Roasting a duck and starting small Farm class

In the Kitchen

We are roasting a duck today!  

No...this is not a picture of the duck I am roasting...it is still in the oven as I am typing this.  For some reason, Joshua just thought we should have duck to eat.  I don't think I have ever eaten duck.  So, this is quite a new experience for all of us.  Click on the picture above to go to the recipe that I am using.

Farm Business Update

So, last Monday, Mark turned 15.  I am not sure why but this seems like a major milestone to me...maybe it is because he is in high school now.  For some reason it is just getting so real that he is becoming a young adult and lots of changes are going to be happening the next few years!

So, I applied to the Secretary of State for a Certificate of Organization for a Limited Liability Company for ReMARKable Farms.  I also applied for an EIN number.  After I get the receipt of the Limited Liability Company being completed, I am going to open a Business checking and savings.

So, things are happening with getting the farm business organized.

Starting Your Sustainable Small Farm class

I have signed up for a class through the University of Idaho Extension.  It is called Starting Your Sustainable Small Farm.  My books arrived last week and we had a beginning webinar to explain how the class works.  There is an online Moodle site where we can get our assignments and even start forums.  There are 160 people throughout the state of Idaho taking the class.  Our first face-to-face class will be this Saturday from 9:00AM-4:00PM.  There are several reading assignments and worksheets to fill out before our first class.  I have made my family fill out a Business Qualities Checklist and a Family Needs and Preferences survey.  I also completed some worksheets about mission statements and goals.  

These 3 books were given to us as part of the class:

I wish I could share some of the worksheets that I filled out but I don't think I can share text documents.  They are saved as pdf's and I do not have the ability to make them into "pics" on this computer.  I will share more about the class next week after I have gone through a full day of class.

De-cluttering

I am doing great on the de-cluttering goal.  I have now realized that tossing a ton of stuff is going to be more of a challenge than I had previously thought...however, I am up for the challenge and have already tossed or donated 147 pounds of items and I am still working on the kitchen (I did donate one chair that was about 55 pounds...).  So, only 1853 pounds to go!