I’ve been up to something

Things are hopping

I have so much to share about our progress on our homestead! First, let me apologize for the writing hiatus I have been on, no excuses, just life. When I created this newsletter I wanted to have a place to share about what has been happening on our farm and I have so much to tell you.

Delaney is practically 2 months old and she looks like a plump sausage squeezed into her little 3 month outfit. Josie and Bruce are enjoying homeschooling and we are settling into a rhythm with our routine. We have joined a few other families and created a co-op called “Ozark Valley Homeschool Group.” I am totally stoked after meeting the whole group for the first time yesterday. We have many shared values and plan to do a lot of cool things together, so I can’t wait for this to get started.

Back on the farm…

So….we have our water, the kids call it “city water,” now and it’s funny how quickly we have forgotten that we used to have to carry our water up in milk jugs.

To water the goats I just fill a bucket, carry it downhill, and pour it into their water bowl over the fence. We can use our shower, toilet and sinks, which is very convenient. We have been going to wildcat spring for our drinking water every weekend. Strangely, most people don’t drink city water anymore, anywhere. Ours had a funny taste at first but with spring water available I would rather just drink our spring water or water from the larger local spring.

We also have electricity. The camper still uses a battery to power certain things and has basically the equivalent of an alternator to keep that battery charged. We have had to keep a battery charger handy to keep the air on because the heat was pretty intense for a bit. My husband jokes that “we are still kinda off grid” because we are still juggling this battery charger but we have an electric bill now so we are indeed on the grid. I was able to use my electric pressure cooker to make mashed potatoes in about 15 minutes. I also fired up my electric printer and made a few copies. It’s very exciting. 😏 I like the big open space in the yome for dinner and living room space and for homeschooling, or “yomeschooling.”

The kids are loving the unit about pioneers settling the west and how they had to “live off the land.”

We also found a female Great Pyrenees & Anatolian puppy who Iona named Hattie. She was available 2-3 hours North, free to a good home so I drove the 4 children up to Birch Tree Missouri.

We started our rabbitry with 4 new female rabbits. They are Californian rabbits raised for meat. We bred one female last weekend with our Flemish Giant/ New Zealand boy named “Repete.” We plan to breed him each weekend for the next 3 weeks because our other two gentlemen (bucks) must be too young

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We are going to be trying an solar powered electric fence to extend the area the goats can graze, to begin rotating them this fall. We are looking for a Katadin Ram to breed with our 2 ewes. I lost all of the buff Orpington chickens except 1 of the golden girls, Sofia. We fixed the coop it was a two way whole, entrance and exit a predator had created under our pallet outside the coop holding our big cans of feed. So we reinforced all of the walls with chicken wire, rocks and dirt. So…..today I bought 6 laying hens so we have 3 roosters, Sofia, and these new hired hens.

I have mentioned in the past that we have been planning to start our own business and over the last few weeks our vision has really been developing. I am going to start an LLC and we are building a campground on our farm. We are building another yome and camping platforms for tent camping and future primitive campsites. I am excited to start teaching and practicing yoga more outdoors and in the Yomes.

You have heard of glamping, this is along those lines except more amenities. For instance, I want to make picnic baskets with local farm fresh foods, ready for people to prepare at the campsite when they arrive. After floating or kayaking the Buffalo River, people want to eat, relax and sleep; not set up camp or find food. Plus, there is an amazing solar eclipse coming this spring and we are in a prime location to see it, so we have a lot of work to do.

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