Winter is a time of promise because there is so little to do — or because you can now and then permit yourself the luxury of thinking so. ~Stanley Crawford, A Garlic Testament: Seasons on a Small New Mexico Farm, 1992

Track Shoes and Taxes

Winter, the time when things on the farm are a little slower or seem to be, is coming to an end. Spring is about to spring. The guys are checking the cleats and laces on their track shoes in preparation for the season ahead.

Renovations to a couple of the shops are finished. Broiler chicks and turkey poults have been ordered and slaughter dates scheduled. Equipment and trucks are serviced and ready to work.

The sheep have had their winter wool coats sheared in preparation for lambing in a couple of weeks. The pens are being assembled in the lambing barn as our remote shepherd in Hong Kong checks cameras. He’s getting excited about watching for lambs.

Cherry, our oldest milk cow, and Mable, our little Jersey heifer, are close to having their calves, which we look forward to. There should be lots of milk for feeding lambs if their moms don’t have enough.

Something that isn’t exciting is taxes. However, Martin had an interesting observation the other day.

“You’re aware of the saying that there are only two things for sure…death and taxes?

“Well, the Bible says that there will be no more death in heaven and there won’t be any taxes, either.”

When the variety of fresh fruits is limited at this time of year, it’s nice to have alternatives. We have a large selection of organic dried fruits that make great snacks or nutritious additions to your favorite recipes.

The essential options, which are used more often in prepared dishes, include: three varieties of raisins – Flame, Sultana, and Thompson, two varieties of dates – Medjools and Deglet, cranberries, currants, shredded coconut, and sundried tomatoes.

The following make great snacks: banana chips, blueberries, cherries, figs, ginger, and pineapple.

For something exotic, try: Incan berries, mango, and persimmons.

All our dried fruits are kept in the cooler, so they are fresher much longer.

Martin explains the benefits of raising broiler chickens on pasture and why he has chosen the portable cages you’ll see in this video.

The birds are healthy because they get fresh air, sunshine, vibrant grasses, and real bugs, and they are not exposed to hazardous ammonia buildup in a confined barn. Portable cages on pasture provide a low stress environment resulting in a mortality rate that is nearly zero. The meat from pasture raised chickens is a richer color, tastier, and obviously healthier with no risk of salmonella or bacterial contamination.

The portable cages have a number of advantages for the birds and the farmers who tend the operation. The system is very simple to build and operate, and it’s not noisy or invasive in the environment. It only takes about 1 hour and 15 minutes a day to move the units morning and afternoon, and to feed and water all of the chickens.

Another major advantage to portable cages is the spreading of the chicken manure evenly over the pasture without the use of machinery. The fields explode in greenery after the chickens have done the job for the farmer.

Pasture raised chicken is the clean, moral, ethical, and right way of raising a bird.

Harvest Haven Pasture Raised Whole Chicken – Truly pasture-raised, these chickens are moved to fresh pasture daily where they get a diet of lush grasses, bugs, and certified organic feed. The result is plump birds that have tender, tasty, and moist meat. Perfect for dinner!

Simply Organic Smoked Paprika, 77 g – Nothing but pure, organic, ground Spanish paprika (Capsicum annuum) that's oak-wood smoked. Not irradiated. Deep, rich color, enticing aroma, and award-winning smoky-sweet flavor with a touch of heat. Pairs well with egg, bean, and potato dishes, as well as roasted and grilled meats.

Harvest Haven Butterball Potatoes, 5 lb and 10 lb bags – Creamy tender flesh with a smooth consistency and rich, buttery flavor make these potatoes a favorite. Mashed, baked, French fried, scalloped, whatever you fancy, this potato will please.

Avalon Organic Whipping Cream, 250 mL – There is no substitute for real whipping cream. So good simmered on fresh-from-the-garden veggies, poured on raspberries, blueberries, or other fresh fruit, or added to your cereal for a rich flavor. And what would pies and puddings be without a big dollop of whipped cream?

Organic Anjou Pears – When fully ripe, the Anjou is sweet and juicy. To tell when it’s ripe, you need to check the neck by gently pressing your thumb near the stem end of the pear. When it gives slightly, it’s ready to eat.

Wholesome Sweeteners Organic Molasses, 662 g – Dark in color, this blackstrap molasses offers a rich, full-bodied, and robust flavor that perfectly complements gingerbread, cookies, bran muffins, chili, and BBQ sauce. It’s healthy, too, being rich in nutrients, including Vitamin B6, Potassium, Calcium, Iron, and Magnesium.

Please note, all ingredients in our recipes are organic.

My Take Two Music Album by Victor

Imagine having a second shot at life, a Take Two!

“You’re kidding me, aren't you?”

Normally, you would think so, but I’m serious. It happens, believe me. I’ve seen this on various levels and aspects of our lives. Some of you have seen it and may have experienced it in a fashion.

As a child, I saw two struggling neighbor farmers in Manitoba experience new starts. The Preslowskis suddenly lost their large home and everything in it to fire – a painful event. Forced to uproot, they started all over again in Etobicoke, Ontario.

Years later, Ralph and his wife returned for a visit to their old stomping grounds and declared, “It was the worst and the best thing that ever happened to us!” He had built up a prosperous trucking enterprise in Ontario.

Another neighbor, Bill and Elsie Chaykowski, decided with their children Dennis, Diane, and Miles to pack in their rags, callouses, hard work, sweat, tears, long hours, and dismal earnings for Alberta. Alberta bound! Though they began new careers, it was like retiring!

The Chaykowskis also revisited us years later and told us of their pleasant, cowboy country, “cow town” home city of Calgary, the famous Calgary Stampede, the fabulous Rocky Mountains with their peaks, forests, rivers, and lakes. The icing on the cake for these former Manitobans was the periodic winter weather breaks with warm chinook winds to bring winter cheer for freezing souls.

I’ve seen “Take Two’s” in the Bible, too. Consider Joseph who was raised directly from years of humbling prison to the second highest position in superpower Egypt. Job is a classic example where God brought horrendous loss to him, right to the edge of the grave, only to raise him up again, replace his lost children, and double his wealth and years on earth.

How are those for examples of a Take Two in this world! There are others.

For me, it’s been a Take Two these past few years I hadn’t dreamed of. Music! Singing! From a life of struggles, tears, troubles, trials, and sorrows to a level of victory, success, and happiness I had never enjoyed in my life of 70+ years. I didn’t know that in all my life, singing was in me, longing to be expressed.

From when I was 6 years old, the Voice of Song quietly called, but it wasn’t until recently that I began to sing and record the music that was in my soul. And what better thing could I sing than the songs God has given me since 1975 to the present, telling the world what He’s done for me? My son declared he had never seen me in that state of joy. He marveled. So did I!

This music album is about my Take Two, starting life all over, a fresh start, an opportunity opened up from above, a time of compensation for a past life that I wouldn’t have chosen to live again but now a glad choice to do it “right.” So good. So much to talk, sing, and shout about!