I'm Packing my life away!

I feel like singing a song. Not any old song. But a song that truly reflects how I am feeling in my heart of hearts. The Lumberjack just shakes his head when I randomly bust out into a tune. Probably because I choose the worst of times, like in the middle of a disagreement. Anyway, one song I am thinking of is "Hit the Road Jack and don't cha come back no more"... but that's not right. I tried "If you're happy and you know it", but that didn't seem right either. I think I have settle on "Some where over the rainbow"...

Did I mention to you that the new farm was previously an Alpaca farm? The awesome family that lives there now actually ran a farm for children with Autism to come out and do therapy. The wife will continue to sell alpaca textiles to benefit children with Autism.

I bet you didn't know that I ADORE alpacas? Llamas and Alpacas to be specific. The Lumberjack said that before I even THINK about getting one as a pet, I need to strap on my homesteading boots and get a handle on how things are supposed to run on a farm.

Last week I was combing through post after post on chickens, goats, feeder pigs, calves, rabbits, and even barn cats. Let me tell you something. There is a ton to be learned about homesteading and taking care of animals.

Here in the little cottage I had back yard chickens for a few years. I spent a lot of time with those little ladies. I thought getting new chicks would be a sure thing until hubs returned from seeing the eye doctor. It seems that he has a little spot of histoplasmosis on his eye. Nothing to worry about the doc said. He probably got it as a young child at his grandparents hen house. However, if you read my bio, you'd know that my oldest son was in ICU and almost died because of histo. So for now, until baby lumberjack gets a bit older, there will be no chicks.

The Lumberjack is such a realist sometimes. I was explaining how ALL THE HOMESTEADERS buy at least 3 pigs. One to eat, one to sell to a friend to cover the cost of feeding them, and one for profit to buy 3 more new pigs in the spring. You get ethically raised pork, no additives, hormones or chemicals for the cost of your time. They only have ONE bad day. The lumberjack thinks I really need to reconsider this idea. Not because of the work, nope, rather because you shouldn't name your dinner. He knows me well.

The good news is that there are still goats, a calf and horses on the table for negotiations. Along with the two barn cats I think we need and a puppy for princess #2.

Pinterest sure does make this homesteading thing look easy. However, nobody told me I would have to watch HOURS of youtube videos to learn how to hay my fields and also what tractor implements are called and why you need certain ones. I'm just over here asking the Lumberjack if my little Honda that sits low to the ground will be able to get down the long drive and back to the blacktop road without needing towed once the snow starts flying.

Each day we are packing boxes. Taping, labeling and stacking them together. Only 23 days to go!