Fallen by the wayside

Yet again, my blog has fallen by the wayside for quite some time. We have had SO much going on since my last brief update a little over 3 months ago that I have had no time to share our adventures and few misadventures! We are now well into our 6th year of homeschooling which is an adventure that none of us would ever trade! In fact, my sister/neighbor is now also homeschooling her three children.

Short posts during this past year have not allowed me to share how we have lost numerous pets in our home as well as my parents' and sister's homes, or how we have also managed to adopt several new faces. We now have Oliver, a pit-mix who was only supposed to be temporary. Of course, he needed a playmate, so we brought home Lilly, a brindle American Boxer. They are a mess...Sleek and lean, Lilly is a 65lb lap dog, while Oliver, a thick 70lb puppy, tries to be! Early last year, the boys each picked out a Guinea Pig, PJ & Shadow, and this past summer, we adopted two more Guinea Pigs who suddenly found themselves homeless, Al & Junior. We also adopted a ferret, Dolly, who was also no longer wanted and not being cared for properly. Along the way, we have increased our flock of chickens to include two pure breeds and several roosters. We now have 36 hens/roos! Spring '09, we hatched pure Ameraucanas which lay blue eggs and French Black Copper Marans which lay very dark brown eggs. This past summer, we crossed the two breeds to produce Olive-eggers which, you might have guessed, will lay olive green colored eggs.

In addition to all the pets, we also began a mealworm bin, an earthworm bin, an active compost, and our second summer garden. This past summer I worked on a hummingbird/butterfly flowerbed, which is still a work in progress, and had plans for an herb garden, which never came to fruition. We also bought a new storage building that will not only be for storage but also the boys' playroom/classroom...if we ever get it finished! Right now we are working on a 3rd chicken coop so we can get the right combination of breeds/sexes.

I don't think all this is exactly what my parents had in mind when they nicknamed our place the FuNnY FaRm! LOL! It sounds like a life of chaos, and it really can be at times, but I couldn't imagine it being much different... although a little more organization would be nice.

In January '10, I finally joined Facebook and have been posting short things there, but I really miss getting to share my thoughts and our experiences in a full post--one not limited to 420 characters!
I hope to get back to this very soon.