What are you, Chicken?

So...beyond Gavin learning to ride a two-wheeler and Ivy learning to cruise on the Strider bike, Some other cool progressions have been shaping up around here. I've started playing music in a "band" again, actually it's more like a quartet (and and occasionally a sextet)....My friend Andy, his wife, Maureen, Chrissy, and I have established this little bluegrass collective that we call The Grape Pickers. Gavin will sometimes break out his collection of harmonicas and rip a few notes while Ivy goes crazy with a shaker or tambourine (that's the sextet). We have 1 legit gig so far, in late August. More to come on that as it gets closer. In other news...this year, we will be drip irrigating our gardens from collected rainwater, something we've been talking about for a few seasons. Additionally, garden-wise, we are expanding our gardens a bit and starting an informal gardening co-op with two families and a young man from church. We've always harvested more than we use, and have given away bushels of produce to friends, family, and causes. We'll still be able to do that, while adding to it the pleasure of getting to garden along-side some our dearest friends as we work together to bring forth a harvest. This also is something that has been in my head and heart for some time, it was just never the Lord's timing for it...until now.

Now, all of that is big news (at least for us)...but the biggest (and cutest) news of all is that we are now raising chickens!! We got ourselves a nice little collection of Rhode Island Red hens who will be giving us delicious, home-grown, eggs by late Summer. We are so excited about this. Right now they are 1 week old chicks living in a brooder in our home school room.

A quick story about that:

I knew the chicks would be arriving soon, so last week, I picked up all the equipment that I would need: pine shavings, feed and feeder, water fount, heat lamp, thermometer...all I had left to buy was the actual container for the brooder. Now...people use all kinds of home made contraptions as a brooder: kiddie pools, cardboard boxes, Rubbermaid totes...I guess that would be pretty cost effective but...I wanted something that looked kind of slick and "farmy"...I decided to use a galvanized stock tank...the setup looked like this:



Notice at the feeder is Gavin's wind up toy chick....hey, we wanted a visual here...just until the real peepers arrived. 2 days later, our girls were home and now our brooder looked like this:





Pretty much the cutest things in the universe, right?



We got to naming a few of them: Chatty Baby, Little Jerry, Pickle, Marilyn 1, Marilyn 2...i think that's as far as we got. We spent the first few days down there just about all the time. Gavin got really good at handling them. I've read that if your chicks are consistently and lovingly handled early on that they will be more docile as they grow up. Not sure if that's true but...we'll find out, I guess. So after 2 days, we noticed some things. First, baby chicks grow FAST. I mean, these things nearly doubled in size in 48 hours. Second, their wing feathers were starting to come in:



It's unreal watching them grow. It's like watching your kids grow up, only 10 times as fast. Our friends, the Corbett's, came over that night and my buddy Andy says "So, how long before they can hop out of the tank, a week?"

nope.

6 days.

Well..in all honesty, one didn't jump out of the tank but, as I was sitting there watching them scamper around, a few of them COULD have jumped out if they timed their jumps right. That's just about the last thing on earth that I need....I pictured Chrissy calling me at work, kids SCREAMING crying in sorrow in the background, as she tells me that 3 chicks were missing. No way, man.

Well, that night, the brooder looked like this:



After harvesting the screens from the basement windows and laying them across the top of the brooder, I knew that I had made a rookie mistake...I bought a tank that was too shallow. Now, I figured that I could bungee cord some flexible fencing or chicken wire around the thing to build up the sides...but then it would look all ghetto...I knew what I had to do. I took back the 44 gallon stock tank and exchanged it for the 169 gallon stock tank! Tonight...the brooder looks like this:



Now we're talkin'. a full foot deeper, 4 more square feet of running room...I'm able to suspend the feeder (although I did settle on a home-made, ghetto-looking bar made of scrap wood, drywall screws, and some random brackets). I must say...I'm much happier (and so are the girls).

The coop will be ready in a few weeks and by late April, the hens will be ready to move outside. If they keep growing at the rate they are, they ought to be about 75 lbs. each by then. here's some random chick pics:


Ivy learning some "mothering" skills


Gavin learning some "Don't always be a complete spaz" skills (kidding...LOVE this kid).

Nose to beak

oh yeah...

...they also have tail-feathers, now.
*sniff*...they grow up so fast....*sniff*

The Shift

Well...Winter hung on as long as it could..it had dug it's claws in deep this year...it dropped an all time top ten snowfall on us this year...Including 4 sloppy inches in April....but....that was the death rattle. Winter conceded. The Shift is on. Winter is OVER. Springtime has officially arrived in Southern MA...here's how I know:

I took the wood bin out of the house today. Burning season is over. Gavin and I cleaned out the stove and adorned the stove area with potted plants.

There isn't a speck of ice left out on the pond....only smooth sailing.

We spotted goldfinches at the feeder and tree swallows out near the pond....Orioles should be on their way soon.

The great blue heron has made a return to our pond (two of them, actually).

Tonight, we heard peepers for the first time.

Gavin and Grandpa planted onions today...the garden is officially "On".

Ivy "Garlic Breath" Leo has dipped into the garlic chives (she's addicted, I swear).

crocuses are in bloom in the front yard.

Geese and ducks are pairing off....won't be too long until we see chicks.


What an exciting time of year this is.....so much newness....hope....growth.....I'm always amazed at how Winter starts off so magical and ends so stagnant. To see these signs of Spring....what a gift.

Gotta run....gonna research what carrots I want to put in this year.

Happy planting, gardening, fishing, hunting, boating, hiking, laughing, loving, familying, growing, sandboxing, pruning, canoeing, swinging, raking, dethatching, rototilling, composting, bird-watching, frog catching everybody....Spring Is Here!!!!

Here's my 2011 Springtime song:



Raise a glass to the turning of the seasons.

Enjoy the shift.

Truckin' Like the Doodah Man

Ivy is officially truckin'.

there is nothing more exciting and terrifying than watching your child learn to walk. You are suddenly made aware of all the sharp corners and edges around your house. It's amazing how something, in this case- watching your child toddle around for the first few times, can make you see your home in a different light. In an instant your perception of your home shifts from "home sweet home" to "deathtrap". Tables, corners, walls, window sills, cupboards,stuff she can reach, stuff she can climb up on, stuff she can pull over on herself, stuff she can fall off of, places she can get stuck, things she can slam her fingers in....every time I see her walk around some area of the house or try to manipulate some obstacle, in the back of my mind I'm constantly doing damage assessment....like:
"O.K. she's sitting in her little rocking chair in the middle of the carpeted floor with no hard toys or furniture around her...if she somehow nosedives off the chair, she'll only fall forward, I'll sit here in front of her on the floor so I can catch her so she doesn't smack her face on the floor. Good thinking, Mike. You're such a forward thinking, wonderful dad".

But it never works out like that.

She'll find some way of back flipping over the back of the chair and somehow do some weird mid-air half-twist and land with her fingers under the rocking chair at the exact moment that her other hand grabs the arm of the chair to break her fall which pulls the chair back and pinches every finger on her hand while her leg gets pinned behind her in some weird greco-roman wrestling submission hold.

**sigh**


Once your kids start walking...they'll never stop. Once they start talking, they'll never stop. These are blessings sometimes dressed in the clothing of curses.

Still, I love it. I never ever though I'd enjoy parenting as much as I do. I never imagined that it would be so easy to sacrifice my own agenda for the sake of my family. The things that your kids do that you take joy in as a parent...can sometimes make you feel like a mental patient for enjoying so much....the slightest expression on your child's face...they smallest inflection in a word they speak....the catch-phrase or slang that they say that completely catches you off guard. Seeing them perform tiny acts of thoughtfulness or unprompted acts of kindness....brings so much joy.

I guess even watching your kid take a creative nose dive off the back of her tiny rocking chair could bring joy....if she sticks the landing :^)






Also...not quite worthy of it's own "Gavinism" post, but....
Today Gavin earned a dollar from his grandpa for helping with a job. I came home from work, and the family was riding bikes in the driveway. Gavin runs up to me and goes: "I got this dollar for helping Pa. I'm gonna use it to buy some poor kid something."

I was so full of joy. I was rubbing my eyes, and shaking my head from side to side, but still full of joy.

Today's Take

Pulled a quart and a half or so of strawberries today. Looks like the June-bearing plants are paying out a bit early this year. I guess a few days of 90+ temps and BLAZING sun will do that. There's a couple more quarts out there that still need a day or two to ripen up. The ever-bearing plants have TONS of green berries on them....it'll be a few weeks yet until they're ready. Pulled a bit of basil as well. Not quite enough for a batch of pesto but I just couldn't resist.

Putting in the rest of the garden this weekend. We got some heirloom Brandywine tomatoes and a bunch of cherry tomatoes ready to go, along with a bunch of other stuff. Every year we plant tons of tomatoes. I HATE tomatoes. Can't stand 'em. But every year....in the ground they go. Chrissy likes them, Gavin too. Ivy's still a bit too young to get her take on them.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

Homeschool Classroom and Turtle Races

While i'm still in full on "New Blog Frequent Poster" mode, I thought i'd try to upload a few pics. We'll start with what will become our new homeschool classroom/studio and co-op meeting area:


This area is in the basement of our house. Chrissy and I used to live down here when we first moved back to MA in 2001. We gutted it out over the winter.

We'll revamp the laundry facilities and add a big double basin sink

My plan is to turn this under the stairs area into a cool little "Reading Nook"

we've been blessed in that we've acquired TONS of teaching resources over the years. here it is sitting in totes waiting to be pulled out and set up in the classroom. Chrissy can't wait to get her hands back on this stuff.

All gutted, cleaned up, and ready to be refinished. Hoping to have our first activities starting down here in the fall.

And now, for no good reason....Turtle Drag Races!!!

"Be Anxious For Nothing..."

I want 7 kids. 9 kids. 14 kids....tons of kids.
I want acres of gardens heaving with all manner of vegetables.
I want to gaze upon rows upon rows of fruit trees heavy laden with their yield.
I want cupboards brimming with edible and medicinal herbs that we grew.
I want pantries filled with meticulously labeled items that we grew and canned ourselves.
I want homemade soaps, balms, ointments.
I want to host a homeschool co-op where scores of kids are taught by dozens of parents.
I want to gaze across the faces of my innumerable children and see them living Christ with all that they are.
I want, I want, I want....

"Be anxious for nothing..." says The Lord.

The truth is this: We have 2 wonderful young children, a humble vegetable and fruit garden, a couple of fruit trees(with decent blossoms on them this year), a few flower boxes filled with herbs; basil, rosemary, lavender, a "mommy and me" group with a half dozen families coming together weekly....The Lord reminds us..."Do not despise the day of small things"...

One of my areas of strength (and also one of blinding weakness) is that I pursue what I'm led to pursue with borderline reckless abandon. I'm grateful for the drive that the Lord has given me...but I am constantly drawing my eyes off of the horizon and onto the path right in front of me.

I have no idea why I started this blog, maybe because that's what homeschooling, homesteading families do. I have no idea how often I'll post....but this blog is one thing that I have no preconceived notion about, there's no blueprint here, no ultimate goal...

My family is 4 people working together, day by day, to follow God's leading, whether it be at a snail's pace or at light speed. I praise Him for the gifts he has given me today: my family, our land, our drive, His guidance.

We'll see how this whole blog thing pans out, as for the garden....we pulled our first strawberries this week. My son sat, barefoot, in the grass and polished off a dozen or so in no time. Our harvest may not have been the bushels and bushels that I see in my mind's eye, but to him, and his sticky pink-cheeked smile, it was the world.

Do not despise the day of small things.