To Renew or To Make New Again Between the harvests of several crops and caring for our animals, farming brings a lot of repair work.  Many things on the farm age and need a helping hand to renew them to usefulness. This summer has been no different for us. My husband has been busy renovating, or bringing back to life, a shed which formerly served as a chicken house, a … [Read more...]

What’s Your Today? If today was the only memory your child would have, would you live it differently? Some of us would forget everything else and have a cake fest. Others would schedule things out to the minute. Maybe some wouldn’t leave the couch to allow for every last snuggle. I doubt any of us would carry on as usual. We always think we have tomorrow, but no one ever … [Read more...]

Memories can come at any time.  But today as I have been out in the garden, memories invaded my thoughts.  As I picked each buttery-colored wax bean, I thought of my mother.  Even when she lived with me at the age of 94, she helped me snip beans.  Along with the beans, I brought in a fine bouquet of gladiolas to please her and to perk up the scenery in the house.  Though her … [Read more...]

I couldn’t believe my ears. Relief flooded over her face as she told me her story with a beaming grateful smile. As she talked, I wondered silently: Could raw milk really change someone’s life? It’s funny I could wonder, because people tell me every week how raw milk is changing their lives. People constantly tell me stories of raw milk healing eczema, clearing up breakouts, … [Read more...]

Summer is a time of opening things up and getting light on everything. I love the smell of fresh air that comes with summer. Unless I’m hauling a load of manure... I think that would be called ripe. As a kid, I remember my mom reading books to me of stories from the “olden days” when they would bring out all the rugs, hang them on the clothes line and pound them until they … [Read more...]

Last month I wrote you about a true story that happened on our farm.  This story has been taken from the book Tales from Heritage Farm by Randall and Wenda Grabau. The main characters are two young children, a homemaking mom, a German shepherd named Sam and a little bird.  We left the story as one little girl came running into the farmhouse kitchen yelling to her mother.  … [Read more...]

The most important thing about your trip around the sun Yesterday, I completed another 584 million-mile trip around the sun. If you’re like me, my brain can’t comprehend that many miles. In order to travel that many miles in a year, Google tells me that’s 67,000 mph or 18.5 miles per second, which is like running a marathon in 1.4 seconds. Traveling that fast would be like … [Read more...]

Farm work was done, the milk hauler had recently picked up the milk and was headed to the cheese plant, we had just finished eating dinner, and my daughter was getting out the ice cream. Ice cream is not only a perfect followup to any meal but this is ice cream month! Not only did President Reagan see fit to make this month the best month, he made this weekend, the 17th, … [Read more...]

The following story is true.  Due to its length I have split it into two sections.  I hope you enjoy reading next month on how this tale ends. This story has been taken from the book Tales from Heritage Farm by Randall and Wenda Grabau. Sam and the sparrow It was a sunlit morning. The sky was blue. I was energized by the freshness of this vibrant, new, spring day. It would … [Read more...]