This Week On The Farm......

This week's farm post is going to be a little different. We have an announcement to make. I'll update on all the farm happenings next week. 

I want to share with you a little bit about my husband. He's in pictures and videos but he doesn't actually share on social media or websites. He is the behind-the-scenes guy. Without him I don't know how much farming we'd do. I will have an idea and he makes it happen.

He's had a bucket list for years now. On his bucket list is one pretty huge item. He thought it would never happen. He thought we'd never be able to figure out how to make it work. He's worked really hard, and I've been able to stay home for the last almost 7 years. My dream of being a stay-at-home mom came true because of him. Then I became a homeschool mom. This was a dream of mine. I still remember when Gavin was in kindergarten, and he asked me if I could teach him at home. I had to tell him no. I needed to work. It took until the end of the 4th grade for me to be able to quit work. But that wouldn't have happened without Jeff. 

Over the last 6 years we've tried saving as much money as possible. Some years better than others. To say that Jeff is frugal is probably an understatement and to say that we never argue about money is a lie. BUT we do ultimately have similar goals and that always brings us back to reality and a joint mission. We ended up selling a house and moving to a fixer upper that ultimately helped us make more decisions and goals. We've felt like these big steps have been in the path that God has wanted us to go. We even invested in a vacation rental cabin in the mountains, and it's been a huge blessing for us overall. 

Gavin has done well with homeschooling. (overall). Every year we'd talk about how it's working or not working. I was always so worried that he wouldn't be educated enough with me teaching him. But after several years of end of grade testing with the Woodcock Johnson tests proved that he's definitely smart. It was all a matter of him wanting to learn what I was teaching. After a couple years we decided to do a hybrid homeschool. He does the core subjects with the local Online School and the rest we do at home. He has only gone into school to take their standardized tests. He was also always the very youngest student in his class which also concerned me. But he's shown me year after year that it didn't matter after all. Now he will be graduating high school at not even 17 1/2 years old. I couldn't be happier about it and I know he is too. 

All this background information to say. . . . . .

Jeff and Gavin are hiking the entire Appalachian Trail starting in Spring 2024!!! 

It's over 2000 miles of hiking trails. Jeff has worked so hard with his company that they have agreed to let him take off for 5 months so he can accomplish this huge bucket list goal. Gavin is graduating early so that he can go with him. After, they finish Gavin plans on going to trade school. Garrett and I are staying home to keep up with the little farm and provide support they need from home. Believe me, we will be visiting them along the trail as often as we possibly can. 

As a family, we've hiked a couple portions of the Appalachian Trail totaling about 100 miles. To me, it's been some of the best quality time we've had as a family. They are going to be missed terribly but there's no way on this planet I would stop them from accomplishing this huge goal. 

In order to help with this trip, I wanted to do everything I could to help alleviate some of the financial burden. After reading many blog posts from other thru hikers, it's estimated that the cost of the trip is about $1,000/month per person. That's a total of about $10,000! I want to help so I've designed products for this purpose. All the proceeds of the Appalachian Trail products are going to this huge expense. After we've met this goal, we've decided to donate any more proceeds to foster children across the nation. Helping foster children has been something on our hearts for years. We've been a foster family for almost 10 years now, but this is a different kind of way that we can help. 

I'll keep you updated on the journey!