Goodbye Winter! Hello Spring!

Loving the beautiful weather here on the farm! Everything is blooming and the grass is so green! Although the thought of mowing season is a little LESS than appealing! I love the first few times, getting everything all clipped and neat. Then, as summer progresses, the bloom leaves the rose so to speak and mowing becomes a chore and trimming a real pain!!
But for now, YAY GRASS!! It is so much better than the snow, ice and mud! I really think that Spring is my favorite season. Well, minus the storms and tornadoes! Boo tornadoes!
Speaking of Spring, these are some of the blooms here on the farm, some smell so yummy! Some, while beautiful, actually smell kinda icky..Tricky little boogers, draw you in with their beauty, and them BAM! Stinkiness!

Pear blooms! They actually kinda stink..

Apple blossoms! Smell divine!

Texas Roses, so so I have been told. So pretty!

Narcissus? Not really sure, but so pretty, and smell so good!

Tiny little hyacinth, so purply!

Animals here are also enjoying the green grass and warmer temps. As usual spring brings all sorts of energy and friskiness. The calves are running around, the cows are hopefully all expecting new little bundles of joy this summer/fall. Taz, having done his job, is just hanging out waiting for his next assignment!

Ellie come lately saying "LET ME IN!!"

Flossie having breakfast!

T-Bone!

Cow kisses!

Busy Busy Busy, These little guys are really bringing in the pollen!

BUZZ!

Busy as well...Bees!

Sadly out of the three hives we started with last spring. only one made it through the winter. I am so bummed! I love the bees, even when they are stinkers and sting me! Losing two hives was not only sad, but very frustrating! I thought all was well, but it seems one starved during the winter, and the other is sort of a mystery. They had more than enough honey, but they were very weak and we found them in a small cluster in the center of the hive..dead or barely alive. There was only a handful of bees where a few weeks before was a busy hive. Robber bees had also moved in and decimated what was left. I did manage to thwart their efforts at taking all the honey, but still it was so upsetting. I have ordered two nucs to install this summer from a local Apiary, so wish me luck! I am determined not to give up!

Come on in little bees!

With Spring comes a overabundance of eggs! Lots and lots of eggs! I made a pound cake and an angel food cake to use up some of the excess. The family was divided on their opinions of the cakes. They either really liked it, or disliked it and used it as an opportunity to tease me unmercifully about how much they disliked the cakes, lol Darn family...But again! I will not be swayed, I WILL make more of these cakes! Naysayers beware, this farm will  again be graced with a the fluffy goodness of angel food, and the oh so heaviness of a well flavored pound cake! I will say though, the pound cakes should be many pound cakes, those things are massive!

Pound cake and cooling Angel Food cake!

TaDa!! The angel food cake freshly unpanned!

Now see, they do not look so bad, and they were pretty tasty! And no Pud'nin..you may not wash the car with the angel food cake..or use the pound cake as a jack stand..
Well. as uninformative as it is, I hope you enjoyed this post. Maybe with the end of winter there will be cool stuff to write about other than busting my booty on ice and snow! New cow babies on the way and gardens to plant! Leave a comment to let me know you were here and if you enjoyed the post!
Have a blessed day! Thanks for stopping by!

Little Fall Update!

Lots of things going on here at the Backwards Homestead! I am so ashamed that I have not posted in SO long! Boo me! Summer is always pretty busy, and this one was no different. I thought I would post. even if it is not anything specifically cool! So, here is a montage of a few of the animals enjoying the morning!

Heavenly little cabin!

But first! A picture of the cabin where Roger and I took out little mini VACATION! It was the most amazing time. Only two days, and it was cold, but I swear it was heaven. I absolutely adore this cabin and I wish we had one of our very own. I really had to have been born in the wrong era..Can we say pioneer life with internet?

Little piggies! Ok...Not so little piggies! LOL!

 These are two of the "little" piggies that were born during the ice storm last winter. They are some fat little sausages!!

Flossie!

Flossie and Elmer..Yep..he is nursing..Has he no shame! Then Ellie getting lovies. Yea, we hug our cows! :)

Ellie getting Trina hugs!

Morning kisses!

 Here are Renee and Sweet Pea. two of the new girls here on the farm. They are just adorable! Renee, the brown girl, is due to calve any day now and we are so excited!

Now THAT is a fine bull!

Here is Taz strolling on by to go out to pasture. Is he handsome or what?! We are also happy to announce that he is now a part of the Backwards Homestead clan. Yay! Thanks Sara and Earl for giving us the opportunity to try before we buy so to speak while he was visiting the girls. We promise he will have a great home here as we already love him!

HAY!!

Elmer, Porter and ClaraBelle  checking out the leftover hay after we moved the ring to add a new roll! Of course they had to flick it around a bit. Aerating I imagine...LOL!

Baelfire and his morning drink, lol

 Bae getting a cool drink after breakfast. He sure has grown into a beautiful young man!

Get to work Pud'nin!

Pud'nin moving one of the troughs over to the other side of the pen. They eat over here so we figured might as well set their table over there!

Charlotte pigging out!

Charlotte eating her corn. Beside the giant wallow they made with their water! Pigs...

"What are you looking at"

 Wilbur laying by the remains of his hut that he destroyed...What a silly piggy! Does he think winter is never going to come?!

We wanna eat HERE!

 The reason we moved the trough! These guys are determined to eat right here..So, we moved the trough so they are not eating off the ground.

Boo and her babies!

 See those little peeps peeking out? They are so adorable. Boo is a good Mama, but sadly she is slowly losing these guys to a hawk. She started out with 16 and is down to only 9... :(  Makes me sad! Hopefully he will move on and she can raise these babies without worry!

Squirt!

 Here is Squirt having her breakfast. She comes in every morning and every night to eat here in this stall. She is so smart and is now able to go out in the big pasture with everyone else during the day. Sweet Pea is her Mama, so it is cool to see them together. Although, she spends most of her time with Renee or Taz. She is just beautiful and such a sweetheart!

Here is Elmer and Squirt! He is a hoss! Hard to believe that he is just a month and a half older than Squirt! But, girls are supposed to be dainty! I guess we can say Flossie has power milk as we have shamefully never managed to get him weaned..Yea, as proven by the earlier picture, he is STILL on the teat!

Got hay?

 Pud'nins trusty tractor waiting to get to to work put out a roll of hay! Such a good tractor, I think it is Pud'nins favorite.

More fatty pigs!

Well, there you go! Not much of a post, but I hope you enjoyed the small update. Leave a comment if you have a minute, it makes me smile, lol  I will go with a picture of a flock of geese that I snapped a picture of as they were coming over the barn. I am not ready for winter, but fall is just dandy!

Cows, Cows, Cows!

Things have been so busy around here, and quite frankly, I am having a hard time adjusting to some of the changes that have been happening lately. As most know, my Mom has Alzheimers, which is progressing. Some of our family also moved far enough away that visits are not possible very often. So, as much as they are having positive things happening, here we feel the fact that they are not here deeply. I am happiest with my family close..lol It is just who I am.
With Mom, this disease is just brutal. Watching someone you love, slowly lose their entire life of memories is just rough, no matter how you look at it. So many times I am just not fit for man nor beast as they say..
Hopefully I can get back into writing here for those who are interested in the crazy happenings here on the farm. Lots of things HAVE happened, and more are sure to be in the works!
I will start with a few happy things, like new cows! I mean really, who doesn't want more cows?! We found two really sweet girls at a local dairy, and they were a perfect fit for our farm! The best part, is we not only found cows, but we also made some friends. Nothing like finding friends who are honestly GOOD people. Shout out to Sara and Earl! They have been a HUGE help with all the questions that I have about cows in general, which if you know me...is A LOT of questions!
Well, here they are! The new girls, in all their cuteness!

Renee!

This is Renee! She is due in October and I cannot wait! Nothing like a little calf to make your day brighter. We are just so excited to see what she is going to have, Yay! 

SweetPea

This is SweetPea, and she is a real beauty! She is open, which means she has not been bred yet. Or at least we are pretty sure she is not bred. We will have to take care of that soon though, lol Hmmm...Where to find a man for SweetPea?! Right now, she is "in milk" so she is quite hungry as you can tell by her head stuffed in the food pan!

Squirt

And...Here is Squirt! She is a little heifer, who is just beautiful! The best part, is the is actually SweetPeas baby! So yea, keeping the family together, lol Well, sort of together, as they are separate since Squirt was just weaned when we got her and to stay that way she will have to be out of the pen with her milky mama!
We still have the rest of our little herd, and Eleanor was just at the vet yesterday being "AI'd", or Artificially Inseminated. I am really hoping that it all went well and she will bring a little calf into the world next summer. Go Ellie!

Eleanor

Here is the little beauty! Hasn't she grown! Seem like only yesterday she was a little bitty thing flying around the round pen kicking her heels up in the winter sunshine! She will hopefully be a Mama soon! I love this cow!!
Well, off to take care of farmy things, more later, so stay tuned!  Leave a comment to let me know you were here, I love getting feedback!

Farm Living Is The Life For Me!

Spring has finally sprung here on the backwards Homestead! Goodness know we are SO ready to put all the winter garb away and have a little green instead of snowy white! Even the animals are Happy Happy Happy!

YIPEEE!

Sun!!

Miley says spring calls for belly rubs!

Brandy must be thinking about something serious!

Loving this warmer weather!

Kitty darts out the door every chance she gets to come out with me and lay in the grass, lol She absolutely loves the outdoors. I think I am the same way! Doing my inside chores is way more boring than being outside any day!  I mean, dishes....or go plant something?!?!  We all know what is going to win, right?

King Blu!

Blu thinks sun is just the bestest! This was before his spring trim, and he was looking pretty shaggy!

What is going ON over there!?

 Clara Belle is such a pretty girl! Her ears say something has her interest, and I bet she goes to check it out! I figure she is looking for Flossie! She has NOT been happy that her friend has been on maternity leave!

This water really hits the spot!

Baelfire is growing So much! Here he is taking his long peaceful drink after his breakfast. He REALLY savors his water, lol We are all making bets about the color that is hiding under all that baby fuzz! Any guesses?

Hey! Mom! Mom! What are you eating over there?

Here is ELMER! He is so cute! I love this picture, even if there is a poo pile in the back there, but you know, such is the farm life! This little guy, is a fireball! He is never still, and has an attitude way bigger than he needs! I mean, look! Can you see all that majesty and self confidence stuffed into one little calf body!

YUMMY!

Here chicky chicky! This is part of our clean up crew. They go behind all the messy eaters and cut down on the waste ratio, LOL!

Hey! Scoot OVER!!

Here is Charlotte and her latest crew! These guys are just adorable! They are also quite piggy! They are 8 weeks old and ready to be weaned and move on to a pig pen of their very own!
The trees and flowers are also blooming and it smells so nice! I LOVE the smell of an apple tree in full bloom! Amazing! Here is one of our trees that is loaded with blossoms. I sure how we do NOT have a late freeze! The last two years we have not had any apples as the blooms were killed by freezy weather!

Lets hope we have a great apple year!

Wisteria

My wisteria is starting to reach for the sky! These are one of my favorite flowers and I am hoping it will travel along this fence and cover it with beautiful cascades of flowers! This is the third year it has been here on the farm, so hopefully this will be a big growth year!

Yep! Spring is HERE!

Grape Hyacinths! They are the sure sign that spring has finally arrived! So pretty! And LOOK! The lilacs are blooming too! Oh me! I LOVE LOVE LOVE lilacs!

You see it? Up there, in the top of the bush! Blooms!

I swear I absolutely love my life here in the boonies. It is just the perfect place for me. I love the lifestyle, as frustrating as it can be to maintain. I cannot imagine my life being any different than what I have right now. We still have some hard decisions to make, and some serious changes will have to happen so we can return our farm to the contributing asset that it is meant to be! We have let things get away from us, and it is time to buckle down and make our original vision a reality! 

Sometimes life happens. Sometimes we have a moment where we lose sight of what is important. Emotionally things have been tough, and I have been tested. My faith, my strength and my courage have all taken a beating. Between the farm, the kids moving, and the decline of my Mom with Alzheimers, the year has been a rough one. But with all of that, I choose to try and look upward, and forward. Many many blessings have been given to me and my family as well! So many things that I look to God with sincere thanks!  I pray that I can look to the positive, and pull myself out of this funk! As they say, it is all in the perspective! 

With that said, I promise that big things are going to happen here on the Backwards Homestead! Just wait and see! 

Of course I will be putting it all on here so you guys can take the journey with us! So keep checking back, and leave a comment or two so I know you have stopped by!