Nothing fancy here. Just braided 4 strands of baler twine that I had been saving from each bale of hay we fed the cows the winter before. Thought it would be perfect for our mini-ornament farm tree. [Anybody out there who’d like some used twine to make your own crafts, just let me know, lol!] 🙂
This tree also features our very first pullet eggshells (2004) as ornaments. A friend of ours made these for us with her mother. Such a fun keepsake! 🙂
Just some fun pics of the boys with their calves…
Michael and “Nanner” (or Princess, as he calls her, lol)…
And Paul with “Fiskars” (or The Bubba, as he calls her!)
Once we got everything harvested out of the garden (yes, some day I’ll get around to posting more harvest data – I’m a little behind, lol…), it was time to let this spring’s bulls in to work it up & fertilize it for next year. It’s fun to watch how excited they get to find stumps of broccoli & cabbage, stray beets, sweetcorn stalks, and the true treasure: all the leaves we piled where the potatoes had been! 🙂
Here’s Augie in the corn stalks…
Quebec headed to the purple cabbage stumps…
And Crazy Roms rolling in the leaves, lol…
Back in August I did a post about the kittens: Bill & Sandy.
Here are some pics of them with their namesake – the “real” Bill and Sandy, not too long after I had done that original post…
Here are some more random pics…
Sadly, Sandy (the kitten) got sick, so Bill has been on his own for the last month or so. Even though the other cats tended to shun him, he got plenty of attention from us! 🙂
And today, we are OVERJOYED because he’s been adopted by some friends of ours. They needed a barn-cat for their new barn, and fell in love with Billy!!!
Oh, we’ll miss him because he’s been fun, but we know he’ll be well taken care of as the “king” of his very own barn. 🙂
A couple weekends ago was our annual “Ross Family Hike”. This hike has been happening since before I married in to the family. Mike’s Mom’s maiden name is Ross, and we are the 7th generation to farm here. (I’ll put a pic of a genealogy paper at the bottom of this post. Our cousin, Ernie Ross, created it for us before he died in 2011.) For me it seems, the older I get, the more interesting history is becoming… Sure wish I would have paid more attention to the stories from my grandparents before they passed…
Every year, the four of us talk about blazing a new trail for the Ross Family Hike during the summer months so we can use it & enjoy it all year. And every year we are scrambling at the last minute to cut one right before the hike, lol. Why spend the time to cut a trail you may ask?? Well, ever since I got a group lost in briars and spider nests five years ago or so, it was decided we needed a defined path for “non-natural hikers”, like myself… 🙂
We all look forward to this hike – and this year was no exception! We begin with a family prayer and share a potluck meal in Mike’s parents’ garage. Then we take a hike through the woods, and the guys usually end with “shooting” – clay pigeons, squirrel targets, etc…
This first pic shows the yellow ribbons that mark this year’s path. I’m happy to report I was “allowed” to be the “ribbon girl” again this year! 🙂
I briefly lost my “title” last year because of using too much ribbon…we ran out before we were done with the trail, lol! I went a little more conservative this year, and won back the approval of all three of my boys… 🙂 ;
Michael is our “extreme adventur-er” – can normally find him doing ANYTHING other than cutting briars, lol…
Found this cool squirrel-table-stump…
Love finding old fenceposts in the woods & trying to imagine how the old pasturefields used to look…
Now the pics change to the actual day of the hike. We went on a “trial run” hike in the morning because there was a steep part we needed to add a rope to. We tied a rope to a tree on the top of the dry creek bed so that we could use it to climb up the bank. Felt like Indiana Jones, lol! 🙂
FINALLY – these next pics are the “actual” hike… 🙂
Not kidding: ROPE WAS FUN!! Brought lots of smiles & laughs…
Uncle Bill, on the other hand, didn’t need any rope! 🙂
Every year we take this same pic… 🙂
Yes, Michael’s holding half of a dead rat – long story – crazy boys… 🙂
It was a wonderful day for all – “Blake” (our oldest cat) says it all right here… 🙂
The boys have decided to sell their goats. Turns out, we are just not “goat people”, lol. They do a really good job of eating weeds + poison ivy IF we can keep them in our fences. They are professional escape artists, and like to bully the calves around, too. They have given us much entertainment over the years, but it’s time for them to mooove on, lol.
The black one is a pygmy – her name is Dunn. The white one is a Nigerian dwarf wether – his name is Butterscotch. They are both about 5 years old (Dunn is a little older.), and they are a package deal…boys don’t wanna split ’em up. 🙂
Here’s a link to our Craig’s List ad: Craig’s List
WOW – THAT DIDN’T TAKE LONG…SOLD THEM (10-7-12)
I have ONE WORD: A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!
Learned today that ONE HUNDRED PERCENT – yes, 100% of our dairy girls are pregnant! 🙂
So next year, Lord willing, we should have 14 calves. 🙂
Why AMAZING? Well, if you analyze: a summer drought; a new, yearling bull; a mostly hay diet when the bull was in with the herd (because the pastures stopped growing without the rain); several heifers who never showed us any heats to mark down; and one cow (the last one to calve this year) only having one heat while the bull was in… in our “man-wisdom”, we predicted a lower percentage of bred animals. How glad we are that God has His own plan, lol…
It was fun having Dr. Travis out today (from Sugarcreek Veterinary Clinic). He’s a joy to work with and shares our love of the Lord. 🙂
If you’ve never witnessed a pregnancy check for a cow before, let me suffice it to say: you end up with a REALLY messy barn afterwards. So glad we only need to do this once a year, lol!
Our milking days are winding down for the year now…only about 2 months left! We are a seasonal dairy, which means the cows are bred within a 6-week window, so they get their final trimester “break” at the same time – the coldest part of the winter. We do this for several reasons. 1) So WE get a break to re-energize & work on fixing/taking care of things we can’t get to in the other 36 weeks. 2) So the cows get a break and can use all their energy to grow those babies. 3) Because it’s really hard for an all-hay diet to produce enough milk during the winter, and we do not want to feed any grain. 4) Because it’s risky to walk the animals (and us, lol) through our hilly terrain down to the barn each day when there is ice/snow/mud everywhere. 5) and finally, because this best mimics what it would be like if we just had one cow – like in the “old days”…
Lord, we are AMAZED with the fertility of our herd this year. Thank You for this gift! We pray for these last couple months of milking – that the milk continues to nourish the bodies it touches… For our “break” – that it be a time of rejuvenation for us + the animals… And for the 2013 calving season – that we have healthy moms who can deliver healthy calves, so we can continue our dairy cycle. Prepare us, Lord, to be able to handle the unexpected – and may we do it in a way that will glorify You. Amen
I’ve been hesitant to blog these cuties… The last time I did that, we never saw the kittens again! 😦
But, it seems these guys are here to stay… So needless-to-say, the Boys are VERY excited! 🙂
You may be thinking, “Wow – I can’t believe they didn’t name them some kind of food-themed name…they actually picked NORMAL names for these kittens?”
LOL, Yes, since the boy & girl kitten were found in our good friends’ hay that is upstairs in the milking barn, both boys decided appropriate names would be after them: Bill & Sandy.
🙂
For 44 days, we’ve had the cows in Mordor, where we’ve been feeding them hay since our pastures weren’t growing due to the drought.
Thankfully, the cows’ milk supply hasn’t dropped as much as we feared it might. Plus, we sold some of the calves, so that gave us more milk as well.
What a blessing that we had a large harvest of first cutting hay – never dreamed we’d be feeding it so soon!
Yesterday, Mike was able to move the cows out of Mordor and into Prancing Pony. Hooray! This summer has really reminded me how much I love to see GREEN in the summer!
Apparently during a drought, tomato worms also eat green peppers, hot peppers, and potato plants – grrrrrr!! Here’s a pic of a baby one Mike just found – he’s already had his last meal, lol! 🙂
And the second pic is what happens when a groundhog is dumb enough to enter a garden where 3 boys know how to take care of business!! 🙂
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