Blood moon

The oldest is so into photography and she picked the perfect spot in the neighbor's field behind our house to set up shop last night. She went out around 6:30, armed with bug spray and lenses. After I got baby to bed I went up and sat with her. A stayed in with Daddy and G and M played out in the semidark. It was so nice to have a few quiet moments with my oldest. Some quiet time to just reflect and some time to talk and reflect on the sermon. I held the flashlight, attracting every mosquito for miles, while she changed lenses for different shots. What a spectacularly clear night. Crickets calling and the wind barely moving dry stalks of corn...and no coyotes calling, just an owl!

Time with family

Z wants to play in the "wa-too". The goats won't appreciate it!

G passed her deep water swim test! Tread for 1 minute and swim the length of the Y pool two times! Yeah, G!!

We thought Mom would pass out, not B.

Z wants to kiss the bunny up close and personal

We are having fun with mom and dad here. We have played games and ate C's yummy cupcakes.  We decided to butcher two rabbits for dinner today. Unfortunately, B wasn't careful enough. Don't know if he was just tired and wanted to see what I was made of, or if he just wanted a nap... In any case, the bloody butcher knife stuck deep in his thumb and he pulled it out and said, " um, I may have a problem. It's pretty deep. "I ran and got a rag and the cayenne pepper. With enough pepper we were able to curtail the bleeding. He got really lightheaded and had to lay down but Mom was a trooper!! While this was going on Z was playing in the goat water and climbing in the rabbit cage.

Today we went to the Y and G passed the swim test. Only one mishap... M was trying to turn on the water toys and accidentally hit the fire alarm. Poor baby was so embarrassed when we all had to start to vacate the building!!

Now to Taco Bell for lunch and then...we'll see what mischief we can get in to. It probably includes lots of dishes, Jinga, and Chinese checkers!!

Soap making on the farm

Yesterday was a great day. I will have pictures up on Facebook with more details, but it was a lot of fun.

I organized a homeschool mother-daughter soap making-tea party. It was intended to keep up with our goals of getting our name out there as a way to impact people. God has blessed us with this property and will knowledge. We'd like to nurture others in their love of nature and each other and to learn about him


The girls worked hard to help me set up and plan. We sewed and cooked and decorated.

When all was said and done we totalled $182. However, $14 paid the girls for help. $35 went back into next times soap-making fund.

Over all it was a great time.

Harvesting

Wouldnt you think that "harvesting" at this time of year would refer to my garden?!! Well...in order to glean a harvest I have decided you must be in the garden at least once a week...

True...I didnt have to water at all this year. But weeding and picking off bugs and pruning...well, I think that would help!!

I am embarrassed to say that off 25 sweet potato plants I have thus harvested 3 small potatoes. The beans are doing well...as is the stuff I didnt plant. ( squashes mostly)

I am proud to say that I have harvested in other areas though. We started the summer running out of hay just days before haying. Our own field costs us about $2 a bale. If we went out and bought hay it would cost us $6...even more for alfalfa hay. So it is nice to finally have a second cutting in off from the field. A full garage! Bill isnt so happy, since it encroaches on HIS side of the garage (which I call the barn!)

We have harvested a great "crop" of male crickets this summer. I love the sound of crickets, as it is the sound of summer. Because of humidity and allergies, our windows are rarely open. As long as I know the crickets are not under my bed...ready to wake me at 3 am... I enjoy them. We have a glass gallon crock full of them. The Chinese use them to alert them in change of routine...it works. When they are use to your habits they keep on singing. But if something unusual happens they get quiet.

Being a wet year there are lots of crickets. We have caught many and watched garden spiders devour them and our baby chicks fight over them like a two-year old does with candy!

We have harvested several very fat field mice in our basement. Wish the cats caught them a little sooner!

Another thing we have harvested well has nothing to do with me.  Our rabbits poop day in and day out...and it is such good fertilizer. Not too hot and not weedy. You can buy it on line for about $2/#, which translates to $3-$4 per gallon freezer bag. Of course when I put it on my plants...way out away from the house...it doesnt matter if it is wet and smelly. I dont think town folks would appreciate that! So...today if you had happened by our place you would have seen a tarp in the front yard strewn with rabbit droppings (which Z calls balls and tries to play with or eat...depending on the day!) After sitting in the wind and sun all afternoon the manure is mostly dry and smell free.

I went to the neighbor's and harvested some of his butternut squash that he didnt want...and watched his German Shepherd roll and roll in an old, mushy, rotton squash. He was orange and happy! What is it about dogs and stink? The worse we find it, the more appealing they find it!

Speaking of the dog...this morning she was foaming at the mouth and smacking like she had gotten in to something yummy. But acting weird. I finally figured out that somehow she had broken a front tooth and it was imbedded in the roof of her mouth. Wish I got paid to be an after-hours weekend dentist!!

I have been getting ready for my mother daughter soap making demo-talk. I have 20 people coming to listen to a talk on the history of soap making and to watch me make soap. We are ending with a tea party. I have been making other items for sale (aprons, clothes pin bags, hot pads...) The girls are all doing their part to sell things they have made. And if someone will buy and enjoy my non-planned dozens of acorn squah...yeah!!

In the midst of all of this, B has been working a second job trying to pay bills. We are hoping to sell more eggs etc to offset expenses, thus the planned events at the farm. I am also starting school Monday. How do I have a full-time job of schooling, another one of taking care of this place and hauling girls to appointments, and then being mommy to all of these precious children?! I try to remind myself that fat souls are better than clean floors... That nothing is so important as spening time with them and leading them up to love and serve God and others.

As I have found...having a good harvest takes lots of time. You cant spend a few minutes a week and expect a bountiful harvest. Oh Lord, give me your vision...that I would truly make the kids my first priority in harvest!

 Compost drying.



Finished compost in bags...ready for sale.

umbrellas

When it rains it pours, right?! I have been feeling in my soul much like this week's weather forecast...cloudy, rainy and more rain. Rain, rain go away!  I have been feeling so overwhelmed ,just being tired with no end in sight. not just because of the list of things to accomplish ,but just the emotional strain of raising children with special needs, a young toddler, so many special food allergies, feeling isolated on the farm,  not having friends, being so financially strapped...

As I am heading out to pick up B after the weekend with his brother and his uncle, I am in the car with baby praying and crying out to God. Begging God to relieve me, asking God for an end in sight, begging God for better way of living. I'm tired of gloom, rain and clouds. It feels like a northern Michigan winter!

 I was reminded of something that I read recently and had written down, thinking that it was good. It said "then I will sing in the shadow of your wings".

So my first thought was okay, I need to sing and praise God for all the good that I have in my life, as opposed to paying attention to the hardships and trials. And then I was thinking how I feel like I'm in the shadows... like the shadows are overwhelming and it doesn't feel like God's shadow- rather the shadow from the valley of the shadow of death that I feel in my soul.

 But as I thought about the verse again I realize that for me, as a believer, when I am in the shadows it COULD be because I'm not walking as I am supposed to, and that my focus is wrong. But on the other hand, the shadows that I am under are really the shadows of His wings.

After having raised turkeys, this makes much more sense. When you see a mama bird with her baby and how closely she keeps them, or how she called to them and they hurry underneath her wings...it give rise to a better understanding.  When God calls to me I should quickly run under his wings, and his wings are always there. He's always watching over me and looking out for me and calling to me. He's not out to give me shadows and rain on purpose. He's trying to make me grow up...his way.

I need to see him as having his wings spread out for protection, as an umbrella. How often I talk to the girls about how God's protection is like an umbrella.  It only works of you stand under him. The umbrella won't keep me dry of I run ahead!  I realize that I need to spend more time relying on God for everything... he is supposed to be my everything, is supposed to be my all and all. And maybe I am at this lonely place so that I learn to need and rely on him in a way I could not otherwise do.

I was thinking about how what I really want right now is to satisfy the craving deep within me by indulging in sugar and chocolate. Its So good to get that sugar high and that feeling of calm that comes over you. I realize what an addiction that sounds like! I know the sugar and chocolate are acceptable, but not when you have used them in that way. I need to spend more time longing for Christ, rather than looking for other things to fill me up.

I think so much of our world is caught up in that same manner. I know people who fill their addictions in any number of ways and I understand that. We do what we do because we're looking for fulfillment.  I'm in the doldrums of life, just like everybody else. But I want to rise on His wings and fly above this ole' world! The Maker shows me in a thousand ways that he loves me...I will choose to sing under his wings.

When I choose obedience, even when I'm so tired and I really don't want to (like I expect of my kids even when they're tired!!)  Or when I choose to pray "Lord, teach me to treat all that comes to me with peace of soul and form conviction that Your will governs all" --it is then that I will be able to sing. Singing at not come easy, but what a pleasant thought it is to stay on the house on a dreary day and sing, even I'm the shadows.

He knows my name, he knows my needs, he has not forsaken me. I need to sing and take a step of obedience in showing that I trust his plan ( and maybe just throw MY plans out!) And pick up my umbrella and go play in the shadows. (I'll have lots of opportunities to do that this rainy week!)

This was written some time ago and I've learned something more about feeling overwhelmed. God doesn't want me to be overwhelmed. He has put what he has put in my life for a reason. Not to overwhelm me but to teach me and make me more like him. Overwhelmed is a frame ofind and it is not one of trust and surrender. I had this mental picture if trying to hold sand in my hand and it all slipping through the cracks. No matter how much I want to hold all my pieces...I just cannot. So then the picture II had was one of God filling the cracks in so that I could hold all of my pieces. And then I thought...no, that isn't even accurate. I don't want to hold the pieces. My hands are broken and worthless. I prayed,"Lord,you take all of my pieces and do whatever you want with them. I am done. It's your turn. You take over!" This has been the attitude of my mind for nearly two months. The peace that He has given and the lack of stress...until I forget and try to hold sand again...is amazing! I am so thankful to have the "peace that passes all understanding!"

Bathing a buck and other tidbits

Our house stinks so badly that no one wants to love on this big baby! In order to give him a bigger collar, trim hooves and horns we had to first bathe him. You see, fit season is coming on and he is getting ready. Scent glands near his horns are producing oil in abundance. He ribs on everything and leaves an odor that is beyond description. He also likes his brand of cologne and seems to attract the girls this way. Which way? Well, he urinates on his beard and legs and drinks it. Boy is he strong
 Guess his mama never told him that a little goes a long way! As soon as I got him rinsed he figured too much smell was gone and started the process again...sigh... At least I got his hooves and one horn done! And then took immediate abrasive showers!

These are beets and horseradish from the garden. I used the beets to make a beet cake. I decided I will have to try this with green zucchini at Christmas! As you can see, Z thought it was delicious. Now O need to come up with time to pickle and freeze the other 50 beets. Good thing most of the girls like beets!

Elderberries G and I picked from one patch. We are drying and selling them. This box was solidly filled...a 18x8 box. So far I have about 15 cups of dried berries and half of the box to go. I have made elderberry syrup and elderberry tincture. Lots of dried berries for tea and to sell. $1.50 per 1/2 cup.

FYI...when you handle a buck during rut. . . use disposable gloves. The leather one of B's are so strong even after being in the rain and sun for a week. . . I don't want them in my house or even in my washer!!

Ashley Down Farm

C is home and life is getting back to a new normal again. School is still a month away, although we keep up with math and reading all summer. OT will continue until some undetermined time.

In the meantime we are busy harvesting elderberries to use for ourselves and to sell. I have been letting A practice driving while she takes me around looking for new patches. By default we found a plum thicket at the end of our road! Amazing. I was thinking of Little House's On the Banks of Plum Creek. I know Ma made preserves and probably dried them. I tried drying some last year but the skin is sooooo sour it isnt worth it. We suck out the insides and give the skins to the chickens!

The garden has not done well this year...I guess I have to actually get out there to beat the bugs!! Actually the volunteer pumpkin and squash plants are doing well. Cukes took over. Berries are coming nicely.

We have had a name for our farm for some time, but are trying some things to bring in revenue and to give people a taste of life on a farm and to be able to expose them to good food.

Our name is Ashley Down Farm. The name came from the name of a street in England in the 1800's. A missionary, George Müeller, ran orphan homes.  (One on Ashley Down) He NEVER once asked anyone for money or supplies. Not even food when they had none. He prayed. He relied on God to provide as He saw fit. And in his autobiography he has some amazing stories of God's miraculous provisions...down to the penny. It is our desire to have that kind of faith. And living on a farm you do need faith!

Next year B and I are planning to expand the garden to double the size, although I am hoping to fill in 1/4 of it with more berries. We want to plant Goji berries and try farmer's market. We are having a soap-making mother daughter party here this fall and in the spring I have planned an heirloom plant planting party and a spring farm day party. We are hoping to get more meat birds...now that I can get organic feed, and hoping to expand our flock of egg layers. We are going to plant 8 more fruit trees. It is our hope to make some money, yes; but it is also our hope to pay the girls for their involvment, thus motivating the younger girls to learn better work ethic. Doesn't everyone want to get rewarded for their involvment?! I know I do!

So it sounds like I could use some extra hands this coming year....come on out!!