Colorful girl

These are two pictures that I snapped while Evie was playing on the floor.  There's nothing particularly exciting about them, but for some reason I love them.  Maybe it's because of the way she's looking at me.  Maybe it's because her outfit is one that only a 9-month old baby girl can pull off.  Maybe it's because she looks a little bit more like a girl instead of a baby.  I'm not sure, but I think they're just adorable!

Samuel's birthday party

We had a birthday party for Samuel the day before his birthday.  I was going to post pictures of his cute farm animal decorations, but I just went to look at the pictures and discovered I didn't take any.  Oops!  I guess I'll just have to use the decorations again next year for you to see.  :)

 Here are some pictures that I did take during his party.

At least I got a picture of his cake.  It was a cheesecake with a gluten-free shortbread/pecan crust...

Nice action shot of his soccer ball...

Playing with his fire truck...

A cute musical book set from our neighbors.  You can also see a hard hat and a sock monkey in the background...

An adorable car from Aunt Coady...

Samuel's early birthday!!!

It's hard to believe Samuel is two!  

Samuel and Evie's Grammy and Grandpa came up to visit us in August and came bearing early birthday gifts for Samuel.  One of Samuel's favorite things to do is read (or more specifically, he likes to look at books and be read to).  One of his presents was a National Geographic Baby Animal pop-up book, which he absolutely loves.  I think you'll be able to see his excitement.  Here's the progression of him opening his present..

Samuel also got an awesome Radio Flyer wagon!  Within 30 minutes, his wagon was filled up with little boy things.  Here's a stick offering... 

And a large rock...

And a little boy having tons of fun (and cracking himself up in the process)...

Needless to say, this will be a well used toy for a little boy for a long, long time!

Farm Tour Success!

We had a fantastic time on Saturday during the Home Grown Farm Tour.  The first car showed up at 10:03am and the last car left at 4:30pm with only a 15 minute break all day without someone here.  We had about 40 cars out to the farm and sold quite a few frozen chickens. We also took orders for pork and turkeys.

We of course had a lot of locals, but also had an amazing amount of people from St. Louis.  A couple of people said they found out about the Farm Tour from our mesabifarm.com website instead of the official Farm Tour website, so that was definitely exciting!

It was exciting to see the looks on kids faces and talk to adults who were interested in our methods of farming, our chicken processing setup and how we treat our animals.

We also had a local reporter that chatted with Dan for quite a while and took pictures.  She wrote an article that posted online today that highlights Mesabi Farm along with two others on the tour.  Read the article here:  Daily Journal Online

After finishing with the tour, we got cleaned up and headed to SayersBrook Bison Ranch for the Field Dinner.  The dinner was fantastic and a nice treat to be able to go out without the kiddos for a few hours. I'd encourage more locals to go to the dinner next year.  Here's what they had on the menu...

                               

All said it done, we had a great time participating in the tour and have already been asked if we'd participate next year.  We agreed and already have some ideas of ways to improve upon what we did this year.

Farm Tour Reminder

For all of our friends in the St. Louis area, don't forget the Home Grown Farm Tour is this Saturday!  Our farm will be open from 10am - 4pm.

For more info, go to: www.homegrownfarmtour.com





            

Sit 'n Sleep

I realize it may seem odd to some people that I post pictures of Samuel's sleeping positions.  Just bare with me and all will make sense. A week or two ago, I posted this picture...

It was the first time I saw him sleeping on his back in a normal sleeping position.  If nothing else, he's usually on his belly with his knees curled up under him and behind in the air. About a week after I took the above picture I found him in his most bizarre sleeping position as of yet.  Here's what you need to do if you'd like to replicate his position.  First you have to have a slatted headboard (or footboard, I suppose).  Then you shove a teddy bear into the slats to act as a pillow and then twist your arm back behind you.  Like this...

Then use your other arm to support yourself while you snooze.  I suggest closing your mouth so you don't snore, but Samuel prefers to keep his open...

HAPPY SLEEPING!

When the cows came home

Well.  They're here.

Meet the Jerseys.  The two mama cows in the back are our milk producers. We've been getting about 6 gallons of milk per day from them.  The two bull calves up front are just a couple of weeks old.  The one on the right will be a breeding bull.  See how his eyes are wide-set and you can see lots of white around his eyes?  That means he'll be an assertive, if not aggressive, bull.  At least that's what my Dad used to tell me.

 This little guy was a little scared to come out, so Dan had to help...

They have to be bucket fed milk for a while, so they had to go into a stall in the barn.  They didn't want to.  It was a close match, but eventually Dan won.

Then the Angus arrived.  Actually, the little bull calf in front is an Angus/Highland mix.  I call it an Angland.  I suppose it could be a Highgus too, but that just sounds silly.  See Mama behind the baby?  She's large and not particularly happy at the moment...

After coming out of the trailer, they promptly got as far away from us as they could.  As in over the hill and down the pasture. 

Dan assures me they're still on our property, although I've only caught a glimpse of them once since they arrived  Of course, I'd likely see them more if I actually went in the pasture instead of looking from the garage door.  I'll get around to that one of these days.

When 1 = 6

Remember a couple of weeks ago I mentioned we were looking into getting a milk cow?  If you recall, I said I wanted one cow.  Well, Dan's made all the arrangements and we have a total of six cows coming.

Yes.

6.

Cows.

2 dairy cows = 2

2 bull calves - 1 for breeding and 1 for meat  =  2

1 heifer and her calf  =  2

2 + 2 + 2  = 6

And apparently cows require equipment.  Lots of equipment.  Our UPS driver has been here every day dropping off cattle supplies.  Hopefully we have everything we need because Dan is driving to the dairy farm with stock trailer in tow tomorrow morning.

Oh, and one of the dairy cows has been bred, so we could have a pregnant cow.  More bang for the buck I suppose.

Pictures coming soon!

Random pics of kiddos

I realized I haven't posted pictures of the kids in quite a while.  I have a bunch of random pictures that don't really fit a theme, so I'll just post them here willy-nilly...


Hypnotized by sweet potatoes.  Ha, ha.... this cracks me up!...

Where'd Evie's hair go?...

It's in a ponytail!  I'm not sure there are too many 7-month old baby's that can sport a ponytail...

Happy girl playing in her walker...

Happy girl playing in her bouncer.  Right before I took this picture, she was chatting away to the cats...

This is the first time I've caught Samuel sleeping "normally" in his crib...

What a cutie pie!

Evie's practicing sitting up like a big girl!

When the cows come home

One thing I miss the most from my childhood youth is having a milk cow.  I love fresh milk and store bought milk in comparison is just, well, for lack of a better word, gross. Milking was one of my chores growing up and I enjoyed milking each day.  Although, I've not done it in 20 years, so my memory may be more nostalgic than reality.

We recently found a farm about 10 miles from us that sells fresh, raw milk from Jersey cows.  I've probably drank more milk in the past month than I have in the past 20 years combined.  That might be slightly exaggerated, but you get my point.  Yesterday I was picking up milk and talking to the owner, Carl, about missing having milk cows.  He told me that he often buys cows from a farm in Cape Girardeau, about 2 hours from us, that has prized dairy cattle and the owner has a few extras he wants to get rid of on the cheap. This is where city dwellers often differ from country folk.  I'm sure Carl knows that if we buy a dairy cow, we'll obviously stop buying milk from him.  But he told me anyway because he saw a need and felt he could help.

Upon returning home I excitedly told Dan about the cows for sale.  Dan called Carl to get the dairy farmers number (his name is also Carl) and called to chat - they talked about breeds, age, production, genetics, etc.  After the call, Dan explained to me that Carl has several cows he wants to sell and he also sells bull calves. 

This is where male versus female differences come in.

I envision 1 cow.  A cow produces roughly 4 gallons of milk per day.  More than enough for our family with leftovers for neighbors and/or farm animals.

Dan on the other hand is thinking 2 milk cows and 2 bull calves.  To start with.  Oh dear.  Then he mentioned that he's looking online for milking machines since he's afraid I won't help milk everyday.  Oh Lord, what have I gotten us into?

Well, nothing has been decided as of yet.


TO BE CONTINUED...

Home Grown Farm Tour

We, or I should say Mesabi Farm, is participating in our county's 3rd Annual Home Grown Farm Tour, Field Dinner and Silent Auction.  It's a self-guided tour featuring 11 sites in our county.  We found about about the tour last year and although it was too late to participate, we did have the honor of donating meat for the Field Dinner. 

The idea of the tour and dinner is to showcase some of the best local farms and feature local, in-season foods.  Last year's dinner was unbelievable!  Besides all of the appetizers, fresh side dishes and wine from Edg-Clif Farms and Vineyard, the meats provided were bison, lamb and our pork.  After the dinner, we had quite a few people tell us our pork was their favorite dish of the whole dinner!  Quite a compliment for our first official year as a farm!  This year we are providing pork and chicken.

The event is held August 25th & 26th.  Check for details as some venues, such as ourselves, are only open on Saturday the 25th.  The tour itself is free to attend and very casual... simply drive from location to location and stay at each as long as you like.  The dinner will be served lakeside at SayersBrook Bison Ranch on Saturday the 25th at 5:30 and the cost is $55 per person.  Reservations are required.  A new feature at this year’s dinner is a silent auction offering a variety of products both local and regional. It sounds a little expensive, but if it's anything like last year's dinner... it is completely worth it!  It would make a fun date night for a couple.  It's also a for good cause - proceeds from the dinner and auction benefit the Home Grown Farm Tour Scholarship fund, providing an annual award to a county student majoring in agriculture.

Here's a link to find out more info about the tour and dinner reservations:  Home Grown Farm Tour

Hope to see you during the tour!

Tangy Tomato Dressing

One of my all-time favorite salad dressings is one from Outback Steakhouse.  It's the perfect combination of sweet, spice and tang.  I found a recipe online and made a few modifications to suit my tastes. Try it and change it however you'd like!

Ingredients:

2/3 cup ketchup
1/3 cup water
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon coarse black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon thyme
2 pinches salt

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Bring to a boil, whisking often, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.  Cover and chill in the refrigerator.  

In a pinch, I've also made this just by whisking everything together (skip the cooking) and chilling.  It's still good, but has a little different flavor.

Where's the Wheaties?!?

After doing internet research and reading several books, Dan decided to change his diet so he is wheat-free.  He did this of his own accord and actually didn't tell me he was doing it.  And even with all the whole-wheat laden meals I made, which he didn't eat, I didn't notice.  For two months.  I'm observant that way.  What can I say... it's a gift.

He decided to finally share his new-found knowledge with me after learning there is a high probability that Samuel's diabetes was triggered from eating wheat.  After learning how the body reacts to modern-wheat (i.e. how wheat has been grown since the 50's), I felt nauseated for a week knowing I gave our son something that possibly triggered his auto-immune system to shut his insulin-producing panaceas down.  I know, I know... I was simply feeding him the whole grains that the USDA recommend our diet to contain.  What still sickens me though was to learn that the USDA recommends whole-grains be such a large part of our diet, not because our bodies need it.  The USDA food pyramid recommends the number of grains it does because that's how many grains they need people to eat in order to keep American agri-business thriving. 

Excuse me?

Say what?

Yup, you heard me.  There is more and more support from renowned doctors that our diet does not need grains.  And furthermore, the diet we do need is very similar to how our great-grandparents ate.  Meat, fish, veggies and fats with limited amounts of grains, sugars and starches.

I won't go on a tirade about this in order to 'convert' you, but let me tell you this.  Since Dan started this new eating habit, he no longer feels bloated and tired.  Another result that he hadn't even thought about is weight loss - 24 pounds to be exact.  Now, I'm not sure he had 24 pounds to lose, so he's increase his protein and fats to compensate.  I've been follow this new eating style for a month.  I also feel better - I feel much more mentally focused and less bloated, especially towards the end of the day and don't have a craving for carbs each day.  I learned modern-grain triggers the opiate receptors in our brain... the same receptors that respond to opium, heroine, etc.  You know that craving you have for carbs, sugar or big bowl of pasta?  It's because your addicted to it the same way someone is addicted to heroine.  Sucks huh?  I will tell you that if you remove wheat from your diet you will go through a withdrawal period from about day 2-5.  After that it gets much easier.  We've noticed a difference in Samuel too.  He used to have a very round, bloated looking belly.  Now that he's been wheat-free for a month, his belly is much leaner and he seems to have much more energy. (Side thought... maybe I should put him back on wheat to reduce his energy until after the terrible 2's, 3's and 4's are over?)   :)

So, after learning all this, we decided we should go through the kitchen and get rid of all the wheat products.  We've always though we weren't huge carb eaters, but after looking at labels and yanking everything out of the pantry, fridge and freezer... it's obvious we were.

 You have the obvious culprits... cereal, crackers, cookies, etc.

Then you have your breads, tortillas, pasta and snack bars.

Of course, it didn't help to learn that wheat is lurking in all kinds of products we didn't realize... like soup, licorice and hard candy (Worther's originals!).

I estimated there was about $200 worth of wheat foods on the kitchen island.  We were really torn with the thought of throwing food out, but also didn't want to pass on food we find harmful to others.  We compromised by feeding everything that was open to the pigs and everything unopened was donated to a local food pantry.

Again, I'm not going to preach wheat-free to you.  But, I would strongly encourage you to research it and decide for yourself and your family.  Google the following to get more information:

Wheat Belly
Paleo Diet
Primal Diet

There's a funny movie called Fat Head written by a comedian where he interviews quite a few leading doctors and researchers.  This is a great intro to learn more.  I've been told it's available on Netflix, too.

Chameleon

What are little boys made of?

 MUD!





Samuel is becoming more of a country boy each day.  This day, he encountered his first mud puddle...





Then he learned it's fun to jump up and down in the puddle...





Playing in the mud is a lot of work.  If you get tired, just have a seat...



Those socks were bright white when he started.  No amount of bleach would get them white again.  They're now his "play" socks.


And most importantly, make sure you laugh so hard your picture ends up blurry!...

ER = hospital stay

On a day-to-day basis our kids are really healthy.  However, when they get sick, they get sick!  We've been to the ER twice and both times ended in a pretty serious hospital stay.  This was Evie's turn.

Friday afternoon when I changed Evie's diaper she had what appeared to be a good sized pimple on her behind.  I thought it was odd, but both she and Samuel have had 'baby acne' at some point, so I didn't think much of it.  I pushed at it a little bit and it did what you'd expect a pimple to do - pop with yucky stuff coming out.  The next diaper change it was still there, although changed a little.  The area around it was red and was getting hard.  I pushed some more and more yuckiness came out.  By bedtime, she had a slight fever - about 100.5.  We gave her some Tylenol and she woke once during the night, but otherwise slept okay.

By Saturday morning's diaper change it was a deeper red, larger, harder and pus still coming out but mixed with a little blood now.  I called her doctor's exchange and spoke with him.  He agreed it was probably an abscess and that we should come in Monday morning, unless her fever spiked or it physically changed that worried us.  By mid-day you could tell she was becoming uncomfortable and spent most of the afternoon/evening laying on her belly on my chest.  She started to feel hot by evening and when Dan took her temperature at 8pm it was a little over 102.  With this we decided it was time to pack up and head to the ER.  As I was packing her diaper bag, I told Dan that I should go ahead and pack a bag for myself since it seems that every time they go to a hospital they end up staying.  Not wanting to make a mountain out of a mole hill though, I left with only a few essentials for myself.

I took her to the same Regional hospital that she stayed at for her jaundice.  They were packed and we had a 3 hour wait.  When we finally got into the ER room, they squeezed and took a swab of the pus to run cultures.  About 20 minutes later they said they think we're dealing with a Staph infection and that it will need to be cut to be drained.  They however, are not equipped to sedate an infant, so we packed up and drove straight to Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital in St. Louis.  We arrived around 2:30am.  The Regional hospital had called ahead so Cardinal Glennon was expecting us and walked straight in without a wait.

The first thing they did was check her temperature.  It was now up to 103.8 so they gave her some Tylenol.  All the doctors and nurses left the room for a minute while I was holding Evie.  She immediately threw up the contents of her last bottle all over me and the floor.  Note to self: when taking the kids to the ER, always pack a hospital bag for myself.  Needless to say, when the doctors came back in they wondered what the heck happened. 
The second thing they wanted to do was squeeze her little behind again and do a culture themselves.  Except they squeezed HARD trying to get as much out as possible and open any extra pockets that the infection might be hiding in.  This sent Evie into hysterics and wouldn't settle down.  They ended up giving her a dose of morphine for pain, but also to calm her down.  After that kicked in, they put in an IV for fluids, antibiotics and anti-nausea medicine (a little too late though).  The ER docs decided to wait to cut and drain the abscess to see if the antibiotics could do it alone.

On Sunday morning, around 11am the Assistant Professor of the surgery team came in to examine Evie.  She didn't like the redness or hardness of her behind, which by now was her entire right cheek and going down her thigh.  She immediately decided surgery was in order.  She said she would do an 'add on' surgery (that is sneak it in ASAP) and get it done that same day.   Dan and Samuel arrived around noon to keep me company as well as bearing a stocked bag for me to shower, change clothes, etc.

Around 3:30pm we were told it was time to go in for surgery.  The procedure itself only took about 10 minutes, but then we had an hour wait for her to come out of recovery.  We were told that they ended up draining almost 15ml's (aka 1 tablespoon) of fluid from her poor behind, which is more than they were expecting.  Due to obvious pain, she was given another dose of morphine at 11pm so she (and I) could sleep.

Monday morning, around 11am, another member of the surgery team came into to examine Evie.  He was happy with the way her cut looked so he took her packing out.  You can imagine my surprise when he pulled about about 2 feet of packing from her behind!  What's interesting about an infection like this is that it needs to remain open so any remaining infection can drain out.  If it was sealed, any remaining pus would form new pockets and we'd have the same issue all over again.  However, having a 6 month old with an open wound on her behind presents it's own problems - mainly poop.  A surgery nurse came in to show me how to care for the wound and how to insert a little section of packing into it to keep it from sealing - this way the wound can heal and close from the inside out, pushing any infection out with it.  After the doctors checked with me to make sure I was comfortable with everything going on, we were released at 4pm.

Now that we're home, Evie takes antibiotics 3 times per day.  At each diaper change, her wound is flushed out with water and a new piece of packing is inserted with the help of a Q-tip to push it in.  She also gets several warm bathes each day to help it heal.  All said, she's doing really well and doesn't even mind being held under her behind anymore.  The only part she still balks at is when we insert the packing, but heck, so would I!

We have a follow up with her Pediatrician tomorrow and will be sure to keep everyone updated!

Posts coming soon!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately.  All last week I kept meaning to do one and then Evie had a 'medical issue' start last Friday.  She spent two days at Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital in St. Louis and we just got home a couple of hours ago.  We're going to catch up on some sleep and then I'll post an update.

Fruit & Cream Pie

Recently I went into the office and we had a 'food day' where everyone brings a dish.  A co-worker brought a pie called Millionaire Pie.  I'm not sure where the name came from, but in essence, it's a pineapple cream pie.  It's wonderfully light and fluffy - great for summer! It's also super easy since it's a no-bake pie (other than baking the pie crust).

The original recipe calls for Cool Whip.  And although I love Cool Whip and could eat an entire container with a spoon in one sitting, I don't eat it.  I made the mistake once of looking at the ingredients and it reads like a science experiment.  I substituted homemade whipped cream in the recipe along with a few other changes.  Interestingly though, I just came across a recipe for homemade Cool Whip and you can bet your sweet bibby I'll be trying it soon!  I'll post sometime about how it turns out.

I've also made a couple of variations of the pie.  For instance, instead of pineapple, I lined the pie crust with banana slices and mixed banana in.  It was de-licious!  Don't be afraid to change up the recipe to try things you like.  Below, I have my version of the recipe which I just call 'Fruit & Cream Pie', along with the original.

Happy pie making!

Fruit & Cream Pie

• 1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked and cooled
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 8 ounces crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 cup almonds (or your favorite nut), chopped
• 12 ounces whipped cream (1 ½ cups cream + 2 Tbsp sugar + 2 tsp vanilla extract.  Beat to stiff peaks.)

Directions:

1. Cream together the cream cheese and sugar with electric mixer; let the mixer run on high for 3-4 minutes.
2. Stir pineapple into cream cheese mixture. Stir in nuts (set aside 2 Tbsp to garnish the top of pie). Mix well.
3. Fold in 2/3 of whipped cream.
4. Fill pie crust with mixture. Top with remaining whipped cream and nuts.
5. Chill for several hours.

Variations:

Instead of pineapple use:

• 2 bananas – line bottom of shell with 1, put other in the cream cheese mix. Or just mix them both in.
• 1 ½ cups strawberries (diced)
• Heck, just use any fruit you like and mix it in however you want!

Original recipe (Millionaire Pie):

• 1 (9 inch) pie crust, baked
• 8 ounces cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 8 ounces crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 cup coconut
• 1 cup pecan, chopped
• 8 ounces Cool Whip

1. Cream together the cream cheese and sugar with electric mixer; let the mixer run on high for 3-4 minutes.
2. Stir pineapple into cream cheese mixture. Stir in coconut and pecans (hold some out to garnish the top of pie). Mix well.
3. Carefully fold in 3/4 of Cool Whip.
4. Fill pie crust with mixture. Top with remaining Cool Whip, pecans, and coconut
5. Chill for several hours.