First

TOMATO!!!!! 

 and CELERY!!!

   While moving in to our farm I discovered a tiny little tomato plant over the hill where we now have the rabbit hutch. I pulled it up and it was in the house all winter long, thriving! When we finished the greenhouse and got the heat running I  took it out there where it grew to about 5 foot tall. Today I found this wee little tomato on it. I don't even have the tomatoes planted in the garden yet.
   Celery - for years I have tried to grow it and for years I said never again. Not gonna do it. Just face it you can not grow it. And every year I try again. and get disappointed. Until this year! I am proud to say persistence has paid off. I have about 6 celery plants growing this year and with any luck can dehydrate it for soups this winter.

       What exciting things are happening with your plants?

Protected Strawberries

 While doing my morning feeding I discovered that my chickens were taking a dust bath in the strawberry bed that I just planted.  I know they want to stay cool but really in the strawberries? So I got to work on a protection for them tender little plants.

   Up in the barn I found everything I would need so the whole project cost me nothing because we already had it. Use what you have. Of course the whole thing might not be very pretty but I think it will serve the purpose.  The chickens still have some dirt to roll and play in so everyone wins!!
   

January - March

With the fog in this morning the gardening will wait for a bit and gives me a few moments to get a few posts in.

             January was my birthday and all I wanted was my greenhouse put back up so I could start my plants.  But first we wanted to move the old smokehouse and attach it to the greenhouse so the wood heater would be placed in it. My husband and a friend did it in 2 days. I works great and I now have tons of plants that are ready for the garden.
             Feb - we bought 14 goats, 6 mamas,  6 babies, and 2 show goats. Our total of 18 in the herd now.  We also did a bit of clearing on the farm to make room for more fence. ( below - cutie pie)

March is a month of building a goat stand for milking and grooming. I made this after my husband cut all the pieces for me. The goats love it and walk right up on it with no problem at all. The top blue piece folds down and makes a ramp.

            April is a month for babies, we are expecting goats to be kidding in April and May and of course our chickens to be hatching their little ones in 5 days or so. And can't forget about our cat who has already had hers.
     

Boring farm?

 The life on a farm is rarely boring - just imagine walking through the woods just after fishing our weeks worth of troubles away at our pond and find 3 white things walking through the garden field. DUCKS - we have no ducks. Wanted ducks. Just haven't got around to getting any yet.  After a little investigation the neighbors did get ducks. So now every night they come for a visit.

  Or wake up in the morning to discover that we now have 6 barn cats instead of 1.  The barn is set up for the kidding season and mama cat had kittens in a kidding stall. Go figure.

  Or walk in the house from feeding and discover the dogs have gotten in to something. But they look so cute sleeping on the couch or in the dirty clothes pile acting like they did nothing wrong.

   Yes our farm is busy and very rarely find the time to catch up on my posting but I am  determined to get it updated, it just takes time.

Keeping the flock strong

  We are excited here on the farm. Our 1st setter ( Honey) is setting atop 23 eggs and are scheduled to start hatching in 7 days. Our setter #2 ( Drama) is setting on 8 eggs and should start hatching her eggs off  on the 1st of May. We were also able to catch a sale, $1 each, and bought 8 White Cornish rocks for food at a local store. We are stocking up on new chickens. That sounds weird huh. Well let me tell you why, when we moved here we had 21 chickens and were getting at least a dozen or more every other day. That was until something started killing them. We finally seen the intruder, a mink. So for now our 6 adult chickens, yup that's all we have left, are not allowed in the coop. Our now only rooster won't take any chances and well the photo below explains it all.

Yes he is now roosting on top of our house while the girls now roost on our porch railing.  Needless to say we may be moving the coop soon. 

Large Scale garden year 1

   Okay I have gardened for years as many of you know but this year we are going bigger. It seems we never have enough food to get us through and others need a bit of fresh veggies also.  So it seems I have gone crazy. Yes people look at me funny when I tell them that half of the 4 acre corn field will now be garden area. But that's okay. I am a bit crazy.

    By my calculations the wildlife will get a portion and we can enjoy it also. hopefully. So my question is how does one keep wild turkeys out of the garden?

We are Blessed

            What a wonderful way to end a day!!

Changes Happen

   You may have noticed that the blog has a new name. Our 4 acres was getting crowded and we decided to take the plunge and with a lot of pray and faith in August we moved to a new to us home, 27 acres with a pond, barn, garage,smoke house and storm shelter. We have been very busy here with all the work that needs done. In the next few weeks I will be posting many entries on the projects we have completed.
    Our dream is to become good stewards to the Lord and this land. Please join us on our journey.
  

Lovely

It's really a lovely day here so this post, yet overdue, will be short - hopefully.

    We have been tons busy around here - like always. I have peas, carrots, garlic, and lettuce planted. I have 250 tomato and pepper plants seeded in the greenhouse, still have more varieties to seed. We also have over 100 marigolds and other flowers that I love but find it extremely hard to buy full grown from a nursery.  Our cabbage plants are growing and hope to get them in the ground when the moon allows. Our seed potatoes are ready for the moon also. All the fruit trees are getting leaves and blooming.So right now I think I am on track. NOT.

   I have SO much more to do. My list seems to be getting longer as we get projects done. we did get one strawberry bed re-vamped and still have another to do. the pond needs cleaned out and relined. The chicken run needs to be bigger. Not to mention all the other seeds that need seeded in the greenhouse. I still have more tomatoes ( as mentioned above), rosemary, chives, and flowers to get started. Also the onions need planted.
    So right now when someone asks about how the gardening is going I have to chuckle and say " It's Lovely" although its tiring and alot of work its "just Lovely"

Giveaway

Our friends over at Homestead Revival have a great giveaway. If you are preparing your family for a disaster and worried about a water source. They are giving away a barrel and a pump!!! http://homesteadrevival.blogspot.com/2011/04/give-away-water-barrel-and-pump.html

Have great fun reading other posts as well! Have a blessed day and good luck!

Creamy Homemade Butter

 It took many days for me to finally try to make homemade butter. I always thought , I won't be able to mix it long enough, or what if I get tired of shaking it. Well on a rainy non- productive day I finally put all my fears aside and just jumped in head first, so to speak.  Boy am I happy I did.

  Although, during the shaking, I thought I would be stuck with 6 cups of whipped cream but at last it started turning into butter. It's so creamy and yummy. If you never have made homemade butter before please try it you will be glad you did. All you need is a jar with lid, heavy cream, and two strong arms as you will be shaking it for a little while.  After the butter forms drain off the buttermilk and I rinsed the butter under cool water to make sure the buttermilk was out, if you dont the milk can sour and ruin the taste of the fresh butter.
 Have fun and have a Blessed day!!

butter (left) buttermilk (right)





Balancing act

   When going into homesteading, having a family,a home, animals, and a garden,  how do you keeps things running smoothly?
   If you are just starting homesteading or working your way to self-sustain your family one must have a idea of what needs to be done and when. Without a idea you could feel overwhelmed and more likely to throw in the towel.  The plan will take a while to really get control of but when the schedule is consistent you will find more time and you will also be a little bit more relaxed. Remember to make one for each season as the chores change from season to season. I also leave at least 30 minutes a day as free time, this can be taken for yourself or have it to get another chore done that needs tending to.  We also have family time everyday which usually starts around the dinner table and overflows in to evening hours.
   As for me my schedule not only changes season to season but from day to day. Most of it stays the same but on days its raining and after all the feeding is done I will spend most of the day in the house getting caught up on inside chores doing some extra cleaning, menu planning or baking.  When it's nice outside I tend to be out all day long.
   If you are feeling run down try a timeline schedule. This will help you stay on track and hopefully you will stay strong on your way to becoming more self- sustainable.

   Have a blessed day!!
  
  

Chicken venture

  I can't believe I how busy we have been here. Sorry for not posting this week but busy is really not the word. This week we were hard at work building a rabbit hutch, getting the new chickens settled in, getting the greenhouse done and Spring cleaning.
  We are gathering 4-5 eggs per day now. This morning we awoke to the chickens wondering around the yard.  mind you , I would rather have our chickens free range at all times but our neighbors have dogs that don't really care to stay in their own yard. So for the safety for our chickens, they must stay in the coop and run or the tractor. But sometime yesterday our daughter had the coop open and somehow bumped her head and in all the commotion forgot to latch the door. Oh well -  chickens were happy as could be in the new garden area - thankful nothing planted yet.
    

Weekend Refresh

We have had a busy weekend. We celebrated our 12 wedding anniversary this weekend with some time alone visiting the big city near our home. We found some great stores which has helped us decide that adding on to our home is the right thing to do for us.

If you have a HFH( Habitat for Humanity) Restore store near you, I urge you to go and take a look if you haven't already. At the one near us they had everything from kitchen cupboards, furniture, appliances, doors, windows, tile,and sinks. They are used but still in good condition items that are donated to the store and then sold for HFH. With our plans to add on to our home in the near future we were excited and pleased to have found things we could use and are Eco - friendly by not letting them go into a landfill.

3 day old chicks (bantam)

This weekend we also acquired a few more animals that we were planning on getting. We now have 2 more rabbits and 8 more chickens. The rabbits are a month old and the kids were grateful to have them. Five of the chickens ( 6 weeks) are bought for eating and 3 other chicks are 3 days old for a birthday gift.

Bottle fed lambs we fostered

The lambs are no longer here, they were reunited with their other brothers and sisters and moms. They were a real great pleasure to have fostered ( even though we lost 2 due to pnuemonia - the temps here went crazy on us) during their bottle feeding days and hope to have the opportunity to foster again next year.

  Today our cat ( Fuzzy) is at the vet having surgery. I did cry when I had to leave him but plan to go pick him up later this evening. I will post an update later this evening.

 Have a Blessed day!!!

Sunday breakfast

Awwww homemade donuts - yummy

Forever and a day

Yup that's how long it feels like I have waited for this. Although its more like 3 years but at last we finally have it. We worked hard on finishing it last night, placing panels and windows. Now that its up my potting bench and some shelves will be placed inside. We got this from Harbor Freight, originally priced $799 went on sale for $699 and with a 20% off coupon we paid $530. Gotta love saving money.
Have a blessed day!

Winter winnings

This winter has been long and truly tiring. We had a lot of snow that fell throughout the state and really cold temperatures. We had many long nights and more long days when outside the temps were too low to got out. So what is the family to do? Well the kids loved playing games and well just being kids, with a lot of snow days from school. I taught my self how to crochet. To date I have made each of the kids scarfs that have come in handy this winter,my mom a scarf, my niece a scarf for next Christmas, and I have started on a blanket that will be given at Christmas also. So I have managed to beat the winter blues by working with some vibrant colors and get a bit of Christmas gifts made. Its a win win in my book. Winter is almost over and we have a bit more snow in the forecast for Friday but Spring is coming.... I hope.

Just a little update

As of 2 days ago we have been putting up the new greenhouse. But I wanted to let you all know that I have tons of pictures and tons of posts to upload. Its supposed to rain this weekend so hopefully I can get caught up with my blog - THANKS to all those following me now we are up to 8. Have a blessed day!

Ready for Spring?

I am. With this winter coming to an end my anxiety tends to get up. I love Spring but with so much to get done I get nervous about what gets done and when.

The garden plots have been plowed for the season when the weather was in the 60's this past week. Now the temps are back in the 40's. Our cabbage, broccolli, and brussle sprout plants are about 2 inches tall. We have vegetable plants every where in our house. Which brings me to our next step. This weekend we will go pick up our greenhouse. I have been waiting for them to go on sale before we use our 20% off coupon to save more money. They are on sale now so Im really excited to be getting it. Can't wait to get the rest of our plants growing.

Our chickens or shall I say one of our chickens seem to be laying an egg a day. They are just about 6 months old. The chicken tractor is done and they have been enjoying sunny days in the yard.

What are you doing to prepare for Spring?

Our first on this homestead

This year we have been having alot of firsts and its only the second month. Lambs are a first for out bit of soil - as is our first egg - Yup, we were surprised that on the first nice 60 degree day we were blessed with the most beautiful egg ever seen. The best part is that our daughter, that had been checking on them for days, is the one that found it. We all have been checking on the nesting box for weeks knowing it was getting close. We are pleased to beable to put eggs on the harvest tally now!!