This Morning

I took my camera out this morning to capture a little of my daily routine.  I am bottle feeding the 5 little doelings that are in the bottom right corner. They get fed first in the morning, I sit on a stool with them clamoring about with 2 bottles.  They have to take turns, and that's easier said than done.  As I'm feeding them, I watch the sun rise through the meadow.  It lights up the house, highlighting the smoke coming from the chimney, then it lands on the goat feeder, which is where Jersey and Dahlia are laying and waiting for breakfast and milking.  

I feed the babies first, then the goats and chickens, next I milk the three does.  After that I feed the rabbits, the feeding order goes by who is the loudest and the goats win.  Mornings are busy with roosters crowing, goats calling to be fed or milked, and kids jumping about playing all the while.  The rabbits are quiet and always fun to say "hi" to when I feed them in the morning. After I got back inside this morning, I decided to sit down and put together a photo collage for my 365 project that I'm working on.  I'll tell you more about that in another post.     

Spring Goat Kids

Our little Nigerian Dwarf dairy goat Snowdrop had beautiful triplets one week ago.  The next day was sunny and 60 degrees, so in the afternoon I brought them all outside for about 15 minutes to enjoy the sun, meet the other goats and take a few pic's, then I hurried them all back into their cozy nest in the barn.  Snowdrop had twin doelings pictured above, and all three kids pictured below with the dark handsome buck on the left, we may keep him for the Fall breeding season.  I love all of the colors and markings each kid this year. 

Our Nubian Jersey and I were up all night this past Thursday night as she delivered twin doelings pictured below, they are melt your heart cute, and are miniature replica's of Jersey. She was bred to a Nigerian, so these are miniature Nubians.  We are lucky this year to have 4 doelings so far, now just our Lamancha Zolena is left and she's due this Friday, I hope she has at least one doeling too.

    We've been loving all the Spring babies and new life everywhere we look! 

writing out the dream

This is a post I wrote on December 14, 2010, with a few minor changes.  I wanted to share it again for those of you new to this blog.  I'm planning to write out my 2012 goals and will write a post detailing them.    

One of my favorite things to do when I have a quiet moment is to dream of what I really want in life, what I should be doing that is meaningful, not just for me, but for my family, my friends and the community where I live. This is new to me in recent years, I haven't always been in a position to even be able to think about what I wanted to do. My thoughts have primarily focused on raising my children and creating memories with them, cooking, cleaning, organizing, and tending to everyones needs have been a huge job over the last 20 years! In the midst of raising children I also worked for 12 years as a realtor and had to be disciplined to make money.  Personal ambitions since I have been an adult have been very limited, if you're a mother with young children you will understand.   

Four years ago, I really began to ask the question in my quiet hours, what am I here to do on this earth (besides raising children)?  What do you want me to do... my creator?  I would ask Him who knew me before I was born, and created me, gave me my family, my Mom and Dad, my twin sister, and my brothers, and gave me the gift of 5 beautiful children, and my husband, whom I adore.

Writing it out.. this is what I heard when I asked 4 years ago what it is I'm put here on earth to do? My answer was simple and clear, but also included some of my childhood dreams of painting and animals. You are called to teach others about what you're learning about self sufficient living through writing and photographing your journey. Get prepared to be out of debt, create your own food and power, work from home as much as possible, and teach all that you are learning, and have learned over the years.  The cashflow is to come through having a small fruit tree and edible nursery, and Jarin's new business building cabins and bungalows.   

5 years ago I started gardening more intensely, and studying like a student in school, getting as many books as I could. 4 years ago, I studied beekeeping, and got 2 honeybee hives, plus that was the year I bought fruit trees, put in an orchard and learned all I could about pruning and tending to my new orchard and hives. Jarin deer fenced the large vegetable garden, so we could really begin to produce our own food, and it has grown by one large bed every year. 

The next year I got rabbits, and more fruit trees, and Jarin continued to build fencing to enclose the whole ten acres in deer proof fencing.  We want to plant the land in fruit trees and edibles, without having them destroyed by the deer. The next year we got chickens, and began to build the coop and the chicken run to make it predator proof... this was a huge job!

We are learning as a family where our food comes from, how much work it is to create rich soil to grow your own food.  How to create fencing that lasts and keeps deer out of the vegetables and fruit trees.  We have learned to greatly value the chickens, rabbits, and honeybees for their contribution to the farm's permaculture plan.  

In the next few years we hope to get off grid totally with the help of a windmill and solar power. These are dreams that will become a reality I know. Further down the road, I hope to hold self sufficiency classes and retreats here at Applegarth Farm. 

The Homesteading Dream Part One

There are many ways to achieve the same goal of creating a homestead.  You can begin right now wherever you are learning the skills you will need.  Cooking homemade foods from scratch, canning, and freezing excess food you find in season at farmers markets.  Learning simple things like healing herbs and how to use them.  Making your own soups and stews, bread, and pasta. 

It all starts with a mindset, you begin thinking about picking your own fruits and vegetables, and harvesting your own eggs and meat.  You may wander into a feed store, an unknown territory, even though you don't own farm animals.  Seeing baby chicks, and rabbits, smelling the farm smells that are non existent in the city.   You may begin to dream of a new life, a life where you're profoundly in touch with the seasons, and what the earth brings forth at different times of the year.  You will most likely yearn for more simplicity in your life, and will be excited by a trip to the country.  As you drive around looking at farms, the coal that is the homestead dream gets fanned a little more, until finally you say enough I want this enough to make a change.

The first skill you will need is a hardworking ethic, (if you have this it will provide you with a job and money), and the drive to work on your homestead in the evenings and on weekends to create your dream.  The second is the ability to learn as you go,  and the third is to pay as you go.
When looking for raw land here are some biggies to consider;

1.  Usability~ how much land is flat or rolling hill and usable, how much is unusable, ie. on a steep hillside or deep ravine.  How much do you need, even A small yard can be well laid out as a mini homestead.

2.  Water ~  you must have water, or know you can put in a well or hook up to city water, or a community well.  Look up the well logs of surrounding homes, this will show you what the average depth of the wells.  Water is Important!

3.  Septic ~  Does the land perk to put in a septic system. There are different types of drain field designs that work for a variety of situations.

4.  Power ~  How far to hook up, is it close on the road, or are you planning to be off grid.  How much will it cost to get power?

5.  Sunlight ~ Southern Exposure or SW exposure is the best in my opinion, especially if you want to garden.
 
6.  Trees ~ trees are a good thing, especially if you have enough to build your home with, along with enough to have a woodlot for firewood.  We are lucky in the NW, there are lots of big trees.

7.  Sloping hillsides are not good for drainage, if your home is situated on a hillside in the NW you will have drainage problems most likely. 

8.  High speed Internet, and cell phone service ~ This is important if it's necessary for your work.  There are a lot of places in the country that do not have these services, and you will have to use a satellite dish.

I will probably think of more things and add to this list.


If you don't have the money to buy your land yet, keep working and saving.  If you really need and want a loan, talk with a local lender, and see what kind of programs you might be able to qualify for.  Usually you need to be at the same job or similar field for at least 2 years.  Try not to have a car payment, or any big credit cards debts.  Banks like to see people come in with good debt to income ratios, and car payments really through this off. 

Vacant land typically needs 20% down, regular loans 3-5% down, some are even zero down.  Remember you need to pay this back with interest, so what you qualify for, versus what you have planned to spend, may differ quite a bit.  If you can buy through an owner contract, make sure you can pay it back within a few years, make it a priority. 

If you are just starting off here some thoughts that may help. To really get a head start on saving money, live as cheaply as you can, work extra hard and save your money.  Make more than your spend, try to save every extra dime, plan cheap or free entertainment.  Live by the motto "Use it up, Wear it out, Make it do, Or do without".

Writing out the Dream

One of my favorite things to do when I have a quiet moment is to dream of what I really want in life, what I should be doing that is meaningful, not just for me, but for my family, my friends and the community where I live. This is new to me in recent years, I havn't always been in a position to even be able to think about what I wanted to do. My thoughts have primarily focused on raising my children and creating memories with them. Cooking, cleaning, organizing, and tending to every ones needs have been a huge job!

.
Four years ago, I really began to ask the question in my quiet hours, what am I here to do on this earth?  What do you want me to do... my creator?  I would ask Him who knew me before I was born, and created me, gave me my family, my Mom and Dad, my twin sister, and my brothers, and gave me the gift of 5 beautiful children, and finally a husband who could love us all.

Writing it out.. this is what Jewel  heard when I asked 4 years ago what it is I'm put here on earth to do? My answer was simple and clear, but also included some of my childhood dreams of painting and animals. You are called to teach others about what you're learning about self sufficient living through writing and photographing your journey. Get prepared to be out of debt, create your own food and power, work from home as much as possible, and teach all that you are learning, and have learned over the years.  The cashflow is to come through having a small fruit tree and edible nursery, and Jarin's new business building cabins and bungalows.   

5 years ago I started gardening more intensely, and studying like a student in school, getting as many books as I could. 4 years ago, I studied beekeeping, and got 2 honeybee hives, plus that was the year I bought fruit trees, put in an orchard and learned all I could about pruning and tending to my new orchard and hives. Jarin deer fenced the large vegetable garden, so we could really begin to produce our own food, it has grown by one large bed every year. 

 The next year I got rabbits, and more fruit trees, and Jarin continued to build fencing to enclose the whole ten acres in deer proof fencing.  We want to plant the land in fruit trees and edibles, without having them destroyed by the deer. The next year we got chickens, and Jarin began to build the coop, and we all worked on the chicken run to make it predator proof... this was a huge job.

We have learned as a family where our food comes from, how much work it is to create rich soil to grow your own food.  How to create fencing that lasts, and keeps deer out of the vegetables and fruit trees.  We have learned to greatly value the chickens, rabbits, and honeybees for their contribution to the farm's permaculture plan.  

In the next few years we hope to get off grid totally with the help of a windmill and solar power. These are dreams that will become a reality I know. Further down the road, I hope to hold self sufficieny classes and retreats here at Applegarth.