Franciscan Family Farms

“Hey! Come quick! We have a new calf!” yelled Steven as he dashed in from the grassy pasture to the garden where we, Steven’s sisters and families and I, his wife, were gathering the kiddos for an evening picnic. The shock of this good news delayed the family’s stampede only for a moment. We were not expecting Coretta, our first time mother, to calf so soon. She was showing signs that she was preparing for birth, but compared to Ivy, our last cow to give birth, Coretta had alot more swelling, bulging, and miserableness to accomplish before we’d even consider that she was close to calving. How wrong we were! The kids giggled and whooped loudly when they got close enough to catch a glimpse of that tiny, black, wobbly frame. (Ok, so in all honesty, though we were telling the kids to be calm, they weren’t the only ones whooping in celebration. I let out a few hollers and “Thank you, Jesus!’s” myself.)

All twelve of us just stood close to the electric fence watching it scamper about in disbelief of both the reality that it was born so soon and that it was so agile and energetic while still soaking wet. “Awwe, God is real,” I thought. This was in response to a comment I had heard on talk radio the night before that I just could not get out of my head. The speaker was boldly, or just plain sadly, proclaiming all life and specifically human life to be nothing more than the mere “fallout of debris” from the big bang. After witnessing this tiny new life run around for the first time, muscles stretching and contracting, breathing, its heart beating, I was once again reassured that there was an intelligent design to life and indeed an Intelligent Designer. This is yet another example if how natural-farming has given us a window into the magesty of God. He is so good.

Our little heifer is still going strong today just as she was that Monday evening when we found her. We are very excited to have this little addition to our herd.

More pictures can be seen in the photo albums on the right.