Busy with a capital B....

We have been so very busy on our little farm.  The Pig Shelter is complete and they are loving it.  Their water Barrel is complete and, well, they like it but would prefer the puddles they are used to.  Which then explains why my garden is not planted yet.  The rain that caused the puddles the pigs love so much has also delayed the planting of my garden.  At one point I was wondering if we should be building an Ark instead of a pig shelter.  Basically we have been faced with deciding which part of the household/farm to work on when the sun is shining, trying hard to divide it up so priority gets taken care of as well as a bit of something else which needs to get done...

On the rainy days....Amongst the projects I have been working on is a monthly menu plan.  Our freezer is full of beef, pork and chicken but I haven't been planning far enough ahead to utilize it.  I used to prepare a weekly menu, a long, long time ago.  That was before two home based businesses and a busy little boy!  Our lives get so very busy here, often on a moments notice.  I have not been able to rely on preparing a weekly menu plan for a long time.  Not that I don't think about it or try!  Recently, I have been given new hope.  My friend and neighbour writes a fantastic and informative blog and has given me renewed hope in organizing our family meals.  I am currently compiling a list of meals we enjoy and ones we will tolerate.  I have a husband who can be a picky eater, though he won't admit it, thus the "tolerate" section of my "favourite meals".  He doesn't like most vegetables and definitely doesn't like cut up tomato, peppers, onion etc in his meals.  I have explained that the days of cooking meat only meals are coming to an end.  If I prepare a casserole with chopped up tomato, pepper, onion etc. in it he will just have to waste his time picking them out.  I need flavour, colour and I need vegetables!  I have given in to his picky ways for way too long, I'm done.  Sorry, getting off track and a bit emotional ha,ha!  The hardest days for me are work days.  My hope and intention is to plan easy meals or leftovers for those days to avoid the temptation of stopping at fast food joints.  When Hubby is home I will have something planned that's within his cooking ability ie: spaghetti or a homemade frozen lasagna.

Don't get me wrong, we don't eat out for every meal.  As I said, the worst days are my work days.  We obviously eat at home because our two freezers that were filled to the brim with meat just last Fall are now only half full.  I do love to cook, time and planning stand in my way.  Getting organized is more than half the battle.  I am happy I am taking the time now to figure out a new system, one that fits our super busy lifestyle.

Here is my friend's blog post I spoke about:  http://thelittleacrethatcould.blogspot.ca/2013/06/how-i-learned-to-not-waste-food.html

Well, that's all for now folks.  I have spent the day in the garden planting, time to shower off the dirt and nurse the fly bites.  Stay tuned for a "photo album" depicting all the changes the farm has taken over the past couple of months.  Including the additional and growing animals.  :)

Thanks for visiting!