Hayloft Homestead

06/26/2023

It's so easy to jump into things too fast when you are homesteading. I am so guilty of this, and my biggest push is watching other people on social media. I am constantly asking the Holy Spirit to remind me that it does me no good to compare myself to someone else, and there's no rush. God makes things happen in His time.

I am proud of the patience we had with purchasing pigs. We did our research and found someone whose methods and stock we really believed in , and then we waited. We could have bought all the things and picked them up right away, but we knew the timing was off, so we waited.

Now they are here, and we feel good about it because we know we made the right choices about timing and methods, and we are going to enjoy them so much! Look how stinking cute they are. 🙄 Zach won't let me name them because they are feeders, but of course, I'm going to. 🤣 Meet Cana and Hermon yall. The newest additions to Hayloft Homestead.

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06/11/2023

So proud of Maizey. She has come so far since we brought her home!!! She is finally ready for a forever home, and we can't wait to see who she ends up with.

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06/05/2023

Major puppy cuteness! 6 weeks old today.

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05/21/2023

Some cute pupdates! Week 3-4 is my fav week.

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05/07/2023

Spring has sprung and we have a basket full of puppies!

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04/03/2023

Meekos ultrasound is tomorrow and we are super excited to find out how many cutie pies she is having!

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02/21/2023

Meet Biscuit, our latest rescue. 🐶 She was offered to Zach for free yesterday while he was on his route, and I went right over to pick her up. She was so full of worms that you could feel her spine. She was starving, dehydrated, and lifeless by the evening. We were worried she might not make it through the night. We treated her, gave her a hydration booster, and quarantined her. Today, she's full of life. I took a break from work to take her outside to run around, and she had a blast.

She was presented as an Aussie/Heeler mix, but after seeing the parents, I'm pretty sure she's 3/4 Aussie with 1/4 Heeler (dad looks like an A/H mix) and unfortunately, she was a Merle x Merle mistake. She can hear and see just fine, thankfully. I'm excited to see how she is on stock when she gets old enough.

She's super smart. She figured out the puppy litter box right away, but she's extremely non-socialized, and she'll need a lot of work to catch up on the early socialization that was missed.

02/13/2023

We got our first round of seeds and potatoes planted this weekend. 3 25-gallon grow bags with potatoes. Tomatoes, 3 kinds of onions, peppers, cauliflower, eggplant, and more. Set up a little grow shelf in my room. Can't wait to watch them sprout!

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01/19/2023

It's puppy time at Cullins Collies. These little chunks are 20 days old today. Cutie cutie pies.

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01/19/2023

We got a ram! Super excited for our ladies to start breeding in the fall. We are setting some fun homestead goals for 2023, and that was one of them. We also watched the replay of .dorpers micro-masterclass, and it was awesome! So much great information. We live in an area that does not cater to healthy breeding or care for their flock, and we want to be catalysts for change.

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11/30/2022

Noelle ❄️ We are so excited to welcome a livestock guardian dog to our family. She was rescued by a neighbor of a family that moved and left momma and 9 new puppies behind. The neighbor found them in a ditch. Her tail and foot have some permanent scarring and her hair won't grow back in some spots.

She's 6 or 7 weeks old (not sure yet) and already blowing our minds with her intelligence and obedience. I'm looking forward to doing some basic training with her. We are keeping her inside for a while so we can bond with her and teach her how to feel safe and connected to us so that she can trust us when we give her commands in serious situations such as the birth of a lamb.

puppy training

11/10/2022

Getting a picture with everyone is way harder than you'd think. 🤣🙄

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10/28/2022

Preparation Pt. 2 -

Meat.. 🐔🐖🐂 We have had so many conversations about meat. It's a staple in our home and lately we've been eating less and less because we just aren't willing to be ripped off by the grocery stores. We would always rather buy local and buy clean.

Our sweet neighbors recently told us about so we went to check them out this week. We were pleasantly surprised by their availability/options. So far we've loved everything we tried! Our freezers are both full and we are stocked for the next few months.

Preparing for the future looks like a 6 part plan for us right now.

1. We are picking up some feeder pigs in 2 weeks in VA. They'll be ready fall of next year.
2. We will be buying a large freezer (very second hand somewhere) this winter.
3. Over the next 3 months, we will be purchasing everything we need to put electric around the top 3 acres so we can rotate the pig and the sheep/cattle separately. (Going to cost minimum $1000.00.)
4. In the spring we'll be purchasing some meat cattle.
5. When the pigs are ready in the fall, for the sake of saving hundreds of dollars, I am going to butcher them myself. The price per lb of butchering is extremely expensive right now.
6. In the spring we'll start breeding half of our meet chickens and butchering the other half.

By the end of next year we hope to half 1 whole pig, 1 whole cow, and 25+ meat chickens from our own pasture in our freezer.

10/26/2022

Preparation Part 1 -

Before we bought our house, we heard the Lord speak to us about being prepared for the days to come. Land was one of the many items of preparation. We fought long and hard for our land.

Early this year I began hearing the Lord speak to us about canned and dried foods. We started picking up a little extra when we went to the grocery store. Buying 2 or 3 cans instead of the one we needed.

We would love to do more, be more prepared but God always meets us where we are at. He knows what we need, what we have to work with, and He hears our longing to be cared for.

The world is changing rapidly around us. So many things are affecting our resources. We are listening to the Lord and making these decisions with Godly wisdom with the intention of being prepared to provide for ourselves if we need to.

10/25/2022

Painted lady making a dash for some grass far far away from me (she still doesn't know how cool I am). We finally got the top field finished and let the sheep out to pasture. They are pretty happy. They've munched their paddock down so we are turned them out. They are free ranging right now but we are getting ready to set up some wire to rotate them.

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10/24/2022

Look at these beautiful heritage turkeys we just added to our homestead. They are so gorgoeus. They came from breeding stock and hadnt been released on grass yet so yesterday we let them out for a little while (supervised) and they absolutely loved it! 🦃🍁🍂

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10/23/2022

Start where you are! This is one of the guiding principles in a major industry leading business model (ITIL v4). I went to pick these sheep up in the farm suv the other day and I felt so ashamed. While I was driving there I kept hearing the Lord say, 'It's okay to start where you are.' There is no shame in having less than someone else. Building a homesteading life from scratch is hard and we have to learn to use what we have to get things done!

10/16/2022

10/16/2022

Ruby did an excellent job getting these two out of the corner. That bigger female is tough and she does not like being worked. Good job Ruby!

10/16/2022

Ms. Maize May is the newest member of our pack. I was scrolling through Facebook a few nights ago and I saw her listed for free (as a border collie). I felt like I had to go get her because dogs should never be rehomed for free. It's too easy for someone who can't take care of them to pick them up. Especially around here where malnourished animals are such a huge problem. I reached out about her and the lady didn't vet me at all, so I knew I had to go.

When we picked her up we asked if anything was known about pedigree, parents, etc and we asked about her experience around stock. We were told parents were both purebred Collies but she was not the breeder. Mininal experience around their livestock. She didnt even have a name and I'd say shes 6 or 7 months old. I managed to get ahold of the breeder and he had an entirely different story and said she was 1/2 Border Collie, 1/2 Aussie.

She is super sweet and shes picking up her obedience training very fast. Were going to get her DNA tested. After she's solid on obedience and some basic whistle work I'll be training her on stock so she can be a successful working dog for someone.

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10/15/2022

Soooo excited to announce...Tag x Meeko first litter coming Spring of 2023 & we have 3 waitlist spots open still. We are expecting this litter to be extremely biddable, rough coat (long), gentle, fast learning, and eager to work with a good off switch.

If you'd like to know more shoot me a message and I'll send you to our Good Dog profile.
_ does AMAZING work for us every single time. 😇💥🙌🏼 If you ever need anything digital done, she's the one. Website design, logos, flyers, anything I've asked for she's done exceptionally.

10/15/2022

This week has been harddddd. One of the most high stress weeks of my live. In the midst of all the chaos I have been able to lean on Christ and his steadfastness. He never changes, He protects my heart and teaches me how to protect it. He cares so deeply about how I feel and the Holy Spirit consistently helps me to navigate my emotions in difficult settings.

I have also been able to lean on my husband and the life we have built. Our dogs and our farm are always a place of cheer for me. I believe that is not because we have 'good things' but because we have sought the Lord and listened to his leading every step of the way. When you are in the Lords will, there is holy peace to lean on.

My bosses have been extremely supportive (even though I just switched roles and joined a whole new team) & I am so grateful for that.

This week was one of the hardest I've had and the emotional trauma will long outlast this weekend. I don't know how I'd get through it without the Lord near to me. We still have a lot of decisions and feelings to navigate. Pray for my husband's heart (spiritual not physical) if you see this.

09/10/2022

Ruby doing some whistle work.

09/10/2022

Derby training is going well!

08/17/2022

We have three sweetest sheep! They are so easy and friendly and they have done a great job starting to get stock broke.

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08/15/2022

Meeko had her first herding lesson yesterday (she did way better than me).