Homesteading, homeschooling, animal loving, adoption loving, country living family
Randy’s mom and grandma came for a visit over the weekend. We had the best time.
Randy and his Grandma Gert
Grandma Gert & his mom, Mary
Grandma Gert & Cooter
Grandma Gert & Hank
Grandma Gert & Sylvia
We had such a fun time. Thank you both for making the long trip out here and everything while you were here.
We have been so tired and so extremely worn out. When Randy went out to start chores this evening this is what he found:
Three baby Buff/Rhode Island Red crosses. We took her pile of eggs and put in the separate cage Randy set up for her, and she was able to hatch out one more chick for a total of four. It added to our chores, but we were so excited. Our buffs have really struggled this summer in the heat. The are free-range and can go wherever they please, but are still struggling to find a place cool enough to survive. If these are hens they will make nice replacements for the ones we have lost.
Then for fun and even more cuteness. Here are 3 of our 10 kitties.
Bandit
Bo
Our big mama, Roxy, and no she is not expecting and gets offended if you ask!
And not a kitty or a kitty lover, but just as cute as he can be…Koal.
I made this cake over the weekend.
Not going to win any nutrition competitions with it, but it was a fun treat. I even used processed foods from a box….a big no-no in our home. Sometimes you just gotta live a little.
We also had jalapenos and banana peppers stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon on the grill as a snack while we were swimming.
I also made PW’s chicken fried steak with brown rice cooked in chicken stock, asparagus, and brussel sprouts. It was de-lish!
I really do love spending time in the kitchen, trying new recipes, and listening to music.
The cake was certainly not gluten free, but it really is my intentions to get back to gluten free eating and possibly even attempt the GAPS diet again. Randy and I did really well on it this winter, but an unplanned trip and eating on the road through us way off GAPS legal food. I’m not sure I can convince Randy to endure the introduction diet again. Maybe once it cools off squash will be on the grocery store shelves and broth will sound like a warm, yummy treat. Untill then it will be gluten free, minimal sugar, and no processed foods (HFCS, msg, nitrates, etc.).
We have started a fun workout routine in the mornings. At 4:00 “we” (I use the term “we” loosely here, Randy has a hard time rolling out of bed on yoga day) alternate yoga with a work outs. Our workouts consist of running, weights, and crunches for me. Randy’s workout is crunches, push-ups, and weights. We do feel better…if we can just stick with it.
Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!
Bantam silkie
Sheep on wheat stubble.
Romanov ram lamb.
Ash, Thai, and Koal
We have two registered Texel rams for sale. The are 3-4 years old and have registration papers.
On the left is Merle and on the right is Cash.
Merle and Cash
We also have 20 ewe lambs we will sell to a buyer on August 6th if we have not sold them off the farm by then. They are Texels, but do not have registration papers. We are selling them for $150/each and can acquire 50-75% recorded papers for them for the cost of processing the papers if interested. We just weighed the lambs at 60-65 pounds.
We also have recorded Texel ewes for sale for $225/each. These ewes are 50-75% recorded with papers.
If you are interested please leave a comment. Thanks!
Times are tough here with no rain. We are trying to make the best of it. The sheep are out on wheat stubble that has crabgrass growing like crazy. This will buy us time while we wait for rain.
Our pasture is done until rain comes. If it doesn’t rain soon we will have to start dropping our winter hay. Not something we want to do, but we are fortunate enough to have hay when many don’t and are thankful for that.
A beautiful Kansas sky!
Randy has been working like crazy trying to get our fencing done for rotational grazing. He made the mistake of asking my uncle for help when we were all out to dinner Friday night. He gladly offered to help us clip up the remainder of the fence, and we gladly accepted the offer half thinking he wasn’t really serious.
At least he has a sense of humor, right! He was huge help and we were so very grateful for not only the help but the laughs.
The Internet!!!
From now on I will try really hard to give regular updates on life in the desert, er um, I mean on the prairie.
Our 10-day forecast still calls for triple digits every day and no good chance of rain in site. Please say a prayer for all who are suffering from this drought that rain will come soon.
Have a wonderful evening!
We sold 23 Texel ewes this evening. It was so sad to see them go, but with the drought our pasture could not sustain any more than necessary and was a blessing to sell them. We are down to approximately 80 ewes for breeding stock now. We have Dorpers, Romanovs, and registered Texels. The Dorpers will lamb in the fall with Dorper/Romanov cross lambs. The Texels will be bred in the fall to a Romanov ram and the Romanovs to a Texel ram to lamb in the spring. We are also expecting two baby llamas in the fall from the bred llamas we bought at a nearby auction Easter weekend.
We still have two registered Texel rams to sell and always have Texel lambs for sale. With any luck at all we will have our herd downsized to where we would like it by fall as we prepare for winter feeding. The extra money has been such a blessing to pay for the skyrocketing price of hay in our area. Our lambs will go to the sale soon also and hopefully pay for the grain and protein tubs to get us through winter with a little left over to put toward the house.
The chickens have slowed down laying eggs due to the heat, but are still continuing to pay for themselves and provide us and our customers with plenty of eggs which is all we ask of them. We are hoping for a cool off soon and some much needed rain. We spend our days hosing down the llamas, filling their baby pool, keeping the mister going on the chickens, and the dog’s pool cool and clean.
We have been off work all week, but with too many chores and too much attention needed at home decided to take a stay-cation as opposed to traveling somewhere. We have had a wonderful time at home and don’t regret not being able to fly away somewhere.
We have enjoyed projects at home and spending time with our animals. The dogs appreciate the extra attention as do the cats and llamas. We got caught up on de-worming our sheep and llamas and even managed to shear one llama, Sylvia.
All in all we have had a wonderful, productive time at home. Hope everyone is doing well. Feel free to send some rain our way.
I know some of you have posted comments, and they haven’t been showing up in a timely fashion. I’m sorry about that. We are no longer allowed to access social networking sites at work and that includes my blog unfortunately. I have to approve comments before they can be posted to my blog, so I can only do that from Mom’s store, a hot spot, or the local library and I just don’t make it there with our laptop very often. I am reading your comments and promise to post them as soon as I can. I love the comments and don’t want anyone discouraged and not commenting.
We finally got some much needed rain. Our pasture was in serious need of rain after being burned off and not a drop had fallen since. Now with upper 70s in our forecast there is hope our pasture will grow. The sheep usually get to go out on pasture the first of May, but that will not be the case this year due to lack of rain. Our hay supply is dwindling with only two weeks’ worth left. Hay will be in short supply due to a dry spring. I sure prices will reflect this also. It may be a long hard year as fuel, hay, and everything else continue to rise.
Brick patio we built in our backyard.
A planter built from grain elevator buckets and filled with flowers from mom’s store.
I just wanted to give everyone a quick update and let you know the situation with your comments and my infrequent postings. I will try to post as often as I can, but with no internet service at home it is difficult at times.
A Simple Prairie Life 