01/02/2026
2025 was the year I contemplated changing our name to “Burnt Out Ranch”.
Gosh I hate to be so negative, as there were some really positive moments this past year! But, I also need to be realistic and get it off my chest, because it is the truth!
2025 was the year of the shop build, that will continue in 2026. Everything else went to the wayside to get work done on that. Literally everything. I remember asking myself if I even had enough time in my day to throw a bucket of grain into the duck feeder. The only time we took a break was if it rained or was dark. Cole even worked on it after night shifts. Each milestone completed was never celebrated, but we simply just moved on to the next thing.
I’m sure one day I’ll look back on it and be incredibly thankful to have it, I know we need it for so many reasons, but right now let’s just say, I haven’t exactly “enjoyed the process”. I know we saved a ton of money building it ourselves too, but being “on” and available all the time, rushing, worrying about the weather and pushing my tasks out of the way for this long has worn on me.
Trying to grow a garden, preserve food, farrow pigs, connect with so many people, milk cows, deal with dairy, manage breeding cycles, keep babies alive, track various records, do bookwork, maintain facilities and fences, run a household, keep kids alive, homeschool, clean barns and coops, make hay and straw bales, get Loop 1 hr away, the list goes on forever it seems. Fitting horses in there has not even been a thought. Balancing all this and more has been a losing battle.
Trying to do it all has worn me out; and 2026 will inevitably need to become the year of removing anything that doesn’t serve me, as hard as it is to let go. After all, we are only 2 people, one of which works full time. We don’t have employees in the background, interns through any programs, easily accessible childcare, or generational help backing us. It’s just us. And my kids deserve a more present mom with more time available to do stuff that isn’t just about surviving.
After 4 consecutive drought years, we watched our pastures sizzle to a crisp, also burnt out from being pushed to the limit for too long. Hay prices soared, and we quickly realized we had found our limit on livestock for this property and had to make some tough decisions to downsize. Despite good prices, no profit was made.
Our boar also failed, again, and AI gave us less than stellar results, leaving us with next to no second litter of piglets to sell and scrambling to find a replacement.
I’m honestly sad that we spent this whole last year not really making fun memories. We never enjoyed a single second of the warmer months, and winter soon blasted us with more snow than we have had in the last few years combined, only adding to our workload instead of the slow down of winter that we craved.
To end the year, we have both been taken out by yet another illness, some mysterious multi-symptom flu verging on pneumonia, which has made each day a struggle to just survive and try to muster up enough strength to keep animals alive, because if we don’t go out and do the work, it just doesn’t get done. Thankfully we seem to be on the tail end, but now the kids have got it. Prior to that the roads were so bad and so much snow came down that we were stuck at home. Christmas and New Year’s were not magical like I had hoped.
May this next year be less chaotic, less financially draining, less stressful, and less full to the brim.
More time for fun, more time for activities that aren’t always necessary but still important, more time for enjoying what we have instead of just building more.
Lord knows I need it.
