farmin' movie

here is the arrival of the herd! it has been fun! the best part? keeping your window open at night... smelling the smoke in the air from the 3 woodstoves, hearing the coyotes howl and the cows mooing... BLISS!

more blessings! gratitude and thanksgiving!

Here it is! A sneak peak of the Maple Cottage getting her new roof by new friends WHO volunteered to donate time! God bless you! I cannot get enough of my 2-year old son these days! He is actually a very sweet 2 year old! Look at these adorable "cow boots" of his! I WANT to just eat him up!
Here is another wonderful blessing of a friend "K"... Coming to bless us with work on the farm. The little barn in the background goes to the Maple Cottage.

a wonderful farm visit from Uncle Wayne and Aunt Barb! FUN! Here is A. Barb and the Gentle Giant and I...

Gratitude for meeting a wonderful new blogger friend and kindred spirit! She drove over 2 1/2 hours to meet us with her beautiful daughter and pick up some chickens! she is an inspiration to me with her story. God bless you "K"... beautiful fall days on the farm

part of the herd

a day picking apples!

My little apple orchard boy!

I just do not have the time today to post to much but just to update, we have had so many blessings here on the farm this week! From a wonderful load of free wood delivered out of "nowhere" (no surprise to God, He knew we needed wood but our wonderful friends did not) from our friends from our old church that have been wonderful support to us throughout out changes this year! It is great to have friends through thick and thin! Thanks for your blessings Paige and Shane, thank you for your faithful friendship, thanks for the barn to the wood and more. Tell sweet Larry and Jane we also send our love! You were a vessel being used by the Lord! We needed wood! Our hearts where touched!

To the Gann family! OH MY! Homemade apple sauce, blueberry pie filling, peach jam, cherry jelly, choc. chip banana bread! NEED I say anything MORE? thanks!!!!

Then, to the wonderful "S" family! You know who you are! Coming to do some mission offering work on the Maple Cottage to help get us up and running! What a huge blessing! And then Bill, you too, what a blessing with all the hard work you did here!

To the Doosenbery family, they just dropped off a 1885 working treadle totally redone antique sewing machine! OUT OF THE BLUE! THANK YOU! Thank you GOD for wonderful vessels. Thank you for taking care of our little off-grid family.

Thank you Sherry Miedema (a friend of mine from our old-stopping grounds) and "Faith Keeper Friends" for organizing a field trip and coming up to the farm with a blessing of friends as well! Hope you guys had fun! We had a pleasant time!

Our children our seeing first hand the provision of God for our family. We are not rich by a long shot, but we are being taken care of and that is so comforting! I hope you enjoy the random photos from the week!

a rare moment

The busy farm couple, standing still, next to eachother, on a field trip. Thanks so much to all the wonderful families who came out yesterday for a fun field trip and more! Be sure to leave a review at our local harvest site (hint, hint) :) and PLEASE come again!
http://www.localharvest.org/farms/M20317

High Cotton!

Hi Maple Valley,
Just wanted to tell you thanks for the inspiration. We farm in Arizona and your journey gave me the courage to start having farm experiences at our farm. They have been met with great enthusiasm. I have been thinking about doing this for a couple of years and your blog finally gave me the courage to jump in. It is such a cool experience for us - people really crave what farms give.
I hope the Lord continues to rain blessings upon you.
Fondly,
Tiffany Shedd
The Cotton Shedd
www.cottonshedd.com
Visit us for Farming, Learning, Art, Country Living Skills, and Fun!!

Thanks Tiffany! God bless you and we just love emails like this!

a blessing for sure...

If you would have told me last year that this year we would own a herd of beef cattle, I would not have believed you! But, God has been gracious once again to bless us with a gift to the farm. This herd has a story… Ok, so it seems everything we do here has some kind of story, but this one, well, it’s a REALLY good story.

A family in the 1960’s was living in Lincoln Park near Detroit. They were pretty much city slickers, although the mother of the brood grew up on a farm in Mississippi… They were raising 3 boys and during the infamous Detroit riots there was a curfew in the evening. This family would hear gunshots each evening while staying inside during curfew. They finally thought, “Well, we don’t have to stay here”, so they began looking to purchase a farm. They were new to the whole farming concept except for the Mrs. growing up on a farm.

They pursued their dream of owning a farm and getting out of the city life. After searching through many states with the 3 boys, they ended up back in Michigan to purchase their farm. About a year later, with not much experience, they purchased their very own herd of cattle. They were a little older than the gentle giant and I at this time.

They kept the cattle in the barn all winter, but then learned that even in the bitter cold, cows need fresh air. (live and learn just like we are) It was a tough winter to say the least for the cows (some pneumonia) and for the family as they were learning. So, that spring, they put up fences to let the herd out on pasture etc. to get fresh air and sunshine.

A real long story really short: They are 80 and 70something years old now. For 40 years they have had this herd and at one time it was up to 125 cattle. Well, they are ready to retire and we stumbled upon them and they said we were an answer to their prayers as they could not bear to go another winter taking care of these cows. We answered their prayers? Uh, it’s more like they answered OUR prayers! We purchased these at a great price… And, the kind man said, “there is just too much greed in the world today”… They are giving us a start in cattle farming and we could not be more thankful…

This herd has been totally “free-ranged and grass fed” and taken care of just the way we would have wanted with tons of fresh air abounding and more.

We had the sweet couple for dinner last evening and we laughed and talked and ate… A wonderful night. It was almost as we were looking to the future as they have seemed to live a life similar to ours. Thank you Mr. and Mrs. D… Someday, we will “pay it forward” to another young couple pursuing their passions when we are ready to retire… But for now, we have a lot of hard work ahead of us! J Thank you God for continuing to take care of our family, thank you for still “driving this thing”…

weekend celebrations

My brothers and I... I am the oldest and the boss! getting that farm kitchen ready for guests
its serious business driving a Belgian Horse Team on your 2nd birthday!
opening his "balla"

some gorgeous fall color by the pond

she is getting older too! almost 6 months already! My dear momma's birthday! Celebrated here on the farm with our entire family, a big farm meal with my parents, brothers and my dear sis-in-law (good sports to take their 15th hayride) Here is my momma opening her antique (maybe vintage sounds better as it could age her) Vacation Bible School pitcher with Cherry Kool-Aid, one of her fondest memories growing up... (ps. getting questions about that fan in the background... it is antique and just for looks!)

wonderful color... come see it in person this Saturday, October 24, 2009, on a Horse Drawn Hay Ride at Maple Valley Farms! We would love to meet you!

new life on the farm, cuckoo maran chickies... also, we have Golden Comet laying pullets for sale, $10- each, raised free range...

So, we had a party tonight!

I was serious when I said this is a huge deal that "we made it" a year living off-the grid! These children were surprised when momma came home tonight with a special cake. Poppa was surprised too. I could have made it, but then it wouldn't have been a surprise. They didn't know what to think of a store bought cake like this, all fancy and all! It was fun! We all got in on the song of "Happy Birthday" but some of the children (as you can see) just weren't as excited as I was :). They have been feeling a touch under the weather and I think that it may have had something to do with it or that they think mom is very weird at times. I choose to go with the 1st idea and you should too! :) (notice in the photo above that baby girl is pulling big baby boy's hair... I will not show you the photo after this one for that reason as the family party went SOUTH, FAST!)

Hey, life is short and it can be fun to make a party for just about anything and this is the first time I did something like this, make a big-to-do out of something and it ended up being a lot of fun.

The cake tasted ok... The little Grandma's handwriting on the cake was interesting also. We enjoyed it after a big meal of garden organic brussel sprouts, pickles and Amish noodles with BUTTER!

It is a party you want to be at! FREE goodies! CONTEST

***UPDATE BELOW as I may have made this confusing with many email questions***

This is our official cheese making supply company that we purchase all of our tried and true cheese making supplies from here at Eclectic Culture Farm, now known as Maple VALLEY off-grid farm! We use the cheese salt, rennet, cheese cloth, video and more! If you have been at our cheese classes, you will know this to be true! If you want to be sure you are getting the freshest and high quality rennet, we suggest you purchase all of your cheese making supplies here.This week is our official HAPPY BIRTHDAY ECLECTIC CULTURE FARM/Maple Valley Off-grid Farm 1 year birthday! YEE HAW! We made it, we did it and we are so happy to have 1 year under our belts! You all have been with us through thick and thin! From outhouse adventures to pregnancy bed rest to "in the presence of mine enemies" and new life on the farm. WE want to thank you for your support and we are excited to announce so many new things coming soon here as well! You won't want to miss any of the up and coming announcements!

In honor of our 1st year birthday, we are having a HUGE party here this next few weeks!

#1.Get in on the fun by posting a post on your own blog entitled, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY ECLECTIC CULTURE FARM, now MAPLE VALLEY OFF-GRID FARM"

#2. and cut and paste our blog header in your post.

#3. LINK to us in that post

#4. and write about why you read our off-grid farm blog and what is your favorite post you have read (linking to that) and why on your blog.

#5. Then leave a comment under this post with the actual link to your blog (so we can check in :)).

#6. You can have a 2nd chance to enter the drawing by signing up as a new follower here on the right sidebar if you have not already.

#7. (please note this in your comment as well so we know to add you in again)

We will then pick a winner and you will receive a wonderful video (VHS) of Cheese Making 101 with Ricki Carrol, the queen of cheese making, from the NEW ENGLAND Cheese Making Supply Company, our official cheese products used here at Maple Valley Off-Grid Farm, for FREE! A $24.95 Value!!! Shipped to you free as well, but sorry, only in the continental USA. This video is VERY informative... From making Creme Fraiche to Ricotta to Mozzarella! "If you cannot visit the queen, why not take her with you!"

The New England Cheese Making Supply Company is our 2nd official farm sponsor! We will have another contest for this party coming up with our 1st official farm sponsor too! So keep checking in!

Do you want to be a sponsor of our farm? email us here maplevalleyoffgridfarm@gmail.com

Comments will be closed at 4 pm October 19, 2009. We will post a winner on Tuesday, October 20, 2009. Happy Posting!

Shhhh... DON'T tell anyone

that I am secretly rejoicing we have had a hard frost here in our neck of the woods to kill the garden! "HOHAAHEHAAA" (evil monster laugh)... I am happy to see the garden go as this has been our hugest (Yes, I know this is not a proper word) gardening year yet and a new baby born at planting time to boot! We worked our tallies off! WE COULD NEVER have planted, grown or canned so much this past year without these wonderful kinner (our children). Plus, we only used horses and NOT a tractor in sight. These children are the hardest working bunch and they are on this off-grid team 150%. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family to work with. THANK YOU CHILDREN for this successful gardening year and harvest, we could NEVER have done it without you! Thank you GOD for providing a wonderful gut bounty for us! Oh, I almost forgot, off to can more venison (our son just got a deer last night) and applesauce too...

See our side bar at the right to stay in tune with what is going on with Maple Valley Farms by being a friend of ours of facebook!
xo ang

October 6, 2009 Cheese Class, a success!

Last weekend we began the harvest of some of our organic squash and organic pie pumpkins for the Cheese Class... Monday we began baking our wonderful gut Pumpkin Muffins!
here we are waiting for the cheese guest to arrive back from their Belgian hay ride and tour of the farm to enjoy their bountiful harvest lunch from Maple Valley Farms!
Each guest received a complimentary magazine from Green Prints, "The Weeder's Digest". I am a subscriber to this wonderful little gardening magazine and they sent us a box to pass out at our farm meetings!

Our menu:

Fresh local coffee and cider with whipped creme

teas (4 varieties)

our fresh garden salad (an arugala mix with olive oil and vinegar dressing)

hard dairy cheese (made by MVF) with back to nature crackers

goat's cheese (made at MVF) with zuke marmalade (from the farm of course) and Late July Organic Crackers

an heirloom organic Maple Valley Farms tomato with homemade pesto, pine nuts, Maple Valley Farms goat cheese and olive oil

caramel apple salad with jonagold apples

"Dinner in an Organic Pumpkin" (MVF) free range beef and brown organic curried rice and butter drizzled with Maple Valley Farms Maple Syrup (from the 2009 harvest)

dessert: Homemade on our wood fired cookstove Pumpkin Muffins with cream cheese frosting!

Thank you to all of our delightful guests that attended!

Don't miss our next class with another delicious in season menu straight from the farm!

Next Cheese Class: November 3, 2009 10 am - 12:30 ish Farm tour as well

$30-

Check out our local harvest site for all the details (note: Local Harvest not showing class quite yet as it is being "approved")

part of our heritage wall in our farm house "great room"

weekends in October

weekend of canning over wood fire and more...

Jonagold apples will be ready next week. Please call to place your order. Only $15- a bushel, low spray, fresh picked! Please bring your own bags to take home.

xoxox
Ang

it is October and things are still ramped up here on the farm

Here are some final shots of the last weeks of September... I so enjoyed a great visit from blogger pals and great friends Savvy City Farmer and Farm Girl Cyn, my tried and true friend!

One of my most favorite things that I would never have imagined that would be my favorite as to living on a farm is THE HORSES! I love taking hay rides, forecart rides and buggy rides... It is especially great on your own turf... I am glad I conquered this fear, although I do have GREAT respect for horses! Our belgian's each are over 2,000 lbs.

Here are a few inside farm home shots as well. We are getting things cleared away and cleaned up more and more here. October 15ish is our 1 year Anniversary of moving to our off-grid 40 acre farm! So far it has been a wonderful life changing experience. We just really have enjoyed it more than we thought. My favorite part is night time when all the oil lamps are glowing!

Barney doesn't seem to mind the chickens and the pumpkins here.

here is a view of the front farm porch. There is always a new kitty-cat running here or there on the farm as well.

Canning is still going on. Check out the right side bar to see where we are at with all of that. I think I have done so much and then when I chat with my Amish girlfriends and I fail in comparison to them. I have no idea how they get everything done that they do... Some have up to 18 children! (Ok, they don't have the internet and telephone to bog them down, that could be some of it, ahem!) I moved some of our goods from our kind neighbors freezer and now am thawing them to can them up. It is nice to get a large assortment saved together and do all at once. I learned this neat technique once again from Mother Earth News when they had an article about canning salsa. Thanks to the children's youth hunt we have 2 deer canned up! A nice little buck and a good size doe all in jars!

We have so enjoyed Grand Rapid's First Art Prize Competition. If you live near here, you owe it to yourselves and your children to check it out. We saw the 100,000 paper airplanes in flight and it was NEAT! I have been a fan of this great family for some time and they were at the event (still are) but I was not able to get close enough to say hello. They have an open invitation to visit the farm anytime! (hint hint)

I have so many things going on in this brain of mine that I need to get out on paper and I will tell you the book is coming along :) excitedly so. I feel as though I (we) need an "agent" or whatever to lead us in the right direction on all of these opportunities... Oh yes, I have one of those! He is just a prayer away and He thinks we are awesome and He loves us like his children and I never even had to ask Him too. We have been spending lots of time on our knees talking to Him and HE is ever so faithful to us folk!