Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Gingerbread houses






I can't believe how much time goes between some of my posts without even realizing it! All is well here. It snowed again last night. I spent some time in Florida the week before Thanksgiving with Hubby, who was there on business and I flew for the First time EVER (yes you read that right). I really loved it and we had a great couple of days together as we always do. Last Sat. my daughters had 6 girls over for a gingerbread house making day. We just did it with graham crackers and icing, but the turned out great! Here are some pics. Youngest son and I made one later that evening after all the girls left. What a wonderful time we all had, I had 2 moms helping and I am sure this will be the 1rst annual one.

Friday, November 7, 2008

Baby bunnies





Here are pictures from today. My how they have grown!

Friday, October 24, 2008

Amazing Gadgets

I am sooo amazed at the new Knitty Loom gadget that are coming out! Having our own source of fiber (angora rabbits) and really enjoying spinning right now I am now looking at ways to quickly make things to sell. Although we are still at step 1 with a "shop" and havent sold anything I continue to look for outlets to sell things. I found this cool sock loom that makes "just like hand knitted socks" that look store bought!! Go here http://www.decoraccentsinc.com/ if you havent seen these yet. They also have a blog that you can see these things in action!

Angora Rabbit Babies

Here are our babies, I will have to take new pictures, because they have already grown and changed again. These are for sale.








Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Mint Farm in Trouble

This is so sad to me and it helps me realize that this type of thing is happening all the time today and now it is close to home. A local mint farm (the largest in the U.S.) is less than a mile from us. The fields are all around us and bring wonderful smells to the air every August. I always look forward to harvesting time because this is one farm smell that is soooo awsome! Well now this farm is being forclosed on and are in need of selling off mint oil stock by Nov. 1 to save this farm. I can't believe our community would let this happen we have a whole 3 day long celebration every August "The Mint Festival" that revolves around this farm. I will be purchasing some off the oil and I know there are alot of people out there who would use some (making soaps or other great things you can do with it). Go here www.getmint.com to see the farm and if you feel led place an order. It really is not expensive at all and has lots of great uses. There is also a youtube video at the bottom you can watch and see the owner tell about the farm. We need to stick together and help these places out.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Check out the angora babies

If you want to see pictures of the babies check out my other blog site. www.tailspinyarn.blogspot.com

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Another giveaway

Here is another giveaway on this blog: http://eclecticculturefarm.blogspot.com/

Bloggy Give away

Dalyn at Muckboots N aprons is doing a giveaway on her blog. Go check it out here:http://muckbootsnaprons.blogspot.com/2008/10/bloggy-giveaways.html

Monday, October 13, 2008

Happenings

I just got back from taking our youngest daughter to horseback riding lessons. She is in horse heaven right now and soooo much enjoyed it. She did a week long camp at an equestrian center that is only 3 miles from us this summer, and we decided to let her do every other week lessons (money is an issue as lessons are quite expensive) but she is sooo thrilled. I will remember the camera at her next lesson so I can post some pictures. I really like this place because not only do the kids ride for close to an hour they also have to put the horses away, take off all the tack and put that away, and brush the horses AND clean out the stall of the horse they rode, real life stuff. On the animal front here, the baby angoras are doing great so far, they will be a week old on Wed. we are helping mama feed them as rabbits can be finicky about feeding them and she was, so we bring her in the house every day around 2 and feed them all. I will post pictures of them later this week. Our "mama" hen surprised us with a fall batch of 5 chicks out in the barn so even though fall is around the corner things are blooming here.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Babies




Little did we know last night that we would already have babies this morning! Koko had her babies during the night and when I went out to the barn early this morning I found all 7 of them doing well. We are hoping for the best after losing our first batch of babies this summer. I am a little wiser and found some tips that will hopefully help keep this batch alive.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

My Chicken Tractor







My Father-in-law is the Best!!!! He retired a couple of years back and picked up woodworking projects as a hobby. He does alot of neat little projects to sell here and there, and some cool corn toss games for the outdoors. Well a couple of weeks back hubby told him if he wanted a great idea for me for a Christmas present that I would love a chicken tractor. Now if you have no idea what I am talking about, (no I haven't been hanging out too long with the chickens and lost it!) basically it is a chicken coop on wheels so you can have free rangers in the yard and they are safe and you can find the eggs they are laying. Well tonight my Christmas present rolled into our yard unexpectantly!!!!! We are so excited. He did an awsome job and we wasted no time rounding up some girls to get in there. In the pictures you will notice the "Nee's girls" on back of the barn, that's my nickname. Thanks Dad Mc, I love it!!! Well we finally got our 11 turkeys butchered this past Sat. with Grandma Joyces help. Here are the before pictures:(I'll spare you the after!) and also the kids are mad cuz all the animals are on the blog and they're not!!! Sorry guys! Here they are working dilligently! Life is good! Oh! also one of my angoras is due to have babies any time this week!


Thursday, September 18, 2008

The best laid plans


What is that old saying about best laid plans?
Well I didn't do so well. I had every intention of working on my blog this summer and trying to learn more about it, well summer has come and gone and I haven't posted since May! Just not my season for this I guess. All is well here. Hubby and 2nd oldest are on a business trip to Pennsylvania this week. They are getting home today. We are so fortunate to homeschool so he can take a kid with him on a "field trip" and have some company while he works. Hubby is a chemist so this is also a science lesson for my son who was traveling with him. School is going well. We had a little bit of a bumpy start, but we had just returned from our week in the U.P. on the St. Mary's River and we all wanted to stay this year. Hubby and I are in the process of looking at "stuff" more seriously and how we do things. Its a long story but we know that some of the things we have always just done have become less than joyful and we both have been moved to change things. All is well with the animal part of the farm. We have turkeys to be butched next week. The rabbits are all good and kicking out the fur so much that with school starting I have boxes of it sitting right now:) I am trying to talk hubby into a chicken tractor next year so we can have some more "free rangers" than we do now, so I will also be able to find their eggs (little devils they are) The picture above is of our "puppy" Ardee, as you can see he is very, very large and just as spoiled! He is a hoot though. I never understood people not liking dogs (nice ones) they have such personalities especially him. Well I need to get the rest of my day started. I hope to do more posting but only time will tell!

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Too long!

It has been crazy around here lately! I still have a ton of pictures I want to get on here and redo the blog some now that school is done for us and I have more time, but it will have to wait for now! We have had a TON going on and it started a couple of weeks ago. Second son broke his foot jumping on the trampoline and was looking at possible surgery. Right now it looks ok but we are still in waiting mode to see. Then a couple of weeks later my 89 year Grandma passed away suddenly. ( I say suddenly because she could still beat me in a foot race and play cards until all hours of the morning with Hubby and I:)) Then last Friday night we got slammed with a HUGE storm (it was originally thought to be a tornado that went through but now they are calling it "Straight line winds" over 75mph)We have damage to the house (minor compared to the other houses I've seen around here), lost a few trees, the above trampoline is destroyed and hubby's truck took a beating. So we are still without power, they are saying 11:00 pm tomorrow. So in the mean time I stole the generator from the freezer to get on-line and check things out:) We had our first batch of angora babies born yesterday only 1 of the 3 survived. I think mama had a hard time being its here first batch and all the craziness going on around here not to mention the 90+ temperatures. So we will try again and hope we have the one still make it. The kids are staying at Grandpas and Grandmas because all you "hicks" know when the power is out in the country NO WATER WHICH MEANS NO POTTY and with 5 kids that doesnt work real well! I am getting them today because I Miss them sooooo much and we will make do until tomorrow if I have to get water for the toilet from the drainage ditch! My oldest son had his piano recital last night and did ABSOULUTELY AMAZING!!!! God has given him an amazing gift. He plays right from his toes and I almost started crying it was so moving. Hubby and I were both so proud (still not sure where the music talent comes from though). Well I need to get my freezer plug back in! I will hopefully have more on next week and more regularly.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Simple Devotions

I decided to participate with Peggy in her simple devotions because it spoke right to my heart today. I am finding myself waking up these mornings "dreading" my day and all that I have to accomplish. Her posting hit the nail on the head for me. It is funny how you know all of this in your heart, but until it is presented to you it just feels like confusion and lack of dilligence in your mind. Thank you Peggy for putting things into perspective for me today!!! Right now I have fear, unrest and unforgiveness in my heart and I know I need to give it all to God! Things otherwise are blooming here on the "farm" The chickens and turkeys are growing, we are hoping to have baby angoras within the next month and the kids seem to grow taller from one day to the next (especially my oldest!). I am thankful for it all.

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Down on the farm






We have alot going on around here!!! I am posting pictures of all the work hubby did. There is also a picture of our FIRST INCUBATED CHICK!! Hubby got me an incubator for Christmas (okay I'm weird) and so we put 9 eggs in 21 days ago and the first one hatched this afternoon. Now we think there is another cheeping inside one of the other eggs. Only time will tell!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Table Setting?!?!?!?!?!?




Now let me start by saying this is NOT a normal occurrence in our house! Yes, we keep chickens and turkeys in the dinning room and yes I have eggs incubating in there now too, but, we don't let our animals hang out on the table. I am planning on taking pictures of all the work Hubby has done on the farm the past couple weeks and get them posted later.

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Ardee

My youngest son found our "girl dogs" shirt that a neighbor made for HER, I don't know if you can tell but it is purple with pink dots! So poor Ardee has it on this morning. Hopefully he won't get a complex over this one! The chickens are growing and doing good, but here in Michigan we are still fighting cold, frost and yes we had snow on the ground last week, so the chickens are still in my dinning room until it warms up a little. I feel bad because we had a touch of warm on Sunday and I moved them outside to a little area that we have for our babies, but it got really cold fast by afternoon and I lost 2. Usually by now it is warm out but that is Michigan weather for ya! Gotta love it.

Poor Ardee

Ardee

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Funny Farm

Funny Farm

The farm has grown in the last week! My hubby went to a taxidermy trade show in Grand Rapids last week and he bought a puppy!!! His name is Artie and he is a beautiful Golden Lab. We already have a black lab, so we are hoping for puppies in a couple of years! We also got our chickens and turkeys for the year. So if you walked into my dining room/schoolroom/animal nursery this is what you find! Puppy kennel on one side and boxes of birds on the other! LOL Needless to say we aren't doing much "dining" in here right now!!

Monday, March 10, 2008

Angora Hats

I am so excited! Check out the pictures below. We raise angora rabbits and hope to increase their numbers this spring/summer for the purpose of spinning their fiber. I got a spinning wheel for Christmas last year and with only having 6 rabbits and not a ton of time right now I haven't spun a ton of yarn. This weekend I was able to take my daughters knitting loom (thank you Bekah :))and make a hat out of 100% angora yarn. The color of the yarn is the color of three of our bunnies mixed together. Angora is warmer than wool and being in Michigan right now, we need all the warmth we can get. The rabbit is my sons rabbit, Matthiais, the second one is my tools, and the third one is my second oldest, Cameron who was the reciepient of the gift!(He hasn't taken it off since last night!!) Now if I could just get my slideshow to work on my sidebar I will be all set.

Angora hats

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

I have been Tagged

I've been tagged by Dalyn at http://www.muckbootsnaprons.blogspot.com/


Here are the rules:



1. Link to the person that tagged you.



2. Post the rules on your blog.



3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself.



4. Tag five random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.



5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.



Here are the randomnon-important facts about me: *U*

1. My husband and I have all the Star Trek Next Generation and Deep Space Nine seasons on dvd (yes there are 7 seasons of each) and almost every night we crawl into bed and watch an episode or two. We have been through Next Gen twice

2. I love bubble gum, I have since I was a kid and will probably die at 90 with a piece of gum in my mouth.

3. I have both Frontier House and Pioneer Quest on video and have watched them many(many, many) times over. (I am secretly a prarie girl:)

4. I have NEVER flown in an airplane and may never.

5. We have chickens and angora rabbits and I love (most days) going out and doing the chores, yes, even cleaning the coop.

6. I have learned how to spin angora fur(wool) on my spinning wheel and am completly obsessed. (NO, we don't butcher the rabbits for their fur:)

I am new at this blog stuff so here are 4 others that I read quite often

http://faithacrefarm.blogspot.com/


http://homespunliving.blogspot.com/

http://thesparrowsnest.typepad.com/

www.cracklingpinefarm.bravenet.com

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Organic and Natural foods

I watched the yahoo video on the beef recall in California and it horrified me. It is so sad to watch and very scary. Dalyn at muckbootsnaprons.blogspot.com has a really good post on this with information on how to find good foods in your area. We are in the process right now of joining a cow share program in our area. We are fortunate enough to have one about 15 minutes away from our house (and it is about 2 minutes from grandmas and grandpas house). I think we should all step back and really look at the things that will really make a difference in the long run.

Friday, January 4, 2008

Motherhood

I am going out on a limb here and be a little bold in this post. I am sadden by many things around me right now but the one that touches my heart most is the selfishness in mothers. We watch very little t.v. outside of videos and in all honesty I don't even keep up with the news anymore. I know I should be on top of current events and things happening in the world but I don't. Take this morning for example; I got up early to work on my new spinning wheel (thank you Hubby), I decided to turn on t.v. while I worked, and catch the news on one of the morning shows. In the 1/2 hour to 45 minutes that I watched guess what was the biggest news in our nation? Britney Spears!!!! Our main focus these days are the celebrities and what they have done. I was amazed at how much of the morning news revolved around her situation. The other story that was big news this morning was the 6 year old girl that with the help of her mom wrote an essay to win tickets to a Hannah Montana show and she lied that her father had be killed in Iraq. He hadn't and they took the tickets away when this was found out.(remember her MOM helped with the essay) What are we teaching our children? A couple of nights ago we finished a movie and a "nanny" show happened to be on. I admit, I couldn't turn it off. This was a "homeschool" family with 5 children and I use that term loosely. The 2 oldest girls were 17 and around 14 and then 3 young boys under 6. Mom and dad both worked guess who babysat? You guessed it, the girls. The episode showed them and what one of their days was like, I was heartbroken for these girls. They were enrolled in a on-line school, but besides that they were the boys "mom" for a majority of the day (Mom didn't get home until almost 7 that night). If I understood it right the girls contacted the show for help, not the parents. When mom was home she seemed to have very little desire to do what she needed to do. Why? I don't understand the complete lack of wanting the best for your children, even just a little bit. I know I don't know the whole situation in any of these families. But if they are willing to let everyone in the world in on it, then I can have an opinion of how wrong this is.