This last year has been very trying and an excercise in perserverence.
I wrote this in early May. I realized how desperate I sounded:
Our winter was on the harsh side. No snow, but it started freezing in November and the temperature stayed cold until April, when the temps soared to the 100's. The animal's water stayed frozen throughout the day, my trees froze, I couldn't water due to the cold temps, the plants did not want to put forth much fruit/veg, the animals did not appreciate the cold(except Zuzu), it did not rain until March, and we almost ran out of firewood. All in all it was a new experience and a very daunting one with a new little man in the house. Having a baby in the house ends up kicking your butt and making you realize that you have other priorities. /End original post
I was unable to do many things around the farm, including milking animals while Ivan was young. I had the help of many friends to get to do these chores and to you friends I am eternally greatful.
We brought cow home in late winter and we've milked her ever since. She was bred in May (around the 21st) and we're looking forward to a baby calf at the end of this winter or early spring.
We had our goats grow up and we ate them. The male sheep grew and we ate them. In all there is a theme here, most animals grew up and we ate them. At the start of this year we still have some geese and some ducks to slaughter, but we'll see when we can get to them.
The goats did get out a few times and ate my trees, in particular my cherry trees but they had enough time to grow a bit before the hard frosts hit. Our other trees have grown and have gotten over the geese and goats. I think it's something with animals that start with the letter g; they are all just bastards. I'm looking forward to having the trees do a lot better for this upcoming year. Our peach tree grew a lot and it is starting to look like a full grown tree; my baby is growing up. I get to trim them soon to help determine their growth for this upcoming season. The willows and the ash have taken off as well. They provide enough shade to have all the poultry and fowl sit under them.
Projects were started, projects were abandoned or altered. The bread oven was destroyed and a new one was begun. I had my nephews come to stay with us, but I'm pretty sure that did not work out so well for us. Nothing was done around the house, but much food was consumed so in the end I think we ended up at a loss from that. I was at least able to milk cow, but we'll have to see what we can do in the future. If we do have another child Ivan will be my slave monkey and be in charge of any younger sibling.
Our plants out front had mixed results. The sorghum, buckwheat, early corn, pumpkins and cherry tomatoes did well. All other tomatoes and beans did not. We had enough tomatoes but the beans never seemed to take off. We had one late eggplant but no real produce from there. The strawberries did great, as did the apples, the berries, and the grapes. We'll see how the rest of the fruit do in this next year.
We keep on morphing the layout of the back yard and we alter and move things around in the front as we find out what does well and what needs to be altered to improve our production. Now to work on the goals for the backyard so that Jed can sleep better and the area near the house can become more productive.
There was very little rain and much heat. There was very little food and much desire to shoot every animal in the face. I think cutting back to just the necessary animals will help out a lot. As the year cycles through again we start to think of all the things we need to get to and all the things we would like to start with. I wrote up a list of goals I have for this next year, and I dearly hope to be able to accomplish them and more.
Over all, it was a very exhausting trying year and I'm glad it is done. We learned a lot with the birth of many of our animals as we had to help with a few of the deliveries and with the passing of some of the young. We learned that it is vital to stay with the sick young and to do all we can to keep the young alive. We learned that animals will kick out the young if they do not believe it can live and that all young animals (including humans) take up a lot of time and a lot of sleep is sacrificed for the sake of the animals. We learned that there are certain times of the year that work best for slaughters and that there are bad times that we should not. We learned that there are ways to preserve our meat and food while there are other ways that should not be used. I know we did not post much and we hope to post more frequently this year as it will help us keep track of what goes on in the farm and how we can learn from it.
I've recently read a few blogs from people that I love following and some of them have decided to sell off their animals and stop farming. I don't think I can go back. Who knows, I might think differently if something unexpected happens, but I value our way of life so much more through this process.
For those of you following and for those who wish to join in. Enjoy and we hope see you all at the farm in this coming year. Cheers!
No comments:
Post a Comment