Crash! Burn! Rise!

     Life has been pretty intense! We have been doing all the milking, cheesemaking, packaging, marketing, and delivering cheese ourselves for the past two months. (Except for the fine work our distributors do....(I love you guys so much right now!!!)) With the cows and the facility a 3 hour round trip away and our markets and major buyers in cities that are a 4 hour round trip away, our weeks are maxed out. When we have part of a day off, we stare glassy-eyed into space, utterly fatigued and burnt out.
      Daniel continues to amaze me with his endurance and optimism. He goes without sleep and food in a race against time to keep up with everything. Meanwhile, I'm not faring so well. Be it pregnancy hormones, the 33 extra pounds, low iron levels, or all of the above, I can barely move and I am a blubbering mess.

      When I say blubbering mess I actually mean  a virtual meltdown where one is in a state of despair and questioning whether they can continue going in this direction. That's right! A year and a half in and countless hours, all our financial reserves and I am wondering if we should just quit.

• I miss my family being together. I miss my husband! 
• I miss sunsets and sunrises on the farm....quiet times and coffee time!
• I miss doing fun things on Sunday with the children...now I stare at the ceiling in exhaustion.
• I miss friends, family, vacations....anything fun.
• I miss real food....food that I cooked and does not belong in the sandwich category!

     After a particularly depressing attempt to achieve funding for the new facility, I just fell apart.

     A-N-D.....not quietly, in a corner, like usual! Due to missing a commitment, my family caught wind of my disfunction. AND.....they sprung into action. Food, transportation to a baby well care visit, help with clothes, and basically just meeting our needs where we are... arrived through thousands of miles of travel and efforts. I am still not exactly sure how to go on, but I have a few ideas.

     

         It is humbling to have a family that loves me that much...but I am so grateful. Everyone needs that kind of support sometimes and to be reminded that someone values them. I never want to abuse such support and I hate the inconvienence  they have suffered for it, so I want it to mean something. I want it to support fruit in me that is successful and stable. Also, a full cup has something to give to others! I desperately want to pay some of that love and support forward.

      The take away here is that in the crucible of life, family can make the difference between burn-out and hope. So on we go....with renewed strength and hope.

Small Business Sacrifice

        We have entered a period of pure insanity for our family. With our beloved milkhand sick for almost 2 months, our family has been managing almost every single aspect of two farms.
          Farming is a tough business, maybe one of the hardest kinds of businesses. With animals it can be like parenting at times. One can't just leave critters to their own devices. They manage to get into all kinds of perilous adventures. Which is kind of a double whammy in the business world. On one hand there is the business and marketing aspect. On the other side there are the logistics of not just manufacturing, maintanence, and repair, but actually keeping animals comfortable and well cared for. Any farmer will tell you that that is a job all by itself. Maybe it is why many farmers prefer to stay specialized on the farm and leave the marketing and manufacturing aspect to others.

Making sure baby gets that colostrum. From then on, mama cow handles the feeding!

 

Small Business Helpers

      There have been a few tools that have helped us keep our costs down, even if they have not always been terribly efficient. Starting out, dreams are often bigger than the pocket book, so sometimes flexibility and low out of pocket costs are the way to go. As we get the hang of things, we will certainly streamline the operation. But here are a few things that gave us a leg up.

        One tool we use ALOT is our little Brother label machine. It makes the barcodes our stores want and when we are experimenting with cheese types, ingredients, or names we can easily make a custom label. This gives us a lot of flexibility and allows customer feedback before we invest in full on production and labeling!

Maid-N-Meadows Spring 2018 Update: Special Announcement!

        Though spring is sliding into summer, I wanted to just check in and share what has been going on in our little world! We are working with the bees, cleaning out the barn, prepping for hay, and of course, making cheese.
       Earlier this spring, Daniel and Jacob captured two bee swarms. Having lost 2 last year, we are now back up to full strength. We are still new to bees and have a lot to learn. Hopefully we can provide these girls with plenty of wildflower covered fields this summer.

        Both swarms were in trees and took some finagling to get. In the last one, we had to put a ladder in the tree trunk so we could reach the branch. Thankfully, swarming bees are pretty docile...
       The boys have been cleaning out the goat barn for the last month. They are nearly done and I think relieved. It has been a lot of forking! The upside has been that they get to drive the tractor! What teenage boy would turn that opportunity down?! They are looking forward to clipping the weeds off the fields and cutting hay. Actually, we are probably all looking forward to cutting hay!               Calving season is in full swing with six bulls and five little heifers! You may have seen some of them on Maid-N-Meadow Mondays on our Facebook page. My favorite is Copper's daughter, of course! Copper has such pretty coloring and the calf's sire was a French bull of the Montbelairde breed. (This is a breed which works well for cheese making.)

         Victoria just had her calf a couple of days ago, but true to the unique nature of each cow, Victoria left her little bull to fend for himself. After 4 hours of searching, the boys found him. It is a good thing because he was starving! He is super little but super cute.
           Molly also had her calf! We rescued Molly out of the slaughter pen last year. On grain her milk production was so high that her udder was swollen and hanging just inches off the ground. Due to her weight, the auctioneer figured she was worth more as meat than as a milker. On grass she has done so well! She is a real milker and has birthed a fine bull!
     

        We may have 17-18 cows on the line, milking this year. That is great for cheese production! But we are struggling to manage everything. Energy levels are pretty low as we struggle to make cheese at a facility that is a 3 hour round trip from home. We must somehow build a facility this summer and feel exhausted just contemplating it. Small businesses are a lot of work, but combine small business and farming and it will just about lay a body to waste. A person can only function on 22 hour days for so long. We are not sure how to restructure to make life more fun and less exhausting. But rest assured we are exploring our options! Which brings us to our SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!
                 

         The Showalter family is expecting a new member, Lord willing! Arrival is expected sometime in October. We are weary and worn, but excited about this new child. May he or she bring something special to this world and may we be worthy of shepherding this next generation.

       That is all for now! See everyone on Facebook or at our farmers market, Hip Donelson, in Nashville! 

Buying Cattle At A Livestock Auction: Good Deals & Sad Deals

        Having recently been back to the stock pen for a few more cows, I felt some attention needed to be spent discussing the finer points of dairy cattle auctions. So many cows are going as hamburger, not because they are not valuable milkers, but because their weight make them more valuable dead than alive.

Small Business: Marketing Cottage Food

         

       Starting a business is like a maze of possibilities with twists and turns galore. The wrong path can cost the business its future, so careful choices are a must! We have made our share of mistakes in running Maid-N-Meadows. We have made the wrong product at the wrong time. We have taste tested product with stuffy noses, before shipping it out. (Please, don't make THAT mistake!) We have been inefficient and ill equipped for the task at hand....causing us to work around the clock. We have been wrong in our cost of product forecasts and labor forecasts....The list goes on and on!

Your Story Hour is here!

       Looking for clean and edifying entertainment for the whole family? Check out the audio stories on Your Story Hour! When the children are sick or nursing a injury and are bed bound, these stories pass the time. When we are in the car on long trips, these make the time fly by. When cooking dinner and the children are hungry and antsy, listening to a story calms all of our nerves.
       They have stories with a lesson, historical nonfiction stories, and Bible stories too! They are so engrossing, my husband has been known to sit in the car in the driveway until the story is over, when he would normally be jumping on to the next project.
        Currently, we listen to the free stories and one day we hope to contribute to this ministry which has blessed so many. So check it out and tell us what you think!

         While you are there, check out Adventures in the Holy Bible. We have used this course to help the children practice navigating the Bible as they have to hunt through it to find the answers to questions. Parents will want to preview it though to ensure it lines up with family theology.