The month of December and January have been filled with babies, celebrations, and up and down temperatures that resemble a roller coaster ride here on the farm. On the days that felt more like spring, we hurried to finish some outside projects, while on those bitter, cold days we found ourselves solely focused on our inside work, performing the chores with greater efficiency, and adding wood to the fire more frequently.

As I was milking our cow in the early morning hour in December, I heard grunting in the barn stall where Kailey had been sheltering her expecting goat. Kailey had recently hurried inside to get back to her school work after her chores and I was right in the middle of milking. I debated on what to do. I knew that if I left my cow, I might have an agitated mama that wouldn’t stand still when I returned, but if I stayed, Kailey would miss the opportunity to see this new life being born. I risked an angry cow and sprinted to the house, yelled that the goat was having a baby, and hustled back to my cow. Kailey made it just in time to see her baby coming out. When I returned, my milk cow stood chewing on her hay and didn’t seem to notice that I had left. As I was crouched down, I enjoyed watching the children hurry into the barn one by one. Alena arrived last with the baby all bundled up. She had helped the little ones first and sent them on their way a few minutes earlier. There was much excitement in the air as everyone admired the baby goat. I took a quick peek at the baby and hurried to finish up my chores. Everyone headed back to the house except Asher (age 3) and I. We were descending the hay loft ladder when I spotted the mom having a second baby. Asher and I rushed to the house, told Kailey the news, and she made it out in time to see a third baby arriving. She was shocked and a little worried that she would have to bottle feed the third. In the end the mom accepted all three kids and they are all thriving. Kailey’s hope of milking the mom was put on hold until spring since there won’t be any extra milk with all those babies!

Milking has become a regular routine on the farm. After a few weeks of milking, I decided to separate the calf from my jersey milk cow and worked with another mom to adopt my calf. In the past we have observed that our milk cows tend to hold back most of their cream when the calf is nursing from them. Until recently, a few of our children could only have the cream from the milk, since it’s low in casein and lactose. Even though I have been witnessing a decline in all of our allergies simply by using food as medicine and creating a unique plan to meet each of our needs, the cream is still the most valuable portion. Through this whole process I give all the glory to God as I have been seeking His wisdom more than ever in the last 4 years.

The boys have been assisting me here and there with some small projects to help the milking to be more efficient and to keep the barn cleaner and more organized. We built a shelf for my supplies out of scrap wood, erected fence to keep our free-range chickens out of the barn, rearranged tools and feed, and built a temporary stall with a fenced area outside for the extra cow. I planned that it would take about two weeks for the new cow to accept my calf along with her own recently born. I placed alfalfa pellets and hay in the stanchion and locked the cow up. Then I allowed my calf in to nurse from the cow. The mom was so busy eating, she barely noticed the calf. Everything went better than I expected and when the calf was done, I let the calf and new mom into their stall with mom’s awaiting baby. A few hours later when I checked them, I noticed both the calves were nursing and the new mom wasn’t kicking. We have done this several times in the past and it has always taken at least a week for the new mom to accept the calf. I was very surprised and ecstatic that I wouldn’t have to bring the cow into the stanchion twice a day. I watched for a few days to make sure nothing changed and then released them to join the herd. The calf was able to see its original mom and didn’t appear to be stressed. The mom seemed a little stressed even though she could see the calf, but quickly forgot about her. After separating the calf, I expected my milk cow to kick and be angry at milking but she was her normal self. Now our milk contains about ¼ cream and all is well.

Thanks to the delightful weather we were also able to hire the soffits done on the house and butcher the chickens that didn’t grow well in the fall. We had mixed our own feed as an experiment and the results were disappointing. After losing most of the chickens to predators, the ones that were left took about 4 months to finish. In the past we have finished them in 9 to 10 weeks on organic, soy free feed that we purchased from our food coop. Commercial growers usually finish in about 6 weeks with their high soy feed and additives. Since Cory was out of vacation, the boys and I had our first butchering session without the help of my husband. We worked diligently to set up and actually had record time in finishing all the birds. My husband was shocked when he heard how quickly we had finished.

We were blessed with baby piglets in December. We had hoped they would be born before the cold winter set in, but we have learned that we can plan, but things don’t always happen in our timing. We were thankful for decent weather, but added a heat lamp to ensure the piglets would stay warm. The next night my husband approached the pen to adjust the heat lamp with his drill under his arm. He stumbled a little setting the drill off. The mama rushed to him grunting and very angry, trying to jump over the short fence. In a rush to get out he fell backward and got his foot caught under the fence. He quickly pulled his foot out and crab crawled out the narrow space. Wondering what had happened, from a safe distance, he tried his drill. The mama did the same thing again, but this time he was far enough away. In the end he decided the heat lamp would be fine and he will never forget that mama pigs may think an electric drill is one of their babies. The pigs are comfortable and warm in their shelter with straw on the inside and we are adding lower quality hay on the outside to provide a clean environment. I have been surprised to discover that our pigs never go to the bathroom inside. They keep their “nest” clean and always go outside to do their business. All of our other animals don’t seem to care where they go to the bathroom.

This Christmas was by far the best Christmas we have had ever. Our house was bustling Christmas morning as all our children gathered in excitement for the gift exchange and gifts. This year we drew names and put a small limit on each gift. The gifts could be boughten, homemade, or a combination of both. It was fun to see all the creative gift ideas from handmade items like the clothes my daughter that dislikes sewing made, homemade playdough, and more. I made the kids each a gift bag with assorted dried fruits and nuts along with a gift certificate of my time. Instead of buying something they didn’t need and cluttering up our home I thought this would be a special change.  All the kids seemed very excited to receive their bags and certificates of time. I had talked with Cory the night before Christmas and explained my idea and he said he was planning to do the same thing. We laughed as we realized how much more we think alike as time goes on.

The kids planned a humorous play and performed it for Cory and I, then begged us to come up with a play. We performed a reenactment of our first date that was actually nothing like our first date. The kids were delighted in Cory’s funny antics of messy eating and crazy driving. We also enjoyed a short film about finding Moses’ mountain and played several games. The most significant part of the day was retelling the birth of Jesus to our children.

Later when the kids were eating their dried fruit, Caleb joked with Kailey that she could eat all the dried fruit she wanted without the added cod liver oil. In the fall we all started taking cod liver oil. I bribe the younger children with dried pears that we dehydrated in the summer. I didn’t grow up eating liver, and I really want to like it, but I’m not there yet. I have tried numerous recipes (even hiding it in homemade hot dogs), but I couldn’t even try them. Some of my kids enjoyed them so it was worth the work. I can drink about anything so we decided to try this route. Kailey is my only child that refuses to take it, and I won’t make her.

I learned the hard way that if half of a bottle of cod liver oil gets spilled on the floor, I will never again use a rag to clean it up. A few days after the spill, our family was rushing around to get out the door for an evening out. We hurried to our destination, experienced a disappointing evening activity, and returned home as quickly as we had left. After getting everyone to bed I sat down, took a deep breath, and wondered, “What is that smell?” It smelled like cod liver oil! I leaned in closer and discovered my jeans reeked of cod liver oil! I couldn’t figure out why my jeans smelled so bad! The next day I asked my kids. They said their jeans smelled bad too and their guess was that the rag found its way into the jeans, and when I washed them, I exposed all the jeans to the smell. I was horrified that night. The next day thanks to God’s grace I was able to laugh about it. It was another reminder to slow down. It’s in those humbling times that I’m reminded to always have compassion for others that are imperfect like me. After several washes my favorite jeans finally got turned into work jeans.

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 spring, 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 winter 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!