Favorite Books For Family Reading!

      We love books but we also want to spend our time on things of a noble nature. (Phil 4:8) This can be a challenge when time is limited and it feels as though we are stretching ourselves beyond our limits to try and pre-read every book we want to offer our children....and yet we want to guard their hearts at this tender time.
      Over the years I have been blessed by the book lists of others and tonight I offer a list of our own. Though we are Christian and our understanding of theology falls under the label of Quaker, you will find some secular books and some from non-Christian parts of the world. We are not afraid of other cultures or peoples because God is the light that lights EVERY man. We feel called to answer or speak to that of God in everyone and we ourselves have much to learn in response.
        We read as family in the morning during breakfast and sometimes in the evening after supper. It is a time many of the children look forward to. For me, it is an opportunity to squeeze in one more noble thing in the day.

Dairy Sheep Diary

  Welcome little lamb, to the farm! He is the newest addition to the little flock of East Friesians already here on the farm. They are Jacob's project and we have enjoyed watching him flourish in this season of initiative and responsibility. 

        Jacob has long wanted sheep alongside the family project of raising goats. Understandably he was originally drawn to Jacob sheep. What teenager wouldn't be attracted to unusual spots and four to six erratically pointy horns?

       But then we were developing this cheese making idea and we thought, "Hey, with a cheese making facility, there would be room for developing more areas of specialization with cheese making." I was fascinated by the idea of all the different ways sheep can be marketed....from wool and meat, to milk and cheese, even soap!

        So we were looking around in a basic way, just kind of pricing things out and seeing how functional of a business option this was. At 30$ a pound, sheep cheese is a pricey product and there are few in the states meeting the market. The milk has high solids and remarkably, can be frozen for later cheese making. But the down side is that there are no tariffs on foreign sheep cheeses coming into the U.S. and cheese from countries where the farmers are government subsidized with strong breeding programs is impossible to beat price wise. Sheep give relatively small amounts of milk and only milk seasonably, so maintenance costs are high when one considers their limited output. 

      Case in point, this award winning cheese making family shut their doors last year when they could not maintain profitability....even with their cheese retailing at 30$ a pound and a demand that they never could meet!
      But we are still intrigued by the idea and are inspired by Glendale Shepherd.  With the help of interns and volunteers, they manage to keep up and running. Introduction to Dairy Sheep has some good points and numbers to start with.
     Bonnieview Farm is another sheep dairy...with a twist! They milk cows and sheep! I love their artwork and CSA ideas. Their farm reminds me so much of ours.
     Watching these videos of Northland initially interested us in sheep dairying. Notice the small cheese facility and the storage of milk in buckets and the creative cheese making vat, which is actually an old commercial soup kettle! These videos were produced by Cornell with the farmer in mind. They really covered so many different aspects of how this farm runs. But notice that there is still an off farm income!

         Maid-N-Meadows began as a way for our family to live the life we love, care for our animals the way they deserve, and make a quality product everyone could enjoy. We would love to open up our cheese facility and support other local families doing what they love! Which is farming of course! Currently there is no outlet for selling goat or sheep milk in our area. Wouldn't it be great if we could do that? 
      So dairy sheep started as a way to allow our children to experiment with their own niche in the farming business, but perhaps it can grow to encompass more families looking to do what they love in a financially stable way.

   

Family Circle Letter

     Hi all! Today I thought I would share some about our family life. Growing up in the Mennonite culture, families would send "circle letters". Circle letters were letters that were sent to pre-established families, in a pre-established order. Each family would add their letter to the batch and then send it on to the next family. This would be ours.
    So hello to all and peace unto you! Our family is enjoying some much needed rest and change of pace. Helping out at a few neighbors this week was fun. The children have missed their friends and are glad to be learning a few different skills.
     Kaleb is trying out welding. He designed and built a smoker for our sausage, bacon, and ham. We raised 4 piglets this summer on the creamery whey, grain, and, pasture. This is our first time smoking anything!

Full Circle Farming: Summer's Flow And Winter's Ebb

         The season is coming to a close. Our last market at Hip Donelson was last week and we are transitioning the cows back to the home farm. It has been an amazing season filled with highs and lows and we have come out the otherside richly blessed by the experience. 

       But the shift in gears is also a blessing as we turn inward, focusing on our family and catching up with friends, new and old. We seek some rejuvenation for our souls and a renewed sense of joy and purpose.

        We also reminsic over this first season and those who got us started and encouraged us along the way. We laugh a little about our mistakes...The 200lbs of cheese we ruined through various humorous mistakes, like the time Jacob properly turned the heat off the vat, while I turned it back on thinking I was the one turning it off. The milk was 120 degrees before we figured that one out! Whoops! Cultures killed in the heat and milk overheated...

      Or the time the home goats slipped through the fence and destroyed 3 acres of the neighbor's corn! Nine hundred dollars later, some new fencing, and some heart felt apologies, along with a very gracious neighbor, we prepare for the kidding season. Hopefully it will be a quiet, but joyful affair with bouncing kids, both human and goat.

      We have had our share of hurdles too. We have dumped a lot of milk down the drain because the demands were too high to make cheese with it! We have had utility shut off notices, 24 hour days and then working on into the next, sick animals at both farms, animals out of their pens....including 400lb pigs that can only be coaxed, because a 400lb pig can go anywhere it wants to! 

       But through all this, we have never been alone. God always made a way through the kind support of others. The Milk Safety Branch has made great efforts to lead us through this process, even showed up for our very first cheese making day! Terry Huff, from Heavenly Homestead, has graciously shared his facility and knowledge. He has saved us countless pounds of cheese in the process. Our milkhand, Scottie, was a godsend. After a long week, it was that short break which probably kept insanity from setting in. The children picked up the slack whenever we adults fell short of time and energy. They stirred cheese, cleaned the facility, milked cows, labeled cheese, and Jake even ran our booth at the Richland Market.

Watermelon break!

       Saving the best for last, we want to thank our customers. Many of you are our friends....some old and some new. And frankly, it is your support that keeps this operation running. We are so very keenly aware of this and we are filled with gratitude. As we work toward bringing the facility to the home farm, we are dreaming up ways to improve the operation. Your feed back is always appreciated!
        P.S. If you need cheese to satisfy a cheese craving this winter and live in Nashville, TN, look for us at The Produce Place, Herban Market, or meet us at the Peacefield drop point.
        In Kentucky you can find as at Happy Meadow Natural Foods, The Berea College Farm Store, or Good Foods!

Maid-N-Meadows Update

         

Cara Bonita

                     Fall is in the air and the farm is buzzing with activity! Cheese making has been an exciting adventure and while absolutely exhausted from the grind, enthusiasm has yet to wane. There are too many cheeses to attempt to make and too many cheeses we have yet to even try. Our learning curve is just beginning and we hope it never ends. The cheese making world is ripe with curiosities!
       Jake is milking his goat and sheep as we prepare to experiment with making soap. We are looking for ways to finance these critters while we wait for the flock to be large enough to be worth milking commercially. Our goal is to try and make some felted soap with our milk and wool. Anyone ever try some of this?

www.thetwistedpurl.com

       The goats are looking to start their kidding season in a few weeks and we look forward to cuddling those cute critters! Barn clean out is in full swing and repairs on feeders and fencing are underway.
                           

       We lost a bee hive this summer to wax moths and we think we are about to lose another. We started the summer with 3 and it looks like we will end the summer with 3 as well.
       It is hard to manage everything and we admit to falling short all over the farm this summer. It is only possible to fit in so much.....time is in short supply. But Lord willing, the fall season will allow us to salvage a few things. The most desperate thing we need right now is HAY!

Calling Isolated Conservative Quakers

         Nine years ago, upon reading the precepts of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), we knew we had found our own peculiar home. In reading these precepts, our inner knowing answered back. Christ is our foundation, and the light that lights every man. His words, along with his spirit, light our path. Our testimonies of simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and stewardship, remind us of the lessons of our Lord and remind us to act on those lessons in practical ways.

"Worshipping in Spirit and in Truth"

         Though we seek to blend with others, we have a distinctly unique calling or message. And while we encourage all to follow the Light they have been given, we too seek encouragement for the Light we have been given.
          We are always seeking fellowship! Infact, that is how this blog came to be. Because we know not where others are, we seek to let others learn where we are!

          Fellowship has so many blessings! Let us see if we may walk together!    

Hebrews 10:24-25

And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

                                            
                                                Proverbs 27:17
    Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

     We feel sure there are others like us. We wish there was some way that isolated Friends could network with one another easily. Just knowing other families are out there and visiting when opportunity allows would take some of the isolation away.
      As of now, we love to encourage our friends in Christ as we travel along the path the Lord has lit for each one and continue to wait upon the Lord. 
       If you are interested in Quaker meetings in your area then check out these maps! Regardless, may the Lord bless you on your journey!
      

Small Business and Big Families: Keeping It All Together Part 1

         Our family business,  Maid-N-Meadows, is our family's dream come true. We are providing other families with a healthy product and caring for our cows in a way that honors them. But beyond our obvious love of dairying and all things farm, is a dream to work, play, learn, and pray together as a family. I feel there are other families out there with the same goal and I wanted to share what we have learned so far. If there are veterans out there, we would love to hear from you and perhaps pick up a tip or two!