7/16/2024 0 Comments Summer MorningThis is a picture Sam took the other morning when she went to check on the sheep. No words can describe being in those moments of blissfulness. Just another reason why we graze.
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6/30/2024 0 Comments Let's Try This Again...My New Years' resolution to keep up with this Blog failed miserably. I thought I would stay with it, but I clearly didn't. A lot has happened since Annika passed away and the time has just slipped by. One of the things that ate up my attention for several weeks was getting our chicken butchering set up much nicer. We purchased a new scalder from Feathermen Equipment along with chicken shackles, a six-foot-long stainless steel table, new hot water tank, a used refrigerator and other small miscellaneous things. We've butchered twice since the new set up and I think it's a major improvement from what we had. The whole process hinges on the scald and the new scalder does a wonderful job! Here are a few pictures... Also, since the last time I posted we are in full swing grazing season. This is the only reason I even farm. Grazing to me just makes sense. The ruminant is designed to eat all grass. While they are grazing they also spread their own manure and fertilize the ground for me without any additional inputs needed. I can monitor the manure and see whether or not they are getting a good diet. The pictures I'll put up now show perfect manure. The cows are getting the right amount of protein, not too much or too little. I even took a picture of a manure patty that's only 24 hours old and you can already see how the bugs are aerating it and breaking it down. That's enough for now, catch ya later.2/9/2024 0 Comments She's HealedTwo days after her 10th birthday we went through every parent's nightmare, we lost our sweet, beautiful first-born. She passed peacefully in her sleep after deteriorating for the last couple years due to her congentital issues. It has still rocked our world off it's axis. The pain and emptyness has been all consuming, but we have an amazing community and so much family rallied around us.
We've taken a lot of walks on the farm the last couple weeks - you can see her final resting place from the fields - she can keep her eyes on the critters still. We've donated a lot of her specialty items for other kids that need them. We didn't cook for almost two weeks. We've cried. We've comforted others. We've cuddled new baby lambs. It doesn't bring Annika back, but it helps heal the soul. We're at peace knowing that she is up in heaven, eating ice cream, dancing, running, singing, doing everything up there that she couldn't do down here. But it still sucks. It probably always will suck. Annika loved the animals. She's the reason we got sheep in the first place - we called her the Sheep Whisperer. She loved music and lights. She loved having commotion all around her. She loved the breeze on her face, blowing her hair around. She loved to take naps in the sunshine. She loved bonfires and fireworks. She loved looking up at the leaves on the trees. The last words she clung to before she lost speech several years ago were "moo" and "cat." We're going to remember her for all these things and not for the brain malformation and epilepsy. Her diagnoses didn't define her, we made sure of that. These last 10 years have been the hardest and yet most rewarding decade of our lives. It's going to be rough for a while, but the world keeps turning and we have three more beautiful kiddos to raise. Thankfully we have a small army of helpers and we plan on being many more people's helpers in the future. So thank you to everyone who has reached out in the last couple weeks with gifts, food, hugs, thoughts and prayers. They've truly helped and have been appreciated more than anyone can imagine. P.S. this is a guest post from Sam. Eric's been busy writing thank you notes. 1/19/2024 0 Comments Winter Hay FeedingSnow has arrived albeit very little considering how much Buffalo has had fall on them. This forces the cows to get all of their daily feed intake from dry hay. Here are a few pictures of what that looks like on our farm.
1/14/2024 0 Comments Surgery Day for AnnikaThis past Tuesday Annika had surgery to have a VNS implant. VNS stands for vagal nerve stimulator. The goal of this device is to interrupt the seizures either before they occur or during. We had to be at the hospital at 6 am and luckily the weather was perfect for driving that morning. The surgery went very well, and we were home by 3 pm. Throughout the day the wind started picking up quite severely to the point where outages were happening all over. As I was feeding the sheep some hay that evening, I looked across the fields just as the power went out at the farm and all the other houses on the road. Fortunately, we have a generator that is powered by a tractor. Dad and I donned our headlamps and hooked everything up to power up the premises! It was a long day, but everything went about as well as one could want. 1/5/2024 0 Comments Lambing Season Begins
1/2/2024 0 Comments Much Needed RepairToday I took the day off from my day job as an electrician to take my daughter Annika to Buffalo Childrens Hospital for her pre-op appointment. She is having surgery next Tuesday for a VNS (vagal nerve stimulator). Hopefully this device will stop her from having so many seizures. We got home by 12:30 so I changed into my barn clothes and along with my 4-year-old son William we went to the farm to finish repairing the manure spreader. The beaters that send the manure out of the spreader were completely destroyed from years of use and so I had a new set built by Poor Mans' Repair. My Dad and I did the heavy part of the install over the weekend leaving just some small stuff to finish bolting on it today. After about an hour and a half of work William and I loaded it up and tested it out. all went well and we had just enough time to spread three loads of manure. Very good day!
1/2/2024 0 Comments Taking Inventory1/1/2024 0 Comments new years resolutionSince the inception of this website, I have yet to take the time to do any sort of interaction with it or our customers other than face to face. This year I'd like to change that. Our website needs a drastic update because our herd has changed quite a lot since we sold the milking cows in June of 2021. Currently the herd is made up of mostly Angus and Angus cross cattle along with a couple Simmental, Herford and Pinzguaer. The herd is 100 percent grass fed and grass finished. Grazing is my passion, it's the only way I want to farm livestock. I believe in the health benefits it affords the animals, land, water and the people who eat them. Along the way this year I want to share with you pictures of the cattle, sheep and chickens grazing from January to December. Currently the animals are getting most of their daily intake from stored dry hay, but they have unlimited access to different paddocks. The cows are grazing left over corn stalks every day and the sheep are working over the pastures and trimming the brush along the fence lines. The meat chickens won't arrive until spring so there won't be any pictures of them for a while. To wrap this up, I hope to bring to our customers and whoever else is reading this on a long-distance farm tour that educates and conveys our passion for the symbiotic relationship people, animals and land have together. Let's go!
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AuthorEric Vanstrom. Archives
July 2024
CategoriesThe Vanstrom Homestead 404 Mud Creek Rd, Kennedy, NY 14747 716.338.6151
[email protected] FB:/VanstromHomestead |