Wednesday, December 31, 2014

2014 in Review

Wow! I really let a lot of time pass this time-I'm gonna blame FaceBook! :) I've found that it's easier to just jump on it and post things right quick!
Well, guess I'll try to do a little catching up with what I can remember!


These donkeys were my Anniversary gift from Jeff! I've been wanting one for awhile-wanted a "HeeHaw" and he got me 2! Just LOVE that man! And we had a visitor from across the pasture fence-so now we should have another one this next year. Jenny's name is Violet and I named the little one Annie-anniversary-get it!!


One of my most favorite pictures of the year! Hubby, baby donkey, pig ready for the freezer and our youngest daughter-Rascal! hehe


We decided to try our hand at meat birds this fall-they have NOT grown off as quickly as we were told. Thought we would have them butchered and in the freezer by Christmas, but they are still a little small. Jeff always buys whole chickens from the grocery store and the last one we bought was totally blood shot all the way through-GROSS! So we made the decision to try to raise some ourselves.


Not very good pictures of them-they move too fast!


And this is Rusty-our new bull. Long story short-we've had an awful year with the cows. We were depending on the bull across the fence to service all the cows, and apparently-he's no good. We took two of the cows to the vet in September to have them checked-they weren't bred. :(  We were waiting on the milk cow to calve in October-no calf again-took her to the vet and she wasn't bred either! We were really bummed out! Cost us over $4000 in possible income from the sale of calves this fall! We borrowed a friends Jersey bull and got 4 of the cows bred-took 1 over to another bull. So now we are looking for calves starting in August/September.

We are still living in our camper and trying to take care of mom and Shorty. Both are doing we at the moment-Mom had back surgery in October. Jeff's just getting over the flu-really laid him low for a few days.
I started making soap and it's really going good. I have a few customers and the reviews are good. Really do wish I had some fresh milk to use again, though.
The sow wasn't bred, either. But the young sow is due to have her first litter in a few days, so we are keeping our fingers crossed for a good healthy litter. Jeff's bees have done just awesome this year and we harvested 100 pints of honey at the last total! Can't wait for warm weather again to start working them! And to get started on the garden. I plan to start some seeds in the greenhouse tomorrow-oh that's another accomplishment-Jeff built us a greenhouse, so we can get our own seedlings started this year!

And I resigned from my job in November. We had worked pretty hard for the last 2 years to get our bills paid down and get about as debt-free as possible, so it was time for me to get to stay home. It also will help take some of the strain off of Jeff-since he's been handling everything.
We had a very wonderful Christmas-all the kids and grandkids got to come by at some point during the day! And we are going to be grandparents again! Randy and Casey are expecting a little girl in March!
As 2014 comes to a close, and 2015 will soon arrive-I want to thank God for all the many blessings He has given to me and my family this year. He sure is good all the time!
Happy New Year!