Our Little Farm

My husband & I have been blessed with our little 20 acre farm.  It's not big, it's not fancy, but it's ours.  Over the last 14 years we have invested our energy, time, sweat, and even some blood, to build it into the place it is today.  And, we're not done yet.  We always have a plan...our "Ten Year Plan" is what we call it and it's always a 10 year plan, no matter what year we're on...it just keeps perpetuating. 

At the moment, we have 18 chickens living here.  We have a run for them but let them out to 'graze' whenever we can.  Getting chickens was a 3 year long conversation between myself and my husband and, although I know he likes that we have our own eggs, I don't think he cares for the chickens themselves.  Actually, I know he doesn't care for them but he puts up with 'em.  We give the extras eggs to family members and teachers at school.  It's good to share.

The barn only has 2 steers in it right now;  our oldest children's 4-H projects.  They will winter over and be shown at the county fair next July.  We'll purchase more steers in the spring when the pasture comes in and raise them to sell as natural beef.  Those steers will be slaughtered the following September.  It's nice to know where your food comes from and ours comes right from the back pasture.  We've developed a small clientele to market to and may start a second cycle of steers to winter over for a spring slaughter just to meet the demand.

I love that our kids are growing up here.  They are learning to be good stewards of the land and the animals, making sure that we treat them humanely even though they are destined for the freezer.  The kids aren't afraid of work or getting dirty or being around large animals and when they play, they play hard.  Like, ER visit hard....which isn't always a good thing but makes them very resilient.  And we make lots of noise....the kids holler and laugh and, truth be told, I've been known to be a bit loud as well.  So I'm told anyway...

Although we always have plans and dreams about improving this place, we are, in one simple word, content.  And wonderfully so.