Category Archives: Nature

HE has made everything beautiful…

This is the view from our dining room window, looking out across the road. My eyes normally focus on the ugly poison ivy climbing up the telephone pole. But the Lord transformed my perspective this morning…

Father, I am in awe of Your transforming power. By allowing this irritating plant to participate in Your glorious display of Your beautiful creation around me, it reminds me of what You’ve done with my soul. Thank You for opening my eyes to the poison that was fueling me – and then for cleansing me with Your life-giving flow so that I may be as white as snow. Amen.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV)

“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. (Isaiah 1:18 NIV)

Garlic gift

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Came home one day earlier this week to a gift of garlic from one of our customers! I had spoken with her awhile ago of how we’d love to grow garlic again “someday”, but just haven’t gotten around to it. She mentioned she’d probably have extra & wondered if we’d like some… Isn’t it funny how an unexpected gift can be just-the-thing to get us to turn a thought into an action? 🙂

So remember the raised beds that got blogged about last year? Click here or here or here to see a few… Well, other than Paul’s strawberries that were strong enough to push through the weeds this spring, we never got around to preparing or planting the other two this year. And then Paul kept getting stung by hornets each time he push mowed in that area, so that corner of the yard ended up growing up into a jungle, lol…

The promise of fresh garlic next year prompted Mike & I to dig-in & prepare one raised bed! 🙂

(Oh – and we did find the hornets’ hole in the ground, too. Fortunately they didn’t bother us, but Mike will take care of them this weekend.)

We’ll cover them with a bunch of leaves in the next week or two. And we’ll be excited to see how they do next year! THANK YOU, HEATHER, FOR YOUR GIFT – AND FOR BEING OUR MOTIVATOR!! 🙂

End of season prayer…

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A prayer as I meditate on Psalm 90:12-17…

Father, as one season ends and another begins, I pause and offer You praise and thanksgiving for Your abundant blessings. You have provided above and beyond what we needed, so that others could take part of the harvest, as well. Your Words are fueling me with the energy I need to complete what’s before me… Thank You for teaching me how to number my days aright so that I can gain a heart of wisdom. I feel Your compassion as I put one foot in front of the other – even when I can’t see where that next step leads… Not only do You satisfy me in the morning with Your unfailing love, but the whole day I can’t help but sing for joy when I focus on Your gifts! I am glad for each day that You have afflicted me with – for every year that I have seen trouble. You are showing me Your deeds, and Your splendor to my children. May Your favor rest upon us as You establish the work of our hands – YES, ESTABLISH THE WORK OF OUR HANDS!! Amen.

Bull in – 2013

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Finally getting around to getting this posted. Here are the pics from when our bull, Cleatus, joined our dairy girls on June 9th:

Instructions from the “head honcho”, lol…

Cleatus was with the yearling bulls in “The Shire” on the left. Mike & Michael are in the adjacent field, “Prancing Pony” on the right. They are getting the bulls to walk down towards the gate that connects the two fields. Then they sorted Cleatus by himself & kept the younger bulls in “The Shire”. A little bit stressful, but it all turned out well. 🙂

Here you can see Mike leading Cleatus towards me & Paul (in “Mordor”), with Michael behind Cleatus.

Paul’s job was to open the fence to let Cleatus through once he saw him getting close… Didn’t want the curious dairy girls to mess things up!

And here he goes… I think it’s cute how the girls are watching him, lol… 🙂

We’ll keep Cleatus with them for 8 weeks. In the past, we’ve done 12 weeks, but we’d really like to close our calving window a bit. We keep track of the girls’ heats on a big piece of glassboard in the milking barn. When the vet comes this fall to pregnancy check the herd, those dates help us determine their due dates. 🙂

We are prayerful all our girls will get bred. This is another difficult part of farming – praying & waiting. Although, come to think of it, isn’t that the challenge of daily life? 🙂

Father, prepare us for what is to come for our dairy herd this fall. We pray their bodies are healthy & fertile. May our grasses nourish and sustain them so they can continue to do the same for us. We thank You for the calves and milk they’ve blessed us with this season, and we look forward to seeing how You continue to lead us. Amen.

Garden’s planted 2013

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Yesterday, we wrapped up planting the garden. 🙂

Markin’ off the rows. LOVE Grandma’s wheelho! 🙂

Brittle, broken fenceposts make great row markers, lol! 🙂

Coverin’ up the corn…

Boys helping Grandma plant, lime, and water the tomatoes… 🙂

Lord, we give You our garden: the seeds, the plants, and the labor. We trust that You will give us exactly what we need for moisture & sunlight. And when our harvest comes in, we know it will be the perfect amount to feed us and share with others. May it nourish the bodies of all who partake of it – fill us with what we need to help You with Your harvest! Amen.

Uno’s trip

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Today was Uno’s turn to leave the barn & join her other 9 half-brothers & sisters in the barnyard at our house. She started out walking with Mike.

But when she decided to run full throttle, Mike gladly passed her off to Michael, lol…

Meeting Milkdud…

And Winchester…

And finally – running with no restrictions! (As long as you don’t count the woven wire fence she almost plowed into next to me, lol…) 🙂

Out to pasture – 2013

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FINALLY – the grass has grown enough that Mike could let the dairy cows out on pasture today, May 1st. Last year, we had them out on April 9th. Always interesting to compare dates from year to year! 🙂

Here they are still inside the barnyard, just after we finished milking this morning.

Now they’ve noticed Mike is at the outer gate…

I took a video of the girls walking/running through the gate, but couldn’t figure out (in a reasonable amount of time) how to upload the video from my phone to the blog without having to buy an app. Sooo, [sigh] that’ll have to be something I investigate at a later date. (Or I welcome any advice from cyberspace!)

Here are some “still” photos of our girls eating – LOVE seeing cows grazing!! 🙂

Now begins the “domino effect” of moving animals at our farm. Over the next few weeks, Mike will work on moving the bull yearlings out of our vegetable garden area so we can get our garden ready for planting. They’ll most likely hang with the 2013 beef herd until that herd leaves us at the end of June. Then they’ll become the 2014 beef herd. Next, Mike will decide on a good, secluded area of fence for the 4 yearling girls to graze through, because they won’t be ready for breeding until next year, so we want to keep them away from any bulls. Once the yearling girls are out of the bigger part of Green Dragon, the calves from this year can move from the barnyard side of Green Dragon & have more room to stretch their legs.

When the rainfall is consistent & the grasses grow well, there is a beautiful harmony in rotating the different groups of animals around the farm. 🙂

Guess I’ll end this post with Reesecup – she just wouldn’t leave me alone today, lol!! 🙂

Treasures in the hay

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These little cuties are about 2 weeks old. Boys couldn’t wait any longer, so today they did a “hay search” and were really excited to find this double treasure… 🙂

Looks like two little girls… Can’t wait to hear what the boys officially name them. 🙂

Wear & tear and a little fence repair

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Prayers of thanksgiving this week for fixes, fixers, and The Fixer. 🙂

A cold front blew through on Friday, and the winds snapped a dead tree onto a section of our fence.

Lol – my 3 goofy boys! 🙂

Fortunately, this break was an easy fix for them. They cut the tree off, and were able to staple the same fence back up. (And they were so quick, that I didn’t make it out to get a “serious” pic of them working, lol!) No broken posts, and no hurt or escaped animals! 🙂

And then Saturday, a vein disintegrated in our milk system’s vacuum pump…

Mike was able to tear the pump apart; however, we aren’t always able to fix everything ourselves. But we sure are grateful for companies who are available to help when we need it!

I don’t think there’s ever a “good time” for anything to break, or to have to seek outside assistance… But as we focused on the blessings, the Lord helped us in the process of the journey:

We got our milking done that morning. BLESSING
We bought that pump used & for over 6 years it has worked perfectly for us. BLESSING
Service was out to us within a few hours. BLESSING
Since we only milk once-a-day, the late cleanup didn’t affect our milking schedule. BLESSING
The day was frigid cold, but Mike had weather appropriate clothes to keep him warm. BLESSING
Mike’s mechanical skills were utilized to reduce the amount of another’s labor. BLESSING

Father, we thank You for minds that can troubleshoot problems, and hands that can fix things. Sometimes they’re ours, and sometimes they’re others, but You coordinate them all to work together to make things right. What a blessing to watch Your handiwork develop! Help us to focus on the blessings in every situation – not dwell on the negatives or unknowns. We acknowledge You are THE FIXER, and pray for strength to submit to Your plan…even in the unexpected & unplanned for hardships. Keep our focus on today, not tomorrow – and that in Your time, answers will come. May we be faithful as we walk. Amen