Homesteading, homeschooling, animal loving, adoption loving, country living family
We adopted Canyon from China in May of 2015.
Canyon is the sweetest little girl you will ever meet. She has such a good heart and is always putting the needs of others before her own. Our lives would not be complete without this beautiful girl in our lives.
We adopted Aspen from China in September of 2013.
We love this little girl more than we ever could have imagined. She is smart and inquisitive and has been such a good help to me in the kitchen, with chores, and just always being by my side. I don’t know what our lives would be like without her.
A lot has changed since I’ve posted last. We are now a family of four with two little girls adopted from China and are in the process of bringing our next blessing home. We still have a truckload of animals, but they are not for eating, selling, or profiting from in any way. They are just living out their lives on our farm and receiving what we feel like is the best care around.
I am going to try to post regularly (whatever that means). I have the best intentions of posting once a week even if it is just some photos, a recipe, or an essential oil blend we are loving. I hope to use this blog to share what our family is experiencing day-to-day, specifically in the area of adoption, animal husbandry, and a life that is more “simple” than most. Anyone who has tried growing their own food, preserving their own food, making their own beauty and cleaning products, etc. knows hows “simple” this can be.
I will do my best to post recipes and ideas that have worked for us in hopes they inspire and are helpful to you.
Mostly we just feel super blessed by everything that God has given us in life. We don’t deserve this incredible life we get to experience everyday . Sharing our life is just one way we have chosen to show our gratitude. Hope you enjoy seeing the new life we have created and following us along the way.
The llamas have been in need of a bigger, better shed for quite some time now. So Randy gathered up some reclaimed wood and got to work on a “new” shed for the girls.
The only lumber we had to buy were 2 4×4. The rest was reclaimed from a fairly new shed that blew down and Mom and Dad’s in a storm.
He got it all framed up in a day.
Moving it to its new home was another story, but in the end the two of us (a tractor, a pickup, and a car hauler) got it moved safe and sound.
I was joking with Randy that the llamas, being the high maintenance, sassy creatures they are were a little disappointed in getting a modular home when they saw it roll in on a trailer, but they will be so thankful for it when the big hail and rains come. For now they come up into the lots to a building up there, but once this has tin on it they will be able to stay out in the pasture and not have to come all the way to the house if a storm rolls in.
He did a great job and saved us so much money not having to buy lumber. It was a lot more work for him pull the boards and propanel apart, but I am so grateful for the extra time he took to save us a lot in the end.
Randy and I took a day away from the farm to hang out and hit some vintage stores and thrift stores. On our way to a VW shop we took a back street and saw this really cool fence.
And this skinny little building.
It was between the railroad tracks and a busy street. Not sure what it used to be or what it is being used for now, but thought it was interesting.
Sorry for the blurry picture, but it is the only one I have of a couple thrift store finds. I hope to have them refinished soon and will share pictures of their transformation.
There is nothing better than the feeling we get when we can provide food for ourselves.
We don’t have a huge garden this year, but we have a nice little selection of produce at our fingertips.
Enough that we are able to make an entire healthy, chemical-free meal all from stuff from our farm.
We added some eggs to the veggies above and had a delicious meal.
Remember these macrame plant hangers? I have had many a crack made about the fact that I drug this beauty (minus the pot) home from the Salvation Army for $1.75 the other day. I bucket of soapy water and the spray nozzle on our hose and it was good as new. Even the lady at the Salvation Army said, “I was wondering when we were going to sell this. It has been here FOREVER.” I was still undeterred and think it looks great in our bedroom. The pot was one I found laying around that mom had left behind. I little bit of spray paint and it was ready to go.
I found a few of these in the scrap metal pile Dad has compiled off of his equipment. 
This is off a planter…I saw flowers.
I made the mistake of trying to paint them before the rebar was welded onto them.
A little sanding.
A little priming.
And they were ready for paint again.
I think they turned out okay for my first attempt.
This is our asparagus patch.
It needed a splash of color.
Have a great day!
We have been so fortunate to sell some sheep off of our farm. We have sold Dorper ewes, Dorper/Romanov ewe lambs, and a Romanov ram. We have also sold some Texel/Romanov cross ewe lambs.
Sorting day.
Our sheep are fairly tame and easy to work with (minus a few flighty Romanovs). The Texels just have a really calm temperment.
Some of the girls are looking skinny due to just being “dried off.” They are on poor feed for a few days to try to get their milk production stopped. Some of their lambs have been sold, so we sorted those ewes off to protect the health of the ewes and prevent mastitis or hard bag.
The remaining lambs on the other hand are across the fence from their mamas eating corn and alfalfa. Life just isn’t fair sometimes.
After a hard morning of sorting sheep everyone on the farm was tuckered.
We still have some really nice Texel ewes, Texel/Romanov ewe lambs, and Dorper/Romanov ewe lambs for sale if you are interested just email me or leave me a comment on this blog.
Have a wonderful day!
On our way home from the art show we stopped at mom and dad’s to wish dad a happy birthday. We just hung out outside and watched all their animals.
This is Fuzzy…a little pet bottle lamb all grown up with twins.
Fuzzy is needing some attention.
Baby Sidney wandering away from mama.
And Sidney getting reeled back in beside mama, Dolly.
It was just a nice evening watching all the animals and catching up with mom and dad.
Randy and I went to an art show put on by one of my friends, Cat, to raise money for a charity to help people with Klippel-Trenaunay Syndrome (KT). She had lots of her artwork on display and up for bidding.
Me, Cat, and Juliana
Friends all through school and college roommates
It was so great to see both of them and chat. I get to see Juliana a lot more now that she lives closer, but Cat lives far away now and it had been years since I had seen her.
Randy was the good natured photographer for us girls.
Toward the end Cat got up and spoke about her disease and her life. Thankfully her niece had handed out tissues beforehand.
Randy and I were fortunate enough to get the winning bid on one of her pieces of artwork. It is so my style with bright fun colors. I loved every single piece, but that one piece inparticular was screaming my name so I had to bid on it and was fortunate enough to get it.
I love you Cat. You are always in my prayers and hope we are able to stay in touch.
A Simple Prairie Life 