It has been a long time since I sat down and took the time to make a blog post. Why? well, I could come up with a thousand excuses but the truth of it is I'm lazy! I have a million thoughts, ideas and things I am always wanting to share and put on my blog, but I get so busy living life, and doing other things that I don't make the time. It's just plain laziness that has kept me from taking the time to sit down with my computer. The journey since my last post has been a busy one and a lot of fun. Autumn kept me busy getting some things done around the homestead. The holidays came and went, and we enjoyed all the holidays that ended out 2012. We had a great Halloween party and Thanksgiving was wonderful. We butchered our own turkey we raised, and ended up with 40 pounds of turkey in the pan. That was a first for our family, and there were upsides and downsides to doing it. We aren't doing it again this year. First, the cost in raising a turkey for Thanksgiving was much more expensive than buying one. Secondly, who needs 40 pounds of turkey? Third, I got very attached to my turkey and it was very sad to lose him. I never realized how much fun a turkey could be and I still miss him following me around outside. Christmas was exceptional this year and I went all out and decorated the house more than usual. I even added another tree to the family room so that there was a little Christmas in the room we spend most of our time in as a family. My husband and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary on New Years Eve and we rang in 2013 on a wonderful note.
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| Halloween Party |
Our Thanksgiving Turkey
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| Our Family Tree |
We have been here on our "hobby farm" 2 and 1/2 years now, and things are starting to take a little shape. We worked hard in early spring building a fence on the side of the house so that I could have a small raised bed garden this year. The big 1/2 acre row garden that we jumped right into the first spring we were here was amazing, and a lot of hard work. Last summer it was a nightmare with weeds and arguing and exhaustion to end up with very little yield. This year I decided I wanted something that I could do alone and on my own and I wouldn't have to ask for help or get frustrated when no one wanted to get in the field to help. I was living the story of the "Little Red Hen" last year and I didn't want that frustration this year. I just love my raised bed garden and I enjoy being out there every day. I do miss the yield of vegetables I got from the big garden and I may decide to do both next year. This year I needed a little space to tinker with and it's really doing well and is very pretty.
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| Our garden fence |
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| Some of the veggies in the beds |
My middle son graduated from high school this year and we threw a big party to celebrate. He is joining the Coast Guard in August and I am trying to spend as much time with him this summer as I can. I am really going to miss him when he goes off to start his life. My oldest still lives at home, but he has a busy life with work, his girlfriend and all the things he does to keep busy. My youngest, my daughter, is starting her sophomore year in high school this school year. It won't be long before she's graduating next.
The animals keep me very busy, we have acquired a lot of ducks and still have our chickens and goats. Although, I sold 6 of my 8 goats in November because they were just too much to handle, and the cost of feed was expensive for what were basically pets. I kept my wethered male Don Quigoatie and our female that had been bred, Bree and she gave birth to the two cutest kids in February. We named them lamb chop and Noname' (no name). We kept them, they are both female and we have a sweet family of 4 goats. Don took over the role of "daddy" goat, even though they weren't his and they all seem very happy. It's a nice number, they eat brush and clear a bit, not as much as they would if we didn't feed them as much, but they do what needs to be done. Maybe in a couple of years I will breed the females and then can get into milking. The whole point was to get into milking, but it just hasn't worked out the way we wanted. The little goats are tame and will be easy to handle versus their mom, Bree came to us a bit skittish and still is, I don't think we would of ever gotten to that point of milking with her. So maybe the plan to wait and breed the girls will work out for me. One thing I have learned with our "hobby farm" is patience is a must. I have learned that not everything is going to happen when I think it should happen. We had a few broody hens this spring and even got our first "home made" hatched baby chick. I love watching the chick grow and two of my hens are co-parenting the chick and are doing a great job raising it.
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| mommy hens and the baby chick |
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| Bree and the babies, the day they were born |
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| Don teaching the baby how to eat brush |
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| New baby ducks |
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| The baby ducks all grown up! |
So that is my absence in a nut shell! Will I do a better job and keep up with my blog better now? I want to say "yes, I will post all the time and keep my blog up to date." Will I fall off and get busy and get lazy again? Probably, but I do love keeping my blog and want to try to be a more consistent poster. With that, I will try to keep myself more motivated to make a post regularly. Even if it is just to post a photo or two that I take.
Summer is heating up here, and we have had tons and tons of rain. I am sure I will have plenty of things to post all summer long. Especially with all this rain keeping me indoors a lot. I'm hoping that I will have a lot more to share because as usual my mind is going a mile a minute with thoughts, ideas and things I want to post.
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