Chisholm Family Farm - Ramblings

News Alert! Important Bill Introduced Needs Support! Act Today!

Thu, 24 May 2012 12:54:54 -0600

I received a phone call today from a fellow dairy farmer near Lincoln. She told me about a Bill that was just introduced by Senator Rand Paul of KY. He proposes an amendment that would disarm the FDA and end the persecution of raw dairy farmers across the country. It also seeks to stop the FDA's rules about what vitamin and supplements and how they are currently disallowed from stating or advertising the health benefits of the herbs, vitamins, or remedy. Lastly it puts additional language in the Federal Food, Drugs, and Cosmetics Act that will help protect farmers and supplement manufacturers from federal criminal prosecution by the FDA.

If this bill passes it can help end the tyranny of the FDA! It could be voted on as early as today so please don't delay!

Please contact both your US Senators TODAY and urge them to vote “YES” to Senator Paul’s amendment to S. 3187.

Also, ask your Senators to vote “NO” on Senator Durbin’s amendment to S. 3187 which would greatly restrict access to dietary supplements and was submitted to water down Senator Paul’s amendment.
Please email or call (both is best) today !

You can find out how to contact your United States Senators by clicking here.

Below is a video of Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, introducing this legislation.

A little bit from Andy and...

Mon, 21 May 2012 08:24:50 -0600

Becca having lunch

we are thrilled to introduce our new intern Becca! Shown here enjoying lunch with us on her first day. She not only has a sweet and bubbly personality but she is not afraid of hard work! :-) She has already helped the kids get our garden planted! She is a welcome addition here and we look forward to getting to know her better. Be sure to say hello if you see her here at the farm or with us at market!!

Andy is starting to use his Facebook account to share little stories.... I thought I might share them here. If this keeps up we might have to change this blog to include us both. :-) Here is a little bit from Andy:

May 11th -
"I don’t normally blog, so don’t get too excited, but today was another one of those, “I don’t believe it days”…. All was normal, I was milking, the girls were feeding calves, Laura was out selling… then I heard a scream. I’ve heard screams before… excited screams, screams when a spider or ant is within 20 ft… this was different. Alex was standing near the chicken coop.. he wouldn’t move, but kept crying. I knew something was wrong…. I ran as fast as my aching 51 year old bones would take me and put my arms around him, trying to comfort him, unaware at this point as to the extent of his anguish. I asked him what was wrong. “I was playing and my butt hurts” he said, through his tears. “Where does it hurt son” I asked. “Here “ he whimpered… Now I was not prepared for what I saw. We have hundreds of thorny locust trees around and I HATE them with a passion. But to see one of those 5 inch thorns embedded in my son’s butt was horrifying. Luckily it had entered and exited, so I had an option. A) a trip to the ER. B) extract the thorn myself. “Son, this is gonna hurt” and with my pliers, I pulled. He screamed, but not as much as I would have and the thorn was out… and now the blood started to flow. We ran inside and cleaned up the wound. 10 minutes later, my brave soldier was back to being Alex! "

May 20th -
"Calf born yesterday morning was missing for 36 hours... I feared the worst as she was half a mile away from the dogs and close to coyote territory. Even the momma didn't know where she was. I looked for 2 hours this morning, an hour this afternoon and finally went out as the sun was going down. We crossed the fenceline... into thick bramble and there she was... thin, but alive. That was a long walk, with the calf over my shoulders, trudging through grass thatis 2 foot tall, and her momma butting me every inch of the way. But a happy ending... "

That's all folks..... as usual never a dull moment over here! Hope your day is bright and this brought a smile to your face. Do something healthy for yourself today! -- Laura

Such a sweet day

Sun, 13 May 2012 18:51:01 -0600

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. <> 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.

For the love of bacon

Wed, 02 May 2012 11:07:38 -0600

Oh how I love our bacon.... shall I count the ways?

1. Fresh side pork - no curing so no nitrates.
2. Clean pork - soy-free, organic grains, pasture raised.... never indoors
3. Nourishing fats... a breakfast that is simple and sticks to your ribs so kids are not coming back hungry in 30 minutes.
4. NO ONE complains on a bacon breakfast morning... cuz its so stinkin' YUMMY!

People often ask me why we don't cure our bacon or hams and how to prepare fresh side pork. So, this morning it seemed a not so bad idea to sit down and blog a moment about bacon.

First off, we can't find anyone to cure our meats without nitrates. And well, in truth even the no nitrate cures use celery salt and by the time to cure the meats with celery seed... you end up with just as many nitrates (if not more) than if you used regular curing methods. Maybe someday we will get that certified kitchen completed in the basement and we will add a smoker... but until then... it seems simple to me to just salt your bacon as you fry it.

Now, your choice of salt makes ALL the difference in the world. I wholeheartedly recommend Hawaiian Red Alaea Salt. It has a unique flavor that is amazing on bacon! Slightly tangy... hard to describe. I have salted bacon with all the usual salts we use around here like Himalayan or Real Salt and the bacon ends up tasting just like a pork chop; still yummy but not bacon. But with enough of the Hawaiian salt... its different.

So, that's it.. salt (somewhat heavily) and fry in a good old fashioned cast iron skillet. Not sure why using a cast iron skillet is important... but it does make excellent bacon! Much better than my electric skillet I use at market.

Wondering what Hawaiian Red Alaea Salt is or where to get it? They sometimes have it at Whole Foods but its always on amazon.

Soggy Bottom Farm

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 08:12:44 -0600

OK OK... so enough times I have been haggled..... I apologize for taking so long between posts. I forget that people actually read this. Its been a crazy month... but then again when has it not been a crazy month? You would think by now I would not be surprised.

Let's see... where to start? For me, I have been consumed with launching our new pet food line "Nourishing Pets". From recipe adjustments to logo and label design, procuring ingredients, webpage design, oh and actual production... its been pet food all the time. I spend most evenings either portioning out and freezing meatballs or thinly slicing and dehydrating liver. Its funny how life takes you down directions you never envisioned. I never would have guessed that at age 43 I would be a pet food manufacturer certainly never thought our farm would go in that direction. But, I am happy we did. Its really a pretty cool project. Not only are we making some pretty awesome food for pets but we are also working with other sustainable farmers and helping them with overages. For instance, we all know its been a crazy hot spring.... not at all spring-like. With most days over 75 degrees and some in the 80's many farmers have products booming like crazy and no markets open at which to sell them. We were able to help Shadowbrook Farm by taking 200lbs of gorgeous spinach off their hands. It kept that spinach from being ruined and they offered us an amazing price on the spinach. We have gotten greens from Community Crops in Lincoln as well. We found a farmer in central NE with tons of pastured eggs on his hands and no market and we were able to get a bunch of ground beef from pasture raised cows from central NE as well. As the season progresses we will work with these and other sustainable farms to purchase their less than perfect or overstocks in produce to include in the pet meals as well. Our veggies will change according to the season and what is available. Our freezers are stocked with greens so we will have beautiful greens in the food all year long!

We have also been preparing for farmers market which means....... CHEESE! So far we have raw milk pepper jack and raw cheddar aging and fresh feta ready for market. Tomorrow will be cheese curds for the weekend... not a raw cheese but sure a yummy one!

The grass has come on, its been crazy hot for April and the cows have been out to pasture for a few weeks now. So, cream is nice and yellow and the butter.... WOW! We long all winter long for spring butter. Good stuff that!

Dianne came over a few weeks ago and took some amazing pictures. I swear she has an amazing gift with kids and animals... she captures the greatest expressions and moments. Will put here shots throughout this post... enjoy!

Farm flooded again. Not as bad as the first time here but certainly enough to be dangerous for some of our animals and to wash away more nutrients from the soils. We joked on Facebook about changing the farm name to "Soggy Bottom Farm".... but halfway considering it for real! I really wish we had been given more information up front before renting this farm.... the pasture was probably fine for beef cows but with dairy cows..... its a constant struggle to get this pasture to provide the nutrition needed by our cows. We supplement our cows with organic trace minerals, natural clay, and extra vitamins which is costly but so far seems our only solution since whatever we do on the grass never seems to get to hang around long enough to make any difference.

We have made the sad decision to limit the pigs' pasture. We are going to have to keep them up here in the winter area because its the only place that doesnt flood.... and pigs dont swim. While we will keep grass in our pig's diet we are going to change the description of our pork as "Pasture Raised, Milk-Fed " rather than just "Pastured" because they wont be out under the trees in the pasture this year. We have always given them a bunch of milk which is why (I think) our pork is so yummy! We have also decided not to move the mobile hen house out to pasture either....it belongs to a good friend and we don't want it to become damaged... so our hens will still wander out in the pasture but their roosts will be closer to home.

The other "fun" side affect of farm flooding is fence damage. We have spent the last two weeks chasing our cows from down the road as they are finding all the weak spots in the fence line. Hannah and I spent an evening bringing them back from a mile down the road one evening when Andy wasnt home. Here are shots I snapped as Hannah chased them out of our neighbor's barn.... fun. Growing up around horses and horse shows I used to think the most beautiful sight was a young woman riding a big horse... such a powerful animal under her command. Watching Hannah round up 30 cows ( as I followed in the car to keep the road clear and blocked for her) I was struck by the same awesome sight. This little girl in control of this herd of cows so much bigger and stronger than her. She is not at all afraid of them, even the bulls... she had that whole herd at her command. With just minutes before nightfall... she brought them all in. Definitely a proud Mama moment!

We were blessed with this amazing double rainbow early in the morning after the flood. If you look closely at the picture you can see the second rainbow to the left of the bigger rainbow and look even closer..... the second rainbow's colors are inverted. What an amazing sight! I took it as a sign that better times are on the horizon... a reminder that all of this is temporary and the day will come when we have our own farm, fences that dont fall down all the time, pasture we can build and a place to call home... a home of our own.

Well, I guess that's about all for now, I will leave you with some great shots taken by Dianne...... "Ya'll come back now.. ya hear!"

Life on the Lamb

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 12:04:24 -0600

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. <>

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.

Why Raw Milk? - Warning... on my soapbox today.

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:41:10 -0600

“Raw Milk? WHY Would you want to drink that?”

This is a question I hear quite frequently, and from educated people who spend much time and money promoting their health. We have all been taught how bad raw milk is for us, how deadly it is, how dangerous… Why in the world would ANYONE want to drink that when perfectly safe milk is available at any grocery store? Let’s take a moment and look a bit deeper than just what mainstream media tells us.

First off, pasteurization of milk is a relatively new idea. Documentation of milk used for human consumption dates back to Biblical times. Milk and milk products are mentioned about fifty times in the Bible. This milk was not treated, or changed other than if to make cultured products. Cows, sheep, goats, camels, horses, and other ruminant mammals were milked; it depended upon what animals were present in a particular location. They all were outside eating a natural diet of forages present in their climate.

Here in the US, things began to change here after the war of 1812. This ended the import of whiskey from the British West Indies and led to the beginnings of distilleries in the US. More cities were springing up and it was getting harder to find adequate pasture close to the cities and someone had a “bright” idea. When whiskey is distilled from grain, there is a lot of sludge-like waste left over. Someone along the way decided see if it could be used to feed animals. They began to house cows next to the distilleries and feed the cows the hot slop directly as it poured off the stills. It was discovered that this swill did nothing towards fattening cattle, in fact it made them sick and emaciated. But, when given to dairy cows in large amounts it did create a nice volume of milk, even though the cows did not survive very long. The make-shift milking areas next to the cows and distillery were often unsanitary, as were the employees doing the milking, the cows were diseased, and there was little or no cleansing of buckets or utensils. The milk that resulted from the cows being fed slop alone was bluish in color, so additives were created to help it look like milk. It's not surprising that people began getting sick and were dying from drinking this “milk”.

Pasteurization was brought as a solution to the milk problem in cities in early 1900. At this time, there was also the beginnings of a medical milk movement in which doctors were insisting upon certified raw milk for their patients' health rather than pasteurized swill milk. The Medical Milk Commission was founded and consisted of physicians who worked together to certify dairies. They founded the Certified Raw Milk program. The program consisted of dairies that were regulated with certain standards that must be met. All cows were to be on a pasture based diet, kept out on pasture rather than in lots, and standards were set for clean milking conditions and equipment. The certified raw milk and pasteurized milk products co-existed peacefully for years with both options available in cities and most people in rural areas purchased their milk from a local farmer. Things began to shift in 1940 when the numbers of certified farms were so small in comparison to non-certified farms that many states simply began to outlaw raw milk sales.

Many are surprised to learn that in the first half of the twentieth century raw milk was widely used a treatment for many illnesses. The Mayo Clinic even had a raw milk diet prescription for many issues including IBS, autoimmune issues, and Crohn's disease. For centuries raw milk was cherished as a life giving food and it only took less than 50 years of industrialized farming techniques to denature it and change the way we view milk.

Now, let’s look at the differences between raw milk and it’s pasteurized counterpart. Pasteurization does far more to milk than just kill any potential pathogens. This was discovered early on in its use. In 1916 The American Journal of Diseases in Children released a study in which researchers discovered that scurvy often resulted when pasteurized milk replaced raw milk in an infant's diet. In 1925 the Journal of Biochemical Chemistry published a study that showed how heating milk results in a loss of calcium and phosphorus and it was in proportion to how high the milk is heated. There were articles and studies showing differences in children on raw milk versus pasteurized milk and the marked differences in dental health and tuberculosis infections. There were no more studies on the nutrient differences between raw and pasteurized milk after 1950. The solution seemed to be to add vitamins back to pasteurized milk, so no more studies were funded. During the 1930's and 40's there were several magazine articles claiming widespread illnesses from raw milk and while founded in fiction, they did their job of spreading fears and pasteurization became the gold standard. Even today, the FDA has web pages and brochures touting the dangers of raw milk and disputing the negative affects of pasteurization on the nutrient content of milk.

Big AG has taken over and the cost has been the end of the family farm. Fifty years ago, most farms had a dairy cow or two and most raised their own livestock and even sold a bit of milk or meat to neighbors, family, or friends. Most family farms are now devoid of livestock, the family dairy cow is a rarity, millions of acres of beautiful pastureland have been turned over to corn and soy. Dairy cows are no longer housed next to distilleries and fed swill but their diets consist mainly of corn and soy and they spend their lives in dry lots rather than peacefully roaming grasslands. Today, a small dairy is defined as one milking less than 300 cows, it's practically impossible to range that many cows. Right now, the federal government is waging war on raw milk and looking to make it unobtainable in all 50 states. Why? In my opinion, the answer is simple. Ten years ago, the organics movement was gearing up, it was easy for big Ag to compete there... all they had to do is switch the dairy cow ration to organic grains but today the raw milk movement is growing as fast as organics was back then. There is simply no way that the large dairy to compete... their business model is dependent upon pasteurization! As was proven back in 1900 you CANNOT place a cow on artificial feed and drink it's milk raw. Cows have a four chambered stomach, full of rumen which is required to break down the proteins and fiber in grass. When a large amount of non-grass based feed is given to a cow, the pH in the rumen changes so as to facilitate the growth of e-Coli as well as other pathogens. Today's modern dairy cow has been bred and fed to produce an unnaturally high volume of milk; their udders are generally so huge they can hardly walk. Because of this, they usually require antibiotics to keep mastitis down and to keep them well. Most milk today (even Organic milk) comes from a cow that has spent its entire life indoors, never touching a blade of grass.

So, let's look at WHY I would want to drink raw milk. First off, raw milk from grass-fed cows is full of many nutrients essential to my health that are not easily found in modern processed foods. Vitamins A and D are naturally present and its naturally high in Vitamins B6 and B12. It is also contains all of it's natural butterfat. The butterfat is rich in short- and medium chain fatty acids which protect against disease and stimulate the immune system. The butterfat also contains glyco-spingolipids which prevent intestinal distress and conjugated linoleic acid which has strong anticancer properties. Lastly, raw milk has not been heated so it contains all of the natural enzymes that aid in the assimilation of the proteins and sugars naturally found in the milk. The naturally occurring beneficial bacteria in raw milk helps to feed our immune systems and in my opinion is one the most key ingredients to keeping my family healthy. Raw milk, unlike pasteurized milk, contains no additives. It sours naturally, never turning putrid like pasteurized milk. The standards are different; the quality of the milk is different. Typical large dairies have extremely elevated white blood cell counts in their milk, so much so that when the milk is pasteurized the processors must use centrifugal methods to spin out the resulting pus and slime.

Another important reason why we choose raw milk for our family is that we have a dairy allergy. I spent most of my adult life dealing with stomach pains and nasal congestion related to a dairy allergy. My oldest daughter was colicky as a baby so I removed dairy from my diet and she improved. I later learned just how allergic she was when she was given her first bite of ice cream and her lip blew up looking like she had been boxing. We were dairy-free for years. I could not find a replacement that was even close to comparable so just gave up my beloved cheese and ice cream. I happened to stumble upon an article about the healing properties of raw milk and allergies. We gave it a go, starting slowly with yogurt I made from the milk. There was no adverse reaction from either my daughter or myself. We moved onto fresh milk and the result was the same. We have never looked back.

References:
Crewe, J. E. Raw Milk Cures Many Diseases, article, 1929
Porter, S. Charles Milk Diet as a Remedy for Chronic Disease, 1905-1923
The Lancet, May 8, 1937, 1142
Thomson, James C. “Pasteurized Milk, A National Menace: A Plea for Cleanliness.” Kingston Chronicle, Edinburg, 1943
http://www.realmilk.com/abstractsmilk.html

A New Year

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 23:50:04 -0600

Why does it always seem that the only time I get to blog is late at night when I am so tired I can barely hold my eyes open? Maybe that is when I ramble the best. I was shocked to see I had not made an entry here in three months; shame on me! :o)

It's hard to believe that is January and 2012 already. Wow... time really flies. Tomorrow is Hannah's real 11th birthday although we celebrated it Sunday. I actually took most of a whole day off of farm business, didn't even check my emails. I am awe struck at the idea that the little five pound baby I brought home is now eleven years old. You would think I would be getting used to watching these kids grow up, but instead I would really rather they just slow down a little and let me enjoy them more. I long for a day when we are less busy, less hectic and more organized with more family time. But I know we are doing a good thing with this farm and all this work will pay off. Anyway, back to the kids. We have only had one real snowfall this year, much to the small people's dismay. Hate to disappoint all you folks back home... but we did NOT have a White Christmas. Hannah kept saying it didn't feel like Christmas without snow on the ground... all I could think is "Nope.... no one can call these kids Southerners anymore..." Missing the snow; they did decide to plaster the house with snowflakes.. which I really loved!

Our first calf of the season was born on New Year's Eve... silly guy. Just five hours later and he would have been the first calf of the year, but instead that honor went to the little guy born today. We have also had our first set of lamb twins born. Twin girls. I must admit, I especially love it in the winter when our barn is transformed into a nursery. The heat lamps give off a soft glow and Mommas and babies are fun to watch. It's just so peaceful in there. Of course all newborns have an audience of kids, I love that we have such warm relationships with our cows that they trust us to be there during birth and afterwards. It's awesome!

Mouse with her newborn " Sam I Am"

Mom was here for Thanksgiving. She is so stinkin' awesome! She spent most of her time playing cards with the kids, teaching them all sorts of games. She seemed to almost always have one kid in her lap. The certainly caught the card bug and even still seem to always be playing some card game somewhere; there are stacks of cards all over the floor, remnants of games interrupted by little brothers or chores or in the case of the little guys... just plain ol' forgotten.

Games seem to be the new passion around here.. I love that! And crafts... boy do they enjoy crafts. Little art and craft sets procured at the dollar store have brought much joy around here. Someone pointed out to me that my kids find joy in the simplest of things... and I realized how much I love that about them. They could care less about the latest fashion trends, they don't know much about what's hip or trendy.. they are just happy to have what they have.

We were visited this Christmas by the Christmas Angel... and want to take a moment to thank our angel. You really have no idea how much your gift meant and helped us. We thank you.

OK It's really late now. I will leave you tonight with one of my favorite Christmas pictures... the kids and Santa taken at Bass Pro Shops when Mom was visiting. I call it "Santa needs a potty break". Is it just me or doesn't he look like he's gotta GO!

Wishing everyone a wonderful new year. We are looking forward to 2012, the fresh start it brings and all the excitement this year holds for us.

Hugs...
Laura

Falling....

Mon, 03 Oct 2011 23:32:10 -0600

Fall is here and boy am I crashing. The summer was long and hot.. too hot and too wet. Weeds overtook our pastures because the heat along with last year's flood sucked the life out of the ground. We now have an operational tractor thanks to good friends who like working on engines and lots of dents on my Tahoe. We decided I could drive a dented up vehicle and Andy could drive a tractor. Seemed like a fair swap.

Here is his new toy. It also now has a loader with a bucket and grapple useful for moving bales of hay around all winter.

It's officially an antique... but it runs smooth and gets the job done. It can pull the mower from the little tractor and Andy has already knocked down the weeds in the pastures. This will be a huge help to us this year and next and help us keep atop of pasture management.

Hay has gone through the roof and we are having to feed it already with the pastures so poor in nutrition. So, we had to raise our milk prices by $1 per half gallon. A very tough choice... two weeks of upset tummy and fried nerves for me in the decision... but really there was no decision. It was do it, or not be here to provide milk all winter. Our customers have been so supportive and understanding. A few have dropped out but for the most part were immediately replaced by new folks waiting for milk. I never fail to be amazed by how good God is and how He cares for us. In reality winter is a really scary thought for me. We have fifteen cows calving between Christmas and March. We will have to be on top of things, watching these mamas closely to keep those new babies safe and warm. It's gonna be a wild ride!

Andy has been busy! He is making amazing progress on clearing junk and debris from the "once a hay barn" reckage. Tonight he was working on clearing out our basement so our junk can go down here. We need to clear the area so we can demo the area and hopefully construction can begin soon. I am really hoping we get a barn with doors that keep chickens out! The old barn was open and a favorite roosting spot for about 20 chickens... POOP CENTRAL. All of Andy's tools were in there and the work benches were a constant source of needed cleanup.

I got the chance last month to dabble in event planning again. The Nebraska Food Coop was in need of a fundraiser and I wanted to see the movie Farmageddon.. so an idea was born. :-) I threw out the idea to try to get a screening planned and to serve a dinner or something with foods from farmers in the coop and try to raise funds. It worked out better than I could ever have imagined. I got the opportunity to work with and get to know some amazing women as we planned and orchestrated the event. We screened the movie at Aksarben Cinema in Omaha. We charged $15 per person. We had tons of amazing foods donated and the Top Chef team at the culinary school in Omaha wowed everyone! The food was just out of site! Gorgeous and delicious.

The movie really broke my heart. I knew what it was going to be about... but to watch what other farmers and families have been put through was just gut wrenching. What a wake up call! I hope everyone here has an opportunity to see this film. As a nation... it's time for us to stand up and say NO MORE! There are things we can all do. Check out our Activism page I just created. There are links there to petitions, a House Bill being introduced, and a grassroots Ballot Initiative with ways we can all get involved.

We had a little media blitz last month. First the barn segments on the news. Then two magazine article interviews, one about Farmageddon and one about raw milk laws. I was invited to be a guest on The Morning Blend.. and Omaha morning program. They have a Village Pointe Farmers Market segment every other week and I got the be the farmer that week. Here is a link to the segment on The Morning Blend . I found the experience scary and confusing. No one warned me there would be no cameras. I had this internal dialogue of "where are the cameras" followed by "look I'm on TV" and "crap.. pay attention!". If invited again, I would be more relaxed and able to function a bit better. It was just unnerving on the first go.. but exciting and fun too!
I was on the radio a couple of weeks ago! I was invited to be a guest on Talk Back Omaha! I very much enjoyed the experience. Here is a link to the podcast if you would like to listen to the segment: Talk Back Omaha Podcast

Other things going on family related: Ashley has her first day of college today! She was able to get a full ride scholarship to SCC in Lincoln. She is taking her classes at the downtown location. She has also signed her lease on her new apartment and is moving out this weekend. Big changes.

Hannah and Jamie are growing too fast. Too fast! Two pre-adolescent girls in one house is interesting... and loud. They seem to fight a lot more lately.. and the DRAMA is off the hook! Jamie is in the "project" stage.. spends her days cutting up little pieces of paper and whatever she can find and creating stuff. Today the boys found a butterfly and Jamie saved it... fed it a pear and nursed it back to health. The picture here was taken by Jamie of her butterfly. Pretty cool shot I thought! Hannah and Jamie have both been such fun all summer at the farmers markets. Now, if we could get them to give the same attention to helping clean the house life would be almost perfect! LOL

The boys are just busy busy busy. Alexander loves helping with barn demo.. his job is to hold the magnet stick and pick up the nails. The hard part is getting him to keep his shoes on while doing it! Michael is talking more now.. a relief. He is suddenly using sentences and even relaying events and stories. He told me the other day about a dream he had. A bad bear was biting him outside. Poor little guy. :-( He woke up crying. At least Mama was right there laying next to him and he settled down pretty quickly... but he talked about that dream all day.

It seems like I am always working on this blog late at night... when the house is quiet. it's 11:30 now... I better hit the sheets... our day starts early around here. My next project is to work on an online store for the off season. We are planning on making monthly drops (maybe more often too) to the spots were we have been all summer at market. I am hoping to create an online store where folks can pre-order what they want and I can drop it off. Wish me luck! It's quite an undertaking.... but a needed project.

Nite nite... Don't let the bed bugs bite!

How Did The Barn Go Down?

Tue, 06 Sep 2011 09:08:24 -0600

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.