Everything I Want To Do Is Illegal!

This is the title of the book I'm currently reading by Joel Salatin. I recommend it heartly!

Anyone who thinks we live in a free country or that the American Dream is still within reach needs to read it. Here is my favorite quote so far..."How much evil throughout history could have been avoided had people exercised their moral acuity with convicitonal courage and said to the powers that be, 'No, I will not. This is wrong, and I don't care ifyou fire me, shoot me, pass me over for promotion, or call my mother. I will not participate in this unsavory activity.' Wouldn't world history be rewritten if just a few people had actually acted like individual free agents rather than mindless lemmings?"

My criminal thoughts? I want to be able to bake bread in my own home and... wait for it... SELL IT! How deviant is that!? It is a sad state of being we Americans find ourselves in. We have given ourselves over to the entity that is government. A government that allows women the freedome of "choice" to kill their unborn but not to sell bread from an un-government inspected kitchen. Even if I were to move to one of the few states that do indeed allow this, I'm still probably not allowed to buy or sell milk directly from... wait for it... A COW! The government thinks it's too dangerous. We must make it "safe" first. Thank you, but I think I can make decisions on my own. Certainly there is a place for processed milk but I should be able to buy a gallon of straight from the cow milk if I desire too. When did simple living go the way of the dinosaur?

Garden Club Friday

This year's first dandilion.

Maple tree bud

Cherry tree buds

Rhubarb growing- I thought I killed it last year- guess not.

Chives growing among the weeds in the garden. I will have to dig them up before will till and replant them.

Hi all,

I'm posting this while sitting outside on Michigan's 2nd really great day of spring weather and I'm really excited because it is starting to look like spring. Things are growing and budding!

Last week I dug out soil from last year's garden and handed it over to the County Agricultural Extension Office of Michigan State University. They charged $13 for a soil analysis that I should get back in a week or two. Of course a couple of days ago one of my neighbors told me in passing that a local farm co-op store does soil samples for free. Sigh.

Once I get my sample results back the DH and I can till up the garden, improve the soil organically and then plant! (Well, the planting will be after Memorial Day- when we are not in frost danger anymore.)

I have some lettuce and spinach waiting to be planted in containers that I will keep out on the deck so they can grow in the cool weather but be easily covered at night.

For more Garden Club Friday head on over to http://www.petersonclan.com/ .

Does anyone else...

...have to clean around army men battles?

Family Easter Pictures- for the Grandma's

The Family

The boy

Reagan posing

Taylor folding her hands

Tomboy Andi couldn't get her dress off fast enough.

My almost teen

Practicing My Constitutional Rights

Today I took the kids down to Hudsonville's little town "center" for the local TEA (Taxed Enough Already) party. It was a good opportunity for them to see a government of the people in action. We got to participate in free speech, assembly and religion.

I was thinking that attendance would be small as we as a country have gotten quite lax in the previous fatness of our capitalism but I was pleasantly surprised to see at least a few hundred people there- including two or three of the area's t.v. news stations and a lot of newpaper reporters.

I wish I could say the kids were impressed and learned a ton but they really just wanted the free cookies (which were "small" they said) and tea (which they didn't like either.) Long live liberty!

Happy Resurrection Sunday!

HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!

Silly Me...

I thought I'd read up on square foot gardening. I picked the book up from the library yesterday. Hmmm... it's currently being used for other things. Other more important things apparently! Namely a Lego Star Wars base. Only a terrible mother would destroy a Lego Star Wars base. (That is until the book is due.)

My DH- always the practical one

Over the weekend I found this great listing for a little farmhouse on three acres. It is right in our area, only a few miles northwest of us. It is white and cute with a great little porch and a big red barn and the asking price is only $79,900. With a USDA Rural home loan we could go 0 down, have no pmi (private mortgage insurance) and have a payment of around $450 a month. Plus the seller could pay up to $4500 dollars of closing costs and we'd qualify for O'bama's $8,000 tax credit for first time homebuyers. (We qualify because we haven't owned a home in three years.) Draw back: One bedroom, one bath, 1,000 sq. feet.

The DH, always the realist, says I'm "smoking crack" to think of shoving all seven of us in that space. I told him we could add on, one room at a time but he didn't catch the vision. So we wait.

I WANT LAND! I WANT GARDENS & CHICKENS & A PIG NAMED BACON!

Someday. Okay, I'm off to wait patiently.

Back after the flu!

Whew! Sorry for the unplanned break on the blog. I was unprepared for the flu to hit the family mid-last week. Nothing is harder than having a five month-old vomiting after every feeding. But we survived and are back to normal.

On the news front: I received- courtesy of newbaby.com - an easy to operate, hot pink vado pocket video camera. Soon I will be adding videos to the blog! I just have to get used to being "on camera". It's kinda weird as usually I do the shooting or photos, not be in them. The camera is great and easy to use even for a non-techy like me! Even my eight year old can just grab the cam, push a button and start recording. (That did mean deleting seven minutes of Sponge Bob he chose to video off the t.v.) When I'm on video I plan to enlist my 12 year-old to shoot but I can also use a tripod too. Here is a question for my readers: What do you want to see? I know the Grandparent's answers but what about the rest of you?

Okay, on with the day! I have a big pile of mending calling my name, a family to feed, a garden to plan and hopefully a trip to the farm store to see the little chicks and research coop options. I love being an Artisan of the Home!