I can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve blogged, A goal I have for the new year, is to blog more. Even if it’s just a recipe I’m working on that day, photos from around the homestead, whatever we’re up to at the moment. I want to do better at keeping up here on our blog. We even have our very own blog domain now! So I had better put it to better use!

I also really enjoy writing, and I really enjoy sharing, so I really should be blogging more. 😉

We’ve been busy around the homestead with Christmas, and everything leading up to it. Three of our girls were involved in the church Christmas play. Alesia (dd 22 yrs) wrote the play and the twins (now 14) acted in it. We finished up our homeschooling the week before Christmas to leave time for baking, tree decorating, and cleaning. Plus we celebrated the twins birthday on Dec. 8th. They are FOURTEEN now. How’s that even possible. My babies are FOURTEEN.

After more than 7 months, our home is finally beginning to look unpacked. We still have work to do in the family room & our book nook, but yesterday I finished up our tiny master bedroom. It is officially BOX FREE! Although we’ve lived here since last spring, we spent so much of our first months here on the homestead working outside getting things ready for animals, gardening, and harvesting that bounty, that the inside of the house has been a little neglected. Most walls are still void of our pictures and photo’s! It’s kind of ironic since those photos and pictures were up rather quick in the last two homes, only to be taken down and packed back up again within months,

As I wrote this Sunday, I was sitting with my feet up on the fireplace hearth while warming my bones. We intended to go to church that morning but as we were about to go and the kids were finishing up their chores, Elsa came in from the chicken coop and let us know that our beloved Banty cross rooster Charlie had died. Our temps have been bitterly cold and I guess it was too much for him. Instead of church, we spent our morning adding extra insulation to the chicken coop. We made their coop smaller with square hay bales for extra insulation and sheets of plywood with insulation on top, so that they are confined to a smaller, and lower space, that the heat lamps should be able to keep up with better. Loosing animals on the homestead is the one part of homesteading I do not enjoy. Our hope is to build a whole new coop in the future but for now, our added hay bales should do the trick for the rest of this winter. I sure hope so!

Before I finished writing this, we lost our eldest hen. She wasn’t doing well that morning either, but we hoped she’d make it. She was almost 4 years old and a rare colour. We had hoped to have chicks from her and Charlie next spring. We knew we may be pushing it with her age but were still hoping for the best. Loosing animals is a hard reality of homesteading. The more animals you have, the more animals you loose over time. It’s just the way things go.

On a brighter note, while warming up by the fire I spent a few minutes reading up a bit in my new book, The Encyclopedia of Country Living.

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Such a great wealth of information in one big book! I’ve been waiting an awful long time to purchase this book. Now I really don’t know why I waited so long! If you are interested in learning any of the things mentioned in the above cover photo, your money will be well spent! Don’t hold off like I did. I really wish I hadn’t!