A Homestead Daughter
Friday, February 5, 2010 - A Little Bit of Cuteness!
Monday, February 1, 2010 - A peek into Michael's Mornings....
Good morning everyone! And what a good morning it is, too. 
I'd like to introduce you to my new series of blog posts, called "A peek into (random sibling's) morning". I will be following a certain sibling around with a camera, capturing everything they do in their morning farm chore routine. Yup, you'll get to see all the nitty gritty! What's more, I'm going to be interviewing them as we go. Sound like fun?! The only negative is that there is a ton, literally, a ton, of pictures in these series. So a big group apology to those of you with slow internet connections. Bear with your ol' Bessy or avoid this series!
Alright everyone, let's get bundled up for the morning farm chores!
I'll randomly select Michael to be my first victim. As you can see, he was a good sport about it.
Okay, let's go! Mmm, smell that crisp clean morning air!
First step: crack any ice off the end of the hose and put on nozzle.
Q) So, how long do the morning farm chores take you?
A) "About an hour and a half."
Next, bring the other end of the hose inside and hook up to the warm water. Get the liquid minerals/enzymes (EMs) from the house.
Q) So what do you like most about farm chores?
A) "Being with all the animals."
Fill up water buckets, adding EM's to each.
Give water to calves and goats.
Q) What do you like least about farm chores?
A) "Buddy!" (laughter). (Buddy is our over zealous bull.)
Q) What really?
A) "Hmm, nothing."
Q) Would you rather trade your farm chores for inside chores?
A) "No."
Then give the cows EMs and water.
 Q) Would you rather trade your farm chores for any kind of other chore/job?
A) "No."
Herd the cows over for their morning drink (so the water doesn't freeze before they get to it).
 Q) Would you rather trade your farm chores for a morning school bus ride?
A) "No. Not. Absolutely not."
Q) Who are your favorite farm animals?
A) "Danny (ram) and Summer (milk goat)."
Q) Who's the cutest farm animal?
A) :
 (Danny.)
Q) And the ugliest?
 (laughter)
I actually think he's pretty cute. The boys just have a vendetta against him.
Now we just simply sit on the fence and wait for Buddy to finish his water.
...Just sit there and breathe... stare into the back pasture....
Next, stick the hose in the horse trough to fill.
While the water is filling, collect the mineral buckets from the pens and bring them in to fill.
Now say hi to everybody again, as you feed out the minerals:
I want to interject that these pictures and words simply don't do the experience justice...
The smells are so sharp and clean...
The sun is so bright, the colors all really vibrant....
The sounds are all gentle and tickling to the ear...
The animals are all so cute and soft to the touch...
Your senses are all aroused, yet somehow calmed at the same time. It's a really neat experience.
(Walking out to the horses... and back again.)
Now, the horse water tank is full, so it's time to unhook the hose and drain it.
Okay now, last chore. We gotta climb in the goat house and milk....
And this is the reason he has the chore.
 He fits the bill, well, hole. They've given up using the gate for whatever reason and now just crawl through the milking stanchion.
Step 1: Give goat grain to keep her there.
 (btw, this is Summer. Mike's other favorite farm animal.)
Step 2: Milk goat by squeezing on teats.
Next: talk to the twins in a cute goaty voice. Tell them their turn is next--just be patient. (He's very good at this step. )
Repeat steps 1 and 2 with twins.
Then climb out, being careful not to spill your hard earned milk!
Q) Do you realize how much you contribute in your farm chores?
A) "Yea..." 
All done!
Q) So what is your feeling after completing farm chores?
A) "Lifted, um, in my spirit? LOL I feel successful, like, um, what is the word?"
"Accomplished?"
"Yeah."
So, I'm sorry if I bogged down your computer, but hopefully I lifted your spirits! 
I don't know when I'll get to my next series... it depends on the weather and my mood.
Who do you propose I should follow next? |
Comments (3) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
Friday, January 29, 2010 - Been Making Valentines...
An idea dawned on me the other day, one that has kept me glued to the computer for 24 hours (not literally ) making these valentine cards out of our farm animal pictures gleaned over the years. Take a look:
 
So, can I shamelessly add that these are available in our store?  Owch! There I said it. lol! Have a nice day and be wary of bold sales' ladies!  |
Comments (8) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 - New Country Store!
Yay!! Our new online country store is finally up and going! Please take a look: www.etsy.com/shop/HomenStead We have several more things that will be going up shortly, (including the much anticipated 'castlepult' game mentioned in my Christmas post!) so stick around!
Also, Home-n-Stead.com is now on Facebook, so if you have an account there, I encourage you to be a friend! You'll get the latest updates from our country store and website. Click here!
Lastly, Stephen put together an interview with Johnny concerning their newest movie in the works. Check it out at their blog: www.lundfamilyproductions.co.nr/
Well, that's all for now. Tally Ho and enjoy your snow! 
 |
Comments (4) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
Tuesday, January 19, 2010 - Hey Again!
Hey Everyone!
I'm back, though I can't promise I'll be blogging as often this time o'round, as I've been really enjoying my extra time with the family. So, what's gone on around here since the first of the year?
Well, nothing astounding, yet nothing boring has been taking place. The days are filled with homesteading projects, crafts and chores, and some schooling for the younger kids. As well as the essentials: praying, eating, cleaning and sledding. The crafts and projects vary a lot, so it's hard to say exactly what we've been up to, but for an example, this morning I trimmed hooves, and later I might process apples from the root cellar and I have some work to accomplish on the living room curtains. Andrew's recent project of three days, was a new rustic couch for the living room. It turned out beautiful! (Love the little moose!) Now I'm going to be making cushions for it. And Annie, for example, might make soap today and has been working on a glove/mitten pattern that will work for the boys farm chores in the winter. She's making excellent progress, I'm so excited! Stephen has taken over the overseeing of the animals. Some days he's got to repair fences or roll out round bales to the animals with Michael's help, as well as all his work in the shop, that he and Michael do everyday. Theresa and Annie came up with a beautiful alternative to a plastic, 'made in china' hair brushes. They've been making all kinds of different wooden combs. They work great and leave your hair soft and shiny with less split ends. I'm totally addicted to them! I haven't had to use a plastic brush since they brought the first one in. Way to go girls!!  Lizzy has been learning to knit and purl and has been having fun making blankets for her little dolls. Johnny is rapidly learning to read all of sudden. He just woke up one day determined to figure out this whole reading and writing thing and he's just blowing me--his phonics teacher--away! I wish it was this easy for all you home-schooling parents out there, he really makes this tutoring job easy. Now the breaking news of the day, is that Donna, a.k.a. Miss CuteO, is potty training! We figure now that she's walking, it's time to stop soiling all those cloth diapers. It's going fairly well, though not as good as some of us cherubs had done, as she is just a tad stubborn and a maybe just a mite spoiled...
We've also been crafting for our new home'nstead online country store! It will be hosted through Etsy and I'll let you know as soon as it's up and running, so you can go take a look at the things we've been creating. Hopefully that will be all set up and going soon. Everybody is contributing their talents toward the creations that will be sold there, so it's fun to see it coming together. So anyway, that's another thing that's been taking up our time.
Eh, enough blabbering. I got some pictures here, of the kiddos in action enjoying all their snow for Grandma and Grandpa in AZ to see. Well, the rest of you can look at them too, if you want.
 The End.
Alright, now if you can identify this in five seconds, I'll give you a dollar!!
No, just kidding. But if you guessed porcupine you were right!! (just out a dollar--sorry!).
Thanks to the help of some friends, the boys were able to acquire some pretty cool shots of this guy, as he enjoyed his lunch way the heck up in a tree top.
Okay, well that's all the news for today. Thanks for your continued interest and reading! In a few days, we'll be uploading the new online country store so you'll have some more pictures to look at then...
..and until then...
May God grant you all peace filled content hearts, centered in His own.
May God bless you. |
Comments (4) :: Post A Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
|
