The time of year when our children are found bouncing thru the house with sparkling eyes, lights are strung to & fro throughout the farm, our āJesse Treeā advent stories are read, whispers of the perfect gift for each person are heard,
the UPS & FedEx men are excitedly welcomed (although mom needs to verify if the boxes can be opened immediately or not), all in wonderful anticipation of celebrating our dear Saviourās birth.
Itās also the time I like to write a bit about our happenings thru the year & catch you up to our familyās daily chaos aka ālifeā.
Our year started off fairly normal; lots of schoolwork, filing taxes, milking cows and managing the business. On the side we continued to remodel our old barn.
March started out normal as well but quickly changed to anything but normal. On March 9, I was getting supper when I got a call from my favorite man.
āBring me a glass of water,ā stuttered a faint voice on the other end. Grabbing a glass of ice water with my heart thumping wildly, I dashed out wondering what I would find.
I found him on the ground in front of the milk barn with a Huge dent in his leg right under the calf muscle. Loyd had been working with the skid loader and the forks had not been locked in, thus they fell down, pinching & bouncing off his leg.
He was in terrible pain. We did an x-ray & it showed no broken bones. We believe the muscle was torn. He wasnāt able to put much weight on it for several days, dealt with lots of pain, & had to take it easy for 6-8 weeks.
Needless to say the rest of March & April are kind of a blur as we learned to navigate life with Loyd giving directions from the UTV. Melissa & I learned to move fences & help with unrolling bales in the pastures.
We were all so thankful that Loyd could ride along on the UTV with his leg propped up. Iām sure it took us a lot longer to do these chores than it would have him but he patiently directed us & we were always relieved when the chores were done.
Our church family really poured into our lives those first weeks. Many meals, prayers, & help on the farm.. It truly sustained us. We love our church people dearly.
Wendall enjoyed driving Dad around the farm the first week or two until Loyd could drive again. He started seeing a chiropractor with his leg which really helped in the healing process. In time, his leg got better, it still swells to a big log when he puts in long hours.
Now we speak of time as ābefore Dad hurt his legā and āafter Dad hurt his legā. An incident like this quickly brought out the weak spots in our operationā¦ the main one being: Hiring help for the production side of the farm.
Thus, after much discussion, we hired someone to do the milking, fence moving, & lots of other tasks. It was a big adjustment for our family as for many years we had been doing the daily chores ourselves.
Our schedules shifted quite a bit but it has been worth it. Itās so nice to have someone besides our family knowing the ins & outs of our daily chore schedule. And it has freed Loyd up some to where he can focus more on the overall growth of our business.
Our fall months consisted of figuring out how to feed our animals in the midst of a severe drought. Hard conversations with lots of praying & moving forward in faith. We are so grateful we were able to find hay.
Our business keeps growing, we are so thankful for our employees who keep things going for us. Our cow herd keeps growing, we hit a milestone of 40 cows in milking a few weeks ago.
We are awed & so grateful we have customers for all the dairy products we can produce. God has been so Good to provide.
Our processing girl, McKenna, is processing milk 4 days a week (cheeses, butter, yogurts, ice cream, etc.) & sometimes making broth or lard on the 5th day.
My sister, Laura, is in the farm store 5 days a week. She does an amazing job of managing inventory on all our products & keeping the shelves stocked. Plus taking care of our wonderful customers. She also delivers our products 6 times a month.
Our children are also a big part of what we do, we are grateful we can give them a farm to grow up on plus daily learning valuable life skills.
Melissa, our fun-loving, 15-year-old is in her second year of High School. She loves spending time with her youth group friends, playing games with her siblings, playing piano, & learning new things.
She does a great job of keeping herself goal-oriented in getting her schoolwork done. One day a week she spends her day helping my sister & cuddling babies. Yeah, Iām envious. āŗļø
On weekend mornings youāll find her in the milk barn milking the mama cows. She had been our faithful everyday milk girl for 3+ years until last May when we hired Jared, our production guy. Itās been nice for her to have more time for other things, although she enjoys doing it on the weekends yet.
She helps me with bookwork several times a week. Managing is something she excels in & we are excited to see where God will use her gifts in the coming years. Love her so much.
Rosalyn is our sweet 12-year-old. Sheās the glue that keeps us together. When time is running out, sheās the one to jump in & make things happen.
Naturally quiet & artistic in everything she does.
Sheās in 6th grade & patiently navigating the hurdles of percentages.
Writing is her expertise. Numerous childrenās books have been written & illustrated. Painting is a favorite pastime.
Playing violin comes naturally for her. I enjoy listening to her talent.
Spending quality time with cousins & friends is a highlight. Skipping across the fields to her cousins happened quite a bit during the summer.
Rosalyn chose to go to the ice rink for her birthday.. a first for our family. Highly enjoyed by all, Iām sure itās not the last time!
Shopping is also quickly becoming a fav. I didnāt use to be much of a shopper, but it definitely has become more fun with girls old enough to shop with.
On the farm, sheās our main chicken girl. Making sure they have feed and water, & the eggs are gathered & pkged. In the mornings she helps with calf feeding. She does well with her responsibilities.
We love our sweet Rosalyn.
Breanna Joy is our sunshine girl. An absolute joy to be around as she bounces through life. Whenever you are feeling off or having a bad day, spending time with Breanna will right your world again.
Singing is one of her favorite pastimes & recently she got a guitar that sheās excited about learning to play.
Sheās in 5th grade & does a wonderful job of getting her schoolwork done so she can get on to greater things. Although her desk might tell you differently. (Who has time to pick up after oneself when thereās life to be lived!) š
Sheās helped me a lot with teaching Josiah kindergarten and making it fun for him. Somehow she also manages to rope Josiah into helping her with her household chores quite often.
Sheās also the one that fixes drinks all day every day. Iced coffee & lemonade are her favs although you might find all kinds of other concoctions.
Homeschool Tip: The best way to do school is with a drink in one hand, a pencil in the other, & your feet in a warm foot soak. š
She does an amazing job of baking & thoroughly enjoys learning everything about cooking.
Mashed potatoes is still a fav & most everyone at church knows Breannaās day is made if there are mashed potatoes at the carry-in.
Breanna has a big heart for animals. Cats are her fav on the farm. Cuddling & playing with them each day, they are very well-loved.
Breanna helps with the chickens & calves as well.
Whether sheās playing dress up with cousins or playing football with her brothers she enjoys life to the fullest. We love her bunches.
Wendall is our 8 yr-old, full of humor, little man. His mischievous smile & sparkling hazel eyes are quite endearing and have been to his advantage many times in times of trouble. He loves a great joke & is always cracking us up with his sense of humor.
He knows very well how to make his sisters croak, at least if the chases throughout the house are any indication. Wendall keeps introducing us to more of the āboy worldā the older he gets.
Apparently tackling & wrestling is an everyday appointment. So grateful, God in His wisdom gave Wendall a brother.. one that thrives on wrestling. š
I understand better why they created football. It uses up lots of energy & helps get those wrestling matches in for the day. š
Football is the mainstay in ball playing around here although the boys both played in several softball games this summer & absolutely loved it as well.
All that said, Wendall has a tender heart & feels deeply. Iāve loved to see how he cares & protects his sisters from the hard knocks of life as much as he can.
Wendall is in 3rd grade. Math is his fav & writing is a nuisance. āI think I could get along in life without learning to write,ā were the words yesterday as he sighed & sat down to begin.
He enjoys singing & spending time with cousins & friends. We love our Wendall boy.
Josiah is our passionate 5-year-old.
Everything he does is done with passion. Happy or sad.
Football is his favorite. Throwing balls all day long would be his choice of āthe best dayā. Football games after church are looked forward to all week. He is very athlete & can throw footballs & softballs very well.
Playing board games or card games are his next favorite thing. Playing Phase 10 with Grandma is almost a daily occurrence. And recently, roping Daddy into playing Scummy or Yahtzee after supper is the best kind of fun.
His eyes sparkle & shine when the whole family is involved & having fun. Heās very competitive & is able to hold his end up well. Heās played Monopoly with several of us & won. Heās excited to learn to read so he can read the game cards.
Heās in Kindergarten this year & putting three-letter words together. Math is his favorite subject & he flies thru pages of addition & subtraction. Counting money is exciting & even more so if he gets paid for helping gather chicken eggs.
Hamburgers & tacos are his favorite meals. We love our full-of-life Josiah Daniel!
Loyd & I spend our days keeping up with our tribe & our business.
Loyd keeps production & processing going & makes sure everyone is succeeding in their department.
We are in the midst of putting an Airbnb in our old barn so that takes up a lot of his time right now. We hope to have it open by spring.
He made stairs so we can access the barn loft! We decided to have a Farm Fest for our customers in Nov. We had so much Fun!
I spend my early mornings doing marketing for the business & when the children come in from chores, we start school. We aim to be done with most of it by lunchtime, & then afternoons are filled with various things such as business meetings, customer interactions, bookwork, housework, piano appointments, grocery shopping, etc.
We all look forward to dinner time where we can all share about our day.
We were able to get away from the farm for several short weekend trips! Time away from the farm is always so precious to Loyd & I. It always rejuvenates us & we come back with fresh vision.
In April, we went to Branson for a wonderful time. The children had helped so much after Loydās accident we wanted to do something for them. And they loved every minute of it. From the tiny house we stayed at, the amazing show of āJesusā at the Sight & Sound Theater, the sky coaster, & Branson Landing, we had a wonderful weekend of fun.
In August, we went to an Airbnb close by for several days. They had a lovely pond to cool off in with a huge waterslide the children & Loyd loved. Yes, they did manage to talk me into going down once. I lived to talk about it. š
Yoder Days at the end of August was extra special as well. We had wonderful friends staying at our farm that weekend & created lots of memories. We love having people to the farm & are really excited to have more opportunities for this in 2023.
Labor Day weekend my siblings, parents, & us went to Missouri for a wonderful retreat. We thoroughly enjoyed the water, canoeing, fishing, campfire, wonderful food, and getting to spend time with our loved ones. Many great memories were made.
Well, that concludes my writings of 2022.
We are so grateful for all of Godās Blessings this past year & know He is with us as we begin 2023.
We have lots of exciting things planned for the farm. Canāt wait to share them with you.
Thank you for being a part of our lives.
We Love You.š
-Arlene for the Borntragers
Having a New Yearās Eve Party?
Needing to get food..
Let me help.
Order a Meat & Cheese Tray & we will have it ready for pickup on Saturday, Dec. 31, from 10-4.
