I have a treat for you, a homemade cheese dip and spreadable cheese. To speak your language… nacho cheese, mac & cheese, sandwich cheese spread, a natural version of Laughing Cow and Velveeta… that tastes EVEN BETTER. I lie not.

Anyone out there following Trim Healthy Mama eating plans, if you skim the cream first, this cheese is an E meal and just like the Laughing Cow Cheese you can eat in an E setting. Nice right?!

You need to make this cheese dip/spread, trust me.

INGREDIENTS

1 Gallons milk (skim or whole milk, ideally raw unpasteurized and unhomogenized milk)

1/8 teaspoon (a dash measuring spoon) Mesophilic Direct Set Starter Culture

1/16 teaspoon (a pinch measuring spoon) Liquid Animal Renent

3 teaspoons of Baking Soda

2 teaspoons of salt (this is to taste)

DIRECTIONS

Get this going two days before you want to use it! Or make it and freeze it. The finished melting queso cheese freezes beautifully and you’ll never know it was frozen.

1. Warm 1 gallons of milk in a stainless steel pot to 86º F. Turn off heat and remove pot from stove.
2. Sprinkle 1/8 (dash) teaspoon Mesophilic Direct Set powder starter. Wait 5 minutes. Still in well.
3. Mix 1/16 (pinch) teaspoon liquid animal rennet (pinch) in 1/4 cup of cool water. Pour in milk. Mix well. Stop milk from moving with your spoon.
4. Cover pot with lid. Let sit over night, or 12 hours. Do not bother it.
5. Curd and why will have a nice separation after 12 or so hours. If this has not occurred, wait till it does. Set up a colander and a clean and sanitized pillow sack over a bucket (to catch the whey). Pour curds and whey in pillow. Let whey drain a bit. Then hang the pillow case. Can use whatever you wish. I’ve used the knob of the cabinet and now have a hook I rubber band it to.
6. Drain over night, at least 12 hours until the curd is thick like cream cheese.
7. Use the whey please.  Don’t put it down the drain… please! You can pour the whey on your vegetables, feed to pigs, chickens, dogs… etc. Best for piggies if you have them :). If you don’t have time for the next step. That’s ok, just take your pillow case with the curds and put them in the refrigerator. They’ll be fine till the next day when you have more time.
8. Set up a double boiler (can do on direct heat to), pour curd in pot. Sprinkle 6 teaspoons of baking soda and 4 teaspoons of salt on curd. Break curd apart and roughly mix with a fork.
9. Let curd heat a bit and then mix it well with a hand mixer.
10. Let the curd heat more and sit for a longer till little bubbles start forming on the edges, then mix again till smooth. If you are doing this direct heat be careful, the cheese burns easily.
11. If you want chili con queso… this is where you can add something like Ro-tel or salsa whatever floats your boat. I like adding a pinch of dill weed and garlic powder.
12. Pour mixture into molds. I use glass pyrex bowels. This cheeses freezes reallllly well. When you take it out, you’ll never know it was frozen. Make enough to freeze, it keeps a year well.

YOUTUBE VIDEO DIRECTIONS

Enjoy, this is a really good cheese. You’ll love it.

Fellow cheese nerd?

Heard of Little Green Cheese with Gavin Weber?

We talk all things home cheese making in his podcast.

LGC 051 – Interview with Rashel Harris Texas USA

Listen to our curdy talk by clicking here

Gavin, author of Little Green Cheese has a website, YouTube channel and podcast available through iTunes.

Hope you enjoy our chat about cheese!

You read that right, yeah, I Rashel, a chapter leader of the Weston A. Price foundation, have a confession. I can’t believe I’m sharing this on the internet.

Here it goes…

Credit where credit is due: Thank you to my friend Regina and Wardee at Traditional Cooking School. Your stories gave me the encouragement to get me started on this new adventure!

Washers and dryers, I’m so thankful to have both and the electricity to run them. However, even with a dryer I always end up with a laundry room full of wet hanging jeans, shorts, shirts, table cloths etc, that I don’t want the dryer to shrink, fade or mess up.

A video of our setup on YouTube…

I’ve always dried my clothes inside on one of these topsy turvy short-lived (they fall apart) clothes racks. Drying laundry inside takes forever and the wet clothes are always getting in the way! Can I get an AMEN please?!

When I’m impatient, I put the rack outside to dry faster… it always blows over in the wind and clothes blow off in the grass.

When I was in Amish Country PA for my first Weston A. Price Conference years ago I saw the most amazing thing… A very smart Amish woman putting clothes to dry on a line that was rigged up from her front porch. She put one item on and moved the line down to put another, all the while kids were playing at her feet… genius you say, yes super awesome.

Fast forward five years later, I’m done with my rickety clothes drying system and drying laundry in the house.

I had to clear my new Amish clothes line with the boss first… I was a bit nervous he’d say no. I mean, I’ve had a lot of hair brained ideas, but this one probably tops it… I want to put two metal lines across the yard, in plain sight of anyone who came to visit… ohhhhhhhh that’s just not done in “high society” or cultured individuals… well I figured since I make my own version of society and my own cultures to boot, I decided to ask the hubby to make me a real Amish clothes line spanning 100 feet over our back yard! Hahaha, he loves me. He said “yes”! You see this, that’s real love…

5 Reasons to Hang Your Clothes in the Sun!

1.) Dryers ruin delicate clothes, fade laundry and shrink your favorite clothes!

2.) Outside line drying sanitizes your clothes and gives laundry a fresh clean smell without toxic dryer sheets

3.) Hanging laundry in the sun, irons and starches your clothes. My table-cloth is a prime example…

4.) A laundry line gives you a place to dry and sanitize large quilts, comforters, wool bed covers, air out goose downs comforters. For this reason alone you should have a clothes line!

5.) The best reason of all, line drying puts you in a better mood. No joke. I think it has something to do with going outside in the fresh air and sun.  Handling your laundry outside is therapeutic. If you’ve never hung your clothes out to dry, you’re gonna have to try it to understand.

I hung out some laundry on our way to milk our Jersey Buttercup this morning. Isabella inspected it

Lehman’s and Amazon.com both have The Strata Heavy Duty Clothesline Kit by Ben-Mor. It get’s great reviews on Amazon and there’s some neat videos to see it in use on YouTube. I wanted a clothesline made by the Amish! So, what’s a girl to do, I ordered one online! We ended up getting the Amish built deluxe clothesline from Woodward Crossing Country Basics in PA.

Keep in mind, you’re gonna have to get some additional hardware to attach it to your house or post …

We set up our line so I have to reach up to put clothes on. Our deck is very low to the ground. Also, to stay in the shade and on the deck we put up another post under the porch to attach the line to. This works really well for us.

I found some heavy-duty handmade strong clothes pins on Amazon, called Kevin’s Quality Clothes Pin. After going through several plastic and wood varieties from big box stores, I’d say pay a bit more and get something that will last.

If you hang your clothes outside, I’d love to hear how you do it! There’s so many great ways to sun dry your clothes. Please comment below!

I leave you with this beautiful poem a neighbor shared with us after we put up our line.

The Clothes Line

By Anonymous

A clothes line was a news forecast,
to neighbors passing by.
There were no secrets you could keep,
when clothes were hung to dry.

It also was a friendly link,
for neighbors always knew,
If company had stopped on by,
to spend a night or two.

For then you’d see the fancy sheets
and towels upon the line;
You’d see the company tablecloths,
with intricate design.

The line announced a baby’s birth,
to folks who lived inside,
As brand new infant clothes,
were hung so carefully with pride.

The ages of the children,
could so readily be known
By watching how the sizes changed,
you’d know how much they’d grown.

It also told when illness struck,
as extra sheets were hung;
Then night-clothes, and a bathrobe too,
haphazardly were strung.

It said “Gone on vacation now”,
when lines hung limp and bare.
It told “We’re back!” when full lines sagged,
with not an inch to spare.

New folks in town were scorned upon,
if washing was dingy grey,
As neighbors raised their brows,
and looked disgustedly away.

But clotheslines now are of the past,
for dryers make work less,
Now what goes on inside a home,
is anybodies guess.

I really miss that way of life;
it was a friendly sign,
When neighbors knew each other best,
by what was on the line.

This post might surprise you, I carry a gun on my person every day, all day.

The video below explains my top three reasons why I carry. Here’s the summary…

1. My Personal Story

2. I’m a sheep dog

3. That’s the world we live in.

I’m give you a sneak peak in my every day carry (EDC) purse and what holster and gun I’ve chosen to protect myself and those I love.

1. Purse – Coach Legacy Flight CrossBody Bag

2. Keys – Swiss Army Knife Climber

3. Knife – Benchmade Griptillian Pink

4. Gun Magazine, Smith & Wesson. After market Pinkey extension from eBay

5. MagLite – Mag-Tac LED Scalloped Head

6. iPhone case – the Defender Otterbox (can’t go without it, I’d break my phone without it)

7. Gun – the 380 Bodyguard with Laser by Smith and Wesson. I keep it loaded with self-defense 380 Hornady Critical Defense bullets.

8. Holster IWB (Inside the Waist Band) – Crossbreed Mini Tuck made for my specific fire arm.

9. Not pictured, essential oils, chap stick and lotion.

Does my list surprise you? I’ve changed my ways and am thinking about how I can be more prepared if the &*&* hits the fan.

Please share below. Do you carry? What sorts of things you keep in your purse! I’d love to know, it’d give me ideas on how to better prepare myself!

Stay tuned I’m working on releasing another post on my EDC Diaper Bag.

Thanks for visiting!

I got a call from a family who had a wild honey bee hive in the eve of their house! I had no experience removing wild bee hives and the thought of climbing a 10′ ladder and removing the hive myself scared the liven day lights out of me! Especially after seeing how very hot (aka, Africanized Bees!) bees behave first hand.

You are probably thinking, why in the world would I want these bees?! Well, I”ll tell you these are my native bees to my specific area. They’re stronger than any package or nuc I could order in the mail. We’ve been doing bees for three years and lost all of them. Keeping bees at our place is by far the most difficult endeavor on our homestead, EVER. Learning how to keep bees is HARD (well at least for us it has been, the learning curve is straight up!)

A friend told me about a bee removal family, Einstein Bee Farm! I cold called them and to my surprise, the owners John and Cindy offered to come and teach me how to remove the hive!

I’m going to share with you…

1.) Our equipment list

2.) Hive removal video

3.) Removal pictures

4.) Honey bee resources

1.) EQUIPMENT & PREPARATION LIST

• A Bee Vacuum – you can make your own or buy one from places like Colorado Bee Vacuum or Dadent Swarm Box.
• A queen clip
  

  Queen Catcher Clip

• A box that fits your bars, top bar hives or Langstroth, whatever hive you’re using
• Long zip ties if your using top bar and rubber bands of you’re using Langstroth (to attached the comp to your frames)
• 100′ Foot Extension cords
• Two white sheets
• No Jewelry – take off your rings etc. If you get stung and swell, they’ll have to be cut
• Tin Snips
• Pry bars (several sizes)
• Hive tool
• Paint scrappers
• Scissors
• Pole saw (the two removals I’ve done we needed one!)
• If you have long hair, something to keep all strands back and away from your face (bandana, hair ties, bobby pins etc.)
• Smoker
• Lighter or blow torch
• Fuel for smoker – make your own with cardboard, wood chips, dryer lint,  cotton or other natural fiber string, pine needles etc. or buy pre-made fuel pellets like these from Mann Lake.
• Duck tape (to tape any area a bee could get in, like between your pant leg and boot) – find it here
• Sugar water in a spray bottle
• 5-Gallon Buckets (at least three, one to sit on, one for scrap trash/comb, one for good comb/honey/etc)
• Bucket with a solid top like a Gamma Seal, fill with water to wash hands in (if there’s lots of honey in your hive!
• Water Bottles to drink (if you’re in hot weather, use a cooler full of ice… cold weather a thermos of something hot!)
• Full bee suit, preferable with attached hood with full zipper! Whatever makes your happy. Just keep in mind you won’t know the temperament of the bees until your into the removal and if they’re hot. The 100% cotton ones we find to be the coolest if your in hot places like Texas!
• An EPI-PIN, If you think you may have a severe reaction to stings.

 2. ) HIVE REMOVAL AND RELOCATION (VIDEO)

 3.) Our Day in Pictures!

Didn’t have a ladder tall enough, went to Lowes and bought a 10′. Good excuse for more equipment

This is not a swarm. It’s an existing honey bee hive! Folks, read that again please. Read my typing… this is not a swarm. It’s a hive because there is comb.

Learning from the best folks, John and Cindy from Einstein Bee Farm. I would have never attempted this without their expertise and knowledge.

Lots and lots of tools, this is only a few of the great collection!

Box to the left is bee storage from the bee vacuum

Smoked a little and then started cutting comb off. Every move John made he looked for the queen.

Zip tied the comb to our Top Bar Goldstar Honey Bee hive. If you have a langstroth hive you can rubber band the comb. See picture, source is from Einstein Bee Farm.

Side note on getting the comb on top bars. I don’t recommend zip tying comb that is very heavy and dark. The bees will attach it to the bars, but the new wax cannot support the heavy comb. You won’t be able to work your hive at all. Heavy dark comb will fall from top bars, use Langstrough hives if you are removing a colony of bees that has been there for a long time. You’ll know they’ve been there for a long time if the wax is very very black and heavy. They’re won’t be much new wax (it’s light yellow). Don’t ask me how I know this. It was a painful lesson.

I learned from Cindy, this is a good brood pattern (brood is baby bee larvae), see how the capped brood is in a circle pattern.

Picture from Einstein Bee Farm

The goal is to find the queen. Get one of these queen clips. We didn’t find her on this removal, however, the good news is there was brood that was within 3 days of being laid and the bees made a new queen!

Brought the bees and comb back to the farm and John put in the comb and dumped in the bees.

 4. ) Resources

If your interested in honeybees relocation, check out …

The facebook page of Einstein Bee Farm, https://www.facebook.com/EinsteinBeeFarm

JP the Bee Man – http://www.jpthebeeman.com/jpthebeeman/ and his YouTube Channel – https://www.youtube.com/user/JPthebeeman

Welcome to Birth Story Collections at The Promiseland Farm! If you would like to share your birth story, please email me at thepromiselandfarm [at] gmail.com

A Healing Home Water Birth

This is the story of the home water birth of Elizabeth Joy, our second daughter.

The story begins three years before Elizabeth with the home birth of our first daughter Isabella. You can read Isabella’s complete birth story at The Promiseland Farm. By most standards Isabella’s birth was text-book perfect; labor was 10 hours and I progressed normally, contractions were as expected, baby did well the whole labor, midwives arrived at the perfect time, I never tore, baby and mommy had all healthy checks through out labor and birth, etc.

However, the truth was, Isabella’s birth was extremely traumatic for me (and my husband!).

The pain with my first birth was unbearable and nothing about it seemed natural, it was horrific, so painful that just the thought of having another baby for the next two years would bring tears to my eyes. I screamed so hard I’m sure you could hear me miles away. I had read every natural birth book on the shelves, watched every movie and documentary on birthing and pregnancy and the experience I had was nothing like what I read about. When Isabella (first baby) came out, I had no emotion, none of this instant joy or love that I saw in the movies or read about on the Internet. I was numb, I could not believe that I was still alive and the intense pain of the birth traumatized me.

I WANTED A DIFFERENT BIRTH STORY THE SECOND TIME.

Three years later, pregnant again, we decided to rent a birth pool from our midwives at Labor of Love in Tyler, TX and hire a professional Doula, birth photographer and placenta encapsulator Kali Parks from Mama Matters. Those two decisions took us down a completely different birth path.

This pregnancy was different, I was tired, I constantly had Braxton hicks hardening throughout the entire pregnancy, and especially when I’d squat down or be on my feet all day. Also, my groin… oh my goodness, I felt like the baby was going to fall out, so much pressure down there, pretty much the entire pregnancy! I was a big complainer almost the entire pregnancy; very uncomfortable. Koodos to my husband for putting up with me!

I went almost two weeks over-due with my first baby, the second time around when I was 5 days over 40 weeks, I figured I had at least a week left, how wrong I was! The first sign, I should have paid more attention to, was 24 hours before labor started, my bowels start cleaning out naturally. I mean going to the bathroom three times a day, until you are totally clean. This exact same thing happened right before my first birth. I should have realized my body was preparing for labor!

The day I went into labor, I worked our honeybee hives.

I had a difficult hive split to do because the honey bees were making swarm cells. It was hot and stressful; I sometimes wonder if the combination of the full moon, and the stress of working the bees is what gave Elizabeth her eviction notice!

Saturday afternoon, we ate lunch and my husband, Andrew and Isabella (now 3 y/o) spent the evening blowing up the birth pool and rearranging the living room furniture to make the pool fit. We were advised to get the pool set up because there might not be time for it when labor started. We had no idea labor would start that night!

After dinner, we had a little photo shoot for our daughters 3^rd birthday and maternity pictures of my very “preggers” belly.

Picture source: Renee London Photography

We went to bed and I slept hard until Andrew work me up at 1:00 p.m. by asking me if I was okay. He said I was groaning in my sleep and wondered if I was all right. It was then I felt something different than my typical hardening or Braxton hicks, something stronger. It was a hardening in my belly that made me focus and groan. I got out of bed to go to the bathroom and lost my mucus plug, which is like a cap on the cervix. It was then that we started timing intervals between contractions (there’s several free apps on the iPhone that are great tools for this!). Surprisingly, the hardening was about 60 seconds long and 5 minutes apart. We timed this three times, so 15 minutes later I started to freak out a bit because I knew labor had started.

Andrew started down our call list at 1:20 AM.

The first on my call list was my Mom, she lives 3 hours away and I really wanted her support at the birth this time around. Second on the list was to page our midwife team and then leave a message for our Doula. Both the Doula and Midwives were 1.5 hours driving time away. I went through another three sets of contractions and they moved to three minutes apart, 60 seconds long. This happened before my birth team had even head our way… I knew I needed to slow down labor because we wanted their help! So I got in a hot bath and put in lots of magnesium flakes and lavender essential oil in the water. This did the trick and the intense contractions calmed down, but they stayed consistent at three minutes apart.

Food and drink during labor and the hours afterwards

This was not my husband’s first rodeo and he knew exactly what to get ready while I was in the tub. We live in the country, so if we want to eat well, we have to make it! Andrew took out quarts homemade frozen soup, sourdough bread, sausage, bacon and homemade waffles to get us through breakfast and lunch. I had stocked the freezer with food for the months after the baby arrived, so we were prepared to fed our birth team and ourselves.

Andrew knew I liked things dark, really dark for labor so he made sure all the blinds were drawn and took out flashlights for everyone. He also got out my labor drinks of a smoothie of strawberry banana kefir and egg yolks, and a bottle of coconut water, all in mason jars with a straws ready to go (If you love mason jars, you have to check out the Ball jar sip and straw combo, they’re awesome!)

Help arrives!

The first of our birth team to arrive was our first midwife, Sarah. Then my Doula (labor coach), Kali arrived. I had just got out of the tub and contractions were starting to get stronger. Between contractions, we’d talk and laugh about silly things but we’d all get quiet when a contraction started. I labored standing, leaning on Andrew, sitting on the couch and made sure to move around and sway to help my baby move down. It was this time that Vicky the head midwife arrived around 3:30 a.m. My Mom arrived an hour later around 4:30 a.m. to help run the house, kitchen and our take care of our 3 y/o if she woke up.

When Vicky arrived; I asked her if she’d check me. I really felt like my contractions were bringing this baby down. To my surprise, I was actually fully dilated and effaced. Ha, I didn’t believe my ears!

Then she told me I could start pushing if I wanted to. What?!?! I didn’t think I’d had enough pain yet to be fully dilated? Remembering the pain from my first birth, I didn’t have any desire to push yet, so I told her “nope” not yet I need more time, I don’t feel like my body’s ready yet.

I went though two contractions standing up leaning on my bed and then Vicky suggested I should eat something. It was here I drank the smoothie Andrew had made earlier. Then my Doula, Kali said that if I wanted to get in the birth pool, now would probably be a good time. She knew I wanted to wait until the very end of labor to get in the tub. With my prior birth, I labored a lot in the bathtub and at the end I got too hot to stay in there! Our bathroom and tub are small and not ideal for birth.

We put the birth pool in the living room and had lots of room, air circulation and a fan. The birth pool felt soooo good!

As with my first birth, I liked my birth space pitch dark. I mean dark, really dark, no lights. We had also hired our Doula Kali to be our birth photographer, and she mentioned that if we wanted some pictures she’d have to turn some lights on. I told her how about between contractions we can turn the lights on and you can get a few pictures and then we need to turn the lights off so I can focus on the contraction. She agreed and this is the only picture I have in labor.

Contractions started to get really really really strong and I started to say things like, “why am I doing this again”, “Kali how did you do this four times?!” That’s when Kali told me, “you’re going through transition and doing so well”. Although the contractions were very intense,I never realized it was transition because it was so much more manageable in the birth pool! I never felt like I wanted to jump off a building or be rolled in the ER for a C-Section like with my first birth. The birth pool totally made the pain manageable. I’d have 60 seconds of very strong contractions and then about 2 minutes of break where I could talk, take a drink or drift off to sleep. My husband held my hand to my right and my Doula was behind me putting counter pressure on my shoulders during contractions. Kali knew exactly what to say and do to encourage me.

Then contractions come closer together and didn’t give me a break. All I could focus on was breathing. My team encouraged me to take long deep breaths instead of short shallow breaths. I naturally kept mouth open in a large O during contractions (which is recommended in all the natural birth books, my favorite books were Ina May Gaskin’s book “Spiritual Midwifery” and Childbirth Without Fear by Grantly Dick-Read). Keeping your mouth open and loose is mirrored down below to open for the baby. Being able to keep my month open and loose was really incredible, because even though I knew about this technique before, I didn’t do in my first birth. I bite down so hard during contractions that my gums permanently receded! I gave Andrew a bite guard to have on hand if I started gritting my teeth again, which amazingly, I never needed!

It was at this time we started hearing the birds chirping outside and the sun peaking through the windows. All I remember is, I have to get this baby out because I don’t want the light during contractions!

Pushing…

My contractions were strong and they did the work for me. All I did was make sure I was breathing and accepting the pain that the contraction brought, which was all consuming! The birth pool and water supported me and I could feel the baby move down the birth canal with each contraction. The natural force of the contraction would push the baby down and after the contraction the head would draw back and recede about a half inch. Which is awesome because the baby drawing back between contraction is natures way of gently opening things up so I didn’t tear.

I had a sense that I did not need to force the “pushing” this time around. So, I asked to just be left to do it myself; I asked them to please don’t coach me to push…“these contractions are doing it”, I said, “just give me time.” They informed me that this could be a crucial time for the baby in the canal and that I needed to push. I told them, “No, leave me alone; my body is doing it, don’t talk please, just trust me it’s working.” Between the contractions, my Midwives monitored my blood pressure and the baby’s heart rate with their Doppler. Neither one of us had any issues so they were patient to let me go at my own pace.

I knew my body was doing it’s finest work and no one could really coach me when and how to push. Every contraction was different, and my mind and body were working together naturally in response.  Afterall, who needs coaching to go to the bathroom…it’s really very similar except more painful I would have a lighter contraction and then a harder one, and I could tell that each one had a different for purpose maneuvering the baby through my pelvis. And being in the water of the birth pool, I could feel all of it!

I could feel the baby spinning, rotating and moving down! This was not the case with my first birth. My first birth I was coached though every push and looking back it all seemed more forced and un-natural that resulted in unbearable pain – it was hell.

At this point, I reached down and could feel the entire top head of the baby right at the entrance; it was an amazing and powerful experience to actually feel it right there. It was then I felt a pop and gush and I told them my water broke. They turned on the lights (to my dismay!) to check the water and make sure it was clear, which it was.  Then my contractions were really strong and I had the natural desire to push for the first time. Holding my husbands hand to my right and Kali with her hands on my shoulders, I entered the last phase of labor.

I pushed hard and screamed loud for the first time, and out came the baby’s head! The scream woke up my three old who had been sleeping back in her bedroom thus far, through the whole thing. My Mom went to get her. It was several seconds before I felt another contraction and I screamed for the second time pushing hard to get the shoulders out. My Mom came back into the living room with my daughter just in time to see Vicky catch the baby and bring it up out of the water!

Elizabeth Joy was born Father’s day at 6:07 a.m. Sunday morning. The whole labor had lasted five hours. Vicky kept her facing down and she immediately let out a cry and turned pink! I wanted her instantly and reached out for her, a wave of beautiful emotions ran over me…instant love, happiness, joy and excitement. It was so powerful! A much different feeling than I had with my first birth.

We had decided to opt out of all ultrasounds during pregnancy, and so the gender of our baby was a surprise. The Midwives told Andrew to “unwrap your Father’s Day present”, so Andrew pulled away the towel and discovered a little girl! Kali caught the moment in this picture…

We named her Elizabeth Joy. Because she gave her Daddy and I so much instant Joy! She came out with a perfect 10 APGAR ((Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, Respiration). This birth was beautiful and I bonded with Elizabeth instantly. Little Elizabeth wanted to suck right away and latched on in the birth pool!

After a few minutes soaking in the moment and holding baby Elizabeth in the birth tub, it was time to get up and do all the post-birth stuff.  The placenta didn’t seem to want to release while I was in the pool, so I got out of the water holding Elizabeth.  One step away from the pool and I felt some strong contractions, Elizabeth had already latched on and wouldn’t let go…the sucking triggered the release and I passed the placenta, which hurt (thank you very much!). While we were still standing there, holding Elizabeth, the umbilical cord stopped pulsing and Vicky clamped the cord.  Andrew cut it and then he gave the scissors to Isabella (my three year old, held by my Mom) so she could pretend to cut it too!

Then we all moved to the bed where Vicky checked the baby and I…no excessively bleeding and I didn’t tear;  everything checked out perfect – praise Jesus!

Our three-year-old had learned about the birth process with a doll from Mama AmorDoll. We also used a play doctor kit to show her what kind of tools would be used in the birth.   She brought all of these toys to the bed with us for the check-up.  The picture below shows her holding the pretend “placenta”; the Mama Amor doll is laying on the bed (in the green dress) and I’m holding the infant baby doll.  The doll is pretty neat; it has a place for the baby and placenta in her tummy and the baby comes out just like a real one. The doll also has snaps for the infants mouth so the infant doll can pretend to breastfeed. It was a good way for our toddler to understand what was going to happen to her real Mommy!

We also used some story books to teach her about birth; here are some of our favorites:

Before You Were Born, by J. Davis

Our Water Baby by A. Maelean

Born Right Here at Home by C. Austin

Hello Baby by J. Overend

Our little 3 y/o slept through most of the labor, but did really well at at the grand finale and we were so glad she was there to be a part of her sister’s birth!

My Birth Plan

During my first pregnancy, I never prepared a written “birth plan”, but this time I did at the encouragement of my Doula, Kali, I put it all on paper.  At both of my prenatal with Kali,  we worked though all of my concerns. This mental preparation and writing my thoughts on paper that made all the difference, and really helped me have a better birth experience. I had given a copy of my birth plan to both my Midwife and Doula.  Surprisingly, everything happened according to the plan!

Postpartum Experience

I had also planned for a better postpartum experience.  I had been reading that eating your placenta will shorten the time with postpartum bleeding, speed up recovery, boost your energy and relieve postpartum blues.  It seemed like a pretty wild idea, but then again, I had seen cows naturally and instinctively eat their afterbirth here on the farm, so there had to be something to it.  So, I took the plunge and employed the help of Kali once again, who also offers a placenta encapsulating service, where she simply dehydrates it and puts it in pill form.  After four weeks post baby birth,  I can tell you all the things I read are true.  I totalllly recommend eating the placenta, and everyone around you will love you for it, because you’ll be such a more pleasant person.

Trust me – placenta pills are pretty close to magic pills!!

I was so blessed by my Doula, Kali with MamaMatters.com, my Midwives Vicky and Sarah from Labor of Love in Tyler Texas, my Husband and my Mother. I highly recommend rallying a support team to help you through birth and afterwards.

You have to ask people for help.

Having babies is one of the times in your life when you need support.

I will be forever grateful to my team.

Two-day postpartum check up at Labor of Love in Tyler Texas.

The End!

Thank you for reading. I hope our story has encouraged you to consider using a midwife, doula and try a home water birth. And most of all not to fear birth, it’s a natural blessing from the Lord!

If you’re tired of…

all the nasty chicken mess in the barn,

pot holes and bare patches of earth from chickens scratching,

having to clean out your chicken house, all the nasty feather/dander/dirt in the air?

Well, a portable coop is your solution! I’m going to share with you how we made our chicken tractor! Here’s our video on YouTube, enjoy and let me know how you like it!

Old running gear with four layers of old paint and in need of new tires and rims

We had our chicken coop in the barn for four years and the air and nastiness was more than my sinus could handle. Fortunately, my Hubby is a talented craftsman and he made us this portable Chicken Wagon Coop that we pull around our pastures.

Basic dimensions of the wagon are 7.5′ x 16′. The side walls are 4′ for the straight part and the roof goes up to 6′ at the ridge. We have about 40 chickens in there and we are not even close to maxing it out. There’s tons of room left.

The base is an old hay or cotton wagon running gear. Refurbishing and finding an old running gear was a big challenge. The very used and old running gear cost us $350, new tires and rims about $400, paint stripper and paint $50, sweat and tears $free I called around and for a running gear brand new this size with a flooring it was around $5,000 to $6,000 so rigging one up was well worth the effort!

Building the base

Framing and roofing the wagon

Building the chicken nest boxes

Windows on the wagon

30 Gallon bulk water tank

150 lb Bulk Chicken Feeder

Our chickens were use to going back to the barn to roost and we also had geese that wanted to live on our porch. The solution to our transition to their new coop was connecting two temporary electric poultry nets, a quick ground rod and a solar energizer. We can also keep our guard dogs in the pen there when we need to. We have sandy loam (pure sugar sand) and if we don’t get rain we can’t get a good ground. The solution is a five gallon bucket filled with water and a small hole on the bottom that slowly drips on the ground rod.

To help keep this homestead afloat, consider using our Amazon link for shopping,  CLICK HERE.

Welcome to Birth Story Collections at The Promiseland Farm!

Did you know that breech babies are a variation of normal?

Let me rephrase that, breech babies are normal and you can have a home birth with a breech baby! Just because you have a breech baby does not mean you need to schedule a c-section.

Let me introduce you to Joleen! She is married to Logan and they live in Minnesota. They are parents to Emsley and are expecting their second baby any day! Some of Joleen’s interests include hunting, camping, and just doing things outdoors. Joleen loves being a stay-at-home mom and spending time with family. Joleen is very involved in our church and am passionate about teaching the word of God to kids. She teaches Sunday school, and is part of an after school program teaching kids the gospel. Husband, Logan, at the time of this story, worked for his parents at Wilderness Family Naturals, but since then he has gotten a new job working for Minnesota Power.

Here’s their story…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I became pregnant in November 2010. Logan and I both came from large families and were very excited to start a family of our own. The first 3 months of my pregnancy were very hard.

Suffered from extreme morning sickness

I took herbs to prepare for labor

Welcome to Birth Story Collections at The Promiseland Farm! If you would like to share your birth story, please email me at thepromiselandfarm[at]gmail.com

Heather lives in Kansas with her husband, daughter, and zen dog Charley on a 20 acre homestead. They have chickens for eggs and meat, a milk cow, beef cow, and are growing a garden. Heather is a Stay-at-Home Mom to Paisley, who is now a toddler. She blogs at Mama Mulholland, to read more about it click here.

Their story…

Wednesday 8:00 p.m. Labor started

11:00 p.m. Notify the midwife – we’re in early labor

4:00 a.m. Midwife arrives

Paisley’s arrival!

Crowning and pushing!