The time has finally come that the corn fields are being harvested here in our area. It is so much fun to watch the very large machinery come along and turn the stalks into piles of corn kernels. I grew up a country girl, so I thought it wouldn't impress me that much. I was wrong! These machines are mega farm machines and since the land around our house is leased to a very large mega farm, there are often 4-5 large combines and at least as many tractors pulling large bins next to them. They can harvest 100 acres in a very short time. We were glad to be home (including Dad) to watch the entire day. The neatest part was seeing how close they come to our house - maybe 100 - 150 ft from the boys' bedroom window. The bulk of our woods is behind our property and to the opposite side. Here are some pictures to enjoy:    Jack celebrated his 4th birthday on Monday! It was a nice day for all of us. He was blessed with a brand new pair of shoes to call his own, a Mommy-made jungle animal quilt, and school workbook. Grandma & Grandpa G sent a penguin aquarium toy (Jack loves penguins) and Grandpa Campbell sent some funds to buy Jack a new pair of winter boots! Grandma & Papa Bruce have picked out something too. Jack is our bundle of energy. He is our most loving and affectionate child and has the biggest eyes and smile! He is a real hard worker and can already do so much to help (especially folding towels and making his bed!). He is so proud to be 4 yrs old now.  We took Jack out to our small local mexican restaurant. He enjoyed having the men come out and sing to him in spanish and put this big hat on his head!  Jack got two cakes for his birthday - one gluten-free and the other a carrot cake - what else when you have bunny cakes? Brown bunny and Blue bunny are Jack's favorite snuggle friends, so we made him a Brown Bunny cake and a Blue Bunny cake.   A happy boy to get his own brand new pair of shoes - doesn't happen very often when you are a little brother! Except now.. Jack wears the same size shoe as his older brother.  Here is the jungle animal quilt I made for Jack. It is missing the binding yet. I will finish that this week, hopefully!  A close up of the quilting - a meandering stitch with a verigated green thread.  And here is the backing fabric. It is very beautiful and I was thankful to find it to match the theme! |
|
The past 10 days, the family and I traveled quite a bit! In celebration of a milestone my husband met for his career, and to take a much needed respite, we decided to do some traveling. We traveled in the following states: Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and West Virgina! Phew! In hindsight it was a bit too much for us to have a truly relaxing 'vacation', but we tried to make the best of our time and enjoy one another. We had many many 'follys' during the trip, beginning with the very first night. For example, no electric for heat first night, running out of propane heat in the middle of the night in the mountains of TN, getting to a campsite too late as they had closed, having to move twice after setting up the same day due to conflicts of scheduling with the park, a continuously barking dog who ate her collar twice.. need I go on and on??!! But we had beautiful weather. Here are some pictures of our trip: Our first palm tree sighting! About 100 ft across the border in Florida (from Alabama). Jeff running to get a map!
The beautiful beach! A very nice portion of protected State Park land - no ugly buildings and hardly anyone around!
The boys truly enjoyed themselves - shells and waves!
Making a sand angel! Too cute!
Here is our littlest angel - Liam! How cute, so small.
So many beautiful shells- all different colors, sizes and shapes!
One of the first pictures I took - I'm really here!
Here I am 19 weeks!
A tuckered out toddler getting his rest.
The boys (and Daddy) were fascinated with this little sand crab!
Eating lunch the second day.
We were next to two military bases - a Naval station and an Air Force base. Here is a naval boat coming in - and interesting shot with the kayaker in the foreground!
Here is a passenger ship - so close to shore! We saw it coming in to port near our campsite. The beach is on a peninsula - ocean on one side, and lagoon on the other where the ships dock.
Here the same above vessel coming in to dock. This is our campsite view! It was so beautiful.
Our first official night in Florida, Jeff decided to treat us to a nice night out of 'seafood'. We don't eat seafood, but we will have deep sea scaled fish on a rare occasion. This restaraunt was beautiful so we decided to eat inside the 'ship'.
View from the top - the lagoon and the ocean at the edge of the water.
Inside view - from our table.
Pirates are a no-no in our family, but, Captain Pete works good! Captain Jack!
And ship-mate Liam.
A beautiful sunrise!
We did have the opportunity to visit Sea World for free for the entire family. It would have been over $300! $75 per person! We won't go again, but it was nice for the few hours we were there. Peter ended up getting a fever while we were there. :( But, it worked out for the best as it was quite crowded with 99% Europeans and Aussies! No Americans anywhere - but it is in the middle of the week during school. Here are pictures of the only 'show' we saw - but still too much entertainment for our convictions. Seeing the great animals was beautiful, though.
At the 'waterfall'!
Fishing!! But we don't eat fish! Ha!
Jeff's solution to fishing - a vegan catch! Lol. No, I did not make seaweed patties that night.. Lol
We arrived home last evening and after bathing the children went right to bed! This morning, we had our ultrasound for the new baby. I am 20 weeks now - half way! So hard to believe. And we were so blessed with being able to see a healthy baby. Technology is truly amazing! This afternoon, I didn't do much cleaning, but decided to take advantage of the absolutely beautiful weather we are having. It is upper 60's, warm, sunny, and Autumn is in full swing. We raked leaves all afternoon and the children and I had a grand time. I am looking forward to a nice walk when husband returns home and then to a quiet evening, folding laundry, cleaning, and hopefully some sewing!
|
|
Our llitle boy is growing up and on Sunday, turned 2 years old! This week, he has mastered potty training and tonight capped it off by learning how to go #2 in the potty! I am happy for him as he has passed this great milestone. He is such a sweet child and so very friendly. He loves his older brothers and yet loves to play on his own. Here are some pictures:
|
|
This past Friday, we turned a new leaf in our family, as the 'baby' is taking steps to make sure he is not the baby anymore! Besides getting a younger sibling soon, Liam started going to the potty all on his own. He started using the words this past week and on Friday, he made it to the potty! More repeats on Saturday, and then this morning, he surprised us all by going pooh-pooh in the potty, too. |
So, no more diapers for our family - until the newest blessing arrives, some months ahead. Yay! I am so happy. We solicit your prayers for continued success and happiness. Sometimes children can get 'moody' but we hope that Liam will continue to be happy with his new 'big boy' freedom. Liam will turn 2 in one week.|
This past week, we were able to spend a few days studying the concepts of Recycle, Reuse and Reduce. I enjoyed talking with the children about our important role in assuring that we are not wasteful. The library had many wonderful resources and books to help us study. We ended our study with a great trip to the recycling center located at our base. We learned so much! This particular recycling center recycles anything with plastic or metal - anything! They accept cars, washers, dryers, refrig (with chems removed), crockpots, lots more! They will shred items for us - which is great, if you've ever had to sit down and shred for hours, like my husband and I have done in the past. If there is sensitive material, the papers get locked in a vault and will be disposed of through proper channels. Here are some pictures:
The boys holding their items to be recycled (minus the tractor!).
Bales of paper shreds - it will ship directly to paper producing plants.
Where everything gets dumped. A large moving belt picks up the items and then they are moved upstairs, where individuals will sort through everything - and separate all the pieces.
They will shred any glass bottles you can bring - any color - and give the mulch right back to you! It is very pretty and people are starting to use it as mulch around shrubs and in gardens. It will not cut anyone if it is touched - and it is actually very soft! Strange, as tiny shards from a broken glass will cut. This is another amazing 'invention'.
Here are can cubes. Each cube is holding 900 cans and weighs 25 lbs!
The cubes are much smaller than one would think!
One question I asked was if they recycled household batteries, like AA. The answer was No! I couldn't believe that. She said that they do not have enough acid within the batteries to harm the environment. Growing up and even now as an adult, I have always heard to never throw away batteries in the regular trash. That concludes our field trip! It was a great time by all. |
|
A few weeks ago (takes me a while to post sometimes!), we had our first field trip for homeschool. The first week's theme was Apples! So, where to go on a field trip? An apple orchard of course. Now, the apple orchards, unbeknownst to me, are not too flexible - either the apples are ready to harvest or they are not. After checking the orchard schedules, I discovered that many were harvesting 'summer' apples and thought we would have the opportunity to pick. We had a great time, regardless of not being able to pick and we look forward to returning during the Autumn Harvest!
A bag of 'summer' apples - Paula Red. These were 'seconds' and were much cheaper just for a few brown spots. Since we were making applesauce, it didn't matter. These apples are much softer than a normal eating apple. We didn't like the texture when we had an 8 apple panel taste test one day for school. We were able to enjoy many apples at the orchard including bunnies, pigs, roosters, peacocks, ducks, llamas, miniature horses, donkeys, and cats.
Jack's favorite animal is the bunny. He would love to get one someday!
Since we were the only 'customers', the kind lady offered to take the boys out to the animals and let them feed the old apples and produce. The boys really enjoyed this - and so did I! I asked her many questions about the property and animals and enjoyed a great educational conversation.
Here Jack is getting brave and feeding one of the young pigs a potato.
Big tusks on this older pig!
The boys had fun chasing the chickens and roosters.
The two donkeys and miniature horse.
And a time of fun.
Now, what we have been waiting for. Homemade applesauce! Here are the boys waiting patiently.
|
|
Today, September 8, is our first day of school! I am so happy for my son, Peter, who is now officially a Kindergartner. Yay! He is very happy and couldn't wait to start!
And a picture of our classroom:
Today is a special day in our life journey. What a blessed priviledge it is to educate and train our children! We are so happy to be raising this young boy for the Lord. Our curriculum is centered on the Lord, His Word, character development and learning a good work ethic through physical work. To celebrate our first day, Peter will have a "pizza party" this evening. Besides painting our van yellow to look like a school bus - and is affectionately called "The G** School Bus" - this is the next best thing! |
|
Yesterday, after a hard working day, we had a great time in nature rafting down the Little Miami River. It was a great adventure and one we thoroughly enjoyed. It was so nice to relax and float down the river, with laughter all around. We saw many beautiful flowers, fish, and several beautiful Egret birds.
Before we took off down the river, a self-portrait.
|
|
I am home today. It feels very nice to be reunited with my family - my dear boys and husband. I had been gone for 5 days to take care of my sick, single Father. It was a hard choice, but one we made quickly - and thankful that I did. 11 days ago, my Dad was suddenly ill. After many ambulance rides, tests, scans, the doctors discovered he had a massive blood clot in his left calf. Part of the clot had broken off and entered his lung causing a Pulmonary Embulism. After two days, he ended up having many blood clots in his lungs. It was a scary situation and the doctors did not give a positive prognosis. Praise the Lord, my Dad has come through it and he is now resting at home and I have been able to return home - 400 miles.
Without hesitation, the drama began this morning - a good way to be welcomed home! Lol. Our youngest son, nearing 23 mos, let out a bad scream right outside my bedroom door. We immediately opened the door and picked up the little tyke. After what seemed like minutes, I finally found the source of pain. His third finger, on the padding side, had a huge gash - not a slice, in it. It was very deep and bleeding profusely. After wrapping it in plenty of guaze, we rushed to the hospital (ours is 30 miles!). After waiting quite awhile, since the little one wasn't screaming in pain, they finally saw him and were shocked to see how bad it was. It was still bleeding quite bad after several hours! After an x-ray confirming the bone wasn't broken, they put in 4 stitches. Surprisingly, this is the first time any of my boys have had stitches. It was very heartbreaking for us to confine the tot and see him suffer through the painful shots and stitches. But he is doing well tonight, although as expected his finger is very tender.
In other exciting news, we are happy to announce we are expecting our fourth child in March! We are very happy and overjoyed with the news. Peter says "I hope it is a sister!". The Lord knows and has planned the perfect baby for our family. |
|
I have been incredibly busy, as we all are during the summer months! After weeks of traveling and a week of recovery (I'll post pictures sometime!), this week is a week of harvesting the garden. I have harvested the remainder of our onions (3 gallons), the remaining white and red potatoes (probably 80-100 lbs total), and the beets yesterday. In the past two weeks, I've picked two large cabbages with about 10 left to pick when ready. I have so many beets (although most are smaller because I didn't thin them as well as I should have - a lesson chalked up to inexperience). Today I'll be canning all the beets. Should be lots of messy red fun! And not to mention hot from all the steam! The one great advantage (and planned on our part) to not starting school until Septermber, is that I need all the help from the boys I can get! And that is how school used to be - didn't start until after the harvesting was done. Families sure couldn't send their boys and girls to school to miss the most important part of farming! So, we will be starting school on September 8. I hope we'll have the garden mostly harvested by then. This weekend will be one of joyful fellowship! On Sabbath, we are driving to just south of Cleaveland to have home church with several friends; the hosts live on a mini-farm in Amish country literally. It is a such a quiet pleasant time - and what better way to enjoy it than to worship the Lord together! Then on Sunday, we will be enjoying more fellowship. I will be turning 30 and it is nice to be with those you love. I do like a good cookout and lots of happy children - I hope to have both! |
|
Here is a quick update! I finally finished all my 'boys' matching pajamas! Daddy and the three boys. (sorry about the leg shot :) These pajamas are quick to make and will last at least 2 years. The previous pajamas I made early last summer are still being worn! Liam is starting to sit on the potty. No success yet - but he has another month or two before I will really get serious. My goal is by his 2nd birthday (in October). I like the method "Potty Training in a Day". Although that hasn't happened for me, it has happened within 3-6 days (and #2 coming within 10 days).
|
|
We are very fortunate to live across the road from the manager of a large produce farm, Groco Farms.
Ron Guess, our friendly farmer neighbor, can often be seen leaving his house early in the morning, running all day, and still not getting in until nightfall. He is a joyfilled man, and one can tell he loves his job. His Father, Mark Guess, was one of the first managers and still works every day. Ron's son, Phillip, graduated from Wilmington College with a degree in Business Agriculture. He is now working full time at the farm and seems to be following in big footsteps. It's funny - people tend to think men are getting larger. Well when one runs into Mark Guess, in his late 70's, one will be humbled. He is a large man - they do grow them differently on the farm! A few days ago, Mr. Guess stopped to talk with us as we were harvesting our red potatoes. A friend to children, he asked the boys if they would like to come by and see the produce packing operation some time, as they would be packing zucchini and cucumbers. I finally took the children today to learn all about how produce goes from ground to store. So here's the story:
After planting, migrant workers come in and are housed about one mile from our home in apartments specifically built for the workers. SThen, in the early hours, they are off to pick - Yes! handpick. The workers are transported to the fields by an old school bus! A tractor goes down designated rows and there is an arm on each side of the tractor. It has a pulley system - a conveyor belt of sorts. In front of each worker is a large basket. It sits lower than the belt. Once the bucket is filled it is placed on the conveyor belt that moves toward the trailer the tractor is hauling. There are two men, one for each side, that picks up the filled buckets from the conveyor belt. They walk to the back of the trailer and dump the produce. Sometimes when it gets busy, they have an assembly line between the men. Ever heard the expression "Back breaking work"? Well, this is the source of the saying. The men bend over all day picking. They have to be quick because the tractor moves forward at a pretty steady clip. Once the trailer is filled, the tractor will unhitch and my neighbor (or another worker) will hook-up and drive the produce to the packing shed a few miles away.
Once the produce arrives, it is driven into the 'shed'. It pulls up to a docking station where a large pipe hangs overhead. A worker will then open the pipe and water begins pouring out. A tiny door in the side of the trailer is opened and water will start filling up and pushing out the produce onto the conveyor belt. The belt will run right into a large water shoot. The water was at 47 degrees F when we were there! It takes off the 'field heat' and cools the produce so that they don't sweat as much in the large trailer trucks. Besides, then water is used to cool the produce, not as much energy is consumed compared with air conditioned tractor trailer beds. Once the produce is washed and cooled as it is moving along the shoot, it goes onto the belt again. It is sprayed off once more and then a film of wax is sprayed onto the vegetables. After this, the produce is pushed onto the conveyor belt where there are 15 or so workers standing waiting to receive the produce. There are two belts, each moving in opposite directions. The produce is picked according to size, which is length in this case. If the produce is smaller than a specific measurement it is picked by the 'small' packers. If it is larger, than the 'medium' packers will pick it up. Trash (debris from the field) is placed in a belt on the bottom along with any produce that is marred, chipped, or cut in anyway. No produce is sold as seconds. Phillip explained that there is no market for seconds. And they have a great deal of seconds. So, all of the vegetables that don't make the grade are placed on the bottom belt where it is moved into a chopper and is chopped up into waste. I should have asked where it goes from there but it slipped my mind.
The operation even has a box building machine where flat boxes are opened and the bottoms are closed down. The boxes travel across a conveyor belt traveling above the packers. When I was a youth, I remember making boxes from the flats with my church youth group. It took a while and we were often riddled with cuts on our hands and arms by the time we were finished. We made them for a local fish company that packed cold fish. It sure did smell up in the loft where we made the boxes! So, it was neat to see a machine do it. Once the boxes are packed two men pick them up from the packers and place them on flats. Once the flats get so high, they are twined and then Mark (Grandpa Guess) picks them up with the forklift and transports them to the holding warehouse where the semi-trailers pull-up to receive the produce.
If you look closely, you can read "Ron's Pride". Yes, that is indeed named for my neighbor Ron Guess.
And there is Ron himself. Not wanting to startle him with a close up picture (why would I be taking it anyway?! I see him everyday!), I took this as he was driving away! Non-bloggers just wouldn't understand...
So that is how produce gets from ground to store! Pretty amazing! And it is all happening within 2 miles of my house. All the fields are local- they are packing cucumbers right now. In a few weeks, eggplant and peppers will be picked and packed. That would be fun to see! And as a side note, zucchini are very perishable in the packing world, so they get packed first. Cucumbers are thicker skinned and heartier so they are packed after the zukes. If I think of anything else we learned, I'll add more information!
|
|
Well, we've been busy here at the farmstead. We've managed to dig about 40-50 lbs of red potatoes, and we still have another row! I am shocked to see that the plants that I thought were dying due to disease were actually dying because they were ready to be picked! We've got red potatoes the size of my fist! I was mistaken, and thought we wouldn't pick potatoes until October. We've enjoyed some hearty meals with the potatoes and look forward to feasting more for the rest of the summer. I would be more inclined to save some for the winter, but since we lack a root cellar or any type of basement, that is a bit impractical. Anyone know how to freeze potatoes for future use?
This is our dinner plate the day we picked potatoes! Red potatoes, then swiss chard from our garden, and then millet patties. Yum! We've also been blessed to borrow a friend's tiller and now we are really in business! We've tilled under the spinach and lettuce rows and the peas. It is becoming hard press to find any seeds in the stores to buy. I was going to plant broccoli and cauliflower but we couldn't find any seeds. So, there was a packet of corn left! It is a bit late for corn, but it said 76 days until harvest - that would put us at second week in September. That's not too bad, considering we live fairly far south. In Michigan, sweet corn didn't come in until mid August, at least when I was growing up. Sweet Corn has arrived where we live, but I don't think it is coming very local. Maybe from further south. I am also going to plant Buttercup squash and eggplant. Our green beans are producing now and our tomatoes are finally coming along. I made a big mistake only watering our tomatoes occasionally (like less than once a week) and they were stalling. I've watered for the last two nights and it feels like they have doubled in size - and are now flowering! I was hoping to plant sweet potatoes but found out that sweet potatoes only come in plants called slips. They are grown off of the root of a sweet potatoe. Too bad, I was looking forward to an autumn sweet poatoto harvest. I guess I just assumed that was when they were harvested, since Thanksgiving, sweet potatoes are so popular. |
|
Well, we've had a busy week here at the farmstead! Every year, we attend a campmeeting (a church conference) for a week the last week in July and early part of August in Virginia. If you have ever been to Virginia during that time of the year, you will have groaned. It is just so hot and sticky - one can cut the air with a knife the moisture is so heavy. I really enjoy Virginia, and its beauty, but give me the dry desert during those months! Anyway, last year we attempted to set up a tent. Liam was only 9 mos or so and it was horrible for him. He was so hot and red all the time and all the boys were soaked with sweat after every nap. It was not fun and really not safe for a baby. So this year, we tried to come up with a new plan to make the experience enjoyable and realistic. Into the equation comes the radical idea to buy a pop-up camper trailer! After much looking, many nights searching, we found one at the perfect price and had the amenities that we needed. So, we picked up the camper on Thursday! It is lovely. A Fleetwood 2005 Sea Pine. We've learned alot about allowable towing weights, how to hook up, and that garden hoses are not meant for transporting drinking water. After visiting our friends that live south of Cleaveland in Amish country, on Friday and Sabbath, we then came home. Sunday we decided spur of the moment to take out the camper before our big excursion in a few weeks to learn how to set-up and tear-down the camper and to fix any bugs that need fixin'. We, again, learned so much about what we need to bring, what we need to fix, and how to turn on propane, AC, and DC powers. On Monday morning, we blew up our new raft (it's used) - it holds 900 lbs and is quite durable and took it out for the second time. It was less windy this time so we weren't be blown all over the lake! We had quite the enjoyable time. We went for a swim in the middle of the lake too.
|
|
Yesterday was a big day for us - our 3 yo woke up with a heavy coating of poison ivy all over his body. The poor child has it in his eyes, his face, inside his mouth, his ears, neck, chest, back, legs, arms, and hands, with it also being inside the webbing of his fingers. Due to the swelling on his face, I decided to not mess around and take him into the base ER. I would have taken him to acute care if there were any appointments available. The wait was short and he was seen by the acute care physician. They weren't identifying the rash right away, but she did finally concede tht it was probably a bad case of poison ivy. Because of the face, she couldn't give him any topical steroid. So the only option was pretnezone in liquid form. We had a bit of a problem getting Jack to take it (read: he threw up breakfast because he gagged due to the taste), but after a few hours of suffering in a bad way, he decided he would take it. We've had no problems getting him to take his medicine now! The hardest part will be getting him to stop rubbing his face. The first day eruption
Second Day eruption the other side of his face
First day chest eruption
Second day chest eruption
As you can see from the pictures, the second day was worse than the first. Today is still the second day - it seems like it has been days! Tonight, his face is doing better and I am optimistic that the rash will clear up by week's end. |
