High Grove Farm Journal – January 2025
Jan 01, 2025 (Soldiers Grove, WI)
As the curtain falls on the 2024 farming year, my heart is filled with thankfulness and resolve as I reflect on everything that we accomplished as a family and the past year’s experiences – both triumphs and setbacks – each equipping us for the exciting opportunities and challenges that 2025 will bring our family and our farm!
The seasons blurred together in long days and long nights of baby snuggles and hard work as we started a busy year with the birth of our fourth child and the start of a big pasture project on the farm once winter melted away into springtime. That’s when we started the big task of building cow lanes and running water lines underground to 40 acres of pasture, which was also perimeter fenced for sectioning off for grazing. If you asked us if we’d do it again, it would probably depend on the day for what answer you’d get. It was definitely a lesson in patience!
While working each day on the progress of the cow lane project, normal twice daily milking and farm chores took place morning and night, with tasks like planting and harvesting squeezed in to our already full daily schedule. This year we rented more ground and made more hay than we ever have before.
Gardening and yard work kept me on my toes and raising chickens for meat was a fulfilling project I did this year, but not without its setbacks involving a hungry male cat that roams the farm. I added a flock of laying hens who I love. They are doing so well, and we especially appreciate their hard work every morning around breakfast time! Our off time was spent on the sidelines of the school football field watching our sons play football and also going to family functions. Some summer highlights include our son getting his drivers permit, our daughter mastering riding her bike and us hosting a pasture walk for our grazing group.
A full Spring and Summer of grazing our cows and haying merged right into a beautiful fall for grazing – and right into corn and sorghum Sudan harvest. The cow lane project came to an end in November.
Basketball started for our youngest son and soon our eldest will be taking his drivers test. Our oldest daughter has started basketball and volleyball practice, and our baby girl is already walking at nine months old. And, she got her two front teeth right at Christmas!
December was a full month of family, basketball games and farming. We hosted a large family Christmas party and will be hosting a church Christmas party soon. The kids Christmas programs at school and at church are always a highly anticipated event, and we enjoyed them immensely. Chores have been good and the weather has been pretty mild, if a little muddy for our liking. We bought several cows to add to our herd this month and other than one who hurt herself, they are doing well. We look forward to taking the month of January to reflect, plan for the future of our farm and continue to grow a strong future for our kids. Sharing our farming world with you and with them is the greatest pleasure. Thank you for following along and Happy New Year from all of us at High Grove Farm!
Each day, a stepping stone, paving the way for the fresh start and new beginnings of a brand new year! 2025 here we come!
– Jessica Rogers is a Westby Creamery farmer-owner who is sharing glimpses of farm life with us.
