Sorry for being gone so long

I apologize to all you good folks out there for just dropping off the planet for a bit. I have been re-arranging my life and then my mom got sick and this past month has been a little taxing to say the least. I haven't forgotten about you all, I just really needed a break and to re-assess how things were going for our family. We had been in the rut of always having projects to be finished and work to be done that I felt as if that was all that I did. So, I took a step back and have done some major changing around here. Life has a much more pleasant routine these days I must say. Major projects are finished. Now it is just a matter of some daily routines to keep the farm running smoothly without major daily input. Same thing with the house, daily routines so no getting behind. I am doing some sewing again and schoolwork is going much more smoothly. One of the major things that we had to review was how much time I spent on the road running my oldest here and there. It is a major part of the day to go to town and so we had to sit her down and set a limit on all that running around. We couldn't keep jumping in the car every single time a friend called. Sometimes they need to come out here rather than us running to them. So, I am really pleased with how things are coming together. I don't feel so stressed about getting it all done and my days go much more smoothly. I have some time for myself which is nice. I am back to working on my book and have written a few articles which will be sent off soon. Like I said I have been sewing again, mostly on my clothes. That is another area that I was getting very frustrated with. I have a very hard time finding clothes that fit me properly and frankly it had gotten to the point where I was feeling very dowdy and not me with my wardrobe. So, I am redoing my wardrobe to reflect my personality and to actually fit me properly. I am really excited about it. It is like going on a shopping spree without spending any money. I just pull clothes out of my closet and am making them into something completely different that fits my personality and my figure. My husband thinks that I am going through a mid-life crisis and he might be right. I have decided that all outside chores are done early in the morning and then I shower, dress, do my hair and...wait for it....put on make-up! So that I look presentable when he comes home. I think all of this is really his fault as I was working on a cross-stitch one day in a particular dress that is styled in a 1940s era style (I like vintage things) and he told me that I looked like his grandmother sitting there with her knitting. I guess I really did, but that is not what I want to portray. Anyway, I know vanity...one of the seven deadly sins. However, I don't want my husband thinking of his grandmother when he looks at me. Not that I want to be that middle age woman trying to hang onto her 20s either. I just want to look nice and look my age (ok maybe not completely...the wrinkles could go) and look like ME. Anyway, life is good again and I have some time to have fun and do things for myself. I needed that. I am so many things to so many people that somewhere along the way "I" had gotten lost and forgotten about. And the problem with that is that we change. Who I am now is not who I was 20 years ago. Me, myself and I have changed over the years as life has molded and shaped us. I will continue to change and who I am now will not be who I am in another 20 years. My likes and dislikes change, things that I feel are important change, LIFE changes and along the way it shapes and molds and modifies us along the way. Anyway, I am finding time to be creative again and that has me feeling very alive and excited. I never really realized how much I missed it. My studio is cleaned up and organized (it took 3 weeks to get that done)and I can go in there and work for a couple of hours and feel good....really good. So now, even with all the many hats that I wear to so many people I have reconnected with myself and that is fantastic.

I am still struggling a bit with my thyroid and adrenal issues and it doesn't help that I got off track as far as food goes. However, I am getting back on track with no wheat and am beginning to feel better. The joint and muscle pain are diminishing again and I am not stiff and sore all the time with swollen joints. I just take this one day at a time and do what I can to better my health.

I decided to shut down the garden for the winter. I spend a little bit of time each morning in the garden getting it ready for spring. By spending 30 minutes or an hour every day then I will be ready and there will be no major crunch to get it done so that I can plant. I have also decide that some of the area that I used to plant will be turned into a berry patch and I will no longer be doing a CSA so I don't need that space to grow veggies. I am planting the berries in large barrels because there is the chance that we might move and I want to be able to take them with me. We realized that most of our chickens were well on in years and that is why we have had so few eggs this year. Now, we have none as they have completely shut down. So we butchered several of the oldest hens along with the spring roosters that hatched. We will be replacing those hens soon with some pullets. The goats are doing fine. We have one last goat in milk and she isn't producing much at this point. She has been in production for 16 months now so I am surprised she is still producing anything. We have 2 that are going in the freezer this week and our buck might go in the freezer in another month or two. That will be hard for me as he is such a sweet boy and we have raised him since he was 8 weeks old. However, he hasn't been that great at getting the girls pregnant and I just can't keep extra mouths to feed. The rabbits are doing ok. The second colony is busy having babies, but the first colony is in limbo. It was the colony that got hit with coccidiosis and I lost several does, my buck and most of the babies. I do have a new buck and some replacement does in there now, but nothing is going on. It is getting frustrating. The two horses are doing good, Thunder actually is doing well on our current feed program and keeping some weight on. He is going into winter looking pretty good for such an old guy. We are still splitting all the wood from these trees that came down this last year so we are well set for firewood for a good couple of years. We probably will be splitting for the rest of the winter. We just keep it steady and don't try to overdo ourselves. I don't mind splitting some wood by hand a little at a time because it does help keep my muscles in shape.

Anyway, I guess that is about it for now. Have a great day and again I am sorry for being gone so long, but I really needed the break. Blessings from the farm, Kat