June edition

Wow! What a month! I can't believe it's only been 4 weeks since the last edition of the Cattle Rattle.

Probably the biggest change at our house is my career change. People have kept asking me if I've retired from teaching - I'm not old enough for that yet! Instead, I've taken a new position at Dale Family Farms - C.M.M. For those of you unfamiliar with the lingo, that's Chief Mom and Marketer. I am now officially a stay-at-home mom and employee of Dale Family Farms and I'm loving it. However, I've yet to have my first bon-bon on the couch while watching the soaps.

Actually, I haven't had much chance to put my feet up lately,. I've been to Greensburg the last 4 weeks to attend the farmers' market. We've had a great response for as early as it is in the season and plan to be there the rest of the summer. I've had at least one helper with me every Satruday and Allison plans to bake muffins to take next week.

We also had the privlelege of hosting a second Tips and Tastes party at Kurt's sister, Cynthia's house. We had a great time, met good people and got to share dinner and our story with others. We may have a couple more parties scheduled in the fall. If you are interested in hosting, let me know.

Kurt has also been busy - often wishing for another 10 hours in a day. However, he's not sure if he would have used those hours to sleep or work. Our first cutting of hay is officially out of the field. The rains we've had helped make it a good cutting but Kurt was ready to be done baling at 2 in the morning. Calves are also worked and we were blessed to have good neighbors around to help. Another first for me - I got to feed the men that helped. I thought I had everything timed perfectly until Kurt called and siad they were running behind - by an hour! Allison even got to help this year. She was the official record keeper and got to tag a few calves all by herself.

And, we've processed our first two sets of chickens - AND the chicken plucker works! We keep getting faster and were thankful to have help both times.

Currently, we have 165 chicks in the brooder - about one third meat birds and the rest are laying -hens-to-be. We were surprised last week when the post office called and said we had chicks there. We had to do some shuffling and Allison and Natalie were great help. Allison and I moved chicks around - I am a city girl no more - and Natalie "babysat" Anna while she took a nap. After all the chicks were cozy and happy, I checked my calendar and we were supposed to get chicks - I just wrote it down the wrong day. God's still teaching me to be flexible and roll with the punches.

We will have beef quarters, halves and wholes available again in the early fall. Start thinking now if you want to place an order and need to make room in the freezer. If you enjoy cuts other than hamburger (i.e. steaks, roasts, cube steak, etc), this is a more economical route. Chickens are still available on August 7, August 22 and October 3 but they selling fast. Remember, state law requires chickens to be picked up on the farm.

I'm so glad we've started more layers even though they won't start laying until September. Our egg demand is starting to surpass our supply.

On a more personal note, the girls have had a good start to the summer even thought they assure me that we haven't been to the pool enough - the weather hasn't cooperated much but Kurt tells us the rain we've got will make the grass grow. Allison has been playing designated pitch for the first time this summer. She enjoys it and is starting to gain some confidence as a batter. Natalie thoroughly enjoyed banastics (translation: gymnastics). She loves to move and really loved the six sessions the rec commisiion sponsored. She can't wait to do more. Anna is talking up a storm - if you pay attention and know the context, her words make perfect sense. She also thinks that she needs to do everything her older sisiters are doing.

Until next month -