Life got busy....................

June 11, 2013

Wow, it's been too long, i didn't realize how long it's been.  I will try to fill in on a few things going on around here.

Well, we got the garden planted after planting some things twice.  Crazy weather we had this spring, cooler than normal temps kept seeds from germinating.  But we were blessed with an abundant of rain to get things growing when they finally popped up.

Radishes

Squash

We also had 7 lambs born during the Easter week.  Three twin births and one single.

Check out our facebook page for some video of the lambs. 

Last weekend we hosted the Sicard's Family Reunion on my husbands side the family.  It was an awesome time, everyone enjoyed coming out to the farm and having a day of fun and fellowship.

Life gets busy sometimes, but sometimes it feels so good to pause..............and reflect and be Thankful for the blessings in our life.

    Live Simple....................Sheryl

Missing blogland

November 5, 2012

Wow!!!! it has been awhile since i had time to do any posting or catch up on all my fellow bloggers.   Now that daylight savings time is here, we will be indoors earlier, i may be able to catch up with all of you.

October has been a busy month.  We sold the small herd of cows we had here to make room for a few better quality cattle.  I guess you can say we started with what we can afford at the time, to be able to purchase better and grow from there.  We purchased three Brangus cows already bred, they expected to calve starting sometime in December.  Sorry no pictures at this time.

It was also time for our male lamb to serve his purpose for our family.  He was a cross breed so his purpose for us was to put meat in the freezer.  We did this process ourselves.  Sorry i didn't think you would want pics of this event.  But that's what homesteading and farming is all about.  For those of you that think raising and butchering our own animals is inhumane,  raising our own food is our goal.

We had the opportunity to entertain my baby sister and her family in the month of October as well.  Here in our community we have a week long fair with animals, crafts, music, exhibits, and a midway.  We all got to spend a few days at the fair and the kids had a ball......

Bailey was a sport and rode the coaster with her little cousin Trey....He was looking brave on this ride.........Hands in the air.......

Not sure about this one.......... he insisted he had rode the ferriswheel before, i don't think he did by the look on his face.

They got to help Bailey with chores. 

 

"LADY" loved all the attention

Enjoyed this visit with my sister ......

 

I also lost my dear Grandmother in the month of October.  She was 91 yrs old, and was loved by many.

 She wasn't ill long, she had a very good long life.  I'm blessed to have had her in my life.  She has taught us all the love of cooking, which she took great pride in.  This snapshot is taken of her signing her cook books, she had published late in life.  She also loved to sew and make her own clothes.  She was a wonderful homemaker.  She was an inspiration to us all.  We will miss you Maw Maw.


We finished the bathroom remodeling, got all that wallpaper off, got it painted and new flooring.  To save some money i tryed revamping the old light fixtures by spray painting them with that textured paint. 

It turned out pretty nice....plus a $avings......gotta love that....

This is a before pic after wallpaper was removed, mirror was taken down, and those ugly brown cabinets.......

This is a after shot, all we have left is to change out the faucets on the sink.

It was hard to get some good shots of this bathroom, but you get the idea.....It was long overdue for a face lift.

Now we have started on the stairway railing and spindles.  This has always bugged me from the day i bought this house....This staircase was not safe for little ones, I taught every child that came to my house to walk up them stairs holding the wall all the way up and around.  Now that my grandbaby is getting around and climbing, we decided that this cannot be put off any longer.

Before pics...

 

Work in progress:

Notice the difference in the height of the railing, and the width of the spindles.....Makes a grandmother feel a little more at ease.......

I hope November doesn't go by so fast....Trying to get these projects done before the holidays........
Promise to not stay away so long.....I can't wait to read your stories......


Live Simple.......................Sheryl

Good-bye summer, Hello september!!!!!

September 5, 2012

WOW!!!! where did time go.........The last i was here was in July.....gosh!! i didn't think i got that busy.  Well let's see........The end of July was getting ready for school to start and get supplies and uniforms ready. The first of August we took a trip to Oklahoma with my youngest daughter, where she competed in an AQHYA world horse show for her FFA judging team.  Our trip there was nice but while there Oklahoma experienced record heat of 112 degrees, and fires broke out everywhere.  Got back and the school year started, and then a hurricane came knocking on our door. 

 

Jessie 17 mos. & Bishop

 

 

We all hunkered down here on the farm to weather out the sporadic, unpredictable track of hurricane Isaac.  The winds were not that bad here on the farm, but we did get lots and lots of rain. 14 + inches.

 

 

We Lost power for four days.......Hot and humid, everything sticky......

 

 

Lot's of cleaning up to do afterwards......

 

 

But.........everything checked out fine.......the family was safe....the animals were safe....the farm was spared.........We thank the good Lord!!!!!!!!!

 

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those who lost homes to flooding and to all who still are without power. 

 

Gonna get busy with a fall garden soon......just wanted to let you all know we are still here.  More later...........

 

 

 

        Live Simple.....................................................Sheryl

Double Stuff

July 12, 2012

Our Belted Galloway cow "Oreo" had her calf this morning. It's another double stuff Oreo looking calf. How exciting!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She was not bred to a purebred Galloway bull this time.  We wanted to throw something else into the mix and bred her to the black bull we had. 

This is the whole "Oreo" family, "Maggie" ( in front), was her last years calf born 7/29/11, and the new baby born today 7/12/12. 

Not sure if it's a male or female yet.


While trying to get pictures of the new baby this evening, a parade was passing by and getting in my view.................

 

A parade of lambs............  Rosie leading the pack, followed by Jolie, and the two new girls Shiloh, and Ellie.  They adjusted fine, grazing happily with the rest of the herd.  They will be bred this fall and winter and be lambing for us in spring next year.  If anyone is interested in purchasing lambs, contact us.  We will have both registered purebred St. Croix and unregistered St.Croix/Katahdin cross.


    Live Simple.......................Sheryl

Dehydrating Figs............

July 9, 2012

The past few weeks, it's figs, figs, and more figs.....it's that time of the year, all at once these sweet fruit are ripe, and ready to pick. 

I have to fight the bees and wasp to gather the sweetness.  I loose so many to these flying insects.  I guess i need to get into bee keeping and set up a hive close by.  That would be some awesome honey produced by these little critters.



I found someone else who loves their sweetness as much as the bees do..................

My granddaughter just loves them, she runs straight to the tree and reaches for one every time we're walking out in the back yard.

I have been making preserves with them for some time, and wanted to try something different. I own a dehydrator and i guess i never thought to give it a try with figs. 

SO .........slicing away i went............................a four quart bowl full filled up my five tray dehydrator.

I dried them for 12 hours, which was the shorter period of 12-15 hr time recommended.  I was afraid to dry them to a crisp so pulled them out at 12. Instructions say to be sure no beads of water appears when sliced, i found some had a tad bid of moisture still in them while others felt really dry.  They looked and tasted really good. I put them into mason jars with lids to store for later use.

I have plans to use these in a trail mix i plan on making later. But they are excellent to just snack on right out the jar.  As the days went by my stash got smaller and smaller, we could not resist opening that jar and popping one into our mouths, just like candy...Hmmmmmm

As I got ready to post this information, i noticed some of them starting to mold a little.....guess the time in the dehydrator needs to be longer to be sure i get every bit of moisture out of them.    I will have to try another batch before the bees get them all......

If anyone has other ideas to use figs, let me know........My daughter and i roasted a few in the oven, stuffed with cream cheese..........ohhhhhhhhh they were pretty good, great little appetizer served up on your favorite cracker or pita chip, drizzled with a little honey.

Enjoying the taste of summer.....................

                                             Live Simple..............Sheryl

new arrivals

June 28, 2012

I wanted to share with you the new arrivals to the farm.  Sunday we went to pick up two 3 month old ewes.

These are the first purebred registered St. Croix ewes we have on the farm.  We have been on a waiting list to get one for some time. 

Well now we have two...........They are settling into their new home.

Jolie is the one standing in the rear to the right (pic above), she is our Katahdin/St. Croix cross born in February, if you haven't been following along.  We put her in this pen with the new girls to wean her from her momma. 

It didn't take long before they were eating from our hands. 

I love raising these lil lambs........They are very docile and a perfect fit for a small farm. 

Follow along with us and watch these young ladies grow and raise babies of their own.

Thanks for stopping by...................

Linking up to Lil Suburban Homestead for Saturday Homesteading, please join me.

Live simple........................Sheryl

Happenings on the hill........

March 28, 2012

Hope you all had a wonderful Memorial Day ,a big Thank You goes out to all our fallen veterans across America, who have lost their lives to fight for our freedom. On this Memorial Day I'd also like to thank all of our military who are serving today, your decision to serve this country is a huge sacrifice and a brave one, you are in our thoughts and prayers. We are so proud of our own Cody, for his decision to serve, you are on our minds often and we pray for you daily for your safe return home.  Thank you Cody, we Love you.........

   I don't know about your part of the country, but down here in the south it has been a hot one.  My garden is not doing what i would like it to be doing, but i guess i should be grateful that I'm getting a little out of it. I wanted to show you what i discover this weekend in my garden.

Something is eating on my tomato plants!!!!!!! They have attacked a few of my plants overnight.

Those nasty little worms.........I hate that!!!!!!! I tryed picking them off and was going to resist spraying, but they were everywhere.  I try not to put any chemicals on my garden if at all possible.  I had to spray a few of these plants before i was left without any tomatoes for the season, and that would have made my husband disappointed.  His mouth is watering for a homegrown tomato........

I picked the first ripe tomato this week from the two heirloom tomato plants that i planted in containers.

I have never planted heirloom tomatoes before, i found these at the local feed store and thought i would give them a try.  Maybe i can save the seeds and start my own plants next year.

The blueberries are giving.......I'm thankful for that.



We were fortunate to get rain just as the bushes were setting fruit, and they are plump and sweet this year.



I made a batch of blueberry preserves this week, only had to add just a little sugar to these already sweet berries.

Looking out the back field i spotted this.....................



It's Jolie.......on top of the hay bale inside the hay ring. She just stood there nibbling on some hay.

 I guess she likes being "Queen of the Hill".

A few Happenings on the hill......Hope your holiday weekend was a good one.

Sheryl