Hand-Me-Down "Rows"

The sun came out today! I think we might have hit 70 degrees F! Jesse and Grace-Marie and I decided to do a little gardening. A good friend and neighbor gave us some of her Topsy Turvey planters this year so we decided to plant some tomatos and some strawberries in them. We are taking quite a risk with the tomatoes as it has been a VERY cold spring. I don't think it went over 45 yesterday. The plan was that I could keep them hanging on the porch at night and bring them in the house if it got too cold. That was before I planted them, filled them with soil and WATERED them. Yikes! They are very heavy.
                                  

We are thrifty , by necessity at our house. Our garden fences, raised bed materials, planters, and even hooks that we hung the Topsy Turveys on were all free. Our potting table is a smashed wheel barrow propped on a little goat trough turned upside down. I am so thankful for all my friends who give me things and let me know if they see something I might need somewhere for the scavenging. Because of this we can garden and afford seeds and a few little hand tools. It is very encouraging to be able to garden even when we don't have much expendable income. I get so excited about the produce anyway, but when it costs us almost nothing, it is an even bigger  blessing!

                                                                            

Here is an example of my husband's upcycling. He put a licence plate "tin roof" on the bluebird house.   

                                                                                
This is a glimpse of my slice of Big Sky country through the scavenged chain link that my husband painstakingly trimmed to the right size, one wire at a time with bolt cutters. What a labor of love. 

                                                                              
This year we have high hopes for our hand-me -down rows. We look forward to fruits from the  freeTopsey Turveys potted in the rescued wheel-less barrow, hanging on the recycled bungee cord hooks, on the upcycled fence in front of the innovative tin roofed bird house under the beautiful gift of a free view of the Rocky Mountains, in the Land of the free. I am so grateful to be able to live where and how I do. I have lived other places and might again, but for now, this place is just about perfect.

                                                                                 

It Is Breaking My Heart

I am going to have to give up my beloved goats. We have already had kids born and I didn't share any photos or birthing stories. I didn't have the heart to. I decided during the worst of the winter weather that I would sell my goats.Until I have the means to build a barn very close to my house to properly shelter my animals and my hay, I am going to have to be without dairy animals. I am unable to haul hay from the barn that our neighbor loans us and get it to the goats pens at the house. My children serve me tirelessly and kindly and take care of the goats throughout the entire winter. In spring, I am more able to navigate outside, but I still can't do the heavier work.

I love goats...all animals really. We moved to Montana with a desire to teach our children animal husbandry. In Alaska, we had the blessing of living a seaside subsistence lifestyle. Our children learned a great deal alongside us about how to make a simple living on an island in southeast Alaska. They learned to eat roe, seaweed, bear, sea urchins and anything else the sea and shore had to share. They also learned how to catch, harvest, prepare and preserve these foods. What they really couldn't learn there was how to care for livestock and how to farm. In the 8 years we have been here, they have learned how to care for horses, goats, chickens and now we are being blessed to learn about (and make our first costly mistakes with) pigs. I suppose, that with the goals being mostly educational and the secondary goals of wanting to supply clean, organic foods for the table, having 6 years with dairy goats has probably served its purpose. All of my children but one can milk pretty well, they all know how to care for the feeding and watering needs of goats. They understand basic genetics and reproduction and they have a gratitude and respect for where their food comes from. Though I am sad (and wrestle with feeling like a failure) I trust God to supply a barn if we need one and in the mean time to give me the wisdom and contentment to adjust to whatever situation He allows me to be in.

God is good in Montana. How about where you are?

Lawana