I am raising our food!

Never in a million years did I think that I would be raising our food rather than getting it at a Grocery Store. Don't get me wrong we also buy food from the grocery store (yes even meat) but in this last couple years it means more for me to raise our food.

To some it may seem mean because I get animals that are abandoned by their mothers or their mothers have died.

I have a bottle fed calf from last year named Princess. She will not be food as she will be a breeder. I love this cow! She is my baby even though she is fat and funny. Its nice when you bottle fed an animal from when they are really young. We got her at 5 weeks and bottle fed her every day many bottles, grain and hay till she was 7 months old. Then she was weaned to just eat grass and grain. When they are bottle fed they are so friendly. She will come running when I call her name. I cant eat her, probably because she was my first but she is for breeding anyways.

We have raised bottle fed lambs last year and again this year. I love them and would feed them four times a day. I put a lot of love and time into these animals. I know eventually they will become food but this way I know what they ate, what shots were given to them and that they had an amazing, loving life. When you buy lamb at the store you honestly don't know what has gone on with those lambs or if they are adding dyes etc to the meat to make it look more fresh.

I know so many people think its mean to raise your animals and then use them for food. I feel that I would rather have my kids eat food that is raised right. I cant butcher them as that would make me sad. My husband or friends take them in for me so when we get meat back I can kind of imagine it wasn't them. I have these animals for that. To feed my family of 6 and to feed them well.

We have four bottle fed calves right now. Minnie was saved by C-section as her mother was dying, Ryan Jr is a bull that its mother died also. Tulu was kicked to the side and Quinny mother didn't want him either. Ryan Jr will grow up to be our baby maker, Tulu and Minnie will have babies and Quinny will probably be our food. I love each of these animals but I have to remember what they are for. It would be silly of me to raise them, feed them 22 bottles a day, grain and hay, put all this money into them just for them to grow old and die as pets. They are surely cute now, I could NEVER do anything to them while they were young of course. They are loved and well taken care of so I know that their lives were good too.

We also have pigs each year. And Chickens that lay eggs. I like that all the stuff is Organic and that my kids will have less hormones in their bodies. This to me if very important.

We also have a big garden with eggplant, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, Brussels sprouts, kale, squash, zucchini, potatoes, onions, carrots, bell peppers etc that we eat and also can to have more organic foods in the house.

We do have animals that we don't eat. Our goats (kids since they are babies still) are going to be weed eaters. Our chickens we wont eat either. We also have horses and they are just for riding and ranching.

Then we have our precious dogs. All six of them that I love dearly! All six of us has our own dog. Seems like a lot but they have thousands of acreage to run and have fun. We wont ever get rid of them. They will grow old with us. I think its important for a child to have an animal that is theirs to take care of and to love.

In the end I think its an amazing opportunity for us to be able to raise our own food. To be able to know where it came from and know it had a good life yet give our kids nutrients that are good for them. We are truly blessed.

Our Crazy Week!!

How much can you pack into a week? With four teenagers and moving from one Ranch to the other….You can pack a lot in. I might actually sleep a little while I write this blog to catch up ha. ZZZZZ…okay back! I am awake. What was I saying again? Oh yes! We had a crazy fun week.

 We have had two baseball games with Jason. They won both games and he was able to steal home. I love watching him play especially because he enjoys it so much.

 Joshua turned 15! I still can’t believe I have a 15 year old that is 6’2’’. He is by far the tallest in our household. He has outgrown Ryan and I by the time he was 14 ha! I still can’t believe he is already 15. He had a great time with his friends the weekend before with a slumber party. He was beyond excited when he got his present of his headphones that he has been wanting forever. On his ACTUAL birthday we were moving and let me tell you he used that to his advantage ha! Plus that got all the kids more snacks and soda which we don’t normally have in the house. The other kids were grateful for that too. Right now is the only time of the year that I have a 17, 16, 15 and then 14 year old. At different times of the year it ends up being two 17 year olds and two 15 year olds. That’s what happens when you have an amazing blended family.

 Side note! Four teenagers. In just one week we will have a Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior. What was I ever thinking? In four years it’s going to be so quiet. I am SO NOT looking forward to that.

 Then we had the FFA event. Future Farmers of America where Cassie and Joshua both won awards. It was a nice Tri tip Dinner and seeing what they have been doing this year. It was a good event. Jackson was in FFA last year and Jason is in 4H this year. It will be interesting which kids decide to do it next year. Joshua won his Greenhand Degree and Parliamentary Procedure Career Development Event Award. Cassie received her Chapter FFA degree. I was very proud of those two.

 The kids had a field trip couple hours away to an Aquatics Center also. They had a lot of fun with their friends. Pretty neat to be a small school so everyone could all go. Love how they do this at the end of the year.

 Then on top of all of this we were moving. Yep! We moved a whole house of stuff from one ranch to another. I am so grateful for my husband and kids. I have to give extra kudos to my oldest Jackson because he really used a lot of strength. We got a HUGE U-Haul, loaded it in one day and unloaded it the next.  Then had to bring all the animals up also. It was just the 6 of us and Jackson’s good friend Mateo.  Thankfully it was a three day weekend. We were all beat. The kids set up their rooms and I worked on the rest of the house while also feeding them every 5 minutes it seemed. You know teenagers get…they are NEVER full.

 I absolutely love this house. Love Love Love it! Its beautiful inside and out but the views are glorious for as far as the eye can see. This was one crazy week! Next week is even more. 8^th grade trip, Baseball games, Academic Awards Ceremony, Ortho Appointments and Maybe a Bull riding event if the double header gets done in time. Oh and did I mention Finals and Graduations? Man this time of year is crazy busy but its so worth it. I really should stop beating myself up for not blogging this week huh? Now that we are all set up in the new house I will be more on top of it. Its hard to blog when your stuff is in a box. J

My Small Town VS Big City

Being an Army brat I went to 22 countries before I was 20 years old. It was an adventure that I wish now I would of paid more attention too. We lived in big cities like Tokyo, Japan or Munich, Germany. Stateside we were always in big cities too. Funny how I should end up in a town of 250 people that is actually big in size because of all the ranches. I thought I would write a blog about the difference between this small town and a big city so all of you see what we do here.

1.When I moved here seeing the stars at night was amazing! If it wasn't cloudy there were a billion of them. The moon was so bright we could almost walk around using that as our light source. There are so many stars to be seen that once a year many travel here to go to a Star Party in our town. People bring telescopes that are larger than I am. Its pretty neat to be able to see Saturn's rings up close. I love that you can at least weekly see a shooting star.

2. Small towns means everyone know each other. When you go to get gas at Juniper Junction (our only gas station) you are met with a smile and a hello. Its not fake....Shari and her crew already know your name and genuinely care when they ask how your day is going. They also do flowers, balloons, gas and its our only place in town to rent movies.

3. We only have one restaurant which is really good. Its open for lunch and early dinners. They have good home cooking BBQ on the weekends. Its a small town so most of us have a tab there and pay weekly or monthly. Great service and again....everyone knows your name. Its kind of the place to go too. Its packed a lot of times especially on Friday nights and Sundays after church. The Oney Frosty is the ONLY place to go! Love the girls that work there! They know your drink before you even ask for it. If you go there though try their milkshakes!

4. Living so far out we don't have mail service to our homes. No one in town does actually. Everyone has a PO Box. The only time we will get mail at our homes if you order something and FEDEX or UPS brings it to you. Even then you know you live in a small town because they bring your dogs snacks and know them all by name. No one is afraid to leave it on the front porch if you aren't home because who wants to drive down the 5 mile dirt road to get to your house to even look.

5. Traffic....When I first moved here we made a video of the "traffic" because we found it so different. Let me show you a pic of "traffic" in the hussle and bussle middle part of town. If two cars are on the road then its normal. If three cars are on the road then you start to wonder if everyone is going somewhere and you didn't get invited ha!

6. The cost of living is lower here. More so I mean in the sense of rent. There aren't apartments to rent or apartment buildings anywhere. Its either a house, Mobile home or a trailer. Most houses are nice ranch houses with lots of out buildings, barns and sheds. Some are extremely nice but most are modest nice houses! Cost of renting a house though is much lower. Probably because there aren't many people who don't live here for a long time. I will give you an example. A four bedroom 3 bathroom house with acreage goes for less than 1000 a month. Most cities that would be a one bedroom apartment. When we moved here we stayed at THE LAST RESORT IN ADIN for two months while waiting on our house to open up. Its a motel that has 6 rooms. Its super clean and we were treated like family. Kerri who runs it makes sure that all is good for you in every way. She even helped us find the church we go to and when we were at a basketball game made us dinner. Dave and Linda the owners were fantastic. We were really blessed. Everyone is so hospitable.

7. The school is pretty neat here. Every teacher pretty much knows every student in the whole schools name. If the kids do something at school you better believe I will know what happened before they even get home. News travels fast in a small town. There are about 200 students K-12 grade here. Its 4 towns together that go to this school. The classes are small and you really get that one on one attention that you need. It would be really hard for you to try and hide and not be known. The kids have a lot of sports even though its small. Football, Volleyball, Basketball, Wrestling, Baseball, Dance, Softball and Track. Kids can stay pretty busy. There is a lot of clubs also like Science Club or 4h, FFA and leadership etc. Its not just the parents that are involved. The whole community comes out to these events and really support all the kids. GO CARDS!

8. Cooking. Planning meals is something you really had to do. We do have a corner store that has meats, milk, canned foods etc in it. Its high priced though so its really for going to grab something if you ran out of it. They do have pizzas and sandwiches there which is cool. Mostly though to get to a real grocery store its 70 miles away. Also that's our nearest Starbucks. When you go shopping you really stock up. Its not going to buy food weekly but usually bi weekly or monthly. Most people with large families freeze their milk or bread and thaw it out when its needed. A lot of people but not all have gardens during the summer and some can their foods. It seems like everyone has a deep freezer for meats. You really do have to plan your meals out if you want to follow a recipe. We have to stock up being a large family. We have one deep freezer and are purchasing our second next month. One is filled with lamb and chicken and the next will be full of beef. That leaves the inside freezer in our fridge for ice, ice cream, etc.

9. Its pretty cool because you get to see land for miles  without any obstructions even. I love it here because I love all the animals that are all over and I have a fondness to Barns. Don't know why I love them but I do. I take pictures and paint them a lot. Just on our ranch we have cows, horses, lambs, dogs, cats and soon to be chickens. Usually we have a couple pigs also but we haven't picked them up yet. I love driving on the country roads. Breathing in the fresh air and being able to see for miles. It was funny when my nephew came to visit ( he lives in Maryland) because he just could not get over the fact that their weren't buildings everywhere. He also though it was too quiet. I personally love the quiet.

10. Everything does seem to be far away but that's what makes an adventure. If your child comes home the night before an event and says, "oh Mom I need black pants and a red tie tomorrow I forgot to tell you". Its not like you can just run out and get it. You can call up your friends which happens a lot between the parents to see who has what. Home Depot is 2 hours away which makes it difficult sometimes. If you want sushi that's two hours away too! A movie theater is about 45 minutes away. The nearest stop light is about that far too. We do a lot of planning. When we go to the city we have a list a mile long and fill up the truck to capacity when coming home. You better believe I have a Starbucks in hand though. When someone goes to the city they also call their friends to make sure they don't need anything that they are missing. I love this town.

There are a lot more differences of course. Probably millions....okay probably just hundreds but those are the top ten that come to my mind. I love living here. Our friends are amazing and so so kind. The town itself is cute and every one waves as they drive by one another. Their are some downfalls but not many. Things may be far away, people know everyone's business, the bus stop is 5 miles away so its not like the kids can walk home, and ohhhhhh I don't have DSL and it drives me crazy that I have to be on satellite and there is a cap each month so that does drive me crazy. The rest of it though I love! Wouldn't trade it for the world. Still am going to travel a lot because its good to get out and experience the world....no matter where you live.