Cookout Fun, Momma Cows, Full Week
What a week. Saturday’s cookout was not only the highlight of the week, it was likely the highlight of the year. It was good. I know that “good” is an elementary exclamation, but good is the best way I can describe it. This was living at its best. Enjoying the fruits of our labor with fine folks throughout our community. For us, this is what it’s all about.
The weather was perfect, as was the live music from Valley Grass and Big Tree and The Branch Boys. If I had to guess, I’d say around 250 folks came out for some farm raised food and fellowship. And there was still plenty leftover. We’ve been enjoying leftovers all week as Amy especially has enjoyed a slow down from having to cook as much.
It was truly a community effort. More than a few friends and family members went out of their way to help set up the day before, cook and prepare food, serve, and clean up after the fun was over. Amy’s dad not only helped with everything cookout related, he also jumped in and helped get the farming chores done like he always does.
After last year’s cookout, grill master Big Al gave us some serving warmers to keep the meat warm as it was being served. After everyone had eaten and we began to put away the leftovers, we realized that we forgot to turn the warmers on. Oops. On a similar note, our four kids have a way of making corn hole bags disappear. Imagine that. So before the cookout we ordered two new sets of corn hole bags. As it was getting dark and the cookout was winding down, we realized that we (me) forgot to put the corn hole bags out with the boards. Sorry for serving cold meat and teasing you with decorative corn hole boards and no bags to play it with. Sheesh. We’ll get this cookout stuff figured out eventually.
Then back to work.
Chicken chores before church on Sunday. Cow chores and pig chores after church. Then rest. Hallie and Hasten went back to Knoxville Sunday afternoon with Amy’s parents, so we’ve been without them all week. Wren especially has missed them. While in Knoxville, Amy’s dad has been taking them through welding and shop class 101. I’m good at teaching the kids how to tear stuff up. Thankfully their papaw is teaching them how to fix stuff.
In farm news, we decided to bite the bullet and buy 45 bred momma cows from Kentucky. If we raise their calves to maturity to sell the beef locally, it will likely be late 2027 or early 2028 by the time we receive any return on this momma cow investment. And between now and then, keeping these cows will require continual investments of time and resources. Time will tell if this was a good move or not.
Usually when moving cows across the road, Hallie and Hasten get one side while Amy the the two youngest girls get the other side. With Hallie and Haste in Tennessee, it was time for Wren to step up. And step up she did, with her cattle flag waving the cows across and stopping oncoming cars. Thankfully, Mr. DeBord and Uncle Jimmy happened to be passing by and were there to offer Wren some assistance if she should need it. Glad to have patient and helpful neighbors.
Another couple hundred chicks out to pasture. 22 shelters to move everyday now. I think that’s about enough for me. I had to make some new chicken shelter lids as a couple of them were beyond salvageable from wind damage last year. Some of these shelters are going on their 8th season, so I guess some wear and tear should be expected. More chicks arriving today. Next week we’ll harvest our first batch of the season. As we start emptying out some shelters, we’ll have 3 week old chicks in the brooder ready to take their place and keep the shelters filled. Our chickens are getting about 500 lbs of non-gmo feed everyday. Delivered to them in 5 gallon buckets. Usually Amy handles the feeding while I’m moving the shelters. With the homeschool school year on break, Amy and I get to spend more time doing actual farm work together like the good ol days. We still like each other. And we still like working together. Most of the time.
Each week has some sort of unplanned and unexpected occurrence that takes priority over your already important list of things to do. A leak in the water line and fallen trees on fences were a few things imposed their way into my schedule this week.
On top of all that, there’s a wedding on the farm coming up which means a little extra effort in making sure everything is good and in place for the Pennsylvania couple’s special day.
With Hallie and Hasten in Tennessee, we promised to make this week special for Wren and Carter. “We could spend the night at the cabin. That would be special,” insisted Wren. With some unbooked nights this week, we stayed one night at the cabin and let the girls play in the hot tub. Our short stay was mostly spent sleeping, but it was “the best day ever” according to Wren and Carter. We get there just before dark, in time to sit on the porch and watch the lightning bugs put on an always miraculous show. Back at it the next morning.
I started listening to a couple different audio books this week, but I couldn’t tell you a thing about what I heard. My mind was elsewhere, going a million miles an hour in a million different directions. Most of my listening this week was to Wren. You’d think with two kids away it would be a little more quiet around here. Nope. Wren chattered about this and that nonstop, pausing only briefly on Thursday afternoon due to shyness while making a meat delivery with me. She talked and talked. And of course Carter, who says and does everything that Wren does, echoed everything Wren said like a parrot.
My favorite Wren quote of the week came at the dinner table. She often asks what we’re eating and what animal it comes from. You’d think as a farm girl she’d have a pretty good concept of meats and their origins. Not so much. Eating leftover ORVF chicken wings from the cookout she was dead serious when she asked, “Does chicken wings come from a cow or from a pig?” My goodness. We’ve got a long row to hoe with this one. Ha.
Have a good week.
Will