Homestead Renewed

So in the past few years, my homesteading has been fairly limited, partially due to illness, and a lot due to frustration! In 2006, I came down with Peripartum Cardiomyopathy, which is a fancy way to say I got heart failure from a pregnancy! I was very blessed in that I recovered eventually! However, I unfortunately did lose my baby due to an unrelated problem.

   During the next few years I just simply struggled to make progress here at Little Bit Farm. My Kids are getting older, which one would think would make things easier because they would be extra help, but it just made them more stubborn when it came to convincing them to help. Not to mention, they are all finding their own lives, and often did not see the point of where I was devoting mine. Now I am really not complaining. For sure my frustration was not solely from their lack of interest. My frustration went a lot further than that. For one thing we began to really struggle financially, and feed costs went sky high, and inflation in everything else went up too. It just got to the point where I felt that I was fighting a one woman battle, and steadily losing ground, and nobody cared but me! So I took a vacation, no goats, no turkeys, no ducks, no geese, no pigs. I kept the remainder of my chicken flock after the last bad dog.

   However, during that time we didn't abandon all thought of homesteading. We did manage to keep our little four acres and orchard here growing, and we purchased 30 acres for our future homestead. This last summer has reminded me of my priorities, as my garden mostly died during this drought, mostly because I was too busy to care for it.

   In spite of all that Fall is coming, and I am renewed in my commitment to feed our family from home. For one thing, I cannot afford not to! For another, I know that it is the healthiest alternative for someone who cannot afford to buy Organic food all the time.

   So I am renewing, revamping, and rebuilding my homestead and to a degree my life! My youngest, my daughter Lacey and I are starting over. In the last weeks I have added 4 standard Bronze Turkeys( Two Toms and two hens. One Tom will be Christmas dinner), 7 beautiful pure white muscovy ducks, 6 guineas, and quite a few chickens. Lacey and I have done some fence repair, and we will soon have a big barn cleaning, as soon as the burn ban is lifted.  Also I have made a deal on a small herd of Boer Goats(4 nannies and a wether), which will be delivered here soon. It's a good thing, because my pasture needs some trimming! I am also looking into adding a few sheep at some point. We will not be adding pigs, they became overwhelming, and too expensive to feed! I will also pick up a good dairy buck I think, to cross to the boers.

   I am also revamping my garden for fall, and am fixing to plant several beds this week! I will be putting in quite a few vegetables to carry me through winter. Honestly, I can't wait! I'm dreaming of Kale, Mustard, Spinach, Turnips, Beets, more summer squash, bush beans and all manner of yummies!

   Today, On my plate I have cucumber relish, and Watermelon Shrub, and preserving 100lbs of Potatoes. With that, I am ending this post so I can get to it!!!