Freedom Acres Farm

Busy Busy Busy on our little farm

Our calf was born on Tuesday - 2 months earlier than we expected!!! She is doing great and so is mama! Mama was a nurse cow before we got her so she has not been hand milked before. She is doing well and we're actually catching on fairly quickly too. We got a whole quart of colostrum out of her last evening. We are looking forward to some good fresh raw milk after the weekend.

Right now we have 1 cow, 1 calf, 1 cat, 3 kittens, 1 dog, 1 puppy, 3 rabbits, 6 bunnies, 17 chickens, and 20 chicks on our farm. We're busy running around trying to get things done and we haven't even begun to think about the garden yet. Hopefully I'll get in there to start loosening the dirt next week. We are planning a trip later in the month to Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah IA. I am excited to get heirloom seeds and as many organics as I possibly can!!

I'm off to bake some cookies to warm up the house because I don't want to go as far as to build a fire this morning. 43 degrees outside and only 63 inside - those warm cookies will taste good!!!

Hope you're enjoying your spring as much as I am

Happy Tuesday

Life is full of joys but also quite overwhelming lately!

This week hubby has been able to both halter and lead the cow out to a tie out. She is not getting enough grass in the barnyard and she is refusing to eat her hay in the barn. Her ribs are beginning to show and she is still carrying her little one that is depending on her! We've added some sweet feed grains back into her diet but they make her go nuts. She gets really excited and a bit scary when she's had grains and *thinks* she wants more  

I'm going to perform an informal survey here  -  let me know what you think! The question is.... Do you think that a family with the following items on their plate has a full plate or am I just overwhelmed because I need to get *it* together?

1. My dad is fighting cancer 1200 miles away from us
2. One adult son calling daily to keep in touch but still wanting guidance from Mom and Dad.
3. One son accepted to University of Minnesota and needing guidance through the process (he has no money what so ever and I have no idea how he's going to pay for it)
4. Planning a graduation open house in 5 weeks
5. Trying to keep up with planning and executing the Charlotte Mson method of homeschooling in our family
6. Assisting one duagher with numerous 4H projects, homeschooling, and in general this thing called "life"
7. One adopted daughter suffering from RAD is ripping our family apart and we no not where to turn or what to do with her. Currently living with another family because it was SO bad.
8. Potty training our 3 year old
9. Chaperoning the 2 year old up and down the stairs a million times a day because he has already fallen down them 3 times in his life and still has no fear of them.
10. Changing, feeding, & cuddling a 7 month old
11. Participating in and leading Crown Financial Bible studies and ministry at our church all at the same time as TRYING desperately to get our own financial life in order
12. Cooking everything imagineable and possible from scratch in order to get a handle on the grocery budget
13. Selling anything and everything we can think of on ebay or through various egroups on line to help bring in extra cash (using dial-up no less)
14. Trying to learn all we can on how to keep and raise a family milk cow and a beef cow or two all while already having a 4 year old cow ready to calve in July on the homestead already
15. Budgeting and rearranging our spending plan daily
16. Discussions on and decisions to be made on which tractor we can afford and which one would benefit us the most
17. Researching and planning a completely heirloom and organic garden for the first time this year
18. Deciding whether to buy a beef steer at a really steal of a price
19. Deciding whether we need another dog as the first one isn't getting any younger
20. Thinking about where and how to free range some broiler chickens
21. Trying to find time to replace the fan on the solar power charge controller before the whole system burns up
22. Oh, did I mention the hundred of runny noses I've wiped the past week because the 3 under 3 all have runny noses for some stupid reasons
23. LAUNDRY FOR A FAMILY OF 9 (7 of which are at home right now)
24. I'm not even going to talk about my bathrooms that are totally gross!
25. Did I mention the never ending deciphering of what my toddlers are so urgently trying to tell me? One needs me - - gotta go for today - - -

So what do you think? Any advice on how to get control of my life? Don't get me wrong I love my life here in the country being a wife, and homeschooling mom - - but most days lately I feel EXTREMELY overwhelmed Feel free to comment on my informal survey!

Now, where? to begin today........

Convention 2008

We will be attending our state homeschool convention this weekend. Our family has found the Charlotte Mason style of educating and we are so excited! It is so relaxed and such an easy way of learning. We have short lessons on lots of different topics. Lots of reading GOOD books and discussing them.

The first step is to look at our habits. As I've read Charlotte's works I am learning that we need to work on our habits first. We have a fairly flexible schedule because of our little ones but I am learning very quickly that I need to concentrate on the habits of those little ones and it will pay off in the long run. If they are trained well and have good habits then the rest will be so much more simple. My oldest ones have turned out quite nicely but I'm hoping to do even better with my second batch :-)

The Snow is Gone

The Snow if finally gone and I can truly think of Spring! Spring always means homeschool conference time. This weekend we will be attending our convention in Duluth. I am looking forward to this one especially because I will be looking for things for my preschoolers to do. I've never homeschooled preschoolers before and I can't wait to do lots of fun things with them. I am also excited to look for materials for Hannah. We began "doing" homeschool in a Charlotte Mason method this past year and she and I are both loving it! I can't wait to find all kinds of living books!! I truly love homeschooling and am so blessed to be callled by God to do this!

Spring also means garden thoughts! We are planning a trip to Decorah Iowa to Seed Savers Exchange this year. My whole family has promised to ride along and enjoy the day with me for my Mother's Day present. I am SO excited! I can't wait to have heirloom seeds and plants that I can manage and pass down to my children!!

And this year Spring means getting the pasture built for the cow we bought last month :-) We finished our barnyard but now we need to get a pasture up for her. She'll calve in July so we are trying to finish getting set up before the babe comes.

Happy Spring!