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.