New Beginnings

At no point in my life did I imagine moving from the heat and humidity of the south to Wyoming! Do I like 99 degree heat with 100 percent humidity? Absolutely not! But, I did enjoy putting a seed in the ground and 9 times out of 10 it grew. Not here, oh no! Mother Nature and the soil are not at all conducive to growing much of anything out here unless you have a greenhouse. But the views....oh the glorious views! And the wildlife and vast open spaces and blue skies and incredible beef and courteous neighbors and the cowboy traditions and the best adventures and the......

I think I've made my point! I love living here and for a girl who cried for the first 2 weeks because the closest Walmart or large shopping center was over an hour away; yeah it was hard at first. Winters were a shock to say it mildly but over time I got used to it. I got used to the normal 65+ mile per hour wind, the day long shopping trips due to the long drives, to not eating out for the lack of many restaurants and to the sound of coyotes close by the house at dusk. I have learned to absolutely love the challenges and discomforts even though most people here would say it's just life.

I didn't grow up on a farm or ranch and I did not have many pets outside of dogs and cats. I had the occasional hamster and a pet pig named Sugar for a brief time but nothing like what our son gets to enjoy (In the For Jams and Ribbons blog post, I go into the tragic tale of Sugar by the way). We currently have a motley crew of dogs, barn cats, turkeys, chickens, ducks, rabbits, horses and a pig. I'm so happy our son gets to grow up in a place large enough to support the animals. He does the animal chores like the rest of us and has learned so much about caring for livestock and putting that animal first before your own hunger and play time.

With all that said, I learned how to raise, care for and mend animals through my own research. I started with chickens (like most of us homesteaders) and it grew and grew. My husband is a patient man and he has to be because he gets texts that simply say, "I gotta go pick up some chickens in town from a lady who is moving" or "That pin would be great for the pig" or "I think I know why the ducks won't go into the Ducky Bunky". I'm full of surprises and I keep my husband's "Ranch to-do list" full.

I love the life we are living and the opportunities my family and I have to learn new things and grow right along side each other.

Never be afraid to start, even it it is just a small step. You will learn as you go and the experiences are beyond rewarding. I mean, failure comes with the territory! I got started making apple cider vinegar and I've failed 3 times already. But, this time I know what I need to do differently....mostly. And I failed twice making my sourdough starter. I finally got it growing and it is sitting in the refrigerator because I can't seem to find the time right now to bake anything with it. Not going to be discouraged about that either, I'll get the time, soon, I hope! So if your reading this and want to start something new and totally foreign to you, my advise is....go for it. If it doesn't work out the first few times, so what! Do some more research and try it again. The feeling of success when you had the courage to move to a new place, try something completely outside of your wheel house, fail several times before you figured it out.....it's all worth it!