exploringforests

I feel like I'm swimming in ideas lately. Ideas for books, gardens, breakfasts the kids will chow down on, playdates for a cause...ideas that laid dormant all winter but are popping out sort of like tulips or some other cheesy spring comparision that would normally make me flinch to say. 

For so long I've wanted to put together a book. 

An anthology of essyas, poems, and artwork from mommas who have the same (sometimes lofty) goals I have. To raise their children without school outside on a farm amongst stinky animals and bugs..those who breastfeed for years while canning preservatives for winter..those who live off the grid, or want to..or who are just a wee bit different. Except that different is becoming more normal, and every single day I'm so inspired and wouldn't it be neat to put together a giant book of all our our ideas and stories? To inspire other folks, and  to share wisdom? Right now it's a dream, but I'm very much hoping to make it a reality. 

I also recently got asked to do a few posts for Mommy Poppins, which is one of my go-to websites when I'm looking for neat activities to do with the kids. My first post is about horseback riding in the area (and is a guest post) but I should have more sprouting up throughout May. 

Today the kids aren't home. They are going to the zoo with Grandma + Grandpa and I have a delicious day and night to myself. It's beautiful out and I should be gardening, or at the very least hanging with the goats but instead I'm going to lay on the couch with a stack of books + homesteading magazines and read until my eyes burn..and when that gets old I'm going to force Phil to watch farm documentaries with me..and I'll write, and later I'm seeing a very old friend who's visiting with her girlfriend from North Carolina. The perfect relaxing day! 

 

People always ask me how our homeschooling is going, so here's a minature update

Paige is still very much into horses; we read about them, draw them, engage in pretend play with them, talk about them, learn about them and watch videos about them (oh and ride them of course..) Activitiy wise we are doing a twice a month gynmastics class coming up, farm camp once a week, equine 4-H twice a month, and riding. It seems like a lot (to me) but it's really not since most classes are monthly instead of weekly..most of our days are playing, readingg and learning here at home. 

Wyatt is still a trouble maker. Phone off the hook? Check! Toilet paper and yarn around my house? Check! At two I don't do much with him - he plays with his choo-choos, helps me make playdough, gets muddy in the sand/dirt pit and enjoys books. 

Now lately I've been a wee bit disgruntled with technology. Most of me adores it but I'm so fed up with the constant pings of text messages and facebook messages that demand to be checked RIGHT NOW. I remember calling friends on the phone, leaving messages on the answering machine..and that was it. I went back outside to play. I didn't send a text like "hey want to blah blah blah.." and than send another ten seconds later with "why are you ignoring me" because I didn't get an answer back in fifteen seconds. I'm sick of text messages that don't go through and than you get an email from someone who's hurt you're ignoring them when hello you just have crappy service in your house. I want to be able to not answer emails, and texts, and whatever else the second they come in because you know i'm outside playing with my kids, or reading, and I don't want to be interupted. The few times I've lost my cell phone (in the couch) have been blessings. People were forced to call my house phone (and actually speak to me!) and I felt this absolute freedom, which sounds silly. I have the freedom to hit the off button but I don't. 

I'm thinking of impleneting a media-free day once a month. I don't know if I can get my technology-loving husband to do it more often than that. Just a day where we ditch our cell phones, close our laptops and tie the invisible chain that binds us to our wi-fi. If anyone wants to join me on that day, let me know and we can do it together (and blog about it! I'll link up..) 

Oh! And if you see on my sidebar the Homegrown forum, please join! It's neat and I have a little interview in it too : ) 

happy weekend

Meet Daffodil 

 

Having a baby goat on the homestead's so nice. She's a bit shy (hello moving into a new barn with three dudes) will do that, but luckily she's still with her momma! Pictures to come of Zena (she came with the name and knows it, but I'm slowly going to make the switch to Phoebe..) The farmer we got them from had several females, all with multiple babies but I was drawn to Z; she's so mellow and the perfect goat to learn to milk on. This is my first time attempting to milk so I need that mellow tude' and if all goes well we are going to breed her (and eventually her baby) which is so exciting!  

This weekend was perfect. We basically spent entire days outside and Phil made my first huge raised bed, which I lined with poo and hay.  The kids got muddy, splashed in our little man-made creak, chased animals around, dug for treasure and it was lovely. Today we got breakfast with my mom and Paige and I got some teeny plants for her teeny fairy garden and I may have decided to open an Etsy shop selling handmade terraniums/fairy gardens (either as kits or together) because I loved putting this one together. 

This week is not too shabby too. 

Tonight I'm making our meal plan. I'll be honest I go through cooking spurts (like day spurts..) but in general I don't enjoy making dinner. I love fresh smoothies for breakfast, making sandwiches for lunch that are fit for a tea party but at the end of the day I'm pooped and it better be easy. If I could make a cheese, veggie and hummus/pita plate for everyone I'd be happy (and I could but I have a husband..) My goal to cook better meals isn't going too well though, so I'm making it even easier this week. A taco bar because who doesn't love taco night..steak and raw veggies with potato skins (homemade), fish + raw veggies + homemade bread with butter (notice a theme here..) and who knows what else, I'm not finished yet. 

This week also looks like friends visting, Guniea hen pick up, gardening, making solar playsilks (we are making a h-u-g-e one for the playstand..), starting our new horse homeschool books, horse camp, riding and who knows what else. 

Sometimes we get lucky and in all the shit life throws you (mainly a sick Dad..) a rainbow appears : ) 

The good stuff:

-I found a new source for raw milk and it's a 45 minute drive but a beautiful one and we land (and pick up our milk) in the sweetest town with the best toy store, children's museum, cafes and river to walk on. If we got a big freezer making that trip once a month could be a family adventure I wouldn't say no to.

-Found a CSA to join. It's affordable and in addition to providing all sorts of organic produce there's condiments and other things to try...and the pick up is TEN minutes from my house.

-Won $20 on a lottery ticket 

-Paige won her fishing contest today. From 8am (gulp) to 11am today we fished and fished in a little pond in the town I grew up in.  Getting up early isn't a big deal, but normally we laze around in jammies until at least mid-morning...so we were a teeny bit late. But we had poles, snacks, coffee and hopes to catch fish except we didn't and SURPRISE, no one else did! 1400 trout and NOT A SINGLE ONE CAUGHT? So the prizes were given out in a raffle style and Paige won the try and got a NEW fishing pole! We were so excited and jumped up and down and her little beaming face made me so happy to be a momma. I think we will be fishing all summer, she enjoyed it. It was freezing but she was focused and eager to catch something.

-At the Tractor Supply a man came up to us and said "are you looking for bunnies" (which we always are...) and he said his wife and he had some to give away (for free!) that were just weaned. So we are the new parents to two little bunnies Sugar and Nutmeg. 

Life is good - we started preparing the backyard for loads of outdoor play. We love exploring our fields and playing in the barn but having a backyard that's fenced in and safe = momma can shriek "go outside!" and not worry (too much..we do have a pool but that's seperate from the yard and also fenced..) Our set up is somple, and most of our play things are homemade by moi. We do have a beautiful wooden playhouse ( a splurge ) that I love, and a trampoline that was a gift from G-ma, and swings from Ikea ($10 each!) but everything else? Mostly homemade or bought second-hand..

=

 

Post hurricane some of our fence began to fall apart, so yesterday I tugged on some and dragged it to the yard to make a "balance beam" for Wyatt, who's idea of fun is to balance on anything. I used extra sandbags to hoist it up and no surprise, he played on it for an hour. And while I was making dinner he went back out and I looked out and saw him balancing more! 

I'm trying to upload more pictures of our homemade sand box but it's not working. We basically dumped three bags of sand (and by we I mean myself..h-e-a-v-y) and surrounded it with rocks and wood scraps. It's small, it's simple, and it's going to get filthy but my kids are filthy. Sand's cheap and we can always replace it -- plus it's much more inviting than a giant plastic turtle. 

Spring is full of hope. 

 

I am going to extend my little blog contest for another day because one person commented. Come on! A free book just for a comment? 

The other day Paige said to me "we have everything we need right here momma.."  

She's totally right. We have a roomy house filled with treasures in every nook and cranny, beautiful toys that inspire hours of play inside out out..we have shelves of books on all sorts of subjects so that if I want to read about beekeeping, or gardening, or eating a Tradional diet I can just search my (totally unorganized) bookshelf...we have dogs to smooch, cats to cuddle, goats to chase, and a garden in the works. We have yummy things to eat and all the art supplies a kid could ask for and I love it. Now don't get me wrong, my house is a WRECK, especially since I've er, let it go more than usual. There's Easter grass everywhere, and a nature coloring book in the works spread out on the dining room table, and well you're bound to trip on a Lego at any moment but whatever. We are happy. 

I got in this spring cleaning kick yesterday and decided to tackle a room a week. 

REALLY tackle it. Inside and out, get rid of things we don't need and scrub until it shines. This week is the kitchen and below you will see some of my progress (and since I'm not ashamed of being totally messy, some of my non-progress...but it's only Tuesday!) I actually ended up finding a gift card to Barnes and Noble (got three new books today!) and Toys R Us I forgot about...and a few issues of Backwoods Home and Mother Earth News to add to my growing (huge) collection of things to read. See what neat things you find when you clean? 

And Easter passed! Of course it did, and naturally the bunny stopped here :) He didn't fill the eggs with too many chocolates, but Paige and Wyatt did find little teeny wooden hedgehogs and toadstools and some beautiful magical stones..and in their baskets there were bunnies dressed in floral sundresses and playsilks with unicorns and they were all opened happily at 6am in bed while mommy sort of looked on while dozing in/out of sleep. The hunt took place outside but the errr -- bunny hid the eggs and the dogs snagged a few :/ so Paige asked him/her to please be more cautious next year. 

We went to my mums too and that was a nice change. My Dad/brother/Grandma/Mary (brothers gf) were all there and the kids got a second egg hunt this time with much much more candy. And there were more baskets with more goodies and Paige got a Barbie and wow, I've never seen her glow so much. She literally turned a funny shade of crimson and ran around like a wild-woman saying "thank you thank you thank you" softly and so excited-like. I'm not exactly anti-Barbie but I do prefer my house to be filled with wonderful wooden things, and open ended toys and Barbies are just so...BARBIE-ish. But I have to learn to just relax...having a Barbie doesn't mean Paige isn't going to stop loving nature hunts, and horseback riding it just means she has a Barbie to play in the tub with. And it brought her joy. And life's short. And it's a treat -- but this momma aint' buying one. 

Thanks to a nature Waldorf-themed swap we got some things for our nature table (I love felted goodies and so do the kids...and I was able to add them to so many of our Easter stories!) 

 

Spring is finally here and yesterday I bought a few plants to get into the front of the house to spruce it up. Again we were left with nothing in the front and the result is uh, pretty barren. This year I'm inspired to grow herbs and food instead of having a manicured lawn so I did some work outside with the kids "helping" before the wind roared and the rain began. Also on the plan for the week is the big ole' barn spring clean which I'm sure Ben, Twig and Sprout will love. Today Paige is sick -- I thought it was alleriges since she had the runny nose/eyes going on, but than the fever came and to the couch with oils it is! So it's been quiet - Wyatt will happily play with his trains and some clay for an entire afternoon and it's been well..totally nice to catch up on this blog, and my work, and my reading.

This Friday we are ordering all our materials for our raised beds and really gettin' going. I have all these goals and I've been writing them down in my new journal - some of them I've shared, some may be new, some I've started working and some well...we shall see...here they are:

*to become plastic free. completely. 

*to stop using paper towels and start usin' fabric scraps for clean ups 

*using momma clothe for that time of the month [I have NO interest in stopping toliet paper though..]

*to can some (and eventually all) our jams, and other things we use 

*to grow our own produce

*to purchase raw milk/cheese/dairy from a local coop...our grass fed organic meat from a butcher..and everything else we need from local health food shops (or in bulk from family run places online..) 

* to add more animals to our homestead (a pig, duck, chickens, a turkey for Thanksgiving) 

* to have the most lucious garden full of fairies and wildflowers for the kids to romp in

*to simplify and sell/donate/give away many things we don't use. 

*to sew (or learn how) 

*to create that stupid rhythm I seek so desperately. 

 

And now a fun giveaway! 

What are YOUR goals? Tell me in a comment and one random winner will get a copy of "Heaven on Earth" which is my ALL TIME favorite book about rythm and raising babes. 

Around here

This weekend: instead of Easter egg hunts and baby chicks on homesteads I spent most of my time in the hospital with my Father. His wound turned out to be MRSA and Friday afternoon Phil took over kid-duty so I could do the bossy daughter in the hospital thang. It's my Dads fault he was in there; the man doesn't eat right, doesn't take care of his body, drank scotch for 20 years, smokes two packs a day and let a giant deep wound on his foot go for a MONTH. With a little Thieves, some healing salve and clean bandages at the onset of the cut I do believe he could have avoided all this, but thus is life with my Father and he needed days of IV antibiotics. I kept him company, brought him sandwiches, and tried to flag down nurses. FLAG being the key word here; I spent four hours with my Father and no one came in to check on him..no doctor, no nurse..for FOUR hours. And the ward was quite empty (which isn't common..) the doctors were supposed to run tests but they got pushed aside and not down at all, and some of the people I spoke to were so rude. Blew me off. Another pushy daughter of a patient so lets avoid her, right? 

He's home though, and so life goes on. 

:Paige started a new farm homeschool class and she's pretty excited about it. It's two hours a week and she basically gets to be a little farmhand on a fairly large, local homestead. In April she's going to be starting a 4-H HORSE group in the evenings, in addition to her other daytime homeschool 4-H group. 

:We have been dying eggs, making playsilks, drawing, meltin' beeswax, making our own bouncy balls, starting seeds indoors and reading new books from this homeschooling series we are in love with. 

:Downloading The Artful Parents spring PDF book and couldn't be more happy with it. If you can follow the link because its filled with so much inspiration for the season. 

:This week we will be visitng a pony that lives on the farm down the road. Paige is smitten with him and we go and feed him carrots once or twice a week when the weather is nice. On the weekends the farm is a madhouse of city-people coming to get their dirt and fresh air fill, but on the weekdays it's nice and quiet for us.

:This week I'm clearing out our entire pantry. Gulp. I'm really wanting to have a Whole Foods based diet and there's definately some Cookies lurking in there that need to go..I'm not throwing the food out, but giving it to my Dad and Mum who have NO INTEREST in changing their diets. My goal is to get our dairy from the raw milk guy, our meat from the grass fed buter, our produce from the CSA and our own garden, and anything else from small shops online or in "real life"

...time to go but more later! I need to go watch a stuffed alligator give birth to a zebra. 

Oh!

I never save my posts and halfway through this one poof! My computer decided to stop listening. 

March is my least favorite month. It's so confusing - one week it was warm enough for trips to the ice cream shop and the park, Saint Patricks day parades with no jackets, starting garden work (more like wishful thinking work) and than wam! Snow and sleet promised to start sometime this evening. 

We did however, have a little visitor on the warmer days

Bennet is by far our sweetest goat. He's also the goat that lived in our washing room for two weeks while he healed from a nasty wound on his bum -- I think that little trip indoors + the death of his brother made him attached to us, and when we are near the goat pen he will find any way he can to get free and join us on our walks. He'd good for cleaning up the front garden beds, that's for sure! But I'm thinking of adopting him a friend because Twig + Sprout have each other and their clique doesn't include sweet Benny. 

We've been deep in Easter crafting and getting ready for the bunny to drop us eggs. Easter is early this year and I'm hoping we can have our hunt outdoors because it's much more pretty (and much more muddy..) We do a blend of plastic + felted eggs. Natural Candy store has biodegradable eggs which is a much more "eco" option, and I try to mix them up with all sorts of treasures that may not include as much candy as other folks.

What do we put in them?

temporary tattoos ( my favorites  ) 

Little wooden peg people or bendy dolls

 Teeny wooden bunnies (for our nature table or basket of creatures) 

Fairy furniture (because Easter is about spring, and spring means the flower fairies and root children wake up!) 

Pretty felt barrettes for Paige 

Stickers (Etsy has lovely options like fairies or knights which aren't very spring-y but are some of Paige and Wyatt's favorite things) 

..and candy too! And in addition to the DIY eggs you fill up, I'm going to be planting some felted story eggs with the root children in them, and some seed bomb eggs that we can plant later that day. 

Our baskets are fairly simple and spring themed. Gardening tools, field guides, a craft kit or two and a doll (either a little knit bunny or fairy doll) for each. This year Paige wanted a small horse + unicorn and I'm having them custom made from Etsy to surprise her since she's been in a unicorn phaze for months now -- I know she's going to jump for joy! 

In addition to my top secret bunny planning we are participating in a Waldorf-Easter swap this week, going to our first farm chore class, having a nature class HERE, going to an egg hunt and seeing baby animals on the farm. A FULL week! 

yesterdays gone

 

Today felt so busy and yet we stayed home. Some of us are still in jammies (with pirate skirts on top) and some of us didn't wear pants at all because well, why not? We were home all day and so much happened -- or felt like it did.  

We did horse vocabuarly, put together those fairy house wheat-grass and bean sprout kits which involved stragetic placement of mossy rocks and painted toadstolls, we busted open our new miscoscope and looked at slides of blood, guts and plants (and Paige drew what she saw..) there was doggie dress up and this momma mananged to get a box of books-to-donate out of the way. The husband brought home cupcakes and sandwiches as big as my head and DINNER too so cooking doesn't have to happen..and after all that craftin' and eatin' we are now splayed out in the living room watching Netflix. 

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I wrote the above yesterday, but didn't finish. Life got in the way in the form of scary movies thanks to early bedtimes, and snuggle time with my husband. And today was supposed to be our first sleepover party complete with nail painting and pizza but Paige woke up clutching her stomach (again) and it appears the virus lingers. It's almost 11am and the television has been on since 6am and I've offfered a plethora of teas and toasts but nope. 

I decided that when it comes to my KIDS and SICKNESS I need to follow my gut. And my gut says that this is nothing more than a virus but that Paige's body is suffering due to diet. I think (know) that she has a gluten intolerance and that a Paleo diet is probably best for us..but saying it or typing it or THINKING about it doesn't really help us unless I put my mind to it, go through our pantry and DO IT. And that's not all - in addition to adapting the right diet for us, we need to SLEEP more. Wyatt's bedtime is like clockwork 7pm every single night but Paige is a night owl. I'm not going to compromise our special Paige-time in the evening, but it's going to be until 7:30 and not hours and hours later. 

I have so much more to write but the kids are screaming cranky monster beasts. I have to make Paige a ginger lemonade, and scarf down the rest of my sandwich and try to get Wyatt out of the living room (where the TV is blaring and Paige is resting) to do some play-doh. 

stormy weather

I'd like spring please. Yesterday was mild and for awhile we were splashing in the mud, discovering little creeks, petting the goats and not worrying about freezing our bums out in the process. I can't wait to start seeds, build raised beds, clean out the barn for spring and summer and add to our homestead...bees are still on my list along with a pig(let) but the other day at the Tractor store we saw ducks and I fell in love. 

We aren't allowed to have chickens but surely..a duck? Or two? One of the downfalls of renting are the you know, rules you need to follow. And while I'd love a dozen hens I'd happily settle for a homemade pond and two ducks to giggle at. The only way to start spring is with some sort of baby bird, and I remember years ago when Paige was teeny we had a super storm the same day our chickens arrived. I woke up at 5am to Ginger (our cat) giving birth to a teeny kitten on the floor of our bedroom, Paige was not even two years old, and than the post office called to say hi! You have 40 chicks here COME PICK THEM UP RIGHT NOW BEFORE THE CHEEPING DRIVES US CAH-RAZY. In a storm. It was the best day ever.

I've been turning my cell phone off at 5pm every single night. Unplugging and ignoring and if you want me there's the house phone, or email but I don't want to hear text messages bleeping and blopping during dinner anymore. I actually hate turning it on in the morning because I get slammed with "where have you beens?" and the best "why are you ignoring me?!" Except I'm not really, I'm just unplugging and you should try it. The tv goes off too, in the morning for most of the day. Because I believe in moderation (and I love movies) we do Netflix and Little Bear and we do it every. single. morning in the winter because it gives me time to savor some coffee with cream before we head into a day chock full of stuff...but once it's off, it's off (until it's back on again later in the day after dinner) People wonder how to "turn the TV off" like it's some demon beast that can't be stopped but it's as easy as go push a button. When your kids don't have it, they can learn how to play again. It makes me sad when we have playdates and the kids say "what do we do" and get all whiney because hello? Go play! Go build a fort and tell secrets, go pretend your dolls our on some epic adventure just...get lost and GO. 

And this momma is growing (unintential) dreads. I have super thin hair and if I sleep on it it gets unbelivably knotty and overwhelming and voila! Baby dreads! So in between my boring straight hair they are there and it's not too out of control or silly so I'm rolling with it (husband hates them, don't care!) 

Our plans for the remainder of the week are fairly simple. 

Today just hanging and watching the wind blow without loosing it. Paige is complaining of exhaustion combined with a tad of foul mood and so she's curled up watching Busytown Mysteries...Wyatt is torturing her and the fights that break out drive me kind of bat shit insane. Wy hides her horse toy and she smacks him and we all sit and talk about how it's not nice to hide things, or hit, and than we hug and it starts over. Throw in some horse vocab sheets, imaginative play up the wazzoo, some baking and a chamomille bubble bath and that's our day! 

Rest of the week demands on mother nature. We have paper dolls, chapter books, garden plans, Saint Patricks day parades, and so much more but Wyatt PEED on the floor! BYE BYE! 

Sunday

Sometimes it hits me all at once, the gratitude. I was just standing in the kitchen making my 409th cup of coffee (with raw heavy cream, holy..wow yeah it's good..) and I peeked in to see Paige and Wyatt at work using sheets, pillows and their imaginations to make a "movie fort" to snuggle in while I let them have some cartoons on a Sunday morning (those lucky buggers..) and it's just like holy shit I LOVE YOU GUYS. 

They are my reason for being this person I strive to be. This decent person who can give back to mother nature, who can love my own family (mom, dad, brother) deeply until our times are up here, this wife who can make this marriage built on respect and love (and rage?) because that's what I want them to be. Good people, who love and sometimes fuck up but enjoy life. Who get PUMPED for life because it's a short pretty awsome journey we are on. 

I am so grateful for so many things;

For Paige's super long eyelashes and the sprinkle of freckles across her nose and rosey cheeks. For her imagination which takes her on journeys across the prarie, through the fairy filled woods and often *always?* ending at a stable with kind sweet ponies. 

For Wyatt's impish grins that spring up right before he's going to do something evil. For the way we sleep at night; his legs curled into my belly and his face an inch from mine breathing his milky breath onto me as he drifts away (and before he does, he always says I love you too momma, even if I didn't say it outloud yet..) 

For Phil who just knows me. Inside and out, good and bad he is my soulmate if such a thing existing. And we drive each other crazy, and we fight and screetch and I throw fake punches at him (that I wish were the real thing..) but we also love. We let the kids see us fight, make up, snuggle on the couch and kiss in the kitchen. They see a relationship built on years and years of driving each other crazy, and for that I'm grateful. 

And as I write this, Wyatt went on the POTTY -- so this is a to be continued after I give him 408 kisses 

I was in the middle of writing a post about our peaceful-slow mornings when Paige came over to surprise me with a bandaid (our favorite play-thing) and splash! Knocked my steaming hot (second) cup of coffee with heavy cream all over. 

So much for that.

No but really. I love being able to dwaddle in bed, and most mornings my children are up for a good AM snuggle sesh too. Wyatt climbs over us as we tickle and talk about our day -- I'm willing to drag this out as long as possible and I'm fairly sure Paige would be too but Wyatt wants to go go go! (and the animals, 6 of them sometimes waiting to go outside..) Breakfast is casual and afterwards there's a two hour period in which anything goes! Free play galore; this morning Paige pretended that the dogs were horses and groomed them/attempted to ride them using her sheepskin rug as a saddle. Wyatt has been doctoring himself with bandaids Phil bought, and I'm here drinking my (third) cup of coffee, checking up on emails, and working a bit. It's perfect. 

 

I'm starting to get that tingle in my body when I think about spring coming. Seed catalogs are excellent when the days start to feel too cold and too gray. I also (gulp) joined a gym. A friend told me about it and I got excited thinking about an indoor beach entrance pool and organic cafe..a place to spend the last few gray days of winter and early spring! Swimming and enjoying a smoothie after! We are going this week for the first time and I'm super pumped..I'm also thinking about joining a yoga class. 

I've never done yoga 

Real yoga, not the kind where you pretend to be a tiger on the floor in the living room for your kids

So to add to our rhythm (weekly) will be a day we go swimming inside! What a treat! 

Some spring thinkin

-the children will have their own raised bed this year, I asked Paige what she wanted to grow in it and she screetched "carrots! flowers!" pumpkins!" Wyatt just wants pumpkins (big ones, round ones, small ones, teeny ones, and of course happy pumpkins..) 

-Another goat? A piglet to raise and eventually eat? Def more bunnies, but what else? 

-Raw milk is back and we worked out the glitches with our deliveries so each week I can look forward to gallons of creamy milk, cream and butter...they also have meats and bee pollen too.

-Speaking of bees, we will be getting some! Do I really need a beekeeping class or will 398 books suffice? Bee-keepers speak up!