All bacon is NOT created equal

Let me first say that if you are kosher or vegetarian, you may not want to read this post.  But, if you love bacon, this one is for you!  Today I had the most delicious bacon I have ever put in my mouth.  Please forgive me if it sounds like I am bragging.  That is not my intent!  My intent is simply to say that I have now had to opportunity to taste some of our first pork that we have raised here on the farm.  It is delicious!  I have heard over and over again that any meat that you raise yourself will taste much better than anything you can buy in the store, and let me just tell you firsthand it is true!!

This morning my husband prepared the most delicious breakfast of pancakes, bacon and sausage.  Yes, we had to taste the sausage too.  :)  The pancakes were made with fresh buttermilk that I made myself.  They were light, fluffy and dripping with maple syrup.  Yum!!  The sausage looked different than any I had seen from the store.  It had just the right amount of spice and flavor.  Although it was marbled with fat, it left very little drippings in the pan.  But the bacon, ohhhhhh the bacon!  It was simply mouthwatering!  It was thick sliced, and it was sweet and smokey.  It fried up beautifully in the pan, and it was tender with just a slight amount of chewiness.  Is that a word?  LOL!  Anyway, the bacon was outstanding!  It made all the waiting of raising the pigs and sending them to the butcher worthwhile.

As for the raising of the pigs, they were very easy.  I had no idea what to expect, and I had heard horror stories about them.  We had a very good experience with our little piggies.  When my husband brought them home, the two of them fit in a large cat carrier.  We fed them for about 4 1/2 months, and they grew very quickly.  Sometimes it almost felt like you could watch them grow.  They were always happy to get fed, and they would happily gobble up anything you gave them.  We fed them table scraps (no pork), milk and whey, and hog feed. They didn't have much grass, but they would root around and dig up whatever they could find.  They were very tame, and loved it when you scratched them on the head.

After they were gone, I discovered just how wonderful pig manure is as a fertilizer for my garden.  I had a manure pile close to the pig pen, and now I have some of the prettiest tomato plants growing there.  The best part is that they grew there all on their own!  I also have some of the strangest looking plants that I thought for the longest time were peppers.  It turns out they are tomatilla plants.  They are huge and covered with blossoms.  (We had fed some to the pigs once.  Haha!)

So, will we grow pigs again?  YES, YES, YES!!!  We now have a freezer full of pork.  320 pounds of it to be exact.  The pigs weighed in at 240 pounds and 275 pounds, and they dressed out at 145 and 175 respectively.  We figure it cost us about $1.75 a pound overall from start to finish.  So far we have only tried the sausage, bacon and pork steaks.  They were all fantastic.  I can hardly wait to try the other stuff in my freezer.  :)  John and I just planted about 300 corn plants in their old pen.  After we harvest it, we will buy a couple more piggies and throw them in with the old corn stalks.  They will love it!  Well, I've rambled a bit too long as usual, and my timer for my next batch of cheddar cheese is going off.  I gotta go!

Our first paying customer!

Today was another busy day.  The house was full of  rambunctious boys.  Steven and David each had a friend over to play.  It was a welcome break for me to know they were being entertained so I could get some work done.  Summer has officially begun! 

John made a price list brochure for our dairy products while I made a couple of batches of cheese.  Today I made a raw milk mozzarella that was really good, and another batch that was not so good.  I have decided that making mozzarella with more than one gallon of milk just doesn't work right.  The consistency is just too mushy.  It kind of turns out like a mozzarella version of Velveeta.  I much prefer it when it is firm and has a stronger flavor.  I am anxious to hear how my new customers like the samples I gave them today.  He bought some of my farmer's cheddar, and I gave him a sample of the raw milk mozzarella and some of the jalapeno and ranch cheese spread.  The gentleman told me that the cheese I gave them last week was the most delicious he had ever tasted.  That was just the kind of encouragement I needed to hear.  They also drive all the way from Tifton just to buy my cheese.  Pretty cool!

We had a very welcome rain tonight.  We needed it so badly.  Now John has to make good on his promise to plant corn in the old pigpen. :)  We figure that after we harvest the corn we will be ready for new pigs, and they will enjoy eating the corn stalks.  I love how nothing goes to waste on the farm.  I am missing the little piggies because I used to give them all the scraps and leftover whey from cheesemaking.  Now my garden gets the whey.  It makes a great organic fertilizer, and I save the food scraps for my friend's pig.

It's been a long day, and I am tired.  I'm hoping tomorrow to finally get caught up on some laundry,  finish packing up the kid's school books and get some gardening done.  Goodnight!

Just another day on the farm

Normally we have something fun lined up to do on Memorial Day, but this year we had no plans.  Since this was our first official day of no school, I tried to check off as many things on my summer to do list as possible.  Coincidentally, posting on my blog each day during the summer is one of those things.  We'll see how long that lasts.  :)  I am still trying to listen to the "still small voice", and lately it has practically screaming at me that I need to journal each day.  I really believe that something awesome is coming into our lives, and I am going to want to be able to look back at these entries to read again how it all unfolded.

That being said, today was a very busy (and probably boring to read about) day.  It didn't start out too well.  This morning looked like rain was coming, so I was trying to clean out the calves little shelter so they would have somewhere to go and stay dry.  Little did I know that there was a wasp's nest in there!  The little buggers stung me twice.  Once on the arm and once on my stomach.  Needless to say, I freaked out, and went running inside to take some benadryl and pray that I didn't have an allergic reaction like the last time I got stung.  Praise God, I did not!

So, I sat down with a cup of coffee and thought about how I was going to spend my day.  I had already decided I was not going to make cheese today because I didn't feel like it.  I've been a little frustrated and confused as to what to do with all the milk we have been getting lately. I've been making cheese like it's going out of style and giving it away to everyone I see in hopes that I will be able to sell it.  (Legally, I cannot sell my milk or dairy products because of ridiculous governmental regulations that I will not get into right now.  However, I have decided that I am not going to let that stop me from doing what I feel like I am supposed to be doing with all this milk.)

I decided I would make some blackberry jelly.  I have been wanting to make it for a while, and I am trying to clean out the freezer as much as possible to make room for the butchered pigs we will be getting back this week.  Let me just say that straining out all those little seeds is a major pain.  It is unlikely that I will be making blackberry jelly again anytime soon!  Then I decided that as long as I had all the canning stuff out, I might as well make some strawberry jam too.  I already had the strawberries ready to go in the freezer.  It was a big project, but I now have 4 pints of each sitting on my counter.  And boy did my kitchen smell good this afternoon!

While I was making jam, I got a phone call from a lady I had sold some raw milk to (for her dog of course!) who wanted to get some more.  Yeah!!  I had all but given up on hearing from her again, not to mention the thought of never seeing my gallon jars again.  Anyway, she asked me if I had any cheese to sell.  She said, "That cheese you gave me was delicious!!"  I was delighted to tell her that yes, I did have some cheese she could buy.  My very first cheese customer.  It was a monumental moment for me.  I got off the phone and told my husband, "I guess I will be making some more cheese today after all."

So, long story short, I spent the entire day in the kitchen.  I made blackberry jelly, strawberry jam, a batch of farmer's cheese (which is a quick version of cheddar that ages only about a week instead of several days), a batch of brownies and some homemade croutons out of some old bread.  John cooked some chicken on the grill while I made some pasta and fried squash from the garden.  I also cooked some of the green beans I canned last week.  They were delicious!  Right now John is making a batch of homemade ice cream that we will have tomorrow.  Yum.....just another day on the farm!

Robbie's new little brother

What a crazy day it has been!  Actually, the last few days have been some of the busiest I can remember in a long time.  We have had quite the education in calf rearing, that is for sure!  Farming is not for sissies!!  I think maybe, just maybe we finally have it figured out with these calves.

As some of you may know, our first little calf (Sam 4...Sammy Sirloin) did not make it.  I am sure that he had the scours, and I am very sure that he was already sick when we got him.  We had a terrible time trying to get him to eat, and in the end his little body just wasn't strong enough.  He died on Monday night in John's arms while he was trying to feed him.  I have to honestly say that I never got attached to him - probably because deep down I wasn't really sure he was going to make it.  David took it pretty hard though.

I wasn't really sure that I wanted to bother with another one, but John convinced me that we should try again.  We were planning to get one this weekend, but Duffy called last night to tell us he had a replacement for little Robbie.  He arrived last night just before we were leaving to go to basketball practice.  Right away we could tell that he was a lot stronger.

So, at 5:00 this morning - long before the sun came up, little Sam 5 started to moo.  Oh, btw, this cow's tag also says "Sam 5"!  Anyway, he mooed and mooed and mooed.  I finally got up and started my morning routine of coffee, prayer and Bible study.  I was determined not to give in that early lest we start a routine that we could never break.  I woke David up around 7:00 and told him we were going to have to feed the calves a little early because poor Sam 5 was about to moo himself silly.  I figured this was going to be a walk in the park.  He is so hungry, we will never have trouble getting him to take the bottle.  Boy was I wrong!!!

We tried everything.  We chased him around, held him down, pried open his mouth, you name it.  That calf was not having any part of that bottle!  Finally I sent David in to get Steven about 7:45.  (I had originally told him he needed to be ready to feed animals by 8 am.)  The 3 of us all struggled to get that calf to take the bottle.  One of us was holding him down, one holding his mouth open, and the other one squirting the milk into his mouth.  Still no use.  He wanted no part of that bottle.  In the meantime, he is still mooing his head off because he is hungry.  I was beginning to get frustrated!  I was ready to shove him in the back of my minivan and take his little butt back to the dairy farm.  I even nicknamed him "Stupid A-- Moron"  aka SAM.  I think you get the idea.  Then I called Duffy about 8:30 to see if he had any advice.  He said try giving it to him in a bucket.  We tried that too.  No deal!

By that time it was getting late, and we had to get the other animals fed.  I fed his bottle of milk to the pigs who lapped it up in about 15 seconds.  Then I decided to milk Esther and try again with a fresh bottle of warm milk right from the cow.  I figured if he didn't drink that, then I would surrender.  It is just not in my nature to give up though.  So I called the local feed store to see if they had any advice.  They said to force feed him.  (We kind of already tried that, I thought!)  They said to put the nipple in his mouth and hold his mouth closed until he started to suck.  Well, low and behold, it worked!!  By 9:30 he finally had a full belly and stopped mooing.  Hallelujah!!

I figure somewhere in this story there is a lesson.  Persistance?  Patience?  I am not sure.  I do know that my prayer time this morning was spent praising God and thanking Him for all our wonderful blessings.  Despite how difficult it may be at times, I am extremely grateful for the life I have.  I truly wouldn't trade it for anything.  God is good - all the time!

Oh, one more thing....Sam 5 will from now on be called "Sam I Am."  That is a name I had been thinking about for a while when we had the other calf because the two of them reminded me of Dr. Suess.  Today's experience with the bottle was very much like the story, "Green Eggs and Ham."  "I do not like them Sam I Am!" ..... "I will not drink it from a bottle, I will not drink it from a bucket.  I will not drink it with the dogs.  I will not drink it with the hogs..."  (I could go on and on, but it is now11:30, and we have not started school yet.  It is going to be another one of those days...or what I am learning is just a typical day on a very busy farm.)

New additions to the farm

Wow!  What a busy and exciting weekend this has been for us.  It started on Friday night when we were having our regular Bible study with some good friends.  Duffy is a dairy farmer and has become a very close personal friend to our family.  He and my husband John have become bff's and he has become somewhat of a surrogate grandpa to my kids.  Anyway, during dinner at our Bible study, he told my son David that he had a present for him.  This he said with a big smile on his face.

Knowing Duffy to be a big practical joker, I was concerned.  :)  He said he was going to bring it to the house on Saturday morning.  He later told us what the surprise was when David left the room to make sure we were okay with it.  Then when David came back in, Duffy asked him if he wanted one present or two.  Of course, he said two!!  When he told David that he wanted to give him a little calf of his own, David was so excited! Then he asked Steven if he wanted one too.  Of course he also said yes.  So, long story short we are now the proud owners of two adorable baby steer.

The boys agreed that they would be the ones taking care of them.  Little did any of us know how much work would be involved to bottle feed two little calves!  Not only does it take a long time for them to drink their 1/2 gallon bottle of milk, you have to prepare the formula, wash the bottles... It is much like having a newborn (except they only have to eat twice a day).  One of the little calves is still having some trouble taking to the bottle, and we are concerned that he may have the scours.  Duffy is going to come over tomorrow to check on him.

Meanwhile, John got busy building them a new pen and shelter.  He converted part of the dog's pen.  They will live there for the next few weeks until they get a little bigger and we can put them with Esther and Annabelle.  Then I hope to convert it into a chicken coop.  The dogs were very curious about the new calves, and were not at all happy about being temporarily kicked out of their pen.  It was really quite funny.  When they are in the pen, they want out.  Then when they are out, they want back in!  Since Katy can't be trusted not to jump the fence, she had to spend the night tied to the pole barn while Sadie was able to run free.  They were both very happy to be back in their pen tonight.

So, the big question everyone is asking is, "Will you be able to butcher them?"  Only time will tell!!  It will be at least 18 months before we have to do that.  Their names are Robbie Ribeye and Sammy Sirloin.  :)  Robbie is David's new best friend, so we will just have to see.  I do know that they will be the tamest steer you ever want to be around if he keeps hugging them and letting them sleep in his lap.  LOL!

Happy New Year

Wow!  This past year has brought so many changes to my life.  I hardly know where to start.  Let me first say, I am trying more than ever to listen to the "still small voice,"  and lately it has been telling me in more of a roar than a whisper that I need to blog daily.  So, I suppose you could call it a New Year's resolution, but I am going to think of it as more of a response to a calling from God.  Again, I have no idea if what I am writing down will ever be read by anyone other than myself.  But, if it helps me somehow in this journey of life it will be worth it.  However, my deepest prayer is that something I say in this blog will profoundly change another person in their life in someway.  My deepest goal is to share the love of Jesus and to minister to others as to how to have a more personal relationship with Him.

I have experienced a lot of personal growth this past year - especially since my last post.  Breaking my ankle was one of the most painful experiences I have ever gone through.  I would not wish it on my worst enemy.  It did however teach me many valuable life lessons that I may not have learned otherwise.  I do not say that to say that I believe God was responsible.  I believe that the enemy (Satan) was responsible, but I allowed myself to be used by God through the situation.  I believe my family became closer.  I believe my husband and children learned a greater respect for how much I do for them.  At the same time, I appreciate them more too.  I learned to be a little less of a control freak.  Most of all I learned how much I appreciate the ability to walk.  I have such great empathy for people who do not enjoy that freedom, and such respect for our armed service men and women who have lost that ability while trying to protect our freedom.

The best thing to come out of that situation was it gave me time to just sit and do nothing and think and pray.  I had time to read, write in my journal and just reflect on life.  I had time to visualize what I want for my life, and just as I can picture my home all finished, I am beginning to picture our farm and business take shape.  It also seemed that as I was beginning to have these visions, I was discovering articles about "finding your vision".  I even wrote down the following quote in my journal after watching an episode of Oprah:  "You become what you believe.  To find your purpose, pay attention to the life you are leading now."  So once again, the "still small voice" was speaking to me.

I also believe wisdom is where you find it.  Again, after watching an episode of Oprah, I wrote this quote down:  "Your life doesn't have to be what everyone else thinks it should be."  That resonated with me because I think some people - friends and family - probably thought we were crazy for making the lifestyle changes we have made.  It is not easy or glamorous to own a farm.  We are still far from the vision we have for this place, but the vision is still there.  I am committed to working each day to make our dreams a reality.  We have also left the conventional church in order to pursue a more personal relationship with Jesus.  I know that for most people reading this, that sounds like an oxymoron.  However, since "leaving the church,"  we have grown spiritually by leaps and bounds.  I'll have to expand more on that later.

As we move into a new year, I would also like to share something Sid Roth said on his program, "It's Supernatural" a few months ago.  He said, "Do not be like Lot's wife.  Do not look back to the old.  It's time for the new."  Then one of his guests said, "The key to breakthrough is a determined spirit that refuses to take no for an answer."  That is kind of how I feel about this process of trying to sell milk and cheese (which is illegal unless you have a huge expensive operation).  I know that with God all things are possible, and I am just pressing on with the vision.  I am ready to start classes on cheese making soon, and I believe God will work it all out.

I pray that all of you reading have a very blessed New Year.  I welcome any comments.

How I broke my leg

Okay. Here's the story on how I fell.... I was weeding in the garden and I had collected a bunch of grass that I wanted to give to Esther. I had a big pile of grass in one hand and a big stick in the other so I could get over the electric fence. (If you push down on the electric fence with something not made of metal, you can step over it without getting shocked.) I landed wrong on my left foot and felt like I had twisted my ankle when I stepped over the fence. Then I panicked because my other leg was still on the other side of the fence. I don't really remember what happened after that except that I could hear bones cracking, and I am pretty sure I got a pretty good shock. I just laid there for what felt like an eternity feeling kind of dazed and in an extreme amount of pain. I think I might have been in shock. All I really remember was just calling out to Jesus and praying in the spirit.

Meanwhile, Esther is just looking at me. I genuinely think she was concerned. I managed to crawl over to her shelter and stand up. Then I started to cry for help. Esther and Annabelle chimed in and mooed, but no one inside could hear us. They all thought I was working in the garden. Then I got down on my hands and knees and started crawling towards the gate. This seemed to freak out Esther who started backing up and then ran to the other side of the pen. Then she started slowly walking towards me. I started praying again that God would help me get out of that pen before she decided to run towards me. I managed to crawl out of the pen and get almost to the house when John finally saw me and came outside to help.

Well, now you know the embarrassing story of how I broke my leg. Actually, I broke the very back part of my ankle and the top of my tibia. I am now in a cast from my toes to ¾ of my lower leg. The last few days have been a difficult adjustment for my family. I am used to being busy from the time I get up until after dinner. It has been really hard for me to sit back and let other people do things for me. That has never been something I am comfortable with. I am a very independent person and a control freak. I do not like to sit around and do nothing all day. Now I can't even get myself a glass of water.

Up until now the kids have had chores that they were responsible for, but not nearly as many as they should have. Most of the time if I tell the kids to do something and they don't do it, I just end up doing it myself. Now I guess God is just teaching us all a big fat lesson. I am learning to ask for help and make my kids do more. They are (hopefully) learning that they need to help more, and that they have had it made up until now. How is John holding up, you ask?? He has been a trooper. He has taken over the job of cooking dinner, cleaning the kitchen, pasteurizing the milk, doing the shopping and taking care of the garden. The boys are doing the laundry, cleaning the bathrooms, vacuuming and mopping, and taking care of the cows and the dogs. And yes, until a few days ago, I did most of those tasks myself. The boys helped with the animals and John helped when he could, but he is not here all the time. I am very grateful that he has been able to be home with us this past week. I couldn't have done it without his help. I am still praying that he finds a job soon though. I am sure he would rather be working than playing the role of Mr. Mom.

Why am I writing this? Well, it started out as an easy way to tell everyone at one time who asked me, “How did you break your leg?” But as I was writing, I started to think that maybe someone reading this would recognize themselves in this story. Especially if you are a mom, ask yourself this question...”What would my family do if I broke my leg and I couldn't even get myself a glass of water?” Obviously, this situation could be a lot worse. I am exceedingly grateful that it is just a broken leg. As a fb friend recently said, “I am trying to make lemonade with all these lemons life is throwing at me.” On that note, I am going to get off this computer and go organize the troops to get this house clean and the laundry done. If you are a parent, give your kids an extra chore or two. It won't kill them. It will make them less dependent on you. And if you have two working legs, turn up the music and do a little dance for me!