week 48: out with the old
this week on the little dream farm
Did you hear?! We’ve started a virtual cooking community and it’s called Our Farm Table to You! Every Friday we’ll be sharing a recipe of the beloved dishes we make and enjoy here on the farm and share with our family, friends, and guests.
Will you be joining us? We’re trying to get an initial head count to inform our planning! Subscribe here today OR please let us know in the comments below if you plan to join us so we can anticipate having you on board!
Happy December, friends!
It’s hard to believe there are just four Farm Notes left to share this year…and four more weeks of 2023!
Remember that fall projects list we got started on a few months ago? We’re just about the whole way through it now!
Our remaining tasks mostly have to do with the push bush hogger—which has been down for a few months now. The small engine repairman who worked on it the first time around came and picked it up the other day to give it another look over. David purchased this machine when he first moved to the farm in 2009 so it’s definitely had its wear and tear through the years. Once we get that back, hopefully this week, we’ll finish out our remaining tasks and close out the project list for the year!
John, the farmer who grazes his cows on our land, will also be coming by to take down all the fencing around the farm. He uses single-strand electric fencing with fiberglass posts and it makes it a whole lot easier for our neighbor Ted to bush hog (mow) the farm pastures when the fence is down so he can make sure he gets nice and close to the outer perimeter of the farm and keep all the hedgerows nice and tidy.
Ted came by the last two weeks and mowed the whole west side of the farm. Gosh, does it always look so pretty to see those rolling hills with their tidy mowing lines. I’ll be taking a walk up to our back hills this week to enjoy the views now that we can access them more easily.
Thank you to those of you who reached out about Dominic and our sick hen. Dominic is doing great, taking his twice-a-day meds like a champ (Molly-Max could learn a thing or two from Dom!) and he’s definitely back to his goofy, snuggly self. We’ve got about two weeks of meds to go for him! Anaplasmosis is no joke, and we’re glad the whole situation worked out the way it did so we could get him speedy care and feeling better so quickly. Chris and I have talked about a few measures to put in place next year as far as keeping the outer sides of their pasture mowed further out beyond the fence so there’s less chance for the boys to encounter ticks.
As for our hen—who we lovingly named Smelly because she’s just been so, so smelly—she is doing just ok. Her crop issues persisted long enough that she’s having some pretty bad vitamin deficiency and as a result she hasn’t been able to stand all this past week. She can absolutely recover, and many chickens do when they have riboflavin and B12 deficiency, which is what is causing her not to be able to stand, but it takes a while for them to fully get better. Thankfully I was able to find a bunch of really helpful resources online and we’ve got all the vitamins, supplements, and things we need to keep after getting her better and back to the flock…which we’re anticipating might be a while.
If I didn’t know any better, I’d think there was something wrong with Chris and I and how we take care of our chickens, or wondering if going to all these crazy lengths to help them when they get as sick as Smelly has been is really in their/her best interest. And then I hop into a chicken keeper Facebook group and two things occur: the first being that many chicken keepers fight really hard to save their birds from some of the most horrendous injuries, illnesses, and the brink of death; and the second being that Chris and I have only encountered the most mild chicken issues—things like mites, parasites, impacted crop and sour crop. Some of the things I see and read about and learn about in these groups would just blow your mind at how many things can go wrong with chickens! It’s an education every time I spend time there, and I always come away feeling thankful we’ve been dealt a mostly easy hand in the hen department…and knocking on wood it stays that way!
Chris jetted off to St. Louis at the end of this week for the retirement ceremony of a friend and wingman he served with in his Air Force days. He had the chance to see a few old friends, do a lot of reminiscing, and was back here on the farm Saturday morning.
This was a huge week for the progress of David’s book! We finished our final round of manuscript editing, I built and formatted the entire book and on Wednesday I sent it off for a first round draft printing! By Sunday evening David and I should each have a physical draft copy in our hands for final, final editing and I can’t wait to reveal the cover to you and share the published book with you all so, so soon!
If you wondered where the heck we were on Instagram this week, I was taking a little impromptu social media holiday for myself and it was glorious! As this year comes to a close, and I mentioned this in last week’s note—I’m spending time reflecting on this year and planning for 2024.
This week included lots of out with the old—cleaning things up like my contacts lists, voicemails, texts, emails, photos, apps, and my computer files…getting my digital life in order, which is totally a thing that your digital life needs maintenance these days! And now that we’ll be spending more time inside I’ve also got a list going to tackle some projects in the house like donating clothes, cleaning closets, some painting, a few little fix-it projects, and going full Marie Kondo on our space—letting go of things and energy that I (and we) don’t want to take with us into a new year. I’m not sure if you can relate but decluttering soothes my soul!
And finally, I’m setting goals, creating a vision board (I do this digitally via Pinterest and written lists on a big sketch pad), a manifestation list (and I’ve already manifested the first three things on the list!), and a list of some pretty little dreams I’d like to pursue in the coming year. How about you? Do you dedicate time to thinking about and planning for the year ahead? When do you usually do that? What’s your process? I’d love to hear about it! Would it interest you for me to share more about this? If so I’ll share more, likely on IG.
I’ll leave you this week with some more Sarah’s Favorites because y’all are LOVING these links and blowing me away with the amount of interest you have in this feature! It has been so fun to create and it has been crazy well received so I’m hearing you loud and clear—I’ll keep sharing the good stuff! It’s funny because I’ve wanted to share stuff like this for so long but just couldn’t seem to find a way to do it that felt natural to me. This is giving me so many ideas for more ways to share with you the stuff that we love, trust, and use regularly in our home and in our lives, so yay! Lots more to come and of course, wherever possible I’ll always try to hook you up with a good sale or a good deal or a coupon code from the company or brand, since I’m always on the lookout for them myself!
Feel like catching me up on your week? What’s new? Are you gearing up for the holidays? How are you doing? This time of year isn’t necessarily happy and bright for everyone, so whatever season you’re in, I’m wishing you peace and joy as you navigate this time of year. Catch you in the comments if you want to catch me up!
Do you have pets? Kids? This handheld vacuum might actually be my most favorite thing I’ve purchased this year! It’s SO incredibly handy for little messes…and living in a farmhouse, boy to we have plenty of them! I’ve used it in the kitchen, around the wood stove, to clean cat hair off the couches, to go around corners, to pick up litter, to vacuum up all the straw and grass we track into the house. You name it, this little handheld gets it done and it’s 31% off right now. Trust me, you’re going to love this thing! It would also make a great gift for someone you know would love/use/need it!
If you’ve followed us for any length of time you know Chris and I are big planners! We’ve got a lot to keep track of these days and I still love a physical planner for myself to keep things organized. I’ll be using this planner for the fourth year in a row now and I can’t get enough of the layout—monthly snapshots, daily pages, a positive quote, place for priorities, a notes section, a daily gratitude, and evening section. It has everything you need and more to keep yourself organized all in one place. It’s my go-to planning tool!
I’m super into the “woo woo” and manifesting is my jam! This year I learned that we don’t manifest from our thoughts, but by reprogramming our subconscious mind. Enter To Be Magnetic—a method of manifestation that uses neuroplasticity and epigenetics to help you reprogram limiting beliefs so you can change your thinking, change your reality, and manifest the life you want. I am a HUGE nerd about all-things personal development, so if you ever want to talk about it, message me for sure. Right now, TBM is having their ONLY annual sale and you can save $96 on the cost of an annual membership. Want to pay monthly? Use this link instead. Why not gift yourself growth, healing, and manifesting the things you really want in 2024? The annual Pathway membership is mindblowing value and I’m absolutely loving the process, growth, and healing! Message me if you have any questions!
Y’all are going absolutely BANANAS over my sweater recommendations and I’ve got another amazing one for you this week! The quality of this sweater makes it feel like it’s so expensive but right now it’s 33% off with an extra 10% off coupon. I got it in the color Pink Apricot and I am obsessed with this gorgeous, subtle, neutral, beautiful sweater. It fits oversized so I’d stick with your typical size or in my case I sized down one to XS. You can catch me wearing it all season long and I’ll likely grab it in more colorways.
My sister and I are both working through some health-related issues at the moment—me recently being diagnosed with Hashimoto’s and Jaclyn having some ongoing gut and musculoskeletal issues. She and I have both sought out natropathic and Ayurvedic medicine for healing and Jaclyn’s practitioner recommended this book for her to read so we’re both reading it together—want to read it with us? Grab a copy and shoot me a message so we can chat about it!
*Note: Not all, but some of these links are affiliate links. That’s no matter to you, as it costs you nothing. However, if you make a purchase, we -may- receive a teeny weeny commission.
If you’re loving these links I’d also love to hear from you—what else would you like to see? Is there something specific you’ve seen in our house or on the farm you were wondering about? I’m gathering those things for y’all, too, so stay tuned for that resource coming soon!
Hope you’ve had a great week, have a wonderful week ahead of you and can’t wait to catch you in the comments below! 😘
I’m loving that sweater! My color this year seems to be burgundy and they have it in that color! I may be buying myself an early Christmas present 🙊 Thanks for sharing the links and all things Little Dream Farm!
Question for your next Q&A...I gave up alcohol this year as it no longer serves a purpose in my health goals including physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. I'm being true to myself and who I am however have a SO who isn't supportive. How did this work for you years ago? Is it ever awkward if people (or family, SO, whoever)around you drink in a social setting and you don't? Or does that ease the further out one goes in sobriety?