From Rebecca's Kitchen Window

We will sure be glad when we finally get warm weather. It is exciting to see that the grass is starting to green up and know that the animals will start thriving on it.


As usual Gary starts every morning with milking the cows, all 7 of them! Thankfully, he promised me that he would only milk once a day so we could have a life besides milking! Alot of information said that it wouldn't work milking once a day, luckily, Gary proved them wrong!
He really enjoys being with the cows and their peacefulness. I don't know what that says about me!

Our chickens are beginning to learn about what the cows have already learned, that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence! They are now exploring my yard! If that continues they may find themselves in the pot, on my stove, for chicken noodle soup! Take that!

Our sheep are looking very pregnant and should be having baby lambs in 2 to 3 weeks. Hopefully, they will have alot of twins. I love watching the baby lambs out our windows, they have so much fun jumping straight up in the air and running all around.

I guess, the funniest thing this week, except for our son Ethan, was that Gary told him to go get this wagon of hay from another farmer. He was returning a wagon that we had used before and saw that the wagon he was to take with the hay on, had a flat tire. So he took all the hay off that wagon and put it on the wagon he brought over and brought it back home.( which is a very slow drive! ) He was so proud of how he took probably 100 bales of hay and put them on another wagon all by himself and how tired he was from doing that. To find out after a phone call that he had taken someone else's hay, instead of our hay!! So the next morning back he goes with the wagon full of hay, to get the wagon of hay, that he was suppose to take!! Sometimes we sure work hard around here and don't really get much done!

This Week, Gary and I took our customers their meat and egg orders up to Perrysburg. I enjoy spending a little time alone with Gary, even if it is making a delivery. We also made deliveries to two health food stores.

We also picked up 3 little pigs, not the ones you have read about! They are an old breed of pig, called large black. They are suppose to be good on pastures and their meat they say is very flavorful.

So that pretty well sums up some of the highlights of our week.

Please check in again to see what I may find lurking out my kitchen window! Hopefully, it isn't another chicken!

Blessings,

Rebecca

From Rebecca's Kitchen Window

It's been awhile since I have written in my blog. Gary and I planned a relaxing week in Florida with our friends in February. That week turned into almost two weeks! Unfortunately, Gary ended up in the hospital! He had a blood clot in each lung and found out that he is spilling a lot of protein from his kidneys. That was sure a big surprise to us! Not a single clue that anything was going on with his health, I ended up looking out a hospital window instead of my kitchen window!
I don't really enjoy being in hospitals, but, God gave me strength to get through this whole matter. It was amazing watching how many times God was present through this whole hospital stay. When he says he takes care of us and watches over us, never doubt that! He went in Thursday evening to the ER and we got out of the hospital the following Wednesday. We made it back to Ohio late Thursday night. I am thinking we need a vacation from our vacation!!
We were so happy to make it back in time for our daughter's last home basketball game, which was also senior night and the 3 of us got to walk in together.
On Sunday morning we stayed home from church so Gary could rest and I should have known better than that! We looked out our living room window and what do we see our big black bull walking on our road. It looked like he was headed to town! The kids weren't home from church so this meant Gary and I had to go take care of him! Luckily, our neighbor saw him on the road and parked himself there until we could get there. So off we went on the kubota to get this beast (his head and neck are massive) to a field. He thought the field with all the girls was his choice and headed out to be with them! So that is were we put him. Luckily, he followed me down the road, if that wasn't a site! I was just praying that he wouldn't decide to come after me!! Of course there is snow all the way down the lane out to the field and we got the kubota stuck and have to walk back! That was our first Sunday back home!
Then if that wasn't enough. The next morning we get a call from our neighbor that our bull and the rest of the girls decided they want to go on vacation! I think they were headed for California! So once again, it's time to round up cattle! They almost made it onto Rt. 12! I watched from our van to see how Gary and Ethan were going to get all of the cattle back to the field they are suppose to be at! After being in Florida for almost 2 weeks, it sure felt extra cold outside that morning.
Things didn't look like it was going to be an easy job and then all of a sudden the bull noticed that on the back of the kubota was a bale of hay! Yum!! So next thing you know all the cattle, with the bull leading the way are following Gary (who is driving the kubota) back to the field! Back they went and back on went the fence charger! It really is true, the grass must be greener on the other side, or there must be less snow on the other side!!
What a nice start back on the farm again!
Gary goes out in the mornings to milk and do some chores, by noon he is pretty tired. He doesn't have all his strength back yet. His medication also has it's share of side effects that he gets to deal with. Hopefully, in the next few weeks we will find out more about his kidneys and why they are spilling out all this protein. I pray that we make the right decisions as we figure out why and how to take care of it.

Our sons Ethan and Jacob, have been very helpful through all this and we are grateful they can take over some of the manual work for Gary.

We had our first taste of our Berkshire pork. Boy, was it good! No wonder chef's are asking for this kind of pork!
Chickens are laying good, our sheep will start lambing in April, the cattle are staying where they are suppose to stay, the turkey's are going to be butchered soon, the pigs are growing, the cows are milking good. So things are going good on the farm. Hopefully, the pastures start greening up soon and the animals have more to eat!!
We also are busy going to our daughter's basketball tournament games, and hopefully they can make it to state this year!
We are truly blessed in so many ways and know that God is in control of all things and he will hold our hands through it all.
Blessings to all of you who have been praying for us and helping us through this journey. You are all so special to us!
Come back to hear my next adventures out my kitchen window. Or sometimes out my living room window!!!

Blessings,
Rebecca