Hopeful Housewife

Guess time flies when you’re having fun afterall.

Small updates:

Goats are doing well, still dont know if one of them is pregnant like we thought. Time will tell I suppose. Haven’t been making many goat milk products because I’ve been bottle feeding four puppies all of the milk.

Chicken stats: I have seven hens as of today. At one point, I had 11, the next day I had six…and the following day 3. We’re now back up to 7, and hoping it stays there for a while. Neighbors dog got five of em’, the others just came up missing without a trace. Think we have all the predatory issues figured out though, so we should be good for now. No eggs yet, waiting ever so impatiently. lol…

Garden Gab: Its SO pretty. LOVE spending time in the garden…what a joy it is. Right now I have corn, watermelons, tomatoes, zuchini, yellow squash, garlic, beets, jalapenos, serranos, and habaneros, romaine lettuce and herbs thriving. Potatoes look a little sad, and my honeydew and canteloupe just flowered, so we’ll see what happens there.

Doggy drama: Had to let go of yet another dog. The pups’ mom is half pit, and she just completely snapped on us. Started mauling the neighbors little dog completely unprovoked and growled at my youngest. She also abandoned four of her nine pups, which is why I have been feeding them the milk. They are almost big enough to move along, and I’m SO ready for that. Finally have what I think is my here-to-stay companion dog: Cornelia Marie, my 3 mo old pug. I have to find the memory card for my camera. You’ve gotta see this “so ugly its cute” face.

Fire news break: paid two really sweet Duggar-esque boys to weed whack the property. They did a phenominal job and for the first time, I can see my entire property. So exciting!  It’s starting to look like someone lives here LOL!!

I have a long list of “wanna do’s” and at the top is bee keeping and heritage turkeys. I also really want to look into keeping ducks safely here…our predator issue makes it tough. Gotta find a way to get some pekings and keep them alive.

Guess thats all I’ve got right now, gang. Just praising God for His amazing love and blessings. I just cant get over what an amazing joy this house is…

I miss you guys! I hope some of you will still be around to read this post.

I have a few reasons for being MIA this time.

1.) I am crazy busy

2.) I am crazy, crazy busy

3.) I dont have internet. Maybe that one is the most troublesome.

I am basically in the middle of a dream come true, gang. Every day we get closer to my homesteading dream, and every day I wake up thinking “I cant believe I live here.”

I am on borrowed internet time, so I will do my best to give you the latest. I am uploading pics, but I doubt they will be finished in the short amount of time I have right now.

Our first couple of weeks here were rough. Lots of clean up, painting, the works. Sometimes, the amount of dirt under disgusting (now removed) carpets was overwhelming.

Our third weekend here, it snowed. It was so pretty to stand outside and watch it fall. I realize its not a ton of snow like so many of you are used to, but to a girl who hasnt seen snow fall in 12 years, it was pretty amazing.

After we settled in a bit, we started taking on a few projects. A gate at the end of the driveway, a finished classroom (thanks to some friends from church!!)…and just some overall upkeep. Lots of weed whacking. LOTS.

We have built a chicken coop, but dont have the hens yet,  LOL…I do, however have two goats. Nubians. One is in milk, the other is pregnant. I cannot tell you how happy it makes me to milk our sweet girl, Ginger. I just giggle while sitting there with her.

When I can blog more, I’ll share some goat milk recipes I’ve learned. I also have pics of my sweet girls!

We have two barn cats in training, and they are incredibly cute. One is already proving to be quite fierce, so hopefully she’ll catch plenty of mice for us.

Our garden is flourishing, and that has been a blast. I have a ton of corn and tomatoes (mostly for canning), potatoes (red and purple), garlic, various herbs, shallots, beets (lots of those too), zuchini, crook neck squash, various melons, jalapenos, serranos,  habaneros and lettuce too. I love watching stuff come up and grow every day. So gratifying. The other day I made stuffed jumbo shells with fresh goat cheese and home grown basil. I served it with fresh baked amish white bread and topped dinner off with goat milk ice cream. I cannot even begin to tell you how happy I was at the end of the day. I really almost cried. Its almost a little pathetic how happy I am LOL…

I get up refreshed and excited every day. I sweep my floor 547 times a day, but I’m ok with it because I’m reminded that the dirt is part of living on a mountain. I have more laundry than ever, but I actually laugh at all the jeans with goat poo and grass stains. Makes me happy, believe it or not. I spent three days canning about 50 pounds of cherries that my FIL brought me 2 weeks ago. It was quite exhausting just pitting them, but I stand in my huge walk in pantry and admire the light shining through those gorgeous jars of jam knowing we’re set on jam at least til’ winter comes. I make it to the dinner table every night a bit beat up but really feel like I have earned my meal at the end of the day. Great, great feeling. I tell ya, if I dont lose a few pounds up here, something is wrong. LOL!!!

Everything God has taught me over the years is all making sense now. I am amazed by watching His plan unfold. I know He’s not done yet…but I am just so grateful for the now.

I’ll try to get pics up soon folks…until then, I’m off to get the kids in bed and soak in my spa tub for the night. I’ve earned it.