One for You...and One for You!

Sometimes I don't always listen closely to what my children are saying when they're playing around me.  Tuesday was one of those days.  We were eating yogurt, and Sydney had gotten down.  I was feeding Owen and not really paying attention to much except keeping his hands out of the yogurt. 

That is, I wasn't paying much attention until some of the words Sydney was saying started to come into focus in my mind.  And then I twirled around and caught her like this:

She was saying, "Bite for Simon" and giving him a bite of her leftover yogurt.  Then she said, "Bite for Cinders" and proceeded to feed the dog (through the baby gate!) a bite. With the same spoon. Yuck! 

Of course neither the baby nor the dog complained much.  And I know that Simon has chewed on dog toys before.  But it still hit my gross nerve!

Then Simon realized he could get the yogurt to his mouth a lot faster if he didn't wait for the spoon.  His hands worked just as well, thank you very much.  So he proceeded to get a  bath.  Which he didn't mind too much either.

Kids and dogs...you never quite know what's going to happen next! 

Broody Baldy

Okay.  I'm normally a total procrastinator when it comes to getting eggs in the fridge.  We gather them after quiet time, and it just seems like the rest of the afternoon and evening rush by.  With my eggs sitting patiently on the counter, waiting until morning.

Not yesterday.  Yesterday I was really on top of things.  I cleaned the eggs and put them in the fridge right after I got them.  And I wish I hadn't.

You see.  I discovered this morning that one of my Black Australorps has decided to get broody.

Baldy, sitting on her eggs.

 And if my eggs had still been sitting on my counter, I could have picked out my brown and green eggs (from the Australorps, Partridge Rocks and the Americana) to place under her.  Instead, they were in the fridge.  Rats!

But I was able to place 6 eggs under her today, and I'm hoping to get three more tomorrow.  Right now she is on 2 brown, 1 green and 3 white. 

The white eggs come from my Blue Andalusians.  They are beautiful, hardy birds.  They forage really well.  But I don't like them.  They are a light breed, really flighty and hide their eggs all over.  I want more of my heavy birds.  So hopefully I'll get another green and two more brown eggs tomorrow.  

Either way, I'll leave her on the six she's on at the minimum.  In 21 days (give or take) I should have some more chickens in the coop.  Which is such a blessing.  I'm down to 12 right now (11 hens and a rooster).  Well, 12 hens if you count the one that makes her home in a lilac tree instead of the coop.  No matter how many times we catch her and throw her in the coop at night, she sticks to the tree.  So I let her stay there now.  Some things just aren't worth fighting!

And in case you're wondering about her name...

We had a hawk attack the flock last year, and even though we scared it off before it dined, we thought this bird was a goner.  Her head feathers were all plucked out.  And she was...BALD!  The kids named her Baldy at that point. 

You'll notice that her feathers have grown in quite nicely.  And to be completely honest...I'm not even sure which of these birds is the true Baldy.  But she is the one who went broody last year (when we didn't have a rooster around, so she couldn't hatch any), so I'm guessing.  And we pretty much call all of our  Black Australorps Baldy anyways now.  So it works!

I'm really looking forward to keeping track of Baldy's progress over the next few weeks.  I'll let you know how it turns out! 

Weekly Round Up, Weekly Round Up, Here are Some Pictures for Yo-u!

Thanks to my three girls, I've had a My Little Pony song stuck in my head all day.  Hence the title of this post.  Just imagine cute little ponies running around singing, "Winter Wrap Up, Winter Wrap Up, Let's finish our holiday cheer."  And just in case you can't imagine it, the link will take you to a You Tube video.  Be warned...it easily becomes stuck. 

Enough about ponies.  Let's talk pictures. This week was kind of hit and miss for taking them.  Hopefully next week I'll be more on track. And remember to bring my iPod with me.

Sunday, June  22nd

Another generation of barn cats being tamed by Jayme.  Three kittens in this batch.  The kids are enjoying playing with them, and most mornings they scramble into the barn for milking time in hopes of getting a squirt or two.  Now I just need to teach them to catch it...

Monday, June 23rd

No picture.

Tuesday, June 24th

The tent...it was sure fun to play in!  Bryan helped to get it fixed up--the middle is supposed to be higher than the front and back!  The tent is now moved from this location, to a smoother spot in the yard.  It's also further away from our "lightning rod" flag pole! 

Wednesday, June 25th

Just a crockpot.  A picture taken specifically for a blog post.  Nothing fancy.

Thursday, June 26th

Exciting day for us!  The Parent Partnership Program where I used to work had a surplus sale.  $10 for a bag full of homeschooling materials.  Look at all the things I got for $30.  Some highlights:  Dave Ramsey's Foundations for Personal Finance course for homeschoolers (all complete!), Institute for Excellence in Writing's Student Intensive Writing Course B (for Jayme in 8th grade), Ruby Bridge's Through My Eyes, and a complete Sing, Spell, Read & Write K-1 set.  Wow!  Lots of other things too!

Friday, June 27th

No pic.


Saturday, June 28th

This is a really blurry picture.  It worked a whole lot better in my mind than in actuality.  It was too dark in our house when I took it, but if I had turned on a light, I would have woken them all up. This shows our living room, with five of the six kids (all but Simon) asleep on either the couch or the floor, all snuggled close and piled under blankets.  It was sweet. 

Memo to self...check the weather forecast BEFORE you tell the kids we'll all be sleeping in the tent that night.  Thunder, lightning and rain.  Not a pretty picture for a tent.  They were so disappointed, especially since Jayme, Jeffrey and Ellie worked so hard prepping the tent with blankets, sleeping bags and pillows. 

To make it up to them (kind of), we brought all of them inside and camped in the living room.  They crashed after popcorn and a movie.  And we all stayed warm and dry. 

We're hoping to really camp next week--when the weather is better.

I hope your week was just as good as ours, and perhaps your weather a little better!  (I KNOW we need the rain, but I prefer the sun in June!)

Blender Ice Cream!

Ice cream is a favorite dessert around the farm.  Actually...we kind of like ice cream any time of day.  We've even had our homemade stuff for breakfast on occasion.  (Frozen milk, vanilla, a bit of unrefined sugar or maple syrup, maybe some fruit...what's not to love?)

But even in our awesome ice cream maker, it takes time.  Each batch requires about 25 minutes from mixing to eatable.  It also takes planning--I have to make sure our ice cream containers for the machine are completely frozen.  Which doesn't always happen.

So when I read about blender ice cream here, I knew I had to try it.  I didn't have just plain frozen strawberries like it called for, so I used a mix of frozen fruits.  Ours had strawberries, pineapple, mango and peaches. 

I used about 4 cups of frozen fruit, 1.5 ish cups of raw milk, and 3 T of unrefined sugar.  (Once Simon is over a year, I'll use honey to make it...).  After combining all the ingredients in the blender, I turned it to the ice crush mode for about 5 minutes.

I learned something very important.

You should put the milk in the blender first.  Not the frozen fruit.  I was shutting it off and stirring it pretty frequently.

I did it right on the second batch.  That I made just a few minutes after the first batch.  The first got devoured that quickly! It was more of a sorbet texture, but whatever you want to call it, it was tasty.

I'm looking forward to experimenting with other frozen fruits.  In fact, I cubed up a watermelon yesterday, and threw about four cups in the freezer.  We'll give that a try today.  Except I think I'll teach Jayme or Jeffrey how to make it.  It's a great treat for kids to prepare!

Simon definitely approved!

 Have you ever made ice cream in your blender or food processor?  I'd love to hear ideas for other combinations!

Five Things That Simplify Life

I've been actively decluttering the house again.  Seems like we always have too much stuff.  I'm learning that more stuff equals more cleaning.  More stuff equals more stress.  More stress is just bad.  So some of the stuff has to go.

But, as I'm analyzing objects in our house to decide if they are worth keeping, I've also found some things that really are useful. Objects that I never really thought about before now.  And I started pondering the usefulness of these things and how they simplify life around here.

 Yes.  Random thoughts like that truly do just pop into my head.  What can I say...But enough about my randomness and back to five random objects from my house.

These items may not seem like much, but they do help simplify my life.  With a busy family, a growing farm and life in general, simple is good!

A word of warning.  These things may not simplify your life.  Thus, don't go out and buy one of each thinking that these five items will solve all your problems.  They certainly haven't solved all of mine.  And they might not even be useful in a different season of life. But they are useful to me right now. How's that for a rather random disclaimer?  :)

 With that rather wordy (and apparently random) introduction out of the way, let's get to the heart of the matter.

Five Things That Simplify My Life

1. Our toilet seat

Okay.  I know what you're thinking.  How in the world can a toilet seat simplify life?  Just hear me out.  I was skeptical too.  In fact, we recieved this as a gift from Bryan's older brother for Christmas several years ago.  And it sat in the box for a long time.  I wasn't really seeing the use for it back then. 

 But now that we've been using it through two potty training kids (with a couple more to go...), I'm sold.

 This toilet seat is different.  See that fancy insert that my hand is holding? That snaps down and provides a training seat for the kids.  That way they can't fall into the toilet.  (Important stuff!)  You know what is so awesome about this seat?  It allowed us to get rid of the small potty chair we used to have.  Those are horrible to clean and take up space that my small bathroom just doesn't have. 

Another bonus?  Because my kids are learning on a normal sized potty (except for the smaller hole), they aren't scared of sitting on potties in stores or at other houses.  Yeah!   

2.  Our Apple TV

We now have converted our DVD collection to iTunes and have placed all the DVDs in the basement.  Do you know how often Owen and Sydeny or Simon would empty out our DVD cupboard before?  And then Owen would rip and eat the inserts.  And we'd have a crazy big mess in just a couple of minutes.  Not to mention the scratches.  Now?  Just a simple little box sitting on top of our DVD player. No messes.  That's pretty awesome!

 3.  The crockpot. 

Right now it has beef broth simmering away.  It's also useful for making casseroles, soups, mashed potatoes, taco filling, and about a million other tasty things.  And...it doesn't heat the house up to use.  That's great news for summer in this house with no AC!


That, my friends, is a very useful object!  One that I won't be parting with anytime soon.  Though I might add another to my collection.  Then I could make mashed potatoes in one and cook a chicken in the other.  Hmmm...I might be onto something there!

 4.  Our Dog Crate

Yup.  We crate trained Cinders.  He sleeps here.  He hangs out here.  He can't destroy the house from here.  All good, stress reducing things for puppy owners!  It also makes a nice place to store boxes of diapers on top. 

Just be sure a loose diaper doesn't end up so it can be pulled into the crate.  Otherwise you might come home to a mess.  But at least that mess is contained inside a crate!  (Not that I'm speaking from torn up diaper experience or anything... :) )

And last, but certainly not least.

5.  Our shoe rack.

You have no idea how much of a hassle shoes have been.  Ideally, we'd all keep our shoes in our bedroom and there wouldn't ever be a shoe mess in the living area.  Except...when you have to run outside to do anything.  Going upstairs and finding the shoes you want just isn't really feasible. And I'm really not good at then putting those shoes back away as soon as I come back in. 

When we had a smaller family and had first moved in here, we just left our shoes on the hearth around the stove.  It worked really well.  Until our family grew.  And so did our shoe collection. We had shoes all the way around the stove.  Which worked in the summer.  But trying to start a fire with shoes all the way around just wasn't very practical.

So we got a tub.  One of those large Rubbermaid tubs.  And we shoved all our shoes in it.  Ever try digging through a tub of shoes while you're in a hurry to leave, trying to find the mate?  That's not fun.  So the tub didn't last very long. 

I can't remember all the other things we tried.  I know we lined them up on the wall under our coat rack at one time. But the kids really enjoyed scattering them a little too much.  And when we got our pup, the crate needed to go there.  What to do?  What to do? 

Then I saw this at Wal-Mart.  And it was like a light-bulb going off!  It's worked beautifully for about a year now.  Boots on top.  Shoes in the slots.  If the shoe rack is full--take some of your shoes and put them upstairs.  Your entire collection does NOT need to be in the living room.  Brilliant! 

See--shoes matched up and put away.  No frantic searching.  No stepping over shoes.  No more huge mess.  Just shoes--simplified!

From the bathroom to the kitchen and everywhere in between, there are definitely random objects in life that can make things simpler.  What things do you rely on to ease the stress in your life? 

Grouse Creek Growth Update: Gardens, Trees and More!

Well, the garden is mainly in. Now we just have to water, weed and see if my thumb is turning green yet!

The kids helped me finish fencing it, and Bryan rehung the gate. Now the chickens and deer can't help themselves to our produce. 

Thanks to my mom, many of our veggies went in as started plants instead of seeds. It's nice to know for sure that those aren't weeds. Last time I tried a garden, I think I plucked out several dozen good plants in my over zealous weeding. I think I've learned a thing or two since then...hopefully! 

Since this is the location of our previous chicken coop, the soil should be pretty good. It's loaded with creepy crawlies which I know is a good sign. We will throw some cow manure/straw into it at the end of the season and it should be even better next year. 

You can see the nice dark soil in this picture. It's pretty good! 

In addition to the garden, we have containers of lettuce, cherry tomatoes and green onion sitting on our porch. Those require a bit of shooing the birds away, but it's so nice to have salad fixings close. 

Other things are growing here at the farm as well. The cherry tree is looking amazing this year. Last year a huge wind storm blew most of the blossoms off and it never really recovered. I'm thankful to see the green cherries and realize I will be able to put some pie filling up for winter! 

The plum trees are also loaded. I hope to dry more plums this year. Those were a delicious treat in February this year, andI want  to have more. The trick is in not eating them all right away...they taste so good!

Our service berries are just about ripe. Looking forward to more jam! 

You know what I love about the fruit trees? I don't have to do a thing to them and they keep producing each year. No weeding. no watering (well the sprinkler might occasionally hit them, but its not methodical...) So much easier than a garden! 

That's a great thing about eating weeds too. The dandelions, plantain and cattails keep coming back and are prolific! Now I just need to get better at using all of the great food The Lord has provided. We did try sautéed cattails the other day. I will be making them again. 

Our barley hay is looking decent. The rain last week was a definite blessing. I'm so thankful that we have hand lines though. Being able to irrigate has made a big difference in crop quality. 

Lets see. A growing update wouldn't be complete without our growing animals. The chickens have three weeks left to get fat. 

They are getting there! We like to see at least five pounds after butchering, and I think we are on track. 

The pigs are also packing on the pounds thanks in part to the rich milk they get each day. I thought a cougar was going to take off with them the other night, but I think Cinders scared it off with his barking. Or maybe it was Bryan with the gun...

One of the downsides to raising animals and living in the country are the predators. But praise the Lord--all three pigs are still around! 

So we should have plenty of food to put away for winter for both us and the cows. Even if my garden doesn't grow like I hope it will.  That's a pretty good situation to be in!  We are definitely blessed! 

How is your garden growing this year? 

Weekly Picture Round Up

It seems like only last Saturday it was 10 something at night and I was in bed realizing that after our wonderful drive that day, I completely forgot about getting my weekly pic round up done. 

I almost thought today was going to be a repeat.  We went down to my dad's and enjoyed a good visit while Bryan helped with some car maintenance.  (Having a hubby who used to manage a Jiffy Lube comes in handy!) 

But, we made it home and got everyone to bed, and I thought I'd type this up really quick.

So without further ado, here you go.  A week's worth of memories from Grouse Creek.

Missing a pic for Sunday, so we'll begin with Monday.  Another hidden nest.  This time in a bed of stinging nettles.  Thank goodness for gloves that protect.  18 eggs--all of them good!  Made a double batch of lemon pudding for snack this day, and we all ate up!

Tuesday, June 17

I spent most of Monday sick, and Sydney came down with it as well.  She wanted a bed on the living room floor, and she slept.  Isn't she a cutie?  Now we just have to work on breaking that thumb habit...

 No picture on Wednesday either--I was on a roll this week!  For forgetting that is!

Thursday, June 19

The day we moved the Legos downstairs.  Here's a shot from the bottom step.  You can see both play areas and our storage for them. 

 Friday, June 20

My parents bought a tent at a yard sale a couple years ago.  It's been in their shop ever since.  I decided today was the day we'd set it up for our Friday adventure.  It was certainly an adventure. 

I've NEVER set up a tent before.  This one didn't have directions.  I had no idea, so after Jayme and I messed around with it a  bit, I called my sister Mindy (who enjoys camping with her husband) to ask for advice.  I said something along the lines of...

How do I know what shape tent this is supposed to be, and how would you go about setting it up if you didn't know what you were doing and you had no directions?  My wonderful sister was very patient and had me send her some pictures.  She got us going in the right direction and offered to help when they come next month to butcher chickens if we didn't have it by then.

But we did!  My mom came over, and was a trooper at helping.  We tried a few methods until we finally stumbled upon something that worked. It's crooked, and we won't be sleeping in it until Bryan goes over it and helps me make sure everything is tight.  But, it is a tent and the kids are loving it.  We'll just leave it set up for a bit. 

This pic was snapped during our three hour trial and error to set it up.  Sydney was playing with Simon.  And trying to keep him from crawling under the tent.  He loved that!

 Saturday, June 21

Firewood day!  Bryan took this awesome picture after he decked some logs.  Don't the kids look great?  From front to back...

Simon, Sydney, Ellie, Jeffrey, Owen and Jayme.  I love them all so much! 

Good night everyone! Have a wonderful rest of your weekend!