Delayed But Not Dead

It has been quite some time since my last blog. So many things have evolved, so many remain unchanged. I think of those unchanged as in a holding pattern. That's how we manage too many projects/obligations.
We have continued to hay in order to maintain the meek business income. The labor can be intense, especially when machinery fails or when our perception of our aging process seems accelerated, ie we feel old a particular day.
We still have most of our animals, but we are starting to be more selective based on their offerings; food, protection, or the tricky one, joy. Joy is the one we have to focus on limiting, which sounds depressing. But we have many animals for the joy of it. The joy is diminished when paying the feed bills or doing the labor day after day to provide them with their basic needs. The balance between joy and the feelings of begrudgery assist in the decision as to which animals we can maintain. We will only maintain the animals that provide us with joy if we feel unable to place them in perfect new homes.
In the meantime, we have increased the flock of sheep and intend to add more this summer. We have found that we feel comfortable with the physical handling of our sheep and we really love lamb burgers. We will eventually raise a steer on the property, but that requires the labor of solid housing and fencing. Our horses could be fenced in with paper tape, so we haven't prioritized sturdier fencing as a result. The meat birds are raised sparingly and now seasonally. Butchering is more likely to happen in the cooler season. Flies and heat are a big dissuasion for us, and meat birds can easily become layers if the butchering conditions are not optimal. Fair weather butcherers?
The girls are grown and are moving out for college. We are excited to see them make they're way in life. The ranch will fall to just the two of us and modifications must be made for us to continue and still enjoy ourselves.
We have added a hoop house for winter gardening. It is planted now for the summer to see if it will produce in the heat or if we will need a shade to be successful. Eventually we will add more beds, covered or not covered. The current hoop house is 40' x 20'. I love just walking through everyday and seeing the green growth. I had to re-wrap the rabbit fencing with poultry wire for some little critters were still getting in.
I will try to return with future plans and the progress soon.