Thursday, May 19, 2011
The Turkeys are 10 weeks old!
The Turkeys are 10 weeks old now - WOW how these little guys have grown. I had to confirm their age on the calendar since the days have gone by so quickly this spring. To celebrate their birthdays (not really, but let's say so), they were taken out of the baby pen and moved across the property to the old goat pen, or should I now say the Turkey Pen. Oh boy, do they like grass!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
A Tough Math Lesson on the Farm
So, a math equation:
If you have 1 overwhelmed mom plus 1 small farm, multiply by 2 homeschool children, then add 15 chickens, 13 turkeys and 4 goats, minus 1 goat, than add 1 dog and 1 horse. What is the sum?
Oh common on, you can answer this one can't you? No?
The answer: One honest woman who has no problem saying when she has reached her limit of achievement and possibilities.
I have secretly been somewhat overwhelmed the last few months with all that I juggle, but as a the strong-willed-woman that I am, I tried to hide it. Well, three weeks ago I gave up the battle.
Have you ever woke up one day and everything you have been wondering all of a sudden came clear? What came clear for me was the answer to why I was feeling so tired all the time. The answer to why my will power was non-existent. The answer to why I felt like I could not complete the stuff that I used too. The answer: I simply had too much on my plate and I had to finally come clean with the fact that I could not be the super woman I so lead myself to think I was. Let's just say that this was a much needed OUCH to my superwoman mindset. And, you know what, I am okay with that!
I look back at what I have tried to do this last year, and while I may not be able to do it all, I have done a TON of work.
This school year was a difficult year, the difficult so far. While my eldest child has a true diagnosis of ADHD, we have choose to not medicate her and go the alternative treatment of diet and training and animal assisted therapy. We have opted to train her how to control herself, control her mind and body and use her ADHD to benefit her and her life. While it's not a choice for everyone, it's a choice that we have made and stand by our choice, even though it is very consuming right now. As parents, we see it as huge investment now for a great future in our child! The choice has started to show great progress this year, but again it is time consuming on a parents end, so much in fact that it is taking more time then originally anticipated and I need to take some time away from something else and add it to homeschooling/child raising.
When it boils down to it, I was feeling overwhelmed because I was not been able to designate the proper amount of time to what is important in my family's lives: God, Church and each other and that's when it hit me. Seethings got to give! The math on the farm is just not adding up! This revelation was an eye opening relief. At first, I can not lie, I felt like I failed, but then the truth set in and I came to realize that it's perfectly OK to say "Nope, sorry, too much!". I now know it's not failing to say I can not do it all. It's just simply saying I know my limits and I am not afraid to protect myself from being flatten by a semi when the load is too much. The most important thing is that I tried, and just because I didn't succeed, it doesn't mean I failed, it just means that it wasn't or isn't in my book of life. Now the hard part, what to take away from the equation?
The really crazy part was that it was really easy to figure out what to take away. While I loved my goats, I came to the equation that they were not the right fit for our family. They were lovely, great goats, but they simply did not compliment our farm. I honestly think I knew this long ago, but like the strong willed person I am, I tried to find a way to make it work. Well, I tried, tried very hard but at the end of the day, they need more and we needed less. I posted a ad on Craig's list and with in 6 hours I received 32 responses for lovely homes for our goats. They ended up going to a lovely farm where all of their needs will be met and they will get the attention they deserve. While it was sad to see them leave, at the same time, it was a great relief. I instantly felt a HUGE load being lifted off my shoulders as I watched them being driven away. I wish Mama B, Belle and Snowflake a long and happy life.... so long girls.
In addition to the goats, we lost 1 turkey of natural causes. Considering that most turkey breeders loose 30-35% of their flock due to natural causes, we are doing quite well! So, now we are down to 12 turkeys.
When we started with the chickens, we had 15. One died within the first week of natural causes. A friend gave us a rooster. My sister gave us her rooster. I then gave my sister two of my hens. We harvested the 2 roosters and some mean, mean hens. So, if my math serves me correct, that is 15 - 1 + 1 - 2 - 6 = 7. We have 7 wonderful hens that lay 7 eggs a day now, which equals lots and lots of eggs that we love sharing with friends and family.
After all of this loss, I give you good news. We have two new additions to the family. Let's just say that these guys are giving the girls the independence and maturity that they want at 11 and 7 years old with out giving them licenses to go nuts. Let me introduce:
Po-po
and Logan Moon
Do not ask me where the names came from as we let the girls name their own fish. I just hope that when they are adults and have their own fa miles, that, while I would love him, I do not have a grandson named Po-po! LOL
So, what is the end equation to all this rambling? With a little minusing and a little adding, we have 12 turkeys, 7 chickens, 2 fish, 1 dog, 1 horse and one amazing, happy family living on the Jowett Farmstead!
We now have more time and energy to give to our homeschooling, the animals that we have are all getting the correct amount of love and attention that they need and I now hove more time to volunteer at our church, which is one thing I have missed for many, many years. We are happy as a family and all the previous math was worth it!
If you have 1 overwhelmed mom plus 1 small farm, multiply by 2 homeschool children, then add 15 chickens, 13 turkeys and 4 goats, minus 1 goat, than add 1 dog and 1 horse. What is the sum?
Oh common on, you can answer this one can't you? No?
The answer: One honest woman who has no problem saying when she has reached her limit of achievement and possibilities.
I have secretly been somewhat overwhelmed the last few months with all that I juggle, but as a the strong-willed-woman that I am, I tried to hide it. Well, three weeks ago I gave up the battle.
Have you ever woke up one day and everything you have been wondering all of a sudden came clear? What came clear for me was the answer to why I was feeling so tired all the time. The answer to why my will power was non-existent. The answer to why I felt like I could not complete the stuff that I used too. The answer: I simply had too much on my plate and I had to finally come clean with the fact that I could not be the super woman I so lead myself to think I was. Let's just say that this was a much needed OUCH to my superwoman mindset. And, you know what, I am okay with that!
I look back at what I have tried to do this last year, and while I may not be able to do it all, I have done a TON of work.
This school year was a difficult year, the difficult so far. While my eldest child has a true diagnosis of ADHD, we have choose to not medicate her and go the alternative treatment of diet and training and animal assisted therapy. We have opted to train her how to control herself, control her mind and body and use her ADHD to benefit her and her life. While it's not a choice for everyone, it's a choice that we have made and stand by our choice, even though it is very consuming right now. As parents, we see it as huge investment now for a great future in our child! The choice has started to show great progress this year, but again it is time consuming on a parents end, so much in fact that it is taking more time then originally anticipated and I need to take some time away from something else and add it to homeschooling/child raising.
When it boils down to it, I was feeling overwhelmed because I was not been able to designate the proper amount of time to what is important in my family's lives: God, Church and each other and that's when it hit me. Seethings got to give! The math on the farm is just not adding up! This revelation was an eye opening relief. At first, I can not lie, I felt like I failed, but then the truth set in and I came to realize that it's perfectly OK to say "Nope, sorry, too much!". I now know it's not failing to say I can not do it all. It's just simply saying I know my limits and I am not afraid to protect myself from being flatten by a semi when the load is too much. The most important thing is that I tried, and just because I didn't succeed, it doesn't mean I failed, it just means that it wasn't or isn't in my book of life. Now the hard part, what to take away from the equation?
The really crazy part was that it was really easy to figure out what to take away. While I loved my goats, I came to the equation that they were not the right fit for our family. They were lovely, great goats, but they simply did not compliment our farm. I honestly think I knew this long ago, but like the strong willed person I am, I tried to find a way to make it work. Well, I tried, tried very hard but at the end of the day, they need more and we needed less. I posted a ad on Craig's list and with in 6 hours I received 32 responses for lovely homes for our goats. They ended up going to a lovely farm where all of their needs will be met and they will get the attention they deserve. While it was sad to see them leave, at the same time, it was a great relief. I instantly felt a HUGE load being lifted off my shoulders as I watched them being driven away. I wish Mama B, Belle and Snowflake a long and happy life.... so long girls.
In addition to the goats, we lost 1 turkey of natural causes. Considering that most turkey breeders loose 30-35% of their flock due to natural causes, we are doing quite well! So, now we are down to 12 turkeys.
When we started with the chickens, we had 15. One died within the first week of natural causes. A friend gave us a rooster. My sister gave us her rooster. I then gave my sister two of my hens. We harvested the 2 roosters and some mean, mean hens. So, if my math serves me correct, that is 15 - 1 + 1 - 2 - 6 = 7. We have 7 wonderful hens that lay 7 eggs a day now, which equals lots and lots of eggs that we love sharing with friends and family.
After all of this loss, I give you good news. We have two new additions to the family. Let's just say that these guys are giving the girls the independence and maturity that they want at 11 and 7 years old with out giving them licenses to go nuts. Let me introduce:
Po-po
and Logan Moon
Do not ask me where the names came from as we let the girls name their own fish. I just hope that when they are adults and have their own fa miles, that, while I would love him, I do not have a grandson named Po-po! LOL
So, what is the end equation to all this rambling? With a little minusing and a little adding, we have 12 turkeys, 7 chickens, 2 fish, 1 dog, 1 horse and one amazing, happy family living on the Jowett Farmstead!
We now have more time and energy to give to our homeschooling, the animals that we have are all getting the correct amount of love and attention that they need and I now hove more time to volunteer at our church, which is one thing I have missed for many, many years. We are happy as a family and all the previous math was worth it!
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