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Well all the girls have on their big boots, and hats, adn gloves, and coats, etc, and have hiked up the hill to see out biggest waterfall. It has about a 7 foot drop and should be pretty right now considering all the rain we have had the past few days. I sent a camera so hopefully I can show it to you soon. We ordered Krissy's graduation cap (pink) and tassel (pink and silver) last night. Hoepfully it will be here for our graduation party on the 17th. Mark is painting the polyurethane on the big old wardrobe we stripped and finished. It is OLD. I feel pretty sure it is at least civil war era. It was put together with pegs and hand cut nails and has really flared dove tail joints that look very hand done. I think it is walnut. Anyhow, as soon as it is dry we will move it intoour bedroom and I'll use it for my clothes. Right now my closet is a rod hanging in the mud room. Functional, but not too convenient.
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As Christopher Robin says, When you put on your big boots, you know you are in for an adventure!|
OK, forgive me beforehand for having one of my deep pondering thoughts, BUT... Knowing as most do that Dec 25 is not the actual birth date of Christ, I personally believe that He was born at the Feast of Trumpets, Rosh Hashana which is celebrated sometime in September.(it changes with the Jewish calendar) I think it fits with a lot of things in scripture and makes sense prophetically too. Now, with that in mind, I was thinking about Epiphany today... well because that is what today is. My amish neighbors celebrate christmas on this day. It got me wondering about a few things... As Dr Seuss says A person is a person, no mater how small... and God incarnate was God incarnate no matter how small... could it be that we should really be celebrating the coming of Jesus Christ at His conception which should be sometime in January (not specificaly Jan 6th, but if we have to pick a date we may as well choose that day as any other) It would make sense then that at the Feast of Trumpets, His birth, that he is announced to the world with the herald of angels... At least it makes sense to me. Well, that is my pondering thought of the day. Here at the farm I have had a blessed day, my rolls came out of the wood oven perfect and I think I have made the worlds creamiest cheese too, Thank You Lord! Mark brought home the window seat one of our amish neighbors made for the dining room. I reused the foam rubber from some old church pew seats and made dandy cushions. We love it. It is cold and rainy today. After the school work was done, and the stock trailer was cleaned out, and a dozen other chores were completed, Mark drove the girls into town to the library. |
I have a pot o'deer on the stove for dinner, life is good. Have a great day.|
And here is Jessica making a silly pose for the camera. Behind her is our kitchen washing sink. I tell you, having two completely separate kitchen sinks is one of the neatest things. You will never know how you lived on a farm without the second one once you have it for a while. Today is Saturday, bath day! The family is all squeeky clean and heading onto the city for a trip to walmart and tractor supply. Our big event of the week. Mark is preaching the morning and evening services again tomorrow. We are still waiting to see what God has for us here. As soon as I know, I'll let you know. |
This is our oldest cat, Thumbelina. She started out as an extreme runt. We had to feed her with an eye dropper in the beginning. For the longest time she would not grow, only her eyes and ears seemed to grow, but she stayed newborn kitten size for months. It was so strange it was cute. She is about 4 years old now. Since we have moved here, she has adopted the top loft of the cow barn as her own. She loves being the queen of her castle.
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I sprained my right thumb. A milking injury. It's amazing how much you use that muscle and don't realize it. Mark was in town working on some horses this morning and picked up some Absorbine Jr for me. It helped my thumb some, but it also brought back a flood of memories. You know how some smells can do that, and Absorbone Jr reminds me of Grandma. It has been several years since she passed away, but it still makes me sad to think of her. When I smell Absorbine, I am back in the living room of a little house at the corner of Silver and Santa Rita. There is a quilting show on the TV set, the smell of fried ham and grits from the kitchen, and a hot cup of coffee in my hand. There are sofas with layers and layers of hand pieced quilts over them. A little dog looking out the back door, and a steady flow of conversation. Grandma is sitting in her chair in the corner with her table full of thread, scissors and a botle of Absorbine Jr beside her. Her latest quits layed over her lap as she steadily moved the needle up and down. Up and down. That is a good memory... But now back to today. Mark is in the barn helping an injured buggy horse a couple amish guys have just brought by. There are amish boys in the hills hunting rabbits for our supper tonight. The girls are playing hide and seek. And I am keeping the wood stove hot and the fire going. Happy New Year everyone/ |
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So, because it is New Years time, I made a big pot of menudo today. It turned out pretty good. I think the secret is cutting the meat into little pieces the size of the hominy so no one is freaked out about it while they eat it. Nothing like a big fuzzy hunk of tripe to spoil your appetite. Anyhow, I also finished painting my kitchen today. It is a shade called "caboose red" subtle huh? I want to put some crown molding we found in one of the barns around the ceiling at the chimney there to cover up an ugly patch. The next phase of my decorating make over is a sage green dining room. I'll let you know how it goes. See the big pot on the stove, it's the menudo! Mmmmmmmm. Happy New Year to all. I hope this year God streatches us all in a way that we need to rely more on Him in every way. I know He is for us.
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This is Josephine, or Josie as we have been calling her. She has a funny personality. If you have ever seen the Home on the Range movie, you would think they developed the character "Maggie" based on her. We are very thankful that her mastitis seems to have cleared up and her milk is normal now (and pretty rich in cream too) She is such a big girl though, I am thinking that she must be a Jersey cross with something, but I have no idea what. She looks Jersey and her milk is Jersey, but she is LARGE.
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It's nearly 10am and the sunshine is just starting to shine down in our little valley. Because we are surrounded by hills on all sides the morning seems to be so much darker. That's alright though. I put a new line on the weed eaters this morning and staked them on the hill by the creek that runs next to the big house. There is a lot of tall grass there that is very hard to mow, perfect for two fuzzy goats. Josephine is settling in. She came with a sweet disposition and a nasty case of mastitis but I think it is coming along a little better now. Just trying to keep her clean and dip her teats well to kill those little bacteria. Hopefully in about a week we will have it all under control. We gave her a shot of antibiotics the other day to try to kill whatever she may have picked up at the stockyard. Of course we are not drinking any of her milk though. We need to wait to make sure that everything has come through her system and she is all cured up before then. But she is already showing a lot of signs of improvement so I am very hopeful. Mark made a collar for her out of one of his old belts. It actually fits very well. (The flimsy one she came with must have broken somewhere in the pasture). We are working with her to teach her to stand still while I work on her and milk her. She is so much bigger than Mrs Calloway that I really can't work around a dancing cow. Sometimes it feels like they are doing the Hokey Pokey... right foot in, right foot out, left foot in, left foot out... thankfully they don't shake it all about... except when they get some grain down the wrong pipe and start coughing. Then udders are flying EVERYWHERE. Ahhh, it's all good. |
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Saturday afternoon God blessed us with a new member in our family. We named her Josephine Grace Hill. She has light brown hair, big brown eyes and weighs about 1100 pounds. She's an 8 year old Jersey dairy cow and as sweet as can be. Mrs Calloway is so happy to have a friend. Now it seems like Josephine likes to stay inside the barn all day, but since it is such nice weather I am making her go outside and play for a while. Milking two cows is a little harder than one. My plan is to bring them both into the barn at the same time. Put one in the box stall and milk the other in the stanchion, then switch them. It worked alright this morning with Mark's help holding the board to keep one in the stall. Mrs Calloway is almost a year into her cycle and her supply is down to about 2 1/2 gallons per day. It looks like Josephine will give about 2 gallons per day right now. This should be plenty for making cheese and trading etc. Besides, the big plan is to time them so that while one is in a dry cycle the other isn't. It's a thought at least. It is up to God to open and close the wombs, but we can plan and He can direct our steps. |
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So much to do. I suppose that is just the nature of the farm. Always going from one project to another an one chore to another. Before sunup to after sundown. I don't mind it though, keeps me young. Today after finishing the girls lessons, waxing the cheeses that were ready, and going outside to re-stake the goats in a new location (my mobile bramble mowers) I was walking back to the house with Morgan and she asked if I could go for a walk with her. You know, a walk sounds nice, the weather is good and I didn't have anyting on the stove that could explode so why not. As we started off I looked into the sawmill building and talked about how I really need to get in there and clean it out. Then we passed the greenhouse, and I talked about how I need to get new plastic on it before February and so on. Then we passed the grey house and I noticed that the door to the crawlspace was open and the plastic lattice was pulling loose and menioned how I should go get a hammer and fix it. Finally Morgan looked up at me and said "Mom, can't you go on a walk for once just to have fun?" Fun? Hummmm...I didn't even realize it that all I saw were things to do. I decided to try to look at things from Morgan's eyes for a bit. We went down the edge of the lower east pastures that border a beautiful babbling creek and stopped to see the waterfalls running. In the shady areas 4 foot tall icycles reached down from the edges of the rocky cleft into the creeks. Morgan talked about catching water salamanders in the creek. We walked on back for about a quarter mile, following the creek to a beautiful hidden meadow. She showed me a cave probably made by racoon or something and a huge vein of coal. All three dogs and two fluffy black barn cats followed along all the way. We found a deer bed and looked for trees that would be good for a tree house. It was wonderful. For the first time I saw the beauty in the farm more that the fences that need to be repaired, or fields that need to be seeded, or brambles to be cut. Now, I'm back to work, many more things to do before we end this day. But it sure helps my outlook on it all. Thanks to a nine year old little girl. |
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Today we celebrated and did not start chores until the sun came up! So began Christmas day on the farm. No White Christmas here. Actually it was very sunny and warm (nearly 40 degrees at one point) So after the morning festivities were over I felt inspired enough to scrape the peeling paint off the out house seat and repaint it... It needed to be done... That was several hours ago... I thought it would be dry by now but it isn't. We have a little propane heater in there to try to speed the process up. In the mean while, we are using the out house at the grey house next door. (about an acre away) Not that far, but it seems like an eternity when it is dark, and cold, and you have to take care of business. And right now, all I really want is a cup of hot tea... I know what that means, but tonight, after all, I'm living dangerously. |
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I suppose the Lord wants us to have a silent night and day. Our telephone is out. No dial tone at all and of course we have no cell phone range out here, so we are quiet for now. So to all our friends and family "Merry Christmas!"
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The shepherds were watching their flocks by night, and waving at passing cars. At home today we are doing our best to avoid the bustle. Mark is "hauling amish" tonight and tomorrow. There is one household moving from here to PA and one from PA back here, so he has a full load in his trailer both ways. It's a good side business, and he has a great time at it. He preached at a little church called Beaver Baptist Sunday morning and it was a good time. But now it is Monday, and back to the farm :) Merry Christmas Everyone! |
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Sorry I have not posted anything in a few days. I was meaning to, but you know how things go :) Last night Krissy finished High School. She submitted her last final exam at about 9pm. Whoo-Hooo. She ended up the semester with straight A's. We are very proud. So, this morning after early morning chores, we ordered her graduation announcements. We are planning on having a graduation celebration on January 17th. (after all the holidays, and on a 3 day weekend) so I hope it goes well. Adjustment of the week is early morning chores. We decided that our day was starting entirely too late (this whole business of waiting for the sun to come up was playing havoc on our family's schedule. So starting this week we are meeting for prayer at 6:45, then out the doors for chores. Yes, it is still very dark but possible. Milking the cow by a deitz oil lamp light is kind of romantic. I just have to make sure that she doesn't kick it and start a fire like in Chicago. Don't worry, I hang it up on a nail way above her head and mine so hopefully fire won't happen. To help celebrate this weekend we are painting! The little girls are stenciling their rooms (Jessie-horses and Morgan-zebras) Krissy is painting her room a bright lilac color. When everything is done upstairs, I will be painting the kitchen barn red (I know mom, but REALLY it will look great, I saw it in a country decorating magazine) and the dining room sage green. Trust me, it will be fine. |
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News of the day... I left the barn door open this morning so that when the cow was ready to leave the barn, she could just walk out on her own. Well, I suppose she did because later in the day I saw her out in the pasture. Well, this afternoon when I went out to milk, I was so happy to see our mama cow standing there looking out the barn half door, all ready to go. So I got her buckets together walked in sat down and we got started. A couple minutes later I heard a deep breath and a large movement in the box stall behind the milking stanchion. Curious I leaned over to look, and the bull was leaning out to look at me. Yikes! The bull was loose in the barn with me and the cow (his beloved). I just did not want her to "be-loving" her while I was milking her if you know what I mean. The only way he could leave the barn was to go right past me (which freaked me out, I am not embarassed to say). So instead I grabbed the handle of the shovel I use to clean up. I finished milking one handed with my right hand while I held the shovel with my left hand and shook it at him whenever he would lean around to look at me. I tried to yell at him, and the bull being Amish I wasn't sure he would understand english so I just made a bunch of mean sounds that I hoped sounded like german for "keep away from the cow squeezer." I finished in record time. |
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This was a picture from the live nativity that the little church Mark preached at last Sunday put on at the side of the county highway. Next weekend the girls are planning on bringing their goats. |
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Hello All! I was making up a mess of meatballs this morning and thought I'd share the recipe with you! Ingredients: 1 300-400# hog 1 deer lots of spices and breadcrumbs First, shoot the deer. (This involves a lot of camoflage, scent killer, tree stands etc,etc.) Once it is shot, hang up up, gut it out, take a picture if it is a "monster buck", load it in the pickup and drive it down to the check in station. After all the formalities, return home with your deer, skin it out and debone it the best you can. Throw the meat in the grinder and let the dogs have a field day on the bones. Put the ground up meat in a huge bucket in the kitchen. Then shoot the hog. Now you must make sure NOT to use a .22 or similar caliber bullet, because it will simply bounce off their massive skull, give them a really bad headache and terrible attitude. Your day cound turn out very very hectic if you can imagine what I am saying to you. Once shot, hang it up, gut it, skin it and the grindable pieces should be deboned and thrown into the grinder. (You can do whatever you want with the other pieces. Afterall, on a pig, every piece is a useful piece! Grind up the pork meat and bring it into the kitchen in another huge bucket. Then let-er-fly with the salt, pepper, oregano, basil, garlic powder, onion powder, breadcrumbs. Combine equal parts of deer and pork along with a large enough quantity of spices to suit your fancy. I like to smoosh it all together with my hands and fingers. Meanwhile, build a nice fire in your wood stove. Get out lots of trays and cookie sheets. Place a rag (a torn old sheet works well) to line each pan, Fill the pans with little meat balls and start baking. Ummmmm. These are great. I freeze them in quart size zip lock bags to use throughout the year. Happy Cooking :) Love, Marie |
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(This is the Readers Digest version of my song) On the twelfth day of Chrismas (on my Amish Farm) my true love gave to me: 12 Barren Chickens 11 Squirrel Tamales 10 Quarts of cow milk 9 Layers of clothing 8 Oil lamps 7 Cups of coffee 6 Fluffy barn cats 5 Fro-zen Deer 4 Horses grazing 3 Quacking duckies 2 Kitchen sinks and an outhouse behind the nut tree...... ~Merry Christmas~ |
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Thought of the morning: Early this morning I cleaned up the dog mess in the mud room. Then after milking I shoveled the cow mess out of the barn. As I sat in the outhouse I wondered, how come I am the one not allowed to go potty inside? Hmmmm.
I took this photo while Mark was shoeing an amish buggy horse yesterday in the barn. My old dog Nut decided to pose near the buggy. Today is misty out. As soon as the little girls are done with their school work we are going to go down to the country store for a few items. That's about it for the big plan of the day. |
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Twas the week after gun season, and all through the farm, All the bucks were out strolling, guns could do them no harm. The laundry was full with coveralls made of camo And I searched throught the pockets to find the loose ammo. The children played outside all snug in their coats Orange capes and hats have been quickly disposed. When out by the mailbox there arose such a clatter I left my dirty dishes to see what was the matter When what to my wondering eyes did appear? A Cabelas catalong, BOW SEASON IS HERE! ....sigh
Here's the rooster giving a pep talk to his hens inside the coop this morning. So, can't think of what to make for dinner. I pulled a "hunk of frozen deer" out of the freezer and put in in a pot to simmer on the wood stove while I wait for inspiration to hit me.... this may take a while. It's a soggy day today. The cow was very wet this morning when she came in the barn for milking. Now usually I like to lean into her and lay my cheek on her warm fluffy self while milking. But not today...
The duckies, walking bravely to the hatchet? Psychological games, farm style |
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It is warm today! (Up to to nearly 50 they say) It is a nice break to go out o the outhouse without having to totally "suit up." I know the bull will appreciate it. The silly guy got out into the muck the other day, and while he was eating, he stepped onto his big chain that is attached to the ring in his nose. It got cold realy quick and the muck froze around his chain. Mark went out to check on him and he was "ground tied". So Mark dug up the chain and freed the fuzzy guy. Later we looked out and he had about a 10 inch ball of ice hanging from the chain, so again Mark went out and broke it off for him. Good thing he is such a gentle bull. On the positive side, Mrs Calloway has not come back into her cycle so I do hope she is "settled" and we can take Mr Yoder his bull back soon. The economy is starting to slow down here a lot. There are a lot of small sawmills around here, but the demand for lumber wood has taken a nose dive so they are closing up. People are talking about going back to farming because no matter hard times get, people will always need to eat. We shall see.
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Today is cold and snowy. We went into town today. They were having a town Christmas event with different booths and things, but a storm came in and the roads got icy really quick. We passed about 8 or 9 little car wrecks on the way home. I was so glad Mark was driving. Krissy was in a church live nativity scene for about an hour outside the old movie theatre. She was Joseph. For some reasons all the boys wanted to be kings instead of him, so being the good sport that she is, she took the role. Here is a picture of the girls today:
Mark is working on our water right now. The line that brings the water from the lower spring to the house is frozen, so he is working on thawing it out so that we can fill up our tank in the basement. We have a lot of food and firewood so I am cooking and warm. Pretty soon it will be time to head back outside for chores though. I think the cow will sleep inside the little barn tonight. We may have to put the horses up too. We'll see. Here is a picture of me and the little girls today.
Jessie named the little goat Miracle. I think she will be bunking with Colonel in his stall tonight. This should be fun. Gotta go milk the ice cream machine.
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