It must be fall...

The calendar may say that Autumn doesn't begin for a few more days, but for us, the first sign of Fall is lighting the woodstove. It's official...the woodstove is furnishing some welcome heat for this chilly day. We attended a picnic this afternoon, which required a trip into the attic to retrieve sweaters and jackets. The boys (4 y.o. and 2 y.o.) kept us running so we didn't get too chilled...just tired!

As I type this, Wayne and the boys are moving fence lines...again...The farmer has finally cut and baled our back field and we are working at getting more permanent grazing pastures put in for the alpaca. We intend to have one large pasture with several smaller grazing pastures within.

We have the water line in and working. It is pure joy to have a water source right next to the barn. Hauling buckets does get tiring. We still need to get the electricity hooked up in the barn...especially with the darkness coming earlier these days.

This week I spun 2 skeins of yarn--1 from Indian Paintbrush (brown/white) and 1 from Mystifier (rose gray). Both skeins were delivered to the shop in Sidney. I hope to get a skein from Flashdancer (brown) and Mr. Wonderful (black) done this week and into the shop. I'm also trying to design the headband/warmer kit to put in the shop within the next couple of weeks.

School started officially at Riverside Homeschool this past week. We started a week later than the public school in order to complete one task that I committed to completing before the new school year began...cleaning out my craft room! It took two days, but the craft room is now 2 big boxes and 4 garbage bags less cluttered! I was even able to find places for all my unwashed or unspun fleece. The kids have been great at getting back into the school routine. The biggest challenge is dealing with the 2 littlest guys in the midst of "reading time". I've made up some preschool activities for them to do ONLY during school time. Hopefully, they won't lose interest in those any time soon.

Matt(20 y.o.) and Marc (14 y.o.) are talking over the possibilities of raising Nygerian Dwarf Goats. Matt wants to get in on this farming "thing" but doesn't have a lot of time. He's thinking he might be able to partner with "Farmer" Marc (since he's the resident chicken farmer and has experience with animals) to do the daily chores. Matt will help out more on the business aspect. He's thinking over the possibilities of breeding and maybe soap made from goats' milk. We'll see if it develops into reality. Wayne told them he doesn't mind as long as he nor I end up doing the work. We really don't need more activities added to our day!

Thanks for checking in on the farm. My next goal is to get pictures up on the site. A computer wizard, I am NOT, so I rely on Matthew to help me out.