Pumpkin Carving

Hey I remember this orange ball! We got it at the grocery store but papa wouldnt let me throw it!




Ewww grandma what did you do to my orange ball?? The guts are coming out!

How gross is that! Im putting the lid back on! You want me to put my hands in that stuff and take it out?? No way..you do it!

Hey cool! The gross stuff is gone and now my orange ball is a Boo!

Happy Halloween!

Preston says nothing tastes better on a cool rainy fall morning than..

Oatmeal cinnamon raisin bars

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup self-rising flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup raisins .. put in microwave save bowl. Cover with water. Cook for 5 minutes in the microwave and then let sit for 10 minutes. Then drain.

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch pan.
In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar, until smooth. Beat in the egg then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt: stir into the creamed mixture. Fold in the quick oats and raisins. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, until the edges are starting to brown. Let cool in pan before cutting into bars.

Are you ready for winter?

As the leaves start to fall a homesteaders thoughts automatically turn to winter preparations. Are you ready? What are some of the things you do to prepare for winter?

Around here winter preparation tends to center around health, food and shelter for both critters and humans. My animals all get wormed and vaccinated. The healthier they are going into winter the better than handle the harsher weather conditions. I make sure everyones shelter is ready for them.. no leaks, no major holes for winter winds to find their way through.

I dont tend to stock up on food for them since its a rare winter storm that leaves us stranded for more than a few days and they could all survive on their hay for a few days if need be. I do make sure that they all have a full round bale of hay before any winter weather hits. Its not fun to try to put hay out in a snowstorm!

Our pantry is stocked so that no trips to the grocery store are necessary. We butcher in Nov and then the freezer will be full. I always get a little nervous about full freezers since we cant afford a generator yet..but should the power go out for too long we move everything outside til its back on again..so far thats worked for us!

I need to bring wood up closer to the house incase we lose electric in a storm because our heat is electric. But we have a fireplace that keeps us toasty when the power is out. Ive got emergency meds stocked. And candles and flashlight batteries. We need to get some propane for the propane tank for the tractor. Dont want to run out of fuel when we need to be putting hay out for critters either! When we lose electric we have grills to cook on outside and the fireplace inside. So i pick up an emergency stock of charcoal and lighter fluid..just incase. I have a coleman stove but its old and i dont like to use it. I much prefer just to shiver outside long enough to throw some meat on the grill. Hopefully after the next half of the cabin is built we'll get a good wood stove put in and i'll be able to heat soups and stews on there. I used to do that with the old wood stove when the power went out and it worked great.

Everyone is wormed and vaccinated except the horses and we'll do that sunday. The new sheep barn is shelter for them, and hopefully it will be finished completely before the first snow flies..but even if not its got the first floor finished so they'll be warm and dry! Lambing starts in January this year so im hoping the barn will be finished in plenty of time for me to get all my sheepie supplies moved out there.

So.. we're ready for winter..are will be by this weekend. Are you?

Sunshine!

Its rained for so many days now that I can barely remember the last time the sun was truly shining! Its colder out.. colder than October in Oklahoma usually is, but i'll take the cold over the rain any old day!

My critters are all awfully happy to see that sunshine too! Everywhere you look you see one of them stretched out just soaking in the sunshine. They know that winter is coming and they had better enjoy that sun while it lasts!

Brrrr....

Fall has finally arrived here on the homestead..and Im sooo ready for it! Spring was beautiful but short. Summer was long and hot with a lot of rain. Im hoping for a long gorgeous fall and a mild winter! Especially since i will be lambing in January this year! Brrrrr!

I still have a lot to do to get ready for winter. The horses need wormed. The sheep need to be ran through the chute to check eyelids and worm as needed. The front really needs one last good mowing, and probably wont get it. My container garden containers need to be cleaned out and winterized. October is going to be a busy month..but not as busy as November butchering season betting!

First Snow..

or so it looked like this morning when i woke up to Den grumbling and tracking in clouds of fluffy white stuff all over the floor.

But snow..in Sept? Oh.. wait.. the stupid dog decided to bust open the sack of DE on the porch and roll in it! That *cloud of snow* was really a cloud of DE!

DE is great for a lot of things.. esp bug killing..but its not great for having heaped on your door step! So after dusting the cats and dog better with it for flea control.. i started the morning sweeping up 40 lbs of dichotomous earth!

Blue skies!

Finally blue skies here in Oklahoma! We have had soo much rain thats its felt more like spring than fall! But today is gorgeous. In the low 70s so cool and crisp like fall is supposed to be and not a rain cloud in sight!

Right now im waiting for the grass to dry and then i'm going out to turn out the large sheep flock and worm the small goat herd. Then I've got to clean out the small goat house and get it ready to wean the mini togg kids to overnight so that i can start milking their mom.

Theres always something that needs to be done on the homestead..but life is good here :)

Late Summer Calm

Life was quiet on the farm this week. Preston was here from Weds afternoon until this morning and he kept me busy, first with being sick and then with all the energy he needed to burn off after he got well!

The rams are busy breeding the ewes as they come in season. I can see them from the window by my computer and make a note of who is being bred by whom with a pop up calendar reminder set for their due date. Its going to be a very very busy January lambing season this year! I'll be praying for a mild January!

The goats have settled nicely back into a twice a day milking pattern. I LOVE my milk machine. It makes milking soo much faster and easier! I still need to get the little goat house cleaned out so that I can start seperating the mini togg kids and get their mom trained to the milk stand. I had hoped to get that done today, but it just didn't happen!

With all the rain we've had lately my pastures are still green and lush and my horses are fat and shiny. Not a bit of winter coat to be seen out there yet! My garden is totally confused. Its not cold enough for it to die..but not warm enough for it to really grow either sigh. Its been a weird year for growing things thats for sure!

I love homegrown pork..but I'm not a huge fan of pigs! However this year I've really enjoyed the piglets that we brought home from a friend in Arkansas. They are true little homesteading piglets who will eat anything and are always good natured! Not like the picky show pig culls that we raised last year that turned their noses up at everything but their pig food and who tried to bite me.

They have a 10'x 30' pen with an automatic feeder and automatic waterer made from an old water heater with a special nozzle. They have a mud hole that they love and that I try to fill daily so that they can cool off in it. And best of all they get a gallon or more of goats milk a day which they adore..and which is making them grow really fast!

Keeping up!

As much as I love blogging..i have a really hard time remembering to do so! Soo Ive made blogger my home page and hopefully that will help me remember!

Late summer is fairly quiet here on the homestead. We have two late born lambs and the ewes and does have come in season early.. so its not exactly quiet..but not a lot for me to do.

Our losses to coyote have been bad this year. 6 lambs and a goat kid. 2 of them bottle babies :( So now when the sheep flocks let out to graze I have to keep a constant eye on them to make sure that they stay close to the house where they are safe. Its a real time eater but i have no choice. Hopefully the coyotes will move on before spring lambing season.

Ive sold all but my egg flock of chickens and my small gold laced cochin flock. That will make this winter much easier! Except that hay is scarce and high so far this winter, mostly because 0f hoarding i think, so feeding the horses will probably be a lot more time consuming than in the good hay years when i can just put out round bales.

Its barely 6 am here but ive been up since 4. The cat decided to remind me that i hadnt filled her catfood dish before i went to bed with a tiny pat on the face..claws out! That woke me up fast. Then i remembered that id left one of the milk goats out to graze..with the coyote problem that brought me to my feet and out the door fast! Fortunately she was sleeping with one of our livestock guardian dogs, who are worth their weight in gold, and all was well!

Small Pleasures

Ive found that looking for the small pleasures in each day sure brings me joy. Today I moved the plants inside that I brought home from my mothers funeral yesterday. They looked small in the truck but they look huge in my tiny cabin! Still they brought a smile to my face because my mom always loved her plants and because these two are the first ones that I had when I bought the first home of my own.

The palm tree I had for almost 15 years and actually hauled it all the way to Ks the year that we lived there. I decorated it like a christmas tree because I couldnt afford to buy a tree that year. They still remember that lol! I left it when I moved out before the divorce and Im sure my x let it die.

So when i look it it brings a smile to my face. All of lifes a circle.

Small pleasures

I started this morning by watching Skittles kittens toddling around exploring their bigger world of the kitchen before she got too nervous and dragged them all back in the crate lol. If they try to go too fast their feet go flying and they go rolling lol. They are just sooo cute!

Then I milked Taffy and came in and put the milk on to pasteurize and went out and picked broccoli, cauliflower and snap peas. Once the milk was pasteurized I turned the heat up on the water in the double boiler and blanched the veggies. As soon as they cool I'll put them into freezer bags for stir fry this winter.

Now on the counter there are quart jars of milk cooling and bright green veggies cooling. It looks so pretty!

Canning Corn!

Today I finally got brave enough to attempt using my pressure canner to can corn with. My mother canned when I was growing up but we were never allowed in the kitchen while she was doing it, incase it blew up! So needless to say I proceeded with a large amount of caution and a little fear!

However it was soo easy! Actually easier than the hot water bath canning that i had been doing. I only had 6 pint jars left so thats all that I canned. The rest of the corn that i had prepared went into the freezer. Since there is just the two of us and sometimes Preston if i had canned in quarts a lot would have went to waste. We arent very good about eating leftovers!

Is there anything prettier than a row of jars full of fresh canned fruits and veggies?

Goat kids are here!

Our dairy goat, Taffy, had two adorable kids April 4th! And she blessed us with two doelings! So we are really excited about getting to grow our dairy flock so nicely this year!

I dont think theres anything cuter than goat kids either! They launch themselfs off everything! Including me!

She's a wonderful dairy goat and especially for a first freshener. She is nursing not only her kids but 2 lambs as well! I put the lambs on her on the milk stand 3 times a day and then offer them a bottle afterwards. They rarely drink more than an ounce or two so shes supplying almost all their milk and all 4 of them are growing great!

We couldnt be more pleased with our first venture into having a dairy goat and cant wait to add a couple more!

I LOVE goats milk cheese so im really looking forwards to the kids and lambs being big enough that i can seperate them at night and milk for our table too.

The yearling ewes are lambing

I love lambing time but I'm especially enjoying watching the yearling ewes delivering their first lambs. Its amazing how instinctively these ladies know what to do. And that sure makes my job as a shepherdess easier.


Mercy (above) delivered a large spotted ewe lamb. Faith had a tiny black or dark brown ewe lamb. The other 3 are bagged up nicely but haven't delivered yet. I have three older ewes and three yearling ewes left to lamb and then lambing season will be over for this spring! So far i have a total of 12 lambs on the ground. 8 ram lambs and 5 ewe lambs.


Today was spent doing away from the homestead chores. I only do my grocery shopping once a month and today was that day. It makes for an exhausting day but it sure makes the rest of the month more hassle free!



We are putting the sheep back on a sheep feed with a cocci preventative in it since the lambs are here and lambs are much more susceptible to cocci. I also picked up some covexin8 for the bottle baby lamb and the rest of the lambs will get their first vaccinations in a couple of months. Its always easier to find time to get everyone vaccinated on schedule if the vaccines in the refrig waiting for them to get old enough for it!

A boy and his goat!

Spring seems to have arrived here in Oklahoma! Preston got to spend the afternoon playing in the sheep and goat pasture with his buddies.







We brought Christmas Angel home on Christmas night as a bottle baby. She's now weaned off of her bottles and spends her days tormenting the sheep! She was supposed to be boer but those ears say nubian so im sure that she's a boer/nubian cross.

Whatever she is she's a lot of fun and we plan to breed her to the nubian buck that we co-own with a friend and milk her.


Taffy, my first nubian dairy goat, is due to kid any day now and im really excited about that!

Lambs..lambs and more lambs!

Our first round of lambs started arriving the end of January. We had 4 ewes that lambed 7 lambs.. 5 ram lambs and 2 ewe lambs!

We're now knee deep in the rest of our lambing season and so far we've had 3 ewes lamb 4 lambs and we have 7 ewes left to lamb!

We have katahdin hair sheep. Katahdins are very hardy, parasite resistant sheep with great mothering abilities. We currently have an ewe flock of 14 plus so far we've had 4 new ewe lambs born which has brought our ewe flock size to 18. We also have 2 rams.

Katahdin lamb is very similar in taste to veal. Its got a mild and beefy flavor. Our lambs are raised on mothers milk and pasture and then finished on grain the last 3 weeks.