Our Christmas Blessing!

Our son, Jon came home for Christmas!



We had family over for Christmas Eve. We ate Prime Rib, cooked by MIL and sister, with all the added goodies of green bean casserole, rolls, mashed potatoes and gravy and of course all the Christmas goodies.

                               


This is my brother's girlfriend and she's holding up a hook rug that Cortney made for her for Christmas.

   


This is my brother and his girlfriend who came over to spend Christmas day with Mike, Cortney, myself and our son. We ate ham and leftover trimmings from Christmas eve. Everyone had a good time and we felt so very blessed to have our son come home for Christmas.




Okay this is my Christmas gift in the process of being refurbished. It's a Majestic wood/ coal stove with a water reservoir. Mike and our friend Charlie are rebuilding, re-bricking and replacing the refractory clay on top of the oven. They are also relining the water reservoir with stainless steel( our water corrodes steel so bad) and adding a warming shelf for me. I'm thrilled, for obvious reasons, this stove has a water reservoir and an oven twice the size of our current wood cook stove and it is set up to burn coal as well as wood. The other really special reason is that this stove belonged to our friend Charlie's wife's grandmother so I feel so privileged to be entrusted with all of their family heritage in this stove.




The firebox door is slated to be removed, sand blasted and painted with stove paint before replacing, but most likely I'll load the wood and lump coal from the top anyway. Look at the size of that oven door!, and the oven enamel is in really nice shape( didn't get a picture of the inside of oven) 




The water reservoir is coated with hard water build up but is water tight. Mike and Charlie are thinking of lining it with stainless steel, once Mike gets all the hard water scale cleaned off they'll talk about it more then. I'm so excited to get this stove installed and operational( for sure for next winter) :o)



This is one of several pieces of jewlery Cortney designed and made for Christmas gifts. I was even gifted with a beautiful necklace and bracelet( will post pictures soon) for my Christmas gift. This particular set was designed for one of Cortney's Grandmothers( my Mom)
All gifts aside "Our Best" Christmas gift was the return of our son!
I hope your Christmas's were as full of blessing as ours was!
Blessing to each who read this blog post in the coming week and throughout 2012.

Shop progress and pictures

 Finally I found the pictures and have added our progress from today. This is how it looked as of this morning, all holes dug( all 18 post holes dug by hand) and ready for posts. The materials in the photo plus cement enough for all 18 6x6 posts all paid for, which feels good.

 The holes are approx. 3 ft deep and 1-1/2 ft wide, our soil is sandy so digging wasn't to hard, just time consuming.

 Planting corner posts, all of the 9- 6x6's posts planted today were 16ft long and weighed approx.  200# to 250# each. We have a remainder of 9- 6x6's to plant, of which four are 20ft long. We'll have to use the tractor to lift these four into the holes. 

 This is the back wall of the shop, the wall heights are 12 ft tall.

 All four corners in and back wall done. No wonder I'm tired and Mike did the lion's share of the lifting and Cortney was also a great help, I just helped lift when he needed it, I was in charge of keeping the posts leveled while he tamped them in place and then we all worked the cement in around the each post.

 These following photos have nothing to do with the shop, it was just funny. Two days ago I was baking and hear a "wallop" on the kitchen window, when I turned to see what had happened I see a ring necked dove flopping, dazed on the ground. The bird eventually flew away, seemingly unharmed, but left this image behind. If you click on the photos, you'll see the detail left behind, you can even see the eye and beak print, plus the feathers at the end of the wings. I'm just glad the bird was okay and the window didn't break.  Now a serious window washing will be needed*wink*

Not much else is new, we are just working on getting ready for winter and working on the shop. Once all posts are planted, we'll tie them together with purloins and then add the header beam, over the 16ft. garage door opening, then the trusses will be installed and tied together with purloins. That will be the last things we'll do before winter sets in, unless Mike places the gravel and gets it all in place for the cement floor base. Our plan is to do half of the cement floor in the shop at a time, due to the expense involved in doing the whole 30ftx60ft shop in one shot. This is a build as we can afford it project and when it's all said and done it will be paid for in full, just the way we like it. :o)

Our temperature this morning was only 22F at 5:30 am, we've frosted hard three night in a row and I guess we should expect it, after all it is almost November*wink*  The produce in the greenhouse did suffer some frost damage, even being covered by floating row covers, but the tomatoes have faired well so far and we're still enjoying vine ripened tomatoes. The sweet and hot pepper plants were froze, but peppers still okay. The eggplants are still hanging in there too. Typically without heating the greenhouse we'll be finished about end of Nov., unless it gets extremely cold for days on end before then.

All the animals have on their thick winter coats and all have plenty of weight added in prep for winter too. It appears that Ginger and Angel are bred, so Roger will be going home possibly this weekend. The feeder pigs will be here soon and that will keep us hoping for our winter chores; pigs, turkeys( soon to be downsized, just before Thanksgiving*wink*),chickens( also downsized to a dozen for winter and due to feed costs), a heifer and steer and the two goat girls. If all goes as planned the pigs will be ready for butchering in mid to end of Feb. 2012. 

I'm really looking forward to a winter's rest, this summer and all the playing catch up really whipped me! LOL!!!  Looking forward to making our homemade Christmas gifts( working on some already), baking in prep. for the holidays and just relaxing some.

We have 4 bushels of apples to dehydrate, make into apple butter, can for pies and make cider. Hopefully sometime next week we'll get the cider done, the rest we've been doing in bits and pieces as we find the time. Our apples this year were absolutely beautiful, and very little worm problems, even though we do NOT spray with chemicals.  Our plum crop was beautiful as well. The raspberries are still producing berries, they are like the energizer bunny, they just keep going and going. :o)  Even with the heavy frost, the raspberries behind the garage are doing well.

Enjoy your weekend, we'll hopefully be enjoying the view of all 18 post planted and beginning work of tying them all together this weekend. :o)

We're enjoying our Autumn, how about you?

Hello, sorry it's been so long between posts but as I say, " Life Happened"! 
Lets bring you up to speed a bit.  Okay our Summer really never felt like Summer, we only had a handful of days in the high 90'sF and no 100'sF at all( in our area). Typically in our area of Montana, the month of Aug. is into the 100'sF most everyday, but not so the last two Summers.

Our garden faired well and kept all of our CSA customer's baskets full to overflowing, which was a blessing after such a cold and wet start. I don't think we'd have faired nearly as well if we hadn't had our greenhouse, it allowed us to start crop earlier in a protected enviroment. We had certain crop failures, carrots being one. I planted and replanted them twice, only getting a germination rate of approximately 40% in each planting, so our  carrot crop was dismal to say the least*sigh*  The Broccoli and Brussels sprouts weren't good producers either and lets not even talk about my garlic. Usually my garlic looks like elephant garlic and this year they are 1/4 the size. I'm not sure if the wet and cold spring and early summer didn't affect them or the lack of heat but I certainly pray for a better crop next season.  We did have our successes too, this season I tried Walla Walla onions and the results were fabulous! We had onions as large or larger than softballs and full of wonderful flavor! The cooler weather crops, such as New Zealand Spinach, Swiss Chard, Kale, Beets and Turnips all produced beyond our expectations and in fact the Chard, Kale and Spinach are still growing and producing.  All in all our CSA customers were very pleased and all asked to be on our waiting list for next season. We're now reaping the end of the garden produce and have a beautiful crop of plums and apples to take full advantage of before we freeze. In fact we're STILL picking raspberries and they are HUGE and wonderful.

Mike's been working away from home on odd jobs and repairing cylinders from home, earning money for monthly expenses and for materials to start his shop. We'll soon be starting the process, in fact we've broken ground and plan to begin laying out and marking the post holes and then begin drilling holes and planting the posts. Materials are ordered, enough to put in all 18 posts and tie them together with 2x6s. Our plan is to build this shop in stages as we earn the money to afford the next required materials, then when it's completed it will be paid for and we stay debt free.  We were blessed with a call from a construction friend stating he could get us a deal on gravel( which is needed as a base for the cement floor) it was a situation where the company hauled gravel for a highway project and didn't use half what they hauled and decided it would be worthwhile to deal a bit rather than haul it all back to the gravel yard, so.... we got two dump truck loads for the price of one !  It pays to let your friends know what your building and the materials you'll be needing *wink*  This shop is going in the front half of our main garden plot which measures 120'x80'  This was the only logical location for it, so there would be access to the street and power. Mike assures me that with the removed topsoil he'll add more raised beds for me next Spring, actually he'll begin working on some of it before the ground freezes.  I had taken pictures but can't find them on this computer, I really dislike Windows Vista, it's totally opposite of the Windows XP I'm used to. If I find them I'll post them, sorry.

Cortney has been working all Summer and well into Autumn. She began picking sweetcorn the end of July, finishing the two 10+ acre fields up( with the help of two other pickers)  in Aug, then she moved into picking pumpkins, squash and gourds for the same farm. She finally finished up last week, all of this added to her chores here and her cleaning job. I've really missed her help and it was evident by the out of control weeds in the garden, yard and flowerbeds. I realized that I can no longer do all of the mowing, weed whacking, weeding, normal daily chores and meals in one days time, LOL!!!!  I readily admit that life has a way of speeding up and my energy levels have dropped :o)  Now I'm playing catch up with the enlisted help of Cortney, Mike and the propane torch, wheelbarrow and nippers. I'm on a mission to get it all cleaned up, tilled under and tucked in for winter.

I didn't do a lot of canning this year, because we simply didn't need to, but I did restock some on the canned beans, pickled items( beans, cukes, carrots, beets, corn) and I am in the process of waiting for the sauerkraut to finish fermentation and then getting it all canned into pint jars. I also have plums and apples that I'm making jelly, jam, butter and canning for later use this winter. I'm also going to dehydrate some apples and make apple leather.

We all enjoyed working outdoors last weekend, each doing a needed task and accomplishing much!  Mike burned and cleaned up weed piles Cortney and I were making along the gardens edges, he then also tilled a couple of our smaller garden plots under. I was able to separate and thin out our spearmint, irises and day lillies, of which I did replant the thinnings in new locations for what we hope will be a beautiful display next Spring and Summer. I still have herbs to relocate, due to the shop's construction and Mike has already tilled and worked in compost and composted manures into a bed for me. That will be tomorrows project, after laundry is finished*wink*

We fired our wood cook stove for the first time, last Friday, we're simply enjoying a fire in the evenings to ward off the evening chill and we're burning up scrap lumber, sunflower stalks and odds and ends wood.  Our wood supply for this winter is well cured and stacked awaiting it's use and we still have one HUGE( like pictured in the previous post) tree trunk to haul home, several downed trees and limbs on our property to clean up and we've been given another nice sized cottonwood tree ( down already) to cut and haul home, just 10 minutes from home. Off to a good start on next winters firewood!

The goats are fat and sassy, currently they have a billy visiting*wink*  and hope to return him to his home by months end. The billy goat is a Lamancha and his name is "Roger"  I'm not sure about the no ears thing, but beggars can't be choosy and until we get our own we feel blessed to have Roger! Now come the end of Feb. beginning of March we pray we'll see healthy happy kids.

The cows(Angus steer and Dexter heifer) will be overwintered, the steer going to the butcher in the Spring and the heifer is to be sold. We decided goats work much easier for our dairy needs and we will most likely raise a couple of steer for beef only.  When you have a small acreage it's hard to manage several head of cattle( including a bull) We tried the AI'ing without much success and in reality a bull is just to much for us to deal with at this point in time. So goats are really a perfect fit for our needs, other than meat.

The poultry flocks have been thinned down, due to ever increasing grain costs. We now have only a dozen layers and soon , after Thanksgiving, we'll have just three turkeys. All six of our available turkeys are sold and we're hoping to trade our Narraganset Tom for a Bourbon Red hen.  Just as I'd thought, just after we cut back our laying hens flock from 38 to a dozen we started having people inquire about eggs, we've simply had to say, we just don't have any extras at this point, maybe next year we'll increase the flock again. Right now with the economy the state it's in and looking like it's going to get far, far worse, long before it takes a turn for the better I really don't think we will increase again. People just don't seem to understand the flock needs to be feed and feed costs have risen 38% and yet the cost per dozen is a factor to the consumer and we simply can't afford to pay to raise the eggs to basically give away.*sigh* 

We're all looking forward to a winters rest, I know I have many books and magazines piled up awaiting being read, plus projects in the works for holiday gifts. We were blessed with some beautiful material for quilting and other gift projects earlier this month from my Aunt, who is a fabulous quilter!  I'm also going to attempt to learn to knit via a friend, of a friend giving me lessons. I'm most interested in knitting socks, sweaters and shawls.  With Cortney's sheep herd, we'll have fleeces and also hope to learn how to process the wool and make our own yarns. :o)   I'm also hoping to make some batches of soap using the fat from the pigs we'll be getting soon. Yes, two pigs will be here hopefully by months end and the freezers filled by end of Feb. or March.

That about sums up our happening in a nutshell. I hope to post on a more regular schedule one winter sets in and my time is more freed up :o), so please keep checking back. We miss all of your comments, we looked forward seeing your comments again .

Kinda of sort of back, please bear with us.  So many things going on in life we're a bit overwhelmed right now.  The garden has been disaster this year; first the cold and wet well into June, then the mosquitoes, next grasshoppers by the millions, then the coons ravaged our Indian corn and now the deer have moved in to feast on the rest*sigh*  We've barely had enough produce to keep our customer's baskets filled each week, so needless to say we've been working our backsides off for little to nothing for ourselves.  We've already suffered a light frost and some damage, so holding our breath and praying we're able to fulfill our commitment for our customers, three weekly baskets needed.  No tomatoes, we're even afraid that the plants in the greenhouse won't ripen in time, so we'll harvest these for our own use.

Where to start and not entirely remembering where we left off either. Okay as of July 14th Mike quit working for others and has become self employed, PTL so far so good and we're enjoying more free time for him to work around the farm. Needless to say over the years of him working outside the farm we've gotten behind and now hope to catch up alittle.  We need to re-fence the section of fence line we lost due to high water on the river in mid July, but not entirely sure how to reroute it yet.  Mike is also doing quite well with his banjo lessons and can play a few simple songs and does well with picking up cord and key changes when playing with our friend( his teacher), he mostly plays background and is working hard to learn different rolls( for those of you who know this can be difficult) We can't wait for him to be accomplished and we can do sing alongs around the outside fire pit with fellow pickers. :o)

Cortney has been working several jobs, two cleaning jobs and early each morning picking sweetcorn for a fellow farmer friend. this leaves me alone much of the mornings to get chores, garden, yard, house and meals going.  I'm really missing her help, that's for sure!*wink* 

Besides all of the above things to keep me busy I'm now in the midst of canning jams, jellies, some relishes and a few beans( mainly Basil Dilly Beans) and pickled carrots. I'm also planning ahead for winter projects and holiday gifts and trying to get started now so we're not so rushed on finishing gifts. This also requires some thriftiness in finding bargains for needed items. Secondhand stores are a wonderful resource if you know where to look and what you need. Another great source is just to let it be known what it is you are looking for to fellow crafters and you'll be surprised at what turns up for free or on trade.*wink*

The animals are all doing well. We're getting 1 gallon of milk a day from our dairy goat, Ginger. :o) and Angel is just being the companion goat for now, she was in such poor shape when we adopted her and with birthing twins we decided to dry her off after the kids were weaned and let her build herself up for winter. Angel looks great and has such a fun personality, we love her, she is very entertaining.  The turkeys are growing and we pray will be heavy enough for Thanksgiving butchering. All 7 remaining poults are sold for butcher( well one is ours). We sold two other poults to a gentleman who wishes to start a small flock for himself and also gave him an older hen( good setter and mother) as part of the deal, besides she needed a good home as we've decided to thin down our flock for overwintering due to ever rising feed costs. :o(   We've also thinned down our layer flock to 15 hens to make winter feed bill more manageable. IN mid to late Oct. we'll again be getting two feeder pigs to raise up for Feb./ March butchering.  The steer is growing but we'll need to overwinter him and plan on a spring butcher, unless we get our heifer sold, then we'll butcher him this Fall because he can't be alone. We've decided that it's simply to hard to get a cow bred if you don't have a bull and we don't want to deal with a bull for 1-2 heifers at most. Goats just seem to be more doable for us right now. We'll feed up a steer or two for beef as long as we can afford to purchase weanling's and feed them up for 2 yrs.  With rising feed costs, it's worth figuring your costs invested verses buying from a fellow farmer/rancher.

Well supper needs tending and chores are coming up fast so better sign off for now here are a few pictures of some of the animals, the weedy garden, the overgrown( with weeds) root cellar and some of our successful crops( beans, cukes, and millet)

 Turkey poults, now 4 months old.

 Weeding the cellar, overgrown with Kosha and wildflower stems

 Our weedy garden and self-sown sunflowers.

 Cabbage, mini pumpkins and raspberries

 Climbing beans and cukes with sunflower hidden greenhouse in background

 Millet

 some of our firewood for winter store. These two trees had to be loaded with a big Cat front loader

This makes it look as if Mike is picking these up, but in reality he is simply trying to guide it as it falls off the trailer, approx. weight of each piece 300lbs each. These two trees and some other odds and ends wood should finish off our wood supply for this winter. Now onto cutting up another fallen tree on a friends property as well as clean up of a few trees on our own property.

Just to let you know our computer bit the dust, so we'll be offline for a bit, until we find another, the one we had was 10+ yrs old and not worth investing more monies into*sigh*  I'm using my neighbor's computer to get the word out to you all. I most likely won't be checking for comments as it's an imposition to come over and use their computer all the time, even if they say it's no problem*wink*

Take care and until we can save for a new computer we'll see you then.
Blessings,
Kelle

Updating you......

Geesh! sorry it's been so long between posts but, in my defense things have just been nuts around here!  I can't seem to keep up with everything; the house, garden, animals, CSA flyer's and info for our members, projects and yes not even the blog.*sigh*  I guess my age is beginning to catch up with me and we've been doing lots of running helter skelter too!

Last week Cortney left for a Young Adults Retreat( YAR) for 9 days, she's due back tomorrow. The group went to Glacier National Park and it sounds as if they are having a blast! In the meantime I'm struggling to keep up with all the chores, garden, yard and cooking for Mike and myself. It's a good thing I've cut way......... back on what I'm eating because most evenings I'm just to pooped to cook a meal( especially when it's well into the mid to high 90'sF), so instead we've been having sandwiches, or fruit smoothies or yes, even popcorn!, LOL! 

We've had a few interesting changes and happenings as well; first is that Mike is not working outside the farm at this time. The construction company he worked for turned out to be crooks and they refused to pay overtime hours and believe me it's the law in MT to pay time+ half for any hours over 40 a week, in a pay schedule. He was not the only one to quit, in fact the entire crew, minus the manager's nephew, quit for several reasons. Lack of OT being paid, the fact that the manager is running the company into bankruptcy and being threatened and bullied on a daily basis with the fact that if they didn't do this or that there wouldn't be a paycheck for them. We have filed a complaint with the State of MT Labor and Industry Division and hope that they file legal action against this company. After totalling all the OT hours up the company owes Mike for 138 hours @ time and a half, so it's a considerable amount of $$ and we could certainly use it. There were other mistakes and hours that were changed( by the manager) on his time sheet that we are disputing as well. Our worry is that the state gets things rolling before the company goes under and claims bankruptcy, if this happens we'll be out the monies owed, unless we take legal action and then it will only be paid back at pennies on the dollar. It's to bad the manager wouldn't listen to advice given her, because this company had the potential of really making some $$. Now they are facing complaints filed for wages and several leans and lawsuits for past due accounts. I'm just glad Mike is home and not having to deal with that stress any longer. He's already got plenty of work lined up and has spread the word among  our farmer friends that he's home and available to work if they need a hand. :o)  Mike working at home is only possible because we are debt free.
           Now having said last above statement, today Mike was going to a job( he's building a pole building for a friend) and his truck quit, then he noticed smoke coming from under the hood,it was on fire!  PTL!!!! he had a fire extinguisher to put out the fire, but wiring and hose were melted and no sure of the extent of the damage, but..... it could have been so much worse, if he'd not had the fire extinguisher, he could have lost the entire truck, all of his tools and all the lumber he'd picked up for our friend. Praying that the damage was minimal and just glad Mike wasn't injured.  This of course is a set back, but we'll manage like we always do! :o)

Well it's time to get milking done and evening chores done, then BBQ up some hamburgers and trimmings for supper.    I'd also like to acknowledge all of our new followers, thank you for reading along with our life, we enjoy comments, even if right now I don't comment back much due to lack of time, we do enjoy reading your comments :o)

A new farm addition and a fun project, LONG in the works..........

We were blessed with yet another bum calf, this time it's a heifer, and she's in good shape compared to many bums we've received over the years. Of course you know we can't have an animal without a name so Cortney watched her for a few days and announced her name is to be "Suzanna". It seems to fit her and she is a really sweet little calf. She will not be raised for breeding purposes, but rather as beef for our freezer in about 2 yrs.

 Hoss and Button are now sharing a open faced barn and they don't seem to mind one bit. Suzanna is a cross between a red and black Angus, but looks to be showing her red side more than the black.  She'll be on a bottle for another few months and is eating hay, grass and chewing her cud well. It's always fun to have a new baby on the farm :o)  Now as for the fun project, LONG........ in the works, see below........

 Mike has always longed to learn to play a banjo but we never seemed to have enough $$ or time and finally we decided we've put it off long enough and bought a top rated banjo. This is one instrument you want to start off with a good quality and tone, rather than buy a cheaper instrument and upgrade later.  As I said Mike's longed to learn to play a banjo since we were first married and when we moved to our farm we found that our neighbor gentleman, to the East of us, played banjo beautifully. In getting to know our new neighbor's better Mike expressed interest in him teaching Mike to play but there always seemed to be financial interruptions. In talking about things we wished we done different one evening, Mike said he wished he'd followed through with his desire to play the banjo and I said, "why not do it now?"  He said he'd still love to and I began by talking with our neighbor and picking( so to speak*wink*) his brain as to which banjo was the best for what we could afford and come to find out we could afford a really top rated banjo. Our neighbor has played banjo with some of the best bluegrass and country people in the music business, he's played in Nashville at the Grand Ole' Opera as backup for many famous Bluegrass and Country stars. He simply decided he didn't like the demand and time away from his family( this was all when he was a young man, he's now in his mid 70's)  So here is Mike's new project, he and Charlie got it all adjusted and tuned. They were talking about some pieces that need to be upgraded for a better tone and of course a new set of strings and a beginner's cord book. Charlie sent him away with some things to practice, such as rolling his fingers and getting used to the picks. This weekend we hope to get to the city's music store and get the needed items so he can get to work. Mike has musical talent, he played the sax( baritone) for years in school, so has a jump start on reading music.  I can't wait to hear him play his first song, and the times we'll be able to sit around the fire pit in and listen and sing along. :o)

 Isn't it beautiful? If you click the photo, you'll see all the inlaid mother of pearl on the neck. It truly is a beautiful instrument, now to make it sound as beautiful.*wink*

Just another dream coming true, PTL!!!!!!  My dream is to actually find the time to begin some of the projects I've longed to do as well, I have already acquired the needed tools and instruments, it's just the time I've been lacking*wink* That's one thing nice about aging priorities begin to take center stage :o)

This and That catching up!

Wow time really does fly when you're having fun, or even working your backside off*wink* I still have to get pictures of certain things around the farm, it's just finding the time to do it that's the problem.  Seems as if the days are not long enough to get everything that NEEDS to be done, done and it's now complicated by the fact that we have been invaded by millions upon millions of mosquitoes. So you either douse yourself in Deep Woods Off every hour or so or you work in the heat of the day, when they are in hiding from the heat.*sigh*  Trying to keep up with the weeds this year has proven to be a real chore, with all the rainfall we received in May and beginning of June we have a bumper to bumper crop of weeds, some of which we've NEVER seen before. LOL!!!   Also now we're seeing evidence of a bumper hatching of grasshoppers, just praying the stay out in the fields and don't migrate into the garden areas. This years garden has been such a struggle already and with storm after storm and the worry of hail damage, adding  in a grasshopper invasion might just break the proverbial camel's back. 

Here are some pictures of how high the river has been and the fact that we've lost 10 to 15 ft of land along our bank and one corner even took out a line of fencing, which we temporarily fenced until high water is done taking away our land, then the whole fence line will have to be moved in and restrung. We're just glad we didn't flood, our neighbors to the East and South of us did, our banks are  high enough to have kept the raging waters at bay, praise the Lord!  The high waters are gradually receding but will continue to be above normal until possibly Oct. 
Here are some pictures of the rive, our animals and some of the happening around here.

 Cortney and Mike hard at work changing fluids, spark plugs, spark plug wires, checking belts and hoses on Cortney's car. Yes, Cortney's car, she saved and saved and bought her own car. I don't think I posted that she passed the driving portion of her driver's test on June 11th scoring a 100%. Her car is a 1990 Ford Taurus sedan and we are so proud of her!

 The river, well we've been dealing with high, extremely high snow pack runoff since beginning of June. If you look( click photo to enlarge) at the right side of the picture( that's our bank), as far up the river as that white building, you'll see that there is still 2-3 ft of back, well when the river is at normal levels that bank is 15 to 18 feet tall, so gives you an idea of how high the water is right now.

 I the shaded portion of this photo we used to have 10-15 ft of bank with a willow tree, chokecherry bushes, wild roses, etc.....   The picture below shows it from another angle that portion of the bank missing was further out than the bushes at the base of the tree( below).

 You can see the T- post in the foreground, well about two feet to the right( toward the river) was our fence line corner posts, not anymore!*sigh*

 Cortney my nephew and niece( here visiting from AK) and myself pulled these three Railroad Ties up out of the rushing waters. I felt good about saving them to reuse when we re fence this entire line of fencing. Right now we temporarily fence that corner off with T-posts so the cows don't get in the river.

 Two days prior to this photo of the bridge, just to the east of our farm, the water was lapping the bottom of the upper portion of the arches.  It sounded like a freight train and it was scary.

 The farmers across the river from our farm have corrals close to the river, as you can see they are flooded, as was the county road to the ranches/ farms behind us due to flooding and washing away of the roadway.

One blessing of the 9" of rain we received in May was a bountiful harvest in our hay pasture.  We typically get around 2 ton of hay from one cutting and then we graze it the remainder of the Summer, Fall and Winter. We baled it this weekend( Sat.) and took off 5 bales over 4 ton of hay! We are so............. excited!!!!!!  This weekend we baled the 4+ ton of hay, loaded it and put it in the barn loft, along with an additional 2-1/2 ton we purchased from a friend. I feel good that it's all up safe and dry in the barn. Now all we need is 1-1/2 ton of alfalfa hay and that is plentiful this year, so we shouldn't have any problems getting the needed amount.

Cortney celebrated her 20th B-day on July 3rd and she wanted to share a very special blessing she received from a fellow blogger friend; Sandra over at Thistle Cove Farms( you can find her link on our side wall)  Isn't that a beautiful wrap and it matches so many dresses Cortney has, it's going to be a well worn piece of clothing.  Thank you Sandra, for being so thoughtful. :o)

 The garden and all the weeds( hoping you can't see how many*wink*

 Raspberries starting, can't wait for them to ripen :o)

 Hoss, says Good Morning. He's enjoying the coolness of the morning .

 Another view, so you can see how big he's gotten and such a baby yet. He enjoys his morning hip and butt rubbing( right between his hind legs, as hard and fast as you can rub, he loves it!

 Button in her own little world, getting ready to chew her cud.

 Some of the apple trees we planted 7 yrs ago are simply loaded with apples this year! I'm so excited to try these new varieties( one is a Wolf River, another a Liberty and another Duchess of Oldenburg)

 Here's Angel, doesn't she look great! her twins are gone and she's dried off and putting on some much needed weight.  We had to worm her twice before we noticed her gaining weight and holding onto it. She's so shiny and slicked out now. We really enjoy her, she's such a sweet little goat and she loves to be around people.

 Ginger is looking good too, she's all slick and shiny too and is now giving us almost a gallon of milk a day. :o)  She's not as friendly of a goat, but is beginning to show that she enjoys our company and bleats when she sees us now.

 Here is Pistol, Ginger's wether. He's going to his new home, hopefully this week. We will miss him, he's very sweet. If only he'd been born a girl! *sigh*

 Turkey poults and their two mamas. We had 9 survive and feel blessed as we have all of them sold already!

It's hard to get a good picture of all of them as the toms and hens are constantly on protective detail, LOL!!!!!

Well, hope that catches you up a bit and we'll try to get more photos posted on day to day projects, we have several in the works.