Life has been busy this month but we are enjoying having the windows open, the beautiful weather and many nature outings. Here are some pictures of our life this month.

Kathryn and I had a fun and interesting experience Thursday. Wednesday evening, I was up with Gale in the night. She was very cuddly; she was trying to sleep on my head and couldn’t get close enough to me. Then she would roam the house and I found her multiple times in the boys’ clothing drawers. I pulled out the box Kathryn had made for her and put towels in it and tried to encourage Gale to “choose” this spot to give birth.
The older three kids left Thursday morning to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa (Ziglar) at their cabin in Alabama After they left, Gale was unsettled and crying for several hours. She was only quiet if Kathryn was holding her and even then, she was restless. After lunch, Kathryn was outside for a few hours and I was busy inside. Around 3:15, Kathryn came in and I told her I had not seen Gale in a few hours. She instinctively went to one of the boys’ drawers and “found” Gale (The drawer was completely closed. She crawled under and jumped in). She didn’t think anything of it and picked her up. She realized immediately that Gale was wet and Kathryn looked down in the drawer and realized Gale had her kittens. She called me in and a friend showed up around the same time (3:30pm). There were only 2 kittens and we felt another one in her belly. We watched her for awhile and nothing happened so we moved her to Kathryn’s room into the box. We kept an eye on her; about 8:20pm she seemed restless again and started crying. Sure enough, she birthed another kitten. Kathryn was able to watch her push the third one out. We were all tired so we went to bed. In the morning, Kathryn and I were taking pictures of Gale and her kittens before the room had light (Gale preferred dark and quiet). Gale stood up and needed some love, so I took a picture of the kittens in the dark. When the picture came up on my phone, I said, “Oh look Kathryn! She has 2 tabby and 2 black.” We both looked at each other and realized I said 4 kittens; she had another one after we went to bed! Friday morning, a kitten went missing and Kathryn and I were trying to leave for nature study. Then I saw Gale grab a kitten and run towards the boys’ room. She was carrying them back to where she first delivered. So we put her back in the drawer (with a clean towel) with the kittens. When the boys arrived home on Friday, we moved Gale and the kittens to the box and put it in his closet where it is dark. The boys have their drawer back and it is all clean!
Gale is such a good Mama; she leaves the box to go potty and eat. Otherwise, she lays and nurses them all day.

A week ago today, at 3:45pm, Reba delivered the first of her twin, Tumnus. At some point, I will document the experience, when I have a bit more time on my hands. It was an amazing, terrifying, and beautiful experience and I will never forget it. Tumnus and Tumble are healthy bucks and they bring so much life and joy to the homestead. Reba is a doting mother and she tolerates quite a bit; ear biting, back-jumping and just plain rowdiness. Buzz is getting used to them but he is gentle when he plays with them.

Reba was a few days overdue and we were getting quite impatient, as was she, I would presume. By Wednesday morning, we were ready for this birth. The Lord had other plans and surprised us Wednesday morning early with chicks hatching. This was our second attempt hatching chicks and last time, none of them hatched. We bought a good incubator and tried again. It was so amazing seeing chickens hatch from our own hens and roosters! We spent the majority of the day in front of the incubator or checking on Reba (she was in early labor most of the day).

Out of our last litter of bunnies, only 2 survived and the kids have doted on those two. Madelynn sings and rocks the black one to sleep. We will be selling these as pets instead of butchering.

Our cat, Gale, is also due any day now. She found us in January and went into heat right away. This will be a new (and hopefully one-time) experience for us. Each night, we get to feel the kittens kicking inside her. We are excited to see what her babies look like.

Today, our meat birds arrived this morning! We will process them in late June/early July.

Exploring nature with friends is one of our favorite things each week. Last week, we explored two different days in two different places. The water is still quite cold here but that didn’t stop the kids from swimming and playing in the water! These pictures are from Fred Gannon State Park in Bluewater Bay.

On Friday, we explored the Environmental Center with our nature study group. The focus was Spring trees; the goal is to visit this same place each season and watch the trees change with the weather.

Adam and I had a conversation recently; we were trying to figure out if we loved Spring more or Fall. We both settled on Spring. We have the windows open, there are buds on all of our fruit trees, seeds are sprouting in the garden, the bees are buzzing, chicks are hatching and we are waiting the birth of Reba’s kid(s).

This weekend we were busy preparing for Reba’s kidding; she is due April 10th. Saturday I ran errands, made lists and placed orders for all the supplies we might need on hand. Sunday afternoon, we mended fences and mucked out the stable. We mucked the hay, tilled the dirt, mucked again, tilled again, mucked for the last time and added lime. After a few hours, we added fresh hay. Her stable is ready and we have beautiful soil for the garden! Her udders are filling, her belly is dropping and her ligaments are loosening. We are SO excited!

A few weeks ago, friends of ours offered us an overnight getaway at their tiny house in Santa Rosa Beach. Thanks to grandparents and our friends, Adam and I were able to get away for 24 hours and have a time of refreshment. We sat on the dock and watched an osprey build its nest, a pelican soak up the sunset, a cormorant catch its breakfast and we listened to the water lap against the shore. It was just what we needed!

Our property fence has been a work in progress for many years. When we brought Obi home last summer we knew wanted to finish the fence. Obi is an Anatolian Pyrenees; both breed (Anatolian Shepherds and Great Pyrenees) are bred as livestock dogs. The Pyrenees side is known for its roaming. Obi did great for several months staying on the property with us but as he got older, he started to roam and “mark” his territory. So for 5 days straight, beginning on a Sunday afternoon, we all worked together to finish the few spaces on the property that were not fenced. Adam would get home from work around 4 and we would all head out and work until around 8pm. In order to save money and time, we utilized buildings on the property to act as fencing and used materials we had lying around.

The first thing we had to accomplish in each area was clearing the land. We don’t have a tractor so Adam used a hedge trimmer and chain saw and Graham and Zeb (mostly Graham) used the machete we found on that deserted beach a few weeks ago. We started with the left side of the property pictured above. Adam found a video using T posts and clips instead of 4×4’s; lumber is very expensive right now and we have T posts around the property.

We then moved to the right side of the property which was covered in azaleas. Graham spent 2 hours one evening clearing that spot. Sadly, he and Adam are now covered in poison ivy. In both of these areas, we used a come-along to tighten the fence. There was also one more spot on the front gate we closed in and attached the come-along to our Subaru Outback! The side fence has some very old hog-wire fencing on it and surprisingly enough, it is pretty much intact.

The next area was the back side of the property. This is where Obi was getting out to roam the neighborhood. We used the shed and stable to attach the fence and that saved so much time and resources. We only had to buy two rolls of 50 foot wire, a new gate, a few accessories and two 4×4 for the entire project! We have had that chain link gate for many years.

The last area to fence was on the other side of the shed. Adam and Graham removed the very old and very heavy gate that has been attached to that post for at least 50 years. Sadly, we weren’t able to use it because it was so heavy (we will use it for something at some point, I am sure!). We ended up buying a new gate and both sides of the shed, we used hog panels we had purchased last year.

We arrived home from our time away Sunday evening. Adam was off Monday so we were able to catch up on projects after being gone for a few days. We were invited to a friends’ “bay bunk” on Tuesday so the kids and I were able to continue our time of quiet and reprieve from the weekend. We took a boat ride to a deserted shore and explored. We told the kids whoever found the most useful item would receive $2 (Zeb obviously won with his saw/machete). We spent a few hours exploring the shore and it was a time of peace and beauty. The kids had a blast and found so many useful things, including a raft they built! The water was calm and flat on the way but while we were at the shore, the wind picked up. The ride back was cold and a bit more rough! We came home exhausted but refreshed from time spent in nature with friends.

We don’t often leave the homestead: the last time we traveled as a family was in October 2018. Since then, we have added many animals and projects to the homestead, which makes it difficult to get away as a family. We visited my parents cabin in Warm Springs GA and my Aunt flew in from NJ. We only see her once or twice a year and we cherish our memories with her. My sister and her family also live in that area so we were able to spend the weekend with them. It was a lovely time of quiet, nature and lots of laughter.

Graham had the opportunity to camp overnight to try his hand at primitive camping. The boys were so excited to attempt to shoot their breakfast but the squirrels had different plans. It was a great learning experience for him and he is excited for another camp out in a few weeks!
Both boys had a play date at a friend’s house recently and they had so much fun in this idyllic setting!

The older 2 kids had the opportunity to take a free archeology class at the University of West Florida this past week. It was a fun learning experience.