Daddy had been waiting all month for a farmer to harvest the corn on a 30 acre piece of land behind our barns so that he could plant the seed for the rye grass that will grow in the spring. He rented a tractor and seeder from another farmer and spent most of the week planting. 
Elliott converted a grain bin into a brooder for the 600 laying hens he and Oliver recently ordered.
They received the first batch of pullets a couple days ago. 
We are gearing up in preparation for the barn dance and our farm's annual "A Day to Give Thanks for Udders" customer appreciation day. There is still a lot of work ahead of us. 
Elliott and Oliver have been cleaning out old hay from the hay loft above the barn where the dance will be held. 
Oliver is standing on the right of window in the picture below. He is almost 6'3, so you can get a perspective of how huge it is up there!
Elliott just returned home after spending a few days with Mr. Wilson at a livestock conference in the Shenandoah Valley. 
In his absence, I've been helping with some of the milkings.
Processing milk is such a glamorous job. ;)
Next week is the final week of bushhogging for the 2009 season of lot maintenance for the tractor service! I am so eager to be finished so I can focus on more exciting things! I like the tractor service work, but I thorougly enjoy the break.I have a hope that this winter will be my season of preparing my hope chest-- finishing quilts and other items I've begun. I just love preparing things for my future home and it always feels so worthwhile and rewarding.
The farmers' markets are officially finished for the year so we were able to sleep in this morning. I spent the morning and some of the afternoon doing a thorough, deep cleaning of the house and washing milk jars at the barn. I was also able to spend some of the afternoon baking a German Chocolate Cake and it turned out to be so moist and delicious! I have tried for so long to find a good chocolate cake recipe and have been so pleased with my friend Emily's recipe. I will have to post it some time.
Tomorrow afternoon I hope to burn some messages to listen to during the 30-40 hours I will spend in the tractor cab during this upcoming week. I would really appreciate any ideas of good messages worth listening to! I have exhausted any resources I can think of off the top of my head and am very open to any suggestions.
9 comments:
Wow, 600 sounds like a lot of chickens!
That is a beautiful barn! I love the "up" shot. =)
We like Dr. J. Vernon McGee... I don't know if you've listened to him already or not, but you can download free MP3's here: http://www.thruthebible.org/site/c.irLMKXPGLsF/b.4104207/k.BB7F/Broadcast_Archives.htm
That's a lot of hay to move. I spent my summers at my grandparents dairy farm (in the late 50's) and I sure did appreciate knowing how milk made its way from the cow to the bottle.
Back in those days we got our milk in glass bottles left in a little tin box in our breezeway, cheese and butter too. It wasn't till I was nearly 10 when the dairy stopped delivery and we had to gt our milk at the store. I missed seeing the milk man every other day.
I hope they layers work out well. Are they building roosts along the walls of the grainery? My mom still hates chickens and chicken coops. Too much mucking out I guess. She was the middle of 9, Only 1 of the kids stayed with farming. She became a nurse with her dad's blessing.
I hope your dance is a success.
Blessings.
amulbunny
Anything by John Piper! :)
http://audioministries.org/sermons.htm
I love this site and they send them for free. A sweet family with a real proverbs 31 wife.
I've started going to some meetings at the Fredericksburg Prayer Furnace and the few messages I have listened to are very living and powerful. They have some for download at The Prayer Furnace
The church we used to go to in Richmond has a huge collection of messages online. Lance Lambert and Dana Congdon are very good, Ed Miller, Mac Graham, Jim Bogdanowicz, are others that I enjoy, but they're all good. Steven Kaung is also very good, but he has a Chinese accent that is a little bit hard to understand if you're not used to it. He knew Watchman Nee when he lived in China, and he was imprisoned for some time because he was a Christian I think.
The website is
CTM.
Hey,
Keith and I listen to Ray Comfort at www.livingwaters.com---lots of free recordings!
Mrs. Anita Kilpatrick
Hello! If you want to listen to a really good talk on the "Christians in politics" issue; Doug Phillips did a great one called "Biblical Principles of the Ballot Box". If you haven't heard it already, I'd definitely recommend it:)
Thanks everyone-- I think you have given me enough ideas to last an entire season!
Unfortunately, our plans changed and I was informed on the way home from church that instead of leaving for NC as planned early Monday morning, I was leaving 15 minutes after I returned from church. So, I barely had time to pack (I'm already realizing I forgot my cell phone charger!) and I definitely didn't have time to burn any messages. I will try to remember to look up your ideas when the 2010 season begins at the end of April.
The barn dance sounds like it will be a lot of fun. :) I won't be able to come, but thanks for the invitation. :) I hope it goes wonderfully!
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