Categories
Family Goals

Happy New Year 2023!

Since it’s still January I think I can still say “Happy New Year!” to you all! I’ve had a blog post about goals floating around in my head for quite awhile but life has thrown us one curve after another the last few months and we completely fell off the wagon. However, I don’t think that “fresh starts” are only for January 1st. And thank goodness too, otherwise it would be really depressing if we had to wait for a new year to reevaulate our goals and start new.

I’ve tried the “word of the year” thing a couple of times but never really stuck with one. This year though, the word consistent, keeps coming to me. The last several months I have struggled with being consistent in our schooling, activities, and time spent on my relationships. As I was working on my goals last month, I realized that almost all of my goals had to do with consistentcy and self-discipline. Since the end of December, I have been trying to choose one or two habits or areas to start working on each week. Slowly incorporating new habits into my routine and our family routine makes it less overwhelming. When we jump all in and change everything at once, we tend to quit everything rather quickly.

Since it is the first month of the year, I wanted to share how Lance and I write our goals. It has taken us several years to figure out a process that works for us. What works for us may not work for you but I thought I would share it anyway.

Lance and I write individual goals, as well as family goals together. We focus on the areas of realtionships, spiritual, personal (health/habits), and financial/business. We also have several large, long term goals for our family. These smaller goals are the steps we need to take to achieve our long term goals.

If you haven’t written out any goals yet, I encourage you to take some time to prayerfully consider what areas you need to work on. If you are married, have a date night and dream big about what you want the future to look like for your family. Dreaming big can be scary and if you’ve never done it, don’t be surprised if it takes awhile for you and your spouse to figure out what you want for your family. It took us a couple of years of dreaming and talking before we came up with a clear vision. Now we know what we want and are taking the steps needed to get there. It might take several months to figure out what you both want. The most important part though is that you are both on the same page otherwise you won’t get anywhere.

Keep in mind there will still be hard times, even when you are trying to do everything right. It is inevitable that we will experience one hit after another, just when you think you are finally on the right path and getting ahead. Don’t give up though. Take some time to reaccess, pray about it, and keep moving forward. A quote from one of the books I’m reading has stuck with me over the last week, “the only way out is through.” I’ve been telling myself this when I have to drain the hose in the belowing freezing temps too 😉

The last few months of 2022 were challenging for us however, even as all of our other goals were falling apart towards the end of 2022, Lance and I stayed consistent with our date nights. Regular date nights, at home or out, have been one of the biggest blessings to our marriage. We can take time to talk and refocus on what our next steps need to be. Plus, spending some uninterrupted time together is important. If we hadn’t kept up with this, the last few months would have been even harder.

I also encourage you to never stop learning or educating yourself. There will always be more to learn on a topic. Read the same books over and over, something new will stand out everytime. Lance and I are trying to read or listen to some of the same books so we can discuss them. I will admit, it takes me much longer to get through an audiobook than it does Lance. As an insurance agent, he has a lot more time in the car to listen to books. I try to get in a little bit while I’m folding laudry or walking. Take classes or join coaching groups if reading isn’t your thing. Just don’t stop learning.

As we move through 2023, don’t be afraid to stop and reevalute if something isn’t working. It might just be a season or it might mean you are on the wrong path. Make time for prayer and your loved ones everyday. Consistent habits and self-discipline will help you reach big goals.

I’ll end today’s post with a quote from Ann Voskamp, “Just small things done consistently make the biggest change.”

Categories
Goals Hair sheep Livestock Sheep Sheep

Meet our Flock

The other day I realized that I have never shared much about our flock of sheep! Since the sheep are big part of our ranch, I feel like they should have their own post.

Our flock started with two registered Dorper ewes in 2015. These were a Christmas gift to Hailey from her aunt. They were named Daisy and Tulip. Daisy was always very friendly and the leader of the flock. Tulip never did like to come very close to us but she was always a good mama. Sadly, we lost both of them this summer.

After a couple of years with Daisy and Tulip, Hailey applied for a starter flock through the Kansas Sheep Association. She was selected to receive 6 ewes from a local producer that raises hair sheep. Most of his sheep are a breed called Easy Care. This is a composite breed of white Dorper, Khatadin, and Romanov sheep.

Dorpers and Easy Care sheep are both Hair breeds. This means that they will shed their wool in the spring/summer months, leaving only hair. Some hair sheep will have a “mat” of wool left on their back, only shedding the sides and belly wool. The sheep that completely shed do get a little bit of a sunburn at the first of the summer but are then fine.

The hair sheep flock are all Hailey’s. It provides a little income for her, as well as, teaching her valuable lessons in responsibility, caring for others, and is something that she can continue to do as she goes on to college and beyond.

This past winter I began exploring the idea of purchasing a wool breed for Lance & I to raise. I have always been fascinated with wool breeds and love yarn and wool products so I thought it would be a good fit. I did quite a bit of research on breeds and wool. Lance said that I had to prove that it would be profitable to raise wool sheep before he would agree to buying any. So in my effort to prove to him that it was a good idea, I called wool mills and spoke with people already in the fiber world. Once I had narrowed down my list of possible breeds to two, I called and messaged several breeders and spoke to them about their sheep. Luckily, everyone I talked to said it was a “no brainer” to have a flock of wool sheep that produced a finer fleece for making yarn and combed top.

When my research was complete, I decided that Finnsheep would be the best fit for us. They are very friendly and produce a beautiful fleece. Finnsheep are also known for being very prolific (they can have 1-5 lambs in one breeding) which is great for quickly building up a flock.

Using the Finnsheep Breeders Association, I found a breeder in Missouri. This was the closest one that I was able to find. In July, Lance & I went to pick up 10 ewes and 1 ram. I am happy to report that I am in love with them! They have the sweetest personalities and their fleece feels wonderful! I can’t wait for our first shearing next spring to see what we get.

I am hoping that by next summer or fall, we will have some wool products to offer to our customers, as well as lamb meat for local customers.

While being a shepherd is a lot of work, there isn’t much better than standing out in your pasture surrounded by your flock.

Categories
4-H Agriculture Goals Livestock Projects Recycle Uncategorized

Projects

Early this past winter, Lance and I made a list of projects we wanted to get done this spring and summer. I’m pretty sure that neither one of us ever expected to get very many of them completed, at least not well or timely. We have five kids and four of the five are involved in some kind of activities. Spring, especially April and May, are typically crazy for us. We should have been at track meets at least two days a week, soccer practice and games, church, 4-H meetings, Horse practice, and piano lessons. However, we all know that everything was brought to a halt in March because of Covid19. A silver lining in all of this though has been the gift of uninterrupted family time. It has also allowed us to get several of the projects on our lists completed!

The first project tackled was building three new shelters for all of the 4-H sheep and goats, preferably before we brought all of the animals home. First, all of the pens we had put up a couple of years ago were taken down so that we could reconfigure them and reuse the fencing. We wanted each shelter to have two pens off of it and have a hay/grain feeder in the middle of the shelter to divide it. I wanted a walk through gate in each shelter as well. Each shelter is held down by posts that are 2-3 feet deep in the ground so that they don’t blow away. It is important to mention that we live on a bed of limestone rock and that we do not own any kind of machinery, such as a skid steer, that could dig the holes for us. In most places, there are only a few inches of topsoil before you start to hit rock. This has made digging post holes by hand even harder work than it would be normally. Hailey and Cody have dug most of the holes by hand. They have definitely got their workouts in during school at home!

The shelters are made out of completely recycled materials (except the screws – those are new). An old hay barn had fallen down at Lance’s grandma’s house during a storm last summer. Lance and the kids took it down, went through all of it, and were able to salvage almost all of it. The tin on the shelters have a beautiful burnt sienna color (rust) on them in several places. I really do love the character it gives them! Lance also made gates that swing and latch easily. If you have ever had all of your gates held shut by wire, baling twine, or chained you will understand how big of deal this is!

After the small shelters were completed, Lance started on what we are calling the Chicken Palace. Kinzie wanted chickens for her birthday so this required building a chicken coop. We are calling it the Chicken Palace because it is a little bigger than the typical chicken coop. When Lance builds something he usually goes all out. Our Chicken Palace will have two sections in it with a hallway in the middle. From the hallway you will be able to collect the eggs from the nesting boxes by pulling open a drop down door. Kinzie and I want to put twinkle lights on it as well because every Chicken Palace needs some twinkle lights! We ordered chicks for Kinzie and ducklings for Lane a couple of weeks ago. The ducklings will be here in June and the chicks in July so we have plenty of time to get the Chicken Palace done. The best thing is that the Chicken Palace is also being built with all recycled materials!

Another major project on our list was cutting down as many cedar trees as we can. Cedar trees will take over a pasture quickly if left on their own. They also draw a lot of the moisture out of the ground and we want to keep as much water in the ground as can. We have several rows of them along the creek or that have grown up in the tree lines. While Lance has cut many of the cedar trees down there are still hundreds to go, or it at least seems like hundreds. Over the past week he has cut down a big portion of the cedar trees that lined the dam of our pond. It completely changes the view and has exposed an old rock wall that is there. Many of the trees will be burned but several have been repurposed into raised beds for my garden. We have a few other things we would like to make out of some of the cedar trees as well. I love the beautiful red color that is inside of a cedar tree. Plus, they smell wonderful!

There are still several more projects on our list but most of them require quite a bit of money. So far we haven’t spent any money and our budget is pretty small. It’s fun to dream and make plans though so we will see how many more projects we get crossed off of our list this summer. Right now, it looks like we will be home more this summer than we have been the last several years so we might get a lot accomplished!

Hailey screwing down a roof.
Hay/Grain feeder that separates the two sides of the shed.
Another piece has been added to the feeder to add a small section for mineral.
Obviously the goats have approved of it!
I love the gates!
The beginnings of the Chicken Palace.
You can kind of see in the background where cedar trees have been cut down.
The rock wall that has been exposed.
View from the dam of the pond.

Categories
Agriculture Goals Kansas Uncategorized

Goals

“You are never to old to set another goal or to dream a new dream” – C. S. Lewis

I am a goal setter and planner. I am a slow decision maker though so once I finally make up my mind I am ready to go and want everything to be done yesterday. When we decided that making our farm into a sustainable business was what we wanted to do, I immediately wrote several goals. Those goals have already changed and evolved as I have thought about the direction I want to take 14 Hands Ranch.

Our idea to actually make our farm into a sustainable business and not just a hobby farm, started last summer. I have stayed home with our kids the last three years. Previously, I worked as a speech-language pathologist in the local school district. I loved working with the students but it just wasn’t right for our family anymore. Lance works full time as an independent insurance agent. A large portion of his clients are people and businesses involved in some area of agriculture. Over the last year, we would occasionally discuss what I would do when Kinzie starts school in a couple of years. I know, starting to worry about this two years in advance is kind of crazy but like I said, I’m a slow decision maker! As I seriously thought about it, I realized that going back to work as a SLP wasn’t what I wanted to do. I wanted to do something in the ag community and for us it made the most sense to start here at home.

So all of this to say that I finally chose what I want to do next. I love the sheep and goats. I love being outside in the spring, summer, and fall. Winter is questionable, I hate being cold. This past fall I started making goat milk soap from the stash of milk I had in our deep freeze. Our family liked it and I had made more than we needed so I decided to sell some before Christmas. It went over well and it was kind of fun. That’s when I decided that I could do this.

So what is “this?” It’s working to make our farm sustainable while at the same time using livestock to regenerate our land. I’m not going to share all of my goals here but I did want to share a couple. The goal closest to being achieved is opening an online farm store. At this time, I plan to sell my goat milk soap and beeswax candles. More products will be added in the future. I am getting so close to opening it and I can’t wait to share with you all when it officially opens.

I also plan to add a flock of wool sheep and honey bees. These sheep and bees, combined with the sheep and goats we already have, will be a huge help in improving our soil health naturally. By improving our soil health, we will be able to increase the number of animals our land can support. I have lots of goals and dreams for our little 14 Hands Ranch and a lot of time is being spent dreaming, planning, and researching right now. It’s fun to think about the possibilities.

When we decided this was what I was going to do, I stumbled upon the quote at the top of this post. It is now on a sticky note above my desk. Sometimes we need a little nudge to follow our dreams.

I will never get tired of Kansas sunrises and sunsets.