On The Homestead
I have tried to abandon some of the negative behaviors I picked up as a child to adapt to circumstances. One of those behaviors was that I would never allow myself to get my hopes up. It was a frequent thing that I would get excited about something only to have it not happen, someone would sabotage it or I would be disappointed. It was from peers, teachers or even my family. Especially my family. Especially my dad. He was an alcoholic. He made terrible choices. But I put up a wall. Stoped
Being able to handle disappointment is a good thing. Disappointment is a part of life. But too much and its can break your spirit. But sometimes I take on tasks that are unrealistic and I am the source of my own disappointment. Thats what happened this past month. I took on a sick calf, I wasn’t quite prepared for a healthy one, but I took on a sick calf thinking I could save him. Because that is another thing I do. Take home animals. My oldest daughter is the same way. She wants to save every sick little kitten. And like those kittens we could tell when Norman was beyond saving. It was hard emotionally. I knew not to make him a pet. We even talked with the children so that they understood raising animals for food as we did with previous animals. Still I named him Norman and I got attached. So did Olivia. On his good days, most of them were good days, he would follow us around. He was at my door one morning looking for his bottle. When it was time to let go we told the children. Gabriel in his 4 year old understanding asks “ for the meat?” From a farmer aspect it was also a failed investment. Double whammy. We will try again in the future.
Fortunately life moves forward. Two of our hens hatched their nests. One hatched 2 and another hatched 7. The one with three now has one of the 7, and the one with 7, has 5.
Momma hen sitting on her two eggs
Momma hen with her babies
Gabriel had a Birthday. Its hard to believe he’s 5 already
Last year he had a Woody cake and he had asked for a woody cake up till we stood at the cake counter and he saw Spiderman.
It is pretty cool. Doubles as a flashlight
We carved pumpkins early this year because we didn’t want to take our chances on not getting any. Aldi’s had them for $2.99 which is a good deal when you’re buying 10 pumpkins!
Urijah traced his design off the ipad then used pins to trace it to the pumpkin. He did great but his pumpkin was delicate
Gabriel and Mo also did the trace and pin method. They did most of theirs themselves except Gabriel had more help with cutting. Mo did a kitten face and Gabriel did his own scary face design. He drew it himself.
Olivia did Spiderman and Ezra did his carving by himself, using the pin method. He did awesome
Lucas used a drill. We thought it would be a good idea but it wasn’t up to Lucas’ expectations.
We got a new to us wood stove and updated the hearth. My husband has wanted a glass front wood stove forever and found this amazing deal. It’s beautiful!
We have propane heaters in the other cabins. This is a first year for propane heating so we will see how it does.
I bought Sandra Boynton board books when my oldest was a baby. We had them in our home for years. Recently I realized its been quite a while since we had any, so I ordered a set. I don’t know who was more excited me or the little boys.
Our Adventures
Other than going to work we don’t get out much. The teens have a few places they go, like the rollerskating rink.
Ezra helped us load up some pumpkins for carving. We stacked them pretty good.
We upgraded my suburban. My husband wanted me to have 4WD so we had been looking for one and found this great deal. We invested in new tires as well. I spend nearly 7 hours a week driving over 300 miles a week to and from work.
I have been working on my lobby area and getting ready for more retail. First project I did was give this shelf a makeover and turn it into a book shelf for our waiting area. I am often picking up books to add to our collection.
before
after
I also did a thing with my dog ? ?
On The Menu
I don’t even remember what we have had on the menu these past few weeks but we did roast some pumpkin seeds from our pumpkin carving.
Bacon Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
We found that boiling the seeds first makes the seeds better
I used chopped bacon and some grease and mixed the seeds in a bowl and roasted thin layers for about 15-20 minutes.
Unschool Life
Abigail and Isaac have been writing their own books. They talk often about their characters and such. The other day I over hear them talking about their agreement. Abigail is illustrating Isaac’s book in exchange for Isaac editing her book. Its a perfect arrangement.
Photography
