Life’s Little Moments
I love Spring. I like different things about every season, but especially on the farm, Spring is hands down my favorite. Even more so after a long winter like we have had this past year, it is such a relief to see the green grass and new life everywhere. Our ewes are all lambing right [...]
The Rest of The Story
I grew up in Longview in the Piney Woods of East Texas. I have always loved animals, and remember when I was a little girl planning how many different animals I would have on my farm one day–cows, dogs, cats, horses, sheep (I don’t think I ever wanted pigs, and I can’t say I do [...]
Farm History
Both sides of Nathan’s family have been farming in Fannin County, Texas since the early 1870s. They migrated to Texas after the Civil War from Kentucky, Alabama, and other parts of the South in hopes of finding better farming ground and trying to forget the ravages of war. They settled here in Fannin County. One [...]
A Near Death Experience
This near death experience actually occurred a few months ago but I was having computer problems and couldn’t get this posted. Sue is now fully recovered and back to her old tricks. You no doubt remember Sue from previous posts by Lauren, but, just in case you’ve forgotten, I’ll remind you. Sue is our pet [...]
Miracles Do Happen . . .
Especially when you are as stubborn as Ellen is. She has worked with the calf, Erin, for four days straight, trying to convince him that sucking and walking are good activities for a small bull to be engaged in. Erin, for all his desire to lay down and die was very actively stubborn about dying. [...]
Life is a Perilous Venture
This morning one of our Murray Grey cows, Elizabeth, birthed a hundred pound bull calf. (Seventy-five pounds is considered a good weight for a new calf.) He was christened Erin. Unfortunately, after a few hours of life Erin still hadn’t made it off the ground and as a result still hadn’t tasted any nourishing colostrum. [...]
Pigs and Flip Flops
They look so cute harmless at this size don’t they? DISCLAIMER: I am not advocating flip-flopping or barefooting around livestock, so please do not engage in this behavior at home or any other time. This seems like a fairly simple concept, but I am a slow learner sometimes, or maybe just too stubborn to change [...]
The Neighbors Call us Crazy
In our neck of the woods, we are the crazy farmers on the hill. Our pigs run “wild” and are allowed to wallow in our pond, root in the pasture and various other horrible acts that folks didn’t think anything but wild pigs did. I mean after all, pigs were made to live on concrete [...]
To Life
Living on the farm makes me realize just what fun it is to be around animals. Some people say it’s nice to have a friend that doesn’t talk back but I’m not convinced that animals don’t. This morning I woke to my cat, Judah, poking at my head with his paw. This isn’t just any [...]
THE MUD (from Ellen)
P.S. This picture is one of the non-mud times, notice the huge hammer breaking clods It’s raining. Still. After two and a half weeks. When I stopped to get gas this morning before heading to school (yes, I am STILL in college), two old geezers drinking coffee in the dark outside the gas station asked [...]