In April, Allah blessed us with four spring lambs to add to our flock: two girls - Marshmallow and Honey Puff, and two boys - Ramazing and Woolly B. Then in June, our Daisy calved and we have a beautiful little calf named Violet. She is 3/4 Jersey, 1/4 Red Angus - a hardier breed that will provide A2A2 milk (casein A2) and yet have a heavier frame, insha'Allah. We also sold our bull, Barbecue (Violet's daddy), as he had done his job and had become an annoyance.
We added 4 solar panels to our main solar set up, then finally got another 15 cu ft chest freezer, ready for our winter slaughtering. We were planning to slaughter Youngbul, our Angus-Simmental steer, during October, but we had such heavy rains (al hamdulillah) during the autumn that we had to postpone it to November.
During Ramadan, our middle daughter was taken severely ill, resulting in numerous doctors and specialist appointments, Emergency Room trips, and a period of hospitalization in the ensuing months. Al hamdulillah, things are improving, and we are grateful for all the support and du'a.
We were blessed in another amazing way over the summer, masha'Allah. We were approved to get high speed fiber optic internet line to our land, al hamdulillah. Considering that it costs over $40,000 per mile to lay the fiber optic cable, and it was about 1.5 miles of cable that had to be laid to serve us, we feel overwhelming gratitude for Allah's endless provision. We had no installation fees to pay: simply a monthly bill of $50 for up to 100 Mbps, upgradable to $70 for up to 1 Gig, masha'Allah. This internet service has enabled Shariyf to work from home for his online teaching and website management al hamdulillah.
On October 16th, Azalea (our heifer born Feb 14th, '16) calved, giving us an adorable little calf named Jasmine. We now have two cows in milk, and two heifer calves that can be bred from June and October 2019. The plan is to keep Voilet as our next generation A2A2 dairy cow, and sell the others over the coming 18 months, insha'Allah.
When November rolled around, we finally slaughtered Youngbul. Weighing in at around 2,000 lbs, it was a monumental job, subhaan Allah. The actual slaughtering went easy, bi idhn Illah ta'ala, but the skinning, cutting, and hanging were exhausting. The first thing Shariyf said, as he walked in the door after managing to load all the meat in the truckbed to take to our neighbor's walk in cooler, was, "Never again. I'm saving from now for the money to get it professionally processed next time." The girls helped him, but it was a long hard day masha'Allah. Of course, after every difficulty there is ease, and after hanging the meat for 21 days, we butchered into roasts, steaks, cubes, grind, ribs, etc. The meat is the best we have ever tasted; a testimony to raising organic, grass fed and finished beef masha'Allah! We have taken the beef belly and smoked around 20 lbs of our own hickory beef bacon. We look forward to making pastrami, corned beef, and summer sausage soon, insha'Allah.
We were able to help fellow Muslims buy land, and find & transport mobile homes to the area so they can begin their homesteading journey. We call the area Andalucia! To date, 3 other families have purchased land for their homesteads. The Muslims are in possession of 151 acres. Of course it will take time for the community to grow, but we're off to a good start, al hamdulillah!
