1. What is your favorite color? purple and blue 2. What is your favorite toy? I think it might be Buttra. (A butterfly of hers) 3. What is your favorite fruit? strawberry 4. What is your favorite tv show or movie? LEGO Ninjago 5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? I think it’s lasagna. 6. What is your favorite game? UNO 7. What is your favorite snack? hmmm… goldfish 8. What is your favorite animal? rabbit 9. What is your favorite song? Taylor Swift songs 10. What is your favorite book? I think it might be Coco the Cupcake Fairy. 11. Who is your best friend? Lillian and Maddison 12. What is your favorite cereal? honey nut cheerios 13. What is your favorite thing to do outside? play with our chickens 14. What is your favorite drink? sweet tea 15. What is your favorite holiday? Thanksgiving and Christmas 16. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? my snuggle buddies and my new projector 17. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? cereal 18. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? lasagna 19. What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to run a clothes store and be a builder and a lot of other things like an astronaut, too. 20. What makes you feel happy? my family
This beautiful girl made me a mama ten years ago, and I still can’t believe how grown she is. She loves science and history. She loves big. I’m so thankful that she shows grace as I navigate the parenting waters. She goes into the uncharted territory right alongside me with each passing year. Chloe is so excited to get her ears pierced this year. Chloe girl, I love you more than you will ever know.
We have survived our first week back at homeschooling! It is so hard to believe that this is my sixth year as a homeschool mom. Wow!
Obviously, we got an earlier start than what is typical. That’s homeschooling for you. 😉
Harper has started K5, Addi is in 3rd grade, and Chloe is in 5th grade. We are doing Abeka Academy again. I wish that Abeka did a referral program to help cut down the cost! Can we work on that?
I know that many parents are currently weighing their options for school. With the current state of things, every option feels overwhelming to people. You are doing a good job, mama.
Just yesterday, I got an e-mail from the homeschooling art class that they are going to attempt a fall semester. The kids would be required to wear masks the whole time and kept separate. I just don’t know how I feel about it all. We are still staying home– other than outdoor hikes and occasional outdoor family visits. With my months-long pay cut and Scott’s temporary layoff, I think the decision has been made for us. I actually am thankful for that.
In the same vein as homeschooling, I wanted to share this book with you. I am on the launch team for Sally Clarkson’s new book Awakening Wonder. It comes out on August 18th. Since I am on the launch team, I got an advanced copy of the book. It is phenomenal. Every educator and parent can benefit from Sally’s words of wisdom. I’ve been a huge fan of her books for a long time. Another great one is called Different by Sally and Nathan Clarkson.
I hope that you have a wonderful weekend, friends!!
The day that I got the e-mail that Misfits Market was delivering to my area was a happy day. I signed up SO FAST.
If you don’t know what Misfits Market is, let me share. Misfits Market is an online produce subscription box. It is all organic produce that is considered “ugly” for whatever reason. It can’t be sold in a “normal” store, so Misfits sells it to consumers. Farmers still get to make the money. Consumers get produce at a really great price.
All of their packaging is either compostable or recyclable, which is really incredible. It is packed safely for minimal damage during transport. They also have an online marketplace where you can choose add-on items at an incredible price.
We have now been subscribed for two months, and I wanted to share our experience along with pictures of what we received in each box. Just for reference, we do a Madness box every two weeks, which is 18-22 pounds of produce. They also have a smaller Mischief box that is 10-13 pounds.
Our first box arrived a day late. They said that was common as they worked out the kinks of which trucks to get the boxes on. I added on steel cut outs and blueberries to this box. A couple of our tomatoes (in the small boxes) were moldy. I reached out to Misfits, and they applied a discount to our next box and apologized. Since our box was late, the ice pack wasn’t even cold anymore and the greens were wilted. I was a bit skeptical at this point, but I wanted to give them another chance.
I was so much happier with the second box! It was fun to get some new things to try and discover. We didn’t have a single issue with anything.
Before box number 3 arrived, I got an e-mail saying that I was selected to start customizing my boxes! I logged in, and was able to choose from what was available. All of my selections arrived, and again, nothing was damaged or yucky.
Our most recent box is probably my favorite! I chose a LOT of greens and apples. Harper has also discovered that she LOVES plums, so I will always get those for her. The only thing that didn’t come as customized was sweet potatoes. I was sent other potatoes in their place, which isn’t a big deal.
Each box is based on weight. So, some may look more scarce because the fruit and veggies weight more. There is always the option to skip deliveries if you will be out of town or already have a lot of produce on hand.
Overall, we have really loved our subscription. It’s really nice to have food delivered to our front door, especially during this time when our local grocery stores are constantly out of stock. It has made meal planning much easier, and we have been eating healthier.
If you want to sign up with Misfits Market, you can use the code COOKWME-JS5LLB to get 25% off of your first box!
Somehow, one of our chickens ended up trapped under a plastic tub on one of the hottest days. When I found him, he was barely alive. I did everything I could to nurse him back to health, but he died anyway. I’m going to be honest. I cried. I cried while forcing him to drink an electrolyte mix. I cried when Scott found him dead. Ugh. It was so sad.
Just a couple days later, a hawk got one of our hens. She was the sweetest hen.. always letting Harper carry her around. We let our chickens free-range during the day. They eat the bugs around the yard, and we get the pleasure of seeing them so happy. Scott spent the rest of the time covering the open portion of the run. I went on the hunt for an owl decoy to help scare the hawk away.
Our garden has been growing really well, other than the greens. Birds or pests keep eating the swiss chard, so we are giving up on it this year. Tomato hornworms have been attacking the plants. One day I picked off ten of those nasty things. Over the weekend, I pulled off at least 15. If you know of an organic product or concoction that I can make to deter them, please let me know!
It was just one of those weeks that felt so discouraging. It felt like everything was fighting against us. We have been working so hard to live a more sustainable life.. less reliant on grocery stores for our food.. and the hits kept coming. Plants got blown over in storms. Other things came out of nowhere and hit us hard.
But, it’s a new week. We are picking ourselves up by the bootstraps and dusting ourselves off. The run is completely covered. We kept the chickens put away for a few days, got our creepy owl set up, and haven’t seen the hawk for three days. I haven’t seen anymore hornworms, though our tomatoes do look pretty sad. I’ve trimmed off the eaten parts and am praying that it grows some more.
Our pickling cucumbers are growing! Our melon is growing! It even looks like we have a few pumpkins from our seeds that planted themselves!! I pulled some of our carrots that were growing too close to others, and they are growing really well. Scott and the girls planted more rows of carrots and some radishes last night.
This homesteading gig is not for the faint of heart. I’ll probably cry every time we lose a chicken. That’s just who I am. But, we are going to do our best to protect them and keep them happy. Just a month or so longer and we should start getting some eggs!
We have learned a lot in the short time that we’ve been doing this, and I know there is so much more to learn! This land is a gift. This view is a gift. I am so grateful.
1. What is your favorite color? blue 2. What is your favorite toy? My mighty pups and my doll 3. What is your favorite fruit? blueberries and strawberries 4. What is your favorite tv show or movie? mm… the Wellie Wishers 5. What is your favorite thing to eat for lunch? I remember one time at the old house we had pizza for lunch.. so pizza. 6. What is your favorite game? Umm.. hide and seek 7. What is your favorite snack? goldfish 8. What is your favorite animal? giraffe like your favorite animal 9. What is your favorite song? Umm.. the only girls one (Girls Night Out) 10. What is your favorite book? Nibbles 11. Who is your best friend? Um Mommy 12. What is your favorite cereal? The kind that has marshmallows 13. What is your favorite thing to do outside? Play 14. What is your favorite drink? sweet tea 15. What is your favorite holiday? Easter 16. What do you like to take to bed with you at night? Stuffed animals 17. What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast? cupcakes. I mean, pizza. 18. What do you want for dinner on your birthday? pizza 19. What do you want to be when you grow up? umm.. whatever you are. (a librarian) 20. What makes you feel happy? you
This girl wakes up with the sun and is full of non-stop energy. She’s kept us on our toes since day one, and I’ve learned so much from being her mama. I hope she always stays the same.
Hi, friends! How is everyone doing? I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that everyone is ready for 2020 to be over. Let me know in the comments how I can pray for you today.
It’s been a while since I shared whats been going on around the farm. Scott finished building the chicken coop door/wall. We expanded the run, and the big chickens are happy outside. We let them free range during the day, and it’s so fun to see. They all stay together and eat the annoying bugs for us.
We had a bad storm blow through that took out a tree branch. Thankfully, everything else was safe. We’ve had a couple of days reprieve from the heat waves that keep blasting through. We spend a lot of time outdoors playing and working.
We have also added to the family. We got four barred rock females, and two easter eggers that will probably end up being roosters. haha! We have 18 chickens now! We really only have space in the run for two more– and I’m saving that space for silkies! I just think they are so funny.
We all love having chickens around so much more than we ever thought we would. The big ones are about 10 weeks from laying. We have named at least half of the chickens– I get asked that a lot. We are trying to make sure we can tell them apart.. and have honestly been trying to get individual pictures so that we can keep them straight. It’s not easy.
Bees arrived at the farm this week also. There must have been a swarm somewhere because the buzzing was SO loud. I was glad to hear them, and see some, because our pumpkins needed fertilized. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous being outside with it. But, I know they are good and won’t hurt me if I leave them alone.
The garden is growing more and more each day. We have BIRDS that keep eating all of our greens as soon as they sprout. I’m not really sure how to prevent that, so I’m going to fill in the empty space with some more carrots. Our melon vines are getting really big and we are finally seeing some fruit growing. I’m disappointed that we lost so many of our jalapeno plants this year. We have one left that had to be rescued from tomato hornworms. I pulled TWELVE off of my plants in a 24 hour period. Jerks.
I know that I say this all the time, but I am just so thankful for this place. The Lord opened the door for us just in time for the world to fall apart. We have plenty of space for the kids to play, and plenty of space to grow our own food. We are able to have family over outside, and most of them enjoy sitting outside with us. We are still being cautious and have good reasons to do so. The farm makes it easy to unplug and get away from the nastiness of social media.
We feel like we can finally say that we live on a homestead. Having that dream realized is such a nice feeling.
I have been working on teaching my daughters skills in the kitchen. We have been baking bread together for years. I decided to let them take the reins this time. They each made their own loaf of bread using the recipe from The Prairie Homestead. I love this recipe because it is so simple and doesn’t require any fancy equipment– not even a mixer!
I was so proud of them for doing it alone. I didn’t help them with a single thing. They even proofed the yeast by themselves. If 8 and 9 year old girls can bake a loaf of bread, so can you!! I believe in you!
When Scott and I got married, my best friend threw me a bridal shower. She had everyone bring a couple of recipes for us. I am SO thankful she did this. If she hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been given a handwritten family recipe from my grandma. I’m not sharing that recipe today, but that is how I acquired this Amish Syrupy Pancake Bake recipe. I’m not sure who it is from to give credit to.
Chloe and Addi both made dinner the past couple of nights. Harper wanted to make something with me, so we picked this for breakfast. It was super easy and really tasty.
This is so, so tasty. The four ladies of the house at it for breakfast with half left over. Addi declared it the best thing that she had ever eaten in her whole life. I’d say that means you should try it!
We couldn’t be so close to Lincoln’s Birthplace in Hodgenville, KY and not stop. I have loved Abraham Lincoln since I was a little girl. Plus, we are a homeschool family and will pounce and any opportunity for these educational experiences. Seeing history come alive is one of the best ways to learn it.
This memorial building is what houses the log cabin. There are 56 steps, each one representing a year of Abraham Lincoln’s life. It really is moving to take each step. He was such an incredible president, and his life was cut so short.
There is a small museum that you can walk through. The family Bible is housed inside, which I really enjoyed getting to see. There is also a short video that you can watch about Abraham Lincoln’s parents and their life in Kentucky.
They had the interior door propped open so visitors could see part of the cabin.
There is a path that leads down to Sinking Spring, which they say is probably where he got his first drink of water from. It was so pretty and cool down here. The sounds of the water were so peaceful.
The park itself was really beautiful. There are trails that you can hike, but we were pressed for time and didn’t do any. This park also has the junior ranger program. The ranger at the outdoor information table gave the kids their workbooks and a pencil. She then gave me the badges and said that I could give them to the kids when I felt like they had completed enough. During our visit, quite a bit was still closed and the answers wouldn’t be found in the park. Be sure you ask about the program so that you can get the workbooks! It’s so educational for the kids!
I would really like to go back once everything is reopened. Even with so much closed, I am really glad that we made the time to stop and see this beautiful place.
We looked at several campgrounds for our trip to Mammoth Cave. The struggle was finding a tent spot that also had electric. It was a necessity, not a want. Many of the camp grounds didn’t offer it, and the ones that did cost an arm and a leg. We started considering renting a cabin with no air conditioning, because it was cheaper than the camp grounds. Then, we found Horse Cave KOA.
KOA campgrounds are so family friendly. They always have playgrounds, mini golf, and a pool. Horse Cave KOA had this huge jumping bag, a pond that you could fish in, and tons of farm animals. My only complaint is that this campground is right off the highway, and the traffic is so loud at night.
This campground is under renovation. The bathrooms had been redone, and were the prettiest camp bathrooms I’ve ever used! Two of the bathrooms had bath tubs while the rest had step in showers. If tent camping isn’t your thing, they have cabins that you can rent. They have new covered wagon “cabins” that are so pretty.
We had quite the camping experience. We made reservations because we needed the spot with electric. When we got there, they told us we were placed in an RV spot because the usual places were gone. Most of the spots were empty, so they told us we could pick from the empty ones. We found one with a good amount of grass, and set up the tent.
The weather forecast kept getting worse for Sunday, our full day in town, but we were committed. Little did we know that we would get downpours while starting to cook or getting ready to eat. We ended up going out and buying a canopy. There is a Walmart 20 minutes from the campground. There is also a Love’s gas station nearby if you should need any food, drinks, ice, etc.
The campground was clean and had everything any family could want. It wasn’t crowded, and people stuck to the quiet time rules. We all really enjoyed our stay at Horse Cave KOA, but we may stay elsewhere if we go back solely because of the road noise. If interstate noise doesn’t bother you, then definitely go! I think if you stayed in a cabin or have an RV, you wouldn’t hear it.
tent // canopy (it is REALLY nice, but that price tag made us sick)
The tent was new– other than being used in the yard once. It rained on us some that time, so we knew we shouldn’t get wet. It POURED, and everything stayed dry. That is, until I opened the windows after checking the (clear) radar and somehow it still rained. Thankfully, it dried out quickly after that. We LOVE this tent.
Some people like to eat out while they camp. We did not want to go that route since we try to stick to a budget. That budget obviously went out the window having to buy a canopy, but it was still better to invest in that than spending the money on eating out. Dining rooms weren’t open in Kentucky anyway. We used our camp stove and made all of our meals. That’s why we ended up buying a canopy.
I thought I’d share our meal plan in case anyone needs ideas. We ate two meals on the road Saturday and Monday, and the rest we cooked at the camp site.
Saturday: dinner– hamburgers and hot dogs
Sunday: breakfast– scrambled eggs, bacon, and toast lunch– nachos (with pre-cooked taco meat) dinner– foil pack dinner with smoked sausage, potatoes, and corn on the cob
Monday: breakfast– cereal/pop tarts
I made pasta salad before our trip, and we ate that with some of the meals. We packed chips, cheese crackers, carrot sticks, milk, and sandwich stuff also.
