Category: Around the Homestead

We spent the summer enjoying the farm and animals. We have enough going on here, we don’t travel or busy ourselves away from the farm very much.

That is our summer in photos. It’s was a beautiful summer and everyone made it through the heat with plenty of baby pools and shade.

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Lizzie, Scottish Highland-Hereford cross, and Joshua

Our farm has changed a lot over the past few months. We have sold lambs, acquired calves, a billy goat, and a rooster. We hope to continue to grow and diversify our farm and resources allow.

We are just enjoying the slower season of life we are in right now. On the cold days we nestle up with books and warm drinks. On the warmer days we play outside and enjoy the beautiful weather. These are just a few pictures from our lives taken this past week.

I love every season. I think living a lifestyle that adjusts with the seasons adds an appreciation for each one I never had before. Our mornings are slower and later, are school days longer. Our days are dictated by the weather. On the nice days we head outdoors to play and work. On the cold days we snuggle up with a stack of books and something warm to drink. It’s a time to recover from the work of summer and prepare for the coming spring. It’s a time of creating art and learning new skills. Winter is what we make of it and for us we seldom grumble about the cold, but use it as a time to rest. A nice day is sure to come along eventually and the work will still be there waiting.

Dad set a round straw bale in our sheep shed that we rolled out and used in our chicken coop for everyone to nestle down in when the snow came.

We have had more snow this year than usual which has been really nice.

We used this experience to learn and read all about moles. There was actually an entire nonfiction book about moles out our local library. Who knew!

And that concludes fall at our homestead. I still have some carrots in a raised bed waiting to be pulled. Other than that everything is pretty much ready for winter. Soon I will have to start filling the raised beds with manure and compost to breakdown over the winter and be ready again come spring.

Now, it’s time to curl up with a cup of hot chocolate and a good book (First We Have Coffee is my favorite). When work follows the seasons you gain a new appreciation for winter and the downtime that accompanies it.

We love to cut firewood and try to make it a fun experience for the girls also. We grilled out and had a makeshift campsite before cutting and loading up a tree the guys had taken down by the pond.

Then all three of the little ones took a swim in the pond to cool off. It was a fun relaxing day with a little work and the reward of a truckload of firewood.

We try to go to the pond at least one day during the weekend to hang out if not more.

Laila loves it too. She likes to run and wade in the water. She’s not much of a swimmer, but still loves the freedom she has there.

It’s just such a fun place where we can get away, get dirty, and enjoy nature. There are no cars, no cell phone reception, and no demands. Just us and about 10, 000 frogs!

We are in the process of having a pond dug, so we thought even though it isn’t finished, we could take the girls out on the kayaks they got for Christmas.

The girls had a great time. The frogs were all over the pond, so they got to see them up close. We had a little picnic lunch when we were finished kayaking before heading home.

We still have a long way to go, but hopefully by next spring it will be complete.

We went to my parents on Sunday for my birthday dinner.

While we were there three of the goats decided to have babies. While Canyon was less interested and went upstairs to play with magnet blocks and read, Aspen was right in the middle of the whole thing. She was so excited to actually see a baby animal being born. She has seen lambs before, but was so little she doesn’t remember it.

She had her camera out taking pictures, asking a bazillion questions, and was glued to the scene the entire time.

It was a pretty exciting day for her. It is so nice when all of us just take a day to spend together when we aren’t working on a farm related project. Kidding doesn’t count!

According to our girls, we are officially a “real farm” now that we have a cow. The llamas, sheep, chickens, cats, and dogs have not officially qualified us, but the cow has done it.

I truly can’t believe we actually took the plunge for a milk cow, but even through all the struggles of introducing her to our farm I have not regretted it.

She is a registered Jersey named Lexi, due to calve (a girl) in February 2021. She has come leaps and bounds since we brought her home. She still hasn’t adjusted to life in the same pen as the sheep and llamas, so for now she can only visit them over the fence. In all honesty, the sheep are the ones scared of her. They start running and in turn get her excited so she runs after them and causes problems.

We hope to sell her calf (once she is old enough or possible bred) as a family milk cow. That is a long way down the road. So for now we are just enjoying getting her used to us and looking forward to milking season.