Working odd jobs
Between feed, utilities, equipment, supplies and livestock, I had a serious case of sticker shock more often than not. My wonderful husband has been beyond supportive throughout, and helped finance and build various projects and investments, but the fact that our little farm in the making just couldn't come close to supporting itself after a couple years was disappointing.
Being a stay at home mom has been great, but even when the kids were in school full time, I found, to my dismay, that I was essentially unemployable. Between dropping the kids off at school and picking them back up again, there just wasn't enough time for a standard part time job - and believe me, I LOOKED. I sent in applications and resumes, knocked on doors, I did a really thorough search. Nothing. Sorry. Not happening.
Did I mention I'm stubborn? I figured, ok, if I can't get a standard job, I'll seek out a non-standard job. Work from home gigs generally required a time and financial investment in some form of training or schooling - not an option. So I asked (begged) of friends and family - and got my first regular odd job, doing yard cleanup (poop scooping) twice a week for my good friend that has Saint Bernards. Over time, I've added to those regular odd jobs; they now also include before/after school/summer child care, household/barn organizing & clean out, rabbitry/barn work (feeding, watering, cleaning out litter pans, etc). I also have a few irregular odd jobs, such as goat blood draw, goat hoof trims, and general labor.
With this busier weekday schedule came more dependable income as cash or trade value (rabbit feed/hay etc), and a wonderful sense of security and independence.
It's a bit more of a daily struggle to balance all of this with my daily household and my own farm chores, so I decided to make some changes there...
Fewer things, less stress
At first, letting go of items that I thought had a higher cash value or that I would of course need the moment it was gone, was frustrating and upsetting for me (yep, I'm a hoarder in self-induced recovery), but I quickly found that cutting ties with those items quickly and getting them out of the house immediately gave me a tremendous sense of relief, especially if those items went to friends or farming acquaintances, where I knew they were needed and would get used instead of sitting and doing nothing other than collecting dust.
Once the pattern of simplifying and minimizing began to take root in the house, it wasn't long before I started taking a really hard, realistic look at the farm...
Less livestock
We'd already tried out (and eliminated) a lot of critters on our farm: Coturnix quail, Muscovy ducks, Pilgrim geese, Narragansett/Auburn/Lilac turkeys, llama, various rabbit breeds. I'm a hands on learner for the most part, so it was an important part of the process for me to be able to bring these animals onto our farm and live with them for a while, to see what it was really like having them here. Nope. Not a good fit at all. Some animals I didn't feel like we needed to try out; they were simply not a good fit for various reasons: larger livestock like cows (even miniature ones), pigs, etc would be too tough on our smaller lot and cost too much to raise to butcher.
I'd settled on keeping Bielefelder chickens (great dual purpose breed), rabbits (American Chinchilla, Creme D'Argent), and Oberhasli dairy goats (just 2 does).
Somehow, this still didn't feel quite right, though, like there was something still out of place.
A big part of this feeling was my own fault, without question. I'm guilty of "carting before horsing"; I dive into a project or idea, end up over my head, and often need my poor husband to help bail me out of the trouble I've gotten myself into. Like getting the livestock before the trees have been removed, forcing us to put up temporary pens and shelters for an undetermined amount of time...yeah, my fault.
The goats kept coming up as a problem. Our 2 lovely sweet and funny Ober does kept using the dog door to get in the house, or knock over a weak section of fence, or push through a gap between the fence and gate, or raiding the rabbit feeders, or...yeah, you get the idea. BIG PROBLEM. We didn't need the extra hassle and stress, so I made arrangements for them to be boarded off-site (thank you yet again, Edelweiss Ranch) for a while so we could get a sturdier pen built for them. With the deadline for them coming back home looming near, an unexpected opportunity opened up.
This happened...
A horse?
I've wanted my own horse since I was a kid. I had riding lessons when I was MUCH younger, and now with a more dependable income and wanting to get back in touch with activities I used to enjoy (like riding lessons), and being on a mission to minimize/simplify, I was beyond delighted when my amazing husband said YES to a horse...with some conditions.
Keep it fed and well cared for, keep it from turning our farm into a mud pit, and get rid of the goats.
Well. Alrighty then.
I love my goats, particularly Darla, but they haven't produced anything but dubious entertainment on our farm almost the entire time they've been here. I contacted the lovely family that purchased our previous 2 Obers, and offered both of my remaining Obers to them, provided they went together - the family happily accepted, and what's better is that they invited me to come visit :)
The rabbitry is being reduced to bare minimum. I still have some assessments to do for the final decisions of who stays and who goes, but I already have a pretty good idea of which ones are my keepers. I truly enjoy raising rabbits, but the truth is that I'm the only one in the family that also enjoys eating them, and I haven't learned to tan/taw the pelts yet, so there's no reason to have as many breeding animals as I do. I've essentially passed my herd of American Chinchillas to a local up and coming breeder, and most of the Creme D'Argents were returned to their breeder.
The chickens will stay; in fact, we're growing our flock further so that we'll have poultry to eat as well as a steady source of eggs.
All of these decisions are clearing the way for the POSSIBILITY of a horse. I still have a lot of research to do (books, online, horse savvy friends & family), not least of which is my all important hands on learning (riding lessons & lease of Brick, a Haflinger/Quarter Horse at Babylon Farm) before any final decision is made on whether or not I'll have my own horse after all, but let me tell you, just knowing it might happen has my heart singing :)