Critterhaven Farm

What would we do?

Watching the news about the flooding in the midwest I can't help but think.  What would we do if this happened to us?  We have all these animals we are responsible for.  And even though this place in our knowledge has never flooded before, I'm sure many of the places in the midwest that flooded never did before either. 

Would we save a few and leave the others?  Of course we would get the kids to safety first...but then where would we start? And like so many of the ones involved in the major flooding, would we have time to?

Made me start thinking we need to set plans in place for either evacuation (my parents live on a farm on a hill), or the terrible task of evaluating our rather expensive Nigerian Dwarf goat herd and considering who would be the ones to save.  Who could continue on the herd as we have striven to build it?  These are not easy questions to answer, as every one of the goats are important to us.

And then there are the dogs, those in rescue and our own adopted dogs.   I tense and panic everytime there is a severe storm.  So far we have been lucky that none of our animals have ever been injured, in a shed collapse and two trees falling.  Crazy me has been known to head out in a lightening storm to check on things, although I have gotten better in my old age.  A bolt of lightening that hit a tree overhead once and I felt the static on the back of my neck sorta cured me of that.

I finished my "Tennessee Master Meat Goat Producer" course last week.  I'm now officially an 'expert'.  Well not really.  And even though I'm not a meat goat producer alot of the information was relavant to goat producing in general. I learned alot and really enjoyed the class.  Plus got two very nice certificates, one from UT and a nice yard sign stating my new status!

I'm SO far behind on the garden.  I have some planted in containers but I've still got some on the porch that I will be planting this afternoon in pots.  With the ducks and geese and chickens and all it is hard to ground plant because I am constantly having to chase them away!  NEXT year, as I always say.  We'll have a fenced in garden.  Yeah, next year.  For now I have okra, tomatoes of all kinds, squash, cucumbers, watermelon, and cantelope planted.  I can't wait for fresh out of OUR garden.

Taking in another aussie to foster tomorrow.  It seems like now is the time folks start dumping dogs.  Puppies that grew too much since Christmas and now are not that cute sweet puppy anymore...puppies and kittens that were 'unplanned'...and breeding moms that are no longer meeting their 'quota'.  Happens everytime this year.

I'm going to start a record of books that I'm reading for the summer.  I have a bunch to get started on, but so far have just started reading one.  This time of the year is the big vacation time so my petsitting business has picked up.  Four this week.  One continues through next week so I'll be good and tired by next weekend!

We are STILL trying to downsize.  Baby lop rabbits, pot bellied piglets, chickens, ducks, geese, you name it right now we have them for sale.  Goats both babies and adults too.  Seems like it is never ending.  And to think.  In 3 months kidding season starts again!

Picking up the tree that fell in the yard over two weeks ago tonight to haul off.  We cut up as much of the wood as we could but the rest of it including all the branches are headed to my brother in laws place to fill in ditches.  Although we don't have an indoor fireplace I look forward to using the outdoor one on cooler nights.  I'm designing the backyard after this tree is gone to build a screened room off the back of the house, and hopefully put a primitive kitchen out there.  I'd love to do most if not all the work myself.

Off to clean house, again...seems it is never ending.  Would love to hire a maid for one week, but with finances that won't happen.  I need to get down on my hands and knees and clean, and it is NOT easy to do at my age.  I think I'm getting mom's lupus.  I have not been tested but all signs are pointing toward it. Constant joint pain, and now my fingers get really stiff and tiresome.

I started again on my herbal supplements.  Years ago I did so and felt so much better for it.  So I'm doing it again.  I think if I got some of this weight off I would feel so much beetter.  At 5'4" 189lbs is not where I want to be.  More like around 135.  Hey, it's doable!  I think I was there...once.

How you moms do it I don't know!  I have plans for the day and then like today I'm behind on them.  After lunch and I'm behind.  I go through these highs and lows in life.  I get up one morning with all the gumption to get going and get so much done, and then the next day I want to stay in bed all day.  So what is the key to doing it?  I keep reading all of the wonderful blogs on here to envision the how to.  Maybe soon it will kick in!  I call us homesteading newbies, although we have had the farm for three years now.  I have books, ideas, know how.  It is just getting time, energy, and money to do it.  As granddaddy used to say...."If the good Lord is willing and the creeks don't rise....we'll get it done by and by."

I've always heard that "It's not the destination, it's the journey."  I disagree.  It IS the destination, isn't it?  If it were not why would we be here?  So I say, "Enjoy the journey while keeping your eye on the destination."