I turned around and he is a teenager.

Today Kellen turns thirteen. Our first teenager in the house.

It certainly doesn't seem like it has been ten years since he was this cute little toddler, and wasn't it just yesterday he was an inquisitive little boy? It is hard to believe he is now such a sensible young man. Sensible, for a teenager anyway.

 I'd love to show you a picture of the handsome young man he has become. Conveniently, he is rarely around when there is a camera in hand. The recent pictures I have of him are candid, and at a distance. A visitor to the farm somehow talked him into standing still, and half smiling for this shot. As you can see, he was already taller than me back in February when this was taken. I would not be surprised if he has grown another couple inches since then.

He has changed so much in the past year. In the homeschool year book pictures from the previous year, he still looks like a little boy. He has decidedly lost that look now. His voice has gotten deeper. He is wearing his dad's shoes, and there is just a tiny bit of peach fuzz on that upper lip.

We are so proud of him. He often was my dad's right hand man working around the farm. He was here to help while Tim was at work. He learned a lot, and has been a huge help to us all on the farm. His specialty is electric fence building. He puts up the new hog pens by himself, or occasionally recruiting a younger sibling to help. Tim will check and sometimes make a couple adjustments, but Kellen really has the skill down. He helps take care of the pigs, and is a big help around the house too.

Though Kellen has changed a lot in the past year or so, he still is the bookworm that we all know and love. He reads, and reads, and reads. Give him fiction. Give him non-fiction. Give him a business magazine. He'll read them all, and likely remember most of the information he read. The things he picks up, and concepts he understand from his massive reading amazes me sometimes. Of course, for pleasure, he'd prefer a good fantasy novel or manga. His slight obsession with manga, I may never understand, but his younger siblings are right behind him.

Today Kellen turns thirteen. Five more years and he will enter adulthood. Five years is nothing. Vivian was born a mere five years ago. We've lived here over five years. Five years fly by in the blink of an eye.

I know these years will likely be full of bumps, growing pains, and letting go pains, but I plan to enjoy them. Kellen is a wonderful child, and I am excited to watch the development of the man he is becoming.

Happy Thirteenth Birthday Kellen.

And a week later.....

I am planning events for September. September! As in, summer is over and it is time for fall activities. Say it isn't so?! I've barely begun my summer!

With the late start this spring, we've harvested very little from the garden. In fact, about all we've harvested is herbs and berries, and most of the berries, like those pictured, are wild berries. I have not canned a single thing yet. My canner and equipment are sitting untouched in the closet. It is sad.

Not as if I know when I'd I have time to can anyway. This summer has been a whirlwind of activity. We've had friends and family in. We are going weekly to a farmer's market, and just trying to catch up from the month or more of work time lost with Tim's melanoma treatment. Maybe it is a good thing I don't have beans or tomatoes ready to harvest yet.

In other happenings around the farm, we have a new foal, which I have yet to get a picture of, and we have lots of kittens. Anyone have a suggestion for how to get our feral females to stop reproducing? Our current overload of cats goes way back to our two original females. We mistakenly thought it would be fun to allow them to have kittens one time.

At least the feral mommas do bring their kittens to the chicken house once they are a few weeks old. The new kittens are fairly tame. Want one? or two? or a half dozen? Lydia took this adorable photo. I have to say this kitten is one of my favorites.

 

How is your summer going? Did I ask if you wanted a kitten? 

Ungratefullness...

We are on our way to the park to play with friends. We've stopped at the store to pick up snacks and drinks. I throw some fruit and healthy options in the cart along with a few things that are not so healthy, but the kids consider treats. One child spends the majority of the trip to the store asking for things I haven't put in the cart and then whining when I say no.


I work in a restaurant where most of the items on the menu are made in house. Occasionally, the prep cooks will run behind for whatever reason, and we'll run out of an item for up to an hour. I am always shocked by the reactions of customers. Disappointment, I can understand. Honestly, some people just get down right irate. It is a big menu. Really, you can't find anything else you want to eat?



We sell at a local producers only farmer's market. When we started selling in May, some people just couldn't understand why none of the vendors had tomatoes or peppers. I didn't even have all of those in the ground before June.



Another child pushed the boundaries, and got grounded from a new video game that was on its way in the mail. When the game arrived the rest of the family was allowed to play it. This child was not happy, and argued vehemently with me over the issue. Then suddenly the arguing stopped and the child smiled. When asked what changed, the reply was, "I think about the starving children in Africa and then things in my life doesn't seem so bad."


Hmmmmm...

We are such an incredibly blessed people. Yet, no matter how much we are given, we want more, and we want it now. We are so accustomed to getting whatever we want when we want it, that we pout and throw fits when we don't get our way. We completely forget the many blessings we do have.

Please don't think that I'm being judgmental. My name is right at the top of the ungrateful list. I have spent much of this year thinking how unfair it all is. People have been so wonderful to us, but I've wanted more. I've pouted, and grown a tinge of bitterness. I've forgotten to be thankful for the many blessings we do have while I've focused on the things that we don't.

This has been a terrible year filled with loss, stress, illness, and struggle. It could be said that it is only natural that some of these feelings should develop under these circumstances. My reactions are definitely natural and fleshly. Is that how I want to live?

Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives. (Galatians 5:25 NLT)

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13 NIV) 

No. Living by the spirit is so much better. Here I am humbled again.

Our Holiday Morning.

Berry pies, muffins, and biscotti to come!

And Normal Life Returns

June was a long, hard, month. I am so glad it is over. Tim's treatments were hard on him. He was down for the month, which made it hard on the rest of the family. In addition, it was one of those months were nothing seemed to go right.

Cows got out and wandered far from home. A predator all but wiped out a batch of meat bird chicks. A tree fell and took our power lines and two sections of fence with it. The hot power lines were in the chicken pasture requiring us to move all the meat chickens. We were without power for about 12 hours that day. The garden was behind, and what we did have in didn't look good. The weeds were taking over.  It rained, and rained, and rained all month. By the end of the month I was feeling so frustrated and discouraged.

With the flip of a calendar page, Tim's treatments were finished. Suddenly, our normal life returned and chased away the cloud that seemed to be hanging over my head. Of course, not everything went wrong during the month of June. It only felt like it.

During the month of June we were awarded two grants. With these funds we have purchased a chicken plucker. The plucker will pluck a bird in about 20 seconds. Hand plucking takes me about 20 minutes. I can't wait until this baby arrives and we can take it for a spin.

In June there were play dates. There were camps. There was the support of friends and family. A horse was born. Cows were purchased. Pigs were sold. There was a lot of baking and the selling of bake goods at the farmer's market. Ducks made nests in places they shouldn't. Well, maybe that isn't a good thing, but it is certainly interesting. We're leaving the nest, by the way. The poor duck hens have been having a heck of a time with their clutches this year. They keep getting pushed off the nest by predators. Here is hoping this nest in my garden, right next to the house, will be a safe place to hatch out some ducklings.

With the treatments over, Tim is feeling a world better. He isn't 100% yet, but he is up and doing things. He is back to work, and back to working on the farm. We are all happy about this. The weather has been wonderful. Friends came and helped whip the garden back into shape. Tim has the hay cut, and life feels normal again. It is busy. It is full of hard work and challenges, but it is good. I am so glad to put June and Tim's treatments behind us!

Hot Cheese Twist

The other day I was searching through recipes, and discovered this favorite from our early years of marriage. It is so delicious, I'm not sure why I stopped making it, and it got buried in the piles of recipes. Maybe little kids and diapers and a overly  busy life had something to do with it? No matter, it is time to pull this recipe back to the top of the stack.

Hot Cheese Twist
1 package dry yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1 TB. + 1/2 tsp. sugar
3 TB. butter
3/4 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 egg yolk
3 1/2 cups flour

Hot Cheese Filling
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2-4 TB chopped, canned, hot peppers

Dissolve yeast in warm water with 1/2 tsp. sugar. Warm butter and milk to lukewarm. Add to the yeast. Add remaining sugar and salt. Mix in the egg, yolk, and 2 cups of flour. Slowly add the remaining flour until a soft dough forms. Knead dough until smooth. Cover, and let rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch down and roll into a rectangle on a floured surface. Roll to about 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle with cheese and peppers, Roll up tightly from the long side. Pinch the seam. A little water will help the seam seal.  Coil the foll on a baking stone. Cover and let rise for about 30 minutes. Bake at 400 F for 40 minutes until golden brown.

Six more to go.

I can't remember what all I've updated here about Tim's melanoma, so bear with me if I'm repeating myself. The second surgery went very well. It left Tim with another large scar, and a deep depression under his arm, but the most important news is they found no more cancer cells in the soft tissue that was removed there.

Interferon treatments are recommend following the surgery. The treatments started about three weeks ago. This has been an incredibly long month. I am so ready for it to be over. Tim is at the hospital every week day for about an hour to receive the treatments intravenously. Before starting treatments we had read that the side effects were flu like symptoms. "Flu like symptoms," well that could mean a lot of things, and we hoped for the best.

The first week was rough. Following his treatments, Tim first got the chills. Chills so severe that he was still cold in the ninety degree heat we were having that week. The chills were followed by the sweats, and it was all accompanied by body aches, nausea, and fatigue. We hoped the next week would be better.

The severity of the chills and sweats was a little better the following weeks, but the nausea, and extreme fatigue remain. The treatments also caused his triglycerides to skyrocket. The doctor gave him a prescription for this. The side effects of the medicine is more nausea. *sigh* He has lost over ten pounds, has little appetite, and has basically spent the month of June going to the hospital and staying in bed. Even the simplest of chores or task zap all his energy. It has been a very long month. He has six more of these treatments, and I think the whole family will be much relieved when this is over and done. 


When these treatments are completed, he will have another year of treatments at a much lower dose. These treatments are done at home three times a week. The side effects should be much less severe.

That is where we stand in this process. The treatments have been far worse than the surgeries, but we know that in the realm of cancer treatments it could be a lot worse. We're almost through the worst of it. Gritting our teeth and pushing through. 

We'll be Saving on Shampoo

When it has not been raining this spring, it has been unseasonably hot. Long hair and heat makes for hot heads, and lots of pony tails. The girls have been begging me to go get hair cuts. Lydia and I have both donated our hair before. Lydia's was long enough to donate again, and Vivian wanted to donate hers this time too. Wednesday, we finally found a good time to go and get hair cuts.

Viv's hair has always been long. It has only been trimmed up here and there. I was a little hesitant to have her hair cut. In the last six months or so she has completely lost any vestige of baby chub. She has gotten tall and slender, and looks like a little girl instead of my baby. In my mind, keeping her hair long was an attempt to hold onto the baby just a little longer I think.

I was right. Cutting her hair did make her look even older. I can't be upset though. It is super cute and she loves it.

Lydia has had short hair before. So, cutting her hair again was not as dramatic. She has extremely thick hair. It was hot for her, and a lot of up keep. See how thick it is. That is the top of her pony tail where they cut it off. That is a lot of hair.

Both the girls' hair is stacked in the back. Funny how the same hair cut looks so different on each of them. Cute on them both, but definitely different.

Oh and I got a significant amount of hair cut off too. Guess you'll just have to see me in person to see how much.

The Drama that is Nolan

All of my children have a bit of a flair for drama. It may be best if I keep my opinions of where that particular trait comes from to myself. Of all the kids, Nolan, by far, is the most susceptible to dramatic outbursts. Don't be fooled by that sweet little face. Even at seven, this kid knows how to throw a good fit. The latest example occurred Monday evening.

Nolan asked me if I would cook him two eggs for a snack. Normally, I would readily agree to this request, but it so happens that I was just about to start dinner at the time. A snack right before dinner is never a good thing. A snack I have to cook right before dinner is just down right a bad idea. I told him as much. Let the whining begin.

Seriously folks, I do feed this child, frequently in fact, but if you'd been in my kitchen at that particular time you may have thought he hadn't eaten for a week. I was having none of it, and swiftly sent him outside to complete a chore. I was feeling rather smug at nipping the episode in the bud and getting on with the evening. I set about getting things out for dinner. A few minutes later I heard a yell and crying. It was the kind of cry that says I'm hurt. Even Tim thought Nolan hurt himself so I went out to check.

When I found him he was sitting on the ground in the chicken run. At first he wouldn't answer me when I asked him what happened. I asked him to get up, and he said he couldn't. After a cursory inspection I could see no cuts, no scrapes, and no reason for him to be sitting on the ground, unable to get up, and crying. With some urging he finally told me he was crying because he was so hungry. So much for nipping it in the bud. I set him on his feet and got him started on his task while explaining that if he was really hungry he would do what he was supposed to so I could go cook dinner.

By the time I got dinner in the oven, he was back in the house whining about how he was so hungry. He literally threw himself on the kitchen floor whining and crying. When I told him he'd have to go to his room if he didn't stop the whining and crying, he was quiet, but he stayed on the floor writhing, as if in pain.

At this point in the story some of you are probably wondering why I was letting this poor kid suffer so. Why didn't I just get him a snack? How could I let him go hungry? Maybe I really am just that stubborn? Or maybe I'm well acquainted with the drama of Nolan? Whatever the reason, I was pretty confident that he would not die of hunger in the fifteen minutes it was going to take for dinner to be ready.

Blessedly, the timer finally went off. I sent Nolan outside with the task of finding Kellen to let him know dinner was ready. He wasn't happy about it, but he went, after I helped him pick himself off the floor. I got the girls and began dishing out dinner.

A few minutes later Kellen came in for dinner. I asked him where Nolan was, and Kellen told me that Nolan was outside playing with the kittens.

Did you catch that?

The kid that was so hungry he was in tears and could barely get off the floor decided that instead of eating he was going to play with the kittens! Really?! A few minutes later he came strolling back into the kitchen as if none of the previous drama had occurred. All he wanted to do was talk about the kittens.

That is the drama we live with. That is Nolan.

A New Repurpose Project

Re-purposing, recycling, and making do mean a lot of things to different people. Some are motivated to save the planet. Others are out to save a dime. Around here, it is a way of life. We simply can not go out and buy new every time a need arises.

Some time ago, on another blog, I shared some of our re-purposed items in Re-purpose Recycle and in More Repurpose Recycle. It is funny to look back at those posts from almost four years ago. Many of the items are still in use in the same way. Some of those items have been re-purposed again. A prime example is the storage shelves Tim salvaged from a previous employer. One of those is now in the chicken house with the bottom fenced in. It is our brooder pen.

Over the years there have been a lot of projects involving re-purposing of items. Sometimes it is a simple matter, like most of the items shared in the posts above. Other projects have involved quite a bit of time and physical labor. The biggest of these that comes to mind is the tearing down of a barn. Those materials were used to build a pig house, a chicken house, and various other building projects.

As you may recall, we have been working on getting our broilers out of the chicken house and onto pasture.  The first step of the project involved re-purposing some unused rabbit hutches to make them more suitable for chickens. Those pens worked wonderfully for the broilers. The problem was we had more broilers in the brooder that would soon need to be moved out. We needed another pen.

And now we have one. Tim built this over the weekend.

Can you see what the frame was in its first life?  Does this help?

It is the frame of a kitchen table. It is upside down and used to have a glass top. Everything in this project is re-purposed, save the wire fencing which we already had on hand. The metal roof may still be from that barn. Is that right Tim? The door is metal scraps from another project. The wood floor frame is scraps too.

We needed a new chicken pen. In the matter of a day, we had one for free. Alright, not free if you want to get technical, but we didn't have to run to the store to buy a single thing for it. That is my kind of project.

The chickens seem to like it too. Not that you can tell from this picture. The chickens were all out running in the grass and chasing bugs when I took this.

Homeschool Reflections

Homeschooling in our area seems to just be exploding. When we first joined our local co-op about five years ago, I would guess there were maybe fifty kids in the co-op. Then a couple years ago it just began to grow like crazy. Our numbers swelled to over 100, and we were forced to start a waiting list because we could no longer accommodate such a large group of students. At the same time, at least three new homeschool groups began in the area.

With the sudden influx of so many homeschoolers, I often find myself in the midst of conversations with new homeschoolers with a million questions about what curriculum to use, or how to get started, or how to handle a toddler while schooling an older child. Most of the time my answer is to just relax and enjoy the process. Not as easily done as said, and probably not the answer most people are looking for, but really, it is the best advice I have. 

It was in the midst of one of these conversations, with a complete stranger who stopped me because she thought we looked like homeschoolers, I realized I am no longer a novice homeschooler. I'm a veteran. I am not exactly sure when that happened. Quite, honestly, I still feel like a novice at about every turn. Every year there are new academic skills to learn. Kellen pushes me to teach, or facilitate his learning of, new things on a daily basis. The younger children may be learning skills that I've previously taught to an older sibling, but they learn at a different pace with a different set of talents and interests. I still feel like I am trying to figure out this homeschooling thing.

When we began homeschooling with Kellen in kindergarten, almost eight years ago, we were very much homeschooling in a school at home manner. In fact, we used an online charter school at home. In some circles, that isn't even considered homeschooling.

We moved here when Kellen was in second grade, and that kind of schooling was no longer an option. By the time Lydia entered the homechool scene, there were two more babies to care for, and the beginnings of the farm. Over the years there have been a lot of times when life has just gotten in the way of the book work of education. This last school year we may well have had more days without school books than we had days with the school books.

It is hard not to feel guilty about this. It is easy to feel like I am failing my children, and that I really need to get my act together. When I feel that tinge of guilt come on, I just have to remind myself that by any academic standard our kids are doing just fine. And more importantly, that education is not about how far we get through a text book. It isn't about how many facts my kids can spout off. A lot of the education I want my children to have for this life has nothing to do with anything you'll ever find in a text book.

Many of our best lessons come when we aren't using a text book. Someone will ask a question, or maybe we'll see something that sparks a conversation, and we are off on a educational moment. It is amazing to me how much education happens when I simply turn off the screens (TV, games, and computer.) The kids go outside and find things in the woods. They create clubhouses. They read. They play board games, and just yesterday Kellen and Lydia had a globe out. Kellen was quizzing Lydia on world geography. Education happens. It doesn't require a text book.

Even though I've been in this process for a long time now, I still don't know what I am doing. I still wonder how to challenge my gifted student, how to make math click for my child who struggles with math, and how to get a certain child to sit still long enough to learn the things he should. I'm quite certain they don't write enough, and I've yet to figure out a plan of attack to address that, and the big question looming over my head currently is how in the world I am going to add another student into this mix next year.

Despite all my shortcomings, despite our crazy life, despite all the things I've yet to figure out, these children are getting a high quality education. They are thriving. They are learning. So, my advice to new homeschoolers is also my advice to myself, "Relax, and enjoy the process."

Maybe trainable is a better description. . . .

Pigs are reputed to be very smart animals. I believe I've even mentioned here how intelligent and wonderful they are, but after this week, I am wondering if trainable is a better description of a pig than intelligent.

Our pigs are pastured. We aren't there yet, but the idea is to have several pastures to rotate them through. Three pastures would be ideal for the feeder pigs. We can let them eat and dig up one pasture, and when it is cleared, rotate them to the next, and plant the first with goodies for later.

Since weaning, the feeder pigs have been in one pasture. They have done a wonderful job clearing it and digging it up. We finally got the second pasture fenced in about a week ago, but we can't get the pigs to go in it.

We gated off the first pasture with an electric fence gate, and made an opening next to that gate to go into the second pasture. Please note that electric fence was there before the opening to the second pasture was made. Kellen and I tried to herd the pigs into the new pasture. They wanted nothing to do with it.

They would go as far as the line where the electric fence was, and then they would budge no further. They jostled and pushed each other and us, but no pig would cross that line into the new pasture. A couple of them went through the electric gate into the old pasture, and several of them got by us before Kellen and I gave up in frustration.

It was time for plan B; lure them with food. We let the self feeder run out. This morning I called them out of the building with a bucket of feed. I put a small pile of feed right at the line where the fence used to be. Very gingerly a couple of them started to eat. Soon all ten of them were pushing and shoving for position on that pile of feed, but none of them would go around to the other side of the pile which would cause them to cross that imaginary line.

I took a little more feed and drew a line with it from the first pile to a second small pile beyond the imaginary line. I sat and watched for about 15 minutes. Still no pig would cross that line. I got tired of watching and went about some other chores.

An hour later, I went to look again. This is the picture I saw. Most of the pigs were still outside sniffing around for feed. Look closely. The black pig on the left has its nose right about where the fence was. Just past his nose is the pole that marks the corner of the two pastures. Keep looking left and you can see two untouched piles of feed on the ground. Apparently, they aren't hungry enough yet to cross that line. I wonder how long it will take?

Pigs, smart enough to train to electric fence, but not smart enough to know when the fence is no longer there. Trainable? They certainly are. Smart? I'm not inclined to think so at this moment.

Mint

Our extremely wet spring has certainly caused some problems here on the farm. Our spring garden has been one casualty, and now it looks like we can add our first cutting of hay to the list. Even so, there are a few things around here that are simply flourishing with all the extra moisture. Mint is one of them.

Mint is extremely easy to grow, and will spread and take over in just about any space. Give it a little sun and a wet area, and you can almost see it grow.  Our mint is planted near a ditch where it is welcome to cover the bank it is planted on.

I use a lot of mint fresh during the warm months, and I dry it for use over the winter. Mint is a delicious and different taste to use with roasted meats. It especially pairs well with lamb, but my favorite way to use mint is for tea.

There is not much that is more refreshing to me than sun brewed mint tea over a tall glass of ice. You can find a gallon of it in my refrigerator all summer long. It is so simple to make.

Peppermint Sun Tea

8 tea bags

a handful of peppermint

gallon of water

Put everything in a glass jar, and allow to sit in the sun. The time it takes to brew depends on your taste and the temperature outside, but it should take a least a few hours. I bring it in when it looks right. I remove the tea bags, but often just leave the peppermint in. We drink it unsweetened, but if you are a sweet tea fan dissolve some sugar in hot water to add to the tea. Serve in a nice tall glass over ice. 

Of course, if the sun is hiding, (as it has been most of this spring,) simply put a pot of water on the stove with the tea bags and mint. Bring it to a boil. Remove from heat. Strain into a gallon container and fill the container with cold water.

What is your favorite way to use mint?

Keeping Cool

It felt like summer last week. Though you wouldn't know it by the 50 degree temperature I woke up to this morning, last week was hot and humid. We were able to keep cool enough by cooling off the house at night, and closing it up tight in the morning. Our animals however do not have such an opportunity. They have to find other ways to stay cool.

I walked over to check on the meat birds. You may remember that they are now completely free ranging, and that I'm betting their proximity to the house (and our dogs) will keep them safe from predators. As I walked toward them, I couldn't see a single chicken. I couldn't even hear any of them. My heart began to race a little.

As I got to their pen, there was still no sign of the birds. I could feel the dread creeping in while I kept walking past their pens. I was well past their normal hangout when I finally heard the faint sound of them. Moving toward the sound I caught a glimpse of white among the green. They were all deep in the brush at the edge of the woods just keeping cool in the shade.

Directly across from where I found the chickens are the fat hogs. Do you know how hogs keep cool? They don't sweat. Though I didn't catch them in the act, it is pretty obvious. Pigs lay in the mud to keep cool.

Of course when they saw me standing there, they thought I was bringing something yummy for them. In a matter of minutes I had drawn a crowd. Pigs just flock to me what can I say?






Finally, I'll share one cool momma. She apparently, thinks the way to keep her and her chicks comfortable is to hang out in my strawberry patch. I probably should have shooed her out, but I was too busy snapping pictures of all that cuteness!

According to the forecast, I don't think we are going to have any trouble staying cool this week. Staying dry however may be a challenge. Hope the spring weather is better in your neck of the woods.

Where to start???

Tomorrow is Nolan's 7th birthday. It is also May 12, as in the almost the middle of May, for anyone else who has lost track of time like I have. Seriously? The middle of May? Where did April go?

There is always a lot going on here, and I don't know how many times I've seen something, or thought of something, and said to myself, "I really need to write about that." Occasionally, I even snapped a picture. 

I knew it had been awhile since I'd written, but I was surprised to see it had been two weeks! Goodness. So where to start?

I guess with the important stuff. Tim's surgery was April 29th. The surgery went well. He will have a large depression where they took out the lymph nodes and other soft tissue. It is under his arm, and thus isn't really noticeable, but really who would care anyway when given the alternatives? He is pretty tender in that area yet, and his energy is not quite up to normal, but everything is healing up nicely. And the best news, they didn't find any more cancer cells in the tissue that was removed. What a huge relief and answer to prayer! He will still have interferon treatments, but those won't start until June.


As for other things happening around here, one night we found the siding by the back door of the house covered with moths. Among them were several of these pink and yellow ones. I have no idea what they are, and I have never seen them before. They certainly are unusual.  I probably should consider them a garden pest; moths lay eggs that hatch caterpillars that eat my plants, but seeing as I have nothing planted (and it is almost the middle of May,) thanks to all this rain, I decided to enjoy looking at them.

Our end of the year picnic for our homeschool co-op was yesterday. This year we had a drama and music class. They were able to perform for us at the picnic. They did a wonderful job! The weather was great for the picnic. The food was abundant and delicious. We had a great time.

  

The kids are always up to something. Their imaginations and ability to entertain themselves astounds me sometimes. They had my camera the other day. I've come to expect some surprises when I upload from the camera. Among them this time were the one at the top of this post, and the one below.

Quite honestly, I have no idea what they are doing in either picture, but I thought they both were pretty cute!

Slip Sliding Away

Our driveway has always been an interesting topic of discussion for visitors. It is 3/4 of a mile of gravel road. Comparatively, by West Virginia standards, it is not overly narrow or curvy. Of course, not all of our visitors are from West Virginia, or regular drivers of West Virginia country roads.

Our driveway does boast a few interesting features. The first of which, you encounter almost immediately. This little knoll looks innocent enough, but driving up it puts your car at angle which prevents you from seeing where the road goes after you pass the crest.

When you finally can see the road,  your eyes are confronted with the following:

A steep downhill immediately followed by an even steeper and longer uphill which shows up better in this picture that was taken earlier in the season.

After those initial hurdles, the road settles into another couple small hills and a bit of flat driving before ending at our houses. First time visitors would relay their experience of thrill or anxiety in navigating Blackberry Lane. Those of us more seasoned to the road would merely roll our eyes, or perhaps snicker a bit. The road didn't phase us one bit unless of course, there was snow on the ground.

Then last spring the hollow between the second set (smaller set) of hills betrayed us. It began to sink. It was just a bit, but enough to make the drive just a bit more interesting.

This winter brought extra snow, freezing, and more cracks in this spot on the driveway. The first rains of spring came, and the drive slipped even more. It slipped to the point that even we stopped using it with our two wheel vehicles. Even with our all wheel drive vehicles, we had to be careful where we drove to avoid dragging the bottom. We warned visitors with low cars to not use our road.

Then it happened. Our continual and heavy rains this spring caused the driveway to slip and slide to the point that it was no longer usable.

We weren't sure what we were going to do. We do have an alternative driveway available to us, but it is not our legal right away. Our neighbor is very gracious to allow us to use it when we need to, but using it permanently is not an option. We do have equipment that could do this job, but not the knowledge as to the best way to fix the problem, or the time to do the job. Nor do we have the cash to pay someone to do the job.

At about the same time the drive had its big slip, the man we sold our bulldozer to came to pick it up. He brought a contractor with him to help with the job. The contractor was interested in some equipment my mom had and no longer needed. He asked how much she'd want for it. We asked how much he'd want to fix our driveway; both the slip and a few other places that needed attention. In the end he got the equipment he wanted and mom got a half price deal on the driveway.

He started working on it this week.

I wouldn't recommend using our drive right now.

After the Pilgrims Came

Easter weekend was jammed packed with family, food, and rain. Several of my aunts and uncles came for a visit as did my brother with his kids. The aunts and uncles mostly sat around and talked (and ate.)  The kids played and played and played, rain or shine. Overall it was a good weekend.

I have to share a little story about my nephew Jude. He and Nolan are basically attached at the hip whenever they are together. Those two are all over the place. They love to play their DSs together. They love to run around outside together. They laugh and giggle and run, and act like little boys do.

One of the adventures they had this weekend, courtesy of all the rain, was playing in the mud puddles. One of these puddles was particularly deep, and the boys had a grand time in it. They were up to their knees in mud and water. We all shook our heads, and let them play.

When Jude returned home his mom was talking to him about the weekend, and asked when he and Nolan played in the puddle. His response, "Sometime after the Pilgrims came." Really, he wasn't smarting off to his mom. To his mind, we had Pilgrims at our house. Did I neglect to mention that the aunts and uncles who came to visit were Amish?

Vivian trying on a "Pilgrim" hat. 

Free Range Broilers - Finally

When we got our first batch of Cornish Cross chicks to raise for meat, we figured we would raise them like all our other birds. We would brood them in the brooder pen until they were big enough to be turned out into the chicken house. Then, like the other chickens, they would eventually venture out into the wide world beyond the chicken house to feast on bugs and plants.

The brooder pen worked fine. Putting them out into the chicken house worked fine, but the Cornish Cross never would venture down the ladder to the great outdoors. They preferred to stay nice and close to the feed all day long. In fact, if they could lay down and eat, all the better.

In hind sight, it was probably best they never tried to go out from the chicken house. Our chicken house sits up high, and the ladder is long and fairly steep. This breed has a  propensity to break legs. Our ladder probably isn't a wise choice for them. So, we thought, if they won't go down the ladder, we'll just put them outside.

We have another shelter within our chicken run. It is not nearly as nice as the chicken house, but it serves the purpose. It is great to brood in when the weather is warm, or to use as an overflow pen if we have too many birds. We thought it would be perfect to use for the broilers to make free ranging work for them. They weren't impressed.

They would go out the pen door; a foot or two, but they still would not venture beyond the run into the pasture behind them where all the free range goodies are to be found. They wouldn't even venture over to the rabbit hutches, contained with in the run, to forage under the pens. All the other chickens seemed to think that spot was akin to a daily Thanksgiving feast. I gave up on getting them to go out, and brought greens and weeds to them instead.

With this batch of broilers we wanted to try something new. We talked on again, off again about building a chicken tractor for them. We weren't sure exactly what we wanted, or what would work for the number of birds we have, and the mostly sloped land we want to use.

There also was that ever pesky issue of time. Building something new takes time for planning, material gathering, and of course construction. Like most homesteads with farmers who also work away from home, time is a very precious commodity. Then it dawned on us. Why not use something we already have?

Last winter we got rid of all the rabbits in an effort to save time, and focus more on the meat animals that sell better. This left us five empty hutches just sitting there. Our first  thought was to use the hutches Tim and my Dad built. They are large. They are sturdy. They also are very heavy. That is a problem if we want to be able to move the birds into fresh grass every now and then.

The other problem is that Kellen is considering raising rabbits again. So, we may need those hutches. Our other two hutches were ones we acquired elsewhere. We really didn't like the design of either of them for rabbits, but for chickens we thought they'd work well.
 

They did need some slight modification. We cut the legs off them, and made some steps with scrap wood. We stapled some feed bags on the sides to cut the wind until the weather is warmer. One pen is light enough to move by myself. The other Kellen and I can move together. They are the perfect little shelters for the birds.

We set the pens up close to the house. I set up a heat lamp, just in case it gets really cold at night. At night the broilers are closed in the pens. In the morning the feed and water is moved out into the grass, and believe me, these birds follow the feed.

They are not fenced in at all currently. I think as long as we stay close to the house fencing won't be an issue. They do not roam far, and predators won't come this close during the day. If we decide to take the birds farther out, we'll need to set up fencing of some sort to keep them safe.

They seem so happy out there. They are eating clover, chasing bugs, digging through leaves, and acting more like I expect a chicken to act than any other batch of broilers we have ever had. It is good to see! 

Building Bat Houses

Our county 4-H camp had a dilemma. There were bats living at the camp. On the one hand that can be a very good thing. The bats will eat thousands of bugs every night, making the camp a much more comfortable place for everyone. The problem is the bats were taking up residence in the eaves of the main building. The health department was none too pleased with the droppings said bats were leaving near areas where food is stored, prepared, and consumed. What to do?

The camp couldn't kill the bats even if they wanted to. Bat proofing the building wasn't working either. Yet, the bats had to go. Our club leader decided the solution was to give the bats a better place to live, and the building of two bat houses began.

There were hand and power tools involved,

and some caulk.

When the houses were built, it was time to stain them and make them more attractive to the bats. 

I think this was Vivian's favorite part. 

The camp caretaker will soon be mounting these houses away from the building. We are all hoping the bats find these new homes comfy and cozy.