Happy Fall 2019!

Folks, it's been quite a while since I blogged, and I apologise for that. What has happened since I last blogged? Quite a bit: Sulema and I moved twice. The first was into my parent's basement as our off season vacation rental became an in season vacation rental, and the second move was into our still-under-construction 16x24 tiny home.

When we first moved in, we were very much camping as we had no electricity nor running water of any sort. But we had a roof over our heads and privacy, and it was good. Since then, our house is mostly fully functional save a tub surround I need to tile and a bunch of finishing work such as baseboard trim and a permanent means to get into our currently uninhabited loft.

I'm also waiting for a call from the vinyl siding people that our order is in, then I'll get cracking on getting the soffit, fascia cover, and siding installed before winter sets in! We currently have water, heat, working sinks and toilet, a garbage disposal, fridge, cupboards, a toaster oven, crockpot, and a very busy hot plate in lieu of a range waiting to be converted from natural gas to LP.

All that happened during summer work on the farm, which required many sacrifices to be made by all parties: some machinery repairs had to be put off, most of the improvement projects on the farm had to be tabled, and Sulema and I had to figure out how to still spend quality time together while still getting the work done but not going completely crazy when only seeing cows most days. It was challenging, to say the least for me, and likely moreso for Sulema as she was adjusting to married life, living in a different country, being in very close quarters with my family (who is wonderful, but very different from what she was used to), whilst at times having to be in complicated living situations (let's just say it, peeing in a bucket), with a schedule that changes by the day, hour, or minute, sometimes. She's a trooper though and we made it through summer in good shape.

The cows are happy, yet I am seeing more and more of the effects of having big cows on pasture and having them walk alot; their hooves don't like that sort of abuse and I keep getting a sore footed cow every once in a while. I will be planning my transition to smaller framed, stockier animals in the next year or two.

The beef has been selling quite steadily. We've had several repeat customers, thus far, and I think my product is improving by butchering the steers at a heavier weight so they get a little more fat into the meat. Unfortunately, I have had extreme difficulty getting appointments with butchers in the fall, but such is the challenge we have in the Flathead Valley.

I have a couple quarters from Tim left, and the reviews from him were extremely positive, so I'm expecting him to sell pretty quickly. I still have some burger from Little John left and will be moving that as quickly as I can as well. I appreciate all the small orders and the big ones too, of course! If you'd like a quarter or eighth of Tim, let me know!