No technology Wednesday

This week, we are starting no technology Wednesdays for the children. Although we have no TVs, the boys still get (and want) some "screen time" everyday! And they have had more than usual this last week as I've been down and out with the flu! So today...no Papa Louie Freezeria on my smart phone or Backyardigans on the Kindle!  Instead- they are doing art while enjoying their new desks! Thanks Mimi and Papa! 

JJ's desk...empty!

JJ and Pick both sitting in Pickle's desk!

Who needs an on screen keyboard when you can write in beautiful cursive letters! So glad JJ's school still teaches this!

"Police ship" by Pick. 

PS: shearing sheep pictures to come soon! 

Never dull in the country!

Look what J found...and rescued from the sump pump (not sure what that is or if I even spelled it correctly)!

Two salamanders! J and the boys released them near the mud pond on the land.

Good Morning!

Farm fresh eggs and homemade blueberry muffins for breakfast!

Spring has arrived to the farm!

Aoife and her twins munching on GREEN grass!

Lily and Jane grazing on our lawn...who needs a lawn mover when you have a herd of sheep and goats!

My favorite picture! The farm in springtime!

Country Vet Visit

Today, our country vet paid us a visit.  Actually, we paid him to visit us... but you know what I mean. 

The vet came out for a few reasons, but one in particular.  Farmer J noticed the lambs, especially little boy and Una (our newest arrivals and Aoife's twins) have a bit of a runny nose and some pimple like sores around their mouths.  J did some research and was pretty sure that the lambs contracted "sore mouth" or more medically referred to as the "orf virus."  And... the vet confirmed J's diagnosis was spot on! 

Here is a link to the CDC website for the inquisitive mind. 

http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvrd/orf_virus/ 

Basically, "sore mouth" is like a sheep versus of "chicken pox" or shall I say, "sheep pox." It's very unlikely that us humans will contract the virus but it can happen.  Our country vet has been around lots of "sore mouth" patients (even in his own herd- he is also a sheep farmer) and has yet to contract it! But to be safe, we are going to keep the children (and our 30+ Easter guests) away from the animals.  And... if Farmer J does get "sore mouth", he cannot spread it to other humans.  

With the exception of the "sore mouth" virus, he said the lambs looked very healthy.  Even Little Boy is not so little anymore.  The vet gave all the animals a vaccination and gave Farmer J advise on "tail docking" the female lambs and castrating Little Boy.  We have to castrate Little Boy as he could become "sexually active" as early as 3 months old (he is almost one month old).  You can see why we do not want him having "relations" with his female relatives!  The tail docking is done for hygiene reasons.  Especially with female sheep, their pee/poop can get on their tail and this often results in MAGGOTS!  Ughh. 

Here is a link for further information on sheep tail docking, castrating and "banding".

http://www.sheep101.info/201/dockcastrate.html

After a trip to the local farm store, Farmer J "banded" the female's tails and Little Boys' testicles.  The vet showed J how to do it when he was here! If you go to the website above (Sheep 101), you can see the green rubber bands and the "elastrator" tools he used.  I, once again, was J's wary assistant (having anxiety provoking flashbacks to when he talked me into helping him wash the sheep not too long ago.) My job was to hold the (wiggly, ever more heavy and "sheep pox" infected) lambs, while J put on the bands.  I tried to calm them as they tried to get away and baa'ed for their mama (and their mama was bleating back to them).  I tried to give them love (without getting infected with "sore mouth" in the process).  For those who don't know me well, I'm quite OCD and a recovering hypochondriac-- so this task was not easy for me.  But, at my core, I'm a caregiver and I wanted to reduce the lambs anxiety.  I have been assured that banding to tail dock and castrate is the most humane method.  And the alternative of not docking and castrating would be maggots and inbred animals.  So, there's that to keep in mind.  

Farmer J has been very attentive to our flock.  As I type this, and the night sky is dark, he is still outside checking on the lambs.  Anyone who knows J, knows he has a heart of gold.  

Below are some pictures from the recent vet visit!

Our sheep flock! Little boy is front right.

Lily

                                          Jane

Jane- what a beauty! 

Vaccination time! Farmer J and our vet got it done quickly!

I need to get Farmer J, the boys and myself some of these

overalls!  You can't go into the pasture without the goats

jumping up on your legs and getting "pasture" (a.k.a., poop,

dirt, hay, grass- or anything else in a goats hoof) all over

your pants.  Farm overalls for pasture time could definitely 

decrease laundry time. 

Our curious goats wondered what was happening! Your

turn is coming...

The vet is showing J where to "dock' the tail (after the 2nd

vertebrae).  J's real life work experience as a chiropractor

and anatomy instructor is paying off!

Here the vet is showing J how to band Little boy's furry

boy parts.  This was actually kind of interesting.  In sheep,

the boys have tiny "tits" by their testicles and their penis is quite 

high up under their belly.   Right above his penis is his umbilical

cord, that still hasn't fallen off yet but is quite dried up.  As

I type this, I'm thinking...I can't believe I'm typing this...

what has happened to my life.  Back to reality, J had to 

make sure to band low enough to castrate the ram but

not low enough where the "tits" were banded too!  Reasoning:

no clue... just what the vet said!

The sign on the vet's truck door!  

The coffee mug says "spring time" but in the background of this picture I see no buds or leaves on the trees and the skies are grey!  The forecast for Easter Sunday- 70 degrees and no rain!  

Rain...sleet...hail...snow???

This Midwest winter will not quit! It's spring on the calendar but we have a few inches of snow in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow! Last night, a hail storm so loud it kept us all up until 11! At least tonight we can fall asleep to the pitter patter of rain falling on the rooftop. I'm off to dream of spring...

Cleaning with water!

On Friday mornings, Pick Pick and I clean the kitchen and bathrooms. With Norwex, we mopped the floor, cleaned window markers off the windows, washed the kitchen table, countertops and outside of the appliances... With just Norwex microfiber cloths and WATER! 

Norwex mop system! My father in law also loves this product! 

I made the mop as low as it could go: Pickle height!

Child labor!

When I need a little extra cleaning power,

I put my foot on the mop and push down hard while I scrub! Exercise and cleaning all in one! A good farm wife knows how to multi-task!

Pickle cleans the table with the Norwex dish cloth and water. 

I spray the lettuce with the same cleaning  spray I use on the table... Water!

With wiggly little boys, there is as much mess on the chairs as on the table!

I dust with the Norwex dust mitt!

Window markers are a big hit in our house! 

With my Norwex Enviro cloth and the Polish cloth, with water...

And some more child labor...

Clean windows!

Lady birds

Ladybugs are called ladybirds in the U.K. and Ireland. They are also sometimes called Lady Cows. I call them "the enemy" and as of late I have been obsessed with sucking them up with my trusty sidekick (aka my shop vac). Hands down, the shop vac is every farm wife's bestie! 

The ladybirds are around the farmhouse all year but are out of control in the spring! I can suck up all the ladybirds I can find and as soon as the shop vac is put away.... I see twenty more! My solution...not putting away the shop vac. Yes, we have all tripped over the obnoxiously long, orange extension cord connected to the shop vac but there have been no serious injuries...yet ( please pray for us!)

These ladybugs, which are actually beetles, are everywhere.  One particularly bad night involved me getting dive bombed by them in bed (as they are attracted by the light of my computer). One got stuck in my hair and I found another one crawling in my armpit! Nasty!

My only joy comes from sucking them into my vacuum cleaner or picking them off me and flicking them across the room  (they make an odd noise when their outer shell hits the wall or the wooden floor). 

I know this blog paints me in a very non "lady" like light, chucking and sucking beetles up whenever I can, but these bugs have the entire farm...the house is mine!

The black little dots...the enemy!

Getting closer!

Gotcha! 

2 Years on the farm!

Two years ago, I started "The Wary Farmwife" blog.  I began this blog as a way to share our upcoming farm journey with family and friends (as we were, and still are, not on Facebook).  3500 page views later (with likely 1/3 of those page views being my own), The Wary Farmwife blog is still going strong...and so is our family and farm.  And with time comes growth.  I'm no longer a "wary" farmwife at all.  Two years ago, I was the definition of wary: feeling or showing caution about possible dangers or problems.  

I was concerned about the isolation of moving away from family and friends.  I was cautious about changing jobs and leaving behind co-workers (a.k.a, dear friends).  I was nervous about changing schools for my oldest son and putting my youngest into part-time daycare (for 5 weeks until the semester was over). But more than anything, I was worried that I would HATE living on a farm, when I knew that J (and likely the boys) would fall in love with country life immediately.

Like anything, there were ups and downs.  The move went well.  JJ was adjusting fairly well to finishing out 4K in another program.  Farmer J was enjoying less of a commute to work.  But my new job wasn't a great fit and Pickle and I didn't adapt well to daycare (more me than him, if I'm being totally honest). Luckily, we quickly found Miss Kristin (our part-time in home nanny) and within 9 months I found a new job that I loved.

Some downs:

-bats flying in the house
-JJ finding a bat in his bed

-barn cat trapped under the house

-bees living in the wall outside our bedrooms

-dead bees from first bee hive trial

-chickens in the road

-frozen car doors from no garage

-failed chicken tractor
-lost chickens- RIP
-goats eating all the raspberry plants when they got in the garden

But many more ups:
-rescued barn cat from under the house

-boys playing on the swing in the barn in mid-winter

-boys making a fort out of hay, alfalfa and straw bales

-boys finding deer skulls and other random bones to play with

-boys going on nature hikes all around the farm; "You sure dis a good idea, dada?" (even in the moonlight)

-boys eating warm cherry tomatoes from the garden

-finding eggs in farmer J and the boy's pockets
-Farmer J gardening by the moonlight
-raising baby goats
-healthy baby lambs born on the farm
-eggs 'over easy' from our coop
-storytime in front of the fireplace
-finding Trinity (the boys rural, Christian school) and our church
And I could go on and on

Part of what has made this experience so wonderful is the kindness and respect the owners of this farm (our landlords) have shown us over the past two years.  Through it all (bat removal, attic bat poop clean-up, new propane tank, new wood burning stove, new hot water heater and the various other odd jobs around the house and farm), Mr. Jim, Mrs. Mary and their children have been truly the best.  Thank you!

And to our family and friends... all your many trips to the farm have made us feel so happy and loved.  With all our visitors, there has been no time (or need) for feeling homesick.  Many thanks to our parents and siblings for all their help over the past two years! And to Miss Kristen, thank you for caring for our children and the endless times you have been a blessing in our lives (whether it's helping with car trouble or doing the chores so we could get away). 

When we first moved to this farm, there was no garden, no animals and no real "life" to this place.  Two years later we have one large garden, one small garden, two bee hives (one much more successful than the other), two goats, two sheep, four lambs, a dozen chickens and one barn cat.  Besides our family of four, we have an endless amount of visitors.  Whether its school children attending the Farm Education Program (designed by Mrs. Mary), Mary/Jim hosting a farm to table dinner, my parent's having an antique garage sale, hosting Thanksgiving, hosting Easter (in a few weeks), having friends over or just talking to the random person that stops by the farm to check the place out, this place has been bustling with LIFE!

I'm no longer the wary farmwife at all.  The weary farmwife- YES.  But mainly, I'm the thankful farmwife. I'm grateful that I love this life as much as the rest of my family.  I thrilled that we took a chance and followed our gut feeling that country life was the best thing for us (at least for right now- after nearly 6 months of winter, I'm thinking we should try living on a tropical island next!)

So what is next for "The Wary Farmwife" blog?  Honestly, I'm not totally sure. I'm considering making my blog "live"- which means you could "google" this blog and it would show up.  I'm hoping to make the blog a little more "fancy" with various links and pages.  I'm hoping to add a feature where my readers can comment on blog posts and pictures.  And I'm still crossing my fingers on getting videos posted to the blog.  Lastly, I may add advertisements to the blog-- sorry, but country living isn't cheap!

And what is next for us?  Just this month alone we have many, many visitors coming to see the baby lambs, we are hosting Easter and we have our 11 year anniversary.  A simple life, not really.  A blessed life, definitely.

Morning chores in the sun