Sep. 8, 2006 - I'm Back!
I'm back. It is five months since I have written and alot has happened on our little homestead. The most blessed event was the birth of our 7th child on April 29th. Margaret Jane is an absolute joy! She is beautiful, happy and very much adored by all of us. She is also the reason I haven't blogged in so long. I took a break from 3 things I enjoy in order to have more time for her - gardening, milking, and computer time.
We did enjoy a spring garden of lettuce, kale and lots of spinach. After Margaret was born we took a 2 week trip and came home to overwhelming weeds in the garden. I was actually out weeding in the hot sun with Margaret fussing next to me when I decided to abandon the garden for the summer. I loaded all the kids in the van and we went to the beach instead. It was a magical day with the tide way out...I really didn't miss the garden. We still had lots of raspberries to pick. I picked with Margaret in the sling, and my dad (next door) has a bountiful garden that we are enjoying. I am still canning lots of local produce from our farmer's market and trips to Eastern Washington. So far I've made pesto, jam and syrup, tomato sauce and some dehydrated fruit. Still have lots to go - canned peaches and pears, more tomatoes, applesauce, pickles and the never-ending jam and syrup.
I made the decision to sell my milk cow and her calf soon after Margaret was born. Isabelle was a fiesty cow who really only liked me to milk her. After her calf was born she was even more touchy. I knew that my sweet baby would need me just when I needed to milk Isabelle and I wasn't willing to let that happen. One thing I love about milking is the peace of the barn and the animals and just having that little break to myself. Hurrying through the chores is not for me. I have milked plenty of goats with a baby in the sling but I would never milk a cow that way. I also gave up the time involved in organizing our milk share program and processing milk into cheese and yogurt, etc. We got fresh milk all summer long from our dear friends instead. Now I'm on the search for just the right dairy goat as Margaret is 4 months old and not nearly so needy of her mama all the time. She will happily sit in her buggy during chores, ride in her sling, or stay with one of her brothers and sisters.
I have a little more time for writing now, as well. Our summers are very busy. We run a produce stand here at our farm and have a big booth at farmer's market. Even without our garden we still make lots of products to sell - herbal soaps and bath products, jams, syrups and vinegars, yarn and roving from our shetland sheep, bread, bread and more bread, etc. Quiet mornings with a cup of coffee and computer time just don't happen often in the summer months. I find myself looking forward to getting that morning fire going in the woodstove this fall while the children sleep in. I love that time of day! I am also looking forward to recording our daily life here on our farm. I want to get Margaret's birth story recorded and an update on our log home and farm happenings. It's good to be back!
Today is baking day for the farmer's market so I'm off to make lots of bread, granola, cookies, cinnamon rolls and sweet breads. It's a cool, misty morning and fall is in the air. I think it's time for a big batch of pumpkin bread.
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Apr. 5, 2006 - Another Ramble
The morning started at 6 am with buttermilk pancakes for 5 adults and 9 children.
Dave and friend Bruce headed out then to place the last ridge pole support
beam in the center of the new house. They had it almost in place yesterday
when a strap slipped and they had to start all over. Thankfully yesterday's
rain is gone and we woke to a beautiful blue sky. The logs may be a little
slick from the frost but it should warm up soon. They are using a genie
boom and a fork lift to move logs so things are progressing fairly quickly.
The house is only 30 x 30 but very tall and massive looking with such sturdy
walls. It will get 2 dormers and a big wrap-around porch.
Baby #7 is due 4 weeks from yesterday...between the house-building, the
pregnancy, the homestead and the major meal preps around here Dave and I
fall into bed exhausted at night. These are surely days we will never
forget...the cabin floor is wall-to-wall children with 4 of our own and 3 of
our friend's. Bruce has the peace and quiet of a borrowed rv while another
friend, Becky, and her baby have a room next door at mom and dad's. I only
got through half my grocery list yesterday and must go back today for the rest,
the store was way too crowded and I was way too tired. I got the tea but
forgot the coffee so must go finish up today. Half the crowd is vegetarian
so I have some flexible meals planned out. Last night was spaghetti with
homegrown lamb sausage or vegetarian. Tonight will be cheeseburgers with
homegrown beef or veggie patty. I think I'll put a pot of baked beans in to
go with it. Becky left to take her mom to the airport for a midwifery class
in Philadephia until Saturday. She will be back to stay the week and will be
a huge help.
Kidding starts in a week, lambing in 4, and Isabelle the milk cow is due at
the the end of the month. The 2 pigs will go in the freezer in another 4
weeks or so. We will raise one more for our house-warming party this fall.
Bruce is going to roast it on an outdoor spit. I need to decide when to
start the meat birds. Either now or after our trip to Kansas the end of
May. I've never left the farm for more than a few days and we will be gone
for 2 weeks. I'm thinking to wait on the birds. Less for someone else to
take care of. All the milkers will be nursing babies so no milking chores
for our caretaker.
Farmer's market has been open for a month and things are picking up. My
first bed of greens should be ready to harvest in a week or so. I sell
mixed baby greens along with my bread, soap, wool, etc. I'm trying a new
mill to process my shetland wool into bulky weight yarn for me so need to
find some big boxes today and send it off. I have about 60# from shearing
on Wednesday. I'm going to have gray, brown and cream yarn to sell in 8 oz
skeins. I plan to try my hand at dying some of the cream.
Time to run 2 kids to art and drama. Here's to another blessed day on the
farm....
Molly
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Mar. 19, 2006 - March musings
We have switched gears from Winter to Spring here...Dave is back out working on the log home and Farmer's Market has started up again. The house is really coming along. A friend from Dave's log home class came to help out for a few days and has ended up staying almost 2 weeks. We think he's really an angel sent down to earn his wings .....by tomorrow they should be finished stacking the logs, then Bruce will come back in another 10 days or so to help put up the ridge poles. We are getting so excited! The house is amazing! It is only 30 x 30 but very tall with 3 stories. It will have 2 dormers and a nice wrap-around porch to balance the height. It has a massive look to it because the logs are just so big. It is a little scary to see them working up so high but I have left that up to God. The weather has cooperated and things haven't gotten too slippery for them. One of these days I will learn how to post some pictures!
Yesterday was our 3rd market of the season. We set up indoors for March and April and start out slowly. I had a good day and sold about 2 dozen loaves of bread, cinnamon rolls and cookies, eggs, soap and lotion. Business has picked up each week as it should continue to do until we move outdoors in May. That's when things really get busy for us. I find I can sell up to 75 loaves of bread but perhaps not this year...new baby is due May 1st. She and I will do the market together but I may not be able to spend so much time baking. We will see...I still have handmade soap, wool and yarn, preserves and produce, etc. to sell. Right now I am trying to get a nice supply of soap made and plan to use up my frozen berries for jam and syrup.
Six more weeks and we will be a family of nine! We are getting so excited! We still haven't chosen a name but have some nice ideas: Margaret (Maggie), Annie Rose, Mary, Elizabeth (Betsy) ...these are a few of our thoughts. We'll see. Last Monday my midwife discovered that baby is breech so I have been working on getting her to turn. VERY hilarious around here! I have been lying on the ironing board set up on the edge of the couch, 3 times a day for 20 minutes. The baby has definately shifted position but I'm not sure that she's completely head down. I'm taking 2 days off from the ironing board until Jeanette can check me on Monday. I have also been taking the homeopathic Pulsatilla and I'm ready with my Moxabustion if she is still breech. I have had 5 beautiful homebirths and one easily in the hospital so this "complication" is all new to me. I can't even imagine not being at home in our cozy little cabin with my nice birthing tub. But that's another worry I'm giving to the Lord...I just pray for a healthy baby.
The children are doing well and ready for Spring. Ben-13 and Gabe-6 are starting baseball season. It will be Gabriel's first year and Ben's tenth. Unfortunately Ben has been diagnosed with a torn tendon in his right arm, an old injury from last year. It just hasn't had a chance to heal as he's gone from one sport to the next so he's in physical therapy now and will sit out the beginning of the season, if not longer. Gabe will be playing T-ball, his first experience with organized sports. He is very excited.
Kieran-19 is awaiting the results of his college auditions. He went to Chicago in February to try-out for 5 different musical theater programs. Competition was stiff but he is very talented. He expects to hear back in April. Right now he has his own apartment in Seattle and is working at Nordstroms full-time. Emily-almost 16 is learning to drive this Spring. She is doing a wonderful job and will be well prepared for her exams come August. We recently enrolled her in Clonlara's homeschool program. It is a great program with alot of flexibility. As an unschooling family we are finding it to be a perfect fit. Katherine-10 is spending most of her time right here on the farm. She loves to read, knit, play outside and get together with her friends. The little ones adore her and she is a big help to me in many ways (like getting me up from the ironing board!). Cecilia-3 is a joy to all of us. She is most delighted that new baby is a girl. Celia's days are filled with the life of the farm and a big family that adores her.
I have had a short lull before the farm springs to life again. I finally got our cow, Isabelle, dried up to rest before her calf is born next month. So milk shares and cheesemaking have come to a halt for awhile. It is a nice break for me although we miss the fresh milk. The goats are due in April and the sheep in May. We will get some new chicks this month and plan to raise meat birds beginning in June. The pigs are getting big and will be ready for the freezer in another 6 weeks.
Our shearer will be here from Wales in another few weeks. We have 13 wooly sheep and 6 curly pygora goats ready for haircuts. I will send most of the fiber off for processing into roving and yarn. I can't wait! We have some gorgeous fleeces this year and a nice variety of colors. Eleven ewes are bred to a white ram so we should have plenty of neutral wool for dying next year.
The garden awaits slightly warmer weather. I do have one large beds of greens growing nicely under row covering. I'm looking forward to summer days in the garden with baby sleeping in her new pram...barefoot children digging in the dirt...teenagers down the hill at the sandy beach....clothes drying on the line...but I am cherishing this day right here as well. Only a short time until our family grows again and everything shifts and changes again, including my very full heart. God's blessings are so abundant.
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Feb. 14, 2006 - February on the Farm
We woke up to snow on the ground...what a surprise. It doesn't snow too often here. Usually we hear it in the forecast for days in advance and the children are so hopeful that it will really happen. Sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't. They are sleeping soundly now and will wake to a beautiful morning. Katherine has the chicken pox but the others will be out playing I'm sure.
It has been a full month since I have written. I considered going back to my old-fashioned pen and paper journal, but I can't seem to get to that either. So here I am, attempting to record this amazing life we are living on our little farm. We are in our slow season for just another few weeks. Our farmer's market starts up again in March and runs for 10 months. We rarely miss a week. I will start with bread and cinnamon rolls, some specialty cookies and scones, etc. We will have a good supply of eggs. I will also have our full line of soaps, lotions, bath salts, lip balm and salve. We have some wool roving left from our shetland sheep but not much. I have 16 fleeces to get shipped off and processed into yarn and more roving. In March we shear again so I should be well stocked by the summer market. As the season progresses our booth will fill up with produce, jams and syrups, honey, berry lemonade and apple cider, until we are fairly bursting out of our double space by August. The first bed of greens is already planted under a sheet of row covering, and now under a blanket of snow!
This may be our slow season but we have been very busy here at home. Dave has been getting caught up on farm chores before he starts fulltime on the house building in March. He works nonstop maintaining the farm, supporting our family and now building us a beautiful log home. He has all the apple trees pruned except one huge old King tree that is just too high. Our trees are the old-fashioned full size trees planted many years ago. He tilled up our large garden and began to build raised beds for me. They are wonderful and will be so much easier for me to keep up. So far I have 2, both 4 x 16. The first is planted with mixed greens: lettuce, kale, beets, and spicy mesclun. The second will be filled with spinach in the next week or so. Eventually most of the garden will be raised beds. I think we have room for 11, leaving plenty of space for our marionberry and raspberry patch, corn and potatoes, and the herb garden.
Dave also spent time working on animal fencing. He fixed the hot wire in our neighbor's pasture and we moved Isabelle out just the other day. Our new neighbors are truly an answer to our prayers. They are sharing their beautiful pasture with big evergreens and plenty of grass. Isabelle went out just fine but refuses to go into the new milk stanchion. She is the most stubborn animal I have ever encountered. But I do love her and I'm just letting her back into her old corral for milking. The vet was out to check for a calf last week. She was supposedly bred to a black angus and due in late April but I began to wonder about that. I was still getting over 4 gallons of milk a day and she doesn't look very big to me. Usually a cow will begin to taper off in production by now. I didn't want to dry her up needlessly so decided on the vet check. She IS pregnant!! I was so happy. So now I'm milking only once a day - getting 3 gallons of milk. Isabelle is quite a producer but she needs a rest before her calf comes. I'm cutting way back on her grain in hopes of drying her off by the first of March. Our pigs will really miss the extra milk and whey from cheesemaking. They love it and complain loudly if we give them plain grain without some form of milk over the top.
The chickens are laying well again, with the addition of an extra light in the barn. I am getting about 12 dozen eggs a week from our 25 hens. I gave a dozen hens to our new neighbor so we have room for a few chicks this year. Our former sheep barn and one section of the garden is available for birds now so we will also raise 50 cornish cross for our freezer.
The sheep are out on pasture and growing the most gorgeous fleeces right now. I love to just stand at the fence and look at them. We have shades of brown, black and cream in our flock. Some coats are long and crimpy and some shorter and fluffy. Ferdinand the ram is still keeping them company for another month, so we should have 11 pregnant ewes for sure. Before long we will need to fence in one more section of pasture so we can rotate them back and forth.
The pygora goats are also beautiful right now. Their coats are long and curly. They are half way through their pregnancies and will need to be sheared soon. We have only 2 dairy goats now, Abby and Alice, as we have so much cow milk coming in. Both are bred to the pygoras for some mini-dairy goats. We are going to have lots of babies on the farm this year! Beginning the third week of April and going probably to the end of June we should have 1 cow, 6 goats, and 11 sheep deliver. Of course, we get a human baby at the end of April, too!!!!
I went in for an ultrasound last week. I wasn't planning to have one at all, but lately I have really wanted to check in with this baby. All has been well but I just decided I wanted an overall picture. It was so wonderful. We have a healthy baby girl growing just beautifully...four daughters!! What an incredible blessing!! This baby breaks our pattern of boy, girl, boy, girl, boy, girl. So now I'm enjoying these last 10 weeks of pregnancy and getting prepared for a newborn in the family. We don't need to buy much. Cloth diapers, a carseat, a sling and a buggy. When Cecilia-3 was a baby my sil lent me her European buggy. Eva is from Denmark where babies always take their naps outdoors. I began to do this with Cecilia and she slept so soundly in the fresh air, all tucked into the cozy buggy. So this will be our big purchase. I am looking forward to having the baby with me wherever I go, either nestled in the sling or sleeping beside me. Between the garden, the roadside stand, the farmer's market and the animal chores I am outside alot.
The children have had a good winter and are looking forward to spring. Kieran-19 went to Chicago last week to audition for 4 musical theater conservatories. He is so talented! In another month or so we will know if he is off to Boston, Miami, Cincinatti or Ohio. Emily-15 has begun an amazing homeschool program to earn her high school diploma. www.clonlara.org She also started driver's ed last week. Ben-13 is on the wrestling team for the first time. He said it is the hardest workout he has ever had, harder even than football. In his first match he pinned his opponent! He wrestles again today and I'm hoping to get down our hill in the snow to watch him. Katherine turned 10 last month and we celebrated with family and friends at the ice skating rink. She is growing into a lovely young lady who loves to read, knit, write, and be with her friends. Katherine is my companion on the farm, in the kitchen and at the market. Gabriel also had a birthday in January, turning 6. This was a big birthday for him, going overnight it seems from a little boy to a big boy. He has begun to move out of the family bed to sleep with the big kids. His birthday presents included a BB gun, a hatchet and a homemade bow and arrow. Cecilia-3 is looking forward to being a big sister. Right now I am just cherishing my time with this little one. She is so sweet, clever and loving, the whole family adores her.
The fire has warmed our little cabin and the children are all awake and excited by the snow. It is Valentines' Day...my heart is certainly full.
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Jan. 13, 2006 - Farm news
Have you ever felt that you are so busy living your life that you don't have time to write about it? My days are full to the brim right now!! Yesterday I was sitting at my spinning wheel for a short time...my heart was so full as I turned my own homegrown wool into yarn, bread dough was rising, homeraised ham and bean soup was simmering, my Isabelle's milk was being made into yogurt...I went outside for a load of wood and Dave was outside splitting wood with Ben-13. He said "I just love chopping our own wood for the fire." I smiled. We are truly living our dream and I thank God for every moment of it.
My newest ventures are cheesemaking and spinning. Dave gave me a beautiful spinning wheel several years ago but I never found the time to really master it. Our youngest are now 3 and 6 and old enough not to touch and not to need me so constantly. So I have made the commitment to learn this ancient art and to turn our beautiful shetland wool into yarn. We have 13 sheep in the pasture now with Ferdinand the ram, so our herd will grow significantly this year. I attended the local spinner's group on Tuesday and loved every minute of it. I was without children 
for 3 hours while getting lots of help with my spinning, visiting with some lovely ladies and eating some delicious snacks. Heaven! When baby comes I plan to put her/him in the sling and keep on spinning...
In a few hours the children and I will head over to a friend's for a cheesemaking session. I have made a soft farmer's cheese, mozzarella, cheddar, and ricotta so far. They have all turned out well. The cheddar is a pressed cheese and requires alot of milk, but as it ages it is getting so flavorful and good that it is worth it. Today we will make a big batch of mozzarella and ricotta. My sweet Isabelle is still giving us plenty of milk, up to 5 gallons a day, even in her 7th month of pregnancy. Another 6 weeks and it will be time to dry her up for a rest. Her calf is due at the same time as our newest blessing. Actually all our animals will give birth around the same time this year. It will give me a break from milking at the perfect time.
The rest of the homestead is still humming along even in these dark winter days. The chickens have picked up their laying with the help of a light in the coop. Clarabelle the calf is growing into a beautiful, tame cow - a future milker! The pygoras are all bred now and their coats are growing long and lusterous. The dairy goats were bred to pygoras this year for some mini-milkers and the sheep are warm and wooly with the promise of some gorgous fleeces this spring.
I'm off to milking and getting the children moving. Have a wonderful day!
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Dec. 15, 2005 - Homestead Update
It is another frosty morning on Whidbey Island. Mid 20's last night which is quite cold for this area. I got up at 5 to build the fire but Dave did that for me before he left. I have my double latte now and the children are sound asleep...my favorite way to start the day. We have been so busy on our homestead I haven't had much computer time. I'm going to try to catch up on the last 10 days...
The Animals: we have a new milk cow! Do you remember the "jewels" I wrote about in my Cider Pressing entry? Dave has bought me another jewel. This one is big and mostly black, 4 yrs old and very sweet. I named her Isabelle. She is 5 months pregnant and gives an abundance of rich creamy milk. Isabelle is a replacement cow for my sweet Betty that we had to put down last month. Betty was diagnosed with an eye tumor and we made the difficult decision to put her down. She was a wonderful cow and I had her only a year. She loved children and didn't care who or how many milked her. My little nieces would crouch down next to her and try their hand at milking while Betty stood patiently still. I will never forget her. One morning not long ago I loaded up one of our lambs for the mobile butcher and drove over to Betty's pasture in the early dawn. I drove up to see Betty standing in her pasture, heard a gunshot and watched her drop to the ground. The life went out of her instantly and I just sat in my car and didn't watch anymore. I knitted for a bit and actually felt a sense of peace about Betty. She died right in her own pasture...no hauling her off to the auction, no surgery to remove her eye. We did the right thing. One day 2 weeks later Dave drove up to the butcher shop and came home with 700# of organic beef that had been presold to friends and family. Three nights later Isabelle was delivered on a cold and frosty night.
Our 13 Shetland sheep are happily hosting a visiting ram named Filip. He is pure white which will add some extra softness to my herd and give me some nice neutral colors for dyeing. I am breeding 11 ewes this year, many more than I have in the past. I plan to keep about 16 of the total flock and sell the rest. I spent one morning last week sorting through 12 bags of wool. It is now ready to be sent off for processing, some into roving and some into yarn. My girls and I will use some for spinning and knitting and the rest will be sold at farmer's market in the spring.
The goats have been noisy this month as I have them seperated into breeding groups. I am using my little pygora bucks on our 6 does, my 2 dairy goats and on a friend's cashgora. We should have lots of tiny pygora babies come May. I am looking forward to the dairy kids as I will have mini-saanens and a mini-mancha. The cashgora/pygora cross should be beautiful.
New to the farm are 2 tiny piglets. We love to raise our own pork. The pigs get all our kitchen leftovers and any extra milk. We feed some commercial grain and lots of scraps. In 6 months or so the mobile butcher will come out and we will fill our freezer again.
The chickens continue to lay even in the cold. We caught a dozen of them and gave them to our wonderful new neighbors. I'm going to give her another dozen to make room for chicks in the spring. We will also raise a batch of cornish cross for the freezer.
The Log House: Dave had a nice stretch of vacation time over Thanksgiving and made great progress on the house. He and Ben -13 got 15 logs in place before the freezing weather came. It is too hard to drive the rebar through the frozen logs so they are back to peeling now until it warms up a bit. In March Dave will be home for the month to get the rest of the frame up. It is coming along nicely. I do have pictures if I only knew how to post them.:)
The Family: We are all doing well and eagerly look forward to Christmas. The outdoor lights are up including a lovely string of clear bulbs lighting the way across the orchard to the cow barn next door. Evening milking is somehow magical with those lights in the black night. Dave and I have had fun shopping for the children. We try to keep things simple but do love to buy them special gifts, some things they need and some just for fun. Our 6 are between the ages of 3 and 19 so our tree is always overflowing with a wide array of gifts, from baby dolls to bb guns to perfume and airline tickets. (Kieran-19 is off to Chicago in February to audition for a musical theater conservatory.) The girls and I have been busy knitting scarves for the grandmothers and Emily-13 is developing beautiful black and white photos of our family as well.
I had a midwife appointment last week and all is well. I am 20 weeks along and the baby is growing well with a nice strong heartbeat. We will go the traditional route with no ultrasound and wait to be surprised as to a boy or girl. So far our 6 have alternated boy, girl, boy, girl, boy, girl.
The Business: One more market day and we close for the winter. This is a much needed rest that I look forward to. We will plan the garden and get soap and jam made in advance for the spring. Next summer will be different with a newborn in the sling so I must get as much as I can prepared in advance. Our family has a large old-fashioned farm stand at the Saturday market and it keeps us quite busy during the summer months. When we move out of this little log cabin into the new house we will be able to open a shop right here on our farm as well.
It is still pitch black out...the children still sleep...the cabin is warming up. Today we will make room for our Christmas tree, our last Christmas in this cozy little cabin.
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Nov. 29, 2005 - Tuesday on the Homestead
Yesterday was our first real winter day. The farm was covered with a thick frost and the puddles were frozen. So were our pipes as Dave and I both forgot to leave the water running the night before. But the fire was burning , the cabin was warm and we were content. Dave went back to work after 9 days off to work on the house. He got the first 12 logs in place!! This is such an exciting time for us. Dave has had this dream for so long and it is finally happening. Ben -13 is working with him and learning so much.
I really started this blog to record the daily happenings on our homestead and I've decided to try to do just that. Some days really are special, such as I have written about already. Others are just our regular days...like today will be. I was up at 5 with Dave getting the fire started and making tea. Dave left at 5:15 and I sat in the dark of the cabin wearing 2 bathrobes, listening to the fire and drinking tea. The children slept deeply, 2 here in the greatroom near the fire and 2 under thick blankets in our big bed. Emily-15 has a bedroom at my parent's right next door and Kieran-19 has an apartment on the mainland.
Dave and Emily are the only ones who wake to an alarm clock. The rest of us get up when we are finished sleeping. I am a big believer in mornings and this is one thing I love about homeschooling. Right now it is 7:30 and Gabe-5 and Celia-3 have been awake for half an hour. Katherine-9 will wake up shortly and Ben will sleep on, right here in the midst of all our morning activity. Eventually I will nudge him out of bed to start morning chores. He brings in the wood first thing so that's really important to us.
We took some great family photos over Thanksgiving. Kieran was home for 2 nights and we lined all 6 kids up on the second layer of logs for pictures. I'm going to figure out how to post them here so I can introduce our beautiful family. I am also going to give a "farm tour" and introduce our animals. We have chickens, fiber and dairy goats, shetland sheep, a guardian llama, a dairy calf and this weekend will add 2 piglets and our new milk cow.
Thank you so much to those who have posted comments to me. I really love to hear from you and appreciate your kind words. I will get my sourdough recipes up soon as requested. Today is family baking day as we are completely out of bread.
I'm off to cut soap for an order...it is Grapefuit Poppyseed Kitchen Soap.Yum! Have a wonderful day!
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Nov. 10, 2005 - Our Log Home
My husband, Dave, is building a log home for us here on our farm. This has been his dream for longer than I have known him. When we lived in Alaska he often talked about this dream...now it is finally happening. He has taken workshops from Skip Ellsworth on a particular method of log home building. These are just 3 day workshops but he has learned alot and been reading about log homes for so long. So here we are...yesterday he poured the stemwalls and next he will begin to stack the logs. This past year was spent clearing the land, peeling the logs and planning.
Our house will be 30 x 30 with 3 stories and a wraparound porch. It has an open floor plan on the first floor with a mudroom and bathroom. The next 2 floors each have 2 bedrooms, a bathroom and a loft area. We will be going from our 1 bedroom cabin with 700 square feet to 2000 square feet. Three bathrooms! Our own laundry facilities! And a place for my beloved antique wood cookstove. Our new house will not be fancy. Dave and I have chosen a simple life for our family. I love old-fashioned things and Dave is very down-to-earth. The children have never had bedrooms and have not acquired alot of things.
But they are growing up and we will all love the room to spread out.
Oh, I will miss this little cabin. I cherish this greatroom where right now our fire is crackling in the dark morning and my children are sound asleep. Bedtimes will change the most as we fill 4 bedrooms instead of 1. I love to tuck my children in at night with the 4 youngest right here for stories and prayertime. This togetherness is pressed upon my heart forever. I know we will always be a close family...and these years in this cozy cabin will never be forgotten.
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Oct. 21, 2005 - market baking day
I taught myself to make bread when my oldest was a baby. Nineteen years later I still bake bread, it is one of my favorite things to do. In just a short while I will begin mixing dough for my farmer's market breads. Each Friday my little cabin kitchen fills with bowls and tubs of bubbling sourdough and rising bread. By evening every surface is covered with crusty cooling loaves. In the height of summer, from Memorial Day to Labor Day, I work into the quiet of the night. My humble cabin stove holds 6 loaves at a time and it steadily turns them out until I'm up to 60 or 70 loaves. I sleep a few hours, then rise early to put the cinnamon rolls in. Everone knows cinnamon rolls are best warm from the oven!
By October our market has slowed down...the summer crowd has left the island and city visitors are few. But our loyal locals remain and the farmer's market here runs almost year-round. My bread loaves number in the 30's plus cinnamon rolls and specialty cookies. In January and February we gratefully take a break.
I love selling at the Farmer's Market...we have a large double booth for our farm. It is really a family business as my husband and children all help in some way. On the busiest days Dave works the produce, herbal soaps and sheep's wool while I do the bread and lemonade. Our oldest, Kieran(19), does all our graphic design and labelling. Emily(15) helps in the booth and alternates baysitting the little ones with her brother, Ben(13), who makes catnip cat toys to sell. Sometimes we display Emily's handpainted silk scarves. Katherine(9) sells eggs and herbal sachets at her own little booth. Right now she is busy knitting and weaving dishcloths and potholders to add to her wares. Once in a while we bring Gabe(5) and Cecilia(3) as our customers love to see how the children have grown. Next May we will bring our newborn snuggled in a front pack.
I'm off to feed the sourdough and start the yeast breads. My list includes Multi-grain Sourdough, Pesto Parmesan, Jalapeno Cheddar, Roated Red Pepper and Feta, Oatmeal Honey Wheat, Seeded 10-Grain, and Rustic White. Today I'll also make some fragrant Pumpkin Spice loaves and Fresh Apple Scones...mmm. Yesterday the children and their friends pressed many gallons of apple cider to add to our offerings, as well. I do love Fall!
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Oct. 6, 2005 - sheep shearing
Yesterday was a beautiful Fall day. Dave and I, with 3 of our children, spent the morning at a neighbor's farm. It was shearing day for their 30 Shetland sheep. Our children watched, climbed on the hay bales, and fed the mules and donkeys fresh grass and apples. Dave caught each sheep, delivered it to the shearer, assisted when they struggled and returned them to their stall. I helped label, sort and bag the wool. It was a lovely morning. I love to spend time talking with my neighbor, Cris. She is my sheep and fiber mentor. When we moved to our farm 4 years ago I bought my first ewes from her, Claudia and Amariah, to begin my own handspinning flock. Every Fall I borrow one of her rams for breeding. We now have 15 sheep of our own. We sell some, put culls in the freezer, and process the wool for farmer's market and our own use. Cris has taught me how to wash, card and spin the wool. Dave bought me a beautiful spinning wheel which sits by my fire and awaits a quiet moment without little ones underfoot. Did I remember to include my beloved spinning wheel in my list of gifts more precious than jewels? Check my first blog on that! (Right now it is waiting and waiting and waiting :) As we sorted over each fleece yesterday she continued to teach me about the differences in single-coated and primitive wool, color genetics and management practices. We selected a ram for my ewes this year. "Filip" will be arriving in November, a gray 2 year-old with a magnificant set of curled horns.
In the evening the shearer came over to my farm to shear 5 of our own sheep. They were all beautiful shades of brown. We sheared in the pasture in the fading light, with my barefoot children sitting on the fence, watching. As we piled the soft wool into bags I was overcome with gratitude for my life. I love being a wife, a mother, a hearthkeeper, a farmer, a milkmaid, and a shepherdess.
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Sep. 30, 2005 - a birth story
Yesterday was my Benjamin's 13th birthday. We had a wonderful day celebrating with family. As always we retold his birth story...We were living in a small town in Alaska at the time. Ben is the only child out of 6 who was not born within a day or two of his due date. He was exactly 2 weeks early. I had been having braxton hicks for several days and thought nothing of it. I left that morning to walk Kieran-6 and Emily-2 to storytime at the library. As I sat there during the story I noticed my contractions seemed regular and began to time them. Sure enough, 5 or 6 minutes a part, but nothing difficult. My friend, Jeannie, gave us a ride home and I mentioned that I might be in early labor. "Oh, I don't think so. Come over and sit in my big tub," she said. I met my husband leaving home from his lunch break and told him the same thing. "OK, honey. Let me know." Our last labor had taken 2 days to really get going so Dave didn't pay me too much attention either.
I nursed Emily and put her down for a nap. I called my best friend and midwife, Janelle, and she said she would come over and check me. We had planned a homebirth. Kieran and I made up the futon in the spare room, just in case. I settled into the rocking chair and watched Kieran build a train out of the kitchen chairs. Janelle arrived with her 4 children in tow. "If you're really in labor I'll take all the kids out to Christy's (a friend who lived 5 miles away)" Janelle said.
She checked me. I was 8 centimeters. Yikes!! We flew into action. Janelle called her assistant, Beth. I called Dave. He said, very sweetly, "OK, honey. I'll just make this last delivery and I'll be home in a few hours." I burst into tears and said "I need you NOW!" I asked Janelle if she was going to take the kids to Christy's and she told me there wasn't time. What were we going to do with 6 kids under the age of 7? I called my mom in Seattle to tell her our baby was on the way and we had noone to watch the kids. She suggested I call my brother's girlfriend (now his wife). I did and she left her job at the forest service and came right over.
Dave arrived in time for the birth of our beautiful son, Benjamin David. He was born within several hard contractions and a few pushes. There was a knock on the door minutes after he was born. It was the birthing stool I had ordered (now our faithful milking stool). There was another knock. It was Beth, the midwife's assistant. She had missed the whole event.
Within a few hours of arriving home from the library I was back in my rocking chair, my newborn son nestled in my arms. I called Jeannie and said "guess what I have in my arms?" :) Ben is growing into a wonderful young man. He is bright, handsome, talented and extremely loving with his brothers and sisters. He loves to hunt and fish, play sports and read long books...hmmm...we now have 3 teenagers in the family!
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Sep. 26, 2005 - Apple pressing day
I have a beautiful new cider press which Dave and the children gave me for my birthday. One day a friend was commenting that her husband was lucky that she liked pearls better than diamonds, because they were cheaper. Hmmm, I have never received jewelry from my husband, other than my beautiful wedding ring...my gifts have been more prescious than diamonds: an antique cookstove, a milk cow, a spinning wheel, a pine hutch, an heirloom quality cider press...Dave knows me so well and he knows my heart. I am truly blessed!
Yesterday was a beautiful Fall day, with a clear blue sky. I got out the cider press and gathered 4 of the children, my niece, sister-in-law and mom. We pressed 7 boxes of apples into the most delicious cider. The children took turns grinding and pressing, catching the cider in cups as it poured out. They proudly carried a cupful down to their dad who was working on our new log home. It was a day to remember...a day to press upon my heart full of stored treasures...a day to recall in the cold of winter when we pull an icy jug out of the deep freeze to drink by the warm fire.
We still have plenty of apples. I am dreaming of an old-fashioned frolic, with the men raising the walls of the new house and the women and children pressing cider in the orchard, keeping warm by a big bonfire and savoring the last clear days of Autumn. Won't you join me?
