The first month

Okay, so when you're looking for a house and you find one that instantly clicks, there's a romantic part of your brain that shuts down all logic and reason and all you see is "the dream."  Then you move in and reality sets in and well, let's just say, turns out the house needs FAR more work than we realized.  But, there is an upside to 5 acres of dilapidated fences, poorly grassed pastures, jimmy-rigged barn apartments and more hand-sized spiders than one can count.  FREEDOM.  The freedom to be, the freedom to do and the freedom to live the dream.  So, here we are.  On a farm in the middle of Florida, making far less money, away from all the people, activities and comforts of familiarity, settling into what seems to be shaping up to be a pretty nice change of pace.

So, some of you have asked for observations, updates and the like.  Well, here goes....

1. Got a pig.  She had 5 piglets.  3 sold, 2 died.   She's sweet, but who knew disposing of her waste would be a full time job?  So nasty.

2. Wanted fresh milk, got some goats.  Lower lactose, higher fat, better for you.  2 pregnant does

and 1 very horny buck.

All I have to say is.....don't ever turn your back to him!  Girls are due sometime before Christmas, so you all can expect some killer goat's milk fudge in your future!

3. Spiders suck.  Cannot TELL you how much I hate them.  How fortunate for me that there are more species and sizes of spiders here than I can keep track of!  Ironic enough....there is a large spider who has made her home across the opening of the pig pen.  We've named her Charlotte.  

When you walk outside in the morning, the dewey grass sparkles with thousands of little grass webs.  Never seen anything like this - pretty cool, though.

4. I thought trading in palm trees for oak trees would be fantastic.....uh, NO.  Hundreds of thousands of acorns crunching under your feet - beautifully romantic sound.  The MESS from hundreds of thousands of acorns crunching under your feet - P I t A.

5. Wanted fresh eggs, got some chickens.  Realized very quickly chickens are persnickety and will only lay during the winter if the sun, moon, and stars are all in the proper alignment, you praise and compliment them every morning and sing them a  lullaby every night and pray for a miracle.  Maybe it's just the breed I got.  Call me shallow, but I wanted CUTE chickens....whatever.

Let's hope we get some action soon or Snowball I and Santa's Little Helper will be coming to dinner! (Props BTW to those who caught the pop culture reference in the names!)

6. Okay, so we have these ginormous troughs out in the pastures for the horses' water, right?  They get filled up by the rain, and woodland creatures of all types help themselves.  No problem there.  Walking out in the morning and finding a squirrel float  - problem THERE!  (Out of respect for Nichole, I will NOT post the pic - pretty nasty though).

7. Farm work is hard, ya'll!  From mending fences to mucking out stalls (still aghast at the amount of poo I have to clean up!) to feeding and watering animals...this is a better work out than any $30/month gym membership!  Come spring, we're planting a fruit/veggie garden.  Let's hope my black thumb didn't make the move with us!

8.  There's nothing better than a warm fireplace on a cold evening!  So long as the wood is stacked properly, the floo is open and the entire house doesn't fill up with smoke!

9. Finally - first AWESOME experience in the city vs. farm life:  getting to find and cut our own Christmas tree from the local Christmas tree farm!  There's is nothing cooler for a little boy than to help his dad cut down his very own Christmas tree!

So far.....City Life: 0, The Simple Life: 100