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crunchy mama
Mama and Mud {FMF}
tears, strength, joy
smile lines, and sparkles
stretch marks, sun spots
love, snuggles, and books.
memories made
Mama, thank you
Clearly I am not a poet. =)
I asked my kids what are a few words they think of when they hear the word mama.
These were a few of their words, plus a few I added of my own (stretch marks clearly wasn’t thought of by my children). When Lexie said thank you, I could’ve cried.
Being a mama is so multifaceted. It is emotional, and fun, and life changing. But the best part is raising people that become adults whom one day you can look at and say, “I like this person!” I hope we get to those adult years. For now, I like them a lot most of the time. 😉
I hope they grow up to be respectful, honest, God loving adults with a real relationship with Jesus. Until then I will continue loving, and teaching them … and fussing about the muddy clothes piled up in the garage. (which I am very, very thankful for)
As my husband tells me
“We are so blessed to have happy, mischievous kids … Those muddy footprints are memories made.”
mama and mud- the mischievous 2 year old
rainy evening fun
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Enjoying {the gentleness of} a Charlotte Mason Education
I have been on a really big Charlotte Mason schooling kick lately.
I blame spring; it does this to me! I My kids would rather be outside in nature, reading books and playing in the dirt than inside. And who can blame them?! This is what childhood is about, so here we are …
… all wrapped up in our Charlotte Mason education *insert all the heart emoticons here*
But, because this is where our homeschool is headed for this season in life, I thought I’d better simplify things and organize my thoughts before I get overwhelmed and we end up doing none of it (or at the very least doing only some of it, and without any intention, or focus at all).
So, here is what we are doing for our Charlotte Mason Homeschool this spring and summer (we school year round):
- History/Geography/Bible- continuing our beautiful Feet Early American History studies
- Picture/Artist Study- Monet (who better to study about in spring and summer?! We already have Linnea and her book from a spring basket gift 3 years ago)
- Music Study- Scott Joplin He is from a part of history we will spend a bit of time on here soon, and his music?! y’all- my feet won’t stop moving!
- Hymn Study- this won’t be a specific hymn just yet, I don’t think. We have 3-4 the kids are just learning all the words to via youtube tracks. Because this is for everyone from 2 year old Ila to 6 year old Lexie, we are taking it slow and simple. This is how we begin our days
- Handicrafts and Art- we do so many as part of our family time anyway, but for spring and summer we will be focusing on: embroidery, gardening, whittling, setting the table correctly, clearing the table, and cooking (again, all things we already do but I will be more intentional about reading books and such about each)
- Foreign Language- I think we may start playing with french and latin just for fun, through books. Nothing formal
- Nature Study- we do nature study all the time, but I can be pretty terrible about using our nature journals, so I hope to improve that!
- Poetry-we will continue our poetry plans for the year.
- Literature- we are reading rich literature in our history, as well as chosen read alouds, library books, and my 6.5 year old is reading the Narnia series … over, and over, and over to herself.
- Personal Development/Habits- each of the kids have goals for development, school, and habits that I have written down in my planner for us to work on through the year. Some of these are the same as handi crafts.
What is best about studying these things is?
There are no “reports” or papers, no formal tests or pop quizzes. We just read books, listen to music, learn poetry, look at art, and ENJOY the process. We soak it up, remember it if it was memorable, and when we are ready, move on.
Most CM purist are probably cringing at my plans, and how I “plan” to implement them. But I am okay with that. It is why we homeschool- to do what works for us.
That is what learning to love learning looks like here.
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Validation- Why You Don’t Need It
It is everywhere- parenting advice, opinions, ideas, philosophies.
- To homeschool or not
- To sleep train or not
- To feed them a SAD (standard american diet) diet or not
- To breastfeed or not
- To give battery and flashing toys or not
- To cloth diaper or not
- To use essential oils or not
- To free range or not
- To go organic only or not
- and the list. goes. on.
You get the point. Everyone has an opinion, including my husband and I.
But I don’t need to make YOU feel bad about your decision, in order to validate mine.
“VALIDATE- the action of making or declaring something legally or officially acceptable.”
I am in a mommy group on FB, which is generally very supportive, and open. The mamas in there all come from different backgrounds but we all have one thing in common: we believe sleep is healthy and important for baby, and we want what is best for our children, even when family and friends don’t understand why we make the decisions we do.
This mama posted last week about a friend commenting that (paraphrasing here): Your baby is really happy, and not to alarm you, but a baby that is happy all the time can be a sign of mental health issues.
Um- EXCUSE ME?!
First, there is no data anywhere in the world that supports that statement.
But also, the mama making this statement had a fussy child that was generally making people (his mother included) miserable at a party because he was so unsatisfied.
She was only trying to validate her child’s behavior by making a mama with a healthy, happy baby feel bad.
Y’all, that’s not okay!
First of all, not only are all children different (my son for instance was a cranky, miserable baby and toddler. It was just his disposition), but there is no reason to make any mama question her perfectly healthy, happy baby.
People all around will say things to make you question YOUR happiness and decisions- your marriage, your relationship with God, your decision to homestead, your decision to private school your children, your decision to vaccinate or select vaccinate or not vaccinate your children, where you live, what you do for a living, what activities your kids are in.
Heck, I see people tearing others down for how they raise and train their DOGS in a LGD group.
I get it. I know it hurts and it is frustrating when it happens- family makes snide remarks, people you love question your decisions when they have never done any research that would regard the well being of your family.
But who validates your decisions?
Not friends.
Not family.
Not co workers or people in a FB group.
Jesus.
If I know our decisions sit well with my husband, myself, and God, that is all we need. We don’t need to answer to strangers or acquaintances.
We certainly don’t need to let words, fueled by jealousy, uncertainty, & a lack of understanding, make us doubt ourselves or what the Lord has called us to do.
Do not let the enemy work through other’s words to make you question yourself.
Let’s each other up in Christ, support, and encourage others.
Not tear each other down to validate our own choices.
Let the Lord be your foundation, because no one’s words can move that.
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Weekly Wrap Up {homeschool update} with Baby #4 Summary
So, how goes being a mama of 4, 6 years old and under? It is going really great!
We have fallen into our groove with routines, baby is sleeping great *most* days for her naps, which helps with our learning time as a family. The kids are enjoying their school time; we have finally gotten pretty comfortable with Mister doing more activities while I teach Lexie. Ila walks around with her ABC flash cards (I laminated them and put on a ring for her) during most of learning time. She likes to come sit in my lap through out the morning and “read” to me. =)
Lexie (6 years old)
The Lady is just flying through everything I give her or introduce her to. She enjoys reading; we are still going over the rules as we work through All About Reading, because I don’t want her to have gaps down the road. However, she is reading on a 4-6th grade level. Next we are going to start working to build her vocabulary, because when reading at a higher level, she is coming across many words she doesn’t know yet.
She is learning her math facts in math and really enjoys challenging herself with those. She does her math sheets independently and we do calendar most days (sometimes I just forget ..). Whenever we do hands on math with manipulatives Max likes to join in. He can do math on her level, but his writing skills aren’t there yet so we don’t focus on a math curriculum at all for him- just hands on fun! (like it should be).
We have started using the CD that came with our science (Apologia’s Astronomy 2nd Edition)- that way I don’t have to read, but I can listen along and pause it to go more in depth or explain something a little better. The kids follow along in the book, and then Lexie does the science journal.
Handwriting and math are part of her “clip board work,” that she does independently; I check over these after she has completed them to be sure she did her best, or understood everything. She loves watching herself improve, and I enjoy the discipline she is learning in completing her work on her own.
Max (4 years old)
Mister is just reading like crazy. He does not like to read formally, off a piece of paper yet. He likes me to write words on the board for him to read, and I am 100% okay with that! He is only 4, after all.
He is working through Reading the Alphabet by ThisReadingMama.com- I used that with Lexie and she *loved* it, so he is enjoying it now. Each week we go on to a new letter/site word. His favorite activities are the mazes (he is constantly asking me to find mazes for him to do), and he enjoys syllable counting. Max is also very interested in counting to 100 .. every. single. day. Which is great so I go with it; he likes to get out his number chart for that (check our Rainbow Resources for those!).
Mister is still obsessed with puzzles and anything he can do with his hands. We try to make sure he gets plenty of movement, hands on learning, and has lots of play time so he continues to grow a love for learning.
Ila (2 years old)
Ila is tagging along with us in everything we do. Right now she enjoys puzzles, dolls, coloring, and practicing her letter sounds. She doesn’t actually know the letters that correspond with the sound, but she likes to try and I like encouraging her. She is going to follow Lexie in her eagerness to learn and read, I think.
Our Routine For Now {baby #4 is 4 months old}
- 7am baby up, nurse
- 7:15-7:20ish I get Max up for mama and baby time while I give baby a bottle
- Mister gets “the sisters” up =)
- I cook breakfast, baby hangs out in bumbo or bouncer, older 3 do morning chores/get ready for day
- everyone eats breakfast and we do our morning basket “stuff”
- 8:25 baby down for nap
- all 3 bigger kids go outside or downstairs to play until 9am
- 9am we begin school
- 10:30- it is time to get baby up and fed. We are usually done with school by this point, Lexie may have some clipboard work to finish on her own for the rest of the week
- 11:15 everyone has lunch
- 12:00 baby takes nap, then I put Ila down for nap, bigs go outside to play
- 12:45 Mister goes down for nap, Lexie has rest time reading books, mama writes blog posts, does chores, or rests
- 2:00 time to get baby up for feeding- Lexie usually comes in to spend time with me and baby
- 3:00 everyone up from naps, outside or downstairs to play or we run errands
- 3:30 baby down for last nap, I prep dinner if not yet done
- 5:00 Baby up, nurse
- 5:30 everyone eats dinner, baby gets solids
- bath, wind down, sometimes we watch a show like Mister Rogers, Bob the Builder, Boxcar Children, etc
- 6:30 baby gets bottle and goes right to bed
- 7:00 everyone in bed, unless Mister napped good then he and Lexie get to stay up a little later (but they’re always ready for bed-that’s what happens when you spend most of your day running around a farm!)
- Mama and Daddy time- this is my favorite part about keeping a good routine while our kids are young~I get 1:1 time with my husband and we can unwind from our days together without little people needing us non stop. It’s nice!
Not everything is set to a specific time, but naps and feedings are. Everything else works around that, and just sort of falls into place; it is simple and flows well because I don’t have to force anything.
Coralie {4 months old}
Baby #4- wow. She is already 4 months old (19 weeks) and SO happy. The best thing I could have ever done for this baby is getting a good sleep schedule down- without it she would still be crying, fussy, unhappy, and unpredicatable.
Because of her eating and sleep routines I am able to pinpoint what she needs, she rarely cries (and if she does it is because something is wrong), and she sleeps very well as long as I hit her wake time right (too short results in a short nap, too long results in crying).
But the BEST part of her routine-she went from HATING going to sleep in her crib, to *loving* it. Before about 15 weeks old, she cried every time I laid her down on the changing table to put on her sleep blanket (we use THIS ONE). Now, the girl is happy, kicking, and ready to go to bed as soon as I zip her up! We talks and babbles while I sing Jesus Loves Me, sucks/gnaws on her hand (teething), and when I lay her down she goes to sleep within 20 minutes. Sometimes she fusses after talking for a bit, but never cries for me to get her. IF she is crying-crying, I will go rub some oil on her gums or try to burp her and then lay her back down. Then she usually drifts off to sleep.
She is still a very social girl, loves talking and playing. She got a jumper from her grandparents for Christmas, which I had to let her play in early because A) babies outgrow things fast and it seemed silly to waste a whole month of having it but not using it and B) she is all about kicking these days. She loves it. This way she can see everyone and know what is going on, which is right up her alley.
She is eating every 3.5 hours, her wake time is anywhere from 85-95 minutes (lengthens as we go through the day), and she is experimenting with solids. We have done soft boiled egg yolk, green beans, squash, carrots, and peaches. She devoured all of them, and stares at us while we eat. I think she is ready for more in her day, but honestly I am not ready to have to tote around baby food, spoons, bibs, etc every time we leave the house. I already have to pack formula and hot water, so Im good for now. I am going to try to get by without daytime solids until 6+ months. She is only having them at our dinner time (5:30) now.
That is pretty much it for our weekly wrap up and summary. We are just trucking through everything, enjoying it as we go.
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Beginning Our Gluten Free {GF) Journey
Well, the day has come. I’ve avoided it for a while, against my better judgement; but avoiding it seems to no longer be an option.
Max came into the world with a dairy protein allergy & with his little belly all a mess. He was a pretty miserable baby, despite a few periods of happiness. In general, he cried a LOT and was uncomfortable, suffering from reflux. We searched, prayed for direction, and through amazing circumstances were able to heal his gut through a homemade baby formula. (And make a few wonderful, life long friends along the way-so many blessings.)
As he has grown older, he has suffered from a non-stop stuffy nose and allergies to his environment. His immune system tends to be much weaker than the rest of ours; he is always sick worse and longer than we are. If we have a cold for a week, he has it for 3. If we have a stomach bug for 2 days, he has it for 5. I do everything I can to keep his immune system up (probiotics, bone broth, nutritious food, no dairy because he IS allergic to that, VERY limited sugar, 90% real food diet, etc).
But the one thing I haven’t done is remove gluten from his diet. He eats an egg sandwich every morning, and usually a sandwich at lunch right now (because with a newborn and 3 other tiny humans, I don’t have time to cook 3 hot meals right now). Dinners aren’t usually very wheat-filled, unless it is homemade lasagna or something with pasta, which isn’t often. We actually don’t consume a lot of wheat anyway.
But to substitute and change the wheat we do consume intimidates me. =/
But, in July our dentist (who is a holistic practitioner) was very adamant that we get Max off gluten; he was concerned about his lack of breathing through his nose, and how it is affecting his m0uth, and could further impact his heath. I told him if he told me to do it, I would.
But then the baby came, and life IS hectic at home, and I just let it go for a bit.
Then at our doctor appointment this week, she also recommended we get him off gluten. She said that a major cause of his symptoms could be not only a gluten intolerance, but lowering the inflammation caused from the gluten could greatly help his healing, breathing, and allergies in general.
Basically if gluten causes MORE inflammation in his body, then removing it can limit the immune response he is having to environmental allergens like dust, pollen, dander, etc.
Inflammation is inflammation- regardless of the symptom it shows itself as (in this case allergies and being unable to breathe with a constant congested nose).
His lungs are clear, there was no wheezing, so she doesn’t feel like it is asthma at this time.
So, here we go- beginning this journey. If going gluten free gets him back to his normal health, then I will just learn to make our lives gluten-free! I’ve found a lot of lovely recipes that I’m going to make for him if he is allergic to gluten but I haven’t made any of them yet. There is actually a lot of great gluten free foods available at the minute and I can’t wait to try some of them out if he does test positive.
Are you gluten free in your home? Please share any/all tips and info you can! I would love to learn from you. =)
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Baby Dispositions- Touchy Baby- {Baby Summary 10/11 weeks}
This week I really saw how Coralie is a “touchy baby;” she is really starting to come into her own personality and I am enjoying learning about her. She also showed me that she isn’t hungry at the 3 hour mark anymore; we have gradually shifted to 3.15-3.5hour routine and she is eating MUCH better now. This seems to also have helped her naps.
She seems to still have a witching hour in the evening, and it may have increased a bit in length; I am not sure why yet… We didn’t really settle into this new routine/schedule until today actually (Friday, her 11 week mark) but she has been showing me she was ready for a few days.
I’ve learned that as a parent when you start thinking, “Hmm, I wonder if she is wanting to stretch her feedings/sleep/waketime/etc,” she probably is! Go with your gut- use your tools, like helpful books, but use them in conjunction with your gut and you won’t go wrong. Oh .. and be consistent! 😉
The Routine/Schedule Now Is:
- 6:45-7am nurse, bottle
- 7:30 nap
- 10:15am nurse bottle
- 11:00 nap
- 1:30pm nurse bottle
- 2:15 nap
- 4:30pm nurse bottle
- 5:30 swing for cat nap
- 6pm nurse (?) sometimes I try to skip this cluster feed
- 6:45-7pm nurse bottle
- Bed right after eating. She usually fusses and eats 1-2 more times after I put her to bed, until about 8:00pm
- ***Waking between 5-6:30am– I have started putting her in the swing with a paci to sleep until DWT of 6:45-7am. This has worked the few times that I’ve tried it, hopefully at some point, skipping nursing this early will help her sleep through to DWT (it helps by training her metabolism and sleep patterns if she is ready).**Also, I chose to try and skip eating at this early wake time because she wasn’t taking a FULL feeding, but just enough that she wasn’t hungry at her DWT; thus she would wake early from nap hungry. By holding her off until DWT (designated wake time), she gets in a good, full feeding and starts her day off better! Also, DWT most definitely affects how baby sleeps the following night so keeping that routine consistent is important for good, solid sleep.
Coralie is back in the Woombie, after a nap or two of busting out of the swaddle waking herself, and she seems happy again. So Woombie it is! She is still swaddled and then Woombied at night, and that is working for now.
This week she began spinning in her sleep; it has always been rotating to her left but today she started rotating to her right! How funny their development is!
She still seems to need to cry before sleeping. I put her down awake, but drowsy and within a few minutes she is fussing. She hasn’t learned to settle herself, and cry it out (in small amounts of time) doesn’t seem to help. So after she gets a good cry in I go pat her to sleep. It takes maybe 20 seconds. She just can’t get there alone yet, but I am sure it will come. Read why I let her cry a little HERE, in last week’s update. It is just her way of decompressing for now.
Eating
We have a big growth spurt coming up at 12 weeks, so that should kick in soon. Right now Coralie is nursing well, and has become much more efficient, finishing a feeding within 15 minutes. She then takes 4-6oz of a bottle, sometimes more.
Oh- speaking of bottles! Whether you feed your baby through milk or formula, you should always find the right product. Something that parents experience with their kids is after having been fed, they can experience colic/reflux when bottle feeding, therefore it is beneficial to look into something like best baby bottles for wind. Be sure to do your research when it comes to providing the best products for you and your baby, as an infant’s health is the main priority to any parent. You could also check out https://www.dapplebaby.com/baby-friendly-dish-soap/ to learn about baby friendly dish soap. We all know how dirty baby bottles can get, so getting a soap that cleans them is vital!
We have moved from the crazy expensive Nutramigen formula (which is just corn syrup solids- Yuck!) to a homemade recipe! (Not the bone broth recipe I made for Max and Ila, which is also great, but takes a little more work.) I will have a separate post on the new recipe soon. =)
I feel like Coralie may have more updates on the blog than Ila did, simply because she changes more from week to week with her touchy personality dictating things so much. Ila was an angel baby- by the book. Super easy; just simple and tagged along. Coralie most definitely lets us know when things are not okay with her, and that is a lot of the time. *sigh*
What is a Touchy Baby?
Per the Baby Whisperer– Touchy babies are the most fragile; they thrive on routine and NEED predictability. She says the more consistent you are the better you will understand each other, the happier baby will be, and the sooner she should sleep through the night. Usually touchy babies are later to the game of sleeping through the night, around 10-12 weeks. (this is certainly true for Coralie after the terrible 7-9 week wonder week!) Without a structured routine it is hard to gauge a touchy baby’s cries and that will most definitely make her more irritable. They are easily thrown off by an unexpected visitor, a dog barking, and if mama doesn’t notice and hunger or sleepy cue, baby gets upset and is hard to calm down <-- YES! YES! YES!
After nursing, Coralie gets SO upset if her bottle isn’t in her mouth within a few minutes. It is always best if I warm her bottle, then nurse, THEN have the bottle right on hand. But that just isn’t always possible. What stinks is it’s really hard to have a touchy baby as your 4th baby! Because you really need them to “tag along” and go with the flow more than the others. Thing is, people will say, “well if you just do it baby will adjust.”
NO THEY WON’T! At least not usually.
A touchy baby is such by nature; they are born that way, you can do nothing to change that. All you can do is everything possible, within reason, to make your life easier which means understanding and respecting their personality and developmental needs.
I don’t for one second believe that accommodating a touchy baby is spoiling them; it is called respect. They are people.
Do you like for people to run the vacuum or run into your bedroom screaming at the top of their lungs while you sleep?
Nope, me neither.
Do you like for dogs to unexpectedly bark loudly in your ear when you are relaxed and being cuddled? Or for someone to say they will meet you at 6pm and not show til 8pm? Yea- touchy babies don’t either!
Lexie was SO much like this, but so was I at that time in my life. I didn’t realize she needed it as much as I did, or even more. Looking back I know she was an easier-ish *ha* touchy baby because I kept her in routine, on schedule, she knew what to expect, when to expect it, and I eased her into things. For instance, she wouldn’t have done well staying away from home at 2 years old; I knew that. We waited until she was older and could make that decision herself; we respected her personality and because of that she has grown to a very independent young girl. She is confident in who she is, and recognizes what she needs- quiet time alone, snuggles with daddy, playtime outside, etc. She knows what she needs because we have helped give her the tools to do so.
I will keep praying that God continues to guide us with our newest touchy baby. =)
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Friday on the Farm: Canning and Harvest
So far this year we have harvested: 14 jars of salsa, 7 jars of spicy carrot salsa, and 10 jars of plain tomatoes in their own juice, PLUS what we have enjoyed eating. =) We also now have more peppers in the freezer than we have beef!
We are waiting on our bean harvest to come in, and the tomatoes are still going pretty strong, especially our cherry tomatoes.
I am almost certain the baby chickens have started laying; I am trying to keep count of the big girls’ eggs so today will be the true test. If I get 7 eggs, OR 3 brown ones I know they are laying. So exciting! I can’t wait to add more girls to our flock in the spring.
We are VERY ready to add goats and hogs to the farm, but with a new baby we just don’t have the time for milking and tending them right now. So, they will wait until baby is older and I have more time.
Have you been canning and freezing for winter?
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Friday on The Farm: The End of Summer
Friday on the Farm … it has been several weeks since I have written about the farm.
Things are pretty lively around here! We have started back to homeschool so most of our mornings involve that. Oh- and we have a new baby … she is 7 weeks old today! (wow, 7 weeks have flown by!)
We also introduced 7 other babies to the farm- 7 young Khaki Campbell ducks! Turns out 3 of the 4 are drakes, but two of those should make a good dinner one day. Right now they are all behaving so we are going to keep ’em around a while longer. They are all beautiful ducks though! They really enjoy free ranging and doing their jobs- my husband saw one of them gobbling up a snake the other day, and they chase all sorts of flying bugs. Their favorite day of the week is when we refill their little pool- they go crazy splashing and playing around.
The calves are getting B-I-G. Plain big. They aren’t little babies anymore, that’s for sure. I still call them the baby cows and they come when we call them. They’re up to almost 5 gallons of feed a day to supplement their grazing- they eat on the pasture all day and usually go back out after they’ve been fed by us. We are including minerals and diatomaceous earth in their feed each day. They still love to be petted and scratched and will talk to us when we are outside.
We introduced the big hens to the little girls and everyone is getting along great. They are happy in their new big coop and run. The baby girls haven’t started laying yet, but that should happen any week now! They’re 16 weeks old, and usually start laying between 16-24 weeks. I am ready for more eggs!
Which reminds me, we need to get an egg basket soon. =)
We are getting rain several times a week and have been for a while. The grass is growing like crazy and so are the tomatoes and beans. Our second crop of potatoes didn’t do anything; the seed potatoes we bought were super cheap and looked pretty terrible, so that’s probably why. Our tomatoes are doing good, and we are all enjoying the black cherry heirloom tomatoes; we will have to plant 3xs as many of those next year!
I’ve made 3 batches of salsa, which we also use for rotel in chilis and soups, and have more to make! I will probably also can just plain tomatoes like I did last year.
Otherwise, we are gearing up for my favorite time of year- FALL ON THE FARM! It doesn’t get any prettier than fall leaves after a wet, luscious August and September!
Are you ready for all things Fall?
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Weaning Bottle Baby Calves: What I’ve Learned {All Around the Home and Homestead Blog Party #2}
We were a bit late on weaning the calves from the bottle onto feed and grass; we waited until about 3 months old, mostly just because we lost track of time! They were weaning just as the grass was really coming in thick so we were hopeful we could just wean straight to grass …
Lesson #1: Bottle Babies Need Grain Feed
Unfortunately, calves that come off commercial formula have to wean onto some kind of feed or their growth will be stunted and they could get sick. They really need the protein and carbs found in the feed. =(
So, we went from 2 full bottles of milk a day, and slowly cut back about an 8th of the bottle at a time, so as not to cause nutritional scours or other health issues for them. While doing this, we offered them free grain in buckets in their stall. At first they weren’t eating much grain.
Lesson #2: Cows LOVE Grain
We don’t plan to keep them on grain long; just until they hit their weight requirement, then they will be grass fed. however, we have learned that while milk is like crack for a baby cow, grain is even more so! Those babies go crazy over the grain! Not that I want them to, but it is just evident that cows are bred to eat, gain, and be slaughtered.
Fortunately, they don’t have much longer before we can start weaning them from the grain. In the meantime, I plan to call a local feed operation and see if they can make me a healthier grain-based feed.
All this leads into- next year we will hopefully purchase a mama/baby pair and get a bottle baby or 2 to put with her. We knew getting these calves that it would be a learning experience, and the next time will be as well, I’m sure. We didn’t want to invest the money in a cow/calf pair being completely new; but knowing that a nursing calf is healthier in general, and of course the way God intended it, is motivation for trying it out next time!
Join us HERE for the All Around the Home and Homestead Blog Party!
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