We Bought a Farm: Make Hay When the Sun Shines

There's a lot of "sayings" that surround farming I've come to realize. Many of them, I've used in my life, but I didn't really understand how true they were until I became a farm"her." 

"Make hay when the sun shines."

I'm really not sure I can think of a statement with more truth when it comes to farming. The weather is such a HUGE and INTEGRAL part of your life when you are a farmer. Before I farmed, it affected me very little. Maybe a softball game would be rained out. Maybe a picnic ruined. 

But until you watch an entire planting of trees die because of drought or found yourself trapped inside while hours creep by that you need to be getting something outside done, you really can't appreciate how much water and weather affect the farmer. 

Bad rain shut down brooder building (because it needed to start with cement) for nearly two weeks -- putting us two weeks behind schedule. What can you do about this? 

Not much unfortunately.

When the weather is good, you must utilize every single free minute that you can. Today, the weather was a bit cool and windy, but beautiful. So Dad and Jacob (JB was working) were feverishly working on the brooder. Gabe helped a ton yesterday. Even Isaac and Sidge are getting strong enough to start helping with some stuff. And, because the sun was shining, in-between my teaching, I jumped in to do any trivial task that they needed done.

I've realized this is my calling on the farm ... and kind of in life. I don't think I'm particularly gifted in anything. I don't write that for pity. I'm okay with it. But I am big. I am strong. I am willing. I am good at being told what to do. So if you have a menial job you need done, I can do it. There are brains that have to be doing the building on the farm. Or the planting. Or the hoof trimming. That's not me. But me can be with them doing the dirty work that they need done to get their job done. 

A big one that I did both before and after our 1pm Sonlight History class was moving blocks. Grama actually got a picture of me in action today. I am not sure what I am more happy about, getting to carry two 37-pound pieces of cement ... or my purple boots. I love my purple boots. 

It's simple. Each of these blocks weighs ... a lot ... of pounds. Each must be moved "into position" when they are needed. To have Jacob or Dad -- who are doing much more "important things" doing this, is a waste of their time. My boys are just now able to lift one at a time. I can do two (but after about ten trips, I drop to one.) So, I moved block in-between lessons. I moved sheep after lessons were over. I put the chickens to bed late at night. I did whatever I could, whenever I could, to make the most of the sunny sunshine. 

Below is a picture of Jacob and Dad doing the more "deep" work. Jacob is making mortar, and Dad is laying the block. I was simply delivering it to them for usage: 

A smile from Grampa while he is working as hard as he can to use the good weather well:

The list of things I have added to my repertoire since agreeing to move to a farm in East TN with my nature-loving husband is miles long. I flashback to my favorite book (next to the Bible) and a quote that really stood out to me. 

“I had come to the farm with the unarticulated belief that concrete things were for dumb people and abstract things were for smart people. I thought the physical world — the trades — was the place you ended up if you weren’t bright enough or ambitious enough to handle a white-collar job. Did I really think that a person with a genius for fixing engines, or for building, or for husbanding cows, was less brilliant than a person who writes ad copy or interprets the law? Apparently I did, though it amazes me now.” -- Kristin Kimball, The Dirty Life

 

Aerial Silks

Taking this little cutie to Johnson City. Their library is THE BOMB. We also had to return our wireless hotspot (also an incredible BOMB!) that we rented for the trip!!

When we make the 45 minute drive to Johnson City, I’ve been trying to time it with an aerial silks class our friend Elizabeth Bosse told us about at a place called Night Circus in Johnson City. 

It’s perfect. We hit the library, Chick-fil-A (for the child) and the Indian restaurant (for me), before Abigail did her class. 

As I ordered one simple Chik-fil-A sandwich for Abigail she remarked: "It's so weird to just buy one thing from Chik-fil-A. I spent $4.11. If I take our whole family it is a minimum of $50.00"

Here’s a short video of what she learned this evening: how to stand in both silks and do a split! 

Returning to "Real Life"

Today we returned to "real life", like for real. It was time to be done with our homeschooling Spring Break. We'd had a few days to try and break in slowly from living on Pacific Time for awhile. And today, it was time for school.

School means: 9 kids with 9 different color cups to keep it all straight!

School means: Sunlight Curriculum (which I am FOREVER sold on!) and Wendi preparing to teach the five oldest plus ballet-Katy. Lots of "prep" work to be ready to go again. 

Another close-up of the curriculum.

School means: Abigail preparing "her" area. We have found that if she has her own little study area, she does WAY better with school work. 

School means: A close-up of her little "cubby"

School means: School lessons "off the beaten path." Today, cement delivery! We are building a new brooder for our meat chickens. I say "we" in a very loose way. The "we" doesn't involve "me" even a little bit. But our three men in the background (Dad, Jacob, and JB) are working on the cement.

School means: Three men working hard. Our farm wouldn't exist without these guys.

School means: Four little kiddos that make me happy as can be! Eoin "Owen" age 8, Abigail age 9, and our two little ladies age 7. Abigail is in 3rd grade, Eoin in 2nd, and the girls 1st. 

 

Peace on the farm

We are home. The weather is beautiful. It is green. While traveling was wonderful ... while traveling is wonderful ... while we hope to do much more of it before our children leave us as grown-ups, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we settled in the most perfect spot in the whole USA for us. The combination of: weather, absence of natural disaster, politics, religion, climate, schooling, location .... it's perfection for us. We love East TN.

Facebook Update from JB

Facebook Closing Trip Update from JB:

Spent the last 2 weeks birding (“birdwatching”) every day on a whirlwind camping trip traveling over 5,000 miles, through 10 states, from East Tennessee to the Grand Canyon and back.

Two of my 4 kids are birders, and we saw 175 different bird species on the trip... that’s about 17% of the bird species in the lower 48 United States!

We reached a few milestones:

My 12-year-old birding son had 75 Lifers (species he’s never seen before) and reached his 300th life bird species on this trip, an Acorn Woodpecker, in Madera Valley, Arizona.

My 9-year-old birding daughter had 79 Lifers and reached her 300th life bird species, a Painted Redstart, in Madera Valley, Arizona.

I had 61 Lifers, and saw my 450th life bird species, a Verdin in Big Bend National Park, Texas.

A few more of the many highlights included:

1. A critically endangered California Condor (wild!)
2. The stunning Vermilion Flycatchers
3. Crested Caracara (that I’ve wanted to see since I was a boy my son’s age)
4. The very uncommon (in the U.S.) Rose-Throated Becard
5. The fastest animal in the world, the Peregrine Falcon
6. The elegant Scissor-Tailed Flycatchers
7. And the crowd favorite, the Greater Roadrunner

(All photos from Audubon)

There’s also a tiny chance we even got my wife interested in birding!

10 STATES

1. Tennessee

2. Georgia

3. Alabama

4. Mississippi

5. Louisiana

6. Texas

7. New Mexico

8. Arizona

9. Oklahoma

10. Arkansas

6 NATIONAL PARKS

1. Big Bend National Park

2. Carlsbad Caverns National Park

3. White Sands National Park

4. Saguaro National Park

5. Grand Canyon National Park

6. Petrified Forest National Park

NATIONAL FORESTS, STATE PARKS & MORE

1. Bayou Segnette State Park, Louisiana

3. Atachafalaya National Wildlife Refuge, Louisiana

4. Galveston Island State Park, Texas

5. Lincoln National Forest, New Mexico

6. Tucson Mountain Park, Arizona

7. Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains of Coronado National Forest, Arizona

8. Prescott National Forest, Arizona

9. Coconino National Forest, Arizona

10. Kaibab National Forest, Arizona

11. Cibola National Forest, Arizona

12. Painted Desert, Arizona

13. Cache River National Wildlife Reserve, Arkansas

14. T.O. Fuller State Park, Tennessee

15. Hatchie Wildlife Reserve, Tennessee

16. Natchez Trace State Park & Forest

Acorn Woodpecker

California Condor

Crested Caracara

Painted Restart (Abigail's 300th)

Peregrine Falcon

Rose-Throated Becard (Very uncommon in the USA)

Scissor-Tailed Flycatcher

Greater Roadrunner

Verdin

Vermilion Flycatcher

Mississippi Flyway

There are SO many things to learn about in the world ... like the Mississippi Flyway. Never heard of that. Something tells me most people who read my Blog haven’t either! 

https://www.britannica.com/science/Mississippi-Flyway

We were right smack in the middle of the Flyway so John and the birdin’ kiddos (Hannah keeps joking that Sidge and Abigail are trying to bring her over to the “dark side” so that the birders outnumber the non-borders in our family) did some birding at some waste water treatment area this morning .... when they finally got back the car STUNK from their adventure. 

We are now just a half hour from home .... I’ll be sharing a lot more birding pics as we get home, and I can get the pics off the kiddos good cameras. 

But for now .... the end of our trip has come. 

What an adventure. 

Thanks for following along 

Coloring

I love to color with gel pens. I wish I had more tome to do it on the trip. Bumpy car rides don’t correlate incredibly well. But I did get some time to work on these two!

Last campsite

We are now just a little under four hours away from returning to our home in East TN. Left this beautiful campground this morning. 

Flame Over Tara

I’m honestly, nearly sad, I didn’t discover the SONLIGHT curriculum sooner. Or that I didn’t listen more clearly to my friends and get on board sooner — every single book is fantastic. 

Hannah Kotynski and I have already decided to majorly incorporate Sonlight into our future as homeschooling Mamas. It’s just sooo good. 

This one is a 1964 historically based piece of fiction surrounding Saint Patrick and the history of the shamrock. Goodness gracious I loved it. 

https://www.ancient.eu/Hill_of_Tara/

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4010418

T.O. Fuller State Park

Some interesting facts about where we are staying in Memphis! (From Wikipedia. Can’t find much about it online.)

The park is named in honor of Dr. Thomas O. Fuller, who spent his life empowering and educating African Americans.^[1] The park facilities were originally built for the use of African Americans in the Great Depression by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). It was the second state park in the USA that was open to African Americans.^[2]

CCC camp number 1464-SP-10, which was composed of African Americans, initiated construction of the park facilities in 1938. During excavation for a proposed swimming pool in 1940, CCC workers unearthed evidence of a prehistoric village. The site has since been developed as Chucalissa Indian Village and includes a village, preserved archeological excavations and the C.H. Nash Museum at Chucalissa.^[3]

Back in TN

Mississip’

We just re-crossed the Mississippi River. And Sidge, who was watching Diary of a Wimpy Kid was distracted and piped in: “Again? Oh. Yeah. We are heading back the other way again.”

Sometimes ....

.... you drive through a town that you just can’t help but chuckle about ....

Entering Arkansas

It is the first time that ANY of our kiddos have been in Arkansas! But getting a good picture of all of them is tough stuff. 

Harris’s Sparrow

While I not sure I’ll ever give myself completely over to the “dark side” of birding, I do really appreciate the fun and the hunt and the education and the beauty of the activity. 

For example, we are in Oklahoma right now. See that blue above? It’s the only place that the Harris’s Sparrow would be hanging out right now. We, most likely, would never see them where we live in TN. 

And the gang got to see one this morning at the campground. They also saw a Cackling Goose which I got in video!

Leaving El Rino

Our stop in El Rino was lovely and way too short. The winds here have been BRUTAL, however. Poor JB. He’s the only one who drives (especially in this wind!) and his arms are soooo tired from the vehicle being jerked al over the road. 

We are off on our last day before we get home — off to Memphis.

Oklahoma campground

Today is Monday. 

We will be home on Wednesday. 

This is our second to last stop, and I tell y’all about it in the video here: 

Book #2

The second book I read on our trip was actually a school book I had assigned the kids with our World History 1 Sonlight School Curriculum: 

https://www.sonlight.com/GC4

I have read every book with my six kids along the way. I love to read. I also love learning. In addition, I have not read the vast majority of these books, and they are just fantastic. 

This particular book is about life during along Arthur’s time and specifically about the beginnings of putting shoes on horses in Arthur’s army. 

An easy read. Nothing earth-shattering, but quite entertaining, educational, and well-written. 

Learning Opportunities

We’ve tried to use this everything we can on this trip to learn. Of course, there has to be a balance. You don’t want to just drive your kids into the ground with education. 

But, for example, wind turbines. We stumbled upon this large area of wind turbines outside of Amarillo, Texas. We then got into a discussion in the car of power from windmills and how everything has a secondary implication .... 

For example, we stumbled upon this video on YouTube: 

https://youtu.be/RtgBWNKwBkE

This video really resonated with us. We love birds. But it’s also wonderful to have power coming from other sources. But every single decision has so many layers. 

Isn’t this so true of so many things in our world today? 

The answer is not always simple. And so many people want good ... 

.... but how to go about it. 

Our Driving Day

Here is where we are driving today. Sort of in the middle of nowhere. 

We are lunch in the car today. Cheese and crackers. We have tried to not eat out at all on the trip. I think in total we have eaten out three times due to crunches on time. We had Sonic twice and Arby’s once but have otherwise eaten out of our camper or have stopped to buy “real” food at grocery stores. Three meals eating out over 42 meals is a big accomplishment for us. This was an important part of our trip. We want to eat healthy and use the camper to our advantage. This trip was harder because we didn’t stay in place for very long. We thought we’d be able to use our camper microwave on the road but the battery isn’t strong enough to run that. So one day we did use a gas station microwave. 

We did a LOT of “fun” schoolwork on the trip. The kids had books to read, they each worked on this journal, we listed to Huck Finn as a family which evoked good discussions about history and race (Twain was a leader of his time!)  We also did a ton of talking about landscapes and different regions and locations. I also had Tricia questions available to do and fun worksheets. 


If my kids snag my phone, I will often find interesting photos included when I get it back. 


Everyone was so excited that they saw a condor!! It doesn’t always happen with only 300 birds in the park. John said he is 99% on the identification. 

We passed Amarillo, Texas and discussed the lengend of the 72-ounce snake. (John and I took two west coast trips before we had kids and actually ate in this restaurant!) 

https://www.bigtexan.com/72-oz-steak/