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.
Lots of people (myself included) watch homesteaders on Youtube, and that show about early Victorian farms, and read John Seymour's "Self-Sufficient Life" and get all fired up about living the more simple life. Some even buy or rent or borrow some land and make a start at homesteading. But there is a dark side of… Continue reading Subdividing the South Pasture: First two Fence Anchors
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
Hurray for a new school year! Another trip round the merry-go-round of formal education. School at the farm doesn't actually start at the farm. For those who don't know, we don't actually live at the farm because it doesn't have enough bedrooms for all of us. One of these years we will remodel it, but… Continue reading School at the Farm
Not all education happens in school, or during school hours. I am posting this picture just because it was the best Swiss Apple pie Mommy ever made. Look at those layers! The crust was browned and crispy all the way across the bottom, the apples were soft with just the right amount of crisp, the… Continue reading An Educational Post
So let's see here. We have Evie working on a Latin quiz while Ellie "helps" her by balancing on a medicine ball and swinging on the rings. Seppi is trying to assassinate me with Uncle's Hussar Calvary saber (and failing to cover his head). Meanwhile, Winnie... Winnie? Winnie! Where are you? Just another day at… Continue reading Homeschooling
Monday is the day we bake bread, most weeks. We try to get it done as early as possible in the morning, so that we can have fresh bread for lunch. Since Seppi still doesn't have very much school this year, and Winnie has no school at all (except for coloring "pretty pictures") they usually… Continue reading Monday, Bread Day.
I know on Monday I mentioned that we had had a little cold that ran through on Friday. Well, apparently, either it was not done running, or another one was waiting to pick up the baton. Monday we tried to get a day of work done on the Farm, but Seppi was not his usual,… Continue reading Spoke too Soon
A small man trying to show up his older sister (and cousin). I gave them the task of replacing all the cinder blocks they had taken for building their transmountain railroad, back on the stack from whence they came. All the ones they hadn't broken with hammers to make them easier to work with. Ellie… Continue reading Never Underestimate…
What do you do when your pirate ship springs a leak? You bale out! But then Daddy (Uncle) comes along and tells you to put the bale back in. Daddy is particular about stuff like that. Then it becomes a problem solving/strength building exercise. Which, in many ways is just as entertaining as the pirate… Continue reading Bale Out!
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
Little Farm in the Big City 