Outstanding 4-Her

I began this post a month ago, before she won the Outstanding 4-Her of Whatcom County. 

This was Taylor's 3rd Year doing 4-H at the Northwest Washington Fair in Lynden. She showed in Senior Class for Rabbits. 

Although, this was her first year showing Dairy she showed in Senior class as well, because of her obligations showing Rabbits. Her Show Rabbit is an English Spot, and she got Reserve Grand Champion and Best of Class for Type.
Taylor has diligently chosen rabbits based on what she has learned. She has even attended a Rabbit Show in Enumclaw to get good rabbits for breeding and showing.

Taylor competed against all other Seniors  in our County,  it came down to her and another member of our club. He received Grand Champion and Taylor was awarded Reserve Grand Champion. They both earned a spot to compete at the State Fair.
State was a great experience for both of them, as well as the other members of our club who attended.
It was a growing experience for both Sean and I, as well as Taylor. As a family, we try to do as much together as possible. Especially when it comes to big events in the children's lives. This was the first time we sent one of our children off with other families to compete, and at a State event as well! Sean was out of town for work, and the logistics of me taking everyone to Puyallup for 3 days was too much.

Taylor has great showmanship. Much like her father, she is stoic and keeps her composure, but sometimes she forgets to smile. She did impress the judges with her confidence and knowledge.
She organized members of our Rabbit Division to decorate the Rabbit Barn and Our Club received the award for the Best Decorated Club!
When I was walking around the Fair I discovered our Club Booth and remembered that I was supposed to do something about that. I noticed that we were awarded a Blue Ribbon and Best Booth (I am sure I got that name wrong) complete with a $50 premium. Taylor knew I wasn't going to remember, so she implemented that as well.

I am proud of her growth, and commitment to her projects. From purchasing her animals, to feeding and caring for them she had complete responsibility both fiscally, and with all the daily chores.

She did her public presentation on Rabbit Breeds of the World. She earned a blue ribbon for that as well! She picked up extra barn duty, went to the Rodeo, and rode rides with friends.

Since her Pen of Fryer Rabbits earned Best of Class, for the Second Year, she was Third Seller in the Junior Livestock Auction. She requested many add ons and earned enough to get started on her Organic Rabbit business. She has found mentors to help her with marketing, record keeping, developing feed, and other business knowledge.

A sampling of her ribbons and our club decorations in the Rabbit Barn.

She was our Club Reporter and won the 4-H News Award for the county. She also earned awards for her involvement in Community Service Projects that she organized and participated in. She also received an award for Outstanding 4-Her of Whatcom County.

At our End of the Year Celebration Taylor raked in the awards with a Trophy for Outstanding 4-Her of the club, Perfect Attendance, Teen Leadership, and she was elected Vice President of Country Partners Club.
As our daughter enters her 17th year, we couldn't be more proud of her decisions, goals, and character.

North West Washington Fair Day 1

Our first day at the fair proved to be a success! We started with Poultry Vet checks, since I got the time wrong and they wouldn't accept the birds yesterday. 

We headed out this morning with what was supposed to be 12 birds in the BRV (Big Red Van). I looked around and did a mental check as we were leaving the driveway and asked Erik where his show chicken was. 

Aaron's livestock Check In

He got extremely frustrated with me as I had already sent him back inside for his Country Partners T shirt, then again for his water bottle. He replied, "Do I have to get everything?" Yep Buddy, you need a show bird in order to show a bird.

Erik's Livestock Check In

 We made it, passed vet check did weigh in and headed to the Dairy Barn. The boys were doing Start to Finish, where they take a calf that has never been worked with before and do everything working as a team and show the calf at the end. They get judged on how well they work together and how well their calf does.
Half way through I got about 6 calls and texts saying that they were calling for my boys to show poultry. I had talked to the judges and ran over to make sure it was still going to work. Thankfully we worked it out and they gave me a 15 minute warning. I went and got the boys and somehow Erik got Clear Kote on his arm, which was burning and itching, so we found WD40, and nail polish remover and got it off, changed, headed over to poultry. Did fit and show, got 2nd place and ran back to finish Start to Finish where they got 3rd overall.

Ian loved these tires!

During lunch, Ruby opened her container and spilled the entire contents all over the ground. Of course, it was major drama with lots of tears but we managed.
Geaba helped us locate some of our projects that we entered, we can't wait to find the rest. We brought the girls home and bathed them, read to them and put them in bed. Sean and Grandma stayed at the fair with the boys and Taylor so they could finish their barn duty.

My prize winning beans

I was pleasantly surprised that most of my entries won first premium, with the exception of my zucchini muffins that got 3rd. But I couldn't find my green beans. I looked everywhere and finally found them in the Best of Fair Display cabinet. Yep, I feel sorta like Almonzo Wilder and his prize winning pumpkin. My beans. I grew them, picked them, snapped them, then canned them.

I love this boy

Aaron is so easy going. He has the most tender heart and a love for small children. He is compassionate, funny, and pretty laid back. He is much like a large puppy who doesn't know how much space he takes up  but since he is so kind, you don't really mind that he is taking up so much space. Just keep him fed. This was his outfit for the day, with the exception of showing, and he liked it.
I like the life my children are living.

Time To Make A Little Noise

The blog has been super quiet for 3 months! I know because I was reminded by a friend. It's not that nothing is happening, it's that I don't even know where to start when I get so behind. My goal is to make a little more noise here, so at least I know what we have been doing. 

Erik leading our 4H club in the Lynden Parade

 We are in full swing Fair Mode. This is the last week to get things turned in prior to the fair, the last week to get the animals ready, have them make weight, clean clip and groom them. We have to get the labels made for all our still life exhibits, and finish up the last minute decorations.
One girl in our rabbit division just found out she is deathly allergic to rabbits. Her mom was in charge of the rabbit barn decorations. Now, I am in charge of the rabbit barn decorations! What?! You never noticed decorations in the barns!? That's OK, I hadn't either.
Next time you wander through the animal barns at the fair, take a look. A lot of time, effort and creativity goes into those decorations.

Liberty, Ruby and Willie (formerly known as Lilly)

 We feel like 4H provides our children with some wonderful opportunities and life lessons. We recently participated in one of the local parades and brought several of our animals to be on the float or walk alongside the float.
Taylor had to be there early to decorate and I really did not want to spend more time than I had to, so I agreed to bring her lamb to the parade. I mean, How hard can it be? She gave me his halter and a Rubbermaid tote to put him in in the BRV. In theory this should work. I put him in the tote along with 5 of my other children and he promptly stood up and cleared the tote completely when he pooped all over the van. When we arrived in Lynden the closest place we could find to park was 6 blocks from the float. What Taylor forgot to tell me was that David, her lamb, had never walked with a halter before. He just follows her around. Think Mary and her little lamb. He doesn't follow me. We had 2 rabbits  a lamb, 5 children and 6 blocks. I proceeded to pick him up, which many people walking by thought was "so cute"! He looks little but must weigh at least 75 pounds. Then he pooped on me. I had to cross 4 streets keeping track of my children, not dropping the lamb, and trying to keep Liberty from grabbing the part of my skirt with lamb poop on it. I wasn't having fun yet. I also drove by what looked to be a promising garage sale but opted not to stop because I didn't think we would have time.

Princess' mug shot for her Dairy Certification

When we finally arrived my arms were shaking and I was really looking forward to putting the kids on the float and going to watch the parade with my friends. Our 4H leader had a different idea. I was supposed to ride on the float to keep my kids safe. *sigh* put on a happy face and wave. I can do that. It was discovered that the tractor pulling our float wouldn't start, so they jump started it and could not turn it off for fear it would die again. I had the joy of sitting for 45 minutes waiting for our turn in the parade, breathing tractor exhaust, with lamb poop on me and children eating way too many lollipops (I think they were supposed to throw them).
When my mom commented that I must really like parades,  I could only laugh and say that I do it for my children.

Puff-Puff The (not so) Proud Rooster

Warning: This post might seem graphic to some. I think it is too, but I really did leave out the super gross and bloody photos.

Clayton had a few helpers catching Puff-Puff. The sounds from the coop were hilarious! 

 Sean and our landlord, Mr. L, have both had several encounters with Puff-Puff our Proud Rooster. I guess we know now where the term Cocky comes from, He was a proud Cock.
The important term there being: was.

This photo cracks me up, not so much for me beheading my first rooster,
but for Ruby's hand over her heart, and Erik's mouth wide open. 

 I sold our hens a few weeks ago. I was tired of feeding them for not enough eggs (which I later discovered a cache of eggs in the bushes) I digress, since the hens have been gone Puff-Puff has been alone, except when he tries to bother our pullets. He was rather outspoken and frankly, with then hens gone he had no job.

 I often tell the children you don't work, you don't eat. Puff-Puff wasn't working so he got what was coming to him! (Please read the tongue in cheek, and know that is not what would happen to my children).
Just for the experience we let him run around with his head cut off and watched his last few attempts at crowing. There was some morbid laughing. It was kinda gross, kinda educational.

I did not have control of the camera so there were some rather disgusting photos,
especially of the rooster's feet in various 'situations'

 I was surprised at how heavy he was. I was also surprised how difficult it was to chop his head completely off. I did 3/4 of the decapitation, and Aaron finished the job for me.

I canned applesauce last night, blackberry jam this morning, then kept the pot hot
and butchered a rooster this afternoon, not bad.

After putting him in hot water and removing the feathers, we took him outside and gutted him. I cut him  from sternum to stem. I did gag a bit when we cleaned the neck and removed the bowels. Seriously, felt like the smell was still on my hands long after I was done. Erik commented that our anatomy this afternoon was much more fun and interesting than our anatomy this morning. Real life.

The children saved as many neck feathers as possible.
 Ian decided to dress up his Dollar Tree cowboy hat. 

We, I mean I, had to finish plucking the rooster with tweezers, then put him in a pot to simmer for a few hours. I got 3 quarts of broth, and some pretty good looking meat for dinner! The skin was tough, leathery and looked like a teenage boy with bad acne.
Erik was disappointed that we had already done science, because this,"Totally, could have counted!"
Ian claimed the rooster feet. He wilted when I told him they were not coming in the house.
I said, "You know those aren't coming in the house, Right!?"
He replied, "I do now."
 He had hoped to put them in his treasure chest. I don't know, maybe they would smell good?

Feeling The Love

We have always had the desire to move to the country, have a farm with animals and productive work for the children. It is a wonderful experience. In my dreams we all worked side by side, laughed, cried, got dirty,  toiled and played together.

I wonder if picking beans is dangerous? They are all wearing helmets. 

Dreams are often not reality. However when they are there is great satisfaction. We pulled the children off their bikes and into the garden to harvest the beans. I love bush beans however, we could get more bounty from the pole beans. We should have harvested sooner and more often. I am giving myself some grace in that we ate from the garden most of the summer (ignore all the lettuce to the right that has gone to seed), and although some of the food wasn't used we definitely got our $1.99 worth from the packet of seeds. I can't wait till all those tomatoes turn red! Salsa and Red Sauce are among the top to process.

In between picking, they found corn to eat fresh from the stalk. 

We picked the bushes clean then Sean ripped them out to feed to the cows, and chickens.
I tend to get into things over my head but I am willing to try. I admit I was nervous about pressure canning the beans by myself. Sean and the boys were going to a Scout camp overnight. I could think of a lot of things that could go wrong. I knew that it need to be done.

Me, Ruby, Granddad, Taylor (taken by Ian(8))

Thankfully, Sean didn't entirely trust me either. So he called his dad and asked him to come help me. My father in law drove 3 hours and was here by the time the girls, Ian and I were done eating breakfast.

Mama's helper Miss Ruby

He brought his pressure canner and set up a second station in the garage. The girls, Ian and I snapped beans and filled jars. Ivan ran the pressure canners. It was super efficient and wonderful to have my Father In Law all to myself (well I had to share with Taylor, Ian, Ruby and Liberty).
I talked his ear off and cherished the time we had together.
Taylor worked on making 4 Manicotti dinners, 1 for Saturday night, and 3 for the freezer. She also made us an apple crisp for dessert.

32 Quarts of Green Beans! Aren't they beautiful? 

Over the last couple of years, Taylor has matured so much and become both capable and competent. I was able to get so much done because she was there to help with the littles both joyfully and willingly.

Ruby, Granddad, and Liberty (in her 27th complete outfit change of the day)

Ivan finally sat down for dinner. As soon has he was no longer vertical the girls moved in for a spot on his lap. They begged him to spend the night. I thanked him profusely and he said he kinda liked it! He also brought us several pints of tuna that he canned. Seriously the best tuna I have ever tasted.
There is some amazing satisfaction going to bed completely exhausted from a long day of productive work. I felt quite content in my farm kitchen, skirt, denim apron, cows mooing in the background, kids riding on the tractor, eating apples straight from the tree, chickens clucking, the gift of time and service from my father in law. Sometimes dreams do come true.

Blue Cow

Generally, I am a pretty good sport. I mean really, washing a cow every single day. I understand that this is a big job and I am willing to do what it takes to help my children succeed. I have Googled how to get a cow white countless times. This time, we opted to try liquid bluing. Did you know that is where the term Blue Hair came from for old women? This is the product they use to turn their hair white. If it is left on too long, the hair turns blue. Alas, 10 minutes is too long for a cow. Not only are my hands blue, but Jewel's legs are too. Never fear, we have to clip her again on Friday and we will wash her 4 more times before that so we should have a black and white cow by fair time. Maybe next time we will opt for a brown cow.
It really should be OK.

Fair Preparations

Does it get much better than this?
A boy in his barn boots, shorts, no shirt leading his cow around the farm. I think I'm in love.

 As I reflect how much my life has changed in the past 12 months I am amazed. I never knew how much I didn't know.

 We recently joined Country Partners 4H Club and entered a slew of projects in the fair. The biggest project being Erik's Dairy Calf, Jewel. I feel like some of this is an exercise in futility. Did you know that a Holstein has to be white on the white spots? Not, yellow or a bit dirty, but actually white! We have tried bluing, bleaching and just plain old scrubbing. She still has dirty knees. Kinda reminds me of that childhood chant...Never Mind. Good thing I have showed restraint and not taught my children that one.

Just to add to our learning curve Jewel got ringworm. We are now bathing her every day with special medication, then we curry brush the ringworm spots and paint on some used crankshaft oil.
We have 5 of the children registered for the fair. Everything from, Lego creations,  to wooden models, cookies, cakes, pies, cow, rabbits, meat rabbits, charcoal drawings, sewing projects, stitchery, watercolors, horticulture, childcare, and 4H in Action.
We have 6 hours of barn duty daily, dig outs at 4:45 A.M! Potluck dinners, showing, and auctions. Right now I think that ignorance is bliss, I really don't know what I am in for  2 weeks from now. My prayer is that we will have a fabulous learning experience and that our attitudes and actions will glorify God.

53,52,51,50,49

Neighborhood Jersey Cows line up to watch me run. 

 Our Chicks arrived early on Wednesday morning. I got the call at 6:30 AM. I loved heading to the post office and hearing my package before they even got to the door. We tend to wait until something needs done before actually doing it. If nothing else, I have learned to make sure that everything works before you really need it.
I got home and opened my package of 50 chicks and 1 rooster. The rooster was easily spotted because he has a distinct color from the rest. Sadly, there were 3 dead ones on the bottom of the crate. Thankfully they added a few extras so we had 50 total.

The cows love to run with me! 

We put the chicks in an empty calf dome, only to discover that the heat lamp I purchased that morning didn't work. I drove back to the store exchanged it for one that I made sure worked and all was good. Or so I though, the water-er mysteriously had a crack in the bottom and couldn't hold water. The chicken nipples I had ordered online hadn't shown up yet.  Back to the farm store I went.  We decided it was too big of a space and temporarily moved them to an old watering trough in the garage. Thus, the said new waterer was too large for that space. Sean has some smaller water-ers that adapt to a Mason Jar, so we used that instead. Those cute little fluffy chicks STINK! Plus, thanks to some wonderful advice we have been diligently cleaning their behinds and keeping them from getting septic. Taylor is Ah-Mazing! She has become such a hard diligent worker, I know I can trust her to do what needs done. She was up at 5:30 Saturday morning to take care of all her farm chores before heading out for a very long day (that's another post).
I went out to check on the chickens because there was one that wasn't looking so good and I bumped the heat lamp, it fell and landed on one of the baby chicks. Now we have one fried chicken.
Pretty sure that there is a better way to dispose of them, but they ended up as coyote food in the woods.

The cat isn't dead, but other things around here are! 

It is hilarious to watch these tiny creatures act just like the mature hens. They scratch, peck, roost, and my favorite is when they all take off running, like there is a sale on shoes at Nordstrom's to some unknown destination at the other end of the trough.  

Taylor discovered one of our mature hens dead in the nesting box yesterday. Hopefully this is not a trend and our numbers will hold steady. The layers are now about 2 years old and our egg production has been slowly dwindling. As soon as these new chicks start laying we will have our self another great home education lesson, how to butcher a chicken. That, or I might try to sell them as a pet.