Multiplying Rabbits

One of the animals that has been added and multiplied at our farm this year, was Rabbits. Faith got 2 Does (female Rabbits) and 1 Buck (male Rabbits). 

Then Josiah brought her home a pair of apricot colored Rabbits from Polyface. In addition to these grown ones, we have had 2 litters of bunnies this year.

The first litter happened to be only 1 rabbit.

1 very fat and chubby rabbit, consequently.

This is the little single baby rabbit all grown up!

 Violet, our grey and white Momma rabbit had the second litter of 7 little bunnies. 

7 darling soft fluffy adorable, babies.

Momma and her little bunnies.

So round and fuzzy. :) I am simply going to fill the rest of this post with just photos of Bunnies. No boring words. You're welcome.

~Chs

Consider the Birds

"Consider the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds?"
Luke 12:24

(I was able to capture a shot of this beautiful little Warbler in September while helping my Aunt and Uncle at a missionary retreat in Port Austin.)

The other Garden

Since we're on the subject of  gardens, let me finish up. This year we had 2 gardens. The main one with all of our "normal" vegetables and then one behind the pole barn where we planted squash and corn.

For the squash patch we simply did 16 mounds.. well as we found out later we kind of planted intensively. In fact I don't have a picture of the garden later on.. but try to imagine the above image, completely covered with a moving green mass of squash plants, growing in, over, on top of, and through each other. It was pretty crazy!

But to leave the squash for a second.. right above the squash patch I decided to have a little fun and plant a corn maze. Well really a corn spiral! With a help of a friend from church we planted the corn, with sunflowers in the middle and at each entrance!

Behind the maze underneath all the crazy growth, little baby squash began to form.

The corn patch actually did relatively well for how haphazardly its was thrown together; we even got quite a few yummy meals with corn on the cob as side dish.

But the Squash patch... that outdid itself! Seriously!! I had planted 6 different kinds of squash. 2 we have grown many times and love, Butternut, and Spaghetti Squash, but the other 4 were experiments of sorts. In the above photo from top to bottom, we have a Blue Hubbard (huge odd looking vegetables, but with an amazing taste!) then the Galeaux d' Eysines (don't ask.. long french name, and that's really only the ending of it!), The Long Island Cheese (a squash, which is actually a pumpkin, that is called a "cheese." Identity crisis just happened.) and on the bottom, the Hidatsa squash (native american heirloom variety)

This wasn't even all of our harvest!!! (you can see the pile behind the cart... uhuh)

In fact we loaded so much in the cart for the photo.. but then had to unload them because it was too heavy and the wheels went flat! 

All in all, I think the "other garden" did it'self proud.. and if the world runs out of food this winter... we have squash.

~Chs

Glimpse back at the Garden

 The weather the last couple days has been almost mild enough to convince some that it's spring and time to start gardening again! But alas for them, it is not so. We still have the delightful season of Winter to go through yet. So, to help satisfy that gardening itch, here is a collection of photos from our summer garden!

Early July! A lovely green garden, still really at the beginning stages. Lovely lettuces, pretty peas, and lots of stuff still coming!

Faith's Peppers did fabulous this year! So much so, we were rather overwhelmed. Especially because she decided to try out quite a few new kinds of peppers, including some hot ones!

Faith tried something a little different for cucumber trellises this year. 

For some reason our cucumbers didn't really enjoy the weather, or something, because they didn't produce very well. But that just goes to show the truth about farming/gardening. Each year is different; some plants do great one year and not so much the next... and visa versa. You just do the best you can and leave the rest up to the Master Gardner! 

It's amazing how many vegetables are actually extremely photogenic. Purple Cabbage is one of those! And Faith discovered this year that they have an iridescent glow in the dark! Believe it or not!!

Our sister in law Theresa gave Faith this creative sign for her Birthday, and it fit as a wonderful reminder standing at the front of one of the garden beds.

As mentioned in this post, Faith built a Cattle Panel Arbor for the pole beans! It was a great use of space and visually stunning (especially later when the morning glories she planted at the front bloomed).  Even though it was a little hard on the neck picking the beans, I think we're definitely going to do it again!

I love that Faith plants flowers along the ends of her garden beds.. 

Here's something that has never appeared in our garden before. Faith decided to grow some eggplant this year! And while it's not our absolute family favorite taste wise.. It sure is gorgeous to look at! It looks like it belongs in a painting or something. :)

A rainbow of vegetables.. fresh from the garden...and...

Cooked up for lunch! 

I have decided if none of my other jobs pan out, that I would love to be a photographer for a seed catalog!

Faith had some extra produce to sell, and wanted some photos for her ad.. 

Lets just say I had lots of fun with that project!

The little spicy Aurora peppers were particularly attractive to capture! They start purple and turn orange and red. Definitely a plant that could be used in edible landscaping!

Mother is a pureist when it come to her vegetables and fruit. Tomatoes must be red, Carrots orange.. etc. Faith on the other hand loves exploring and experimenting. And also it is a fact, that the original Carrot was actually white.. and Tomatoes.. well they weren't red. So we grow some of each in our garden.

When one of your sister's Heirloom Tomatoes she tried for the first time this year just happens to compliment your family Heirloom chair your Grandpa re-upholstered.... Photo bliss. :)

So there is your little glimpse of summer garden delight. Hopefully it'll help hold you over till we can garden outside again for real! 

~Chs

A Bright Interruption

 We interrupt these posts of consecutive long past events to bring you a recent sunset... 

I hope you enjoy it half as much as I did!

The sun is such a magnificent part of God's incredible creation. It's dangerous, yet needed. Without it we couldn't live here, and God in his infinite wisdom placed us at just the right distance from it, so we could do just that. Live on this planet Earth.

The sun though, as with most things God created, isn't purely useful. It's beautiful. God is a person of beauty, and I believe He created us to appreciate, emulate and live out that beauty, especially as he expresses Himself in Creation. And the sun, when it touches things with it's warm glow, can make them look more beautiful, or really, make us appreciate the true beauty of them. And the sun does that most poignantly when it is setting, slipping out of view beneath the horizon, yet highlighting the beauty of the world it is leaving behind. 

We should do the same. 

I recently heard someone rant about people raving about sunsets and how the colors were simply an optical illusion; that they weren't even really there. And how this person didn't understand, and was slightly frustrated with people who would "lose their minds" over a simple optical illusion.  Well, I really don't know the whole scientific explanation behind it. And maybe I'm simple and naive, and like to pretend that it's actually God (or maybe angels) that paint the sunsets. 

But if that is true, that it is really an optical illusion.. Wow. I'm speechless, and all the more stunned! If the colors really aren't there, I am all the more in awe and astounded at my God, that not only does He cause the sun's rays to hit off the clouds as it's setting in such a way to reflect off them to our eyes.. but that He somehow created our eyes to receive that and translate it into awe dropping beautiful masterpieces of color?!?! 

Either way. That's something worth "losing my mind" over.

The Evening is such a lovely time (I might just prefer the 1/2 an hour right before dawn,,, but it's close) There's something peaceful, tranquil and reflective about it, if only we let ourselves feel it. If we stop and breathe for a second and let ourselves realize what's happening, the setting sun might just  let us glance back at the day, and help remind us to finish well. No matter what's gone before. 

It also has Biblical significance, this "cool of the day". It's when God walked with Adam and Eve in Eden. We might not live in Eden, and our world might be fallen, yet there still are little pearls of order and beauty to grasp. 

 We might be busy, and might not have the time to spend a half an hour wandering the woods watching the sun set like I did (for the first time in months!) but we can take a moment, and we can think, and commune while we are busy. We may not even have a woods to seek refuge in, the sun can be just as good of a reminder reflecting in our rearview mirror. And truly just as breathtaking. 

So let the sun remind you to finish well, and walk with God, as your day sets.

There. This reflective interruption is over! We will return to your normal programming of the past happenings/catch up of the Sauve's and their Liberty Oak Farm as soon as possible!

I hope you all are enjoying this lovely milder weather!

God bless!

~Chs

Banbury Happenings

I'm gonna jump back a few weeks chronologically from the last post and share some of the fun events Faith and I helped out with at Banbury, the therapeutic Horse barn we volunteer and work at.  In August, Banbury has a Day camp for three days which is, oh so much fun!

Each day includes a rotation of Horse back riding, Crafts, Barn management, a fun group game, and everyone's favorite time - Special guests!

Each day the 45 min riding time is different and fun. If it was nice outside we went on lovely trail rides, and on the rainy days we did fun horse back games and obstacle courses in the indoor arena.

On Monday the special guest were my ducklings! They were around 3 days old, the perfect age, cuddly, sweet, adorable. The "campers" and staff/volunteers alike loved holding them, and we also got to let them swim around in a horse trough to show off!!

Marcia, one of our amazing co-volunteers, does a fabulous job with crafts every year! This year we had decorated frames (with a photo of them with their horse in it!) boxes, decorated pots with flowers in them, and much more!

For the second day our Golden Retriever, Miss Shine, came to visit! Shine lived at Banbury with Grace when Grace was the Barn manager there, so a lot of the campers knew and loved her and were so happy to see her again! Shine's birthday was the following Monday, so everyone sang Happy Birthday to her and colored "birthday cards" for her! :)

On one of the days the activity, after doing a fabulous job sweeping the barn floors, was getting to color whatever the wanted with chalk on the floor. There were some pretty wonderful pieces of artwork decorating the floor!

The last days special guests definitely took the cake!!! And were the favorite. Our friends the Thompson's brought their Husky puppies. So much cuteness! I think the volunteers were just as thrilled as the campers to get to play with puppies.

So another fun Banbury Day Camp in the books!! 

The next activity at Banbury was the annual Horse show.

This year the theme was the Detroit Tigers.  It was a warm wonderful day! At the Horse Show the riders get to show off their accomplishments to their family and friends. They each get a trophy and a ribbon, and it's such an exciting day for all involved. 

And there you have it. I think I have concluded with August happenings now! On to September!!!! We're going to get there! :)

~Chs