Family Fun: Sweatshirts and Pinewood Derby

 

We did our semi annual "clothing sort" earlier this month; we made sure there were no summer clothes mixed in, got rid of all the holey/stained/worn out items (2 trash bags full!), and catalogued what things they needed more of.  One of the things they all needed were more long sleeve t-shirts/warm shirts -- so I worked on that a bit this week.  The kids started working on their pinewood derby car designs and construction. 

 Unfortunately, we also killed the car's battery this week.  Big sister A said she knew how to start it and so I sent her out ahead of us to do that, but apparently she did not turn the key all the way and it finished off a battery that was already about due to be changed. Yes, we tried repeatedly to jump it, but it was so dead that it still wouldn't start. At least it wasn't the alternator or any other major thing.  It was due for its winter check-up and an oil change etc. so it all worked out fine.

Hubby's company party was this weekend...  I did a little calculating on the way there.  Of the 11 or so (one was snowed out I believe) that we have attended since our marriage I have been pregnant for 5 of them! The formal dress was no problem. I just used one of my old ones.  They always have a yummy dinner and a photo booth. It was downtown with free valet parking this year. 

Things that went un-photographed -- I feel like there are so many things each week that I need to start documenting them better here (as the blog is a kind of our family journal).   This week: Hubby worked on the high tunnel doors; I cleared another section of brambles; I taught my "goal setting" class to the activity day boys (will be teaching the YW this week);  we gave the house a good scrub in preparation for hosting the primary "baptism preview" activity earlier this afternoon; planted more seeds; did a big baking day also in preparation for the baptism preview; swimming lessons; guitar and piano lessons; and of course the usual morning school work and evening chores. The Klondike derby was rescheduled due to rain. I ruined a batch of duck eggs I was incubating (You are supposed to leave the cover off 5-10 minutes every day, but I forgot to put it back on!!! Mommy brain).

Farm Fresh: Creating and Clearing Away

Baby preparations have officially begun. This week we received our shipment of cloth diapers, wet bags, and diaper pail bag from Alvababy.  And I finished the first hand knits for the new baby boy.  Full disclosure, both were things that I had already started with someone else in mind and just didn't finish in time. The sweater will be good for his second winter - about an 18-24 month size. It is my long time favorite button lovers pattern. This is at least my fifth one and I expect to make many more.  The buttons are so convenient for getting baby in and out of.  

 Both items are 100% wool and I hope will be warm.  Since babies are not supposed to wear coats in car seats anymore, I plan to use this thick wool blanket like a coat. Should be nice for wrapping up in on our way out and in from the car.

 And I finally finished the 25 pairs of underwear with all the leftovers from making other clothes. I love that they are much thicker, sturdier, and mostly darker colors than regular kid underwear.  But oh my that was a lot of work for an item of clothing that gets so little appreciation.

Our washing machine has started eating our clothes from time to time. Miss L lost a dress and my sturdy denim and ticking slipcovers! Two fell prey to the washer's wrath. 

The other cover is still in good shape. And I have a lot of projects that are higher priorities right now so I opted to patch it with some similar fabric that I had on hand. Definitely not "good as new" but endurable for now. 

Not too bad when looked at from afar.

And since I was feeling sad about the state of my furniture in this room I made some new throw pillow covers that can work for winter holidays through Valentine's day. 

And this part is mostly for our W family buddies.  More than a year ago we found a little hole-in-the-wall Ethiopian grocery store together. I love their food and have been wishing for a way to make it myself for years. The grocer sold ready to use injera (Ethipian flat bread), teff flour, the essential berbere spice, spiced chick pea flour for making shiro, and yellow split peas. I made shiro and another spiced stew when we first found the ingredients and had the injera bread on hand.  A few weeks ago I finally (yay!) got up the courage to make my own teff sourdough starter so that I could make my own injera.  Making the starter was way easier than I expected. The hard work was making enough flatbread for the whole family (just like making enough crepes to fill 6 people up!)  but it turned out delicious and with just the right sour tang.  I'm so glad that I still have plenty of the ingredients to make more!

 Here are the recipes that I used: Kik Alicha (vegan split pea stew), shiro wat, doro wat, and I like this injera recipe.  All were delicious - especially the shiro wat.  Ethiopians like things mouth burningly spicy so I only put about 1/3 of the berbere spice mix in that the recipe called for and it was a nice medium heat.

On Saturday snow and freezing rain were in the forecast all day long. When I woke-up things were still clear and dry so I decided to tackle some farm chores while the weather held. Ta-da! This is what I accomplished after 4 hours of cutting and clearing. Not too impressive looking is it?

It is much more impressive when you consider the tangled mess it was before I began. 

I talked to our tree guys and they are going to help us clear this section of the property by cutting down the big trees, but they wanted us to clear the brambles and little trees before they get started.  Their concern being that things might sort of "bounce" on the way down with so many obstacles in the way.

I have a long way to go to finish clearing the rest of the brambles running along the front of the tree line. 

Our kind tree guys have also been dropping off some nice large loads of mulch.  Hubby helped me move it with the tractor and we spread it around all the trees in the orchard and the front line of comfrey, blueberries, and jostaberries.  

 It's not the most ideal time of year for mulching, but after three truck loads we needed to get it moved into place so that he has room to bring more when he has some.

Miss L's Birthday

Her birthday morning started with a fabulous breakfast in bed prepared by her siblings. Unicorn poptarts bought specially for her, blueberry pie, hot cocoa, and toast.

 Then she requested some time skyping with her best buddy also named Miss L who was unable to fly into town for the day.

She received some special b-day cards from all the grandparents. Thanks everyone!

 Then she had to go on a quest to find her birthday present -- purchased for her by her siblings.  These are the clues that she followed to get there.  I am still impressed by how well thought out it was.

She received a package of octonaut speeders complete with launcher and iceberg. 

 She wanted ice cream sundaes for her dessert.

 I still can't believe that she is so big.

Farm Fresh: Good-bye Chickens

We officially have NO chickens. For the first time in 8 years!

 I am not sure how much I have already written here about Marek's disease in our flock.  The important point is that I accepted a lot of chickens from various friends before they moved this summer and last summer too for that matter. Somewhere in there a chicken brought the very contagious viral disease called Marek's that slowly paralyzes and kills chickens. Or if they survive it, they are more likely to fall prey to something else. Marek's only infects chickens. Once I was 90% sure that we had it I called the Dept of Agriculture's helpline to get some more information on how to address the problem.  There are no cures for it. It is viral so you can't possibly clean well enough to get rid of it for good. A healthy bird can be exposed to it and develop an immunity, but 25% or more of those exposed to it will die.  The Ag doctor that I spoke with said that it is "stable in the environment".  They hope to be able to eradicate Avian Flu, but they have no hope of eradicating Mareks. The best line of defense is to only buy vaccinated chicks. They have to be vaccinated for marek's within 24 hours of hatching.  Our flocks were very susceptible since I had incubated so many of my own birds.   A few hatcheries, like Meyer, vaccinate all the chicks they sell, but places like Tractor Supply only vaccinate if you special order and request it.   The Ag doctor also said that I could learn to vaccinate my own newly hatched chicks!! A little intimidating.  Here-lies the last 4 chickens and 2 rabbits that I butchered on Friday:

The Dept of Ag doctor also recommended that even though I wouldn't be able to clean away the virus that I clean out the chickens' housing as well as possible.  Dig down into the dirt floor of their coop area and shovel it all out. I spent Saturday afternoon shoveling out the largest of our chicken huts. Hubby helped me get all the rabbit cages out. I repaired the tarp roof again! I can't wait to have a sturdy aviary.  I also ripped or more precisely cut out the chicken wire flooring.  That allowed me to shovel deep down and wheel out all the old dirt and bedding. Then I dusted the whole place with diatomaceous earth and put a thick layer on the ground.

 From now on this will just be a rabbit house. I plan to add about 6 more cages. One can never have too many bunnies. And since I know that people always like to hear our current animal tally... For the record, that brings us down to:
2 dogs, 5 cats, 9 khaki ducks (8 old ladies, but still laying 4 eggs a day), 5 muscovy ducks, 1 call duck, 2 guineas, and 30 rabbits (9 four week old kits); Only 54 animals. We will incubate some more ducklings in a couple weeks.  I don't plan to bring in any chickens for at least a year. Preferably, not until hubby builds a good size aviary or most likely a combo like Joel Salatin's "Raken".
Planting for Spring is well underway. So far we have 2 varieties of broccoli, artichokes, and rhubarb that have sprouted. Echinacea is stratifying and St John's wort is taking its time.  The ginger I planted did not sprout.  It was not very fresh. I will try again.

 In other news, I received a fabulous gift from a kind lady at church this week -- 17 dozen canning jars! This is only one shelf of them!  Lucky me.  I won't need them this summer with the new baby, but maybe next year I will be able to can 1000 jars. I have plenty now.

Christmas 2019

Ready for our traditional Christmas eve junk food and movie night. We watched "Mathilda" this year.  It was perfect since we had reread the book by Roald Dahl a week before.  They brought their favorite stuffed toys to enjoy the show too.  Big sister A saved her money and bought a "Truly Me" American Girl doll during the Black Friday sales.

 This year's Christmas pjs were not done in time to be unwrapped Christmas eve, but I burned a little midnight oil and they were ready to put on first thing Christmas morning.

All the presents this year were handmade by each other with a couple stocking stuffers.

 Brother M and Sister A each got a pocket knife for cub scouts.

 Santa gave Miss L an art quality set of colored pencils.

 Brother S received a "Spelligator" and Sight word game from Santa.

 Miss L painted some cardboard cut-outs for her siblings: a shark for S, an airplane for M.

 Big Sister A decorated some boxes to make stuffed animal houses for her brothers.

 Brother S's best buddy at church gave him some of his old octonaut toys. He told us that that was his favorite present of all.

 Big sister A painted and fixed up (with help from daddy) a discarded little wooden fairy house so that L would have her own Calico Critter house.

 A's favorite present was this Harry Potter sweatshirt that I made for her. Yay!

 I did manage to finish a bunch more clothes before Christmas day: 4 jogger pants for M, 3 knit dresses for L, and A's sweatshirt.  The new underwear (20+ pairs) are still in progress. I set them aside to get the jammies done.

In the photo above M is wearing his new shirt and joggers and A is wearing her new leggings.  L is wearing one of her new dresses. I think that is one of the best parts about sewing knit fabric items - they are so comfortable. The kids have been wearing everything I made with pleasure. Phew!

Our family received this "Slow Motion Race" game from hubby's brother's family. Pretty fun!  I think this was just about a perfect amount of gifts.  The older kids went right out to try their new pocket knives and whittle some sticks while S and L played octonauts.  It was peaceful yet there were plenty of new things to enjoy playing with together.
My Christmas presents were some hanging canvas prints (photos taken by my dad) to adorn the upstairs hallway.  I bought the canvases and hangers from Hanger Frames on Etsy.

 They are 11 x 14s with 12 inch hanger frames.