Our Lady's Windy Acres

I'm back!!!!! Spring is here!

Alrighty! Gave myself a swift kick in the pants now that I have two good feet, and realized that I've got to blog a lot more!  Luckily, one of my major e-mail groups that I was moderating closed down as well as a Forum tied to that, so now I have a bit of time freed up to focus on the homestead blog - yippee!!!

So...finally we had a decent Spring day here yesterday, but of course no unnecessary servile work was done here - my daughters and I went to a bridal shower, and the menfolk went off for a hike. 

I finally have all my seeds in and ready, and now have to plan the garden. I think the smartest thing I ever did was to buy a journal to keep gardening information and notes.  I drew out where all our crops were last year so that I can plant them in different areas this year.  I'm a bit behind, but I'll be starting some of my seeds today in the little Jiffy packs.  Better late than never!

Last week, we really had an interesting time - we got to learn how to milk a cow in order to help out some neighbors who went out of town. It was great hands-on experience (excuse the pun) that allowed us to see what owning a dairy cow entailed and for us to discern whether or not it was something we wanted to jump into.  By the end of the week, my daughter was getting more milk out of Gloria than her owner! I was really impressed by her - she's turned into quite the farmer!

We also ordered our chicks last week - we have Barred Plymouth Rocks, but this year I'm getting Buff Orpingtons - very pretty orangy gold color!  I read about changing the laying breeds every year - that way, when the eggs slack off you know it's the first breed, and they can go to the stewpot rather than trying to guess which one of the biddies is done.  Not sure what breed I'll get next year, but I do know we've gotten a small customer base for our eggs, and I want to be prepared for that.

We sure are blessed - I just have to make sure I remember that when I go to the grocery store and see the prices soar yet again! 

Have a happy Spring day everyone - it's good to be back!