our farm.

This week we discovered that the first grasses of Spring are not the best for dairy cows as the wild onions/wild garlic and mustard grasses, affect the taste and smell of the milk. We have since pulled Mag off the pasture and bought her some alfalfa and fresh hay. She LOVES the fresh alfalfa, the bright green bales were enough to even lure Quinn out of the pasture for a taste, lol. Quinn appears to be coming along quit nicely, he goes to the butcher next Friday.

Well not a whole lot else going on, we are going to work on getting this old farm house fixed up in time for my moms visit this summer. :)

A pleasant day and stuff

Today we had the pleasure of hosting a homeschooling family. The weather was cooler than it had been the past few days but all in all it was nice. The kids were cold and clung tightly to their mother as the wind blew cold. The sun was out but did little to offer much warmth. We brought Meg out onto the front lawn so that they could meet her and pet her. The chickens made a brief appearance but opted to take cover in the barn. DH brought out some pickles for the kids to feed to pigs, but they preferred to watch. Being such a small farm there really wasn't a whole lot to see but we did get to chat for a bit, which was very nice. We lost all rack of time, the kids enjoyed playing with the cat and puppy and finally we said goodbye when DH mentioned the time. It was to be able to show them around, hopefully they had a good time too :)

In other news, I am really pleased with Mag's condition and will definitely be ordering again from the Co op. It is Amazing how much cream she produces, we thought Treva made a lot but Mag makes a whole lot more. Of course to be fair Mag produces 4 gallons a day and Treva was not up to that production before she left.

The pregnancy is progressing, it appears my thyroid is going to be an issue this time and I likely be put on medication. Since this runs in my family I am not terribly surprised but it will be a new chapter in my life as this will be a life long issue. I'm off to do more blood work for it today and am hoping that if medication is needed, that it will help with the weight and exhaustion.

The farm is picking up. We are selling our excess and I am hoping to be able to sell all so that I can help bring in some income. We are right now selling 25-30 percent, but we have had a few more inquiries that I am hoping will pan out. I have ordered jars in the meantime in preparation. (Side Bar Note: I have created a fan page for the Farm on facebook, please join us if you want more info about what we're selling and our schedule).

Well I've got to get to the lab. Toodles, lol :)

Good bye Buttercup and LJ

Today a couple came and bought Buttercup and LJ, it was a bittersweet goodbye. We have been looking for a van to fit us all and we decided to post her for sale. They were taken by her and wanted him too. They will need to wean LJ, but they will have a wonderful milker in Buttercup. Of course, I will now need to get a few more dairy cows we have sold all of our extras but that's ok, we don't mind :) Breaking cows to be gentle enough to be milked is probably the most challenging and rewarding job. The thing is we rarely get to enjoy the fruits of our labor as the cows go on to their new lives with their new families. Buttercup's life will be WAY different at her new home as they have 9000 acres. It is nice that our cows get to go to such large agritourism farms, it is also nice that they get to be the only when they get there. :) LJ is such an attractive calf it would have been nice to see his babies, but I'll survive :) Now to find the right van :)

Just because he can

Quinn enjoys the thrill of escaping, at least that is what I've decided. He walks himself back home and waits at the gate once he has gotten some passersby attention to let us know. He doesn't like to wait I guess. Compare that to Mag who spends her day roaming in the arena/east pasture or just the yard. We don't have the electric fence charger hooked up since we didn't want it to get rained on. Dh is working on making a box for it but with him working nights that project seems to be the furthest from his mind. So we let Mag get the benefit of the lush grass without competition from her bovine friends.

Quite the Pickle

I was chatting with DH after he came home from the store and wouldn't you know it, the darned Pickle went ahead and gave birth :) We've got a Gherkin, lol :) Mama and baby appear to be doing very well, though I wouldn't know since I am stuck at work and am getting all my information second hand via messenger and pictures, lol. Looks like I will be leaving sooner than I planned :)




more pics to come, DH has a really slow connection at home and the bulk uploader is taking forever to come up. :(