Fall Fun at Just Piddlin' Farm

Today I put down my smart phone and picked up my camera. It felt good to be behind the camera again. In the last couple of months I had been relying on an iphone to capture our everyday moments. While it is definitely easier, it's just not the same. I'm going to try to reach for my camera first from now on.
Nana and Pop came to visit this weekend and we headed to Woodburn, KY for some fall fun at Just Piddlin' Farm.

It was an afternoon filled with corn box playing, pedal tractor riding, 

hayriding, and pickin' the perfect pumpkin. 

It was so much fun! I can't wait to do it all over again.

{Gratitude} Lately

Every day I look around in amazement at all the 

beautiful, yet simple, things that I'm so thankful for.

Lately I've been grateful for...

evenings picking muscadines

 and afternoons picking peas at the Dolan Farm

 

joining this church

and an afternoon celebrating at Fountain Fest 2014

 

 our last tomato harvest of the year

 

 little boys peeking through windows and more firewood

 

 gluten free Fridays at Gigi's Cupcakes

 and the discovery of a persimmon tree on the homestead

HOME Sweet Homestead

 Here's a glimpse at some of the fun going on around the homestead...

As I was cleaning up around the compost pile the other day, I grabbed a few vines that had grown out of the compost pile. They were covered with very tall grass and so I had no idea we had a bucket full of decorative gourds ready to be harvested. It was a pretty fun find.

 We are in the process of bush hogging the fields. 

(We are still in need of a tractor, but, thankfully, 

we have friends that don't mind if we borrow theirs for a few days.)

 The hole in the living room ceiling has been repaired. 

The walls are painted and we are taking a breather on the home improvements for a little while.

 We harvested sweet potatoes this past weekend.

 The ducks are growing and are becoming tamer each day.

 

It's fun to use things grown or found on the homestead for decorating. 

So I've been having a lot of fun decorating for fall lately.

My First Test

Tuesday of last week was the first day of Autumn. I had every intention of sharing photos of the newly, decorated porch, an autumn inspired dinner, and pumpkins. But that all changed when we came home from our Tuesday afternoon errands in town.
As I was driving down the driveway, I noticed one of the rams lying with his head down in the middle of our barn. That was odd, so I stopped the car and hopped out. I started yelling his name (George) and clapping. No movement. Then I started sprinting into the barn paddock. He was dead! This wasn't our first dead animal on the homestead, but the most substantial and he was just here visiting for a while. After feeling on the dead ram (lifting eyelids, etc.) to check for several things, I moved the rest of the sheep to a new pasture. It would still need to be secured with electric line, but that was going to have to wait until the next morning.  Our friends (and his owners) came after it was dark to salvage any wool and help me start a fire to burn him. (We didn't need coyotes to be attracted to the homestead. Mabel is still a little young to fend off coyotes.) The next day the fire would need to be stoked again and tended to so that all of the ram would burn. That night I couldn't sleep because of all the adrenaline and fear of predators, I guess, so I canned grape jelly.
Did I mention that Bryan had left for a work related training in Chicago!!! on Monday? He wasn't due to return until the end of the week. So I feel like this was my first true farmer test.
To make the new pasture secure, I had to trim around it with the trimmer and restring electric line around the bottom perimeter. I had only done this with Bryan three times. Now I had to do it alone and do it correctly. I broke the line on the trimmer seven times while trimming the pasture. Thankfully, I knew how to restring the trimmer and it is relatively easy. Then I had to restring the pasture. I was confident about everything except the corners. After I had the whole pasture strung, it was time to flip the switch. I'm not sure why I doubted myself so much but I just reached out and touched the line. It was the first time I had done that and yep, it was blazing, hot. After I danced around for a few seconds, all I could do was smile. It wasn't easy and it took me nearly 5 hours, but I did it all by myself. I had a quick cry, checked on all of the rest of the animals, and then the boys and I went inside to start our homeschooling day. Later that night (in the dark) our friends came over to de-worm the rest of the sheep. The ram had died of worms and there were two others that had worms and they needed to be treated.
That night I could finally sleep because I was exhausted!
Things are calmer this week, Bryan is back home, and I feel a bit more like a farmer. I have a long way to go, but I kind of love this whole farming thing. Good and bad.

Ducks!

This past weekend we welcomed three 3-week old Muscovy ducklings to the homestead. We're hoping we have two hens (females) and a drake (male) that will become our breeding stock. (It's a little too early to be certain.) So since Saturday, the boys and I have been busy holding and loving on these little ones. We're absolutely smitten with them!

Seth is 5!

 Today Seth is 5!

We had a birthday celebration on Saturday for him that included homemade strawberry cake, scooter riding, lunch at Chuck E. Cheese (they have gluten-free pizza!), a laid-back party at home, and playing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The day was filled with family and friends and our boy had such a good time!

{Gratitude} Lately

Every day I look around in amazement at all the 

beautiful, yet simple, things that I'm so thankful for.

Lately I've been grateful for...

 little beekeepers in-training

 

 baskets full of pine cones

 

milking lessons at Peacefield Farm

 

 delicious stew in a pretty little dish

 passion flowers growing on fences

 

and field trips to Jackson's Orchard