family

The days and weeks went by super fast. There was always a flurry of activity around the farm. New excitement, and stress building as the day was coming closer that the milking herd was coming home.  There was never a day that went by that something wasn't going on.
Life in the big, yellow, farm house was great. We were still not moved in totally. Still needed pictures hung up and making it "home" was last on the list with getting the barn ready for the girls. But we were home, and very happy and content to be where God had planted us. Close to family and friends where we wanted to be. Our farm house was so much bigger then the trailer we had come from. It was a little strange to be in the house and not be so close together all the time. My kitchen is so big along with the pantry that I had no idea where to put my small amount of kitchen things. Not a bad problem to have. It was fun to figure out how to organizer it...ahahaha. I'm not an organizer by nature. It's something that I work at and thank goodness for Pinterest!! I had no idea how to make my kitchen work right for me. It was not a huge big deal, and I've figured it out. I love the big kitchen and was looking forward to having lots of family gatherings and such here.
I felt so blessed. I still do. I haven't forgotten where we came from and how we started. I pray I never do. We took the old number of our place and screwed it to the door frame out in our garage so that we would always have it there to remind us if we needed reminding.

see the number? 338

 The whole life journey we've had together has been lifeful. I don't think that's a word, but my life if full of life. We've had our share of ups and downs as any couple has, but we are stronger for it as a couple and a family. That being said we are very thankful for this big house. That is where family comes in. My husband has a big family with 4 other brothers. I joke with him and say they should have made a movie about you guys, 5 brides for 5 brothers! ahahha. Do you know the real movie of which I speak? It's a classic.
Anyways. His youngest brother, and his wife were selling their house, and looking to buy one closer to the family in our area. They actually had one picked out and were just waiting out all those annoying buying/selling a house details to be worked out. Well, as it turned out their house sold before they could close on the house they were looking at. And then the house they wanted fell through, they couldn't buy it. So as a family we all talked it over and decided that we would offer our house to them to come and stay. The girls have a large room and didn't mind staying together longer. So they could have the 4th bedroom. It even has it's own entrance to it, so that added privacy for them. We invited them to stay as long as they needed, and we were happy to have them. They accepted and moved in. They have one son and he stayed in our sons room. We set up a bed for him there. My sister in law and I get along famously so having her around was great!  She is not a farm girl, but I love her anyways, hehehe. Then she happily offered to do all the cooking so I could be more available to be in the barn! Boy what a gift that was! I knew everybody would be fed I didn't have to worry about getting a meal. Made my life easier for sure, and she's a great cook.
They moved in in October.
And as farm being new farmers and all these new farm things to figure out, their time living with us would be an added blessing.

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!!

newest addition... on monday confessions

And here you were thinking I was going to tell you about a new calf being born. Nope. We are still waiting on Daffy to have hers. She is about 12 days or so late. But more on her another day.

The truth of the matter is living on a farm is there is an ugly side to it as well. It's not all sunshine and roses. Here on my blog I can pick and choose what I want to share. So today I thought I would share some ugly truth.
 It was about 6pm and there was a commotion outside. Well it was the hens and then we saw the fox.  Some ran outside and I went running to get our .22. by the time I got back outside the fox had left. He had pulled her feathers out and bit her leg. She was OK other that. She is still fine. That got us to thinking. We have not had any such critters come visit the farm. Other then the skunks. We borrowed my BIL Jack Russel dog for a couple weeks to get his scent around. In all our thinking we decided it was time for a farm dog. We had put off getting a dog due to lots of reasons. But the time was now. A friend of ours had some puppies.  How convenient. Australian Shepard pups. Farm and family raised, that were almost ready to leave the litter. We went out to see them. And we had chatted with him about what we were looking for in a pup. He had 3 pups that he thought would be a good match for us. On my! puppies!! They are so cute! All of em! We decided 2 of them were what we liked, and had to decide what one was going to be just right. We had another week before it was old enough to come home. So we decided to think and pray about what one. One was a male and the other female. Well on our way home we got a call...
Our neighbor called and told us something had gotten into our broilers in the pasture...
Yup. We got home and sure enough there was a pile of dead chickens in the chicken tractor. They all had the same bite makes. All were counted for.  About 20 in all. We picked them out of the tractor and put them in a bucket to dispose of them. The culprit had gotten into the back of the cab in the window part. We knew this was not the fox. A fox would have taken them to eat, not leave them in a pile. A joy killing. We figured out what had killed them and we moved on. And I'll leave it at that. But with this happening we put up a double hot wired fence around the chicken tractors and decided for sure we were getting the pup.
So meet our new addition.

Belle. :)  Isn't she just the sweetest!! Her farm work training has begun! We just love her.

Have a great day ya'll!!

monday confessions

Another week has come and gone.
 I think we had one warm day. I went to my moms and sat in the swing in the sunshine ALL day. It was wonderful. I didn't DO anything. No wait, I helped my sister make biscuits. Started out as a humdinger of a day too. Took my husband to work, he's helping to remodel a house, outta town, then was gonna swing by the store to get the kiddos and I a quick breakfast because we had to get up and go. Course if I had my act together I would have had something on hand... but didn't. Get to the store and realized I left my purse at home. Fantastic. No breakfast and nothing to take to my moms to help out with lunch. My sisters, and aunt with her grand kids were coming too. A pot luck kinda thing. So I went empty handed and mom fed us some breakfast. Thank goodness for Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls that freeze and reheat well!!! Thanks mom for feeding us. Gosh.
Well my mom loves pinterest, and she found a recipe for homemade bubbles! What kid doesn't love to blow bubbles. Well my aunt and her son made some huge bubble sticks with bamboo sticks and rope. They were amazing!!! No pics because I forgot my camera too. But the bubbles were huge!! Had fun. Managed to burn half of my face in the sun too. Looked like a total freak, I had on sun glasses, and I have side bangs, are you getting a visual now? So cute. hahaha, then it peels and hurts and ugh it looks even worse with peeling. I didn't want to show my face in public either. But now it's OK...
The weather still has that winter air chill to it. It looks nice but you step outside and the wind or air hits you. Burrrrr cold. Have had ice on the water buckets in the morning too. And the cold stays all day. We are finally getting some green grass and the buds are starting to think about coming out. Just seems like it's real slow to spring this spring. Winter just won't go.
The hens have been out in the gardens spreading the manure we put on it. I like to watch them out there scratching and picking. They seem real happy out there. I'm glad they are doing the work of spreading the poo and eating bugs!
I need to get out and check on my garlic! I hope it's coming up! I was excited last fall to actually plant some.
I have some cooing posts I'll try to get on here and share!
Gotta get lunch for the kiddos.
Have a great day all!

monday confessions

Having a humdinger of a Monday morning. So that inspired me to blog about some life that has happened of late! Feel free to laugh too.

I made a pumpkin pie a while back. I bought the canned pumpkin at the store, and when I went to make the pie it was the mix kind. Oops grabbed the wrong can. But my baby wanted pumpkin pie and I was gonna make it for her. As I was making the pie I was in the middle of home school too. The kiddos were at the table working and I was at the counter. Well to say the least I do get distracted at times with the questions. I popped the pie in the oven and cooked it. That night  I found myself alone for some odd reason. I don't know where my husband was and I think the kiddos were in bed or at a sleepover. We never had pie. I cut a nice big piece and took a bite, as I walked to the fridge to get the whipping cream. I gagged and spit it in the fridge. There was no sweetness to it at all. After rinsing out my mouth I dug the can out of the recycling, yes I recycle, and looked at the can. What I found was no sugar gets added to the can. It's a can of sweetened condensed milk. Oops. Well lesson learned and the chickens had pie for part of their breakfast!

I've taken a week off from working out. Which really stinks. My knee has been bothering me, so I decided to give it a rest. Feels better now. Not that I'm one to complain about pain, I just deal with it. I'm going somewhere with this, so hang on. And while I was taking it easy on my knee I managed to slam my left hand in the car door. It was instant nausea for me. I laid my head on the steering wheel and groaned. My kiddos in the car asked what was wrong. I managed to squeak out a "I slammed my hand in the door. I'm ok." Now I have no idea how I managed to do this. Other then I'm awesome. (hardy har har har) My seat belt was in the door and I went to grab it is all I can remember. I looked at my hand it was my middle finger and index finger that received the blunt force of it was already black and blue. Fantastic I thought. I kept it in my lap and drove home with my right hand. I couldn't hang on to the wheel with my left. Not a huge big deal right?! Once I was home the kiddos and I brought in the groceries. My husband got home a few minutes after we did. I was starting to cook a late supper, but I couldn't open the can of kidney beans (I was making chili) I couldn't smoosh up the hamburg. I'm a lefty. I'm right hand stupid. No really. OK, go ahead and laugh. I'll wait...
I had my husband open the can and my oldest daughter finish cooking. The swelling in my left knuckle down at the base of my left had started on the ride home. I couldn't make a fist. Fantastic. I was really hoping I didn't break the bone. I decided to see how it felt in the morning.
 Morning came, and it was still discolored and swollen. I showed my husband and told him what happened. He suggested I go get it checked out. I don't have time to sit in the ER all day. I have things to do. I think to myself. I shrug if off and head down to the bathroom. I was determined to bend my hand and not go to the ER. It hurt, but I managed to bend my hand and make a fist. It hurt but I was feeling triumphant! No trip to the ER. It's not broken!!! I showed my husband and he agreed it wasn't broken because I'd never be able to make a fist it it was. Phew. I put ice on it. It's still a little sore, but I didn't have to get an x-ray and waste a day in the ER to have them tell me something I already knew!
Morel of the post?
Keep your hands outta the doors folks!!
Have a great day all!!

monday confessions

Hi guys!
 Welcome to my newest followers! Thanks for joining us!
I've not been on my blog for a while. Not much to say really and not much going on, well unless you count all the laundry, and poop I've shoveled, and the water...but you get the picture! Just a dotch of cabin fever going on here. I'm so ready for some warm days and to feel the hot sun on my face!
Soon I'll have posts about all the tapping trees and boiling sap on here!! Can't wait! Then I won't stop talking about it! I love maple syrup!
But today I'll show you some things I have been up to. And hopefully get around to all of your blogs and say hi again.

I'll start with this

Just because I can baby! Just because I can! Yupo yer lookin at some homemade Samoas! Took me FOREVER to make them, and my son can't have any due to the fact that he has braces. But they were sooooo amazingly good. I took them to a church lunch we had and shared them. I found the recipe on Pinterest, I mean surprise, surprise! But yummy! Please refrain from licking your screen.

Here is Sunday morning. Snow. Wet, heavy snow. This is the beautiful spot we keep our hay, in a barn of course. But we just love this spot of land. My husband had to go get hay, so I was running around getting the rest of the chores done, and he snapped this photo. Peaceful and beautiful.

 Here is another shot of the hay spot. That is the barn. Kinda leaning towards sawyers, but it works and keeps the hay dry. We are very thankful for the use of it too. Looks like a real old photo of a farm of long ago. And it kinda is.

And while it's cold and snowy out I sit and knit...in my free time in the evening! I've made another one in pink, for a family member, and this purple one is for a friend, and the dark purple one is for another family member. I need to get started on it!
Oh and my husband took our girls to a father daughter dance one night at our church! So much fun!! I got to go on a date with our son. Such a great night for all of us for sure! One I hope will be remembered for a long time!
Have a great Monday all. Mine is going OK, for now!

monday confessions

So here we are...another Monday. Belch.
Back to school Monday from a much longer vacation then I planned. But with colds, ear aches, Dr. appointments, and a cousins birthday we are finally back on track. Well at least for today. When the regular routine gets off whack for whatever reason I feel displaced. Not that I'm a set in stone planner, because I'm so not that kind of gal, just ask my husband, I just need something of a routine. So much work to get done and school takes up a large amount of my day. SO I feel better now that we have things back going again.
It's still rather cold here too. Not as bad but chilly.
Still lugging water. I'll be so glad when we are set up to have water IN the barn and I no longer have to lug it all winter long. I mean stop and think, we lug about 100 gallons of water a day. Yup you read that right. Animals drink a lot of water, but not as much in the winter verses the summer. Thankfully we have hoses for the summer time watering!
I finally sat down and made a menu for two weeks! Now I have to go shopping for the things I need...fantastic! I decided to have homemade Chinese food one night too! Oh I can't wait. I love Chinese food! Yummmmmmm!!!
 I've found some yummilishous looking recipes on Pinterest!! Like the other night we had cheeseburger wraps! Yummy! Tasted just like a cheeseburger. Imagine!
We've got lots of snowmobilers that go by now. Apparently there is enough snow for the trails to be opened. I didn't think we had that much snow, but we do. They are usually really good about the driveway with the kiddos and the critters. We've spoken to folks who are not, and they get the picture real quick about slowing down!
We have new neighbors. The folks who bought the house rented it out. I've only met the guy who lives there, he came down to the house and introduced himself to us, and said they would be careful of the kiddos and the critters. I was pleased to hear that. He has a girlfriend, but I've yet to meet her. I've seen her though. I've thought about making a pie for them and saying welcome. What do you think?! Would you make a new neighbor a pie?  If I can catch them at home...

Well I gotta run the kiddos are hungry and we need to do afternoon chores and finish up with school!
I hope ya'll had a great weekend!
Happy Monday!!

monday confessions

This is my last post...

for 2012 that is ahhahahaha! Sorry bad joke I know.

 And your thinking I'm gonna  reminisce about the past year. Nope not that either. I don't think I need to relive this past year. It was a bit of everything the good, the bad and the ugly. It's the life I've been blessed with and I'm thankful for that, and all the lessons I've learned...

So the big day is tomorrow. The new year!!! I'm so looking forward to it, for so many reasons.  I've got plans and goals, none of which I would consider a resolution. I don't make them. Nope.
I think I'll bring in the new year like I did last year...sleeping and drooling on my pillow...hahah hows that?! What about you any big plans?!
We got more snow this weekend. About another 6 or so inches. It came down nice and slow with no wind, oh it was beautiful. Then Sunday it was cold, and windy. Awful. And that makes chores and the clean up of it that much more fun, or not.
The kiddos have an after Christmas cold. No fun to have 4 kiddos that don't feel good in 4 different ways. Here's hoping the new year doesn't start off like that...
But on the flip side I got the house clean and caught up on! Except the laundry...that's never done, but that's ok, keeps me busy!
I'm hopeful about the new year and the plans we have for our farm. It's exciting to think about the possibilities! And the actual event of things working out it's looking good. We'll see how it all plays out over the course of 2013. I hope you'll continue to follow along with us!
I'll keep you up to date the best I can on our farming and life journey that I feel like sharing!
Blessings and stay safe this holiday!

monday confessions...

on Wednesday...
Well I'm hoping all of you had a fantastic Christmas! We did. It's always busy, but good.
Today is spent kinda in a Christmas fog. Cleaning things up, putting things away, throwing things away. Moving things around to make room for new stuff...
I did finish the two ponchos I was making for two of my girlie's. It was at 11pm on Christmas Eve, but they were done.
I didn't eat too much junk food.
I did enjoy a glass of wine last night!
I did get the horse stall cleaned and the cow barn cleaned out...before the snow storm comes tonight into tomorrow. Calling for 8-17 inches, so I've been told by the very correct weathermen...ahem
My husband was working on some other things outside with the tractor getting ready for it while I cleaned the barns.
The kiddos are very excited for the snow storm, I just hope we get enough to make it exciting for them to play in, even if it's a pain to clean up! They are looking forward to having some snow to come and stay for more then a day!
We have plenty of fire wood nearby ready to keep us warm. Love my wood stove!
Our tree is still up, but not for long after today!
The kiddos have been very happy playing with their new toys all day.
Supper is warming up on the wood stove. Soup. Yummy!
I'm always amazed at the creativity of my children and their thoughtfulness. Makes me so proud!
Have a great day all!

snow day confessions

I get a snow day, snow day!!! yyyyyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwww!!!!
Oh wait never mind I home school. No snow days in this house hold. I joke with the kiddos and they look at me like what is a snow day? I tell them that public schools cancel school when it's snowing like this...oh!
It's snowing where I'm at in case you hadn't guessed.  Yup still gonna get some school in, not sure I'll get a full week in with Christmas coming and baking and chocolate making looming up ahead. Then we have a nice long break. We are all ready for it!
We got our tree up and decorated!! Then again half the colored lights died on me. Seems to be a never ending battle with me and colored lights. So I dug out some white ones, now the tree is half colored and half white lights.
Again got my daughters poncho made. I don't think I'll have to take it out, again. I can tie the fringe on it and wrap it up! Can't wait!!!!
Its calling for snow lots this week up in the North! I'm not sure my sister will be making the trek out to my place or not. I live on back roads that don't get plowed too often! Such fun!
I think I'll get out and snap a pic or two of the snow covered trees.
I just love to go out, and see the crisp white snow covered trees, few tire tracks on the road, and the listen to the quite stillness of the world around me. The snow falling is the only sound I hear, I can smell the wood stove smoke coming out of the chimney. It's peaceful. Quiet and tranquil. Breathing deeply the new smell of the earth of snow and cold. Knowing winter has arrived.

Have a wonderful day all!!

monday confessions

Gah! I have so much to do I'm feeling a little guilty sitting here trying to type and read blogs and scarf down my lunch. It's that time of year.
As you know I'm almost done my Christmas shopping and am sooooooooooo glad of that. Now I've got some gifts that I'm making and working on when there are not 4 kiddos around...which is in the evening, and late into the night kinda times. And other gifts that can't be done till later that I am doing with the kiddos. So with the holidays coming I'm trying to get in school, and some fun extra crafts with them for fun! I'll probably post some of the fun we are having with crafts and oh the chocolate making!
 I am glad that I got the packages in the mail!! That makes me feel so much better to have them in my possession! For what ever reason UPS and Fed Ex can never find my house, so they were at the post office. My husband had informed the post office lady that they might show up there and to please grab them, so they didn't get sent back. I've had that happen before and was ripped when I got the email saying they had been sent back to the company. Thankfully this post office lady is very nice and knows us and she said she would grab them for us. The joy of small town living!
The kiddos and I decorated for Christmas the other day. I am the coolest mom I let them put decorations on their dressers, and a "tree." It's just a branch, but they are so happy. I hung some garland over their doors too. Next to put up is the tree. I hope to get it up soon! We made sugar cookie and watched a Christmas time favorite movie the other day as well.  I dug out some Christmas favorite books too and have been reading them with the kiddos. It's nice to have some movies and books to watch and look forward to once a year. It's a treat for us.
Had a fantastic weekend. My kiddos went to my moms and my husband and I had a date night and then a whole day together.  Just the two of us hanging out. You know, it was nice. I didn't have to share him! We got the kiddos back Saturday night, after a meal with my in laws and everyone decorating their tree, then that night it was nice to sit on the couch that night and listen to them all snore! Church on Sunday and went to my SIL's for a late lunch. Then once the kiddos were in bed I worked on their gifts.
Well lunch is done and I gotta get busy with laundry and finish up school!
Have a great day all!