monday confessions...but on wednesday

Last month my husband went on a road trip to visit some dairy farms. Some Amish dairy farms in beautiful upstate New York. They are strictly grass fed farms. He went with some other Amish from some nearby communities and some English folks. Like us :) I stayed home with the farm and kiddos. I could have gone, but that meant that the kids had to do all the chores for 3 days. I felt unsettled about that, although they are perfectly capable. Our kiddos are amazing, just so you know!  And the night he left we were having a terrible rain, wind, sleet storm. I had no idea if we would loose power or not. That would not have been ok. So I stayed home, and was just as happy to too.  The reason for the road trip was to see how their barns were set up and get a better idea and design on what we wanted to build when the time arrives for us. So now we know really what we want.

We are working on our own dairy farm. We have 6 cows and 1 steer. For us that is amazing. We have slowly built on what we have, in literally every aspect of our married life, once we decided to really take a new road and grow/raise most of what we eat.  We would like to become certified Organic. All our farming practices are currently organic, just without the certification. We were at one time, but decided to let it go for a number of reasons.

But another reason for the road trip was to look at a round baler. We decided last year that instead of depending on others for their time and equipment to get our own. Would make life a little easier for us, and round bales are the way we want to go for the cows. Makes winter feeding easier too.  We also need a wrapper, but have yet to buy one. Well, we ended up buying the baler and got it home this week. It's a 4x4 Krone baler. So that's good news for us! Now we wait for warmer weather and haying season!
Have a great day ya'll!!

another glorious sunset

Well leap year came and went. A whole extra day to be added to my life that seems to fly by me at an alarming rate.

I watched the sun go down on a glorious February night. A balmy 40 degrees while doing chores. No snow and no wind on the hill. I breathed in deep the air as it started to cool as the sun sank deep, and fast into the mountains to the west. It lit the sky up with yellow and orange and cast the most amazing shadows over the lawn and our neighbors house against the dark cloudy sky.

The extra day ended and moved us closer to another month.

Have a great day ya'll

good quote

"Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough."

Og Mandino

nap time

Abby and Time Out wanted to take a nap in the warm air on this February morning. It was so nice out! The sun was out the wind wasn't blowing and it was just a great day to be taking a nap in the sun. Well, if your a horse covered in a thick winter coat that is!

Check out that manure pile out back. With all these critters it sure does add up! Don't worry about that tipped over water bucket. Their water is in the barn!
Time Out is on the left and Abby is on the right.
Have a great day ya'll!

last tuesday

Boy things can look different in a weeks time. Things go from everyday routine to calling 911! Now before you get too excited it was not a big deal. Not life or death. So why did I call them? Well let me tell you about last Tuesday.
We have hay stored in a barn down the road from our farm, we don't have a place for it here So when we need some we take the truck down and get some. We also have some round bales that we bought at a farm as well. Well, we were done chores and my husband sent our son down the road on the tractor to get the bale. It's a round bale and we get one on the truck and one on a spear on the tractor. That's very handy. Well off went our son down the road. My husband was warming up the truck because it was a cold morning. When he went to get in the truck we noticed that there was some smoke coming out of the hood. He thought that was odd. I was standing nearby with one of our daughters. We looked at each other and waited. My husband opened the hood of  the truck and there was more smoke coming out of it. And this truck just so happens to be a standard, so he went to move it, but when he stepped on the clutch it wasn't there. I just so happened to notice that there were then flames under the truck. I wondered for a second if I should get the hose, then hollered to my husband that there were flames under the truck!! He told me to go all 911, and proceeded to try to move the truck away from the house and our other vehicle. I called 911. Only the second time in my life calling, and the first time calling since I was married. For that I am very thankful. And thank you to all the 911 operators too out there! They were great.
So after the call was toned out I went back outside and the fire was out. A guy on the fire department who lives down the road came down to help and he is also a truck driver. He took a look under the truck and what he told us was the clutch line had a hole in it somewhere and when we pushed on the clutch it was hitting the muffler. Should be fixable. But we are waiting for the mechanic to come and look at it. It will need to be towed as well. Thankfully we have AAA. Thankfully he was home when this happened and not on the road. Thankfully it didn't get worse. Thankfully no one got hurt.
I ended up taking the van down the road to get our son, who was waiting on the tractor with the round bale of hay. He nodded and grinned when I told him what happened and then we started back down the road to home.
Oh ya, then that afternoon the computer crashed and we had to get another one!
Hopefully today goes better then last week!
Have a  great day ya'll

check out the view

We have some beautiful scenery here. This is Mt Katahdin.
Can you imagine looking at this view from your barn yard?! Or mowing hay and looking out and seeing this?  How gorgeous is that?!
This view is enjoyed by a farmer that we know. We went to see his farm and visit. My husband and I were just in awe of this view. I'm a little jealous of it. But don't think that I'm complaining about my view. I certainly enjoy mine.
There is something about the mountains that are just amazingly beautiful to me.Their rugged outlines and sometimes fierce weather.  Maybe it's because I live where I can see them, and my roots go deep here, in this place, and this land I call home. Maybe it's because I've lived somewhere where I've become spoiled to the beauty that surrounds my home and I am loath to leave it.
I certainly enjoy the beauty that surrounds me. I find that I get caught up in the views I see and the real beauty that I live in and enjoy. I can stop and look out the window or walk out my front door and watch the sun go down. I can get up early in the morning and see the sunrise over the hill behind my house. I love how each day they are different and suck me in to watch as the sky is transformed by the hand of my Creator.  I never tire of it.
Stop and look at the beauty that surrounds you and drink it in!
Have a great day ya'll.

belle

Here is Belle. She loves to help with everything. Moving the cows are probably her favorite thing to do. That and eating peanut butter. :) We are working on keeping her from making them run. She gets a little excited and makes them move too fast. But she is learning, as are we in training a dog to herd. She has such a great instinct to herd. I'm amazed. She doesn't back down now in making them move either. She knows she is supposed to get them to go!

See. We have snow.

Belle is now 10 months old, and filled out nicely. She has a tremendous amount of energy and can run. And I mean run! That dog can  move. She almost becomes flat as she flies across the field to whatever suits her fancy. She can mp too. But I don't want her jumping too much or too high. It's not recommended they do such things until they are one. Due to their hips and the fact they are still growing.
Yup. I love this dog. I'm so proud of her.

Have a great day ya'll!