Convention Thoughts

It's been busy at our house, getting ready for the ND Homeschool Convention in Minot, ND. This is the first year my husband Jim has been executive director of the Assoc., so it's the first time we've been intimately involved with the details of a convention. What an eye opener! Thankfully there is also a convention coordinator, so we have just been helping out however we can. Minot is about 100 miles from our place -- the closest a convention will ever get to us. It may also be the last time it is ever held in that city, since registrations are really down and a small number of vendors coming, probably due to gas prices and how far the city is "out in the boonies." I guess people prefer attending in one of the larger cities.

I remember the first homeschool convention we ever attended -- way back in March 1996. I remember dates according to who I was pregnant with or taking care of as a baby! That time I was newly pregnant with our son Andrew, and the convention was also held in Minot. The temps were not even rising above the zero mark, and Jim volunteered to take our 2 boys and get them settled in the car. I followed them out a short time later, and we headed out. When we got to a town about 2 hours away we stopped for gas, and I asked Jim where he had placed the boys' winter jackets. Jim had a sudden blank look on his face, and I discovered they were still hanging in our closet in Fargo. Thankfully, we called a friend that was also driving up later to attend the convention, and she was able to round up jackets, hats and mittens for us to use while up in Minot.

A week or so before the convention we were given a tape to listen to of the convention keynote speaker -- Jonathan Lindvall. That tape changed our lives, and I really think started us in thinking about moving to the country.

Mr. Lindvall had many topics that interested us greatly, such as sheltering our children, becoming debt free (including free of a mortgage), courtship and betrothal, home businesses, and others. We became convinced that God had a better way for us than what we had been planning. We had never heard of some of these topics before, and came away thoroughly challenged. It is interesting that since then we have heard of people who were turned off by his presentations, but it was enough for us to start looking to the Lord for what His will was for us in everything.

The leadership of the home school assoc. has been very wise in their choice of speakers, and every year we have come away with new challenges to what we have been thinking. It took me a while one convention to tune into the style of George Grant, but I came away with pages and pages of notes and the desire to read books with more meat in them. I think our most enjoyable time was listening to John Taylor Gatto confirm what we had been thinking. People complained afterward that he didn't present anything practical for the homeschooling families there, but Jim and I were thrilled to listen to him share his insights and experiences with us. This convention we are looking forward to what we will learn from Mr. Mark Hamby of
Lamplighter Publishing.

More Times of Fellowship

I can state with certainly that the Country Living Skills Workshop II was a success. Steve (Mountain Fire Keeper) has a real gift for organization as well as teaching, and our friend Paulette definitely has the gift of hospitality. It's not just anyone that can make 40 people feel totally comfortable in their home and not worry about children roaming and causing little messes all over.

The workshops are done in such a way that the information gives something to everyone who attends -- seasoned gardeners to the very beginners (like me). Even though I have heard Paulette talk before about the various herbs and the healing potential within them, it is always such a blessing to hear it again and again. I always learn something new. There was a lady in attendance at the first workshop who had just removed her sons from the public school system and Jim invited her to attend (he is Exec. Director of the ND Home School Assoc.); she must have enjoyed it, as this time she brought along her boyfriend and they seemed to learn a lot. I was so blessed, as they seem eager to learn not only about the practical issues taught, but about the fellowship of the believers. They do not presently know the Lord, but I think it's just a matter of time.

Three families decided to stay overnight at Paulette's, and so later morning our family trooped back over there to visit on Monday (the boys loved the ride, as when we turned onto her gravel road Jim did an almost 360 with the van -- it was a bit on the slippery side!) before everyone headed out. The ladies were interested in making salve, so Paulette decided to go ahead and teach whoever was interested. I'm curious to see how the video turned out, as there certainly was plenty of background noise.

A couple of the guys there were the ones who got our sons interested in playing bluegrass music. Our boys were excited to have the first opportunity in ages to jam with them, and jam they did. Well, Northern Farmer, maybe Mountain Fire Keeper will make a copy of that so you can hear what ND Bluegrass sounds like! Timothy and Jon have finished their homeschooling years, and Tim brought along the beautiful mandolin that he made. I think I heard that he has built a couple others that he has sold, and I know our son Andrew greatly enjoyed having a chance to play some tunes with it. Timothy's brother Isaac and our son Jonathan play banjo, and they enjoy swapping instructional books and videos with each other. Peter had the chance to play along with Jon and his guitar, so there was something for everyone. I am constantly amazed when I watch the interactions of the older boys with the younger, as they patiently answer questions, instruct and encourage the younger ones. I'm so proud of them all!

Learning About Chickens

Tonight I was preparing a couple of our chickens to cook for chicken pot pie that will be served on Sunday at the Country Living Skills Workshop. We are asked to bring food items which are made with items grown in the area. The pot pie is my son's request, as he is proud that he raised the chickens. I had to ask our friend Paulette for some of her potatoes, onions and carrots from her garden, since we have run out of the ones we grew. Hopefully this spring we can plant enough to last us through next year's winter.

We have friends near Fargo who offered us a hen and a rooster to help us get started with chickens. When we went to Fargo last March for the ND homeschool convention they met up with us after the meetings to get us the chickens. My poor husband; I stayed one extra day to do some shopping, and he went home with 2 chickens, 2 boys and a dog in the station wagon! Our sons built a chicken tractor out of peeled logs, chicken wire and cattail leaves and stalks, so everything was ready. They decided to name our new chickens "Lewis and Cluck." It took a while, but Cluck started laying close to an egg per day, and we were thrilled.

In June we picked up 27 or so baby chicks down at the post office. They were so cute! Originally our son Jonathan was thinking about starting them out in our basement since it would be too cold outside at night, but friends gave us enough information to make us decide that we better think of another place to keep them. Instead, Jonathan set up shop in our semi trailer (which has become a catch all for everything), and placed the chicks in a metal watering trough that we borrowed from our friend Paulette. Jonathan was very diligent to make sure the temperature was just right for the chicks, and kept them watered and fed.

By the time I got out to see them I was amazed at the transformation -- they were ugly! Pin feathers all over. I'd never seen chickens grow up before, and they sure looked terrible. Soon it was time to transfer them to a larger chicken tractor, where they stayed until they moved to our freezer.

It wasn't hard for me not to develop an attachment to those meat chickens; they are the epitome of self-centeredness and gluttony. Whenever it was time to feed them they didn't care who they stepped on or what they stepped into, they just wanted to eat. We had one that had something wrong with it, and the others wouldn't leave it alone but kept pecking at him until he was too weak to survive. Thankfully, he was the only casualty until we did the rest in.

We have neighbors that live a mile north of us as the crow flies, and when they heard about our chicken escapades they offered to teach us the fine art of butchering chickens. On Labor Day we got to their farm about 7 a.m. (so we could work without the help of flies) and worked with chickens that were close to 10 pounds each! I guess they let this bunch grow heavier since they wanted to have these smoked. I found it a bit tough to hold one up and pluck feathers, as my arm got pretty sore. Our neighbors would hold the carcass on their knees and pluck, but I wasn't quite that willing to get full of "stuff." I think in 2 hours we did up about 14 of those huge chickens. They laughingly told us we could come over and help them do their turkeys as well -- they were huge! Brad was the one who hayed our fields for us, and as a thank you for sharing the bales with him he brought over a 28 pound turkey -- thankfully cleaned and frozen -- for us for Thanksgiving. They also gave us some photos they took of the whole process but I won't share them here, as my expressions show you exactly what I was thinking as I was gutting out a chicken!

Time was getting away from us, and we needed to do our own butchering. My husband Jim had to fly to Philadelphia for a HSLDA conference the end of September, and that was when our friend Steve (Mountain Fire Keeper) and also Paulette were able to help us out. I was thoroughly blessed, as Paulette is a vegetarian and she actually volunteered to help! I was very grateful to Steve, because he allowed Paulette and me the inside work of cleaning, cutting up, packaging and freezing the chickens, and left the "blood and guts" work to himself and our 2 oldest boys. We decided to save time and just pull off the skin with the feathers, as I don't usually cook chicken with the skin, anyway. Andrew would haul them from their work station outside and across the field to the kitchen. David decided it was better just to watch. It took most of the day, but we got the job done. I was sure glad that was done for the year, but what a blessing it has been to have our own home grown chickens.

In October we were asked to come and help our friends Paul and Donna who live 1-1/2 hours away from us with the butchering of their chickens. Jim was conveniently gone again, this time to a homeschool support group leaders' meeting about 3 hours from here. The boys and I got there in plenty of time before the festivities began. There were also 2 other families helping, so it was quite a crew. Paul set up various work stations: killing, defeathering, gutting, and then into the house for cleaning and packaging. Peter, Andrew and David had lots of fun catching chickens, and Jonathan pulled feathers from the carcass after they had been mostly defeathered by a chicken plucking machine. The poor guy that was working the machine was soaking wet, and plastered with wet feathers!

Not only did we butcher and process 80 + chickens, but after we left the rest of the crew butchered a bunch of ducks and bantams. It was a good learning experience for us, and how much more fun it was to do what could be a rather unpleasant job with 26 like-minded friends. It's really true that many hands make the work lighter. Hopefully we can all work together to make the work lighter in many ways.

Moose Drop Inn

Thought I would give you a taste of our weather, courtesy of the weather service:

WIND CHILL ADVISORIES & WARNINGS IN EFFECT FOR THUR & THURSDAY NIGHT FOR WESTERN & CNTL NO. DAKOTA. A VERY COLD ARCTIC AIR MASS WILL PUSH INTO WESTERN & CNTL ND THUR & THUR NIGHT. DURING THE DAY ON THURSDAY WIND CHILLS NEAR 20 BELOW WILL DEVELOP IN THE NORTHWEST AND SPREAD SE DURING THE DAY ON NO. WINDS OF 15 TO 25 MPH. THURSDAY NIGHT WINDS WILL CONTINUE AT 10 TO 25 MPH AS AIR TEMPS FALL TO 10 TO 25 BELOW. THIS WILL CREATE WIND CHILLS NEAR 40 BELOW. WIND CHILL ADVISORIES & WARNINGS MEAN THE COMBINATION OF VERY COLD AIR & 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.

So this is life in the Turtle Mountains!

I was thinking about the terrible cold forecast, and wondered how families ever lived in the little Norwegian cabin that is on our land. People in the area have told us the cabin was built just before 1900. Most people had large families back then, and this cabin’s outside dimensions are only 16 feet by 16 feet. There is only one room on the main floor, with a very small upstairs for sleeping that is accessed by a very steep wooden ladder. The occupants moved out, and allowed the cabin to deteriorate. Soon the place was used by party goers (we had to clean up a lot of cans, broken bottles, etc. close by where there was a bonfire area), and in the winter by snowmobilers that needed a place to get out of the wind.

When we first moved up here the contractor wasn’t ready to dig our basement, so Jim and the boys started cleaning up this cabin in order to store Jim’s woodworking tools and other items inside. They decided they should call the place the “Moose Drop Inn”, as we were told it was a good place in which to trap critters and moose had been living in the side rooms in the winter. Needless to say, the place needed a lot of cleaning up! Apparently someone along the way added 2 small rooms to the structure, but party goers had torn away lots of the boards to fuel their bonfires.
Jim and the boys (and friends that came up to help) removed the dilapidated side rooms and cleaned up the inside of the main structure. There is no electricity down there since the cabin is located about ¼ mile from our home, so whenever Jim needs to run a power tool he has to get the generator going. The logs on the exterior were hand cut to make square sides, and the corners are dovetailed to fit. Amazing what they could do by hand. We need to repair the chinking in between the logs, and hopefully we can start that in the spring. I think the roof could use a few wooden shingles as well. Jim added a wood stove and proper doors and windows in order to secure his tools inside. There is another entrance to our property from the road where it curves around by this cabin, and it seems no matter how many times Jim places barriers down there, people either move them, drive over them or just go around. Old habits die hard, I guess.

In the fall of 2004 we had a small fire down there to roast hotdogs and marshmallows … My brother had come up for a week to help out with enclosing the basement and had pitched his tent by this cabin. My oldest had gotten a raccoon that had been trapped in our neighbor’s garden and had skinned it, saving the meat for us to taste! We all took one bite and decided it tasted like chicken, then decided not to eat the rest. After it grew totally dark I looked up into the night sky and noticed that the Big Dipper was directly overhead of the peak of the house. It was amazing to me that the original homesteaders had built the little cabin in a direct north/south direction, probably without the aid of any instruments or tools. We sure could learn a lot from those people.

I guess I am very thankful to be living in this basement instead of at the Moose Drop Inn!

A Great Day of Fellowship

We had a wonderful day yesterday, fellowshipping with our friends Paul and Donna, and their 5 boys. Imagine that! Their 5 boys and our 4 boys made for some pretty interesting activity around here! Of course our boys had to show off our 1970's vintage snowmobiles -- only one seems to run at a time, so they all took turns. It is so much fun to watch all the interaction with everyone ... The oldest was almost 15 and the youngest a year old. The older boys kept watch out for the younger ones outside(minus the baby), giving rides and generally helping everyone to have a good time. I was a bit questioning of what they were doing when they kept coming in and telling us how far they had flown through the air when their sled went over the jump they had made, and at least they all survived with only the twins (4-years-old) knocking their heads together as they were going down the hill.

The adults fellowshipping was just as fun as well. Donna and I had to catch up on everything, and as we had just picked up 10 gallons of milk she taught me how to make cheese (very easy, and tastes good as well) and also brought her Vita Mix to make butter with the cream we had skimmed from the milk. I had told her that I almost ruined my Kitchen Aid mixer by making butter the last time we picked up milk. I think I'm catching on to some country living skills! They also brought their Country Grain Mill to loan us, as my Whispermill died the first fall we lived here. My friend Paulette had been grinding grain for me, and now I can do it myself and bake bread right away, which will be great.

Paul and Donna think the way we do, so it's always a blessing to get together. Singing together and sharing from the Bible are always on the list of what we do, and it's great to see the boys starting to share their thoughts as well. Once again, I marvel at how God is bringing together His people -- even if we have to travel long distances to meet. I thought we were in the middle of nowhere when we first moved here, but we actually have more company now than when we lived in Fargo! We will all be together once again next weekend, when we attend the Country Living Skills Workshop being held at Paulette's next Sunday.

My Type of Cabin Fever

It was another stormy day today ... Spent my afternoon doing what I do many afternoons: baking bread and patching clothes. I'm constantly amazed at how one slide down the hill can put huge rips in snowpants! I also decided that one pair of my husband's jeans will make the rag bag if I find them to be mended one more time! I asked Jim if he would promise never to wear that particular pair of jeans to town, but he said he couldn't make any promises!

Mending gives me plenty of time to think of other things. Our friend Steve (Mountain Fire Keeper) was itching to get out in the garden and plant seeds, but I am itching to get outside and hang clothes!

Last spring Jim and the boys created a makeshift clothesline that was strung between trees and held up in the middle by a support made out of young trees. I had to slop through the mud to get to the lines, but that was okay, as I enjoyed hanging clothes. There is an art to putting clothes on the line: all the socks together, shirts, jeans, etc., so they look organized. I never lacked for company, either, as for some reason the cats (3) and dogs (2) would follow me down there and keep me company with each load. Our dog Selah was very good at stealing a clothespin to chew on, so I had to keep an eye on her to make sure I didn't lose too many. One cat in particular would always attempt to climb into the laundry basket, and I don't remember how many times I would have to shoo him away.

The fall of 2004 was a real trial as far as washing clothes was concerned. We hadn't been able to hook up the dryer, so I had to hang everything on hangers on 2 poles suspended from the ceiling above the wood stove. Since we are living in just the basement with no main floor we had insulation at the ceiling, and with no windows all the moisture from wet clothes and just living in general collected in the house. I remember one night in particular when we actually had it raining in the basement -- with no humidity outside! What a mess. In the spring when it warmed up Jim pulled down the insulation and we attempted to dry out the floor joists and everything else. Of course there was mold, so we sprayed that with a bleach solution. I was so thankful when it warmed up enough for the clothesline to be constructed, and I wore knit gloves underneath rubber gloves to hang our clothes outside. Up here there is usually a wind -- and often a stiff one -- so I have to make sure they are pinned on good and tight.

During hunting season this past fall we had more company down by my clothes lines; a moose made that area her habitation for about 4 days. I was worried that she would be irritated by the dogs or the boys, but they all left her alone and she stayed where she was. One morning when we got up we noted that she was gone.

There is talk that eventually I will have permanent lines closer to the house, but for now, I am still dreaming of getting outside with a laundry basket full of wet clothes!


PS -- Instead of insulation in the ceiling this year, we have 260 square haybales sitting on top of our roof and then covered by a large blue tarp. We have stayed nice and toasty warm, and there have been no more unwelcome showers of humidity in the house!

Winter Weather

Well, today was one of the few days this winter that has actually been stormy. We couldn't even see across the field for all the snow that was blowing. Jim prayed about where we would build our house for quite some time before making the decision, and it was so right. The front here is calm, but go up to the field and you can't see anything! We probably won't get out of our driveway unless the township grader comes through and cleans out our road. It's amazing to me that the grader will plough out everyone's driveways! We are the last one on this road, so it takes a while before he gets to us. Makes for a very pleasant day with the family. Even if the power would go off we have lots of hot water (which is heated on top of our wood stove inside an old water heater) and plenty of heat. Add a little bluegrass music, and we are set for the day!

I never knew what the night sky actually looked like until we moved out here ... We have nothing to dim the stars since we have no yard light. I remember when we were first living in the pop up camper there would be nights when someone in the middle of the night needed to "use the bathroom," and the process of opening the door would wake everyone up. I don't exactly know how it happened, but someone outside must have commented on how brilliant the stars were, so we all climbed out of our sleeping bags and took a look. That must have been the first time I had ever seen a shooting star. No mistaking the Big Dipper up here, it's so huge. I have kept an eye on 3 stars that are all in a row, and move with the seasons. Some day I'm going to get out an astronomy book and check out what I am seeing in the night skies.

Another thing that amazes me is how light it is outside for the whole night, even when the moon is not visible. I guess for this season it's because of the snow, but even without light a person can easily make their way around outside. We haven't seen much this winter of the Northern Lights, but occasionally they will be dancing and someone will notice them.

This photo of sun dogs was taken in early December. My son Andrew pasted the 2 photos together to show how beautiful it was.

Gardening Thoughts

It's a beautiful sunny day here, which means it must be cold. Makes me want to get busy and plant some seeds! I must admit that I am feeling overwhelmed at the prospect of ordering seeds. This is my first year of being very aware of what hybrid seeds actually are, and of the importance of using heirloom seeds. Where do I start? What will actually grow this close to the Canadian border, and which will be iffy? How do I keep the bugs away? I guess I just need to dig in and get busy with seed catalogs as well as searching the internet.

We picked up our coop order late last night when the truck came in, and wow! did I learn a few things about spices! Most of them were on sale, and as I make everything from scratch I ordered quite a few. I ordered most of them by the pound, as it was even cheaper than by the 4 ounce packages. When I pulled out the parsley I discovered the 1 pound bag was big enough to use for a pillow! I was thinking I would have just enough to use up before my own from the garden would be ready -- looks like I won't have to grow any for a couple of years! These are the kinds of lessons I am learning "the hard way," but I guess that's okay. Now to make sure I store them in such a way that the bugs won't bother them and the flavor stays with them as well.

I have dreams of making different flower beds: an herb garden, butterfly garden, rose garden (our friend Steve says that up here I have to stick to shrub roses), and lots of vegetables. Last year we were able to have a garden in the areas around our basement that had been turned up by the cement contractors when doing the concrete work, and also a small area that we had tilled up. The carrots were more than a bit stubby but potatoes grew fairly well; this year we are asking the Lord to give us a bountiful harvest. Then comes the dilemma of how to store everything over the winter! We have an area that was tilled up with sheep manure from a neighbor's farm -- over an acre in size! We will have areas of corn, potatoes and raspberries in that field, so the area for the rest of the produce will be greatly reduced. Guess we have our work cut out for us!

The photos are of the beautiful flowers I had last year in the retaining wall area created by our friend Steve. He thought I should have something pretty to look at every time I entered or exited the house! Almost all of the flowers were grown from seeds. The rocks are home grown as well, since they were pulled out of the ground when the men were digging our basement. The boys added the slabs behind the flowers to keep the dogs from running through the garden; it really helped, and created a nice backdrop for the flowers.

My Driving Needs Improvement

I'm the stay at home type of person, and to be honest, I can't remember when I last made it into town. My husband goes to town once or twice a week to run errands, so he just takes my grocery list and picks up what we need. This does get me into trouble at times, as my winter driving skills are more than a bit rusty.

It was suppertime by the time Paulette and I finished making two kinds of salve. She had invited Jim and the boys to have supper with us, so it was even later by the time we cleaned up and headed for home. Even though the days are gradually getting longer we still have rather short days up here by the Canadian border, so it was dark. I'm not crazy about driving in the dark -- especially in winter. The other stressor for me was the fact that our van's dashboard panel was letting me know that Jim had forgotten to fill up with gas the last time he was in town. I just wanted to get home ASAP before I ran out of gas!

I guess I must have been a bit distracted as 3 of the boys and I drove around a bend in Paulette's road, and took the corner too close to the right side -- immediately pulling me into a ditch area. The boys promptly told me this was the same spot that our friend Steve had gone in not too long ago when ploughing out the road with his Bobcat! Not a real comforting thought. Thankfully Jim was behind me in our station wagon, so he was there to help.

It took a lot longer than I expected to get the van out, but Jim did a good job. Hopefully I'll know better the next time I take that road. I guess I better do a bit more winter driving. By the way, I made it all the way home without running out of gas!

PS -- I have yet to figure out how to do links to other blogs, but I would like you to check out the latest entry by www.northernfarmer.blogspot.com . He has a way with words, and explains what our family feels about country living. The entry is called, "Simple Folks." I'm even starting to feel this way!

We are Not in the Wilderness After All!

I am constantly amazed at God's timing in things. When we moved up here to the Turtle Mountains, we knew no one. It was hard for me to understand why God would send us here, with seemingly no fellowship. Well, it wasn't long before friends from another part of the state came to visit and introduced us to Paulette, their lay midwife. Since then, Paulette has become such a dear Christian friend. I have always had an interest in healthy eating habits (though have been sidetracked from time to time), gardening, herbs, etc, and those are the things she does best. What a wonderful teacher -- and only 5 miles away from me! So amazing, as what I thought was being plopped down in the middle of a wilderness, we were instead placed in a very strategic location.

Today my husband and sons were able to help Paulette with the brochure she is creating for her health center, and tomorrow I go over to her home to learn how to make black walnut salve for my son still under the influence of ringworm. The food coop we order from no longer carries that type of salve, so why not make it ourselves? I would not have known how to do it on my own, but with her knowledge I can learn how. What a wonderful thing Christian community is! And, how important it is to be able to share what we know with others. I hope to some day be able to pass on my knowledge with others as well.

What a Day!

Well, it was one of those days today ... We looked out the window and down the hill to see our 6 month old German Shepherd in the sheep pen. Peter ran down to get him out, and discovered Samson had pulled some wool from the head of Tilty, the sheep that only has sight in one eye. I don't want him to forever be afraid of us, since as a lamb he was mauled by a dog and lost the one eye, and now it seems to be starting all over again.

We thought we had taken care of the problem, when later in the day we once again discovered both dogs in the sheep pen; this time one of the sheep had a bloody ear. Now comes the fun part -- learning how to train dogs to leave farm animals alone! This will be quite a challenge, and we welcome any ideas.

On top of that -- I came down with the flu!

Packing Up

This afternoon my youngest talked me into going in search of his camouflage hat. Ever since his older brother's camo fabric face covering arrived in the mail, he has figured he needed one as well. So, we headed out to our semi trailer to look for the right Rubbermaid container.

When we finally found this land in the Turtle Mountains we figured the best way to transport all of our worldly goods was in a semi trailer. Jim found a company that sold old trailers, and one was driven up from the Twin Cities and came to rest on our front lawn in Fargo. I'm sure it was quite an eyesore for the neighbors, but it gave the college students something new to look at as they walked past our house to school. While Jim was spending time up here trying to contact companies to bring in power, phone, water, concrete, etc., I was back in Fargo, feverishly packing up. It was quite a trick to pack everything so the contents wouldn't shift when the semi hauled the trailer the 5 or more hours up to our land.

Since we really wouldn't be unpacking for a while, I decided to use a recipe card box and list on individual cards the contents of each individual box. This made it much slower going in the packing business, but at least I knew when I needed something it would be easier to find. I can't remember the exact count, but my numbers on the boxes reached over a hundred (not to mention what Jim and the boys had packed of their own stuff!). We also packed all of our furniture into the trailer; good thing we never did have much, and what we had was almost all second hand! All the wooden objects needed to be wrapped to prevent scratching, etc,. and I was very thankful that on Mondays a certain thrift store in Fargo had 99 cent sales, so I came home with a lot of cheap quilts and blankets to do that type of packing.

There is an ordinance in Fargo against front yard parking, so approximately 5 days before our actual moving date a police officer showed up and asked Jim when the trailer was going to be moved. When he heard it would be within the week, he let us go and we breathed a sigh of relief.

We were thankful that one of our neighbors had a brother who did over the road trucking for a living, and offered to pull the trailer up for a better price than what another company had quoted us. I was a bit apprehensive, as this guy was very eccentric and I thought that if I didn't know whose brother he was I would be afraid we would never see our possessions again! He told us to relax, as his main job was to haul million dollar jet engines all over the country. His family had a lake cabin not too far from our location, and wanted an excuse to go up and do some fishing.

Well, we arrived at our pop up camper about 6:00 in the evening, and at approximately 8:00 the next morning our semi trailer arrived. Nothing to worry about, most everything survived without damage. The trailer was a life saver, as it was parked next to our utility pole where the outlet as located, and I could plug in my toaster oven or crock pot and do a better job of cooking than on the camp stove! I could also store some of our food items in the trailer, and it became our "home away from home."

Even though we have moved into our basement, we still use the trailer for storage of anything that will not be damaged by temperature extremes. That is where David and I found his camo hat!

Keeping Close

My Mom called today to visit, and told me that she and Dad had gone to the local mortuary and picked out their caskets and made all the arrangements for their funerals. That certainly is a sobering thought. When we moved out here we added another 4 hours to the already 5 that it took to get to see my folks before we moved from the city. It made me think back a bit to my family's upbringing.

Mom was raised on a dairy farm in northeastern Minnesota. She was the youngest of 6 children, and couldn't wait to get off the farm. My Dad was raised in the city on the Iron Range in MN. They raised us in a little housing subdivision a mile from a town that boasted 862 people. There came a time when Dad heard of some land in the country that was for sale and wanted to build out there, but Mom would have nothing to do with it. She wanted to live in town, and so we did. Farm life had been hard for her.

Through the years our family has been compared to one of Mom's sister's families, regarding the fact that they were much closer as siblings and got together for any and every occasion to celebrate as an extended family. I have thought about that, and really feel the major difference between our family and theirs was the fact that my cousins were raised in the country, and we were raised in the city. My brothers and I were not that close, because in the neighborhood we all had our own friends to play with, and who needed then to play with siblings?

Yesterday I took a break and walked down the 1/4 mile driveway (which needs lots of gravel since it was just a cow path when we moved up here and will turn to mud when the frost leaves the ground!) to get the mail, and passed our two youngest boys building a snow fort by cutting blocks of snow out of some drifts that had become crusty on top. They were having the best time ever! They are each other's best friends. The same is true with the older boys as well, and no one has a problem interacting despite the age differences between the oldest and the youngest. They will be close friends for life.

I also keep remembering a comment that Mom made to me a while ago, when I talked to her on the phone and told her of our experiences with helping friends butcher over 80 chickens (plus bantams and ducks -- all in one day). She said to me, "Your Grandmother would be so proud of you!" I guess at this point in my life, that is the ultimate of compliments!

My Misadventures with Goats

I thought I would continue my story about our goats.

In May 2005, a friend of our son Jonathan decided to give us one of his best milking goats; her name was Shalom. I haven't been around farm animals much, so that was a whole new ballgame for me! Jim and the boys had created a makeshift goat barn ahead of time, which was mostly of tarp and rough cut logs surrounding some live trees just down the hill from our basement, and near the lake. There was enough room in there for the goat to get out of the elements, and a milking stand that Shalom enjoyed sleeping on. I left the milking to the boys. Every morning and evening they would milk her, and she gave quite a bit of milk.

One Sunday Jim and the boys drove over to some friend's for the day. (There are times when I feel very ready for a day of peace and quiet, so I elected to stay home.) We didn't have any fencing yet for Shalom, so the boys staked her in the valley with a collar, chain and thing that screws into the ground. Needless to say, Shalom must of had it figured out how to unscrew the thing, and she would make her way up the hill and stick her head by the door and bleat, asking for company.

At this time we had just acquired an older dog (maybe about 10 years old), who was Pyrenese/Australian Shepherd. His name was Shiloh. We had another female dog named Selah who was 8 months old and 1/2 Border Collie, 1/4 Blue Heeler, 1/4 American Eskimo, but Shiloh immediately took over as top dog. Selah is a very timid dog, but felt it her duty to try to herd Shalom around; however, Shalom didn't take kindly to that notion. Shiloh kind of stayed away from the goat, but kept a wary eye on her.

Jim and the boys were gone quite a while, and I wondered when they would get home to milk the goat. All of a sudden, Shalom's head appeared in the screen door window, and the dogs started barking fiercely. I ran outside and grabbed the goat's chain, and she took me for a run around the house and down the hill, trying to get away from the dogs. She ran right into her shed and up onto the milking stand -- which was an indication to me that she was more than ready to be milked. Because of my lack of interest in milking I didn't know what to do! So, I called my trusty friend Paulette, and she came right over to help out.

Apparently goats get used to someone's way of milking them, and we weren't doing it the way she liked it. The whole time Paulette was trying to milk her she kept lifting her hind leg; I tried to hold it down, but then she would kick out both hind legs! The milk was spilled, and we kind of gave up after Paulette did the best she could. We fed her some hay and left her in the shed for the night. Turns out on the way to our friends' farm our van had lost its transmission, so Jim had to borrow a vehicle to even get home that night.

My niece was getting married Memorial weekend over across Minnesota, so the boys and I took the trip over there. Jim stayed here so he could work and take care of the animals (we also had chickens by this time). The day we were due back Jim had to make a trip to a city about 3 hours away, so there was a space of time when no one was here. Unfortunately, Jim forgot to put Shalom in her shed before leaving, and somehow after he left she had gotten her stake loose again and came up the hill. Shiloh must have decided it was time for him to do something about it, as when the boys and I got back the poor goat was dead.

There was a mystery about Shalom's death. Though there were claw marks on her body, there wasn't much blood. Some people were wondering if Shiloh had actually killed her, or if she had fallen and broken her neck. The boys and I were so upset that we didn't feel like doing an autopsy but just buried her, so we couldn't go back and reconstruct the scene of the crime. We gave Shiloh the benefit of the doubt, and kept him.

More friends heard about what had happened, and offered to loan us one of their goats. They even brought her over to us! Her name was Esther, and she was a smaller goat than Shiloh had been. She didn't give us as much milk as Shalom, but we were thankful to have her.

One Saturday Jim and the boys had gone somewhere and I jumped in the shower. Esther was staked closer to the house, more in a woody area and she was enjoying eating the brush. As soon as I shut the water off I heard Selah barking hysterically. That meant something was going on, so I rushed to get dressed (not easy to throw on clothes when wet!) and ran outside. What I saw was Esther's head pressed tightly against a tree trunk and Shiloh attacking her! The poor thing had tried to get away, and instead had become even more of a captive. All I remember is getting very angry, and grabbing a walking stick that one of the boys had left outside, I started beating the dog. He ran off a few paces, but then tried to go back at the goat. Finally he ran off. I was shaking badly by then, but managed to free the poor goat and ran with her down into the goat shed. It was then I noticed that Esther's back was torn from Shiloh's claws, and she had cuts in her neck from the chain being wound so tightly around her. I knew Esther was badly frightened and hurting, but what I think is so strange about goats is that they have absolutely no facial expressions to reveal their emotions or physical well being.

About this time our son Peter showed up after cutting grass near an old Norwegian cabin we have on our property, and I asked him to help me do something with Esther's wounds. This is when yesterday's blog comes into action, as it explains about using People Paste to take care of her. Esther quit giving milk that day, and it was the last day of Shiloh's life. Esther's wounds healed up with just a bit of scarring. We gave her back to the owners later in the season, a bit worse for wear.

I want to make goat's milk soap, so we'll have to try again with another goat or two. This time I guess I should learn how to milk!

Wonderful Healing Herbs

In October our 6-year-old ended up with a case of ringworm. We have no idea where it came from, or how he got it. The poor little guy had spots all over his chest and back. We treated it first with Tea Tree Oil, and a bit later when it seemed it wasn't helping, we tried Oil of Oregano. I don't know if it was coincidence or if the stuff really helped, but all the spots disappeared. Tonight I was helping our almost 12-year-old son Peter treat his spots of ringworm with Tea Tree Oil, and praying for his healing (can't figure out how he got it when it has been over a month since his brother had had it clear up!), when I thought back to last summer when Peter had an accident.

One Sunday in July we participated in the Bottineau Gospel Music Festival; a lot of our homeschooling friends had come to play in the afternoon of music as well. Many of them stayed overnight at Metigoshe Ministries in the bunk rooms (most have large families) or over at our friend Paulette's health center. Some had originally planned to tent it in our field, but with the amount of rain we had had, they would have been slopping in mud. Quite a few stayed overnight until Monday, and some of us took the children over to a camp to go swimming -- the girls swam where the swimming area is supposed to be, and the boys over in another area. There had been so much rain that spring that most of the landmarks and usual shoreline was under water. As usual, the boys couldn't just go swimming, but had to make a mud slide and took turns sliding down the hill in various contortions.

Blissfully unaware of what was happening, the girls and younger children finished playing in the water, and we hiked over to where the boys were supposed to be swimming. I got there just as my husband Jim was leaning over our son Peter, who was sitting in our station wagon. Apparently under all that water there was broken glass, and after sliding down the hill into the water he began to walk out and felt something sharp. Peter didn't think too much about it, and went up to wait his turn to slide down once again. This time he managed to walk on the same spot, and deeply sliced the underside of his foot, just under the big toe and 2nd toe area. When I got to the car, Jim was packing "People Paste" into the deep wound. Jim is always so cool and calm under emergency situations and I tend to get a lot more excited, so I was very thankful that he was there. We had just begun carrying an herbal first aid kit in the car, so the Paste was available to use.

Peter was very sore, and we had him keep off his foot for a couple of days. Every morning and evening we had him soak out the People Paste in a foot soak of steeped Comfrey leaves (I was very thankful that Paulette had grown Comfrey in her garden), and then we repacked the wound with People Paste. I felt sick when I saw the cut, as I knew if we would have still lived in the city we would have taken him in for stitches, but that wasn't an option up here.

I wish I could remember just how long it took, but for sure within 2 weeks you could hardly detect that there had even been a cut! I was so amazed, and it made me much more determined to learn what I can about the healing properties of herbs and other things found in nature.

For anyone not knowing what "People Paste" is (I didn't until we read the book, "Ten Essential Herbs," by Lalitha Thomas), it is a combination of equal parts of the herbs (in powdered form) of slippery elm, goldenseal root, and myrrh. This is what the author says, "Externally, People Paste is famous for help with wounds, rashes, infections, and burns. In my experience this amazing formula prevents infection while it pulls wounds together and greatly decreases the chance of scarring. Even on larger wounds the use of People Paste has led many to think that the wound had been stitched by an expert." We even used it on our 2nd goat after one of our dogs attacked and wounded her. (Needless to say, that particular dog is no longer living.) With the goat, we sprinkled the People Paste into the wound (the dog's claws had pulled down the skin and exposed the raw flesh) and then wrapped her with an ace bandage so she and the flies would leave the area alone. There was a bit of scarring, but she was fine.

Memories of Metigoshe Ministries

Well, it was a beautiful day out today, so Jim decided we should all take a walk and head to the state land that adjoins our property. It is always hard for me to take time off and do something like that, since there is so much to do around here. We finally got going after lunch. There are plenty of unwelcome snowmobile tracks on our land, but at least they packed down the snow and made it easier for everyone to walk the trails. The air was very still, and so even into the state land we could hear a hymn playing from the carillon located at Metigoshe Ministries, a Lutheran retreat center about 3 miles from our property.

Our homesteading in a pop up camper lasted about 3 weeks. Fall is not the time to do camping this close to the Canadian border, and the night that decided our move to warmer quarters was when the temperature dropped to 27 degrees! Jim's folks hauled their pull behind camper all the way from New Hampshire to be with us, and that was a true blessing. They had enough room to squeeze us all in for a warm place to eat meals and to get out of the rain. Our 4 boys took turns sleeping in their camper each night, and that was a real treat! Grandpa Bartlett felt sorry for me having to use the compost toilet in the woods, so he built me a real outhouse! It was officially finished the day they left, and that was the day we moved into Metigoshe Ministries.

Jim had scoped out the retreat center before we moved up here, and friends of ours had stayed there while visiting us only 5 days after we had arrived here. The center had 2 bedrooms in what they call their Life and Growth building -- part of an old church that had been moved to that location and were willing to rent to us. It was great, as there is a common area just out from the 2 bedrooms where we stayed that had an apartment sized refrigerator and a stove, as well as couches and a foosball table. Upstairs were dorm rooms where people stayed when there were retreats. There was also a nice bathroom with 2 showers on the main floor. It wasn't the most private place in the world as during the day people would be walking through, so we felt we needed to keep things straightened up as much as possible. That could be a stressor for me, as we needed to be out of there for times when the church used that building, and it was my responsibility to keep the bathroom and main area cleaned up.

About the time we moved into MM the contractor began work on the basement and the well driller came to drill our well. The phone company also trenched in our phone cable -- so that day we had 3 things going on at the same time! Jim would usually leave early in the morning for the property, and I would try to get some homeschooling in with the boys -- unless Jim needed the older boys to help him in what he was doing, and they would go along with him. I would try to have meals prepared and bring them over to the property. It was a busy life!

This lifestyle was certainly not what I had planned, but it was definitely ordained of the Lord. Through our 57 days of living at the center (and 118 loads of laundry -- we counted, as they charged me only $1.00 per load to wash/dry my clothes -- what a change from what I was formerly paying!) we developed a wonderful relationship with the staff, and whenever they need extra hands we are called upon to do the work. Our son Jonathan vacuums over there twice a week, which gives him a little income, and whenever they need me I go over to help out in the kitchen, do some cleaning, or work in the office. There are also many other ways that they have blessed us.

The center's carillon arrived the first week we stayed there, and the boys helped to carry all the equipment up to the bell tower where it was installed. On quiet days we can faintly hear hymns playing during the day on the hour from across our lake, and it reminds me of the surprising blessings the Lord gave us through Metigoshe Ministries.

Reminiscing About Water

Well, I have spent most of my "free time" the past 4 days patching jeans! I know there are many people that don't care how many holes there are in their jeans, but I prefer my family to wear hole free clothes. Keeping 4 boys (and a husband) in relatively clean clothes has been quite a chore around here.

I remember back to a few days after we moved up here ... Jim and the boys were somewhere else and I was sitting on a lawn chair in front of our pop up camper, pretreating and sorting the filthy clothes I needed to take to town the next day to the laundromat. Wow, was that expensive! I think I even paid as high as $35/week just to use their washers and dryers! All of a sudden I looked up at the sound of a truck; it was a UPS truck driving up through the field! I couldn't believe he had found us up in the middle of nowhere! What a treat to see something of civilization. He was only delivering a catalog that Jim had ordered, but it gave me someone new to talk to.

The soil up here has a clay base to it, so whenever there is the least amount of moisture we have mud. I should have been used to it as it was the same in Fargo, but it was one of life's little irritations for the person trying to keep the boys clean. Since then I have learned that they don't have to start out every day with perfectly clean clothes, as the only one that cared was me. I'm just thankful that no one sees their underwear, since there are so many minerals and rust in the water that anything white gradually turns an interesting shade of beige. Don't even try to use bleach, as then the whites turn orange! I am thankful to have learned about a laundry product called "Yellow Out," as it really works. I just wait until they are so bad that I can't stand them any more, and then use the product.

While we were living in the pop up camper we hauled water from the state park, since we didn't have a well. Talk about learning to conserve water! We got our money's worth out of that state park pass, since we headed to the park's restroom facilities every 3-4 days for showers. What a change for a former city girl that was used to showering every day! By the end of our travels over there I developed a good case of athlete's foot from using their shower, but thankfully some herbal salve eventually took care of it.

Our well was successfully drilled shortly before moving into our basement; we hit water at approximately 250 feet. That was such an exercise of faith for us, as one well driller we considered wanted us to witch for water. Neither Jim nor I felt good about doing that, so we declined and checked into another driller. Originally Jim had thought the well should be drilled in one location, but the day the drillers arrived with their rig he felt impressed from the Lord to change the location to another one. I think it took at least 3 days for the men to find water. The day the drillers came back to bring the water into the basement (working as the man who dug our basement was doing the trenching) the assistant told me how surprised he and the other driller had been that we had even hit water. For one thing, he showed me that just a few inches from the hole there was a huge rock that would have ruined the point and caused some delays in continuing with the drilling; for another, he said they had tried drilling for someone else just 2 miles away and they came up dry. That was cause for thanks to the Lord, and a celebration!

Getting Started

Hello,

This is my very first posting! I have thought about starting a blog ever since my son Jonathan started his, but never felt I had the time. That is, until I read a quote this afternoon from an author that was asked about his writing preferences. "... I don't believe the muse visits you. I believe that you visit the muse. If you wait for that 'perfect moment' you're not going to be very productive." So, here goes.

My husband Jim and I and our 4 sons moved the end of August 2004 to the Turtle Mountains of North Dakota from the "big city" of Fargo, ND. Having lived in the city for all of my life, living in the country has been a whole new experience for me! The boys immediately took to country living and have loved it ever since. My experience has been more like throwing a cat into water! The purpose of this blog is not to complain about the difficulties I have encountered, but to glorify God and share with others the life that I experience out here. Yes, it is possible for a city girl to become a country girl, but the adjustment takes more time for some than others!

This will be a bit lengthy, but I wanted to share an article that my son asked me to write for his newspaper, the Dakota Times. This will give you an idea of how I was introduced to "home."

We arrived on our property around 6:00 p.m., later than anticipated. I had only seen the land once, to see if I thought this was the property that God had planned for our next residence. My husband Jim and our sons had already spent two weeks here, living in our 1974 model pop up camper. Jim had decided not to close up the camper the last time he was here, thinking everything would be okay and it would look more like someone was living here. Well, during the week they were gone the area received about 7 inches of rain, and there was a terrible wind storm. When we arrived we discovered that one of the cables to hold down one side of the canvas tent on the pop up camper had broken during the storms, allowing rain to enter the camper. One half of the camper was soaked, including the foam cushions that made up two of the beds. We hauled out the mattresses, and tried to clean up as best we could. I am not a camper, as I enjoy the comforts of a nice bed and bathroom facilities, so this was not the way I had anticipated adjusting to a life of camping!

I did not know what to expect in the way of food storage, so I brought only the bare minimum of food. We had been given a refrigerator, but I soon discovered that Jim was utilizing it for the storage of tools. My chest freezer was also sitting outside, with many tools inside. We did have a dorm size refrigerator, and that was large enough to store a half gallon of milk and some eggs, but not a whole lot more. Thankfully we had stopped in the town of Rugby to eat supper before arriving, so I didn't have to tackle using the camp stove that night.

Our bathroom facilities consisted of a compost toilet in the woods, located across the field from where the camper was situated. The toilet was originally close to the camper, but Jim had moved the camper across the field to make sure it was out of the way from construction of the basement. The boys had thatched a roof and one wall for the compost toilet, but there wasn't any other source of privacy!

I struggled to figure out a way to sleep all six of us in the camper with half of the sleeping facilities completely soaked. I managed to place Jim on one of the tables that converted to a bed, and used a mat to cover up the wet plywood and rolled out his sleeping bag. The "dry side" table was brought down and Peter (10) and Jonathan (13) slept on that. The trouble was the camper's manufacturer's idea of a double bed is a lot smaller than mine, and Peter kept falling out of bed! I placed myself, Andrew (8) and David (5) on the dry double bed side, and now know the meaning of being "stacked like cordwood."

Bedtime was interesting, as we took turns telling each other to "don't look" as someone would change into nighttime clothing. Thankfully everyone cooperated and we all were ready for bed. I needed to "use the bathroom" one more time, and as I was more than a bit on the crabby side I decided to find it myself. I took a flashlight and proceeded across the very dark field and into the woods. I found the compost toilet and did what I needed to do, then got turned around and ended up walking deeper into the woods instead of out. All I could think of was how many beady eyes would stare back at me as I shined my flashlight to try to find the way out! Thankfully I calmed down enough to find my way back to the compost toilet and out of the woods, but my heart was certainly pounding.

I don't think anyone slept that night, as a wind came up and blew in a circular motion around the field and through the trees. I remember one set of trees in particular would rub together and make a kind of squeaking sound. This was the first time in my life I had heard the howls of coyotes, and wondered if they could or would chew their way through the camper's canvas and to us. I felt guilty as I had the two younger boys sleeping with me on the side of the bed toward the outside (they were smaller and the ceiling was lower over there), and was afraid the coyotes could get to them before me. It's interesting how many unreasonable thoughts can go through a person's mind when overtired and very much under stress.

I neglected to mention that we did not have electricity, as the electrical pole with an outlet was now across the field, not far from the compost toilet. It was a cloudy night, and as soon as the last flashlight was extinguished there was nothing that could be seen, not even my hand in front of my eyes. It was a very strange feeling to not even be able to see the boys that were sleeping right next to me.

Later that night the rain began to fall. The camper's roof was metal, and what was probably a soft rain sounded more like BB pellets bouncing off the roof. We all lay as still as we could (who could move?!), waiting for daylight to arrive.

Daylight did finally arrive, and the rest is part of the Bartlett family history.