Garden tip from Tnfarmgirl (THANKS, CHERI)!

After bemoaning the fact that we were in such a hurry to assemble two of our beds this year that we didn't even till the grass before adding the dirt, Tnfarmgirl (Cheri) answered I know what you can do about that. (I immediately thought I don't have time to stand out there and pull out all the grass)! She told me to get old newspapers and fold them to be in a least 4 layers. Wet the newspapers, and place them over the grass in the bed. This was going to kill the grass while becoming a great addition to our bed when tilled into it later in the season. I have to admit I was a bit skeptical, but I quickly went to Michael's shop and gathered up enough newspaper to cover the problem bed. Cheri told me this about 3 weeks ago, and all of the grass under the newspaper has turned yellow and died away. My tomato plants are beautiful. Now I am keeping every piece of newspaper that comes my way. She also said to use the newspaper when we are building the beds to help control weeds, and it provides food for the worms!! (imagine that)! After tilling the ground, spread the newspaper over the tilled up ground. Then add the composted dirt and amenities to the bed. Our next beds will be prepared just that way.

grace and peace,

julie

I just finished reading Deliberate Agrarian's new post. His link is at our sidebar. This post was about finding his mother's diary, and how much it touched his heart when he read a passage that she had written concerning him. I wanted to share what I have done for my children. I don't share this so you think I am a creative person. I share this because I know that God instructed me to do this over 16 years ago. It all started when our first baby was born. I received a beautiful baby book, and I was diligent to write in it often. However, there were many things that I wanted to share with this new little being that didn't fit on the pages of his baby book. I started writing notes to each of my children. I do not have any specific time line concerning this. I just wait until I have something special to share with them or a story about them. Over the years, I don't always have time to get a nice clean sheet of paper. I have even been know to scribble a funny moment on a napkin. I then place the napkin in their baby book. I just make sure that I date it, and just to make it easier on me later on I even jot down their age at the time. I have notes and letters of love to each of my children from babyhood to teenage years. My children do not know that I have kept these notes for them. This is something special that they will discover someday. God willing, I plan on turning these notes and letters into a special book and give it to each of their spouse's on their wedding day along with their baby book. This will be my special gift to them that no amount of money could have ever bought.

grace and peace,
julie

Monday Clean Up

Today will be a day full of mundane chores. However, Jacob never views mowing as mundane. It is a task that he enjoys immensely. Matthew and Joshua on the other hand will be weed eating, and they aren't near as enthusiastic about that job. It takes a while to mow and care for a yard as large as ours. It seems as if every time I go out the door there is something that needs to be picked up or cleaned up outside. I am thankful to have a yard to keep up becuase in times past we have not had this pleasure.

While those children will be working outside today, Hope and I will be putting our home back together on the inside. I am still amazed at how quickly a clean home can turn into a messy place. We have a few children that haven't mastered the art of picking up after themselves ALL the time. Just a few of those backsliding moments can cause a house to fall into critical mass destruction if we aren't diligent. Well off to clean I go....hi, ho, hi, ho, hi, ho!

grace and peace,

julie

Sunday Scripture

"He also brought streams out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers".

Psalm 78:16

"Then they remembered that God was their rock, and the Most High God their Redeemer."

Psalm 78:35

The grass is ALWAYS greener...even for cows

What is wrong with this picture?

At first glance you may think there is nothing wrong. However, there is something VERY wrong. First clue, where is the mother of this calf? She is on the other side of the fence which happens to be our farm. The calf learned early on that she can slip through the fence and join our neighbor's herd of cows. She loves the neighbor's grass as well as cows much more than ours because that is where she is staying for much of her time. She does come back home to drink milk from her Mom. I thought that having the calf next door would upset the Momma cow. I expected her to be bawling her head off. Nope...not our cow. She seems more than happy to let the cows next door watch her baby throughout the day. Everybody likes the situation except for me. I am aggravated to say the least that we have a calf ,who my children named Isabell, that lives on the next farm over!! We did go out last week to repair the part of the fence that she was using to escape. However, we discovered that the entire fence line would have to be repaired. The neighbor is fine with little Isabell joining his herd. I on the other hand am looking for a place to contain her. Our barn is in much need of repair. Our son suggested we just put her in the house. I didn't exactly like that idea, but I did consider putting her in Michael's shop with the black kitty. After all, he isn't doing much wood working right now anyway. Then I remembered that I had agreed to keep a friend's litter of 6 puppies in the shop for the next 2 weeks. I don't think I can store any other animals down there for now so I guess the arrangements that the 2 cows have worked out will have to do for the time being.

grace and peace,

julie

Favorite Cut Flowers

Here are a few of my favorite flowers that I use for cut flower arrangements. The variety of zinnias in the above picture is the California Giant. I enjoy using this variety because the blooms are large, and it takes few blooms to make a nice arrangement. The other picture is a picture of Cosmos. I planted a Sensation mixture which also includes a pretty deep purple color. I love to use Cosmos in flower arrangements because they make a soft arrangement with beautiful foliage. The flowers themselves do not last too long, but you can snip off the individual blossoms that have died. To help the flowers last longer in the water, you should strip off the leaves that will be below the water level. Leaves that are left under the water, tend to go bad very quickly. I have a harder time doing this with the Cosmos, but the Zinnias are easily stripped. I usually do this standing outside while cutting them.

Taking care of a garden bed of flowers doesn't require too much effort either. (Just in case you haven't figured out, I am a person that loves beauty that comes without a lot of effort on my part)! To keep the flowers producing blooms, you should snip off old dead blooms often. I give my daughter this task. After a while, Zinnia's leaves tend to become unattractive in the garden bed. It does mess up the view of the bed, but again just strip all the leaves when using them in an arrangement. To keep fresh flowers all summer, I succession plant all of my flowers. The first bed of Zinnias that I planted this Spring is getting to the end of their beauty. However, I have another bed that is just now coming into its peak season.

The worst enemy of a zinnia bed is Japanese Beetles. This is one bug that I detest. To be quite honest, I hate them. I pick the bugs off the flowers and squash them. However, I cannot keep up with the multitudes of Japanese Beetles so I do lose some flowers to their destructiveness. I sometimes think the flowers keeps the beetles off of my vegetables so I am thankful for that.

grace and peace,

julie

Cucumbers and a Quick Recipe

Our cucumbers are finally coming in for harvest. We planted them later than usual so we have had to wait longer than I really like to enjoy the great taste of fresh cucumbers. In the next few weeks, I will be canning Lime Pickles as well as Dill Pickles. Dill pickles are the easiest thing in the world to can. I always add a garlic clove and a Cayenne pepper to each of my quart jars. The pepper gives the pickles a bit of a bite that our entire family enjoys. For those of us who really like spice, I will replace the Cayenne pepper with a habinero pepper. Those pickles don't bite back, they KICK back!

My mom and grandmother always had cucumbers and vinegar in the frig. during the summer months. This is something that Michael and I love, and it makes a great side dish to just about any meal.

Cucumbers and Vinegar

Slice up several cucumbers. Depending on the size, I use 5 or 6. If small, I use more. Slice approximately half an onion into the cucumbers. Vidallia onions are the best, but I also use green onions from our garden too. In separate bowl, mix 1 1/2 cups sugar, 3/4 cup vinegar, and 1/4 cup water. Stir that mixture up well. Sprinkle with salt and lots of fresh ground pepper. Pour the vinegar solution into the cucumbers. Stir. Let cucumbers set in frig. for several hours before serving. Stir again right before serving. The longer they set, the softer they become. I put this dish together in the morning if I want to serve it at supper time. We also like it the next day even though the cucumbers are softer they have a great flavor. As you eat the cucumbers and onions, just add more sliced cucumbers and onions to the vinegar solution you already have. Use that solution until the vinegar gets weak. I will use it for 2 to 3 times before I discard and make a new solution.

grace and peace,

julie

Pasture Clean-up and Blackberries Galore

We went to the back part of our farm today. We have a pasture there that we haven't taken care of over the past three years. I was amazed at how many trees can grow up in a pasture over what I consider a short period of time. Michael has started mowing and cutting down small trees every evening. He has made good progress over the last few nights. The above picture shows his handy work. While he is doing that, I am out picking blackberries. Our berries are becoming ripe at different stages. This is great for me because I think we will have berries over the next month. I found a great fruit crisp recipe yesterday in our local newspaper. I am including the recipe in this post. While I was picking blackberries, I set the bag down for a moment. Seth accidentally stepped on the bag crushing a portion of the berries. I brought them home, and immediately made this crisp. It was wonderful. I had been looking for a recipe like this to work with blackberries for quite a while.

Fruit Crisp

3 cups fresh fruit

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup flour

Pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

3 Tablespoons butter

1/2 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter 1-quart shallow baking pan. Mix 1/2 cup sugar and cornstarch together and toss with fruit. Place fruit in baking dish.

In a small bowl, combine brown sugar, flour, salt, and cinnamon. Add butter and blend with pastry cutter until mixture is crumbly. Add oats and pecans and mix well. Spread evenly on top of fruit. Place pan in oven and bake 25 minutes until fruit is bubbly. I baked mine for about 30 minutes.

Serve warm or cold. I would love this recipe with some homemade vanilla ice cream. YUM

grace and peace,

julie

Beauty from the Creator

I wanted to share some of the beauty of our glorious state of Tn. with you. This picture is very deceiving. It appears as if the mountains are surrounded by water. However, it is really the Smokey Mountains surrounded by fog and clouds. Either way you view it, the picture is a good representation of the beauty all around us here in East Tennessee!

"...the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the Earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength." Isaiah 40:28-29

Happy 4th of July!!!

We are so blessed to live in the country that we do. I know that our country has many problems that need to be addressed, but I still believe with my whole heart that it is the best country out there! I am a very proud American, and I love the 4th of July celebrations. I love celebrating this special holiday with family and friends. This year however we decided to mix things up a bit. Michael and the 3 older boys went on a fishing trip. The rest of us stayed behind today and caught up on some work. Tonight we will be watching the fireworks as usual. We did not do our traditional cook out either this year. Instead we had garden green beans and new potatoes, cooked apples, fried zucchini, and corn fritters served with homemade honey butter, and of course sweet tea.

I am thinking that Hope and I will make some blackberry jam this afternoon. Last night's blackberry picking yielded 5 quarts of beautiful blackberries. I will either freeze them for cobblers or go ahead and make jam. Our farm is loaded with blackberries, and I enjoy picking them. My kids do not really get into picking blackberries because of the thorns, but I see it as a mission. I always loved picking blackberries as a child on my grandmother's farm.

Enjoy the holiday, and remember to continue to pray for our troops that are still in harms way as well as those who are serving here at home.

grace and peace,
julie

Twenty Years and Counting!

Today I went to Ky to pick up two of our children. They have been away for 9 days visiting with grandparents. They had a wonderful time, but I sure am happy to have them back home in our nest once again. It was strange only having three children around our dinner table! It was even more odd taking our car to a baseball game instead of driving our suburban. Our family doesn't all fit in Michael's car, but since we only had three kids we were able to all fit snugly.

Today is also our 20th wedding anniversary. I truly can't believe it has been 20 years already. It just doesn't seem like it should be that long. We have enjoyed the journey very much over the last 20 years. I am so thankful to the Lord for what He has done in our life and our marriage as well as our family. We started out our marriage as best friends, and we still remain best friends. I think that is one of the keys to a happy marriage. Michael and I never dated. In fact I was engaged to be married to someone else. Michael stopped by the bowling alley and asked my boyfriend if he could stop by my place of employment and say "goodbye" to me. He was leaving to go to the Navy in three days. My boyfriend said that it was fine for Michael to see me. (Boy, I bet he was sorry about that decision)! To make a long story short, I reconnected with my best friend, and shared my heart with him once again. He was very honest with me and gave me Godly sound advice. I headed his advice. I broke up with my boyfriend and cancelled the wedding plans. While Michael was in boot camp, we wrote letters back and forth. Again we shared information as best friends not as people who were interested in a relationship. Michael finally had a chance to call me during the 8th week of boot camp. In that phone conversation, he asked me to marry him. I willing and wholeheartedly said "Yes". As soon as boot camp ended, he flew to Ky for our wedding. We got married in my parents' backyard. This was the only house I had ever lived in during my entire 19 years of life. Two days later we were on our journey of married life driving to Orlando, Fl. for his next school. I left a hometown of approximately 3,000 people to live in the city of Orlando. What a shock for a young 19 year old girl!! We used to sit out on our balcony overlooking the parking lot of our little apartment and dream about our life. We dreamed of a large family. We dreamed of a farm in a quiet area of the mountains. We even talked about moving to Tennessee someday. As I look back over the last 20 years, I stand in awe of all that God has done in our life. I am so thankful because He truly has given us the desires of our hearts.

grace and peace,
julie

Sunday Scripture

"Build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit." Jeremiah 29:5

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart."

Jeremiah 29:11-13

Enjoying Saturday

Today there hasn't been much "have to's" on the list of chores to complete. There are many chores there still remaining, but none too pressing. While we were at a baseball tournament last night, my husband was informed that the fish were biting. This bit of news caused him to rearrange his Saturday. He took 2 of our boys and went to the river today for a little relaxation. I am so glad that they all enjoy fishing. I HATE to fish. I blame this on my dad who never had enough room to take me when I was a child. He always took my two older brothers and that was enough to fill the boat. Now my husband is reaping the benefits of my dad's bad decision. I feel like I have done my job by contributing 5 children to my husband's hobbies of hunting and fishing. Michael asked me one early cold morning while he was getting ready to go hunt deer if I would "just this once come with him". I thought about it....it was very cold outside, the tree stand was very high up in the tree, and if a deer did come in his path I would witness the death....I promptly said "NO"! Thank God that this isn't the only time that he wants me to spend time with him or I guess I would have to muster up the courage to go hunting. I do love to shoot guns, and I think I would really enjoy shooting a bow. However, I like to shoot at targets not animals. I am not opposed to hunting in the least, I just have too big of a heart to participate in it. I will cook whatever meat is brought our way. When he was in the Navy stationed in New York, there was a man that loved to hunt. He was not interested in eating anything he killed so he always brought it to our house. He and Michael worked opposite shifts, so he would bring the squirrels in a bread bag and place them in our refrigerator until Michael got home to clean them. One of Michael's favorite breakfasts is fried squirrel and biscuits and gravy. (Thank God I am not a big breakfast eater)! This same guy knocked on our door around 10:00 p.m. one Sunday night. Michael opened the door and on our front stoop was Greg and a dead salmon. He wanted to clean it, but his wife wouldn't let him use their bath tub. He figured if I could have dead squirrels in my frig then I wouldn't mind a dead salmon in my bath tub. Such is the life of a woman married to a man that enjoys hunting and fishing. I wouldn't have it any other way.

grace and peace,
julie

A Teenager's View of a Little Mess

Teenagers are strange creatures. I heard a joke that goes something like this: Why did God have Abraham offer Issac as a sacrifice when he was 12? If He had waited until he was a teenager it wouldn't have been a sacrifice!

I have had a few of those moments with our teenagers. Our oldest son is 16 and our next son is 13. They see things a bit differently from me at times. Sometimes it is a good thing, but most of the time it isn't. Recently we were out of town for a funeral. We left our oldest son in town to stay with his best friend's family. He came out to the farm twice a day to check on the animals. Due to the fact that the death was unexpected, we had to leave suddenly which did not allow us any time to board our English Mastiff. We made the decision to leave her in Michael's shop with plenty of food and water. Everyday we talked to our son, and he said she was doing great. She had only destroyed one bag of potting soil. Imagine for yourself a clean shop with one bag of potting soil strewn about. That wasn't that big of deal. We came home that evening to the pictures above. Matthew's response to the above mess was that since Missy didn't eat the important stuff...table saw, planer, drill press, he didn't think it was a big deal. He thought he must only report the things of value to us that she had gotten into. I guess a bag of potting soil was valuable in his mind, but two huge trash cans held no significance!!! We all pitched in and got the mess cleaned up fairly quickly. The lesson I learned is to ask questions of teenagers....lots and lots of questions.....very specific questions!!!!

grace and peace,

julie

Let it Rain!!

We have had a very dry summer here so far. I am so thankful that this last week the Lord has sent His rain. My son called me outside the other evening to witness these beautiful rainbows. This picture is nothing compared to the real thing, but I wanted to share a glimpse of their beauty with you. Rainbows are a sign to us as believers from God Himself, and I always feel instantly close to the Lord whenever I see His rainbow. All of my children get equally excited whenever they see a rainbow. I never really cared about the science behind the rainbow, I just know that for me I always felt that a rainbow was like God blowing me a kiss here on Earth.

grace and peace,

julie

Enjoying the Beauty of Flowers

Here are a few arrangements that I made last week with my daughter. Flowers are one of my great pleasures of life. I have always loved them. To grow them myself adds another dimension of pleasure for me. Growing flowers and making flower arrangements is probably the most creative thing that I do. I have flowers all over the house. My favorite flower to grow is by far zinnias, but I do love to grow several different flowers. Several years ago Michael and I thought about growing and selling flowers at the farmer's market. We bought The Flower Farmer by Lynn Byczynski. This is a great book full of all kinds of information. I still think that we could be successful flower farmers, but we also came to the conclusion it just wasn't the right season in our life. That idea has been put on hold until our youngest child grows up just a bit more.

I have a plaque in my kitchen that says "Children are the flowers in the garden of life". Wow, I couldn't agree more!!! Two of our children are off to Ky visiting grandparents. It seems odd without them here, but I know that they need some "Meemaw" time to enjoy. I always loved going to my grandmother's farm when I was a child. I loved having her all to myself, and I know that being on her farm was the catalyst for wanting a farm of my own. Since two of our children are off having fun, I am taking our 3rd child for a special day with just me and him. He loves history and we have some great historical things to do right here in our own town. We are going to do that and enjoy lunch out somewhere together. It should be an enjoyable day.

grace and peace,

julie

Great is Your faithfulness

Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed. Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness. "The Lord is my portion," says my soul. "Therefore I hope in Him!"

Lamentations 3:22-24

How does your garden grow?

Gardening has become one of my passions in life. I truly enjoy the whole process of having a garden. Perhaps that is because I have a wonderful husband and several sons to help do all the "back breaking" work! Last year began our journey with planting in "beds" rather than the old way of planting in a large field. This has made it even easier and more enjoyable for me. Michael and I will be heading out shortly this morning to get another truck load of the most beautiful composted dirt/horse manure that you ever did see. God has blessed us with friends who clean their stalls out and then dump the manure into a wooded area. After some time, the composted dirt has become a lush growing environment. They allow us to take all the dirt we could ever need. In return, I take them flowers and garden produce. It is a win win situation all around.

We are enjoying an abundance of squash, zucchini, green beans, green onions, many different types of lettuce, broccoli, and many different flowers. Tnfarmgirl (her link is at our sidebar) has taught me so much about gardening. I can't even thank her enough for sharing her ideas and methods with us. She is always willing to help and answer the many questions that we pass along her way. She taught me about succession gardening. We planted green beans earlier this year, and I have already canned 14 quarts of green beans plus we have eaten several meals with a big pot of green beans as the center attraction. I will be planting another bed of green beans soon. I will have beans continuously throughout the summer instead of just in one huge amount for a shorter season. Every week or two, I plant new lettuce seed in the garden. I then harvest the lettuce when it is young and tender, but I have plenty new plants coming on for the next bowl of salad. This whole process has changed the way I approach gardening. I still can and freeze all that is available, but now our family enjoys fresh produce longer in the season.

I have already started planning our fall garden. This is a new concept to me. I used to think a fall garden consisted of pumpkins and collard greens. Boy was I wrong there. There are many vegies that can be grown in the fall with great success, plus you don't have the bugs to contend with as much.

Bugs...that is another passion of mine. They became a passion for me after we planted our first potato plants. Several years ago we had a huge potato plot, and I was so excited about this new adventure. The plants were beautiful. Then one day I went over there for something, and one entire row of potatoes had no leaves left. They were nothing more than just stems poking out of the ground. I quickly learned the ways of potato bugs, and in no time flat the bugs ate all of our potato leaves. Then the bugs went onto our tomato plants! I spent the whole garden season picking bugs off my plants. The problem was that I had let the bugs overtake the garden. Out of ignorance, I didn't know what to look for earlier on to help combat this problem. Now I am out early looking for evidence of bugs. I turn the leaves of my plants over and look for tiny yellow eggs. As soon as any are spotted, I smash them. This helps keep the bug population down before they ever get good and started. I also look for any bugs that might have hatched without us knowing. Now, here is where I enlist the help of our 3 year old. I have him look for bugs and smash them. This has a two-fold purpose. A few bugs are killed, and his little hands are busy and staying out of trouble.

Gardening with little people can be very rewarding, but it also brings many challenges. This year when I was out planting seeds, Seth was very excited to help. (None of my older children had this same passion so I thought I would take what I could get). I showed him how to sprinkle the seeds and cover them up with dirt. He quickly lost all patience with me and decided to move on to his own independent maneuvers. I looked and he was pouring seeds from my well ordered seed box! I was getting very impatient with his latest planting endeavors. I then saw a sack of onion sets. I had already planted many of them so I quickly took the sack and his little fingers and showed him how to plant onions. He enjoyed this job so much that it kept him busy for the rest of the time I was in the garden that day. Now we are enjoying his green onions that he planted. Granted I find green onions in every one of our beds mixed in here and there, but we can still use the most of them, and he had a positive experience in the garden.

Off to the garden I go!!!

grace and peace,

julie

The Rest of the Story

Yesterday was a normal Saturday on our farm. However, Michael was busy working on the computer to meet a deadline for his job. Jacob and Hope each had a friend over for the day. That was were the excitement began. Jacob and his friend came running in the house screaming something about Lizzy the cow. I could not decipher what they were saying because they were so excited and loud. I finally calmed them down enough to hear that Lizzy had her calf. This was very shocking news because we were told by Tnfarmgirl that Lizzy was due in August. We weren't even sure until recently that she was with calf because she didn't look as big as we expected her to be. We all ran outside to find this calf that these boys swore up and down that they had seen. Sure enough...they knew enough to know that it was a calf. They told us it was a boy, and by this time I believed that we had a boy calf. We loaded all the children up in the truck to go take a better look at the new baby. I looked, and I too believed we had a boy calf. After all there was something hanging down that looked like it would be a male part. I was a little sad because Michael had already told me that if it was a boy we would raise him for meat. After much gazing and discussing, Michael determined that this boy calf was very much a girl calf. I still wasn't convinced. What exactly was that thing hanging down that looked like a boy part???? After we came home, Michael called me downstairs to the computer. He had a picture of the calf on the computer, and it was a back end shot. He proceeded to give me an anatomy lesson. Let's just say I now agree that it is a girl calf too. Apparently that thing hanging down had been where her cord was!! Can you believe I am a Mom of 5 kids...and 4 of them are boys!!!!


Of course I called Tnfarmgirl and asked her "What about August?" She was confused until I told her about the calf. She then explained that Lizzy had been a.i. and should have been due in June. However, they didn't think that she conceived so they did the procedure again giving her an August due date. Apparently the first time DID take.

I am so thankful to the Lord for this new addition to our farm. Somehow having a new calf makes it seem more like a "real" farm to me. Sounds crazy I know, but honest none the less.

grace and peace,
julie

New Addition to the Farm

Meet our newest farm family member, born sometime in the last 36 hours. More to follow....

Garden Lessons Learned Daily Here on our Farm

Just a quick note of something I learned today. I have spent much time planting seeds in the shop "greenhouse". I have cared for these seeds and baby plants with much effort and time. I knew from reading that I was to harden off the plants when planting in cool weather. However, I did NOT know that if it was warm outside the plants still needed to be harden off. I learned this lesson well. I had planted little baby plants in the garden beds. After a few days, all of the plants were withered away. I was confused. After some reading and chatting with my husband, I have come to the conclusion that the young plants were too tender just to pop them in the garden beds.

I just wanted to pass along this little garden tip to those of you who may not know!!!

Happy Gardening.

grace and peace,
julie

My Happy Place

After being away from our home for five days, there are many things that need my attention. I have kept my hands busy, but as I was walking out to the garden yesterday I found my happy place. I went to the garden to gather lettuce for dinner. I saw a weed that needed pulling. Two hours later I was still pulling weeds. The funny thing was I had no idea how much time I had spent out in the garden. The time just flew by, and I enjoyed myself more than I could ever imagined. Does this mean I am getting old? I remember my Dad enjoying his garden. I thought that must be what you do when you are old. (That was my thought when I was 16). I pray that my 16 year old logic was flawed because if it isn't that must mean I AM getting OLD!!!

Today has been very productive in the garden. All of my beds have been weeded and spruced up a bit. Michael and sons built a new raised bed. I filled that bed with squash and zucchini plants that I grew from seeds in our "green house". I hope to get back outside to continue to work on planting a few more herbs, flowers, and lettuce plants. We still have the material to complete 5 more beds. I will post pictures soon.

Happy planting!!!
grace and peace,
julie

Good Byes and Thank Yous

On Friday evening while we were getting ready for our daughter's piano recital, we received word that Michael's father passed away unexpectedly. We have been in a whirlwind the last few days as we have been dealing with all the things required of us. Much to our dismay, Michael's father had made no preparation for this day. He had no final wishes for us to carry out, and there was no life insurance policy to help us with the final expenses. This brought much stress to Michael and his brother as they stood face to face with the funeral director requiring a large sum of money to be paid in 30 days. God is so faithful, but the funeral director wanted more than just Biblical promises on his payment. With the help of many different people, most of the needed money was donated. I am so thankful to the Lord that people were willing to help us when we needed it most.
I did not share this part of the story just to tell you of our plight of woes, but it brought some business things to our minds that we need to attend to. I do not want my children to feel undone if an untimely death should occur in our home. We will be making some needed changes to make our wishes legal in the event that something should happen to Michael or myself. It was very disheartening at a time of mourning to be faced with financial issues. We are a typical American family who intends to take care of this type of business soon, but Michael's father felt the same way I am sure. However, his time frame just ran out before he got around to dealing with the business at hand.
Whenever a death of a parent occurs, Michael and I try our best to take away something positive from that situation. We look at our parents', and as grown children we can see their strong points as well as their weak ones. We want to do better than our parents' in some areas of their lives. Just as I am sure that our children will want to do better than us in certain areas in our lives. Death brings a time of honest reflection, and I pray that we can implement the changes in our lives that need to be addressed.
Upon my Dad's death, being able to have some of his earthly possessions brought me some comfort. Shooting his gun made me feel somewhat closer to him. I know that it helped to bring fond memories back of when I was a child being taught by him to shoot. Michael was able to experience this himself this weekend by bringing back some of his dad's woodworking tools. I watched as he looked through jigs that his dad had made for certain jobs, and I understood that it brought a connection to his dad. He was thrilled to find templates that his dad had made of many different kitchen cabinet doors. There is something special about being able to use the tools of the trade that has been handed down from generation to generation. We are truly blessed. I look around our home and see a beautiful cedar gun cabinet built by Michael's grandfather. I look in our shop and see cabinets and benches and tools used and built by Michael's father. I know both his father as well as his grandfather would be very pleased to see Michael's sons so enthusiastic to learn the art of woodworking.
Michael's father was a Vietnam veteran. Due to his military service, we had a 21 gun salute at his burial. It was overwhelming to me to see these men salute and pay tribute to a fellow soldier. As Taps was played on the bugle, I was moved to great emotion. That song stirs up so much in my heart. I am so thankful to all the soldiers who has fought to secure our freedom. Michael served 12 years in the Navy, and I have a very soft place in my heart for soldiers as well as sailors. As we were finishing up dinner at Cracker Barrel on our trip back to Tennessee, a world war 2 veteran came in to eat dinner. I could tell that he was a veteran by the hat he wore. I was pricked in my heart to tell him thank you for all that he gave to serve our country. I understand only a small part of the sacrifice, but I do my best to teach my children that it was real people that gave their lives to serve their country. Unfortunately I did not act upon my conviction. I missed the opportunity to say thank you to this dear man. I was uncertain and embarrassed to tell him the gratitude that was in my heart. I was unsure how he would respond to me. Just seeing this man brought tears to my eyes, and I knew that having a conversation with him would put me into a crying fit. I suggested to Michael that he should take the boys over and thank him, but I guess that the Lord pricked my heart not Michael's heart. I am sad that I did not follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in this situation. My heart is heavy because I did not obey Him. However, I know that God's mercies are new every morning, and I won't make that same mistake again. So to all you veterans out there thank you for the sacrifice that you gave. Words are too shallow to express the gratitude in my heart.

grace and peace,
julie

Hello To All

Wow, I am amazed at how quickly time can get away from me since my last post. All is well here on our beautiful farm. We have been busy doing all the farm things that Spring brings to our chore list. I love this time of year so much! Here is a quick update on the things that we have had our hands to as of lately:

Honey Bees: We were very disappointed this year when Michael checked our 2 hives and found that all of our bees were gone. There were a few dead ones remaining in the hive. We promptly ordered 2 more packages of bees. Upon their arrival, we made up sugar water and placed them in their new home. Michael has checked on them, and the new queens are laying eggs so for the time being we know that all is well there. We have had a lot of trouble with keeping our bees from season to season. Our first attempt at beekeeping came with little bees that did not want to stay home. Every time we turned around it seemed that our bees were swarming!! That lasted for two seasons. We then moved the bees to a new location because we bought a new/old home. The bees continued the swarming mode, but at least some of them were content to stay put. After a year at that location, we once again purchased a new/old home. This is the place that we live now, and it comes complete with wind, wind, and more wind. Our hives have blown over SEVERAL times even though Michael strapped them down with everything known to man. Finally we moved our bees by a neighbor's barn that is located right next to our fence. The bees are on our side of the fence, but we are using his barn as a wind barrier. We would have done this earlier on, but we weren't for sure how our neighbor would feel about this new arrangement. He doesn't live on the property so we felt he wouldn't mind, and we were right about this. Our hives have stayed together this entire windy season!!!

The whole issue with the loss of honey bees in the news has really bothered me lately. I am just as curious as the next person to find out the cause. My mom called the other day and said that she heard Paul Harvey talking about it on his radio show. That particular broadcast suggested cell phones or electrical wires may be causing the problem. I still believe that the Deliberate Agrarian is onto something with his theory of the GMO seeds. Time will tell...

Dairy Cow: Michael and the boys finally finished the fencing so that we could pick up our dairy cow from Tnfarmgirl. She was gracious enough to let Lizzy remain on her property until we could get our fences secured, which took a while. Lizzy has done quite well at her new home. She is a beautiful cow, and I enjoy looking out my kitchen window and seeing her graze in our field. However, she will function as much more than just a lawn ornament. She is scheduled to give birth some time in August so we will also have fresh milk. We have been working with her to get her more gentle for milking. Michael and I were with her the other day, and he wondered out loud if she really was pregnant. (She hasn't been vet checked so we do not have an actual confirmation). I asked him why he was thinking that, and he commented that she wasn't near as big as I was when I was pregnant!! (After almost 20 years of marriage, you would think he would K-N-O-W what not to say,but he was deep in thought). He tried to back peddle and explain that he REALLY meant something lame like "proportionally speaking"!!!! Of course I am still making him pay for his comment on that one, but I did understand his meaning. I am happy to report that since that day, Lizzie is growing a bit broader. I will keep you update on this as it progresses.

Chickens: We installed our new chicken fence which is an electrical netting fence. It is designed to be moved. I can't tell you how happy I am to have our chickens in a large fenced in area that is safe and contained. I so enjoy watching them out my kitchen window too. Sometimes when I am getting stressed, I take a minute to gaze at the chickens. There is something very peaceful about watching them peck and scratch in beautiful lush green grass. They too are much more than just lawn ornaments. We have enjoyed the fresh eggs. At this time, they aren't laying many eggs due to molting. I will be happy when they are back to work once again!

Garden: The garden is perhaps my favorite area of our farm. We have filled our 4 raised beds that we had last year. Michael will be ordering more wood from our local saw mill, and will add 6 more beds to our area. I can't tell you how much I have enjoyed gardening in the raised beds. Right now we have a bed full of all different kinds of lettuces, green onions, and a few broccoli plants. We have another bed full of bush beans that haven't sprouted yet. We have a bed full of an early tomato variety, and another bed with flowers and cabbage. In my make shift green house in the basement, I have squash and zucchini coming out my ears. There are many more tomatoes in the early stages of growth along with enough peppers to supply an army. I also have various stages and variety of flowers growing.

Well, this post has turned into a little longer that expected. I need to wrap it up here, and get to our sons' ballgames. I pray you have a wonderful weekend in your neck of the woods.

grace and peace,
julie

recipe for Chocolate Covered Eggs

Here is the recipe for the eggs that I told you about in yesterday's post. We made these eggs today as a family project. They are VERY messy, but they are fun. The eggs remind me of the old fashioned creme filled eggs that I used to eat when I was young. They are very good, but very sweet. Hope you enjoy. For copyright purposes, I found this recipe on the FoodNetwork website. The recipe is one of Paula Deen's and it came from her show Paula's Home Cooking.


Chocolate Covered Potato Eggs

2 medium potatoes (2 cups total when mashed)
1 stick butter
2 (1 pound) boxes confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups melted chocolate

Boil and mash potatoes, then cool to room temperature. Add butter to potatoes. Mix potatoes, sugar and vanilla. Chill in frig. for 1 hour. The mixture should be the consistency of marzipan. Divide the dough into 16 equal shape pieces and roll into egg shapes. Freeze them for 30 minutes. Dip pieces into melted chocolate to cover, transfer to a rack covered with wax paper for drying. Serve cold. Color coconut with green food coloring to make grass for the chocolate eggs to set on if desired.

grace and peace,
julie

He Has Risen INDEED!!

Our family spent many years not celebrating Easter or Christmas due to the fact that the origin of these holidays are pagan. Then one day we realized that we are not celebrating the goddess Ishtar or a make believe santa, but we could enjoy the holiday without worshiping the origin. We could celebrate a holiday AND worship our Lord Jesus Christ as long as our heart was in the right place. (That was a revelation to us and it changed the way our family began to make memories with our children). "To the pure all things are pure, but to those who are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure..." Titus 1:15. As we were seeking the Lord in this matter, we found the above scripture, and we felt released to enjoy the holiday. Our standard is that we still will not lie to our children and tell them there is a santa or easter bunny or tooth fairy. We don't ever want them to think that if we would lie to them about santa perhaps we would lie to them concerning other issues. With all of this personal background being said, I wanted to share with you some great ways that we have made Easter a special time in our home. As with Christmas, I enjoy doing several projects throughout the week with the kids. It gives us time each day to enjoy a special time of being together. I am still amazed at how much my older boys still enjoy what seems to be childish activities.

Today our project was egg dying. As you can see in the above picture, it can create a mess. My oldest son was saying how much he hated messes, but I reminded him memories were more important than messes. We combined all of our eggs into a wire farm basket. My daughter and I cut some dogwood and redbud stems and attached them to the side of the basket. We now have a beautiful table center piece without much cost at all. The best part is that we all had a hand in putting it together and memories were made. Every spring our neighbor blesses us with goose eggs. We always save them to color, and this year I wrote each child's name on the egg with a crayon. I had them color them, and then I placed them in a pretty dish for display.

When I was sick I was "busy" watching the food network. Paula Dean had a great recipe for chocolate eggs. This will be our project for tomorrow. I will post the recipe later. We will also being tinting coconut green to look like grass for our eggs. I plan on putting our green "grass" and eggs on a pretty yellow plate for display.

In times past I have done elaborate Easter baskets for each child. At other times, we just didn't have the money to spend on such things. One mother of a large family said that they purchase each child a chocolate rabbit. In the middle of the kitchen table, they put together a family candy basket for all to share. She says this helps keep the cost down for her. This year I will put together a basket for each of our children. I like to add candy to their baskets, but I also like to add other small things that don't contain so much sugar. Last year I added silly putty to each basket. I was amazed that my kids had never played with silly putty before. Silly putty was a staple in my childhood! I usually find a coloring book and a small box of crayons to add to the basket. For the older children, I splurge and buy them a magazine of interest such as a hunting or fishing magazine. Last year I used cricket buckets for my 2 older boys' baskets. The baskets turned out great, and they were usable when they went fishing with their Dad. It makes the kids feel special when I take some time to think about each of their likes and put that into their basket. My oldest son really enjoys lifting weights. I am trying to come up with something for his basket using that theme. The true challenge is to do this type of thing while staying on a budget! I have also added playdough and bubble making gadgets in the baskets as extras. Hint: When choosing a basket remember the bigger the basket the more stuff it takes to fill the basket. When I am really watching my budget, I buy smaller basekts and it takes less stuff to fill it.

We also try to get together with another family for Easter dinner. Since we have never lived around any of our family, we enjoy having a large dinner with another family in our community. This adds so much more fun to our celebration time.

And most important of all, I want my children to understand that Easter is a celebration of Jesus. On Saturday night, we will have a time of family communion. We celebrate our communion with a large loaf of fresh baked bread and a bottle of sparkling grape juice. We use risen bread intentionally because for us it is symbolic of the fact that Jesus rose again.

I hope that these ideas will help you think about ways that you can share some special time with your own family. Memories are more important than messes so enjoy some messy time with your own children, and make some wonderful memories that will last a life time.

grace and peace,

julie

There should be a law of God that states that Mothers shall NOT EVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE get sick. I think my entire family would agree. Right after that law there should be another law...In the event that somehow a mother does get sick, her dishwasher shall NOT break!!!! My children would sign both of those laws into effect if they had the authority to do so.

Without all of the yucky details of sickness, I'll just say I have been dealing with bronchitis and now strep throat. I feel like I have lost almost 2 weeks of my life. I have watched more t.v. in the last 2 days then I have watched in the last 2 months. (I did get some good tips off the Food Network)! So if you are a mom and have any kind of imagination you must know that our house is undone. (Again I am leaving out all the yucky details for your benefit). Everyone has pitched in as much as possible, but after a while a house needs the hand of a mom to put it back in tip top shape. I struggle with this sometimes. I grew up in a house that was always clean. I have had times in my life that I am down right irritated about things getting undone in our home. (Confession is good for the soul). I have had times in my life that I want one of those houses that just seems to stay clean all by themselves.

About 8 years ago, I was crying out to the Lord about this very issue. It seemed at the time no matter how hard I worked in our home it always needed something else done to it. I was getting so discouraged that I was starting to get frustrated with our children. The Lord dropped a scripture right into my lap that has changed my attitude from that time on.

"Where no oxen are the trough is clean; But much increase comes by the strength of an ox." Proverbs 14:14

Now at the time we did not have a farm or any real plans for a farm so I knew God wasn't speaking to me to get a farm animal. However, He was speaking about my children. I was placing the wrong value on a clean house instead of putting the right value on the children that the Lord gave me. This one scripture has changed my life when it comes to my attitude about cleaning up our home. I still grumble sometimes about the chore, but I also know that with oxen (children) sometimes comes a dirty trough (kitchen). Now one of my favorite sayings in the world is "Many hands make light work". So with that in mind I am going to go gather my many hands and get this house put back in order!!!

grace and peace,
julie

English Mastiff: The Good, The Bad, & The Smelly

I am a dog lover. I have been a lover of animals ever since I can remember. I truly can't recall being scared of any dogs until about 2 years ago. I had been walking about 2 miles around "the loop" which started at my house and circled around until I returned home again. I love this walk because the mountains are beautiful and the road doesn't have too much traffic. About half way around the loop is a beautiful new home with a dog that looks much like the one you see in this picture. She never even so much barked at me for over a year. Then one day I happened to walk by and she wasn't only barking but she was running very fast towards me. I quickly climbed into a cow pen and stood there facing the neighbor's bovines, but they beat the barking dog. I was thinking about climbing up into the barn, but decided that I was safe enough on the ground. I went to reach for my cell phone, but much to my dismay I had left without it that morning. I stood there for a while and then decided that I could maybe climb out of the pen and sneak back home. Every time I tried to climb out, the dog would come back and bark again. I was trapped, and I was feeling a bit frustrated. I then spotted an older farmer way up on the hill and I started yelling with all of my might for him to come my way. I knew this man, and I knew he was the father of the dog's owner. He came down the hill asking me what in the world I was doing standing in his cow pen. I pointed out to the DOG. He said in a calm voice, "Sassy, go home". She went home. I was so impressed. However, I was having a little difficulty getting up the nerve to start my walk back home so I requested that he drive me past the dog's abode. He laughed and assured me that she wouldn't hurt me. I laughed and said I would rather ride than take a chance on meeting Sassy again that morning. This was my first encounter with an English Mastiff.

About a year after my encounter, Sassy became a mommy, and my oldest son begged me to stop in and see the pups. I honored his request. They were the cutest pups, but I knew they would be expensive. Several months later, I was the owner of one of her pups. The neighbor's called and offered us a "deal we couldn't refuse" to get rid of the last puppy. I wanted to share our experience thus far with this breed of dog.

THE GOOD: Mastiffs are known to be very loyal. They were bred to stay at home to guard the castle during the middle ages. They did not often bite their enemies, but they would sit on them or back them into a corner until their master came home. (This explains why Sassy was happy to trap me in the cow pen and keep me until helped arrived).

English Mastiffs have a very sweet disposition. Our Missy dog is one of the sweetest dogs we have ever had. They enjoy being with their people, and dislike being left alone. (Missy's favorite spot is to sit on the rug in front of the kitchen sink while I am doing dishes. She will also sit on our feet if she gets the chance). She wants to be as close to us as possible. They are also known as lazy which I think is a good trait. She sleeps a lot so this has kept her out of trouble.

English Mastiffs are smart dogs who want to please their owners. She has an understanding that she can play with our older children roughly, but she had best be easy with the little guy.

THE BAD: English Mastiffs are very large animals. They average out between 150-190 and above. I believe our dog is about 150 pounds. This is a good trait if you need them to scare a bad guy away. However, this can work against you if you need to get your dog out of the UPS truck. (That happened just last week at our house. Thankfully the UPS guy has a great sense of humor)! Due to their size, these dogs can do a lot of damage without really trying. I cannot go into all the things that Missy has messed up in as well as out of our home because Michael hasn't figured it all out yet! (We did find one of his lost golf balls. However nobody wanted to retrieve it from Missy's pile of pooo. Yes, she ate his golf ball)! We have a rule at our house...WATCH MISSY, and if you cannot watch her PUT HER IN THE BATHROOM with everything removed from the counter! She is a house dog who is my shadow so this isn't usually a problem.

THE SMELLY: Before we got Missy, we did a little reading about the breed. The breed profile said these dogs were on the gassy side. I believe that was an understatement...they can smell very bad if fed the wrong thing. Sometimes she smells just plain bad even when she is fed the right thing! The breed profile says that this breed tends to snore a bit. That was an understatement as well. Missy can put Michael's snoring to shame. She is very noisy at night, but I can sleep through just about anything so it doesn't bother me...to much. The breed profile forgot to say that this breed of dog tends to slobber. That can be a bit disgusting, but a large roll of paper towels applied to her jaws usually can conquer this problem.

You may be wondering why in the world we would have a 150 pound smelly snoring house dog living in our home. (Yes, Michael asks me this question often). But remember, I am truly a dog lover. I love big dogs that are sweet natured, and Missy Girl is so very sweet. She is my shadow, and I feel a bit lost when she isn't by my side. Yes, she has probably doubled my housework load, but she has brought me and the kids much joy. (Michael is still waiting for the joy part, but I know down deep he truly loves her). Well, we will just leave it that way until he decides to post his own thoughts!!

grace and peace,

julie

Farmer In Training

We celebrated Seth's 3rd Birthday this month. I thought I would share a few pictures of his birthday celebration. You know every boy/man loves a good tractor. This year the grandparents and us went in together and bought him a battery operated tractor. I was a little concerned that he would miss opening up gifts, but his Daddy assured me that this was the gift for him! His Dad sure knows his boy because Seth was delighted with his new tractor. Later in the day he became even more estatic because he found 2nd gear which made him go MUCH faster!!! (Watch out fruit trees)!

grace and peace,

julie

Fruit Trees Welcome Spring

Here are pictures of our 2nd year peach tree. I was delighted when I saw the beautiful blooms the other evening. Then I remembered that I must pinch the flowers off the trees again this year. Ughhh...I hate doing that. It seems against my mothering nature. I spent much time caring for these trees, and now I am expected to take off all of the beautiful flowers. Tim from Urban Homestead PROMISED me that in the end I would be very pleased if I would follow his advice and pinch off the flowers. He is the tree professional...I am not. He has assured me that by picking off the flowers that our trees will put more effort into growing into strong healthy trees instead of trying to produce fruit these first few years. By trying to produce fruit, it takes away from the tree's ability to become a stronger tree. Well, I followed his advice and I picked the flowers off our now naked tree. It is so hard for me to do this. I will tell you something else that I have a terrible time doing. I can't stand to see our trees pruned. I am not talking about our large apple tree, but all of our young trees are the ones that I hate to see being pruned. It seems like they take 2 steps forward in growing, and then we cut them 1 step back. Tim spent much time talking to us about the pruning process of the young trees. He was wonderful at showing how to prune and WHY it is so important. He sold me on the need of pruning the trees, but I still don't have to like it.

grace and peace,

julie

Making Do With What We Have

As I said in my previous post, we inherited some seed starting trays when we purchased our house. They were intended to be used to start tobacco slips. The tobacco farmers build large raised"beds" that can hold water. The trays are floated in the water while the bed is covered with hoops and plastic. Our raised beds cannot hold water, and we haven't spent the time or money to add hoops. I was in need of a large container that could float the trays in Michael's shop while the seeds germinate. As I was looking around, I found two tubs used to mix grout when Michael did our tile in the kitchen. I had to cut my tray in half so that it would fit. I now have two floating trays! I will switch out my extra trays so that all of my seeds will stay damp. I found out earlier that dampness and heat are both important for seeds to germinate! (One year I floated these trays in our children's plastic sleds. These worked great, but we no longer have them. They later became pig troughs for our baby pigs). I also had a dilemma in how to label the seeds. I didn't want to spend the money on plastic markers to label our seeds. Instead I bought a large bag of Popsicle sticks from the craft store. I label the stick with the name of the plant as well as the date I planted the seeds. This has been a great way to keep things in order.

I am sure that the more I do this seed planting thing that I will come up with better ways to do things. For now, I am content to use what we have. We did get our order in from Heirloom Acres Seed Company. I was pleased with what I have used thus far. I have planted most of our herb seeds. Last Sunday afternoon, I planted broccoli seeds and cabbage seeds. Those are seen in the last 2 pictures. I am surprised at how quickly they have grown. Today I have planted many flower seeds. I will get pictures of them as soon as there is something to see.

grace and peace,

julie

Planting Seeds and Tending Plants

Here are a few pictures of our make shift green house located in Michael's shop. I have to say that I have been more than impressed at how our seeds have grown under the grow lights. I planted these plants in February, and I have spent the last week "harding them off" outside. It has turned cold here over the weekend, but it is suppose to warm up next week. I will be planting all of the lettuce and spinach plants in the raised beds later this week. I will keep a very close eye on the forecast so I will know if I need to cover the plants at night. I do not have all the equipment that I need to make this seed starting endeavor easier, but I have enough to make it work. When we bought our house, the previous owner had several Styrofoam tobacco seed starters left in the basement. I have used these to start many of our seeds. They have holes in the bottom to soak up the water. I place all of my pots in a tray full of water. I found some disposable cookie trays at our grocery store on clearance. These have made nice watering trays.

I am having to stage my seed plantings to keep in mind the amount of space I have. Seeds do not take up a lot of room, but the plants take up quite a bit of space. I find myself using Sunday afternoons to plant seeds. This is a very enjoyable project for me, and Michael is home to keep an eye on the little guy. Next year I will be happy to enlarge our greenhouse space by adding another tier of lights as well as another grow light cart.

grace and peace,

julie

March Already???

I know it has been a while since our last post. So many new changes have happened here on our farm as well as in our life. First, can you believe it is March already? I am so ready for spring, but it seems just like yesterday that we were celebrating Christmas. The seeds that we started in our make shift "green house" are doing wonderful. I can't wait until all of my other seeds arrive in the mail. I am getting that spring time garden itch, and I need to hurry and start scratching it!

At the end of February, Michael made a drastic job change. He has spent the last 6 years working at Nuclear Fuel Services as an Operation Specialist. At the prompting of the Lord, he closed the door on that chapter of his life, and he has started work as a contractor for a training company. This is such a big change for us. It is truly self employment which has been a desire of his every since I met him. (He would rather be a self employed farmer, but that wouldn't pay the bills at this stage of our life). With his new hours, he is able to work from home some. I am truly enjoying him being here, and he seems so much happier. (I had to call him yesterday and tell him: 1. the chicken tractor blew away, 2. the chickens were everywhere 3. the mastiff dog got a whim and ate a hole out of his side of the bed 4. the mastiff dog also ate his temperpedic special pillow 5. the mastiff dog also ate his side of the sheets and down blanket that my mom gave him for Christmas). Michael took it all with a grain of salt and said don't worry about it. We will take care of it. (That was unexpected. I was already looking for a new home for the mastiff dog that ate half our bedroom down in less than 20 minutes)!

The fence project that Michael and the boys have worked on for so long is almost completed. This will allow us to pick up our cow, and purchase a couple more calves. However after yesterday's wind, Michael will now be rethinking the chicken tractor situation. He will have to do something with the reamaining chickens because they are living in the barn to protect them for now.

I need to get school started with my children. Friday is a wonderful day of school for us. We have what we call Reading Friday. This is a day that we complete any unfinished projects or lessons from the week. Then we spend the rest of our school time reading GREAT books. We curl up on the couch, dump out the building blocks for the 2 year old, and we get lost in a good book. I read a loud to the children and then they have time to read their own books. As the weather warms up, we take our books outside. This allows the 2 year old to romp and play while we can still enjoy our reading time. I can't tell you how many times Jacob and Hope have climbed up into a tree and listened to our books from a comfortable limb! Such is the life of home school students. I have always spent time reading good books a loud to our children. Our soon to be 16 year old still curls up with me when he hears me reading out loud to the younger children. That to me is a wonderful treasure!

grace and peace,
julie