Family

MAY 22, 2019 / RACHEL / EDIT

I was feeling especially not good about things yesterday.

I think I have some things I need to come to terms with.

We’re not really doing well as a family. Maybe that’s because we’re getting into the teen years of irritation and discontent humans.

There feels to be a huge amount of disconnect happening. I don’t know what to do to weave everyone back together or if that’s even something that can be done without making things worse. Maybe there is simply just and ebb and flow to a family. To these changing seasons and changing tides that roll with it.

Maybe I’ve just got to roll with it too.

Things were so much easier when our kids were little, when we were their whole world as parents and when they were children who depended on us for every single life sustaining thing. It was easy to be wrapped up eyes deep in mothering and parenting.

Now our children are 14, 12, & 9. And yes I know they still need us, but not like they used to. My oldest just made himself lunch and while he was having an argument with the air-fryer and I helped him, he didn’t really need me. But I was there so I showed him why it was being a pain. I got home from work last week and my 12 year old had baked brownies all by herself. My 9 year old literally just needs a tv and an endless supply of macaroni and cheese and chocolate milk and all will be well. But things are different.

They’re different. And I’m not needed like I used to be and I think this whole process of growing up is opening me up to new things.

On the other hand… I don’t feel like we really spend quality time together. Like when we do spend time together its during meals or during the rush to get ready in the morning, or when I remind them to do their chores, brush their teeth, pick up their dirty laundry. It is all the not fun, nagging parenting stuff that I get now. Only the 9 year old enjoys watching tv together once in a while. The older two would rather be texting with their friends. I think this is all probably fairly normal. But I was a young mom and therefore I don’t know many moms with kids the same ages as mine… at least none that I’d want to open up and talk to about it. About the deep rooted feelings I’ve been having.

Looking Back & Looking Ahead

MAY 8, 2019 / RACHEL / EDIT

I read over a couple previous posts. 

I still don’t have any solid answers. I’m just running on faith that one day it will all pay off and we’ll have the resources to sustain this lifestyle.
The greenhouse didn’t get built in time for spring gardening and so I had to set up my seeds indoors. Resulting in fewer starts and not enough to sell anything. But the greenhouse plan has been modified since the original plan of having a freestanding greenhouse and now I intend to build it onto the front of our house. Which will act as an added living space. As such the build is going to be much more expensive than previously planned. I hope to get it framed in and roofed this fall and ready for plants by spring 2020. Ya know, unless plans change again.

Still waiting on goat kids, 5 more weeks to go. I think Belle is carrying twins, though she may just be extra plump, that’s not unlike her.

Our second litter of rabbits are due this week. I’m definitely interested in selling them rather than butchering for meat for ourselves. “You buy ’em or we eat ’em”… that might be a bit harsh. But in all reality rabbit is an incredibly sustainable source of meat and the quality is top notch for protein and is very low in fat. Look in any old recipe books and I bet you’ll find recipes for rabbit. In other countries you can walk into the supermarket and buy rabbit meat and you’d be shocked at how expensive it is!

We’re still tossing around the idea of raising some chickens for meat for ourselves. But if we’re going to do it we need to plan for a good butcher date that isn’t blistering hot outside. We seriously lack shade on our property and while we planted 20 trees this year, they won’t be much help for at least 6 years when it comes to shade haha.

We got our garden beds built, filled, fenced, mulched, totaling about $560 so far, including seeds. That was a big money drain but it was an important one. I’m struggling however to get my herbs to grow. I think that directly sowing them into the garden is going to be the best option. I’m never going to break even when it comes to gardening.

Our chickens are laying so many eggs that I’ve started using eggs as currency. Haha

I need to buy some egg cartons in bulk and start officially selling eggs. It’s almost time to put up a sign or two EGGS & RABBITS. I never thought we’d get to this point to be honest. I am going to have to get a separate mini fridge for eggs though. We’re collecting so many that there is no way to keep them all in our fridge now. And we keep them on the counter for ourselves a lot of the time depending on the weather and temperature in the house but in order to sell here they have to be washed and refrigerated and marked with the date collected.

Sometimes when I write I feel like it comes out as a jumbled mess of thoughts coupled with to do lists.
I hope that it doesn’t read that way… lol I apologize if it does.

Also, we would still like to get some pigs this year but I’m struggling to find any listings in our Area Shopper Ad, so I’m going to have to start looking elsewhere for them. I really should set up a craigslist account anyway. Also… I need to remember that site that is “like craigslist for farmers” …. because apparently that’s a great way to sell and buy what we need.

Seedlings ~ Projects ~ Babies, Oh my!

MAY 2, 2019 / RACHEL / EDIT

I’ve been juggling life differently lately. Balancing working with the busyness of springtime.

My garden boxes are filled with dirt, mulched around, and waiting seedlings. We also put up a fence to keep chickens and dogs out.

My little seedlings are doing pretty well but it is definitely time to put them in the garden beds. It has been raining so much I haven’t had much of a chance to get them transplanted. I’m hoping that I can get it done today. I need to look at my garden map again. My herb seeds are not growing as well as the vegetable seeds. I’m going to try direct sowing them and see what happens.

I’ve been studying my herbs and making plans for the future.

I tried posting a new video to YouTube but I keep getting an error in the process which is infuriating. I seriously need to get a camera and use my computer to upload instead of my iPhone. But I like the ease of my iPhone for making videos so there’s that. I’m so much more likely to do it if my phone cooperates which leads me to believe that the reason I stopped uploading in the fall was because of technical difficulties. I found a couple videos I made that I never uploaded.

Next order of business… animals on the homestead.

The first rabbit had her kits! I counted 8 but there may be more, I didn’t want to disturb them too much being brand new and all. Mama bunny is doing well and seems a lot happier than she was last week. She looked absolutely ticked off and I’m pretty sure she wanted to bite me at one point. The second rabbit should be due in about a week.

The turkey, Groot, is laying eggs again. She is very territorial of them. I shouldn’t have taken them yesterday because today she’s going to be in a horrible mood. Maybe I’ll take them back to her. She is our only turkey so they are not fertile. And speaking of eggs, we were getting a bunch of duck eggs. But now the duck has apparently decided to lay eggs elsewhere. I’m not sure if she intends to sit on them or if she just wants to keep them hidden. I was wanting to get a few more ducklings this year so if she hatches some I’d be thrilled. We really enjoy watching them walk around the yard and I can’t wait to set them up with a swimming pool.

---

We painted our oldest kids bedroom a dark blue color and it looks awesome.

A perk there is left over paint and… the blue is going to be perfect for an accent wall above our fireplace. Most people would just keep it for touch ups and such but Sherwin Williams keeps records of what paint and finish we bought and I don’t really have a good place to keep things like paint from getting nasty from weather fluctuations. We need to paint the rest of our house but that’ll happen after the bedroom build. And probably towards the fall because summer is such a busy time.