November Round-Up

With November ending and in writing the November Round-Up, I am reminded that this marks our one year anniversary of moving our ‘urban homestead’ to the country. I can’t believe time has gone by this quickly. It seems like just yesterday I was posting all the crazy happenings from the First 60 days of life on a new homestead. So much happened there. So much happened in that first 2 months, I should have known it would not stop there.

Since that we have lost 3 more dogs. I wrote about that here, and here. We also adopted one of those dogs and he was already very old but we were happy to give him a home for the last months of his life. And we adopted a farm cat (who prowls all night and sleeps all day!) And we have sort of tamed a wild baby kitten who now calls this place home.

We accumulated a whole gaggle of birds both Chickens and ducks, and in several different breeds ( and of course they all run free-range and do as they please). We also adopted two Pygmy goats (mostly out of my animal loving heart) they are both fixed and one is three-legged. We also added a pair of breeding goats perhaps you remember the post about that here. That is when our dream homestead started to take shape.

We of course had struggles. Like learning how to keep goats out of the garden, or from eating the fruit trees! Goats are tricky, little escapes artists (well all except the 3-legged guy, he is an angel, man oh man that guy gets so spoiled). Or the struggles with learning a new environment, moving from a far drier area of the state, where mosquitoes are minimal to a mosquito haven! I never knew that understanding bugs could be such an obstacle! For example chiggars! What?!

We also had so many firsts that were great. Like making pumpkin pie from our own homegrown pumpkins. We could have never done that in town with our small city lot. That may seem small but one more step to our ideal homestead life, where we truly can live on mostly what we have produced on our own!

So as we sit right now at our one-year mark (and November Round-Up) we have hopefully a pregnant goat, a nearly finished large greenhouse. 2 dozen free-range birds. A whole stockpile of garden grown food (especially spaghetti squash, that was a bumper crop this year!) The new Aquaponics beginning to be set up, still in need of new piping and two additional grow beds. So all the new accomplishments along with all the regular stuff like homeschooling kids that are growing and learning at an amazing pace.

December Goals

finish greenhouse
start growing fodder for animal feed
make a new night pen for Ariel (female goat)
finish adding grow beds and plumbing to aquaponics system
make a homestead binder
start that craft project (still haven’t started)
finish up with first half of school year
decorate cookies with kids
relax and enjoy the end of the year

Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success. -Henry Ford

Something to take away

So here we are wrapping up another month, our first year of being here at the new country homestead, and almost another year on the calendar. Time sure does fly, doesn’t it! However progress is like that old saying about how to eat an elephant- one bite at a time. Slow and steady wins the race. We still have a lot to accomplish but it is nice to look back over the month and this whole first year here and see all the progress. We still have big goals, big dreams and if you want a better picture of what our goals are check that out here. That being said this to me is a favorite time of year to look back and reflect. With less work time and more relax time, the way nature intended, reflecting right now is perfect ♡♡♡

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From our family to yours, thanks for stopping by

Beth

Beth is a mother of 6 living on a handful of acres in an old farmhouse in central Kansas. Beth has a background in the military and health and fitness however her passions come from her homestead life. Beth is an enthusiastic homeschooling mom, avid organic gardener, chicken & goat wrangler, who is obsessed with herbs and natural remedies and maintaining an all-around Do-It-Yourself lifestyle. Beth loves to share all she has learned about and sustainable living. While striving for a healthy, natural life, family-centered life.