Middle of the night kitten surprise

It was 3 am when Peter woke me up.  He initially thought he may have wet the bed but immediately turned his concern to what he thought was a mouse on his pillow.  He came to my bedside requesting that I get the mouse out of his bed and help him change his bedding.  I asked him if the mouse was dead or alive and when he answered alive, I kicked Paul and told him that was going to have to be his job.  

Less than a minute later Paul was back and announced it was not a mouse but a baby kitten and there was now two of them.  Peter and I jumped up with excitement!  Of all the children Crystal loves Peter the most so of course she would choose his bed for giving birth.  

As we were collecting towels we heard another scream from Crystal and by the time we were up at the top bunk where Peter sleeps there was another kitten.  I was sure this being her first litter that that was going to be it and we could go back to sleep.  Peter couldn't sleep, he kept insisting that Crystal needed him and with the next cat scream he was back at her side and witnessed the birth of kitten #4.  I decided that was definitely enough kittens and was satisfied enough to sleep.

By morning it was announced that 6 kittens were counted! I am happy to report Crystal is a natural mother and was successfully feeding and licking them all.

I immediately emailed a friend who has hosted many batches of kittens.  She reassured me that there was really nothing to do except not move the kittens.  The mother cat may find that threatening and then hide them somewhere very difficult for us to find.  

The problem was they were nested on the top bunk and we worried about them falling down.  So we simply picked the towel up and placed it in a box on the top bunk hoping that would be safe enough.  Not too many mornings later though we woke up to a panic when two of the kittens were missing.  Luckily the boys keep a very untidy room and the kittens were spotted in an open drawer beneath the bunkbed in a heap of clothes.  They were fine.

It was time to move the kittens and take delight in handling them so very gently.  Crystal has accepted the new nesting spot in the corner of the boys room and the boys are gaining patience in allowing open visiting hours to the girls.  

Now for the rest of the story.  Crystal and Luvee were both scheduled to get fixed earlier in the spring.  On the appointed day Luvee was no where to be found.  I rescheduled the appointment for two weeks later but still no Luvee.  Luvee was Maryanna's cat and totally heart broken she convinced me that Crystal should have at least one batch of kittens so I cancelled the appointment.  I know it may not make sense, but I followed my gut on this one and there was a whispering that it would be okay.  And so soon after losing our barn cat Pickles it is with both comfort and joy that we welcome these kittens.  

The night after Pickles was buried I had a dream about losing one of the baby chicks and having to bury it.  Then the dream continued with discussion of Crystal having kittens and how sure I was there were only going to be three kittens. In the dream the kids were arguing with me, insisting that there were going to be six.  First thing in the morning I shared the dream with my children (editing out the part about the death of a chick), and the discussion of baby kittens did offer comfort.

So the night of May 22 William noticed one of the chicks was not moving much.  Our experienced poultry neighbor suggested warming it with a hair dryer.  We did that and it drank a little water.  William kept the chick close to him but before the night was through it had drifted peacefully from its little body.  William brought it to me in tears and said "do something mom, help me!"  Oh how I wish I held the magic that they think I do. We buried it just the two of us and William found a private spot to process the loss.  

Later that evening I woke up at 12 am to the noise of coyotes that seemed closer than they should be.  There was no hint of the guard dog Polar 's barking so I nudged Paul and convinced him we had to go check on all the animals.  Polar woke up as soon as he heard us walking and we were reassured that rest of the animals were secure in their pens.  As we were walking back in I noticed Crystal was acting funny and I worried about her and the coyotes so I brought her in to sleep with Peter.  Little did I know she really was going to  give birth to six little kittens that same night.

So now the question is what are we going to do with all these kitties?!  We have decided that there are enough mice and loving arms around here that we can keep two, Peter has already decided he wants to keep kitten #1 and name it "Mousie".  The rest will be available to good homes which the kids are already praying for.

And my take away from this whole experience is to gain more confidence in my gut feelings, pay attention closer attention to my dreams and realize the significance of integrating animals into the lives of my children.

   

       

Paul shares his stories

I was tempted to use this outtake for our 2012 Christmas card, it offers a unique perspective of our family.  But when it came down to clicking the submit order button I chickened out and switched to a color photo where most everyone was smiling.

I'm happy to finally offer another perspective of life as it happens here, told by Paul.  He is a great writer - check out his new blog and enjoy! 

And thank you to my friend Jessica at fairy toes photography for taking our picture.  

Garden report 1

I took all the kids to The Hands on Museum in Ann Arbor last week.  Before checking in there we stopped at two stores but it wasn't until a bathroom break at the museum 4 hours later that I noticed the dirt streaked across my face......as if toting 8 children around by myself wasn't enough to look again and wonder.  No question I've been working hard; in addition to the dirt on my face I have at least 25 mosquito bites down each leg, mud covered overalls, new muscles popping out of my chicken arms and now photos to show for it.

This is only my second year in the garden.  Last year was tough enough to have me avoiding a garden plan until I figured out a way to make it a bit easier.  For practical reasons I'm feeling the draw of permaculture and for even more practical reasons I'm not going to jump into it over night but instead ease into it over time, using what pieces make sense to me.

These garden boxes five steps out my front door were the brilliant idea of a seasoned permaculture friend.  They were built and filled for me by Mother's day and aside from a sweet potato experiment they will house our everyday eating favorites, greens, leeks, cabbage, carrots, beets.........and whatever else I planted (I do have a record of it somewhere).

Just around the bend from the raised beds is an established bed for ornamental grasses and flowers.  I made room for 3 varieties of squash to trail out and around where ever they please.

Planning for more food around the house (zone 1), I cleared out the west bed and will set in a few tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers.  

The side porch is where most the traffic and action happens.  Beneath the porch is also where the dog and chickens like to hang out.  For that reason I have been limited in what I've been able to grow there.  All that survived from last year is a few lilies and patches of lemon balm and violets.  I hope to somehow keep the animals out and plant more herbs and flowers.
   

And here they sit waiting.......

We decided not to till the big garden this year.  It is now the spot for some permaculture experiments including these potato basket towers.  We had a fencing incident with Princess one of the one year old Nubian goats.  It required me to cut the fencing in order to untangle her leaving the fencing totally useless for goats.  I am happy we were able to repurpose it and even happier that the boys were able to complete this project totally on their own (and of course relieved Princess was not injured by her curiosity).

Next up is Clara's garden.  I told anyone who was willing to double dig and pull weeds could have their own garden any shape they wanted.  Clara was the only one who took to it.  I brought home a cherry tomato plant for her to plant alongside her flowers and she giggled, "look mom this plant loves me!  look at the way it dances in my garden".  She even brought out those red plastic cups just in case of a frost.

Way on the other side of the garden was a patch of raspberries that was infested with thistles.  We only picked a few handfuls of raspberries last year but this year we are determined.  It was a big project to trim them, move them, clean the beds, replant and mulch.  I borrowed my neighbor's garden helper Jose to assist in this project, he, James and I got it done in a long muggy day of work.  The cost of this project was a really messy house when I finally checked in with the rest of the kids inside.

Below is evidence of more experimenting.  Paul used the tractor to build these three hugelbeds.  We mixed a pile of seeds and free casted them around all side, Peter helped me and we both declared how much more fun it was than regular planting.  We covered it with straw and then we all came charging out just 30 minutes later when a handful of chickens busted through the new chicken fence and scratched and pecked over these mounds.  I'm not expecting too much from it this year but will be waiting to see how it performs the following year.  The plan is to let everything reseed itself.......... I believe it is possible.

Behind the hugelbeds you see three apples trees.  I read much about pruning and have heard equal arguments for not pruning.  That left me confused so I pruned one a lot, pruned one a little and left one totally unpruned.  I realize there are many more variables to this experiment and hope not to drive myself crazy with that.  These experiments are simply being held at an elementary level.  
  

This is last year's bean pole that we are now using as a pea pole.  I stuck in 3 different varieties and 2 are growing beautifully.  I used old baling twine for climbing and hope it is tight and strong enough.  At the top of the pole is a guard to a broken fan but I'm told a bicycle wheel works better.

Over here is where I dreamed up a mud pie kitchen.  We salvaged an old dresser from the junk pile out back and painted it the color of the barn.  The girls cooked up a few good bricks but I will have to figure out a shade solution in order to draw more customers.  I found this on pinterest but for now there are enough projects to do.

I'm only a few weeks into this garden and already feeling outnumbered by projects, plants, animals and children.  Constantly reminding myself to slow down and enjoy the process.  

Though I'm not sure the vision I had of working alongside my husband and children in the garden will ever materialize in this lifetime, I'm feeling blessed to have this opportunity to learn so much and simply hope they feel nourished by my love with what ever is harvested and served to them.

Up Close on the Farm

An unexpected gift came my way a few weeks ago.  Paul's parents were cleaning out a closet and found two Cannon lenses that they used years ago for catching close ups of their boys playing sports.  They have no use for them now and asked if I was interested in them.  I tried them out and sure enough they worked on my digital SLR!

I admit I lack technical skill with the camera but sometimes I get lucky with a moment.  For that reason I enjoy taking photos and always have my camera near by.  And there has certainlybeen no shortage of spontaneous picture moments this spring.

Rest in Peace Pickles

We experienced a sore tragedy on our farm yesterday; I'm sorry to report that our favorite barn cat Pickles got hit by a car.   

He was the first animal we got after moving to the farm.  He was a great hunter and would often leave "gifts" for Paul in bucket of his tractor.  



Pickles liked to sneak into visitors' cars.  I had to warn anyone leaving to check their car for a gray furry cat.  When the cable internet guys were here Pickles took a rest on top of the roof of their van.  While backing up Paul had to flag them down to rescue Pickles. 

Most memorable was catching him walk the barn roof over 25 feet from the ground.

He was a faithful hunter and faithfully affectionate to any child passing by.

The kids liked to sneak him in their beds at night but he was kind of a mangey cat and now I'm sorry for all the times I chased him out of the house.



After Paul had come in and announced the discovery I was pig piled by 5 wailing children.  I too was crying.

The younger ones didn't take it as hard. George said to me, "it's okay Mommy, you can sing a song and he will be alive again".  

The kids gave him their last pets and we offered a proper burial. 
  

We had plans for a full day of work but it seemed we were all a bit lost from the loss.  We sang some hymns and Paul reminded us all of the eternal nature of our spirits, even that of animals.

Feeling grateful for the way this loving creature touched our lives. 

The Magic of Morning Music

As the season has shifted so has our daily routine.  It seems the simple shinning of the sun has become an instant invitation to abandon whatever work we should be doing inside and by 8 am half the household has found their way to "free play" outside. It has been hard to wrangle them back in because I too want play.  There have been more than a few days where no books were cracked and a whole day's dishes have been left till 10:30 pm, all for the sake of outdoor fun.

So now I am hearing the call back to establishing a rhythm and routine.  Here's how I'd like our mornings to go:

6:00 am I'm up and tip toe into personal study time

6:30 am quiet exercise or project time

7:30 am kids wake up/personal prayers/make beds/tidy rooms/get dressed - I do meal prep for breakfast, lunch and dinner

8:00 am family scripture study

8:30 am breakfast

9:00 am milking/farm chores/breakfast clean-up

9:30 am house chores

10:00 am morning meeting with mom to report what was done and discuss plans for the day

10:30 am play outside or organized project outside

12:00 pm lunch

Oh how easy it looks on paper!  The reality is it is not easy to gain full cooperation, and it only takes the resistance of one individual to throw us 2 hours behind.  

I've tried yelling in the past, it does get us all moving but not necessarily in the right direction.  We've tried many different reward systems as well, they work for a time and always seem to fizzle out.  Right now though I am reminded of the magic of morning music, of setting a tone for the day.  I've found with just the right music our chores can be fun.     

Lately the kids have been responding well to modern remakes of Elvis songs from the  Honeymoon in Vegas soundtrack.   I tell them once the rooms are cleared and swept they can have a rock party.  I can't say this works for the older batch, they only roll their eyes and plug their ears at my singing into the broom.  But keeping the younger kids happy (if not helping) while we clean is nearly half the chore.  

Other album favorites include Putumayo World playground, Elizabeth Mitchell, Kodo drummers, Heather Forest, and Frankie Smith's Double Dutch Bus.  The mix is as eclectic as our personalities, moods and moves!

A smooth morning is a gift, oh the possibilities for our day!

12:30 pm we clean up lunch and move into quiet time/naptime for the youngest

1:00 pm- 4:00 pm is school time and what that means is different for each individual.  For me I am attending to my crash courses in farming and gardening, drifting around helping and shushing and sometimes napping with the younger ones.

4:00 pm certainly deserves a snack and for those who have completed their school work the invitation is open to free play or DIY projects inside or out- and of course the invitation is always open to help me in the garden 

5:30 pm is dinner prep

6:00 pm dinner

6:30 pm baths and clean up

7:00 pm bedtime for youngest three

8:00 pm bedtime for the next three

9:00 pm tuck in animals and milking

9:30 pm bedtime for the oldest two (but sometimes we hang till 10 pm eating ice cream and talking) I use to beg them to go to sleep but these days I beg them to "hang out" just a little bit longer

10:30 pm hopefully I'm not facing a days worth of dishes, or worse, lost in the land of pinterest - hopefully I'm tiptoeing into bed

These days are moving fast, sunset comes at us quick and it seems my children are taller every day. May these containers of time I wish to create be blessed with cooperation and music, and when they are not, may I relax into the experiences life wishes to offer.   

A day of work and an unlikely dinner hit

It was a beautiful day! Here's how we spent it.

By the time all were hungry I wasn't sure there was anything left in me to cook, simply lifting a wooden spoon felt like a chore; and the fridge was running on empty as well.  

Luckily on the stove I already had some simmering broth, in the fridge I found a bowl of leftover rice and the last of some whipping cream.  In the pantry was stored some dehydrated onions and the last of last year's garlic.  The real prize to this meal though was the nettles in the garden!  I threw it all together and sprinkled it with fresh nutmeg with out a care of what the response from my customers would be.

It proved to be a hit!  Some pretended not to like it but I caught them serving up more than two bowlfuls.  And Charlie out of no where cried out "yummy, yummy"!