Chore Time

 

Morning finds the cows still relaxing in the pasture and the pigs asleep.

          

Our boys hear the alarm ringing at 6:00 and after their personal Bible reading and prayer time they head out to the farm.

         

       

The  pasture gate is opened and the cows find their way to the milking barn.

     

Separating out the calves Violet and Forall can be a challenge.

                                           

Daisy, Liberty, and Isabel wait to go in the barn to get milked.

                       

The pigs come running and squealing for their breakfast! They get a little oats along with their pasture diet. In times of extra milk, they love to have some of it!

                   

Joseph mixes up the turkey feed, loads up the chicken feed, fills the water tank, and then heads out to the poultry pasture pens. Titus follows on his bike with his buddy Timothy.

    

 

                

The broiler chickens and turkey pens are moved to fresh pasture and then  fed an organic feed mix and water. They love the fresh grass and peck excitedly as they are moved. The boys use a homespun ‘dolly’ to help move the pens. An escape turkey enjoys the pasture.

                                           

Then its on to the baby chicks. These are future egg layers. They need their chick feed, water, and heat lamps adjusted.

There’s usually time for some fun!

          

The new mother and kittens are doing well.

A quick stop at the horses tell us they are well. Dakota, below left, is Daniel’s preferred steed. Joseph prefers Bonanza, below right, and Titus rides little Blackie.

     

The hens are also fed and watered and their pastured Egg Mobile moved as needed, usually every other day. Gathering eggs is a rewarding and fun job!  Below is a hen laying an egg and a hen saying good morning to you!

    

     

The cows get a new ‘break’ of pasture set up for them and then they are let out. Mahlon brings in the fresh healthful milk, strains it, and gets it chilling.

After a final check that all is well at the farm the boys come in ready for breakfast and to start their school work. Mahlon heads off to the Lanz farm to help with harvest. Faithful farm dog Annie takes over keeping an eye on things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two New Babies

 

Now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity. (1Cor.13:13)

Charity Rose Steiner blessed our family Saturday, August 4th at 2:30 a.m.                                         

 

                

She is very much loved and in great demand…..”now whose turn is it, really, and who has had her the longest”….how blessed she is!

       

          

 

And the the other new baby…..Liberty Had her calf…..a cute healthy bull calf!!!

 

We named him For All…his mom is Liberty and had Justice and Freedom last year, and this year she had For All (Liberty, Justice, Freedom…For All)

The last batch of chickens and the turkeys are all lined up! They get moved twice daily, are growing well, and loving this cool weather!

Daisy's new calf

Sunday morning, July 21st, Mahlon informed all of us, "When we get home from church, I think we'll have a calf." Great excitement reigned as we neared home that afternoon, as each was hoping to race in, change, and dash out to check on Daisy. Titus beat us all as he had brought his old clothes in the van and was all changed and ready to run out to the farm the minute the van was in park!

He wasn't disappointed as Daisy had picked a shady secluded timber area to have her heifer calf
(future milk cow)!!!

EVERY CALF NEEDS A GOOD LICKING FROM MOM!

She's a beautiful calf from a Guernsey bull.

She's doing well!

Daisy is a great mom.

Beautiful Violet, the name all agreed upon.

On another subject, the turkeys are doing fine and have become great friends with our new bunny rabbit, Bumpy. Quite the interesting combo!

Another batch of broiler chicks also arrived and are all acclimated to their new home.

Baby Turkeys Arrive

This morning excitement is in the air as Mahlon, Titus, and Providence leave to up your turkeys at the post office. Above is the type of box they come in. They all look happy and healthy.

Mahlon soon has them in their cozy new home. Turkeys are more challenging than chickens to raise. They are so interesting to watch and look so intelligent, but don't seem to 'think for themselves'. Joel Salatin says if you can get them to 5 weeks then you have it made.

Contented chicks explore their new home. As soon as they are big enough we will get them out on the pasture!

Meet Isabella, the cow we rented from an organic grazing farm to get by as we dry off (stop milking) cows in preparation of their calving.

Daisy is due to calve any day now!!! She is the one on the far right in the picture below.

Doesn't the pasture look lovely? Currently, though, it is looking rather dry around here. Right now the cows  are grazing the sudan grass, an annual grass that loves heat and does not need much water. Next they go to the alfalfa patch we left uncut for them. The third cutting of hay is in the barn now and we are thankful for it's excellent quality. Since we do not wish to feed grain, excellent hay is necessary for milk production this winter!

Hay Making

Hay making is always an exciting time. Making high quality dairy hay is what I would call an art or science. We like to get 4-5 cuttings a year and each cutting before the alfalfa flowers. This is the second one of the year.

The healthier the soil, the more nutritious the hay, the healthier the animal, and the more nutritious the food we produce. Every year we take measures to build the life of our soil and it is coming along nicely.

Watching the weather and the alfalfa the men pick a day to mow. A sunny, low humidity forecast is great.

MAHLON USES THE HAYBINE TO MOW THE HAY

 

Next it is time to rake. The rake flips the hay over to help dry the bottom side and puts it in windrows ready for the baler. Usually it needs to be raked twice. The smell of drying hay is wonderful!

After much discussion and walks to the hayfield the hay is declared ready to bale. Now the fun begins!

Everyone likes to be part of the process!

CHEWING A PIECE OF THE FRAGRANT HAY IS JUST MANDATORY





They guys love to show how strong they are, and we love to watch them. This cutting is of great quality and will be ideal for our dairy cows this winter. Notice the lovely green color below!

 

To the shed to save for winter days.

 

Stacking.....

Looks like Courage found a bale just his size!

 

Soon another favorite day on the farm ends. Everyone is tired and thankful to God for his blessing of good hay in the shed...a great feeling.

Chicken Processing Day

As morning dawns the chicken butchering crew had been long up preparing for the exciting day! It's a long, yet rewarding day. All the time, effort, and care of the broilers for the past 8 weeks culminate today to provide superb nutritious food for our patrons. Extra help is always appreciated and adds to the fun. Today Grandpa and Grandma Steiner are here and then a surprise crew from IL shows up to lend a helping hand!

The scalding water must be at just the right temperature and the defeatherer ran for the precise number of seconds. This is Mahlon's area of expertise.

Titus removes heads and legs next. Then the bird is on to the degutting team. For some reason this is a favorite job of many. Daniel and Joseph star in this area. The broiler now needs to be in a cold water about one hour before what we call detailing!

Above one of our surprise IL helpers details a chicken. This involves a going over it for unwanted feathers or innards previously missed. This is the most time consuming part of the process. Then the broiler goes on to the ice cold holding tank to await weighing and packaging.

The broiler is weighed, packaged, and taken to a large refrigerator in our garage to await a fortunate patron. Every part of a pasture raised, organically fed broiler is nourishing for your health: the naturally occurring healthy, flavor giving fat, delicious meat, and mineral packed bones for broth will impart health and strength to our patrons.


Soon our patrons arrive and we enjoy catching up with them and meeting first time customers.

From our Natural Farm to your plate!!!!

Fresh milk

Homemade cottage cheese

Sugar Snap peas

Roasted beets

REAL CHICKEN