Friday, March 31, 2017

Retired or Just Tired?

I have been officially retired for a month now. It has been a crazy one for sure! Trying to figure out my new normal has been a bit of a challenge. I have so many things I want to get done that at times I feel overwhelmed. I am realizing that it is not all going to get done in a day, or a week, or even a month! 

So what's been happening? well....
February was an extremely warm month. The flowers and fruit trees sprang to life and everything was in full bloom. The end of the month brought some severe thunder storms and with that, hail. Then mother nature had to throw in a small snow storm on March 11th. 
Oh and she wasn't done yet! Shortly there after we experienced some record lows of 18 which of course zapped all of the fruit and flower blooms. One local farm lost 90% of their peach crop. We lost about that in our blueberries. I had so hoped to be able to market them this year. 
And she still wasn't done! Another storm blew through with larger than pea size hail and destroyed all of the lettuce.
Yes mother nature has been a bit of a bitch this year but we are slowly recovering. 

Other news...
The new poultry palace is almost done. The hens are very happy and laying 3 dozen eggs a day! The orchard is being revamped. Edible landscaping is being planted daily. The milking schedule is in place and we are getting over 2 gallons a day from 3 does. A deposit has been made on 2 new packages of bees. Khaki Campbell ducklings are set to arrive on May 15th and we are hoping for a laying trio of Cayuga ducks as well. Busy times here on the homestead!