Year In Review

Tomorrow marks the two year anniversary of this little blog of ours (you can see our very first ever post here), so as we did last year this time, we thought it would be fun to look back on the past year and see what all we've accomplished. Sometimes it seems like we aren't moving fast enough toward our goals, but seeing a list of all we've achieved in the last year is very encouraging and keeps us excited to continue our journey to self-sufficiency. Here's what we've been up to this past year.

1) Expanded our flock of guineas when one of our hens went broody and hatched out her own keets.

2) Got our first big snow since moving to the country and learned about being prepared for winter storms.

3) Tried our hand at making maple syrup (part 1 and part 2) from our own maple trees.

4) Contributed to our first e-book, Farm to Table through the Year.

5) Developed an easy (and beautiful!) method for drying herbs from our garden.

6) Delved into the world of beekeeping when we brought home our first nuc colony.

7) Added to our flock with five new pullets.

8) Witnessed the magic firsthand of letting a broody hen hatch out her own chicks.

9) Rescued two tiny kittens (Gizmo and Emma) who just appeared in our chicken coop one day.

10) Successfully transplanted fig trees from my grandma's garden and harvested our first figs.

11) Had great luck with planting cucumbers for the first time.

12) Opened an Etsy shop to sell prints of photos taken on our homestead.

13) Grew sunflowers for the first time.

14) Built our own reclaimed wood farmhouse table.

15) Tried a new heirloom variety of tomatoes with great success.

We're really proud of all we've learned this past year and can't wait to see where the next year takes us. We hope you'll continue to follow along in our journey!

~Tammy and David

Etsy Shop Grand Opening & Giveaway!

I am very happy to announce that I have created an Etsy shop to sell my prints online! I have really been getting into photography over the last year since venturing into the world of DSLR cameras, and it is now one of my favorite hobbies. I love to take photos of anything and everything around our homestead, but my favorite subjects are animals (if you've been keeping up with this blog, you probably already know that!). I've received positive feedback on my photos, so I thought I would give the option for others to purchase prints of my favorite shots.

To celebrate my shop's grand opening, I'd like to give away one 5x7" print to a reader (open to residents of the US and Canada). To enter, all you have to do is visit my shop here and leave a comment below, letting me know which photo you would like if you win the giveaway. The drawing will be open until midnight CST next Wednesday, August 14. I will contact the winner via email so please be sure to leave your contact information in your comment (if you'd like to enter without posting your email publicly in a comment, feel free to enter by sending me an email at tdbarani@yahoo.com).

I will also be giving away one 5x7" print on my Facebook page, so if you'd like another chance to win head over there and comment on my giveaway post. You can find the Facebook page here.

Good luck and thanks so much for your support!

~Tammy

PS - Don't forget today is another installment of the Homemade Living series I'm participating in with five other bloggers. Meg, Staci, and Amber are up today sharing their posts. Next week I will share a post for the series along with Daisy and Mary.

*****GIVEAWAY CLOSED***** The winner is Heather. Thanks to everyone for entering!