Grady and I worked with Ethan Kelly the summer we interned at Polyface.  He was known for using a thickness of butter that equaled that of the bread.  After seeing what Ralph does with butter we think we probably should have named him Ethan. 

We are glad he enjoys butter so much.  We believe it is a good fat and something his body needs.  I have started making my own again now that the grass is growing fast and we can get cream from our friends at Creambrook Farm.  You can also use a Kitchen Aid mixer with the whisk attachment to churn, then let drip through a square of butter cloth before working the rest of the buttermilk out.  Enjoy!

Have you ever made your own butter?

Anything!

I love to design new websites, put together quilts, knit, crochet, make clothes for my daughter. Create new recipes and put new twists on old ones. Create new ways to help customers get better in touch with local, clean food. Anything that has to do with something new and inventive, I’m in. I love to learn new things.

It’s rare that I don’t have some new project cooking up in my head. Sometimes it’s hard to turn off and I lose sleep at night. It’s part of my personality. It’s who I am.

Somehow, someway, I will always find the time to create or learn something new. If I don’t I’m not fully happy.

Joel always talks about our animals expressing themselves to their fullest ecological potential. i.e. The Pigness of the Pig.  In the same way, my being creative is expressing my Sheri-ness.

My hubby, on the other hand, finds creativity all the time exhausting. He doesn’t understand how I can wake up first thing in the morning and say, “I have this idea…”

He finds joy and pleasure in routine and keeping things in order and stable. It’s not that he hates new ideas or never has them, it’s just not the normal for him. Daniel expresses his Daniel-ness best by managing a team. He is the most capable person I know. He can manage teams of 20 people without breaking a sweat. Daniel loves to take a list and put things in sequential order. He is able to assign tasks based on each person’s gifts and talents. A true leader.

Time and people management is Daniel’s forte.

Nobody is able to get as much done as quickly as Daniel. Yesterday, the crew and I were processing chickens while Daniel and Ben Ward (Apprentice) were sorting cows. We were moving along great, but it just didn’t feel like we were managing quite as well as we could be. Daniel came in, moved folks around to utilize their fullest potential and suddenly we were flying!

Fortunately, much of his time management skills have rubbed off on me in the last ten years that we have been married. It’s been good. I’ve learned to put my daily tasks in order, doing them in such a way as to save the most time. Learning from Daniel, I can now manage teams of people effectively.

I currently manage our church nursery which consists of about 175 volunteers. I find joy in helping each of these folks best express themselves and find joy in their work. In our Awana program, I currently direct our Sparks (kindergarten through 2nd grade) which consists of 60 kids and 21 adults. It’s been a blessing to be part of this program for all of my life (since I was 3 years old). But what I love the most is quietly leading in the background, letting the leaders take charge in what they like the best and stepping in for the “dirty” jobs. Taking the stress off of them and watching them shine.

Much the same way as being a mom. I want my kids to shine. To express their fullest potential.

Now, I’m going to share a scripture verse here – “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Do you know what this actually means?

It’s means to raise your child “according to their bent”. According to their fullest potential. They won’t depart from expressing their uniqueness. As a parent, it’s my job to help them realize their greatest gifts and talents and gently guide them toward those things that give them the most joy. At the same, this is building confidence and responsibility, a sense of ownership over self. My child will not be happy if I raise them according to my desire for them. My desires may not be the same as their desire, even deeper, the same as God’s desire for their life. This means, that if they don’t want to farm, they don’t have to. We use the farm to teach responsibility and ownership. Business sense and community. But as they grow older and develop interests, where will their fullest potential be?

That is what I’m supposed to be helping them figure out. I didn’t say it was easy, and I certainly didn’t say and don’t have all the answers. But it is the goal Daniel and I purposely strive toward with our kids.

I’m curious. Where do you fall?

What makes you, YOU?

Are you hyper-creative? Or super-dependable? Or perfect in details?

What things do you love to do? Without them, you wouldn’t be happy.

Now, I’m talking broader terms here. I know that many of you will say, “I’m happiest when I’m outside.” That’s a great thing, me too, but it’s not what I’m asking here. Think deeper than that. What is at the core of your “you-ness”?

Let’s talk and dig deep today. Remember there are no wrong answers. You are YOU and I am ME.

Wendy always says, “If I’m not me, who else is going to do it?”

Happy Friday!

The Wide Spectrum of Mothering by Amy Young (http://messymiddle.com)

“To those who gave birth this year to their first child – we celebrate with you

To those who lost a child this year – we mourn with you

To those who are in the trenches with little ones every day and wear the badge of food stains – we appreciate you

To those who experienced loss through miscarriage, failed adoptions, or running away—we mourn with you

To those who walk the hard path of infertility, fraught with pokes, prods, tears, and disappointment – we walk with you. Forgive us when we say foolish things. We don’t mean to make this harder than it is

To those who are foster moms, mentor moms, and spiritual moms – we need you

To those who have warm and close relationships with your children – we celebrate with you

To those who have disappointment, heart ache, and distance with your children – we sit with you

To those who lost their mothers this year – we grieve with you

To those who experienced abuse at the hands of your own mother – we acknowledge your experience

To those who lived through driving tests, medical tests, and the overall testing of motherhood – we are better for having you in our midst

To those who have aborted children – we remember them and you on this day

To those who are single and long to be married and mothering your own children – we mourn that life has not turned out the way you longed for it to be

To those who step-parent – we walk with you on these complex paths

To those who envisioned lavishing love on grandchildren, yet that dream is not to be – we grieve with you

To those who will have emptier nests in the upcoming year – we grieve and rejoice with you

And to those who are pregnant with new life, both expected and surprising – we anticipate with you

This Mother’s Day, we walk with you. Mothering is not for the faint of heart and we have real warriors in our midst. We remember you!”

Motherly hands are full of strength
no width, no depth or measurable length
They squeeze, they sooth, they nurture us
with love, they tend without a fuss

Hands of steel, hands of cotton
babies scream, powders bottom
Holds the book, stories told
turns out the light, hands of cold

Making breakfast, gripping firm
disinfecting, preventing germ
Washing clothing, washing dishes
protecting dreams, encouraging wishes

Hands wearing rough from age
mother’s hands surviving wars we wage
Hand held heart of mother’s trust
forgiving fingers wisely dust

A mother’s heart is full of love
her hands, extended from above
Softly patting, sternly true
the hands of mother, guiding through

Jon Coe

Have a Blessed Sunday, Everyone!

These are Khaki Campbell Ducks. Right now he has them in a feathernet and is using the pen we built for the sheep to lock them up at night. (The sheep are now in netting as well) It also helps to lock them in there while he is moving the net. We had one get away the other day and ended up chasing it around.

I’m sure we looked hilarious, Travis and I running back and forth, tromping through lots of water with rain streaming down our faces. But we caught her!

Of course the day that we brought them home, we had a flood. I wish I could have gotten pictures of this. You would not believe the amount of water we had running through the farm. Folks were stranded here on this side of the river, and others were stranded on road side of the river. The entire front pasture (which we call the Meadow) was covered in water. It never came up over the bridge, but the river took a lot more than its normal area to flow.

It was GREAT DUCK WEATHER!

Travis got the ducks from Uncle Jordan and Aunt Laura. They were gracious enough to let him buy them as young ready-to-lay ducks rather than having to brood them. We didn’t have extra brooder space this year to start from scratch – the chickens needed every bit. Maybe by next year, if all goes well, we’ll have our ducks in a row to start them as hatchlings. (pun intended)

It’s a learning process. Many years ago, Daniel’s cousins raised ducks, but we’ve never done it before. We’ll see how it goes. He started out with 16 and got his first egg this morning.

He’s eating it for breakfast as we speak.

So, the next time, you come to the farm, watch for Travis’ duck eggs!

Happy Friday!

Good Meat is an excellent reference to have on your shelf if you are new to grass-fed meat, or have been in the game for awhile already. With beautiful photography by Marcus Nilsson, and over 200 recipes written in a friendly, approachable style, you’ll enjoy this book for years to come.

(Nope – this is not a paid endorsement. Just loved it so much that I thought you might, too.)

Here’s Krasner’s recipe for Molasses Cookies with Crunch and Snap, which contain my personal favorite secret ingredient. I’d also highly recommend the Popcorn with Bacon Fat, Bacon, and Maple Syrup…but you’ll have to check out the book for that one!

Molasses Cookies with Crunch and Snap

From Deborah Krasner’s Good Meat (page 254)

Makes 5 dozen cookies

1 ¼ cups rendered pastured pork lard, at room temperature (secret ingredient!)

3 cups sugar

2 eggs

½ cup molasses

3 ¾ to 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

¼ baking soda

½ teaspoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons ground ginger

1 tablespoon ground cloves

1 tablespoon ground nutmeg

Cream the lard and 2 cups of the sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer until the mixture is fluffy. Add the eggs and molasses and beat well.

In another bowl, mix together the 3 ¾ cups flour, the baking soda, salt, and spices, using a whisk to aerate them (or a sifter, if you prefer). Thorough mixing is very important here; otherwise, some of the cookies may have the unpleasant taste of baking soda.

Add the dry ingredients to the molasses mixture, beating until the dough is well blended. If it seems wet, gradually add another ¼ cup of flour. If it is stiff and cracks when you try to form a ball with a pinch of dough, beat in water by the ¼ teaspoon full to slightly dampen it. When the dough is pliable, scrape it into a refrigerator container, or roll into a log and double-wrap it well with plastic wrap or waxed paper. Refrigerate overnight.

When you are ready to bake, heat the oven to 375 degrees and put a rack in the center. Line a couple of baking sheets with parchment or silicone liners. Whirl the remaining 1 cup sugar in a food processor fitted with the steel blade to give it a finer texture, and pour it into a shallow bowl.

Roll the dough into 1-inch balls, dip tops into the sugar, and put the dough balls on the cookie sheets 2 inches apart, sugar side up. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the cookies are fragrant, soft in the middle, and have a fine, crackled crust on top. Remove the cookies with the paper or liner immediately to cooling racks or the counter. When cool enough to handle, remove them from the paper and store in them a closed container.

Do you use lard in any unexpected ways in recipes?

So maybe next week, we’ll have some pics to share of that. In the meantime, I thought I would share a picture of where I’m at in my farmer’s wife quilt.

It’s a quilt made up of 111 blocks that are 6 inches each. Yes, I have a long ways to go You can follow my progress here.

Here are my first 42 blocks:

But quilting and working with my hands is my way of relaxing (so is reading, but that’s another subject for another day). Taking the stress off, if you will.

I’m curious, what do you do to de-stress?

Tuesday I got my tomato plants in the ground.  Such satisfaction to see them in their rows!   What are you planting this week?

Polyface recently had the opportunity to rent a new farm in the city of Staunton. It has been an amazing opportunity to be part of setting up this farm. It is a great example of the portable farm concept and how in a matter of days a farm can be set up to manage using Polyface methods.  In literally less than a week, the farm was set up and ready to receive cows. There is still work to be done (like building the corral), but for now the farm is operational!

To start, we all went over as a team to plan the layout of the water system and electric fencing. Once this was done, we dove in and started setting it all up.  Setting up the water system involved setting up pipe from a water source to fill the cistern, setting up the pump and laying out pipe to take the water to all areas of the farm (to fill cow tanks).

Setting up the fencing involved repairing and replacing existing fencing as necessary and adding new single strand permanent electric fencing to separate the pastures into manageable sections.  We brought over a tractor and post pounder to assist with this task.  These bigger sections can then be separated into paddocks using stakes and single strand electric wire for managed grazing according to the grass needs of the cows.

Here are a few pictures to give you a better idea of the farm set up.

Taking down barbed wire, a lot of which was tangled and fallen to the ground anyway.

Rolling out water pipe to deliver water to cow tanks.

In this case, we are not burying the water line due to the nature of the lease. On some rental farms, we bury the water line.

Running the permanent electric fence wire.

The cows have arrived and are ready to move!

This is a cool shot that shows where the cows have grazed (left side) and where they have not (right side).

The cows are ready for fresh salad bar!

First, we moved and fed the broilers

Then, we moved a group of pigs…

…and transplanted our pepper and tomato starts.

The afternoon included a cattle move, as well as gathering and packing over 100 dozen eggs.

Have a blessed Sunday!