The weekends are set aside for work/management of the property. Weekends are my favorite time because we work together on the homestead as a family and make so many wonderful mementoes; even in the midst of hard work. Last weekend we processed animals; this weekend it was time to move animals around again. We have less than an acre of property, so it is important to rotate pastures and animals every so often. We moved the chickens to the front yard in October to help fertilize and till up the yard to prepare for a new spring garden. We moved them back to pasture today, which is always quite comical. We have to remove the temporary fence, catch all the chickens, and literally push the chicken tractor through the yard. There is a fig tree blocking the way between the pond and path so I pull with everything I have to hold the branches back while Adam drives the mower and the kids push the chicken tractor from behind. We don’t have a tractor and our lawn mower is quite old and not really strong enough to pull the chicken tractor. It takes all-hands-on-deck so there aren’t many pictures but I’m sure our neighbors enjoy the show. Then we put the temporary fencing back up in the new spot while making sure the goats stay on one side and the poultry on the other. There is never a dull moment around here! The turkeys, guineas, bantams, Silkies and chickens are now all together with the bees while we plant a cover crop on the other pastures in preparation for spring. It’s fun to watch the “pecking order” as they all figure out who is in charge. It will be interesting to see if Spartacus (our Rhode Island Red rooster) or Leroy (our tom turkey) become Alpha.
And of course, Reba and Buzz wanted in on the action. Goats will do anything to find more grain so it was quite fun to keep them out of the chicken feed while all of this was going on. Goats make life more fun and adventurous!

Also, Adam trimmed the grapevine after breakfast. Kathryn was inspired to make a wreath and it is now hanging on our front gate. It is so beautiful and I’m so proud of her using what we have to create beauty for our homestead.