Folks, it was in your back yard.

Can I hear a AMEN!? Joel Salatin is a great inspiration to my soul. In the wake of hearing that H.R. 993 passed silently without a fight, I am battling being defeated. Another name for H.R. 933 is the Monsanto Protection Act, it's a rider in the bill that slipped through congress while my heart sank watching it. 

Well, there's two things I can do - I can bitch, moan, and whine about it. Or I can DO SOMETHING myself. Therein lays the power I want to spread - This idea that food comes from stores and that we are helpless whimps that have to whine all the time like spoiled children is complete shit. We ARE a beautiful, powerful, hard working, dedicated species. We aren't mindless nor helpless. Let me encourage each of you to enact change. Start small. 

Well, beyond my crazy activism by taking control of our lives - here's a peak into what else is going on around here :)

That gorgeous piece of man swinging that friggin sledge hammer would be my awesome Mr. A la Carte is certainly growing!

Aurora waited almost a full 7 weeks for her birthday party but had a BLAST! Such a fun group of ladies came to celebrate with her. 

Other than a birthday party, there was one thing she had asked for : her ears pierced. So, we said YES! This lovely 5 year old girl is sporting a lovely pair of purple stars now. We did them in front of her friends, which cured them of wanting their ears pierced (nice side effect, your welcome mothers!) and made her so brave. She looks in the mirror about every 5 minutes or so to stare and admire. She is SO proud of them!

The barn fridge is full of life these days. Between eggs fresh from our hens to milk directly from the farmer, it's a bustling little place! We've been blessed to use our barn as a drop point for this milk for not just our family but several other families! 

Those are organic yukon gold potatoes starting in my window sill. The fully developed one in the back is a yam :) Oh SO excited spring is here!

And what would 70 degree weather bring but a baby in a new white dress enjoying the dirt? 

Yep, REALLY enjoying the dirt. Bath time is a daily must now. 

All this playing in the dirt lead to Declan getting his hair chopped off last week. It was getting long, which he loved, but I was hating trying to tackle him to brush it and it was impossible to keep him any where close to clean. This should be much easier to shampoo... 

That's the back of my suburban the day I picked up Daunika's girl scout order! She rocked it indeed :)

This week I have hopes to plant strawberries, host Easter dinner, play with my kids, deliver a mountain of girl scout cookies, make soap, plan a biology class, and fully enjoy my life. 

Blessed Day.

Reset

What your looking at is a whole lemon, 20 cloves of raw glaric, and a drizzle of honey. This lovely, you-might-think-your-dying-while-you-chug, mixture is in my blender just before pouring in a tad bit of hot water and turning the blender on. Yep, I've been drinking these a lot lately. Is it just me or is this cold and flu season especially bad this year?

This drink feels like death going down and the burping affect for the next hour as your body processes it nearly does kill you. Brush your teeth 10 times after and you'll still taste garlic..... however, it's MAGIC. This drink concoction has saved me countless times from misery this cold and flu season. Recommended to me from a friend, you make this the moment the cold is beginning to take root in your body and just trust me, it works. Life changing stuff right there!

Food is a big deal in our home. This lovely spread is what our makes taco night from boring to amazing. I mean really, look at all those yummy toppings to choose from!

Food isn't just a way to survive, it's a way to thrive. I've spent a good portion of the week finding a new hay vendor for certified organic alfalfa for our dairy goats. We're in the process of switching over our chickens to GMO free, corn free, soy free layer feed.

Just one step at a time.

These are the lovely need additions to the Huberty Homestead. 15 beautiful chicks have found there way into our lives with intention. We had planned to expand our flock but when that vicious dog took out half our hens 2 weeks ago, this order of chicks became a replacement not a increase. We have 5 black sex links, 5 black australorps and 5 buff orpingtons. We'll also be raising 3 little auracaunas (need to purchase still) for the awesome family we know that "lent" us three hens that are great layers when we lost our flock. We are going to raise them some auracaunas so they get some lovely little colored eggs in the fall to add to their flock of brown egg layers :)

Here we grow again!

It's a great day to be THREE!

Our Moose. Oh how special you are little man. Happy Happy Happy Birthday Declan Morrow!! I cannot believe you are THREE today! You are such a bright light in our home, thank you for being so totally you.

You are loud, busy and such a little man. You look at the world through your wonderful lens. Today was a relaxed day hanging out with you. Here's a peak into your lovely day turning three!

In all your silliness, you were so excited to have a chocolate cake! 

And tradition rolls on........

Make a Wish!! 

I love you little man. 

Better!

Oh how my heart delights to report we're all feeling much better. We have had an exceptionally hard week around this little homestead of ours. In addition to seizures and illness that plagued our children over the last 10 days, we had a vicious dog attack and kill half our flock. To our devastation  we didn't catch him in time and our chickens are still very shy and hiding out anytime our own pup comes around. My husband and some kind helpful missionaries helped us build fences and secure our flock. I'm sad they cannot truly free range but I'll rest better knowing they are safe.

It's hard to imagine a dog killing for fun when our own dog is such a kind and gentle soul. Zoey is 7 now and beginning to really change her color as she grows a bit older. Such a wonderful animal indeed.

Kalani is back to her usual self. Her little spirit is so bubbly and Damon had it pegged right : we knew something wasn't right when she lost her 'fight'. When she was sick, she didn't act herself. She was weak, mellow, clingy and really a different child. We're glad to have Lani back full swing... She terrorized the cat, dumped flour all over the floor and is generally wrecking havoc this morning :)

After a week off for illness, we're back full swing for school around here. Daunika created her very own project that was awesome to watch her creativity and thought process. She created a "puppet show" staring our very own goats. She took great care in building the stage to ensure that the proper paper was used showing hay and even colored the two goats the same colors as our goats. really awesome indeed!!

Aurora's sweet personality is up to the usual antics.  Watch out world, this little one is going some where, don't under estimate her quiet presence.

Life skills are full swing in the works around here. Our remaining hens are great layers thankfully and provide enough eggs for us comfortably. The kids all made their own eggs this morning with different amounts of help from me. Daunika was able to turn on the pan, add olive oil, crack eggs, flip them and put them on her plate without a stitch of help from me! Aurora cracked eggs and took them from the pan to the plate (I flipped) and Declan picked his eggs and tried very hard at cracking them (minimal mess, some shells, whatever, he was proud!)

This morning both Aurora and Declan joined me at 6:45 to milk Mama. It was too cold for me to even consider taking a camera outside, I was in a hurry but the kids delighted in the experience. I'm glad they were there with me. Aurora had a million questions and Declan collected eggs bright and early. It was a great way to start the day! We are getting about 18 ounces every morning. We're happy with that and the kids seem to like it. It is a transition indeed.

Life is better around here!