Christmas

The three girls with their dolls from Great-Grandma Omma and chocolates from Grandma Babbos this morning ;-) Kinah was lovin the paper too!

Only by His grace - Marion

Summer Pics

Shekinah tormenting Uncle John ;-) " hey Mom! his head is fuzzy!" ;-)

Shekinah really liked Gram's Cinderella doll, she was getting her first teeth and chewing on everything.

Canning beets this summer, Kinah was loving the colors!

Our three girls ;-) Aren't they cute?

Shekinah met a friend's mini poodle in October, she couldn't get over the silky curls, and kept running her fingers through them and smiling ;-)

Relinda dancing with her shadow in the sunshine one summer afternoon, the sun came right in the window, Deborah wouldn't dance, she was afraid she would miss something ;-)

We Have Highspeed! and Relinda's birthday ;-)

We just got high speed internet! This means that I can now upload pics in less than an hour! yippee! ;-) This is a few pics of the girls on Relinda's birthday, November 24th, she turned 4 ;-) What a big girl! ;-) notice how often she changed her clothes ;-) They get a real kick out of "getting dressed" ;-) They especially enjoyed the "food" that Omma sent -Only by His grace - Marion

Sunset at The Shepherd's Fold

The other day I went outside around sunset, it was so pretty I had to share ;-)

Only by His grace - Marion

Life goes on ;-)

Here we are a week after our new baby ;-) The older girls can't get enough of her, and fight over who gets to bring me diapers ;-) I need to talk Daddy into letting me get a picture of him with his girls. He's a bit camera-shy ;-) He takes good care of us though. With the help of friends and neighbors (not to mention family) he managed to pull off the June chicken dressing and our second CSA pick-up without letting me do much of anything ;-) We had a heavy rain last night, so he took the day off today to go inspect the bees in Medina county. Joseph is a farmer first, and an Apiary Inspector for 3 counties in his "spare" time ;-) We had a late calf born last week, and got another batch of chicks in, but other than that it's been pretty quiet around here, compared to normal I mean ;-) well, I'd better get off the computer, my phone has been ringing off the hook today ;-) God Bless!! Only by His grace - Marion

It's a girl!!!

Shekinah Rose was born at home at 4:35 AM on

June 15th (Father's Day ;-)) She was 19 1/2 inches long

and weighed 8 pounds even.

Welcome to the world little one!

Only by His grace - Marion

Long time no post ;-)

Yikes, sorry folks, but first my camera wouldn't cooperate, then for some strange reason Blogger decided I didn't exist. ;-) that's OK though, I didn't really have time to post anyway ;-) We've been getting ready for CSA shares to start, which they did today, finally! We opened the season with rhubarb, spinach, onions, radishes, lettuce, spearmint, and peonys, with a loaf of fresh wheat bread for good measure;-) I hope you all enjoy your baskets! With the crazy weather we've been getting ( frost the last of may!) things weren't growing as fast as we would have liked. then today we had almost 95! whatever ;-) since the heat hit, everything, including the weeds, has been growing like, well, weeds. The problem has been that the garden is too wet to be out there pulling them ;-) we'll catch up as soon as it dries off though ;-) In the meantime we are anticipating the arrival of our third child ;-) Hoping we go any day now, due monday. the girls are bubbling with excitement, Relinda talks of nothing else, and Deborah, who is just getting this talking thing, walks around commenting "noo beebee" every time she catches sight of my belly ;-) the first thing they do when they get up is "give the baby a hug" ;-) Too cute! will post pics when we have them ;-) Everything else is going as planned, the chickens are growing, and selling out , fast. The first batch is already gone, and we are about sold out through September. ;-) We have a beef going in in late July if any of you are needing meat, he is not all sold yet. We found a new place that can do hotdogs, bologna, beef sticks, jerky, and even beef bacon all without nitrates or MSG. Too cool! We also got a batch of pullet chicks, old fasioned breeds, to sell as pullets, as well as selling eggs. We got Rhode Island Reds, an dependable old breed, and Black Australorps, known for laying well even in hot weather. We then ordered a few just for fun ;-) Americanas, which lay green eggs, Blue Andalusians, a silver-colored white egg layer, and Wellsummers, who lay eggs that are a dark chocolate color ;-) What fun! Well, I'd best be going, I'm about done for the day ;-) That extra weight wears on you after a while ;-) the girls are about ready for bed too ;-) See ya later!

Only by His grace - Marion

Busy, Busy, Busy ;-)

Goodness! It seems like forever since I've had time to sit down and update this, ;-) in the meantime, everything is growing. The pastures have changed from a dull brown to a brilliant green, and the steers have been spending alot of time outside, taking advantage of all of the new spring growth. The bull, Demetrius, is out with them, and seems to be enjoying it as much as the younger fellows ;-)

The chicks are outside now, running around in the sunshine, but they are not exactly little anymore, in fact, they are about half grown already, and we are due to get the next batch any day now. ;-) we will also be getting our pullet chicks around May 5th. We have spent the last few weeks plowing and planting all of the early crops, peas, potatoes, onions, lettuce, spinach, and radishes. I'll be putting in a few more rows today, before it rains again ;-) We also put in a small orchard, peaches, plums, apricots, pears, and apples, as well as a few seedless grapes. none of them will bear this year, of course, but in a few years we should have plenty of fruit. ;-) Can't get my pics to cooperate, so I'll finish this with another post ;-)

Cheep,Cheep ;-)

Baby Chicks! The first batch of the year. These little guys ( yes, all males) got here just a few days ago. The children are pretty excited. ;-) There are 175 of them, and they won't stay this small very long. They are already bigger that they were yesterday. It's amazing how fast they will grow in the next two months. We will keep them inside on sawdust bedding (great for scratching) for the first couple of weeks ;-) they need to be nice and warm to get a good head start. As soon as they are big enough to go outside they will be on pasture untill they are ready to dress. If you have not ordered yours yet for May please do ASAP. We are quickly selling out. Only by His grace - Marion

The Tomatoes are up!!

Finally! It seems like forever since I planted them. Just the sight of those little green leaves makes me feel like it's really spring ;-) For out CSA members, this is when the real work starts for farmers. ;-) As soon as the garden dries out from all of the rain we've been having we will start planting lettuce, peas, radishes, onions, and spinach. This is also the time of year we start having babies ;-) Here is one of the first little fellas to arive on the scene. I will put up pics of bees and chicks when we get them too. ;-) Only by His grace - Marion

Welcome to life on the Farm!

This is my first time blogging, so please keep this in mind while I get used to it ;-) I will be using this space to keep friends, family, customers and CSA members up to date on what's going on around here. You might see some things that are not exactly farm news, but the farm is life around here, and all of life affects the farm, so don't be surprised by the children's birthday pictures ;-) I hope to have some farm pics up in the next few days, so check back ;-) Only by His grace - Marion