Riverview Farm News!

Howdy all!

 

An apple a day keeps the doctor away!

Do you love apples? My sister does! I can take them or leave them.

Unless they are my grandpa's apples!

 

These are the best apples ever! They are really small but, REALLY good!

They are fun size! :)

 

Ok so, we go apple picking every year.  We make applesauce and pies. (If there's any apples left.)

Normally we bring our Wal-Mart bags, and drive the van under the tree and hit the branches with  the broom. (Five points if an apple hits the ground and 10 if it hits your siblings head!)

 

Well, this year the tree was loaded and the tree broke and fell a little. It was WAY easier to get apples!!!

When you see a loaded branch, what you do is,  grab the end of it shake it a little and send a sibling under it to retrieve the apples . Then you give the branch a big yank and BOOM apple bombs!!!

Yes, I know, it wasn't very nice. But, I was sure funny! :)

Look at all those apples! Yum!

It was a lot of fun this year! All of us went, even my dad!

Every one worked hard and did a good job!

 

Now for the farm pictures!!!!!!!!
 

Thank you daddy for taking them and coming up with some of the titles for them!!!

 

 We put the pigs out with the cows ,

 They seem to like each other.

 Coming up to the barn together,

And plus, piglet daycare!!! :)

 

The cows don't mind the pigs roaming the pasture.

They eat what the cows don't eat. The only down-fall is that they try to get into the milking barn, EVERY night! I WILL NOT milk a pig!

Becca wants to though. :) I wonder what pig milk tastes like? Yuck! Moving on...

 

 

 

Cow's V.S Piglets!!!

 

A friendly game of soccer.

 

Line up! Hey, where's the ball????

 

 

Come and get it!!!!

 

Move over chicken, it's our milk!!!!

 There's got to be some milk left!!!

 

 

There's a river of life flowing out of me!!

 

 So, if you walk along the ravine towards the road,

there's a waterfall that the culvert makes! It's so pretty! And the water

is so clear! It's a fun place to cool off on a warm day. :)

 

 

We got cotton tails from Cotton.

Meet the newest members of the family!!!!

 

Bella is 5 months old and is part meat and part something else.

 Rosie , Rosa, or Rose, take your pick, is 3 months old and is a dwarf bunny.

I think.

Our family has a bunny curse. Ok, it's not a curse, just an unlucky thing with rabbits.

We could never keep them in! They ALWAYS got out some how! Well, the first time the bunnies got out was because of me. I wanted to play with them. Hey! I was like 4 or 5 then! But, ever since then, we have had no luck with bunnies. So we'll see how long these ones last.  The good thing about these is that they are really friendly! So, they should be easy to catch. Should be.

 

Cows crossing.

We have been letting the cows go across the road to get to the field

on the other side of the river!  It works a ton better then making them swim across. ;) If they cross the river most of the time they won't cross unless a kid is in the water first. But, that's only if dad isn't there. They love dad. Where he calls they go.

Thanks to my dad for this funny picture!



Have a blessed day!!!

And keep trusting in God until the cows come home! Literally! :)

 

Grace

 

 

 

Johnston's Riverview Farm News!!!

Welcome to Johnston's Riverview News!

Where you get to read what's been happening!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ahhhhhhh! Such a lovely place to live.

 Farm life is for me! 

Beautiful isn't it?

Ok so, this week I'll be writing 3 weeks worth of posts.

I know ,I know. How did I let it happen? Well, it's called busyness and internet!

Fist of all, we were really busy, (like normal.) and you can't trust the internet connection!

It's so sad when you go to write on your blog and you can't because the internet is down, again!

Well, enough about me! Let turn to the news!!!

Tis the season to be canning, fa la la la la la la!!!

 Nice huh? We have a  lot of canned goods down in our basement! 

"Ain't they beautiful!" (In a hillybilly accent)

 So next week I'll post about canning.  :)
I'll be showing you how to can green beans, apples, and maybe wild plums.
Maybe.

Ready Aim Fire!!!!!!

Congratulations to Becca Johnston!!

 She passed her gun safety test!! Way to go!!

We all knew she could pass, I think. :)

No  really! Becca is the best shot of the family!
She said this when she came home from gun safety.
 

"I had so much fun! If I could, I would do it again!!"
 

Not only did she pass but she found some friends!

Down on the Farm!!

 The cat's favorite place! The milking barn!

Yum! Fresh milk!

Christopher (The father on the left.) Silver (Adopted, middle left.)

Mr.Fuzz(Kitten , middle left.) And Cheetah(Mother, left.)

I'm not even joking they act like a family!! When Mr.Fuzz was little, Christopher would babysit until Cheetah came back from hunting! And also they adopt any kitten!

The  new cat is named "High Ho Silver!" 

Or just "Silver" He's the  grey one.


 Pretty soon I'll be posting pictures of kittens! Cheetah is pregnant again. Yippy (Sarcastically)

Here's Christopher snuggling with Mr.Fuzz!!

 

 

 

Our pigs had piglets!! I love piglets! They are so cute!!

Three of our sows had piglets but, the one sow (Raisin.) was bottle fed when she was younger.

So, she didn't and wouldn't take care of them! Another pig farmer came to take all

eight piglets to bottle raise them. 

 

Moral of the story don't bottle raise piglets! They won't be very good mothers.

 

What happened to Raisin you ask? Well, she's still around............. in our freezer. :)

(It's farm life!)

 

 

Here's a cute story!

 My dad was getting cows for milking when he found this piglet! It was snuggled up to Rosebud  (my cow)!

 It was so cute!! Rosebud didn't seem to care at all! 

 

 

Ok this next picture is an interesting one. Do NOT tell my brother I posted this!

I had to!  It's so cute!

Yup, He's trying to build an outhouse! :) He's a pretty good builder but, yeah.

 He still needs to finish it! It's behind the guest house. I  love it when my brother 

uses his hands and builds stuff! But this,(Chuckle) this, was priceless! 

Good job Luke! Keep a going!

 

A fair is a veritable smorgabord orgasbord orgasbord.............................

(This song was off of Charlotte's Web)

 

The fair!! Every Farm, and countries kids favorite time of summer!

 Kaity,Luke, Becca, and Ali trying out the BIG swing.

 I love my brother he's so funny! Every year he rides the merry-go-round and rides the roster.

Why? So then as he's riding it he can chop it's head off! I don't know why he likes it so much! He goes around and around on the rooster, chopping it's head with his ax.(HAND.) 

(He does that job when we butcher chickens.)

Beep, beep! Move it lady! Get out of my way!

 Bumper Cars!! The kids favorite thing this year! They went on them like 5 times! 

It was fun watching them run into people!

Old McDonald had a farm...

Goofy kids! :) 

The fair was really fun this year! Every year the kids save up enough money to be able go.
 It's a fun to go there as a family! 

Well, that's all!

 

If you want to contact me, you can at, askgracej@gmail.com

I'd love your emails!

 

 

May God bless you!!!

Grace



Riverview Farm News Part 2!!!!!!!

Welcome to Johnston's Riverview Farm Part 2!!! 

If you missed part one 

click on the link below! 

RiverView Farm News!

Okay, so let's start off with something cute!!! 

Like..........................

CALVES! 

The cute calf on the right bottom is the newest one! 

The mama is Roseabelle! Rosebuds sister! :)

We had ten calves but we sold two of them. 

 Let's have a two seconds of silence in respect for them. For they have gone where

 no other Johnston calf has gone! 

Beginning the 2 second silence. 

....................................................................................

 Moving on! :) 

  Lets meet the wonderful milkers!! 

 I'll post better pictures of them another time. 

I took these pictures about 2 weeks ago, early in the morning.

That's why they aren't very good.

 Well, also I was using my phone because someone stole my camera batteries for her CD player. 

Yes, I found out, Ali and Becca!!!!

(My wonderful sisters. eye roll.) ;)

So here are the names of all of our cows! 

(I thought you guys would like to know their names! )

*Rosebud

Billy

*Roseabelle

*Lucy

Ginger

*Dillybar

CreamPuff

*Hope

*Missy

*S'mores

and

Donut! 

Yeah, I know it's mostly food names, but hey, there're cute!

(The names with the stars in front of them are the names we picked out.)

Now for the calves!

Girls!

++++

Faith

June

Stella

Little Ruby Red

and 

Violet

Guys!

++++

Fred

Arnold

Milk Mustache or m&m

Buddy

and

Dave

Phew!!! There you are! If you have any name ideas, comment or email me! We just might use

it to name next years calves! :)

So, it's a lovely summer afternoon. Not too hot, not too cold...Your walking

around your yard enjoying the sights and sounds..... 

Then, you see it. 

You hear it calling your name but you turn your back on it. Then, all day you have that awful nagging

feeling to go back. You try to push it away. Finally, you walk back and all you can think about is the work ,the torture, the pain. You drop to your knees in defeat, you start the torturous thing, only thinking about how you like to do something else. As you get farther in, you look at your dirty hands. They may have streaks of blood from thistles. Your back aches and your parched but you just started. You feel like a slave being beaten to do more. And if you stop, you have to do it all over again, but with more work and pain. 

Have any of you felt like this when you see the..... 

GARDEN?? 

I know I do!! Not all the time but sometimes! You just don't want to do it! I hide in the house when this happens! Like, right as I'm writing this post I know I should be out there weeding.

But instead I'm ignoring myself and kept typing.

I mean, it's a whole lot easier to find your veggies when you don't have those slave driver weeds! 

Though I can weed tomorrow! ;)

But, don't you feel great when it is weeded?

Yup! That's our garden! Okay, I'm not going to lie to you. 

When I took this picture this was all that was weeded.

"You mean there's more garden, Grace? How come you didn't show us it!?" 

To answer your question, The potatoes and corn had weeds almost to my waist. 

Yeah, it was ridiculous. 

"Well, then you should be out there and weeding, Grace!!" 

Hey! Don't jump to conclusions! I took this picture about 2 or 3 weeks ago! So, we have been weeding! You can see the potatoes and corn now!!! Yeah! Score!!! ;)

Moral of the story: WEED!

What is your favorite veggie?

Mine? Hehehe! I love garden peas!! I love cucumbers too but they're not ready yet.

I love going out to the garden and eating all the peas I want! They are SO good!

There's nothing better then reading a good book and eating peas! 

This book is really good too! Really! You should go out and buy it! It's about an Amish girl who's adopted, but she didn't know it until she's like 23 and about to marry the bishop.

But I won't tell you any more about it though! You'll have to read it yourself. 

You can find it on Amazon and maybe EBay.

That's about it!

I'm going to wrap up this post with a picture of Mr. Fluff!!

 He fell asleep on my lap like this! :)

We came home to Cheetah (His mother.)and Mr. Fluff

sleeping in the porch window! So cute! :)

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it!! 

 You can email me at askgracej@gmail.com 

I'm also on Pinterest as God's Grace

Don't forget to think of names for future calves!

God bless, yeah, and have a great morning, afternoon, or day! :)

Grace

Johnston's Riverview News!

Howdy!! And..........

It's been crazy busy here down on the farm. So, today I told myself I was going to blog! That I must! 

Why? Because I haven't blogged in like months!!! I'm sorry all you readers! (Family and like 2 friends.) ;) I could make up a ton of excuses but I really want to show you what's new on the farm! 

So Lets Get Started!!!!!! :)

We moved like MONTHS ago. We are now living in a small, but cute house with hilly (Is that even a word?) fields and a small river right behind the house! 

We love it here! And so do the animals!

 Lovely Rosebud wanted a up close picture!! ;)

 Meet Rosebuds cute calf, June!

Right now we have 7 calves. (3 girls and 4 boys.)

I will take a picture of all of them soon!

 This is Maggie! She loves to eat anything and everything! :)

We where raising bummer lambs for a friend. So, we where raising 

three cute balls of wool! 

 This is Faith our first calf born on the place! Her mom is Missy!

 S'mores is one of our milkers! We raised her from the time she was born! 

She had a calf but it didn't make it.

 This is Little Red another one of our milkers! And a proud 

mamma to Ruby Red!

 Our meat  birds! They are NOT all that pretty not like 

the cows. But they sure are funny sometimes!

 Little Red enjoying the grass!

 Faith, Thelma (Left) and Prince or Fred ( right.) 

Luke named that lamb and then renamed it so I really don't know it's name.

So take your pick!  :)

 Awwwwwwwwww! Faith is kissing Thelma! Best buds! 

(Down)

More meat birds! :)

(Dramatic music, deep voice like on a horror movie.) 

What scares you at night???

What makes you not want to turn your back??

What's in your nightmares????

Could it be ...............................

MR. Fluff??

Meet.... Mr.Fluff!! He could haunt you at night or he makes you not want to look back  if you don't 

pet him!! :) 

He's seriously so cute and fluffy!!!! He's my bundle of love and fluff! 

Well, that's all for now! Stay tuned for part 2!!!!!!

Yes, I'm serious! I took these pictures like a week ago and there's 

more pictures to be taken and more post to post! 

So.................................

Bye 

for 

now!!!!!!!

Grace.

Spiritual Health

We all need to grow spiritual.We never stop growing and learning more about God! That's what this post is about! Tips and tricks to stay focused on your devotions.

Ok, so I have been struggling lately with my personal devotions.Like, 

I would read a passage and totally not get it, or I wouldn't even try. I think we are all guilty of that.

I start searching pinterest for some tips on studying the Bible, and what caught my eye was S.O.A.P.

 This is  what S.O.A.P. means!

Scripture:  Write out a verse or a passage that's meaningful to you.

Observation :What is God saying in this passage? What are you learning?

Application: What's in this verse that you can apply to your life? 

Prayer: Write out a prayer to God, asking him to help you with what ever the 

verse is teaching you. 

I started using this system just a few days ago and I like how your digging deeper in the verse! I learned more from a verse using S.O.A.P.!

Sometimes you just need a little s.o.a.p. to wash off your grimy, sin stained, glasses! ;) 

So, this picture is of my Bible, Sunday school book, and my devotional.

I read my devotional ("God's Garden Of Grace" by Elizabeth George.) in the morning. Why? So my mornings start of right! 

(You can see my post on this subject here!)

Good Mornings!

Then I do my "Real Faith" one at night. There's no such thing as to much God time!! 

I encourage you guys to do more then on devotional, do a simple one at night, or in the morning. 

Just MAKE time for God! He makes time for you by helping you through every struggle!  

I use three or four notebooks when I study the Bible.

                     Notebook 1. A study notebook that I write what I learned

Notebook 2. My prayer notebook. I write down prayer request and answered prayer.

Notebook 3. Spiritual diary. I write in, what I'm strong in and what I need to work on.

Notebook 4. My memorized verses. I write down every verse I memorized and why it's so special. That way I can look back and remember THEM! 

You don't have too do any of this but, I hope it encourages you to dig deep in Gods word!!  

I pray that you'll grow stronger in God!

Bye for now!!

Grace

What's new!!!

Howdy!!! :)

Sorry that I haven't posted anything!

We  just moved into a new FARM!! It's  such  a wonderful place!! The house is small but it works. There's rolling fields, dirt road, a creek, and a river!!! It's beautiful land and a bigger dairy barn!

                                                                  Ain't that little gal cute!!!??


                                                              What I'm learning to do.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Crocket, I learned last summer but never got it so I just taught my self a few weeks ago.

Knitting, I know a little but I'm learning still! :)

Living without internet, IS HARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Though, I'm doing it. I have to go to town or to my wonderful grandma's house to be on it.

Here's some of my siblings thoughts on moving! :)



Kaity's view:  Well, I have never moved before. So I'm a little sad about leavening the house I have been growing up in.  I know that we will make new memories at our new house! We having been working together in our new place and we will remember that we got through it as a family. Moving is not as easy as I thought it would be.(: But, I'm exited and happy. I thank the Lord that I have such a wonderful family! We can do anything as a family!

Kaity is the second oldest of five, she is 13. She likes helping animals, reading, and watching movies.

Becca's view: Hi, well, I think moving is kind of fun in some ways and in some it's a bummer, but right know I'm going to tell you what's fun about moving . The thing I think would be fun is decorate your room any way you want unless you have a sleeping partner. Then you have to consult with them but that's still fun. Another thing that is fun, is moving every thing in and putting it where you think it looks nice and panting your new room what ever color you like is fun!
Now I'm going to tell you the bummer about moving. When you move you have to clean, and  I hate cleaning !  Well I'm going to have to live with it. Also trying  to bring furniture there is hard to do and here we have no couches or comfy chairs  to sit on, only table chairs :-) Well that's my opinion.
Also, I love trusting God for help, he's helping us when times are hard. We wouldn't be able to do this if we didn't trust God. He's so good !!

Becca is 11 and she likes pigs, farming, drawling, and the color green. She hates cleaning.
(She likes a lot more but I didn't want to type it all out.)

Luke's view: No comment.



Ali's view: Moving is exciting and it's also a lot fun! I love decorating my new room the way I want it. It's fun to explore the new place, and find new things! I like helping my mom organize and decorate our new living room! My favorite thing to do is imagine what it will look like with all of the furniture. Sometimes I'm worried that it wont work out but I trust my parents and God.

Ali is 7 almost 8 she likes cats, organizing, riding bikes and the color blue.

                             All we can do is trust on the Lord to help us through every trial! 

Thanks for reading!!!!!!!

Grace

Decluttering

 

Howdy!!

So my originally plan was to talk about the evil of sugar but, I can't preach what I don't do. Or something like that.

Instead, I'm talking about decluttering! (Getting rid of stuff.)  I have been on this kick!
(Yes I have  these  a lot.) But this one was a good one!

Just to give you an idea of how much I'm getting rid of, I'll show you a picture.

Yup, that's right. Three jammed packed garbage bags and one Wal-Mart bag.
And guess who's room that came from. That's right, mine.

(Also, Ali my little sis, got rid of a garbage bag of clothes!)

             DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!

And I didn't even think I was a pack rat! I guess we all are in our own ways.  My mom phrases my room as..........

"Your room would be messy or full of junk, but in a organized sort of way."

So, I think I just got used to every thing being organized in a chaos way. That I didn't even relies how much I had.


  I started my room last night and finished this morning. So it really doesn't take that long.

 

Why should we declutter?
+++++++++++++++=+++

  Well, for me I was just so stressed out because all I could think of was my messy room or the girls closet. I really couldn't focus on things that where more important.

After I got  rid of a ton of JUNK yes JUNK! I felt a lot better!

When should I start?
++++++++++++++++

Start when ever! But first pick up your room this makes less of a mess.

What should I get rid of?
++++++++++++++++++

Clothes, nick knacks, any thing that is really just laying around and collecting dust.

 If it makes you room look small or cluttered , then get rid of it.

When you are having a hard time parting with something
 ask yourself these questions!
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
1. What is the purpose of it?

2. Would I buy it?

3. Could I use it some where else?

4. Could I give it to someone who will really use it?

These questions really help! Whether it's clothes or crafts. Downsizing will make your life a lot easier.

My mom read these verses to use during Devotions. I thought they  fit perfectly!!

 Matthew 6: 19-21

19: Lay not yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust

destroy and where thieves break in and steel:

 

20: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,

where neither moth nor rust doth destroy,

and where thieves do not break in and steel:

 

21: For where your treasure in there will your heart be also.                                                           This verse really says a lot about our stuff.

That we really shouldn't lay up treasures upon earth. The more things we have, the more we want. Then we lose focus on God. 

 

Ok, think about all the stuff you have. What if God calls you to move? Can you just pack up the night before and  leave? I know I couldn't!  I know what your thinking, "I'm just a teenager! God wouldn't have me move!"  Well, God works in different ways.

 

About two years ago we felt that God was calling us to move.  We went to look at houses, there was a lot that we liked but we didn't feel right about them. So then we thought God was testing us to trust him. Or that,  Dad just was having moving itch.

 

 But during that year we got  rid of quiet a bit.

Then over those two years we got rid of a little more. Then  out of the blue we are moving! Like this summer! Lord willing. You never know what God has in stored for you!

 

 Don't be so weighed down  that you can't do Gods will.

 

Sometimes  I like to go look at all my old toys that I want my (future.) kids to have.Then if you think about it, you are giving all your junk to your kids. Who will probably have there own junk to take care of!

 

 I think its ok to have ONE medium size box for your kids.  But really, as you get older and your (future) kids get older, that "stuff" will probably be tossed or broke.

 

So, throw or donate all of your JUNK! Give it to some one who needs it or give it as little gifts.

 

 Well, that's all!!

 

Here's a link to a  post on this subject, please take time to read! :)

 

http://www.thebettermom.com/2014/04/15/great-day-set-free/

 

  

 

May God Bless you

and

Thanks for reading!! :)

 

Contact me at askgracej@gmail.com

 

I'm also on Pinterest as AskGrace or click the click the link!

 

 https://www.pinterest.com/askgrace/