I just saw a photo that was taken this morning from a hotel room overlooking the Sea of Galilee. It was captioned, "These waters have been walked on at least twice."
There have been a few times in my life where I enjoyed the privilege of walking somewhere with some serious historical significance. Most of these experiences are when visiting a National Historic Site. I remember visiting Bunker Hill in Boston and Stones River National Battlefield in Murfreesboro.
But sometimes I have visited places of particular, personal interest to me. One of my favorite places that I have ever visited was the piece of land where my dear grandmother grew up. Then it was an 81-acre pig farm that her German immigrant parents managed. Her father was in charge of the workers and her mother fed them all two meals each day at the large table in their home on the farm. Today it is a wildlife refuge and event center in a very upscale New Jersey neighborhood. A small historic marker mentioning the previous use of the property is all that remains to remind us of what life was like in that tiny portion of the world during that minuscule sliver of time. Much has changed over the decades. All of the original buildings have been demolished. A 2.5-acre pond was excavated and new buildings were erected. But when I stand there and look around, I can see my grandmother climbing onto the roof of the long-gone barn and sliding down into the giant mounds of fluffy white snow just like she did in the childhood stories she used to share with me.
To look around now in our modern day it is hard to imagine what these places would have looked like through time. Sometimes I try to dream up what it would be like to press the rewind button and travel backward through history, watching everything work back to the beginning - back to the Garden. To watch the landscape change as we move further away from here and now. To see the changing styles of the clothing worn by the people living throughout time. Observe technology diminishing. It gives me goosebumps, chills, and an exciting, fluttery feeling in my chest.
But to contemplate what it would be like to stand before such a place as the Sea of Galilee and consider that Jesus, the God-man, walked there before me is too much for this simple mind to behold. The Christ. The One who created all things. The only begotten Son of the Father. He who humbled Himself to death, even death on a cross. He who bore MY sins in HIS body on the tree so that I might be forgiven, loved, and called a daughter of God. He once walked here, on this planet, in the body of a mortal man. He once felt the physical pains of hunger, thirst, and the cruelest invention of humanity.
It is too much. The injustice of it. The only One who never sinned punished for all of the sins ever committed in the past and ever to be committed in the future. And yet, through this, justice was served in the only way to make it possible for any person to escape the much-deserved torment of eternal damnation. And if it were not enough to escape this torturous sentence, we are given the unthinkable privilege of being made brothers and sisters with Christ Himself, and heirs to the throne of God!
And so, tonight, I am very keenly aware of how disparaging the difference is between how much love and allegiance I owe Him and how much love and allegiance I show Him.
Earlier today I was meditating on John 14.
"Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him." (v. 21)
"If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me." (v. 23, 24)
"but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father." (v. 31)
I am moved tremendously as I look at this picture and think of how close Jesus feels. To look at a place where I know he lived His earthly life in a human body. Where he ate and drank. Where he slept and worked. Where he laughed and cried. Where he went away quietly to commune with His Father and where he hung out with the sinners and publicans. So close I can almost see Him walking there now.
But what now? How will I choose to allow that to impact me? Lord, have mercy on me! Too often I am like the man who beholds his face in a mirror and then turns and forgets what he looks like. Search me and know my heart, Lord. Forgive me where I am erring and grant me true repentance. Help me to see my desperate need for your constant intervention in my life and in my soul. My heart is deceitfully wicked, above all things. Who can know it? But You can and do. And You are in the business of changing hearts. O God of Jacob, would You do Your work in me! Grant me clean hands and a pure heart, that in that day I may look upon Your face and finally find peace and joy and rest untold!
which come out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
Its rising is from the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them,
and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
Psalm 19:1-6
Just over one year ago, I learned that our farm lay in the path of totality for the Great American Eclipse of August 21, 2017. I marked it on our calendar and anxiously awaited the day. Because of this exciting celestial event, I chose to focus on astronomy this year for our science lessons. What a way to kick off a new subject at the beginning of a new school year, right?!
Our local media really hyped up the eclipse. They kept projecting that it would bring tens of thousands of people flooding into the cities and towns along the path of totality through our state. Accommodations for tourists were nonexistent, being booked up more than a month prior. Traffic was expected to be so bad on the day of the eclipse that I was literally having nightmares that we were stuck on the highway in bumper to bumper conditions with complete cloud cover for totality!
We had planned to try to drive up to a small town in Kentucky that was right on the line of longest duration and look for a church parking lot or park to watch from. This town was in the middle of 2 smaller highways that we knew we could hop on to "chase" the eclipse if our spot got clouded out. We hoped to avoid the crowds and traffic this way.
Several weeks before the eclipse we began to read books and watch documentaries explaining how an eclipse happens, what to watch for, and learned eclipse terminology such as "Bailey's Beads, Diamond Ring, and Shadow Bands". We acted out the beautiful celestial dance our planet, moon, and sun are forever taking part in as they move in space. We "acted out" a solar eclipse with a flashlight and fruit. It was a lot of fun and we became very excited as we anticipated the actual event.
The kids and I thought it was ironic how many times people in the news, on the documentaries, and even the books we read kept saying the same thing. That it is the most amazing "coincidence" that we can even see a solar eclipse at all!
A solar eclipse is one of the ways that creation (nature) testifies of its Creator. It is simply not logical to suggest that all of "this" came about by a series of coincidental circumstances or accidents. It was lovingly designed and scheduled by a generous benefactor. And we all know this to be true, whether or not we would like to admit it. Romans 1:20-21 says that we are all are able to glimpse the attributes of God which can be clearly seen in nature, namely, God's eternal power and divine nature. If you're interested, here is a great article that dives more deeply into this concept.
Within the first ten minutes of watching Countdown to the Eclipse, a documentary you can find on Amazon, we heard the following statements:
"The fact that a total solar eclipse is possible at all is due to our special position in the solar system."
"Although the moon is much smaller than the sun, it's also much closer to us. And, in fact, it's about 400 times smaller but it's also 400 times closer. So, when we look at how big they appear in the sky they are about the same size."
"It's an amazing coincidence that the apparent size of the sun and the moon in the sky is almost equal. On any other planet, that's not true. In fact, that must be a rare occurrence throughout the galaxy."
It is not a coincidence at all. Each solar eclipse is hand-crafted by God Himself. The Lord, who created the heavenly bodies on the fourth day and set the moon and planets in orbit, created this amazing eclipse we were so blessed to witness. The Psalms are full of references to the sun, moon, and stars bringing God glory. Psalm 148:3 says, "Praise Him, sun and moon; Praise Him, all stars of light!" And Psalm 89:5 says, "The heavens will praise Your wonders, O Lord." As the sun and moon, and even the stars and planets we were able to see, were praising God so were we! How awesome is this God, who is grand enough to create such beauty and detail and yet would stoop to love such wretched creatures as we humans are. And that is exactly why He is so deserving of our love, devotion, and honor.
"We love because He first loved us." -1 John 4:19
In the week before the eclipse, Josh helped me by researching and creating solar filters for our cameras and binoculars. He also shopped for our picnic lunch. The kids helped me gather and pack the food, blankets, chairs, and educational materials we planned to take with us. Just before leaving, I rushed over to the chicken coop to put up the trail cam on a nearby maple tree. I was hoping to catch the confusion of our feathered friends as the sun "set" and "rose" within mere moments at 1:30 in the afternoon. Once the animals were well-fed and watered, we were buckled in and heading north.
We changed our plans last minute as we watched the weather forecast changing moment to moment. We decided that our best chance was to head towards Springfield, TN. I was not feeling well and was hoping to not have to deal with the crowds they were expecting there so, as we neared the town, I was desperately searching for good areas to park. We ended up unintentionally driving through Springfield, and when we saw how empty it was, kept right on going. Where was everyone for this once-in-a-lifetime event?
I saw a sign for the county fairgrounds and suggested that it might be a good place to set up camp. Josh turned to follow the sign. That's when we saw a great big church up on a hill with a great view. I knew there would be a nice breeze coming up that hill and the grass looked so soft and inviting. Once glance at each other and it was settled.
We were quickly given permission to view the eclipse from the hill behind the church building and even generously invited to use the restroom inside as needed. They were very kind to us there at North Springfield Baptist Church.
Everyone unloaded the van and helped get set up. Even Gideon helped carry things up the hill. James, Josh, and I set up our canopy and then the girls helped me spread blankets and put up lawn chairs. Once we were settled and everyone had eclipse papers to color and write on, two sweet ladies joined us. We learned that they lived very close to us even though we were easily an hour away from home! I don't think that we would have had such an enjoyable experience if they weren't there with us that day. We exchanged phone numbers, shared our eclipse photos with them, and made plans to have them over for a visit sometime soon.
I was surprised at how well Gideon did with keeping his glasses on each time he looked up at the sun. It had really concerned me that he would not want to use them, but he did great until about 5 minutes before totality. I think there was so much excitement, he just simply forgot. He's such a curious child that he just HAD to look at what everyone else was jabbering on about and forgot to hold the glasses over his eyes. I reminded him and helped him as best as I could while nursing Job to keep him from staring at it a well. Josh was set up about 15 feet away from us taking photographs of the whole thing. He managed to take several hundred pictures. All of the eclipse photos in this blog are his.
The thing that struck me most about viewing the eclipse was how eerie the light was just before and after totality. It really felt like something out of a science fiction movie. Naturally, it was like nothing I had ever seen before since this was my first eclipse. We also observed something that we found to be quite amazing. The afternoon had been very hot, in the 90's. You could hear the insects chirping and buzzing, telling everyone how warm it was in the grass. But as soon as the eclipse began and the temperature started to drop a bit, those bugs stopped making noise and the crickets began to sound! Also, we had not seen any birds until the eclipse began. Once the moon had just started to shade the sun we noticed quite a number of barn swallows swooping low over the hill looking for bugs to eat.
The whole thing was over so quickly. Our farm sat on the very edge of path of totality. I am very glad that we didn't stay home because while we would have been able to see it, our experience would have been significantly shorter.
When we did arrive home Josh and I were really excited to look at our pictures and see what the trail cam captured while we were away. We were very pleased with many of the shots Josh took with my Nikon using his solar filters. Unfortunately, something went wrong when I set up the trail cam and it did not capture any video. I was forced to ask the chickens directly about their experience but they wouldn't tell me a thing. Who knew chickens were so secretive?
Our family is already planning a vacation so that we can travel to see the next one to occur in the United States!
"When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, and the son of man that You care for him?" -Psalm 8:3-4
Phew! It's been a wild ride these last few years. So many things have changed since my last blog post. I am amazed that anyone with children has time to blog. Some homeschooling friends brought their children over yesterday for a playdate and we were commenting on how there are so many things that must be done each day, it is impossible to complete our To-Do Lists. One of the hardest jobs we have is rightly prioritizing our duties. When educating my 5 children (who are with me 24/7), nourishing my family with home-cooked meals, managing a household of 7 and all that comes with it are about all I can manage each day (and some days I can't manage to do these things myself), blogging definitely isn't anywhere close to making the list of things to get done. Having said that, I do hope to update the blog a little more frequently, but only as I can without any added burden to myself and my family.
So, let's catch up!
Tip Resting on a Log During a Hike
Dottie Found a Cozy Place to Snuggle
Last spring, we had been setting out mouse traps for weeks because we had a serious mouse issue. The traps would catch one here or there, but I knew it wasn't even making a dent in the mouse population. One night I woke up with a mouse on my shoulder and decided I was going to get cats! I knew I wanted two cats so they could keep each other company, and if one ran away or was snatched by a hawk or an owl we still had one left. I knew I wanted calico cats. And I knew I wanted females since they are better mousers. I found out that one of my neighbor's had some kittens to give away and stopped in to see if any were calico. Sure enough, there were two calico girls. I took them home and everyone fell in love with them. Except for Josh. But, even he has to admit, since we brought them home we have had no more mice in the house! They are good cats.
Baby Guineas
The guineas that were in our basement last year are all gone. We lost many of them to predators. We found that while they are very fun to have on a farm, they are not good to have if you have nearby neighbors. Since our house is located on the front edge of our 70 acres we have two very close neighbors. It is impossible to prevent guineas from wandering onto their property. Josh and his parents had to catch the guineas and clip their wings to get them to stay inside their fence in the pasture. After that they mostly resided peacefully for the summer in their contained paddock until one by one they were wiped out. When their population dwindled down to the single-digits, the few that remained escaped their confines and roamed free. They lasted about 3 days and then were seen or heard from no more.
Young Narrangansett Turkeys
We also raised a bunch of turkeys and ate one for Thanksgiving! It was great! It is amazing that the turkey species still exists. I think it disproves the "Survival of the Fittest" theory. The only way, in my opinion, that there are still turkeys walking the earth are because God has mercifully spared them from their own stupidity and allowed us to domesticate them. I can't tell you how many of our turkeys drowned in their own waterer or strangled themselves in the poultry netting.
Gideon Petting a Turkey Chick
JoyAnna and her day old ducklings
JoyAnna raised some ducks. A bunch went into the freezer and a couple flew away. The ducks were lots of fun and grew so very quickly. The chicks that we were expecting arrived and brought lots of joy! Many went into our freezer, James sold a bunch, and the rest were coyote food. Butchering chickens really wasn't so bad emotionally. But butchering the ducks was a lot harder. They are so much cuter and are so gentle and docile. And delicious. We just had to keep reminding ourselves about how delicious the ducks are. And they were!
Ducklings
We kept a small flock of foundation chickens over the winter and spring. Mainly New Hampshire Reds and Ameracaunas. My laying hens are finally laying a really great amount of eggs. All different colors too. They are just beautiful. It's so interesting to live with chickens. When a hen lays an egg, she sits up in the nesting box making quite a ruckus. I suppose it must be like giving birth every day. (I am so glad I am not a chicken!) All the other hens sit around her and cheer her on! It's like our chicken tractor turns into a delivery room every morning and afternoon when the ladies decide to lay. Listening to the amount of noise associated with laying eggs makes me appreciate the gift of eggs so much more. I had never stopped to think of the sacrifice of the hen when buying a carton of eggs at the store before I owned chickens. Granted, hens will lay whether or not we eat their eggs, but just knowing how they get to our table makes me so much more thankful for my dear chickens.
New Hampshires and Guineas in the Backyard
We incubated and hatched a couple large batches of chicks from our own flock with the hopes of having extras to sell, but it just didn't work out. The first batch has given us 15 mixed-breed chickens that are juveniles now. The second batch of 30 eggs died a week before their hatch-day when the incubator got unplugged overnight. And the third batch gave us nearly four dozen purebred New Hampshire Reds and Ameracaunas. Three weeks ago we picked up 8 Welsummer pullets at the farm store (they were marked down to $1 a bird!) and 6 pheasants (marked down to $2 a bird!). The Welsummers will give us a brown egg with dark brown speckles and the pheasants are Josh's special project.
We finally bred the rabbits. By "bred the rabbits", I mean "released them into a rabbit tractor and allowed them to make babies at their own discretion." (Which they pretty much did immediately! You can watch our YouTube video of that above.) Josh completed an awesome rabbit tractor that he had painstakingly researched and designed. Eventually, they will move down into the pasture.
Sassafrass and Magnolia, our Silver Fox does, gave us two great big litters of kits. This was our first time breeding anything besides chickens and we lost a number of them. There was a design flaw in the cage and the babies were actually able to wiggle under the slats in the bottom. As soon as we realized what was happening, we moved the does and their kits back into their cages in the barnage (our barn/garage). Unfortunately, an animal was able to steal some kits through the cages and we lost a few more.
In the three days after giving birth and before we moved the does and kits into the barnage, the does became pregnant again! We did not realize that this was possible and had no clue that they were pregnant until one morning James found a newborn kit on the ground under the rabbit cages. By that time Magnolia's whole litter has died and half of Sassy's litter also. They never looked or acted pregnant. We had removed the nesting boxes as soon as the first litter could climb out and move around the cage easily so there was no warm, snug place to deliver the new kits. It was an awful experience having to pry the cold, dead babies off of the wire bottom of the cages. The ones that were alive were immediately brought into the house where I tucked them into my shirt to warm them. From the two combined litters, seventeen kits were born. Only three survived. We have learned so much in such a short amount of time. The learning curve has been high, and the losses so sad and painful, but we are doing our best to make adjustments along the way and give our animals the highest quality of life that we can.
Payer, Tart, Cinnamon, and Spice
In February, we bought a mama Nubian goat and her 2 kids; 2 doelings, and a buckling. I never really liked goats. James has had his heart set on raising goats and so I knew we would eventually get some for him. I certainly never planned to be very involved with them. We found a great deal and some great stock and bought them from a private family-run dairy operation. Their previous owners had allowed their herd to grow too large and needed to downsize. We brought the goats home in our minivan. Moments after arriving in the pitch dark of night, mama goat broke loose from us and ran away. It was a heartbreaking scene with her kids bawling for her to come back and give them milk.
Cinnamon in our Minivan
After searching for awhile with the chorus of coyotes surrounding our farm we had to face the odds that she was never going to be reunited with her babies. Josh drove to the farm store to buy goat milk replacer to feed the babies. (We later learned that they were old enough to be weaned.) We texted neighbors, talked to Tommy at the dump, we searched and searched, we posted on a local lost and found Facebook page, and plastered every telephone pole up and down the road with Lost Goat posters. Seriously. Finally, a man called a few days later to say that he saw her running across the road near our house and had gone into the woods of neighbor's farm.
The next morning Josh went out to search for her and actually found her and brought her home. She was dehydrated, had diarrhea, one half of her bag looked deflated, and she was very cold and upset, but definitely seemed to be quite relieved to be back with her babies. I spent the next couple of weeks living in the goat pen getting to know her and the kids. I think we have a special bond now. In fact, she has escaped her paddock two more times since the first fiasco but has only allowed me to get close enough to catch hold of her collar.
At first, the goats looked a little dull. Cinnamon, or "Mama", as I affectionately call her, was especially thin and unhealthy looking. She seemed very skittish and ornery. I really didn't like her at all. I considered her a problem goat and was afraid that she would teach her children all manner of escape methods and bad manners. Today, when I look at them I see different goats. They are always wagging their tails, their coats and eyes are so shiny and bright, and they are just happy and filling out very nicely. Josh and I were discussing the change in their condition tonight and feel confident enough to share with you that we believe the game-changing difference has been rotational grazing in our pasture. (Now, when I use the term pasture, I use it very loosely. Our overgrown pasture consists mainly of such lovely plants as poison ivy and wild blackberry brambles.)
We believe that they must have been dealing with some major parasite issues that, perhaps because they have been given access to a wide variety of native "weeds", some of which may be natural de-wormers, and are only allowed to browse in the same area for 5 days at most, this has greatly decreased their worm-load. We have also added alfalfa pellets and black sunflower seeds to their feed and offer free choice minerals and baking soda to them. We continue to look for ways to improve their health.
About a month after bringing home our first four goats, we purchased another unrelated buckling for breeding to our does. He came from a small homestead where the family really took excellent care of him. He was bottle-fed and has much better manners than the other goats. We chose him because his mother was an excellent milker who had no problems kidding and we really liked his coloring. Our other goats are mainly brown and two are brown and white spotted. We were hoping to get a good variety of colors and markings by adding him to the herd with his mostly black coat. After we brought him home we built two paddocks and separated the does and bucks.
During one of our moving days where we lock the does in their mobile pen and allow the boys to be free in order to move the fence to fresh pasture, Cinnamon's buck, Payer, figured out how to lift the bar that locked their pen closed. He managed to release the does for a goat party in the pasture! James was mowing the perimeter of the new paddock so they could step-in the portable goat fence and wasn't aware that any of this was going on. Thankfully, Josh was able to get James' attention and they caught the girls and put them back in the pen. Payer immediately went and opened the door again while Josh was standing right there! It was pretty comical.
A few weeks ago we noticed that Cinnamon was really looking much healthier and behaving differently. She was much more friendly and warm with us and she wasn't looking thin and dull anymore. I noted that she seemed to be glowing. Ha! We think that she must have been in heat the day of the goat party and Payer impregnated her. She continues to grow bigger and her bag is filling in again. If I remember correctly, her previous owner told us that she always give 3 kids. So, our little herd of five could grow to be a herd of 8 early this fall! We are very excited! Here is a video I took this morning of Cinnamon. What do you think? Do you think she is pregnant?
So now that you've been brought up to date on the major events on the farm, I will share a little about our family.
Job Andrew, our 5th child, was born April 15, 2016. With 4 older siblings loving on him he is spoiled rotten! He toddles and climbs everywhere he can possibly get. The more dangerous the situation, the better. He is giving me gray hair. But he's absolutely adorable. It's really is great to have a baby in the house again.
Baby Job
Job, Gideon, and James, Fall 2016
We have continued to homeschool. James will be entering 4th grade this year, JoyAnna will be a 2nd grader, and Lydia will be a 1st grader. I am so thankful that we can choose our educational focuses. This year is the first year that I will be tailor-making their curriculum and one of the things that we will be focusing on as a family will be Stewardship and Service through home economics, homesteading and handicrafts. They are learning so much caring for the animals and the land that God has entrusted us with. There is math as they figure the proper amount of feed and the dimensions of the paddocks so they can lay out the fencing correctly. There is science as they watch a cicada attached to the side of the goat pen breaking out of its old skin, just like they witnessed this morning! There is reading as they look up the proper way to care for newborn rabbits and what is the best feed for the doe's so they can produce high-quality milk for their young. I could go on and on...
JoyAnna, Lydia, and Tip, Fall 2016
As a family, these past few months have been the most difficult we have ever experienced. My health has been a wild rollercoaster, Josh lost his job, our marriage was on the brink of divorce, we took in a relative who was in need, and the future looked terribly bleak for us. But, by God's grace, through it all He has been teaching us what it really looks like to walk with Him in the darkness, uncertainty, and pain. He has bound up terrible wounds. He has breathed new life into our spirits. And He has given us an amazing hope.
Not a hope that we won't have to sell the farm. Not a hope that we will have a happy, thriving marriage. Not a hope that our children will be healthy and happy and grow into well-adjusted adults who contribute to society and love Jesus with all of their hearts. But a hope that we have Jesus. A hope that He understands our hurts and our needs better than even we do. A hope that when our world seems to be crashing down all around us, He is our fortress, a very present help in time of trouble. That He will work ALL of these things out for our good and His glory because, by His mercy, we love God and have been called according to His purposes. Now that all of the illusions I had created in my life have been stripped away it is easy to see that all along He has been my only hope. Despite trying to put my hope in other things (my husband, my children, the roof that keeps the rain off of my head, the food in the fridge...), the only real hope I ever had was in Christ alone. Now I can sing "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name!" Because Christ is the ONLY solid rock.
The sky is white and the trees are bare. The temperature is a bizarre and humid 70 something degrees Fahrenheit. It has been raining cats and dogs for days,and the wind that blows up the ridge is frightening at times. Every day there are new maple branches to drag away to the brush pile. The creek is high and running fast. Josh and I just hiked down to the pasture to take some measurements so we can estimate our fencing costs. We watched huge trees being effortlessly whisked downstream in the muddy current. The bluff on the opposite side of the creek is playing host to several beautiful waterfalls. You could feel the roar of the rushing water. Incredible. I still can't believe we live here.
The farm name we settled on is Cardinal Ridge. One of the first things we noticed after moving in was the large number of cardinals that flock here every morning and evening. I have never seen cardinals come or go in a flock. In a pair, yes. But we easily have about 2 dozen that regularly come like a flock of starlings and visit our bird feeders and bushes looking for seeds. And since our house sits on a ridge overlooking the pastures and creek, we thought Cardinal Ridge was the perfect farm name. So there it is!
After church yesterday we drove around our former stomping grounds to run errands. The place seemed so foreign to me, like we hadn't lived there for years. It's only been a few months here at our new place but it seems like forever because we have been so busy trying to fix up the old farmhouse and settle into the property. We currently only have one exceptionally outdated and tiny bathroom. There are 3 bedrooms downstairs and 2 almost finished rooms upstairs. When we need to replace the roof in a few years, we want to have new trusses put in so we can raise the height of the upstairs room, install dormers to allow more light and air in, and expand the rooms. If it's possible, I would even like to try to install another bathroom upstairs. (I keep referring to the upstairs as "The Dorms" whenever Josh and I talk about moving the kids up there.) I want to combine two of the bedrooms downstairs into one master suite with our own bathroom and leave the other as an office/guest room with a Murphy bed.
Our farm is almost 70 acres. The homestead sits on about 2 acres on a ridge above the bottom pasture. Beyond the pasture is Johnson Creek, a major water source for the area. It is a large, and in some places, very deep, creek the meanders its way along the boundaries of our property. After a good rain, the creek turns an opaque brown color, sort of like coffee with milk, with strong rapids and our pastures become a shallow swamp in many places. Where the yard tapers down towards the pasture is a wooded hill that would be perfect for pigs. I want to thin out the trees and plant some oaks there so that in the fall we can finish them on acorns. The acorns are high in tannins (the compound in leaves that turns puddles and creeks brown, it gives tea it's color) which not only give the meat a delicious flavor, but also help preserve the meat so that lasts longer.
We have already installed new flooring in most of the living spaces in the house to cover the old asbestos laminate. The dark wood paneling on the walls in the living and dining rooms has been painted a creamy white color to brighten up the space. It makes a huge difference in the feel of the whole house. The basement now houses 51 noisy, smelly guinea keets. They will be 4 weeks old tomorrow. They are supposed to be kept indoors for 8 weeks, but the smell is so offensive and they are so big and feathery that Josh is building 2 movable pens for them so we can keep them outside. At night they will be moved close one of our outbuildings so they can have a heat lamp to keep warm. The goal is to have them moved out by Friday. Once they are allowed out full time their job will be to gobble up ticks and snakes around the farm. We will leave them to reproduce on their own and will coop them up at night to try to maintain a steady population. They are also excellent "watch-dogs" and will sound the alert if anything out of the ordinary is going on or there is a visitor on the property.
We also have 3 Silver Fox rabbits, a buck and two does. When the does have reached their mature weight we will breed them to the buck. The babies will be raised and eaten and their pelts tanned to sell to crafters. Josh is also working on building a movable rabbit pen so that they can be mostly grass-fed. Their manure will be a perfect fertilizer for the lawn and pasture. Right now they live in three separate cages outside in our "barnage", (this is the building beside the house that looks like a barn, but functions like a garage.) While they have very sweet temperaments, they are still skittish so we have been trying to socialize them to help them be more comfortable around us.
An order of chicks will be arriving in the middle of February, bees and beekeeping equipment are scheduled for an April delivery and turkeys will join the menagerie in May, just in time to start fattening them up for Thanksgiving! Josh has been taking orders from his coworkers and friends from church have also expressed an interest in purchasing meat and eggs from our farm.
I realize this all sounds ambitious. When I write it all out like this I find myself thinking, "Woah! What on earth are we doing!?" We have previous experience with keeping rabbits, so that is something we are comfortable with. The birds have been pretty simple, and once they move outside will only get easier. Right now we have to muck out their brooding pen (which is delightful), feed them and water them. When they move outside, we will just need to keep their feeders and waterers full and move their coop to a new location each day. No more bedding to lug in and out of the basement and to change each day and no escaped birds to catch and put back in with the rest of the group.
Josh has been receiving trailers of very sturdy wood which had been previously used to hold the large windows being installed in his company's new headquarters being built in downtown Nashville. It is a LEEDS project, so the window company is giving all of the wood to us for free if we just come pick it up when the trailer is full. They are happy to get rid of it. We have already gotten two and there are at least 6 more to come! The building will be about 15 stories and will have lots of windows. It is this wood that we are building the coops out of, and probably will be able to also use it for fencing.
Once the rabbits are in their movable pen, it will be the same thing. Move them to new pasture, make sure they have water, etc. Now the bees are going to take the most work because we have no idea what we are doing. Our neighbor is the head of the Cheatham County Beekeeping Association and is going to help us get going. James loves stinging insects and has asked our neighbor if he would take him as an apprentice. (Weird, I know. But oh-so-handy if you like honey and food. Without bees, there would be neither!)
Josh has been looking for a tractor so he can work the overgrown pastures and prepare them for livestock. He just hasn't found one that fit our budget and our needs and we really need to get working in the pastures. One idea he is pursuing right now is buying a few goats to rotate through the pastures in order to clear the brush and weeds. After the goats go through, he wants to run some pigs in there to let them dig it all up. Then he can go in and broadcast seed by hand and get something growing there for the chickens and rabbits.
We won't be raising any dairy animals yet, so milking won't be an issue. We also aren't breeding any large livestock yet, so we won't have to deal with any problems associated with laboring animals. When it comes to butchering we have a friend who was a missionary in Africa for several years and has lots of experience butchering goats. Our neighbor used to be an avid hunter and now manages the Research Farm for the University of Tennessee, so between the two of them and YouTube, Josh should be able to manage that just fine. There is a smokehouse in the backyard that we are very eager to try out once we have some fat pigs!
We are in the process of applying for a Tax ID and now that we finally have an internet connection (via satellite, since there are no other options out here!), we are researching how to establish a website.
In the future we hope to build some small cabins on the property and offer them as vacation rentals. We have some nice land for hiking and horse riding trails in the back and could cater to that niche. Josh and I have picked out about 4 or 5 different cabin sites, all out of sight and earshot of each other, with lots of privacy and beautiful views. There is one cabin site Josh found two weeks ago up on a bluff. He didn't realize it was on our property until he went out laying boundary stakes with our neighbor. I haven't seen it yet for myself, but Josh said that it overlooks the creek but is high enough to also give views of the surrounding hills. That is where we would like to build a large family sized cabin. All in due time!
Some fun things that have happened or we have learned since moving here are:
1. Josh promised to buy Lydia her very own zebra to raise. (Don't ask...I still have no idea what he was thinking!)
2. Gideon is terrified of any and all insects. Most especially ladybugs. And ladybugs abound here at Cardinal Ridge. I wish I could have recorded his shrieking when he accidentally stepped on a slug last week. It was incredible.
3. We participated in an auction at a home 1/4 mile away from our farm and won 4 beds for a total of $2! We also won a HUGE working chest freezer for $30, a box of cast iron pans for $15 and a glass punch bowl set for $4. It was SO MUCH FUN! (The 2000+ square foot home, workshop and it's 15 acres on Johnson Creek on only sold for $19,000!)
4. We have gotten to know 4 of the men and women that grew up in this house and have learned some fascinating family history as well as local history. Their grandfather's family was one of the two families who founded Charlotte, TN. Their family owned all of the property on this side of the creek, and another family owned the property on the other side.
5. There used to be several county roads that criss-crossed throughout our property. One of them was the road the original post office sat on, and was also the location of the lynchings that used to happen here way back when. (The lynchings did NOT occur on our property!)
6. There are abnormally large and freakish looking spiders here. They randomly hang down on strands of web from trees and catch on your windshield, or face, whichever happens to come in contact with it first. I've also found that the wolf spiders here can survive an entire wash cycle in a washing machine.
7. Our post office, which is a good 20-25 minutes away, is in the town SQUARE. We actually have a town square! This is where our courthouse is, which is special, because it is the oldest courthouse still in use today in the United States!
Now, I have to try to figure out how to download the pictures off of my camera so I can upload them here and show you our little paradise! Once we get a 2nd bathroom installed, call or email to plan a visit!
We are looking forward to attending the Teach Them Diligently Conference next month. It is on March 19-21 here in Nashville.
Last year Josh and I learned so much about HOW children learn during different stages of development and found so many resources that were so helpful to me. It also helped Josh want to become so much more involved in our homeschool. It has been such an encouragement to the whole family to have Daddy be hands on with our lessons now!
We especially enjoyed sessions by Sonya Schaefer (Charlotte Mason), Mark Hamby (Lamplighter), the Kendrick brothers (Sherwood Films), a few of my favorite bloggers like Amy Roberts (Raising Arrows) and Crystal Paine (Money Saving Mom), as well as speakers from Apologia, Institute for Creation Research, and Answers in Genesis.
Here in Nashville the conference is held at the amazing Gaylord Opryland Hotel. It is absolutely incredible. We like to go there for "nature hikes" when the weather is bad outside.
Yes...indoor nature hikes.
There is even a boat ride.
Inside.
Crazy, I know!
AND...Grandparents get in free too! Take advantage of this, Grandparents!! I think all Christian parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and teachers should try to go once...even if they dont homeschool. It is very inspiring and such a good reminder of WHY we ought to invest so much in the lives of the children we love.
Which sounds like, "Duh! I dont need a conference to tell me that!"
Yes we do!
It is so easy to forget when you are "in the trenches"!
What a busy summer we have had! It has been sort of hectic, but lots of fun too. The kids have been participating in all sorts of free local activities. From gardening classes at a historical farm to evening symphony performances in the park to bird hikes and play time at the mud park. We have been enjoying the myriad of things available to us in Nashville.
JoyAnna in her gardening hat
The Nashville Symphony has a series of free programs that they perform at local parks and we were fortunate to attend two of them. There was something so special about listening to all of those beautiful instruments singing together under the stars. James and JoyAnna were so excited to see how many instruments they could recognize, Lydia loved the lightning bugs that lit up the summer sky, and Gideon just wanted to be snuggled and nursed.
Intensely watching all of the instrumentalists take the stage and warm up
Snuggling
Happy to be at her first Symphony Performance!
We also did things like "Touch A Truck Day", where a local park has all different types of community service vehicles on hand for kids to come and touch, sit in, explore and ask questions about. Each truck had long lines, so we could only pick a few. The ones the kids chose were the Police SWAT team truck, one of those huge mowers they use to bush hog the fields, they sat in a police car and a bucket loader. Once in awhile someone would "touch" the horn button. Wowzers! Was that ever loud!! Giddy was a champ and slept the whole time in the baby carrier.
On our way to "Touch a Truck!"
Lydia in the police car
SWAT!
We visited Old Stone Fort State Park. It sounded intriguing in the Tennessee book we borrowed from the library and we were so excited to go! When we got there we were totally disappointed. It was NOT what we were expecting at all, very hot, and the hiking trail had terrible cliffs dropping off the side of it down into a rocky river gorge. Not ideal for a bunch of little ones. It was so bad Lydia screamed hysterically until I took her off the trail and into a grassy field where we got eaten alive by mosquitoes and burnt by the sun. Ah...good times. But there was so redemption...we got lessons in how to throw an Atlatl!!! SUPER COOL!!
Trying out the Dugout Canoe (that was full of icky rainwater, so they all had to pile to the front!)
James throwing the atlatl
JoyAnna's turn!
Beware of Trail Side Cliff!! Can anyone say Tallulah Gorge?!
SO FAR we haven't had any casualties...but beware!
Gnarly tree I found along the trail!
James and JoyAnna have participated in bug classes, bird classes, wildlife classes, plant classes, and all sort of fun things at Warner Park. Every time we go there are exciting things to see and learn. On one of our recent trips we saw hummingbirds, two new species of bird that we hadn't yet seen, a praying mantis, many stinkbugs, and a monarch butterfly that just hatched and was drying it's wings on a milkweed plant! Warner Park is also our favorite place to hike and play in the mud.
James acting like his favorite bug at the bug class at Warner Park (he's the only one with a hat on)
We also went to see Andrew and Skye Peterson at the Warden and the Wolf King book release. They performed "My Love Has Gone Across the Sea", and it was all that we expected and more! Skye sings like a bird. I'm sure her daddy is proud. James wanted to stick around to meet her, (I think he fell in love as soon as she began to sing!) and we stood in line for a very long time, but we had some diaper shortage issues that forced us to leave our place in line. (I really try, but sometimes I am terrible at keeping a well-stocked diaper bag!)
Fang
So many people showed up for this that we were some of the last people to be able to find any standing room at the back of the bookstore. There were toothy cows, fangs, gargan rockroaches, and even Pete the Sock Man was there!
