Monday, August 11, 2008

Preparing for Winter

Although it is still summer, we are in the throws of preparing for winter time. First, Michael spent time this weekend hauling hay. We do not have any hay equipment and we don't have enough pastures to produce our own hay. We are hoping to change that in the future, but for now we need to purchase hay. We are paying $50 a bail which is much better than last winter when we were paying $95 for the same amount of hay. He still has more to haul over the next few weeks, but he got a good start on it this weekend.

I am also busy canning for the upcoming year. I have started tomato sauce this weekend, and I canned 7 more quarts of green beans. We are way short of green beans for the upcoming year. I need about 65 quarts to last for the year, and we have only 14 quarts. I planted 2 more beds of beans, but the sheep REALLY like green bean leaves. Michael finally was able to secure them out of the garden last night so we are hoping the green beans will recover.


Even though summer is still in full swing here, today is the first day of school. My heart really isn't ready to start back to school yet. This is a very busy kitchen and garden time for me, but school must be done. Our two oldest boys are in public school. Matthew is a senior this year and Joshua is a freshman. I keep our home school schedule following the public school schedule so we can all have the same time off from school. In one respect, it will be nice to be on a more rigid schedule. However I don't feel like summer should be over yet. In my mind, the starting of school is the end of summer.


Well, at least Missy can still sleep late!!!


grace and peace,
julie

5 comments:

Amy said...

I love that Missy!:)

She and Allie should have a sleep over, and they could sleep in together.:)

Good luck with your first day of school.
We are starting sometime next week. With all of my back surgery/recovery nonsense, I have not even been able to unpack the books.
I am not ready either, but it is nice to get back on a schedule.

God Bless,
Amy:)

Mountain Mama said...

What a beautiful shelf of winter yummies! You go girl. (When I grow up I want to be like you)

Happy Schooling!
ashley

TnFullQuiver said...

Yes, Amy I think a sleepover at Allie's house would be much in order. Of course you have to have an extra bed and probably an extra person willing to sleep with our little darling!

Ashley,
Did you notice in the picture that our shelves aren't finished or painted! We have only been working on them for the last 4 years!! I guess canning and schooling takes priority over painting and completing the shelf units!!! Have a great day!
grace and peace,
julie

VoiceInTheWilderness said...

I always love the shots of Missy!

This was our first summer to take off school- we've had to ease back in. We're in the 4th week now, but we're just now starting to get into a groove.

Your canning looks awesome!

TnFullQuiver said...

Voice in the Wilderness,
It does take some time to get back into the swing of school after a summer's break. I always take off in the summer because it is my time just to enjoy being mom and homemaker. I love home schooling, but it does take up a lot of time.

Missy is always fun to photograph. Apparently one of the kids found her on his bed using his pillow. He took the quilt and covered her up and started taking pictures of her. I always find funny Missy pictures from the kids each time I download pictures from the camera! Have a great school day!!

grace and peace,
julie