Sunday, November 27, 2011

Farmwife's Journal - November 27th

I'm back!  In case you didn't notice, I took a much needed break from blogging because life was getting a little too full. :/  Fall is always busy on the farm.  Then when you add home school, puppies, and deer hunting you start to realize that something needs go - blogging! :)  Now that fall harvest and deer season are behind me, and our family has had a much needed vacation, I am feeling like I can handle blogging again. :)

Three Fridays ago, we butchered the last of our turkeys and some of our laying hens.  Saturday morning we cleaned and organized the market building.  It's all ready for winter and maple syruping in the spring.  When I had gotten the last of the stuff out of the building, I grabbed the door to shut it and it closed with a loud creak and slam as the handle latched.  The sound played over again in my mind.  I stood there looking at the door and thought, "That's it, we are done until spring!"  :)  The Farmer's Market is a blessing, don't get me wrong!  But every year, by the end of October, I am more than ready to be done.  Next year we will probably change our hours and not go through October....more about that later!

We were blessed this hunting season to bag four deer!  Only one hunter in our family didn't get a deer and that was me! :(  We did not see a lot of deer this year, so I just didn't have the opportunity, plus I was mostly hunting with Jonny and since it is his first year, he got the first shot. :)  Season opened on Saturday, November 4th, and Emily got our first deer on Tuesday.  We spent the rest of the week hunting morning and night and never had the opportunity to shoot any deer, which is very unsual around here.  As we walked out on Sunday morning, the last day of season, I was muttering to myself, "This is so ridiculous...we should have just bought some beef!"  It was a long week!  But the children really enjoyed it. ;)  So there we sat Sunday morning waiting and waiting.... Then a deer came by the stand, and Jonny shot it!  It was a spike buck.  He was SO excited!  It was so much fun to be there with him and see him shoot his first deer.  Mike and Ben were together in one of our other stands.  About twenty minutes later, Mike shot his deer, and again about twenty minutes went by and then Ben shot his deer.  He got a beautiful eight-point buck!  It was so exciting!  Then they all wanted to get off stand and look at all the deer.  I was thinking..."Hey, let's just wait twenty more minutes, so I can shoot my deer!"  But I didn't say anything. :)  They spent the rest of the morning gutting deer and hanging them in the garage. :)  It was a great day!  What a blessing! :)  Here are some pictures...


Jonny first deer - a spike buck


Ben'sbeautiful eight-point buck

Many of you have met the newest additions to our farm...Pyrenees puppies!  Jackson, our guard dog, is also a Pyrenee.  We have enjoyed him so much that we have decided to start raising this breed.  Captain and Princess have been a blast since the day we got them....a lot of work too! :)  I forgot what it is like to have a puppy around! ...just like having small children again.  We are training, training, trianing! :)  They are growing too fast!  Here are some pictures:

Ben and Captain

Princess