Literary Eavesdropping

I though I would relate a little conversation I over heard between my children.

Isabella - "Skeletons where they ate!?!"
Anton, without looking up from his current book, Oliver Twist, - "It's called Cannibalism."
Isabella - "Anton that is so gross!!"
Anton, in a slightly perturbed but matter of factual tone, "Isabella, it is a different culture. Robinson Crusoe lets them know it is gross and not God's plan. They stop eating each other."
Isabella - "Too Bad his dog died, but he lived there for 20 years."
Anton - "Uh-hum." He was not really listening to her at this point because he was back into his book again.

I am fortunate in my ability to guide my children into certain books. The abridged young reader classic books have been very helpful as I weed through the stacks at the library. I have been able to keep their interest in reading without relying on "junk food for the brain" literature. The surprise has been Isabella's sudden jump in reading level. She was complaining of not being able to read well, really it was a plea for attention. She saw Anton and I discussing some of his classic books and wanted to see what he was reading. So, she picked up the Robinson Crusoe and began to read it. I kept asking her if she was really reading or just looking at pictures. She assured me she was reading it. I promised her as soon as the library had Black Beauty back on the shelf, I would get it for her to read if she was now at this level. She races to the shelf every trip to the library to see if it has been returned.

How I longed for her to get to this level and how I am scared too! She is only 6 and she will quickly read everything in her maturity level at this rate. I have been holding off on the American Girl Series for as long at I could due to the interest in the dolls that might follow. Those dolls cost upwards of $100 and that does not include the accessories and other dolls for the other series. One minute she is in Angelina Ballerina and now she has progressed to Black Beauty.

As an English Major, I am over joyed. As a mother, I am nervous! Even as I devour Pride and Prejudice for the umpteenth time, she is nowhere near the maturity level to comprehend the horrible situation Lydia places herself and her family by running off with a much older ill characterised man. I would think she would have to at least be 10-12, but in this abridged classic series at the library, Pride and Prejudice catches my eye every time I pass it. There is no way to get around the "situation" with Lydia while telling the story of Elizabeth and Darcy. Maybe I under estimate the level of maturity with my children. I was nervous when I placed Robinson Crusoe as an option for Anton with it's cannibalism and guerrilla fighting. For now, I will hold off on some of my more endured classics of Jane Austen and Louisa May Alcott until she can fully understand the culture of the time period. Even the classics are not completely safe when your child is two, three, or maybe even four reading levels above their maturity level.

The Smells of Autumn

With the turning of leaves, the harvesting of crops and the arrival of bitter winds comes the coziness of Autumn. As I have gotten older, I have come to relish some of the little things in the different seasons; like the warm low light of a fire, or the faint apple cinnamon smell from the stove.

On this unseasonably cold early morning, I took my bucket down to the basement and returned with several pounds of softening apples. It seemed like just the thing to warm the house up before the children crawled out of their snug beds. Within the hour, I had my large pot boiling down the apples and ran through the fruit grinder to remove the peels and core pieces. With a little cinnamon, cloves, and sugar, the house began to smell heavenly.

Then a little help arrived on the scene. Stirring the pot is my least favorite task, but to little ones who can sit on counters, it seems like fun.

Not wanting to loose an opportunity to teach my children the valuable skill of multi-tasking, I gave him his spelling list to review. Maybe there is hope in my ability to show the children my secret for accomplishing so much in short time frames. (Yes, I am talking of cold and he is wearing short sleeve PJ's and no socks. I wish I still had their metabolism! I am wearing a thick sweater and wool socks!)

Anton likes to help me can, especially if it is something like a fruit butter. He likes to see the mixture thicken and feel the greater resistance as he stirs. His tactile learning is something I can easily relate too. But after another hour or two, it was time to process the jars. The jars were a gift from one of my new neighbors. She was cleaning out the old barn, the one her and her husband inherited from his grandparents, and came across these wonderfully cute old jars. With some scrubbing and sterilizing, they were perfect containers to use as Christmas gifts.

Now the house has "that smell" not totally achieved by candles or air fresheners. Canning is not just about creating aromas but a journey into past and present. While securing the bounty of the harvest into these jars, I am reminded of how lucky I am. I could go to the store all year and pick up some jam without the trouble I go through today. However I would loose this opportunity to reconnect with previous generations who worked harder than I to achieve this same small jar of goodness. Karl's father says, "Canning warms the soul." Since he is not a particularly religious man, I take this to mean his renewed connection to the past; the good feelings you receive knowing your time and efforts are not only healthier but taste far superior than store bought. Maybe it is the satisfied feeling of seeing the jars all lined up, knowing you have done your part to prepare for the barren winter, or the knowledge that in your hands is a little treasure that only you (and fellow canners) can comprehend.

Goings On Around the House

Last weekend, Anton and I took a little trip up to the old house. I cleaned up the perennial beds, split a few daisies to take home and cleaned up the vegetable garden. The Sparks family had been keeping an eye on the place and grounds, but I just felt it was too much to ask for the beds to have their winter preps completed. Plus, I just wanted to see how things were coming along. Anton did not want me to go alone and he wanted to see some of the friends he so desperately misses. Isabella had her monthly Sunday choir performance and Karl taught our Sunday school class which is why they stayed behind. Plus the puppies would have been more trouble than leaving Karl or I behind.

It was nice to see so many dear faces. Anton wanted to stay at church with his friends, but we had a lot of work to finish up before returning home the next day. With Anton's help, we cleaned up the beds and raked the leaves. Then I borrowed a lawn mower to chop up everything in the veggie garden. After it was all chopped, I tilled it all in, except for the parts Karl would usually burn for me as they were not easy to till into the ground. I left these on the top of the freshly turned earth as a mulch in hopes the winter weather will break them down before spring. I also raked up some bare patched of lawn where the grubs did a number on it and spread some seed rather thickly.

After Anton was tucked into his sleeping bag, I painted the basement floor on the unfinished side of the basement. I did this because it was something I had not completed before we left for our new house. The realtor said many people commented on this, so I decided it would be easier to finish it now than while the renters are in the house. Yes, we decided to rent since the market was still suffering and two mortgage payments was making things really tight for us. The renters are a nice military couple who have indicated they might want to purchase the house if the navy gives them follow on orders to stay in the area. Here is hoping! It the mean time, we will have some help with the mortgage payments while the market rebounds.

When Anton and I returned home, Karl took the kiddos to their first Pro Ice Hockey game. I settled down to a long bath and "girly movie" before calling it a night. The next day, we attacked the tree line again. Not as much progress as last time, but even two hours of focused work shows some drastic changes. Then it was back to normal grind of the week.

This weekend, we all decided to work on the front section of the grounds. I spread straw around the evergreens while Karl and the children spread more seed, fertilizer, and lime. I was also able to get the daisies from the other house in the ground just before the sky opened up and torrential rains fell. I am not making this up! I had just finished cleaning the shovels and rolling up the hose when it began to sprinkle. I walked into the garage with the tools and turned back around when I heard the down pour begin. Karl came out to find me laughing about not needing to wet down the straw, seed, or fertilizer thanks to nature!

Historical Colonial Farm, part 7 - Just for Fun!

After spending a lengthy time in the fields, the children needed some free time. The following station was set up with games the colonist children would play. There was a wooden ring and stick to keep it rolling, a wooden stick with a cup on it to try to catch a ball, and this neat little game. The children would throw old corn cob "pins" with a feather stuck in the top into a basket. The younger children were very interested in this one.

But the boys did what they always do!

Find sticks and play war.

I wonder if this is part of the time period??

Soon we moved on to new places, but the children were all loosing interest. They decided to gather leaves and play in the piles underneath a huge maple tree. Who says you need fancy modern toys to occupy children. Why not let their imagination take hold and entertain themselves. They seem to be doing just fine. If it was not for the fact that our time at the farm was running out, they would have done this for hours!

Before we could leave, the children had to give their favorite barn cat a nice scratch. He was enjoying the attention until something caught his eye. Soon he ran off from the children to catch a field mouse near a fence post about 5 yards away. Way to go kitty!

What an exciting field trip!

The children asked to come again another day. I know we will because I was asked to come back another time to get information on poultry, fowl, goats, and fences from the care taker. I think next time we will bring Karl with us. He will enjoy the scenery, structures, and information as much as we did.

Historical Colonial Farm, part 6 - Gardens and Planting

We were able to visit two different gardens on the grounds. The first one was located in the front near the house and drying kitchen. This one had a few remaining root vegetables (carrots and potatoes), herbs (lavender, sage, etc.), brassicas (lettuce, cabbage, kale). I was taking note of the use of straw for mulching on the beds, and the wooden boards to define the pathways. You really could not call it a raised bed as the beds were only 3 inches higher than the paths.

My favorite was the other vegetable and medicinal herb garden. I loved the bean pergola and the variety of herbs still in the garden. They had left a few bean vines on the pergola so we could see it's purpose. One of the other interesting thing was the tree in the back right corner. The lower branches were supporting a winter squash growing vertically! It appeared to be an acorn type of squash. I told one of the other mothers, I had read about people growing pumpkins up of roofs and I had used a fence side to life it somewhat off the ground, but this was new.

One of the employees, not in character, was planting some bulbs for the Spring. She let the children place the bulbs in the holes while the adults read more of the signs posted throughout the garden.

As you can also see, this garden did use a shredded wood mulch on the paths, but the beds were so packed with plantings, there seemed no need to mulch inside them. Either this was the plan, or a team of weeders was used before our arrival. It was such a beautiful garden.

Historical Colonial Farm, part 5 - Working the Fields

The station where we spent the largest amount of time was in the fields. The moderator first got the children involved by asking their age and what they typically did each day. Isabella responded she did school work and then would help her momma in the garden. The planter, if you had fields of tobacco and corn you were not a farmer but a planter, exclaimed "all that is good but the school part."

The reasoning was purely survival. The family had to raise enough food to stay alive. While the mothers typically averaged a child every two years, the child did not usually go into the field to work until they were 10 years old. This was of concern because if the child were to work haphazardly and break a few plants, it could mean the loss of a couple days of food. The smaller children were typically given chores with the chickens, walking across the seed to bond with the soil, and helping the mothers with chores near the house. Food was divided with the men getting the most, the women next, then the children got "a little bit" due to the dispersing of the work loads. However, when a child reached 10 years of age, they received double portions to catch up and be prepared to work in the fields.

The field we were in for the day had contained tobacco, corn, and flax. After the crops were harvested, they turned the cows on to it first to eat everything down. Then the sheep to eat even closer, and finally the hogs to turn the dirt over. While the animals were doing their part of the field work, they were also making their fertilizer deposits. The chickens and turkeys would then come through and spread the dung while they gleaned the field over for bugs and left over seeds. All this was in an effort to maximize the use of animals to reduce the amount of physical labor of the planter. A family typically kept 200 acres but would only work about 20 at a time while the animals worked the others. Also, the family had to be as efficient as possible in order to keep all the mouths fed in the family since there was usually a large portion of the family not able to help in the fields for most of the year. Boys were highly prized for their energy and strength that could be turned loose in the fields to help support the family. I once heard someone say, "You never heard a pioneer shake his head in disgust because of the energy in his growing boys!" This is not to say women were looked down upon, they were valued for other areas on the farm like the gardens or sheep. Let's face it, boys just have more upper body strength and this translated, at this time, as more food for the family because more fields could be in production for labor intensive crops like wheat, corn, tobacco, flax, etc.

The planter exclaimed how this field was ready, thanks to the animals before, to be prepped for fall seed. This mix would create a cover crop to help the nutrition of the field. It was a combination of legumes, rye, other miscellaneous seed. But first the remaining grass/weeds had to be gathered. Normally the planter would then burn these piles, but the gov't currently frowned on them burning large open spaces.

After the children had gathered the dry matter from a section of the field, it was time to spread the fall mix. He also told the parents this was not actually done in most of the areas until after Thomas Jefferson. They would just let the field be fallow for 15-20 years as they waited for nature to bring it into production, but current agriculture laws in the state required cover crops for winter and it fits into the self sustaining ideals of the colonists. The reason they typically did not use cover crops until later was simply money. Seed costs money and that was something they had very little of, so why not use the money for important seed like cash crops. What about left over beans and peas as seed, there were none as they would eat them all.

So since spreading seed was a delicate process he asked for all the children over the age of 10 to carry the bucket and cast the seed as high and far as they could while walking the inside perimeter of the fence. Isabella just kept asking if she could have a turn as each 10-13 year old took a few yards before they were "tired out". He eventually let Isabella cast seed because there were no other children 10 and up who would do the work. (Our society has really spoiled the children of today!)

Being the determined spirit she is, Isabella made four complete rounds through the field. She only stopped when she ran out of seed. The turkeys flocked to her thinking she was trowing feed to them, but as the planter exclaimed, "It was a trade off. The turkeys eat a little seed but leave a little fertilizer in its place." After the seed was mostly down, the younger children formed a line, shoulder to shoulder, and walked down the field "to put the seed in the dirt". The bonding helped with germination, and let the younger children feel helpful.

Historical Colonial Farm, part 4 - Autumn/Winter Chores!

Our first encounter with one of the actor/employees was a young woman splitting cut wood for the kitchen stove. She explained the larger pieces were too big to fit into the stove so she had to cut them into smaller sizes with her crude looking tools.

She was getting quite flustered with the turkeys, especially the tom, who kept getting in her way as she was trying to chop. Wither in character or in true form, she started threatening the birds with talk of dinner plans if they did not remove themselves from her work space. It can be noted here when I over heard another family ask about slaves to the women in the kitchen, the "negro" women (their wording, accurate for he time) were treated more like family members as they would have grown up from childhood with their own children. The lack of freedom was not being able to choose to leave, but they were mostly constant companions who helped to carry the work load.

Both children wanted a go at chopping wood. The long blade was hammered down with a thick branch into the split wood to create the right sized pieces.

We also checked into the kitchen nearby to see what was being done this particular day. It was the drying kitchen with apples, beans, pumpkins, etc. strung up on strings near the fire to dry.

Isabella and Anton both strung a few pieces of apples then let the other children have their turn.

I wonder if this is where the stringing of cranberries for Christmas originated?

I began to think a few hours of stringing cranberries by a fireplace sounded peaceful and relaxing. Was I becoming part of the landscape or just caught up in the moment? The children actually enjoyed this activity but not as much as the planting. It is interesting to note how some work can be made enjoyable, especially when the children see the purpose behind the job.

Historical Colonial Farm, part 3 - Butter and Biscuits!

And what do you do with all the animal products you get on the farm? By a nice fire, the children made butter and biscuits. The butter was simple cream and a pinch of salt in the churn. It typically takes one hour to make butter according to the team on hand. We actually came back later to see the finished product, which was not as solid but more creamed butter due to the inconsistent rhythm applied to the churn. Isabella kept checking to see, and it did have a sticking feeling, but it was not complete.



What do you put the butter on? Why biscuits of course! The dough consisted of wheat flour, egg, lard (from the pig), and a little water.

Isabella was very intent on making her biscuit.

Once enough had been collected, they were placed inside a dutch oven. The cover was placed on top with hot embers over it. I do not know how long it takes to make biscuits this way, but it is not like popping open a can of pre-made dough circles and placing them in an oven. The children did note the time and energy used in making a basic food.

Historical Colonial Farm, part 2 - Cotton!

If you are wearing cotton right now, you can thank Eli's invention! The children were able to partake in the process of making cotton yarn, sort of.

First we went into a small room of the house where a woman was teaching children to de-seed the cotton balls. The fuzz was placed in the basket and the seeds were placed in the gourd for next year's planting. This was not easy work. It only took about 30 seconds to see why Eli's machine took off.

Once Isabella and Anton had removed the seeds and enough fuzz was collected, they had to card it to make long strings. These strings were then fed to the large spinning wheel. Apparently the smaller one moves too fast for the shorter strings of cotton. The smaller one was used for the wool from the sheep.

Later in the day, while investigating the gardens, Isabella decided to pick some cotton. Anton also picked some, since I have managed to train them in helping pick produce from my two years of gardening. They were so excited to carry their carmel colored fuzz back to the cotton house. They told all the employees they saw why they were carrying handfuls of the fuzz. I think they too were surprised to see the children so excited to pick cotton for them. It was like they just dicovered a huge secret, cotton is a plant.

It just warmed my heart to hear them ask if they could come back another day to help with the harvesting, planting and farm chores. If I taught them one thing, it is to tend a garden and the work involved. They know it does not happen over night and it takes many hours of work.

Like the Amish say, "Many hands make light work!"

Historical Colonial Farm, part 1 - Animals

Today we took a field trip to an Historical Colonial Farm located about an hour away. The farm is also a living museum with actor/employees dressed to the part and performing chores just as they would have in Colonial America around 1770. It was a very chilly day, so we were able to understand the need for small rooms in order to take full advantage of the heat from the fireplace. For some unknown reason, Isabella had slipped into the truck without her jacket, and like all mothers, I chose to give her my polar fleece liner rather than see her shiver out of her skin. I only tell you this to explain why it appears her coat does not fit her!

When we arrived and made our way through the front entrance, we immediately found ourselves in another time period. The fences were stacked split rails with varying heights of 4-6 feet depending on which animals they were keeping in our out of certain pastures. It gave a very natural feeling to the farm as opposed to a more commercialized and sterile feeling of corporate farms today. It can be noticed though the colonists were focused on trying to work with nature and not against it as they had been taught from the Native Americans. There was a force to not waste anything, including land for single purpose breeds of animals. Heritage Breeds as they are referred to today, are typically dual purpose but the most important distinction is their ability to breed naturally. Did you know the butterball turkey you eat at Thanksgiving was artificially inseminated then brooded in an incubator? The commercialized breeds of today are single purpose. You either get chicken who make lots of eggs or ones that create lots of meat. A dual purpose chickens like Dominiques, Orpingtons, Delawares or Rhode Island Reds are good for both meat and eggs. While they do not produce the higher egg count or higher body weight of commercial breeds, they provide enough of both to make them useful. Plus, the chances of a dual purpose breed actually sitting (brooding) on her eggs and hatching them is far greater than the commercial breed which were selectively bred to not sit on their eggs. Why do this? Chickens will stop laying eggs while hatching out a clutch. To a commercial egg factory, a loss of egg production for 28-35 days when a nice machine can do the job is not in their best interest.

This same concept is applied to most of the animals from Colonial time to the breeds of today. Our first encounter was the Milking Devons. Most of us know there are meat cows, Angus, and dairy cows, Holstein. The Milking Devon was also a dual purpose animal. It produced enough meat to make it worthy of raising and was able to be milked for 10 months out of the year. Granted it does not produce the 8-10 gallons a day of milk of a Holstein or the 15-1700 lbs of meat of an Angus, but how many of us really need that much? The Milking Devons are now listed as critical for extinction. You can find many Devons, the milking quality had been bred out of them. I asked one of the employees how much one of the Milking Devons sold for, he said it use to be you could get them pretty cheap, but since they are so few in numbers now, the four in the particular field we were looking at were in quarantine to be sold for $4500. That price covered two heifers and two male calves. The money was being applied to the purchase of a breeding pair of oxen from the time period at a price of $5000.

Our next encounter with the animals was the Spanish Black Turkeys or just Black Turkeys. These birds originated from America, were brought back to Spain. In Spain they were bred to other native turkeys and the new breed, Spanish Black, was brought over with the colonists.

At first, we were a little leery of these free ranging, pasture birds. This particular tom was all over the farm watching over his girls. When we first arrived, he was not too sure about us. He kept fluffing up and gobbling for us to stand back. He calmed down later and hardly made notice of our presence. I have to say, they are much prettier than the Large Broad Breasted Whites bred to be so big they can not walk properly. I did have a nice discussion with the caretaker about the birds and expressed to him my desire to have Bourbon Reds if we get turkeys. He told me he was partial to Reds also because of their temperament, beautiful color, and quality of meat. Both Bourbon Reds and Spanish Blacks are lists as either critical or watch on the national breed registry. In case you were wondering why Bourbon Reds, they are native to my home state!

Soon we came to a very high fence, about six feet high. I peered through the fence gaps to see what was on the other side.

Sheep and rams in a pasture. The high fence kept the coyotes out and the sheep in. They also had a mule on site to help protect the sheep, he was in the barn at the time of this picture. When we were inside the main barn, Isabella could not resist!

Interestingly, when were were driving to the farm, I asked her if there was any big gift she might want for Christmas since Anton is requesting a telescope or bike.

Without hesitation she said, "Yes Mommy! I would like a horse!"

To which I said, "Honey, not that big!"

She responded, "OK, how about a large pony?
"Boo! Something smaller please." was my reply.

She eventually settled on a stable for her toy ponies.

November Retreat - Wreaths and Icons

For our November Retreats, Margaret and I switched age groups. Margaret took the middle age group children on a nature walk through her back woods. There they discussed God's creation and his ability to make good out of bad by showing some pine cones which only release their seeds if exposed to high heat from things such as a fire. The children then took their knowledge of God and Nature and applied it to making advent wreaths. Yes, it seems a little early for advent wreaths, but it worked for the theme of nature and faith.

Isabella working on her wreath.

Anton making his with David holding the hot glue gun.

I took the older students and continued with Margaret's previous month's topic of prayer. I chose to introduce icon art to the children. We discussed how they were considered bad for a time when people thought others were worshiping them instead of using the activity as a method of prayer. In order to keep people from thinking of the icons as idols, artists (monks in the olden days) would not make exact images of the person but used colors and symbols to identify the subject. For example, if you were making an icon of a martyr you would use a red background color to show passion and blood shed for faith before applying a gold layer to symbolize light and closeness to God. This closeness is in reference to following God not equal to God (just in case anyone was misinterpreting my wording). Other symbols would be painted around the subject like writing materials for a gospel writer, a clover for St. Patrick, flowers for St. Therese, etc.

The icon painting is related to prayer in the method and meditation involved with producing the art. It is not really about the end product but about the journey. While painting the piece, one must meditate on this person's life, how they reacted to God's message and how their life can be an example for our own journey towards God or answering his call for us. Everyone got something different from the exercise. Many mothers asked if I could repeat the demo for just the mothers one evening as a way to refocus ourselves to our vocation in life amid the craziness of the rest of the world. I think we all need to take a moment every now and then "to re-connect" to what is the most important things in our lives less we loose focus by the world's distractions.

Some Little Issues With Country Life

While we love living out in our Suburban/Rural area, it has had a few inconveniences or problems. The first issue we had to over come was figuring out how we were going to get an Internet connection. We had been using a cable modem for so long, we did not know of other options. We had no choice but to explore other possibilities since the cable company does not run cable out to our location. It is not cost effective for them. We discovered the cell phone signal option which was much more reasonable than the dish/satellite connection. This leads us to the other problem, television. We don't have it. We have a netflix membership and watch purchased DVDs. It is still working for us since we are so busy with settling still. We are glad to not have to worry about what the children see either.

Then there is the pests. Today marks number 8 in the mouse trap in the garage. All I can say, at least they are out there! I saw a huge barn owl when I was coming home from choir on Sunday night. I know why they are there and appreciate their service! Ecology at work! Isabella received her second tick last week, only this time we got it within the dreaded 24 hour time slot. She has had no reactions at all. I still have the tick just in case, per doctor's orders. We still had to go to the doctor though but this time it was for me. I had a spider bite near my eye and the itching and swelling were just a little too bothersome. I got a prescription for an antihistamine that does not make you drowsy! It took a few weeks to completely heal. Since I have a reaction to regular spiders, the nurse practitioner also gave me a prescription for an EPI-pen.

Why do I need an EPI-pen? What is large, black and has a red hourglass on her abdomen? Yes, black widows! We have found a total of four now around the outside of the house and garage. The first one was when I pulled out the folding chair from the carry case at soccer practise. There in the seat was a black widow about the size of a half dollar, without the legs. It was huge. I just stared at it quietly saying "Oh, my. That is a black widow." Isabella then yelled out in a matter of factual voice, "Can anyone save us from a Black Widow Spider!" One of the dads came over to inquire about Isabella's request and was startled to see it really was a black widow. He asked me if I wanted him to kill it for me. I very calmly said, "Well, I have reactions to regular spiders much less highly poisonous ones. So, it would be great if you killed it for me." Now, I check the chairs before I sit in them, and carefully pull tools or pots from the garage. The other ones I killed were very small, apparently the males, by comparison to the females. The EPI-Pen gives me an extra 3o minutes to get to the hospital rather than the 30-60 minutes I need to get there should I get bitten. Due to my reactions to normal house spiders, a female black widow bite can cause breathing issues rather than a normal reaction of pain at the impact site. I went over the directions with Anton just in case and put the pen in the cabinet where we know where it is. Have no fear though, we are only 10 minutes from the ER but as the Nurse Practitioner said, "I hope you never have to use it!"

Is it worth it? Yes! The peace we have being here, away from all the hustle of the city is just too much to put into words. We do have our issues, but some will be fixed more easily than others. We are looking into getting a few Guinea hens, also known as the "tick eaters". When I told the children about how they are known to make loud noises when they are startled, Anton simply asked, "Do they eat wasps and hornets?" When I replied "From what I have read, yes." He said "I'm in! Let's get ten of them!" And for all of you who are concerned about snakes, they apparently kill them too, but as a group. They begin by screaming at the snake to confuse it then attack. They are quite ugly birds, but then again it's ecology not a beauty pageant.

A Good End for the Soccer Season Fall '08

The last game of the season left the team feeling good about their time devoted to practises. The game was a landslide for the jaguars because they played as a team. The forwards passed, the middle field covered his area, and defenders kept the ball from reaching the goal while the goalie blocked the close ones!

They played as a team with each playing their part! Way to Go Boys!!

When they work together, they are superb! Since it was the last game, they also got their trophies! Anton commented on how large it was!

I will just keep it a secret that the mommies picked the trophy!

Now what do we do without the three days a week commitment until Spring?

Happy All Hallow's Eve!

As many of you know, we celebrate All Hallow's Eve not Halloween. All Hallow's Eve is the night before the celebration of All Saint's Day or the day in which we honor all those who have made it to Heaven. And since you can not get to Heaven without going through death, the eve before is traditionally viewed as the night of death before the rising to new life. People would dress as skeletons or ghosts in an attempt to show this. But as most religious celebrations are taken over by the secular world and the meanings behind them gets all twisted up, people forget where they originated.

Since we no longer live in a neighborhood, we found ourselves in a predicament over how to include our children in the festivities. Then we discovered a local Agri-business farm with a special fund raiser for Oct 31 and Nov 1. Earlier in the fall there was a helicopter crash in which the state trooper, pilot and EMS worker were killed while transporting a crash victim to the hospital. This particular farm opened it's corn mazes as a fund raiser for the families of the crash. The event included off duty state troopers and EMS workers handing out candy in the mazes, a costume contest, pumpkin painting, and an animal petting area (goats, steer, chickens, pigs, etc.). There was also a food section serving hot cider among other things! Yum! We found our destination!

Anton decided to go as a guide or hiker and kept getting upset when people said he was Indiana Jones!

Here Isabella, as the Medieval Princess, looking after the herd of goats!

The mazes were fun and I had good intel the majority of the candy was in the easier maze for smaller children. So off we went!

It was very cold that night and Isabella had a difficult time getting through the larger maze when we finally got near the end. The larger maze had over three miles of loops in it, but we had a flashlight, a map, a compass, and Karl the Eagle Scout with us. We made it through in 35 minutes! Isabella did put her coat on about 1/2 the way through, but even my own toes were cold in the wool socks by the end. But some warm cider got our spirit back up and we went off to the barn again to show Karl some of the animals and he was taking mental notes on the barn construction.

Before we left we got a chance to speak to the owner about the farm. She was full of information about goats. Apparently there are only three families in the area that breed their goats especially for 4Hers. She lamented about having a hard time finding an Alpine Buck to breed her Alpine does and then the big crusher, no one around here has Olberhalsi goats. That was our number one choice!! Ok, it was mine because they come from my ancestral home in Bern, Switzerland, but Isabella liked them too. Unless we import some goats, including a buck which we were trying to avoid, we will have to focus on Nubian, Toggenberg, Alpine, or La Mancha (I just can not do these as they have no ears and seem unnatural to me). So it looks like it will be either Nubian, high butter fat and droopy ears, or Toggenberg, the more standard looking story book goat with large output of milk. Well, as we get things finalized for the farm we are learning a very valuable lesson, be flexible!