November 29, 2022 - Day 2

It's still early, but I thought it would be best to start my daily post early in the day rather than later. If I don't then I won't sit down later in the day to start it and then the day is over...it's all about being organized and intentional. 

So far today will include a trip to the feed store to replenish the piggo food. Other than that I don't have much else in mind, but I do think that my other outside project will be to haul some wood chips to the garden as well to some very muddy areas around the new garden. We'll see how the morning goes.

Well, it's Day 3 and as I suspected I was busy throughout the day and didn't get a chance to sit and update the day. The good thing is that at least this post was started...

So, Plan B - the day after will be update day. After I am done with feeding the critters I spend a little time hanging out and thinking about my day.

This starts today. 

Yesterday was a fairly rainy day and I did make it to the feed store AND I did haul some wood chips into the garden. The rest of the day was spent indoors. Catching up on chores that needed to be done and seasoning up some ground pork for breakfast sausage. Also, I attempted to make English Muffins. The attempt was a fail. I had baked up English Muffins before, but the flour that I had was not whole wheat. The flour that I have on hand may have been labeled white bread flour, but it looks more like whole wheat. I'm not good at incorporating wheat flour into my bread bakes - so my English Muffin dough was terrible! Going to the store today to stock up on good flour and use the pretend bread flour to start a batch sourdough starter. 

So yeah, yesterday wasn't anything exciting. It was full, but not terribly exciting. 

Here's a pic of the boys:

The brothers, Zeke & Oliver

When the boys are head down and chowing down it's easier for me to get the rest of the critters fed and then ultimately released for the day. Most of the time these four don't realize what is going on around them. Usually, the sound of the garage door being opened is a big trigger and they come running. Food keeps them happily occupied - this makes for a happy Farm Manager!

November 28, 2022 - Day 1

What is Day 1? Well, back story - we have been watching Justin Rhodes on and off for several years now.  A few years back he started this thing called 100 days of growing food, which he would start in the fall and continue for...yeah, 100 days. He did that for at least three years, I think. Well this year he switched things up and decided to do 100 days of building a homestead. Check out his YouTube channel - you'll see what he's doing. 

Huh...interesting. Well, I decided that I would start something with the theme of 100 days. I mean really, I retired so I could live the farm life and what have I been doing? Not as much as I thought I might, that's for sure. I can only use the I'm-getting-used-to-retirement excuse for only so long. Not that it's excuse it's for real. The past year I have been actually doing more around here, but I want to see more results! Well, if I had to look back on what I accomplished, it would be notsomuch. 

Ideas - I have so many ideas! All I need is time...I've go that going on. I also need some funds. That's what has been slowing me down. 

Until Mr. Windswept Farm's retirement finally kicks in he'll need to figure out income. At the beginning of the year he was employed by a local engineer who works out of his home and it was okay. It was more frustrating than anything and that lasted like three months or so. Then the rest of the year was filled with a lot of handyman work - which lasted pretty well for quite a while. THEN in the last couple of months he was applying for jobs at a couple of engineering firms in the area. The first place which is across the river in Oregon invited him for interviews and tests and ultimately decided that the other applicant was a better fit. Okay, disappointing, but not the end of the world. Not too long after that a more local company (here in Vancouver) decided to interview him. Once they became aware of the skills and experience that he has they had other ideas for him. So, long story short, he started work on November 14 in a position that was specifically created for him. 

So, here we are nearing the end of the month and I'm looking forward to starting some outside projects. Soonly, he'll receive his first paycheck and we can start catching up on things that we set aside for another day. A couple of those things would be fencing the rest of the field so we can run the pigs further away from the house and gardens and give them more space that includes more pasture. The other project will be my second garden. Also, I would like to give the chickens their own space and keep them to a specific area. Mostly because this year we have had the least amount of eggs in the five years since we started raising chickens for eggs. No more free-ranging for the hennies and no more searching for eggs!

That's the plan at the moment - but we know that anything can happen and plans can change. 

Today is supposedly Day 1, but it's Monday and I serve as the Financial Secretary at our church. Which is fancy for "I count the Sunday morning offering". Actually I take care of retrieving the online contributions information as well AND go to the bank to deposit the monies. So, Monday is my inside day. It can still be my farm improvement day though. We'll see how things go inside and if I have time I can do some outside shenanigans besides feeding the critters. 

Stay tuned for more posts here over the next 100 days!