Category: 1

Such a sweet day

05/13/2012

Mother's Day is a working day here on the farm... like all days. But today the kids sure made it special. On Sundays Andy and I go in different directions to different markets. We split the kids to help keep things more manageable. Today I took Hannah and Alex. Alex started my day off by sweet talking a flower vendor to give him a peony... TWICE! Later in the day Hannah helped herself to a little cash, excused herself to go to potty but returned with a cupcake for me. Resourceful kids! Andy had Michael and Jamie and when they returned home they walked in the door beaming, hands full of treasures. Jamie brought a handmade soap and lotion, and Michael had natural bug repellent and soap for Mom. Apparently they had fun trading cheese for gifts for Mom today. So sweet! Ashley surprised me this week with a delivery of Shari's Berries... chocolate covered strawberries. It came with a sweet note telling me it was OK to indulge myself a little. Indulgent indeed!

The bug repellent is super thoughtful and I reckon a bit needed given the fun fact that I was recently diagnosed with Lyme disease thanks to a generous customer/health practitioner friend. I had a tick bite that wouldn't heal and a month later was still on my back. I had not suspected Lyme because I never developed the trademark bulls-eye rash. Little did I realize that a good 30% of people never develop this sign. Besides my non-healing bite I had been very tired lately but just thought I was just that... tired. I waited over a week to fill the prescription but began to be so lethargic I could barely stay awake to make a ten minute drive into town. Finding it hard to keep my eyes open and waking up more tired each morning than I went to bed was letting me know I needed to consider the antibiotic. I searched and searched for a more natural alternative but even the natural sites say with an early diagnosis the best treatment is the antibiotics. Not an idea I relished... but I am thankful I did. Today I started off just exhausted but somewhere around lunchtime I noticed my skin felt hot but I realized I had a bit of energy. I am still tired... but nothing like I have been. Apparently this antibiotic makes you more sensitive to sun. I stood under a canopy all day but I feel like I have a sunburn.. how weird. Guess I need to go buy a big floppy hat for market. I will be taking this medication for 60 days. But, given how I have felt for the past month... I'll gladly take the pills and wear the hat if I can feel human again. This evening I am feeling good enough to head outside! Hopefully I am turning the corner. <<Thanks Ann!>> Too much to do to be sick!

Funny note: the girls were reading what I was typing and when Michael heard I was going outside he just brought me the 'Bugz Off!' he gave me today and said " Makes tick go off Mom!. SO SWEET!

It's nice to be loved. I sit here tonight full of appreciation for this little family I have been blessed with.

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Life on the Lamb

03/01/2012

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Maybe I should say "Life with the Lamb". This past month has been consumed with much to do and a new lamb... in the house. Let me introduce Kiss. She got her name because her markings on her face reminded me of KISS. silly... I know. When we found Kiss she had just been born... the smallest of triplets.

Kiss is the one laying down in the middle

She was so tiny. She did not seem to have much energy and her Mom was occupied with her other two babies and did not seem very interested in helping Kiss.

We tried to help Kiss nurse but she wasn't able to figure it out and she would just give up and go lay down. I wondered if she might be blind because she would walk under her mom and keep walking and would end up nuzzling the straw bales. The morning was a cold one and she was shivering so we decided to take her inside briefly and warm her up. When we took her back she still could not seem to figure out nursing and her Mom did not seem at all inclined to help her. It had been hours since she had been born so we decided to feed her and then take her back. Long story short... Mom would not accept her so we took her in and thus began our life with the diaper wearing lamb.

Yes, Diet Coke was purchased for the bottle

Here she is on her first day... quiet and still. Yeah.. that didnt last long. A day or two of feedings every 30 minutes to an hour and she had more than enough energy to begin exploring her surroundings. We almost named her Bambi because she kept skating on our wood floors and ending up looking much like Bambi did.. all four legs spread out and sitting on her belly. It was hard not to laugh at her.

growing quickly

naptime

Nighttime duties were a drag

buds

She has such a passive personality. In hindsight it was clear we made the right choice for her... a lamb must keep up with its Mom and triplets have to fight for their position nursing. My guess is she would have spent most of her time sleeping and would not have lasted long. Hannah assumed the role of Mommy to Kiss and wanted to be the one to feed her...even in the middle of the night.

So for six weeks she has grown and grown. She has also wormed her way into everyone's hearts. Taking care of her became a family affair. Gradually we spread out her feedings and things became more manageable and sleep returned to our home. Kiss has been fun to have around but as she has grown we knew it would be time to take her back out to the sheep where she could learn to be a sheep. So... how does one know when it's time to send the "house lamb" back to the barn?

when they go from this....

to THIS!

On with other farmy news... spring has come a bit early for us. February was our month for babies! We expected it a bit more spread out into March... but the animals had other plans. We have had ten calves born and all but one of our sheep has already had her babies. The barn is alive with cuteness! Luckily it has been a very mild winter and everyone has done well. Last year we had a problem with the beef cows from next door hopping the fence... and this year most of our heifer calves appear to be half-beef cow. Not great news.

Our conversion to highline milking is almost complete! Hopefully by the end of the week we will be using our pipeline rather than buckets and our milking and cleaning time should be greatly reduced. Once Andy gets accustomed to the changes it should shave a couple of hours off his day! A welcomed and much needed break. He will be able to fill the sinks and the system will wash itself while he attends to other chores. How exciting is that!!!

While accumulating dairy equipment we also made the decision to invest in a new form of pulsation. We first heard of Co-Pulsation two years ago and it has been a goal of ours to make the change and now it's a reality! Co-Pulsation in a nutshell is a new way of looking at pulsation. We learned about it through Weston A. Price. It is much more gentle on the cows resulting in increased butterfat and reduced stomatic cell counts.

Boex family and Jamie

We participated in the Omaha Home and Garden Expo last month. Four days of exhibiting. Exhausting and fun! Several of our customers showed up to help and it really made a difference. I was able to take a break, eat a meal and sit down for a few minutes. I would like to publicly thank everyone who came to help: Shawna, Tom, Sue, Mallory, and especially Andrew who has become my right hand market man - He was there every day all day. Also, a special thanks to the whole Uhing family who watched all of my kids while I worked! That takes courage.

One of the reasons we do these type of shows is the opportunity to share with others the benefits of eating traditional foods. It has become a passion of mine. When I look at Andy and how much his health has improved it reaffirms why we do what we do. Twelve years ago he had high blood pressure and high cholesterol. Today, he is leaner and healthier his blood pressure is normal, and he no longer snores! How many 50 year old men today can make that kind of health changes and remain medication free? My weight continues to slowly go down. I have come to the realization that I am going to have to give up grains to loose this weight... something I have battled with and against but am finally ready to do. My health is fine... I had my heart checked a year ago and I was told I had the heart of a 24 year old, my blood pressure is fine and for someone that carries weight I am quite healthy... I certainly have more energy and stamina than I did 15 years ago. But... I really want to drop the last of this weight. I have battled emotional eating for as long as I can remember which will make this transition all the more difficult. It boils down to my children. I want to do this for them. So, if anyone reading this is considering taking similar steps... let me know... we can all support each other!

Green Living Expo

Birthday Girl!

Thanks Linda!

New Smile!

In kid related news... Hannah turned eleven and Alex turned six! Hannah is now sporting a new haircut that she loves and Alexander lost his bottom tooth! His first tooth he has lost naturally. ( He lost his front four teeth thanks to a fall on the tub spout at 2 1/2.) He was so excited!

Jamie has taken up knitting. Ciara started her when she was here and the bug really seems to have caught. She is currently knitting a scarf.... she saved her money and purchased everything she needed herself. <<proud mom moment>>

Unfortunately I don't know how to knit, can't answer her questions and the books read like Greek to my mind... so she often looks like this.... poor kid.

Alexander is starting to read! Relaxed homeschooling is the only way to go for our family. I absolutely love watching my kids help each other... the girls have been helping Alexander and it is just heartwarming to watch. They are so stinking awesome! << yes... another proud mom moment>>

OK... I apologize for such a long entry today. There is so much more to tell. We have some other exciting changes around the corner but I will leave that for another day.

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How Did The Barn Go Down?

09/06/2011

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Wanted to update everyone and give one place for pictures. Friday night around 9m we think we had a tornado take out the barn right next to the house. Very scary. No warnings at all, not even severe thunderstorm. It just came out of nowhere.

This is what I saw outside my back door. When we ran downstairs to the basement, I could see large items flying through the air but didn't stop to see what it was. It was parts of the barn!

We are so thankful... we were all upstairs and we easily could have lost a kid or all of us had this thing hit the house. Scary.

Rubble in driveway

Here is the driveway next to the house.... crazy.

Standing and looking in what was the barn....

View inside the barn

View from the road

Back side of barn

Hay bales held up this wall.. sort of

This beam was thrown across the farm, landing in the roof of the milk barn, and extending 6 feet inside the barn!

Inside view of the beam

Check out my car! That is a beam under my car! Rubble all around the car but nothing in the car! All I have are smashed rear view windows, scratches, and dents!

I was shocked to welcome our fist hero helper at 7:30 am! He was a workhorse! Cleared most of the upper driveway and worked on the huge piece of shed in the swingset in an hour or two! Amazing!

Thanks Rebecca for loaning us your husband!

Rex was here early too!

Always the knight in shining armor that one! :-)

All the kids got into the action!

Alexander too!

So many people showed up to help! We really were amazed... all day long it seemed like people showed up and other left.. it was constant stream of help. The phone rang and text messages of support came in all weekend. We really are blessed with wonderful friends and customers!

Before dinner.... yard, driveway, and pasture cleared! How incredible is that! When I looked at the mess in the morning.. I figured it would be weeks of work!

Got a phone call Sunday afternoon from Jim... one of our customers and friends. He took some video footage and said they wanted to air it on the 9:00 news... was that OK? Sure... why not. So we wait and watch Fox 42 9:00 news and about died laughing at the video footage aired - about 30 seconds of Alex running around the barn naked as a jaybird playing with one of his friends. Geez.. I thought he stayed dressed all day Saturday! Oh well... so goes life..

Yesterday, another phone call. Fox 42 wants to send a reporter out. Is this OK? Sure... what's another naked butt on TV gonna hurt? Right? It's gonna happen... best not to fight it. I can have those darned boys dressed and ten seconds later they are streaking. But wait... they are all at Cynthia's house playing! Woo Hoo! We can do an interivew without naked people! What a concept... sure come on over!

Turns out they want to come because apparently the weather service says the winds were only 25 miles an hour. Naturally he waits to tell me this till I am on camera and captures my response. Seriously, the reporter was a super nice guy. :-) I would love to kick the editor though. :-) Why is it that they take 30 minutes of footage and choose the most bizzare comments to air. Like me pointing out our junk... that wasn't even part of the interview.. I didnt realize I was being taped. How funny. I watch the news last night and all I could think was how silly we looked.. and how I need to loose a bunch of weight. We did say some great stuff that actually made sense... but that didn't get aired. LOL Oh.. and of course they re-aired the naked boy footage. GREAT.

Here is a link to the news segment.. if you need a good chuckle.. CLICK HERE

I will leave you with a couple interesting shots Andy took... I think they are pretty cool.

Our love to all... and again THANKS SO MUCH to everyone who came out to help, called, emailed, left gifts, expressed concern and generally showed us LOVE.

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HOT!

08/31/2011

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Don't know about all ya'll back in GA but here in NE its been HOT! We had weeks with the heat index over 100 daily.. the hottest day it was 107! How crazy is that! All of our cows have spent their days laying around seeking shade and cool... and not eating much. So, a few weeks later and here we are with a decline in milk. No cheese. Sad mommy over here with no new cheese.

Our English Cheddar sold out in about three weeks. That was insane! Guess folks liked it! We have about two buckets of feta left and a few rounds of the jacks. The raw milk feta was a total loss.. not sure what happened or how but it ended up with mold in it and feta is not a cheese that mold tastes good with. So, we ditched it. Sad.. but a learning experience non the less. All of our cheeses sold well..people seemed to enjoy them. We start calving again in January so hopefully we will be able to start making cheese again soon after the new year.

Market season is kicking my butt! I stay exhausted, but I really do enjoy it. I have met some wonderful families and have formed some farmer friendships for which I am very thankful. :-)

Here is a shot of the sky last Sunday at the Aksarben Village market. We got a good shower that was over briefly and learned just how wonderfully waterproof our tent is. We moved our tables in a bit and gave some folks a chance to get in out of the rain and taste some cheese! Love it when things work as they should!

We have had some fun lately too! A friend had an open house at their farm so we went along and enjoyed some wonderful food and the kids all got a chance to ride a horse. It's been a while. I miss having Tater around.

Hannah's ride

Its so awesome watching the boys. They are so different from the girls. Makes me wonder about the nature vs nurture theories. I guess its a bit of both. But man... these boys are a handful.. and precious! They are full of life and mischief. The things they get into... we can't seem to child proof enough. (As if we could really child-proof a farm. ) Today Andy came home to discover they had unplugged the electric fencer, plugged in an extension strip, found various tools and were having a field day. Sooo dangerous!

The really scary part is how quickly they snap into gear. One moment we look out the window to see a sight like this picture... two little guys just playing and having fun. Sweet.. right? Two seconds later (literally) the trike is empty and they are in search of power tools, ropes, buckets, ANYTHING, and they are up to some elaborate plan to destroy SOMETHING. Little turds.

Out we go in search of the terrors.. and we find this. Who could stay mad at a face like this? Not me.

Well, I guess that's about it for this month. Fall seems right around the corner. I need to get to work on putting the garden to bed for winter. So much to do here and there never seems to be enough time. It's hard to believe that tomorrow is September already. Where did the time go?

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Life is Good

04/29/2011

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Well... it seems spring might be here to stay! Our cows are out to pasture and things are beginning to dry up around here. Putting the cows out to pasture is something we look forward to so much around here. The cream on our milk has already turned yellow signalling the return of all those precious CLA and Omegas properties!

We finally completed the finishing touches on our milk room! We now are a Grade A dairy, licensed by the state of Nebraska!

One of the big perks of our new status is that our milk will be tested by the state monthly for both somatic cell counts and bacteria levels. Our initial tests came back with excellent numbers, which confirmed for us what we already knew... our milk is good! Seriously... it is nice to be see our numbers and know we are doing things right.

Andy tests the cows daily for somatic cell counts, anything that is even remotely positive, is milk that we never put in our tank, and Andy uses a separate milker to milk. This has kept us free from mastitis so far. We are able to catch any potential problems way ahead of the game, are able to address any issues with a cow before it turns into a problem, and we keep from spreading anything around the herd.

I know.. boring boring boring.... but there is another reason why we wanted to get to Grade A standards -- CHEESE!

We doubled our herd in March with the purchase of 20 grass-fed jersey girls from Iowa! This was such a scary decision.. I had to completely let go of it and let Andy have the final say-so. Milking 36 Cows! 26 caving in April! What was he thinking??? But then the answer came to us..... CHEESE!

We will have raw milk cheddar cheese available come early July. We have to age the raw milk cheeses for sixty days here in Nebraska so that is why it will have to wait for a little while longer. But I am so excited about this!

Its hard to believe but just a mere two and a half years ago we were starting over here in Nebraska. Milking four cows on a dirt floor in the barn... and now we have 36 cows and a functional real milking parlor and milk room! Its been a long journey to get here, and at times we have been so close to giving up. But here we are..... right where we want to be. God is good - and we are thankful. Yes, I am exhausted.. and yes at times overwhelmed. But thankful.

Ashely's senior prom was in April. Back in March she and I took a whole day just the two of us for prom dress shopping. What a treat! I had dreams of dresses all night, but we found just the right one! My friend Linda graciously offered to do Ashley's hair for prom and ended up doing both hers and her best friend, Cass's hair! She did an amazing job of recreating what each girl wanted. The both looked amazing! Thanks Linda!

Ashley also turned eighteen this month. WOW! I am screaming proud of that kid... it's hard to keep it in sometimes. She has really turned out to be an amazing young woman. Its exciting to watch her make plans for her life, to see her thinking things through and making adult decisions. Its also bittersweet; she is planning on moving out after graduation... to an apartment with friends. She will be starting college in the fall..her life is really taking off. I am incredibly thankful for the relationship she and I share. She is not only my daughter but my friend. I was a single parent from the time she was one until she was six. At times it felt like it was her and I against the world. Now, I get to watch her go out and take on the world.. it's wonderful!

There is one major downside to a TV-free life... I miss out on the daily news. I need to discipline myself to check the news app on my phone regularly. I only learned through Facebook of what happened back home last week. Here is a picture stolen from Ciara's Facebook page of the tornado in Ringgold, Georgia. I was relieved to see that my friend is fine. I am still waiting to hear from family that my Aunt in Alabama is well... I am guessing she is since bad news travels so fast. No news is good news... right?
Bartow County Georgia sustained a lot of damage, and that is where our farm was located. Looking at pictures of the ruins brought me right back to the tornado that hit our home back when Ashley was just a little one and it was just us. I don't ever remember being so scared, so helpless trying to keep her covered and under my body, feeling the walls move back and forth, knowing the tornado was at my house. We were lucky, very lucky. We lost our roof but were safe and sound. My heart goes out to all those that lost their homes or worse, their family members. They remain in my prayers.

On a positive note: Hannah, Jamie, and Alexander had their last week of Awana's this past week. Hannah and Jamie took second and third place respectively. Our neighbor Karen took them to Awanas this year and they really enjoyed it. It hit right at milking time so I never got to go and watch but I am pleased they had fun and did so well.

I will leave you with a shot of Michael collecting eggs on Easter. One would think my kids would tire of egg hunting - huh, But... treat-filled Easter eggs are hard to resist!

One of these days I will have to cut his hair.... not yet. I am so in love with his unruly curly unkemp locks! It took five kids to get curls...

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Fall Photos!

12/01/2010

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Much thanks to Rod Adams... friend of Andy's that came out for a farm photo shoot. He snapped some amazing shots of the kids and animals.... we are super thankful. (fyi... anyone interested in his services his email is on our links page) I will try and sprinkle some of the pictures throughout this post. I have also updated the webpage including many of his photos not shown here. Its such fun to have new fall photos to share!

Ashley came home for Thanksgiving! I cannot begin to tell you how wonderful it was to have her home again for a few days. We have all missed her so much. I have come to the realization that, for me, letting go is the most challenging stage of parenting. While its awesome to see the person she is becoming and watching her make her way in the world... its challenging at times and a bit sad.

Fern

November was exhausting... Andy finally had his knee surgery so I had to step in and milk the cows. The first day it took me almost six hours! Thank goodness we are just milking once a day now! Mom arrived a couple of days later.. and not a minute too soon. By day three Hannah was helping me milk and we had it down to under four hours and then to three (which is how long it takes Andy). By Thanksgiving Andy was back milking.

Andy's recovery was amazingly fast! His knee is almost the same size as the other one now. Andy was hit by a car about three years ago and had suffered from knee pain ever since. His pain is far reduced now and for that we are all thankful.

Our milk supply is good now... we finally figured out what was wrong.. .and it's CRAZY! There was an electric waterer in the field that was putting 110 volts into the ground. Every time the cows went to drink they were getting zapped...even though we were not using the broken waterer... our water tank was acting like an antennae. We also have a small stray voltage issue in the milking barn that we are sorting out. But it's one volt and minimal. We are back up to 20 gallons of milk a day and most thankful.

Winter is setting in and we are discovering that our barn is not insulated enough... so we are planning some additional work for the next few weekends. Anyone bored? Need an activity? We can put you to work!

I am looking forward to Christmas and the approach of the new year. Spring holds new calves and the return of cream... glorious cream.

Until then we will keep warm and snug... enjoying cuddles in bed with the kids, hot cocoa and look forward to spending more time together. Spring also brings the return of twice a day milking!

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Such a sweet day

Life on the Lamb

How Did The Barn Go Down?

HOT!

Life is Good

Fall Photos!

Laura Chisholm

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