I can't believe how long it's been since my last post...what like 20 years???!!!  All my kids are grown and I'm an old Milkmaid!!!  Ok, not really but it sure seems like it!  How's it been going for all you wonderful folks?  Have you been busy at all those outdoor activities that always seem to fill the summer days?  Is it hot at your house?  Don't you just love those summer nights, with all those fireflys and crickets and frogs and whippoorwills???  We got a few days of nice weather and we really took advantage of it...we even slept with our windows open!  Our weather is typically very hot and humid during the summer, but a few days ago we had some California weather!!!  (Except we still had the mosquitoes bugging us!!)  Ha get it...bugging us!!!   Well, anyways.............

I was just wondering...do ya'll garden?  Have you got little gardens or big honking ones?  Well, we've got a nice size garden with corn, pinto beans, carrots, onions, tomatoes, bell peppers...  We've been fighting grass growing in our garden...it seems to grow faster that the veggies.  So the other day we were all out working in the garden...on one of those days when the weather was so nice.  Even the little chickies were "plucking" away!  But for one little chickie in particular this was a special occaision...this was her first outing in the dirt!  I know how much ya'll love those cute baby photos so here she is in all her glory!!!

Can you believe this is the sweet little baby that was born only 10 months ago...well, technically tomorrow she'll be 10 months!  She's so cute!!!  And she cleans up really well.  You should have seen her crawling around out there...she had a time!!!!  And the other chickies had a time just watching her and trying to keep her from eating the dirt!  She did manage a little bit, as you can see, but we all had so much fun!

Well, it's late and I'm tired and I have to get up early to work on building a new pen for the real chickies with the Head Farmer after I milk those especially lovely cows!  Oh, did I tell you...we have a new calf!!!  He's a little bull, but he's still cute...except when he runs through the electric fences!!!  That's the other thing I have to do with Head Farmer...roll up a bunch of fence wire!  So much for a day of rest.... oh well, there's a lovely little poem that my oldest chickie memorized last year...

Work while you work, Play while you play, This is the way to be happy each day.  In all that you do, do with your might.  Things done by halves, are never done right!!

Not sure who wrote it, but it works for me!!  Ya'll take care and have a good day!!

The Milkmaid

We've been really busy here on our little piece of heaven.  Summer brings lots of work and fun.  The little chickies got a little swimming pool to help them beat the heat.  We've been trimming trees, weeding the garden, chasing ducks and chickens off the front porch...you know, the usual! 

We'll actually be going to a Perry Stone conference and making it a little vacation...we're looking forward to it!!  We'll be in good ole St. Louis!!

Anyway, someone sent me this video and I just had to share it.  The song is by Mercy Me...I am Yours.  In and of itself, this is a great song...but the folks who did this presentation really blew me away.

I pray that you are blessed by this video and that you would sense the Lord's love and presence in your life.  Hard times may be ahead, but draw near to the Lord...that is His heart's desire.  Enjoy!!!

The Milkmaid 

Coolest Video Ever

YIKES, I can't believe it.  Nine long years ago, our precious little girl came into our lives...a true gift from the Lord.  We had been waiting for a blessing after having lost our only son.  She was so beautiful, so perfect, so sweet.  And today, she is still beautiful, still sweet...not so perfect.    She is a fantastic big sister, always taking care of the little ones.  She has a servant's heart, always ready to help when needed.  She is a good girl and we love her so much!

Sorry, no pictures today.  We've been on the go a lot lately.  We've been working up at Pawpaw's farm.  We usually bring home a host of critters...mainly ticks.  We forget how spoiled we are here with the chickens constantly scanning the yard and fields, gobbling up those pesky critters!  I suppose I can deal with poop on the carport if that means we don't have to worry about Rocky Mountain Spotted Tick Fever!!! 

We have had a few more baby chicks hatch.  The little mother the girls call "Chocolate" has hatched out 2 chicks.  They look like an Americana and a Silver Laced Wyandote.  How funny that in a few more weeks they'll be bigger than their mama!!    This is exactly what I wanted for our chickens.  I don't want to have to buy any more chickens.  I am excited because there is another hen that's gone broody and I don't know how many eggs she's sitting on but my guess is that it's a lot!  She should have them hatched in about 3 weeks.  I guess we'll see!  We noticed today that one of the chicks got eaten yesterday, most likely by the hawk.  We found feathers and intestines on the front field...pretty nasty I realize, but that's farm life. 

Another interesting thing we're doing here on our farm with our dairy cows...Head Farmer has been doing lots of research on how we can make our farm more "organic" and he found some interesting facts.  He discovered, through research, that when you feed grain to cattle the level of CLA's drops incredibly.  What are CLA's you ask?  Well it is Conjugated Linoleic Acid and this is what Wikipedia says about it:  "Conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) are a family of at least 13 isomers of linoleic acid found especially in the meat and dairy products derived from ruminants. As the name implies, the double bonds of CLAs are conjugated."  Check out this website here and read about CLA's.  http://www.eatwild.com/cla.html

Ok, last but not least...I've been working with Chickie #2 for the past week on teaching reading.  We are using the book:  Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.  She's doing so great.  She just read her first story today.  Want to know what she read?  see me eat.  We're so proud!!!   

Now we are getting ready to go to a Farmer's Association to get supplies to work our...BEES!!!!  Yes, can you believe it??!!  We have our own bees now!!  Oh, what will we be doing next!!??  Gotta go for now!  Take care!!!

The Milkmaid

I don't want to knock any of you city dwellers...everyone has their place in this world.  But there is just something about living in the country...the freedom you have to do what you want, when you want.  Head Farmer was at Pawpaw's this afternoon bush-hogging the 20 acres that Pawpaw has allocated for Head Farmer to use for our cows.  While he was gone the chickies and I went outside for some good ole fresh air and exercise.    The 3 chickies played on the trampoline, on the slide, they rode bikes, they pulled each other in their wagon...they ran and screamed and chased real chickies out of the garden!!  The littlest chickie was in her exersaucer (the chickies call it baby jail) and I sat on the swing, drinking in the sights, sounds and smells.  OH the smells filling the air.  You just don't know how sweet it is to have the bluegrass and fescue mingled with honeysuckle floating on by.  Then there's the smell of the little calves belonging to our neighbor behind us.  Some folks may think the smell of cow is stinky...but to me (and most farmers) it's a sweet smell.  It was so cute...all those calves lined up along the fence watching the chickies play!!  Our cows were busy grazing...and I guess they're probably used to all that screaming...they didn't seem the least bit interested.  It was a sweet time.  If you haven't slowed down and taken the time to drink in the sights, sounds, and smells around you...do it!  It can be relaxing and refreshing...and your little chickies will appreciate having you there to watch them play.  It's ok to take a book and spend some time reading...I did; I was reading Pocketful of Pinecones, which by the way is really an excellent book!  Just make sure that if you do have a book don't let it take up too much of your attention. 

So, enjoy some time it the great outdoors and enjoy your little chickies and give them a kiss from me!

The Milkmaid

I remember the days of going to the movies or to the skating rink or even just crusin' through The Sonic (come on, I bet you went crusin' too!).  But, alas, those days are gone!  It's no fun crusin' when gas is almost $4 per gallon!  And well, you can't really take 4 chickies to the movies all the time... actually, you can (at least we have) but it gets kind of expensive.  Anyway, this is where we go on a Friday night:

At least that's where we went this Friday night...up to Pawpaw's farm.  We just went crusin' on our 4 wheeler...yes, all 6 of us!!  Anyway, these are Mr. Rooster's cattle...he's leasing Pawpaw's farm right now.  He's really Mr. Brewster, but one of the chickies misunderstood!!  He has some really pretty ones!!

This pair gets the "Most Beautiful" prize.  She's a real beauty and her little bull calf was quite handsome as well!!

Beautiful Mama actually got a little curious!

This little cutie seemed to think his left side was his best side! 

I love the color on this mama!  She seems a bit serious though, don't you think?! 

Her sister seemed to have a more curious nature! 

See the cow on the left side?  She's actually going pee (sorry, we didn't capture that moment on purpose)  But she must have been holding it for a while!  I think she was saying, "OH, that feels good!!!!"

Every now and then you come across some interesting things...unexplainable things...

Is it me or does this tree look like it has a big butt??!!    Here's a closer look:

Some things just don't require words!

As the evening began to wind down...

And the moon began to rise...

We spied this darling girl!  Oh I know!  It's blurry...so sorry!  Head Farmer took this off the 4 wheeler and I was holding Chickie #4.  (what do you expect from amatuers?!  )   I'm just kidding!  HF really did take the photo...not sure what happened.  It must have been all the excitement of running up on the doe and trying to hurry and take the picture before she bolted!  Anyway, she wasn't blurry to us!! 

By then the air had quite a chill in it and someone had to go potty, so we headed back to the truck to load up and go to Taco Bell!    Then we did some crusin' with our trailer and 4 wheeler behind us and 4 sleeping chickies in the back seat.  We got home around 10 pm and everyone got cleaned up and put to bed! 

Yesterday was a fun day too.  We went to the city and ran into some friends, went shopping and got some fun things for Head Farmer (for his birthday which is on May 25th) and got home in time to see that one of our cows had calved.  Yes, Millie...my most beloved cow...had a little bull calf yesterday that was, unfortunately, still born.  Now we must go and take care of her and begin another fun day.  So ya'll go and have a great day with your families!  Enjoy life, enjoy each other, and spread the love!!

The Milkmaid