Friday, October 30, 2020

Wingspan


I'm not sure I could ever recommend something more vehemently than I am going to recommend this now. This game is FANTASTIC. I got it on a whim -- a quick recommendation from a friend online -- last Christmas. We didn't open the box until March because life was busy. But since March, I have probably played this game nearly every single day with someone in the family: JB, Jacob, or the three oldest kids. (We have taught it to seven-year-old Hannah but she isn't quite ready for it yet.) 

It has been my FAVORITE part of quarantine ... without a doubt. 

John and I have never, in our 25+ years of life together, have had a game we really played together. Oh, we've goofed around with some Yahtzee or card games, but we've never sat down together and played a game. You can play this one with anywhere from 2-5 people. We own both original and the first expansion: European. The second expansion: Oceania is due out any day and Stonemaier Games is predicting it could be the biggest run they've ever done. 

You do NOT have to like birds to play. (Isaac and I love the game and birds are not our favorite activity.) However, if you love birds then this game has some great secondary options! For example, we have downloaded an app called WINGSONG where we can listen to the sounds of the birds that we play. It's super fun.

If you have children over eight-years-old, and specifically if you have teenagers who like games, BUY THIS GAME. Truly. It is amazing. It is such a fun family thing to do. You will NOT regret it. I know it is expensive but it is WORTH the money!



Thursday, October 29, 2020

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

We Bought a Farm: Abigail's Little Raven

The truth? 

I question or sanity in getting a third dog constantly. Should we have done it? Why did we do it? What was I thinking? Am I glutton for punishment or what?

But the bigger truth?

She is a really super duper doggie who is from a great breeder we have used before and is as smart as the dogs that have come before her. (i.e. Ritter and Arabelle.)

She currently appears to have Arabelle's brains but a bit of Ritter's stubbornness. We've all been super frustrated when she won't come when called even though she very clearly knows what we are asking. 

This is especially true because the moment we ask her favorite person (Abigail) to come out and call her, she comes trotting in full speed. 

Here is a paragraph Abigail wrote about "her" dog Raven for a school assignment. I loved it:



Abigail has been VERY purposeful in being Raven's "person." She and Sidge were both going to be in charge of Raven, but in the end, Abigail kept up on it and has spent the most time with her. I really think Raven will be "her" dog. 

The video below is of Abigail working with her on "leave it." I honestly am VERY surprised she has gotten leave it already. She is doing sit and lay and paw and come, but to do "leave it" at such a young age is really fantastic. It's always a hard one to learn.

We Bought a Farm: Saving the lives of sheep

 


Yesterday I saved the life of two sheep. 

It had been a hard day. The kids were especially argumentative about school. I have been battling nearly daily migraines and struggling to know what my next move should be in how to combat them. 

We were leaving the farm for a few hours, so I took our three doggies for a walk over to the sheep just to do my normal, daily check.

And something seemed ... off.

I realized that while I am not with the sheep like a shepherd would be, I know them. I know their sounds. I know when a "baaaah" is more worried than happy. 

I could launch into some amazing Biblical imagery here, but I'll refrain. The sheep metaphors have been done to oblivion. 

Instead of doing a very quick, cursory glance, I spent more time and investigated father. I found two rams severely tangled in some green fencing. We had put this fencing up to make sure the sheep stayed out of a Mimosa tree that killed one of our rams a few years back. (Sheep are allergic to the pods of this tree.) Both of these rams were severely tangled -- one of them probably wouldn't have lived much longer judging by how badly he looked.

It felt good. It felt positive to do something helpful for these animals. While we love our animals, the more they move up the "scale", the more we enjoy/love them. Our dogs are the top "dogs." Under them are sheep. Under them are chickens. And under them are ducks/goose. This is just how it is. The more "human" an animal is, the more you value it.

The sheep take great care of our land. They are helping our pastures grow and improve by their grazing. They are having babies to feed us. They are feeding us with their meat. 

I am SO thankful I went by when I did. I'm so thankful I didn't show up too late. I have found dead animals before. Finding our big Daddy ram dead under the Mimosa tree was one of the saddest days for me on the farm. I don't want to have to do it again.

A happy time ...

Monday, October 26, 2020

We Bought a Farm: Bok Choy ... It's what's for dinner

 



Wendi's Covid Musings

 

I cycle through COVID grief stages rapidly. Some days I am all about acceptance. Some days I am thankful for the downtime it has given me. Other hours I am angry. Frustrated. Aghast. 

And sometimes, all I can do is plop down in the middle of my chickens and have a good cry.

John has told me: "Wendi, stop trying to convince people of anything. They won't listen."

And I know he's right.

But after I posted the other day about what my husband was seeing in the ER, I had two people tell me I was lying. One threatened to call the head of our community's hospital to report a wife giving fake numbers.

I am not joking. That really happened.

A few others replied vehemently that they would never wear a mask. That people can't take their freedoms.

One person said: "Masks only work if you HAVE the virus."

If that is true, then aren't they still helpful?

Trust me. My husband is seeing patients knowingly going out when they have the virus. And some unknowingly going out when they have the virus.

It is so hard when you are witnessing something firsthand and people:

A. Don't respect you

B. Don't believe you

C. Don't care

D. Think they know better

Today I am cycling through

M

A

D

!

I'm just MAD! I'm mad because my husband has dedicated his life to medicine. He was in school

F

O

R

E

V

E

R

to help you. When your life is on the line, you go to him. Friends call and text us daily or weekly for advice, suggestions, questions ...

... and yet they think that wearing a mask is too hard.

... they think that doctors are making up numbers.

... or falsifying death certificates.

... or blowing this out of proportion.

Folks, have you MET my husband? He is the calmest, most chill guy ever. We were once told at the title office that we didn't own the house we had lived in. That there was an error. And while I was running in and out of the bathroom, he stood there not sweating a lick. Another time we were in Mozambique and could not get through the border. Some stranger took our passports and was "saying" he was getting them stamped for us, and we had no idea if it was accurate or not, and I am nearly hyperventilating and he is CHILL.

He's a chill guy.

So if he says: "We need to be concerned"? If he says "We need to wear a mask"?

Again: I'm preaching to the choir. Those that want to listen, listen. And those that don't, don't. Most people who leave comments, are people that agree. And so the comments are nice. But when people get a hold of what I write that don't know me personally, they let their venom fly.

But it honestly makes me SO SAD. It is one of the hardest things we have had to face as a couple and a family in our entire married lives. (Harder than infertility? At least equal I will tell you what.)

I cannot tell you how it feels to know my husband is putting himself on the line to save people and I pass people who don't have masks on and who say: "No one can tell me what to do."

I want to say: "Then when you are dying, do NOT go into the Emergency Room and put my husband in jeopardy!!!!!"

He gets patients dying who say: "I didn't think this was real. I didn't wear a mask. I went out when I knew I had this." 

And all he can do is treat them, the same as everyone else.

Today I'm angry.

Angry.

Angry.

People say this is political. It is not. Not for us. There is nothing political about a virus sweeping through your hospital and your husband going in each day to fight it.

I won't be posting on Facebook ANYMORE. Posts will only come on my Blog. And on my own personal Blog, I will share my personal feelings. 

If you don't have something nice to say, PLEASE don't say it. Unless you are personally fighting this war in the emergency room, you DO NOT KNOW. You just don't. Doctor's offices don't see the same thing he is seeing. No one does unless they see people coming in dying.

We have had four friends nearly die from this. Their recovery is STILL ongoing and may be ongoing for their entire life.

My husband is risking his life everyday.

And you want to say you don't have to wear a STUPID LITTLE MASK.

Stop being selfish.

It costs you nothing to be socially distant and TRY to protect yourself or others. Do it for my husband. Trust me. He isn't blowing anything out of proportion. He is calling it exactly like it IS. Like it really IS. Like things really ARE. What he is really seeing.

Not every ER looks like his. That's why this needs to be managed at the local level. Big ER's can often absorb what is happening. Tiny ER's don't get as much volume. But ER's the size of his are in a bad place. Not all. Pay attention to how COVID is going WHERE YOU LIVE.

And please think of me and my children and the husband going to work each day to fight this. If he gets this, he is paid hourly. He won't get paid if he has to be home for weeks recovering. Or if he gets very sick. Or even dies.

That's all I have.

Maybe tomorrow I will cycle through acceptance.

But not today.

Saturday, October 24, 2020

We Bought a Farm: "Our" New Dogs

We only have ONE new dog on our farm, and here she is: Raven. She is about four months old and a ton of fun.

 
But we also have another doggie hanging around quite a bit. This is Ritter and Arabelle's pup: Bronco, who now belongs to my nephew, Gabe. Bronco comes over a lot and plays with Raven like a crazy person. He is truly the most behaved puppy I have EVER seen. He acts WAYYY older than his age. If you zoom in on this picture, he has eyes a LOT like Ritter!
 

The pic below is not a good one of Ritter, but you can see the blue in his eye JUST LIKE Bronco's, here:


Friday, October 23, 2020

We Bought a Farm: Mushrooming Advice from JB

Presidential debate? Who cares! We have mushrooms.

That is obviously supposed to be a bit sarcastic, but honestly, John and I find ourselves more interested in just hunkering down here on our farm, loving our neighbors, loving each other, and loving our Jesus and land.

John recently posted this to Facebook:

Since I’ve been posting photos of our foraged mushrooms, I’ve been asked about how to get started foraging mushrooms on your own.
First, get a good mushroom guidebook for your area. Not every location has a specific mushroom guidebook, but there are a lot of good ones out there.
Second, get outside! Get in the woods, and just start looking.
Third, take photos. All different angles. Top, bottom, side.
Fourth, join a mushroom identification group on Facebook. There are quite a few. Local is better, if possible.
Fifth, download and use a nature identification app. These apps use your photos to help identify all kinds of things: trees, flowers, insects, birds, and mushrooms. I frequently use iNaturalist. But know that this is NOT perfect. Don’t just rely on an app and think you’ll be safe to eat a mushroom. I’ve taken care of patients in the emergency department who have gotten sick because they relied on an app which identified a mushroom incorrectly.
Sixth, go mushrooming with someone who knows what they are doing. I never really had this opportunity, so it took me a lot longer to get comfortable harvesting mushrooms, but it makes a lot of sense.

Seventh, don’t be in a rush to harvest edible mushrooms. Enjoy being in the woods. Learn to identify trees and shrubs and flowers and birds as you go as well. Learn how to make a spore print. Be patient. You’ll find a number of inedible mushrooms. You’ll find a few that’ll make you vomit. You may even find a deadly mushroom (there are not that many in reality). All this identification and learning is good. Eventually you’ll find a few mushrooms that you think are edible. And you’ll realize you’ve learned a whole lot and had a lot of fun in the process.

Old-Man-of-the-Woods (edible)

Indigo Milkcap. One of the only foods that are truly blue! Edible, but unfortunately, this one is past its prime.

Crown-tipped Coral Fungus (edible)


Hen-of-the-Woods, Purple-Gilled Laccaria, Saffron Milkcaps (all three are edible)

My son making a "scary face" since he's holding a deadly Destroying Angel mushroom.

This bolete (type of mushroom) has no common name, but is also edible.

Purple-Spored Puffball (edible)

Wood Blewitt (edible)

Parasol Mushroom (edible)



Thursday, October 22, 2020

We Bought a Farm: Moving the Sheep


John captured this video while moving the sheep the other day. We move our sheep to fresh grass every 3-5 days. This process is called: rotational grazing, and you can read more about it on my husband's Blog post here. I love watching the sheep go into a new paddock. I also love, in this video, how the completely disappear into the thick of the grass. This process allows them to get fresh food and to not be in their own poop for very long at all. We have NEVER had to supplementally feed our sheep. And we have NEVER had to give our sheep ANY medicines for things that many farm animals get because they are in such close quarters with each other and their poop for too long.

This video ... makes me happy.

Wednesday, October 21, 2020

Car Accident

Updated: Well, we ended up getting an exact replacement of our previous vehicle. It actually is a year newer (2020 instead of 2019) and has almost the exact number of miles. The only change is we don't have a sun roof anymore (which we loved.) However, we have all voted that this car looks "cooler" than the previous one. We are still looking for a name. Because it isn't a truck or a car, we always need to call it something when we are discussing which vehicle we are taking somewhere. 

We discussed downgrading to a cheaper vehicle (like a van). However, a van doesn't tow. A van isn't usually 4-wheel drive. And to be honest, a van cannot fit six six-footers which we think our family may be. We want this to get us through childhood. 

SO ... here's a picture of the newest member of the Bauernhof team ...









This morning, I dropped my three oldest kids at the Kotysnki's house, and I picked up little Genevieve and Eoin. They climbed into the middle row seats. (Hannah had stayed home with her Daddy.) We made a quick stop at Yoder's to pick up some bread (and some sour food for our school lesson today) and then headed home.

About halfway through our 7 minute trip from Yoder's to our house, I saw a big white truck about to back out of a driveway. So many of these country roads are blocked by bushes and hills. It really is precarious getting out of driveways in these rural parts. I slowed down to make sure he could see me. Apparently he did see me, but then made the mistake in thinking I had already gone by. He floored it and backed up and backed right up into my vehicle. I hit the breaks, but with a hill on one side, there was no way I could do anything but take the hit. 

The airbags deployed and suddenly the guy driving the vehicle was running around checking on all of us. I was a little out of it for a few minutes and just asked that he get the kiddos out of the vehicle while I figured out how to climb under the side-deployed airbags. 

Everyone was okay, PRAISE THE LORD. I banged up my shoulder a bit, but the kids were totally fine. The guy who hit us was super nice, felt super bad, took full responsibility, and when the adrenaline wore off, sort of collapsed on the side of the road aware that he could have really hurt children. I am most happy that Eoin "Owen" was sitting behind the passenger side was okay.

I've never been in a vehicle that had air bags deploy. Quite a surreal, intense, adrenaline-ridden experience. My phone automatically called 911 which was crazy! John and Jacob were there in a few minutes. A wrecker service saw what happened from his house and drove over, and the police were there in just a few minutes.

I imagine the vehicle will be totaled. Such is life. I kept telling the guy who hit us: at least no one was hurt! Things can be replaced praise God.

Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Three-Family Homeschool Projects

We worked on two different projects over the last two weeks here in our now three-family homeschool group. I wanted to share some of the results here because I was so proud of the kids and how hard they worked!


Kari's artwork is depicting the Israelites in Egypt before God rescued them.

And she illustrates them afterwards too. 

An artistic presentation on who God is to the Israelites by Ana.

Katy (our freshman third-family member) with her map of the journey in the book The Hittite Warrior.

Gabe with his map of the journey in the book The Hittite Warrior.

The kids also put together movies depicting scenes from The Hittite Warrior. 

Sunday, October 18, 2020

Everything I want to do is Illegal

"A chef was out one time to see the pigs and we walked up to the pig pasture. He had never seen live pigs before. His only acquaintance with pigs was pork. These pigs were scratching on trees, rooting in the dirt, lounging under bushes, nibbling at weeds and grass. He stood quietly for awhile, mesmerized by the theater before him and the actors enjoying their parts. Finally he said, "I don't know anything about pigs. But I think if I were a pig, this is the way I'd like to live." Everything I want to do is Illegal -- Joel Salatin

This book will join The Dirty Life and Flat Broke with Two Goats as my all-time favorite "homesteading" books. Joel Salatin isn't perfect. Honestly, he's a bit kooky on a lot of things, and truly, I think this book could have been done in about one-fifth of the pages it uses. There are errors in this book. I really wish he would have let me check it grammar-wise. He also says way more than he should about many things, but his points are so ACCURATE. 

If you aren't interested in raising your own food or homesteading, you would get pretty bored with some of this book. But mannnn it would open up your eyes to what is going on in our food industry and how ridiculous the whole thing is.

All these rules that "they" are putting on farmers that in the end, are simply making it where "big food" will keep pushing the little guys farther and farther away from where we want them and NEED them to be. There are so many good quotes from this book, I simply do not know where to start. But let me share just a FEW of my favorites. 

Firstly, the idea that every single thing must be regulated and yet being "green" is still only "green" when it looks good on the outside. (An example: what American hang dries their clothes in a subdivision? None. Because it doesn't look good.) If we were responsible for our OWN footprint, things might really start to change. This quote was fantastic:

"Imagine a housing development where more than 50 percent of the building materials, all the water, and 50 percent of the energy had to come from the development's landscape footprint. Edible landscaping would replace Chemlawn. Little earthworm bins would replace garbage disposals. Cisterns would adorn house edges and catch all the roof runoff. We could do lots of innovative things if it weren't for these building code straightjackets. I know something is thinking about the poor quality workmanship that would occur. On the contrary. By and large the workmanship would be better because the contractors could not punt to the minimalistic codes. Just like slaughterhouse inspection, the bureaucrat takes all the pressure off the business." Everything I want to do is Illegal -- Joel Salatin

And then there is the quote below in discussing how rules say you can't hire a kid to work on your farm because of all kinds of legal mumbo jumbo. I will tell you what. My nephew, Gabe, who is 15 and my boys do a LOT of work on our farm. We pay for some of the work. They LOVE the feeling of being in control of their own spending and being an integral part of what we do. There are things we NEED Gabe or the boys for on the farm. They are required. Honestly, we don't have time for video games on our property:

 "When our kids were 14 and 15, not to mention 18, they weren't out roving the streets at 2 a.m. They went to be dat 10 p.m. because they were tired from a day of meaningful work. Modern society is wringing its collective hands, wondering what to do to 'get these kids off the streets.' And teens desperately need to feel necessary. But when we've outlawed everything they used to do at that age to prepare them for a meaningful vocational existence, all they can legally do is play computer games." Everything I want to do is Illegal -- Joel Salatin 

I learned so much in this book about all the RULES that are in place regarding food. I already knew about a lot of them. I know that we brought four of our lambs to a USDA certified processing plant only to be told that we could not have those animals organs because "they ALL had spots on them." YEAH! RIGHT! Let's be real here. You forgot to keep our organs and so you can tell us whatever the heck you WANT to tell us. I know that the way you process a sheep is not how Temple Grandin would do it, but we have no choice but to use this local USDA place or not be allowed to sell our meat. The rules are so, so, so frustrating, and most little farmers like our farm have no choice but just to do the best we can and sell to people we know because there is so much red tape. We are raising meat in the most humane way you will EVER be able to find, and yet, we may not be safe? Give me a break. This quote really spoke to me. Why is this EVEN A THING!?

 "The problem is that the government feels responsible for every consumer's decision. Somehow we need to let people formally absolve society of the responsibility for their decisions -- only the people who sign the freedom form. Creating freedom for autonomous food decisions is as American as anything I can imagine. What good is the freedom to worship, the right to keep and bear arms, and freedom of the press if we don't have the freedom to choose what to fee dour bodies so we can go sing, shoot, and speak? The only reason the founding fathers did not grant the freedom to choose our food was because it was such a basic, fundamental personal right that they could not conceive that special protection would be needed." Everything I want to do is Illegal -- Joel Salatin

 And here. Another good one. We have all these rules because of people who break the rules. But those people will break the rules anyways.

"Let's get this through our heads once and for all: you can't legislate integrity. A person either has integrity or not. You can take two people, read them the same protocol, and one can do a super job and the other creates a sloppy mess. That's human nature." Everything I want to do is Illegal -- Joel Salatin

I'm going to end with a smattering of quotes on random topics that really spoke to me as I was reading:


“A farm includes the passion of the farmer's heart, the interest of the farm's customers, the biological activity in the soil, the pleasantness of the air about the farm -- it's everything touching, emanating from, and supplying that piece of landscape. A farm is virtually a living organism. The tragedy of our time is that cultural philosophies and market realities are squeezing life's vitality out of most farms. And that is why the average farmer is now 60 years old. Serfdom just doesn't attract the best and brightest.”

“The shorter the chain between raw food and fork, the fresher it is and the more transparent the system is.” 

“A farm regulated to production of raw commodities is not a farm at all. It is a temporary blip until the land is used up, the water polluted, the neighbors nauseated, and the air unbreathable. The farmhouse, the concrete, the machinery, and outbuildings become relics of a bygone vibrancy when another family farm moves to the city financial centers for relief.”

“On a grander scale, when a society segregates itself, the consequences affect the economy, the emotions, and the ecology. That's one reason why it's easy for pro-lifers to eat factory-raised animals that disrespect everything sacred about creation. And that is why it's easy for rabid environmentalists to hate chainsaws even though they snuggle into a mattress supported by a black walnut bedstead.”  

“How much evil throughout history could have been avoided had people exercised their moral acuity with convictional courage and said to the powers that be, 'No, I will not. This is wrong, and I don't care if you fire me, shoot me, pass me over for promotion, or call my mother, I will not participate in this unsavory activity.' Wouldn't world history be rewritten if just a few people had actually acted like individual free agents rather than mindless lemmings?” 

“The stronger a culture, the less it fears the radical fringe. The more paranoid and precarious a culture, the less tolerance it offers.” 

We Bought a Farm: Preparing for Winter




Our raised bed garden. In the far beds, center, carrots growing well, but probably a little late. Along the uphill beds, we got our cold frames in place over the the lettuce today. (Thanks to Kenny Peterson for building these for us!). Colorful Swiss Chard on the right. Mizuna dead center. Asian greens mix to the left. Empty beds cleared today will be planted to garlic at the end of the month.

Friday, October 16, 2020

We Bought a Farm: Some successes and failures in the farm...


 
Persimmons: success
Best year for harvesting persimmons so far. Persimmon jam. Persimmon bread. Persimmon fruit leather (like fruit roll ups). And we just got a batch of persimmon wine going this morning!


Swiss Chard: success
Our Swiss Chard has been going strong. We’ve been able to blanch and freeze some, and we’ve still got a lot growing well.
 

Winter Squash Trials: BIG fail!
We planted out lots of varieties of Winter Squash and Pumpkins this year. But between the late Summer heat and poor irrigation on our part, we got one squash... that’s right... one. Lol! (It's pictured above.) We’ve grown Winter Squash in the past with decent success, but we majorly dropped the ball on this one. But we’ve learned a few things and will try again next year. 
 
Muscadine Mead: success
We made this about 10 months ago. It’s pretty darn good and quite drinkable now. But we bottled it today, and will put most of it into long term storage. We will test a bottle ever 6 months or so. 
 


Home Guerrilla Gardening: success
From time to time we will spread old vegetable seeds on a bare spot of soil and cover it with old hay. Sometimes nothing comes up, and sometimes it does. This is how we end up with random patches of tomatoes or squash or turnips. Not a bad way to utilize old seeds.

Thursday, October 15, 2020

We Bought a Farm: The Reality of the Dream

“The shorter the chain between raw food and fork, the fresher it is and the more transparent the system is.” Joel Salatin, Everything I Want to Do Is Illegal: War Stories from the Local Food Front 

"I'll grow some sweet potatoes," you say.

The thing is, 

every

single

thing

on a farm is far from that simple.

It seems like it should be:

1. Grow the potato.

2. Harvest the potato

3. Eat the potato.

But there are a million steps between deciding to grow potatoes and eating the potato.

Those steps mean that your "farmhouse" decor actually looks more like "sweet potato" decor.

Exhibit A:


 
So suddenly you have to figure out where to store the potatoes. How to cure the potatoes. You need to make sure that rats and mice don't get to the potatoes. 

(Because rats and mice are part of a rural life. And so are snakes. You want snakes. Because you want them to eat the rats and the mice or you will have even less sweet potatoes. If you don't like snakes or rats and mice, just don't live on a farm. Don't.)

We are at dinner having a "Sweet Potato" meeting. When do we harvest? Where do we put them? Where do we keep them? What can we store them in? Do we need to buy something to store them in?

I just want to eat sweet potatoes. That's it.

But the thing is: living a sustainable life means so much more than pictures or a book might make it seem.

It means getting up early. And collapsing late at night. 

It means eating what is growing RIGHT NOW and trying to preserve food so you can eat it later and not just getting a food anytime you want it that's been shipped from somewhere else.

Our goal is a family is to eat as much as we can straight from our land.I want to eat OUR food. The more of it I eat, the more I have trouble eating food from anywhere else. Even eating out at the nicest places has lost some of its appeal to me.

But the reality of that "dream" is not so simple. 

No dream ever is.

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

Unripe persimmons


If you've never eaten an unripe persimmon, you are missing out! It leaves you with an incredibly cotton mouth and is just, horribly, awful. 

Jacob and I bet the boys (my nephew Gabe age 14, Sidge in the middle age 11, and Isaac in the red at age 12) , and here is the video result!

Monday, October 12, 2020

Purposeful



In our home, I am striving to make the things that I hang on our walls purposeful. I want what we see each day to be meaningful. To resonate. To have meaning. I am not interested in random art work to cover a wall. For one thing: open floor plans leave very few walls. But more than that ... why is it there? What does it mean to you? How does it make you feel? 

Our family loves birds. To be more succinct with that statement I should say that John and Abigail love birds. Sidge loves all animals so because birds are an animal, he loves them. Isaac and I really don’t find much interest in them. And Hannah is still a creature of her own. 

My friend Joia has been dabbling more and more in art so I commissioned her to draw some pictures of birds that we see on our farm regularly that we love. She did the six birds on the right in the picture above. 

The huge poster is a gift for John at Christmas, but to be honest, Abigail has commandeered it. It features every single bird native to North America! 

She wanted to have all of these birds displayed in a place she could see and refer to them regularly so we chose a spot by her second floor bunk bed. 

John and I realized something yesterday. This is the longest we’ve ever lived in one place since we were married in 1998 by a full year!

Bowling Green, Kentucky (first year of marriage)
Franklin, Kentucky (4 years)
Rochester, Minnesota (4 years) 
Elgin Air Force Base (3 years) 
Turkey (2 years)
Azores (2 years) 
Spring Hill, TN (1 year)

We’ve been here since 2015!!!

I am so happy with how the pictures all turned out!!! I love having a home that we will live in for a very long time. 

Saturday, October 10, 2020

Two-Family Homeschool

Some pictures of our two-family homeschooling group. There are four dogs and eleven kids and lots of craziness. 


Raven

Raven

Hannah

Abigail



Me with baby Theo

Oldest girl: Ana

Youngest girl: Genevieve


Eoin "Owen"


Baby Theo