A Simple Prairie Life

So I’m WAY behind, but I have been really busy around here trying to take care of our children, animals, and putting food for winter.

We took a much needed day away for all of us and went to my brother’s house at the lake for the day. He took us out on his jet skis, showed us around the lake, before going back to his house to grill and relax a bit. The lake is beautiful and the girls had so much fun tubing and jet skiing.

Just a great day together as a family. We’re hoping to make it back up there soon to do some pictures of the girls and hang out a bit. Then next summer to splash around again.

All I can say about August is, IT’S OVER! The August heat is still hanging around, but now we can move on to all things autumn.

Canyon officially finished speech therapy. So her and I did what her and I do best…hung out in a bookstore together to celebrate.

We have just been trying to keep everyone cool, watered, and alive through the hundred degree days of August.

One of our many rescued cat. He’s still a bit timid, but coming around and fitting in with rest.

It’s just good time to diffuse essential oils and read stacks and stacks of books.

There are cows who get stuck and need assistance.

And baths that need given.

This picture is how we all felt as we neared the end of summer and temperatures continued to climb.

Girls had the best time at a homeschool party.

Somehow we all survived, we always do, but when you’re in the trenches of August, it feels like it’s never going to end. Now we are left with piles of library books to return, fall food to prepare, Gilmore Girls and Harry Potter to binge watch, state fair, pumpkin patch, apple cider, all the good things in life await.

July really was a beautiful month by most Kansas standards. We had an abundance of rain, below average temperatures, and not a lot of wind (which is sometimes good, and sometimes not-so-good).

Summer storms and plenty of limbs to clean up.

It’s been a really long time, if ever in their lifetime, the girls have had mud puddles to play in.

Watching baby calves grow.

And baby goats grow.

Cat hair cuts.

Putting up food for winter.

Trying to find balance in keeping our domestic animals safe while letting wildlife live amongst us.

Praying cats.

Flowers from my husband just because!

The beauty of our garden filled with vegetables, flowers, hummingbirds, and butterflies.

July turned out to be a really enjoyable month this year. The rain saved us in so many ways, and we are so grateful for the moisture and cooler temperatures. Now on to August, my 12th favorite month of the year!

We are selling all our doeling goats and one nanny. We are going to have a lull on our farm (we hope) before possibly getting sheep. We all need a break and time to focus on other interests this winter and into next spring and summer season.

These doelings are all about five months old.

We were so blessed to have a spring for the first time in YEARS. Much needed rain and mild temperatures made the month of June a much needed reprieve from the drought we have been enduring.

A bittersweet time came for us when our sweet Jersey and calf were sold. She went to a wonderful home and all is going well, as I get periodic updates, but still hard to let her go.

We have had the incredible experience of continue to raise Aspen’s baby budgie from egg to an adorable, feathered-out, little cutie.

We’ve had goats in the garden.

Goats in trees.

Cows in our sheep shed (where they don’t belong).

Adorable rescued cats!

More goats where they don’t belong.

There was still time for some “homesteady” things as well We processed our roosters and got them tucked away in our freezer. There has been butter making, mozzarella making, yogurt making, and I even got up the nerve to water glass eggs.

We’ve had time for swimming.

And lounging on the back deck.

Annie, our new Hereford-Scottish Highland cross.

June has brought the blessing of rain, of baby birds, baby calves, and a garden full of produce. The grass is growing and giving us beautiful yellow butter instead of the white, hay-fed variety of winter and drought. We are working hard and using this bumper year to put back for the lean years to come.

The garden is in, minus sweet potatoes. I planted 50 pounds of potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, squash, beets, carrots, green beans, and herbs. My raised beds are in disrepair after years of heavy use, but I am hoping to get at least one more season out of them. The cold frames Randy built me from repurposed wood and glass worked amazing. I was able to grow lettuce, spinach, and kale through the winter and early spring months. I also started some cucumbers in them.

It has also been calving season this month. We calved out heifers this year which was a new and slightly scary experience for us. Our first heifer to calve was Tina, our registered A2/A2 Jersey (sold). Randy and I were able to assist her in having a healthy little bull calf. He is half Scottish Highland, half Jersey.

Next was old faithful, Lexi, our registered A2/A2 milk cow. We kept a close eye on her when we saw her start, but were pretty sure she could manage on her own until we saw one, rather large, back hoof coming out. We gathered the meds and chains, called dad, and headed out to assist. It took all three of us pulling, but mama and baby are both doing well.

Raising Savanna goats on Jersey milk

And at one week old, Aspen’s adult budgies decided to attack the baby that had hatched. Mama disowned the baby after the attack, so we have been faithfully feeding this little guy/gal every two hours for the past couple weeks.

And for the record, I did say know to the offer of a kitten last week. A monumental event for me to utter the words regarding an animal. Truthfully, it had already found a home or it would be here. But my initial answer was, “no” if that counts for anything.

Randy mowed stickers in our pasture just in time for the rain to nourish the grass below. As I walked through our over grown lawn the other morning, admiring the green pastures, I thought about the way we manage our farm and life. Our yard may get overgrown, but our pastures will be well tended. The flowerbed may get weedy, but the food will be harvested on time. My house may not get dusted regularly, but the little lives inside (2-legged and 4-legged) are well loved, fed, and cared for. My priorities may not suit the modern, keeping-up-with-the-Joneses world of today, but when I step back and look around. I am able to see the beauty and blessings through the weeds and the dust.

We are entering June with VBS, reading lists, new journals being created, the garden in place, and care packages being put together. We have had unbelievable rain and are so grateful to God for his blessings.

The garden produce has been collected, the firewood hauled to the house, the chimney is clean, the fire is lit. Autumn has finally arrived on our homestead. We absolutely love this time of year.

We are preparing for a season of celebrating. We have cozy fall books stacked a mile high, boxes of apples, jugs of apple cider, and candles lit.

It is finally cool enough to work on the school bus some more. We are getting close to having it insulated.

We took our last trip to a local zoo with our cousins before it closes for winter.

Collected the last of the herbs before the first freeze.

A broom Canyon and I made from catmint.

Willie Nelson helping…

Sage

Bandit curled up sleeping in a nesting box.

First fire of the season. We love this time of year.

Hope everyone is enjoy the changing seasons. After a really hot and dry summer, we are enjoying the cool days ahead. A time to curl up with a good book and a mug of something warm to drink.

Without the hassle of cooler weather or misty, rainy mornings! It’s officially fall!!

Everyone around here is just trying to stay cool and survive.

The girls and I have decided that regardless of the brutal upper 90s-100 degree temperatures and the endless drought, we are celebrating fall. I have Cozy Cabin from Edens Garden diffusing, pumpkin spice hand soap in the dispensers, and a batch of hot cocoa mix ready and waiting.

I also whipped up some of this cleaner to spray the dining room table and counter tops.

Our library books are stacked high because we don’t intend to be outside in the afternoons unless we absolutely have to be out in the heat.

It’s time to celebrate. We have one single pumpkin purchased so far, afraid they will rot in the blazing heat. But today is the day we will bake something warm and delicious and curl up with a autumnal book and a cup of something warm. Hope everyone enjoys the first day of fall and create your own rhythms and traditions wherever you live.