I am not even sure I can answer that fully. Mostly, I've just been in my head. Depression is such a bitch. Lemme tell ya. I've been sitting here trying to write this post for about a week or more now. So forgive me if it's kind of all over the place!
Most of it boils down to dealing with and managing my depression. That's the basic gist of it, anyway. With my unique beast of depression, I can do one thing, mostly well. For me, that had to be focusing on and taking care of the animals here on the Farmstead!
If you've never dealt with depression, man, consider yourself amazingly lucky! But those of you who have dealt with it, you get it. It's rough. I feel you, and you can always chat to me!
The worst thing that happens to me is getting so super stoked about something that I put 100% into it, and suddenly, I lose any and all interest I had in it. EVEN THOUGH, I enjoy whatever it is that I was doing. The other sucky thing that happens for me is that I have only enough energy to do what I need to do and that was taking care of the dogs, chickens, ducks, geese, quail and rabbits -- Oh, and a cat!
I don't know about you all, but January felt at least three months long. I was thankful when we hit February. This winter here has been, practically non-existent. Which is a huge change from last year when we were bogged down with about three feet of accumulative snow. We've gotten MAYBE two inches TOTAL of snow this year, which makes me worry for the summer fires. We've had more above freezing this winter than freezing days. Which in many ways I am thankful for, but I know the lack of snow and cold weather is going to have an effect on so many things.
The most notable and exciting things that have happened over the last 5 months is somehow acquiring a little cat and a tiny dog. I will have to tell you their unique stories on another post, but to tide you over until then, you've got to see these cute little critters.
This is Benji he's a fantastic little specimen of a kitty that came to me as a sickly little thing from a farm local to me. His story is great, I can't wait to share it with you. I promised husband he will be a mouser...
And this my friends, is Squeakers, she is an tiny little 12-15 year old chihuahua. Her past has not been great, but her future with us is gonna be awesome.
2018 is going to be a busy year for Farmstead Smith, we've got lots planned and some goals have evolved or changed completely. Some things we're working on include, raised beds, bigger chicken coop, piggy infrastructure development (for next year), adding turkeys, beekeeping, a hoop house flight pen (for quail), more chickens, and figuring out how to keep chickens out of certain areas.
I've been making daily posts on my personal FB where I share my photos from the day and a blurb about my day. I've been told that they would be good posts for here as well. I have been doing it since January 1st and will have to catch up on postings to get current. They will be heavy on fun photos, as I have gotten back into taking pics. Usually I include how I am feeling for the day, things I've done, and I usually talk about my chickens. So look out for those coming soon!
As always 
Photos by me using my iPhone 8+, unless stated otherwise!
If you EVER want to get ahold of me for any reason, please join us on our Discord, Homesteaders Online. You can always find me there.
