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!

Jam session

Here's an example of the many spontaneous jam sessions that occur around here. Whenever Chris picks up an instrument one of the kids (usually Eliza) runs to get something to play. Here is a duet of recorder and unplugged electric bass.

Fall Festival

Last weekend we hosted our CSA's fall festival here at our farm. While it took a ton of preparation on our part to get the place ready, it was well worth it because it was great fun. Besides, without the motivation to clean up we wouldn't be enjoying how neat and tidy everything is now.

In addition to providing the space for the festival, we also provided entertainment in several forms. Chris' dad Scott fired up his restored steam tractor and used the steam from the boiler to power his vertical engine, which was then used to grind the CSA's blue corn. Watching the engines run was a huge highlight for many of the attendees. We also gave hay rides and had some sheep feeding and chicken petting for the kids.

There were three live bands (solar powered!) and the CSA held a silent auction and bake sale. At the end of the day they had raised around a thousand dollars. We were so glad to be able to help.

Here is the section of field we prepared with people beginning to arrive.


Chris and the steam tractor.


Scott ran steam from the big tractor over to this little engine through pipes. The little engine is connected to the corn grinder with a belt.






The kids loved it.


Festival goers enjoying the music and sunshine.


I snapped this photo because I had never seen a tuba on the farm before and wasn't sure if I ever would again!


Scott had double duty that day because after he was done with the steam engines his band Holy Water and Whiskey played a set.


Scotty and Eliza shared their chickens with the other kids.




Hay rides.


Sheep feeding.

Love is in the.......

Well, it's in the air AND in the water. Chris played guitar last night for a friend's wedding on only 1 hour of sleep because he had been up all night Friday on the river. The minnows finally spawned! They collected nearly a million eggs which is even more than they can hold at the facility. We are all very relieved that they caught the spawning event this year and that minnow season and the accompanying constant phone calls and nights away are nearly over. The wedding was fun too--Chris played beautifully and we enjoyed an evening out together without the kiddos, a rare event for us.