9.9.23 Harvesting

Addie's first race of the season was in Vale. Greg even managed to make it before she finished. This is a hot race that ends after awards in the swimming pool. I think all races should end in the water. She won. She was disappointed to be 20 seconds or maybe it was 10 seconds slower than last year. I told her she just has to be fastest for that day. 

Some spectators were more interested in their books. Eloise is in the back and Afton sat on the front immersed in their books. 

We all went to the temple. Cousin James joined us. This was the longest session I had ever been in thus the kids had plenty of time to take pictures. 

We salvaged corn from the wind damaged sweet corn field. Thankfully this was the only corn damaged not more than 30 feet away is the field corn still standing tall and strong. Miracles like this happen and are easy to recognize in agriculture. 

I'm so pleased by this picture. I hoped for just a few tomatoes this May and June. We added Zamzows products hoping to help our soil and plants and I'm happy to show it was worth the extra time. We have a bumper crop of tomatoes. 6 batches of spaghetti sauce and 1 batch of salsa on the shelf so far. 

Some of our peppers. Maybe next year I will spring for the pepper popper additive too. We don't relish in peppers like we do tomatoes, this is enough for what we need. 

Huge onions are the norm for the family farm. We are thankful recipients of their work. 

We have learned that not everyone makes zucchini this way. This is the most common way we eat zucchini although I don't mind it without cheese. Especially after trying to scrub the cheese off the pan. 

Andrea really enjoys feasting on the fresh produce. Tomatoes are her first favorite. Then corn.

Andrea loves to look at books. 

Sharing fresh bread with her dad. Her nose got swiped by the swing and just scraped the tip. It took about a week to heal, thankfully she was good as new by picture day. 

Fresh new crop shepadee hashbrowns. Nothing is better than that. I tell the kids we lived on shepadees our first years of marriage. Fried they are superb. 

On Sundays we sing for a while. John getting a cell phone and being able to access the words to the songs has changed this habit for the better. He really sings out, I love this time together. 

My vigorous tomato plants. They have grown to the top and back down the 5 foot cages making them approximately 10 feet tall. 

Lots of tomatoes as big as my hand. 

Salsa. The kids love chips and salsa after school. 

Kids waiting for me as I cleaned the bubblers which were full of moss. We do more stuff when the school kids are gone. 

Showing the soil coagulation or making structure how it sticks to the roots. I'm pleased that our soil management is showing the results the experts say makes for better water penetration and beneficial life processes like worms. 

The control side of the wire worm test. I pulled a wire worm out of another potato. Those things are vicious pests and we have quite a colony of them. They bore into the potatoes leaving undesirable tunnels filled with dirt. We are thankful for the potatoes even with the damage. 

 I'm just so thrilled we have produce. As a novice gardener who is highly skeptical of the quality of our soil I'm over the moon happy that we have food to eat that we grew. We were blessed and have an abundance this year. I'm thankful for the mental health breaks gardening has given and for the time working with my children. I'm thankful for full shelves and the delicious smells that come as we prepare food. We are thankful for lessons learned and failures that teach us. Life is good. 

9.8.23 Rain, Repairs, and Bread

August had some unseasonable rain. We received vast amounts of rain that is hugely unusual. The kids had a good time playing in the rain. The rain lasted for a long time, hours of downpouring summer rain, thus the kids could catch the water. 

Thus so many containers were set out to see how much rain could be gathered. This stems from a youtube video instructing us to make homemade fertilizers using fresh rainwater. When we watched the video I explained to the kids we would have to use well water as we don't get that much rain. This year we got that much rain several times. 

Inside and dry the kids enjoying some down time. 

This was a hilarious moment watching John try to move Mark up the stairs to do some dishes. When Mark doesn't want to be moved he is a rock. A very heavy rock. John is a strong man but this was a real struggle. And yes that is a real smile on Mark, he is being awnry. Oh my guys. 

A job. A big hard job. Maybe this is a shut off valve. Unknown origins bit it failed. Greg, Mark, and Reed replaced it. 

The new shiny silver part with the black small hose coming off is the repair. Add lots of mosquitoes and other assorted discouragements and this is why my kids have confidence. They have done hard things and their dad shows them there is always a solution you just have to keep working and trying until you find the answer. 

I was out at that spot pushing the start buttons and spotted these deer. I was not happy. It was a beautiful evening though. That's one thing about farm life the beauty and calm. There's lots and lots of challenges, sweat, labor, and worry but it is pretty when all those things are conquered. 

My cute helper watching and surviving the hot days. 

Mark wanted to learn to make the good bread like Grandma. So we watched a youtube video a couple times and got this far. I'm still surprised my whole wheat mother makes this often. But it is undeniably delicious and pretty easy to create successful loaves. 

Everyone who had watched the video was excited to taste. 

Addie had brought home the dutch oven to bake the bread. After a lot of scrubbing and a long cook-reseasoning process to sterilize the pan we baked the bread. It was delicious! 

I love that my kids love books. Andrea is hard on them but is often found turning pages. 

We had a pool outing for a friends party. 

Summer was full of learning and working on interests in addition to daily responsibilities and just being together. Life is good and we are blessed. 
 

9.9.23 Going on

With all the adverse weather the tree closest to our house literally began to fall apart. We were spared damage two times. Therefore we realized we should heed Providence and tear down more of the tree. John was the lucky climber while these tueis watched and waited. 

Poor John he is much larger than when he did this as a kid. I don't think he's going to want to climb trees much ever again after this experience. 

De Walt Sawsall and lots of direction. Mark anchored the ropes to add pulling assistance. I did not watch and was very thankful when it was all over. 

The rain flooded part of a neighboring town. That is main street and a parking lot under about a foot of water. Again this is very very rare. 

At home a not so rare but never welcome sight. Green baby and mess everywhere. A rubber spatula and dust pan was first cleaning. Then paper towels and finally water and mop. 

Another rain day to be out playing in the water.

Lia likes bags. She had stuffed this one full of left at home school supplies, clothes, and books. She was enjoying a break just snacking. 

We received so much moisture it was misty and damp for a few mornings. The grass is still excessively dewy. This year to not have to worry about water was so nice. We should even have carry over in our reservoirs. 

Lia loves to take pictures. This is one of many I found when preparing to do blogging updates. 

And the latest oops or controversy. The students report of our town having racism, and being inbred. Oh the shame. This is the yearbook. As you can see it was few people that held those feelings. The superintendent sent ho0me a letter recalling the offensive books. All students were required to turn in the book for new copies. 

 The local paper did a big article how this was violating the students rights of free speech. Mark got in trouble in their advisory period designed to discuss feelings. He said kids were just being dumb and didn't mean it. The teacher stood up to her full 5'4" and informed him "You don't know, you are just exercising your white male privilege's." Oh the irony. The inclusivity safe zone becomes the space to categorize and single out people based on what? Their race and identity. Are there no thinking people? Anyway he informed me I could not bleed for him, he didn't care and it was just stupid. I still think it's ironic at least and infringement at best. Yay back in school time for controversy and contention. Also time for stretching and teaching both at school and at home. 

In spite of life being very challenging and too full of problems we are still blessed. I'm thankful for opportunities to learn and grow and I'm thankful my kids are grounded in old fashioned common sense. Life is still good. 

9.7.23 Back to school

August was very full of heat, break downs, work, and responsibilities. With the heat I had no extra energy or positive words. We also had the looming return of Harold which has been great but was another life change to manage. In spite of all that life rolled on and the kids headed back to school.

The five at Willowcreek. Merle really misses Bruce. Boys are not meant to be alone.  

The three at high school. Yes John is posing to show off his muslces. Someday maybe Mark will smile again. As a little boy he had so much joy and huge smiles as a teen I mostly get that look. 

I went and looked at the garden after they left I found this monster under some leaves. 

The day before we didn't sit and worry we canned and put food up for winter. The girls harvesting beans in the amazing bean patch. 

We also brought sweet corn home. 

My diligent crew did this without my help. All I do is pick and drive, then fill the bags and date them. Missing is Addie's blaring music and all the water involved in corn processing. The kids enjoy this chore quite a bit.  

Afton was the lone shucker for a while. 

My helper curious Georgie. She  loves textures and being big. Truly this is the smallest flour mess any of the kids have made at that age. She is pretty content to be under my feet most of the day. I get tired of tripping over her but enjoy her sweet babblings. 

 When my mom asked in early July if I had started school shopping I was agast thinking it was far too early to tackle such a project, but I started within a day of that conversation and was able to have everything here long before school. I was thankful to have a plan and help from her and my sister. Thus back to school was just another thing and not a major stress. It takes a lot of time and thinking to clothe and school supply everyone. 

I'm thankful for each kiddo and the growth the achieved and worked for this summer. It is strangely peaceful and yet so overwhelming working alone while they are gone. I have been listening to self-improvement books and set a habit to walk each morning at 7:30 am. So far so good. One small change and one investment in my future. I don't have space for that when everyone is here. I also realized as I was feeling the normal tear apart of going back to school. That possibly this was silly to fight it so hard as this is our life 9 months out of the year. So adapt we did and here we are managing the movement of our crew. I'm thankful to have three at home to love and liven up my days. Life is good.