I took an extra day off this weekend allowing me four days to get my house and life back together. We have dedicated our lives (dh and I) to my Dad’s sheep ever since he broke his ankle. We are still helping with chores, but the workload has really decreased between the weather improving, she girls being on pasture, and lambing season slowing down.
So, I took the weekend to clean and experiment with a few recipes. I went to the dairy near our house and bought four gallons of milk/cream. I made kefir, yogurt, cream cheese, whey lemonade (not so good), and bread. I made my husband a really good dinner (Santa Fe Chicken). I will try to remember to post the recipe tomorrow. Most people a long weekend makes them ready to go back to work. It just made it harder for me and my husband. He is on a mission now to get me home. He said it just made him feel so much better knowing I was home with the animals so if there was a problem I could help them. I also think he likes walking in the door to dinner and a smile.
We had a set of triplets Saturday evening and mama is doing well to mother all of them so far. There are two girls and a boy. We are thinking we may supplement the little boy with a bottle if he doesn’t keep up in size. However this morning dh said they were all taking turns at breakfast, so hopefully they will all be fine without us getting involved. ~Smile
The chickens have slowed down some on egg production. The weather has been warming up, so that will start to play a role. Kansas isn’t really a place to live if you love spring and fall. They don’t exist here!
We worked on fencing this weekend also. Hopefully we will be done by next weekend and the girls can go out to pasture. Then we will start working on Toby’s (our ram) pasture. We are planning on running my Dad’s Katahdin ram, Lewis, with Toby to keep him company. Also, he’s the ram we are considering using on our Texels.
The garden is slowly but surely getting planted and mulched. I intended to be real creative and try some new things, but due to Dad’s accident have decided to plant the things I know we like, know I can preserve, and know how to grow. I have thrown out a few fun things to try, but for the most part I will use the space to grown the usual and dedicate my time to preserving it. We want to experiment and see how little we really need from the grocery store. Dh figured the staples (milk, bread, and eggs) are what take you to the store and what cause you to purchase other items you may or may not need. So, we will buy our milk from the dairy, we raise our own eggs, and make our own bread. Done! I can buy the ingredients to bake bread at a bulk food store where there aren’t so many enticing impulse buys. The garden can fill in the gaps. Problem solved!
I love living on a farm and learning how to be more and more self-sufficient. I also love my dh for being so understanding and heading down the path with me.
Have a great Monday!
A Simple Prairie Life 