Buildings Continue

Here at "Lily Spring Garden and Farm" there is always some building or structure being assembled.  The latest and truly greatest construction project was a chick house for our in-between laying hens that need a home before they integrate with our main flock.

So, while we just go and throw up goat sheds with press boards and practically no supports, for some reason this structure which was meant for little fluffy chicks, was built.  And I mean BUILT.  

Solid plywood floor, walls with studs every two feet, this thing is solid!

These chickies better appreciate all the hard work we're doing for them.  :)

Finally after much planning and labor, the four very solid walls were put up, and it was simply waiting for it's substantial roof.

Here it is in all it's brightly painted glory!  Barn red with white trim to match our other chicken coop.

One of the fluffy and hopefully grateful occupants.

So that is the story of our latest project, I am sure there will be more to come, and now just in case we have a tornado we know where we will be going!  (okay that might be a slight exaggeration, but it sure is solidly built!)

~Chs

Softball Season

That time of year has come where once or twice a week we hurry through our dinner, pile in the vehicle, and go watch our men play softball.

Josh is a very talented left fielder, rarely missing anything. 

 And is also not too bad with a bat, if I do say so myself! :)

 Dad might be the one of the oldest players on the team, but that doesn't mean he can't hit or run!  He usually plays catcher (though he says his knees are starting to complain about that:) but somehow I didn't manage to get a picture of him behind the plate.  He has also had to pitch a game or two and has done a good job.

 Sadie loves "softball season" and enjoys watching the game, giving kisses to anyone brave enough to come near her, and eating any flower you make the mistake of holding to close to her nose.

 We are always delighted when we get to sit in the shade (except for one of the first games where it got down right chilly) especially the last one when it was reaching for 90!!

 The little people are Sadie's biggest fans. I think they watched her more than they did the game.

 When the game isn't going the way you want it to, there are always flowers and berries to discover along the edge of the field. 

 Sometimes other puppies come to watch the game to.

 One of the Ladies always brings snacks for us devoted fans.  Sugar snap peas anyone?

 I believe she is the favorite person on the entire stand.

 "Father and Son"

 Our faithful and excellent pitcher. 

The season is about half way through and right now we have 5 wins 3 losses.  Not bad at all!  (oh and just to let you know the times they lost were the ones when Mom, Faith and I weren't able to be there to cheer them on :)

~Chs

Strawberries!!!

 God has blessed us incredibly this year with our garden and produce.  The first item to come piling in was our strawberries.  To date we have picked 96 and a half quarts of Strawberries.  Uhuh.  And our backs know it.  The patch is pretty much done, but we are hoping, oh so tentatively hoping that we can squeak out 100 quarts before the season hangs up the CLOSED sign.

So what have we done with our basket-fulls of strawberries that we plucked every other day?  Well, first we froze them, only allowing ourselves a few for eating, because you see these aren't just any Strawberries, these are our very own no-chemicals-at-all-Organic-in-everything-but-certification-Strawberries.  Charity for the past year has been buying frozen organic strawberries at the store. Tiny dinky little 12 oz bags of frozen Strawberries for overly exorbitant prices.  So our goal was to be able to freeze enough of our own that she would not have to buy any.  Well as usual God provided beyond what we could ask or think, and we had the 30 pounds Charity needed, by the 5th picking.

 Of course we didn't freeze every single berry we picked, because Strawberries make such a lovely after-ball-game dessert when there piled on a graham cracker and topped with whipped cream.

 We have now picked 10 times; our peak was 19 quarts from one batch, and we had two pickings of 17 quarts.

 I have almost decide that I am going to become a biologist/inventor, and create climbing strawberries.  Leaning over and picking for 2 hours (and yes it did take all of 2 hours if not more to pick them each time, not to mention the other 2 hours it took to sort and hull them ;) does a number to your back.

 Strawberries are so versatile, so after the next softball game, they were sliced and served over homemade vanilla ice cream drizzled with chocolate syrup.

 After getting all Charity needed frozen, we discovered that Strawberries also make great gifts.

 Especially when packed into miniature clay pots and set in a ribbon bedecked basket.

 As the Strawberries kept coming in we used them in muffins,

 for Fathers day in the shape of a Strawberry Glace pie,

 and we turned them into jam.  This was beyond blessing, because we were sincerely expecting and planning on going picking at our local strawberry farm to get enough to make jam.  We didn't even dream we would have enough of our own for that!

 Of course some of them (okay lots of them) were eaten just the way God made them.  In fact if Faith and I had been banned from picking we might have had a 100 quarts by now (somehow Mumsie has the self control not to eat any while picking! ) I am sure I have eaten at least a couple quarts by now just by myself. :P

 Faith found yet another way to package and serve the berries one evening with this absolutely delicious Angel Food cake.

Believe me, it tasted just as good as it looks (on second thought maybe even better :) and this was just a practice cake for our ladies luncheon we were planning, but you will have to hear about that later.

God's abundant provision is absolutely amazing, and I don't think anyone see it more than the workers of the ground, which is why I am so thankful that we have the opportunity to have a garden and animals.  We see the hand of God here on our mini farm everyday multiple times.
~Chs

"The Kiss of the sun for pardon,
the song of the birds for mirth,
one is nearer God's heart in a garden,
than anywhere else on earth."

To the Village and Back.

Ever since Faith and I first visited Crossroads village 4 years ago, we had the wish to go as a family.  This was accomplished last fall and, since then, Josiah, Faith and I have been dreaming of getting a year pass, and going as often as we want this summer.  

So, that is exactly what we did and we decided that Mr. Reiche could use a pass too!!  So a couple of Fridays ago, the four musketeers (Mr. Reiche, Faith, Josiah and I) headed out on an adventure.  Well, actually taking Mr. Reiche was part of a surprise for his birthday so he didn't know our destination until right before we arrived!

One of Mr. Reiche's "guesses" as to where we were headed was to the airport to take a ride in a B-17 Bomber.  We all though it was just a funny guess of course so imagine our surprise and absolute delight, when we arrived at the village, and the rumble of a plane made us look at up the sky and discover a B-17 flying over!!!!!!!!!  God is so amazing when it comes to details. We still can't quite get over how incredible it was.

After picking ourselves off the ground from the shock of seeing the "flying fortress" (alright, well not literally ;)  we attempted to make our way into the village.  But, low and behold, the innocent looking day that we had picked for our travels just happened to also be the day that 100's (truly) of little children and their families decided to come!  Part of a preschool program, I think.  Thankfully, it did not really hurt our enjoyment of the village, but rather made for some pretty adorable photo options.  :P

We quickly walked through downtown looking at the day's schedule and trying to decide how much we could fit in before our train departed.

Our first stop was the bank where we examined all the interesting coins and tried (mostly in vain) to decipher

 the postcards that were hung on the wall.

Upon leaving the bank, we stood at the bottom of the stairs to the Dentist trying to call up the courage to go up and get our teeth pulled ;)

Thankfully, the door to the practicing room was shut so we just peered in at the formidable instruments and decided to leave the tooth extraction for another day.

A quick step into the printing shop showed that the printer was not in, so we strolled across the street and slipped into the barber shop.

The barber was a very chatty and amusing fellow and informed us that back in the day ladies would NEVER have entered the barber shop!!

Partly due to the led-lined, wood-trimmed bath tub located in the back.

We now only had a short amount of time before the departure of our train, so we went out the back door of the barber shop, cut across the lawns, and made our way to the Atlas Mill to watch our flour being ground.

The sound was deafening, but it was intriguing to watch, especially the separation process.  The mill operator would take the crushed wheat and put it through a processor which emptied into 3 different metal buckets.  After much shaking and agitating, it would come out into one bucket the flour the next coarse flour/wheat germ, the third cracked wheat.  After watching this, we quickly made an exit down the back steps to the basement where the racket was quite as loud, but different in its tone.  This noise was caused by the water wheel and all the different gears and mechanisms which turned the grind stone upstairs.

After surveying the wooden channel which transported the water to the wheel, we made a quick stop at the fence where the rail tracks went by...

To take some photos ;)

The train was due in 20 minutes so we darted towards the station only allowing ourselves a peek in the houses we passed by. 

We managed to pack down a delicious lunch of Scotch eggs, cheese, rice crackers, garden picked green onions and radishes, topped off by fresh strawberries and substantial sized cookies before the train, bells whistle and all, pulled into the station.

The above picture goes to prove that all the children milling around might not have been an entirely bad thing, especially when you have a camera ;)

We quickly filed onto the train this time opting for the back open coach, instead of the antique closed cars, and were we rewarded with finding enough seats for each of us to be near the "window".

"All Aboard!!!"  bellowed the conductor, then with a puff or two and clanging of bells we were off.

The day had turned out to be a warm one, but in the train as we went at a goodly speed through the shady woods it was very pleasant.

We learned many interesting facts while on the train, for example:  Have you ever wondered what the phrase "on the ball" means?  Well, it actually has railroad origins. You see back in the late 1800's there was a horrible fatal accident between two passenger trains and after some investigation it was discovered that the reason for the crash was that the conductors watches were not in sync.  So, the train company ordered all their conductors to get their watches from the Ball Company in Chicago which was known for its accurate time; from then on all the conductors were told to be "on the ball"!! 

'Ridin on the Train'

Driving through town.

All the little children waved and waved at all the cars and their occupants.

Before long we were crossing back through town,

and then we made the large loop before making a halt at the station and disembarking.

As soon as we could, we collected our belongings and headed off to see how much of the village we could peruse before having to leave for home.

We traipsed through Dr. J. E. Barbour's garden and admired all his herbs, including the lavender.

Then examined an old tombstone that was randomly leaning against a fence.

We had to visit the animal section of the village, but unfortunately because it was so early in the year, the only livestock currently residing there were the chickens, and a few bunnies.

Faith and I were nearly matching for the day.

Can you tell who's who? :)

We were very pleased that the resident musician, Neil Woodward, was in town.  We stopped to listen to a delightful tune, which he played on his penny whistle, before hurrying on towards the back of the village where the rides where located.

We opted out of the Carousel for that day and headed straight towards our favorite structure in the area.

The Superior Wheel.

Now, it might just look like any other small sized Ferris Wheel, but that is far from the case.  For one thing this is a Superior Wheel, not a Ferris Wheel, and though it might be small, it is fast!!! 

Whirly Swirly, almost dizzying fast!!  So much fun, especially when you go over the top and nearly lose your stomach as you drop over the lake.

It was a wonderful day and God provided us with weather that was just about right.

So, our first adventure this summer as "the four musketeers" was a great success and we cannot wait to visit the village again.

~Chs