tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-90928119469672343742024-03-12T17:29:17.859-07:00The Adventures of the Reese's Pieces GangShirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11492784215821306418noreply@blogger.comBlogger180125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9092811946967234374.post-23450550162704692582011-05-17T07:58:00.000-07:002011-05-17T07:58:27.863-07:00I'm a Country Boy!Yesterday Nathan, who is 6 years old, and I went into town to run some errands. We drove past a field that had been recently manured. He took a deep breath and said, "Ahhhh! Mama, do you you like that smell? I love that smell cause I'm a country boy!"<br />
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I laughed and laughed! Hope you will too!!<br />
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Have a great day!Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11492784215821306418noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9092811946967234374.post-46665616650801485742011-04-29T13:53:00.000-07:002011-04-29T14:05:02.666-07:00What happens when..........................What happens when you take a very long heavy duty piece of used twine, tie a brick to it and swing it around.........................<br />
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It hits you in the HEAD!! <br />
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Guess which boy in the Reese House did this just a little while ago? <br />
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Caleb!!!<br />
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This occurred while I was outside hanging laundry. I lectured the boys on why they shouldn't swing these bricks, rocks, bones, and chains around! Broken windows was my main concern.<br />
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A few moments after finishing my lecture Caleb walked away from the house and proceeded to get his twine with a brick on it swinging around his head. It flopped and conked him in the back of the head. Caleb started to wince, cry, took a couple steps forward, did a little loop then landed on the ground... OUT COLD!! Yep... he passed out for about 10-20 seconds. <br />
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I got him in to the house and applied ice. He was groggy for about 30 minutes but coherent. Phil checked it out and his pupil dilation was good (he only has one pupil)... so no hospital run for us.<br />
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He has a nice bump, a head ache, and probably a mild concussion. <br />
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BOYS!!!!!!Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11492784215821306418noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9092811946967234374.post-48468569318697211272011-04-21T06:52:00.000-07:002011-04-21T06:52:53.720-07:00Kids............A brief recollection of some of the funny moments with the kids lately:<br />
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Nathan has Wednesday's off each week. This Wednesday after the snow storm, Nathan decided to head out and play in the snow... a bit confused..... He had rubber boots on instead of snow boots, winter coat, snow pants, and a bad-mitten racket with birdie in his hand. I told him bad-mitten was for spring, not snowy days... he said, "That's alright mommy... it'll be spring soon, I just want to practice!" <br />
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Last night on our way to church, just after he ate <b>SIX</b> hot dogs Thomas says: "Mom I'm hungry!" Several of us in the vehicle commented "You are a bottomless pit!" Philip starts crying...... "No, I'm the bottomless pit so he can't be!" Tee Hee!<br />
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We were leaving church last night after a LONG choir/Easter program practice when one of the children mentioned that Thomas took Pastors brief case outside. We figured out that Thomas did not take it back into the church. Phil turned around to head back to the church so we could tell Pastor where it was. I commented that it looked as if Pastor was frantically looking for something as we were leaving the building. It turns out Thomas was playing "Padington Bear" with Pastors "suitcase". Thankfully our Pastor has a good sense of humor and understands Thomas's quirky ways! Thomas was yelling out the door to Pastor "Sorry about that!!!" While Phil and I had a good laugh! <br />
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Hope those brought a smile to your face!Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11492784215821306418noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9092811946967234374.post-8988575748081990102011-04-19T10:53:00.000-07:002011-04-19T10:55:00.308-07:00Spring.... maybeWinter is back here and we are ready for Spring. The past month has seen lots of new births: a new heifer calf, 45 layer chicks, 150 Cornish roasters, and 11 turkey chicks. Best of all the "new birth" of Philip and Nathan, both of whom accepted Christ as their personal Savior. What a joy! <br />
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Sam is healing well and slowly getting back to a more active life. <br />
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More spring chores are getting done as the days wear on, and school work is quickly coming to a close. The garden is started in peat flats, the raspberries, grapes and apple trees are pruned. <br />
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Tulips are stretching from the earth and daffodils about to burst into golden smiles. What a perfect time to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. <br />
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We pray you will have a glorious Easter praising God for his promises fulfilled!!Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11492784215821306418noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9092811946967234374.post-11793715481813783022011-03-16T10:47:00.000-07:002011-03-16T10:47:35.393-07:00The Sap's a Flowin'Why should a family like ours try to raise our own meat, veggies, and sweets (honey & maple syrup)? One reason we want a self-sufficient farm is so that we can teach our children the value in working hard as an individual and as a family. Every once in a while.... they actually get it and participate with enthusiasm. This springs start of our syrup season has been a time when I have been so proud of the kids and how hard they are working WITH us. Phil and the kids have been going out to tap trees over the past few days. All of us have worked on gathering and cleaning over 70 4-5 gallon buckets to catch the sap. Today will start the harvest! I hope to use this time as an example to the kids of how fun it really is to have great attitudes and work together to get the job done! <br />
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Sorry, we don't sell our syrup, it is just for our family use. Each year we have people ask if we will sell some but we have never gathered enough for our own use let alone have extra to sell. Hopefully this year we'll get enough for the year for our family! We use about 10 gallons a year. I know that sounds like a lot but we try to avoid using sugar as much as possible, that is why we have honey bees and why we harvest maple sap. Phil and the kids have tapped over 50 trees and hope to have close to 70 tapped by the time they are done. <br />
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Today is the first day the sap should really be flowing. So I expect we will be cooking down our first batch tomorrow. I always look forward to the sugaring season and I'm always glad when it is over! :-) Thankfully it usually only lasts a few weeks, so we push though it so we can enjoy our syrup year round!Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11492784215821306418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9092811946967234374.post-51086391264548031092011-03-05T09:11:00.000-08:002011-03-05T09:11:28.284-08:00Possum fun!Phil went down to feed Boris on Thursday night and called frantically on his phone: "Shirley get the 22 and some shells and send it down with one of the kids I've caught a possum!" I ran for the gun while Elizabeth and Caleb rushed to get their coats on. Sam and I waited in the house anxiously to hear if daddy shot the animal, hopefully without getting bit by it! He came back up to the house with the large 10+ pound male possum dead. We got to see it through the window. Sam was quite bummed that he missed out on the excitement since he is still confined to a wheel chair for another week.<br />
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After Phil disposed of it he came in to tell us that when he got to the stall and looked over the door he saw this huge possum drinking water from the calves bucket! He charged after it. The possum ran for one of the corners of the stall and ended up stuck between the stall wall and the brick outer wall of the barn. Phil grabbed it's tail and the dogs antagonized it's head from the other side of the stall! Phil was determined to show no mercy since we have lost our share of chickens to possums in years past. <br />
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Elizabeth told us later that the family she babysits for who lives just a couple miles down the road, lost 5 turkeys and 12 chickens to possums last week. They trapped and killed 3 within just a few days. We are watching our chickens and turkey's closely making sure they are secure as soon as it is dark if not before. <br />
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The little boys were disappointed they missed the fun but liked seeing the pictures and hearing the story in the morning. <br />
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The good news is the wild animals are coming out of hibernation so spring must be on its way to Wisconsin!!Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11492784215821306418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9092811946967234374.post-28654866291267936412011-03-05T09:02:00.000-08:002011-03-05T09:02:07.285-08:00Boris is BornSome folks read my blog to keep up with the family. Some read because they like following our farm and all that we are learning in the making of it. I'll do my best to keep both groups happy.<br />
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This blog is about the first "normal" thing that we have had happen on the farm since December. I said I'd write about our cow trauma's and this is it. In December all was going well with the adult herd, with the exception of some mild cases of mastitis (so we thought) until we lost Holly just before Christmas. She was supposed to calf on Christmas and died just a couple days before. She showed no signs of being sick. The day before she died I watched her eating, chewing her cud and got to feel the calf moving. She looked totally healthy. I checked on her last at 10 p.m. and when I went out in the morning she was dead. <br />
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In the meanwhile, the yearlings and calves started to have issues. They are kept at what we call "the other farm" or the "lower farm". There is another barn down at the other end of the dead end where our neighbors rent the house and we use the barn and most the land around the house to graze the herds. We started to loose one summer calf every 5-7 days. The first one was because we thought Caleb had thrown a bail of hay on it and killed it. The others, we weren't sure but started to guess that the bull was killing them. <br />
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Two weeks after Holly died we lost another one of our best milk cows, Kipp. She too was eating, chewing cud, drinking and had all the happy cow signs then was dead 6 hours later. This death led to us getting 2 different vets out to the farm to look over the herd. We also had all the dairy cows tested and discovered that we had a severe mastitis issue. We knew many of the cows had mastitis, what we didn't know was that it was an incurable type. You see, when our cows get sick we don't usually use antibiotics. We use natural treatments first and medical treatments as a last resort. Both the vets stated that they thought the reason for our losses was too much stress on the herd due to lack of shelter. <br />
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This fall we had hoped to get a hoop barn up for the cows. However, time didn't allow and we hoped and thought with the guidance of our landlord that the herd would do fine. We were all sad when the stress led to us loosing 2 to death, 2 others to cull because their udders were useless and probably one other to cull once she calves in April. We still don't think that it was any one thing. We think it must have been a combination of things that for some reason allowed the girls to get sick and not be able to kick it. <br />
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This story sounds bad but when I tell you the numbers...... we started with 8 milk cows and ended the winter with 4. We started the winter with 6 calves and ended with 1, and 5 heifers and ended with 4. BIG losses for a little farm. <br />
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I must confess that I didn't handle these losses well. I reached a boiling point which caused us to really talk through and evaluate what we needed to change. I told the kids: "We cannot say that we are <i>learning</i> if we do not <i>change </i>anything based on what we have learned." So by mid-January Phil and I took over all the chores and I learned how to milk the cows with Elizabeth. <br />
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Since we have made these changes we have slowly worked the kids back into chores with a LOT of supervision and I continue to milk with Elizabeth every day. The health of the animals seems to have stabilized. However, I cannot explain to you in words how anxious we were about Bonita calving. You see, we hadn't had a normal birth since the summer. We prayed and watched Bonita closely as she got closer to calving. Finally on February 24th we woke to find a nice big healthy bull calf that the kids named Boris. Bonita has been giving us a beautiful creamy 4+ gallons of milk a day! <br />
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It is hard for me to express all that we have learned this winter. But I do hope we have LEARNED which means that the changes we've made will allow for a successful winter next year. <br />
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We have since added another cow and 5 heifers to the herd to try to get our milking numbers back up to where we want them to be. When all the heifers finish calving by December 2011 we will have 13 in the dairy herd. The next cow is due any day and once again we are praying and being vigilant in watching her for any signs of stress. <br />
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On a different note... we are trying to get my Boston Terrier to mate with a local stud so we can sell some terrier pups in June. My children don't need the "birds and bee's" talks... they get cows and bulls, chickens and roosters and now boy dog and girl dog training. :-) It is a great way for us to share with them how beautifully God has designed the cycle of life.Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11492784215821306418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9092811946967234374.post-84436287595200475902011-02-02T06:38:00.000-08:002011-02-03T18:51:01.192-08:00Waiting for the BusTuesday morning the snow was whipping while the three littles: Thomas, Philip, and Nathan, stood waiting for the bus. They waited about 15 minutes when Nathan came back to the house where Phil was shoveling out the drive. Phil encouraged him to go back down to the bus stop when Nathan said, "But daddy, there is a really bad storm over there but not here." He pointed to the mail boxes with great expression while explaining the morning weather to his daddy. Phil laughed and so did I when he told me later that morning. It is much nicer by the house because the house and barn help to block the wind.<br />
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Anyway, the boys waited a total of 30 minutes when I called the school. They told me that our bus was running behind about 35 minutes. So I made them stay out there. Another 15 minutes passed, during which time I sent Elizabeth out with a blanket and she huddled about the boys covering them with a blanket.... it was very cute inspite of how horrible it was for them to be waiting in the yucky weather. I called the bus company this time. They said it would be another 15 minutes or so until the bus made it to our place. I called the boys in and gave them hot cocoa. We waited for the bus to top the hill before sending the boys running down to the mailboxes where they catch the bus. The cocoa made the 45 minute chilly wait seem to go away for them. They were so excited they got cocoa and told their teachers so. I don't think they even mentioned that their toes and faces were about frozen off, because the cocoa made it all better. Ahhhh the life of a child! :-)Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11492784215821306418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9092811946967234374.post-42582734131927355102011-02-02T06:28:00.000-08:002011-02-03T18:52:36.766-08:00Milk cow turned MuleYesterday we shipped off two cows who have been struggling constantly with mastitis which has ruined their udders. Plus we had a steer that needed to be slaughtered. Getting the animals loaded was a 1 1/2 hour challenge. The two cows decided to turn into mules. One who we call Gayle stepped up into the trailer with her front two legs, knelt, plopped her bottom down on the ground and laid her head down refusing to move. Phil and our friend Jake tried pushing her 800 pound back end into the trailer with no success. Sylvia, the other cow tried hurdling two turned over watering troughs covered with snow. Elizabeth was squashed, shoved down, and almost stepped on by one of the cows. She is nursing a sprained knee and some nice bruises as a result. <br />
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To get the cows in we finally had to sandwich them with the trailer door by putting a heavy gate on one side and lining a rope from the trailer door to the gate behind them. The gal hauling them and I pushed on the door, smushing the cows while Jake and pushed them from behind and Phil pulled on the halter from inside the trailer. Thankfully it worked. The gal doing the hauling said she has never seen anyone with as much patience as us. I told Phil later she has probably never seen a farmer have so much trouble loading who didn't use a variety of expressions to voice his frustration who instead expressed "Praise the Lord" once we got them into the trailer. <br />
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Once the girls were loaded Phil decided to try one more time to load the steer who had previously given he and Jake a cardiac workout around the cow yard. I prayed we could get him in since he was our meat. The cows were going into other peoples freezers not ours. Anyway, the steer cooperated and in a matter of minutes was loaded. We were thankful it was over and quite frozen by the end. The blizzard was starting to roll in by the time we were done loading them. <br />
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We have one more cow to cull, but since it didn't have buyers we will keep her until she calves, hopefully, in April. I say hopefully because she does NOT look pregnant. Maybe she is just one of those ladies who hide it well! :-) <br />
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I'll update you more on our winter farming adventures as time goes on. Let's just say for now, the cows have been the worst experience of the winter. The cow/steer/calf issues is a LONG sad story!! <br />
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On a side note: <br />
We finally have figured out how to raise chickens successfully with very little losses and continuous egg production. <br />
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Pinky the family sow finally had a litter of 6 piglets.... all dead. She is scheduled to become sausage next week. We hate to put her down since she is in the friendliest 400 pound sow you'd ever meet. BUT she doesn't like Boars much. It took her 4 months with the boar before she warmed up enough to let him do his job, then her litter didn't survive. Someday, we hope to raise Berkshires again. The feeder pigs have one more month to eat drink and be merry until they will fill the freezer. Loading Pinky next week will be an adventure I'm sure. Thankfully she is a bit tame, so with a bucket of grain she will hopefully follow us like a puppy into the trailer..... if not I'll have another story to print.Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11492784215821306418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9092811946967234374.post-59080623246771223772011-02-02T06:07:00.000-08:002011-02-02T06:07:48.621-08:00Snow DayI love Wisconsin weather! The public schools decided to close down for today last night because the blizzard was supposed to be horrible. This morning here is it clear with some wind still, not bad for Wisconsin though. South of us they are still being hammered with snow and high winds, but we will have a pleasant snow day with everyone home. <br />
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I'm going to let the home schoolers have a day off too. They have been working really hard lately. Our move last May caused us to end school early and thus not get as much accomplished as I wanted for the year. We finished last years stuff by Christmas and now we are pushing to complete an entire grade in 5 months. The kids are working hard and are doing well. I think for the older children going through the material faster is keeping it fresh in their heads which is making it easier to remember the facts. They complain a lot because they are doing school for 6-8 hours a day (like normal school kids). This time schedule seems strenuous to them since we usually only have to work 4-6 hours a day to get school done. It will be nice to be totally back on track by the end of May. The fast paced way we are moving through the subjects requires a lot more work on my end too. Keeping up with the grading and testing occupies most of my day. So..... a snow day is welcome!!<br />
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I'm going to bake cookies with Philip, he is star student this week in his first grade class at school and wants to take a treat to share with his friends. Then we will do some much needed cleaning. <br />
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Happy Winter Wonderland to those of you enjoying this Blizzard too!!Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11492784215821306418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9092811946967234374.post-31177568431823160692011-01-27T17:57:00.000-08:002011-01-27T17:58:09.256-08:00Back in the Saddle.... Hopefully!Hi All!!<br />
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I know it has been FOREVER since I've blogged. I now have internet 24/7 so hope to get back to it. It will take a week or two to get y'all caught up on the happenings of the gang and Promise Land Farm. <br />
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For now, we are doing well. Sam is recovering from two hip surgeries that he has had over the past 2 1/2 weeks. I'll do a blog later with the entire Sam hip story. Elizabeth is getting to be quite the pianist and is starting a heritage turkey business. Caleb is a feisty fifth grader and our chief wood splitter. Thomas is progressing in school and enjoys therapy peer plays each week. Philip is learning to read and spell, and is a ball of energy. Nathan is writing very well and getting to be so tall... he's not my baby anymore. :-( <br />
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Phil is enjoying his work with Dynamic Campus. The challenge of running the help desk efficiently keeps him on his toes. He is also very busy as a Deacon, sound man, song leader and Sunday school teacher at church. <br />
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Me... I've learned to run our milk system and help Elizabeth milk each day now. I enjoy teaching 10 piano students, playing the piano for church and until recently teaching Sunday school. Home schooling Eliza, Sam and Caleb keep my mornings and early afternoons very full. Managing the farm, animals, preparing for the garden, and helping our customers fills the spare minutes of my day. <br />
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I look forward to sharing all that has been happening here over the next several days.Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11492784215821306418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9092811946967234374.post-42618429861902294762010-04-23T17:47:00.000-07:002010-04-23T17:47:57.137-07:00Packing and GardeningThis week we put home school on hold to focus on packing. It has been a busy but productive week. We are organizing everything in the house according to where it will go in the new house. For example: Everything in the current school room will go to the school room or living room at the new house because those rooms are side by side. Everything in Samuels current room will go to the little boys room because his bed will be set up in their room at the new house. So we've put all the books and toys for the little in Sam's current closet. Everything that is in the living room will go into the storage closet in the new house. <br />
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We have several friends and at least 4 trucks each with a trailor (we think) to do the moving with. We'll assign a certain "room" to each team of friends. They will move the stuff for that room only on their rig. So there won't be any move it all from one house to the living room of the new house and take a month to find everything. Everything will be moved from room to room so it will be much less chaos during our settling weeks. That is a good thing since we will be having to learn how to milk 10+ Jerseys, while caring for 194 meat chickens, 50 laying hens, 2 sows, 1 boar, 2 bulls, several steers and several young heifers. Oh yea.... and we need to get the garden started. <br />
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We are very excited about the move. The kids are bursting with enthusiasm. I think one of their favorite topics of anticipation is the tree house which is nestled in a beautiful huge willow tree! I have a feeling that willow will be their favorite place to play over these next few years! I've always dreamed of living on a farm with a willow tree!! We also have 4 apple trees on the property and a cherry tree. There are red raspberries and rhubarb already established in the garden too! I'll be planting some black raspberries this summer. <br />
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This week we also transplanted 150-200 strawberry plants. I just moved them in large clumps to the new strawberry patch which is why I don't exactly know how many I moved. We've been giving away lots of plants too because i have over 1000 in my strawberry patch.... how sad to leave it! Yesterday Elizabeth and I went to the new house and planted 63 early red potato sets. I haven't checked the garden beds that we planted the lettuce, spinach, kohlrabi, peas, kale, Swiss chard, beets, and green onions. I'm sure some of it may be peeking out. We are supposed to get rain this weekend so if they haven't sprouted yet, and if the chickens didn't eat all the seeds, we should be seeing our salad garden flourishing soon.<br />
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I'll try to blog the week after the move and let you know if my moving system worked! :-)Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11492784215821306418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9092811946967234374.post-26411641892572782822010-04-08T18:26:00.000-07:002010-04-08T18:26:15.306-07:00Spring is Here -- MaybeHere is a fragmented update of the past couple months.... enjoy! <br />
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This morning we woke to a covering of snow. The kids were all disappointed. Thomas was the funniest of them all. He first cried then said, "Is it Christmas again, I need to write a letter." Then he was upset about the snow again and finally while he was waiting for the bus he said, "Mom, I guess this snow isn't so bad." What a kid!<br />
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I am excited about starting to plant hopefully this next week at our new house. Our moving date is set for May 1. We will be moving from 3 1/2 acres to 30 acres, 1 cow to 10 + bulls and steers, 1 sow to 2 sows and a boar + feeder pigs of course, 50 meat birds a year to 400 a year, 30 laying hens to 80, etc. It will be a bit of a change from our small hobby farm. We are looking forward to it though! The details seem to be all working out and we are excited about the move. <br />
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Our Home school program will go on hold the last week of April until the 2nd week of May for the move. We already have some packing done but will need those weeks to pack and resettle into the new house without trying to do school at the same time. The children in school will stick to their normal routine.<br />
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I'm enjoying teaching 7 piano students this year. Our piano will be delivered to the new house the first week of May. Once it arrives I will start to teach Elizabeth, Sam, and Caleb too along with working on trying to brush up on the many musical skills that I've lost since not playing consistently for almost 10 years. On May 27 we will have our annual spring recital. I think Phil is going to post it on our church website, I'll try to remember to link to it once it is loaded so those who may be interested in hearing it can. <br />
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It has been so long since I've blogged that I feel a bit fragmented in my thought process. Phil surprised me on my birthday in March with a night away. Elizabeth did a great job taking care of the boys, cooking all the meals, and keeping the house in fairly decent order. Phil and I enjoyed the night away and spent the following day researching washing machines because mine died the end of February. We finally decided on a Maytag front load professional series machine. It works great but my old dryer still cannot keep up. So I'm saving my piano teaching money in order to purchase a new dryer before winter. I like to line dry as much as possibles in up summer so I think I'll be able to keep up until the winter. I'm not as talented as my Amish neighbors when it comes to freeze drying my clothes. <br />
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One more nice thing about our upcoming move is that we might have internet access 24 hours a day for a reasonable cost! If so I won't have to wait 4-8 weeks to update everyone. Once we have the good internet access I'll have to post a picture of the new farm and lots of updated photos of the children. They are growing so fast! It is hard to believe that my baby will be 5 in just a couple weeks. When the weather turned nice he received his birthday present a little early... a new bike! He was VERY excited! <br />
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I hope you all had wonderful Celebration of Christs Resurrection! Our church choir sang three songs from the newest Hamilton cantata. They were songs that were difficult to sing without getting choked up because of the message of the songs. I was blessed to be able to sing instead of having to play because our Choir director decided to use the orchestrated accompaniment. I am so thankful for our church. Speaking of church, we are moved into our new building! It has been such a blessing to have a church building that meets the need of our congregation so much more efficiently! <br />
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Lastly the past couple months have been ones of great gains and losses on the farm. We butchered 5 pigs and 5 goats. Even though we shared the meet with others we have nice full freezers to get us through until the fall butchering season. This is the first time ever that I've had such a wide variety of meat in my freezer: pork, beef, venison, goat, chicken, and turkey. YUMMY! <br />
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That's all for now. Check back in May when hopefully my internet access will be more regular!Have a Blessed Spring!Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11492784215821306418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9092811946967234374.post-38128770989418682282010-02-10T12:30:00.000-08:002010-02-10T12:32:14.215-08:00Where has the time gone!I cannot believe it has been so many months since I have blogged. I'll try to briefly update you on the last couple months. <br />
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In November my Grandpa Mayhew ended up in the hospital. We were afraid that we'd have to have his funeral over the Thanksgiving holiday, but his condition stabilized until the beginning of December, when he passed on. Phil and I traveled to MI with Elizabeth, Sam, and Caleb for Grandpa's funeral. It was sad having to say goodbye. To my knowledge my grandfather never came to know the Lord as his personal Savior which made his death difficult for us to deal with. I am thankful for the great memories I have of times spent fishing and hanging out with grandpa when I was a child and teen. It was nice getting to see family that we haven't seen for several years at the funeral. The highlight of the trip for me was getting to see my little brother. Kirk Spent the afternoon after the funeral visiting with my parents and us at my Aunt Bonnie's house. The boys love Uncle Kirk, he had fun teasing them! We were thankful that some friends from our church were willing to watch the thee little for us during the trip.<br />
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Thanksgiving and Christmas were quiet. At least it seemed that way to me. I was missing being with our extended family. Phil had an entire week at home with us because campus is closed between Christmas and New Years. It was nice having him home while the kids were of school. <br />
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January brought with it not only the new year but some new of new changes for our family. We will be moving May 1 to a farm 3 miles down the road. Our friends the Turba's are retiring and plan to travel for 2-3 years. We will be renting 30 acres of their 300 acre farm. We will also be renting their herd of dairy cows. I'm excited about raising our own beef, having plenty of milk to share with local friends, raising organic meat birds to sell, as well as selling more eggs and maybe even a few pigs. Our garden plot will expand to 140' X 60' (last year it was 80' X 50'). I'll be transplanting about half of my strawberry plants too. There are already raspberries on the property. We will also be able to still make syrup off the trees on their property. The house/farm is located on a dead end road about 1/2 mile from the county road which will make it a much safer place for the kids to play. The house is a little smaller, but not enough that it will really matter. The kids are all REALLY excited about the move. <br />
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Speaking of the kids. They are all doing really well. January marked the end of his intensive therapy he is now receiving about 10 hours a week instead of 35 hours. This means that Thomas is now attending school for the full day then having about 2 1/2 hours of therapy 4 days a week. Philip and Nathan are doing well in school. Elizabeth , Sam, and Caleb are working their way through their curriculum. I'd like to see them almost done for the year by the end of April but we'll see how it goes.<br />
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I've spent my winter free time reading lots of books (fiction and biographies about the Amish)and preparing for the move. I also have already ordered the garden seeds and have plotted out my new garden on the computer. We've run out of potatoes, corn and peas, but the rest of the produce still has a while to go before we run out. <br />
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A couple weeks ago we butchered a steer with our Amish Neighbors. We were amazed how quickly we got the meat cut off the bone, processed and ready for the freezer. It only took about 3 hours to get everything done, with the exception of shapping meat balls and browning the burger. I've always wanted to process my meat fresh so I could make meatloaf, meatballs, hamburgers, taco meat, etc. before freezing it. It has been so nice having many of my meals partially done because of how we packaged up the meat before freezing. <br />
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I'd better end this entry. I'll try to update it sooner next time!Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11492784215821306418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9092811946967234374.post-64847374989156636102009-10-31T15:57:00.000-07:002009-10-31T16:33:18.259-07:00October in ReviewOctober has been busy with school, preserving the harvest, flu, school, making cheese, flu, school, flu, etc. Yes, we have had the feared H1N1 and survived without difficulty and WITHOUT the vaccination!! <br /><br />All the children are doing well in school. Thomas had a rough time getting back into the routine after his almost week long bought with H1N1. He is finally starting to get back to normal. He only has 2 months left of his intensive therapy treatment. I'm very thankful for these three years yet I'm looking forward to life no longer revolving around Thomas's therapy schedule!! We are unsure as to what the future will hold for Thomas regarding therapy. Wisconsin passed a law that requires insurance companies to cover therapy for Autism. That sounds GREAT to those who haven't been able to "afford" therapy. However, the hope quickly fizzles when you realize that you still have to pay your deductible and in many cases a co-pay which can easily total $1,600 a month in order to receive 20-30 hours of therapy a week. I'm afraid that we have discovered that our insurance is one that is required to pay which means we are required to use the insurance rather than the Waiver. Depending on how all the details play out we may no longer be able to have therapy for Thomas beginning in Jan 2010. The Lord knows what is best and we are trusting Him for the outcome. I do believe that Thomas needs more therapy, however, we have a large deductible and a 20% co-pay which will most likely mean little to no therapy for Thomas. <br /><br />Philip's lumpy limphnodes continue to decrease in size very slowly. He goes back to see the Dr. in December. Philip loves school and is really doing well. There are still many days that he wants to stay home with mom and home school. I keep telling him that someday he will be home with mommy for school but for now, he has to go to Mrs. R's class. I love the time of day when he comes off the bus anxious to hug mom and share a bit about his day. <br /><br />Nathan is enjoying his 4K class. The teachers told me that when he was out with H1N1 the class was quiet and lacked its typical "spark" and "energy". He is starting with two 30 minute sessions of speech therapy. His greatest weakness with speech is clear pronunciation. The Speech Pathologist did four tests with him and he passed all them with flying colors except the one on phonetics and pronunciation. I really like his SP and I know with her help Nathan will make a lot of speech progress this year. I am also excited that I will get to play the piano for Nathan's 4K Christmas program. This will give me a good chance to get to know more of the folks in our school and town. <br /><br />Eliza, Sam, and Caleb are doing well with their home schooling. They seem to enjoy spelling the most which is really quite funny since Eliza and Sam are really behind and Caleb is advanced. They like the program that we are using though so that is good! Sam and Caleb get to do a lot of experiments in science which makes that subject fun for them and challenging for mom..... I have to have the right stuff on hand for the experiments!! I think a nice science kit is on the Christmas list for this year! <br /><br />Phil helped his team at work move their data center this month. It went very smoothly which brought on the praise of the WM board and Phil's bosses. I am so thankful for the job that Phil has. He really enjoys it and he is valued for his hard work! He is also putting in a lot of time on the farm getting it ready for winter. He's built a new stall in the barn for the goats, fixed up the cows stall and milking area and is constantly moving fencing so Rose can have fresh pasture. He is a hard working man!! In a couple weeks we'll be butchering a steer with some Amish Neighbors. Phil is excited about learning how to butcher beef! After that experience my hubby will be able to butcher everything we hope to raise on our own someday. <br /><br />Me, I've been busy trying to keep up with this busy brood and the farm. I am enjoying making lots of food out of our good Jersey milk. We make cheddar cheese, Mozzarella, butter, cream cheese, sour cream, and lots of hot chocolate to name a few things! Elizabeth can now make Farmhouse Cheddar Cheese from start to finish without my assistance. She is a big help in the kitchen! My new hens are starting to lay which has increased our egg production from 8-10 eggs a day to 14-18 eggs a day. I'm able to sell the extra we don't need. We have finally decided to end our Turkey brooding business. Our Tom and the 3 hens will be gracing our table over the next few months. Our Amish neighbors have agreed to help me butcher them the week before Thanksgiving! I'm looking forward to Turkey for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Last year just didn't seem like Thanksgiving without a turkey! <br /><br />This week I'll be canning carrots, pumpkin, squash, and apples. With the help of my Amish neighbor I'm am slowly becoming more confident about pressure canning. I just don't have the freezer space for everything yet I want the food to last us the year, so pressure canning some of these foods is my only option. The Amish have done it for YEARS and thankfully Sarah is willing to answer all my silly questions!! <br /><br />In the midst of it all I'm thankful for the beautiful Fall weather. God paints the rolling hill's and the edges of the fields that surround us with the vibrant yellows, red's, and oranges of fall. Most of the leaves have blown off the trees now as we hunker down for the slower, colder days of winter. We've survived out first year trying to be fairly self sustainable with good success. We've learned a lot through the struggles, successes, laughter and tears and we look forward to next year!Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11492784215821306418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9092811946967234374.post-61309352236953827462009-09-26T20:35:00.001-07:002009-09-26T20:53:16.151-07:00Tomatoes & ApplesThis past week has been focused on canning the tomatoes from our garden. Elizabeth, Sam & Caleb have had to help me a lot because my carpel tunnel has gone from bad to severe after having to milk Rose for a couple weeks. Thankfully now our vacuum pump is working so I can give my hands a rest. <br /><br />Since last Sunday we have made 14 quarts of Spaghetti sauce, 7 pints of pizza sauce, 14 quarts of diced tomatoes, 9 quarts of tomato sauce, 11 pints of BBQ sauce, and 37 pints of salsa. I couldn't have done it without the kids help. My hand goes numb and get very painful after only a couple minutes of holding a knife. We probably have another 150 pounds of tomatoes to pick and process over the next week or so. We'll be making more spaghetti sauce, pizza sauce, salsa, and probably more BBQ sauce. I'm already at the point where I dread having to look at tomatoes for another day. I know that I will be glad when we have all this wonderful organic food in the root cellar, but I think I will be more glad when we are DONE canning tomatoes! <br /><br />Friday we went on a field trip to a local orchard with Nathans 4K class. The kids and I learned a lot about how to care for an apple tree. They are writing a report about what they learned. The woman who gave the tour asked me to mail her the kids reports. She said she wished more older kids came to the orchard because there is so much to learn! <br /><br />This week we will be busy with school and canning. The week will end with a mini vacation for ME! Yes, I am actually going to leave the premises for 24 hours. I'm going on a ladies retreat with some ladies from my church. I'm very excited about getting a day away for fellowship and spiritual refreshment.... I just hope they don't serve tomatoes! :-)Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11492784215821306418noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9092811946967234374.post-55105132999765670342009-09-11T08:55:00.001-07:002009-09-11T09:09:15.469-07:00The Second Week of SchoolThis week was the first that I allowed the littles to ride the bus to school in the morning. I was concerned that being on the bus for 30-40 minutes in the morning would be a struggle for him. Thankfully, I was wrong. Thomas has done a great job. He even rode all by himself on Wednesday because Philip still wasn't well enough to attend and Nathan doesn't go to school on Wednesday. <br /><br />Elizabeth, Sam, Caleb and I did home school each day this week. None of them have all their subjects but we consistently worked on the ones they do have. I am really liking Spelling Power. The kids are really having fun with spelling this year and I know this systematic way of doing spelling will help Elizabeth and Sam to catch up to their appropriate grade levels while it is challenging enough for Caleb so he isn't bored. <br /><br />Elizabeth got to go to a sewing class on Thursday. One of the missionary builders at our church taught all the girls at our church how to do some basic stitches by hand and on the machine. She also gave them a history lesson that included quilting before teaching them how to do a nine patch quilt. Elizabeth really enjoyed the day with her friends from church learning to quilt and sew! <br /><br />Philip ended up missing two days of school this week because he was still too weak and tired. He still isn't back up to his old energy level. If he hadn't just had a mono test three weeks ago I'd be taking him to the doctor for a mono test. Especially since this is the second time he was sick in 3 weeks. <br /><br />We are going on our first field trip tomorrow to Ledgeview Nature Center, about 2 miles down the road. They are having a "Health & Harvest Day". It will count as health and probably science for the kids. Plus they were able to color a picture which they will submit for a free ice cream while we are there. Phil will be gone to a men's retreat, so it will just be the kids and I. I'm sure it will be and adventure!Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11492784215821306418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9092811946967234374.post-85916079260822489272009-09-11T08:20:00.000-07:002009-09-11T08:55:34.751-07:00And the Cow Jumped over the SamThe past couple mornings Rose has decided that she wants to walk home to her Amish farm. She acts like she is willingly walking to the pen until she gets the pen in site then she turns around and bolts for the road. The first morning we were able to catch her right by the garden. The second morning was much worse. She bolted away from Sam and by the time we caught her she was down the road a ways. We ended up tying her to the hitch on the back of our Minivan and pulling her home. I decided to park in our neighbors drive and walk her to her pen. As soon as we got to the gate she bolted dragging me along behind her. I would've held on longer however.......... my pants were falling down! :-( UGH! When I let go Elizabeth and Samuel caught up to her and were jogging on either side. Sam decided to try to throw all his weight on her to see if it would slow her down. It did only because Samuel slid under her body and the cow tripped over him with her back knee landing fiercely in the middle of Sam's back. Sam stood up, gasping for breath that wouldn't come. His face was beat red while his lips were turning blue. Finally he fell to his knees then passed out. Thankfully he was only unconscious for a couple seconds. When he woke up his breathing was not labored so I was pretty confident that he didn't have a punctured lung. <br /><br />So I ran for the van and up the road to catch the cow again. This time we backed her right into the pen while she was still attached to the van. We pulled the van out enough to get the gate closed then we finally untied her. By this time Sam was looking much better and able to help us. He was complaining of pain when he breathed deeply. After talking with Phil we decided that he wasn't in any great danger but we wanted him checked out by a doctor that knew the spine. So I took him to our Chiropractor that afternoon. Dr. Nick found that Sam's spine and ribs were sound, no fractures, however, he had 4-6 vertebra's that were severely out of place. He adjusted Sam and thankfully Samuel felt instant relief, being able to breath much easier. We are very thankful that Samuel's first lesson in cow ridding didn't end with any severe injuries. <br /><br />Yesterday I didn't take a chance and hooked her up to the van and put her in the pen with the aid of the vehicle so I wouldn't have to chase her. This morning Phil was here and she didn't give him any trouble. Hopefully she is starting to realize that this is her new home. <br /><br />Many people have asked me, "She really wouldn't walk home would she?" I think that because the Millers lead her here by hitching her to the back of their buggy. She really does know the way home. Usually a cow is hauled to a farm in a trailer which means they loose all sense of direction. Rose however, walked here so she thinks she can just walk home!<br /><br />I still really am enjoying having a Jersey cow and if the Millers offered to sell her to us, I would buy her in a minute. She is very mild mannered which makes her very easy to hand milk. We are really enjoying her creamy milk and the first batch of cheddar cheese curds are almost gone. Today I'm making cheddar cheese curds again, and either a block of cheddar for aging, or some mozzarella so we can have pizza this weekend. Our first batch of butter will be made tonight and I made some mildly tart creamy yogurt a couple days ago too! I love the versatility of cow milk and of course, the flavor!Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11492784215821306418noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9092811946967234374.post-7226698088880567602009-09-07T08:11:00.000-07:002009-09-06T08:23:29.054-07:00School DaysSchool has begun again. The three littles started at New Holstein Elementary last week and overall had a very good week. Thomas, who is in grade 2, is adjusting well to being in the classroom again and is excited to try ridding the bus this week. We have his IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meeting on Tuesday at school to outline the areas that we will target this year with his behaviors, therapy (speech & Occupational Therapy) and education at school. Philip is in kindergarten and having a great time! Nathan and I went to his class for a shortened day on Thursday, then on Friday he went by himself and rode the bus home. He loved it!! He will be getting evaluated for speech which will allow him to receive speech therapy soon. <br /><br />The older kids and I took the first week to get used to our new spelling program. We are using Spelling Power which allows each child to be at their own level, while progressing as quickly as they master the current word list. They are all doing great and are really enjoying it! We also did their math testing so I could verify which level each child is at while getting a good picture of their strength and weaknesses in Math. We ended the week by hanging a bulletin board, white board and classroom clock. The kids also wrote a Journal entry about their first week of school. This next week we will add a couple more subjects for each child, depending on what curriculum's have arrived by then. We are still waiting for all our school materials to arrive. <br /><br />This year they each have their own crates to hold their school materials, and they have their own "space". Elizabeth uses the table, Caleb the school desk, and Sam, the old computer desk. They really like having their own "desks" this year! Within the next couple weeks we will start them on Piano too. I want them each to have a foundation in music and piano is the best way to attain that. Once they each have a good understanding of music theory and the treble and base clef notes then we will look at getting them each an additional instrument to learn. <br /><br />This year's schooling will be a lot more structured than last year and I am enjoying the change. The kids seem to be really liking having a guided lesson for each subject too. We are using Alpha Omega Life Packs for science, history, and language arts this year. I'm sure it will be another year of learning what works and what doesn't!Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11492784215821306418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9092811946967234374.post-9288906586951724092009-09-06T08:00:00.000-07:002009-09-06T08:10:52.058-07:00PhilipI think I've posted about some of the health problems that Philip has been having. When we lived in Pembine and he was in 4K he missed one week a month because he'd end up being sick, running a fever, swollen glands and tonsils, and just feeling miserable.<br /><br />Since moving his boughts with illness had become less and less. He started only getting sick every other month, then every three, etc. He was sick in November then was in very good health until 3 weeks ago. That is why when his neck remained swollen when he wasn't sick we got concerned. Exactly three weeks ago he spiked a fever and was in bed for 2 days. Yesterday it started again. He spiked a fever and spent yesterday in bed and he is already in bed again today, after going out to watching milking and visit the puppy. Thankfully these last two incidences seem to be much shorter than before. They only seem to last a couple days instead of an entire week. <br /><br />Phil and I are trying to figure out what is lacking in his body that will help his immune system to fight off these little bugs. What is not balanced?? <br /><br />The biopsy of the growth in his neck came back fine, no cancer cells or abnormal cells of any kind. The ultra sound showed several growths between 1 & 2 centimeters in size on his neck. He sees the specialist again on the 28th. Until then we'll just make him comfortable when he runs the fever and pray for wisdom as to how to help this little boy gain full health again!Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11492784215821306418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9092811946967234374.post-81591941799116828572009-09-06T07:48:00.000-07:002009-09-06T08:00:40.074-07:00A Rose Amongst the Thorns!This morning was quite the milking adventure with Rose. We had decided to try to use our goat stantion in reverse for Rose. We didn't take into account that the stantion weigh's very little and our 800 pound cow would just jerk it around while trying to get the vegetables and feed we have on the platform for her. So this morning Rose was milked in the barn, in the driveway, and in the front yard! I'm sure all the cars that drove by had a nice laugh, since you don't often see a Jersey Cow in someones front yard with a long haired red head milking her into a 3 gallon bucket! About half way through the milking process when we were chasing Rose down the driveway, Phil said,"Honey, I think your dream come true has turned into a nightmare!" Thankfully we both have a sense of humor and really want our own cow which made the morning very laughable!! After chasing Rose around getting her milked we enjoyed coming into the house to have last nights very whole milk, the jar was almost 1/2 cream, over a bowl of cereal! <br /><br />We aren't getting as much milk out of her as the Millers were. I think it is because we cannot get her to stand still and relax while I'm milking her. She is also used to being milked with a machine. Rose is actually more difficult to milk than our goats. The goats have a nice firm nipple and they let down their milk well. So far, Rose hasn't been comfortable enough to let her milk down easily and her two back teats are VERY small. Like even smaller than our Brownies teats. Phil is going to work on getting the vacuum pump working so we can use it for Rose. I think once she settles in we will see her milk increase again! So far we've only gotten 2 3/4 gallons out of two milkings. She should be closer to 4 gallons a day. <br /><br />I must say after chasing Rose around for 1 1/2 hours it was quite relaxing to milk Curley, the goat! <br /><br />Today Phil will stop at Tractor Supply to get a lead rope and a hook to mount on a beam in the barn so we can tie her up during milking time. He is also going to get a bit of new fencing so we can put her in a pasture area along side the house. She'll be our lawn mower for the fall!Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11492784215821306418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9092811946967234374.post-15440660484930897552009-09-05T17:08:00.000-07:002009-09-05T17:30:47.103-07:00I'm Having a COW!No.... Really, I HAVE a COW! Yes, that is right! Today a beautiful Jersey sauntered up the road to her new boarding farm, the Reese Farm. Our Amish Neighbors lead Rose here behind their horse and buggy. She walked 3 miles to get her and arrived at about 5:45 p.m. We introduced her to the barn then milked her for the first time. She did GREAT!! She has been milked with a machine for the past 2 years. For now we will be milking her by hand. Phil hopes to get our vacuum pump working soon so we can milk Rose with our new Serge milker. <br /><br />I am so excited to finally have a Jersey on the farm. We will board Rose until she needs to be bread again next summer then we'll take her back for a month or two then they will return her here. Our friends are working on building up their dairy herd so they can eventually ship milk. For now though they only have 4 cows that they are milking which isn't enough to ship. They were giving all the extra milk to their pigs. When I told Sarah I was looking for a Jersey she mentioned it to her husband who said we could have Rose until they are ready to start shipping milk, which I think is a couple years away yet. This will give us a chance to try out having a cow without having to spend $1200 on one. What a DEAL!!! I can certainly handle babysitting a cow when we get to use all her wonderful creamy milk!!<br /><br />We had another addition to the farm today.... a new dog. Well actually she is an almost 6 week old sweet little puppy! Elizabeth bought her from friends of ours. She will be our farm dog. She is going to live in the barn with the animals and hopefully protect the animals and gardens from the varmints that have done so much damage this past year! Elizabeth hasn't named her yet. Sometime over the next couple days I'll have to take pictures of our newest additions.<br /><br />And we had one subtraction too. Marie our best goat went to her home tonight a couple miles down the road. Now we are down to just milking Curley until the spring when she and the 2 yearlings will freshen. Caleb is very glad that he will still have goat milk from Curley and I am very glad to only have about 1/2 gallon a day of goat milk to use. Caleb drinks about that much in a day, so it will work out GREAT!Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11492784215821306418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9092811946967234374.post-3834057273814081432009-08-24T19:11:00.000-07:002009-08-24T19:17:56.513-07:00ApplesWe've been blessed by friends who have given us apples this month. First our land lord came over with a bushel of apples that made 6 quarts of sauce. Yesterday we received a bunch more from another friend. Today we made 25 quarts of apple sauce from those. Sam and Elizabeth were big helpers today. It took us most of the day to make the sauce and they did most of the quartering of the apples while I was making bread, having Thomas's weekly team meeting, and cooking the apples. It was definitely a team effort! <br /><br />Caleb had a check up today with his doctor at Children's hospital. The doctor said his eye looks great. He will see Dr. Connor again in a year.Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11492784215821306418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9092811946967234374.post-70926765834336135412009-08-22T19:48:00.000-07:002009-08-22T19:52:57.516-07:00Summer DaysSince my last entry our lives have been busy working the garden, preparing for school, and enjoying the summer with an occasional chase the pigs and/or goats day. Yes, our fencing issues and naughty livestock still cause trauma at least once a week. We are raising 40 more meat chickens and my new laying hens are growing nicely. They are even starting to make friends with some of my current laying flock. <br /><br />We've started to sell off our goats. So far we've sold 2 milkers and 1 yearling. We'd like to sell 2-3 more adult goats and the 2 female kids before winter if possible. We only have 2 goats left that we are milking and they are yielding 1 ½ gallons of milk a day. We keep what we use and give the rest to our pigs. We are selling most of the goats because most of us don't like the goat cheese and only 3 in the family like goat milk. <br /><br />I don't think that I've blogged since we got our 5 feeder pigs. They look like little Wilbers, and they are very naughty! We kept them in the barn at first because they were too little to be out with pinky. After a month of barn life their stall and our barn STUNK. So we decided to try them out in the pig pen, so we could clean out their stall. They did fine for about a week then they got adventurous and decided to start exploring the farm, yard, and road. So, Pork, Chop, Bacon, and Sausage are all in the pen in the barn while Hamy is still living with Pinky. Hamy doesn't try to escape when he is alone, but if we put the others back in the big pen they five of them explore the property. <br /><br />We may be “renting” a nice jersey cow from our Amish Neighbors starting soon. They have a Jersey that they don't need right now but in the spring they need the milk from it to feed their beef calves. They are just giving all the extra milk to their pigs. I had mentioned to Sarah that I was working on selling the goat herd so I could get a nice Jersey cow. She told me that they might have one they'd sell. However after talking with her husband she told me that they still need the cow in the spring but would let us use her for now so we could have some cow milk. The details have to be worked out and haven't been discussed by the men yet. This may be a great opportunity for us to see if we are ready to get a cow. And mmmmmmm I can just taste the cheese, cream, butter, sour cream, cream cheese, etc that the wonderful milk would make! <br /><br />Lately I've been shopping for school books for the kids on ebay. So far everything I've gotten adds up to a savings of 50%. I only shop late in the evening so it doesn't cut into my family and farm responsibilities. <br /><br />Philip celebrated his 6th birthday this past week. We had a fun party just with our family and lots of water balloons. Philip is seeing an ENT for a lump in his neck. He just had a biopsy on Aug 20. We will find out the results next week. The doctor doesn't think it is anything major but will be watching it closely over the next several months even if the biopsy comes back negative. <br /><br />Thomas, Philip, and Nathan are excited about going to New Holstein School this fall. We are working with the school to get Thomas's special needs cared for properly. Their back packs are loaded with school supplies which they get to drop off at school on the 31st while seeing their classroom and meeting their teachers. <br /><br />Elizabeth, Samuel, and Caleb are looking forward to another year home schooling and so am I! <br /><br />The biggest highlight for the kids this past month was the visit from Grandma & Grandpa Conover. We had only a couple short days with them but enjoyed our time immensely. We took a day's vacation away from the farm to swim at Blue Harbor Resort Water Park. My mom loved the slides..... I on the other hand HATED them. The kids were all wrinkles and red eyed after their day in the water. It was so much fun! Thanks Uncle Jack & Aunt Jane for the tickets!!! <br /><br />To read about the activity in our garden lately please check out our garden blog. I just updated it with several back dated entries. <br /><a href="http://reesegardens.blogspot.com/"></a>Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11492784215821306418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9092811946967234374.post-87883667411474457092009-07-11T19:51:00.000-07:002009-07-11T19:57:42.601-07:00A TripPhil, Sam, and Caleb leave for Kenora Ontario tomorrow morning at 5 a.m. They will be traveling with 3 others from our church, 2 other men and one other boy. They will be going to the camp that Phil, Elizabeth and I went to a few years ago to help with Girls Camp. This time the men will be helping with a variety of things during the week while the boys will be campers. I'm excited that Phil and the boys have this opportunity and am prayerfully expecting it to be a great week for them all. Please pray for them as they seek to be a blessing to those at the Kenora church and camp ministry. <br /><br />Elizabeth and I will be left here with the littles to run the "farm". There will be a lot of extra chores to tend too but I think we'll be able to manage ok. <br /><br />I won't have any internet access while Phil is gone but I'll try to write a few posts to load up when he returns.Shirleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11492784215821306418noreply@blogger.com0