Wednesday, April 22, 2026

Cider Bend-March

Not a lot of excitement on the farm this month. Everyone is doing great!

 To be honest, I have some big races this summer, so my running has ramped up, and my time spent on farm stuff has decreased a little bit this month.

I did get a couple great pictures of the barn with beautiful Idaho sky backdrops. Each time I go outside and see scenes like this, I feel very grateful and I definitely count my blessings that I get to live where I do.



Chickens:

Story time! I had been noticing that the chickens were all of a sudden going through a lot more food than usual. I mentioned it to Mark, but I don't think he paid much attention. It kept getting worse and worse. One morning I lifted the lid of the chicken food and a mouse jumped out right on my foot! So I started thinking it must be the mice eating the food. A couple weeks later I was dumping out the chicken's water so I could take the water container into the barn to give it a good cleaning. When I dumped the water, I noticed that it ran straight into a hole, and all of a sudden, no less than 6 wet mice came scampering out! I told Mark I knew it was the mice eating all the food. He said there is no way 6 mice could eat that much chicken food, but that he would set a live trap. He set the trap and the next morning I checked it. What I found was the picture below. There were 14 mice in the trap! That was just the start, over the next week we caught a total of 24 mice! They had made this elaborate tunnel system under the coop and were just living their best lives. We weren't going to kill a whole family of mice, so Mark made a few trips a couple miles away to Twin Bridges to let them all go. 😆 I'm sure it will continue to be a problem, but now that we know, we can set the trap out at random times, and catch any new ones that try to move in. Chickens are supposed to be little raptors and eat the mice, but mine just watch them scamper around and make friends with them.

Freeloaders!

The chickens have started laying really good! I'm back to selling eggs!

Fridge clean out day is a favorite in the coop!


Goats:

Ginger, Roxie, and Dolly are doing great. We have kept up on our goal of getting them out for a minimum of 10 walks per month. It'll be harder once we start training the donkeys for their burro race, but so far it's been great. They love their walks around the property.

My favorite thing is when Stormy is waiting for them outside the barn. The goats are curious about her, but timid at the same time. Ginger runs by her really fast and then checks behind her to make sure she isn't being chased. 😂


Donkeys:

We're starting to have some beautiful sunny days, so we were able to get Clover and Willow out for a few walks in March. They love to get out, but they get bored if I take them on the same route every day. It's hard to take them anywhere different on my own. It's almost time to start getting them training for the 'River & Rails Donkey Dash,' so I made a whole list of places to start training them this summer. They will love it! 


Cows:

Ace and Opal are doing great! They are dirty messes, but it's still not warm enough for outside baths yet. Here are a couple videos to show off their cuteness!




Cats:

Stormy has been doing great. She is the easiest cat to have around. She just does her thing, but we can tell she's grateful for the help we give her. She definitely loves us and claims us as hers. She spends a lot of time at our sliding glass door in the back, hanging out with Floof and Michem.

Stormy made the cutest little bed in the straw. She fits perfectly in it all curled up. I didn't change out the cows bedding for quite a while because I didn't want to mess up Stormy's bed. Sorry cows! 😅

She also has permanent RBF, which I think is hilarious, because she's actually quite nice. 😂

We had another cat show up. We think it's a girl, but aren't positive. She is super tall, with 4 white legs, so I call her Socks. She is incredibly friendly, so I assumed she belonged to someone, but then I realized she was super boney, and when she steals Stormy's food, she tries to eat so fast she gags. I feed her when she's around, because I can't stand to see an animal starve. She hangs around here pretty regularly now, and seems to get along pretty good with Stormy. She wants to be friends with everyone, and even goes on our goat walks with us. The goats aren't quite sure what to make of her boldness, and she is not one bit scared of them. She wanders around the donkey corral too. Hopefully Clover doesn't try to stomp her. 😅

Socks and Amanda

She's really quite cute!

Michem and Floof are living their best lives. Floof is best friends with everyone, and although he's annoying, he has the most darling personality. It's even hard for Mark to get mad at him. 😅 Michem is really coming out of her shell. She is not nearly as timid as she used to be. She even likes when we have visitors now. She has lost a lot of weight and she looks and feels so much better. She is a lot more energetic and playful now. The video below is how we exercise her. 😂


Barnyard Bookclub:

I have so many fun ideas to do on the farm, but we are always so busy that it's never the right time. I decided if I wait for the perfect time, none of my ideas will even come to pass, so I finally just went for it. We had our first two Charlotte's Web Barnyard Bookclubs in March. They were so much fun! Such a great group of kids! The kids read the book ahead of time; some on their own, the younger ones with their parents or older siblings. The bookclub was an hour and a half long. The first half hour was spent discussing the book. I wasn't sure if the kids would stay engaged that long, but they did awesome. The next half hour was learning about and interacting with all the animals. The final half hour was spent making the cutest Wilbur and Charlotte treats.

I didn't take many pictures, especially during the animal interactions. I need to be focused and it's just too crazy to get my camera out. I'm grateful for the mom's who took pictures and sent them to me.

I spy Charlotte!

All set up and ready for the kids to come!

Check out Willow. She was thrilled to have friends over!

The donkeys got lots of love!

Treats for the goats!

Everyone got to pet Tillie and Fern.

We fed the cows. Ace wishes everyday was book club day! 😄

Collecting chicken eggs.

Making Charlotte....

So dang cute!

They decorated their cupcakes to look like Wilbur.

I love how they turned out!

They could do photos in the booth when we were all done.

This farm life suits me so well. It's a lot of work, but there aren't many dull moments. Some people thought we were crazy for taking on this endeavor later in life, but it's even better than I thought it would be. I truly love it!

Tuesday, April 21, 2026

March Adventures

 Women's Runs:

It's been nice starting to have a little more daylight on the women's runs. We kicked off March with our annual taco run. We run along the greenbelt, and stop at Jaliscos on our way by and pick up lots of pre ordered tacos. We run the tacos back to Tap n Fill and have a yummy dinner together. It's definitely one of the favorite runs of the year, and best attended.

We run for tacos!

So pretty!

Tacos are in hand!

So fun!

You can see why this run is always so well attended!

The next Monday was windy as heck! I met Steph at her work and we tried to run a few miles on the greenbelt before we drove to the women's run. It was pure nuts! The wind was insane! We were literally running in place and people in the cars were cheering for us. 😂
The women's run along the canal path was a little more sheltered, but as you can see, still not great. We're a dedicated group of ladies, that's for sure!

Crazy wind!

The next run was butter making! We ran down the Sunnyside canal with the cream in our packs. It got shaken up on the run, and turned into butter. There was a reel about doing it, so we gave it a try. It totally worked! Ania brought bread, and at the end of our run we got to enjoy our efforts.

Getting ready to make butter!

It turned out so good!

Yummy!

The next Monday night was on Trail Hollow. I went early and ran 5 miles by myself, and then met up with the ladies for another five. Trail Hollow always has the best sunsets.

Hello Tetons!

We were a smaller group on this night, and sometimes that's great because you can get to know the ladies a little better.

We ended with a gorgeous sunset.

Our final Monday night run in March was circuit training put together by Nora. I met Steph early, and we did some miles around Freeman, and then I finished up with some fun circuit training with the ladies.

Spring circuits!

Cider Bend Farm Run Preview:

I ran around our country block and farm to map out the exact course for our Cider Bend Farm Run.

Little cuties!


Antelope Canyon 55K:

Ashlee, her husband Mat, Joyce, Mark, and I drove to Page, Arizona to run the Antelope Canyon 55K. It was one of the coolest races we've ever done. So many amazing slot canyons to run through, and cliffs to climb up and down.We loved it!

I made a reel, but it wouldn't let me download it with the sound. That takes all the fun away, but enjoy my silent summary of the race.


The morning after the race, we took a detour on our way home so Joyce could see Horseshoe Bend.

Ski Hill Road:

Joyce and I did steady state hills up ski hill road. This one's always a favorite of mine. Even with some snow, I felt like I did really good.


Cougar Hill Loop:

I met Cris early one morning to do the Cougar Hill Loop. We saw a moose across the river as the sun was coming up.


Cougar Hill Loop #2:

We did the Cougar Hill Loop again with a group this time. It was crazy windy, but except for the top stretch, we were pretty protected from it. Along the top, I was pretty sure I was going to get lifted right off the ground though!



The Butte:

A group of us ladies did a run at the Butte. A hadn't run there in a while, so it was a fun one for me!

Jennifer-Tricia-Joyce-Ashlee-Ashley-Becky
Jodi was there too, just not in the picture.


Cider Bend Farm 50K:

We hosted our first Cider Bend Farm Run on a Saturday in March. It was so much fun! People could come anytime throughout the day to run a 4.4 mile loop around our country block and around the perimeter of our farm. We had 47 runners on the course, completed a total of 116 loops, and 516 combined miles! It was amazing! We had whole families out running together, and the teens and kids showed up big! Our youngest runner was 3 years old! Four runners (Me, Jenn, Steph, and Mat) completed 7 laps for a full 50K distance, and earned ourselves a dozen Cider Bend farm fresh eggs. Three people (Mason, Steve, and James) completed a full marathon. The animals loved having friends over all day. This may have to be an annual event. My legs are tired and my bucket is full!


Clayton, Lindsay, and Cooper came up from Utah to run!

The Heart Loop:

I finished off the month with the Heart Loop.

Ashlee-Tricia-Casey-Ashley

The trees are starting to get their leaves!

I'm so glad the mountain trails are starting to melt off and dry out. I can't wait for summer!

The Cannons Visit

 Mason, Bailey, Nora, and Charlie came for a quick visit so that Mason could run a marathon at our first annual Cider Bend Farm Run. It was a crazy, busy weekend, because I was running a 50k on Saturday, followed by an hour and a half Barnyard Bookclub. I didn't get to spend as much time with the girls as I wanted to, but it was fun having Nora cheer for me on every lap of my 50k. On my second of seven laps, she was yelling to me asking if we could collect the chicken eggs. 😂 Nora also got to attend my Barnyard Bookclub, and she did really good! I wish she could be here for all of them!

Floof is the best cat! He loves people so much, including kids, and is such a good sport. He was really interested in Charlie this time, and loved all over her. She thought he was pretty fun too! He's so sweet and patient with little people.


Nora got to help Pops make sourdough bread. She helped him once before, and remembered a lot of it.

Making bread!


😍😍😍

Charlie is the happiest baby! Her and Pops really hit it off this trip.

I love when these guys come to visit. I wish I would have gotten pictures of Nora helping me do all the farm chores. Her favorite job is collecting the eggs. She also likes to throw the scratch to the chickens. 

Happy Birthday Amanda!

 Happy birthday to our very own NooNoo! We celebrated her at Fujis for dinner, and then back at their house for the yummiest chocolate raspberry cake. We got her a fake tree and some shelves so she could start decorating her home office.



Aevelyn's Blessing

 Noah and Jonnae had Aevelyn's blessing the same weekend that family was visiting for the Cider Bend Farm run. It worked out perfectly for everyone to see each other, and for all the babies to meet. Clayton and Lindsay were here with Cooper, and Bailey and Mason were here with the girls. It's so fun watching the family grow.

Noah gave Aevelyn a beautiful blessing!

We tried to get a picture of all the second cousins at the luncheon, and it was a total circus! 😂

This picture makes me want to do another big Varvel family reunion. It would be so dang fun now that the family is growing so much!