We have just been so busy this last summer with our various businesses that farm projects have been a little hard to tuck into the moments left!  It’s good, but there are things we need to get finished up and ready before winter hits!  Here in northwestern Ohio, we probably have a good 6 to 8 weeks left of nice weather but it’s going to start getting a little nippy at night and we will see a few cold days to get us thinking about crockpot dinners and hot chocolate!  That just is not good when you still have a whole page of things that need to be done before the cold winds arrive!  

So enter our good friend Justin!  Justin in Time!!!  I really think he needs to start a company called Homestead Helpers.  He’s so smart and knows what to do with little homesteads and farms and is a great help for sure.  We love to trade back and forth, which is even better, so we struck a little deal and everyone is happy!   Justin will come over once a week and give Maggie and I a hand with projects for an afternoon, maybe a late morning.  Sometimes, you just need a third hand to really motivate you and get things done.  It’s such a wonderful blessing and just makes me feel a little more content about the coming winter.

The first thing he helped with was to remove this awful looking hillbilly gate thing that we had constructed in haste when the goats got loose early in the spring.  It’s pallets, nasty bent field fence, black plastic and just awfulness.  We had bought a 16 foot cattle panel and the plan was to get rid of all the riot barracade look and install the panel as a very occasional gate.  This way we could open it up now and then to get the pickup truck back to the pony barn where we store hay and feed.  Or anytime we might need to haul things in or out.  It’s not often, but let me tell you, the previous “gate” was an hour chore or more just to open.  And an eyesore.  Now look at it!!!  It’s beautiful!  No more pallets or plastic, all that nasty bits and pieces of fence gone, just one nice strong welded wire panel.  Tall and strong, no one can jump it or make it sag.  In fact, it is so pretty to look at now, I often just sit in my car and smile.  SO happy!

We stopped on the way home and got about 20 pumpkins for everyone…  a little early but they sure loved them!   We will get a bunch more real soon.  Pumpkin are great protein and taste yummy to everyone.  And the seeds are a great natural wormer.  Just win win situation.  After Halloween, we get a truckload for like $20 and then we will have pumpkin treats for weeks!

This first day, we really just got started, moving things around and picking up the place a bit.  Sort of finding out what we will be planning for the next couple weeks.  I think this was funny, we had found this little slide on the side of the road and brought it home for the little goats.  They love it…  But it was laying in the garden and so it got moved along with a bunch of other odds and ends…  
Everyone is all on the alert…  We cleaned out the paddocks of branches and such and they were puzzled as to what was going on next!   We had these stairs that Justin had given me for my yurt, but they were way too tall.  So we moved them into Goatopia for everyone to climb on!  They are not sure what is happening, but as goats, they are very ready to exploit the situation…

Miss Buttercup and her minions are ready.  It looks like she is telling them, “okay, move it over here, I would like the approach on the other side, oh, darlings, can you move that old log?  Thanks so much!!!”

Sam approves as well as the little boys!   They love the steps… perfect!  Anything to keep them occupied is a good thing.  We just keep adding to Goatopia’s playground.  Happy goats!!!

To top off the afternoon, we hauled a BUNCH of stuff to the firepit and burned away.  It’s hard to explain, but little homesteads just seem to collect stuff.  I don’t know how it happens!  People bring of things and then we see stuff here and there…  and I do believe it just breeds in corners and such.  Now, to be fair, we did go and get a bunch of pallets, but we brought home a few that were less than desirable in our haste.  Those got burned.  We could have stripped some of the wood but they were old and breaking up, just not really good.  They made a lovely fire to enjoy.  And we did a super good clean up and planning session.  I can’t wait to see what the next week brings.  We are just so thankful for Justin and his buddies Tim and Steve for their help!!!  And the best part is just hanging out and visiting, talking shop and homesteading!!!  It’s a good thing, for sure!