Hummingbird Garden

We celebrated Abigail’s 6th birthday this week. I’m amazed at how fast my children are growing right before my eyes.

My big girl

Pure excitement at the approaching cake

Abigail is an avid animal lover. She is very good with all of our farm animals and is always trying to catch wild animals to observe and try to care for. We considered getting her a small pet for her birthday, but decided instead to help her put in a hummingbird garden. Ever since she went over my mom’s house a few months ago and fed the hummingbirds out of a hand-feeder, she’s been fascinated with wanting to try that herself. It takes a great deal of patience to sit very still outside over a period of days, weeks or months to get a hummingbird to trust you enough to do that. However, the first step is putting up a feeder or planting a garden to see if there are even any hummingbirds in the area.

She was thrilled with the idea! We looked up the types of flowers that attract hummingbirds in her new hummingbird book and then went to the nursery to pick a few of them out.

We purchased a feeder for her to hang up, too.

She worked really hard to put all of her new plants in and then watered them like a good gardener would do. Since we couldn’t afford to purchase all of the different types of flowers this year, Abigail decided that early next spring she will start some of the other species indoors. Seeds are so much more affordable than full grown flowers and there will be no limit to the different kinds or the amount that she can grow herself!

 

 

The day after she planted the flowers and hung the feeder, she already had visitors to her little garden.

 

We’ve been enjoying their visits every day since. Hummingbirds are such fascinating creatures and so much fun to watch!

 

Hopefully, at some point Abigail will be successful at hand-feeding her hummingbirds just like Grandma!

Spring country days

It’s been such an eventful week. After Dan returned from a 4-day business trip, we enjoyed visiting with different family members and friends, eating lots of yummy food, going to various garage sales, and having people over. One of the highlights of the week was when the girls had the opportunity to hand-feed the hummingbirds that live near my mom’s house. I wish I had been able to get a picture of it!! The delight on their quiet, still faces (you have to sit still like a statue to feed them) was so great! Another highlight was getting to see my little sister in one of her very rare homecoming visits! After a busy week and weekend, we’re back to our regular home life. It’s such a comfort to be all together again at home.

Our life seems so full here on our little farm these days. I hate to say “we’re so busy”, because it’s not busy in a bad way. We’re not stressed out with all the things we’re doing, but we don’t really have time to sit around looking at each other either.

We became the (unanticipated) new owners of 5 one-week-old baby turkeys this past Sunday.

We’ve discussed the possibility of raising turkeys within the next year or so, but these ones were available and needed a home. It’s been a bit of a scramble to get them all set up in their new home. Thankfully, we still have all of our chick brooder stuff stored away, so we had to get it out and set it all up. The next step was pulling out the book on raising turkeys and figuring out what we’re supposed to be doing with them! These particular turkeys should be to full size by early fall – just in time for Thanksgiving. I think that will be so neat to raise our own Thanksgiving turkey!

In addition to learning about our new birds this week, we also have another big task – putting our garden in! It’s finally warm enough to put our poor plants out into the ground. They have grown so large in their indoor flats that they are drooping out everywhere. It’s as though they are saying, “let us out!” Dan is outside tilling a few areas of our big garden as I type and then the girls and I will get out there and transplant as much as we can until Jonathan wakes up from his nap. Somehow, I don’t think that an 18-month old boy and little baby plants would mix very well.

We’re also trying an herb/kitchen garden this year. Dan tilled up an area for me in front of the house so I can run outside and get something quickly if I need it for cooking. Here is a picture of it – empty so far:

Here are a few other pictures I took this week during our spring country days:

Country breakfast in the sunshine

 

Strawberry smile

 

 

 

 

Thank you for stopping by to visit with me today!

The Learning Curve

For Dan and I, keeping animals and growing our own food involves learning many new things. As soon as we think we’ve got something figured out, the circumstances change and we find ourselves just as ignorant about what to do as we were previously. On a weekly, sometimes daily basis, there seems to be a new issue that comes up that leaves us throwing our hands up in the air.

For example, ever since our baby goat arrived, we’ve been (quite unsuccessfully) trying to contain the creature. His thin little body can fit through the most amazingly small spaces. After the 3rd or 4th adjustment to his pen, when we were finally able to contain him, he found out various ways of getting just his little mouth into his mother’s pen (he’s bottle fed). There, he promptly empties her of (our) milk while his stomach gets more and more distended. After 5 weeks, we finally have his pen situation figured out and we’re all getting along fabulously.

Another goat issue we’ve had in the recent past was a goat who kept getting out of her pen. Mind you, her stall gates are 4 feet tall and all gates are double locked. We could not figure out how she was escaping until one day Dan happened to catch her in the act. She was getting a running start down the longest part of the stall (the runway, we call it), jumping up to a crossboard on the wall one inch wide, ricocheting off of it and flying over the gate – clearing it by a good 1/2 foot! Crazy goat!

Dan tried sawing the tiny cross board at an angle so that she couldn’t get her footing there, but she still managed to jump over. Finally, he tacked chicken wire to the entire are of the wall. She still ricochets off of that. However, now that she can go out into her pasture, she’s lost interest in jumping over it - most of the time.

It’s not only the animals that we’ve had to learn so much about. In the garden we’ve come up against more pests and troubles than I could have ever imagined existed in gardens. We worked diligently for weeks last summer to hand-pick Mexican bean beetles off our our beans when we  began to notice holes in the leaves. The beetles were super fast and were crazy to catch. When we finally were able to declare victory it was a happy day. Little did we know that the Mexican bean beetle has a 2nd batch of eggs that hatch about a month later. By then, we had failed to notice new ones because we were to busy with other garden pests. The new ones hatched, ate, and the plants were destroyed. Lo and behold, after all this, we learned that there are certain plants that can be planted alongside the beans that the beetles hate! Sounds much easier than hand-picking to me!!!

We’ve had to learn what to do about hens pecking their eggs, dogs that wouldn’t stop barking, a cat that had seizures, birds eating half of our blueberries, a flooded garden, apple trees that only produce every other year, biting deerflies, poison ivy outbreaks, late May frosts, hawk predators, and many other things.

One thing is certain.

Our life in the country will always be interesting and we’ll probably continue to learn for a long time yet!

Spring Walk

I can’t help but be drawn outside on the first warm spring days. I’d rather get up really early or stay up late after the sun has gone down to do my work than stay inside during the most beautiful part of the day. Remember our fall and winter walks together? How would you like to come outside and walk with me as I spend some time with the girls in the beautiful creation?

First we have to stop and visit my favorite tree in the front yard. It only blossoms this brightly for about 3 or 4 days, then the blossoms fade to a dull pink. We don’t visit for too long because the bees aren’t very friendly!

Iliana pauses to drink in the sweet fragrance

Abigail takes one of the thousands of dandelions that dot our yard and helps some seeds begin their journey.

The girls love a cozy corner, and I catch them peeking out at me from one.

Abigail shows me how her little sunflower plant is starting to pop out of the dirt.

As we come up through the front yard toward the goat barn, we walk nice and close to the lilacs…breathing in….breathing in…

 Stopping to rest in the shade, the girls play peek-a-boo

Abigail fills her lungs with the fresh air while Little Guy grazes.

Where will you find me at 7:00AM every morning?
In my cozy little milking corner in the barn

We walk past Rex who is enjoying the spring breeze

Abigail looks down into her bucket full of treasures…

…near some old abandoned birdhouses.

Time to walk Rex and check on the chickens…

It’s a bit of a walk down to the green door…

Abigail’s Chicken Report: “I think one of the hens has gone broody!”

Time to play under the apple trees for awhile.
Iliana loves to climb the ladder.

My girls are growing so big – I can’t believe it!

The apple trees are just about ready to burst into their white blooms…

Abigail wants to touch the sky!

On our way back, we let the chickens out to run around and scratch. Then we dash back to the house before the rooster decides to chase us!

Rarely can I start out for a walk around my backyard in a bad mood and return in the same spirit. Seeing the wonder and beauty in the creation around me always puts things into perspective. People often comment to me that “the country is such a great place to raise children“, but you know what? I think that living in the country is great for adults, too! Being close to the natural world teaches many lessons and brings much joy.

Thanks for joining us on our spring walk!

New baby and spring photographs

Gabby gave birth to one little buck last Thursday and things have since changed a bit around here. Adding the chores of milking Gabby and bottle feeding the baby to my morning and evening routine has proved to be a bit challenging. It’s kind of like adding a new baby to the family. We’re going through a period of adjustment as we work to settle our new routine. As I sat there milking Gabby on the 2nd or 3rd day, I thought to myself “What have I gotten myself into? I now have to do this every single day, morning and night, without fail -  for who knows how long!”

I know that I will get into the routine and it won’t seem like a big deal after awhile. I just have to think about the healthy milk that we will be drinking soon!

If you’ve never been around a baby goat, you are missing some of the best “cuteness” in the whole creation. They are so entertaining. Right from the first day, they love to run around and play. Little Guy (that’s what we call the buck, for now) will be standing still and then just spontaneously start practicing his jumps. Watch him chase the girls around:

We’re having lots of fun with him!

Here are a few pictures that I took over the past week on our little homestead:

 Goat meets Cat

 Feeding the baby

 Jonathan’s first tractor ride

 Clearing the back pasture

A real big helper!

My kitchen library

When you’re trying to cook healthy meals, sometimes it’s hard to rely on today’s top-selling cookbooks. Although my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook that I bought when I was first married is beginning to look “well-loved”, I have acquired a few other cookbooks, nutrition books and websites that have also become essentials in my kitchen. If you’re into gardening, nutrition or just good cooking, you may want to check these out! (You can click on each book to read more about the books on Amazon.)

By the way, none of these could be considered “gourmet” cooking-type books. When I was first married, I was more into cooking fancy, gourmet meals. These days, I focus more on nutrition, cost, what ingredients I can grow/make myself and of course, good taste factors in to the equation as well.

Books:

Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon

This has been the newest “chapter” in my kitchen education. It is both a recipe book and a nutrition guide. I’ve learned so much from this book and have made many good changes in our diet because of it.

 

The Green Thumb Cookbook by Ann Moyer (editor)

I believe that this book is a “must” for gardeners. It basically divides the chapters up by vegetable. If you grow a vegetable and have no idea what to do with it, just flip to the correct chapter and you’ll find everything from side dishes and appetizers to soups, breads and desserts that you can make with that particular vegetable. It’s great for those not-so-common veggies if you have no idea how to use them!

 

Stocking Up by Rodale Press

This was a book that my Mom passed on to me and it has become my kitchen “Bible”. This thick book teaches you everything you need to know about preserving any kind of food you can grow/raise/gather yourself. It covers many topics including how to store, can, freeze, or use up things from your garden, such as making jams, pickles, salsas and sauces. It covers storing and making breads, dairy products/cheese, meat, wild berries, everything!

This is basically a how-to for those of us who have never learned those basic food skills that everyone knew long ago.

 

Out of the Sugar Rut by Joannie Huggins

As the title suggests, this book is composed of all kinds of recipes made without sugar. (Many of the recipes use honey as a substitute sweetener.) In addition to all of the dessert, cookie and cake recipes, there are plenty of recipes for family-friendly main dishes, breads, soups and many other foods. Many of our favorite meals come from this book.

 

The Rodale Cookbook by Nancy Albright

This book is on the most health-conscious end of the spectrum. The bread recipes are especially good in this book.

 

The Encyclopedia of Country Living: An Old Fashioned Recipe Book  by Carla Emery 

Like Stocking Up, this book is another wealth of information about food growing, preparation and preservation. Writing in a narrative, folksy style, the author manages to convey an enormous amount of information in a very non-boring manner.

 

Here are two “virtual cookbooks” that I keep returning to for wonderful tasting, healthy recipes:

The Family Homestead: The Homestead Kitchen page

Tammy’s Recipes

If you have any favorite cookbooks, nutrition books or websites that you think I’d be interested in, please let me know in the comments section below! I’d love to check them out!

Enjoying the warmth

Yesterday was the first day that it’s been above 60 degrees and you bet we were outside enjoying every moment of it that we could! I think that Abigail and Iliana were playing outside for about 3 hours in the afternoon, doing all sorts of things they haven’t been able to do in so long…

I saw them out there drawing with sidewalk chalk, making dirt and acorn “pies”, riding their bikes, “starting” a garden, climbing a tree, and running, running, running. They talked me into running races with them back and forth across the front yard, but I ran out of breath pretty quickly.  That’s one thing I wish I was young again for – to be able to run and run wildly out in the spring breeze with bare arms and the wind blowing through my hair - and not get tired after a minute or two!

Jonathan has been thrilled with being allowed to run around outside. I have such a hard time with him in the house sometimes, as he is so active and wants to be into everything! However, when he is outside, he has an almost limitless (to him, anyway) arena to keep busy in. And boy, does he ever! All the dirt, rocks, sticks, pinecones, trees and room to run must seem like a little boy’s paradise! I have to keep my eye on him every second, though, because he seems pretty fearless. He will just take off and run into the barn to pet the goats or run up to the dog to feed him cat food that he found or try and climb on to Dan’s tractor. I can see already that the outdoors will provide lots of opportunites for obedience training in these next few months.

Have you been outside enjoying spring yet?

Photos: Watching the birds while drinking yogurt and fruit shakes; Jonathan joins the “big kids” at the table for an outdoor lunch

A bit of this, a bit of that

Hi!

I haven’t felt much like writing lately. I suppose I’d blog more if I had a laptop and could type while lying on the couch. The days are going by quickly and tomorrow I’ll be 11 weeks already. Next Thursday I have my first prenatal appointment as well as a “dating” ultrasound. I keep telling Dan “I sure hope there’s a baby in there!” He just laughs, but I really feel that way each time I go in for my first appointment. I’m always afraid that maybe I was wrong – maybe I’m not really pregnant, after all. Isn’t that silly? After I hear the heartbeat, I always feel better.

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We have been patiently waiting for spring to arrive. We are so excited to get started on our indoor seeds, but we still have to wait a couple of weeks yet. Last year, we tried to get started with our planting earlier than Memorial Day, but then lost many plants in a hard frost in late May. Our neighbor, who has been gardening for over 30 years, says he never plants anything until June 1st around here. So, we’re going to try and be a bit more patient this year and wait like he does.

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Today while we were out grocery shopping, the woman behind us in the checkout line said to me, “What three beautiful blessings you have there!” I smiled appreciatively. It was so nice to hear that, because I have gotten many, many comments from people whenever we go out and many of them have been negative towards children. One time, two strangers were talking to each other about us while we were standing right there. The man said “what a handful” or something like that and the woman said “Believe me, I know. I raised three of them myself.” I smiled, thinking she might be a kindred spirit. She quickly added disdainfully, “They’ve all grown up and moved away – thank G–” Yikes!

I don’t know why people think it is such a strange thing to take 3 young children out somewhere, but they look at us like we are a parade when we walk by! The children aren’t even being noisy! So, it was nice to hear the woman’s comment today. It’s nice to know that there are still some people out there who think children are blessings instead of just little people to have to “put up with” for several years.

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We have fully utilized our interlibrary loan system this winter and ended up reading some really neat books as a result. I always check out the books that Elise has on her Shelfari shelf on her blog’s sidebar. They’re usually always great! Also, the owner of my favorite little bookstore has compiled several lists of her own favorite children’s books that I’ve been working through. You can check them out here.  Heather has great taste in books and we’ve been enjoying checking out some of her recommendations.

Some books that we’ve enjoyed recently have been The Orange Shoes, Linnea in Monet’s Garden, Johnny the Clockmaker, The World of Little House and Lassie-Come-Home, (this one made us want to check out Eric Knight’s full novel).

I don’t know why, but a couple of weeks ago while I was lying on the couch, I got the itch to get out my old Anne of Green Gables books.  (I haven’t read them in probably about 10 years.) My series is well-worn and well-loved. It’s funny that when I was young, I didn’t care much for the books about when Anne was married and a mother, or the books about her children. This time around, I read those particular books with much more interest. If you’ve never read L.M. Montgomery’s books, I highly recommend them. The Anne series is marketed for 6th grade readers and up, but I still got so much out of them reading them as an adult. After reading through all 8 Anne books, I also read through the Emily series, which contains only 3 books and is also excellent.  We love to read around here!

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Speaking of reading, I’ve been trying to keep a written record of all the books that Abigail has read during her “kindergarten” year. She started out slowly at the beginning of the year with very basic readers and so it was easy to keep up with her. As the months have progressed however, she has taken off like a rocket and I have been left behind in the dust. I think I stopped recording somewhere around book number 75. She’ll read a book, then wave it in front of my face and say “Mommy, can you add this to my list?”. Well, if I’m in the middle of washing dishes or changing a diaper, I can’t write it down very easily. I’ve long lost track of how many she has read. I don’t push her to read. She just loves it and spends much of her spare time reading. I’m sure that will change once it gets warm outside and she wants to play out there. But, wow! What a bookworm!

Each child comes to reading at his or her own time and I certainly have no expectations of Iliana or Jonathan reading so early. I just stand back and watch Abigail, encourage her and help her with “hard” words when she needs it. Yesterday, she decided that she would start reading Little House in the Big Woods. We’d better watch out that she doesn’t catch up and surpass where we are in our family read-alouds! We’re on By the Shores of Silver Lake right now.

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Well, that’s the update for now. Thanks for stopping by!