beautiful thoughtful hand made gifts

This holiday I have received some beautiful thoughtful hand made gifts - that just warmed my heart... thank you ... : ) - For Christmas Brian and I did VERY little... and it was just lovely!  in fact on Christmas evening we went to bed at about 6pm watched a movie and didn't get up till 9am the next day.. now that's a wonderful holiday...

 

 

in big table farm news we picked up our labels from our letterpress printer and they look AMAZING!! we will start labeling in the coming weeks and new wines come march... I'm excited about these new 2011 wines and the labels too : )

 

cheers!

An Open Letter to Uncle Loren

Over the past four years, since the very beginning of the farm, we have been helped by countless family members and friends. They have spent an incredible amount of time helping us get this dream off the ground and dealing with my crazy ideas and procrastinating ways. Our "farm angels" have helped us build a home, construct fences, move pigs around, fix equipment, find hay, make portable pens and buildings, and above all help us to survive the first four years without doing complete damage to our minds, bodies, and souls!

But, I want to take a moment today to send an open letter to my Uncle Loren. Some of you may know of him, but I'm convinced all of you should get to know him ... or someone like him. He is one of the many people that have helped out so much on this farm journey ...

When my feed auger wagon broke and my feeble attempts to fix it fell far short Uncle Loren showed up in the middle of the night to take it home to his shop to fix (after I called and said I was at my wits end). When the cattle had spent most of their time on the farm getting out of my horrible excuse for a fence Uncle Loren showed up with the equipment and the knowledge to get the fencing project started. When the pigs are boggling my mind he is always just a phone call away. When a tractor breaks down he has shown up with a loaner (sometimes a long-term loaner) to help me. When water lines and electrical lines needed to be run underground ... well ... you probably get the idea ...

My Uncle Loren has invested quite a bit of his time and himself into the farm. In fact just this week he spent almost two days building more fence, setting corner posts, smoothing ruts, and even moving and leveling a building that had been sitting haphazardly in the pasture for the past few months. When he left late Tuesday evening it hit me just how much he gives and how hard he works. The farm would not be where it is without the help of so many people! And, Uncle Loren is one of those people ...

Uncle Loren ... Thank you for the knowledge you share. Thank you for the work you give. Thank you for the time you so freely share with us. Thank you for the example that you are.

One of my many dreams is to have just a fraction of your farming knowledge. You remind me that farming is not just a set of physical movements, but rather an art. Uncle Loren ... you are an artist.

resolutions? hell YES

sure don't we all have them ??

Fear of falure ... well YES ...fear off looking stupid ...duhh ... fear of pain and things being too hard... yup that too.. but what the hell...

soooo Brian and I have been doing a lot of dreaming and scheeming over the holiday -- there are lots of dreams and things in the works on the wine side as well as ideas for the farm and hopefully making our lives easier on that front... but brian asked me to not go to public with those here on the blog till we are a little further along.. (fear ?? a little for sure but I promise more on that in the coming weeks)  -- I will say we have a 20 yard dumpster coming this weekend and we are starting with some clean up -- gotta clean up old projects before you start new ones!!

 ... so in the mean time ..

Some personal resolutions these are self centered but you have to start inside and work out I think.....

Get down to 'fighting weight' and make my final rank - black belt - I've been at this since the fall of 2007 and it's been an awesome journey!!.... the once a year black belt test is in june and I want IN.. my sensi has not invited me yet that's a few months out... I just need to do the work...

GET INTO THE STUDIO.. it's that simple once I'm in there it will flow.. I spent Christmas break cleaning and purging in there and I'm almost done...  : )

and the last thing work on my book.. yup it's an ilustrated book... It's in the works but kind of treading water at the moment...

so there it is...


loose 25 lbs
get my black belt
do my art
finish my book

: ) nothing like big dreams... ha... bring it 2013 I say... if I'm gonna fail I may as well fail big (and sure publicly while I'm at it) and if I'm gonna live this life I may as well live it ... : )

cheers to you all and happy new year!!

Satisfaction and Taste

A while ago I was lucky enough to be on the panel of a screening for the film "American Meat". As far as food documentaries go this is one of my favorites (right up there with "King Corn") and I suggest checking out one of the screenings if you can! I follow their blog and facebook page from time to time just to keep up with where the film is showing and the response they are getting (and I'm hoping to find out when I can by a copy of the film for myself).

While scanning their facebook feed this morning I saw this quote, "Hard work is one of the most important ingredients in a meal." That really resonated with me so I followed the link to this article and video. The video features chef Dan Barber talking about the fact that seeing the food growing and the hard work put into raising those veggies and animals adds to the flavor. I don't know if I can explain why that is, but I have to say that I agree whole-heartdly!

There is just something great about enjoying a meal that you have worked so hard to prepare. On the farm we are able to have meals consisting of almost every ingredient originating from no more than 400 yards away ... those meals just plain taste great! I believe though that there is satisfaction and flavor to be found from putting the time into preparing a meal from a farmer that you know instead of from a supermarket aisle. There is just more flavor in a meal prepared by the hard and caring work of a cook with ingredients from the hard and caring work of a farmer you have a relationship with.

Sometimes that is the missing ingredient ...

It's the End of "Dairy" As We Know It?

On the days leading up to Christmas the story of potentially rising milk prices seemed to be the story de jour. I began hearing about it last week and a little searching found this article from the New York Times on December 20th. Then this report from Fox News on December 21st. Just one day latter, on December 22nd, "The New American" shared this opinion piece. And, not to be outdone (although a little late to the game) the local news station in my area posted this article on December 25th. I'm sure you've heard plenty about this as well.

Of course this "possible" rise in prices are completely related to the Farm Bill ... or more specifically the lack of a Farm Bill and the fact that if no new bill is passed our current farm law will revert to the 1949 laws. I don't really feel like discussing the nitty gritty of the fact that even though lawmakers know that things are expiring they really don't make any progress. I don't really feel like mentioning that when I went to Washington D.C. two summers ago it was to talk about the Farm Bill ... the one that still is not in existence. Nope, I don't want to talk about any of that!

What I do want to do though is ask a question. Specifically I want to ask why milk prices will double (that is what they are suggesting) just because there is no Farm Bill? I mean ... aren't we paying the price of what milk is worth right now? Aren't we paying for the real cost of our milk at the stores? Isn't the market (supply/demand) determining the price? Like I said ... just a question.

In completely related news we are beginning to research and prepare to milk our own cows. This isn't something we are doing because of fear. It is something we are doing because we have tri-purpose cows. It was a small part of the reason we chose the Dexters in the first place, and now that the farm is sort of coming together and the fact that we have just had three heifer calves in a row we finally feel ready to take on this challenge. Of course it will be a while as we tame down cows and really focus on our new heifers.

For now though we have a halter on the calves and are working on making them our friends and we will be reading The Family Cow by Dirk Van Loon (it seemed to have good reviews). I'd love to hear any thoughts or encouragements when it comes to milking on a small scale ... or about the coming "moopocalypse".

a short video clip from Maple Valley Farms

Our sweet 5 year old's "reading" of the birth of Jesus :)  (his Bible is open to Galatians for the fruits of the spirits :)  its worth watching... so precious!

Merry Christmas…

This is NOT the most wonderful time of year, just another great time for family… 

I love my family every day…

We spend time together everyday…

This is just a time to get a little closer…

I say this as humbly as I can…  I am not perfect, just trying the best I can, just like you!

Thank you for your blog love and support! 

I appreciate you all year through, not just at Christmas…

Are you feelin’ me????  DO tell…

xo

In the spirit of farming, family and faith,

Another Farm's Farrowing Perspective

Frequent commenter Donna O'Shaughnessy has been following along with my ramblings on winter farrowing and took the time to discuss her farms farrowing/breeding plans on a post at her blog called Midlife Farmwife. Their farm is in Illinois and pretty much straight east of my farm, so the weather patterns will be similar to what I'm facing ... which made this information very intriguing. The post titled, "Farrowing Follies" details their farms handling of sows from breeding, gestation, farrowing, and weaning (among other details). There are also good pictures to give you an idea of their set up!

If you are interested in the e-huts that she references here are some plans from Practical Farmers of Iowa. I also like her "hogciendas"and have been thinking about building something like that. Even if I ended up with a different sort of farrowing system they would be great out in the woodlots or for sheep in the winter. Basically I just need more portable buildings that I can drag around with the tractor!

Thank you so much for putting together such a great post Donna!