September Recap by Photo #1

Burning off the slough behind our home.  Yes, it seems very close and I didn’t like it one bit.  The whole slough is dry, though, and this is the quickest way to get the land prepped for tilling.  It will be planted next year if we stay this dry.

Somehow, I managed to find time to preserve the pears I purchased.  The Cinnamon pear sauce is excellent on its own, but even better in Pear Streusel Pie.

What do ya know!  The garden started to produce.  Right before a big freeze.  Thankfully, Marcus slept a couple hours straight on this day so I could go harvest everything.

Finally found time to bake a peach pie, too.  It was yummy.

More pics of Marcus.  Is there a cuter subject in my home at the time?

Monday DayLook: September 10, 2012

Looking out from my back porch... it’s still too dark to see anything!

I am thankful for... believe it or not, the early mornings that I am up with Marcus.  I’m almost accustomed to the extra time to read while sitting and nursing him at 4am.  At some point, I’ll need sleep more, but for now, it works to give me some alone (well almost alone) time.

I am reading… still have a few books I’m finishing up from before Marcus was born, but I think those have to wait for the right ‘time’.  Ya know sometimes you start a book and it just doesn’t click with your mood… that’s where I am with anything that requires too much thinking.  So, I’ve been reading a Highlander series on my kindle.  It’s entertaining, and at 4am that about what I can handle.

I am praying for... a better school year.

I am hearing... not much of anything except a few baby noises.  The little grunts and squeaks Marcus makes while stretching in his sleep.

I am wearing… pj’s & a grey sweater.

From the sewing/craft room (aka. laundry room!)… the laundry is caught up!  I’m a little behind in ironing and putting away folded clothes, though.

From the School Room... one child is not up to speed with his schedule (not much new, there).  The others are doing great, IMHO.  Most subjects have been added to the schedule.

From the Kitchen... 4 qts cinnamon pear sauce, peach pie, peach crisp, BBQ country style ribs on the grill.  Good week for food in our home.

From the Garden… a TON of peppers.  And, the tomatoes are producing.  There was a frost warning this past weekend, but we weren’t affected, so everything is STILL growing!  I am not sure if I’ll do any canning, but there is the possibility.  The pic shows just a small fraction of the peppers I harvested this past weekend.

From the FarmYard… the banty hen hatched two chicks earlier this summer and I have not been out to see them.  Angelina says she’s a good mother and has been teaching them all they need to know.  Unfortunately, one appears to be a cockerel; we don’t need four!

More farm animals have equaled more flies to pester us around the house.  I’m not sure how they find their way here from the farmyard, but every time I open our garage door, at least five seem to lead my way.  Ughhhh!

A successful moment… that I’m actually writing a post.  Eric and the kids successfully cleaned and stored the pool.

A few plans for the rest of the week…
Monday: Eric ,is gone all week for Big Iron, football practice for Dash

Tuesday: Football practice

Wednesday: The kids and I plan to go to Big Iron, Orthodontist Appt for Angelina

Thursday: EC mtg for me in Fargo, Football game for Zeke

Friday/Saturday/Sunday: Tis Friday Football game season, first day of religious education this Sunday, more yard clean-up

A picture memory...

Was it really only in January that Dash received his driver’s license?  It has been a blessing to have another driver is the household.

Thankful Thursday

I’m thankful for the following beauties, which remind me of God.

Yellow Siberian Iris (top) and Bearded Purple Iris (below).

I want to say this is a Sunrise Rose, but am not certain.  And, the beans are up!!

I cannot remember the name of this hardy rose.  There are two planted about 5 feet apart and they will hopefully be trained to grow up and around the arbor to be installed this summer.  The arbor is constructed (by Dash) and has been in our garage all winter, just waiting to make it’s appearance at the entrance to our garden.

Blueberry bush (above – there is fruit, but it’s hard to see) and my simple Mary garden for this year.  Gerbera Daisy with Wandering Jew.

Sewing and Gardening

Sewing:  Angelina has been working on her 4-H sewing projects, which means the serger and sewing machine have been out, which means… they’re accessible, which means…I’ve completed a few long-put-off projects.  The fabric for the baby blankets was purchased before Louis was born (he’s 2 1/2 years old), and the fabric for the three sets of pajama pants for Graham has been in my fabric stash for even longer.  So, Louis’ blanket (the brown striped minky with satin backing) is done!  He likes it.  I made a second minky for a gift and the three flannel blankets are also gifts.  Sorry, no pics of the pj’s; they’re in the wash or in use.

 

Not sure why, but my camera is not doing justice to the colors of the blankets.  They turned out super cute with the different color blanket bindings.  My favorite is the blue water with orange flannel backing (shown below).

Gardening:  The cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and peppers are planted.  The tomatoes are purchased (still need to be planted).  And, the weed block and old paver’s have been placed around the SFG’s.  In doing this job, I determined that there was too much space between the SFG’s, so they needed to be moved closer together.  There’s still plenty of room for the garden wagon, though it is a tighter turn.  The pavers aren’t level, but the project is as done as it’s gonna get for now.  We might purchase a few more pavers to complete a pathway along the back edge of the garden, but that’s a future project. 

Dash is gone for the state FFA Convention, so I and the three middle kids did most of the work.  I dug out the weeds, the kids hauled them away.  I laid all the weed block and hauled the first couple loads of pavers; the kids hauled and placed the rest of the pavers.  Thankfully, the kids and I only had to move the first SFG.  Eric was around to help pull and shove the other six into place.  He also helped load and haul the last of the pavers.  It’s shaping up.

Garden Progress!!

I made it into the garden and did quite a bit of work today.  I didn’t get exhausted, either…thank goodness.  It sure helps to split up the work into little chunks.

This morning, I replenished a couple of the SFG’s (Square Foot Gardens) with compost/soil-less mix.  I also planted the carrots, 1/2 the beans, beets, and spinach.  In addition, a few more weeds were dug out from the flower bed and garden area.  It’s sad to see that a few of the perennials I purchased at the end-of-season box sale didn’t make it through the winter.  Guess that means I’ll have room for more??  Or, maybe it’d be best to space the current plants, use all those scrap pieces of Roc-Kloth to cover the bare areas, and cover it with rocks/pavers so I don’t have to dig so many weeds next year.  The later sounds like the better option…

This afternoon, the rest of the beans, lettuce, and radish were planted and everything was watered.  Quite a few more weeds were dug out because I enlisted the help of the kids.  They aren’t quite as efficient in digging weeds, but their help was necessary.  They hauled the weeds to the burn site and helped carry tools back to the garage.  It’s those tasks that make me the most tired!

My future gardening goals (hopefully quite a few will be checked off the list tomorrow):

1. Get help rototilling the open areas again.

2. Plant broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, green pepper, red pepper, and jalepeno pepper plants.

3. Plant cucumber, pumpkin, watermelon and squash plants (this depends somewhat upon the room available).

4. Take up the torn pieces of Roc-Kloth and lay them strategically in the flower bed.

5. Enlist help to bring the leftover fieldstone to the flower bed.

6. Lay down Roc-Kloth between the flower bed and SFG’s to prepare for the paver pathway.

7. Lay pavers over the Roc-Kloth pathway.

8. Dig out weeds in day-lily and iris bed.

9. Dig out weeds around and in strawberry bed.

10. Transplant strawberries and enlarge the strawberry bed.

11. Dig out weeds around blueberry shrubs (Yes! They are in bloom!!).

12. Level the area where the pool will be situated…do you think the kids will work faster if this is at the end of the list of tasks?!?  I think they probably will!

It’s Friday…

and I didn’t have a good title for a post, but wanted to summarize a few things that have been going on around here.

1. The three middle kids – Angelina, Zeke & Graham – have slept out in the tent for the last two nights.  They set it up at the end of the tree rows, so are a distance away from the house.  They brought our old covered fire pit and have been cooking breakfast and dinner over the fire!  Yesterday I didn’t see any of them until shortly before lunch when Zeke came back to use the bathroom.

2. Dash is making progress (FINALLY!) in getting his subjects completed. 

3. A new, larger pool has been ordered and the kids can hardly wait.  They spent a lot of time swimming last year.  We’ll need to do a bit of work to level the ground before setting up the new pool, but it will be well worth the effort.

4. I’ve made more progress on clearing the flower bed of weeds, but we sure could use more rain to soften the ground.  It comes up in clumps which I then have to break up to level off the surface.  I’m tired in about 20 minutes!

5. Almost all the supplies for the next school year are on hand and I’m almost done creating the necessary lesson plans.  I’d like to have all that figured out before heading to the MN Homeschool conference next week.

6. We finally have a broody hen!  She’s set up with a clutch of eggs and we hope this experiment goes well.

7. Cloth diapering is going well.  There have been days where we’ve only used them at night…sending Louis out to the tractor with cloth diapers is just not practical!  However, we have days, like yesterday, where it’s only cloth.  In fact, I did make the decision to order diapers for the new little one coming.  However, because my ‘little’ ones tend to be pretty big, I opted to buy the regular sized instead of infant sized.  The way I see it, we’d only be using the infant for maybe 2-3 weeks and then the baby would be into regular sized cloth diapers.  2-3 weeks is not enough time to justify the expense.

8. The vegetable garden.  It hasn’t been planted, yet.  But, today is looking like a nice day.  Maybe I’ll sneak outside and get it done!

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Joining Barbara in commemorating the year in once a week posts … just whatever is going on in your life: the mundane, the crazy, the normal, the everyday.

Prepped a LOT of corn for freezing.

Magic show from the resident 5yo Awesome Magician (I’ll post a bigger display on this later!). 

The packaged corn is ready to freeze.

Cleaned my desk for the new school year.

 

Kids on the first day of school in 2011!

Everyone has a comedian, right??

Dash in his first, and so far only, JV football game.  He’s on the lower right – #66.  They won 22-0.

33/52 & 34/52

Joining Barbara in commemorating the year in once a week posts … just whatever is going on in your life: the mundane, the crazy, the normal, the everyday.

 

33/52

Other FMCHE Annual Book Sale purchases…

Charity for the Suffering Souls:  An Explanation of the Catholic Doctrine of Purgatory by Rev. John A. Nageleisen

 

Padre Pio: The True Story by C. Bernard Ruffin

 

The Jesse Tree: A Cutout Book by Marlene Konrady

 

Essentials Digital Photography – this is more for Zeke than anyone else, but I imagine I’ll be reading some of it to him.  He has an interest in photography and videography.

 

Below is the Marian Garden Shrine Dash made for me.  He used the old shrine (it completely fell apart) to make a pattern on oak (leftover from building our hosue) and used the ‘old’ statue and added a crucifix.  I think they’re beautiful!  He’s making a few more for gifts.

 

German chocolates brought by a good college friend when she and her kids visited this past weekend.

 

And, the Kroshus crew is out again.  This time, they’re tearing out the front walk (that’s done), lowering the grade so water will drain AWAY from the house and foundation, installing a new walk, and landscaping between the walk and the house.  These guys know how to work…I really like their productivity!

Redoing the drainage.

 

And chickens…

…running out to meet their mistress…

…dust bath time…

…the broody hen…

…older pullets and two cockerels in the holding pen and getting used to the big hens.   The door was opened and the two flocks merged on August 18 (about a week after the two flocks were housed together).  We’ve kept the younger flock separated at night, but they needed outside time during the daylight.  A people-person stuck around the first couple days when they were out together.  On Saturday they were pretty much left alone.  The Buff rooster is definitely the dominant as he gets into the most fights with ‘head’ hens.  I just enjoy sitting and watching them…

 

…the Ameraucanas enjoying the outdoors…

I’m going to harvest tomatillas this year!!

 

And, a sleepy child (Zeke) to end the collage.

 

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And another crazy week!  Lots of travel, first varsity football game for Dash (and he played because they were ahead by sooo many points… ended up winning 68-13), Dentist and Orthodontist appointments, Sam’s club shopping (with the three youngest in tow – they did better than I imagined!), overnight with a good friend for Angelina, peaches from the fruit truck in Fargo, first corn on the cob from the garden.

Big chickens have been successfully merged.  The roosters are settled in with the new hens and their authority established.  The flock is happy and the youngest pullets are getting closer to the ‘laying’ age.

We’ll be harvesting a few more chickens later in the year because the Ameraucana group includes about 4-5 cockerels that we cannot keep, or need, as adults.  So, more for the freezer later this Fall.

The newest three were moved to the Wahoo on Thursday.  They’ve outgrown their water tank home and were just getting too smelly to keep up with in the outside garage!  They have more space and better feed containers in the Wahoo.

Here are a few pics to memorialize the week…

Progress on front landscaping…

and the next day!

At the Ransom Co. Fair:

Zeke and his friend, Brett.  These are Mickey Mouse ears.

Above: Dash showing a pig.

Below: Graham in the tractor pedal contest…he won tickets to the rides (participation prize … but he did well for his first time ever!).

Below: Angelina showing a pig.

Below:  Louis was just happy to run around and see all the animals.  As for me, I was absolutely beat by the end of the day!

Above:  Love this pic of Angelina walking back from the mailbox.  Wheat field being harvested in the background.

Below:  Happy Birthday, Eric!