Faith Farm

Remember me???

Hi everyone!  I had a quick moment to spare so I thought I would update a bit about whats going on here at faithfarm.  The summer has been a whirl-wind of gardening, canning, family and friends.  I can't believe it is already coming to an end.  We are trying to get back into the school schedule and wind down some of the garden activity.  It has been an unusual year of weather here.  We had a couple of weeks of extreme heat followed by some of the coolest and wettest August weather I have ever seen.  It has been an amazing sight and I am loving every minute of it!  The garden produced cukes, tomatoes, peppers, potato, watermelon, squash, and pumpkin.  We have beans, sweet potatoes, peppers, and winter squash growing now.  All in all it has not been a record year of harvest.  Too many extremes I suppose but still plenty to meet our needs-Thank God.  We have had an abundant year of fruit though.  We have put up peaches, apples, plums, elderberries, blueberries, (we ate the strawberries), and we still have more apples and the pears will be ready soon.

On the home front: I have been trying to declutter the house and get it ready for winter schedule.  It is amazing how much stuff you gather over a year.  We are just now finishing this years lesson plans and getting "school" organized.  We have not done much work on the inside of the house as we usually do that in the winter.  We are still waiting on the new roof to be put on.  Hopefully it will be this week. 

On the farm front:   We are working on completing one of the goat barns this month and then the new fence and milkroom/birthing barn to be completed in October.  We are installing small solar lighting setups in the barn and yard and just purchased a video/audio camera that will be installed in the birthing room.  After last years birthing events we decided it would be worth every penny to be able to monitor the does from the house until the actual birthing started.  Yeah!  The midnight trips to the barn in the cold and wet will be less!  I'm pretty excited about this.  We have begun to bred the rabbits and are waiting on the goats now to begin this years breeding season.  The new hens should be laying anytime.  They are alot larger than I expected.  The new sows and feeder pigs are growing fast.  We are going to pick up the bore pig this weekend.  Everything else is going on normally.  We decided to not raise Turkeys this next year so come fall we will use what we have for holiday meals.  We have all but given up on the idea of having a dairy cow as our needs have been more than met with the goats milk.  The hay issue got resolved.  God provided a wonderful opportunity and our needs have been met for the winter.

On the family front:  Everyone is doing fine.  DS has found a steady job and is starting to make plans to build his house.  DD has become the baker this summer...you should try her pie crust!  DH is still working--Thank God!  His job has faired well through this bad economy, it is by no means secure but so far so Blessed!    All is well.

On the world front:  Do I even need to go there?  It's crazy.  Time must be short. 

On a personal note:  It has definately been a blurr of a year.  So much has happened and so much growth.  I am finally starting to get comfortable with some of the new homesteading tasks.  There was so much new and so much to learn and try that for years I walked around with my nose in a book and learned mostly from mistakes.  I have come to appreciate the "what not to do's" as much as the "what to do's".  Now, even as busy as it is, there is a routine and a calmness to the day.  Things are becoming much easier.  I have made some amazing 'homestead' friends both in person and online.  To them I give a heartfilled Thank you!  You have brought me wisdom and experience and much needed companionship.  I thank God for you. 

Blessings>faithfarm

Untitled Comment

{ 11:00, Wednesday, August 20, 2008 } { Posted by heritagehill }

Thanks for sharing the update with us, I had missed hearing from you.
Marilyn

updates

{ 12:17, Thursday, August 21, 2008 } { Posted by Handmaiden }

When I stopped by your post this morning I was so heppy to see this update. Yes, it has been a busy spring and summer. Sounds like all is well at your homestead. God is Good.