Where have I been? I know, it’s been a very long while since I posted about our life. Over a year, actually. When we moved from Virginia to Florida and I told you that we were starting over from scratch. I’ll be honest, life sort of fell apart right after we moved.
I’m a big time daddy’s girl. Always have been, always will be. On July 21st 2016, our entire world was rocked. We received a phone call from my parent’s old neighbor telling us that my dad was found unresponsive on the side of the road by their driveway. He was revived and taken to the hospital. I will forever be grateful for the first responders who came to his aid. This really could be it’s own post and maybe one day I’ll write the whole story but for now, I’ll try to keep it short.
My parents
My daddy had suffered a massive heart attack and a stroke from lack of oxygen. He wasn’t supposed to live and if he did, we were told that he would remain in a vegetative state. Well, here we are over a year later (and a very long story) and he is alive and continuing to recover. Most things, he can do for himself now and he is back to his old self in many ways. He has come so far and my mom has stuck by his side every step of the way. He’s not 100% YET but we know he will be.
On top of all of that Farmer Derek’s truck engine blew. He was without a truck for months, totally not cool. We had to wait on this year’s tax return to buy a new engine. Derek and Jack worked every evening for over a week to take the old engine out and put the new engine in. They are self taught diesel mechanics now!
Many months, a small fortune and a new engine later, we still had no fencing or farm animals. Yep, homesteaders with nothing to show. Farmer Derek always works hard at side jobs to make ends meet and keep our homestead going. Or in this case, get it off the ground. With his truck back in working order, he could finally line up extra work.
We got our fencing up shortly after the truck fiasco. Now we were in business! For his birthday, Farmer Derek was given the money to purchase some pigs. We were able to buy 2 young pigs that were being raised on non-gmo feed and we also bought one that was a little older. She wasn’t much count but we raised her a while and butchered her for much needed pork. I’ll tell you, she definitely wasn’t the best tasting pig I’ve ever had. Our other two will be much tastier, I’m sure.
This spring, we bought some chicks to raise for laying hens. They finally started laying late this summer but now they have slowed way down. Currently trying to figure that issue out. Also, our friend, Tonya, sent Kylie chicks for her birthday in June, they should be laying really soon.
The land and cows across the road belongs to the nicest man and we have been blessed by getting to know him. He lives about 30 minutes away so we keep an eye on things for him over here. We have been able to purchase 2 steers from him and we are raising them for grass fed beef. One of them will be ready to go to the butcher by the first of 2018 and the other will be for the following winter.
We put in a large 50’x80′ garden space. This year’s garden didn’t so well but I’m confident that as we build the soil, it will get better. I have high hopes for next year’s production.
God blessed our family with another precious farm baby in July. Hope Elizabeth joined us and we are all enamored with her. She is turning into a great little farm chore helper at only a few months old. How stinkin’ cute is she?!?!?
Derek and I both found out that we are cow’s milk intolerant (A1 casein, we can do A2/A2 cow’s milk but an A2 cow isn’t in the current budget). At first, I was devastated for life very disappointed. After I got over it, we decided that we would just get goats, and we did. We are now enjoying fresh goat’s milk and have big plans for making all of the dairy things…… and soap.
That is the last year and a half of our lives in a nutshell. There’s really so much more detail that I left out but I’m writing a post, not a book ;). Things are definitely looking up for us and we look forward to seeing what God has in store for our future. I’m excited to get back to writing regularly and sharing our life with you.
What is your story to tell for the past year?
More posts on our family:
Thanks for your update! I’m so very sorry to hear about your father, but glad to hear he is recovering! I hope things are looking up for you in the coming year!
Thank you so much! 🙂