Falling off the blog wagon

betcha thought i was gone for good huh?! There's been so much going on lately that i haven't been able to get my thoughts onto the screen. Quick update on our goings on.....

The eggs in the makeshift incubator never hatched. I wasn't too hopeful anyways so no biggie. I got the real deal back from loan and have set 7 eggs in. Maybe next year one of our young'ins will be our next broody hen. We are crossing our fingers!

The baby goats are still extremely adorable and quite playful. But there has been a crazy mess surrounding them. The farm where they were born at experienced the loss of their pet donkey.....to rabies. yikes! Unfortunately our twins were on the premises for 7 days during which they could have been exposed to the virus. That means that we have been placed under a 6 month quarantine to protect the public. (words of the health department). It was a difficult decision whether or not to keep Brownie and Chookie, but in the end we decided that if we bailed out on every tough situation that came our way then we don't deserve to call ourselves homesteaders-to-be. So, the bottom line is pretty much that only our family can have contact with the goats, and limited at that. I am jumping through hoops at this time to try to get the health department to approve for a couple of friends to come over and check on them, without having to touch them, while we go on vacation at the end of this month. I may resort to bribes. Speaking of vacations....

We are making our second trek back out to Nyn Acres the week of Memorial Day! This time we are bringing the kids along and will stay for an entire week! I couldn't be more excited unless we were making the permanent move. My trusty manservant has expressed an interest in looking into work while we are there, so i cross my fingers and plead silently to the forces that be to plop a job opening in his lap so we can get the heck out of dodge, er Durham!

We went to the strawberry patch two weeks ago and picked close to 40 lbs of strawberries! I made 3 batches of jam, froze 5 one gallon freezer bags, made strawberry shortcake and cheesecake, one gallon of strawberry wine, and i believe there is quite a few stashed in the jars of white liquor as well! We should have quite the spread for an end of the season party! c'mon over ya'll

Garden is coming along slowly. The weather has been nasty this spring, with the temps staying low and a hailstorm as well! I am pleased to announce that the second planting of beans are actually coming up, i was worried and beans are a favorite around here so i really wanted enough to bag up for the winter.

I still haven't tackled finishing the dandelion tincture! wow, talk about procrastinating!! I wonder if this means it will be extra volatile?!

Still waiting to have the trees taken out of the yard. Having all the animals penned up in temporary areas with the fencing not properly put up has placed quite the strain on my nerves. That may have something to do with my AWOL status on the blog lately. I keep hoping everyday that the buzz of a chainsaw will wake me up, but it's just the roosters, loudly since they are directly behind the house now!

So that's my update for now, still got things being planned and hope to get some of those projects under way soon. I haven't seen my camera in a few days and i know i have some pictures there to accompany some of my stories, so i better head off to search for it. Until next time.....

cheers,
Nyn