a ministry of food

“if you have a yearning in your soul to grow things and minister healthy food to people, to live an agrarian life with your children and grandchildren playing around your feet, then an opportunity exists for you.”  You Can Farm, by Joel Salatin

What a wonderful thought from the introduction to Joel Salatin’s great book.  I especially like the phrase about “minister(ing) healthy food to people.”  It encapsulates my feeling about what we are doing here at Wandering Moose Farm.  We are providing a product but more than that we are performing a service to the people who consume our healthy food and it is a form of ministry.  Americans are sick with consuming deadly food-like substances, and we provide a healthy, local, life giving alternative.  Real milk and real artisan cheeses.  What a blessing to be able to serve in this ministry.  What a blessing to be able to satisfy the yearning in my soul to grow things.  What a blessing to be able to live this life with our children living, working, and home schooling on our farm.  What a blessing it is to eat the food we grow and raise here on the farm.

One of the main thrusts of Salatin’s book, which I haven’t finished reading yet, is that you too can live out your farming dreams.  If you can dream it, you can do it!  We are not where we hope to be yet, but we are a lot farther along the path than we were ten years ago.  Our farm is growing and evolving.  It’s been a rocky, sometimes crazy path, but we are getting there. 

You can’t get here from where I was.  In fact, you can’t even see here from there.  But you can.  It’s possible, and it’s a miracle every day.

A beautiful Springlike day

I know that Spring is not actually here, but there are signs that it may arrive eventually. We have snowdrops blooming in the front of the house. The sun is out and you can walk around the farm without a parka. Fancy, our Jersey, is pregnant. Carrissima, our goat, looks like she might be pregnant too. The chickens are laying more eggs. Life is good. I went on a little photo tour of the farm today.

All the animals, as well as the humans, seemed happy to be out in the sun.

We sampled our milk at a local fair called the "Taste of the Palouse." Our milk sold out at the store and we've gotten several standing orders for milk and eggs. In fact, there is so much demand for the raw milk that we could really support another dairy cow. Somewhere down the line I suppose. We recently got our piglets for the year. We are hoping to add a beef cow to the mix, but we'll see.

Life is very, very busy but really wonderful all the same. I feel truly blessed.

The puppy has landed

We picked up our new puppy on Monday! His name is Oberon and he is a German Short-Haired Pointer. He should make a great bird dog. Believe it or not we located a pure-bred Labrador Retriever at the pound too. We'll be picking up that puppy in a few weeks. They'll have each other to chew on and maybe they won't eat quite so many shoes.

We got him into a real pheasant wing today from a bird I shot last season. He really enjoyed playing with that. I'm going to start breaking him to gunfire as soon as I can pick up some .22 blanks. He's showing some great instincts already. He will "point" song birds an chickens. As always, keeping him away from the chickens may be a problem.

I'm bringing Caspian, the goat, in to the vet school (it's practically free) today. Maybe we can get a better idea of what's wrong with his ankles. I'm worried about him. I would be heartbroken if there was nothing we could do for him.

I think I may make a little cheese today. And we are making sausage on Friday. Probably feta cheese today and just bulk venison/pork breakfast links on Friday.

The weather continues to be a gardening challenge. It's also a challenge for everybody's patience as well. We are having the barn restoration day on Saturday. My friend Jason and I poured some concrete footings today. We are going to jack up the barn a couple of inches, put down the footings and brace the foundation with 4x6 beams. Of course we will be cooking up a big farm lunch and dinner for folks who show up to help. What a blessing it is to have such good friends and community.

Life is so wonderful. I am just amazed at how beautifully things are going. I just feel so blessed that I want to keep thanking God every chance I get. We are truly blessed.

Garden Trouble

Two days ago it frosted. Today we had a big hailstorm. The warm weather vegetables are not happy. The basil is history. The squashes will need to be re-planted. The tomatoes are half-dead. Spring on the Palouse. Well, life goes on. We will just have to re-plant.

We've got some friends visiting us for the memorial day weekend. They have four boys under the age of thirteen. That makes for a total of seven young boys in the house. The energy level is high. That's an understatement. It has been loud and rowdy. But really, we are having a great time. The boys are most certainly having a great time.

Our oldest boy has been taking on an increasing amount of responsibility for the animal chores. He's really doing great.

Caspian, the male goat, is getting worse. His front legs are in really bad shape. I have no idea what to do or even what exactly the problem is. I was really having a lot of...emotions...about possibly having to put him down. I don't really know when that decision might have to be made. Not today certainly. Prayed about it a little bit with Jenny. I can't really justify taking him to see a vet...but it is tempting. We decided to call a vet on Tuesday and what they could do in the way of a short visit if I can put Caspian in the back of the truck an bring him in for just a quick look. I was unprepared for how troubling I found the notion of killing him is.

Well, sitting here thinking about how precious each of God's creatures are. They are indeed a blessing. Each and every one of them.

Farm at the end of the rainbow

A beautiful rainbow leading right to our farm, where we capped off a hard day's work with a strawberry-rhubarb pie. We poured concrete for the base of the clothesline. After meeting some friends for lunch we planted about thirty tomato starts. I don't think all of them will survive. Some of the starts were getting pretty "leggy". That's alright. We should get a fair number of plants out of the deal.

Planted a second planting of greens yesterday. Salad greens, lettuce, and spinach. Also about 100 row feet of beets. The garden is starting to take shape after another long, late spring. Tomorrow we are going to take a day, or part of a day, off and go for a hike. We're going up to a little place called Kamiak Butte. If the weather is right you can see the green Palouse hills and wheat fields for miles around.

I may try to till about an 1/8th of an acre for animal feed. Field corn and sugar beets. The field corn can double as corn for cornbread too. It is a new project for this year. I'm praying for success, but whatever happens we will be blessed. We've got lettuce and radishes almost ready to harvest already. The pigs are looking great. I've never had such healthy, happy looking hogs. I'm really pleased with the piglets we got. Purebred Berkshire hogs from Rocky Ridge Ranch. We are in the planning stages to expanding their pigpen into more of a pastured operation. They need to be contained in a pen anyway until they get a little older, so we're not in a huge rush.

I have been really been feeling so blessed and so close to family, friends, and God this last week. My feelings of connection to God wax and wane. Part of my faith is the act of questioning. As much as I question though, I still always come back to the knowledge that we are all children of God. That this good Earth is an example of his handiwork. That we are so very blessed to live out this life in such a beautiful place. God bless.

Take a kid fishing day

The boys and I had a great day fishing today. We didn't catch much. I caught a catfish which stung me as I tried to release it. The fish were winning the day.

We are trying desperately to contain the chickens so we can finally get the garden in. We let them free range for most of the year and then put them in a large run during gardening season. We've got them all in, but the same four chickens keep escaping somehow. I'm going to work at it in the morning after morning animal chores.

We're going to confine Carissima to her birthing stall on Sunday. I believe she is pretty close to kidding. We are sure hoping everything goes smoothly. We are not experts at this, and I would hate to have to perform any serious interventions. Well, animals give birth all the time without my help.

I just want to keep sharing and sharing how blessed I feel. Having Jenny and the boys here on the farm is amazing. What an amazing gift from God.

pigs and turkeys oh my!

The pigs have landed. The turkeys have arrived. Spring does seem to be coming although it feels like it coming about one degree at a time. Moving the pigs out of the truck and into the pen was a loud and frantic operation. The pigs are getting used to their new home. The turkeys are settling into their tub in the grow room.

I've been laid off from my teaching position for next fall. I've been surprised at what an effect that has had on my pride and ego. I didn't realize what a large part of my identity has been wrapped up in teaching. In addition to teaching jobs, which are in short supply, I've been considering looking for other work as well. I've done other work besides teaching, but I've always thought of myself as a teacher. Even when I was working as a handyman, I always thought that I was just between teaching gigs. I've been filled with doubt tonight, but it will pass. I have so many blessings maybe I should take a moment and count them in my journal.

We had some friends and their children out for dinner and a play-date last night. Now that's a real blessing in life. Breaking bread with friends and family. Venison chili on baked potatoes with all the fixings. Mmmm. Life is indeed good.

I'm sure I'll be checking in with a lot of animal and vegetable adventures in the next couple of weeks. Blessed be.

Quick update

I don't have anything profound or philosophical to say tonight. I've discovered that caffeine and lack of sleep make my mood wonky. I took Tim, the 12 year old, out for his first turkey hunt last week. We went on two separate days. Both times we had a beautiful morning, but did not come home with a turkey. 12 year old boys have a hard time sitting still for too long. We saw several deer and an owl up close and personal. We heard lots of turkeys and managed to see a couple as well. Nothing close enough for a shot though. We've been hunting on the Youth Hunt. Regular season opens on Friday and I will be going out. I imagine Tim will join me. Bear is also open. I'm toying with the idea of Tim carrying a shotgun for turkey and me carrying a rifle for bear. We'd cover our bases that way. Who knows.

Caspian is feeling better, but it still walking pretty tenderly. I'll just keep an I on him. Our Sundays are very busy with church activities and I've been feeling socially worn out by the end of the weekend. I'm not really an extrovert. Either way, I've made a decision to take it easy on Mondays to recover from my family and social calender over the weekend. It's not that it's not fun, because it is. It just takes a lot of emotional energy for me to be social all day long.

Life is so full. Spring is on its way. Gardening and Spring hunting is taking up a huge amount of my time. The family life is wonderful. The farm life is wonderful. What a blessing.

Spring break is ending

Spring break has come to a close and it's back to work teaching. There were way more projects on my list than I could have possibly gotten completed. We were going to go for a hike yesterday, but the March weather did not cooperate. We will go in a week or two and maybe get up into the mountains to do some scouting for elk. Tim and I will be going wild turkey hunting soon. We will also be putting in for an elk unit that lots of people have success in. I'm looking forward to getting up into the mountainous area and talking a hike around.

Life is really exciting with the boys here. Sometimes it is overwhelming. Teaching is not the same thing as co-parenting. Either way, I feel so very, very blessed.

Forgiveness

We got twenty five beautiful baby chicks in the mail today. It was just as much fun to watch the boys play with the chicks as it was to watch the chicks. I'd forgotten how much fun baby chicks can be.

I was talking with some friends tonight about forgiveness. Sometimes we may feel that we've done something that is unforgivable. Sometimes we may not be forgiven by those we have harmed. Whether or not we are forgiven by others is not the point really. Of course we try to make the situation right. Of course we try to change our behavior. But ultimately we are forgiven by God. Ultimately, forgiveness is always available to us. What a blessing.

We are so truly blessed.

Spring Break!

Doing the spring break dance here! No I'm not going to sunny Daytona Beach to drink with girls in bikinis. I'll be here with my honey and the boys doing a long list of farm projects. And looking forward to every minute of it. Topping the list is trimming Caspian's hooves. I didn't realize how badly he needed it, poor boy. I'm anticipating him being feisty. Definitely a leather glove kind of job. Sharp tools, rowdy goat.

I'll be going around to local food merchants to look for a source for donated pig feed. Old loaves of bread, wilted produce, anything that might help. We should be getting the weaner pigs in a little over a month. And chicks on Monday. We gave the boys a choice of one variety each. Of course they chose the weirdest looking chickens they could find. We'll be getting five of each chosen variety for a total of 25 chicks. I talked to the feed store about getting 5 turkey chicks too. I don't know exactly where we are going to put the turkeys yet though. Something to give some thought too soon.

Tomorrow will bring photographs. I promised the boys I would go and take pictures of their latest fort in the barn. I'll also take some time to get some other fun pictures as well.

We went to Ash Wednesday service this week. We also went to a wonderful community dinner at the church on Thursday. We are also getting more involved in a homeschool network. There is a field trip to the Science Center next Friday.

We've got some fun things planned too. Contra dancing, hiking, and maybe some steelhead fishing if the rivers come down. All in all we are looking forward to a wonderful week of farm and family. We are so truly blessed.

Awakening

"Springtime is the land awakening. The March winds are the morning yawn."
- Lewis Grizzard

Well we've had a little sun, a little wind, a bit more snow, an evening of hail, and some rain. Spring is here. Jenny and I went hiking in a local canyon and it felt like spring. We saw some wild turkeys and a couple of grouse. There are bulbs coming up in the garden. Following the receding snow. There is a whole bunch of mud. And spring break is here next week. I have 10 days off of teaching, but not off of farming. We've got a list of chores a mile long.

We are going to plant some cherry trees, build a hoop house, maybe do a little tilling (under the hoop house, clean the chicken barn, spring clean the barnyard, order more seeds...and on.

I'm looking forward to the spring chores, but we will also try to do a little hiking and some steelhead fishing. The baby chicks arrive on March 14th as well. That will be a lot of fun for the boys.

Teaching is going great this week. It is a blessing to be able to be of service to my students. Spring is coming, March is yawning and stretching. What a gift it is to witness another beautiful spring on the farm.

Big egg, little egg

Oh yes, it's the classic big egg little egg picture. Every egg farmer has one. But dang, you gotta wonder how a hen did that.

I made venison picatta tonight. 2 out of 3 boys liked it. Both of the adults loved it.

I was excited to come home from teaching and see Jenny and the boys. It was a great day of teaching. I love it when it just "clicks" with a student. One of my students who has autism is really learning to read...finally. Sometimes it just takes a long effort with little sign of success followed by a cognitive growth spurt. It's great to watch. Earlier in the week I had another student leap ahead in mathematics. What a blessing.

Carrissima is looking more and more pregnant. I'm still sort of assuming she is, as I have not done a blood test on her. It'll be so exciting to add baby goats to the menagerie. The baby chicks are due to arrive the 15th of March. Yay. We've already got enough eggs to fill our standing orders, feed our family, and sell a few dozen to the food co-op. I believe we are coming out a little bit ahead on the eggs which is hard to do.

The house is getting unpacked. Jenny has been a hero in that regard. I've been too busy teaching and trying to make up for all the snow days. Times are tight, but I still feel so very blessed to have everybody here. I know that everything will continue to work out. There's certainly no chance that we will starve around here. What a blessing. The plants are taking off in the grow room. I'm hoping for a banner garden year. Who knows, maybe the farmer's market will be a go this year.

I feel so truly blessed. What an adventure. I still marvel at how quickly life can change. What an amazing gift.

Am I prepared II?

There are so many things to consider when thinking about being prepared. I have great friends and a great spiritual community, but they are all a 15 mile drive away. My closest real neighbors are a mile or two away, and their kids are all grown and gone. I've been thinking of asking them over for a dinner, but haven't gotten around to it yet.

It's -6 degrees tonight. I'm a little worried about the chickens getting frozen combs and wattles. I wish I had put some Vaseline on their combs. The goats are probably fine. I gave them some straight alfalfa tonight before bed which they devoured. I'm really hoping Carrissima will start to obviously show she's pregnant soon. I'm a wimp about drawing blood from the goats. But I suppose I just need more practice. Whisper will be far enough along for an accurate blood test soon. Maybe I'll just draw blood on both of them at the same time.

I was looking at my self-sufficiency/sustainability "wish list". There are certainly things that would be important to have that I don't have yet. I'd like to figure out a way to pump the well without electricity. The windmill that used to pump it is still there, but whatever mechanism that it operated in the bottom of the well is long gone.

I'm planning on growing some of my own livestock feed myself this year. Field corn and sugar beets. I know this is not all that is needed for a balanced feed, but it is a step in the right direction.

I am still reliant on a "hay for shares" arrangement to get my field hayed. I just can't justify a larger tractor and hay equipment for just 9 acres. My hay field is not of the highest quality, but it is still useful. What I should really do is have someone till it and replant it in alfalfa. I'll have to mull that over for the future, although if I start grazing cattle on it I would just leave it as grass hay.

I'm strongly considering adding electric pig fencing to my wish list. What's on your wish list. Both essentials and for fun. I'd really like a cider press. I know a person can live without cider, but it sure would be fun to press some apples.

We are going to add cherry trees and try the raspberries again this year. Maybe I'll add another young apple tree or some younger plums. The plum trees I've got have gotten a little wild.

I saw a great quote the other day.

By saying grace, we release the Divine sparks in our food.

Rabbi Herschel

Stay warm and may God's blessings find you wherever you take your meal and lay your head tonight.

Goat Camp

Well, Whisper is off to goat camp. Which is a nice way of saying that I'm getting her bred. Hopefully I will end up with two goats in milk with a handful of kids. We'll need it to supply milk for three growing boys and Jenny and I. I also plan to continue to make cheese. I picked up an antique "Viking" cream separator as well. We can use this to make cream for butter and of course cream for the coffee. When I manage to get the cream separator re-assembled I'll be sure to post a picture of it. It is quite the contraption.

Here is a picture of the fort the boys made out of hay and straw bales in the loft. Unfortunately I'm going to have to partially dis-assemble it to feed the goats.

It was a lot of driving to drop Whisper off, 300 miles round trip, but I was able to combine it with running some other errands up North. Although Moscow and Lewiston are fairly close by, there are still things I can't get here. I either have to drive to Coeur d Alene or order online and pay shipping. It was a nice trip, but tiring.

A Happy gang on the farm

What a happy crew on the farm. We played with the goats, collected eggs, played in the hayloft, made an apple pie, and made French stuffed pumpkin for dinner. We are having a ball. I'm sure the goats are too.

Jenny and the boys go home for a couple of weeks today. We'll try to go steelhead fishing net weekend as a family. Then Whisper goes to "goat-camp" to get bred. We will be looking forward to multiple goat births in early summer. That'll be a wild time.

The stuffed pumpkin had mashed potatoes, onions, and venison/pork sausage in it. Along with traditional pumpkin spices. Nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, and ginger. It turned out great and so did the apple pie.

We are having a bit of a windstorm. It must have knocked the power out sometime in the night.

What a wonderful time we all have had. We made a lot of connections at church this weekend. We are looking forward to getting involved in 4-H. We are looking forward to getting involved in the youth activities at church.

It is going to be pretty lonely this next couple of weeks out here on the farm. Plenty to do though. With teaching and getting the house prepared for Jenny and the boys to move in, plus all of the regular chores, I'll be pretty busy.

Well, as usual, I am feeling blessed. Blessed to have such wonderful new adventures coming into my life. Cheers.

pleasantly exhausted

What a wonderful weekend it is turning out to be. Jenny is visiting with her boys. Today we cleaned the chicken coop. Ten willing (well, various levels of willingness) hands made it much easier a task. Nonetheless, it was still a backbreaking chore. It was really messy.

With the chicken coop cleaned, Tim, the twelve year old, and I went partridge hunting. No birds today, but yesterday he shot one. His first bird on his first time bird hunting.

We are having a game dinner of partridge, pheasant and mallard. It should be wonderful. We are going to perform a science experiment on the canned sauerkraut later. We will be testing the acidity of the kraut with litmus paper. Canned kraut is supposed to have a ph of 4 to be safe. (I actually tested it myself earlier and it looks to be right at 4.)

Although I have been teaching for almost 20 years, I have never had children of my own. I am not used to having them in the house 24 hours a day. It's been wonderful but exhausting. I have the utmost respect for parents everywhere.

I have lined up a "farm-sitter" for Jenny and I's retreat to a Benedictine Monastery. It will be wonderful weekend of prayer and togetherness. The retreat is over Valentines day and is focused on praying and meditating together as a couple. We are both looking forward to the weekend immensely.

We went as a family to a "Farmer's Mixer" last night. It was organized by the local food co-op and was a chance for local, small, sustainable farmers to meet and network. It sounds like there is quite a market for local, pasture raised beef and pork. Something to think about for the future. Both of those are possibilities for us. My property is fenced for cattle and it is possible that it could be modified for pigs as well.

Everything about this weekend has been such a blessing. Even my sore back and exhausted muscles. It feels good to get some good hard chores done. God is being such a "show-off". I am feeling truly, truly blessed.

Pipes thawed

Yay! The pipes thawed out. In fact we are going to get a big January thaw. 35-40 degrees all week. This should bring the geese up from the valley for one last shot at hunting them. Season closes Sunday I think.

Jenny and her boys are coming to visit tomorrow. This will be the boys' first visit to the farm. I think it will be a ball. I'm sure they will love it here. The oldest boy and I will do a little partridge and bunny hunting. There is plenty to explore for the younger boys too. It will be fun to introduce them to the animals. We may even clean out the chicken coop. Oh what fun that will be! It would have been quite an adventure to have a full house with no running water.

I'm really glad the pipes have thawed and that they don't appear to have burst anywhere. I did a quick crawl under the house (Oh what fun that was) to check, and I didn't see anything out of order.

We have a "small farmers' mixer" to go to on Friday. And Church on Sunday. Other than that it will just be exploring the farm and exploring the town.

What a blessing this all is. So unexpected. I feel so truly blessed.

frozen pipes

Well dang, the pipes are frozen. The faucets were on, but they froze anyway. It was only about 12 degrees. Not even that cold. I had to melt snow to get water to the goats. I could use a shower before I teach, but maybe I'll just melt a little water and wash my face.
I had a splendid weekend at Jenny's. Got to spend some more time with the boys. Three little boys can really wear you out. Jenny and the boys are coming out to visit on Thursday. It will be their first visit to the farm. I am praying that all goes well. They are excited to see the farm and meet the animals.

When they move in we will be getting baby chicks and weaner pigs so that will add to the excitement. Then will have goats giving birth. And maybe a puppy by mid-summer. It'll be a lively time. All hands on deck! Carrissima is starting to look a little pregnant. I may or may not do a blood test in a few weeks. I am really not that good at drawing blood from goats.

Well, I'll try to get out and about with the camera. I am really feeling incredibly blessed. I get to go to work today and be a good teacher.

Late night on the farm

Sorry about the lack of pictures lately. It's been so darn cold outside I haven't wanted to spend an extra moment out there. The pipes on the washing machine froze the other day. Thankfully, the rest of the pipes are still clear. I fell asleep early on the couch last night, so of course I am now awake in the middle of the night. Well, early, early morning I guess.

I was going to make sausage, but the meat is still frozen. I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow. I'm over booked tomorrow already. Teaching, phone calls, cleaning the chicken coop (ugh!). I suppose I will find time.

The goats are happy despite the cold. Carissima is back from "goat camp" and hopefully is pregnant. I'll do a test in a couple of weeks. I will be bringing Whisper up to get bred soon too. There could be a lot of goats around here this spring! I was debating whether to breed Whisper this year, as she is a little small, but Jenny is moving in with her three boys and the extra milk would be wonderful. Whisper has also hit a growth spurt in the last month, so I think she is big enough now. That could mean anywhere from 4-8 new goat kids. 95% of the time goat births happen without any trouble at all. I'm not so confident of being able to handle a troublesome birth, so I hope it doesn't come to that. Jenny seems more confident than I that we would be able to handle the situation.

The thought of having Jenny and the three boys move in is amazing. The boys sound excited about baby chicks, piglets, and goat kids. We are planning to raise heritage breed pigs this year. It will be a little more expensive for the weaner pigs, but hopefully it will be worth it in the end. The meat is supposed to be amazing. We are looking at two breeds. Pure bred Berkshires or a breed called the Red Wattle. Either one sounds great. The Red Wattle is a threatened breed, so it would be nice to encourage the continued viability of the breed. We'll just have to see how it pans out with the breeders.

I'll try to take some pictures tomorrow and get something more interesting posted than my musings. Have a blessed day.