Thanks to new sponsors for rescue mare:

Just a quick thank you for two wonderful women who have
sponsored our rescue mare. . . (still waiting for the right name)

Thank you:

Sara Wagner

Sharon Yildiz
(of Turkey - it is great to know this mare's story
has made it around the world)

and Lesley Weaver of Ohio!
And update with photos will be posted soon!

Check back!

What is in a Name? Rescue Update

First, I want to thank our farrier, Rick Legg, for the amazing work he did on our rescue mare's feet Tuesday.

Also, thanks to his apprentice, Dave Stephens.

The work was exhausting but the immediate improvement was dramatic. Several hours of back breaking work went into her feet, but you will see, it was worth it.

I believe this has set her on a great road to recovery.
We encountered numerous abscesses, but they are open now and able to drain and heal.

I imagine the pressure being taken off will really help her tremendously overall.

She is sore, but that is expected. We can move on with getting her weight up and address possible laminitis with X-rays.

Please consider Rick for your farrier needs here in Huntington, WV and around the area.

(740) 867-6134 or rfccowboychurch@zoominternet.net;

Let people who care this much and do such great work know they are appreciated by recommending their services!

Now, this mare, I am told, was called Cheyenne, but I believe she probably rarely heard this name from the mouths of those who so neglected and abused her, so I believe a new name is in order, as does my cousin, Kassi, who helped me find out about her, locate her and is helping fund her recovery, too.

I am not sure yet. . .but this mare will be getting a new name soon, and it will be one fitting of her new chance at a decent and kind life.

Also, let me thank my friend, Becky Mccomas and her friend Rita Wendell for their donation to help this mare recover!

Here are photos of the first step to her recovery. A video of her walking her first time with her almost normal hooves, too!


I hope I am always about to help when a horse in SUCH NEED as this!

Please consider sponsoring her recovery. There are many ways to help:

Donations of hay are welcome or of Strategy Healthy Edge feed.

Cash donations can be made via paypal to tinia@lucasfarmwv.com
or via mail. Email for address, please.

Donations can be made directly to our farrier or vet, and their contact
information can be found here

Also, forward this blog to anyone who cares about animals and their welfare if you feel this mare's story will touch them.

Anyone can help in at least one of those ways.

"The godly care for their animals, but the wicked are always cruel"
NLT translation of Proverbs 12:10
~ ~ ~


The question is not, "Can they reason?" nor, "Can they talk?" but rather, "Can they suffer?" ~Jeremy Bentham
~ ~ ~


If we cut up beasts simply because they cannot prevent us and because we are backing our own side in the struggle for existence, it is only logical to cut up imbeciles, criminals, enemies, or capitalists for the same reasons. ~C.S. Lewis
~ ~ ~


Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages. ~Thomas A. Edison
~ ~ ~

If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men. ~St. Francis of Assisi

~ ~ ~

'For the animal shall not be measured by man.In a world older and more ... murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men." -- Leonardo Da Vinci

Horse Rescue is not fun, but someone must do it. . .

I have been aware of this horse's situation through the grapevine for about a month,
but the law enforcement in this country overlooks animal abuse, and nothing was being done.

The owners were not willing to relinquish this horse prior to yesterday.

Today we drove the hour and 20 minutes in the pouring rain to look for this severly abused and neglected 5 yr old paint mare.

We get to the house the horse is supposed to be located, and it is not there.

Finally, during the torrential downpour, a neighbour says he took the horse to his house to feed it. At least someone cared.

We drive down and when we see this mare, we do not really know what to think. It is amazing she was standing there, in the pouring rain, alive.

She had no shelter, she was tied to a tree, but at least the man thought he was helping.

Until tonight, this horse has never known kindness.

I am told she was kept in a stall for 3 years and never let out. That is why her feet look as they do.

She was then moved and tied outside with no shelter to a tree. She would be walked around every few days to graze a bit, and then she would be tried back to the tree.

She was ridden in this condition. The owners had decided, before they relented and let her be rescues, to breed her next month!

The laceration she suffered from being tangled in a rope and left for 4 days before being found.

It is sickening that people would do this and think nothing of it, never blink an eye.

We are asking those who feel inclined to help, please contact us for our farrier's number or address or that of our vet -
This horse is going to need MANY visits from our farrier over the next year and a lot of vet care for her injury on her leg.

We would be happy to provide you with the contact information for our vet or farrier if you'd like to donate vet care or a farrier visit. Any amount will help! We will personally thank you in our blog and on our website! If you feel comfortable mailing

a check or donating through paypal, that is fine, too, but I know there are a lot of scams out there and I thought paying a farrier or vet directly might make anyone wanting to help feel comfortable.
This poor mare certainly deserves a break!

She is, finally, safe. We will do all we can to give her a REAL chance!

Fresh Cheese COOKING

Just finished a casserole, of sorts, with homemade, fresh goat's milk FETA cheese.

Small, sweet peppers, Red, Green and Orange bell peppers, artichokes, rice and tomatoes finish the dish.

It is now mixed and baking, and if it turns out well, I shall type up my recipe. If it does not, it certainly looked delish!

A Man and his Horse

Keep in mind:


JC has only had 60 days Undersaddle

He is a 4 yr old stallion

He hadn't been ridden in a year

Our mares were in plain sight

...John is a 100% beginner rider, but he is a brave ol' boy and loves this horse, and this horse loves him.
 

Easy to tack up

Getting used to the saddle

JC needed to relieve himself, so John thought

he would make the funniest pose possible from it

That beautiful Arab head

Just get on and ride, as Garth Brooks says

Horse nor Man any worse for the wear. . .

I will say, I recommended a Helmet - John declined.

He feels he should have been a cowboy. . .

The question of ethics and Christian beliefs

Note: This particular Blog posting contains many blatant Biblical points and is written for a Christian leaning audience on a subject with a Christian theme. If that isn't your cup of tea, this post is not for you:

On goes the psychological struggle about homesteading, the family eating humanely raised and butchered livestock and me being the hard-core vegetarian I am. I understand the hesitance, the desire to accept the status quo because it is easier to stay distanced from our food, detached. It is not Right, but it is EASY.

The question isn't whether I will or will not eat livestock that might be raised here in the future and slaughtered in a humane manner because I will not. I am a vegetarian and that is what suits me. The struggle is about how proceed with a husband and sons choosing to eat meat. I know the right thing, but it is a hard thing to accept and move past, to overcome emotionally.

Let me give some background on my own vegetarianism. I am not inclined to go into the long and drawn out version, but basically, if you have even a elementary understanding of the Bible, you already know that in Genesis 1:31, the world God set forth was very good. That is powerful coming from the Lord, that something was, here in the natural world and very good. The Amplified takes it further and reads, "he approved it completely." It is almost unheard of that we encounter God so very pleased with anything on earth, but he was thus concerning the garden and how he set up the workings of it.


So, on the Earth, in the beginning, there was no slaughtering and eating of animals, and God assigned a clear vegetarian diet in Genesis 1:30. The following passage affirms the creation and workings to be "very good." This was a world without sin. One might say something akin to perfection on Earth, but following the Fall of Man and the Flood, everything changed. After sin entered and man became aware of evil and essentially began to glory in it, the flood was sent.


Following the flood, God tells Noah and his family that he now gives man all things for meat. In Genesis 9:3, the Bible reads, "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you; and as I gave you the green vegetables and plants, I give you everything," and so we see, eating meat became acceptable - what I consider God' permissive, not his perfect, will. This was only after sin ran rampant and the "perfection" found in the Garden, or God' ideal world, has passed.


I believe and know that eating meat is not sinful or wrong. I believe God allows it. I know he has made his perfect desires known in the way he set up his world in the beginning, and we have failed in so many ways, he has given us options, and that is his merciful and kind nature. Food, least of all, is another way he has made an allowance for his people. However, he has never given permission to be cruel or act as anything less than compassionate caretakers toward the earth and the animals within.


There are scriptures in Romans dealing with Jews seeking to follow Christ and eating meat, but this has nothing, essentially, to do with vegetarians seeking to following God's original diet, to some degree, ordained in the garden. Context applies, and vegetarianism, such as I practice, as a gentile, if you will, related very little here in this scripture, if at all.


Of course, my original vegetarianism came from a simple desire to not eat animals 14 years ago. I spent some time as a vegan as well. I did not research it more back then as a child, and all I knew was the Bible did say, reading from the Amplified Bible:

Proverbs 12:10

"A [consistently] righteous man regards the life of his beast [...]"

That was enough for me, and that scripture beckons me now to look for a way to regard the lives on the animals that feed my husband and children, if that is the way they choose to eat, and it is, at this time.

How can Christians disregard such a scripture? How can someone claim to have regard the life of an animal and claim to be righteous and support commercially slaughtered or raised meat? I like the Amplified's use of consistently ("A [consistently] righteous man regards the life of his beast [...]"), meaning over and over, which makes me think of those who eat, day in and day out of cruelly raised and butchered livestock - their lack of consistent righteousness in this area, that is.

We know God is concerned enough for the well being of animals that he actually has laws concerning their care, such as we find in Deuteronomy, "You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain." Of course, later, Paul expounds on this in 1 Corinthians, but it should not be misunderstood to discredit the fact God had concern for the well being of the animals he created.

Luke 12:6 tells us God even feels for the seemingly inconsequential sparrow, "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies ? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God."

Many people find nothing wrong with eating animals kept in disease ridden feed lots, fed unnatural feeds, kept away from their natural forage (grass) and apart from anything found in a natural life or any kindness. Many such people do not find this to be sin or find anything wrong with it at all. Those people will eat animals who are processed while still alive, animals too weak to walk that are shoved with machinery into areas to have their throats slit and left alive to die a painful and slow death in beyond contaminated conditions, terrified and devoid of having known any affection in their whole lives, then turn, be appalled, criticize or even attack people who suggest raising and caring for their own livestock, as we have suggested doing and others I know are doing. That is to raise these animals in a natural way with proper nurturing and in a far more normal setting and with the livestock being butchered on their own farm in a quick, painless a manner as possible.

You cannot partake of something that is clearly in defiance to the Bible, as a Christian, as long as you do not do it with your own hands and then condemn those who demand a more kind, human and safe way of life because it makes you uncomfortable.

Simply put, It is not easy to always decide to do the right thing. If the right thing were easy to do, the Bible would not need to read in Matthew 7:14 "For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it." In this case, the right/moral thing isn't the easiest or most fun. It is simply the Right thing.


I am sure, for me, the road will be one fraught with sadness and agonizing moments, truth be told. But regardless, it is, I know, the correct one.

For those who cannot raise their own beef, chicken, pork, milk, eggs, cheese and so forth:

Visit EAT WILD

http://eatwild.com/
To find humanely raised meat and naturally raised vegetables

in your eat. Any farmer listed must meet strict criteria to be listed there.
To find real milk and dairy products:

http://www.realmilk.com/where2.html
And to gain access to real milk in state where citizens are denied a right to choose their own foods, sign my real milk petition:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/legalize-raw-milk
Share these links on facebook and twitter, if you can.

Hay Adventures!

We drove at least an hour and 15 minutes to get hay that was supposed to be 45 minutes away, at most, got lost and had more hay loaded than was prudent:

With great prayers and much anxiety, it stay on until we got home

That one bale teetered on the edge the whole drive!

Jelly and Jam

We still have plenty of Jelly and Jam for sale!

Contact us for information!

tinia@lucasfarmwv.com

When you feel like throwing in the towel

I have put off updating for a bit because I had nothing "fun" to write about, but honestly, the things I can write about that can be of use are tangled up in the problems we encounter. It can help those with livestock learn.
I think it is inevitable that, when dealing with livestock and horses,

you will get periods of time where the critters are determined to find ways to try to kill themselves and leave us at a loss for investment, never even mind the sweat and tears and love involved.
We have just had such a time. Money is tight, as it is with most people,
and we've had, in this order, in the past 8 weeks (I couldn't begin to tell you what we've had in the last 9 months, so we will just go with the last 8 weeks):


Meggie, a Nubian doeling, with a serious dog bite injury that required expensive antibiotics and a debridement surgery

It has since closed, the hair has grown back and all looks well!

This was the mid point of healing, after surgery. It had looked much, much worse.

What to learn from our calamity: 8lb dogs can do extensive damage in a much larger animal. Dog's mouths are full of dangerous bacteria. Just because it doesn't look too bad, doesn't mean you should treat it as minor. I'd have saved a lot of money if I had made certain to clean these tiny wounds 100% to being with. I should have shaved it, cleaned with a needle-less syringe each wound and covered in betadine while using an antibiotic to begin with. I did, at least, give a Tetanus antitoxin when it occured!

Bo, our Nubian yearling buck, had a bout of polio that required our vet our after midnight, a bottle of RX Dex and Thiamine

What to learn from our calamity: If your goat appears to loose his vision and is down or standing around starring at the sky with obvious loss of vision, treat with RX Thiamine, and do not wait until this happens to have RX Thiamine and Dex on hand from your vet.



Dusty, our Aussie, keeps getting hot spots even with the use of frontline and allergy shots from our vet

What to learn from our calamity: LOL - That stuff didn't help us. He still has the hot spots regardless of flea treatment and meds.


Lady Ann got choked and required a vet out (Dr. Brown wasn't in town that day) last Monday to the tune of $300 with no success in treatment, meeting with Dr. Brown for more banamine and injectable $50 per dose antibiotics to prevent aspiration pneumonia on Tuesday and a meeting - because he could not make it out - Wednesday to pick up what it took to tube her ourselves since the choke wasn't resolved, which was traumatizing, but a success! I had opted to not renew her insurance policy just the month before! She is still recovering, but we hope and pray all is well.

What to learn from our calamity: Just soak your pelleted feeds. It is easy and quick and can save their life and you a lot of $$. Never feed anything not soaked that is dry - beet pulp, alfalfa pellets or pelleted feed. Also, DO NOT forgot or opt to not renew your equine insurance!

Summer Breeze was clipped too short and got a rough sunburn on her neck, and it is healing, but it looked rough and required a lot of ointment!

What to learn from our calamity: Use a 2 guard when clipping and if you clip too short - put a t-shirt on the goat or sunscreen 2x daily ;)


Then JC hurt his right leg in some manner - nothing visually amiss other than a limp - but that required some Bute and stall rest.

What to learn from our calamity: Stallions like to hurt themselves - period.

But I believe there is always bound to be a respite after such rain - surely!

It all had me pretty down. The expense is almost insurmountable! The toll it takes on one's mind and spirit is equal to the expense, but truly, the joy of living with the animals and on the land with a goal of homesteading - in reality - is worth it and nothing anyone hoping to work toward sustainable, self-sufficient living has not felt at some time or other.

Raising children in this way is simply the only manner I can fathom!
I grew up with dreams of such an life, and I am determined to provide it for my children and to see it through for my own self, too

Jelly Battles

Much Jelly has been in the works here about. . .


and a Label has now been designed!

This is just what I happened to picture in my head

when we began this Jelly and Jam extravaganza, and so

I decided on this as our Jelly label for the mixed berry.

My husband was a good sport about it:

We also picked more berries

To make individual flavors instead of mixed only

Red Raspberry Jelly and Jam

The husband showing off his

soon to be famous Jelly/Jam face

Our son really liking the Jam!