What We Have Going On Now

We are working to get certified for our eggs and to sell plants. Our goal is to have a working farm even if it is only on 1 acre. It can be done just takes planning and work. We are hoping to one day expand our borders. We are planning on making the front yard raised beds with paths. We can grow flowers, herbs and maybe some veggies out front. Our garden spots will also be changed over to raised beds and tire beds. Tires are great to use to grow plants in and make great compost bins.

We have added rabbits to our animals. Right now we have mixed breeds that make good pets. We have gotten 1 New Zealand doe that is the start of our meat rabbits. We are looking for California and New Zealand bucks and does to use for meat breeds.

We are looking at getting rid of some of the breeds of chickens we have and just go to mostly sex links for egg production. The Silkies will be our birds that will be only used for selling. They are a great bantam breed that are good mothers and go broody a lot. They are also show birds.

Our garden is doing ok this year. My Egyptian Walking onions are walking out of the garden. I am going to have to thin them. Our peanut beans didn't come up but the blue lake and turkey beans are doing good. I will be putting rattlesnake beans out in the week to grow along with the corn. My broccoli did well this year so we have fresh broccoli. I didn't put out much because last year it didn't do well. This year I got it out earlier. We have already had lettuce, spinach and peas that have already run their course. We don't eat peas but mom liked them. I will be putting more of those out for the fall. I have to get watermelon and cantaloupe out still.

We are going to start trying to grow our animal feed also. This probably take some time to get going but one day it will happen. We can't free range our chickens so the goal is to get them off commercial feed by raising what they need to eat. Which means worms are in our future too.

I have got to start getting some canning done. I canned pintos last year and loved having those instead of store bought. I also canned tomatoes with peppers which we use a lot of. My goal this year is to can more beans and a variety black, kidney, white and pinto. I will do the tomatoes again too. I am not making much jelly this year. The last 2 years I have done a bunch of jelly so we are going to eat that up this year.

We may try to raise pigs again this fall. We learned from the first try all the things not to do so we think we can do better this time around. I would love to have some fresh beef but we don't have space to raise one.

I will try to get some pics up soon. The bunnies are just too cute. We have 2 litters we are trying to sell so if you want a pet bun just let me know.

3 Year Roller Coaster Ride

I may or may not publish this but I have to get thoughts out of my head. It seems that ever since Johnny was diagnosed in March 07 I have been on a roller coaster. Mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually you name it everything seems to be out of sync. Now it kind of feels like it is all coming to a head. Most of the time I have so many feelings going on I am not sure if I am coming or going. I am sad, mad, glad, lonely, discouraged, disappointed, depressed, doubt, dislike, hurt, overwhelmed, lazy, lifeless, disinterested and pretty much anything else you can think of. I am up then down.
I can not seem to over come any of it. I keep praying but feel I am in a desert. I have ask Him to change me so I won't be so me. I have ask for guidance, wisdom, knowledge, relief and feel like He does not hear me.
I am not sure what is up with me. I know the God I serve. He has moved so mightily in our lives. So I do not understand what is happening in me. Had it not been for Him we would have never made it through Johnny's illness. We wouldn't make it now if not for Him.
There is so much inside of me that I can not express. I know what I am suppose to be doing but can't seem to do it. I know I am suppose to be learning something but I am not sure what it is. I know I am suppose to teach what I learn but I got to figure out what I am learning first.

I started this blog to document this journey but I can't seem to put into words what the journey is. We are trying to get back to a simpler life style. To lean on God for all our needs. The home is the core of that. Family. Taking care of my family, being what God has called me to be. Granted I have not walked this path willingly over the years.

Pray for me please. That this desert will soon end. That I would see the light at the end of the tunnel. That I would be all that God has for me to be.

Hopefully I will be getting back to this blog and documenting what we are doing. There is a bunch going on here. It is never boring that is for sure.

Lost From The Blog World

I didn't get lost. I have just been lazy. My life has been pretty chaotic and I couldn't get my thoughts together to post. We have put up quite a bit of food this year. One thing I have noticed is that everything seems to happen at the same time. When the crops are coming in then things seem to start happening that keeps me running all the time. I have been racking my brain trying to figure out how to stay home more. I can not do the things that I need to get done and never be home.
We have our grandchildren full time. I am homeschooling 3 kids so I truly need to get my act together more. Isaiah has issues that we are going to have to get help for. Kaitlynn falls into acting like her brother to see if it works for her. Ross is having to learn to share his parents and home with 2 other children. There is a lot for all of us to get use to.
My main priority is making sure I take care of these kids. We are trying to make as stable a home as possible for them. Isaiah has such a hard time dealing with any kind of change. The simplest thing can set him off. If they are with their mother more than the norm, if we change our daily routine any at all, if anything at church changes anything like that just sends him into behaviors that are so hard to deal with. Johnny and I are doing all we can to make him feel as stable as we can. Kaitlynn is starting to show signs of acting out too. I have never had to deal with these kinds of behaviors and it is hard to deal with at times. We pray daily for them and believe that God will move for them.

The farm animals have grown, we now have 150+ chickens. We have them of all ages. We will be selling chicks in the spring. The young ones are starting to lay so we are starting to get lots of eggs. YEAH!!!!
We had large gardens this year and we ate pretty good from them. I put up quite a bit of food for the winter. I love eating home grown in the winter. God just keeps blessing our land and we are able to feed us and give some away.

I am hoping that I will be on here more this fall and winter. I have a lot of stuff I want to get done around the house. I also want to work on me with the help of my Jesus that I make the changes I need to. My biggest ministry right now needs to be my family and home. I will have to try to get some pics up of the chickens and gardens soon.

God Bless everyone hope to write again soon.

Black Jersey Giants

Hen next to a Buff O. hen for comparison

Another one of the girls

Goliath is our 5.00 Roo

You know you are a chicken addict when.............

You turn your big bath tub into a brooder. LOL 78 chicks sex links, buff orpingtons, welsummers, australorpes, cuckoo marans and 1 light brahma. Aren't they purty.

new chicks

Indoor Garden

This is my indoor garden.

Sweet Basil

Spinach

Lettuce

Radish

I am really excited to see how this works. I will transplant some of this when it gets a little bigger. I want to see how much I can grow indoors. I like the idea of having fresh lettuce and spinach all winter. I might have to try some other things just for the heck of it. If I can grow most all of what we will eat then that is going to be a huge money saver. I just need to get some spots to work with in the winter. I have been reading about row covers. You can also set things up to fit over one pot.

I am trying to figure out how to set my gardens up this year. I am going to be doing a lot of container gardening. I am looking at selling some produce at the farmers market this year. I will also be doing a lot more canning. It will be a lot of hard work but I am excited and can't wait to get started. I am ready for warmer weather so I can get stuff in the ground. I am going to try to grow cauliflower and broccili this year. I have tried cauliflower in the past and not had much luck. I have been reading up on what to do with it.

I am trying more herbs this year also. I have been reading natural bug control. Growing different plants together can keep bugs away. You also need to encourage good bugs. So, with all that rambling I am trying to figure out what to plant with what. Putting potted mints, basil and marigolds through out your garden is good. I didn't have much luck growing marigold from seed last year. I will probably just buy some plants. We need sunflowers again too. We have to be careful wtih them because parts of the sunflower are poisonous to chickens.

The chickens are fertilizing my garden spots for me.

My compost is another story. The pile is slow to work but the tires make great compost fast. Soooo I will have piles of tires composting for me this year. I know what a site. Oh well I am not trying to win yard of the year just feed my family.

I am also going to try to grow potatos in tires too. I have read they are great for potato growing. I have some potato seed to get out. I think now or soon is when I need to get started on that.

I think I have babbled enough. Those of you that know me know that when I get excited about something I do tend to babble.

I will try post soon on what God is doing in us also. More to come on gardening and chickens. I know you can't wait. lol