Ceaberry's Monday Musings: It's not goat season...

"It's duck season, it's rabbit season, no it's duck season, NO it's RABBIT season..." As my 3 years old says, "No, it's deer season!" Here in West Virginia deer season opened today. Where most people only get Wednesday-Friday off of school, we get the whole week because kids just wouldn't attend school. Mr. Native Farmer is off work as well. That is how big deer season where I live actually is, and it brings all new issues this year.
I have an alpine goat named Cammie, who is currently heavily pregnant. She looks just like a deer. Granted she is in an enclosed area, in my garden, with a pink collar on, but that hasn't stopped people from telling me they thought she was a deer. They go a bit deer crazy here... This whole week, especially the first and last days of the season, I will be worrying someone might mistake my goat (who is amongst other goats might I add) will get shot. Now you think people wouldn't shoot at her, through a scope she would clearly NOT be a deer, but people shoot cows, dogs, horses, and other creatures mistaking them for deer all the time. People shoot OVER our black Angus cows all the time. If they were to hit one of our cows they are responsible for the price of the cow and any calf it has with it, since it would stunt at this point in its life if it lost its momma.
I am not against hunting... I am against stupidity. Just like I am not against running bear dogs, but there are some dumb people in this world... and it seems they love to wield a gun. Mr. Native Farmer is currently out on his stand trying to get us a deer for this year, but we shall see if he gets anything. I heard a few shots around this morning, which is why I am waiting to feed and water the animals this morning. Hunters have been known to "kill the noise" if you catch my drift and there is no need putting my animals in harm's way.

For now, hope everyone stays safe this week and have a Happy Turkey Day if you are in the USA!

Ceaberry's Monday Musings: Juggling a Homestead Day

Now, I have talked a lot about homesteading lately. I am in the process of imbedding that word in my life permanently. When I was in Scotland, I was into crafting and school work. Now I am up to my elbows in animals, garden, homesteading, and kids. That kind of shift in perspective hasn't happened just once in my life. I have picked up and changed my entire lifestyle in a moments notice many... many times. I know the old adage that people don't change. That is a bunch of malarkey, many people do it ALL the the time, I have a friend from when I lived in Dallas who now is on a family cattle farm, she was the most city girl I knew but she upped and left that and started a new adventure (strange me and her live almost identical lives and we grew up across the street, literally, from each other). If you think the homesteading life isn't in conjunction with your lifestyle then I urge you to think about this: If it appeals to you think long and hard why it does, if your current lifestyle was everything you need you wouldn't be peeking to see if the grass is greener. One thing I like about homesteading is you can take it in small chunks or dive in head first and hope for the best (don't expect it though, research is key).

So let me enlighten you about yesterday and what is on the agenda for today. Full disclosure: I am writing this at 4am, I have been up since 2am because Miss C decided to wake up. Once I have had 4 hours of sleep, I physically can't go back to sleep once I get up. That whole sleep when kids sleep doesn't apply to 95% of parents, so nicely don't give that advice.

Yesterday (Sunday):
5am wake up due to Miss C (she is teething and having a milestone so these wake ups are common until it passes)
7am Miss P wakes up and we do our morning routine: YooHoo and a show.
7.30am I do my morning feed everyone routine. Takes about 30 minutes.
8am Miss C and Daddy wake up and are hungry
9am I make breakfast of flakey biscuits, bacon, and farm eggs.
9.30am I go out to finish my milk stand (I got goats last week).
10.15am Our neighbor came by to level our driveway so Mr. Native Farmer had to go out and I had to finish getting Miss P ready for her day out with Papaw.
10.45am Me and the girls go to the grandparents (they live next door) to drop Miss P off while the leveling is going on.
11.30am Me and Miss C come back and I am back to finishing the goat stand... in the rain.
11.45am I check the chickens for eggs (normally there are eggs but this day they waited until 5pm to lay any).
12pm Lunch
12.30pm Me and Mr. Native Farmer dropp Miss C with Grammie and we go work on fencing on the farm to fence off hay lots from the cows.
4.30pm We finish all of that work and go on the farm to check for calves.
5pm We come back to the house to milk a goat for the first time... not even kidding.
5.30pm I head back to pick up Miss C and Miss P
6.15pm We come back to eat dinner
7pm Girls and Daddy go to bedtime routine
7.30pm Me and Mr Native Farmer relax and watch some shows
9pm We are all out asleep.

That was my Sunday. My last 3 weeks have been that jammed pack. There are untold household chores mixed in all of that plus cooking and childcare.

Today I plan on doing my normal feeding routine, cleaning out the coop, maybe tying out the goats, and of course milking some more. On top of that I have countless chores and small tasks to complete today, all before 8pm. That is my Dancing with the Stars break. I LIVE for Mondays during these times.

It is HARD, I am not going to sugar coat it because there are more then just a single person's life on the line when homesteading. I have my husband, my kids, cats, chickens, ducks, and goats. They all require parts of me, and I need to tend to them like I do my garden. Without tending to them they will not get the full benefit. My kids absolutely adore their animals and they love the pigs that are temporarily on the farm (neighbors are holding 2 pigs here for a short time). They get so excited seeing the cows, every time. They love my garden and the cotton plant that is in the house, that thinks it still needs to flower. Really, the exhaustion is from being a bit out of shape and after two close pregnancies, it takes a toll on your body that takes years to recover from, time you don't get when raising kids.

The word "farm" puts into mind men working out in the fields, but homesteading is normally a joint effort. My kids truly enjoy this lifestyle, homesteading and farming. If they chose to pursue it later in life that is great and they won't have to start from scratch but if they choose it isn't their lifestyle then that is ok as well, I have been in a lot of different situations in my life and whatever they come up against I, as their parent, will be there to help guide them and watch how they figure it out for themselves.

That is why I do it, the absolute joy of my family have in taking on care of the animals, farm and garden. Miss C feeds the chickies and goats one blade of grass at a time (thankfully the goats seem to understand littles and gently take the blade without getting snotty). Miss P feeds "her" chickies she has been waiting for "forever" and she loves feeding the goats. She has favorite animals. They enjoy handing apples to the cows and tossing them to the pigs. I had to move the mealworm farm because they kept looking in the drawers. They also love putting shredded paper into the worm tub.

Under the surface of all of this, I do all the household chores, inside and outside; I do the childcare and most of the raising decisions; and I maintain and upkeep an old farmhouse. On top of this we have the same little issues that creep up here and there. Let's not even mention I do have a full business I am running as well. One day, when I get my house under control, a lot of what I will be doing will be old hat and habit. My house won't be out of a catalogue, my family makes sure of that every day, but it will be effortless and streamlined. I hate having to search 45 minutes for a tape measurer or some tool I need or running out of screws. You know... those niggles but once I am a bit more simplified I will get this homesteading juggling act a bit more refined and then my family or animals will throw a wrench in the works and I will adapt and change.

Happy Homesteading.

Monday Musings: I am not in the Meat business...kind of.

I live on a beef cattle farm. That is the only type of meat business I plan on ever being in on this farm. I am in it for the product of my animals including the cows. My ducks give me eggs (eventually), the chickens give me eggs and more chicks/pullets, and the cows give me calves. One day we might have goats for milk, and we will soon have temporary pigs (not our pigs) and they are for meat but that's a different story since that is our payment for housing the pigs.

So I am not technically in the meat business when it comes to my poultry. They can be on this farm if they do 1 of 3 things: 1. Lay eggs, let's face it that is why I got chickens, 2. Provide protection, my roosters/drakes are living here on the basis of alerting the entire flock to danger plus fertile eggs, and 3. Provide "pet" value love, I have a few (and I mean few) chickens I will let live past their prime on this farm because they provide a special place in my heart.

I bring this up because yesterday I did a trade of some money and 4 cornish hens for 3 Khaki Campbell ducks (a drake and 2 hens). I know exactly what is going to happen to the Cornish hens, what should have happened over 18 months ago but the previous owners were without running water for almost that long and butchering a chicken without running water... *shutter* So they were overweight, really sick because they caught a cold before I got them and couldn't shake it, they couldn't walk, they waddled like a duck, and they were one scare away from a heart attack. They lay 1 egg/week. That, on a production farm, just can't happen.

I know a lot of people may not think it was necessary to have the chickens taken away to be culled just because they weren't producing. I pay the feed bill, I decide what chickens to bring into my flock, I protect my flock as much as I can from predators and illness, and I use their products to make money to pay for said feed bill. That is my homestead, I don't like making the hard decisions but that's what I signed up for when I decided to get living animals. We have had the unfortunate task of putting down a dog recently (not via a vet) because he got hit in the road and we have lost a few cats and put one down (used a vet, $120 later) due to cancer. Those are the decisions you might have to make as just a pet owner none-the-less a farm animal owner. Our poultry are just as much livestock as our cows and both balance on the edge of being livestock and being pets. We love all of our animals as caretakers but you have to be one step removed from "pet" or else those hard decisions add u quickly and take a toll on you as a person.

One last note: Besides being inhumane to allow them to live any longer, they were very very sick. I tried to bring them out of it but they only got sicker. Here are three of the 4 chickens that gave someone else meat today. Just want to thank them for being good chickens.

Happy Homesteading.

Ceaberry's Monday Musings: Until the cows come home

Many people who do not live on a cattle farm of various types may not understand the statement, "until the cows come home." I hear that statement, and say it, multiple times from May to October when our cows go to pasture on other grazing allotments and are not right behind the house. We bring them home for the winter and for calving. We calve in the winter (October to December depending on when the bull was brought in and then left).

Until the cows come home:

1. We can leave all the gates open. This means we do not have to endlessly stop vehicles and go open a gate only to have the vehicle go past then reclose the gate and hop back in the vehicle to the next gate. 
• Now thankfully we don't have many gates but sometimes... let's just say the cows get through said gates. Now it isn't so problematic at the main farmhouse, that is off the road and we can generally lure them back with hay. At our homestead, we have two gates (well three but they can't get to that one). One is right next to the road and the other (the one they like to break through) is at the lower end of our homestead (we are on a hill so imagine a gate at the top near the road and a gate at the bottom that is in our side/backyard). 
• We leave gates open because we are bringing items in like trucks, tractors, equipment, and hay bales.
2. We can store and bring in hay without risk of cows getting into the lots.
• This may sound like a weird thing to say, but our cows are stupidly smart. They are smart enough to get into the hay lots but it costs us unnecessary hay loss when it happens. 
• We do give the cows the benefit of the doubt that something was wrong with the paneling but last year they were getting in there EVERY night for 4 night in a row. The offending cow was taken to the stockyard. If you don't rid yourself of the cow that is breaking in she will teach them all then you have a HUGE problem on your hands.
• We are not completely done with our haymaking and storing so having to maneuver around curiously hungry cows is not always pleasant.
3. You don't have to make 3 trips to the farm every day to check for calves.
• While exciting as it sounds to go check on cows about to give birth, it is not always idyllic nor "down home country" as people lead on. If you have ever watched The Incredible Dr. Pol, you get some sense of what I am talking about here.
• I have, and probably will this year, been woken up at 4 am to a phone call saying one of the cows is baying or that my FIL is out in the middle of a blizzard to help pull a calf. Then it is: bundle everyone up to go help and seek out the cow in need.
• You have to count cows, multiple times, each and EVERY trip. We have woods where our cows can go and hide their calves. Many times Mr. Native Farmer has had to carry a calf out of the woods. We do this because a cow and calf alone cannot hold off a pack of coyotes. 
4. Cows like to escape... all the time.
• Fixing fence and water gaps have to happen before they get here or else you are chasing them all over the fields of your unhappy neighbors or even worse, on the road. Cows in the road are the fear of EVERY farmer, especially ours that are BLACK cows. You hit a cow with a car and you can trust the cow may not be the only one harmed, you hit a cow with a logging truck (a lot of what we have coming down our road) and unfortunately, it is probably the same scenario. It is DANGEROUS and can end a farm in a heartbeat. 
• We had some troubling cows again last year, they were breaking the water gap. Our neighbors, thankfully humorous people, came down to tell me. Now normally my FIL is around to go get my husband and fix the issue. This particular day I was alone with my kids on the farm, no MIL, FIL, or husband. So I called my MIL (the closest) and went to go find my husband. If you don't know he works on a larger farm during the day so I cannot always know where he is at a certain time. We got them in and had to fix the fence AND the water gap. They went to pasture first...
5. You don't have the smell... or the risk of stepping in piles.
• Granted when they thought of our homesteads they thought of wind direction. We don't get as much cow smell as some farms but there is the occasion. I have chickens so really... not that terrible.
• What is more treacherous is the cow patties. I am the one that opens the gates so you can see my disdain. The cows LOVE to graze near fences, gates, and my house. So they are EVERYWHERE. Strangely, these behaviors mean the business end is generally away from the fence about 5ft. However, in the spring things get a bit trickier when we are walking the property for wild mushrooms and other projects like planting potatoes.

So when the cows come home is more of a warning than a good thing. Yes, having them close while calving is great but they come with their own issues. It marks a time of the year where things start to change. More use of tractors for feeding hay, the growing seasons are normally done, we are getting ready for winter, time for getting wood for the wood stove (our only source of heat in the winter), and for calf watch. It is awesome when that last calf is born, we are off birthing watch but still on baby watch for any problems or predators.

Ceaberry's Monday Musings: Egg Envy

When we got chickens it was for the eggs. Our initial set of pullets were born sometime in early April. That means our pullets wouldn't be ready to lay until at least September. Mr. Native Farmer isn't a patient person and he gets a bit of look-over-the-fence-itis. We have 17 chickens, 14 hens and 3 roosters (that many roosters isn't as bad as it seems). Now technically we should be getting 10ish eggs a day by now. My lovely husband is getting restless, he sees the eggs our cousins are getting or a neighbor are getting and he complains a bit about out 3-a-day average (our biggest amount was yesterday at 6 and today was 2 eggs). Let's note both the neighbors and our cousins' chickens were born in February and purchased in March. One set are Rhode Island Reds which lay 2 eggs a day, and the other set are a mixture of chickens who also tend to lay 6 times a week. Our chickens on the other hand are 2 months younger and the breeds range from 3-6 times a week. I do have to say the ones that are only suppose to lay 3 times a week definitely exceed that at the current moment, they lay more like 5 times a week.

In the last two weeks we have been getting more and more "first eggs" here on the farm. One day we had 2 first eggs. Now for those of you who haven't had chickens before (raises hand), first eggs are a bit of a shocker. Most blogs will tell you about the hilariously small eggs from new layers but they forget one fact. First eggs come out a bit bloodied. We have had from a small spot on the shell to down right covered. Yup it isn't pretty, which is probably why no-one mentions it or photographs it. Don't worry no photos of bloody eggs here either but I thought you should know if you are waiting for your first eggs.

As for size... I finally got a hilariously small egg AFTER getting 5 new layers first. Yeah, my hens laid pretty decent sized first eggs. Actually, I even thought maybe a bird from outside had gotten in and laid an egg it was so tiny compared to the other first eggs. My hens are also laying in the pine shavings and not in the nesting boxes (sigh) so finding that tiny one was quite a trip. I believe it was from a silkie based on the size of egg it will eventually become. My other first eggs have been on the border of pewee and small in weight so not so bad, but the smallest was only 19g instead of the 35-40g of the others. Today I had a first egg weigh 37g and a sebright egg (one of my few white egg layers) weigh 35g so it was bigger then my normal eggs!

Brown leghorn (bottom and left), First egg -- cleaned (middle), and Sebright -- it looks cream but it was white (top and right).

We have about 8 new layers, 4 old layers and 2 undecided. One of our Brown leghorns decided to go broody so no eggs from her for a while, it took my sebrights about 2 weeks to recover from when they went broody on me in the summer. Now, experience chicken owners may know, leghorns aren't typically good brooders, and they lay white eggs (they are what most of the eggs are in the supermarket). This leghorn went broody and its the one that lays cream eggs so go figure. The two chickens not laying are the little bannie, she is only 5 months old and I believe one of my australorps that may be a rooster... but she just looks like a rooster, she doesn't act like one.

Happy Homesteading!

Ceaberry's Monday Musings: Taking a breath

On a homestead there is a lot of work to do. That is an understatement, it is a 24/7 job. I tell Mr. Native Farmer that when he leaves work, he gets to leave work. The homesteading, stay at home mom, and small business owner me does not ever leave work. Granted when he gets home he becomes daddy and son of a family farmer so really... he never leaves work either. We had a Sunday planned that was supposed to be peaceful, taking our time and enjoying a day after some hard work from the day before.

We helped cousins start a bigger run and coop for their 6 beautiful chickens and we need to go back and finish the job sometime soon. Let's just note I put in 1500+ staples without getting a blister. I don't think that is a proud moment more like a show of how much stapling of chicken wire I have been doing lately. I was making sure the chicken wire was secure, they have a much bigger dog problem then we do and they had a bit of duck tragedy recently.

I let him sleep in, it was his weekend. We do that, we alternate weekends of sleeping in, normally it is just one day of that weekend but its good to know that the option presents itself. We also alternate nights (or mornings) when the kiddos arise before the chickens. It doesn't matter if you're sick, tired or just went to bed, if its your night then its your night (or weekend). Anyway, I get him up around 9 and I was just finishing up the dishes (which is why I got him up to watch the kids since I was busy for the next 30 minutes and they are a bit too spirited so early in the morning, I had been up since 5am). The phone rang, he was off to work to put in some cattle. Our plans for the day up in the air again! When he got home we went to go pick tomatoes, you know the ones we don't eat, from his boss' garden. I am so looking forward to all the tomato powder I am going to get from these lovelies to boost my stews and sauces this winter. It is really a different taste one must experience in life... even if you don't like raw tomatoes.

Having a homestead can have you hopping all day, every day. Then having kids keeps you on your toes during the wee hours of the morning. Let's throw in some kittens we have inside until they are fixed and weaned. Why don't we add in the family farm needing to be tended, along with my own business. Taking a breath is something that should happen more often then it does and it is well needed when it does happen.

My breath moments come when I do a bi-annual ritual of watching Dancing with the Stars with my Mother-in-Law and my Aunt-in-Law. We go to my AIL's house and watch the show, eat some sweets, drink some coffee, and chew the fat. It is 1-2 hours away from being... well... me. I get to be the person I was before kids, marriage and homesteading. I don't have friends my age near me. I had a select few friends in High School (Mr. Native Farmer was my best friend in those days), all of whom have moved away from our impoverished area to find better opportunities elsewhere. My college friends are even further flung afield and my Scotland friends are even farther spread then those. I tend to make friends with people who like to travel, even my friends from when I was younger in Texas have spread out to far reaches of this Earth. So no, I don't have anyone my age except my husband to really relate to, so these times with my in-laws (who are apparently awesome since I choose to spend time with them regularly) are my "adult-single-kidless-me" time.

So if you are wrapped up in homesteading and you find yourself doing the dishes at 4am or even 2pm and you find yourself sighing. STOP, take a breath. Your body is telling you, whispering to you stop. Many things about becoming all my titles is learning how to let it go, let it slide, and knowing you can't and won't get it all done today, maybe not even this week, but it will get done, or not. The world will keep changing. If I have an empty dirty laundry basket, inevitably about 5 minutes after enjoying that fact my kids will pee on the floor (potty training at its finest here) or I dunno... spit tea all over their room and their white shirts. So before going off the rails with the unfairness of that, take a breath and laugh a little. Take life a bit less seriously and everyone will be happier for it.


If you seem to not be able to bring yourself to that: Please feel free to download this photo and put it as your background.

Hours old kittens

Or 6 week old kittens

Now doesn't that make you smile?? Happy Crafting and Homesteading!!

Ceaberry's Monday Musings: Background on Homesteading for Me

Happy Monday! I have been busy these last couple of weeks so my updates got a little sporadic. I am still working behind the scenes and on the homestead for some fun updates and useful information. This is my first year in homesteading and I have not gone completely gung-ho about it but I have done many things around the house and farm that will be making its way to you.

Life on a farm and living in an old farmhouse has it unique set of challenges. I am a stay at home mom with a side business that I have had for almost 8 years (coming up in October). There are a lot of stigmas to each descriptor of my life and it seems key to have so many descriptors that no one seems to know where exactly to place you. I am not a placeable object or a person that fits any kind of box, I love it that way but it isn't easy nor is it for everyone.

I watched a YouTube video of a the lovely personality Starry Hilder Off Grid Homestead. She discusses the fact that people get into homesteading and living off the grid, then they quit. The old adage is that you must do something for 30 days straight to make it a habit. Which is why I choose Lent to change things, you do something more, do something less, and help someone/thing out for 40 days. That is THREE habits that change all at once. Anyways, she was so deeply saddened that a certain couple chose to stop homesteading, but they both worked full-time and had 6 kids. Starry is normally very upbeat, wacky and cheerful. Even if you don't like homesteading, she will make you want to do at least some part of it, she shows the grittier parts of that lifestyle without bemoaning it.

Why I chose her video as an example is because it resonates with me on a different level. Haven't we all been afraid of something we tried and now loved? Wasn't there always times we wanted to throw in the towel (or did) only to look nostalgically back on that thing we loved, wishing in some small part we still did that, were still a part of that community? We can find so many excuses and reasons not to do something, and we all get overwhelmed at times. Homesteading is a task not be taken on lightly, nor is quitting homesteading either. You must be a certain type of person, we all have that potential to change into that type of person, but not everyone has them umph or gumption or want to do so.

Homesteading and "living off the grid" are two VERY different things, and very different lifestyles. One can homestead or live off the grid or both. I have a B.S. degree in Environmental Sociology and Zoology (don't try googling that as a degree, I had the opportunity to create my own degree major at West Virginia Wesleyan College), a B.A. in History, and a M.Sc (that's a UK Masters) in Human Osteoarchaeology. Yeah, you're think none of that has anything to do with homesteading or living off the grid, but it actually set me up to be the perfect person to have those ideals. Yes, I love to do my part for the environment, but I am not a fanatic and probably not as eco-friendly as I should be.

I will always be "on the grid," I do not want to live completely off the grid. I believe in environmentalism and consumerism (thus my none box type of personality, I blame it on being a Libra). You may not know my age, but I lived in a world without the internet, computers, and cell phones (my first one was in college and it was a pay-as-you-go). I didn't get my first Apple product (my computer I am typing this post with) until 2009. I didn't step into the world of Apps and such until 2011. Heck, I still had a tape player (walkman) until I was well into Highschool when finally my parents took pity on me and got me a CD player. People I saw the first DVDs, they were larger in the records!! So it is not all the electronics that keep me "plugged in." I am here for the community, the millions of people and the the think tanks of ideas for anything and EVERYTHING I want to learn about.

Now Homesteading, I decided that to change my life I needed to change my labeling of things. I live on a homestead. Instantly a sprawling farm and ranch style life comes to mind. That's all well and good but I live in rural West Virginia, that's not exactly the rosy picture my house paints (yet). My house is "rustic" and mostly neglected. In remedying the neglect I have made it turn more charming, and functional. To quote a recent Project Runway episode: I am Ballin' on a Budget.

Both topics take YEARS to accomplish. Please do not rush out and try to do all the things, it is hard to do. Changing to "homesteading" rather than "repairing neglect of a house steeped in so much family history is suffocating" made my mind more at ease and peaceful. I became determined, more crazed then determined, to get stuff done this year. After years of pregnancy and babyhood, and excuses as why I haven't done this or that, enough was enough. I started outside 30 minutes every day with the kids at the beginning of May. It was hot, it was humid, it sucked. The kids loved it. I slowly worked up to an hour before nap time, it was still hot and it still sucked but the enthusiasm of the kids and the nap that happened quickly there after was worth it.

Now I am outside about 4-9 hours at a time, if I am not there I am inside doing things that are homesteading indoors (like dehydrating vegetables or seed saving or fixing broken things around the house). On top of all of that I do my yarn business and I am a mom and housewife (means I do the chores and running of the house while taking care of my two children under 3). What does my husband do? He is a farm laborer on another farm and the only farm hand here on our family farm, plus he is a gatherer (he gathers wood, mushrooms, ginseng, extra wood, tools, and stuff I would end up throwing away later). We decided to put the kids bedtime (read that as off of us time) at 7-8 pm, to keep us from not having us or me or him time. Truly, a sanity saver.

Homesteading, take it on piece by piece. I started with cutting down overgrown areas of my yard, which I am still working on but they are cut down, by hand might I add. I am not an in shape person nor am I abnormally strong, if you think you can't do it, try. Again I started with 30 minutes (you can start with less) and I started in the hottest months of the year while watching two kids. I then went to my garden, I started small. A raised bed we have had for years, and a container garden. Not everything made it (are cabbages are hilariously small). After that was the chicken coop. Now that was really my first step to homesteading. Choosing animals to raise is a really important decision. We have joked around about goats but chickens was really our Step 1 to becoming a homestead. Step 2 is next year with my garden expansion and revitalizing the space that is the hill (also add an e instead of an i) of forsythia. So next year will be all about the garden. I added worms and composting in the side mix, things that are by products of having a garden and chickens. They are small and require minimal effort and time. Step 3 will be a revamp of the inside of the house into a processing homestead that my husband is really excited about, something about canning jars just gets him in a happy mood (especially when they are filled with deer meat and deer jerky).

So I am going to end this massive post with this little lesson I learned from Starry: Take it slow and build up to it or you might overload and have to quit when life gets in the way. We live in a world where discomfort is remedy easily and the grit that people once had is slowly vanishing, but it is still there. My start to homesteading has been rewarding but not too terribly fun. It is the hard work that makes me keep at it (and maybe the 10lbs I have lost and the gorgeous tan I now possess). Even if you start with an herb garden in a small planter in your house, that is homesteading. It is giving up convenience in any way to provide something for yourself.

This is who I do it for: The next generation.

Yeah her hair is normally like this in the morning.

Sisters.

I think she was showing Blueberry the grass.

She loves her Blueberry kitty.

We were at the WV state fair. She was having fun in the kid's garden.

This is the look I get before she does something mischievous. I get this look... a lot. 

Having so much fun!

Happy Homesteading!! Want to see my ideas? Follow me on Pinterest!