Catching Up

I'm not sure what happened to November, it happened too quick, and in our favor the temperatures have remained mild enough to do some catching up both inside and out.

In one weekend Paul chopped a huge pile of wood to fuel our home for winter.

William and I also tended to the bees.

Too late into spring we planted an experimental crop of oats, it failed and was taken over by wild mustard, to our advantage that patch of wild mustard being cold hardy allowed the bees to collect pollen even through November!  I'm not sure what the honey will taste like, honey mustard? But thrilled they've been able to collect a bit more before the cold really sets in.

William and I sat and studied them awhile, watching their collective effort and cooperation was just the motivation I needed to move onto some big family projects.

That huge pile of wood had to be split and stacked, I explained to everyone my observation of the bees and that we needed everyone to help where they could.  We worked until dark with everyone but little Charles lending a hand.

Cleaning the goat pen was also on the list of to do's and I was so impressed and very grateful for the hardworking boys in our family, but that was not until after I yelled at them all to leave their stinky clothes in the pole barn and take a shower.

Meanwhile we let the goats help us clean out the garden.  We rented a young buck for breeding and I over heard a few funny little prayers....."please bless Joe the buck to do a good job mating".  And so we shall find out after a blood test in about a month.

In other animals news I survived an evening of the cows getting loose during a week that Paul was traveling and there is too much to say about that in this tiny space.  Just know that it happened.

We also took our first lamb in for processing and I have since become a more mindful, grateful and reverent meat eater.  My kind neighbor has been sharing all sorts of delicious lamb recipes with me and our favorite so far was the lamb kofta.  It was Maryanna's turn to bless this specific meal and I was touched when she called the animal by name and thanked him for offering his body to make our bodies stronger.

We decided to use as much as the animal as we could and salt cured the skin and it is in now the process of being finished into a fleece rug.  That too was an experience that was had while Paul was out of town, I could not have done it without the help of my big boys.  They felt like Bear Grylls and I felt like a real pioneer woman.  I don't need to go into the messy details, just know that we've become braver than I could ever have imagined.

On a lighter note, the favorite chair by the fire place inside had enough wear in last month to expose the inner foam.  Our babysitter Peggy helped me tear it apart and saved the day in helping me finish it up when I realized I had no idea what I was doing.  Here is the before:

Below is the after, already getting much use.  I hope the new fabric holds up well because that is not a project I look forward to repeating.  I also painted two bedrooms and realized the difficulty of completing any project with a house full of little ones running around.  

We also celebrated another birthday - this farm boy William was thrilled to get horseback riding lessons and a new bee suit for his birthday.  And he is still asking me when I'm going to surprise him with his very own peacocks............  

Paul and I celebrate 14 years together!  He treated me to some homemade cream brulee with farm fresh ingredients.

And Clara lost her first tooth.  She woke up one morning with a loose tooth and gently pulled it out herself before bedtime.  

Now with shorter days so much time is spent inside.  I have to say it gets really loud and really messy, so I'm still experimenting with different ways to allow it and different ways contain it.  But more than anything I wish to enjoy it, for that reason I've stepped away from social media almost completely this last month and it has been refreshing.  I disabled my facebook account completely and when it was requested why I simply stated "to give more to the faces and relationships that matter most to me" - simply catching up.