Photo by Amber Verdier Photography. She's the real deal. If you asked us to describe our farm to you, we would probably start with something like: Creamy Hills Dairy. More than Local. Beyond Organic.
If you asked us to describe our family, we would probably say something more like: The Gieblers. Slightly chaotic. Always loving. Beyond real. We are perpetually late wherever we go (we generally blame our tardiness on the cows). We are busy. Perhaps not the same kind of busy as your family, but busy, nonetheless. The men on our farm start their day between four and four thirty in the morning, and the women follow suit half an hour or so later. There is usually a light still burning somewhere on the farm between 11 p.m. and midnight. In between our rising and setting, we pack our days with milking cows, rotating animals through our farming system, feeding hay, doing chores, filling orders, washing jars, cooking food, cleaning house, working off the farm jobs, teaching school, participating in church and academic activities, being engaged in our local 4-H program, and running around to baseball games. When you lay it all out like that in one sentence, our life seems simple on paper, but it is anything but a simple life. Some aspects of our life are simple, I suppose, in a nostalgic, get back to the land and the kitchen, kind of way. On the other hand, sometimes we feel as if we are running in circles from one activity to the next. In the midst of the chaos, occasionally we will stop in at the local Braum’s for ice cream. We will snag an Egg McMuffin from McDonalds on a road trip, or we will grab some BBQ chicken from the Walmart deli when a last minute group of people are coming over. Why would I tell you this? “The Gieblers, the local health food gurus, the commercial farming police, the epitome of homemade goodness- eating fast food? No, they would never.” I tell you this because it is real. Fast food is not our default and certainly not our preference, but sometimes in this social media snapshot world people develop unrealistic images of our family. They feel eating what we eat and living the way we do is unattainable. People tell us they could never fix dinner every night or fill their refrigerators and freezers with local, nutritious food. They don’t have time. Knowing that our life is not perfect, knowing that our life is somewhat crazy is an important foundation to understand you can do what we do when it comes to making food choices for your family. If you want to know a little secret, we have so much room for improvement, but we are seeking every day to be one percent better in our family, in our farming and food choices, and in our faith. We can be on this journey together as we seek to reduce the chaos and simplify life. While we are at it though, we are going to focus on being real. Pseudo familial relationships, fake integrity farming practices, and artificial faith basis will not get you very far in life. “Fake it till you make it” should not be our mantra. Rather, a more fitting approach- “be real.” If you have ever met my mom, you know she operates as a “tell you how it is” kind of person. There is no sugar coating involved. You do not have to guess if she likes you or not. Oftentimes growing up I would fantasize with her about how I thought something ought to be, and she would say to me, “Madelaine, that’s not real life.” I still stick to my fantasies, with a little dose of reality thrown in. My parents met Joel Salatin a few years back, and a few minutes into conversation, he dubbed Dad the visionary, and Mom the realist. Joel probably does not remember my parents now, but his words made a lasting impact on a reality we already knew to be true. I recall years ago, when Albert Pujols left the Cardinals, asking dad if we would follow Pujols to his next team. In my mind, Pujols was the real deal, the best first baseman that ever lived, and the heart and soul of the St. Louis Cardinals. Dad went on to explain the concept of fair weather fans and the fact that our loyalty was to the Cardinals as a whole, not to one man who made up part of the team. We were real fans, and our loyalty to the franchise would reflect that. Several years back mom became quite the coffee connoisseur. We traded in our Folgers’ coffee cans for small batch coffee roasted in Arkansas. A coffee grinder, aero press, and milk frother now merge their way into our morning routine. Loose-leaf tea and a tea strainer have replaced my daily tea bags, and when given the choice between dark chocolate or milk chocolate, we choose dark. It’s not that we can’t drink Folgers’ or enjoy tea from tea bags. In fact, we would warmly welcome both if shared with a friend. The point I am getting at is, we traded in our regular experiences for something a little more real. Have you ever tasted the notes of London fog seeping into your morning joe, or tasted the subtle hint of lavender Washington farm’s lurking in your afternoon tea? Memories of misty streets, telephone booths, and royal red uniforms saunter through my mind. Cool salt spray hitting our face, bees buzzing in-between lavender blossoms, and the chatter of loved ones mingling with the crashing waves drift through my thoughts. Those experiences were real. The memories are real, and that is what we are about. We try to farm with the same mindset. Why would we use artificial fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides when we can nourish the ground with something real and learn from the plants and animals popping up on our farmscape? Sure, it takes a lot of work, but freshly ground, hand pressed coffee isn’t exactly easy either. As a child, I remember walking down the staircase of a dear family friend (many of you have probably walked down the same steps). Above the stairs, a little alcove slants up toward the ceiling. On the wall, in beautiful hand painted letters its reads, “God never promised it would be easy. He promised it would be worth it.” That is real, and the lady who lives in that home is one of the most real people I know. A lot of things have happened in our life to get us to where we are now. Our story developed over centuries of farm life. We will determine our future by the reality of those experiences. We will share more about our journey and our goals in the coming months as we seek to get to know you all better and build genuine relationships with each of you. There are a lot of things that might come to your mind when you think of the Gieblers, but we hope fake would never be one of them. We are the Gieblers. We are your farmers. We are real.
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Our Farm's Voice
Hello! I'm Madelaine Paige, and I'm so glad we've met. I love mornings, milk cows, and musings. Archives
July 2021
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