Always Something Happening on the Farm!

Look who arrived! The first little heifer for this year. Busters first calf! :) She is so sweet!

Little Josie.. :)

Bonding time :)

Josie sneeks outside the fence for a quick snooze, while all her seven "mothers" keep a close eye on her.

The fun part is when you get to help with the bottle feeding! :)

We recently had to put a ring in Buster's nose. Jersey bulls are known to be the meanest out of all cattle breeds and he was already starting to get a little ornery. The chain prevents him from charging, cause he would just end up stepping on it. He has mellowed down a lot and still loves his back scratches! :) 

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The hens are laying really well. We get around 25 dozen a day, which keeps us busy sorting and boxing eggs. 

Milker Down & A Busy Week

Hello Everyone,
So, a lot of things have happened in the past week. First of all I would like to explain a little why I haven't been posting much. I have battled migraine headaches for years. Lately I have been having them quite often and since I lose my vision when I get them it leaves my eyes very tired. I hadn't really connected it with my vision, since for the main part I see very well, other then  when working on the computer, reading books my vision is always very shaky and makes my eyes tired. So I went into the eye doctor and she tested both eyes and they were both perfect. No problem there. Any way through different tests she figured out that my eyes do not focus on the same object. Anything close up I have to work very hard to get them to focus on the same thing. She asked me if I had ever banged my head really hard when I was little. Well, there was once when I was little that I stupidly crawled under a trampoline that had boys jumping on it to retrieve a shoe. My left eye got smashed in between a rock and someone jumping, leaving my eye bright purple and swelled shut for a few days. That and another fall that I had taken a blow to the back of the head lead her to believing that I needed cranial adjustments. I went to our family chiropractor and he readjusted me. So, to make a long story short, I am now doing exercises to strengthen my vision and with more visits to the chiropractor I am excited to say that I will hopefully be able to start blogging more for you all. Yeah!! It is so nice to finally be getting on top of things.



I have another quick story to tell you before getting on with my post. Jubilee recently fell off of one of our high bar stools. She was standing up and fell off backwards hitting the back of her head on the tile floor. Ever since then she has been waking up numerous times during the night and was nothing by a grumpy mess. Mom decided to have Doctor Roberts, our chiropractor, examine her the same time I went in. He found a bone that was out of place in the back of her head. He put her all back to rights and now she is the happiest person ever. She wakes up from her naps with a smile on her face, sleeps straight through the night and plays happily all day. It has made such a difference and we are so thankful to the Lord that she is back to normal. :)  

Ok, back to my post. Our last tow cows have had their calves and a few days ago our milker stopped working, leaving us with 6 cows to milk by hand. With each cow milking around 3 gallons morning and evening it got to be a big job. We had to order a part which took three days to come in.

Oh, did I forget to mention that Joel came down for a week to see Joanna? We went hiking one day in the Chiricahuas and did a few other things. It was fun having him around! :) 

We put him right to work! ;)

It was almost milking time when the UPS delivered the part. We were all literally dancing up an down we were so happy! I don't think we were the only ones happy about that one. I think the cows were glad as well! :)

Justin moved out, but still comes by morning and evening for breakfast, his packed lunch and supper.

The wedding is coming up fast! Five more days and we fly to PA! We are getting so excited! :)

Well, that's all for now. I'll try to get caught up on blogging when I get back from PA.

You all have a great week and I'll talk to you all later!

Our Calves Have Arrived

We were all very anxiously awaiting the time that our cows would be calving. The day finally came and we welcomed this wet, slimy little guy into the world. 

Marigold got to work and he was soon all dry and warm.

"Walking is harder then it looks buddy!"

We made sure he got his belly full of warm bubbly milk and he was off to a good start.

So Buster, as Jesse named him, was our first addition to our little dairy farm.

We had to separate him from his Mom, which was kinda hard to do, but it works better for everyone that way. At least he don't have to miss out on his mothers milk! :)

There was two more to come a few days later. Two little heifers, which we named Buttercup and Missy.

A few days later after that, little Butterfly was born. Dad wanted a bull to raise for the herd and then we were hoping the rest would be females. So far it's looking good! :) We have two more cows that are due in March. Hopefully they will be heifers as well! *crossing fingers*

Here's Poppy overseeing everything that's going on. It's funny, she is so crazy about the calves. In fact she loves them. We caught her the other day in the calf pen sleeping up against one of them. :)

As of now our old chicken pen became the calf pen. Since we are moving we didn't want to bother with putting anything up for them. This worked out great!

We filled the coop with hay and they sleep in there at night!

Since the last 4 cows have freshened we are getting an average of 5-6 gallons of milk from each cow a day. I'll let you do the math.. Yes, that's a lot of milk! We are still working to getting legalized. In the mean time we are giving milk away, with a suggested donation. The customer base keeps growing. Jenny and Micah are raising their pigs on the left overs, so none gets wasted. Let us know if you need any milk! :)

October Happenings

Happy belated birthday to Joanna! She is such an amazing person and we love her very much! May God lead and guide you through the coming year! Have fun being 17! ;)

The month of October was a big month for us. Not only was it busy but it brought a lot of change for our family. The first thing to announce is that we are moving! Yes, we are moving once again. Not far, just 35 minutes down the road from us. We are all so excited!  It is a big house, 6 bedroom, 4 bath, and has a big barn on it that we are going to start a raw milk dairy in. We have been wanting to start a dairy, but it wasn't going to work out here where we are living now. . We won't be moving till the end of January, but in the mean time we are staying busy getting everything ready to be moved. November and December are our biggest months for dogs, so I quit my job awhile to stay home and help with the dogs that we have. Come January 1st we will be stopping Pet Care 4 U.

Hopefully now that I am home more I can post more for you all, but no promises with the move an all. I'll try to keep you posted of what's happening.

I know these posts are getting pretty common, but it is an easy way for me to get caught up when I am behind.
Enjoy!

Is everyone enjoying these cold fall days? These two cuties are! :)

We had our first frost a few days ago, so that meant the sweet potatoes had to come out of the ground.

We were really surprised by how many we got and how big they were!

The largest sweet potato weighed 7 1/2 pounds! Now that's a big potato!

Jubilee taking a rest in the sweet potato vines. :)

We also got lots of pumpkins and that can only mean one thing....

...fresh pumpkin pies!! There is nothing like Mom's homemade pumpkin pie!! So delicious! 

Jubilee is growing up way to fast. She has become such a little chatter box. 

Mom and Joanna took Jubilee to town with them and on the way home Jubilee was looking out the window and said, "Look, it's a snow man!" Holding her arms out she said, "He is holding his arms out like this." :) 

Then the other day she handed her sketch memo to Joanna and said, "I drew a spider." Surprisingly it looked like a spider!!  This girl is just too smart! :)

We got a mama cat with 5 kittens from some friends and when we were bringing them home the mother cat got out and disappeared leaving us with 5 babies to bottle feed.  Jubilee and Micah adore them, so that makes it worth all the work! :)

Kyle is growing so fast. His cousins love playing with him! :)

We now have 6 Jerseys, but 5 of them are taking a rest from milking, as they will be calving in December. So we are currently milking only 1. Having baby calves will be a lot of fun! .

Eating the fresh alfalfa that Dad grew in our garden this year.

Well, that's all for now. Hope you all have a great week! :)

September Happenings

Good afternoon to all my amazing followers!
Hope this finds you all doing well? I apologize for the delay in posting! I am happy to announce that my camera is back in working order!!! Yeah!! I was kinda bummed cause I thought I was going to have to buy a whole new camera, but thankfully I looked into it and thanks to the internet I found out the problem. My lens was completely done for. I clipped on a different lens and it works like a pro. Problem solved!! So glad to find out my camera wasn't the problem! :)

So wow, I am like so far behind in everything. It's like trying to write an entry in your journal about something that happened two weeks ago. Your mind isn't as fresh on all the little details and it ends up just being... well, blah! I will try to keep this post from getting "blah" for you all! I have a lot of random pictures, so enjoy!!

I am off work the rest of the week because of the Cochise County Fair. The boys I watch are in 4-H and are taking their animals. Our adopted Grandpa passed away and they are having an estate sale for all his and Grandma's things. We are going to make an effort to go there tomorrow, so that means no entering anything in the fair for us this year. In a way it is sad, but if the Lord tarries there will always be another year. :) I think the trip to NM will be fun as a family. It will also be sad as it brings back all the memories that we had with the Mosers. All the amazing Christmas days we spent with them. Waking up early in the morning, the woodstove heating the room, delicious smells coming from the kitchen,  breakfast spread on the table, devotions before the meal, Grandpa sticking his finger in a roll as it went past to make sure we knew it was his, gifts around the Christmas tree, exciting time as everyone opens their gifts, Christmas program for Grandpa and Grandma, out to play on the big tree swing, working in the wood shop with Grandpa while the snow is falling, helping Grandma make Christmas dinner, and the memories could go on for ever.

 Grandma passed on a few years ago, and I know Grandpa was ready to go meet her. We will miss them always!! 

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We had a hurricane come up from the coast of Mexico. It passed us, leaving us just on the edge of it. We got a lot of rain!! We got over 3 inches of rain, and have been getting a lot here and there since. Someone told Dad, that when it keeps raining into the fall like this, the Monsoons don't know when to stop. Our rainy season is usually about over by now, but this year it is still raining a lot. We are really enjoying it!! It has been awesome for the garden! 

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Joanna recently bought a AKC Miniture Dachshund Puppy. There is a big demand for the puppies, so she is planning to make a little business out of it. It will be a while till Poppy can have puppies, in the meantime we are enjoying having a puppy around. 

Jubilee adores her and drags her into everything she does.

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Our friend Meda recently got married to a guy from Holland. 

Joanna and I helped set up before the wedding. It was a lot of work, but it was fun helping!

It was a beautiful day for a wedding. I am so happy for them and wish them the best!!

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Our little Golden Rule Dairy has grown to six cows. I am going to make another post on it with more details, so I won't say anything more about it for now.

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Justin and I both had to see a dentist last Thursday, so we made a day out of it. Juliana and Kaitlyn were staying with us, so we took them along. We did a lot of shopping afterwards and one of the places we went was Best Buy. We changed all the computers to www.themessage.com home page. We thought it was pretty cool! :)

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The distance may be great between us, but we never forget about our Canadian family in Canada. Jessica keeps us updated with lots of pictures of our sweet little Kezia. She is growing up into quite the little girl! :)

Such a princess!

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Dad brought home a bunch of pears from a place where they were working.

Pears are always a treat!!

We canned 52 quart!!

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Mom recently bought a brand new batch of Buff Orpington chickens. We have customers ask us if we sell eggs a lot and our old flock just wasn't keeping up. Dad, Micah and I built a portable chicken pen for them. 

We are able to drag it around the field with the riding lawn mower.

We have an extra tarp that goes over the top for more shade and shelter.

Micah came up with this really nifty chicken feeder. It works great and you don't waste any feed this way!

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Time to dig lots and lots of potatoes!

We piled them up and covered them with wood chips last year and they kept really well. We did the same with them this year.

Joshua gathering the chips.

All finished!! :) We will have enough potatoes to last us till next year.

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Curly had a batch of 10 babies. She would've had 13 but three didn't make it.

Out in the sun playing with their half sisters.

Two weeks later and they are already getting big.

Granny is due next.... yeah!! Piglets are so much fun!

This is Captain. The Daddy of all the piglets. I don't think I got a picture of him on here yet.

Talk about spoiled. These pigs love attention! LOL

Poppy meeting the pigs for the first time.

Well, enough pictures of pigs!!

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I had someone inquire about how we keep the flies down with all the pigs around. Well, my Dad made three 55 gallon drum fly traps that work amazing!! You put four entries into the barrel with pipe that points to the bottom inside. I didn't take pictures of this, cause it is pretty disgusting in there! 

You then cut a square in the top and glue a piece of plexiglass or something clear so the light can come through. The flies will go to the top towards the light, later will die and fall to the bottom. We hang rotten meat in the middle and then sour milk in the bottom. Anything that smells really bad works great. The smell is strong enough to draw flies, but isn't strong enough to make it smell bad around the outside of the barrels. We have trapped millions of flies in these traps. We still have flies around, but not near as bad as before.

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Well that's all for today! Hope you enjoyed it! :) Now that I have my camera working again, I will try to be better at getting things posted on here.

Have a great day!!