Log Cabin Homestead

Isaiah 40:31

2012-02-03T14:56:00.002-06:00

But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Isaiah 40:31

-22

2012-01-22T20:48:00.002-06:00

Last week it got pretty cold for a couple days. We had 22 below zero one night. I heard that it was colder in other places as low as -30. It's winter!

Mary Did You Know by Mark Lowry

2011-12-24T22:45:00.000-06:00

Discovery of new organism and crop disease, livestock infertility and threats to U.S. food and agriculture.

2011-12-20T22:44:00.001-06:00

Dr. Huber Explains Science Behind New Organism and Threat from Monsanto's Roundup, GMOs to Disease and Infertility from Food Democracy Now! on Vimeo.

Big green house, update

2011-12-11T20:59:00.005-06:00

We FINALLY got our big green house back up after losing it in a wind storm back in the Spring!

Got it up just before winter set in. Friends came shortly after it happened to help us and they did a good lot of the bull work. However, it was just recently that we finally found the time to finish it. We really didn't want to let our friends down who put so much into helping us. So we pressed on even into cold weather and 'got er done'. It's a little battered and torn but it is up and usable once again. Lord willing we'll be able to get some early plantings in there this spring. This hoop house is our best place for growing tomato's since they are so hard to get to ripen in the out door gardens.

The green house was 96 feet long originally, but we wanted to reuse the plastic which was torn so we shortened it to 93 feet long. Still a sizable place to work in.

We had two sheets of plastic on it when we first put it up. We did that in case we ever wanted to heat it and two sheets are used for insulating purposes by inflating between the layers with air. As time was running out for us this year before winter set in we decided to only put on one layer of plastic this time. The plastic had sat on the ground long enough to get wet and full of algae, we wanted to wait until warmer weather to install the second piece after washing it.

So we put on the one layer. It was in kind of rough shape but we made it work. However, after dragging out the second layer that we did not use, to fold up for the winter, we found that had we picked that one, we would not have been able to use it. It was torn too badly to reattach it to the clamps we installed. Had we begun with that one we probably would have given up on the project until next year thinking both pieces would have been in the same shape. We felt that God directed us to the right one to start with after we saw the condition of the second piece. It's almost certain we would have given up on it because in order to use the damaged plastic we would have had to totally revamped the batten boards that we had just installed. There would have been no way to redo it before winter took hold. So we felt blessed that we picked the best sheet of plastic to start with.

Until Next Time

Short commentary on "black friday"

2011-12-11T20:17:00.004-06:00

I didn't have time to make any kind of commentary on the video in the last post about the insanity that is called "Black Friday", so here's a couple thoughts on the vid.

While I agree with the assessment that people have been "chemically lobotomized" as described in the video, I believe that is only part of what is making people act like animals. The commentator never mentioned the moral and spiritual degradation of our society which I believe is the other side of the coin. Yes people have been poisoned to death by the pharmaceutical establishment and big Ag. I often joke that when people are behaving stupidly that they've had too much fluoride in their drinking water. In reality I'm usually only half joking.

Public education and the media have systematically and deliberately dumbed down our society. They have eliminated all vestiges of the One True God from the vocabulary of the entire culture. Sure they might say the word "God" just to appeal to the 'Christian right' but their meaning of the word is not Christian in any way. Any reference that Jesus is the only Way is strictly prohibited and outlawed.

They teach young people that humans evolved from monkeys suggesting that we are nothing more than a "higher primate", in essence glorified animals. If they teach entire generations that we are nothing but animals is it any surprise that people begin to act like them?

When I bring hay to the sheep after they are good and hungry, they mob me just like the mobs of people ransack the super stores looking for a good deal. One day I hope to take some video of how the sheep push and shove to be the first for a bite of hay, then compare that to what we see from Black Friday. It is identical! Even when the sheep are not all that hungry they still do that, they're ANIMALS!

Anyone could predict that if you remove from peoples consciousness the reality of God and teach them that they are in essence animals, that they will eventually resort to such barbaric behavior. It's a no brainer! Yet, I do agree with the video that people are under the influence of all kinds of chemicals, however I believe that the problem is more spiritual in nature. Even big business is morally bankrupt proved by the fact that they even have the conscience to incite people to this kind of behavior by promoting a thing like "Black Friday". And black is a fitting word for it. It's as black as the hearts of the ones who propagate such a thing!

So that's my two cents on that.

Until Next Time

Black Friday madness reveals animalistic behavior of modern people

2011-11-30T15:31:00.004-06:00

http://youtu.be/a67FlWyjeBU

Crying Wolf Movie

2011-11-27T21:18:00.001-06:00

Crying Wolf Movie (HD) from JD King on Vimeo.

Turkey Day

2011-11-24T09:48:00.002-06:00

We raised 4 turkeys this year. This big tom weighed in at 27 lbs all dressed out. We're saving him for Christmas. Today we are cooking a 20 lb female for a big family get together. These are some of the nicest birds we've ever raised. Lots of work but in the end it's well worth it.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

A Call to Anguish - David Wilkerson

2011-11-13T22:15:00.002-06:00

What is it?

2011-11-01T19:52:00.004-05:00

We figure these marks on this white birch tree are from a black bear marking it's territory. Either that or it's from climbing, but I rather think the scratches were intentional. The middle picture is about 8 feet off the ground. Dude's got some reach though.

We found these marks several months ago.

180movie.com

2011-10-10T18:35:00.001-05:00

http://www.180movie.com/

This link is from the movie I posted below. Tried to post the link below the video but Blogger wouldn't let me for some reason. Got this in an email that said it was OK to share. This is a very powerful video and "Viewer Discretion is Advised"!

180 "A shocking, award-winning documentary"

2011-10-10T18:03:00.007-05:00

Who ever said it was going to be easy?

2011-10-09T18:17:00.065-05:00

Who ever said it was gonna be easy? I never like to put words in Gods mouth, but I think God gave me those words just yesterday.

I was working on the pick up truck AGAIN, a 98 GMC with more than 210,000 miles. From my rough estimate of time to fix it, (which is usually way too optimistic), I figured I'd have it fixed in not much more than a half an hour or so. Easy! Of course I had about a million other things I needed to get done before the snow flies but the small problem the truck had, that I've been milking along for quite some time, unexpectedly became a bigger one.

It's a good thing actually. The problem it had was a gas line leak, in a place that I couldn't really pin point. But, you could smell gas when the truck was running. Now for some reason this truck has always had a gasoline smell. It was only two years old when we got it so I figured it must be a characteristic of the truck. My Dad's Chevy has the same thing. But over this last year the smell of gas on the GMC has gotten stronger and it seemed my gas mileage has been getting substantially worse. I looked and looked for a leak but couldn't find one. This started back during the winter and I figured if it was a big leak I'd see it in the snow. But I never did see anything in the snow.

In time my gas mileage got so bad I began to think someone was stealing gas from me, so I got a 'locking' gas cap. But, I didn't see any difference in my mileage. I still didn't see any leaks so I was partly convinced I was dealing with a pretty crafty gas thief. But, then again it seemed I was smelling gas more than ever too. So my mind was going back and forth all the time between thinking I had a thief on my hands or having a gas leak. If it was a thief he was smart enough to get through or around the locking gas cap. It's funny how the mind works.

Well FINALLY, the other day we were using the truck and trailer to haul leaves away from the cabin and my kids noticed something dripping in the sun light as it was getting late in the day and the low angle of the sun shone nicely underneath the truck. I finally found my leak!

So yesterday I got a chance to crawl underneath the truck on a soft patch of grass and I pinpointed the leak. A bracket became unattached which allowed the gas return line to go up against the body of the truck and in time wore a hole in the line. Upon further investigation it looked like an easy fix as stated above. I figured somewhere around a half an hour.

There was a fitting down below along the frame that was fairly easy to take apart. And I only got a little dirt in my eyes while working under there. The top fitting was up just behind the engine and was a little more difficult to get to but I got it apart in relatively short order. Then I crawled back underneath and pulled the whole works out, and without much fuss.

Went to town and got some parts and came back home to whip the whole thing back together. I simply cut the bad tube in half at the bad spot, installed some rubber gas line and doubled clamped it. Quick and easy! I was sure proud of myself because my first assessment of 'around a half hour' looked like it was going to be right on, not counting the trip to town and back, which is always around an hour no matter what you do. Well I got the repaired gas line all ready and got in position under the truck. Up she goes! Got it in place then climbed back into the engine compartment to hook it up to the fitting behind the top of the engine. It reached perfectly fine but the angle wasn't quite right. Well, simply change the angle and try again. No go! "What's seems to be the problem here", I thought to my self. No matter how I repositioned the thing I just could not get the angle right enough to get the threads started. Bugger!

By now my time frame was getting blown away. I was already at least an hour into it and the other plans I had for the day were coming into jeopardy. I tried and tried to get the gas line to line up correctly, to no avail. I crawled underneath the truck and climbed back on top enough times to be well reminded I'm not as young as I use to be. Knees screaming from kneeling on top of all the hard stuff in the engine compartment. Even the plastic parts which had started out soft enough to kneel on where getting harder and harder as time went by! And all those squirms back out from underneath the truck where bringing me face to face with that belly that's been growing a little more, year after year. Sit ups aren't nearly as easy as they used to be with that thing in the way!

I eventually came to the conclusion that the hose clamps I used where what kept the fittings from lining up properly. So my only hope was to take the gas line back out, remove the hose clamps, put it back up and try to reattach the troublesome fittings without the clamps in the way. This I did and I was right. I got the fittings up behind the engine reattached. Now ALL I had to do was get those hose clamps back in place way up under the body of the truck. So that's what I set out to do.

HOURS later, with the dexterity of a brain surgeon I finally got the last clamp, 4 in all, back on the line. I used muscles that haven't been used in a quite a long time with all the contortions it required to fish those babies back up where they were supposed to go. And I think I had enough dirt in my eyes to easily start a small crop of lettuce and salad greens. Every little bit I'd be blinded by it all and have to kind of 'wiggle' my way back out from under the truck to regain my site. After hours of this I was no longer 'crawling' out from underneath in an even remotely dignified way, eventually I was wiggling out! Kind of like the "worm" they used to do in the 80's only on my back and not near as graceful as I'm sure you can imagine, with that bloomin belly jiggling all the way. Man I have to get rid of that thing!!!

I had given up completely on the other stuff I'd hoped to get accomplished for the day and all my efforts were focused on getting this project completed before it got dark. Once I came to grips with the thing not being an 'easy half hour job', the devil really got after me. I wasn't in a real good mood. A few times I lost control of my tongue to the point I had to hope no one was in ear shot especially my daughter, I had hoped. I won't go into it, but that kind of language is kind of hard on a guys testimony! I understood that the enemy was having an excellent time at my expense. Shortly after coming to this realization the words came to me,
"Who ever said this was gonna be easy!" But, I realized it meant much more than what I was struggling with in the moment. It meant 'all the struggles' we have in life, so it went way deeper than that. It felt like God intervened and helped set me strait.

I was reminded that there was a time when I loved working on stuff, doing mechanical things. I used to race motorcycles when I was young and I loved all that stuff. I loved working on the bikes and getting them ready for each race. Eventually, in my twenties, I began working with my dad as a maintenance mechanic and I loved it. Did that for 11 years. Yesterday what I was doing was no different than what I did years ago and I really enjoyed it back then. I enjoyed working with my hands and I enjoyed the challenge. But, somewhere along the way I got the mistaken idea that we shouldn't ever have any troubles or challenges. And if we do, they should be 'quickly' and 'EASILY' remedied and fixed.

Every thing I have has over 200,000 miles on it so these moments are getting way more frequent. Even the garbage truck is heading towards 400,000 miles so what do I expect? You fix one thing and just wait for the next thing to fail. That's life! But that's just material things. Eventually it's the same thing with these old bodies of ours. And somewhere along the way we get the idea that it shouldn't happen to us. I thought we were supposed to get wiser as we get older. Sometimes I think we get dumber. Get set in our ways. God never promised us a life of ease.

I shared this revelation with Kelli earlier today and it's funny how God works. She was just talking about this same type of thing with our daughter earlier. Somewhere along the way, we forgot to enjoy the challenges. To be thankful for everything. And I mean everything. It just shows that we aren't the ones in control anyway and that's a good thing. We need to let God "Order Our Day", (something I heard of a local preacher saying).

So the remainder of fixing the gas line, I made a conscious effort to enjoy the journey. It had to get fixed and it's just as well I did it myself than pay a mechanic to do it, since a penny saved is a penny earned. Nowadays it's more like hundreds saved and hundreds earned when it comes to auto mechanics. But, I think this is a theme the Lord has been working on me with lately. To get the idea out of my head, that life is supposed to be easy. I really don't know when it ever took hold of me. But, getting back to a more youthful outlook is very freeing. Little stuff that never bothered me when I was young gets me down in a way it never should. So from now on, Lord willing, I'm going to see trouble in a renewed light. Who ever said it was going to be easy, anyway?

Until Next Time

If you think you've been having a bad time check out this post over at http://heavensgatesalebarncafeandcoffeeshop.blogspot.com/2011/10/baxter-black.html Might brighten your day or at least give you a good laugh.

A good one

2011-10-01T21:16:00.001-05:00

http://heavensgatesalebarncafeandcoffeeshop.blogspot.com/ Check out this blog site, it's a good one!

Red Fox

2011-09-29T00:01:00.006-05:00

Red Fox- Chicken thieving career cut short by me, my 20 gauge shot gun and a prayer.

...our vacation continued

2011-09-18T19:09:00.024-05:00

We had stayed over night the first part of our journey in Nebraska. Took some roads less traveled so we could see places we've never been to before.

Here's some cattle grazing in the morning.

One thing that was different from the views along the main highways were these rolling hills. They looked like sand dunes covered with grass. The pictures don't really show it that well. But, it almost did look like sand that we saw between the sparse blades of grass. It almost seemed like at one time they were great vast sand dunes. but then in time grass covered them.
We saw lots and lots of round hay bales. We just love seeing all the bales along the way so we took a bunch of pictures of them.
These pictures are of Nebraska hay bales.

We thoroughly enjoyed our back roads drive through Nebraska.
Finally we arrived in Colorado.
Notice the 75 miles an hour speed limit AND the $1000 fine for littering!

We stopped at the first Colorado welcome center we came to so we could see some info on the state. The statue below was at the welcome center. It told about the pony express trail.

The parking lot was lined with these metal tipi's suitable for having a picnic. I thought they were kind of neat so I took a picture of one.
These were the first bison we saw on the trip out west. They happened to be at a feed lot.

We saw feed lots along the way. Seemed a big contrast to all the vast open land. Why don't they graze all these animals instead of having them all confined together like this? The smell was terrible.
It really seemed odd to see the feedlots after seeing miles and miles and miles of grass.

Nevertheless we had a great time on our road trip. Loved seeing everything.

As we approached our destination we began to see the mountains. It was a hazy day, so we couldn't see the tops of the mountains. We would find out the next day when it was more clear that there was alot more to the mountains than what we saw the first day there.

We were excited to see all our kids at Ellerslie. Once we arrived in town we right to the school to see them. The below picture is of the church at Ellerslie.
Here Kelli and Shalea visit on the porch. We spent most of our time on the trip checking out the school. We attended most of the classes and sermons. On my next post about the vacation I'll talk about what we saw and heard there. It was a unique experience.

Until Next Time

Smoke from Minnesota wildfire moving across Wisconsin

2011-09-13T17:19:00.009-05:00

http://www.rivertowns.net/event/article/id/33775/publisher_ID/13/

We woke up at just before 2 am this morning to a strong smell of smoke. It was cool out with an unusually gusty wind for that time of the night. The smell was strong in the house and I could see well enough in the dark that there appeared to be smoke in the air.

With flash light in hand I went out and inspected our houses and out buildings. I drove up to the cabin and could see that the air was hazy with smoke. The smell permeated my nostrils. Upon seeing that our buildings were not the source of the smoke I was relieved but, it certainly appeared that a rather large fire was some place not too far away.

I went inside and called 911. Upon talking to the dispatcher she informed me that the likely source of the smoke was from a large fire way up in north MN. She told me that they had reports from all over of people witnessing the same thing. She also said that they could smell it in Rhinelander also, 15 or so miles to our south. She asked me if I could see the sky glowing at all and I said no. She said that it was most likely those fires in MN. However she said that they had people driving around to make sure it wasn't something more local.

After getting off the phone I still wasn't completely convinced the smoke was coming from MN. I wondered how in the world such strong smell and even the sight of the smoke could travel so far. Must be a couple hundred miles away I thought. I called my mom and dad just to let them know what was going on then I drove around to try and satisfy my curiosity. I drove about 6 miles to the north west and I could smell it as strong out there as I could at home.

Then when I was back home I looked up our local TV station online and found their facebook page. On it I saw reports from all around the northwoods of people being woken out of a sound sleep, just as we had been, by a strong smell of smoke. And the report was that yes indeed it was from the fires in Minnesota. So I was finally satisfied and went back to bed around 4 am.

When daylight came the smell of smoke was still lightly in the air and even now at 5:30 pm you can smell it, though at this point we can't see it any longer. Neighbor Mike said he had the same reaction to it. Was woke up by the smell then went around checking to see if any of there buildings were on fire. And judging by the facebook comments others had the same reaction.

In the picture above you can see the smoke making it's way across Lake Superior and into Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Only last night it went a couple counties further south into Oneida County, WI were we live. It went at least that far south that we know of.

I can't imagine how pungent the smoke must be closer to the source. I would think some people would have health concerns with it, people who suffer from asthma and people who have breathing issues.

I'm still amazed how all that smoke could make it's way all the way over here. In my thinking it would travel way up in the sky by now. The conditions must be just right.

Vanishing bees

2011-09-08T22:52:00.000-05:00

Vanishing Of The Bees - Official Trailer

Our vacation

2011-09-03T21:46:00.049-05:00

As mentioned in the post about our Colorado trip, our daughter has been at a school called Ellerslie. We went out to see her there as she has been there for the better part of this year.

Actually it didn't start out that we were going to go, she really wanted us to but, in August we are still very much at the peak of our year as far the work load goes. So going anywhere is usually not even in the realm of possibility for us, at least for me anyway. My family has gone away many times in the past but, I usually stay behind to hold down the fort. Summer time is also the peak time of our garbage business. Then there's the garden and animals to tend to. And we always have extra batches of chickens and now turkey's to take care of. And to add to all that I have Arie our Kangal Dog which I am still training and spending lots of time with.

So, though our daughter wanted us to come out and check out the school and everything it just didn't seem very realistic for us to go. We have not taken a family vacation since 1993.

However our other two kids wanted to check out the school because they too have been interested in attending. But thanks to financial assistance from my parents they were able to book flights to Colorado in order to go see first hand what Ellerslie is all about.

Though we work hard around here to make ends meet, ever since we came here we have never had much for expendable income to do things that many people take for granted. Some people spend thousands of dollars every year going on vacations. We simply have not had that luxury. And then there's all the stuff that we would have to have others take care of while we would be gone, which for me, just makes the idea of going anywhere seem like something that is out of the range of possibility.

But, this time it seemed that the Lord was leading us to finally go. Not that it was to be a vacation per se, but that it would be more of a fact finding mission to really get a taste of where our oldest child has been. As it turned out, it was that and more. It turned out to be a kind of second honeymoon for Kelli and I and also a family vacation all in one.

The most formidable task for us to going any where for more than a few days at a time is that of our garbage route. The garbage business is something we have been totally married to. It's a weekly thing, 52 weeks a year. We are friends with a couple who does what we do. They have been at it for somewhere around 20 years. As far as I know he has never been anywhere beyond a 2 day weekend as they pick up 5 days a week. We only pick up 3 days a week. So in reality we can get away for up to 4 days at a time not taking the farm into consideration. Twice the time as our friends can.

But for around 2 years now our neighbor Mike has been helping me with the route. Mike and I have grown quite close working together every week. So when he heard that we wanted to go out to see our daughter he heartily volunteered to do the route himself. Plus his wife agreed to help as well since she has gone on the routes a number of times that Mike does himself. So the two weeks we were gone Mike and his wife Deb completely took the worry out of our trip as far as the garbage business goes. What a relief it was. I am very thankful that the Lord put it on their hearts to help out like that.

Then a family friend of ours, a young man named Ross, and my Dad helped with the animals. Everything was covered!

By this point however, our other kids already had flights booked to Colorado. Kelli and I considered flying out too, but the idea of being out there without wheels and not being able to come back at a moments notice in case something happened back home did not seem like a good one. So kind of at the last minute we decided to drive.

We wrestled with this plan since we had to take our other two kids to the Minneapolis airport anyway. The way it would go, is we would take them to MN, then we ourselves would drive out. Seemed like a waste of money on plane tickets and such when we all could have drove out together. But, the tickets were already bought. But, then after a lot of thought we decided it would be nice for Kelli and I to take a road trip just the two of us since we had not done anything like that since the first year we were married when we took our honeymoon trip to Florida.

So that is what we decide to do. We'd see the kids off at the airport, and they'd get there a day ahead of us as we headed out on a 12 hour drive, splitting it up into 2 days, taking out time.

This is the actual plane our kids were on as they took off for Colorado.

We had to get to the airport early in the morning and we got there none to soon as the flight to Denver was totally packed. We saw a long line which we couldn't believe was the one our kids were supposed to be in and we wandered around trying to figure out where to go. It turned out to be at the end of the very long line. They finally boarded with very little time to spare. We were told that August is a peak time for people to visit Colorado. Never would have guessed it before hand.

Since they had such an early flight we had stayed over night in Minneapolis near by the airport. So after they left, Kelli and I went back to the motel to freshen up for the day. Then we headed out on our road trip.

It was very warm the days leading up to the trip and this day was just as warm as any. Pretty much hot and humid. We hoped for relief once we got to Colorado since we had heard it was a drier heat out there.

Not too far into our drive we began to see windmills. I know there is a lot of controversy about them. Some people hate them but, I think they are neat to look at. I might feel different if someone parked one right next to me but, I am always for alternative ways to produce energy. I understand there is controversy in that regard as well. That the energy gains aren't as high as thought. I'm not educated on it enough to really have a solid opinion one way or the other. But, I still think they are cool.

Another thing we saw along the way was tons and tons of signs for "Wall Drug". We remembered seeing them when we went out west as a family way back when the kids were all little, in 1993. That was the last official family vacation we had taken until now. Even though we had seen all those signs we never went to check the place out. We said to ourselves that this time, if we got the chance, we'd go see it.

On our trip Kelli and I traveled from MN to South Dakota to Nebraska to CO. Back in 93 we had stopped at the Corn Palace in Mitchel SD so since we were driving right by we decided to stop. Below is a picture of it. The outside is completely decorated in corn. If I understand right, they make a new design every year.

Then as we were driving down the highway I spotted a sign for a Cabela's store. I told Kelli I had to stop and see it. I've seen catalogs for the store for many years and have never seen one in person so we turned around to go check it out.
The outside was very impressive. Lots of money in a building like that. Plus they had this interesting metal art, out front.

Once inside we saw a spectacular visual display with all kinds of animal mounts. I was so amazed by it all I had to go out and get the camera. I asked a clerk if it was alright to take pictures and she said, "sure".

We stayed at Cabela's way longer than we had planned. I did a little shopping for a few things I needed. It's not every day I get to step inside an outdoors store like this so I took advantage of it.

After cutting across South Dakota we took a side road through Nebraska. The views were way better than the time we went through in 1993, which we remembered being quite boring.

As we came near the Missouri River the terrain became quite spectacular. These are some of my favorite kind of views.

I love to see large rolling hills like the ones above.

The bridge across the river was amazing.

We drove until almost dark and then got a place to stay. We saw this outstanding sunset behind some really cool looking buttes.
So with this picture I'll bring this post to a close since it was the end of the first day of our trip.

More to come....

Computer has been down

2011-09-03T08:28:00.002-05:00

Well, I had hoped to make follow up posts about our Colorado trip but, our computer quit working. Turned out to be the "mother board" as the expert tech guy informed me, so we had to get another computer. I swear these things are almost more trouble than they are worth! Unfortunately we now do almost all our business billings on it and if it isn't working neither is our business. So here we are with another brand new computer. As soon as I figure everything out I'll be making some more posts at some point, Lord willing.

Colorado trip

2011-08-20T20:30:00.010-05:00

Well, the family and I went on a vacation. First real one since before we moved here in 1998. We've been away for weekend jaunts and such, many times over the years, and Kelli and the kids have gone away often but, since being in business for ourselves we haven't all gone at once until now.

Our oldest has been at a school in CO called Ellerslie. It was started by Eric and Leslie Ludy, well known Christian authors. So we finally decided to get out there and see what it is all about.

It was pretty much a miracle to get us and our adult children all someplace at the same time. God gets all the credit for this. He would anyway but, this was exceptional. I for one have a very difficult time leaving behind all my responsibilities for other people to take care of. But, it happened and we all had a great time. And the world didn't come to an end or anything like that.

Our trip was a little different in that we didn't really know, until kind of the last minute, if Kelli and I were going to go. Our other two kids had already booked flights out to Colorado and since we didn't know for how long we would stay, me and Kelli decided to drive. That way we'd have wheels when we got out there and we could leave at a moments notice if things were to require our presence back home in Wisconsin. So the kids flew out and we drove. Turned out to be kind of a little second honeymoon for us as well.

We took tons of pictures on our trip and at the moment I do not have access to them to down load to blogger so I'm going to cut this short until I do have the pics. I just have to post them, the scenery was amazing. I'll probably make two or three posts out of it.

So until then this is all I have. Ellerslie was quite an experience too and I have some things to tell about that as well.

Until Next Time

Archery

2011-07-31T22:04:00.004-05:00

This year I joined my friend and neighbors archery club. I think this is his (Mike) and his wife's (Debi) 3rd year of doing it. It is a real neat archery range with many life size targets of deer, elk, coyote, bob cat, bear and wild boar. Upon my urging Mike started a blog. Here's the link. Diamond Back Archers Mike is the one who helps me with the garbage route as well.

I've never been into hunting other than strictly for the meat, but after getting experience shooting a good bow (I bought Mikes old one) I am way more confident that I could make a clean kill with a bow if i ever wanted to. Mikes archery range is a challenge and mimics real life conditions. I never bow hunted in the past because I was always un-confindent in my shooting skills. I always said I wanted to practice more to become more proficient of a shot. I didn't want to shoot a deer and simply wound it and have it run off.

But, last I heard I was first in this years standings at the range so I reckon I could take up bow hunting and not worry too much about making a bad shot. Mike and his son are usually the top shooters but, Mike has a new bow that he hasn't gotten dialed in yet and his son still has many shoots to make up. However I am more than pleased that I am doing so well. Something I never expected because I've never been good at any kind of target shooting. Yet, I've surprised myself at how many varmints I have taken out. When it comes to protecting our farm I am a way better shot than when I am target shooting. At least most of the time when my sites aren't knocked way off like when I missed that coyote a year or so ago.

Anyway, I am having fun this summer shooting my new bow over at Mikes . If you get a chance stop over at his new blog and say hello. Tell him Russ told you about it.

Sandhill Cranes strolling across the yard

2011-07-30T21:48:00.010-05:00

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandhill_Crane

Weeds

2011-07-29T09:16:00.001-05:00

I'm so good at growing weeds they even grow on the pick up truck!

Tastes like chicken

2011-07-23T21:29:00.004-05:00

The other day I saw an interesting thing. As I was doing chores I saw a frog next to the chicken yard. It was hanging out near a mud puddle. When I walked past it the frog took a leap and landed right next to the chain link fence. Just on the other side is where the chickens are. I said, "watch out little frog, the chickens might get you!" About ten seconds after I said that a hen spotted it and came running over to the fence. I expected the frog to jump away when the hen put her head down by it. Then all of a sudden with the precision of a skilled marksman the hen snatched the frog by one it's legs then quickly shook it like a pit bull. She dropped it and then plucked it up, doing that several times. By now the frog was certainly dead and the hen ran off with it so as to not share it with the rest of the flock. I watched this from a distance as the hen soon devoured the frog.

I said to the hen, "So hen, what's it taste like?" Hen replies, "Bawk, Bawk Bawk, tastes like chicken".

Lazy days of Summer

2011-07-09T15:00:00.002-05:00

Field of daisies

2011-07-04T18:49:00.005-05:00

This is a good year for daisies. This field which has been plowed in previous years is grown up and full of thousands of the beautiful flowers.

Goslings and chicks

2011-07-03T08:23:00.009-05:00

A mother goose hatched out some goslings a few weeks ago so we put them in our brooder where we raise day old chicks. We had an order of broiler chicks arrive and tried putting them all with the goslings. To our delight they all took well to each other and the young chicks even would huddle around the goslings for warmth. Very cute!

You might wonder why we don't just leave the goslings with their mother. Well, a couple years ago we did that. We had a half dozen or so goslings hatch out and the big male goose wound up clumsily stepping on all but one and killing them. And in fact the only remaining one died just this spring. It was a male and as he aged he would challenge his father. This year their battles grew more fierce. Finally, they had a fight that injured the younger male critically and I had to put it down. So that goofy goose is actually responsible for the deaths of all that years babies!

With that experience we decided to not let that happen again. When these little ones are much bigger we will introduce them back to the the flock.

We just had another baby goose hatch out the other day and it is now with it's older siblings in this brooder. So far we have a total of 4 goslings.

Convoy

2011-06-28T10:18:00.010-05:00

Last week a convoy of military vehicles rolled past our farm. The sound is unmistakable as the aggressive tread pattern on the tires hits the pavement.

Below are some of the vehicles that went by. There were many more than these.

A few years back a convoy similar to this went by in the early morning going in the opposite direction as these.

The sound of the wheels woke me up at just barely daylight. The sound was eerie as the whine of the tires repeated over and over and over. I pulled back the blinds to barely see the silhouettes of the vehicles going by one after the other. It seemed to go on forever. At the time it seemed a little creepy as there is no other sound I've ever heard that sounds quite like those tires going down the road.

Even in the light of day as the above convoy went by last week my family agreed that it sounded creepy, kind of eerie.

Check this out

2011-06-26T22:37:00.004-05:00

Below are a couple pictures of something they found when we had the work crew here helping with the greenhouse.

Everyone who sees it, first thinks it's one of those plastic toys, but it isn't plastic, it is real. A real dead snake. It dried out and stayed in perfect condition. It looks like a kids toy.

I thought it was kind of interesting so I posted it here.

Wind Damage

2011-06-18T09:39:00.022-05:00

A few weeks back we got a big wind storm and got some damage during the night.

That night Arie, our Kangal Dog, was barking around midnight and didn't let up. So I got dressed and went around checking on the animals and to see if there were any predators lurking about.

On my way back from making my rounds I saw that the wind had rolled over our trampoline and it was almost on top of the green house were we keep our poultry. Plus one of our unused chicken tractors had rolled over as well as you can see in the picture up against the fence.

One of the pipes popped a hole in the plastic which was disappointing since we just put on brand new plastic just a couple years ago.

Friends of ours Paul and Charisse had given us the trampoline years ago. We've put it up every summer so that what ever kids might come over can have fun playing on it and never up till now has it ever budged in the wind. It rolled over a couple times, it was a really strong wind.

I figured that must have been what Arie was barking at since it must have made quite a noise as it tumbled. So I went back into the house figuring I'd just leave it alone and deal with it in the day light and after the wind died down.

As I was heading back to bed a big wind sent a shudder through the whole house. Kelli was upstairs in bed and she felt it too. So I woke up the rest of the family and had everyone come down stairs since it felt like the whole roof might possibly come off. We all crashed in the living room for a couple ours until the wind seemed to let up.

Come day light I couldn't believe my eyes. Our big green house took the brunt of the wind. It ripped the plastic right off of it.

When I went up to get a closer look my mouth dropped open. The wind had gotten under the plastic and lifted the east end of it strait up and set it down around to the north side. And it had gone way up in the air and ripped some branches in a near by tree before coming down. The end it's self had little damage.

I had the ends staked down to the ground and it pulled those stakes right out. In this picture you can see one of the stakes. They were only down a couple feet but even so everyone was amazed how it lifted right up like that. I would guess that the end weighs several hundred pounds.

Pretty much the only damage to the plastic is that it was torn part way off on each end.

Way are thankful and humbled that the Lord has given us some good friends. After learning of our misfortune many friends offered to help us put it back together. Some drove almost 4 hours to get here for a work day.

In the below pictures you can see some of them resetting the end.

We shortened the green house by 3 feet to account for the torn plastic. That way we will have a foot and a half over hang with which to re-attach the plastic.

We aren't doing the CSA this year so we hadn't yet planted our tomatoes and other crops in the green house, which we were glad for, since if we had they surely would have been flattened by the wind that night.

We thank the Lord and all our friends for helping us put it back together. What a blessing!

For us this was a VERY SMALL sample of what so many around the country have recently gone through with so much tornado damage. This was nothing compared to that. But, it makes us realize that we cannot put faith in anything, in any material thing on this earth since every single thing can and will be shaken. Nothing here lasts forever. In vain we put our trust in our things, our homes, our very lives. In an instant it can all be gone. So if we are wise we will put our faith in the things that can't be shaken, to put our faith in the eternal. Our hope is in the Lord, the IMMOVABLE rock!

An interesting website

2011-06-01T22:59:00.000-05:00

The Survival Mom

A discovery

2011-05-08T22:19:00.005-05:00

Yesterday we moved the sheep from the corral that they spent the winter in to our movable sheep pen. Two of our rams stayed in the movable pen all winter and a sizable amount of wasted hay built up. We used my dads 580 Case tractor to lift up the pen and move it off the wasted hay.

After looking at it I realized that these could almost be used as pre-mulched garden beds. We didn't do that here. After we were done I scooped it all up and dumped it in the area where we will be gardening this year, but I think it could easily have been used as garden beds. The hay was between 4" and 6" inches deep with a mixture of sheep manure and urine.

Newborn chicks

2011-05-08T14:13:00.005-05:00

We got out the incubator and hatched out some new chicks. The females in this batch will be replacements to our aging egg laying flock. We have mostly a mixed breed that are decedent's from earlier chickens we've had. Most of these are part Rhode Island Red, Buff Orpington and Araucana.

It's always fun to hatch out our own chicks to see the miracle of life first hand.

Happy Mothers Day

to all you mom's out there!

So, Obama killed Osama?

2011-05-02T06:21:00.016-05:00

Obama: "At My Direction" U.S. Carried Out Operation Against Bin Laden

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110502/ap_on_re_us/us_bin_laden

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/02/how-osama-bin-laden-found

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=13506251

The boogie man is finally dead and "buried out at sea"?

It's funny, I've been hearing rumors for years, that Osama has already been dead for years.

It would seem, that our reality is shaped by the masters of spin. How fitting at this time when "Obama's" popularity is at an all time low that the infamous boogie man Osama is vanquished, by Obama. Osama, I mean Obama, hip hip hooray!
Ever notice that the only difference between the two names is B S ?

Nice too, how they got rid of the body real quick like, so no one has to be bothered with it.

Oh well, I must just be another one of those "crazy conspiracy theorists", never mind me.

Nevertheless, regardless of whatever the truth REALLY is, at least the chapter of this tragic and awful story is finally closed.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a lot more to the script. Lord help us.

Feds sting Amish farmer selling raw milk

2011-04-29T16:42:00.001-05:00

By Stephen Dinan
-
The Washington Times

"A yearlong sting operation, including aliases, a 5 a.m. surprise inspection and surreptitious purchases from an Amish farm in Pennsylvania, culminated in the federal government announcing this week that it has gone to court to stop Rainbow Acres Farm from selling its contraband to willing customers in the Washington area.

The product in question: unpasteurized milk."

Prevailing Prayer

2011-04-28T10:54:00.001-05:00

Eric Ludy - As In The Ancient Days from Ellerslie Mission Society on Vimeo.

Isaiah 53 (New American Standard)

2011-04-24T12:32:00.002-05:00

The Suffering Servant

1 Who has believed our message ? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed ?
2 For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground ; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him.
3 He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief ; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried ; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities ; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed.
6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way ; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.
7 He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth ; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.
8 By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?
9 His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
10 But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief ; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
11 As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied ; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong ; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors ; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.

Gas/Fuel

2011-04-20T20:15:00.005-05:00

Took this picture on Sunday the 17th at our local gas station, been hanging at these prices all week.

Maple syrup time

2011-04-02T16:08:00.003-05:00

"Spring time in the northwoods baby"

2011-03-26T19:23:00.020-05:00

Not long after we moved here Kelli and the kids used to babysit a little girl named Maggie. We had a dirt drive way as we had not yet gotten any gravel. Every spring it would be a muddy slippery mess. One time Maggie's dad came to pick her up and he had to slip slide his way to the house in his little pick up truck. The mud was easily over the tops of our boots. Anyway, I apologized to him for how bad our driveway was. He shrugged his shoulders and said "hey, that's spring time in the northwoods baby!" I still get a chuckle when I think of it and to this day when ever the weather in spring time throws us a challenge that's what I say, "that's spring time in the northwoods baby!".

You never know what your going to get here in the spring. This year just days into spring we got a snow storm, pictured below. Between 6 and 8 inches here in Sugar Camp. Rhinelander got over a foot.

View from my parents porch.

My dad moving snow in his plow truck.

Dad shoveling his sidewalk.

Arie enjoying a deer leg bone.

Nose licking good!

Geese happy in the snow on a sunny day.

We got this one as a gosling in 1998. He'll be 13 years old this year.

Titan, son of Dakota

Dakota

Titan peeking over the fence at Dakota.

Dakota

Titan and Dakota

A few pictures

2011-03-06T17:54:00.007-06:00

I took a few pictures yesterday to put on here so you'll know I didn't fall off the face of the earth. As you can tell it's been awhile since I posted anything. So here's a few pictures just so you know we are still here.

Geese and a duck.

Ariella's getting big.

Junior, one of our oldest cats.

Until Next Time

200 steers die in WI field

2011-01-16T20:19:00.004-06:00

Steers Die in Portage County

Just saw the above article linked on Drudge Report.

That's hitting kind of close to home for us.

Winter Greenhouse

2011-01-16T16:03:00.003-06:00

This is the inside of our big greenhouse. I took the video yesterday the 15th. We are using it as a barn this winter for 2 goats, 3 lambs and the pup. Mainly I wanted the pup to have a warmer place to be but, as it turns out she is very hardy. She spends hours a day outside anyway and fares very well. Kangal Dogs have a thick undercoat.

The goats do appreciate a warmer place however. I was concerned that it might be too warm for the sheep during full sun but, the back door is open and ventilates it pretty well so far. But, as spring approaches we'll have to be sure to not let them get over heated.

Having the animals in there is giving us a nice amount of fertilizer. We've been talking about having more in there next winter after building an outside pen on the back where they can go outside if they want.

This green house is 96 feet long.

1-1-11

2011-01-01T13:03:00.020-06:00

The New Year, here in Northern Wisconsin brought with it plummeting temperatures and a bitterly fierce wind from the south west which was blowing strong. What a contrast to the days leading up to it when it was 40 degrees and raining. We lost a lot of snow with the rain but, these cold temps quickly halted the melt, as it is currently 3 degrees Fahrenheit with a -18 degree wind chill.

North Dakota had a 100 car pile up due to a blizzard. And tornadoes ripped through southern states on New Years Eve. It might be my imagination but, it sure seems like the weather has been strange lately. Not that a blizzard in ND is anything unusual. The 100 car pile up just adds to the strangeness to me for some reason. And so does the earth quake in Indiana just days ago.

Winter seemed to have come early here in this part of the country and with it some unusually brisk winds. As I've been out and about taking care of things I've found myself getting annoyed with the wind. Doors and gates swing wildly, buckets take off across the yard, you have to hold onto your hat, etc. Makes me wonder if all that oil in the Gulf hasn't effected our weather somehow. Some have theorized that the oil in the Gulf could even effect the weather in Europe saying it could give them a colder than usual winter. And from the reports I've seen, it has been unusually wintery.

But, whatever comes our way we adapt. When the temperatures get cooler in the Fall it always takes a bit to get used to it. Especially before the real cold stuff sets in, the damp cool air goes right through you. But, then winter arrives and somehow by then we've put on our winter skin and it doesn't seem so bad.

We stayed home for New Years Eve. Which is different for us since usually we go and sit with friends and watch the new year come in. We anticipated icy roads from all the rain with dropping temperatures so we thought it best to just stay put this year. My mom and dad came over early in the evening and we had chili for super.

Our Kangal Dog puppy has been keeping me busy. Pretty much most of my free time is spent working with her. She is 7 months old now, 29" at the withers and pushing 100 pounds. I'll continue working with her all through out the new year to get her to be good with the sheep. Arie is still very much a puppy and playing is still mostly what she wants to do.

Today is 1-1-11. Looks funny to me. I'm not much of a numbers person but, dates effect me in a kind of emotional way. It seems like yesterday it turned 2000. I remember well how we all gathered around the computer to see if the date would change correctly and that the power was going to stay on. And now here we are 11 years later. My how time flies.

Kelli and I spent part of the day discussing what we hope to accomplish in the coming year. For both of us we want to simplify our lives. Staying out of the rat race is a constant struggle. It is so easy to get pulled in a million different directions. So we are looking at the things that we can cut back on. It doesn't matter where a person lives, the modern trappings of the world still have a way of taking over a turning us into slaves. I guess we all must take stock of our lives from time to time and make changes were we see necessary.

God Bless and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T11:07:00.001-06:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!!!

Pics for the day

2010-12-16T19:57:00.011-06:00

After a stint of Arctic like weather it was a little warmer today, about 18 degrees, so I took a little time to take some pictures. Of course "Tinkerbell" our woolly actress gets the first shot here.

Most of our sheep are Shetlands but we have Tinkerbell, which we don't know what breed she is and we have Zinnie, a Navajo-Churro, plus we have a number of Tinkerbell's offspring which are half Shetland. The Navajo-Churro is the taller one in the picture with the black face, middle and left.

I worked with Arie today, training her to behave with the sheep, as she likes to try and play with them.

To keep Arie under control I use a lunge rein, which is used for horses.

Of course Tinkerbell the "ham" that she is had to get in the last shot.

One of our kids took this a couple days ago on the 14th. I thought it was pretty so I added it here.

A snowy blast

2010-12-12T11:05:00.012-06:00

The other day our daughter was looking at a calender and she said, "did you know it's still fall?" I said, "I don't care what the calender says, this is winter!".

Right now the winds are whipping up yesterdays and last nights dumping of snow. For a couple days the weather advisories were being issued for us that we were to expect 16" to 18" inches of snow followed by high winds and colder temps. So far they are right on track, with the exception of a little less snow than what was predicted.

Inside the house is the place to be today, as you can see from the pictures above, they were taken from the warmth of inside our home. But, at least today the sun is shining brightly. Which is a little deceptive to look at, in that it is way colder out than it looks.

There is less we have to do outside during this time of year which is nice, but it is also the leanest time for us financially having less of an income. But, one way or another God has been faithful and has given us just what we need, no more and no less.

Just over a year ago our neighbor Mike started helping with the garbage routes. We weren't looking for any help at the time since our finances had taken a turn for the worse. But he approached us and he lives right across the highway from us and I thought it would be nice to have a back up since it was all on me then. Plus I felt a strong sense from the Lord to hire Mike.

It has made things even tighter financially but, the Lord has kept us going for over a year now. During this time God has brought numerous confirmations that HE was in on it and has provided for us in miraculous ways. In such ways that have brought tears to our eyes. One of the times came from what would seem like we were visited by an "angel". Not a literal angel but so close it almost made us wonder. A dear woman blessed our family both spiritually and monetarily at just a time when we needed confirmation that we were on the right track.

And just days ago we received another blessing at just the right time. The transmission on our garbage truck developed another problem making it inoperable.

The story on this particular truck has been one of a series of trouble with the automatic transmission. The truck is a 1995 Isuzu NPR. A month after we got the truck it went out. We spent over $5000 getting the transmission rebuilt. It was supposed to have a same as new warranty but the outfit who did the work was not honest and they wouldn't stand by their warranty after we got it back still having problems. They refused to stand by their work, then not long thereafter, they went out of business completely. Not surprising given the lack of ethics we experienced with them.

Well in time the transmission went out again and we found a local transmission repair shop who fixed it for us. After that we took it back to him for a minor problem which he didn't even charge us for. Then a couple weeks ago something else happened with it. We took the truck back again and it turned out to be another major repair.

We fully expected to get a bill in the thousands again. To date we have sunk in well over $6k in the thing. When they called to let me know it was finished I asked what the cost was. I couldn't believe my ears, when the man said it was under warranty and there would be NO charge. I was astonished!

Afterwards I told Kelli and she immediately burst into tears. Things are tight once again right now and going into winter we sure didn't need a big bill. But, no bill at all is a true miracle! The owner of this transmission shop is beyond honest. In my opinion he would not have had to stand by this repair as it really had nothing to do with what he fixed before as far as I can tell.

This would be the third time he's stood by his work with us, because he did some work to our pickup truck in the recent past as well, which had to be taken back. Again no charge on that one either. It is pretty amazing! That first outfit that we had experience with really took us to the cleaners but, this guy has gone way beyond what would be expected. I suspect he is a Christian since I saw him up at the "Living Nativity" when we were up there.

More confirmation that we are right were God wants us to be. Completely reliant on Him.

Until Next Time

The Madness of a Lost Society

2010-12-09T16:27:00.006-06:00

"The last sixty years has given birth to a moral disaster, and what have we done? Sadly, we must say that the evangelical world has been part of the disaster.

More than this, the evangelical response itself has been a disaster. Where is the clear voice speaking to the crucial issues of the day with distinctively biblical, Christian answers?

With tears we must say it is not there and that a large segment of the evangelical world has been seduced by the world spirit of this present age.

And more than this, we can expect the future to be a further disaster if the evangelical world does not take a stand for biblical truth and morality in the full spectrum of life.

For the evangelical accommodation to the world of our age represents the removal of the last barrier against the breakdown of our culture.

And with the final removal of this barrier will come social chaos and the rise of authoritarianism in some form to restore social order. "

Francis Shaeffer, The Great Evangelical Disaster

A woolly actress

2010-12-05T21:47:00.010-06:00

We have a female sheep that was given to us a few years back that is in a "living" nativity every year. Below are some pictures that we took of her the other night. Her name is Tinkerbell. We didn't name her that, our friends that gave her to us did. In fact the "angel" on top of the manger in the first picture below is the one who gave her to us.

A church in Eagle River puts this on and it is very nice.

It's funny how well Tinkerbell does during the programs. She is never on a lead any other time through out the year. None of our other sheep will behave for this. But, the folks who used to own Tinkerbell have kids who led her around like a dog and she has always been very tame.

Tinkerbell is an accomplished actress!

Our friend Lenore owns the little donkey in this last picture. He was perfect for the role. He accompanied "Mary and Joseph" to the manger. Very cute!

Luke 2:7-14

"7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. "

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T14:38:00.012-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends around America,
Zion,IL; Rhinelander,WI; Bowlus,MN; Minot, ND; Chicago,IL; Petosky, MI; Mountian View,CA; Rochester,MN; Tyler, TX and Franklin, TN to name a few locales of folks that view this blog.

----------------------------------------------------------------

I took the pictures below a little while ago today. We got a fresh covering of snow, up to a couple inches. I'm getting ready to put the sheep in a corral close to the house for the winter so I dragged the pen up closer. We'll be setting up pens to divide the ones who will be bred and the ones who will not.

The pictures are kind of an update on the movable sheep pen. I had not built a top for it yet in the post and video I made earlier in the year.

http://logcabinhomestead.blogspot.com/2010/04/moveable-sheep-pen-update.html

I built a top by using pole barn metal siding. It wasn't wide enough for the ewes so I made an extension and covered it with a tarp. I intend to remove the tarp and replace it with metal at some point however.

This picture shows the underside which actually gives a better shot of how I constructed it.

Arie enjoyed playing in the fresh snow.

---------------------------------------------------------

Just got done eating a fine Thanksgiving meal with one of our 20 pound home raised turkeys as the center piece. Hmm, good! The local family's all here for the occasion, my parents, Kelli's sisters and her nephews and niece. A real nice time. Something else to be thankful for.

Well, gotta go and get back to visiting.

God bless.

Until Next Time

Ron Paul telling it like it is

2010-11-18T15:07:00.006-06:00

Ron Paul: Cut out this Soviet-style nonsense
Congressman launches bill, suggests searches would cease if Obama, top officials had them

"It’s absurd and it’s time we wake up"........"And groping people at the airport doesn't solve our problems" Ron Paul

Some food for thought

2010-11-13T19:50:00.001-06:00

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig11/edmonds-s1.1.1.html

Snow

2010-11-13T09:47:00.004-06:00

We got snow this morning. It's not the first time this season but, it is the first to really stick. The roads are slippery. Ready or not, here it comes!

A puppy video

2010-10-30T20:48:00.003-05:00

Here's video I posted over at the puppy blog.

You can go there to read about the details if you want.

Here's a link to our youtube channel to see all of the video's we've ever uploaded to youtube. http://www.youtube.com/user/farmblog

A Don Fracisco concert

2010-10-28T10:50:00.006-05:00

My family and I had opportunity to see Don Francisco give a concert at a church in Conover, a town north of Eagle River. Friends of ours Phil and Diane got it arranged for Don Francisco to come to the Northwoods. It has been a years long dream of Phil's to have him up here for a concert. It almost happened a year or so ago but, fell through and finally last Tuesday night it became a reality. We were very excited both for Phil and for us to see Don Francisco as we've been blessed by his music for many years now. I think it was around 1981 when a fellow I worked with first gave me a tape of his.

Phil is involved in a prison ministry and he arranged also for him to give a concert at a prison on Wednesday. I haven't heard yet how it went but, I'm sure it was great.

The song in the video above called "He's Alive" is one of the songs Don is famous for. To hear this song in person, I think, gave us all goose bumps, I know it did for me for sure. He played and sang alone as he was not accompanied by anyone else on this trip but, it was still amazing. Don Francisco has a real gift. The Holy Spirit certainly ministers through the music.

Here's a link to Don Francisco's website for more about his music and ministry. http://www.rockymountainministries.org/

To improvise

2010-10-24T19:40:00.006-05:00

Last Thursday it was quite windy, cold and wet. We needed to do some butchering of chickens and turkeys so we set up our little processing station inside our dump trailer. This kept us out of the wind and reasonably comfortable.

The little red trailer is used to cart the live birds in from the pasture where they are kept in the movable pens.

Normally the dump trailer is used to haul paper and cardboard once a week to a recycling facility in a near by town. That's why it has tall sides. Makes for a great wind break. Sometimes you have to improvise.

New movie about government spending

2010-10-15T21:58:00.001-05:00

Fernando Ortega

2010-10-09T20:58:00.002-05:00

Fernando Ortega is one of my favorite musicians. The video above is a tribute to Billy Grahams wife Ruth, who passed away awhile back.

Many years ago we saw Ortega in person at a church in Kenosha Wisconsin. It was simply him singing and playing either a guitar or piano. To me that is the best kind of music, one or more people singing along with stringed instruments. Way better than the lights and glitz of modern concerts.

Some better pictures

2010-10-03T22:49:00.010-05:00

These pictures are a little better than the ones in the last post. At least they're not as washed out. I went out today to try to get some better colors. I'm still not real happy with the colors. It might be the time of day with the sun shining bright around noon. Not enough shadow perhaps.

I couldn't believe how many more leaves had dropped just over night. It was cold last night in the mid 20's.

We have some ripe tomatoes still on the vine in the greenhouse, as well as peppers, eggplant, and celery. In the top picture you can barely see the green house along the tree line. It's nearly 100' long.

We have 5 turkeys left. These didn't grow as fast as the others so we are letting them get bigger.

Chicken tractors in the Fall

2010-10-03T10:35:00.006-05:00

I wanted to get some pictures of our little caravan of chicken tractors but, I had my daughters camera set on the wrong setting and the pictures turned out all washed out. But, here they are anyway.

These pictures were supposed to illustrate the path the four cages make across the field.

The birds and cages mash down the grass in their wake. The birds forage through the grass eating bugs, worms and such. They eat the grass to. The manure left behind is fantastic for the fertility of the field. The dark green grasses that come up days after the pens have moved ahead are a definite contrast to the grasses that have not had the manure treatment.

We have four cages here and each one is built a little bit differently. That's because I build them with what ever scraps I have on hand.

The square pens are fine except for one bad flaw. They are too tall and strong wind can turn them over, which happened last year when I had two pens blow over tumble weed style in the night and we lost turkeys and chickens to the coyotes. It never happened this year but we did get a wind strong enough to scoot them to the side enough that we lost one young chicken when it got crushed underneath one edge. The Joel Salatin style pens are probably half the height of these pens and I doubt they have the same problem of turning over.

This last picture taken yesterday shows that we are in full Fall colors right now. This is my favorite time of the year. I wish this picture wasn't so washed out so you could see the full brilliance of the colors.

Animal cruelty at a factory farm

2010-09-30T11:15:00.005-05:00

Below is a link to a news story I saw this morning while looking at World Net Daily. It is a very disturbing look at animal cruelty at what I would call a factory farm. While animal cruelty is certainly not limited to factory farms it just shows what can happen when a farm reaches a size to have to hire outside help and the owners become detached from the daily happenings of the operation. And assuming the owners were not complicit with such depraved behavior.

In my opinion the young men involved, the perpetrators of the violence, got off WAY to easy. As far as the article tells only one of them got charged.

A video of the cruelty is included in the article, although very graphic and disturbing I think that people should look at it to see the level of depravity that can go on. It is in fact so cruel and violent that it makes me afraid that these guys are allowed to walk around free. If they can treat an animal with such disregard it wouldn't be much of a stretch to think they might do this to a person who would be weak or unable to defend themselves just as the poor animals were that they did this to.

The article in the link below tells the whole story and the video itself fills in any blanks that might have been left out. These guys shouldn't be allowed to get off lightly with this. The officials in this Ohio town should be flooded with letters demanding justice.

Farmhand gets 8 months in jail for beating Conklin dairy cows

Just for the record I feel just as passionate about the cruelty done to unborn children in this world as I do with cruelty done to animals. Just thought I'd mention that because it often irks me how people go on and on about the treatment of animals all the while remaining silent about the holocaust of babies that continues daily in this Country and around the world.

Food Freedom

2010-09-25T23:28:00.002-05:00

Check out these links on the subject of food freedom.

http://farmandranchfreedom.org/

http://www.infowars.com/killing-off-the-small-farm-alex-jones-talks-with-judith-mcgeary/

Goats spar through fence

2010-09-14T18:03:00.003-05:00

In the video which was taken on 9-4-2010 you will see our two little billy goats Stinky and Stankey sparring through the fence while Arie plays. Arie wants badly to play too, but she's been on the receiving end of those horns before and is wise enough not to get too close.

Turkeys in a chicken tractor

2010-09-05T15:16:00.007-05:00

If the turkeys are in a chicken tractor does that really make them chickens? Of course not I'm just kidding. I suppose since they are turkeys after all, then the pen they are in even if it has always been a "chicken tractor" is now a "turkey tractor". At least while they are taking up residence.

The turkeys are pretty much ready to be um well, "processed". That's a nice way of saying "killed". Or "butchered". Kelli likes to call it processing I call it butchering. But, I reckon she is right about the terminology because what we used to do was "butchering", back when we were learning the ropes. Not a pretty site! Take my word for it! Now we are way better at it after more than a thousand birds under our belt. I'm not sure exactly how many we've done over the years but, it has to be in the thousands by now. Actually we've only done a hand full of turkeys. One of our own a short while back and 8 belonging to our neighbor Mike, who got his when we got ours.

Mikes turkeys got bigger than ours. I think it is because he and his wife used strait commercial feed . Game bird feed actually. I used chicken grower feed mixed with extra corn and a sunflower mix that we feed our chickens. Plus they kept food before them at all times. I feed ours twice a day and they get a little hungry between feedings. Plus I move the pen twice a day. It's been about 3 weeks since we did Mikes birds and now most of ours are bigger than his then. I figure ours were about two weeks behind his. But, I probably spent less on feed. Since corn is cheaper by the hundred I use that to help cut the cost. It adds fat however. Our birds don't get over weight but, they do develop some fat inside. I'm almost certain it's from the corn. Because over the years I've noticed that the more corn I use the more fat they get. We remove as much of the fat as possible before we freeze them however.

In these video's you can see our Kangal Dog puppy Arie too. She gets bigger every day. She tags along almost every time I do chores.

I keep Arie on a leash for better control. She drags it around which makes it easier for me to get a hold of in case she does not respond to my call, which doesn't happen very often. She's hasn't done it yet but, if she ever bolted from me and decided not to listen i figure it would be easier to catch her.

Years ago when we still lived in the city I had a Fila Braziliero, a dog originating from Brazil, she took off after a rabbit and was killed by a car. I don't ever want to make the same mistake again, so I am very cautious with Arie.

I'm really getting into training her and I look forward to the day I can breed her, which I plan to do as long as she stays true to her breed.

As far as I can tell we didn't get any frost damage last night. I don't think it frosted at all here, but our growing partners who live about 3 miles from us as the "crow flies" got a little damage from frost they said.

Until Next Time

Frost tonight possibly

2010-09-04T21:28:00.010-05:00

Today we kept hearing that we could get frost tonight so we covered much of the garden. Hard to imagine after all the heat we've had recently. So we decided to harvest our first grapes as well rather than risk losing our first ever grape crop.
So we went up with a large bowl and some scissors to snip the clusters off the vines. We saw that we had another small batch of strawberries ripe too so we picked those also.

We were pleased to find a couple cantaloupes also which were growing from a rouge vine. This is the year for rouge plants for us. We have tomato's coming up all over the place. We had lettuces growing all over the green house. Sunflowers popping up around the farm. And these two cantaloupes.

We are very happy with our grapes. We have "wine" grapes and "table" grapes. In the bowl you can see the two different varieties. The wine grapes are lighter and bigger and the table grapes are darker and smaller.
So far this Labor Day weekend is proving to be another good one for the road side stand. Last year it was our best weekend of the season and it seems it will be the same again this year. Although it does not look like we will top last years sales. Over all, the farm stand has been slower this year than it was in 2009. But, it isn't over yet and we shall see.

The CSA is going well. It seems that the share holders are getting the swing of things as far as picking up their produce in a timely fashion. It was a little confusing at first. Plus we had to change the pick up days a couple times as we got the kinks worked out.

I think it is good to have both the farm stand and the CSA. They seem to complement each other. We focus mainly on the CSA then what ever is left goes to the stand. We make a better profit on the stand also. We like to give the share holders as good a deal as we can so the money made per item or bunch is somewhat lower for us.

It was a good sweet corn year in the north woods. Paul, our corn grower up near Eagle River had one of his best years. He was able to plant early. Today, he told me that he's been growing sweet corn for 20 years and out of all of those years he only had 2 years that he didn't get any corn.

Last year wasn't good for corn but, he did get a harvest. It's just that alot of the corn didn't fill out to the top. This will be Pauls last weekend for corn though. He planted two rows later and they are finishing up right now. We'd hoped to have corn clear through Monday but, as it's going we might not. We have two other sources for a little bit of corn so those just might get us through. On the other hand our green house is now coming into it's own with tomato's so at least we have that. Tomato's and sweet corn are the top 2 draws for the farm stand. People come in looking for those and by other stuff as well. Not everyone comes looking for those two things but, I'd say the majority do. Probably the 3rd in line for popularity is cucumbers. Lots of people in these parts make pickles. One of our growing partners always has dill and that is a popular seller too. Goes with the cukes.

So far this has been one of the best growing season's we've had since 1998. I just wish we would have been geared up for it. I wanted to plant some more field corn this year but, I ran out of time and didn't get to it. And I would have planted alot more of everything if I could have made the time. But, then again the more you plant the more work in weeding and watering and so forth. A person has only so many hours in a day. We try hard to not get caught up in the rat race but, it always seems to find us. Just too many things we want to do.

Well, I hope everyone is having a good Labor Day weekend so far. Take care and God bless.

Until Next Time

Show about EMP

2010-09-02T22:10:00.004-05:00

GM crop escapes into the American wild

2010-08-30T22:45:00.005-05:00

Transgenic canola found growing freely in North Dakota.

By Natasha Gilbert

A genetically modified (GM) crop has been found thriving in the wild for the first time in the United States. Transgenic canola is growing freely in parts of North Dakota, researchers told the Ecological Society of America conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, today.

The scientists behind the discovery say this highlights a lack of proper monitoring and control of GM crops in the United States.

US farmers have dramatically increased their use of GM crops since the plants were introduced in the early 1990s. Last year, nearly half the world's transgenic crops were grown in US soil — Brazil, the world's second heaviest user, grew just 16%. GM crops have broken free from cultivated land in several countries, including Canada, the United Kingdom and Japan, but they have not previously been found in uncultivated land in the United States.

"The extent of the escape is unprecedented," says Cynthia Sagers, an ecologist at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, who led the research team that found the canola (Brassica napus, also known as rapeseed).

Click here for the full story.

Fox skeleton

2010-08-28T22:55:00.008-05:00

I think it was last year, a fox was trying to get our chickens in the middle of the day. Kelli had scared it off but, I took my 20 gauge shot gun out just in case it came back.

It did come back but, as I got close enough to pull off a shot at it, the varmint took off. By the time I reacted it had gotten a long way off, but I took a chance and pulled the trigger anyway. I saw the thing jump but, I figured I had only scared it. I hoped I had hit it but, it was along shot and scaring it was the best I figured for.

A number of days later, our daughter was out for a walk with one of the retrievers and they found the fox and it was indeed dead.

I went out and confirmed it to be the same fox I had shot at. Boy was I glad to have dispatched that varmint because it was going to do some damage to our birds if I had not. I prayed hard for that animal to be gone.

I never got around to removing the remains until just a few weeks ago and here are some pictures of it to illustrate my story.

My policy is if they don't bother me then I won't bother them. Hopefully with our new Livestock Guardian Dog I won't have to shoot many more varmints.

The new puppy is now 40 lbs. and growing fast.

Are we tired of bear pictures yet?

2010-08-24T22:05:00.012-05:00

These will probably be the last black bear pictures I post here in a while. The turkey remains are gone now and I don't plan on dumping any more out in the woods. The deer hunting season will begin in time and I don't want the bears hanging around and scaring away all the deer.

In the first picture above, I thought that it was a real nice head shot. Nice profile on this bear.

The next two pictures, I'm pretty sure are the same bear if you look at the close time frames.

Then these next two pictures look like a different bear, and they are taken much later in the day.

Look at the loose skin on the neck that hangs down. Seems like an older bear. And maybe a little heavier.

Tuesday is our CSA day. And this was today's harvest for 6 shares. We do full shares and half shares. This year we have 8 members.

We made a change in how we do half shares. In the past we found it was too hard to fill partial orders, so we decided to simply do a full share every other week. So now every one gets the same amount, it's just that some get it every week and other s get it bi-weekly. This helps us as we fill each share. Not near as confusing as it used to be with it now all being equal.

Our Kangal Dog puppy is growing like a weed.

She is now 13 weeks old. Keeping me very busy training her and taking care of her everyday.
http://livestockguardian-kangaldog.blogspot.com/

Our first grapes

2010-08-19T23:21:00.003-05:00

After more than 12 years of living here we finally have our own grapes! These here aren't quite ripe yet but, it won't be long.

Haven't got the grape vines trellised yet but, I hope to work on that this weekend Lord willing.

More bear pictures

2010-08-19T18:21:00.005-05:00

On Tuesday I helped our neighbor butcher 8 turkeys, so we threw a fresh batch of remains out in the woods and got some more bear shots.

There were some pictures from 7 am this morning but, were not of good quality so I did not include them here.

I definitely look over my shoulder now when I check the camera!

It's a BEAR!!!

2010-08-13T19:27:00.010-05:00

I went out in the woods to check on the game camera and was surprised to see this big fella on the pics. Actually it's the only thing on the camera this time. Reckon he's higher up on the "food chain". It might be hard to judge it's size but, I know the area it is covering and it's a big'un. I have no idea whether it is a male or female just by looking at it. I'm leaning towards thinking it is a male because it seems masculine to me. Maybe someone out there would know by looking at the pictures what sex it really is.

I was surprised and not surprised all at the same time to see this black bear. I figured one would show up since we have many in this area. So every time I check the camera I wonder if one will show up. This time we hit the jack pot! There were 50 pictures in all. Guess it's more ham than it is bear! Ha, ha

Check out the size of this dudes paw!

In this picture you can see the width of it's head as it was taken from behind. I'm guessing the space between this black bears ears to be between 6" and 8" inches.

Just a side note. I thought it fitting to eat a piece of bear jerky while I did this post. It sure was good!

Until Next Time

Just came across this news story about food freedom

2010-08-11T22:51:00.004-05:00

I just came across this news story about food freedom and I thought it was good so here is the first part of it. For the whole story click on the News With Views link below. I applaud the ladies efforts in standing up for freedom! I urge you to read the full story.

THE BUREAUCRATS COME CALLING
By Doreen HannesAugust 11, 2010
NewsWithViews.com

After more than five years of full time fighting and agitating for food freedom and the complete abandonment of NAIS or NAIS like things, I finally received a visit from compliance officers. What officers, you ask? They were Missouri Department of Agriculture Compliance Investigators, John Jordan and Joe Stropp.
They came past "No Trespassing” signs, had no paperwork to show me, ie. no written complaint. They were just 'investigating' a report that I was engaged in selling meat and poultry products. Well, even though I am not involved in selling meat, it is certainly something I am a strong advocate for, and I told them so. They said, "Do you know there are some exemptions you can apply for to sell poultry directly?"
Eeegads. I thought, “I don't want an 'exemption' because that grants you authority over me anyway.” but I didn't bother to get into that as I was a little cranky. To the agents, I said, “As you can see, we don’t have enough poultry to be selling to anyone.”

http://newswithviews.com/Hannes/doreen105.htm

Game cam pics

2010-08-11T21:29:00.012-05:00

After chicken butchering I usually dump the left over offal out in the deep woods far away from the homestead.
So I decided to put the game camera out there to see what we could see.

This turkey vulture showed up in the day time.

Then this coyote came out at night. The flash must have scared it because we never see it this clear again if at all.

Almost a half hour later this figure shows up. See the glowing eye, middle and to the right in the picture. You can almost see the body of it. Is it the coyote? I really can't tell. I call it the "mystery eye".
Unfortunately the batteries that power the flash died and we missed about 20 night time pictures of something or things, that came and fed all throughout the night.

But, for the most part this turkey vulture is the main clean up crew. I just put some fresh guts out there the other day. We have hundreds of pictures of this peculiar looking creature.

At the lake

2010-08-10T22:55:00.005-05:00

We took the puppy to the lake today. Read more about it at the new site. http://livestockguardian-kangaldog.blogspot.com/

Trials of life

2010-08-08T11:06:00.011-05:00

Had some more good rain last night. It's funny that we have to adjust from draught gardening to wet weather gardening with conditions being quite different between the two. And I thought the weeds were bad before. This year they are growing by leaps and bounds. And of course with moisture comes bugs, bugs of every sort. Our radish bed down below got infected with some buggy thing that turned half of them to mush.

We've heard reports of tomato blight and potato blight sweeping lower portions of the state. We have some kind of something attacking the leaves on our Aspen trees and Tag Alders. With the moisture comes different molds as well. We've been hearing of people complaining about not being able to get good breath. I kind of feel that way myself this year. My lungs feel a little irritated.

I am very pleased however, that the grass is growing so well this summer. Plenty of grazing for the sheep, as well as for the chickens and turkeys out on pasture in movable pens.

The new puppy is keeping me very busy. I take her with me to do chores, with each time being a real life training session. Kelli calls her my "side kick". Arie will be 11 weeks old tomorrow, if I figured correctly. She was born on May 24th.

I'm having a blast with the new pup, seeing her little personality developing. She is already a fierce protector of her domain. I give her boiled chicken hearts and livers as treats and she absolutely loves them.

I keep saying, in regards to the puppy, "as if I didn't already have enough to do". But, this is something I've been wanting to do for some time now. And finally it is here, a person can somehow find ways to carve out time for things they really want to do.

The last few weeks has been something else. Kelli's mom passed away and to top off all that BOTH of my work trucks were down at the same time. Had to borrow my dad's pick up just to get the routes done. If it wasn't for my dad I'd have been in a pickle to say the least.

We have a little 6 yard compactor truck for doing garbage. After cycling the compactor for the millionth time it finally broke. And when it did it bent the hydraulic cylinder as well. We had the cylinder rebuilt shortly after we got it. It bent badly that time. I figure it was already tweaked when I got it and it gave out during just the right conditions. This time it wasn't bent badly and i might have been able to use it for a while but, as things go it would probably give out when it is well below zero outside. So, it was best to get it fixed now, when it is nice and warm out. And again for the other part that was broke my dad came to the rescue yet again. He is a very good welder and he was able to rebuild the broken compactor.

As a back up when the compactor truck is down I use a one ton pickup truck with a dump trailer and the pickup has a bad part in the transfer case. I had it fixed last year but, something about it came un-fixed again a few weeks ago. That happened just days before the compactor truck went down. I had hoped nothing would happen before I could get the one ton fixed but, my hoping was in vain. What I hoped wouldn't happen, happened. Oh well, it's always something. Nothing lasts forever. I always figure that the times when nothing is going wrong is just that, time between things going wrong. Nothing lasts forever. Without miraculous intervention from God , everything wears out. And I know from experience that some things will go and go, way beyond what is expected, these I count as miraculous interventions. It happens, I've seen it with my own eyes. But, for the normal course of things, under the "natural" laws, things decay, and they break down.

Can't get too attached to the things of this world. In regards to my mother in-law passing away I keep saying that there are way more dead people than there are alive people. Think about it! That's the truth. Think about all the people who came before us. There are way more of them than there are of us, us who are in the land of the living. However, in reality, life is forever, just depends on were we are going to spend eternity. In a good place or a bad place.

Until Next Time

Our new Livestock Guardian Dog

2010-07-31T00:04:00.003-05:00

Here is a link to a new blog I started which is place where I will chronicle our experiences with our new Livestock Guardian Dog. She began as an 8 week old puppy and is quickly turning into a flock protector. She is a Kangal Dog and we named her Ariella which is Hebrew for "Gods Lioness". We will call her Arie for short, after Kelli's mom who passed away just over a week ago. Here's the link if you would like to follow our new adventure with this awesome little puppy. http://livestockguardian-kangaldog.blogspot.com/

Curve ball

2010-07-24T19:27:00.013-05:00

We're guaranteed that some times life is going to throw us a curve ball. Our family had such a time as that with the passing of my mother in-law this past week. She passed away early Tuesday morning and yesterday they had a beautiful funeral for her. With years long heart trouble and diabetes she went peacefully in her sleep.

The nice thing about it is all her kids were here on vacation and the night before, she passed, her and all her kids were sitting around our kitchen table well into the evening visiting telling jokes and having fun together. It really made her day. It was fitting for everyone to be here at the same time. However it wasn't quite the vacation they all had planned.

The funeral was here at the farm. My parents have a big mowed front yard and we put up a couple large borrowed tents. The day was perfect and a strong salvation message was given.
Kelli's mom was a Christian and especially the last year or so of her life she dwelled more and more on the Lord which gave her a peace that went beyond understanding all during the time when her daughter Doreen was going through her own heart trouble. By the way for those of you who prayed for Doreen she had a heart transplant a short while back and is doing very well now. A miraculous turn of events it was.

In the above picture you can see the joy Kelli's mom, Arlene had during the past week while everyone was here. The snap shot was actually taken by her young 2, 1/2 year old grand daughter who was running around with a camera.

We were awe struck by how our local community came together to help us out during this sad time. Sad for every ones loss but not for her since she is in a far better place. The town let us use the town hall for free for a dinner and also let us use 100 chairs to seat everyone at the funeral under the big tent. Then a bunch of ladies in the community cooked up all kinds of delicious food for the dinner. No one in our family had to do a thing. These angels of mercy provided everything. We've learned to love this small town community over the years and now we are just plain blown over at the generosity that was shared.

No one expected Arlene to live a real long life due to her many health issues but, no one saw this coming. It is a very real reminder that we all must pass through the valley of the shadow of death and everyone of us needs to make our peace with the Lord while we still can.

My mother in law wrote beautiful poetry so I will close this post with one that they printed for the funeral.

It's about her kids.

The Portrait of My Children

------------------------------------------

Eyes of blue and eyes of brown,

Dimpled smiles and eyebrowed frowns,

running feet and skinned up knees,

Chocolate kisses and hugs that please.

Hearts so full of simple faith,

The look of love on each small face.

A hand in mine so trustingly,

Has meant more than gold to me.

These treasures dwell where none can see,

They lie within the heart of me.

These memories will never dim,

They've become a Portrait of My Children.

I know the times that I have failed,

To earn their love, they still have cared.

I doubt that I have measured up,

to all their faith and love and trust.

Now that they've all grown up at last,

I wish that I could have them back.

To hold each one upon my knee

and tell them what they mean to me.

The earthly things that i call mine,

I cannot take, they'll stay behind.

But when Jesus calls me home to him,

I'll take the Portrait of My Children.

Turkeys, grapes and Ben

2010-07-15T22:02:00.009-05:00

Here's some more scenes from our place here in northern Wisconsin. We got turkeys again this year and so far they are doing good. Thanksgiving dinner should be great, providing nothing happens. We are raising them in a chicken tractor. We give them boiled goose eggs as a treat. We have 16 turkeys in this pen.

We have four movable pens out on the pasture. The one on the right and below has some young chickens which just came out of the brooder to make room for a new batch of day old chicks. The two other pens are not shown. I build our pens out of what ever scraps we have on hand so they are all different. We butchered the last of our first batch of chickens of the season the other day. They ranged between 4.5 and 6 pounds cleaned and dressed.

The grapes we put in are coming along and are well established.

I have yet to get the trellises up however. I got two posts set a month or so ago and haven't touched it since. I hope to get them all up before winter. So far the grape vines seem to be doing well just laying on the ground. We have lots of green little grapes growing already.

One of our garbage customers, an elderly man,who heard about us putting in the grapes asked me if I was going to make any wine. I told him that I might give it a try at some point. He said he'd get some from me if I made any. Well, the next time I saw him he asked me how that wine was coming along. I told him we didn't even have any grapes yet. Somehow he got it in his head that I was definitely going to make wine because every time I see him now he wants to know how the wine is coming.

I came across this picture that my daughter took of our golden retriever Ben. I thought it was a nice picture of him so I decided to end this post with it.

Until Next Time

Some odds and ends from around the farm

2010-07-13T22:30:00.012-05:00

Well, we finally named the two little billy goats we acquired last year. Didn't expect to have them this long actually. They were strays that wound up at the local pound. The town called us to see if we wanted them. I figured we'd find homes for them and that would be that. Well, here they are still mowing our weeds and as smelly as ever. They're actually quite the weed eaters, and do a fine job of it. I get a kick out of them, but their smell is probably their most "endearing" feature. So we named the little one Stinky, and the bigger one Stanky. Stinky and Stanky.

This is Stinky

This is Stanky.

These little guys are in heaven this year with all the weeds they have in front them after all the rain we've had.

The CSA has been under way for almost 5 weeks now. Below are some pictures of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th weeks harvest. I don't have a list right now of what it all is but, I'm sure you can tell what some of it is.

2nd Week Harvest

3rd Week Harvest

4th Week Harvest

In the above pictures I can say what most of it is. Lettuce, radishes, garlic, garlic scapes, potatoes, peas, carrots, swiss chard, peppers, onions, kohlrabi and rhubarb. There's probably a few more that I haven't named. We will add more produce as they come ripe.

In the pictures below you can see Ben and Tucker coming in from a romp out in the field. In the top picture Ben is on the left and Tucker is on the right.

Tucker is on the left in this picture. He had a hair cut a while back and his hair is now starting to grow out. They've been really good dogs. They're brothers and will be 8 years old next month.

Until Next Time

Doe and Fawn

2010-07-12T21:42:00.006-05:00

You can almost see the fawn growing by the day. These two seem to think this is their own personal watering hole. It's interesting to see the time and day that they show up.

More pictures from the game cam

2010-07-10T22:23:00.008-05:00

Nothing real exciting on the game camera, just the doe and fawn and a few crows. I enjoy checking it every couple days or so to see what might be on there.

Game Cam

2010-07-06T19:48:00.030-05:00

Our neighbor loaned us his game camera so I could set it up by the pond because I've been seeing interesting tracks in the sand, what looked like coyote, fox, of course deer and one that I think was from a fisher.

Right away we could see crows on the camera. Every day all through out the day crows come down to the water to drink. Pretty much every hour.

Then it was exciting to see something bigger than a bunch of birds when we saw these deer, a fawn and doe who regularly return for a drink.

Check out how their eyes reflect into the water from the flash on the camera. I never would have thought that would happen. Kind of neat looking.

Soon the doe and fawn were showing up in the daylight.

We wonder if this is the same fawn that we saw laying by our green house a while back.

But, then the other day I checked the camera and finally saw something other than crows and deer. Check out this long legged coyote in the pictures below.

I wouldn't be surprised if this fella got in on the big slaughter of chickens and turkeys we had last year. Probably how he got so tall eating all that prime meat!

In two weeks we get our livestock guardian dog. I finally settled on a breed. It's going to be a Kangal Dog a breed originating from Turkey.

The picture at the right is what they look like in their native country. In Turkey they typically crop their ears and it is said that when one of these dogs kills a wolf it has then earned the right to wear a spiked collar. The harsh conditions of the Turkish countryside developed in the breed a rugged hardiness and a strong livestock guardian instinct.

With all the predators we have here coyote, wolf, bear, and the rare but, sometimes seen cougar, not to mention roaming dogs, that would prey on sheep and lambs, I feel that we need a dog of sufficient stature to protect our animals.

In America the ears of the dogs are not cropped as seen in the left hand photo. We are getting

a female so that we can breed it and get more Kangal Dogs. I've wanted to breed dogs my whole life and I figure I'm not getting any younger so I'm going to try my hand at breeding these Lord willing.

Many years ago I had acquired a female Brazilian hunting dog called a Fila Brasiliero, but she got hit by a car before I could breed her. As with any animal you never know what can happen that might sideline your plans.

But, I am quite taken with this breed and am eager to give it a try.

The pictures of these dogs were obtained from the Kangal Dog Club of America website.

I plan to write more about my search for a livestock guardian dog at a future date as things unfold. Don't want to jump the gun and say too much off hand since plans are often so easily changed.

Still getting plenty of rain here. We were going to get the rest of our hay today but, we decided we'd better wait until Friday as the forecast shows sunny sky's for then. The farmers were nice enough to put the hay wagon with our 100 bales of hay on it in the barn waiting for us until we can get it.

My garbage week is all messed up this week because of the 4th of July. Normally we pick up garbage a day late after the holidays but, this year the 4th came on a Sunday. I called the landfill and they were going to be open Monday and I looked at a couple different calenders to see if they said anything about Monday being an observed holiday and found nothing, so we decided to run and not skip a day. Well, most people had their garbage out but, a significant number of them did not. So alot of our Monday customers called us today wondering why we didn't pick them up today, Tuesday. So I basically ran our route twice, going around picking up the ones who thought we were going to be a day late.

After going through that I figure tomorrow we need to take the day off, that way the rest of the week will meet the rest of the customers expectations. We considered it but, after investigating we just didn't give a thought to Monday being a holiday. But, I sure heard it today. People were saying " But Monday was a holiday!!!" Ok, Ok I get it now! Hence taking tomorrow off. The longer we do this garbage business the more I don't like holidays. People have such a hard time remembering what the deal is, are we picking up or aren't we. This time we messed it up ourselves. Oh well. You gotta be able to laugh at yourself otherwise it just isn't worth it.

We've been picking up garbage for almost 10 years now. Never dreamed in a thousand years I would have been doing that before we got into this. But, it has taught us a lot and has been providing us with steady income. We are currently working on two new ways to make money besides picking up garbage and besides farm income. We see it as kind of an off shoot from the farm income but, it isn't anything we produce ourselves. It has potential to produce a decent income. This too I'll be posting about at a later date.

Well, this is a bigger post than I've been doing lately and there are other matters pressing so I need to sign off here.

Until Next Time

An over due post

2010-07-04T19:38:00.023-05:00

We've been busy this summer so that's my excuse for not making any posts last month. Lots of stuff going on, the CSA is under way and we are hoping to get the road side stand open soon.

This has been a great growing season so far, the drought is over for now, hopefully for a good long time. Rain has been the topic lately. Been getting plenty of it. Have hardly had to water the outside gardens at all. The weeds are on steroids it seems, but on the other hand the grass out on the pasture is outstanding. As deep as we've seen it in many years. The sheep and goats are well fed this year and the lambs are growing good. Had seven lambs born this year but, one died. I'll talk about that in another post hopefully.

With a good amount of rain comes storms often times.

Below are some pictures of a storm system that passed by us to the north a week or so ago.

These clouds caught our attention because of the rings and lots of movement. Not pictured were smaller clouds that were rapidly being sucked up into the main system. We thought for sure we'd see a tornado or funnel cloud form but, it passed on without us seeing any.

Daughter Ryann took all these pictures and the ones at the top and bottom are of some grass growing out in the pasture.

With the grass being so long this year I am reminded of how soaked you can get when you walk through it after or during a rain. Even with knee high rubber boots your thighs get totally soaked. But, I'm not complaining by any means, we definitely need the rain. Even as much as we've gotten the lakes have yet to return to normal levels.

After over 12 years of living here we still do not have any hay making equipment. That is something that is still on my wish list. So yesterday we went and got 200 bales from an elderly couple who farms down south of Rhinelander. There is still another hundred that we have to get yet. We had planned to butcher chickens yesterday but, when the hay people call you have to pretty much drop everything and go get it. They don't want to put it in the barn if they don't have to. We did get some chickens butchered later in the day so it wasn't an entire wash as far as our plans went. Hay time for us is usually when it is the warmest out. Makes a person perspire just a bit. After yesterday I think I know a little bit how it would feel to be tarred and feathered. All those little hay bits stuck to what ever skin was showing, especially my forehead. I looked totally ridiculous.

Well, how about what is going on in the Gulf of Mexico!!! BAD news!!! I feel so sorry for all the people that make their living from those waters. This thing has got me wondering what is going to come of it and how long will it take before the entire nation is effected. And how long after that until the entire world is effected. It doesn't look good at all. I thought it was rather interesting when I first heard that the color of it was a reddish color. If you've ever read the book of Revelation it sounds eerily familiar.

This Country needs to repent and get back to God that's all there is to it. We all do.

Until Next Time

Memorial Day

2010-05-30T16:36:00.003-05:00

I like to post this picture during or around patriotic holidays. We took this picture a few years ago. It is fitting to post it at Memorial Day. We've had this flag since the first Gulf War, got it during "Operation Desert Storm" and put it on the front railing of the house where we lived in the city back then. Now that we live in Northern WI we put it on our shed.

At present this flag has seen better days as it catches the strong winds that we get that come across our 40 acre field. In the above picture it still looks pretty good. I'd like to get another flag just like it one of these days. This was a good quality flag when we got it. It is sewn rather than printed and has held up exceptionally well over the years.

Have a good holiday!

A fawn

2010-05-27T04:59:00.010-05:00

On Tuesday I was removing the plastic panels on the end of our big green house and was stacking them around back when I looked down and to my surprise was this little fawn curled up next to the bottom board on the green house. I could have stepped right on it. The little thing looked just like a pile of leaves.

The family and our friend Kristine were all out working in the garden so I called them over to see the baby. It seemed very unusual that it didn't get up and run away so we were beginning to think something was wrong with it.

We were all gathering around speculating about the fawn. Were was it's mother? And why wasn't she around? Then our daughters started asking if we could keep it, then started citing instances were people raised abandoned fawns. But, I was not easily won over to the idea and held my ground, "no we aren't keeping it!" I insisted. " The mother must be around here someplace". I've heard of many instances were people think fawns are abandoned when in fact the mothers are not that far off.

We were all standing around chatting about the cute little thing. Ryann was bent down taking pictures. Kristine mentioned about how it was not skittish at all with us all standing there gathered around just a couple feet from it. Then no sooner did those words leave her lips when the fawn let out an ear piercing shriek jumped up and ran off on wobbly legs. Obviously being just hours old. We all jumped at the sudden sound and movement. As it went off Shalea spotted the mother which had been no more than 60 or 70 feet away in a thick growth of balsam trees. The mother went towards the baby and that was the last we saw of them.

I was amazed that I had carried those panels right past the fawn and hadn't even seen it at first. Pretty neat how they blend right in to their surroundings. We were all relieved that the fawn was not an orphan and that the mother was fine and would take care of it.

It's funny how baby animals make a person forget about what a nuisance the adults can be. The mother may very well be one of the deer who helped mow down part of our garden last year. And this little cutey may well do the same later on. Oh, well by Gods grace it all works out in the end anyway.

Summer like Weather

2010-05-24T21:10:00.009-05:00

As I write it is 82 degrees F at 9:10 pm. Earlier today it was 89 degrees in Rhinelander. A big contrast to just a few weeks ago when we had snow! The snow is but a distant memory with it being almost 90 today.

During the day while I was out doing my route, when I would hear people almost, but not quite, complaining about the heat I reminded them of the snow we had just a few short weeks ago. One guy laughed and said "we were complaining then about the snow and now we're complaining about the heat, ha, ha". For the sake of any southerners reading here, you might be wondering what the big deal is but, up in this part of the country we think 90 is hot. When ever it gets warm here I remind myself of how cold we feel when it's 20 or 30 below zero.

All of our ewes had their lambs by May 16th. All together we had 7 lambs. And of course the baby stealer made life more interesting. When she had her own baby she did what we hoped she would NOT do and that was to reject her own lamb. Two years in a row now she has complicated our plans.
As I mentioned in a previous post Sophie, pictured at left stole one of Tess's twins. Sophie being more dominant than Tess was able to easily take the female lamb. Of course Sophie didn't have any milk yet so we had to bottle feed the baby for a number of days. At least we were glad that she was taking care of the little one in every other way, keeping her close by and watching over her. As Sophie approached her own birthing day her milk came in and the lamb was finally able to get real milk. We stopped bottle feeding her.
On the 16th when Sophie gave birth it was heart breaking to see her reject her own little one. It was a male. We only had two males out of the 7 lambs. He went from momma to momma seeing who might take him but, none would. He was still wet from being born so we restrained Sophie and let him nurse from her. We even rubbed his wet body all over her nose trying to get her to bond with him but she would have none of it and continued to reject him. So we began bottle feeding the little ram and continue until now. For days he kept trying to get one of the mommas to take him in. It was sad to see it. They kept butting him away.

By now though he has adjusted and eagerly awaits his regular feedings from one of us when we go out with a bottle. I think he might steal a drink of real milk from time to time though because I still see him try to get a little from the other ewes if they happen to come near enough. It was encouraging however, during those first few days when we saw a couple of the un-bred ewes letting him attempt to nurse them. They kind of acted like surrogate mothers and hung out with him.

Anyway, the rest of the ewes had no problems at all and the lambs are all growing fast. Whew!

So far the movable sheep pen is working well. I'm still a little anxious that the coyotes or wolves might find a way to get them though. And we have meat chickens on pasture, another group of young chicks in the brooder and turkeys in another up close to the house. We got 20 turkeys but, 4 of them died early on. They got chilled at the post office but, the rest seem strong now. The hatchery refunded our money for those 4 that died which was nice. The 16 remaining turkeys are 10 days old today. This warm weather is a plus for the young birds.

But, the predators are always lurking, always looking for an opportunity, an easy meal. I'm glad to say that in 8 weeks, if all goes well, we will be getting our LGD (Livestock Guardian Dog). It will be an 8 week old puppy however. But, I am eager to spend time training the pup to guard our place and flocks. It will take time to develop it into an effective guardian.

Until Next Time

Our daughter playing the piano

2010-05-13T23:51:00.006-05:00

This is our daughter Shalea's piano recital for 2010 that she did last night. We all are very proud of her and her natural talent for playing piano.

She memorized this in about 4 weeks or so and did not have much time to really get polished. At about the half way point she forgot where she was and bobbled a bit. It took her a little while to get back into it but I think she finished well.

Shalea's piano teacher always gives her hard pieces to do but, is a real good teacher and has a style of teaching that really encourages our daughter. Shalea now is a piano teacher herself and has several young students that she teaches.

Classical music is her favorite. We all love to hear her playing her baby grand at home. We feel blessed having a home full of music.

Uncle John

2010-05-10T20:53:00.009-05:00

Below are some old pictures that our cousin Jerry sent us of John Myers my great-uncle. They were taken in 1968. Uncle John was my Grandma Nellis' brother. He worked in construction as long as I can remember. In the below pictures he is building a barn. Uncle John used to dig basements as well. With a shovel. They don't make them like him anymore. Born in 1907.

This man had a big influence on my life. He was the closest thing I had to a grandpa as I grew up. My Dad's dad died before I was born and my Mom's dad died when I was very young so Uncle John played a role in my life much like a grandpa would. Both my parents and I and both of my grandma's and Uncle John all lived in the same house most of while I grew up.

I have many memories of both Uncle John and my Dad working in ditches and holes like this when I was young. This was a common site for me.

I remember well the stories Uncle John told about living through the great depression and how once while he was traveling around looking for work he was so hungry he ate grass. Which, he said was a big mistake because he then came down with a terrible bout of diarrhea.

Watching Uncle John straighten bent nails taught me to be frugal. I heard someone once say in regards to raising kids, "it's not so much as what is taught as what is caught". I picked up on those kinds of things when I was a kid and to this day it drives me nuts to throw out bent nails or things that still have a lot of life in them.

I don't have time for a long post here. I could write a ton about days gone by and of the people I loved and who are now gone. Uncle John passed away in 1991 the first of all his siblings. An entire generation of our relatives passed away beginning with Uncle John. They are all greatly missed.

Maybe sometime I will tell about the others.

Snow

2010-05-08T20:24:00.004-05:00

This is what we woke up to this morning. About 4 or 5 inches of snow. But, by this evening it is almost completely gone.

We had one more lamb born this morning as well. Right in the snow. No problem though, it's momma clean her up good and she is bigger than the twins born on Thursday. Wool coats are hard to beat.

Thanks Mom for more pictures!

Lambs

2010-05-06T21:34:00.013-05:00

The lambs are coming. We went to town today and when we got back my Dad told us we had a couple lambs out in the pen. So we ran out and sure enough Tess had two babies. A black male and a much smaller dark brown female. But, Sophie the baby stealer from last year is up to her old tricks. She stole the little dark brown female. So we spent some time observing them. And sure enough Sophie is not about to give up her stolen goods. Also by now Tess is turning her nose up at the little orphan. Wouldn't be so bad if Sophie had milk for the little girl. We checked, her bag is full because she is soon to have her own baby or two, but nothing is coming out yet as far as milk goes. So what we are doing is leaving them as they are and are bottle feeding the little girl lamb. We are hoping that when Sophie has hers then she will have milk enough and will hopefully keep this little stolen baby.

We moved all the ewes to the movable pen. You can't tell in the picture but, I fashioned a roof for them that goes between the ewes and the rams.

In the picture above is Sophie with her stolen merchandise.

This black one is the male. You can already see his horn nubs growing.

And here again is the little dark brown female. She is much smaller than the male. Both lambs are just hours old in these pics.

My mom took the pictures. Thanks Mom!

Moveable Sheep Pen - update

2010-04-29T23:23:00.014-05:00

I've been working hard to get our moveable sheep pen back into working order. Had to pull off working on the grapes to get it going again. We are almost out of hay and do have some grass to graze so I really needed to get it going again.

Last year took it's toll on the pen. It did not fare well over rough ground and the rams beat the day lights out of it. So I installed three tamarack poles and put short chains at every joint. In addition I ran a chain down the center, the entire length of the pen. And angle chains at every joint as well.

All I had before for strength was 2 x 4's bolted at the ends and 2 x 4 rails down the sides. The pulling action was all on the cattle panels themselves. They did not hold up well to that kind of tension. They broke and stretched and bent while going over rough ground and running over saplings. So in the video below I show how I fixed it.

Every joint has a chain. The tamarack poles are securely fastened to the existing 2 x 4's with long carriage bolts. Now all the pulling action is on the lower frame work rather than on the panels. Plus I installed the long chain down the center which is bolted to all three tamarack poles. This is a much stronger rig now. A weak point was the centers of the boards. As it was pulled they would break in the middle if pulled over rough terrain. The tamarack poles should fix that.

Another modification was to install anti-ramming boards. Kelli and I observed that the rams did not hit the fence if there was an obstruction in the way. We had a box which a mineral block sat on. We saw that Dakota would not ram the fence at that point. So we wondered if we put something around the pen if that would keep them from banging the thing to pieces. Last year they beat holes right through the plywood. The plywood was put on to keep them from destroying the cattle panel between them. They head butted constantly before that. Even after the plywood was on they still rammed it. It did not take long before holes were broken through. The anti-ramming boards are placed at a height that would hit them in the legs, chest or neck depending on what exact spot they rammed. They no longer want to hit it full out like they used to. The only thing I've seen so far is Dakota will jump up on the boards and hit the plywood but, by doing so he does not have near the force as before. Otherwise they will rake their horns against the panels or the plywood but, doing that they don't do any damage.

I call them anti-ramming boards. I don't know if anyone else uses anything like it but so far it is working well.

Another modification was to mount the water buckets on the sides instead of the ends. I had them mounted on the ends last year. On the ends, the buckets sloshed lots of water out when I moved the pen. I realized that the ends kind of chattered as it was pulled. The sides do not. I hauled an awful lot of water last year due to sloshing. These sheep don't drink very much. Since I put these ones out on pasture I've only filled the buckets one time other than the initial filling, with the buckets on the sides.

The only thing I have left to do on the pen is to brace up the anti-ramming boards and put a partial top on it. I don't plan on using a tarp like I did last year. A tarp wasn't what I had in mind to begin with anyway. I just ran out of time and that's all we did last year. My plan is to install three sheets of steel roofing. I already have the steal sheets, I only need to get them put on and I'll be done. Then on to other projects like more fencing around our grapes and more around one of our large sheep paddocks.

And on that note I'll mention that we have a Livestock Guardian Dog secured. It's a puppy actually but, the breeder requires good fences in place. So fences are our big projects so far this spring. Once we actually get the puppy I'll tell the details and describe the process I've under gone to acquire it. I'm very excited about the coming new addition to the farm.

In the video below you can see all the repairs and modifications described above.

I noticed after viewing the video here that when I uploaded to Youtube my captions did not stay exactly where I put them. So it might be a little confusing. Oh, well I'm not going to redo it now.

Pictured in the video are 6 of last years lambs plus our two rams Dakota and Titan. Dakota is Titans father. The lambs are all Dakota's off spring.

We have 5 pregnant ewes still in other pens until their babies are born. Later we will have them all on pasture.

Until Next Time

Colony Collapse Disorder and some other stuff

2010-04-26T19:34:00.007-05:00

THE UNEXPLAINED ...

Buzz kill! Is this 'bee Armageddon'?
Nature's most valuable workers mysteriously vanishing out of thin air
Posted: April 25, 2010
6:43 pm Eastern

By Chelsea Schilling
© 2010 WorldNetDaily What is devastating the world's honeybees?

In what appears to be a honeybee mystery of Armageddon proportions that has baffled scientists and beekeepers, more than one-third of the nation's commercial honeybee population is mysteriously disappearing – and researchers warn the unexplained phenomenon threatens one-third of the American diet.

Entire colonies of honeybees are abandoning hives and food stores, including honey and pollen. In collapsed colonies, adult bees mysteriously disappear, and there is no accumulation of dead bees. Even hive pests such as wax moths and hive beetles are nowhere to be found around affected colonies. Likewise, other honeybees are reluctant or unwilling to rob the abandoned hives of honey.

Only days before a honeybee colony collapses, according to Bee Culture Magazine, the colony appears to be strong and fully functional.

Then, it explains, the affliction travels like a wave through a beeyard.

Researchers have termed the phenomenon Colony Collapse Disorder, a syndrome characterized by sudden disappearance of adult honeybees in a colony.

Why should Americans care?

Experts warn the implications for the world's agriculture are nothing to be ignored: according to the United States Department of Agriculture, a full one-third of the human diet depends on honeybee pollination of crops – especially fruit, nut, vegetable and seed production in the United States.

For the full article click
here.

I heard about Colony Collapse Disorder the first year I did bees. Actually I had two hives that year and one day I went out to look at them and in one hive all the bees were gone. I attributed it to it being my first try and I figured it was just me. Later that year I heard about CCD and wondered if that is what happened to my hive. I still figure it was my lack of experience and they probably took off looking for a better place since I still had one hive intact and friend Dan still had his two hives right next to mine.

I think this CCD thing must be sending shivers down the spines of many bee keepers. I've heard umpteen theories as to what is causing it, everything from pesticides to cell towers. In the above WND article it states that "according to some estimates, there are as many as 200 proposed hypotheses for the phenomenon" . So at present there are a lot of idea's but no real conclusive answers.

For me right now I'm more concerned about a bear tearing apart my hive at this time. So far the bees are doing well. They were bringing in pollen on the second day even. I checked on them yesterday and I saw many bees loaded down with pollen. I've been feeding them raw honey as well and they hungrily drink it up.

Been pretty busy the past few weeks. Got all the grape vines planted, but still need to put up a fence to keep deer out and trellis wires over each row. In the mean time before I get the fence up I slapped together some makeshift scare crows. Seems to be working there haven't been any deer tracks in there at all. They must work because they even scare me. I don't know how many times I've been out working and I think someone is standing there. It always makes me smile at my self for being so easily tricked. And I put them there!

I had to pull off that project and get our movable sheep pen rebuilt. I spent most of last weekend working on that, I still have a little more work to do on it. I made some modifications to it that I think will work well. I'm hoping it will perform better this year than last.

When I'm done I hope to make a post about it with pictures.

Feds invade farm for 5 a.m. inspection

2010-04-23T08:40:00.002-05:00

UDDERLY RIDICULOUS

Feds invade farm for 5 a.m. inspection
Serve warrant on farmer up to milk cows

Posted: April 22, 2010
10:55 pm Eastern

By Bob Unruh
© 2010 WorldNetDaily

Federal agents invaded an Amish farm in Pennsylvania at 5 a.m. to inspect cow-milking facilities then followed up the next day with a written notice that the farmer was engaged in interstate sale of raw milk in violation of the Public Health Services Act.

A failure to correct the situation could result in "seizure and/or injunction," the warning letter from Kirk Sooter, district director of the Philadelphia office of the Department of Health and Human Services, told farmer Dan Allgyer of Kinzer, Pa., on Wednesday.

The farm invaded Tuesday is the one agents visited in February, driving past "Private Property" signs to demand Allgyer open his property for their inspection, saying, "You have cows. You produce food for human consumption."

The case is being publicized by the National Independent Consumers and Farmers Association, which promotes traditional methods of linking farmers with consumers.

Spokeswoman Deborah Stockton told WND Allgyer "is the type of farmer who exemplifies what we are trying to restore." On her organization's website is the commitment "to promote and preserve unregulated direct farmer-to-consumer trade that fosters availability of locally grown or home-produced food products."

She reported she got details directly from Allgyer of Tuesday's early morning inspection, which highlights the growing conflict between farmers who want to provide health food locally and federal regulators.

Click here for the full article. This story was the top headline on WND this morning.

Quilting

2010-04-17T23:05:00.006-05:00

Our neighbor Mike, the one who helps me out with the garbage route, has a sister who makes quilts. We went to supper at his and his wife's house recently and saw one of Mikes sisters quilts mounted on the wall. Has to be the most amazing quilts I've ever seen. She has a website so if you like quilts you should check it out here at "Peggy's Quilting Block" . The above picture is a sample of the work she does. If you go to the site check out all the links to see the rest of her work featured.

Bees

2010-04-15T21:14:00.015-05:00

Earlier this morning I was thinking that our bees should be in very soon. Days ago Kelli and I even discussed it. I had full intention of looking at the post card I get from our bee guy that tells when they will be in. He drives to California to pick them up. In the past he got them from Georgia but, the past couple times it's been California. But the queen is a Minnesotan. In a short time the hive takes on the queens characteristics.
But as I was saying, I was wondering when the bees would be in. I was just about ready to get started with some projects for the day when I found the post card and it read " Your bees are expected to arrive on April 13th. "The 13th" I exclaimed!!! "What day is this" I asked to who ever was nearest by! The morning hubbub continued with no obvious reply to my question, as is often the custom. Then I quickly drew my trusty cell phone from it's holster and saw that the date was now the 15th. ''It's the 15th" I exclaimed! "Uh, oh" I heard from my wife. With out a second to lose I quickly called called Chris, the bee guy. "Chris, I just found my post card, did the bees come?" " Yep", said Chris. "Are my bees still there?"I quizzed. "Yep". "I'll be there as soon as I can." "OK ' says Chris. He is the biggest honey producer in our area.

So I raced around getting ready to run down to Rhinelander where Chris lives. I had to call our neighbor Mike and let him know I was going to be gone for an hour or so since he was going to come over after the rain stopped and help me load paper from our garbage route onto a trailer.

I couldn't believe I forgot what day the bees were coming. I wasn't even ready for them. Previously I had inspected the hive shortly after the snow melted. I noted that the bees did not survive the winter but, the hive seemed in excellent condition and I figured finally this year we should get some honey out of it. I admit that I'm not a very good bee keeper. So far the only benefit we've had from keeping bees is that they pollinate our crops. I've yet to get any substantial amount of honey.

When I got to the bee guys place he was not at home. Apparently I had called his cell phone and he was currently at work. Fortunately his wife was home and she found my box of bees, which is pictured above. That is how they come. The brown thing on top of the box on the left side is a pollen patty. It helps nourish the bees in the first days when there isn't much pollen being produced by nature. I just happened to set it there until later.

Not shown in the picture is a tin can mounted in the top of the cage full of sugar water to feed the bees until they get to their final destination. Also the queen is inserted in a little cage that rides right next to the tin can.

As you can see they pack a whole bunch of bees in these cages. The close up above shows a bee that escaped.

If you've never seen it before it is truly a sight to behold. It's hard to believe they can pack that many bees into the things.

Since I was not yet prepared for the new bees I had to get the hive ready. It was full of dead bees from last year and a mouse had made a nest in there during the winter so I had some cleaning to do.

There was some honey left over from the year before so I decided to leave it for the new bees. I don't like to feed them sugar water since honey is their natural food. So I figure why not just give them honey. It is way more natural. I don't believe refined sugar is good for any living thing. So why give it to our bees.

Our daughter Ryann caught me during the clean up. Last year I put our bees in an old dog pen to help keep the bears out. A bear could easily get in there but none did all last year. I think it is strange enough for them to stay out of it.

Plus it is all bent up and out of shape from when we kept Dakota, our ram, in it. He beat the snot out of it.

I spent about a half an hour cleaning up the hive, removing the dead bees from last year and the mouse nest.

Once I got it all ready I put in the bees with no problems. Didn't even get stung.

It was really warm today. It's been unseasonably warm, and dry. But, today we finally got a little rain. I worked on the hive between rains.

I wasn't planning on doing bees today. As is often the case things don't always go as planned. In fact after our neighbor helped get the paper loaded on the trailer we took it up to Eagle River and the place we usually take it to was closed. Another change in plans. Can't run paper until Saturday.

However today's unexpected events was perfectly in keeping with yesterday. Yesterday we wound up spending the evening at a vineyard that is closing down. Our friends Phil and Diane called us at the last minute about it. We were blessed with getting 33 grape vines for real cheap. And a bunch of raspberries. The catch was we had to dig them all up ourselves. We've been wanting to establish some grape vines for years and now we finally have the opportunity. We weren't planning on it right now but, here we are. Ready or not. So now over the next few days we will be putting in a vineyard of our own.

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On another topic.....Doreen is still doing good. And they are expecting she will get out of the hospital tomorrow. Hard to believe what they can do these days. I mean just days ago they ripped out her heart and gave her a new one and tomorrow she goes home, most likely. But, I believe there is more to it than just a "medical" miracle. There have been tons of people praying for her. In fact I put more stock in prayer than I do medicine anyway.

Until Next Time

Update on Doreen

2010-04-10T20:54:00.002-05:00

The word is Doreen's surgery went good and she is doing remarkably well. However, it is bitter sweet. In order for Doreen to be well someone else had to die. Our prayers go out to the family who lost the loved one who's heart that Doreen got.

Sister Doreen

2010-04-09T23:20:00.002-05:00

Kelli's sister Doreen is on her way to the hospital for a heart transplant! In fact she might even be at the hospital by now. About an hour ago we received word that a heart suddenly became available and Doreen had to get to Milwaukee ASAP.

This has come up way faster than anyone anticipated. Everyone expected it might take awhile for a suitable heart to come up. But, the doctors feel this one is a perfect fit for Doreen.

Your prayers are appreciated at this time. Kelli and their other sister Karen, are on their way to Milwaukee right now. They left a few minutes ago.

We expect miracles will continue for Doreen.

Thanks