Happy Memorial Day!

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Today was officially Memorial Day. Every other year the local parade goes by our house. This was our year! A half dozen fire companies came through--of course the boys LOVE it! Jim has worked the last 2 years on Memorial Day, but this year, Monday was his day off. So it was nice that he could enjoy the holiday with us.

A favorite past time--jumping off the swing! Love trying to catch those mid-air shots!

Catching Jared in mid air!

Occasionally, my boys will work cooperatively together...

A week ago, Jim and the boys started putting up the pool. It went very slowly because we were using creek water using a sump pump that uses a regular garden hose. Since we were taking it UP the hill, it came out of the hose at about 1/4 of it's regular force.

After about 6 inches and 5 hours, we shut the pump down for the night. In the morning when the boys went to plug the pump back in, they found an empty pool! Nobody thought to take the hose out of the pool, and gravity took care of the rest! Who knew! After running all day on Monday, the pool was full. We threw some bleach in that night and the boys got to play in it the next afternoon!

Preparing for the mats to put under the pool

We found use for the trampoline that broke last year. We used the jumping surface to put under the pool! Jared is cutting the rings off!

The distorted "goggle face" makes me laugh, but at the same time it creeps me out!

Last week we took the boys to Fun Plex. Their 2 aunts, my sisters--gave them gift cards LAST year for their birthdays. They played mini-golf and went on the go-karts.

Jim with Owen. In these go-karts, Owen has a steering wheel so he can also "drive", but he really has no control.



Nathan speeding by!


Jared speeding by!

We're still working on getting boxes made for our Square Foot Gardening method. Things had to wait until we knew for sure where we wanted to put them. After knowing that, we'd know what size to make. Jim had made a 16 x 2, but we didn't have a place to put it, yet...

This section I wrote last Monday 5/24. I'm telling you the date for a reason: I've been reading a LOT about raising laying hens. Still working on Jim. He's been very skeptical about it because we don't have much room and he wants to move. So do I, but I think we should do something NOW, if we can! Most of the books I've been reading deal directly with small urban or suburban flocks. It can be done here, but we'd have to check with our neighbors to see if they're okay with it since we're not in an agricultural zone. They say that chickens are less intrusive and less of a problem than many neighborhood dogs! You just have to take care of them and keep their living quarters cleaned! We'd love to do meat birds, but we definitely don't have the room for that. I'm trying not to bug Jim about this.

Now here's the update: On Wednesday, Jim got home from work early. We walked around outside and talked about where we were going to put garden boxes. After a while he went inside. When I came in, he wanted me to see something on the computer. He'd been looking for Youtube videos about raising chickens. He explained to me that God had been working on his heart about doing it here and now. He REALLY wanted to do it now. So that evening, he spoke with our neighbors on both sides. One couple reluctantly agreed, and the other couple was all for it. We were very thankful. The next day, I was itching to get started and order "stuff" related to our chicken project. But thankfully, I didn't. Later that night, Jim opened an email from our neighbors--the ones who weren't thrilled about our idea-- explaining that they had to reconsider and do some research on their own before agreeing--they were concerned about the noise, the husband's allergies, etc. That was Thursday night. For 3 days, it really brought me down. And yesterday afternoon, I was a nervous wreck--not having any idea what the final answer would be. S0 last night (Sunday) Jim re-visited with them, and they said yes--with conditions. Oh well...

We ended up putting the 16' x 2' box up along the property line between us and our "reluctant" neighbors. This way, I can TRY to hide our chicken yard with climbing/vining plants that we'll trellis. They live in the upstairs of their house, and they can see EVERYTHING on our property. Even with an 8 ft. fence between our back yards, they can see it all because they're above it. It's frustrating. But I can only do so much.

Just a couple of the books I've read about the subject

Every few days, I take our kitchen scraps and put them through the food processor to break them down for our compost bins. If we didn't need it ASAP, I wouldn't take the time to do this step. Wish we had started this 6 months ago!
Chickens are going to love kitchen scraps too!




My beautiful friend Tami and her youngest of 8, Levi!

That's all for now. Until next time...

blessings, joie

I HAVE BARNHEART...

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I learned last night that I have "Barnheart".

There’s a condition that inflicts some of us that can only be described as Barnheart.

Barnheart is that sudden overcast feeling that hits you while at work or in the middle of the grocery store checkout line. It’s unequivocally knowing you want to be a farmer — and for whatever personal circumstances — cannot be one just yet. So there you are, heartsick and confused in the passing lane, wondering why you cannot stop thinking about heritage livestock and electric fences. Do not be afraid. You have what I have. You are not alone. (Jenna Woginrich)

I thought it was just me that felt this way (pretty much all the time)! I've learned that there are many people going through the same thing. I'm reading this book called Made from Scratch by Jenna Woginrich. I borrowed it from the library a couple of months ago, and just scanned through it thinking it was a book with nice homemade ideas. But usually I have SO many library books out, that I can't get to them all. Why I borrowed it again, I don't know. It's so different than what I thought. Jenna tells of her experiences (good AND bad) starting to raise chickens in the city and then angora rabbits. She also gardens, bakes her own bread, spins fibers and knits, and plays mountain music--teaching herself how to play instruments relating to mountain music. She's witty, funny, and has a real heart for caring for creation (although she might not use that term--last I knew she was a "Buddhist vegetarian") On the back dust jacket of the book, they have a little profile info on Jenna. She was only 26 when she wrote the book! 26! There was a blog website listed so I looked it up. Turns out she just bought a small farm in "Upstate New York"--less than an hour from us! I would love to visit her farm with the boys! Here's her blog: www.coldantlerfarm.blogspot.com

She's very inspiring, and I'm more determined to make our garden a great one this year! Still would love to have chickens--layers. I know we could do it here...







fortunately, our "grow room" is just off the porch, so it's easy to pass plants out for hardening off!




Busy day planned--finish up learning (I've learned to hate the term "school work"), off to run an errand or two, lawn mowing, potato planting, and hopefully FUNPLEX later with Daddy!

Until next time...

blessings, joie

PLANTS!

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I was reading my blog that I posted yesterday and noticed that I forgot to mention that the birthday party was for NATHAN! But y'all probably figured that out.

I received a comment from my sister telling me to post photos of my plants. I can't believe that I didn't do that already! We've taken LOTS of them! I add a lot of photos to my Facebook page, so I forget what I've done where! Sorry about that Nikita!

Nathan has 196 plants here. That includes the tiny ones--
this picture is from a month or so ago.

Thought this view was cool--Jared's photography!

Owen a couple of weeks ago with our latest box. This is just our dirt and compost. (This is NOT Mel's mix of vermiculite, peat, and compost.) There are onions, lettuce, broccoli, and carrots here so far.

The indoor pictures are older. We now have several flower buds on the marigolds! On sunny days, Nathan's been taking his plants outside to get used to the sun! (hardening off) We have more boxes to build, and we have to purchase more vermiculite. It's very expensive--$25/4 cu. ft. You use 3/4 of a bag per 16 square foot gardening box. BUT the mix of vermiculite, peat moss, and compost can last 10 years! Nathan found something doing a Google search yesterday. I guess roofers who make concrete roofing tiles use vermiculite. A woman called a local roofing company's supplier and they sold it to her for $7.25 /4 cu. ft. bag! So far we can't find anyone who makes concrete roofing tiles around here.

We should be planting in the ground next week!

There are other things in this box, but the peas are the big ones you see.



Since Nathan's party, the boys have been playing badminton




My handsome husband grilling today--potatoes and cheap london broil. It was delicious! I'm happier when a cheap piece of meat tastes pretty than when a more expensive cut of meat tastes lousy!




Jared.

Until next time...

blessings, joie

PICTURES!

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FINALLY GOT OUR NEW CAMERA! We've taken more than a thousand photos already! Nathan takes a lot, and Jared has taken some. I say to anyone who wants to use my camera "put it around your neck and LEAVE it there!" (keep in mind that my last one was ruined because I dropped it.)

Last weekend we had a birthday party with family and friends. His birthday was in March, but we waited until good weather. Since Nathan turned 13, we wanted to have a big party for him. My sister Donna offered her home (as she has done several times before for us) since our house is quite small. I wanted to wait until a time when kids could play outside. It turns out that the weather was PERFECT--low 70's and sunny. The kids had a ball outside, and some adults enjoyed sitting and visiting on the back deck. THANK YOU, Donna!!

l-r Owen, Jared, Peepa (my dad), Nathan, Terri,
Donna, my Aunt Jeannie, and my Aunt Hellen.

almost the same people with Jim, my cousin Gin (in red), Brenda in the background and my niece Leighanna to the right.

Nathan and Owen in the middle of a badminton game



My niece Rebecca took this picture of her Uncle Jim. She was quite proud of it.

Jared and our friend Butch playing horseshoes!

Our pea plants are growing like crazy. Soon they'll be ready to vine and attach to the trellis. We have in: arugula, lettuce, spinach, broccoli, carrots, and onions. Our tomatoes are ready to go; just waiting for the freeze threat to expire. Probably next week.

I'm going to close for now. We have to run out. I'll write more tomorrow of the next day.

blessings,

joie

LET THE GARDEN BEGIN!

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Well, we have one "square foot garden" box in. Nathan, Jared, and Owen put in cold crop seeds -- lettuce, broccoli, spinach, etc. Problem. The next day, they discovered squirrels had dug the seeds up! Oh, the trials of gardening! Now, we'll get some blood meal to deter them. We might have to make a cage from chicken wire to keep them little varmints out!

The weather has been all over the board lately! It's been really warm--hot even! Then it's been down to the 40's! There was a frost warning a couple of nights ago! Must be the global warming.

The boys and I have been sick with colds. First it was Jared, then Nathan, then me, and then Owen -- all in stages. Owen and I stayed home from church today. Thankfully, Jim hasn't been sick. He's still dealing with hearing loss in one ear (from a virus a couple of months ago), so your prayers are appreciated.

Since I have no current pictures yet, I just wanted to post a few from the past just for fun.





Meema (my mother) with Nathan--don't think he was 2 yet

Owen and Uncle Tim--almost 2 years ago Memorial Day weekend

Cousins--Memorial Day weekend 2008
TJ (back), Rebecca, Owen Leighanna, Nathan and Jared (the front)

Nathan, Asha, & Jared many years ago! We decided to stop at our local thrift store and Saro was there with her family. That was when I had 2 and she only had 3 (now she has 6)!!

Until next time...

blessings, joie

YES, I'M STILL BLOGGING!

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I can't believe that I've let my blog go for 3 months! The longer it is, the harder it is to post!

Still don't have a camera, but I hope that's coming soon since we JUST got our tax money. Found out that I probably couldn't have my broken one fixed for free even if I found the warranty (which I don't think I ever received). The warranty I'm looking at on the new camera that I want covers DROPPING! For an extra $20, I think it's worth having! Having pictures is one of the great motivators for me to post. Soon! Here are a few random pictures:

Love the serious pictures! One of the three Christmas photo shoots!

Photo session for Christmas card photo. Didn't use this one.
Never even sent anything out this year! Oops!

Ancestors on my mother's side -- The Abraham Dixon Family

Love these old pictures!

Jared and his birthday cake that I made.

Nathan & Jared, along with cousins, Leighanna and Rebecca in a
special youth choir for Christmas. (N & J are the only boys in the front row. L & R are in the top row--2nd & 3rd from left)

Still on Facebook. I'm on the computer way too much. It's not just connecting with friends that I like about it. I'm a fan of SO MANY groups that I like to keep updated on--conservative, Christian, homeschooling, scrapbooking, music, etc. That's who I am. So I spend a lot of time reading articles, updates, columns, etc., as well as following friends. Through Facebook, God has given me new friends, revived OLD friendships, and connected me with people that I just wouldn't be in regular contact with! I have a couple of cousins that I only saw at funerals... now that's depressing! Now on FB, new relationships have developed!

The boys have a good chunk of the schoolyear behind them. Jared is now 11 and Nathan is now 13! And the attitudes of those ages have come as well! NOT saying it's okay! Just challenging! Nathan is learning in 7th grade math-things I never learned. I only took math up to Algebra in 9th grade. Owen's learning is more laid back as a homeschooled Kindergartner.

We have decided to garden this year with the Square Foot Gardening method. Here's the link where we found the idea. This is from Robin Sampson, homeschooler and author. She has several links that you can click on to find more information about Square Foot Gardening. Nathan has plants started indoors, so they'll be ready to be put in the ground later in May when the threat of frost is gone. The plants look beautiful! Can't wait to take pictures. Nathan LOVES doing it! We're doing everything organic--that includes organic seeds. More costly, yes. But it's so worth it! Think of all the "fruit" from those seeds--that I won't have to buy in the stores! We'll build a 4' x 4' box and make 16 separate 12" squares (hence the name square foot gardening) Then we'll fill the box with a mixture of equal parts of peat moss, vermiculite, and humus (which is completed compost). We have a compost bin working now, but it's not very big--a plastic garbage can. We need much more! The vermiculite is NOT cheap. We have ideas of SEVERAL boxes, but I'm not sure we can afford it all! Once the box is full of the 3-part mixture, you never have to replace it--except for the spaces that you take out a dead plant (at the end of it's growing season) you put compost in it's place. This will replenish the nutrients that the plant has taken out. We're eager to can tomatoes, beans and peas later in the summer. I won't list all the plants we plan to grow until they're actually planted--in case some of our ideas don't work out.

A few weeks ago, we went to a maple sugar house on a farm in Hancock, Mass. The farm is called Ioka Valley Farm. It's only 27 mins. away, and I had been wanting to buy real maple syrup. It's much less expensive to buy it in a gallon here at this farm than to buy it in the store! I paid $50 for a gallon. In the grocery stores, you'll spend anywhere from $74-$100/gallon! My father came with us. It was a short visit, but it was really nice! We got to taste all the grades of syrup, maple butter, maple barbecue sauce, and maple mustard! YUM! This farm will open to the public again in June for strawberry season. We plan to go back! They'll have a petting zoo and a play area for the kids. Then they're open for fall and winter activities. They have a good website, so check it out!


Until next time...


blessings, joie



p.s. pardon the spacing in this blog. I keep moving things around, but when I publish it, the spacing goes back to where I don't want it--squooshing everything together!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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Happy New Year!! I hope that everyone had a fabulous Christmas! Ours was peaceful. FYI, I'll be switching my blog music back to my regular music AFTER our last Christmas celebration is over -- Sunday, 1/10.

Nathan asked my neighbor if I could borrow her camera again--for Christmas day--so I was able to take pictures! We plan to purchase another, but we want to wait for tax money. Things are slow at work for Jim, so I want to spend money wisely. Good stewardship is a goal of mine for the new year. My interest in photography is growing! I love taking pictures--just about EVERYTHING!

I'm not a New Year's person. The old year goes out and the new one comes in quietly in our house. No celebrations. And I don't like making "resolutions". However, it IS a new year, so I chose to make goals instead. Here are some goals, off the top of my head (not necessarily in order of importance):

1. Be a better mother; spend more time WITH my boys.. not just live in the same house.
2. Be a better homeschooler; be more organized but still have flexibility
3. Be a better homemaker; again, organization
4. Do whatever I can to make selling our house and buying a house with acreage happen sooner than later
5. Make Christmas gifts throughout the year, so that I'm ready!
6. Take more pictures of more things!
7. Be a better blogger
8. Be a better friend--keep in touch better. Happy that FaceBook helps with that!
9. Be a better follower of Christ
10.Be a better wife; learn the art of submission ;o)
11. Be a better steward

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! ~Philippians 4:13

That said, we had a productive first day back to school. Still can't figure o
ut how Melissa and Tami do it with 8 children each!

Back to Christmas. We had a peaceful Christmas Eve. We decided to stay home this year, instead of going to church. I took the boys last year while Jim worked. It was kinda depressing. I wanted to spend the evening with Jim, so we had our "service" at home. Had all my wrapping done before Christmas Eve--oh, except for the 3 pairs of jeans that I ended up buying that day WITH the boys! I didn't have a chance to get out in that week. Okay, so they weren't surprised, but that's okay! Yes, I went shopping -- with kids in tow -- Christmas Eve day! Am I crazy? Yes! Actually, it wasn't that bad probably because it was early in the day. AND Walmart was smart enough to have the registers well manned!

Christmas morning was nice too. Christmas Eve and day is just our family. The boys opened gifts quickly. The pictures will say more about that. After which we had a breakfast casserole and cinnamon rolls. Then there was LOTS of video watching. The boys got several videos: Daniel Boone TV series (seasons 1 & 2); comedian Tim Hawkins (both videos); Golden Age of Steam and America by Rail (train video sets of 4); Homestead Blessings series (6 videos--a family gift for all of us); Guidepost Junction video (w/Jodi Benson) for Owen; and Andy Griffith Show (seasons 7 & final season) They also got some audio series(s) -- Jonathan Park (Vol. 4 & 5) and Adventures in Odyssey--The Truth Chronicles. Plus a couple of other AIO audio albums on cassette. They're no longer available at cbd.

Although Jim and I are NOT opposed to technology, I think that kids, when allowed to, can become dependent on things like video games, hand-held video games, the Wii, texting, MP3 players, etc. My boys have played the Wii at my sister's, but we don't want one for our home. Unfortunately, that doesn't always go well--unsupervised, that is. Nathan and Jared are allowed to play computer games at home (racing, driving or learning games) for 20 mins. a couple of times a week. Nathan bought a truck driving game, but it didn't work on our dinosaur computer! When we upgrade, they'll be able to use it. They received MP3 players from our neighbors, but they will be limited. At this point, they're just listening to the radio and recording messages! We'll figure out the music downloads when we can! All that will be under supervision; songs must be approved by me. Believe it or not, there are a few songs on the Christian radio stations that Jim and I don't approve of them listening to over and over... sadly. Yesterday, Nathan wanted to listen to his MP3 player while he was shoveling. I told him that he couldn't since he was working with his dad and his brother. If he was shoveling alone OR mowing, that would be different. We want to promote family communication not isolation. Properly used, the player will be fun for them!

Jim's back to work, which is always sad after vacation. This was his first vacation in 2 years! Remember that Jim doesn't get "weekends" off. He always has Sundays off, but his 2nd day off is an assigned floater. He never knows earlier than the afternoon before what his day off will be. So we can't do weekend things--like visit his mom in Plattsburgh. It makes it hard. BUT it's a season that we'll get through! It could be much worse. He could be on the road for 5 days to 2 weeks at a time!! God is good.

Jim worked on Saturday (his regular day) so that he could have the whole next week off for vacation. We just hung out together on Sunday and watched videos. His mother called us and said that the weather was supposed to be bad for Monday, so we waited one more day . We left a little before noon for the 3 hour trip up north. The boys were thrilled to go to Nana's -- we hadn't been there in almost 2 years (for her birthday in Feb. '08) My boys, Nathan and Jared, are into the sites and smells of memories. We had a nice time visiting with Jim's mother and his brother's family. Jerry's kids are growing so fast! We left around noon on Thursday--New Year's Eve. On Saturday, Jim made the mistake of answering the phone when his boss called. He thought that he called about his truck that was in the shop while he was on vacation. Nope. He asked him if he could work. :o( I wasn't very happy about it, but the hours are nice to have. It put a damper on him relaxing his last couple of days.

Then my family's Christmas gathering was cancelled for Sunday. We'll get together this coming Sunday. The weather wasn't so nice anyway. Now I get to listen to Christmas music for an extra week! That's my excuse.

Well, here are the pictures:

Jared and his new cap gun!

Owen pouting because JARED got a gun!

Owen and his Bibleman figures form Nathan and Jared

Jared with new train from Doc

The Pajama Cowboy

Jared and his new hat from Nathan and new gun.

Our Happy Birthday, Jesus cake

One of Owen's favorite gifts--a "vitamin" case!

Nathan with his trains, some he got for Christmas

Nathan with his train gifts from Doc!

Owen with his new cowboy boots

New Year blessings, joie