My Lucy Girl

My computer is up and functioning again, and all ya'll are way past due for an update. Sadly, I have to break the bad news today.

Last week, my old milk cow Lucy died.

We bought Lucy 5 years ago from a commercial dairy near Nashville. She was 9 years old at the time and was about to be culled. She was headed for slaughter, but we liked her and decided to bring her home as my first milk cow.

Although she had a huge udder, she was a very docile cow and very patient. We could hand or machine milk her. She was milking machine herself, peaking at 7 gallons a day. She knew her name and would look at you every single time you called for her.

She had babies easily and had three while she lived here. She was a good mama cow and her calf last fall was to be her last. I was planning to use her as a companion cow for the rest her time here.

She was doing well and I was shocked to find she had died in her sleep, peacefully. She died in the back yard, near the wood line, laying down with all of her cow friends laying near by. She was a great cow.

She left a legacy here, not only with her two heifers that I will always own, but with the knowledge and lessons she taught me as my first family milk cow.

Rest in Peace Sweet Girl. 

Lucy 
June 2002- June 2016

Sweet Ivy

The weekend was spent organizing the freezers, cleaning the front porch and bringing our new addition home.

This is Ivy. She is a two week old heifer calf. She is a Jersey. She is incredibly sweet.

Stella had warmed up to her nicely and they have become friends. Cow friends.

She has been enjoying the fresh air and grass, although she is still drinking fresh milk and will be for a couple more months.

She spends a large part of her day running and bucking and kicking. Indiana has done such a nice job halter training Stella that I have put her in charge of doing the same for sweet Ivy.

She will make a great family milking cow in a few years and we are excited to have her in the family!

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Circle of Moms is winding down in their Top 25 Moms of Big Families contest! I have been thrilled and honored to be included with so many fabulous moms! Will you please hop over and give me vote?
Thanks!

An Omnivore's Decision

There truly can be difficult decisions for a meat eater regarding the deplorable state of factory food.
Chicken, beef, and pork in the grocery stores comes from animals that are treated poorly and shot up with all sorts of drugs and chemicals. That milk that sits in the plastic container? Same deal there.
They are food that is run through the factory, not much differently from the box of cereal on the shelf.

That leaves a person a few of options.

1. Become a vegetarian, which I just don't see myself going without meat or dairy. I know people can live very healthy lives without meat, but I like meat. I LOVE cheese...REAL cheese. This route will not work for me.

2.  Buy directly from a local, small farmer. I can do that some. Remember that we are a family of 9 people, so financially I am not willing to buy all of our food locally. Milk and meat can get pricey due to the high cost paid out by that small farmer.

3. Grow your own. This is where I am today with milk and chicken. Next year, I hope to add beef and perhaps pork. I know what I am feeding these animals. I know how they are being treated under my care. I know that what I feed this family is healthy.

This past weekend we processed 26 cornish roasters that I raised on pasture using the Joel Salatin model of pasture raised poultry.

The process went smoothly and we now have  a freezer full of whole chickens (avg, weight of 5 lbs) plus I cut 10 up into parts. We have bags of wings, drum sticks, breasts, and backs (for making stock). I removed the bone from the thighs and cut them into chicken nugget size to make Birthday Chicken Nuggets.

                       My new Food Saver was a great tool for packaging up the parts.

I know this is not a process that many can undertake. In fact, a year ago I would not even buy chicken with bones. I have progressed a long way, and I hope to be the person to take this process on for my friends and customers who do not wish to deal with the job of "processing chickens." This is where my omnivore's dilemma has taken me.

I still have 100 birds on pasture, and I have to say that these chickens love the outdoors and they spend the day being chickens. They are healthy and I am happy that they will provide healthy meals to so many people.

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Lucy is getting BIGGER! She is due to calve in only 2 weeks!

You can see how much her belly is bulging, and I can feel the calf when I press on her belly. She has no signs of impending labor yet such as bagging up or mucus from her back end.
Right now she is just enjoying her easy life and the late afternoon brushing we give her.
This week I plan to get a few supplies, in case we need them, such as a calf bottle and a calcium paste.

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Goodness my bees are really hanging outside their hives. They are either too crowded or it's just too hot outside. Either way, bees tend to be a little cranky on these hot days with not much blooming so I have decided to just leave them alone and watch.

I planted some Mexican Sunflowers this year and cannot believe the huge butterflies that visit the blooms.
It's like I have my own butterfly garden, and they are really fun to snap pictures.

Tomorrow I will try and take a few pictures with my macro lens and see what I get.

This mother hen did a great job raising her babies and they have gotten big. I enjoy having some birds in the yard loose to eat ticks and to scratch up the messiness left behind by the meat birds when I move the cages each morning. If I could only keep them out of my tomato plants......

It has been a hot summer so far, but we have done so much as a family...working the garden, tending the chickens, caring for Lucy, hosting movie nights, and swimming with friends.

This omnivore turned a dilemma into an opportunity. The opportunity has turned into one great summer.

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I am honored again this year to be nominated in Circle of Moms Top 25 Large Family Blogs.
If you get a hankering, will you pop over and give me a vote? I want badly to stay in with this group of fabulous mothers of large families. You can vote once per 24 hours and you'll find me at the #6 spot.
 Thanks!

Enjoy the beauty in your day!