Growing Up "In The Country"

As a youngster, I grew up "in the country." Grandma's 40 acres was our playground.  We had dogs and a few random cats along the way.  Occasionally, there might be a flock of chickens around doing bug patrol.  BUT, there were no goats, cows, ducks, geese, turkeys, hogs, horses, alpacas, or donkeys.
So, who would have guessed that my midlife crisis would consist of me bailing out of the city and away from the technology industry to a homestead?

Yes, Mom and Dad always had a garden.  Dad was a beekeeper.  Mom canned a lot of our food and sewed a lot of our clothes.  Extreme southeast Oklahoma didn't have a booming economy.  My folks made do.  It was a simple life for me.  I had everything I needed and a lot of the things I just wanted.  Life was good.

I grew up.  I had to get away from that backwoods place.  I was going to be so much more and so much better than (you fill in the blank).  So, I went to college.  Then I joined the military.  Got married.  Had a couple of kids.  Went back to college.  Ended up with a job in Information Technology at a University.  Life was good.

Life wasn't good.  Got divorced.  Dad died.  Mom got cancer - twice. Lost the job. Yet, life was good.  Got remarried.  Found a place "in the country" to live.  Started a garden the first year.  Got chickens too.  Then, my midlife crisis/change began in full.  I started reading about the simple life.  Milking my own cow.  Keeping bees.  Building a root cellar.  Life was good.

Today, I am middle-aged and growing up "in the country" on our homestead.  I have come to realize that stuff is just stuff.  Life is where it's at!

What Weed? 22 July 2015

Today's plant has made it's home on the west side of our workshop.  This location is shaded in the morning and has full sun in the afternoon.  This location receives no additional irrigation, fertilizer, or herbicides.

Stem

Leaf image on Instagram.
Fruit and flower images on Facebook.

Yes, I know what this plant is... do you?  (Answer will be on Twitter sometime this afternoon.)

What Weed IsThis?

I've decided to do a weekly plant identification activity.  Please join me for ...

WEDNESDAY'S "WHAT WEED is this?"

Each week I'll post pictures of a plant I want to learn to identify.  If the information is available, I'll post it's leaves, stem, flower, fruit and seed as clues.  However, they'll be posted on various media - Facebook, Instagram, and Blogger, Pinterest, and Twitter.

Make sure you are following all my feeds to play along.  We'll get started Wednesday!

Cattle Maternity Pen

The farm could use a maternity pen for our cattle.  This is a portable pen with a chute and headgate.  It is used for checking a momma cow's health.  It would also be used for any of our cattle in the event one needed vet assistance.

This is an investment that we don't have lying around.  Therefore we are trying to be judicious about moving forward.  Just remember, I am not a welder or capable of extended physical exertion.  My other half runs his own small business and is not able to devote the time needed to finish such a project in a timely fashion.

I found one online and their cost is just shy of $3000. It takes 8 weeks from the time it's ordered until its delivered and set up. 

Should I pursue that?

Or, what if I contacted a LOCAL welder and showed him the plan?  Would he be able to complete the project in the same (or less) time frame?  And for the same cost? 

Is there another option?

Oh, FYI, we happily accept donations to the cause. 

Helpful Farm Items

Ever wonder if you could help a local homestead farmer and the environment?  There are some things that we can use on the farm that others might not want.  For instance, if you are planning on replacing your kitchen or bath towels in the near future, we could put those to use out here.  Most all paper products can be composted.  If there's something you are planning to toss, check with a local homestead farmer to see if they could repurpose it.  Ya' never know!

The goats are coming... the goats are coming...

Finally, after some serious planning, the goats are coming.  We've nearly finished converting the old shed into a spiffy goat barn.  I'll be able to milk the goaties inside out of the weather.  :)  It's been great fun getting to know my goat mentor.  It seems like everything I decide to do ends up being on a long learning curve.  Figures, huh?  I'm working on putting together my goat medicine box.  The feed is here.  The milk stand is ready.  There's straw in the stalls.  Now all we need is the goats...

They'll be here soon!  I'll keep you posted.

Coveralls

No matter what is said, there is no - and I mean NO - way to put coveralls on gracefully.  Please understand, coveralls are a necessity on the farm especially when it's 12 degrees outside.  Oh, they make cute coverall for the skinny farmer but that's not what lives here.   Now, if you think a killer whale lunging out of the water and beaching itself is graceful in some way, perhaps you could imagine that a lunatic homesteading aging woman is graceful when she steps daintily into her Oklahoma red mud colored overalls.  Imagine that she is balanced perfectly like a ballerina and the coveralls come swirling around her like snow.  The dance is careful but smooth.  A stretched out arm is luxuriously draped with multi-layered quilted stiffness.  The shoulders are shrugged and wiggled to coax the material to it's preferred resting place.  And, suddenly, there it is...  the thing that looks like a cross between the Michelin tire man and Sasquatch-ina covered in red-brown sauce... ME!

New Year, New...

Happy New Year!  Perhaps it is a tired old greeting used to identify the birth of a calendar year yet it still works.  With the hanging of the new calendar came thoughts of what might lie ahead.  Perhaps it will be new animals.  Perhaps it will be new plant varieties.  Perhaps it will be all that and more! 

In order to keep up with all that is happening around here, we invite you to follow our social media accounts:

• Facebook:  facebook.com/FaithsFarmOK
• Twitter:  @FaithsFarmOK
• Instagram:  faithsfarmok
• Pinterest:  faithsfarmok

You can probably see a pattern going on here.  Search your favorite social media to see if we are there using the "FaithsFarmOK" tag.  If you'd like to see us on a particular site, let us know!