Johnstons Riverview Farm Fall News

Good morning to all! And isn't fall wonderful so far!? I thought that it was going to be rainy the whole season, but halleluiah we have some nice days!

When people see nice days they think, "I can go for a walk! No jacket!" While I think, "Yes! I can dry clothes on the line!" Yeah, I know I have a laundry addiction, but anyways back to the news!

 

Today  I don't have to much for you guys, so I'm throwing in Grace's Story Corner once again! Yaaaaahhhhh!!! (applause, applause, applause.)   Thank you! I know you all loved it so much! (Even if you didn't like it, I probably still would have done it. :)

 

Now! To the story corner!!!!!!!! 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Grace's Story Corner!!

 

 

Ok, so my dad got a new car! It's a sweet ride compared to the other vehicles we have. Well, dad drove it to church and the we were going to go to my friend's house for lunch. I right away thought of a plan.  Hey! Since mom drove the van, dad can ride with her while Bethany and I drive dad's new car!   I thought that it was a great plan. I cleared it with dad, and Bethany's parents. I was so excited! I haven't drove anywhere with Bethany by myself before! I felt old and important, like a real 16 year old!

Anyways, we left the church earlier than our parents to get to Bethany's house. Boy, am I glad we did! The car over heated about two miles way from her house.  My dad said I over heated the car, but I remember him saying , "Ignore the temperature gage, its sticking. It'll go on high, but then it'll go back down."   Sure dad, it'll go back down!!!   It just stopped accerating, so I pulled over and luckily for us Bethany's parents were right behind us, and so was the missionary. Uhg. My dad fixed it enough to drive it home that day. :) Every new driver needs to break down at least once!


This is reporter Lorraine G and today with me is Bethany Lobb. She'll  be answering some questions for me today.

What were you feeling when you got into the car with this Grace person??

"Giddy and excited!"
 

What was your first thought when you noticed something was wrong?

"Oh no! What's wrong!?"

 

Did you feel safe when you where riding with her?

"Oh definitely!"
 

Did you wonder for the minute that you guys broke down, what heaven would be like?

"No. I was trying to be sensible and practical and remember what to do."
 

Was there any panicking or anything else??

"Maybe a little. A lot of laughing too. Maybe because it was a little funny and a bit of nerves and scary." 

Thank you Bethany for answering my questions! This is Lorraine G, signing off!



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 So, this year is the year for mice. Why? The acorns are less or if you do find one, it's hollow. Every- one is having mice problems, everyone! No one, I say NO ONE, likes mice, unless you have a pet mouse.

So, I thought that I'll give a few tips to keep mice out of your home!!

#1 Traps. The good old fashioned way!
#2 Mouse poison
# 3 Peppermint essential oil.
(Spiders don't like it either so, it kills two birds with one stone!)
\
And last but not least..............................................









#4

Get a cat!! :)

 

 Not only are they cute, but they'll have a purpose!! They will be ready to go in a few weeks! Their mom is a great mouser and their dad (Christopher) is a great king. I can't say much for a mousing, but he mostly plays with them. Or waits till Cheetah gets him one. :)

 

 

Ali and Peppy going for a ride!

Clover and enjoying sun and grass!!!

 

 

You, know when I started to write this post it was so nice out! You know, sunny, windy and warm!! But now, it's cold, rainy and windy! I'll never have a post that go with the weather! It's almost impossible! Oh well, that's life for you! :)

 

 

My Sunday School Hike!

 

So, hence the title I went on an hike to Jay Cook Park. It was so pretty!! So, here are a few pictures of it!

 

Ok, so, the first three pictures are of the dam.

 Kaity on her thinking rock. :)

 Just chilling on some very sharp rocks.
(The things you do for pictures!)

 Over looking Jay Cook Park.

Look at what I found!!! I found where the Smurfs live!!!!

Isn't it so cute!?

Ahh the beauty and freakiness! I was so stinking scared when I took this picture. I  was on the swinging bridge. I did NOT want to look down, but I did for this picture. Now I can see and appreciate the beauty,but then...Nope!

 

Walking across the bridge. My wonderful sister Kaity would try to make it bounce and swing. Thanks you ever so much sister! You helped me find out that I am scared of heights!

 

 

 

 

 

It was a ton of fun! Like normal, if you have a group of country kids, you are going to find a crawdad hole and play with them. Yes, we tried to pick up the crawdads. I'm telling you though, it was crawdad heaven! You move a rock and there was one! I've never seen so many in my life! (Unless they are in Luke's trap.) Kaity was able to hold one for 1 second. She forgot to grab it behind the pinchers. Yup, she got a hold of the tail and it folded and pinched her! It was great! :)

 

 

 

Thanks for joining me today! Well, until next time, this is Grace and Buddy saying goodbye!

 

 

Good mornings!

There's nothing better then drinking a cup of coffee and doing your devotions early in the morning.

(Ok maybe there is!)

Every morning I  waking up before dawn and read my Bible when every one is still sleeping. I feel like I can study without any distractions.

At lest that's what I thought. (Dramatic music with a dramatic pause.)

Satan tempts me every single morning. Why? Because he doesn't want me to worship God or to grow stronger in him! He will tempt me to finish that book I fell asleep on or to go onto Pinterest to look up sewing patterns. He'll try to tempt us with the things we like.

I saw this quote on Pinterest, I was inspired by it.

"Be the person that when you go to bed the devil is happy.

When you wake up he's worried,

and when you worship God, he flees"   

 

This reminds me of a verse.

James 4:7

Submit yourselves therefore to God.

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

 

I try to act out this  verse every day though it isn't easy but with God's help it is a little easier.

 

Ephesians 6:11

Put on the whole armor of God,

that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

 

 

Putting on the armor of God is when we pray and read his word!

 

 

Why do I do devotions in the morning? Well, really it helps me start out my day! When I miss a day of morning devotions I'm crabby.  When I do morning devotions I have a challenge for that day! It could be love, joy, or peace.

 

Doing devotions at night doesn't really work for me because I can't really put what I learned to action because I'm sleeping.    "Acton's speak louder then words."

 

Do what ever works for you though. If doing devotions at night work better write down what you learned so you can apply it the next day.:-)

I challenge you all to go to God every morning!! You need him to start your day right! 

Well, bye for now!!

Grace

Johnstons Riverview Farm Update!

My eyes open partly as I swipe my alarm off on my phone. "A few more minutes, just a few." I said to myself as I roll over, snuggling down in my blankets. Then suddenly my morning changed with a leap and a bound. I listened to the weird sounding thing charging up the steps. Not just one , but two things. Then I hear Luke screaming, "NO! Noooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!" And Becca groaning with the sound of her bed springs as she rolls over. I lift my head a little trying to figure out what hit them, then I heard Becca ,"Get off, down down!!!!" I was awake then, I just flung my blanket back when a black and white thing shot in my room, licked Ali and jumped on my bed, tail wagging  a thousand miles per hour. She leaped to where I was on the bed and proceeded to wake me up by licking me anywhere there was skin showing. Before I knew it a small blur of black and white joined Missy on her mission. I was a goner. I had Buddy and Missy "waking me up."  I jumped out of bed, dresses quickly and ran outside with my calf feeding sidekicks, Buddy and Missy at my side. Well, Missy is at my side, but Buddy is being pulled around by my pant leg.

You see every morning after waking us kids up he grabs my pants and I pull him around while I do chores. It's the only time He does it. Weird huh?


Hello and good morning to every one! I hope you guys have a wonderful alarm like we do! :)
Today I thought I'll talk about the progress of the cheese room. I know a lot of people have been asking us if we are making cheese yet. Unfortunately, we aren't . We are in the process of making the cheese room and getting every thing licensable. We have the room up, and tile in, but that is as all so far. The barn still needs to be cleaned out , but Lord willing, we can get it all done by 2017!  If you have any questions you can message my mom on our farm facebook page or email me at askgracej@gmail.com

So, I am trying to figure out what to write about on my blog, because you know its hard to be creative! lol! :) I mean sure, I have a wild imagination , but I want to write about what you guys want to read about.
So, here's a list of ideas, and if you want to see something on here that isn't in the list let me know! Pick what you all would like to read about:

*Johnstons Riverview Farm News

*Dairy Recipes. (Yogurt, cheese, ect.)

*Diys

*Farm Tours

*A day in our life

*A little about us

*Hobby farm tips

*Farming from a teens perspective

I know this is a short post!  Sorry about that, but I wanted to update everyone on the cheese making and ask about what ya'll want to read! If there is any changed to my blog you want me to make, just comment below to let me know! I want to make it enjoyable for you!

Thanks and God bless!!

Grace

School Days are here

Well, I can finally write on here now that school is here.
"But, Grace, wouldn't it be harder to try to fit your blog in with school??"
Hahaha! That's what you think, the beauties of being homeschooled. You have time to do the things you want. Also, I do waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy better when there is a schedule. Do you guys do better with a schedule or do you guys just wing it??

Anyways, for this post, I'm going to skim over our summer with pictures! (Since nothing too exciting has happened lately.)

Wagon Ride!!!

 

This summer when people came to tour our beautiful, wonderfully fun, perfect farm, (wink) we gave them a hay ride! It was a lot of fun! We did it, probably close to ten times.

 

We did it once ourselves, you know, to test it! :)

Man! This looks like a cover to a music album.

Maybe Old McJerry had some crazy kids?? :)

Yeah, he does have some crazy kids.

 



And a crazy nephew! Hahaha! I love Austin's face!

 

Ok, I lied. Red and I rode on the wagon first. He loved it!

I'm not joking. Red was smiling!!! It was so funny!

 

Then the homeschool group came for a tour. That was a blast!!! The kids were so much fun and so well behaved! :) Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of them on the wagon, but I did get some other pictures! :)

 

The culvert is the favorite thing! I even love playing in it! :)

 They are trying the butter they made with some crackers!

A shout out to the two oldest kids who stuck it out and shook that jar the whole time!!! You guys deserve a pat on the back! :)

 

 

The latest hay ride was with our friends the Johnsons! That was a blast!

(Sorry for the bad picture, but I had to jump off of a moving wagon and continue to walk backwards, while trying not to run into the tractor. Yeah, I have cool skills. ;)

 

 

The fair is a veritable of smorgasboard orgasboard!!!

 

We were able to do a milking demo at the Floodwood Fair! Luke rode the cow and some kids were able to milk her.

 Dad demonstrating how to milk by hand.

 

Thanks to Hope for being the demo! You are the best cow! Oh, and thanks for not getting out!

 

Let me explain.

 

"Would you like to milk the cow?" I asked, smiling at a little boy. He looked up and smiled. I opened the corner of the gate and he slipped in. After he milked I let him out, a huge grin on his face. Well, he wasn't the only one that wanted out. Hope followed right behind him and stuck her face between the gates. I slammed my shoulder on her head, trying in vain to push her back in. Dad grabbed her halter and pulled her too. We finally got her head back in the pen. Quickly, I shut the gates and put the pins in. 

It wouldn't have been bad if that was the only time , but noooooo. It happened almost every time a person wanted out! The worst thing about it was, that there was a honey bee demo right across from her. Yeah, that could have been bad. I can see it now....

 

"Hello, this is Casey from the Floodwood News and today we bring you a land that is flowing with milk and honey. Literally.  The cow named Hope, got out from the milking demo and headed straight for the honey bee stand. And folks, it is one sticky mess!  This is Casey, your news reporter, signing off!"

(None of that report really happened, it's just my crazy imagination going wild.)



Are you ready to see something so cute........
It really is cute and quite funny really! :)

 Buddy getting his bath! As you can tell by the water, he was one dirty puppy.
He has been getting so big!

 

Buddy with his cow.

 Yeah, this didn't work that well. I was trying to take a picture with a picture frame. But Stardust kept moving. She wanted to eat the frame. Yeah, she's strange. :) (Btw, that's Becca's beautiful hand.)


Funniest Home Video, Losers!

 Man! It seems like there is a lot of Becca and Dillybar on this blog.

 Ahhh!!! Another picture of Becca! We've been riding Eclipse a lot. Becca has been doing good with working with her. :)

The newest members of the family are.........
Peppy, the pony!!! Ali has been dreaming about a horse for ever and now her dream has come true!

 In mini size! She got a pony!!!!

Right away when he came, they were fast friends! He is with the calves, he wants to be friends, but they don't know what to think of him.


Kittens!

 I noticed that Cheetah was in labor when our friends were over. My assumption correct. Becca came running out of the barn screaming , Cheetah had kittens!!!

(She does this every time Cheetah has another batch. Go ahead and look at past post about kittens.)

 

 

You know I'm getting pretty sick of talking about kittens. It seems like every time I write on here, there's a part about cats!! I feel bad for Cheetah........

 

Anyways that's all for this post! Thanks for reading and God bless!!!!

 

Grace

 

 

Why You Should Milk a Pig

Hello, I'm Becca and today I'll be talking to you about why you should milk a pig!!

These are the reasons why:

Because no one else will do it, it's challenging, and you get to try drinking pig milk and probably sell it for lots of money cause its rare for people to milk pigs! Not only that, but you also get to invent a 12 cup milker !! That way you get to bottle feed all the piglets !!!! Here's a picture of my invention:

 

What do you  think ? I know, I know what your thinking...It's pretty sweet !!  Although it sorta looks like a octopus (DONT JUDGE a person with excellent talent !!!):-) Also, you have to be talented, like me, to milk a pig. It's pretty tricky but once you do it, it gets easier! Also, why milk a cow when you can milk a pig?! Grandpa said that he will milk a pig when pigs fly, but why wait, 'cause that might take forever !!

"Becca!!! What are  you doing on my computer!?!"  Grace says as she walks up. "Gasp, BECCA!!!! What are you doing on my blog!?!? "


"Just adding a few adjustments" Becca said as she gave a scared chuckle. 
Grace sat down next to her at the table. "What!? Why you should milk a pig!? This is ridiculous! You CAN'T milk a pig!"
"Yes, you can, I did it before!!" said Becca, still a little worried what Grace would say .
Grace glared at Becca and crossed her arms. "How? How much milk and how would you milk all of your pigs??"
"Ah, Didn't you see the 12 cup milker?"
"Yes." Grace answered skeptically
 "Well, don't you see I don't have to hand milk anymore , and I wanted show people different mammals you can milk !" Becca looks up at Grace with a gleam in her eye, "Plus it could , dare I say it, go viral!!! I could be famous!!"
Grace rolled her eyes and muttered," That's what I'm afraid of."
Becca jumped up and down all excited.
Grace sighs, "I guess I can't stand in the way of making you famous a second time. Here let's turn this blog post back to my style. Want to help?"
"Sure!" Said Becca excitedly




Cows Wearing Hats!
DILLYBAR

I'm ...........

Fabulous!!!

"Becca, I think your cow is a little vain."

"Well, you are full of complements" 

Becca said as she rolled her eyes.

Grace glanced at her sister.

"Ummmm, Becca, why are you on here with your vain cow!?"

"For one, she is not vain, for second, I did some more touches to your blog!"

"Thanks Becca I really appreciate that. NOT!"

LIL'Red

 Faith

 When cows are wearing hats, they are soooooooooooooo cute!!!!

"Any comments  Becca?? "
"Yes, they cute!!"

Hope!

 

The fattest horse ever!

                            "Hahahaha!! Here's a funny picture of your fat horse , Becca! "

"FAT!?!?!? she is not fat, she is just.... fluffy. " Becca said as she crosses her arms and glares at Grace

"Besides your horse has really creepy eyes !!!"

"Hey! It's not my fault that I forgot to turn off the flash!"

Becca turns to Grace, "Uhhhh, yeah it is."

 

"Awwwwwww!!! Bella is so cute!!"
"Cutesador!" Becca awwwed.
 

"Becca, why is there a picture of YOUR pig???" Grace stared at Becca

"Well, because we need just one picture of the piglets milking her "Becca commented.

                                   " That's a really nice picture Grace!" Becca praised

 

"Thanks! Eclipse looks really good too! But, you know what they say, that its the photographer that makes the picture perfect." Grace said as she pointed her figure at herself.

 

"OK, now your just bragging, I can take amazing pictures !!"

 

"A huh" Grace says doubtfully.

 

Thank you so much for reading this strange post! We have been working on this for months! (Its hard to get Becca to sit down and type!)

"Yah, she is right. It takes a really strong pig to hold me down and type. besides milking pigs is a lot more fun than typing. Well, see ya'll later!"


Thanks you Becca for helping me with this post!!!



Crazy Weeks!!

Unlike other farmers, we are still calving.

Let me rephrase that! Our cows are still calving! It's been a crazy month so far! But I wouldn't trade it for anything! I LOVE calving season! There's something about new babies that I love! Ok, I don't like to train them to suck off of a bottle or deal with (sometimes) kicky mommas, but all in all it's the best season!

I better introduce you to our BIG, happy, cow family! :)

Meet our babies!!

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



Dopey(left) and Stormy(right)

Marshmellow(Left) Bashful (Right)

Lady

Grumpy

A over view of our lovely calves!!

 Sleepy






and
Tiny!

 

Here's a list of the moms and their names.

 

Girls!!

=======

Ginger had Stormy

Dillybar had Molly

Hope had Marshmallow

Roseabell had Lady

 Doughnut had Tiny

 

Boys!

=========

Lucy had Dopey

S'mores had Bashful

Lil' Red had Grumpy

and Rosebud had Sleepy!

 

I don't know if you caught on or not, but the boys are all dwarf names off of Snow White. I thought that since we have a solid white calf, we should have some dwarfs!

 

Ok, So each calf has a story behind their names. Grumpys name wasn't an accident....

 

We where driving to VBS when we noticed that there was a new calf. I decided that Becca and I would go get it after VBS. Well, when we got home I walked up to the calf and it was even walking towards me, when it suddenly took off like something was chasing it! I stood stunned for a moment and called to Becca who was visiting with the cows. I started to walk towards it and I noticed that it was caught to the fence! I yelled to Becca and ran over trying to get my phone out of my pocket. Becca was right behind me. I thought for sure I was going to be trying to untangle a wild calf from a electric fence. Not very much fun. As I got my phone out of my pocket, the calf busted through the fence. I heard a awful pop and crack sound. (Still not sure what that sound was.) Running the rest of the way as fast as I could, I tried to climb the fence to get to the calf. (Of course I was wearing a skirt then.) I scanned the ditch trying to get a hold of mom. I finally got a hold of someone! Grandpa Steve! He was visiting. So, I called him telling him we have a crazy calf that went through the fence and I couldn't find it! Becca came and I explained to her. I found the calf laying funny, still on the fence. I pet it's head and whispered to it. " Ok, Becca I'm going to try to get it through the fence and I want you to....." Before I could finish it jumped up and went through it again. Becca jumped back and it took off in the fence. Away from it's momma, us, the farm and on it's way to our neighbors. I spun around and ran down the fence line on the highway while Becca was trying to get it to stop jumping in and out of the fence. It veered and went into the swamp , Becca followed it.

 

I paused for a breath and ran back to the gate, climbed over and waited for help. Soon Grandpa , mom and Kaity arrived. We were figuring out a plan when the crazy calf came shooting out of the woods and kept running towards the fence. Mom and I try to cut it off. It was too late, through the fence and in the ditch and across the highway. Luckly for us the Speeddee guy slowed down for are crazy calf. We watched it cross the road and run in the field across from us. I am here to say, that wow that calf can run!! Grandpa was following it while mom went to get rope! It ran all the way aross and then towards the dirt road!    Mom finally found the rope and drove towards Grandpa. Kaity and I run across the field trying to catch up with them to help. Kaity stops, "What is it Kaity??" I yelled quickening my pace. "I think Grandpa is hurt! He just fell and mom is running towards him!!"


Kaity takes off to Grandpa I vear off to the truck where Becca and Ali were. Becca was holding her ears, she was scared.  "Something is really wrong Grace!! Ohhhhhhh!!!" Becca said, freaking out more by the second. "It's all right Becca, Grandpa is ok. He probably just jumped on the calf." I assured her as my fear grew.


And I am now here to tell you now that my Grandpa was just fine! He jumped on that calf and pinned it down while mom was tying it up like a rodeo calf. It was a site to see him holding the crazy thing down! I drove the truck up to them so we could throw the monster in the pickup box. Mom had to sit on it so it wouldn't jump out.


Grumpy was the strangest calf I have ever seen! After having him with the other calves for a few days he decided to go crazy again and go through the fence. Well, it's a little hard to go through cattle panels, so he kept running into it until he broke the fence  a part! And believe it or not we have him with the calves and he is as calm as he could be. I don't trust him though. 


That is Grumpy's story. I thought we should name him that since he always seems grumpy with his life. :)


He's no Farmer! He's an inventor!
I call it the "Bottle holder!" Nice name, huh??

Ok, every famer needs to be an inventor at one time or another, and this was that time! It's so nice to not have to hold two bottles and fight off the other 6 calves! Thank you daddy for making life easier!!! :)






Warning
For the younger reading audience, please go have your parents proof this before you keep on going.
This picture is NOT for the weak hearted, it will make your inside turn, your head spin and  your heart melt.
Proceed with caution.

I warned you!!!

We got ducks!!! My mom , always wanted ducks! They are so cute!! This is Milly or Billy. (depending on whether it's a boy or girl.) It is the runt of the group and the cutest!!

Yes, the chicks and ducks are living together! I think some of the chickens are confused and vice versa. 

They love our mud puddles that we have! :)

Yes, duck are a nice addition to our farm.

Meow!!!!! Meow!!!

I know what your thinking, "Oh no, not that time of season again!" Yup, the kittens have arrived, but a month or two late.

We knew that Cheetah had kittens, we just couldn't find them. Well, we found them a month old, and as friendly as can be. Ok, ok, we snuggled them and made them friendly. So, we have two kittens that we will give you for free!!! I'm sorry, but one found a home, So, all we have are two boys. Mathew and Mittens. (Names optional.)  The black one (on top, Mittens) and the white with brown ears and head. (bottom one, Mathew)  

Well, that's all for today! Thanks for reading and may God bless the rest of your summer!!