Sustainable Life & Teaser Pictures

We have a small farm or homestead; I have even had a lady refer to it as a gentleman's farm (a farm that can be run by one person).  Well, whatever you'd like to call it, essentially it's our property turning sustainable homestead after my husband and myself decided that we'd give that lifestyle a more full and honest try.

As far as the sustainable life goes, we had started heading that direction with our immediate family several years back.  Sure, it happened slowly to get where we are now, but it did happen.  Some family members were more resistant than others.  And not to mention that visitors could sometimes be difficult or confusing, considering that we had begun to do things a bid differently than "everyone else" in certain arenas that apparently make a person raise an eyebrow.  Despite those mini-obstacles that came and went, our family managed to continue on the "green highway," if you will.  It definitely didn't hurt that a school that our children attended for a couple of years in CA (Falbrook Montessori), was not only very aware of recycling as well as other earth-friendly ideas, but they were sure to pass that awareness and positive information onto their students in their curriculum.

Why NY? Mostly (or make that one-hundred percent) that we already own a house and some property here and the bank just refuses to let us just up and move where we want without paying off the mortgage.  Ah, well.  We will get there eventually - closer to family that is.  But for now, we will still continue to live our sustainable dream, doing nothing more but perfecting it along the way!  And as far as perfection goes, we have approximately five acres of land, or perhaps just over, to get all our perfecting done on.  Along with a house that's actually too large for our family's needs, but that can help us to provide plenty of areas for storage and perhaps even extra food preservation areas.  This upcoming planting season will be our very first winter that we will be planting to provide ourselves with all the food our family needs and preserving by means of canning, drying, and I would even like to give curing a try for some items. And we've also got some meats that I'm sure we will put away in the freezer; perhaps even preserve another way as well. 

Well, I'm sure that you are ready for something else by now.  Wanting some nitty gritty about what really goes on around here...  pictures of animals...  people working and getting dirty.  You see, that's the same thing that I'd want to see too.  So never fear - We've got goats, chickens, pigs - and not just one or two either.  I'll go ahead and post some teaser photos below so you can AT LEAST get a glimpse of some of our happy animals. 

Here are our kids, snuggling together on a colder afternoon or evening.  We did have a handful of goats a few years ago, but this is our first time officially with kids and we just adore them.  I will say that I'm sure my husband is probably happy that they are now weened from the bottle (yes, this pic is dated - I will post another one soon as I either find one or snap one!).  I have only helped with bottled feeding a couple of times, and milking the does (we have three lactating does right now)...  well I think I have done so little of that.... I'm not even going to actually claim a part in it.  The hubby is the one who does most all of the milking and physical/outside chores, at least for the moment.  

I know this isn't a "fun photo of one of our animals" as promised BUT is is a photo I just could not resist sharing. Why? Because I just had to share my most simple joy - and no, it's not just line-drying laundry as you might me guessing. :) That's actually only the half of it.  What's the other half?  Crazy as it may sound, I truly do enjoy and find a real sense of accomplishment when I hand wash all of our clothing and miscellaneous other items. 

This is one of our milking does, Meadow, wandering to pick at some potential later winter brush.  My husband has said that she is our most affectionate doe, yet she is often quite the bully towards her two "roommates."

Here's a quick snapshot of our pigs.  Again, this photo does seem out of date since it was taken, so I will have to get another one snapped and posted.  I swear, they really have grown!

I hope that everyone has enjoyed these pictures that I've shared, and I can't wait until your comments start popping up and I really get going with the writing.  Hope to see you again this weekend!