2019 Homestead Goals!

Silly duck! I just gave them water in this
bowl and he decided it is time to bathe!

Finally! Spring is here! The Pussywillow tree has started to bloom, the trees are budding, and I've caught a few peeks of green coming from the ground as my perennials have decided to make an appearance! 
This time of the year has it dreaming of what we would like to get done around here. 

5 goals at this time in no particular order are:

1) More raised beds- These turned out to be invaluable for me last year. Both for ease of weeding, gathering, and so I didn't have to kneel too much.

2) Moving Lt. Dan the Wonder Goat out of the garden after we burn the prairie. Also, making his door opening a wee bit bigger. He has grown quite a bit since we got him.

3) Make a new portable coop/revamp the old one? This is still up on the air. In the meantime, Mr. Awesome make a poop board, move the roosts for more room for the girls, and we will have two separate entrances for the seasons(Alternating to give the grass time to come back).

4) Fix siding on house/scrape/paint house/put windows in back rooms.

5) Make temporary porch on the back of the house until we are ready to take back steps out.

I have been gathering my seeds and am anxious to start planting. Every year I end up planting too early. This year I didn't start crazy early. I have a handful started. I am planning on embracing Winter Sowing next season. 

I spurlged and bought a few bulbs of Dishplate Dahlia's and another type. These I will keep in the fenced in garden. It makes no sense to plant too many things around the house as I originally wanted to. Chickens don't care how carefully you organized and planted seeds and bulbs. For them they see you digging in the dirt and they are thinking, "Crazy Human is finding food for me!" or "Crazy Human is making a nice spot for me to dust bathe in!" I've thrown in the white flag and decided to keep the garden for pretty stuff. 

We (Do you like that "We"? What I mean is Mr. Awesome will...) work on the roof issues too. Terry was able to borrow a lift to fix the loss of the slate tiles on the roof. He patched on a side and will begin working his way around. There is hope we can borrow this for another week. It has been super windy or rainy. 

Rainy reminds me of getting stuck in the driveway. Yes, I got stuck! Not just a little stuck but "Holy moon pies! What did you do!".  It was a mess but thankfully Mr. Awesome was able to use the winch to get me out. Check my Instagram feed on the left side bar for a picture of the pit I made. Did I mention we need to have a load of rock delivered to help? 

When Terry came home his face was priceless. I was a bundle of nerves but that melted away when he saw how badly Randy was stuck (Yes, we name a lot of things around the house. Jess named Randy- it's her car. Honestly, we can't be the only people that name, "Stuff"!) 

Find me here-
amazon.com/author/melindakunst

I have been writing again and hope to have my fourth book ready for print before the end of the year. I'm really excited about this one. To be honest, this is going to be my favorite so far. If you haven't heard how we had gotten started our homesteading journey you will like this! The story is a mix of our homesteading adventures as city folks and a sprinkling of how doing this saved my sanity during hard times. Check out my Author page for updates and appearances- Melinda Kunst Author


There are more goals but these are the few we are talking are starting on now. What are you working on? 

Care to connect? Find us on FB God's Breath Farm. 

And don't forget to check out our YouTube channel Blessmeplease09 on YouTube! I've found several videos I had forgotten to upload and now we have 100+ multi-niche videos available! I believe I have another handful that needs to go up soon too. Betcha didn't know I'm a procrastinator. 

 

Perhaps you know a woman that is in emotional pain from loss, abuse, suicide, or depression please view my blog at www.hopewhentherewasnone.blogspot.com and I have a support group for women that you can connect with, find it on my FB page Hope when there was none

Rhett & Miz. Scarlett- Cayuga Ducks

Have a great day!

BIG HUGS!

Mel

Happy New Year... Come on Spring!

It was my idea to wear our stylish tree hats. If you know me well enough this is no big deal. You're used to me. Mr. Awesome has grown used to the antics and crazy ideas. God love him!

I shouldn't be complaining about the winter. We have been pretty blessed so far. I do need to say that I am not sure how to dress. Two days ago I found myself outside picking up things in the yard wearing a hoodie. 

The holidays were good to us. It's nice and quiet with the kids coming by with the baby. I call them kids, but they are adults. Seems weird to call them anything but kids. 

Mr. Awesome and I have been dreaming about Spring and changing up garden planning. Seed catalogs are already sprinkled on my kitchen table. My seed container has been filled. And we have been brainstorming ideas for combating the wild range of insects and pests that have come through the garden. When we are done with one infestation another comes and takes its place. 

Lt. Dan the Wonder Goat has finally warmed up to us. I think he was mad at his other goat mommy for giving him away. He was pretty stubborn about ignoring us for about a month. Now, he is quite a character. He comes to beg for food and pets, mainly food! 
In my infinite wisdom, I didn't think about the damage he would do in the garden. Now, I did have an idea but the assault on my unsuspecting Elderberry was horrific. We really need to hustle him out of the garden soon. The area we thought of has our grape vines and he has already made a nice dent in those! Farm fail?! 


Fencing is HIGH on the list of things to do with him. Finishing buttoning up the house as well. We have a pretty drafty place. If the winds come out of the north the curtains move and you can feel the breeze. Mr. Awesome had the idea of using plexiglass as temporary window coverings and where he has done this the result is wonderful! We have 15 more windows to do! And before you ask, these are new windows. They are not original. They are poorly installed and caulked. 

The hens have started laying. Now, by hens, I mean 3 hens and a random duck have been laying. Which is a bit frustrating for us. We considered throwing some in the pot but don't wish to do so to the ones laying. I think they are doing it on purpose. 

They are smarter than you think. Which brings me to the other issues at hand... They are eating their eggs! I have tried putting golf balls in the nesting box and so far some wise hen decided she would rather play with it out of the nesting box and I found it in the chicken run. There are a few more tricks we can try. One is to fill an egg with mustard. I'll let you know how that goes.
I decided to try the "Deep litter" method over the winter and I tell

you, I am not a fan. I like the premise but I am a bit OCD when it comes to the coop. Now, I'm not talking the white glove test, just stinky and look wise. I've read there is no smell. I haven't experienced that yet and it could be due to the fact that ducks are really messy. We also do not have a poop board under our birds. I have cleaned a bit of it a few days back. I couldn't help myself! I moved about half of the litter out and placed it in a pile about 5 feet away from the coop. My hope is the pile will heat up, the chickens will dig and find bugs that were drawn to the pile for warmth and a yummy win for them!  

I bought 2 bags of pine chips and tossed a nice layer on top of everyone's areas. I'll do that again tomorrow as the weather may turn into a bit of snow. Time for flock blocks too! Flock blocks are these wonderful HUGE seed and mineral blocks for birds and this helps out during poor winter weather where we may not get outside to let everyone out right away. 

Did I mention I can't wait for Spring?! Do you have plans for your garden?

Fred's not dead! There's a fox in the hen house!

Oh my goodness! I thought the weeks before were busy with farm drama. I'm hoping it is coming to a close.

On the 21st, Fred was attacked by a fox in the hen house. There was quite a bit of blood and feathers in the coop with Fred stooped over. He appeared lifeless when I found him the next morning. We weren't sure he would make it through the night. He didn't eat or drink for 3 days. He couldn't lift his head or stand.

On the 4th day he began to eat, drink and kind of stand up. On day 7 he began to crow as well as make some moves on the hens. We are pretty sure he is going to make a full recovery!

Last week we brought home 14 adorable balls of fluff from Carlberg Farms/AR Farms. We also picked up 2 packages of  Bees. Sadly, 1 package died! I'm really upset about that. My plan is to call the place where we purchased them to advise and ask if anyone else had experienced anything similar.

The garden starts are happy. Mr. Awesome created a raised bed and plans on building a few more for me. A great help they will be since my knee is getting better a bit everyday.

This is enough excitement for me! How is it in your neck of the woods?

Call him Patchy the Pirate...

Sorry for the picture fuzz. Mini Man was kind enough to grab a picture of Mr. Duck looking all torn and bloody from a skirmish between himself and Fred the Rooster. Fred lost a Spur in the fiasco.

Here's the story. The small door on the coop for the hens is wood, it swelled and wouldn't open. Peanut has been doing a great job taking care of the crew since I have been healing from "The great bounce house injury" but the big door that she opened instead closed leaving the Fred and crew to head over the Abbey (Duck Truck).

Peanut wanders out after dark, saw that they were all huddled in the Abbey and closed them up for the night. The next morning Mr. Awesome saw the carnage. Mr. Duck had blood all along side his head, pictured here and it appears his eye is badly injured. I hobbled out today and saw that it looks like he was just pecked quite a bit and he will not lose his eye. Both Fred and Mr. Duck are not being housed together anymore. Peanut feels terrible about the situation. I do have to have some help rounding him up to treat it so it doesn't get infected. I'm hoping we don't have to throw him in the pot for dinner, but if it comes to that...

Sadly, we have lost 5 Hens due to the extreme cold weather and I found out I lost my beehive. I do have another package coming and hope to order a second as well. We will be able to glean left over honey and beeswax.

We are all pretty heartbroken over all of these losses. But, it is a fact of life here on a farm. You lose animals or they get sick or in the case between Fred and Mr. Duck it's pretty gruesome. Why I love to share pictures of the fuzzy cuteness I am showing the some of the dirty and grim times.

We also had some heavy rains a few weeks back. The light in the kitchen leaked! We have a roof leak and it came in so hard and for such a long time the leak traveled down from the attic and down. My strategic placement of pans and totes came in handy but it came with such fierceness Mr. Awesome had to empty them out several times. We have a 5 gallon container handy and that was filled and emptied 5 times over the course of 2 days. That is A LOT for us.

There is a blessing that we didn't have the damage that many of the surrounding towns did. We are on a bit of a hill so that helps immensely!

Mr. Awesome will be making some raised beds soon for me. I have order some seeds soon! I have more herbs and speciality plants for tackling my health issues. We can't wait for Spring. I'm sure your ready too! Last week I noticed the Redwing Blackbirds were back in the area, the next day Seagulls, those creepy Turkey Buzzards, and my favorite Robins!

In homeschooling news I scored a 6 activity Smithsonian Science set that was New in the box from Goodwill. It includes a Crystal growing kit, Weather Station, Earth model, Bug Eco house, Dinosaur dig (pictured) and a Volcano. WAHOO! Mini Man has been thrilled and my intention was to use the set over a 6 week period but he has been so gung ho to tackle the projects I didn't have the heart to say no. That smile says it all!





China Doll (in the red shirt) is having a birthday tomorrow, I can not believe this Lady is going to be 20 years old. Time is flying by so fast and I'm not sure where it went.

Having suffered from PTSD, Anxiety, Postpartum, chronic illness, cutting, and Depression she has blossomed and transformed in the past year. I am so proud of her and how far she has come. The road to healing is not over and she is beginning her own healing path.


In other news, I checked out a place for rent for a potential Antique shop. Now, I'm not saying we are opening one. It was a random idea from Mr. Awesome. There are so many projects needed in and around the house, my little shop on the farm may take awhile longer. While I like the idea I am not sure about shelling out a huge amount of money for rent. I plan on setting up at the upcoming Jasper County Flea Market in April! I'll also be toting copies of my book with me for purchase. Which brings me to my next thought I just dropped onto my better half's lap...

A book tour! I never really had a book launch. I stumbled on a inspiring page by author Kyna Bryn . She shares her raw story of survival. On her page I noticed she does a bunch of Book Tours. Please check out here story.

I have no idea why I didn't think of it before. She has been very kind and patient enough to answer questions for me about this. I will start calling, planning and scheduling for the Summer months to a circuit. My knee should be a bunch better by then and Peanut will be off school so this will work out well. I was asked to speak at a group in the Fall about Domestic Violence. God is good! If you have any suggestions or ideas for a place to do a book signing at please let me know. 

I try not to share too much about my past here. Abuse is not a pretty subject. Honestly, I would rather share pretty flowers, herbs, fuzzy chicks and feathered animals but the Lord has other plans for me. I'm not sure what He has in store for me but His plans are better than mine.

Last week I shared on social media that I was able to take 100% of the royalties from my book sales and I donated them to a local group that supports Survivors/Victims of abuse find them here- Heart to Heart Outreach! HAPPY DANCE! Thank you for purchasing my book! I greatly appreciate it.

I have also been able to share my book in PDF form to Survivors as well at no charge. My goal in writing my book was not to slam my ex or profit from my past. I wanted to share my story so others would know they are not alone. I am not sharing this to boost or for a big head. I am sharing how God's hand has worked in my life.

That is it in a nutshell! I hope your day is as wonderful as you are! Thanks for listening from our home to yours...

BIG HUGS,

Mel & Mr. Awesome

P.S.- If you are seeking information or immediate help for surviving abuse contact The Hotline or your local police department. 

I am always happy to talk to you! Whether you need to vent, cry or just bounce ideas off of. Email me at blessmeplz@gmail.com or visit- Hope when there was none or my FB page Hope where there was none FB .You can also purchase my book, "Call me Master" by Melinda Kunst, on Amazon, Kindle, and Nook!

Dreaming of Spring...

Horray! The snow is just about gone after several weeks of bitter cold. The chickens have finally ventured out today for the first time in a long time.

Mr. Awesome purchased a few flock blocks for the birds and ducks to nibble on while they hunkered down in the coop and duck abbey.

The temps over the past few days are 50 degrees! Amazing!

I am sad to say we did lose 3 chickens bringing our flock to 8 chickens and our 5 ducks did survive. I was worried!


Mr. Awesome and I discussed investing in or making an incubator to hatch our own chicks. There is also the option of going up to the local farm auction on Fridays to bid on some. We are still considering sheep and now Dexter Cow(s). We will see!

I'm happy the bitter cold is no longer with us. The furnace was running quite a bit. We hadn't put plastic on the windows and some other insulation projects kind of fell to the wayside due to my fantastic knee boo-boo and just because Mr. Awesome is just plumb tired after a long work day.

We discussed plans for the garden with no idea if I need surgery or not. I will find out the news on Feb 2nd. I've gone out a few days ago to present a Vision Board class for a few hours. I was able to manipulate the stairs with my trusty buddy right beside me in case things went wonky.

To break my need to get out, he planned on getting me out of the house soon. I'm anxious and nervous. I admit to being gun shy to put weight on my leg. Oh, I'm doing my therapy exercises, but I'm still quite nervous. My knee and leg no longer feel like jelly. Thank goodness! The swelling has gone down quite a bit and I took my own shower without any aid last week. YAY ME!

So, back to plans. My plans for the year are totally different then his. My little antique shop will be placed on hold while I heal and we work on other pressing projects such as:

Starting on the pond
Using the dirt from the pond to grade along the house
There are some old piles of rubble and glass that need to be cleaned up
Something done about the valley or entire roof of the house
Burning the yard
Revamp or new animal cages/coops
Create a loft for hay/straw in the barn
Insulate
Move the Godherd the schoolbus to a new location
Make raised beds for the garden

There are a few more things as well.  I'm excited and anxious to see what else happens this year.

Homeschooling has been fun. I can't say I'm unschooling but I'm not following the usual curriculum but hope to purchase something for the 2018-2019 school year. I also haven't totally decided if we are just going to school year around or break for summer.


Ah! I can't wait for Spring! How about you?

Big Hugs,
Mel

What's going on with this place?!

Mr Awesome has been keeping busy with various projects around the house and garden.

He staked out a pie shape for me to work on a Potager style garden! Worked on some electrical issues, put up trim in the kids rooms, worked on our mowers, took off the roosts from the old chicken coop, some plumbing fixes, moved several furniture pieces around the house and to the 
  barn and put up with me.

We had a visitor digging down under the front stairs so Mr. Awesome also threw more dirt down, added slate and I threw down some mulch in hopes of  deterring our visitor. We'll see if this helps!

We have an outlet outside! Hooray! All of these things are small projects to him but they add up in the grand scheme of things.

I did plant a few of my cool weather plants in, herbs, sowed flowers and more veggies! I have been busy working on more Dreamcatchers to bring to the upcoming Fleamarket! I did have 2 women offer to buy them all but they never followed through.

My Duck egg hatched is a dud! My incubator decided it's not going to work and gave itself up to ghost. So no chicks but a journey to the farm auction is a maybe. Mr. Awesome meant to go but things just keep popping up. 

I have been very off kilter, blame it on the moon or my cycle. I'm a mess! I felt like giving up the other day in regard to my health. I guess feeling a bit of despair and sorry for myself. I told Terry I feel just useless as a Wife and Mom right now. His reply is always tear jerking, super awesome, God I love this Man, sappiness and gushy.  

My memory is flaking out, my parts are hurting, I feel awfully tired, my visits to nap time are coming more frequent again, I am stumbling often and dare I say I'm fearful of being bedridden again.

I wrote a email to my family advising of some final wishes. Now I have no intentions of going anywhere soon but the feeling darkness was strong the last few weeks. I'm normally a happy-go-lucky Lady but something is not quite right.

I've went dark on some of my visits to Social Media land. Opting instead for something less news worthy... Instagram and Pinterest! I haven't chatted with anyone or visited anyone for a LONG TIME. While I feel a deep need to reconnect with my family, I am just too exhausted. Too tired to talk sometimes and how does that make sense? Even eating requires effort. Well not that much if you have seen me.  

I have opened some books I've been meaning to reed and started reading my Bible again. I need to journal and ground myself again, but felt it was a dire time to do some smudging. It's gotten to the point where I had to tell Mr. Awesome that he hasn't been so awesome (He's been a bit grumpier lately) and needs to find a job or something he can get out of the house to do. He is a stay-at-home Dad, unable to find work in his chosen profession and he considers his age, 59 years young to be a contributor of why he hasn't been able to find a position.

My job is fine. It is not rocket science. I meet wonderful people and it pays the bills. Though I managed to ask for a raise. I really don't want to go through the process of finding a new job or I may have to find another part-time one. But the hours are awesome! My side dream businesses are on the slow side leaving me to question my path/what I want to be when I grow up. 

With my brain fog I forgot to pay a few bills so now we are a bit behind. Our tax return has been in process for more then 6 weeks, despite it being electronically deposited. Grrface!

In all this I am reminded that I need to be grateful. I had a hug out of the blue from a co-worker, a compliment from a guest that came out of nowhere to serve a reminder to me that there are many folks in this world that are suffering, had a loss, unemployed, in poor health or without the joys I have right now. I feel selfish for my feelings. So smudging seemed appropriate to break the tension in CasaMel's. I did a YouTube of a few basic information, also the prayer I used, links to other negativity busting ideas and my Bible info! Find it here- Go Smudge yourself! Dang full moon...

I am picking myself up, dusting myself off, lift my eyes upward and a quit my whining. Well, at least for this month...

Almost blown away, Antique store outing and other random stuff!

It is windy here at God's Breath Farm and today is no exception! Here in the Midwest we are experiencing winds at 55+! 

We are on a small incline (hill) so we don't have too many outdoor things that we don't want to fly away. Kind of stinks because I would love to have a bunch of cute stuff, but that means I need to get more creative! Challenge accepted!







The animals are bravely holding on tight when they ventured out today. Ms.Henny Penny of course decided she is staying put in the coop. Can't say that I blame her.

After the billing fiasco with our propane company we did get a fill-up yesterday. Mr. Awesome went out to speak with the driver and ask for the invoice. Last fill-up the invoice blew away! More about the propane adventure on our YouTube channel. Our YouTube channel

We haven't been out to tour an antique shop in a while! Mr. Awesome suggested lunch out, visit to the local True Value and later he said how about we check to see if those shops are open?

What was my response?  That's a no-brainer!YES! 

Hope you like the pictures. I took a bunch! If you are ever in Remington, IN drop into Mini Measures and Junque shop which is across the street.  

Ohio Street, Remington, Indiana,  219.261.3665

Call ahead just in case! Both shops are owned by a Husband and Wife team. Sometimes things happen and they don't open or open later.

 Seeing this dress form makes me miss Samantha! She was the form I had for 10+ years. We downsized for our school bus tour.

No trip complete without creepy doll!  

Now pictures from Junque shop! It's a great "Man store" or should I say great for "Mantiques"! 

  

Of course I did have to come home with something! I have always wanted a Mudman! The Cats paw cow bell has also called to me. The little boy figure seems to match another I found last year. I was excited! 

      

What do you think?

Mr. Awesome in his usual fashion took care of my crowded starter plant issue. YEA! He will be able to have 4 shelves on 3 windows! They hold a bunch of plants for now. Of course they will get bigger and he has since made a support bar for the sagging. 

My dream Greenhouse will have to wait a bit more. Maybe next year... 

I love this Guy! He is keeps me laughing. He is also my memory when my Lyme fog sets in. I have a habit of leaving things half done. You ever have those times when you walk in a room with a clear intention of doing 1 thing and you totally forget and do something entirely different? Or walk into a store with things that you didn't need and forget to get what you meant to buy? 

Did you get a chance to see our Birthday cake song for my eldest Daughter? If not check out My FB page to find this super silly post. It can be found on March 6th 2017. 

I hope your day has been a blessing! More soon!