farmstead

You Have Goat to be Kidding Me

August 20, 2019 by admin 2 Comments

You probably remember from a while back that we got four goats. Just in case you don’t, I wrote a whole post about how we got them home in style… Beverly Hillbillies style that is. You can read about that here. I also introduced them and wrote about our plans for them here. Well, this past week we thought our goat experience was over.

We have an area on our farm that is perfect for goats but in typical Andrew and Courtney fashion, we brought them home before that area was ready. Who can pass up goats if the opportunity presents itself, right? They currently live in our barn and catch pen. One day, we decided to let them out and see if they could live with Pistol Pete in the same pasture. In typical Pistol Pete fashion, he chased them and chased them. Probably to death if we weren’t there to separate them. Then we thought maybe we could let them out with our heifers, Maggie and Georgia. Maggie and Georgia weren’t phased and we really weren’t worried about them escaping through our 7 strand barbed wire fence because there’s soooo much for them to eat in that pasture.

And that my friends, is where we went WRONG. Let me preface this story with, last week Andrew got pretty sick and went to the ER twice. They thought it was his gallbladder or stomach ulcers but found out it was gastritis after putting a scope down his throat. Once his stomach started feeling better, he got horrible back pain from sciatica.

Oakley and I took care of feeding the animals while he was down for the count and noticed that our goats weren’t anywhere to be found. We got in the side by side and checked the fence and pasture and still couldn’t find them. The next morning, they still hadn’t come back like Andrew suspected they would and I thought for sure one of two situations was going to happen. The first was that something got them and we were never going to see them again. The second was that their pictures were going to be plastered all over our small town’s Facebook pages and we would like one of those irresponsible goat owners lol.

Luckily, we got a call on the third night they were missing around 8 o’clock saying that our neighbor found them in her pasture. No Facebook famous goat owners over here lol. We both sat up in bed and started cracking up laughing. Not because our goats were found but because of the way we were both sitting. We were in the exact same, awkward position because I’m 36 weeks pregnant and Andrew couldn’t even bend over due to his sciatic nerve. Then Andrew proceeded to tell me that he hates to ask me this while I’m 36 weeks pregnant but he needs me to put his socks on because he can’t bend over. I can’t even get my own socks on right now! I helped him get his socks on and like the old, elderly couple we are, we got on the side by side and went to get our goats. We couldn’t stop looking at each other and laughing. It felt like we were getting a glimpse into the future, about 50 years from now.

Our neighbor came riding up on her horse with the four goats trailing behind. Andrew hopped out of the side by side, shook a bucket of grain, and the goats followed him all the way back to the barn while Oakley and I followed behind on the side by side. Long story short, goats will find a way to escape and they are never to be trusted 😂

Why we chose Nigerian Dwarf Goats

July 23, 2019 by admin Leave a Comment

I became interested in goats about a year ago. I watched a bunch of YouTube videos on them and Oakley loved them at the fair. She hadn’t been walking long and we must had gone in the petting zoo at the fair 10 times. We’d leave for a minute and she would walk right back over to the gate, wanting to play with the baby goats.

Andrew prefers cattle as they make more money and he knows a lot more about them, so I knew it would take some convincing. He didn’t want the goats in the same pastures as the cows because he didn’t want them getting out and it would mean we wouldn’t be able to have as many cows.

One day, I had a great idea. Goats eat brush, leaves, and a bunch of stuff that cows won’t touch. On one side of our property, we have a pretty big, wooded area that we weren’t going to use. I told Andrew that would be the perfect place to keep goats AND they would clean up between the trees. Andrew became fully on board with goats after we figured out where to keep them and that they wouldn’t limit our cattle herd. Speaking of that, our herd is most likely growing but I’ll save that for another post.

We started researching different types of goat breeds and narrowed it down to Nigerian Dwarf Goats and Nubians. We knew we didn’t want a meat breed like Kiko or Boer and if we were going to use our goats for anything other than breeding, we would milk them. After quite a bit of research, we learned that most people think Nigerian Dwarf’s milk tastes the closest to cow’s milk. Milking a goat will be a long ways off, but it’s something I would like to try if I have the time.

We’ve read that Nubians are great dairy goats as well and I love their floppy ears but it seems like a majority of people prefer Nigerian Dwarf’s taste of milk over Nubians. Nubians are also a larger goat and with Oakley being so little, we thought the smaller the better. I would definitely be open to getting some Nubians in the future though.

Right now our plan is to possibly get rid of two bucks and get another doe or two. We would like to breed our does and maybe milk them one day in the future. Now that you’ve read about why we chose Nigerian Dwarf Goats, let me introduce you to the newest members of our farm!

The buck with the black beard is Casey and the buck with the white beard is Jim. The polled white one with the cute, little underbite is Clover and the polled black and white one is John aka the escape artist. Look at him in the pasture with Pete! He’s the same one that jumped out of the back of Andrew’s truck. Our friends actually gave us our goats as their herd was a little bigger than they wanted. You can read more about that and how we got them home with a little redneck ingenuity here. They came with their names and they’re warming up to us pretty quickly! Oakley is in love! She loves to run around with them, give them hugs, and give them kisses!

5 Tips for Beginning Gardeners

July 19, 2019 by admin Leave a Comment

This is our second year planting a garden and our first year planting a fall garden and I’ve definitely learned a few things that I think are worth sharing. I figure every year I will continue to learn more and more about gardening and the more I learn, the less I’ll remember the little lessons I learned in the beginning. So, from one beginning gardener to another…

1. Raised beds are the way to go

I’ve found raised beds to be manageable for a busy life. Andrew and I both work full time jobs, have a daughter, a son on the way, and take care of our animals but our raised beds never get out of control with weeds. They’re so easy to maintain if they’re done right. Laying something down in the bottom of your raised beds like landscape paper will help cut back on weeding by a ton. We’ve actually used leftover roofing paper in the bottom of ours before. The next thing to be considerate of is what you fill them with. If you fill them with dirt that has grass growing in it, it will most likely take over. While raised beds will cost more in the beginning than a garden in the ground, they are worth the investment if you don’t have a lot of time to spend weeding.

2. Do as the back of the seed packets tell you

Last year we planted carrots and I had a ton sprout. I remember reading the back of the seed packet and thinking to myself, “Why would I thin out my carrots when they all look like they’re doing great?” Because you will end up with a bunch of stubby little carrots, Courtney. That’s why! Instead of a generous amount of nice, long carrots, I ended up with an enormous amount of short, oddly shaped carrots. They didn’t have the room to grow and were sharing the space with too many carrots. We didn’t end up eating any of them and I ended up decorating with them because what else is a girl to do? Lol. Our chickens enjoyed them too! Note to self: Thin your plants if needed.

3. Count the Successes

Although our gardens have been pretty successful, I remember telling Andrew, “As long as we grow something we can eat, I’ll be happy.” Usually, I keep my expectations pretty high but in this case I made an exception. I feel like gardening can be like second nature one day but other times it feels like the learning curve is steep. Luckily, we ended up with a variety of vegetables we were able to eat despite my pathetic carrot crop. I was so excited that I had more than just one type of vegetable to harvest and eat.

4. Google, YouTube, and other gardeners in your area are your friends

One of today’s luxuries (to most people) is that you can google or watch a video about anything. If you happen to misplace a seed packet or you need a question answered about a plant that didn’t come with directions, google it. Besides google and YouTube though, I’m sure you have friends, neighbors, or family in your area that have quite a bit of experience gardening in your zone. I’ve picked peoples’ brains about gardening in our area and have learned a lot. Andrew and I both have asked our coworkers as well and have gained valuable information.

5. Figure out what planting zone you’re in

I think it’s important to know what planting zone you’re in as you can find out when is the best time to plant and what grows best in your area. You might connect with other gardeners on social media that have experience gardening in the same zone. You can also easily google when your first and last frost dates are for the city or town you live in. I’ve attached a link below that provides a map of the planting zones.

https://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

Gardening is a lot of work but also really rewarding. I actually think it’s relaxing and therapeutic to pull weeds and water 😂 I hope you’ve enjoyed my tips as a beginning gardener. If you have any gardening tips, I’d love to read them below in the comment section!

A New Home for Maggie and Georgia

February 11, 2019 by admin Leave a Comment

We’ve had a visitor on the farm since Friday, Oakley’s grandpa! We’ve had so much fun and he’s loved getting to see all of the animals and watching Oakley interact with all of them. I’m not sure who enjoys feeding Pete more, Oakley or grandpa lol. Anyway, we woke up Saturday without any water and thought our pipes froze or we had a huge water leak. Luckily, it wasn’t either of those but unfortunately, our water company had a huge main line leak which left a ton of people without water. Almost 24 hours later, we got water again but we’re in a boil alert for at least a week, meaning we have to boil our water before we drink it or use it to cook.

The good news is, this hasn’t stopped Andrew’s progress on the farm and Maggie and Georgia have a new home! A couple of months ago I shared how Andrew cut down so many trees that our yard was covered in stumps. In order to keep moving forward with our fencing, we had to get rid of quite a few stumps so we called a local stump grinding company which you can read about here.

I’m sure most of you were wondering why Andrew cut down so many trees and now I can finally share! He used them for posts for our fencing. Now we have a pasture in the back and a pasture in the front. Maggie and Georgia moved to the front pasture and Pete is in the back pasture. Andrew used cedar trees for the posts and we decided to go with field fence instead of barbed wire because this is our front yard where Oakley plays. She loves to stick her hands through the fence to pet Maggie, so we didn’t wanted worry about barbed wire. However, the other sides are all 7 strand barbed wire. Some might consider it overkill but Andrew thought it was better to do it right the first time. The fencing has been a big project/undertaking and getting the front of our property fenced was top on Andrew’s priority list this winter. He felt so relieved when he finally finished it. Maggie and Georgia seem to be enjoying all of the space and we love being able to sit on our front porch and watch the two of them.

Georgia On My Mind

January 15, 2019 by admin Leave a Comment

We are so excited to introduce you to our new calf, Georgia! It’s about time we got Maggie a friend, but we waited until we found the right one at the right time and we’re pretty happy with Georgia! She is a newly weaned calf, which means no bottle feeding. That’s bittersweet because Maggie became really friendly from bottle feeding, but she’s already warmed up in the week that we’ve had her.

Andrew actually found her on Facebook and went to pick her up with his friend the next day. She is an Angus calf and so cute! I love her sweet, little face. When Andrew got her home and let her out of the trailer into the catch pen, she ran WILD. She was jumping all over the place, running back and forth, and around in circles. Poor calf had a long day. It didn’t take long for her and Maggie to meet each other at the gate. They immediately went up and stared at each other through the gate. Andrew let Maggie in the pen with Georgia and they’ve been inseparable ever since. Georgia will not leave Maggie’s side. I’m so excited that Maggie finally has a friend! For a while, it seemed like progress on our farm came to a halt, but Andrew’s been checking tasks off our to-do list left and right and now we’re finally growing our herd (if you can even call it that)! If there’s one type of animal that we’d like to focus on, it would be cattle, so to be able to slowly, but surely add some more to our herd is beyond exciting!

Oakley got to stay up late the night Andrew brought Georgia home. I couldn’t wait until the next day to show her our new addition to the farm. I think she was in shock and a little confused that there was another calf next to Maggie. It didn’t take long for her to start saying her name and she cried when it came time to go inside. She pronounces Georgia as Jo Jo. Now, she looks forward to going outside every day to see Ma-Ma and Jo Jo!

Hellooooo 2019!

January 13, 2019 by admin Leave a Comment

I’ve started and deleted this post so many times and I’m not exactly sure why. Maybe because I feel like I should start it was a funny story like how my coffee exploded in the microwave or how my attempt at making homemade bread failed miserably, but the truth is none of those stories seem like a good introduction for this post. So let me start it this way, I feel like 2019 is going to be a big year for us! Andrew and I are opposites in a lot of ways, yet we have a lot of the same interests. I love Summer, he loves Winter and this surprisingly enough has been beneficial for the both of us and our farm. I have always loved Summer. I loved staying outside until the streetlights came on and swimming until I was a prune. It’s weird to think Oakley won’t learn to ride her bike on asphalt or know what it means when the street lights come on as a kid, but I am so excited for her to grow up on a farm. This Summer I loved waking up in the morning, drinking a cup of coffee, and heading out to the garden with Oakley before it got scorching hot. Later on in the day, she spent a lot of time in her plastic, little pool. Something tells me my barefoot little babe is going to be a Summer girl just like her mom. Andrew on the other hand could bypass Summer and move straight into Fall. Between his job, the ticks that infest the ground in Arkansas, and how common heat stroke is in our area, Andrew counts down the days until Summer is over. If you know Andrew at all, you know he always has to be doing something so it drives him nuts when a lot of his projects come to a screeching hault during the Summer. When Winter finally arrives and the first frost kills off the ticks and chiggers, Andrew runs out the door! The past couple of weeks Andrew has been making huge improvements and checking off projects left and right at our house. He feels like Winter is a big push to get some high priority items checked off our to do list. I on the other hand can not wait until the days are long again. I hate when it gets dark so early, but we’ve passed the shortest day of the year, so things are looking up haha.

With all of that being said, we spent the first day of 2019 walking around our little farm and talking about all of our plans that we’d like to accomplish this year. Spoiler alert: they all have to do with more animals! I’m not one for New Years Resolutions, never have been. Probably because I most likely won’t keep them but I sure do admire people that set them and stick with them. I’ve also kicked around the idea of picking one word that I’d like to focus on this year, but that’s not how I’ve done things in the past either, so I’ll stick with what I’m familiar with and what has worked for me. Indulging in what’s been placed on my heart. For the last couple of weeks, I’ve had two phrases that have been placed on my heart.

The first is that God’s plans are greater than we can ever imagine. A friend gave me a book this last year and I was so inspired by the author. Her faith is admirable and the fact that every big decision she ever made, she heard God speak to her is awe-inspiring. I mean who would close a prospering, growing business that you poured every dime and penny into along with your blood sweat and tears? Regardless of what that business meant to her, she listened to God and closed the doors on her little shop. Where God steered her from there was more than she ever could have planned or imagined. If you know who I’m talking about or what book I’m referring to, leave your guess below as a comment!

One thing I say all the time is, “I couldn’t have handpicked a more precious baby myself.” Actually, I pictured myself as a boy mom but God already had the perfect baby selected for our family and we are forever blessed to be her parents. The joy she brings to our family is insurmountable. We think we know what we need but God knows better than we do.

The second thing that has been put on my heart parallels my first phrase. I have a tendency to get a little impatient because I think I have a plan or I think I know the best timing, but Andrew quickly reminds me that God’s timing is better than our timing. One time I was getting a little impatient and Andrew said, “I would rather it be His timing than ours.” Wow, say no more. That really put things into perspective for me and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it for the past month or so. I guess the bottom line is I want to find peace and comfort in God’s plan for our family and allow him to be in total control. So, that is what we will strive for in 2019 and I already feel like wonderful things lie ahead for our family and our farm!

Meet Our NEIGHbors!

December 30, 2018 by admin Leave a Comment

Andrew and I grew up in the suburbs of Southern California, not too far from Disneyland. We lived in track homes, where every 3rd or 4th home is the same layout. Our neighbors were really close, in fact, one time my neighbor and I tried to see how far our walkie talkies would reach. They stopped working once she got to the bottom of her driveway, across the cul-de-sac from my house. One thing that I loved about our neighborhood was getting to know all of my neighbors. My neighbors that lived across the street are two of my best friends. We don’t talk to each other all the time, but when we do, it’s like we never stopped.

Now that we live in rural Arkansas, we can’t even see our closest neighbor’s house. Fortunately, we’ve met some of our neighbors because one of my coworkers lives down the road, along with her parents. We’ve had a couple come over and introduce themselves as well. We are blessed (again) to have nice neighbors out in the country too! However, some of my favorite neighbors are the horses that come up to our fence! Every day when I walk outside, I can’t believe that there’s a cow in our pasture and chickens running around. That of course makes me day dream about all the animals that will call our little farm home one day. I love to sit on our church pew on our front porch and watch the chickens and cats run around. It’s definitely a change from suburbia, but this is what my dreams are made of. When the horses come up to our fence, that is the cherry on top for me. I grab Oakley and dart over there as fast as I can so we can pet them. She gets excited and loves to stick her little fingers out to pet them. Who knows, maybe we’ll have some in our own backyard one day.

Goodbye Stumps

December 27, 2018 by admin Leave a Comment

Since we moved in a year and a half ago, Andrew has cut down so many trees that I’ve lost count. There was one part of our property that looked like a tree graveyard, with stumps left and right. There are different ways that you can remove stumps, like burning them or digging them out but that takes FOREVER and like I said, we had way too many stumps scattered around our yard.

Andrew’s friend recommended a local stump grinding service, Henderson Stump Grinding and we decided to have them come out and give us an estimate to remove the stumps. The next day, he came back and went to town. It is amazing to compare the before and after. The best part is, it didn’t leave giant holes all over our yard and the stumps were turned into wood chips. Now that we have those stumps out of the way, Andrew can finish fencing our property which means one thing, more animals! It’s been really nice to make improvements to our property and to grow our farm. I’m so excited to see what this next year has in store. If you live in the River Valley, we highly recommend Henderson Stump Grinding!

The piles of wood chips that were left in place on the stumps.

The finished product! It’s so nice to have all of the stumps gone!

Where We’re at Lately

October 24, 2018 by admin 2 Comments

This post is a little random but I felt compelled to share it and I took some really cute pictures of Oakley today so even more reason to share. I’m not even sure what to title it but maybe that will come to me by the end of writing this. Even though I should be in bed, I felt like my blog could use some love and if I didn’t write this tonight, it wouldn’t be the same tomorrow. Have you ever felt that way? That if you didn’t write something down or talk about something, it wouldn’t be as easy to express the next day? That’s me all the time. I wish that I was able to drop what I’m doing and jot down my thoughts more often but that’s life, right?

Lately, I’ve had this thought that I believe is actually the big man upstairs making me aware of the time I’m in right now. Every day after work, Oakley and I take a walk around our little farm. The cats are usually waiting for us and meowing by the front door. Oakley loves to pet them, pull their tails, and attempt to pick them up. They usually join us on our little stroll and follow us around. Then, we try to find Maggie Mae and see what she’s up to. Oakley loves to pet her through the fence and thinks its hilarious if she licks her. We usually stop by and see the dogs and Oakley’s face lights up! They like to give her kisses through the fence and she smiles and laughs. We always check on the garden even though there isn’t much left. Sometimes she climbs on her playhouse, goes for a ride in her wagon, or chases the chickens. We usually end our walk by swinging on the porch swing or sitting on the church pew. We always pet the cats a couple more times before we go inside and play.

As we were walking around the farm today, I had this thought. I started reminiscing about the time in our lives when Andrew and I were just dating. Then I started thinking about when it was just Andrew, me, and the dogs. I also thought about right after we got married and moved to Arkansas. I’m going to try to make sense of these jumbled thoughts in my head as best as I can, but my point is when I think back to those times, I would say things like, “I can’t wait to be married. I can’t wait to be a mom. I can’t wait to get another dog.” I think you catch my drift. At the time, I never realized that I would miss those times in my life. The truth is, I don’t really miss those times because I wouldn’t trade anything for the place we’re at now. I just look back on those times with really fond memories. So, even though I was constantly thinking about the future or the next step, if I could, I would go back and tell myself, “You have no idea what God has in store for you because his plans are greater than you could ever imagine, but there will come a time where you look back and think wow, that time in my life went so fast.” I truly believe that I’m living out the best years of my life right now and I’m in my prime as a mom, and I want to enjoy every second of it because I realize now that time is fleeting. Time seems so much more precious after seeing how fast a year has gone by with Oakley. What happened to my four month old? Although I’m a dreamer and constantly think about adding more animals to the farm or picture a bunch of little feet running around, I realize that one day I’m going to look back and think, “wow, that went by really fast.” I guess what all of this boils down to, is God saying, “yes, great things are in store, greater than you can ever imagine, but being present and soaking in every second of the life you’re living right now is what I want you to focus on. If you really think about it, you focus on being present and enjoy where you’re at, then doesn’t that cause you to focus on your blessings and remind you to be thankful?

If you’ve read this far, thanks for letting me share my random thoughts, or better yet, a piece of my heart. I hope you can relate and maybe it will remind youto stop and appreciate the time you’re in now, even if you’re going through a tough time in any aspect of your life. I think I will end this with lyrics from one of my all time favorite songs, Angel by Jack Johnson. Every time I look at Oakley this song pops into my head and I think it’s fitting for this post.

I’ve got an angel
She doesn’t wear any wings
She wears a heart that can melt my own
Wears a smile that can make me wanna sing
She gives me PRESENTS

with her PRESENCE alone

Garden Update

August 1, 2018 by admin Leave a Comment

Well, I just tried to make bread in the oven and I wish I could say its delicious but that’s not quite the case. It’s hard and cracked on the outside, but completely doughy on the inside. I guess that’s what I get for being lazy and not wanting to get out my bread machine lol. For some reason, whenever I double a recipe it turns out fine, but if I try to cut a recipe in half, it never turns out right and I know I’m doing my math correctly. When will I learn to just make the recipe as it was intended? Maybe never! Anyway, the whole point of me writing this post was to give you a garden update, not talk about my failed bread making attempt. On a side note, if I only share my successes than what would be the point of this blog? To just share my highlight reel? I know that’s usually what it seems like but I really do want to share my successes and my not so successful times. Sooo, where were we? We planted our very first garden on Mother’s Day and I thought it was about time to give you an update.

My failed bread attempt

When we planted our garden, Andrew and I said as long as we get to eat at least one thing we’ll consider it a success. Thankfully, we got to eat quite a few of the vegetables we planted. Our tomatoes didn’t make it. I think we planted them too late in the season maybe? We have gotten plenty of zucchini, cucumbers (even though I always let them get too big before I pick them), jalapenos, and bell peppers! We have at least one watermelon that should be ready to pick any day now, our carrots are still growing, and our sweet potatoes are still a little small. My kale was doing well for a while but then we went to a sprinkler waterer instead of watering by hand and that didn’t seem to help the kale at all. It hasn’t died but looks a little yellow, so I’m hoping I can bring those back to looking healthy! One night, we left the water on ALL night. That didn’t help our vegetables or our electric bill. Overall, I would say our garden has been a success and we’ve really been enjoying it! I bought some pumpkin seeds a while back and I was hoping to get those in the ground, but those might have to wait until next year now.

Watermelon

Our poor tomatoes

a little watermelon

Oakley and our watermelon that’s about ready to be picked

Jalapenos

More watermelons

Jalapenos

Bell Peppers

When we first planted our garden, I thought one of my favorite parts would be working in it but I have really enjoyed cooking with all of our vegetables. I’m not the best cook as you could probably tell from my bread story but I’ve been trying and having so much fun! I’ve made zucchini muffins, stuffed peppers, sweet potato fries, and zucchini noodles. I’ve used them other ways too just I can’t remember it all right now. I’ll keep sharing about how we use all of our vegetables. I’ve also given plenty away to friends and family! Anything that we don’t use or didn’t use quick enough goes to the chickens and they love that!

Sweet Potato Fries

Kitty Paws is never far when we go out to check the garden!

The chickens eating some cucumbers!