the watering can

It was beautiful outside yesterday and I got a lot accomplished, although not all outside. I took four of the kids to the dentist and only ONE of them had cavities. I guess it's inevitable at every visit. *sigh* We went to the craft store for some pattern paper for the jammies of which little miss Miranda is in dire need. I came home and had the craziest misunderstanding with the piano guy who I maintain was lost and never made it to my house. We had to reschedule. I went to the church and practiced for about 45minutes on the piano. And Miranda and Daddy found the moon. I came home and started my strawberry patch! This is the site before I started.

What this meant was to drag out the tiller and till. and till. and till. and till. I think I went over it some five or six times. Seriously. I pulled up pens, hand shovels, pliers, broken plates, small plastic toys and the fiber fill that apparently someone buried over every square inch of the yard. It was definitely a lot of work. I then made some steaks to help me with the trim I am putting around it. I didn't get it all done, but I did as much as I could. Don't laugh. This is two and a half hours of work!

Then, it didn't rain the day before as it was supposed. No rain= mom has to water the goodies. We have no outdoor spicket. Yes, you read that right. Ugh. So, I have a run of the mill watering can from Walmart. It's not huge, but it's not one of the small indoor ones. Here is what I determined yesterday. It takes 1.5 cans to water the onions. (The onions are the middle box.)

It takes 3.5 cans to water the gladiolas.

It takes 6 cans to water the potatoes!!

I'm going to get hubby and FIL to go to the farm and home store today to pick up the necessities for putting a split faucet into the basement so we can run a hose (or more like three strung together) to make my life 100% easier!!

That's it for now. Work is a callin'!

Getting Started

So, it's spring and in full swing around here!! It's been in the 80s and this prompts us to get our rears in gear as I already feel we are falling behind. We are embarking on yet another new area of life. We have decided to give our hand at small scale farming. We are feeling like now is the time to try it and if not now, when? We have roughly an acre to work with. It sounds like a lot, and it is, and it's overgrown and in a horrible state. And there are hills. Lots and lots of hills. We are working on it. We keep reminding ourselves that next year won't be nearly as hard since everything will be cleared and ready, mostly.

Hubby and FIL have been doing a lot of tree and shrub clearing. It seems that over the last decade or so that wherever the trees have decided to drop seeds, they have grown uninhibited and completely untamed or cared for. If they fall through the garage (which is apparently what happened to the garage a few years ago) then so be it and it stays where it lays. We have found trash and all other types of nonsense in the yard since we started. It's very disheartening but we are forging ahead. There is a lot of weeding and planning happening right now.

We did get the first round of potatoes in the ground, and that was an amazing feat in itself. lol It was my first go at our huge rototiller. It worked out and I felt it for a few days. I also weeded one of the garden boxes that was already here and planted a whole bag of gladiolas. They will be in bloom just below an adorable birdhouse. I can't wait! I also got the onions in and some of them appear to be going pretty well and we are thinking of replacing the ones that aren't. I have another garden box cleared that is awaiting planting. It will either be filled with garlic or spinach seeds. I also have plans of a strawberry patch, but that will have to wait for another day. We have seeds to start indoors and lots more work to do. It's a hard life filled with work and long days, but it's the best life I could ask for.

well hello there stranger

Geesh, it's been a while. I've been busy as we all have been. We've had birthdays and snowstorms and holidays and milestones. It's been crazy! We now have a walking toddler!! That's right. How crazy is that?!?

It's time to revive this blog, though. Time is slipping away from us and slowing down all at the same time. lol We are planning small renovations for our home and big renovations for our lifestyle. We are anxiously awaiting our seeds to arrive and dreaming about baby chicks. The warmer months are almost upon us (I say as I view the fresh 5" outside my windows). It's a good existence and we have plenty to be thankful for and it's time we share that here.

Until next time.....

Why we homeschool

I know it's been longer than I keep saying, but such is life. Today was the first day of public school. To me, this means one kid gone all day and two and a half to get on some sort of a normal schedule. We are homeschooling. Gasp!! lol It's going good and was really the only time I didn't have to get after the children today. I think it's going to work out. lol We made homemade laundry soap, played piano as well as worked on our R's. Miranda worked on being cute, nope, wait she's got that one mastered. lol

Keeping going

The chickens are in the basement now, at least until the new coop gets done. And I actually got a bit of the dining room cleaned (you know, the bit that ISN'T my craft area). I felt great getting up at a decent time this morning and getting things cleaned. I might even start a trend, lol.
I'm dealing with a little bit of an issue right now. We have recently had a kitten wander up onto our porch. She is grey and long haired and oh so cute! Hubby says no. And he's being firm about it; I swear, I really did try. She's sick and I'm treating her with Amox. I also had to treat her fleas. I'm waiting to hear if my old boss will take her to be adopted out. It really pulls at my heart strings. Oh well, it'll pass.
We finally had a beautiful day. We went out and I started pulling big staples out of the pallet wood I snagged. I was thinking it would be a quick......oh, what was I thinking!! I worked, in the heat, for an hour and a half and have one pallet pulled apart and the staples out. That. Is. It. Ugh, oh well. I just keep repeating, "free wood, free wood, free wood". lol It started to pour shortly after we finished up outside. I'm hoping for another good day, or at least another good couple of hours tomorrow, to get some more work done. I'm hoping that by Saturday I will have enough wood prepped to start putting the posts in the ground.
Well, I promised Matt I would sew up his ripped pj's before bed, so off I go!

Finally!!

It's done! The new chicken tractor that I've been working on for a week is done! I could not be more excited. I have so much that needs to be done around here and I'm finally getting it done. Learning to work with a new baby, again, is proving to be difficult. I just can't seem to accept that I can't work on something for hours and get it done. She's getting better at letting me work now, at least.

Here's what we started with......

Here's what we had after day one.......you know, when I figured out that I had not bought enough wood to finish it, ugh. This is where it stayed for about 4-5days.

So, I had the kids take the old run apart. It was falling over anyways. And here we have it!!! Full of chickens even. Not too shabby. The tarp is to protect from the rain we are expecting. In a few days I will put the big girls in there so they can get usd to each other so I can start integrating the babies into the big coop.

We have started homeschooling these last few weeks. It's going.....slow. I'm doing a more laid back method so that maybe the kids won't notice that it's schoolwork. They just seem to be so opposed to learning. After watching us one day, hubby said that we should just homeschool them all permanently. I'm sure that's because he thought it looked so easy for me. It wasn't bad, but I feel like I need to become more organized to make it work better. We've been spuratic at best, but I want to start scheduling a M-W-F deal to help them get used to it. That way we can run our errands on T-Th or not at all. lol That's the problem that we are having: errands. That and I have been sleeping too late and other things need to be done. We have been concentrating mostly on reading. EX: Matt and I are reading the third book in the "A Series of Unfortunate Events" series. He reads X amount of pages to me. We write down the words that he doesn't understand and he then defines them using his dictionary. He is good about the reading part, not so good about the independent work part. Which means that we don't move on from there. We will keep trying. I also want to buy a book I've heard rave reviews about to help teach Ashlynn and Jay to read. I'll let you know when I get it. Logan is ahead of the curve in his class, but he still has to read out loud to me, from a chapter book. Then he has to summarize what we just read so that I can be sure that he's retaining it. I also found an online math program for k- 6 that is free. We will start that next week. Hubby and I will work on the history/social studies curriculum this weekend. It's still a work in progress.

oh the pain...

Headaches. Seriously? When did I get old? I remember being able to live on three hours of sleep for like two days with no repercussions. Yuck. Now nine hours is about my minimum and with less I walk around with a killer headache all day. Yikes. Ok, I'm done, lol.

Well, it's been a while but I feel like life is starting to gain some sort of routine and it's time to start getting things done again. I am really wanting to get into my homesteading stuff head first. I got more chickies!! Now we have eleven babies and three adults. I love em! lol This means we need a new coop. I bought a design set and am getting ready to get going. Info and pics to come!

Also, it's time to get the garden going......late. I started to turn the soil in the first bed and the cats decided that it was a great, big outdoor litter box! What?!? Yep, that's right. They won't use the one in the house, but the one outside, surrounded by grass and woods and big open space, yep. That's the one. Yuck. I'm working on bed number two. I'm going to clear it and plant seeds and then cover it with chicken wire. I'm hoping that will keep them out of it until I get a fencing solution done. I really just need to get out there and get it done. I'm thinking that I'm going to follow a simple garden design I found in Mother Earth News magazine. I love that magazine, lol. I'm also thinking that I'm going to bag garden, I hope I got that right, with the bags of garden soil I have in the basement. Also, I'm going to get some tires from dad's house and plant my potatoes!! We WILL have food. I WILL grow it. I WILL expand my horizons and knowledge.

I'm sewing.....sort of. I've made two dresses so far for Miranda. One was a pillowcase dress and the other I made for her christening. I want to do more. I really need to do more, or I fear that I will never fully realize the potential of my crowded dining room, lol. I will persevere. lol I plan to make jammie pants out of old sheets for all. I will document.

Knitting. Yep, that's all I have to say. My mojo is gone. I still oogle and drool over patterns. Make plans. Store in my que. Think of what yarn I have or need for what projects. I just am not wanting to finish what I have going. However, I have promised myself that I will finish at least one of them before I start anything else. I'm working on my maternity sweater, I know, I know, I'm not pregnant. I was when I started it, lol. I'm gonna finish it. I also am working on a pair of leggies for Miranda. I will finish the first one before I cast on anything else. I will. Enough said.

The house is better than it was, although far from perfect. I have instituted a chore chart. It seems to be working. The kids are a little resistant, but oh well. The house is no longer trashed and there is plenty for them to do when they are "bored". I just had to accept that they would never do the chore perfect, or how I wanted it done exactly, and all was well to delve out the chores.

Homeschooling. I will do it. I am starting it. I am planning for summer since school will be out in less than two weeks. More to come on this.

We are busy and I am staying up too late. lol It's bedtime. Life is getting on course and there will be lots to report. See ya then!