Category: Ultimate Blog Challenge

Ultimate Blog Challenge Day 4

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So today’s post about what we have been doing for the last 20 months during the pandemic. I have to say the most things here has not changed. The only thing that has changed since the pandemic started is we don’t leave the house as much. We go into town once a week for grocery shopping pick up any other supplies that we need at that time and that’s about it.

We used to try to go to town couple times a week just to get away from the house for a bit since the pandemic started we have not done that. We just make sure that the animals are taken care of and of course the humans are taken care of. We only go to town for groceries and supplies now. I guess we’ve just tried to stay away from most people so that we have a lesser chance of getting the virus. If we do go indoors anywhere when you do where Our masks. If we’re outdoors we don’t really worry about it too much unless there’s a lot of people around.

So for us not a lot has really changed which I guess is a good thing. The grandkids still get to play outside and we still take care of her animals and the garden we just don’t go to town much. Course with the way people are getting nowadays not really thrilled when we do have to go to town so it’s not a big deal to not go.For the most part we have everything we need here anyways so I don’t really miss going to town.

If you would like to see my other posts about the ultimate block challenge you can click here, here and here. Each link will take you to one post from the challenge.

Have a great day!

Renee

Ultimate Blog Challenge Day 3

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So today we’re writing about where we want to go with our blog or website and what it’s going to take to get there. I’m not sure where this is going to go haven’t really thought about it too much I mean I’d like to make it like some of these other bloggers and influencers, I don’t know if that’s going to happen for me. At this point in time I’m just kind of writing I’m trying to share my experiences so that maybe some of my fails don’t have to be your fails.

What I would like to happen just to help the next person that wants to start a homestead or it’s a small hobby farm because a lot of what I do even though I call myself a homestead would be the same things that a small hobby farm would do. So I’m hoping That the next person doesn’t make the mistakes but I do and maybe has more wins than I have because I was able to help them. That is what I would like to do and where I would like my blog to go.

That’s how I started I watched somebody else with their Blog and it helped me to get where I am today. If we don’t have someone to help us, then we are just going to flounder and get no where except frustrated. I am hoping to remove that frustration from the next person. If I can help just one person, then I have done my job.

If you would Like to see my other post from the ultimate blog challenge click here and here.

Have a great day!

Renee

Ultimate Blog Challenge Day 2

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OK today is day two of the ultimate blog challenge and we are supposed to write about why we do what we do. I mean for me that would be homesteading. And I guess we got into it by accident. I went to tractor supply one morning with my daughter and they had chickens and ducks. So I came home with eight chickens and two ducks.

That was kind of what started it. We have since got rid of the ducks because they are just very messy and my husband didn’t like the eggs so they didn’t have a purpose here. We have since acquired goats, a couple cattle, a couple pigs, and of course we have the chickens. We usually at this time of year would have a Turkey but it didn’t workout this year. We decided that we wanted to raise as much of our own food as possible and that was basically when the homestead started.

That was about 6 years ago. Now we have the gardens and the animals. Even though the garden isn’t doing so well this year we still have meat growing which is always a good thing here because that is the biggest part of our grocery bill.

If you would like to see my first post for the Ultimate Blog Challenge you can do so with this link. If you have any questions about homesteading please leave a comment below and ask. I will be doing these questions on my podcast and Youtube.

Have a great day!

Renee

 

Ultimate Blog Challenge Starts today

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OK, this month is gonna be a little different. I have entered the ultimate blog challenge it starts today. So this month I will be trying to post every day for 31 days. All of the photos this month will be mine. And you will notice there is now a watermark on them because somebody decided to use one of my pictures without giving credit.

The purpose of this challenge is to become more consistence in your blogging. I know that I have been fairly consistent lately but I want to get better. However with my work schedule I’m gonna be a little difficult because he’s supposed to post every day. I am hoping to get up early enough before work to be able to make sure that my post goes out early that day every day but if I do happen to get up late then my post will be made later in the afternoon early evening after I get done with work.

I’ve also started something new on my YouTube channel where I’m asking for questions from my viewers and audience about homesteading. It can be any question that you would like an answer to. if I don’t know the answer I will find it otherwise everything will be from my experience. So if you have any questions that you would like answered just leave me a comment below and ask me your question and I will get to it. I will be posting one video every week, at least one, if needed I could always do another depending on how many questions I get.

If you would like to join the ultimate blog challenge visit ultimateblogchallenge.com all you need is an email to sign up. There is a Facebook group to join to help with views and just to kind of network with other bloggers. So it should be a lot of fun and I look forward to seeing any of you there that would like to join in.

 

Have a great day!

 

Renee

Day 29 – Automation

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Ultimate Blog Challenge Day 29

So today we are supposed to talk about automation in our business. I really can’t say that I automate anything. I even have to go out every day (several times a day during the summer months) to make sure that everyone has water. I guess on the blog side of things I do automate my posts. I set aside time once a week to write everything for the week and use later and the schedule feature to put them out on the days they go.

There are several things on the farm side that I would like to automate but I don’t know if that will ever happen or not because things like that are usually pretty expensive. We are working on automating the watering of the garden though so that we don’t have to go out and do that every day, twice a day.  We are looking at making a drip system for the garden and other plants around the property so that we can set it on a timer and let it go.

I would love to be able to get the animal water on automation. Maybe a float in the buckets or something along those lines to make sure everyone’s water troughs stay full all the time. I know that I will still have to go out at least once a week to ensure algae doesn’t build up. But compared to watering every day twice or more times a day it would be nice to only have to worry about them once or twice a week.

I’m sure there are other things around here to could be automated, but we are not there yet. We do hope to be, but it’s gonna take a little time.

What are some of the things that you automate? Leave a comment below and let me know.

Have a great day!

Renee

 

Day 23 – Seasons

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Ultimate Blog Challenge Day 23

Today is all about seasons! Right now, here, it’s summer and it’s getting hot. This is not my favorite season because it gets too hot here. So far this year, it hasn’t been too bad – we’ve only hit 100 once so far which for us here is Southern Arizona is a nice start to summer.

I would have to say that my favorite season is fall. It’s not too hot and it’s not too cold. That is when I get outside as much as I can because the heat isn’t here and the cold hasn’t set in yet. Those are our nicest days here in my opinion. However, during the summer there is always a lot going on here on the farm/homestead. We are getting ready for kids to be born and getting ready for the pigs to breed. The cows will be old enough for breeding this fall so there is always something to do here during the summer.

And that is just the animals. We also have the garden. Aarron does most of the work in the garden while I do most of the work with the animals. This  year we will be converting the shop to a barn for the animals to have better protection at night and a better place to hold the feed from the weather. I think this is going to be a bigger build than either of us are expecting but we shall see. I hope that it will be done before the winter hits so the animals will be warm at night also.

We start this all in the summer though so that everything is ready for winter. Some years there is more to do than others and it seems like this will be one of those busy years for us. I am excited though about everything that is happening here and look forward to doing updates on this.

Have a great day!

Renee

 

Day 22 – Cup of Coffee

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Ultimate Blog Challenge Day 22

So today’s post will be short and sweet, I think. If we were to meet somewhere (anywhere you would like to go) for coffee, where would you like to meet and what would you drink?

What would you like me to know about you? I want to learn about you, my reader. I want to know anything you are willing to tell me. Also, if you have any questions for me, now is the time to ask them. I will respond to every question I get in another post.

I look forward to reading about you and finding out what you would like to know from me. Leave a comment below and let’s get the conversation going!

Have a great day!

Renee

Day 21 – What does the Future Look Like?

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Ultimate Blog Challenge Day 21

We will never know what the future will hold, but we can certainly dream of what we want it to look like and then make a plan to work toward that dream. We all do this every day, or at least we should be because without dreams life would be pretty boring I think.

In the future, I would love to be able to be self sufficient.  We are working every day to do this by caring for the garden and our animals. We will be selling our animals that are born here on the farm for a way of making an income. We are also working on selling plant starts as well to help bring in money. We make our compost so the plants seems to do really well here.

So, in 5 years the plan is to be self sufficient. I am hoping to have a bigger herd of goats by then too. That way we will be able to make more from them at that time than we will be right now. I only have three does that I can breed at the moment so I would like to up that to 5 or 6.

No matter what happens though, we will continue to work toward our dream. We will continue to work the land and work with the animals to obtain the dream we are after. I look forward to time spent here as well. This was my dad’s place and now it’s ours. I can’t wait to see how the place is transformed by what we want to do. I look forward to the work we will put into it all to make it what we want it to be and what my dad wanted it to be.

Have a great day!

Renee

Day 20 – Controversial Posts

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Ultimate Blog Challenge Day 20

Do you do controversial posts? I have not done anything really controversial simply because I know that tempers can run high when things are said that others don’t agree with. We’ve all seen those posts on Facebook that are meant to pull at your worst emotions. And that is exactly what they do. I don’t want to do that. I want my readers to leave with new information, or motivation, or something along those lines. I want you to come back and I want you to feel like you got something more from me rather than a punch in the gut, so I don’t usually do the controversial posts on my blog or on my social media.

I believe that we can only over come hate with love so I refuse to post something that causes hate to come to the forefront.  People are different and that is allowed. We are allowed to have opinions that are different from other people. But facts are different. It is opinion that causes problems, not facts. The fact is that if we appreciate people’s differences and get to know the person, you will find that you have things in common. It is that common ground that we need to work with to bring people together.

At least that is my opinion on how to fix some of the issues we are facing today. I know that other people have different opinions and that is just fine. We are allowed to have different opinions. It does not mean that because someone has a different opinion than I do that I will hate that person. Rather than hate we need to try to understand why the person feels that way they do rather than just tell them they are wrong.

I hope everyone can eventually learn to take the time to understand someone’s opinion rather than slam them for it. Even if you don’t agree you can still understand.

Have a great day!

Renee

Day 19 – One Piece of Advice

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Ultimate Blog Challenge Day 19

What is one piece of advice you would give to someone starting the same thing you are? I would have to say, don’t get small goats. The first goats we got were small goats and all we had was problems with them. I don’t know if this is all small goats because we had Nigerian Dwarfs.

This is the last Nigerian Dwarf that I own and the last that I will own. He is a mix though between Nigerian Dwarf and Nubian so he is not quite as small as they are but he is still a pain just like they are. The Nigerian Dwarfs that we had (2 different times) were all jerks. They would not stay in their pens unless it had a roof on it and they were so very destructive.

I love my standard size goats. They are very gentle and not nearly as destructive as the smaller goats. That is the one piece of advice that I would give. I believe most goat owners go with the smaller goats because there may be a fear of dealing with the larger goats, however, this is not needed. My larger goats are the sweetest. They are very loving and still want to be in your lap when you sit on the ground. Just like the smaller goats so I love my girls. Even my boys are very well behaved and I have two.

As you can see by the pictures, they also have horns. But they so gentle, it’s not a problem.

So what is one piece of advice that you would give to someone starting out what you do? Leave me a comment below and let me know!

Have a great day!

Renee

Day 18 – Milk and Cookies

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Ultimate Blog Challenge Day 18

So the title may be a little misleading on this one because this post is not about milk and cookies, but rather what products and suppliers I use here on the homestead/farm. This post will be mostly about the suppliers that I use and the products that I get from those suppliers.

 

I use so many different things here it’s hard to keep track of sometimes. A lot of what I use I get online. I think my favorite place to shop when I need herbs to help with animal and human welfare is Mountain Rose Herbs.  I get dried herbs, bottles, essential oils and so many other things from Mountain Rose Herbs. I love that use sustainable products to provide quality products to the public.

The next supplier that I use for anything animal related is Jeffer’s Pet. They have everything from medications to fencing for all of your animals. This includes domestic pets as well. Any time I need something for my animals, this is the first place I go.

When it comes to the garden we are working on becoming certified organic so because of this I order seeds when I need them from Seed Savers . This company is also certified organic so I can be sure that the seeds I use are organic and qualify for the program.

Are there any suppliers that you swear by and always use? I would love to know. Leave a comment below and let me know what suppliers you use for what you need.

Have a great day!

Renee

Day 17 – The Pack Rat

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Ultimate Blog Challenge Day 17

Are you a pack rat? Do you hold on to things that you probably really shouldn’t. I guess some would call me a pack rat because I do hold on to things longer than I probably should. I know the most common is stuff from my kids growing up. I have the costume my daughter wore for her first ballet recital. I have my oldest sons first jacket. I have my youngest sons first outfit he wore home from the hospital.

I know that most parents hold on to things like this. Eventually I will give them back to my kids, probably when I pass if they want them they will keep them. I don’t really know if they will even want them because they don’t mean the same to them as they do to me. However, I do have a blanket that my grand son is using that belonged to his uncle, my youngest son. He seems to like that blanket, although not as much as he likes the blanket that I made for his mom.

So are there things that you hold on to? What are they? I would love to know. Leave me a comment below and let me know what it is that you are holding on to.

Have a great day!

Renee

Day 16 – Alter Ego

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Ultimate Blog Challenge Day 16

So today we are supposed to talk about what else we do besides what we normally do. For me that would be Nana. I have 5 beautiful grand children that I absolutely adore. I love watching the way they are growing and changing. Unfortunately for me, but not for them, 3 of my grand children are over seas right now. So they are experiencing so many new and different things which is amazing for them.

I love that they are getting this experience. However, I am only able to see them through pictures right now so that sucks for me, but anyway they are growing so fast as they always do. I look forward to being able to see them in person again sometime soon.

Then there’s the other 2 grand children.

My grand son above is living with us right now as is his mother so we see him every day and are loving every minute we spend with him. Sephy though, is with her father so we haven’t seen her in a while now. My heart is with her all the time as she was with us the first two years of her life for the most part. I consider myself so very lucky to have these grand children (even though I don’t see them all every day). I love each of them with all my heart and would do anything for them.

Have a great day!

Renee

Day 14- Book or Movie Review

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Ultimate Blog Challenge Day 14

Today’s prompt is to give a book or movie review but I haven’t seen any good movies dealing with homesteading or farming and I already did a book review so I thought maybe a website or television show for today’s post. Of course the pictures will be for my homestead/farm but the information will be about Homestead Rescue which is on the Discovery channel.

I love to watch Homestead Rescue because they give so many great ideas on what we can do here. Of course we don’t have the money they do, but my husband does have the motivation to do what we need to so that we can keep going. On this show, the Raney family goes to homesteads that are on the verge of failure and works with them for 7 days to bring the person’s homestead back from the brink of death.

I love what this family does for other families. They are helping others to reach their dreams. Of course that means they put many of their dreams on the back burner while they are going across the US helping other families. The main things they work on for these families are food, water, and housing. I’ve seen them go so far as to completely rip down a house and rebuild it from the ground up. They work to do whatever they have to, to ensure the homesteading family is safe and able to live the dream they want to.

This includes ensuring the food supply is safe as well. They have build many greenhouses and raised barns for livestock. They have taught people how to process their own animals for food. I love that this family takes time out of their days to help others. I think this is supposed to be the back bone of homesteading – Helping those around you.

Have you ever watched this show? I would love to hear your thoughts on this show. Leave me a comment below and tell me what you think!

Have a great day!

Renee

Day 13 – Processes

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Ultimate Blog Challenge Day 13

Today, we are to write about what processes we use in our area that may be helpful to others. I’m not sure that I am really qualified to write about this because my processes are sort of all over. I use technology, but I also have a written hard copy because I don’t trust technology to hold on to my records. For that reason alone I use both. Yes, it seems like a lot more work, and it likely is, but it’s what I do to ensure that I have all of my records even if something happens to the apps that I use.

This is the sheet that I use to log how many eggs we get in a day. I am looking for something better, but so far, this is it. I also record everything for the animals from vet visits to breeding to kidding. I have an account on paper for everything that has been done to or for our animals, with the exception of the chickens. For the chickens, I only record the egg count for the day.

The photo above shows the goat records where I can record everything for them from vaccinations to procedures done. Any time we put hands on the goats, it gets recorded in the book, even if we just brush them out. I like to know when things were done last so that I know when they need done again.

In this section, there are also places where I can keep track of breeding and kidding. I can keep track of pregnancies for each goat on the homestead. It just makes me feel better that the information will be at hand even if technology fails me.

Are there any processes that you use? Leave me a comment below and let me know!

Have a great day!

Renee