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Dozen! (by Jessie)

        Over our long weekend (Columbus Day weekend) our Stoltzfus grandparents were here to visit. During that time they helped my dad butcher thirteen roosters. Thanks for the help Grandma and Grandpa! We left three for the following reasons…

       #1-Basil is too pretty to see him killed (though my dad would have had no problem doing it).

       #2 My dad left two Buff Orpington roosters because he was not sure which one to keep.

       Since then Murmur Creek Farm has been a much more peaceful place and the hens have started to increase their laying. Today we collected 1 DOZEN eggs! Hurray! 

Our first dozen!

Basil, the pretty rooster… My dad calls him lucky, "If it was my say you'd be gone!" Basil is very loud and Papa finds it very annoying! To make it worse, while Pa was trying to catch the roosters Basil would just strut around Pa like he knew he wasn't getting butchered!

Some hens. 

River Day (Ken)

(OK - It didn't happen at Murmur Creek - but close)

Every year someone tells me about the “water release” from some of the local dams/hydropower plants and how great fun it is watching all the kayakers running the rapids.  My typical response became more frustrated each year, because I forgot about it again and missed it again.  BUT this year someone mentioned it to me BEFORE the event, and after searching and calling and searching I found out not only the locations but also the the times of the release... and good news... one place is only about twelve miles away from our home, and another one less than twenty.  We went out as a family taking our leftover homemade pizza for our lunch, found a spot along the river and watched for hours as Kayakers blazed their way through the whitewater. 

Eventually we went home.  Then Mic and I went out to another location to watch another run until no more kayaks were coming down. 

An absolutely amazing beautiful day full of life in God's creation.

I think the worst part about the day...I kept thinking this sure is fun to watch, but I’d really like to learn to kayak like that.  Unfortunately a kayak is not in the budget... and likely not for awhile.  So for now, I'll just be a photographer and enjoy the day watching.

An interesting observation from the day:  Rosetta and I wondered where all these adventuresome people are coming from - I mean some of these folks looked quite serious - really into the kayak adventure world - strapped with gear and the flinty eye look of embracing life - yet full of smiles and laughter - and strange thing...they drove small cars...they must not be from around here.  

Yup... we were right... it seemed the majority were from Canada, with a few skattered about from other states and a couple folks from NY.  Then while driving home I noticed a line up of full size pickups and I thought - I bet they are from NY - yup! and no kayaks on those trucks...just people sitting around eating! What do those Canadians know something about smaller cars getting better fuel mileage or something?  What you don't need a TRUCK to haul a kayak?  I wonder what else they could teach us?

Check out the content look on this guys face as he goes over the falls.

What a wonderful day.

This is my favorite photo from the day.  

I like the strength of the two arms straight up 

while everything else is engulfed in swirling water.

THE END

Egg? (by Jessie)

Setting the scene: It is an average evening at Murmur Creek Farm. Ken and Rosetta are preparing supper while Jessie, Micaiah, and Samuel are caring for the animals. They have already fed the goats and are checking on the chickens. Jessie and Micaiah are in the coop trying to save an injured hen from some bully roosters, eventually they get the roosters calmed down and Jessie glances over at the nesting boxes. "Is that an egg?" 

      Jessie walks over to the small round object and picks it up. Micaiah comes over also and examines the object. After seeing a small crack and some hay stuck to the smooth brown surface Jessie exclaims,  "That is an egg!" 

      The two siblings dash inside to show their parents. On the way they pass Samuel who questions them, they answer with a quick "we found an egg!" and continued towards the house. Inside the house there is a lot of excitement, but also much questioning, "WHAT?" "where did you find it?" "Is it real?" "Are you teasing us?!" "I thought we weren't supposed to have eggs until September" "Well it is pretty close to September," "I wonder who laid it?" "That is really awesome!" "I can't believe they actually laid it in one of the nesting boxes!" 

     With much anticipation they await to see what will be found the next few weeks in the chicken coop of Murmur Creek Farm. 

   

MCC Bike Finger Lakes - (with photos)

Thank you Again for all the support, encouragement to us, and financial contributions to MCC.  

At this point  our group of three (Scott, Rosetta, Ken) raised $9,171

 toward Mennonite Central Committee's reforestation work in Haiti.  

https://donate.mcc.org/registry/watkins-landis-finger-lakes-ride

In the evenings we were able to hear more moving stories about MCC's work and the importance of the reforestation project to some of the individuals living there simply trying to survive.  It was great knowing so many of you were part of this ride with us. I kept a list of all who contributed with me on the bike everyday - both to remember you along the way (and to keep me biking if I got tired! ...just one more mile for....). 

The Finger Lakes Bike Ride had both a record number of cyclists this year and set a record for the amount of money raised.  I believe the total (with all cyclists) is over $60,000 at this point.  And there is still more money coming in.  They are continuing to accept donations until the end of August.

https://donate.mcc.org/registry/watkins-landis-finger-lakes-ride

Below are a few photos from the ride!

(not necessarily in order, I just picked a few from the few we had)

Rosetta and Ken - Day 1 - Getting ready to go.

Keuka College

SAG Stop (Support & Gear) at a Hydroponics Strawberry Patch

SAG stops for us it usually meant: 

filling up water bottles, eat a banana & a granola bar and maybe some pretzels, stretch a bit, visit, then back on the bikes and go. 

Camp site and low laundry (that doesn't really dry)

Sitting around for Supper

 The mobile kitchen is the open wagon and the cattle trailer in the back transported our luggage/camping gear from campground to campground.

We each brought our own dinnerware and washed them ourselves for breakfast and supper.  

Lunch was a stop somewhere along the way.  We had great meals prepared for us!

A scenic stop along the way.  

Soy beans by the road and one of the Finger Lakes in the background.

  

A friend of ours Carl Kniss went in to see how high the soybeans were.  

This was one amazing field of soybeans.

 Another important stop along the way. 

 Scott, Leonard, and Alton 

(Alton was the oldest cyclist at 81 - Well done Alton!)

There were many beautiful Vineyards along the routes.

Rosetta pausing to enjoy the view.

Stop for lunch

On Wednesday our usual group went a few different routes.  Some to look at waterfalls, some stoped at the Moosewood.  I joining a group and completed my first Century (100miles), and we managed a 16mph average and climbed over 4500ft.  The five of us (Carl, Grant, Colby, Jay, myself), formed a pace line and rotated the front person every 3min throughout the day - this helped us push through the strong headwind...and just keep going.  Thanks crew for helping me do this.

Our last day began with rain and thunderstorms, but cleared a bit after breakfast.  We rode most of the day with beautiful weather and just a few wet roads.  Our little group of six that road most of the day together managed to get five flats.  Apparently rainy roads are worse for flats according to what others were saying.  So we were a little later than some getting in, but we made it and had a nice ice-cream stop at Seneca Farms Dairy right near the end.

It was a great ride and together we logged over 900miles.  

The Ride Completed.

Back at Keuka College for the last night

THANK YOU!

-Ken

MCC Ride - Complete

Thank You!  Thank You!  Thank You!
for all that supported Scott, Rosetta, and me in the Finger Lakes Bike Ride for MCC.  Scott and I are back to our homes in NY, and Rosetta is in Indiana to be with her family for another day; then she will come home with J, M, & S sunday!  When we are all in the same state and have the camera back home, we will post some photos and more information.  Just wanted to let people know we had a great ride, and as a whole I believe a new record was set for fundraising.

Thanks again for all your support of MCC's work and your encouragement for us to ride!

Hopefully we will have a few photos posted soon.

-Ken

Daily Garden Basket (Jessie)

This is a photo of today's harvest from the garden. My mom picked a good portion of the basil to make pesto! There are good smells in our house tonight!

Murmur Creek Staff goes to PA (by Jessie)

This Weekend we went to PA to visit Grammie, my Aunt Kathy was also there visiting, yea! It was time for our annual tradition of picking blueberries with Grammie...

We had lots of fun!

We ate until our bellies hurt... well at least my brothers and I did,

and even then we ate some more!

 After all of our buckets were full we headed to the scale. 
I helped Grammie add it all up... 

 It came out to 97.5 pounds! 

WOW! 

I'm sure it was over 100 with all that we ate.  

Thanks for the blueberries Grammie!

Sad Day at Murmur Creek Farm (by Ken)

We were all away for the weekend for our annual trip to PA to pick Blueberries with my Mom (and sister Kathy this year! - photos another day), and right before coming home we learned that our prized buck, Vivaldi, had died.  The short story: he managed to hang himself from some baler twine he pulled down through the floorboards above him.  It is hard not to get angry for not preventing this, a simple move of a bale or a board over a hole, but I didn’t quite see this scenario playing out.  Sadly it was when we were gone, and our neighbor found him.  This morning while Rosetta was at work we buried our Big Buck and cried together remembering how scared he was when he first came home in the back of our minivan, yet he became such a friendly buddy in the pasture (at times a bit to friendly).  

Well... Vivaldi - thanks for being part of Murmur Creek Farm

 We miss you already!

(Here are some photos of Vivaldi the Great)

(Vivaldi & Homer - who will get the best piece of grass)

 (Vivaldi & Homer)

soooo much...guess I'll just talk about cycling (by Ken)

 It has just been way to long since we’ve posted anything on the blog... 

So much has gone on it's hard to know where to start: Summer vacation (for Jess, Mic, & Sam... Rosetta still works mon-fri), bee swarms, one swarm captured, female goats finally calming down... a little bit, 

sick goats, annoying goats, crazy fighting chickens, a completed chicken coop (well they don’t have a slide yet...), 

demolition of another building though today I broke a part on the excavator while doing some of the demolition...so more delay on getting this project done, 

 new lawns (instead of mud), a growing garden yea!, 

deck expansion for the play house 

(we needed a better overlook to keep an eye on those chickens), 

growing bucks...beards and all, 

oops bucks and does together when they weren’t suppose to be,  

soccer for Mic & Sam, tennis for Jessie, 

 Sam gets a bunny... 

and through all of this 
Rosetta and I continue to train for the Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Bike Finger Lakes Ride.  

This is our first organized bike ride and we are fundraising together with our friend Scott Watkins to support MCC’s work in Haiti.  

We purchased two used road bikes through craigslist, and we've been trying to ride whenever we get a chance.

So far we've completed some 20 mile rides some 30+ mile rides... and we are working toward the 50 & 60 mile rides that we will do each day in the Finger Lakes.  

Finding enough time to ride is our biggest obstacle at this point.

We are also excited about the upcoming adventure (and time off) together and thrilled to have so many people already part of this with us as sponsors - helping to reach our $5,000 goal for MCC

If you are interested in learning more about this project click the following link: Forests for Farmers in Haiti
or if you would consider contributing click here:
 Watkins-Landis Finger Lakes Ride - Registry

We would love for your to be part of this adventure and help us reach or exceed our goal of $5,000 for MCC.  Our part is already paid so all donations go directly to MCC.