Tater Hill Country

Fall, rain, pumpkins, those are a few of my favorite things!

I went for a walk around our little homestead today in the rain. It wasn't much rain, but a few sprinkles here and there. I love rain, it is so refreshing. I also did a little bit of clean up, and envisioned all the things I want to do to this place. Our fence will hopefully be up by spring and then we will add some friendly farm animals! We will be painting and fixing up the barn as well.

We had a lovely weekend, which started thursday with relatives visiting that day. The new MOPS year began on friday. This may be my last year in MOPS, and I am so excited to see what God will do. Although, I love meeting new people at MOPS, He sat me at a table with 3 of my favorite people! What a blessing.  On sat. a friend came over for tea on the porch, my favorite thing! The girls played around the yard while we chatted. I was able to send her home with a bag full of tomatoes and cucumbers. The weekend ended with my walk in the rain. During my walk , I also went to check out my "pumpkin hill". There I picked some of my mini pumpkins, and looked around to see what else was growing. We will have some large orange pumpkins, white pumpkins, gourds, and mini white pumpkins too! I love it, fall is here!  After my walk, I came inside, and worked on a big pot of homemade tomato soup and BLT's for supper, and fed my little family. This is the life...

Waving from the Deep Baked South

Here's where you'll find me these days; it's something I have longed to do for a good while so please keep SGL in your prayers.  I'm also here at HSB2 at Beekeeper Dreams and in the shade of the Front Porch some, too.  School is getting ready to start and you'll find me scratching my head at Jacobs Academy, too.

Y'all Behave!

Back to the homestead...

Only 5 months between posts, that's not bad is it???

I have been busy over at my other blog dedicated to our current adoption. We are adopting a little girl from China, and we got our referral on June 25th. We are waiting to travel to get her in a few months.

I have been thinking about homesteading lately. We have been working on the house, finishing up the painting, and we got more chickens. We are hopefully going to have our fence up by next spring. One of my homesteading friends, Tara, came over and our hubbies got a good start on it! Yeah! Thank you Tara!

We have been out harvesting around the little farm. This week we got blackberries and peaches...mmm. Dh made a delicious batch of peach salsa the other day, and I will be making more tomorrow!

More to come...

Happy Birthday to my New Chauffeur!

15 years ago today....er, a few hours from now, I was awakened with a distinct pain in my lower back. Not just any pain, but the very "uh oh" pain of birthin' a baby contractions.

This was at 3:30 a.m.

One problem: our first born child was not due to be born until July 18......some six weeks later.

Clearly, our first born had his own schedule and by the time we arrived at the hospital by about 4:30 a.m., there was no turning back - the baby was going to be born - 6 weeks early.

6:50 a.m. - Sam was here, 5lbs, 5 oz.'s. and 24 hours later, they sent us home. First time parents are never really ready for their first "baby" and, truthfully, I believe I sat in shock for the next 6 weeks until his original due arrived.

Life with Sam has been much like his arrival into this world - a blazing path before him to conquer on his agenda. It has been an amazing blessing to watch him grow and to share life with him - not, however, without its challenges - but a joy every minute of every day.

And today, he turns 15 and becomes his Momma's personal "chauffeur"!!

Happy Birthday, Sam!
I love you,
Mom

Let the Clearing Begin!

What a week this is turning out to be. Yesterday our second flock arrived and today, we are beginning the see progress toward the next phase of our farm dream………..clearing the upper 26!

After exhausting the possibilities of having someone to harvest the pine timber for anything (including mulch or toothpicks), the reality statement we were told over and over and over, “…..if you wait another 15 to 20 years, they’ll be worth something….but it's hard to know since the timber industry continues to drop.....” In fact, we called so many different tree people, I lost count. I was to the point that I really didn’t care about making any money if someone would clear them for their own profit and our land would be pasture ready.

The thought of waiting ten to fifteen years was as if someone was telling me to tread water for that long……….but you know what? The Lord knows the plans He has made for us; why we are here and the desires of our hearts. Through His perfect timing, He has paved the way for the clearing to begin.

Heavy equipment arrived around 10:00 a.m. and we will hear the hum of machinery over the course of this week and perhaps into next as the pines will be cleared and we will begin the process of gathering ourselves and moving forward with the continued vision of our homestead endeavors.

Check out the photos from Day One – Clearing of the Upper 26:

AFTER Equipment Arrival and Clearing was underway...

.....and then, Alan pointed out this morning that cattails are growing in our pond (I thought that the foliage was a type of water iris that I had planted and lost)...........we never had cattails around here anywhere; I've been trying to find cattails to plant in the pond for two years.........they have just appeared and are growing in our pond.

Amazing!

They're Here! They're Here!

The phone rang at 7:30 this morning; our chicks were waiting on us at the Post Office - BRAVO!!

One by one, we dipped their beaks into the water to "prime them".....64 chicks later, our new flock was running around their chick corral - full speed ahead. At just two days old, they are all active and already have their chicken behaviors - scratching, grooming, and establishing their pecking order! One chick in particular - we suspect to be our Sicilian Buttercup Rooster: Don Corleone. He is clearly establishing his dominant presence and letting everyone know who's boss!

We have 15 different breeds (I will post them w/links later) and, yes, we will name all 64. The Don will have two hens to round out his breed: Maria & Sophia.

Gotta run - too much fun w/chicks this afternoon!

And They Questioned Why We Moved?

Is it any wonder WHY a family would move from here?

This is the very county we left - though persuing our homestead dream and clearly there's little to no homesteading in Gwinnett.  And yet, certain family members just don't get that.........oh yeah, they still live there.  No wonder.

Ostriches.

Getting Ready for Chicks!

We can hardly wait for Monday to get here - our order of 60 chicks are due to arrive at our Post Office first thing Monday morning!

Meanwhile, we are all chick ready. Check out the stages of building our chick corral in our garage:

We bought 12 bales of wheat straw to create a chick corral. After the chicks get their hard feathers and are moved up to stage two coops in the chicken yard, these hay bales will be used inside the chicken house.

Our litter material is ground corn cobs. It makes for an excellent and absorbing litter.

I'll be setting up the heat lamp tomorrow and we are all ready for our long and anticipated delivery of our second flock!

Stay tuned - I'll have photos of their arrival on Monday!

:)
hkj

Just Friday

Leaves are beginning to slowly fall from trees with our ongoing dry conditions. The earth is parched and the dirt road has dust on its dust.

The bluebirds seem not to mind as they continue about their business this morning feeding their broods - one nesting in the box on the telephone pole at the road, another in our Martin house.

As sunlight has gently crept into Friday's morning, the frogs in the pond haven't been ready to resign to the day and are content to continue their morning chorus.

The smoldering smoke of the South Georgia fires continues to make its way north and hangs heavy along the pastures' ridges reminding us of their lingering presence.

The aroma of coffee is my loyal friend this morning and offers it comfort.

Mornings like these seem to be frozen in time. Despite the drought conditions, I often wish they were.

I am simply glum.

There Once Was a Chicken Farmer