There is a lot that goes on here on a typical farm day. Like most farm families, we stay very busy! Blue Cedar Beef is just one part of our family business. Most of our blog posts are spent bragging on the excellent quality and superior taste of our Blue Cedar Beef that you can order and have shipped from our farm to your front porch.

I wanted to celebrate some of the moments I’ve captured on the farm. The long days can be hard, but simple moments of beauty throughout the day remind me of why it is all worth it.

I took this picture on our farm while working cattle early one morning. There is just something about getting up with the sun and checking something big off your list first thing. It feels so good. I aim to do it more often, but just like you…I struggle to consistently do early mornings, even when I know they are good for me.

The fun thing about caring for so much livestock is you get to work some early mornings and sometimes still have to pull a late night shift. I know that all the parents out there understand. The work is never done when taking excellent care of the ones we love.

On this evening, we watched the sun go down taking care of our momma cows.

The farm would be much less fun without our best buddy, Max. I’m sure he thinks he “shoulda been a cowboy” but he is more of a “yard dog.” That is on us, though!

He’s bred and has the pedigree to be a phenomenal cow dog, but when Brendan and I first got Max, we needed a people-friendly, family dog. It’s not to say that cow dogs can’t also be friendly and great with people, but they aren’t always.

So, we never really let him work cows. We trained him on the basic commands to sit and stay, etc., but when it comes to cows, he’s more likely to lick them on the nose than to help gather them. Here is Max chilling next to a pen of our black Angus cattle.

Our border collie might not be the workhorse we intended him to be but we certainly use this one! Our truck comes in handy for hauling hay and hauling cattle. You really don’t realize how much equipment farmers have to invest in to run their farm efficiently.

We put considerable time and energy into growing food for our cattle. One of the benefits of buying your beef from a family farm like ours is that we know everything about the cow from birth until we take them to our local processor. You can ask us any questions you like; we love to answer them.

This was one of those moments when the lighting on the farm was just right, and the moment in the field of barley was captured beautifully. A lot of times, the phone camera doesn’t do our farm justice. I had a nice manicure at the time, so that was another win.

Don’t let that manicure fool you. My happiest moments are when I’m really getting my hands dirty. We don’t just grow food for the cows. In the summer season, I love to garden and grow food for us, too. This year, I was thrilled to put in a water pump right next to our garden plot to make life easier.

We are so blessed to be living out our dreams here in the heart of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia raising beef cows, making hay, and running a large-animal veterinary clinic. Thank you for taking a moment to see our farm through our eyes and listen to our story.