Clara Belle's Farm: There is a reason behind all of this........

Everything we do we have to start from somewhere and I have always loved to take care of animals. As a child my Daddy and Mama made attempts to get me the animals that I ask for but they had limited yard space so it was narrowed down to dogs, rabbits and hamsters but I still liked it all the same. No one else in my immediate family has the same farming ideas as I do either. They often look at me like I have lost it or just laugh. My Dad could not quit laughing the first time he seen me milking my goat. Anyway, where I would like to be is............back to the old days where things were simple and you could trust people and even though they had to work hard they had to have much less stress. I will admit I am a little spoiled to the modern day because that is all that I know, being born in 1978 means that I have not had to grow my own food, prime tobacco or walk 20 miles to school but it does not mean that I cannot learn. Thanks to Google and plenty of books I am learning more and more. Getting my own eggs was the beginning, starting a garden this year and buying my own canning supplies is a start. I would love to train Jack (the mule) to pull a plow and garden that way so we will see how that goes. I have a pear tree and peach tree that I will make jams or do some freezing and plan to plant an apple tree also.

I was fortunate enough a few weeks back to meet a young couple that actually built their house from timber on their land and use solar panels, they have no power to their house at all! Now I could live like that if I was able to stand Jon and Alston, they are not so outdoorsy. I have leaned alot from them, they are some of those unique and interesting people I was telling you that I have been blessed enough to meet. She has given me ideas for organic fly sprays using natural oils and even makes her own floor cleaners. She will soon be visiting an Indian reservations for two months where she will be taught about natural medicines. I think that if we all realized what was really in our foods, soaps, cleaners, etc we would rethink how we do things. Either way, I am all about all natural and organic but I have been known to do things the hard way anyway. Since I had a late start this year with all the animal stuff going on I plan to expand my garden next year and be able to can food for the winter. Now if someone could change the way I look at that sweet Therby, I could have some meat for the winter too! I know we all have to have jobs but I am blessed enough to have Saturday-Monday off so that leaves me time to work on all of these projects I like to start!