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!

How'd that happen?

I know I looked a the weather radar before I went to bed. How did pouring rain end up looking like this? hahahaha That sneaky storm found some snow as it came across Mo in the early morning hours. This sure was pretty while it was falling. By noon, it was all gone. Morning chores found all the chickens still in the barn, LOL. Guess they've forgotten it's just snow.

I really like it when it snows, everything looks so clean and the whole world seems peaceful. Of course, I have to read the news and ruin it all.

The depravity of humans makes me almost ashamed to be human. Almost. I know that I am above these sick, depraved individuals. The behaviors exhibited over a stupid pair of shoes, the mob behavior over "rumors" of celebrities, the sick and cruel things people do to the helpless. Then, there's the behaviors of our own government. Not even taking into consideration the behaviors of major corporations in this country.

It chaps my butt a bit to think my own government would consider me a domestic terrorist for not being dependent on it. It does make a little sense tho, if I am a free thinker and not waiting for a hand out, I am not easy to control. But, as I see it, the government has a couple of fixes for that. Not even counting our government allowing DOW to petition to use 2,4D, an active ingredient in Agent orange, right here on farm land we as Americans will be eating from. Of course, it's to kill the super weeds that have been created by Monsantos Round up. Real nice. This is on top of the poison already being grown in the form of GMO crops. Oh, and don't forget the GMO mosquitoes about to be released down in Florida. Can you say human guinea pig?

Every aspect of life is pretty much controlled and dictated. This is something I am simply not comfortable with. Not at all. So, here it is, the big New Years resolution..... (drum roll, LOL) I vow to actively work (harder than I have before) to be out from under the corporate control of America. Off the system, not consuming a single thing produced by corporate America. No electric smart meters, no municipal water, no cheap crap made in china. I would also like to work more on helping others to become more self reliant. We'll see how it goes...

Whew, another day down

One more day done with this crappy, horrible year. I'll be glad to see this one gone. Just not a good year over all.

Aw, this year did have some good parts to it, just not in a row and not enough to out weigh the rough parts.

On a good note for today, Goober cow gave me 5 quarts of milk this morning! A whole half gallon more than she normally does. I think hanging the hay bag is working out much better that throwing the hay down for her. She wastes too much that way. With the bag, she's eating all the hay instead of pushing it around, laying on it and crapping on it. It's too much work to make the hay for her to just waste it like that.

All the goats look good and I'm thinking all the does are pregnant. The 2 older girls should give me twins, Delta will be a single, Skeeter will be a single and I'm not sure about the no name nanny. So, with a little luck, in the next few weeks, I should have 7 goat kids to play with. Lucky goat will like it too, he's been hanging around with Daisy calf since I hauled Spud to the auction.

I have not made any progress in the fencing, the goat shed and enclosure, the chicken house or the goat milking stand. The "maybe next week" thing is part of the bad I hope to leave behind with the coming of the new year.

I had to have some comfort food this evening. Just in the mood for pizza. I've been working up batches of whole milk mozzarella every chance I get. It's an easy cheese to do with lots of sitting time so it allows me to get other things done while it's being made. Some days I just need to be able to walk away from the kitchen to get things done. So, mozzarella it is. Then, I end up with 4 or 5lbs of cheese in the fridge. Of course, the result is a big pizza or 2 with real cheese on it! You just can not buy a pizza that tastes like these do. home made crust (no cardboard) real tomato sauce, home dried herbs, all the yummies you can stuff on it. smothered in home made cheese. Home made pizza should be a food group!

Getting By

I know I've been quiet lately, I just don't have anything to say. It's just everyday life here drown in stress from outside influences. The farm is still the same, hanging on like it always does. All the crops have been harvested and preserved, the goats are closer to kidding every day and the cow and animals get milked and tended twice a day. I actually had to dump 2 gallons of milk this week, the fridge was full and I was out of containers to keep the milk in. The outside influences took up too much of my time to make cheese or butter with it.

This farm could be so much more than it is. It's difficult to sit here every day knowing it could be so much more and not being able to do anything about it. As each week passes, all one can do is say "well, maybe next week". It's frustrating when your efforts are drained to outside influences. Just simply sustaining, hanging on, isn't enough some days.

Here we are, fast approaching Christmas day and it will pass here quietly, with hardly a whimper. I hope everyone out there has a joyous day filled with love and sharing.

I found something I am very interested in and will be doing what I can to be a part of it. There's a "camp" not far from me I'm considering participating in. It's basically a self sustained community with individual cabins, a couple of ponds and ground to keep critters on. It's new and in the works. Christian preppers Campsite. I will be writing more on this in the coming days.