A Morning in the Life (in Pictures)

Good morning! I've been up since the crack of early.  Stayed up waaay too late burning the proverbial 'generator fuel" lol, followed by several trips to the bathroom for Richie. And Grandmas been having some pretty bad dementia lately so i was up about six times with her... Just fell asleep and Peter's alarm went off. Followed by Raewyn awaking bright-eyed and bushy tailed-and promptly climbing on top of Richie and screeching him awake.  Unlike you, however, I cant just stumble into the kitchen and flip on the coffee pot. I have to do this first:

 

 

 

Oh look.  Its fairly warm this morning (yes- this is warm. its usually around 2 degrees). Time is wrong, btw. I was actually doing this at 7 am-ish. and it was colder then, too. So I don boots. Jacket. Gloves. Walk out to the shed.

 

Turn on the solar panels. My husband built our system from scratch- including making the panels. ill do a post about it some other time. Turn on the inverter. (unless of course like this morning the batteries are too low. In which case I go back outside, fill up the generator with gas, check the oil, and pull the cord till it starts. Then turn on the charger. All while half asleep, and freezing).

 

Alright, now that we have electricity, i get the coffee going. Back outside. Get wood, haul it in. Build and relight the fire because it went out at some point and I don't want the kids cold. (Yes-It is our only source of heat.)

 

Drink coffee and turn on PBS for the kids while I slowly start feeling like something resembling a human being. Feed the kids. Feed grandma. Gloves, boots, coat back on. Sneak out the door so Raewyn doesn't freak out.

 

 

Feed bunnies. This consists of bringing them hay, filling up their pellet dishes and giving them new chewing sticks. And switching out their water because its frozen solid.

 

 

Feed the goats. This is a couple pounds of hay and a bucket of sweet feed. Not only do I have to haul it over to their troughs but I have to fight their crazy crackhead antics the whole way from the sweet feed bag. I seriously almost went down a few times and got mauled. I  came out relatively unscathed except a horn to the side and a hoof to my shin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

Feed the cat, who has been trying to trip me valiantly the whole time I've been feeding everyone else.

 

 

 

Feed the chickens, who have been following me around trying to eat everybody else's food.

 

 

 

The only one I didn't have to feed was Bronson. Pete brought home this handy dandy thing. (because the stupid chickens kept eating his food)

 

 

 

And my favorite part of the morning: breaking the layer of ice on top of the water troughs. Four- five inches of ice in the cows trough. and yes- i used a maul because its easier. but its still a workout.

 

 

 

Back inside for more coffee, my breakfast, and more wood on the fire, and snuggling with my kiddos.

 

Then back outside to kick everybody's butts because they all want to eat everyone elses food. seriously. The cows eat the goats and chickens food. The goats eat the chicken and rabbits food. The chickens eat the rabbit, cat, dog, and goat food. The dog eats the cat, chicken and goat food (dont ask- i dont know whats wrong with him. he also likes to eat the goat poop). the only ones who eat their own food is the rabbits and the cat.

 

Seriously? Cows eating the goat food. They have a whole field to eat for crying out loud.

 

 

 

Soon as its spring and the babies are here I'm going to have to add milking in the mornings and evenings, and weeding, and watering the orchards and gardens.  Its not the easiest life style in the world, but i feel like its one of the best. It has quality to it .It has lessons of hard work, of responsibility, of providing for yourself.  My kids know where their food comes from. Our work is tangible. We are doing something of real value and I wouldn't change this life for anything. (although as soon as the kids are older, guess who gets to take over feeding for mom?)