Almost a full week on the Farm

Even though it hasn't been a full week it feels like it has been.

First off... I will probably only be posting something once a week. Likely on Thursdays.
Second... I will not have any pictures until I can load them on the computer which might be a while.

So now onto news from the farm:

Work begins at 5:00am. My chores for this week are...

• Feed the goats, (which consists of giving the nanny goats 9 flakes of hay, and the billy goats 4 flakes of hay.) ( did you know that the big bushels of hay divides into sections called flakes. This was something new to me.) There are a couple mama goats and some kids that are too big for bottled milk now. And there are four billy goats.
  
• Feed the pigs ( 2 flakes of hay and 2 scoops of corny stuff that also is fed to the chickens.) There are only 2 pigs.
• (This is my favorite chore) Feed the 3 baby goats. (Bottle of milk.) The baby goats names are Dolly(she is all white), Mapleine (she is white with a brown area all over her back half that looks like someone poured syrup on her) , and Franswa (He is my favorite. He is white and black, and he has two knobs that will be big horns someday.) I have decided that if ever I get two baby goats I will name them Patrica and Poloco (after the book by this person called G is for Goat.)
  

After the morning chores, I weeded 3 rows of peppers. "Oh my heart" weeding is HARD! Not because the ground is hard (where I was weeding the ground was moist and soft) Weeding is hard because you are out in the HOT sun and you are stooping constantly.

I got to peel artichokes today and get them down to just the heart, and get all the fur out of the centers which is apparently the "choke" part of an artichoke.

5 Gratitudes for 6/7/2010:
1. I am thankful the Lord answered my prayers and sent a gentle breeze the whole time we were working outside.
2. I am thankful for how yummy fresh goats milk tastes
3. I am thankful for new friends
4. I am thankful for the muscles I am now discovering by how painful it is to move.
5. I am thankful for the cold of Rexburg now.

Day 2:

My body is getting used to waking up at around 4:45 each morning. It's like my inner clock knows it is time to wake up I just want to resist it though.

When baby goats drink milk they wag their tails. I have decided I LOVE BABY GOATS!!!

After the morning chores we went to pick Mulberries. For some reason I always thought mulberries grew on bushes not trees with branches so high you need a ladder. On the way there I saw Peacocks cross the street. Who would have thunk that one would see such a sight. Back to the berry adventure. Mulberries are REALLY YUMMY! I like them even better than Raspberries (gasp in shock) maybe even better than huckleberries (horror). Laura left Kylee, Bethany, Amelia, Jennifer, and me picking and she went to do something else. Well... while she was gone we ran out of mulberries we could reach; so we all became savages or Indians with berry stripes on our faces. Kylee even picked up a feather and put it in her hair. Kylee's camera was in the car so when Laura came back we got a picture. I will send you the picture eventually. Kylee is quite adventuresome. As we were getting in the car to go back to the farm we saw a black and white striped snake slithering over the path. Kylee caught it with her bare hands.

After berry picking we came back to the farm and harvested tomatoes, squash, and onions. I feel kind of like a turtle compare to the other girls. In the time it took me to pick 10 onions they had all picked 20+.


5 Gratitudes for 6/8/2010:
1. I am thankful for rides on the tractor up and down the hill to the farm. (this only happens when we have chores. The tractor is taken down to carry the full can of milk back up, and someone can stand by the driver or sit in the scoop thing. I don't know it's technical term.)
2. I am thankful for naps in the afternoon
3. I am thankful for good yummy food. (I think my body is adjusting to not having sugar.)
4. I am thankful to be clean. ( I took a shower this afternoon and it was so refreshing. One can get so dusty and sweaty in only a matter of minutes when you are doing farm stuff.
5. I am thankful for clean socks


Day 3:

Today I helped harvest Swiss Chard, Squash, Beet Greens, and Green Beans. It was a busy day today because tomorrow everything goes into the baskets and to the market. There are 90 + shareholders who each get a basket. The rest of the stuff is sold at the farmers fresh food market.

If you looked at my hands right now you would think that they were dirty, however I have washed them several times the brown just remains. I keep thinking of hobbit fingers every time I look at my hands.

Today while we were sorting and washing what we had harvested. Sandy and Porter (two people who come and help on Harvest day) had to go back down to the field during one of the hottest parts of the day to pick some more Swiss Chard; because some of the ones that I had picked didn't look that pretty (thanks to Chicken pecking, and accidental holes that my fingers caused as I picked them.)

5 Gratitudes for 6/9/2010:
1. I am thankful that I just read Ether 12 especially verses 25,37
2. I am thankful for my Heavenly Father's love for me, and the manifestation of this love
3. I am thankful for new memories to always look back on.
4. I am thankful that my body is adjusting to little or no sugar
5. I am thankful for the knowledge I am capable of doing everything on the farm. I just need to learn how to do it.


Day 4:

This morning was crazy! We were frantically filling the baskets and loading the trailer to head to Las Vegas. (about an hour south of Overton.)
When we reached our destination we set up the farmer's market table (the market is from 10:00am -1:00pm.) then I went with Monte Bledsoe to deliver the baskets to 3 locations.

5 Gratitudes for 6/10/2010:
1. I am thankful for the experience I had.
2. I am thankful that I felt more comfortable in Las Vegas this time compare to how I felt when I was there 2 years ago
3. I am thankful to finally be able to post something about the farm on this blog
4. I am thankful for how much I earn each week
5. I am thankful to go to bed early tonight, well earlier than usual