Projects Galore

 selling sunflowers (again)- this time to help raise funds toward a short-term medical missions trip

Sadie has taken over chicken duty (all 15 made the photo)

 It worked! Two years after planting three vines, we're harvesting and eating red, seedless grapes (with no spray).

 settling in- the smoke house now has a porch, post and stone foundation, stone step and slide. Because what smoke house is not complete without a slide?

this year's garden- mostly weeds and a few vegetables (with a new gate)

preparing for new siding: tearing down an old, unused chimney 

 slowly turning a multi-use barn into a buggy shed (for cars)

assembled hand-me-down trampoline 

the last two weeks of summer- finally some time to start quilting it

constructing a "Children's Zoo"- very important work, indeed

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Season Shift

I've been meaning to write this post for weeks.  Instead, I've be continuously thinking of and reeling from a tragedy that some dear friends are living through.  Their sweet 4-month old baby boy passed away.  Please remember them in your prayers as they and their little girl grieve this enormous loss.  Thank you.

I'm still here (more or less).

The past couple months have flown by in a blur of baby and kid care, cooking from CSA boxes, trying to stay cool, birth family visits, a week of vacation, lesson planning, and day to day summer life.

In one week, we will start school as best as we can.  I recently read an article encouraging homeschool moms to think of their plans as "guesses".  I needed that.  Life is unpredictable and I am forever learning that I can't hold so tightly to my neatly structured plans.  Naps, appointments and feeding schedules are sure to change.  Lord, help me flex with them.

A summer without a huge garden of produce was, to be honest, so very nice.  Tomatoes came pouring in from our garden last week and I managed a large batch of canned, chopped tomatoes and a batch of tomato soup with one more go at soup planned for this week.  Thankfully, I have enough tomato sauce from last year to carry us over.

Since this was our first experience with a CSA (a full share) I wasn't sure what to expect.  Several people told us they found themselves trying new recipes to use up produce they usually don't buy.  I don't think I tried one new recipe.  Instead we roasted or ate fresh almost every single item.  It was a breeze...and so delicious.  If you don't have the space or time to garden, I highly recommend you look into a CSA.

The little boy with us is 8 months old already.  He is happy and healthy- a real joy.  It appears he will be with us for awhile yet.  Where he goes from here is still uncertain.  We welcome prayers for his sweet life and those who will care for him next.

I've missed writing here.  I've started a million blog posts in my mind these past few months- many about foster care.  The feelings and ideas are so hard to put into words- too complex and fragile all at the same time.  Maybe one day I can put these stories down.  For now, we live them out and do the very best we can with God's grace and strength holding us up.

September, ready or not, here we come!  Blessings to each of you as you make the transition, too.

Love,
Jane

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The End of May

I cannot believe it is almost June.  The spring melted quickly away in all the rain.  We were sequestered inside because of it.  While it made me feel a bit batty at the times, what else was I going to do with three kids and an infant anyway?  I am not brave and outgoing when I have a baby.  I hunker down.

This past week Jamey had a day off so he took baby duty so I could give our kids their achievement tests.  While I sat with them during test time I was able to order their books for next year and get my paperwork together to submit to the local school superintendent. Except for a little bit of work I'd like each of the kids to do this summer, we are calling school done for the year.

We've had enough hot, muggy days to make it feel as if summer is here.  The sun shines and the lack of rain is glorious.  The baby is taking real, two- and three-hour naps in the afternoon which is freeing me up to work on weeding the garden and flower beds.  It feels so good to be doing normal things like weeding.  And weeding adds a whole new purpose when you get to feed them to your pigs.

Last year, the girls and I picked blueberries at a local, organic blueberry farm.  We had gone early and were the only ones there for awhile.  I was able to pick side by side with the owner and she graciously answered some of my pressing blueberry-growing questions.  In the past, we have netted our bushes to keep the birds away but at their farm, they had wire strung over the rows with sections of reflective tape tied to the wires which moved in the wind and made a lovely rustling sound.  I decided to order some and try it this year.  I also put some of it on stakes in our strawberry patch.  So far, it seems to be working with the strawberries but the blueberries aren't ripe enough yet to know.  When I went out to snap a picture for you I found this...

Is she turning her head away because she's blinded by the tape or is she calling her friends to tell them that there's no net this year?  In the picture the tape looks white, but it is a very shiny, prism-y, silver.

Our first CSA box comes this week!  While we're not planting much this year for preserving, we are planting a few things to eat fresh.  And then there's all that garden space that you can't just leave bare otherwise the weeds will take over and drop seeds for next year's garden. We are using landscaping plastic to help keep weeds down in the sections we aren't using.  

We're actually amazed our garden looks as good as it does.  It's strange how when you're overwhelmed it seems impossible to imagine having time again for anything.  But it comes.  

Just like the sun.

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Vacation: Is it worth it?

My extended family goes on vacation together at the end of July every year.  It's clearly the best time-choice considering that we go up into Canada and spend a week on a lake there.  Late July means less black flies, hot sun and warm water.

And yet no matter how hard we try, it's a crumby time of year to get away.  Every year, Jamey tries his hardest to take into consideration when we'll be away as he plants corn.  He plants different varieties and staggers the plantings, always attempting to hug either side of vacation week.  Instead, every year, we are up late the night before leaving husking, blanching, cutting, and freezing corn.

The tomatoes love to send us off on our travels, too.  It's as if they're using all our well-timed and planned energy against us and instead fight their darnedest to see us off.  And so, the day before we leave (when I should be packing) I'm washing, de-stemming and halving tomatoes to be thrown in the freezer for when I return.

Then there is all the preparations needed for leaving that has nothing to do with packing and preparing a week's worth of food to take along.  One teenage family friend to come and feed/water the pigs, ducks, chickens, and cat (and collect eggs).  A neighbor to gather mail, pick ripening corn and mow for us (they were so gracious to offer to mow).  A cousin's son to cut, bunch and put out sunflowers to keep Sam's business going (Sam paid him, of course) and not waste the yellow beauties.  Oh, and the hamster (did you know Sadie now has a hamster?) was passed to a friend to be hamster-sat (not to be mistaken for the action of sitting on a hamster).

I know that people who live on real farms rarely go anywhere and I completely understand why.

And then there's the coming home.  The long drive overnight to avoid traffic, lines at the border as well as bathroom and food stops (most everyone is sleeping).  After crashing into bed for a few hours of sleep, we're up working hard to unpack and make up for all the time lost while we were away.

My first order of business was to check on our peaches- were they still there?  Well, it appears that our strange carpet tacking strips did the job and kept peach-hungry critters at bay!

We harvested peaches and winter squash, picked tomatoes and peppers, tended to the animals, unpacked and did load after load after load of laundry.  Sam and I worked on getting more sunflowers out by the road.  The hamster needed collecting and we checked in with friends and neighbors who helped hold down the funny farm fort while we were away.

But it's not over yet.  The next several days meant batch after batch of tomato sauce, canning and freezing peaches, sticky floors, piles of dishes, tired legs and feet, and one dehydrated body (why do I always forget to drink when I'm working in the kitchen)?

So.  I pose this question to you.  For all the preparation before and all the catch up work after, is going away worth it to you?

For me, it is.  It's a hiatus.  It's a dream within a dream. It's time to reconnect with nature, family and myself.  And, truth be told...I'd do it six times a year if I could.

 view from the boat

 view from alone time in the cabin

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A Long, Summerly Post

I know I've been a bit quiet lately.  It's not because there hasn't been much going on...it's the opposite actually.  Below is a glimpse into our summer thus far. 

Our gardens are doing great thanks to plenty of rain and time to keep after the weeds.  I know I've said this before but if you want to maintain projects like a big garden, you have be home to care for it. This is our new side-garden.  We moved it up beside the house when the pigs needed space. Since it's up by the road and right next to our house, we keep up with it better and get to enjoy looking at it out our windows.

(back garden)

During a weekend of company, there was a cherry pie that was overlooked in the fridge.  Having been inspired by this friend, I chopped the whole pie up, gently stirred it into slightly softened vanilla ice cream and refroze it.  I might just bake pies to chop them up from now on.  Swoon.

Our zucchini plants are producing like crazy. One day, I set out to quadruple my zucchini bread recipe to make 8 loaves (the number that fit in my oven) only to discover I had calculated wrong and was in the process of mixing up enough for 16 loaves.  Suffice to say, I'm done making zucchini bread for the summer.

Speaking of zucchini, we've discovered baked zucchini fries.  Cut them into spears (slicing away the seeds), coat them in beaten egg and dredge them in seasoned bread crumbs.  Bake them on greased cookie sheets for 10-15 minutes at 400 degrees (or until they start to brown) then dip them in ketchup or tomato sauce (as you're eating them). My six year old even likes them and that's saying something.

While our blueberry bushes are producing a small handful of berries every few days, it feels like a tease so we went blueberry picking.  I am so thankful for pick your own places that don't spray.  And we lucked out- the morning we went was cool and cloudy and the patch was empty.  We were able to pick along side the owner- a sweet, sweet lady- who gave me some blueberry growing tips amid lovely conversation.

Is there anything better than getting to hang your laundry outside?  Even if your mama has the clothes pin basket at the other end of the line?  I think not.

Peaches.  Will we ever get to eat them?!  The odds seem to be against us as either we lose the blossoms to late frosts or critters climb up the trees and eat every blessed one the day before we intend to pick.  This year, the frosts didn't get them and we wanted to make sure the critters don't either because they are LOADED under all those leaves.  So.  We saved the tacking strips from our carpet runner on the stairs and lashed them to the trunks.  Try and climb up them this year, you greedy buggers!

Not only were we able to split some of our bee colonies this spring but Jamey caught his first swarm this month. If I can remember how, I'll post the video soon. I wasn't home so he kindly set up his phone to document the event so I could see.  The swarm was probably one of our own, but it gave us another split, so all our hives are now full- three top-bars and three Langstroths.  And bees are busy everywhere.

 

Do our pigs look bigger to you?  While fully pastured pigs do grow slower than pigs raised on grain, it's rewarding to see them fill out and know that they are eating excellent cuisine.  In addition to being rotated through four paddocks in their yard, our friends bring us leftover garden produce from their CSA business and farmer's market stand.  Below you can see them feasting on summer squash. When they're not eating like people, they enjoy all the weeds we can send their way.  Weeding has taken on a whole new purpose around here thanks to them.

Speaking of pigs, I only wish I had done some videoing the other night.  Spock (the largest pig) took advantage of the electric fence being off (the line had become grounded in an inconspicuous place) and lifted a large gate with his snout.  He pushed it open and waltzed his way over to the chicken yard where he lifted that gate off it's hinges.  When we saw him, he was happily slurping up the chicken scraps we had thrown in their yard. Jealous much? Jamey chased that pig all over the back yard, somehow managing to keep him out of the gardens where he surely would've discovered the corn and hunkered down.  After watching the chase for a minute, I came to my senses and grabbed the metal bowl we use to carry scraps outside.  As I approached Spock, cowering in the weeds and trying to hide from his pursuer, I said, "Spock, get in that gate!" He, along with another pig who sneaked out as well, promptly walked back in the gate.  I'd like to think he was obeying me but likely he wanted scraps and was tired of the chase.  A working electric fence is our new best friend.

When we're stuck inside, our new favorite pastime is coloring beautiful pages from this book. We make photocopies of the pages so we can enjoy the book longer.  It's calming and aids well to conversation and read-alouds.

And last, but not least, let me introduce you to our new ducks.  They are Khaki Campbell running ducks.  They flutter and fly as much as chickens or maybe even a little less so.  We started with the four you see below but we lost one the very first night, likely to a predator.  After an intense game of chase-the-untame-ducks-around-the-yard, we corralled them into the chicken duck tractor where they'll live full time for awhile until they learn to call it home.  Then we can hopefully let them out each morning after they lay and shut them in at night.

We've only collected one egg so far (they've had quite the transition) but we hear they're excellent layers.  Their conversation is as, if not more, entertaining than that of chickens.  If they prove themselves worthy, we may increase their numbers instead of the chickens next spring.

I have two recipes to share that will hopefully come soon...this post is already long enough.  I hope you are having a wonderful summer!  Here's to hoping the second half will crawl along instead of fly by like the first half has :-).

Blessings,

Jane

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