Question of the Night

Does it mean I'm old if I want to sleep in the new year instead of party it in?

SFG, sleepy.

Statement of the Day

They ruled the fire was arson. Grrrrrrr!!!!!!!

Sfg, MAD!

Sad Day

It's a sad day here in South Shore Ky. This picture was what happened this morning. The local feed store caught on fire. Five fire departments were called for this huge fire. Good thing no one was hurt.  This building use to be a landmark in our little community. It was built back in the 1920's. It has been a furniture store, a restaurant, and a craft store. But, it was known the most, as the farm store. It was a total lost. It just looks weird now. I'm so use to seeing the big building on the corner. It is there no more.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, sad.

Statement of the Day

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!!!!!

Small Farm Girl, blessed.

Little Gems

I received a little gem in the mail today. I received a Christmas card. (Thanks Kelle!) When I saw it, it gave me warm, fuzzy feelings inside. Why? I don't really know. Maybe it's the thought that someone thought of me. Maybe it's the thought that someone went out of their way to send me a card. Maybe it's the thought that someone spent money(Come on! It's just a little sticky piece of paper! Not gold!) to send me the card. Whatever the reason, I loved it!!!!

Each year I keep telling myself that I will send out Christmas cards. I've had the same cards for 12 years! They are beautiful! But, somehow, they never get mailed out.  One year it was because I couldn't find them. One year it was because I honestly didn't have the money to buy stamps. One year, I simply forgot. That was until it was too late. This year it is a mixer of  I couldn't find them after the move to our new house and we really didn't have the money for the stamps.

So I have decided that after Hubby has been working for a little bit and all of out bills are actually caught up, I will send out Christmas cards! So don't be surprised if you receive a card with a snowy scene on the cover, in the middle of July. Hey, maybe it will cool you off. lol

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, happy receiver of Christmas cards.

Mushy

Since Hubby is out of town training, I thought I would write something very mushy. So here it goes....

At first I didn't want you. At first I thought I didn't need you. I fought it. Now I crave your warmth. I love your soft touch. I love when you wrap around me in bed. I hope you will be there when I need you. Now that I fell in love with you, I don't know if I can live without you. But, I do know that if anything happens to you, I will get another.

I love my electric blanket.hehehe

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, poet.

Picture of the Day

Look at what I see outside my door.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, Brrrrrrrrrrr!

Fashion Vs. Function

I work in the beauty industry. Ok, I put fake nails on people. Close enough. lol. I am suppose to know about fashion and I'm suppose to dress in the latest fashions. At least that is how it's SUPPOSE to be. hehehee. Most of the time I try to be in fashion.(T-shirts are in fashion, right?) But right now, I'm dressing for function.

Our house is cold. COLD, I say! Since we are living in the basement of the new house, a lot of the heat that we have from our wood stove goes up into the uninsulated part of the house. We have tried putting plastic up on the basement's ceiling hoping it would keep some of the warm air down here.  It has....some. Most days it stays around 60 degrees in here. When it's windy out, it will dip down to the low 50's. We have the wood stove, kerosene heater, and the clothes dryer trying to make it warmer in here. Needless to say, fashion goes out the window. hehehehe.

Right now I am wearing a Harley Davidson t-shirt, a Christmas sweater, old jeans, work boots, a carhart winter hat, and a scarf. All of which are all different colors. Not one piece of clothing matches. I don't care. It helps me stay warm. A girl has to do, what a girl has to do. If only the girls I work with could see me now. lol.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, fashionista.

Busy!!!!!

Things have been very busy around here. We are trying to get things all set up for when Hubby goes down to Georgia for training for his new job. One week. That's right, we have only one week to get a lot done. Good news is, he will only be down there for one week. Then, after the holidays, he will be going back down there for around 7 to 11 more weeks.

 I will be holding down the fort. I don't mind the one week, but I'm not looking forward to the 7 to 11 weeks. I guess winter would be the best time for him to go though.  The only thing I have to do during the winter is take care of the animals and feed the stove some wood. Hopefully he will be able to cut enough wood to last the winter. It's been cold!Since it has been this cold so soon in the season, we are really going though wood.

I was going to take some pictures of the little goaties in the snow, but my camera froze up. Yep, it wouldn't do anything! I don't blame it, I didn't want to do anything in the cold either. When I brought it back in, it finally thawed out. hehehehe.

Well, today I'm going to have a Christmas type of day. I'm putting up the Christmas tree and making Christmas cookies. Since I can take pictures inside, I'll get some pictures of the tree and cookies and maybe give out some recipes.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, Busy.

Oh No, Not Again!

This holiday weekend was a very busy one. Me and Hubby had 3, stuff your face, dinners to attend. So not wanting to disappoint anyone, that's exactly what I did.  I stuffed my face. Three times. hehehe.

Now that Thanksgiving is over with and Christmas and New Years is just around the corner, I'm starting to think about spring. Yes, spring. We haven't even had our first snow yet! But, I'm starting to think about Spring. When will I get to start in the garden? What will I plant in the garden? Where will I plant my new fruit trees? ( I don't even know what kind of fruit trees. Oh wait, something else to think about!)  What am I going to plant in my herb garden?(I have decided to put my herbs in raised beds this year. Beds that I haven't even made yet. Great, something else to think about.) I'm getting the spring bug. The spring bug at the beginning of WINTER!!!!

I know I am pumping myself up for a big let down. I will never get everything done that I have planned for this spring. It will be too wet, or too cold, or too dry, or too hot. There is always be an excuse for me not to get everything done. And then, I'll be disappointed and feel like a lazy bum. lol.

 I'm going to have to reign myself in. Maybe start smaller. Something like moving the garden closer to the new house this year. I think I can do that. (Well, I can supervise while Hubby does it with the tractor. hehehe) Or maybe I'll plant one or two trees. I think I can do that. I've got all winter to think about what I want to do when warmer weather gets here. Now, if only my body will agree with me when it's time to actually DO it this spring.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, big dreamer.

Statement of the Day

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!!!!!

SMF, turkey eater.

Goat Updates

Remember when I wrote about how the little goats were wild as bucks? And remember when I said they were hard to get close to?

Well......... not anymore.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, goat whisperer.

Goats,Horses,and Cows, Oh My!

Hi everyone! I bet you thought I fell off of the face of the Earth. Nope, still here. We are just extremely busy!!!!The last time I posted on here, I was telling you about the new goat we were given. Well, she didn't work out. She was extremely mean to our two younger ones. Plus, with us just having a small place for them to get in out of the weather, she wouldn't let them in. They were sleeping outside in the rain. I wasn't going to have that. So we ended up giving her to Hubby's dad. He seemed like he was happy about that. I think he missed seeing goats in his field since we FINALLY brought our goats home. Yea!!!! Now you guys will be bombarded with cute little goat pictures. hehehehehe.

They seem to be really happy here. But, getting them here was another story. lol. It took 5 of us to corner and tackle the poor little things. They hadn't been touched since they were bought. That was back in May. They were wild as bucks. hehehe. Once they got here though, they are starting to come around. They aren't scared of us now.

Now to the cows....They are starting to have their babies. Yes, I know that it is late in the year for calves, but, we keep our bull in with the cows. We seem to lose less breeding opportunities that way.  We have such good momma cows, they take really go care of the babies. Plus, the babies are born already wearing their winter coats. lol.

Now to the horse....We had to give away one of our horses. Scout, the young one. He had developed a bad habit of chasing the cows. I don't mean pushing them out of his way. I mean he would run one until it couldn't run anymore. Then when we started getting babies, he started running them. We are NOT going to put up with that. We didn't have a place to separate him from the cattle, so we decided to give him to someone who would love him and take good care of him. Plus, now he will get more of a chance to be ridden. We just don't ride as much as we use to. We hated to get rid of him, but we think it's for the best.

Oh, and for all of you who keep asking for pictures of the house, here is some before and after pictures of the bed room. Before.....

                                 

                 

After.......

(Don't ask me why the pictures are not all in the center. I have no idea.)

Not much to work with here, but it is home. I am happy. More pictures to come! Especially now that I found my camera cord. hehehehehe.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, homemaker

Cattle Sale

Well, we are getting desperate. With Hubby not working for over a month now, (Still waiting on the railroad.) and not having any unemployment, it was getting to the point of selling the fillings in my teeth. (Not really, I don't have any fillings in my teeth.) I always wanted to live off grid, but I didn't want it to be because I couldn't pay my electric bill. lol

Anyway, we decided to sell some of our cattle. Now we only a few cows now and their babies were old enough to go to the market.If you have never been to a cattle sale, you need to go! There is excitement everywhere! From the sales ring, to the cattle pens in the back, you don't know what to watch first.  I love the sales! I like watching the older gentlemen buying thousands of dollars worth of cattle just by one TINY flick of their finger. If you was not watching, you wouldn't know who was bidding. I liked looking in  the back pens at all of the cattle milling around. To watch the cattle, you walk up on this giant catwalk that covers the whole length of the pens. While we were watching, we seen a calf kick the hat off of the guy trying to get him down a shoot. One year we seen a 2400 lbs bull jump the metal panels that made up the sides of his pen. He got his back legs caught in the bars of the panels. We got the attention of one of the handlers to see if he could help him. The handler couldn't get him off of the panel. Hubby had to go down, and with the help of a very big pipe, got his legs untangled from the panel. And then, they run. The bull was not happy. He wanted to hurt something. Luckily, he didn't. lol

Anyway, we went to the sale Monday and sold some of our cattle. We DID learn something while we were there. If it was a black calf, it was worth one third more than any other color. Why? Because of the Angus craze that everyone seems to be in now.  If the calf coming into the sales pen was brown, the auctioneer started the bidding out at $.60 per pound. It could go up or it could go down. It usually went down some. But, if it was a black calf, the auctioneer would start out at $.90 per pound. Then it usually went up! What's wrong with that?! Are they prejudice? lol. Since our cattle is red, we didn't get the best price for them. Although after seeing how the sale went, we are now considering getting a black limousine bull. We shall see. It changes so often. We don't really want to mix our colors. ( I guess we ARE prejudice. lol) 

So that's what's been going on around here this weekend, now we are going to build a goat pen so we can bring our little goaties to our house.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, cattle baron.  hahahahahahaha..pant,pant,pant, hahahahaaha

Can't Have Just Two.

I had every intention to post some "before" pictures of the house. I promise!!!! But,(you knew it was coming) I can't find the cable that goes from the camera to the computer. AUUGGGHHH!!! That is the worst thing about moving, you can never find what you need! It's really driving me crazy. So far I have lost my winter coat, one(that's right, one) boot, and only a million other things. So as soon as I find the cable, I promise to post some pictures on here. lol.

One good thing that has happened, we got another goat. It's just like Lay's potato chips, you can't have just one. Or, in my case, you can't have just two. Since the goats are down at Hubby's dad's house, people can drive by and see them. A few days ago someone stopped at their house and asked if they wanted a goat just like the ones they had. My MIL told them they would. She knew I would take it. hehe

The goat had had a baby one year ago. Momma and baby live together at their house. One day a dog decided he wanted to eat baby goat, and did. Next day dog decided he wanted to eat Momma goat. He tried. The owners of the goat stopped the dog from doing any real damage to Momma goat. She still has some bites on her neck.

The owner decided that they couldn't keep the goat in a place where it could be hurt, so they asked my MIL if she wanted the goat. I'm so glad she said yes. We now have the sweetest, little, cuddly goat. One that can be bred any time now. Yea!!!! Goat milk soon!!!!!

This week me and Hubby plan on building the goat pen. That way we will have the goats at our house. And if I can find the camera cable, I'll be able to post some goat pictures. Double yea!!!

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, goat collector.

Naked!

Now that I have your attention, I'm talking about the trees. LOL (Get your mind out of the gutter!) All the leaves are gone. One minute they are green and lush. You blink and they have turned colors and then they are gone.

I love fall, but, it doesn't last very long. Today, in fact, the weather man was talking about snow this weekend! SNOW! It's just hard to comprehend. I know it's time for it and all. I just have to convince my body that it is time for it. lol. Well, to get prepared, we have been cutting and splitting wood.  My body is NOT use to THAT. Every cell in my body is sore. I think my hair is even sore. lol. But, it's a good sore. I can say that I got my pilot license today. Hubby would cut and split the wood, and I would pilot (Get it, pile it? hehehhe).

Hubby has also, been stringing fence the past few days. The county took down over 1500 ft of fence when they came through to widen the road. We have to put it back up. Just doesn't seem fair. But, they did get us new fence post and barbwire. Plus, you can look at it this way. They did clean out our fence line for us. lol. We need the fence back up before winter. The part of the fence that they took down is the part were we feed the cattle in the winter. And since the weatherman did say we could have snow this week, I can say that winter is here. hehehehe.  Are you ready?

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, pilot.

Statement of the Day

So I guess the "no call list" doesn't apply to political calls.
SFG, annoyed.

What's Cooking?

Hi guys! I feel like it's been forever since I've posted anything on here. We are still moving into the house. We now have heat(wood stove). We have water.(Only in the bathtub for now) We have electric.(In part of the house) Someone commented on my last post that it was a lot like camping. It really is! This place IS starting to feel more like a home. It's going to take a while though. I was going to wait until I had the whole house done before I showed pictures. Well, it's going to be a long while before it is all done. So, I figured I would start on one room at a time. You will see the finished product soon. I promise. (Don't get too excited, I can only do so much with what I've got. lol)

Anyway, I had to write something about what I see(heard)on t.v. the other day. I keep the t.v. on sometime just for the noise and something caught my attention. It was on Oprah. It was a show about cooking. Actually, it was a show about how to cook "good for you" foods. They were saying how cooking for yourself is more healthy than frozen dinners or eating out. Well DUH!!!!

Then I got to thinking,(I know, it's scary) people don't know HOW to cook anymore. Grocery stores are full of food that is already made or instant. So the up and comming generations really DON'T know how to fix a meal from scratch. They have it in their minds that if you cook something from scratch it will take all day. Wrong! It just takes some planning. Get the chicken out of the freezer or making sure you have the right ingredeance.

I think we need to teach people how to cook. Get them back to the way our mothers and grandmothers use to cook for their families. Get back to whole foods. It's no wonder our kids are over weight. I think it's our duties to help them to learn how to cook.

Ok, I'm going to get off my soapbox now. lol

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, good cooker.

We're In

Well, we are in our new house. Technically we are in our basement. As I write this, we have no water or heat. But hey, we slept here last night. One problem though, we aren't the only one who thinks of this as our house. There are a million spiders in here!!!!! So bad in fact, that I took my last penny and bought some spray to spray around the baseboards. I am NOT having spiders in this new house! lol

Anyway, we have been trying to get all of the things done that needs to be done to move in. We still have a long way to go. I promise that there will be pictures of the new house. I just want to make it seem like a home before I post them. It will be soon though.

I want to thank all of you who have left me such nice and encouraging comments. I really appreciate them.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, new house liver inner.

Statement of the Day

If you ever think you don't have anything in this world, just move to another house. You will find that you have plenty.

SFG, house mover.

Im still Alive

I haven't been able to blog lately. We have been very busy!!!!! We are hoping to get into our new house this weekend. Well, at least in the walk-in basement. There will be no inside doors, no flooring, but hey, we will at least be in our NEW house! YEA!!!!!!! So don't think I have abandoned you all. I will be back as soon as possible. Wish me luck. Or even better.....Come help!!!! lol

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, house mover.

Question of the Day

Why is it that you always find the good deals when you don't have any money?

So until next time,
SFG, question asker-er.

Ridge Patrol

When I first moved out here on the ridge, me and Hubby had the whole place to ourselves. I mean, there was NOBODY within a mile each way. It was great. Then came the neighbors. They moved in about 3 years ago. They bought the land next to us. Still there is at least an acre in between us. Oh, and trees, so it's not like they are setting in our laps. But, when you are use to not having anyone around, it's an adjustment.  What if  I would want to sunbath naked?(A another story for another time.LOL)What if I'm in the only bathroom and Hubby has to "go outside?"  You laugh, but it's something that you have to adjust to. lol

Anyway, the neighbor is not a bad guy. He seems to really like his kids because he brought 4 out of 5 with him. When I say kids, I mean 30 some year old adults that had to have their own houses(trailers) that he bought. Now, there is noting wrong with trailers. But when you get a bunch of them in a small area, it begins to look like a trailer park. Once again, nothing wrong with that. You just have to remember, we were use to NOBODY being out here. Adjustments.At first I was really against them moving out here. I even tried to talk them out of it.lol. But now that they have been here for a few years, I guess it could be a lot worse.

Neighbor has been retired for a few years now. I think he is bored. He will take a trip around the ridge at least 3 times a day. Just to look at things. Sometimes he will ride his 4 wheeler, sometimes he drives his truck. Whatever he takes, he does it VERY slowly. lol.  Anyway, me and Hubby has got to where we call him the Ridge Patrol. He has called when we had a cow out. He has called when someone has dropped off a dog. He has even called when there was a pretty rainbow in the sky.  At first I thought of him as nosey. Now I think of him as safety. If anything happens, he will know about it. lol. It's nice to know that someone is looking out for you.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, Ridge Patrol Supporter.

Work

Can you guess what Hubby has been doing this week? I helped. I had the hard job of taking pictures. Whew, did I work up a sweat! heehehehe

See the boy/man on the right side? That is Hubby's nephew. He said he was practicing for when he got a job with the State road crew. lol

 

And there we have it folks, a hole with a log stickin out of it! YEA!!!!!! Now that was work!

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl,fence builder.....uh ok,picture taker.

Before Winter

I love mornings. Just sitting here, drinking my tea, enjoying the new day. I usually sit and think about the things I need to get done that day. The more I think about it, the more I realize I shouldn't be sitting and thinking about it. I've got a lot of things to get done! I'm afraid to make a list, there might be a paper shortage if I do. lol.

With hubby going to be going to GA(that's the state of Georgia for my Aussie friends.lol)for training, we have to get a lot of things done before he goes.  Things that we would have had all Fall to do, is cut down to only 2 or 3 weeks. One thing we HAVE to do, is get into our new house. At least in the basement. (it's a walk in basement) We won't have inside doors, or all the inside walls, but it will still be better than what we live in now. I'll find some throw rugs somewhere to put down on the concrete floor. I'm actually looking forward to it. It's going to be a challenge. lol. I haven't put any pictures up here yet of our basement. I want to do a "before and after" type of thing. lol

Another thing that we have to do is reduce our chicken "herd". We don't have as many as we did. But we still have a way to go. We did take a day and butcher a few, but it started to get so hot that the flies were getting bad. So, we decided to wait for a cooler day.

We also have to build a shelter for the goats. My goal is to get them here, instead of down at my FIL's house, before it gets too cold. (Another thing on the list!)

We have to put up the fence that was taken down when the county came and widened our road. We need to do this because the fence that they took down was for the pasture where we winter the cattle and horses.  AAAAAUUUUGGGHHHHH!!!!

And then we have to.....
And then we have to....
And then..........

My head is swimming!!!!!!

Maybe I'll just dig a hole in the grown and hibernate for the winter.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, over whelmed.

Fear

You know, I think of myself as a brave person. I'm not afraid of much of anything. When we had two snakes INSIDE our house a few years ago, I was the one that killed one. Don't even know where the other one went. It got away. That didn't bother me. When we had a rat in the house, that made me more mad than scared.  I'm not scared of the mice that visit our house every once in a while. Nope, no fear here. Except.....
when it comes to spiders.

Aaaauuggghhhh!!! I can't stand spiders! I know I'm bigger than they are. I know all I have to do is step on them. I know that a snake is more deadly than the spiders that we have around here. (We will find a black widow every once in a while.) I know all of this. I doesn't matter!  I HATE SPIDERS!

I don't know what it is about them that freaks me out. Is it the way that they walk? Just thinking about it sent a shiver up my spine. Is it the fact that they can hide almost anywhere? (Another shiver) Or is it the fact that there are so many spiders? ( Ok, double shiver) I don't know. I just don't like any of it.

When (or if) Hubby gets this new job, he will have to be gone from the house for 8 to 10 weeks. WHO will kill my spiders? I'm not going to call up my neighbor. I would be to embarrassed.

All I know is that this time of the year, the spiders bring it on themselves to give me a heart attack whenever I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Almost EVERY TIME!!!Enough already! Then I go back and wake up Hubby so he can kill it. The good guy that he is, he doesn't complain.

The spiders that are invading us right now, are not your run-of-the-mill spiders. Ooooohhhhh NO! They are the elephant size suckers that could eat our St. Bernard.  I mean, they are HUGE!!!!! I believe that Skeeter, my weenie dog, hides in our room so that they won't take her.  No joke people! lol.

When Hubby does go out of town for his training, don't be surprised if you hear about some woman shooting a hole in her house because she was trying to kill a spider. I mean, I'm going to have to kill them some how.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, spider hunter.

Addicted

Hi. My name is Small Farm Girl, and I'm addicted to spinning. There, I said it. Mind you, it's not the stationary bike kind of spinning. Oooooohhh no. You wouldn't see this body anywhere near a stationary bike. lol. No,I'm addicted to wool spinning. Crazy Sheep Lady from Punkin's Patch blog taught me how to spin wool. And....I'm addicted.

I'll tell you how it all began. This last Saturday, me and Hubby thought that we would take a drive and visit the Wool Festival in Falmouth Ky. It started innocently enough, until (da,da,da dum....)I met The Crazy Sheep Lady. She must have cast a spell on me or something. I can't get enough of this spinning! I think it needs to be ranked right up there with crack.

Anyway, we visited the festival and saw all kind of really interesting things. We saw these pumpkins made from wood.

Actually all of these things were made of wood.

This guy is making brooms. I bet many of you haven't seen that before. I know I haven't.

This is something the blacksmith had made. Hubby has decide that blacksmithing is going to be his next hobby. lol

This guy was showing people how to shear a sheep. An Islandic Sheep to be exact.

The girl in the purple hat was turning the crank for the old shears that he was using. They said that it got to be really hard to turn the crank after a while. I bet. It looked really tough.

And, this is the end results. Doesn't it look so much better? lol.

Oh, and of course, more sheep. lol

It was a wonderful day. The best festival that I have been to by far! We will be back next year! Like I said, I'm addicted.

On the way home this is the beautiful sites that we got to see. Sorry about it being blurry. That's what you get for taking a picture in a moving car.hehehhe



So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, spinning addict.

Question of the Day

Have you ever smelled the breath of a St Bernard that just ate a nest full of rotten eggs?

SFG,gagger

Just Checking In

Hi guys! I know I haven't posted on here for a while. We are soooooo busy! We're trying to get into our new house. Well, at least into the walk-in basement. Our old house won't last another winter.(At least I don't think so. lol) We have been working into the late hours of the night. We are almost there.

This cool weather has been so nice. I could live like this forever. Ok, maybe not forever, I've got to have garden. lol. I just love the way the crisp morning feels. I also love the smell. Have you know noticed the smell of fall? It's the smell of leaves and mud. And then, when I smell wood smoke? Be still my heart! I know, I'm weird. lol.

Well guys, sorry this is so short. But, I've got a house to move into.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, house builder.

P.S. Pictures of the house to come soon!

Again?

When you see pictures like this picture, you would assume that whoever is taking this picture would be at an airport.




Aaaaahhhhhhh,no. THIS picture, of an airliner, was taken in my front yard! This picture was taken with just a point-and-shoot camera. No special effects or nothing.It was really THAT close to the ground! What is really spooky is this airliner circled our house 3 time! 3 TIMES!!!!!In the back of my mind I was thinking about 9/11. Was it going to happen again? Not that a terrorist is plotting on blowing up MY house. I'm not THAT important. lol. We have a uranium plant,chemical plants, and many good places to bomb within a 50 mile radius from where we live.

I kept wondering, is it happening again? Is it going to happen withing a few miles from my home? Am I prepared if this is a LARGE scale attack? My logical side of my brain kept saying to the illogical side of my brain,"This is nothing. The pilot is just circling the navigational beacon that is 1 mile from our house. Maybe just practicing." The illogical side of my brain was saying,"What if?"(Maybe this is my logical side.)

I did find out later that there were tornado warnings for Columbus. I guess the airport was having this airliner circle until the storms were over. They have never done this over OUR house before, but, I guess there's a first time for everything.

Now that that excitement is over, we have been very busy around here. Butchering chickens, making apple butter, cleaning our new house so we can move into it. Yep, very busy. I'll try not to use that as an excuse to not blog. lol

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, airplane watcher.(Thanks Sci!)

Fired!

You heard it right. Hubby got FIRED! (Well, perminatly laid off) And to top that off, they wouldn't tell him why! They told him that they would not fight his unemployment benifits so they wasn't going to "get into" why we was "laid off." Our guess is when he took a day off to go for a job interview, they didn't like that. The thing is, 6 other people went to the same job interview. They didn't get "laid off." The only difference is, Hubby (we think) got the job! Once again, you heard right, HUBBY GOT THE JOB!!!!!!!

Yeaaaa Hubby!!!!! The only thing we are waiting on now is his physical and back ground check. (No problem, as far as we know. lol) They said it would be a couple weeks before they would get in contact with him. Once he passes his background check and physical, Hubby will be taking a trip to GA for training. He will be down there form anywhere between 8 to 12 weeks. That's going to be the hard part. I know there are a lot of you out there who's hubbys are gone for longer. But, I'm not used to that. I mean, who is going to kill the big spiders? lol.

Before he gets called to GA, we are going to try to get into the basement of our new house. (Yes, I know, we are BUSY around here!) That way, when he is gone, I won't have to worry about falling through the floor in the bedroom, or the wall falling in, or the electric causing fires.(Need I go on? This old house is in bad shape!)

So many things are changing around here, and many things are staying the same. Today, I'm making apple butter. Tomorrow, we are butchering chickens. I was going to butcher them a few days ago, but, I just couldn't swing the axe. lol. So since Hubby is laid off(fired),he is going to be the official axe swinger. Me, I'm a wimp. But, I'll be doing all of the cleaning and prepping. See, I'm not all useless. heheeheehe.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, chicken cleaner.

What To Do

Hey everyone! How's the weather where you are? It's wonderful here! Sunny, no humidity, and in the mid 70's. Talk about perfect.

Hubby has a job interview tomorrow. If everything goes right, he will have a really great job! Here's crossing my fingers.lol. If he gets this job our financial standings will improve tremendously. Hubby even told me that if he gets this job, I can quit mine and be a full time homesteader. The question is, do I want to quit my job. I know, he hasn't gotten this job yet,but I'm a "what if" person.

Would I like being home all the time? Would I become lazy? Would I actully do the things that I keep telling myself I don't have time for? Would I miss sociallizing with people as much? Would I spend all day on the internet? lol. These are the questions that I keep asking myself. And yes, I know he hasn't gotten the job yet. :)

You might say, "Well, just work part time." I only work 3 days a week now. You can't get more part time than that. We figured out though, it cost me more to go to work than what I make. That's not good. But, I'm still wondering. Part of me wants to stay home, but another part of me says to keep working. It's just 3 days a week.

I figure I would toss that question out to you all to see what you would do. And yes, I know he hasn't gotten he job yet. lol

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, just wondering.

Excitement!!!

The good news is......the fire is out. The bad new is, our tractor caught on fire! Hubby was bush hogging for our neighbor, Firebug. He was going under a tree when a limb hit the muffler on top of the tractor. The limb knocked it almost all the way off. Hubby, being a top notch welder, thought he would just weld it back on. No problem. What he didn't take into consideration was the build up of years of hay and seeping diesel. Yep, poof, up it went.

I was in the kitchen doing dishes(again),when I heard Hubby yell for help. He was dipping water from out of the cistern and pouring it on the tractor. I grabbed a bucket and started to get water to help too. Luckily, it didn't take much to put out. We were also lucky that there wasn't much damage. One fuel line had a small hole in it. That was it! It shouldn't cost much to fix it. It could have been soooooo much worse. Now THAT'S the good new. lol

Another thing that has been going on around here is it is chicken killing time. I hate to do this part, but I understand it is all part of having a homestead. Plus 36 chickens are just too many. They are out growing their coop. So we are going to take them from the coop to the freezer. Yummmmmm. Chicken and dumplings! Ok, I don't feel as bad now. hehehehehe.

Speaking of freezers, mine quit working. Yep, gave up the ghost,kicked the bucket,went to the little freezer house in the sky. How did I find this out? I found this out when I couldn't remember when I had heard the freezer running last. You see, we have 2 1/2 freezers. The one that died wasn't used that much. I did have 1/2 a deer and some veggies in it. Now it just has maggot soup. EEEEWWWWWW!!!!!!!! Luckily it is on our front porch.(Yes, that makes me a redneck.) We are going to pick it up with the tractor and dump the contents in the back field.The coyotes will be happy. lol

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl,Freezer cleaner.

P.S. This just in....The freezer was just unplugged. Aaaauuuggghhhh!!!!!

Statement of the Day

Do NOT rub your eyes with the same hand that you applied Vick's salve with.

Updates

I haven't said much about my goats lately. The main reason is they aren't at my house right now. Since this summer was so hot, we kept the goats down at Hubby's dad's house. He has a bigger barn and lots of weeds that the goats love to eat. But........we have a small problem. The horses. Hubby's dad has two horses that live at his farm. They have taken up with the goats. Now in a perfect world, everything is suppose to get along. It sounds like the horses and the goats being friends is a good thing. It is! It's just....they are more like partners in crime.

You see, the goats have the run of the place. They go through fence like there is none there. Of course, barb wire really wasn't made for goats. lol. We don't care that they go through the fences. They can't hurt anything. It's actually kind of funny to look out in the backyard and see cat size balls of fur eating until their bellys look like they could pop.

Anyways, the goats have something against the neighbor's dogs. They tease,taunt,and torment them. And then when the dogs decide to chase the goats, the goats make a bee line to the horses. The horses, being 6 ft tall and not scared of dogs, take off after the dogs. They chase them out of the pasture. I swear the goats are standing behind the horses covering their little goat mouths with their little goat hooves snickering. hehhehehe

So now ask what my problem is. Have you ever tried to out run horses!? They are protective of those little boogers. lol. This could be interesting when we try to take them to our house this fall.

Now another update. I lost 5.4 lbs this week. And that is going to 3 cookouts this weekend. Maybe it was all of the running in the horse pasture. lol

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, smaller and faster.

Are You REALLY Prepared

I know a lot of you are prepared for many things that could happen. Growing a garden just in case food prices go up. You put a blanket in your car in the winter just in case of a wreck. You have a generator just in case your electric goes out. And so on.......But, have you prepared for everything? You may be prepared in your mind. You may be prepared with your possessions. But, are you prepared physically?

I got to thinking about this the other day. Me,I am not a member of the exercise lovers club. I am more like a member of the "Don't Like To Sweat Club." If you were ever being chased by wild animals, you would want me with you. Not because I could fight the wild animals off. OOOOHHH NO! Because there is no way that I could out run you. The animals would catch me and eat me while you are getting away. Let's just say this body was not made for running. lol

Anyway, I was thinking, if me and Hubby were out riding our four wheeler and we had a wreck, would I be able to run to the nearest place for help if Hubby was hurt. The answer is......Ah.....NO. Hubby would just have to be hurt for a while if the nearest place for help was more than a few feet. In other words, I AM OUT OF SHAPE! BAD!!!!

So, I decided that I can prepare for many things, why not be prepared physically? I'm not talking about going to the high school and walking around their track. The last time I looked, we never go four wheeling next to a high school track. It's more like up and down some steep hills, across some really brushy land. I need to, well, basically do some extreme hiking. Maybe later on, dare I say...running?

Another thing that I'm going to do is join our neighborhood weight loss club. Around 15 or so girls are getting together every week for a diet meeting. It just gives me incentive to lose weight and get in shape. I'll have to post some pictures of the meetings.

So since my garden was a flop this year, I'm going to work at making my body NOT flop. hehehehe


So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, wild animal food.

The "List"

A friend of mine has made a trip to Los Vegas. She got to see the Grand Canyon. She got to see Rt 66. It got me to thinking of how fun that would be. Maybe one day, just put it on the "List". Then I got to thinking about what else I have put on the "List". So I actually made a list....

1. Drive across the northwestern part of the U.S.

2. Take a hot air ballon ride.

3. Fish in the ocean.(Did this one a few years ago. I would be willing to do it again)

4. Go to the northeastern most part of the U.S.

5. Learn to knit.

6. Become a stay at home homesteader. lol

7. Lose a bunch of weight.(and not gain it back)

8. Learn to ride a motorcycle.

9. See the Grand Canyon.

There are probably more on this list, I just can't think of them right now. lol. Although I know I have this list, deep down, I am happy just being on my front porch watching my cows. Who needs a list? Do you have a list?

So until next time....

Small Farm Girl, cow watcher

Statement of the Day

Farm raised eggs don't look too bad now! HA!

Random Pics

I haven't put many pictures on here lately, so I though I would bombard you with a few now.

This is the cake that I baked my Mom for her birthday. Carrot cake, yummmm! Happy Birthday Mom!!!




This is a picture of an ant that my Dad found back on the hill by his house. As you can tell it is HUGH! The stinger was big also. We had never seen anything like it before. So he looked it up on the Internet(of course). It is an ant from the southwestern part of the US. Hello?! Since when has Ky been southwest? It might have just been a fluke, but he found two. Yikes!




This is a picture of the guys working on making our road wider.




I don't like the idea of not having any trees in front of our house. Guess I'll just have to plant some more. Oh, and the fence will go back up too. I don't want people driving through our yard.



And now, let me tell you a little story.


Once upon a time, there was a boy and a girl. The boy and girl thought it would be funny to steal a camera while the owner of the camera, wasn't watching.


This boy and girl took random pictures of things with this camera. The owner of the camera had pictures of the floor. The owner of the camera had pictures of feet. The owner of the camera had pictures of pop cans.


But, you see, the boy and girl forgot that the owner, of the camera, has a blog and that the owner, of the camera, can put pictures on here for the whole,wide world to see. So the moral of the story is.....Don't steal my camera! hehehehe



So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, camera owner.

Question of the Day

Me and Hubby like to "buy American." The question is, does "buying American" mean buying from a company based in America and having their products made in another country? Or does it mean, a company base in another counry, but the product is actually MADE in America? It's hard to find something from a company that is based here and made here. Comfusing.

Rambling

Have you ever went back to check out all of the blogs that you follow? I did that today. Quite a bit of them no longer have an active blog. I say "not active" when it has been more than 4 months sence any activity. So I just quit following them. Now I have more space to put blogs that I do follow.

We are possibly getting city water out here in no-man's land. I'm not sure how I feel about it. My clothes would like to have city water. They could actually get clean now. What I'm not sure about, is drinking it. I don't like to rely on someone else when it comes to our water. Is it clean? What are they putting in it? Will I have to pay a lot of money for it? Will there be enough pressure? Will I have to constanly be under a boil order? See, not sure what I think about getting it. We will keep our well and cistern to water plants and animals though. I don't like putting city water on my plants. Usually there is clorine in the water. Plants don't like clorine. I will probabley get the water tap, but I just don't think I'll drink it. I'm not wild about city water taste. Not wild about the clorine myself either.

One good thing that is coming out of getting water, is our road is getting widened. Right now our road is barely wide enough for one car. There are also many blind curves. Many accidents have occured because of our road. Have you ever seen a UPS truck hit a mail truck? I have. Luckily our road is gravel so speed isn't usually involved in the accidents. Although, sometimes it is. I'll take some pictures later to show you the progress. I wished I had some before pictures to compare.

I am happy to announce that we did NOT have to kill any spiders last night. And, the cricket has moved on. Maybe the spiders ate the cricket and then died of food poisoning. I could happen. lol

Well I hope my rambling hasn't comfused you too much. hehehhe

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl,rambiler

Quit Bugging Me!

We are experiencing technical difficulties. Okay, we WERE experiencing technical difficulties. That's why I haven't been on here for a while. I had 4 viruses and 2 rouge programs. WOW! Now,thanks to a wonderful nephew, we are back up and running. YEA!!!!

Just in time to tell you about our bug problem. Ants,spiders,and crickets,oh my! Let's start with the ants. Ants are everywhere right now! I mean EVERYWHERE! If a teeny,tiny, drop of ice tea gets dropped on the kitchen counter, BAM, ants. If a drip of butter happens to land on the stove, KAPOW!,ants. If a tomato,yes,tomato, is left unattended, KABLEWY,ants. The only place that we don't have ants is (get ready for this) in an iron skillet. I can leave an iron skillet completely full of food and the ants will not touch it. Go figure.

Now the spiders.....We are killing spiders every night. Not just your normal everyday spiderweb spiders. OOOOOHHH NOOOOOO, couldn't be those. We are having to kill the giant field spiders. You know the kind. I think they are the size of my St. Bernard. Okay, maybe not that big. But close. The spiders are roaming my house every night. And every night, we kill them. Now before I get comments about picking them up and putting them outside(yea right), I'm all for bugs being in their natural environment. My house is off limits.

Now for the cricket.......We have a cricket that has taken up residence in our bedroom. How do I know this? Because it announced it to me ALL night long. "Good night Hubby" Cheep,cheep,cheep. "Hubby, can you turn up the t.v.? Cheep,cheep,cheep. "Honey, can you kill that cricket?" Cheep,cheep,cheep. Enough all ready. I couldn't find the little cheeper. I did find earplugs though.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl,cheep,cheep, cheep.

P.S. Tonia over at www.allnaturalsimplelife.blogspot.com is giving away some really nice things. Check her out. She is really interesting and entertaining.

A Big Question Of The Day

Okay, I have talked to a few of you out there on this subject. But, I have not heard from all of you. I have 102 followers on here. I want to know how you feel on this subject. So, comment please, then come back and comment some more. I would like this to turn into a discussion not just a comment page. Please keep it nice. And the question is......

Do you believe that,in our lifetime, there will be a big change in the way that we will have to live. Whether it be a government takeover, another country takeover,a complete economic meltdown, or so forth.

Please comment, but keep it nice.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, question asker.

Energy Boost

For the whole summer I was wondering what was wrong with me. I felt LAZY! I didn't want to weed the garden. I didn't want to feed the chickens. I didn't really want to feed me and Hubby. The house is a mess. The yard is a mess. And, the porch is a mess. What was wrong with me!!!!! I had no energy!

Until.......it got cooler. Wow! What a difference! My whole attitude changed overnight! I started cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. I started noticing things that needed done. What a relief to realize the mess around the house wasn't my fault! (good excuse anyway) We finally had a nice,cool(er) weekend around here. I actually WANTED to go outside and breath. It was wonderful. The problem was, the garden is such a loss, it was a waste of time doing anything with it. So I decided to do as many other things that I could as long as the weather was nice. It actually lasted all weekend.

But now, it is Monday, and it's hot again.Aaaauuuugggghhhh!!!!

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, lazy once again.

Rant

Ok, I just want to warn you, this will be a rant. You can turn back now.......Readers beware...........

Ok, I warned you. If you decide to keep reading, read at your own risk.



Sunday night me and Hubby watched Dateline on NBC. Normally I don't watch it, but I figured there was nothing else on. Dateline was airing a show about the poor in this economy. To be exact, the poor in southern Ohio and the Appalachia Mountains. Well, this is where I live, eastern Kentucky. I know of the area that they were talking about. It is only 1 1/2 hrs drive from my house. To some 1 1/2 hours is a long distance, but to us around here who drive that far just to go out to eat, it's nothing . (Believe me, everyone does it.) On this tv program, they were talking about how poor people were and how they had to depend on a food pantry so that they could eat. They also showed how a family of 4 was living in a camper. (Oh, get ready, there's more.) There were (I'm not sure exactly the number) 11 or 14 people living in one house, because they had all lost their place to live. And then, to top it off, they threw in a young mother of 3 who lived in her van.

I'm sure there were a lot of people who were sitting on the edge of their seat, with a tissue in hand, dabbing at the tears that were rolling down their face. Not me. I was furious at these people. If you lived around here you would understand why. There is a lack of work ethic! No one wants to work!(Gerneralizing) They want everything to be giving to them. Where I live, McDonald's is always hiring. Wal-Mart is too. I know that they are not high paying jobs, but, they are jobs. On a lot of the corners there are people with signs that read, "Will work for food." or" Homeless please help" I have a friend that has his own business. He asked someone holding one of those signs if they wanted a job working at his plant. They said," No. They made more money holding their signs".

Priorities are wrong. Some people(I am just generalizing)don't want to better themselves. As long as they can get a four wheeler or their cigarettes, they are happy. They don't want a nice house. I've seen people living in campers with no water or sewer but they will have them a nice four wheeler or a sporty car. I just don't get it.

The couple that lived in the camper for example, the man wore a thick gold necklace around his neck. The last time I looked, there were people all over the place wanting to buy gold. The lady wore fake nails! Now come on!!!!! I KNOW how much those things cost. $20 to $40 every 2 to 3 weeks. Priorities people!!!

When they started to show the house that all of those people lived in, I was amazed. It was FILTHY! It had pizza boxes on the floor and counter tops. There was trash all over the floor. Broken toys stuffed in behind recliners. People, it doesn't cost anything to be clean! And with 11 or 14 people not working, I'm sure it's not because you don't have any help. Oh, and another thing, clean your kid's face!

The young lady who was living in her van with three kids,she said she had her first child when she was a jr in high school. Then she had a kid every year after that. (remember, she has 3 so far) Anne Curry asked her if she had been taught about birth control. She said,"Yes, but accidents happen." Now, I know they do. I'm not putting down anyone who has had a child by accident. But three times? I don't want to jump to any conclusions here, but the young girl had bad teeth. Around here we all know that if you have bad teeth and are young, there is a high possibility that you are on drugs. (They rot your teeth) That would explain a lot. They said that sometimes she can stay with her grandmother. But, relationships with her family were strained. HELLO! As the program was going off, they said that she had been arrested for domestic violence against one of her babies daddies.Please.

Now I will help anyone who truly needs help. I know they are out there. And I have a soft spot for them. We have givin cars to people just because they needed a way to get back and forth to work. But, "work" is the key word. Don't just sit around and expect me to do all of YOUR work. I will help people that help themselves, or(and I know they are out there) who REALLY can't help themselves.

What I found interesting, was out of all the people that they showed that proclaimed to be starving, not one of them had a garden in their back yard. They had room for it. They just didn't use it. This area is known for it's backwoods ways. People KNOW how to grow gardens around here. A lot(just generalizing) won't do it. I just don't know about them.

So if you happened to watch Dateline that night, please put away your tissues. They are not needed.

So now that that is off of my chest. We return you to your regularly scheduled program.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, ranter

Dear Mr. Rabbit

Dear Mr Rabbit,

I want to start this letter off on a good note and say that I really appreciate you helping me fertilize my garden. Your manure really helps my plants thrive. Although you are helping out, I really wished that you would stop burrowing through my beans and making tunnels through them.

I also wished that you would at least leave me SOME beans to eat myself. I mean, I did buy the seeds and plant them. Without me, you wouldn't have all of the yummy beans that you have been snacking on. If you would like to snack on something, would you please snack on the weeds that are growing (thriving) along side of the beans. But, if you HAVE to snack on the beans, could you please eat all of the bean. I mean, when you just take a bite out of a bean, it ruins it all. I can't use the rest of it.

I know that you are a smart animal or you wouldn't have made your home where you have an abundant amount of food. I understand that you really like the beans and that there seems to be a lot of them, but if you keep eating them, there will be none to can.

I don't want to take drastic measures when it comes to your presents in my garden. But, if things do not change, I will have too.

So once again to make myself clear...STOP EATING MY BEANS!!!!!

Thank you for your support.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, human animal resources.

Statement of the Day

As your going through life, make this your goal, keep your eye on the doughnut, and not on the hole.

Small Farm Girl, doughnut lover.

I'm Tired!

That's right, tired. I am trying to become a very early morning person. Normally, I get up around 7:30. That's if I have a straight 7 to 8 hrs of sleep. But here lately, Hubby has been leaving the house around 5:45 to go to work. That means I get up around 5:00 am to get his breakfast and lunch ready.( Now before all of you women's lib people start throwing a fit, I choose to get up and do this. It just makes it easier on him. Once again, I CHOOSE to do this.) Then normally, I go back to sleep for about 2 hours,wake up, then start MY day.

Well, with it being so hot around here, I informed Hubby that I was going to try and stay up after he leaves in the morning for work. He just smiles and shakes his head. "I can do it!" I tell him. I'm determined now.

So that night, I try to go to bed early. 9:00 pm. That's when I'm going to be in bed. At 7:30 we decide to go down and check on the goats at Hubby's dad's house. 8:45 we are still at f.i.l. house. I keep nudging Hubby,"Come on, I've got to be in bed in 15 mins." Hubby just smiles and nods his head. We get home around 9:30. I'm already a half hour off schedule. I run into the shower to get ready for bed. I'm out by 9:50. Okay, now I'm 50 mins behind schedule.

I come into the living room and Hubby is watching one of my new favorite shows on tv. (Good Guys, if you haven't seen it, it's very funny!) Great, now I have to finish the show. It's law.

Hubby finally makes it to the shower around 10:15. I'm going to go to bed. I go to bed, turn on the tv in our room, and start to watch the news. They are talking about the devastating floods that hit eastern Ky. Of course I had to watch it. They are my neighbors. (Well, kinda, 2 to 3 hrs away.) By the time the news it off, it's 11:00. I am drowsy now.

I turn the tv off and try to sleep. Two hours later, Skeeter wakes me out of a deep sleep. She has to go out. Great. So I get up, make my way through the house without stepping on her, (It's hard in the dark, she's black. And yes, I could have turned on a light, but where's the fun in that?) and let her out. Ten mins later, I'm back in bed.

One hour later thunder cracks outside. Yes, once again, I'm awake. The thunderstorm last for about 45 mins. Good, now I can go to sleep.

Another hour later, I am awaken by the distinct sound of a dog winding up to puke. (All of you dog owners out there KNOW what I'm talking about.)GREAT!!!!! So I go and find the "treasure" that skeeter has left behind. (If she hadn't eatin the chicken poop on the porch when she was let out, we wouldn't have had this problem) I let her out again. 15 mins later, I'm back in bed.

By that time I get to snuggle down into my blankets, and hear the alarm clock going off. I hit the snooze, and FINALLY get 9 mins worth of sleep.

I just don't know if this will work out.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, nap taker.

I'm Mean

Well, I've gone and done it. I took the baby chick(stuffed) from Skeeter. She didn't do as bad as I thought she would. She wined for about 15 mins then stopped. I am so glad. She was driving me crazy!!!!!!hehehe

Ok, it's official, my garden is THE worst garden ever! My tomatoes are shriveling up, my beans(which I was so proud of) are not doing as good as I thought they would, and my corn just got knocked down by a wind storm. My squash and zucchini aren't even doing good. I am now going to swallow my pride and take the fresh produce that friends and family are offering.( I hate to do that!) But, you have to do what you have to do. I'm so glad my life doesn't depend on what I can grow in the garden.(At least right now it doesn't.)Next year will be different. This fall me and Hubby are going to move our garden spot. It's going to be over closer to the new house. We are bringing in river sand, chicken poop, and rotting straw. We are going to plow it under and till it up. That way next spring, we will have a good rich soil to plant in.

In my herb garden, my mint is really doing well. Of course ANYBODY can grow mint.(even me) It is as tall as my shoulders. And, it is blooming like crazy. I have never seen so many pollinators on one flower. Big butterflies,small butterflies,big,medium,and small bumblebees, sweat bees, flies all different sizes. Out of all of the pollinators,(and there are hundreds) I only seen ONE honey bee. That's so sad. I would love to have some honey bees. Let me try that again, I would love to have someone grow honey bees for me on my land. I don't have the guts to work with bees. My grandpa could climb a honey tree and get the honey. He wouldn't even use gloves or a net or anything. Nope, not me. I didn't get that gene.

Well, I've got a lot of things to do today,
So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, gutless.

Question of the Day

Can you can frozen green beans?

Small Farm Girl, confused.

My Dog Has Issues

That's right my dog Skeeter(my miniature dachshund)is driving me crazy!!! Lil' Sis gave her a toy. This toy is shaped like a baby chick. It's purple, so it doesn't really look like a real one. One thing that it does do is it peeps. If you touch it in a certain area, it makes the sound like a baby chick. I think that is the problem. She thinks its her baby!!!! She carries it around wherever she goes. If it peeps, she goes crazy! If she is not in her carrier with her "baby," she wines. It's not a normal whine, it's a very high pitch "whistle." It's driving me crazy!!!!! Thanks Lil' Sis. (Imagine a very big frown on my face.)

This last weekend was very nice. The weather was perfect. Now if only the garden will catch up. I picked some beans Saturday, but it wasn't enough to really make a batch.

The berries are still going strong. My uncle and his three grand daughters came over yesterday to pick some. They couldn't believe how much there were and how big. I kept telling them they were monsters. lol. Anyway, we picked tons(well maybe not tons) of berries. We were all scattered out picking until our hearts were content. Then all of the sudden, my uncle lets out a yell and starts running out of the berry patch. Hornet nest!!!!! As he was running, he dropped his bucket,which was full of berries, and he fell, sliding down the hill. Once he stopped sliding, he laid still hoping the hornets wouldn't sting him. He is allergic to them. I kept the grand kids over by me that way them wouldn't get into the hornets. We kept yelling over to him to make sure that he was ok. He said he was, but he dropped all of his berries. He also dropped his Gerber multi-tool back by the nest. Great. After a little while he gets up slowly and makes his way over to us. No stings! YEA! We decided we can go back latter and get the Gerber. I think he was more mad about the berries though. lol. He had smashed berries all up his side from shoulder to shoes. When he got home he said he even had them in his underwear. lol. Poor guy.

Anyway everything came out alright. I'm just freezing my berries now. Oh, I have the best frozen yogart recipe.

1 lb fruit(If using berries with a lot of seeds, you might want to strain them)
1 1/2 cups greek yogart(more if you want. I used a lot of yogert)
sugar to taste.( I used about 1/2 cup)
vanilla (once again, to taste)

blend in blender, pour into bowl and freeze for at least 3 hrs.

eat and enjoy!

This is the best cold dessert for the summer.

Hubby is lactose intolernt but he can have yogart. He LOVES this! I hope you do too.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, frozen yogart eater.

Statement of the Day

Don't ever try to get a St. Bernard wet if you want to stay dry. Enough said.

Small Farm Girl, wet.

Feeling Hot,Hot,Hot!

What a wonderful weekend! Friends, family and fireworks! What more can you ask for? Oh yea, I can ask for it to COOL DOWN! It's HOT HOT HOT! (Hey that sounds like a song!) The poor garden is really feeling it too. It's looking pitiful. It is just not wanting to produce. I believe this year's garden is one of the worst that I have ever had. It's been too hot to get out and work in it.

Something is happening to my squash and zucchini. I see them starting to grow, then in about 2 or 3 days, I go out to pick them and they are gone. I think I'm going to call the FBI. The case of the missing squash. You think they will come and investigate? lol.

The tomatoes look like they are anorexic. Little twigs with tiny leaves. Hopefully they will come out of it. Poor things have had a rough year,flooding in the spring, and extreme heat now. If it starts to snow in August, I'm going to give up. lol.

One thing that is growing really good is the wild blackberries. Take a look at these babies.



Yes, that is a quarter! It won't take very many of these to make a batch. lol.



I guess I have blackberry jam in my future. (and pies,and cobbler,and smoothies,and..........)

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, blackberry queen.

Graduation!

My babies have graduated. (Don't go all crazy on me. I don't really think of the chickens as my babies. I'm just saying that because I've heard so many people say that in the last month. It being graduation season and all.lol) They spent their first night in the "big" chickens house. They did just fine. Of course, they are just about as big as the older chickens. But, it's still a new place for them. When I went to let the chickens out, the "smaller" chickens were up on the roost. Like, "I'm not going down there with all of those "big" chickens. They are mean and scary." lol. Oh well. Nugget and his two friends stayed in the "little" chicken's house. They are still too little for the big leauge.

It has finally cooled off a bit. You can actually breath. It's still hot, but I can handle the heat, it's the humidity that I hate. I'm not a fish. Next week, it is actually suppose to have the highs to be in the 70's. I'm going to have to get out the winter coats. lol.

Hey, I picked my first batch of beans today!!!! Granted, it was just enough for me and Hubby to eat. But, it was some beans, and they were out of our garden. YEA!!! I looked at the blooms on the bean plants and have decided we are going to be "bean-barded" with beans this year. We may not be about to grow potatoes. We may not be about to grow a bunch of corn. We may not even be able to grow melons. But, darn it, we can grow BEANS! hehehehe. Now for a good batch of beans and potatoes. Yummmmmm.(Yes, the potatoes were bought from a store.)

So my question is, what type of beans do you plant and why?

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, bean eater.

What!!!!????

It is pouring the rain outside and the sun is shining brightly! I wish is would make up it's mind.

Camo

I'm about ready to change the name of one of our goats. The little white and black one. I think I might change it from Tipper to Sassy. Why? Because she is SASSY!!!She does NOT want to be caught. Mudd? No problem. Tipper(aka Sassy) will run rings around us when we try to catch her. I mean, this goat can run up the side of the barn. I have seen her do it! lol. We have to corner her and then kind of dive in after her. I'm sure she will get use to us with time. I've got the patience.(for now)

Well, the goats have meet some of the other animals on the farm. So far Tipper has head butted the dog and the cat. (See,she's Sassy!!!)The cat was the funniest thing I've seen in a while. Tipper kept following it around sniffing at it. The cat was doing one of his best "I don't care if you are there" act. When the cat did turn around to finally look back at her, BAM! It made a loud, hollow sound. Let me tell you, that cat can run. lol.

The weather has been HOT around her. If it's not hot, it's raining. It feels like a sauna. (By the way, why would anyone want to BUY a sauna? Why would I buy something that makes me hot and sweaty when I can just walk out to the mail box and get the same effect?) Anyway, I finally got to check out the garden this morning.(5:30 am) When I finally found the plants in with all of the weeds, I noticed that they were really healthy. The rabbits that I see out there every evening, has not eat any of the plants. The bugs haven't even touched the plants either. So I got to thinking,(get ready for it) The weeds are like a camouflage! The rabbits can't see the yummy plants for the weeds! The bugs think that it's just a bunch of weeds too. Why would THEY want to eat weeds. The humans must not have planted any GOOD plants this year. See, I've got them tricked. I think I'm on to something here.hehehehe.

Looks like we are about to get another storm, so until next time....

Small Farm Girl, weed grower.

There Here!

We went down to see Catherine of Kentucky Hollows and brought home these little darlings. The dark one we have named Mudd. The lighter one's name is Tipper. She has a black spot on the tip of her nose. I've thought and though of a name for the brown one. The name "Mudd" just stuck. Hehehehe


Aren't they the cutest things you have ever seen? They are the size of a house cat. They will only get a little bigger. Average size around 19 inches. Can you say,"AAAAAAAWWWWWWW!"? We wanted to start out with the smaller goats just to see how much milk we will use. If we use a lot, we'll get bigger goats. Can't wait until we start milking.(Remind me of this moment if I start complaining about having to milk them all the time. lol)


Right now though, I'm just going to enjoy them.



Oh, and for more good news, Hubby got another job! A job that is close to home. Today is his first day. He called during his lunch break. So far, he likes it very much. I'm so glad. What a good anniversary weekend? Goats and a new job. What more can a girl ask for?

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, goat owner.

The Doelings are coming! The Doelings are coming!

You heard right folks, we are finally going to get out doelings this weekend! I'm so excited!!!!! I hope I can be a good goat farmer. After reading about how a sick goat is a dead goat, I'm kinda nervous. What if I don't take good enough care of them? What if they get into some poisonous weeds? What if coyotes get them? Oh, I'm making myself even more nervous. I had better stop thinking about it.

Hubby went back to work Sunday. Boooooo! Oh well, I had better look on the bright side, at least the bills are starting to get paid. Oh, and I get the bed to myself. YEA!!!! (To all of you girls out there that sleep with your husbands, you know what I'm talking about.Wink)

Our garden is starting to really look good. Four rows of beans, two rows of onions,over 80 tomato plants,(some that I have never even heard of before. I mean, come on, a WHITE tomato?lol)one row of beats, peppers,squash,zucchini, corn, potatoes(that aren't going to make it) and cucumbers. Wow! That's a bunch of veggies. Next year we plan on having our garden in a different place. Hopefully it will be bigger and laid out better. We shall see. (Am I the only one who plans on doing something, and then when the time comes to do it, there is no way that it is going to get done? hehehehe.)

I asked the question last week on weather you staked your tomatoes or not. Well, we have done both. When we don't stake them, they touch the ground and start rotting sooner. When we DO stake our tomatoes, the wind whips them really good and they break off where they have been tied. I'm not sure what we are going to do this year. Not yet anyway. We still have a while. I probably wont have to worry about it. The goats will get out and eat them. LOL!!!!

Another thing that I have been doing, is late spring cleaning of the house. There was more dirt in here than in the garden. But when you live in an old house that once was used for storing hay, what can you expect. At least it is looking like it's cleaner.

I've been practicing on the fiddle a little too. I'm getting better if I do say so myself. It's either that, or the dogs are going def. :) I just wish I had some music to play with. I can play with my Dad and uncles, but that only happens every so often. Not enough for a beginner like me. Believe me. Just ask the dogs.

Well, I had better get back to more cleaning. It just never ends.

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, house cleaner and soon to be goat farmer.

Question of the Day

Do you stake your tomatoes?

Small Farm Girl, question asker.

Question Answered

What a weekend! Busy,busy,busy!!!!!Hubby got to come home for a whole 3 days. I'm glad he came home, but I just wish we didn't have to stuff everything we did into just 3 days. Imagine everything you do in a week. Now do it in just 3 days. Next weekend, he will only be home for one and a half days. He doesn't get to relax at all. I try to do as much that I can through the week, but there are things that I just cant do. Anyways, I should at least be happy he has a job.

Last week I posted a question about if you would change your lifestyle if you had money. The reason I asked this question was, Hubby had a chance at a job where he would be making quite a bit more than we have ever made. Instantly I was thinking about the things I could buy. Better furniture, curtains for the house, new truck. Would I have a garden or just buy organic foods? Would I still want a milk cow, or would I find someone that would make the butter and cheeses for me? Do you see what I mean? So, I put the brakes on all of those kind of thoughts. I sat back and looked at the reason I was living like I am. I come up with the answer," I like the way I live!" We might get a newer tractor, or have the money to actually have the money to HIRE someone to finish the house. Or, we might build a bigger garage.(Hubby would need it to put his new tractor in. lol) But, I would still try to be self-sufficient. I could afford to buy that milk cow. I could buy fruit trees. I could afford to redo all of our fences. I might buy things, but it would be so I could have a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Oh by the way, Hubby didn't make the cut for the job. Hehehehehehe. I guess I won't have to worry about it now. lol

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, poor, but happy.

Question of the Day

If you had a million dollars, would you live the same lifestyle that you live now?

Small Farm Girl, question asker.

Update on Job

Hubby hasn't heard anything about the local job yet. They told him they were accepting applications until this Friday. Then after they get the apps, they would call him. Hopefully everything will work out.

Right now there isn't really much he can do around the farm, at least not outside. It has rained so much around here! The garden is a big soup bowl. I hope it starts to dry out some. I hate to say that, because it seems like every time we start complaining about it raining too much, we end up getting a drought later on in the year. Then, we are begging for rain. Humans, we can never be satisfied. lol.

The rain IS good for hay though. We should have a good crop this year. That helps out a lot!!!!!! Not just for us, but for people that have to buy their hay. Prices tend to go down when there is a lot of rain. Plus, if we have extra, we can sell some of ours to other people as well.

People ask me what I have been doing since Hubby has been out of town during the week. Can you say CLEANING!!!!? Why is it that when your husband is not at home, you can get sooooo much cleaning down? Don't get me wrong, I would rather have a dirty house and have him home. But, WOW! I have cleaned places in this house that haven't been cleaned forever. It's starting to look like a normal house again. LOL.

I'm even losing more weight now that he is not here. It's okay to just eat veggies. There doesn't have to be a big meat dish to call it dinner. LOL. I had better watch, he will come back to a small wife and then he won't want to go out of town to make money. LOL!!(Just kidding Honey!)

But, my biggest fear with him being gone, is something will happen to the cows(getting out) or the new house (storm damage or fire). Let's just pray nothing like that happens. I'm just a worrier. Hubby always tells me to quit worrying. But, that's my job, that's what I do. LOL

So until next time,

Small Farm Girl, worrier.