Dead Stock

An old farmer once told us that "where there is livestock, there will be dead stock".  We've had our share of casualties here.  Any farm will.  Last year we had a weasel get in and claim three hens.  We had some mean old roosters kill one hen named "Julie" and two were lost to dogs.  We had our bottle lamb "Baby" die two days after we got her.  We're pretty sure Sugar the sheep got too rough playing with Baby.  Right now we've got chicken issues.  I had a rooster with frozen feet here about a week ago and brought him inside, but I noticed gang green in his one foot so I put him down yesterday.  Last week I went out to the chicken coop to find a hen dead.  It was hard to tell the cause of death because, in my experience, once a chicken is dead laying in the coop the other chickens peck the dickens right out of it.  Two days later I walked in to find that same scene all over again.  And just five minutes ago I went out to the coop and found three more dead hens.  I'm ticked!  I'm puzzled too.  I need to find the cause of this and put an end to it fast.  I was concerned that maybe with the cold weather they weren't getting enough to eat, but I increased the amount of feed they were getting and they don't act like they are starving.  All of them look healthy and none had shown any signs of being otherwise.  It could be a water problem, perhaps, because I am having a tough time keeping the waterers from freezing up.  I'm going to change out their water more frequently.  It could be the cold, I guess, this is a colder than average winter so far, but last winter we had a few nights that were consistently below zero and even I think fourteen below with windchill, and I had no casualties last winter.  The other thing is that the two breeds of hens I've got out there are supposed to be well adapted to cold climates.  I think the other possibility could be rats.  We've got rats running around in those barns, and I know they would kill chicks and eat them, but I don't know whether or not they would eat nearly full grown hens.  I'm a little perplexed.  I applied some more rat poison to various locations around the place (no place that chickens have access) and am going to be much more frequent in my trips to the coop other than a time or two a day.  I am NOT a happy camper about this.  We will never have eggs if all of the hens die this winter.  UGH!!!

Another Great Christmas

Let me start this post by asking one little question: Is that the cutest freakin' baby you've ever seen? Or what?  I think I know the answer to that one.

Well, I think we successfully navigated the Christmas gauntlet around here with no casualties.  Becky tells me that Tate told her that this was "the best Christmas EVER!!!" for the second year in a row.  That's good to hear.  We bounced from get together to get together and enjoyed every second of it.  All of the food and family was great.  We made Christmas cookies with the kids on Wednesday this week and it's fun to do with all of them here.

We ended up with ninety cookies and man were they delicious!!!!  It was getting late and we put the kids to bed and then Becky frosted them and I tested a few to make sure they weren't poisonous or anything.  I wouldn't want anyone to get sick so I sacrificed my own safety to be sure that those cookies were safe for all. 

I got several books for Christmas that I'm very excited about!  First, Becky got me the latest book by Joel Salatin entitled "The Sheer Ecstasy of Being a Lunatic Farmer".  I absolutely love the title and can't wait to dive into it head first.  He is always funny and always has a lot to teach about farming in his books.  My mom got me a book by author Tim Lahaye called "Revelation Unveiled".  It's a book designed to study the book of Revelation.  It goes through section by section of Revelation and deciphers the symbolism and takes a look at the prophecies that are made and goes into great detail about it all.  Then thirdly my grandma got me a book called "Country Wisdom and Know-How".  I've literally been stalking this book for like a year at Border's.  It is chocked full of info.  It covers everything from gardening, to cheese and soap making, to skinning animals and has recipes for 'coon, 'possum and woodchuck too!  It seems to cover just about anything you could want to know about good ol' country living.  I can't wait for a minute to spend one on one with this treasure trove of information, though I don't think we'll be having 'possum pie in this house anytime soon.  Good night and I hope everyone had a great and merry Christmas!!!!



Santa Clause is Coming To Town

 Well we just got kids to bed and the coffee is brewing.  It's time to wrap EVERYTHING!!!!! Pray for for us people it's 11PM.

Evangelism Linebacker

Get out there and let people know that Jesus is the reason for the season!!! Merry CHRISTmas!!!

I Went for a Walk

I went for a walk today.  Well, it didn't start out as just a walk.  I went out the door with hopes of catching some Steelhead Trout today, but no such luck.  Becky and mom were going shopping today so it  provided the perfect opportunity to relax down by the river for a few hours.  At about nine this morning we were loaded up and ready to go and I dropped Becky and Micaiah off at mom and dad's and then headed for the river.  I parked my truck and donned my chest waders, hat, gloves and blaze orange vest (today is extended deer season here and I didn't feel like getting shot) and then carefully made my way down to the river.  It was about fifteen degrees, but quite honestly it didn't feel too bad in the sunshine.  I fished for probably an hour until I got snagged and broke my line off.  I took some pictures while I was down there and man was it peaceful.  Before I headed back to the truck I decided to follow some of the deer tracks that were down there.  I let my mind wander and tried to imagine where that deer was going.  What was she up to?  Was she just looking for some food under the snow that blanketed the ground?  Was she headed to bed down for the day?  After following the trail for a little while I'm not sure where she was going, but she was definitely searching for food.  She had uncovered some clumps of grass to nibble on.  She had also totally messed up this one area and all of the leaves were on top.  It took me a minute to figure out what she was doing, but then I realized that all of the commotion took place under a few big oak trees.  She must've remembered those trees and the acorns that were buried under the snow.  After she left the oaks she headed over onto a sandbar in the middle of the river.  I followed her trail through there and she nibbled on the ends of some small scrubby trees.  I followed her until her trail crossed the river completely and off to the other side.  It was actually a lot of fun.  How do I know it was a "she"?  Well, the thing that made it obvious, other than that her prints weren't that big, was that every time she urinated the spot of urine was in one spot directly between her two back feet.  Female deer almost always stop and squat to pee, whereas males will often do it on the run and it's all over the place.  I just recently read an article about tracking deer and that was one thing that I remembered.  So in the end I came home with nothing but a few pictures.  No deer, no fish, but I got some good exercise, cleared my mind and tried out my tracking skills.  A skill that a century ago most men probably had and thought nothing of.  It was just common knowledge. 



Hey Sheep!



Disappearing Skills



I don't know beans about beans!  I learned much more than that the first year we put in a garden here.  In all honestly, most folks don't know about them, especially people my age.  I remember Becky and I both laughing when we realized we never knew what a potato plant looked like before that first garden.  We had never seen the top half of a potato plant before.  It's sad to say, but we really didn't know anything about how to grow them what the plant looked like or anything.  Most people in this country don't know about them either I'd venture to say. 

I'm trying to learn more and more skills all of the time, but The more I read, and the more self-sufficient I try to be, the more skills I realize I lack.  What skills am I speaking of?  I'm talking about what should be basic life skills.  I'm talking about things like planting a garden, preserving the harvest, catching a fish, gutting a deer, pruning fruit trees, making apple cider, making sauerkraut, making pickles, baking bread and many, many, many more skills that were once common knowledge in this country.  There are still people out there who possess these skills, but most of them aren't under the age of sixty I'd bet.  I know that my grandparents still can things, mostly tomato juice, I think, but they possess the skills to do so if they please.  This was the first year that Becky or I had ever canned anything.  We bought and studied the Ball Home Preserving book and then just jumped right in.  We made and canned homemade jam, tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, green beans, salsa, strawberries in syrup, and chicken stock.  Not a lot, but it was a start and I'm happy with how our first attempts went.  

Some things I've learned by reading and researching, but other things I've learned by watching my dad and grandpa work.  My dad has taught me about doing business with people.  He's taught me countless other things that, as I write this at almost one in the morning, don't even come to mind at the moment.  My grandpa recently taught me some fishing tricks that really made a difference in catching pan fish (I've already passed this knowledge onto our boys).  I'll continue to keep watching and learning from those two.  I remember my dad saying about his dad that "The older I get the smarter my dad gets."  I'm finding that to be pretty darn true.

I don't know about you, but as I step back and look at the economic climate of this country and the world around us, it does not make me feel real confident about a whole lot.  With our government taking control of more and more parts of our economy, I for one am determined to take control of more and control of my own life.  I'm not trying to sound like a Henny Penny and declare that the "sky is falling", but the government is taking control of more and more parts of our lives.  They just took over health care, they've taken over banks, they've bought huge portions of American industry (General Motors and Chrysler), they just signed a House bill that gives the FDA a lot more power over our food system (I'll post more about the bill that gives the FDA control over our food later on).  I don't trust 'em.  We all sit around and complain about how broken the government is and how corrupt our politicians are, but yet for some reason we have allowed them to have a ton of power regulating food and health care.  I don't trust 'em.  I'll grow my own food thank you very much.  More and more we just assume that our food we'll be in the grocery.  We assume that our water will be coming out of the faucet when we turn it on.  We assume that the propane man will show up to fill our tanks.  But what happens if they don't? What happens if the food isn't in the store? What happens if they water isn't coming out of the faucet?  I'm not calling for or predicting the collapse of our infrastructures, but what if?  It seems very foolish to me to take all of this for granted.  It seems foolish and sad to me that most people my age don't have the first clue how to grow a garden and preserve it for winter time use.  Herrick Kimball, a man who's blog I follow, once wrote that he doesn't want to be a "helpless man".  He says that he tries to teach his kids life skills because when they grow up they won't want to be "helpless men".  I don't want to be a "helpless man" either.  I want to be an old timer in young man's clothing. 

I'm sorry if all of that was just rambling and perhaps scattered.  My thoughts are a little unorganized at this second because there is more in my head than I can get onto the screen, but I think you get the point.  As for me and my house we will serve the Lord and we'll try to take care of ourselves and not rely on the system.

BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!!

Becky took Micaiah to the doctor yesterday for a check up and was told he sounds better, but we need to continue breathing treatments for another week.  The really big news though is that we heard back from the heart specialists in Akron and they reported that his heart is 100% NORMAL!!!!  Whatever it was that the doctors here saw that alarmed them was looked at more closely by the heart specialists and was declared as normal and no concern.  WOOHOO!!!!!  Thank God for that news!

Thank God it's Friday as Well!  I'm ready for this weekend to be here.  Becky has got a baby shower tomorrow that my mom and grandma were throwing for her and the babe, and since the girls will be there with her the boys and I are going to go spend a little time in the woods.  I think we'll try to knock a few squirrels out of some trees.  Becky doesn't know it yet, but God willing we'll be having squirrel gravy on Saturday night.  

Tonight we're taking the kids up to Sheri's Coffeehouse here in Norwalk for a showing of "A Charlie Brown Christmas".  I'm excited.  We're going to Pizza Hut first and then over to Sheri's for some fun. 

Sorry I've been slacking it in the picture department on here.  There will be some posted this weekend I promise.

BUSINESS AS USUAL

Well, it appears that everything is back to normal around here.  Micaiah is back home and doing well.  We are still giving him breathing treatments every six hours, but he's improved a lot.  He has an appointment today to check up on his progress.  We still haven't heard anything regarding his heart yet.  Hopefully we'll hear something soon so we are informed a little more about it. 

I got cereal  fixed, lunches packed, kids on the bus and got Kennedy a bath this morning.  Now it's time for me to get my butt to work.  Start the truck, feed the animals while it warms then grab Kennedy and off we'll go.  Would have posted more this morning, but this computer was acting up this morning and I lost what I'd already typed once.  I'll post more this evening sometime.  Sorry, it's been since Sunday when I last posted.

A long day....

So, this morning when we got up and started stirring around and getting ready to go to church I noticed that Micaiah was wheezing when he exhaled and occasionally coughing a deep, bronchial type cough.  After talking it over we decided to take him to the Emergency Room to get checked out rather than wait until tomorrow morning to see the pediatrician.  In the ER they ran some tests for RSV (not exactly what that is other than some sort of respiratory infection that can lead to Pneumonia).  The tests all came back negative, but they decided to admit him for observation.  Once we got up to his room, we got a call from the doc saying that something looked abnormal on the baby's chest x-ray he'd had earlier and that she was ordering an echocardiogram.  Well long story short,  he does not have pneumonia, and what looked abnormal on the x-ray turned out to be nothing, but during the echo they found that Micaiah has a heart defect known as ASD (atrial septal defect).  Essentially it's a hole in the wall separating two chambers of the heart.  As it turns out I was born with the same defect.  Mine ended up leading to open-heart surgery when I was seven years old, but the defect closes up on its own often times as well.  The hospital is sending the pics of his heart to a children's heart specialist tomorrow and we'll know more by midweek.  Pray for that boy please.  He's a tough little booger, but he's still just a little booger.  So, tonight Becky is staying up at the hospital with Micaiah and I'm at home with the other five.  Not long after being home this evening and Brenna got sick.  She said her stomach was hurting her earlier.  I'm not sure she's going to school tomorrow. UGH!!  I'll keep you posted about all of this.

As I told you the other night we decorated the Christmas tree, and below is a picture I took of the festivities.



Future Gardens and Steak

I've been busy the last few days, so I'm sorry I haven't written much.  On Thursday night we had all five big kids here so we decorated our Christmas tree.  The kids did pretty well but they were getting pretty frustrated with the tree.  I cut us a White Pine so it has the long, soft needles and the kids were having a hard time getting the ornaments to go on the branches and stay put.  They got over it and we finished up just in time for bed time.  Friday night Becky and I went to Sandusky and did a little shopping.  Our trip went well.  We picked up some gifts for the kids and had dinner at Panera bread (one of our favorite spots on kid free Fridays).  This morning we splept in until sometime after nine, but once I was up and at it I went out and did the chores.  I got everyone fed and watered, checked on the goat's hoofs to see if they need trimmed again.  They look ok for now.  Then I went and dug a trench where I intend to plant my Hedgeapple fence come spring.  The ground was not frozen so it was quick and easy digging.  I came in had a grilled cheese with Becky and then we went to Big Lots and bought some stuff.  Once we got home,  I grilled us some T-Bone steaks and baked potatoes.  Man were they great!!!!  Those steaks tasted so good because with our large family it simply doesn't pay to fix steak to feed all seven of us.  Usually we might make two steaks and cut it into strips and add it to a stir fry or to top a salad or some other dish, but tonight with it being just Becky and I, we each had one whole steak and it was great!! This evening, while watching some college football, I've been laying the garden out on the computer.  I spent a couple hours on it, but I think I've got it layed out just about right.  I've got a book that tells you how much of each veggie to plant per person for the year.  Using those numbers I could determine how many hills of zucchini, how many rows of carrots and so on.  It's a pretty neat computer program and even gives you estimated dates to plant and harvest your crop.  I'm trying it out for the first time, but I think it is going to be very helpful.  Next year when I go to lay out the garden, the program will warn me if I try to plant tomatoes in the same spot I did the year before of if I try to follow with something from the same family.  We'll see how it goes.  Well, sorry it's short, but I'm getting a little sleepy so to bed I go.   

Thinking Ahead

Today is December first.  Why is that significant?  It's significant because I've been doing a lot of thinking about next year and all of the things that need to get done before spring arrives.  I only have four months before I need to get our new broilers ordered.  By that time the layers will already be back outside and some things will be planted in the garden or at least started here in the house.  Before all of that happens I need to figure out exactly what's going to be grown in the garden this year, and what the layout of the garden will be.  This coming year we will be butchering any broilers we raise ourselves.  This of course means that I need to either buy the equipment needed to scald, pluck and eviscerate chickens or I need to build it myself.  Well, I've already got the blueprints to the scalder and plucker in my possession, now all I need to do is start acquiring the materials needed to build them and start assembling.  Those things will need to be constructed by about June first I'd say.  With all of that in mind I spent much of this evening trying to plan for next year.  I started working on my garden layout and did a little research on some other potential income makers for a small-scale farm operation.  I created several spreadsheets for keeping track of my expenses and production cycles of the hens and broilers too.  If I intend to make money in this endeavor I'd say I better treat it like a business.  Soon I may try to design a webpage that is more devoted to the farm products we intend on selling and tells in a short what we're about.  I'll list prices there and it'll be more of a formal business page, I think.  There is a lot do before spring and I fully intend to be ready when it gets here so we can hit the ground running.

Opening Day

Today was the opening day of gun season for Whitetail Deer here in Ohio.  This morning at a quarter 'til five my grandpa, a couple of his old buddies and myself headed south to Knox County.  We've got a family friend down there with a farm that my grandpa has been hunting for years.  For the past few years I've made the day trip with the guys to try my luck in the deer stand too.  I've not done so well.....until today.  The only deer that crossed any of our paths today ran right into our lap.  After a few shots and a little help from my grandpa that doe was soon in the back of the truck and on her way to the butcher.  Wednesday I go pick up the meat and add it to the other treasures in our deep freezer.  Most of the rest of the week calls for rain, so today was likely the best day to be spending in a tree stand all day.  The cost of a deer tag and meat processing ran me around a hundred bucks.  For about $100 I got some meat in the ice box and some priceless memories with my grandpa.  Not a bad deal.

Charlie Brown Christmas

Go Buckeyes!!!!

Anything productive I intend on getting done today will have to be done before noon or more likely, tonight after the Bucks stomp the Wolverines.  Animals need fed, and I'm going to make some tailgate foods for the game so this morning won't be overly productive either. Oh well.  I'm making chicken wings (that came from our birds) and I'll likely make up some pizza and maybe some chili too.  Maybe we'll call Frank and Mandy to come too.  Frank is a Michigan fan and will likely need consoled after it's all over. I'll be here for him, that's what friends are for.  Tate asked if I could make some homemade bread with dipping oil too. i think i will do that too.

The other night i went to Wal-Mart at midnight to get a Christmas item that cannot be named.  Imagine so many people in that store that you couldn't walk....now give them all carts.  EEEK!!!!!  I was like a mercenary hired for a job and sent into that war zone alone.  I went straight after the item I was hired to get and got back out of there unscathed.  Back home by 1:30 AM.  So now that Top Secret item is hidden somewhere here on our property.  The point of all of this is that I  realized how much I dislike going out into all of that garbage.  I'm not for that.  I'm learning more and more how much of a homebody I really am.  It's funny for me to think back to when I was about fourteen and I wrote an essay once about "Who Will I Be When I'm Thirty?"  In that essay we were to describe what kind of job we would have and where we would live, what we would drive, etc.  I wanted to be rich, I think every young boy thinks he's going to be rich someday, and I wanted to drive a Mercedes and I wrote about how I'd live in a nice house in a big subdivision.  I wanted to work in the city and where a suit to my job every day.  I mean isn't that what we are told is the picture of success?  Fancy cars, big house, a job where no physical work is required.  A job where you won't get any dirt under your fingernails.  Now that's the picture of success.  Man have my priorities changed.  I no longer care if I'm ever rich.  In all honesty, I almost hope that I don't end up with enough money to be considered "well to do".  I'm learning to be content with what we have as long as we are healthy.  I still have dreams of being successful, but it's a completely different picture.  I hope to earn a living from home that we can live off of. I dream of being debt free, not by simply by out earning my spending, but by cutting back our expenses and by spending our money with purpose and by diligently paying down our debts.  I hope to walk closer with the Lord each day.  Most importantly, I hope to teach our kids that success, real success, is a much different picture than what is painted by television and movies and most of the world for that matter.

Happy Thanksgiving from Red Rooster

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!!! I'd just like to say thank you first to the pumpkin donors.  I've collected thirty-one pumpkins in the past few days.  I have no idea how many we'll need to supplement feed for the birds during the winter, but even if we have way more than we need what's left can go on the compost pile and create a little soil for the garden.  We had a  great Thanksgiving and wish that you all had a great one too. 

Each bite a memory...

So, I'm sitting here at work eating my lunch, some white chili that I had made the other night, and as I stared down into the bowl it occurred to me that the majority of what I was putting into my belly was grown right in my own yard. Everything but the Northern beans and the spices lived and died at Red Rooster Ranch.  The chicken in it ate our bugs and grass.  The chicken broth had been canned in our kitchen from birds we raised.  The potatoes grew big in our front yard and waited patiently in our basement for their moment to shine.  The onions too grew up right there in the yard, just down the row from the zucchini that didn't make it this year.  Tate and I planted the garlic last year on Columbus day and then pulled it and dried it on our front steps.  Let me tell you, it was pretty gratifying.  Each bite was a memory really.  Memories of warmer weather and of spending time in the garden with my beautiful wife and our kids.  These, I think, are the things that matter most in life.

How Great Is Our God!

I got up this morning and went out to do chores like I do every morning.  It might seem stupid to some, but those few minutes it takes to do my morning chores are one of my favorite parts of the day.  It gives me a minute to wake up and to think about the day ahead of me.  I talk with God a little and thank Him for the blessings that He has provided for me.  It often hits me the hardest at that time how God's awesome power is revealed to us in His creation.  I look around and see how awesome nature is and how intricate and detailed it is and wonder how we don't just fall down and worship the Creator of it all.  A video I once saw at a men's retreat by a pastor named Louie Giglio was so awe inspiring that I came home telling everyone I knew that they had to see it.  The video was about God the Creator and His sheer magnitude.  It was crazy.  You can google it and find the video online to watch.  Type in "Louie Giglio" and "How Great is Our God" and you should get some links to it.  When I got home from the retreat and the images and facts of that video faded I quickly started forgetting how I felt toward the Lord.  Isn't that just like us?  Haven't people been doing that forever? Yes.  Over and over again in Genesis and Exodus, God saves His people from trouble and they bow down and worship Him and then a few pages later they are right back to their old ways.  Sound familiar? It sure does to me.  That's one reason I like blogging on here.  It keeps a record of what's going on around here.  I can look back and see what we've come through, how God has blessed us, and remember how we felt as we were going through that time in our lives.  I try to keep a journal too, a place where I write down more personal thoughts and prayers.  Unfortunately, I have not been great at being faithful in writing in that journal.  Hopefully I will be able to get into a better rhythm once I'm working from home.  I think that is one way that we grow in our faith, by keeping a record of  thoughts, fears, struggles and blessings and then looking back on it to see how God was with us through it all.

The birthday kids...

My great grandma came over with Gram and Pop the other night to see Micaiah and I got a few pictures of the birthday kiddos.  Pictures like this one are a necessity.  I mean think about it, you've got a picture of a woman and one of her grandkids that are literally almost one hundred years apart in age.  Priceless.  I know that Kennedy sure does love her "old grandma" as she likes to call grandma.  We all love "old grandma", she's pretty special.  Becky and baby are both doing pretty great here at home.  We've been sleeping quite well for having a tiny little guy sleeping here now.  He eats like a total pig.  We are pretty sweet on him.  

What else is going on around here?  Well, I tried to put Sugar the Sheep and Nemo together in the same barn.  The key word here is tried.  Sugar was not having it.  She's not that friendly.  So now Sugar is back in the backyard and Nemo is still in here chicken yard home.  I'm going to have to come up with another housing option for one of them for the winter.  I'm not exactly sure what that is going to be yet.  I could potentially put one of them out in the hay barn for the winter, but that is an awful long walk hauling water buckets in knee deep snow every day for just one animal.  I have a little brainstorming to do on that one yet.  

Our laying hens are doing quite well right now.  Everyone looks happy and healthy.  They should be starting to lay in about ten days or so.  I can't wait.  We've not been buying eggs from the grocery store often.  Even the best ones you can buy at the grocery are garbage at best.  You just can't beat farm fresh eggs for taste and nutrition.  I read in one of my periodicals that eggs from pastured hens have something like half of the cholesterol and twice the Omega-3 fatty acids of conventionally produced eggs.  Not to mention the added vitamins and minerals of pastured eggs.  You just can't beat 'em.  

We are looking for extra pumpkins leftover from fall decorating.  We can't use pumpkins that have been carved, but if you have whole pumpkins that aren't rotting yet please don't throw them out.  We'd like to use them for winter-time feed supplement for the hens.  The pumpkins are a good source of beta-carotene for the girls and any free supplement you can provide is good.  I'm also anxious to see how the color of the yolk is affected by the addition of the pumpkin to their diets.  In winter, the color of the yolk loses some of it's bright yellow, almost orange, color because of the loss of beta-carotene in the diet that is provided by the grass consumed by pastured hens.  Please keep your eyes and ears open for free pumpkins we can have.  Please let us know if any are available.  

Another thing I'm going to experiment with is planting a living fence.  I recently read an article about growing hedges to use as fencing.  So this morning I went for a drive around the block to a spot that I know has Osage Orange trees growing along the road and collected a pile of hedge apples.  I'm going to follow the directions the article gives to save the seeds from the hedge apples, and plant some next spring.  I'm not sure what my exact plans are yet with the whole hedge idea, but I'm interested in it none the less.  

Old-timers used to use Osage Orange hedges to fence in livestock before the invention of barbed wire.  It's thorny and you can grow it tight enough to keep animals contained.  The article says that in four years you can produce a hedge that is "horse high, bull strong, and hog tight".  Anyway,  it sounded neat and so I'm going to play around a bit and see what happens.  Also I know that Osage Orange is the most naturally rot-resistant wood in North America.  Fence posts used to be made from Osage trees that were cut down, and it is said that Osage fence posts have been known to last in the ground for fifty years without rotting off. 

The Buckeyes are getting ready to play which means I've got to go now. 

The Whole Team

POOPED!!!!

MICAIAH CAMDEN DRENNEN

Micaiah is pooped right out.  At 3:46AM he made his debut weighing in at 8lbs. 13oz. and standing 22in. tall.  Mom and baby are both doing great and we're all trying to catch some sweet, sacred sleep.  

"Why is it sooo cold out here?"

       "Where am I?"

"This isn't soooo bad."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDMA!!!!

TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT....

Tonight is the night.  Well, tonight or at worst by early tomorrow morning.  We just got back from Becky's doctor appointment and the doc told her that he wants to induce her tonight or in the morning.  I guess Labor and Delivery is backed up right now, but that they should be cleared out by 8:30 this evening.  Becky is supposed to call tonight to see how they're doing and they'll tell her to "come on in" or to "come in at 7 AM tomorrow".  Either way there is a pretty good chance that this little boy is going to be born November, 16th.  That is significant because November 16th just so happens to be my great grandma's birthday.  She'll be 93 years old tomorrow!!! Wow!  That's pretty much how we do it in my family.  Everybody is born a significant day. 

For example:  My dad was born on his mom's birthday.  I was born on my great grandma Obermiller's birthday and also my gram and pop's anniversary.  My daughter Kennedy was born on my birthday.  My sister, Jenn, was born on my grandma and grandpa Mason's anniversary.  So, if this baby is born on Grandma Miller's ninety-third birthday it be no surprise.  It's just what we do.

I think we are all set and ready to roll.  Becky's friend Mandy came over this morning and helped with some last minute cleaning and straightening.  Again, we've got so many people behind us it's just amazing.  Well, I'm outta here for now, but I'll update as soon as I have anything newsworthy.  Adios!

                          

CATCHING UP.......

I haven't had a lot of time to write as of late so I'd like to take this evening to catch everyone up on all that has been happening around here.  Today, bright and early, Becky's mom came over to help clean the house.  I thought she was just coming over to help out with laundry, but man did she work.  Looks like she scrubbed the kitchen floor, did laundry, did dishes, straightened up the mud room and tons of other things.  Thank you!!! Thank you!!!  It was a huge load off.  Later,  my aunt Dorothea brought over pizza for dinner.  It was great!!!!!  We are pretty lucky to have family that is here for us any time we need anything.   

Last weekend Becky and I got up early for a Saturday and headed down to a little Mennonite grocery store called Planktown Market.  I had never been there before, but Becky said she used to go there with her grandma and mom when she was a little girl.  It was pretty cool.  They had like seventy-five different kinds of deli meats and cheese, every kind of canned goods, bulk bags of sugar, flour, oats.  All kinds of stuff that you don't see in the everyday grocery store.  We bought some yeast and some kielbasa and sauerkraut.  We'll definitely go down there again.

After we left Planktown Market, we headed to Wellington to pick up some hay for Sugar and Nemo for the winter.  We picked up the twelve bales of hay and hurried back to the house.  It was about one when we got back and Becky's cousin was playing volleyball in Norwalk at two so I hurried up and unloaded the hay into the barn.  Throwing twelve bales up overhead by yourself is a workout let me tell you.  Holy Smokes!

We went to the volleyball game, which was nice because we got to visit shortly with Becky's uncle and aunt who live in Toledo.  The volleyball game was pretty fun to watch as well.  It was two Division I schools competing-those girls could play!!!

After the game was over (Becky's cousins team-Toledo St. Ursula won by the way) we went to my mom's for Spaghetti and meatballs and then I headed off to the Western Reserve football game.  It was freezing, but bundled up and toting my Thermos full of coffee I managed to survive.  The Roughriders, as you all know by now, did not fare so well.  They had a great year and finished the regular season 10-0.  This was the first time since 1984 that Western had advanced to the playoffs.  Roughriders everywhere, young and old, can hold their heads high.  I can't wait 'till next season to see what they can do.  GO BIG BLUE!!!!

Tomorrow we don't have any major plans, but there is still a lot of work that needs done around here.  I've got some clean up to do outside still, and with the weather expected to be nice and warm on Saturday I need to attack that first thing.  I'd like to pull some more vines off of the barn and burn them.  I also need to get the garage cleaned out enough that we can park the van inside during the winter. 

Well, I'm getting tired and I'm going to get to bed, but I will try to post again tomorrow for everyone. Good night all.

Chicken Noodle Soup for the Pregnant Soul

Where do I start?  This is the first real post I've had in quite sometime.  It's been so busy around here.  Everyone is busy I know, but I feel out of breath most of the time.  HAHA!!! Oh well. I can't complain too much, God has blessed us so much to have these five soon to be six kids, and we have family that will jump in a pull your slack anytime you need help.  For example,  today Becky went to her OB/GYN for a regularly scheduled check up, and once again her blood pressure was sky high and she has had quite a bit of swelling and water retention.  The doctor said in not so many words that she needs to stay laying down on her side and that's pretty much it.  Well, Becky called me and gave me the update and I told her she should call my mom and fill her in because she'd want to know.  Not an hour had passed from the time I got off of the phone with Becky, I don't think, when my  mom called me to let me know that dinner would be taken care of for us pretty much each night this week.  Both grandma's and my great aunt stepped up to help us out.  That's a huge deal.  Not having to worry about cooking and all of that this week while Becky is laid out is a huge load off. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!! 

Well not too long after Becky got home from the doctor's office this afternoon she started getting sick.  Obviously the flu or some flu-like virus.   Yuck!!!  Another thank you for the dinner's this week. I love you guys.  So I'm making some homemade soup for Becky for lunch tomorrow.  Hopefully she'll be able to keep some soup down by lunchtime tomorrow.  You know, I always thought that we ate chicken noodle soup when we were sick just because it was easy on our stomachs, but I've recently learned that there is much more to it than that.  In the book Real Food by Nina Planck, it talks about chicken noodle soup and how we eat it traditionally when we are sick for reasons other than it's ease on our upset stomachs.  Nina Planck says this in her book about chicken fat:

     "Poultry fat is as diverse as poultry and the foods they eat.  Mostly monounsaturated- and thus fairly heat-stable- poultry fat is suitable for cooking.  Duck and goose fat are traditional in Jewish kitchens and justly honored by French cooks, especially for roasted potatoes.  Chicken fat- schmaltz, the Yiddish word for fat- is a staple in Jewish recipes, including the chopped liver and crispy gribenes (chicken skin fried in chicken fat).  I once met a man who grew up eating homemade gribenes at the movies.  (Think of them as kosher pork rinds.)

     Poultry fats also contain a few saturated and polyunsaturated fats; again, the diet of the bird affects the composition of the fat.  Pastured chickens and poultry fed fish oil or flaxseed oil have more polyunsaturated omega-3 fats, while tropical chickens, like pigs, eat saturated fats in coconut oil.  Typically, chicken fat is about 40 percent monounsaturated oleic acid, which lowers LDL [the bad cholesterol].  Goose fat is mostly monounsaturated, too (56 percent), as is duck fat (46 percent).  Turkey fat contains 38 percent oleic acid, 22 percent polyunsaturated fats, and 22 percent saturated palmitic acid, which lowers total cholesterol and LDL.

    We have seen that saturated fats fight infection.  All fats, particularly chicken fat, also contain palmitoleic acid, an antimicrobial monounsaturated fat.  That's why chicken soup- not skinless chicken breasts- is known as the Jewish penicillin:  those pale yellow droplets in chicken broth boost your immunity.

     So the next time someone eating a poached skinless chicken breast tells you that your choice of beef, bacon, or roast chicken with the skin will send you to an early grave, this is your reply.  First, explain that beef contains stearic acid, which lowers LDL, and that pork and poultry fat are mostly monounsaturated, just like olive oil.  Second, say that natural saturated fats- as opposed to industrial saturated fats, or trans fats- are good for you anyway.  In the heat of a dinner party debate, you will probably remember only one good thing about saturated fats.  Make it this one: they are powerful immune boosters.  Once upon a time, I used only olive oil.  When I added butter and other saturated fats to my diet, I stopped getting sick.  And yes,  the chefs and food critics are right:  my cooking was much tastier, too."

I am finding this book to be quite great.  Again, I recommend it to all.  As for me and my house, we will all be eating some homemade chicken noodle soup tomorrow.  I do NOT want to get sick!!!!

TGIF!!!

Well I can't speak for anyone else, but I for one, am so glad that the weekend is just a few hours away.  I don't know why this week has seemed so long, but it sure did.  I'm actually writing this entry from my computer at work while I eat my lunch.  Our evenings this week have been busy and exhausting, and I just haven't had the energy to log on after the kids were in bed.  Anyway, it's a cold one today and supposed to be even colder tomorrow.  Western Reserve has it's first playoff game tomorrow night.  I'll be there.  Better figure out what layers I'm wearing to the game before I go to bed tonight.  They host Jeromesville- Hillsdale at 7 PM. Gotta go. deliveries to make.

ELECTION DAY

Well, as I sit at the computer tonight I'm not only trying to put my thoughts on this page for you all to read, but I'm also trying to sort out in my head who I'm voting for tomorrow.  I don't know!!  I am so sick of all the negative ads that have been running non stop.  Thank God that tomorrow is Election Day and soon all these liars will be fairly quiet for a little while.  It is so incredibly hard to know who to vote for.  I'm currently checking out an informative website that is supposed to be non-partisan and is just a tool for informing the public on who is running for what and where they stand on the issues.  The name of the site is www.Ohioroundtable.com .  When you go to the site you will have the option of going to either AP Roundtable website, which deals with political issues on a more national scale, or to ivoter.com.  Ivoter gives you a place to put in your address and then it shows you what races are going on in your neck of the woods.  Once on Ivoter it has links to each candidates website where you can then go find out where the candidate stands on important issues in Ohio and a little bit about their values.  I urge everyone to get out and vote tomorrow.  It's a privilege that we Americans often take for granted.  I know how frustrating it can be and honestly sometimes I wonder if my vote even matters anyway with all of the corruption that is in our government, both here in Ohio and those who represent us in Washington, but the right and privilege that we have to vote really is our voice.  We must speak at the polls if we want this country to go in a positive direction.  Again, I strongly urge you all to make it to the polls tomorrow and vote and please, please, please do your homework and be an informed voter. 

Now for some lighter topics,  Pop and I finished my truck on Sunday and I got the drive shaft put back on the truck and test drove it.  Ran like a champ.  Whew!  That's one less thing I'll have to worry about with winter just around the corner. 

Becky is getting closer and closer to her due date all the time and this week she is now only working half days and her sub is covering the afternoons for her.  Friday will be her last day until she comes back after having the newest Drennen boy.  She is very tired and sore, but all in all she's hanging in there quite well. 

I"m reading another book right now.  It's amazing how much I love to read these days.  I used to hate it when I was in school, but I thoroughly enjoy it now.  Anyway, the book I'm reading is called "Real Food- what to eat and why" by Nina Planck.  It's great!!  She talks a lot about the chemistry of our foods.  By that I mean she talks a lot about vitamins and minerals and things like Omega-3 fatty acids, and Conjugated Lineolic Acid and a number of other things.  She tells you what those things do for your body and shows you the difference between traditional foods and the foods that we more commonly eat today.  It has really been eye opening to me.  I'm about halfway through the book and can't read it fast enough.  I just finished a section on real meat and the author refers to probably a dozen studies that have been done over the years showing that eating meat and particularly red meat isn't as bad as we've been led to believe.  Studies are showing more and more frequently that it is the diet and living conditions of the animals that is changing the nutrients in the meat for the worse.  Cows don't eat corn in nature.  God did not  design their digestive system to handle tons and tons of grain. I had better step away from this conversation until another day.  I was about to be on a runaway train with the whole corn fed vs. grass fed cattle debate.  So far this book has been very informative and I recommend it to anyone who is interested in learning more about the foods we eat and the health consequences associated with them. 

Until tomorrow.....

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

We just got back from Trick or Treating.  I believe it was a success.  Nobody died. No spankings were handed out.  By all accounts a success.  We went to Milan this year ,which, I've never been Trick or Treating there before.  It was really nice. Milan is such a cozy little town and the people are all quite friendly.  We met our friends Stephanie and Zach and their kids there and walked the streets begging for candy with our kids together. 

When we got back from the Halloween festivities my mom was waiting for us at our house with dinner ready to eat.  I knew she was coming so it wasn't a surprise, but it sure was nice to come home at dinner time and not have to unpack the kids and costumes and everything and then still have to worry about what to eat.  I sure appreciate moments like that.  I sure have a good momma.  

 Earlier today I was working on my truck, replacing the U-Joint, and needed some help pushing the bearings out of the yoke and getting the new ones in.  I took it down to my grandpa's figuring that I'd just need to borrow his tools mostly, but as with every repair job I've ever looked at it wound up being more than I had bargained for. Ugh!  So, when I got down to their house he came out to the shop and helped me. Very appreciative of that I am.  I enjoy moments with my grandpa more and more the older we both get.  I'm very aware of the fact that my grandparents won't be around forever, and try my darndest these days to make sure I get to enjoy my time with them and learn from them.  Spending time with him out in the shop today was great!  Even though not too much gets said of much importance, the time spent with him is priceless and I enjoy listening to him tell stories.  In case you don't know my grandpa, he's got more stories than you can shake a stick at.  I like hearing stories about when he was a kid and the old days.  Stories about hunting and fishing.  Stories about working on the family farm and an endless number of other topics.  Anyway, enough of that reflective, softy pants stuff.  We got half of the U-Joint work done today before I had to take the kids candy begging.  I'll be back tomorrow after church to finish the job with him.

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Speaking of the old days, the picture above is of my great, great grandma Krisha. She was an avid fisher woman I'm told.  It must be where my love for fishing originates.  I got this picture when I was researching my family history.  I have done nothing with my family tree recently, but I plan on getting right back into the research once it's cold and snowing outside again.  I learned so much about my family when I was putting that family tree together.  It was awesome!! It's really interesting and I think everyone should put a detailed family tree together of their own.  It's very educating.  I learned of a place called Drennen, West Virginia.  I knew that on my dad's side our family was from WV, but I never knew the town of Drennen existed.  Yes, it is named after my great, great, great grandpa John F. Drennen.  He was one of the original settlers of that area, and became the town's first postmaster.  Pretty cool.  There is a thousand other great facts and stories about my people waiting to be found.  I hope to get a detailed history of the people of my lineage wrote down and preserved for my kids and grand kids.  It's important stuff.

It's been so stinking windy here for so long lately I'm about to freak out.  This morning it was 34 degrees outside, and windy.  Winter is on its way. 

Well, goodnight for now.  Scared Shrekless is coming on.  Gotta go! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

I think there's a baby in there......

     Becky had an ultrasound today.  The doctor wanted to take a look to see how things were coming along in there because-and I find this hard to believe- she is a little big. ( I love you honey :)  So I went with Becky this afternoon and it was really cool because that baby sure felt real today.  The technology is absolutely amazing.  The technician showed us some really good pictures of that boy and with some of that 3D imagery she took some pictures of his face. It was really cool!!!  I think there is a real baby in there.  Holy Cats!

      A pretty big storm rolled through here earlier this afternoon.  Mark Johnson (our local meteorologist) said that it was the largest low pressure system ever recorded in the month of October.  Pretty impressive.  I imagine if that storm had blown through here in like December or January it would have been a pretty serious snow storm.  Everybody here on the farm is alive and accounted for.  I move the hens into the coop this morning before I left for work.  They were not too excited about being caught and moved, but they don't realize how good they've got it in that barn out of the wind and rain.  

     I've got some maintenance work to perform on my truck soon.  Some of it routine maintenance and a few things that are becoming more urgent by the day.  I need to change the oil on my truck and probably should do some pre-winter type checks of fluids and the like.  My U-Joint on the truck is starting to fail.  It's been giving some vibrations and noise as of late and I'm getting nervous that I'm going to be stranded somewhere.  I need to work on the darn thing, but I HATE working on vehicles.  Kinda funny considering I went to tech school to learn to be a mechanic a few years back.  I hate it.  I'm not really good at it, it takes way more time than I like to invest in it and did I mention that I don't particularly care for it.? Well anyway I may do that repair this weekend.  We'll see. 

Scarecrows, Jack O' Lanterns, and Pumpkin Pie

     Fall just very well be my favorite time of year.  Yes, it's getting colder. Yes, my garden is barren and not growing a thing save the garlic Tate and I just planted (104 cloves of garlic to be exact).  Yes, soon enough it will be so cold and blustery outside that going from the house to van or truck will be downright painful, but there is something in the air this time of year.  Something, almost romantic about it even.  I'm not sure what it is but I truly enjoy it.

     

     We built our scarecrow earlier this week.  I'm glad we got to do it, but it wasn't as fun and relaxed as last year because this year Becky wasn't home and I was trying to get dinner ready amid kids trying to finish homework. It was a busy night.  

     So as I said Tate and I planted garlic on Sunday.  We planted 104 cloves which is about twice as much as last year.  We used the biggest cloves that we had from last year leaving anything smaller for cooking.  Four of the cloves were huge!  These four came from our CSA share.  I'm not sure what kind they are, but they sure were massive so we planted them.  We shall see what we end up with come next summer.

     First thing in the morning I'm moving the hens back to the chicken coop.  Becky, Gram, and Mark Johnson all three warned me that winds in the 60 to 70 MPH range are expected tomorrow afternoon. YIKES!!!

Proof!!!

      The camera is working once more! Thank God! As it turns out the batteries that I was trying to use are apparently no good anymore.  I used some new ones that aren't rechargeable ones, but were brand new and "badabing"! It worked.  So here is proof by picture that the things I've been writing about weren't a fabrication of my imagination.
     Look here at the before and after pictures of the barn. These photos were taken about two months apart.  That Nemo girl tore it up.  Quite impressive when you see the contrast between the two pictures.  It's getting colder and windier out and winter is getting closer with every passing day.  Pretty soon it will be time to get Nemo and Sugar in their barn or barns for the winter where they will be able to lounge around and wait out Old Man Winter.
     I'm heading to bed.  See you tomorrow.

SQUASH, SQUASH AND MORE SQUASH...

     We've got  more squash in our house right now than you can shake a stick at.  I'm not sure what the number of squash is that you can longer shake the proverbial stick at, but we've got a pile of them.  It is certainly a pile to people not accustomed to eating much squash.....yet.  We have Butternut Squash, Acorn Squash, Spaghetti Squash, pie pumpkins, and something called a Carnival Squash.  So, we are trying to learn about squash.  Becky baked a pumpkin pie out of the puree of a pie pumpkin that we got from our CSA.  She googled the "how to" of the procedure and we went to town.  It turned out really well and I believe that everyone who came over to the house on Sunday enjoyed it.  It was really quite easy to do too.  Tonight for dinner we had Spaghetti Squash with some of our homemade tomato sauce that we canned.  Delicious!!!! The kids, except for Brodey, protested and had leftover tacos instead.  Becky saved the seeds from the squash for me and I'm laying them out to dry so that we can plant them next year.  I'm excited.  I had seconds.....and thirds.  As I write this I am literally standing at the island in the kitchen because I'm baking another pumpkin pie.  We still had some pumpkin that was pureed and needs using.  I'm freezing what I don't use tonight in this pie. 

     I have been sprinkling some scratch grains and and pumpkin guts in the garden and the chickens have been tilling it up quite nicely.  I'll be planting garlic on Saturday and the chickens will have prepared the soil for me ahead of time.  I shouldn't need to do much at all before planting the cloves of garlic.  It makes so much sense to let the animals do most of the work for you.  They work for you and love doing it.  It's great.

     Above is a picture of one of our favorite fishing spots at the Norwalk Reservoir at sunset.  Beautiful!! We didn't get in nearly as much fishing this summer as we did the summer before.  I think I'm going to have to get up and go for a couple hours as a last hoorah!!!  Maybe this weekend.  Although fishing for bluegill and catfish will be out until next spring, the cold weather brings with it the Steelhead making their annual spawning run into the rivers.  Bring it!!! I'm ready.   

Fall in Full Swing

     Today is the last soccer game of the year. Thank God! I'm soccered right out for awhile.  Brodey plays at ten and a banquet to follow (free lunch). Then we're done 'til spring.  It's going to be another busy day, but I hope we'll get some work and play done around here too. 

   Like I said soccer is at ten, but my truck and I and maybe the big boys are going to go pick up a remnant piece of carpet Becky bought for us to put in the living room.  It's a pretty nice piece and pretty good price.  It should keep the floor a little warmer on our toes this winter not to mention that we weren't really crazy about the baby crawling around on our super hard and rough floor in the living room.  So I'm going to go pick up that and then meet Becky at the soccer fields.

     When we get home from soccer we are going to start decorating for fall.  The kids had a blast doing that last year.  We'll go to the farmer's market and get some pumpkins to make Jack O' Lanterns (the pumpkins I planted in the garden were a complete failure) and we're going to make a scare crow too.  Last year we just used some old hay from our hay barn.  We all had fun doing it I think.

    

     Later this afternoon our friends Frank and Mandy and their three kids might come over to visit and for dinner too. We really enjoy having them as friends.  It's nice when you have friends that you realize are truly there for you no matter what.  We are truly blessed to know them. I got Becky, Frank and Mandy on my team all by coaching T-Ball.  Pretty good investment I would say.

     I've really been day dreaming a lot about the possibilities that could become of Red Rooster Ranch.  I've got to sit down and make a business plan.  I'm terribly scatter brained in life and will need my exact intentions and plans wrote down in order to stay focused and on task.  There is a lot of things still that need to be done before the snow flies here. I'm still interested in getting a small hoophouse built to house the hens in for the winter, but I"m  not sure I have the resources to get it done before the baby or winter.  We shall see about it.  I really don't want to just put them back in the chicken coop for the winter.  I mean it worked okay for last year's girls, but it gets mighty cold and egg production should be better if they are in a hot house. I've got several plans for one including the one pictured below from Polyface Farms.  Obviously mine won't be as big as that, but I'm not sure how big I want it.  I could get by with a relatively small one. There are only thirty-five hens.  But I intend to grow next year too so......I'm not sure what I'm doing yet.  I'll keep you posted.  I'll see if I can post more pics tonight....

Start the countdown.....

     So, we've got forty-eight days until the baby arrives.  Actually, less than that....no way is Becky going to make it to November 30. No way at all.  I've got some serious work to do around this place before that.

 (Disclaimer: This is NOT a picture of Becky.  Nor does this picture indicate that I personally have ever or will ever be pregnant. I'm not for that.)

Nemo-dini

Finally, Nemo is living up to her goat reputation.  That is the reputation that goats are escape artists.  Now let me clarify.  I haven't had Nemo tied up too extra hard.  She's still very little and not strong enough to move the huge cement block I've had laying on her chain.....until today.
     So, my grandma had to get the kids off of the bus today for us because Becky and I wouldn't be here when they got home from school. When I got off of work I went to my grandparent's house and picked Becky's three up. My grandma was telling me how when she got to the house Nemo had her chain tangled up and was crying for her.  So when the kids got off of the bus she had Riley help get the goat untangled and all was well. I said "thank you" and got the kids rounded up and the four of us (Riley, Brenna, Brodey and myself) headed the mile or so home from Gram and Pop's house.  When we pulled in the drive  Miss Nemo was waiting for us and actually came running to my truck like a dog. It was funny and Riley and I were laughing. So we got out and Nemo followed the kids and I as we walked back out to the hay barn where I had staked her out this morning before I left for work.  I put her back where she started the day and Riley was like "Wait a minute.  When I got home from school Nemo was over by the "junk" barn tangled up in some wood.  I just thought you moved her over there this morning. Are you telling me that she got loose earlier?"  So here Nemo started out by the hay barn got loose and then tangled herself up by the "junk" barn. Then Riley and Gram untangled her and re staked her somehow by the "junk" barn and she was loose by the time we got back home.  So now that I had her back where she belonged I realized that I needed to run into town to get some more feed for the hens.  We left and I thought as we were pulling out of the driveway "I hope that goat stays put". Wrong.  We came back about forty-five minutes later, now dark, and I couldn't see whether Nemo was where she belonged or not.  Then from my immediate right as I'm pulling up to the garage "BAAAAAA". LOL. That turd was off again.  This time obviously shame on me, but how funny. So I took her chain off of her and led her into the fenced in yard with the chickens for the night.  She was not happy with me for that decision, but that'll keep her in until I come up with a more sturdy solution for her.  She's apparently put on some weight and muscle working those vines over.

 

    

Nemo is a machine

Man, oh man, that Nemo girl is tearing through those grapevines and brush around the barn.  Last week while it was raining day and night I kept her close to the barn so she could come in out of the weather, but as long as it has been nice out I've moved her daily along the east side of the barn.  She has it just about whipped.  I think today will be her last day on the east side. Tonight when I get home from work I'll be turning the corner with her and she can start to decimate the north side next.  On Saturday, with my goat and pregnant wife watching, I began pulling down and out all of the dead, trampled vines that she (Nemo, not Becky) had left in her wake.  I ended up getting most of the east side cleaned up on Saturday.  Sometime this week I'll haul the pile of vines over to where I intend to burn them this winter.  I'll get some pictures of the barn up here shortly I hope.
     Well, Becky and I moved our growing batch of laying hens to the field pen that has been sitting vacant since the broilers' departure from the farm.  We did that on Saturday as well.  They are still trying to figure out the morning move and so I'm still having to move it extra slow because one of them gets a leg caught on the trailing side of the pen every time.  They'll get it soon enough.  The broilers eventually did and I'm sure that these hens are smarter than those meaty monsters were.  Once they have been moved in the morning to fresh grass they really go at it.  Their grain consumption is way down from when they were in the brooder.  They seem to really love all of that green grass and fresh bugs.  Mmm, Mmmm, good! Anyway I wanted to get them out on pasture for a month or so before it really gets cold around here.  I'm going to make an honest effort to get them a hoophouse built for winter housing.  The hoophouse acts as a greenhouse and the birds stay nice and toasty during the day which means that they should still lay pretty good for us through the winter.  I'm expecting the first eggs the week of November 29th.  We'll see. Keep your fingers crossed. 

    Above is a picture of the inside of one of the hoophouses at Polyface Farm in Swoope, Va.  Becky and I are trying to model our farm after this one.  At polyface the hens go into these houses and keep warm and clean.  They dust bathe in the sawdust floor and to the left you can see the rabbit cages.  The chickens scratch through the rabbit droppings and keep the bedding composting.  The chickens act as sanitizers for the whole operation and therefore keeps the ammonia smell down to nothing.  In industrial models rabbits are the most heavily medicated animals of all, but at Polyface no meds are needed.  It's amazing what can happen when you work with nature instead of against it.

LONG DAYS. SHORT YEARS.

 
     Another long day is coming to an end.  It seems like bed time can't come soon enough many nights.  For example, I got the kids on the bus this morning and then went to work.  I worked until five this afternoon and then I had to stop and pick up Tate and Kennedy from their mom's house and bust a move to get home because Tate and Riley had soccer practice at six.  So, we got home and Becky had grilled cheese sandwiches ready for us.  Tate changed into his soccer stuff and the boys and I rushed to practice.  I helped the coach run drills with the kids until seven and then we came home.  Tate had some homework to finish, so he hopped up to the counter to do that while I fixed Becky some dinner since she didn't eat a sandwich when the rest of us did.  Whew!  I'm exhausted and ready for nine o'clock....every single night.  I guess that is just life with kids.  I"m not trying to be too big of whiner pants.  My hope is that when I"m finally home during the day I'll be able to keep up on the food, dishes and laundry a lot better so that our evenings will be more enjoyable. I heard on the radio recently that when you are a parent the days are long, but the years are short.  Even though our kids are still quite young, with Tate and Riley being only eight and nine respectively, it's hard to believe that the boys' are in third grade, the twins are in Kindergarten and Kennedy will be starting school next year. So, yes, the days are looooooooooooong, but I know the years will fly by and when they are gone they're gone. It is my hope then to simplify things here, and make our time with the kids still in the house about much more than homework, sporting events and all of the other business that comes with being school aged.  We hope to teach the kids how important family is and how there is so much more to life than all of the petty, stupid stuff that we tend to make it about.
       We ended up making the chicken stock over the weekend.  It seems to have turned out pretty good.  In all we ended up with seven quarts and three pint jars of stock. 
     I can't wait for the weekend to get here.  I'm not sure what all we'll get involved with, but it's supposed to be pretty nice I guess so I'm going to try to get some work done outside. It'll be a good chance to get things cleaned up for the year and ready for winter, which will be here before we know it. We've got a couple soccer games first thing Saturday morning and then I guess we are free the rest of the day.  I'm going to try and get Becky to take some time off this weekend too.  Maybe I can force her to lay on the couch and watch tv most of the day Saturday.  She needs the rest.  Until tomorrow.....

RAIN RAIN GO AWAY....

So as I was saying earlier we had some running around to do today. Well, it's almost over.  First we went to soccer and it rained.  Then we went from the soccer field to watch Riley run in the fun run. And it rained.  Then we went to the Harvest Happenings at Osborne Park.......and it rained....hard.  Still, with all the water it was a pretty good day and I think the kids had fun at the harvest party.  Right now Riley is at his friend's birthday party and I'll be going to pick him up before too long.  All the rain and gloom made it feel like a a chili night for dinner. So right now I've got chili cooking in the crock pot and I've got all the necks and backs from our broilers cooking in a big stock pot to can some chicken stock later tonight. I've never done stock before so we'll see how it goes.

    Also, as I posted earlier, we took the broilers down to a Mennonite family to be processed.  I really envy their simple way of life.  Although the physical work they put in is more than probably most of us will ever know, they are not bogged down with all of the "stuff" that makes life so complicated for us. Our "stuff" makes life so much more complicated than it needs to be.  A while back I read a book called Better Off by Eric Brende.  It really makes you take a look at life and how we would be able to enjoy it more fully if we weren't being held hostage by our obsession with technology.  It's the story of a man and his wife who as an adjunct to his graduate studies at M.I.T., decide to live among a group of Amish who live so minimally that many in the greater Amish community consider them antiquated.  Brende and his wife live with the "Minimites", as he refers to them, for eighteen months.  It is really eye opening.  I recommend that everyone reads it.