Another Catching Up Post

It's already been two weeks since our family made a trip to see my family in northern Minnesota. We made the almost 8 hour trip in good time, arriving just a few hours before a blizzard hit. By the time the storm was over a day later, the area accumulated about 12 inches of snow and had clocked winds at 53 mph. By the time we left for home just four days later, the snow had almost completely melted. This is typical for the area's spring weather.


We had a great time with everyone. Our family stayed with my oldest brother and his wife, and then drove the few miles down every day to visit with my Mom and Dad, and anyone else that happened to stop by to visit. We learned a new game called Mexican Train, and enjoyed trying to beat Grandpa Wagman. The boys learned quite a few tricks from him, and made for a very fun time for all of us.

Grandma W had a few tricks up her sleeve as well!

Our older boys were given a 1984 Ford F150 by one of my brothers, and now it was time to drive it home. What a surprise to discover the truck had less than 50,000 actual miles on it! The body is a bit rusted (due to all the deicing materials used during a Minnesota winter), but it certainly doesn't affect its potential for use on the farm. Jim and Jonathan left Sunday morning to head back, and Jim used the time to teach Jonathan how to drive a vehicle with a stick shift. All went well on the way back.

Our family all got together at my older brother's for pizza and all the trimmings. I was thrilled to finally meet my niece and her husband's little girl, who was born in November. Here is a four generation photo, consisting of my brother Mike, his daughter Kate, granddaughter Maddie, and our Dad.


On Sunday the boys and I were planning to meet my sister-in-law in Duluth to visit the Omnimax theater; however, my memory wasn't as good as I thought it was, and I got lost! We ended up driving to the observation area at the top of Thompson Hill, and enjoyed the view. We noticed the aerial bridge was going up, so we headed down to the lake front and watched a ship heading out of the harbor. The day was so clear and nice.


The rest of the boys and I stayed until Tues. morning, when we headed to Moorhead, MN to stay with a good friend. Along the way we managed to make stops at two Fleet Farms -- one of our favorite stores. We finally made it home in early evening on Wed.


We are into goat kidding, and so far one goat delivered twins two days ago. Thankfully everything went well, and Jonathan discovered them when he went out to collect eggs. Last night Jim, Peter and Jonathan drove to town to meet for a class with another friend; I sent Andrew down to the shed to check the goats before it was too dark, and he came running back to say our youngest goat had just kidded and she wasn't taking care of it. All 3 of us got busy. The poor mama is so young herself that she was scared and stayed away from the kid, so we brought the kid up to the house, cleaned it off and kept it warm. Andrew brought in the bottom of one of our dog houses and placed her in there, and I called a friend in town to see if she would drive over to the church where the guys were meeting to get help. We tried to milk the doe with the 2 little ones, but thought it was because her teats were so small that we couldn't produce any milk. Thankfully, Jim and the older boys returned and they were able to milk out the colostrum from the mama and Peter fed it to the kid with a pop bottle and nipple. Peter told us later the reason we couldn't get any milk from the other goat was because her twins had taken it all!

Here is the new little one, all cleaned up and ready to go!

The new mama's name is Agnes, and even today she would not allow her kid to nurse. So, every two hours or so the boys go down to hold her so her kid can nurse. I guess it will be another short night. We still have four goats to kid, and that could happen any time.

Below is a photo of You Two (there's a story behind her name) and her two kids:


Funny Face, our usually indoors cat, is getting bigger than a house and should deliver any day now. We are interested in checking out what the kittens look like, since our two male cats died over the winter. Funny Face disappeared while we were at the homeschool convention and finally returned three days after we got back. Lots of babies on the farm to anticipate.

Life has been a blur ever since we returned. In the spirit of Dr. Ron Paul, Jim was nominated to run by the local Republicans for State Senate in our district, and that has kept everyone busy. It will be very interesting to see what develops in that area. Jim's website isn't fully developed yet, but you can check it out here.

Today is the birthday of a very special lady in our lives. Eiline Nelson was our neighbor when we lived in Fargo, and had become a very close friend. Jim lived in their apartment building (and they lived in the building as well) when he first moved to Fargo, and after we were married we rented an upstairs apartment in the same building. Mr. and Mrs. Nelson were references for us when we ended up purchasing the house across the street. Mrs. Nelson has always been such a spry, mentally sharp and interesting person, with a wonderful sense of humor and outlook on life. When we moved up here she even had her own email address and sent us a couple of notes! I wish everyone could have such a neat lady in their lives. Mrs. Nelson turned 101 today, yet she has a better memory than I do. Peter, Andrew, David and I were able to visit with her for a couple of hours before leaving Fargo on our way back to Bottineau, and it was such a treat for us. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MRS. NELSON, WE LOVE AND MISS YOU!

Spring Activities

Today we drove over to our friend Paulette's, so we could transplant some seedlings that were getting too big for the cell packs they were in. I happened to take our digital camera because I wanted to take some shots of how big the plants are now. My son Jonathan was driving, and on our road we happened to see a moose! The calf (probably a year old) ran to the right side of the road, and its mom to the left. Jonathan stopped the car, and the boys were able to take a few photos of the cow. I was a bit nervous, since I knew our car was in between the cow and her calf, but she didn't move a bit. She just watched us as we watched her! It's amazing how big they are. We have state forest across the road from us, and she was just behind the gate. We were the ones that drove off, leaving her behind. I suppose as soon as we were out of sight she checked on her calf. Someone told us later that she was probably trying to get rid of the calf, since it won't be long before she delivers another one.

Just before we turned on to Paulette's road we also encountered three wild turkeys running across the road. That is good news, as a friend has a turkey license, and the season opens very soon. No one in our family has a license this year to hunt them, so they are safe with us!

Here is a photo of the plants we are watching grow. Paulette has a wonderful solar cement wall, and it's perfect for letting the seedlings grow. The plants receive sunlight all day long. Hopefully once we get our upstairs finished we will figure out how to get them to grow at our place, so we don't have to make a mess at Paulette's.

We had beautiful weather today, warm enough for Paulette to work in short sleeves! However, the city we lived in just 4 hours away received about 12 inches of snow today! We sure could have used the precipitation, as our area is very dry. It won't be long before all the snow has melted. I guess until this last snowstorm the Turtle Mountains had the only snow in the state.

Gardening, North Dakota Style

It's still a bit chilly out, but time for us to get our hoop house ready for planting. This winter the guys used a heavier tarp to cover half of the hoop house, and it was used to house half of our chickens since the shed couldn't hold any more. Yesterday the boys dug one of our portable chicken pens out of the snow and hauled to it to a part of the field where the snow has already melted, and loaded it with the chickens from the hoop house. I should have been out there taking photos, as it sounded like an interesting time when trying to catch them. The boys then hauled out the hay.

Jonathan and Peter built a permanent back wall, and will soon set up the small wood stove that someone gave us, to use it to heat the hoop house on our still chilly nights.

Here is a photo of the spring plastic we use on the hoop house, and the green tarp was the one we had over the portion that held the chickens for the winter. Now to find a place to store it until we need it again.

An interesting relationship is developing between our lone goose and our German Shepherd named Samson. A year ago, friends that sold us some goats also gave us their ducks and two geese, saying they would probably enjoy our lake over their pond that dries up over the summer. As time went on, the duck population diminished, and by spring we lost all the ducks and one of the geese.

Well, this goose has taken a great liking to Samson. She will preen him, and snuggle next to him. He is a great sport, and allows her to stay close. We have caught her taking baths in Samson's water dish, and she seems to have acquired a taste for dog food. One problem is that Samson likes to lay on the rug in front of the the door to the basement, so the goose spends her time on the patio in front of the house as well. That adds another dimension to the already muddy front. Geese can make a real mess.

Yesterday we discovered a goose egg next to Samson's softball that he likes us to throw for him, so I guess the goose is a female! All this time we thought she was a male. David had it for breakfast this morning, and he only needed one to feel very full.

Samson is quite a dog!

One of Those Days

My day actually began about 2 a.m., when my youngest woke me up with the statement that he couldn't breathe. David had an eventful day on Thursday, when he threw up 11 times (we counted). The next day the flu symptoms turned into cold symptoms, and he was stuffy and had lots of mucus in his throat. Somewhere along the way I came down with the same thing, and now Jim has the same symptoms. I was hoping for an uneventful day.

Right after lunch I was folding towels when our son Jonathan came in with a "Mom, we have company!" Friends stopped by on their way to visit the husband's parents, who live at Lake Metigoshe. It was nice to see them, although I had a little trouble talking since I was so plugged up. At least being sick gave me an excuse for the mud that had been tracked in and not cleaned up, as well as other things sitting around. Right after they left the boys informed us they had discovered the big chest freezer we have upstairs must have quit working somewhere along the way, as everything in there had thawed. Oh no!

Samson our dog thought it was the neatest thing, since he was the recipient of some of the thawed food. We all sorted what was okay to keep and what was to be tossed. I got busy and pulled out the pressure canner, as the raw pork and venison was thawed but still cold. I think I should have raw packed the meat, as the finished product looks a bit mushy, but I'm sure we will use it. I'm very thankful for the experience of almost 2 years ago, when our friend Steve, along with our family purchased 200 former laying hens from a Hutterite community about 3 hours from here, and we spent quite a few days canning the meat. I sure was tired of the odor of chicken fat by the time we were done! That canning marathon helped prepare me to do this meat canning on my own.

We left some chicken and other mostly frozen meat in a couple of coolers outside, but the weather forecast calls for temps in the low 40's tomorrow, so we'll have to do something with it in the morning. I sure hope whatever Jim did to the freezer worked, and it works, so I won't have to do any more canning.

It's Official: Some of Us Must Now Be Farmers

I think we have crossed the threshold of officially being considered farmers. (At least my 11-year-old son Andrew must have crossed over!) Here is a comment I received from friends who live the city we used to live in; we caught up with them at the homeschool convention:

It was great to get a chance to talk and catch up on your life and the happenings in your family. I know your boys are getting a great education because when Andrea showed Andrew the juggling balls she bought he said, “They feel like a chicken gizzard when it’s full of grain.” I must admit my kids will probably never know what that actually feels like, but now they have some idea!!

We're Back

Our family returned on Sunday evening, after attending the North Dakota homeschool convention. It was very strange to be gone for 4 days, and during that time, we lost a lot of snow. Mud season is now upon us, but we still have snow in the fields. Maybe our septic system will finally thaw out!

We were packed like sardines as we traveled the 4 hours to Grand Forks. After unpacking we headed out to do some errands. I must admit I felt like I was in Heaven to have had the opportunity to visit 3 thrift stores on our way to the city! I just don't understand how people can pay full price for the clothes we were able to purchase for such inexpensive prices. We even managed to hit the Salvation Army thrift store on a day that gave us half off on any clothes we purchased. That was wonderful, since our second son has grown over the winter to just 1/4 inch shy of 6 feet tall, and was in dire need of jeans and shirts.

It didn't take us long to become very tired of shopping, with all the noisy, irritating music, too many selections, and too many people.

It's amazing how the homestead spirit can also be used while in the city; on Thursday another lady and I managed to serve 50 people out of our hotel room for both lunch and supper. The group consisted of convention volunteers and their families, and it went very well. I remember when our family made a trip out to Montreal back in 2002 and I carried along everything but the kitchen sink; I have since moving up here learned that "making do" is actually less stressful than trying to pack too much and then dealing with where to put it all.

We were blessed to have "Farmer John" Mesko and his wife Lisa and girls of Lighthouse Farm and Authentic Agriculture participate at the convention. John gave a workshop and had a booth, where they visited with many farm families and agrarian hopefuls. Meskos just completed a new instructional DVD concerning fencing, and we were happy to receive a copy. The boys and I also tasted some of their cheese sausage, and it was great!

Conventions are a lot of work, but so worth it. The keynotes were Reb and Bev Bradley of Family Ministries. Steve Demme of Math-U-See was also in attendance, and gave a couple of workshops. Jim did workshops regarding college at home and ND legislative action. Our oldest son Jonathan did a workshop on evaluating a political candidate. I spent most of my time manning the homeschool association's booth, and really enjoyed visiting with people. Compared to other states, North Dakota has a small convention, but we encourage parents to bring their children and make it a family time together. It was so enjoyable to meet a lot of new people, and I even met a new friend who reads my blog! Thanks, Janice, for introducing yourself to me!

This week we are trying to pick up the pieces of everything we let slide until after convention, and looking forward to warmer weather and more time outside. Spring can't be too far away, since we've already spotted Canadian geese overhead.

Can't Wait for Spring

I have spring fever, and can't wait for the snow to melt. It seems like this winter has been dragging on and on. I think it was a month ago when our toilet stopped flushing ... Not a good sign, when we are so new to all of these things. Jim and the boys did all kinds of things to figure out what was wrong, using a snake, garden hose -- you name it -- to see if something was blocking the pipe to the tank. We had the tank pumped out last May, so we didn't think that could be the problem.

Friends came over to see if they could think of anything that could be wrong. They brought over some type of equipment that is used for blockages, and it seemed to help. However, when one of the guys went out to open the cover in the area where the sewage would head to the drain field, they discovered that it was frozen! Now what? Jim contacted a guy that pumps out septic tanks, and he said he would come out the next day and do the job. I guess there have been other places out here with the same problem. We've had some very cold nights (with wind chills of -40 degrees) and the days not being much better, with not enough snow cover. I guess that makes the frost go deeper than we would like. We also should have laid more hay across the drain field last fall, as it probably mulched into the ground.

Andrew had to use the snowblower to blow enough snow out of the way so the man's truck could get to the cleanout (sorry, I'm not good with proper names of things), and after about 3 tries the truck made it up the slight incline. I find it interesting that out here it's okay to take the stuff and spread it onto any available field. We had to make sure the guy wouldn't get stuck wherever we wanted the sewage spread, so Jim had to drive around a bit to find a good spot for the deed. After all that, we were charged $95.00 -- his winter rate. We breathed a sigh of relief, and hoped for an early spring to thaw things up and get the septic system running again like it should.

Well, this weekend the toilet once again stopped flushing. There's a pipe opening just outside the bathroom window (we are still living in the basement), and we've discovered that if we take the cap off and pour some hot water down there, it will help to get the toilet flushing again. Jim went through all kinds of contortions to figure out how to do our own pumping, and got some equipment all set up. However, whatever he did wouldn't siphon anything out. His next thought was to use an extra sump pump we have, but decided to wait it out a few days and see if something would resolve itself. At least the toilet is flushing again, but we are being careful with it.

I have discovered that one very important personality trait to have when living in the country is flexibility, and the ability to roll with the punches. Another important trait to develop is a good sense of humor.

Morning Visitors

Last Friday morning Jonathan and I were the first ones up, and when I let the dog out, he started barking. Jonathan looked out the kitchen window, and the above photo is what he saw. There were two moose in the valley! The white area in between them is our cow path that leads up to what we call our big field.
By then, everyone else was up, wanting to know what was going on. The boys snapped a couple of photos, but by the time the moose stood up and walked away, there was no more room on the digital camera's card. I guess our object lesson for that day was to always make sure the card is empty!
On the bottom right side of this photo you can see something that is made of poles and standing tipi fashion; that is my clothesline. The 2nd winter we were here we had a cow moose staying close to that area for three whole days during hunting season. I guess these moose like our area, as we discourage snowmobilers from utilizing our land, and they are less bothered here. A friend came by on Saturday, and said he had just seen a moose down in our bog area.

Guess we never know what we will see next in this beautiful Turtle Mountain area!

Sheetrocking

Whenever the weather has been warm enough, Jim and the boys have been working on the upstairs. They are doing a very good job of installing sheetrock, and what difference it makes! I have trouble visualizing things, but now that the sheetrock is up I can easily see how large the rooms will be. It's getting more exciting all the time! We still need to purchase windows and an inside door, but things are really taking shape.

The men are using part of my new cupboards as a table; sort of like them using my refrigerator and freezer to hold their tools when we first moved up here!

Once spring is officially here and the temperatures are favorable, we'll be taping and whatever else is needed to finish up the sheetrock. This is all new to me, so it's just another one of those things I have yet to learn to do. There will be lots of areas to practice on!

For the winter, the second floor has sort of been sealed off to try to keep what heat is in the main floor from escaping. The eaves are still open to the elements, although they did use insulation to sort of plug them up. That is good, as last year we had some trouble with birds checking out the house. Hopefully this summer we can close them up and side the house. House wrap isn't very exciting to look at.

Last fall Jim cut a hole above the wood stove in our basement to help bring some heat to their construction area. There are times when the boys forget to latch the outside door up there, and one or more of the cats manage to get in. They all know about the hole, so there are many times when I catch a glimpse of a cat climbing through, jumping onto the wood stove, and onto the floor. I don't have any photos of their antics, though!

Special Blessings

No, this isn't my kitchen, but it could be some day! Friends of ours have daughters that clean house for another family, and the house they clean had these cabinets in the kitchen. Apparently the owners have decided to add onto their kitchen, and wanted to have all new cabinets, etc. installed. So, our friends called to see if we wanted these people's cabinets! Of course we said, Yes! They even went so far as to take them down for us and store them at their farm.

Another set of friends from up here took a trip down to where these cabinets were stored, and taking our trailer, loaded the trailer with as many of the cabinets as they could. Apparently the cabinets come in 12 foot lengths, so only one set would fit on the trailer. The reason for that is they also included their dishwasher! This is all so amazing, since never in my wildest imaginations did I dream we would have beautiful oak cabinets in my kitchen to be! I'm not sure if the dishwasher will ever be installed, but it's so great to know we have one if we decided to do it. I thought I would be utilizing old workbenches and Rubbermaid containers for the rest of my life! That goes to show me how much I underestimated my Heavenly Father, and the surprising gifts He has for us.

Our friend that is bringing the cabinets up called yesterday and commented that I am getting a beautiful set of cabinets, with a very nice sink and very fancy faucet.

There are advantages to living in the north and having very cold weather ... Peter took this photo a few days ago of the sun rising. Notice the dome of light around the sun. We call those sundogs.

I've Been Tagged!

Cheri the TN Farmgirl gave me an assignment, which is to:

*Link to the person that tagged you.
*Post the rules on your blog.
*Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog.
*Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
*Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.

The last time someone did this to me I didn't do it, so I thought I better do it this time! The boys were giving me all sorts of things to list, such as learning to repel off the side of a fire station building, and the fact that we have 4 children in Heaven; but I thought it better to list things that have happened since moving to our farmstead. Here goes:

1. When we moved to our farmstead we lived in a pop-up camper for five weeks, without the benefit of electricity, water or sewer. Talk about culture shock!

2. During hunting season the second fall we were here we had a cow moose live close to my clotheslines for 3 whole days.

3. The lady that we bought our property from is 80 years old, and came to visit us that first winter by riding over in her snowmobile.

4. In the winter of 2005, our son Jonathan walked down to the mailbox through the woods, and discovered cougar tracks. We have photos of the cat's footprints to prove it.

5. I canned raspberry jam before moving to the country, but had never touched or even watched a pressure canner being used. Now I wonder why I was so afraid to try canning that way.

6. While roughing in our house (which is a two story structure and we currently live in the basement) we had scaffolding set up so we could reach up to the roof. We kept catching our turkeys climbing the scaffolding and roosting on the roof! It wasn't much fun for the boys to clean off the scaffolding before they got to work each day.


7. Our cat had a litter of four kittens, all of which were female. Our sons named Jonathan, Peter, Andrew and David named the new kittens Jonathan, Peter, Andrew and David. Unfortunately, David met an untimely death by putting her head in the hinged side of the car door just as someone was slamming it shut.

Now it's my turn to tag 7 people: Katie, Susan, Jonathan, Peter, Andrew, Karisa, and Bonnie.

I Feel Like a Greased Pig

We butchered our pigs a few weeks ago, and I thought I was done rendering lard. I guess I've never been too excited about touching greasy things, because it's so hard to get off my hands afterwards. Well, we discovered a few packages of fat from the pig we butchered back in December of 2006, and I thought I'd better take care of that as well. At first I was just going to throw it away, but our son Jonathan has decided we are going to make soap, so we will use it for that purpose.

We were planning on watching the Republican debate tonight via the internet, so I decided a popcorn supper was appropriate. I also had the big idea I would make donuts, so at the same time I was rendering lard I was making and frying donuts! That was a bit too greasy for me. However, I was pleasantly surprised at how light and nongreasy the donuts were. They were quite delicious. I thought since lard tends to be absorbed in the donuts as they are being fried they would be fairly greasy and leave an aftertaste, but they were great! Maybe there is something to this animal fat thing! I've been planning to read a book entitled, Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon and Dr. Mary Enig, and another book they wrote, Eat Fat Lose Fat. Guess now is the time to do just that.

Another Cold Day

We had another very cold day today, so everyone stayed indoors as much as possible. Jonathan needed to head to his vacuuming job yesterday but the car wouldn't start, so we really needed to get it running today to get him to work. Someone found an inconvenient place to store our portable heater thing for under the car, so instead Jim used a small space heater to place under there. After doing that for an hour or so, the car finally started. It was a very good thing, because friends called to ask Jim if he would go down to town to help their daughter get her car started. Someone passed along one of those "forwards" that has been altered to make it appropriate to our state:

If parking your car for the night involves an extension cord,
You might live in North Dakota.

If you're proud that your state makes the national
news primarily because it houses the coldest spot in the nation,
You might live in North Dakota.

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March,
You might live in North Dakota.

If you know how to correctly pronounce Minot ,
Bottineau, Ypsilanti , or Glen Ullin,
You might live in North Dakota.

If you measure distance in hours,
You might live in North Dakota.

If you see people wearing hunting clothes at social events, You might live in North Dakota.

If you carry jumper cables in your car and your daughter knows how to use them,
You might live in North Dakota.

If there are 7 empty cars running in the parking lot at the grocery store at any given time,
You might live in North Dakota.

If your idea of creative landscaping is a statue of a deer next to your cottonwood,
You might live in North Dakota.

If you find 0 degrees 'a little
chilly,'
You might live in North Dakota.

We are Still Here

Just to let you know, we haven't frozen over yet! Here is the weather for today (hopefully I can get a post in soon):

.WIND CHILL WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM CST /5 AM MST/
WEDNESDAY.

A WIND CHILL WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 AM CST /5 AM MST/
WEDNESDAY.

EXPECT WIND CHILLS OF 40 TO 50 BELOW TODAY.

A WIND CHILL WARNING MEANS THE COMBINATION OF VERY COLD AIR AND
STRONG WINDS WILL CREATE DANGEROUSLY LOW WIND CHILL VALUES. THIS
WILL RESULT IN FROST BITE & LEAD TO HYPOTHERMIA OR DEATH IF
PRECAUTIONS ARE NOT TAKEN.

National Geographic Does Great Advertising

Our family was amused with an article recently published by the National Geographic. The article is entitled, The Emptied Prairie.

According to this very depressing article, North Dakota is a terrible place to live. If that's the case, why does our family love it so much?

Neither Jim or I were raised here, yet when we felt led to move to the country, the first state we really investigated was North Dakota. I hope to start up again with the account of our move to the Turtle Mountains, and hopefully you will see that it truly isn't as bad of a state as National Geographic paints it to be.

Thoughts on 2007/2008

I can hardly believe that 2008 has begun, and we've already been living up here for over 3 years. So much has happened, and it's been a lot of things that I could have never expected.

December ended with a flurry of activity; not in Christmas activities, but in preparation for the state's homeschool convention and then in helping another ministry prepare for their yearly fund raiser. Our annual newsletter is yet to be written, thank you's sent, pigs butchered, and more. Jim and the boys are over at a friend's for the afternoon/evening, sliding and visiting with others. I asked if I could stay home, as I feel quite worn out from everything that has been going on. I've had a tendency most of my life of filling my days with many things, then all of a sudden feeling the need to pull back and rest -- not only physically, but spiritually and mentally as well. Those times of rest are few and far in between, especially after marrying and having 4 boys. And those time are even fewer now, since it seems our life this past year has been exceptionally busy.

Farm life has the potential to really wear a person out, and I am learning that I need to pace myself and not try to do everything that I want to accomplish in one day. I have read Northern Farmer's blog,
where he states matter of factly that farm work never ends, and what you don't accomplish one day will be waiting for you the next. My personality tends to be more like Martha, when I need to be more like Mary. My desire for 2008 is to learn to be more like Mary, learning to sit at the feet of Jesus to receive direction instead of rushing to and fro, trying to do everything and yet getting nothing done. (At least it seems that way!)

Looking back to our first few months living in the Turtle Mountains, I am amazed at how much we have learned about homesteading and farm operations. I had been agreeable and then anxious to move to the country, but had way too many romantic notions about what it would actually be like. Don't subscribe to magazines like Country Woman if you want to homestead! We moved to land that had no improvements (other than a tractor path to get into the property), and yet I was constantly upset at how hard it was to clean filthy clothes and keep the dirt out of the basement we later moved into after it was barely inhabitable. I must admit my attitude at times -- more than I want to remember, actually -- was terrible, but through the grace of God I made it, and certainly hope I will never have to go around that mountain again.

I have a feeling that 2008 will be another year of challenges and blessings, and it's my desire to travel through this year with the Lord's bigger picture in mind for me and also our family.

Recapping the Week

This time of year is busier than I want it to be; I'd much rather be snowed in and working on all the projects that have accumulated during the spring/summer/fall. We've been busy doing good things, but it sure makes me tired! We have enough snow to be snowed in, but the township plow has been in here and are able get in and out once again.

Last Sat. we traveled to a city a little over an hour from here at a pastor friend's invitation so the boys could play at their church's special services. It was a very small church, but we certainly enjoyed all the fellowship with fellow homeschooling families. The visiting pastor is traveling around the country with a home base in Indiana, and it turns out he pastored a bit in the small town there where I had lived back in the 70's. I reminisced with him about what the town used to be like, as back then it was a hotbed for Klu Klux Klan activity. We finally stumbled into our house about 1 the next morning, but the fellowship had been worth the lack of sleep. Jim drove home in the middle of a snowstorm.

This past week was very busy for me, as we are trying to process the homeschool association's convention booklet. My unofficial title is "Office Support," so I am doing all the production, with a little help from the boys. Our goal is to get them to the post office by Monday, so everything else has been placed on the shelf until I am done. I am hoping no one shows up and sees the condition of the house!

Thursday night Jim and the boys played for the county employees Christmas party at a very nice restaurant on Lake Metigoshe. It was a very cold night, and the car almost didn't make it up there for setting up the equipment. The car has been acting up since we traveled through Minnesota in October for my niece's wedding, but Jim couldn't pinpoint the problem. Well, we now think we know what it is, so hopefully the car will be repaired on Wed. That's a relief for me, as without a cell phone (there's poor reception up here, anyway) and sparse population I was more than a bit hesitant to drive.

This particular invitation to play was a very interesting one for us, since the man doing the asking was the County Superintendent of Schools -- and we homeschool! Jim has had dealings with him off and on since moving up here, as he also has his fingers in other things around here: he is the local auctioneer and also owns and operates the drive in restaurant at Lake Metigoshe. He also sells fireworks around Independence Day. This was my first time meeting him, and I found it interesting that he was walking around the night of the party with a can of Skoal in his back pocket. Wonder if he chews on the job!

The boys did very well in their playing. I am thankful that up this way they are still allowed to play what they want to, and most of what they did was gospel bluegrass. We had to wait until the party was over to tear down the equipment, and they were called back to play one more song at the end. Jim chose "House of Gold," which is evangelistic in nature. No one complained.

Back to Butchering

I am going to be a bit sad when our pigs Ham and Bacon are butchered, because they seem more like pets. I forgot to mention in my last blog entry about our friend Lori Kenney's encounter with our pigs.
Jim took Lori and I back from where the Kenneys were staying so we could make supper. Jim parked the station wagon right by the door to the basement, and as we got out, we were greeted by our pigs, Ham and Bacon! They were so happy to see us, and one of them promptly ran up to Lori and planted her very muddy snout on the front of Lori's denim skirt. Lori didn't even flinch, but starting patting the pig on the head! The pigs love our dog, and it looked so funny to see the three of them running to greet us. Jim used a bucket of food to entice them back to their pen, and they happily followed him down the hill.I thought we would have a nice quiet afternoon, but Jonathan decided it would be a good day to butcher our 4 remaining Bourbon Red turkeys. They were a year old last May, and we didn't think we could keep them over another winter since they didn't have the greatest pen for our cold conditions. The first fall they were around I thought they were pretty neat, since they would come up to me while I was hanging clothes outside and watched everything I did. Well, last winter they were a lot of trouble, since the males liked to show me who was boss and bullied me every time I wore my purple winter jacket. I guess they must not be color blind, but hated the color purple! They even followed me down the quarter mile to the mailbox, trying to dominate me. I finally had enough and chased them away. This spring one of the females had 17 babies (as you can tell, I can't remember the proper names for the turkeys), and it was fun to watch them follow their mama. Unfortunately, the next day they had all disappeared. So much for trying to raise more turkeys!
The guys set up shop between the house and the hoop house, and got to work.
Peter did a good job of gutting the turkeys! I was amazed at how much bigger the 2 males were compared to the 2 females.
Jim did a good job of keeping the fire burning under the garbage can that was used to scald the turkeys.
And here is the finished product! I have one turkey roasting in my big roaster, and another cooking on the stove. We are running short of freezer space, so the less bones to store the better.

We used the workbenches that Jim built for the basement and garage of our house in the city to create counter tops in our temporary living quarters in our basement. I used sticky Contact Paper to cover the chipboard surfaces. We have had to change it once so far in the 3 years we have lived this way. The shelf below the counter contains Rubbermaid containers to store my kitchen equipment.

Check Out Peter's Blog

Thought you might be interested in seeing/hearing Peter's new way of making music! Check out his video.

More of the Week's Activities

Last Sunday the former Turtle Mountain Boys (we have to change the name since we discovered there is another group by that name in the area) played at Bottineau's nursing home. They did a very good job of mingling with the crowd, and enjoyed talking with a lady that spoke Norwegian, a man from whom we purchased canning jars, and others.
David (8) was our resident photographer and sat on the nursing home's piano bench, so we had kind of a side view of the concert. We are still trying to convince David to join the band, but he would rather be a groupie with me. Our time of doing nothing during concerts will soon come to an end, as our small sound system should arrive in time for the revival meeting they were asked to play for next weekend.
The Kenneys arrived the next day, and the fun began! The garden tractor and trailer was given to Andrew, and he has been able to fix it up enough to use it. However, at this point the thing died and had to be towed back to the yard.
Grandpa Bartlett's potato cannon was a big hit with the Kenney kids, and it was now time to show the dads how well it worked. Those potatoes sure could fly!No matter what was going on, Samson (our dog) was never far behind.
Lori Kenney and I had time to sample some great coffee at Metigoshe Ministries. This is where their family stayed while visiting, and where we stayed for a couple of months when we were working on our basement.
We miss you, Kenneys! Thanks for blessing us with your presence! We had wonderful fellowship in the Lord. Hopefully the next time you come our way we'll have room for you to stay with us!

Activities of the Past Week

It's been another busy week, full of lots of interesting things. Deer hunting season was upon us, and Jonathan managed to shoot a good sized doe as well as a four by four buck within two days of each other! We were all so proud of him, and very thankful for all the meat we were about to process. I don't think my brothers ever went deer hunting, so this was all new to me when we moved up to the north country.

Jonathan made sure the buck was hoisted a bit higher than the doe was. We tied our German Shepherd at night to make sure he left the deer alone, but in the morning in between going to the barn to "help" Peter with milking and the rest of the chores he managed to chew the nose off from the doe!
There certainly was a lot of venison to process. A couple of years ago my parents gave us an electric meat grinder as a Christmas present, and it sure came in handy! If we hadn't had it we'd still be grinding by hand. (Yes, we are still in the basement, and this is our temporary kitchen.)
Our family was preparing for the arrival of our friends the Kenneys, and I was a bit frustrated at trying to organize things in the bedroom area. I mentioned to Andrew (11) that he should make a bunk for his brother David, since we were using a trundle bed for him to sleep on. We no longer could store the trundle under Andrew's daybed since it was now full of my 2007 canned produce, and it was in the middle of the walking area. Andrew went right to work, and created this wonderful bed for his brother. He also framed in his daybed, and it looks great!
Now we have 2 sets of bunkbeds! We are using the mattress from the trundle bed for David, and stored the actual trundle frame upstairs in our yet to be finished main floor.
Here is our house last Sunday, on a very snowy day. The flakes actually looked like snowballs! The main and 2nd floors are unfinished and eaves still open to the elements, but Jim is working diligently to install the electrical wiring. After it's inspected we will do some insulation and block the eaves. We moved quite a bit of our belongings into the 2nd floor from the semi trailer we were using. Jim hopes to turn the semi trailer into a wood shop when the main floor is ready for occupancy.

Winter Has Arrived

Wind Advisory in effect until 6 PM CST this afternoon...
	Rest of Today Cloudy with isolated snow showers. Windy... colder. Highs in the lower 30s. Near steady temperature in the lower 30s. Northwest winds 25 to 40 mph. Chance of snow 20 percent.
	Tonight Mostly cloudy. Lows in the lower 20s. Northwest winds 10 to 20 mph. We have blizzard like conditions today, and the boys sure are happy about it! Jonathan got his deer the day before yesterday, and we will spend the day processing the meat. Photos will follow after the troops are done with chores.

It's Cooling Down

Andrew took some photos for me to share with you. Last spring we were given some ducks and geese when we bought goats, and they have been roaming freely all summer. In this photo, they are walking on the ice that formed on the lake in the past couple of days. They did manage to make a hole in the ice, and still have their own place to get wet.
We had a dilemma when the chicken coop area in half the goat barn was too small for all of our chickens. All of the chickens the boys purchased this spring are capable of laying eggs for us, so we hated to butcher the extras that were still living in a portable chicken pen. The boys decided to utilize our hoop house for a temporary shelter for them for the winter. We purchased a very durable tarp, and Jonathan and Peter devised a chicken coop with one half of the hoop house.
The area is lined with straw bales, and the ground is also covered with straw.
The chickens seem nice and toasty warm in there.
The little building to the right has become our garden shed; it was originally the outhouse that Grandpa Bartlett built for me when they were visiting the first fall we lived up here. In the next photo in the background you will see what our house looks like for the winter. Hopefully next year we will be able to get some siding on that house wrap. The windows are temporary ones that were given to us, and provide us with light so we can see what we are doing in there! Jim is working on the wiring, but the only electricity we have up there is through the use of extension cords.

A Day to Catch Up (Or At Least Try)

Today was a good day to catch up on a few things, such as baking bread. With 4 boys, there's always a need to fill in at meal times, so we go through a lot of bread. I managed to make 8 loaves and 2 large batches of whole wheat buns. That should help get us through to later in the week. Jim went upstairs to check on the state of our potatoes and carrots, and discovered they were rotting.

Early in the growing season we were talking about constructing a root cellar of one sort or another, but never got it going. The boys had all they could do to hand dig out our goat shed, which is located on the side of the hill, and we just didn't have time to dig out a cellar for storing our produce. Jim thought he would try building an insulated box above the wood stove, and cut a hole through the floor to allow a bit of heat to keep the box from freezing. It seemed to be working. However, last night they discovered the box was hovering at close to 60 degrees, which meant there was too much heat for the vegetables. Unfortunately, we lost all of the carrots stored up there, and some of the potatoes. Jim had the boys peel potatoes that still had good parts to them, and we made a big pot of mashed potatoes. Guess I better find a lot of recipes that call for potatoes! We want to use them up before anything else happens. All the remaining potatoes are now in the basement with us instead of up where they were.

Yesterday our neighbors stopped by to see if we would be interested in trading hay for beef. You bet! This neighbor was the one who initially did all the haying, and we still had extra bales after we were given our share. They raised this steer over at their farm, so we know how it was taken care of. What a blessing to have beef in our freezer! And to think deer season is just around the corner as well!

Jonathan has been getting ready for trapping, and this morning came home with his first raccoon. I was proud of how well he did on the skinning. Hopefully he will make money this year from the sale of his pelts.

Later in the day, Jim and the boys headed over to help some friends with their TV antenna. Apparently there was a channel that would not come in, so they needed someone to change the direction of the antenna. I was glad I wasn't over there watching, since the antenna is located at the top of what used to be a windmill -- and a very large one. I can't remember how tall the boys said it was, but I saw the photos they took and Jim and Jonathan were quite a ways up in the air. You can see a couple of photos at Peter's blog. We are supposed to be hit tomorrow with a blast of arctic air, and with winds going over 45 mph, I'm sure glad the deed was done today. While over there the boys were thrilled to see a bald eagle and 2 moose.

I just finished with getting our honey squared away. While the boys and I were on our trip to Minnesota, Jim used his homemade extractor to take the honey from our hives. He placed the honey in large containers, so today I softened it and separated it into smaller jars. We probably got about 3 gallons from 2 hives. I don't know if that is very good or not, but since it was our first year of working with the bees, we count any amount a real blessing. The bread items I baked today were made with our goat milk and honey, and that is quite an accomplishment, considering just a little over 3 years ago we moved up to this land that had nothing on it but a lake, trees, fields, and hills, and little knowledge (but a lot of enthusiasm!) in how to get started.

I Think Winter is Coming

Sunday Night
Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of snow showers. Breezy. Lows in the lower 30s.

Monday
Partly sunny with a 20 percent chance of snow. Breezy. Highs in the lower 30s.
Monday Night
Mostly clear. Lows 15 to 20.

Tuesday and Tuesday Night
Partly cloudy. Highs in the lower 30s. Lows 15 to 20.

Wednesday
Partly sunny. Highs in the upper 30s.
Wednesday Night
Partly cloudy. Lows in the lower 20s.

Just in time for deer hunting season!

Around the Farm

The boys showed me how easy it is to upload photos from our digital camera; now I need to try it out for myself!
David decided it would be fun to get Samson to sleep with him in Peter's bottom bunk.
I took this photo through the bedroom window, so the boys didn't know it was taken. Friends gave Andrew the three wheeler, and he was busy trying to change one of its tires. He has quite a mind for vehicle repairs. I guess we can truly consider ourselves homesteaders, since Sunday another family brought us our first tractor! Too bad it doesn't work. The guys were out today, trying to get it to start.

The goats were all brought into our barn area for the fall/winter. It took a while for them to decide who was head honcho; finally things have settled down and they all tolerate each other.

Back to Business

It has been a very beautiful day today. Can't believe it's in the 60's and sunny -- and almost the end of October! The younger boys are upstairs doing what our friend Steve calls the "bean dance," which is jumping on the dried bean pods to harvest our navy, kidney and great northern beans. Peter went to town with Jim to mail the homeschool association newsletters I processed this morning, and I just came back from a trip to the mailbox to check for mail. I was kind of forced outside, since our wood stove decided to back up again for the nth time. I have a feeling we should give up on using it until Jim decides what he is going to do with it. The pipe outside is not reaching above the roof line, so we've had a lot of backdrafting. At least we have floor heat to fall back on until we make some decisions and do what we have to do to use wood heat again.

About 2 weeks ago we managed to butcher close to a third of our chickens. Jonathan was determined this time to keep the skin on them, so they devised a cauldron type thing to scald the chickens. They used an old pressure canner and suspended it with chain over a fire, utilizing a thermocouple to check the temperature of the water. It worked slick, and I had no complaints when the plucked and gutted (or should I say "eviscerated") chickens made their way into the house. I need to review the Mesko family's DVD on chicken butchering and Herrick Kimball's tutorial on chicken butchering because I did a terrible job of cutting up the chickens to place in the freezer. I finally got so tired of trying to find joints to separate the parts that I made quite a few knives dull by just cutting through the bone!

The boys and I returned last Thurs. from our big trip to my folks' place near Duluth, MN, and attended my niece's wedding. We had lots of car trouble, but thankfully limped successfully to Mom and Dad's house. I parked the car, and scheduled it to go into the shop the following Monday morning. Unfortunately, by that time the car quit acting up! We had a very special time with family. Uncle Mike and Uncle Mark made sure the boys has a great time, and Grandpa W. taught them how to make box joints. They even came back with a jig for making them. I'm looking forward to lots of boxes for storage. Uncle Mike sent back a trailer full of different types of wood for them to build their creations.

I'm not mentioning any names (!!), but when visiting I stepped down on carpeting and thought I had landed on a needle. Trying to be nonchalant, I took a peek, and it wasn't a needle -- it was a porcupine quill! One of them was doing quill work, and accidentally dropped a quill. Needless to say, I found it for her. I had stepped fairly hard on the quill, so it required pliers to pull it out. Ouch! Now I can empathize with our dog when he had to have quills pulled from his nose and mouth area. I did benefit, though, as for my birthday I received a beautiful pair of quill earrings.

We were gone a total of 8 days, and it was very hard for me to leave my folks. Hopefully the Lord will make a way for us to visit everyone at least a couple of times every year. I am very thankful for emails and the ability to make long distance phone calls.

Jim was busy when we were gone as well. Since I took the family car he was pretty much stuck here, but had plenty to keep him busy. We have 2 bee hives, and he managed to extract a couple of gallons of honey. I am glad I wasn't here when he did it! He also had to deal with one of our tomcats that decided to kill 2 of our laying hens (caught him red handed in the chicken coop with a newly killed chicken), and a dog that had 6 puppies. Jim was our official goat milker and goat chaser when they decided to get out of the fence, and very capably took care of all the daily chores. He also teaches 2 live online Algebra courses on Mondays and Thursdays, so he was unable to go on the road with us. We were very thankful that he was a good sport and took care of everything for us.

I celebrated my birthday while we were gone, and Jim and the boys bought "me" a digital camera. I must say I need to learn how to use it, but the boys have already mastered all the bells and whistles. Hopefully we will now be able to post more photos on our blogs.

Indian Summer

We had a beautiful day today, definitely our Indian Summer. Good thing, because we have a lot to do before winter hits.

A lot has transpired since my last post almost a month ago. Jim made his trip to Albuquerque, NM for a HSLDA leadership conference, and two days later his folks arrived for a visit from New Hampshire. It was a later in the year visit than normal, and the temps were a lot cooler than they were used to. We hadn't had any rain to speak of since July -- and then it rained the last 3 days they were visiting. We all enjoyed having Grammy and Grandpa here, and the time went much too quickly. I'm sure we'll be posting some photos in the future. I think the highlight for the boys was making a potato cannon with Grandpa. That thing could really shoot! Amazing what you can do with hairspray.

We have also been working feverishly on our "to do" lists. The boys cleaned out the garden areas, insulated the goat barn, installed protection for our fruit trees (in broad daylight a few days ago Jim spotted a deer in the garden, calmly eating raspberry leaves), hauled haybales closer to the barn, constructed a shelter for the pigs, and I forget what else. Jim has completed the floor that will separate the 2 floors of our house. He also built a box for the potatoes that were dug yesterday. They will be kept from freezing by heat from the woodstove which will come through a hole in the floor to the basement just above the woodstove. Hopefully it will work.

I still have tomatoes and apples to process, but that will have to be placed on the shelf until later. Tomorrow we will butcher 25-30 chickens. Not my favorite job, but a necessary one. Instead of just taking off the chickens' skin with the feathers they opted to try to scald the carcasses and then pluck the feathers ... Guess we need a Whizbang Chicken Plucker , but that will have to wait for another year.

Later this week the boys and I will travel 900 miles to help celebrate my niece's wedding and visit my family. What a blessing that by the end of the month the boys will have spent special time with both sets of grandparents. The visits are too few and far in between, and hopefully some day we can make more trips to visit both families. Jim will stay behind with all the animals. I have a very large "to do" list for him, and we'll see how much he can get done! Our dog may have her puppies while we are gone, and we'll see what kind of a midwife Jim turns out to be.