LAST UPDATED OCTOBER 26, 2020

We said goodbye to our herd of Nubian does last week. I am confident they all went to wonderful, loving homes where they will be properly cared for. I was even told to come and visit them if I missed them. Goat people are the best! I dried them all off before selling and had a vet come out and do one last check over and dewormed them. I had them tested for diseases by the vet as well and only sold them after receiving negative results.

For those of you who have been following our family’s recent challenges, I’m happy to report our oldest son’s surgery to remove a foot-long tumor inside his spine was an outstanding success. The tumor was not cancerous. He has lost some function in his hands that he is slowly regaining through therapy. He has another surgery in December to fuse his spine to treat his severe scoliosis. To add to this chaos, I was recently diagnosed with a very small brain tumor. Everything really is going wrong in 2020.

This is why we have decided to cut back and take a break from farming and focus on healing and doing things as a family. It’s so hard to get away with livestock to care for. I am planning to keep only chickens which are so simple to care for by a neighbor.

We are down to two pigs and 27 chickens—17 of them being half-grown chicks.

Our pigs will be going to butcher soon. They are KuneKune and cute as a button. They get fresh produce and expired milk (that’s usually just fine) from a local grocery store and as much grass as they can eat until the day comes. They are named ‘Buddy’ and ‘Pal’ and they love to follow our six-year-old around.

The remaining chicken breeds are White Laced Buff Polish and Lavender Ameraucana. I have always wanted Lavender Ameraucana and am very happy to have a friend who picked up these two hens for me. She fostered them over the summer while we were away caring for our son. As you can see the chickens get plenty of corn on the cob. Our last haul from the grocery store had over 50 ears. I threw a dozen down at a time and watched them go, happily clucking all the while.