New Life

It's been a long time since I've posted on the blog so thought I would do that today.

We have settled in to a new way of life here. Dewayne not working any more due to the damage to his knee 28 years ago and the severe arthritis that he has now, has changed things tremendously. We consider ourselves "retired" now. Dewayne just turned 50 last month and I will be 49 in December. We still have rabbits, we still have our two goats and we have Knox, our dog. We do not have chickens any more and really don't plan to get them any more. We don't see the reason to have them. We are on a limited budget and quite frankly, I want to buy food for me instead of animals. The rabbits are still frustrating at times. We downsized on them. We only have a few Cals left, a few Rex, a few White New Zealands and several Havanas. We decided to shift our focus on the rabbits from meat to fur. The Havanas are not letting us down right now. We can't seem to get the older Cals and NZ to breed but the Havanas have had a couple litters this year. We are keeping most of the babies to grow out as breeders and the ones that need to be culled will be for meat and fur. One thing about rabbits, they have awesome poop! At least that's something. With accepting the fact that they are still producing something (poop and fur) has helped. It's not so stressful when they won't breed. They will produce one way or the other.

We stay busy around here still. We have a lot of hobbies. We know we can make things to keep from getting cabin fever. We also are going to start being volunteers at Lincolns New Salem soon. I have a few clothing orders right now. I just finished a capote and I'm working on a frock for my dad. I also have an order for a boys shirt and pants that I will get to soon.

We enjoy having our grand kids on the weekends. We had them stay last weekend. They are getting so big it's scary. We have also found out that we will have a new gradbaby in 2018. We are so excited!

Our new way of life keeps us busy.........and happy and fulfilled.

Are you prepared?

We don't think of ourselves as "preppers". We have lived at the edge of a small town for almost 30 years. This town does not have a gas station any more, only a small convenience store. We have learned that when we go anywhere out of town, get what you need at that time. We don't make special trips. If we forgot something, it goes on the list for the next time we "go to town". When we get a lot of rain, we are not flooded where we are, but our routes to the nearest towns may be. We are on a limited income, so everything gets thought through before we go anywhere. I must admit, I get tired of thinking through every move, but it only makes sense to do that. Less gas money means more money in your pocket.We have a doctor appointment this week, so that means getting any groceries or anything else we need while we are out of town.
Although we are not preppers, we try to make sure we have what we need in case of emergency situations where we can't get anywhere. Always make sure you have the necessities: food, water, medications, etc. There may be a time when you can not get somewhere to get that stuff.

Rain!

Over the last few days we got some rain.....lots of rain. According to the rain gauge, yesterday was 1.7, day before was 1.6. That doesn't include the rains before that. We needed the rain so can't complain. At least we didn't have anything flooded out of the garden beds.

Easter Sunday

We went to my dad's house for Easter today. We had a very yummy meal and had a nice visit with dad. It has been about five years since I went "home". Unfortunately the only reason I hadn't was because of the house having had animals in it. I am allergic to dogs and cats. With fabric furniture and carpet, I would be miserable instantly when I went in. We used to go every Christmas Eve, but with the winter time and the house being hot and the windows closed, I had trouble breathing, my tongue would actually itch, my chest felt heavy and my face would itch.....all within moments of going in the house. No allergy pills would help. The only option was to not go at all.

Now that Dewayne is home all the time, we can go to dad's more often. We can go when it's nice out and the windows are open. Dad said he's going to change out the carpet soon too. He no longer has the animals in the house, so over time, the allergens hopefully will dissipate. I hadn't realized how much I missed being there. Looking forward to going more often.

We woke up to hail this morning. Of course the first thing to enter my mind was " that figures....there goes all the plants that we just put in."  Thankfully, the hail was only pea sized and it didn't last long. All of the plants are fine. Everything looks good.

We got the onions in yesterday and worked the ground for the spaghetti squash, melons and pumpkins to go in. Should be able to get them in tomorrow.

The Garden So Far

We got the tomatoes, cucumbers, cauliflower and zucchini all planted yesterday. We have 30 tomato plants started so we have plenty for canning, salsa, etc.

We also have all of the herbs planted and we made a small greenhouse type cover for them. For herbs, we have lavender, spearmint, rosemary, parsley, oregano, marjoram, sage, basil, lemon balm, chives, garlic chives, and lemon verbena.

Strawberries are in their awesome raised bed. We got some started from Dewayne' mom. I think she is the strawberry guru. She can grow strawberries like no other! We also bought some Honeoye starts from a local Amish greenhouse just to have another variety.

 I am really excited for the garden this year. I think this design this year is going to be amazingly easy to take care of. There will be walkways that we will mow with the push mower that has a bag to catch the clippings so we can use that as mulch or to dry as hay for the critters. Here's looking forward to a wonderful gardening year!

Discouraging!

Rabbits can be such a pain to raise. Sometimes they're awesome, but sometimes, not so much! Out of five boxes that went in last week, only two had some bunnies. One doe had four  and a first timer had three, with no nest. We warmed the new three, made a nest for them and watched them for the rest of the day. She didn't act like she was interested in taking care of them at all. The doe that had four has been a foster mom before so the babies were added to her litter. This morning, all 7 are clean, fed and looking great. The first timer will be bred again and given another shot at being a good mom. Raising rabbits can be discouraging at times, especially when you hear so many others saying how many bunnies they have, but they are usually worth it in the end.

Yummy!

What's for breakfast? Today hubby fixed homemade pancakes using stone ground wheat, raw sugar and oatmeal. Topped them off with fresh strawberries and whipped cream. Yummy!

CHICKENS!

We got some pullets today. They should start laying around June. This is the first time we've had this breed, Golden Comet. Most times we've raised heritage breeds. So far these young ladies seem to be very calm. We will see how they get along.

Should get some bunnies in the boxes today. Two Cal litters and a Havana litter. Getting excited to have bunnies again. It's been a long time!

The gardening has started! The salad garden is planted up front by the house. It has radishes, lettuce and spinach in already and kale will be planted along with a few Romaine lettuce plants that we just got form an Amish greenhouse.

Snow.....again

So we woke up this morning to more snow. I am really tired of winter. Spring is just around the corner...so we are told. I really don't like it when the weather plays its little tricks on me. Be winter, or be done with winter. It is supposed to be around 0 tomorrow and this weekend be near 60. What??

What do you do when you really want to be outside? The best thing for today is to be in the warm comfortable house and read. Get out those gardening books. It will be gardening time soon....I promise. Do your reading and studying so when you get the chance to be outside playing in the dirt, you're ready! We have a lot of gardening and herbal books. Time to catch up on some reading and learning. It's got to be better for your mind to absorb knowledge instead of sitting around depressed and complaining about the weather.

There's nothing better than curling up on the couch with a good book, hot cup of tea and wrapped in my favorite quilt.

We belong to a frugal living group on facebook. It amazes me sometimes that the way Dewayne and I grew up seems to be "new ideas" for some people. Its always nice to be reminded of the obvious and it's good to get new ideas, but sometimes I am still amazed.

Growing up in the boondocks, we always had to be frugal with water. For showers, we would get wet, turn off the water, lather, turn on the water to rinse. Dewayne remembers even getting "showers" with the garden hose out in the yard.  Sharing tub water was also common.The kids took turns using the water in the tub, starting with the cleanest kid first.

If we ever went out to eat, it was a treat. It was not the normal routine at all. We were lucky if we went out once every other year. Home cooked meals, sitting around the family table, was the way it was done. Our families grew our own gardens and processed the food for storage, they hunted rabbits, squirrels and deer. We didn't grow up turning our nose up at eating the cute little critters. It was eat them or go hungry.

We grew up in the country, about 20 minutes to the nearest grocery store. You made the trip to town worth the gas. You didn't just go because you ran out of ketchup. You made due until you needed enough groceries to make sense.

We also never owned a dishwasher. Unless you ask mom, then she would say she had three of them, me and my two sisters. When a meal was over, dishes were done. Wash water in one side of the sink, rinse water in the other. Dishes were quick and little water was used. Now people brag they only run the dishwasher once a week. I'm sorry, but how many dishes do you own if everything is used once then put in the dishwasher to sit for a week. We don't even own that many dishes! Dishwasher use more water then you would possibly need if you did them by hand.

Another way to save money and water...do your laundry in the bath tub. Mom and my older sister Shari would wash the laundry and my younger sister, Kandi and I would hang them on the line outside.

There are so many ways to save money....just think before you spend.

Got a Great Deal Today!

We came across a great deal on some 2-1/2 week old Cornish Cross chickens for $1.50 each. We bought all they had which was 25.
We've raised Cornish Cross for the last several years and love them. They are not a smart bird but man do they taste good!!

We have our plants started. We've added more herbs for this year. Sweet Marjoram,  Lemon Balm and Parsley will join the Sage, Lemon Verbena, Oregano, Basil and Rosemary.
We are also changing the variety of cucumbers. We are trying a Chicago Pickling this time. The last few years, the Boston Pickling Cucumbers would turn yellow so fast the animals ate more of them then we did. We would get a few to eat fresh, but not enough to do any pickles or relish. This year, we need them to produce right to stock the pantry. Also new this year will be a new variety of zucchinis. We've had the bush type for the last several years but they would not produce near enough either. I think we have some bush , but we are adding a vine type too.
I can not wait for this weather to turn. Getting my hands in the soil and watching my hard work produce so much food is my tranquil delight!

We've started the rabbit breeding for the season. Two Havanas, one Rex and five Cals bred so far. Boxes start going in next week. Got several more to breed yet but this time, we are doing a few at a time in batches.
We had our worst year ever for losing stock this past winter. We had no idea what was going on until we read on some facebook groups and forums that other people also were losing rabbits. Apparently, there was an issue with an additive put in the Pen Pals rabbit food. It was way too much Vitamin D. We went out one morning and both of my Havanas bucks were dead. They were fine the day before. We also lost our best Cal buck. He started getting a little thin and we increased his food and water, checked on him several times through the day, even wormed him, which we never do. Nothing worked and he died. A couple of our Cal does dropped weight but nothing serious and they are fine now. We hardly ever lose an animal and it really sucks when you do and don't know why....or find out why too late to do anything about it.

Getting By, Looking to the Future

To get through the winter, we sold all of our chickens and scaled back on the rabbits.

The chickens decided to stop laying so we didn't need to feed them for nothing. Either they got to eat, or we did. If we get more this year, we will only get about 6. That's plenty of eggs for us and they can help with scratching around out in the barn. They really make things easier to clean when they keep things from packing down.

In the winter, we bring the goats to the barn for easier chores and to keep them close. Hopefully Spring is coming soon and the goats stay out most of the time. They prefer being outside. I walk them to the garden most days now so they can clean up from last year. The garden got away from us last year with weeds and grass since we couldn't be out there all the time, so the goats are loving it now. It also keeps us from buying hay.

We plan to move the fencing for the pastures pretty soon. We will take the fencing out farther into the woods, making it narrower up by the barn to allow for more garden space. The garden HAS to produce a lot this year. We are getting low on canned food and have very little income now. We have to grow as much as possible.