Happy NEW Year!!!

 Hi everyone, I can't believe that  Christmas as already past and the new year  has come!! Has everyone been having a great year lately ?? Well I have.

 Here are some of the things that has happened lately. First, we got three new dogs- two puppies and one full grown male for our breeding system. The puppies names are Patriot who is a male  and he has a lot of energy to burn off and  he is a great puppy dog. Glory is a female puppy from a litter from Buster. She is a cutie!  Crunch is the full grown male that we are using for breeding.  He is great at fetching and is a structurally correct Lab!! Now we have seven dogs total. That is the most we have ever had.
  
Bethany came home for Christmas and she staying for two weeks. She came on Christmas day.  It is great seeing her again.   




                                                        Here are some pictures of our new puppies.

                                                                      Glory      

                                                                        This is Patriot.  He is a male.

                                                                   Glory and Patriot having fun!!

                                                                                      Crunch

The Latest News!!

Hi every body!  How do you like the change of weather? It went to being really hot to cold. I think I like the cooler weather better. Oh  my, I can't believe that it is going to be October tomorrow. This month has gone so fast.

I have started school, I am home schooled so I do school at home.This year I am doing school online so I have to go to different libraries to get internet because our connection is not that good. This online program is called e2020 education. It is a very easy program to understand.

Up date on my horse (Addie). Addie is do so well I have been training her to rear (but not wile I am on her). She rears so high that some time I think she is going to fall over, but she doesn't.I have also  been training her to bow, she still needs work on that though. Addie has been doing really good on her barrels and cow cutting too. Yesterday I went out to our cow pasture and I was herding one of our steers. I decided to let her go and see what she would do, so I did. Guess what! She knew what to do she just went at it and I was holding on so I wouldn't fall off. Sometimes  she turned so sharp that I thought that she was going to fall over. After a little while I had to stop her because she just kept herding that steer and didn't want to stop. So I had to stop her before she fall over died from running and working too hard.  She is a great cow horse.
                                                     Here is a picture of Addie rearing.

Colorado Trip and Fair Week!!

7-6-12- It has been a great summer for me and my family.  On July 6 we left for the National Dairy Goat Show in Loveland, Colorado.  We had  some bad things happen and other we thought would never happen. Two of the biggest things that happened was one of the trailer tires fell off when getting on our first highway. The other thing was that our best goat Thea, died. But other than that we had a great vacation. We hiked up to Horsetooth Mountain,  went riding up a big mountain with horses, went to Wyoming's capital building, but did not go inside.  We did some other things too but to top that all off, we went  to  the Rooftop Rodeo in Estes Park, Colorado. We also did pretty good at the goat show too. 
                                            Here are some Colorado pictures-

                                           One of the cool pictures I took at the Rooftop Rodeo

                                                        Horsetooth Mountain

                                                       

The Rocky Mountains

                                 We girls went riding in the mountain.  Mom is on Geronimo, Abigail on Captain, I am on Scout, Rebekah on Cash, and Elizabeth on Mr. Wilson. 

        8-12-12 - Our family just got back from the Calhoun County Fair. It was a great week for me and my family. I took a goat and pig, Abigail took a dairy starter calf and a steer,and Elizabeth took a goat and pig also. Ben and Rebekah just helped show our goats. Abigail won showmanship on her dairy starter calf and  I won showmanship on goats!! I was so excited because that meant that I could do the "Show of Champions". Show of champions is for whoever wins showmanship with their animal. They can go around and show all of the 14 species of animals on Saturday. I had a blast since it was my first time. Abigail won the Senior group and has now won the Beginner, Intermediate and Senior trophies in the Show of Champions. We are so proud of her. Elizabeth won Grand Champion on her Market wether and got third on showmanship with her pig. I was really sad when I had to sell my pig (Sue), and Elizabeth was sad too with her pig (Sparty).  Bethany came down  to spent a couple of days at the fair since she had to crown the next queen. We were so glad she could come down!!
                                                  Here are some pictures at  the fair-

                         Abigail achieved her goal of winning all 3 trophies in her 4-H years.

                                                            Me in the "Show of Champions"

                                                               Me and my pig Sue.

                                               Bethany crowning the next queen!!

7~1~12 Hi everybody! How is your summer going? Mine is going great! Are you sick of this hot weather yet? I am just a little. I think we need some rain but we need to trust God that he will provide it for us. (All things are possible with God).
 Right now at Harvey's farm I am picking blueberries and raspberries. I am glad that God made fruit. They taste so good that if I eat one berry I can't stop eating them! I do stop eventually  though ;).
 Here are some pictures of our one cute pup. We named him Porky cuz he gets all the milk.

summer update

   6 ~ 2 ~ 12 -  Hi everybody! Guess what!! Our family is going to Colorado  for the National Goat Show. We are leaving on July 6. Bethany is not coming.:  (Mom , Dad, Elizabeth and Ben are at a goat show today.  Abigail and I needed to stay home and do the chores.
  I am all done with SCHOOL for the year!! and  I have been working at the Harveys with my sister Abigail. We have been picking a lot of strawberries. The Harvey's farm is a berry farm that has strawberries in the spring and into the summer, blueberries in the summer. They also do raspberries and chestnuts in the fall. It is a great place to get your fresh fruit!! I work there almost all summer long.
    Elizabeth and I brought our horses into the Tekonsha Memorial parade. It  was a great experience for Addie. She was not that bad. She liked to walk sideways on the road during the parade though. Addie does not like trailers going past her but she did really good for the parade. I  rode Addie all the from our house to where the parade started in Tekonsha and then I had to ride her back too. I rode her back because she did not want to load up into the trailer. So in that one day I rode my horse 8 miles. I was soo tired after I did that. But it was fun too. Addie is doing really good. Today I did barrels with her and she has learned so fast on doing them. The best time I have gotten on barrels is 19.15 sec. The only big problem I am have with her is for her to load up into the trailer.:(   But she has been a great horse for me.

                                  
                                                             Elizabeth and Daisy

                                                      Addie and me in the parade!!

Molly is going to have puppies on the 18th of this month!!  Hardly and Zoe are growing too fast, some times I get Zoe and Liberty mixed up that is how much they look alike. We have six dogs right now. That is the most we ever had at one time. Plus Molly is going to have some pups soon too. I like our labs, they are really fun - loving and love to be right beside you. I say that because our dog Liberty loves to go wherever I go so I call her my side kick :). Have a great month and enjoy what God has made!!
         ~ Rachel ~

 Hi every body, I can hardly believe that it is gong to be May tomorrow! Who likes the month May? Well I do!!  My brother Benjamen's birthday is on the 21st.

This Saturday we are having an open house for our milk shares and our farm. We show people around our farm, give demonstrations on how to make soap , how to make goat cheese and how to make bread. It's a day to show people how we do milk shares and we also get more people interested in  milk shares too. We do both goat and cow shares. I prefer the goat's milk to the cow's milk. God has blessed us with the milk shares. We have about 25 milk share customers.

Tomorrow we are having a group of homeschoolers (CCHE) over to show them the farm and every thing else.
We are going to have some games, a farmyard scavenger hunt and other games too. We are going to give pony rides, with Elizabeth's horse. Elizabeth and I are going to show how to do barrel  racing. We will also let the kids do some hand milking on some goats.

Horse training!

      We have started a new horse training course.  It is called Pat Parelli Natural Horsemanhip.  We have been going to a friend's house to watch his movies and read about how to train horses.

We have learned some interesting things. First, I learned that a horse has a right brain and a left brain. I will explain what I mean. When a horse is left brained, they are using the thinking side of their brain. They are calm, willing to learn. When a horse is right-brained, they are not thinking. They are trying to protect them self from you. A horse thinks you are his preditor. A very intersting thing is, a horse can read you like a book. The second thing I learned was when trying to catch a horse in a pasture you have to let  the horse come up to you. If the horse is bad at catching you, you have to be patient. The other thing you can do is to lay down on the ground and wait for the horse to come up to you.  Also, when catching a horse, you have to smile and be all friendly. Remember a horse can read you like a book. So when you go into the pasture and if you are smiling the horse can sense that you won't hurt them.

My first thing I have tried was to sit with my horse for 30 min. The first time I did it Addie came up to me right away and that was a good sign. Then she would walk away, then come back to me and sniff me. If the horse touched me, then  I could try to touch the horse. I had to sit really still and not make any noise. When I tried this the second time I gave my horse treats. That was not good for me to do that because I learned that I have to get the horse to come to me.  Giving a horse a treat will just make the horse like the treats instead of you.

I want to learn a few things too. I want to try to pick up my horse's back feet without being scared. I can do the front easily. I also want to learn how to train my horse to trust me more.

This is a whole new world for me! 

Spring has Sprung!!!!

Hi everybody!  Aren't you just loving the weather?  Well, I am. It has been a very mild winter and now here we are in spring!! I think winter was so mild that it felt like spring sometimes.

We have had a lot of baby goats born. We have had 23 kids so far.  We have a break now and then there are three does that still need to freshen (deliver). There were 12 boy and 10 girls. We have sold some, some of them died (3) :( and we probably keeping the rest . I know that we are going to sell a couple of them. Elizabeth and I are going to keep two to use as market wethers for the  fair. We also had a baby calf born on our farm. His name is Bulls Eye. We have one other cow who is going to have a calf too.

Every thing is turning so green so fast that I hardly can keep up with it. I love watching how God makes  every change in the spring time. I love going out side in the morning having not to wear a coat. I also like watch the sun come up too.

Here are some pictures of our calf and puppies.

                                                         

    This is Zoe. I think she is so cute.  We are keeping her.

This is Bulls Eye the calf.

 

       Here is a pretty sunset I took that I thought was very pretty. 

      I think God makes really beautiful sunsets.        

                         

            Here is  recipe that you may want to try out.  They were a hit at our Bible study on Thursdays.

    Chocolate Fillers 

3/4 c. butter

              1 c. packed brown sugar 

 1/2 tsp. salt
    1 1/2 c. flour
   1 c. oatmeal
              1 c. chocolate chips
                   1 can sweetened condensed milk

                                                  Cream butter with brown sugar and salt. Blend in flour and oats until

                                                   particles are fine. Press about 2/3 mixer into bottom of greased 9*13 pan.

                                                   Heat condensed milk in sauce pan.Stir in chocolate chips. Spread over 

                                                   mixture in pan. Sprinkle with remaining crumbs, and press down lightly.       

Bake at 350 degrees, for 25-30 minutes or until light golden brown.                                                                                      

ENJOY!!!

Feeling like spring!!

2~ 23~12
Who is wanting spring to be here? Well, I am looking forward to spring. I think spring is going to come earlier than usual. What do you think? February is the time when our baby goats are born. So right now we have four girl kids and ten boy kids. So altogether we have 14 baby goats. They are soo cute and playful. I have already chosen my market wether for the fair. I don't have a name for him yet though. The reason I like spring is when all the goat kids come.  I like to watch the baby animals grow and see the trees turn green. But the one thing I don't like is the MUD!! :(. I will try to get some baby goat pictures on soon as possible. Also spring mean more horse riding!!!

Our puppies are getting so big. They are already 8 weeks old. We are probably going to keep them both!! We might name them Harley and Zoe.The yellow will be Zoe and the black one will be Harley.

My sister Abigail's birthday is going to be on the 26th! She is turning 17!! Now when she turns 17 we won't be saying that Abigail and I are the same age. I am OK with that. 

Puppy Love

2-7-12
   Hi everybody, don't you guys love the weather we have been having? I like it a lot. I have been riding Addy in those days. Today however is just the opposite of the other days. It is not sunny at all, instead  it is just a cloudy, colder day.  Here are some pictures of Molly's puppies from 2012!! 
     The puppies are 6 weeks old today.

                                                           is it she cute !!!!!!

                                                         The yellow girl is soo friendly and playful. 

                                                           The black girl is soo friendly and playful too.

                                                            Aren't they too cute!!!!!!!!!!

It's SO quiet here!

2-1-12
  Hi everybody, how did the first mouth of the new year go for you all. I can't believe that it is already February 1. Last Friday  dad , mom, Rebekah, Elizabeth and my brother Benjamin went down to North Carolina to visit Bethany and Daniel. Abigail and I stayed home to do the chores and to keep our two puppies alive and out of trouble. My family are coming home tonight, they are also going to bring Bethany home!!  I am glade that she is coming home.  This past week was very quiet. I would rather have my family home than having quietness!!. I am glad that I have a big family. I wounder what it is like to have just one sibling, It was kinda like that this past week. I only had my sister Abigail.  She is very fun to be with, just saying. I am very thankful that I have other siblings too, they are also fun to be with. I kinda miss the loudness of our house.  I guess you get so used to it that you miss the action. I did actually had fun with sister this past week. We did a lot of fun things together. Those that have a lot of siblings I would advise you to be thankful for them because what would you do with out them and you'll never know how long you will have them. It is nice having other siblings because that means you have more opportunities to show love  to them and also how much God loves them.
                                  BE THANKFUL FOR SIBLINGS.
 Yesterday I rode my horse Addy. She has unproved a ton. I am teaching her to shake, she is doing it for me when I tell her. I am also teaching her to bow, I just started that yesterday so I can't tell if she's picking up on it. Addy is now coming to me when I whistle at her, she is also trusting  me to pickup her back feet!!  She has been doing great on her front feet. So now there you have an  update on Addy.  =)


Enjoy February!

~Rachel
         








            

Asher Acres NEWS!!!!

1-18-12

Hi everybody, Yesterday was my mom's birthday!!  We have a very little amount of snow, but it is very cold out. It feels like winter with a little bit of snow. It helps with chores and hauling buckets of water a long distance.   I like not having to trudge through deep snow.

  Bethany is home while Daniel is at a training camp. I know she misses him, but I think she is glad to be home with her family too.  At least I know we like having her here.
  The news at Asher Acres is that we found a home for Angel!!!!  I am sooo glad she is going to a good home!!!!   My dad told them that we would bring her to their house on Sunday.  I get go see where she is going to live for a while!!!!!
  Is everybody having a good year?  I am.  Here are some pictures of us with our horses.

                                                                                     All of us girls and our horses



                                   

       

  

   

Abigail teaching Chess to smile.

                                          
                                                                Elizabeth and Daisy

 

      Addy and me.  She has improved a lot since I got her.

Chicago trip!!

12-31-11
  Hi everybody!  We have been sooo busy with Bethany's and Danial's wedding, Christmas parties and other things too. Did every body have a good Christmas? I did. Instead of giving each other big presents this year, our family went to Chicago!! We went to the Shedd Aquarium. There we saw sharks, very interesting looking fish, whales, dolphins. We also saw some dolphins do some some tricks too. We also went to the Field Museum. This museum was the museum that the movie Night Of the Museum was made in. There was some cool things there too.
                                        
Molly had puppies!! She only had two though. They are both girls and one is black and the other is yellow. We are very glad that they are both girls but we are also disappointed that she had only two. She usually has 6-10 puppies. Molly is our yellow female. She is the oldest dog we have and this is her last time having puppies. Oh we also have two other females so I think we will have enough puppies from them too. 
                                HAPPY NEW YEAR  !!!!!

Just life....

12-7-11
Hi everybody! Today Benjamin and I went with dad to finish a job.  He has been having us work with him quite a bit lately. 

We are so busy with Bethany's and Danial's wedding and with other things too. Bethany's and Danial's wedding is on the twenty-third of this month. I think there is one more shower, but it is at our house!! 

Did everybody have a good Thanksgiving? Well I know that my family and I did.   We went to Holland to my mom's side of the family.  We played a bunch of games with some very nice cousins who we have a lot of fun with. 

I have been riding Addy lately. She is coming to me when I call her but she still needs to learn to trust me on  picking  her front and back feet up. Even though she likes to go backwards when I want her to go forward,she is getting better and better each time I work on her.  We had snow last week but it all melted from the rain. Today it is very nice out. I think we found a good home for Angel. She is still at our place but the people that are possibly getting her have not pick her up yet.  Tonight I rode Addy and she is a very good horse to do cow cutting with. I think that the people that taught her to ride also taught her to do cow cutting too. She is awesome at doing what I want her to do. I was herding our little steer around and Addy would try to get it were I wanted the steer to go. She does not know how to do it very well yet,but if I keep working with it on her I think she will turn out to be a great  a cow cutter.  Even though she tries to go backwards and all the other things I told you readers what she is bad at, I think I got myself a good horse. If I keep working on her to trust me and and the other thing too she will turn out just fine.  Addy is also good going around barrels and and turning very sharp. If I work on barrels she will  be a great barrel racer too.
Well I think I that is all for now.
Rachel

Black Friday!!

   11-25-11~
    Today Abigial went shopping with one of her friends at 3:00am. I think that is a very unusual time to go shopping. We came home from our Thanksgiving party at 10:15pm and she only had 5and a half hours to sleep.  I think if I did that I would not be all the way awake. I would also probably be a walking robot. At 5:30am Mom, Dad, Rebekah, Elizabeth, Benjamin amd I went shopping . I think that is a better time than waking up at 3:00 to go shopping. We did not get very much. Later this afternoon Mom, Rebekah, Elizabeth and I are going to go shopping again.

Happy Thanksgiving!

11-24-11
   Hi everybody! Today our family went up to Holland for Thanksgiving. It was very fun. It took about two and a half hours to get there. Bethany did not come with us.  She went up to Noth Carolina to have Thanksgiving with Daniel her (her future husband).  I have been riding Addy. She is getting better every time I ride her. She is better on back than on ground.  I have been busy with school and getting ready for Bethany's wedding too!! I am going to be a bridsmaid!!
  

My New Partner!

November 13 - Hi  everybody, sorry for not updating my blog for you guys. I have been too busy to work on it. I got a new horse and Abigail got a new horse too.  The weather today is rainy and just not the greatest to go out side. So I decided to work on my blog. My sister Bethany is going to get married this December. So we have been going to showers this past week. We have went to two of them already. One was on my Dad's side and the other one was a shower that our neighbors put on. We still need to go to two more. One of the showers is on my birthday.
Our dog Molly ( a Labrador Retriever) is going to have puppies again! She is going to have them around New Years Day!! Right next to my sister Rebekah's Birthday!!

                                  Here is some pictures and some information on Abigail's and my horse.

                               Here is a picture of my horse. Her name is Addy and she is a 2-year old Appaloosa. She is broke to ride and to pull a buggy.  So I am going to go from a 25-year old horse to a 2 year old!! I think I got my hands full now! I have been riding Addy lately. She is not all the way broke but all she needs help with is how to turn left and right for the person who  is riding her. When we got Addy , the people that we got her from told us that she is very hard to catch and is very touchy. So that is another thing I have to work on with her-to trust people and to be easy to catch.  

                              This is a picture of Abigail's horse. Abigail's horse is a 4-year old standard bred crossed with quarter horse. His name is Winchester but we call him Chess for short. I do not know much about this horse. But I do know is that he is friendlier than my horse. He is easier to catch too.

Horse talk !!!!

10- 29-11
Today Mom, Dad, Elizabeth, and Benjamin went to Battle Creek,  Abigail went to a football game with some of her friends and Bethany, Rebekah and I stayed home.  Wow!  We had a little bit of snow today!  Are you ready for SNOW????

Abigail and I are getting rid of our horses and are going to be getting two that are younger. We are going to  teach them how to do barrel racing. Abigail already sold her horse (Hoss) to one of our friends, so we can still go see him! I am not going to sell my horse (Angel) but I am going to just give her away. There is a family that is probably going to get her! I am so excited that someone wants her. I thought nobody would want her because she is old and is have a little bit of problem of putting weight on. However, she is a wonderfully safe horse and very fun to ride!

Abigail is probably going to get another horse tomorrow. We weren't going to get horses until the spring as our hay supply is low, but our friend helped us find some that are really, really affordable.  We are all very excited!!  Abigail's horse is a standard bred cross,  4 years old and just green broke. Green broke means it is not trained all the way. We went to see him on Thursday. The place where we looked at him was very close  to our friend's (who is helping us find horses) house so we did not need to drive very far. This horse has a very good temperament and is a good riding horse too . I am looking at a Paint and a Appaloosa. The Paint is 4 years old and green broke. We went to see her on Thursday too but when we got to the place it was dark out, so we did not do much with her. But on Monday we might go see her again and ride her. We have not seen the Appaloosa yet but on Monday we might see it.  I don't know much about the Appaloosa. I will get some pictures on as soon as I can so all of my readers can see what the horses look like.

Canning applesauce time!!!

       
Today we canned applesauce!! We did two bushels of apples. I love it how good it smells when you are canning applesauce and I like it how how it tastes after you are done. I like warm and cold applesauce.
                                    Here are some steps of pictures for making applesauce

                                            

1. Pick and wash the apples

  

2. Cut them in fourths 

3. Boil them in a pot on the stove for about twenty

 minutes until they are soft and mushy

.

              

                                                                  
    

4. Put them through a applesauce strainer. 

                                                 

 

5.  You  put the applesauce in quart jars. Put clean lids and screw tops on.
Then you put them in a canner and bring to a boil for thirty minutes.

6. And now you have applesauce to eat during the winter!! YUM!

Feelin' Like Fall!

          Hi everybody. Today Elizabeth went to the Hillsdale County fair with her friend for the day. Elizabeth's friend wanted her to take some goats to their fair so Elizabeth took two goats to the fair. She is going to show them on Friday. My mom, Benjamin, Elizabeth and I went there on Monday. We brought our school work and did it there. We also walked around too.
        I like the months of fall. I like it how God made it so the trees change their colors. I also like it how it how pretty their colors are. My favorite color in the fall is orange. I think it stands out more than the other colors. Fall is a very nice time to go horseback riding, take walks and go bike riding. Our trees are just starting to change color

 

The pretty trees in the fall

 

My horse (Angel) during the fall