Busy Life in the Forests of Maine

A Nice Kind of Tired

Have you ever had a day when you were just tired? Not sore and tired, not exhausted tired, just happy tired? Well, I've had one of those days today. Yesterday was spent in the barn, working in the house, and just generally getting stuff done. Including some work on my website... and now today, I'm just tired. Happy tired... the kind of tired that comes from getting stuff accomplished. And I'm not ready to fall asleep on my feet, but yet I know that when my head hits that pillow it's lights out. The kind of tired that I imagine my ancestors frequently had when the farmwork was done. I'm glad for these days, I'm glad that I'm still able to have them. There will come a day when I'm sure that I'll be tired from just living, not able to do the things I'm able to do today. My mom lives that way, due to her many disabilities. I thank God everyday that I'm still able-bodied and healthy. Well, mostly healthy, more on that later. Anyway, just an insight tonight. Now, off to watch some TV for an hour or so, and hit the sack. Tomorrow's another day. Work in the morning, then farmwork at night. This weekend will be nice, heading north to visit the Amish community for a Saturday afternoon. Should be nice leaves as well. Take care folks.

Barn Work Ongoing!

So, here it is Sunday afternoon, and I've not gotten to post in so long. We had a really busy last few days.... I worked Thursday and Friday (gotta work OFF the farm to support the farming habit you know!) and we've been doing farm chores mostly all weekend. It was nice yesterday however, bright and sunny, with temps in the high 60's, so we went out for a drive. Ended up at a "local" national forest about an hour or so from home, and went hiking. Walked in the woods, talked, and just generally recharged the old batteries. Then came home and did some chores here, mostly just cleaning up and preparing for winter.

Today it's been crazy. Had to go shopping earlier to get groceries, some plywood and other odds and ends, so ended up in town. Now my hubby is up in the barn vaccuming the glass out that the previous residents left up there so nicely, so that he can redo the floor sometime this winter. A little background on that-- the house was built in 1800, but has been mostly renovated already. A little work left to do, but not too bad. The barn in another story... built somewhere around 1950-1960 or so it needs help. Serious help. It was built badly, and not structurally to the best that it could have been. Built 24" on center in spots, 48" on center in others, and needs fixing. The upper floor of it the supports for the roof are resting on the floor of the upstairs, normal right? Yeah, the kicker is that the suppors that support the FLOOR aren't under the other supports, so the roof supports are resting on nothing basically. And said floor is also rotted from the roof leaking over the years. The roof has been fixed now, so he's onto fixing the barn itself. First order of business was to clean out the upstairs from the years of junk left there. Now that's done, and it's vaccuming the glass off the floors. Then he's going to relay new plywood down, 24 sheets of it!!! Pricey! And then redo supports so that the upstairs roof supports are resting on the downstairs barn structure supports. Then next summer all the outside T-11 has to be redone, as it's rotting, and the barn will be painted red. Oh yeah, and somewhere in the midst of this there's still supports to be put in so that the entire barn is brought to 24" on center. Right now only the parts where the goats are have been redone. And we have kidding pens to build before December, when the first babies should be due. So yeah, we're getting there, but it's a slow process. One day at a time... we continue to buy 2 sheets of plywood a week, and we'll eventually have enough to do the floor. Thankfully the Lord has blessed us with a friend who has a lumber company, and we purchase his cull lumber for next to nothing. So that helps tremendously with all the wood projects around here. In the next week I hope to get pictures of the barn, and keep you all updated with our progress.

This morning we had a Nubian doe come into heat, and so we had to put the buck in with her. That was er... interesting. She's not quite short enough for him, or he's not quite tall enough, whichever, and so we had to "help". We pulled her outside, and had him in the barn so that the deed could be done. Just that extra 6" of height makes all the difference. It looked like a good connection, so hopefully that took. Will try again tonight to be sure.

Have bunnies due in 3 weeks, 8 that need to be butchered and put in the freezer, and 2 more does to be bred in November. Things in the rabbitry are HOPPING!  Have 1 doe due in December (3 days before Christmas), and so far 4 more due in February, and now one due in March. Will be a busy time for us... but I love kidding season! 11 more hens should be laying pretty soon, I keep expecting new eggs in the coop every morning, but not yet. Patience is a virtue after all right?

Well, I've got to run. Having supper with our neighbors/dear friends. We do a weekly get together (course, we see each other about 3 times a week) and have supper and cards/conversation. Tonight is their hosting night, and we are having breakfast for supper, and playing a "new" board game I got at the thrift store in town. It's the Farming Game, and was made in 1979. Very fun, and we've had a blast playing just us this week. It will be even more so with them and thier son. Best thing is the game was $1.75, and while it had been opened, it was obvious that it was never played. All pieces there, money still new, unused. GREAT GAME! Take it easy, and I'll be back soon I hope. God Bless.

Soap Business Relaunched!

Oh, I'm so happy and excited this afternoon. I've been wanting to relaunch my soap/personal care product line for about 6 months now, and haven't had the time or energy to do so. Well, now it's officially done. I've gone ahead and made some new soaps, done my business plan, added new scents and things to the line, and will be going ahead with a website soon enough. I'm just happy, and since this blog will be kind of my way of keeping track of things, a way to keep in touch with family and friends (old and new) and a journal of sorts I had to post it here!

This afternoon's work included 6 bars of soap, 2 Green Apple Delight, 1 Lemon Zinger, 1 Cranberry Morning, 1 Cucumber Melon, and one which is an eclectic mixture of the above. Figured we'd try it and see how it does... since they are all fruity scents it can't be too bad right? lol

Pictures

House in winter... taken as we were purchasing it in April 2007.

House in late summer, taken on 9/28/2007.

Introducing Myself

Hello all! Welcome to Kiddin' Around Farm (also known as the funny farm).  We are a small, family-run farm in Central Maine, north of Bangor, south of Houlton. How's that for pin-pointing it? We have goats, chickens, cats, dogs, rabbits, and a hog that lives with the neighbors down the road. (We split the feed costs, and the meat later on). It can get busy here as we both also have full-time jobs. Currently there's no four-legged kids on the farm, but we are remedying that hopefully soon through foster care. We invite you to join us on our crazy journey through life... enjoy!