Zinnia’s school had an egg hunt yesterday at which the “Easter Bunny” made an appearance. The Producer fled with her bucket, a similar reaction to the one she had at their Christmas party with Santa. I realized that she has an innate sense of facade, a trait kids seem to share. But adults tell them to stifle it, “come on it’s just fun,” and then when we get older we simply turn that into, “what are you, a conspiracy theorist?!” I have also noticed that The Producer has an innate desire to participate and help around the farm. I can see how parents would say, “I’ll just do it myself because kids are messy, awkward, take forever, etc” but once again we have discouraged what could turn into the curiosity of an adult who is engaged in his or her community. Just some thoughts on this Easter weekend. Being a parent continues to teach me so much about why Jesus said, “Anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” For those of you celebrating the empty tomb today, hosanna! One of my favorite verses in John is the very last line, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.“
The morning after our coldest night in Florida was filled with bashing ice out of water buckets. When we lived in Washington state, we had bucket warmers, but we have never needed them here in Florida. Moving the chicken coop with all the insulation was a challenge. Milking the goats with frozen fingers was no fun but at least I wasn’t the goat having my teats grabbed by frozen fingers. Otherwise, it was just another crazy day on the farm!
We survived our coldest night ever in Florida since moving here in May 2023. It got down to 24 but the “feels like” was 16. Florida infrastructure is not built with such cold in mind, and we don’t have appliances like water bucket heaters on our farm because we never need them. It was a great reminder why farming sounds so idyllic until it gets really cold. I am glad we don’t deal with this every day for 6 months like our friends who live near our old home in Washington state. Kudos to the farmers who brave far tougher conditions than this all winter to keep food on our tables.
You think you have drastic hormonal swings? Meet Heidi, our first goat and Peter’s #1 lady. She is a total maniac every 3 weeks when she is ready to breed. Heidi is definitely the alpha female in the herd so she makes sure everyone knows she is in charge. This time she tried to show me that she is my boss and I’m hoping my NO was loud and clear.
We might get snow tonight! Sassy is wearing her blanket for the first time since being on the west side of the Cascade mountains in Washington state. I never blanketed her when we lived in eastern Washington. I have pictures of her with icicles on her mane there, with snow up to her belly, and wind howling. But it’s been a couple years, she is acclimated to Florida, and frankly, she’s an old lady. Since I am also an old lady, I know what it’s like to want your warm jammies on a cold night. I’ll have an update tomorrow! (Also I have no idea what the sign on the wall means, the old farm owners had it up. Maybe someone can interpret for me.)
https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/homesteading-the-art-of-butter-and?
Make your own butter!
https://open.substack.com/pub/conservativeladiesofamerica/p/americans-must-wake-up-red-states?
Florida residents action
