We have tweaked the farm name slightly - it is now "Elk Springs Heritage Farm." The intent of the name change is to more accurately reflect the vision of our farm to preserve heritage breeds of farm animals (no Holsteins or franken-chickens here!) as well as our intent to pass along our Christian, agrarian and self-sufficient visions to our chidren and our children's children. HOOAH!
Steve here - I've just signed up for two twitter accounts...I wanted to follow a few people and I thought I would try it out. Amy is updating the farm account. They are private accounts (family and close friends only) and the addresses are:
We had a great celebration on the fourth thanks to some friends from church. They invited us over to their farm to celebrate and have fun. We played all sorts of games and ended up having a water balloon fight. Me, of course I wasn't gonna get in the middle of that. I'd rather stay dry. We did have a guys vs. girls volleyball match, didn't turn out the way I would have liked. That's all right though. Next time.
Here's a photo of the water balloon toss we had that turned into a water balloon fight.
Here on the farm we're doing good. No animals escaped today, thank goodness! On Saturday we had both of our Dexters escape. We spent all morning trying to catch them. Now they're penned up with cattle paneling so that it won't happen again.
Sorry guys, I'm not much of a writer. I've got to get used to this. I'll keep trying though. I do want you guys to know what's going on with our family so I'll try my best to post everyday.
To all those in L.A. (lower Alabama) and all our family across the U.S., know that we miss you very much.
Lately we've been very busy on the farm. We just recently went to Idaho to pick up some more animals to add to our growing farm. They seem to be adjusting well to their new home. We did last month have a fence raising party. We had people from our church come over and help us put up quite a bit of fencing. It was great. Thanks to all you that helped. We greatly appreciate it. Here are some pictures that I was able to upload before the computer crashed on me.
Here are Lucas and Mr. Alexander hammering in one really tall fence post. Below are Linda and Micah who is trying to get out a stubborn post. Like I said, It was great to have people help us.
We are all doing well and still trying to adjust to Washington weather. We absolutely love it here.
Hopefully I can get some more pictures for you all to see. I'll try my best to keep on top of blogging. I mean c'mon I'm new at this.
Today, we unloaded trailers and trucks and took a trip to the Big R to get the garden started. The animals are in temporary pens and enjoying the grass, clover, etc. Amy put Lady (our cow) in the garden area and she is eating to her hearts content. She will be in there for a while helping to cut the grass and put down some fertilizer. Note the artistic shot below that Gina took of the load of straw on the way home. Also a great shot of Hannah!
I think the cats are happy to be here...
VICTOIRE!! We made it home to WA today. I am as amazed as you are, but we did it. Today we started off at 0600 central time and made it home at 1930 (7:30 PM) Pacific Time (15 and a half hours). Amy found us a short cut that eliminated all but a teeny, tiny corner of WY and as a result we were able to cut out several hours of driving (not to mention a lot of climbs and descents) on the interstate.
We drove hwy 212 for about three and a half hours and intersected I-90 again right at Little Bighorn. If Custer only had the same map that I had he would have known he was right in the middle of an Indian Reservation. Be thankful for modern technology...
The drive across the mountains was challenging again, but we made it through without too much sweat. The truck did real well pulling the trailer over those mountains (even though the radiator sort of overeated when I pulled into the house). Montana is a really beautiful state and despite the challenges I enjoyed the drive again.
Lake Coeur dÁlene, ID is also a beautiful sight...
OK, with three relatively easy days behind us it was time to get busy. We needed to get to WA pretty quick to minimize the stress on the animals - we have three pigs in the back of the truck (no stress on them, really - they had it made), a kennel full of cats and kittens in front of the trailer, our cow in the front stall, 8 goats, 3 big pyrs and 4 pyr pups in the back stall...oh, and two little dogs in back of the white pickup. We decided to try and make it from NE to WA in two days (it took us 3.5 on the first trip). Today the plan was to get to eastern WY - but it didnt quite work out that way. We did, however, have a great time with everyone along the way that was fascinated with all the animals - "Look kids, pigs!" was heard often.
I've always heard that bad things come in threes, but since I'm not supersticious (I cant even spell it) I will just say that today we had three challenges that changed out plans...first, upon stopping in Mitchell, SD for lunch and gas (see previous blog as this is the home of the World Famous Corn Palace) Ricky discovered a leak in the right front tire valve of the big truck. We were providentially (this is a really good place to make a plug for the sovereignty of God as opposed to random chance or just plain luck) right across the street from the Walmart tire center and we had it fixed in half an hour...next we drove through a decent rain storm and I lost my alternator. Now, it was definitely NOT dumb luck that the next exit off the hwy was Kimball, SD - population 700 or so...because right off the exit ramp is Overweg Repair, LLC. Please check out the link to this place - they are great! If you're ever in SD just stop by there and get your car fixed, they'll do you right! You see, it was Memorial Day and they were closed, but when Sam at the gas station called up Dan Overweg (second generation owner) he agreed to come right in and help us out. He replaced the blown alternator fuse and then made sure that nothing else was wrong. We were back on the road in no time. Thanks, Dan!
Third...Gina got pulled over by the SD state police for following to close behind my trailer...scared her a bit, but she got a warning and we were back on our way. The cumulative effect of all of this was that we werent going to make eastern WY. Thanks to some internet research by my crack internet research staff (the lovely and talented Amy), we were able to get into the KOA in Spearfish, SD, exit 10. We rolled in there around 9:00 or so and after an hour or so of animal chores we hit the sack...did I mention that God was helping us out a bit...THANK YOU!
Last trip we missed seeing the Arch due to fog and rain,,,since it was Sunday and traffic wasnt bad...here's a great photo by Linda.
The drive across Missouri and north through western Iowa wasnt as exciting as it was for Lewis and Clark, but thanks to some extra caffeine along the way we made it to Fremont, NE with time to spare.
Many thanks to G-ma Pam and G-Pa Greg for allowing us to join the thousands of Memorial Day Weekend guests at their lakefront community.
Same trip, different dynamic for sure!!! Gina, Linda, Ricky and I headed out of Alabama on Fri AM after a much longer than planned packing time. We drove to Kentucky to pick up some Tamworth Pigs from a great farm near Somerset. The folks there were very accomodating and helpful to us and we actually let the animals spend the night at the farm and we stayed in town. Today we drove from Kentucky to my cousin's place in Illinois. Aunt Jackie and Gordon brought dinner over and we had a great visit with them, Karen, Coleman and David. The animals had the privilege of staying at Karen's parents' farm and were livin' large! Here are a few pictures from along the way courtesy of Gina and Linda...tomorrow its off to Freemont, NE.
Today we moved all of the household goods out of the house and also downsized the goat herd...We were blessed by our Alabama church family to have a nice evening meal at the Eddins house and visit with some of the church members...Thanks, Kevin, Dana and family! We love you guys
Here's the Lone Survivor of the chicken flock...we couldnt catch her when we shipped out all the others yesterday as part of our effort to increase the size of many of the small farms in southern Alabama...
We had a visit from the men of the King Family this afternoon and they took most of our goat herd to help clear land on their farmstead and hopefully provide them with some of their own fresh milk!
Here's the now-downsized herd that will be enjoying the scenic views across America with the rest of us...
Lady enjoys a peaceful, yet windy day...
The potatoes are growing abundantly in the practice-lasagna garden. They get to make the trip, too.
We enjoyed our lunch from Mr Ho's in Troy, even though we had to sit on the floor...
Yes, the movers actually got two trucks into our backyard...note the ramp from the porch to the truck.
The house is now pretty empty and looks much larger on the inside...
Farewell....the end of another long day!
Today in LA (Lower Alabama) we finished boxing up the house, the shed and actually moved out most of the big, green monster (our affectionate name for our 70' storage container that has been home to about 8000lbs of our "stuff and things" for the last three years).
Even the dogs helped out....BTW, this puppy and four other are for sale.
And there was much excitement as we could actually walk around inside and actually see the back wall. With the exception of the weight set that was very rusty, everything seems to be in pretty good shape. The final determination will be made when we unpack all our pictures after three hot summers of storage. The boxes you see on the side are all the empty, old boxes that they had to repack.
After the movers finished up for the day we delivered the washing machine to our second Alabama house (long, big family story....) and we were very pleased to learn today that we have renters for the house that hope to move in before the 1st of June and rent the house for a year!
Lots of work going on in Alabama to prepare to move the "stuff and things" and animals out to WA as part of PHASE II of this big adventure. Here are a few highlights of the action so far.
First Muchos gracias belle grande to G-ma and G-pa Maus for holding down the southern fort during PHASE I...we are immensely indebted to them for all their help! Looking forward to their visit in September.
Thanks to Gina and Linda for painting the house (and Grandpa - who fixed the ceiling!, and Grandma who made the chocolate cake! and Ricky who cleaned up the outside and helped to build the bonfire)
and thanks to the packers for boxing up all this stufff so far...
Do you think all this will fit in the two trucks?????
"Sorry, sir...we're not taking the castor oil! and what's all this other stuff? We're not taking that either!!"
Here are a few photos that Amber took around the homestead this weekend. More to come....
Also, I finally added the day eight pics. We had a busy weekend of errand running and settling in. A few new shower heads, some tomato plants, some more paper plates...
We also met some of our neighbors...nice folks and very helpful. We are blessed.
Up early this AM...breakfast at the Wheat Montana Bakery and Deli (for those of you that buy Wheat Montana it was a very Mecca type experience....) and on the road to Washington. The roads were pretty good, a few climbs and descents, but better than yesterday. We drove through Idaho rather quickly and enjoyed the beautiful views of Lake Couer d' Alene and then into Spokane.
We did a quick walk through of the house after lunch at Golden Corral and then went to the title company to close on the house. I am now writing this blog entry sitting on my living room floor. Yeah!!! It was also nice to drive through north Spokane without a U-Haul trailer following me everywhere!
We'll post pictures tomorrow...love you all....did I mention they dont put sugar in the ice tea up here??
Yes, its true...Hannah is in Montana on her six month old birthday!
We started early this morning and made it into Montana before rush hour (ha, ha...we actually saw a car or two on the road). Montana is a beautiful state with widely varying topography - grass plains, rolling hills, steep snow covered mountains...we expected rain and saw mostly snow all day. The overall drive wasnt too bad, a few mountain passes with some steep climbs (we found out how FedEx is trying to save money as we followed a FedEx truck pulling THREE trailers - he was actually going slower than we could; on a few climbs we slowed down to 35 mph - that's the best we could do.) and several six degree descents (the best one was the first big climb as it was snowing when we simultaneously crested the pass, began to descend the 6 deg grade and the visbility went to zero with fog).
We went up one climb and as I was asking Amy if she saw any significant terrain climbs on the map I saw the sign that said we were crossing the Continental Divide. Its quite a bit lower here than in Colorado, only about 6400'.
Weather cleared up as we headed north to Missoula and although its cold, it is nice here. We are staying in four cabins to give everyone plenty of room. They issued us a space heater for each cabin at the check-in and so far they're working well.
Tomorrow morning we cross the last of the mountains into Idaho and then Washington...hope to be in prior to noon. Good night!
Mount Rushmore and Wyoming...
Went to Mt Rushmore (its all you would expect, very cool) and Crazy Horse (not done yet) and drove down the mountain. Didnt get on the road until almost noon. Wyoming is quite the place...rolling plains in the east, green with red clay. Even the roads were red. There were cattle and not much else...where are all the people?
We reached Buffalo and decided to skip the drive up into the mountains to Cody...too high too cross with the trailer and too long a drive. We wouldnt have arrived until after eight. We ended up at the Sheridan KOA. We grilled hot dogs and headed to bed early...tomorrow its up early and off to Montana.
South Dakota...really beautiful and stunning in contrasts. Miles and miles of rolling grassland prairie and then you get to the Black Hills in the west. A long drive today, made much longer by the final hour of mountain driving...its been a while. We arrived at the Palmer Gulch Resort (our KOA cabin for the night), kinda late and it was raining and cold. We unpacked, had a big dinner and went to bed.
Highlights of the day were the Corn Palace and the Wall Drug....Google em, you'll be glad you did.
To all our mothers - we love you very much...
Happy Saturday! No driving....good weather (nice and cool, clear skies)
We spent the day with Amy's Mom& Greg, Aunt LeAnn and Uncle Bob and sister Emily and her husband Tony's Family. We relaxed, talked and ate way too much good food. We love them all very much and had a great time. We even borrowed several kW from their house to keep the freezers hummin'.
Several questions were answered today and some contests decided...
Even before a few very long games of Lord of the Rings Risk it was finally decided that Lucas is taller than his cousin Terran, but only just a bit.
This family is blessed with many, many lovely ladies...both young and really young
Yes, in fact, there is something on this earth that will keep Raven, Jeremiah and Anthony's attention for longer than a few minutes....this outstanding invention will be a very welcome, new addition to the Elk Springs Farm very soon.
It IS possible to have a dog that is small, cute and not annoying....this one is great. Question remains if these dogs will go after chickens....
Did I mention the lovely ladies? Why do they always want to change their hair color?
And the big question answered today....Yes, Marie...the Greg Spevak Orchestra is "FOR REAL!" They were really good. We were blessed to hear Greg and Pam (along with their band) play at the German-American club in Omaha. Although we only made one set, this jazz fan really enjoyed it. We hope they will continue to entertain the folks in this region for a long time!
Tomorrow, its off to the northern plains and new horizons...we've never been north of Nebraska. Please pray for light winds...