Another Year Done and Gone

I've been at an impasse all year. Nothing much to write about, The daily struggle just to survive here has kept my mind flooded with everything but writing. With all my time consumed with the tiny paycheck that doesn't cover the bills here let alone feed me, not much left for upbeat or positive writing. So, I've just kept quiet. Who wants to go read a blog that's always depressing, eh? LOL

It's not all depressing tho. I'm still here. Other than the electric bill, which is always behind, at least I'm floating about even from month to month. The pitiful job has kept just enough fuel in the tank to keep getting to work and cover the mortgage. Now if I could just get the darn coffee plants to stay alive! Over sensitive, pain in the ass plants those are! Why they are so difficult now, I'll never figure it out. I've grown them before, had a beautiful stand of producing coffee plants, got coffee harvested and now, I can't keep a plant alive for longer than 6 months. Well that won't do me any good! Takes 3 years to get coffee beans! ARG. It's got to be this horrible leaky window pile of junk I reside in. Just something I must deal with since there's nothing I can do about it at this point.

Actually, all things considered, I'm kind of a little proud of myself. $1035 in bills a month just to live here with $981 income, I'm still here. Not one farmers market and no advertising, I still managed to keep up more or less. I am of course, $380 behind now on the electric, LOL. I so wish I could have solar, at least some solar. I could use a couple pairs of britches that don't have holes in them too, LOL. At least I still have decent shoes. Even tho my garden wasn't near as diverse as I like, I still managed to grow and harvest/can up a decent amount of food to eat. Not near as nutritionally balanced as I'd like but still a good result for the effort.

So, here I am, once again, living proof that a person can produce enough food for themselves to survive. Heck, I don't have much choice since there obviously isn't any money for groceries, LOL Adapt and overcome. No whining, just dealing with it. Yes, I miss some things. Yes, I wish I had a few things I don't have. Can I do anything about it? Not right now so I just move on.

So 2014 is wrapping up. I consider it a success for the simple fact that I'm still here. Still have the farm and still plugging away. Big thanks in part to my own wonderful family. Without whom I would be homeless and walking! Not anywhere near what I'd like to have accomplished but still, I haven't gone backwards. Well, maybe a little backwards in the chicken department, stupid dog. Chick hatching didn't go as well as I wanted but there's plenty of time to keep trying. Count rabbits as dismal success too but they are always hit and miss here. Feeding me is one thing but I'd like them to at least do well enough to pay for the darn feed every month instead of the hit and miss. The kitchen did okay for me when I had time to actually work in it. I catered 2 anniversary parties this year and created some specialties for a few Thanksgiving parties. I have one order of pastries to finish for a Christmas party and the kitchen will be quiet until around Easter. Kind of wish I could afford to do more in there, maybe next year. Did not advertise at all because of time constraints, hard to dedicate myself to what I love when I have to go to a job I dislike to cover the bills. Never pass on the bird in the hand for a dream of success. I know it can do well but the time it would take to get it up to where it pays all the bills would just be too long of a stretch and with no cushion of savings, I can't risk it. So, the decision to keep it as a specialty thing just has to stand for now. It was worth the effort, it's not going anywhere and it has contributed positively.

Of course, the goats are always a highlight for the farm. Joyous creatures they are, full of personality and my own personal entertainment. Hard to be sad or depressed with goats running around. They are sensitive to mood and do everything they can to cheer you up at any given moment. Affectionate, loving creatures. Sometimes I wonder why it took me so long to find my way to goats. Truly diverse creatures, capable of getting themselves stuck in all kinds of situations and just as gifted at getting themselves out of the craziest places. I'm still trying to figure out how they got on the barn roof. Of course I could do without the tapdance on my truck hood! Nothing like getting in your truck to head to work and having to wiper goat poop off the windshield, LOL I am really looking forward to the herd of kids that are coming soon after the New Years. Delta always gifts me with a pair within the first couple of days of the new year, if not right on New Years day! Then, Fluffy should kid. Her hardships last year may come around to bite us but I am ready. The playpen is ready to go and the colostrum is waiting. Then, there's 2 first timers I will probably have to raise kids for and then, bringing up the rear of the kid pack will be Lil Sister. She is big as a house right now. I'd like to be sitting at 8 nannys with at least 3 being good and easy milkers. That's a few years off still.

The cows. Hmmm. A flopping subject in my mind. The cows are great, love the cows but I need a ton of fencing to keep going with the cows. I may get 2 calves, I'm not really sure. Goober is no doubt pregnant. Daisy is hard to tell. That cow is spoiled and obnoxious. Maybe after a calf or 2 she'll settle down. If she makes it that long here. Daisy is my fence ripper. Impossible to keep penned, she destroys fence on purpose. Terrible pain in my ass. She's smart and incredibly hard headed. I'd like to fry her butt with a mean electric fence charger but it's just not in the budget. She does tie out well so summer time isn't so bad. But, ya just can't leave her tied out during the nasty winter weather. Too much ice, too much mud and no shelter. I have contemplated selling her and have tried a couple of times but gave up when every prospective buyer tries to bicker me down to giving her away. Nope, not that stupid nor that desperate. So, when the mood strikes me, I'll try again. That is, when I feel like being bothered and insulted, LOL The bull, again a big Hmmmmm. I guess his stay depends on how hard the calving is and what the calf or calves look like. A bull is a waste of time and feed here actually. A necessity if I want milk and calves tho since there isn't very many options to breed outside the farm. The milk is more important to me than the calf is when I look at the big picture. Yes, a calf could be a meat source but is time prohibitive. Takes a long time to grow a cow! I can't afford to buy a bull calf and wait 2 years for it to mature enough to breed or be big enough to butcher. Eh, now you see why it's a flopping subject, LOL

So, the plans for the future are being mulled along with all the other things I'm already doing every day. It's a never ending process for me. As this year winds down and a new year getting ready to start for the farm, lots to think about. Tons of little plans and ideas for improvement all depend on what I can afford and what I can possibly come up with. Lord help me if I ever figure out how to make money with my thoughts! LOL I'd be an unstoppable steam roller!

So, until then, Merry Christmas! Enjoy your holiday time with family and friends and don't forget the reason for the season!

Almost Fall

So, here we are, another summer done gone by and what have I managed to accomplish? Well hmmm, tangible growth, something that can be seen or felt physically, not too much. The fences are still tore up, the pos trailer I live in is patched somewhat but still a dump, the garden is a mess and the chicken/rabbit hut still isn't finished.

So what is it I have managed to do this whole year? I'm still here. I finally broke even in August. I've managed to feed myself, even if it hasn't been optimal, I havent starved. The small herd of goats I have left are healthy, both the cows are bred and I managed to keep half the chickens alive. Rabbits did well for me this summer and I didn't lose any. So, now I can keep moving forward into the winter and dream of what I might be able to get done next year.

People ask me all the time why I keep going, why I do what I do even when it's difficult or what they consider impossible. This is what I tell them- As you get older, you find that life begins to wear you down. Everything that happens around you and to you- it all rolls up to be against you to steal away your energy, erode your dreams, to make you question things you wouldn't have given a second thought to when you were young and full of hope and dreams. Then, you have a choice. You can either give in and quit or you can fight it and keep going. You do it no matter what because if you quit, you're defeated and life doesn't have any real purpose left to it. There is no success in just existing with no purpose. Some kind of answer, eh?  Most of the time I get the deer in the headlight look in response.  I just laugh.  Seriously, what else did they expect me to say?

So, I've got a few crochet throws finished and ready to go.  In a few weeks, I will put one up for auction on the blog.

  a youth size and an infant size Macaw throw- a 24x28($20) and a 30x42($30) with shipping.

 a grape fizz throw, 38x50 ($42) with shipping

 pink camo throw, 40x56 ($48) with shipping

 a Monet throw, 63x63 ($75) with shipping

 I'm also working on a couple hoodie scarves and some infant, youth and adult hats.

The ragweed is in full bloom around the place and the seasonal allergies are hard to handle.  The weed pulling and fall clean up is in full swing around here as is the garden work for the fall crops.

In between, there's some electrical work to be done in the pos trailer.  I've lost 3 outlets so far.  It just keeps piling up on me (sigh).  Hate pouring good money in a dump that should be burned down and hauled off.  Oh well........

where oh where has my little dog gone.....

oh where oh where can he be????   LOL  Yep, I'm still alive!  I know, shame on me for being gone for so long.  So, where have I been?  Right here on the farm, trying to keep it all together with the miserable paycheck and constant equipment breakdowns.  Part of it I guess.  Doesn't make it any more comfortable tho. Small blessings counted, like for instance, the extremely mild summer we've had.  It's only been unbearable hot in the dump I call home a half dozen times so far this summer.  The no air conditioning thing was hardly noticed so far.  Still not comfortable enough to get a net connection on the farm again.  Just too expensive for the budget.  Maybe next year.

The daily struggle goes on, as usual.  A set of twin girls were born to Delta goat last week and they are keeping me entertained with their silly goat kid antics.  These 2 are tiny little carbon copies of their Momma, hints of color under their snow white coats.  I'm sure they will change color as they grow, like the last batch of kids did. 

Looks like I might finally have pregnant cows!  The holstein that was slated for the dinner plate got a pass and is now a nice little bull that did the job. I think anyway, LOL  The girls look preggers, fat in all the right places so keeping those fingers crossed!

All the hay equipment is broken, as usual.

The commercial kitchen finally passed inspection for baked goods.  Now all I need is to build up a clientele since all my old regular customers moved on to other outlets while I was building.  No worries, word of mouth is good around here and when I'm ready to fly, they'll come back.  Come next seasons markets, I'll be in full swing.  Still more work to be done on the cheese caves and smokers.

Lack of rain around here has the grass not growing and the garden dying.  The irrigation system needs major improvements and a couple new catch basins need installed to increase the amount of water I can catch.  Lack of rain allows me to run out long before relief comes from fresh rains.  Something to be addressed over the winter months.

Lost a bit of weight due to the rough living this year.  Had to hit the thrift store a couple of times for hand me down clothes.  Hard to get much work done when ya have to keep pulling yer britches up!  LOL


Other than that, it's still business as usual around the farm.  Finally got the past due mortgage payments caught up.  It was touch and go there for a while and the bank threatening foreclosure was unpleasant.  Hope I don't have to revisit that feeling again anytime soon.  Other than that, it's just the poor life here, holding on and plugging along, the best one can while just rolling with whatever gets thrown up on me.......

Lost on the Farm

Yep, it's been farm clean up week, been lost on the farm with all the unusually warm days. Now, it's raining but I did manage to get onions and garlic in the dirt. Now if I can just keep Lil Sister from sticking her head thru the fencing and pulling them all up for me!

Goat proofing Strawberries

With such nice weather and a good belly full of anger from what I read this morning, I got busy with the strawberry box. Since I can't keep berries with goats around, I have to come up with a box and a shield of some sort to keep wayward goats out of them. I got the box built and filled and Lil Sister had to inspect it. At least she didn't pee in it for me.


The puppies are trying hard to herd the goats but the only one that pays any attention to them is Lucky goat. That fat goat is going to have a heart attack if he keeps running from those puppies!

Now I know why my tractor key keeps finding it's way to the ground. The goatlings think the tractor is a jungle gym!

Hanging Out

Not too much has been going on farm wise around here. Just kind of hanging out, waiting for seeds to grow, wading thru the mud, feeding critters and such. The evil storm that whacked Indiana rolled thru here and dumped heavy rain, high winds and quarter sized hail as it was building up to take away life 100 miles away.

On top of all the nasty weather we're seeing across the midwest, underground, in the coal mine is particularly dangerous right now. The quickly changing barometric pressures and temperatures cause serious safety issues for coal miners. Roof falls happen without notice and are deadly. So, when you flip your light switch, remember that there's a coal miner somewhere underground, dodging falling rock to bring that electricity to you.

I went to a preppers meet up on Saturday. I really enjoyed the conversation with like minded people. One of the things we discussed was tornado preparedness. How to better protect yourself and your preps when something like a tornado can easily throw all of it, and you, all across the country side. I think I will be working on getting the blocks together for the root cellar and completing that project soon. The urgency to do something about being completely wiped out by something I can not prevent is pretty strong at the moment. Being prepared won't count much if a tornado comes along and levels the whole area.

ARG, I'm up waaay too early today. The puppies were barking. I should have looked out the front window before turning them out the front door, the horses have found a weak spot in their fence and were standing in the front yard. Horses being out isn't really too big of a deal since there's no gardens planted out there but the puppies are herding dogs and their instinct to herd is actually pretty strong. So, now there's hoof prints (more like hoof craters) all over the front yard. While the old roping horse doesn't even notice those tiny bags of bark, the 2 ex race horses think it means "go" with a race to the finish line. At least the pups listen, kind of, and quit when told to. They were pretty proud of themselves tho, LOL. Maybe after a half pot of coffee I'll go catch them up at feeding time. They know where they get fed and never miss a meal. Glad is wasn't the cows loose or I'd still be slopping thru the mud trying to catch them...

Rambly Day

It's overcast today, some rain coming in for tonight. Still too cold overnight for the mud to really do too much drying out and I'm not even close to having a spot to put the cows and horses so I can work up the garden spot. I have been working on seeds and I noticed this morning that the Dill is sprouting thru the dirt in the milk jug planter. The seed I started Friday is starting to sprout in the baggies as well. I've been too busy with other responsibilities to do much cooking and baking. I am not too happy about that. Hard to eat healthy that way and I miss my bread! I refuse to eat that store bought crap passed off as bread so if I don't bake it, we don't eat bread. Just the thought of consuming ground up human hair or duck feathers is all it takes, LOL.

Lil Sister is getting over her encounter with the goat wormer. Poor thing, baby goats should not chew the goat wormer bag. Never would have dreamed she could reach that bag way up on that shelf, but she did. Glad she lived thru it with no lasting effects.

Grizz has claimed the desk rug for himself and defends it so he can lounge as his whim. Lil Sister wanted to sleep with her favorite kitten but could not fit in the hole so she did the next best thing. That goofy goat slept with the kitten standing up, with her head in the hole and the kitten curled up next to her.

This week will be chickens week. At least, that's what I want to get done. I have a bunch of work to do that will directly affect the chickens and the egg laying situation. The need to protect them from the hawks is increasing and I'm just plain tired of the daily easter egg hunt. That dang coop is gonna get finished!

I also need to do something about the old, rotting rabbit hutches. I hate to breed if the kits will just end up falling out of the hutches. What keeps the big rabbits in, I just don't know. I've lost 3 big rabbits in the past 2 weeks, they're not in the hutches anymore. Technically not lost, I see them in the yard, just can't catch the buggers. One buck and 2 young does. Not like I have somewhere to put them once I catch them. This place is just plain falling apart around me. Lots of work to do...

Construction Day

I needed some extra space and some puppy/goat protection for my desk things so today was construction day. I built myself a desk with some shelves on top of it to keep little chewers from ruining my stuff. I also worked a bit on that milk jug planter idea. I need some more milk jugs to finish it and I didn't quite follow the original plan. I just kind of winged it. As I get a few more milk jugs, I'll post pictures of what I did with mine.

How about those airplane ears on Lil Sister? She's growing like crazy and has just now started to munch on soaked alfalfa cubes. A couple more weeks and she will be ready for the barn lot full time.

Looks like I might need to restart a few seeds. I did get a few of the sweet peppers sprout today but some of these seed sets are 14 days old now and should be sprouted by now. i think the cold and overcast smoked them. hard to get good germination when the peat pellets are constantly cold. Oh well, happens every year so just have to start some more when we have a few sunny days in a row.

Now to clean up all the sawdust those darn puppies scattered....

Nasty Mood

Yep, today is one of those nasty moods. It's mostly because of what happened yesterday and then waking up to 3 very noisy stock puppies. They are a handful, all the time. They can't help it, they're just puppies. The bowel movement thing is getting better and they're anxious to go out every morning so poop isn't my problem, not really anyway. They actually use the paper for the most part now.

Yesterday, I had to get a couple tires put on the dually. I'd run the pair of left rears to the cords and the inside dual has been flat for a couple of weeks now. There goes $350. So, I had the tires from the front put onto the back duals so the 2 new ones were on the front. My trusted tire guy comes to me and says " You need to come take a look at this". Of course, my heart sinks instantly. My right side ball joint is completely ate out and you can literally lift it out of socket, both inner tie rods are shot and the left side ball joint bushing is gone. Hmmm, I was thinking that the squeak I was hearing was the front shocks. Guess what happened when I pulled in the driveway with it. Yep, you got it, broken truck. This is the only vehicle I have to drive. I'm waiting on an estimate before I have it towed to the repair shop. Kind of glad hubster is already at work for the week. Guess he will just have to stay there until the truck is fixed. Good thing since we're gonna need the money. Of course he won't like it much since he doesn't really want to work anyway. So much for the new orchard and used farm equipment. The worst of this is my son's truck is broken too. He lost the tensioner pulley last week. The holder bolt broke on it. So, we got a new belt and a new tensioner pulley assembly but we can't get the hardened aluminum bolt out of the bracket. Have not found a bracket yet. He still needs to go to work every day. He likes his job and his paycheck tho and will find a way to get there no matter what.

So, I went to bed not really in a good mood. Then, in the middle of the night, Sissy peed the bed. Wake up at 6am to an overcast day and 3 stock puppies heeling me around the house and biting my toes. Open the door, out they go, time to feed Sissy. Now, the goat is fed, the puppies are back in the house and the obnoxious "hey, I'm awake, fed and I feel good" chase is on. The 4 of them will jump on and run across every piece of furniture I own, knock everything they possibly can down and bark for the next half hour. Yay rah! LOL I need a cup of coffee.......

Just Too Funny Not to Share

While I was at a preppers meet up this afternoon, my son sent me a picture of Lil Sister sleeping in my recliner. Apparently, the puppies wore her out!

Moving on with life

The empty spot in our hearts is hard to bear and the loss of a valuable stock dog is rough but life has to go on here. Lil Sister is hard headed and is not as much fun as Lucky goat was. Sissy has no intention of ever being house broke so the extra work cleaning up after her careless lifestyle is annoying to say the least. She needs to hurry up and grow so I can throw her little butt out of the house!

Enter the 3 new puppies. Each will create a special nook in our hearts and at least one will grow up and become the stock dog we need around here. I am once again not disappointed by the incredible intelligence of the Australian Cattle Dog (red and blue heelers). 2 days and these tiny puppies are paper training. 3 days and they are already herding the cats and Lil Sister. Now if they will just quit chewing on everything, LOL

11 days to seed starting! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! I've already been sorting my seeds and playing with them. Planning and dreaming of the coming bounty. I can't wait to get some new raised beds built and get the wood chips spread out into the garden rows. I have some fence fixing to do as well. I can't have those darn goats getting in the garden again this year. They are much too hard on the plants and I need to be able to harvest what I'm planting for myself.

The unusually warm weather bothers me. it's hardly been cold enough to kill off any of the pest larvae and I wonder how bad they will be come spring. I'm also a little concerned about the trees already starting to bud up. If we get a cold snap, how badly will it damage the fruit and nut harvest? It's still a few weeks before the official flood season gets here, I wonder how badly this weird weather is going to affect how much we flood? ARG, the waiting and worrying kills me. Come on spring, get here and get it over with already! LOL

Baby Goat Update

Little Sister is hanging in there and seems to be improving every day. Wish I could have gotten a picture of them all this morning, the kittens were all snuggled up with Sis and Shadow cat was laying on top of all of them. Sis is up to around 3 oz of milk a couple times a day and she's got plenty of energy in between. She's almost got her sea legs for the wood floor and is only occasionally looking like Bambi on the frozen pond ;)

Havent managed to get much done around the farm this week, the weather has been a bit nutty and Little Sister is taking up some time. I am planning on trying to get a new cheese press built (new design) and some shelves for storage and a table I can sew on.

I've got a cheese class to teach on Saturday, so far 2 students with possibly a 3rd. Lots of floor scrubbing to do before then!

Total Bummer

Jelly Bean and Little Sister last night, both looking good. Thought maybe the weaker JB would do okay since he was trying to stand and seemed to be getting stronger. Guess not since he passed on sometime in the night. Little Sister is full of herself this morning and has been bouncing around since 5am! During breakfast time, I noticed Yoda cat had made himself at home on a kitchen chair. I'd say he's pretty comfortable!

Not too much planned for around the farm this week but the usual farm living and maybe some new cheese experiments. Can't never tell what I might think up and create around here....

Well Crap

Actually, double crap. Today started out that way. I woke up late to get the cheese started for the class I was teaching today. I switched what I intended to teach and made due. Then, my son came in from milking for me and said the cow has a cut on a teat bad enough it will give us problems milking. Then, just as my students were arriving, hubster and son came to tell me Noma goat was in labor. 2 1/2 hours later, a prolapsed Noma is dead and we have twins delivered via c-section. The creamy colored kid was pulled out first, she's doing great. The second is a bit weak but is holding on. From the looks of it all, the kids are premature. This is not what I had planned for kidding season this year. Not a good start overall for the year even.

The cheese class went great tho!

Nasty surprise

Not on my top 10 favorite list, waking up to cold, muddy and spitting snow. Last night I milked the cow in a t-shirt and this morning the floor is cold enough to warrant fuzzy socks. I can't help but wonder what's on old Mother Natures mind when she throws crazy weather like this at us.

Yesterday was the second cheese class. I had 3 students for this one and I'm really enjoying the reactions when the milk turns into real cheese. One student had been trying to make cheese with a pretty good book of recipes and had not found success with it. It brought back memories of me trying to make cheese by following those recipes I have and all those nasty wheels of cheese even the dog wouldn't eat. As we went thru the process of cooking the curds down, i could see the "light" come on and I knew that student would never see failure again. I'm finding it to be a very rewarding experience and I'm really looking forward to the next 2 classes I have scheduled. Not sure how I'm going to get thru it all physically tho, it really wipes me out. The interesting thing about it all is the conversation during the class. There's more people than I thought out there worried about commercial foods, our economy, what's happening in our country and what our future holds. I think that some folks in our country are circling back toward the old ways, a Renaissance of sorts. Not necessarily a bad thing in my mind.

Well, I better get to the farm chores, I might have baby goats out there and I need to make a lasagna with all this store bought milk ricotta cheese I have sitting in the fridge.....

Dang Deer and Happy

Happy happy joy joy! Visions of Stimpy cat from the cartoon dancing around, LOL The power company guys are really coming thru with the wood chips for my "back to eden" garden plan. I'm excited because I know this will work out great here and really improve my gardens. Just not having to sit there and watch the weeds grow like crazy every time it rains because it's too muddy to go out in it and weed is going to make me very happy.

So much for my pretty truck! I big fat doe and her 2 buddies ran out in front of me Sunday night. I stomped the brakes and moved over as far as I could without getting in the ditch and got her head with the dually flare. Spun her around and she flat sided the wheel well. Oh well, it's better than staying in the path I was driving, hitting the 2nd in line with the front end and having the third one smack the side of the truck. This is the 5th deer I've whacked since November 1st. 19 years I went without hitting a deer and now all this. Go figure! The real kicker was she fell down, flopped around, got back up and ran off!

No baby goats yet. I guess they're all waiting for the nasty weather to get here. Why can't they kid when it's nice instead of when it's freezing cold? Kid watch continues....

Just Plain Crazy

I just went outside and herded up some wayward goats in a t-shirt. This is what it looked like last year at this time. Brutal cold, snow, ice, just plain unpleasant. Today it's sunny and comfortable outside in a t-shirt. We've had weird winters like this before and I'm not really complaining, I just know the other shoe will drop before long and I will miss this really nice weather!

Not too awful much has been going on around the farm. Just the same old stuff that happens in the winter months. Lots of cooking, animal tending and piddling around.

Of course, the seed catalogs are coming in now and I find myself day dreaming of spring. As the month of January drags by, I will be chomping at the bit to get seeds started in the hopes that we won't have a repeat of last years' spring. Ah, but don't be fooled by my dreaming, i already have a couple plants going strong in the kitchen, waiting for warmer weather! The blackberries Coley sent me are primed, in some good compost and waiting for the spring weather to get here. The raspberries my neighbor gave me are right next to them, waiting just as patiently. The cherry tomatoes are on the floor, in a bucket, trying to be patient, flowering anyway, LOL.

I'm even thinking about planting a new raised bed with some market veges, hybrids from Gurneys or Johnnys Seeds. While I'm not fond of hybrids for myself (can't seed save etc) I'm not against F1 hybrids for market uniformity and big harvest. I'll have to decide quick tho since seed starting time is just a few weeks away. If the weather stays like it is, I'll have that raised bed done in no time!

Good Attitude

Where did the nice weather go? right out the window! LOL Just a couple days ago it was a balmy 65F and today, it's not topped 35F with a nasty wind blowing all day. I feel like Mother Nature has a cruel sense of humor sometimes, LOL

Speaking of sense of humor, I still have mine. It's taken a beating the last couple of years and I wonder sometimes if I've lost it but nope, it's still here! Life sometimes isn't even close to as nice or easy as I would like it to be but I can't ever bring myself to quit or give up so I'm just stuck with it. Some day, it's got to get better. You blog readers and your comments really help me to keep going and keep a smile. Thanks ya'll.

I got this neat little box from a blog reader, it had something in it called "eggies". The idea is to use these "eggies" to hard boil eggs out of the shell. anybody who has ever taken fresh eggs and made hard boiled eggs knows what a total pain in the butt it is to get the shells off them. So, I read the directions and gave it a whirl. Simple as it can be, just assemble the eggie holders, put your raw egg in, close it up and put it in the water. They float around in the boiling water and cook. When they're done, they just pop right out. Instant, no peel hard boiled eggs. I diced and boiled a potato, added a chopped onion, a little home made mayo and had lunch.

Thank you Larry! A wonderful gift and a way cool new "toy" to play with!

Reflection Time

It's been a pretty difficult year, 2011. I'm pretty happy to see it be done and over with. There's plenty to look back to and reflect on. I started last year with the coal mine holiday party and that nasty food that gave me the 3 day migraine headache. But, the morning after that party is when we got Lucky goat!

January of 2011 was bitter sweet, with Lucky coming into our lives, the deep financial hole we suffered in, the crappy weather(plenty of snow and cold) and plenty of good food.

February came along with more snow and cold, kittens, seed starting, Polar Bear attacking Lucky goat, more financial troubles and canning experiments.

March came in "like a lion" with more nasty weather, the arrival of Daisy calf, lots of seed sprouting, the dehydrating experiments, plenty of good food, more financial troubles and the "super moon".

April was a rough month for the farm. Polar Bear killed all of the kittens, attacked Lucky goat a few times, the cold weather, the pouring rain, the seedlings all over the kitchen, the storm blowing part of the old barn roof off, the start of the flooding and my old girl Dusty dying on me.

May started with the box of dead stevia plants that arrived from Maryland via Alaska (good job USPS!) The garden tilled but the weather not allowing it to be planted, the daughter graduating college tons of baby bunnies and that sneaky rat snake sucking eggs!

Then came June and the beginning of the really rough living. Hubsters illness, the constant breakdowns of the haying equipment, the garden planted and growing, the surprise 7" of rain that drown the potato crop and of course, more financial problems that haven't gone away but instead, gotten worse.

July rolled in on me like a mack truck. Spud arrived, more equipment breakdowns, more financial troubles that really hammered us, more hubsters illness, weeds growing like crazy in the garden, horrible heat and humidity and my stressed out-got too hot episode.

August came with lots of canning work, dehydrating, the truck wreck, the goats wiping out a large chunk of the garden, the goat-napping, Steve arrived here to learn about farming, the lightning that ruined the tree, more equipment failures, more financial troubles and more snakes!

September rolled in with me realizing inviting Steve was a huge mistake. Lucky goats silly antics with the corn stalks, more doctors appointments, more financial troubles, the pitiful peanut harvest, the truck problems, and lots of good food.

October started slow with me trying to shape Steve into something useful(didn't work out at all (he was asked to leave) finding out Steve was even more messed up and more false than originally thought, lots of good food, getting some straw sold from a craigslist ad, the goat auction, Coley sent me blackberry clipping, the huge argonaut squash, tons of veges to can up and dehydrate, the farm expo and making new friends and lots of cheese making.

November started out with a severe emotional event. My neighbor had that horrible wreck, the oven element fried, plenty of cheese making, some cold and sloppy, muddy weather and a horrible start to deer season.

December came and went almost like slow motion. The weather wasn't really nice, the mud was constant. At least the critters were all healthy. had some tooth and gum problems, some surprise financial troubles, some nice snow and lots of good food.

So, in review, the high spots of the year were the critters and the produce with the low side being equipment failures compounded by constant financial troubles, hubsters 6 month illness and inviting Steve to help around the farm. Now, let's look forward to this new year being so much better.

Happy New year!

Use the Nice Weather

I should have taken some before and after pictures but I didn't think about it. I had around 80 bales of straw put up in an open sided section of the old, half falling down barn here. I should have known when the bad weather started coming in, I'd be sorry I didn't have some sort of gate built to keep the goats out of it. Instead of going into their designated area, they climbed all up in that stack of straw and little by little, broke about every bale in there, messed on a bunch they didn't break and generally made a mess of it in the past 10 days. So, today, I got a wild hair and attacked it for clean up. Hubster jumped on the tractor and helped out a bunch and saved me a couple hours of digging, scooping and wheel barrowing messed up, broken and wet straw bales.

One clean up project down, around 100 more to go!