The past 3 years have been extremely chaotic with what is happening in the world with Covid19. The economy is struggling and prices are ever increasing as inflation is on the rise. Our journey here on the farm has been and is continuing towards the goal of being self-sustaining. What is happening is definitely eye opening and making us realize how important it is to reach our goal sooner rather than later.
The discussion around our table is constantly on the cost of groceries. We have a total of 8 mouths to feed and it is amazing how much more the children consume as they grow. We are trying to focus on ways we can cut out the grocery store even more. We are also discussing which animals to keep raising for financial reasons or to cut out to save income.
Discussion Items:
Greenhouse – long time needed but can’t wait any longer / what design and material
Pigs – remove from stock or find way to feed them
Goats – add for dairy/meat
Milk Cow – add for dairy to help reduce feed cost for pigs
Sheep – add as grass based meat source in place of pigs
Stay tuned to see what decisions we make!!
“do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus”. – Philippians 4:6-7
Over the weekend, I put them to the test. I went through mud and muck and came out with clean socks. Kassy the Homesteading Momma was so happy. The boys went fishing at the pond and after chores, Kassy and I joined them. The boys caught a lot of fish, thirteen in total. Although the fish were small still, it was a lot of fun watching the boys reel each one in. I even caught my first fish on our farm since we moved here, and I am pretty sure it was the biggest! 🙂 (fish tales) 
A little pig update, our runt passed away which just added to the sadness on the farm with the funerals. The four remaining male piglets are growing fast and are healthy. We had to castrate the piglets this weekend. We normally try to do it earlier in their life, however, with funerals and other activities taking us away from the farm we got to it a little late. Some suggest you castrate at 3 days of age while some say 2 weeks. We try to fall somewhere in that time period. We do always give them the first fews days to a week to be sure they have had plenty of time to nurse and get all the 
Well, till next time. Get in the Dirt & Get Growing!!!
The past couple of days have been pretty busy. My cousin Adam Gamble passed away last week and we had the funeral in Jasper TN on Tuesday afternoon/evening. The travel to Jasper was a little bit of a challenge as it was about an hour drive. Unfortunately, there was no time available to take off work. We had to rush and get all the farm chores done and the animals taken care of before leaving. The good thing is that the company I work for allows me to work from home so I was able to get a lot of the work done on my work breaks. Today we had the graveside service. I was able to get time off so I could be a pallbearer. It was a sad time but also a good time because I got to see some of my family that I have not seen in a while.
