Part 2 of the robin family outside our window sill.  Check out Part 1 of you missed it.

“Wireless radiation has biological effects. Period. This is no longer a subject for debate when you look at PubMed and the peer-review literature. These effects are seen in all life forms; plants, animals, insects, microbes.

In humans we have clear evidence of cancer now; there is no question. We have evidence of DNA damage, cardiomyopathy, which is the precursor of congestive heart failure, neuropsychiatric effects…..

5G is an untested application of a technology that we know is harmful; we know it from the science. In academics this is called human subjects research.”

~ Dr. Sharon Goldberg

For more videos and articles on 5G, please visit:

Top Facts About 5G and Your Health

Spring time is when birds chirp, build nests and lay eggs.  Living in the country, there is no shortage of robins, killdeers, doves, red-wing blackbirds.  Besides the usual place where you would find a nest (tree branches), birds also like to find shelter under the roof of a house and in my case, inside an unused chimney!

This year, we have a robin nest on the window sill outside my sons’ room.  We watched it everyday sitting on the 4 blue eggs and today a tiny, featherless baby robin is hatched.  What a marvelous thing to see a new life being brought into this world.  God’s creation is always amazing.

In the video, you can see the tiny “ball” moving.  I will post new photos and videos when it’s siblings are hatched and fighting for worms. 

Through my older daughters’ Lumerit Unbound college degree, I came to know the wonderful Christian ministry Summit.  Summit focuses on teaching biblical worldview to the younger generation and tackling popular cultural strifes arise from conflicting worldviews.

Although Summit’s target audience are mostly children and young adults, I find the material very helpful in defending my Christian faith and engaging non-believers with facts and love.  Besides providing bible study and homeschooling curriculum,  Summit also provides FREE Basecamp events.  I highly recommend Christian parents to check them out here.

Past events include Practical Tools for Equipping Gen Z and Truth & Relationship in a Sexually Confused Culture.  

Upcoming event in May would be Navigating A Technological and Pornified Culture.

I have been storing firewood under tarps for many years and it always bothers me when I have to replace the tarps every year because of tear from wind/UV.  It is also quite inconvenient to retrieve firewood logs under the tarp in the cold winter.  Nevertheless, it is cheap and affordable.

This year, I decided to build a proper firewood shed after other chores have been taken care of.  To save money (yeah, call me cheap), I am going to use free pallets as base and scrap boards as sides.  I still have to purchase some gravels for the concrete slabs, 2x4s for studs and rafters, OSB boards for sheathing and shingles.

To house 2 bush cords of firewood, the shed is going to be 10 ft long by 6ft wide and 6ft tall (at the highest).  The tedious part of the project, if you have ever build any sheds, is to prepare the foundation as best as you can.  It took me 2 days to cut the slabs, dig holes, fill in the gravels and level them properly.

Within a week, with help from the children, the shed is finished!

	Using slabs and gravels as foundation.
	The pallet is placed on the slabs.
	Studs.  All 2x4s
	Side View
	Rafters and sheathings.
	Under the roof
	Marking chalk lines on top of the sheathing.
	Nailing shingles by hand is a pretty tiring job.
	Putting up side boards from scrap fences.
	Firewood delivery.
	My wonderful children who help me build the shed and piling the firewood.  They are super fast!!

Well, after 3 1/2 months of milking, I decided to sell the cow and calf.  Our current family schedule just doesn’t accommodate the demand of owning a family cow.

In the morning I have to spend 40 minutes to milk, feed and clean.  Then another 20 minutes in the evening to feed and clean.  Kay has to spend at least 60 minutes to filter the milk, make kefir and wash all the milking equipment.  Each milking require a minimum of 3 persons at the barn.  All in all, it takes a lot of time and effort to get just  a couple liters of raw milk a day.

However, we will still look for a family cow some day, may be in the spring.  Lessons learned:

1. Don’t rush and buy a cow.  Take your time and look for one that fits all your requirement.  For our next cow, we want a A2A2 cow under 4 years old.
2. Smaller cow is preferred.  The one we had consumes at least 1 square bale of hay every day.  Next time, we would choose high quality milk (A2A2) of lesser quantity over abundance of lower quality one.
3. Owning a family cow is a chore!  Expect to spend 1 hour a day to take care of your cow.  That is if you want to keep a clean and comfortable living/milking area for the animal.
4. A cow is a big animal.  In order to handle a cow safely, a halter with leading rope is a must.
5. A water bucket with heating element is a must if you intend to keep the cow (or any animal) during winter.

All in all, it was a wonderful experience for all of us to be able to hand milk and drink fresh raw milk.

In order to make milking easier, we decided to build a elevated milking stanchion/platform.  The dimension is 72 inches long, 36 inches wide and about 9 inches high.  We use free pallet as the base, add a sheet of plywood on top and use 2×4 for the posts.

At hindsight, the platform would be much sturdier if we use 4×4 posts but 2×4 still works.

We also build a small ramp for the cow to exist the milking station.

	This is the milking station
	2 layers of pallets (free!)
	We put some grain, grass and carrots in the feeder while milking.
	One fixed board and a movable one make up the head gate.  It is about 7.5 inches wide.
	The side gate will be opened for exit when milking is done.
	We have since put a piece of kids’ foam mat on the ramp to prevent slippery.
	The cow in the station.  The station is barely long enough for our cow!

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I haven’t posted any new blog lately because we are so busy adjusting our mornings routine because we finally purchased our first dairy cow.

Yes, we have a cow now, and her steer calf.

“HoneyCream” (name that the children picked after many arguments) is a 6-years-old Jersey cow. She is a calm old cow but she is big and around 800 lbs (or a bit more). I am a small guy so I have to be careful around her. When she pushes I really have to brace myself and get out of the way!

Kay is meticulous when it comes to sanitization of milking equipment, cow teats and our hands.  First we use a brush to dry clean Honeycream’s udder.  Then we use shop towels to clean her teats follow by cotton towels with warm water to clean the udder and teats.  Finally we use another towel to make sure the udder and teats are dry.  Sounds like a lot of preparation but afterall, we are drinking raw milk (our only reason why we are having a cow)

So far the milking has been a lot of work (cow poop is BIG) and it takes about an hour each morning after everything is done.  Hopefully as the cow learns her routine and we get more efficient, we can cut it down to half an hour.  The amount of milk fluctuates from 2 litres to 7  litres per day.

We have chosen to milk her once a day (morning) and leave the calf with her for the rest of the day until 20:00 when we separate the calf and the cow.  That would allow us to have more milk in the morning.

Another challenge is to train the calf to be accustomed to halter and lead rope.  Hopefully the girls, being veteran lamb shower, can apply some of their skills in training the calf.

	This is Honeycream, our Jersey cow.
	This is her calf.
	We now have a cow, a calf and 2 sheep.
	To milk a cow, first pinch the top of the teats with your thumb and index finger.  Then squeeze with the rest of your fingers.
	It is tiring at first but with 3 people milking it is not that bad.
	1 gallon of milk beside our milk can.
	The milking pail.
	Filtering the milk.  Sometimes we have to filter twice because it is pretty dirty.
	See how dirty the milk is before filtering?  Dirt, hair, grass can all get in during milking.
	A good day of milking would give us 7 litres.
	Our hard working mama.  Cleaning all the pails and towels every morning.

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We have so much rain this spring and the farmer finally had the opportunity to cut and bale hay.  We quickly purchased 50 square bales (need 150 a year).  It is hard work to move and stack the hay but everybody helps out.

	Moving hay using the small trailer pulled by the lawn tractor.
	We use a pulley to move the hay to upper level in the barn.
	After moving 50 bales of hay, Joshua volunteers to clean the leftover on the floor.
	A hardworking boy Joshua is!