Update
Things are happening at a good pace around here.
Another great weekend in Georgia
We returned last night from an overnight stay in Georgia with friends. Our primary reason for going was to celebrate the Bar Yehoshua of a friend who recently turned 13 years old. It was a neat evening, with a great message. This young man is blessed and a blessing to all who know him. And we stayed with a gracious family of wonderful friends. We hope to visit again soon when there will be more time for visiting!
Of course, we also attended church there, and were (as always) renewed and edified. Great service, great fellowship.
The garden
The garden is coming along great. I've been working in it more than in previous years, trying to cultivate it all each week. Of course, rain can hinder this, but we've not had much lately (need it!), so I don't have that excuse. I try to get out early and cultivate two or three beds at least three days a week. This usually takes about an hour, and then I come in and get the kids up, if they're not up, yet. One day last week, our 13yo daughter was already up, had gotten the 3yo ready for the day, sent him out to help me, and fixed sausage and home-made biscuits for us all. (Biscuits are becoming one of her specialties.) And our 11yo son was up and taking care of livestock already. This is a great way to start a day! (I read about cultivating in one of Rick Saenz's posts--probably in May. I love the results--so, so much preferred over the dreaded weeding!!)
Our lettuce and broccoli have now played out, with the onset of warmer weather. We are still getting onions and cabbage, though. We used 15 pounds of cabbage a week or so ago to make kraut. Last year was my first try at kraut, and it turned out great. My mother was not encouraging in this venture, but she helped anyway; she made it years ago, and it flopped. According to a friend who's mother has made it for years, there is not much you can do to make it right or wrong: sometimes it works great; sometimes it simply doesn't and ends up in the trash.
We're getting a lot of yellow squash. Thursday we made 14.5 pints of squash relish from a recipe a local matriarch in her 90's gave us last year. We made a lot last year, and it is our favorite relish, now.
Today, we canned 14 quarts of "Maude Wall" beans. This is a variety of green bean that a lady in one of my father's churches gave us over 20 years ago. You can't buy this bean anywhere that we know of--or that she knew of then. She was no spring chick, either, so we don't know how old this bean is. We just know we like it. My father especially likes them mature, when they get shelly; I tend to like them young. And no one can fix them like my mother can (but that goes for most things!).
We had baked potatoes for lunch today--potatoes from the garden. We've been harvesting and enjoying them for a couple of weeks, now. The kids and I have also harvested a lot of beetles off the plants and fed them to the broilers. Maybe next year we can experiment with having chickens rotate through a garden to harvest their own beetles!
The cucumbers are just beginning to bear, and we have actually harvested a couple of overly-eager tomatoes. It is unusual to have tomatoes before July around here. Not sure how we managed to get these two, but we enjoyed them!
We actually got a few strawberries earlier this spring. We just put them in this year, and so didn't expect to get any. Tasting those took my sister and me back to our childhood and the strawberries we remember from back then. Now that our children have tasted these, they don't want the old store-bought things; now they know a good strawberry.
The Barn
Keith, my father, and our 11yo son have been putting permanent bracing on the barn when they can grab time here and there. We had temporary bracing up, but the pony (large, fat pasture-ornament) and a young bull in that pasture had managed to knock all the temporary bracing down. But the guys have one side completed, and the other side started, so it shouldn't be long; just a matter of finding the time.
The Kids
3yo son is stepping up in chores, sweeping up after meals, feeding the dogs (with help from 13yo sister, since the water bucket is too heavy for him, and sometimes the food is too low in the container for him to reach), etc. He's also accompanying Keith in the field sometimes, when safety issues are not involved.
11yo son has been mowing, to take some of the load off my father. He has put in 12- and 13-hour days regularly, between the mowing, trimming, livestock care, and other chores that get foisted on him! He amazes me, and anyone who says a boy his age shouldn't or can't do this sort of thing doesn't know him; he's thriving and making us proud!!
13yo daughter is a born home-maker, spending a lot of time in the kitchen and generally taking on whatever household duties come along. She also spends a lot of time with 3yo brother. She, too, is making us proud. Both girls are also in charge of dinner one night a week, in addition to other cooking they may do, and helping with dinner other evenings.
15yo daughter has really taken to sewing, which is a good thing, because her size is so unusual, with broad shoulders and tiny waist. I required her and her sister to totally follow a pattern recently (sister hasn't quite finished), and after doing this, 15yo has taken off and made a number of garments--some quite complicated--on her own, turning to me infrequently as a consultant only. She's doing great, and we're proud of her, too (as always!). (They've been sewing awhile, but we tend to change patterns, often drastically, which means I tell the instructions. I decided it was important that they be able to follow a pattern's written instructions, so they could learn more and sew more without relying on me to always tell them what to do next.)
Mary Susan
Another great weekend in Georgia
We returned last night from an overnight stay in Georgia with friends. Our primary reason for going was to celebrate the Bar Yehoshua of a friend who recently turned 13 years old. It was a neat evening, with a great message. This young man is blessed and a blessing to all who know him. And we stayed with a gracious family of wonderful friends. We hope to visit again soon when there will be more time for visiting!
Of course, we also attended church there, and were (as always) renewed and edified. Great service, great fellowship.
The garden
The garden is coming along great. I've been working in it more than in previous years, trying to cultivate it all each week. Of course, rain can hinder this, but we've not had much lately (need it!), so I don't have that excuse. I try to get out early and cultivate two or three beds at least three days a week. This usually takes about an hour, and then I come in and get the kids up, if they're not up, yet. One day last week, our 13yo daughter was already up, had gotten the 3yo ready for the day, sent him out to help me, and fixed sausage and home-made biscuits for us all. (Biscuits are becoming one of her specialties.) And our 11yo son was up and taking care of livestock already. This is a great way to start a day! (I read about cultivating in one of Rick Saenz's posts--probably in May. I love the results--so, so much preferred over the dreaded weeding!!)
Our lettuce and broccoli have now played out, with the onset of warmer weather. We are still getting onions and cabbage, though. We used 15 pounds of cabbage a week or so ago to make kraut. Last year was my first try at kraut, and it turned out great. My mother was not encouraging in this venture, but she helped anyway; she made it years ago, and it flopped. According to a friend who's mother has made it for years, there is not much you can do to make it right or wrong: sometimes it works great; sometimes it simply doesn't and ends up in the trash.
We're getting a lot of yellow squash. Thursday we made 14.5 pints of squash relish from a recipe a local matriarch in her 90's gave us last year. We made a lot last year, and it is our favorite relish, now.
Today, we canned 14 quarts of "Maude Wall" beans. This is a variety of green bean that a lady in one of my father's churches gave us over 20 years ago. You can't buy this bean anywhere that we know of--or that she knew of then. She was no spring chick, either, so we don't know how old this bean is. We just know we like it. My father especially likes them mature, when they get shelly; I tend to like them young. And no one can fix them like my mother can (but that goes for most things!).
We had baked potatoes for lunch today--potatoes from the garden. We've been harvesting and enjoying them for a couple of weeks, now. The kids and I have also harvested a lot of beetles off the plants and fed them to the broilers. Maybe next year we can experiment with having chickens rotate through a garden to harvest their own beetles!
The cucumbers are just beginning to bear, and we have actually harvested a couple of overly-eager tomatoes. It is unusual to have tomatoes before July around here. Not sure how we managed to get these two, but we enjoyed them!
We actually got a few strawberries earlier this spring. We just put them in this year, and so didn't expect to get any. Tasting those took my sister and me back to our childhood and the strawberries we remember from back then. Now that our children have tasted these, they don't want the old store-bought things; now they know a good strawberry.
The Barn
Keith, my father, and our 11yo son have been putting permanent bracing on the barn when they can grab time here and there. We had temporary bracing up, but the pony (large, fat pasture-ornament) and a young bull in that pasture had managed to knock all the temporary bracing down. But the guys have one side completed, and the other side started, so it shouldn't be long; just a matter of finding the time.
The Kids
3yo son is stepping up in chores, sweeping up after meals, feeding the dogs (with help from 13yo sister, since the water bucket is too heavy for him, and sometimes the food is too low in the container for him to reach), etc. He's also accompanying Keith in the field sometimes, when safety issues are not involved.
11yo son has been mowing, to take some of the load off my father. He has put in 12- and 13-hour days regularly, between the mowing, trimming, livestock care, and other chores that get foisted on him! He amazes me, and anyone who says a boy his age shouldn't or can't do this sort of thing doesn't know him; he's thriving and making us proud!!
13yo daughter is a born home-maker, spending a lot of time in the kitchen and generally taking on whatever household duties come along. She also spends a lot of time with 3yo brother. She, too, is making us proud. Both girls are also in charge of dinner one night a week, in addition to other cooking they may do, and helping with dinner other evenings.
15yo daughter has really taken to sewing, which is a good thing, because her size is so unusual, with broad shoulders and tiny waist. I required her and her sister to totally follow a pattern recently (sister hasn't quite finished), and after doing this, 15yo has taken off and made a number of garments--some quite complicated--on her own, turning to me infrequently as a consultant only. She's doing great, and we're proud of her, too (as always!). (They've been sewing awhile, but we tend to change patterns, often drastically, which means I tell the instructions. I decided it was important that they be able to follow a pattern's written instructions, so they could learn more and sew more without relying on me to always tell them what to do next.)
Mary Susan
posted by The Bradshaws at 5:17 PM
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