2016 Goals

We have so many goals moving into the new year, so much we would like to accomplish, so many new things to dive into - Where do we begin!?

Personal Goals
1. Begin and stick with a serious budget - This will take a lot of effort on all fronts.  We build a budget each year, but sticking to it and all it entails will be the ultimate challenge.
2. Pay off my car - This explains itself.  If we can accomplish #1, this one shouldn't be to hard.
3. Meal prep - This should save us money if done right, and should help with my next goal as well.
4. Lose weight - Not just weight in general, I want to finish losing any lingering weight to get me to my goal weight.  Since I haven't been on a scale in a month, I don't know how much that is yet.  But I will weigh in on the first and we will get this party started!
5. Pass the CPA - This by far is the most important of the personal goals, it also explains itself.

Farm Goals
1. Grow - We plan to add more chickens to our flock, along with letting the ducks hatch a few ducklings.  If all goes to plan we will add about 6 new chickens and any ducks that come along.
2. Diversify - This year we will be expanding our livestock by adding goats to the farm.  Dairy goats to be specific.  Research is still underway and I am writing out a grant request as we speak, so keep your fingers crossed that this goes smoothly!
3. Fencing & Buildings - With the goats comes to need for fencing around the entire property, as well as a cross-fence to section off a back yard.  It will also bring additional buildings to our land.  I would like to build a larger coop/run area that has a goat house built in. 
4. Vegetable garden - We will give this a second try, year one was a bust, so hears to second chances!

This is a lot, but I can't ever do things to easy way.  So I will do my best to keep everyone up to date and keep this blog posted on all of our accomplishments and growth over the next year!

Our Country Castle

So how did this city girl wind up living in her very own country castle?  I'll spare you the sappy love story for another day - fast forward to the last year.

 

When I moved into the house he was renting when we got married I was in for an eye-opener.  The house was west of the city and literally out in a field.  We had cows in our backyard that announced the cold front anytime it came in, turkeys that thought they could roost on my once garage-kept car, and spiders... OMG don't get me started on the spiders.  We didn't have a concrete driveway, we had well water that left a sandy residue on all of our dishes, and it wasn't out of the ordinary for the house to shake when a strong wind came "rolling down the plain".  It was time to find our permanent home.

 

It took us about two months to find it.  We looked at new houses in nice neighborhoods, we looked at old houses in okay neighborhoods, and we even looked at super fixer-uppers in...well...neighborhoods.  However we determined fairly quickly that my husband was not a neighbor loving homeowner.  Not because he's doesn't love people - my husband LOVES people, he majored in communications, the man makes a new best friend everywhere he goes!  He is just one of those self-proclaimed "I want to be able to pee in my own backyard" kind of men.  Anyway, we found a handful of places that were out in the country, but sketchy as all get out - our realtor was running out of options, and patience I'm sure...

 

Enter Craigslist - that's right - we found our dream home on Craigslist.  We had taken a break from looking after rejecting everything house thrown our way, then on a Friday afternoon I received a text message from our realtor with a link to a craigslist ad.  I had the same reaction you did - Really?!  Expecting to see an overpriced worn-out home that is typical of the area, I was shocked at the pictures and the description attached.  This house was perfect.  It had literally everything we had been looking for in a house - in essence it was our dream home! The home we thought we would never find given our long list of wants and our short amount of resources.  This was it.  I forwarded the text on to my new husband, trying not to get my hopes up.  His response - "Set up an appointment"

 

It all went quickly from there. We went and saw the house, met the owners, and made our offer - they countered, we countered, and they accepted.  All in ONE DAY! The owners were from my husbands home town, they knew a lot of the same people.  They were praying people, and for the next month as we got closer to closing that's what we all did - we prayed.  It was meant to be.

 

 

Growing up I never imagined living my fairytale anywhere outside of the city, but here it is, my dream home - my very own castle with my very own prince charming - out in the country, where we were meant to be.

Gone Country

A little over a year ago I married God's match for me - I'm sure there was some laughter when He put us together.  A country boy, from small town America, would marry a city girl.

 

Let's rewind a bit.

 

I grew up in a suburban neighborhood in central Oklahoma.  To anyone from this state, I am considered a city girl.  Not city to say, New York standards, but city nonetheless.  There was a yard, neighborhood kids, large public schools, traffic, you name it.  I didn't have to go further than a mile from my house for anything I could possibly need. 

 

Fast forward to today.

 

I live in a ranch style farmhouse on the outskirts of a small town just east of "the city".  We have 5 acres, deer that frequent our back yard, we can't see our closest neighbors, and traffic.. only when a school bus or a tractor holds up the main road into town.  Oh - and I have to travel 30 minutes to the closest anything.

 

Welcome to the country!

Bring on the Turkey's

It's time for another episode of Tosha in the country. In this months episode I introduce you to our newest animal/pest occupant - the Turkey.

 

Jeff came home one day to the sight of these lovely creature roosting in the back of his El Camino. They ran away after much chasing - only for him to find they had returned the next day. 

As sweet and innocent as these silly birds look, it was the last straw when I witnessed all 4 roosting on Miss Priss! The landlord took the appropriate measures and now we are without turkeys again. Oh the life of a country girl...

Country Life

I'm not sure how many people know this tiny little secret about me... But I'm a city girl. Yea, real shocker. Here's another... I'm a little over 2 weeks away from marrying a full fledged country boy. And what does this mean for this little city girl you ask? It means a drastic lifestyle change is coming, and it's coming at me like a freight train... Or maybe a stampeding herd of cows...yea, that's it. 

 

So I will start off my first of many more Country Lessons Learned posts by explaining very briefly my new found fear of spiders. 

Now don't get me wrong, being from the city, I've always had a dislike for 8 legged crawling creatures. But I had no idea until recently just how many there are and how sneaky they can be! In the city I might see 3...4 spiders tops per year. I've seen well over 20, 30, maybe 40 spiders since moving to the country - just a couple months ago. And in the city, they walk around out in the open on the floor, in the country, they hide in corners, under piles of clothes, in the shower, under toilet lids, in...my...bed. 

So my city girl dislike for spiders has grown to a country girl deathly FEAR of spiders. Screaming night terrors and all.

Welcome to the country my dear.