A Farmer and A Teacher

New Additions!

2020-06-16T16:15:00.001-07:00

Our farm has grown by three goats!

Meet Lily's 4-H project:

Last year Lily participated in a goat-leasing program which culminated in her showing a goat at the Wright County Fair.

We could have participated in the same program this year, but the pandemic had many details up in the air. Through a happy set of circumstances, involving a hay customer and her newly freshened doe goat, and the fact that we have plenty of room on our farm, we decided that Lily should be a goat owner instead of a goat leasee.

These three Nubian siblings arrived at our farm two weeks ago. Zeus (red collar), Athena (pink), and Percy (teal). Lily owns Zeus and Athena; Lily's good friend and fellow 4-Her/goat enthusiast purchased Percy and keeps him at our farm with his siblings. A perfect arrangement!

These babies will be 6 weeks old this week. It's been a busy time of bottle-feeding, pen construction, and running around with goats! They love to run, jump, kick up their heels, and eat trees (and roses!)! They are so tame that they follow us where ever we lead them. Much easier to handle than calves!

Athena is Lily's registered Nubian (that's the goat breed) doe. She's the future of Lily's herd (if Lily sticks with it that long...). This young thing won't have her first kids for almost two years, which is a l-o-n-g time to wait for goat milk! Lots needs to happen between now and then, including showing her at the fair!

As fate would have it, the year we buy goats, the fair ends up being cancelled (as Tate says, "Darn coronavirus!"), but 4-H will still do something for all the kids enrolled in animal projects. Likely a virtual event instead of an in-person event, but at least the hard work that these 4-H kids put into their projects will be recognized.

Unfortunately for Percy and Zeus, this is the only year that they are fair eligible. Being wethers (bucklings who are fixed), they are considered a meat goat (whereas Athena is a dairy goat). If we were raising them for meat, their lifespan would end this fall.

Luckily for Zeus, he has a permanent job as a companion for Athena, because goats need companionship in order to thrive. And Percy? He's along for the ride!

The kids are having a great time with these little cuties, and the responsibility that comes with caring for animals is a priceless experience for them.

I'm excited for the possibilities that the future holds for us as goat owners!

Pasture Rambles...

2020-06-10T20:08:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things to do in the springtime is to walk through our pastures. Spring is the best time for pasture rambling, before the grass is too high, or the bugs emerge. I love to take the kids with me and discover nature treasures with them, but their pace is faster than mine, their voices louder than mine, their attention span shorter than mine. And so sometimes I sneak off on my own to walk slowly, explore, be quiet, listen, observe, and discover.

I took these pictures two weeks ago and meant to post them right away, but life, work, the end of school, and (I'll admit) a few good books prevented me. Even though time has already changed what I would see on a walk now, I'd still like to share my spring exploration.

More bees have arrived

Coyote tracks in fresh mud.

Can you see the trackway?

Every little black dot is a tadpole...

Tadpoles!

The kids and I had found this robin's nest in our wild plum tree the week before. Mama Robin had been diligently guarding her eggs.

But now, an empty nest...

Perhaps whatever left this scat at the base of the tree was the culprit...?

Or whatever is living in this hole a few feet away...?

Bean sprouts emerging in the field (they are much bigger now).

Another set of coyote tracks -- these heading down the farm road toward Grandma and Grandpa's.

Crab Apple tree in bloom in the pasture.

The bees are enjoying the blossoms, too.

My lovely little goddaughter was baptized a year ago this week. And I missed it. Because a year ago I was hobbling around with a cane, recovering from my second go-round with debilitating sciatica. Living with a back injury is a cross Christ has asked me to bear. A small one most of the time. I'm never unaware that this cross could loom large if I move wrong, lift wrong, or twist wrong.

When I ramble through our pastures, my heart sings praises to the Lord for my pain-free stride. Thanks be to God for health, healing, and unencumbered steps that lead to little discoveries in this beautiful world He has created for us.

O Sacrament Most Holy...

2020-06-03T07:04:00.002-07:00

Our sweet Tate was supposed to make his First Communion on May 2nd at our home Parish, Ss. Peter and Paul. May 2nd came and went with our beloved churches closed and access to the sacraments limited.

When Gov. Walz ended the stay-at-home order, our priest immediately made daily Mass available to attendees according to the guidelines set by the Archdiocese, so I signed up our family for a pew. Soon afterward, a phone call with our wonderful Faith Formation Director resulted in the decision that not only would our family be attending Mass for the first time since March, but Tate would also be receiving his First Holy Communion that day!

Tate was well-prepared. His teacher at St. Francis Xavier School had been working with the children throughout the school year. He and I had worked our way through our Faith Formation program books, had read stories of children receiving their First Communion, and, most fittingly, we had just finished making our Marian Consecration as a family. (see previous post, I take you as my Mother...).

On Tuesday, May 26th, our second-born became a tabernacle of our Lord. The Mass was at St. Thomas Church in Corcoran; not our home parish, but part of our parish cluster. The sparse Mass attendees prayed over him, clapped for him, and thanked him for the joy they brought to the celebration.

Social distancing, hand sanitizer, masks... but still, receiving our Lord.

Tate and Fr. Jenson, after having his special gifts blessed.

We are so proud of this young man!

Receiving a special rosary as a gift from Mom and Dad.

Special treats for his special day!

Tate's First Communion was very different from Lily's four years ago. Hardly anyone in church, a weekday Mass, no professional photographer, no large celebration afterward because of Covid. We could have waited and scheduled his sacrament at a Sunday Mass. His classmates at St. Francis Xavier (who are all members of that parish) have been scheduled to receive theirs in September and October, when hopefully Mass restrictions have been lifted and family and friends can attend.

But, why wait? When the heart is ready, why postpone receiving Jesus? I must say, having Tate receive this sacrament so "privately," with just a few people as witnesses (including my parents and his godfather -- what a blessing!) was very poignant. It reminded me of the true significance of this most holy of sacraments: that Jesus wants to be with us. It is about Him and us. Not about who else is there or the celebration afterward. Don't get me wrong, receiving Jesus in the Eucharist for the first time deserves to be celebrated(!), but the beauty of the experience isn't in the celebration, and lack of a celebration certainly isn't a reason to postpone a sacrament.

My heart aches a little at what Tate missed -- being surrounded by family and friends as he takes this momentous step in his faith. At the same time, I'm incredibly grateful, especially given these uncertain, turbulent times, that Christ as come to my beautiful son's heart. I'm glad we didn't wait.

O sacrament most holy,

O sacrament divine,

All praise and all thanksgiving

Be every moment thine!

I take you as my Mother...

2020-05-25T06:14:00.002-07:00

An unexpected gift of this season of "pandemic" has been the gift of time. When schedules abruptly cleared, home became the sanctuary it was always meant to be. Many of us tackled projects, resurrected old hobbies, started new ones, and found ways to cherish the ordinary days.

My children and I have been cherishing the days of the Easter season by going through a Marian Consecration using a book for children by Carrie Gress.

For 34 days we've gathered each evening to read the day's passage, talk through the discussion questions, and pray to Mary, our Mother. Together we relished the beautiful blue-on-white illustrations, took joy in connecting some of our favorite children's stories with our Catholic faith, and considered the lives of saints who had a special devotion to Our Lady.

My children (and I) learned that you don't have to be grown-up and mighty to do beautiful things for Our Lord and His Mother. With St. Therese and her "Little Way" as an example, we can offer all of the little parts of our day for Our Lady's intentions.

Our consecration culminated yesterday on the Feast of Mary, Help of Christians. We gathered in our little playhouse-turned-chapel and took turns praying the consecration prayer. We took Mary as our Mother and asked her to always remember us as her devoted children. I made a copy of the prayer for each of us to sign and date.

We chose to start our consecration so that it ended on the feast day of Mary, Help of Christians with the hope that we can someday soon make a pilgrimage to the Holy Hill Basilica and National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians in Wisconsin.

Holy Hill

Every night for 34 days, sharing the beauty of Our Lady with my children. What a gift! We didn't miss a single evening. There were no school functions, no social gatherings, no 4-H meetings, no sports practices to disrupt or distract us. I know for certain we wouldn't have been able to dedicate ourselves to this consecration without the precious gift of time that God has granted us all through this "pandemic."

Mary, Help of Christians, ora pro nobis!

St. Isidore and the Birthday Girl.

2020-05-17T09:26:00.001-07:00

Grandma and Grandpa had this hanging on the tree in our yard when Lily woke up on Friday morning-- grandparents are the best!

We celebrated a birthday on May 15th! Our lovely Lily turned 12. It wasn't the special celebration at school that Lily had been planning on all year. My husband knows that birthdays stress me out, because I want so much for the birthday child to feel loved and special, but I'm also not always great at pulling things together. Our sweet and gracious Lily takes things as they come, though, and appreciates it all. It turned out to be a great day with visits from family, friends, and a special outing.

Lily was able to share an outdoor play date and birthday celebration with her birthday buddy, my little god-daughter who turned 1 this year. It was so refreshing to take a break from school and work to enjoy the beautiful weather, fellowship, and play with dear friends.

After me working several hours in the afternoon while Kurt and Lily made her birthday cake, we surprised Lily with a visit to a nearby farm to cuddle baby goats. These guys were so stinking cute! And tiny! They were only a week old and knee-high on Gemma.

Then it was back home for a very late dinner and even later birthday cake. We had to put her twelve candles in one corner of the cake because the cake was still so warm it melted the wax off the birthday candles. This way only one corner was tainted.

Lily's birthday is also the feast day of a saint who is important to our family: St. Isidore the Farmer. Born in Spain, Isidore was a poor farmer who put his faith first while working very hard at his vocation. Legend has it that when the church bells rang out over the fields at noon, Isidore paused his work to pray the Angelus. To repay his faithfulness, an angel would take up his plow and continue his work for him. We often invoke St. Isidore's intercession for our farming ups and downs, and have multiple images of him in our home.

A crusty prayer card in the milk house.

In our dining room.

On our family altar.

St. Isidore the Farmer, ora pro nobis!

Thank you to all the family and friends who made Lily's birthday special with visits, cards, text messages, videos, phone calls, and prayers. She's a very loved birthday girl!

The Bees are Here!

2020-05-13T05:40:00.000-07:00

Bee hives in our pasture.

The bees have arrived at Steinke Farms! Each summer, an aviary out of Waverly keeps bees in our east pasture. This is the first delivery; eventually each stack will be twice as high.

The aviary doesn't pay "rent," but they do provide us with a dozen pounds of their honey each fall. The Steinke family members have been enjoying fresh honey for years!

The creator in me loves the colors that they use for their hive boxes, and I've often wondered if they are chosen for a purpose. Does anyone know?

The kids and I frequently hike through the east pasture. They know to stay away from the boxes. As we walk by, bees will zip past our heads in every direction; but we know that if we don't bother the bees, they won't bother us. When the cows are out to pasture, they contentedly graze among the boxes. The bees love to journey to our raspberry patch in the yard and our garden.

Pollinators for our plants and fresh honey each fall! A home for the bees and a blessing for us!

How Times Change...

2020-05-11T05:43:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been awhile since I've added a post to my blog, and goodness, life has changed.

I reread my "Welcome" post. I still feel that way, that I have a unique perspective on life and farming and kids and work and the intersection of it all. But, I had to change the name of my blog. It couldn't be "Dairy in the Suburbs" anymore, because we aren't. We are no longer a dairy.

Our empty barn.

We aren't a dairy in the suburbs, but we are a farmer and a teacher. Last summer, we started the difficult process of selling our milking herd. The first step in that process was for me to find full-time work. God took care of that step for us. By the end of July, I had accepted a position as a full-time K-8th Latin teacher at a Catholic school 20 minutes from home, and the kids were enrolled there to start in September. It would take another blog post to explain just how perfect this job position is for our family. Suffice it to say, God is good.

The cows left in October. It was both heart-wrenching and a relief. It still is. There were many graces in the process, and God walked each step with us in many ways. Again, another blog post. Suffice it to say, it was hard, there's still guilt, a little regret, a lot of wondering if we made the right decision.

Until the pandemic hit. Until the bottom dropped out of the dairy industry and prices dropped to lows Kurt and I had never seen in our years together. Until we had other farmers tell us that we "sure sold our cows at the right time." Until, in the mist of heartache and guilt and uncertainty, a light shown through. A revelation that God protected us in this. He started this process and led us on a difficult, but safer, path because He knew what was coming.

And so, there is Trust. Even when uncertainty creeps in, there's trust. And a life rewritten. Because even though we aren't a dairy in the suburbs anymore, we are happy to be a farmer and a teacher. We still farm; crops are planted, hay is growing; chickens are laying eggs. And, we have these...

Our remaining ladies...

When we sold our cows, we planned to sell all of our youngstock, too, but prices were so low, we just couldn't do it. So, we still have a herd of 19 heifers. Some of them are bred, and we continue to breed them as they come into heat. Our plan for them continues to shift, and at present they are going to maintain our pastures. The future of these gals remains to be seen... and I can't deny that I miss fresh milk!

Snow Stress and Spring Salutations

2019-03-20T19:27:00.000-07:00

Ugh, this winter. It was a long one, wasn't it? So much snow... That last big snowfall on March 9th almost did us in. Every building was groaning under the weight of the snow. In fact, our machine shed was groaning so much, that on March 11th Kurt realized the support beams in the roof were literally snapping. *Snapping!!* He had no choice but to climb on the roof and start shoveling. I took one look at the fully extended ladder and realized the most helpful thing I could do was to start calling friends and family. Thankfully we found some who were able to assist. Others were too busy trying to clear the roofs of their own buildings. It was an immense and utterly exhausting task, but the building was saved. Whew.

My husband hastily shoveling waist-deep snow off of our machine shed.

Here you can see three of the four snapped supports. Two of the main beams were also cracked, and two more supports were bent and strained almost to the breaking point.

But, we are well past that snow stress now, and the hope of spring is in the air! The car said 50 degrees today! The snow is melting quickly, the treacherous ice has already melted from our driveway (leaving a mud mess, but I'll take it!), and the record snow totals of February are becoming a distant memory.

We read a fitting poem by Robert Frost in the class I teach at our local homeschool co-op. Here it is:

To The Thawing Wind

Come with rain, O loud Southwester!

Bring the singer, bring the nester;

Give the buried flower a dream;

Make the settled snowbank steam;

Find the brown beneath the white;

But whate’er you do tonight,

Bathe my window, make it flow,

Melt it as the ice will go;

Melt the glass and leave the sticks

Like a hermit’s crucifix;

Burst into my narrow stall;

Swing the picture on the wall;

Run the rattling pages o’er;

Scatter poems on the floor;

Turn the poet out of door.

Yes, spring winds, come, bring back the singer, bring back the nester, and turn us all (especially my kids!) out of door.

Celebrating Michaelmas...

2018-10-01T20:18:00.000-07:00

Saturday, September 29th was Michaelmas, the traditional Catholic feast of St. Michael the Archangel. Technically, we celebrate SS. Gabriel and Raphael, too, but St. Michael is special to our family as he is Tate's patron saint. We celebrated by making Croustilles Saint-Michel (sounds fancy in French; in English that translates to "fish sandwich") and Blackberry Fool. Legend has it that when St. Michael expelled Lucifer from heaven, the devil fell into a prickly blackberry bush; thus St. Michael's association with blackberries.

As Gemma examined the above St. Michael statue, she observed, "St. Michael fights the devil with a spear." Tate quickly refuted this, insisting, "St. Michael doesn't fight with a spear or a sword, he fights with prayer."

St. Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou,
O Prince of the heavenly hosts,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan,
and all the evil spirits,
who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

St. Michael, pray for us (especially Tate)!

Harvest is Underway

2018-09-25T19:36:00.000-07:00

It's harvest season! Every year the earliness of harvest season takes me by surprise. When most people think of harvest (do most people think of harvest, or is that just a farmer thing...?), they picture fall, fields of dried corn, leaves swirling in the breeze.

In reality, harvest starts on our farm in late August, weather dependent. Oats are already in, the last of the hay has been stored in the barn, and our corn silage is safely fermenting in its bag.

Corn silage has to be chopped at just the right time: too wet, and you'll have liquid flowing out of the bag; too dry, and it won't be moist enough to ferment. This is the first time in three years that we've managed to chop corn silage. This is a big deal! When we don't have silage to feed our cows through the winter, that means they eat more hay, and when they eat more hay, that means we run out of hay, and when we run out of hay, that means we need to find some (and the money) to buy. In past years, rain has made the fields too muddy to work in, and we missed our chopping window (i.e., the corn was too dry). So, praise be(!), the silage is in!

Morning prayers during harvest season always include the intention of "good weather and a good harvest." So, thank you, dear Lord above, for allowing us this bountiful beginning to our harvest.

Enjoy the video below of our silage chopper in action (and if it doesn't work, bear with me, I'm still new at this).

Take care and God bless!

Welcome

2018-09-25T19:19:00.001-07:00

Welcome to my blog! My name is Susan. My husband, Kurt, and I have a dairy farm in Hennepin County, Minnesota, where we raise cows, crops, chickens, and kids (and barn cats, but not intentionally; they raise themselves...). We've been married thirteen years and have three children whom we homeschool: Lily (10), Tate (6), and Gemma (4). Thus, I wear many hats: wife, mother, farmer, teacher, bookkeeper, homemaker, driver of children, faithful Catholic, and now, blogger!

The conception of this blog stemmed from my desire to keep family and friends up-to-date with our life on the farm. The more I thought about starting the blog, the more I realized that we have a bit of a unique perspective where we live. We own and operate a real, live dairy farm, and depend on it for our livelihood, and yet we can also be in downtown Minneapolis in about twenty-five minutes. If you take a left out of our driveway and motor east for about 23 miles, you'll arrive at Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins. We are at the junction of the urban, suburban, and country. A blog would give me the opportunity to give folks a peak into the life of farmers who are making a living in the suburbs.

And so, that will be the focus of my blog; our farm life, the ups and downs, the triumphs and struggles, the seasons and reasons. With kids, and homeschooling, and other fun tidbits thrown in there, too. So, I hope you enjoy, maybe learn a little something, smile once in a while, and invite others along for the ride.

God bless and best wishes.

Spotty and her pretty white bull calf, Polar Bear