Freaky

I found something very freaky in the chicken coop this morning:

 

You can't tell in the picture but the egg in the middle has no shell. I went to pick it up out of the nest box & it was squishy. I yanked my hand back in surprise. Then I reached in & gave it a little poke & realized what it was.

This pic is blurry (sorry) but you can see my finger making it indent:

 

It looks like a regular egg but it feels  soft & slightly squishy. There is no shell just the tough outer membrane holding it together.

Too cool.

I've had chickens for the better part of 40 years & I think this is only the second time I have had this happen. I thought it was the first but then my husband reminded me that we had one other one.

And just for fun ~ because I love this picture ~ the happy (most of the time ) homeschooling family

Doesn't that just say it all?

It was 19 degrees here this morning   The garden was covered but I am afraid to look. I guess I should just suck it up & go  out there.... I'll get back to you...

Blessings.

Jack Frost

The dreaded frost is a-coming. We are predicted to be down to 27 this week. Hopefully if we cover up every night when can keep the garden going for a few more weeks.

We have an abundant apple crop this year & they are just about ready for us to start picking. I wish we could get a cider press. That has been on my wish list for 5 years now. They are pricey but the cider is soooo good. And it is such a wonderful use for apples that fall. They don't have to be perfect for cider & that eliminates so much waste. I just hate to waste. Last year we froze apple pie filling but this year we have a pressure canner so we can put it up instead. Along with quart after quart of apple sauce, apple butter & dried apples. We still have some dried apples from last year. They make such a yummy snack. I also chop them up in the blender & add the pieces to granola. Yummy.

Our plum crop is small this year but we should have enough for jam & to share with friends. We trade plums for pears with one friend. I put up a lot of pears last year. Hopefully we will this year too.

One major bummer is the blackberries, the patch we usually pick at doesn't have any this year. Just a bad year I guess but we are pretty disappointed. No black berry ice cream or cobbler or jam. Sigh.

I was hoping to have a church harvest party next month but the community is putting on a big one & our pastor doesn't want to compete with that. It will be fun but I enjoy our smaller more intimate gatherings better. But the big one will have a cake walk & you just can't go wrong with a cake walk .

Blessings.

Pumpkins Annonymous

Hello. My name is L____. I am a pumpkin-aholic. I love all things pumpkin. I love to grow them, eat them, decorate with them, roast the seeds, make bread, cupcakes, muffins, cakes, pancakes, pies, rolls, ice cream, even  pumpkin ale, out of them. Orange is my favorite color. I just plain love pumpkins.

This year, while definitley not our most prolific year, has been a pretty good one pumpkin-wise. We have some nice pumpkins out there. It will be a few weeks before they are ready, so I have sheets & tarps piled outside for the first hint of frost. Protecting my pretties is a priority.

 

 

 

 

 

Our gourds are growing gang-busters as well. They completely took over the tipi.

Now that you know my secret, I think I will go peruse my pumpkin cookbook (100% pumpkin recipes) & find some new pumpkin-licious recipe to try.

Blessings.

World Piece

We just finished up our second week of school this year. So far, we are really enjoying My Fathers World curriculum. They have many projects that we have been having fun with. The latest project was a cake with a map of the world on it.

We  decided on a rectangle cake with the 'flat' map of the world. First we frosted the enitre cake with blue frosting to represent the oceans.  We used a toothpick to rough in the continents and then filled them in with green frosting.

 

 

After we had all the continents filled in we used colored sugar to mark out the elevations.

 

We were quite pleased with our results:

 

And the folks in our Bible study seemed pleased to eat it . We told them they couldn't have their piece until they had identified the country/ies on it. (they didn't do very well. public school educations you know...)

Fun and delicious learning for the whole family!

Blessings.

Before Blogdom

Many, many, many moons ago, before I had a blog, or internet or even knew what the internet was, I still wrote stories in my head & longed for a way to share them. Barring becoming a published author ( which I never figured out how to do on a regular basis), I had no practical outlet for my stories. But I still wrote them. The other day, while on my mass purging crusade, I came across this story in a pile of papers stuffed in a cupboard. Since I now do have a blog, and a captive audience of sorts  I thought I would share it with you.

Angus the Bad Cow Dog

One day last week, while I was in the middle of my household chores, I heard a car honk. Peering out the screen door to see what it was, a passing neighbor yelled in "Did you know your calf is out?" "No I didn't" I replied as I grabbed the baby and headed out the door to round her up. The helpful neighbor had left her car at the corner and gone down behind the calf to drive her back toward the house. "No problem" I thought as I called my husbands cow dog, Angus, over-- we'll have her in in a jiffy. "Get the calf Angus" was my command and with that Angus got that serious "cow dog at work" look and took off like a shot. That is until he saw the neighbor and all thought of cows left his mind as he ran over and jumped in her car ready for a ride. Talk about embarrassing. The neighbor, the baby, and I managed to stay focused enough to drive the calf to the gate and shoo her through but at that exact moment Angus suddenly remembered he was a cow dog and it was his job to send her somewhere. He promptly bit her on the nose  successfully turning her from the gate. After much swearing, rock throwing and key shaking ( on the part of the neighbor) we finally succeeded in getting the calf through the gate. Suffice it to say that the next time I need help rounding up stray livestock, I'll bring the baby but leave Angus the Bad Cow Dog inside.

I wrote that 12 years ago. "The baby" in the story is about to turn 13. Wow. Angus went to live with another family not long after that. He just wasn't a good fit for where we lived at the time. (That & the fact that he was as dumb as a box of rocks, but I digress...)

Blessings!

September 11th

Is you flag flying high today? Have you taught your children about what happened? Have you thanked God for your family? Have you said a prayer for all the people who lost someone that day?

Remember, when everyone else was trying to get out of the building, the firefighters were going in.

Fly your flag. Thank God. Say a prayer. Remember. Never forget.

Blessings.

School Days

Well, it's that time of year again! We started school yesterday, although we are still easing into it. The bulk of our new curriculum didn't arrive until yesterday so today was our first day with that. And we still need to get our Foreign Languages.

Our official lesson plan  is something like this:

 Alpha Omega Math                                                                    

Rod and Staff English

My Fathers World

Apologia Science

Rosetta Stone French (girl) & Portuguese (boy)

We are new to My Fathers World but have had heard rave reviews from all who have used it. The kids are pretty excited about it. They have been going thru all the books that came with it. My son especially, he is kind of geopgraphy geek & that is the focus this year. It is a unit study style of curriculum & covers Bible, geography, history, science (we added the extra for my 7th grader), handwriting & reading.

Oops. Farm life just interrupted; my son came in to tell me one of my banty hens was dead . Too sad. She was one of everybodys favorites. Very sweet, easy to pick up & carry around, perfect for the littles. The Lord giveth & the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

Oh well, our school year seems off to a good start. I am desperately trying to implement a schedule that we will STICK to & that is doable for everybody. Right now that is a 7am wake up call, chores, breakfast, a quick house straightening & start school by 9am. My goal is to be finished with most subjects by 12:30-1pm. Break for lunch, put The Little Man down for his nap & finish up with Rosetta Stone & science for the boy & piano for the girl. We should be totally done by 2pm. That seems reasonable doesn't it? Doesn't it??? Desperately seeking affirmation here .

And for those following our saga, we received word that my husband did not get chosen to pastor the church in California. We are sad but also glad to know one way or the other & happy to be where the Lord wants us.

Blessings.

Trampolines...

...make the best playpens.

 

Blessings.

More Garden Photos

Here are the latest "How does your garden grow" photos. You may notice that there are no shots of the carrots, cabbage, broccolli or onions. Well, that is because there's not much left of them after the rogue cow incident . As one of her last acts before leaving the farm, my Jersey went on an Al Fresco dining experience through those rows. She must have thought it so kind of me to have all those cabbages laid out in such a neat row, just a bite apart .

Anyhoo, here are some pics from this morning:

General overview

Spaghetti squash

 

Baby Pumpkins

 

Our one & only watermelon

A baby bottle gourd

The gourd tipi

Green beans

Cosmos

 

Choke cherries

 

I am hoping to make a cough syrup from the choke cherry bark.

Blessings.