Be Ye Separate

Learning New Things :)

Blessings!

   As always, we continue to learn new things :) As promised, I am here to share our experiences and adventures and keep up this blog once again:) Sooooo, here goes!

   Our newest little adventure since coming here is tapping Maple trees! I can tell you, I was nervous about the whole thing. Like anything else we learn for the first time, we began our in depth research to make sure we were doing it all the right way at the right time. We searched and searched and searched but each place we found sites with printable pages only to find that it would make a booklet with no more than 4 pages. Surely there is more to it than this? So we searched more and more and more, always coming up with the same enemic information. Little pictures identifying the bark of Sugar Maples, Red Maples, Silver Maples and Boxelder trees. All tappable and all edible. Drill a hole, tap a spile in until it flows (or drips quickly), hang a bucket with a lid to keep out the debris and rainwater and empty once a day! It CAN'T be that easy!

   After weeks of searching and coming up seemingly empty handed we made a trip out to talk to a fella in BRF that runs a place called Buzz and Brew...he has supplies and information on keeping bees, tapping trees, wine and beer making etc. I asked him what a good book for the information I needed would be and he walks over and picks up a little 4 page pamphlet sized booklet, hands it to me and says..."there ya go!" Huh? I laughed so hard cuz it was exactly the pages I had printed out a few weeks earlier! I asked him if it was really this simple and he said, "yep! It's so easy the trees could do it themselves!" :P He gave me little hints about boiling off the water to make the syrup when we are done and it's simple as that! Soooooo... here's some pictures of our tapping adventure :P I do warn you though...my daughters have teased me ruthlessly about how "girlie" I look when I tapped MY tree :P

   For all their teasing though...my tree is flowing fastest :P

Papa drilling the trunk with a 3/8 inch auger bit to just about 1 1/2 inch depth. The debris is nice and light colored so it's a good tree.

The girls armed and ready for the task.

The buckets were purchased used but  the lids and spiles are new.Miss Mary-Ann tapping her tree (in all fairness if I have to reveal my inept attempt then they have to suffer right along with me:P)Miss Sarah gets hers tapped in.Then girlie me :POnce we got the spiles in just the right place, it starts immediately pouring out. Some faster than others, of course:DJiggle the wire to attach the lids on to keep out rainwater and debris from the trees...bugs get in it anyway but you just strain them out when you pour them into the waiting buckets.And there you have it!I must admit, we do tend to check them every few hours just to see how much we have:P Our first day we must have checked in a couple dozen times to find the next morning that we only got about 1/2 a cup of sap :D

   Since then we have found that it varies by day. The temperatures have a lot to do with it. If it's too warm at night then it won't flow as well in the day. If it's at least 30 at night then the daytime makes a lot more.

   Just yesterday we pulled in over a gallon!

   Oh and don't let it fool you. It sounds like a lot of sap but in reality it will take approximately 40 gallons of sap to produce 1 gallon of syrup! There are many more trees on the property that we intend to tap in hopes of speeding up our gathering time.

   According to the experts, a single tree can give you between 15 and 20 gallons of sap and still keep the tree safe for next year:) It is our hope that we will be able to add this to our list of self sufficient and self sustaining life on the farmstead:)

   Hope you enjoyed it as much as we have!

God be with thee!

Sister Lori

It's Time!

Blessings!

   Well, after nearly 5 months of trying to settle into our new home and so many things happening in between...it's time to get back to my blog! I am going to make a concerted effort to get back to regular blogging now that life is slowing down. I have truly missed it and I've missed visiting with all of you. How thoughtless of me to ignore my blogging friendships and slip away without a word. Sooo, I ask forgiveness from all of you and I hope to be more diligent and consistent in the future:)

   Having said that...I want to share some wonderful and exciting news for us:)

   As you all know, we moved to Wisconsin back in October. You also know that in that move we had to leave behind our son and his little family:( It was one of the hardest things we have ever had to do but decisions like these are something that must be prayed about and sometimes the end result is to do things that are difficult and not what you want.

   Well...here's the new news...Matthew and his beautiful family ARE HERE!! Yep! They moved here near us. In fact, they have moved into an uncles house who is a long haul trucker. He offered his home to them not only to insure his home and cats are safe while he is on the road, but to help Matthew to get back on his feet again:)

   Matthew lost his job back in January and after really trying hard to find a new situation, things just weren't working. There were no jobs and no prospects. Even Kristina's parents were having trouble after her father also lost HIS job.

   It was a terribly difficult decision to make but after prayer and lots of discussion, they decided to give it a whirl! Matthew drove their things out (with a few little mishaps) and arrived here on the 9th. Then Kristina and Little Miss Shea arrived on an airplane the next afternoon to join him.

   We are busy this week helping them to get settled into their new home, which is just in the village where we live! They are less than 1/2 a mile away:)

   And did I mention that Kristina is expecting in May? Yep...Little Miss Shea is going to be a big sister! Little Miss Shelby!! We are all so excited:) God is good.

   I know this was terribly difficult for Kristina, leaving her parents to make this move. I know it was terribly difficult for them to step back and let them do what they felt was best for their growing family. It's always difficult for us mom's to let go and just be there for them as they make their own decisions and feel so very blessed as we watch them grow and learn. Oh if only we could just give them a manual to follow to avoid all the pitfalls we experienced before them. But, just like stereo instructions...they wouldn't read it because they already know how it works :P

   So that's our news :) I'll be back! I have some pictures to share and want to just keep up with my dear friends here at the blogger:)

God be with thee!

Sister Lori

What do we do on a cold winters day?

Why BAKE and COOK of course!

Blessings All!

   We are adjusting rather well to our new surroundings. Although it tends to be a bit colder than Oregon had been, it's really not that bad :) We've heard stories but so far nothing close has happened yet. I am hoping that one day we will have stories of our own to tell :P

   In the meantime we have done some experimenting with some new cookware that Brother Craig purchased before we moved here to Wisconsin. He wanted to save it until we moved so we could get rid of all the old stuff, except for my beloved cast iron, and have pots and pans that matched and had lids that fit and didn't look like we raided the second chance shoppe...of course that IS where we got all that old stuff :P

   Well, the cooking part of it went well...then there was the promise of the included cookbook for this wonderware that we could bake in it as well! So, why not? Seems easy enough. We can watch a timer, turn a dial, lift a lid...so lets give it a shot...um...maybe pineapple upsidedown cake should have been tried after simpler things were perfected...I think Miss Sarah wanted to cry. :P She might not be able to do the cookware thing but she sure can bake pies with the flakiest, most delicious crusts! And Voila!!!

Then there is the PotPies she creates:Then there is the Anything Goes Casserole...YUM!

There is more but this will have to do for now. I will be posting progress on the house here as time permits! It's exciting!

Have a very blessed day in the Lord!

God be with thee!

Sister Lori

Coming right along:)

Blessings!

   As with all things, whether it be fast or slow, it's coming right along:)

   We did manage to finally have our gathering with brother, wife and niece. It was such a wonderful time and some pretty tastey food I might add:P We exchanged gifts and just spent time talking and enjoying each others company:) It's been a very long time since we've been together for any holidays and this was such a blessing:)

   Things are getting put away slowly and just as soon as I think I've organized something to my liking, I go and change it again! Do I keep doing this because like the work involved? or maybe it's a control issue:P Controlling my environment seems to be the only thing I do have some say in these days:) God has control of the rest and one day I might just give this over to Him too:P

   Our sewing projects that we have had on the ready for the last several weeks are...finally...STILL IN THE READY POSITION! Hehe! I found so many other things that needed doing instead and so, as usual, it all got put aside. Ugh! Perhaps this week I'll get around to more of that and less of the distractions:)

   The girls started new jobs today so I'm all alone! It's odd to be alone. I am not sure I'm enjoying it so much as enduring it. Well, it's only until 3 so it isn't so bad I guess:P I sure do miss them though. They can fight like cats and dogs and sometimes make me feel like pulling my hair out but you know, I just don't know what I"ll do with myself when they one day leave my nest:s

   Miss Sarah's room is coming right along (hehe). For all of our hopes and wishes, time is what we have and slowly but surely is far more productive than quick and messy:) My brother comes over nearly every weekend to work on the room (and some other to do's) and it is slowly coming around to looking like a real room again! Yay!

   I have pictures of it but I want to wait until we have it completed and then I can show you from start to finish what it looks like! It's so exciting and Miss Sarah is thrilled! She has been working side by side with the men up there from the start and she feels like she's contributed in a big way (which she has) to helping get things done and settled here:)

   The girls went skating on the lake yesterday and last night were feeling it:P With the pending job this morning they weren't looking forward to having to be on their feet all day. But with a little slow achy push this morning they were off and running:)

   We woke up to the most beautiful display of Gods artistic work that I've ever seen. The frost on the treest was crystalized and has everything looking like a frozen wonderland! It's so amazing! Those beautiful branches just sprouting with the most intricate designs of crystalized ice! Absolutely stunning! Thank you God!

   Well, it's just after noon and I need to get some more things done before those two get home. I have to "stage" some things so they can help me with the heavy parts since I can't do that part myself:P Oh and I am redoing the kitchen...again! Always reorganzing that place. One day I think I'll be done with that just in time to move again! hehe!

   The kitchen is just wonderful and big and I am trying to make the most out of my workspace. I still have some things that need unpacked in there but I ran out of steam a few weeks ago and of course the boxes just sat on the floor in the kitchen (out of the way) while we began to live life around them. I can't stand it anymore! I need organization...it makes me crazy! :P

   Okay, I'm done ranting...off to make use of my time:)

God be with thee!

Sister Lori

An Indoor Day!

Blessings!

It is a brisk -11* this morning! So indoor day it is!

Yesterday we got all the Christmas decorations down and put away except for one lone wreath that needs a home:( I was hoping to find another wreath box this year but after searching yesterday at two differen WalMarts I'm pretty sure those are all sold out! They were going for such great prices that I knew I should have purchased one more but thought I had enough:( Oh well...we'll figure it out:)

It's nice to reclaim the house though! This means that now after all the holiday stuffs is over for another year I get to turn my efforts back to the house:) Thank you Jesus!! Our goal is to be completely finished with unpacking (with the except of Miss Sarah's things) by the end of this week! Of course we are also praying that Miss Sarah's room can be finished up this weekend, in which case her thing will be unpacked too:)

I have several sewing projects that need doing and I am hoping to get back to those by next weekend:) I have a wool coat to make, three dresses, 3 flannel blushers, half dozen flannel undies and two flannel under slips to do. Doesn't take long (except the coat) and the girls have their own list of "to do's" that we will all work on together:) It makes my sewing time much more pleasant when I have someone to share it with:)

I'm not sure if we'll be seeing my brother and his family this weekend afterall. I'm sad about that but we have a "chill advisory" that came in last night until noon on Sunday. We decided that if we do go, we'll take a motel room near them so we don't have to try to drive this at night when the temps are expected to drop to -25*. Yikes! They do expect a high of 4* today though hehe!

We spent our New Years Eve, playing some games, eating lots of unecessary snacks and reading together:) We were going to watch a couple old movies but we ended up getting sidetracked with the games instead:) Always a welcome thing:) We much prefer just playing and being together anyway:)

Well, I suppose I should get breakfast up. I let Brother Craig sleep in a bit as he had a very late night last night (twice in a row makes for a grumpy hubby) A good breakfast after a nice sleep always seems to help:) I think the kitchen is warmed up enough now:) I turned the cannon on at 7 and then huddled under my blankie in my room on my lounge:)

Have a very blessed weekend!
God be with thee!
Sister Lori