Getting back at it...

I have been on a break for a bit. There have been some changes in our lives and the homestead. I am excited to share some of those things here with you!

One exciting thing that has happened on our homestead is we have started homeschooling this year. I 

have wanted to home school the boys for many years, but was just to scared too. I am so glad that we decided to do this! It is so neat to watch the boys as we are learning about something and their eyes light up when they get it. Or when they beg me to keep reading because they want to keep learning about a certain place in the world or an animal, etc.  Watching them excel in subjects and be able to apply what they learned to something we can go and do outside, etc.  Such an awesome thing!  Yes, there are days I wish I could go back to having my house clean for 8 hours and no one makes it messy, or the days when the house is quiet for me to think, days that no one wants to do school work and you just want the day to be done, or the days when you get to have alone time! Yes I do miss those days, but I love these days more! :) 

Homestead news:

We have downsized our goat  herd for the fall/winter. We  are talking about re- establishing a new herd, better pasture management/ grazing patterns and how to better our management of them. 

We are going to be selling off our flock of chickens ( they are older birds and egg production is Way down. So we will be starting with a whole new flock. I would like to get our red sexlink again but establish in some of the older heritage breeds as well. 

There has been talk about adding a pig to the homestead this spring! ( I am really excited about this!) We will have the pig from early spring and then have it ready for butcher in the fall. Any of those with some good tips, books, videos about raising pigs, I would love to hear from you! What is your favorite breed to raise and why?

We are wanting to add some apple trees this year. I would like to find a nice heirloom apple that I can use for canning ( pie filling, applesauce, etc.) . We have peach and pear trees, but the deer got to them this spring. They didn't kill them off, but we didn't get a harvest off of them. I am wanting to fence them off next year to help with that problem. Do any of you have deer problems with your fruit trees? What have you found that works best for this?

We are downsizing our garden for this coming year just for me to get back into the groove of everything , plus I am working. So if I can get some canning done next year ( unlike this year ) , with a small garden and then work at expanding the garden later on. I am going to try to work back in heirloom seeds to our garden as well. Last year we were so busy I just fell completely off the wagon and just bought any seed.  So next year will try to be more intentional. 

So that is it for now, I will have more in the New Year on our goals for the Homestead and what we plan on doing! 

Hope you all have a Very Happy Thanksgiving!  There is so much for us to be thankful for!

Happy Homesteading,

Katie