The Shenk household has been busy busting butt yet again. This time though has been lots of little projects that have been needing our attention. To add to this mix, I have been struggling with a big wave of Cyclical Vomiting Struggles. It has been a bit rough but thankfully I have been able to get up and continue on once I pass the wave. Bad news is that Monday I almost passed out but thankfully Jeremy was able to help me skirt away from that struggle. So let’s get into what we have accomplished!
This past weekend my mother came down to visit and she was a big help with our projects. We managed to wrap almost the entire duck fence with new fencing as our ducks would continue to escape through the current fence. So we wrapped it with some chicken wire to the existing fence. Also we have a tree that had a lot of random growth at the base of the tree. It had, what we call, pokeys and small bushes and vines growing all around the base of the tree making it pretty difficult to mow around. Also this was right beside a pathway to our neighbors house and I wanted to clear it so we had easy access to get to the neighbor or visit. (In the past he has helped me with getting a lizard out of my house while Jeremy was away) Then we finished putting together the greenhouse that Jeremy had been busting his butt to making. But he got down to the last few things and we all joined in to finish up this project. Lastly, with my moms help, we managed to clear a patch of random ornamental trees from a space that is near the kids and near steps that everyone uses to get to our back yard. I wanted this space cleared so that everyone could walk comfortably without any issues. All in all my mom helped a lot during this time.
A few things we did while she was down but managed on our own is the typical every day tasks like laundry and dishes. But the biggest thing is that I made about 3 batches of soap from our frozen goats milk. I used up a majority of my supplies so now I will need to restock before I attempt to make the next batch. Also we freeze dried onion greens so we can use them for soups, dips, seasoning and more. Simple but they are definitely things that take some time!
Sunday I started with telling Jeremy that I needed to take an easier day but we ended up doing more projects around the homestead. We covered a coop for turkeys, clipped turkey wings and put the turkeys into the coop. They had been in the yard in mobile tractors so they could move around and have more space but we wanted them to have more space and just needed to get the coop covered. Then we had a bonfire to get rid of all the yard waste that we created this weekend (a lot of the stuff we gave to the goats to eat). Jeremy moved a tool shed that his father made for him. We were able to finally get it into the location that we wanted it to be instead of just in the pathway that we typically use to walk.
Monday we took the time to stay inside to clean up as it was raining. The kids did not like this idea as mom made them clean up their closets. Turns out my kids have just been stuffing their clothing in the closet and not actually hanging it up. I looked at Bentleys closet and was amazed to find maybe 10 shirts hanging up.
Tuesday we went back outside to get a lot of work done again! Started off with mowing and weed whacking as much as I could with the batteries I had for my tools. We moved two cattle panels that are attached, beside the goat fence so the goats could clear out more of the weeds that we have. Also I pulled all the trash that we had collected and put it into Jeremys truck so he could do a dump run! Apparently I completely forget what else I did this day! Haha! I tried to look back at photos and I realized I don’t have many. Well I know Jeremy and I ended the night with a date night outside and organized our seed collection!
Wednesday was another day of trying to get a lot of random tasks done! Jeremy ran to the dump, picked up hay and feed before he came back to help. While he was away I cleared out weeds from multiple locations (that took forever), cleaned up some leaf piles that we missed, cleaned off the deck, finished weed whacking and moved random cut up wood. Jeremy came home and helped me get the wood pallet bridges moved and replaced with new pallets. Then he tried to pull out the tree stump we have from last years hurricane. The tree that fell, while the wood is cleaned up, cut and stacked, the stump is still strong! Sadly Jeremy broke the chain faster than the stump was pulled. So we have to get some bigger chain and then we can try again. Jeremy, I know he did a lot of random things while I did not see but he was busy kicking butt.
Now its Thursday and Jeremy was busy with work, while the kids and I had a crazy busy day. Sky had an orthodontist appointment and she is starting the process of getting a spacer put in. This is day one and she has 2 more visits until it will be fully put in and ready to go. Then we got home and they ate lunch quick because they wanted some friend time. After a short time relaxing we got ready and headed to a chiropractor visit and then Karate. Now if I may brag, I think my kids had a blast as we blasted the tunes with the windows down. Truly enjoying our drive!
Definitely a little task kinda week but it has been the most needed week ever. It feels like we have actually gotten the homestead cleaned up a lot compared to what we were at just last week. These tiny projects always seem to pop up and they accumulate so much. Thankfully I have been able to get a few things done every day and I am hoping this coming weekend we can get a few more projects done!!!