Waiting Well- Advent, Anticipation & What’s Ahead at Flower Cow Farm
With Thanksgiving behind us, we’re officially barreling into the season of twinkling lights, sugar cookies, parades, and holiday jingles humming from every corner. It’s a rush of good chaos—festive, fun, and full. And while I genuinely love all things Christmas, my heart always settles most deeply into something quieter: the slow, contemplative waiting of Advent.
Maybe it’s because Advent feels a bit like winter itself—that stretch of stillness after the Christmas excitement fades, when you bundle up and wait with hope for the first sweet day of spring. Or maybe it’s because Advent calls us to prepare our hearts for Christ in a way that asks us to pause, to breathe, to notice. Year after year, I’m reminded not to get swept away by the hustle and bustle, but to savor the present and honor the waiting in all things.
This year, that lesson is showing up all over our farm.
🐣 The Great Chick Countdown
On January 7th, our next batch of meat birds arrives—300 tiny, peeping baby chicks, our biggest batch yet. Every time I think about that many fluffballs in one brooder, my heart does this mix of excitement and “okay wow, deep breath.”
To get ready, we’re:
Building another brooder
Finishing a tractor or two
Stocking up on organic, soy-free feed
Prepping heat sources
Making sure we have freezer space for processing day on March 5th
(So go ahead and stock up on chicken now—your freezer will thank you!)
We’re also leaning more intentionally into our heritage American Bresse dual-purpose program, hatching more chicks and refining the direction of our breeding. It’s a long-game project full of curiosity, patience, and plenty of waiting—the best kind, really.
🐄 A Growing Milking Herd (and Lukas, the Accidental Dairyman)
Early 2026 brings new faces to our milking lineup. Poppy and Artemis will join Laurel and Demeter sometime between late January and mid-March, expanding the milk share program in the sweetest way.
If you saw our latest stories, you also saw the engineering artistry of Lukas calculating how much ice we’ll need each day to chill 8 gallons of milk (about 64 lbs). It’s wild to think that we’ll soon be milking four cows every day.
Especially knowing that when we started dating, he told me not to expect him to milk cows.
Yet here we are, 11 years later, and he’s knee-deep in dairy math.
To prepare, we’re reopening the old milking parlor and milk room so we can operate more efficiently. There’s something beautiful about watching old spaces find new purpose.
🐮 Baby Calves & Big Excitement for 2026
I didn’t mention the babies Poppy and Artemis will be delivering—but trust me, they’re not forgotten. If anything, they are the highlight of 2026 in Joshua’s eyes.
These calves will expand our Dexter/Jersey cross beef herd, where we already have three youngsters (two steers and a heifer). While they won’t give us much beyond manure for the next couple of years, we’re excited about what’s ahead:
Future freezer beef from the steers
Long-term herd growth from the heifer
Thoughtful breeding decisions as Joshua learns, takes ownership, and guides the Jersey and crossbred programs
Watching him grow more confident in choosing which Jersey genetics stay in the show program, which join the milking herd, and which help build the beef herd has been the best kind of slow, steady joy.
🌱 Rooted in Abundance: Our Focus for 2026
For 2026, our hearts—and our hands—are focusing on what we do best:
🐓 Chickens
🐄 Dairy
Yes, we’ll still bake sourdough. And yes, there will be a garden. And knowing us, a few surprise projects will probably show up along the way.
But more than anything, we’re choosing refinement over expansion. Depth instead of breadth. Faithfulness over frenzy.
In 2026, we’re committed to:
✔ Improving our soil and pasture health
✔ Continually raising the standard for animal care
✔ Producing nutrient-dense food for our community
✔ Strengthening our herd genetics
✔ Living joyfully and intentionally, right here on this land
We’re remembering that we are rooted in abundance.
And we’re choosing to bloom where we are planted.
