Perhaps...

It turns out that getting a halter on jerky was easier than I expected.  My husband rigged one of the halters we have to fit him, called him over to the gate and just reached through to put it on him.  Okay, it wasn't quite that easy.  First jerky wanted to sniff it, then head butt it, but in the end my husband was able to just slip it on.   With a gate between them, the fear factor for me was low.

We were laughing that jerky was thinking, "oh, you have jewelry for me, we'll that's different!" 

The chickens have been enjoying their time on the pasture.  They've even figured out how to get to the water. 

The egg production has stayed high and we can no longer keep up.  We offered to friends and milk customers and are already selling five dozen a week. 

Over the holidays we took a year-end look at our finances and decided it might be wise to get a second milk cow.  The money we make from selling milk doesn't cover even half of our hay.  If we can rent pasture for the steers, we'll have room for another cow and the new income would help.

A decision like this will have a significant effect on the whole family so we talked about it.  Each of our concerns says a lot about us:

• the 10-year-old twins think it's a great idea and can't wait,
• the teenagers are concerned about any extra work,
• I worry about finding the new customers, and
• my husband is concerned that new cow might be mean to Christina.

When we started this adventure, it was just about feeding ourselves.  Now we've discovered what a joy it is to share the good food we grow with others.  Not everybody can have a milk cow and chickens, but we can.   Perhaps when God called us into this, God put a hole in our budget big enough to make us reach out to others.  Perhaps God has plans for the gifts of this land that extend beyond our family.

But another cow would bring added responsibility.  Are we ready?  I guess that's what's prayer is for.