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 ones 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 sumer!

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!

St. Patrick's Day

We celebrated St. Patrick's Day with our usual corned beef and cabbage meal, and Amanda's amazing mint cookies. I love this meal, and I look forward to the one time a year we eat it.

 

These are seriously so dang good!

Cooking Through The States: Oklahoma

Our March state was Oklahoma. It was all comfort food. We had chicken fried steak, corn bread, fried okra, salad, watermelon juice, and pecan pie. There were mixed reviews on the chicken fried steak, but everything else was a big success!  Kim and Russ were here visiting, so it was fun having them here for one of our state dinners.

Oklahoma comfort food!

Watermelon juice!

This was Amanda's first time making a pecan pie, and it was really yummy!

Cider Bend: February

 January and February are typically some of the hardest months on the farm. That hasn't been the case this year, because we've had such a crazy, mild winter. I've spent a lot of time outside in just a sweatshirt, and I haven't had to do any snow shoveling at all. It's felt a lot like the beginning of spring. No complaints here!

Random Stuff:

We've had the usual beautiful sunrises and sunsets on the farm.

The sunrise on my way out to feed the animals.

A pretty sunset as we finished up our goat walk.

We finally got a little bit of snow, and I was excited for everything to look white and pretty, instead of brown. It didn't last long.

Cats:

I didn't really get any pictures of Stormy this month, but she is doing great! She actually looked so good through the winter; I would say a little plump even. We see her on our cameras catching mice all the time, and I feed her plenty, so she never has that to worry about.

Michem and Floof are great. Michem has trimmed down so much! She looks like a normal cat now, instead of part hippo. I'm sure she feels better too.

I love this picture!

Every Thursday I try to scrapbook, and Floof is a HUGE pain in my butt! I give him five chances, and then usually end up kicking him out of the office. He either lays on my stuff, right where I'm trying to work, empties my trash faster than I can fill it, tries to drink out of my water bottle, etc. Good thing he's so dang cute!

We often find Michem rolling around on the floor trying to catch her tail. 😂

This is my grandkitty Bean. Sawyer got Amanda this snuggly thing to wear with a big pocket in the front for Bean. He loves it! He just snuggles down in his pocket while Amanda is gaming or working on stuff for school.

Chickens:

I think my chickens have really appreciated the mild winter. I don't usually sell eggs until spring and summer, but they have been producing so good, I'm already selling to some of my regulars. Their eggs are looking awesome too!

One of their favorite days is when I clean out the fridge!

I had another company reach out to give us free product if we'd make a reel using their stuff. We made one of how we clean the coop, but I couldn't download the reel with the audio. I put the boring, no sound version on here anyways.

Revitalime is the product we highlighted.

On Valentine's Day I gave the chickens a bucket of alfalfa, and they had it all spread out in minutes!

I've been terrible keeping up with my farm social media account, but I did manage to put up a couple chicken reels this month. I start the year off with good intentions to build our account, but I truly just can't find the time to keep up with it. 

We finished off the last of our garden pumpkins. It was a fun treat for the chickens.

Donkeys:

Willow and Clover are as cute and sassy as ever. I'm excited for our Airbnb season to get underway, so they get lots of interactions with people besides us.

Willow loves when I bring a bale of new bedding into their stall. She lets me cut in in half, and then she guards it from me and Clover so she gets to empty the bags and spread the shavings all by herself. She takes her job very seriously, and nobody better interfere. 😅

Here is Willow coming at me for treats. I'm asked quite often about the donkeys pinning their ears. This is not a mean or aggressive gesture. This is a sign of play. She really is the sweetest thing, with just the right amount of hilarious sass.

Hopefully in the next month, the trails will start dying out enough for us to start taking the donkeys out on them. We've got a burro race to get them in shape for this year!

Goats:

The goats are so chill and easy going that I feel like sometimes they get forgotten. I would never actually forget them, but more like they get the least amount of attention. My goal this year is to take them on at least 10 walks a month. We've been having fun on all of our walks. Plus they are pretty chubby, so hopefully this will help. Enjoy some little clips from our adventures around the farm.

Ginger-Roxie-Dolly

Here is Sawyer making fun of them for being chubby. 😆

Cows:

One of my very favorite chores on the farm is feeding the cows dinner. I miss half of the cute stuff they do because I can't get my phone out in time. Usually the more I cheer them on, the more they perform. By the time I dump the bucket of hay, Opal is so fast I miss most of her bucks and jumps. I can't wait until summer when I can give them a bath and get all the winter grime off them. I want clean, fluffy cows again.

The cows have been loving our sunny days. I went out one day and thought Ace was stuck in the fence, but he was just basking in the sun.

That's it for February's farm news. I hope spring is on the way and we aren't going to just have winter hit us extra late. I'm ready for the farm to green up, summer farm projects, hikes with the donkeys, fruit on the trees, etc...