Full Quiver Farm Blog

"Love So Amazing, Love So Divine..."

2012-01-26T09:39:00.000-05:00

When I survey the wondrous cross

on which the Prince of Glory died;
my richest gain I count but loss,
and pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
save in the death of Christ, my God;
all the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to his blood.

See, from his head, his hands, his feet,
sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
that were an offering far too small;
love so amazing, so divine,

demands my soul, my life, my all.

~When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt,
Yonder on Calvary's mount out-poured,
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.

Grace, grace, God's grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God's grace,
Grace that is greater than all my sin.

Sin and despair like the sea waves cold,
Threaten the soul with infinite loss;
Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold,
Points to the refuge, the mighty cross.

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide,
What can avail to wash it away?
Look! there is flowing a crimson tide;
Whiter than snow you may be today.

~ Marvelous Grace of our Loving Lord

Alas! and did my Saviour bleed,

And did my Sovereign die!

Would he devote that sacred head

For such a worm as I!

Was it for crimes that I had done

He groaned upon the tree!

Amazing pity! grace unknown!

And love beyond degree!

Well might the sun in darkness hide,

And shut his glories in,

When Christ, the mighty Maker, died

For man the creature's sin.

Thus might I hide my blushing face

While his dear cross appears;

Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,

And melt mine eyes in tears.

But drops of grief can ne'er repay

The debt of love I owe;

Here, Lord, I give myself away,

'Tis all that I can do.

~Alas and Did my Saviour Bleed

I stand amazed in the presence

Of Jesus the Nazarene,

And wonder how He could love me,

A sinner, condemned, unclean.

Refrain

O how marvelous! O how wonderful!

And my song shall ever be:

O how marvelous! O how wonderful!

Is my Savior’s love for me!

For me it was in the garden

He prayed: “Not My will, but Thine.”

He had no tears for His own griefs,

But sweat drops of blood for mine.

Refrain

In pity angels beheld Him,

And came from the world of light

To comfort Him in the sorrows

He bore for my soul that night.

Refrain

He took my sins and my sorrows,

He made them His very own;

He bore the burden to Calvary,

And suffered and died alone.

Refrain

When with the ransomed in glory

His face I at last shall see,

’Twill be my joy through the ages

To sing of His love for me.

Refrain

~I Stand Amazed in the Presence of Jesus the Nazarene

K.T here!... =)

2011-12-18T16:24:00.002-05:00

Hey guys!! Morgan told me to do a post... so make sure you comment and tell me what you think!! ;) I thought I'd share some pictures from the past few weeks...

these are from last week: Dew drops in the early morn'...

A few days ago: {Early morning}

Hope you enjoy! Merry Christmas!!!

~Katie Wilson

Turkeys (And a Birthday!): Part One

2011-11-20T15:39:00.001-05:00

First and foremost let me say.....

Happy Birthday Daddy!

We love you heaps and heaps and we are so grateful for the godly heritage you are giving us! Thank you for leaving your secure, good-paying job, to come home and be with us and teach us as we sit in the house, as we walk by the way, as we lay down and as we rise up. We praise God for you and the Kingdom work He is accomplishing through you. We love your joyful spirit, your hidden "goofy" side. Your solemness when it comes to things of the Lord. Your faithful spirit and your love of the brethren. And most importantly your faith in Christ Jesus. We love you Daddy!

-Your Family

Dad with our cousin Sophia.

Turkeys are finished for the season! Thanks to our wonderful friends and family who have pitched in to help us these past week. Wednesday was the day we set up the tent and "beautified the farm" for Turkey pick-up day.

Here are a few pictures from that day.....

Part of the work crew

We had a little trouble with the guys...

Sewing up the tent

Will got a little violent....

A bit of friendly competitiveness....

Even Lucy got in there and gave it a few swings:)

Hope ya'll enjoy. After we load the other pictures I'll try to upload some more from Thursday-Saturday.

Hope everyone has a great week and a Happy Thanksgiving!

-Morgan

Around the Farm

2011-11-05T21:03:00.000-04:00

Some pictures from this past Summer...

Lily-Mae, one of the milk cows

Glamorous bush-hogger;)

Lucky the goat, watch out! She bites:)

Partners.

Cowboy Gabe.

Will and a piglet

Blueberry and calf.

Hazy morning.

Curious piglet.

Hungry little piglets.

One of the many new calves born recently. Coconut is this little one's name.

A new FQF enterprise headed up by William (12) He is raising rabbit's for meat this season and hopes to have it available soon.

Curious bunny.

Hoop houses for the broilers. Just processed our last batch of the season!

Volunteer Sunflower

A new farm building addition. A laying shelter for the hens. (Part of it's even painted pink!:)

We're gearing up for our final push of the season. Thanksgiving Turkey processing and pick-up. After that begins our down time. A slower season of rest: more family time, fixing things and planning for the next farming season. Our family has really come to appreciate this farmer's downtime, if we really purposefully take it slower during the winter months than we are refreshed and ready to jump back into busyness again come April. This year has been another good year of growth for our family, not all easiness, but good nonetheless. The Lord is good.

"Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above,
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love."
Hope everyone has a good weekend!
-Morgan

Morning by Morning.....

2011-10-08T19:05:00.012-04:00

Well, things are starting to normalize around here again. We are still in the height of our busiest season, but that's normal:) Dad is feeling better and Sam's foot is healing nicely. We still fuss over Dad and we women folk tend to baby him a bit, but that's as it should be:) We are very thankful is is feeling much better!

We had a new calf born today! A pretty little heifer. We are thinking about naming her "Blessing" because she is a blessing and encouragement in the mist of trials. She is the end of the slight "milk famine" we were having and, if the Lord wills, she will be a future milk cow in a few years. It is so good of the Lord to never give us more than we can bare, and He sends us little encouragements in unexpected places, right in the heat of things. His mercies are truly new every morning. Here are a few pictures of the new calf......

I hope everyone has a good weekend!

-Morgan

Happenings

2011-09-20T15:32:00.008-04:00

Whew! So much has happened since I last posted! Where to begin? Last Saturday, Dad had a heart-attack. It gave a quite a bad scare! But the Lord was very good and merciful to us. He blessed us with that profound "peace that passeth understanding". And we knew that, even if the unthinkable happened, the Lord would never leave us nor forsake us. We are so blessed and thankful that the Lord spared Dad to us! So many of our sweet family and friends jumped to action when we made the calls as Mom was on the road taking Dad to the hospital, blessing us with a "cloud" of prayer, meals, farm help and more. We were and are so blessed. The Lord is so good. Dad was able to come home from the hospital last Tuesday. Wednesday evening, Sammy was outside helping catch chickens and he jumped to clear a ditch but landed on a 5inch deck nail. (Ouch is right!!) It went all of the way through his foot, so it was back to the hospital we went. Poor Mama who had held it together so well through the craziness and stress of the past weekend with Dad ill and in the hospital, coming back and forth to stay with him and then with us, lack of sleep, etc. This seemed to be the last straw. Tearfully and overwhelmed she headed out to the hospital for the fifth time that week. Thanks to prayers and a sweet talk with a friend she regained her composure and we went on to Kings Daughter's with the wounded Sam in tow. (Mom and I, (Morgan) took him) Two hours, a tetanus shot, an x-ray, and an extensive cleaning session later, we were on our way home again. So Sammy and Dad now constitute the invalids. We're trying to keep Dad from doing too much (which can be hard at times!) He is supposed to take it easy for a month. He has been able to rest a lot which is good. Sammy is in good spirits and is doing valiant job putting up with his many foot soaks, horrible tasting antibiotics and having to keep his foot up. Skipping a week of chores is not getting him down too much:) We have been blessed with the remainder of the week playing out in its normal busyness. No more trips to the hospital were necessarily, much to our relief!:) Today we have a very successful pick-up day at the which was a blessing since the weather wasn't the most conducive to visiting the farm. I hope everyone has a great weekend and thank you to all of you who have been praying for our family! I will close with a few verse that have been a comfort to me in this past week....

"I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.

The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul. The LORD shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore." Psalm 121

"Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." Joshua 1:9

Fried Chicken: It's what's for lunch.

2011-09-15T16:34:00.007-04:00

Yum!:)

And there was homemade chocolate cake for dessert:) Compliments of Maddie.

Fuhrmann Trip

2011-09-11T19:13:00.013-04:00

I'm back! Mom, Gabe and I have been at "Our Father's Farm" "babysitting/helping" the Fuhrmann children run the farm while their parents were out of town for a long weekend. We had a great time visiting with them. At the beginning, Mom and I decided we would split up the responsibilities, i.e Mom would be in charge of meals and household and I would be in charge of the children and helping with farm chores. It mostly worked out that way and I spent my days roving the farm with the children and feeling like I child again myself. (Not that I'm so old and matronly at the ripe old age of 20;) But the past few months have been rather stressful and it did me a world of good. The countryside in Gretna, Virginia is so lovely and picturesque! I fall in love with it each time I visit. I was so bummed that I forgot the camera and so am picture-less... The mornings were so cool and fresh. Each morning I tromped outside with the children to milk their 18 cows. They only milk once a day and so it was kind of nice to get a break in the evenings instead of heading out to milk again. The girls took me out on the pond in their boat that has a slow leak and we had lovely girl chats:) We took long bike-rides up and down the rolling countryside, visited their neighbors and patted their monstrous Belgian horse. Took the cows back out to pasture through the woods and rolling fields. Was given a tour of "Collin's Wallow" and was told the complete story with every express detail;) Helped to successfully launch the premier of the "Dishwasher's Talk-show" over a sink of dirty dishes:) Cuddled with the adorable baby Peace out on the porch swing. Over-indulged the cute-as-a-button 3 year old by hand-feeding him his dinner, telling him stories and reading to him for too long when I was supposed to be putting him down for his nap. (How could I resist his winsome pleads for me to stay?:) Braided lots of little girl hair. Tried to retain my composure at the incorrigible 12 year old boy's roguish behavior. (but failed at times and couldn't contain the twinkle in my eye and the smile that wouldn't be straightened behind a reproving frown:) And put to action the long planned "Dishwasher's Talk-Show" with the 15 year old son. Needless to say I had a wonderful time and was refreshed and encouraged, I am always blessed by time spent with the Fuhrmann family and I always seem to take away some new truth that the Lord has showed me while staying at their house. My little brother Gabe wore himself out spending his days with the youngest Fuhrmann children and playing "Monster's" out on their swing set. There was also a very sweet, older couple staying with the Fuhrmanns and they were a tremendous help as well as Mr. Fuhrmann's sweet mother who lives with them.
We were welcomed home Sunday afternoon by the rest of the family. And I held up milking filling my sisters in on all of the happenings while I was away. I hadn't realized how much I has missed everyone! Home sweet Home!
There is a busy week ahead with processing, buying clubs and such. Its good to be back!
I hope you all have a good rest of your week! Also, thank you all for your nice comments on the last post:)
Morgan

2011-08-30T17:08:00.000-04:00

And so we have survived the Fire, (Dismal Swamp, only 30% of the fire left), the Earthquake, (I didn't feel a thing, I happened to be scrubbing a wall and so felt nothing out of the ordinary;) and last but not least, Miss Irene paid us a visit. She wasn't the sort of guest you'd like to have stay for any length of time. She has quite terrible manners and left a grand mess behind her. But apart from a limb littered farm and loss of power for three days, we are not so much the worse for wear. My mom's parents came to stay with us during the storm, they helped out a lot which was a big blessing! We lost power early Saturday afternoon. We had about three or four generators running which kept the many freezers and sometimes the house (and the milk machine!! We're milking 10 cows and 10 goats currently) going while the power was out. By Sunday morning it had stopped raining and the sun was shining, the air was so cool and fresh! We are very much looking forward to Autumn around here!

Today we've been working on tidying up the farm and mowing, getting ready for our on-farm pick-up day this Saturday. Here are some pictures from the past week of so.....

On Friday (the day before Irene) one of our gilts had piglets!

We also had a calf born a couple of weeks ago......

Irene's mess.... (Not bad at all compared to some) Some flooding.. Our road was a river during the storm itself, but quickly went down Sunday and Monday.

In the midst of the storm, big brother Will pulled out one of Sam's front teeth...

Hope you all have a great week! If you read this post and feel so inclined please leave us a comment so we can know someone still reads this poor little blog after we've neglected it so long:)

-Morgan

Hello Everyone!

2011-08-22T20:52:00.007-04:00

Hello!

It's me:)(Maddie) We have been really busy lately! We just came in from finding and herding our 19 pigs back into their pen. They had escaped and were running around all over our woods! One of our cow's, Lilly, just had a bull calf. He's really cute!;) He's got little Marshmellow size spots on him:) Well I've got to go! Hope to post again soon! ~Maddie

A hymn our family is learning to sing together

2011-03-08T19:35:00.005-05:00

1. Hallelujah for the blood, for the sin-cleansing fountain,
For the Lamb has been slain, and the ransom price paid;
Fully cancelled was the debt, when on Calvary’s mountain
All the sins of this world upon Jesus were laid.

(Chorus)
There was no arm to save, there was no eye to pity,
Until Jesus our Savior from Glory came down;
He was mighty to save, he was strong to deliver,
He has bro’t us salvation, a robe and a crown.
Hallelujah, hallelujah, sing the triumphant strain;
Hallelujah, for the blood and the Lamb that was slain.

2. Hallelujah for the blood: sing for joy, all ye nations,
And rejoice that the work of redemption is done;
Here is pardon free for all, and a perfect salvation
Thro’ the sin-cleansing blood of the Crucified One.

3. Hallelujah for the blood; hallelujah forever,
We shall sing it anew in the kingdom of God,
Where the anthems of delight shall be silent, no, never,
Evermore hallelujah for Christ and the blood.

2011-03-05T17:45:00.004-05:00

Hi everyone! We've been busy the last couple of weeks putting up a new barn. We have had lots of help from friends for which we are very thankful! Just wanted to let you all know that Katie has started a photography blog over at this address, www.mylifethroughthecanonlens.blogspot.com so check it out and let her know what you think!
Hope everyone has a good weekend!
Morgan

2011-02-19T15:36:00.002-05:00

This is Gabe trying to sing "Twinkle-Twinkle".........:)

2011-02-05T16:41:00.005-05:00

It's been awhile! We are currently in the midst of planning for the 2011 growing season. Last year was pretty amazing. We purposely did not focus a lot of attention on the farm but put our energies into seeking the Lord and growing in a lot of different areas that He showed us we needed to work on, and yet, the Lord gave us a record year last year! I guess that was just confirmation that we were doing what the Lord wanted us to do. This year we feel like more growth is on the horizon. Maybe big, we don't know what it will look like yet, but our desire is to be willing to do, or go, or change, or give up, anything God asks us to. It's exciting being on the verge of something, yet also a trifle scary. Yet I know that the safest place to be is the center of the Lord's will. No matter what. Today we had a nice family day. We closed the farmstore and went out as a family to Bass Pro, and then out to eat. Then we stopped by a few places as we made our way home. We all enjoyed the family time! We are expecting our first batch of broiler chicks next week, and an explosion of goat kids any day now:) Also several calves. So things should start bursting at the seams here pretty soon. We are definitely ready for spring around here! I will close this with a few recent pictures........

Bye for now!

-Morgan

Periodically we use "Basic H" in the cow and goat waters as a natural de-wormer.

Sammy "about to make the leap" :)

Katie delivering hay to the cows.

The Farmstore.

Will and Sam playing on the hay bales.

Bessie the farm dog.

Moon, one of the milk cows.

Lucky, one of Maddie's new goats.

Katie's Picture Post

2010-12-31T14:35:00.009-05:00

Snow fun with the cousins:)

My reflection in the car mirror....:)

Christmas Pictures............

Teaching "Rhythm" to the cousins. (This game got really loud!:)

Christmas Snow.

Christmas Eve (and before) Pictures.... (okay, we're back-tracking here)

Becca's Christmas Cake...............

Gabe and Bessie the dog.

Hanging onto Daddy.......

Getting ready for a picture. Sam: "What?! Another Picture?!"

-Katie and Morgan

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas........

2010-12-25T20:39:00.004-05:00

Or am I really dreaming?:).............................

Merry Christmas!
Morgan for the Wilson Family

Happy Christmas Eve!

2010-12-24T16:33:00.003-05:00

Isaiah 9:6-7

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.

Isaiah 53
Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.

And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 7:14
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

Luke 2
And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

(And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)

And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.

And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)

To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.

And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord;

(As it is written in the law of the LORD, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;)

And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.

And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him.

And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law,
Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word:

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation,

Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people;

A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.

And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.

And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against;

(Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

-Morgan

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-24T17:41:00.002-05:00

Psalm 100

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.

Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

Philippians 4:6-7

Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Revelation 7:12

Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
-Morgan

Give Thanks Unto The Lord For He Is Good!

2010-11-13T16:19:00.005-05:00

It's been a while! Is anyone still out there?:) It's a lovely day out today! It's near peak here and the weather is cool and brisk. Apple cider and hot chocolate are welcome refreshments on these crisp afternoons. This afternoon a large buck was chased onto our property by a pack of hunting dogs. He broke through several fences, (causing the cows to go crazy!) and got himself caught in some wire, he was finally able to free himself and he bounded away into the neighboring woods. This week is a busy crunch week for us leading up to the butchering of our large flock of Thanksgiving Turkeys and then the huge Pick-up day this Saturday. The Lord has abundantly blessed and we are sold out of the turkeys. (We take reservations before hand) As we draw closer to the season where we pause and remember of our Pilgrim forefathers, and God's providence in the founding of our country, I reflect on God's Hand of faithfulness in our family and in my own walk. How great is our God and worthy to be praised!

Psalm 100

Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

"This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope.

It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed,
because His compassions fail not.
They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness.
The Lord is my portion, saith my soul;
therefore will I hope in Him.
The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him,
To the soul that seeketh Him.
It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait
for the salvation of the Lord.
~Lamentations 3:21-26

This has been an amazing year of growth for our family, as a whole as well as the individual, which has been exciting to see. Now, I didn't say that growth was easy!:) But the refining, the drawing closer to the Lord, the heartaches, the happiness, the struggles, the joys and the tears alike have made this year one that I will remember and look back on with thankfulness to God for the work He is doing in our family. As this year draws to a close I am left with the feeling like unto nearing the end of a journal. A satisfied full feeling of contentment, while flipping through the pages that hold the year's story. I have not nearly finished all of the "goals" I set for myself for this year:) But God has brought about much higher and loftier things for me to accomplish then I ever imagined, some I had thought nearly impossible. But I am now all the more assured of this truth... "With man, it is impossible. But with God, all things are possible" Such joy and thankfulness wells up inside of me as I contemplate on His goodness, His amazing might, His perfect ways, His realness in my life. "Great and Marvelous are all Your works! Lord, God Almighty!"
Well, I hope you all have a blessed week and a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families! I will close with this hymn....

We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known;
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing,
Sing praises to His name: He forgets not his own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, wast at our side, All glory be thine!

-Morgan

It's been a long time......

2010-10-20T15:58:00.003-04:00

Hi everyone!! We know it's been a long time since we last posted but we hope to be able to post an update of sorts soon. Maddie just got a new video camera and we've been having a lot of fun with it:) Hopefully we'll be able to post some movies soon:)
Bye for now!
Morgan and Maddie

This and That

2010-08-28T17:03:00.011-04:00

(one of our turkeys checking out the camera:)

Hello everyone! We've been busy these past few weeks with the usual, taking care of the animals, butchering, farmer's market, pick-up day, buying clubs, etc. We have been so blessed to have cooler weather this week! We've also received a decent amount of rain recently, another big blessing! The days are beginning to grow shorter already, a little bit of cooler weather here and there.... Fall is coming!!!:) And we're excited about it. A couple weeks ago we received our first batch of "Freedom Rangers" (a french breed of broilers?) anyhow, they supposedly grow out better on grass than the regular Cornish cross broilers so we're giving them a try. Some of our friends raised some and we swapped them one of our broilers for one of theirs so we could try it. The meat was really good! So anyways we're raising 100 of them and we'll see how it goes. We've also begun butchering our first batch of turkeys.. (The "surprise" batch we received from the hatchery earlier this Summer) We're processing 10-30 each week and selling them on-farm and at the market during the week and weekend. Kind-of knock them off a little at a time instead of stuffing the freezers all at once. Our pastures are doing much better since the rain and I'm sure the animals appreciate it! We're milking 6 cows currently, we just dried off three. Two of them are due to calve soon. We're doing pretty well on milk quantities right now and I'm hoping we won't go through the "milk depression" we went through last fall. I'm really enjoying our youngest calf, Baby right now. She's about six week old and as sweet as can be! One of my responsibilities is to feed her her bottle. It so funny how calves (and many other animals!) learn to come when they hear you say something in a certain pitch. (You can say anything, i.e "come here you little hamburger!") But as long as you say it in a certain pitch she'll come running, licking her lips and wagging her little tail, frisking and brawling all the while. She knows I have her bottle and it's time to eat!! We just had an on farm pick-up day today. Katie, Dad and I ran it while Mom, Maddie and Mrs. Walker ran our booth at the Virginia Beach market. Our pick-up time starts at 10am and promptly at 10am lots of people start showing up! (maybe to avoid the rush?:) Anyways, so we were rushing around getting the orders together and such when Katie comes out of the house and quickly enters the little sales barn near where we had set up our sales tent. She called to me to come to her in an excited, mysterious voice and since there was a lull in the line I followed her into the barn. She set down a plate with two tall stacks of Pancakes dripping with maple syrup! Dear Hannah had whipped up a batch of pancakes for everyone while she was in the house babysitting and cleaning. We hadn't really had breakfast as we had been rushing around that morning and pancakes are a rare treat! We hurriedly ate them up before the next rush of customers came, giggling all the while about what would happen if a customer came in on us and found us forking down the pancakes in a must unladylike manner!:) Well, It's late now and I'm off to bed! I hope everyone has a blessed weekend!
-Morgan

"What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth? I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it. He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end. I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life. And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God. I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him." Ecclesiastes 3:9-14

Family Visit

2010-08-12T15:38:00.006-04:00

Yesterday after morning chores we got a chance to break away from the farm for the day to visit with some family in Virginia Beach. We were going to visit our grandmother but when we arrived at her house we were delighted to see most most of our cousins, aunts and uncles on my dad's side had come as well! We had a nice time visiting with everyone. These are some pictures of our two month old cousin, Sofia Rose. A week after she was born I was able to go stay at my Aunt and Uncle's house to help out for a few days as they were adjusting to my Uncle going back to work and my Aunt being alone with the two little girls. I had such a great time! I was able to hold little Sofia a lot and help take care of her. At the end of my time there I was so sad! I felt like she was my baby!:) I guess I hadn't realized just how much I miss having a newborn in the house! Gabe is four now so it's been awhile. We still carry him around sometimes, big boy that he is:)

Hope everyone has a great week!

-Morgan

Greetings!

2010-07-30T17:54:00.011-04:00

Greetings! I know it's been almost two months.....:) Sorry about that, the Summer has been sooo busy! I am still so caught up in the busyness and fullness of Summer that I am just now starting to think about looking forward to fall:) It would take a long time to catch up on everything that has happened in the past couple of months but I'll try to give a brief update which I think I'll do in pictures:). We have been busy with farming mostly... And also trying to focus on building the family and not just the farm because family is the whole reason we came out to the farm in the first place! We wanted to all work together as a family toward a common goal. This will be the end of our third year of full time farming since my dad came home from his day job. The Lord has grown us so much as a family since we have all been together all day every day! I think farming is a wonderful way to raise a family! When I was younger I loved it because of the animals and all of the outdoors time, but as I have gotten older I have come to see all of the many benefits this type of lifestyle affords. Farming teaches character, responsibility, and real life challenges. My siblings and I are home schooled and since we moved to the farm we have taken a more lifestyle learning approach, which I love because you are learning skills in the context that you are going to be using them! My parents have sought to instill in us a love of learning as well as the "know how" to find out information so that we can learn anything we need to know at anytime. In this modern world of technology, information is right at your fingertips! But anyways, back to the update... (I always seem to go off on rabbit trails!) Here are some random pictures from this past Summer.

Our first vacation in eight years!....

Happy 18th Birthday Katie!!

2010-07-25T18:15:00.004-04:00

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday dear Katie!

Happy birthday to you!

2010-06-12T10:45:00.007-04:00

Hello All! How has everyone been? Today we are taking it a little slower as we've been very busy this week. On Thursday we butchered chickens and started out Joel Salatin style :) At least according to the time of his book "Pastured Poultry Profits". Dad got up at 4am to start the scalder and the rest of us got us at 4:45 had coffee or tea and a boiled egg and then we trooped out at 5am to process about 150 birds. It was lovely be finished by 7:30am! Then we ate breakfast and did the morning chores. We also received a surprise batch of turkeys that day! A whole month early! There was some sort of mix up with the hatchery and so we received (over the process of two days) 200 extra turkeys in addition to the 400 we are to receive in July! Needless to say we will have plenty of thanksgiving turkeys!:) At first we got a little panicked at the prospect of raising double the turkeys we had last year! But as Mom pointed out, the Lord knows what He's doing; we needed them for some reason! After breakfast and chores we cut some of the chicken and then packaged and bagged everything. We were finished by about noon. Then we had the rest of the afternoon off! Needless to say we have adopted a new schedule :) Though not quite so early... We get up at about 5:15 have coffee and meet out in the backyard at 5:30. It lovely to be sitting down to breakfast at 8:30am instead of 10:30am! On Friday we got 11 of our pigs back from the butcher. So we scrambled to find room in every nook and cranny of our freezers:) We were able to fit everything just fine. So today we are taking it a little slower. I find it is so easy in all of the busyness to get off focus, and shift my sights off of the things that are most important like spending time with the Lord and family, not using all of my free to time seek my own pleasure and overlook the needs of my siblings and parents. Making sure I am honoring and obeying my parents from the heart and not just surface cooperation. I need to be sure I am setting a godly example to my younger siblings who look to me as their big sister to see how I react to the many and diverse situations that arise during the day. I need to make sure I'm taking the time to really smile into their little hearts and let them know how much I love and care about them, whether it be stopping to take the time to read a book or include them in whatever I'm doing. Being their friend and confidant and not only their "bossy" big sister :)

Well, I hope everyone has a great weekend!

-Morgan

We Are Still Here:)

2010-05-21T21:02:00.005-04:00

Yes, we are still here!:) I haven't had much time for the blogging world recently. Life and farming has kept us busy to the extreme! On Monday, our new apprentice, Collin, arrived. He is staying for a trial week and if it works out he might stay for the summer. This week has gone well, we got a lot of much needed rain at the beginning of the week, I know the garden and pasture loved it! On Wednesday we made our monthly Buying Club deliveries. On Thursday we did some processing. When the Fuhrmann family used to help us process, Mr. Fuhrmann (who is French) would give us French lessons, now we are getting Hebrew lessons. Collin has been to Israel and knows how to speak Hebrew, so he taught us a Bible verse in Hebrew.
Today we did some farm work and prepared for tomorrows farmers market. We have managed to fit in some Volleyball, Keep Away and other such fun games throughout the week as well:) Collin plays the banjo quite well so one night he played banjo and Katie played her guitar and we all sang. Well, I need to go as we have an early start tomorrow. Sorry this post isn't very interesting but at least you have the assurance that we're still here:)
Bye for now!
-Morgan

Happy Birthday Will!

2010-04-29T21:19:00.006-04:00

Happy 11th Birthday Will!

-Morgan

2010-04-26T18:41:00.007-04:00

Hey Guys! How’s it going? Today I’ve had this song stuck in my head! “Your Love, Oh Lord” That song is one of my favorites! (It comes from Psalms 36:5)

Today, it rained. I was sitting on our front porch playing my guitar and singing that song; and when I got to the part “Your faithfulness stretches to the skies” the rain had died down and I saw blue sky and three rainbows in a row!! I felt like God was re-opening the heavens and was spilling his love down!! I thought that was so cool! I know Morgan already mentioned that verse but I’m sure you guys won’t mind hearing it again!=) Here’s some pictures I took. I’m lovin’ my new camera!!
See ya’ll later!
~Katie
P.s I drew this picture of Daniel Heffington's guitar on Sunday. I had a perfect view from where I was sitting!=)

Follow Up Picture Post......

2010-04-24T20:04:00.008-04:00

As I mentioned before in the previous post, we were going out for ice cream to celebrate after a good days work. We enjoyed it. Enough said.:)

-Morgan

Farm Day

2010-04-24T16:29:00.006-04:00

Today we had an On Farm Pick-up day and we had about 70 families come out! A good many of them were new customers too! Once we had a line out the door of our sales barn and Dad teased that we needed to open multiple lines. "All clerks to the front!" he called, and everybody laughed. Our friends the Hendersons came out and were able to sell some of their All Natural Handmade Soaps. We were happy the rain held off during our pick-up times. Well, I'm off to milk and then Dad is taking us out for ice cream to celebrate!
I hope everyone has a great weekend!
-Morgan

"Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds."

Psalm 36:5

2010-04-20T16:41:00.019-04:00

Why is it always so hard to start a post? I always say...."Hi Everyone!" Titles are also hard to come by!:) Anyways.... To start out I will answer Matthew's questions.

1.What kind of chickens do you have?

We use Cornish-x as well. We butcher our birds at 8 and 9 weeks. At 8 weeks we do them as whole birds and at 9 weeks we cut them and package them as boneless breast fillets, wings, leg quarters, etc.

2.When you process the meat birds. Do you have a plucker or do you do it by hand?

We have the Featherman picker. With the quantity of birds that we do we can't hand pick!:)

We did some processing at the end of last week and were very grateful for the help of Elliott and Oliver Alexander and Eric and Aaron Jackson. My birthday was also last week:) Today we bought 18 pigs, Will and Aaron Jackson have been working on one of Will's tractors, and Mom and I have been working on "The Laundry Project". Any of you boys who are reading this post may very well at this point decide to stop reading:) But we are going through the laundry for a good reason! Dad has been convicted lately about having us girls dress more modestly. As a general rule we usually wear dresses and skirts, but now we are taking it to a deeper level. So today, when most of the others were outside, Mom and I plowed through the laundry, ruthlessly tossing out anything that was too tight, low necked, etc. etc. etc.:) I felt like I was the victor of a battle as I filled up bag after bag of rejected clothes. In our family we have been talking a lot about modesty lately and how we want to dress in such a way that we are feminine and modest, so we do not tempt our brothers in Christ to sin. Dad gave an excellent message in church last Sunday regarding the issue of purity, young men learning to train their eyes, minds and hearts to keep themselves pure in a culture where purity seems to be a foreign concept. Dad spoke of the beautiful picture of that first marriage in the Garden. Adam naming the animals..... male, female, male, female.... "but there was not found an helpmeet suitable for Adam." So God formed a Helpmeet for him, a completer, a friend, made perfect for him! The perfect Oneness of the first couple and of the beauty of Christ and His Church, and how the marriage convenent represents this beautiful union. The value of saving yourself for your future husband/wife! One thing I appreciate so much about my dear daddy is how serious he is about his personal walk and our family's walk with Christ, and how devoted he is to following Christ, seeking His Will and doing it no matter what! (I am convinced that I must have the wisest, best daddy in the whole world!:) He is constantly re-evaluating and asking the Lord for guidance, and my dear mama is such a godly example to my sisters and me of what it means to be a godly wife, of following and submitting, and pouring out her life furthering his vision. I count myself very blessed! Thank you for allowing me to ramble a bit! I hope everyone has a blessed week!

-Morgan

~Recent Happenings~

2010-04-14T16:11:00.006-04:00

Yay! It's Spring-time! Everything is bursting forth in growth and renewal of color and life! The pastures are lush and green, The trees and bushes are filling in. Tiny plants are springing up in the garden, promising a fruitful harvest. The warmth and color is so refreshing after the cold and deadness of winter! These past few weeks we've been busy working on moving the animals out to pasture, building feeders, processing broilers, fixing and replacing last years hosing and "spring cleaning" the farm. Today we've been cooking and preparing for a processing day tomorrow, which reminds me that the Processing Area was on my list to clean up today and I haven't done it yet! So I'm off to finish that and I shall leave you to the pictures.......

Grass!!

The cows are happy to get out on the pastures again after a winter of hay. They were so excited to be let out to the lush green pasture that they actually kicked up their heels and ran in a regular frolic!:)

Last week we shoveled out the "Poultry Prowler" of last years' bedding and moved the hens out to pasture. They too were happy to get off of their old winter spot.

Dad and Katie have been working on a couple new models for our 2010 chicken feeders.......

They used mostly recycled materials to build the feeders. Old plastic fencing a neighbor was taking to the dump..... Dad figured this particular feeder cost him about 20 cents (for the screws) to build.

Kittens!! About two weeks ago one of our cats had kittens. She is such an affectionate mother! Doesn't she look like she's giving her kitten a hug?

Have a great week everybody!

-Morgan

Katie's Picture Post

2010-03-30T21:46:00.009-04:00

Hey guys! Last Saturday we went to the birthday party of a friend at an Ice-Skating rink. It was sooooo fun! It was the first time my sisters and I had been ice-skating. Here are some pictures I took with my new camera.

-Katie

Alaina and Me.

Crack the Whip

Sarah and Me.

Rachel and Morgan.

Happy 8th Birthday Lucy!

2010-03-29T21:48:00.003-04:00

Lucy turned eight yesterday! Happy Birthday Lucy! We love you!
(Rebecca in the brown and Lucy in the pink)

A Little About My Trip

2010-03-27T21:57:00.007-04:00

Hello Everyone! I'm back safe and sound from the Furhmanns! I had a wonderful time! It was really perfect timing too, the little ones got sick after the first few days that I was up there and I was able to milk in the evenings for Mr. Fuhrmann so he could be inside with the little ones. The baby, Peace Mary Odele Furhmann is such a tiny sweet little thing! She has lots of dark hair, big blue eyes, and tiny little nose and such cute little features! Do pray for her though, her mouth is very small and so she has trouble nursing, they are having to feed her with a bottle so that she is satisfied after each feeding. I had so much fun with the children! I had never been up to their farm before so they showed me around and I got to help with the outside chores. One morning, Hope Furhmann (8) and I took the rugs out of the downstairs and beat the dust out of them outside. That was really fun! I felt as though I had stepped back into the 18th century as we beat the rugs for all we were worth:) The scenery is so beautiful out there too! Rolling hills, woods and farmland speckled with old farm houses and out buildings. I'll have to post pictures later. One day an apprentice from another farm came over and taught us how to make farmhouse cheese, That was really neat! Only I was in charge of taking notes and I accidentally left out a few key instructions (whoops!) But we were able to get them later:) Another day, the children took me out in their woods to show me their old outbuildings. One in particular that we visited had been named "Pirate Joe's Cabin" :) As we stood just outside the doorway of the falling down cabin, Joshua Furhmann explained about it's name. All about how Pirate Joe lives in the loft and how he pulled up the ladder after him, prefaced by a motion to the drawn up ladder. As he is finishing speaking his sisters, Sheila and Hope, lean inside the doorway for a better look. Suddenly a look a alarm crosses Shelia's face, with a scream she darts backwards. Hope screams too and they both run back a little up the path towards their oldest brother Sam. I echoed their scream, but didn't move, all the while Joshua is asking with an incredulous look "What?!" After a moment the girls screaming breaks into laughter. "I saw a huge vulture!" Sheila explained. "It's wings were about three feet long!" she said, holding out her arms to demonstrate. "I saw it too!" Put in Hope. "I just screamed because they did" I admitted sheepishly. We all got a good laugh out of it and had fun relaying the frightful event to their parents when we got home. I have lots more fun memories treasured up from my time there. I was so busy I hardly had time to be homesick. In fact, when it was time to go, I shed a few tears because I was going to miss the Furhmanns! I hope to go back up again sometime this summer or fall. It was a neat experience to get to play "mama" for a week, I am very grateful for the opportunity! I felt very loved when I overheard the Furhmann children deciding who was going to sit by my for one of the last meals, and again when my brothers and sister came running and yelling down the driveway to meet me when I returned home!:)
Hope everyone has a good week!
-Morgan

I'm Off!

2010-03-17T21:20:00.004-04:00

Hello All! Tomorrow I'm off to help out for a week at some of our friends, the Furhmanns. Mrs. Fuhrmann just had their eighth baby this afternoon, a little girl. Yay! They don't have a name picked out yet, they didn't find out if the baby would be a girl or a boy but left it a surprise. (I don't know if I could be that patient!:) Mrs. Fuhrmann had the baby at home with a midwife and the baby was actually born breach but mama and baby are doing well. Please pray for a quick recovery for Mrs. Fuhrmann, also that I will be a good help and that I won't be too homesick:) It's the longest and farthest I've ever been away from home by myself before. I'm sure I will be too busy to be homesick though!:)

Have a great rest of your week!

-Morgan

Of Spring and Growth of Many Kinds

2010-03-14T17:05:00.010-04:00

We have been enjoying this weather so much! This warm weather brings hope of Spring, the renewal of life, color and growth to come! I stumbled across this verse in Song of Solomon that seemed to fit perfectly. "For, lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land;" Song of Solomon 2:11-12 We were able to get our spring garden in the ground before all of this rain. We planted an abundance of potatoes, carrots, onions, peas (yum! raw peas straight from the garden taste like candy!) broccoli, cabbage and other such things that escape my memory:) I so enjoyed getting in the garden and planting the tiny seeds and plants. Some of our potatoes we had saved from last year's harvest and so we planted those along with the other seed potatoes we had bought. Our family loves potatoes and with 11 people we can go through up to 10lbs at a meal!
We have had 12 baby goats born over the last month. Maddie runs the dairy goat business, last year she sold a few shares but this year she is planning on expanding. We purchased a goat milking machine! Two to be exact:) But the second one hasn't arrived yet. Maddie has been working with her goats to get them trained to the milker. We have two batches of chicks in the brooders, one batch of broilers and one batch of pullets. Katie headed up the team that moved the first batch of broilers out to pasture yesterday. After yesterday morning's rain, Dad exclaimed that he could almost see the grass growing! Hooray for grass! Hooray for green in general! I'm sure the cows are happy about it, they have been escaping every chance they can to get at the new shoots of grass. They have managed to find the spring onions too! I could smell it as I strained the milk the other day:) We have had several calves born as well. We are running out of girl names for our calves! The two that were born recently we named Honey and Marigold. Marigold's mother is a first time milker. She kicks something dreadful and has a "bad attitude"! A farmer friend of ours taught us a trick for cows that kick. You hold up their tail vertically in the air and they will not kick. I think it's because it makes them feel off balance and so they won't move their legs to kick, at any rate it does work. We also have ten pigs at the present, great big fellows too! Pork seems to be a very popular product. Though probably beef ranks the top, we can never have enough beef to meet the demand. And so we are beginning to bust at the seems again! I am grateful for the start of another busy season. We were blessed to be able to really take a little break this winter and not "go, go, go" all year long, but now I am glad to start back up with the busyness again! One of the things the Lord has been reminding me of recently is that His ways are not our ways. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9
Sometimes, just when I think I have everything planned out, the Lord lands something I had never considered in my lap! While I look back on my crumpled plans and moan, "But Lord, I thought this was what you had for me! This new plan doesn't make any sense!" The Lord reminds me. "Didn't you give your plans, dreams and future to Me?" And I know in my heart that God has the the ultimate best plan. He wants me to give Him my nearest and dearest plans, hopes, dreams, everything! And He will give me something far greater than anything I could ever dream up or plan! "For I know the thoughts I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart" Jeremiah 19:11-13. These times draw me close to the Lord, it pushes me to seek Him more often, spend more time in His Word, praying and asking Him what His will is, what He wants me to do. Even though these growing times are painful, I wouldn't trade them for the world!
Hope everyone has a great week!
-Morgan

An Incident

2010-03-13T21:09:00.005-05:00

Anyone want to guess what happened?:)

-Maddie

Blogging Hiatus

2010-02-24T17:28:00.005-05:00

Hello everyone, you probably thought we had dropped off the end of the earth! We're still here :) But with the busyness of this new farming season getting underway I will not have much time for writing, besides I wanted to take a hiatus from blogging anyway. So except for an occasional post here and there you won't be hearing much from us through the blog for awhile. Bye for now!
-Morgan
P.S Maddie might do a post about her new baby goats soon.

"Come on it's......"

2010-01-31T15:52:00.006-05:00

"........Lovely weather for a sleigh ride together with you!" It certainly has been too! We figure we got around 8 to 10 inches total, yesterday and during the night. Not as much as some of you, but more that we've had in a long time! It was neat waking up to a totally transformed, white world! The dirty, barren ground was hidden beneath a beautiful layer of snow. That verse came to mind. "Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be washed whiter than snow." There really isn't anything quite so white as snow. And that's what we are through Jesus, whiter than snow!Yesterday we made a big sled and Dad pulled us around with the tractor. We had a great time! Katie put together this short video from some footage she took yesterday.

-Morgan

Hannah Thompson's Big Day

2010-01-24T21:46:00.003-05:00

Here's a quick movie that I put together about Hannah's birthday. Enjoy!
-Maddie

Fire!

2010-01-23T23:55:00.004-05:00

Did that catch your attention?:) Well don't worry, it's out now. Earlier this evening we a chimney fire! Dad, Katie, Maddie and I were out and it was just Mom at home with Hannah on down. Mom heard this roaring sound and upon checking the chimney outside she saw a huge solid wall of fire coming out of our chimney! She got everyone out of the house and then called 911. I believe about eight different fire truck/ police cars ended up in front of our house! They even blocked off part of the road! Anyhow, it was mostly put out by the time they got here. (Thanks to Mom's quick thinking!) After about an hour of checking everything to make sure it was out, they left. Needless to say, that caused quite a fright! Sorry this is so short but I must get to bed as it's almost midnight!
-Morgan

In Which Another Week has Rolled By:)

2010-01-21T20:12:00.005-05:00

Yet another week has rolled by in which I failed to post! Hey, it's not like I've been idle the whole time!:) I suppose I another week in review is called for.....

Last Friday we were able to "knock out" a great deal of the front of the big barn with the help of the Wright boys. Then on Saturday we had the pleasure of attending a friend's birthday party. We played a number of different fun outside games including Volleyball, (which many of us found we had grown quite rusty on over the winter!) Speed Volleyball, Swedish Kickball, Ultimate Frisbee and a Treasure Hunt! I haven't run like that in a long time!:) We had a great time! On Sunday, we met at the Heffingtons. On Monday, Mom and I worked on Buying Club orders and our email and website stopped working! Yikes! So Dad had to spend a great deal of time figuring out what was wrong. On Tuesday we had a new little heifer born to one of our cows, Marlee. The calf is still nameless, any suggestions would be welcome:) On Wednesday we did our monthly Buying Clubs and in the evening Dad, Mom and I went to the first of three FRESH showings that we're sponsoring through our local Buy Fresh Buy Local chapter. It went well, I think we had about 30 some folks in attendance. At the end of the program I was asked by a well meaning person where was I going to go to collage. I explained to him that I was going to continue my education at home after which he tried to convince me of my need to go to an institution to broaden my horizons. Quite a lively discussion followed that:) On Thursday it rained a great deal of the day so we were able to relax a little more inside. After morning chores, Katie, Maddie and I gathered in our room and did scrapbooking, knitting or just read for most of the morning, fun!:) That afternoon however we got down to business. I sat down to answer a bunch of emails that were delayed in coming because our server was down. They seemed to be full of questions.... "Morgan, when can I start my cowshare?" Morgan, when can we come out to the farm?" "I'm ready to start a cowshare group in my area, what else do I need to do?" etc, etc, etc. I playfully moaned out loud for the benefit of those in the next room. "Everyone is asking me questions and expecting me to answer them!!!!":) I do enjoy answering emails and phone calls. It's almost been a year now since my parents let me take over the "office manager" duties. I enjoy it very much and I'm grateful for the great learning opportunities it provides, some interesting, some challenging and some painful. Well I think that's about it as far as catching up goes....

During milking this evening, Katie and I were laughing about different funny or embarrassing "Farmers Bloopers" that had happened to us. Most of them involved customers coming up to the shop catching us unawares as we were being boisterous or in other words "horsing around" about some thing or another. One time we were out milking and Dad had just discovered that we could download movie soundtracks off of the Internet onto our little mp3 player. We just happened to be listening to "You've Got a Friend in Me" from Toy Story 2. Really loudly. Of course everyone else was in the other room when the customer walked in. So there I was listening to blaring music alone in the room! We have had many such occurrences, what can you do but chuckle and move on, while hopefully learning a lesson on not being so "wild" in the first place!:)
Well, it's late and I must be off to bed now. Hopefully another week won't go by 'til I write again.
Bye for now,
Morgan

2010-01-14T20:47:00.002-05:00

Today one of our projects was to clip the wings of our new layers. Maddie, Will, Lucy, Sammy and I were assigned to the task. I think we started out with about 250 or something but that number has dwindled somewhat due to foxes and other various acts of nature:) Anyways, so out we go to the field, armed with a pair of scissors. Will, Lucy and Sam took turns catching the birds. I sat on my five-gallon bucket and did the honors, somehow managing to keep all of my fingers amidst the struggling that entailed as each chicken was tossed into my lap! Maddie's job was to take the clipped birds to the holding pen, She trotted back and forth between the two pens in her flip flops. (She would insist on wearing them at the first hint of warm weather! Upper 40's is warm enough for flip flops?) Well, she changed her tune once it was her turn to catch the birds inside the pen! But with a few good natured grumbles she did it anyways. (By the way, lest you think I'm telling all of the stories on Maddie, she's leaning over my shoulder as I write this, giving me tidbits to write!:) There was a great deal of good natured laughing at each other and hollering over the noise the chickens made. Before we were half through the big bell rang, signaling lunch time. We trooped inside and enjoyed the delicious lunch Mom had prepared for us. (Katie wants me to tell you that while we were outside, she was cleaning the whole house and mopping while telling Hannah to stop playing with Bess:) After lunch our team headed back outside to finish up. After we had clipped the last bird we dragged the hoop house full of pullets to the hen pen so we could integrate the two flocks. After that we spread out a layer of mulch and old hay on the floor of the hens permanent winter spot. Tomorrow the Wright boys are coming over for a work day. I think the main focus tomorrow is tackling the front of the Big Barn *shudder* :) Well, that's all I have to write tonight, the beginning of the week wasn't enough to mention, not so much as others have I'm sure:) Bye for now!
-Morgan

I'm Still Here!

2010-01-08T21:08:00.005-05:00

Hello Everyone! Yes, I'm still here:) I took a little blogging break for a week, I like to every now and then. I have been working on a longer post this afternoon, but I 'm waiting until I can use the other computer to load some pictures. (This computer doesn't have the right ones.) Currently, the laptop is being used to watch Andy Griffith re-runs on the Internet. Well, I just wanted to let you know I am still here and a longer post will hopefully be coming soon!
Your blogging friend,
Morgan

Howdy Strangers!

2010-01-08T15:20:00.012-05:00

There. I tried to title it with something a little more interesting then a simple, "I'm back". I took a little blogging break for a week, I like to every now and then to kind of restore my focus:) I missed everyone! Happy New Years! It sure has been cold for the past week! We've been piling on the layers to brave the Arctic temperatures! (Okay, maybe not Arctic:) Anyways here's an update on what we've been about this past week.....

On New Years Eve some of us stayed up until midnight. We basically watched Andy Griffith re-runs on the Internet until 12pm, toasted with sparkling apple cider and them fell into our beds! Here are some pictures Maddie took of our feeble attempts to stay awake:)

We toasted as a family before the little ones went to bed. (We used sparkling cider:)

The night seemed to drag a little......

Last Saturday, Dad, Katie, Maddie, Hannah and Will went over to the Solomons house to help prepare it to put on the market again. On Sunday, Church was at the Heffingtons. (Joanna and Rachel, I immensely enjoyed our "therapy session" upstairs in the girls room!:) then on Monday we started back up with our normal routine, regular chores and work. After our "holiday" of several weeks in December I was more than ready to get back to our normal busyness! On Wednesday, Justin, Tim and Ben came over for a work day. We did a huge farm clean-up, we positively scoured the place! That's pretty much what we did that day, apart from chasing two runaway calves, and preparing some of the hoops for the winter. Thursday morning, Mom and I met Mrs. Heffington and Rachel for breakfast, we had a great time visiting! I think Rachel and I got a little carried away with our laughter because we had to be shushed by the moms:) (Good thing that coffee cup wasn't full Rachel:)

It has been so cold lately that the hoses have stayed frozen sometimes all day, but a little 'ol frozen hose doesn't stop us! We have our methods.......:)

Last winter we made a sled out of an old pallet and a couple of four by fours, it works well to haul a large quantity of water with.

And then this past Thursday was our little Gabe's 4th birthday!

We all laughed so while watching Gabe open his birthday presents! He tore through the wrapping paper like a crazy man, presents flying everywhere! After having opened every last one of them he thanked everyone, admired the paper and then began to examine his presents! He was so funny!

I am excited to see what God has for us this new year! I'm also looking forward to the usual farm planning that takes place this month. I enjoy being a part of the planning and seeing the year laid out before us on the big calender! Of course we can't know everything that will take place. Only our Sovereign Lord knows that, but I love having a vision and goals to accomplish! Some of my personal goals include; getting my permit/drivers licence, (I will be 19 in April, it's kind of embarrassing that I still don't have it yet! It would be very useful to have, it's just hard making myself study the boring drivers manual!:) anyways..... and finish up with a few important homemaking skills. I also have a big reading list:) I received several new book for my graduation as well as gift cards for Christmas, so I've been stocking up on books! I've been keeping Vision Forum in business:) I was able to take advantage of the great after Christmas sale they had so I really got my gift card's worth!

Well, that should pretty much catch you all up. Enough of my ramblings for now! Have a great weekend!

-Morgan

Happy 25th Wedding Anniversary Mom and Dad!

2009-12-29T21:35:00.004-05:00

First of all I would like to state how thankful I am to our parents for bringing us up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord! I have found that verse in Proverbs to be so true.

"My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother: for they shall be an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck."

Daniel, at his graduation was remarking on this same verse. Their instruction and "law" truly is a graceful ornament on our heads. My parents have that way of making things seem "all better" I know that for me, since my early years, when I would get overwhelmed or "bogged down" by some seeming weighty matter, spilling my heart to my parents and receiving their wisdom and advice was one of the sweetest things! I have learned so much from them, it is such a blessing to be able to talk to them anytime about anything! Well, this has to be cut short, as my dad is calling me to bed. I wish I could write up something grand and wonderful for you, Mom and Dad, but my writing skills are in no way equal to those of the well written Miss Rachel, so I shall close by saying, I love you Mom and Dad and I so appreciate all you do, and all you have taught us!

Love,

Morgan

Glory to God in the Highest!

2009-12-25T21:54:00.005-05:00

"Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." Isaiah 7:14

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His Kingdom, to order it, and to establish it it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of host will preform this." Isaiah 9:6-7

"Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men: a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces form Him; He was despised and we esteemed Him not. Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed." Isaiah 53:1-5

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over there flocks by night. 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. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Luke 2:8-14

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

Merry Christmas!
-Morgan

Of Processing and Christmas Preparations

2009-12-23T17:46:00.013-05:00

Hello all! Here is our week in review. Sunday, church was canceled because everyone was either sick, or not able to make it. We had our own little service together as a family, Katie played guitar and we sang Christmas hymns as well. On Monday we processed the last batch of broilers for 2009. Elliott and Oliver Alexander came over to help us. We were able to finish up with the actual processing of the birds before lunch. We did about 230. (Okay, we did eat a little late. But lunch was well worth the wait! Mom made two chicken pies, mashed potatoes and a big pan of baked apples!) After lunch we had a short break before bagging the birds, we played Kickball. That was fun and funny! These were the teams.. Katie, Maddie, Elliott and Lucy. and then Me, Hannah, Oliver and Rebecca. It was so funny to watch Katie's team. She and Maddie were both trying to come up with the best strategy for their team. Someone on our team would kick the ball and then take off running for the base, while Katie and Maddie were still talking and telling each other "if you had just done what I said, we could have gotten it!" Elliott was dashing all over the yard trying to retrieve the ball single-handedly while Katie and Maddie were still arguing! Also, the yard was very muddy from recent rain and snow so there were many slips and slides! We were laughing so hard and so were Katie and Maddie! After our break we finished up by bagging the broilers and then washing the coolers. Thank you Elliott and Oliver for your help! (Hey, was anybody sore from all that running during kickball? I must have gotten out of practice! It was probably partly from that big slide/collision with Maddie!) On Tuesday, Mom and Dad went Christmas shopping for most of the day, we did the normal outside work, including washing several days worth of eggs. It was very cold that day! We had to bundle up warmly! There is one thing I will say about beanie hats, I personally do not care for them, and I think it is safe to say that they don't care for me either! It's probably because of the way I wear my hair, either in a bun or a braid. So either I have a knob sticking out from the back of my head or my braid is constantly pushing the hat up so that it is perched on the top of my head in a most unfashionable way! But I generally wear them anyways because the cold and the pressure makes me dizzy sometimes. Anyways, to get off that subject:) This morning Mom took us older girls out to finish up with our Christmas shopping and then Dad took the little ones out. So now we are officially finished with Christmas preparations. This afternoon we watched the Christmas Shoes. A movie based from the song. It is a really emotional movie! The first time we watched it we all cried buckets of tears, including Dad. This time I was pretty sure I wouldn't cry because I had already seen it and I didn't think it would effect me like it did the first time. I was wrong. By the time the little boy is crying and begging his mom not to go, we were all sobbing and passing around the tissue box. And I don't mean "teary". I mean really crying. I think Will got a kick out of watching us, after a really sad part he would steal a glance around the room and take note of everyone who was crying, "Hehe, Maddie's crying... Morgan's crying... Katie's crying?!" Katie rarely cries, so that surprised him! After the movie he named off all the people that had cried. "Did you?" We questioned, as he was leaving the room. "Only at the part were he's getting the shoes" he admitted. Katie said she was trying to hide her sobs behind a laugh but it didn't work too well:) Well, that's pretty much catches you up! I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas! I shall close with this song, It's a little like "Mary Did You Know", a song from Mary's perspective.

"But Mary kept all of these things and pondered them in her heart"

This is not the way I dreamed
My story would unfold
A stable and a bed of hay
A night so clear and cold
The only child of God begotten
In my arms I hold
To us is born Emmanuel

Holy child of hope
Perfect child of peace
Born to be the Lord of life in me
Oh my precious son
Heaven's child has come
To make of me a child of God

I am just a peasant girl of simple honest means
Who am I to hold the Savior
Sent to set men free
To know the child I gave life
Will give his life for me
The angels sing Emmanuel

Holy child of hope
Perfect child of peace
Born to be the Lord of life in me
Oh my precious son
Heaven's child has come
To make of me a child of God

Oh my precious son
Heaven's child has come
To make of me a child of God

To make of me a child of God

-Morgan

Mom and Dad are back!

2009-12-18T20:10:00.004-05:00

Hi everybody, you probably thought I had dropped out of blogging altogether! Mom and Dad have been gone this week on their 25th wedding anniversary trip. They went to Williamsburg and then to a sweet little cabin in the mountains! They just got back tonight and we are so glad to have them back! I missed them terribly! But we had a good, productive time at home. My grandparents stayed with us while my parents were gone and it was fun to visit with them. Hopefully I'll be posting some pictures from their trip soon. Katie, Maddie (and soon Hannah) have started posting now, it's nice to have lots of different perspectives!:) Also, don't worry, I haven't forgotten about the music post:) That subject will most likely turn into a series which I will probably post in January after the busyness. We're supposed to get alot of rain tonight and tomorrow with maybe some snow mixed in. I know in some places folks are expecting 8 to 10 inches of snow! Fun! (Though cold and harder to work in.) Tomorrow we have an on-farm pickup day scheduled. Dad and William will be running it because Mom and the rest of us girls have a surprise birthday party to go to. Well, bye for now! Sorry this post is not as interesting as the other girls' posts have been:)
-Morgan

P.s Yeah! I was finally able to get a video to load. So here is the test one, a sword fight from last Sunday at the Heffingtons house between Justin and Daniel T.

The Sunday Report (By Katie)

2009-12-13T21:31:00.005-05:00

Hello Everybody! I'm a "first time poster" to so tell me how I do.

Now, we had church at the Heffingtons home today. We got up a little earlier since today was Sunday, and went outside to do our chores. It was after I milked when I found out the tractor was not working. (The battery was dead) I needed it to take hay bails back to the cows but the tractor decided it didn't want to charge either. So Morgan, Maddie and I had to push the hay bails back to the cow's pen. (At least Morgan was helping, Maddie was standing upfront pretending to direct "traffic" and making us laugh so that we barely had any strength!) Than, we got ready for church just in time. Dad and I were in charge of the music today so we almost left Maddie who was still getting ready! Mom and the little ones stayed home today. We arrived at the Heffingtons on the early side so we could set-up. Before the service, Mrs. Lynne played a song (which I believe it was called, Joseph's Lullaby's) while Daniel sang. It was a pretty song and Mrs. Lynne and Daniel both did a good job! We were practicing, some when everybody else started to arrive. Than Daniel , Alaina, Justin and I played our guitars. Here are the songs we played: Shout to the north, To God be the glory, O worship the King (I picked that one out, I don't know if anyone noticed but I was so nervous! I got shaky during the middle! See, I just learned how to pick it out the night before.) So any way... Then, Here I am to worship, Joy to the world, What child is this, Hark! The herald angels sing, and finally He knows my name.

Then, Mr. Strother shared and My dad shared. Than, we chatted some after the service and people started eating. (we didn't stay for lunch) So after saying a few more goodbye's, we left.

We came home to a wonderful meal my mother made! And, that's pretty much it!

Bye!

Katie

First Time Poster: Author Unknown

2009-12-12T16:31:00.002-05:00

Hi Everyone! I've never posted before so I'm not quite sure what to say.... I'll write about what I did today. We had to wake up early and help Mom and Morgan get out to the last Farmers Market of the year. Since Morgan was gone I had to do her part of the milking. Afterwards I found out that all of the hoses were frozen, I had to haul 7 buckets of water from the workshop all of the way to the barn! For those of you that have never been to our house, it's along way!:) After that I went into the house to warm up by the kerosene heater. After that I helped my sisters make breakfast. We made eggs, sausage and heated up some pumpkin bread that Mom had made earlier. Then a customer came and we had to run outside to collect eggs for him while he waited. We took of running for the workshop to see who could get the best, least broken, egg basket first. I'm proud to say I got one of the best;) Then we broke the no-no rule. We raced back with the full egg baskets and a certain sister of mine, tripped on the net and and fell, dropping the egg basket and breaking five eggs, (though I think it looked more like half of the basket!) The customer, who was watching the proceeds, laughed at us, we were laughing too. After that we came back inside and and my next oldest sister and I crowded into chair and knit cozily together. Mom and Morgan came home at about 3pm and then Dad, Will and somebody else went outside to do some target practicing, Dad said I can go next time! Then Rebecca and I walked around the farm, stopping to watch this man rake up a pile of leaves and then burn them. Afterwards we came back and then I did this post. Guess who I am...:)

-?

Answer to Questions: Part Two

2009-12-08T21:16:00.003-05:00

Here are the rest of the questions, (save the Christian rock vs. hymns. Best for last!)

Would you rather miss, 2 young adult nights or a once in a lifetime trip to Scotland with Rachel Heffington?

The 2 Young Adult Gatherings. (How could I pass up Scotland with Rachel?!)

Would you rather watch Dumbo, or March of the Penguins?

Well, seeing as I've never watched March of the Penguins, I think I'd chose the latter.

Would you rather eat clobbered milk, or an old sandwich you found in the back of the refrigerator?

How disgusting! Maybe I could make cheese or something out of the milk..........

Do you prefer cooking or cleaning up after a meal?

Cooking!

Would you rather eat chicken feet or jelly fish?

Umm...... I know where those chicken feet have been! If it was in soup that would be one thing... But if I had to just chew on it or something..... I think I'd choose the jelly fish:)

Of all of the animals that your family has ever owned, which is your favorite?

Probably the cow we had named Maggie. She reminded me so much of "Dolly" in Anne of Avonlea. Katie and I used to reenact that part in the field where Rachel Lynde is bringing Dolly back after the she had been in her prize winning cabbages!

Well, that's all for now, I will hopefully be answering the music question soon. Thank you for participating!

-Morgan

Answers to Questions: Part One

2009-12-07T10:47:00.013-05:00

I have decided to answer these questions in two different parts. (The question post is still open by the way) Oh also, Oliver is hosting a Most Festive Blog contest over on his sister Meredith's blog. So vote for us! :) Alright, here goes...

What is your favorite kind of car?

I'm not one for fancy cars; give me a pick-up or a Ford Explorer any day.

When was the last time you cried?

None of your beeswax :)

What is your favorite movie?

I have quite a few... Return of the Daughters is one of my favorites.

What do you want for Christmas?

Something really expensive! :)

Do you have a sister named Maddie?

I think so.

Why did you try to scare away everyone from coming to the graduation by saying we had swine flu?

I didn't mean too! But I think everyone came anyways.

What is your favorite character in Anne of Green Gables?

Well, I like Anne of course! But I think Rachel Lynde comes in second :)

Do you like quoting lines from movies?

Oh yes.

Would you mind telling about the worst behaved you've ever seen me? (I don't mind terribly if you say the incident in Clayton and mind you stress the long-ago-ness of it! :)

Oh yes, the Clayton incident ;) Daniel was also involved in that dreadful deed. It was at our family's old farmhouse in Clayton, Georgia. We were there with the Heffingtons for a summer vacation ten years ago. (Ten years ago!) We were playing in the creek down the hill behind the house, when Daniel poured a freezing cold bucket of creek water down his sister Rachel's back. Well Rachel was none too happy as you could guess, and she whirled around with a howl and scratched him. He had several long tiger scratches on his chest. (I can't remember but I'm sure you got in trouble Rachel!) I remember that like yesterday! And remember you, Katie and I shared one of the upstairs rooms and we all piled into that one bed because none of us wanted to sleep on the old cot. We were afraid of the mice! And Katie would kick us off the bed in her sleep! hahaha! That trip was so fun!

What's your favorite animal?

I enjoy all farm animals, but cows are probably my favorite.

What is your least favorite chore?

Washing coolers!

What is something that really irritates you?

Good question. I think I would have to say when someone is disrespectful to me in my face. I guess that shows I have an issue with pride *blush*

Did you ever draw on the wall when you were little?

Yes.

What is your favorite color?

Blue

What is your favorite book (besides the Bible)?

So Much More

What kind of music do you personally like to listen to?

Hymns and some bluegrass/country

What is your favorite restaurant to go to (if you go to any)?

We don't really go to any, but when we do, my family enjoys anything pizza related :)

What is your fondest memory?

Our first Young Adult Gathering ranks the top!

What's your favorite song?

That's a hard one! I have lots! I really enjoy the hymns, He Leadeth Me, and Jesus I am Resting, Resting.

Do you play any musical instruments?

I can play the piano a little bit, and I used to be able to pick out a few songs on my harmonica before it accidentally went through the wash years ago.

Did you remember how to help milk the cows?

Yes, even though I missed seven milking's when I was sick, I did still remember how to milk :)

Which would you rather do: listen to rap music (Christian, mind you) for 5 hours straight, or go to a 7 hour opera concert that was sung in Latin? :)

I refuse to listen to rap music!!! "Christianized" or no. So I guess the answer would be the opera concert :)

Have you ever had sushi?

No.

Which do you prefer: video tapes or DVD's and why?

1. DVD's

2. Easier and faster to use.

That's all for now!

-Morgan

My Turn! (Original Q&A Post)

2009-12-02T11:02:00.005-05:00

I think I may be the last one to do this, except Katie and Maddie might do it after me. So, if there are any more questions left to ask, ask away and I will try to answer them soon :) (Hopefully after some of this busyness I'll have time for longer posts!)

I'm Back!

2009-11-30T18:34:00.010-05:00

Hello everyone! Sorry it has been so long since I last posted. We are still recovering from our nasty bout with the "black plague" as Rachel so christened it. Mom thinks it may have been the dreaded "Swine Flu". (Don't worry, apart from pale cheeks and the tipsy way I am forced to get anywhere around the house due to dizziness.....I still look myself :) Katie, my own sister actually had the impudence to laugh when I hobbled across the room this afternoon! :) All of us have had it except Katie, Dad and Mom. Mom has been caring for us tirelessly day and night! Not to mention helping Katie and Dad milk, making the meals, doctoring us and everything else! Thank you Mom! She has been studying her herb books and has made us all sorts of herbal teas, tinctures and other sorts of healthy concoctions :) (Not to start any arguments here or anything, but I personally think that my mom is the best mama in the whole wide world!) That being said, let's get off the illness subject.....

Friday we got our Christmas Tree and decorated it. This is Dad and Will stringing up the lights.

Our Christmas tree generally holds an odd assortment of ornaments we have made, been given or simply "accumulated" throughout the years......

Everything from "Baby's First Christmas 1991" :).....

To ornaments given to us by cowshare owners....

We also set up our little Christmas villages.

Now, to skip back a little farther I'll post some pictures from turkey processing. We raised about 325 this year.

These are a few of our "turkey herders"

Oldest of Many looks pretty pleased with himself:) And rightly should be. He helped butcher a couple hundred turkeys for the first time!

And now..... The illustrious Gentleman from Virginia! (Oliver, I had Daniel's express permission to post this picture, he told me to tell you that he encouraged me to post it!:)

I was going to post some pictures from the pick-up day but I couldn't get it to work so I guess that's all for now. Have a good week!

-Morgan

Full Quiver Farm Featured on the 700 Club

2009-11-26T15:27:00.007-05:00

Hello Everybody and Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you all are having a great day! Today our farm was featured on the 700 club. The segment was about pasture raised turkeys and the health benefits of eating a naturally raised bird vs. a factory raised one. Here is a link to the program in case anyone wants to see it.

http://www.cbn.com/media/player/index.aspx?s=/Archive/Club/700Club112609_WS

We come in about nine minutes into it. The reporter did a nice job on it, although my mom's name was wrong, "Anita" instead of Alison. But Mom doesn't mind, she is referring to "Anita" as our "live in nanny" :) She even answered the phone several times this morning as "Anita". :) And they said our turkeys took eleven months to grow out... But the reporter did a good job on it nonetheless:) Also, a big Thank You to the Walker family who brought us some Thanksgiving "fixins" since we were sick and confined to the house today. Everything was delicious guys!
Happy Thanksgiving!
-Morgan

Thank you!

2009-11-25T21:55:00.008-05:00

The thanksgiving turkeys are finished for 2009! Yeah! We are very grateful for all of the help we have received over the past week! We had friends come out on all three days processing days as well as our huge pick-up day. Thanks everybody! For the past few days we've been able to go a little slower after all the busyness:) We were planning on visiting with family tomorrow, but due to some illness we have decided to stay home and have a quiet family day instead. I hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving!

-Morgan

Psalm 100

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness: come before His presence with singing. Know ye that the Lord He is God: it is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting; ad his truth endureth to all generations.

Quick Update

2009-11-20T20:49:00.004-05:00

Hi Everyone! Thank you for your prayers! Maddie says she feels fine now, and Katie's ankle is doing somewhat better today. Her ankle is where her latest spot is. It started out as a mosquito bite, then grew infected and we were afraid she was developing Cellulitis. (I had it when I was three years old and I had to be hospitalized for three days!) Her ankle swells up when she stands on it for too long, but today it's doing a little better. Yesterday and today we processed about 200 turkeys altogether. We had lots of help from our dear friends! (I'll have to post pictures later... :)
Tomorrow is our huge pick-up day, and then on Monday we'll process the rest. (About 100) It is such a blessing to have so much help from our friends! (It's also a lot more fun!)
Well, I better get to bed, thanks again for your prayers!
-Morgan

Prayer Requests

2009-11-20T06:25:00.004-05:00

Hey guys, please pray for us. We're all about Turkeys this week, we've been going, going, going. Please pray for Katie, who has been struggling for the past few months with antibiotic resistant skin infections. She is feeling discouraged because as soon as one seems to be healing another one pops up. And also pray for Maddie, she got up early this morning not feeling well and then she fainted on the floor. That gave us a big scare alright! She's still not feeling well. So please pray for us! Thank you,
-Morgan

Annabell it is!

2009-11-10T21:51:00.005-05:00

Thank you for the name suggestions, girls! We have decided to go with "Annabell" as Anna suggested. (I'm looking forward to meeting you at the Barn Dance, Anna!) I hope to post better pictures of Annabell soon, she's a lot cuter now! These pictures were taken shortly after she was born, last Saturday.

-Morgan

2009-11-08T20:58:00.005-05:00

Hello Everybody! Sorry it has been so long since I last posted! We have been very busy this past week. You probably won't hear much from us at least until after the thanksgiving turkeys are processed and sent home with all of the hungry customers :) On another train of thought.... Is it possible to be late to church when it's being hosted at your own house? Yes, unfortunately it is. Folks were gathering in the driveway before we were all ready, these cold mornings sure do make it harder to get going on outside chores! Let's see if I can remember everything we did this past week... On Monday, I think we mainly caught up on farm and business work. Then on Tuesday, some reporters from CNN came out and did some filming and interviews for a story they're doing that will be airing on Thanksgiving Day. It's about naturally raised turkeys vs. commercially raised turkeys. Though they won't be giving all of the gross details on how the commercially raised turkeys are actually grown, more on why the naturally raised turkeys are becoming more popular and different tips on how to cook them. The reporter wants it to be a "happy" show and not one that makes the viewers turn off the TV, suddenly having lost their appetite for thanksgiving dinner! On Wednesday, Hannah and our grandfather did the regular Norfolk deliveries, and we separated all of the old non-layers from the newer laying hens. On Thursday the Wright boys came over to help with farm work, which involved; repairing hoop houses, catching all of the old hens that had escaped out of their separate pen, dividing the pullets into more hoop houses, cleaning the shop and processing area, building and playing in a hay fort during free time:) and then other farm clean-up type things. On Friday we moved the turkeys and then in the evening, the Strothers came over to watch the wedding of a friend of theirs on our laptop, that was fun! The wedding was live from Arizona. Then on Saturday we got ready for church. Oh! And Gertie had a calf! We didn't think she was due yet, but we must have been off on our dates. She had a pretty little heifer, which we still haven't named. (Anyone have any name ideas?) And lastly, today, we hosted church under the big tent, still in the backyard from my graduation. Daniel Heffington led the singing time, he and Katie played their guitars and Dad played the keyboard. Then afterwards Mr. Heffington and Mr. Ray shared. After lunch we did bible boot camp and after that, we fellowshipped and did some more singing, and that was pretty much it. I think you're pretty caught up now!
-Morgan

My Graduation

2009-11-01T21:27:00.018-05:00

A big Thank You to everyone who attended my graduation yesterday! I had such a good time and was so blessed by your presence! Here are some pictures. I love what Meredith wrote about the day on her blog, so if you would like to hear some more specific details you can head over to her blog:)

My family.

After the meal we had a short ceremony, and then my parents gave me a blessing. In was very sweet and encouraging!

Me and my sweet daddy.

We had quite a crowd, about 150 people!

Then some of the ladies sang for me. Thank you girls! It was very lovely!

Then we had cake, Mrs. Walker had made three lovely cakes for the event.

Then we did some dancing. Sweet Maryanna Thompson brought her beautiful civil war ball dress for me to wear.

My Uncle Cret, Justin and Daniel provided us with live music.

"Bow to your partner"

"Right hand turn!"

"Left hand turn!"

Matthew and Lucy

Wesley Wright and Ben Keckley.

My littlest brother, Gabe.

Harrison and Sheridan Alexander.

Mrs. Heffington and Daniel

Hannah, Lydia and Rebekah

Katie and sweet Grandma June.

Our little cousin Zinnia

Hannah Doering and Emma Wright.

I had a wonderful day and will remember it very fondly!

-Morgan

2009-10-27T20:49:00.006-04:00

Today our dear friends, the Heffingtons, spent the day helping us prepare the yard for this weekend and put the new cabinets in our kitchen! Everyone is so sweet to help us! Mrs. Walker, (the mother of the honorable "oldest of many)" is making my elaborate cakes. I can't wait to see the end results! She "creates" the most beautiful cakes! Mr. Jack, a man from our church is providing a huge tent of his for the event. The Heffingtons are helping prepare the food and sacrificing many days out of their own busy week to come over and help us. And about 150-200 people are taking the time out of their Saturday to come and bless me with their presence on my graduation day! I'm really looking forward to it! We also had another little bull calf born this morning. He's a cute frisky little thing! Here are some pictures of the calf....

He developed a bit of an attitude problem when he discovered that his milk bar didn't have four different flavor choices....

He got over it soon enough though:)

-Morgan

2009-10-26T23:01:00.003-04:00

Hi Everybody! We have a busy week ahead of us preparing for my graduation. I'm really looking forward to it! So many of our friends have volunteered their time and talents to help us get ready! We are very grateful! Tonight, Mom and I got to do a little shopping for my graduation outfit, we had great success! We were able to find a really nice outfit and we had a great time of fellowship together as well! Maddie milked for me, (thanks Maddie!) so we could go at a time when I wouldn't be needed to help customers, (that's one of my jobs)

Sadly, we were visited by yet another skunk last night. Actually, it was early morning, about 4:30ish. Bess found one while she was outside, got sprayed and then hung out at Dad and Mom's bedroom door and the back door before curling up in the boiler room. When the smell first starts seeping into the house it almost smells like burnt rubber or something, but then it dawns on you what it really is. I think this is about the 5 time in the space of a couple months! :( So now, poor Bess is chained to the fence awaiting her much dreaded bath tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, I think Mr. Heffington is coming over to help us install our kitchen cabinets! It will be so nice to have a "real" kitchen again! Well, it's late, so I better be "getting".

-Morgan

Fall Around the Farm

2009-10-24T20:27:00.007-04:00

Doesn't God paint the most beautiful sunrises? And each one is new each morning!

We had a new calf born yesterday! Hopefully this will boost the milk supply, we have been woefully down in production! This is the little bull calf that was born to Millie belle.

Here is Sam doing a trapeze act on the swing.

One of our fall gardens.

Snickers the goat.

Gabriel, my adorable youngest brother.

Whoops! He lost his boot and he's goin' back for it!

True or False: Did Sam cut all this wood single-handedly? Well..... He had a little help:)

Justin Wright and Dad running the wood splitter.

Stacking wood. Sort of, anyways.

-Morgan

Processing Days

2009-10-21T20:51:00.001-04:00

For the past couple of days we've been processing broilers, we're very grateful for the help of our friends! Justin Wright helped us on Monday and Elliott and Oliver Alexander on Tuesday. These are some pictures Katie took on Tuesday.

The killing station, manned by Will, 10 and Sam, 6

Dad ran the scalder and plucker.

The evisceraters.

We were able to finish up with the processing before lunch. Before we went in to eat, we had to go round up our thanksgiving turkeys who had escaped from their pens and were sauntering over to enjoy the neighbor's lawn! After lunch and a short break we cut up two coolers of birds and then packaged them. This is the second to last batch of broilers for this growing season. We will be processing our last batch in December.

Pretty fall sunset.

-Morgan

Kitchen Project Revisited

2009-10-16T20:34:00.000-04:00

Over the past few days we've made a lot of headway in our "house remodeling project". We have had lots of help which is such a blessing!

Phase 1.

We emptied the bookshelves in the library and pulled out the old built in bookshelves.

There seems to be a little competition going on here.....

Phase 2.

Pulling up old flooring. Scary.

Phase 3.

Putting in new flooring and painting.

Lunch break

-Morgan

Not Again!

2009-10-14T22:39:00.001-04:00

Yes, once again, Full Quiver Farm has been visited by our not so beloved friend, Mr. Skunk. He will not leave us alone! Or maybe it's that our dog won't leave him alone..... A couple of days ago, Maddie and Will were in the barn loading up feed for the animals when they were distracted by our dog's frantic barking. They went over to investigate. Behind an old sofa in the barn, Maddie saw a pair of large green eyes looking up at her. She thought is was our cat and she started poking at it with a stick, moving it around. All of the sudden it dawned on her, "Skunk!" she screamed to Will, who was right behind her, "Run!!!" They tripped over each other in a mad dash for the door, the horrible smell seeming to chase right at their heels! They raced to the end of the driveway and stood panting a moment before realizing they had to go back and finish getting the feed. They tried holding their breath but the smell seemed to seep in anyways, gaggingly strong. They hurriedly grabbed the last of the feed bags and then raced over to tell Katie, Hannah and I who were milking, (or supposed to be anyways, we were a bit distracted at the moment, talking, hehehe!) "A skunk!" they hollered, bursting into the workshop, the wonderful perfume following them. We shrieked and raced away from them as the smell hung like a cloud around them. Thankfully, the smell did not last on them but was mostly gone by the time they had finished their chores. Sadly, Bessie the dog, is still confined to the great outdoors where her horrible smell doesn't affect the rest of us.

2009-10-11T20:51:00.000-04:00

A Special Thank You To All Of Our New Followers!

2009-10-07T19:52:00.000-04:00

I have a funny story to share about this past Wednesday! It actually really started Tuesday night, we had gone out for a late night treat of ice cream, and shortly after we returned Dad found out that the walk-in freezer was not functioning properly so we had to empty it and squeeze all of the meat into every nook and cranny we could find in our other freezers. After extension cords and some duck tape, we packed in the last piece of meat. We had just enough room! The Lord always provides! Wednesday morning, Dad, Sam and Gabe took one of our cows up to "see a bull" near Sussex, Virginia. We were having a hard time breeding her so we took her up to a friend of ours who has a Dexter bull. Shortly after Dad and the little boys left, Mom, Maddie and Hannah left to make the Norfolk deliveries as our Grandfather wasn't able to do them. So Katie, Will, Rebecca, Lucy and I were left at home to run the store, watch the animals, etc. After breakfast I decided we would tackle another bookshelf in the library. (We’re emptying all of the shelves because we're about to replace the flooring and paint.) While Katie and the little girls did the after meal clean-up, Will and I started on the shelves. We were interrupted part way through when two customers pulled into the driveway. Katie and I went out to help them.
"You're in charge, Will. Y'all keep working!" I admonished him as we headed out the door, leaving him packing books into boxes and the little girls doing dishes. One of the ladies was a long time customer who comes out about once a month and stocks up, and the other lady had been out once before, and was picking up for herself and a friend. Some folks like to tell us what they want and we'll get it together for them, while others like to look through all of the freezers and pick out what they want. (Please remember that the night before we had emptied the walk-in so everything was all over the place!) Today it was a mixture, the long time customer dug through our freezers and the other lady told us what she wanted, though after watching me take something out she glanced in behind me and saw what we had. "Oh! You have sausage?" she exclaimed. "Oh yes! Their sausage is the best!" the other lady enthused, (one of our favorite customers! :) While we were getting together their orders, a cow share owner stopped by to pick up his groups cow shares. I directed him to where it was and then finished up with the second time customer. The longtime customer stayed and chatted awhile, discussing recent health awareness books she had read and such. As she was talking, I noticed a sharp burning smell flooding the room, glancing outside I saw billows of smoke rolling over the pastures from the southeast. It was a very windy day and I wondered fearfully if somebody's fire had gotten out of hand, the customer is still talking in the background and I pretend to listen as visions of forest fires fill my mind, sweeping fire blowing right toward us, Dad and Mom are gone, I would have to drive us out of here. (And I don't have my license! Also, as Maddie informed me later, we didn't have any keys anyways!) As Katie and I were helping her take her bags out to the car, this really big guy, (reminds me of Hoss on Bonanza) drove up in this huge truck. My mind still on the "fire", I worried that maybe he was a neighbor who had seen the fire and was coming to warn us to get out! (Laugh if you want, but I was scared!) He asked if we had any chicken, So Katie and I went back into the store to help him. After we had dug out 5 chickens for him from the bottom of one of the chest freezers, He paid for his purchases and left. As Katie and I followed him out of the shop we saw an animal control truck parked in our driveway! The lady was walking toward us. "Hi, we received a complaint that your cows are thin" she said, almost sounding apologetic. "Our cows are thin?" I repeated incredulously. "Those down there," she said, pointing down to where three of our heifer calves were grazing down near the road. "He said that your parents weren't home" said the woman, speaking of Will who had come outside with the phone. "When will they be back?" she asked. "Um, they should be back by 4pm" I answered. She began to write on a business card, "How old are the calves?" she asked, we told her when they had been born and then I said. "They're gangly when they're little, but they fill out once they get bigger." "People just don't understand" she mumbled, and I took it to be for the folks who had made the complaint. She handed me the card and then told me to have my parents call her when they returned, I assured her that I would and then she left. Meanwhile, going back a little, Will had been talking to Mom on the phone inside, "We've had lots of customers coming!" he told her, "and one of them was this creepy looking guy," he continued, leaving the house to bring me the phone. "Please give the phone to Morgan" Mom says... "Oh, what's all of this smoke?” Will continued. “It's really foggy; I can hardly see there's so much smoke!" Will continues to talk in a distant voice like he's talking to himself. "Hey, it looks like a police man just pulled up in our driveway!" (This is getting better and better, isn't it? Poor Mom!) "Will! Will! Give the phone to Morgan!" Mom's yelling, trying to get him to respond. She hears him talking to the animal control lady, "No, my parents aren't home" Finally the phone gets to me and I explain to Mom all that has happened. Dad arrived home shortly afterwards, and then he and Will drove down the road a little ways to see if they could find the source of the smoke which had fairly dissipated by now. It turned out to be a field on fire, it was just the leftover stubble, the field had already been harvested. Whether or not the fire was intentional we're not sure. After the fact, this story is very laughable to us! Also, I think the animal control lady has to come back at some point, so please pray that the meeting goes well.
-Morgan

Wanted:

2009-09-30T20:08:00.000-04:00

Public Enemy #1

Description: Small. Scrawny. Brown and white. Escapes from every fence and takes others out with him.

Name: Cocoa

This is what we see all too frequently.

Arrangements have been made and Cocoa and his other young male buddies will be leaving the premises within the next couple of weeks:)

-Morgan

Farmers Notes

2009-09-21T21:11:00.000-04:00

It’s the little things that count.

Have you ever had an old clunker car that needed constant pampering to drive? I remember lending one of mine to someone once and it took about half an hour to tell them that they had to hold the key just the right way, and jiggle it just so to make it start. Also, don’t forget to check the water because it has a slow leak. And there’s the power window that if you forget and roll it down, it won’t go back up again without taking it apart. Don’t worry about that slight burning plastic smell if you have to turn the headlights on, it’s got some kind of short, but it’s never actually caught on fire, so it’s probably OK. Also, the back brakes vibrate sometimes, but only if you brake really hard. Then there’s the loose battery cable, if it won’t start, it’s not that you need to jump it, you just need to open the hood and jiggle the ground cable which has a stripped bolt holding it on. If jiggling doesn’t work, try tapping it with a screw driver or wrench, there’s one in the trunk if you need one. And one last thing… the sunroof has a leak, but only if it rains when you are parked on an upward incline, so if rain is expected, please park the car in a spot with a slightly down pointing incline and it’ll be fine.

Today, we were moving our portable turkey shelters with a tow rope and tractor. It was my job to drive the tractor, Will’s job to hook up the tow rope to just the right place, and Sam’s job to help out. I noticed that Will had taught Sam all of the little idiosyncrasies of the towing process. One of the shelters required bending the roof at a certain spot in order to hook up the tow line. (This is of course, because the nails that were placed in the right place to hook the tow line on have long since bent over or come out) Sam was standing inside the shelter at a ninety degree angle pushing with all his might to bend the roof just so. A casual onlooker would think, “what in the world is that little boy doing?” But as I observed, I saw a skilled laborer efficiently applying a necessary workaround to get the job done! Each shelter had its own little tweak that was needed. Almost none were the same. I would venture to say that every job on this farm is filled with little things that if you are not skilled at finding unusual solutions, you would be hard pressed to get anything done. I’m thankful to have an environment where my children can face less than ideal conditions head on, and come up with creative solutions to real world problems, and develop what we hope will be a can-do attitude toward the many problems they’ll face in this life.

-Scott Wilson

2009-09-21T21:10:00.000-04:00

What we’ve been up to this past week….

The kitchen project has finally resurfaced to the top of the list! (Well sort of, one of the first few anyways:) We've been working on it for the past couple of days, painting mostly. We found a sage sort of green for the walls and white for the trim. We plan to paint the cabinets white too and decorate with accents of red and yellow. It is shaping up nicely and we really hope to have it finished before my graduation at the end of October. The mornings have been cool and crisp, so nice to work in! We’ve started stocking up on hay for the winter. A friend of ours makes his own hay, and this past Wednesday, Dad, Katie, Maddie, Will and Sam went to one of his fields and in two trips brought back 275 square bales! One of the men who was there let Dad borrow his large farm wagon to bring back one of the loads. And for the record, backing up a farm wagon is a whole different story then backing up a trailer! It was like trying to back up a regular child’s wagon hitched to the back of the truck, (except this wagon held 175 hay bales!) We also were able to plant our fall garden, collards, broccoli, spinach, lettuce and turnips. It was really neat because just as the last seeds were being planting, the much needed rain began to fall! God watered the garden for us! We also got more beef in this week, we always go a little crazy trying to find room for everything when we get beef and/or pork back from the butcher :) (We had also just processed 225 broilers the day before!) But the Lord always provides enough room for us! And we were able to fit everything in:) Yesterday we had church at our house. Daniel Heffington led the music and singing at the beginning, along with Katie, Alaina Wright and her brother Justin. They played their guitars and did a great job! Mr. Keckley and Mr. Heffington each shared a message and then we had lunch and then fellowship time afterwards. During fellowship time we played Ultimate Frisbee, I’m afraid the team I was on got creamed, 3-10. Ultimate Frisbee kind-of turned into Ultimate tackle…We had several substantial collisions:), though I’m happy to report that no one was seriously injured. At the end of this next week we’re looking forward to the Young Adult Gathering being held at the Heffingtons on Saturday! This past year my parents have instigated the “Young Adult Gathering” which is get together hosted for the young adults in our circle of friends, where we can get together for an afternoon of fun and fellowship. I really appreciate them starting this for us! A thank you to all of the parents who put it together and also to the younger siblings who cover chores for us so we can go!

-Morgan

2009-09-09T15:12:00.001-04:00

The past two days we've gotten a lot of rain which has been wonderful for the pasture! On the first morning we realized that we were short of rain gear, so most of us got soaked! On the second day Dad improvised and made us some rain coats.

Hey, necessity is the mother of invention, right?

All you need is a garbage bag and a pair of scissors, or I'm sure a pocket knife would do.

Hot chocolate sure is cozy to drink on a cool, rainy day! Cool weather seemed to come in with September, we really haven't had any hot days since August. We're loving the break from the heat!

-Morgan

Busyness

2009-08-29T21:14:00.000-04:00

We have had a very full week! But a good one. Last weekend we had new little heifer calf born,

Raspberry:

On Sunday afternoon, Dad and Mom drove up to Winchester, Virginia, and the next day they bought a cow from Hegdebrook Farm. We are back up in milk production again! That is a tremendous blessing to us!

On Tuesday we got our first beef of the season back from the butcher! We went nearly all summer without beef because we had to wait for the animals to get larger.

The day after we sorted the beef, we had hamburgers on the grill! Yum!

On Wednesday we packaged the beefshares, did catching up of business emails, moved the thanksgiving turkeys out to pasture and other farm work.

On Thursday, customers came out to pick-up their beefshares and we did other farm work.

On Friday, the Wright boys came over for a work day, we did farm clean-up, moved the hens, calves and goats, packaged orders for the following day, which was an on-farm pick-up day as well as the usual Saturday market.

On Saturday, Mom and Hannah left early for the Virginia Beach Market, and then the rest of us at home did the morning farm chores and set up for the Pick-up day which was to start at 10am. Shortly before 10am, Dad needed to run a quick errand, so I was by myself when the first customer arrived, (the rest were completing various chores.) As I was coming out of the sales barn with their order, I looked up and in the short time I had been in the store a line of people had formed in front of the sales tent! And that's how it stayed the rest of the day! The weather was beautiful for visiting the farm too, we had lots of folks who just decided to stop by. At one point when the line was especially long, Dad remarked for all to hear, "It looks like Walmart here!" everybody laughed. We sold a great deal of the beef we had just gotten back from the butcher, and a lot of our other meats as well. Our young pullets have started laying now so we have more eggs available! It was nice to be able to sell eggs to the folks that hadn't even pre-ordered! We did eventually run out, but it was so nice to actually have enough to fill the orders! We have had a very busy, but successful week!

-Morgan

Young Adult Gathering at the Wilson Farm

2009-08-14T21:54:00.000-04:00

This past Thursday we had a great time of fellowship with a bunch of our friends, We played volleyball for over three hours straight! These pictures are not in any particular order and are a mixture of funny and impressive moves.......

Joanna hitting the ball

Katie hitting the ball.

Elliott hitting the ball.

Aaron hitting the ball.

Justin hit the ball up and then tripped.

Maddie caught it up again...

and Justin jumped up just in time to hit it again.

Alaina hitting the ball.

Maddie, Tim and Matthew going for it at the same time.

Didn't know I could jump that high! :)

Whoops, wrong direction!

Elliott spiking the ball.

Mrs. Thompson fussing at him afterwards.

Matthew hitting the ball.

-Morgan

Another Predator

2009-08-11T22:35:00.000-04:00

This morning we had another predator of a different species. We opened up the pullet brooder and found a black snack curled up in one of the waters, a bulge is his long slender body told that one of the poor chicks had been his breakfast! What excitement! Will ran for the machete, we dumped the snake out in a large area of dirt and wielded the long knife over his head waiting for a good aim. The snake curled up, though keeping his head erect, turning and following us as we tried to get behind him. Finally, Maddie held him down with a board while I chopped off his head. Then Maddie cut open his stomach and sure enough there was a chick inside! It made a very interesting science "project" anyways:)

-Morgan

2009-08-11T21:46:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we fought against the terrible heat, 101 (heat index 110!!!!) In this type of weather we start losing animals, immediate steps must be taken to cool them down, we spent most of the day outside tending to the them. Water and shade are two of the biggest factors in keeping the animals cool enough, they don't eat as much in the hot weather, but constant water is a must! For the broilers and layers we set up a sprinkler system which is suspended from the roof of the pen and sprays a low steady spray of water around their shelter.

For the turkey poults and pullet chicks we set up fan in front of their doors, they like to gather in front of the fan to cool off.

The cows got a sprinkler too!

Today was not so hot, though we still turned on the sprinklers, if the birds are panting, we turn the sprinklers on. We processed some broilers and we also integrated the older pullets in with the layers, clipped wings and banded their legs with color coded bands so we can tell the ages of the different ones, (as they're all the same color!) As I mentioned in earlier posts, we've had fox trouble so Dad counted the pullets as he put them in with the layers, we started out originally with 200, we are now down to 135! This means war with Mr. Fox!!! We're thinking up different ways to get them, as hunting and trapping have as yet, been unsuccessful. We might try a fox caller........ Any suggestions?:)

-Morgan

Around The Farm

2009-08-03T21:33:00.000-04:00

As Katie and I (Morgan) did the animal rounds one hot morning last week, we brought the camera with us and took some shots around the farm.

Millie.

Blueberry.

That's a little too close Gertie!

Katie with the hens.

Our Thanksgiving Turkey poults.

We give our chicks and turkey poults raw milk for the first week to boost their immune system.

Our new pullets.

-Morgan

Water Fun

2009-07-31T21:17:00.001-04:00

After weeks of begging Dad for a pool to no avail, Will and Sam took matters into their own hands............

-Morgan

2009-07-30T12:34:00.000-04:00

Full Quiver News

Our Turkeys have Arrived!
The baby turkeys (poults) just came yesterday, thrifty and cute. We put them into our warm cozy brooders and they’re doing great! If all goes well, we anticipate them being ready the weekend before Thanksgiving. These poults will go out on pasture in about 3 to 4 weeks. They are very fragile when young and need a lot of TLC. We check on them about every 20 minutes during the day to make sure they’re comfortable, so we take shifts. Are they too hot?, or too cold?, have plenty of water?, easy feed access?, etc. They are the most labor intensive animal that we raise during the first few weeks, but they’re a lot of fun to watch. Unlike chickens, they are actually very personable and friendly with people. They always seem to have a curious inquisitive look on their face as they check out their surroundings.

We also received some replacement pullets in the mail on Thursday. We got Black Sex-Link this time, they're really cute when they're so tiny!