September 2026
It happens to everything…
For various reasons, I have been struggling with my chores over the last several weeks. However, routine made things go smoother. For example, when taking the lambs to their pens in the morning: graham crackers. Yeager literally will walk in your shoes on the way. About every 30 feet... piece of graham cracker. This worked for two months. And then it didn't. I drank Coke from 13 years of age until I was about 36. Then I stopped and switched to Mountain Dew. At least I lasted more than a couple puny months. We have moved on to a strategy [...]
August 2026
Yes. I’m kind of pathetic…
Tiffany hates it when I say it this simply, but our lambs grew up in our house. She feels it brings up images of the lambs running wild and mass amounts of urine and feces around the house. That last part was not the case, but the truth is, especially for Maple, that they lived in the house. It was quite a while before we were comfortable letting Maple outside by herself. She just followed us around the house, and tried to eat the indoor plants if we turned our back on her. As a result, the lambs are more [...]
The Cancelled Eleventh Plague
I think there may have been an 11th plague that was going to be called down on Egypt, but Moses asked God to skip it. That plague was an attack by wasps and hornets. Locusts was a plague? Please. Wasps and hornets would rate as one of the highest plagues ever. Only the deaths of the first born would top it. I remember wasps and hornets as a kid in Southwest Missouri. I got nailed a number of times on the farm, and when we moved to town I was mowing someone's lawn, which resulted in me disturbing a yellowjacket [...]
July 2026
Meep! Meep!
Since we moved to southern Missouri, we have been fascinated with an unexpected variety of wildlife. Yes. I am talking about the nemesis of one Wile E. Coyote. When I was young, I sympathized a bit with Wile E. However, having shot at and missed one of his brethren that was killing my chickens by waiting in the yard for the coop door to open, I have changed my mind. Now that we have spent time with the roadrunners, we are definitely on Team Roadrunner. That's right. We have roadrunners. The Missouri Department of Conservation has written about them and [...]
Formaggio Success!
It has been over four months, and I decided it was time to give it a shot. If you haven't read the earlier post(s), back in early March, I made a parmesan cheese wheel from goat milk. I have been anxiously waiting for enough time to pass to try this first wheel, and hopefully give me confidence for the rest of the wheels in the refrigerator, and encourage me to explore further. I really want to make a swiss and a blue cheese. I thought it smelled incredible. However, there is clearly something I need to learn, or some tools [...]
The Battle Has Begun
If you saw the above picture before, you may have read about Laverne introducing her kids (Ivanka & Barron) to roosting on the antlers of the European mount above the french doors that go to the kitchen. Now let your imagination fly like our rooster Donald escaping from our newest rooster that is twice his size. When it was just Laverne, the rug outside the doors would rapidly generate a stalagmite of poultry fecal material. Adding Ivanka and Barron resulted in a mountain that grew nightly like a volcanic island rising from the sea floor. Tiffany had enough of that. [...]
June 2026
Kunckle O’ Pork
Should you choose to make the very wise decision to request some spectacular Rock N Feather Acres pork, I strongly encourage you to explore all the meat options available in the cut sheet (Cut Sheet). Back to the story, I recently made one of my favorite "other things" you can make from pork. It is a German dish called Schweinshaxe... Pork Knuckle. In your order, this will be the hocks. Unfortunately, Zimmermans skins the hog before it goes in for processing, so the hocks don't have skin. I am working on a solution for that, but I am not there, [...]
May 2026
Chicken Nuggets
In the picture above, one can see Laverne in essentially her favorite roosting spot. Well, that is her favorite roosting spot unless she is broody, and then virtually nothing will get her out of a nest box. When she does come out of her brood box. When she leaves the box, everything has to be done in a hurry and she is clearly clucking about being late for a very important date like the white rabbit in Alice in Wonderland. As wonderful as it was to watch her raise her chicks (which rather quickly grew larger than her), there were [...]
April 2026
Good Research
Just a quick note. If you have never been around hogs, but have played Angry Birds, the hog noises are spot on... I get to listen to it every day they are here. Cracks me up...
Spring Sprung Early!
This might be my favorite time of year. Yeah, I will probably feel similarly in about six months. The trees will just look different. I keep stressing myself because I feel like the garden should be all planted. My tomato plants in the garage look puny. Why aren't they ready NOW! On that front, I have to try to accept God's grace. The fact is we normally would get a surprise freeze between right now and Mother's Day. I have moved the four porch plants out of the garage and to the... er... porch, but I think every spring for [...]