Hi Everyone,

Isn't it funny how sometimes we also can be like our farm animals.  Wondering if the grass is greener if we lived somewhere else or if we had a different job.  I was thinking about that the other day as I saw the sheep always on the hot pursuit to get out of there fenced in area, why do they want to be any where else than where they are suppose to be. I also realized that sheep tend to all be followers except for that one leader in the pack!  All the others just following the leader not knowing what is in store for them if they do!  It made me realize two things first I love being a farm/ranch wife and wouldn't trade my life with anybody else, plus, to be proud of being who God made me to be and not want to be like or act like anyone else, for he made each one of us special and we are to be ourselves, just as he had planned.  Life on the farm has it's challenges, but it's a wonderful life and it's my life.

A couple of weeks ago we lost one of our really nice milk cows due to bloat.  I never knew how fast a cow can die from that, one minute they appear fine and the next they are dead.  When the grasses grow so nice and rich, that's when they are most susceptible to bloating and it doesn't take them long to die unless you can get the gases released.  So we needed to go get another cow. 

Last Saturday we did just that. I love going places with Gary, it's great spending time with my best friend whom just happens to also be my husband too!!  I am blessed!  So off we went to Wooster, about 2 1/2 hours away to a Jersey Cow Auction.  It was cold in that barn, but we were able to find a cow that wasn't quite as expensive as most of them.  I hope that she will be a good addition to our farm.  Brought her home and Gary put her out with the other cows, thought all would be good.  Well, what did I tell you in past blogs, how animals know you have somewhere to go so they decide to escape, well, it was time for Gary to come in to get ready for church and where did the new cow go?  She managed to get out and go across the road to be with some of our other cattle.  Do you see a trend with our farm? ha ha  Animals always wanting to leave their pastures for other pastures!  They always come with a name too, I rather like her name, Sarina!

 Then yesterday afternoon, Gary and I went to Suter's Cider Press, to get some apples and fresh cider!!  Yum!  Then on our way home we went by the pasture that Gary had moved her into with some other cows, since she is due to calf on Nov. 9th. At least that's what they said at the auction.  We drive down the road to check on her and what in the world is she doing?  She's standing in the middle of the road starring at our van as we pull up to her!  Really!!  So we had to go get her put back in again.  Ran to the house to get more jackets on to keep warm, hopped on the kabota, checked to make sure the fences are off, get some hay, and off we went on the kabota to lure her into the next pasture with the hay!  Hay is a wonderful way to coax a cow where we want them to go!   Here the electric fence charger that is out in the pasture had  been turned off but the one at the farm was on.  So didn't realize that the fence wasn't even charging!  Took care of that issue!!!  I don't believe she will be getting out anytime soon!!  ha  Oops!!  Maybe I really shouldn't have said that!! You know our luck with animal escapes!  At least we have nice animals and they aren't like lions, tigers and bears! ;)

We are getting busy with our turkeys now.  Hoping they grow nicely this next month so they can be ready for Thanksgiving.  At this point Gary is thinking they will weigh between 13 to 20 pounds.  Much better than when his brothers were  farming together and we had some 30 pound ones!  ha That was pretty funny.  You had to cut them (which wasn't easy!) in half just so they would fit into the roaster or oven!! They sure didn't fit into the fryer!  Thankfully, they figured out when to get them so they won't be to big when it's time to butcher for Thanksgiving.  The turkeys this year though are a week younger than they should have been, due to the fact when they came in the mail it was to hot for them and we lost all of them and had to wait another week to get more.  That's life on the farm, you really have to be prepared for anything because for sure it's gonna happen! 

 I purchased the funniest sign a few weeks ago at Hobby Lobby, it's a picture of a Thanksgiving turkey holding a sign that reads....Eat Beef!  Now I need to find one with a cow holding a sign saying....Eat Turkey!  I wonder if there is such a sign out there, if so I want it!  I could hang them together!

I wanted to mention that Gary's EKG came back normal. Praise God!  Now that I know his heart is good, I think it's time to go on a short vacation!! Giggle....Plans are in the making to go back to N.Y.C. to spend some time with my niece and maybe visit Lancaster PA. and ?  This year Gary is going with me.  It has been a long time since we had a vacation together.  I am getting excited to get away.  Gary's job is always around him since we live on the farm and it's hard for him to take time off from the farm and still be on the farm!! He is always able to see things that could, or should be done!

With the weather turning cold out, it makes me think of casseroles for a meal.  Here is a casserole dish that I really like and it's easy too!

Dairy land Casserole.......you'll see why it got the name Dairy land!

8oz. noodles
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
2 cups tomato sauce
1/8tsp. Worcestershire sauce  ( or a little more if your like me and like Worcestershire sauce!)
1/3 cup onion, chopped
1 Tbsp. green pepper, chopped
8 oz. cream cheese
1 cup cottage cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
3 Tbsp. melted butter

1. Cook noodles until tender. Drain and set aside.
2. Brown beef, add tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, onion, and pepper.
3. Combine cheeses and sour cream.
4. Butter large casserole.  Pour in half of the noodles.  Add cheese and cream mixture and cover with remaining noddles.  Top with beef mixture.  Drizzle melted butter on top.  (or you can leave the butter off!) 
Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes, or till cooked through.  enjoy....;)

I will be back soon with more of our life on the farm.

Blessings,
Rebecca

Out Rebecca's Kitchen Window

Here are the Top 10 reasons I know I live on a farm.

10. I never get to sleep IN with my husband because he has to go out early and milk the cows!

9. If you have somewhere to go, the animals know about it and that is the time they decide to get out of their pen.

8. No matter which window I look out of from my house, I can see animals!! How many people can say that! ha

7. When my husband wants to go for a walk, it's not down the road, its through the pastures so he can check the cattle and their water!

6. When you mow down the lane, you may run over a cow pile from the milk cows that went down the lane to their pasture!!

5. Sometimes, when I am leaving and want to go down our lane, I have to take down the electric fence first!

4. Your husband brings things up to the front door, that most husbands would never bring up to show their wifes.  Like the big snapping turtle he caught in the ditch, the owl that was catching a chicken each night to eat, new baby calf, a baby Killdeer, a garden snake, a hawk!!! See what I mean!!

3. If my windows are open I can be awakened each morning by the sounds of cows, sheep, pigs, chickens and turkeys!! Who needs an alarm clock anyway?!!!

2. I have lots of healthy meats, eggs, and milk to drink and never have to go to the grocery store to purchase them!

1. I know I live on a farm, because we have approximately, 10 milk cows, 25 beef cows, 2 bulls, 40 yearlings and calves, 5 sows, 1 boar, 13 piglets, 400 laying hens, 200 broiler chickens, 150 turkeys, 40 ewes, 60 lambs and 2 rams, and believe you me, the saying the "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence" is a motto, that our animals stand by 100%!!!

I was just thinking about how David Letterman does all those top 10 things when I was walking around the farm for some exercise. Our farm sits on a corner and so I can walk down one lane, down road 3 to road N and then up our other lane and get a half mile in!!  So thought you might enjoy what I came up with, which is all true!

On Sunday afternoon, I was helping Gary with chores, we went out to move the cattle down a little farther in the pasture.  The guys have the pasture in sections and then when the cattle have finished eating down a section, they move them down the pasture a little farther and so on and so on.  So Gary and I went out there on the Kabota to do that and we spotted a baby calf in the pasture.  Gary had put one of our milk cows out there awhile ago since she was going to have a calf, but she wasn't due till mid October.  Sure enough though, it was her calf and she had had it early.  It was a cute little heffer, but rather weak.  It looked like Daisy (the mother) wasn't taking care of her, so we loaded the calf up onto the Kabota and drove her back to the farm. She is doing good and will hopefully be a milk cow later on. 

Unfortunately, we lost that sweet little premature heffer calf 3 days after she was born. :(  She was the sweetest little thing. 

My recipe for the day is:  Cheddar Chicken PotPie **** Or if you don't have time to put a crust on top just leave it off and add more milk to make it a chicken chowder!!! :)

Cheddar Chicken PotPie

Crust:
1 cup unbleached flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 Tablespoons chilled butter, cut into pieces
3 Tablespoons of cold water

Filling:
 1-1/2 cups chicken broth
2 cups peeled cubed potatoes
1 cup sliced carrots
1/2 cup sliced celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup unbleached flour
1 - 1/2 cups milk
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded sharp cheddar cheese, myself, I like the Vermont Sharp Cheddar Cheese
4 cups diced cooked chicken (or you can use canned chicken)
1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning....I really like the flavor poultry seasoning gives chicken and turkey dishes
Salt and Pepper to taste

For crust:  combine flour and salt in a mixing bowl.  Cut butter into flour until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.  Gradually add the water, mixing gently with a fork. Gather into a ball.  Cover with plastic wrap and chill at least 30 minutes.  For filling, heat broth to a boil in a dutch oven or large saucepan.  Add vegetables: simmer 10-15 minures or until tender.  Blend flour with milk; stir into broth mixture.  Cook and stir over medium heat until slightly thickened and bubbly.  Stir in cheese, chicken, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper.  Heat until cheese melts.  Spoon into a 10-in.  (2-1/2 to 3 qt.) casserole dish.  Set aside.  On a lightly floured board, roll crust to fit top of casserole dish, trimming edges as necessary. Place in casserole over filling; sealing edges. Make several slits  in center of crust for steam to escape.  Bake at 425 degrees for 40 minutes or until golden.  Yeild: 6 servings.

*Note: you can purchase whole chickens from us and cook it whole and then take the meat off the bones and use that for your chicken* *We also have chicken parts and turkey parts, just check out our website for what we have availabe at that time*
Enjoy!!

Till next time...wishing you a week filled with much joy!

Blessings,

Rebecca

Life on the farm can sure be hectic!!! The other week, our cow was trying to deliver her baby calf and it just wasn't coming, so Gary had to call the vet. Here the poor thing was turned wrong and we lost a very nice calf. Then Gary had put some cattle out on alfalfa and had a block out for them to lick that is suppose to keep them from bloating, well that sure didn't work so well. You see if you put cattle out to graze and the pasture is to rich for them it can cause bloating and even death and usually death. Unfortunately for us, we lost 3 beef cattle to it. On Saturday we lost the baby calf and a beef cow and then on Sunday we lost 2 more beef cattle. Sunday we never did make it to Church, Gary and Ethan spent most of the day outside with the cattle, keeping them walking to help them get the gases out of their stomachs. Hopefully, that doesn't set us back to much with our orders for beef. It was a very long and stressful weekend. Not to mention the money we lost from their loss! I on the other hand, spent the weekend with my sister and brother in law. I had a great time, playing cards and visiting with them.

I got home from running errands, just in time to help with the cattle drive. We had to take them down the road to a new pasture. It went smoothly. Much better than the last couple of cattle drives. The first of those, we got the vehicles across the road, put up the electric fencing, (which the cattle do not realize that it's not plugged into the charger! lol) and got them herded across the road and into the new pasture, all except one lone calf. Who obviously, has a ornery streak in him!!! I learned that day that it is hard to get a calf to go where it's suppose to go, even with 5 people working together at it! We were all running around trying to get it to go with all the other cattle. Then I see Ethan running after it again, and the next thing I saw, (could have been on Funniest Home Video's!) He took a flying leap and caught the calf Jacob and Ethan put the calf on the Kabota and over to the pasture it went! That was a tiring chase! The second cattle drive went very good, got all the cattle across the road and into the pasture without any problems. So Leah and I left to do other projects. Ethan and Gary were busy getting more fencing done around the pasture and Ethan turned around and here all the cattle had gone through the electric fencing, which the guys hadn't had a chance to turn it on yet. The cattle seem to have a 6th sense about knowing if the electric fences are on or not! They were all over the road, heading north, heading south, and heading right into the neighbors corn!! Gary said he could hear them ripping off ears of corn and chewing them!! Not good! Well, I am not sure how the two of them got them all back into the pasture, but they did. Hope the next cattle drive goes better than these did!

Today, Gary and Jacob butchered a few turkeys and a few chickens. Actually, these chickens had the chance to be laying hens, but no, they had grander plans, to see the world, or the farm anyway. We really got tired of putting them back in their pens and then next thing you know those 8 or so would be back out running around, in the garden, up on my front porch, you name it, nothing was off limits to them!! So it was time to fight back and I guess you could say we had the last laugh!

Tomorrow, Gary will be trying out our new meat grinder, it should work a lot better than the tiny little hand grinder we have been using. We have been offering ground turkey and with the demand getting bigger for ground turkey, this will be a very helpful piece of equipment.

Well, those are a few stories for you to enjoy at our expense!! Being a farmer / rancher!! There is so much that is out of your control, weather, animals with there own agenda, long hours, to name a few, but you know, there isn't any other place I would rather be!! I am blessed to be able to be with my hubby every day, and spend time with our sons on the farm. To also help my mother out, who doesn't drive anymore.

On a more somber note, I had to run Gary to the E.R. around 2:30am. a few weeks ago, he wasn't feeling good and I was praying that it wasn't his heart. Praise God he hadn't had a heart attack. They didn't really find anything, so we came home around 9:30am. Gary will be going in for a stress test next Monday. I pray that all goes well on Monday.

Sorry, once again to get so far behind in my blogs, I am working at trying to do them on a regular basis! Hope you all had a wonderful labor day. Gary got in around 2pm and then was in the house till about 5:00pm. and now went back outside to do a few more chores. I was just thinking the other day when he says hes going out to do the chores, is that suppose to be a shorter amount of work than if he says he's going out to work on the farm? Because, sometimes, chores seems to be the same thing as just working on the farm!

Here is a very easy and yummy recipe to share with you. A meat and potato dish, it dosn't get any better than meat and potatoes!! Its a good dish to fill the guys up with, especially if it's cold outside!!

Sausage and Potatoes

1 lb. sausage links (or you could use our turkey links too, the turkey sage, preferably)
1 onion
6-8 medium potatoes
2 Tbsp. flour
1 1/2 tsp. Salt
pepper to taste
1 cup milk
Cut sausage in 1/2-inch pieces. Chop onion. Fry meat and onion. Add water to cover. Cook 10 minutes. Quarter potatoes. Add to meat plus seasoning. Cover and cook until potatoes are done. Make a paste of flour and milk. ( I usually double the flour and milk, we like lots of gravy!) ( I even use corn starch, if I don't want to use flour, it works great.
Add to mixture and cook until thickened. Enjoy!


Blessings,
Rebecca

From Rebecca's Kitchen Window

Hello Everyone,


I am so amazed how busy I get and then forget to blog! It's Sunday today and I thought that it would be good to go out and help Gary and Ethan with getting the sheep herded together. I also got Leah, our 19 year old daughter to come out with me to help. Gary needed to get the sheep all together so that he could pick a couple to go to the butcher tomorrow and to take the rams out from the group. The rams are going to another pasture. Luckily, they are not aggressive and are used to people and to being moved around! Gary thought it would be better getting this done today since they are suppose to get them to the butcher, by 8am Monday morning! My thought was I'll go out, it's 9:30 am. and we can hurry up and get them herded and I will come in and get ready for church and get lunch started! Obviously, I had no idea what a project herding sheep is! This morning I learned several things, first, sheep don't like to be herded, second, I don't like herding sheep, third, sheep herding takes a lot of time!
Well, the sheep herding process went more like this! Ethan, Leah and I hopped on the Kabuta and went out to the pasture. Stopped picked up corral fencing, which are tall and awkward to pick up, although Ethan could do it by himself, he's also 22 years old! We then got back on the Kabuta, headed down the pasture, turned off the electricity and then went on to set up the gates. Got them all set up and Ethan decides that we should make the corral bigger and that we should go back and get those two other gates! So back we went, put two more gates on the kabuta and then went back to finish the corral. Got those up and then went back to the very back part of the pasture to get the sheep. I now know for sure sheep are not the smartest animals, instead of them being on the right side of the fence where theres all kinds of green pasture to eat, where are they? They are on the side where theres mainly just dirt where the farmer is waiting to plant his field! So here we go again, with the saying the "grass is always greener on the other side of the fence"! Except, where is the grass? So Ethan decided to leave those there, he thought most of them had babies anyway and would get them later. I get on the kabuta and got behind the rest of the sheep, to get them moving, Ethan and Leah were along side of them with a wire that the sheep know is electrified, except of course this wasn't! So things are going really good and we get closer, so I stop the kabuta and start walking them too. One thing about sheep, you go very slow and don't startle them. Now Gary has arrived and all 4 of us are getting close to getting them in the corral. We have the wire behind and beside them. All of a sudden one sheep freaks out and turns around bolts through then wire, it tears and all the sheep go crazy and take off running. So now I take off running to stop them from heading all the way back to the back of our pasture. Okay, got them stopped. Let's start over again. Before we start, Ethan goes and gets another type of fencing to put up on one side of the fence, so they at least won't get out that way again! Gary and Ethan got that up and now it's time to herd the sheep again. The four of us, surround them and slowly and I mean slowly herd them in! This time Success!! Gary needed to find 2 sheep to go to the butcher. Well, we only found 1, the others all had babies. So Ethan and Gary got it out and put it in the trailer. Next, time for the rams, got both of those in the trailer. Next, Gary said we need to get the sheep that are on the outside of the pasture and in the field. Off we went to get those, so we got those up to be put in the corral with the other sheep, Gary opened the gate, and we were starting to chase those in and guess what happens. The sheep in the corral bolt out and now all the sheep are out again! Are you kidding me! So I ran after them to make sure they don't go to far. We stopped them and then slowly herded them back into the corral! Finally, all the sheep are in the corral! We didn't find another sheep that could go to market, so we were finally done! Ethan and Gary picked up the one fence and Leah and I headed back home. I started on baked chicken, homemade french fries, and cooked up some green beans, and broccoli and cauliflower. Leah had to get to work at the nursing home that she works at, so I made a quick lunch for her. Then we ate our Sunday dinner at 2:30!!
Getting married at 19, I had no idea all these farm adventures were in store for me! I didn't know how much work a farmer does each day either! Especially now, Gary works 7 days a week! Trying to not work as much on Sundays, but usually something comes up, like today!
The guys really do know what they are doing, unfortunately, the animals usually have other plans! Well, that's just another day on the Luginbill Family Farm! P.S. I sure hope you enjoy your Lamb Chops!

From Rebecca's Kitchen Window

Hi Everyone,

I was wondering how many of you can say they wake up to turkeys squawking! I thought our chickens can make a lot of noise, well, they don't! I was wondering why Gary has both the turkeys and the chickens so close to our bedroom windows!? Even with the windows closed you can hear them, can you imagine how good I can hear them when the windows are open! Who needs a alarm clock with turkeys to wake you up each day! :)

Today on the farm was business as usual. Gary and Ethan had to load up a lamb and a cow this morning to go to the butcher. Then Gary was back to milking the cows. He really enjoys the cows and how calm they are. They have a good life on the farm, as well as the rest of the animals. I got a good laugh the other day when a guy said to me, your animals have a great life, they just have one bad day! Well, if you didn't get that, I think I will pass on explaining it to you!

Last week the Post Office in Toledo called and said our baby chicks were in, but that they would have to be either shipped to Lima and we would have to go pick them up that day or wait another day and they would get them to Pandora's Post Office. I said we are not able to go to Lima today, and feared that we would lose some chicks waiting another day, and I voiced that to him. He said sorry the truck that goes to Pandora already left. So we thought well, we have no choice we will hope that that some don't die before we get them. Well, to our amazement, the Pandora Post Office called later that day to say our baby chicks had come to the post office! They made it in one day, that still amazes me how baby chicks come through the mail service! Now, I know spring is coming, we have baby chicks.

The robins are back too, another good sign spring is coming! I will have to say that Gary beat me seeing the first robin of this spring! We usually have our little race to see who sees the first robin each spring, I know it's rather silly, but what can I say.

We had lots of rain lately and we too experienced some issues with it. We went to bed that night not even knowing how much rain we were suppose to have. We woke up the next day looked out our bedroom window to see that our three pigs, which I named Laverne, Shirley and Squiggy, were almost in the water. Do pigs now how to swim? I never thought about that before! We have a ditch behind the farm and it decided to come way up to their home! So Ethan let them move up farther in the pasture. Then I look out the kitchen window and see Ethan and Gary carrying like 2 to 3 chickens in each of their hands. They had to put them with our other batch of laying hens. Their building that they can go into to lay eggs was flooded.

So now we have two different groups of chickens that don't really like each other and some have had to pay the ultimate price if you know what I mean! Poor things. It has also cut our egg production down some as well. How unfortunate! Of course, there is no way to separate them now, how could you ever tell the younger ones from the older ones, its not like they get gray feathers once they get older!

Gary has been busy making a fence for the milk cows so they have more room to roam!! It is up by his milk room and it's looking very nice! I can actually watch him build it out my kitchen window. I love my kitchen window!! So many adventures I can watch as I am getting meals ready, or baking cupcakes!


I wanted to share with you Gary's favorite Cheddar Chowder soup recipe. Actually, all our kids love this soup too. It's fun to see what recipes your children want to make after they grow up and have a family of their own. This is one of those recipes!!! :)

Cheddar Chowder:

2 c water
2 c diced potatoes
1/2 c diced carrots
1/2 c diced celery
1/4 c chopped onion
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

White Sauce:

1/4 c butter

1/4 c flour

2 c milk

2 c cheddar cheese

1 c cubed ham (if you cook our ham slice up and cut it up or it may just fall apart!, it taste wonderful in this soup)

Directions: Combine water, potatoes, carrots, celery, onion, salt, and pepper in large kettle. (pan) Boil for 10 to 12 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small sauce pan, make white sauce by melting the butter. Add flour and stir until smooth, about 1 minutes. Slowly add milk. Cook until thickened. Add grated cheese to the white sauce and stir until melted. Add white sauce and cubed ham to vegetables that HAVE NOT been drained. Heat through. Serves 6. ENJOY!

I will be back soon to share more adventures on the farm and another recipe!

Blessings,

Rebecca

From Rebecca's Kitchen Window

Hi Everyone,

I know it's been awhile since you have seen me here. I guess you could say I was trying figure out what direction I am taking with my blog. When the winter months hit, I decided it was time to leave the outdoor stuff to the guys. I'm not much of a cold weather gal!! I am doing a lot of answering emails, phone calls, and running eggs to different towns each week. Also, I help wash eggs in a warm building! I work with Gary getting orders ready for our customers that come up from Columbus, Ohio. Gary and I also run to Perrysburg twice a month and deliver orders to our customers and drop off eggs at Kazmaiers Grocery Store.

This winter this country gal went with my sister to New York City and stayed with my niece for 11 days. What an adventure that was! I thought our farm can sure be an adventure, wow, N.Y.C. is quite a place for adventures! While I was there, I was on the set of the Today's Show, where my niece and I got the set ready for her client, we also got to sit in the green room while we waited to do that, then my sister and I got V.I.P. treatment the next day at the Today Show! Meredith Vieira even told me I looked good in my coat!!! We watched them blow up those huge balloons for Macy's Parade, which all three of us found to be a rather emotional moment, we also ate at some really good restaurants. We had a lot of fun shopping ( a lot of window shopping) I even got to try on a vintage bracelet that cost $80,000.00, that one looked really good on my wrist, I tried on a cheaper one that was only $50,000.00, of course, the more expensive bracelet fit and looked the best, isn't that how it always goes, and no, I didn't buy it! One day, we went to a outdoor market and while we were there I saw a man who was going through the trash and digging out food people had thrown away and was eating it. That was hard to see and I felt bad that he had to be in that situation.

Most of you know, I bake cupcakes, so, I had to go to all the N.Y. C. cupcake places and have cupcakes!! Some where better than others! At one place some of the cupcakes were $3.50 a cupcake!

One day at my nieces apartment, we were watching Julia to Julia and then it came to me, that maybe, I could do something like that on my blog. To share different recipes with you that I have tried and loved with our meats and eggs. So, when there isn't anything exciting going on at the farm, I can always share recipes. If you only knew how many cookbooks I have!!! My mom is the same way, we love to read cookbooks and I also love to try new recipes. So my plan is to share a recipe with each of my blogs.

We did have our share of issues with our electric fences today. We have had a lot of rain lately and I guess rain and electric fences don't do well together!! This morning I got a call from a guy saying our calves are out at another farm, then a get a second call from another guy that said someone who told someone told him, that some calves were out!! Of course, both of those guys new that they were our calves. One nice thing about living in a small community, most people know each other. So our son, Ethan, got the calves back in and then saw that the breaker had flipped off and got that back on. Then he comes in for lunch, and looks out the kitchen window and now there are cattle walking around our lane. They are suppose to be in the pasture on the other side of the ditch! The cattle or sheep have never gotten out from that pasture. I was thinking okay, either they walked down the road and up our driveway or else they went for the more adventuresome way and went down the ditch where the water is pretty high up! My vote is for the latter one! ha So out Ethan goes to round up the cattle, with Gary and Leah's help they get them back in with the rain pouring down on them! They get the fence fixed again and now are heading in for lunch. Gary and Ethan came to the house, one jumped in the tub and the other the shower. I am here blogging and the phone rings, they just wanted to let me know that the calves are out again!!! Are you kidding me! Gary and Ethan get all cleaned up and now, once again, they have to go back outside into the rain and get two ornery calves back into the fenced in pasture. Gary and Ethan got that taken care of and now we pray that they all decide to stay where they belong. Once again, the saying the grass is always greener on the other side must be true. Except, they must not realize that there really isn't any green grass over there at all at this time of year. Oh and I don't believe they ever did get to eat lunch that day!

I have a really good recipe to give you for Steak Marinade, that I found the other day.
We had friends over for supper and I marinated our tenderloin steaks and then the guys grilled them. We all agreed, we will be using this recipe again. Enjoy.
Steak marinade: 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/2 cup ketchup, 1/4 cup red wine, 3 T. red wine vinegar, 4 tsp. minced garlic, or 1 tsp. garlic powder, (I used minced garlic), 1/2 tsp. salt and pepper. I just sprinkled some pepper in the bag.
Combine all ingredients, put in Ziploc bag, marinate steak 4 to 6 hours. I actually only had time to marinate them for 3 hours and they still turned out really good. Take out and grill until desired degree of doneness is reached.
If you want to get Gary's favorite soup recipe you'll want to check back soon.
I am ready to blog!

Blessings,
Rebecca

From Rebecca's Kitchen Window

I have a few questions that I was thinking about as I sat on the Kabuta today. First of all, why do sheep wiggle their tails like crazy while they nurse??
Second question, How do sheep know that someone forgot to turn the electric fence back on and you get home and they are all out? Can they hear a clicking sound and know it's on? Or do they just charge the fence and hope not to get hurt to bad? Or do they just go up and get shocked each day to see if it's on or not??
My final question today is how did our pigs survive 2 months out on there own?
I am not sure if I had mentioned back in July, Gary put some hogs out in our electric fenced in pasture. The next day he went out to check on them and 2 of them had escaped! I am not sure how pleasant that was for them, going through 3 lines of electric fence, but they did. We searched for weeks for them and could never find them. Then the last 3 weeks we started hearing about different neighbors seeing them, here and there. Would those be considered Hog Sitings? Our neighbor started seeing one of our pigs every morning out by her shed. She decided that she would coax the pig into their shed with some water and it worked! Yah, we have one of our pigs back. Thanks neighbor:) Then on Sunday we had the state trooper who knows us came over and said that he had seen a pig a mile north of us and wondered if it was ours. So Ethan and Jacob went over to get it and the pig was gone. They went back the next morning and sure enough there the pig was back by the road again. Jacob and Ethan had brought gates to round him up and they managed to catch him. After two months of their sabbatical from the farm, they are were now safe back at the farm and being watched over closely!
I also question, why do we have chickens? They never stay where they belong. (and I mean never!)
I have also made this observation, that animals are just as nosey as people are! Here we are out working around the turkeys and what do they do they follow you all around their pen. Trying to catch up with you to see what's going on. While one of the Tom turkeys is all fluffed all their feathers up and gobbling at us, if you get the chance to see them do it it's pretty cool actually. They fluff all up and then their waddle comes down (that's the red long skin that comes down from their beak. Also if you say something to them they all gobble back at you all together?
Another reason I believe that animals are nosey are from watching our cattle. Gary went out into the field today to check on this one cow. As he was walking back to check her, all the other cattle were following right behind him and I am talking around 70 beef cattle following Gary like they were playing follow the leader! Except they don't know how to stay in a straight line! Looked pretty funny!
Gary and I were just about done with chores on Friday night and we were starting to walk up to the house and what do I see CHICKENS, I see lots of chickens! Why now? It's 7 p.m. and I am ready to spend the evening with Gary. Off we go to herd the chickens back where they belong. Have you ever herd chickens before?? Well, I have and they are not very bright, they don't stick together at all. You get 3 going one way and the other 3 decide they are going to zip around you and take off the other direction! May I add that they do have wings too! Finally, we got around 30 chickens back to there home! Here the fencing had fallen down in this one spot and they found freedom, well for a little while they did!
Saturday, Gary and I had a egg delivery and had several errands to run. We pull in our drive way and what do I see Sheep out! We couldn't put them away right then, because we had a family come from Columbus Ohio to get some of our meats and eggs. :)
Gary and I then proceeded to finish our chores. By now it was going on 6 p.m. First thing to do, get the sheep put back in there pen. Sheep are so different from herding chickens, because they really follow the leader and where one goes they all go, which I don't know if that is better or not, It's only good if they are all going where you actually want them to be! Okay, sheep you better stay there!
Next we filled up the water tank and took water to turkeys and chickens, everyone else had enough water for the evening. We also move the chicken hoop building that they live in. I back the kabota up to get it hitched up to the chain that is attached to the building. I pull it to a nice fresh grassy area. While Gary's inside the hoop building encouraging them to all move forward as I pull it ahead. They are learning that they need to walk ahead as we pull it forward. Done. Now it's over to the baby chicks in there building. This one is smaller and so Gary just rolls this one ahead and I make sure they move ahead as it gets to its new grassy area. This one is to small to go inside so I just tape the back of it so they keep moving. Done with that too. Gary and I then drive down the road to our pasture to check on the cattle.
Next, we go to the other pasture and make sure the new little calf's are doing okay and check on the pigs. Then put some hay on the kabuta and go to each of our rams who have separate pens and give them water and hay. Gary gets some feed started and then we are done!
Get in the house and by now it's 7:30. Ethan comes in the kitchen and said the sheep are out again!!! Back out the door Gary and I go again. This time we put 3 electric lines across their pasture that should hold them and so far it has! Is this beginning to be a pattern of my weekend nights? I hope not!
My final thought is what is really the difference between a ranch wife and a farm wife? It seems as if we are both herding animals a good majority of the time. Yee Hay

From Rebecca's Kitchen Window

A few weeks ago, I know, I am behind in my blogs again! Anyway, a few weeks ago, when Ethan went to check on the meat chickens that morning, about 30 of them were dead and all the other chickens were all badly injured for total of 99 chickens that we lost. Gary was planning on butchering them the very next morning. We don't know what killed them, fox or weasel maybe.
Just a week ago, we had just purchased 150 turkeys that were for Thanksgiving . They were only a few days old and Gary had put them in a building just down at the end of our front yard. Two days later they ended up dead! Not sure what killed them all either. So not only were we sad about the death of them but, Gary was also concerned that we wouldn't be able to even get anymore. He always orders the very last batch that they offer so we can make sure they are the right size for Thanksgiving turkeys. Luckily, they were able to get us some.
This summer we had been pretty lucky to have enough rain to keep the pastures green, until just lately. Gary called to have them fix the irrigation pump.
Once they fixed that, Gary and I spread out all this blue hose from the well, down through the ditch and up the other side and hooked it up to the irrigation in the pasture.
Then we had to straighten out all the hose with the sprinklers on them. Next, we hooked the hose up to the Kabuta and spread them all out across the pasture. We had 6 irrigation lines to do, we worked on it from 3 pm to 7 pm, before we got in all finished.
That was sure a hot job! Then Ethan spent a morning trying to get them all to work right!
Since we needed the pastures watered down, we had to move the cattle again! Which meant another cattle drive! Yes, right here in Pandora Ohio! It sounds like something one would hear about in Oklahoma or Texas! We ran post and this thin wire fencing that the cattle know as shocking fencing along the road and to the pasture we wanted them to go into. This time it was a short trip for them and a successful one too.
The cattle ate that pasture down pretty fast and once again, another cattle drive! Do we see a pattern here? This time we had to walk them down the road and then cross our road to the next pasture. Out come the posts and wire again. Ethan and Gary got them out of the pasture,Leah stood on the road blocking any traffic and making sure the cattle didn't head the wrong direction! Then all 3 of them started leading them up to the pasture. Jacob and I made sure they didn't head down either side of the road. Great, they went right where we wanted them to go, good cattle!
That next morning,Gary was trying to move them into the next patch of pasture and just as he was putting down the fence for them to go there a loud motorcycle went zooming by and between the excitement of new food to eat and then being scared of the loud motorcycle, they went stampeding past the electric fence and down to the neighbors yard and all over the road. I get a phone call at 9am, "Becky, I really need your help, the cows are all over the road and the neighbors yard, can you come right away and help me!" Off I went out the door and down the lane. What a sight, cattle roaming all around! Gary, Jacob and I we were able to round them up and get them back where they belong. Of course, not before some cars and trucks got stuck waiting for us to move them off the road. As one guy passes me he says" so did the cattle get out?"
Today, we had another cattle drive! Time to move them back to their first pasture!! Time to put up post and wire again and guard the roads. Well, thank goodness these cows are pretty used to us moving them! I think they know that if we are moving them that means new fresh pasture to eat!! We had another good cattle drive. I wonder if it would go faster though if we had horses to ride, or maybe it just would look neat!
It's been a busy summer rotating our cattle to fresh pasture.
The chickens are now in transition. Our older chickens are slowing down there production and the new girls are just starting to lay. So lets get going girls.
Gary has been doing pretty good. He still has side effects from the medication he is taking and deals with swelling in his feet, ankles. I guess for now this is our new normal.
On Thursdays we go to the Farmers Market in Perrysburg, we sell our farm items and I have been baking and selling lots of cupcakes. It's a fun time and hopefully profitable!
Tonight I saw a chicken in my front lawn and I was thinking why is it that it's so hard for them to stay in there pens? I also was thinking is this the chicken that laid her egg by the front steps? To bad it wasn't a golden egg! Oh well.

Blessing to all,
Rebecca

From Rebecca's Kitchen Window

Okay, I should have known better than to expect our animals to behave on a Sunday! It all started after church was over. I was driving us up the lane and we noticed that the sheep were out of their fenced in area! So Gary and I hop out of our van and go see what is going on. Oh no, a lamb got her head caught in the fence and she was dead! So Gary opens the fence to get the sheep back into their area and a few ewe's and their babies take off. Gary asks me to go catch up to them so they aren't running all over the farm. So I do catch up to them. I see they are right beside the manure pit, so I stand back and hope they don't fall in. Just as I was thinking please sheep turn around don't do it. A mother ewe goes flying right into it. Gosh, now what do I do. I have church clothes on and yet, I can't just let her die. All that you could see of her was her back. So I put a board down on the ground to cover the manure on the ground. Okay, now, how in the world am I suppose to lean over and get her head out of the manure. She is stuck fast in it and she can't move. I found this long pipe and so I grab it in hopes that somehow I can pry her head up so she can breath. While at the same time, yelling Gary come quick. Which he can't hear me cause he is trying to get the rest of the sheep back in on the other side of the building. Finally, he sees me and we both try to pry her head up. We thought maybe we got her head up some so she could breath. We then ran into the house, changed our clothes and went back out. We just couldn't get her out soon enough and so we lost her. Well, we got her out and then decided we better put some new fencing up around the sheep. Finally, we are done and we go in the house, take a shower and then go lay out on our deck with our feet in the pool. Ahhh that feels so refreshing. I suppose we better go get our lunch it's getting pretty late already. We sit up and what do we see, 2 cows that decided to somehow get across the electric fence, go down the ditch and up the other side and down the field to our pool! They must think that Ohioan cows are more fun than california ones. I think they were headed for a swim! Here we go again!! Get on our croc's and then off on the Kabuta. I am driving behind the cows and Gary is walking along to make sure they stay together. We get them back to the ditch. I watch Gary go down into the ditch, with his croc's coming off as they stick to the mud on the bottem of the ditch. Luckily, he finds them. Then they get to the other side, Gary takes down the fence they cross over and then back up the fence goes. I hop back on the kabuta, drive through the tall grass back to the farm. Gary plugs the fence charger back on. I pick him up and back we go to the house. So much for a relaxing day after Leah's graduation party! Now it's 3pm and we are finally eating lunch! Gary took a nap for an hour and it was time to do afternoon chores! Well, wasn't that a fun Sunday?!

Gary ordered new fencing for the sheep this week! It will hopefully take care of all their escaping!
Talk to you soon.

From Rebecca's Kitchen Window

Hi Everyone,

It's been a while since I have blogged. Gary ended back up in the hospital with more blood clots and then we had a prom, a graduation, and then just had our graduation party. So I am finally back again. My goal is to blog every week or so.
Gary is back working on the farm again, which I am grateful for, it's hard keeping a farmer in the house! He still doesn't have all his strength back, but that doesn't seem to stop him! He loves being outside with the animals and enjoying the outdoors. Sometimes, I wonder who he enjoys being with the most? lol
The other day Gary decided he needed to get his cow back up to the farm, she is due to calf soon, so he wanted to bring her up from the pasture. So he decided to do this by himself! Gary thought how hard can this be, this cow follows him all over the pasture, and she loves him petting her and scratching her around the ears! Surely, she will follow him to the farm! Which means she has to follow him out of the field, over the bridge and down our lane. It started out really good, Gary got her out of the pasture and then she met the bridge! She no longer thought that following Gary was a good idea! I am amazed what good breaks cows have, it's one thing picking up your child when they don't want to go with you but, to move a cow when they don't want to go with you is another story! I didn't know he was doing this and I was taking my usual walk around the farm, it's actually 1/2 mile around my walking route. Just incase anyone wants to know! So, I was coming down the road and see Gary trying to coax the cow to cross the bridge. So I figure I better come to his aid and try to help him. I knew he would get the job done, but how quickly not so sure about that! So I got behind the cow and start pushing her from behind, and yet stand beside her just in case she wants to kick! Swish goes her tail and now I get manure on me! Yuck and it's on my new weight wrist bands to boot! So anyway, somehow we manage to get her to the lane, and she stops again. Gary hands me the lead rope to hold her, while he hops on the tractor to move it away from the lane and she sees it and jumps a little, what do I do? Of course get scared drop the rope and move out of the way! I maybe a farm wife, I never said I was a brave farm wife! Great now where is she going to go! Well, she must have looked ahead and realized that she knows this place and proceeds forward! So Gary gets off the tractor and we followed her up to the building we wanted her at. Animals who can figure them out! Nothing is ever easy as it seems it should be!! She had a beautiful little calf a week, or so later. She isn't milking good, and is sick now, so not sure if we will use her again. You have to have animals that deliver and milk good, when that is part of your lively hood.
Good thing I was able to have 6 children easily (well as easy as one can have when they come out 10 pounds!) and was a good nurser, what might have been the consequences for me? Just kidding!
Well, it's been several weeks now and we ended up losing the mother of the calf. It's never easy when you lose a animal.
The cycle continues though!
We did enjoy seeing Shirley give birth to 10 baby pigs, she did lose one, so we have 9 adorable little black and white Berkshire pigs. They are so cute, they are out in the field running around and having fun! Laverne just had her babies a couple of days ago and she has eight black and white Berkshire pigs. They are adorable as well. Good job Sqiggy! What can I say, when we got them there where 2 gilts and a boar, it immediately made me think of the Laverne and Shirley Show! So hence came the names, Laverne, Shirley, and Sqiggy!
The guys have butchered several groups of chickens now and so we have frozen chicken for sale again. I am looking forward to putting some chicken on our new grill Gary and I got. We haven't had a nice grill ever, so it will be fun trying our meats on it. Gary can be the grill master!
Last week our day had started out as any other, Gary milked and then came in for some breakfast. Then went back outside to work. It wasn't more than a half hour and I get this phone call from Gary. "Becky, I've been hurt can you come and get me." I'm like are you kidding me, he said no, I ask him what he needs and he says the van and a towel. Okay, he's on blood thinner and he wants a towel! Okay, now my whole body is shaking. Where are you I ask, he says by the ditch. I ask him several times where, I can tell he seems to be shaken up and so I say, Okay, I'll be there. I go get a towel, run out the door, and hop in the van. I am thinking where do I go he said by the ditch, we have ditches all around the farm, where do I go and what am I going to find when I get there! I call the boys, and Jacob says, we are just pulling in and I know right where he is, follow me. Another miracle, I have experienced. I have seen so many of them these past few months! So we go back where he is, find him sitting on the ground. The boys hop out of the truck and attend to Gary. I slowly get out in fear of what I might see, things seem okay. I walk over to him and he looks okay. Here he was using the post whole digger and it hit him in the head. He had a small cut that bleed. but he was okay. He probably will have a bruise on his head! They just got this post whole digger and it must be made different from our last one, he has never had that happen in all these years. Our son also had that happen to him, but without a cut! Time for that to go back I think. That's one thing about living on the farm, I pray for safety. They are careful and know about being safe, but things like this can happen.
I have been so blessed with family, friends, and my dearest friend and husband Gary. I have found out that if I just open my eyes and see there are miracles that happen all around me.
Thanks to all of you who read my blogs and want to learn more about what happens in our lifes, down on the farm.
Please join me again to see what happens next, out my kitchen window and out on the farm!
Our graduation party was over Saturday and we are looking forward to a relaxing Sunday afternoon.

Blessings,

Rebecca

From Rebecca's Kitchen Window

Isn't it nice when you wake up in the morning and can hear birds singing? I love that, but when I wake up to 400 chickens squawking and cows mooing all at the same time, that isn't so nice! With Gary rotating the animals in the pastures, sometimes they are closer to our house than other times. Right now they are close to our house and my bedroom window!! Why is their idea of morning and mine two different times?

Our ewe's are having baby lambs now. I was wondering when our cows told the baby lambs about California? We were sitting at the table the other night and this van pulls up and says that they had a baby lamb chasing their van and it's ambiblical cord was still hanging down. Now not only are the lambs trying to escape our farm at an early age, but they are doing it by hitchhiking! Do they have California lambs?
The other day, we decided we better walk around the pasture to make sure all the lambs were okay. As we were walking through the pasture checking on them, I came across this one lamb, all by itself. I picked it up and it was so soft and had had the sweetest little baaing sound. It's usually hard to catch lambs they run away from you with their mothers. We couldn't figure out who this little guys mom was, so we steered all the sheep towards it and still nobody owned up to this little lamb. It started following me around the pasture, it even took its nose and nuzzled it against my leg. I hope he doesn't think I am his mom! Poor guy, I guess he was disowned! Ethan took it up to the barn and is now bottle feeding him, and he is doing very good on a bottle. I think I will have to name him! Actually, I better ask Ethan if it's a boy or girl first!

One of our cows just had a hefier calf. Mom and calf are both doing fine! We have another cow that is expecting very soon. The poor girl looks miserable, if you can say a pregnant cow can look miserable! Her utter is so big she can barely walk. When she walks her legs are spread way apart and her legs rub along her utter. When she lays down on her side her one leg sticks up! Infact, I thought she was dead when she was laying there, between her huge belly and utter and her leg sticking straight up in the air! Having had 6 children and 2 of them both being over 10 pounds I can remember feeling like a cow myself! I remember my dad saying "Becky, I think you need a wheelbarrel to carry that belly around"! I sure hope she has that calf soon, I might have to find a wheelbarrel for her! ha

So life on the farm is growing right now with baby lambs, calves, chicks, turkeys, and by the end of May baby pigs! Life is good.

Blessings,

Rebecca

From Rebecca's Kitchen Window

A couple days ago, I was working in the kitchen and looked out the window to see Ethan trying to encourage a baby calf to go with him. The calf wasn't going to have anything to do with that and put his brakes on. So Ethan's pulling him along and the calf's legs are all stretched out. With some tugging, Ethan won the battle between man and bovine! I wonder if there were skid marks across the driveway?

I had to laugh at myself a couple of nights ago, I had just hopped into bed for the night, I was laying there and I kept hearing a click, click, click sound. So I hopped back out of the bed to see what that noise was. Gary was fast asleep so I didn't want to ask him. So I am looking around and trying to follow the sound, it took me by our bedroom window. Which I had opened a little to let some fresh air in. Well, silly me, I forgot that Ethan had electrified the chicken fence! That was the clicking sound! I guess I can put up with that if it will keep those chickens from escaping into my front yard!

Yesterday, I became a true farm wife! Or should I say ranch wife? When I was a little girl, my mom liked watching westerns like , Rawhide. I remember how the cows would all be mooing as they lead them with their horses to a new pasture. I had no idea that one day I would be doing that too, without the horse! (Thank goodness) Gary decided yesterday that it would be alot easier to put up fence down the field, across the road, down another road, to the next pasture. Instead of loading them up on a trailer and making multiple trips to get that done.

Luckily, there were four of us to help, it took us all to make it work. Ethan was on the Kubota with a bale of hay on the back to coax them. (hey, it worked before, might as well try that again!) Jacob was behind the cattle coaxing them on. I was in the ditch making sure they didn't decide to go for a swim, and Gary was up by the road, so they didn't get run over by a car, while crossing the road! It was going really quite well, except for one younger calf that just thought this was not a good idea! All the other cattle were already headed down the road and this guy was still back in the field. Here comes 2 cars down the road, so Gary had to move his truck, take down the fencing and let them through. Jacob was hoping that the calf wouldn't decide to make a mad dash for the road. The cars went by and up went the fencing again. With Gary's help, the calf gives in and catches up with the others. Ethan is now leading the pack with the Kubota and Jacob, Gary and I are all walking behind the cows as they head to a new pasture, mooing all the way. I think they were excited to go to their new pasture. We finally got them there. We turned on the fence and now we have happy cows (from Pandora!) eating some green grass! It worked out pretty good! Other than one stubborn calf! So that was my first official cow round up!

After we finished with that, I helped Gary take down the fencing. To me it was rather scary! Gary had a spool on the back of the tractor to wrap the wire around and my job was to sit on the tractor and start the spool up while Gary held the wire in his hands and let it wrap around the spool. But, he also wanted me to yell out every time there was some wire that had been spliced together coming his way, so he wouldn't get his hands cut! (Which is especially not something you want to happen to Gary, when he is on blood thinner!) It would also get caught on some corn stubble's sometimes and so I had to stop it like right away. We probably took down around 2 miles of fencing! That is alot of fencing!! Whee, I was glad when we got that job done. It was a good day and I enjoyed helping Gary. Not to mention it was 80 degrees and sunny outside!

Today, I helped Gary take down more fencing at a farm we used to keep the cattle at. It took longer taking the fencing down because we didn't have the Kubota with us so we had to walk it and poor Gary he didn't have small enough gloves for me to wear, so he had to carry all the fiberglass post himself. So that took like 3 hours and we still have post at that farm to pick up. We won't be using that farm anymore. We are trying to keep all the cattle on the home farm. That will help with our time management!! Glad we got that finished today. I enjoyed another day with warm weather and sunny skies.

Well, I was going to try and keep the blogs shorter, (so much for that) but sometimes there is just alot to talk about!

Please join me again to hear about any new adventures out my kitchen window and some of my outdoor adventures as well!


Blessings,
Rebecca

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

From Rebecca's kitchen window.

Hi Everyone,

Living on a farm you are constantly reminded how life revolves. With the birth of a new baby calf in the still of winter morning, to the death of her mother from complications.:( I think it helps me to remember how precious life is. To see the will of this little calf born in the cold of winter to survive is amazing. We usually don't have calves in the winter months but sometimes mother nature has other plans!

Gary has now moved the turkeys and chickens inside so they are easier to care for and I bet with this cold 18 degree weather they are happy! The chickens are already laying more eggs since we moved them. That is a good thing!

The sheep and the beef cattle are out in the pastures eating what we call stockpile grass. That is grass that has grown since the end of September and saved for winter grazing. This saves on the cost of baling and the labor of handling the hay. It also saves on petroluem required to do those job.

We put some pregnant beef cows in the barn to have their calves. They have sinced calved with healthy calves.
When they went to put them in the barn it is never as easy as it should be. Gary had to go get alot of things at Lowe's (which was a really boring trip for me, I think I read every magazine there!! lol). He needed to pick up parts (which are not easy finding in a large store) to keep the water line from freezing. We also had to set a propane tank at the barn so we could heat the well and pump room. Which is still a work in progress. Then they had a guy deliver hay and didn't notice there was a power line in his way and snap there went the power from the barn. So now another chore added to Gary, Ethan and Jacob's day! Nothing is ever easy as Gary says!!
Today he welcomes getting some meat and egg orders ready for our Perrysburg delivery. That gives him a chance to get out of the cold, although he does head into the freezer to get the meat, but I guess it's still better than being outside! I got everyone's orders ready and answered phone messages and checked email messages. I guess it was a good thing I took 4 years of typing! I guess that year of short hand won't really come in handy though!!

I will be back with more adventures out my kitchen window! Not sure Gary or the boys would think of them as adventures!

Blessings,

Rebecca

From Rebecca's kitchen window.

Hi Everyone!
This is my very first blog and I am wondering where to begin!
To start out with I want to know how in the world animals ever heard that the grass is always greener on the other side!! I think our animals take that literally!! It seems as if I can look out any window of our home and see animals that like to risk electrical shock!! For example, we always seem to have chickens getting out. Last week Jacob (our son) noticed I had a cow in the front yard! Oh, I can't forget how a deer ran through some of our electric fence and the sheep decided to go on a day trip through the fields! That took a bit to get all them back where they belong. So I am sure you will hear many more animal adventures, they seem to happen to us alot!
Gary actually was able to sleep in on Christmas day, Ethan (our son) did all Gary's chores for him. What a blessing that was, I can't remember the last time Gary had a day off. What a blessing to be able to spend a day with all our children and grandchildren, all 19 of us enjoyed a day together. Hope you did as well.
The animals behaved yesterday, but we did have one of our hoop buildings decide to fly the coop!! Sorry, I couldn't resist. If you are curious what a hoop building is you can check out the pictures in our picture gallery to see what it used to look like!! It used to be around 7 feet tall and now has been condensed down to 3 feet tall!! Yikes! We still have two more left! At least the sheep didn't blow away with it! We always hate when we have high winds because you never know what might happen. So unfortunately, our hoop building blew out of our pasture and into the neighbor's field. It was staked down and it still blew away and now it is ruined! Plus, the wind was trying to rip off some roofing. So wind is never good out here! I am grateful we didn't have anymore damage. That was plenty! Gary really appreciated the calm weather today!
Hope you will be back to check out more adventures from my kitchen window.
Blessings,
Rebecca