Backyard Swing Farm

After 23 days away from the farm, I finally made it home last night. Europe is beautiful, and our trip was absolutely amazing, but there’s nothing quite like being back home sweet home.
I was hoping to sleep in this morning, but my dogs had other plans. They missed me so much that I was greeted with pooch smooches at the crack of dawn!

I’m definitely feeling the effects of sleep deprivation and jet lag. It’ll take me a few days to get adjusted and caught up on everything around here, but I’m hoping to be back to my regular farm updates by next week. I’ve missed you all!

While I was away, my garden certainly wasn’t taking any time off. This morning, I bolted out of bed like a little kid on Christmas morning to see how everything had grown. I can’t wait to share the updates with y’all! 🌱❤️ 🏡

Edited to add: There are 4 of them!

I’m in Greece today, but I had to pop on for a quick update because… guess what?!

For those of you who have followed along with the beautiful feral calico cat I’ve shared over the past few months, many of you suspected she was pregnant….. you were absolutely right!

Jeremy (my husband) texted me this photo today after discovering a litter of kittens in our pool house. It turns out Mama Cat has been quietly hiding out in there and is now raising her babies. Thankfully, Mom and all of the kittens appear to be doing well. He only saw 3 and thinks they’re around 2 weeks old. Figures, she waits til after I left. 🤦‍♀️

I wish I were home to check on them myself, but I’ll make sure they’re well cared for when I return. Once the kittens are old enough, I’ll need to find loving homes for them, and I’ll also be working on trapping Mama so she can be spayed.

For those wondering, all six of our barn cats have been spayed or neutered, so the father is most likely another feral cat or a neighboring cat.

Can’t wait to see them next week!😻

Happy Friday! Once again, I’m breaking my self-imposed rule of staying off social media until I return from vacation. Today we’re in Kotor, Montenegro, and it is absolutely beautiful! We took a buggy tour high into the mountains, with incredible views overlooking the city and the sea.

One of my favorite parts was seeing goats*, pigs (my niece pet one), horses, and donkeys along the way. I even heard roosters crowing and guinea hens squawking. It made me so happy, I had to share a few photos. I also loved seeing many varieties of foraged mushrooms at the local farmer’s market here.

I’ll be back in Louisiana in a week. I’m having an amazing time, but I’m definitely missing my family and all of my farm babies! ❤️🐐🐴🐷 🫏 🐓

*the pic of the last goat’s face looks so much like my sweet Janice!

Hi friends! This is day 9 off the farm. I’ve been in Arizona, France, Switzerland, and now Italy. I miss home but I’m having a wonderful vacation with my husband’s family.

I told myself I was going to completely unplug and wait until I got back to Louisiana before posting anything, but I had to break my self-imposed rule for this one because it was just too funny/fitting not to share.

I was up early this morning, sipping a cappuccino outside so I wouldn’t wake the others in the villa. As I sat looking out over the Lake Garda, I could feel eyes on me. I turned to my left and found this beautiful duck hen quietly laying an egg.

Halfway around the world and I’m still living the free-range life.

🤭🦆🥚🇮🇹

Hi friends and farm followers… I hope you’re all doing well! May has been flying by….I can’t believe we’re halfway through another week and closing in on the end of the month already.

Just a quick note to say I won’t be on here much for a while. I’m leaving tomorrow for 3 weeks! I honestly can’t remember the last time I was away that long. For so many years, I never wanted to be far from my boys. Now that we’re empty nesters, you’d think I’d be thrilled to pack up and go.

I am excited for the travel and new experiences, but there’s also a little sadness mixed in. It may sound silly to some but I’m going to miss tending to my gardens and all the food we’re growing. I hate leaving my farm babies for so long, too. And of course I’ll miss my husband, although it gives me comfort knowing he’ll be taking care of everything at home while I’m gone. It’s a lot of extra work on top of his “real” job, but I know he’ll handle it just fine.

I keep thinking about everything that could go wrong but need to stop. I have to remind myself that worrying is senseless and the thief of happiness.

Anyhow, just letting you all know what’s going on in case anyone wonders why I’ve temporarily disappeared. I’ll be back again later next month. Meanwhile, take care!

Still my big baby …. ❤️🫏

I’m going to be out of town a lot in the coming weeks so trying to squeeze extra loving time in with my animals before travel starts soon. I’ll miss them all so much.

Our boys (grown adult sons) are home this weekend!

💙💙💙

I am outside looking for fresh eggs for breakfast. Addie is guarding the duck’s favorite laying spot.

😻🦆🥚