The Harvest {2018}

by Meghan // July 16, 2018 // Comments off

We made a family goal this year- spend more time at our farm this spring and summer, working as a family to not only improve some things- but to really cultivate. Every year we have a garden, and every year when it starts coming in, the rainy season begins, and things start really growing we are gone with either trips or my husband for work.

We worked very hard this year to be sure we were here so we could take care of all the things we started in the spring.

Now, my flower beds are going haywire with weeds, I really can’t keep up! But everything else is flourishing, we are harvesting regularly, and enjoying our evenings as a family working in the garden.

This weekend’s task- Freeze tomatoes!

Last weekend I canned dill pickles for the first time, (they are awful by the way … I’m not sure what I did wrong, but man are they bad!). Unless someone shares a tried and true recipe with me, we will be making bread and butter pickles from now one. haha

My children walk around eating cucumbers whole, with cherry tomatoes by the handful.

Harvest time is good.

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A is for Anglo Nubian Goats {homesteading on the farm}

by Meghan // May 13, 2018 // Comments off

I don’t know if we are a homestead or a farm … if a farm, then definitely a hobby farm. Either way, this little homesteader has put down the deposit on a few sweet babies! We will be adding ~~2, no 3, make that~~ 4 nubian goats to the farm pretty soon and I am ecstatic! My mind is whirling 1,000 miles a minute- my research proves raising goats is much different than raising bottle calves for beef. There is SO much to know and do before hand; there’s even more to keep in mind, keep an eye out for, and learn. And the only real way you can learn is to prepare the best you can, and then jump in! *gasp*

We are adding 2 twin yearlings, and of course when I went to look at them I couldn’t leave without also reserving a bitty baby … But after a few days of preparation on our farm, I thought it might be a good idea to get the bitty a buddy her size, and since she was a triplet, her brother will make the perfect playmate! (Her sister was already spoken for.) So, that makes 4 goats!

Today I ordered their collars, and some medical supplies to keep on hand. This weekend my husband and I began work on the goat corral fencing- he began prepping holes and posts for the fence while I cleaned out the barn and tack room. We have brooded chickens, raised cows, and stored lots of tools and feed in those areas; they were desperate for a cleaning!

We made GREAT progress on the fence; we need to finish a few corner posts, put in some T-posts, and string the wires. Then we have to finish their stall in the barn by getting it covered with goat fencing (I plan to stall the goats at night until we get the LGDs in there with them full time, they get used to their surroundings, and I feel less like a worry-wart). We are going to get them a warm dry place built up in their stall towards the back, because of the position of our barn and the way it drains. Lots of work needs to be done, but we are enjoying it and looking forward to our new babies. We cannot wait to spend our summer playing with baby goats.

Baby goat pictures to come!

Read other posts from this Blogging Through The Alphabet Link-up Series HERE

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First Steers on the Farm Go to Processing {a grateful feflection}

by Meghan // May 8, 2018 // Comments off

We have spent the last 2 years raising, loving, and caring for our big ole’ “baby cows.”

These ornery boys have been so much fun to learn the ropes of raising cattle on our little farm. They left with scratches, kisses, and lots of loves as they headed off to freezer camp this weekend.

When I think about the fretting, the tears, and the love that went into raising them from bottle babies- the 5am early mornings, the evening bottle feeds in the snow, the escaping every. single. time. my husband was traveling, I can’t help but feel sad, and thankful.

They gave me cold morning walks under the stars with my husband, at a time when we were both still homesteading-babies, learning so much (still are …), excited, and nervous.

They taught us about the first hard loss of an animal you try so hard to save (there were once 3 big ole cow babies).

They gave us endless laughter as the ran and played in the pastures as calves, and heart attacks every time they came rumbling up for scratches after they were 1500lb pounds.

They gave us something to do each day, something to look forward to (our first home raised, grass-fed beef), and something to look back on.

We gave them a lot of love, a lot of garden tomatoes, a lot of good hay, a lot of time. In return they will continue to give by feeding our young family.

After taking them to the processor yesterday, we prayed for them at our family meal last night.

I didn’t cry, but I am now.

Not because they are gone, but because when I think about all we went through with them, what we learned, the friendships that grew just from their escaping (howdy neighbors!), the time my husband and I had together while caring for them, our kids learning about real life from these 2 huge animals while watching them grow…

I am just grateful.

First Steers on the Farm {a Grateful Reflection}

munching on sweet cubes after getting some scratches before heading off

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Friday on the farm {Gardening & Meat Chickens}

by Meghan // April 27, 2018 // Comments off

After a looong winter, We are finally preparing to plant the garden. We are putting down a heavy plastic for weed control, and covering with hay once the plants get up a little taller. My husband is also setting up a sprinkler for the center of the garden that won’t require us to disconnect and reconnect hoses, sprinklers, etc.

This year we added a permanent fence around the garden to keep out the chickens, dogs, and cows (when they escape, which is monthly).

My husband made a steal stencil for burning holes into the plastic to help with more precise planting. It is really cool, and I am so thankful he is an engineer! He thinks of the coolest ideas.

The meat chickens were moved from the brooder out to pasture last week. The weather was iffy, and the first evening out there was pretty cold (36 degrees!) But they survived and feathered out quickly. Being in the pasture makes them sooo happy; they can spread out, eat bugs, and because we can move them they get a clean dry space every day or so. (It has been a week and they are already MUCH bigger than this picture.)

We have planted new blackberry bushes, some elder berries (Eeee!), and a few more fruit trees. This year the garden will hopefully produce:

watermelons
cucumbers
egg plant
a bazillion peppers
3 bazillion tomatoes
squash
asparagus (a perennial that is producing right now!)
and i can’t remember what else my husband planted …

I am already thinking about our fall garden! I can’t wait to do broccoli, cabbages, potatoes, garlic, and cauliflower again!

Friday on the Farm: Completed Garden Fence from Hedge Posts

by Meghan // March 23, 2018 // Comments off

We have tried a few different solutions for keeping chickens, dogs, and escaping cows out of our garden. We finally settled on this as a solution:

Completed Garden Fence from hedge posts

My husband used his post hole digger on the tractor to dig holes deep enough for sturdy, hedge posts cut from our land. We did look at getting things from this fencing company, but then we decided that we wanted something a bit different to keep our animals out. So my husband used goat field fencing (4″x4″ wire) for the sides, and a regular cattle panel for the gate. We may even add a strand of hot wire around the top for roosting chickens that may wander into the garden.

This should do the job of keeping chickens out, keeping the dogs from digging cool spots for lounging, and the cows from destroying it all when they get out (which they tend to do if we leave the chain off the gates by mistake).

It is beautiful; my husband and 5 year old son worked so hard for 2 weekends and every night after work to get it completed. I’m proud of my boys and their diligent work!

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Raising LGD’s- the first heat

by Meghan // November 16, 2017 // Comments off

This is what happens when your partner in crime, your BFF, is put in prison.

Just kidding … this is what happens when you are an LGD, your family doesn’t want to have you spayed too young (I’ll let my readers google that), and you go into heat.

Heidi is in heat, right on time at 10 months old, and Huck is just devastated that his working buddy is separated from him. (Or his hormones are going haywire, but it’s cuter to think he just misses her). Being that we homeschool, and are home quite a bit most days, I have been able to keep a close eye on her. I am *not* I repeat *not* a dog expert. Or a breeding expert. I honestly know very little about how dog’s cycles work. But I am in some pretty awesome support groups for LGD owners, and they have gotten me this far. Obviously delayed spaying isn’t for every farmer, but it is what we have planned to do from the beginning for Heidi. When we do get spayed, I plan to use a veterinarian that keeps the hormones in tact, to protect her disposition, health, and guarding spirit. =)

We chose to separate Heidi into the cattle trailer during her heat; we can keep her safe from the elements in the shop, Huck can still guard, patrol, and keep an eye on his sweet puppy. She is HIS puppy after all-he helped raise her and I’ve always referred to her as “your puppy” when we talk. Yes. We talk.

Ehum, anyway. In the cattle trailer she is also safe from stray dogs that may catch wind of her, and Huck, of course. She has room to move, eat, drink, and be bored to death. And I know she is bored. Poor girl.

We have about 2 more weeks of this, and then freedom! (insert that cheesy commercial song here)

I really don’t want my puppy to have puppies. She would be an amazing LGD example, she and Huck both. They’re well mannered and good at their jobs for being so young. But obviously, that isn’t what we have planned for her.

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Almost School {Simple Woman’s Daybook}

by Meghan // August 24, 2017 // Comments off

Outside my Window …
It is breezy and partly cloudy. Part of the backyard is a mess while the husband builds the kids’ new swing set and fort. It is HUGE, but they couldn’t fit on the old one; plus it was falling a part. This one should be plenty big to grow with them, and we can read and camp out up there =)

I am thinking…
*whew* This day has been hectic. The week before school starts back for us is usually pretty “busy,” with me getting papers and things prepared. I like to get all the closets cleaned out, clothes packed up for hand me downs, and others sent to consignment. So there has been THAT this week…

I am thankful…
that we are done traveling for a while! We can get back to focusing on school and time as a family. I can tell when things are too busy because our relationships suffer; the kids get crazier, my attitude isn’t what it should be, and everyone starts struggling with behavior. When we get quality time together, and I can actually spend time with them, we are all happier.

In the kitchen…
I am making bone broth in the crock pot, the dishwasher is full, and the kitchen is actually clean. I just couldn’t take it anymore! haha

I am wearing…
workout shorts and a tank … pretty much my uniform. I tried wearing jeans and a cute shirt yesterday, and quickly remembered why I don’t do that- tiny humans = stained clothes. *sigh*

I am creating…
nothing right now. I really need to get down stairs and do some sewing for the kids.

I am going…
to Costco today!

I am wondering…
if this weather is here to stay- waking up to the mid 50’s is so nice, and only highs in the 80’s!

I am reading…
nothing. Just too tired to read lately.

I am hoping…
to get the house cleaning finished today

I am looking forward to…
the weekend with my crew and hubby, the kids’ birthdays!

I am learning…
how to do my daughter’s vision therapy homework at home. It is hard; I just pray it works.

Around the house…
clothes. every where.

A favorite quote for today…
Don’t think I have one today.

One of my favorite things…
just hanging out with my family, walking our property, loving on the big ole dogs.

A few plans for the rest of the week:
help hubby on the swing set if he wants me to, tend the chicken coop, pull some weeds, finish the cleaning out of the house, plan out the kids’ birthday meals and cakes.

A peek into my day…

FMF: Visit {& Processing Meat Chickens for the Freezer}

by Meghan // May 27, 2017 // Comments off

This week’s Five Minute Friday prompt is Visit

and go!
I am outside on this beautiful Memorial Day weekend writing my FMF post, because I didn’t have 5 minutes yesterday … on Friday.

Visit is a great prompt for me this week; my mom is coming to visit. She’s a school teacher, so she just got out of school for summer break, which works out perfectly because we are butchering our meat chickens this weekend.

(pictures courteous of my 6.5 year old)

Today is set up day, where we get all the equipment ready, gather our tools, etc. Then tomorrow morning we will get up and get busy! My mom will keep the kids occupied and out of the way so we can work as quickly as possible without interruptions (like making lunches, snacks, playing, etc). Butchering and processing, bagging, and freezing 50 chickens is a LOT of work and takes a pretty long time without 4 tiny humans needing you every few minutes.

Raising our own meat on the farm means a lot to our family; for our children it is just a way of life. For my husband and I it encompasses everything we want our children to learn about life in general. Raising, and caring for animals the way they were meant to be raised, in a clean & happy environment, then butchering them humanely, in a process that preserves the integrity of their purpose is important. Not wasting parts of the animal, not covering them in dangerous chemicals for the purpose of mass production and shipping … those things are important to us.

You work for what you get, even when it costs more in the long run that buying it at the store, (and it is worth it), is a lesson we like passing on to our kids.

So, we are excited to see Mia, and thankful she can help us with the tiny humans, while we work. The kids will enjoy her and it should be a nice week of weather for her visit. After the work, we will spend the rest of the week playing.

(I will have a post with pictures and steps, on how we process our meat birds soon!)

Link up with the Five Minute Friday community this week, at:

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Friday on The Farm {Babies, Babies, Babies!}

by Meghan // May 1, 2017 // Comments off

Ok y’all, I know it isn’t Friday. =) But I didn’t have time this past Friday to write anything, so here I am on a Monday evening writing about a wonderful day I had with my kiddos.

Spring has been around the farm for a while, but it is finally LOOKING a LOT like spring, and the babies GALORE prove it.

Oh the beauty! The grass is green, there is a nice breeze, the garden is GROWING, the chickens are happy, the dogs are laying, the sun is shining, and the kids picked up their wagons and toys so the yard is semi-clutter-free. =)

the meat chickens in tractor coop, just before we moved them to a new area with fresh grass

These are our new baby chicks! we have 3, but left one in the brooder with a fellow left over chick … there is a story here.

We ordered 60 meat chickens, they sent about 65 or so + one lone little “exotic” (they’re usually roosters). So we have 55 or so meat chickens left, living out in the tractor coop so they can pasture. But we had this one little chick who is much smaller than the Big old waddling meat chickens, and s/he needed another chick with it, (because they don’t do well alone). Initially husband said no; after a trip to the farm store this weekend with the kids they came home with 3 silver laced wyandotte pullets.

So here are two of them.

What else …

The garden is coming along so great! I really need to look up how to harvest lettuce. I am most excited about what we planted this year. We are doing a lot of plants we either haven’t done in years or have never done, including broccoli, okra, watermelon, cantaloupe, sugar snap peas, banana peppers, lettuces, and cabbage! We also planted some daikon radishes from seed (hoping they come up), so I have everything for my fermented kraut except carrots (which aren’t worth the time they take to grow haha).

the compost bin (which we will soon be updating, somehow) and the Arkansas rose bush that we have literally moved all over this country)

I think these are the cabbages …

peas that will hopefully grow up the trellis

my little lettuces! I’m so excited about them

We’ve been enjoying lots of asparagus and eggs.

Oh! EGGS! Ya’ll! My mammy duck is broody! One of the really dark campbell ducks (possibly a cayuga cross), spent a month laying eggs and getting her nest all … nest-ed. About 8-10 days ago she started sitting! I’ve only caught her off one time and it was too bright out to candle the eggs, so I still don’t know if they are any good. Drake Campbells only have a 30% fertility rate, so unless some of those 18+ eggs are crossed with our pekin drakes, there probably aren’t many fertile eggs.

Anyway, I am excited! Hopefully we will have ducklings in a few more weeks (or 3…).

And, speaking of baby things-this little one here is Heidi. She is our 12 week old Great Pyrenees. (I think I mentioned in a previous post that Anne had a lot of genetic issues with her mouth and jaws so she was returned. She should have never been sold to begin with … anyway).

Heidi is pretty dang cute, and feisty … and nothing like Huck! haha She has a lot to learn. Like, a lot. But she will get there, just slower than Huck I think, mostly because she is truly puppy. Huck has always been an old man. He does a good job of keeping her in line and teaching her about pack manners and such.

Sometimes he literally just lays on her lead so she can’t keep pouncing off. haha (see the 2nd picture below)

I can ask Huck, “Where’s your puppy?!” and he will almost always go right to her and just lay on her. =) So far she is learning to do okay around the chickens. She doesn’t chase or play when around them, but when in the pen part of the chicken run she will try to chase through the pen. So that behavior has to stop. I am working on it, and will let you know how that goes.

He most definitely interacts with Heidi differently than he did Anne, which is interesting to me. He knows she is different in character and treats her as such. They’re such awesome dogs.

Each of my babies and me today:

We spent the afternoon doing chores, loving on dogs, chicks, and cats, then rolled the ball back and forth. Dinner was in the oven and everything was perfect … then the cows got out. That was frustrating and exciting and exhausting. But they’re back in now. Stubborn hamburgers. I love them dearly, and I will miss them after freezer camp, but am looking forward to a freezer full of grassfed, hormone free beef for my family.

he started acting all wild and barn-catty right after this … cause he’s a barn cat

dirty babies and chicks!

Dad’s Role in Our Homeschool

by Meghan // March 24, 2017 // Comments off

My husband and I have 4 small children, ages 6.5, 4.5, 2.5, and 8 months.

We homeschool (I think that is obvious).

As my oldest has grown, and gotten older, our homeschool has changed a lot; from an environment filled with preschool learning activities, to teaching an advanced learner math, writing, history, and science.

I have learned very quickly that Daddy does and will play a really big role in our homeschool.

For starters, he and the 4.5 year old are the only guys in the house. Daddy has a HUGE influence on my son and his learning. With his dad, Mister has learned all about tools, tractors, gardening, nature, hunting, and the list goes on.

Mister is learning daily how to treat his future wife, his sisters, his future mother in law. He is learning how to be a man of character, a man of God.

Outside of that realm, my husband helps with the read alouds. Our homeschool approach is one that is literature based and very heavy with books. I *love* that, and obviously the kids do as well; it works for us. But there are some books I just would not have time for if I didn’t get some help.

Insert Daddy.

I am so thankful he doesn’t mind reading the bedtime books. The kids enjoy that he does voices, and expression. I enjoy keeping my voice, and that the kids not missing out on the books. (though there are some I wish I could get around to reading myself)

As our homeschool grows, my husband’s role will grow with it. He is an engineer, and loves reading about all the latest technology, scientific advancements, and pretty much anything else. He passes this knowledge on to our kids now; when there is something I don’t understand, he usually has an answer, or knows where to find it.

I forsee him helping in math, science, and sports in the future. He and Max play baseball, football, and our Popa got Mister his first pair of sports cleats
– such a great bonding experience for them! They love playing sports together, particularly baseball. My husband is amazing at sports so it only seemed fair that he took care of that subject area!

I look forward to the day that the kids can really understand and find interest in roboting, more advanced engineering, and mechanics. Those are areas J.Tom already helps in, but when we get to the deeper stuff it will be an enjoyable experience for him and the kids to work together in those subjects.

All in all, our Daddy helps find learning in all experiences here at home and on the farm.

How does Dad play a role in your family’s homeschool?

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Disclaimer: Some links on this blog are affiliate links; when you use those links you help support my family, at no additional cost to you. Thank you!