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.
Exciting times this week! We sold our old much used Chevy Colorado, and bought a newer more gently used Chevy Silverado. The kids were wild with excitement, and have named the truck "Bluey". Because it's blue. It makes an excellent boat, cave, vermin lair, or castle as the need requires. They are currently slaves, plotting… Continue reading Bumping Along
This is what happens when you hit too hard. The handle had been getting splintered a little at a time for the last few weeks. Sometimes with this cedar, with the twisty grain, you'll make a deep split through the middle, but leave a chunk on the near side that catches the handle just below… Continue reading Uncle’s Wood Splitter
The small man is ready for anything. He has brand new red clippers. The snowball bushes between the shop and the carport have grown a bit out of control in the last two years. More to the point, they are overgrown (and undergrown, and through grown) with Himalayan blackberry. Earlier, the kids cut a tunnel… Continue reading Cutting back the blackberries by the shop
No farmwork last weekend, or very little. Split and stacked some firewood, but other than that, not much. This was because we had school schedules to write. Believe it or not, homeschooling is not (completely) a make it up as we go along type thing. Typically we make it up at least a week or… Continue reading Weekend Stuff.
We have moved the animals on. After about 10 days at the east end of the north pasture, we have shifted them to the north side. This is the worst and least productive part of the pasture. We have decided to mob graze it this fall/winter. That is, instead of moving the animals through fast… Continue reading Pasture Rehab (with a digression about Curly Dock).
Tuesday after school we set out for the pasture to mark out the lines where the new fence is going to run. The first step was removing the netting that has been up since early this summer. These longer sections of netting are extremely heavy and awkward to move. I will be so happy when… Continue reading Subdividing the South Pasture: Marking out the lines
You might be wondering, what is our favorite day of the week? My favorite day of the week is Sunday. Sunday begins with prayer, and then with getting the kids out of bed and into their "Jesus' house clothes" and then hustled into the car in time to go to Mass. After Mass, maybe we… Continue reading The Rest of Sunday
Sometimes doing school in the shop is fun. Sometimes it is not. Sometimes, when your sisters get done before you and get to play with the world's greatest toy (the shop vac), it is just downright awful. That's why it is important to have an incentive for a small man to work for. In this… Continue reading The Box
Tuesday, 9/30/2025 We pulled the sauerkraut that has been fermenting in the basement for the last 19 days. The temperature in the basement is cooling down as the weather outside cools. It is now about 64 degrees ambient temperature. The jar on the right is a special case. This was a jar of red cabbage… Continue reading Green Sauerkraut Taste Test
Monday was one of those days. We hustled hard first thing to get to the farm early, because it is Michaelmas and we wanted to get Iris back out on pasture. Why on Michaelmas? Because it's fun to say, and because it's memorable. It's a fixed feast at the end of September that I can… Continue reading Not much gets done some days.
Little Farm in the Big City 