so, it's been a minute...

It is currently almost 10 years since my last post. What's happened in that time?

All the trees we planted died... something about we dug the holes too deep... and then a drought... We no longer have feathered farm creatures. We saved a shetland pony (we later named Ninja) in 2011. Rescued a miniature horse, Lily, who was about the same height as Ninja, just a little more delicate in structure. They have had 7 foals. We took on a neighbor's shetland mare, Dora. She and Ninja had 5 foals, though only 4 survived (Vultures don't just go after dead things. Apparently young things are on their menu, too.)

We've removed Lily and her most recent foal last spring (2020), Ninja and 2 of his progeny this past winter & spring, and got the rest of the ponies calm enough to take care of their hooves. 

We've lost all the cats to predation or old age. Lost a dog to cancer caused seizures. Adopted a foundling puppy during the shut downs. The puppy keeps our old dog busy!

We have a 5 year old son who is the center of our universe.

I taught Massage Therapy for a handful of years, then opened up my own practice in the back of a local chiropractor's office. After a couple years and a Yoga Teacher certification,  I opened up my own Massage & Yoga studio and have been focused on that, being a mom, and kick-a$$ wife, and a human being... so, not saying I didn't drop the ball here... but there were reasons! I'm saying REASONS!!!

I'm on vacation now, visiting my folks up north and enjoyed a lot of the farming tasks we used to find tedious. 

From strawberry picking to strawberry preserves.

The recipe I used was:
https://www.thespruceeats.com/old-fashioned-strawberry-preserves-3057818

Hi there, Stranger!

Well, I've had some time to adjust to living "out here" now. It still fascinates and amazes me on a daily basis. The places, the people, the situations, the culture, the gaffs... they all leave plenty of room for misunderstandings and entertainment... or both. I work as a teacher at a technical college as well as practicing at a local massage locale, but I've finally found time to pick up gardening again among other interests.

At the farm, we now have 9 goats, 1 shetland pony, 1 miniature horse, 1 dog, 3 cats, and 2 goldfish. I just harvested about 15 lbs of zucchini, 5 lbs of jalepenos, and 4 lbs of onions from the garden. We've made stuffed zucchini, zucchini & chicken lasagna, zucchini bread, sautéed zucchini, more hot pepper jelly, and will try some new recipes! We've started using our crockpot more and are trying some freezer to crockpot meals (awesome time savings). Lots of things have happened. Pictures will follow.

I just wanted to say that I live on and soon, I'll get to this blog again on a regular basis.

Pictures of late...

Ruby

Cleopatra "Cleo"

Rhoda

Ginger

Lady

Richard

KC (the cat) & Wendy

Here's to checking off a few things on "the List"

The list... ahh... Is there no one out there who does not have a list? A list of things to be done. A shopping list. A HoneyDo list. A bucket list. A holiday card list. A list of accomplishments.  Lists, lists, lists.

Well, my "Need to Do" list just got a bit shorter. We finally replaced the car that Hubby totaled in February. Got a 2012 Mazda 3. It is fuel efficient, has tons of cargo space, and is loads of fun to drive.

We also have another 41 eggs incubating to give us about 100+ chickens. After we cull some and breed others, we're hoping to total about 120 laying hens and 5-10 roosters. Then, we'll be ready for regular production to sell to our interested parties. This is important because that's the moment that this farm begins to generate it's own income! We're so close!!!

Next on the list is to fill in the pot holes in the driveway, repair the old Honda and sell it, put up a fence, get a cow, maybe some goats... the list goes on, doesn't it? It's just one of those things that never seems to end. Every time you can cross something off of it, 5 more things seem to jump into it's place, don't they?

Well, at least we completed a big one yesterday. Not a bad Birthday present, if I do say so myself! :)

Now we have the luxury of trying to cross more off of our lists! Ah me...

Recent happenings in the physical world...

Hubby was in a car accident 3 weeks ago. He's fine, but the car was totaled. His accident sent me to the ER with an anxiety attack. I'm fine, but what a stressor! I still have some follow up appointments to take care of, but all is well. Now we're test driving cars in our spare time; hoping to find one we like so we can get one I can drive and I can give my Mom's car back to her. We're leaning towards a Honda Insight, but have not yet had the privilege of driving one... It seems that all the Honda Dealerships in AL & FL are only getting in 1 at a time and they are normally sold as soon as they arrive... We're hoping to find & purchase one before the end of the month!

Work has been keeping me busy all quarter. This month is a bit easier to manage, but still exhausting at times. I hit the ground running in October when I started. I had been expecting to start off as a part-time teacher, I jumped right into full-time teaching 5 classes last quarter. This quarter I taught 6 classes and am FINALLY starting to find a rhythm to it that I can be comfortable in. I really love teaching Massage Therapy at the career college (not willing to publish the name yet... Damn you Big Brother!!!). The students are adult- sometimes in age only. Mostly, though, they just don't know what to expect, I think. The department is expanding right now. (Yay! Job security!) Soon I'll have my own desk & workspace! JOY!

The farm has become a regular stop for coyotes at night. To date, we've lost 3 guineas and 1 cat to those monsters. As a result, Hubby has been up most nights with a shotgun to protect the flock. The chickens have begun to lay their eggs. We're getting upwards of 16-17 eggs/day! Yay! We've begun to incubate some to grow the flock and we've been gifting some to friends and family. Some we're giving to the folks who gave us the wood we used to make the coop as a thank you! They didn't ask for or demand it, but it's nice to show our appreciation!

Dad just found work; Mom is still looking. For a while, it seemed that every time they got their hopes up, the job they were after went to someone else. Mom has not yet given up hope, but she's kinda discouraged.

We really hadn't had the energy the past month to attend church more than once. It hasn't been intentional, but when the opportunity to catch a morning to sleep in or relax, we'd needed to take advantage of it lately.

The Early Cat Gets the Bird... Where's your worm, now??

I officially started my new job as a Massage Therapy Instructor at a local college (about an hour away) on Monday. It came with a rigorous schedule- complete with a just about daily wake-up time of 5:00 am (for those of you unfamiliar with those wee hours of the morning, that is about an hour or so PRIOR TO sunrise). Mondays & Wednesdays, I teach 4 classes that are spread throughout the day beginning at 8:00 am and ending at 9:20 pm. Grueling. On the bright side, it does give me time for office hours with the students as well as time for planning, organizing and administrating my classes and creating lesson plans. Tuesdays & Thursdays, I only teach one class from 12:30pm-2:20 pm- then home. I also have the occasional 5 hour shift of supervising the clinic, after which I "Take one for the team" and get a student massage (it's a dirty job, but I do it because I am a team player). In truth, the student massages are relaxing and it gives me the opportunity for some 1-on-1 time with the students. During the massage, I can asses their competency and give pointers, tips, tricks and general advice that lecturing in front of a class simply can not provide.

I LOVE being a positive influence on so many aspiring LMTs. I love the opportunity to help them succeed in the field of Massage Therapy and inspire them as human beings to see life in a new light. That being said, it's a challenging schedule to acclimate to. Not impossible… just unfamiliar. Learning the layout of campus has had me walking no less than 2 miles daily, just trying to find things like which class I'm supposed to be in, where the administrative offices are, where do I get my attendance records, etc. There's an additional physical strain because, for the past week, I have been carrying bags of books, my purse (which is NOT tiny), and my laptop briefcase with me to each class. Occasionally, I lock my purse up and go on without it. So, this past week has been draining-physically, mentally, emotionally, & spiritually. When I got home Friday after my clinic shift, the entire week's exhaustive efforts hit me all at once & I PTFO'd on the couch for an hour or so. When I went to bed that night, I luxuriated in the realization that I could sleep in on Saturday morning…

Saturday morning came all too soon, ushered in by my Darling Husband- whom I had repeatedly and unsuccessfully tried to wake during the week to spend the morning with me before I headed off to work for the day- awoke at 4:00 am (for those of you keeping track, that is more then TWO hours before the sun comes up). Unable to get back to sleep, he decided to make breakfast… for the both of us. By 6:00 am, he had managed to finish breakfast and rip me from our warm, comfortable, calling-to-me bed and had me sitting in the kitchen, eating a scrumptious breakfast of cheese grits, eggs and bacon.. and coffee (strong with a chance of death- just the way he likes it). It was a wonderfully sweet gesture on his part… but something inside me railed against the notion that I had been torn from sleep on one of the few opportunities I'd had to catch some much needed rest to recover from my week. The injustice!  However, I ate most of my breakfast, enjoying his company and asked him what was on his agenda today. Do you know what he said??? He was going to go back to sleep!!! Here I was, my only sleep-in day stolen from me, with the assistance of coffee & breakfast I was awake for the day… and he was going to go back to sleep!

Note: he DID NOT go back to sleep, and not because of any death threats I may have imagined... he stayed up with me, surfing the web for news, as is his morning custom... Ha HA! He's awake for the day, too!

About the title: I have developed a habit of letting the cats out just before I head to work. It's still a bit dark-ish, usually and they are more than anxious to get out & start their days of hunting, climbing and other kitty adventures.  They have quickly realized that they can go out early if I am up early, which they now try to facilitate by jumping on my head, back, chest etc. purring loudly and kneading whatever they don't get pushed off of. This morning, when I- bleary eyed- stumbled into the kitchen, I mentioned that the cats needed to go out. Hubby let them out while I found my way to the breakfast table. After breakfast, we mozied on over to the couch so we could comfortably use our laptops for our tasks at hand. Our windows are open to allow the breeze to cool the house since the blazing heat of summer is almost gone. Not long after we sat down, we heard a bird sound, followed by a cat sound and then no more bird sound... Our little hunters. :)

One year ago today...

We packed up the last load of our stuff into 2 sedans and, with 3 cats in tow, we set off for our new life on the farm. We had no idea what we were doing, but we were looking forward to the adventure of a lifetime!

We had set some short term goals:

1. Have a kitchen garden. (success with the winter garden, failure in spring/summer garden)
2. Have livestock. (42 beautiful birds bouncing out of their bins)
3. Have a truck. (found a 1984 Ford F150 in usable condition for $1000! Woot!)

These things were set to be achieved within a year of moving here. As of yesterday (I know, down to the wire- right?!), all 3 have been achieved!

Through the year we have had our successes and failures thanks to family, friends, neighbors, fellow farmers, ACES Educational Resources, abnormal temperatures, animals (feral hogs rooting up & eating crops, deer eating my spring/summer veggies!), ignorance (Who knew some trees won't grow here despite what the people at Lowes or the Co-Op says?), drought (almost 2 months straight without rain), money problems (shoestring budget), insects (damned fire ants)... etc.

1. I'm halfway through my Master Gardener classes which should help me yield a better garden to harvest fresh produce from year-round! 
2. Our birds are just about ready to go outside. We just need to finish the coop/pen/shelter for them this weekend before our little jumpers get into trouble in the house. 
3. The truck needs some work, true... but it's nothing we can't handle. It's mostly personalization and getting it fit to do what we need around here. 

Once I start working off-farm next week, the budget will be happier and we'll be able to do more around the place. 

Our goals for year 2:

1. Get cows
2. Get Goats
3. Get Sheep
4. Solar panels or windmill for power (not a requirement, but would be nice!)

Now that we're more familiar with the farm and will have an increased budget, I'm sure that these goals can be attained with a bit more speed than last year's goals.