Catching Up

It's almost been a year since my last post and although it truly feels as though 2017 just began, we are already almost all of the way through it and so much has happened... not just in my little corner of existence, but in the world. Without getting into politics or our ever unraveling society, I will just say that that exact topic is what has kept me from doing any updates. I've found it difficult to sit down and write about things that are really minuscule and meaningless compared to the bigger problems of the world. If you could see the "Drafts" section of my blog, you would see that, since my last real post, I had actually begun writing four other posts. Sometimes I come up with something to write about but then I usually decide its not really relevant to the theme of my blog and give up on it. But I am reminding myself that I started this blog as online journal, to record our little journey and so here I am, starting yet another post... hoping it turns into something relevant for my blog! 

So spring... spring this year was WET... like the wettest on record for our area. It gave our garden a boost... our beds have already seen another round of lettuce that came (bolted) and went. Those onions we planted in the fall, went dormant for the winter and then went crazy once the sun came back out... we harvested them recently and have consumed almost all of them. We planted carrots, beets and cucumber from seed this year they all did great but we struggled in the way of squash and tomatoes. But we are learning a lot with each season of gardening here in Somerset and I'm thinking that 2018 is going to be the year of expansion! Until then, though, we might throw in a winter garden with some greens to hold us over!

After our crazy wet Spring, we had a crazy hot Summer. It was rough not having an air conditioner (per the usual) so we spent a lot of time at our local river and outside. Our annual friend camping trip was nice, as we got a break from the heat up at Stumpy Meadows Reservoir, and even got a bit of rain (Seems like our friends camping trip is always in line with some weird summer weather!) It was extra fun having with the babies of the group now actually toddlers and able to enjoy the great outdoors... so yeah, here are a ton of pictures of kids who aren't my kids!!

And back to the homestead! Our goat update is a bummer, Willow never got pregnant, just fat (or as our breeder calls it, well maintained, haha!). We are going to try again soon, but in all honesty, we've had other animals to keep us busy lately and baby goats would definitely have added to the chaos!

And yes, since January we have added chickens and pigs to the homestead! Long story short, having five baby chickens in our house for weeks was, plainly put, disgusting. I couldn't wait to have them outside! But now that they are normal chickens, I love having them... they are easy, cheap and currently the only animals giving us an output. We are currently getting three to four eggs a day, which is more than plenty for just us two! One of the chickens, Cinnamon, turned out to be a rooster and was promptly renamed "Cinna-man". Cinnaman is a beauty and loves taking care of his hens but has started to become slightly aggressive towards us recently, so we are going to have to start training him up a bit... show him whose boss! Otherwise, the chicken journey is something I wish we has started a long time ago. We built their coop inside the goat pen and we let them out every day to hunt worms, beetles and flying things... they get along great with the goats and they help to turn the giant pile of goat poo/old hay...  so, like I said, they are really doing their share!

Now, for the pigs! We had talked about getting pigs many times before, but when Spring came, the decision to purchase them was swift. Ultimately, my decision to finally get pigs was based of a stronger desire to raise our own meat and good timing. We had a perfect, shady, area for them near the goats and we built them a house entirely out of materials we already had. We purchased 2 females for ourselves and had a friend buy a male that would stay with us. So far, having pigs has been great... they are super smart, affectionate animals and within a few days, I already knew it was going to be a difficult thing to harvest them. They are very social, they love when we come out to feed them and scratch on them and you can watch them forever, they are so funny! They eat a TON of food, and its not cheap, so we are excited to compare cost of raising them to amount of sustenance we get out of them. My heart aches a little every time I think about them being on my plate one day, but the ache is something I think necessary. I sought for a real understanding and appreciation for where my meat is coming from and I'm definitely getting it! We plan on harvesting the pigs at the end of this month.

So yeah, a lot has happened in 2017, which is probably why it feels like the year has flown by. This month is going to be a busy one for us, we are working on remodeling the spare room in our garage, not to mention all of the chores we need to get done to prepare for the winter... getting wood stocked up, harvesting our piggies and before we know it, Christmas will be upon us yet again! So until then, bloggies.

The End of 2016

Tulum, last nightof the trip

As my last post was 4 months ago, and I've skipped straight through autumn, to winter, I realize I am way overdue for an update. Although summer may be a busy season, autumn seems like a mad dash to cram as many activities into the span of two or three months as possible. The tolerable weather fleeting, the leaves turning... it's like nature's way of telling us the clock is ticking. 

As I look back on all of the photos on my camera, I realize that we really had a whirlwind past couple of months...

On the homestead front, we are still struggling with getting the goats pregnant. I didn't realize what a chore it was. First, there was drawing blood for the first time to send to the lab for testing for contagious diseases. Willow passed that test easily, but it took 3 people just to hold Sage in place and yet we still weren't able to hold her still enough for me (an inexperienced phlebotomist) to draw blood from her.  And now, it's a waiting and watching game for Willow. Goats can menstruate on super random cycles and sometimes it can be for just one day... so I am watching her intently for all of the signs. Her last cycle was at an inconvenient time and now with the shorter, darker days, we are depending on one of her cycles to fall on a weekend that we have the time to take her to her lover boy. So we wait... in the meantime, the goats are hating all of the rain but their brand new winter coats are keeping them warm and dry!

Classy Sage

Dashing Jones

Yawning Willow

And our fall garden is looking decent! After most of our summer crops were finished we upgraded our two main beds and actually gave them some wood sides. We had some trouble with deer in the beginning and it took us three rounds of transplants before we gave in and built cover for them. So now we've got some healthy look mustard greens, arugula and kale... our cabbage hasn't been doing so well but I'm hoping the cooler weather will give them a boost. We also planted onions and garlic in place of the summer tomatoes and those are doing great as well! I am so glad we ended up getting the fall garden in in time, I can't wait to eat some of my own homegrown garlic!

The last harvest of the summer crops

First round of transplants (deer ate them ALL!)

Adding some protection

Your average garden feline, Cruiser McGavin

Baby mustard greens

Arugula

Curly Kale

Onions

The end of October brought us our big annual vacation, another trip to Tulum, but this time with my sister, her boyfriend and our best friends, Kyla and Colt. It was super fun going back to Tulum, we even stayed at the same hotel because we loved it so much, but what made it really great was going back with friends, it was a hole new experience! This time around we got to swim with turtles, visit a monkey sanctuary and James and Colt got to fly fish and had some super awesome catches! We also did A LOT more drinking with company than we did the first time, when it was just us two. It may not for a few years, but we love Tulum like a second home already and we know we will be going back again!

The whole crew

My sis and I

Roadside popsicles

360 view from a top the third deck of our favorite restaurant, Mateos

Ruins!

Last night sunset, magic!

And then there was Friendsgiving (for which I have no photos) and Friend Christmas, which brought with it, count 'em, SEVEN babies... not to mention, our other friends just had a baby girl right after the party! Christmas this year felt a little rushed and forced for me, but our Friend Christmas was so full of love and fun and presents that it was the most Christmas-y I felt the whole season. Having babies around makes the holidays so fun and I can't wait until they fully understand the concept of it all!

James and Hudson

Annah and Hudson

Cain and Ryden

Carson

James and Cali

Colt and one of the babies?!

Steph and Aaliyah

Ramon and Hudson

Brielle and Ryden, the OG's

Mel and Brielle, scarfing!

Proud Godparents to baby Hud! Brittany and James

All the girls!

All the boys

Happy A!

Maybe the best picture of B ever

That's MY baby!

The newest to the clan and the sucker who falls for baby girls!

So that was our crazy Fall season... and man, it was a good one! Winter is already here and the New Year is only a few days old (but that's for another post). I gotta say I am truly (hashtag) blessed. No, for real... not just in a white-girl, Instagram way... I am so very lucky, surrounded by so many beautiful things and places and people that love me! It's hard to feel the winter blues when there is so much light in my life!