I'm not sure I have posted about this old car before.  It was moved to this spot a while back and now it's up on blocks.  I'm hoping that the owner is going to restore this old beauty.  The barn it was next to has been torn down, which is so sad.  Most of the old barns around here are neglected.  They are either falling down or have been taken down.  I'd rather see them taken down vs having fallen and the rubble just stays there in a huge pile left to rot. 

I can't wait to see if there will be anything done with this old car.  I sure hope so.

We decided that today we will make a morning of it and leave the homestead.  We had left early enough that the sun was making the sky a pretty color as we were leaving our place

We have been having some negative temps here in Southwest Wisconsin, and it will continue for the next few days.  I believe our lowest one morning was -14°.  I know it's probably colder in other parts of the country, but it's a bit too cold to be working outside on the cow barn.  So we went for a drive to a cute café we have not tried before and had breakfast, we will definitely go back again.  . 

I know that the café looks like it might not have the best food, but I'm here to tell you the breakfast was awesome.

It felt good to get out for a bit, cabin fever was starting to set in.  We ended up at our Amish friends for a cup of coffee and great conversation and good laughs.

It was a perfect way to spend a Saturday morning.

One thing about the winter months we will get some amazing sunsets and sunrises.  These two happen to be a morning sky in December.  One looking out over towards our neighbor's place and the other is 2 days later taken while doing chores.  I have slacked in the blogging department the past couple of years.  This year I plan to start blogging again but definitely not every day, I'm sure.  I still take tons of photos and had every intention to blog about the photo, but I just didn't quite seem to do it.  This year I do, and that's where my word for the year comes in, balance.

I can't believe that this year I have had a blog for 15 years.  I never imagined that I would still be keeping this blog up and running for that long.  I've changed it up here somewhat as I have done over the years. 

So, here's hoping I can balance blogging and life here on our homestead.

I really can't believe that 2021 has come and gone.  We've had a lot of changes here on the homestead in the past two years.  We added chickens and more chickens, we raised and butchered pigs, we are now raising a steer for meat and come spring we should be milking a cow, preferably a Jersey.

Our egg supply is starting to build up again, we have 15 layers, 5 hens and 10 pullets who have really started laying.  We've also acquired 5 bantam hens who have not started laying yet and a bantam rooster that we named Barney and thinks he's a really big man but he's not :)

I'm trying to balance homesteading with my hobbies such as knitting and quilting and for the past year or more I haven't done a very good job fitting knitting and quilting in.  So, this year I am really going to make a strong effort to take the time and knit or get in my sewing room.  With that said I'm starting off good, so far at least (LOL).  I have cleaned my much-needed sewing room, it has been neglected for far too long.  I have also pulled out the knitting needles and made myself a winter hat from the pattern I absolutely love from SouleMama.  It's such an easy pattern and I love how it fits.

So far 2022 is starting off good.  Last year I picked a word for the year and that was FOCUS, for the most part I was able to focus on things better than I have had in the past.  I had been picking my brain for a word this year, the word "focus" still pops up in my head and that's good because I believe I can still have focus in my life.  The word I have actually decided on is "balance".  I need to start balancing things in my life better, so that's the word I am going with...BALANCE.

So, here's to a wonderful 2022 and I am focused on balancing things in my life from this day forward.

Happy New Year!  I hope you all had a wonderful safe and happy New Year as well as a wonderful Christmas.  We had a blessed Christmas here and a very quiet New Year.  I guess we are getting "older" as we just can't seem to stay up to welcome in the new year like we used to.

We are in the process of building a barn to house our future milk cow and after some scrambling to finish part of the barn a stall that was originally in the plans is right now housing our steer.  Jim worked very hard to get that ready for the steer especially when winter was fast approaching at the time it was all going down.  So, in preparation for the milk we will be getting from our future milk cow I am reading all I can about making cheese and butter, I just can't wait for that to happen.  In the meantime, I am making kombucha from a Scoby that I received from our Amish friends, it's all bottled up and fermenting for the second time and a new batch is also fermenting as well.

I also am going to get into fermenting food, there are so many health benefits from fermented foods and not just from sauerkraut.  As I do like sauerkraut, I would like to ferment other foods. 

This year 2022 will be the year for many firsts and I am looking forward to all the firsts that will be happing around here.