Starting small

Not long after we moved into this house last February, I found out that I was expecting Baby #5. That meant that right around the time that the spring gardening chores should be happening, I was sick on the couch all day every day. By the time I was off the couch (3 months later), I sadly found that the perennial beds surrounding the house had morphed into tangly messes. They looked as though they hadn’t been tended in several years, with ground covers, scrubby shrubs, perennials, renegade trees and weeds all jumbled up together. It was all too overwhelming to deal with, so I just looked the other way all summer. (A hard thing to do with so many beds!)

One of the small beds near my bedroom door

There are 10 beds around the main house and 3 around the carriage house that, with the exception of the one by the front porch,  are all mangy, jungle-y piles of junk. I’ve successfully avoided them thus far this year as well, but I finally decided that I have to do something about them. I can’t avoid them as easily this spring because I’m spending so much more time outside instead of inside on the couch.

But you see, I have a problem.

I’m an all-or-nothing kind of girl.

I’m not good at projects that can’t be completed all at once or at least, all in a week or so. Sometimes, I even get sick to my stomach just thinking about how overwhelming of a project it is! (Sounds silly, huh?) So, I’ll procrastinate and procrastinate the project until I just can’t handle it anymore. However, by then, I’m doing the project out of pure frustration and I don’t enjoy it at all.

So, I’ve decided to finally do something about this problem that I have and I’ve decided that the ornamental beds surrounding my home are the perfect things to cure me of it.

This stuff has to be dug out with a shovel

I’ve set a goal for myself this spring – to work on a tiny section of one bed every day that I am home. And by tiny, I mean tiny. My goal is to clear out at least a 1′ x 1′ area. I figure that it may take me all the way until the fall to work through all the beds, but at least I know that they will eventually look better than they do now.

Here are two little areas that I’ve worked on so far…

BEFORE: The edge of my front garden bed: an evergreen shrub, some kind of ornamental shrub, perennials, weeds, ivy…

AFTER: Dan helped me transplant the evergreen, I moved the dianthus into the planter, tore everything else out but the ornamental shrub, and laid down layers of newspaper and mulch. I even found a couple of beautiful little hostas growing in that mess that I transplanted to a new home.

All of these hostas are either transplants from other beds or divisions from last year’s plants.
You gotta love perennials – free plants every year!

Looks like the left side of this bed needs a bit more work!

I am so thankful to have lots of help from my children.
They cheerfully come and water my transplants whenever I call.

Emma is great company for me as I work.

Since deciding to let go of my expectations of actually completing all of the beds this week (or even this month), I’ve found that I’m actually looking forward to and enjoying my time outside working on them. That weight of “getting it all done now” is lifted and I’m actually having fun!

Hooray for spring!

“I am only one, but still I am one.

I cannot do everything, but still I can do something;

and because I cannot do everything,

I will not refuse to do something that I can do.”

~ Helen Keller

And on his farm he had a… {2}

Photo credit

Last week during our nature study, we read a book about vernal pools. The author wrote about an unusual insect that none of us had ever seen before. What caught our attention was the picture of the nymph and the strange camouflage it builds around itself. It takes bits of plant material, bark, and other things found on the vernal pool’s bottom and ‘glues’ it together to form a case to move about in.

We decided to head out to the vernal pool at the back of our property on the remote possibility that we may be able to spot one. As we reached the edge of the pool and leaned over, we were totally surprised to see them EVERYWHERE! If we had not read about them, we would have never noticed that they were little insects moving about. They looked like mini pinecones floating about aimlessly until you looked at them very closely. We caught a few in a bucket and could see the heads and thoraxes of the insects moving in and out of their cases.

We had so much fun observing and feeding these cool little insects that we previously didn’t know existed.

Do YOU know what they are?

And on his farm he had a…

Look at what the children and I saw yesterday morning walking near the barn!

Can you see the pincers on the front? He rose up and “charged” us with them!

We didn’t know what it was until we researched it during breakfast. Do you?

Mommy fear

I’m sure that you’ve heard the term “mommy guilt” before – the feeling that occasionally (or frequently) haunts mothers, usually at the end of the day when we feel as though we haven’t quite accomplished all we should have with our children. Or when we don’t make the same {seemingly better} choices as other moms that we know. Or when we let our kids eat milk and cookies for breakfast. And lunch.

While I have my share of “mommy guilt” like any other other mom, recently I’ve been having what you might call “mommy fear”.

Are my children going to turn out OK?

Am I giving my children a sufficient education? 

Will I look back on my child-bearing years with regret about the things I failed to do?

How will I navigate the tricky teenage years?

Is my example one that will draw my children to Christ or will a hypocritical attitude drive them away?

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“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow.

It empties today of its strength.”

- Corrie Ten Boom

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I cannot possibly foresee what the coming days and years will bring for my children. But how many opportunities do I miss today when I focus on that unclear future?  (I’m not advocating living a life free of intentional goals, by the way.)

When that “mommy fear” creeps in, I’ve found that I can quickly dispel it by pulling myself back into the blessings of today and being thankful for them.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:6-7

The moments when things are going right, the small opportunities I have to build relationships with my children and the joy that they bring to life are all things that I can be encouraged by and thankful for.

“…whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” – Philippians 4:8

This is not merely a nicety – a little exercise in “the power of positive thinking” – this is what God knows will work.

Many days in my home bring their own mountains of troubles, but there is also a treasure trove of blessings waiting to be mined underneath the surface. Some days I just have to dig a bit deeper for them. And those treasures are what encourage me to stay in the present, to keep striving toward the goals I have for my children and not to be beset by “mommy fear”.

I cannot be perfect. My children will never be perfect. The future won’t be perfect.

Despite my fears, my cup runs over with blessings. I’m adding these to my thankful list today:

#514. Iliana’s servant’s heart for her others – something I never imagined when she was younger

#515. Blossoming interests and talents

#516. Joy and laughter flying along

#517. Deepest blues

#518. My husband’s analytic mind showing through in Jonathan

#519. The “turtle neck” pose

#520. The ever-expanding thirst for knowledge that I see growing in my children

#521. The spirit of adventure that my children have

#522. Overheard 4-year old boy’s phone conversation with Grandpa “I’m trying to do things for people without them asking — to surprise them.”

#523. One-on-one conversations with my children in the front seat of the car

#524. Fresh perspectives on scripture from my little ones’ minds

#525. Jonathan reading his first book

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To read more of my thankful list, click HERE.

April farm update {baby plants and baby goats}

I haven’t done a farm update in quite awhile, because you know, not much goes on in the winter on a farm. Except for chopping wood. And chopping more wood. Oh, and chopping more wood. (At least that’s what we ended up doing because our wood stove used a lot more wood than we anticipated!)

The only other thing that happens on a farm during the winter is the cozy-wrapped-up-in-a-blanket-poring-and-dreaming-over-seed-catalogs. We’ve dreamed and planned and waited and when the unseasonable warm weather showed up in March we had to hold each other back from running outside and planting something - anything!

Now that April is here, our outdoor work has finally begun and we are so excited for the plans that we have for this year. Of course, our plans are probably way too vast to fit into the next 6 months, but it’s better to have more ideas than not enough, right?

If you remember, we were unable to have a garden last year because we did not have the soil prepared in time nor the proper fencing in place. We did, however, make raised beds. We didn’t have fencing on those, either, and so the herd of deer that live on our property came and enjoyed a feast of beets and swiss chard while we were gone one day. We saw them come back the next day and climb up into the raised beds to look for leftovers!

Needless to say, we will have *new and improved* fencing this year.

Here’s what we’ve been doing so far:

~ Our raised beds are planted full of lettuce and Swiss chard.

~We’ve started our peppers and tomatoes in the lighted corner of the garden shed. I’m so excited to actually use the cute little spot out there that was made just for early spring gardening.

~We also have our newly ordered bushes and shrubs in small pots waiting for the warmer weather. This year we are starting  blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, elderberries, strawberries, wine grapes and peach trees.

~ We’ve started to prepare our new garden area on the northwest corner of the property where our berries, grapes, and fruit trees will grow.

Here is Dan explaining to me where each type of bush and vine will be planted when it’s warm enough.

~Dan has pruned approximately 12 apple trees that have been long neglected by the previous owners. We now have huge piles of brush lying all around the property. Dan has a wood-chipper on the to-buy-next list!

~ We’ve been clearing things out and tilling things up like crazy – yanking out dead evergreen shrubs, chopping down unwanted hawthorn trees, pulling out gnarled and tangled ground covers that are growing where we don’t want them, etc. All of us have worked on these things together, but Dan has done much of the work. He uses his tractor whenever he can to make the work faster.

In other farm news, our Saanen, Hattie, delivered her kids last night. She had perfect timing because it happened while the children were still awake,  but yet Dan was home to help out this time. Hattie had a super easy delivery with no problems (not like last time, thankfully!) and all of us were there to watch the miracle. She had a doe and a buck. The doe will head back to Hattie’s original farm as payment for her stud service last year. The buck as a birth defect (overbite) and we don’t know what we’ll do with the him yet. For now, he is going to stay with us for the children to play with.

Abigail was my on-site action photographer through the delivery of the first kid. I posted the birth pictures in a separate post if you are curious. That way, if you are NOT curious to see what a goat birth looks like you can just skip it.

We also have another goat addition coming to our farm at the end of the week. I’ll introduce her to you soon!

We are SO excited to be back in our own milk again!

Thanks for stopping by for a visit today! We’d love to have you out for a {real} visit soon!

Goat birth pictures

For anyone who wants to see just how it happens…

Hattie delivers twins – April 9, 2012

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Perhaps my favorite day of the year…

You know what day I’m talking about.

The first day you can walk out the door a few pounds lighter without your coat, boots, hat, and mittens. The day the breeze – half cool/half warm – washes over you without causing the slightest shiver. When the air is suddenly alive with sounds, where it had been frozen in a dead silence for months. The robin, the frog, the goose, the wind – all of them joining together to tell us something.

Creation is becoming alive again!

The day looks brown, drab, dead - but it’s how the day feels that makes it so irresistible.

I think one of the things my children and I enjoy the most about homeschooling is the flexibility we have on days like the first magical day of spring weather. Bright and early, I throw back the curtains and tell everyone that we need to start on our schoolwork extra early and work really fast so that we can spend most of our day outside. Everyone jumps up with extra motivation and energy. No one wants to miss it. We know that in our state, that magical day is very likely to be followed by a 20-degree drop in temperature accompanied by snow.

But it is a taste of what is to come. And it is so tantalizing.

Everyone’s favorite part of the day?

Abigail: I loved being able to run and feel the breeze on my bare legs that have been covered up by snow pants or tights all winter!

Iliana: I loved not having to wear a coat!

Jonathan: I loved making ripples in the pond!

Grace loved running around like a crazy girl and also splashing in the pond.

Emma wasn’t sure what to make of all the wind blowing in her face.

I enjoyed a windy walk down to the mailbox with my little Gracie-Lou. After that I commenced with my idea of first-day-of-spring fun – cleaning! (I know, I’m such an exciting person.) I went crazy with cleaning out the garage, cleaning/sweeping the barn and cleaning up the wood-chopping area. To me, a good spring cleaning with fresh air filling my lungs and wind-swept squeals of delighted children filling my ears is one of my favorite parts of spring!

I guess my excitement about spring cleaning trickled down to my children, because they decided to give their playhouse a good spring cleaning, too! Jonathan enjoyed dragging out all the heavy stuff out onto the grass and they set to work. Grace just ran in and out as they worked.

What do you enjoy the most about that first special springish day?

Baseballs and snowballs

Last Sunday found Jonathan trying out his new baseball glove in the glorious upper-40′s sunny weather.

I had sent the children out in their coats, not knowing how warm it actually was…

…but they were quickly shed!

Today, one week later, the backyard was a different type of field…

Check out that huge snowball headed Iliana’s way!

It’s been an unusual winter, hasn’t it?