Signs of Autumn

Autumn has just begun, but signs of it are all around our mountain farm.

The swimming pool is covered for another eight months.

Crabapples are ripe on the trees.  One of these years I am going to attempt to make jelly from them.

Goldenrod is everywhere.

Pumpkin and apple products are displayed in all the stores.  The Pumpkin Cupcake candle from Bath & Body Works is my favorite this year.

We've picked the last of our tomatoes and peppers...

...and we've begun a second crop of radishes, beets, and Swiss chard.

Fall clothes now hang on the clothesline.

I'm just beginning to adorn the porches with autumn decorations.

The sheep are starting to get fat and wooly as they prepare for the upcoming winter.

We don't have a lot of beautifully colored leaves yet, but they're starting to come down from the trees.

Along with fewer hours of daylight and chilly mornings, I think everything has a golden hue.

Next to summer, this is my favorite season.

It's Apple Season

Apple Crisp (recipe below)

We spent some time Sunday picking apples from the trees at our new cabin.  Thanks to the agility and strength of our nimble 9-year old son, we were able to collect quite a few without even dragging out the ladder.

He stood on branches, hung from branches, and shook branches until we could reach the apples from below...

...or until they fell down to the ground, sometimes clunking us on the top of the head. (It's amazing how much that hurts!)

We don't spray anything with pesticides, and no one had pruned or fertilized these trees for many years, so the apples are not aesthetically pleasing.  However, they taste great, and we're saucing and juicing most of them anyway, so the appearance doesn't really matter.

All of the bruised and fallen fruit went to a good cause too.  As soon as we approached the pasture, all of our goats and sheep came running.

Unfortunately, they do not have top teeth, so it takes them quite awhile to consume them, but it's rather humorous to watch.

Because it's apple season, it put me in the mood to make some green apple scented soaps in a fall theme.  I'm thinking that some teachers might receive a fragrant surprise this week. 

But what my family wanted most of all was my steaming hot apple crisp with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.  So we had it after dinner tonight, and I share the recipe with you.

Apple Crisp

(adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book)

Core, peel, and slice 6 medium apples and place in a Pyrex baking dish.  Sprinkle with 3-4 Tablespoons of granulated sugar.  Combine 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup unbleached flour (sometimes I use whole wheat), 1 tsp. cinnamon, and a dash of salt.  Soften 1/2 stick of butter and add to the mixture until it is crumbly.  Sprinkle the mixture over the apples, and bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.  Serve with whipped cream or ice cream, or it's great plain!  This feeds the seven of us, but barely.

Have a wonderful first day of fall, everyone!

The Perfect End to a Fabulous Summer

With the official beginning of autumn this Wednesday, we spent our final weekend of summer hiking some trails at a local state park.  Other than a few campers fishing in the creek, we had the entire place to ourselves.

Before our hike, the younger children rode bikes and played on the playground.  We had to walk right past this beautiful---but rather frightening---orb spider that was next to the steps leading to the swings.  I wasn't willing to get any closer than this to photograph it.  I just had images of it leaving its web and landing on my head.

The first signs of autumn were visible with fallen leaves accumulating on the water.

This trail has a lot of bridges, and the fishermen in our family had to pause on each one to search for trout.

We've had so little rain here during the past two months that local creeks are lower than I've ever seen.  Some are just dry rock beds.

Since I was taking photographs with my tablet while hiking, our precocious six-year old was also stopping to "take pictures" for her imaginary blog with an iphone that she made out of cardboard.

It was such an incredibly beautiful day with temperatures around 80 degrees and a brilliant blue sky.  My photographs could not do it justice.

This trail is one we hike quite often with our children because it's fairly light climbing, and it winds right alongside the creek.  They love all the bridges, rocks, and "beach" areas.

Um, did I already mention there are a lot of bridges in this park?

I stated in a previous post that we are fans of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.  Our youngest son does the best impersonations of Gollum, and he can't resist jumping and crawling around on all these flat rocks like Gollum does in the first part of The Hobbit.  I know, it's a little quirky...but that's who we are.

There were even plenty of spots to sit and relax when we were finished.  The rock in the middle of the creek was not my choice.  I found a nice squishy mossy spot up against a tree instead.

Now, I feel ready to welcome in fall.  Bring it on!

Chunky Chili and Corn Muffins

     It is that time of year again to break out the warm, hearty recipes for fall.  Cooking in the crockpot all afternoon means the chili is ready for everyone come dinner time without needing my attention in the late afternoon when we are our busiest.  The corn muffin batter can be made up ahead of time so all we have to do is bake them for 15 minutes, and they'll be steaming hot out of the oven by the time the table is set and chili is ladled into the bowls.  Even though it was 80 degrees here yesterday afternoon, we still enjoyed our first batch of chili this autumn.

Chunky Chili

Brown 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef and 1 diced onion.  Mix with the following in a large crockpot: (2) 28 ounce cans of diced tomatoes, (1) 14.5 ounce can of diced tomatoes/zesty chili style, (1) 16 ounce can of pinto beans, (1) 16 ounce can of kidney beans, 1 Tablespoon of brown sugar, (1) 6 ounce can of tomato paste, and salt, pepper, and chili powder to taste.  Cook on low for 5-7 hours.  We also like to eat ours on top of cooked rice or macaroni noodles, and we top with plenty of shredded cheddar cheese.  This makes enough for our household of 7 to have second servings, and sometimes there is still enough left for lunch for 2 the next day.

Corn Muffins

Mix 1/2 cup of honey, 3 large eggs, 1 3/4 cups of skim milk, and 1/4 cup of vegetable oil in a large bowl.  In another bowl mix 1/3 cup of sugar, 2 Tablespoons of baking powder, 3 1/2 cups of flour, 1 cup of yellow corn meal, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and beat with a mixer on high for two minutes.  Either grease muffin tins or line with paper liners.  Bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees.  This makes over 2 dozen muffins.

What fall soup or stew will you be dishing up this weekend?

This Farmhouse and Our Family

9 years ago---from our youngest son's baby book

     Nine years ago today our suburban family purchased and moved into this 1880s farmhouse on the side of a mountain.  This is the longest my husband and I have ever lived in one place during our adult lives.  I still remember that magical day when he and our 13 year old son (now 22 and engaged!) drove the moving truck with most of our belongings, while I arrived in the minivan with 2 preschoolers, a toddler, and our 2 month old baby boy.  I had to get there first to open the doors for the furniture movers to bring our new living room set and a king size mattress up a flight and a half of stairs.  Fortunately, the weather was beautiful---just like it is today---and the children ran around this large property to their heart's content.  I felt as if I had arrived in our own private paradise.  I loved the smell of the wide pine floors, the original oak doors, and even the slightly musty smell of the very rustic cellar.  The split staircase, high ceilings, and colonial fixtures made me feel like I was going back in time to a quiet, simpler life.  The wide open space around our house seemed endless at the time, and the acres of woods and creek bordering our property felt like they were all ours.  With the only visible neighbors being old order Amish, you could almost believe you were back in 1850, until the satellite TV van pulled up and attempted to install a dish to our roof.

     That first night after we put our exhausted little ones to bed, my husband and I stood outside and looked up into the black night sky full of brilliant stars.  There were no street lamps, no cars, no sounds except for the neighbor's cow bawling occasionally.  The most awesome sense of peace overwhelmed me, and I couldn't imagine ever getting tired of this place.  I even said I never thought I would have to go on vacation again because everything I could ever want was right here!

     While I am now aware of the realities of owning a small farm, an old drafty farmhouse, and living on the side of a mountain with no city amenities and being a good thirty minutes from just about everything, I can still say that moving into this house was one of the biggest blessings we have ever received.  Living here brought all of our extended family together far more often than ever before.  It was here that we started a homestead, built a small farm with our own hands, and learned how to be somewhat self-sufficient.  Being here, away from the malls, the restaurants, and just about anything that costs money, made it so much easier to reduce debt and allow my husband to work fewer hours away from us.  It was here that we did almost all of our homeschooling and childrearing of our youngest five.  And it was here that we learned how to rely on faith to get us through difficult times.

     Although the farmhouse is showing its age and needs continuous upkeep, it also now reveals signs of a family who lived in it well.  The pine floors in the kitchen are scratched from kitchen chairs being moved dozens of times a day by family members eating and doing school work and painting pictures at our nine foot table.  Bikes, bats, and homemade bows and arrows adorn the lower yard.  Branches have broken off trees from boys climbing up and down them over and over again.  The porches always contain work boots, cats (and the remains of the vermin they've caught), harvested vegetables, and nature collections from the latest hike in the woods.  There are walls decorated with "artwork" from our youngest daughter that can still be seen under three coats of paint.  This is a house that has become well-lived-in, but it now holds stories of our life here as a family.

9 years later---well worn but well loved

     So today I remember with nostalgia the feelings of hope, excitement, and potential when we stepped foot on this property nine years ago today and called it our own.  It continues to be that promising for me as I look forward to experiencing middle age and old age in this farmhouse with my husband.  I can't wait to be the grandmother who lives over the river and through the woods as grown children return with their little ones at Thanksgiving and Christmas.  It is here that I hope to share this natural  retreat with friends and family through outdoor farm dinners, barbecues and pool parties, and maybe even a wedding reception some day.  I hope to live long enough to see what mark our family has left on this farmhouse fifty years from now.

It's Time to Try New Things

I don't know what it is about early fall, but it always makes me feel like starting new projects, learning new things, and trying something new.  I suppose it stems from the start of a new school year and all the opportunities and possibilities that brings.  Already, our family has ventured out into new domains, and with the cooler mornings, falling leaves, and autumn harvests, I am excited about what else lies in store for us over the next few months.

Our first new discovery is Cookie Butter, sold at Trader Joe's.  This is the best nut butter we have come across since Nutella.  It comes in a variety of flavors, and I am finding recipes using this weekly.  For now, we're simply spreading it on bread, using it as a dip with Pretzel Crisps, or just eating it on a spoon.  This does go against my usual diet of healthy, wholesome, natural foods, but I also say "everything in moderation."  I give the credit to The Monogrammed Life for this delicious find, and for the next one.

While I am not a bacon fanatic, this is an interesting combination.  I do love dark chocolate and ganache, and I am always game to trying a new variety of chocolate bar.  The bacon is not overpowering but is definitely noticeable.  These are sold at Trader Joe's for $1.97, but I've been informed that they can also be found at Walmart.

Image from Wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons

Our 10 year old son begged us to take him to a restaurant that served calamari while we were on vacation.  It turned out that almost every child in our family loved it, and now calamari is a regular request when we eat out.

Although I am not a fan of most beer, I have been loyal to Samuel Adams in the past.  However, after trying the Achoo Chili Pale Ale from Robin Hood Brewing Co., I have found a new favorite.  You can actually smell the chili peppers in this ale, and it leaves a surprising hint of the same on your tastebuds.  It's fantastic with pizza, I'm told, but I paired it with jambalaya.

My husband and I have been trying out new restaurants the past few months including this one.  Revival Kitchen is located in the village of Reedsville, PA.  It uses fresh ingredients from local farms and sells bottles of wine in the back from a local winery.  The menu changes based on what produce, herbs, and meats are available at the time, and there are many unusual offerings.  The coconut jasmine rice that I had as a side dish was to die for.  The food was great and so was the presentation.

Additionally, I discovered a new wine at this restaurant that we really like.  I usually just order a chardonnay, but this Traminette made by Seven Mountains Winery was perfect with our dinner.  We also sampled their rhubarb wine out of curiosity, which would be great with dessert.

New foods and beverages are not the only new things we are trying.  To counterbalance the calorie intake, we have also been going on mountain bikerides and hikes on various trails through the woods here on our mountain.  Our younger two boys just recently learned to ride bikes, and they now want to ride daily.  Learning to ride a bike on gravel lanes downhill is no easy feat, which is why it hasn't happened for them until 9 and 10 years of age.  Now that they've got it down, however, they are hooked.  Those of us not on bikes are walking our beagle and sometimes carrying one of our cats who insist on tagging along, but then bawl the whole way.

Additional New Things We Are Trying:

*Once Upon a Time.  I know we're a little late to discover this, but we have not had cable or satellite television for years.  We do now have Netflix, which is where we found the first four seasons of this ABC television series.  I really didn't think I would be interested in it, but I chromecast it for our children one day, and now we are hooked.  Fairy tales with a modern day twist, this show holds the interests of everyone in our family.  With Netflix, it's tempting to bingewatch all the episodes at once, but we are restraining ourselves and limiting it to two or three episodes at a time to make it last.

*Violin lessons and Band.  Our youngest decided to give up ballet and start playing the violin instead, so this week begins lessons for her for the first time.  Our younger boys are continuing to take lessons in trumpet and clarinet, but this year they will also participate in their new school's band.  Our ten year old is my only one who doesn't like to be in the spotlight, but he assures me that since he'll be on stage with other performers, he'll be fine at the concerts.

*Learning Spanish.  I'm so excited to begin learning Spanish with our homeschooled son via Rosetta Stone.  I had four years of French in high school and college, plus a year of Italian, but I have not yet learned this romance language other than what I picked up on Sesame Street and Dora the Explorer when we had preschoolers.  I can't wait to get started.

*Lots of new books.  We just got a library card from another public library that is close to our children's new school, and I found shelves and shelves of books that I have been wanting to read.  I am a closet sociologist (well, I guess I'm out now) and I had to restrain myself and not check out an entire shelf before vacation.  I just finished reading these five and can't wait to go back and check out more:  Reading Classes: On Culture and Classism in America by Barbara Jensen; When Did White Trash Become the New Normal:  A Southern Lady Asks the Impertinent Question by Charlotte Hays; Class Matters by correspondents of The New York Times; The Middle-Class Millionaire; The Rise of the New Rich and How They are Changing America by Russ Alan Prince and Lewis Schiff; and Richistan: A Journey Through the American Wealth Boom and the Lives of the New Rich by Robert Frank.

I hope you and your family are finding new things to try with the changing seasons.

The Pros and Cons of Homeschooling on a Mountain Farm

    

     We are now in our eleventh year of homeschooling one of our sons, and in our third year of private Catholic school for our younger children.  We have also experienced the public school system (both in the South and the Northeast,) a residential Governor's School for the Arts, and two universities and a community college with our three twenty-somethings.  Each year we re-evaluate our decision to homeschool based on the needs of our family and the individual traits of our sons and daughters.  Some aspects of homeschooling have gotten easier, but even though I have a degree in education and some teaching experience under my belt, some parts of homeschooling are still a challenge for me.  We have tried school-at-home, eclectic homeschooling, relaxed homeschooling, school-in-a-box, and towards the end of some school years, unschooling.  The bulk of this has been accomplished while homesteading/farming on our mountain, and that brings some unique joys and trials to the experience as well.  I'd like to share with you what we have personally found to be the positives and negatives of formally educating our children at home.

Pros:

• Customized education.  You and your children get to choose WHAT they learn about, HOW they learn it, and WHEN they learn.  If you have a child who loves to fish, and the beginning of trout season is only weeks away, and he can see the truck down at the bridge stocking trout in the creek, then you can take some time to learn about local fish.  Perhaps some of the learning will be conventional by reading about fish in textbooks and on the Internet.  However, I'm willing to bet your child will be more excited to learn by going down to the creek and observing the fish at different times of the day, talking with someone from the local Fish & Game Commission, and studying those poster-sized charts of all the fish in the state.  You might be taking some trips to the local sporting goods stores where he can spend hours studying the different lures and bait and tackle boxes and fishing line.  There will be comparison shopping and allowance counting and negotiating for more allowance if certain extra chores are done.  All of this can occur in the evenings, on weekends, during holidays on top of regular school hours.  You are not limited by time, books, tests, or lesson plans.  You can explore a subject of interest as intensely and for as long as you both can stand it.  This is one of the most exciting aspects of homeschooling, in my opinion.
• Protecting their innocence.  While we can't shelter our children from hardships forever, we can certainly delay the inevitable exposure to cruelty, vulgarity, injustice, and immorality until we feel they are mature enough to handle it.  We have been complimented many times on the sweet, loving, confident, polite nature of our children.  They haven't been exposed to the "f" word on a school bus on the way to kindergarten.  They haven't been bullied in the bathroom or playground.  They haven't been taught sex-ed in a fifth grade classroom or been exposed to all the graphic details while in elementary school, or even in middle school, for that matter.  They haven't had to choose between the values they've been taught at home and being cool in order to fit in.
• Unlimited individual attention.  For a number of years, I was homeschooling five of our children simultaneously, and they were all working at different grade levels.  Even so, they received more one-on-one instruction than they can possibly have in any school.  Any time they had questions, I was there to help them find the answer.  Sometimes they had to wait until I could get to them, but they were never overlooked in order to move the class along to the next subject or task.
• Time to pursue other interests.  When we were starting up our little farm, homeschooling allowed us to spend many hours a day constructing a greenhouse, barn, and chicken tractors.  We raised chicks, bunnies, goats, sheep, and fish and witnessed the births and the deaths.  The children were part of feeding livestock, giving immunizations, planting seeds, harvesting vegetables, fixing fences, milking goats, gathering eggs, and even selling at farmers' markets.  The life skills and lessons were endless and invaluable.  The children still participate in many of these endeavors, but they are not as time consuming as they were when we were just starting out.  They also had time to pursue other interests during the day such as music, art, cooking, creative writing, singing at nursing homes, crafts, Lego construction, and numerous other things throughout the year.  They weren't restricted to a few hours in the evenings or weekends or summer breaks to spend a lot of time doing what they love.
• Weekday field trips and traveling.  When all of our children were homeschooled and my husband had some weekdays free, we loved going on day trips to museums, farm shows, festivals and other events.  Crowds were much smaller during the week, and we could take our time studying various exhibits.  Traveling was much simpler too since we weren't scheduling trips around school vacations.
• You and your children are together all the time.  We had the luxury of my husband being here with us daily for months at a time when we first started our farm.  During that time, we were also homeschooling everyone, and we all worked together on our homestead.  Coincidentally, we were also reading the series of Little House books, and it felt like a surreal experience, as if we were modern day pioneers starting up a homestead on our own frontier here on the mountain.  It was a busy time with days full of outdoor physical labor and indoor food preservation.  Our youngest was just a toddler then, and I was also busy keeping her out of mischief.  But I will always remember that first summer in particular with fondest memories because we were all here together every day.

Cons:

• You and your children are together all the time!  No, this is not a typo.  I know I listed this as a positive thing above, and it can be, but it can also be a negative.  Especially when all my children were smaller, and I couldn't even go to the bathroom without someone on the other side of the door calling for me, I craved time alone in my house.  With no extended family nearby to give me a reprieve and other homeschooling mom friends in the same boat as I, some days felt very long and noisy indeed.  Even now with only a teenager home with me all day, there are times I daydream of having this big farmhouse all to myself.  During the summer break, no matter how chaotic and aggravating the day might be, I know that come September, our youngest four will be back in school for a good portion of the day.  Some days that is what keeps me sane and patient and cheerful.  I'm sure there will come a day when I am much older, that this house will seem too quiet, and I will miss the noise and chaos and the activity that comes with a home full of children.  However, when you are a homeschooling mom of a bunch of youngsters, those days seem very far away.
• Homeschooling requires a lot of energy.  While energy is no problem for the students, it can be in short supply for the parents.  When I was pregnant with our youngest, there were weeks that every time I moved, I thought I was going to be sick.  I remember lying on my side on the living room sofa while reading to my younger children and helping the others with math or grammar.  During the early years of homesteading, I was so busy with a couple of toddlers/preschoolers, homeschooling the elementary aged children, cooking almost everything from scratch, food preservation, farm chores, and volunteering in our homeschool group, that I literally fell into bed at the end of each day.  I never had any serious illnesses, but I did get a lot of headaches, including debilitating migraines every three or four months, and it was a serious challenge to homeschool on those days.  It certainly gets easier as the children get older and can work independently, but it still requires some mental and physical energy on my part to be available to answer questions, keep a certain boy focused, facilitate learning, and take him places to enrich his learning.
• One parent must be home.  This is another one that I could also place in the "Pros" section.  When my husband and I married, we made the decision to have a big family and to not put the children in daycare.  The original plan was for him to work 30 or so hours a week, and I would still work about 10 hours per week.  That way someone would always be home, we could both still do something in our professions, and there would be time to be together as a family.  As it turned out, our roles very quickly became traditional as he worked full-time, and I stayed home with the children.  During the last four years, we have managed for him to reduce his hours away from home, and I have been able to work a little outside the home as well, but for the most part, he is still the main breadwinner, and I am the stay-at-home mom.  It gets more and more challenging each year to live on one income, especially as the children get older and need braces, want more expensive clothes, eat more, and are involved in more activities.  While I was homeschooling everyone, both of us working full-time was out of the question.  If we worked opposite shifts, we would rarely be together as a family.  Once the youngest four started Catholic school, I did think that I might return to teaching full-time, since our schedules would be the same.  However, with a homeschooled teenager in the house, it just doesn't feel like the best idea yet.  I think this might be the biggest challenge for many families since it gets increasingly more difficult to live on one middle-class income today.
• A very "lived-in" house.  While housecleaning is not my thing, I am by nature a very neat and organized person.  Living in a large household is hard enough, but when you add homeschooling to the mix, you can count on a rather messy house.  There are projects and experiments, papers and books, art and craft supplies, musical instruments, and just lots and lots of stuff.  Once we started farming, seedlings and sprouts, barn jackets and Muck boots, chicks and goat kids, bushels of produce, juicers, dehydrators, canning jars, and sauce makers also adorned my kitchen.  And that's just my kitchen!  Homeschooling means all those things you see filling up the classrooms in your local school are now filling up your house.  At some point I had to surrender my notion of living in a Pinterest picture-perfect farmhouse.  That has been one of the most difficult aspects of homeschooling for me, and it still is.  I am always striving for a Martha Stewart looking farm---without the staff.  Not sure that's ever going to be a reality.
• You pay for your own materials.  Unless you are cyber-schooling through your local school district, you're on your own for curriculum, supplies, lessons, and field trips.  While there was some bartering and trading within our county's homeschool group, we still paid for just about everything ourselves.  This is still less expensive than tuition at a private school, but it is something to consider each year.
• Less socializing with peers and activities during the week.  For a lot of people, this is a plus.  For my children as they reached adolescence, this was the main reason they wanted to go to school.  We live in a rural area, so it is even a bigger challenge for us to find other children their age to hang out with.  There are virtually no activities during the week to participate in unless it is an occasional outing with a homeschool group.  Private lessons can be done during the day, but that's about it.  Once they reach their teens, all the sports in this county are played through the local high school.  There are Church youth group functions some weekends, but there are few opportunities for my son to spend time with other teens outside of a school setting.  When my children were younger, they all just loved hanging out with each other.  It was also easier to arrange playdates or go to a park with friends.  As they are getting older, they are developing their own interests and their own friendships.  Our teenage daughter, especially, now wants to talk to her female friends from school, and not discuss her feelings with her slightly older brother.  For an extrovert like me, I always worry that our homeschooled son isn't getting enough social time with other boys and girls his age.  I am constantly on the lookout for opportunities for him to engage in activities with peers, but this is a challenge and requires a lot more work on my part than it would if we lived in a suburban area or if he were in school.  Until this year, he wasn't concerned at all about having friends.  He was fairly content to see peers on the weekends and to just hang out with me and our farm animals during the week.  Now there is an interest in girls, however, and he's eager to get out and meet new teens.  This is a new development, so I'm not sure yet where it will lead.

     While I love the years we homeschooled, and I still enjoy aspects of it with our ninth grader, I am also very happy with our Catholic school experience as well.  I will continue to sing the praises of both methods of education and am grateful that we are fortunate enough to have a choice.  I must be honest though, and admit that I am relieved to finally have a bit more quiet time in my house to pursue some of my own interests after all these years.  I guess you could say I am now having my own home education experience where I get to be the student.