Sunshiny Sundays Are Restful

Sunshine on a Sunday means this...

 

Sunshine on any other day of the week means this...

Aslan Is On The Move!

There is this strange thing appearing all over my yard.  It is brown and matted but I do believe it is ground!  I could be wrong, though, since it has been so long since I've seen said item.

We've managed to have a few daytime temps above freezing and the snow is gradually shrinking away.  It is possible that spring may actually arrive.

The chickens are enjoying getting to be out and about after being cooped up all winter.  (Keeping chickens really brings that saying to reality.)

The Compost area and cold frame are peeking out.

Bulbs are sprouting everywhere the snow has melted.

And we have tapped a couple of trees to experiment with maple syrup making.

While I enjoyed my winter reading sabbatical (knocking off a good portion off my reading list) it is good to be able to get moving again.  Planting isn't too far off- as long as the weather cooperates!

Well, I'm off to make some cheesy potato soup for dinner, empty my sap buckets and collect eggs! It is good to be back in the blogging world and it is good that Aslan has returned to Narnia... er... Michigan!

Mosquito Part Three (Finale)

We've all felt the itch of mosquito bites.  Even with all the precautions mentioned in Part One, Part 2 A and Part Two B, you can still end up itching.  Lady mosquitoes (male skeeters don't bite) inject their saliva into your skin when they bite.  The saliva prevents blood clotting and allows the insect to feed uninhibited. It is the saliva that creates the bump and the itch.

The best method for relief is not to scratch but if you are like me then that isn't happening.  I have no will power in this area.  The options I choose from then are:

1. A baking soda paste- mix baking soda with a bit of water to form a paste and apply to each bite.

2. Bath in your tub with 1 cup of baking soda and 1tsp. lavender essential oil.  Soak for 15 to 20 minutes. (This is my favorite and feels heavenly!)

3. A drop of tea tree essential oil or lavender  EO dabbed on your bites will bring relief.

4. For a splash: 1 part apple cider vinegar mixed with 3 parts water.  Stand in tub and splash on areas that are causing you discomfort.

5. You can dab neem base oil onto your bites and also aloe vera.

Of course there are always the standard OTC remedies too: Benedryl (topical and pill), calamine lotion etc.

To purge your body of toxins from the saliva of the mosquitoes drink red clover tea.  It is actually a really yummy herbal tea with no stimulants. (Pregnant women or those having surgery should avoid drinking it.)

There ya go folks.  Have a great, mosquito bite free rest of spring and summer! I'm off for a baking
soda and lavender soak! Thank goodness these skeeters are only supposed to be around for a couple of more weeks. They are special type thanks to our spring flood. You can read about it here!

Flowers and salads!

Last night's dandelion and lilac salad was a success!  I will not be facing church discipline or excommunication. I don't know that people will be rushing to recreate it any time soon but everyone tried it and found it surprisingly good.  Everyone but Farmer John.  Turns out that he doesn't like the smell of lilacs (You think I would know this after 20 years.) and "they taste just like they smell."  After he was finished eating there was a little pile of lilac petals on the side of his plate.  Seems the dandelions were fine for him though.  Next time I'll sneak dandelion greens into it too.  I only did the flower heads last night.

Regular vege salad with the addition of edible flowers: Lilacs and Dandelions.

I also used my available flowers in a more traditional sense.

 Dandelions flower heads floating in a shallow bowl of water.

Lilacs as the centerpiece of the table.

The other in season item I used for the evening was rhubarb from my garden in a yummy rhubarb crumble topped with homemade vanilla custard!

My rhubarb earlier this spring.

 

It is so much fun to "use what you've got" and be creative rather then running to the store and buying something.

The only downer to the night was the over abundance of mosquitoes that chased us off the deck and indoors for the evening.  Bat houses, homemade natural mosquito sprays and itch remedies will be fodder for another blog post.

Spring on the Homestead: Lilacs and Dandelion Trails

We first laid eyes on our homestead almost a year ago.  When I saw it, it was evident that the property was for me.  One of my big wants on my "list" was lilacs.  I wanted my home to have some thriving lilacs on it- the more, the better- and this property had one whole, long fence line of the shrubs.

 

They were beautiful and smelled heavenly.  Unfortunately for me we didn't close on the house until mid-June and the lilacs had finished.

But it is spring once more and those precious lilacs are mine- ALL mine! Not only do I intend on some very pretty bouquets in the house but since lilac flowers are edible I will adding the blossoms to salads and topping desserts with them.  I might try sugaring them... wouldn't they look pretty on a cake or pie?  I've also heard that one can make lilac wine.  I'm not a drinker but it might be fun to learn how to make flower wines. Hmmm... lilac tea too.

Its a good thing I'm hosting a ladies bible study tomorrow night.  I think I shall be creative with my lilacs and dandelions and see how my foraged treats go over.  It will either be a big hit or I'll end up in church discipline. LOL!

 

 My coveted fence line!

 A white lilac growing in one of the flower beds.  I wish I could bottle up the aroma!

Another lilac type of shrub in another flower bed.  This one however lacks any aroma.

A beautiful bonus: A path of dandelions leading back into our forested area.  I am a lover of the herb (dandelions are not weeds) and couldn't believe this beautiful path was on my property.  God is so good to bless us with this land!

Homeschool Photography

Last year my older girls did a study on photography.  This was not a class they took outside the home.  I do not like having to drive ten thousand places for every child so this was from a book checked out from the library.  They read it, studied and took notes on it and then I made assignments for them for each chapter.  They enjoyed it very much.  My oldest is even considering further study in the field.

One of my joys in homeschooling is seeing not only learning taking place but a love of it as well.  Now, you won't find my kids doing math for fun but just the other day the girls went outside and took these wonderful pictures all on their own.

I love it when learning becomes doing and time gets spent productively!

Spring Became Summer Today

85 degrees!  That's what the temp was today on May 1st.  Can I tell you that planting lettuce in that kind of weather feels just plain wrong.  All I'm asking for is dry, somewhat sunny, warmish day.  I'm good with 50's and 60's or even a low 70 but 85?  I am so tired right now and I don't feel I accomplished that much today.

House cleaned and morning chores done. Trip to the library done. (Probably the highlight of my day.  I picked up all of last year's Hobby Farm Home magazine issues for $1. They're mine all mine!) Weeded and then planted two types of greens. (Endive and Romaine Lettuce) Instructed kids on the planting of a row of peas in the no till bed.  Took care of chickens and chicks.  Hiked back to the stream at the back of the property because my daughters were certain that rhubarb was growing back there along with mint and lemon balm. (Ahhh... no.  I found nothing.  Later my hubby said he smelled onions back there.  Sure, right! ) Meals done. One very dirty young child bathed. (She made "worm cakes" today in the garden.) Plants watered and gardening supplies picked up.  Wow... I guess I should list my accomplishments more often.  I guess I did quite a bit.

Now, after I finish this post, I'm out to the fire pit to enjoy our first bon-fire of the season.  (With Smores!)  A nice hot shower and bed sound good too though.

 Kids planting peas

 

Peas are one of the easiest things for little ones to plant.  They are big enough for kids to easily drop into pre-dug holes.

 

Worm cake anyone?

Lewis Family Version of Homework

Today was just too nice of a day to spend inside in school books.  That's the beauty of homeschool. We took the learning outside and did "Homework".

 

Science and art: Planting lettuce and greens, laying wood chip pathway, Painting stepping stones, placement of stepping stones.  The kids learned repurposing and frugality with this too.  The wood chips are all shredded in our chipper from fallen branches around our property. The stepping stones are left over wood from building our chicken tractor's nesting boxes.  The paint was leftover from the kid's bedrooms.

 

 More hands on garden experience: Three freshly tilled garden beds.  Our fourth bed wasn't tilled but covered in layers of leaves last fall and then covered with a tarp to promote decay.  We will compare which method (till or no till) produces better crops.

 

 Animal Husbandry: Feeding chickens dandelion greens, worms and grubs and learning that the chickens really prefer you to till the garden bed rather then do it themselves.

 

 Auto detailing:  Something my 12 year-old son is interested in doing to earn some $$.  Today was step one- learning how to properly wash the outside!

 

 Yes, a lot of kids are already proficient at washing cars by 12, 14 and 16 but when we were suburbanites our cars didn't need washing often and we just drove them through a pay car wash.  Now that we live on a dirt road the cars get a wee bit more filthy.  They will get a lot of practice.

For those of you who are freaking out because of lack of "studious" school, today we also had personal reading time, Bible study, WW2 history, and guitar practice. It was a full but fun day.

Slight Diversion

Today's post was supposed to be something "artisany" but like all best laid plans...

Remember my post last week about this...

Well, that ended up in my basement yesterday when the sump pump blew a fuse and quit working.  The ground from last week's rains was still so saturated that when the pump ceased to function the water just drained back in.  The entire 1,000 sq feet was two to three inches deep with water.  Very cold, ankle numbing water, I might add.

So today instead of doing something fun on the homestead, I get to dry out carpet and organize basement stuff that got brought upstairs.  Upside:  We hardly lost any material "stuff".  Most everything was either up on racks or stored in plastic boxes or dryable.  My biggest loss:  RIP to my 1985 Sophomore yearbook. Tragic, I know.

We are hoping with quick action (read sucking up water and drying things out with dehumidifiers) that we may avoid having to replace carpet and padding.  We shall see.  If we lose the carpet then my husband gets his basement woodworking shop he has wanted.

Currently we have the basement (one big room, one smaller room and two store rooms) set up as craft/sewing and exercise in the big room and a playroom in the smaller. But the play room is really just toy storage.  The kids rarely stay and play.  If my husband does his woodshop thing then I'll claim the second room for my "shop".  Pinterest has lots of cute ideas for painting concrete floors and creating clever craft spaces.  We shall see.

So I'm off to tackle water!  Have a blessed day!!

Spring Days

Oh, what a nice day we had today.  After colder than normal temps and lots of rain we finally had a nice warm and sunny day!  It is so much nicer to do chicken chores in warmer weather.  Of course I had to fill the chicken's water a couple of times.  Those ladies can drink!  But just being able to be outside.  Happy sigh.

The only shame to the day was the ground was still to wet to work in the garden much.  Last week we had torrential rain!  By Thursday morning everything in West Michigan was flooding.  I'm crossing my fingers that my recently planted spinach seeds didn't get washed away.  I guess time will tell.

So we spent this lovely day practicing archery, going to the park and perusing the local libraries for good spring reading material.  And as I write this, we have homemade ice-cream whirring around in the maker.  It is good that winter has disappeared at least for today.

Here are some pictures of the local flooding last week:

 The dairy farm across the street.  That's supposed to be a field, not a lake.

 The creek that passes through our property flooding by the road.  The owners of the house in the background were very worried.

 The other side of the road.  The creek didn't overflow quite as bad.

 The Cooke Family rescuing their calves from the rising flood waters.

 

 Our next door neighbors home.  Normally this is all grass not water.

 

 The farmers working on getting the calves and their houses moved to higher ground.

 

 Flood waters getting pretty close to the diary barns!

 

The back forest part of our property. Normally not wet!

I'm Back!

Oh My Gosh!!! I still exist!  Getting serious about a great many things.  Farming... got chickens!  Bees are next. We've had our top bar bee hive for two years.  This is the year to finally get bees for it!  Also getting serious about writing and selling artisan products from the homestead.  More soon...

 

Reagan holding one of our "Little Peepers"!  12 Barred Rock Pullets.

One Jester and Four Maidens...

For The Grandmas!

A post of tidbits

Our friendly little ground squirrel is going to get aquainted with a new spice!

I've just read that squirrels don't like cayenne pepper. Guess who's going to go to Costco and buy a big ol' honkin' container. The heavy rain we've had has surely washed away the castor oil I tried and the neighbor's teen didn't have any luck with his BB gun. So cayenne pepper is next on the list. Apparently you sprinkle your garden plants and soil with it and it keeps the squirrels away. I'm pouring it right down the hole.

Also heard that the USDA is not going to persue the National Animal ID System. Yeah! Don't tread on me!

Remember the cigar box purses that were trendy a few years ago? Well now, you can make cowboy-boot purses. Actually they're quite cute! The how-to is in the June/July issue of Mary Jane's Farm magazine.

If you can sew and are looking for fun vintage style patterns check out FOLKWEAR. They have great vintage patterns from many different periods, countries and cultures. I found several I'd like to try once my sewing abilities improve.

Just today an idea for a children's picture book popped into my head. I've got great words but alas I have no artistic talent in the illustration department. Anyone know Johannah Bluedorn? She is the talented lady who illustrated Raising Maiden's of Virtue. Her drawings for that book are right in line with the pictures in my head. I'm going to write it and send a proposal off to Vision Forum. Actually, I'd like to publish it myself (not vanity publishing but actually start a publishing house) but I fret that the entire process might be a bit large for me. Anyone else ever thought of publishing? Any illustrators out there?

Finally, because of the excitement of building and having a greenhouse this spring we started lots of seeds. They were doing great and then we had two nights of freezing weather. Now we need to start at least half of what we had started over as they went caput. We lost pumpkins, tomatos, basil and corn. Also, my beautiful lemon balm turned brown and the leaves curled up. Thankfully, there is plenty of new green leaves already growing. So what did we learn? We need to keep rabbits in the green house to heat it to keep the plants alive. But how do we keep the rabbits warm in the winter? Anyone have knowledge on this. We'd want meat rabbits, both for their meat and for their skins (for fly tying.) Of course we would also need to learn to tan the hides as well as butcher the bunnies and I'm not sure the landlords would appreciate us processing rabbits in our garage. LOL!

Protecting the Homestead from Critters

We have wasps something terrible in our area. Those nasty little critters try to build nests everywhere. Just this afternoon I had to chase two of them out of our mailbox and knock down the nest they had started.

We have read that having a honey bee colony in your immediate area will cut down the wasps because the honey bees will attack them. I hope to get our top bar hive up and running soon but in the mean time we have wasp traps up.


The other pesky critter we are battling currently is a ground squirrel. You can get rid of moles by putting castor oil in their holes and on the lawn. They will pick up and move somewhere else. They don't like the castor oil's smell, taste or how it feels on their fur. We are hoping it is the same for ground squirrels. I just had my son pour some down the newest hole tonight.

Dirty rotten little squirrel and its latest handiwork in our back yard. Not only is it an eyesore but it is dangerous. One wrong step and you've twisted your ankle- OR WORSE- lose your croquet ball.

You might not think that a ground squirrel would be anything to worry about. But this little guy burrowed this tunnel only feet from the garden area. Thanks, but no thanks. The garden is to feed me, not him. If the castor oil doesn't do the trick then the landlord's sons will. They sit up on the decks with pellet guns and hunt. Don't go all PETA on me. We have a huge field in the back and the little guy is more than welcome to live happily out there. But its closing time in my yard. He doesn't have to go home but he can't stay here.