The month of October started with our annual fall party and ended with a full day of chasing our bull through our farm, rearranging animals, and then putting up over 150 square bales and winter proofing our combine in the dark. Thanks to the rain and mild temperatures, all the animals are still on pasture and we are getting close with our winter preparations for them. We enjoyed several farm tours this summer and hope to continue growing our farm.

Several years ago, we started a tradition of a Fall Party. This year we all dressed up as someone from history and had to say a quote by this person. We all used things from around the house. Some of the kids did some sewing and others found items in our dress up box or closets. As everyone arrived in the living room there was great laughter. My husband was by the far the funniest with a few of the kids being pretty close. He had dressed up as Albert Einstein. He had placed arrowroot powder in his wild hairand on his face as a mustache. His shirt was half tucked in and he looked disheveled. All the kids said, “I know who you are!”

I didn’t have a lot of time to think about a costume, but I always think it’s funny that Joel Salatin goes to the local thrift shop for his clothing and purchases old uniforms to wear on a daily basis. Each day he has a different name on his shirt. I thought it would be funny to be him. I dressed in Cory’s work shirt that has his name on it, along with some homemade suspenders, and a cowboy hat. Everyone looked at me right away and said, Hi Joel Salatin.” Through my laughter, I kindly reminded them of no guessing until the presentations. There were cash prizes for the best dressed, for the first person that guessed the character right, and if your person was guessed correctly.

We enjoyed a hay rack ride until a fierce, unexpected wind storm came up in the middle of our ride. We debated on going back, but instead decided to keep going. Soon we were down out of the wind and protected by trees. Rather than a fire like we had planned, we decided it would be safer to play some games inside and not start the county ablaze.

Our nuke hive that we received as a gift seems to be doing well. My husband asked me to check them in the middle of October and fill up the feeder. I have done this several times without a bee suit and did it as usual. The bees seemed very active and one landed on my neck. I don’t remember for sure, but I think I brushed the bee off my neck and then felt a sting. I ran as fast as I could to the house feeling at least one on my back. I ran into the house and asked my daughter to get the stinger out. She used a credit card to remove the stinger, and then recommended baking soda to stop the pain while someone else took care of the bee that followed me in. I quickly applied it, and that helped right away. I knew I needed to pull the toxins out, so I placed a green clay mixture on several times that afternoon. By supper I thought, “I’m good” and didn’t do anything else. The next day I experienced a little pain in that area and ignored it, but by the next day, I had even more pain. I decided to put more clay on the area, and after about 10 minutes, the pain was much less and it started itching. I kept applying it through the afternoon until half my neck was green in color. Mid afternoon I heard a knock on the door and found the mailman with a package. I thanked him, and after he left I realized I had green clay all over the side of my neck. We all had a good laugh at this recognition!

Our daughter Kailey (age 14) has been training a horse she received as a gift from her grandma. This has been a great project to teach her patience, consistency, perseverance, and diligence. Her grandma worked with her several weeks on ground work last year and then Kailey took over from there. She has watched numerous natural horse care videos and read several books. Just recently she attempted to get on the horse for the first time while I held the rope. I admit I was a little nervous, but Kailey explained what to do and kept me calm. We had worked several days on putting her foot in the stirrup and getting the horse used to a little weight. When the time finally came to get on the horse, Kailey put her leg over and sat down. We were all silent wondering what the horse would do. I quickly gave it a treat and felt myself relax seeing that the horse was very calm and accepting. We have since started walking the horse with Kailey on it, and, praise the Lord, the horse hasn’t bucked once.

We have been growing potatoes for many years, but this year we harvested more potatoes than ever. We dig them through the summer as we need them and then wait until a hard frost is coming to dig the rest. This year we had one day to get them all out, knowing a hard frost was coming that night. We had rain and cold temperatures the previous week, so the garden was a little muddy. We enjoyed our time working together, but by the end as it was getting dark, we all wanted to be done. Several of us suggested leaving the rest for the pigs, but we kept pushing on, and when the last area was done, there was a lot of excitement and a great sense of accomplishment. Everyone was shouting and celebrating. We estimate that we dug approximately 1500 pounds of potatoes this summer. Because I never buy conventional potatoes anymore, (especially since they are sprayed every 3 days in our area) I compared what we would have spent on organic potatoes. I figured that we saved our family at least $1860 by comparing what we spend on 50 pounds from Azure, which is the best price I have found. They are certainly a lot of work, but tasting those homegrown potatoes and realizing our savings, encourages us to keep going! The pigs are really enjoying the clean-up and are finding potatoes along with walnuts, beets, and pumpkins.

We have been blessed to be able to borrow my husband’s dad’s equipment and my step-dad’s skid steer for the last few years. Despite not having a profit in our business, we decided to start purchasing our own used equipment to save us time, and to not wear out or break their equipment. Our first purchases were a round baler, square baler, and swather (to cut hay), and just recently we had the highest online bid for an old combine in our area. We also made a trip to Prague to buy two heads for it. We will be renting an extra 5 acres next summer and hope to start experimenting with grains. We have some unique ideas on growing grains more sustainably and we will probably stand out through this process as strange, but it doesn’t bother us. We love when people stop on the road to look at our farm or take pictures. It’s not every day you see pigs running playfully down a grassy hill. We love to grow things and look forward to this new challenge. Lord willing, we are hoping to buy a tractor, grinder, and maybe a different swather soon. We believe after purchasing all of our used equipment we will have spent less than ¼ the price of a new tractor. We love the idea of old equipment because the investment is low, there are no expensive computer parts to replace, and a person can usually fix most problems himself. Most importantly, we won’t go into debt to purchase anything.

The Lord has really put it on my heart to empower others about how our food has changed over a short period of time. We are reaching more and more people with our website and newsletter and LOVE to hear your stories about how natural, clean foods have changed your lives. Please help spread the word and keep those stories coming! As we get closer to winter, we look forward to the work that lies ahead and to blessing others with our products. Homesteading and farming are not simple tasks, but when you enjoy the work you are doing and get to feel a great sense of accomplishment at the end of the day, it is completely worth it. This fall we pray that you are encouraged to grow great food, find and meet a great farmer to buy from, slow down and enjoy each day, and be blessed with abundant health!