Sunday, August 19, 2018

Closing our Farm

For months I have been wreastling with my farm in my head. It was my dream forever. I wanted it so badly. I loved it whole heartedly for a long time. But the last couple years we have done a bad job at it. We cant keep the yard up. Let alone garden and tend animals to the degree I want to.
   I have almost sold the animals so many times. But my heart still wanted them. I wasnt ready for it to end.
  But I am not sure why I have held on so long to this. It isnt a good fit for us. We just cant keep up and I feel like things go undone or I am nagging myself or others to do it. I feel the farm has cost us kindness and love for each other. I no longer want this long list of chores to nagg at me. I no longer want to not do fun things. I want us to have time to fully enjoy life. Not can, garden or milk cows.
   We are tied to home milking. We even buy all our dairy products at the store besides milk. My family prefers store bought cheese, sour cream, yogurt, ice cream. And most of them dont drink milk anymore. So it is a huge task to keep up with milk.

 I no longer try. I no longer make anything but coffee from the cream. Or gravy. Otherwise it all goes to chickens as sour milk. That is such a waste. I am wanting Fawn to be where her goods are cherished. And I am sorry that isnt here.

I am no longer clueless to why I am done farming. And I am mostly totally fine with being done. A farm should serve its people. Ours doesn't serve us. We prefer the grocery store. Even though I dont want to. It is just the reality of it. We cant afford to hobby farm. So we have to move on.
  So everyone is for sale. I plan to only keep the dogs. Astrid though is 9 or 10. So she will only be around a little longer. And that makes me saddest of all.

I dont know what we will do. I dont know where we will go. I just know I am done here. Totally and completely.

Em

Monday, March 6, 2017

Fawn

Tonight we opened up the pasture to the full thing.(had to fence in the bees so they DIdNT knock them over)  Fawn went straight for Poison Hemlock. She ate. Then ran to grass and ate. Then got sick. Then repeated a few times. We kept trying to get her to quit. But end up just putting her in the smaller area. 
   Which also has poison hemlock in it but I've never seen her go to... Dumb. I don't get it. 
 PH can be fatal. And often is. I'm hoping she expelled it all. A small amount will just make her feel sick. (Can cause birth defects as well but she isn't bred yet)  here's to hoping. And I need to get rid of the hemlock somehow. I've never seen a animal eat it. Until last week Stella did. But only a couple bites. Then I saw her avoiding it. Fawn just dug in repeatedly. I don't understand. 

   I'll be checking on her shortly to see if she is having any issues. I'm half worried about it. I don't think she kept enough down to react. But I'm not certain either. Grrrr. 

Also. On my phone which takes nice pictures I can only post pictures. If I type it crashes. And the app is no longer in use. So I can't re download it. I'll try to remember to get on the iPad to add descriptions.  

Monday, February 27, 2017

Blogger

The little children told my phone to update. So blogger keeps crashing on me. Ugh. Hopefully it quits and I can really post again soon. 

Thursday, February 23, 2017


Stella came from a wooded farm. Which is ideal for goats. We don't have our wooded area fenced yet. (Bought the neighbors property a mth ago) so I'm taking Stella out daily and tethering her for a hour or so. I try to get her in a brushy area. She loves the chance to get out of her smaller pen. 

  Our plan is to get two electric netting fences. One for the goats. Sheep and Daisy. And the second for the chickens. But so far he hasn't had time to look at them online. The options are endless. And consequently overwhelming. So that task waits. Soon though.  That also puts in a need for a Mobile chicken tractor for layers. I'm thinking like Justin Rhodes Chickshaw. But I'm too lazy to link it. Sorry. 

   I've nearly cleared out all the raised beds. 5 large stones and a railroad tie are left. I can't do lots of moving with my shoulder so I've decided 1 a day. Slow and steady I suppose. 

   We are schooling and that is a huge deal. Mostly because the weather begs us outside. We are trying for a even mix. The little 3 ( not counting Naomi since she's a baby) are working through easy readers. That is fun and also takes lots of patience on my end. And Malachi's. He wants to read higher lever stuff yesterday. Trying to keep him satisfied and moving forward is kinda rough. 

Patrick and I were feeling kinda ick so we attempted naps. He succeeded. But he could sleep through a rock concert. I failed but made myself rest in hopes it helps.  Naomi had something she's over now so I'm wondering if it it is why we feel like this today. 
    The rabbit ( Lady Marian Fitzwalter) is due on the 27th. But I haven't felt for babies. She's pretty skidish. 
So time will tell. We try to give them both fresh greens daily. They love it. 

  
I made this last week. A Coptic Stitch journal for this years garden, food preservation and animals. Leather bound with pretty discounted leather from Tandys. Yes. I cut it wonky. Oops. 

I like Coptic stitch because it lays flat and is simple to make.  Wisdom. Judah. And Malachi. Each made one as well. And Lilley is ready to stitch hers together. Projects cause ripples here. I needed a journal. Everyone else followed. I love it. 

   

I'm so excited. I ordered these seeds last night. I needed green beans. We have never canned enough to get us past December. Even with Grandma Katherine growing and canning some for us. Ideally we need to can enough to get to June 1st. So I'm hoping that a lb will get us somewhere. Might have to order another 1# later. These are all heirloom seeds. 

I'm looking forward to chèvre stuffed nasturtiums and vinegar and salads. Not to mention the pretty colors. So exciting!  

  Zinnias! I knew a beautiful old lady (Patrick grew up with her) named Zinnia. And Miss Dorothy was known for her zinnias. We must have vases full of them this year. 

And last but not least Borage. I think it's a lovely plant. Great for salads and pot greens. As well as (flowers) tea. And is great for bees. 

   I'm so excited. I want color everywhere. This said by a person that lived many years in navy black and brown to hide. Now I'm old and fat and bold with color. And I love it! 



    
   

   

 

   

   
Wisdom helped chop a pumpkin to give the animals. 
Stella loved it. As did Daisy Mae. 
But Fawn won and ate the majority. Gracie and Frankincense only sniffed it. 
My sister came out and we made spring rolls and curried rice for lunch. And then later I remembered the marinating ribeyes. So we had to Pollyanna it for supper. Homemade Ice cream! And Joelle decided GF brownies were needed as well. These girls liked the salty ice. We had to move them away. I think they would have eaten the majority of it had we let them. 
The recipe we used was Martha Stewart's French Vanilla that our friend Tabitha made us many years back. Her food is legendary. There are several things i make of hers. And the children compare it to their memory of hers everytime. 

Dirty ice muncher. Today was insane weather! A most perfect day!

Telling me a story. I forget which story this one was. He tells as many as he can fit in in a day. 
Wisdom and Charity. Her beloved cat. We inherited her when the neighbors moved and left her. But I was looking for another cat anyway. 1 isn't enough for a farm really. 
My (nephew) boy liked Sandy a whole lot. Sandy goes in tomorrow to be fixed. I'm thankful. But surgery always makes me nervous. 
   Astrid was older and had had puppies before she was fixed. But she has been more down? Since she was fixed last year. It makes me sad. So I am nervous it will change Sandy too. But worth not having puppies I suppose. 
A cranker. He likes tasks. But loses focus easy. But getting better at it as he ages. 
Lilley had a late night snack of oatmeal (whose child is this??) and was knitting on yarn from friends. She was laughing at me thinking I was taking a selfie. Ha! I told her I took a Lilley.