Friday, November 3, 2006 - Come Visit |
Just wanted to pop in and say hello to all my friends here. I started
posting more to my "family" blog and shamefully neglecting this one.
Come on over and say hello if you get a chance. We're having a busy
fall between taking care of our animals and having school each day.
Here's where you can find me: Amey's Blog
Blessings!
Amey
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Monday, September 4, 2006 - Great News! |
It didn't take as long as I thought it might to find our miniature
jersey cow. We bought one and just got "Ruby" home Saturday evening.
She is 7 months old, and is a little bit larger than we had
anticipated. We think that she will be more of a "mid-sized miniature"
than a true miniature. This is our first cow ever, and we are excited
to have her. The trip to pick up Ruby will definitely go down in the
annals of family history (200 miles each way in a 37-year-old truck). I
won't go into details here, but I'll just say that we are glad to be
home. This picture was taken by Ruby's original owner just a few days
after she was born. Aren't newborn jerseys the most beautiful animals?
Check out these eyelashes.
School starts tomorrow, and oh boy am I not ready. Time to sort out books and clear off the big desk and the tables!
Blessings!
Amey
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Wednesday, August 16, 2006 - 12 Ways to Make a Mess with Watermelon |
Watermelon
is such a versatile food. There is virtually no end to the number of
ways you can make a mess with it. Here are a few from our family (not
an exhaustive list, I'm sure):
- Cut it up on any surface
- Eat it over a plate
- Eat it over a table
- Eat it over the floor
- Squeeze the melon over your cup to make watermelon juice
- Save the seeds, wash them in the bathroom sink, and leave them out to dry on the bathroom counter
- Touch something after eating watermelon before washing your hands
- Put your coloring paper on the table after eating watermelon but before the table has been wiped
- Feed your chickens watermelon rinds (at least this is an outside mess)
- Put your just-bought/picked melon on the counter or table before washing it (how clean is that dirt?)
- Drop your seeds (accidentally, of course) on the floor
- Miss the trash can
Care to add to my list? I love the summer, but I think that once fall gets here, things will not be nearly so...sticky.
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Tuesday, August 8, 2006 - Cross-stitch Pattern (Free!) and Genetically Modified Foods to Avoid |
I've been wanting to start a creative project for a while now. I don't
usually make time in my schedule for this kind of thing, but I just
decided I'd better jump in and try one. Hopefully my schedule will
allow for me to work on it once in a while. I found a great free
cross-stitch pattern to try. It's a little more difficult than I
thought it would be, but I guess that just means it will take me longer
to do it. If you like to cross-stitch, check out the kits at Scarlet Quince. They are amazing! They have made patterns from art masterpieces. Here's a picture of the free pattern they offer (Rosa centifolia Anglica rubra - Pierre-Joseph Redoute) :
Another helpful link I found today has a
list of what to look for in the grocery store if you are trying to
avoid genetically modified food. It's at a site called "True Food Now!" How appropriately named.
Blessings!
Amey
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Wednesday, August 2, 2006 - Something Unusual |
We’re on break from school for the next month! Actually, we still have
a few chapters to read together, but that’s it. On to 2nd grade for kid
number 1. And on to kindergarten for kid number 2.
On our summer
hiatus, I have decided that I will clean the kitchen. It was a decision
I made reluctantly, as I would rather spend my vacation reading on the
couch in the breeze of the fan while licking a fudgesicle.
But it was hard to avoid the looks I would get (not naming any names
here) when a (glass) glass would fall out of the cupboard when opened
(due to lack of space). Also, it was getting increasingly difficult to
close the cooking utensils drawer on the first try. It had to be
rearranged every time the drawer needed to be closed. Something had to be done.
So for the last week I have been taking things out of the kitchen, cleaning, and then putting only needed items back into the kitchen. So far this is working out well, except that now I have a school table full of unneeded
things that will have to be put somewhere sometime. And I’m only maybe
a quarter of the way finished. But my hope is that by the time I am
finished, no one will be injured by falling objects with the simple act
of opening a cupboard door.
I’m writing about this because it is
a significant thing in my life. Every one else I know has spotless
kitchens. They wouldn’t blog about cleaning the kitchen. I would like
to be able to keep things tidier and better organized than I do,
but…well, just to give you an example, last winter as I was getting
ready to mop the kitchen floor, my then 2-year-old daughter points at
the mop and asks, "What’s that, Mommy?" I guess I really should clean
the floor more often than I do.
My guess is, by the end of August, I’ll be more than ready to start school again.
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Friday, July 28, 2006 - Mystery at Circle Z |
We spent a day at the fair last week. When we came back, there was an extraneous
guinea perched on our backyard fence. It fit in with our other four
guineas right away, even though it was obviously older than ours. There
was the initial new-kid-on-the-block pecking, but they settled down
rather quickly. How do you all of a sudden acquire a guinea without
even trying? As far as I know, we have no neighbors with guineas (at
least we have never heard them).
That night we found, upon counting the chickens when it was time to pen
them up for the night, one plymouth rock hen missing. This is highly
unusual as the hens are creatures of habit, and they always get in
their pen for the night. Especially when tempted by that tasty treat
known as scratch grains. We feared that someone's dog had
misappropriated our hen, and the neighbor, not wanting to admit his
dog's crime, simply left a guinea to replace the hen.
But ah, the plot thickens. Two days later in the morning at
"breakfast", here comes little Miss Missing Hen. We have no roosters,
but is it possible that this hen is brooding somewhere unbeknownst
to us? Thinking (mistakably) that she will soon have a passel of
chicks? Since this bird's reappearance, she has disappeared and
reappeared several more times. We try to watch at feeding time to see
where she is coming from, but haven't been able to catch her yet.
Where is our hen carousing? Where did that guinea come from? Caring for free-range poultry is never boring. 
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Thursday, July 20, 2006 - Book Review: Writings of a Deliberate Agrarian |
I just finished reading my new book, Writings of a Deliberate Agrarian: One Man's Ruminations About Faith, Family, and Livin' The Good Life,
by Herrick Kimball. It's strange for me to think that most of modern
society would skim through this book and say "...huh?" People today
don't understand about "The Good Life". What Mr. Kimball wrote in his
book resonated with me, though.
It was fun reading about everday life for Mr. Kimball and his family,
and why they do things the way they do. I liked the quotes that finish
off each chapter. And I especially enjoyed reading about Marlene (Mrs.
Kimball) ripping off a chicken head with her bare hands while her men
cheered her on. Hey, what can I say, I can relate.
Mr. Kimball's philosophizing in this book made sense, and wasn't so
deep and lengthy that he lost my attention. Not too big, not too small,
but just right (I thought). And even though this is a very manly book, ladies will enjoy reading it too.
I'm thrilled to have this book on my bookshelf. I hope you all get a chance to read it too.
Blessings!
Amey
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Thursday, July 20, 2006 - Romance Down on the Farm |
You'll never guess what Daisy and I found in the barn when I went out
to milk her this morning. My husband had piled clover into Daisy's food
bin that's attached to the milking stanchion. And he made a little
flower arrangement out of all of those little purple clover flowers.
The flowers were all sticking up out of the bin, and they looked just
beautiful. *sigh* Flowers for me and my goat. How romantic. I wish I could show you a picture, but the milking couldn't be delayed.
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Sunday, July 16, 2006 - Animals, Part 6 (Don't worry, this is the last one) |
I’m going to wind down my series on why we own animals. I don’t have
much more to share about why we raise animals, except for one thing.
This is difficult to put into words, but I will try.
In the Bible, caring for the land and animals was a blessing in the
Garden of Eden. After the fall, it became a curse because of all the
hard work (thorns, death, and all that stuff). But God still blessed
this hard work caring for the land - when the worker’s heart was
right with God. Remember Cain and Abel? Cain cared for a garden and
Abel cared for animals. Both did hard work to bring their offering to
God. Only one made their offering with a right attitude.
Combined with a right attitude, tending to farm animals (as well as
gardening) is a spiritual act. It is something that brings the
spiritual into the physical realm. God is not a gnostic. We are
partnering with God to do such things as: bring forth life, bring
sustenance to our families, and working hard to care for his creation
(our children, the earth, and the animals in it). It is the kind of
hard work that is fulfilling physically and spiritually.
I hope you have enjoyed this series of blog posts on raising animals.
What it has not been, is a reason why everyone should raise animals.
I’m not saying that. I’m not saying that people who don’t raise animals
or have a garden are not serious about their health, their children, or
God. These are just the reasons why we do raise animals. What I haven’t
quite figured out yet, is how people who raise animals and homeschool
and cook from scratch avoid burnout. Feel free to leave advice here.
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Friday, July 14, 2006 - Animals, Part 5 |
This is the fifth installment in my
series on why we raise animals. If you want to start from the
beginning, scroll down until you find "Part 1".
Here’s a rather obvious reason for raising livestock: self-sufficiency.
Less dependence on “the system” to provide your family’s food. Being
able to do it yourself without relying on companies that you know
nothing about (How organic are they? What conditions do they raise
their animals in? etc.) Less dependence on your finances. Less
dependence on your vehicle. Less dependence on the gas your vehicle
guzzles. (Side note: we don’t use our vehicles any less than we did
before we got our animals, but I think we have more freedom to use them
less if we wanted to.)
There’s something else that I think is probably at the back of
everyone’s minds these days: these are very uncertain times we live in.
There are many ways in which our lives could change that would
necessitate becoming more self-sufficient, including but not limited
to: bird flu, unemployment, electromagnetic pulse power outages,
natural disasters, political unrest, increasing fuel prices causing
unmanageable inflation, and nuclear war. Have I missed anything? I
probably have. What would happen if we no longer had access to a fully
stocked supermarket? That would be a huge transition for any of us,
whether you have livestock or not. But for those with animals, the
transition would not be quite so life-threatening. Caring for animals
(and/or having a garden) is excellent disaster insurance.
Not only that, but it is also a sign that you are serious about
providing for your family no matter what difficulties may come your
way. You aren’t looking to others or to the government to bail you out
when the going gets rough. This is not to say that not having animals
or a garden means you are not serious about providing for your family.
Not at all. But if you do want to be serious about providing, this is a
good way to do it!
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Tuesday, July 11, 2006 - Why We Raise So Many Animals, Part 4 |
It’s probably no surprise to you, but raising livestock is work. We knew that when we started out, and now we really
know it. The good thing about this work is that it is a family work. There
are chores involved with raising livestock that even small children can
do. When my children give Daisy fresh “hand-picked” clover to eat while
I’m milking her, they are participating in the production of the actual
milk they drink. This is a family work that is very worthwhile for both
children and parents. We have not fully utilized this benefit yet (but
do I ever have plans!), but
it is worth thinking about and deliberately contriving a place where
children and parents can work alongside one another and receive such
tangible "fruits of your labor". There is a bonding that takes place in
a setting like that which you can’t get in any other way, I think.
Here’s
another benefit to children who grow up in a family that raises
livestock: homeschool science. Whether you homeschool or not, biology
takes on a whole new meaning when you are eviscerating home-grown
chickens and your children watch your every move, asking “What’s that,
Mommy? Oooooo….what’s that?”, every time you pull something out of the
bird. You get the lesson and the “experiment” all in one. And dinner
too. Haha. Seriously, though, learning about animals in books and
learning about them in real life is just not the same. Raising animals
is a great learning experience (for all of us).
One last benefit
for children in raising livestock is so that they’ll have good stories
to tell when they grow up. They can tell their children how they had to
get up early in the morning every day to milk the goats (and cow?) and
do their chores. Since we are
homeschooling, they won’t have the option of telling their kids that
they walked 10 miles to school every day uphill, in the snow, and
barefoot. But this will be a good substitute. No doubt there will be
many more stories my kids will be able to tell to their children
someday. There’s a lot of story material around here. Some more violent
than others. Like watching the dog chase the ducks around the pond and
actually catching one. You know, stuff like that. I can’t wait to hear
what they come up with.
No doubt there are more benefits that having animals is blessing my children with. I just can’t think of more right now.
Next time: self-sufficiency.
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Monday, July 10, 2006 - Why We Raise So Many Animals, Part 3 |
Here’s something that is getting lost in today’s "Wal-Mart-World": the
connection between the animal and the mouth. Let me clarify this. Ask
any 3-year-old where his food comes from. Does milk come from a cow (or
goat!), or does it come already jugged from the refrigerator case at
the grocery store? Are chicken legs an actual chicken’s legs, or do
they just come vacuum packed from the meat case? How do this milk and
these chicken legs get from the animals to our mouths? In the case of
meat, an animal must be slaughtered.
I know that seems like
common sense, but the way we buy our meat nowadays - is this a
connection that we make every time we pick up a package of meat at the
store? Blood has literally been shed so that we could eat our dinner.
Gross, but it is reality. Blood shed so that we can be sustained….I
suspect that this physical aspect of our lives has a spiritual
application. I think that when we get so far removed from the origins
of our food, it is a sort of sanitizing that bit by bit removes our
empathy from the reality of the cross.
I realize that sounds a little extreme, but consider this: what was the
purpose in God giving us meat to eat? After the flood, God was
preparing to establish His covenant with Noah to never flood the earth
again. God said
“Everything that lives and moves will be
food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you
everything. But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in
it.“ (Genesis 9:3-4)
So the blood had to be completely
drained from the animal before it was consumed. My thoughts are that
perhaps God gave us meat to eat as a metaphor for the life sustaining
power of Jesus’ blood, shed so that we might live. I don’t know if this
“theory” of mine can be proven through scripture, but doesn’t it sound
like something God would do?
I’m not saying that we should
preside over each and every butchering for every bite of meat we ever
eat, but what I am saying is this: there is value in being closer to the point of food production than the sanitized, blood-free supermarket.
Next time I will talk about the benefits for children when their family raises livestock.
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Sunday, July 9, 2006 - Why We Raise So Many Animals, Part 2 |
Well, here I am with part 2 of my series on why we have so many farm animals.
There
are many reasons for raising your own food. The most important reason,
in our opinion, is that you know exactly what you are getting, which is
not the case when you buy from the store. Even the basics (milk, eggs,
bread, meat) are not always exactly what you think you’re getting. When
you raise your own, this is not an issue. You know what you feed them,
and you know the way your animals have been treated. In our case, we
try to raise our animals as much on grass as we possibly can (except
the dog and cats, of course). Research has shown that grass-fed animals
give the most nutritious meat, eggs, and milk. So there are health
benefits in doing it yourself. This is the main reason we started
getting all of these animals. Websites we found helpful in researching
nutritional issues are Dr. Mercola’s Blog, and The Weston Price Foundation.
Here are just a few ways that home-grown, grass-fed animal foods are more healthful than store-bought varieties:
- Raw milk is much more healthful than pasteurized (cooked) milk.
- No antibiotics, chemicals or growth hormones are added to home-grown meat.
Some
of these foods can be bought (for a high price) in health food stores,
but some cannot. For example, it is actually illegal to sell raw milk
in our state. We believe that raw milk is so important that we have our
own dairy goats. Also, it is impossible to know for sure if what a
store’s products’ labels say are true. Many companies which claim to be
“organic” are not necessarily as organic as they should be.
Next time I will talk about another reason we “do farm stuff”: the animal-food connection.
Blessings!
Amey
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Friday, July 7, 2006 - Why We Raise Animals, Part 1 |
We now possess 3 goats, 1 lamb, 7 hens, 12 chicks (future hens), 4
guineas, 4 pekin ducklings, 13 muscovy ducklings, 3 turkeys, 1 dog, and 2 cats.
It’s great fun having all of these animals around. I enjoy my time
doing chores in the morning,
even though they take more of my time than I would like. The important
thing is that we have fresh milk and fresh eggs every day. This fall we
will have home-grown lamb chops, and this summer we will enjoy the
outdoors in the evenings with hopefully fewer mosquitoes pestering us
as we walk around the pond. Live is really good.
Some people see
this little experiment in home-grown food raising as a lot of work for
something that you could get for $2.50/gallon (or whatever milk costs
nowadays - I wouldn’t know), or a dollar a dozen (for eggs) at Super
Wal-Mart. I’ll go out on a limb and say that cost is highly irrelevant
to the food we eat. Not completely irrelevant, because obviously we
cannot spend 100% of our income on food, just highly irrelevant to a
reasonable extent. There is a value beyond cost in raising your own
food. This applies to gardening as well, naturally; however, we were
unable to have a garden this year, so that is why I am talking about
animals.
I'm starting a little series here on my blog about why we are doing this farm stuff. I hope you enjoy it. More to come...
Blessings!
Amey
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Wednesday, July 5, 2006 - Ten on Tuesday on Wednesday |
Ten of my favorite movies:
- Anne of Green Gables
- Anne of Avonlea
- Little Women (Wynona Ryder)
- Batman (the original, with Burt Ward and Adam West)
- The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (Don Knotts)
- The Reluctant Astronaut (also Don Knotts)
- Muppet Treasure Island
- Swiss Family Robinson
- The Blue and the Gray
- Sound of Music
Next question: When was the last time I actually watched one of these? Uhh...it's been a while.
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Wednesday, June 28, 2006 - Our Muscovys Are Here |
Our hatchery informed us last month that due to a problem with their
incubators, they would not be able to sell us any muscovy ducklings as
we had hoped. This was very disappointing news because muscovy ducks
eat mosquitos. Or so we have been told.
Today my husband picked up our recently "processed" meat chickens from
an Amish family in the community (yay! I sure am tired of beef! We had
run out of chicken). Their boys had a sign out front: Ducks For Sale.
Not only were they muscovy ducklings (about 6 weeks old), but we got
them for a good price. All 13 of them. They are out in our back yard
now along with our Pekins and a few guineas.
I'm dreaming of a tick-free (thank you, guineas) and mosquito-free
(thank you, muscovys) back yard. Will my dream become reality? I'll
keep you updated...
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Wednesday, June 28, 2006 - Berries R Us |
Cherries, black raspberries, blueberries, strawberries - they're all
now in my freezer. That's where I've been for the last week - taking
berries from the kitchen to the freezer and then back again to put them
in freezer bags. Besides that, we've had ball games (the season's now
over) and school, as well as the usual outdoor chores. I know everyone
is busy, but I'm saying that I'm REALLY busy. Even busier than busy.
Daisy the Wonder Goat is not giving us as much milk as she was a month
ago. Before you know it, it will be time to be thinking about working
towards more little goat babies. We had to get cow milk this week for
the first time in months.
Speaking of milk, here's something that makes me laugh: my 3-year-old
daughter asking specifically for goat milk or cow milk, depending on
her whims. What a hoot! Most kids her age think milk comes from the
refrigerator at Super Wal-Mart. 
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Monday, June 19, 2006 - Julie's Organic Ice Cream |
I just had some great ice cream this weekend, called Julie's Organic!
This was the first time I had ever tried it. I found it at Whole Foods
in a pint-sized container. I think it was $2.99. Not cheap, but when
you don't get treats like this very often, it's not too big of a deal.
 I
got chocolate, of course. It is sweetened with organic evaporated cane
juice. It is my understanding that this is not quite as good for you as
something like Sucanat or Rapadura, but the next best thing after that
(in the sugar cane department, anyway). Two thumbs up! Yum yum. By the
way, isn't that a lovely logo?
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Saturday, June 17, 2006 - Reflections on Daisy the Wonder Goat |
So we've had our...goat for 5 months now. (Side note: why do I trip
over using the plain word "goat"? I guess because goats have a reputation
and now that I have come to personally know our goats, it seems silly
to just call them "goats". They're really so much better than plain old
"goats". That's why I refer to Daisy as the Wonder Goat, I guess.)
Whenever something is new, such as the first week of owning a...goat,
there is obviously a lot of excitement in the household. Even the work
involved is fun and new. I could see the look in the eyes of family and
friends when we excitedly told them about our new livestock venture
last January. "The look" said (not audibly, of course), "Sure, it's
great fun now, but just you wait. It'll get old soon and you'll hate
the work, especially in bad weather." They seem to think we had never
considered that.
Well, it's been five months now, and let me just say, I still love my
goats (Daisy gave us Rose, Iris, and "Billy" soon after we bought her).
It is hard work at times, but it's the kind of hard work that gives
very rewarding and immediate tangible benefits. Namely, raw goat's milk
for my children to drink fresh, and for my husband and I to drink as
kefir. The work is really worth it, even though I am at times
exhausted. And that seems to be the story for all our "homesteading"
endeavors: it's hard work, but it's worth it.
Right now our plans are to keep breeding at least one or two dairy
goats a year, and then possibly adding a miniature jersey milk cow to
our livestock menagerie at some point to give us the milk we'd need for
our family's cream needs (butter, cream cheese, sour cream, etc.).
Thank you, Lord, for Daisy.
Blessings!
Amey
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Wednesday, June 14, 2006 - See if you interpret this as I do, a la (the original) Batman |
OK, Robin, here are the facts. See if you interpret this as I do. Within one afternoon:
- Our drinking water tasted terrible, so we had to dump it all out
(9 gallons), rinse the jugs, take them back and refill them (we get our
water from the reverse osmosis machine at the store).
- One of our children stopped up the sink in the kids' bathroom,
ran the water, and flooded the bathroom floor with about an inch of
water, also soaking the cabinet the sink is in and the carpet in the
adjoining hallway.
- The faucet in the kitchen sink broke, rendering it unusable until my husband was able to install a new faucet last night.
Yes, Robin. God is obviously trying to tell us something about water... the only possible explanation must be: He wants us to get a house on the beach. Yes? 
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About Me
I'm a midwestern gal, living my dream life on 7 acres in the country. I love Jesus, my husband, three children, Daisy the Wonder Goat, and our chickens. I'd still love to someday have a miniature jersey milk cow.
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