Toddler Tries Pumpkin Spice Snacks for the First Time - Will He Like It?

Fall has arrived (Sort of), hay is put away, time for some Pumpkin Spice Fun - Check out our latest YouTube video and see if a Toddler will like Pumpkin Spice Treats or rather stick with cheese sticks and goldfish crackers?

HAY NOW! How goats and sheep help make organic square bale hay.

Community and Farming

As I write stories and adventures in Sweetwater Diaries, you will read a lot about Nate, Ollie and me. That is to be expected since I am journaling about our experiences farming and raising a toddler in today's time and culture. But the truth is, our successes and growth have not always been or will not always be done by the 2 1/2 of us alone. We have come this far because we have been very lucky to have each other, the support of our families and some really great neighbors.

Throughout the centuries farming has relied on community - from barn raisings, bartering, and getting in the field to help a neighbor harvest a crop before something threatens its success. Often the only reward being a good home cooked meal and the knowledge that the neighbor you are helping will be there to help you when you need it. Certainly, payment is still a standard part farm help, but most farmers are happy to pay good reliable help (within their means of course because small scale farming is a slow growth business).

Every hay season, I am reminded of how lucky we have been to find great neighbors, who are always ready to work for us and help us load and stack square bale hay. Let me be clear, this is HARD work. Lifting 400+ itchy square bales that weigh around 50 to 80 lb each out of the field and stacking it in the barns during 100+ heat is not easy, even for the strongest folks.  Although we have a Stackliner that helps pull bales out of the field, sometimes it needs maintenance or we are working against a pop up storm and have to get bales out of the field quickly. It is such hard work, that turnover in hay help is pretty common. This is where we have been lucky because we have two families that have always been ready and willing to help throughout the summer (if they are available). They know what to do, work hard and boy we sure appreciate it. (I'm looking at you "P. Family" and "M&M").

But it doesn't stop with just them, we have a great community of neighbors (including the ones mentioned above) that help each other.  Of course, Nate and I help where we can, whether it be providing small farm jobs to help during financial/job changes, equipment/auto/electrical suggestions, helping with fields when equipment is down, watching critters, providing supplies and water, just to name a few.  And they help us and each other finding lost or loose critters (or returning naughty goats who sneak out of fences), checking on each other during crazy weather, coming together to deal with dumped animals, trash and automobiles.  And even helping during times of personal need, like when we lost our pregnancy or when Ollie decided to make his arrival a month early.  It is a great community of neighbors that makes those curve balls that life throws a lot easier to handle.  Farming can be hard and extremely frustrating.  Some days you feel like every step forward and all the hard work you put in to a project or animal was all for nothing.  So having good support, not only in your partner, but your community and family is such a wonderful asset.

 

Ollie - One month early and cute as a 5 lb button.

I cannot end this post without mentioning our families.  It was a leap of faith on both Nate and my part to start our farm and we definitely have had days we wanted to throw in the towel and call it a day.  It's hard work and can be a lot of strain on anyone.  It is full of great moments and successes, but it is also full of a good many failures and disappointments.  We have faced things we never expected, wouldn't wish on anyone and losses we will carry always, and yet here we are still standing.  A good portion of the strength we needed to carry on we found in each other and our families.  Our families have been physical, emotional, financial and positive pillars ready to hold us steady when we looked like we needed it.  They have been there for us physically cutting down trees, painting, building, pouring concrete, helping with hay, building structures and caring for critters.  They have been there for us emotionally, providing advice, moral support, an ear to listen to problems, hugs and lots of laughs.  We are truly grateful for all their love and support.   Ollie is so lucky to be surrounded by so much love and support both near and far.

With each year we live here our community has widened and we have met so many wonderful and interesting people.  So thanks for being part of community, supporting and following us along this journey.

Always Nate, Lily, Little O, & Our Critter Crew

www.oursweetwaterfarm.com 

https://www.facebook.com/SWFarmerdiaries/
SweetWater Diaries 

(Ollie Pictures courtesy of "Sophie Ann Photography 2017")

Balancing Summer Time & Toddler Time On The Farm

 

For most people, Summer time is a time to relax and sneak in family trips and adventures during the nice weather.  Of course most people still work too, but the kids are off school and we all try to keep them entertained and enjoy the Summer weather as best as we can.  This year as Ollie approached two, I had grand plans of lots of play dates with his friends from his weekly class and adventures around the area.    I even grabbed a bunch of numbers at the beginning of the summer to set up those play dates, but alas I only was able to sneak in a few play dates this summer.  And although we had a bunch of adventures, I had to reevaluate the reality of Summer Farm Time and Toddler Time.

You see the reality is, summer is our busiest time on the farm.  We have to prep the fields, cut and bale fields, arrange/manage farm helpers for storing hay, be available on a moment’s notice to sell the hay and deliver the hay, and sell some of our goat and sheep herd to maintain healthy genetics and population control.  Plus most of the hay and field work is based on the weather, so we cannot plan designated hay days.  We have to look for a minimum of a 3 day dry weather window to cut/bale/store the hay.  We have to deliver the hay on dry days.  Usually this all occurs in 100+ heat.  So often our plans can shift on a moment’s notice in order to meet the demands of the farm.  Plus we cannot exclude, all the machine prep and maintenance that Nate must do in order to be ready when a weather window presents itself.  Making square bale hay is rough on equipment and it needs constant maintenance to create quality organic hay.

So this means plans with Ollie for play dates and scheduled events can be challenging.  Of course we spend A LOT of time outside playing and exploring the farm and we LOVE to do this every day.  BUT, on 100+ temperature days with humidity, we have to limit how long we can be outside.  So we have been finding ways to make inside play fun too when we are stuck on the farm for the day.  I'm not ashamed to admit, we watch our fair share of PBS kids, Signing Times, & Peppa Pig, but all of us, including Ollie, can only take so much before we feel brain numb.  So I follow some cool kids groups on facebook and try some of the ideas they suggest and show  (Fun with shaving cream in the bathtub, texture play with foods, blocks, puzzles, lots of books and songs...oh and dancing...we love to dance).  Recently, grandma sent us a cool dinosaur egg that we spent four days observing and helping the egg hatch and grow.  It was so much fun, and Ollie loved checking on the egg every day.  He was able to observe how an object can change in water and practice patience.  It has been over a week since we did this project, but he still talks about the Dino Egg all the time.  Plus it was a fun way to help expand his very active and growing lexicon of words.  You can check out the video below to see this cool little science project and Ollie's reactions.

So this is one fun activity we have found to do during the summer when we are housebound and it is just too hot to be outside for a very long time. I hope you enjoyed this video and please be sure to subscribe and like our Youtube videos and channel, Sweetwater Diaries.  I plan on posting some fun and interesting videos about goats & hay.  Plus we have a lot of projects happening on the farm that I am recording and hope to post on our Youtube channel soon. If you have anything you might be interested learning more about the farm, please send me a comment or a message.  Maybe I can turn it into and interesting video.   Until then, the three of us will keep finding a balance between farm, family and fun.

Always Nate, Lily, Little O, & Our Critter Crew

www.oursweetwaterfarm.com

https://www.facebook.com/SWFarmerdiaries/

SweetWater Diaries