It is hard to believe that May is halfway over.

Garden updates— We’ve been busy weeding away. We had a big hail storm that destroyed all of my spinach. The arugula was still hanging on, but I had to rip it out when the temps got above 90 last week. Aurugula is a cold weather crop, and bolts in the heat. As happened last year, our onions sprouted, and then stopped growing. They are still green and alive, but refuse to grow– even though we had them in a tunnel for quite some time. I even started them much earlier than last year. We left some onions in the ground last year, and they are growing a lot this year. So, we may not have many onions THIS year, but next year we should have a lot. The garlic was damaged by the hail, but seems to be bouncing back just fine.

We started our seeds and used grow lights this year. Our tomatoes and peppers sprouted and stopped growing for several weeks. Now, all of the tomatoes are turning yellow. I am hearing that A LOT of people are having this problem. Something must be going on with the seed starting soil. Are you having problems? On happy notes– we planted several berry bushes this year. Three blueberry bushes, one raspberry, and three blackberry bushes are new. We are going to have a ton of strawberries this year also!

Walmart marked their trees down to $13, so each of the girls got a tree instead of flowers after their dance recital. (They were thrilled, please know they are just as weird as me! haha!) One is a pear and two are maples. We may go back for more! I just bought some organic fertilizer, and I’m hoping that will boost vegetable growth.

I started reading this book to see if I can troubleshoot some problems that I keep having.

Animals— We have added a turkey to the farm. I love listening to her gentle call. We also have some chicks in the brooder to replace some of our old layers. We have three guineas in another brooder that will hopefully live long enough to eat a lot of ticks. I’ve heard it said that their favorite past-time is “finding ways to die”. And, we have a gosling. She is in a brooder also. I get her out of the brooder almost daily and she follows me around the yard and garden. We have quite the diversity going here this year and I am loving it! We are getting close to a dozen eggs each day. I actually had to take our egg sign down because we have so many egg customers. I’m going to have to start turning people away or my family won’t have eggs to eat!

Puppy— everyone always asks how Ranger is doing. He is growing a lot. He’ll be fourteen weeks old tomorrow. We have worked really hard at making sure he is socialized so that he isn’t aggressive. He still sleeps most of the day when he isn’t chewing on things. Pup is for sure in the baby shark phase. I’ve read that it lasts much longer in this breed. He is very sweet and loving though, and we are all glad he’s a part of the crew.

Kitchen— The kitchen is where I first become passionate about homesteading, so it feels important to include. With the temperatures heating up, I’m not baking as much. My goal is to continue baking our family’s sandwich bread and keep making bagels. But, there will be much less fun breads. I make tortillas for taco Tuesday about 50% of the time, and would like to get better about doing it every time. They are so good and easy. We bought a quarter of a cow earlier this year, and it has been some of the best beef I’ve ever had. I need to get on another list ASAP. The rising cost of groceries has me very concerned, and I’m looking for ways to cut costs without cutting quality.

How are things in your neck of the woods? Are you unseasonably hot also, or still unseasonably cold? Is anyone in the correct season?!

We have a new member of our farmily. Meet Ranger, an 8 week old Australian Shepherd.

He is energetic, playful, and loving. The girls are smitten with him. Puppies are so exhausting, but he’s going to be such an awesome adventure buddy once he is trained.

I always said that I would never do the puppy phase again, yet here we are. Someone guessed that we were getting a goat. That would be fun, too. But, we are limited on what farm animals we can get here. I think we COULD do a pig in a pen here that ate all of our food scraps and turned them into bacon. But, that isn’t anywhere in the plans right now.

Happy April, friends!!

Hello, friends! I’ve been a little quiet over here again. Not much outside of the ordinary has been happening on the homestead. Basically, it’s been a lot of the above… Sweet family time playing games and reading books. I’ve also been chauffeuring my kids and their friends to birthday parties and dance classes. This phase of parenting is so wild, but so fun. They can make their own breakfasts and do their own laundry. These little ladies are so incredible, and I’m so blessed to be their mama.

We had a raccoon get INTO the chicken coop one night when we were at the library. Thankfully, it only killed one chicken, and it won’t bother anyone again. We think it slipped between our electric netting and the run and didn’t care that it got shocked. Electric poultry netting has been a newer addition to the homestead. I was sick of chickens pooping all over the front porch, but still wanted some free ranging. This gives the best of both worlds. We can rotate where the chickens “pasture” is so that they always have fresh grass and bugs while still keeping them off of the porch. We are up to our eyeballs in eggs, so if you are local and love organic farm fresh eggs, come see us!

This time of year is always such a struggle. My mood really plummets. The days are longer, but it has still been cold and so rainy ALL. THE. TIME. I have been really down. I want to start the garden, but I can’t. We have started onion, pepper, and cabbage seeds so far. I’m itching for soil on my hands and under my nails. I can’t wait to pull a fresh carrot from the dirt.

Current world circumstances are also overwhelming. The cost of everything is starting to get a bit alarming. We have been in some very difficult situations in the past, and God never let us down then. None of what is happening is a surprise to Him. I keep reminding myself of this scripture, and I hope that it encourages you also:

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,  yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.  But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:25-34

We do have some really fun stuff coming up for our family, and it will be fun to share all of that soon!!

Happy Tuesday! I hope you have more beautiful weather where you are than we do. 😉

Yesterday, Harper had a very important eye appointment. We’ve been waiting seven months for this.

First, I’ll back up. She has worn glasses since the age of one. She saw a pediatric ophthalmologist and has had regular eye care from an optometrist ever since then. Everything was great other than she needed corrective lenses to see. Fast forward to 2020, and her eye doctor mentions that he’s noticing one of her eyes pulling in a bit. Nothing to be concerned about, just to watch. Last year, he says we need to start patching because her eyes have gotten worse. He increased her prescription so much that he wanted to see her again in a month to make sure she has adjusted. This has happened for the last several years. At her follow up, I get told that he is going to refer us out to a specialist because her vision is so bad even with glasses. He said “I’m afraid there’s just nothing more I can do from her here.” He said that most believe the eye can be manipulated until the age of 8, but some believe there is more time. She had just turned 7 when he gave us this news, so i felt like time was running out.

I got in my car and cried… sobbed is more like it. It felt like a gut punch. Her eyes were getting so much worse year after year even though I was told back when she was one that her vision should improve greatly since we caught it so early. I start researching amblyopia and strabismus to see what sort of options the pediatric ophthalmologist may suggest. As I’m reading, everything is saying that if it is not caught early enough, it may cause blindness in that eye. With her eyes having been so weak even through her glasses, I was terrified of this worst case scenario. I looked at books and web sources and they all said the same thing. I was sick to my stomach over it.

Harper sees a homeopathic chiropractor regularly, and I told her to do whatever she could think of to help her eyes. We did a lot of muscle testing and put her on supplements to help what was lacking. She’s been on a lot of brain support supplements and had a lot of adjustments. It’s been awesome. We had also been regularly patching her eyes, because both eyes needed help– one more than the other. During patching, we were working on a lot of fine motor activities to really force the eyes to work hard. Harper is a trooper. Only recently has she grown tired of the patches, because it amounted to 8 (6 on one eye, and two on the other) of her waking hours.

Anyway, we went yesterday for a two hour appointment. They checked everything, and we get the greatest news. The stronger eye is where it needs to be and no longer requires patching. Praise God! The other eye is still not where it needs to be, but instead of patching for six hours, we can go down to “at least” two. Her eyes have improved SO much. Her prescription was increased again, but that is to be expected. He explained that just as our foot size gets bigger as we grow, prescriptions get bigger. He said not to think of it as a negative, just as growth.

When he was done, I asked him the burning question. Could she end up blind in that eye. He said “Well, a meteor could fall from the sky into her eye, and yes, she would be blind. But, from this. No. Not at all.” Y’all! It was like a ten million pound weight was lifted.

I cannot believe how much improvement has been shown in her eyes. When we get her new prescription, she will actually be able to SEE through it!! Things were still blurry when she got her new prescription last year. I can’t imagine living that way. She is thrilled to get less patching time. I am thrilled that she will be able to see!!

God is SO good. I know so many were lifting her in your prayers, and I am so grateful.

I love books. I love reading them. I love flipping through the pages. I love seeing them lined up on my shelves. I just love them.

When I was an education major, I started collecting children’s books. This obviously exploded during my year of teaching, and has grown even more absurd since becoming a mother. Throw in homeschooling, and our home looks like a library. There are shelves of books everywhere. It’s a vicious cycle.

We have tons of educational books to go along with various units for school. Dictionaries, atlases, thesauruses, etc. line our shelves.

I have been collecting homesteading books on all sorts of topics that we need or may one day need to have. With the wild ways of censorship taking over the internet, I want to make sure that we have the information needed when we need it. I’ll slap that tin foil hat on proudly.. but that’s another subject for a different day..

I also love a good fiction read. Escaping into a different world is a lovely way to pass the time. I love opening a book into Narnia, listening to the trees talk. I can sit next to Laura Ingalls while Pa plays the fiddle.

All of that to say, I love books.

But, books can be so expensive.

That is where Thrift Books comes in. It is, as the name suggests, an online thrift store for books. You can even purchase new books if used isn’t your thing.

I have several wish lists on my account, and I will get an e-mail if something that I’ve been looking for comes in stock. It is a great place to look for out-of-print books or older editions of books. The prices are so low– unless it is a super-rare book. Then, look out.

The best part about Thrift Books, aside from the amazing prices, is that you can earn “ReadingRewards” points. Every time you make a purchase, you get points. How many points per dollar spent depends on what level you have achieved. Every 500 points earned gets you a free book under a certain price point ($5-$7). I am “literati” level, which means that I get to choose a book that is $7 or less for free when I get my reward. I just went back through my account and have been able to redeem ELEVEN free books! So many books are within that price range, so your choices are always so good. Be sure to sign up for that!

They do bonus points throughout the year which can give you a boost when you order.

If you haven’t looked into Thrift Books before, I encourage you to sign up with this link. If you use my referral link, we both get an extra free book when you’ve spent $30.

Go to your public library if you don’t have it in your budget to buy used books. I use our library like crazy. But, if you are looking to add a book to your home library, be sure to check Thrift Books first!

Are you feeling 22?

I can’t believe it is already a new year. Where did 2021 go?!

I love to spend time reflecting on the past year. Last year was a roller coaster. We lost all of our animals in February. We lost everything we planted in the garden to a huge, unexpected downpour that drowned all of our little plants. Shortly before Christmas, we had tornadic weather in the area that took out our huge blue spruce tree. It also took half of two other huge pine trees. As far as homesteading goes, it was quite disappointing. All of this could have broken us and caused us to thrown in the towel.

But, we refused to be discouraged and quit. We got a whole new flock of chickens and added ducks to the mix. We even have regular egg customers, which is so fun. Our garden was replanted, and did decently for how the weather was. A dehydrator was added to our kitchen to help us preserve the harvest in different ways. I’ve been cooking with garlic powder from home-grown and dehydrated garlic. Those little things feel like such huge victories! I’ve learned new skills in the kitchen, allowing us to eat more food from scratch. I got to come home full-time and be with my family. And, the trees that I actually cried over have become firewood and opened up some more sunlight on our garden.

We are looking forward to what 2022 brings. We more than doubled our garden space. The beds are covered in cover crops and leaves that will break down and feed the soil. We even purchased a small low tunnel and have spinach and arugula growing outside. On NYE, Scott and I stayed up and rang in the new year by spreading all of our seed and hatchery catalogs out with our Homestead Planner. We planned and dreamed what we hope the year looks like here on the homestead.

With the rising cost of food, we are trying to be especially deliberate in what and how we plant the garden this year. We bought grow lights to make our seeds grow much better. Every year, we put our seed shelf in front of our south facing window. It gets plenty of light, but our plants end up leggy and weak. The lights will help our plants get the strongest start. Here’s to a better tomato harvest in 2022.

I was looking out over all that we’ve done in the last year, and it astounds me. Where we once had nothing but grass now stands a chicken coop built from the ground up, a duck house and run, and a massive garden. We put in SO MUCH work last year. When I think about all that we achieved in a year, I get really excited to see what can be done this year. If only budgets were limitless. ha!

I’ve been reading Joel Salatin’s book Polyface Micro, and it’s SO packed full of information. I highly recommend that you get a copy and learn from one of the greats. You can get a copy here. It’s new, so I haven’t seen any used copies yet, but keep checking at Thrift Book. In his book, I learned that the average homestead only lasts six years before discouragement sets in and people quit. Six years. Gosh, that hurts me. I don’t want to be that person. Only if the Lord tells us “enough” will we quit.

The phrase that keeps coming to me lately is “open hands”. I have said for years that we hold everything with open hands. When the Lord closed the door in Oklahoma and we came back, I was so hurt and confused. If I could have turned my hands inside out, I would have. I didn’t want what He was giving me. But, I listened and my heart softened. I held out my hands, and saw all of the good He was placing in them. It has been so good. But, I can’t close my hands and cling to it. None of it is mine. It all belongs to Him. He gives and takes away, and I will hold my hands open to allow whatever He has for us.

I hope and pray that your intention for 2022 is the same. Life is meant to be lived, so go LIVE. God delights in us when we enjoy what He has created. Seek His will and follow His leading.

Happy New Year, friends!