tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-102587752024-03-23T14:16:52.423-04:00mudpies and paintAmyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581536150640532394noreply@blogger.comBlogger888125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258775.post-82392738990011559562012-10-02T11:17:00.000-04:002012-10-02T11:17:02.622-04:00Staying Busy and Mary's latest HandiworkIt is that time of year where we are almost overwhelmingly busy. Schooling, sports, activities, fall cleaning and winter preparation. It is hard to stop and take time for photos and writing.
Softball is winding down. Katie's team won the regular season title, and once this rainy period moves off they may be able to begin the tournament.
Katie at bat
Emily's instructional team still have Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581536150640532394noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258775.post-5909237748076999702012-09-16T09:26:00.001-04:002012-09-16T09:26:53.033-04:00Kids photography and more new chickensThere always seems to be a camera handy when the children get an urge to snap some pictures. A lot of them end up blurry or dark, but sometimes there are really good shots. I never know when I upload pictures what I may see.
Mary and Robbie are my primary picture takers. They love to snap shots of life around them...
Mary took my camera with them to the mountains over Labor Day and came back ofAmyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581536150640532394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258775.post-69622629422196282272012-09-12T09:08:00.002-04:002012-09-12T09:08:35.167-04:00Some Pictures and the Looming WinterThe other day I took my camera out and shot some pictures around the yard.
Here are some of the cats enjoying the beautiful weather we are having this week. After playing pounce & climb they find the sunny, soft spot to curl up for a nap.
My three new golden comet hens. They are coming out of molt and are just starting to lay eggs again. Their eggs are HUGE! We will be getting two Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581536150640532394noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258775.post-2063564519032096722012-09-04T13:09:00.000-04:002012-09-04T13:09:29.392-04:00Fall is ComingThe temps are still warm and it isn't officially fall yet, but we can tell it is coming. My instincts are that of a squirrel, the days start getting shorter and I start thinking about our wood supply, canning and putting away food in the freezer. After several tough winters financially, having everything in place by November is very important to me.
Our summer garden was pitiful due to several Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581536150640532394noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258775.post-8959413178561960232012-08-10T01:33:00.003-04:002012-08-10T01:33:49.261-04:00Homesteaders
We have had an exciting opportunity come to use over the last months. While we are still living in our neighborhood home and slowly building our backyard "farm", we are also investing our time and know-how into a 4-acre farm that friends have moved to over the summer.
Our friends were looking for a place to build a small hobby-farm and start a farmer's market business. I was looking forAmyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581536150640532394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258775.post-70144851020151298152012-07-16T11:33:00.000-04:002012-07-16T11:33:06.665-04:00New KittensLast night, while we were eating dinner our hugely pregnant cat decided to go into labor...
She gave us a front row seat to the feline birthing process. Almost effortlessly she had 7 beautiful kittens over a 4 hour period. All four of the boys look just like their mother. The three dark ones are the girls, incorporating more of their father's coloring. Feline genetics is very interesting.
AmyAmyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581536150640532394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258775.post-39046698478884406062012-03-27T09:44:00.011-04:002012-03-27T10:16:26.050-04:00Busy SeasonSpring came in a rush this year. It seems like the bushes and trees could not flower and leaf out fast enough. If I blinked or took a break it went from an early March landscape to May. A lot of rain and warm weather has pushed our season up, but it is also causing me to get behind with a lot of garden work. The in-ground garden beds have not been dry enough to work for a couple of weeks. And I Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581536150640532394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258775.post-48312535529550096862012-03-12T21:34:00.005-04:002012-03-12T21:55:31.381-04:00Two-and-a-half month garden updateThanks to some wonderful weather we have been having there are lots of changes to our garden. I find myself adding containers of something everyday to our deck. It is a great way to test out expanding our garden and I love having my work center right outside the back door. I've even started to add a few things around the garden beds in the summer garden. My next job is to get the fence put aroundAmyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581536150640532394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258775.post-48914884666370346292012-03-12T21:17:00.005-04:002012-03-12T21:32:14.295-04:00Difference in Hen BreedsOur first flock of hens included four different breeds out of five hens. Those five were calm, content to stay on the ground and very quiet. Our four new hens are all Rhode Island Reds, the breed I had originally decided to have. These four are very proud, strutting around and showing off their flying ability. They are also adventurous. We've had to fish them out of the woods three times already.Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581536150640532394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258775.post-91098992987779998852012-03-09T18:00:00.004-05:002012-03-09T18:10:59.304-05:00New Family Members...Last night at soccer practice we picked up 4 new family members. The kids can tell the new ones apart and have named them. They also "banded" a leg of each hen to help with telling them apart. We have had a bit of territoriality between the two groups, but that cleared up as the day went on. And, we had 5 eggs before lunch today!!!I think 9 is a really good number for our space and family. It Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581536150640532394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258775.post-85199378092826845822012-03-08T13:27:00.004-05:002012-03-09T18:16:27.807-05:00Local Meat FindAs I was saying last night it is becoming more important to us to eat Real Food, limiting the amount of process food that comes into the house. But, it is also important to me to eat locally as much as possible. Produce, in season is easy enough. Can't get anymore local than our backyard, and there are lots of full produce stands and farmers markets. This past summer/fall I tried to put away Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581536150640532394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258775.post-63330790419041963742012-03-07T20:24:00.005-05:002012-03-07T21:27:55.176-05:00Real FoodI am excited and hopeful about this year on our little homestead. My spring garden is coming along really well. I've been going crazy planting things here and there in containers. Today I planted onion sets. I have never had onions do very well for me due to the high clay content of our soil. I figured since I am planting so many other containers this year I might give onions a try again. Big Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581536150640532394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258775.post-36902014719548942112012-02-28T14:45:00.005-05:002012-02-28T16:24:45.099-05:00Two month Garden UpdateAt the beginning of January I took a big chance and planted a 'Spring' garden. This was two months earlier than most recommend here in zone 7B. The winter had been super mild and was forecasted to continue being mild...so I spent $20 and got busy. This week is generally considered the beginning of planting season around here. I am finally seeing pots of started plants in the stores and gardening Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581536150640532394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258775.post-17393306590939124242012-02-19T13:17:00.003-05:002012-02-19T13:31:23.769-05:00New CurtainsIt is a rainy cold day. Perfect for the number of indoor jobs I have on my list. I am on a mission to re-fall in-love with my home again. After basically six years of neglect to basic decorating while we waited for the kids to get a little older, I am ready to tackle several home projects in 2012. One of my goals is to repaint the kitchen/family room area. I believe I know the paint colors I wantAmyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581536150640532394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258775.post-79647541793161052982012-01-25T19:30:00.003-05:002012-01-25T19:51:03.941-05:00Finally stopped rainingI'm going to be glad of this rain come summer, but 4 days of cold, misty weather is really depressing. Obviously I wouldn't do so well in the Northwest states. I've taken advantage of a day-and-a-half of sun to get outside and do some garden chores. I have seedlings in the Spring bed already. I planted a few more rows of spinach. We love fresh spinach in this house. I've turned the dirt again in Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581536150640532394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258775.post-57596461014047966512012-01-23T20:32:00.002-05:002012-01-23T20:34:50.945-05:00ESCAPELook girls we've found our way out....I know what my chore is tomorrow.Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581536150640532394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258775.post-41307447785720219952012-01-23T12:13:00.003-05:002012-01-23T12:20:52.769-05:00Came home from running errands to find Puddin' in the egg basket. Thankfully there were no eggs in it.Yes, we have had a lot of rain the past few days. The rain boots all lined up so we can trek through the mud to check on our hens.The hens have decided that they like this roosting spot behind the coop.Future Farmer???PeaceAmyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581536150640532394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258775.post-35844993047463250812012-01-21T23:35:00.004-05:002012-01-21T23:53:27.464-05:00Where Have We Been?We have been busy. It seems like ever since last Fall, right up to today we have been busy. No slow winter days around here. Beyond our normal schooling, running the kids around to activities and day-to-day house work, we have also been experimenting with our own home business (anyone want personalized notecards?), working very hard to be more self-reliant which has included a lot of sewing and Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581536150640532394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258775.post-73942506775076928492011-10-14T18:53:00.003-04:002011-10-14T19:05:32.318-04:00Picture PostI've been bad about posting pictures lately. Spending too much time working with my pictures and not enough time posting them.Here is the Eastern Box Turtle we saved from the middle of the road this morning. We took him over to the in-laws where he should have plenty of space and no roads.This is our baby black snake, named Snack. Also saved from the road. We kept it for about a week to Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581536150640532394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258775.post-86594463665338917032011-09-27T18:08:00.003-04:002011-09-27T18:14:22.319-04:00Visitor of the DayLast seen entering the soffit of our house, being chased there by the birds.PeaceAmyAmyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581536150640532394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258775.post-79981406245135899552011-09-14T14:19:00.000-04:002011-09-14T14:20:32.618-04:00History Paper - Take 1 Early Human Life One day a little girl name Mary loved history, but she had to do a paper about humans between 2000 BC and 1000 BC . I'm going to tell you what the paper said. Between 12000 and 10000 years ago the ice age ended and big animals become scarcer. Farming began between 11000 and 8000 years ago, when people started framing and raising animals for food. Farming led to new Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581536150640532394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258775.post-30137903800612346592011-09-07T14:58:00.006-04:002011-09-07T15:28:07.479-04:00The Years are A'PassinI can remember not too many years ago looking through a book about homeschooling middle school. I thought that seemed way off in the future. Way, way off. This year I look at the bookcase and realize that Middle School is here, now. I'm moving into our 8th year of "homeschooling", or at least eight years since we made the decision to give homeschooling a try. Some days I can't believe we have Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581536150640532394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258775.post-71953390868005892152011-09-05T22:28:00.004-04:002011-09-05T22:44:10.144-04:00First Soccer Tournament 2011Our first soccer tournament for this year was canceled due to Hurricane Irene. This weekend we headed to Greensboro for what became our first tournament.It was a long weekend for everyone. Being so close we didn't get a hotel room and then found out that Mary's team drew 8:00am games on both Saturday and Sunday. To be there in time for warm-ups we had to leave by 5:00am.By the time they played Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581536150640532394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258775.post-35547881250639199562011-09-05T22:16:00.005-04:002011-09-05T22:27:57.194-04:00Family Adventure, Week 2We took our family adventure early this week so that Daddy could enjoy going with us. It was a beautiful morning to enjoy a 3-mile ride along the American Tobacco Trail. A wonderful biking, walking and horseback riding trail through western Wake County and into Chatham County.Robbie is still not comfortable enough on a two-wheeler for trail riding, so I am still carrying him behind me. His legs Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581536150640532394noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10258775.post-75597614715984607272011-09-01T15:46:00.006-04:002011-09-01T16:16:09.630-04:00Adventure of the Week, Week 1We've decided that this year we will try to have one adventure every week, mainly close to home. Something neat and interesting that we may not get a chance to do very often.
Most know of my children's affinity for getting dirty... did not surprise me that their first choice this year was to go to a spur of the local lake. We have been under moderate drought conditions this summer and have been Amyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04581536150640532394noreply@blogger.com0