Holidays On The Homestead

Life is never slow here on the homestead. There is always an animal needing their hoofs trimmed, needing brushed, sheared or just wanting some attention. This year it seems like there were always new babies being born – goats, chickens or rabbits.

Mornings consist of watering everyone, giving grain to the poulty, does (female goats) and Beauty, while everyone else gets hay. The process begins again every evening, rain, shine, sleet or snow. Even on the days when the barn door freezes shut, we have to get in to take care of the animals.

Right now we are heating our house with wood. We have a wood stove in my office and another one in the greenhouse. Due to Jerry’s chainsaw breaking late in the summer, he is using an axe to chop up the wood then using a sledge hammer to break it into pieces small enough to fit in the wood burner. The average temperature in our house is 60 degrees F, which is much colder than what I like. With wood floors, getting up at night with bare feet can be downright bone chilling.

Many things have changed here over the last few months. For one, I found out I had a granddaughter, Trinity. She came to stay with us for a few days.

Her parents came here for Thanksgiving which was nice, as well as my longtime friend Alice.

We ate in the dining room under the kerosene chandelier.

We had turkey filled with creole butter, two kinds of stuffing – bread and cornbread, turkey gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, biscuits, brussles sprouts, salad, pumpkin pie and cherry pie. It was a feast fit for a king and the best Thanksgiving I have had in several years.

Little Trinity enjoyed stuffing herself until she couldn’t eat another bite. Then it was off to take a bath, get dressed in one of the fleece sleepers Grandma bought her and off to bed where I am sure she spent the night dreaming of her first Thanksgiving and the adventures she had.

We have not put up the Christmas tree yet. Things are changing here again. With Trinity gone life has gone back to normal – no diaper changes, no late night bottle feedings, no baby clothes or blankets to wash. I can come and go as I please now, but something is missing. She is missing. It is funny how a baby can change your life in a short amount of time.

In a way, baby animals change your life too. You watch them be born, you watch them grow, then you watch them go off to their new home. Odd. When we were trimming the baby goat hooves for the last time, I thought I heard them say “mom, mom, mom” as they tried to get back to their mothers. The two mama goats jumped up, looked over the wall at their babies and gave a gentle “nay” as if to say “it is time you went on to your new home, but remember I love you.”