It's official! We have found a new farm! Kind of. By "farm", I mean we found a house that we can live in and build a farm on. The house is way bigger than what we wanted, but it passed the building inspection (mostly) and it's situated on 10 acres of cleared, flat land that … Continue reading Finally!
The East Coast is currently experiencing a heat wave. This makes working the horses difficult, but not impossible. We're doing short sessions, mostly ground work. By "we", I mean my daughter and I. At 11 years old, she's really becoming an accomplished equestrian in her own right. She argues with me incessantly and throws melodramatic … Continue reading Heat Waves and Needy Horses
Last week my husband moved his office to a town two hours away from where we live now. He's actually living there now, and will be living there without us for the foreseeable future until we find a farm up there. We knew the move was coming, which was why we've been driving ourselves insane … Continue reading House Hunters: Taking a Break
Warning: This may turn into an epic rant. The hunt for the perfect farm continues, but it's now become the hunt for a property that is just kind of acceptable and we'll fix it. We looked at one farm that shared a driveway with an active cemetery, which wasn't a dealbreaker for us, but their … Continue reading House Hunters: Feeling Stabby
I'm not sure if this was a thing in other parts of the world, but in the late 2000s alpaca farms became the "get rich quick scheme" du jour in NJ. I have no idea how this was supposed to work, as I know nothing about alpacas. Were you supposed to eat them? Use their … Continue reading House Hunters: The Alpacalypse
I've been a bit quieter than usual, but for good reason. We're officially looking for our next farm. This will be the next-to-last farm we will ever own, so we're putting a lot of thought into what we're getting. I say "next-to-last" because eventually my husband will retire and we'll bug off the East Coast … Continue reading House Hunters, Farm Edition
The weather in NJ is officially on my shit list. March is always a rotten month, but this particular March was a disaster. 70 degree days that turned into 20 degree nights, rain, sleet, hail, and wind, wind, wind. We're in extremely flat farm country which also has extremely sandy soil, so when the wind … Continue reading March Comes In Like A Lion, And Out Like A Rabid Weasel
I've been sick for pretty much the entire month of February. I think I was sick for most of January, too. I can't really remember January. I take immune suppressant drugs to treat my autoimmune disease. It keeps my disease under control, but the major side effect is that I get every single virus I'm … Continue reading In Sickness and In Health
Newboy's birthday was today, he turned 9. We always have little parties for the horses on their birthdays, complete with party hats. Newboy hasn't been with us very long, so he was not really sure about the hat business. Luckily, Jack is always down to wear a hat, so he wore the party hat instead. … Continue reading Happy Birthday, Newboy!
Yesterday, around 2pm, my neighbor calls me up. "Did you know there's a skunk in your front yard?" There was, in fact, a skunk in my front yard. Which raises the next question, what do I do about the skunk in my front yard? A normal person would probably think, "Oh, no! Rabies!", and get … Continue reading A Funky Road Trip.
A Work In Progress.... 