hay business 2011

some round bale action! We called in the pros!

"rakin' hay while the sun shines"

The Gentle Giant and HomemakerAng

We have raked our first cutting again... Our hay received a nice bath this first cutting... We are takin' a break in the shade of the corn crib this afternoon...

What did you do today?

On becoming 40... A mother's heart

This year of my 40th is bigger than I had thought. So many changes… Much deep love for my family, farming and faith, and a mother’s heart being torn for the good as changes are here and there…

I sometimes listened to the older and wiser lady on the park bench while watching my little ones playing on the swings. Other times I simply wanted her to be quiet and keep her deep thoughts to herself as I was tiring of the stories other mama’s tried to share with me about how time flies…

And here I sit today, with a knot in my stomach and an ache in my heart trying to remember exactly what that wiser older woman was saying. I wish I had listened better to her… I want to talk to her today… Did she tell me how to deal with this physical ache? What did she do exactly to move past such an exciting but final time?

I do remember the look on many of her faces. Time wrinkled brow, glassy eyes of tears not released but held back, a slight smile as she was remembering the days of little ones in tow as if she was now living in that exact moment while telling me and she drifted away, drifted back to the days…

She was there… She was remembering the smells of a newborn baby cuddled to her breast asleep in her bed and how inadequate she felt to be granted such a privilege to have a sweet baby on loan to her… She was feeling the little pink ears and remarking on how such tiny fingers were fearfully and wonderfully made. She was smelling the cookies she was baking with a helper at her side pressing out the cookie cutter with fat chubby helping hands on a cold winter day with the radio softly playing in the background. She was walking the daily walk and pushing a stroller to her PO box to get the mail and telling of all the wild flowers and Michigan birds along the way in her small town. She was feeling a heart so full that she could not begin to share a lot of it... She was taking sheets of the line to dress the beds after a long day outside and a nice warm bath to clean children’s feet and nestling them in bed on a clean cotton sheet after a bedtime snack. She was remembering how the lights went on for her little girl as she taught her how to read with her little pointer finger… She was singing the hymns with her child that she would sing throughout the sometimes very long days and nights that then seemed to run together. She was remembering that the best memories she remembers first were during some of the hardest financial times but she was surprised of how wonderful the memories with her child were. She was thanking GOD for the last 3 years of bringing her children safely to her and stepping away from the world and having Daddy home working on the farm in a day and age where many said it couldn't’t be done. She was remembering what they did together that almost was impossible, that it was the hardest thing they had ever done as a family but how she is so happy she had this last time as a 100% family unit together… She was thanking her Lord how He always was driving this thing...

She is praising God for the beautiful young woman her daughter has become. She is praying for God’s continued blessing on her life as she starts slowly leaving her little nest…

Now I know how she dealt with the ache... She tells every other young mother she sees at every chance she gets: “Time does not stand still”, “Time truly slips away”, “Make the most of every day with your family”, “You can never get today back”, “Don’t have any regrets”, “Follow God for your family and bring them to your sides and take a huge dump on what this world distractingly has to offer you”… “Run mother, run and nestle your babies close because time truly goes to fast" and "listen to what I am saying to you"...
And now I am she…
HomemakerAng

June 28, 2011

A close up view at Maple Valley off-grid Farm

Let's get this hay party started!

hard hayin' 2011 The Gentle Giant

And the winner from the give away post below is...

Thank you everyone for playing! Thank you for your kind sentiments as well!

And the winner is...

"Al - This is a real hard decision but I think I would like
the Self Sufficiency book but if I am chosen to win I will know by then. I
enjoy your blog so much. It is a great way to live and raise
children. This world needs more families like yours."

Al, please contact me at angela@maplevalleyfarms.net asap
so I can send you your choice of one of the books
below!

AND, stay tuned for another free giveaway from Maple Valley off-grid
Farm!

In the spirit of farming, family and faith,

The Gentle Giant and HomemakerAng

a Giveaway from Maple Valley off-grid Farm and Skyhorse Publishing!

I have been so blessed to be given a chance to review these two amazing books from Skyhorse Publishing Company!

Self-Sufficiency and Homesteading, Edited by Abagail R. Gehring. Both of these books are colorful, loaded with tons of information about canning, shearing sheep and gardening just to name a few. These are not just a coffee-table book but 2 books with a wealth of information. I have read many books on these 2 subjects but I found both of these very beautiful, entertaining and I learned quite a few new things from each of the books.

I will give away 1 of your choice! All you have to do is leave a comment here about what you enjoy about our Living off-grid At Maple Valley Farm Blog, so lurkers: IT IS TIME TO COME OUT! I will draw the name on Friday morning, June 24, 2011 and announce the winners then!
This is limited to the continental U.S. and Canada, sorry!
Happy winning!
In the spirit of farming, family and faith,
HomemakerAng and family

so many spiritually analogies from the farm to real life and thankfully much time to ponder...

When we moved to this farm I knew it would be life changing but I really and truly did not understand all I would really learn about God, about life about myself and about love…

Spiritually, this experience has been so deep that I could never have imagined what this would do in my heart for the good and for healing. All I have learned about God and about myself and how I relate to Him has been so rich. I could never in 100 years begin to even tell you all He has taught me and continues to shape and mold me to be perfected for Him. He has so far to go and I would n’t trade any of His gentle sculpting while I have been the clay in his hands.
As I was mending fences with my son today so much struck me about the fences and the analogy of sin in my own life and how I need to mend my own personal fences in my heart. On a farm when you let the fences slowly become loose, slowly bend and break down from their tightness to keep the animals safe and secure, so many things can happen. Mending and checking fences on a farm should be a regular part of chores in the farm routine to make sure everything is in working order or many problems arise. Animals getting out and trampling gardens, losing an animal, or having the animals eat your entire hay field you were saving and more…
In my heart as well the mending and fixing of fences, confessing sins and asking God to mend my heart should be done daily to ensure a close relationship with God and with my loved ones around me. Some say grace is sufficient, 'tis true… However, I prefer a farm with strong and mended fences to cut down on the mishaps. The same is true for my heart and I want to keep things tight and secure for Him on a very regular basis. We are never finished being perfected for Him just as fences will never be 100% mended.

The analogies of my spiritual life and lessons to be learned are numerous here on this farm. I thank God for using these examples to challenge me to be the wife, mother and woman He has called me to be even when then mending is rough. After all, mending farm fences is sweaty, extremely vigorous and very hard work on an entire body. I would expect mending a heart would be the same for a spirit if not more… But the rewards for both are endless!

Good mother Marge

rakin' hay today

backing up horses to a horse drawn baler age 13

2011 haying season horse drawn with the Gentle Giant

hooking up horses to a fore cart then baler

Homemakerang 2011 Live hay report

2011 Haying prayer

2011 haying season live report

These are a few of my favourite things!

Our grape arbor connecting der Shoppe Haus to our greenhouse-potting shed with my clothes lines... Our littles going to Grandpa and Grandmas! The greenhouse-potting shed that my hubby remodeled for me. It is a joy to go into my "workshop" and work! Thank you honey! Our stoic 1885 post and beam barn and our dear pony Smoke... I love reminiscing on the history that happened in this barn...

white curtains from our Maple Cottage blowing in the summer breezes...

What are some of your favourite things?

Happy Monday!

xo

In the spirit of farming, family and faith,

Homemakerang and family

Lots of LIVE updates

See our haying LIVE tonight at:

http://www.youtube.com/homemakerang

Lots of breaking developments!

Homemakerang and The Gentle Giant

Sent from Our Off Grid Farm

A summer Saturday at an off-grid farm!

Its a day of wisteria in bloom up the windmill, rhubarb jam makin', acres and acres of hay prairies, mischief, rodeo girl roundin' up the horses-skirt and all, planting my favourite flowers, stop and smelling the roses and more!

What are you up to today?

Sent from Our Off Grid Farm

Our interior decorator in residence...

Her flea market finds and her own style coming out, age 17.

She is asking to paint her bedroom... She is definitely her mother's daughter.
Sent from Our Off Grid Farm

Today is a wedding...

We will be celebrating with our family on this new union and we wish my brother and his new sweet bride God's biggest and richest blessings!

We love you! Congratulations Gene and welcome to the family sweet Jen!
Sent from Our Off Grid Farm

A Farm Girl frolic today!

What does good food, great friends, a fun flea market and an uber charming cottage have to do with each other?
A wonderful 1st annual "Farm Girl Frolic" Maple Valley Farm style!
A day of fun and friends, I am blessed!
Sent from Our Off Grid Farm

Angie freaked out by the pond seaweed

A hot day on the farm

little boys and summer on the farm

There are times when bribes to take naps are ok... This was a time after playing outside most of the day and catching frogs and toads that we obliqued to bribery. Please note: The toad is on a leash... The leash is attached to a little bell so that if Mr. Toad had plans to escape The Great Him would suddenly be awakened to save his toad... He has that leash in a very tight grip and he is sleeping in a camp he built as well... The life and times of a 3 year-old precious farm boy... Ps. I also found an alive toad loose in his bedroom this morning... Hmmm...

A busy weekend on the farm...

and rewarding...

How about you?

Marge has foaled!

We introduce our new foal to Maple Valley off-grid Farm

She is here...

We have been waiting and waiting since Wednesday to see what our dear Marge would have... Its been a long 11 months... The children happened upon a new filly this morning...
We are so excited to have a newborn horse on the farm... We named her Pearl in remembrance of our dear Belgian mare Pearl that passed here on the farm a few years ago now... Pearl was Jim's soul mate...

Marge is a wonderful mother. She is an only child herself and this is her second foal

Her momma would be proud of her and we are too.

Please welcome Pearl to Maple Valley off-grid Farm...

Tail Spin Farm: Off Grid Farm Trip

Tail Spin Farm: Off Grid Farm Trip: "Our off-grid farm trip was everything we expected and then some~! There is a huge sense of peace that flooded both Hubby and I. Matt and A..."

more pig moving business...

We have been in one the gardens...

A 3-year old little hand helping plant the yellow beans... This is not my jardin potager but the "production garden"... It has been cut from 2 1/2 acres this year to this. I am pleased with its size although it is still rather large... We have many gardens on this 40-acres! Stay tuned for the photos as things start sprouting up, this photo is the "entrance" of the garden and it goes all the way back until the fresh composted dirt ends just in front of the side of our ice haus...
Here is my 2-year old "helper" that helped stamp down the bean seeds with her little white sandals...

I wonder if she will grow a garden someday all of her own?

See you again soon. Haying season has begun... Oh boy!