Saturday, August 1, 2015

We're moving....

if you're still out there (after more than two years!) feel free to come follow me in my new adventure at www.andonthisfarm.wordpress.com . :)

Friday, May 3, 2013

Farm Friday!

I recently read an article in one of the several farm and dairy related newspapers we get that really caught my attention. I know that most of my readers wouldn't find it very interesting at all but the headline it what shocked me most.

The article appeared in a publication called Farmshine, the headline read: "We spoke from our hearts, as farmers" "Consumers were surprised that conventional milk does not contain antibiotics". The article was about a small group of dairy farmers from central NY that presented at the Just Food conference in NYC. They were there to educate consumers in NYC about where their milk, cheese and other dairy products come from.

Do people really not know about the testing our milk goes through, how it's processed, and that "organic milk" isn't always the best milk? Maybe I've been living with my head stuck in the sand. You can read the article in it's entirety here, "We Spoke from the Heart", I really encourage you to go read it!

I know I've never said said it on here before, mostly because I thought it was understood, but if you have questions about the dairy industry, how things work please come ask me. Email me, comment on my blog, comment on our Facebook page. ANYTHING please ask and I promise to answer to the very best of my knowledge. I hate to see all the misinformation that is out there surrounding our industry!



And because no farm post is complete without a cute baby! Here's one of our little bullies getting his bottle!

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Pregnancy Update- 38 weeks!

How far along? 38.4 weeks

Total weight gain/loss? lost 4 more lbs!

Stretch marks?  Nothing new.

Hows the sleep? Starting to suck! I'm up several times a night now between peeing and being uncomfortable!

Best moment this week? Contractions! Feel like we're moving forward towards the end now!
   
Movement? He was really active last night after I was done having the contractions!

Food cravings? soft ice cream, it's all I can think about!

Sex of baby? It's a boy!!!!

Labor signs? see my update at the bottom.

Belly button, in or out? OUT!

What are you missing? WINE!

What are you looking forward to? holding him for the first time!!

Other updates?

Had my weekly appointment today. Baby boy is in perfect position, I'm measuring 2 weeks behind (which means he's dropping and my tummy is shrinking), and I'm a fingertip to 1cm dilated. All things are progressing in the right direction. My Dr. was going to strip my membranes today but she couldn't quite get there with how much I'm dilated, so we'll try next week as long as I'm a little more dilated! Her words were, "Looks like you've got at least another week ahead of you, but I've learned NEVER to trust second babies! You can be barely dilated in the morning and be in Labor and Delivery that night!".

I'm certainly having some cramping from the cervical check today and I had a good hour+ of contractions last night, so progress is certainly happening! I don't want to rush him along or anything but I am ready to be done being pregnant! I'm sure just about every pregnant lady has said that at one time or another!

Monday, April 15, 2013

Freezer Cooking

With my due date less than a month away now I made the decision that I wanted to get a bunch of freezer meals stocked up. That way after the little guy arrives I will have some quick and easy to prepare meals. I started scouring Pinterest and made up a spreadsheet of recipes that sounded good to me and then had hubby go through and pick out 10 that he liked too. I used my spreadsheet to help myself create a shopping list and printed it out.

First thing I did was go shopping in my own pantry, fridge and freezer. We butcher our own cows so I knew I would have lots of ground round and lots of frozen veggies from our garden. Then I reviewed my spreadsheet and eliminated all the things that I already had on hand. Saturday morning we went off to the store and bought all the things I needed to get our meals made. It cost me approximately $120 to buy all the supplies, I didn't think that was too bad.

Here's what we came up with. Some are slow cooker meals and require nothing more than chopping things and tossing them in freezer bags, others require some minimal cooking.

  1. Grilled Cilantro Lime Chicken
  2. Chicken Cordon Bleu Bundles
  3. Ranch Pork Chops and Potatoes
  4. Marinated and Baked Pork Chops
  5. Stephanies Goulash/Beef Stew
  6. Savory Vegetable Beef Stew
  7. Loaded Baked Potato Casserole
  8. Baked Ziti 
  9. Lasagna
  10. Chicken Caccatorie


Click the link below to see all the recipes we used! All of the recipes are linked back to the page where I got them from, except the last 3 which were recipes I already had.

Some of these recipes make more than one meal, so all in all I got 15 meals out of these 10 recipes! I also had 2 large chicken breasts left over so I tossed them in a bag with some Italian dressing and got an extra meal!
Finished product!

I wish I had taken pictures as I went along (it was pretty much controlled chaos), but I didn't think of it until later on. Maybe next time!

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Mess Free Painting (Paint in a Bag)

Have I told you about this yet?I don't think I have. Thanks to Pinterest I have found a great way to entertain Bug when I need a few minutes to get something done like the dishes, or make dinner! It's a fantastic way for her to paint (which she LOVES) without the big clean up afterwards. Normally I don't mind a mess but when you just need 10 minutes of distraction, you don't want a 15 minute clean up at the end, so this is the perfect solution.

Here's what you'll need:
A gallon size Ziploc bag 
Paints (we used fingerpaints but you can use whatever you have on hand, Tempra would work great too)
Q-tips
Tape (preferably something strong like duct tape)


I squirted two blobs of paint into the bag, we were working on the color green that week so I thought I would do one bag of blue and yellow to create green and another bag with green in it.
  Smoosh the paint around and try to push out as much of the air as you can (smoosh is a word, right?). After you seal the bag tape it shut to prevent any explosions! I forgot to take a picture after I taped it, sorry!

Then arm your toddler with a q-tip and hand over the bags! (You can see the duct tape in this picture!) You can even tape the bag to the surface where they are going to paint, or hang it up in a window to let the sun shine through!
such concentration!
 She had a blast, it kept her entertained until dinner was ready and she wanted to come back to it after we were done eating!

Friday, April 12, 2013

Another Survey but with a picture!

How far along? 36 weeks

Total weight gain/loss? I am up 13lbs, not too bad!

Stretch marks?  Nothing new.

Hows the sleep?Not so bad, even if I am getting up to pee twice a night. 

Best moment this week? watching Bug talk to and kiss my belly. She's constantly asking to "talk to brother" which results in my shirt being pulled up and pants down so she can talk into my belly button!
   
Movement? Lots! Last night was pretty painful, but I know that means he's doing well in there so I'll deal!

Food cravings? nothing really, at the moment at least!

Sex of baby? It's a boy!!!!

Labor signs? None.

Belly button, in or out? OUT :(

What are you missing? meh, I'm just ready for the end.

What are you looking forward to? having him in my arms!

Other updates? I have my Group B Strep coming up on Tuesday and yesterday marked having one month left!!



So I've debated and debated over whether or not to post this picture anywhere, but I've finally decided that it's too sweet and too dear to me not to share it. I was embarrassed by the stretch marks but I earned every one of those stripes creating Bug, there's nothing to be embarrassed about!

Here's my Bug giving Baby Brother kisses!


Sunday, March 31, 2013

"He is not here: for he is risen, as he said." Matthew 28:6

Happy Easter!

I feel like we've been celebrating all week! We started off dyeing eggs last weekend while my mom and dad were here. Unfortunately there's no pictures of Bug dyeing the eggs because she was only in a diaper and lets face it, I just am no comfortable putting those out on my blog for all to see. Sad, yes, but that's the way it is these days.
there's a blurry bug running by in the background!
Here they are all done.

Friday I took Bug for the first time to see the Easter Bunny. There was no screaming and no tears but she adamantly told me she was NOT going to sit on that bunny's lap and that I needed to hold her. So that's what we did.
peeking around me, keeping her eyes on that bunny!

Saturday we celebrated Easter with my mom's family. We had dinner at my Aunts house with my parents, grandparents, some aunts and uncles and my cousins. My two cousins have 3 little girls between them and Bug is pretty close in age to all of them so they all get along and play pretty well. I think they had a blast!
being a ham while we were getting pictures!
My mom (on the left) with her sister and all their granddaughters! After this summer there will 2 boys in there too!
hunting for eggs!
found one!
my cousins wife and I with our girlies on the outside and boys in our bellies!
Bugs first Peep! She agreed with mommy they're yucky!
after we got home we walked out to the flowerbeds to see if our crocus' are coming up but found this guy instead!

Sunday morning S, Bug and I went to church and then came home to let her open her basket! She could have cared less about the coloring books and clothes, she just wanted the chocolate! After that we just relaxed and had a lazy Sunday.
Sporting her Easter dress mommy made for her!
forget the other stuff, give me the Reeses Cups!

Hope you all had a blessed Easter too!

Friday, March 29, 2013

Farm Friday

Here's a little fun cow trivia for today!


Found this over at Kat's Cafe and thought it was pretty neat! Six miles is pretty far away to smell something!
Much thanks to Katrina at Kat's Cafe for helping me fix the broken image! :)

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Survey Time!

How far along? 33 weeks and 1 day

Total weight gain/loss? I am up 12lbs from the day I found out I was pregnant

Stretch marks?  My old ones are very stretched out, but haven't noticed anything new.

Hows the sleep? If it weren't for having to pee in the middle of the night and the pain of trying to roll over from one side to the other, it wouldn't be so bad! LOL

Best moment this week? Nothing really, it's been pretty boring lately.
   
Movement? SO MUCH! He's run out of room already I swear. It's pretty painful when he moves around, but I still love feeling it.

Food cravings? nothing really, at the moment at least!

Sex of baby? It's a boy!!!!

Labor signs? None.

Belly button, in or out? It's still pretty flush with my belly, but if he changes positions it can stick right out!

What are you missing? Walking without waddling! Breathing without huffing and puffing!

What are you looking forward to? The end! Right now there's no more big milestones coming up. No baby shower this time and I know that's what most first time moms will be looking forward to at this point. So really I'm just hanging in there until the end!

Other updates? Starting to slowly wash baby clothes and other baby paraphernalia, Thinking it may be a good time (in the next two weeks or so) to get that hospital bag packed just in case...

Friday, March 22, 2013

A Farmers Brain

This made me laugh so hard this morning I almost spit my coffee on the computer!


I especially love the Weather Obsession Duct, the Innate Suspicion of Vegetarians, Red Tape Rage Center, and the Cerebral Attraction to Shiny Farm Machinery! It's all soooooo very true!



Found this on the Farming page on Facebook.