A Years Worth of Catching Up

Wow, it has been a LONG time since I spent any time on here posting anything! So much has happened in the last year...where to begin?

My Dad has had 4 or 5 trips to the hospital for his heart, with other procedures needing to be done. After getting my siblings involved, we have talked my parents into retiring and moving here with us. Actually, just this past weekend, we got the last of their stuff moved, here to the farm, and the next step is sorting and figuring absolute need.

My brother has had a tough run of it too, there have been other surgeries and trying of different things, much to no avail, but he finally got a leg that I think just might work for him...he has been a modern day Job, and I am absolutely amazed at his strength!

We have added a 30 x 40 metal building to the property, this is Dad's for his tools and a place to tinker in his retirement. It took us a year to get it up and finished with all his hospitalizations, but it's done and just in time for their move.

We have gotten rid of all of the goats, added a angus heiffer, and had one of the Jersey steers put up, now that is some good meat. A freezer putted out on us and we called everyone we knew to get the meat cooked up, did not want to throw any away...was actually a fun evening, if you didn't think about how much was lost to us...all in a day, right?

We have completed our 3rd year of home schooling...the transition from the kids going to public and not much at all being required of them has been the biggest struggle to overcome...actually, it is not overcome, it is a daily struggle...why does our country not care more about educating those who will be running it?

Our chickens were going thru a tough time, with free range you tend to loose a lot of biddies, so, our daughter, Sam and I have been getting the newly hatched and keeping them under a heat lamp, then as they grow, we transfer into bigger and more open cages that we move around the yard so that they can free range. Our first ones this year are now "teens" and are being given actual freedom throughout the day and put back up at night, they are loving it, but they think Sam and I are their moms and we have a trail of little chickens behind us quite frequently throughout the day. With them and the newly hatched ones, to date, we have 33 new additions ~ we are thinking of pairing hen and rooster and taking some to auction, but keeping the majority and continuing to have way too many eggs for our family to consume regularly, but I love the whole process.

I know that there has been more than that, but that seems to be the highlights...or those I can remember, anyhow!