We have another new addition.....

Manny

We were scouring Craigslist this weekend, for both Idaho and Montana, and came across a lucky find. Meet Manny, he is a Clydesdale/Quarterhorse cross and is approximately 20 yrs. old. He will be a great addition to our crew because he is dead-broke and will provide many hours of patience as we figure out what we are doing. He has been ridden in rodeos, parades, trails, and arena. He will raise his feet for the farrier with the snap of your fingers. He currently lives in Montana and will be moving to Idaho within the next few weeks. Stay tuned for updated info on Manny. Thank you Seth and Mary for entrusting us with your baby boy....we will do him well.

Look what was born on the homestead this morning......

Tucker, our 2 year old black lab was barking and wanted Daddy to come look at what he found and low and behold it was a new fawn. Just born, she couldn't even stand yet. How cool is that? We are so blessed. We had seen the momma deer in the horse pasture helping herself to the left-over grain in the bucket that we had left out for her.....guess she really needed that extra nutrition.



Tucker has a girlfriend. Dean, a good friend and colleague of mine, gave us a 9 month old female black lab. Her name is Molly. This is a photograph of Christopher and Molly. It is amazing the difference between genders of the same breed. Tucker is a very rambunctious, play all the time dog and Molly is much calmer and very affectionate.


You don't have to look far to see the many blessings that we have on our homestead....from the natural beauty of the mountains around us, to the funny animals, to breath-taking wildlife that live amongst us. Count your blessings one by one everyday and it will make your day all that sweeter.

Lessons learned.....

Today Terry and I went to meet Chester. Chester is a 13 year old registered paint and is owned by my co-worker Jean. Jean is a very experienced horse-person and offered to teach us some "ground manners". We had a wonderful couple hour lesson where we learned proper techniques for haltering, leading, lunging, saddeling, and reining. Chester was a really good sport and accomodated us novices. It is so nice to have friends that are like-minded and so willing to share their expertise . We also got to tour Jean's beautiful home that she and her husband have labored long and hard over. What a treat. Jean even sent us home with a lunge line, a hay feeder and a promise of a saddle stand. I love sharing things with others in need and it is so awesome when the favor is returned. Thank you to Jean for your extraordinary kindness and knowledge.

The kids have become fish addicts. They fish most every afternoon and after dinner at the creek down the road. We are all loving the fish. This is Christopher and Katlyn with their latest catch!!!

More trout for dinner. Maybe we will get enough to can this weekend. Terry found me a double propane outdoor cook-top. It provides 60,000 btu for each burner. I think that will be perfect to can on. I will be setting up an outdoor canning kitchen so that I won't be heating up the house. I have pics soon, hopefully.

Share your knowledge and abundance with others....you will be blessed in the process.

So many thoughts.....

We didn't end up with enough fish to try our hand at canning, but we had a wondeter rful addition to our Sunday night meal. We had salmon croquets, macaroni and cheese, pinto beans, and fruit salad. Everyone really enjoyed the fish and Christopher headed down the road on the 4-wheeler earlier this evening with Michael and Emily in tow to see if they could catch some more.

Today was a work day around the homestead. Last night after we got home from the lake, we made a weekly goal work-list. Terry and the kiddos got quite a few items checked off today. The biggest accomplishment was moving our tractor (in-process restoration - waiting for a part) off the trailer and onto the ground. This allowed for us to utilize the tractor to take down the road to the Kootenai River where we pump water into a 300 gallon holding tank. We utilize the water to water the yards, veggies, and flower garden. We belong to a rural water coop and the last few summers there have been issues with the water, both in pressure and rationing. So last year we made the investment in the tank, a pump to pump water into the holding tank and another pump that pumps water from the tank through the hose and/or sprinkler. This has sure been nice because previously our water bill in the summer would be so, so, so, expensive and still everything wasn't watered as much as we would have liked. So now, it only takes two minutes to fill the holding tank and with very little labor we can water all we want for free.

We are trying to be very productive, individually and as a family, throughout the week and play more on the weekends. It will only be a short time and all the teenagers will be out of the house. This message is really sent home when we think about our eldest daughter getting married this summer. It seems like only yesterday that Woo was having a fit over having to eat a sloppy-joe.... so many memories to remember and so many more to look forward to.

Lindsey and Andres' - Winter 2008

It was a GOOD day!!

This is the fish that were caught today at Brush Lake. The lake is about 10 minutes from our house and surrounded by the mountians and has a beautiful osprey nest. It was less fish that hoped for, but the scenery and family fun more than made up for it. Terry taught Christopher had to clean the fish and Christopher cleaned them all. They won't make it into the canner because Christopher has asked that I cook them tomorrow. That will be awesome to have fresh fish. Hopefully we will fish tomorrow and even better luck!! I hope we will fish at Robinson Lake which is also pretty close nestled in the mountains. Robinson is home to many bald eagles. I will try and capture some pictures to share.

This is some of our eggs that we gathered today. We have 24 hens, four of which are broody, so 20 layers. We got 14 eggs today. Not too bad but we always hope for all the girls to lay. We also have some chicks that we aren't sure yet whether they are pullets or cockrels. We of course want only girls.....we'll just have to wait and see. We already have four roosters.

We also have two new chicks. Buttercup and Reeses. We got these two chicks (mixed breed) from our neighbor, Terri. We had the pleasure of touring her home hatchery last week. Katlyn and Emily couldn't leave these two girls behind. Terri also offered us many more chicks because we gave them some posts that we removed from our pasture. Christopher is preparing a new set-up so that we can break home more chicks. Christopher is also trying his own hand at hatching. He got 4 duck eggs from another neighbor and has them under a broody hen. We can't wait to see if they hatch.....stay tuned.

It is never a boring day around here, always some new adventure and that is on purpose. One of my goals for this year was to live more purposely. Making decisions on purpose with merit and positive consequences. It is a great lesson for us and for our kiddos.

Big Day here on the Homestead....

This is the breakfast spread to celebrate Terry's 40th birthday. Farm-fresh eggs, bacon, bisquits and home-made triple berry jam and peach jam from last summer's bounty. PawPaw (Terry's Dad) came over and enjoyed the meal with us.

Terry, PawPaw, and the boys are outside preparing the boat for fishing. We had a small Livingston boat that we bought second-hand a few years ago and have just outgrown. So we sold it and are getting a new (to us) boat. This boat was purchased locally from a family friend, Heidi. This boat was her father's. It is a 1959. Not only do I LOVE purchasing things that have been previously loved by someone else, I especially love purchasing things that have character and a story.

Hopefully later on, I can post again with pics of lots of fish. Terry is hoping to be able to can some fish. This will be a new experience for us. We were able to catch Discovery channel's Alaska Experiment. One family canned salmon that they caught in the river. This has really inspired Terry to try his own hand at catching "free" food and preserving it for us. I'll let you know how it goes.....both the catching and the canning. If anyone has any helpful comments, post away......always looking to learn from each other. I'm sure Kathie over at Two Frog Home will be able to spread some of her canning expertise. Until then,

Disaster has hit the farm......

WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE......

Meet Classy. Classy is my dairy goat that provides milk for our family; HOWEVER, she is in the jailhouse now. She devoured my lovely little garden. Yes, all the cauliflower that already had nice white heads tempting me with promises of crunchy goodness. The pickling cucumbers, the lettuce, the cabbage, the spinach......lets just say it was a very sad day.

In Idaho, we have very short growning seasons. This is really a hard blow but didn't break our homesteading spirit. So, I headed out after work and picked up the few remains of vegetable starts available in our little community of 2500 people.

I put in two new tomato plants, nice little grape ones. I put in 6 new cauliflower stars and believe it or not there are little white buttons adorning the top of each. I also added two eggplants. The eggplants will hopefully have enough time to mature. If I able to make it to another nursery this weekend, hopefully I can add some other starts. I still need to replant lettuce and spinach seed.

I'll keep you guys posted on the status of the garden. I have faith that all will work out and provide many nutritious meals for our family. Good luck with your own gardening efforts. Look forward to hearing both of your success and failures. benttreefarm@gmail.com