- eggs, eggs, eggs

I think it is time for us to actually start selling some eggs... want some?  

Our eggs are free from anti-biotics, hormones, and by-product filler feed.  They are laid by hens raised on pasture and allowed to express their "chicken-ness".  We encourage you to come by and see for yourself how your food is being raised. 

$3.50 per dozen // Contact us if interested: mail@lpfarm.org or (812) 606-8783

- barocky road ice cream

In honor of the 44th President of the United States, Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream has introduced a new flavor: " Barocky Road ."

Barocky Road is a blend of half vanilla, half chocolate, and surrounded by nuts and flakes.  The vanilla portion of the mix is not openly advertised and usually denied as an ingredient.  The nuts and flakes are all very bitter and hard to swallow.

The cost is $100.00 per scoop.

When purchased it will be presented to you in a large beautiful cone, but after you pay for it,  the ice cream is taken away and given to the person in line behind you at no charge.

You are left with an empty wallet and no change, holding an empty cone with no hope of getting any ice cream.

Are you stimulated?

--thanks for sending this to me Jim --

- what else do I need to say?

My wife sent me one of these, but I found them both at the Baltimore Sun and thought I'd share them.  Another situation where I chuckle, then shake my head in sadness and dismay because they are both so true.

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Oh yeah, I know this is a bit degrading to sheep (sorry Larry), but we have become like a nation of sheep willing to follow the shepherd wherever he deems it best to take us; even if it is right off the edge of a cliff.

- a great man tried to warn us

Just like so many others - he tried to warn us, but we have proven to be too stupid to heed their warnings.  I said after the election, we deserve whatever evil/stupidity we get; we brought it upon ourselves.  It is we who have allowed the brainwashing of our children in schools and the ever increasing dependency on the government.  As the old Toyota slogan stated "You asked for it, You got it".

Reagan on Socialized Medicine from Douglas Phillips on Vimeo

- ducks

Just when you thought we couldn't get any crazier, we go ahead and prove you wrong.  A couple days ago I was on the way home from the airport and stopped at a “country store” for a few supplies; I decided to try something else new.

Yes they are very cute, but that had nothing to do with my decision to bring them home; I figured they would be fun to raise, but would taste good in few months.  I had read that you could raise this particular breed (Pekin) alongside chickens, so I figured “why not give it a shot?”  We’ll see how they work out; so far they are doing well and are providing some entertainment at the same time.

- enjoying the sun

As you can see, we are not the only ones enjoying the warmer weather that has arrived.  It is a fairly common sight to see Turkey Vultures perched around our property, but it is not often that they are this close to the house.

- twitter

I finally gave in and jumped on the band wagon, one of them anyway.  I created a Twitter account and am updating it regularly.  As you will discover, I will "tweet" about each new blog post, but I will also send brief messages throughout the day simply telling what we are doing at Liberty Pastures.

I think it is great (especially for distant family members) who feel out of touch; if you want to know what we are doing all you need to do is create your own Twitter account and enter your e-mail or cell phone number; it is very simple.  If you need help just give me a call and I will walk you through it.

- I am still holding out and refuse to join Facebook or Myspace   :-)

- another tragedy

I am sad to have to report that one of our kids has died.  Liberty was the first kid that had survived birth on our farm, thus her name.  For the past several weeks she has been completely healthy and strong.  I checked on the animals this morning just after midnight and they were all fine, but when my children went down this morning they found Liberty dead.  There are no apparent injuries and we are left wondering what went wrong; I am assuming that she was somehow smothered by her mother, but we will never know.

Raising goats in this manner (all natural/organic) is proving to be much more difficult than we could have possibly imagined.  Our fatality rate so far is 52%; over the past year we have had 11 of our 21 goats die for various reasons.  I am very disheartened and am seriously considering abandoning the idea of raising goats long term.

We are still grateful for God’s grace and we love the experiences we have had and continue to have, but I will miss the little one who was our first born at Liberty Pastures.

- national "gun care"

My wife sent me a link to this post and I thought I'd share it with you.  It would save more innocent lives than the new "health care plan" and would actually promote some constitutional rights rather than just trample them - the humor/sarcasm should be obvious.  Just like Health Care, we are already covered...  Are you?

My proposal is a modest one:

• Mandate for every American to purchase a gun or be provided one by their employer (children under the age of 26 can share a weapon with their parents)

• Tax credits to offset the cost of purchase (for those making less than $250,000 per year and everyone in Nebraska)

• For those that can't afford it, a grant or subsidy to purchase a weapon (union members can get two weapons subsidized before 2018)

• Funding for a series of community based gun dealers/clinics and firing ranges (especially in under-served urban and rural areas)

• Monthly ammunition benefit so that no one has to choose between feeding their kids, paying the rent, or buying a box of .38 special cartridges

Contact your representative today. The time to act is now.

Read the whole article at: the American Thinker - M Allen Fritsch

- free no more

I have lost all faith in our government and the American people.

I simply do not understand how half of our nation can be in favor of this colossal mistake which is being called “reform”, but is nothing more than a giant step toward totalitarianism and ruin.  How did we get to the point where we are being run by Statists and they are being supported by so many stupid (or ignorant) people?

This bill is not about health care – it is about government control over our lives.  If it were about health, it would not include language involving the IRS, Student Loans, and different funding for different states.  I know this “Health Care Bill” will become law; my only hope is that it will be struck down as being unconstitutional (because it is), but most of the people who will make those decisions place no value on the constitution anyway.

We were a great nation once… a beacon on a hill, but oh how the mighty fall.  It started with FDR and the new deal; we took a giant leap towards socialism and all of those programs have been total failures.  Since then we have been slowly sliding down-hill toward complete socialism; if this bill is allowed to become the law-of-the-land, it will catapult us toward complete totalitarianism and the ultimate destruction of our once great nation.

I will continue to fight, I will not go quietly, but I am saddened beyond description.

The United States of America is no longer the “land of the free”.

- buy buy American pie

Another funny video that is sad, but true.

- custom wooden tote

A while back I made a few very simple wooden totes to use around the farm, but I wanted something more exquisite.  Since I can make functional, but not visually appealing, wood products I contacted my buddy (Jim) and told him of my idea.  All it took was a simple sketch and a few e-mails and he was able to create a wonderful gift that I had sent to my brother for his birthday.

Jim, being the generous man he is, decided to surprise me with a custom tote as a gift for me.  As you can see it is a work of art, yet at the same time it has proven to be durable and simply handy to have around.  I initially intended to use it as a means of carrying miscellaneous hand tools around the property, but have opted to use it as the farm animal medical kit.  I am sure he would love to make one for you; your imagination is the limit when it comes to having these types of custom creations made by Gathering Wood.

- funeral protestors

Court to rule in military funeral protest case

By Mark Sherman - The Associated Press

Posted : Monday Mar 8, 2010 18:02:12 EST

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is entering an emotionally charged dispute between the grieving father of a Marine who died in Iraq and the anti-gay protesters who picket military funerals with inflammatory messages like “Thank God for dead soldiers.”

The court agreed Monday to consider whether the protesters’ message, no matter how provocative or upsetting, is protected by the First Amendment or limited by the competing privacy and religious rights of the mourners.

The justices will hear an appeal from a Marine’s father to reinstate a $5 million verdict against the protesters after they picketed outside his son’s funeral in Maryland four years ago. Members of a Kansas-based church have picketed military funerals to spread their belief that U.S. deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq are punishment for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality.

I read this and simply thought -  WHAT????!!!!!!

It is extremely upsetting for me to read about these types of things and know that this kind of stupidity is actually happening in America.  Not only are these protesters some of the most evil, heartless, thoughtless, reckless people in our society, but they also perpetuate the image of all religious people being "wackos".

As to the protests themselves, if we cannot (or will not) protect the right of a family to bury their son in peace then we have truly lost ALL respect for those who protect and serve and we may as well call Castro or Kim Jung-il and give them the keys to the White House (if Barry hasn’t given it to them already).

- funny, but sad and true

A dear friend sent me a link to another blog (Your Sacred Calling) where this video had been posted; I am sure it has been posted many places, but this was the first time I had seen it and I felt compelled to share it.

Victoria Jackson is a little annoying and should not be singing, but she is funny too.  As my title states this video is funny, but extremely sad, frustrating, and true.  Sometimes I feel like the only sane person who sees our nation being destroyed.  Just for the record I was no huge fan of Bush either, but we are now on a fast track to becoming everything that our founding fathers were fighting against.  Anyway, I can feel my blood-pressure rising so I must stop my rant for now.

- wasted hay

We have always kept a manger full of hay inside the goat’s shelter as a supplement, but as winter approached and we ran out of pasture grass, hay became more of a staple.  The goats waste a tremendous amount of hay; once it gets a little dirty they are done with it.  As a result, we ended up with quite a lot of hay on the ground in the areas where the shelter had been.  The grass should be growing again soon, but in the mean-time they are eating almost nothing but hay.

A few days ago I decided to try and make use of the “wasted” hay that had been left behind by the goats.  I went around the fields, to the areas where the goat shelter had been stationed, and raked the hay into piles.  I was not sure if my efforts would be worthwhile, but I discovered a wonderful mess of  fermenting hay, goat urine, goat poop, and chicken poop.

You may be wondering how this mess could be so wonderful…  Well, if you have a compost bin and do any gardening you should know how great this combination can be.  As you can see below, I ended up with a lot of (already composting) waste hay and it wouldn’t all fit in our compost bin.  The big consolidated pile should continue to compost and breakdown on its own; I will take away little bits as we need it. 

- how much rock?

So this week we had yet another first; we had a bunch of crushed rock delivered to our home for our driveway.  Prior to living here our longest driveway was about 30 feet and all concrete.  Our driveway is now about 800 feet long and is not paved. 

When purchasing the home we knew there would be unexpected maintenance costs with the property, but I didn’t think about needing new rock every year for our driveway.  Between the rain and snow the old crushed rock has almost completely been pushed down leaving a very muddy mess in spots.  Before the Spring/Summer rains come, we decided to “bite the bullet” and have more rock dumped on the driveway.  After several different quotes, I opted to just have one truck-load delivered and see how well it covered…  To my dismay, I learned how relatively small 20 tons can be.  Next month we’ll get another load or two.    :-)

- what am I doing?

I just had one of those moments where I asked myself "what am I doing?"

A little while ago, I brought home 20 more chicks; these are Cornish Cross birds that we will raise for meat. We also just had our second successful kid birth.

Our animal count is now: Cats - 3
                                     Goats - 11
                                     Chickens - 75

- country children having fun

While I was hard at work, raking up hay, the children were having a blast by jumping into my collection.

As the sun was going down, they rode with me as we headed back to the house.

- little lady Liberty

We have had several does deliver kids in the past month, but they have all either been still-born or died very shortly after delivery.  None of those births had been witnessed, but we always found the dead kids in the morning. 

Sunday night - as I do every night after the sun goes down - I went out to check on the animals and look for any potential predators; this night was a little different though.  As I was walking near the barn I thought I heard something a little odd… it sounded a bit like a human baby.

When I looked in the barn I saw a new-born kid lying in the hay next to “Mama”.  Mama was clearly not herself and I figured she had another kid to deliver.  I notified my wife and children of the news, via radio, and they hurried to get dressed and come down to the barn.  As they were approaching, Mama started to deliver her second kid and we all got to see as it came into the world.  I cannot explain how excited we were to finally have living kids.

Ultimately, one of the kids did not survive through the night, but it has been 36 hours now and the doeling seems to be doing very well.  As you can see, she has got to be one of the cutest little creatures I have ever seen.  Since she is the first animal who has been born at Liberty Pastures, she was named “Liberty”.

We know she still has a long way to go and one goat doesn’t really do much for growing our flock, but she represents a victory over the odds and a much needed morale boost.  Whatever the future holds for her, we praise God for the time we have with this beautiful little part of his creation.

If you want to come by and see “Liberty” or take a look at the rest of the goats and chickens, just let us know; we would love to have you visit.

- biological bias?

I don't know what to say other than: Wow, have we really gone this far in our society?  Are we really this morally corrupt?  Like my last post, I cannot believe that this is even being discussed in a serious public forum.

'Biology-based' restrooms called 'discrimination' 

'Schools therefore cannot segregate students based on sexual orientation'

 

"Schools cannot discriminate against sexual identity or gender identification. Schools therefore cannot segregate students based on sexual orientation and identity," commission legal counsel John Gause said at today's commission meeting, where he was unsuccessful in convincing the board to adopt immediately a set of recommendations. 

 

The commission's vote was 4-1 to hold a public hearing on the adoption of guidelines that would allow biological males to play on girls' athletic teams and use girls' restrooms and locker rooms if they proclaim their gender identity is female. 

 

Today's public meeting was held before a capacity crowd in the main meeting room of the Senator Hotel in Augusta, Maine. The crowd was divided evenly between opponents and supporters of the proposed guidelines for students who have gender identity issues.

 

Speaking in favor of the guidelines, Gause said they should be adopted because they are how the 2005 Human Rights Law should be interpreted. 

 

"It's the commission's job to interpret the Human Rights Law, and in many cases the courts defer to the commission on the interpretation," he said.

- the bill of rights

I have to admit that I simply don't understand why this is even an issue that has to be argued, but never the less it is a tremendously important case.  The hearing will be about the 2nd amendment, but it has much larger implications.  It will determine if all 50 states have to abide by the "Bill of Rights".  Again, I cannot believe that this is being argued, but it may be good for us all; so many levels of government have trampled and ignored our founding documents - it many situations, it is as if they simply don't exist.  Sad, but true... Our nation has progressed in several ways, but has degraded in many others.  I will be hoping and praying for the proper outcome.

Supreme Court Guns Case Preview

February 28, 2010 - 5:33 PM | by: Lee Ross

The battle over the meaning of the Second Amendment returns to the Supreme Court Tuesday when the justices hear a case that is a follow-up to their historic ruling in 2008 that individuals have a Constitutional right to keep and bear arms. On Sunday, Fox's Shannon Bream spoke with a couple of key figures in the gun rights debate: lawyer Alan Gura and Dennis Henigan of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. Gura argued and won D.C. v. Heller two years ago and will appear before the Court Tuesday.

Even though the Supreme Court ruled two years ago that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to keep and bear arms, that historic ruling overturning a Washington D.C. gun ban doesn't apply to the 50 states. On Tuesday, the justices will be asked to do just that. The legal term is called "incorporation" but all that means is extending the federal protections of the Bill of Rights--including the Second Amendment--to the states. The case challenges Chicago's restrictive gun law. Dozens of groups have added their voices to the case including the National Rifle Association and the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence.

Gura represents Otis McDonald who is challenging the Chicago law. "Virtually the entire Bill of Rights has been applied against states and local governments. The Second Amendment is a normal part of the Bill of Rights. It protects a meaningful individual right which is very important to people in this country and throughout American history," Gura said.

Henigan says the case is Gura's to lose based on the premise that the same five judges who were part of the Heller majority will join together and carry the day in this case. But Henigan emphasizes another part of the Heller decision where he says "the Court implicitly recognized that there is still broad legislative authority to enact reasonable laws to reduce the risk from that right. And we hope the Court gives similar assurances in this case."     

http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/02/28/supreme-court-guns-case-preview/