Summer Harvest

Its been a busy couple of weeks since my last post. My weekends have been full of canning and freezing food. Shortly after our return from Regina, I picked beans and peas and shelled/cut them, blanched them and froze them. I ended up with 8 bags of beans, and 3 bags of peas. I also pickled some beans in a dill brine for dilled beans. Last week peaches were on sale by the case, so both Velma and I bought a case. Velma, Jamie and I got together last Saturday afternoon and made peach pie fillings, I froze 3 fillings and canned 5 wide mouth masons of peach/apple pie filling. We also made a couple pies for the next day's farewell BBQ potluck dinner for Alex at Andrew and Jamie's place. One pie I made as kind of a combo of saskatoons, strawberries and apples. The other pie was peach with a strudel topping. Yum Yum! Yesterday I spent the day doing more canning - I made zucchini pickles, lemon zucchini butter and apple butter. I also made supper for Velma, Julie, Trevor and I after the others got home from work. After supper, Trevor and I needed to go and check the cows, so Velma bottled up my apple butter for me. Later (actually too much later!) we went over to Andrew and Jamie's with Julie and watched "Broken Bridges" It was a decent movie actually.

This afternoon when we got out to the farm after meeting, the cows were up at the water hole, so Trevor went down and closed the gate below to keep them contained, then we went and had lunch and relaxed for a bit, later we saddled up the horses and gathered the cows into the barnyard so we could sort out the bulls. Its been 65 days since we put the bulls out, so its time to cut off the calving season! We separated the bulls out and put CCIA RFID tags in them (the Canadian cattle identification association's radio frequency Identification tags which are mandatory on all cattle being moved from their home farm) The plan is to take the bulls to the auction mart on Tuesday evening for the Wednesday sale. Since we plan to sell the cows sometime before calving, there's no point in keeping the bulls through the winter! The fewer hay bales we have to buy the better! The horses and cattle(and us!) are enjoying the cooler weather and fewer flies - although it got up to 30C here today. The past two weeks have been cool and sometimes rainy - today was the first warm day but since the humidity has gone it didn't feel near as bad as July! After taking care of the cattle this afternoon, I made another batch of dill pickles. So my canning so far this year has consisted of:

13 jars of dill pickles

5 jars of dilled beans

5 jars of peach/apple pie filling

5 jars of lemon/zucchini butter

7 jars of apple butter

3 jars of zucchini pickles

and more to come!

Yesterday the horses were feeling pretty chipper, actually Guthrie even bucked a bit when Trevor was lunging him for me ( I was delayed in the kitchen!). Today the horses were lazy, at least until we started sorting cattle - when Guthrie, being his usual self, got somewhat riled up and decided to throw in a few bucks for good measure - at least I knew to expect it - that's what a night latch and a Cheyenne roll are for!! We had quite a time trying to restrain the largest bull, his neck was thicker then his head, so we couldn't keep him in the head gate, he's also the most ornery of the three bulls and likes to throw his head around, so reaching into the chute with him unrestrained was impossible. We eventually got him pinned between three fence posts in the chute and Trevor-the-brave got the tag in his ear. Sneef was a big help in persuading the bulls to move and keeping the cows moving as we trailed them to the barn yard - I am so happy to have a dog like her, even if she loves to be dirty better then anything else! She will go and jump in the dugout and then find the dustiest spot she can find or the freshest cow plop and roll like crazy! Its like battering chicken to fry! She ends up with a bunch of mud coated dreadlocks, which eventually become dust that she shakes off.

Another highlight from the last couple weeks was our clinic summer party. It was a fun time, we met at the local amusement park which has go carts, bumper boats, mini golf, human Foosball, beach volleyball and lawn bowling. We had a BBQ with all the fixings, some good visiting time and fun on the amusements! About a month ago another girl that lives out this direction started working at the clinic, so we've been car-pooling whenever it works out- especially on the days when Julie was staying in Morden. Jackie is very chatty, and it makes the trip go by very quickly when I have someone to talk to!

In other news, our move may be coming a little closer to reality. We still haven't had any bites on our house, but the house that the current tenants of our future house are moving into has finally arrived on its foundation, and they plan to move as soon as it is livable. Hopefully we can move into the farmhouse before the snow flies!! We're still praying to sell our house, since it would be hard financially to have to pay for rent on the new place and the mortgage here at the same time, yet we don't want to give up the opportunity to rent the house in the country. God has it all in His perfect plan, so I just have to wait and see what that plan is!

The next week is going to be busy, as Trevor and I plan to leave at 5pm on Friday night for Alberta and my dad's wedding celebration. We still have lots of zucchini, cucumbers and apples to preserve when we have time, I have quite a few projects started here and a few I'd like to finish before Jaime's baby comes...its going to be a busy week.

Trevor is hoping to get a wisdom tooth pulled tomorrow afternoon, as it is quite rotten - hopefully all goes well there. I have a couple of medical appointments this week too! Tomorrow evening I join 3 of my co-workers in Winnipeg for a continuing education evening...I guess I've got a lot to do in a couple of nights this week!

As some of you may have heard - My sister and brother-in-law, Jody and Nate have become parents for the next 9 months - click here for more info. Because of this development, they have decided they can't make the trip up to dad's wedding celebration. I am disappointed to not be able to see them, but I am not holding it against them at all - as their excuse is a very noble one!

Other then that, everything here is going well - we're all healthy, the cat is growing fast...

Here are some pictures of our cows and horses from this afternoon:

Me and Guthrie, ready to go cut out some bulls.

Guthrie and I - done cutting out bulls - feeling lazy.
Portrait of a great summer day
Trevor and Black Jack, cutting out "Piggy" the herd "mascot"
Trevor's portrait of a great summer day
Me cutting out "Steak" the next piece of freezer beef.

Guthrie and I cutting out one of our grass steers for a better look.
Headin' back to pasture

Introducing the newest member of the family

No - Don't worry, Jaime didn't deliver early - and this member of the family is not human.

Meet the one and only Cooter. One of the hazards of working at a vet clinic which also serves as the pound... I get to see these cute little dogs and cats who nobody loves anymore. Some...like Cooter, just need a home and they're much too cute to euthanize. So...somewhat to Trevor's chagrin, we're the new care takers of a 7-8 week old kitten. So far we think he's male...and I hope he stays that way, since Cooter would be a funny name for a girl. Its kind of hard to tell on a kitten, when you don't have another one to compare it to, which gender it really is...

Other then the kitty - the latest news is the return home from Regina Conference. It was a nice weekend, we stayed in dorms with Evan and Katie and Jakob, and Darren, Melinda, Carson and Connor. I enjoyed the meetings, although I had some trouble hearing during certain meetings - it makes me appreciate the effort that some make to be heard! I also can sympathize with the older brothers and sisters who strain to hear - hearing aids are great, but they don't always do the trick completely. We enjoyed several visits with different people that we don't see often, including my cousin Holly and her husband Josh and on Monday night I stayed with Harriet and Dave. It was nice to catch up with old friends! Staying out at the farm always has its exciting moments, like chasing cows, fixing fence, etc. When I was packing, something told me to take some farm clothes -- and I'm glad I did! Trevor, Alex and Julie came home on Monday afternoon, while I stayed an extra night (I had Tuesday off since I worked Saturday morning) and came home with Velma. I spent a few hours with my friend Lynnsey on Monday - it was a nice time of chatting and catching up and of hopefully mutual encouragement.

I think I am my own worst enemy sometimes - while I can't even seem to keep up with daily housework sometimes, I keep starting new projects. I picked up several different materials to make baby blankets with last weekend and also started on another infant sweater set. This time I have started a couple months ahead of when the baby will be born! I love working with my hands - crochet, sewing, scrap booking, etc. But I just don't have time anymore!!

Last night, Trevor and I went riding. I was kind of in a bad mood...my fellow females will understand... Anyways, my horse wouldn't come in to be caught, so I ended up riding Apache. He was Trevor's horse, but he sold him to his dad, he had only been ridden twice so far this year - once when he fell on Alex and once when Melinda came for a ride with us. I can't stand his ground manners - he completely lacks respect, and I'm not sure how to earn it from him! Once I'm riding him, he's OK, except he turns like a fully loaded super-B, and after riding Guthrie most of the time, who turns well and watches/cuts cattle pretty well, it was a frustrating ride. He likes to move though, and I didn't have to pedal to keep him moving at least!

We had the first fresh produce out of the garden last week, and I'm sure there's much more that needs attention right now, so hopefully tomorrow I can get on that. I guess its time for bed, Trevor said he was going to bed an hour ago - but instead he played his guitar and sang to keep me entertained while I wrote this. I'm going to post a few pictures of Carson and Connor from the weekend.

Summertime

Well, I guess its about time for another update. The days of summer seem to slip by without so much as a pause - and to think its the end of July already! The crops are ripening, and we saw several combines in the field on our Sunday evening drive home tonight! Sometimes it scares me to think that time is ticking by that fast - what have I done that has made it worth while? Every time I think that, it spurs me to make a better effort to spread the Love of my Saviour Jesus Christ with others - but unfortunately, due to lack of discipline, that "spur" never lasts until the next opportunity arises - usually this is somewhat of an evening event, and by morning, I've lost the zeal - why? To think that because of His great love for us (as rebellious children) He sent his ONLY Son to the evil earth - to be mistreated in every way known to man - without retaliation - and to die by one of the most agonizing means that was available at that time. For me - who can't even remember to tell someone about the great story. For me - who can't even get myself out of bed in the morning a few minutes early to read the love letter that He has written for me. I am humbled to think that I couldn't even walk home with a letter from Trevor in my pocket when we were dating - I'd pull it out and read as I walked back to my dorm - yet I have the love of God poured out to me in a book and I don't even bother to "fit it in" to my busy schedule. Now I pause to think - if I erase Him out of my day to day living (as it seems I have been doing) - what would it be like if He erased His presence from my day to day living? My life would be a mess. The tender mercies - which some would choose to refer to as fate - are never ending. From the family and friends that surround me, my health, my more then adequate possessions to the many times when a split second has saved me from great harm. Fate? No - I cannot call it that, His hand is present in every second in my life - so I must try to make His love evident to others in every second of my life.
So this is my desire - to be able to resist the distractions of this world and carve out a time to simply learn of Him - the author of my life. That would be a bare starting point compared to the devotion He deserves.
I've often thought of it this way: If a person jumped out and saved you from the path of an oncoming train (meaning certain death - although not to be thought equal to eternity in hell) and was killed in the process - would you not want to remember that person fondly every day of your life - knowing they were the reason you were alive? And if asked to do so, wouldn't you gladly put aside one day a week to commit to that person (ok - this is sounding slightly strange, but bear with me) - how come, if we could do that for another human who acted heroically, why can't we do it for our Creator and Perfecter, Jesus Christ? As far as He's concerned, He's done much more then we give Him credit for, right?

I guess that's just the reflection of my mind for now - I feel challenged to make MY Lord a bigger part of my life - since without Him - I would be nothing.

I came here with the intention of writing an update of the last couple weeks - but it hardly seems to fit - what was meant to be an introduction, led me to write much more - so the update will wait for another day :)

Summer Happenings

"God of wonders beyond our galaxy" I love that line (from the song "God of Wonders") Its just such a broad statement, but - its an appropriate reflection from my heart right now. Although I don't really know what's coming up in the future, I am at peace, knowing that He will take care of all. Sometimes I really get caught, not knowing when I need to make decisions and plan things and when I need to just let things work out :S I think we have a responsibility to be responsible, but not controlling...ok- so I am struggling with that, but I have just been thinking about all the wonderful things that He has brought into my life. -

- My wonderful husband who is not just my friend and intimate partner, but my helper in day to day things and even my teacher in some areas.

-The beauty of creation - my yard is so beautiful right now - and all because He created things of beauty - how can one look at the perfection of creation and not see His hand is in all things?!

-A family and friends to meet all my needs and more!

and the list could go on forever!

As far as an update - lots has happened that I haven't blogged about.

The week after our trip to NY was a bit of a weary one, but we made it through. One evening I helped Velma do some weeding in the garden. On Saturday, Trevor was working, and I had volunteered to help the Ag Society ladies in the food booth at the fair in Manitou. It was about 33C and very humid that day! I sat outside for a while and watched the horses, getting somewhat sunburned in the process! I also met a few people that I knew at the fair and had a nice conversation with the couple that I lived with two summers ago. Their daughter and two grand-daughters were there too, so I visited with them all a bit. It is nice to actually recognized people in the community a bit! I am starting to feel like less of a stranger now! Sunday was our anniversary, one whole year!! We had initially planned to grab a quick lunch, then go to the local mud bog (yes we're sorta redneckish) and then to Winkler for a nice dinner. After meeting, however, Alex and Velma said they wanted to take us out for lunch. Along with grandma and Julie, we all went down to the restaurant where we got married and had lunch. It may be the last meal for us there, since they are moving the building to the golf course in Morden. Its kind of sad that they couldn't leave it in the beautiful setting that it is currently in, but it is too far from anything to be a viable business! Pembina Crossing will be a thing of the past as of September 1st, so I guess the people who said we'd probably celebrate our 50th anniversary there are going to be out of luck!

After lunch we were too late for the mud bog, so we did a bit of a country drive, and then went to the Archibald Museum its located just a few miles from the Scharf home farm, and it had tons of artifacts from the area! Its unfortunate that more money can not be put into the preservation of our history in places like this one - which is so non-commercialized and real! We really enjoyed our tour through the many period furnished buildings!

In the past week, my raspberries have started to produce! Last week I picked the first couple of cups, on Sunday I picked 6 more cups, Monday Trevor picked 8 cups and tonight we picked another 8! There are many more to pick, but I'm tired and most of pans are full of raspberries in the freezer, so I'll wait until tomorrow night when I can bag some of the frozen ones and reuse the pans.

On Friday night we rode to move the cattle from the valley out to the far east pasture. It was a nice night, except for the fog of mosquitos that covered us and our horses. The ride was fairly uneventful. We first had to ride to Mary's (the name for the far east pasture) and bring back the 5 cows, 3 calves and 1 bull that were out there. There is a creek with a series of beaver dams along it that runs right down the middle of the pasture, so it was a bit of a toss up as to which side the cattle would be on. We chose to ride down the far side first. About 2/3 of the way down the pasture, we spotted the cattle on the other side of the creek - except for one cow on our side - we wondered if she had just found a way to cross the creek, since she was right across from her calf, so we put some pressure on her and after a bit of hesitation, she just jumped right into the pond (created by a beaver dam) and swam across to the other side! It was quite funny to watch! We trotted back down to the end of the pasture so we could cross the creek ( we weren't about to get wet!) and rounded up the small herd - we had no trouble pushing them through the bush with the two horses and my dog - they pretty much went without much help all the way back to the barnyard. We then went down to get the main herd of cows and calves to put out into Mary's. Three calves had stayed down in the pasture when Alex had closed the gate on the cows when they came up for water earlier in the day, so we had tried to get them through the gate to their mothers, but one ran back into the forest. I had seen its ear tag, so I knew which cow it belonged to. Since we didn't know if he had slipped under the fence and in with the cows while we were moving the little herd, we sorted his mother out of the big herd and put her back into the pasture the cows had come from so that her calf wouldn't be alone for the night, then we sent the rest of the cows out to Mary's. By this time it was dark, so we called it a night.

I worked on Saturday morning - a very slow day! I was happy when noon came around so I could go home and out to the farm with Trevor! We spent the afternoon working on Pinkie and then had supper with Alex and Velma. We took the long way around to get home - touring some of the local area to see crops and find the building site of the people who currently live in the house we plan to move into. We wanted to see how far along they were so we could estimate when we might get to move! So far there's just a basement, and it didn't look ready for them to move the house onto just yet, so we've got some time to wait I guess!

After meeting on Sunday, Trevor and I enjoyed dinner at Siggi's, our favorite restaurant and then went home for the afternoon. It was a cool and rainy day, and though we had wanted to go riding, our plans were changed! I invited the whole family over for supper and set out to make some soup for supper. I threw some soup bones and round steak in a pot when I got home and let them boil with some onion, celery and garlic while I cleaned up the house. Having company gives me a good incentive to clean the house!! We hadn't had company since we moved back here in April, so I really enjoyed being able to do some entertaining! I decided that it was a good chance to use the table cloth and napkins I had gotten as a wedding present - they match our main dishes wonderfully. So with that thought in mind, I decided to set the table rather nicely - but I was lacking one thing - a centre piece. My yard is beautiful and full of flowers these days, so I dug out my umbrella and a pair of scissors and set out on a bouquet making mission! I found some white and yellow lilies as well as a few red flowers (not sure what they are) and some white flowers that look like giant baby's breath. I only have one vase and its quite small, so I didn't pick too many flowers, but the results were perfect for my not too big table! I put together a salad and was flipping through my cook book looking for inspiration for a desert to use up some raspberries when Trevor saw custard and said - "Hey, I haven't had that for a long time!" So - I decided to make custard for desert. After I finished cleaning the house I finished making the soup. I strained the broth from the solids, removed the bones, cut up the meat and returned it to the broth, then I added some zucchini, carrots and a few more spices. I had cooked a combination of rice, wheat, barley, split peas and canned tomatoes earlier in the week as a side dish, and I always cook extra, so I used that in the soup as well. While the soup simmered, I mixed up biscuit dough and cooked two batches of biscuits. I then mixed up the custard (my first time ever making it!) and put it in the oven while we ate. It was a great time of visiting and enjoying fellowship with Alex and Velma, Andrew, Jaime and Julie. After dessert we all sat around and sang for a bit, and then visited until our company went home.

Julie, Jaime, Katie and I had made plans for a girls day on Monday, so by 1pm on Monday we were all at Katie's house and ready to head to Winnipeg for a few hours. We did a bit of shopping - enjoyed a latte at second cup (with a liberal dose of visiting included all along the way of course!) and then headed back to Morden. Julie was house sitting and the owners of the house had said she could have friends over if she wanted, so we took them up on the offer and enjoyed their spacious living room for a bit of a movie night. We also invited Dyane and we watched "Music and Lyrics" I have somewhat mixed feeling about this movie - it was good, but some parts were wrong and some parts were juts plain weird...oh well - I guess maybe next time we could pick some more wholesome entertainment. We also enjoyed Boston Pizza and spinach salad while we watched the movie! I didn't end up getting home until midnight, but I was very glad to have the time of visiting with other girls my age! We all need the support of our peers and the opportunity to share with our "girlfriends" so I think it was a very worthwhile day!

Tonight after work, I came home and helped Trevor pick raspberries, we had leftovers for supper and then went for a bike ride. We also discussed a couple of possible upcoming trips - but we haven't made any decisions yet. We're trying to decide whether to go to Regina conference and iron out details about a trip to Alberta in September. Time will tell...

This is my latest crocheting effort - I just have to finish the second bootie and make the bonnet to go with it. I'm making it for a friend's baby - who is already 4 months old!!