Book Review - Lincoln

My latest finished book is Lincoln, by David Herbert Donald. This is a LONG book. It's supposed to be the authoritative biography on Abraham Lincoln, and I don't think this book could have been much more thorough, hence its length.

For the most part I enjoyed this book. I read through his childhood, but found myself skipping a lot of the pages dealing with his adult law practice and all the cases he argued. I was most interested in his presidency. Once I got there I also skipped a lot of the pages about the politics of the mid-19th century. His relationship with his cabinet, what the other parties were saying about him, how he dealt with Congress.....all things I found myself just thumbing through. You'd think I'd be more interested in those things, being a political science major and all, but I found them dry. What I gravitated towards and was most interested in was the war, and how he dealt with it. I'm an unabashed war history buff, but history in general interests me. I was also very interested in his personal relationships with his wife and children.

Here are the most interesting things I learned:

- He was a very "hands off" kind of leader, almost to the point of letting people walk over him. He would give very earnest suggestions to his generals, but go to great pains to let them know he wasn't telling them how to do their jobs. He picked a very politically diverse cabinet, a few members of which were anything but loyal to his policies. He didn't press his generals when they refused to divulge their military plans, even when things were going badly for the Union. He set aside 2-4 hours of his day, everyday, to entertaining visitors who wanted anything from the honor of shaking his hand to an appointment to some office or position. Much of this was a complete waste of his time but he did it anyway.

- He was a very involved father, but only later in life after he stopped traveling the court circuit. He would often babysit for his wife, a very unusual practice for his day, and one which led him to be labled "hen pecked" by many.

- He had surprisingly little security to protect him. This was common for presidents back then. He would sometimes have nothing more than one bodyguard, and sometimes not even that, accompanying him as he walked through Washington, traveled, or took carriage rides. It would have been extremely easy to assassinate him, as John Wilkes Booth discovered.

- He initially favored deporting black slaves to some country in the Carribean due to a widely held view that blacks and whites could never live peacefully in the same country if they were freed. He dropped this idea later after it became clear that the black community was not going to buy it.

- While a Christian, he did not associate himself with any particular church, and disliked organized religion. At the beginning of his life he was more of a deist, but came to have more faith in the God of the Bible after his son Willie died.

More than anything, this book helped to make Abraham more human to me. I always held him on such a pedestal, and in essence saw him as infallible. While I still admire the man greatly, this book helped demonstrate his weaknesses, fears, and shortcomings (i.e. - his human qualities) of which I knew little.

My next book is The First American, which is a biography on Benjamin Franklin my mother gave me. I'm only 20 pages into it, but it promises to be a good one.

Heat

As I pulled up to the gate yesterday coming home from work, I saw our cows out in the pasture acting a little weird. We know Pumpkin is due to come into heat soon as her cycle should be starting again after her calving. The thing to watch for is "standing heat", in that the cow in heat has to stand still and let the other cow mount her. Well, sure enough I saw it.

We marked our calandar and called our AI guy. He said he likes to come out within 12 hours of standing heat. He checked his schedule and determined he was too busy to make it over here today. He offered to give her a hormone shot which would throw her back into heat a week and a half earlier than normal. We opted to just wait until her next heat which should be within 18-21 days. The only problem with that is that he might be busy again when we call him. In that case we'll do the hormone shot so he can actually add us to his schedule.

We'll probably have her bred to a low birth weight Angus bull, like we did Chloe, since we'll be raising the calf for meat.

More Fun

I never thought I'd be able to say I had ever castrated an animal before, but this weekend I did it for the first time. Our bull calf Meatloaf needed the procedure done, so rather than pay a vet, I figured I'd give it a shot. We're learning to do a few of the easier vet practices here, like palpating, giving injections, drawing blood, and castrating. Since it costs $25 just to have the vet drive out here, we're saving a little on cattle costs. The procedure went very well. I opted for the bloodless band castration method. It's simple and less gorey. We locked mom out of the barn and tied Meatloaf to the calf pen. He struggled very little, and didn't even protest when I put the band on. I made extra sure I had both of "the boys" in there before I put it on, as I didn't want to have to call a vet out to fix my screw up later. I'm confident they're both in there. From what we've read, it takes 10 to 20 days to work, and it's a little easier on the calf because they don't lose any blood and are less prone to infection.

I can mark that off my list of farm experiences had. How many people can say they've ever castrated a bull? Sounds like a good ice breaker to me.

Another Homestead Experiment

Here at our homestead, we do things a little differently with our milk cows than a dairy would do. In fact, I do believe my wife's paternal grandfather (a dairy farmer) would think we were nuts. The biggest reason for the difference is that we do not raise these cows for profit. We don't wish to lose money on them, but we also are not looking to minimize costs and maximize income as much as a dairyman would. These are "family milk cows", meaning they exist to provide our only our family (and maybe a few friends who need it) with milk. That being said, some of the things we do are meant for our convenience, and can have an adverse effect on how much milk we get.

For instance, we leave the calf with the cow all day. This does a few for things us. We eliminate the added chore of feeding the calf by bottle, or the added cost of keeping a nurse cow around. Secondly, calves who stay with their mothers are healthier (this is debatable but there is evidence for it) because they get all the attention they need. Calves who are isolated and receive no attention do get sick more often. That's proven. Thirdly, it allows us to leave on trips, because the calf will continue to drink from mom's udder and keep it from getting engorged. This also prevents mastitis, which can be a serious problem in dairy cows. We don't get as much milk because half is being given to the calf, but to us its worth it.

In preparation for our Christmas trip to Georgetown, we experimented last night and left Meatloaf (the calf) with Pumpkin. We skipped our morning milking and will see how full she is tonight. We're not too worried as Pumpkin is not a huge producer and the calf seems to be keeping her from getting too engorged.

The Amazing Cow Heater

When I woke up this morning it was COLD! Not -40 below zero like some of my coworkers are used to up in Maine or Alaska. I'm talking Texas cold, which is pretty much anything below freezing. The homestead is so pretty when it snows or there's frost covering everything. I shivered for an extra 30 seconds opening the gate this morning just to admire how peaceful and beautiful our homestead looked. The crisp morning was so quiet and everything was covered in a thin white frost. Smoke slowly rose from the chimney as DW stoked a fire for the kids to sit by while she got breakfast started. (We do have electric heat, but with the firplace blower on and an good fire going, the heater doesn't kick on all day).

Cold on the homestead obviously has its drawbacks, like going out to milk at 5:30 a.m. when it's below freezing. I find though that once I get close to the cow and start handmilking, it's really not that bad. The three-sided milk barn we have cuts the wind out, and cows put off quite a bit of heat. Of course, it's not roaring heat like a fireplace would generate, but it's a gentle warmth that makes you want to snuggle closer. It makes winter milking more bearable. I found out today that cows also make good nose heaters in a pinch. My face is right there next to her flank, so why not use it to warm my nose up? Her udder keeps my hands warm, except maybe the last finger or two, and milking time usually rolls by pretty pleasantly.

It's not easy to force yourself to get up in the morning knowing you have to go out into the cold, but our barn's cow heater makes it better. I actually read about some European country where people used to build their houses over their barns so that in the winter the heat from the cows would rise up and heat their rooms. I'm sure the smell of "all things cow" would waft up there too, but they were used to it. Maybe if the power goes out in the winter we can bring the cows into the living room and snuggle up to them. I'll make sure to pass that one by the wife first.

Round Bale Update

The hay man delivered the hay this weekend, but only brought 4 round bales. He couldn't fit five on his trailer and told me it wouldn't be worth it for him to drive out with only one more. If I want it, I have to go get it with my truck. He offered to bring his big semi-truck with all five bales, but I didn't think it would fit through my gate, so I declined.

Still, the bales looked great, and we were able to get them off the trailer with minimal effort. I was afraid at first that we wouldn't be able to roll them up under the shelter but with the two of us pushing on it, it wasn't too bad. Turning it was a chore, but not impossible. I keep thinking how nice it will be when I have two strong boys to help me out with the manual labor around here.

After he drove off, it suddenly hit me that I had just purchased 2 tons of hay that I had no idea if the cows would eat. If they wouldn't, I'd have four 1000 lb paper weights sitting next to my barn. I wasn't too worried because I figured if they got hungry enough they'd eat it. I cut the netting off the bale and threw some into the feeder. To my delight, they dug right in. They don't eat it with as much enthusiasm as they do the alfalfa, but they're eating it fine. I'm still planning on giving them a little alfalfa every day because it still has good stuff in it they need and it's a nice treat for them. So far I'm happy with them.

I think with a little effort we can fit up to ten round bales under this covering. If we turn them face out, and wedge them side by side, it should be possible. The outside row of bales would be right on the edge of the covering and would still get kind of wet in windy rain storms and would get splattered by water falling off of the roof. The next time my father in law is here I'm going to have him help be bolt a few cross beams between each post and then screw some sheet metal to it to form an outside wall. This will further protect the bales from rain and prevent even more waste. Since my FIL has spare metal perline, and I have spare metal sheeting, the project will probably cost me nothing.

Teaching a Cow to Lead

Pumpkin, our recently purchased Jersey cow, was not "lead trained" when we bought her, meaning she essentially did not know how to walk on a leash. Most cows in dairies are herded where they need to go, and use an elaborate system of gates, pens, and chutes to get the cows into the correct areas. Most dairies deal with so many cows, they just don't have time to lead train each cow.

The problem we could encounter is if we ever wanted her to load into a trailer. Cows don't like enclosed spaces like trailers and, having no incentive to go in one, all the herding in the world will only get you in a wild cow chase around the pen. So, lead training is necessary in case we ever need to use that technique to load her.

So, I've gotten my first experience in lead training the last couple of weeks. I'm convinced this process would have been MUCH more difficult if Pumpkin wasn't as sweet as she is. I started by putting a halter on her, which looks like this:

She's never had one on before, and didn't want this weird thing clinging to her face. We had to lure her into the stanchion and lock her in to get it on. She danced and threw her head every which way, but we finally got it on.

After letting her get used to wearing it for a day, I chased her around the pen with the lead rope, trying to get it clipped on. That took a while. I finally cornered her in the barn and got it on. Her natural instinct is to pull away so she pulled me all around the pen until I got close enough to a fence post to tie the lead rope off. Then I stood back and let her fight the post for about 10 minutes. She pulled and danced and finally realized the post wasn't going anywhere. After she calmed down I turned her loose and called it a day. The next lesson she fought the fence less, and let me pull her around a little. The point was to get her used to stepping forward when I pulled on the rope. She'd take a few steps and stop. The next lesson she would take a few more steps before stopping, and I didn't have to pull as hard to get her moving forward. Each lesson gets better and better, and we're to the point where I can walk her, somewhat begrudgingly, around the whole pen. Eventually she'll get to where she knows that as soon as the lead rope goes on, she might as well walk where I walk. I won't even have to pull anymore.

We also started lead training Meatloaf, the calf. He had the same reaction as Pumpkin, but a 40 lb calf is a lot easier to control. He's getting better and better, but in the beginning he would get sick of being pulled around and just flop over on his side. It was pretty much the equivilant of a calf tantram. He then refused to get up until you take the rope off. It was pretty funny.

I really didn't want to have to lead train when we bought Pumpkin, but she's responding really well to it, and I'm gaining experience in handling cattle. Learning new farm skills is always fun.

The Great Round Bale Experiment

When I was buying out square bales from the farmer in town, he had mentioned that he had some round bales of the same stuff that sold for 30% less per lb than the square bales. Round bales take less manpower and equipment to bale and move, so they're much cheaper than square ones. The biggest problem with buying round bales is that I have no tractor to move them. Once the hay man pushes them off the trailer, muscle and/or ingenuity is required to move them.

I bit the bullet and ordered 5 round bales to be delivered this Saturday. I think we can fit four of them under an overhang connected to the barn. The fifth will probably be rolled onto pallets and covered with a tarp. If it's kept covered and off the ground, there is minimal waste due to weather.

A lot of people just dump a round bale in the pasture and let the animals eat what they want. However, that can lead to a lot of waste. I'm told you can peel the layers of a round bale like an onion and feed a little at a time. We'll try that.

We (I really) also made the decision to switch to a different, and cheaper type of hay: coastal bermuda. It will save us a few hundred more dollars per year, so we're going to try it and see how the cows do. It is not that coastal is a poor hay, it just doesn't have as much nutrients and protein in it. Since we'll only be saving a little bit on feed costs, we can always switch back if we feel we need to.

DW is a little unsure about round bales, but trusts me enough to give it a try. I'm willing to put up with quite a bit of inconvenience to save 30%. Homesteading is a series of successes and failures. It's always interesting to see how each experiment turns out.

Winter Projects

Winter on the homestead is the time to get to all those pesky projects the warmer months left no time for. We found out this summer that with the garden needing constant attention, the grass or pasture always needing mowing, and the animals, we have time for almost nothing else. The wetter-than-usual summer meant everything (including grass and weeds) grew almost faster than we could keep them cleaned up.

Here's a list of things we hope to (but probably won't) complete before spring:

Outdoor
1. Till and add compost to garden beds
2. Fill some holes around the land with dirt
3. Clear cactus from the fence line and pasture
4. Clear unwanted mesquite from pasture
5. Clear debris from fallen-down shed in pasture
6. Take debris and scrap metal out of the dry tank in pasture
7. Finish mowing pasture

Indoor
1. Paint boys' room
2. Renovate at least one (if not both) guest bathrooms
3. Add some floor trim boards in closets

I'm sure DW will remind me of some things I forgot. Still, that list is enough to keep us busy. If only it didn't get dark so early, a lot more of that outdoor stuff would get done.

Thanksgiving Events

Everything turned out great this year for Thanksgiving. Family started trickling into town on Tuesday and we postponed the actual Thanksgiving dinner until Friday because my niece was not able to get here until then. I had the whole week off, so I was able to watch the kids while DW made preparations and cleaned the house. I pitched in on the cleaning where I felt I could do a decent job and not mess up her system. Everything got done, and I was once again impressed by DW's work ethic. She is one of the hardest working women I know. I sometimes have to force her to take time for herself because she's so focused on taking care of her family. She even forgets to eat sometimes, which especially drives me nuts when she's pregnant. She just loves taking care of her home and family. She was asked several times this weekend how she does it all. We were talking about it after everyone left, and she related to me that maybe everyone is getting the impression that it all comes easy to her. She doesn't want that. She wants people to know its just as hard for her as it would be for anyone.

My FIL and I knocked out some projects in my shop that went a long way towards getting it organized. For the last 9 months my shop has been a gigantic mess that I've never had time to organize. On his last visit he got bored and organized and cleaned the whole thing in one afternoon. This time around he had thought of a few things we could do to make it even better, and donated the raw materials and labor. He is a pack rat of sorts (as is his daughter) and he's got spare "everything" lying around. We built a lumber storage rack out of metal purline, used some wire run through the metal purline on the shop wall to make a space to store PVC pipe, and built a big workbench out of scrap lumber. The shop looks great.

The ducks were cooked up on Friday afternoon, and other than having too much food (typical for anyone's Thanksgiving), everything was great. We didn't eat much duck. I think either people were afraid to try it, or just wanted ham more. We polished off one duck, but there are 3 more sitting back in our freezer. I liked it and look forward to eating some over the next few weeks.

We kicked back after dinner and watched A&M devastate Texas, which just rounded out a great holiday. After everyone left on Saturday we broke out the Christmas decorations, and despite near freezing temperatures and sleet, I put up the outside lights. Putting up Christmas lights is one of my favortie parts of the holiday season. I didn't go overboard this year, but am contemplating putting up a few more lights before Christmas gets here.

All and all it was a great Turkey Day. Now on to Christmas!

Book Review - Mere Christianity

I don't know if audio books count, but Regina and I recently finished listening to Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis. Wow! I was totally blown away by this book. I can't really explain how, but Lewis has a way of explaining things logically and allegorically that is just amazing. I was so impressed with the arguements in this book that Regina and I agreed that it needs to become a permanent part of our library. I want all of our kids to read this when they get older. Although this book is an attempt to convince athiests and agnostics of the existence of a god and Christ as that God, it gives great apologetic explainations that we can use to bolster our faith and help us defend it.

Being a writer and philosopher by trade, Lewis's arguements center more around arguing for God's existence through that venue, rather than through science. His arguments are still just as logical. His basic premise is that man has always been haunted by the notion of "right and wrong". We have always, in every culture, had a standard for behavior and morality. It is from this foundation that he argues we have been given a conscience by God and it is this conscience that proves His existence. It may seem like a weak arguement coming from me, but you'd have to read the book to hear how eloquantly Lewis makes the case. It is one of the great apologetic works of our time.

One of my favorite parts is his rebuttal to those who try to label Jesus as a "good moral teacher'"and nothing more.

"I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronising nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

One thing I never knew about C.S. Lewis until I read this book, was that he was an ardent athiest from the time he was a young boy until he was 33 years-old. Not only does it become more unlikely for someone to come to Christ as they get older (statistically speaking), but learned people like PhD's who reject Christ usually never convert. They consider religion beneath them. That makes his conversion all the more amazing. In addition, I found it interesting to learn that J.R.R. Tolkien was a close friend of Lewis's and instrumental in his conversion. Tolkien's only regret was that Lewis became Protestant instead of Catholic like himself.

I've read a few of the comments on Amazon.com from athiests and agnostics who are wholely unimpressed with this book. From their own words it sounds like they either came to the book looking to discredit it and not being open to it, were forced to read it by Christian friends who thought it would be some kind of magic pill, or they need concrete scientific evidence and don't give philosolphical arguements any credence. To the Christian, this book is a beautiful expression of everything they've ever believed. To the skeptic whose heart is closed, it's just more Christian nonsense. Nothing new there. Only those who have let their hearts be softened by the prompting of the Holy Spirit will ever really give the arguements a chance.

The library only has a limited assortment of audio books, but they're a great way to get some reading done on the way to and from work. I have so little time to read, this might be a way to plug through some more books every year. My next audio book is "The Case for a Creator", by Lee Strobel. I've read "The Case for Christ" and loved it. Hopefully this one will be as good.

The Rewards of Homesteading

Here's a list of some of the things we find rewarding as a result of our homesteading efforts:

1. Walking past the milk section at the grocery store without buying anything.
2. Walking past the egg section at the grocery store without buying anything.
3. Being able to go months without buying chicken or pork because you've got a freezer full of it.
4. Seeing our garden in full production, green, and fruitful.
5. Having so many fresh, organically grown peaches on our kitchen counter that I have to eat 3 per day just to keep them from going bad. Mmmm!
6. Never having to buy butter or yogurt because you've got a freezer/refrigerator full.
7. Seeing your 1 year-old finally gain some weight because he's drinking that rich, creamy raw milk.
8. Eating all that homegrown food and knowing that you are eating organic and pastured (in the case of meat) and healthy stuff, yet paying a fraction of the price that same food brings on the market.
9. Being able to go out in the garden and pick fresh corn, green beans, tomatoes, etc for dinner.
10. Eating a "home grown meal" (HGM, as Reg and I refer to it). A "home grown meal" is a meal in which most of what we're eating was grown on the homestead.
11. Being able to pull a mason jar full of canned vegetables out of the cabinet when you thought had run out.

Ducks in the Freezer

Experiment # 5 in all our farm animal experiments for 2007, has passed a milestone. We processed the ducks this weekend for Thanksgiving dinner. As stated earlier this year on Regina's blog, I decided to raise ducks instead of turkeys this year for Thanksgiving, because we didn't have enough time to grow turkeys. After 3 months, the ducks were full grown and ready for the chopping block.

For the sake of our Thanksgiving guests, I will not include pictures of the event, but everything went well. They are just like processing chickens, except ducks are a lot cuter (did I just use that word?) than chickens, so it makes it a little harder to deliver the coup de grace. I also discovered that ducks have A LOT more feathers to pluck than chickens, but in some ways they're easier to pluck. Most of the feathers are downy, fluffy ones, and pull right out.

The next test is how good they taste. Only time will tell. I expect everyone will tell me they taste great, even if they don't, because they don't want to hurt my feelings. Luckily I can count on my wife to be honest behind closed doors about how they really tasted. Regina has also decided to buy a small turkey breast because, in her words: "we might not have enough meat for everyone." Maybe she's trying to have a back up in case the ducks are horrible. Either way, it's probably a good idea.

Polygamy

Hagar and Ishmael's explusion from Abraham's house

This has nothing to do with our homestead, but I had an interesting conversation with a coworker today about polygamy. The conversation began because we had read in the news that Fundamental Latter-Day Saint leader, and polygamist, Warren Jeffs had tried to commit suicide in jail. The resulting conversation touched off a debate about just what the Bible says about the subject of polygamy.

I did a little research, and here's what I found. The Bible (Old Testament specifically), is filled with examples of great men of God having multiple wives. David and Solomon are prime examples. David is largely considered Isreal's greatest king and God himself even declared him to be a man after His own heart. Solomon is also considered the wisest king in Isreal's history. Neither of these men were ever scrutinized by God for having multiple wives. However, I was surprised to learn that they were in fact living in sin through their polygamy. In Deut 17:14, 17, God strictly forbids Isreal's kings from taking "many wives" because "his heart will be led astray." Notice, God didn't say his heart might be led astray, He said it will be led astray. Therefore, David and Solomon were living in direct contradiction to God's command. However, this command did not seem to extend to all Israel, but only to the king.

So if polygamy, in general, is not condemned in the Old Testament, what does the New Testament say? Practically nothing. The only time plural marriage is even spoken of is in 1 Timothy and Titus, when elders and deacons (i.e. - church leaders) are commanded to have only one wife. So what are we to think from this?

There are some who say that God told church leaders to have only one wife because their time could be be better spent serving the church than in juggling a huge family. Therefore, we should follow the same example. I don't think this is true. Paul told us not to marry at all because if we're unhindered by family, we can spend 100% of our time serving God. If we were to take that example, none of us should be married. But we all know marriage is not a bad thing, and that God extablished it as a good and beautiful union.

My opinion is that, while not morally wrong, plural marriage is just not a good idea. Just like being rich is not a sin, you also have to realize that having great wealth opens you up to all kinds of other temptations...greed and pride specifically. In the same way, having multiple wives opens the man and women up to all kinds of other temptations they wouldn't otherwise face. Having multiple wives can lead to jealousy and animosity amongst wives. The man might play favorites or one wife can bear him children while the other can't.

One example of this is Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar. Abraham married Hagar with Sarah's blessing (one she gave without ever consulting God) so she could bear him children, but jealousy crept in and Sarah began treating Hagar badly. When Sarah finally became pregnant and birthed Issac, she treated him better than she did Hagar's son Ishmael. Did you know that the Muslims consider Ishmael the descendant of their whole people? So Issac went on to be the descendant of Jews and Christians, and Ishmael became the descendants of the Muslims. God told Hagar that Ishmael would be a "wild donkey" and would constantly in conflict with others. Sound anything like the constant struggle between Jews/Christians and Muslims that continues to this day? If Abraham had never taken Hagar as his wife, would the conflict ever have occured?

Solomon's lust for more wives was insatiable. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Someone tell me how a man is supposed to love, care for, and deeply know 700 women. This is one of those cases where his greed got WAY out of control. At this point, it was no longer about love but about power. To Solomon, his wives became a status symbol, and were nothing but property to him. In addition, his lust for more wives caused him to marry foreign women, somthing that was expressly forbidden by God. Was God prejudice or racist? Absolutely not! He knew that if Solomon married foreign women, they would bring foreign religious influence into his life and the lives of all Isrealites. He was right, because Solomon started building altars to and worshipping other gods, while trying to worship the God. And this is coming from the wisest king in Israel's history.

Polygamy was by no means present across the board in the Old Testament. Among the men who had only one wife are Adam, Noah, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, Boaz, Job, Isaiah, and Hosea. In fact, it is in the story of Adam that we see God's ideal for marriage. God ordained marriage between one man and one woman. He gave man one woman to be his helpmeet, not 700.

I often think about polygamy being akin to slavery. As hard as it is to believe in this day's culture, the Bible never condemns slavery. In Biblical times, slavery was a common thing, and instead of trying to abolish the institution, God meant to regulate the treatment of slaves. He sought to ensure that slaves were treated fairly by their masters. God knew that with slavery, just as with polygamy, people were opening themselves up to temptations they would never have had to face otherwise. Pride, greed, and malice are all sins a slave owner would be tempted by. Thomas Jefferson, who disliked slavery but owned slaves, commented that anyone who owned another person was much more likely to devalue life and humanity by giving in to a feeling of superiority.

Based on what I see in the Bible, I can not condemn polygamy as immoral or sinful, but it is a bad idea, and very little good can come from it. If we wish to live by God's ideal and learn from the mistakes of our forefathers, we'll steer clear of it. Not to mention the fact that you'll go to jail for it in this country. That would kind of put a damper on the whole experience.

Got Milk? We do!

After 5 frustrating days of getting almost nothing at milking time, we finally got a decent amount this morning. Up until now, we've been getting barely enough to wet the bottom of the milk pail. It was so pathetic it wasn't even worth the trouble, but we knew we had to keep up the routine to get Pumpkin used to it. In case you didn't know, cows LOVE routine. They want to do the same thing at the same time everyday. When you mess up their schedule, they get very grumpy. The best way to get a cow comfortable is to do the same thing every day. After a week of routine, Pumpkin is finally settling in and getting comfortable.

There were a couple of reasons we figured we weren't getting much milk. First, she wasn't letting down for us because she wanted to save it for the calf (as any good mother would). Second, we were leaving the calf with her all day, which normally would be fine, but he's snacking all day so the udder never has time to get really full. Thirdly, she's having digestional problems. I won't get into specifics, but let's just say she needs some Imodium AD pretty badly. Just like we all know when our kids have this problem, she's losing a lot of fluids and is probably pretty dehydrated. She's still eating and drinking fine, but you can just tell she doesn't feel tip top. The best cure for this is lots of good hay and water. Eventually her system will get used to the change in feed, and she'll be normal again. With so much fluid going out, she probably isn't producing at her best. I expect her production will pick up when this condition abates.

We went ahead and started seperating the calf from the cow at night. The calf is in a pen inside the barn where momma can see him and smell him and knows he's o.k. That gave her a chance for her udder to fill up. Any woman who has breast fed knows that when you're really full, it's not easy to stop the let down. (This is all second hand information to me) That's what we were counting on, and it worked!

Last night Reg seperated them for about 3 hours before she milked, and got 1 quart. She let him eat for a couple of hours, then put him back in the pen for the night. They were seperated for about 9 hours before I went out this morning, and I got 3/4 of a gallon. So, all together we got 1 gallon yesterday. We are extremely happy with this considering the miserable amount we've been getting. She only has to give us 10 gallons a month for us to break even on feed costs, so I'll take a gallon per day. We expect that to pick up as her lactation cycle continues (it usually peaks at 3 months post calving), and once her bowel problems subside.

She continues to be an angel in the stanchion, and has not gotten irritated or even acted like she might kick. If we like her production and we decide to sell a cow, I think she's the one we'll keep. We love Chloe, but Pumpkin is a joy to milk while Chloe is kind of hit-or-miss, depending on how she's feeling that day.

Pumpkin's 1st (real) Milking

I figured Pumpkin's milk would probably come in this morning, so I got up at 5:30 a.m. to give myself enough time. Sure enough, she had milk, and I started the process of her first milking. First let me say that she is an angel to milk. She has not become the least bit agitated in the stanchion and has yet to try to kick me. That may change, but so far it's been great. I cleaned her udder off, and started milking, but it was pretty evident from the beginning that she was holding up her milk. It's the same way in women. They have to let down for the milk to really start flowing. They can control this "let down", and cows are even better at it than people. This was not an unforseen obstacle. We knew she might hold up her milk for her calf, and not let me have much, we were just hoping she'd be one of the few cows that doesn't.

Based on some advice I had heard in an online milk cow forum we frequent, I tried tying the calf next to her head so she could seen him. This is supposed to stimulate let down. I know from Regina's experience that seeing your baby or hearing it cry will make let down uncontrollable. Well, it didn't work. The calf did not appreciate being tied up, and fought the whole time. Of course, seeing her calf in distress didn't help Pumpkin's mood much. In the end, I only got 1 quart of milk from a cow that can probably produce 3-4 gallons per day.

I'm not too worried though. I know enough to know that eventually she'll get used to me milking her, and will get so engorged she won't be able to help letting down. It will all pan out in a few days, and there won't be any problems. One thing that is clear is that we shouldn't wait too much longer to teach Meatloaf (the calf) to lead. The sooner he learns, the easier tying him or leading him into the calf stall will be.

I'm proud of myself for not getting frustrated. I don't like getting only 1 quart, but I also know patience will win out in the end. It's hard to be mad at her when she's such a good girl in the stanchion.

Trying to Get Pregnant II

After one week of hormone treatments and a lot of rookie mistakes, Chloe has been inseminated. We were supposed to pull the CIDR Monday at noon. Well, after at VERY long weekend with lots of driving, and a late arrival at home Sunday night, we made our first rookie mistake. We were supposed to pull Chloe's CIDR and give her a hormone shot at noon. We were so distracted from this weekend's exciting events that we totally forgot. We got up at 6 a.m. and did it. Not only did we do it at the wrong time, but I realized that I am totally inexperienced at giving cows injections. She doesn't particularly like having a huge needle shoved into her thigh, and understandable jerked away from me. The needle bent about 45 degrees, and half the injection got squirted on the floor. I had to stick her again and inject the rest.

Realizing our mistake afterwards, we called the AI specialist and asked him if our blunder was going to effect her breeding. He said it was probably best if he rearrange his schedule to come out at 7 a.m. Wednesday instead of the previously agreed upon noon. I apologized profusely for bungling very clear instructions, but he understood. The next injection came Tuesday morning. I again bent the needle when she jumped (but not as bad) and had to reinject her. This time she's had enough and promptly kicked me in the leg. Cow kicks (usually) don't cause damage, but they do hurt.

Despite our mistakes, the AI specialist arrived this morning, declared the drugs seemed to be working, and did his magic on her (the kind I want no part of learning). In about 17-21 days, if we don't see any signs of heat (the most obvious of which would be Pumpkin mounting Chloe), we can feel confident she's bred. We will still do a pregnancy test to be sure. Fingers crossed.

Also, just FYI, the cows mounting other cows in heat is not a homosexual tendency. The most common theory is that it is to let any bulls around know that the one being mounted is ready for some...ehhh...."romance". Sure, we don't have a bull, but cows don't care. They run of instinct anyway.

The New Arrival

We haven't even had Pumpkin for more than a day or two, and we already have a calf! We went out to feed them this morning around 6 a.m. and she wasn't acting weird at all. There was no signs of labor. Later on, Regina went out at about 8 a.m. to give her some grain, and there's the new arrival, laying on the ground. Pumpkin is being an excellent mother and is cleaning and warming her calf right up. This calf might be a little premature, due to the fact that the previous owner didn't think she'd calf for a month. The trailer ride home and stress of a new place might have kicked her into early labor.

So far the calf seems to be doing fine. It is alert and awake but has yet to stand and drink. I guess we'll be starting our milkings now. We still won't have any drinkable milk for the first 3 days until the colostrum is gone. We'll post more pictures and updates this week.

Dairy Trip Pics

Here are some pics of our trip to Frerich's Dairy to get our new dairy cow.

This is Pumpkin our new cow. She's due next month.

This is Belle, the Blue Bell Ice Cream mascot cow.

Here are our two girls, Pumpkin and Chloe, together.

Here's a little baby calf at the dairy.

Here are some more calves that have been weaned and turned out to pasture.

Book Review - Undaunted Courage

After 9 weeks of reading, I finally finished Undaunted Courage, a novel about the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Actually, it's advertised more as a biography of Meriwether Lewis than an overview of the expedition. That being said, 80% of the book is about the expedition.

I enjoyed this book very much. Stephen Ambrose has a way of writing that just holds my interest. There's nothing spectacular about it, it's just interesting. I wanted to learn more about the expedition because you always hear about Lewis and Clark, but I knew next to nothing about what they did. I was under the impression that the U.S. didn't know where the West coast was, and wanted to find out how far the continent extended. In fact, the U.S. knew exactly where the continent ended. In 1792, an American sea captain discovered the mouth of the Columbia River and recorded its location. Speculation began about an "all-water route to the Pacific". If America could ship trade goods up the Missouri River from St. Louis to the Rocky Mts, and then go down the Columbia River to the Pacific, they'd have the quickest route to the Orient, and the U.S. stood to gain a lot of wealth. No all-water route existed, but neither did any information on what was between Missouri and the Pacific. It was a scientific expedition as much as it was for trade.

There are a couple of amazing things I learned about the expedition:

- Sacagawea was married to a Frenchman who had won her in a gambling match with some indians. Not only that, but the tribe she lived with in North Dakota wasn't her tribe. She had been kidnapped by them when she was a teenager. One of the reasons she wanted to go on the expedition was because they would be traveling west to her homeland, and were hoping to meet up with her native tribe, the Shoshones.

- Sacagawea had just recently given birth to her son, Jean Baptiste, when she set out on the expedition. She carried him on her back from North Dakota to the Pacific and back over a period of two years. Most of us complain about taking our little ones on a 3 hour car ride, or having to carry them in a carrier for more than an hour. She was tough.

- When negotiating for horses with the Shoshones, Sacagewea would translate Shoshone into Hidatsa, her husband (who spoke poor Hidatsa) would translate Hidatasa into French, then another man would translate the French into English for Lewis and Clark to hear. I would imagine a lot was lost in translation.

- The expedition relied VERY heavily on the indians they encountered to help them get through the trip. It is doubtless it would have failed without them. They stayed with and traded with Indians during their first winter in North Dakota, they traded with indians for horses to get over the Rockies, and they lived and traded with indians living on the Pacific during their second winter. They would have starved or gotten lost in the mountains without them.

- Contrary to popular revisionist history, not all the indians were noble and honorable. Some were, and were invaluable to the expedition. Some were not, and attempted multiple times to steal from the travelers. In one instance, Lewis and one of his men had to kill two indians who were attempting to steal their rifles and horses, two items that were desperately needed for survival.

- In some indian tribes, the indian women were very promiscuous with the whites (some at the insistence of their husbands) and venereal disease was rampant among the men of the expedition. Lewis and Clark claim to never have partaken of the services offered. 80% of the medical complaints and ailments listed involved VDs.

- Only one person died on the expedition, and that death was unavoidable. One of the sergeants developed an appendicitis and died after his appendix ruptured.

- The expedition literally travelled into territory were no white man had. They were the first to see the Rockies, the great plains, and grizzly bears. It was the ultimate adventure and they could never know what to expect.

- It took so long for the expedition to get back to St. Louis that President Jefferson didn't know whether they were alive or dead. A rumor had floated that they had been captured by the Spanish (the Spanish and English both claimed land west of the Missouri River), and were slaves in the silver mines.

- The Spanish learned of the expedition through their spies in the U.S. government, and sent out four different armed parties to arrest them. None were successful in locating them.

- Guns were some of the most prized commodities amongst the indians. The expedition had to be on guard at all times because they could be easily overwhelmed and slaughtered for their weapons.

- Meriwether Lewis was prone to severe depression (inherited from his family), and committed suicide 3 years after the expedition.

I could go on forever, but this was a great book. If you're a history buff, I highly recommend it. My next book is a biography of Abraham Lincoln. We'll see how that one pans out. I'm determined not to try and finish any book that loses my interest. I like to finish whatever I start, but I have so little time to read that I can't waste time on boring books.

Trying to Get Pregnant

No, no. Regina's not trying to get pregnant (remember, we don't try anymore...). I'm talking about the cow, Chloe. We found an AI (artificial insemination) guy in town and he gave us some supplies to aid in the process. This morning we (Regina, actually) inserted a CIDR into Chloe's....um....well, "you know." It has Progesterone on it, and was followed by a Pregesterone injection (done by me). In a week we will remove the CIDR, give an injection of Estrumate, give an injection of Estrudiol, and she will be "AI'd" by the technician the day after that. All these injections are supposed to foce her body to go into heat, so she can be bred by the technician next week.

Total cost: $60

Not bad considering taking her to a bull is a lot more trouble and not as predictable. One thing I've got to mention is my complete disagreement with people who say cows have no facial expressions. If you saw the look on her face when she was having the CIDR inserted, you'd know what we're talking about. The poor thing couldn't figure out what was going on. Luckily for cows, they forget pretty quickly. I just hate poking her with all these needles. I don't want her to start associating us with getting a painful shot.

Fingers crossed, she will be preggers sometime next week.

New Cow

Well, as you may know from Regina's post, we have a useless cow. I know that may sound mean, but a dairy cow that is not either pregnant or milking is pretty useless. That will all change of course when we have her AI'd (artificially inseminated), but for now she's just good for providing us fertilizer.

Therefore, we have decided to buy a new milk cow. We are not looking to replace Chloe, but we're not willing to wait 9-10 more months for milk. Our plan is to raise them both for the time being, and depending on which one we like better, sell one of them next summer. Needless to say, Jersey milk cows are hard to find around here. This is beef country, not dairy country.

Good fortune has smiled upon us as we have found an all Jersey dairy in La Grange, TX that is willing to sell us almost any of their cows. They have a herd of 140 and said every cow is worth something, so as long as we're willing to pay, they're willing to sell. Their Jerseys range in price from $800 to $2500 depending on health, milk production, age, etc. Seeing as how Chloe cost us $1800, we're happy with the prices. Subsequently, we will be traveling there on Oct 28th to look at some cows and decide on one. We're also going to purchase a young (just a few days old) Jersey bull calf to raise for meat. Our herd is about to increase from one to three in a very short time.

One cool thing is that Belle, the Blue Bell ice cream mascot cow, resides at this dairy. Regina saw her once when she was brought to A&M, and she said Belle is the prettiest cow she has ever seen. We hope to get a couple of pictures of her. I never thought I'd say a cow is pretty, but Jerseys are just gorgeous.

Wish us luck!

Hauling Hay

Last week, we stocked up on hay for the winter. I found a good hay dealer here in town and we decided to go ahead and buy a year's worth. That way we wouldn't have to worry about it for a long time. We bought 96 bales of alfalfa. Each bale weighs about 60 lbs so I lifted a total of 5760 lbs of hay that week. Alfalfa is not easy to find around here. It requires more water to grow than we usually get here. Luckily, this guy has an irrigation system. It was expensive by hay standards ($8.50 per bale), but $2.00 cheaper than what the local feed store is selling. Not to mention the fact that Chloe likes this guy's hay better than the feed store's.

The kids had a blast climbing on the hay. I asked Sean if he would help me. He agreed. When I inquired as to whether he could lift a 60 lb bale he said: "No, but I can watch you do it." Thanks for the support. The kids climbed all over the bales and Sean and McCulla pretended to be a king and queen sitting on a throne. I never thought I would pay $800 for grass, but priorities change when you have animals.

Next year we're thinking of buying round bales. You save about 40% on cost because they're cheaper (mostly in manpower) to bale and move. It feels good to know that we're stocked up for the year, and I smile any time I look inside out hay shed. I love the smell of hay.

Where's The Beef?

So where's this calf we've been waiting for for the last 7 months? Check out Regina's blog to find out:

http://reginaorganizedchoas.blogspot.com/2007/10/got-milk-no.html

Chicken Processing Day

The day finally arrived this weekend. It was time to process our meat birds. Given the fact that this whole experiment was my idea, I hoped and prayed it would go well. My in-laws were in town to watch the kids, because we knew it would be an all day adventure.

The day began at 6:00 a.m. I set up the chicken scalder my father-in-law and I built a few months ago. You have to scald the birds after they bleed out so the feathers will come off easier. The water is not boiling, but it is hot enough that you don't want to stick your hand in there (I learned that the hard way when the sink stopper came out). I set up the processing table where Regina would eviserate the birds, and put out trash cans to put feathers and discarded body parts in.

We ate breakfast and started on the first birds around 7:30 a.m. I hung them up, bled them out and let them hang for 10-15 minutes. Then I would scald them for about 30-60 seconds, hang them back up, and pluck them. Hand plucking is by far the most tedious and time consuming part. It took me at least 30 minutes per bird. Not only that, but wet chickens don't smell the best. The closest thing would be wet dog, but worse.

After the plucking Regina would eviserate and cut off the legs. The feet can be boiled with the bones to make chicken stock. Apparently they are rich in collagen. She made me cut the heads off, which I found hilarious. She can reach inside a chicken and pull the guts out, but cutting off the head is too gross.

With a break for lunch and another to refill the scalder, it took us almost 13 hours (10-11 of which were spent working). The sun had long gone down when the final chicken was in the freezer. It feels good having a freezer full of farm raised chicken.

It was hard work, but having enough chicken for 5-6 months makes it worth it.
Here's what we learned:

- Most of these birds were as large, if not larger, than the ones you buy in the store.
- If we're going to do this again, I need a mechanical chicken plucker. My father-in-law and I will build one this winter. It has these little rotating rubber fingers that strip the feathers right off the bird. Even if it can cut the plucking time in half I'll be happy with it. Plucking is really the only reason it took as long as it did. We could probably do twice the number of chickens in one day with it.
- Our chicken scalder needs a better drain plug. We also underestimated the time it takes to get the water up to the right temperature.
- Hanging the chicken upside down to deliver the coup de grace works, but it's mighty bloody. Chickens like to flop around quite a bit as their bleeding out, and it tends to spray blood everywhere. It is possible to make something called a "killing cone", pictured below. You stick the chicken into it head first and it holds the bird still so they can't flop around and makes that part of the process a little cleaner.

- We liked raising our own chickens, and will do it again, however, we didn't like losing 1/3 of our flock to health problems. We're going to try a couple of different approaches, like buying stock from a more reputable hatchery, and buying breeds that don't grow as fast, so don't have as many health problems.

Just to give you an idea of how fast these meat birds grow, take a look at this picture. The brown chicken is an egg laying breed we bought at the same time as the meat birds. They are the same age (8 weeks) but you can see a massive difference in size. They are meaty little freaks of nature.

Bringing Home the Bacon

Yesterday I literally "brought home the bacon". Pork Chop's pork chops were ready for pick up at the local butcher. She ended up yielding 221 lbs of pork. Wow! We had no idea she was so big. Pig's are supposed to dress out at 80% of their live weight, so if that holds true then she weighed 275 lbs.

We ate some of the sausage this morning for breakfast and it was excellent. I could slaughter a pig if I had to, but it's kind of nice to be able to drop her off and get the meat back in nice clean little paper packages.

We still have to wait another 3 weeks for the hams and bacon because they have to cure. That's another 56 lbs of meat waiting. It's a good thing we bought that freezer. I think we could fit a cow and a pig in there, but not much more.

One funny thing is that they gave us the back bone. I'm not sure why. If there's any meat on it we can boil it and use the meat for soup. Then the dogs can have a treat.

This morning we had fresh eggs from our own chickens and pork from our own pig. The only thing that was missing was milk from our own cow and fresh wheat bread ground from fresh wheat and made by hand. That's coming soon.

Here's the break down on the costs of raising a pig:

$40 - purchase price
$77 - feed costs
$152 - processing costs
Total - $269

Price divided by lbs of meat = $1.21 per lb

Not bad

How Many Kids Are You Going To Have?

We have been asked that question more times than we can remember. It's a valid question. We forget sometimes that the average American only has 2.5 kids, so it must get people wondering just how many we plan to have. Not only that, but the close ages of our kids is unusual as well.

Well, Reg and I decided to tell everyone the truth, that way there's no more wondering. The best answer we can give you is: We don't know. That's an honest answer. However, a bit more information is probably warranted.

To be blunt, Regina and I have never really felt comfortable with birth control. We began our marriage not using it (hence Sean's birth 9 months later), and haven't used it since. We couldn't shake the feeling that we were taking the control out of God's hands. Our plan was to have as many kids as we wanted, and let God plan when they came. Then we could stop.

Nevertheless, we kept getting this nagging feeling that we were still trying to control things ourselves, instead of leaving it up to God. Still, we ignored it. I mean, how many people do you know that have more than three or four kids? Large families are just rare today.

Then we stumbled on it. At first it seemed stupid, but the more we thought about it, the more it just seemed to make sense, and the more God chipped away at our stubborness. We don't like to lump ourselves into some defined group, but the closest thing to our philosophy would be the "quiver full" movement. If you'd like to read more about it, you can find it on Wikipedia. The term comes from Psalms 127:3-5:

"Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their enemies in the gate."

The basic premise is that children are a blessing. The Bible makes no distinction between the blessing of children and other God-given blessings (money, prosperity, health, etc). Most people would absolutely agree that their children are blessings from God. The difference is the way we perceive those blessings. We kept asking ourselves: "If children are blessings, why would we actively move to limit those blessings? Would we ask God to stop giving us health, money, or prosperity? Absolutely not. So if children are blessings, why should we want to stop having them?"

Not only that, but the Bible is also very explicit about the fact that God is the sole authority on opening and closing the womb. There are plenty of examples. So if God knows when to give people children and when not to, why am I acting as if I know better than He does? Some people who are "quiver full" think they should have as many babies as possible before their fertile years are over. We are not inclined to that. We feel that is again trying to take control of something that God already has a plan for. We would rather just let Him decide when and how many we have.

Now there are some sticking points in this whole thing. First, there are people who are loving, devoted, godly Christians who just can't seem to get pregnant. We are not going to judge those situations. Is God closing the womb due to some undealt with sin? Is it just not time for them to bear children yet? Does he have some other purpose for them (missionary work or adoption)? These are questions that can only be answered in earnest prayer on their part. Secondly, there are women who literally take thier lives into their own hands by getting pregnant. I've met them. Doctors tell them it is extremely dangerous to have children because of some ailment or condition. Should they continue to let themselves get pregnant? Again, I can not answer that. I think only God can speak to each individual couple.

Lastly, do we realize just how many children we could have if we don't use birth control? I can answer that one. Yes, we realize, and if you don't think it scares us, you're dead wrong. It scares us. Can we handle it? Can we afford it? We don't know. What we do know is that God is in control of everything, and the Bible is very clear that He takes care of His children. I can't believe that He would give us children without giving us the money to feed and clothe them, or the strength to organize, care for, and raise them. It is an enormous responsibility, and can be frightening, but we have complete trust in the Lord and that He knows what He is doing. We are reminded that up until about 80 years ago, there was no such thing as birth control (other than abstinence). People didn't have a choice other than to trust God, and their circumstances could have been far worse than ours today.

Another step we will not take is to become legalistic about this. This is how God has spoken to our family, and I would never imply that others sin or displease God by not having a large family. If you are earnestly seeking His will and leaving your heart open to His leading, He will guide you where He wants you to go. That's all we can do as believers, and this is where He has led us.

This whole thing is quite unnerving and uncertain to us, but that's a pretty good indication to us that it is from God. The more we turn our lives over to Him the more we find Him leading us down paths we never even thought of before, and the more peace He gives us that He is in control. It's a matter of faith, I suppose. We have recently met some Christian families with the same philosophy as ours, and that is extremely encouraging. They are wonderful, happy families, and we have already learned so much from their faith and experience.

Anyway, that's our family's philosophy. I don't expect everyone to understand or agree, but we felt we might as well let you know where we're coming from.

What Can Homesteading Offer A Large Family?

As is probably obvious to just about everyone by now, we have (and are going to have) a large family. How large? Well, that is the subject for another post, but the definition of "large family" varies by who you talk to anyway.

So what does homesteading have to offer a large family? Well, not that long ago, people didn't have much control of how large their family got, but the large family offered the homestead manpower. It's a bit of a moot point for us though, because we don't homestead to make a living, so we do it to the level we can handle, and no more. Sure, having more kids means more work can be done, (bigger gardens can be grown, etc) but since you have more kids you have to grow more food anyway, so it cancels itself out.

The overall advantages of homesteading to children were outlined in my "Why Homestead" post in August. Those, of course, carry over for large families, but it's really the aspects of large families that homesteading highlights and enhances that I want to focus on.

In large families, children must learn that they are part of a team. Individual wants and desires many times have to take a back seat to the needs of the family. This is an ideal way to teach a child selflessness and consideration for others. Children are, by nature, selfish. They think primarily of themselves and have yet to learn the value in thinking of others first. Usually children learn this virtue when interacting with other children or their siblings. In a large family, they also learn that the family must come before themselves as well. If their is a giant pile of dishes in the sink, they may have to put off reading or playing until it is done. It is unsanitary and uncitely to leave those dishes there and Regina or I can not be expected to do everything.

It is simply the fact that the amount of work around a homestead is greater and that the focus of the homestead is on producing food for the family, that make this "selflessness for the famiy's sake" aspect even more prevelant. The children are not milking, or mowing, or gardening simply because we don't want to do it, but because without their help it would not get done, and the end result benefits the whole family.

I would agree with anyone who said that a child's life should not consist of work, work, and more work. They should be given time to play, explore, and use their imagination. It is not our intent to use our kids as forced labor, and have their lives consist of only work and studies. However, just as there is value in play, there is also value in work. It is that point which we wish to highlight to the children, and from which they will gain character, integrity, and a good work ethic.

Bye-Bye Pork Chop

Today was the day. We took our first pig, Pork Chop, to the butcher. The whole event was fairly uneventful. We went out about 7 a.m. and hosed her off. She didn't like that so much, but did like Regina brushing the mud off of her. It must have felt good.

Here's Cam and Pork Chop when she was only 8 weeks old.

Here's the comparison on "processing day"

Our goal was to get the worst of the mud off, not necessarily to get her clean. I tied a rope on her to guide (tug) her where we needed her to go. We knew her pretty well, and figured she'd go in the crate out of mere curiousity without much fuss. We were right. I opened the door and in she went. She didn't like being closed in there, but calmed down soon enough.

We used some metal ramps I bought from Harbor Freight to roll her into the bed of the truck. That part could have been easier, but it got the job done. Next time I might just walk the pig up the ramp and and put her into the crate that way. We'll see.

The fam piled in the van while I drove the truck and we unloaded her at the butchers. We didn't even have to take the crate out. I pulled the truck into a corral and we just opened up the crate and let her jump down from the truck. Then they herded her into a smaller pen.

We told the man what we wanted: whole hams and bacon cured, one inch shoulder steaks, one inch pork chops, and sausage. When asked if we would like the head back, we politely declined. All and all Reg and I both considered it a very easy job. We liked raising our first pig and will do it again. First we want to see how much meat we get before we buy another. After the butcher it was off to Home Depot to buy a freezer to store all that meat in. We will get most of the meat back next week, and the hams and bacon will take a few more. (They have to cure).

It was a fun and educational day on the homestead.

Lincoln Denies A Loan

A few weeks ago we were rummaging through my in-laws barn, helping them get rid of boxes of old stuff, and we came across The Book of Virtues, by William J. Bennett. It is a collection stories and poems that teach all kinds of moral lessons on things like hard work, faith, courage, etc. Regina and I absolutely fell in love with it, and Reg tries to read a little to the kids every day. We're fully convinced that every family should have this book in their house. It is a perfect companion to lessons we are teaching them right out of the Bible. The author's credibility has been called into question because it was revealed in 2003 that he has gambled excessively and lost millions of dollars over the years. While he is Catholic (they don't condemn gambling), and he is not in debt due to his gambling, some feel this makes him a hypocrite. Regardless, he did not write the moral stories and poems, he just compiled them, and the debatable morality of his gambling doesn't change those moral truths contained in his book.

The following is a letter contained within the Book of Virtues, written from Abraham Lincoln to his half brother, who had requested a loan of $80 because he had fallen on hard times. As if I didn't already have the utmost respect and admiration for President Lincoln, I was very impressed by his response to his half-brother. I've bolded my favorite parts:


[Dec. 24, 1848]

"Dear Johnston:

Your request for eighty dollars, I do not think it best to
comply with now. At the various times when I have helped you a little, you have said to me, "We can get along very well now," but in a very short time I find you in the same difficulty again. Now this can only happen by some defect in your conduct. What that defect is, I think I know. You are not lazy, and still you are an idler. I doubt whether since I saw you, you have done a good whole day's work, in any one day. You do not very much dislike to work, and still you do not work much, merely because it does not seem to you that you could get much for it. This habit of uselessly wasting time, is the whole difficulty; it is vastly important to you, and still more so to your children, that you should break this habit. It is more important to them, because they have long to live, and can keep out of an idle habit before they are in it, easier than they can get out after they are in. You are now in need of some ready money; and what I propose is , that you shall go to work, "tooth and nail," for somebody who will give you money for it. Let Father and your boys take charge of your things at home - prepare for a crop, and make the crop, and you go to work for the best money wages, or in discharge of any debt you owe, that you can get. And to secure you a fair reward for your labor, I now promise you that for every dollar you will, between this and the first of May, get for your own labor wither in money or in your own indebtedness, I will then give you one other dollar. By this, if you hire yourself at ten dollars a month, from me you will get ten more, making twenty dollars a month for your work. In this, I don't mean you shall off to St. Louis, or the lead mines, or the gold mines in California, but I mean for you to go at it for the best wages you can get close to home - in Coles County. Now if you will do this, you will soon be out of debt, and what is better, you will have a habit that will keep you from getting in debt again. But if I should now clear you out, next year you will be just as deep in as ever. You say you would almost give your place in Heaven for $70 or $80. Then you value your place in Heaven very cheaply, for I am sure you can with the offer I make you get the seventy or eighty dollars for four of five months' work. You say if I furnish you the money you will deed me the land, and if you don't pay the money back, you will deliver possession - Nonsense! If you can't now live with the land, how will you then live without it? You have always been kind to me, and I do not now mean to be unkind to you. On the contrary, if you will follow my advice, you will find it worth more than eight times eighty dollars to you."

Affectionately,
Your Brother

A. Lincloln

Is It Time?

That's what we've been asking ourselves the last few days in regards to our cow having her calf. She's started showing some of the classic signs: fidgety-ness, udder bagging up (getting bigger), licking her sides, wobbly-ness in her tail head, and a few others that are too gross/graphic to mention.

Yesterday we thought it was going to happen that day. Things seemed to be progressing nicely, but seemed to fall off at the end of the day. We're not only excited to have a cute little calf running around, but we can't have any of that delicious milk until it's born.

We know it will happen "soon". Whether that means weeks, days, or hours is still up in the air.

The Pig Crate

Here is the pig crate I built to transport Pork Chop to the butcher next week. My three little piggies got to play in it and posed for a photo op.

I made it from parts of a wooden crate my field and brush mower came in. My favorite part is that all the wood was free.

As mentioned before, my plan is to attach casters to the bottom and roll it into the truck using some metal ramps I bought from Harbor Freight. The butcher has been called, and we're scheduled to take her over on Wednesday morning. I'll give an update on how it went.

She's Ready

We taped Pork Chop again last night and she weighed in at 215 lbs. She is technically ready for slaughter. Everything I've read says you should ship them to the butcher anywhere between 200-300 lbs. Obviously the taping method is a rough estimate, but gives us a good indication she's ready.

The only problem is that we still have no way to get her to the butcher. I started building a crate last night that we plan to put her in for the trip. We haven't yet solved the problem of how to get the crate into the truck bed once she's in. If she weighs 200+ lbs and the crate weighs at least 50 lbs, we'll need at least 4 people to lift it in. We don't have 4 people, so my proposed solution is to attach casters (swiveling wheels) to the bottom of it and roll it up some boards into the truck. I have no idea how well this will work.

Right now the plan is to finish the crate this weekend and take her to the butcher on August 24th. The butcher says I have to make an appointment a week out. We'll report back on how butchering day goes.

EGGS!!!

Finally! I never thought I'd be so excited to see an egg in my life. Peeking in that nest box and seeing that beautiful light brown egg sitting there was the highlight of my day yesterday. After 21 weeks of (not so) patient waiting our chickens are finally laying. I only found one yesterday, but I expect the other hens to start soon. They had perfect timing too. Regina was going to pick up a carton of eggs at the store this morning. I'm sure she'll sail by that section with a smile on her face this morning. In 3 weeks we'll have fresh milk in the fridge, fresh butter on toast, fresh eggs for breakfast, fresh pork in the freezer and fresh chicken for dinner. Yum!

This Week(end)

The weekend is always a busy time at Promised Land. There are always lots of outside projects to be done. It was doubly so this week, because I had the whole week off from work. Here's a general list of what we accomplished this week and weekend:

- Moved new laying hens (4 Americaunas) outside with the meat chickens
- Mowed the north pasture (well most of it)
- Cleaned out milk barn. The calf will be arriving soon, and it needed cleaning for the event.
- Finished outlining sandbox for kids and filled it halfway with sand (more on this later).
- General weeding, fertilizing and watering in the garden
- Killed two chickens and processed the breast meat
- General house cleaning

It's been a busy week.

You Want A Dairy Cow?!?

That question was asked of us many times before Chloe was purchased. The most recent inquirer was our neighbor out here, who upon learning of our plans, asked if we realized we had to milk it everyday. Our response in the affirmative earned us a "you must be stupid" look.

I'm not sure how our desire to have a dairy cow came about, but I believe Regina mentioned the idea, sort of off hand, to me. We both did a little research to see if anyone really had a "family cow" anymore, and to our surprise we found many articles, two books, and even an online forum just for people who want or own a family cow. Reading all that stuff got us excited. We found ourselves wanting to have fresh raw milk, make fresh butter and cheese, and have a calf to raise every year for beef.

Up until that point we really just wanted to live in the country and have a few chickens. The dairy cow idea was what really got us into homesteading. Most of the magazine articles were from homesteading magazines, and most of the people on the cow forum did homesteading. Of course we started reading all that stuff, and got more interested in self-sufficiency.

Having Chloe has been a joy. We had some rough moments at first (mainly with her and I getting along during milking), but those were soon ironed out, and gained us valuable experience anyway. There are some downsides to having a cow. We don't enjoy as much freedom as we used to. When she's milking twice a day we can't just go out to dinner without planning ahead when we're going to fit in the milking. We can't just pick up and go out of town anymore. That's not a huge deal as we didn't go places much anyway, but it makes planning camping trips harder, which is something we really enjoy.

The pros have so far outweighed the cons for us. We enjoy the fresh dairy, and the feeling of self-sufficiency that our cow provides. I find myself just stopping and admiring her sometimes. There's something so satisfiying to me about seeing our cow graze in our field at sunset. It kind of feels like I'm reconnecting with my roots or some inate desire programmed into man to have and work the land. I get the same feeling when I'm gardening. It's hard to explain. I don't know if we'll have a dairy cow forever, but for now we love it, and wouldn't trade her for the world.