a slower pace

One of the things I love about farmlife is that it is a slower pace. The only deadlines I have are when the produce is ready to harvest (dont want to wait so long it rots) or when an animal is gonna have its babies (It doesnt always happen on my schedule, lol).  I dont think I would survive in the fast paced world where everyone is in such a hurry to get nowhere. I enjoy being able to take a break when I am tired and being able to decide when my work day is over. I can be in the middle of a job like cleaning pens and see something that I want to savor the memory of and I will stop and watch whatever it is. It could be anything from kid goats playing in the pasture to someone stopping to visit. I wont lie though the work is hard and at times is back breaking, sweaty, blood drawing work but at the end of the day I have a satisfaction that what I am doing makes a difference to our lives. I know where the food we eat comes from and that the animals we raised were treated well. I think some of my animals are downright spoiled at times. Like when my husband shares his sunflower seeds with them, lol. I dont have time to sit around and watch television all day but that is ok. I dont miss it at all. At the end of the day I do not wish I could have seen more television but I am happy to sit on the porch and enjoy the beautiful moon giving light to the night sky. I hope each of you finds simple things to enjoy, even if you live in the city and cannot live the kind of life I have chosen I believe that you can find a way to enjoy the things that God has truly blessed us all with.

This is a picture of me making faces at Doug's trail cam while out picking berries. It actually made him jump when he was going through the pics on the camera.  Have a blessed and wonderful day.

~April

ramblings

Look what my husband had a picture of on his trailcam!! I know this is an awful picture but it was a video and I was trying to take a pic of the coyote with my phone off of the video and as you can see I didnt do a very good job. So far he/she has left my animals alone. I have some baby goats due in September though and will be needing to make sure they are kept safe. I know coyotes are not a good thing to have around but I think it would be cool to get to see one.

We have been going through a terrible drought for awhile and my garden has been dieing off slowly and I was giving up hope on getting much more from it because I was also not able to water it. Thankfully the Lord has been blessing us with a nice amount of rain the last few days and things are starting to perk up. My strawberries are blooming for the second time and my roses are even blooming again. Only problem is that along with the stuff I want to grow there are also weeds growing like crazy and the garden is too muddy to weed. I sound like one of those people who can find something bad in anything.  :-P

My husbands back has been so bad lately that he could not even get off the couch for a few days but thankfully he is able to get up and move around some now and it seems to be getting better. So, it looks like things are starting to look good at the Kimble home.

Later today I plan on putting tomatoes in the freezer (to freeze of course!) so that tomorrow I will be able to can them. I learned a neat-o trick last canning season. If you freeze the tomato and then dip it in hot water (not to long, you dont want to cook it) the skin will peel right off. It is soooo much easier then using a knife to peel the tomato and it wastes alot less of the fruit. Yep! You say tomato I say tomahto but we all know it is a fruit!  Hope everyone has a blessed and joy filled day!

~April

Why do I live the way I do?

Why do I live the way I do? That is a good question. Sometimes I find myself asking that same question. I live this way because I feel it is the way God intended for me to live. I am a firm believer that the healthiest food is the food we raise and grow ourselves, I believe that we can find the best medicines in nature and I believe that cooking from scratch is alot better for us then all the processed prepackaged foods. I also believe this is a journey I am on. A journey of self discovery and a journey to find what God has in store for me. It is not always easy for me, sometimes I find myself in a drive thru at a fast food restaurant because I dont feel like going home and cooking or when I have a headache I will reach for the bottle of pain killer because I dont want to wait for my tea to work. I can say though that I have never cooked a meal at home and wished I wouldnt have but there are plenty of times I have went through the drive thru and regretted all the money that I just spent and all the junk I just put into my body.  There are also days where I would like to just veg out on the couch and watch tv all day but I feel so much better when I have been outside enjoying the fresh air, working in my garden and seeing all of my animals. Getting exercise makes me feel so much better then sitting like a lump on the couch doing nothing but staring at the tv all day and I dont feel like I have wasted this great day the Lord has blessed me with when I get out. I wish I could say that I never give into the temptation of the television but I can say I feel alot less energized on the days that I do. So, hopefully we can share this journey that I am on going back to a simpler way of living and learn together what works and what doesnt. I believe we can learn from the past while mixing in ways of the present. God bless you all!

~April