Well everyone, I can't believe it! We are in week 20 and this is blog post number 60! It is just hard for me to believe that we are on week 20 of our growing food this year and I am on my 60th blog post! I started this little blog as just something to document what we are doing here on the farm but it has become so much more than that. I have also been teaching you what I've learned and it has been such a great experience learning all these great new ways to express my thoughts, my feelings, and my ideas. I'm just so energized to keep going and share more with you. This month I plan on doing a whole series on grass rotation and how we move our goats around the property. Come join me! I'm just having so much fun! Let's get to what we got done this week.

On the homestead, we finished slaughtering our Cornish Cross chickens. They are all now in the freezer, thank the Lord! I have some great numbers I'll be sharing with you. Last spring we butchered 36 chickens with a total of 150# and this Spring 24 chickens with at total of 149.75#. That is only a quarter of a pound difference while still butchering 12 less than last year. Those are perfect numbers. Hilda is becoming more personable, I actually got to pet her today. I was so amazed! I understand that we eat our animals on our farm, but one thing I really try is to also give those animals the best life possible. If that is a friendship with me or with my kids then that's the best life possible in my viewpoint.

In the garden we've pretty much started our War on Weeds. June is when the temperature starts warming up and everything says hallelujah! The garden begins to grow, but so do the weeds. We have spent the last week weed eating the yard, weed eating the garden, and just weeding all the beds and paths. I think every day we spend at least 15-20 minutes, maybe 30 minutes, just weeding. I've also got all the flower beds weeded and they're looking beautiful. June is when all of our flowers begin blooming. The irises are just amazing this year. Thank the Lord, we had a hail storm just miss us already this year. I can't believe it. I mean it was within probably 10 miles of us. Thank you Lord for that!

In the kitchen, it's still progressing as usual. We are getting a few things coming from the garden to flush out our meals. All of the Cornish Cross chickens have been put in the freezer. I am thankful that we are doing these meat chickens earlier this year. One of my big problems last year was that we had to do all this processing and get everything in the freezer right before 4-H fair. I was so exhausted! We would spend the cool morning hours getting the boy’s animals ready. Then I would come into the kitchen to get all of the meat chickens processed and then we would butcher the next batch that night. And, do it all again the next day. I was just so stressed! So, this year I strategized getting the meat chickens a month earlier. We actually got them at the end of March. With the numbers that I got from last year compared to this year, I'm seeing a huge difference. I think the cool temperatures really helped. I know it helped us in getting all of them moved everyday. It wasn't such a chore! Thank the Lord for that!

Lord God I thank you for the peace you give our family in this time of unrest in our country. We still feel peace! I leave my home every morning and I go out to milk. I find such peace in just sitting there and praying for others. Thank you Lord for that because if it wasn't for you I wouldn't have that. In your name I pray, Jesus Christ, Amen.

Pray, Just Plant!