Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!

We did finally get some snow this year. Here is a picture from our back deck of the snow. We truly love East Tenn., but it doesn't snow enough here for us. Michael and I lived in Upstate New York for 4 years, and we had so much fun during the winter there. However, by the time March was rolling around we were TIRED of the snow. It was looking pretty tired at that point due to the fact that it was always dirty. I use to go to the grocery store and buy one tulip flower at a time so I could enjoy a glimpse of spring while I was working in the kitchen. (Enough of walking down memory lane for now).

We truly enjoy being outdoors during a beautiful snow. We are planning a sledding trip this afternoon as soon our son gets back from snow boarding with some of his close by friends. We have already enjoyed the snow a bit this morning, but I was ready to get back into a warm house.

Due to the weather, our church was cancelled this morning. We were able to enjoy some leisure time enjoying homemade sticky buns, hot coffee, and hot coco. We have also been enjoying some shop time as well. Michael has installed one of my panels in the kitchen. He is working on two more as well as completing the shelves that hang on the pantry doors. I would be putting the finish on these pieces already, but our polyurethane has gone bad. This will require a trip to town so it won't happen today. I have also spent some time working on my seeds. Note to seed growers: make sure YOU water them yourself several times a day to keep them moist. If you use small laborers (such as eager or uneager children), you should at least check on their work. Our seeds haven't been watered as I had thought. We are still working with them, but not quite for sure how things will grow. Our shop is colder than usual now due to the extreme cold weather. We have a kerosene heater that we run in there when we are working if we need extra heat. I was tempted to leave it on all the time so the seeds would stay warmer, but after hearing in the news of so many house fires that claimed the lives of entire families we decided against it. It just isn't worth taking a chance. This reminds me we should all be diligent to check our fire alarms during this season. We all have them thinking we are protected, but if the batteries aren't working we are living with a false sense of security.

I got to run.....Michael just carried a pantry shelf up to the kitchen to install!!!!!! YEE-HAW!!!!

grace and peace,

julie

Rambling Thoughts

I can't believe it has been so long since I last posted. I have written many entries in my thoughts, but I haven't had time to put them on paper. Last Sunday one of my dear friends came to visit with 3 of her 7 children. It was suppose to be a short visit, but her van broke down on the trip to our house. I got to enjoy three more days with her. ( I promise I didn't pray for the van to break down). However, it was nice to have an extended time of fellowship with her and her children. So instead of computing, I spent time fellowshiping with good conversation, eating much food, and loving on her children.

Before Valentine's Day, I had meant to post a tradition that we celebrate in our home. As I have mentioned before, we have 4 boys and 1 girl. Several years ago, Michael was at the grocery store on Valentine's Day and happened to pick up a small box of chocolates for our daughter. (We have never celebrated Valentine's Day as a couple so this was truly a spontaneous purchase for Hope). He brought it home just for her, and she lit up with such joy. She was amazed that her Daddy would buy her something WITHOUT buying something for the boys. She immediately realized that this was a special moment between her and her Daddy. Michael has continued this tradition ever since. She looks forward to his gifts of love, and she works hard to return a handmade card for him. This is their special day...a time to share their special father/daughter love for each other. I truly love watching her as she spends those special moments with her Daddy.

We went to a local cell phone store today to purchase new cell phones due to a job change that is on the horizon for Michael. I was amazed at all the information that was available, and the choices were mind boggling. (And yes, we had already done our homework...just think how we would have felt had we gone in there unprepared). We quickly chose our plan as well as our phones. We then went to the checkout to pay for our purchase and to start our new plan. As the man was checking us out, I noticed the receipt kept growing very long. (I am thinking they could lower the phone service if they made the receipts a bit shorter to save on costs). Then came the kicker....yes, the price that was posted for ALL of the phones in the store already included the rebate. If the price was $79, that was the price AFTER the mail in rebate. Michael and I are intelligent people who read the fine print. We somehow missed this part of the deal. So instead of the phone costing $79 minus the mail in rebate the phone cost $79 including the mail in rebate. This brought the price of the phone to $129 minus the mail in rebate. (I am thinking the phone will cost a total of $29 instead of $79). I am feeling a bit "taken" at this point, but at the same time I am making a mental note to READ all fine print BEFORE purchase even if it requires a magnifying glass. I notice the receipt kept growing longer. This is NEVER a good sign to me. I kept thinking that my cow money was getting smaller and smaller with every passing moment! The clerk took the receipt and read it to us so we would know exactly what we had purchased. (What ever happened to knowing what you purchased ahead of time)? I thought we knew, but this is where we were told about the REAL cost of the phone. Also we were charged $50 to activate our first phone and $25 to activate all other phones. Those chargers were NOT in any fine print that I saw. I guess I was expected to know that after purchasing a phone and signing a 2 year contract that I would then have to pay to turn the phone on. Something isn't adding up with me here. Due to the fact that the phone was needed for business, we went ahead and agreed to all of their extra charges. I couldn't help but coming away feeling a bit disgruntled. I would have never allowed my children to manipulate me in this manner. If my kids presented me with information like this, I would have told them they were twisting truths and in my book that is the same as lieing. I truly wish companies would deal with the public honestly. I still bought their package, but I felt like I had been manipulated and cheated somewhat. I would have felt a lot better about the deal had everything been handled more honestly.

This story of our encounters today wasn't added just so I could whine about my new cell phone plan. However, I thought about how frustrated I felt today standing in the store. I also thought about buying and selling from good honest Christian people. That is such a much better transaction. I KNOW what I am buying. Michael and I have a dream to one day make this farm one that earns an income for our family. I pray that I always remember the way I felt today standing in that store. I felt cheated and manipulated. My heart is to provide people with a service that they want and feel good about when the transaction is completed. I was also reminded that this is the reason that Michael and I buy from Christian sources whenever possible. If that had been a Christian store, I would have called them on their manipulative tactics. I would have confronted it for what it was, and I would have had the Bible to make my case. I hold Christian businesses at a higher standard than I hold secular businesses. I
haven't' been disappointed very often with this method.

As I said earlier, Michael is making a job change. I will let him tell more about what he is leaving and where he is going. One thing we haven't addressed on our blog is the fact that Michael has been working shift work. (We didn't want complete strangers to know that he was gone all night). Michael had worked shift work when he was in the Navy, but for the last 10 years he had been on a regular shift. When Michael was on night shifts, his entire weekend was shot because he slept all day and stayed awake all night. As you can imagine, our kids were not seeing much of him. About the time his body had adjusted to that schedule, it was time to shift back to day shifts. He would have to leave the house by 5:15 a.m. His physical body didn't know whether it was coming or going. He would fall asleep any time he sat down for any length of time. He was grumpy because he hates to sleep in the first place, and he felt like all he ever did was sleep. Our entire family is celebrating because Michael will not be working shift work any longer. (His prayer is that he will NEVER have to work 3rd shift again). This is a huge deal for our family. I am so thankful that God gave us the desire of our heart in this area.

My children just informed me that the snow is actually accumulating so I am going to check it out for myself. We haven't had any snow this year other than a few dustings so I am anxious to see the beauty of it for myself. Until next time...

grace and peace,
julie

More Cabinet Pictures

Here are a few more kitchen pictures. This was before we tiled our floor. The first picture is our hutch area. He will be building glass doors with chicken wire to complete the hutch. In the second picture, is our pantry. This is truly my pride and joy of the kitchen because it is complete with swinging shelves. This allows so much storage for our food. In the last picture he put in our garbage cabinet. It holds two garbage cans that pull out. As you can see the drawers are not all completed. These cabinets are mission style cabinets, and if you look at the pictures closely, you can see that each corner of the cabinet has dark wooden pegs. Michael made these for looks only, but in the old days they would have been used to secure the cabinets together. The cabinets are oak wood with the pegs being made out of walnut. The walnut came from a dear lady that was like a grandmother to me. I played under her walnut tree while growing up. After she died, the tree was cut down, and my dad asked if he could have the tree. He brought it to us in Tenn., and Michael had it dried and cut into boards. We still have a lot of it left, and after the kitchen is done I can see a coffee table and end tables in our future!

grace and peace,

julie

Happy Birthday

Today is Michael's 39th birthday. He really doesn't put much stock in his birthday celebrations, but I always give him his heart's desire for his birthday meal. Get this...he chose Fried gizzards, mash potatoes, green beans, corn, biscuits and gravy. I made him his favorite Butter Cake with caramel icing. But who in their right mind would choose FRIED GIZZARDS for their birthday meal? This is one of his favorite meals and other than myself everybody else in the family loves the gizzards and chicken hearts. I always fry a few chicken strips for me because I am not eating gizzards.

He did take a vacation day today so he could enjoy his day a bit more without having to go to work. I bet I will find him later in his shop working on those cabinets. He truly enjoys wood working. Michael's grandfather and father were accomplished cabinet makers. His grandad made his living building cabinets in our small town. He built the cabinets for my parent's home. By the way, that was the home I grew up in, and we also had our wedding there. The cabinets are still there today, 39 years later. When Michael and I got married, I assumed that his knowledge of woodworking had been passed down to him by his father and grandfather. It wasn't until a bit later in our marriage that I found out that neither of these men taught Michael the craft. Instead it was a shop teacher in our high school that taught Michael just about everything he knew about woodworking as well as many advanced math concepts. That broke my heart, but I was so thankful that God brought this man into Michael's life. By the way, this teacher also came to our wedding!

Thus far, 2 of our sons seem interested in woodworking. Our oldest son is so respectful of the saws that he really doesn't want anything to do with them. He is truly concerned that he will chop off a body part so he doesn't express much interest in the craft. Our next two sons do express interest, and Michael does work with them in this area. When he was building our cabinets, all of our boys were much involved in the process. We were talking about selling the house at one point, and our kids were horrified. Our oldest son announced that he put way too much work into the kitchen to be selling the house! He feels the same way about the kitchen as I feel about the trees that we have planted!

grace and peace,

julie

The Hum of the Sander...Music to My Ears

Hear the sound that truly is music to my ears...the sound of my husband working in his shop on our kitchen cabinets. Here is a picture of Michael's shop before all the cleaning had taken place. He has built a beautiful set of cabinets in this shop for our kitchen. He is about 75% done with the kitchen remodeling. Tonight he has started working on the panels for the breakfast bar. He is sanding them so that he can glue them. I will continue to post pictures as I find them of the kitchen.

grace and peace,

julie

Simple Mexican Menu

I mentioned last night that I was cooking a Mexican dinner for us to enjoy during the Super Bowl. I thought I would enclose a few simple recipes for those of you who might enjoy these dishes. Let me say, these are not authentic Mexican recipes. I have adapted some of my recipes to a quicker version for those nights that I want a homemade quick meal. I use Enchilada Sauce from the supermarket, but I would LOVE to have a recipe to can my own. The supermarket sauce is expensive, and there are "things" in it that I am sure could be left out. However, I have never seen a recipe for homemade enchilada sauce. If you have one, please send it my way!

Beef Enchiladas

Brown ground beef and onions. Drain fat. Add 1 can Enchilada sauce along with a regular size can of Tomato sauce to the ground beef. Add several cups of shredded cheddar cheese depending on your liking. I use about 2 cups. Also sprinkle in ground cumin, ground cayenne pepper, and a little salt. The amounts depend on how hot you like your food. Stir well. Fill a flour tortilla and roll up into an enchilada and lay in a buttered 9x13 pan. I make 2 9x13 pans. After the pans are filled with the enchiladas, pour another can of enchilada sauce over the enchiladas, then sprinkle with shredded cheddar cheese. Sprinkle as much or as little as your family likes. Bake uncovered at 350 for 20-25 minutes until warm and cheese has melted. These are great to freeze. I freeze them BEFORE I bake them. To serve, let the pan of enchiladas thaw, and then bake them covered for about 35-40 minutes.

Easy Bean Dip

In a pie plate, add one can of re fried beans. Smash down to cover pie plate. Add salsa to cover re fried beans. Cover with tinfoil and bake in 350 degree oven. After it has warmed well, take off tinfoil and cover with Shredded Cheddar Cheese. Heat again in oven until cheese has melted. Serve warm with chips.

Tortilla Wraps

8 oz. creme cheese
1/3 cup salsa
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 cup chopped green onions
package flour tortilla shells

Beat all ingredients in mixer except for the tortilla shells. After mixture is well mixed, spread evenly on tortilla shells. Roll up and refrigerate until firm. Cut into slices. Serve as an appetizer.

Elephant Ears

In a small amount of oil, fry flour tortilla shells one at a time. These will brown quickly so be prepared to turn them over quick. After browning both sides, drain on a paper towel. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Serve hot for dessert. My kids love these elephant ears, and they make a very quick dessert for a Mexican meal. I wait until the end of the meal to fry these because they are not near as good once they have cooled. It takes only a few minutes to make 7 of these for my whole family.

Mexican Salad

In large salad bowl mix,

Romaine lettuce torn into bite size pieces
About 1/4 cup niblet type can corn well drained
About 1/4 cup canned black beans, rinsed and well drained
Croutons to your liking
Shredded Cheddar cheese amount to your liking
Fresh tomatoes if available
Chopped Green Onions

For dressing:
Mix equal portions of salsa and Caesar Salad dressing. Pour over salad and serve immediately.

Hope you enjoy this quick version of a Mexican meal!

grace and peace,
julie

Weekly Update On the Farm

Here are a few pictures of farm happenings and fence repairs this past week. Michael and Matthew are still working to finish the fences, but for now the weather is too cold. As you can see our little man Seth was also involved in the fence work. The two horses had to poke their noses into the fence repairs as well. They can't let anything go unnoticed or unexplored!

We have all enjoyed a restful Sunday afternoon complete with naps for everyone except the 2 yr old. He didn't want to nap today, but we managed to take turns napping so that he could still be tended to. We are experiencing a cold spell here in East Tennessee. We were suppose to get a lot of snow last week, but we ended up getting less than a dusting. With the cold temps, much of our outside work has come to a screeching halt for now. Our third son was begging to work on the fence today, but everyone agreed that we would all stay indoors for now.

We did put in a large order for seeds this week with Heirloom Acres Seed Company. I was pleased with the service, and I am looking forward to planting and harvesting these wonderful vegetables. We tried several new varieties, and I can't wait to see if we like them. Michael ordered his favorite tomato which is the Cherokee Purple Tomato. If you haven't seen this tomato I believe it is the ugliest tomato in the world. It is a deep dark purple/black tomato. However, it has a wonderful flavor. When I first started eating it, I would put it on sandwiches so I wouldn't have to look at it, but I have gone beyond that now. I like the flavor very much and I am willing to eat it even if it is ugly. We will keep you updated on any new/old varieties that we come to love throughout the growing season.

On Friday evening, Hope and I planted some of the seeds that we had on hand. We are starting some herbs and some flats of lettuce. We want to get some lettuce and spinach plants started so we can put them in our raised beds with a hoop over them for protection. We will keep you updated on how this works for us. This is something new that we are experimenting with for now. Hope has always loved to work in the dirt and plant things. In the past few years, she has always helped me. This year however she is old enough to REALLY help. I was amazed at how much quicker it was to have both of us working. She is very excited about all the new seeds we will be getting. She is also a great reminder for me to water the seeds. I enjoy so much sharing these things with her. I think how much farther ahead all of our children will be just because they have learned these things early on in their life. Instead of having to read and teach themselves, they will have learned with us. That is exciting to me even if they act like they aren't interested sometimes.

I must close for now. I am preparing a Mexican meal for us to enjoy while watching the Super Bowl. We usually have a large Super Bowl party, but this year due to schedule issues we decided to enjoy it with just our family. I hope you enjoy your Sunday evening!

grace and peace,

julie

Getting Back On Track

Whew...it has been a hard couple of weeks with the flu running through our household. We are all feeling better, but we are all still dealing with being tired in the evenings. When we were all sick, so many things were left undone. It is amazing how things can be so important until I feel bad, and then I really go for getting the bare minimum completed. I have spent much of this week restoring our house back to order and cleaning things that had been neglected. I am back on track once again, and I am enjoying our household being back on schedule.

We are continuing to make farm plans throughout the winter. We will be ordering our seeds today from Heirloom Acres. I already have some spinach and lettuce seeds left from last year. I will be planting those today in our new growing center in Michael's shop. I am looking forward to seeing how the plants grow under the grow lights. I still would rather have a green house, but I will be happy if we can grow our own plants under the lights.

Michael and the boys have continued work on our fence. They are getting very close to being finished. We want to get our dairy cow from TnFarmGirl soon. I am so excited about the new addition to our farm. I am also wanting to purchase a couple of calves for meat. We are really wanting to reduce our debt, and if we can produce our own food we will be saving more money to put on our debt. When we raised our hogs, we were able to really save on our groceries. The meat was wonderful, and we knew where our food came from. As I have said in the past, I am not a farm girl from birth. It has ALWAYS been my dream to live on a farm, but I was raised in a neighborhood in a small town. I have had a lot to overcome in my new lifestyle. I remember the farm fresh eggs. I LOVED the way they made my baked goods look and taste, but I had a REAL hard time eating them on a plate. I would cover the eggs in ketchup so they wouldn't look so odd to me! Now, I feel that same way about the grocery store eggs. They are so pale compared to what an egg should be. When we raised hogs, I was really concerned about how I would overcome the memory of the pig when it was on my plate. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to overcome this problem and I would just not eat it. However, by raising and butchering 3 hogs at the same time, I didn't know exactly which one I was eating. This helped me a lot. Now we had to put the law down at the dinner table because my boys saw me struggle with this issue, and it was so funny to them. They had named our pigs Napoleon and Petunia and I forgot the 3rd pigs name. When we would come to the table they would wait until I took a bite of pork, and then they would start reminiscing about Napoleon and Petunia. They thought it was so much fun to make me turn green right before their very eyes. Their father had a few chuckles himself over this aversion of mine. However, he finally came to my rescue and forbid any farm memories to be discussed at the dinner table unless we were talking about the vegetables!

Now that you know the real truth about me, I will tell you that we plan on raising 2 cows for meat. We can sell one and slaughter one, and I do not want to know which one is which. I am growing out of a lot of my silly quirks, but until they are all gone this method works for me. We will post pictures of fence repairs and our growing center soon.

grace and peace,
julie

We are still alive...I think

I am sorry that it has been so long since we have posted anything. Our entire family (all 7 of us) have the flu. It hasn't been fun to say the least. Take care, and we will be back as soon as we feel better.

grace and peace,
julie

Sunday Happenings

Today has been a relaxed day full of fun, football, and feasting. We are enjoying an extremely warm January here in East Tenn. After dinner today, we all headed out to the back yard with a football, baseball, and bat. It was fun watching the kids play hard and be silly with each other. I sat back and watched the action. Every time I threw a ball, I was laughed at for throwing like a girl. (What do they expect...I am a girl)! We did take a walk around our fence line to decide what needs to be fixed in order to get our cow. We also decided to take our dogs to the pond and see how great our lab puppy would retrieve. Well, let me just say she didn't like the water. Michael threw her into the pond, and she was appalled to say the least. We threw an old shoe in the middle of the pond assuming that she would go get it. The shoe is still there.

Yesterday was so warm that we worked on one of our raised beds. We are planning on putting hoops on the bed and creating a hoop house. We will let you know how it goes later down the road. I had been pricing grow light carts to start my seeds. They were between $700-$800. Wow, that is a lot of money. Michael made a grow stand complete with full spectrum lights. We spent about $75 on the entire thing. He made it out of scrap wood and I am thrilled. I can't wait to start playing in some dirt. I guess I better get my seeds ordered soon!

In my last post I had requested prayer for a major decision that we were facing. We did come to a decision, and we both felt at peace. We REALLY wanted to make a different decision, but we knew it wasn't using wisdom at this time. Thank you for praying for us.

grace and peace,
julie

Requesting Prayer

I don't have much time right at this moment, but I wanted to ask that as the Lord leads please lift us up in prayer. Michael and I are at a time of a major decision in our life, and we want to be in the Lord's will all the way. We don't want fear to paralyze us, and we don't want to jump out of the frying pan into the fire. We just want to make sure that we are obedient to the Lord. We want to hear his voice clearly so that we can be obedient. I think for most of us we would choose to walk in obedience to the Lord. The question comes when we are listening for His voice,and KNOWING without a shadow of a doubt which direction He wants us to go. When I know that I know that God has spoken something in my life, I find it much easier to walk that out because when times are hard I know I am walking in obedience to His will. However, I want to make sure we are in HIS will, and we are hearing clearly. We are praying for conformation to come. We do not want to be led by our flesh in either direction...we just want to be in the perfect will of the Father.

Thank you in advance. It is wonderful to know that there are faithful Christians that I have never even met, and to know that we do truly pray for one another. Wow, that is a God thing!

grace and peace,
julie

Happy Husband

This is the face of a happy husband. You may be wondering what he is so happy about. It truly isn't anything outstanding from my point of view, but for him it is a grand moment in time. Yes, he has finally finished cleaning his shop. This is his domain...his sanctuary. Never mind the fact that there is a loving cat who hates the shop owner living in the shop. Never mind that with my sweet pussy cat comes a stinky box that sits in the corner of the shop. Even with this black ball of kitty fur, Michael's shop is clean. I bet it wont be long now that he will be starting back to work on my kitchen cabinets! A clean shop is a great place to work, work, work. Now it is my job to make sure that me and all the children do not pollute his sanctuary once again. Truth be told, I am the chief polluter of the shop. Whenever I do not have a place for an object, I tell a child to put it in Dad's shop. (The cat is a clear example of this habit). I am going to work harder on respecting his space, and keeping him a happy hubby.

We also spent some time this evening cutting our soap that we had made in early December. I think I am going to be very happy with it. We started cutting the soap on an old band saw. However, we quickly found out that a dry wall knife was a much easier tool for the job. We also found out that a tea bag box made a great soap mold. Our son helped cut soap, and he was very excited about our Luscious Lime Bar. He was ready to jump in the shower with a fresh bar of soap. I was very encouraged because this is the son that we have to push to take a shower. Perhaps things are looking up in this area.

grace and peace,

julie

Saturday Happenings

Things have been slow around here today. I always enjoy the slow days. Oh, don't get me wrong, there are plenty of things that we could be doing today. It just seems that every time I go to start something I get distracted today. I find myself just puttering around instead of really being that go getter that accomplishes many tasks. After Michael's vacation, I realized that I had enjoyed the slower paced days. I still got many things accomplished, but I wasn't racing against a clock. There are days that I feel like I am behind as soon as my feet hit the floor at 6:00a.m. I am reminded of the scripture in Psalm 90..."teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom".

I want to be a good steward of my time and of my days. I love the phrase "SEIZE THE DAY"! I live by that ideology so days like today can be unsettling for me. I also live by the phrase "Enjoy the Journey". Sometimes these two ideas are in contrast to one another, and I am looking to find the balance between the two. I love the days that I combine these ideas and I seize the day while enjoying the journey.

grace and peace,
julie

Planning for Our Garden

I have been busy lately perusing through our new garden catalogs. I love taking time to read all the descriptions, and to plan for next year's bounty. Every year after I receive the new catalogs in the mail, I spend several hours with pen in hand deciding on the must haves for the upcoming growing season. I have some tried and true favorites that are always in our garden, but I also like experimenting with some new varieties. Michael wants to try and save some our our own seeds this year so we will be growing many heirloom varieties.

One of my desires is to have a greenhouse. I have dreamed of the day when I too could have a oasis from the winter time cold with new seeds growing in my own greenhouse. As I have mentioned in many posts, our winds are horrific here in South Greene. I have lived through hurricanes that have done less damage than the winds here. Michael and I have talked long and hard about selling our farm due to the wind. There are certain things that we just can't have with this kind of wind...trampolines and greenhouses are two things that come to mind. After much prayer and consideration, we both agreed that we love our farm and we will just endure the wind. With this decision also comes the fact that I probably will never have a greenhouse. We have decided to make do with what we have. We are going to build a grow cart to start our plants indoors. We looked at several of these models in the magazines, but they cost well over $700. Now, I am sure we can do better than that if we build it our self! I will keep you posted on this project.

I love planning for our garden, but every year I let time slip through my fingers. Before I know it, I have usually missed the time for seed planting. This year I planted our collard greens WAY too late so we did not get to enjoy the wonderful greens on our table. TnFarmGirl has a wonderful calendar that really helps with this dilemma. She offers it on her website at sweethollowfarm.com . It is a calendar that tells you what you should be doing during each month. While looking through my new plant catalogs, I also pulled out her garden calender. What a wealth of information! If I will be diligent to read it, I should not miss any opportunities for planting! By the way she also includes recipes for her salsa (all ingredients from her garden), and my husband's favorite Basil Salad Dressing.

I am looking forward to the next garden season, but I have to admit that I really like the slow time of the winter months. I love reading the garden books while I am all curled up on our couch drinking a nice hot cup of coffee. Often times one of my younger children will curl up with me and start reading too. I enjoy this so VERY much.

grace and peace,
julie

Fresh Starts and New Apple Trees

For those reading our blog, I hope you've enjoyed Julie's thoughts throughout the holidays. She makes our home a wonderful place to be during the Christmas season. I have not spent much time writing as of late due to my work schedule and my play schedule during my vacation. I hope to spend a bit more time on this for 2007. I feel like the Lord has given me a great deal to share and we feel that we will see great progress on our farm this year.

First, the latest farm happenings have been new fruit trees. Earlier this year we had hoped to plant as many as 15 apple trees this winter, but that was changed to 4 apple trees and a fig tree. There were several reasons for this, but one of the foremost was pacing ourselves. One of the most important lessons we've learned in the past 6 years of building a farm is to not bite off more than we can chew. This has been a significantly hard lesson for me, as I tend to be an all or nothing type person. rather than build up slowly as time and money allow, I want it all done now and I want it big. Having this type of personality during an era of instant gratification makes it doubly hard to pace myself. But, thank God, I am learning the benefit and peacefulness of taking on only what is right for that time in my life.

So, as a result of downscaling our plans, I think we have put ourselves in position to become better stewards of our fruit orchard. Rather than being overwhelmed and having too much to tend to while we are still on a steep learning curve, we have a small amount that we should be able to have great production from. As I said earlier, we added four apple trees. We decided on 4 different heirloom apples that will grow well in our area and that tend to lengthen our harvest season. They also give us a variety of types that will provide us apples for eating, keeping, cooking, cider, sauces and apple butter. First we chose Thomas Jefferson's favorite variety, Esopus Spitzenburg, an excellent eating apple. Next, we chose the Stayman Winesap, an good all around apple, especially for baking and cider making. The third choice was the Myers Royal Limbertwig, a large apple excellent for cider and very successful in our region. And last but not least, the Virginia Beauty, a recommendation from Tim, the owner of The Urban Homestead. For a full description of each of the apple varieties mentioned, follow the link to Tim's website.

As I said the last time we visited the Urban Homestead nursery, we received service that you just almost can't find these days. Tim takes the time to answer all your questions, no matter how naive or advanced. He knows fruit trees and shares his knowledge willingly. It is a place that we look forward to visiting just for the sake of being in such a pleasant place. They operate a wonderful Christian nursery and have a beautiful family. If you live within driving distance or will be in the Bristol VA/TN area, you must call them for a visit. If not in the area, then they will gladly ship trees to you. I don't think you will be disappointed.

After a couple of days of bad weather we did manage to get our trees planted. Jake and Josh dug holes, Seth moved dirt with his Tonka truck while mom and I supervised. Hope helped fill the holes and she helped me prune the new trees as well as the trees we had planted in the spring. Unfortunately, Matt, our oldest son was sick and did not get to help this time. We also pruned on of the two existing June apple trees that were on the farm when we bought it.

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Let me say a belated Happy New Year to everyone, I hope that it is a prosperous and joyful year for you all. Though I enjoy all of the holidays that we celebrate including family birthdays, I normally don't place a great deal of significance on the actual day. Many times in our life we have celebrated a given holiday on a different day because of travel plans or work schedules and the emphasis was on the celebration, not the day. But, the one holiday that I find the particular day significant is New Year's Day. This day is a great day for me to make new starts or renew old hopes.

It's a good thing to put an end to some things and being the productive, creative beings that God made us, it's good to be starting new things. I find this day of year perfect for this. Obviously, the rest of the world has a similar idea, but too often the resolutions made are only wishful thinking, as people settle back into their routines following the holidays. My prayer for your families and for ours, is that the those things in our life that we have committed to changing, ending, or starting this year, would be of the Lord, and that we will have the courage and fortitude to bring them to pass.

God bless,
Mike

Still Enjoying Vacation

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are still alive and well here in East Tennessee. Michael is still on vacation which has left me limited time for writing. I took my mom back to Ky. I will post more later concerning Christmas, apple trees, farm ideas. I am still pushing Michael to post, but he has had his hands full spending time with our kids. One of his FAVORITE things is to do on vacation is to stay up late (and I do mean late) and play video games with the boys. My children enjoy spending this time with their Dad so much. This has been a tradition that has been ongoing in our family for many years.

Well, we have much to do today. The time has come for some of the play to stop here on The Covered Y Farm, and for the work to start. I think the boys will be back to digging fence post holes today. Due to the horrific wind that we endure here, we once again have a yard in need of cleaning. Michael's shop is almost cleaned and rearranged now, but there are a few areas still in need of work. (I told him we could make more room in his shop if he would finish my kitchen cabinets)!

grace and peace,
julie

Vacation Has Begun!

Michael has now started his Christmas vacation. I can't even begin to say how much we have looked forward to this time off for him. He has worked so many hours these last few months, and we are in need of some good old fashion rest and relaxation. That doesn't mean that we wont accomplish any work, but it does mean that the pressure is off for the next few weeks.

Tomorrow his mom and her husband along with my mom will be arriving at our house. We will celebrate Christmas with them on Sunday morning. Michael wanted to have our entire celebration on Sunday. We asked each of the children if they wanted to open gifts on Sunday or wait until Monday. All but one child wanted to wait until Christmas Day. (I'll give you a hint as to which child wanted to open the gifts early...he is the one that acts just like his dad)! My mom will stay a few extra days here in our home to visit with us. I am not nearly as prepared this time around as I was for Thanksgiving, but there will not be nearly as many people. I am ashamed to even admit that my house is still in drastic need of a good cleaning. I am hoping to get all of that done tomorrow. I have started some of my cooking. Tonight I baked my Banana Cake, and I made some more sugar cookie dough. Cooking ahead can pose quite the problem in our family. If I cook it too far ahead of time, the family hunts it down and eats it all up. I now understand why my mom use to hide her Christmas candy and cookies under her bed! With Missy Dog here, I can't hide anything that low to the ground. I ordered a country ham from Ky, and I was terrified the UPS man would leave it on our front porch. I could imagine coming home to find a box torn apart and a big ham bone being all that was left. I was so relieved the ham arrived and I was at home to personally take possession of it!

Our weather has been so warm here for the last week or so it is hard to believe that Christmas is almost upon us. I have to say I have enjoyed the warm weather, but I sure miss the ambiance of the colder weather. I like the feeling of being tucked into a nice warm house with all of my family. It has been nice though to have the kids outside playing without having to drag out heavy coats, gloves, hats, and winter boots.

Well, it is getting late. My coach turns into a pumpkin at around 10:00p.m. so I will close for now. I am hoping that Michael will start posting again in the next day or so.
grace and peace,
julie

Farm Lessons Can Be Hard

Last March, Michael and I purchased 20 chicks to fulfill our egg needs. We have spent much time since March providing them with all the things that chickens need. We are just now beginning to get enough eggs to really be able to use them. Before this last month, I was hoarding the eggs for my homemade breads. It has been so nice to have enough eggs to finally be able to cook breakfast for our family and still be able to make bread later in the day. Well, today that all came to an end. We have an English Mastiff puppy that is 10 months old. She is very much a part of our family, but Michael has been requesting her to stay outside a bit more. I went to town today and I left her outside to enjoy the sunshine. I came back to find her in her usual spot on the front porch. After coming in the house, I encouraged my daughter to go outside with the 2 year old to play. Moments after going outside she was back in the house. She wanted to tell me that there was a dead chicken in the side yard. (Not good). I told her to go to the other side of the yard and we would clean it up shortly. She quickly came back inside announcing the fact that the other side yard was covered in dead chickens. (REALLY NOT GOOD). I am not a farm girl by birth so I don't do dead things very well. To be honest, I don't do dead things at all. I rounded up my boys to investigate. It appears that the sweet darling mastiff puppy is nothing more than a cold blooded chicken killer. She broke into our older chicken tractor and killed the 9 chickens in there. We are now down to 7 laying hens and one rooster.

After seeing my frustration, my daughter asked me how much it would cost to replace the chickens. I tried to explain to her that it wasn't the money, but the time already invested. We were just now seeing and enjoying the fruit of our labor, and now this. One of my favorite sayings is "take your lemons and make lemonade". I am trying hard to do this with this situation. I understand that in the grand scheme of things this really isn't that big of a deal. It is just a bump in the road, and we can replace the other hens. I am also thankful that it was just chickens and not something that costs much more like say a dairy cow.

grace and peace,
julie

Gift from the Horse

Sunday was Jacob's 10th birthday. He is our 3rd child, and of all of our children he is probably the most like his Dad. Jacob had invited 2 friends over to spend the night and share his special day with him. I was awoken several times in the night with the laughter of 3 boys just down the hall. During the day, I enjoyed watching them head of to the woods with our older son. I think the kids had a great day. I called them in for lunch, and I noticed that each boy was running to wash his hands. I knew something was up so I asked what they had been doing. We found great bombs! (This was said with much excitement...you know the kind that is way over the top). I braced myself and asked what they were using for bombs...horse poop... it makes great bombs. Lovely...I am sure your mothers' will be just as thrilled as I am. As if all of this wasn't enough, my English Mastiff 10month old HOUSE puppy came inside this evening. I was wondering who had horse manure on their shoes. As the dog came closer to me, I knew who had horse manure on HER shoes. Oh my does she ever stink! She doesn't have any visible signs of manure on her just the lovely stinch from playing in the horse field. I don't have any dry shampoo for her, and I most certainly can't bathe her 130 pound body. I was thinking that maybe I could rub a little vanilla behind her ears...or I may feed her some refreshing candy canes to help with her breath.

As all of this was taking place this afternoon, a friend came by with a gift for us. This was a great gift that was a great surprise. (I promise you this is all true). She brought us 2 truck loads of you guessed it...horse manure. She was cleaning out her horse stalls, and decided it would be a nice thing to just bring it to our house instead of us having to shovel it from her field this spring. I was thrilled because this will result in less shoveling for us down the road. (We use composted horse manure in our raised beds). Who could believe that one day could be so loaded with this much horse manure? Such is the life on a small farm!

House updates: I spent much time on my knees today with a toothbrush doing an acid wash on our new tile. This was due to the fact that as we were applying the grout, I did not clean it as good as I should have. So I spent the morning wearing protective gloves with the doors standing wide open scrubbing the tile. Then I had to do a baking soda wash to stop the acid solution. (I was doing this while the boys were throwing horse manure bombs in the horse pasture)!I now am ready to bleach my grout and seal it. My boys are working hard in the new family room/bedroom. They are spackeling all of the dents, holes, and minor damage in the dry wall. They will sand it, and then it will be ready for paint. (Mother's Note to other Mother's: DO NOT BUY AIR SOFT GUNS AND ALLOW CHILDREN TO SHOOT THEM IN THE HOUSE. It makes a mess out of dry wall)! I guess since they were the ones to shoot the guns it is only fitting that they are the ones to fix the walls.

Well, I am off to finish a few dishes and settle down for a quiet evening. I will be heading to bed earlier this evening due to the lack of sleep last night! My children are begging me to watch another Christmas movie with them tonight. I may indulge them with this request, but I would rather be counting sugar plums in my sleep!

grace and peace,
julie

Weekly Update

Another week has passed here in beautiful East Tennessee. I look around us, and I realize that we have accomplished quite a bit this week even though Michael has had a busy work schedule. First, this was our last week of school for all of our children. We are now on Christmas break!!!!!!! I am more excited than our kids. I love home schooling, but I also love being able to get up and not be responsible for a school day. I get so many projects completed on nonschool days because I have the extra time as well as motivation.

We have spent some time today doing some outside clean up. Our carport had become home to much junk,trash, and clutter. The children all worked together to clean that area this afternoon.

If you read my earlier post, you know that we try to use what is already available to us when we have a need. Our heart's desire has been to close in our carport and make a much needed family room. We have waited since Spring to work on this project, and it just seems that there never is enough time or money to tackle such a large job. Our basement is a very large room intended by the builder to be used as a family room. However, we have a 3 bedroom house with 5 children so we were one bedroom short. We had our older boys make their bedroom downstairs. Just a few weeks ago it dawned on us that we could really make much better use of our basement. We moved the weight and workout equipment out to Michael's shop. This gave us a huge amount of space downstairs. We have moved the boys' bedroom to one side of the room, and we are making a family room on the other side of the room. We talked about putting up walls, but we felt it would make both rooms too choppy. We will be building a large walk in closet in an area that really hasn't been used for much of anything except storage. Michael will have to frame in a door for this, but that shouldn't take long. We bought paint last night, and I must say the room is coming along wonderfully. I feel like in just a few days that my house has already been enlarged. We bought a couch for downstairs, and everybody seems to be gathering downstairs more. We will be putting our computer back downstairs. YEEHAW!!! It is located in our bedroom. This house was built in the mid 70's and back then large bedrooms were not standard. To get around our bed, you have to push the computer chair up, and suck in your belly. When somebody is on the computer, we crawl over the bed to get to the bathroom. This new family room is a perfect example of using what is in the house. Someday I hope that we can enclose the carport, but for today I am very content. It is so nice to look in my living room and see it neat and tidy. It is also exciting to see the whole family gathering in a space that is large enough for everybody to have a seat. I am amazed this idea didn't come to us before now. We have lived here for 3 years, and I told Michael today that I am so thankful that we listened to him and bought this farm. I was having a hard time saying that 3 years ago!

grace and peace,
julie