Waiting for Lightning

I'm frustrated to admit that I have no photos to accompany this post. I accidentally deleted them from the card.  I spend the day with my little friend Kelsey who hung out with me while her parents moved.  At one point, just as we were headed out to ride the tractor (It takes a great deal of thought to keep little ones entertained by the way), thunder rumbled and lightning cracked!  It was so exciting to hear it echo over our little valley.  The next 1/2 hour was spent waiting patiently for the next crack and roll of thunder.  The light was beautiful and I had a wonderful picture of Kelsey sitting on the porch, watching and waiting for the next flash!  These are the moments I want my life to be filled with.  There are many such moments actually, and I can recall them all vividly.  I wonder what my connection to thunder and lightning is?  There was the time that I was at Leach Botanical Gardens for a cooking class, we were sitting listening to the instructor, the doors were wide open to the garden, and suddenly CRACK!  Lightening split the sky and the thunder rumbled for the seconds following.  Then there was the time I was in Utah with my friend Jennifer.  I remember hearing the first lightening strike and firmly planting myself on the porch to watch the display.  Then tonight, watching Kelsey get so excited over the next roll of thunder and crack of lightening, was wonderful.  This is what I value in life and I'm so grateful I had the time with her today.

More Signs of Spring

Today I realized how much I love the sound of lawnmowers humming around the neighborhood.  It means the grass is finally dry enough to cut! 

  It means that summer is on the way, or here. It means I can give the cows a treat; they absolutely love the sweetness of the freshly mown grass.

 It's another reminder that we're getting closer to escaping the hibernation of the Pacific Northwest winter!  Cheers!  I hope you had a wonderful sunny Sunday!

Spring

Spring has sprung!  We moved the cows to the lower pasture today to graze and they had an instant welcoming committee.

It was pretty cute.  They stood there and mooed at each other for the longest time. 

Our boys are older, so they stood there looking and mooing at the little ones across the street.  It's almost like you can see their curiosity though.  

Here is the other little sign of Spring.  The neighbor's goat had her kids about a month ago and I got to go over and visit them today.  I can't remember their names, but what little cuties.  They're so curious!

Yes, Spring has sprung! Hope you have a wonderful week!

Lessons from an everyday "chic"

Hopefully this won't be too philosophical for a farm blog, but it's what came to mind, so thanks for humoring me.

So, the lesson I learned from one my little chickens is this...

They all do the best they can and don't worry about how much more or less they accomplish than the other "chics" in the barnyard.  

Earlier in the week I was going to post this about the above picture, "Apparently I have an overachiever and a little newbie!"  No judgment was intended, after all, they're only chickens, but I realized that I really was summing up the picture in a very judgmental way.  I noticed this because it's how I often view myself.  See, I have recently become a runner (in the last month) so you could definitely call me a newbie.  That is often how I refer to myself when telling others that I'm a runner.  I realize now that I don't have to qualify myself that way.  I am a runner.  Yes, I just started, so I haven't run a maranthon, but I give every bit of effort I can and I will continue to develop the skill.  

Just like with the chickens, they don't look around at the other chics and think, "oh goodness, my egg is so much smaller than the other chics".  They jump in the little nest box, they give it all they've got, lay an egg and go on about their day.  That's how I should see my running.   Give it all I've got and go on about my day.  Don't over analyze it, don't pick it apart, just appreciate what is.  And what is, is that I ran my personal best yesterday in a 5K race and I intend to continue running more and enjoying life. After all, it's all a "chic" can really do!

Dirt + water + manure = MUD

So, I started the weekend off right with some good clean, 'er dirty work. 

Like I said, dirt, plus water, plus manure = mud.  It's an eventuality when you have animals... unless you have a sacrifice area.  We need to create a sacrifice area, no, not an area to slaughter the cows, an area where you don't grow grass, you just spread ground cover so the livestock can be there without creating mud.  So, the only solution I could think of to try is "hog fuel".  I had a unit of it delivered this morning and spread it out as much as I could stand.  That's a good work out on the abs!  So, this is after... 

I should have taken a close up picture, maybe later.  I will say, the cows thought the new pile was a little "mattress" just for them.  It was cute.  

One of our cows looked like he was turning into the Grinch with all of the alfalfa stuck to his head.  They sure love that stuff!   

Road runner?  or Lakenvelder chicken?  Nope, just a Lakenvelder.  :)  

Hope you had a bountiful productive weekend too!

Lime Time

I borrowed our wonderful neighbors' quad today and spread lime of two of our pastures.  We're not even close to being done though.  The soil sample recommendation was 3 tons  per pasture, but I started out small.  It was nice to get something done around the place though.   :)

Harvest Party

Part of the Young family.  Missing the two oldest girls. :) 

Sara, Anniston & Alexa  

Our wonderful friends Travis and Sarah (craft master and brew master extraordinaire!)

Derek and Madalyn

My sweetie Christian. 

We had a great Harvest Party again this year! Filled with good times, family, great food and fun!  Our wonderful neighbors brought over their horse and give the kids rides, we had a ton of great food.  I ordered a cake from Bittersweet Bakery again,Travis made home crafted beer and cream soda,  mom brought her wonderful German chocolate cake, Matt and Elaine brought their beef brisket and pork shoulder and Mike was the grill master and everyone brought wonderful side dishes and desserts to share.  We all had a great time and I'm so glad we had the party again. :)