Simpler Times

Corn!

09:00, Sunday, July 13, 2008 .. 3 comments .. Link

This morning, we picked our first few ears of corn. Well, actually our oldest son, 14 y/o went out to check on the garden and brought back some corn and tomatoes. Here is a pic of our first few ears.

A camping we shall go...

10:25, Monday, June 23, 2008 .. 0 comments .. Link

It's been a while since I've posted, so I wanted to update the "goings on" around the house. This past week, I took our three oldest children camping with our church. This is pretty cool because we haven't been camping for a few years. The last time was when Matt and I went on the Father-Son campout.

This was an awesome experience. We went on a GA and RA combined expedition. Well, it feels like an expedition with all of the sleeping bags, chairs, lanterns, compasses, etc.

I do want to mention something funny. As we were loading all of the equipment into my little car last night, the kids were handing me things to pack. I look up from the trunk to see Matt standing there with an ax. He casually said, "Well, we're going to need to chop wood." I don't think the ranger at the park would like that, besides, we're bringing out our wood. He was a bit disappointed, but understood.

Whew... that's one less thing to cram in the trunk :)

Friday night, we all got rained on and I didn't sleep a bit. Our tent seem to drip water all night long, but most of us stayed dry. Our youngest son slept through the whole thing, while I kept checking the water level on one side of the tent, hoping that we would not have to make a break for the car in the middle of the night.

The next day was fun, with some hiking, swimming and a scavenger hunt. All in all, we had a great time!

Way to Go!!!!

02:17, Thursday, May 15, 2008 .. 3 comments .. Link

We just returned from the local college and what a day it was! Today was our youngest son's 4H Regional competition. He had placed first in county last month and we were anticipating and preparing for this event. Even so, he was a bit nervous, but handled it like a pro.

We sat through 5 other presentations in the same category as his and it was incredible to see the compassion that this gave him.

I do have to commend him as well for being a gentleman. He was very nice and genuinely friendly to the other students competing.

I am so proud that that it wasn't about winning for him, but about doing your best. It was funny, when we were walking into the room for the awards, he was just as happy that we were going for tacos afterwards than he was in anticipation.

In the end, he got 1st place and we are very proud of him!

Way to go!

Garden almost ready

06:53, Tuesday, May 13, 2008 .. Posted in Family .. 3 comments .. Link

Yesterday we made some great strides in finishing up our garden prep. it seems like overnight that our corn has sprouted in the planter that we've started them in. I mentioned it to our two sons and they, myself and our youngest daughter got to work to finish preparing the ground for the new corn.

My boys actually said that they enjoyed working out there because it gives them a sense of accomplishment. We had some time to talk and I answered questions like "Why do we do this?", to which I told them that God has given us the gift of being able to grow our own food and that we should honor that and that it is good to grow your own food to be more self-sufficient and less dependent on others.

During this whole time, our youngest daughter had a blast digging in the dirt with her little shovel. She gets so excited that she gets to throwing dirt over her head. We're working on that, but nonetheless, we had a great time.

Things and thoughts

07:30, Friday, May 9, 2008 .. 1 comments .. Link

Yesterday was a bit of a wash because of the rain. (no pun intended) We had some storms come through and were stuck in the house most of the day. Hopefully this weekend will be good, weather-wise and we will be able to go outside.

I also need to sit with my youngest son and go over his 4H project. He will be presenting at the regional competition this coming Thursday and needs to practice a little bit more. On the plus side, we get to eat what he makes :)

I also have to sit down and go over the activities for the upcoming Royal Ambassador camping trip that we'll be having in a few weeks.

There is always something to do :)

More garden "stuff"

07:40, Wednesday, May 7, 2008 .. 3 comments .. Link

Yesterday afternoon, our garden adventures continued. My youngest son, who has expressed an interest in gardening has started to dig his own garden (a 6' x 4' area) adjacent to the family garden. My oldest son and I went to help him. We dug it out, mixed some compost and when we were finished, he planted 6 corn plants and 2 potato halves.

Earlier in the day, my wife picked up a watering can for our 4 year old. It was great to see her enthusiasm for helping out in the garden. she watered everything in site including a new area that the boys were working on. The highlight came when she was thirsty and wanted a drink. What did she do? she put her mouth up to the sprinkler end of the watering can and tipped it up. It was too funny to watch.

Better late than never

01:54, Tuesday, May 6, 2008 .. 0 comments .. Link

During the past 2 days, the kids and I have been getting the garden together. I know it's a bit late to start, however, I cannot let the season go by without a garden.

This year, we are planting tomatoes, corn and some spices. The garden sounds small by some standards, but given our time constraint, we will have to make due.

On Sunday, my two daughters and I went a picked up a load of free composted horse manure. What an incredible thing it is to have a neighbor willing to share :)

It was funny... I asked the girls (the boys weren't home at the time) if they wanted to go with me to run an errand. My youngest daughter, the 4-year-old asked where we were going. I told her that we were going to go get some horse "poo" to which she replied, "Horse poo? That's disgusting. Let's go, Daddy!"

So the rest of the afternoon before church we shoveled and loaded and then pulled the truck up to our garden where we worked some into the area prepared for the tomato plants, unloaded the rest ( Hint: There's probably a compost pile coming soon) and planted some tomato plants with baskets. My youngest son expressed an interest in having his own garden, which is cool to hear about. I pointed to one of the plants and said that one is yours to take care of for now and that he can help with the rest (until we can get a garden going for him)

Monday afternoon, my youngest daughter and I planted herbs for Mommy and started some corn plants that we'll transplant later.

All in all, it was a pretty fun time.

First Entry

01:49, Tuesday, May 6, 2008 .. 1 comments .. Link

Well, this is my first entry on my homestead blog, so I wanted to introduce myself...

I am happily married (almost 17 years) to my wonderful wife and we are blessed with 4 beautiful children ages 14 down to 4 years old.

I love the idea of being self-sufficient and being able (as much as is possible) to provide for our needs from the blessing and resources that God has given us.

That's it for now!

About Me

Links

Diana's Front Porch
Backwoods Home Magazine

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