Just a little look out my window...

Our winter wonderland.

More than a little behind....

I've been meaning to post for months, been thinking about it....but life just keeps on moving at a pace that leaves me little time, or brain power at the end of each day. SO much has happened in the past 6+ months....where to start?!? Let's see if I can recap since last June....

• Summer here was not all it was supposed to be, our garden did little to nothing and I was left to purchase most of what I was able to can for the year at the local produce stand. This year, we pray, will be much better. 
• Planning for Brandon to start the Running Start program at the local community college was hard on this mama's brain. Adjusting to the schedule was another challenge, but got it down for the first quarter in no time. Winter quarter started a week ago and I am praying we can adjust to this new schedule quickly. 
• Planning the school year for the younger two was a bit more tricky this year and has involved MUCH more planning and a lot more record keeping on my part. You see, we completely separated from the local school district and are doing high school for Alyssa completely on our own. MUCH more involved....but the direction we feel the Lord would have us go. 
• My work with Gling has been busy, though the past few weeks have been a challenge for me. From adjusting to the New Year, Brandon's schedule change and just trying to get on top of everything after the Christmas break it's been a challenge to find the time and mental energy to get it all done. 
• Our homestead has been progressing, though we have had a rough go of it since New Years. just before the end of December, our Nigerian Dwarf doe gave birth to a baby that was far too large for her and the baby died. Cookie, we are almost certain, suffered from a broken pelvis and we had to put her down on New Years Eve morning. It was hard for me to see her suffer so much, this was her first kidding with us. We had heard that kidding had been a challenge for her in the past, though nothing like this. We had hoped that breeding her to our very small buck would work well. Breaks my heart that she had to go like she did. It's sad to look down in the barnyard and not see her sweet face.
• Daisy Girl, our mini Jersey heifer, will be ready to be bred in the next few months. She is growing nicely and is such a sweet girl (most of the time). I am looking forward to seeing how she does milking next year. Fresh milk from our own cow is something I've looked forward to for a long time! 
• The first week of the school year, the pump went out on our well. After having a pump company come out and do some looking, it was no wonder we've struggled with our water over the years. Our pump was compacted in feet of dirt, rust and minerals. The old pump was struggling to pump water through it all. While we've never lost water, our water has always been heavy in minerals and the pressure has always been extremely low. We couldn't even run a sprinkler. Now we have a lot of water and will be able to run a sprinkler in the garden without a problem. Expanding the garden this year is top of our list. 
• Early in the fall, my dear husband lost his job (got laid off, but really lost his job). We were sent into a tail spin, trusting in the Lord to provide and doing some serious evaluation of our finances and expenditures. My work took on a whole new meaning for me, and my frugal minded ways kicked into high gear. It was a wonderful time, having him home so much. God truly blessed us with odd jobs for him to do for different people, and meeting all of our needs. In the time that he was off (just under 2 months), not one bill went unpaid and we never had to touch our savings. Thank the Lord! 
• Wade started a new job, really got the job he had been wanting for some time. It has been a good move for him, though it's required a lot of adjusting in our family as his commute is much longer (some evenings it's taken him nearly 3 hours to get home), he is gone more and often works Saturday. All in all, it's been a good move and he is happy. We've got much to be thankful for! 

Needless to say, we've had a very busy and life changing 6 months. My focus has changed a bit, I am more determined than ever to provide for more of our needs from our own place.  Given the improvements to our well, we are going to work to expand our garden area and add more berry vines and fruit trees as well. I cannot wait to see how much we can grow of our own.

Another focus for me lately has been my sewing room. I was able to save money over the past few months and purchase a new sewing machine. Given the rising cost of new clothing (along with everything else) we've been shopping more than ever at thrift stores, but there is often little to choose from...kind of hit and miss really. To supplement what we can find used (or on sale somewhere else), I'm working to sew more for myself and Alyssa. I have no thoughts of sewing everything we wear, but plan to try to sew much of it. If it will save us money, I am willing to try.

All in all, it's been a half year of change and seeing first hand how blessed we truly are. I'm excited to see what this new year will bring. So many changes, new focus points and new goals.

While our winter has been far from "wintry", we are finally seeing some snow this past weekend. Puts me in the mood to sew even more than ever. I'm loving this winter weather, and hope we see much more of it between now and spring. It will give me more time in my sewing room, while I am not able to be busy out in my garden. :)

More posts to come....Lord willing....full of pictures, updates and tidbits of news from our homestead. Life is super busy, but I'm hoping to be able to keep up here more. :)

Wow! 21 years already?

How time flies! Today, 21 years ago, I gave birth to my first baby. He was an 8# 13 oz bundle of questions and animation. There has never been a dull moment with this one and for that we are truly thankful. He has kept us guessing, made us laugh, made us cry, made us ever proud and drove us nuts at times. :) Anthony has always been inquisitive, asked questions until we thought we'd go crazy....we were ever so thankful when this boy learned to read, we could direct him to a book and say "read about it". I don't think he appreciated that much, but he learned to look for answers to his many questions.

See..never a dull moment! Last day of high school.

While things have not always been perfect in our lives and in our relationship, he is such a joy, such a blessing! Anthony has an amazing heart, he loves, works and plays with every part of his being. Much like his mama. :)

Anthony and his dad at his boot camp graduation in San Diego. Trying to keep a strait face was proving difficult..my handsome guys! Love them!

This boy has challenged me beyond anything I ever expected as a parent, he has stretched me, we have grown up together. He was born just shy of my 20th birthday, so young to have a baby, but it was my dream come true to be married to the man of my dreams and be a mama.

What a smile....taken at a Portland Beaver's baseball game.

I don't regret starting our family at such a young age, but I often wish I could go back and talk to that young girl and tell her some of what I know now. I know there are many things I could have told her...but not so sure she would have heard it all, or received it. Guess that's why we live and learn, grow with each passing experience in life.

Anthony's graduation

Being a mom has been my lifelong dream, having my kids has been a continual blessing! Can't wait to see what they all become in their lives. Where the Lord will lead them...how He will use them!

Being the mama to an adult child is such a different world. He's working and trying to support himself, learning what it takes to be a man in this crazy world. Mistakes are made and learning the hard way often happens, but it's exciting to see him grow more with each passing week.

Our Marine! So proud of him..isn't he handsome in his uniform? :)

Watching your adult son fall in love and find himself thinking about someone other than just himself is another blessing as a mama! Anthony has been dating a lovely girl for over a year now and we have grown to love her like she is one of our own. She's so good for our boy...often keeping him a bit more grounded than he would be otherwise. :) It's been amazing getting to know her and seeing how she fits into this crazy group of people we call our family. We all think that he has made a very good choice in Rachael!

This is Anthony with his girl, Rachael. Her sister took this amazing photo of them and shared it with me (thank you Jen). I think they make a beautiful couple...love them both!

Happy birthday to our oldest boy! You are an amazing young man with amazing potential...you can do and be ANYTHING in this life! We love you...so very much and we are SO proud of all that you have become. Keep asking questions, keep learning, keep growing! It's a process that never stops in this life. We love you!

Thankful for Friday!

It's been a while since I last posted a "Thankful" post. Not that I haven't felt thankful, but time has been getting the best of me. There always seems to be more to do around here than I have hours in my day. :) Not all bad, mind you, just busy.

So, what am I thankful for this week? Oh so many things...but I'll only list a few. :)

This amazing man I married and our beautiful calf. My hubby has been such an incredible support to me...my best friend, my champion, my encourager and he's so supportive of my dream here...HE encouraged me to buy Daisy Girl. I'm still in shock every time I go to the barn and see her. Some girls hope for her man to buy her diamonds and pearls...I just wanted a cow. :) 

 I have some amazingly talented and awesome kids! Our second oldest son wanted to build a cider press, so he set to work on planning and with a little help from my hubby, he finally finished it this past week. He made a batch of cider right away, turned out GREAT! I am continually amazed at what this kid comes up with.

 

Our daughter has been playing with my camera, I'm loving the pictures she has taken of various flowers around our yard. So pretty! She's got a creative flair, I'll have to plan a post around some of her photos. She's been learning to edit photos and enhance some of her already stunning pictures. It's been fun to see her perspective and take on some of the beautiful sites around our place.

 

 Our lilac was such a welcomed sight this spring. The fragrance was amazing, made me wish we had even more of these around our place. I had intended to pick some and bring that wonderful fragrance indoors, but never got around to it. We did enjoy them while they were in bloom...that season never seems like it lasts long enough though.

We've been so blessed, living here and pursuing a dream. I am continually amazed at all that we are able to do, though in my frustrating moments I'll admit to feeling like we will never do enough. If I can keep my focus on how far we've come, however, I see the many steps we've taken here to providing so much for our family. The beauty here is hard to miss...and I often forget that even THAT is a blessing. Not just the eggs, produce and such that we can help to bring to our table, but to be able to look out our windows to a sight like the lilacs blooming or the birds that frequently visit our yard. It's all a blessing and something to enjoy. God's handiwork, the beauty of our landscape...how often we miss that in our rush to "do" and mark things off our list.

We are blessed!

Changes.....

It's hard to believe that it's already June 13th! Where is the month going? We've been so busy around here. So much to do to wrap up the school year...finally done...Yay!!! In addition to school, we've been focusing on the garden, selling a few goats and adding a new resident to the barn. 

A new calf!!! 

 This is Daisy Girl. She's a 3 to 4 month old Miniature Jersey/Milking Shorthorn cross heifer. Her sire was a full sized Jersey bull, so we do have the potential of having a bigger than a mini cow.

She is  as sweet as can be and is adjusting to live away from her mama quite well. We are all enjoying her and can't wait to see her grow and have her own calf....and give us lots of milk!

We took her out of her stall yesterday to give her some fresh air and a bit of a walk. Our pasture and fencing is not quite finished, so she's being held in a stall in the barn until we have a safe place for her to run free. I think she liked the sunshine and fresh grass. She is learning to follow our lead and walk with a rope nicely. We are hopeful that she will do well here.

Our family is thrilled to have added Daisy Girl to our homestead and can't wait to see her roaming free in the expanded pasture. As much as I love my goats, Daisy has a very special place here. She is a keeper, for sure! We are all loving the "cow sounds" that come from the barn. The goats, however, are not so sure about her. They'll adjust, I'm sure.

Busy days...

Life here has been a big blur lately, so much that needs doing, so much that doesn't get done....updating my blog is one of those things that has been left undone.

We've been busy with baby goats, putting in a garden, trying to stay on top of the weeds (the weeds are winning in some areas of our place), wrapping up our school year and trying to enjoy every ray of sunshine between the showers. It's been one WET spring...some say the wettest in 100 years, I for one believe them! The upside to all of the rain is things are growing...huge change from last year's spring where most of the garden and plants around it drowned in the rain and cold. It's been a bit warmer than last year, I think, and that has helped things grow. Gives me hope for our garden this year.

Another project that has demanded some attention is our pasture...we are expanding it! YAY!!! The hope is that we'll have our electric fencing up and functional in a matter of weeks, between my husbands busy work schedule and the rain, we are working slower than I would like. The fence posts are set and waiting the wire...all in due time. :) Once this pasture is ready, our goats will have even more forage to enjoy and hopefully will save us a bit on our feed bill this summer.

Our goat numbers are going to be going down soon, Lord willing. We've decided to downsize our herd and focus more on the smaller breed, Nigerian Dwarf. Our beloved Minikin will stay...she is the queen of the barn and none of us could bare the thought of her leaving. She'll live out her days here. Tinkerbel and her babies will all be sold. The hope is that we can cut back and save for a Jersey milking cow. While I LOVE my goats, we don't enjoy the milk as much as we do the cows milk....so we are transitioning our focus a bit. Who would have thought it would be so hard to sell a silly goat....some think I'm nuts, but I simply love my goats.

We've raised them for 7 years and they have become apart of our place here, apart of our lives. While I don't want to raise them for milk, we will keep the smaller Nigerian Dwarfs to fill the "goat need" and give us an animal we can breed and sell each year. If it doesn't work out, we are out very little in the end and have much of love in the mean time from these sweet animals. :) Thankfully, my husband is fully on board....he knows how much I love my goat babies. :)

Now the search for just the right cow for us will begin. I don't see us adding this animal to our place any time soon, but it is on the horizon...maybe in a year? I think we'll have a steer before we have a cow, and that's fine. Beef in the freezer is always a good thing!

So, while we've been busy planting, weeding, schooling and trying to keep up with the other household chores, it is suddenly June! Where did May go? My goodness! Praying your spring has gone well, that your gardens are growing and that you have a bright and sunny summer coming your way! School is out, for the most part in just a matter of days here. While we will be doing some school through the summer, we are all ready for the summer break. :)

Thankful for Friday!!

Here I am again, WAY past due on a blog post. Seems to be the trend these days. :) Life just keeps on moving forward and keeping me busy. Not all bad, but I do miss posting more often...I need to make a more conscious effort to schedule the time. :)

This week we've been enjoying Spring Break. No classes, no running, no school work to stay on top of! We've not been completely lazy though....we started off our "break" last Thursday with emptying out my pantry area and prepping the kitchen for a fresh coat of paint. I'll post about that later on with before and after pictures. :) Let's just say, it was a TON of work. The rest of our "break" we've spent deep cleaning a different area of our house each day. It's been nice to see some order in areas that rarely see it. We haven't gotten as much done as I would have liked, but that's OK. Having the "break" has been nice regardless.

So, what am I thankful for this week? OH MY! Where to start! So many blessings....so little blog space. :) I'll name a few....

• Having a break from the constant running we do for school. It's a schedule that is unavoidable at this point in time, but can be draining. 
• My seedlings that are growing nicely in my dining room. 
• A hard working man who does so much for our family...my best friend and husband. :) 
• Our pantry that is well stocked, even now at the end of the season. 
• Two baby goats that are growing to be healthy and strong!
• A mama goat who until this kidding has been as head strong and nasty as they come...often sitting ON MY HANDS while I tried to milk her....picture a 200 pound goat sitting on the milking bucket with your hands inside, not a pretty picture. This time around, she has been sweet from the moment the kids were born. She is raising her own kids this time and it seems to have totally changed her...I've wondered several times if someone didn't come in and switch goats on me. :) 
• The half gallon of beautiful milk I get from our mama goat (Tinkerbel) now that we separate her from her babies at night. Every day she's given me nearly a half gallon, I'll be making farmhouse cheddar from her milk this weekend! 
• SUNSHINE for today...we've been enduring rain, snow, hail and cloudy skies for weeks now. Today we are supposed to be near 60 and have almost two full days of sunshine! My clothesline is going to get a work out today! FINALLY!!!

It's been a great week off...sure, we've had some bumps along the way, but all in all it's been a welcomed "break"!