Did You Know?

This is just a quick post to let you know....You can cause more harm to yourself stepping on soap, then if you were to step on a banana peel.

Yes, I learned this from personal experience.  (Plus the Mythybusters proved that it is VERY hard to slip on a banana peel.)

How Do I Think I've Changed?

"How do you think you've changed most since switching to farm life?"

This was asked of me on a previous post.  As sit here I'm trying to figure it out.  It's not an easy question to answer.

Before I start anything I want to remind you that when we moved out to the farm I was 16, now I'm at the ripe old age of 24.  So, it's hard for me to say "I've changed here, here, and here because we are now living a farm life.".  I have a hard time saying that some of these changes come from being in the country vs. these changes coming from my being eight years older.

Its really not easy for me to see how I've changed, I'm sure that my parents, older sisters, And some close friends could point out the places that I've changed, but I'm having a hard time to pinpoint where I have changed.  The biggest way that comes to mind is how I look at food and the processes it takes to get to my plate.

When I was 16 I never thought about how my food got from a living in a cage or on a farm to my plate.  I was just happy to have it on my plate or to be able to cook a meal with it.  Now, I pay attention to where my food comes from, how was it raised, what did it eat, etc.  These things come into mind when I shop for food & how I cook the items I am given to cook with. 

Not only do I look at my food different but I've been able to raise or make a lot of foods that I never thought I'd be able to make. I can plant, grow, and harvest a garden.  Now I did do this a little bit when we lived in Houston.  But never as big as the one I did out here.  Also I've learned to not just go to the store and buy what ever veggie plants they have on hand. I plan the garden with what I know we will eat, what will grow in my part of Texas and what I can handle growing.  (Small note, that while I can do the garden I don't any more, that pleasure is all given to Linnea now that I'm busy making cheese.)

I can raise a chick from chick hood to an age where it is either able to be butchered or starts laying.  I can then either butcher out the chicken or continue to feed to the chicken and get eggs from said chicken.  Now, I will tell you that I am not keen on chickens and I tip my hat to those people that raise them so I can have eggs and chicken.  Now, while I was one to help with the first (and second) batch of chickens here on Swede Farm I am not the a chicken farmer and leave that honor to Emma.

Lastly (for now at least) I can deliver goats.  Oh, sure my mom was a midwife I had seen a number of my sisters born before I moved out to the farm and I had considered being my mom's assistant, but I never though I would deliver goats!!  Now I have and when I look at our animals I can normally say "I remember when you were born" or "Don't you EVER give me a kidding like you did this last year around!"  But then my favorite is "You can repeat this year's kidding if you want!".  lol

Then I can take these babies that I helped deliver and help raise them to an age where we milk them twice a day everyday & then turn around and make that milk into a product I can sell.  Either a pasteurized milk that can be sold at market or yogurt, cheese, flavored milk, cajeta, etc.  And enjoy ever minute of it.

Lastly (not food related) I help to keep my family clean by making soap with our goat's milk.  Not only something I enjoy, but something that brings me a little money and that I can do while still staying home and helping the family.  :-D

I'm Still Here!

For those of you who didn't know it over the past month I've spent three weeks staying 2 hours north-Northwest of New York City and the past week in Boise.

The work in New York is nothing different then I am used to from here at our farm.  Just different ways of animal management and cheese making, main reason I went to New York the first time was to learn how other people do animal management and cheese making.  It's the best way to learn...From others who have been doing it longer then I have.

This time around I went up to help with chores & cheese making so that they could build a new barn.  Since I already knew what I was doing it was easier for me to fly up their & help with chores and other farm things instead of them hiring a new person up there & spending time to train them in all things goat & farm.

In previous years when my time in New York was over, I've either drove down to Texas (hauling goats) or flew down (best way at the time.) This year I kind of did both...I flew from New York into Boise for the American Dairy Goat Association's (AGDA) Yearly Convention & Meeting.  After a week I drove down with another goat breeder.

All this to tell you....The first day there I did the all day Pre-Training Conference, taking the first steps in becoming an ADGA judge.  Becoming a judge as been something that I've wanted to do for years now.  (a friend reminded me earlier today how she has know me for seven years and as long as she has known me I have wanted to become a judge.)  I didn't go through the entire conference, meaning I don't have my apprenticeship.

Of course, now looking back I'm kicking myself that I didn't go the entire way, but it's a lesson learned and I'm sure there is a reason that I didn't get it.  I may never know it and in the end it may just be because I was scared and lazy.

I can remember hen we moved out to the farm (remember I was 16 when we moved out).  There ere a few people that told my parents "Why would you do this to your kids?!?  I grew up in the country and moved into the city as soon as I could.  Your kids will be doing the same thing! As soon as they can they will be off the farm."

Eight years later and I'm still on the farm.  Not only am I still on the farm, but I'm here by my choice doing what I love and taking what steps I can to go father in this industry.

I'm taking internships and classes to advance my knowledge of goats and goat cheese.

I've started my own business of making & selling goat milk soap.

I help in as many ways as possible to advance goats and people's knowledge of them.

I've started taking the steps to becoming a judge. 

I enjoy what I do.

I enjoy selling at markets and meeting people.

I enjoy educating people about goats & their products.

Yes I have made my own choice to stay here.

And as long as it is God's will I will be living on the farm helping my family with the family business

My Brother on My Date

In the past I've been know to say "I have a date with our large screen TV."  when ever there is something I want to watch that evening.  Apparently Timothy has forgot that I say that. 

This afternoon Timothy asked me if I as going to go with Him, Noah, and Judah to their scrimmage this evening.  I told him "No, I have a date tonight!"

Timothy "A what!?!"

Me: "A date."

Timothy: "With who?"

Me: "Our TV."

Timothy: "Uhhh....Who is Art V?"

Me: "OUR TV!"

Timothy (while he looks at me strangely): "Your weird!"

**For those of you that don't know I'm a baseball fan and I am referring to game seven of the NLCS between the St Louis Cardinals & San Fransisco Giants.**

My laptop's Death In Whey

For those of you who have been following my blog for a while, you will remember that I've had a bad history when it comes to laptops.  In my defense, none of the damage done to my laptops was done by me.  In each case someone else was borrowing it (with or without permission).  Thus making it not my fault, but my problem.  :D

A year and half ago (can't believe it was that long ago!) you'll remember my laptop was dropped in whey by Linnea.  It's been asked that I expound on how it all happened.

To be truthful the main reason I didn't post about this back when it happened is because I didn't want to dwell on it as I was not having the best of attitude about it, esp when Linnea was in the room when I was talking about it.  Now I've let it go (again, mom was right.  My sister is more important then the laptop or the money she might have owed me to repair it.) and the other reason was because I didn't get all the details until months later.  So, here goes (with a reminder as well)....

As I was driving to the Rodeo it was raining, I was late, trying not to stress out or speed when I got the phone call.  (Just FYI I HATE driving in the rain.  I'd rather drive all night, then an hour in the rain.)  I notice it's home calling (and I only left the house 10 minutes before) so I answer it (Using a hands free device of course) to Linnea on the other end.

Linnea:  "Katie since I'm bottling the chocolate milk for you so you can go to the Rodeo"--(mind you to work, but she forgot that part!)--"Can I use your laptop to listen to music?"

Me (Keep in mind I don't like driving in the rain): "Yeah! Sure! What ever!  Don't hurt it!  Bye."

A few hours later I halted in my coffee making, cobbler serving job to answer the phone.

Mom: "Katie, Linnea had your laptop in the dairy & Grace went in there to help & some how in the transfer of workers your laptop was dropped in the whey.  It's sitting in rice right now, & we can see how it's working later on when you get home."....

Weeks (close to months) later I found out the true "gory" details of my laptop's death.  Turns out that Linnea in her 14 year old mind thought it would be OK to put the laptop on top of a cutting board and then place the cutting board on the only flat surface she could think of--Across the bucket that the whey drips into from the hanging cheese.

Then when Grace came in one of the two girls (I will probably NEVER know who) knocked the shelf that the bucket was sitting on.  That caused enough vibration on the shelf to rock the cutting board into the bucket of whey, thus causing the laptop to slip into the whey. 

Make sense?  Didn't think so,  lol  I'm still trying to figure it all out myself.  But, now I'm two laptops down the road and the whole episode taught me a couple lessons....Never answer a questions about lending my things to any of my sisters, while driving in the rain and never let Linnea borrow my laptop in the dairy (or around anything liquid).

That just might be one of the times when I shouldn't have answered the phone and just told them, "I was driving" the next time I talked to them.  But, oh well there's a reason for everything & maybe Linnea Listening to music as she placed my laptop in a precarious position was meant to be that laptop's last act of service.  Doesn't mean I like that it drowned a sticky & wet death!  lol

And there is the expounded story of my first laptop's death.

HELP!!

For those of you who have been reading this blog from the beginning I'm sure you'll remember about my learning disability  If not here is a reminder.  :D

With it comes great writers block, so I'm asking for help,  What would you like me to post about?  What questions do you have about the dairy, my soaps, my siblings, my life that I have not covered over the past few years.

What thing in my life have you wondered about, but never could figure out how to ask me?  (If you've ever had that problem.  :D ) 

If you are that person, this post is for your?  What do YOU want me to blog about?  What would you like to ask me?  Ask away, I need help for blog topics and while I know people have asked me things & given suggestions in person.  I tend to forget what they are when I go to sit down and talk about those topics.

So, please help!  Bring on the questions!

Contentment

A word we hear all the time, but do we think about it & what it means?

I've been told my entire life I should be content with what God has given me or where he has put me in my life. And I was, or at least I thought I was. But, I like everyone else go through stages in my life.

I will not forget one night when I was coming home from a midweek market and at the end of what had been a bad day earlier...Maybe I had argued with my mom, maybe one of my sisters had taken an article of clothing, or wonders of wonders, maybe the fact that I had to many siblings in my bed caused me to have a bad night sleep. Honestly it doesn't matter why the reason, but I was in a foul mood & feeling sorry for myself.

As I was speeding down the freeway listening to Trace Adkins' “Just Fishing” on the local country station. I was grumbling to myself “I really wish my dad would take me fishing, She has no idea what she has there!”. After about two minutes of that self centered thinking while listening to the Tracy sing about not missing moments in his daughters life. The song ended, an add came on, & I changed the channel...To my ever faithful baseball game.

And then it hit me...I was not being content with my life and what God had given me!

Here I was thinking about myself and how I'd like to go fishing and my dad would never take me. Only to forget about the things he had done for me.

I forgot about all those evenings he spent watching baseball games with me. The times he stayed home from a night out with mom (or even the night he came home from a date with mom) to watch a special moment in baseball with me (whether it was that big or not).

I failed to take into account all the money he had spent getting me tickets, even though he knew the Astros were going to lose that night.

I neglected to bring to mind all those hours he spent trying to make me feel better as I shed many tears over the Astros & Red Sox shortened season.

There I sat thinking about my dad not taking me fishing (something that I haven't done in ages & can live without) and I was failing to be content in the dad that I had, the dad that had indulged my passion (or one of them) for years. I failed in being content with my dad...A dad who has done nothing but be the best dad he could be.

That caused me to think. If I wasn't content in that, what else was I not content in? While there are many things that I am or was not content in I pray & work daily to remedy them. It was a hard lesson to learn in the dark on a road by myself. But it was a lesson learned, that hopefully one day will show in my life. That one day the years my mom & dad who have worked tirelessly to show & help me be able to live a content life will come to pass.

While I know this is something my parents have spent years trying to get across to me (Because I was not content with some aspects of my life...Such as lack of fishing with my dad). Maybe this year, this month, this week, this day will be the time when I can remedy that. And be a witness for the Lord & make my parents proud of the daughter they have raised.

With God's help only can that happen. And in the future hopefully I will listen to a song, see a moment, think a thought that will not lead to me being discount in my life, but that will lead to me counting my blessings and thanking the Lord for all that I have been given.

"Katie!

_____ has your phone!!"  And thus is the start to my day.  Or a good majority of them.  (90% of the time it's Noah with my phone.  How this 7 year can know as much about computers & phones as I did at the age of 14 is beyond me, but he does. but, that's a rabbit trail)

After I get u it's the normal acts of life...Kick siblings out of my bed & make it (or let siblings sleep on & make them make the bed when they wake up), Brush teeth, hair, get dressed, yada yada yada.

Then it's head out to the dairy where the milk seems to be a never ending flow of white blessings.  :D  Oh, all right so there's a lot of work put into the white stuff (can't call it goodness as I am NOT a milk fan).  But I love, I love turning the milk into cheese & then flavoring it.  I love making chocolate milk so that I can enjoy it for days later.

After I've finished in the dairy which who knows how long that will take each day.  I head to my room to clean it a little & hopefully get on the computer to post here.  (You can see how successful that's been lol)

Maybe some TV which consists of the norm....Baseball & Food Network.  (At least now with my new phone I don't feel like I'm missing out on the baseball season if I don't get to watch any games for weeks on end!)

And that has been my life for the past few months, to busy for Internet life, but not busy enough to keep me from being a bossy big sister.  To busy to make soap, but not to busy to keep me from reading.  :D

Our Annual Goat Show

Picture of the Week

Noah enjoying Timothy's game.

Timothy's At Bat

Noah's Little League Game

Also, showing mom how to use the Blogger app.

New York County Fairs

New York City

I remembered that I had not posted this slideshow here.  While I posted it on Facebook I know that there are some people out there who don't do facebook (gasp!).  So, they would not have seen this yet.   (Plus I need something to put on my blog.)  Enjoy....All pictures where taken by me at some point during my first trip to New York in 2010.

It's Raining!

As I sit here (again when I should be doing something other then what I'm doing) I noticed some movement out my window.  I look up in time to see all the goats running to their shelters and not but 60 seconds later a sheet of rain comes down. 

As it rains I think "If it keeps up we are going to have to build an ark!".

I then remind myself that we just spent two years with less rain then we needed
(and are still behind on what we need).
There are still times when I want to say "ENOUGH ALREADY!!" 

It's been raining on & off of the past few weeks that there is always a wet spot somewhere on the property.  Again, I want to grumble and then a wind comes through and a tree will fall somewhere in the woods and again, I am reminded why we need this rain.  Though it may be a lot a little to late for some trees, God has a plan for everything.--Yes, even a drought.

So, I sit here enjoying the rain (because yes, I LOVE it when it rains), 

praying that it will continue to rain--Only spaced out a little more--and

thinking--"If it keeps raining, not only will we have to build an ark.

We'll also have to dress the youngest four in bathing suites instead of tee-shirts and pants!". 

How Far I've Come!

I found this post in my draft section (and there are many more where these came from)...Maybe that's one reason I didn't post all those months.  I just forgot to finish what I had started.  So, even those these are months old, I'm still going to post them.  Hope y'all enjoy them. :D

                                                                                                                                                 

 How Far I've Come!

Sooo...I've not really posted, so I'm going to endeavor to post now. With nothing to really to post I thought it would be a truly boring post...Such as "Cat had kittens, milk is coming as always, markets are hot & slow, and how yeah I spent four weeks in New York. That's it for the past two months talk with you later!".

It wasn't until I got to the "I spent four weeks in New York" part went the light bulb went on, something to post about! (And you might even get pictures!) So, here goes. lol

This trip to New York wasn't really 'spur of the moment' like last year's', considering it was something I talked about for 14 months. However it was somewhat of a surprise when I looked up and realized that the show was less then three weeks away & I didn't have a ticket yet! Thanks to Southwest Airlines I was able to get a ticket less then four days from my departure date, that was affordable.

In the four weeks I was up north I spent three weeks in New York and one in Massachusetts. In that time frame I went to two shows (one was a week long), Boston, New York (I got to go to Fenway!!), see friends from last year, and enjoy the cooler weather. :D

Going to Nationals was amazing and at the same time overwhelming. It's something I've wanted to do for years, but didn't think I would be able to do. It is as stressful as one would think, but also very enjoyable and educational (after all that is what we aim for here at Swede Farm, right?). From what I've heard of the other Nationals from years gone by, this one was small...Something about people not wanting to drive cross country with their goats, (not like I could blame them. lol).

The time with friends & goats made up for the stress, and the laughs over dinner made locking keys in the car not seem as bad as it was.Made the stress of showing 20 goats in one day bearable (and yes, educational), Driving three hours back to the farm in the rain was made doable after enjoying cheese from all over the country with friends. 

Sure, they weren't MY goats that I helped with, but they were goats that I knew and that I've kids from. Sure it's not my name out there when the goat went best udder in the class, but I was able to help get the goat out there. Maybe in the future I'll be able to show my goats in the Nationals. No, I don't think I'll place best udder in a class, but I will be able to say that I've shown my goats in the ADGA National show and going this year to help a friend helped me to know that if I wanted to I could do it.

Also, being at Nationals made it possible for my family to send our cheese up to the Cheese & Wine Reception for everyone to enjoy. Yes I enjoyed seeing my cheese there, but I also enjoyed seeing other goat cheese makers enjoying it as well.

Through out the entire time at nationals I kept reminding myself--It has 7 years since we moved out to the farm & less that since we got our fist goats.  I would sit in the stands watching goats being shown, simply amazed that I am the goat person that I am.--The girl who was 16 when her family moved out.  The girl who people thought would move back to the city as soon as she can, was at nationals and enjoying it. The girl who doesn't drink milk and who used to have as her claim to fame "going to the most MLB games then any other of her friends".  Was learning more about goats and cheese to help the family business.

No, Not because I HAD to.  But because I WANTED to. I was up there learning about showing goats to a better advantage and dreaming about nationals not because my parent told me to, but because I WANTED to and it plain and simple.  No, I wasn't up there thinking "Maybe if I go to enough shows, learn enough about goats and cheese,  My parents will let me do what I want to do."  No, I was up there thinking "If I learn enough about showing, goats, & cheese.  Maybe it can help me when I have my own  farm!" (If that's God's plans for me.) 

Truthfully as I sat there and thought about, I as I told friends down here about it, as I learned new things each day there.  It boggled my mind.  That I was that person thinking those things & learning those things!  Me the city slicker of years gone by, me who used to have nothing but baseball & reading to fill her hours.  Was thinking about owning a farm for the rest of her life & enjoying the idea.

Oh, yes I've come a long way from that baseball crazed 16 year old!  :D

I've Decided...

That living with one of my blog readers is not the best thing in the world.  lol  Christin's been giving me grief for months now because I don't update my blog and it's no fun waiting for me to blog!  Why don't I just blog once in a while!?!  

Correct me if I'm wrong...Doesn't she live with me?  Why does she need to read my blog?  What would I put on here that she doesn't already know?  Really, what's the point?  Oh, well at least I know of at least one of my readers.  :D 

So, I sit here listening to music off my phone thinking of things to post about and come up semi blank.  :D  Yes, I'm multi-tasking--listening to music, updating the look of my blog, e-mailing people, trying to do some math, trying to write a blog post, and drinking coffee.  And yet some how I feel like I'm falling short of the goal in all this.

Yes, I'm going to make Christin on happy camper by finally posting.  

Yes, the music is edifying, & enjoyable.

Yes, I added the page to my blog like I've been meaning to do for over a year now.

Yes, I've e-mailed the people I need to. 

Yes, the coffee is gone.

But still...

No, I don't feel like this is the post that I should be writing right now.

No, I've not changed the picture on my blog like I've been meaning to.

No, I've not gone & got another cup of coffee like I would like to.

No, I've not started on math like I should. 

Then to top it all off I look at my clock & realize it's past 11 already and I wonder "Where has my day gone?"  

No, to be fair to my self, I've already cleaned my room (but forgot to open the curtains), worked in the processing room, (but still have more work to do), worked on some "school" (but not all that I've wanted to do today), Snuggled & played with my siblings, Had breakfast & bible study with my family (but not my own yet).  But truthfully (as I'm sure you can tell) all that being said I've not done all that I wanted to today and maybe that's why I feel like I've failed.  I start getting down on myself for not using my time wisely and doing the things on my list that aren't that important.

But, then I realize...I still have half the day.  I just needed a break and in that break time I hopefully pleased Christin, and reminded myself that I still have work to do.  :D 

Off to "work" & "school".  Maybe if Christin keeps it u you'll get more blog post like I promised earlier this year. 

HI!

So, It's been over five months since I last posted. I'm really truly sorry about that! In my defense there has been more things then I can count keeping me from posting. Some of them will be covered in this post, while some of them will not be.

I'll do my best to post over the next week or so to bring everyone up to date on what's been going on in my life. I promise it's been nothing majorly huge & life altering. All right I will take that back, since the beginning of October nothing has been huge or life altering. Where as the wildfire that caused us to evacuate for a week was huge & in some areas of life it was altering. But I promise I will talk about it all. :D

Right now my main accuse for not posting much will be my laptop screen. As if I wasn't having enough trouble this year with my first laptop getting dropped in whey, my laptop trails had to have something added to it....

Yep, that's the screen to my laptop. This happened early in September while we were evacuated. Apparently while I thought I had kept it off of the floor of the car the entire time I was wrong about that. :-/

Working with that screen was not the easiest thing to work with and while I did not want to go out & buy a new laptop, I didn't want to use this one either. So I used my phone for almost everything I needed on a computer or the internet.

It wasn't until last week when someone suggested using a monitor & me asking if we had a spare one that I realized I can still use my laptop without having to look at a cracked screen, nor to I have to buy one. So I'm one happy camper, back to my internet surfing & slide show making days. :D

I hope to post more (both here & on Quotes, Verses, & Tunes) in the upcoming year, as well as catch you up on my life & the happenings from the past five months. :D

HAPPY NEW YEAR
to one & all!