Here we go again. Just some ramblings of this summer.

Coming up again is that darn Preparedness month. September is soon around the corner. This year we are really happy with where we sit as far as homesteading and prepping. Our gardens did, and still are, very well. Our end of winter venture of starting a chicken flock was a bust when we put our first batch of 20 9 week old chicks outside. On night 4 a critter got in and killed them all. It was a horrid sight. Luckily, my DH couldn't bear having a house full of crying girls, and we were still able to get chicks from the feed store at the end of spring. With a much more updated wire heavy house, we haven't lost any. We also invested in a dog, Bandit. 75% Great Pyrenees, 25% Anatolian Shepard, his birthday was May 1st, 2015. Unfortunately with this bunch of 20 chickens, we ended up heavy on the roosters, 14 in fact. So we're looking forward to a full freezer soon. Their about breeding size, and I sure hate beaten up hens. My DH has also started dieting and, at this time, quit smoking. He's lowered his CARB intake, and has lost many pounds. Even with him not wanting to stop and grab food all the time, even I've lost weight. I've also moved on from my soap making and into using Essential Oils for ailments. We don't typically have much ailments in our home besides the regular cold and flu. They pass pretty quickly though. Even though we have a wide range of medicine, we try not to take anything unless absolutely needed. That's what I like most about the Essential Oils. If they lose their potency, I can make more. If I run out, I can make more. I should add that even as I haven't exactly done my own oil excretion, I did get many annual herbs into my side planters. Lemon Thyme, lavender, and oregano. They are doing so much better than I expected also. My strawberries took off like crazy. I got 2 barrels of asparagus in. So a few things that I wont get to see until next Spring, but I'm really looking forward to it.