(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
