Sisters

I took a walk into the pasture today to check on the three girls that are due to calve soon.

And I found these two jewels napping in the warm autumn sun:

 

Kirkhaven Blue Autumn Skies

Kirkhaven October Joy!

Sisters.

Born 8 days apart.

 

 

So I sauntered over, sat down between them, and started snapping photos of absolute adorableness.

 

 

First, Autumn . . . the older of the two.

I have waited a loooooon time to FINALLY get a little dun heifer out of Reuben.

And she is a beaut!

 

 

 

And then Joy . . . our red, polled bundle of energy.

She is such an independent little thing!

And she's really QUITE sassy.

 

 

 

 

I really have so many other things I should be doing.

But sitting in the pasture with my two new heifer calves was just too tempting to pass up!

They love the attention.

 Lots of neck scratches.

 Lots of face rubs.

 Really . . . it doesn't get any better than this!

 

So here are a few more pics. Then I HAVE to get back to work!!

 

Autumn . . . with her beautiful, light eyes.

Joy . . . with that familiar sassy face.



 Awwwwwwwwww . . .



New Colorful Heifers

Two new calves at Krikhaven! And they are beautiful, colorful heifers. ~happy sigh~

So let me present . . .

Kirkhaven Blue Autumn Skies

born 10-17-13

weighing 35 lbs

dun, horned (will be dis-budded), non-chondro, carries red

out of first-time mom FF Sweet Caramel Royale

 

Such a sweet little heifer! I've been ~waiting~ for a dun heifer out of Reuben. So thankful!!

Photographing her is fairly easy . . . she is so quiet, easy-going, and friendly.

 

Kirkhaven October Joy!

born 10-25-13

weighing 44 pounds

red, polled, don't know yet if she carries dun, non-chondro

out of first-time mom Windy Hills Abby

 

This little heifer is FULL of energy!

Photographing her is a challenge.

She is sweet and very friendly . . . however . . . she is rarely still!

The exclamation mark at the end of her name is actually PART of her name.

Joy spend her days at Kirkhaven yippie-skippying from one adventure to another!

 

Next on our calving calendar for November:

Jewel

Violet

Rebecca

 

Wonder what surprises are in store?!



Queen Moo

Moo is Queen of the Kirkhaven Milking Brigade once again! Rebecca gets to go on dairy vacation and Moo takes her rightful place as Kirkhaven Family Milk Cow. It's Moo, me, and a Kirkhaven sunrise every morning now. ~happy sigh~

 

There truly couldn't be a more wonderful milk cow that my sweet Moo. She is so willing and accomodating. Such a great mother to her calves and an excellent milk producer for us. We are so grateful to Sally Coad and Warren Coad at Freedom Farms Dexter Cattle in Philadelphia Tennessee for breeding such quality Dexters!

 

I know . . . it probably seems crazy to be so excited about a cow that gives milk. Isn't that what they are SUPPOSED to do?? But my fellow Dexter-milk-cow owners "get it" . . . I am sure.

 

You see . . . Moo doesn't ~have~ to do this. She doesn't ~have~ to stand perfectly still. She doesn't ~have~ to wait patiently while I work. She doesn't ~have~ to share her rich, frothy milk with the farmer. But she chooses to. The trust, on both sides, is immense.

 

Moo trusts me to not take ALL of the milk so her calf won't go hungry. She trusts me to treat her udder with skill and gentleness. She trusts me to make sure that she has plenty of healthy food and fresh water so that her milk production is up to the challenge. She trusts that her calf is in a safe place during her short absence from him. She trusts that I will promptly reunite her with her baby when the milking session is over. And she trusts that she will be released to join her herd on the brae so she can resume her job as Herd Matriarch.

 

And I must trust Moo. To sit on a VERY low stool (Moo is short) . . . with my face VERY near the back hooves of a 700+ pound animal . . . is a VERY precarious position to be in.

 

It's a partnership . . . Moo and me. Some people are cavalier about their livestock. But I just feel humbled. I am grateful to the others who have preserved these rare cattle so that I can now raise them. I am grateful to the Lord for His blessing on my ridge-top heritage farm. And I am grateful to Moo . . . even if she is ~only~ a cow . . . for her gentle, kind nature.

Small Things

I am headed to the barn in a few minutes to do some final Dexter grooming for nationals. Just some small clipping “touch-ups,” but sometimes small things can make a big difference in the show ring.

 

Small things.

It seems I am always doing small things.

 

Feeding livestock.

Grooming show cows.

Cleaning udders and milking the girls.

Halter training weaned calves.

Mucking stalls and sweeping the barn aisle.

Weeding the garden and checking the health of the apple orchard.

 

Small things . . .

things that are only significant in the bigger picture . . .

things that are completely unspectacular in themselves.

 

And in reality . . . here at Kirkhaven . . .  even “the bigger picture” isn’t bigger than a small East Tennessee heritage farm.

 

My husband said something yesterday that has kept my mind and heart busy as my hands have worked through these early summer days. Actually . . . my heart and mind are on pause. I feel like I need to stop the whole show for a bit . . . ruminate on this idea for a while until I begin to find a measure of Truth in it:

 

“Hey Dear . . . I know why God says that faithfulness in the small things is important. It’s because HE is faithful in the small things.”

 

Okay. I have heard the idea of “faithfulness in small things” preached from the pulpit many times. The gist of the sermons typically is that if you are faithful in the small things then God will reward you with big things. But now I am wondering . . . so if you are faithful being a janitor at a corporation, does that mean God will let you become the CEO? Is it really a reliable formula . . .

 

faithfulness in small things + faithfulness in more small things = a reward of big things??

 

So did God practice faithfulness in creating and stewarding tiny atoms so that He would be worthy to create the grand expansive universe? Or did He create tiny raindrops so that He could eventually wow heaven and earth with a Niagara Falls grand finale?

 

Or what if . . . just maybe . . . small things are the point?

What if we were NOT created to endure small things until we finally earned big things?

What if the WHOLE JOURNEY is the point?

 

Every tiny moment.

Every boring chore.

Every little detail of every normal routine.

Even the unexpected surprises.

Both successes and failures.

And even the grand adventures.

 

What if the whole and the summation of our entire lives is really just the gestalt of all the daily small things?

 

What if a truly good life simply means joy and faithfulness and gratitude . . .

IN the small things,

WITH the small things,

BECAUSE OF the small things.

Whether you are a CEO or a janitor.

Whether you change diapers all day or trade stocks.

 

AND what if the small things ARE the reward?

 

Know therefore that the Lord your God,

He is God, the faithful God . . .

Deuteronomy 7:9

 

He is faithful in every small thing.

 

I truly don’t want to miss out on the great riches of life because I squandered the treasure of small things . . .

 

 

Sally's Babies

My dear friend Sally has dropped off some of her livestock at Kirkhaven to stay for a few days. She and her husband are making a trip up north for family reasons, so I have the honor of caring for two beautiful Dexter calves and one veeeery pregnant Nubian doe. Today my heart and my hands are busy caring for babies.

 

It's such a humbling and vulnerable feeling to care for so many "baby" things.

Baby chicks...who need their brooder to maintain the correct temperature, their water to stay fresh, their food to be plentiful and attainable.

Greenhouse seedlings . . . that need the greenhouse to be 70 degrees, their soil to stay moist and warm, and sunlight to bathe their fragile leaves.

Sally’s sweet little "bottle baby" Hush . . . who needs me to milk Jewel & Rebecca so she can have fresh, warm Dexter milk (her tummy cannot tolerate powdered milk replacer).  And also needs plenty of neck scratches.

Sally's adorable heifer calf Mo . . . who needs proper care to insure her continued recovery from a recent illness.

6 beautiful Kirkhaven calves . . . who simply need a compassionate, watchful steward to make sure all their needs are being met. And to notice if anything might be awry.

3 heavily pregnant Kirkhaven cows . . . who truly appreciate healthy food and clean water.  And a sympathetic farmer to care that they are uncomfortably HUGE.  And a warm, freshly-strawed stall to give birth in when the time comes.

It feels like an intimately choreographed dance with The Lord of the Universe. It all depends on my faithfulness as it ALL depends on HIS faithfulness. Every day. The Lord and I caring for growing things. Fellowshipping as we work together. Rejoicing as each new day brings new sprouts or new wing feathers or newborn moos and baaahs.

Maybe this is what it means to "pray without ceasing." For sure, this is what it means to live richly.

One of our adorable Buff Orpington chicks.

Our equally adorable Black Australorp chick.

Our latest calf: Kirkhaven Skye Gazing. Photo courtesy of Sally Coad . . . who was "cow sitting" our pregnant first-time heifer Rainbow at her farm when this little beauty was born.

January 1: Journey

Another quieting fog has descended upon my misty brae this first day of 2013. It’s a fitting backdrop, really, for these types of musings. My day is quiet because I choose for it to be. And because the drifting fog muffles every noise so that even hollering goats are shushed into pensive cud-chewing.

When I began to think about 2013 a couple of days ago, I got out some paper and began to write words. Single words. I was looking for a signpost . . . a theme . . . to define the tenor of my heart as this new year’s journey unfolded. I perused Facebook to see what other people where posting. I Googled a few things. I opened my Bible and re-read Psalm 107 . . . the cornerstone scripture for our East Tennessee farm. I prayed. But nothing “real” came to mind.

Nothing fit.

Nothing seemed “right.”
So I took out a fresh piece of paper, uncapped my pen, and wrote this:

 

Nothing.

An empty sheet of paper with an uncapped pen.
Waiting for inspiration.

 And that fit.

It was “right.”

I will not be spending 2013 fighting invisible specters of resolutions and declarations. I don’t need a fresh vision or a renewed annointing to walk this new path. There will be no thematic prophecies leading me into miraculous sunsets.

I will simply be journeying.

I will start each day clean and fresh because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
I will walk freely because He has broken every bond . . . and I choose to throw them aside.
I will stride expectantly because that is the true nature of journeying.
And I will wait.

It’s not the kind of waiting that stops life from happening.

It’s the kind of waiting that shushes your soul from meaningless chatter and transforms walking into listening.

And God will write.

. . . from His Word
. . . from His Heart
. . . from the very depths of Love itself.
He will give direction and craft signposts and speak whisperings that emanate from eternity.

It’s a bold journey.

A courageous leap of faith.
An open-ended invitation for the Maker of the Universe to embark with me on a very intimate adventure.

So it’s time to don my coveralls, slip on my muckers, trek up to the barn, and see if any heifers are in labor.

Astounding, isn’t it, how the most amazing journey can begin by simply putting on your boots . . .

and taking God’s Hand?