Just a thought

So I have something I have really been thinking about lately as people move off the farm and new people move on. I'm kinda really disappointed with the new people coming into the farm. I loved the people that were here. I really want to move into this lifestyle of using herbs for everything and learning to create with my hands and basically be what we think of as a "hippie", but more of a modern hippie. A hippie by my definition is not someone who does drugs but someone who does sustainable ag, makes a lot of things, very laid back and not into name brands but just really moves to their own personal style, who don't do their hair and make up every time they go into town, who arn't obsessed with figures and weights but just health. I feel like I'm not going to learn much from the new people here besides how cool it was to live in another country or that maybe you can wear Nike when you're trying to live on less or acting like you know more then you do is charming. So all that to say, I'm frustrated and annoyed.

Now, if any of you know me, you know I have a sweat tooth for Nike. I've told stories about be in Uganda like I'm awesome. I've acted like I know more then I do to scrap by some times or to be interesting. So basically these new people frustrate me because they hold a mirror up to my face and it's me. All of it is me and I'm annoyed and upset about what I see. I don't want to be that brand of human. I hope that I walk out of this place and I have knowledge about herbs, that I live my style not the world's, that all I care about is eating what I can grow or take care of. I don't know what I'm trying to say or if that makes since but that's just kind of my thought throw up.

In other news..... 

 This is the t-shirt I got for cleaning out the compost toilet. Fancy, eh? Kinda really funny.

This is the fence tightener that hooks up to a tractor or truck and you drive forward pulling a fence wire really tight. Kirk used it today to pull hay off a wagon and he bent it! I was shocked. That thing is iron and it's strong. We hooked it up with a chain and attached it and when he drove forward, it bent like a piece of wire! Then he attached it to another part on the bar and it bent again! I was laughing so hard because I was in shock.



My Aunt Sara will be here a week from Friday, at least that's the plan. You never know what can happen. I hurt my back about 3 weeks ago and I got into a massage therapist that uses a different style focusing just on stretches and the muscles. I don't know how to explain it yet. One of my milk customers is a regular with this lady and suggested I call her. I did and she finally called me back after a week. She is going to see me for FREE!!! She usually charges $60 an hour. What a great lady to do that for me. She even got me in for tomorrow! I'm really excited to see someone and get help and maybe I can finally find comfort. I'm constantly uncomfortable working, sitting, sleeping. The other night it was just hurting and I couldn't sleep. Some times I just can't find any position to not feel some kind of pain. It's makes me a grumpy bumpy a lot of the time. So I will let you know how my appointment goes. I need to write another blog soon about an awesome testimony story I have for all of you, but I might wait a few weeks til I tell it at devotions during story time because I don't want Kelly hearing it before the community!!! Haha! Take that Kelly!

I'd like to give a prayer shout out for Erik and Sally and their new addition to their family. What a journey adopting a little girl from India and now they have her in their arms back home. Beautiful. Prayer for the work ahead of her new life in a new land with a new language. Patience, compassion, love, understanding and all that for her new parents. Restful nights and playful days for both. Only through the name of Christ, who is the only one through which things can be done.

I leave you with a quote:

"Jesus answered, 'The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.'" -John 6:29

Another Picture Update Entry!!!

 It's time again for more pictures! We were raising 75 cornish hens from day old chicks here on the farm and experimenting with have a meat bird enterprise here on the farm. This picture was taken during butcher day. This was the gutting crew. Left to right: Dolores, Annali, Nathan, and Keith.

Annali making the chicken feet do a dance. The video is even funnier. Haha. You have to do something to keep a smile on your face. It can be a really long and unbearable day without laughter. 

 Bucket of chicken heads out by the killing cones. The chicken is turned upside down and slides down a cone so just their head and neck are exposed, making it easier to cut the throat. It's contained this way and we can drain it easier. The blood bucket was the nastiest thing I've ever seen. It was like blood jello by the end of the day. BLEH!

I took a load of goats into the butcher for the first time since I've been here. I took 3 wethers and 1 doe. I just went and picked up all the meat last week and boy, is it delicious! Mild smoked sausage links are my favorite. It was sad though when they would look out of the trailer like this. 

 This is the snake that scared the poop out of me. Zac and I were cleaning out some broken feed bags in the kid barn. The bags sit on pallets and when I reached into the pallet to grab some loose feed, this thing was curled up under it right where my hand was. I freaked out and ran out of the barn and did my I'm scared of snakes dance while yelling at Zac that there was a snake. He got it out of there after he realized it was dead. Haha. Freaked me out! Just a rat snake by the way, not poisonous.

Me and the boys butchered the doe with the exploded udder. Keith is in the red, Nathan has the farmer hat on, Steven is in the pink/red shirt and Kirk is back there cutting away. We just ate some of the goat last night at a going away party for Elise. It was so tender and delicious! 

Nathan looks real happy here. 

Kirk holding onto the goat so the other guys can cut it. 

We just got new baby bunnies on the farm!!!! They are so cute!!! We took a donation of california reds from a family who was doing a 4H project gone a rye. 

Wes, Annali and Steven with the new bunny. We always take time on the farm to enjoy cute babies. 

This little guy stayed put on my shoulder for a long walk. Didn't budge. 

 Picture from my soap making class at Homestead Heritage. It was so much fun. This was a large batch they had prepared so we could practice cutting soap different ways.

I house sat for Matt and Sarah Hess a couple weeks ago and this is their dog Lizzie. She doesn't look like it in the pic, but she was passed out sleeping here and was snoring. She slept like that every day. 

The soap I made. That's also my new soap mold! The soap on the left is goat milk soap and lavender scented and the stuff on the right is made from beef fat and spearmint scented. My room smells amazing even as I sit here and blog it's so strong!

This is my favorite farm cat, Barry. He is awesome. This is his pose every day right outside the front door of the dorm. 

We had another cute baby on the farm but not one you would want to hold. A baby skunk! Sad to tell you, but someone ended up killing it. Just try to remember what it would grow up to be! We have a skunk that wonders the farm and I'm always scared I'm going to get sprayed if I walk around after dark.

Jonathon and I took Milo our new goat dog into get fixed. He came out with a cone. I was cracking up. Poor guy.

Zac and Annali had a co-birthday party with the theme being face painting. I'm not sure what Karin is but I just pointed at a picture in a book and said that one. Karin painted my face. It's like some kind of interpretive batman face painting. Haha. It was the hardest thing to wash off. That was no fun. 

 Face painting, better shot.

Nigerian dwarf buck at a farm I visited 3 hours away. He had bangs. 

This is our new herd of Boer goats! In the business plan David Cole and I suggested getting rid of our dry herd of saanan male wethers and getting a breed of goats that are made more for higher yields of meat. A lady emailed me and wanted to donate her herd, out of the blue. Pretty crazy how it all worked out! They are beautiful goats. 

Another pic of the goats. Not very good, sorry.

I had to load up some kids to sell and I put then inside the truck or else they just all jump out. If you look past the reflection you can count 4 goats in there. 

The beautiful Gruyere cheese the farm received as a gift. A whole wheel of it! It was so so so good! 

Annali doing cornrows for the very first time and I have to say she did a great job. I think Dolores was a little nervous. Back in Africa it was really cheap for Dolores to have her hair done. Here it was going to cost 50-100$ to go in to get stuff done. So Annali volunteered her services. 

Cornrows!

Compost Toilet Clean Out

Today was T-shirt day. I mucked out the compost toilet with Karin. It took a couple hours and a lot of work but we got it done. I was soaked with sweat and had humanure all over my pants. It disgusting but I'm glad I got it done and over with. The best part was having a good partner to tackle this task with.