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Yeaaaaaaa Field Trip yesterday to a goat farm. I found a Dwarf Nigerian goat raiser on the internet and contacted her to see if we could visit her operations and see how she did everything. Deborah was very gracious to us as she gave us a tour. If you are in central Illinois you might want to check out Antiquity Oaks Nigerians for your goats. Besides Nigerians she raises a couple Nubian goats, heritage chickens, geese, turkeys, sheep, and ducks. She also has guard llamas, an Anatolian guard dog, some horses she is fostering, an English shepherd dog for the sheep, and a couple rabbits which we did not get a chance to ask about. She has had pigs also in the past. These are the bucks housed separately. Deborah fed them and they were just gobbling it down jumping all over each other. Bucks are stinky so they are not housed with the does. Plus if you housed them together all the time they would just breed, breed and breed constantly.
A beautiful doe.
More does and a Nubian wether with grandson N.
More of them. They were all different sizes and colors and personalities. No pics of the littlest ones though.
Watch geese parading for us.
We got lots of ideas for a milking area, fencing, protection, and housing. We sampled some of Deborah's goat's milk and cheese. The milk was very white and creamy with no goatee taste at all, Yummy! Blessings. |
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Monsanto is an agricultural company... so begins their introduction on their website HERE. It is a really nice looking website too. But did you know how powerful they are and how they push genetically modified products. From what I have read so far about GMOs they have not been tested enough yet, they can cross polinate with neighboring crops without you wanting them to, they are modified to survive herbicides sprayed on them and if they cross pollinate your seed you cannot legally save your seed as it belongs to Monsanto through patents. Many people have gone from working at Monsanto on to the US dept of Agriculture. Hmmm does that sound like a good idea? They make the laws for agriculture. Check this HERE to find some info on Monsanto and who owns nature. Be sure to scroll down to the comments and check out the videos and suggestions of where to find info. Here is info about a film called The Future of Food you might want to see. The DVD is available at netflix they said or at other rental places maybe. I would like to see it. Trust in God as the times they are a changin' Blessings. |
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We discovered a really unique kitchen cabinet in the farmhouse after we had already moved in. Come look inside...bruhahahaha...
Ahhh, it is a spice cabinet. But let's look further inside.
More shelves behind the secret door. This is such a great cabinet for keeping the spices separated and organized. And it holds a lot of them too.
There are also two glass corner top cabinets to display the really nice dishes in if we choose.
The lower corner cabinets are turntables. There is plenty of cabinet space in this kitchen.
Here's hoping you can forget the mess in the cabinet and on that counter, pretty please. Blessings. |
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What did our wondering eyes behold last night on the porch?
Yes, SNOW!! I consider this the first snow of the season. I do not have to have accumulation. It does not have to cover all of the grass. It does have to cover the birdbath.
Or maybe on the BBQ.
If it covers the hillbilly fall garden it is snow. (White row covers, plastic covered, rocks, straw, cement thingees, and old furniture to keep it from blowing away.)
It is snow if the windshield is frozen and the engine covered. So what if the west pasture still looks green.
Now if it covers the welcome mat it definitely counts as a real snowfall.
Blessings. |
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Sometimes while driving somewhere I will listen to Christian CDs or the Bible. I also like to listen radio talk shows while driving. I actually would prefer a book on CD but I don't always have one handy. So yesterday on my dirve to my mom's house up north I put on WIND 560am a Chicago station that we get down here in central Illinois. I listened to a young man who is about 28 years old, young by my standards anyway, who had some special guests on speaking about the economy, how to get rich in real estate, how to fix the economy, etc. Did you know we have been doing everything wrong? The news media has made us worry for nothing. We are panicking thinking hard times are coming when really there is a very simple solution. So stop worrying, stop saving and hoarding that cash for when the banks close, stop cuttting corners and doing without things. Just do this. Go out and buy an American made brand new car. Everyone should do it. That means you, ya know. And then when you have done that because you will have no problem at all getting a nice low interest loan please go out and spend ooops I mean charge your Christmas gifts for grandma and grandpa, hubby, and sweetie pie, aunts, uncles, cousins, children, neighbors, enemies, dogs, cats and even the mailman. This will fix the economy big time. Plus the added advantage will be that you will be driving around town all comfy in that new heated seat gas guzzling shiny new SUV, family van, or sports car. And why worry about gasoline since it is so cheap why not buy two cars. We all know gas won't go up again. You can also have that new plasma big screen tv to go watch in that cool comfy leather recliner when you get out of the car. And so will grandma, that's me of course. Hint, hint!!! Simple isn't it. Why didn't we all think of it. And here we have been depriving ourselves wondering how to pay for our food, clothing, and gas and all we had to do was get out those credit cards. And then the economy will get chugging along at a fast clip and prosperity here we come. Oh, you say what if you lose your job, already lost it, or have had your working hours cut down. Hmmm... they didn't go into that so I guess that is not a option for you then. That's just all in your mind including the rise in prices of everything too I suppose. So lets go out and spend that hard unearned money that doesn't exist except for the plastic it is on. What is this young grandchild saying to you? CHARGE IT!!! Buy me more, more, more, toys........
But what about the fact that the plastic stays in landfills forever just like that balance with interest on your plastic credit card stays on you forever waiting to be paid off. What was that guy thinking of on the radio? Crazy huh? Blessings. |
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My daughter, her husband and five kiddos went to the Bluedorn Ball this past Friday. It was a fundraiser for a young man's medical expenses. She enjoyed the fellowship of other homeschooling families and all the festivities. She was able to meet JenIg and also happened to win the quilt her daughter made to be raffled off. Here she is with the quilt she won and sweet JenIg. We both had been wanting to personally meet her since we started blogging years ago. I didn't end up going since it was a family thing anyway.
Here is the beautiful quilt on Princess C's bed who was thrilled to get it. Don't you just love it? She did a most excellent job on it.
Blessings. |
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What's with this anyway???
OWWWWWWWWWWWEEEEE!! Poor little chicken..... It wouldn't even fit in the carton.
Congratulations it's twins.
Yummy except for one breaking. D the chicken boy claimed it anyway since he retrieved it. I hate to eat broken yoked eggs.
The pilgrim lady will watch over the empty shell now.
Oh, and by the way what is on your kitchen window? This is my daughters.
There is a plastic black thing; small jar of Carmex; old lemon spoiling; A&W root beer relic jar with a tomato branch (I am seeing if it will root.); Pilgrim lady from a Publix in Georgia (Her hubby got cracked tee hee. I love these and don't know if they still sell them down there. My son has a set and a set of little ones.); 2 unused passys; two dried stinky sponges that need washing; a piece of plastic; and a white button. Do you see the blurry line of pines outside the screen window which hopefully will protect the house from the northern winds? Aren't they cute? This is another pic from their parent guided field trip. Wish we had a swing on the porch like that.
Blessings. |
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My naughty computer lost the beginnings of my post so i will try again. Does anyone know what this is? And yes, I know it is a mushroom.
We have several ornamental pear trees(we think) on the property. Two of them are in the new garden area so my daughter has been wanting to move them out front. Her hubby commmutes to work so he has not had much time lately to do this. So she decided with the help of the boys she would go ahead and move one. We were still having some great weather to get it done too.
The boys helped her dig a hug hole to get a large root section to move with the tree.
While she was finishing up in the back she had sent them out front where the tree was going to start digging a hole there. This was only the beginning here. It had to be much deeper.
Then they used the polycart hitched up to the lawnmower which we use like a tractor around here. No expensive John Deere for us, no, no way. It's a Husqueeeeeeeea something but I would like to have the sewing machine version of this little baby.
Once in the ground we had to move all the dirt back into the hole in front on the tree roots and the hole in back, water it, and tamp it down. Even Princess C was helping that day. Oh, and the dog too.
After doing this one my daughter decided the other one could just stay where it was until hubby had time to help out maybe in the spring. She had a good soak in the jacuzzi tub that night. The boys also needed baths that day after climbing in the hole over and over again and digging with their hands. They said it was easier than the shovel. Here are the Illinois grandchildren on a field trip one day - ages 10, almost 7, 4, almost 3, and 5 1/2 months.
Blessings. |
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The fields across from, on both sides of us, and behind us have all been harvested. The field across from us has also been plowed. This time the farmer had a semi-truck to haul away the corn. You can see the combine in the background which harvested the corn and stored it inside. Then it would go to a wagon to empty out. A neighbor says the corn goes overseas.
Here is the wagon pulled by a tractor emptying into the semi. I guess they did not want the semi-truck driving all over the field and compacting the soil. They couldn't park it anywhere but in the field since there is no place on the side of the road to park.
In this picture you can see the corn flowing out of the spout into the truck.
And now that the trees are losing their leaves we can see parts of our neighbors barn. This is a close up so they are a bit farther away. So now that the corn here is down we can see the road farther down. It is hard to believe we had a natural fence of over 7 feet tall corn here. Here is a pic of it a few weeks ago. We couldn't see anything unless we were in the house where it is higher than ground level.
Here is that same field before the corn was harvested. One morning ago we saw strips of white web from spiders that just appeared that day. The grass had not been mowed and hundreds of tiny spiders were there all over the grass.
Can you see the white webs? Here is a closeup of the cute little spiders. We always see something out here on the farm.
My grandson N and I walked down the empty soybean field on the side of us to way back behind us as far as we could go and then a little left. A fence was there and some tall brush/grass also so we could not go any further. Fields continued after that I imagine till you got to the next road. It was a little chilly with a wind so we went far enough. I did not take my camera so maybe next time once the rains stop. N was so excited to find a plant with yellow berries the size of a cranberry on a dried up plant. We do not know what it is yet. He also had fun finding some cornstalks that still had corncobs on them with the kernals still on. We brought a few back to give the chickens as a treat. Unfortunately I am sure it was not organic corn. They did like it. And without further ado here is another sunset picture taken by my daughter. Someone is always yelling "where is the camera" or charging out of the house with it to take pictures of something or other.
Oh how I love it out here! It is a dream come true. Blessings. |
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I have been away on vacation in Europe seeing the sites spending scads of money given to me by my political supporters. Well, no, that is not exactly true. Uh, I have been held captive by terrorists in a tiny cave with only television with Hee Haw reruns on. No, not really, and it isn't nice to joke about that sort of thing so forgive me, the terrorists not the Hee Haw part. I actually watched it alittle the other night. Cornyyyyyyyyy!!!! How about this excuse....I am busy and it takes to stinkin' long to write and download pictures with poor internet service(actually it is working great lately but wait till the end of the month when we will have used up our time, I bet) and bad computer skills and cleaning, homeschooling, quilting, fall gardening and just plain washing my hair. See ya soon, and blessings. |
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It's a good thing I am in fairly good shape because old farmhouses always have stairways. Our old house in the city had a double length stairway so it probably was the same distance. This one turns and turns. Go up a few steps and then you must turn. And yes that is the most convenient lace for a changing table in the downstairs area. Why go up to change a baby ten times a day.
This is the longest area of the stairs but it isn't over because now you must turn again.
Then this will finally get you upstairs.
All the bedrooms and one bathroom are off this hall. The hallway actually looks shorter than it is plus it was hard to take pictures of the stairs in the narrow environment that they are. Isn't that woodwork awesome. And it is all hardwood floors throughout except the bathrooms and the kitchen. Farmhouses are neat. Blessings.
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Good news on the chicken front. We have had 7 eggs on Wednesday and on Thursday. Did you know pine trees shed their leaves/needles in the fall too?
This was laying in the weeds. Farms are notorious for having junk laying around them.
The sedum is a deep rich color now. No more butterflies and bees on them. We only see the occasional bee or butterfly now.
Fall garden which is now mulched with some straw.
N as he waits to help with the coop preparations the other day.
Blessings.
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Little Princess L loves to be outside in the stroller. Some days she cannot fall asleep unless she is walked all over the property. And she still likes her thumb. Her mom I think has given up on making her take a passy.
I usually have a faithful companion walking along with me. I will tell you a secret but don't tell the dog or anyone else. I like the dog now. Well, except when she stinks or her ears smell. I tell you this can be one stinky dog at times.
But she gives out on the days I am walking without the stroller going around and around the property. She will take a shortcut back to the driveway and to the house and sit or lay there looking at me telling me she is through. The way to keep her going is to take a ball or her toy with and to keep throwing it. She would walk around the world chasing a ball. Sometimes she is not sleepy at all.
Princess C likes me to take pics of her goofing around.
Blessings. |
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The coop is finished and the chickens have arrived. The welcoming committee....
The chickens in the van.
Cage goes into the coop.
Yes, we have a rooster and yes, I am scared of him.
My daughter had the honor of getting the first egg we found today. We only found one and not in the nests but on the floor. To see a picture go to her blog HERE. I will let her also have the honors of showing you the egg laying on the floor. Plus I am too lazy to get her camera and download the egg picture. Here is the egg on HER plate for HER to eat. Ha ha I will get up extra early tomorrow ha hahahahaha.
Blessings. |
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This is an event we have waited for since we moved in and were surrounded by soybean and corn fields. Wait, what is that green thing moving across the fields across the road. The scenery is about to slowly change depending on the weather staying dry and how long it takes this farmer to cover it all alone.
There he goes. When this thing-a-ma-jig is full he goes to the truck and empties it out. We can see these and the trucks all over the roads now.
This picture is from a week or two ago. That side of the field was dryer than the part near our property. He hasn't finished the field yet because it is still drying out near us. he is emptying it out in a truck.
Doesn't that farm house look so close? It isn't really this close since this is a closeup. Unfortunately we don't live out in the middle of nowhere. But it is still quiet and peaceful here and we have very nice neighbors. Blessings. |
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Internet not working for the last 24 hours. Well, it was working but not very well. It does this every so often. Now I know to just close the computer and wait it out. Even until the next day if needed. Our barometer is still working. It has been pointing way up high for awhile and we have had beautiful weather. Low pressures are coming into the area and low and behold our barometer told us even before the weather man did. It was even lower the day before. Notice all those classic books on the shelf behind it. Those were mine and my brothers when we were kids.
School yesterday. Math.
The cow and princess love to read everyday.
Goodnight barn.
Goodnight sky.
Goodnight moon.
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Blessings.|
I was up early and on the porch yesterday morning. I was going to post this yesterday but didn't get the chance.
WOW!
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And this too!
Have a great and blessed Sunday!|
We are being overrun by black walnuts. Previous owners planted about 15 walnut trees on the property of which most of them are lining the driveway. Some of them are near the soybean fields next door. These trees have already been losing their leaves, some sooner than the others. The tree towards the back is a maple. We only have three of them.
Despite picking up several bags from the ground we still have some clinging to the trees we will have to pick up when they drop.
Some of the dropped ones are cracked, some have little maggots in them already, some are hard and some feel spongy. And some have the hulls removed from driving over them in the driveway. A neighbor said that would be the easiest way to remove the hulls.
Remving the hulls is a very messy job as the inside of the green hull is a deep black staining material. I am not sure I want to go through all this just to get a walnut in a very hard shell that then has to be cured and protected from bugs and mice. Several people have been listing on Freecycle trying to get rid of black walnuts. One person got them from FreeCycle and then wanted to get rid of them. Polish Sausage from the city for supper.
A few more veggies form the dwindling garden.
Honey for the winter.
Potatoes from a neighbor. We already made potato salad and mashed potatoes and these are left.
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Blessings.|
One of our many friendly neighbors told us awhile ago that she had a friend that harvests her own honey each fall. Since we like to use honey a lot she said she would give us a holler when it was ready.(actually she said call but in the country it sounds better to say give a holler) It'a ready! Here is an explanation of what honey is: Honeyis a thick liquid produced by certain types of bees from the nectar of flowers. While many species of insects consume nectar, honeybees refine and concentrate nectar to make honey. Indeed, they make lots of honey so they will have plenty of food for times when flower nectar is unavailable, such as winter. Unlike most insects, honeybees remain active through the winter, consuming and metabolizing honey in order to keep from freezing to death. Early humans probably watched bears and other mammals raid bee hives for honey and then tried it themselves. Once people found out what honey was, next they had to learn how to get it from the bees safely! Well, we are getting it safely and not going straight to the hive like Winnie-the-Pooh. Will we look like this after eating all that honey?
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My daughter, hubby, and boys were building something today that is not quite finished. Do you know what it is and why we cleaned this part of the barn? We bombed the spiders as there was so many and their eggs. Here D and I are carefully getting some old blocks out of this room
The room has a door to the outside.
And also a door to the inside of the barn.
Here is the wood we need. If you look closely you might see little beagle paw prints on it. My sil found two roaming beagles which he knew who they belonged to so he had to bring them back. Princess C was so excited when she saw them. She yelled out that daddy bought some puppies. They were cute.
Measure and cut.
Almost done, maybe?
The middle three had some fun too or maybe they are practicing with the sled for winter. One of the neighbors said it was going to be a hard winter.
Well, there is still a lot to do and a lot to buy because something is coming in a week. Blessings. |
