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Well, a whole lot has been going on at our little homestead since I last had time to write! For starters, the girls and I have been preparing for our local farmer’s market for around two months, canning jellies and jams, making 
homemade cold process soaps and lip balms, crocheting doll dresses and dishcloths and potscrubbers, and trying out specialty cookie recipes such as “Nutter Betters” and “M’Oreos”, Marbled Chocolate Caramel Bars and Graham Crackers.
We’ve also been preparing for the arrival of two family cows! We were able to acquire an older Jersey cow named “Phyllis”–we call her “Philly”, and a 5 year 
old Ayreshire named “Missy”. They have been a wonderful addition to our livestock family. And on the evening of the first farmer’s market, Philly gave birth to a bouncing baby bull calf! They are both doing great, and yes, I’m so far surviving the early morning milkings. It’s the many buckets and containers that 
need washed and sterilized that’s killing me over here! We are huge fans of raw milk, and having our own milk cows is a dream come true, a long time coming! Missy is due to calve sometime around the end of May.
We’re raising baby chicks again, some for laying and some for the freezer. Our garden is double the size it was last year, we have a good stand of lettuce, onions, broccoli, cabbage, rainbow swiss chard, beets and about 60 or more tomatoes–I lost count. Green beans are coming up nicely, and I need to get out there and plant cukes and melons ASAP! Always plenty to do these days, as we finish up our school year, and work on labels for our market goodies.
The first farmer’s market was last week, and it exceeded our expectations and then some. We are trying to 
figure out how to make more baked goods while maximizing our efficiency. Oh for another stove! My 14 year old is the one baking the specialty cookies, which are very time consuming, but amazingly delicious, and big draws for the public. All of our baked goods are 100% made from freshly ground whole wheat berries…from our butter cookie pie crusts to our M’Oreo cookies.
Hope you enjoy the pics of our little farmstead!
Happy Spring to you!
Sounds like so much fun! We are still getting snow up the mountains here, and it has rained non-stop lately, although today and yesterday were finally the first sunny days 🙂 Reminds me that I should trek into our Farmers Market next weekend! The kids would love it.
Hey girl! Snow…wow. It’s been so hot here, we just broke down and turned the AC on. Enjoy that fresh mountain air for me! I wanted to apologize for not checking the comments that needed moderated…I don’t get any email notifications from the website anymore, when there have been comments…and typically, yours wouldn’t have fallen into the moderation queue…not sure what happened, except I see you may have changed email. You’re set now to post. I hope you have a fantastic summer, and yes, enjoy the farmer’s market, wish you lived closer to ours!
Wow, honey. I almost feel like I am back on the Wyoming homestead when I was a girl and my Mom and I did the milking in our Grade A dairy. Fresh strawberries to pick, always dishes to do, lots of outdoors to run in, chores, you name it. There is nothing so satisfying as picking fresh garden stuff, gathering eggs, butchering chickens, loving the dairy cows…I am thankful you are filling your lives with these good things.
Greetings! This is my first comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and say I really enjoy reading your blog posts. Can you suggest any other blogs/websites/forums that cover the same subjects? Thanks a lot!
Oh… I really envy you! I used to dream about having a farm when I was young and I would love to own a horse or two someday too! You really made my day