Mama Tired

The last 3 weeks have been exhausting for me. Literally. Exhausting.

Aside from the typical spring farm chores, I have spent a good deal of my energy cleaning up the front porch and attempting to sort fiber projects.

The porch is clean and ready for some serious and not so serious conversations and board games and the occasional reminiscing of happy memories.

New laying hens are officially moved into the egg mobile and the meat chicks are about to move to pasture.

We have cows happily grazing long blades of grass, a summer pasture area planted and wildflowers in the ground for the honey bees.

Did I mention that I am exhausted? This sweet baby has not been sleeping well which means I don't sleep hardly at all. I am typically a very upbeat and optimistic person but there is no tired like mama tired.

Mama tired makes you see your home as total disarray and forces you to question your very being. Isolation makes it all seem worse too. Why am I doing this again? What was the point of farming?

(sigh)

Mama tired. It literally drains the life and motivation from you. 

There was a short break in the mama tired yesterday evening. It was a reminder to "hang on."

There was, after a few days of heavy rain, a beautiful reminder that the sun will come out and the rain will dry up.

Why am I doing all of this?

Maybe because this boy and his siblings love it and need it. Maybe because being able to walk the land and raise animals is something we all need, really.

For just a few minutes the mama tired left me and I was able to appreciate the joy and beauty of family and farm.

Perhaps like me you are frustrated and weepy and ready to quit. Perhaps you too are exhausted. 

Mama tired.

Go ahead and cry and validate your sorrow, frustration and pain. You ARE exhausted. 

This life is not easy.

This life, however, is worth it.

Hang on.

Peace,

Sami

Pigs and Chicks

We ushered the nice weather in with an in ground pig roast last weekend.
Devin usually spends the last weekend of April in Alabama at the Talladega Race with friends. This year the guys decided a pig roast at home would accommodate their busy family schedules.

 Devin dug the hole with his tractor and also loaded fire wood into the pit with it. His friend prepped a locally purchased pig by rubbing it down in spices and then wrapping it in foil and burlap.

 The guys stayed up late playing poker and tending to the pit fire, waiting for it to become nothing but very hot coals. About midnight they place the pig down into the pit and covered it up.


About noon the next day, the pig was ready to be dug up and enjoyed by everyone who came over for the feast.

The nice thing about these gatherings is that it requires very little work on my part and we get to eat pulled pork BBQ for a couple of days.

The girls also had a friend over for the night and they decided to camp out by the creek in our back yard.

Willow and Rose spent many hours during the week building forts and tents just for the occasion. They pulled out warm camping sleep bags, flashlights and snacks and then spent the entire night camping. Two of our cats found them and took the opportunity to bunk with the girls. It was cozy, I am told, with purring kitty cats.
It was so much fun that they are planning another weekend campout!

Finally, when you have free ranging hens you will at some point have free ranging baby chicks.

We have one particular hen who alway makes a nest on top of a cabinet in the garage. She will lay 12-15 eggs and decide to set. Of course she is a petite game hen and usually only manages to cover a few eggs properly. Every year she emerges with a couple of babies.

This year was no exception.
It is alway a bit scary to see her hop down and then cluck her babies to do the same. It is a good 6 foot drop down to the concrete. Her chicks always make the fall safely though.

She has been happily free ranging with her two babies ever since.

This weekend we are going to relax, enjoy the weather and work on a few unfinished projects. I hope to make it out to a local farm for strawberries this afternoon.

I hope you are having a fabulous day!

Happy Friday Ya'll!

Local Chicken

Let's talk chicken! This past week we processed the pastured chicken we have been raising for ourselves and for others.
These birds lived outside in the fresh air and on grass. They were not injected with hormones or drugs. They ate a non-GMO feed and were treated humanely. They lived their lives as a chicken should live.

 I am always amazed when I read articles such as THIS one about the US chicken companies sending their chicken over seas to China for processing and then back home to sell in your local grocery store.

First consider the fact that commodity farming of chicken (all animals) is obscene. It is truly a disgusting display of what we as Americans have come to accept because we are so very far removed from our food. Chickens are crammed inside a building and fed medications and hormones. Even your free range chickens are not totally treated as *free-range*.

                                              *My chicken processing crew*

Let's consider the processing now. It isn't a pleasant process here in the USA, as chickens are man handles, electrocuted and sliced open by a mechanical knife. The process is so nasty that the birds are chilled in tanks of water with chlorine.
Because Americans want to keep purchasing *cheap* chicken, this process will eventually be moved to China, where workers will process chickens for a mere $1-2 an hour. Slave labor at best. This should upset anyone who has even a slight care for the treatment of people.

We had a couple of families join us on processing day so that they could learn how to butcher and process their own birds. I have seen a movement forming where people who never thought they would raise their own food, are moving to a piece of land and raising their meat. They are getting back to their roots and becoming connected with their food.

Many who cannot move to land are buying local. This year I happily sold all of my chickens and Journee, who decided to raise a batch as well, has sold all of her birds too.
It is NOT cheap chicken.
It is, however, chicken raised as it should: small flocks in the sunshine and on green grass and processed by hand with care and humanity.

Ya'll it has been a busy and hot summer here. Farming and cheese making has been occupying a huge portion of my days, but this is not a complaint.

I have neglected any farm updates because of all the nation news stories. So many controversial and divisive news stories occupy and flood my newsfeeds and I try to steer clear of too many of those *bait and trap* news stories. They exist to divide us. They make us *think* about things that really do not affect us on a daily basis.

The news of our chicken, our food, being sent to China is one topic I will not remain silent over. It's bad enough that we have huge commodity farms to begin with, but over sea processing make sit even worse.

Local farmers are everywhere and they are raising all kinds of food for you to eat. When you buy from a local farmer you are getting high quality food and you are also helping that farmer pay bills.

The best option to fight the abuse of animals in commodity farms is to opt out. Just simply opt out of the system and shop local.  You will find local milk, eggs, cheese, beef, pork, chicken, vegetables, fruit and more!

                                                            *Just harvested Shiitakes*

If you have supported a local farmer this year, I thank you!

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This week will be start busy here as we are participating in a product testing for a multi -cooker appliance. To say this has been challenging is an understatement!
I have spent countless hours in Pinterest looking for recipes to test!
After tomorrow I am done!

I will post about the product testing if I can obtain permission from the company!
Until then.......find a local farmer!

Happy Monday Ya'll!!!!