From the heart

While I usually enjoy life on our little homestead, there is one aspect that always takes some getting used to.  Life. 

I have to say sometimes 'life' can be happy. The birth of new baby animals, getting to see first hand the hatching of eggs & the mother hen's instinct to protect her young, watching kittens and puppies being born & nursing, feeding a baby pig from a bottle, moments like that are incredible.

There are the funny (kind of) moments when you learn not to turn your back on certain roosters, that your Australian shepherd & a Rat terrier can turn a back yard into a crater of holes in no time flat, and that mom freaks out if she sees a snake, or even a snake skin, and when a racer pokes his head out of a wood pile mom can really run fast!

The part that is the hardest are the unhappy times.  When you wake up and realize that something has gotten into the hen house and killed just about everything.  When it's time to take animals to the slaughter house.  When your beloved Rat terrier, who was like a little best friend gets cancer & dies.

Then there are the 'interesting' learning moments like animals coming into season & animals aren't shy when it comes to mating.  Also that not 'cutting' a male goat is never a good idea... too much info??? lol  I am glad though that my children got to experience everything, even this as it led to many teachable moments.

We're in a stage of sadness at the moment. The thing is many of our animals are getting older.   Our hens just about all stopped laying (age), our 'big pig' was sent to another farm to be bread only to find out she is barren.  A shih Tzu that was a stray I think is finally coming to his end.

Cost is a big issue too. Along with everything else, animal feed is going up.  Way up!  The fact is we don't need animals or things here that are just money suckers with no purpose.  We have been basically a one income family for 17 years.  I really know how to stretch a dollar.  Even at times now I don't always have to but it's just ingrained in my brain to not let anything go to waste.  My husband even more so & if you've ever been here it's evident by the 'supplies' or 'junk' that he's got stacked around to use one day.  --We actually do make use of most of it but it's still a bit of an eyesore.

 The other thing is our children are older too. (19 & 14)   Keeping up with chores is more of a task, just mowing our place takes a day.  I like the little homestead, and we do not have any plans to move but there are just many changes that need to take place.  Adjustments in schedules, prioritizing what we really want & need. 

Sometimes even just writing this it does make me a little sad.  I do miss many things but then again I'm happy to be in a new/different stage of life. --I think...

~Mama