We've had visitors the last couple of days, which was a good excuse to get the kids roused from their summer breakdom to whip the house and property into shape! 

One of our visitors was a friend from up in the city and her kids who come down every so often to see the critters.  She grew up in NY city and pet her first chicken, her first goat, her first donkey, her first duck ect... at our place.  It's fun to be able to share these things with her and the kiddos. who all enjoy coming down, despite the drive.  Today my parents came up from way down in the country - they live in more the "the country" than we do.  We celebrated their wedding anniversary with burgers made from the beef we get from a friends' grass-fed cattle and veggies from the garden.  (ok, and we bought ice cream from the store!)  We still had to buy tomatoes - no tomatoes here in KS yet unless you grow them in a greenhouse.  We also went through a quantity of fresh goats' milk since the last time they were up we didn't have any does milking and this was their first taste of "fresh" milk of the year.

As much as I enjoy living on our little homestead, I like even more to share it with friends and family.  I remember how much I enjoyed visiting country friends before we had our little homestead!  If it weren't for these friends I'd have never known what I was missing in fresh eggs, milk, meat, and air.