Brand New Calf!

Bridget had her baby this past weekend!!!!!

It was a healthy baby girl. We named her Latte.

Latte the Jersey calf, a mere 4 minutes old and yet unable to stand.
The chickens looked on in bewilderment.

The delivery was fast and smooth. She went from first presenting (in the front yard) to birth (in the barn) in under 2 hours. Thing #2 got to witness the whole thing. I caught most of it, as we were preparing for company later that evening.

Piglets!!

This weekend, we had piglets!!

They are so small and so cute and so pink-ish.

 Mama Piggie (aka, Poomba) gave birth to two healthy, happy, squeaky little pig babies. They are just about the cutest thing ever. Well, definitely top 2.

Mama and babies are doing great.

Last Milk

Well, until November, anywhoozles.

Bridget chows down her last bucket of oats before I milk her out for the last time
until after she calves.

It was kinda sad, but I'm also ready for a break.

The Internet is a Fractal: A Hare Tale

My three rabbits are simply not breeding like ... well ... rabbits.

Coconut, on the right, just doesn't get it.
It's a double entendre. 

This weekend, I'm going to be restraining my does so my buck can have an easier time. I've bred them, all together, on at least 7 different occasions, and have no litters to show for it. I think the buck was too young, and I need to help him figure it out.

This has of course led me into a rabbit hole: the internet.

Liquid Theology, Part 2

Another aspect of the theology of liquid that I thought worth exploring was liquid's role in the natural order of world. We looked at the concept of vessels and how the can be filled and poured. We also looked at grace being liquid-like.

And hope confoundeth not: because the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts,
by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us. For why did Christ, when as yet we were weak,
according to the time, die for the ungodly? For scarce for a just man will one die;
yet perhaps for a good man some one would dare to die. But God commendeth his charity towards us;
because when as yet we were sinners, according to the time, Christ died for us;
much more therefore, being now justified by his blood,
shall we be saved from wrath through him. -Romans 5:5-9

In the natural world, this still holds true. Grace is poured over the earth as is rain, and it affects different areas differently.

That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. -Matthew 5:45

The diverse beauty of nature speaks to this spiritual reality. Just as God blesses some more than others, so other have the ability to use these blessings differently.

Theology of Liquid

This is something I've been pondering for a while, and I admit up front that it is something that is NOT fully developed. But I wanted to at least begin getting my thoughts about it "out there."

So, with that disclaimer out of the way,  here goes.

It's no secret that liquid is absolutely essential to life on Earth. Water, blood, milk, and even sweat and saliva are all forms of liquids required for daily living. Without even one of these, life as we know it would be radically different.

Liquids even take on more extreme and wondrous forms, in different sweeteners (honey, maple syrup), poisons (rattlesnake venom, harvest mite saliva), oils (olive, coconut), acids (hydrochloric, vinegar), body fluids (rennet, cerebralspino fluid), and so on, each one taking on a more incredible and specific form than the last.

We also know that "The heavens shew forth the glory of God, and the firmament declareth the work of his hands." -Psalm 19:1

So what do fluids reveal about God?

Flora of Middle Tennessee

The heavens shew forth the glory of God, and the firmament declareth the work of his hands. -Psalm 19:1

God also said: Let the waters that are under the heaven, be gathered together into one place: and let the dry land appear. And it was so done. And God called the dry land, Earth; and the gathering together of the waters, he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. And he said: Let the earth bring forth the green herb, and such as may seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after its kind, which may have seed in itself upon the earth. And it was so done. And the earth brought forth the green herb, and such as yieldeth seed according to its kind, and the tree that beareth fruit having seed each one according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the third day. -Genesis 1:9-13

Since I've been traversing the nether-reaches of the entire property to tether the cows to graze this year, I have noticed a TON of really cool plants that I've never really seen before. Some are recurring nightmares features, and some are brand-new to me. It's amazing to see the work of creation all around, and to notice some absolutely stunning works of God's art.

I do often take the time to stop in the stillness of the morning (post-milking, usually) to appreciate the season's splendor. I am richly rewarded with the smalls, the sights, and the experiences of the majesty of God. The perfection amid the imperfection makes St. Therese's "Little Way" come alive right here on the homestead.

I do hope to make this a series, as new species show themselves and I catalog them. I'll lead off Part 1 the series with this gem:

These stunningly beautiful flowers are only open before 5:30 AM.

And Now ... A Bird on a Football

I was out in the yard this past weekend, and a bird was just hanging out on top of a football.

Bird on a football.

I was able to inch closer and closer, and got some neat pics.

Random Reflections

Got a lot on my mind right now.

I just need to say a whole lot that's going on right now without creating separate posts for everything. I suppose that's reflection #1 - I have lots to say and no time to say it in detail. So, I'll just rattle a bunch of stuff off, in no particular order, and with few accompanying images, save a shot of chicken insides (sorry, it's not for the squeamish - you were warned).

Mastiffs LOVE Raw Cow Milk - Who Knew?

Not I, until we started giving Colt some leftover milk that didn't fit neatly into the containers. He even tried to get in my milking pail a few days ago.

"My excessively large head doesn't quite fit...."

We make him sit and stay and pout it in his food bowl. He goes CRAZY for it. I've never seen him respond with such intensity for any other food except whole-rib cow bones.

And they say humans are the only creatures to drink another animal's milk. HA!

Metamorphic Experimentation

Our neighbor found a cocoon outside and gave it to Thing #2. We turned it into a science project for him this week.

The cocoon is the large black thing in the grass. We built the environment for it.

It's Official! We Have a Garden

While still starting this year's garden later than we wanted to (and I have no idea why), we were ahead of last year by several weeks, plus sprouting time. So when our big spring garden-starting weekend rolled around on Sunday, it was a whole lot easier than last year.

Laying the infrastructure up front really makes a difference.

Transplanting lettuce seedlings into a garden bed this weekend.
The brassicas in the seed tray went to a different spot.

My legs are killing me and I tweaked my knee somehow, but it was nevertheless a very fun Sunday spent gardening with the family.

And So It Begins....

This week, I moved the chickens to the second "paddock" area, and the pigs to the third. I then took down the fencing to the first, revealing the garden area below.

Pigs and chickens use their natural abilities to work the land.
The combo panels keep in the pigs. The chicken wire keeps in the chickens.
The end result? Fluffy, tilled, picked clean gardens.

The utter destruction these two species cause in succession is startling. And for a garden, that's a good thing.

Our First Baby Lamb!!

This weekend, our very pregnant sheep Pot Pie had her baby lamb. We named him Meatball.

Me holding Thing #3, who is holding meatball. Thing #2 has a new baby chick.

Meatball is very healthy and doing great. He's nursing well, and as of today I think Pot Pie is transitioning from colostrum to milk. His belly is looking fuller, and he's even begun taking a few small nibbles of grass and sips from the water bucket.

First Chicken Processed

Corn the Rooster became our first homestead meat this weekend.

On Saturday, I processed Corn the Rooster.

He had to go. He was a great rooster, and was very protective of the flock. But he attacked us when we got eggs. He attacked us when we just went to hang out by the chickens. He flew up when I was outside of the fence a few times and tried to peck me in the face. He attacked Wife and Things #2 and #3, on several separate occasions.

He just had to go.

So, on Saturday, he went.

Wild Turkey Egg

Yesterday, while checking on the sheep, i found a wild turkey egg.

The speckling is very cool on this wild turkey egg.

It was nestled snugly in a small section of overgrowth that my neighbor had just mowed.

Choose Your Own (Homesteading) Adventure

In the wide world of project management, there's an old saying that goes something like this:

You can do this project fast, cheap, and correct. But you can only pick two. -Old Saying

I would call the setup of a farm, the initial infrastructure build, as a "project." And in something like building a portable cow care station, or constructing a winter dry lot, or designing a movable chicken coop, this "law" still hold sway.

Where's the "all of the above" bubble?

But what about everyday life? Is there a pattern that can look at the bigger picture of managing the day to day activities of a homesteader?

I believe there is. I've found that day-to-day life on a farm follows a similar pattern - you can't have it all. I've said it before, and I guess now I'll say it in print:

You can make farming as difficult or as easy as you want it to be. -Bubs

For example, if you wanted to cut a hay field, driving a tractor with a sickle bar mower is faster than hand-scything it. However, there is a trade-off. You gain something and you lose something in each of these two very simple scenarios. In the first, you opt for "quality" and "speed," but pay out the nose for the equipment. In the second, going for "quality" and "price" means it takes longer.

Projects are one thiung, and we all undertake them. But I've been thinking about the everyday activities - stuff we do every single morning and evening, as opposed to one-off or once-in-a-while projects. I like to call this daily flurry of activity "farm management." I think farm management, especially hobby farm management, boils down to a dance between four distinct elements:

A Very Tough Loss

Yesterday, in the wee hours of the morning, we lost Pancake the sheep. Worse still, we also lost her two unborn lambs - one male, one female.

It was a very hard, very sad day, and a very tough loss of three little sheep lives.

Pancake, left side with the brown markings, was pregnant when I took this picture.

I found her yesterday morning out in her pen. I had checked on the sheep last night, like I do every day (twice a day, for that matter), and she looked perfectly fine. In fact, I saw her tail wag as she reached up and took a few bites of wild bamboo leaves. She had shelter, water, food, and the company of her two sheep-mates.

She did not make it to the morning.

Ending the Endless Summer, Step 2: Reasonable Bedtimes

Wife and I are still trying to battle the endless summer. Some days we fight the battles better than others. Lately, we've actually slipped back into old habits of watching TV late-night, and this has led to me being very tired in the morning. Heck, last night I passed out around 10, and still woke up with the sun (actually, I snoozed for a while and really got up at 6:30).

Despite the nearly 8 hours of sleep, I am exhausted today.

I need to follow Mickey's example and use candlelight more frequently at night.
The blue-light TV waves are messing with my sleep mojo.

So what gives?

Why Do I Homestead?

Sometimes, it's good for us (humans in general, I mean) to step back and take a good look at why we're doing one particular thing or another. For some, it's asking, "Why do I continue to buy all these magazines?" For others, "Why am I working two jobs and pursuing yet another degree?" Still more, "Why do I continue to wake up early and sit in traffic for an hour to spend 70% of my life behind this desk that I hate and with these people I can't stand?"

Those three pesky letters that separate us from the animals.

For me, it's "Why do I wake up at the crack of the sun, hit ice out of a bucket with a bat in negative temperatures, shovel cow pies and lug hundreds of pounds of water in a cart twice a day, rearrange my kitchen to accommodate new dairy experiments, spend my Sundays housing swine, give chickens a weekly ride in a rickshaw, and otherwise devote the first 30 minutes of my day to squeezing liquid from a cow's underside with my bare hands?"

Simple: I'm certifiable The short answer is that it's the path to a richer, more fulfilling life. But you came to read the long answer.....