I looked at my blog posts and realized it has been a year since I last posted!?! That is way too long! A lot has happened in 2023. I’ll do my best to bring you all up to speed quickly.
2023 started out with a bang. Well, it was more like a deafening blow as I found myself confined to the couch for 8-12 weeks as my broken ankle healed. Christmas Eve 2022 found me in the emergency room with a broken and dislocated ankle from trying to sled standing up. Yup. When you are clumsy by nature, sledding while standing is NOT a wise choice. Nevertheless, My plans for the off-season were drastically changed. But God has a way of changing our plans to accomplish His plans. I’ve learned a lot this past year, about my own frailty and His unending strength to carry me through. I learned that setbacks are not endings, and that I can do more in His strength.
I had an amazing team of doctors, nurses and physical therapists that helped me on the road to recovery so that when our season started in full swing, I was able to keep up and accomplish what needed done.
All that time on the couch provided me with an opportunity to get some stuff done, like finally create a brochure, educate myself on goats and their needs, dream up big plans of all that I wanted to add to our homestead, and convince Jason we needed more chickens, ducks, goats, and a bigger garden. LOL
So we ordered some laying chicks and started our journey to more eggs. Those chicks were adorable….and loud. LOL Every night Jason would tuck them up under “Mama heating pad” and there always was one or two rebels that had to come back out to see what they were missing.
The chicks grew and transitioned to the coop with the older hens very well. By summer they were laying their first eggs and providing us, and our guests, with some delicious breakfasts.
Jason used the tractor to dam up parts of the spring that ran next to our driveway. We then added some ducklings from the neighbors and they have been a lot of fun quacking around everywhere, swimming in the little ponds, and providing us with yummy eggs as well. Funny note, did you know that a duck will dive completely underwater and shoot across before popping up again on the far side of the pond? Neither did I, until now.
In April, my amazing jack-of-all-trades hubby, built me a goat barn, stalls and stanchion. We found 3 sweet does in milk and started our journey to being crazy-goat lovers. Oh wait, that’s just me. I’m the crazy goat-lover. I really do love my goats! They are funny, sweet, amazing escape artists, that provide us with some delicious milk. I’d love to talk more about my goats and all of the cool things we’ve been able to make with their milk along with a fun experience for guests, but that will have to wait until another blog post.
On to the garden…I learned several things in the garden this year. First being that I should have definitely waited until after the last frost to plant all my seedlings. Whoops. Round 2 of planting commenced in May. Second, that my brown thumb is getting slightly greener. Yay! Third, that certain vegetables are harder to grow than others. Hello peppers! I also learned that gardening takes time, trial and error, and can be frustrating and rewarding at the same time. Aren’t most things in life like that though?
My amazing hubby came to my rescue, yet again, this fall and built me an AMAZING office. I now have a dedicated space to work and check guests in! I am giddy with delight! It seriously is a blessing!
Speaking of blessings, We were incredibly blessed to host so many amazing families and friends this past year and I look forward to those we get to host in 2024!
Until next time,
Emily
