A Mindful Journey: May 2016

Once again its been awhile since I have posted...time seems to get away from me these days....We have been crazy busy...In all honesty I am struggling with whether to keep this blog up...There are many changes taking place here at the homestead...Some in our homesteading edeavors and some more personal...Life is an ever changing journey and sometimes the path we find ourself on is very difficult esepcially when it involves letting go of things or beliefs we have held very dear to our heart and lives for almost 30 years...I find myself deep in my own thoughts many days trying to find my way and I keep myself busy here on the homestead as a way to not think as much...Time seems to elude me a lot these days...

So anyway, on to whats been going on here...The garden is all planted(no pictures yet)...It is somewhat smaller than previous years, just because of all the other projects we have going on....Everything is coming along nicely...the grapes, peaches, apples, strawberries and blueberries...

The meat birds are growing like crazy and should be ready to process in a of couple weeks...There are 50 of them...ugh! lots of work coming our way....

I sold off some of the little chicks I hatched...but still have upwards of 60+...they are all doing good... the 1st batch of them just went into the barn yard with the big birds...I still have smaller ones brooding but should be ready to be out and about in a week or so...

My last batch of birds are hatching as I type...25 turkey poults...some of them are sold...the rest we will keep and process at the appropriate time...

The little pigs are doing great...all 20 survived and the moms are amazing moms...The first 10 are ready to be sold and we have had interest...The money will go toward a landscaping project we are working on...more on that next...Its been a good season so far at Rocky Oak...

Now for the huge project we have been working on...

Last spring I sold all my goats...I was just ready after 15 years to not mess with them any more...I am funny that way...when I am done with something...I am done and its that simple for me...so the next question was what to do with the land where the goats were...it was a real mess...the shed used for housing the goats was beginning to need tore down even though once the goats were gone it was used for a rabbit shelter...however we sold all the rabbits as well, so we decided to tear it down and do a massive cleanup and turn this area into a "meditation garden" if you will or just a pretty place to relax after a long hard day....The past few weeks have been filled with days and days of hard non stop work....it is paying off....We have planted flowers, made an herb bed, picked up a gazillion rocks, sticks and limbs....we have burned brush and turned this place into a sanctuary of sorts...It is still a work in progress but as you will see from the pictures the transformation has been amazing...I have also posted other pictures as well...

The transformations taking place here not only on the home front, but in our personal lives as well has brought about much tranquility in our lives...