I would like to finish this series today by reminiscing about some of the guests that have stayed here in our cabin.  As I mentioned in the last two posts we have some guests that come because they are very interested in the farm while others don't really care; they just want a quiet place to spend a night or more.
​Most of our guests are a good mix of the two extremes.  One of our guests was a young man from New Jersey.  He was looking for some peace and quiet during his vacation from being a livery driver in the New York City area.  He spent nearly a week here.  He was able to visit the barn and see the animals and he also got to watch us bale some hay.  He also had plenty of time to just sit and relax and read or watch movies or just go for a walk.  He was able to visit some of the 1000 islands but one of his favorite activities was to share dinner with us as a family every evening!
​We had a family from New York City that spent about a week here.  They have relatives that live in Ecuador and they have some cattle, so the hope was that the children could see some cows here so they have a better idea of what their relatives have in Ecuador.  They enjoyed the time that they could spend in the barn petting and feeding the calves as well as getting some fresh squeezed milk from the cows. :)  They were really taken in by the amazing sunsets and sunrises; something they don't see very much of in the big city.  They were here over July 4th and so we took them along to see one of the firework displays in the area.  While they had seen many firework displays before on tv this was the first one they saw in person. So they really enjoyed that!  They actually came back another year over July 4 so they could go see the fireworks display again.  They enjoyed many of the other attractions in the area as well while they were here.  They also enjoyed dinner with us most of the evenings and one evening they prepared a Spanish meal for us for dinner!  It was a great time for all of us!
​We had a family from Syracuse, NY that spent a weekend here.  They had 3 special needs boys and it is hard for them to find a place to visit where the boys all enjoy themselves.  They decided to try our farm and it was just the ticket for them!  They had one boy that really enjoyed being in the barn helping with chores another of the boys got along real well with one of our sons and enjoyed reading some of the books that our son had. The third boy just had a blast playing with toys and video games.  So since the boys were all enjoying themselves, the parents also could relax and enjoy their time here!  We were glad it worked for them and enjoyed sharing our lives with them.
​That is really just a sample of the variety of people that come to stay in our cabin!  We would be glad to host you as well!

I already wrote about a couple of guests that stayed on our farm because they were looking for the farm experience.  I hope to write about some more of them in the near future.  Today I am writing about those that stayed at our bed and breakfast for other reasons.
 
​We had a young couple with 2 small children come and stay for nearly a week.  They were from south central PA and came to the area to visit some extended family.  They were looking for a quiet place that was fairly close to where their family lives.  They were here over their anniversary and so we were able to babysit the children while they had some time alone to celebrate their anniversary!

​We are located in the 1000 Island region and so some of the guests that stay here are spending time touring the 1000 Islands.  We have had people from many different areas of the country like Arizona, Iowa, and many from other parts of New York state, and so we enjoy visiting with them and learning about their home area.  We have also had several guests from China and Israel.  So it is almost like we can tour the world without leaving home!

​Some of the comments that we have gotten back from some of these guests are; "Perfect cabin, clean and charming with very friendly and accommodating hosts!"  "This listing far exceeded my expectations.  My friend and I were looking for a place to stay on the American side of 1000 islands.  The cabin is even more adorable in person. At night you can see the stars above and it is a peaceful serene place to stay."  "The serenity, quiet and peace were a perfect complement to our busy vacation which was only 25 minutes away at the 1000 islands in Alexandria Bay.  We had a wonderful deep sleep!"

We really enjoy having guests stay in our cabin whether they are here because they want to have a farm experience or they just need a quiet place to spend the night as they are passing through the area. 

We have had a Bed and Breakfast on our farm for nearly 4 years now and I thought it would be fun to reminisce about some of the guests that stayed here.  I am hoping to do a short series here so I will only cover a few today.  One of our first guests was an older lady that heard about our farm on the Mars Hill Radio Network.  She lives in the city of Syracuse New York and had a lifelong dream of milking a cow.  She was able to realize that dream!  Here is a quote from a thank you note she sent after staying here; " Glad you gave me a docile one (cow) to practice on - she surely knew that this was someone who didn't have a clue what she was doing!"  We were glad to provide her with the opportunity to milk a cow.  She also appreciated all the barn cats and our very friendly dog, Shadow.  Another quote from her thank you note; "Thanks so much.  You guys were great.  It felt good to be with family again; I miss my own so very much.  Thanks for the great meals, the beautiful cabin and the hospitality.  Thanks for sharing your life."  That is part of why we put in the cabin for the Bed and Breakfast, so we can share our lives with others!  
We also had a couple from Fort Drum, New York spend a weekend in our cabin.  He was interested in the farm because he was nearing retirement and had dreams of going into farming when he was done in the military.  He was able to help with feeding the cows as well as helping milk the cows.  We were able to discuss the many aspects of farming and had a great time together.  A quote from their thank you note; "First, what an amazing weekend!  I can't believe everything we learned and how gracious you were in answering all of our questions!  Second, you are such kind people and such a wonderful, welcoming family.  I loved being able to share conversation and experiences with you all.  I only wish our weekend wasn't so short!"  Another reason for starting the Bed and Breakfast business was so that we can share our farm life with others as we did with this couple!
I will write about other guests in the future.  Not all our guests come because they want to milk a cow or work on the farm.  So next time I will write about some of them. 

  We have enjoyed a number of guests that have stayed in our cabin here on our farm this past year.  Some have stayed for one night and others have spent the weekend or more.  No matter the length of the visit we want you to know that we have been blessed by all the guests that have visited our farm!  As we are at the end of 2015 and on the verge of beginning a new year I would like to share a blessing on those that have visited this past year and those that will be visiting in the future.
"May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; and may the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace." Numbers 6:24-26 NIV

Even on a cold snowy day we will welcome you to stay in our cabin!

When I was a boy if we liked Ford cars or trucks we would say they are: First On Race Day.  If you didn't like Fords you would say: Fix Or Repair Daily.  Some days it seems like all we do is fix things but then we do have stretches where everything ticks along pretty smoothly.  The long and short of it is that there are a lot of pieces of equipment that get used on a farm and no matter the make everything mechanical needs to maintained and repaired at times.  I am including some photos of a rather major project that we did in the barn.  We removed the old tie stalls and replaced them with new ones.  For more pictures you can look in the gallery.

Yesterday, 10/13/2013, we hosted an Open Farm Sunday event here on our farm.  It was a promotion sponsored by Cabot Cheese and the idea was it would be a chance for the general public to visit a farm where the milk  that is produced goes into making Cabot cheese.  Our farm which is an Agri-Mark producer is on of the many that make up the farms that supply milk for making Cabot cheese.  One of the lines in the advertisements for this event was; "Call us old fashioned but our Farm Families want to thank you in person."  We were indeed blessed to be able to meet many people yesterday as they came to visit our farm and give them a glimpse of what goes on at our farm daily in the effort to produce quality milk. 
When we considered hosting this event we realized it was on a Sunday and we hesitated a little because Sunday is a day that we hold pretty sacred and we knew we would have to miss going to church which is our usual custom on a Sunday morning.  We decided that it wouldn't be too bad if we missed one Sunday service at church.  So we went ahead and scheduled the event.  We had a very beautiful day and enjoyed our time visiting with those that came to see our farm but, we really missed our time of worship and fellowship at church.  While we know that God hasn't made a big black mark on our record of church attendance, we feel we missed out on a blessing that would have been much greater than the blessing we did receive by staying at home and hosting the Open Farm Sunday event for Cabot cheese.  So, call us old fashioned but, in hind sight, we think our time would have been better utilized by being in church than hosting an event on our farm.

It has been quite a long time since I wrote anything here.  I decided to take some time and write about the great guests that we have had here at our farm in the last few months.  We have really enjoyed the time we have had with all the different guests, it gives us a chance to learn more about other areas without leaving home!  We have had guests from New York City, Syracuse area, western NY, Toronto Ont. and southeastern NJ.  Most have little to no farm background and so it has been fun showing them what milking cows for a living is all about.  Some of the guests are more interested in just having a quiet rural setting for relaxing and enjoying some down time and aren't all that interested in what is going on around the farm, that is okay too.  It has been pretty unanimous among all the guests, it has been an enjoyable place to stay and we are delighted that they feel that way. 

The following are some quotes from some of our guests.  "You all went out of your way to welcome me and make sure I felt at home."  "From day one until the end, we have enjoyed every awake moment, from the delicious supper meals to our favorite past time ... staring at the sunrises and sunsets, staring at the cows and so on."  "We will call this place a small piece of heaven."  "When we arrived we were mesmerized by the beauty of this place.  And the cherry on the top was the love and affection everyone showed us and to each other."  "I love this farm!!"  "The home cooking can't be beat."  "This is just such a quiet peaceful place, we want to come again."

It has been a win/win situation.  We have greatly enjoyed hosting our guests and our guests have enjoyed being here!  We count ourselves blessed beyond measure to have hosted all the guests we have had so far and are looking forward to making even more friends as people continue to visit our farm.

This weekend is one of the most important holidays for those that hold to the Christian faith, as do we.  It is a good time to reflect on what Jesus did for us as a man when he was here on earth many years ago.  As the Bible tells us in Romans 5 verses 6-8; When we were utterly helpless with no way of escape, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners who had no use for him. Even if we were good, we really wouldn't expect anyone to die for us, though, of course, that might be barely possible.  But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.  (Living Bible)  I am very thankful for his great love for me and that I didn't need to reach a certain level of goodness before coming to him in repentance and asking him to be my Savior and Lord.  I am also thankful for his continued grace in my life.  If you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior I would encourage you to give it some serious thought this Easter season.  Hopefully you have time to worship  Jesus at a church service and maybe share some special time with family and friends.  We will be having a carry in Easter breakfast at our church tomorrow morning before the service and then we have some friends, that  we haven't seen for quite awhile, coming to our house for lunch.  I am looking forward to a very good day! 

  It is hard to believe that on this date 20 years ago I was on my way, heading north, from Schaefferstown PA to Evans Mills NY.  We had loaded all the cows and young stock onto two tractor trailer trucks and we were on our way to our new farm in Evans Mills NY.  I was in our pick up truck with a friend from church, Stan High, and we were trying to stay ahead of the cattle trailers so that we would be here at the farm when they got here to unload.  We did have a good crew here ready to unload the cattle when the trucks got here.  Our friend, Kevin Schmitt, had built a ramp so we could get the cows off of the trailers when they got here.  So when the trucks got here we set up the ramp and started unloading the cows.  Most of them seemed to be glad to get off the truck and cooperated with us when we put them into their stalls and fed them some hay.  It was a long day for the cows, and us, but it was a good day.  It was an amazing feeling to milk the cows in our barn for the f

We moved here to our farm nearly 20 years ago from PA.  When we were getting ready to move we needed to find a market for our milk.  We decided to sell our milk to Dairylea Cooperative Inc.  So for the past nearly 20 years a milk truck has come every other day and picked up our milk for Dairylea Cooperative.  A few years ago our neighbor started sending his milk to  Agri-Mark Cooperative.  We had talked a few times about what he was getting paid for his milk and it seemed he was usually getting a little better price for his milk.  So, when the Agri-Mark inspector stopped in and asked if I would be interested in taking a look at what they could do for me I said I would like to do that.  Long story short, they were able to offer us a better price for our milk than what we were currently getting so we decided to switch to shipping our milk to Agri-Mark.  It took a little while to jump through all the hoops to get out of our contract with Dairylea but as of today we are officially producing for milk for Agri-Mark Cooperative.  So today was historic in the fact that we are now shipping our milk to a new cooperative after being with Dairylea for almost 20 years.