new blog

Just wanted to let everyone who follows this blog know that I started a new one and will not be posting in this one anymore. The new one is simplelifeofapril.blogspot.com if you would like to follow it I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.

Love giveaways

I follow a blog called pure modesty and she has a great scentsy giveaway right now. The address for it is http://www.puremodesty.com/wardrobe-wednesdayfall-scentsy-give-away/#comment-1521. I wish everyone luck on it and I would recommend following her blog, it is a joy to read.

Being self sufficient

I would like to know what everyone else does to try and be more self sufficient. I wish there was a way for me to be totally self sufficient and not have to rely on the grocery store or outside help but realistically at least for me I do not think that is 100% possible. For one thing it takes money that I do not have. So, as the Bible tells us I will be content in the situation I am in. Now that fall is upon us and the growing season is over I am trying to learn what all I can do for my garden soil to make it the best it can be for growing next year. I am also going to decide over the fall and winter months what I want to plant next year, decide what plants grow the best in this area, what all herbs I need for my medicinal and kitchen herb gardens, where I would like to plant everything and if I need to clear some more space for the garden. Which is something I seem to need to do each year. This is also a good time to get to work on some projects for Christmas and to start thinking about my Christmas baking. I also need to make my barn a little less drafty and work on a more winterproof chicken coop. Each season brings on different things that need to be done. But when winter comes around maybe things will slow down a little and I will have a chance to breathe and relax a little. I love fall, it is my favorite time of year. Summer is to hot and winter is to cold but fall is just right. Fall and spring are both times of the year that I enjoy but I think I like fall the best.

I am back again

Right now is my check email, facebook and blogs time and I realized I hadn't blogged in quite awhile. The newest addition to my farm is my bunnies. I am raising them for meat but will love them just the same until that time comes. I am not sure what kind of rabbits they are but I am thinking that the black and white ones have some checkered giant in them and the markings on the brown and white one look like dutch. I have seen some of the parents and was told about the ones I didnt see and they should all be a nice sized rabbit.

It has been raining all day yesterday and so far all morning today. Hopefully we will continue to get lots and lots of rain so that we can have alot of water in our well. Yesterday I was having a hard time dealing with our water issues. I felt so discouraged. I tried to wash a load of clothes but it ran the well dry before they were finished and it took a long time to get our water back. On top of the well being bad our hot water tank is also bad now so we do not have any hot water. It isnt the end of the world though because my stove still works so I just heat up any water I need for cleaning, dishes or bathing and use it. I praise God that we are able to do that because one day I decided not to bother with heating it up and just took a cold shower, wow! Never want to do that again, lol.

Caitlyn is back at school now. I think she had a good summer. She did a lot. She went to the Wilds with my sister in law's church for a week and then went camping with them at Tomilinson Run Park for another week and she also got to go to the fair everyday for a week. I think that sounds like a good summer. I got to feed goats everyday this summer so that was good, ahahahaha.

I have been trying to stay busy canning and freezing so that we can have fresh food in the winter and not have to buy the garbage that the grocery store sells. I am trying hard to raise all of my own stuff. It would be awesome to one day be totally self sufficient but I am not even sure if it is possible especially since Doug and Caitlyn would never give up the cable, tee hee hee.

The temps are finally getting cooler out and I can feel fall in the air. I am glad, I do not like the hot summer. I cant wait to see the leaves changing colors and the pretty smells and colors of Autumn. Spring and Autumn are my favorite times of the year but I have learned to be content with whatever season it is.Wether it is a season in my life or a season on the earth the Lord wants us to trust him and to enjoy it. Blessings to all who are reading this, hope you have a wonderful God filled day. God bless you!

canning peaches

I canned some peaches yesterday. Usually I like to take pictures of each step so everyone can see how hard I work, I mean how fun it all is but yesterday I forgot so all you get to see is a pic of the jars when I first took them out of the water bath. I decided to try a new recipe for the syrup because the other one had so much sugar in it. I have not tasted them yet but it sure smelled good. All I had to do was put a pot on with about 10 cups of water and 4 tsp honey, that is a 2 tsp honey to every 5 cups of water ratio. I heated this while I peeled the peaches to put in the jars and after the syrup started boiling I reduced the heat to a simmer. I then put 1/8 tsp fruit fresh (absorbic acid) into each jar to help keep the peaches looking pretty and filled each jar with sliced peaches. I then poured the syrup over the peaches and put lid on. After all the jars are filled I put them in a hot water bath canner to boil for 25 minutes and voila! I now have some yummy canned peaches. I then simmered the peach skins for a while, drained off the juice, put in a jar and put in fridge to save for making peach jelly later. I waste as little as possible. I then took the cooked skins to the chickens after they cooled. The only things that got thrown out was the seeds. Also, the few peaches I had left that would not be enough to fill a jar, I either ate or sliced and froze.

Water, dont take it for granted

Woke up this morning and we have no water. Our well went dry. This happens every summer, usually around June so we were blessed to have water clear until August. I was able to squeeze out enough to water the animals but after that nothing. Praying that if I give it a couple hours it will fill up at least enough for us to take a shower. Before I lived out here I lived in town and we really took water for granted. You know what they say, you dont know what you have until it's gone. We had to pay for our water then but we always had plenty of water unless a water main broke or something like that. I like having well water better then city water but when our well starts going dry it is really hard for me to remember that, lol. Luckily, my mom and grandma live right next door and they have a really good well and I can take my laundry down there and I can fill some jugs and buckets to bring up to the trailer to use. I try to look at the positive things but it is hard when I have no water. Maybe we are spoiled in society today. There was a time that they had to haul all of their water to use. Problem with that would be we have no nearby creeks to haul from. I think that would be cool though. Could sit by the creek and relax along with it providing my family with good water. I will just have to pretend my mom's house is my creek. :-)

Downsizing

I have alot to do today but of course I decided that being on the computer was first priority after feeding and milking the animals. I wont bore you with all of the mundane things I have to do (even though I find most of them to be exciting), but I am going to share how I am planning on downsizing our expenses. First of all I am going to go through the cupboards and refrigerator and see what all is hidden in there that I have forgotten about, then putting it all where I can see it when I open the doors. I am only going to buy things when I absolutely need them. We need to eat more of what we have instead of just what we are wanting at the time. I am also going to try and make almost everything we eat, instead of buying the snack items I am going to bake ALL of my own. I do already make alot of my own but I still give into the temtation of easily accessible items. We also need to quit eating out every other weekend. Sometimes it is every weekend. It is so much easier for me to just go through the drive thru then to go home and make a meal but make a meal is what I am gonna do from now on. These are the few things I am gonna start with, it does not sound like much but each little step will get me closer to the big picture.

HOT!

It has been really hot here lately. Praising God that our well has not went dry this summer. We usually do not have any water in the summer except enough to take a shower and that is if we are lucky. God has blessed us with an abudance of water this summer and I will keep on praising him. The last week or 2 it has been really hot out and we are not using air conditioners this year. We would like to save money on the electric bill and I have also been trying to live on the basic necessities and even though I have been really tempted to ask Doug to put the air conditioner in I have not done it yet and I dont plan on doing it. I was so proud of my daughter yesterday because I was talking about putting the ac in and I figured she would be all for it but she told me that we have come this far lets go all the way through the summer without it! She is such a good girl. Always there to support me in all my crazy endeavors. Time to go find a way to stay cool! God bless all who are reading this!

CHICKEN THIEF

Last night some very daring creature decided to reach in one of my chicken pens and drag a chicken through it so it could eat it for dinner. Well, this thief does not know who he or she but probably a he is messing with!! We will find out who the culprit is and bring him or her to justice!! I thought my poor girls would be safe inside a pen but I guess not and the girls also seemed to be too dumbstruck to run into the coop and hide. Maybe they were mesmerized by the intruders good looks!! A cute face can even turn the smartest hen into a blubbering fool. Oh well, Doug has his camera all set up and hopefully we catch the culprit and can convince him it isnt a good idea to be messing with my hens!!

I decided to go pick raspberries today. I have always believed in sharing the bounties of nature with the animals. I do not consider my vegetable garden to be a bounty of nature by the way so I do not share it. I do however believe that we are sharing the things that grow wild like the blackberries and raspberries with all of the animals that share these woods with us but however this year the deer have decided that they do not need to share with me. They eat the bushes clean and leave hardly a berry for poor me so I only have one thing to say to those deer "GAME ON!"

Today has been a long and busy day so it is time for these tired eyes to go to sleep, goodnight and God bless everyone who is reading this.

CHICKEN LOGIC

Today I worked my butt off trying to make the chicken pen roomier for my 21 silver laced wyandottes. I drug heavy things around, I broke things, I rearranged things so that now they have a bigger coop to nest in and ALOT more room to move around in. Do you think these gorgeous poultry appreciated all my sweat and energy. NO! The only thing they appreciated was the little pile of wood my husband laid beside the pen because it made it so that they can get on top of the pen and roost!! It took me an hour to finally get them all to go into the wonderful home I made for them today, we will see who does and does not get the warm oatmeal this winter when it is cold. The goats! That's who! They appreciated the nice comfy clean barn I had worked and tioled to clean out today, lol! I will still spoil all of my animals even when I am underappreciated, but it sure felt good to vent.

Jelly making day

I decided that today would be a good day to make jelly from all of the blackberries I had frozen in the freezer so I thawed them out and squeezed the juice out of them a couple days ago and today I made some blackberry jelly. Of course I had a headache today and didnt really feel like making it but I did anyway. Didnt do much else today that didnt absolutely have to be done though. Headaches wear me out. I did decide to let the baby goats run around with the bigger goats today. It worked out well until about 4 this afternoon when the youngest ones decided they didnt want to be in there anymore and kept coming up onto the porch. That is when I decided it was time to go back into their pen. Caitlyn is spending the night at one of her best friend's houses so I am here alone, her friend will be moving day after tomorrow so this is the last day they will get to see each other at least for awhile. We will miss her.

milk

I have 2 goats that I am milking right now. I have to milk them twice a day and each time they give me about a quart of milk each. So each day I end up with around a gallon of milk that I have to figure out what to do with. The three of us definitely do not drink a gallon of milk a day so I have been trying to get creative. First I made some soap with it and I think that turned out quite nicely but it has to dry for 6 weeks so I have not tried it yet so I am not gonna say for sure until I have used it. Yesterday I worked all day trying to do stuff with the extra milk so it does not go bad. I made pudding and froze it, some of the pudding I froze inside sugar cones but we are not too crazy about those so from now on I will just freeze the pudding and not try to be creative with it, I also mixed up some strawberry ice cream with fresh strawberries in it. We tried some of the ice cream today and it was yummy!! Today I mixed up a batch of chevre cheese and it is in the oven (turned off) right now so that it can sit for about 16 hours to seperate. I will know about 4:00 tomorrow if it is turning out right. I am also planning on make some fudge, and a syrup called cajeta to freeze and jar. Hopefully by this time next year I will be a pro at knowing what to do with all of the milk because next year I will have 4 milk goats. :-)

Soap

I am attempting to write this while high on fumes from hair dye because my daughter and her best friend have decided to dye her hair red. Pics will come from that tomorrow. :-)

One of the things I was most excited about getting to do whenever I started getting lots of milk from my goats was to make soap. I have used it before and it is really good on my dry skin and I absolutely love being able to make my own stuff and know what is going into it but most of all to make my own stuff because it makes me feel a little bit closer to being self sufficient. Even though I had to order lots of stuff for it off the internet, lol. After reading up on how to make the soap I was starting to get nervous about it, it all sounded so complicated. Making sure you use seperate pans and utensils for the soap that you do not use for anything else and making sure you have on protective gear because the lye is dangerous. The lye even comes with a little warning label so that the deliverer knows it is in there. I almost decided not to try it but I am so glad I did. It took me awhile to get all the stuff I needed. I bought most of the ingredients at the grocery store. The shortening and oils and such and then I ordered the molds and lye from Hoegger's. I absolutely love that site, I order lots of stuff from there for my goats and for cheesemaking also. Back to my soap tale. After all the stuff finally arrived, I thawed out some of my pausterized milk. Yes I pasteurize it to make soap but not to drink, noone even tries to understand my mind anymore, lol. After the milk was nice and thawed and Doug was off at work and I could have some uniterrupted time I got dressed up like a lab scientist and went to work. First you stand there and slowly melt the oils which seems like forever but then once you get to the part where you are adding the 12 ounces of lye one tsp at a time to the ice cold milk you realize that you zipped along through the part with the oils. All in all though the whole process wasnt as hard as I thought it would be. I did splash some lye onto me and learned a very good lesson about being very careful but besides that there were no more mishaps. It was so amazing pouring it into the molds and realizing that I was one step closer to making all of my own products. The only thing that topped that was today when I took the soap out of the molds and saw the beautiful bars of soap. Next time I might try adding some color to them. Will just have to wait and see.

Another day

Feeding time at our farm is a busy time. All of the goats want to have their turn at eating. I feed Bella and BabyLynn in their own pen that they live in now. I had to put them in a pen seperate from the other goats because they could get right under the fence in the bigger pen. They want to be with me so they are always trying to get out and run around the yard. It was ok at first but now they are starting to get into my garden.

These are my other 4 kids. Starting with the red head one their names are Cheddar Fry (Cheddar for short), Patrick, Joy and Sweet Pea. Everyone is growing up so fast. They are only a few months old and they are getting so big. They are all getting a personality of their own. I call Joy Queen Joy because she is always standing on the highest thing she can find and I think she looks like she is ready to reign her kingdom.

I realize that this is not a pic of a goat, lol. But, I wanted to introduce you to my grandma and her boyfriend Gary. She is an amazing woman. She is always on the go and she would be the first person there to help you if you ever need it. I hope to be at least half the woman she is when I get to that age. I love you grandma!!

kittens

This is a picture of 2 kittens that my son found abandoned and brought to me to take care of. I named them Edward and Alice. The owners moved to another state and just left these defenseless darlings behind. The momma cat was there but she was not feeding them and the other ones died before we got to them. They were lethargic and starving when he got them to me but after feeding them some warm goat milk they are now playful and getting more energetic. I am hoping to find good homes for them so that they do not have to be taken up to the shelter. They will be ready to go in about 6 weeks. I also have a white one that is ready to go now. I just dont understand how people can be so cruel as to do this to a defenseless animal. I am just glad I am able to help.

Just another day

I have really gotta get up some energy to get moving this morning. More then anything I want to go back to bed, I can hardly keep my eyes open, lol. I just heard the washer quit running which means it is telling me it is time to get up and hang the clothes on the line. Maybe I will take a nap later but I doubt it, they dont usually fit into my day. It is alot cooler today so I am going to try and get some more done outside. The garden still needs some weeding done and maybe cut down all the weeds growing around the inside of the fence. The goats sure would like to have some of that. My baby goats have learned how to get into the garden but they dont seem interested in the plants they seem interested in eating the weeds along the fence. I am worried though that they will discover the plants inside and decide they look tastier. My pots for making soap are supposed to come today. Cannot wait until everything is here and I can start making it. Gonna try selling some and see if I can make some money that way.
I was watching my does run around today and I think my young does are having a good time tormenting my adult does, lol. Wow, I just heard one of my chickens yell and then heard Bella and BabyLynn running up onto the porch. They sure love chasing the chickens. I put them out of the house recently and they sleep in the barn at night. I have to put them in the smaller pen because the little buggers can jump over the wall in the bigger one. They are the first set of goats I have had that can jump the wall. It is crazy. Sometimes I lock them in the chicken pen if I need them put away for a small amount of time, lol. Of course the chickens arent in it at the time. They free range during the day so they are out looking for bugs and worms to eat. Well, I guess I better get off here and go hang towels if I am gonna be ready to go to my mom's for lunch at noon. Hope everyone is having a blessed day.

blah day

Not feeling too well today. Not really anything in particular just feeling kind of blah. The temps are pretty cool today compared to what they normally are and I think it might be bothering my allergies. Have a little sore throat but I think when I get my coffe then that will make it feel better.
I have been drinking lemon water lately and that has been giving me more energy. It is amazing what a little fruit can do. I love finding natural things that I can do to feel better and that taste good too.

Weight

Lately have have been having some self esteem issues. I am overweight and that is something I plan to start working on today. What I really need to work on is my self esteem. If I dont learn to love myself and feel comfortable with the way I look now then I will not even after I lose the weight. I will just go from being over weight and unhappy to being a healthy weight and unhappy. I am not going to do any diets or lose weight workshops I am going to start eating healthy. I am cutting out pop, bread, and treats that are high in fat and substituting them with fruits and vegetables. I know I can do this but I decided that if I post it and let everyone know what I am doing then I will have more reason to keep going. I would like to say that I am going to be more active but I am pretty active now. :-)

Goats

I now have a total of 10 goats on my farm. I have twin nubians who are Nellie, she is my queen goat and the mother of twin doelings Bella who is pictured here on the right and Babylynn who is not pictured here, and Nellie's sister Mohawk who is the mother of twins also, Patrick who is now a wethered meaning he cannot get a girl goat pregnant and his sister Joy. All 4 of the babies are Nubian/Boer crosses. I also have 2 boer doelings that I bought last month, they are 75% boer and a quarter alpine, their names are Sweet Pea and Cheddar Fry. I also have a nubian/boer cross wether named Samson who is company for the Boer buckling I bought yesterday. The boer's name is Champ and he is pictured below.

It was an exhausting day yesterday having to do all of my normal chores plus drive almost 3 hours to where we were picking up Champ and then driving almost 3 hours back but I really enjoyed the scenery. Especially the windmills and the farms that we past. Doug has been wanting to build a windmill so he really enjoyed seeing them. I thought it was beautiful up against the really blue sky behind the farmhouse.

After we got back I still had to put together the shelter for Samson and Champ to sleep in. I had been working on it for quite awhile and it was finally time to put it together.

The Simple Things

It is the simple things in life that are the most worth enjoying. Like seeing a huge moth sitting on a blade of grass as my niece and I are walking up the driveway. I enjoy things like this alot more then watching tv. The fresh air makes you feel alive and watching television actually tires you out more and a nice walk can make you feel energized. When I am stressed I always feel better after doing some kind of activity then I do if I just sit around staring at the tv. I have had headaches go away while working in the garden. I wish people would learn to enjoy life more and see everything as a chance to have some joy. A relaxing evening for me could be just brushing out the goats or taking the dog for a walk, even though now my walks also include a cat, a dog, and 2 baby goats. I cant imagine what people think when they drive past, lol. I miss alot when I give into the temptation to sit and watch tv all day. It is hard not to just sit there and stare at the tv but when I make myself get up and move I feel so much better.

I noticed this morning that the peaches are starting to come

onto the trees. I cant wait to start canning and making

preserves. I also freeze the peaches for use later. My

favorite way to eat them is canned. I think they taste so

good. I did not have a good experience with my canning last year, my seals did not stay sealed but we learn from our mistakes and this year I am going to do a much better job. The raspberries should also be growing pretty soon and then I can have some more of those and make some jelly and ice cream and whatever else I decide to create with them. I still have some in the freezer from last year so I cant wait to get into using them also. My son likes raspberry cobbler, I really like raspberry ice cream and jelly. The blackberries will also be coming soon. 2 years ago we had tons of raspberries and only a few blackberries, last year it was tons of black berries and a few raspberries, wonder what it will be this year. I cant wait to find out.

weekends

I have heard people say that they are glad it is the weekend because then they can relax. Well, for me the weekend is probably the busiest time of the week. I think it is Doug's fault but I have not gotten concrete evidence on that fact. I do not go out and work a 9-5 job like alot of people but I do stay home and work a 6-10 job and I am meaning 6 am til 10 pm, lol. The weekends are no different except that everyone is home and not at school or work. Maybe that is why I am so much busier. I love weekends though because then I am not here working alone, the whole family is working. We even got Caitlyn to work until she was ready to drop. She looked exhausted, lol. It is not all work though, we do have fun. We watched a movie on Sunday night and I let the young chickens out for a bit and watch them run around and explore their new world. I also started my countdown until I get to pick up Champ on the 28th. Soooooooo excited. Just heard the washer quit running so that is a signal for me to get back to work. Love my life!!

Saturdays

Just like everyone some of my Saturdays are busier then others. Yesterday was one of those busy Saturdays that it feels good to work but you also cannot wait until it is over. I am still tired from yesterday. My day today still had to start at 6 wether I am tired or not. I am the only one in this trailer that does not EVER get to sleep in. Maybe if I am sick or something but as of right now I am the only one that can milk both of the goats all the way out and once I am up then I am up. Yesterday started out the way each and every day does for me. My alarm goes off at 6, I take a few seconds pondering the idea of just letting the goats dry up and start buying milk again. Then I realize that is an insane idea after all the years of dreaming of being self sufficient and we are finally seeing that dream in sight. We will never be totally off grid but in small ways we are getting more self reliant. After my few minute battle with myself and that dreaded alarm I get up and go out and milk goats, and feed and water everyone including the goats. I have a pretty good routine down now and it doesnt take too long. Realizing that this might be the only day in the next ten days without rain I decide I need to get done outside as much as possible I get a couple loads of laundry done and hang on the line and then I happily go out to clean out the barn. Wow!!!! A month of bedding piling up takes a REALLY long time to clean up and wet bedding is REALLY heavy. After many hours of cleaning the barn I am finally finished and get a sandwich to eat for lunch. Then I decide to go out and hoe the garden because all this rain seems to be making the weeds grow faster then the plants. Our ground is made mostly of clay and when you mix dry clay with months of almost all rain you dont get normal mud you get a mushy mass of clay. It was dry enough on the surface though to hoe up the weeds and my garden looks pretty good now. Well, while I was doing this Doug took Tim to get his license and then when he got back he decided it would be a good day to burn the brush piles over at Aunt Connie's house. Well these piles were HUGE and he expected them to go up in a great big blaze of glory and burn really really quickly but the piles had other ideas and took forever to burn. Tim had to work today and Doug couldnt leave these burning (not quickly at all!) piles so I had to take him to work in all my stinky mud covered with a coating of clay glory hoping that I didnt really smell THAT bad. Tim didnt say anything so I either did not reek or he was just being polite. Today was also Tim's birthday so I was surprised he did not request the day off anyway. Also while I was out doing all this wonderful out of doors work I was not thinking about the sun and did get a little sunburn but it will change to tan by this afternoon. :-) My wonderful husband also let us order pizza for dinner because we were all so exhausted and it tasted oh so good. Food tastes so much better when you are really really hungry. I want everyone who is reading this to realize that these were just the big things of my day, I also had all of the normal everyday things to do also but if I wrote about those everyday then I am sure you would get bored. It is Sunday now and Saturday is over. I am planning on relaxing today but you never know what the day will bring.

Surgery

Mom had to have surgery on her arm today. It wasnt a major surgery and it was an outpatient surgery but I was still nervous. Mom was really nervous too. Sometimes I have a really hard time getting myself to leave the farm. I really love it here and do not like to go anywhere else but my mom needed me to be there for her so I went and I am so glad that I did. My mom is one of my best friends and I cant imagine life without her even though I know there will come a day when she will go to heaven and I will be happy for her at that time but very sad for me. When people die it isnt them that everyone is sorry for it is for

themselves because they will miss them. When my mom dies she will be in the best place there is to be. Heaven!!! I am plum tuckered out tonight. I still had to take care of the animals. I cannot neglect them just because I have something else to do. Goats still need fed and milked. Doug is an amazing husband and he fed the dogs and chickens for me but he is unable to milk the goats and they need milked to early for him anyway. Caitlyn is able to milk them but she has to go to school. Like I said life doesnt stop just cause I have something to do. After I milked and fed and showered and whatever else I had to do to get ready I spent most of the day at the hospital waiting around, which is exhausting even though it does not take much physical activity. After we got home I ran to the store and got mom's meds and a few groceries. Decided to stop at BK and get dinner, of course I forgot mom's sandwich, lol. Luckily I had bought her a turkey sandwich from the hospital cafeteria and she was able to eat that. About 6 o'clock I had to go home and feed and milk again. Which I might add I really did not feel like doing but Nellie ended up giving almost 2 quarts of milk tonight and I was happy about that. Way to go Nellie!!!! Lots of people were praying for my mom today. It just amazes me how many friends I have, most of the time I feel like I have no friends and then something happens to make me realize I have lots of friends, even ones I have never met in person and I love each and everyone of them and I am so blessed. I think my son needs picked up from work now so will post more tomorrow. Night all!!

The Simple Life?

I cannot figure out why in the world someone would choose to call this the "simple" life. I would call it the work until you drop, pain in the rear, not enough sleep, and wouldnt change it for anything life. But that is just me. There are some days where everything seems right in the world and my day goes peacefully enjoying little things like hearing the frogs croaking at night or watching the goats play in their pen while a nice breeze is blowing through my hair. But then there are days like I have had lately where I have to stomp through the mud to get to each of the animals and when I get out there at least 4 goats jump on me and get me muddy while I am trying to get through the barn door to get ready to milk the goat and then while I am trying to get only 1 goat up on the stand while fighting the baby goats to stay off of it they all spill the feed that I had in my hand trying to put it up in the stand for the milk goat. After cleaning it all up I have a major battle going just to get her to get all the way up on the stand because for some reason she prefers to keep her rear legs firmly on the ground while stretching to reach the feed with only her front legs on the stand. Ever try lifting the rear of a 150 pound goat? It is like dead weight. Finally I get it done and get the milk into the house just to realize that I left 7 ornery goats to spend time with one very grumpy 10 year old aka my niece. And it is only 7:30 in the morning!!! Finally I get all the goats fed, the dogs fed, the chickens fed, my niece to school and I can sit down and enjoy a glass of lemon water and eat breakfast. Who knows how the rest of my day will go, it is raining again so it will probably be an inside day for me but I am sure I will find loads of things to do. Another thing about this life that they call simple is that no matter how hard I work or how much money I spend their is always something else that needs done or fixing. It never seems like we have enough money to do all the stuff we need to and want to do but somehow everything seems to get done. I am real big on fixing stuff myself and spending as little money as possible doing it. It would be much easier to just call someone up to come fix what is broken but that would cost alot more money than we can afford to spend and where would the satisfaction be that you get from knowing that you got it done yourself. Just like it would be much easier to just run to the grocery store and buy all my fruits and veggies but then I couldnt stand out in the yard and look over my garden with pride knowing that I am growing healthy food for my family to eat and that I did it. Their is also a great satisfaction to me knowing what all has been put into and onto my food. That is the reason I try to grow all of our food and raise our own meat. I think there are alot of people who think I am crazy, especially when they see how tired I am but I would not change anything about how we live. It is a hard and sometimes exhausting life but it is also one of the most blessed lives you can have.

Spring is coming

Spring is finally coming, I can feel it in the air. I love spring. It is the time of year that all the baby animals are born and everything is new. Flowers grow and trees bloom and it is time to start planning and preparing for my garden. I am planning on a bountiful garden this year. I have even started tree seedlings from apples. I think this is gonna be a good year.

The baby goats finally arrived. They were born on St. Patrick's Day. A doeling and a buckling. I named the doeling Joy because I was so happy that they finally arrived and the buckling is named Patrick since he was born on St. Patrick's Day. I have never been so excited in my life. I had been checking on Mohawk every few hours for weeks and on Thursday I knew she was getting close so I was making sure to check on her every 2 hours and she ended up having them while I was eating breakfast. I was on my way out to the barn to check on her before I took a shower and I was about half way there when I heard small bleating noises. Of course I ran the rest of the way to the barn. After I saw that they were out there and that there was 2 of them I ran to the trailer and woke up Doug and then went back to barn. After everyone was cleaned off and I knew they were healthy I called everyone. It was like I had a baby, lol. It is so nice being able to enjoy the simple things like the birth of new babies, even the animal ones. Now I am waiting for my chicks to arrive so that I can celebrate that.

My life is good. I really cant complain. Sure there are times that I see other people's farms and think of how nice it would be to live on one of them, but I really enjoy my life the way it is. There is no way to know if those people are happy. They might have really nice farms but very unhappy lives. You do not know a person's situation unless you have lived in their shoes. I am very blessed, I have a family that loves me and goats!! lol God has blessed me in many many ways.

Nice weather

We finally had some nice weather today. It wasn't perfect but it was nice. I loved getting to be outside enjoying the day instead of indoors wishing the rain or snow would stop. I was able to get the goats hooves trimmed and gave them all a good brushing. Still waiting for Mohawk to have her babies though. This is definitely a lesson on patience because there is absolutely nothing I can do but wait until God decides it is time to bless us with our new addition or additions to our growing farm. The only thing that could have made this a more better day was if i wasnt still feeling so lousy. I am thinking it is allergies from all of the rain we have been having and the weather is forcasting some more rain in the next few days. I just have to remember that God is in control.
I do not understand why people do not take better care of their animals. Maybe it is money or maybe it is because they do not care enough, I do not know. I do know that I would not be able to ever watch my animals suffer especially if it is from something that I can take care of. My animals are what I do for a living also and I love them. They are my friends. They are such good listeners and they do not try to fix everything, they just listen. Sometimes that is what a person needs, for someone to just listen and my goats and chickens are awesome at that. People would do better to learn to listen and not always have to be the one heard and the center of attention. People need to just relax.
Why is everyone in such a hurry anymore also. Just sit back and relax and enjoy this life God gave you. You dont always have to be doing something, sometimes it is good to just sit and listen to nature. Soak it in. It is one of the most relaxing pasttimes. To just sit at the end of the day and enjoy watching the day go to bed. By the time the day is asleep you body has relaxed and you are ready to go to bed. People rely way to much on tv and internet to do that and in my opinion neither the television or the computer are relaxing, if anything they are stressful. It is just something else that is filling your mind up with a bunch of nonsense. I have to confess though that I have been doing things like playing farmville on facebook but I have decided to give that up for better pasttimes like sewing or reading. Things that are relaxing and good for the mind. Also, they are not such a waste of time. I do watch television also but I try to limit that and to watch shows that are good. Right now I am listening to Rascall Flatts on abc while typing this. I do believe that the internet can be a good thing. It can be educational and a good way to meet friends that have the same interests as me. There is a group I belong to with other goat owners and I would be lost without some of them. I also belong to a group that is for Chicken owners but they do not talk as much.
It is getting late so I guess I better find my way to relax tonight after I check on my mama goat. Goodnight.

Waiting

Still waiting on Mohawk to drop her kids. The hardest part of this is waiting. I have never experienced this before so I am very anxious about it and want to be out there all the time to see if anything has changed. I am probably driving her buggy. I have taken so many pictures of her recently that my camera batteries died so I am not gonna have any pictures of the babies except with my cell phone lol. I am probably driving all of my goatwisdom friends insane with all my updates and pics. I just can't wait for the big day and I want to hurry it up!!!
It finally stopped raining last night but now there is snow. I really cannot wait until God decides to bless us with spring. I am more then ready to get outside and enjoy nature. I feel cooped up in the trailer. I go outside but it is such a hassle to get all bundled up and put my boots on and then it is cold out and hard to walk around because of all the muck from the rain.
We went to Wal Mart today and I got some new cold medicine. I was taking robitussin and it was helping alot with my congestion but was not doing anything for my cough. I got some Mucinex DM and some Dayquil. Hopefully they will help. I really wish I could find herbal remedies for when we are sick, especially something for a headache. I hate how much medicine we all take. I feel miserable though so I gave in and took over the counter meds. Someday I will live the kind of life I want to. Have to take it slow though.

simpler time

I have decided I am gonna live a simpler life. We will grow and raise our own food and make as much stuff as we can. I am gonna start making presents instead of buying them and only buy the food that I absolutely have to. Sometimes I think I would be happy if we lived on a farm that was so remote that we had to have our supplies flown in. I wonder if I could have the stuff I cannot raise myself mailed to me. I am even thinking about buying a flour mill. That would be so cool.

I have had a cold or bad allergies for the last week and I am also patiently waiting for Mohawk to have her babies. I am trying very hard to be patient but to be 100% honest I just want to go out and squeeze them babies out of her lol. I think it will be about another week at the most and I can wait that long.

It has been raining and raining and raining lately and I keep telling myself not to complain about the rain because we need one more summer where we have water in our well and hopefully God is willing to show us how to have the money to buy another well next summer. It is suppose to change to snow tonight and I am actually tired of that also but God is in control and he knows what he is doing and I am gonna trust him. I cannot wait for nice spring weather though.

Not only am I patiently waiting for Mohawk to have her babies, I am also waiting for my seeds and plants to come that I ordered for my garden. I even ordered a banana plant to grow in the house!!! Is that cool or what? I am also waiting for 20 baby chicks to come. I researched what kind of chicken I wanted because all the ones I have been buying from locals or from tsc are not big enough to eat so I ordered Silver Laced Wyandottes. They are supposed to be kind, lay through the winter, and also big enough to fill my pot. :)