Farm Stay USA

I probably wouldn't have found this site, if they hadn't of mentioned me. But it is similar to what I hope to do on the farmstead someday.

Farm Stay USA is where you can find farms that let out rooms or cottages for your vacation. Go check it out.


Homestead news, even though I am giving back most of the sheep, I sheared the one wooly. I knew she would never be sheared by the neighbor across the way, so yesterday in 114F heat index, I spent an hour shearing. She isn't the prettiest looking thing right now, but will be cooler and alive. Sweat really burns when it drips into your eyes. Maybe sweatbands should make a comeback.


Going Green in Illinois is having a Choose Your Homesteaders Adventure contest. She's giving away homemade soap and bath salts!

Ok off to process cucumbers, peaches, and tomatoes.

Starting to wonder if my readers work for the TSA

Because it has been very quiet around here, and I have never had a problem with lack of people wanting in on a give away. ~wry grin~ TSA story

Yesterday morning, my mother and I (and boys) headed to the farmstead. As soon as we pulled in. Courage was there in the alfalfa field to greet us. At first I wasn't sure how she got out, so I rounded her back up, and placed her in the gated fence. Mother and I walked next to the alley way to find the sand plums,, not enough ripe to justify a thing. When we returned, there was Courage out again. I figured out how she was getting out, and placed a t-post in the ground and tightened up the fence there. We decided to hide and wait to see if she would get out. Courage licked the post, and stood there. My mother started playing "Car 54 Where are You?" Large snickered at it, but they didn't get what she was doing.

After a few moments of surveillance it was clear she wasn't getting out for now. But that doesn't mean I trusted her staying in all night. As soon as I got home, I called husband. We would be heading up again to put up barb wire.

Now those of you that are desperate to build some muscle mass, I have a work out program for you.

Take one windmill and attach a long piece of wood to it. Now grab the wood and squat, then thrust. Do this repetitively until your lower back cramps up and you can no longer feel you upper arms and shoulders. Take a breather and repeat.

Nest place a crowbar through a roll of barb wire, and carry it for 1/2 mile while rolling it out. Be careful not to get a barb in your arm. Next stretch the wire, until your back screams. Next start hammering away until darkness falls.

As we were hammering the mosquitoes came out in full force. The cared not that we were drenched in bug repellent. The world turned a shade of rose colored glasses, but we didn't see the giddiness of it. No breeze and the humidity was oppressive. Courage mooed at us, knowing full well she was now trapped, and wouldn't be able to get to that sweet alfalfa. Poor thing. Eddie just wanted her treats. I have been bring treats with me when I visit, but as this was my second time that day, I neglected to bring them. She followed us along the fence, sticking her nose out, and giving me that, I love you. . . please. . . moo of her's.

On the way out, I saw that we were not the only ones with an escapee cow that day. 3 were laying in the ditch next to the road.

win a Trekker 72-hour kit from Emergency Essentials

Emergency Essentials has graciously donated A Trekker 72 hour kit to be given away during this years blogathon.

So how to win? This will be an easy one. Tell me a story, I like stories. . . tell me about your biker ways, on your blog. Either a loved one that rides, your own bike adventure, or some naughty biker jokes and link to this page. And leave a comment. Can be fiction or non-fiction

If you want to enter but have no blog, leave your entry in comments.



You have until July 31st at midnight to enter.





Remember you can donate more than $5 and more than 10 people can sign the pledge. THANK YOU to the 6 of you that have signed already.

And don't forget the other prizes you can win during July 31st!

You dare ask me about Sand Plums?

No, I did not get sand plums when we went out with the cattle, however yesterday I did pick enough for a batch of jelly.

Husband showed up Tuesday evening with his saddle bags brimming with peaches.

My mother and I will be headed to the farmstead to gather more plums today.

And anyone want some goats? Free!!!

Have 1 year old Billy named Jack

then we have little Ni

And Betty, who has been milked before.

They are all Nubian/alpine mixes.

And I do take my own advice, if interested I have the answers to the goat questions that I recommend everyone ask before buying goats. Link should work now

Well I never

I woke with the alarm, walked through the living room, Zombie sat on the couch staring at me. I could only shake my head and think, coffee.

He's not suppose to think he his a dog anymore, and I have no idea when or how he got inside. Maybe coffee will help me think better.

Moving Day

Yesterday I had to run into the farm store to pick up a hand crank gas pump, while I was out, I gave the phone to Large. Tell Daddy when Brian calls, I instructed him. 45 minutes later I returned, and surprised to see that husband was still home. Brian had indeed called, and Large said he was on his way out. That made no sense to me because the trailer was closer to Brian than it is to us. So I called him. Of course that wasn't what he said, and we were an hour behind schedule. We had to start late morning anyhow because of Brian and his physical therapy.

Husband took the bike and went to get Brian and then the trailer. This took almost 3 hours.

The day before, we had to make a chute for the cattle. Well there was some miscalculations as the cows had enough room to turn around. This was bad. Once we got them through the chute and to the trailer they bulked, then turned around and shoved husband out of the way.

I yelled at horse neighbor (who is back from Afghanistan for this week, and then gone again until May) if we could borrow him for a moment. He was up for an adventure. We then knocked out part of the fencing and quickly rearranged the chute. This time it worked. Husband scooped up X (pronounced Ten) and placed him in the trailer, hoping to lure in his mother Urth. That wasn't happening. After about 20 minutes of "clowning" around, ( Brian says that's what it looked like we were doing as he watched in the truck mirror) we were able to get Eddie and Urth as well as Courage into the trailer. Undies and Myrruil were another matter. They ran around the lagoon, avoiding us as much as possible. and no amount of treats was helping.

Our puppy Sprocket showed me that my training wasn't put to waste. I guess she had been waiting for this moment to show me that she was a good cattle dog. She managed to bring us Undies. I was shocked, and Sprocket got some good loving. She chased them through the lagoon and back to the barn where we could easily get Undies to the chute.

Undies was a problem. Not yet a full grown bull yet big enough and strong enough to make a point. He was not going into the trailer, or rather once in the trailer, he was going to get out of it. With Undies head in Husband crotch, my pushing the gate closed, husband's feet pushing against the gate, and Undies pushing against husband. It was a mess. And Undies wanted nothing to do with the cattle treats that Large tried to tempt him with. With a little help from the Horse Neighbors, we were finally able to get Undies locked into the trailer. You know what happened next? It started to rain.

We moved out as fast as we could, hoping to stay ahead of the rain. I had to stop at a gas station, as did Husband and Brian. 40 minutes out from our destination. It's a long straight road. That is one thing I am grateful for, because suddenly without much of a warning, I was in a frog strangler. A down pour. I had two options at the at point. I could barely see the road. I could pull over and wait for it to pass with the chance of the road disappearing, or I could continue through it. I continued on. The boys in the back seat nervously laughed about what we were doing. I would yell WWEEEE!!!! whenever we hydroplaned just so they wouldn't get to scared. There are no shoulders where I was, I needed to make it to the highway, where I could wait it out if needed. 20 minutes of knuckle white action later we found the highway, and I continued on. Too may cars to stop safely. I found our dirt road and relaxed a bit. However there was so much flooding across the roads, that I feared I wouldn't make it. I did. And as I turned into our driveway, slam brakes! Someone had placed huge round bales in the drive.

I sat there with the boys, waiting on husband. What were we going to do? The field was too wet to drive through without getting stuck, and these bales blocked our only access. Sometimes I feel there is a conspiracy to keep us from moving out there. The rain was still falling, but not a hard, when husband arrived. I stood in the pouring rain, while husband stayed nice and dry in the cab, and discussed what to do. I mentioned that the back 47 acres has a road access, we can walk the cows through there and into the alley, keeping them away from the alfalfa fields.

Sounds like a plan.

The boys had ran up ahead to the house, so I was forced to go find them while Brian and Husband went to look over the back 47. I found the boys at the creek. I had told them to stay away from there when it was raining. Of course they don't listen. and Large's friend that had come along didn't believe you could drown in 2 feet of water. I had to explain it wasn't the depth it was the current and flash flooding, besides you can drown in 2 inches of water. We decided to walk the alley to see how bad it was and meet Husband and the cows that way. I was almost to the end of it, which the water was knee high in some places, when I saw Brian's truck out on the road, heading back toward the drive way. I assumed that they had decided it was a no go.

I am not sure how to explain the amount of walking that has already taken place. I was drenched with rain, and covered in prairie swamp water to my thighs. The mud is thick, and holes come out of nowhere. My water proof boots where filled to the brim with water. I walked a least 3 miles like this.

Once back to the drive, Brian was alone. Husband and the cows were already walking out there, somewhere. The boys and I grabbed the round water tank, and the hoses and proceeded to roll it to all the way back to the windmill. It fell a few times, and was slow going as tightness was developing in my lower calves.

Husband tells it like this. When they pulled up, the cows that were in the 47 came over to see what was happening. Husband and Brian sat for a bit, allowing our cattle to calm down and the other cows to lose interest. Once that was accomplished, they allowed the cows out and into the 47 acres. It is thick with trees, and all but Eddie had never seen trees like this. The water was high, mud thick and tree branches and holes hid themselves in the colored water. The cows agreed with Husband that following the fence was the easiest route to take. Husband says he was slightly over waist deep in water for some time. Managing all the while to keep the 5 cows in line. (we didn't have room in the trailer for Myrruial). He claims he heard us talking and was relieved when he thought help was coming. However that was the same time I saw the truck and headed back. Husband wasn't happy with me about that. I did try to explain myself, but he wasn't in the mood to listen.

We made it back to the windmill with our tank, and I sent the boys ahead to see if they could find husband and help him. He was half way down the alley way by that time. So we lined up to keep them out of the alfalfa fields as they came through. The boys broke ranks and the cows found the alfalfa. (Don't worry mother, you can't even tell they were in it, we checked) Husband ended up grabbing Eddie by the horns and pulling her into the pen. while the boys scared up Undies and Urth and chased them into the pen where X was waiting.

I dealt easily enough with Courage once everyone was out of the way.

We couldn't get water pumping. Luckily the field was full of water, with water collecting in various places. The fence on one side was bent over, in half. Not sure how that happened, so we went to work fixing that. That's when the boys disappeared. At one point Medium came walking by. I told him to tell everyone we were getting ready to leave. An hour passed and the world was starting to go dark, nocturnal animals could be heard preparing for a night out. I had to go find the boys. I headed for the creek thinking that's where they would be. FLASH FLOOD! The creek was replaced by a small river and the boys were now where to be found. I teared up thinking the worst, and started screaming for them. After 5 minutes I heard them. Large was yelling that they were up by the house.

I couldn't help but to scold them out of my own fearfulness. The ride home was dry and uneventful. The boys slept until the thunder woke them. Up ahead we saw a tower of a storm. It was both scary and awe inspiring. Luckily enough it was too far south of us.

Sometimes I wish things would go easier for us. But if it did, what would I write about?

Yesterday I knew it all

All that I was going to say today, but now. . . not so sure.

The flooding has damaged half our tomato plants. I am really hopeful that we can pull them out of this.

The neighbor across the way. . . I want to wash my hands of this whole ordeal. It has gotten ridiculous. They have been coming out daily to care for the sheep. So there, lie number one. A panic phone call from them claiming that they couldn't care for them. Husband was mowing yesterday. And (ready for this, stay with me now) the mother of the son that the grandparents have adopted (the grandparents are the neighbors across the way) is sleeping with a man that wants the sheep. She stopped husband while he was mowing and said someone else will do it.

Why can I not get a phone call? I have spent time and money. I am about done being a good neighbor.

Husband is off to pick up Brian. Then we will be taking the cows out to the farmstead. YES! You indeed read that correctly. A month behind schedule, but we are moving the cows.

And I plan on picking sand plums while out there.