The Challenge

The Silence is broken... with a challenge.

Today we were reminiscing about our move last year, and to do so, we scanned through the blog. While there, Josiah noticed the extreme lack of posts this year, and was giving me a hard time about it! So I looked and saw how many posts I had done this year (I admit.. it's pitiful) and wondered out loud, if I could post enough in the next month to get 50 posts on this year. Josiah jumped on it. And we made a deal.. (he'll do something that I choose if I do get 50 posts by December 31st, and I'll do something he chose if I don't). 

So.. look out for a bunch of catch up posts in the next month! A lot went on with our family this year, and I'm hoping to share it all!!! Feel free to comment to encourage (or challenge/tease) me along!! :) I most likely will need it! 

With hopes of many future posts!

~Chs

Here!... and Gone Again...

 Since the brother is home now... I thought I should give a glimpse of the different times we were able to see him this summer, starting with his whirlwind visit back in August.

He arrived early Saturday (read around 4 AM) and then left around 1 after church Sunday afternoon. Yep.. not much time, but we enjoyed having him for even a little bit, and had fun showing him around the farm, and telling him all he had missed in the past 2 months.

Saying Hi to the Turkey-Lurkeys!

He helped us think through some different changes we could do as well, but more it was just good to spend time with him.

"Hello little Piggies!!"

Checking out the garden with Faith.

"Well Hello Miss Clara!!" Unfortunately we had to purchase both of our cows while Josiah was gone.. so we were all holding our collective breaths to find out just what he thought of our purchases.

Pheew!! Thankfully he was actually quite impressed with both of our Jerseys, and pronounced them "very nice cows!" 

Gabe (and his parents) came over to visit Saturday evening, which was fun, and Sunday afternoon after church, we hugged and waved goodbye to Josiah once again.

And there you have the here and gone again visit of Josiah. I promise to tell more about his time down in Virginia in the next (ish) post.

~Chs

Have a Cow

 Apparently I've started a new habit. Posting on this blog one solitary time a month... Pathetic I know. But don't have a cow, I'm desperately going to try to change that for this month!! (emphasis on the word "try") Because there is just too many awesome fun stuff that has happened both here on Liberty Oak Farm, and in the travels of the Sauve family, to not share! For instance... we do indeed "have a cow!" (and yes I promise that is the last time I will use that phrase in this post.. I already overused it I know...)

Please meet Clarabelle (mainly just called Clara) our first bovine acquisition. She is a 7-8 year old Jersey cow, or so we were told. She really is a big girl, and we're kind of suspicious of some Angus or meat cow somewhere back in her blood lines.

She is a super friendly, cow, a little bossy at times, but one of her best qualities, if you ask Faith is "she smells so good!" Yup. She says it all the time. Clara is not currently in milk. She was kind of a project, future investment cow. So, 

we got another one! And this one not only was in milk but came with a steer calf, whom Clara immediately tried to adopt; she's a very motherly animal. Rosie, and her (well not really hers.. but it's a long story) calf were a wonderful addition to our herd.

This is Rufus. At least that's what I call him. He came with the name Ribeye, and some of the less soft hearted people on this farm of ours actually call him that. There'll be plenty of time to get used to that idea when he's big and fat and pushy.. right now he is cute and little and his name is Rufus. 

His "mother" Rosie is one of the best Jersey Milk Cows out there!! Really. Don't argue. She is sweet and gentle, does well on grass, and isn't as mouthy and loud as her pasture-mate,

and gives around a gallon and a half of sweet creamy milk per milking. In case you're wondering that's 3 gallons a day, 21 gallons a week, 90 gallons in the month of September (and April, June and November) and 1095 gallons a year. Presuming of course she continually gives 3 gallons a day for the entire 365 days of the year. But that's probably way more than you ever cared to know! 

The dogs approve! 

After Rufus was old enough to separate from BOTH of his mothers, we rotated Clara and Rosie around our yard as movable, big brown lawn mowers and fertilizers all in one! Pretty awesome huh? :)

It also makes for some pretty interesting and unique photo ops.  

Oh, did I mention that Rosie was a wonderful milk cow?!? 

She ground ties!!! Like a rock! (well.... as long as your name is Faith, it's like a rock. Depending on her mood if you're someone else it might be more like an avalanche. :) No... she's pretty good!)

So there you go! That is our Cow venture. With all those gallons of milk flowing around we also have been making cheese and butter etc. But I don't have any photos of that. But I will say, Cheese Curds... simply amazing.

~Chs

Where Ducklings Get a Whole Post to Themselves..

Some things are so cute that they deserve a whole blog post to themselves... 

Meet my latest batch of ducklings.

I hatched this group out with the specific purpose of being "special guests" at the annual Horse Day Camp held at Banbury Cross Tec where I volunteer. 6 of the little fluff balls came out, and so to make it easy I named them alphabetically.

Please meet Archie, Bella, Crackers, Delta, Echo, and Faye. 

This is little stripy Delta, a mix of Pekin and Welsh Harlequin breeds.

Baby Faye, was the last to hatch and when I took them outside for the first time, her favorite place to be was hidden next to Sadie's warm belly.

All the ducklings were rather fascinated by the fuzzy black babysitter (i.e the BEST dog ever!)

They have since become a little more cautious around her, but when they were little and new, she was their playground, their heat blanket, and their favorite thing to poke at. :)

Precious little ducklings. I personally think bran' new just hatched baby ducklings, are one of the most darling things in God's creation (2 week old baby rabbits are pretty close). Unfortunately, they grow up very very quickly. So you must enjoy their cuteness to its max while you can.

Princess Faye (still the smallest of the bunch) says Hello!

And there is your duckling fix for the month. :)

~Chs

A Fly By of the Year!

So.. it's been a while hasn't it. *sigh* It's called life. Very very full life. Which means that there's a lot to share.

So without further ado, here is a long, and long overdue overview of the big events from the last few months (of course it's a quick fly by, so I'm skimming but you'll get the idea! :)

Early May saw Faith and I abandoning the house for nearly an entire week (or most of it anyway) to help prep for Banbury Cross Tec's annual Derby Day Fundraiser. As always it was a wonderful event, though Faith and I enjoyed the week of getting ready as much as we did the actual day!

This is just a collaboration of adorable photos taken the week before Josiah was going to leave (oh.. more on that later) and Squishy was over to visit. *shrug* just had to share :)

And this was the everything party held the 3rd week of May... I believe it was titled "Welcome to our new home, Thank you for helping us move, Good bye Josiah, and Farewell Christianna Party" Or something like that. Basically it was an excuse to have a bunch (yes there was a TON of people.. almost too many at one time for this introvert) of friends over all at one time! It really was a blast! The food was great, the fellowship wonderful, and then fun almost never ending (I think the last group of people left somewhere close to midnight. And that's late for a Sauve party!)

So I mentioned "Farewell Christianna" as one of the party reasons. Well it was only a temporary leave taking. I went on a week long trip to Haiti to visit an Orphanage I support and also meet a dear friend in person for the first time, who does Special Needs advocacy in Haiti. The trip itself was amazing, this girl's first time by herself on a plane, let alone international. But God was gracious and I honestly had the smoothest traveling imaginable! Haiti itself was an incredible experience that I will never forget.

I loved putting together these collages.. looking through all those photos again (over 1,000) remembering stories, special moments, names. Truly, I made so many friends and learned ever so much. The things I miss most are "my boys" who followed me around and played with my camera, the babies (Taina, William, and my little Watson) who I had the privilege of holding and loving on, and the Haitan Mommies' Rice and Beans (that I actually got to help make one morning! It's a complicated tiring process!).

Another one of my favorite things, was watching those that lived there and were with the children 24/7. Their self sacrificing commitment, Christ like love, and untiring nurturing was a beautiful thing to watch. It's not easy, or all fun and cute kids, there's a lot of hard work and decision making that goes into it.

I arrived home from Haiti, stayed a week, and then the second week of June took off again (This time by car. Oh oh! My very own new car! :) to the west sideish of the state to help out at Camp Living Water's for Special Camp week! Like always it was an upbeat, fun time, full of hugs, laughs and some hysterical moments. This year I had the opportunity to be even more involved in the teaching area of the Horse rides we gave, as well as having a wonderful surprise visit from some friends for the last 2 days, and a wonderful long trail ride to cap off the week.

 Here's a glimpse into the rest of our June. Random walks through the woods, Moths found, Driveway finished (it's beautiful!), friends visiting, Daisy fields visited, Goats moved (pretty much every other week.. they destroy brush pretty fast), and moveable Chicken coops built. 

The next big event back home was Faith's Birthday!!! Since we had a wedding to go to (for which I was the photographer) on Faith's actual Birthday, we celebrated it a day ahead on the 3rd. It was great to have family, including our dear Aunt Myrt, over for a nice relaxing meal and afternoon.

Random July bits: We got our Piano tuned, we watched (and heard!) wrens raise babies next to the driveway, we had a last minute 2 day early celebration of Mumsie's birthday, and Shine (Grace's Golden Retriever) came to live with us. 

There! That catches us up to this month, which is almost gone itself, and deserves a post of it's own! :) Hope ya'll enjoyed that brief aerial view of our year so far!!

~Chs

Here on the Farm: A Unique take on Gardening

One fun, yet daunting thing about the first year at a new place is getting/having to create a garden from scratch.

This means a lot of planning, digging, chopping and back breaking work. 

But the result is fulfilling! To be honest, Faith and Mom did most (ok allish) of the work, but it was fun to help a little, and watch it all come together.

Even before all the beds were done, Faith was planting seeds in the first few that were done. Little Radishes, and Lettuces.

Even some little Carrots. The soil of our new garden is exactly opposite of our last one. It's sandy, well drained.. and oh SO rocky! Carrots like moist soil while they're germinating, so to facilitate this we placed a board over where we planted the Carrot seeds to keep them moist.

Planting Spinach seeds.

All the little beans coming up!!! (Awwww!)

{Transplanting Peppers}

Beans are one of the most dramatic plants to come up from seed, and I was waiting to capture one right at the most difficult stage, because Faith had found this quote that needed an illustration..

"They tried to bury us: They did not know we were seeds"

This year, the pole beans get to try out a pretty awesome Cattle Panel arbor trellis! Faith was just full of good ideas.

The garden about a month ago.. There's a lot more green and a LOT less dirt showing now!

Little baby tomatoes (now they are huge) in their nice cages and cozy hay bedding. We only did cages on a few tomatoes, the rest of them we are weaving through cattle panels, which I do not have  a photo of yet.

Fava Beans had wispy twig supports which looked quite lovely with the green plants leaning against them.

Faith also did a darling Chevron pattern on the lettuce! Which was quite stunning when the lettuce was at it's peak.

Since this picture was taken, the peas have climbed to the top of the fence, flowered, fruited, been harvested and then have been pulled up, the fence removed and their bed re-used. You see how much can happen when you're not paying attention!!? I started this post nearly a month ago now, and then I got busy, caught up in life, and now it's old outdated news!! But that's alright, you go enjoy it anyway, and I will try to be more prompt and up to date in the future! (no promises though!!)

~Chs