Making the Best of It!

When the weather outside is frightful, and there is no fire inside that is delightful, and outside is covered with snow..... Instead of sitting around and complaining, make the best of it! 

We have been scraping the deck off as much as possible, and since we have run out of places to dump it, have, rather on accident, made a sledding hill.  It has been there off and on during the winter, and we have quite ignored it... being rather tired of winter and snow and all.

But one afternoon we decided to take advantage of the sledding hill, and make the best of it!

Our Mountain out front is shrinking now; at it's peak it was taller than Josiah!!

This past week we took a journey over to Port Huron, to see the ice on the lake while it is still there.  We stopped at Aunt Myrt's house to help her with a few things and have a delightful lunch with her, before meeting Aunt Carmen at Lighthouse park right where the river flows out of the lake.

It was an immense expanse of white grandeur.

We climbed out a little on to the icy piles, but some of the "adults" were a little nervous about us falling into pitfalls and such, so we came back to shore and surveyed the landscape from its safety.

The wind was rather cutting out there by the lake and after a good long look about, we trudged back to our vehicles and headed down river to see if there was any more ice to see.  There wasn't... but there were ducks!!

And they were adorable!

It was a lovely day, and we did enjoy the beauty despite of the cold, and have decided as long as this winter lasts to make the best of it!

~Chs

Josiah's "Cattle"

This is one of Josiah's many (close to a dozen) "cattle" that feed at the "compost" pile out back. :) 

{Taming our wildlife}

Wednesday Wisdom

The Man with the Hoe

For centuries the waves of greed and fierce ambition

Have beat, and broke about him,

Engulfing countless millions of his fellow men;

Yet, steadfast and serene amid the howling storm he stands.

He stands

And leans upon his hoe.

Contentment shining in his ruddy face,
The marks of intellect upon his brow,
A living monument to truth and honesty,
At peace with God and all mankind.

And as he leans, he reads
In tender plant and ripening grain;
In mountain and in valley,
In sunshine and in shower,
The wondrous story of creation:
Within his heart, a promise and a prayer.

"What," indeed, "to him is Plato?"
Who revels daily in the grandest work of all-
The glorious book of nature,
Written by the hand of God.
"And what to him the reaches of the peaks of song?"
He has heard the soughing breeze
Make melody among the swaying boughs;
He has listened to the song of rippling brook,
The chorus of the forest choirs has charmed his ear.
But, sweetest, softest, tenderest of all,
A symphony of heaven-
He has heard his baby's joyous coo.

"Slave to the wheel of labor?"
God gave him labor that he might have rest;
Hate, that he might know love;
Winter, that he might see the beauties of the spring.
God gave him life, but lest he tire, he sends him gentle death.
He lives and moves, and reigns a King,
And in yon vine-clad cottage sits enthroned
His royal consort and his queen.

This "is the thing God made, and gave
To have dominion over land and sea."

And he who breathes foul anarchy upon that brain
To wither it;
Who plants the germ of envy in that heart
To blacken it;
Who fans the flame of discontent
"Into a fierce and roaring sea of flame
Till earth is strewn with wrecks of homes
And whirlwinds of rebellion shake the world-"
How will the future reckon with that man
After the silence of a century?
                                      -American Agriculturist.

-John Baer's Agricultural Almanac - 1901

Monday Meditations: Be Still My Soul

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on they side;

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;

Leave to thy God to order and provide;

In every change he faithful will remain.

Be still, my soul; thy best, thy heavenly Friend

Thru thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

  Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake

To guide the future as he has the past.

Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;

All now mysterious shall be bright at last.

Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know 

His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.

Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,

And all is darkened in the vale of tears, 

Then shalt thou better know his love, his heart,

Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.

Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay 

From his own fullness all he takes away.

Be still, my soul: the hour is hast'ning on

When we shall be forever with the Lord,

When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,

Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.

Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past, 

All safe and blessed we shall beet at last.

Amen.

Here on the Farm

I have just recently realized that I have failed to mention some of the more mundane, everyday parts of life here on this farm on the blog.  So I have decided to introduce you to our flock of chickens.... our THREE flocks of chickens.

First there is "the big coop". This is our original coop, the one that was here when we bought the house, and as for the chickens, this would be our multi breed mixed flock.

We have everything from, Orpingtons (both Buff and White), Australorps (the black chicken in front), Easter Eggers, Silver-laced Wyandottes, plus a few Partridge Rocks, some Silver Giants and a Black Star.

And the names they have are fascinating as well. There's Amelia Earhart, Brigitta, Ophelia, Cheep-cheep, and then there's Sissy, Sassy, and Sunny, and Flossy and Bossy.  Not to mention Gertrude, Winona, Opal, and Matilda.  And that's not all of them. :)

All these (and more) charming ladies are headed up by our magnificent Buff Rooster, Meriwether Lewis!

Then there is the back coop, which is technically the "Rock" coop. (Not as in the music, as in the breed of chicken ;) ) 

Here dear Sphinx, one of our original chickens, resides along with some Blue Rocks.

The Rooster here is William Bradford.  (hmmm.. I guess we like historical names for our roosters huh?)

Bradford rules over a small group of 4 ladies, including Sphinx.

The other 3 are Midnight, Blue Moon, and Brooke.

The last of the coops (the little coop) hold the "frenchies" and a couple friends.

90% of the chickens in this coop are French Copper Marans, so we had fun naming them.  Marguerite, Clairette, Babette, Cosette.....

And for the rooster...

Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de Lafayette, or Marquis de Lafayette, or really for short, just Lafayette. :)

So, yes we definitely have fun naming our animals (and I didn't even begin on the ducks!!). How about all of you?  Any fun/interesting names of your pets or farm animals?

~Chs

In Honor of Washington

Our dear Martha Washington geranium has been around for years, and normally blooms in January in the house.   But this year we thought that dear Martha was done, January came and passed and no blooms were to be found.  But sure enough just this past week a cluster of buds were spotted on the end of a branch, and today just in time for Mr. Washington's birthday, Martha Washington bloomed.

"True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand shocks of adversity, before it is entitled to that appellation."

~George Washington

~Chs

Also in remembrance of our precious never-to-be-forgotten Grandma Burke, who passed away last year.  She shared her birthday with George Washington.

A Fresh Coat

 Our house is currently "on the market" and this is some more of the behind story of how it got there.

{the ghostly kitchen}

Our kitchen ceiling was in desperate need of a coat of paint. 

In fact you could write a story based on our kitchen ceiling.  There was the spot ("s", there are multiple ones) where someone forgot to put the lid on the blender before flipping the switch, then there is the notorious apple sauce, which boils like a volcanic marsh.  Oh, and all that funny smeary stuff over in the dining room, yeah... that would be when a certain someone was running across the kitchen with a jar of shortening and lost her grip, resulting in the jar hitting the ground and a fountain of grease shooting up onto the ceiling.  And of course all the spots where various insects were executed and smeared about. Yup.. lots of stories.

So "the boys" attacked it one morning, and now it is a beautiful clean white... for the moment. :)

Another project was our girl's room.  We had decided to attempt to paint it without removing the furniture - just shove everything to one side of the room, paint, shove back, and paint the other side.

We were told to choose a neutral color, so "lilting laughter" was our selection. A nondescript creamy peachy paint.

While Faith was painting our bedroom, we were spread out around the rest of the house doing touch-ups. 

Of course we discovered after a few tries that the paint we had bought for moldings was a different color then what the people before us had used. Making just "touch ups" impossible. Just a little bit frustrating.

So now our house is in tip top shape (at least as much as it can be) and with it's fresh coat is ready for anyone who would like to come look at it!

~Chs

On Our Knees in Wonder

  

"They say that every snowflake is different. If that were true, how could the world go on? How could we ever get up off our knees? How could we recover from the wonder of it?" - Jeanette Winterson

~Chs

Beauty

We live in a truly beautiful world designed by our beautiful Heavenly Father, and I think we would all benefit by stopping every-once and a while and noticing and appreciating that beauty, even in the mundane.

{Cohesion of water molecules, that creates droplets of water like on this Primrose... truly beautiful.}

{Roots which nurture the plants above them, really are in and of themselves strikingly beautiful.}

{Color, in flowers and fruit smoothies...}

{Winter, which with it's austere beauty only makes a sunset more breathtaking}

~Chs

Sadie Rose and Patch the Pooh Bear

Once upon a time there was a little black dog named Sadie Rose, who had adopted a little, old, forgotten, stuffed animal Pooh Bear as her very own.  Sadie LOVED her Pooh oh so much.  Whenever she was allowed to come inside she would run and find her Pooh. She played with Pooh, took naps with Pooh, and gave kisses to Pooh.  But as with the Velveteen Rabbit, "Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."   

So it was with Pooh Bear.  Sadie's love is very zealous and a bit violent at times, and eventually he lost one of his eyes, and a little stuffing.  But Pooh didn't give up so easily, he was quickly whisked off to the medical surgery, and in no time at all was back, with just a fancy a patch to testify of the accident.

~Chs

P.S I also just realized that this was the 1500th post on this blog!!!! :)

Moving Onward and Upwards!

We have an odd tradition in our family.  One that we didn't really create or lay down, but one that has been strangely consistent throughout the years.  For some reason, we have as a family never stayed in one house more than 7 years.  That's right, sometimes less but usually around every 6-7 years we pack 'em up and move 'em out. I guess you could say we are wanderers of sorts, that we get restless, at least you could say that if you just looked at our moving record and not at the reasons behind each move.  The reasons have ranged everywhere from: we no longer fit in a house, needing a larger home to take in our Grandpa, moving nearer to the church we were attending, to the last and current reason, wanting to use the talents, and desires God has given us by working the land, and providing for our family.  In other words... we need more land!

So after much prayer and debate, we finally had the nerve to list our house on the market.  We are very grateful to be able to have a good friend of Faith and mine, Jan Nierzwick (who we met and work with at Banbury Cross) as our Realtor.  You can find our listing here.  Please feel free to share with friends and pass along the news!

Of course, we realized just how much fix up there was in our house before we wanted someone to look at it.  Thankfully nothing major, just a few touch ups painting wise. 

We are also planning on giving our girl's room a complete new and different coat of paint.  It's only a shame we have lived with that striking pink for 7 years only to change it right when we are leaving. ;)  I will be sure to post before and after pictures of the room once it is finished! 

 We are trying not to get our hopes up, because in our experience it can take a while to sell a house (a few years last time).  But Jan has assured us that the market is very much in favor of selling, so we are simply trusting that God knows the perfect timing, and has the exact place He wants us to go to on the other end.  Exciting, a little scary, but also relieving knowing that we don't have to worry about it; He holds it all in His hand.

~Chs