Seed Starter Success!

Wow, it has been a long week! My son had a tummy bug and had a night of the pukes and a day home from school to re-coup. Poor kid! My little one was home today because her cold turned into a fever and non-stop cough yesterday evening. She is a lot better today. She hates to take medicine, but we got some into her last night and she felt so much better. She told her daddy that "The medicine made my smile come back." The school science fair was this week and the older two did a project called Battery Battle to test battery brands.

They won a first place blue ribbon! I am very proud of them and their hard work. By the way, this brand was the winner of the battle....

And the seed starter is done! My husband is a genius and I swear there is nothing he cannot do. THANK YOU HONEY!!!! :) He built the frame and the light fixture we found in the shed to re-purpose ended up being broken and not working, so we did have to buy one. The finished product....(empty flats)
I am so excited! And nervous! This is the first time we have started seeds indoors. Now, if that seed order would just get here already! This is my youngest reading a book to one of our kitties. She called this box her school room and I cannot tell you how many times the cat jumped out and she ran after him to take him back to "school". As you can see, he seems to be napping. I think he finally got tired of jumping out and gave up!

This weekend we plan to get the cold frame built. We aren't quite done planning it yet, but with my husband's talent, I am sure it will be wonderful! We are due to get a little snow tonight (blah!) but it is supposed to be in the 70's next weekend, so I won't complain. I still have things in the house that need done, so I will take advantage of the snow days.

I emailed the hatchery we plan to buy our ducklings from, Cackle Hatchery, to see when ducklings would be delivered. They said after Easter. That is fine by me! I haven't ordered them yet because I want to have the brooder set up and the temperature tested and have all of the supplies on hand to be ready for the call from the post office when they get delivered. We plan to place the order this coming week. Why ducks instead of chickens? Well, we have never raised any poultry before so we are beginners. When we started researching poultry, ducks seems to be a good first choice to get our "feet wet". :) LOL If all goes well, chickens will be the next poultry addition.

I hope you have a great weekend! :) I will be posting soon about my composting adventure!!

The Seed Order Has Been Placed!

It was another busy weekend. The kids had multiple friends sleep over all weekend, which is always fun yet exhausting! We did manage to find the laundry and as of now, it is done! I have yet to cull the clothing, so that is on my to do list. Last night I cooked up 20 lbs of hamburger in my giant electric roaster to portion and freeze, so while it was cooking I finally got the seed order placed. While we have always grown a garden, and each year it seems to get bigger, this year we are by far having the biggest garden we ever have. It is exciting, also a little nerve wracking, but I think in the end it will definitely be worth it. Here is what we are planting this year...

Tomatoes - early, cherry, paste
Peppers - this is my hubby's passion (HOT PEPPERS!) and we are growing 7 varieties!
Cucumbers
Broccoli
Lettuces - too many varieties to mention and I also ordered some Mache to try this fall
Pumpkins
Carrots
Popcorn
Sweet corn (My father in law grows this and we share)
Onions - evergreen, red, and yellow
Potatoes - red, russet, and sweet potatoes
Green beans
Spinach
Strawberries
Dill
Cilantro
Stevia
Mint

We also plan to get a couple of apple trees and some black or raspberries in the ground this year.

Flower wise, I have a lot of seed saved from last year. I am not sure what all I am going to plant, but for sure will plant lots of zinnias, mammoth sun flowers, and marigolds. I am also dying to try Moon Flower vines from seed. They sound fantastic! Probably also some petunias.

I will (hopefully!) post more specifics later, as we go along, about the varieties and our planting adventures. Baseball and track seasons will be starting soon for two of my kids, and with the garden and life in general, well, you know how that goes!

Happy Monday! :)

No, I Don't Know Where my Laundry is!!!

If you have ever been to Flylady's website, you'll know that she asks you to ask yourself regularly (daily?) if you know where your laundry is. Unfortunately, "Uh, yes, piled shoulder high in the laundry room." isn't the correct answer. Darn it.

Right now, I barely know where mine is, other than to say it is in such a distressing state. Couple a busy weekend with a busy new week and then throw in me coming down with the crud and that is all it takes around here for things to zing out of control. And fast! And it does seem like once things are on the downward spin, it picks up speed and can become overwhelming quite easily. Right now we are picking clean clothes out of baskets and throwing in an emergency load of whatever we need for the next day before bed to be put in the dryer in the morning.

In the warmer months, I love to wash it all in a day and hang it on the line to dry. It just seems like it goes much faster. I actually enjoy doing it that way! Usually the rest of the year I do laundry on Sunday/Monday/Tuesdays and enlist everyone's help to fold and put away on Tuesday evening...I call it family laundry night. And then there are times like this week when it is just out of control and I don't know where to start. Yesterday I contimplated packing it all in the van and going to a laundry mat. But I think instead I am just going to dedicate some time to getting it caught up. And in the process, weed out some clothes. And I am thinking about restructuring the laundry chore and putting the kids in charge of their own. Off I go to tackle Mount Evil Laundry.

Do you know where your laundry is? And if you have any methods that make keeping up with it easier, please do share them!

Are you Up for a Challenge? I Double Dog Dare You!

Angela over at Eclectic Culture Farm issued a challenge to download for free and read a wonderful little book, Henry and the Great Society. I read it this evening and I loved it so much that I ordered the paper back version from Amazon.

I would explain why I loved it so, except I have a very hard time putting things like that into words. I need time to process it, and even then I may or may not be able to effectively explain it! What I will say is that this book made my heart sing! :)

So I'll issue the challenge to you. Click here to read the book. Maybe it'll make your heart sing too.

Happy Reading!

Mommy....where do virus' come from?

Sheesh, we had a computer virus. Actually we had more than that lurking around on our computer. Yes, I had spyware and virus protection on there. But apparently it wasn't up to snuff. My amazingly wonderful father took care of it and we are now running new protection software that has been picking out the ickies.

Sunday we had a birthday party for our youngest. It was a good and amusing time! Especially when the pinata prematurely broke in half (due to the weight of the 3 pounds of candy hubby stuffed in it) but did not spill candy so my husband held the candy filled part in his hand while the kids hit it. Brave man!

I made two really cute skirts for her, for her birthday. She is wearing one in the picture above, and here is a closer look...

I found the instructions for them on this blog . They were very easy to make and took no time at all!

It is going to be a busy Monday so I better hop to it. How was your weekend?

The F Word..........Flubber!

Sisterly Love!

My youngest's birthday is this weekend. She's a Valentine's Day baby. I keep refering to her as my 5 year old, but she won't technically be 5 until Saturday. She is in that phase of numbers and ages...so she will tell you she is 4 and 11/12 or whatever she is for the moment and she is constantly asking us how old she is and 4 is never the answer she is happy with! 4 almost 5 doesn't count either! :) She wants specifics! Remember those days? Couldn't wait to grow up? Now I am just "30 something". Who cares! Age is just a number! You are only as old as you feel! :) Ahhh...to be 5 again. Or 4 and 11/12. ;)

Anyway, I made goody bags to send to her preschool class. Along with fruit rollups and a deflated balloon in each bag, we made a batch of flubber and put it in individual snack size ziplocks. This stuff is a blast! Our oldest kids as well as my hubby and I love playing with this stuff. I was too tired to take pictures of the process, but I wanted to share the recipe and pictures of the finished product.

FLUBBER

In one bowl mix:

1 1/2 cups warm water

2 cups of Elmer's white glue

Food coloring of choice

In another bowl mix:

1 1/3 cups warm water

2 level tsp Borax

After each bowl is mixed well, pour the first bowl's contents into the second bowl. Stir it around a bit. Then pull the blob of flubber out, there will be liquid left in the bowl, let the excess drip off and knead around on it a bit to work off any excess moisture. Then it is ready to play! Store in an air tight container.

I did put a sticker with the recipe on the bag for parents to know what is in it. I also added DO NOT EAT! on there too.... just in case.

Knock Knock. Whose there? Murphy. Oh crap.

We have really been enjoying the spring like weather! It has lasted longer than anticipated, but later this week it is going to get cold again. Last year we had a very wet spring and planting was very late because the soil was a mess. We wanted to get some kind of a head start this year. This is where our garden will be:

However, I really want to do raised beds closer to the house. I think we have decided to go ahead and put the garden in the field this year and work on building raised beds instead of doing it all this spring. We raided the barn for old cow manuer....

Filled several buckets and dumped it on the garden....

And disked it in good.

We weren't the only ones enjoying the weather....caterpillars and bees were too!

So were the fairies....I caught this one off guard....

The dogs LOVE the RC car. And they are hysterical to watch chasing it!

My son was getting in some casting practice....

And this is the steel frame that will become some sort of a smallish greenhouse. I made the first step though...I got it moved out of the shed.

And Murphy came knocking. I told hubby I had a feeling Murphy would be coming for a visit because we are so close to being debt free and he hasn't visited to thwart our plans since we started working to become debt free back in the fall of 07. Alas, hubby's truck needs a new engine, of all things! The good news is that since we were expecting him, we're ready for him. Yes, it will be a set back to our goal of being debt free, and it sucks, but at least we aren't panicking. Praise God for emergency funds! This is the first time we have been ready for Murphy.

Well, I am off to get the kids off to school and the chores done up. I hope you have a glorious day!!

Here Comes a Heat Wave!!!!

The book I am currently reading....



My two oldest, after school instrument practice....

My youngest's room was a disaster!

Before...

After....

Before....

After...

My oldest daughter with her dance date...

Last night's dinner. Homemade chunky chicken noodle soup. It was delicious!

And that is probably it for me for a few days. The weather is supposed to be outstanding...in the 60's and perhaps even a 70 degree day! Hooray! We'll be outside, working on the garden soil, compost system, and the chicken house to get ready for the ducks. What are you up to? Wishing you wonderful weather!!

How to Make your Child WANT to Feed your Ducks...

Our duckling flock is still only in the planning stages. Hopefully it will come to life around the first of March. In the meantime, that gives me time to tease - I mean teach - the kids about ducks and set up their part in helping out.

Me to 5 year old: Guess what your job for the ducklings will be?

5 year old, excitedly: What?!?

Me: Pasty Butt duty!

5 year old, curious yet cautious: What is pasty butt duty?

Me: Pasty butt is when ducky poo gets stuck to their behinds and it has to be picked off every day to keep them healthy. That is what your job is going be. Doesn't that sound fun?

5 year old, grossed out: No! Yuck! I don't wanna be on pasty butt duty! Please, please, please Mom, please can it be my job to feed the ducks?

Ta da! I got a duck feeding volunteer!!!

Recent This and Thats.....

Treasures found in the basement...8 storage containers with lids, a large strainer, a thermometer, and a glass cotton ball jar with lid.



We cooked and ate duck for the first time...and we all loved it! The only problem was one duck was barely enough for our family of 5. Turkey or chicken is much more economical.

This is that naughty dense flat wheat bread I spoke of before....

This is the double batch of homemade playdough we made for my daughter's preschool class. It was my month to make it.

Here is the recipe....

2 cups boiling water

2 packets unsweetened Kool-Aid (makes it smell fantastic and the color is so bright)

4 tsp Cream of Tarter (I buy mine in bulk at the Amish store)

1 cup salt

2 TBS oil

2 cups flour

Mix all dry ingredients well while the water is boiling. Add the oil to the boiling water and mix well into the dry ingredients. Let cool and then knead until smooth. The keeps for a long time in a ziplock.

My beautiful oldest daughter all dressed up for the Courtwarming dance at school.....

If you look close, on her ring finger is a silver Chastity Ring (or True Love Waits ring, whichever you call it). In case you are wondering, no, they don't make matching silver Chastity Belts. I asked. ;)

Making fresh juice from juice oranges....putting the peels in the kitchen compost bucket (Check out this blog for a wonderful idea for orange/citrus peels! ) and the finished product.

Today I did our taxes in my jammies. Is there any better way to do them than that? :)

Another Sign that Your Child is Really into Life on a Farm....

While pulling in the driveway, a very large bird that had been perched on a fence post takes flight. As you point out said large bird to your five year old preschooler, she replies....

"We should kill it and eat it!! Mmmmm...." :)