All I want for Christmas is ....

[FarmerChick]

WOW Bee that surprised me big time----but then again it does not surprise me at all

My stage in life changed also. I am exactly the same. My farm is shutting down. Sold 300 chickens, kept 12. My goat herd has been cut down from 120 to 20 now. We are selling about 20 of our 10 Black Angus. Hogs down from about 100 to 20 now. We crop produced about 20 acres of produce....done deal on that...what a very very hard situation.

I am going to buy my hobby soon---horses for Nicole and I to have a blast and I can ride again with my best friend Barb.

The workload is what got me. Nearing 50 I have had it....lol

Tony has to keep his real job and this entire farm was killing him on his days off.......since we sold most of the animals work load has decreased dramatically. Tony stopped his Charlotte farmer markets now and is finished for good. He is hunting again, fixing things around the house, getting the boat ready for fishing etc.......you know, more fun things lol

I will be like you. Extremely frugal, kinda SS when I can be and just leave it at that.

I sure don't feel bad about it....I just think with Nicole being 5 and in school now, my station in life has shifted. I want to travel more with her and Tony basically has free weekend time for Nicole so he ditched those Sat markets.

everything changes, we just gotta go with the flow.

I hear ya

 

[Beekissed]

FC, I think the ability to remake or reinvent oneself is probably the most deep form of SS that I know. I tend to measure success by how well one takes a fall or adapts to a big change in life. I know people who are frozen in time....they stay still so long that they are unable to move if life dictates that they have to do so.

You know the type....lived in the same house all their lives. Never go on vacation away from home. Never change the furniture layout, jobs, hair style, mindset, music preference, political party or how they perceive the world. Are quite unable to do so after some time and thus cannot adapt to an ever changing world.

I'm not saying this is necessarily bad or wrong in any way....but I know that I could never be this way. I wouldn't mind having lived in the same house all my life nor having the same job if it were one that I loved...but never changing anything else would practically make me into the walking dead.

I love the security of some things remaining the same~and I thrive on the assurity that most things never do. One can always change and this feels good....I couldn't imagine drinking from the same stagnate pool each day. I relish the taste of cool spring fed waters!

Life is change. The ability to adapt to that and still stay who you are~but better~is how I measure success.


Anyhoo...sure didn't mean to hijack this wonderful thread...so let the holiday wishes resume!!!!

 

[Up-the-Creek]

Good luck and report on how it works.

BTW- the other thread was saying to add powdered cayenne to their crumbles/feed. If it's easier, you could try it that way.

DL,..bought the cayenne today and added to their feed. I am keeping the fingers crossed that this works! Let you know!

 

[Henrietta23]

The one SS thing I would like to have for christmas is fresh eggs. I want my hens to get in those nests and start laying eggs again! I cannot bear buying more store bought eggs!

Ooh, yeah, adding that to my list..... and heading to Ocean State Job Lot for cayenne Saturday morning.

 

[BarredBuff]

hey BEE

why are you getting out of the sheep?

too many irons in the fire?

it surprised me to read that.....just wondering

I'm sure you all will think I'm crazy....heck, I'm sure you all already KNOW I'm crazy....but.....

I came to a wall this summer that I cannot get over. At first it really depressed me and I just felt completely and totally LOST! I have been doing and scheming SS, gardening, wanna be farming for so long~in actuality and in my mind~that I didn't know what to make of it.

I don't want to do this anymore.

My mind and heart just turned a corner and came up with no more need to do this. Not that I still will not live frugally and SS, but I just don't feel the need or drive to expand on it, store more foods, have more ways of being SS on hand, etc.

God, I think, has another plan for me and I have no idea in the world what it is...but He is the one that put all this desire for this lifestyle in my heart in the first place and it appears that He removed it just as neatly. Gone in the wink of an eye!

Now I'm waiting. I'm not good at waiting and I've never awakened without some plan in my mind, something to work towards, some project to finish or develop. At first it felt weird and it distressed me but I found my peace.

I'm just to be still and wait....and that is just what I plan to do. So, the sheep will go, the big fenced in garden area will go and most of the chickens will go....not sure but might get rid of all. I will probably still have a small garden but very scaled down from my usual.

Even Jake will go if the boys find a place in the country where they can have pets.

Just the Bat, Dewley, Tuesday and Spike will be left when it is all said and done.

I can't explain it better than that but I feel this is right....it hurts a little in a way but I still feel like I'm supposed to do it. So I am!

Yes good luck in your new life plan.
Although if you quit posting on SS, its very possible I might cry....

 

[Beekissed]

Hey...just because I'm getting out of keeping the animals and such doesn't mean I won't be able to contribute a little on the forum now and again....I'll still have that experience rattling around up in my cranium!

 

[dragonlaurel]

BYC said to give the cayenne a week to see how it went. You could do a search for proportions they are suggesting.
Somebody said that birds don't taste it, - only mammals, so don't worry about that.

 

[justusnak]

Hey...just because I'm getting out of keeping the animals and such doesn't mean I won't be able to contribute a little on the forum now and again....I'll still have that experience rattling around up in my cranium!

Oh I wish some days I wasn't SS....then other days, I thrive on it. Ya know...good and bad days. :/ Us being SS is just our way of life. Maybe we are sorta in the rut thing....but we do on occasion, go on the fly...and just change it up a little. I am trying to make things here more effecient... ie: Im getting lazy and older. If its not easy to feed or care for...I change it. We really depend on our farm to survive. Altho, this year, I BOUGHT pie crusts. I know...im such a spendthrift! LOL But, I had coupons, so does that count!?? I envy you Bee, for being able to take a new road.

 

[Beekissed]

It does feel rather...freeing. I don't know that I've ever felt in just this way before. It's not because I'm too tired to do it anymore nor is it because it is inconvenient....I have everything set up here to be cared for with minimum effort.

It is kind of weird to switch gears that fast...last year I was all hot about finally getting my bees, psyched about my first lamb and I even bought a bunch of new breeds for my flock.

Just when I got everything about the way I wanted it? Everything fenced, everything built, new rototiller, etc.....then the desire to continue it all just stopped abruptly.

I don't even see a new road. I'm just waiting at the rest stop until God phones in directions! I'm driving purely on faith that this is what I'm supposed to be doing right now.

 

[justusnak]

It does feel rather...freeing. I don't know that I've ever felt in just this way before. It's not because I'm too tired to do it anymore nor is it because it is inconvenient....I have everything set up here to be cared for with minimum effort.

It is kind of weird to switch gears that fast...last year I was all hot about finally getting my bees, psyched about my first lamb and I even bought a bunch of new breeds for my flock.

Just when I got everything about the way I wanted it? Everything fenced, everything built, new rototiller, etc.....then the desire to continue it all just stopped abruptly.

I don't even see a new road. I'm just waiting at the rest stop until God phones in directions! I'm driving purely on faith that this is what I'm supposed to be doing right now.

What a great way to look at life. I so admire you...and your strength.