Three Little Piggies...

We did it. The Pigpen was built...or added on. My Hubby fixed this up with wood from his "stash", a skid we picked up( we actually have a stock pile of these too, never know what you can use them for) and hinges left behind by the previous home owner. I have to say for a hoarder, she had some good stuff we could use!





Today after church we met up with our pig guy and picked up our three piglets. I LOVE them! They grunt and squeal and dig in the dirt! Right now they are checking out their new home. We thought about doing pastured pigs, but we don't have the set up or the finances to get proper fencing for that project. We might get there one day, but for now we have to work with what we do have. I am still in charge of what gets put into them, no growth hormones, no antibiotics. Just good feed, goats milk and some eggs thrown in and lots of water. We are hoping to keep two for the freezer and sell one.

I would really like to know why the piggies were building houses and the big bad wolf was blowing them down, we have already had to do some damage control as the little piggies showed us the weak spots in our pen arrangement. I guess that is the learning curve.






It's a beautiful day and I am enjoying the sounds of the farm, from the chickens, goats, dogs and pigs!
S M B 324905 1/2"Cattle Hog Nipple Drinker Stainless Steel

Happy Father's Day....

When I was about 10 or 11 years old we spent the summers hanging out in the creek behind our house. The creek wasn't very deep, a few deeper holes here and there and for the most part, quite calm. Now we were allowed to play in the section that had the slow moving water but just over a ridge of rocks the water became shallower and swifter moving. The rule was we were not allowed to go over the ridge. At the preteen age of 11 I liked to press that boundary, floating just to the ridge and then stopping myself before going over it. Then it happened I pressed my luck and lost. I was swept over the ridge and into the swift water. I caught myself on a rock and held on for dear life. I can still feel the fear. As I clung to the slimy rock I was screaming for help. I looked at the bank of the creek and all my friends were standing there watching me. Didn't they see that I was about to be swept into the Lehigh River? Didn't they know I was going to drown. Finally, one of my brothers ran for my parents. I could hear my mom calling, "Missy! Stand up!" She never did understand me. I couldn't stand up the rocks were slimy and the water was so fast. I could feel it pressing on my shoulders trying to rip me from my rock. I knew if I let go that was the end.
Then my Daddy showed up with a rope. He waded into the water and stood in the safe side, the calm side of the rocks. "Missy, catch the rope." "I can't let go Daddy" "I'll pull you up, catch the rope." My dad tossed the rope...I missed it and he tossed it again. This time I managed to grab the rope and I could feel his strength through the rope."Now stand up Missy." Clinging to rope now wrapped around my hands, I stood up. The water was just above my ankles. My dad did not tease me, did not shake his head is disappointment, he just pulled me to him and hugged me.
A few short years later, I lost my Daddy due to a car accident. I was so very angry for a long time. Angry with God for taking my father, my hero. I decided that God didn't care for me so I wouldn't care for him. I rebelled, I pushed the boundaries. I didn't join a gang or start traffic-ing drugs, but I sinned knowingly, openly. I had a void in my life and tried to fill it with whatever felt good at the time. I heard God telling me to stop, almost begging me to stop. You know when people say God always gives you an "out" when you are tempted to do wrong...it's true. I heard him, I saw the "outs", I ignored him. I had a child outside of marriage and then again another child with another man(now my husband)I can't remember what it was that stopped me in my tracks, what triggered a reaction, but suddenly I was very sad. I knew I was living wrong. I knew I had disrespected my Heavenly Father. I could feel the water rushing over me again. I could feel that rock in my arms, the fear that if I let go, all was lost. And then I felt Him there, on the safe side, the calm side and He said "Melissa, catch the rope." "Father, I can't. I don't deserve the rope." "I'll pull you up, catch the rope." Jesus was there. He did not scold me, he held me and told me he loved me and would always be there for me. I began to see the water was only at my ankles, I could make changes in my life, I gained perspective, grew my confidence back.
I still sin. I still press the boundaries. But I know my Heavenly Father loves me no matter what and He will always be there with the rope...
So Happy Father's day to my Earthly Daddy, now in heaven, who gave me a glimpse of God. And Happy Father's day to my Heavenly Father who has shown me His unending love for me.

What I've been doing...

Making cheese, Hubby loves coming home to finding cheese balls hanging from the cupboards...

Attempting to make soap...This batch ended up becoming laundry soap...waste not want not!

Attempted to make bread again and instead made bricks...again not wanting to waste all that hard work I threw chunks into the blender and made bread crumbs which worked really well for my homemade chicken tenders.

These are those baking soda shower discs. They are supposed to be like the Vicks Vapor discs, But I wasn't too thrilled about them. They did brighten up my shower floor though, even if they didn't open up my nose. I got more vapors making them then using them.

Potting my herbs I love growing plants and walking by running my fingers through them and smelling their wonderful fragrances.
My Hubby left his Gas job and went back to working for himself...We prayed about it for months before making that decision He was gone for 8 days home for 3 and with the farm stuff and our children it was taking it's toll. Amazingly circumstances all fell together making it possible for him to go back into business and be able to be home. God is GREAT! I truly believe God is in charge and I see him working in our lives. So we planted this tree to remind us of taking the leap of faith. Then we planted fruit trees and berry bushes...really planting roots at home.


Hubby built a shed to sell out of stuff here at the house

We went berry picking together. Hubby did much better this year picking. The last time we did this together he ate more than he picked! I love it when he does stuff like that because he is usually so focused on the goal that he works non stop. Apparently that work ethic does not apply tp berry picking! But I made 35pints of strawberry jam and quite a few servings of strawberry shortcake.
Then we moved onto getting more goats!

This is Grace, an Alpine Doe...really nice goat, great weed eater!

These are her bucklings they only stayed with a a few weeks, I sold them to another homesteader who has an issue with poison ivy. She named them Stihl and M'owen.

Ummm...Hubby and our buck Potter working out some testosterone in the goat yard...I don't ask, I just try to capture these moments

We drove to NY to get a new Lamancha and her two kids, but once we were there the Lamancha was much smaller than expected but she had this Saanan and her doeling for sale, cheaper than the lamancha!Her name is Willow and she is much bigger than this picture shows and STRONG, Hubby wants to build a cart for her to pull. But she is an excellent milker. The previous owner was not milking her. Said the last time she milked her she was getting a half gallon a day. She gives me a GALLON a day...Between the three milkers, Molly, Grace and Willow, I get 2-2 1/2gallons of milk a day!

This is her daughter Sandy she is also large and I believe will be a good milker when it's her turn.

This is a pot of yogurt. I have got to find ways to use up all this milk! The yogurt is perfect for the kids for smoothies. Also making ice cream, and buttermilk...who knew how easy making buttermilk was. I just added a 1/2c. of regular buttermilk to a quart of milk and let it sit on the counter overnight. Then back into the fridge and it is ready for use!

This is the start of the solar electric fence we are stringing in the field to pasture all the goats. It will cut back on feed and we can get another steer to raise without worrying where to put it!

This is the separation fence we added to the goat yard to keep the kids(goats, not mine) outside and away from the bigger goats that bully them. I didn't even get pics of the other stuff we are doing. I have got to show you Hubby's chicken tractor built with stuff we have laying around, our garden and my children who are growing as fast as the weeds!
I feel so blessed with all that God has provided for us...talk about overflowing!

Gratitude

This is a few weeks old, but I love that I have help planning the weekly menu. I'm really grateful for all the recipes I find on blogs and other websites!

I'm waiting for my Hubby to come home tonight. He might not be home until midnight but at least he is local this week.

I have to take this time to show some gratitude.

I tend to whine quite a bit....waaa my Husband works out of town too much
I am soooo thankful he has a job
waaa my kids are driving me crazy
I am thankful they are healthy and creative and strong minded and independent
waaa I'm not good enough
I am thankful that I am smart, funny, creative, strong minded, independent, passionate, and able to do whatever I put my mind to do.
waaa I'm a horrible housekeeper
I am thankful that I am not on Hoarders and no one has ever gotten food poisoning from my cooking.

I'm sure I whine about other things too but I'll stop there!

Lost a goat

I was recently trying to sell off some of my goats. I sold Saturn and her new kid and was searching for a new home for soupy.

Unfortunately something went wrong with her. She seemed depressed. I thought it was because her mom was gone. I felt horrible. Knowing how social goats are, I thought if I put her in with the triplets it might help. It didn't. In fact she seemed to get worse. She was just very quiet and not herself. I just kept thinking that it was because of not having her mom around. It wasn't until she started with the scours that I thought she might be sick. I tried giving her electrolytes, making sure she had plenty of fresh water and hay. I gave her extra love and attention and watched. But she didn't get better. Sunday morning Robert found her laying outside in the goat pen and not in the shed. I went to give her a dose of antibiotics and discovered my antibiotics were expired. So we got another bottle of electrolytes into her and I ran for antibiotics. I've never done any of the injections before, we don't do it very often. Hubby was out of town working, so I felt for a fleshy area and gave her the injection. I don't know if I did it wrong or if she was too far gone, but an hour later she was gone. Isaiah was pretty upset. she was such a sweet goat. My brother happened to pull in to visit as they discovered the goat had passed and offered to help dig a hole. So the boys and my brother went out back and dug a 3 1/2 foot deep hole to bury the goat. It's really sad when we lose an animal. But this has definitely spurred a clean out mode in all of us. Pens are being cleaned out, goats are getting dosed with diamotceous earth. not sure if I spelled that right but added to their food it help get rid of both internal and external parasites.
We talked to some local farmers and they said it sounded like cochcidosis not sure if I spelled that right either. But they suggested that we treat all the critters because our goats and chickens are housed together.
I guess this is what we will be doing.

The work doesn't ever seem to end here at the ranch...Did I mention we are working on a name for our little homestead?
Hubby is out job hunting right now. Looking for something that will allow him more freedom but still provide health care benefits. The company he has been working for for over a year has begun working out of town every week. While that may be good for some families, the money is not worth Dad being gone for 7 or 8 days at a time for our family.
So we are going to have to make ends meet in other ways. The fact that Hubby was self employed for most of his working life, gives us the confidence that we can subsidize the regular income with some side jobs and selling our hand made and home grown products.

People are like Easter Eggs? I'm rambling again!

People are like Easter eggs. We all start out relatively the same. Maybe a little bigger, smaller, rounder, maybe brown, white pink or green. But then we get dunked into life...or dye and that experience is what makes us different, still the same inside but different.

Pretty soon you look around and everybody has had one experience or another coloring their lives, their personalities. But yet we all fit in the egg carton

But if you notice on some Easter eggs, some are broken or cracked, allowing the dye to get inside and scar the inside. Sometimes it makes the egg even prettier and some times it makes it undesirable to eat.

Life is like that for people too. Sometimes we are broken and cracked and allow the experiences to affect us on the inside. Some people use it to grow stronger and more beautiful, while others allow it to eat at them and make themselves ugly and unapproachable.

And then there are the eggs that you have to peel bit by bit to get to the inside and end up shredding half the egg in the process...
people are like that too...holding themselves together tightly not allowing anyone or anything to get inside.

But no matter what, once the shells are off, and broken, shredded, dyed doesn't matter when we make egg salad.
And when people lose their shells, broken, shredded, scarred doesn't matter as Jesus leads us to Heaven.

Goat Mama

I'm a goat mama for sure. The triplets are really keeping me hopping and Molly their real Mama has been keeping me just as busy. Thankfully Molly has been giving me about a gallon of milk a day. That's fabulous because I need three quarts a day to feed her kids...I was just going to use milk replacer but it is so expensive! And If she's pumping out I'm going to use it. I have more than enough for my soap now stored in the freezer. Now that my kids are going back to school I'll have some left for yogurt making...I hope to try making that next week.

I had to do some "culling" so to speak. I sold Saturn and her new kid last week to a goat farm in NY. They sent pictures of her relaxing in her new home and the little doeling frolicking with the other baby goats, She fits right in. I still have Soupy who needs a home. She is too small to breed with a beor and really ends up being more of a pet. I can't afford to feed something that does not have a purpose here. I had her posted for sale and someone was planning on coming to get her and then never showed up. I have her with the triplets, the other does are really pushy with her. I hope I can find her a home soon before my Hubby decides to take her to auction.

My Hubby was creative with what we had laying around and built this nifty crate to haul goats. The front end has hinges on top. We put the crate in the back of MY truck lift the front end and load the goats in. Lower the front end and close the tailgate and there you go, hopefully escape proof!

Yeah Charlie was trying it out!

Other than the goat drama going on things have been the normal spring busy. Hubby has been working out of town every week which isn't much fun but until he can find something else this is what we will deal with. It is what it is and I am so thankful for his job and the sacrifices he makes for us.

Tomorrow I am making another batch of soap. I sold almost all of my last batch. Hubby made me molds that I am going to try out. Hopefully I'll have pictures to post if they don't leak!. But with these molds I can work out two batches a week. Keeping it simple. No fancy scents...just using essential oils. This batch will be eucalyptus and my next will be unscented. So I have time to order more essential oils!
I also need to make more salve. I actually have people asking for it. It's really exciting. My own daughter, who I constantly argue and fight with, told me she liked the salve, it made her zit go away over night. Maybe I can get her to help make the next batch?

Well, Off to measure out my oils for the morning.