On the trail... updated

As some of you may know, I have been a horse- lover ever since I can remember- an affinity which my sisters shared.  This year we finally had the opportunity for which we've longed, prayed, and hoped for so long.

Tammy Faye

Strawberry

Wampum

       Our neighbor, Mr. L., owns three paint horses, Wampum, Tammy Faye, and their four- year old filly, whom we dubbed "Strawberry".  This spring, soon after I got back from Haiti, we began walking up to their pasture and petting them, feeding them treats, and eventually brushing them six days a week.  Well, actually, we were focusing on Tammy and Strawberry since they are our favorites.  For several months we worked with them- making our own rope halters, and halter- breaking Strawberry, who had never been trained at all since she was a couple weeks old.  We gave Tammy a much- needed refresher on leading and longeing.  We taught them to stand tied.  Before this stage, we began bringing Savana and LilyAnn, primarily so that they could video us working with the horses, or take pictures.  Savana began working with Wampum, primarily grooming him, but occasionally leading him around as well.  I was sort of "head trainer" and would introduce a new concept to the horses, or deal with them when they were being difficult.

A screenshot of Strawberry's first reaction to pressure on her mouth from the bit.  (BTW, this is actually less dangerous than it looks!)

     We got permission to put the saddles on them, but were not allowed to ride, due to Mr. L's concern that we would be injured.  T. and W. had not been ridden for over a year, and S. had never even been halter-broke when we first began working them, so this concern was valid- especially since we had only been on a horse a handful of times.



     Finally, their owner was able to ride Tammy, and within a few days we were allowed to as well, provided that we stayed in the round pen under his supervision.  He also got on Wampum, and eventually Strawberry as well.  In those initial rides, Strawberry actually reacted the best (or rather, the least).  Tammy did not appreciate all the weight on her back, but responded well to the bridle, Wampum didn't care a straw about the weight that I could see, but was stubborn about moving forward and turning.  He didn't obey the bit well at all.  But Strawberry was, as we put it that afternoon, "twice as good with the weight as Tammy, and twice as good with the bit as Wampum".

Strawberry during her very first ride.

A screenshot of my first real ride on Tammy.  Hooray!

  Then we were given permission to ride T. even when Mr. L. was not there, and about a week later, he said that we could ride the others as well.  Finally, we went on our first real trail ride with all three of them.  Unfortunately, the photos were accidentally deleted from the camera :(  Daddy went with Farrah and I, and he said that it was the most fun he'd had with us all year (even if his legs were really sore the next day.)  We rode all the way to our house, after taking lots of little back roads and trails around Mr. L's property.  Daddy got off at the house and Evan rode Wampum back with us.  Farrah and I cantered our horses (Strawberry and Tammy respectively) for the first time.

     I'm so thankful to the Lord for giving us all that he has-  a very generous neighbor, who considers it a favor that we ride his horses, a wonderful family who have supported and encouraged us, and of course, the beautiful world we live in, and the magnificent animals we ride!

    

Here's a few photos from our last ride:

Evan on Wampum.

Riding by one of the many ferneries around here...

Farrah on Strawberry.  This filly is doing great for being so "green".  She used to have a phobia of branches coming near her head, but now we've ridden her through the woods and under low-hanging boughs without a problem.

Trailing in the woods.

Me on Tammy.

At the house.  Russel was so excited that he repeatedly tried to escape from the porch and come see the horses.

LilyAnn trotting.  She's going to be a really good rider.  Tammy had spooked and jumped sideways only a few minutes before, and she stayed on pretty easily.  That little episode made me much more comfortable taking LA with us, as it showed that she wasn't easily unseated.

A pretty flower I picked as we rode by the bush it grew on.

LA hosing Tammy down to cool her off.  She also untacked her by herself (took off the saddle and bridle).

Leading Tammy and Strawberry back to the pasture.

Feeding carrots...

And there's nothing like a good roll!

Visit with Cousins

Cousins are so much fun!  Sophia, James and Caleb are all adorable, and they have such a good time here with our little guys and all the animals :)  We always enjoy it when our "Aunt Gie-Gie" is able to come down and visit for a week.  Here are some photos Savana took of our visit with them.

Sweet Miss Sophia

 I love the sequence of these pictures of Farrah with James in our garden.

"Oh no, what am I supposed to do here?"

"Hey, whatcha doin'?"

"Oh, you're getting seeds?"

"I'm ready for some!"

"Thank you..."

"You missed one!  Let me get it..."

"So this is what you do with them..."

"This is fun!"

 Meanwhile...

The rest of the little guys were having a good ol' time in the mud.

 

 After playing in the mud all morning, everyone had to take a "front step bath"- i.e. get a hosing down and hair-washing on the steps of the porch.

That water is sooo cold!
(Screenshot from a video.)

It's fun getting a "front step bath" though!  (Another screenshot.)

Isn't James cute lying on the rail of our deck like this?
(Screenshot.)

(Screenshot.)

Sophia playing with Kep.  (At first she was rather afraid of him, but now she likes him a lot.)
(Screenshot.)

We love our cousins!

Another oat recipe~ Bo's (raw) Granola

Here is our (alright, my little brother's) recipe for granola.  This granola, unlike most others, is wheat- free. There is no flour in it, so it's much more crumbly than traditional granola, especially when raw.  We originally would bake it and eat it with milk, but then my grandmother discovered how good it is raw, and so now I like it far better that way.  Enjoy!
(By the way, in case you can't tell, this is the mega batch version we make for our family (for the curious, it lasts us about three and a half breakfasts).  Of course, you could cut it down to a smaller size if you'd like, but it keeps quite well on the counter, even when raw.)

30 c. uncooked oats  (two 15 c. containers)
2 c. honey
7 prunes (my grandmother didn't put any in hers)
1 T. vanilla
1 T. cinnamon
1/2 c. dry coconut, optional
Raisins or Craisins  (The latter are really delicious in it.)
2 c. coconut oil
Walnuts, optional
Sliced or chopped almonds, optional

Mix all ingredients together, first blending the prunes until fine.  Now, you have a choice- you can bake it and eat it with milk, the traditional way, or you can just leave it raw, and serve on top of vanilla yogurt.
As with the raw cookies, my reaction was something along the lines of "who would ever want to eat raw granola".  But my grandmother, who originally discovered how good it is raw, convinced me to try some, and I've loved it ever since.  (Be careful- this is so good it gets addictive!  I think I like it even better than our yogurt banana split.)

Hope you enjoy this cool and convenient breakfast/ snack/ treat! Granola is capable of endless variations, so if you come up with some good ones, please share them in a comment!  I'm looking forward to hearing from you!

Also, I meant to mention this sooner, but Shannon Fitzgerald is hosting a giveaway on her lovely blog A Bright Light in a Dark World.  Sorry for the late notice, but the giveaway doesn't end until 12am, so there's still time to enter.   Even if you don't enter for it, her blog is still very lovely and encouraging, and the link to it may be found on my "Lovely Links" page.

2 Recipes: Healthy Oatmeal Cookies

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted on here... seems like it always gets crowded out somehow.  Anyway, here is a recipe which Mama found in a raw desert cookbook-  Raw Oatmeal Cookies.  When LilyAnn excitedly told me that:  "Mama's making oatmeal cookies- and they're raw!", my initial reaction was something along the lines of "What?!  Raw oatmeal cookies!  Yuck!".  But that lasted for about 1 minute- exactly how long it took for me to wash up from being outside, walk into the kitchen, and spot the little cookies, appealingly dressed in their pretty pink paper mini cupcake holders, dusted in cinnamon or cocoa, and with an almond perched on top.  Mama promptly offered me one, and the last trace of disgust vanished immediately afterwards.  (Daddy's reaction, I may add, was similar to my own.)  So, without further ado, allow me to introduce you to the healthiest, quickest, easiest, oatmeal cookies ever- which also happen to be remarkably tasty.

Raw Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 cup coconut oil

1/2 cup honey

1 cup almonds or peanuts (we used almonds)

1 t. vanilla

dash of salt

Blend together all of the above until smooth.

2 cups oats, divided

Nuts, raisins, cocoa, cinnamon for garnishing.

Blend 1 cup oatmeal until it becomes fine flour.  Mix it and the other 1 cup of oatmeal with the rest of the ingredients.  Shape into balls and garnish by dusting with cinnamon or cocoa, and placing an almond or raisin on top.

     Here's another recipe we discovered recently- this one in an email and not quite so "radical" sounding since it is baked.  We love these cookies!  They are really good.

Healthy Oatmeal Cookies (with Honey)

Ingredients:

Dry ingredients

· 1 cup whole wheat flour (a pinch more depending on the moisture of the mix)

· 1 1/2 cups of Large Flake Rolled Oats (smaller flake is ok too)

· 1/2 tsp baking soda

· 1/2 tsp baking powder

· 1/2 tsp salt

· 1 Tbsp Cinnamon

· 1/2 tsp Nutmeg (optional)

Wet ingredients

· 1/2 cup honey

· 1/2 cup oil (corn, grapeseed, coconut or olive) * you can also use some applesauce to replace some of the oil if you wish*

· 1 Tablespoon Molasses

· 1 egg (beat with 1 Tbsp Water)

· 1 tsp Vanilla

Yummy ingredients

· 1/2 cup raisins

· 1/2 cup walnuts

Preparation:

1.    In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together.

2.    In a medium bowl, mix all the wet ingredients together. Hint: when measuring out the honey, spray the measuring cup with oil or baking spray--your honey won't stick).

3.    Mix the wet stuff with the dry stuff. Add the raisins and walnuts and mix. If the mixture seems too wet, add a bit of flour. If it isn't binding together very well, you may wish to add an egg white.

4.    COOL the mix for 20 minutes in the fridge.

5.    Preheat the oven to 335 degrees (lower temperature due to the honey in the recipe which will burn more easily).

6.    Drop by teaspoonfuls onto your baking sheet. Press down with a fork to ensure even cooking.

7.    Bake for about 15 - 20 minutes or until golden on the bottom of the cookie. The cookies freeze very well and make a great snack! Enjoy.

Cancer and the God-given Cure

     Cancer is one of the biggest killer diseases in North America, and other places around the world.  My family and I have been learning about the natural cures for cancer, and the FDA's suppression of the knowledge of these cures from the general public.  There are natural cures for cancer- cures that work- but you will probably not hear this from a government educated and paid doctor.  Why?  There is no money to be made by big drug/ medicine companies by selling the natural remedies such as intravenous vitamin C, or apple seeds.  You don't have to be licensed to sell herbs, thus the big companies can't have a monopoly of the business, and they don't make the big bucks.  Besides, why would they want people to be completely cured?  If they don't get sick, they don't come back to get more drugs.  Now, do you know who are the major funders for the "cancer research" and the drug licensing agencies?  The big drug companies.  At least one also is owned by an even bigger corporation which owns:  NBC.  So is NBC going to show all the real cures on their nightly news if those cures take away business from themselves?  Of course not.  And who runs the major medical schools?  The government which is lobbied by the big drug companies ( hereafter referred to as BDC).  So, in other words, the doctors learn what the government teaches, and the government is paid by the BDC.

  Exodus 23:8 says:  "And you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning, and perverts the words of the righteous."  Lobbying is pretty much bribing, and if the Bible states that even righteous people can sometimes lie, or ignore facts when tempted, how much more those who are not righteous?  Of course, not every person connected with the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), AMA (American Medical Association) or the BDC is a "bad" person, willing to sacrifice thousands of lives merely for personal gain, but they have been indoctrinated and deceived as well, and the fact is, there are some people out there who would do that.  To quote from a gentleman who was interviewed on this subject in an excellent documentary we watched, (FOODMATTERS):  "You can be sincere- and you can be sincerely wrong."  (Just like everyone who thinks there is another way to God besides through Jesus.)

     There are many good resources of information about this available.  Both on the Internet and in books, in documentaries and occasionally on television.   There has been a massive amount of research done on this subject, but most of the findings have been completely ignored.  BDC, the FDA, and the AMA all refuse to admit that vitamins, herbs, fruit seeds, and other natural remedies can prevent and even cure cancer.  More than this, they resolutely suppress this knowledge.  The company producing Cansema is a good illustration.  Cansema is an herbal salve which is produced in slightly different forms to kill different types of cancer.  It was being produced in the United States and was helping many people to cure their cancer- that is, until the FDA shut them down.  The Wikipedia article about Cansema is very misleading- mixing fact with fiction and adamantly stating that it does not work, that the FDA had very good grounds for shutting it down, and the article openly called it "quackery".  Thankfully, Cansema is still available, but it is now produced in Ecuador where the FDA can't touch them.  Mama and Daddy have both used this salve on spots which they suspected of being skin cancer, and it acted on them exactly in the way predicted by the Cansema company.  It is safe to use, even on places which are not known to be cancer as it will only react with the actual cancer cells, while leaving the healthy cells untouched.  So if it is not really cancer it will not do anything beyond possibly irritating the skin slightly.
 
     Last night we watched an excellent documentary on the subject of nutrition, and cancer.  I highly recommend it to any person interested in this subject, to anyone diagnosed with cancer, to anyone overweight, to anyone with heart problems, to anyone needing encouragement about eating right, and in short, to anyone reading this!  (Note:  This is not a Christian documentary.  There is not a single word about God in it, and at least one of the men interviewed seemed to be strongly New Age (and maybe a little overboard on the raw superfood type thing too).)
     We already were aware of most of the information in it, but it definitely clarified some things, such as the way the FDA has changed the meaning of "cancer survivor" (meaning that they survived 5 years from date of treatment), or that it isn't just eating a little better that helps- it has to be mega- dose nutrition to help.  The name of this documentary is Foodmatters.  We got it from the library, but of course it is available for sale online.

     The BDC are making billions of dollars per year off their chemotherapy drugs, which are themselves, in many cases, carcinogens.  And almost everyone knows that radiation is a primary cause of cancer.  (What do you wear sunscreen for if not to block radiation from the sun?)  And how does surgery help if the cells causing the problem are still in the body?

     Of course there are many kind, loving people in the cancer medical area who truly think they are doing the best thing for people, but they've been educated by the schools paid for by the BDC.   The Bible tells us that the love of money is the root of all evil.  That would include suppression of life-saving truth, causing the deaths not only of many people from the actual cancer, but also of 106,000 in the USA alone from normal, expected side effects from the drugs which were supposed to cure the disease.  On the other hand, most of the people who have thoroughly researched this are not trying to sell you anything.  In a court room evidence is sometimes discarded due to the parties concerned being too deeply biased to one side or the other.  Wouldn't billions of dollars a year be a pretty strong reason for the BDC, FDA, AMA and other agencies to be biased?  And people are still dying.  The "cures" don't seem to work very well.  I think that alternative, natural, and cheaper cures are at least worth a little personal research.

     Here are some good materials to check out for both cancer treatment and nutrition:
     Food Inc.  An excellent documentary focusing mainly on the production of meat in America.  (Note:  It does contain footage of slaughter houses, meat packing plants, etc.)

     Foodmatters: You Are What You Eat   Another good documentary addressing proper nutrition and it's relation to cancer and heart disease.

      Cancer:  Step Outside the Box  An excellent book about cancer, the suppression of natural cures, and stories of real people who were cured by them.  Written by a Christian man.  Well written and very insightful.

     King Corn  Another documentary.  This one was made by a couple of college students showing how corn is in practically every processed food and drink in America.

     Food Inc.  This documentary focuses primarily on the meat and poultry industry in America, showing how the conventional farming methods are harmful to people and the enviroment.  (I am not an enviromentalist, but people are to care for the earth and not use methods which are known to be harmful.  To read an excellent article by Doug Phillips on this subject click  here.

Introducing: Mabel, Queen of Goats

Well, the name may be a little pretentious, but she is the queen of Feldman goats (of course though, she's the only one).

Saturday, the 11th, I was blessed to finally find the goat I'd been looking for.  She is an American Nubian, which basically means one step down from the highest grade of ADGA registered goat.

     Mabel is actually not her registered name, but is a bit of a play upon my middle name, and Farrah's (May and Bell.)  It is also an old name, and I like old names.
   
     She is supposed to be giving 3 quarts a day, but is at about half that right now, probably due to the stress of being transported, new home, no other goats, new stanchion, new feed, and even a new name.  LilyAnn will be taking care of her along with me, and she's been doing a great job so far.  She's milked her completely by herself the last couple days, and has made sure that she's had food and water.  She's also helped her to remain somewhat calm during the first days of tethering, when poor Mabel would become very distressed and run back and forth in the hot sun at the end of her line.  LilyAnn would go out and sit near her, and gradually accustom her to being left tied to a stake in the ground.  Now, although it's been only since yesterday morning that she's been tethered, Mabel is much calmer, and is eating grape leaves and grass, which she was too distressed to do before.
     Here are a few pictures I took yesterday morning.

Washing Mabel's udder...

Drying it.

Milking.

LilyAnn and Mabel.

William petting Mabel.

Proverbs 27:23-27

Be diligent to know the state of your flocks, , and attend to your herds;

For riches are not forever, 

Nor does a crown endure to all generations.

When the hay is removed,

And the tender grass shows itself,

And the herbs of the mountains are gathered in,

The lambs will provide your clothing,and the goats the price of a field;

You shall have enough goats' milk for your food,

For the food of your household,

And the nourishment of your maidservants. 

The broiler project

Chicken is one of the most eaten meats in the USA, in fact, one statistic I read placed it as the second most consumed meat in 2005.  Unfortunately, most of that chicken is raised in nearly or totally dark "broiler houses" with about one square foot of floorspace per chicken.  The birds are Cornish X Rock, an extremely fast growing, heavily built bird.  They are fed highly processed food, laced with antibiotics to keep them from dying in the bacteria infested houses.  One of the first responsibilities of the farmer in the morning is the "dead walk"- i.e. walking through the broilers and picking up the ones which died in the night from the ammonia fumes from the manure on the floor.  When the birds are about five to six weeks old they are picked up at night and carted off to a butchering/ packing plant, and thence to the store.
     Many of the farmers would like to get out of this business if they could, but it is often their only way of making a living, and so they have to stay in it.  You ask "Why don't they just raise the chickens differently?"  The answer:  they have contracts with big companies like Tyson, and if they don't produce them the way the company wants, they lose the contract, and then can't pay for the big new broiler house the company made them build.  Now this isn't always the case, but most of the time, this is the environment that the chicken sold at the store comes from.

    For several years now my family has known most of this, and we always wanted to raise our own chicken, but were never really able to, until this year.  Daddy gave Farrah and I permission to purchase and raise 25 broiler chicks, and after shopping around to find the best price, we settled on Hoover's Hatchery.

     The chicks arrived in the mail on March 23rd, and we put them into our "big black tub" (a rubber watering tub for animals).  We started them out on some old rags on top of their bedding (sand) so that they wouldn't eat the sand instead of their food.  After a few days we pulled out the rags.  We kept chick starter in front of them  24/7.  Their tub was heated by a 40watt clip- on desk light.

     After about 2 1/2 weeks of tub life, we started moving them into a chicken tractor (open- bottomed movable pen) during the day, and at four weeks or so started feeding scratch grains and cracked corn instead of chick starter.  By this time they were living in the tractor full- time.

     Well, they were supposed to grow to butchering size in 6-8 weeks, but it took ours until last week to even get close.  This is because we A) didn't feed the commercial broiler ration, since we know that it's laced with antibiotics, and we don't know what other scary, unhealthy other ingredients are in it, and B) because most of them escaped their pen every day and free- ranged with the other poultry.  Finally though, some of them were considered big enough.

    We chose the seven which seemed the fattest, and locked them up for a day before butchering.  This was so that their crops, intestines, etc. would be relatively empty, and thus less likely to be broken and ruin the meat.

     I knew that I wanted to get everyone involved, so got them all revved up and ready to butcher some broilers for a couple of days before.  (That lasted until the time came to pluck them.)

Sometimes we do things rather primitively here...

     Evan was the executioner, for which I was thankful as it meant that I didn't have to be, and Farrah was to oversee the scalding, and help Savana and her team of William, Justice and Emaline pluck the chickens.  I had Bo and LilyAnn to help me clean the chickens.

Farrah dipping the bird in very hot water to loosen the feathers (scalding).

Farrah skinning one of the chickens. I don't remember why she didn't just pluck it...

William bagged a few of the chickens.

LilyAnn was one of the best helpers.  She is really good helping out around the farm.

    When the dead chickens showed up at the butchering table to get plucked, all three of the little pluckers went on strike, and eventually left.  That wasn't a real big deal since this is their first time, and chicken butchering is a messy business.

     Surprisingly enough though, what everyone wanted to do was to gut the chickens... even the little ones who left just at first.  Maybe they thought that was easier than plucking.

     In the past it has always taken us quite some time to do a chicken.  The record was half an hour for one rooster.  This time it took us only 1 hour and 15 minutes.

    The next night we had chicken noodle soup.  It was so good!  And of course, the best part was knowing exactly where it came from.  Those broilers lived happy, though comparatively short lives.  They had plenty of room to run around, grass and bugs to eat, milk pretty frequently to drink, and some tasty scraps every once in a while.  This way of raising chicken is much closer to the way God intended it to be than the conventional way, though ours wasn't completely natural either.  It was lots of hard work though, especially at the end.  But hard work is good.  That is one of the things I love most about our farm- it gives us constant opportunities to work hard and be rewarded by the fruits of our labors.

Success!

In all labor there is profit, but idle chatter leads only to poverty.

Proverbs 14:23

Sausagina

Well, the Feldman Family Farm now has a new occupant- a pig named Sausagina.  As you can tell by the name, she's not a pet, but she is fun to watch.  This is our first pig, and we were totally unprepared for her when she was given to us on Saturday by Mr. Flannagan, the man who runs the local farmer's market.


     When we got home, we knew that the top priority was going to be building a pen for that pig, so Evan and I set to work right away.  We hauled the cattle panels from my movable goat pen to the corner of our pasture, and also brought some 5 1/2 foot posts there.  Bo and LilyAnn dragged over some ten foot posts for the corners, and we set to work.  The panels were originally 16' long, but had been cut in the middle, and then I'd wired back together so that they were about 15 1/2 feet, and hinged, so the pen could be twisted into almost any shape needed.  They had smaller squares (rectangles really) of wire on the bottom, and larger ones toward the top.  The problem was, when I wired them together, I hadn't been careful to put them right- side up, with the smaller openings on the bottom, so three of the four panels had one half with the small openings on the bottom, and the other half with them on top.  Now we un- wired two of them, flipped them over, and wired them back together. 

Next, Evan planted the corner posts.  We were able to use some of the fence posts on our pasture fence for one side of the pen.

Then, we started digging a trench so that we could sink the panels about 1 1/2 feet down so the pig couldn't dig out.

Then, we set one of the jointed panels in the trench and filled it up.  Evan sank a 5 1/2 foot post in the middle (where the joint is) to strengthen it.

We dug another trench along the pasture fence, set the panel in it, and filled it up.  Before filling the trench, we nailed the panel to three of the fence posts for strength, and to hold it steady while we filled the trench.  We repeated the process for the first side on the other two sides of the pen.

When we eventually released Sausagina into her new pen, we were unsure whether it would hold her, as we thought she might be small enough to squeeze out through the squares in the wire.  So we put a collar and rope on her to test it out first.  Well, she was so busy rooting around that she showed no interest in escaping, so we eventually took the collar off- and had to catch her twice the next day.  Once in the barn as she gulped dogfood, and then rooted up the stanchion area, and once a quarter of a mile away on our neighbor's property about 150 yards from the pond my grandfather's pigs used to wallow in when they escaped.  So, to curb her escaping propensities, Evan and I attached some much smaller wire fencing around the bottom 12" of the pen, and then spent the rest of the day in a fine sense of security that whatever happened, the pig was securely imprisoned in her pen.

That lasted till this morning.  So now the little rascal has figured out how to jump over the small wire, and through the big wire, and so gain her freedom.  After all, the dirt is always blacker on the other side of the fence!
So we came up with a desperate plan- tether the pig in her pen until she's too big to squeeze, dig, jump, climb, or otherwise spirit herself out of there!