# RamblingCowgirl's Life & Ranch Journal



## RamblingCowgirl (Jan 20, 2012)

Lets see where to start....I think the things I am most proud of is that my mother had and home schooled 5 kids, and that my family is very strong in our faith. I mean we are not all rocks but when you have 7 people living together and they all have a good relationship with God it's hard to hit bottom for long.
And now that is something I want to bring into my new life with my fiance.
I'm not very good with plane statments....I tend to go on & on, but I'll try and give some basic stats

I'm in my early 20's and "work" at home. I write, make jewelry, and do other crafts. I'm also an artist. I'm looking to publish a childs book about a pony. I will also handle all the day to day things around the ranch & market what we have to sale.
I'm ingaged to my very dear and most trusted friend. Who basicly stocked me up until I realised what he ment to me this past summer.
We plan to build a home and raise lots of kids. I've always wanted to be a mom more then anything, he feels the same. We would also like to adopt at some point. We also want to home school.
We have somewere close to 15 acers, that is rocky and over grown. The plan was to build a 30x30 dutch barn style house, little by little. But just last week his family made us a rent to own offer on a house & 6-8acres. It is an old house {maybe late 40's}, but well built. And only needs a new wood stove. We will be ripping up the carpet in the bath & kitchen. My FIL to be said its wood floored in the kitchen...I think the whole thing mite be. Looks like we will be able to move in very soon

As for the animals, we have 
Goats 3.? one bred doe
Horses 6.? at least one bred mare
Dogs...for now we have...a lot. I have 2 big dogs, 1 about 25lbs, and 1 small dog. He had 1, plus 2 strays - one is bred. His step dad has a dog that is more ours then his. And then I have some puppies do to a misunderstanding with my brothers about when my 25lb dog was in heat { I had her in a 20' stock trailer}, there are 7. And there is also the pit puppy that a friend of mine found but couldn't keep, and it looks like he will be staying with me. There are sooo meny sweet dogs needing homes, and pits are the hardist to rehome. So thats 8 adults, and 8+ puppies  here is hoping I can get it down to 9 or 10 
Getting our girls fixed is a big part of the budget.
2 cats, mite be getting one more from a friend who will be going to basic training soon.
And 1 banny chicken who lives in my moms kitchen for now.
We are going to add a buck, maybe a sheep or two, and maybe geese & guineas this year. We want to build on what we have, and would love to make a living from our land & stock.

Well I guess that sums it up for now. I'm happy to be here on the BYH, so much to learn.

Forgot to add a trio of rabbits that may or maynot be too old to breed.


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## RamblingCowgirl (Jan 20, 2012)

Saw this on other threads, thought I'd add it

1. What state/province/country are you in and what is your climate like?Oklahoma USA

2. How many people are in your family? Marital status? Engaged, no kids yet...but with how close we are with our family it's way bigger then the 2 of us

3. How would you define your farm? Small, spred out, but a growing investment

4. What would you do with your spare time if you had any resources you needed? The same thing only more of it

5. Have you ever built a house, barn , or other types of building? Do you want to? Well...I've helped with small shelters, and do good so long as I don't have to read the tape. And we plan to build our dream house and other building, I'm happy to lend a hand.

6. Can you weld? Steel, aluminum, MiG, TiG, stick, Oxy-Acet? No, but one of my brothers, my dad, and SIL can MiG & TiG.

7. Who or what inspired you to be a farmer/rancher, hobby farmer? I think I was born wanting it. Almost all of my family grew up on some sort of family farm, or at least around livestock.

8 Is it a hobby or an occupation? It's more of a life style for now.

9. In what areas are you knowledgeable and in what areas would you like to learn more? Everything, you can nver know too much. Gardening, training horses & dogs, anthing that will help me and my family.

10. In what types of farming will you never choose to do? Any typ of commercial. I want to sell fresh foods localy, and seed stock & crafts far & wide

11. Are you interested in providing more of your own food supply? Yes!

12. Where do you end up when you sink into yourself, away from the outside world? Out looking up at the stars or....in the bathroom

13. Can you drive a farm tractor or a semi?Hahah thats funny...eh no. But meny members of my family can.

14. Do you make crafts or useful items? Would you want to teach others how to do these? Yes, and yes! I crochet, knit, sew, and do a bit of leather work. I'd like to learn how to do meny other things like spin. And I'd be willing to teach anyone.

15. Can you legally have all forms of livestock where you are at? Do you have any? What kinds?Yes, and then some. Horses, goats, rabbits.

16. Can you operate a lathe? Metal, wood? No

17. Do you like to garden? If so, what do you enjoy growing? I havent had my own yet, but I have big plans for this year.

18. Do you fish? Bait or explosives? No, I find it so boreing. 

19. How much space/land do you have or rent? City farm? Country? Just a little over 20 acres now...I think. Country, just a few miles from a small town. We own part, and are doing a rebt to own on the other.

20. Are you a Novice, Technician, degreed?Novice in life and everything but being a smart a$$

21. What is your farm specialty? Or what one would you like to learn? I'd like it to be rare livestock, and natural stuff like soaps and what not.

22. If you could create a degree and curriculum, what would you major in and what classes would you take? Humm...thats a hard one. 

23. Do you do wood work? framing, finish, cabinet? No, it runs in my family tho and I'd like to learn a little.

24. Are you interested in herbal animal medicine? Yes. But I don't know much yet.

25. If you could live any place you chose, where would it be? Gosh...if I ever left here {not that I really want to, we want our kids to grow up around our familys} Wyoming, Alaska, Montana...

26. Do you use a wood stove for heating or cooking? Heat, in my dream house I'd have one for cooking.

27. What would your ideal super hero/villain be? N/A Just not my thing

28. Are your family or friends also interested in animals? Oh yeah! Some more then others, and some are more into pets then livestock.

29. Do you like to cook? Are you interested in whole foods and natural foods? raw milk? farm fresh eggs? Yes!  I feel very strongly about fresh food. I'd rather go with out then buy eggs at the store.

30. What was your best animal experience? Worst?Best:hard to pick just one, getting my dog Kota, my AQHA mare Cherokee as a foal, the day her first foal was born...#1 mite be when my 
grandparents gave me my 1st pony, I kept her always she is 20 now. Worst was when my first dog died.

31. Do you forage or hunt for part of your food needs? I don't but almost every one else in the family does.

32. What skills do you have that help you be more a self sufficient farm? I like to learn, and I very willing to take my time while working and just enjoy it. And I know when I need help

33. Do you process your own meat? Can or preserve? Not really...my fiance raise and process rabbits, we {he} are likely to do more. I want to can & dry some foods.

34. Do you use alternative energy sources on your farm? Would you like to?Not yet, I'd love to

35 What is on your to do list? Just about everything someone starting to live their dream could have. For right now, put a budget down on paper, build new goat shelter & a dog yard.

36. Have you ever lived completely off what you produce? Would you like to?No...I'd like to make a living off of what we have, but not live off of just what we have.

37. In what do you trust?God, family, my self, my fiance, my dogs & horses in part, and people unless they give me a reason not to.

38. Do you make and fix things yourself to save money?Sometimes, mostly my fiance, brothers, dad, or FIL to be do the fixing

39. Has the experience with animals changed your attitude or habits? I've always had some sort of animal...so I guess if I did have them I wouldn't be me.


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## jmsim93 (Jan 21, 2012)

Welcome to BYH!!!  Thought I would drop in and say "hi".  I know what it is like to type all that stuff up and try to put yourself out there and all you get is a bunch of views!!!   It sounds like you are on an adventure!  Congratulations on your engagement...I have been married to my best friend for 18yrs and our success stems from keeping Christ first and foremost in our lives! I was happy to see you were planning on doing the same.  I look forward to checking in on you...

Mandy


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## RamblingCowgirl (Feb 1, 2012)

Thank you Mandy 

Still no new word on the house really. One of the rooms is full of things that was his grandma's, she passed about three years back. It seem we are just waiting on his aunt to move all of that. She told her brothers she wanted to be the one to do it. I can't blame her for putting it off, but I'd really like to start moving in and fixing things up. We want to redo the bath room. The stool & tub came out of an old trailer house and are dinky, and they cover the window with the shower/tub wall  and neather of us want carpet in the bath room.
We need to know befor march, that is when our doe it due, and my fiance has never delt with birthing anything...plus he wont have time to milk her. The goats are at his place. He lives in a travle trailer, and if I need to move in there for a while we want to add a small room to it so that I can at least having my sewing table out there....waiting is rather hard when there is so much needing to be done. But I trust God, and try to remind my self of that befor I freak out.

I get to shop for wedding dress fabric some time this month! 

I wanted to share some pics I took this weekend. These two dogs were strays. Both are really nice dogs, and have found a place on the farm. Mama's belly is even bigger then it seems in the pic. And I had to show off our other prego critter, Cookie. She gets a little rounder ever week now. But has at least a month to go...feels almost like spring


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## RamblingCowgirl (Feb 6, 2012)

Well "Mama Dog" had her pups on groundhogs day, 7  seems to be my number, I was really hoping for 4. Oh well, it is what it is. Here is a look at the daddy, buy the time we realised she was in heat it was too late 
	

	
	
		
		

		
		
	


	



He is a Catahoula, he keeps the chickens and goats safe, and his best friend {other then my fiance} is a white tail deer.

Talk to my FIL to be, they can't give us any word for sure on when the house will be ready. That means changes will be made on top of the hill with in this month...I don't really mind, I like it better on the hill and I'd rather build my own house. My fiance is game for eather. We jumped at the offer becaus it was at half the value of the house, and when my FIL 2B call he was in a hurry, now that we are ready all he can say is wait, wait, wait. No matter what we are planting our garden on the hill, replacing the gate post on the goat pen, and buying a reg Alpine bucking.

I just watched my moms cat put up with her puppy for a good 20 minutes...she has really been around him most of the day, they had both been sleeping in my lap. But just now he wanted to play, and the cat just sat there. It was really something to see cuz this cat tends to bully some of the other small dogs. I've seen her jump into a chair just to make a dog move, then leave. It seems she knows that the puppy is a baby...or the cat is getting soft in her old age.


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