Latest kid doings

We had Chris and Scotty's usual birthday steam-up again this year. Scotty is 9 already! We kept it a bit smaller this time but some new friends came from our homeschool group in addition to other friends and family and we had a great time. Of course we had the steam tractor running with steam hoist rides.

We also tried a water balloon launcher this year.

We finished it off with the ever popular potato cannon.

Earlier last month, Eliza had two friends over to celebrate her new bedroom. The girls had a great time making stop motion animation videos, playing music, dying eggs with natural dyes, and visiting the animals.




Eliza was thrilled to be able to show the girls her new loft bed.


Meanwhile, Scotty has become quite a skilled tractor operator and he has really started to help out around the farm. Here he is hauling a load of compost up the driveway.


Later he drove along while I shoveled the compost into one of our garden beds.


He also pulled the trailer and hay loader for us the last time we picked up hay. It's really a thrill to see--he can even make the turns and line up the loader properly for the next run. In short, the kids are doing very well!

Interesting but not surprising

The kids spend their days on the farm moving from one activity to the next, often on their own initiative. A couple of weeks ago Chris came upon this scene:


Note the safety goggles and ear protection. Apparently it hadn't occurred to Eliza that a shirt might be a good idea too.


I'm not sure what they were doing but it certainly looks interesting! They do seem pleased with the results.

Happy, happy, joy, joy!

All I can say is that it's a good thing we had a lot of rain !

Loving the poultry

This year we have added turkeys, geese, and ducks to our poultry lineup and the kids are just loving it. OK, actually we all are. The turkeys are a real treat--they follow us around the pasture like a pack of puppies. They are penned in at night but during the day they have free range so they run around eating their fill of grasshoppers and greens. I love the little "chuff chuff" noise they make.

Here they are in our paddock of winter wheat feasting on bugs.



No bird goes un-hugged around here. Do you think we could market "hugged daily" poultry? Sounds just as good as "cage free" to me.

Yes, there was a birthday

I know it's been almost a month since the boys had a birthday, and we really did celebrate! This year Scotty wanted to do a big steam-up, so Chris' dad agreed to steam up the big tractor. Scotty was so excited and really enthusiastic about helping to get the engine clean and ready. When the big day came the first thing was getting his presents. Scotty got a rechargeable electric motorbike and Chris was so thoughtful that he picked up some paint for Eli so she wouldn't feel left out.




Scotty selected the guests for the party and he invited everyone he thought would love to see the steam engine. Most everyone came, but he did miss his Nino, who was home with a bad knee.



Papa Scott operated the steam hoist which is used to hoist a real mine bucket into a 1:1 scale model of a mine shaft head frame which he built several years ago as a demonstration model. Several guests took a ride down the "mine shaft" which is really only an 8 foot deep hole because we'd hit water if we dug it any deeper.




And of course there would be no birthday celebration without firing off the potato cannon, which was built for last year's Mythbusters party. It's always a hit with the crowd!




Several of the kids and the kids-at-heart went out to the landing zone to look for the spuds after they were launched.



We all had a great time and we thank everyone who came so much for helping to make it such a fun day.

Who needs a pool?

Well, if you don't mind freezing water that is. Last month the kids just couldn't resist a dip in our large fish culture tank, which has been full now for a couple of months. We will be growing several hundred pounds of fish in here this year, using natural cycling of nutrients, phytoplankton, zooplankton, and small feeder fish as food. So in a sense this will be "grass fed" or at least plant fed fish, as opposed to most tank farmed fish which is fed a grain based pellet, usually heavy on the soy.

But for now it's just a fun place to swim! Keep in mind that at the time these photos were taken we were still freezing every night so that water must have been in the 50's. That didn't stop Sorscha and my two from having a blast.



I love the shot with the cow in the background.




Sorscha stayed in for around 45 minutes, but mine got cold a bit sooner than that. Eli was pretty chilly when she got out (yes I put a swimsuit on her for the photos).

Eliza's helping

Eli has been helping out a lot on the farm lately. Here she is watering some root stock that we had just potted.

Social Studies?

Last month Chris invited the kids to decorate the floor of his shop with clay paint, which would stick to the earthen floor before it was oiled. I was walking outside the shop and I heard Chris say "wait for it, wait for it......" and then a "ppffttthhhh" sound. Then a lot of giggling. Turns out they were having a little anthropology lesson, using a prehistoric technique to leave hand prints on the floor and walls.

First a mouthful of (non-toxic, totally natural) clay paint:


Mix with water:


And blow!


The kids both gave it a try.






Cool!

More lambs

Since the first twins were born on the 16th we've had three more lambs born. A single ram lamb came in the middle of the night on the 22nd when it was about 12 degrees outside, and another set of twin ewe lambs came yesterday morning at a cold 17 degree dawn. It's amazing how hardy the little things are, coming into a below freezing world, soaking wet. This most recent mom is not quite as attentive and she's more skittish than the others. Also, one of her twins is much bigger than the other and we're a bit worried about the smaller one getting enough milk. So far, so good though--they survived the night last night and it was windy and bitter cold--single digits.

Here are the new twins: one big and white and the other smaller and black.



The white one has the classic children's book lamb look.



Scotty continues to be thrilled with the lambs.



Here is the ram lamb, spotted with cute little white rings around his ankles. He's a week younger than his older cousins but the three of them have an absolute ball out there together. It is so amusing to watch them play.



Ever since the first set of twins were born, Scotty has been wanting to go out and hold the lambs every day. Now that we have the ram separated from the flock, he feels comfortable going out with the moms and babies by himself (in fact he's out there right now as I type--I can watch him through the front window). He is able to catch the babies on his own and spends up to an hour every day with them. This will be great for husbandry purposes because they will be much more accustomed to being caught and handled. Scotty feels proud to be able to help out with the management of the flock. You can see the pride in his face here as he holds one of the two-week-old twins.



Look closely at this photo--he's getting a lick on the chin!

Little helpers

The kids have been all about Daddy lately. They really enjoy helping him work on his shop. Here they are helping to paint raw linseed oil on some exposed framing that will need protection from the sun.

Learning happens

All the time!

Here are some of the kids' experiences within the last week. Mind you, these are only the ones I actually managed to photograph.

Eliza has been very interested in painting recently.



Here she is surfing the web. That's right, at 4 years old she knows how to get to some of her favorite bookmarked websites and how to navigate the sites. She doesn't read yet, but she is recognizing several words that help her navigate around. Note that her Pikachus really enjoy surfing with her.



Both kids have been picking up our various instruments regularly and really enjoy feeling them out and making up their own songs. They also like to accompany Chris while he plays and I sing. (Side note--I have started learning some chords on the guitar too! This inspires the kids to want to learn as well.) Scotty likes the bass and the cello. Eliza likes the piano, and both like the guitars.




I was recently given the wonderful gift of my late grandmother's sewing machine and it turns out that it's a great gift for Scotty too! Who knew there were gears and eccentrics inside? Of course he immediately figured out how it all worked and intuitively knew where I was supposed to oil it (I checked the manual--he was right!)





Chris has been busy working on the next phase of his shop. Here he and Scotty are building a wood rack so that Chris can move his stacks of lumber out of the shop and into permanent storage-finally!