What's Been Going On Around the Homestead.

Time sure seems to get away from me. So many posts have been written in my mind but just didn't make it here. Have been busy planting seeds and already have a few sprouting. William plans on getting my greenhouse set up in the next couple of days so I can move all the seed trays out of the diningroom. I am so excited about my herb garden this year! Last year I moved it closer to the house and didn't have as many herbs as I wanted but what I had did really great. This year I have been taking a online herbal class as well as reading herb blogs and learning so much. I won a give away from one herb blogger that I will be sharing about tomorrow since I seem to have misplaced my camera at the moment. I have ordered LOTS of herb seeds and have seed trays sitting everywhere waiting on them to sprout and grow. Some grow in the wild but since I don't seem to find time to go out in the wild to gather I ordered seeds for the herb garden. I am anxious to make herbal tinctures,balms, oils,salves, and teas. Am learning herbal usage instead of over the counter drugs and liking that a lot. Some of the herbs seeds I have started are: Lambs Quarters, Amole (soap plant), Licorice Mint, Black Cohosh, Cumin, Evening Primrose, Feverfew, Horehound, Hyssop, Milk Thistle (yeah I know everyone else has this everywhere),Mountain Mint, Mullein, Solidago (goldenrod), Savory, Self Heal, Shungiku, Skullcap, Vervain, Valerian, Yarrow, Wormwood, Yerba Mansa, Red Clover, Goji Berry, Hawthorn, and even trying to grow blueberry bushes from seeds! As much as I love winter I am looking forward to spring and setting out my herb plants. That is if they all sprout and grow for me. With having the greenhouse I will be able to have some fresh herbs all next winter. Also have seedlings for the veggie garden sprouting in trays. Going to be a good growing year, I just feel it in my bones.

Grandson and daughter are doing really well. Thank you for your prayers. My step daughters husband will be starting radiation and chemo treatments soon. He has colon cancer and they are going to do treatments before surgery and then again after. He is only 25 years old and the shock of this has really hit him hard. Please keep him in your prayers. My neighbor (Ms. Fran's daughter) is on a ventilator in ICU. She was having trouble breathing and before the ambulance got there (they made a mistake and came to our house first) she stopped breathing. They had to shock and do CPR to bring her back but it was too long without oxygen. She has been declared brain dead. Her husband and daughters are having a very hard time with this. I ask you to please say a prayer for them as they deal with closure and letting her go. My elderly friend Gerda just came home from the hospital. She had pneumonia.

 In the middle of praying, worrying, and helping where we could with family and friends we lost our first goat ever because of a hard delivery. She had been bred too young before we purchased her. The past owner wasn't sure if she was bred or not but that her buck had gotten in with her doelings. The buckling was way to big for this young doe to deliver and William had to work to get the head thru the cervix. The buckling was born dead and sweet Sissy died from the stress and shock. I gave her pain meds, antibiotic, electrolytes, and kept her covered and warm but she died with her head in my lap. This left William and I heartbroken and in tears. Seems we have cried enough tears in the past week to fill a lake. We didn't know Sissy was even pregnant until the night before I saw her udder fill up with milk. The next day when I was doing butt checks on the pregnant goats that I know are ready to kid she was standing there with tiny feet sticking out. She wasn't crying or anything. We worked over 2 hours trying to save her and the buckling but it wasn't meant to be. It was very humbling as we have always been able to pull our goats through a rough delivery. 

So that is whats been going on around the homestead that has kept me from blogging all the posts I wrote in my mind. Sometimes life just seems to bite you in the butt. The blessing is there is always so many good things happening each day to help ease the pain of the bad. You just have to look forward to all the blessings waiting for you around the corner.