Morning Light on the Farm

We got piggies growing fast on raw milk and organic mash.

Gabe with his birds.

Chicken and Guinea Fowl

Our Two Shetlands

Late morning sleepers - two lambs for the slaughter come fall.

Spunky calf Gilbert looking like his mommy Ginger.

Oliver Kitten growing into an adolescent.

Same with Suzy on the prowl.

Oliver!

Pivot sprinkler over the silage crop and my parents' home in the distance.

Front Door

Praying Mantis

Hitching a Ride

Praying Posture

Where's Mantis?

Newest Nephew

Meg on the move with labor pains.  We were all hopping with excitement and expectancy with this eighth baby.  Baby decided to hide and hang out in the womb for a few more days though.

First Glimpse of Our Baby

 But Saturday, I was standing with eldest Havilah in the kitchen of the quiet farmhouse and heard the sound of a newborn infant cry.  Zebulun David made his appearance during the afternoon break of Fiddle and Dance Camp.

Patient and persevering midwife dancing at the end of the day.

Gabe and Lydia joined the strings for their first Sunday worship with Uncle Jesse.

Clark County Fair

This was Marshal and my county fair through childhood.  Our brother and sister-in-law spent the fair in the goat barn and beyond with their 4-4H-ers.  They all brought home ribbons from the county fair!  Seeing family is a great excuse to see the fair.  Thank you Diane for inviting us and the tickets!
We had a rain shower, and I convinced Marshal to slip under a stage tent for a dry bench to eat our burritos.  Marshal found himself getting some stage time in Cowgirl Tricks' show!

A bit tied up in Cowgirl's tricks!

Got branded and handed over to me.

The line up before we said goodbyes.  Missing one nephew - but this shot is a keeper.

Rheanne with the show goats.  Goat barn is being prepped for the market goats.

Rainbow

I love God's rainbow - such a sign of His love and promise in the beauty of his perfect, pure and holy creative hand.  The arc stretched over this land the day we first come here as a family with my parents twenty-two years ago.  I'm standing in my parents carport looking across our crop lands toward my little house at the edge of the trees.

Doesn't  it look like there should be a pot of gold at the end of this path?

Children's Art

We began the month of August, first weekend, with the annual community fair.  Marshal and I put together a health and wellness booth, and Marshal made a beautiful TLC clinic sign.  Just have to wait for a photo; I was too busy for taking photos!  We managed to milk the cow that morning.  Grandma slept over to take the kids to the 8am race.  Grandma Ruth, Gabe, and Lydia all finished well in the 5K.  I managed to pick a flower bouquet and vegetable bouquet of kale stems in a mason jar for the Flower and Vegetable Contest.  My sis entered an array of beautiful garden veges and hustled all the girls to fill vases with perennial garden flowers for their own entries, and my mom entered her first fair bouquet, a formal arrangement of a spray of white roses in a porcelain basket vase.  Lydia entered two plates of cookies in the baking contest.  Her Anzac cookies won second place in the junior division for a special prize and were auctioned for a handsome price at the end of the day.  She submitted a knitted round washcloth and embroidery tea towel in the Threads and Yarns Fiber Arts.  I was so pleased with all the participation this year, and getting to be a part of it!

Lydia's take home from the fair.

 

All the cousins entered art drawings for the Children's Art Show.

Talented Kids

Each entry received a participation ribbon, a concession dollar, and raffle ticket.  Cousin Thad with his pencil portrait at age 7 won the raffle!