Thursday, August 18, 2011
Homesteading and Dreams
When we started talking about where we wanted our lives to go 5 years ago when we got married. Having a farm was not in the conversation. I had grown up around and on farms for most of my life but my husband was more of a city boy even after growing up in a rural community here in New Hampshire. We had all the normal dreams of houses and children, pets-like dogs or cats, that most couples do. A nice little garden for me.
Well here we are today.
We are raising 3 dozen chickens for fresh eggs and eventually meat. Looking to add goats for lots of reasons, least of all land clear up and goats milk for "projects". Wanting to have some beef cattle and pigs. We have come a long way about how we view the food that is coming into our home and how we live our lives.
We never thought that we would want to become self suffient. I mean some people know from day one how they want that lifestyle. But not us, we just wanted a piece of the "American Dream".
So here we are on the brink of launching a new life, a new blog. I invite everyone to come and join us on our journey and hopefully learn some knew thoughts. Look for tips on how to be more self suffient, how to stretch your money even farther, and how to take those little moments life gives us and fill up our memory banks. I hope you will all join us and can't wait to see you there.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Gratituesday
There are so many things to be grateful for on this very rainy Tuesday. Thankful for the skills that have given my husband the ability to pass his CDL-A written test with a 100% yesterday. Now doing that will open up so many more opportunities for him and our family.
Believe it or not I am also grateful for the rain that is driving me nuts :) It is watering my garden and filling up my pool too. So it is helping nature and me :)
We mowed the grass on Sunday-I know very exciting right?, and have been adding to the compost pile with the clippings and when we clean out the chicken coop. I am hoping that by next year the compost pile will be nice and healthy to add into the garden. We are planning on changing out the way we plant our garden. We have always planted in rows like most people. This year I just re-arranged the way that we do things and planted in squares. So as not to waste so much space. I will say that it has helped but there are still lots of room for the weeds. So I am already looking into just doing the "traditional style" of raised beds. This way I can control the weeds more and hopefully make a larger harvest.
What are you Grateful for today?
Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!
Believe it or not I am also grateful for the rain that is driving me nuts :) It is watering my garden and filling up my pool too. So it is helping nature and me :)
We mowed the grass on Sunday-I know very exciting right?, and have been adding to the compost pile with the clippings and when we clean out the chicken coop. I am hoping that by next year the compost pile will be nice and healthy to add into the garden. We are planning on changing out the way we plant our garden. We have always planted in rows like most people. This year I just re-arranged the way that we do things and planted in squares. So as not to waste so much space. I will say that it has helped but there are still lots of room for the weeds. So I am already looking into just doing the "traditional style" of raised beds. This way I can control the weeds more and hopefully make a larger harvest.
What are you Grateful for today?
Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!
Monday, August 15, 2011
The weeds are winning
I will be honest. I love my garden but time is getting away from me again. The weeds are winning in the garden, but there is still life out there. The weather man is saying it is going to rain alot this week which isn't very good for me since it means that I will not be able to get into the garden much plus working extra hours this week. Somewhere I need to find the time to do it. Or else I am going to lose all the hard work we have put into it. I am seriously considering bringing in reinforcements to help out. Maybe grab the nieces to come along and help out my daughter and I. Send the son to the uncle and get to moving and weeding.
Does anyone else have these same problems? Any suggestions?
Our chickens are doing well but it still seems that some of the hens aren't laying. So I think that I need to separate them and see who isn't laying. Maybe even put bands on the ones that are? I refuse to keep feeding them really good feed and not getting eggs out of them. They would serve us much better in the freezer if that is the case.
I guess one of the biggest things that I never really thought of as we have headed down the road to homesteading is the fact of how much needs to be done and how little time I actually have to get it all done. I do try to bring the kiddos in to help out but sometimes it is beyond what they can do. I am planning on taking this winter to set up a plan that seems to actually works things out for us in reality. Obviously not everything is going to be perfect but at least come with a better plan that what we are doing.
Does anyone else have these same problems? Any suggestions?
Our chickens are doing well but it still seems that some of the hens aren't laying. So I think that I need to separate them and see who isn't laying. Maybe even put bands on the ones that are? I refuse to keep feeding them really good feed and not getting eggs out of them. They would serve us much better in the freezer if that is the case.
I guess one of the biggest things that I never really thought of as we have headed down the road to homesteading is the fact of how much needs to be done and how little time I actually have to get it all done. I do try to bring the kiddos in to help out but sometimes it is beyond what they can do. I am planning on taking this winter to set up a plan that seems to actually works things out for us in reality. Obviously not everything is going to be perfect but at least come with a better plan that what we are doing.
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