A Distinctly Different Homestead

Budget Talk and More…

 

Hope you all are having a great holiday weekend on your homesteads! 

Perserverance...

The 4th of July in Kansas

Pertussis update and goaty decisions

Just tell me when you get sick of updates...   :)    Atira had only one fit last night and Bobby was still awake (though I'd been asleep for an hour) and he helped with it and witnessed the violence of it for the first time.  The key seems to be letting her cough through it and then get her calmed down as quickly as possible so she doesn't start again.  She laid down on her bed (propping up does seem to help) and I talked to and prayed with her, rubbing her back, and she fell right to sleep.  Slept peacefully all night.  The most remarkable thing about this all is how normal they are during the day.  They drag a little bit, a little tired, but it's not even as bad as a cold aside from those fits.
        We're thinking of going ahead and catching a fireworks display somewhere tonight, but because of the pertussis we'll have to avoid people and won't get to hang out with our dear friends like we were planning to.  I know the kids would enjoy it (duh) and I'm kinda sick of sitting around myself!  I can hobble around pretty good but that foot does start to throb if I'm on it for long.  I poked around in my garden yesterday and overdid it.  But my plants missed me!
        We called the Martins to come pick up the Brownie goat.  Just can't get used to her milk and although, like I said before, we feed it to the babies and it frees up the tasty milk for us, we decided it was just that much more work.  I really prayed about whether to sell all the goats, sell some... how to not "give up" but still practice wisdom in knowing what I can handle right now.  At first I had my mind made up about what we should do, but as I prayed it became less and less clear and I really wanted to know what Bobby and my older kids thought.  Well Bobby insisted we stick it out and keep Gran and Dessy.  The girls felt stronger than I expected about keeping their two doelings.  We talked about means of management and quickly came to a workable solution.  The biggest blessing for me was realizing that I'm not in this alone.  Most of the time I assume I'm the only one commited to homesteading (though the kids love the animals, of course) and the whole burden is on me.  But this goat discussion taught me that I was wrong.  And boy, sometimes it feels so good to be wrong!   If you know Bobby you're probably amazed that he had an opinion on it at all... he's a very laid back guy that usually takes the "whatever" approach, espeically to "my" projects.  The fact that he holds an opinion on this subject is enough for me!  The rule is:  If he cares at all, we do it his way!
          We're going to sell the two almost 3-month old wethers ("August Leggo Larry" and "Log" - aka, Auggy and Loggy the Lunchmeat brothers) at the swapmeet this weekend (or at least try).  We were going to raise them and butcher them this fall, but I don't see how it's sensible.  If we had an area for them to browse, it'd be different.  But it's not cost effective to be buying hay.   We were given two cable runs that we hooked up for Gran and Dessy which freed up the corkscrew tethers.  We'll put the two doelings on them.  Farra and Atira are commited to tackling this with the knowledge that if it gets to be too much work for Momma, the doelings go.  I think we have a workable plan and I'm feeling very good about it.
        Now, about those chickens we were offered...   
        A friend of a friend lives near a farm that raises chickens for Tyson.  Tyson came to pick up their birds and ended up not taking about 3,000 birds the farm had raised for them.  This friend of a friend saw an opportunity and bought about 2,000 birds at 50 cents a piece.  He's going to get them to butchering size and will sell them for 75 cents each in 2-3 weeks.  My friend wanted to know if I would want any and how many?   Well, I'm the only one she's talked to that has freezer space....  but gosh, look a few posts back to see how my first butchering experience went!  I would have to hire someone and by then I'd be paying about what I'd pay in the store... for the same cage-raised bird!  They're talking about having a big butchering day and my friend and her husband are going to do about 100 birds themselves.  It's tempting...  but I think we're going to pass.   Bobby liked the idea of getting cheap food, but when I asked, "Well, are you willing to help butcher?"  he decided it wasn't such a good deal after all.
        And that's what's going on at the Willie Farm today...

A peaceful night

We made it through the night!  'Course, I didn't think we wouldn't... but...  I struggled in a way I never have.  I dreaded bed time and my heart ached so bad when I tucked my little Willies in.  I prayed and prayed for peace and the Word kept going through my mind, "I will lie down and sleep for you, oh Lord, make me dwell in safety."  I knew this applied and that I was trying to be in control of something that was in his hands alone.

Atira had a tiny fit within 20 minutes of lying down and spit up only a little.  She didn't vomit the rest of the night and is still sleeping peacefully.  Thank you, Lord!!!  The others slept pretty well, too.   And, my foot feels better.  Now that it doesn't hurt everywhere, I realize the pain's not in my ankle but more so the top of my foot.  I can stand on it but the actual movement of walking hurts.  I figure another couple days of babying it and I'll be good.
     I was thinking of calling my sister to come over and help today but Bobby surprised me by staying home for that purpose.  He gets up about an hour earlier than me and leaves for work 15-20 minutes before I come down.  Today I came down and saw he'd unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher and it blessed my heart so.  I didn't realize until I reached for the milk pans and "found" them missing that he was still here.  I gimped down the hill to the barn and he had just finished the milking!  The only thing that would have made it better is if I'd known he was doing it so I didn't even have to get out of bed.  :)  But he wanted to surprise me.  Color me surprised.  He milked all the goats last night, too,  while the kids and I instructed him (Granny gets three cups, Dessy and Brownie get four each, don't forget to share with the kittens, etc)  and did the other barn chores.    The goats are a little confused by his way of doing things and Granny expressed her displeasure this morning by trying to sit on him, but I guess they'll get use to it.  He and the goats, both.  :)

I'm so blessed.

Joe's first day at work and life so far- here in KS

Ha ha, very funny, God

You know from my previous posts that I've been struggling to stay on top of things around here.  My mornings begin with a desperate plea to the Father to help me, to give me the strength I need for each day.  My last post I mentioned crying out to Him and his answer to "remember."  Well, I should mention my ackknowledgement that the fact that he's the one that provides for my every need is more of a head knowledge than a heart knowledge... and my tiny wisp of a prayer that he not let me forget not just where I can from, but who I still am without him.  Helpless.  Worthless.   The prayer that you're sometimes afraid to pray out loud because you know it's going to hurt.... but the one you make anyway because you know what's good for you.

I figured out this morning (with the help of the internet and an interesting website with sound clips) that my childrens' continual hacking cough is pertussis, or whooping cough.  Atira has had violent coughing and vomiting spells every night for the past week but feels pretty good during the day.  Royal coughed mildly for a couple weeks before that and is over it.  Farra and Seth both cough all day , but don't (yet?) have the violent fits with the whooping noise.   I've been just taking it a day at a time but my heart breaks for my little girl as I rush down the stairs in the middle of the night to her aid, clean her vomit and calm her down.  Every day means cleaning up vomit and doing a load or two of extra laundry.  Getting up with the goats after not-enough sleep is soooo hard.  From what I've read and heard, we could be going through this for a couple months.  This morning I called my dearest friend and asked her to pray for us as I try to weed out unneccessary work in my life (mainly - do we sell some or all of the goats? We'd start again in a year or two after we installed some fencing and finished up our barn) and to remember that I can't do it all even if I tried....  I've been struggling so hard to get things done (I don't have a single clean room in my house and it's driving me nuts) that I'm forgetting the important things... things we enjoy, things that bring peace. Taking time during the day to sing, listen to music, read, draw... whatever... just to do something because we enjoy it, do it together, not in a rush...
         Well, anyway.  I was off the phone with my friend for all of ten minutes... directing the kids to their different cleaning tasks while I headed out to the garden with a bag of compost material...  I called her back, "Guess who just sprained her ankle?"     That last step off our deck is kinda steep and I twisted my foot as I hopped off of it.  I fell to the ground in consuming pain, immediately comensing to cry all my frustrations out of my systems, immediately recognizing the Lord's hand in it.  I was crying and laughing, an odd, disturbing sight (I get it from my mom and grandpa, who have the same strange habit when they reached that breaking point)...   Hobbled inside to find my littlest two screaming and fighting over something...  sat down, propped my foot up and cried some more.  I was in pain, but as for being overwhelmed... seems the Lord knew just what I needed and I felt so loved (sounds weird, I know).  He pushed me past that point where I could possible handle things myself and I felt it incredibly liberating!  i called my friend then and she prayed with and encouraged me.  She's so great.
          Later I called my friend Whitney and she brought over some comfrey ointment she'd made when her brother broke his collar bone.  After the initial propping and icing it felt better but still hurts to get around.  I applied the comfrey and a bandage but otherwise I've been relaxing on the couch enjoying the kids, praying, praising the Lord, bossing the kids around (it's amazing what they can do all on their own when I'm unable, including all the laundry steps, making lunch, tethering goats, changing diapers), taking a nap...    I did tell my family last night how very overwhelmed I was feeling and how I would love just a little break...    {laf}  The Lord is so good.  The worst thing I forsee is having to sleep on the couch instead of upstairs in my comfy bed so I don't have to manuver the stairs in the middle of the night when the kids start vomiting.  Hmm...

A side note...  although, from what I read and hear, there's not much traditional medicine can do to help with whooping cough, we're using herbs to hopefully speed the process along.  The kids are enjoying echinacea/vit C tea blends for an immune boost, mullein tea for the respitory infection and homemade mullein cough drops.  We bought a vaporizer to use in their room at night and put a few drops of euculyptus oil in it.  We're encouraging them to sleep propped up on bean bags as lying down flat seems to irritate the condition.  If anyone has anything else to recommend, I am totally open to hearing it! 

Living in KS

Monday on the Homestead

For the last few days I have been cooking with my crockpot.. or should I say crockpots.. I have 2 of them a big 6qt and 2 or 3 qt..  I think that is the size. It is an old one that use to be my moms many years ago, but it works like a trooper. I love being able to put both of them to use for a meal. One day I put a beanless chili in the big crockpot and cooked pinto beans in the small one. When the beans were done cooking I drained the liquid and added a little more salt and some butter and smashed them up right in the crockpot to make refried beans (not that they were fried at all..lol..).. Sierra made a salad and the combo was delicious. Another favorite combo is meatballs in the big crockpot and mac and cheese in the small one and serve with a fresh green salad.   I have been taking the crockpots out to my husbands shop to plug in and cook for the day to keep the house from getting hot. It has worked great! I make the meal while it is still nice and cool and then enjoy the day working around my home and the afternoon swimming and sunning with the kids..  dinner is ready to go when the family is hungry. 

 

This last week my daughter Carolyn and her hubby Jonathan and my grandbaby Caden came to town for a visit.  They are still here. I have seen them a couple of times and over the weekend they headed to the Oregon coast with Jonathans family. This week we plan to get together again. The highlight of the visits so far was when my little grandson Caden called me “grandma”.. just melted my grandma heart..    Another highlight was going out shopping with all my girls, except for Leanne of course, and she was very missed by all of us!  But it was a fun afternoon and it was cute to get a couple of baby belly pictures of Carolyn and Hannah my two mommies to be. Here is a pic of all of my girls:

 

Tobin and the boys have been working like crazy around the property. They have been trimming trees, mowing, clearing out weeds and I have to say the front of our property is looking like a park! And the great side benefit from this work is that we have about 1/3 of our winter wood already. Jacob has done a lot of cutting and Isaac has been helping with the stacking and clean up. Tobin split all the wood that needed to be split and it is all stacked neatly in the bins… we all smile at it as we walk by.. knowing how important that wood is to our winter time comfort (even in the midst of summer heat ).    Here is a pic of our pond and some of the surroundig area..

Tomorrow Tobin and I celebrate our 24th wedding anniversary!   We are going to go out to dinner tonight to celebrate. I have to say that the more years that go by the better marriage gets and the more in love and committed I am to my man.  Maybe I need to follow the lead of my friend Laurie (Abundant Blessings Farm  blog and mod of my board and very loved friend of mine )… she takes the number of years married and lists that many things she loves about her hubby.. if I have time I may do that and post it tomorrow!  

That is all for today. I need to get some laundry going and get think about getting ready for my evening out with my hubby..  

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