The White Family Homesteaders

     Spring isn't quite here yet but it's making small appearances with a couple blooms and a few warm days.  Unfortunately I think the groundhog seeing his shadow was correct because we just can't kick this cold blustery weather and our wood pile became bare. We still had some cut logs down under a tarp so off came the auger and on went the splitter again.  It filled most of the truck bed almost half a cord and hoping it gets us through the rest of winter, we'd like to move onto more thrilling chores other than firewood. Last split of the season.      It's now time to prepare for spring and our busy season.  For instance Papa got the lawnmower running again because before you know it the grass will dry out and it will be a jungle that has to be maintained.  Since it's been sitting for a few months the battery needed a jump and that didn't do the trick so onto the charger it went.  While it was running Papa took his little ...

     Our week went by too fast probably because we were being productive and enjoying being outside.  Some weeks just seem to zoom by and it's back to the work week, boo.  One of our biggest dreams is to be able to be a profitable farm/homestead.  As corny as it may sound we enjoy being together and working on our homestead.  The best day for us is when we are outside making progress on projects.      While being productive we managed to get some logs processed and put away to keep us warm for a couple more weeks.  I worked my homestead mama time management skills and the weather app to work it in between a Costco trip, doctor appts and got it done between two days.  The beauty of it is Papa didn't have to get drenched in the process. The pile is getting smaller believe it or not.       The second day of splitting we all were able to participate and by participate I mean being an audience for P...

     I'm starting to believe the weather is against us.  Everytime we have a chore outside that needs to be done the weather is uncooperative but when we have no plan the weather is fantastic.  We need to get more logs cut and split because this winter is different then most or maybe I've been keeping the house warmer either way our pile is super low.  With the melting snow and heavy rainfall though our firewood processing pad is a shallow lake.  It would be cruel to make Papa cut in those conditions.  So it's been postponed another week but next week it has to be done, the lake is drying up so it looks promising. Where's the plug? I need to drain this water.      The weather here has been unpredictable and surprising to say the least.  I have a weather app on my phone and it's always alerting me to winter advisory warnings or this or that.  The one warning that usually never is correct is the wind warnings. ...

     Our week started off same ole and then some snow was predicted but the only snow we ever see is the pretty dusting of it and by noon it's gone.  So were we concerned, nope.  Our plan for the week consisted of lil man returning to school, cutting up more firewood because it's been colder than normal and making a quick special trip to the coast for a puppy pickup. Firewood stack is looking bare.      New Year's day arrived and so did the snow, not too much so we thought, no big deal.  We threw some snowballs and did some sledding that lasted about two rides before we washed the snow away. The following day we were amazed by the abundance of snow that had fallen while we slept.  The snowsuits, gloves, and hats went back on and we went outside for round two of sledding and now we had enough snow for a snowman.  With the excitement of the mounds of snow it was hard to get the kids inside to do much else.  Plus poor Papa ...

     It's been way too long and I've missed telling our story so I'm making the commitment of writing every week.  I want to stay connected and let everyone know what we are doing or maybe what we aren't because sometimes life happens and nothing gets done.  This week we got some play time and papa got some garage time in.  With the cold weather and kids getting antsy we hit up one of our local kids museums to let out some steam.  It's a science museum so learning and fun is a win win.  We are wrapping up the holiday season so we put away the Christmas decor with the exception of the tree.  Lil man isn't ready to see it go so we compromised and decided that January 1st it will go out the door.  With a half hour here and there papa was able to get into the garage and fabricate.  The wings are on the splitter and will make splitting firewood a bit smoother. You can check out our Instagram page for pictures  here.    ...

     I was going to do a new year new start post but what do you know it's almost February now.  The days have been flying by and before we know it our weekend is over and it's back to the grind and another week has passed.  Since we didn't get a chance to process the log load last year we've picked up doing that again.  We need to keep our little ones warm so we have to process at least half a cord a week.  Plus now that spring is getting closer, I'm counting down the days until I get to begin my seedlings.       Our hopes for this year is that we get truck loads of vegetables.  Our goal is to provide fresh veggies to our family and friends.  Not everyone has the opportunity to grow their own veggies so we look forward to sharing.  We've been putting in a lot of sweat and time the last few years in the garden and haven't got out of it what we want.  Our plan of attack for this year is a few changes. First o...

Our homestead made a big decision this week, we put down a deposit on two baby boer goats.  The hubby and I put up hot wire in the back of our house recently but I was dragging my feet about actually making the decision of when to get some goats.  I'm all about planning and making sure we are up for any decision we make before giving the green light.  Homestead papa likes just jumping in and figuring things out as we go.  To be fair though he does a lot of research before hand.  But with me I need to know every possible challenge and that we can overcome it and I need to know that we can financially handle a new responsibility.  If it was up to me though it would take me years before I said yes, I'm just a bit of a scaredy-cat.  Casey's best answer to make me agree is to say that if it doesn't work out we can sell what ever it is...we've yet to sell anything.  I found a great deal on some cross Boer baby goats on Craigslist and sent the link t...

Wow our weekend went by fast for us but we managed to get most of the things on our "to do" list done. I'm starting to lose it...I can't recall what we did on Tuesday. So I guess onto the rest of the week.  I picked up a new skill this week that I'm stoked about. I learned how to engage the PTO on the tractor so now I can mow the pasture. It takes some caressing here and there of Colonel Mustard (our tractor)  to get the brush hog going but I believe we've figured it out now. It took a few hours one day and an hour or so the next to get most of it mowed, I still have one patch to do but I'm pretty proud of myself. While I did that the hubby was on wood cutting duty.           My view on Colonel Mustard.  We had his mom come over and watch the kiddo since we had to do some chores that took focus. But of course since we had a plan of divide and conquer something had to go wrong. This time it was the chainsaws...darn things didn't want to work. ...