Old Sawmill Homestead - Homeschool Blogger

The Long Winter

Sun, 8 Feb 2009 00:04:00 -0600

I hope to be back blogging after a year long winter. In the fall of 2007, I injured one shoulder and began physical therapy in hopes of avoiding surgery. That's what 8 hours of shoveling manure will do to you! I was beginning to heal when I slipped on some ice and sprained the other shoulder. Blogging took a back seat to just surviving. I am pleased to report that the work of Physical Therapy paid off and I am fully recovered without surgery. Life is about to gear up here and I should have more to report on our little farm in the woods.

Joyfully,

Cheryl

Random thoughts on winter

Mon, 4 Feb 2008 15:58:00 -0600

Random thoughts...

It has been cold, windy and not so snowy this winter. Usually the children play outside a significant part of the day, but even I don't like cold, wind and bare ground. If it was snow covered they would play out in the snow, but not so much in the dirt. We have school in the mornings and for part of the afternoon. In the evenings we have games or watch TV or read books. There aren't many other children home nearby and my kids are starting to get bored. I finally set the parental controls to limit the amount of time the TV will even turn on. I also have had a rule that everyone must walk at least 1 mile a day on the treadmill. But is this enough?

I have 2 more months of winter, then life will get very busy. But in the meantime, do we just keep relaxing and playing and try not to become slugs? Do I need to just accept the perpetual minature farm behind my piano (I mean really, who invented chicks that are the size of a small bead??) And then there is the line of mittens behind the woodstove, the coats left draped over kitchen chairs, the boots dropped right inside the door, do I just accept this as part of winter life? There is also the soup pot or crock pot kept going daily with the bounty still overfolwing our larder and the time to play games by the woodstove in the afternoon.

I should work on sewing with the older girls and we do plan to make quilts this month, but mostly I just want to knit or read or watch a movie or play on the computer. I just want to rest. I feel like we are in waiting mode. Soon chicks will be arriving, the new chicken house will need built, the fence will need spring maintenance, the barn will need a good cleaning, the garden beds prepared and seeds started, the house will need a good spring cleaning and then the kids will start coming. There will be four deliveries this year at our house, 21 at the neighbors. I am on call for kid pulling in both places. There will be many nights of sleeping fitfully by the phone, dressing at midnight and shivering while soaping up to go in and turn a kid or help a doe in trouble.

Before I know it, summer will be here and gardens will need tended, camp for the kids and putting up produce for winter. I feel so lazy right now but wonder if this rest time is part of God's plan to refresh and renew us before the work of the growing season.

Are we made to be more like the bear and the squirrel, work in the growing time and rest in the winter? Are the seasons a gift, not a curse? My dh keeps saying things like, "If we built a greenhouse and heated it, you could grow food year round." And, "If we planned it right you could have spring and fall kids and milk year round." Or lately, "I should put a grow light in the chicken house so we can get eggs all winter." No, wait I agree with that one! But mostly, I like having set times to plant, to grow, to harvest and to put up and then time to rest and plan.

Perhaps it isn't that I should feel so much like a slug right now but more like a chipmunk, tucked away in my warm barrow waiting for spring and time to flit around my world.

This is learning season, cuddle season, napping time. This next year, I think I will plan to spend time living life in the season, not trying to push myself to be and do the things not natural to that time of year. Would we all be happier if we learned from the wild animals and lived according to the seasons of life?

Farm Pictures

Fri, 9 Mar 2007 19:14:00 -0600

Here is today's project, making a chicken pen on the backside of my barn.
The tires are on the top of mt straw bale chicken house. It has straw bale walls, 2X6 borads with tin on top for a roof & tires to hold it all down. It took 5 hours to build the house & make the pen and trim goat hoofs.

Here are the goat stalls & some kids...

Here is my barn...

Joyfully,

Cheryl

Homeschooling on the farm, or spring fever vs. fractions

Thu, 8 Mar 2007 13:57:00 -0600

Ok, first let me say that kidding time is NOT the time to try to teach fractions. Last night I was up with something stealing chickens, dogs barking & coyotes trying to get into the pen with the goats. This morning I had dogs escaping, goats going into labor and children with severe cases of spring fever. My dd brought me her math book...

"Mom, can you help me with this problem?"

I read, "Joe got his paycheck. He gave his wife 2/7 of the money for groceries. He spent 3/5 of the remainder . He had $300 left. How much did he have at first?"

Ok, I did say I was up all night off & on, right???? I could NOT figure it out. I did figure it out eventually (while out in the barn yard settling the goat), but right that second, nope. So, I asked her to let me think how best to explain it and started changing to go figure out the barn stuff.

About 5 minutes later the phone rang. They said it was Kari, my 12 yo neice for Megan, dd with the math problem. I was on my way out the door to find out why the goat who is penned as she is due to deliver TODAY is screaming, when I see my dd is working on her math with the phone to her ear. "What are you doing?" I asked. "She's helping me figure out my math," said Megan. "WHAT????" I know this neice, she hates math, is not good at math & it makes me shuddar to think of what they would come up with. I yelled, STOP! NO!!!! Goat screams, dog barks, kids yell. I grabbed the phone, & say, "Honey, I will help Megan as soon as I am back in, you two will only confuse each other." "Why we are almost done with the problem, do you want me to explain it to you, too?" said the voice of my college educated, RN, double degree, one in education. married to a mathematician PHd sister. It was not my neice, it was my sister, who explained it to my dd, while I went to settle the barnyard.

I have got to get some sleep or keep dsis on call for the rest of fractions!!!

Joyfully,

Cheryl

Our 2006 Family Christmas Letter

Thu, 21 Dec 2006 07:17:00 -0600

Once upon a time on a little farm in the middle of the Hills there lived a family. The mother and children got up each morning and did the chores. They fed the animals, watered the animals, milked the goat, ate breakfast, cleaned the house, washed the laundry and studied their lessons. At lunchtime they picked up their schoolwork, fixed lunch, did a few chores and then settled in for an hour of rest. The children would play or read or make things in the afternoon. The mother would work on the computer, or knit, or sew or read or clean. In the late afternoon the family would feed the animals, water the animals, fill the wood box and fix supper. Each night they would spend time together, take baths and go to bed. The days were good.

The father spent each day listening to all these exciting goings on as he drove to many far and distant places. He would tell the family about all the exciting things, and the wonderful farms and animals he would see by the road. Many days the father was home. Those were the best days. Then the family worked together to build fences, take care of the garden, and make houses for animals. The family had fun together, the children played, the parents talked and the family went for hikes in the woods.

On Sundays the family went to church together. They sang, learned and worshipped together with friends, cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents. The family was busy but happy. The family decided that this is the best life any family could want.

Once upon a time was 2006, and this is our family on our little farm in the Black Hills. We are very blessed.

May 2007 be a peaceful and blessed one for all people everywhere.

Joyfully,

It was a dark and stormy night

Sat, 10 Jun 2006 08:24:00 -0500

It was a dark and stormy night. Isn�t that how all good stories are supposed to start? Tonight was that dark and stormy night.

We arrived home to the clap of thunder from a long day in town doing errands. I was in the process of looking at a new book, I�ve Got To Talk To Somebody, Lord, and passing out assignments as we were getting out of the van, when Mandy came running.

�Mom, MOM, Clarabelle is pushing!� Just then the thunder clapped.

I quickly changed out of �town clothes� and headed for the barn. It was 3:00 and had just begun to sprinkle. Children ran errands, I made myself and Clarabelle as comfortable as we could be in an open faced barn in the middle of a rain storm. And it did rain. Clarabelle and I and the occasional child waited it out hour after hour.

The rain finally stopped at 8:30, as Clarabelle�s water broke. �All right now! Here we go!� We waited, and waited and finally at 10:00 I was worried. I went to the experts, Homesteading Today�s Goat forum. �You have got to go in.� Go IN, I gulped?? This is only my 3^rd goat to deliver in my first year of owning goats and I have to GO IN?

The only thing I knew about this was from watching reruns of the English vet from All Creatures Great and Small. James Herriot would ask for a pail of hot soapy water and wash WAY up. Turns out one of the posters on HT suggested the same thing. I took a look, in my best English accent, asked for a bucket of hot soapy water and some old towels, and a cuppa tea for good measure.

With my arms washed as far as my shirt would roll up, I �went in�. EWWWWW!

I could just barely touch the hooves of the first kid, no head. Next contraction the hooves were out farther, I could get ahold of them. With the next contraction I grabbed on and pulled. Together we delivered a big buckling, breech. Everything appeared fine and I took a break and let mama have a few minutes to clean off baby. I knew there was at least one more, but I had to stop shaking.

When baby number two didn�t arrive after 30 minutes, I knew something was wrong. I �went back in� and to my horror, found a back presenting! Again I relied on the English Vet James Herriot. �I have to push her back and turn her,� he calmly told the fidgeting farmer. Ok, if an Englishman could, so could this American lady. After her next contraction, I pushed the baby back and began looking for feet, ANY feet. Contraction, OUCH, Push back, search for feet, turn baby. I had them! YEAH! I maneuvered them around and with the next contraction guided him out.

I am happy to report, the mother appears to be happy and no problems. Both bucklings are up, dry and nursing. And this homesteader is headed to bed on this dark and stormy night, very happy and VERY tired.

Pictures below.

A tired mama

Curious bucklings!

Joyfully,

Cheryl

Spring cleaning

Fri, 26 May 2006 07:34:00 -0500

I can't say I really enjoy spring cleaning. I don't even do a very good job of it. But this year I am promising myself that we will spring clean!

I began on the basement 'storage', 'family', 'catch-all' room. Do you have one of those? It is that room that everything you don't know where to put goes. It had been being added to for about 2 years. We need it now for another bedroom. I completely cleaned it out, painted, sponged painted in green and blue, hung wallpaper border, put down a carpet and moved dh and me in last week.

This left our old room free. I had PLANNED on just washing the walls and leaving them alone, but the border was ripped in one area, the walls and ceiling was dirty and so I grabbed the bucket of paint and painted it too. Then I sponged it in pink, then peach, put up new border and curtains, laid back in the carpet and moved 3 of the girls in.

Now I have one bedroom left, a large room that will be divided into two spaces for Jon and Mandy. I need to re-cover an antique hospital divider ($2 at a yard sale) for this room. I plan to put a solid background and pockets out of clear plastic, just the size for calendar pictures. Jon has a calendar of horses, Mandy has dog and cat calendars. This should make an interesting divider wall I just painted it two years ago with a mural, green hills on the bottom, blue with clouds on the top. This will stay, but 1/2 the room is losing the flowers, a bug border is going in around the bottom and stars on top. MAYBE. I am still debating the border thing. Jon is getting camping stamps on his side, and puzzle squares for flooring, Mandy is getting dog and cat pictures, and rugs on the floor. I have to clean, set up a captains bed, and the new double bed frame. I will need to hang curtains, make the divider and move in 2 dressers for Mandy. The room is large, it used to be our 'nursery', but the kids have outgrown a nursery, and it will make two nice spaces for these two.

Now, the only problem I see with this cleaning plan is that while I am busy doing all this work, the rest of my house is slowly but surely falling into a state of chaos! So as soon as I finish the bedrooms I will need to clean the rest of the house completely.

I hope to have the house all done by June 2nd, as I am to have a yard sale that day! I would like to haul in about 1/4 of all we own! What doesn't sell, will go to a thrift shop. I am bribing my children. All the money we raise will go towards sending them to camp in June. :D I have already given away a spare set of living room furniture and two applainces will be heading to the dump. I have to have this all done by June 5th as that is garden planting day! YEAH!

Once I am done in the bedrooms I will post pictures. By the way, redecorating doesn't have to be expensive, just be flexible! The paint was left from another project, I added craft paint until I got the right color. Border was $2 a roll on clearamce. The curtains and bedspreads were from thrift stores, and we were given the carpets. My most expensive project will be the divider. That may run me $20. Which is cheaper than a wall! Total for this project under $50.00!

Joyfully,

Cheryl

Laundry day...

Thu, 11 May 2006 01:37:00 -0500

Tomorrow is laundry day here. I recently bought a washboard, which works great on stains! DH decided to suprise me when he found a wringer washer at a yard sale. He knew that I had wanted one for years and had raved about how well they worked. He decided then and there it would be my Mother's Day gift.

By the time I came home he was trying it out. He had the first load of darks going and was working hard. He had run many buckets of water through cleaning the machine and was as excited as I was.

Tomorrow will be our very first complete laundry day at our home. I think we are ready. Did I forget anything??? We will find out!

Laundry soap, I make my own.

Recipe -

1 bar Fels Naptha laundry soap ($1.49 a bar at Safeway)

1 cup soda (I use baking as I won't have washing soda in my home for safety reasons)
1 cup borax

5 gallon bucket with lid.

Chop bar of soap into pieces and toss in blender, blend until powder. Add to 2 quarts or so of hot water and heat until soap disolves. Fill 5 gallon bucket with HOT tap water, leave room for heating soap and water. Add disolved soap. Stir well. Add soda, stir. Add borax, stir. This will gel in about 24-48 hours, but can be used immediately. Cost $2.50 for 5 gallons. Use 1/4-1 cup per load depending on your water and how soiled the clothes are.

1 bottle fabric softener -

Recipe -

1/2 a bottle hair conditioner (I use the .88 bottle of Suave Citrus from Walmart)

2 cups white vinegar

fill the bottle with water.

I re-use an old fabric softener bottle for this. Combine ingredients and shake well, but gently (so as not to foam.) Cost less than $1 per bottle.

I bought blueing today, and have not tried it. I will let you know about that.

I fixed the kitchen faucet so that I don't have to fill the washer with buckets. I used an old hose that split during the spring storms and cut it off just before the split.

I have 1 rinse tub for tomorrow, the second one isn't ready yet. I have a hose to drain the tubs with. By draining with a hose, I can run the grey water straight out to the garden, re-using water. Conserving water here is very important as we are in a drought.

I made an agitator for the rinse "cycle". I bought a new toilet plunger ($1.50) and cut 4 holes in it. The children will take turns rinsing the clothing with it. The holes let the water circulate and agitate the clothing, thoroughly rinsing. The clothes are put through the wringer a second time. Once I have my second rinse tub, we will rinse a second time.

We plan to be up at 7:00 and have everything on the line by 9:00.

Here is our plan of attack. DD (11) is going to sort laundry, as soon as a load of light colors is ready she will let us know, she will also put stained items aside for the scrubboard. DS (7) and I will be filling the tubs and setting up. DD (11) will start helping to scrub stained items, and dd (9) is going to keep an eye on dd (3).

As soon as we can, the first load will go in, 15 minutes to agitate. I will take over stain work. When the 15 minutes are up, I will run the first load through the wringer, with dd (9) help. DS will reload the washer. DD (11) will trade off to watch DD (3). It looks like we will have 6 loads, we will do 3 loads per wash water, then change out water and soap. We should be able to rinse each load and have it on the line, in the 15 minutes it takes to wash the next one. At 15 minutes a load we should have ample time to get ALL laundry done in 2 hours for the week.

We plan to start with the lightest colored clothing and work to the heavy, dark clothes, and only do a white load if there is enough to do 2 loads of whites, if not we will wait to do those until another day. I hope to do 2 laundry days a week, one for whites (did those Sunday) and 1 for colors. Sunday we were home from church ill and wanted to try out the new washer!

We are saving almost $50.00 a month in electricity just on drying clothes. This way of washing will help us save even more on washing. A typical week the old way, ran the washer for 12 hours a week, we hope to lower that energy use to 4 hours a week, cutting electric costs to 1/3. We also have a water problem with the drought and needed to find a way to conserve water, this way of doing laundry will greatly help in our goal there. On laundry day we often come close to running our well dry, this way will not only save the well, but re-use the water on the garden, helping to feed us.

Cost of doing laundry this way...

Wringer washer - $40.00

Scrubboard - $30.00

Soap - $2.50 per 5 gallon

Softener - $1.00 per bottle

Blueing - $2.69 per bottle

Labor - free

Time working together with children - priceless!

For more information on doing laundry the old fashioned way, read

Wringer Washers - Why They Are Frugal

For other soap recipes, try

About that (Frugal) Laundry Detergent

For a new wringer washer or the James hand washer, visit Lehmans. The electic wringer washer is a newer model of mine.

Thursday morning update. Things didn't go as planned. I got started 45 minutes late and instead of 6 loads we had 12 loads to do. I ran out of room on the lines and had to quit and leave the last 3 loads for another day. We did get 9 loads done! In 3 hours and 15 minutes. Which for a first time is just not bad, I don't think. I will be scheduling 2 mornings a week for laundry, as it looks like we will regularly have about 12 loads per week. I did tell the children, "HANG UP YOUR BATH TOWEL! and REUSE IT!" I did 2.5 loads of towels alone! I am pleased with how well it went. I did find that I need to use hot water to dissolve the laundry soap. So if you are using my recipe, put in a little straight hot, swish around, then put in cold or warm water.

Have a great day!

Joyfully,

Cheryl

Not blogging much, let me splain...

Thu, 11 May 2006 00:28:00 -0500

A friend asked why I haven't been blogging. It is fairly simple. I have something called ET. NO, not an extraterrestial, but a nuerological disorder that causes tremors. It is called Essential Tremor. This spring it has been fairly active and typing while shaking is not my cup of tea, private joke. Having ET means carrying a cup of tea is almost impossible and raising it to your lips may mean we wear more than we drink. It means hitting the wrong key on a keyboard regularly. It meanws giving up playing the piano becauase our movement makes the music discordant. Living with ET means that preforming in public, speaking or singing is painful, as we try so hard to control the shaking we physically hurt. It also means that we forget what we want to say or sing as we concentrate on our tremor. It means calling our neighbor to put the screw back in our glasses so we can see and not wearing contacts as putting them in is downright dangerous.

To learn more about Movvvvvvement Disorders such as ET, visit We Move.org. For video that shows what living with a MD is like, vieww the Life in Motion video clips.

20 times more people have ET than Parkinsons Disease. This disorder can alter who we are. We find that you don't eat in social situations, we use check cards instead of writing checks. People ask if we are on something or suggest we enter a treatment program. We can be embarrassed by spilling things as we eat and drink and if you would like to help, please don't serve soup when we come to visit. Typing becomes difficult and we put in extra letters where we don't expect them. Drugs may help, but may also leave us feeling 'fuzzy' and 'not there' so don't be suprised when we say, "No, we don't take drugs to FIX it." Although, you may not reallise how many people have this disorder as they have found that they CAN successfully use medications to control the tremorrrrrrrrrr. EAch person is an individual and their tremor experience may be different than mine. Most of the people on the WeMove ET forum DO use medications successfully. I just can't, maybe some day.

We have all heard of all the new treatments, and no, vitamins and diet changes won't help. Most people living with ET inherited it and just as you get freckles or that double chin you hate, we have ET. 1 in 7 people live with a Movement Disorder. Many of us are living in hiding, afraid of the look in your eyes when we can't sign a check, or button our coat, or walk steadily down the street.

Please take the time to look at the websites and become educated. If you know someone who has a movement disorder, accept them, offer your friendship and look beyond the tremor to the person inside. To read what living with EEEET is like, take the time to read Tremor Tales by Elsie J. Doll, her poems will give you a glimpse into my world.

Joyfully,

Cheryl

Counting it ALL joy.

Foraging for food, starting with the easy ones!

Thu, 11 May 2006 00:08:00 -0500

This spring I became interested in foraging for food. It was something I had never even thought about doing before and when I first read about it I thought, "UHHH, But WHY?" Then I found this great website that made it sound so easy!

Prodigal Gardens

I had two big problems, here things are just starting to grow (snow again today) and I don't know most of these plants. So I decided to start out slowly with the ones I know that I know! I know raspberries, but they won't be ripe until July. I know chokecherries, but I can't pick those until August. That left me one option that I know we know, Dandelions.

My first reaction was, "Dandelion Blossom Cake, ewwww." But I thought we would give it a try. Being CHEAP, and 24 miles from Walmart, and since I didn't have all the ingredients (walnuts and coconut), I substituted 1 cup of old fashioned oatmeal. It worked! We all love it and I am taking it to potluck on Sunday.

One ingredient it called for was something I had never heard of before, Dandelion Blossom Syrup. Since her recipe for the cake turned out, I thought I would give this one a try too! OHHHH MY! If you have tons of clean (non-chemically treated) dandelions, you have got to try this! I don't even care if it is made with sugar, it is THAT good. I had it on vanilla ice cream, this is now my new favorite topping!

Dandelion Blossom Syrup

This is a traditional recipe passed down from the old world Europeans. I use it as a substitute for honey in any recipe that I�m trying to make wild.

1 quart dandelion flowers

1 quart (4 cups) water

4 cups sugar

� lemon or orange (organic if possible) chopped, peel and all

Note: The citrus is optional, it will give the syrup an orangey or lemony flavor. If you want the pure dandelion flavor, you can skip the citrus. I make it both ways each year.

1. Put blossoms and water in a pot.

2. Bring just to a boil, turn off heat, cover, and let sit overnight.

3. The next day, strain and press liquid out of spent flowers.

4. Add sugar and sliced citrus and heat slowly, stirring now and again, for several hours or until reduced to a thick, honey-like syrup.

5. Can in half-pint or 1 pint jars.

This recipe makes a little more than 1 pint.

I will be making this for Christmas gifts! I plan on making at least 3 flavors - lemon, orange, vanilla - and plain.

I hope you are inspired to look at Dandelions differently. If you still aren't convinced to pick instead of kill, read Cooking with Dandelions. Did you know that "Dandelion is considered one of the five most nutritious vegetables on earth"? I didn't either.

Joyfully,

Cheryl