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Hi Everyone,

                         For the last few days we have been well entertained by our new team of ducks. About three months ago we were given two Khaki Campbell ducks. As they grew we thought for sure that we had two female ducks—which meant two more eggs to add to the daily egg collection when they start laying eggs. We named them Daisy and Daphne—but in the last two weeks we came to realize that Daphne was not a female duck, he was a male duck. Now we have Daisy and Duke. Shortly after we got Daisy and Duke we decided that we wanted more ducks. We have had two female ducks for the last two years, and let’s just say that two eggs a day do not supply enough eggs for everyone that wants them. So we ordered ten more female ducks. They arrived two weeks ago, and when another batch of chickens arrived this week needing the brooder house room where the ducklings were, we had to move them out of the brooder. Our goal is to take them to the garden, but they are too small and the grass and weeds are too tall right now. Daisy and Duke have been hanging out in the yard—sleeping in the greenhouse, playing in the water at the milking parlor, digging in the mud, chasing bugs, and chilling out under the lemon tree in our courtyard. We decided to make Daisy and Duke adoptive parents—so we put the ducklings in the greenhouse with them. It didn’t take them long to teach all ten of them who was boss! The first day Daisy and Duke would go out to play, and then they would come back and check in on the ducklings. The second day we all had a good laugh as the ducklings came running across the yard to catch up with Daisy and Duke. They all hang out at the milking parlor while we milk the cows, and when we turn on the hose—they run for the water! We are really enjoying watching them grow, and it will not be long before we shall be hunting for one of Daisy’s eggs. They start laying eggs when they are 16 weeks old, and that is right around the corner.

“. . . The Lord’s . . . compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” Lamentations 3:22-23

This week we have seen the mercy of the Lord quite a few times as He has shown us compassion and faithfully supplied our needs. Getting to the grocery store has become a little harder than normal—and we are not the only farmers to face this problem. We have just been so busy—and by the time our worker goes home at 4:30 may I say that we spend the next 30 minutes recovering energy so that we can cook our dinner. Well, on Monday we milked the cows and then Steve and I creamed the milk—actually we poured the milk into the cream machines and they creamed the milk for us. Then it was lunch time. After lunch I was able to do some way past due grocery shopping. On the farm front the Lord was showing more compassion by letting the sun shine nice and bright—it was not raining! Mom and Dad took turns mowing the lawn. The grass was heading to knee level in some places. Every time we got a chance to mow—it rained. Therefore, once the lawn was mowed it needed to be raked up and hauled to the compost heap.

A week ago I went to get some duck food out of the feed room and happened to notice that we only had about 12 bags of chick starter feed left. With raising more chickens than normal—we have been maxing out the credit card every month. Therefore, I couldn’t order any more food—but we didn’t have enough feed to last for two more weeks (a week until I could order the feed, and another week until it would arrive). I didn’t know what to do, for although we had the money to pay off the credit card, it would still be a few more days until I could use it. Then the phone rang—my brother-in-law needed to come down to pick up a trailer, but since his jobs (he did concessions at fairs and events) have all been cancelled due to the coronavirus he was trying to save on money. He came up with a master plan—and God used it to supply our needs just in time. He doesn’t live too far from where we buy our feed in Virginia, so he asked if we needed any feed, and he would deliver it if we paid the “shipping fee to him.” It was perfect! We didn’t have to use our credit card—because he could pay in cash and we would refund him when he arrived. This was Thursday night—the very day that I found out we were short of feed. He could have us feed by Wednesday morning—the very day that we would run out. Truly the Lord had compassion, and supplied our every need.

The Lord does a great job at supplying our needs, and a year ago Mom found out that she was allergic to copper—and all the water pipes in our house were made from copper. At first we had no idea how to fix the problem, but then two copper pipes in my bathroom broke back in February. This opened up the opportunity to re-pipe the whole house. In order to do this, one of the walls in my bedroom had to have all the sheetrock removed so that the plumbers could get to the sink, toilet, and shower pipes of the hall bathroom. I moved into my guest room back in February, and have been nice and cozy in there. On Monday the carpenters arrived to fix my wall. We decided not to put sheetrock back up, but to do 10” wooden shiplap. By Tuesday afternoon the wall was all hung and sanded. On Monday I was not too anxious to get back into my room—but by Wednesday I was more than anxious to get back in my room. My old bedspread had rotted, so I have spent this time searching for new bedding and some new décor ideas. Slowly they have been arriving, and now that my wall is up I am ready to see how it all looks. There is one thing that stands in my way—my whole room needs to be painted, but first the walls and ceiling have to be washed down, the trim taped off, and we have to find time to make a trip to town to get paint and stain. My dream is to have it done by my birthday which is two days after Thanksgiving—but honestly; I want to have it done long before then.

We have a heifer named Sally—well; she was a heifer until yesterday, now she is a cow. Anyway, Sally has gladly come into the milking parlor for the last nine months to get a treat of alfalfa pellets—so she could get used to coming into the parlor before she calved. I could pet her all over, tie her in, and she did fine. On Thursday she came in to eat—and she had dried mud all over her udder. I decided that it would be best to wash it off with a wet soapy rag. I also decided that it would be best to stand back, and off to the side—because I had only touched her udder in the past, I had never washed it and she very likely would kick. She did not prove me wrong either! I was washing her udder from behind, but after dodging many flying hooves I decided to move into the parlor beside her and wash her udder from that angle. Then I noticed that with all her kicking she had covered the other half of her udder with mud. I figured that the safest way to clean her udder was to tie back one leg—which is what we do with all our milk cows to prevent them from kicking us in the head. Most of the cows stand perfectly still when we milk them, but there are times when some get an attitude. Some cows take to the rope like a pro—but others try their best to kick the milking parlor down. My milking parlor is rotting out all around me, and some of the walls are barely attached—somehow we need to get a new one built. When I wrapped the rope around Sally—she was not happy. I was in for a ride, I mean a rodeo. One end of the rope has a metal hook to hook it to the post and you do not want to get hit by it. I hung on for dear life—until my arms were about pulled off. In order to let go of the rope I have to make sure no one will get hit by it, and I have to get out of the way real fast—for a kicking cow leg with a flying rope and metal hook is not safe. The first time I let go, I pushed my stool backward, but instead of flying out of the way (it is on wheels) it got stuck and flipped me over backwards. Thankfully I caught myself before I ended up on the ground. After about ten minutes I had won—and was able to wash her udder successfully. Since she was a week overdue, we decided that we had best work with her every day so that when we had to milk her—she was calm. So, on Friday we worked with her again, and she did better. Then Saturday morning she came in with a calf by her side—a little heifer. Thankfully the Lord allowed Sally to come in with a dirty udder two days earlier, for she stood like a pro to be milked—and she gave a whopper three gallons. Now we just have to come up with a name for Sally’s calf. We always name our calves so that we know who their mama is. One day Papa came in and said that Pollyanna just had a Polliwog. Then Polliwog grew up and had a Salamander—we call her Sally. Now Sally has given birth to a _______?

As everyone in Florida knows—it has been really hot here of late. We have had heat indexes well over 110. We are also processing chickens every Friday in our Poultry Kitchen—but we do not have AC in it. Usually we have a fan—but this week Papa took it to keep the chickens cool. Then the sky turned gray, the wind blew, the rain came down—and so did the temperatures, for it dropped from the 90’s to the 70’s. It really was nice and cool outside, but the negative was that the chickens have their “one bad day” on the outside of the building and we do not have a roof over that part so Papa was working in the rain. You can either be soaked with sweat, or you can be soaked with rain—rain is cooler.

A customer asked me this week if I ever get any time for myself. I had to laugh, and my first response was “Yeah, from 9:00 in the evening to 7:00 in the morning.” The first hour is spent getting ready for bed, and the last hour is spent getting ready for the day and reading my Bible. The rest of the time is spent—sleeping! Truthfully, I do get to relax on Wednesday afternoons and then again on Saturday afternoons. I will admit though—the time always flies by and I never get to accomplish all that I planned to do in my “down time”. Although I will admit that sometimes I call down time a chance to do my ironing while I watch a gardening video. Speaking of “me time”, it is after 9:00 and so I must close and get ready for bed so that I can be “bright eyed and bushy tailed” ready to start a new week.

Serving you with Gladness,

Tiare