Summer Is...(4th)

Sorry to have missed a few days of blogging that I promised to you all. The last few days have proved to be a little busier and exhausting than usual. I will try to stay back to continue sharing photo's of our summer fun!

So, on with...Summer Is...

The perfect time for a baptism! Especially when the baptism happens in the local pond.

"We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." (Romans 6:4)

Probably about a year ago now Erik and I started to frequent the Baptist church right in our home town. We had been searching for a church (using the excuse that our children needed some sort of religious education and the community would be nice where we plan to homeschool). Little did I know the change this church would have on our lives!

Erik and I both became involved in the church. Both attending Men's and Ladies bible studies (Erik much more dedicated than I...but I always seem to forget...sorry Brenda...). Erik helping with the building project and I started working on the Crisis Pregnancy Ministry that was just starting in the church. We became great friends with many of the members. Many of the families homeschool & have little ones the same age as ours.

Both Erik and I had been saved. Erik much quicker than I to come to the realization.

And we decided about a month ago that we would like to be baptized.

“He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters.” (Psalm 18:16)

What a perfect day we had. Beautiful weather, an amazing service given by a friend of the church from Africa (who became Aiden's playmate at the picnic after), many friends and family joined us at the pond for the baptism and a fabulous picnic after the baptism at Bob and Debbie's home. (oh...and Everyone seems to have pictures of me getting dunked but not Erik!)

Bennett wanted to follow Pastor Bob out into the water but decided to wait for us...then cried when Bob picked him up after and he realized he was all wet...wasn't to thrilled with Mama being wet either.

We are very blessed to have found this church family. What a joy it has been getting to know these wonderfully amazing people and have them touch our lives in so many meaningful ways.

And what a joy it is to see our children loving them as much as we do. And to see that love returned!

What an amazing day!

God bless!!

The Second American Revolution

Summer Is...(3rd)

Spending the day at the beach.



We went to Portland to meet my parents for the day about a week ago. These are a few pictures from our trip there. This was after Bennett fell on his stomach in the water.

The four of us!

The four of us in Bar Harbour. We went out to Bar Harbour while my sister was up visiting for a week in July. What a lovely day! Even though it was a little foggy and our breaks almost set on fire coming down Cadillac mountain! LOL.

Bennett checking out the boats.

Aiden just loves the water. This is Licolnville beach. We stopped about 2 months ago during a day trip down Rt. 1.

Bennett...always so contemplative.

Playing on the rocks with the boys.

Summer Is...(2nd)

Summer is...GARDENING!!

We decided this year we were going to put in permanent raised beds. Below is how our garden has come along since the beginning of this season.

We started with logs we cut out of our 10 acres of wood lot.

Added some composted manure.

A few teepees for the beans & peas.

And then added the vegi's. Let's see...this year we grew Spinach, Lettuce, Bush Beans, Pole Beans, Dry Beans, Tomatoes, Brocolli, Brussel Sprouts (accident...), Kale, Zucchini, Snow Peas, Yellow Summer Squash, Peppers, Cucumbers, Swish Chard, Basil & parsley.

Everything is growing really well. We didn't get much spinach before it bolted but we did have tons of lettuce. And the basil...it grew like crazy. Lot's of pesto making going on!

Picking beans with Gram. I've put up at least 20 pints of bush beans in the freezer (and given away a bunch more. I finally pulled the bush beans the other day as they had really dropped in production and put in some carrots.

Check out the pole beans behind us. That was less than a month ago.

And now look at them. Grew up the poles and are headed back down again. They are going to go to seed soon because there are a ton up top that I cannot even reach. Next year we will not do the poles so high!

And I threw some radom sunflowers into the garden also. We plan to dry them all and use the to supplement feed to our chickens through the winter.

And we are already planning for next year. We need to add beds for Corn, Potatoes, Garlic & many more tomatoes. We also might try some things like eggplant and turnips and rutabega's. We will see how ambisous we are this fall.

We've also been talking about building a hoop house to overwinter our chickens in going forward. Give them a lot more floor space and it will be warmer for them. Plus they can scratch up the ground and get it ready for spring. As soon as they go out on grass in the spring we can start things like tomatoes, peppers & eggplants in the hoophouse. We will see if that gets done also. So much to do, so little time!

How's your garden been growing this summer?

Summer Is... (1st)

Having lunch out in their "clubhouse."
They just LOVE playing in their "clubhouse!" We used some old logs to make them a table and Erik cut chairs out of logs also. We also cut some logs real thin into plates. Once Erik gets a vice he plans to also make some cups and bowls.

Sunflower Houses!!

Our friend, Mary Ann, gave the boys two of the Sharon Lovejoy books. Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots and Sunflower Houses. After reading them through we decided to make a sunflower house. We never did get the morning glories in either but it is really starting to look lovely! And the boys are loving it!

Friends came to visit and got to play in a slightly larger sunflower house.

Now it is much much taller than all of us. I will make sure to post photo's once the sunflowers bloom. That will be a sight!

Aiden enjoying his sunflower house.

Stop in tomorrow for lot's of gardening photo's!

Hugs!

I know...Where have I been!

Lately, everyone is wondering where have I been. I didn't plan to take a blogging break...but it kind of happened that way. One thing led to another and now...I am feeling stressed and behind. My mom is up this week so it is helping me to catch up on a lot that needs to be done.

I have so much to share as there has been TONS of goings on this summer but it would take me ages. I've been inspired by a few other blogs that have done photo posts about what summer is. I think I am going to do that here for the next few days to catch up and then I will post every few days to keep sharing the goings on as our summer winds down and we get into the busy fall season and prepare for winter. UGH!! Can't believe we are thinking about winter already. The summer went by way to fast.

I hope your summer has been going well!

My 100th Post...sort of

I know...I've been MIA for a few weeks now. Spring is a crazy time for us here on our small farm. I decided to take a blogging break to focus on getting the garden in and some of the other outdoor things that need to be done. With it being light so late we could work outside late into the day and I wasn't much up to blogging after a long day working hard in the sun. I will still be posting sporadically on here as there is much to do still. Plus Erik is on vacation from July 14th until August! We wont be doing much traveling but hope to do a day trip or two to the beach and have tons to get accomplished around the house!

On to my 100th post...why sort of...because I realized just now that my last post was technically my 100th post!! I knew it was coming up but hadn't been paying to much attention. Without further ado here are 100 things about me!

1. I am a wife to Erik
2. my best friend
3. we dated in highschool
4. and had a not so nice break up
5. then got back together during college
6. the rest is history...as they say
7. and a mom to 2 boys
8. Aiden
9. & Bennett
10. I LOVE boys
11. but we would love to have a little girl
12. we plan to have at least one more child
13. and maybe even 2
14. or MORE (teehee)
15. I am a homemaker
16. I LOVE being at home
17. I'm not a nature homemaker
18. but am learning slowly but surely
19. I'm a pretty decent cook
20. and baker
21. but no so good in the cleaning
22. and organizing departments
23. Trying harder here
24. We live on a small farm
25. in a small town in central Maine
26. We currently have 40+ chickens
27. about 25 of those will be for eating
28. in about a week
29. we have 11 turkeys
30. (also for eating in about 2 months)
31. 2 horses
32. (not for eating...LOL)
33. 1 dog
34. & 3 cats
35. My favorite past times are horseback riding
36. and reading books
37. those of course come after spending time with my family
38. that's why lately I don't seem to do much of either of those
39. My horses are both Mustangs
40. Wild caught in Neveda when young
41. I didn't adopt them though
42. I bought them from someone who did
43. And I love them dearly!
44. As do my 2 boys
45. I would love to do more farming
46. We have 15 acres
47. (and are trying to buy about 10 more)
48. I'd like to have a Dairy cow
49. Raise sheep
50. and goats
51. along with the chickens
52. I want to be a grass farmer!
53. We have a good size garden
54. I am new to gardening
55. But actually seem to look like I know what I am doing finally!
56. Our garden is doing well this year
57. I love to hang laundry on the line
58. It is a very relaxing activity
59. I have been a waitress
60. a tutor
61. a cashier
62. a pizza maker
63. an operations supervisor
64. and a call center rep
65. in past employment lives
66. I hope to NEVER have to work again
67. I was very ambitous in my previous employment
68. but I was happy to leave
69. And now just want to be a homemaker
70. helper to my husband
71. and mother to my children
72. I plan to homeschool my children
73. I love the ideas behind the unschooling lifestyle
74. And plan to unschool my kids
75. am still working on becoming a more peaceful parent though
76. we don't spank
77. but am not as "peaceful" in my parenting style as I would like to be
78. Like everything else a work in progress
79. I thoroughly believe in attachment parenting!
80. We coslept
81. breast fed beyond a year
82. allowed both boys to self wean
83. (a little earlier than I would have liked them to!)
84. baby wear
85. Both boys were born naturally
86. and Bennett was born at home
87. I am hopeful that I will never have to birth in a hospital again!
88. I used to be a musician
89. (OK...it was highschool!)
90. I played the flute
91. and percusian instruments
92. I am hoping to learn to play piano
93. (I sort of know how but want to be able to play with both hands and work the feet pedals)
94. I LOVE music
95. And hope my children will enjoy playing instruments also
96. I am trying to be more frugal
97. I am blessed with some of the most amazing friends
98. That are helping me in my walk as a new Christian
99. I am thankful for my many blessings every day.
100. GOD IS SO GOOD!

This is so cool!

For those of you who don't know I am a horsewoman. I have two horses of my own, both Mustangs and I can't imagine life without horses in it.

This video just blew me away. I like to think I have a pretty good relationship with my horses but nothing like this.



Lorenzo : the Flying French Man...
Uploaded by alatebo

And check out this one also.

http://wms17.streamhoster.com/westfall/128do.wmv

Pretty cool!

Please let me know what you think!

Wordless Wednesday

My friend's 5 yr old daughter holding a dragonfly!

For more wordless Wednesday posts check out 5minutesformom.com.

Tackle It Tuesday - Using up all the turkey!

It's been a VERY busy week here. I've got a few other things to share but we will save those for other posts. This week my major tackle was the 26 lb turkey. I mentioned in my Menu Planning Monday post that we cooked one of the last few turkeys that we raised from last year. 26 lbs is a little much for one meal for my little family so I needed to do something with it all. And I also needed to make some stock from the bones. I used the recipe from Nourishing Traditions

Here are the bones and vegi's in the crockpot. I let this cook for about 12 hrs.

And got this!

I then took out the bones and put the vegi's and meat back in and simmered it on the stove for another few hrs to reduce it.

Right now it is sitting the the fridge so that I can pull the fat off the top and then can it.

On top of that I had about 20 lbs of leftover meat. I cubed it all and put it all in quart size canning jars. I now have 8 quarts of turkey meat in the freezer and we've already used it for about 3-4 meals.

I will be glad once the broth is canned & in the freezer and I can put this tackle behind me! And only one more turkey left in the freezer.

Share your tackles 5 Minutes for Mom.

Menu Planning Monday

Last week I promised to take more pictures of what we are eating and guess what...I forgot again. We did make the whole Turkey. It came out beautiful! And I forgot to take a picture of it. Ugh! I will keep trying to remember that. We have TONS of leftovers though. I forgot how big those last two birds were. The one we ended up cooking was 26 lbs!!! Turkey will definitely be on the menu in the coming week.

I did remember to take pictures of a few things for you but I plan to share those in other posts this week so check back in later.

This is a pretty low key week for us but Erik is working nights all week so I am thinking about getting my kids an early snack and trying to have our main meal at around 2-3pm after Erik gets up for the night. We will see.

We are also planning to try this donut recipe (but I think I might try to bake them instead of frying them) and this cookie recipe (I will use all whole grain flour...maybe spelt instead of the white flour). I've been promising to bake cookies with the boys for a while now and it hasn't happened.

On to the menu.

Monday - Fried Rice (with Turkey and vegi's). I love the recipe from Passionate Homemaker.

Tuesday - Asparagus Quiche. I love the crust recipe from Nourishing Traditions so will probably do that again. Lots of vegi's, lots of cheese and maybe some breakfast sausage instead of bacon this time. YUM!

Wednesday - Sloppy Joe's (I will probably double...maybe even triple this batch so I can put some in the freezer). We have homemade buns to eat them on and will have some sort of vegi on the side with it.

Thursday - Breakfast for Dinner

Friday - Pizza on the Grill

Saturday - Rice jumble (promise to take a picture this time!)

Sunday - Goat Roast (trying yet again...I forgot to take it out to defrost yesterday so didn't get to have it today!)

What's on your menu this week? Share with us over at OrgJunkie.com!