A year of gradual progress on the Home Front….

NOTE: I started this post several weeks ago….but like so many things on a farm (even a little pretend farm) interruptions HAPPEN! So, better late than never? Enjoy the pics of warmer days:)

We’ve been on the homestead for a year now as of September 29th. Natural to look back and see what has been accomplished.

We somehow managed to keep the lawn mowed…mostly.

Welcomed 15 Indian runner ducklings , 26 Silver-laced Wyandotte chickies and 2 Nigerian dwarf kids to the farm. None had permanent housing, so the upstairs bathroom turned into a temporary poultry nursery and the dining room doubled as eating space for the humans, and sleeping quarters for the doeling and buckling.

Plowed and tilled a large garden….planted it, weeded it……. lost some of it to the chickens……… fenced it, and got some of it actually harvested.

Started a temporary compost pile….the nicer one may be constructed next spring.

Learned how to clear snow from a rural driveway with a town-person’s walk behind snowblower.

Planted a few pine trees and 2 baby apple trees. My dad sent us a sweet 16 and a honeycrisp that are growing nicely just east of the wood shop.

Larry put up a temporary clothesline for me using trees in the front yard. Works just fine. Maybe next year I can have him make me the one I saw on pinterest….

Wethered our first buckling.

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Went to pick up a new companion wether for Buttercup and came home with 2….welcome to one week old Burdock and Thistle.

Gave our first shots to our new livestock.

Gathered our first eggs……and then LOTS more!

Harvested our first chickens and ducks…..a sad reality to life on a sort of real farm.

Two annual First Baptist Church youth group bonfires successfully completed with no fire trucks needed.

First dill pickles in pretty quart jars…

Built a duck coop, chicken coop and goat home out of one of the old corn cribs….well they’re not all quite done yet, but useable.

Built our first fence…..the goats now have their own pasture.

Planted our first deer garden back by the oak trees. Larry set his deer stand up and can now enjoy the view from above.

Taught the growing chickens and ducks how to come home to the coop every night.

What we’ve learned. What is left unfinished….

A LOT is left unfinished!