The Orphans

Greetings! 

I can't believe that summer is gone and we are now into Fall again. It's been

a whole year since I left you, my dear, dear friends, and I have missed you all so much! My time here has been life-changing and rich as I have learned so much, not only about the farm and beef cattle but about myself and my God. I also have sought to contribute, encourage, and support the vision and direction of the farm and it's owners which has been a valuable experience as well. 

The summer was a wonderful time of learning and hanging out with the cows. They are such peaceful creatures. We grazed the cover-crops we had planted in the Spring and often I

was working in forages that were 6 and 7 feet tall! Driving through it with the Kubota ATV to set up fences was quite a challenge because it was easy to lose the little bit of directional sense I have! But the cows and steers loved the nutritious greens and were sleek and fat! Our hope is that by using cover-crops we have increased the ground litter (grasses that get stomped by the cows) and therefore the carbon in the soil, and have saved some of our pastures as stock-pile feed for this winter.

Between weather and animal variables farming is really like trying to manage

chaos! I've learned it's really easy to heavily graze a paddock. The trick comes in when you only want to graze no more than 30-40% of a plant and leave 30% of the plants in that paddock ungrazed, but still get high-density hoof and manure impact on the soil, and in the process make sure the herd has gotten enough to eat! Trust me, it's a whole lot harder than it sounds!

We are now in calving season. It's been a tough season so far with a number

of losses but it's always a learning process and we are trying to figure out what happened. I don't handle the losses very well... Doc says that he has observed that I am quite tender-hearted... that's an understatement!! 
We have two bull calves now who have been abandoned by their mothers. You might think the other cows would accept a second calf to nurse but they are not very accommodating! It's hard to watch

the little guys try and try and just get kicked away. They seem to be pretty crafty though and when the real calf is nursing they'll try to slide in and get a little milk too. Sometimes it works but they get rejected a lot. 

So, I have become a surrogate cow... and it is a noble calling! Call me a cow anytime you want and I'll say, "Thank you, I am honored!" I bring life and nourishment to these little guys and sometimes a

Trying to steal some milk.

little comfort. Their world is different from the other calves who have the security of their mother in the pasture. Yes, they have the security of being in the herd but they don't have a mother who calls to them when she senses danger or knows it's time for them to nurse. And of course, the powdered calf milk I give them I'm sure is not as good for them as the real thing.

These little calves also seem to have some built in knowledge too. They know they need to nurse from a cow so they reject the bottle I bring. They wander from cow to cow, being rejected again and again, and

getting weaker and weaker. The vultures circle. They know well the signs of one growing weak. And I stand, patiently holding the bottle that can save these little calves! I cannot force them, I can only offer it to them and hope they will want to drink.

I appreciate all you dear friends who have read my blogs over the past year and have been such an encouragement to me. I know some of you don't agree with the Christian faith and I respect your choice but, my heart beats for my Lord and these farm experiences have strengthened my faith. Just as I offer life to the calves, Jesus offers life to us. We have choice. He does not insist we accept or follow him but it is our choice. YOU dear friend are so precious to me and even more precious to the God I serve Who would love for you to drink the water of life He so freely offers. If you haven't already, I hope you will.

I love hearing news from you... it makes me still feel connected to the great people and place I left! 

Until next time...

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Escape to Longest Acres Road!

Hello Dear Friends!

It has certainly been a while since I've written. Spring was really welcomed after that very cold winter! In fact, we are still dealing with the mess from the ice storm itself and also the continuing fallout of weakened trees and limbs whenever we get windy weather. Of course most of the trees are near fence lines so any tree fallout usually affects a fence.  

In April, we participated in the 2014 NC Piedmont CFSA Farm Tour which required a lot of preparation to get the farm ship-shape and ready for guests. We had a decent turn out of very interested folks and the weather was perfect! 

Last week we started planting the cover crops we will graze in July and employed our concentrated mob-grazing techniques which we will use through the summer.

Mob grazing essentially means allowing 100,000 - 600,000 pounds of hoof pressure per acre. So, for a very basic example, if each cow weighs 1000 lbs, then 100 cows per acre. Seems like a lot of cows on a small space! But that is EXACTLY the point! When the cows are close together the manure and urine distribution is better across the land and the stomping in of the grass litter (what they don't eat) is a HUGE benefit to the soil. It's kind of like a mulch + manure except we just let the cows do it for us. After a couple of hours we move the mob to the next acre. The grazed land is allowed to rest and fully recover. It's very exciting to be involved in this process. I am learning (and re-learning) SO much!

Short-cuts usually take longer! 
When I worked at Wil-Moore Farm last summer through a Carolina Farm Stewardship Association (CFSA) internship, I learned some very important lessons. The first was about pressure and resistance. The second was about taking short cuts...

5:30 AM. My alarm goes off. I snooze for 15 more minutes but it's already getting light. 5:55 AM and I'm out the door. Simon (my dog) is excited and ready to go to work. Five minutes in the mule (Kubota ATV) down the road and across the pasture to where the cows are ready to move. Some are grazing, others are at the water station but most are gathered together for the much anticipated move to fresh grass.

Doc and I had set up all our pasture lanes the evening before so I just had to reel back the fence and call the cows. Once they all had moved into the new paddock I just reconnected the fence behind them. Pretty simple. The cows would stay in this paddock until 9 am. I was back at the house at 6:32. 

I got a cup of green tea with lemon and settled down with my Bible for a few minutes. Now, I am NOT a morning person (but sure wish I was!). I woke up at 7:45 to the sound of a tractor and saw that Howard was out mowing the roadside fence lines. He was trying to beat the heat. I grabbed a quick bite thinking I'd meet Howard back at the shop for the day's work but when I got up to the shop Howard and the tractor were still gone. Well, this was another rare opportunity for me to move the cows by myself. It's really hard for me to learn things when someone is just telling me what to do. I need to be able to critically think through things and go through the trial and error process in order to learn things well. 

So, feeling confident from my success with the cows earlier that morning, I headed over to do the second mob move for the day. This time, I needed to let them into the second paddock and then open a lane back to the water station. 

You have to understand at this point that there are a number of complicating factors in this scenario. First, you have the whole pasture with a perimeter 5 strand electric fence. In order to section off the pasture we use temporary step-in posts and reels that carry a flexible, conductive rope called "polywire". To make the polywire "hot" the insulated handle is hung on one end of the perimeter fence, the polywire is spooled across the pasture, and the conductive reel is then hung on the perimeter fence at the other end. Once the step-in posts are in place you have a temporary, "hot" fence. 

In this particular section of pasture, there were 5 reels

in use and 3 perimeter gates. Understanding how the electricity flows, how the reels needed to be configured for each day's move, and how to transition from one paddock to the next required a bit of thinking!

So, back to the task at hand. I drove the mule across the pasture to the reel for the second move. I called the cows and they all came through. I had two options at this point: 1) Leave the reel rolled back and let them walk the full length of the paddock back to the water station; or 2) Go to the end of the paddock closest to the water and pull the insulated handle over. Option two would allow me to keep the fence "hot". I went with option 2. There were a number of adjustments to make to the gaggle of reels comprising this network of paddocks but, successfully I opened the paddock and the cows came through to the water station. 

The next 2 hours could have been totally avoided had I remembered I let the water station gate down so that I could reconfigure the lane. To my horror, I watched the entire herd exit the paddock system. About this time, I also realized I had left the gate open at the road and to top it all off, I had boxed myself and my mule on the other side of the paddock system. I was unable to quickly cut the herd off but had to go all the way back around the pond to the road.

By the time I could get to the cows, every single cow and her calf was on Longest Acres Rd! About 200 animals! I only had one spare reel with me (with two or three reels I could have contained the situation much easier) and a long-handled flag. Basically, I strung a wire across the road on one side (and ditches which I later realized were full of poison ivy) and used my mule and the spring gate on the other side to get them back into the fence but that put them into pasture they had already grazed. The cows immediately dispersed to the shade trees spread out across this pasture. I then needed to get them all back together and herd them back through the water station and into the paddock system. I accomplished this task again using the polywire and reel, mule, and flag. The last step was to open the paddock back to the barn where there was shade for them. I went ahead and opened it up for them earlier than scheduled... after all, it wasn't their fault the gates had been left open! It was 10:45 and I was soaked with sweat by the time I was done. 15 Seconds to close the two gates in the beginning could have saved me 2 hours!

This whole story reminds me of another shortcut that many of us try to take:  To believe we are OK without Jesus in our lives. Jesus is THE way (John 14:6). There is NO OTHER WAY to have eternal life in heaven with the only one true God than through Jesus. 

Pastor Lincoln (of Shandon Baptist Church) has used

this illustration: If we all went down to Myrtle Beach, SC and got in the water intending to swim to England NONE of us would make it! Some would get a lot farther than others. Some would swim for miles. Others wouldn't be as fit and could only swim a short distance. Many (fit and unfit) would become entangled along the way with jelly fish or sharks or be swallowed by the ocean in the giant swells of a storm. In the end, no one would make it without help. We would all eventually need someone to rescue us and carry us the rest of the way. 

In the same way, we have ALL fallen short of God's perfection and the result of that shortfall is spiritual death. Jesus is the only way to be rescued and have spiritual and eternal life in heaven with Him. Christ paid that death penalty price for us once and for everyone but, you must BELIEVE this fact as if your life and the very next breath you take depends on it... because it does! Cutting out Jesus is definitely a shortcut you don't want to take!

One of my daughters once was telling me all about these great books she was reading written by progressive philosophers. She wasn't sure she believed in Christ. I told her it was fine to explore different faiths but in fairness she should be sure to also study the bible. So often, people are critical of the bible because of what they think they know when they have not really tried to read it and understand God's message. I was hostile toward the Christian faith in my youth but now realize I couldn't have been more wrong. I pray, if you haven't already done so, that your heart and mind would be open to the message and life of Christ. It's THE best decision I've ever made.

I love you all! Thanks for reading my blog.  

Until next time....

Farming in the Snow

Hello Dear Friends!

Simon's first snow!

The farm, blanketed in snow, quiet and glistening, lay so peacefully. It had snowed furiously the previous afternoon and all night long. You could see evidence of life by the tracks they left... a rabbit, a raccoon, some deer, some kind of bird - probably a crow. The geese, ducks, heron's, and other water fowl had retreated to the deeper water ponds that weren't frozen. 

This was Simon's first full-on snow experience. He was quite cautious at first but in no time was bounding through the dry, fluffy snow. He stuck his head down in it and flicked up the snow with his nose, then dove after the clumps as they fell and scattered around him. Then he rolled in it and jumped up and went racing around. He was so excited and just thought it was the greatest fun! Rio, my cat, watches in great amusement from her perch in the warm house and she too had fun swatting at the twirling snow flakes as they fell outside her window.

We put 8 steel gates in front of the hay bales in the shed in
case we needed to bring one of the herds in.

Severe weather (whether it's too dry, too wet, too cold, too hot, too windy) usually creates more work for us on the farm. The horses could paw with their hooves to get down to the grass but unless cows have had experience with snow they don't always know what to do and it may take them a bit to figure it out. So we feed hay and have to go around and break the ice in the water stations which is easy enough to do with our 4wd Kubota ATVs. Our biggest problem comes if we lose power because all of our well pumps are electric. So in the days before the cold weather, we prepared generators and plans of action in case of power-outage, to move animals closer to creeks and shelter. All of our herds handled the snow very well.

These mamas and calves were excited to move to their next pasture. It was as if they didn't even notice it had snowed!

I did have an episode with my back and was unable to work for 8 days earlier in the month. I had been managing my back problems with regular chiropractic visits for the past 24 years in Columbia and as a result avoided surgery and all drugs except some ibuprofen once or twice a year if absolutely needed. So when my back went out on me here I knew I'd have to either find a chiropractor in this area or I may not be able to move forward with farming. So I set out to find a chiropractor nearby. My chiropractor for 24 years in Columbia, SC (Dr. Tonine Gelardi) is one of the very best, practicing upper cervical specific adjustments. I did not realize how difficult it would be to find another similar chiropractor. I searched and searched and finally through some miraculous events found Dr. Chad McIntyre in Kernersville, NC. It's an hour drive from my house in Snow Camp but I'm getting great care for my back now and it's just another sign that God is working everything out for me to be here. It was a good thing too cuz I fell several times those days we worked in the snow and ice! 

So this past week has been in the mid-60's. Spring!... almost! I cannot believe that within one day of warm weather and sunshine we went from gray, cold, wet, ice, and snow to warm breezes and sunshine. The subdued sounds of winter broke into twittering birds and croaking frogs. And even through the melting snow came the crocuses: the first brave responders to Spring! 

Canadian geese have been wintering here. Sometimes they land on the pond in front of my house. What amazing birds!

Yesterday, I came in from the morning's work to make my green smoothie

(whenever I mention my green smoothie people always want to know how I make it so I've included my general recipe at the end of this blog). We had all the windows open and as I enjoyed the view from my kitchen a rabbit ran by the window with Simon bounding after it which caused such a commotion in the leaves outside that Rio, who was asleep in a sunny spot by the window, woke up. The Blue Heron caught a fish in the pond, I could see several new varieties of ducks on the pond and out of the side window I could see about 200 Canadian Geese on the pasture, grazing and resting. And beyond the geese I could see several deer at the edge of the woods. I was overcome with just being there with so much life going on around me. I'm so very thankful to be here and am so in awe of the God I know and love and serve.

I'm becoming more and more useful around here as I gain skills. I can now handle a tractor and trailer (lots of ratchet straps - thanks Basil for all the training on those vendor tents!), work a herd of cows, load cattle onto a trailer by myself, fix fences, troubleshoot electrical fence problems, use quickbooks and Cattlepro software, handle customer service and deliveries, and give tours. It is possible I may be staying on here for a while longer than September. I'm excited about that but we'll have to see how things play out in the months ahead and how long Doc would like me to stay.

I'm loving my new church family and am so excited to be a part of the choir and praise team, and to sing some individual worship songs. I'm also working with the youth pastor to do some things here at the farm for our youth group. 

I miss seeing you all! You are all so dear to my heart! My March trip to Columbia has been delayed because I missed so much work with my back and now Doc is going to be gone for a couple weeks and then we are into our busy season with some big projects planned using cover-crops. As always, I'll keep you posted and hope to see you soon... keep in mind you can always visit me here! :-)

I have 2 - 25% off coupon codes for Sierra Trading Post to give to the first two people to email me asking for one. They expire 5/15/2014. I ordered some work clothes from them (thank you again dear friends) last month and they sent me these to give away. They have great prices, sales, and selection.

Also, I want to give a plug to Vitacost who recently blew me away with their nothing short of exceptional customer service. When you contact them about a problem or concern, they will actually follow up with you about it.

Now for the recipe:

Yum!

Jan's Green Smoothie
Note: It takes several days for your taste buds to adjust so give this a chance!

2 C. Filtered or Distilled water
1 very ripe banana (the riper the sweeter!)
Assortment of greens - in-season local greens are usually cheapest. I buy organic but if I know a farmer who is mostly organic, just not certified, I'll buy those. 
I generally will add about 10-15 stems of parsley (flat or curly),
7-8 beet leaves
3-6 collard leaves (depending on how big they are)
3-6 Lacinato Kale or other kale leaves (depending on how big they are)
whey protien mix or whey (if you or someone you know makes cheese)
2 heaping Tblsp ground flax meal.

~Use a blender. 
~Start with the water and banana and the parsley or some softer greens to get your blender going. Unless you have a vitamix or magic bullet you'll probably need to add things slowly or you'll burn out your blender.
~For the leafier greens I strip off the leaf part and put the woodier stalk in my compost/worm farm. Blending (as opposed to juicing) gives you a lot of cellulose (plant fiber) and by leaving the stalks on the greens you can get too much of a pulpy consistency. You want to be able to drink the smoothie and not feel the need to chew it. 

Some ideas for variations: Mustard greens, diakon greens, turnip greens, dandelion greens, blueberries, strawberries, mango, pineapple, raspberries, 1/4th of an avocado, a piece of fresh ginger root, some burdock root, sprouts, wheat grass, Bragg's Apple cider vinegar or 1/4 c. pure cranberry juice. 

I am convinced that eating raw greens (either by juicing, smoothies, or greens (not lettuce) salads (ie collards, lemon juice, olive oil, cayenne pepper) is one of the major keys to good health! Google "chlorophyll" - amazing stuff!

Pressure, Yielding, and Trust

Hello Dear, Dear Friends!

I hope and pray you have all had a good Christmas and holiday season! I am

so very thankful to those who helped me obtain better winter clothing and work clothes. In 5 degree weather plus wind, the right clothes are really important! I also cherished & have kept all the cards I received. I am truly blessed to have such precious, caring friends. Thank you!

Muddy & Wet!

I cannot believe 2014 is here already! And it's even more amazing to think that just 6 months ago I would not have believed I'd be working on a grass-based cattle operation in NC!! I am already praying about and putting feelers out about what the next step will be... we shall see, and I will certainly keep you posted!








In the mean time, I keep coming back to a lesson about "pressure" I learned at Wil-Moore Farms last summer as a CFSA intern. At Wil-Moore Farms, the chicken tractor-house doors are fashioned on a frame covered in wire-mesh and hinged on the house. A brass clip secures the door to the house. A number of times I'd have trouble un-clipping the door in order to get in to feed the chickens and collect the eggs.

I'd struggle and struggle and then Keith would come over an simply un-clip the door. I would just be amazed and he would patiently explain to me again about pressure. You see, when there is pressure on the clip it is exasperatingly difficult, to move the pin and release the door. By knowing where the pressure is coming from you can maneuver the clip or the door to take the pressure off. Then the door opens easily. Sounds simple doesn't it? But time and time again whether filling a syringe for Doc to treat a cow, fixing a flat tire, or trying to open a stuck gate, I have been faced with the same lesson: Pressure.

Lessons about pressure also come into play when working with the cattle. Take for example bull #007. He is one of our younger, viable bulls. I call him "James". The back-story is that in December, we artificially inseminated (AI) all of our breeding cows. This was a 4 day process involving long hours and a team of seasoned helpers to round up all the cows and run them through the stockyard where they would undergo the breeding process. The AI process did not insure that 100% of the cows would conceive so, we then introduced bulls into the cow herd. The cows who did not conceive through AI then came into heat again when the bulls were present.

This is James, #007, one handsome dude!

Of the five bulls here, James (bull 007) was NOT selected to be in with the cows this time. Instead, two other bulls were put in, but James, from a half a mile away, could sense what he was missing and, let's just say he was very enthusiastic about wanting to participate. In fact, he was so enthusiastic that twice in one afternoon I found him out of his pasture and hunting a way to the cows. Now, herding a cow is one thing but herding a bull is quite another, especially when he is really motivated to go somewhere! My cow pup (my dog, Simon) and I tried to encourage James back to his pasture but he was so determined that I quickly realized this 2500lb bull was no match for me waving a white plastic fence post and my fledgling cow pup! I headed to the shop to get the Kubota and offer a larger presence to the bull to insist he return to his pasture. Luckily, this worked. I packed up for the day, closed up the shop, and headed to the house for a hot shower.

It was dark by the time I finished my shower. As I toweled my hair I heard the unmistakable bellow of the bull under my bedroom window. I looked out. Sure enough, there was James. My house is between his pasture and where the cows in heat were pastured and he was looking for a way through. I pulled on my clothes, boots, and jacket and grabbed my headlamp and a Coleman flashlight that can spotlight 100 yards away. I located the bull in my yard and then quickly got the Kubota from the shop. I wasn't going to take any chances in the dark. The Kubota has headlights but when you are out on the pasture in the dark it is REALLY dark and you need to be able to scan 360 degrees around you.

I drove back to the yard in the Kubota but in just those few minutes James had literally disappeared. I drove all around the house, the pond, and the stockyard area searching for him and thinking he couldn't have gone far but, he was no where to be found. I took my high-powered Coleman flashlight and scanned the pastures around the house hoping to catch the glow of his eyes in my light, but nothing. I decided to turn the engine off and listen. Sure enough, in a couple of minutes I heard him bellowing in the distance. I determined the direction and took off. This darn bull had gone a quarter of a mile down the road and luckily into another pasture of ours where he thought he could get through to the cows a couple of pastures over. We didn't have cattle in these pastures by the road (Longest Acres Rd) so all the gates were open. 

This is where James "should" be!

At first, I thought I could coax him back onto the road and back to his pasture with two other bulls but, I had wet hair, it was about 38 degrees outside and I had thought I was done for the day. I was in no mood for chasing a bull in the dark and James was in no mood to go back to his pasture. He was flighty and the least bit of pressure from me in the Kubota made him spin around and run. This particular pasture had some downed trees and marshy areas and I quickly realized my best bet was to use his energy to my advantage in order to contain him so, as he was running toward a gate he thought was open (but I knew was closed) I was closing the other gates and making sure the electric fences were on and were hot. Whew! James was secured for the night! I put in a word for him with Doc (farm owner) and a couple of weeks later we moved #007 in with the cows. You're welcome James!

I think they like me! This one is licking my jacket
while I was out fixing fences.

As I think about pressure I've seen it come from many directions. Sometimes it's job pressure, or relationship pressure, or the pressure from expectations whether they are our own or someone else's. We can feel pressure when we are moving in the wrong direction or even when we are headed in the right direction. Pressure makes us move or not move and definitely influences the direction of our lives. It can be hard to decide if the pressure is a good thing or not and if it means to move or hold steady. I think I try to live life with as little pressure as possible but ultimately for me it comes down to the faith & trust I have in my sovereign Lord. 

Through love, patience and consistency, Buck Brannaman creates a level of trust with a horse so the horse understands when he puts pressure on them (with a weight shift or leg cue) they can trust the direction he is taking them. It becomes a beautiful dance of pressure, trust, and surrender and I believe this is a picture of how Almighty God wants His relationship with us to be. When I surrender (give) to the authority (pressure) of Jesus Christ (He, as the rider, I, as the horse) beautiful things happen and I am at peace even if there is chaos around me.

You have no idea how precious your friendship and support is to me! I'd love to hear your thoughts about the subject of pressure and what it means to you.
If you haven't done it already please LIKE Braeburn Farms and Jan Nirri's facebook page where I post things between blogs. And, if you've made it this far in my blog please treat yourself to one of these video clips: 

Buck Brannaman on Pressure and Release


Buck Brannaman on Fear




Happy Trails and love to all!