They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
I subscribe to an online (and print) magazine called "Cultivate" by homesteader and food journalist Holly Hickam, produced by the School of Traditional Skills. If you are at all interested in food, homesteading, or food freedom, you should totally subscribe as well. The weekly newsletters are a very entertaining read. In last week's issue she… Continue reading Old Timey Pumpkin Pie
Tuesday we spent the whole day at the farm. It was a light school day, and we had people coming over to pick up their turkeys for Thanksgiving, so it made sense to make if a farm day. Rocking the cool farmer look. We checked on our ducks in the garden. They were still hiding… Continue reading Ducks in the Garden
I told Winne "Someday, when you are big, you will be able to pull the strings off the bales all by yourself." No! Me do it! Help! I did it!
We pulled the last of the pumpkins and winter squash off the garden on Monday of this week. First we tried to liven up the ducks a little. Since we put them in the garden area on Saturday they have been huddling along the fence on the east side of the garden, mostly hiding under… Continue reading Last of the Pumpkins
The science is clear. A child under the age of, let's say 10, will learn far more from a stick than he or she ever will from the fanciest pants screen device ever invented. (This is only slightly hyperbole. Many studies do confirm the critical role that concrete manipulation of three dimensional objects in space… Continue reading What the farm is for: Learning to Drive a Wheelbarrow
Saturday was a busy day on the farm. We set it aside as the day that the ducks and turkeys would meet their fate. Daddy and the three oldest kids went to the farm to help Uncle, while Mommy and Winnie stayed home to write out school schedules and do some baking. By the way,… Continue reading Processing Ducks and Turkeys
We had a beautiful family day on Thursday, for once putting our Thursday to its proper use. One of the highlights of the day was harvesting and pickling some brussels sprouts. At first, Seppi didn't want to go to the farm, but once we had wrangled his "tool pants" on him, and told him we… Continue reading Brussel Sprouts!
As sometimes happens, Tuesday afternoon we had a short stretch of down time, about twenty minutes, between doing chores and starting supper. 20 minutes is a lot of time, enough to get a quick job knocked out if you're all set up, or read a story book, but not really enough to get much progress… Continue reading Hand Plane Interlude
Time to go visit our Turkey Birds! They are very majestic and noisy, well worth visiting. Repairing our outdoor Advent Wreath! You might think we would be tired of apples by now, but... Not when they are dried apples! Everyone loves dried apples. We could preserve a barrel full this way, and it still wouldn't… Continue reading Odds and Ends
This is why I like having all the tools for each particular type of job (e.g. fencing, plumbing, electrical, etc.) whenever possible, in some kind of consolidated kit, or at a minimum in a consolidated location. Seppi and I were able to grab the tools and get this job knocked out in about 10 minutes.… Continue reading Quick Job: Check valve on water line
Little Farm in the Big City 