Moving Through the Seasons

It's well into the holiday season; but technically, still fall. As always, lots going on here on the farm.

I have transformed the front of the barn from fall to winter. It's so much fun to come up with ideas to decorate our barn front!

Little update from when I took the picture above. I am all about these wooden signs. I am especially all about my sons girlfriend making them for me :) Thanks Brittany!

Going back a bit further.. At the beginning of November, I turned 47, yikes! Seems weird to say; but age is just a number, right? Well, yes but it's a number that when increased seems to come with some aches, pains and a couple physical limitations. Actually, the only physical limitation I have put on myself is that I no longer jump off the bed of my truck. These days, I just kind of slide off. My knees agree, this was a wise choice.

As we age we really start thinking about living. What have we done? What have we not done? Bucket list kind of thinking. One thing I had as a small bucket list item, was more pictures of Mike and I. Maybe it was more of a "to do" list item rather than a bucket list one, nonetheless...

One of my favorite gifts was this shirt from my daughter. It's from Brené Browns (one of my favorite authors/speakers) shop "The Marble Jar."

Earlier this fall we had one of our own hives swarm. Luckily, they landed on the hammock chair and I got them back, including the queen! This was my "Queen Bee" Mother's Day gift, but I am happy to share with one of our hives Queen Bees, just not at the same time!

Thanksgiving has come and gone. This one was the first one at my moms new house. It was so much fun! We all love her new house, but we especially love that her & G love it. The kitchen is awesome.

Time spent with family, gathering over food.. nothing better.

This fall I also had some fun photo shoots. Fall is always a great time for photo shoots. In case you haven't noticed, I really really like taking pictures :) Some people, like my family, don't have a choice, I WILL take their pictures. Others, choose me to capture their moments and for that, I am so grateful.

Back to the farm.

We have a new (borrowed from a friend) bull. It's important that we have as friendly as possible bull. We are in close quarters with our herd and out with them a lot filling up hay feeders and water tanks.

This guy is pretty chill; BUT I always respect that he is indeed a bull.

We have had a pretty mild fall with many 60-70 degree days. On a few of them, we took River to local parks to get her off the farm and a little exercise. She prefers her spot on the couch over outings though. I think this look is one of " for the love, can we please just go home?"

Our second round of baby chicks are nearly full sized chickens now. Although one of them "Little Bird" remains pretty small. I am not sure that's normal, but she sure is cute! The foster mom hen that we put with her own chick (Little Bird aka "Branch" as Oliver calls her) and the store bought chicks has been a wonderful mom. She is now letting them do their thing 100% of the time. They don't even roost together anymore.

Mom bird or "Marshmallow" here roosts up towards the top of the roosting bars while all her chicks " mini marshmallows" are on the other side of the coop near the nesting boxes. Can you tell there's a 4 year old helping name them?

There has been so many beautiful sunsets recently. Sometimes I just pause and watch the sun set, even in the hayloft.

The horses aren't being ridden much lately and that saddens me. I think I just realized what my New Years resolution will be.. more saddle time. It's something Mike and I love doing, yet the days and weeks seem to just fly by. Time to make time. I love them all so much and really miss how much we use to ride. Lately, most of the time I am either trimming their hooves, grooming or taking pictures (all of which I love as well.) But man time to get my butt in the saddle!

Jasmine. My little now 200 + pound (not so little) bottle fed calf. Wow has this been a cool experience. My journey with Jasmine will have it's own blog post in the future. She has about a month left of this human mom experience, then she will go out and be a cow. Bittersweet.

It's truly looking a lot like Christmas around here. Outside and in! We usually don't put our tree up until mid December since we get real trees and I am always worried about it drying out. We got one a little bit earlier this year, AND at a tree farm! It's been a few years since we cut down our tree and this year we finally found a nearby tree farm.

We looked and looked. Just didn't see the "one." Then all the sudden, there she was, just begging to come home with us.

It's always tricky to figure out just how big a tree will look in your house. I guess that's why Mike was posing? For perspective? Or maybe he was showing me what he would look like as an ornament.

And here it is. Beautiful.

Just kidding, that's a tree inside at the tree farm. Our tree ended up being the perfect size and looks great. Currently, the star on top is leaning and there are a few run away ornaments on the floor. So...here's a cute close up. But trust me, it looks (or will look) great!

We had a good time though. I highly recommend a visit to a tree farm at least once to harvest your own Christmas tree.

Then there was the super moon, on the way home from the tree farm. So while I had my camera, I did not have my tripod. Not bad for some un-stabilized shots, but it's always awe inspiring in person.

Oh and Oliver got his first pair of overalls. How did 4 years go by without him having some is a mystery to me.

Soap. I am now making soap! It's a very exciting endeavor and I am just at the beginning. Some are rough cut soaps made with goats milk soap and tallow.

Also I am making a goats milk/calendula flower/raw honey soap in this bee mold. I just LOVE them. They are 4 oz. bars, lather wonderfully, last a long time & stays in the bee shape much longer than I thought they would.

I will be making a lot more soap in 2018!

So that's what's up since my last post. A lot! I am so grateful for my growing business and loyal clients.

As of now, I am sold out of the Christmas sets, but I am willing to make one more batch of everything if orders are placed this weekend. If you are interested in the Peppermint Gift Set or the Vanilla Gift Set, place your order asap, or by the end of the weekend.