Roller Coaster of 2013

Well it has been a while since I have posted last.  Life for the Woodford's has been much like a roller coaster.  When we first got married both of us were nervous as we stepped into this commitment.  Yet, from the moment we took off a newly weds it has been a fast, wild awesome ride.  We have stayed so busy learning how to be married, both working full-time, moving, fixing up the house and property and now trying to start a little farm on our property.

I first apologize to all those who have been interested in our lives and we haven't shared.  Here are some highlights of 2013:

Probably one of the biggest things that happened in 2013 was that Jeff and I bought our first house.  A log home on 8.5 acres of property.

We have LOVED our new house.  And although it came needing lots of love and work, Jeff and I have enjoyed the challenge.  We are excited to see how this place and the property continue to change and morph as the years go on.

With the 8.5 acres of land that we now have, Jeff and I decided to start a little farm.  Mostly to help us have a sustainable lifestyle, but also to be able to give to those in need or in community with us.  In 2013 we started out having 2 dogs and 3 horses.  By the middle of the year we had added, nine hens, a rooster, three turkeys, two cows and now a third dog (more on him later).

We actually started with 30 chickens… but after nature took a few and we harvested all but one of the roosters we are down to 10 chickens outside in the chicken pen and 7 roosters in our freezer.

Plucking chicken feathers.

Chickens ready to be bagged up and put in the freezer.





I (Kelsie) started a garden this year and we were able to get a lots of potatoes and a few other yummy veggies.  We are already working on this coming years garden!

 We also had the blessing of canning a few things from our garden and a lot from framers market.

Jeff and I both celebrated a birthday, turning 27 years old.  We also celebrated our FIRST anniversary, and we still like each other!  Jeff took us on an awesome surprise road trip around eastern oregon.

We also went fishing a lot and our freezer is stuffed full of salmon, beef, pork, chicken and lamb.

We have had multiple roommates this year.  Julia (previous staff member of the CPYR) lived with us for a few weeks.  Karmel (an volunteer for CPYR from New Zealand) came and lived with us from April to October.  We LOVED being able to enjoy her accent each day. :)  We had a few gals from England come and stay for a week and some gals from California as well.   And we have also had the wonderful Kaysie Patka (my sister) living with us that this fall and winter.  It has been a blessing to have her here at our house.  To actually get to know her now that we are both adults and also for Jeff to be able to get to know his new sister-in-law.

Karmel our Kiwi from New Zealand!

To wrap up the year we bought a new car and are selling Jeff's truck soon.  Our little Camry needs a lot of work, but we are up for the challenge.  Jeff was hired to build two chicken coops for a friend of ours… and he did a fabulous job. Such a good job, that he is going to try to sell more them on craiglist and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thewoodworksbend.  Does anyone need a chicken coop?

We had our second Christmas together and the first Christmas at our new house.  Jeff's family came over from Springfield and my family came over… and we all celebrated together… it was perfect!  Even through there was no snow.

Oh yeah, as for our new dog.  We officially have a new member of the dog family… at least right now. He is still on trial for us.  What is his story?  Well, that will have to be another day and another time. :)

What a great year for the Woodfords.  We are both thankful for 2013 and excited for the new year, new seasons and new adventures that 2014 brings!

Farm Life

Well it has been awhile since I posted... and much as changed.

The Woodford's are LOVING their new home!  :)  We are SOOOO excited.  There is much work to be done on the house and property... but it is ours!

Life on the farm is not as easy or romantic as it sounds... :)  yet we are enjoying every minute.

Each morning Jeff wakes up before dawn to get ready and start working on whatever project he has going.  So far he has finished the acre that fences in our horses and cows, put together raise beds for my garden and right now he is working on the chicken coop and run!

He usually wakes me up to say good morning and as I hear him leave I roll over and close my eyes.

About 6:00 I get up and am off to get the chores done.  Let the chickens out, feed and water them.

I usually come in and spend some time in the Word, sipping on coffee as the sun rises higher and higher  in the sky.  After that I am at a full run it seems... make breakfast, milk the cow, change the irrigation and make lunch.  Usually I have just finishing about the time to run out the door to work.

Although it is a lot of work Jeff and I are still loving being on our little farm!  :)

Below are some old pictures of the house, our garden and the old chicken coop...

Jeff's first chicken coop that he made himself... after we bought all the chicks we had to upgrade.  Photo's of the new chicken coop are on their way soon...  Not sure what the plan is for this one, may look at selling it, if someone needs one.

Jeff creating my garden!!  Which is doing much better then I thought it would! 

An old pump house that we made into garden shed.

Our sweet Keona dog... 

excited about the new house and ready for the farm life adventure.

The inside of our house. This was right after we moved in and we were living in the living room!  See if you can find Jeff?  That is one of his favorite hiding places.  He loves to sneak up there and try to scare me!  He has not succeeded yet... his dog always gives him away.  :)

Our AWESOME mom's who have helped us do a lot of the not so fun work on the house.  Thank you both for all your help.  We LOVE you!

Thank you to all those who have helped us continue to make this home our own!

More and new pictures coming soon!

Fowl Play at the Woodfords

I know, I know it has been too long since I have written a blog.

Here is an update on our chickens and turkeys!

This spring we ordered 30 chicks from a hatchery and bought 3 turkeys as well.  As chicks they were so fun to hold and play with... but quickly they grew from the cute little chicks to ugly teenage chickens.  Moving to the farm we had only lost a few to sickness.  We were excited to finally let them out of their coop and allow them to see the world and run free during the day.

Day 1:  The chickens were out enjoying their day when out of the sky came a hawk and BAM.......

I heard the birds yelling, and went running outside to find 2 dead and ravens and hawks flying about.  Yelling and throwing sticks at them I chased them away.

Week 2: We were down in California for my cousins wedding.  When we had gotten back the wonderful girl who was housesitting for us, share the sad story of finding 5 more dead and a turkey had wondered off during the day...

I went out to see the damage and found one of our teenage chicks inside the coop not looking so well.  He or she had been attacked... and her leg was almost all gone.  Bringing her inside I quickly decided that we were going to loose her unless we amputated her leg.  The surgury took no time at all (since her leg was small and almost gone) but she spent the next couple weeks inside the house recovering.

**She is now out with the rest of the chickens as happy as can be.  Julia (one of the gals living with us at that time) named him/her Braveheart**

Week 3: After the second massacre, Jeff and I decided it was time to keep the chicks inclosed.  Jeff took a night and put together a redneck chicken run off of their coop.  So far it has worked to keep the ravens and hawks away.

I woke up to do the chores one morning, while Braveheart was still recovering in our house.  I walked out to the chicken coop only to find a sad, sad sight.  Something had dug under the coop and killed two chickens and our last two turkeys while they slept!  

That day we quickly placed plywood down under the coops so the animals wouldn't be able to dig under...

So here we are now, just over a month in our new house and we have gone from 30 chicks and 3 turkeys down to 16 chicks and 1 one-legged chick.

Oh the reality of living in the country on a farm....

More happier news to come soon.  Below are pictures of Braveheart our one-legged chicken.

Meet Annabelle and Millie

Here are the newest members of our farm.  Our two Dexter cows!!

Meet Annabelle...

and Millie...

Our little Dexter cows are only 3 1/2 feet tall (full grown).  They are both 3 years old.  

Dexter's are a pretty cool breed.  They are used for 3 major things.  Pulling, meat and also milk!  

I (Kelsie) found them on craigslist on Saturday, April 6th.  The owners needed to re-home them because they had too many animals.  They hadn't ever been handled and it took us about an hour to get them in our trailer.  That first week we kept them in a small round pen.   

Each day we would go outside (morning and night) and work on getting closer and closer to them.  Annabelle was growing fond of receiving grain every morning.  While she was eating grain she stood quietly allowing me to milk her.  Her calf has been off of her for about a month now, so she is almost dried but.  Yet, it is good practice for her to stand still and let us milk.  

Millie on the other hand was quite skeptical of us.  She would eat grain out of your hand or the bucket, but if you tried to touch her she would run.  She just left her calf when we bought them, and so unlike Annabelle, Milly is full of milk.  We knew we had to get a halter on her to be able to touch, groom and milk her.

A few nights after we got them we worked on getting halters on.  Annabelle was easy to get it on.  Millie on the other hand was a handful!  Jeff was excited to be a cowboy and rope her.  After she was roped it still took about 30 minutes until she wore herself out and laid down.  I was able to walk up to her at that point and place a halter on her.  

That next morning they were both easy to catch and to my surprise Millie with the help of a head catch let us milk her!  We are able to get about a quart a milk from her and the chickens, cows and our coffee mugs LOVE her!  

Now a week later, we milk Millie twice a day (we are letting Annabelle dry up) and have about a 1/2 gallon of fresh milk each day.  We are looking forward to breeding them later this spring and excited to be able to provide beef for our family and others. 

We have all the animals we need... 31 chickens, 3 turkeys, 2 cows, 2 dogs and 2 horses.  Now all we need to do is move on to our property!

 (Jeff excited to have a cow!)

 (Jeff milking for the first time... super exciting)

(Jeff's hands got tired so he called for help.  Millie in our little catch that Jeff made)

Thanksgiving Dinner Now in Our Living Room

Well, the Woodford's are at it again... growing our little farm.

Not long after Jeff and I started dating we talked about what we wanted in a home.  Very quickly we realized that we both wanted to live off of the land, be as self sufficient as we can.  And also in that be able to allow the Lord to use it as a ministry to those around us.  We both desired to have a small farm if possible.

I never imagined it would happen this fast.  Not to mention before we are even in our own home.  Yet the Lord keeps giving us opportunities to grow our little farm.

So first an update on our little chicks.

Our chicks are growing so much. The cute little fluff balls have now grown into awkward chicks.  They are not so cute anymore and they aren't as nice to look at as full sized chickens.  (all of us go through those years...) But we are enjoying them so much.  We have moved them out of our house into a small chicken coop in the carport.  Ready to be transported when we move!

You would think we would be missing the chirps of the chicks but we are not.  We have added 3 new little birds to our flock.   

TURKEYS!

 


Our sweet turkeys are slowly wiggling their way into our hearts.  They love to be held and enjoy being stuffed into your sweatshirt pocket and carted around everywhere.  






I will be sad this fall when we harvest them, yet I know that this is the reason we have them.  






Meet Stuffy (aka Stuffing), 

 

Jibs (Giblets) 

  and Lark.

New Additions to the Woodford Family

Although there have been many hard things in our lives lately... today is a day to celebrate life!  We our officially parents of 26 little baby chicks.  We received the phone call early this morning that our chicks had made it safe from St. Louis, MO and were waiting for us at the post office.  

With such excitement we headed over there as soon as we could.  Walking in the doors we stood quietly in line... when the post office was quiet we could hear little peeps coming from the back.  Jeff and I continued to look at each other smiling bigger and bigger as the time passed.

Finally we received our peeping box and headed home with 26 little treasures inside!

Pulling each one out of the box... we counted to make sure that we received all of them... and YES, there were 26 in the box!!

6 Mottled Houdans, 7 Americanas, 5 Silver Gray Dorkings, 5 Blue Laced Wyandottes, and 3 Buff Orpingtons... 

as you can tell we were both SOOOO excited!

As we pulled them out the chicks got so excited.  Excited to eat, drink and move around!!  Here is a little video of our new addition to the family. 

Now we just get to sit back and watch them grow.  They are keeping us entertained already with their cute personalities.  We'll keep you updated as Woodford Family Farm continues to grow... 

I Will Miss You, My Sweet Horse

I lost my horse this weekend.  Some may think I am crazy for grieving an animal... yet this little horse was special.  She has lived half my life with me and has been a good friend.

Libby and I met when I was 13 years old.  She was rescued by Crystal Please Youth Ranch from starvation and abuse.  Similarly my life had just fallen apart.  I wanted to end my life.  I was tired of living.  Tired of fighting, everything in my life was crumbling down.  I had no hope... no reason to live.

I remember the first time that I saw her.  Kim (owner of the ranch) and I walked up to the round pen where she was running around franticly, with no one in there.  Frightened and scared all she knew to do was to run.

Over the next few years we spent most of our days together... learning to trust each other.  We had both lost all trust in those around us... but somehow this little horse taught me to trust, taught me to believe in myself, gave me something to live for and ultimately lead me to the loving hands of the Lord.

I spent every moment I could on her back... and when I was 16 years old she was given to me as my christmas present.

We rode in the mountains...

endurance raced in a few different states, jumped everything we could find, including wheel lines...

whenever something hard or bad happened in my life, she was the one I would run to... crying my tears in her mane.  She knew every secret that I had.

As I grew older, trying to figure out what life is about, I spent many days and night praying as I lay on her back...

The Lord used her to save my life.  For over half my life this little horse has been there for me.  When everyone else left, when no one was there to dry my tears or even knew what was going on in my life.  She did.  She knew it all... and she still love me.

I could whistle across a pasture and her head would pop up... you could hear her knicker and she would usually trot over to see what I wanted.  Not always, she was an Arab and a mare, so she had her days and months of attitude.  But consistently she wanted to live life with me.

I will miss my sweet girl.  She wasn't perfect... actually most people thought she was crazy.  But she was just what I needed in my life.  She was a gift for a little girl who had no reason to live... and as I grew up she became a wonderful friend for all the adventures in my life.

Lord, you know how I am struggling with this.  You have chosen to take much from me these last 6 months, and I am not sure why.  But I trust in you... I trust that you are still good and loving, although I don't understand.  I choose to trust in you.

I will miss you my little Libby, thank you showing me how to love life again!