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.

Lots to Do

It's one of those days when I'm trying to decide what to do first: Tomatoes to be canned, already canned ones to box up and find somewhere to put them, herbs on the table ready to be dried, bread to bake ... The weather is windy, cloudy and a bit rainy, and not at all enticing me to go outside. The boys are out doing their chores before breakfast. So much to do before winter sets in. Jim and the boys will help out some friends later today with taking down a shed, so I better get organized and get busy.

Thankfully yesterday was one of those Indian summer days, and I was able to get clothes dried on the clotheslines. However, when I walked over there with a load of towels I couldn't figure out why I was hearing a lot of buzzing going on. I soon discovered that Jim had hung his bee suit on the lines -- and the bees found it. Guess he must have spilled some honey on the suit. I didn't dare get too close, as they looked pretty crabby. We have 2 hives and it's time to extract. Out of necessity Jim created a honey extractor out of a large plastic barrel, but the day wasn't warm enough to keep the honey running and so they will wait. I'm beginning to wonder if we will actually have a warm enough day yet to get the honey to the point where he can extract it. I'm hoping he doesn't decide to bring the frames into the house!

I am very thankful to be done for the time being at the retreat center where I filled in for a week. I think I had a touch of the emotions a mom would have that works out of the home; come to think of it, I probably felt what a dad would also feel when there is the yearning just to be home with his family. It was hard when Jim would stop by with the boys to say hi on their way somewhere -- I just wanted to go with them. I guess I didn't realize how good I had it until I didn't. The extra income will be helpful, but I wondered sometimes if it was worth it. I would come home at night totally exhausted, and had nothing to give the boys either emotionally or physically.

Time to get busy. This Saturday will be our last farmer's market of the season, and the town is having something called Oktoberfest (in Sept. yet!). Jim and the boys were also asked to play their bluegrass for an hour somewhere in the festivities. Jim's folks will be heading our way for a week in early October, and then shortly after that we will head to the "Land of 10,000 Lakes" to visit my folks and attend my niece's wedding. Sure is a lot going on.

Lots of Preparations to Do

This is why (we had a very heavy frost last Sunday night, and most of our tomato and pepper plants died):


Tonight
Partly cloudy. Lows in the lower 40s. Southeast winds 10 to 15 mph.

Wednesday
Partly sunny. Slight chance of showers and isolated thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs in the upper 60s. South winds 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 20 percent.


Wednesday Night
Mostly cloudy. Chance of rain showers in the evening...then chance of rain showers and snow showers after midnight. Windy. Lows around 40. Northwest winds 5 to 10 mph increasing to 20 to 30 mph. Chance of precipitation 30 percent.

Thursday
Mostly cloudy with a 30 percent chance of rain showers. Highs in the upper 40s. Northwest winds 15 to 25 mph increasing to 25 to 35 mph in the afternoon.

Thursday Night
Mostly cloudy with a 20 percent chance of rain showers and snow showers in the evening...then partly cloudy after midnight. Widespread frost after midnight. Lows around 30. Northwest winds 15 to 25 mph decreasing to 5 to 10 mph after midnight.

Friday
Mostly sunny. Highs in the upper 50s.

A Note to Check In

Tonight I heard something that we've all been waiting for ... David came running in and informed me, "Mom, the corn's ready!" Whew, we were afraid it would not be ripe before we had a heavy frost. We've already had a few light frosts, but more in the valley and not up where the gardens are situated. We have so much left to do before winter, and I hope we can get it all done.

Tomorrow is my big day for baking bread, buns, muffins, etc. for the Saturday farmer's market in town. The boys sell garden produce, and I have gotten into the act by selling baked goods. I still can hardly believe that people no longer do their own baking, but are willing to buy it from me. Homemade bread is old hat to our family, but apparently it's quite a novelty for others. I've also been selling strawberry and raspberry jam, wild plum and chokecherry syrup, and may try selling hawthorne jelly. I didn't realize how much pectin is found naturally in hawthorne berries, so it may be a bit thick. We'll have to try out a jar of it in the morning and decide if I should sell it or not.

I also agreed to help out the local retreat center by filling in as cook until they hire a new one. I will start on Sunday, and hope all goes well. Hopefully they will hire someone soon, because I have lots of canning left to do. Our tomatoes are close to being ripe, and I have only canned 7 quarts of them so far.

Jim and the boys have been working on the main floor of our house. They may have the floor between the main and 2nd floor done soon, and we'll see how far we can get before it's too cold to work in there. It sure is nice to at least have storage up there.

I guess David (8) had a little bit of excitement today. When David is around, there's always excitement! Part of his chores is to feed our two pigs. The older boys put together a new pen for them with newly purchased hog panels, and David was trying to get the feed over to the pig's feeding bucket and promptly fell in head first! I am very leery of pigs, since I've heard how mean they can be. The boys quickly informed me that these two pigs love being scratched and are very friendly. Guess I haven't been down there to check them out for a while. All I know is every time I walk to the clotheslines to hang up wet clothes they think my laundry basket is their slop bucket and start squealing!

I would love to show you some photos of all the activity around here, but our digital camera is currently not working.

Tell Mom Happy Anniversary!

It's Mom and Dad's anniversary tomorrow--if you'd like, leave a comment of congratulations.

Jonathan

It Did

We awoke this morning to frost in the valley. Time to get into gear for fall.

Busy Weeks

Harvest season has finally arrived. We've been swamped with green beans for quite a while now, and I'm just not sure what to do with all of them. I think I've canned about 200 quarts of the things! Some of them will go to a friend whose baby is due any day now.

Last Sat. Jim and the boys headed down to town for the farmer's market. The local farmers decided they didn't want to organize, so people just show up whenever and sell whatever they want. I guess some started selling at 7 a.m., but our family didn't set up until 8:30 or so. I am recounting this from what the guys have told me, since I was filling in for someone at the retreat center and worked there instead of going to the market. My contribution to the market was homemade raspberry jam. This was our very first farmer's market, and we were all anxious to see how it would go.

The boys brought their instruments along and played a bit of bluegrass. Our produce consisted of green beans, onions, celery, rhubarb, green peppers, carrots and a small amount of potatoes. I think everyone was pleased with what sold. I even made some money from the raspberry jam. We'll be doing it again this Sat. morning, and I just finished cleaning up the kitchen after cooking up a couple of batches of strawberry jam for the next farmer's market. Hopefully there will also be time to bake some yeast breads and also quick breads to see if they will sell. Maybe we should bring our not so little kittens back to try to give them away again this week. These 4 kittens were born in March, and so far no one has been interested in taking them. Now their mama is due again any day, and we will be taken over by cats! Unfortunately all 4 kittens are females, and with our one male cat we will be overloaded. I guess we need to work harder to find homes for them.

A week ago last Tues. the Turtle Mountain Boys played for a group of bicycle riders that settled into the local state park for the night. Every summer over 400 riders bike various parts of North Dakota, and this year they came through our scenic area. The boys were asked to perform their bluegrass music for an hour as after dinner entertainment. It was great they had the freedom to play both secular as well as gospel music. About a half hour into the concert the sound system died -- there was smoke coming out of the controls! The system belonged to a friend of ours and thankfully he was the one working the controls. I know he felt badly, but there was nothing that could be done. The boys just had to play a bit softer and try to sing a lot louder! This group of people were very attentive, and it was good exposure for the Turtle Mountain Boys. Afterward someone told us there is another group from the area that call themselves the same name, so I guess we'll have to figure out something else for the name of our group.

There's been quite a few people asking if we have chickens to sell. That has gotten Jonathan interested in working with broilers once again, so in the spring we will make another attempt to raise them for selling to area customers. Hopefully our raspberry bushes will do better next year as well.

A Scary Thought

I had to put on a sweater tonight, since it was becoming a bit chilly in here. I checked the local forecast, and this is what I discovered:


Tonight
Mostly clear. Lows in the mid 40s. North winds 5 to 10 mph.
Thursday
Mostly sunny. Highs in the upper 60s. Northwest winds 10 to 15 mph.

I do believe there's a touch of fall in the air.

Canning Season Has Begun!

It may be a late night tonight. This afternoon we discovered our bean patch had really popped with the hot, muggy weather, so we picked a ton of green beans and got started with the processing. By the time I go to bed tonight, we will have processed 42 quarts of beans! We still have canned beans from last year, but if our corn doesn't mature before our first frost we will be eating more beans, and I want to make sure we have enough for ourselves and company before we attempt to sell the rest.

I had my first jar casualty in the last batch ... Most of my jars have been purchased from local elderly ladies, and I must have used a jar that was past its prime. At least the bottom broke cleanly away from the rest of the jar and I didn't have shards of glass floating inside the canner along with beans. It has been so much fun to talk canning with the elderly ladies that answered my ad for jars; they are actually excited that someone would take up doing something like that. Most of them have asked me how large our garden is and what I plan to can. I also advertised for another gauge style pressure canner, and a lady that used to live up here in the hills called to say I could have hers for free. She said it probably needed a new seal and for the gauge to be recalibrated, since she hadn't used it since they moved to town about 10 years ago. This lady is 86 and her husband 92. I'm hoping to go visit her some day, but it may be after I find some breathing room in between canning sessions.

It's hard to believe that before moving to the country I hadn't canned anything but raspberry jam. The Lord has been so gracious in providing wonderful mentors from which to learn the various processes. Last year I asked Jim to help me through my first experience in pressure canning. He was very gracious and read the directions and walked me through the process. We learned together!

How wonderful it has been to just walk into the garden and pick out enough items to have a salad: Lettuce, cucumbers, a few tomatoes (if I get them before the chickens do!), green pepper, broccoli and zucchini. I must admit that during the Y2k time I attempted to grow a few items in the city, and one of those things was strawberries. I planted them in my front flower garden. The strange thing was once they started producing a few berries I decided I didn't want to eat them because they hadn't come from the store! In my mind, store bought items were superior to what I could grow. I think I figured my home grown produce might have bugs in them or something. What a change it has been for me! I am constantly amazed at how a small seed can produce so much. I was thinking about that this afternoon when picking green beans, because I noted how one seed produces a stalk that grows into a bush and ultimately produces a lot more seeds inside the bean pods.

Garden Flowers

Last spring Andrew and Peter went to work and created a picket fence for a backdrop for my rock garden, and it sure is a wonderful addition. All the flowers were grown from seed, which was done at our friend Paulette's place. She has southern facing windows, and plants thrive over there. I didn't grown many petunias this year, but it's probably just as well since it's been so hot and dry. The marigolds are doing just great.

This view shows how the garden is situated in relation to the house. Just around the corner is the door to our walk-in basement. We are still living down there. I am so thankful for the main part of the house that is shelled in but not insulated yet, because last year there was nothing up there and we almost cooked in the basement. All we had between us and the hot sun was plywood and rolled roofing. At least this year the structure above gives us great insulation.

Our Weather for Today

We aren't used to typical southern weather, but I guess we'll experience it whether we want to or not. Yesterday we closed up the house and lived like cave dwellers, and looks like today we'll do more of the same.

From the weather service:

HEAT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM 1 PM CDT /NOON MDT/ THIS AFTERNOON TO 10 PM CDT /9 PM MDT/ THIS EVENING. THE NATL WEATHER SVC IN BISMARCK HAS ISSUED A HEAT ADVISORY, WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 1 PM CDT /NOON MDT/ THIS AFTERNOON TO 10 PM CDT /9 PM MDT/ THIS EVENING. EXPECT THE HEAT INDEX TO RANGE FROM 105 TO AROUND 115 DEGREES. TEMPS IN EXCESS OF 100 DEGREES & HIGH HUMIDITY ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS DANGEROUS HEAT. CONDITIONS WILL IMPROVE THIS EVENING. A HEAT ADVISORY MEANS THAT A PERIOD OF HOT TEMPS IS EXPECTED. THE COMBINATION OF HOT TEMPS & HIGH HUMIDITY WILL COMBINE TO CREATE A SITUATION IN WHICH HEAT ILLNESSES ARE POSSIBLE. DRINK PLENTY OF FLUIDS. STAY IN AN AIR-CONDITIONED ROOM. STAY OUT OF THE SUN & CHECK UP ON RELATIVES AND NEIGHBORS.

Taking a Break

I'm taking a break while waiting for some buns to raise. Won't take long, since it's very hot and humid today. No air conditioning for us, but just whatever breeze happens in through the window.

Jonathan, Peter and Andrew are over at our friend Paulette's, helping Steve with landscaping projects. This has been a tough day for David, since his best buddies aren't here for him to hang around with. Needless to say, Jim and I have been his source of excitement. I can hardly remember when we only had one son, and it must have been a different set of circumstances since David has had companionship his entire life, vs. what Jonathan knew as an only child. I kept David busy with picking raspberries, which is not his favorite job.

We may not be able to sell our raspberries after all, as we discovered they have what we think is gray mold. I checked the internet yesterday and that is what it looks like to me. The information stated the condition is a result of cool, wet conditions as the berries were forming. Well, we've had plenty of cool, cloudy, wet weather lately, so it doesn't surprise me. Our raspberries still taste great to me, and even if we don't sell them, we'll certainly enjoy plenty of homemade raspberry jam.

About a week ago the boys discovered our potato plants were infested with potato bugs! Yuck! Since then we've been trying different natural remedies, in the hopes we'll have a great potato crop in the fall. We've already dug up some very tasty new potatoes, and I have the boys hooked on their wonderful flavor. Last year almost all of our 1200 lbs. of potatoes were afflicted with scab, so this is a new twist. Hopefully the plants are far enough along that they will still produce for us.

We have been harvesting broccoli; I wasn't in favor of planting them since 2 years ago they ended up with lots of worms, but this year was a great year for the plant and we have really (at least I have!) enjoyed fresh broccoli. So far we've picked 4 ripe tomatoes, lots of peas, and the green beans are producing as well. Carrots are getting close to needing some thinning out. I didn't get much lettuce this year; it just didn't want to grow very well. I'm going to try planting a bit more before too long. I did pick 2 small zucchini this morning, and the boys thinned out our crop of mangle beets. The animals sure liked feasting on those things!

It looks like Jim did a good job with his air layering in some of the trees, as the branches turned into saplings are taking root. There are also branches that have been grafted onto crab apple root stock which will become apricot and other types of trees. These are also doing well. We discovered the deer (in spite of having 2 dogs) are eating what they can of our new cherry trees. Jonathan has been tenting near them, in the hopes the deer will stay away. Wish I could show you some photos, but we need to purchase a cleaner for the camera before we can do too much with it. My rose bushes are flowering, and they are beautiful! Maybe some day they can be transplanted to an area closer to the house. I didn't want anything in near proximity until construction is over.

Looks like I better get back to my dough. We have had company the past 2 weekends, and this weekend will make it 3 in a row. Sunday is the Bottineau Gospel Music Festival, and plenty of our friends will be attending. Hopefully our camera will be whipped into shape and I can include photos of the Turtle Mountain Boys and others who will be playing and singing.

Wonderful Story of God's Faithfulness

I just received an email from friends that I knew in my single days, when I was a part of a Christian ministry back in the 70's. It is so special that I thought I would share it with you.
------------------------------------------------

Dear friends,

I am pleased to pass on a very special announcement to all of you.

Helen Arnseth, missionary to Madagascar and long-time staff member of Daystar is engaged to be married on September 8, 2007 to Olav Torvik in San Antonio, Texas!

She was engaged on June 28, 2007 to Olav, whom she has known since September 13, 1948. Olav and his wife Eunice served in Madagascar as missionaries along with Helen and Eunice was Helen's best friend during their years of ministry there.

Eunice passed away earlier this year after a 10 years struggle with several health issues. Olav voiced his loneliness to one of his daughters after Eunice passed away and she suggested that he consider getting married again. His daughter asked him who he would consider if he was to remarry and he said he would consider Helen first of all. So the rest is, as they say, history. Olav called Helen shortly after this conversation with his daughter and they have developed their relationship over the phone. It culminated when Helen went to San Antonio on June 20th to visit him and his children for 10 days.

Helen and Olav both speak Norwegian, French, English and Malagasy and Helen knows all five of his children well because of their time together in Madagascar.

As most of you may know, marriage has been a dream for Helen all her life so she is more than overjoyed at this unexpected turn of events. Olav is 88 years old and Helen is 85.

There will be a reception in the Minneapolis area for the newly weds in October for those who wish to rejoice with them ...

What an amazing and exciting story this has been. Rejoice with us and with Helen as she enters into the fulfillment of a life-long dream.

Blessings to you all

Larry Ballard

Picture Post III

Dad and a kitty...
The barn, which is half painted as you see...
Andrew and David...
Peter with his homemade belt buckle

One of the moveable chicken coops...
the buckwheat
Tobacco, to be made into an herbal pesticide...
Our tallest corn...
Whooops, another Andrew and David picture. I know from experience that if I delete it, blogger will delete the rest of this post's pictures and I'll have to redo so I will leave it up.

Jonathan, for Lynn, until she posts :-)

Picture Post II

Hoop house...
Corn
beans
Strawberries, and the asparagus to the left
Some of the raspberries

Picture Post

Herb/flower garden
carrots, peas, tomatoes, peppers, celery, beans in the background...
Another angle.
Another....
the corn and potatoes.

Sunday Night Post

Well, I've had plenty of blogs written in my mind, but not on a screen. The days have just been flying by. Even our 10-year-old has commented on how fast this year is going. Wow, July 1 already. To me, that means summer is almost half over!

Last weekend I had my first real experience with farming. Jim and the boys left Saturday morning to attend the wedding of friends of our family, which took place on a ranch about 4 hours from here. The Turtle Mountain Boys had been asked to play their bluegrass music for the next day's doings, which was Prairie Days -- a time of fun and fellowship for homeschooling families. Since I am not a member of the group it was my job to stay behind and do the chores. I was looking forward to some peace and quiet, after a very busy week of finally getting around to canning the remaining 60 of the 200 chickens we purchased with our friend Steve from a Hutterite community.

I must say I have a new appreciation for all the chores the boys do every morning with the animals. I spent mornings having Peter coach me in the fine art of milking goats. We have 2 we are currently milking in the mornings, so they are separated overnight from their kids. It looked so easy when Peter milked, but I found myself a little nervous at giving it a try. I think I have been a bit scared of the goats, but the more I worked with them the more relaxed I felt. They were no longer foreign objects to me! Even though goats aren't as large as a cow they still can pack a punch if they decide to kick or butt. We have them climb onto a milking stand, and then I would kneel on the floor and milk. There is no telling what a person would kneel on in the shed, so I furnished myself with a piece of cardboard for the job. I wasn't too excited about having my head at the level of the goats' hooves, but everything went okay. As long as the goats had their grain they were happy.

A couple of hours after everyone left I decided I'd better go check on the animals. We stake out the 2 milking does and the rest of the goats are in portable pens. As I rounded the shed I came face to face with John, our billy goat. He has always looked nasty to me, since he has the traditional beard and horns. The name he was given before we bought him was "Big Bad John," and he certainly looked the part! John was in a portable pen all his own, which was constructed of cattle panels. Before the boys left they moved his pen to a new location, but it was on the slant of a hill. I don't know how he got out of there with the pen still standing, but he did. I knew if I got him back in there he would just get out the way he did the first time, so I decided I'd better move it to a level area. The only way to do that with just me (takes 2 normally to move the pens around) was to take the thing apart and drag it flat along the ground. It turned out not to be as hard as I thought it would be, and got it set up next to our oldest goat, Mustard Seed. She has had some skin problems and lost most of her hair, so they have kept her separate from the rest of the herd until she is healed up. (Thankfully, a product from Crystal Creek has helped her to start growing her hair back.) I didn't know how to get John back into his pen's new location, but shaking a bucket with grain helped immensely. I gave him grain here and there to be sure he would follow me, and he did. He wasn't nasty at all! Whew!

A couple more hours later I went back down to check on the pig's water, and found one of the does wandering around pulling her stake behind her, so I had to get that back into place. The pigs were very glad to see me, since it was a hot day and they needed more water. Anyway, the animals kept me very busy. Later in the afternoon I checked the weather forecast and found the real possibility of a thunderstorm, so I had to play musical goats to get everyone shelter in the event it did rain. I think it took me close to an hour to get everyone settled down for the night. Thankfully there were no storms.

Got up and going right on schedule Sunday morning, but when I got to the goat shed I discovered one of the kids had somehow gotten out of his pen between the hours of bedtime and morning chores. He was laying next to the fence where his mother was held, and mama was pretty irate that she was so close, yet so far away. She did not want to cooperate with milking, so I didn't do too well with her. I think I managed to get about half of what Peter normally gets, and thankfully the kids would probably take the rest. I think it took me 3 hours to get all the chores done! My reward was to pick strawberries from our patch for breakfast.

I was very glad to have Jim and the boys return about 10:00 that night. There were storm warnings all around, and I needed help getting the kids separated from their moms. The trick of feeding a bit of grain to Big Bad John kind of backfired on me, since the 3 kids needed to go in with him for the night and he kept jumping up on the fence any time I tried to unlatch the clamps to get the kids in. It was either drop the kid I was carrying to get John off the fence (I did that the first time and the kid ran back to his mom!), or unintentionally let John out as I tried to get the kid in! I gave up and waited for reinforcements. We did have a storm that night, and received 3-1/2 inches of rain in 45 minutes. I was sure glad everyone was home and in their beds. What I do feel very badly about is that night friends of ours lost crops to hail in 7 of the 12 quarters of land they planted. Our hearts go out to them, and we are asking the Lord to give them wisdom in what their next step is going to be.

Future of Food DVD

Last week our family was able to view the DVD, "Future of Food," which we borrowed from Herrick Kimball (The Deliberate Agrarian). Some of our family had already seen part of this movie, but it was a first time for me.

What an eye opener. I had heard bits and pieces of the information that was presented before, but seeing it all for myself was important. This movie reveals how big agricultural corporations such as Monsanto have corrupted our food, through developing genetically modified corn, soybeans, etc., and then patenting the seed. I get angry all over again as I remember what I saw on the movie.

What brought it even closer to home for us was that a man named Rodney Nelson from Amenia, ND was featured on the film. His family was prosecuted by Monsanto. The Nelsons chose not to use genetically modified seed from Monsanto, but somehow some of that seed found its way into at least one of his fields. The seed was found growing in an area close to a roadway, and a neighbor told Nelsons some of his seed may have spilled from his truck as it was going by and could have contaminated the field. Apparently people from Monsanto went into the Nelson's field without their permission or knowledge and tested his crops. Unfortunately there is not "and they lived happily ever after" ending to that story. Please get a copy of the DVD and watch it for yourself.

The evening after we watched "The Future of Food" we heard an airplane overhead. Of course the boys had to run out and see what it was doing. Well, it was an aerial spray plane, and spraying the fields across the lake from us, to the southwest. Makes me wonder how much of that spray ended up in the lake, and how much drifted over to our fields. Today I again heard the plane, and watched it spraying a field to the northeast of our property.

We have seen billboards within the state sponsored by some aerial spray association, with the slogan, "AERIAL APPLICATORS: HELPING PROVIDE SAFE FOOD FOR AMERICA'S TABLES." To that I say: HOGWASH!!

Checking In Again

It's hard to believe that at 11:00 p.m. we are still experiencing twilight outside. I remember making a trip to Fargo (5 hours away) one time with a friend, and at 1:00 a.m. it was twilight just like this. Wonder if it goes on all night, and then dawn begins ... Guess I'm too old to want to check it out!

I had our very first strawberry of the season this afternoon, and it sure was good! That was sort of a fluke, because there are plenty of blossoms on the plants but no other pieces of fruit. I can't wait for the strawberries and raspberries to be ready for harvesting.

We were thrilled to have 2-1/2 inches of rain yesterday. It's amazing how quickly things green up after a bout of moisture. Our friend Steve just got back from his trip out west and toured the gardens with the boys and I this morning; he was just as excited as we are to see how well the gardens and new trees are doing.

Jim and Jonathan got back on Monday after a 6 day trip to Des Moines, IA for the Iowa home educator's conference. Jim had been asked to give 2 workshops concerning the Biblical Concourse , and joining him were Dan Smithwick of the Nehemiah Institute and John Mesko of Lighthouse Farm. Dan and John are mentors through the Concourse to encourage and help students in the areas of Biblical worldview topics and also agriculture. Jim had Zach Engelhart discuss how he is studying constitutional law by doing college at home. In one of the workshops Joe Bailey from Iowa explained how he and his parents compared the different options for becoming a mechanical engineer, and how they ultimately chose home college as the best route for him to obtain his goals. I was able to listen to the CD's of the workshops yesterday as I was working about the kitchen.

I thought the 6 days Jim and Jonathan were going to be gone would be slow moving for the rest of us, but the days just flew by. The only time we were off our property was on Sunday, when we biked about 5 miles to the local drive-in for ice cream cones. I must admit my biking skills need to be worked on a bit, since I was always bringing up the rear of the pack. Andrew wasn't feeling well for a few days and I attributed it to being tired and missing Dad, but then about midnight Sunday night David came down with flu symptoms, so we must have picked up a bug somewhere. I was glad it rained off and on during those days so we could read a book together. We read book 5 of the "Little Britches" series by Ralph Moody, called "Fields of Home." These books have some language that I don't care for, but what's nice about reading them out loud is I can skip those sections. The boys and I also did weeding in the gardens, and worked on various other projects. It was very nice to have Jim and Jonathan arrive home on Monday afternoon.

Learning My Lessons

Last week was kind of a blur. I was asked to fill in at a local Bible camp, cooking for 50 people that gathered to build a gazebo in memory of a high school girl who died in March during a car accident. It was a good experience for me in that nothing terrible happened and I managed to get every meal on the table in time, but I learned some good lessons along the way.



One thing I learned was that I am a homekeeper at heart. It was hard for me to leave my family and go off to work -- even if it was only for 3 days. It is so much better to be home working with the family than off working alone.

Rain and Cold

We are so thankful for the rain that came this week ... Many of the storm clouds passed us by, but we did manage to squeak out a good start for precipitation. I didn't even complain (much) when the mud started to find its way into the house.

Today there was a break in the weather, and we all trooped out to the raspberry field to start weeding. The farthest end of the field seems to be the toughest to get to when it comes to weeding, so we started over there. I think it took me 2-1/2 hours just to weed and clean out one row of raspberry bushes! The boys assured me all of the rows aren't that bad. We uprooted quite a bit of stinging nettle, and didn't even think about saving it to eat. I guess I'm not yet a die hard homesteader.

It was great for all of us to be out there in the garden. All 4 of the boys have been sick this week with varying degrees of flu/cold symptoms. Thankfully, Jim and I have been spared. The longer we worked out there the colder it became, and soon it felt more like fall than spring. Now I find out the weather forecasters are predicting snow flurries for after midnight! I am very thankful we were too busy to plant all of our vegetables when the weather was balmy, or we would really be in trouble now.

Jim purchased another queen bee and workers, and they arrived yesterday. Unfortunately, the cold weather last night did them in. I just shake my head sometimes at how much we have to learn about farming, gardening, bees, animals, building, canning, etc., etc. I keep reminding myself how each incident is a learning experience, and some day we will look back and marvel at how much we have gained in knowledge.

Another Catching Up Post

I know I'm supposed to be writing about our first experiences with homesteading, but so much is going on in the present that I need to write those things down as well. I must admit to incorrectly thinking before we moved that country life was going to be a slower pace of living, but I was very wrong. I feel like sometimes I can hardly catch my breath!

Our friend Steve had organized a Country Living Skills Workshop for Sunday, May 13. This time the topic was planting, pruning, and general care of trees and bushes. The whole event was taped, so if you are interested, I'm sure Steve could eventually get you a copy. Our family has obtained a state nursery license, and Steve traveled to Minneapolis to pick up this year's trees, bushes and flowers that had been ordered. Friends had purchased some of the trees and planned to come up to attend the workshop, and decided to come a day early so we could have some great fellowship. Seven families and some singles got together for a shared meal and Bible study.

On Sunday our friends the Dagleys came over before lunch to help transplant some strawberry and raspberry plants. Many hands definitely make the work load lighter! The guys also worked on planting trees and bushes that hadn't sold, but would be used later on to create more trees and bushes. I don't remember all the things that are now in a part of our gardens, but they include roses, lilacs, hazelnut bushes, juneberry bushes, and different varieties of apple trees. Steve did a good job of showing us the proper way of planting trees, and Jim did a section on air layering. This part of the workshop was done down by our old Norwegian cabin; there is a crab apple tree over there that was planted by the people who once lived in the cabin. The trouble was the tree was surrounded by overgrown caragana bushes, so we had to climb through them in order to see what Jim was going to do with air layering. Needless to say, I lost count at how many wood ticks I removed from my clothes and skin! They seem to be the worst they have been since moving up here. (For some reason, even after removing the tick our family has been experiencing the bite area swelling and becoming very itchy, and it takes a few days for it to go back to normal. Our youngest looks like his legs are covered with mosquito bites, when in reality it is from the ticks.)

We had one more incident that day which made it very memorable. Our boys thought it would be a good time to play something called "Prison Ball," so one of our boys decided the hose that was wrapped around the pump's tank in the bathroom area would make a good boundary line. The hose was a bit tangled and he was in a hurry, so he gave the hose a jerk. Unfortunately, the hose was attached to a fitting and when it was pulled it snapped off the pump's pressure switch! I was in the house at the time in the kitchen area, and heard a very large WHOOSH! sound, so I ran back and found my son trying to hold back a geyser of water! The water was shooting upward, soaking everything in the bathroom area. If it weren't for the quilts that make up the walls, the entire basement and its contents would have been soaked as well. I didn't know how to shut the thing off, so I ran out to get Jim, and he managed to pull the breaker switch. What a mess! Since it was a Sunday afternoon we couldn't get a new pressure switch, so we were without water until later Monday morning. I certainly had a mound of dishes to do after the water came back on!

I spent last Tuesday and Wednesday helping to open up Metigoshe Ministries' summer camp. Another lady and I spent our time cleaning up the kitchen and walk-in cooler areas. Their dishwasher was having problems, so after a morning of "wash, rinse, sanitize," we hauled the remaining dishes to their ministry center and finished the job in the big dishwasher. Hopefully by now they have the problem solved.

On Thursday morning we had an early call from the post office, asking us to come down and pick up our chicks. Along with the 20 or so hatched from our own eggs, we added another 65 to the bunch. No Cornish Cross this year, but the boys chose more of the traditional varieties of chicken to raise. So far so good, with only 2 deaths.

I had an enjoyable time on Friday, taking Andrew downtown with me to pick up groceries and other necessities. I hadn't been to town for ages, and it felt good to get away for a couple of hours. One of our stops was the local hardware store to buy a 3/4 inch dowel. Well, we found everything but 3/4 inch dowels! The store is located in a very old building, and the basement is full of lots of interesting things for a young boy to check out. We must have been down there for 45 minutes, and not once did a clerk come down to see what we were doing. Didn't buy anything, but had fun looking.

We had more company on Saturday, when the Hendersons brought back our trailer after using it to haul their new apple trees home. We had a very cold weekend with not much rain (not complaining, though we really need rain). There sure was a lot of thunder, but not much rain. Someone told us it is good to have thunder and lightning in the spring since it promotes growth, and I hope that makes up for the small amount of rain we received. The men and boys still managed to get in some interesting target practice -- dangling eggs by a string and attempting to shoot them. What a way to check for rotten eggs! Hendersons have 5 boys with a baby on the way, and we have 4 boys, so there was a lot of camouflage running around the farmstead.

Today was a quiet day, so there was time to finally get a post done.

Read This Before Deciding to Homestead

We had one of those interesting days today ... I am pulling wood ticks from my clothes as I write, so you know it's been "one of those days."

The day started out fairly normal for everyone. We had a call from town to let us know the trees we ordered were in, so Jim and Peter headed to town to pick up our trees and bushes that we purchased for a dollar each. Jonathan planted onions, garlic and carrots and vacuumed at the ministry center. I spent my time doing washing clothes, hanging them on the clotheslines and making meals. The interesting part of the day began close to suppertime.

A family stopped by to pick up our only male puppy (still looking for homes for 3 more), and I had just gotten back into the house when we heard a big POP! I thought I smelled something weird, so immediately thought about a problem with electricity and the incubator. Sure enough it was the incubator -- but AN EGG HAD EXPLODED!! I haven't smelled that since chemistry class in high school! We got that thing cleaned out, aired out the house, and proceeded with supper.

All of a sudden our chicken killing dog named Selah started barking like crazy, so we knew something was afoot. Sure enough, one of the piglets Jim and the boys brought home last night had gotten out. I didn't think that was worthy of going down to chase, so I went out to get my towels off the line. Our oldest cat ambled over, rubbed on my laundry basket full of clean linens -- and sprayed it! Now that made me mad, and he knew it! He may not be around much longer.

It was quite interesting to watch the pig chase. After a couple of misses, Jim was able to dive for her and grabbed her before she got away again. Then we realized the other piglet had disappeared while we were concentrating on the other one! Since no one had watched her escape, we didn't know where to look. Jim unleashed our dog Selah, and she went to work. Turns out the 2nd piglet hadn't gone too far, and the boys were able to grab that one as well. They sure can squeal! Instead of helping to catch the 2nd piglet, I grabbed the chicken killer dog and had her collar in one hand while holding 2 fresh chicken eggs in the other and headed for the house. Needless to say, by the time we got everyone settled down we were all covered in wood ticks. Thankfully the mosquitoes haven't been out in full force as of yet.

Life can get rather exciting on the farm.

New Blogger

Our son Andrew has just begun a new blog. You can find it here.

Our Newest Addition

Please check out our son Peter's blog to see photos of some of our animals.

PS

Our newest goat kid died about midnight last night. We tried feeding her colostrum with an eyedropper and she was swallowing it, but I think there must have been something wrong with her at birth. She was much smaller than the other kid. Now we have to figure out what to do with our newest kids, since 2 of the 3 born to 2 does were bucks.

Must Be Farm Life

We did something tonight that I didn't think I would ever do: Brought a newborn goat kid into the house. She was born earlier this evening, and was so weak that the mom just left it and concentrated on the healthy one. We waited a bit to see if she would go back and clean up the weak one, but finally we brought the kid into the house to dry it off and see what we could do. The boys have attempted to milk the mom for colostrum and then are feeding it to the kid with an eyedropper. So far she is still alive, but I wonder what will happen during the night. The plan is to take turns so that every hour someone will milk the mom for some colostrum and feed it to the kid.

We also have a bird hatchery in here ... Every time the boys found an egg they would bring it into the house and place it in the incubator, so these eggs are all hatching at different times. So far we have 3 fully fluffed out chicks, and another one is soon to emerge from another egg. There are quite a few left in there, and the incubator is starting to emit a nasty odor. I am wondering if there is a rotten one, but the boys tried candling a couple of nights ago and thought they had removed all the bad ones.

The puppies will be 6 weeks old on Friday, and today Peter went to town with Jim with updated posters for town. The kittens will be 5 weeks on Friday as well, and we may have one spoken for already.

Somehow we lost a female turkey today. The boys were going to figure out a pen for the 2 males and 3 females, but couldn't find one female. We are hoping she is nesting somewhere and did not meet the same fate as one other one we had. This spring we found a pile of feathers in the woods, so something must have gotten her.

I guess this is what you call farm life!

Enjoying Spring

I've been waiting for a rainy day to get some things done around here, and unfortunately we haven't had any wet weather since the snow melted. We awoke this morning to a light drizzle, and it was such a blessing. We sure could use more, since an hour after the rain stopped this morning it was dry once again.

A couple of weeks ago we had a few marathon canning days. Our friend Steve picked up 200 former laying hens from a Hutterite community a few hours from here. At first we were going to butcher them ourselves (or should I say the boys were going to butcher!), but for 50 cents per chicken we had them do the butchering before Steve picked them up. What a job! I don't remember how many quarts and pints we canned, but 2 pressure canners were going constantly for 3 days. We still have 50 chickens left, and I can't say that I'm excited to finish the job. I am thankful for all that ready to eat chicken meat, though.

The boys and I spent 3 days last week in our former city, visiting friends and family. Our reason to go was to help our former neighbor celebrate her 100th birthday. This lady is absolutely amazing. She has the best attitude about life, stating that she has had plenty of reasons to worry, but chose to give that up years ago. Mrs. Nelson has a wonderful sense of humor, and her memory is probably better than mine. It was so much fun to spend the afternoon with her, and I hope some day we can do it again. My parents drove 5 hours to spend time with us as well, and it was so special to have them with us for a day and a half. We also had time to do a bit of shopping and visit with other friends.

As I write this, I am listening to the chirping of a chick. One of our Buff Orpingtons decided to be a broody hen, but after a while thought another spot in the shed looked like a better place to sit on eggs. So, the boys grabbed the vacated eggs and placed them in the incubator in the house. So far 3 chicks have hatched. Jim and the boys marked the eggs and have been turning them, but so far that is all that has hatched. We also have 4 kittens in the house. They will be 5 weeks on Friday, so it won't be long before they will be gone.

The puppies are getting very cute and are full of personality. We have had 2 spoken for, and now need to find homes for the last 3. I am getting a bit anxious about finding them homes, since I don't want to end up with 5 dogs running around our farmstead! We have kept them in our hoop house at night, sleeping in a big metal watering trough, but it's just a matter of time now before they figure out how to jump out. It's so much fun to walk outside and have them notice me, and then they come running with their tails wiggling.

The goat kids are doing well, too. We have another doe that should be kidding soon, and I hope she does all right. Then I need to learn how to milk goats! My sons are experts, and they can teach me.

We have another bumper crop -- and that is wood ticks. They are everywhere! I don't go into the woods, but I still end up with them on me. I suppose the boys bring them in and the dogs do, too, but I also get them just from walking over to the clotheslines to hang clothes. I suppose it will be this way until the weather becomes hot and they disappear for another year. Any odd feeling sends me to check to see if I have another one on me.

Jim and the boys have started to raise supports in the main floor of our house. Maybe by fall we can be up there, but we may not have windows installed for the winter. I can't wait to spread out a bit! Currently we have way too much stuff in this basement, and it's frustrating to try to keep it clean. Jim elected to shell in the structure last fall and then build the floor between the 1st and 2nd floors; the boys have already decided that as soon as the floor is built they will sleep up there. I hope they wait until the soffits are enclosed, as mosquitoes would be a problem.

So far the boys have planted potatoes -- more than last year (and we harvested about 1200 pounds of potatoes)! They have also planted some peas and carrots, and cucumbers were planted in our hoop house. We don't have a way to keep heat in the hoop house at night, so we have chosen not to plant anything else in there yet. Most people don't even think of planting in this area until Memorial Day weekend, and tonight the temperature could go into the lower 30's. Last year we planted tomato plants in there, and that same night they froze. I don't want to do that again. Jim has been working on setting up a pump system to bring water up from the lake. Our raspberry plants -- all 600 of them -- look like they are in great shape, and maybe we'll have enough to sell to others later in the season.

That's about it for now.

Review: A Journey Home

Our family borrowed a DVD from fellow blogger Herrick Kimball entitled, "A Journey Home," produced by Franklin Springs Media. This DVD tells the story of the Tommy and Sherri Waller family. Tommy felt prompted by the Lord to give up his corporate job and move to rural Tennessee with his wife and 11 children, choosing instead to live a more simple life. This DVD is a documentary chronicling 18 months of their lives, showing how they began organic gardening and then selling the produce at a local farmer's market. This was how they made their living. Their oldest child was 18; their youngest looked like a newborn. If you are interested in what Herrick had to say about the story, please go to his blog and check out his entry from Thursday, April 5, 2007.

There was a lot going on in my mind as I watched the movie ... For one thing, I wondered if the family ever had a down day, where things just didn't go right. All that was shown were positive things, and I guess I wondered if they, like us, had at times made bad choices, had crops fail, sickness in the family, etc. Did they ever run out of money? I am a practical person, wanting to know the nuts and bolts of things, and I wish they could have shown a bit of how they worked things out so they could do all the things they did. How did they manage to buy what they needed to set up their farming activities?

Jim left his teaching position in Dec. 2003, and has been home with us ever since. We too felt the Lord calling us to a move from city living to country living, and for a simpler way of life. Even though we knew the Lord was in it -- it was hard! Many times our way of making money was by saving money here and there, and have done without many things. How did they do that with 11 children? It is an amazing story.

I must admit I was a bit concerned that some families watching this movie would decide to jump in without really counting the cost. The Waller family seemed so perfect -- and maybe they are. However, the Wallers had laid a foundation in the Lord to get them to where they were, and because of that were able to do what they were doing. Their house was in order, the children well trained, and Tommy Waller had a clear vision for what he was going to do. All of this caused them to be ready when they felt led by God to minister in Israel.

If you are interested in checking out the Waller family, you can go to their website called Ha Yovel .

Part VIII : Getting Ready to Move In

Our cement contractor thought the boys needed a dog, so he offered us one of his puppies. At the time we were still living at the the retreat center and told him if he could hang onto the dog for a while we would take one as soon as we moved into our basement. The puppy was 1/2 Border Collie, 1/4 Blue Heeler, and 1/4 American Eskimo. Jonathan and Peter went to work on building a dog house. Their doghouse was big enough to fit all 4 boys, not to mention a puppy! Orange clothing was worn since it was in the middle of hunting season. Our land had been open for hunting up until we purchased it, so we didn't know if people would still try to hunt here.

Time to bring in the firewood for the woodstove! Andrew was a very diligent worker.

The walls were yet to be insulated, so we needed a good fire to keep us warm while working.

One day the boys and I stopped at our neighbor's for a visit. Mr. Roland happened to notice a bit later there were 3 deer in his yard down by the barn. To our amazement, he took out his gun, and shot. The deer took off running, so Mr. Roland and the boys hopped into his pickup truck to pursue. A few minutes later one of the boys came back for a chain, and soon the deer was hooked up to the tractor and hoisted into the air.

Mr. Roland then taught Jonathan how to gut and skin a deer. I was shown how to find the various cuts of meat, and was given half the deer to take home.

Puppy Sitting

Our dog's puppies were born three weeks ago today. We thought she was going to be a very good mom, as she seemed even a bit overly anxious for her 5 babies. Well, that anxiousness turned into disinterest, and she started refusing to feed them. We have resorted to forcing the issue.

We started tying Selah outside near the doghouse so she doesn't have to listen to the puppies' antics all day long. (She is our chicken killer, and cannot be loose unless the chickens and turkeys are safely in for the night. Now that we have domestic ducks and geese that come up from the lake and sleep by our chicken tractors, she will never be free to roam unless someone is with her.) I wait until the puppies wake up and yelp for food (usually every 4 to 4-1/2 hours) and then bring her in and make her to go into the box and lay down. By then the puppies are frantic and probably latch on a bit too zealously. We have to stay right by the box to make Selah stay in there and nurse. As soon as they are done we let her out and she stays outside by her doghouse.

This is not the way I imagined having puppies would be. I feel like I'm back to having babies of my own, since I have resorted to staying up until the puppies' last feeding, bring Selah in to nurse, and then take her back outside. That has been the only way we have gotten a decent night's sleep! They are usually ready to eat again by 6:00 the next morning.

I hope we will find good homes for the puppies. We don't plan on keeping any of them (no matter how cute they are), since we have discovered having 2 dogs is one too many. The boys and I feel we need to do something with Selah, because she has been a problem dog from the time we brought her home. I appreciated John Mesko's blog entry about treating animals as animals and not like humans. John was referring to animals raised for butchering, but there comes a time when pets also need to be placed into perspective. I hope we can find a good home for her.

More New Additions

Just to let you cat lovers and non-cat lovers know, we expanded our cat population by 4. Our cat named Funny Face gave birth to 4 little black and white kittens. Funny Face and I were both surprised when her water broke and left puddles all over. The boys were outside, so I elected not to tell them until she started delivering her babies. We had a box set up in the bathroom area, but she just didn't want to stay in there. Thankfully, when the actual delivery time came she crawled in there by herself and took care of everything. This is her 2nd litter of kittens, so this time around she isn't quite as protective of them.

Our basement population currently consists of 6 humans, a dog and her 5 puppies, and now a cat and her 4 kittens! Good thing we have a concrete floor!

Movie part 2

This is part 2. The first part is below.

Try Again

See if this movie works now...

Part VII: Inspection Time

Grandma and Grandpa Wagman drove all the way from northern Minnesota for a visit in October 2004. This was their first visit, so they were given the grand tour. They probably saw more than they wanted to see! Jim always loved to show people around our homestead. The basement was finally enclosed, and the door was set in place.

Notice our front stoop! It's amazing what one can do with wooden pallets. Notice also the mud ... It clung to everything, and the inside concrete floor was a mess. Grandma and Grandpa just happened to visit after a period of rain, and the mud was very slippery. The driveway (which was just a cattle path) was so slick that only a 4 wheel drive vehicle could make it in.

All it took was a walk to cause a person to grow about 3 inches from the mud clinging to their shoes. It was terrible! Of course, it was just one more fun thing for the boys.

This photo is the back of Metigoshe Ministries, where we were living at the time. While my parents were visiting, Jim headed to Minot (about 1-1/2 hours from here) to buy supplies and parts at Menard's. He also came back with my new kitchen stove firmly attached to the roof of the car. It's amazing what you can do without a truck or trailer!

Grandpa helped with the electrical work needed to install our water heater. We were preparing for an electrician to finish with the hook up of various things so the state building inspector could make his inspection. Grandpa had some very special apprentices.

The electrician had quite an audience!

Jim would set up his laptop and work in the corner of the basement. As you can see, things were moved into the basement, but nothing was set up. I would stay at the retreat center and make meals, then bring them over to feed the family. Our days were full.

Jim felt we couldn't afford to install a septic system, so our bucket with the toilet seat came out of the woods and into the basement -- behind the refrigerator.

We did not have a very good experience with the state building inspector. He wasn't happy that we were going to spend the winter in our basement, and seemed to get upset at any little thing that wasn't what the code required: No outside light, not enough outlets, etc. He was also not happy that Jim and the boys did most of the wiring themselves. Finally after being overly critical, he calmed down and sat at the table and discussed various items with Jim. By the time he left we discovered that he could actually be quite decent. I guess it was a lesson to the boys that "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." (Proverbs 15:1)

Doing Chores

Jim and the boys left this morning to head to some friends' farm about 3-1/2 hours from here. They will be back tomorrow, and their main reason for going was to pick up more goats. I guess they will bring back 2 pregnant does and a buck. We lost our buck in January, and also lost a doe. I sure hope our remaining adult doe and 2 kids will remain healthy and not pass anything to the new goats.

Since I am the only one home, I am holding down the fort with taking care of the puppies (actually I am keeping Selah the mom from getting into trouble while in the house) and doing the chores. This has been good for me, since I am usually doing something else while the boys are out taking care of the animals. It felt great to get out early this morning to receive directions from our very capable sons, and then in the afternoon to check on the egg laying business.

I found 6 eggs in and under the nesting boxes. However, our rooster has decided to become ornery and seems bent on attacking me! The other day I collected eggs and was surprised when he jumped on my leg. This time it was out and out warfare on both of our parts. I don't know what one is supposed to do with an attacking rooster, but I hit him with a branch until he quit. I guess this means we've become enemies, since he did it again tonight when I was checking everything in the shed and putting the turkeys away for the night. He leaves the cats and goats alone, but apparently I am a threat to him. Our poor hens are also taking a beating, since at least 3 of them have feathers on their backs pulled out. I would gladly push for butchering him, but he is the only rooster we have and are hoping they will produce chicks later in the spring. I guess doing chores tomorrow will be another "wonderful" experience.

Even though it was rather cool and windy today, it was nice to be outside instead of working on things in the house. Our German Shepherd named Samson walked me down the 1/4 mile of very muddy driveway and begged me to throw rocks so he could go retrieve them. Whenever our son Peter is gone he becomes my buddy and does everything he can to get me to play with him. I love dogs, so it doesn't take much!We saw lots and lots of geese heading back into Canada, and noted that it won't be long before the ice is off the lake.

Our dog Selah is the one that just had 5 puppies. She reminds me so much of what I was like as a first time mom: very uptight and nervous. I never knew puppies this young could make so much noise ... All she has to do is step out of her whelping box and they immediately start whining and yelping for her. She then is so torn about going outside or even to get a drink of water. I hope she learns to relax soon, or she will wear herself out. That crazy dog still has her intense desire to go for our chickens and turkeys, so I have to stand outside any time she goes out and make sure she leaves them alone. Maybe she could take that rooster and knock him down a few pegs! Just kidding, I think we still need him.

I am looking forward to sunny, warm days, and planting in the garden. I was offered a parttime job recently, and it was very tempting to take it. However, it is my desire to work with our family here on our homestead instead of spending hours away from everyone. There are a lot of things afoot on our farm, and I want to be a part of it. Our older boys are talking about using a garden plot to grow vegetables for sale. That will take up quite a bit of their time, so I will be needed to work in our areas of the garden. I can't imagine what it will be like to be picking raspberries from 600 plants! At the rate the boys eat homemade raspberry jam, we'll need every berry we produce! I have a feeling, though, there will be plenty left over for others.

Movie by Andrew

We are trying to figure out why Andrew's movie isn't working .. Stay tuned, and we'll have it fixed!

Exciting News!

Our dog Selah delivered 5 healthy, chubby black puppies. They are so cute! Selah is such a good mother. We knew last night she was beginning the early stages of labor, as she couldn't settle down and was doing a lot of panting.

Our son Jonathan built Selah a whelping box; we had trouble getting her to stay in there, but when the time came she headed straight for the box to deliver her puppies. It didn't take very long before all 5 were delivered.

I wish I could show you some photos, but Selah is mostly black and so are the puppies so it doesn't make for clear, sharp pictures. It's been a bit tough to get anything done around here, since I love puppies almost as much as I love babies!

If anyone is looking for an interesting breed of dog -- look no farther. These puppies are 1/2 German Shepherd, 1/4 Border Collie, 1/8 Blue Heeler, and 1/8 American Eskimo.

First Day of Spring!

The boys reminded me that today was the first day of spring, but around here it's mud season. I am planning to continue writing about our adventures with moving up here and starting our homestead, and the next installment is partially about the mud. More about that later.

I think the last time I wrote I mentioned that one of our goats was very sick. Well, she died the next day. That was over 2 weeks ago, and we have tried our best to do what we could with natural remedies to keep our remaining adult doe and 2 kids healthy. This morning the doe was experiencing diarrhea, and I sure hope the family we bought the goats from is correct in saying it could be a result of detoxifying. We'll just have to wait and see.

Our dog Selah is due to give birth soon. This is a new thing to our family, and I hope everyone is around to watch the birth. Selah is kind of a high strung dog, and I hope she does okay with everything. I have been worrying about her, as I see how tough it is for her to get around these days. Guess I remember all too well how it felt the last week of my pregnancies!

We spent an afternoon last week planting seeds at friend's house. She has a wonderful low cement wall solar collector which is perfect for the seed trays. The house faces south, and plants grow like crazy over there. I look forward to the day we can start seeds in our own home. Jim was checking various catalogs for the plastic we need to cover our hoop house; we didn't completely take off the plastic last year since we wanted some protection from the elements for our garden tools and made a small shed with it where the plants weren't growing, and the sun weakened the plastic. I think we are looking for a higher grade of plastic that won't be bothered as much by the sun.

Hopefully the next time I post it will be back to the book!

Home from Convention

Life has been a whirlwind lately. We left a week ago Tuesday to prepare to testify at a House legislative committee regarding allowing grandparents to homeschool their grandchildren. What a fiasco! I don't understand all of what happened, but apparently the legislative council goofed somehow and the state's homeschool bill went from about 6 pages to 7 lines! In order to work on the bill for grandparents they first had to reintroduce the whole homeschooling bill. Even the legislative branch seems to not know what they are doing! One particular legislator was very hostile to homeschooling in general, and we left knowing some bad things could happen to our bill.

Our drive to Fargo was anything but peaceful, since a big winter storm was brewing. I was glad I wasn't driving, but it was also tough to just sit there and pray for safety. We were also pulling a trailer, and I wondered at times if we could make it up some of the hills on the interstate. Needless to say, we were very thankful to finally hit town and get unpacked.

Thursday was crazy. We were supposed to get set up for the convention, but instead a lot of the day was trying to figure out how to deal with weather related items. Thankfully, Skeet Savage, her daughter Mercy and son Israel Wayne had flown in on Wed., so they were ready to roll. Unfortunately, Steve Demme of Math-U-See had gotten as far as Chicago, and made the decision to fly back home. Even the recording company from Kentucky got as far as Iowa City and had to turn back. That meant no taping for the convention! John Mesko (Good Farmer John) had also gotten snowed in back in Minnesota, and may even still be snowed in.

As if one storm wasn't enough, there was a temporary lull and then another blast of blizzard conditions hit the area. We ended up with about 1/3 of the people that normally attend the homeschool convention when it is held in Fargo. We still felt people were ministered to, and that made all the hassles worthwhile. The Lord's will for the convention was accomplished.

This week we are working on getting back to normal -- whatever normal is! The first order of business was to shovel out from the storms. Thankfully the snowplow had come in and cleared our driveway, and friends shovelled a path from the top of our hill to the door of the basement so we didn't have to wade through 3 feet deep snow while unloading our car. The weather is supposed to make a drastic change by the weekend, and we'll be into the 40's. This time it is above zero!

We are still having goat problems, though. One of our does was down again when the boys went to do chores this morning, so we spent a good part of the day working on her. By tonight she was up and eating well, and we hope to keep her that way. I'm so thankful it didn't happen while we had friends watching our animals. We should have kittens and puppies by the end of the month, and this will be very interesting!

The Hills (as locals refer to our area) aren't quite as hillbillyish as they used to be ... Two nights ago we received a call from a neighbor to let us know that someone had stolen a truck with a trailer, and when they drove on our gravel road had gotten them stuck. Instead of just leaving them, they burned the truck and trailer, and left nails and other construction materials strewn across the gravel road. After a call to another of our neighbors who didn't know anything about this event, I received a call back with further information. Apparently the truck and trailer had been stolen in Fargo and driven all the way up here. So far the culprits have not been apprehended. We have to get back to the scene of the crime and get the nails, etc. off the road so we don't end up with flat tires when we head out that way.

Back to our homeschool bill. Today the committee took up the bill once again -- and didn't tell us they were going to do it. All we asked for was to allow grandparents to homeschool their grandchildren, and this is what the attached amendment would do (and they took out the provision for grandparents to be able to homeschool their grandchildren!):

1. A mom without a college degree could avoid being monitored by the local school district if she took the national teacher's exam; the amendment would change that to "the pre-professional skills test".
2. Required testing was originally set for children in grades 4,6,8, and 10; the amendment would change that to grades 3, 4, 6, 8 and 11.
3. Testing can be either the state assessment test or a nationally normed state achievement test.
4. This amendment would require parents to pay all testing costs.
5. It will be the "grade level proficiency score of the state assessment test" that will be used to determine extension of monitoring or evaluation for learning difficulties -- just as the 30th% and the 50th% of the nationally normed tests are used.
6. Instead of "basic composite score" it now reads "composite score" or "score", depending on which line of the bill you read. In reference to remedial plan, it also reads, "every subject tested..."
7. A new section reads, in part: "Violation of chapter - Penalty . If the superintendent of public instruction determines, after a hearing ... that the child's parent has violated a provision of this chapter ... the ... school district ... monitor the parent for a period of one year. If the parent is already being monitored ... extend the monitoring ... for a period of one additional year. The child's parent is responsible for the cost of any monitoring required by this section".

I say all this to say -- North Dakota has the reputation at Home School Legal Defense as being the most restrictive state in the country for homeschooling laws. This takes the cake.