How long has it been?

I will readily admit to being a horrible blogger.  I never seem to be able to keep up with it.  I have two blogs, this one and her sister, The Good Little Housewife, and I can't keep up with either.  It's not for lack of material, but more because I simply forget to update.  Then one day, out of the blue, someone messages you asking about your rabbit hutch and you remember that you have a blog to update.  lol

Since I last updated, we have tried our hand at rabbit breeding.  Most of them did not make it, so we gave our does away until we could figure out a better breeding cage set up.  It was really a blow to us since we had planned on doing this for meat.  We ended up keeping the two males for manure and the fact that one is the offspring of our first rabbit who passed away a couple of years ago.  Either way, maybe in the future we can try again.

We still have our chickens and they are wonderful.  I would recommend chickens to anyone.  The eggs are great and the birds are entertaining.  When we finally get a little land of our own, we want to raise more chickens, even some of the fancier breeds.  The eggs sell well at farmers markets, plus, it will keep us in a better supply of chicken meat.  It seems that store bought meat has no flavor, anymore.  

Our gardening is not going so well.  We are not sure what is going on, but nothing really grows.  Last year, during the drought that dried out the midwest, we were trying to water with the hose.  Our city municipalities put so much chlorine in our drinking water, that it was killing the plants.  So we lost all of it.
This year, we didn't get anything done in time for spring planting.  My husband was busy with finals and graduating and I was busy trying to get my soaping business off of the ground and homeschooling the kids. On top of all of that, we have been working on remodeling our home.   I also got started on a course study in herbalism so that I can make medicines and such for my family.

We do have some pumpkin plants in the ground and are preparing for a fall planting.  In the meanwhile, I have canned up a bushel of green beans, put some corn and berries in the freezer, and will be canning some jelly very soon.  Every little bit helps.

I seem to be full of empty promises when it comes to my blogging, but I will try to keep updated a little more.  Thanks for reading!

It's been a while since my last post.

I have been busy with life in general. The holidays came and went and we enjoyed ourselves very much, but now spring is coming and off we go on our true adventure in homesteading.

Our rabbits have not mated. I was looking so forward to having the baby buns around. I am not sure to whom the failure belongs, the bucks or the does, but we are kitless right now. I am considering buying two new rabbits, one of each and trying it out with them. I suspect the problem is my does, but either way, they are not earning their keep, so to speak. We have been the recipients of a lot of manure, so I guess it works out in the end. It will be wonderful for the garden. The Good Little Husband has been dumping the cleanout in the garden bed all winter. The ground should be nice and rich. Looking forward to the yield.

As for the garden. We are not 100% sure when we should start planting. It is still very early and we have had so much rain. Our back yard is flooded, again. It does this when there is a lot of rain. The county is supposed to be fixing it, but who knows how long that will take. I told my husband we should dig a small well to pull some of the ground water out to the garden. I still need to do more research on it. My husband says the soil looks great, even though there is so much water hanging out back there. My responsibility will be with the herb garden. I am looking forward to that. I am planning many different herbs. I have mixes I want to make and may even sell the abundance. Herbs can be so beneficial to your body, mind and spirit.

The Good Little Husband's friend is raising goats (my main reason for wanting baby rabbits). I want some of the milk as I intended to make soap. I still need to get my soap making supplies, but he did give me a quart of milk. I have it waiting in the freezer. Currently, he has four kids. We took our kids out to see his kids. Sadly, they couldn't get too close. He has an electric fence around the area in which the goats live, so I didn't want my children to accidentally touch the fence. The kids (not mine, the goats') were having so much fun frolicking and trying to climb on their mothers. I hope my husband's friend continues to have milk on hand. As soon as this little rabbitry gets off of the ground, I am going to be in need.

We have also made a major shift in our home. We pulled the kids out of public school back in January to homeschool them. I didn't feel they were getting the education they needed. I won't get into a big political tirade, but we all know how our school systems are right now. Some are better than others, but even the best are needing revamped. We had the kids in a good school, but they just weren't getting what I thought they needed, so we bought ourselves a great prepackaged curriculum (because I need that for myself) and will be starting with it in April. We have been using web resources since we withdrew them, but it isn't enough for me. I feel like I am leaving too much out of the mix. So far, though, the kids are thriving.

Today was a fun adventure. Many farm stores are getting their small livestock for spring. We went to Orscheln's and Tractor Supply today to see what they had. I had to resist buying two very cute baby rabbits. I love the baby bunnies, in case you couldn't tell by a former paragraph. I did manage to beat the temptation.

Instead, we bought another spring cutie. We picked up six baby chicks. They are adorable. They were of a mixed bag, so I am not sure of the breed, but we did get three reds and three blacks. I think the blacks are Barred Rocks. We are hoping the reds are of the Rhode Island variety. Fresh eggs here we come!!!

Here they are in their brooder. My daughter is absolutely in love with them. Naturally, they have had a big day being moved from the farm supply store to our home. They were trying to fall asleep so my daughter decided to tell them a bedtime story. I wonder how much she'll like them when they get bigger.

We have decided to make ourselves a chicken tractor. Between the feral cats my next door neighbor keeps around and my dogs, I am afraid for their safety being completely free range. My kids have a trampoline that isn't good for much right now. The padding dry rotted and the enclosure blew apart, so I don't feel it's safe to jump on anymore. We are going to enclose the underside with chicken wire leaving one side open for the coop. They will have a lot of room to forage and we can move it as needed. I thought I would put a canopy over top so the kids and I can take our reading and some of our assignments outside and have a comfortable place to hang out. I know we can sell it for scrap, but why when I can repurpose it? The chickens will be safe from over head predators as well as having shade. Win, win!!!

So, this is the goings on in my life right now. Hopefully, I will have more to post as time goes on and our little mini farm starts showing what it's capable of.

4-H Ag Day

Today, my son's class took a field trip to the 4-H Fairgrounds for Ag Day. The teenagers, who happen to be 4-H members, taught the third graders from all over the county about animals, farm equipment, vegetables and other farming topics. As a future homesteader, I listened to them very closely and learned so much. It's amazing the things you can learn from kids. lol

My son has decided he wants to join 4-H. We thought this would be a great opportunity for him to learn more about farming and agriculture and practice these lessons at home. We want so badly to pass this down to our children so that they can be self sufficient.

The kids got to learn about the milking process, egg laying and candling, large animal veterinary medicine and tractors. Farm Bureau Insurance sponsored the food, one of the dairy farmer's brought organic milk and the kids got popcorn, too. They also brought home pencils, candy and coloring books.

Check with your local 4-H chapter and find out when they are doing Ag Day in your county. You won't be disappointed.

Container Gardening

My husband and I have been reading up on the ins and outs of homesteading. We are so very excited about getting our garden up and running next year, but for the time being we have had to make due with some containers.

I have been growing rosemary in containers for a few years now and love how easy it is and that I can move my pots around when I want. I added lavender to my list this year and recently found out that my lovely daylilies are edible (more on that in another post). I plan to put all of my containers in my side yard next spring and planting my lavender in the ground this fall so they will flourish.

My husband didn't want to wait until next year to start growing some vegetables. He is using a few buckets that he is going to transform into an upside down planter after the plants get big enough. If these planters work, I will post the how to here.

I went out to check on the plants and to water them. We have lima bean sprouts, green bean sprouts, pea sprouts and a tiny little tomato sprout that my husband did not notice this morning. I am so excited about this. If this works, we will be able to utilize our fence posts for hanging containers, freeing up ground space for more root veggies like carrots and potatoes and rows of corn, broccoli and cauliflower.

So now begins our mini garden. It's so hard to wait until next spring to really get going on this.

Looking into Urban Homesteading

Urban Homesteading is a term coined by folks looking to become more self sufficient in their own yards. Some people do this from their apartment balconies, some in their small yard and still some in their average yards.

I would say we have an average yard. We live in a small town in a neighborhood. I am not sure of the dimensions of our property, but it is plenty big enough to grow a nice garden that will produce food that can last us through the winter. This way we will only have to buy bread, milk and other dry staples such as pasta and rice. Of course, we will still have to buy our meat, but being in the area we are, there are several different local sources from which to buy.

We have set aside an area in our yard that my husband is getting prepared this year by putting lawn clippings down to suffocate weeds and grass. Next year, it should be a nice composty pile that he can till.

We have decided on an irrigation system that will be using rainwater from our gutters. We will be making collection tanks and running them to our garden and flower beds so we can utilize what nature offers.

Have you ever seen the upside down grow systems that are being sold everywhere right now? We plan to make our own. I am thinking vine veggies in the bottom and herbs in the top. I am calling them my Marinara buckets. lol

I have a section of yard on the side of the house allotted to flowers and possibly herbs. We renovated part of our garage into a bedroom and there is a door that goes from that room to the area, so I am going to make it a lovely flower garden. It will be a place to relax and I will benefit from having flowers to bring in the house.

We are also looking into animals. We have the typical slew of cats and dogs. We also have a rabbit that we were going to give to my husband's friend who has a rabbit of his own. We had two once upon a time, but one of them died and my rabbit has been kind of lonely. I have found out that rabbit droppings are excellent fertilizer, so we are going to get a second rabbit in the spring so my Kirby won't be lonely anymore and we have extra manure.

Another animal we are thinking about is a pygmy goat. Their manure is similar to a rabbit and he will spread it all over the yard to help promote healthy grass that we may later turn into more garden space. Plus, goats are just funny friends to have around.

The final critter we are looking into is chickens. I only want a couple for the eggs. I have heard that fresh eggs taste better, not to mention free range chicken eggs are healthier for you. More vitamins and less cholesterol. I am doing a lot of research right now because they are a lot of responsibility that I have never had to deal with. Cats and dogs are different. I have already called my local officials and it looks like it's a go on their end. Next, I have to ask my neighbors. lol

This is going to be a lot of work, but so worth it. Food is costing more and more and it's becoming less and less healthy for us. I am tired of putting pesticides and preservatives into my family's bodies. Organic is so expensive to buy and can we really be sure it's organic? I just don't really trust labels all that much.

So, wish us luck on the endeavors and keep watching this blog. I will be posting new things from time to time. Hopefully you'll get some glimpses of new critters in the spring.