Oh, my word! It’s been months since I’ve posted! Sometimes life just happens. As a matter of fact, new life in our family. At the end of January, Wilhelm joined our family. Taking care of a newborn and his four siblings has been a handful for me the last couple months. Especially since Mr. Roots has been away with work since little Wilhelm was only 10 days old. Unfortunately, that is the life of a military family. I am very thankful he was at least able to be here for his birth. There are many members of our military who have missed out on their loved ones arrivals.
I’ve created many To-Do lists. Something I usually find very encouraging. But when you see it day-to-day and are not able to cross off anything, it becomes quite discouraging. So, none of those for now. We are just doing what we can to get to the day-to-day tasks: dishes, laundry, house, homeschool, sports and 4-H.
I do enjoy airing out my house and doing a deep clean every spring and fall. The calendar may say it is spring, but here in Alaska our 8-10 inches of snow and ice just melted away a few days ago. We finally made it above freezing during the day for a whole week! The kids, anxious for spring, decided to set-up the trampoline on the only piece of ground the snow and ice has melted on. It happens to be the entrance to our shop. Hopefully by the time Mr. Roots gets home the snow will be melted enough to move it onto the yard.
With Spring usually comes the cute little animal babies. We haven’t had much success with that this year on our little farm. In February, we purchased a sow who was suppose to be bred and have piglets the last week of February. But she did not. Ellie, the sow, came into heat shortly before her piglets were suppose to be born. I did some research and AI’d (artificial insemination) her. She should be due now June 26th. I’ll have more about that later.
We also tried to breed the kids’ rabbits. Spots, the doe, was due to kindle. Didn’t happen. We put the other doe, Fudge, in with the buck and she will be due to kindle on May 3rd. Their are ways to palpate a rabbit to verify they are pregnant. Will keep you posted on her. I hope to have lots of pictures of cute little baby bunnies.
The kids got to pick out their 4-H pigs last weekend and bring them home. Their pastures/lot is slowly becoming uprooted as they make themselves at home.
And our butcher chickens are due to arrive in a couple weeks. We’ve got a temporary structure/pen we are going to put up for them that we are excited about and hope to show you the process!
Life on a farm is always busy and never boring!