Walking Therein

Busy on the Homestead

We are still plugging along, doing some school, a lot of work, home management, and animal husbandry.  My favorite times have been those like this afternoon when I found a toad I pointed out to Isaac, hiding in some green and brown, and he looked and looked, until his delighted smile told me he found it. He carried it for only a few seconds, when I heard, "She peed on my garden shoe!". Laughing out loud was all I could do as I told him I could believe it. After a few minutes, he let Caleb hold it and carry it for a bit before they placed her back in the green she was so snugly hiding in when they found her. 

Amanda- Firstborn. Almost 18. Driving now. A great help with errands and children. She is a wife/mommy in training, and I am thrilled to see what the next 5 years will bring her and us through her life. What a joyous apprehension to see your firstborn grow and grow and grow, knowing she is only growing up and toward the Lord to fly away and live her life for Him. Wow. I am blessed to be a part of it all.

Jocelyn- My British-speaking, artist/author, homebody, cleaning fanatic, girlfriend. Oh, and goat maiden. Did you know she has been published? In The Girlhood Home Companion? She is a regular columnist and author/contributor. It means a lot that she was asked by Jill Novak to write. Jocelyn is not alone in this family in her writing talent (nor her artistic hand), but she is wonderful at it.

Rachel- The middle child of 8. I think she is feeling it the most right now. She is so much the young lady and so much the youngest daughter of the 3 oldest. Such a gentle sweet spirit. She is my midnight cookie-baker. My coffee-getter and a great friend. She also gave me the Nice Matters Award (so did Joci). What a Sweetie! She is a goat maiden, too.

Eric- Is 10 the magic age when things that have been repeated and repeated start to click for boys? The attitude is fading, the understanding is starting to become evident. The work ethic is getting so much more positive. I am thankful. I am proud to have him as my firstborn son!

Hannie- It seems that all of the Littles are growing up. Hannie has been making dinner. I am not talking about hot dogs and potato chips dinner, either. I am talking chicken, cooked in the iron skillet, with mashed potatoes, green beans, peas and carrots. She has grown up since she came to me the othe night, asking if it was good, to which I replied, yes, it's delicious. "I made it all by myself." "Yes, I know you did." How proud she was, and how grown up she is becoming.

Isaac- Ah, 4. Finally a gentleman. His speech is like unto Jocelyn's; so prim and proper. He calls me "Mother". Not Mom, but Mother. He has always been articulate, and I believe he will continue to be our little Einstein.

Caleb- Little tornado. Man, can anyone keep up with this boy? I think I am going to start calling him Flash. He is talking so well now. He has not had a dirty diaper, because he goes on the toilet. He does NOT want to be a big boy. I think he enjoys Luc so much that he said he wants to be a baby, not a big boy.

LucyLillie- She is up on hands and knees now. Ever the laughing little sweetie, I know she is understanding more. She laughs and keeps her eyes fixed on her favorites. For the time being, she will sleep, unless she hears Hannie or Caleb or Daddy.

Matt has been on vacation since Thursday, and will be all week. He took us all to Dairy Queen last week, for Customer Appreciation day. Everything was 1/2 price. What an unexpected treat. 

Since then, tho, he has been mowing, mowing, mowing. We had let the weeds overgrow after getting a new septic tank last fall, and it was good to be able to put the goats out there and let them browse. Boy, did they love it!  Frankly, I could care less if the grass is knee-high on most of our 2 acres, but he prefers it mowed. I like the grass around the house and by the road mowed, but I like the field to be overgrown with butterflies floating across the white, yellow and purple wildflowers and dark green weeds. To have the goats out there, traipsing around takes me back a century, when life was a bit slower, tho the workload was definitely not.

We definitely have had a workload since getting the chickens. I guess that is what happens when you get chicks in July!  I am really enjoying the chickens, and Eric is really taking most of the responsibility of caring for them, along with Rachel. I love to look down to the barn and see them strutting around, pecking here and there. Is "quaint" the word I am looking for? Maybe it's "homestead-y", I don't know, but I love it.

We started keeping them in a barn stall we enclosed a couple of months ago, then 2 weeks ago, Eric, Rachel and I fenced in a 20x30' area in front of the barn stall. They scratched around out there for a couple of weeks, until the grass was clean gone! So, in my inexperience and desire to solve a problem, I had Eric start bringing 5 chickens at a time up to the house. It is about 100 feet from the barn. Since I don't "know" chickens, I wanted to see what they would do. They did nothing, really. I mean, they went all over the yard, but they stayed together and were easy to corral. He and Rachel brought up 4 different group of 5.

I love watching them pecking around. It is really odd to me that something I have never known before can capture my attention for a couple of hours and just bring me a time of peace.

For the past week, we have been letting them out in the barnyard. We still have their fence up, and they know where to run for safety, but they do wander all over, in and out of the barnyard. They will walk up to the road, but have not been in it. The dog thought he would try to catch a couple with his teeth today, but a little correction, and he didn't try it again. The only thing that worried me was the black thing out in the field today. It jumped about a foot about the 2' high grass. Eric and Hannie went out to survey what creature it was and saw a cat scamper off into the corn. Great.

Amanda had 2 people come and look at the horses - which are for sale if you are in the area and interested. The lady who came used to live right around the corner, but recently bought 300+ acres and has a farm and stables. She has had her eye on Dulcy, our Appaloosa, since we got her, she said. She also gave us other info on her that we weren't too happy to hear, but she is still interested, so Amanda will probably call her this week if the guy who came doesn't call back. When I told her on the phone that a man had come to look at Dulcy while she was gone, she said in tears how she will miss her when she goes, but we all know that they are more than we wanted to handle. The previous owner wasn't very truthful about the poor mares. Besides that, they were severely undernourished, so I really feel like pretty much rescued them. I just want them to go to nice homes to someone who has time to train and spend time with them. With no children, that is. You should see the bite on Amanda's arm - there is a picture on her Homestead blog.

Matt went and bought hay last week. Did you know that hay is almost 4x as expensive in some places as it is here? I have read on the goat ring that it is over $10/square bale in TX and $11 in NC area. It is still around $3.00/bale here. We had been looking and looking... last year, we had a hard time finding anything good. Matt drove by a field right down the road and stopped and asked, and the man has several 100 bales, some of which are for sale. (Now, if only Jocelyn would start making those soaps and lotions, like she wanted to....) Goats are expensive as winter pets. Tho, for summer, they save on mower gas, as long as there is enough browse.

We watched Mrs. Potter last week too. I loved it -well, most of it. Our children have been sketching, watercoloring and drawing ever since. ;)

As for me, I have been up until 3 am for the past few weeks, being alone, thinking and writing. Not alone, mind you, really. I always have LucyLillie and another child (like now, Rachel is keeping me company). Can you believe Luc will be 6 months old on the 7th? Where do the days go? Life is full of so many wonders and God's splendors; we must stop and take time to notice the delight on a child's face, and maybe catch a few toads.

I will be posting about our homeschool happenings also.

blessings, Jacque

Nice

4:35 AM, Sunday, September 30, 2007 .. Posted by LadyPoet33

You have a very nice family. You almost make me want to start another farm...almost. LOL

LadyPoet33

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9:49 AM, Sunday, September 30, 2007 .. Posted by ApplesofGold

I really enjoyed reading this post! Life sounds very full and blessed at your place. I love watching our chickens wandering around our place, too. We have about 25 of them-they always hang around close-the rooster keeps a close eye on them.
When we lost our last rooster, the hens wandered everywhere and were naughty. LOL
I'm sorry your dd's horses didn't work out well. That's really hard for a horse-loving girl.
I enjoyed reading about all of your children.
We are expecting our 4th baby in May-very excited! Holly

Hi

7:46 PM, Sunday, September 30, 2007 .. Posted by mominpa

So enjoyed reading your update!!

We too have become goat handlers in the last month! (along with a baby...why do these things happen so close together?)

Chickens are also wonderful..ours free-range and are fine...except 2 weeks ago when we lost 5 to a HAWK...since then they have been kept in their chicken house. Can't wait to let them out again...they are SO much fun to watch!!

Just wanted to pop in and say HI!

Introduction.

10:19 PM, Sunday, September 30, 2007 .. Posted by familyminded

Hello Mrs. Dixon was it? Sorry I can't recall for sure,
I was just having a look at your weblog as you daughter Jocelyn suggested and thought I would leave a liottle message to say hello. 'Hello', :-) I have enjoyed your daughters posts and going through your site too. It is wonderful to see a family who is not blinded by the modern 'easy salvation' type of Christianity that is sold by most churches. From what I understand, our families believe very similar and actually follow a very similar lifestyle. We don't have as many goats but we have about 6 cows as well as several calves/ sheep/ducks/turkeys/geese/pigeons/ etc etc. We are also living relatively selfsufficiently. We are not on the grid either. '
Just thourght I'd drop by and say hello. :-)

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12:26 AM, Monday, October 1, 2007 .. Posted by BlogBoy

Great profiles, I really enjoyed reading them. I like Caleb's profile, you should start calling him flash, maybe his blog should be flash the superhero themed ;)

Issac is really active also though, what do you call him? Besides, Caleb is already Mr. Granite Head.

Thanks for stopping by!

Eric

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4:34 AM, Monday, October 1, 2007 .. Posted by barbieheart

A lovely update on your children. My Isaac (age 30) is definitely our Einstein!

So sorry your horses didn't work out--my 14yo loves horses, but, alas, we live in town (FtW).

We'll have to get together sometime!!
--Barbara

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2:43 PM, Monday, October 1, 2007 .. Posted by Ruth

Wow! It seems like you are very busy over at your place. I would love to own some goats and chickens in the future. If God wills it for our future.
Ruth

Welll

5:18 PM, Monday, October 1, 2007 .. Posted by SuperAngel

I dont know how accurate your description of me, but thank you anyway!!
Man, we have been crazy busy huh??
Thanks for letting us stay up late and watch Smallville.!!
I really appreciate it!!
Love,
Amanda only!!

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7:09 PM, Monday, October 1, 2007 .. Posted by Vicki

Wow, what a great post as usual!! I think I would love your homestead!!! I've lived in the country most of my life, and so miss it!! I live in town, and though it is a small town, I still miss the peace of the country!!

Your children sound so wonderful! I only hope, and pray that my girls grow to be as wonderful, as Godly, as yours!! Mine are wonderful, but they still have a ways to go!! *LOL* I just had to settle a yelling/hitting match a moment ago!

Desi's attitude at 8 is something I didn't expect, and am so tired of!!

Blessings to you and your family!!
Vicki

Hi again....

7:37 PM, Monday, October 1, 2007 .. Posted by mominpa

I forgot to ask a question:

What is your theory/idea on sleeping?

I couldn't imagine being up till 3am and then functioning at ALL the next day!! Plus having kids up.. I'm just SOOOOO curious.. What is your sleep schedule?

This coming from a mom whose boys are UP and READY for the day at 6:30am-7am!!