Keeping warm...

Often life seems to get into a rut of trying to keep one step ahead of the urgent. How quickly I can sink into mere existance--keep up the laundry, cooking, cleaning, etc, etc. Jonathan sees life as a party--to be enjoyed at the fullest extent. He helps all of us to step back from the routine and see life in a new light. As tired as we get keeping up with this little guy, I can't imagine a day without his enthusiasm and love. Wayne got this picture of him yesterday as Jonathan was enjoying the company of his big brothers and their friends (see picture #2). This is the essence of Jonathan and I'm so glad he captured it in a picture.

These are the "big guys" that Jonathan so enjoys being around. Will (2nd from left) taught Jonathan to dance--complete with sound effects. Andrew (holding Jonathan) helps Jonathan "fly" by lifting him up in the air to give Will very high "high 5's". It's great to have these guys around and we enjoy our "other sons" invading the house--and yes, the kitchen. They are definitely part of our "abundant blessings".

These cold days/evenings we spend a great deal of time in our mudroom around our woodstove. We moved the "good" chairs from the sitting room out into the mudroom last night. That's definitely a sign that it's cold. Marc makes lots of extra trips to the chicken house to give the "girls" warm mash and plenty of water. They reward him with their eggs--he's averaging 9-10/day which is pretty good for the depths of winter (he has 15 chickens).

I finally got a chance to spin some fleece this weekend...Indian Paintbrush's fleece is becoming yarn this time around. This week I'm hoping to finish up the grant application I've been working on so I can have more time to do the spinning.

I did make another batch of remelt goat milk soap--actually 2 batches...they came out much better than my first attempt. I've got to figure out how to keep the air bubbles from forming on the back of the soap--otherwise the formed soap looks pretty good. I'm waiting for a shipment of lye to arrive so Matt and I can attempt a "from scratch" batch of soap. Maybe we'll get some pics of that adventure to share.

It's time to go stoke the fire...so bye for now...keep warm!

Beginning 2008

We had a wonderful Christmas and a special gift of Mom Jackson coming for a week's visit. She was able to make a snowman with the 4 youngest...it's been awhile since she's done that. (Georgia weather isn't snowman friendly)

We've taken a couple weeks off from school and will be starting again tomorrow. We've filled the time off with cooking, reading, sewing, crafting, re-organizing, playing games, puzzles, and enjoying the snow.

There was one sad part to the holidays...we had to give Midnight up and have him placed with another owner. He became agressive with us--especially at night when we wanted him to move from one place to another. Instead of him improving with time, he was becoming worse. He had started growling at the younger kids for no reason so we knew he had to go. Our vet saw how much we cared about him and offered to neuter him and try to place him in a home without children. It was a relief that he was willing to do this instead of putting him down--Midnight was such a good dog...when he was good. So-o-o we're back to being a one dog family...much to Brittany's pleasure. The house is much quieter and calmer with our more "mature" dog.

I tried "rebatching" a batch of goats milk soap today (remelting a prepared base and adding scents/coloring). It didn't work as the bags I used to put the soap in melted in the hot water. I'll have to try again using an oven bag (I had used 2 heavy duty ziplock bags as they suggested, but I guess my 'heavy duty bags' weren't heavy enough! The oven bag was the other alternative suggestion.) I'd like to get another batch done this week since I have an interested buyer at a local store. She asked me to bring me a batch after the Christmas holidays.

Today Wayne and I discussed what poultry we plan on raising this year. We want to do pastured broilers/roasters and some turkey. We're going to ask if any of our friends would like to go in with us on the turkey order since there is a minimum order of 15--I don't think even our family would eat 15 turkeys in a year. We're also dreaming of our garden crops as the seed catalogs have arrived. When we start writing down the tasks to be done on the calendar, spring doesn't seem so far away. Marc is eagerly awaiting April and the arrival of his goats.

This is Matt's last week working in Binghamton. He is due to start classes in Oneonta next week. He'll miss his co-workers but not the long commute (45 minutes each way). I'll be glad that he doesn't have to make that trip in winter weather.

It's time to call it a night and try to get some sleep since school starts tomorrow. Until next time...good night from the farm.

Linda