Chore Swap

Every once in a while Dad likes to shake things up a bit and switch around the chores and responsibilities for us kids. Believe me it’s usually a welcome change! I mean, who doesn’t get tired of the same old same old 24/7? It gets to where I can milk cows in my sleep. When you’ve milked cows in exactly the same way (or done anything for that matter) for about 4 hours a day, summer, winter, spring time and harvest it can start to get on your nerves. We kids start joking that we’re going to go on a strike or turn in our notice papers!:)

On a side note though, having a family business has really taught me a valuable lesson in having a corporate spirit. When I was younger I used to think sometimes, “Man, Mom and Dad are getting a lot of free labor out of me” But as I've gotten older I've come to see that it’s not that way at all. We are all breadwinners. All of us are pulling the load together to bring in income and grow our own food. Not only is it a good reality check for me, but it’s a good morale booster. “I help to provide for my family.” It’s a great feeling. We all work together so we can all eat, buy clothes, and all of the rest.

So, last week instead of milking I was on meals, laundry and housecleaning. It’s not so simple to prepare food for 11 hungry people! Some days it felt like all I did was cook and wash dishes all day long ;) But hey, there’s nothing wrong with that. Sometimes I think our culture is tempted to look down on such jobs as menial labor. But washing dishes and cooking meals is nothing to look down on! These two seemingly humble tasks are two of the central cornerstones of our society. Everyone’s gotta eat and the dishes have got to be cleaned. It’s good honest work to do with your hands. I had a good helper too. Gabriel, (7) who doesn't yet have a steady job on the farm was my handsome and (mostly) willing assistant. By the end of the week he got pretty good at unloading the dish washer, cleaning the bathroom and sweeping. These are great jobs for him to do. It builds confidence in a child to have something useful to do with their hands. I think the rest of the kids were pretty happy with their new jobs too.

 -Morgan

We have a new header!

We have a new header! Created by Miss Katie Wilson:) What do ya'll think? She's going to work on getting us a new background too.

New Calves

Two new heifer calves were born this week at Full Quiver! The calves are fun to watch the way they prance about. One kicks up its little heels in a frolic, glad to be alive on such a brisk morning and eager to use its new found legs. After a tottering romp it comes to a sudden halt, every muscle trembling beneath its light brown coat as its soft, dark eyes stare wide-eyed and watchful, and then with a little bawl it wobbles off to rejoin its mother. The recent two make 6 calves all together in the calf pen. After the first 24 hours (so the calf can get that vital nutritious colostrum) we separate the calf from the cow. The cow goes back with the herd and the calf joins the other calves in the calf pen. Here we bottle-feed them with the cow’s milk until they are weaned and ready to go out to pasture with the older cows. This system helps to bond the calves with people and has also proved better for the cow’s udder health in the long run. It’s always entertaining to watch the calves at feeding time. Rebecca (12) and Lucy (10) are in charge of their care. They fill the bottles at milk time and then carry them out to the calf barn. There are currently six little heifers in the calf pen. When the calves see the girls coming into the barn they jostle against each other at the door of the pen, their rough, pink tongues lolling in anticipation of the warm breakfast to come. Rebecca and Lucy position the bottles along an extended piece of board stung up for the purpose so that each calf has its own bottle. Now some of the older calves will finish before the younger calves and then they turn to push the younger ones out of the way to steal their bottles. Rebecca and Lucy have to make sure each gets its allotted amount and so they dangle the bottle or hold the greedy calves until the younger ones are finished. It’s quite a sight to see the calves all lined up in a row, their tails wagging with pleasure, foamy milk running down their neck. Calves often jerk and bump up on the udder when they’re nursing the mother cow to make her let down more milk. They do the same thing when they’re bottle fed and we’ve found out the hard way that you should never hold a bottle against you if you don’t want to be butted in the stomach or chinJ