Tidbits

-You know you have flies in the house when you hang a new sticky fly strip and within five minutes is has ten flies on it. Two hours later, over thirty flies have landed on it! Plus, there's still at least a dozen flies roaming the house. All this after both Lanny and I spent an hour swatting flies this morning.

-My car is possessed. I keep having weird, but explainable according to Lanny, things happen while I am driving it. Yet, these things almost always happen when I am driving, never when Lanny is the driver. Except the tape player...It randomly turns on even without a tape in it no matter who is driving.

-We have two escape artists-in-training right now. Never underestimate a calf who is determined to find a bottle or Momma-whichever comes first. Nothing will hold them when they are hungry.

-On top of two Houdini-like calves, we have a steer who somehow manages to sneak into the very places you wouldn't think he could fit. So far, he's snuck out of the holding pen three times into a fenced in area full of boards, cement blocks, and stickers, and managed to fit through three wires of electric fencing into my garden. Thankfully, he only munched the quack grass growing in there. Hmmm...Maybe I should let him in there more regularly if he's such a good 'weed whacker'.

-I wish my sweet corn would hurry up and ripen already. I am craving it something fierce but with 300+ feet of it out in the field, I hate to buy it from the store.

-I will never take having meat in the freezer for granted again. It only takes having your puppies unplug your chest freezer and causing your entire meat supply to spoil to keep that in perspective. Our freezer may smell a bit icky at times, but at least it's got fresh meat in it again.

-Thank Goodness It's Over! Lanny is 'officially' back on a 'regular' diet again! Yay! Wait...He did say he didn't want to eat sugar (or anything derived from sugar) if possible. And he's already talking about another diet idea... I think I'm going to hide his 'milk' books for awhile. They keep giving him ideas...

-Gotta get back to work. There's dishes to wash, flies to swat, a garbage to empty, and a whole list of other chores to finish today. At least I get to go to town tomorrow and hit up some garage sales while I am there! Can't wait!

Climbing on my soapbox

L got an email from one of his sisters with a link to an article on how the US produces so-called 'cheap' food. It's called "Getting Real About the High Price of Cheap Food." I agree with it's premise that the food industry has gotten to be just that-it's all about the almighty dollar instead of raising healthy food. The article also talks about what we can do to fix our food situation. It's amazingly simple: go back to small family-owned farms and use less chemicals/antibiotics to raise crops and animals. I totally agree with the premise that the American food industry relies way too much on scientific and chemical means to grow more food in less time and with less cost. For example-many small grains are harvested after being sprayed with Round-Up so it can be harvested faster and cheaper but don't all weed killers have 'Toxic-do not ingest' warning labels on them? According to the author, we are doing everything right on our farm. Our cows are allowed access to pasture and the outside world on all but the most inclement winter days instead of being cooped up 24-7. (Even on subzero degree days, the cows still love to go outside so it's got to be really bad out there before they want to stay indoors all day long.) Our crops are averaging reasonable yields yet we don't spray or use any chemicals of any kind. We use natural fertilizers, minerals, and crop rotation to keep the soil healthy. We treat our cows with homeopathic and natural remedies with higher success rates than my in-laws saw using conventional treatments. Yes, it's more expensive to farm this way, but I feel so much better about eating what we produce because there aren't the chemicals there. I don't want to blow my own horn here, but simply point out that we don't do things 'conventionally' and are still yielding much the same results. My challenge to you is this-read the article and think about it's message. Do you agree or disagree with the article? If you don't agree, I don't expect you to change your mind. I just want you to think about it. I didn't come by my opinions on organics overnight and I don't expect anyone else to either.

Cloth Diapers

As many of you may already know (and if you don't, now you will) I am due in early February. After my prior miscarriages, I am still nervous about the possibility of another but everything is going well so far. Anyway, I am curious about cloth diapers. I know, I know...You might be thinking I am crazy but I have good reasons for wanting to try cloth diapers. Being an organic farmer's wife, I personally feel a responsibility to be at least somewhat 'green' and this is, in my opinion anyway, another way for me to do that. (Disposable diapers don't compost as I found out when our dog dragged one home from a dump pile and proceeded to shred it on my doorstep.) Plus, they save money and are easier on a baby's bum (or so I've been told).

I am just curious of your experiences with 'clothies' (or lack thereof). What is your opinion? Use them or not? If you have used them, do you recommend them? What brands, styles, etc. did you try? Any that aren't so good? And do you know of any resources where I could find more information on cloth diapers?

Cows And Kids

Cows are like kids. They drool, are capable of making a much larger mess than you thought possible, holler when they are hungry, do what they want to do rather than what you would like them to do, and eat their own snot.