Haying

Sorry about the crumby picture quality. We had a limited amount of time to hay then to put it up. This was fun to watch. I was happy to see the hay cut. It was 3 feet tall. I didn't like the idea that an animal could be hiding in it without me knowing. We had coyote tracks all through one of the fields. We also had a herd of elk that would come through and bed down in it. We never saw any of the animals.

Friends

Thank you everyone who helped us. There was too much to list. But I'll try! Pressure washing, pressure washer loaning, fence building, tree trimming, bush trimming, electric fence re-wiring, post digging, old fence removing, burning, weeding, cooking, child tickling, child occupying, laundry folding, sweeping, organizing, painting, dish washing, coop cleaning, and egg collecting. I'm sure there's more I've forgot to mention.

The farm looks fantastic. We are so blessed and grateful for all of you. We really could not have done it without you.Rick thank you for hauling beverages, food, gloves and debris back and forth. Thanks for helping with the fence, pressure washing, good advice, and errand running. We appreciate all the times you've come up to lend a hand. We know it is a long journey.
Jacob thank you for ALLLLLL of the pressure washing.
Debbie, thank you for chipping in just about everywhere inside and out. From laundry, mopping, dog washing, yard work, pressure washing, chicken wrangling, reading to children, and everything in between.

Thank you Papa for lending us the pressure washer.

Licia, thank you for cooking, cleaning, laundering, folding, sweeping, and loving on our children. Thanks for helping out with recipes and good ideas on gluten-free foods. We really miss you.
Thank you Tim for WAY too much to list. Who else would scrub the siding on someone's house and outbuildings while they are house sitting? The advice is always good. You have a way of taking a big project and making it seem manageable. Thanks for everything from car repair, insulation removal, building projects and home repair.
Andrew thanks for coming from California to be a farmer for a day! We are excited to see what your farm will look like.
Thanks also to those not pictured: Obediah and Joss, thanks for always being available to help. Obediah, thank you for putting yourself in the line of danger to remove toxic, spider-ridden, mice feces-filled, insulation from the shop. I so wish I had taken pictures with those hazardous materials uniforms. Thanks for helping us move, unpack, and help with children.

Dick and Sue, thank you for coaching us on farming. You both are more helpful than any book. Thank you for coming up several times just to discuss how to repair our fence. Thank you for going over gardening, canning, and animal care. It has been invaluable.

Jerry and DaniJo, thank you for helping out with odds and ends projects. We know you are busy with your own farm. So we appreciate the baby sitting, canning, cooking, and building projects you've helped us with.

Greg, thank you for helping out with the chicken coop, building projects, and wood stacking. The work you did brought us over the "Hump" on the chicken coop. It was a bigger project than we thought it would be.

We also had countless advice from other friends and family. Thank you for the contributions!

Thank you all,
Ryan, Shelsea, Luke, and Daphne

Eggs

One double egg (2 yolks inside) and a first egg of one of the hens. The first egg hasn't any yolk.
Here is the size of this double egg. I've never seen one this big before. I half expected 3 yolks to come out.

Thanks Daphne for letting me borrow your pan.

Cogburn

This was our rooster, Cogburn. What was I thinking naming him after a gruff, drunk character in a John Wayne western?
He was a great rooster, and a good pet for awhile. He was handsome and very large. He grew taller than my knee. He called his ladies in each night. He made sure everyone was accounted for. Even the ones that escaped into the neighbors yard. He would call them, and retrieve them if he had to.
After an accidental incident with Luke and a stick, Cogburn decided children were a threat to him and the flock. So, he began attacking Luke. Luke came in 2 times with large bruises, scratches and bites bleeding down his legs. Once Cogburn had chased him 1 acre down the driveway biting and clawing the whole way. Poor Luke.
Our family loved rooster and wanted him to be friendly. He couldn't be a free range rooster anymore. So we gave him treats, held him and tried to desensitize him to Luke and Daphne. It looked like it was working. He wasn't growling at them and would happily take food from their hands.
On one particular day, Daphne leaned down to give the hens a treat. Cogburn growled and leaped across the chicken yard straight at her face. Thankfully, Daphne was not in the pen. If she had been in the pen...I shiver thinking about it. Let's just say we would have been in the emergency room. After that, he growled and (if given the opportunity) attacked anyone who came near. Including egg collectors.

So the final solution was to slaughter Cogburn. Growing up I was taught how to process chickens. So it wasn't new by any means. We hung Cogburn upside down (duct tape) until he passed out. Then it was no work at all to do the rest. Not a struggle or a headless running chicken! Thank goodness.


Life lessons. A very interested pupil here. I think she'll help me if I need to do this again.

I don't have pictures of taking out feathers and insides. I was pulling feathers with Luke. There was no one to take pictures. This was a great opportunity to explain the necessity of not being silly around animals of any kind. To be mindful that they may not understand ones intent. It took a good 45 minutes to gut, feather and clean chicken. Luke was a ready hand the entire time. He helped out with almost everything.

From pen to pan in less than 24 hours. Very tasty!

Boots

These boots don't look like it in the picture, but they are baby cowboy boots. Luke and Daphne both used these boots. Now the boots get another turn! Somewhere after 6/17/2012 (our baby's due date).

Personality types and learning styles

So our computer is not uploading photos. Sorry.

The past few weeks brought some good ideas. I attending a home school conference awhile back. There was a gal there who suggested finding out the way you learn, and the way your children learn.

It was a light bulb moment for me! So enter the world of quizzing to find out how to best teach Luke and Daphne.

I'd encourage all the readers to try this. It is great information and fun. I had several times I was elated to make a discovery (Luke is dominant Naturalist/Kinesthetic), and other times I was taken aback (Daphne is a Concrete/Random). These are just some of the tests. For our family, It was helpful to take all of these tests. I hope you enjoy.


For Briggs-Myers type testing for children:
www.personalitypage.com/html/kids.shtml


For Gregorc Mind Styles:
This is not a test, but you can easily figure out who is what.
www.floatingneutrinos.com/Message/arcs/links_on_abstractrandom.htm

Then once you've found what you and your children are. Look at:
http://iweb.tntech.edu/rclougherty/workshop/page1/page6/page6.html

For Multiple Intelligences test:
http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/ict/multiple_int/

Of daily life, updates, and chores...

Hello all,
It has been busy. We are finishing up the first home school year. It is going splendidly! It is amazing to see our Luke learn to read this year. And he is a natural at math. Yay! Daphne wants to be like brother, so she sits and does workbooks as well. She is learning about following instruction and doing a job thoroughly. We are blessed with the opportunity and freedom to teach our children. We are also blessed with several friends who home school too.

We are also planning to plant our garden this weekend. Yes, I said this weekend. Most people will plant around here between Mother's Day and not later than Memorial Day. The ladies from our co-op said that planting should take place just before, or at, Father's day! It is because of Sandy's elevation. I was told that our home is even higher and get's even colder weather. I asked what tomatoes I should plant. Several ladies rolled their eyes, and said tomatoes are a treat and don't make it every year. They told me to try them, but to stick with potatoes, peas, beans, squash, and everything green. Good news is we are near the top of a small hill. So there is lots of sun (when the sun is out). I'm hoping this does well to grow our garden.

The bad news is we haven't fenced the garden off. The previous owners did not. I don't see how they didn't. We have rabbits, deer, geese, and elk on the property. I am hoping our little garden makes it until the fence goes up!

We are blessed with all this wonderful work. We love it! We get to spend family time doing chores. There is working, singing, teaching, teaching moments (for parents too), and laughter. We could not be happier! Ryan thought that having a farm would mean more work for him, and less time with the children. But, in fact, it has been more time with family, doing farm work.

Here is our chore list:
Complete chicken coop
Put up children's swing set (We are in the market for one and would love one used)
Repair 4 wires of electric fence on 3, one acre pastures.
Fence garden
Cut down large tree in back yard
Trim up all trees and bushes in back yard
Clean exterior of shop, barn, woodshed, and house
Go to the woods and collect firewood for this winter
Buy 1-2 cords of wood from neighbor
Pressure wash all fencing, outbuildings and 5 acres long driveway
Re-seal driveway
Seal the roof of the shop

Then there is my list:
Organize all closets
Go through children's clothes and pull out the donates
Mail the clothes going out to several friends and family
Figure out a summer schedule for chores
Cleaning out toys in children's rooms
Look into buying bulk gluten-free, peanut-free, oat-free flour
Planting/maintaining garden
Burn the burn pile

And then all the day-to-day things. Home-schooling, cleaning, cooking, laundry, vacuuming, weeding, cutting the lawn, dusting, etc...

Then when this is all done, we get cows in September. Wahooo!

Really it is going to be a schedule that is important. But, I don't know how life will look. So I find I'm making a schedule and re-vamping it over and over. I really like a schedule. Maybe I'll post of the schedule when it is completed. I'll have to put that on the schedule : )

The waterfall story

Next to the house is a waterfall. We started it up (months ago) for several hours, then it stopped working. This past weekend Rick and Debbie came up to visit for Easter. We all worked in the yard all afternoon. It was sunny and 65 degrees outside. Debbie and I were trying to figure out what went wrong with the pump. I disassembled it. Cleaned it. Checked out the electricity source. Everything I could think of. And could not figure out why it was not working. Again and again we plugged it in to see if the thing we tried had cured the problem. But the motor would not start.

Debbie came in and put her hands on the pump. She began praying for it. We plugged it in after that, and it started working straight away. We spent the rest of the day cleaning the pond and the river out. I am so glad for my in laws. They are a blessing to us. And it has been great witnessing Debbie's prayer life. She prays and believes. What a sign of faith! Now I know it was a silly pump, but it would have been expensive to replace. Thank you Jesus for Debbie (Mom/Grandma)!

Chicken coop

I am so excited to post about the coop. Ryan and I designed this coop ourselves. We had ideas from friends, and two books: Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens and Chicken Coops.


We are so thankful for friends and family. We have had help with so many projects. Thank you Greg, Tim, Rick (Dad/Grandpa) and Dick for lending a hand and some tools! We really appreciate your willingness and hard work.
Luke helped out too. He was in charge of pulling nails.

Notice chickens helping too!
This is the coop on the end. The run is the fenced area. Since this picture was taken, we've stapled a fine mesh wire to the bottom of the coop floor (seen above). We are going to put in removable floors for easy cleaning. We also planned the coop floor 1 1/2 feet off the ground. This is ergonomically easier to clean no stooping). I'll post more progress as it happens.

How much is encouragement? 10 cents a branch...

There is so much work to be done around here lately. The recent wind storm didn't help. So at 10 cents a branch, the children were asked to take a branch and haul it to the burn pile. That is about a 2 acre walk.

We also paid Luke 10 cents for every branch he encouraged Daphne to haul. At first, Luke wanted to haul all the branches so he could make the most money. So he was running up and down past her to get the most branches. Daphne tripped several times on the blacktop. She was crying. She was cold, and wet. Luke was grumpy when I asked him to help encourage his sister, and to slow down. So at the end, 10 cents made for a good lesson for both children.

Luke slowed down and walked along side of Daphne. Telling her she was a big girl, and a good worker. T hen they were happy, laughing and Luke was such an encouragement to his sister! The mood lasted all day. Then they both counted money and chatted about how it is better to work as a family, then to just play. Wahoo!

There have been many projects since. Now I do not have to pay Luke, he is just encouraging her on his own. He does need to be reminded, from time to time. But it just warms me all over to see them working together.

Romans 12:10
Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;

^{Ecclesiastes 4:9-10}
Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour.For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.

Wild Horses

Our neighbor boards horses. She recently lost her husband, and wanted to open up more of her land to board even more horses. The other day, she and her daughter came up the trail with these two horses. They could hardly control them. Neither of them wanted the bridle on. They let us know "These are wild horses".

I don't know if they are really wild or just untrained. But they act wild. This was on of the first times they came up to us at the fence. Usually they run away, growl, or try to challenge the dog.

However, they are always neighing. It is a wonderful sound. I can't help but smile when I hear it.

Egg coloring

Happy Easter

We had Easter dinner at our home this year. I was excited to have most of our family over. We put together 3 tables to make one giant table. And had just enough chairs (thanks to Papa and Nana). I could not get everyone in a single photo. I think there seems to be a funny, and a serious side of the table.

The chicken garden

I started seeds in our house a while back. When they were less tender, I moved them to the green house to live with the chickens. I read about how carbon monoxide from chickens helps plants to grow better.

I placed wire over the hens to protect the plants.

Several days later I found 3 hens had learned to climb through the wire. They ate all the new plants. They also ate down a rose bush in the larger pot in the back. This was sad because it is a start of the wild rose bush from my great, great grandparent's property in West Virginia. I think I was most upset about that. I am hoping it comes back to life.

Do you have these in your kitchen?

My friend posted her recipe for "Banana pancakes". I tried it. It is super tasty. Eggs, bananas ans vanilla are the only ingredients.
In a bowl mix 3 eggs to every 1 banana. Add 1/2 tsp vanilla (optional). A blender would work well.
Stir the mixture before scooping onto hot griddle. It tends to separate.
Enjoy! The above picture is with a plain yogurt/honey mixture. They taste like banana bread, and have the texture of a firm crepe. They are very sweet. Taste them before you even think of adding syrup.

Warning: Do not tell your children they are pancakes.

Our kiddo's were disappointed. They expected pancakes with syrup. Different was not "Good".