New and Old Beginnings Pt.1

July 15, 2023

Grab your Monday morning coffee, its story time, ya'll.

Today I woke up and concluded that...

“Well, I guess it's finally time to start writing a blog about My families adventures on our newly owned 16 ½ acre Homestead.”

Surprisingly, it was not an impulse decision like most of my life choices.

For those of you who know John and I, know that we were NOT raised on a farm around animals...

Well, beside the occasional Mutt that needed a home on the side of the road.

(Most of us were too poor to buy pure bred dogs.) Hell, they die faster anyways.

In 2020, John and I rented a tiny little white cottage in Santa Fe, Texas. Shortly after our shotgun wedding. Yes, impulse decisions. All of it.

Two rooms, a 9-month-old Babygirl, a 7-year-old, a grumpy ol' dog, 4 chickens, and a BABY goat. All acquired in a few months span.

A goat... Why???

I still ask myself that same question. And my momma & sister sure dont let that one down!

See, Thats what My husband and I do, get a brilliant Idea, don't think...Just Act.

At least we try not to get hurt along the way or hurt anyone else.

Honestly, I probably watched a YouTube video of a goat drinking from a baby bottle and thought I just really needed one!! Tik Tok wasn't cool then.

Or maybe it was just the bitch of post-partum I had. I felt like I needed to feed another child, and that was the closest thing at the time in our impulse reach.

So, the loving husband that John is, woke me up on Mother's Day, packed up the kids and drove to “The goat ladies” house. I asked that lady about 10 times, “Are you sure I can bottle feed this one?!?!?”

She was probably thinking, "What in the google hell kind of cowgirl is she?"

That lady sure creeped me out though, she convinced me to let her castrate him with a zip tie.

My son named him “Lightening” because he ran so quick from us when we got there, just like a bolt!

I guess that's what started Lukes love of having to chase farm animals when he forgets to latch a gate properly.

OH, but it gets better.

My Husband decided that we needed a puppy for our Babygirl to grow up with a couple weeks after that.

Here we have it. A Hairdresser, a Salesman, a son with extreme adhd, a 9-month-old (who wouldn't sleep by herself or let anyone put her down btw), a Border collie, a Pitbull puppy, 4 chickens and a goat in one tiny little cottage on a street in Santa Fe. Famously known for the Meth sold a couple doors down.

(Well, of course we didn't know that going in. We obviously didn't know anything about life outside of city and HOA'S.)

You would have figured that I thought collies herd sheep... NOT CHICKENS AND GOATS. Reality set in pretty quick.

A needy baby, a boy with ants in his pants, a chicken killin' collie, a screeching Goat, & a puppy to potty train!

LET ME TELL YOU!!!

That GOAT was better at going to the bathroom outside than that puppy!!

I Remember he only literally had ONE accident inside...and well... who knows how many the puppy and newborn baby had.

Lightening sure was one awesome Goat though.

He became famous when we would walk the shores of Galveston with that thing on a leash, prancing around like a baby deer. I have pictures to prove it, and hashtags.

I still think about the day we left that place; I was holding my son and we were all three crying. Yes. The Goat was crying in the back of a pickup truck.

Little did I know that the man I donated him to was famous for butchering them for "Birria" tacos.

He sure tricked me though, brought his grandchild and everything to meet his new “Pet”.

All that rambling goes to say, 2020 the year of lockdown, and the year our family became FARMERS... or... thought we did!

((Did I mention My husband lost his job due to covid and he decided to go milk cows down the road?!))

Phewwwy,that John Grotte, He always wanted to be a cowboy. He just needed to move to Texas for his dreams to become our reality.

That man was born and raised in the hood of Pheonix, Arizona.

You were either down, or you were dead.

Although, you wouldn't be able to tell that cowboy from a homegrown Southerner... EXCEPT... for maybe the lack of accent... homemade tattoos... and occasional beating ass in a bar fight if another man accidently breathes the same air as me. His GAF goes out the window then.

BUT you bet your bottom dollar he wears his gun, boots and dip under his fingernails proudly now in the Great State of East Texas.

((You heard that right, East Texas, is a different kind of Texas. But that's for another day.))

I'm Thankful for that man, he brought the Cowgirl out in me I never knew existed.

Not to mention he got my tattooed, Avril Lavigne-emo inspired-gypsy soul to settle down.

(I'm sure my parents are thankful for that too.)

Well would you Look at me, I'm over here baking homemade bread every two days and pulling weeds from my organic garden. I haven't got a new tattoo in two years and the only time I fix myself up is to go to church that's "In town".

He sure has that Southern cowboy swagger if you ask me.

I wouldn't have it any other way. God brought us here and our family is thriving.

Of course, It would be nice to have more money, but staying home and homeschooling my children is the best thing for them.

We may get a little sidetracked most days, but for the most part, they are learning real life situations. And most the time their schoolwork is done. Mostly.

You bet I have already started a side hustle of eggs, chicks, berries, and vegetables.

I'm sure Luke will be the Future Milk man with a homemade cooler on the back of his bike built from "Junkyard Johns" scraps.

Home ec, Sex ed,anatomy, engineering, art class,career building. CHECK*CHECK. A++

And Grace? who knows with that one.

Shes pretty good at telling everyone to "Ring the neck" of a mischievous rooster and tellin' her Daddy to butcher "That Fat a$$ pig!" for bacon.

Well, at least he listened to her.

By the time she was 3 years old she could tell you what each part of a flower was.

Why we have blood, muscles and bones in our body and the one who created it.

And never forget though, "SNITCHES GET STICHES OR END UP IN DITCHES."

Kitchen management classes, Herbology, zoology, biology, hoodology... she gets an A+++!!!

Homeschool Homestead Not Homebred Farmers, that's what we are!!!

"Tune in for our "Southern-Hood-Gospel" channel.

Next entry, how we got here to East Texas ... and the HOTMESS.

we got into the first two weeks. :)