Welcome 2012!

Happy New Years from Orange Patch Dairy!!! Bring on 2012!!!!

Well it's been WAY too long since I blogged!!!!  I'm entirely to blame for that, but I have a great reason...I had to put my cows FIRST.  Often at the farm we need to choose which projects get attention, and well thanks to our new barn construction (which has been going well) and the awesome brown winter we have, well I haven't run out of things to do at the farm.  Each of my projects have been done with the final goal of making the lives of my cows and calves better.  So....with that being said...we are VERY EXCITED to welcome 2012 at the farm.  This year we have so many great things to look forward to!  We have a new barn to move into, we have more calves to be born, and Jon & I will be moving from town to the farm.  All of these changes will help us to take better care of our cows, which in the end makes for VERY happy & proud dairy farmers.  Happy 2012 everyone!  We hope you have many blessings!!!!!

We're not Lucky, we're Blessed!

Well, we wrapped up our 5th cutting of alfalfa this week, so as a result I have been working on that and recovering from the end of forage season marathon. It's been crazy, so a couple of days this week, we did the necessary chores and then came home for a nap (a much needed nap). The last load of alfalfa haylage was loaded into the silage bagger on Tuesday night at 7pm, and we celebrated with a good 'ol local beer (Grain Belt Premium Light)! It was a tasty beer! After working so hard this summer to make excellent, delicious, wholesome food for our cows, we figured we deserved the treat for ourselves. As we reflected on the past few months, we started to call ourselves "lucky", but I stopped short of calling us lucky. "We weren't lucky, we were blessed," I exclaimed. Jon looked at me, "I suppose we were."
As farmers, so much of what we do depends on nature. And nature is unpredictable, unmanageable, and uncontrollable. It's our faith in God that helps us pull through the though moments in life and on the farm. God protected us from storms, hail, wind, floods and droughts. God helped us work safely this summer, so that we were able to make tons and tons of feed, while the friends and family that helped us were kept safe. God helped us dodge some untimely rains, but also received some timely rains. Our first crop of corn yielded greatly, a miracle in our eyes. God protected our alfalfa from bugs and pests the entire summer, allowing us to grow alfalfa without spraying it with pesticides (saving costs and making better quality feed without insect damage).

So many times during a growing season, the crop can be destroyed, but we know we were blessed. Our former priest told us once that farmers are some of the closest people to God. "Farmers have to be close to God, to battle nature, feed the world's hungry, and work countless hours without recognition, while providing for their families." Those words have always stuck with me. Watching my grandparents and parents (who also farmed) I know that our priest was correct; they all have great relationships with God.

So, as the forage season of 2010 ends (we have some combining to do yet, but most of our crops are harvested) we THANK GOD for all of the blessings and miracles that we have received, for we are not lucky, we are blessed!!!!