Bunny Fun

The TOP 10 lame excuses why I have neglected blogging this summer.

1. The kids are out of school!
2. Maine Man has been working days!
3. Their is always work to be had in the garden!
4. We have TOO many d*@$ animals!
5. The lawn always needs mowing.
6. There is 6 cord of wood screaming "cut me, stack me."
7. Facebook is distracting.
8. Kids birthdays, pig roasts, day trips, camping.
9. Cooking, Dishes,...Laundry.....A maid would be nice but I'd settle with a dishwasher.
10. I'm SO stinkin' TIRED!!

Stay tuned life will be changing real soon kids are back in school, John will be back to his regular schedule and we are in the process of downsizing animals.

P.S. I contemplated titling this post Farm P%@# but MM thought it may attract the wrong audience. Ha I agree, never thought of it. He is so darn logical! It would not be the first time my impulsiveness has got me in trouble.

The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

Who needs a Topsy Turvy? This brilliant idea came from Unusual Unusual Farm Chick's blog. She has lots of good ideas! The basket is from the dollar store. I bought it a couple years back and it was just stashed away in the hay loft.

On the top we planted some morning glories. Flower Girl also made a post about this a couple days back over at her blog. She has posted more than usual this summer thanks to her buddy Morgs. Morgs also has a blog, check it out. Flower Girl also recently posted some pictures of the fish birthday cakes that I made back in the spring. The idea came from Family Fun.

Ok, enough with the good. Now onto the bad & the ugly. Recently I have been overwhelmed with the tasks around the farm, mostly the animals. It is time to cut back! After much contemplation I have decided to sell the goats. My intention when I first bought goats was for milking. I have since come to the realization that adding another chore morning & night would send me over the edge. It is MUCH cheaper & easier to buy from my local farmer then to keep goats. I do not have to be responsible for watering and feeding day in and day out, no injections to give or hooves to be trimmed. Same goes for cows. I dream about having cows grazing in the back field but in reality it is just not in the cards right now. My garden needs more of my attention and we have a greenhouse that needs to be assembled. Oh yeah and we have LOTS of wood that needs to be hauled off the back forty, split & piled. At this point if I want raw organic milk it again easier to go support my local farmer for $4/gallon. As far as meat goes it would in our best interest if I put a little more time and effort into deer hunting. It is good, lean, meat that we do not have to tend day in and day out. Until this past year I have always taken for granted the deer meat in the freezer. You always miss something when you don't have a lot of it. From here on out I will cherish every morsel!

I am not quiting farming, just cutting back. Learning from our experiences and our mistakes. God knows I have made plenty of those, that is a topic all on it's own! After my pullets are all laying I hope to sell of last years hens, the turkeys are soon to meet their maker followed by those egg laying ducks (khaki campbells) Maine Man had to have. If the pigs ever have their piglets, we swear they are pregnant! They will be off to freezer camp as well. Maine Man is a little hesitant about that after bonding with "Pumpkin & Ham" over the last year but I volunteered to be the trigger man. Can you believe that? That is how badly I want to simplify & minimize before winter. 2 years ago even I would have said "NO way" but I must say this farming stuff has hardened me. I am jaded, kind of like working in the ER.

If it don't produce (eggs/meat) I am all set. Never use to be like this. This whole farming bit was never even intentional, it just happened.

My plan is to go through the winter with 24 layers, 2-4 muscovies, and a few rabbits. That's it!

Sorry for the rant but d@#! I feel better now! A bit hormonal ehh? The planned post to was suppose to be about thriftiness. Ha, Ha, Add PMS & ADD and this is what you get.

Merry Christmas!

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas! MM was scheduled to work last night and was called off because the census was low on his unit. SO EXCITING for us!!
The only blip in the holiday is that I accidentally deleted all of my holiday photos (approx 100)
Boo hoo....I had never done that before. The kids knew I was upset and jumped right up so I could take a few photos despite their exhaustion from the holiday events. We will celebrate with our in-laws over the weekend so I will try and recapture some of what I lost. :(

Note to self: Don't play with buttons or attempt to delete a picture unless I'm really paying attention.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM OUR FAMILY TO YOURS!

Come On Maine Man

I did not plan on posting tonight, trying to catch up on others but I had to write this.

We are sitting up in bed, our nightly ritual.

Kids are sound asleep, house is QUIET.

MM is reading a book or a magazine.

I (CG) am on my lap top, writing out Christmas cards, organizing my to do list and calendar (always multitasking)

Some how ice cream gets mentioned. Yum....I start brainstorming.

CG: Well, we do have some vanilla ice cream out in the shed's freezer.

MM: Yeah.

CG: Why don't you go make us some sundaes?

MM: eye roll

CG: C'mon, it'll be good, I'm starving. Put some hot fudge (heat it), cool whip, lots, and some walnuts or almonds.

MM: okay

10 minutes later

my mouth drooling as I await our hot fudge sundaes

MM: Here you go!

CG: (disturbed look on my face) Are you kidding me? What happended to the hot fudge, cool whip??

MM: It's hot fudge, the ice cream is cold and the sauce is warmer.

CG: This is butterscotch (COLD) with bananas and cherries (ewww, I never did like banana splits) and walnuts, no cream

MM: Belly aching after eating two banana splits.

WHAT'S UP WITH THAT? Next time he asks for a coffee with cream and sugar he's getting tea with honey.

....Whining over!

Exhaustion

Anyone else feeling exhausted from the endless hours on their homesteads? It seems like on our "days off" we hit the ground running in the morning and it not uncommon to be up washing my floors at midnight. Lately John and I have been overwhelmed with the endless tasks that are on our to do lists....put the pool up (when we ever have a day off together), constant maintenance of the gardens & critters, major construction to stabilize our barn, build a goat pen in the barn for the goats, nesting boxes, broilers to slaughter, endless mowing, cords and cords of wood to haul off the back forty, split, and stack, painting, trim work...must I go on. And did I mention we are going away on a camping trip next weekend. Maybe I can catch up on some reading by the campfire. I look forward to our trip but I dread packing and unpacking.
That's enough whining for now must get a good nights rest for another looooong day in the ER!