Till' The Cows Came Home...

When we had our first child,  Rob's Dad gifted her with her very own calf.  Now, to a non farming family that may sound odd, but to this farming family it was an honour.  When our second daughter was born she too was given a calf.  This was an extra special gift since Dad passed away suddenly a few months after his second grandaughter was born.  The girls have been able to raise their calves into full grown mamas and been able to see them start their own herd.  Often we will ship the girls' calves in the fall and we tuck the money away into a special account for the girls.  This year, we reserved one of their calves to give to our son so he can start his own herd.  We know Opa would've done this if he had been here.  These are his farm grandkids, continuing his legacy.  Up until this year our cows have always lived over at the main farm, but this year we have brought them home!  We are so excited to have our own herd here at our acreage.  Rob spent some time getting all the fencing up and strong as I do NOT enjoy chasing cows all over the neighbourhood!  So our cows are here and happy.  They are growing nice and fat on the fresh green grass and any compost scraps I throw their way!  The best part is seeing the kids run to the fields and call...'Come on, Come on, Come on!' and see their cows run up to greet them.  Opa would be proud.  

A big shout out to 'Zomar'..our favourite cattle moving man!

Here come the Herefords!

Home at Last!

An Evening to Remember...

A few weeks ago we had the privilege of taking some amazing people out for a night on the town.  A year ago hubby had a terrible injury on the farm and nearly lost a few fingers.  Through surgery, extensive physiotherapy, and much, much prayer, he not only kept all his fingers, but has regained a lot of use in them!  When this injury happened we were at a very crucial time frame at the farm.  We had barns that needed to be prepped and birds that needed to be moved.  That time in our lives was traumatic and devastating, but we were so blessed by those people in our lives who truly love us and supported us in our time of need.  We had more help than we knew what to do with both on and off the farm!  You can read a little more about that HERE.  
Well, it's hard to believe that over a year has passed, but we wanted to make sure these special people realized just how blessed we were/are by their love and sacrifice.  It took us a long time to find a date that worked for everyone, but we did it!  So, we booked a restaurant overlooking the Pacific Ocean and spent a wonderful evening with these folks.  The sky was the limit for this dinner.  The food was amazing, and the fellowship made for a memorable evening.  Once we were done dinner we strolled along the boardwalk and pier.  We are so blessed to call these people our friends.  So, friends, if you're reading this, know that we will never forget your kindness.  We will never forget who was really there for us when it came down to it.  We will cherish our friendships with you.  I thoroughly enjoyed my meal on this wonderful evening...after all, I worked my butt off both on and off the farm during that crazy time too!
Here's a few snapshots of the evening...oh, and my must mention note:  NO, I am NOT 7 months preggers in these pictures..this was obviously just a wardrobe malfunction!  Sheesh..I really loved that blouse when I bought it, but I'm having second thoughts....

Blissfully Unaware

This post title seemed appropriate when I looked back on the date of my last post. March 29th. On March 29th I had no idea that the next day would be spent in the ER with hubby, wondering if he would still have all his fingers when he left. On March 30th Rob had an accident on the farm. He caught his hand in a piece of machinery in the barn. One of my greatest fears with a husband who's a farmer is injury. Rob works alone and is around equipment all the time. Often I stop in to say hi or bring him a treat...I think we both know that I'm checking in on him and making sure he's ok. Haying season is the worst:) There's always a small part of me that panics when he phones from work...usually it's just a call say 'hi poopsie!' and 'I'm thinking of you'...or more likely, 'I'm going to be a *few* minutes late'. But on this particular day it was a call to say 'I hurt myself pretty good and I'm thinking I should head to the clinic.'

I could tell something was off...he didn't sound too hurt, but there was something in his voice. It took me just a few minutes too long to realize he was in shock. I picked him up at the farm and off we went to ER. The staff were great, he was in within 10 minutes and was receiving treatment shortly thereafter. The big concern was infection. Barns aren't exactly the most hygienic places for an accident!
From this point on it really just seems like a blur. I feel as though I've been living in my car for the past month driving here there and everywhere. Life had to become very organized and scheduled and the days didn't have enough hours in them to get everything accomplished. The timing of the accident was interesting. On one hand, we had just shipped our big flock out so the day to day farm responsibilities were less than usual. On the other hand, we had 13,000 birds that HAD to be moved into the layer barns before they reached a certain age and in order for that to happen all the barns had to be cleaned and prepped for the move itself.
This is where God took over...He saw our anxiety, felt our helplessness, and took over. Rob and I can't even begin to put into words the overwhelming peace we have felt. It's as though nothing happened. Life was put into perspective very quickly. Things that normally feel so bothersome and mundane became things to appreciate and acknowledge.
Before Rob was even out of surgery we had more help than we knew what to do with. People we don't even know were offering their assistance. Fellow farmers came to the rescue, machinery was fixed, barns were cleaned, and flocks were moved! Kids were babysat so I could be available to work on the farm, meals were delivered, and cards were flowing into the mailbox. We even recieved a card from a family in Colorado who knows us through their daughter. They were letting us know that they, and their church, were praying for us! Our church family rose above and beyond the duty of a family and did everything they could to support us. Our friends, family and church prayed us through every step of the trauma. Men took time off their own jobs to come and work on our farm. All of those who volunteered their time didn't even ask if they could help...they just showed up and helped and organized more people on their own. We prayed for safety for these men, many of whom had not worked on a farm before. To feel this kind of love, to experience Christ's love through these friends is more than we can ever express in words. I can't imagine how we would have done all this without our church family. I have always been a strong advocate of church involvement, and this experience causes me to stress just one more time to all of you how important it is to invest your time and love into your church community. It's not a matter of having the resources of friends to help in a crisis, although this is a huge benefit, it's the way you experience Christ's love through these people.
Well, this blog post could go on for days, but to sum things up; we are so thankful that the surgeon was able to re-construct Rob's fingers. We are thankful that he will slowly regain use of them, if not entirely, then we'll settle for partially! We are thankful that the cost of therapy and all medical expenses will be covered. We are thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who protected us and embraced us. We are thankful for friends and family who carried us through this trauma.  Thankful for those of you who followed us through every step of the way with phone calls, texts and emails.  We are so thankful for our marriage and the unity we were able to feel despite the crisis.
Rob is thankful to be back at work...the crazy man won't stay away from his beloved farm! He has months of therapy ahead, and will need to take it easy, but that's a small price to pay for a farm accident! So, if you are one of the many friends that helped us through this, then we sincerely thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
I didn't get too many pictures...too busy! But here's a few I snapped with my phone along the way...
Here's hubby 'supervising' a few days after the accident:

Here's my bro who came to the rescue and put in some good time doing mundane chores with me on the farm:

Here's a few fierce warriors to braved the flock change...from left to right:

Josh, who's experience on a layer farm was such an asset,

Wayne, who said...and I quote "I'd deal with complaining customers all day before I'd ever chicken farm!"

And Stef, who kept us entertained all day! Stef's quote: "I was really careful with the chickens...well, the first few anyway...."

Thanks guys...you're the BEST!

And last, but certainly not least.... 'Dr. D' and fellow farmer and friend Dan who also played a big part in getting the job done! Way to go guys!



You know it's Spring when...

Yep, you know it's Spring when the baby calves start to arrive!  We love our farming lifestyle and calving season is no exception!  In fact, it's one of our most favourite times of the year here at the farm.  The combination of it being Spring Break for the kids and then calves starting to be born has created some serious excitement over here!  The first calf was born this past Wednesday, then 3 yesterday, and another 3 today! 
Although chicken/egg farming is our main focus, the cows have a special place in our family.  10 years ago when Olivia was born her Opa gave her a calf in honour of her birth.  He did the same for Abby when she was born.  Olivia's cow became her pet and grew to give her many other baby calves until we had to have her put down last year.  So, we re-named her last calf Livi and the cycle continues!  Abby's cow has had three calves now, first Arlie, then Arlyss and now yesterday, baby Ariel arrived!  The names are not always random...the rule is that they must be named beginning with the first letter of their mama's name.  This is how we keep track of who's who in the herd!  We've had many a laugh naming calves over the years. Once one of the girls' cows has a bull, then we'll get Isaac his cow!  The cows are so beautiful right now with their curly soft winter coats.  Here's a few pics to share what's going on at the farm...(you can click to enlarge)

Here's 'Livie' who has both her mom and her owner's namesake!

Here's Bella and her mom Bell. Bella was born at 2pm this afternoon and was up and on her feet by 2:30!  Her momma accidently stepped on her and hurt her so we're keeping a close eye on her for the next couple of hours.

Here's Baby Aron who was also born today...

Here's Papa Bull.  You don't want to mess with him.  He is the father of..well, all of them!

These next pictures are of Abby's baby calf.  Her calf was born yesterday and is very healthy and strong!

Did I mention that I love this time of year?  Cuz I do.

Makin' Hay while the sun 'shone'...

Yes, it's in past tense. Do you need to ask why? Ok, I'll tell you anyway. It's been raining and raining here. Where is summer??? This is ridiculous! Anyway, we are once again heading into a long season of haying. Rob took the May long weekend to cut his first batch of hay down. Now, we're not big time prairie farmers and don't pretend to be. We don't cut hectares of hay and sit in tractors for 24 hours solid. BUT, hubby does: worry about weather and constantly watch the weather network website, work like crazy to get it all done in a week before it rains again, wreck equipment because of hills and valleys, rocks and stumps instead of nice flat land, deal with customers who aren't happy, underpaid and overworked, well...you get the picture.

Despite all of this, haying is one of the parts of farming that we love the most. It is one of the craziest and most demanding parts of his job, but it brings him so much joy! For me it used to mean working with hubby, I would be on one tractor tedding the hay while he followed behind raking. I would drive the truck while we loaded bales, but now it means being the full time parent for days on end, delivering meals to my hungry man, not complaining about the long hours. Baking his favorite treats, delivering LOTS of cold, icy pop to keep his spirits up. And most of all, being supportive to Rob, teaching the kids to appreciate Daddy's hard work, and above all else, praying for safety. We will do this crazy cycle a few more times yet this summer to get it all done.

On the May Long Weekend he got all his hay cut, tedded, raked and dried, ready to be baled up into round bales by our friend George. We were waiting for George to come that evening (George does work around the clock) and so we fired up the bbq for a special supper I had prepared. Bro Ken was coming over for his usual Monday night feed and we had just started to relax and anticipate a nice evening together when....George pulled up...hours ahead of time. Hubby dropped the bbq lighter and ran for the fields, needing to rake a few more rows of hay. Well....there goes that. So, Kenny stepped up to the bbq, cooked the meat, helped me get the kids all fed and helped clean up. What a sweetie. After we were all done we took the kids for a walk out to the field (another favorite part of haying) and wandered through the fields while watching Daddy & George. It ended up being a great evening. So...that's a taste of what's going on over here. The clouds lifted yesterday with sunny skies in the forecast so.... here we go again.

It's Feeding Time....

This is Olivia posing with her calf 'Livi'. This tale starts out a little sad as the reason Olivia has to feed her calf by bottle is because the mama heffer died this spring. When our girls were babies their Opa chose to name a calf after each of them in honour of their Daddy who runs the farm. This has been a wonderful experience for our girls, and will be for Isaac one day too...once one of the girls' cows has a bull then maybe we'll name him after Isaac and get him going on a calf too. The girls love going to the farm and checking up on their calves and they get really excited when it's calving season! As Olivia's mama cow was already 8 years old, she'd had a few calves along the way but it was hard to see her go this year. We're not sure what happened to her. The vet came out a few times to help but she didn't make it. Abby's mama had her first calf this year too so that was pretty exciting! Her's was a bull calf that she named 'Arlyss' after the renter at the farmhouse! This is where I should explain that on our farm if you get a calf named after you it's an honour! Anyway, since Olivia's mama calf died shortly after her calf was born, we needed to get it onto a bottle so it would stop sneaking milk off other mamas. Rob got the calf used to the bottle and then introduced Olivia and now that little calf calls to Olivia when it sees her, then kicks its legs up and runs on over to greet her! It's the most wonderful feeling for Olivia. The feeding process is fast but messy! By the time Olivia was finished feeding yesterday her shoes were covered in white foam from the calf drooling! Having a daddy who's a farmer has been such a great experience for the kids....and I have to admit that even though it's had its tough moments, I love the career he has and that I've been able to be a helpmate to him in his job all these years. He is a wonderful farmer and is so passionate about what he does.