Around the Farm

The boys showed me how easy it is to upload photos from our digital camera; now I need to try it out for myself!
David decided it would be fun to get Samson to sleep with him in Peter's bottom bunk.
I took this photo through the bedroom window, so the boys didn't know it was taken. Friends gave Andrew the three wheeler, and he was busy trying to change one of its tires. He has quite a mind for vehicle repairs. I guess we can truly consider ourselves homesteaders, since Sunday another family brought us our first tractor! Too bad it doesn't work. The guys were out today, trying to get it to start.

The goats were all brought into our barn area for the fall/winter. It took a while for them to decide who was head honcho; finally things have settled down and they all tolerate each other.

Back to Business

It has been a very beautiful day today. Can't believe it's in the 60's and sunny -- and almost the end of October! The younger boys are upstairs doing what our friend Steve calls the "bean dance," which is jumping on the dried bean pods to harvest our navy, kidney and great northern beans. Peter went to town with Jim to mail the homeschool association newsletters I processed this morning, and I just came back from a trip to the mailbox to check for mail. I was kind of forced outside, since our wood stove decided to back up again for the nth time. I have a feeling we should give up on using it until Jim decides what he is going to do with it. The pipe outside is not reaching above the roof line, so we've had a lot of backdrafting. At least we have floor heat to fall back on until we make some decisions and do what we have to do to use wood heat again.

About 2 weeks ago we managed to butcher close to a third of our chickens. Jonathan was determined this time to keep the skin on them, so they devised a cauldron type thing to scald the chickens. They used an old pressure canner and suspended it with chain over a fire, utilizing a thermocouple to check the temperature of the water. It worked slick, and I had no complaints when the plucked and gutted (or should I say "eviscerated") chickens made their way into the house. I need to review the Mesko family's DVD on chicken butchering and Herrick Kimball's tutorial on chicken butchering because I did a terrible job of cutting up the chickens to place in the freezer. I finally got so tired of trying to find joints to separate the parts that I made quite a few knives dull by just cutting through the bone!

The boys and I returned last Thurs. from our big trip to my folks' place near Duluth, MN, and attended my niece's wedding. We had lots of car trouble, but thankfully limped successfully to Mom and Dad's house. I parked the car, and scheduled it to go into the shop the following Monday morning. Unfortunately, by that time the car quit acting up! We had a very special time with family. Uncle Mike and Uncle Mark made sure the boys has a great time, and Grandpa W. taught them how to make box joints. They even came back with a jig for making them. I'm looking forward to lots of boxes for storage. Uncle Mike sent back a trailer full of different types of wood for them to build their creations.

I'm not mentioning any names (!!), but when visiting I stepped down on carpeting and thought I had landed on a needle. Trying to be nonchalant, I took a peek, and it wasn't a needle -- it was a porcupine quill! One of them was doing quill work, and accidentally dropped a quill. Needless to say, I found it for her. I had stepped fairly hard on the quill, so it required pliers to pull it out. Ouch! Now I can empathize with our dog when he had to have quills pulled from his nose and mouth area. I did benefit, though, as for my birthday I received a beautiful pair of quill earrings.

We were gone a total of 8 days, and it was very hard for me to leave my folks. Hopefully the Lord will make a way for us to visit everyone at least a couple of times every year. I am very thankful for emails and the ability to make long distance phone calls.

Jim was busy when we were gone as well. Since I took the family car he was pretty much stuck here, but had plenty to keep him busy. We have 2 bee hives, and he managed to extract a couple of gallons of honey. I am glad I wasn't here when he did it! He also had to deal with one of our tomcats that decided to kill 2 of our laying hens (caught him red handed in the chicken coop with a newly killed chicken), and a dog that had 6 puppies. Jim was our official goat milker and goat chaser when they decided to get out of the fence, and very capably took care of all the daily chores. He also teaches 2 live online Algebra courses on Mondays and Thursdays, so he was unable to go on the road with us. We were very thankful that he was a good sport and took care of everything for us.

I celebrated my birthday while we were gone, and Jim and the boys bought "me" a digital camera. I must say I need to learn how to use it, but the boys have already mastered all the bells and whistles. Hopefully we will now be able to post more photos on our blogs.

Indian Summer

We had a beautiful day today, definitely our Indian Summer. Good thing, because we have a lot to do before winter hits.

A lot has transpired since my last post almost a month ago. Jim made his trip to Albuquerque, NM for a HSLDA leadership conference, and two days later his folks arrived for a visit from New Hampshire. It was a later in the year visit than normal, and the temps were a lot cooler than they were used to. We hadn't had any rain to speak of since July -- and then it rained the last 3 days they were visiting. We all enjoyed having Grammy and Grandpa here, and the time went much too quickly. I'm sure we'll be posting some photos in the future. I think the highlight for the boys was making a potato cannon with Grandpa. That thing could really shoot! Amazing what you can do with hairspray.

We have also been working feverishly on our "to do" lists. The boys cleaned out the garden areas, insulated the goat barn, installed protection for our fruit trees (in broad daylight a few days ago Jim spotted a deer in the garden, calmly eating raspberry leaves), hauled haybales closer to the barn, constructed a shelter for the pigs, and I forget what else. Jim has completed the floor that will separate the 2 floors of our house. He also built a box for the potatoes that were dug yesterday. They will be kept from freezing by heat from the woodstove which will come through a hole in the floor to the basement just above the woodstove. Hopefully it will work.

I still have tomatoes and apples to process, but that will have to be placed on the shelf until later. Tomorrow we will butcher 25-30 chickens. Not my favorite job, but a necessary one. Instead of just taking off the chickens' skin with the feathers they opted to try to scald the carcasses and then pluck the feathers ... Guess we need a Whizbang Chicken Plucker , but that will have to wait for another year.

Later this week the boys and I will travel 900 miles to help celebrate my niece's wedding and visit my family. What a blessing that by the end of the month the boys will have spent special time with both sets of grandparents. The visits are too few and far in between, and hopefully some day we can make more trips to visit both families. Jim will stay behind with all the animals. I have a very large "to do" list for him, and we'll see how much he can get done! Our dog may have her puppies while we are gone, and we'll see what kind of a midwife Jim turns out to be.

Lots to Do

It's one of those days when I'm trying to decide what to do first: Tomatoes to be canned, already canned ones to box up and find somewhere to put them, herbs on the table ready to be dried, bread to bake ... The weather is windy, cloudy and a bit rainy, and not at all enticing me to go outside. The boys are out doing their chores before breakfast. So much to do before winter sets in. Jim and the boys will help out some friends later today with taking down a shed, so I better get organized and get busy.

Thankfully yesterday was one of those Indian summer days, and I was able to get clothes dried on the clotheslines. However, when I walked over there with a load of towels I couldn't figure out why I was hearing a lot of buzzing going on. I soon discovered that Jim had hung his bee suit on the lines -- and the bees found it. Guess he must have spilled some honey on the suit. I didn't dare get too close, as they looked pretty crabby. We have 2 hives and it's time to extract. Out of necessity Jim created a honey extractor out of a large plastic barrel, but the day wasn't warm enough to keep the honey running and so they will wait. I'm beginning to wonder if we will actually have a warm enough day yet to get the honey to the point where he can extract it. I'm hoping he doesn't decide to bring the frames into the house!

I am very thankful to be done for the time being at the retreat center where I filled in for a week. I think I had a touch of the emotions a mom would have that works out of the home; come to think of it, I probably felt what a dad would also feel when there is the yearning just to be home with his family. It was hard when Jim would stop by with the boys to say hi on their way somewhere -- I just wanted to go with them. I guess I didn't realize how good I had it until I didn't. The extra income will be helpful, but I wondered sometimes if it was worth it. I would come home at night totally exhausted, and had nothing to give the boys either emotionally or physically.

Time to get busy. This Saturday will be our last farmer's market of the season, and the town is having something called Oktoberfest (in Sept. yet!). Jim and the boys were also asked to play their bluegrass for an hour somewhere in the festivities. Jim's folks will be heading our way for a week in early October, and then shortly after that we will head to the "Land of 10,000 Lakes" to visit my folks and attend my niece's wedding. Sure is a lot going on.

Lots of Preparations to Do

This is why (we had a very heavy frost last Sunday night, and most of our tomato and pepper plants died):


Tonight
Partly cloudy. Lows in the lower 40s. Southeast winds 10 to 15 mph.

Wednesday
Partly sunny. Slight chance of showers and isolated thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the upper 60s. South winds 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 20 percent.


Wednesday Night
Mostly cloudy. Chance of rain showers in the evening...then chance of rain showers and snow showers after midnight. Windy. Lows around 40. Northwest winds 5 to 10 mph increasing to 20 to 30 mph. Chance of precipitation 30 percent.

Thursday
Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of rain showers. Highs in the upper 40s. Northwest winds 15 to 25 mph increasing to 25 to 35 mph in the afternoon.

Thursday Night
Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of rain showers and snow showers in the evening...then partly cloudy after midnight. Widespread frost after midnight. Lows around 30. Northwest winds 15 to 25 mph decreasing to 5 to 10 mph after midnight.

Friday
Mostly sunny. Highs in the upper 50s.

A Note to Check In

Tonight I heard something that we've all been waiting for ... David came running in and informed me, "Mom, the corn's ready!" Whew, we were afraid it would not be ripe before we had a heavy frost. We've already had a few light frosts, but more in the valley and not up where the gardens are situated. We have so much left to do before winter, and I hope we can get it all done.

Tomorrow is my big day for baking bread, buns, muffins, etc. for the Saturday farmer's market in town. The boys sell garden produce, and I have gotten into the act by selling baked goods. I still can hardly believe that people no longer do their own baking, but are willing to buy it from me. Homemade bread is old hat to our family, but apparently it's quite a novelty for others. I've also been selling strawberry and raspberry jam, wild plum and chokecherry syrup, and may try selling hawthorne jelly. I didn't realize how much pectin is found naturally in hawthorne berries, so it may be a bit thick. We'll have to try out a jar of it in the morning and decide if I should sell it or not.

I also agreed to help out the local retreat center by filling in as cook until they hire a new one. I will start on Sunday, and hope all goes well. Hopefully they will hire someone soon, because I have lots of canning left to do. Our tomatoes are close to being ripe, and I have only canned 7 quarts of them so far.

Jim and the boys have been working on the main floor of our house. They may have the floor between the main and 2nd floor done soon, and we'll see how far we can get before it's too cold to work in there. It sure is nice to at least have storage up there.

I guess David (8) had a little bit of excitement today. When David is around, there's always excitement! Part of his chores is to feed our two pigs. The older boys put together a new pen for them with newly purchased hog panels, and David was trying to get the feed over to the pig's feeding bucket and promptly fell in head first! I am very leery of pigs, since I've heard how mean they can be. The boys quickly informed me that these two pigs love being scratched and are very friendly. Guess I haven't been down there to check them out for a while. All I know is every time I walk to the clotheslines to hang up wet clothes they think my laundry basket is their slop bucket and start squealing!

I would love to show you some photos of all the activity around here, but our digital camera is currently not working.

Tell Mom Happy Anniversary!

It's Mom and Dad's anniversary tomorrow--if you'd like, leave a comment of congratulations.

Jonathan

It Did

We awoke this morning to frost in the valley. Time to get into gear for fall.

Busy Weeks

Harvest season has finally arrived. We've been swamped with green beans for quite a while now, and I'm just not sure what to do with all of them. I think I've canned about 200 quarts of the things! Some of them will go to a friend whose baby is due any day now.

Last Sat. Jim and the boys headed down to town for the farmer's market. The local farmers decided they didn't want to organize, so people just show up whenever and sell whatever they want. I guess some started selling at 7 a.m., but our family didn't set up until 8:30 or so. I am recounting this from what the guys have told me, since I was filling in for someone at the retreat center and worked there instead of going to the market. My contribution to the market was homemade raspberry jam. This was our very first farmer's market, and we were all anxious to see how it would go.

The boys brought their instruments along and played a bit of bluegrass. Our produce consisted of green beans, onions, celery, rhubarb, green peppers, carrots and a small amount of potatoes. I think everyone was pleased with what sold. I even made some money from the raspberry jam. We'll be doing it again this Sat. morning, and I just finished cleaning up the kitchen after cooking up a couple of batches of strawberry jam for the next farmer's market. Hopefully there will also be time to bake some yeast breads and also quick breads to see if they will sell. Maybe we should bring our not so little kittens back to try to give them away again this week. These 4 kittens were born in March, and so far no one has been interested in taking them. Now their mama is due again any day, and we will be taken over by cats! Unfortunately all 4 kittens are females, and with our one male cat we will be overloaded. I guess we need to work harder to find homes for them.

A week ago last Tues. the Turtle Mountain Boys played for a group of bicycle riders that settled into the local state park for the night. Every summer over 400 riders bike various parts of North Dakota, and this year they came through our scenic area. The boys were asked to perform their bluegrass music for an hour as after dinner entertainment. It was great they had the freedom to play both secular as well as gospel music. About a half hour into the concert the sound system died -- there was smoke coming out of the controls! The system belonged to a friend of ours and thankfully he was the one working the controls. I know he felt badly, but there was nothing that could be done. The boys just had to play a bit softer and try to sing a lot louder! This group of people were very attentive, and it was good exposure for the Turtle Mountain Boys. Afterward someone told us there is another group from the area that call themselves the same name, so I guess we'll have to figure out something else for the name of our group.

There's been quite a few people asking if we have chickens to sell. That has gotten Jonathan interested in working with broilers once again, so in the spring we will make another attempt to raise them for selling to area customers. Hopefully our raspberry bushes will do better next year as well.

A Scary Thought

I had to put on a sweater tonight, since it was becoming a bit chilly in here. I checked the local forecast, and this is what I discovered:


Tonight
Mostly clear. Lows in the mid 40s. North winds 5 to 10 mph.
Thursday
Mostly sunny. Highs in the upper 60s. Northwest winds 10 to 15 mph.

I do believe there's a touch of fall in the air.

Canning Season Has Begun!

It may be a late night tonight. This afternoon we discovered our bean patch had really popped with the hot, muggy weather, so we picked a ton of green beans and got started with the processing. By the time I go to bed tonight, we will have processed 42 quarts of beans! We still have canned beans from last year, but if our corn doesn't mature before our first frost we will be eating more beans, and I want to make sure we have enough for ourselves and company before we attempt to sell the rest.

I had my first jar casualty in the last batch ... Most of my jars have been purchased from local elderly ladies, and I must have used a jar that was past its prime. At least the bottom broke cleanly away from the rest of the jar and I didn't have shards of glass floating inside the canner along with beans. It has been so much fun to talk canning with the elderly ladies that answered my ad for jars; they are actually excited that someone would take up doing something like that. Most of them have asked me how large our garden is and what I plan to can. I also advertised for another gauge style pressure canner, and a lady that used to live up here in the hills called to say I could have hers for free. She said it probably needed a new seal and for the gauge to be recalibrated, since she hadn't used it since they moved to town about 10 years ago. This lady is 86 and her husband 92. I'm hoping to go visit her some day, but it may be after I find some breathing room in between canning sessions.

It's hard to believe that before moving to the country I hadn't canned anything but raspberry jam. The Lord has been so gracious in providing wonderful mentors from which to learn the various processes. Last year I asked Jim to help me through my first experience in pressure canning. He was very gracious and read the directions and walked me through the process. We learned together!

How wonderful it has been to just walk into the garden and pick out enough items to have a salad: Lettuce, cucumbers, a few tomatoes (if I get them before the chickens do!), green pepper, broccoli and zucchini. I must admit that during the Y2k time I attempted to grow a few items in the city, and one of those things was strawberries. I planted them in my front flower garden. The strange thing was once they started producing a few berries I decided I didn't want to eat them because they hadn't come from the store! In my mind, store bought items were superior to what I could grow. I think I figured my home grown produce might have bugs in them or something. What a change it has been for me! I am constantly amazed at how a small seed can produce so much. I was thinking about that this afternoon when picking green beans, because I noted how one seed produces a stalk that grows into a bush and ultimately produces a lot more seeds inside the bean pods.

Garden Flowers

Last spring Andrew and Peter went to work and created a picket fence for a backdrop for my rock garden, and it sure is a wonderful addition. All the flowers were grown from seed, which was done at our friend Paulette's place. She has southern facing windows, and plants thrive over there. I didn't grown many petunias this year, but it's probably just as well since it's been so hot and dry. The marigolds are doing just great.

This view shows how the garden is situated in relation to the house. Just around the corner is the door to our walk-in basement. We are still living down there. I am so thankful for the main part of the house that is shelled in but not insulated yet, because last year there was nothing up there and we almost cooked in the basement. All we had between us and the hot sun was plywood and rolled roofing. At least this year the structure above gives us great insulation.

Our Weather for Today

We aren't used to typical southern weather, but I guess we'll experience it whether we want to or not. Yesterday we closed up the house and lived like cave dwellers, and looks like today we'll do more of the same.

From the weather service:

HEAT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 1 PM CDT /NOON MDT/ THIS AFTERNOON TO 10 PM CDT /9 PM MDT/ THIS EVENING. THE NATL WEATHER SVC IN BISMARCK HAS ISSUED A HEAT ADVISORY, WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 1 PM CDT /NOON MDT/ THIS AFTERNOON TO 10 PM CDT /9 PM MDT/ THIS EVENING. EXPECT THE HEAT INDEX TO RANGE FROM 105 TO AROUND 115 DEGREES. TEMPS IN EXCESS OF 100 DEGREES & HIGH HUMIDITY ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS DANGEROUS HEAT. CONDITIONS WILL IMPROVE THIS EVENING. A HEAT ADVISORY MEANS THAT A PERIOD OF HOT TEMPS IS EXPECTED. THE COMBINATION OF HOT TEMPS & HIGH HUMIDITY WILL COMBINE TO CREATE A SITUATION IN WHICH HEAT ILLNESSES ARE POSSIBLE. DRINK PLENTY OF FLUIDS. STAY IN AN AIR-CONDITIONED ROOM. STAY OUT OF THE SUN & CHECK UP ON RELATIVES AND NEIGHBORS.

Taking a Break

I'm taking a break while waiting for some buns to raise. Won't take long, since it's very hot and humid today. No air conditioning for us, but just whatever breeze happens in through the window.

Jonathan, Peter and Andrew are over at our friend Paulette's, helping Steve with landscaping projects. This has been a tough day for David, since his best buddies aren't here for him to hang around with. Needless to say, Jim and I have been his source of excitement. I can hardly remember when we only had one son, and it must have been a different set of circumstances since David has had companionship his entire life, vs. what Jonathan knew as an only child. I kept David busy with picking raspberries, which is not his favorite job.

We may not be able to sell our raspberries after all, as we discovered they have what we think is gray mold. I checked the internet yesterday and that is what it looks like to me. The information stated the condition is a result of cool, wet conditions as the berries were forming. Well, we've had plenty of cool, cloudy, wet weather lately, so it doesn't surprise me. Our raspberries still taste great to me, and even if we don't sell them, we'll certainly enjoy plenty of homemade raspberry jam.

About a week ago the boys discovered our potato plants were infested with potato bugs! Yuck! Since then we've been trying different natural remedies, in the hopes we'll have a great potato crop in the fall. We've already dug up some very tasty new potatoes, and I have the boys hooked on their wonderful flavor. Last year almost all of our 1200 lbs. of potatoes were afflicted with scab, so this is a new twist. Hopefully the plants are far enough along that they will still produce for us.

We have been harvesting broccoli; I wasn't in favor of planting them since 2 years ago they ended up with lots of worms, but this year was a great year for the plant and we have really (at least I have!) enjoyed fresh broccoli. So far we've picked 4 ripe tomatoes, lots of peas, and the green beans are producing as well. Carrots are getting close to needing some thinning out. I didn't get much lettuce this year; it just didn't want to grow very well. I'm going to try planting a bit more before too long. I did pick 2 small zucchini this morning, and the boys thinned out our crop of mangle beets. The animals sure liked feasting on those things!

It looks like Jim did a good job with his air layering in some of the trees, as the branches turned into saplings are taking root. There are also branches that have been grafted onto crab apple root stock which will become apricot and other types of trees. These are also doing well. We discovered the deer (in spite of having 2 dogs) are eating what they can of our new cherry trees. Jonathan has been tenting near them, in the hopes the deer will stay away. Wish I could show you some photos, but we need to purchase a cleaner for the camera before we can do too much with it. My rose bushes are flowering, and they are beautiful! Maybe some day they can be transplanted to an area closer to the house. I didn't want anything in near proximity until construction is over.

Looks like I better get back to my dough. We have had company the past 2 weekends, and this weekend will make it 3 in a row. Sunday is the Bottineau Gospel Music Festival, and plenty of our friends will be attending. Hopefully our camera will be whipped into shape and I can include photos of the Turtle Mountain Boys and others who will be playing and singing.

Wonderful Story of God's Faithfulness

I just received an email from friends that I knew in my single days, when I was a part of a Christian ministry back in the 70's. It is so special that I thought I would share it with you.
------------------------------------------------

Dear friends,

I am pleased to pass on a very special announcement to all of you.

Helen Arnseth, missionary to Madagascar and long-time staff member of Daystar is engaged to be married on September 8, 2007 to Olav Torvik in San Antonio, Texas!

She was engaged on June 28, 2007 to Olav, whom she has known since September 13, 1948. Olav and his wife Eunice served in Madagascar as missionaries along with Helen and Eunice was Helen's best friend during their years of ministry there.

Eunice passed away earlier this year after a 10 years struggle with several health issues. Olav voiced his loneliness to one of his daughters after Eunice passed away and she suggested that he consider getting married again. His daughter asked him who he would consider if he was to remarry and he said he would consider Helen first of all. So the rest is, as they say, history. Olav called Helen shortly after this conversation with his daughter and they have developed their relationship over the phone. It culminated when Helen went to San Antonio on June 20th to visit him and his children for 10 days.

Helen and Olav both speak Norwegian, French, English and Malagasy and Helen knows all five of his children well because of their time together in Madagascar.

As most of you may know, marriage has been a dream for Helen all her life so she is more than overjoyed at this unexpected turn of events. Olav is 88 years old and Helen is 85.

There will be a reception in the Minneapolis area for the newly weds in October for those who wish to rejoice with them ...

What an amazing and exciting story this has been. Rejoice with us and with Helen as she enters into the fulfillment of a life-long dream.

Blessings to you all

Larry Ballard

Picture Post III

Dad and a kitty...
The barn, which is half painted as you see...
Andrew and David...
Peter with his homemade belt buckle

One of the moveable chicken coops...
the buckwheat
Tobacco, to be made into an herbal pesticide...
Our tallest corn...
Whooops, another Andrew and David picture. I know from experience that if I delete it, blogger will delete the rest of this post's pictures and I'll have to redo so I will leave it up.

Jonathan, for Lynn, until she posts :-)

Picture Post II

Hoop house...
Corn
beans
Strawberries, and the asparagus to the left
Some of the raspberries

Picture Post

Herb/flower garden
carrots, peas, tomatoes, peppers, celery, beans in the background...
Another angle.
Another....
the corn and potatoes.

Sunday Night Post

Well, I've had plenty of blogs written in my mind, but not on a screen. The days have just been flying by. Even our 10-year-old has commented on how fast this year is going. Wow, July 1 already. To me, that means summer is almost half over!

Last weekend I had my first real experience with farming. Jim and the boys left Saturday morning to attend the wedding of friends of our family, which took place on a ranch about 4 hours from here. The Turtle Mountain Boys had been asked to play their bluegrass music for the next day's doings, which was Prairie Days -- a time of fun and fellowship for homeschooling families. Since I am not a member of the group it was my job to stay behind and do the chores. I was looking forward to some peace and quiet, after a very busy week of finally getting around to canning the remaining 60 of the 200 chickens we purchased with our friend Steve from a Hutterite community.

I must say I have a new appreciation for all the chores the boys do every morning with the animals. I spent mornings having Peter coach me in the fine art of milking goats. We have 2 we are currently milking in the mornings, so they are separated overnight from their kids. It looked so easy when Peter milked, but I found myself a little nervous at giving it a try. I think I have been a bit scared of the goats, but the more I worked with them the more relaxed I felt. They were no longer foreign objects to me! Even though goats aren't as large as a cow they still can pack a punch if they decide to kick or butt. We have them climb onto a milking stand, and then I would kneel on the floor and milk. There is no telling what a person would kneel on in the shed, so I furnished myself with a piece of cardboard for the job. I wasn't too excited about having my head at the level of the goats' hooves, but everything went okay. As long as the goats had their grain they were happy.

A couple of hours after everyone left I decided I'd better go check on the animals. We stake out the 2 milking does and the rest of the goats are in portable pens. As I rounded the shed I came face to face with John, our billy goat. He has always looked nasty to me, since he has the traditional beard and horns. The name he was given before we bought him was "Big Bad John," and he certainly looked the part! John was in a portable pen all his own, which was constructed of cattle panels. Before the boys left they moved his pen to a new location, but it was on the slant of a hill. I don't know how he got out of there with the pen still standing, but he did. I knew if I got him back in there he would just get out the way he did the first time, so I decided I'd better move it to a level area. The only way to do that with just me (takes 2 normally to move the pens around) was to take the thing apart and drag it flat along the ground. It turned out not to be as hard as I thought it would be, and got it set up next to our oldest goat, Mustard Seed. She has had some skin problems and lost most of her hair, so they have kept her separate from the rest of the herd until she is healed up. (Thankfully, a product from Crystal Creek has helped her to start growing her hair back.) I didn't know how to get John back into his pen's new location, but shaking a bucket with grain helped immensely. I gave him grain here and there to be sure he would follow me, and he did. He wasn't nasty at all! Whew!

A couple more hours later I went back down to check on the pig's water, and found one of the does wandering around pulling her stake behind her, so I had to get that back into place. The pigs were very glad to see me, since it was a hot day and they needed more water. Anyway, the animals kept me very busy. Later in the afternoon I checked the weather forecast and found the real possibility of a thunderstorm, so I had to play musical goats to get everyone shelter in the event it did rain. I think it took me close to an hour to get everyone settled down for the night. Thankfully there were no storms.

Got up and going right on schedule Sunday morning, but when I got to the goat shed I discovered one of the kids had somehow gotten out of his pen between the hours of bedtime and morning chores. He was laying next to the fence where his mother was held, and mama was pretty irate that she was so close, yet so far away. She did not want to cooperate with milking, so I didn't do too well with her. I think I managed to get about half of what Peter normally gets, and thankfully the kids would probably take the rest. I think it took me 3 hours to get all the chores done! My reward was to pick strawberries from our patch for breakfast.

I was very glad to have Jim and the boys return about 10:00 that night. There were storm warnings all around, and I needed help getting the kids separated from their moms. The trick of feeding a bit of grain to Big Bad John kind of backfired on me, since the 3 kids needed to go in with him for the night and he kept jumping up on the fence any time I tried to unlatch the clamps to get the kids in. It was either drop the kid I was carrying to get John off the fence (I did that the first time and the kid ran back to his mom!), or unintentionally let John out as I tried to get the kid in! I gave up and waited for reinforcements. We did have a storm that night, and received 3-1/2 inches of rain in 45 minutes. I was sure glad everyone was home and in their beds. What I do feel very badly about is that night friends of ours lost crops to hail in 7 of the 12 quarters of land they planted. Our hearts go out to them, and we are asking the Lord to give them wisdom in what their next step is going to be.

Future of Food DVD

Last week our family was able to view the DVD, "Future of Food," which we borrowed from Herrick Kimball (The Deliberate Agrarian). Some of our family had already seen part of this movie, but it was a first time for me.

What an eye opener. I had heard bits and pieces of the information that was presented before, but seeing it all for myself was important. This movie reveals how big agricultural corporations such as Monsanto have corrupted our food, through developing genetically modified corn, soybeans, etc., and then patenting the seed. I get angry all over again as I remember what I saw on the movie.

What brought it even closer to home for us was that a man named Rodney Nelson from Amenia, ND was featured on the film. His family was prosecuted by Monsanto. The Nelsons chose not to use genetically modified seed from Monsanto, but somehow some of that seed found its way into at least one of his fields. The seed was found growing in an area close to a roadway, and a neighbor told Nelsons some of his seed may have spilled from his truck as it was going by and could have contaminated the field. Apparently people from Monsanto went into the Nelson's field without their permission or knowledge and tested his crops. Unfortunately there is not "and they lived happily ever after" ending to that story. Please get a copy of the DVD and watch it for yourself.

The evening after we watched "The Future of Food" we heard an airplane overhead. Of course the boys had to run out and see what it was doing. Well, it was an aerial spray plane, and spraying the fields across the lake from us, to the southwest. Makes me wonder how much of that spray ended up in the lake, and how much drifted over to our fields. Today I again heard the plane, and watched it spraying a field to the northeast of our property.

We have seen billboards within the state sponsored by some aerial spray association, with the slogan, "AERIAL APPLICATORS: HELPING PROVIDE SAFE FOOD FOR AMERICA'S TABLES." To that I say: HOGWASH!!