When we read about the “Slow Feeding Movement,” we had one of those hand-thunking-against-head moments.  Somewhere deep within our braincases, the idea of returning domesticated animals to a more natural eating cycle clicked on a light bulb.

First, understand that keeping animals fenced in and unable to roam the plains or climb mountains is unnatural.  Spending their lives confined in stalls or barns is even more unnatural.  Horses (and cattle, goats, etc.) are designed to spend their days in search of food.  That search is an endless cycle of grabbing a bit of grass and then walking to another bit of grass. 

Of course, the average livestock owner does not own thousands of acres nor do they relocate their animals in winter to southern grassy plains.  Hay is fed to supplement during the winter and even throughout the summer months.  The owners may decide to place a large round bale out in a field or feed individually with flakes from square bales.  Either way, a lot of the hay goes to waste. 

There are other problems that come along with winter feeding.  With a round bale feeding, dominant animals often park themselves in front of the bale and block less aggressive members of the herd from eating.  Some will eat will literally eat themselves sick if allowed unlimited access to hay.  Many horse owners choose to stall-feed their horses for that reason.  With stall-feeding, the owners control the amount of hay and feed the horse has access to and the horses don’t have to compete for food.  The only trouble?  The horses gobble up their food the moment it is placed in their stalls and then they must stand around waiting for the next meal.  While waiting, they tend to get bored and that’s when they start cribbing, pacing, weaving, or other bad habits. 

None of this is natural.  Not one bit of it.  The results?  The horses get ulcers, expensive stalls get destroyed, animals that are low on the totem pole stay hungry, aggressive animals get fat, and the owners can’t ever go anywhere because they are feeding on a schedule. 

Slow-Feeding

The solution?  The slow-feeder net.  We are HUGE fans.  This net makes it possible for us to have a horse on our small property without worrying that she’s not getting enough grass.  The net, because the animals know it’s always full, is not a point of contention.  The squares of the net are just the right size so that Anna can only grab a few wisps at a time.  Once her jaw is tired, she lounges in the shade before returning to her beloved net.  The goats and horse eat side-by-side.  I only have to refill the net once a day and I don’t have to worry if I sleep in a little late.  We purchased a net that holds a full square bale of hay, a net for a round bale, and two nets (which hold about half of a bale) for the stalls or for trailering. 

Check out www.slowfeeding.com for more information!  Order the hay nets here.

P.S.  SlowFeeding.com did not pay for my glowing endorsement of their product nor did they give me free stuff.  This is just my way of passing on solutions to problems faced by caring livestock & horse owners — particularly small scale livestock & horse owners. 

Those lazy days of summer simply don’t exist for us.  Our world becomes increasingly smaller as summer progresses.  The days begin with a rush of chores — refilling hay nets, rotating fencing, refilling waterers, collecting eggs, and milking goats.  In these months, it’s not hard to imagine our life once Josh retires from the military and farming becomes a full-time venture.  Care to take a glimpse of the various goings-on?

We recently acquired a horse (Trust that there will be a post dedicated to the horse soon.) which only intensified our need for a barn/shed.  In the past, we used the guinea house for a goat shed but quarters were cramped and kidding (goat birthing) became quite an ordeal since the goats don’t hold off labor until there’s a vacancy in the guinea house.  So, we knocked down the guinea house and began barn construction.

The plans were fairly basic.  We needed a two-stall structure with roomy stalls for our growing goat herd to be able to lounge comfortably and to provide a separate space for our does to give birth.  Once they give birth, they need at least a week of stall-keeping to bond with their babies without juggling herd dynamics.  We decided that the barn needed to easily translate to horse-keeping since we 1.) now own a horse and 2.) must eventually sell this place.

We planned for 12′ x 12′ stalls, a nice 6′ x 24′ covered area, and a roomy loft for hay storage.  Josh sunk the posts and the barn began to take shape.  Slowly.  Okay… painfully slowly because we live in Georgia.  May I tell you the main reason that you don’t see barn building this time of year in Georgia?  Get ready:

• It’s hot.  Really hot.  As in so intensely hot and humid that your body panics because no matter how much sweat it produces… it just can’t seem to cool down.
• The soil here is like concrete.  Not wet concrete but more like sun-baked concrete.
• The bugs here flew directly out of the Jurassic period, grew massive stingers, and became blood-thirsty mentally unstable murderous winged creatures of unusual size.
• There is no wind.  None.  The air sits as a thick heavy blanket of suffocating stagnant heat in which the only air currents are those stirred by angry swarming yellow jackets.  (By the way, if you don’t have yellow jackets in your country, please email me so I can move there because I just used my last Epi-Pen yesterday.)

Holy moisture-wicking t-shirt technology, Batman!  We have a winner, folks.  Someone roll out the red carpet, sound the trumpets, and hold back the Carhartt-loving mob: this is big.  Are you ready?  *drumroll please*

So, first I hopped over to Random.org and made use of their random integer generator.  I let Random.org do all of my dirty work for me.  Wouldn’t you?

Random.org produced a random number for me…

Number one.  Now, who could that be?

Wait for it.

Wait for it.

Ta-da!  Congratulations, Rosa!  Send you your shipping address, my dear, and I shall send you your t-shirt.  By the way, if you guys haven’t visited Rosa’s website (Rosa’s Yummy Yums), then you have been missing out.  Her photos, recipes, and range of talents is truly extraordinary.

I’ll leave you with my favorite photo from the Swiss Army Knife post… which totally cracks me up.

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Victorinox Swiss Army. All opinions are 100% mine.

There are several tools which are invaluable to a farmer.  Many people would think we would list a pitchfork, pick up truck, or a tractor as invaluable items (and those are all very nice), but what should one keep on-hand?  If you were to empty the pockets of a farmer (and in many ways that is exactly what this country has done, but that is for another post at another time), what would you find?  More than likely: a Swiss Army Knife.  I know you want to know more.  After all, there’s a Carhartt t-shirt on the line.

According to my husband, an active duty soldier in the United States Army and a farmer, he doesn’t go anywhere (except maybe the airport) without a pocketknife and a lighter in his pocket.

He’s not the first soldier to appreciate the versatility and all-around handiness of a Swiss Army knife.  It turns out that U.S. soldiers used the knives during WWII but couldn’t pronounce “Schweizer Offiziers-Messer” (Swiss Officers Knife) so they nicknamed the Swiss multi-function tools the “Swiss Army Knife.”  Swiss Army Knives are also showcased in the New York Museum of Modern Art.

The Swiss Army Knife was also MacGyver’s signature tool/prop.  (Remember him? What a guy! *swoon*)  And so concludes our little history lesson.

It’s great to learn because knowledge is power!

Of course, there are many Swiss Army knives, but which is Josh’s favorite pocketknife? The Dual Pro X. Let’s explore his reasoning on the subject. Shall we?

First, the Dual Pro X may be opened while wearing gloves. Josh is a big believer in wearing gloves and any pocketknife which may be opened, closed, and used without having to remove your gloves first is a big, big deal.

Josh uses mechanic gloves quite a bit when he is on deployments and also when working working on projects in our very own garage. Here’s a video demonstration:

Dual Pro X Demo 1

Dual Pro X Demo 2

He also uses thick leather work gloves and he can open the Dual Pro X with those on too!

And we’ve got a wee little demo for that, too. Can’t. Stop. Videotaping.

Dual Pro X Demo 3

His favorite feature on the Dual Pro X is the one-hand serrated locking seat belt cutter which is (of course) nice to have should you need to pull someone out of a wrecked car but also very helpful when gutting a deer because it won’t puncture the organs. And yes, I realize some of you just got a little sick to your stomach. I’m sorry. I’m sticking to the facts, y’all.

We’ve also found the Dual Pro X to be very useful when opening feed bags (especially if you don’t wish to tear up the bag).

What’s not to love about a handy-dandy multi-tool favored by MacGyver, WWII soldiers, and (most importantly) my husband?  Absolutely nothing.  This thing has got it all.  From cutting through baling twine to surviving the mountains of Afghanistan, this knife is the perfect gift for any farmer or soldier.

Now for the giveaway: Visit Victorinox Swiss Army’s website and take a look around.  Then stop by their Facebook fan page for a chance to win great products and compete for a $25,000 Ultimate adventure!  Once you’ve done all of that, just leave a little comment below.  The winner will be picked at random and then receive a Carhartt Short-Sleeve Work-Dry® T-Shirt.  Why?  Because it’s hot out there, you deserve something free, and I’m feeling generous.  Need I say more?
.

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.”  ~John Muir

Hitting the trails with a friend or my beloved tops my list of favorite ways to connect with another human being.  Perhaps it’s the winding trail, the dappled light on my shoulders, the halo of gnats and/or mosquitoes circling my head, or the rhythmic thud of another set of feet (besides my own) that tips the scales toward complete and total happiness.

Josh and I decided to take the dogs with us on a hike which criss-crossed over a mountain stream for about eight miles and even included two small waterfalls.  They waded into the water with each crossing and would lay in the stream with tails wagging.  Dogs are the animal kingdom’s most cheerful opportunists.

So often, conversations with a spouse/friend revolve around finances, chores, household projects, vehicle maintenance, careers, coworkers, relationships, and many of the unpleasant aspects of life.  There’s simply no room for those items on the hiking agenda.  Instead, we found ourselves telling stories from our childhood, laughing at our goofy dogs, stopping to point out a wildflower or interesting mushroom, or walking in comfortable silence.

The “comfortable silence” is my favorite part.  Comfortable silences are not simply a lull in the conversation or when neither person can think of something to say, but rather a magical moment in which both parties are completely relaxed, tuned-in to their surroundings, and there is no need for words.

Isn’t this rock formation interesting? Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park calls it the Wolf’s Den. There are coyotes here but no wolves. I’d consider it a misnomer except that “Wolf’s Den” has a much better ring to it than “Coyote’s Den.”

Of course, Josh and Logan had to explore.

Cascade Falls is right next to the Wolf’s Den. The falls are quite small but so is the park (it’s Georgia’s largest state park, by the way). Logan swam excited circles in the pool below the falls while I snapped a few pictures before we continued our walk.

“How can you explain that you need to know that the trees are still there, and the hills and the sky?  Anyone knows they are.   How can you say it is time your pulse responded to another rhythm, the rhythm of the day and the season instead of the hour and the minute?  No, you cannot explain.  So you walk.” ~ Author unknown, from New York Times editorial, “The Walk,” 25 October 1967

And walk we did.