The roaring 20's part 4

We still had a few boxes here and there to unpack when C and I had a conversation that we hadn't had up to this point.  How about one more baby?  One month later we were expecting our second child due that next February.

The next several months went faster than expected.  We moved A into what was supposed to be C's office and prepared the nursery for the homecoming of our second daughter.  February arrived and so did baby H!  She looked so tiny, weighing in 1 1/2 pounds less than her older sister.  She had a ton of hair with dark curls.  So beautiful!  We took her home and began the transition from one child to two, which was much easier than expected.

That spring was the beginning of anything remotely close to homesteading, our first garden.  I remember looking out the window while C began to rototill the ground where we would plant.  He started the machine and it jolted him forward several feet.  He looked around to make sure the neighbors hadn't been watching.  I literally laughed out loud and told him later that I had watched the whole thing (I love that man so much!!!).  We (I use WE loosely.  It was mostly my husbands deal) planted the usual first garden-y things, tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, jalapenos, habaneros and a couple other easy plants.  Note to gardeners..do NOT plant habanero peppers next to jalapenos unless you want your jalapeno poppers to rip your stomach apart.  The garden did amazing!  We were able to can tomatoes and jalapenos to have for chili, pasta dishes and anything else that required stewed tomatoes.  It felt good to be even just slightly self sufficient.

Hunting is also a huge part of our lives.  C is an avid hunter and so is my father, along with several other family members.  I can't even begin to tell you the amount of money we have saved over the years simply by hunting and butchering our own meat.  Again, I use the term WE loosely.  My husband should be the one writing this blog!!  We joke and say that I'm the brains behind the operation and he's the muscle!  He processes all the meat he hunts.  The only thing we do not do is grind our meat.  We take that to a local butcher and we pay about 90 cents a pound, which is a fraction of what it cost to buy a pound of ground beef.  Not to mention it's leaner and healthier than cow.

So at this point we have a few homesteader-y things under our belt.  Once we canned that year and prepared for winter, we settled in.  We were content with our 2 kiddos, our little home and our little garden in suburbia.  Funny how things can change in a blink.........