Just for fun...

 Just for fun I thought I'd post something on the blog. It's been three years, exactly. Honestly I'm quite surprised anyone still comes here. So, for those special people who do still check up on this blog, here is a little update.

The gardening season is in full swing. I've moved our garden from the last time you've seen it, and I really like the new area. It's quite large, but I've integrated flowers into it as well as the usual vegetables. My hope is to sell some cut flower bouquets this year at the farmers market, as well as the vegetable starts that I currently sell. 

The hoophouse, below, has become one of my favorite places to be. After being almost destroyed in a storm early this year, we've repaired it and strengthened it, and it's currently filled with probably close to 2,000 plants. It's been quite a fun and educational experience growing all of these different plants. 

The little boys have grown immensely and it's a bittersweet thing. My big boys are almost grown up now and turning into such fine young men. It really is a joy to be able to watch them all grow into their own persons. They're all such unique and wonderful children. 

Our house is nearly finished from the housefire repairs, though we still have some minor cosmetic things to complete. 

Since we last spoke, we've had some major changes in our animal and pet world. We've lost our beloved Tank, as well as his little friend Bailey. 

We've also added sheep and a young cow to our livestock. Of course we are always having more goat babies, hatching chicks and ducks, and we raised a couple more pigs for meat. There's always something new!

But the most significant thing to have happened in the last 3 years was the death of my daughter. She was just 20 years old and her death was very sudden and unexpected. 

So that's it for a quick little update. If you get a chance, please check out our YouTube channel for a LOT more updates, like the most recent one, linked below:

https://youtu.be/-B8P9OZrT5k

Thank you all SO much for your continued support and friendship! I hope to "see" you all again soon!

Is This My Once a Year Update?

Howdy!

I actually found myself googling, "Do people still read blogs?" before I sat down to write this. And whether they do still read blogs or not, I found myself compelled to add another post... even if only for my own "story keeping." 

Yes, we are still YouTubing as well, but here's a quick update as to all things TwelveAcres.

With the CRAZY stuff going on in the world today, I'm withdrawing deeper and deeper into our little farm. We are making growing our own food a bigger priority this year than ever before. The fragile food system that is crumbling before our very eyes, has jolted a lot of people out of their slumber. 

The fresh meat sections at our local supermarket. 

Because of that, we've upped our game. 

The garden is a little bigger this year, our incubators are constantly running, the rabbits are perpetually kindling... you get the idea. 

 Our "pig venture" is still proceeding. Darla, our York/Blue Butt cross is pregnant and should be due in July. Frank, the Hereford boar, is still as sweet as ever, and even teaching Darla how to love being scratched. They are growing ever bigger and we hope to be able to expand their pens yet again this year. And I'm learning all I can about hog pregnancies and birth!

Handy Husband has seen some employment difficulties this year, so another new venture of ours is making home décor and furnishings from reclaimed wood and pallets. We've opened up an Etsy shop for the smaller items; if you get a minute, we'd love to have you take a look at what we offer. 

One of our handcrafted "noodle boards," aka stovetop covers.  

Some new critters on the farm this year, are (FINALLY) turkeys! We've been talking about getting turkeys for years now, and we finally bit the bullet! We have 12, 4 day old poults: six Narragansett, and six Bourbon Red. We plan on raising a few of these for the freezer, and the rest will be kept as breeders to hopefully keep us in turkey for years to come. 

 I can't think of anything else new. We are still recovering from the housefire, believe it or not. The siding is about 90% done, and we have still have to paint. We also have two massive piles of debris to remove from the property, but without a truck it's not that easy. One day at a time! We'll get there eventually.

Thanks for stopping by the blog. I may update more frequently as the mood hits. Take care everyone and I'll see you back here next time! 

Blog Update!

Good afternoon! I suppose it's time to update you all as to WHY I haven't posted on here much lately. We've decided to switch over to primarily doing YouTube. I try to post new videos at least once a week, but sometimes I upload as often as every couple of days! 

Here's the link, in case it is not visible elsewhere on the blog:

Twelve Acres Homestead on YouTube!

And here are a few links to some of our most recent videos:

Day 31: Siding and Window Replacement Project

Quail and Chicken Egg Incubation and Hatch - August 2019

Update on Goats + the Miraculous Recovery of Our Very Sick Buckling

I hope that you can all check it out, and thanks for stopping by here!

Spring Gardening Time!

We're so excited for spring to be in full spring. We had a nice thunderstorm last night with lots of rain, and with the temperatures being in the 60s, and even forecast to get into the 70s in the coming days, no doubt everything will start exploding with growth!

I didn't get my seeds started as early as I would have liked (no surprise there!), but I'm hoping I'll have enough time to get at least some of the spring crops before it gets too hot for them. 

I did some cleaning and rearranging in the greenhouse, which will also double as some a storage space for my housefire-salvaged "stuff". 

These lettuce and brassicas over-wintered in the hoophouse and will be 

transplanted into the main garden. 

First time growing onions! Hope they do well!

We'll have about 75 tomato plants this year! I plan on doing a LOT of canning!

Blackberries are coming in nicely!

Lots of seeds started for the summer garden!

The boys helped me with some new mulch for the rose garden. I want to keep it well managed this year- last year it pretty much grew wild and the weeds and grass were out of control!

Homestead Horror (Video)

New Homemade Playhouse for the Kids!

The pre-built playhouse we purchased online a few years back, has proved to be quite a poor investment... the lightweight wood started to split, the playhouse became sort of twisted and out-of-square. And the whole thing would rock and quake with even the slightest swing of the swingset. 

So, after the majority of our home had been repaired from the fire, we got to work on tearing down the old playhouse and building a new one, from the ground up. 

I didn't get any pictures of us building the base and floor, but we set it up high enough that the kids could play underneath, which they love to do. The treated 4x4 posts are set in concrete. Floor joists are 2x6.  

The big boys helped us with some cutting, carrying, and holding. 

All framed up. 

1/4" plywood on walls. 

The ramp is done. Originally we thought we'd put old tires on the ramp as a climb-up spot, but that seemed dangerous to me, as well as a potential haven for wasps.

All done! This was our first time painting anything in camouflage, so we didn't really know what we were doing. 

We used a few different colors of paint, and some pieces of branches off our trees, and just started covering the whole thing with these "stencils". I think it turned out pretty cool!

It really does blend right in with the yard. 

The kids LOVE it! It's big enough and sturdy enough that even the older boys can play and swing on it too. Hopefully we'll get many years of use out of this!

Entire Upstairs Repaired, Remodeled, FINISHED!

While the two older boys were gone for a few weeks over the summer, we decided to scramble and get their rooms, and really the entire upstairs, done while they were gone. We wanted to surprise them. They've been so good throughout this whole ordeal of the house fire, never complaining and always offering to help. They deserve to finally get their rooms back. 

We hung insulation as we hung the sheetrock. 

We'll soon be pros with all the practice we've had over the years!

The stairwell ceiling will have to have it's tongue and groove wood put back. 

There was so much blistered paint to scrape from walls and doors. 

The little guys helped paint Kilz on every surface. 

The smell of smoke was finally gone!

This wall had been burned out pretty badly and had to be repaired. 

A new access door into the "attic room" was also built. 

Oldest son's room is a dark blue. 

It's amazing how nice trim around windows makes the room look. 

Younger older son's (I guess I should come up with some better nicknames!) room still had a lot of salvaged items and debris left in his room. His room was the most damaged. 

Covering the ductwork. 

Looking good!

More blistered and peeling paint to remove. 

Repairing the ceiling in the stairwell. 

Younger older boy's room is green. 

All their old furniture, as well as some new furniture to replace what had been burned in the fire, got a fresh coat of paint. 

More Kilz. 

Look at the stark difference here!

Stairwell is looking good!

Finished!

Finished!

The stairs will get a beautiful fresh coat of paint too!

This is the closet that adjoins both bedrooms upstairs. 

Attic access. 

It all turned out so nicely! 

We made a video to show the boys' reactions. Here's the link to that if you'd like to check it out: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rVRKZTqBEM

Or watch it here: