Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all! Be merry and travel safe. Please pray for all those who are cold, have greif, or cant be with their loved ones this year. Below is a copy of our Christmas Picture, Concord Baby in now 13 months old!

Snow

What a beautiful time of year! We love the snow fall. These are pictures of our most recent flurry, by storms end we 2-3", enough to be pretty and not too treacherous. We have been staying inside warm by the wood stove, and venture out only by necessity: work, shopping, chores, etc... The wood stove is keeping up farely well, we are though using more wood than planned. I had planned to start soon cutting wood for 2009-2010, but for now, I just need to have enough to get through this winter, then we'll prepare for next, LOL! This week we cut down 2 trees, and completely cut and hauled one of them to the splitting pile, which is next to the wood pile. Pics: Our house in the snow; veiw of our little barn; pigs chowing down; cows hanging out- even though they have a barn with hay to go into? I dont know either! Happy Holidays Everyone and safe travels.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all! We hope tha everyone has a great turkey day! As a family we are very fortunate in a time of poor economics to have close family and friends, and great jobs. We are very thanksfull for all that has happened this past year: the birth of Jay(Concord Baby), The purchasing of our farm, the bounty of food that our farm has given us, economically secure employment, and meeting of many new friends and oppertunities. May all be safe and enjoy their travels. Safe hunting and the best of luck to those Ohio Shot gun hunters next week! Below are some of our turkey day pictures, our finished dinner, sweet potatoes, pie making, finished pies, awesome pie! (Yes, Yummmm, homemade Pumpkin pie, made with pumpkins we grew!!!)

Fall Work

Fall work is finally on the home stretch, if thats possible to say on a farm. We have been trying to finish up many tasks: firewood, the barn, the pig pen, fencing and helping neighbors with their fall work. We have finally stock piled enough fire wood, I think. We finished roofs on both the barn and the pig pen. We (Matt, Justin and I) have been digging post holes with the 2 man auger, then I set and tamp the posts and hang barb wire, alot still to go. The wood stove is working out well, we are finally figuring out temperature control, sometimes it gets as hot as 85 'F in the house. Heres some Fall pics.

Congrats Joey and Kristi

On Saturday Nov 1, Joey and Kristi said their vows. What a joyous occasion. Congrats, our best wishes go out to you.

Happy First Birthday Jay!

Saturday the 8th was Concord Babys First Birthday! Wow this last year has gone so fast. Jay has grown leaps and bounds, hes now walking, I mean terrorizing anything and everything. We are so lucky to have such caring and supportive friends and family. The party had a great turn out, what a great time to be had by all. Thanks to everyone! Attached are some other little boy pictures, this is a Concord Baby update.
Other Pictures: Playing outside during fence work, Halloween Costume (horse), Messy Eating

Our Newest Venture

Pork has been on my mind since we got the house, now its a reality. Well actually it was reality in August, it has just taken me a while to write about them. We are raising 2 "test" pigs to set our prices for future raised freezer pork, and give us time to figure out a set up that will work for us. We purchased hampshire crosses, much like the ones pictured below. They are both putting on weight, and will hopefully be ready for butcher by February. Pork updates to come.

Early Fall Hike

On saturday we decided to visit Burr Oak State Park and hike along the lake. The leaves have not all quite changed color, but within a few weeks, Fall colors will be abundant throughout our Southeastern Ohio region. Over the past few years of living within a few miles of the lake has made it perfect for a quick trip and has become one of our favorite family visits. We greatly enjoy the views and being near the water. Concord Baby loves the water, next summer will be so fun! Soon we will have a boat, that has been sitting unused and looking for a caring family, donated by Hoffmans. Below are pictures of our trip. Feel free to check out the great links on our blog.

Firewood

Firewood is name of the game. With propane prices already outrageous, and still climbing, wood heat is the best option for us. Wood heating will be very time/ work intensive, but we can cut all wood from our wood lot, meaning its cost less $$, and trees are a renewable resource. As for cutting trees, we have only cut trees that were already dead, or needed cut for safety reasons(like in previous Blog Post). With help from Concord Family and Friends we cut and hand split of 75% of our wood this year (roughly 3 cords). The rest was split with a log splitter at a communal wood cutting/ splitting party at my neighbors, in which we all got a share of the wood (Wood hauled home on the hay wagon, load x 2). We will soon find out if 4.5-5 cords of split wood will last us the winter, setting our base line for coming years. The Farmers Almanac has predicted a harsh winter, Warm wishes from our family to yours! Below are some pictures of our wood cutting adventures. Yes even Concord Baby helped.

Wood Stove

Have you taken a look at the recent propane prices? Outrageous! Thats why we have chosen to heat our home with a wood stove, supplementing the propane furnace. We purchased the wood stove last February, actually before we had our current home. The stove is a Buck Stove Co. Model 21 (link: http://www.buckstove.com/wood/model21.html ), with a heating range of 800- 1800 SqFt. We chose this stove out of oppertunity, it was listed Craigslist, and we dealt the seller down. Where to place the stove within the house was a difficult decision, but we found we liked the way it looked in the living room corner, not to mention it is a central location in the house.

To be safe, and meet insurance requirements Concord Family built an elevated corner hearth pad. The optional side and rear heat sheilds were also intalled on the stove for close clearances, so no wall protection is called for. The platform was designed and built custom by us. This pad was made of recycled bricks that we dug up on the property and washed. Then we mortared in the bricks. Let me say, wow, I sure am glad I am not a brick mason, and I'm sure others are too, what a tough and tedious job this was. I think the inexperience and "custom" looking job is what will make this project so memorable. Thanks Justin. Below are pictures of the process Part 1( Yes I know, the stove isnt centered yet). Part 2 to follow at a later date.---J

New Herd Bull

After along search and much contemplation, we have found a new herd bull. This bull "Travis Hollifield" of Hollified Farms in WV, will be a great sire and hopefully serve os well. Travis is a PDCA registered, DNA tested, Non-Chondrodiplasia, Red Dexter bull. Travis was born on Sept 24, 2007, So he is just now at breeding age, and he is peforming well so far (LOL!),(he will be larger). Now, the next step is to purchase registered red cows. Pictures below.

Concord Baby's Room

Concord Baby's remodel is complete! Concord Grandma and Concord Mom painted the farm mural on Concord Baby's bedroom walls (Looks Great!). We also sanded the original wood floor, stained and polyurethaned it. Pics Below. Thanks to all who helped!