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Well unfortunately our baby goat did not make it. He was suffering so badly. I wish that I could have done something to save him. I hope I can discover what I could of done different so it doesn't happen again. Now I am trying to figure out why his mama's milk still has a sour taste to it. Or maybe what would be considered an after taste. Last year her milk was wonderful. Very sweet. You would of never known it was goats milk. I have given her b12 and vitamin C. Now I am trying to deworm her. I don't know what else to do. Anyone has any advice that would be great. Jen |
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Our little guy still isn't doing good. I sent a note to the homedairy group I am on and someone suggested floppy kid syndrome. Now I am at horse riding and just anxious to get home and give him some baking soda to see if that will help. I know he was really bad this morning and we were feeling hopeless. NOw I have a little hope. My dh came in from chores this morning just crying. I hope we can save this guy. I do know that farm life is something that puts kids through the real things that come with life but I feel so bad seeing her so broken up. I also just don't know what to do. well if anyone has had floppy kid syndrome with their goats and has some suggestions let me know. Jenni |
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Today was a sad day on our little farm. When I was getting ready to head out to do chores I noticed that one of our little bucklings wasn't getting up very good. So when I headed out there I watched him for a while. He seemed to not be able to hold his weight on his front legs. Well I did some reading and made some phone calls. I read a little about bent leg but he is 4 weeks old and he is fed by his mama. So I don't think it could be that since I am not bottle feeding him. I guess bent leg has to do with over feeding. In the book I read it suggested giving him apple cider vinger and Cod liver oil. Well I am trying the vinegar and the cod liver oil. I figured it couldn't hurt him. Does anyone have any suggestions. He is a set of twins and the other twin is doing just fine. He was running around and jumping on me when I was out doing chores. The lady I talked to said she can usually tell ahead of time if one of her goats is getting sick. I hadn't done chores for a couple days. My daughter who is 8 did the chores on Saturday and my dh helped her on Sunday. They aren't usually as observant about things like that. Well I would love some goat in put. I hope tomorrow he looks a little better, but it isn't looking good. Jenni |
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Well we got the poles in for the goat pen. That is a good feeling. We now are going to put the wire up. Dh has to work his side job tomorrow night so we won't make any progress tomorrow. He has had a lot on his plate this last couple months. His list of things to finish is growing and getting to be a bit much for him. He has to finish his side job, finish goat pen, build clubhouse for kids, get wood cut for woodburner, then he has to put a deck up around our pool and I think he might be done after that. Well that is just what he has planned so far. He is such a hard worker and very dedicated. I love him but right now I am worried that he is working to hard and not really enjoying life. Well I will keep you posted on our plans and accompishments Jen |
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Today we worked on the fence for our goat pen. We had a lot of fun. I love to do that kind of work with my dear hubby. We work well together. We spend time laughing and picking on each other, all in good fun. We got all of the posts in but 6. Hopefully we will get those done in the next couple of days. Hubby has to work at his extra job tomorrow and maybe the next night so I don't think we will get it done until Friday. After doing work on the fence we had a bonfire tonight with the kids. Isn't it funny that we live in the country and it is suppose to be so peaceful but when you sit outside on a peaceful country night it is funny how noisy it can seem with all the frogs and bugs chirping. I wouldn't trade it for any city noise. Have a great evening everyone Jenni
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Well today we spent our morning at church. It was nice to be with our family of believers. I am so thankful to have such a close family at our church. We are planning a mission trip this summer. We picked a family in our area and we are going to fix something on their house. All of the people in our church are able to help out in some way with the project. I think this is going to be so awesome. I am doing most of the planning with this. I guess I am the head person for this project. This is a little scary I want to make sure we are able to help this family but to also grow as a congregation. Today we had a meeting to do some of the planning for the event. I was so nervous, I don't do well giving speeches in front of a group. But God was with me today and I got through it without any nerves at all. Thank dear heavenly father for being there for me today during my time of need. Thank you for just loving even me. Jenni |
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Today was one of those milestone days. My baby girl is growing up. She learned to ride a bike without training wheels. She is still in the learning phase but she is going to get it. She has been so determined to ride a bike so far this year. I am so proud of her. She ended up with a few bumps and bruises and she went to sleep really fast. She rode her bike for a coule hours tonight. She had a smile from one side of her face to the other side. What a cool thing. Jenni |
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Well I am having trouble with my goat Crystal. She gave birth to twin bucklings 3 weeks ago. I started milking her about a week ago. Her milk has been sour. I don't know what to do. I am still milking our other goat Snowflake and her milk tastes great. They are in the same pen eating the same stuff. Anyone have any clue. She is very full in the morning when I go to milk her. I take her kids from her at night and then milk her and return them back to mama. So does anyone have any clue what the problem could be? Today was awesome. I live in MIchigan and we have had some wonderful weather. I actually planted 2 rows in my garden. That is so fun. It felt good to be in the sunshine and enjoying God's beautiful earth he created. I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful spring we are having. Jen |
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Today was a great day for putting clothes on the line. I put 3 loads out and it felt great. It was the first day that was nice enough to put clothes out. I am not one of those women that brave the cold weather and hang clothes. I also spent some time grinding flour. I have to send my Nutrimill in. It seems to get get flour all over my kitchen. I called the company and they are going to take a look at it. Today I decided to grind the flour outside and that was much nicer since I didn't have to clean up the fine dust all over the house. Well I hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful spring days. Jenni |
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I am getting excited for next year and starting a new curriculum with the kids. We are going to use a new curriculum. I looked over a couple companies and took some time to ponder it. I looked at Living Books curriculum which looked really good but I was worried that I would get overwhelmed and not really enjoy the experience of educating my daughter. I was also a little concerned about the cost. Then I looked at queenhomeschool.com. I was really impressed with what they had to offer. I decided to go with this company. It is really neat that they are a homeschool family and have used the products with their kids. So now I am anxiously waiting to receive my box with books in it. That is like christmas morning to a homeschool family. If anyone else has had experience with this company I would love to hear what you have to say. Jenni |
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Today was a good productive day. We started the morning off early and headed to the eye doctors. That took forever but now that is done. When we got home we ate lunch and did a few things in the house. Spent the afternoon for about an hour on the porch sucking in the sunshine, that was glorious. Then I decided to head out to the goat pen, what a job. I started on it but then had to get dinner done. When hubby came home we pleaded with him to help us finish the job. Of course it went a lot smoother with his muscle power. Well the job is done. Glad for that. In Michigan you can't really clean out the yucky stuff until it thaws out, and then when it does thaw out, watch out you have a job on your hands. Well I can't wait to see what God brings for us to accomplish tomorrow. Jenni |
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Well I am sorry I haven't been a very good blogger. No good excuse just hadn't made the time. Right now I am working on changing around our life. We let the outside world take over and I am tired of it. I am looking at what I want to eliminate out of schedule for next year. I have decided that besides church we were only going to allow one thing a week for both of my children. The thing I struggle with is that I will let someone down, and I am starting to realize that is not true. I will not let anyone down but my kids. Right now things are stressed out at home and that is just wrong. I want our kids to be comfortable at home and enjoy their time here and not think about what next activity we are headed to. I want to be caught up with my housework not playing catch up all the time. So this is my hurdle in our life right now. I let all the people know with the activities that we wouldn't be a part of next year, and that went well. Now I just need to finish out the next month and then life can slow down. I will let everyone know what is going on with our little homestead with my next writing. Jenni |
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Well I have been missing in action lately. I don't know what happened I was doing so well keep an account of what I was doing around our little homestead and then life took over and I didn't take the time. Well I am going to try harder to keep this up to date. A lot has happened. I am trying to change our eating habits around here. We are trying to eat more whole foods and not use processed foods. That has been a challenge but fun to learn something new.
I am currently thinking of buying a grain mill and I am having a hard time figuring out which one to buy. There are so many choices and they cost so much so I don't want to make the wrong decision. If any of you have any advice I would love to hear from you.
School has been going good. WE are doing a study on Laura Ingalls Wilder and reading the little house books. That has been so much fun. I am learning a ton. I hope my dd is also learning. HEHE I know she is. She loves the little house series and it has been fun to compare things. We learned that Mary was never married and that Carrie was born when they were in Kansas. Almanso and Laura met in Desmet South Dakota not Walnut Grove. So as you can tell it has been fun.
I think one of my goats are bred. The other one hasn't showed signs of heat so I don't know if I will be able to breed her. It is a little late in the year. I actually think she might be in heat right now. I don't have a vehicle available today to take her to where her boyfriend is. We will see how she acts tomorrow.
Well that is a breif update on how things are.
God Bless.
Jenni |
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We have heated with wood for about 5 years now. We have an outdoor woodstove, which we liked. The problem with the woodstove was the amount of wood it went through. This year we are trying a regular cast iron wood burner ( if that is what you call it) I really like it. It is going through about 1/3 of the wood. Which is a relief. WE are trying to save my dear hubby some time out cutting wood. Does anyone have any advice with burning wood and this type of stove. WE are just trying to figure it out. Our house is about 3200 sqare foot and we are hoping this stove will heat our whole house. This year we are going to use the woodstove in the house until it gets really cold and then use the other stove for the hard part of winter. If everything goes well we are going to use this stove the whole year next year. We are on a trial basis. Well I am looking for advice. Jenni |
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We had a lot of fun yesterday. My mother and I decided to go on a picnic. It is now November in Michigan so that is not a thing we are usually able to do. It was a blast. We also went to a book sale so that just sweetened the day for us. We went to the book sale first and then headed over to the park. I packed a picnic of chicken dumpling soup, fresh blueberry muffins, cottage cheese, apples(mom brought those, and hot cocoa. It was perfect. The kids got to play for a while and then we headed for a little walk. It was so fun, I need to do this kind of thing more often. I usually think it is too cold to have a picnic in the fall, but it was perfect. No bugs bothering us and we didn't sweat to death(not that I mind the warm weather.) So if I can inspire anyone today that needs something fun to do head out for a fall picnic. Jenni |
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Our assignment this week is to share something to do with pumpkin. Well last week I made this pumpkin cake bars for my husband to take to work. So here is the recipe. So far I have not personally tried them but someone did ask for the recipe and my dh really liked them. Pumpkin Cake Bars 4 eggs, well beaten 2 cups cooked pumpkin or 1 can (1 pound) 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/4 tsp salt 1 tsp ginger 1 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp cloves ( I did not add this) 1 package of yellow cake mix 1/2 cup butter, melted 1 cup chopped pecans Whipped cream optional Mix eggs, pumpkin, sugar, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves together; pour into a 13in x 9in x 2 in pan. Sprinkle dry cake mix on top. Drizzle melted butter over mix; spread chopped nuts over all. Bake at 325 for 1 hour and 20 minutes. (Cover with foil loosely to keep from browning too soon for the first half of cooking time.) Cut into squares; serve topped with whipped cream, if desired My verse for this week has been Deuteronomy 6:4-9 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Have fun blogging Jenni |
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I don't know why I haven't posted in a while. I could say life has been busy but that is what we all say. I have been doing a lot. Last night my oldest daughter got sick so we didn't go out trick or treating. I was not disappointed about this. I really wanted to skip the whole thing this year. I thought we could just stay here and do our own thing. I just hate all the yucky costumes and really what it all stands for. My mom and my nieces came over and decided to hang out with us. We went and got a little bit of candy and all of us adults stood behind doors and they went trick or treating right here in our house. It was a lot of fun. Then we made homemade donuts. Okay they were cheater donuts but they taste great. You take the cheap pillsbury biscuits and cut out the donut hole. Fry them in some oil and put a little confectionary sugar and water frosting on top of them. UMMMMMMMMM. It brought back childhood memories and also why I have gained so much weight. We started talking about all the treats we used to have as a kid and then realized this might be the reason why I love food soooooooo much. We then watch Evan Almighty. It was a really funny and good family film. I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't find anything offensive in it. Well all in all it was a really good night. Now that I am looking back I think that we should do this more often. Have fun theme nights like this. They kids had a blast maybe it was because we let them eat a ton of junk food. Have a great 1st day of November. Jenni |
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Today was a wonderful day. We stayed home all day and never left the house. That is just a wonderful feeling. I wish we could do that more often. Tomorrow we are staying home until my dh comes home. I wish we could stay home tomorrow also but oh well, we have to do what we have to do. I got some things done around the house today. I finally got my youngest summer clothes moved out of the drawers and got the winter clothes moved in. The weather has been so good here for this time of the year especially since we live in Michigan. It was still 70 at least today. It did cool down this afternoon, and they say we are going to have more like usual temperatures this week. The trees still look like fall even if it is acting like summer. I am still waiting for my goats to go into heat. I hate the fact that I just don't know when they are for sure in heat. The one goat is acting like she might be in heat. I am going to watch the calendar and see if she acts like this again in 21 days. We will see. I am looking forward tomorrow and enjoying my peaceful time at home. God Bless, Jenni |
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Lately I purchased a cookbook. It was a splurge for me but I had really struggling with what to cook for my kids during the day. I was tired of Mac and cheese for lunch and cereal for breakfast. After a while I like to have something good and homemade but also something the kids would eat. Well I went on a search and I ran cross this website (you can get the link on my sidebar). At first I just thought about it and then finally I broke down and bought it. It is so wonderful. I love the fact that the kids have loved everything I have made so far. WE have made muffins, pancakes, and biscuits. For lunch we have made chicken soup. I have planned to make octupus hotdogs and green noodles. Doesn't that sound fun. I just love having new ideas. Well if you are in a jam of what to cook for your kids that spend all day with you, you might want to check this out Jenni |
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Yesterday was an awesome day. Its not very often that I get to say that, but it was. The girls were great. Things actually have made a total turn around here. We have started having some quiet time in the afternoon when we are home and that has really helped. Mommy is definitely loving quiet time. My youngest keeps falling asleep which is great for when daddy is home since she is a lot happier, bedtime is a little awful but I think it is worth it. Before quiet time she would be a bear from about 5 to 8. I like the new schedule. We went outside and played tag in the trails the kids had made in the leaves. That was fun. We went for a walk afterwards. It was a beautiful fall day. I am trying to enjoy the time we will have outside before the snow starts to fall. Today was a little bit crazy. I clean houses everyother week and this was the week. ONce we get home I am so tired. I don't really get a lot done here. I am just hoping for tomorrow to be a little more relaxing. I don't see how it is going to happen but I can dream. We have stuff going on in the afternoon but the morning will be nice until about 3. I am still going to enjoy the day. I am being positive. Have a good day. Jenni |