This past Saturday we were farmin'!!  We went to my Daddy's farm next door and picked a TON of corn.  We had a really good time shucking the corn together and talking even if we were in the summer heat.  The kids seemed to really like it and looked forward to thier promised dip in the pool when we were done.  Here are a few photos...

 JoAnna shucking our corn

Ashley's job was putting our corn on the cobs (with the ends cut off and some shuck still on) in paper bags for freezing.

Lindsey and Zachary shucking too, although... Zach didn't do too

 much shucking with all his....

 tractor riding (note... he is just pretending..) and his...

playing with worms... look closely, there is one on his leg.

here is the shucked corn waiting to be cut off, blanched and put in freezer bags.  I did most of that (Joe helped) while the kids were in the pool.  After two days of putting up corn, we have 50 family servings of corn!  It is SOOOOOoooooooooo yummy...  it is worth the hard work!

Here is the blueberry syrup recipie with photos!  I tripled the recipie, so you can 1/3 or 2/3 it if you'd like.  If you live in the south, I am sure you can still find a bluelerry farm to get some from.  The farm I go to is $5 a gallon... bought from the grocery store, it would cost $40!  So, hope you enjoy!  It truly is great to eat!  You'll need:

                        18 cups of blueberries

                          6 cups of water

         13 and 1/2 cups of sugar

    1.  Wash berries and drain, leaving them wet (you do not have to remove all stems).  Put berries in a large stockpot and cook for 20 minutes on medium heat, the fruit should be very soft.  

    2.  Pour the cooked fruit into colander lined with cheese cloth (I double layer it) over a stockpot and allow it to drain.  After it has drained all it can, fold the chesse cloth over it and press with a large spoon to crush the berries to get the remaining juice out.  You will have about 12-15 cups of juice.  

    3.  Pour juice into a large stockpot and stir in sugar

4.  Bring to a boil for seven minutes and then remove from heat and skim the froth off the top.

5.  Pour into sterilized hot jelly jars (I used 1 pint jars and ended up with 12 pints using this recipie) leaving 1/2 inch at the top.  CAREFULLY put the lids on and twist on bands and set on cooling rack. 

Viola!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was never going to do a blog (I told myself) but after viewing the ones on homeschool blogger, it just seemed like too much fun to pass up AND I could see how others are getting through this thing called homeschool.  Oh... and maybe to show off my kids a little... :).... not to mention my great husband and best half, Joseph!

We are on a small farm in Alabama and so far, a hobby farm.  I would love to be a working farm (I think) but, right now, my husband is a computer engineer and I don't know if we could make such a transition or not.  This past week I have put up about 20 qts of green beans, tons of corn (both from my Dad's farm next door), and from the blueberry farm down the road... 10 bags of blueberries, 18 jars of blueberry syrup, 7 jars of blueberry jelly and I just picked a gallon more blueberries because I just keep giving the syrup away!! Want some??  :) 

I have 4 children.  Lindsey is 12, Ashley is 11, JoAnna is 6 and Zachary is 3.  I will post pictures soon.  This year we are planning on using Abeka only.  I kind of wish I had waited and looked more into Sonlight because with 3 kids school age (1st, 5th and 8th grade) it looks like that may have been something I could teach them together.  Well, that is enough of an intro!  Thanks for stopping by, comments always welcome!