Sheep shear Day

Home School Day

Well yesterday we had 3 of our sheep sheared.  The decision was made when we did this to open it up for a field trip for home schooler's to attend.  

We planned to start at 10 am and my daughter did come to help me (thankfully).  

So people started showing up a bit before 10 am, and as they arrived we spent time over by the tipi and play area waiting for everyone to arrive.  

Once everyone was here I talked with the children about the rules of the farm (such as to going into any fenced in area with out me or my daughter and their parent both. ) then we headed out to the barn where our sheep shearer was already here and setting up. 

Here is our sheep guy!

"Mr" Zachariah Danberry who attends church with us. 

Here is the first sheep getting done.  Notice how Zach begins with getting the sheep to almost sit, it is then sheep then that the sheep relaxes and that allows Zach to begin and easily move the sheep around as he works.

 

See, that the sheep is already half done! Here Zach is holding the sheep at the ear/head ...and shearing down the neck and back...

 

Above... the sheep is almost done!

 

Sheep  #2 is moved to the area to be sheared!

 

Notice the bag of wool is filling up (over by the bales of hay)

 

And the 3 sheep are now done!

  

Once the adult sheep were done, I picked up one of the baby lambs and allowed the children to hold / pet the lamb.  They also were able to pet one of the adult sheep right after it was shorn to feel how much you can feel the lanolin in the wool...

After holding and petting a baby lamb (and a baby goat) we then moved to the chickens.  

 

The children fed the chickens some sunflower seeds which is a treat to them, since they mostly scratch around in the barn yard.  

We had the chickens shut up in a small area in front of their shed they sleep in at night and is also where they lay the eggs.  This is so they could be fed easily by the children.  The children then were allowed to gather the eggs.

 

Paper work was handed out (that supplemented what the children saw today)

 

Here we are talking about eggs

We also went into the pasture with the sheep and goats, had to be patient until they came to us, but finally they did.  The cow (actually a bull) came up too, and it took some work between Anastasia and myself to keep the bull back (he has never been mean yet-- but he is a bull !!).  It was some work to keep the children all in the area they were allowed to be in and not to wonder off. They were excited about the goats and sheep and wanted to chase them, and try to be able to pet them.  When your not around farm animals  it is hard to understand that sheep and goats are shy around you if they do not know you!  Once we were able to stand as still 'as we could' then they came up  to them.  I also sent some of the children out for some of the grass that we had cut the day before (to have for today) to bring in to the pen and feed the animals... this allowed the animals to become curious and come up to the children!  Many of the children wanted to find the peacock, who was hiding because there were too many people there for him to feel safe.  He hides when that happens....

He usually will come out fine if we just go to the tipi area and play area, then he will some out.....

Once the tour was done, many had to leave and could not stay for lunch,  3 families stayed for lunch.  They had packed a sack lunch.  The kids played and the moms visited.  Anastasia and I visited with the moms, but also had to chase 'bob' the goat who likes to get out. 

 

Here are the two male goats playing like they are fighting....

 

Cute !

 

This next fall, I hope to plan a day for home schoolers again, spend some time doing a fall craft, and cooking a stew over the open fire in the tipi. 

Today we had one family from our church attend, and 4 other families from the Michigan area attend.  thank you to all who enjoyed the day and our efforts to bless the homeschooling families!

Trying to Make People Think...

Well, something that I wanted to address, I tried to on face book, but I did not do the best of job at it. I  do not ever mean to offend anyone!!  But I did.  I am so sorry to anyone who I did this to. 

So I will try to address this here-an avenue where I can explain myself a bit better.

I have been noticing something -both my husband and myself, for the last year...that is just a bit disturbing. As believers, we feel it is important to reach out to others. Reach out to those in our church, and out of our church... We are very willing to do this, have done it for years.

Even though we do this...we are not usually invited to anything or anyone's home unless it is a group celebration (wedding etc) and we have had others say the same thing!  So I have been watching for the last year, and seeing that this is a problem in this area as well as other areas of the country ( I have had some tell me about this from other areas)... and I wonder why is this such a problem?  Why have others told me the same thing from other areas of the country, why are we seeing this happen? 

We have many families and acquaintances that we would consider to be our family and friends, yet we are not invited to their homes.  Group things, yes, but just to get together with one or more families?? No, that has happened only twice in the last 2/3 years!  Now I am not saying that to complain, but stating it as it is-just a fact.  

So Scott and I decided to try to figure it out.  Here is what we came up with:

First we had to check a few things:

1.) We thought-do we smell that bad? After all, we do live on a farm, so maybe the farm smell has not been washing off as much as we thought?!  Maybe it is that home made soap that I have been making....maybe it is not working...

2.)  Do people just not find us fun to be around?  I try to smile often!   Scott is actually kinda funny, even though he is very quiet!  Maybe I talk too much....maybe Scott does not talk enough......It just takes time to get to know us-really...as we get older, maybe were telling the same stories over and over too much...!!  We try to not do that...but hey, were older so that's gonna happen!

Here is Scott with a spoon in his mouth, acting funny at a wedding we were at!  He was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth, but added a clear plastic one here..works for us!  Well, maybe not.....

  I wish we knew the reason, but since we do not, we decided not to dwell on that, but to do something about it ourselves.  

So the correct thing to do is for us to reach out, and thus the face book message-I was just  hoping to share/spring to action-others---to encourage them to also reach out!  (esp after hearing from yet others across the country who are lonely in their area for fellowship even though they attend a fellowship ---remember my face book friends go all across the country...) 

Yes I sounded harsh, but I get to the point.  If it causes you to think, good that is what it should do.  If you think I am talking about you-no I am not, it is a general observation.

  We changed our world here--Scott and I, this past fall/winter we decided to make a commitment that we would invite a family over each week for a meal, making a goal to spend time with each family at least once a year.   Our ultimate goal is to invite everyone over more than once a year, not more than 3-4 families at a time, so we can try to really get to know everyone that is in our lives.   We try to have a family over each week, although there are some weeks that we can not, because I have clients due, and my husband is not too thrilled to have a house full of guests and then I leave for a birth and leave him here alone to play host and hates wearing the dress the hostess should wear! 

What we have learned is:

Humans are just like chickens.  We have a pecking order. 

I describe it like a bulls eye.  There is a center of the bulls-eye and at least 2  to 3 rings around the center. 

The center represents those families who are always invited to everything, they are the popular ones, everyone one wants to spend time with them.  The next ring represents those families who are often invited to most all functions, or often to peoples homes for dinner...

You get the rest. 

It is the outer ring that I feel sorry for, but then I am always feeling for the underdogs...those least popular people who are almost always alone on the weekend, or on 'game day' or special occasions.  (now, if you have been invited to our home for dinner, do not assume that I consider you to be a underdog!-please do not read into what I am trying to say!)

I am always sticking up for those who are alone, feel lonely, ignored, have needs, even a lot of them or only a few.....thus the need to do mission work... that is me....always reaching out to others in need...lonely...etc...

What happens when there is someone new at church for example?  I know that if someone visits for the first time, not everyone is gonna invite them over to their home right away!  That is not what I am talking about, but for those who are sorta new to a church or synagogue or, your gathering, do you reach out to them?  Or are they always sitting alone?  Are we doing what we can to include others?

If you know me, you will know a few things:  

1.)  If I have a problem with you personally I will address you

      directly, not on a public forum.

2.)  I will stick up for the underdog, the least among us, no

      matter the cost. (and in my past, it has cost me a LOT)

3.)  I do not lie, and I hate lies.

4.)  You can come to me with anything, I will listen, I will not 

      spread rumors, I will keep what you tell me a secret, I do

      not hear and talk.

5.)  I am always approachable...

So with this said, the point I was trying to make on face book is not to point out one person, or one group, not to pick on anyone, or any group, but for each of us to think about our lives and how we are being seen by others. No event or person spawned me to say anything.

  Nothing happened in my life to get me to say something, it is just a time when I thought something should be said, after observing things for a year --not just from this area but all around the country.

I just want people to think.  That is all.

Another New Baby

Well, a new baby on the Keeslar Farm...We knew the momma goat was expecting, but not sure when she was due.  Signs pointed that it would be soon, but as far as looking that she was expecting, she really did not look too large!  

 Yesterday Scott went out and realized there was a new baby in the field...so not sure when she had the baby, but here he is!

New Lambs!

 

This past week we had two new lambs born here on the farm.  We  knew that 2 of the sheep were expecting, and the first momma delivered over 6 weeks ago...twins.  The other momma we have been waiting on, and then the two younger females we did not know that they were expecting at all!  Well they both delivered one baby each this last week so here are their babies. 

 

And this is the young mother!

  

And this is the mother we are still waiting to deliver!

 

The chickens are doing well, they are recovering from the loss of feathers (normal for chicken to do that) and looking healthy!

  

This is their chicken house within the chicken house.  It is an old manger piece from church.  The chickens love it!

 

Well that is the update on the Keeslar farm this week!

You have a blessed week ya'll!

Spring Time and Grand Children Visit!

We have had a busy week.  The grand children came to visit last week, (the 3 older ones) and spent a week with us.  Grampa had friday off of work, so he had a 3 day weekend, which was a good thing because grandma had a busy work time from friday morning, until thursday the next week.  

But while the children were here, we tried to have some fun time.  Logan got sick for a few days, but by the end of the week he was up running and playing. We were going to go to the park for a day, but did not so he could sleep which is what he needed to do to get better.

 

The kids enjoyed their time.

One day that I was gone, it rained all day, and grampa was a bit overwhelmed with trying to find things for them to do in the house. 

 

Here are the boys playing outside.  They like the smaller  sand box.  I guess playing in the dirt never gets old!

 

And here are the kids outside just playing.

 

 Adreana is enjoying the flowers in bloom on the trees!

 

One day we went out into the Tipi and roasted hotdogs (kosher ones !) and had some potato salad, peanuts - in the shell where they could throw them into the fire, unleavened bread  and other snack fun foods .  Grampa built the fire and we just rested and enjoyed the time with the kids in the tipi.

 

Notice Zach has peanuts for a snack and unleavened bread.  This is a HOLY week for us, and we talked to the kids about passover, not as much as I wanted to, because I was gone so much working...   Zach really likes the unleavened bread!

 

Grampa below is enjoying his meal...

 

Later Grampa had the kids help pick up some rocks. As the snow plow on the farm tractor pushes snow out of the driveway into the yard, it also pushed rocks from the driveway into the yard and they have to be picked up- this is important to do before we start mowing to avoid rocks being thrown.

  

Well that is it for now.  Love having them here.  Miss when they are gone!  Be blessed everyone!