I finally had a moment to myself… yes, after seven months. That’s the longest I’ve gone without blogging in – gosh – nearly 15 years this June. It was a much needed break, y’all… only it wasn’t really a break, per say. MAMA HAS BEEN BUSY.
I hate to dump this on you right up front, but life has really been changing. My blog is changing focus. Oh, sure, I’ll still talk about homeschooling, photography, DIY, food, and all the stuff you’ve come to know me for over the past decade and a half… but I can’t help myself when I talk about the farm.
I know that life is changing for EVERYONE these days… and for a lot of people, not for the better… which is why we have been working extra hard to fast track some of our farm goals we have had and get things started as sooner, rather than later. Walmart needs it (has anyone seen the shelves lately???).
The world needs it. Texas needs it. Shoot! We need it.
I’ve found that farming genes run very deep in my family. We may not have been here since 1918 when great grandpa bought the land, but we are learning that living out here in Podunk will rub off on you.
Literally… the mud, the dust, the grass stains, and most recently the chicken poop. We have 28 chickens (if we can manage to keep the bossy 3 from pecking two of them to death, that is). We have 3 farm and garden cats (which we had to demote to outdoor cats for the most part because of all the HAIR ALL OVER MY LIFE… and maybe some asthma had a little to do with it). It is DIRTY OUT HERE ON THE FARM.
I wanted to catch you up on life out on the prairie. I tried to imagine all the things that I didn’t tell you in the last seven months …and my mind exploded. BOOM. Like, there’s been a whole lifetime cram packed into those seven months. Amazing things have happened. Terrible things. Great things. I hardly have time enough for Instagram so many things have been happening.
There are still various stages of renovations left unfinished (we are paying as we go, which makes things slower than we would like)… but we have made so much progress that when friends come by they are astounded. It is hard to “see” how much you’ve done when you are LIVING IN THE MESS. We just do the next farmish thing when we aren’t doing the next homeschool thing, or the next housework thing, or the next renovation thing, or … you get the picture.
Pictures are really where you see the progress, though. So be sure to follow me on Instagram and Facebook.
More changes have happened since January this year. We finished two garden beds so far (of the many that we plan to do), a chicken coop, compost bins, most of the garden fence, a tree-house platform for the boys (including the big one who is building it), cut down two more trees that needed to go, planted a few trees, and got the chickens… all just in the past few months.
Both of us, the farmer and his wife, are just EXHAUSTED by the time we fall into bed at night. Neither of us even KNEW we could, or would do some of the things we’ve been doing. Heavy lifting, shoveling, engineering, planning, problem solving. THERE HAVE BEEN TEARS AND SWEAT enough to fill buckets. But it is worth it… and we are dedicated to the final goal… which is to become as self-sufficient as possible and to bless as many people as we can with fresh FOOD and GOODNESS from this farm.
We eventually want to be a source of:
- Eggs
- Raw Milk
- Honey
- Vanilla
- Jars of Home Made things… like jam, jelly, fermented stuff, etc.
- Baked Things
- Bouquets
- Seeds
- Trees
- Succulents and Plants
- Herbs
- Organic Veggies
- Education
- Inspiration
- Field Trip Fun
- Donations
…for the Central Texas area.
We are doing all we can to learn and grow the farm until we can realize our vision. We are praying about the goals and asking God to open doors as we lean in. I know God can bring us success if he has brought us the vision and placed us here on this Tiny Texas Farm.
So, I hope you will join me on this new adventure. There’s room enough for social distancing where the wild things grow. You can just join us on the web for a while, too.
We are forging a new path through the mesquite tree trails in the back pasture and watching this little farm grow along the way. I would love for you to come along with us! Let us know how we can serve you.
I may have deep roots out here in this Central Texas farmland, but I was raised a city-girl. If I can do it, I know I’ll inspire others to reach out and grab their big dreams, too.
Our farm may be tiny, but our hearts are BIG… our DREAMS ARE BIG…. and our GOD IS THE BIGGEST.