May 4, 2018

Our puppies have arrived! All twelve of them safe and sound. Everyone in our family had a guessed how many she would have, but we all fell short. Poor Dusty was sagging quite low and waddling slowly around the last couple day before they came. No wonder!

We were a little worried since this was her first litter and she's already six years old, but the whole thing came off without a hitch. The first time we checked on her, she'd had seven puppies. And they just kept coming.

She also did an excellent job dividing them into color groups. We have four each of black, white, and brown.

They're now a week old and their eyes and ears are still closed. Can't wait 'til they're big enough to play with!

April 20, 2018

Spring is such a wonderful time of year. Here on the farm we all love it. People and animals.

Sometimes after we've let the cows into a new paddock, we'll hang around for a bit. 

It's relaxing to watch a herd of contented cows greedily browsing over tender new grass. The only sound is steady, crisp munching.

Music to the ears of a grass farmer.

March 30, 2018

Every year around this time we have an influx of befeathered world travelers stopping off at our pond.

They don't usually stay long. Sometimes only a few hours, sometimes a day or two. And then they're off again, headed for their nesting grounds.

Our house is situated directly above the pond, giving us a advantageous view of anything that flies in.

For some of our more exotic visitors, we've had to pull out our bird book or search Google's vast brain to be able to identify them.

God's diverse and complex creation is a fasinating world to live in.

February 16, 2018

We recently had a major ice storm that temporarily transformed our farm into a sparkling paradise. 

Enjoy a short photo tour through it!

The beauty of God's handiwork is truly amazing!

February 1, 2018

Pea Brained Fowl

J.F. Thompson

Roosters are good, and roosters are right,

But too many roosters are as bad as a blight.

Seven we had, and that was far too many,

The hens were all rooster-pecked,

And it wasn’t very funny.

Four must go, my mother decreed,

And so we set out, with undisguised glee,

My big little brother and me.

Four roosters we caught,

Ignoring their squawks,

And the desperate, rolling of their eyes,

And into a cage we stuffed them,

To await their demise.

Three brave roosters met their fate,

But it is not their story I dictate,

For nay,

I tell the tale of the one who got away.

He saw his chance

When the door opened but a crack,

And he was off!

With squawk and flutter and flap.

For his life he ran, as if hunted by a fiend,

When really it was only my brother

Pounding close behind,

Fingers outstretched, grabbing, grasping,

He chased that fowl miscreant

Around the coop and down to the pond,

While the neighbor looked on.

Experts do say,

By the way,

That you need at least one belly laugh

A day.

Enough is enough! my brother cried,

A devilish look glinting in his eye,

I’ll put some lead,

Through his head,

Then he’ll be dead.

So he grabbed the twenty-two,

And bullets flew,

And some feathers did, too,

But the bird lived on,

Though in a state of undeniable panic.

Now, before you blame,

My brother of bad aim,

Tell me if you have ever,

If you’re so very clever,

Looked through a scope,

At your targeted hope,

And searched for a brain the size of a pea,

That was fast fleeing from thee,

In a head like a bobble,

That wibbled and wobbled.

It would be an easy kill,

If it just stayed still.

Said my brother,

Let me shoot him in the chest,

And I will surely lay him to rest.

Cried I,

And waste all that meat, so juicy and tender?

Never!

Machete in hand,

The chase again began,

And in full view,

Across the road that bird flew.

(And so, why did the chicken cross the road?

Do you really have to ask?

Figure it out, genius.)

Upon reaching the other side,

He used his pea brain, small but wise,

And into the woods he dove,

Leaving us to rove,

Looking high, looking low,

With no clue where to go.

We put the dog on his trail,

But she returned with drooping tail,

And we knew the quest had failed.

Defeated, we headed for home,

Wondering if we would ever again

See that bloody comb,

For one of the bullets had struck close to home.

If he did return, death would be near,

Though I was commanded not to interfere,

For my brother would be jaded

If the shedding of the blood of that addlepated

Rooster was not to him fated.

All day we kept watch on the flock

Counting the roosters, one, two, three,

Just as there should be

But later four!

One more!

The escapee had returned,

Crossing the road for the second time,

Although this time I don’t know

What he had in mind,

For it was a most foolish mistake, and, alas

His very last.

Perhaps the pea brain was not,

As wise as I had thought.

Death was sudden and swift,

Brought with the whisper of a machete swish,

And happily,

My brother handed the carcass over to me,

Who with sharp knife and determined scowl,

Soon had it featherless and insides out.

So now he resides, with his brethren three,

Deep in the freezer,

Where all good spare roosters ought to be.

The moral, in synopsis,

Is this.

If by hook or crook you manage to escape

The devil’s old hamster track,

Don’t be a pea brained fowl, 

And go running right back. 

January 12, 2018

Gotta love Ohio weather. Temperatures in the negatives one week and up in the sixties the next. It started raining last night and has been pouring, or drizzling, off and on since then. In twenty-four hours we’ve gotten two and a half inches of rain. Feeding hay gets a bit more interesting when the ground is spongy muck. That’s one sure advantage though of feeding hay on pasture. You can keep moving the cows along and feed them in a new spot each time to avoid having your feeding area turned into knee-deep slop, known for sucking the boots right off your feet, and in extreme cases, swallowing cows whole. 

It also helps that we don’t need any heavy machinery for our little operation. We have a self-built bale un-roller that is simple to use and only requires a four-wheeler to pull it.

The cows always get excited when a bale comes into the field, and the younger ones like to chase the bale across the field as it unrolls. 

In the end, it doesn’t matter so much if your toes are freezing into ice cubes, or you have so much mud splattered on you that you can’t distinguish the original color of your clothing. It’s always good to see the whole herd of cows browsing contentedly along a strip of hay.

And, yeah. In a couple of days it’s supposed to get down near zero again. 

January 1, 2018

Sun Fed farm is a small family farm, located in the ridges and hollows of southeastern Ohio. As we start the New Year of 2018, temperatures are hanging out down near zero, but two of our ewes had healthy lambs this week despite the cold.

On our farm we raise Organic, Grass-fed Beef, and Lamb. To guard against coyotes and other predators, we have a pair of dogs running with our flock of hair sheep.

We raise their puppies to sell, either as trained guard dogs, or pets.

Mostly we're just a family who loves to farm, doing so as naturally as possible.