New Life All Over the Mountain

With summer-like temperatures, this spring weekend brought an abundance of new life everywhere we looked, beginning with the arrival of new chicks on Friday.  It still amazes me that day-old chicks can be shipped in a little box and travel via the US Postal Service and arrive alive at our farm two days later.  

All but one got here safe and sound Friday afternoon, and they have taken up residence in our dining---I mean, multi-purpose room for the time being.  Hearing them peep all day long just breathes spring into our farmhouse.  They need to stay warm under the heat lamp for quite awhile, which is why the color looks so strange in the above photo.  It won't be long until they outgrow their current plastic bin, and we'll probably move them into a trough in the garage in a few weeks.

We tried to take a few of them outside for a photo shoot yesterday afternoon, but they were not happy out in a wide open space, and they kept turning their backs to me.  No scratching up bugs for them yet except for the occasional ladybug that lands in their bin.  When that happens, they all dive for it and chase after the lucky chick who runs with it in its beak.

This warm weather has been calling us outside daily, and we've been hiking all over the mountain and down to the pond.

Our teen son swears there are fish in the pond, but all I saw was one lone wild goose and lots of these salamanders.

Our red haired son loves, loves, loves salamanders and has kept a few as pets.  He even wrote a story about the one he named Emmit, who lived with us for a few days until he met an unfortunate end.  Emmit has become a legend in our family, and no other salamander can ever replace him.

In our swimming pool cover, hundreds of tadpoles have hatched out of their green jelly-like eggs and are keeping the cats entertained daily.  They won't complete their metamorphosis into toads by the time we open up our pool, though.  They'll end up as fertilizer for our gardens instead.

And speaking of the gardens, new carrots and spinach have sprung up from seeds planted last fall.  Hubby also planted some green onions a few weeks ago, and they have poked their way through the soil and mulch too.  I can't wait for fresh produce from our farm.

Dandelions have sprung up everywhere as well.  I really don't mind them in the yard; they're better than the thistles that try to inhabit every bit of bare space.  We've even used the dandelion leaves in salads from time to time, plus the goats and sheep absolutely love them.

Our goats are loving this warm weather and come up to me for a good neck scratching when they see me trying to take pictures.  This is our buck Jarlsburg heading towards me.  If you've ever been around a billy goat, you know scratching their heads requires a good pair of gloves.  Otherwise, you smell like them for the rest of the day.

Our does love to sunbathe, especially Palila, our oldest goat in the herd.  Lying under the blooming Bradford Pear tree each afternoon is her routine.  Three of our girls are looking very pregnant, but they still have at least a couple more weeks to go.

Squirrels' nests are everywhere in the woods and clearly visible right now while the trees are just budding.  We haven't come upon any baby squirrels or birds fallen out of their nests this spring yet.  I have done my share of trying to feed abandoned baby squirrels with a medicine dropper, and the experience has never ended on a positive note.

The local creek was stocked with trout a few weeks ago, and this weekend marked the official beginning of trout season here.  Our orange haired son was the only one interested in fishing the creek, but the trout weren't interested in anything hanging from the end of his line.

All of the children seem to have spring fever.  I noticed when substituting this week that everyone was more energetic, chatty, and excitable than usual.  Even our teenagers are goofy and wound up which is better than the surly, sedentary, sleepy beings that they often are during the winter.  Except at 10:00 at night when I just really want all of them to be sound asleep in their beds, not wanting to jump around and talk to me about the latest cool thing they saw on Pinterest.

Our youngest requested a picnic this weekend, so along with hiking, fishing, and playing on the playground Sunday afternoon, I also packed us a lunch in our picnic basket.  Nothing fancy this time: PB & J, apples, and pretzel sticks because Mom needs to go to the grocery store yet again.  That is becoming my second home.

The warm weather, new life, and longer hours of daylight keeps us outside much of the day until I look at the clock and realize we need to get younger ones ready for bed since tomorrow is another school day.  I don't know about you all, but we are counting down the days now until the last day of school.  It just can't come soon enough.

What's For Dinner, Mom?

 

In our family, one of the first things I hear out of my children's mouths when I pick them up from school is, "What's for dinner?"  Sometimes I know what we're having at 3:00 in the afternoon, and sometimes I don't have a clue, I'm sorry to say.  If I know, I answer that child.  But because no one else is really paying attention to what I've just said since they didn't ask the question themselves, I will be asked "What's for dinner, Mom?" as many as six times a day.  Actually, my husband has learned not to ask me that question most of the time, so I really only hear that five different times in a day.  It's taken me sixteen years, but I finally got so tired of repeating myself over and over each day, that I went out to Michael's and bought the chalkboard above, and I hung it nice and high in our kitchen so everyone can see for themselves what is for dinner that evening.  Unless I don't know until the last minute.  In that case, the blackboard remains blank all day long, and everyone eventually surmises that Mom is either going to run out to pick up some takeout food, or it's fend-for-yourself-night because Mom is on strike.  Just kidding.  I've never actually done that as tempted as I've been.

 

I'm including below 3 of our favorite quick dinner meals that everyone in the family likes, and that is a major accomplishment because do you know how challenging it is to make something that seven people are all looking forward to eating?

 

Slow Cooker Pork Roast

 

Place a 4 pound pork roast in crockpot or slow cooker.  Combine 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup wine or water, 1 teaspoon ground ginger, and 1 clove of minced garlic.  Pour over the roast and cook on low for 10 hours.  This is so easy to put together in the morning before going out for the day.  When you come home, it smells fantastic.  I like it with the wine, but my kiddos prefer water.  I usually just cook some rice and make a salad or a steamed vegetable to go along with it.

 

 

 

Baked Chicken Breasts

 

Put about 1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs on a big plate and add 1 Tablespoon dried basil and 2 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese.  Stir together.  Then coat skinless, boneless chicken breasts in the breadcrumb mixture and place in an oiled baking dish.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.  I serve with a steamed vegetable and either rice or noodles.  Most of my boys proceed to smother it in barbecue sauce, but I think it's flavorful and juicy without any sauce.

 

Chicken in a Pot

 

Put baby carrots, 2 sliced onions, and 2 sliced celery stalks with the leaves in bottom of crockpot.  Add a 3 pound whole chicken.  Top with 2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and 1/2 cup water or chicken broth or white wine (my kids like the chicken broth best.)  Sprinkle 1 teaspoon dried basil on top.  Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 5 hours.  *If you cook on high, use 1 cup of liquid instead of 1/2.  All that's left to make at the end of the day is something from the bread group or some baked potatoes.

 

Now it's time for me to quickly figure out what everyone in my house is eating tonight.  I've been gone all day and only came home long enough to hang some laundry and talk to all of you.  I have to run back out to pick up a daughter from her second track meet of the season.  I'm hoping there are enough leftovers in the refrigerator to feed everyone because at this point, my chalkboard is bare and so is my mind of any impromptu dishes I can throw together in about 10 minutes.  Wish me luck!

 

 

 

 



The Multi-Purpose Room (aka. the Dining Room of a Large Family)

OK.  So today I'm going to be honest and real with you dear readers about my endless quest to create just one grownup room in this old farmhouse.  If you're looking for cool decorating tips, this probably isn't for you.  If you like DIY projects, I am including one super simple project that I sat on the floor and did yesterday in about half an hour while watching old episodes of Once Upon a Time with my kids as the snow fell outside (in April!).  If you want to hear the ramblings and frustrations of a mom of eight concerning her tremendous desire to have a house that looks like it was featured in Country Living, but can't seem to succeed without evicting all other family members, this post IS for you!  Be prepared to see some clutter, plenty of childrens' belongings, along with dust and dead ladybugs on the floor.  You've been warned.

Three years ago, I decided we would convert the dining room from a playroom back into a real dining room.  I was done having babies, all animals were moved outside, our youngest was turning four, and I was going through a mid-life mommy crisis.  I thought if I didn't have one room that looked like adults actually resided here, I would go crazy.  I told my husband I would get rid of all the kid clutter, help him paint, and take care of all the decorating.  All he had to do was show up for the painting and move the piano for me.  He said he could have the room painted in a weekend.  I made big plans to entertain by the end of that April.

As with most of our projects around here, the painting took a little longer than anticipated.  Like 4-6 weeks longer.  In all fairness to my husband, this is in large part because it took not one, not two, not three, but four coats of paint to cover up the huge loopy "artwork" that our youngest created on one of the walls when she was a toddler.  Magic Eraser does not erase black permanent markers, by the way.  And if you look closely, you can still see that masterpiece under the four coats of paint.  This new sofa helps hide some of it.

I hesitate to admit that I did very little of the actual painting.  Instead, I filled garbage bags with stuff to take to Goodwill, and I had to sneak a few things out while the kids were asleep to avoid a total meltdown.  Then I bought insulated curtains from Bed, Bath, & Beyond, along with chair cushions and new pillows for the futon that we had at the time.  I got the bright idea to bring our old dining room table and chairs in from the loft above the outdoor shed.  At first I thought I could refinish them myself, but I need some serious instruction before I tackle that project, so I bought a new tablecloth to throw over it instead.  My mom surprised me with curtain tiebacks that she made herself.  After purchasing a new futon mattress and cover since the old one had been peed on numerous times by either the beagle as a puppy or a toddler or two, I felt like we had a brand new room.  I went shopping in our attic for some wall hangings not currently being used, and we finally had a grownup room.

Fast forward three years, and here we are with an invasion of kids' stuff again.  When the 20 year old futon finally bit the dust for good, we had to go out and shop for a new sofa last week.  Funny how a new piece of furniture makes you see a room in a whole new light.  What happened to my neat, uncluttered, adult room?  I realized that I still don't have a dining room.  No one actually sits in there and dines; but all kinds of other activity occurs in there.  The teenagers sprawl on the couch and browse Pinterest or Instagram on their phones or sneak in some "game time" when they think no one is looking.

The bookshelves have become filled once again with children's games, artwork, and our six year old's attempts to decorate for every holiday and season.  (You have to admire her zeal for decorating though.)

Other shelves hold children's books, craft supplies, and my cookbooks.  Stashed beside and around the bookcase are musical instruments: a mandolin, trumpet, clarinet, and violin.

Another shelf still holds all kinds of homeschooling stuff because we still have one homeschooler in this house.  Did I ever mention this old farmhouse has only two closets?  That's right.  One linen closet that's in the bathroom, and one closet that's in the boys' bedroom.  That's it.  What was I thinking ten years ago when I fell in love with this house at first sight to purchase a house with only one main bathroom and two closets?  The private location, the mountain view, the wide open space, and the colonial decor of this farmhouse reeled me in.  But I clearly wasn't thinking about where we would put all of our stuff!

The boys practice playing their instruments in the "dining room."  Um, in case you're wondering what's on our youngest son's head, that's a paper brain with all parts labeled that he made in science class.  And yes, he has actually been known to wear that out in public.

Our youngest daughter practices her violin in this room too.  

And at some point every day, someone decides to play the piano.  Sometimes two or three children try to play simultaneously, which never ends well.  Does anyone else have a house full of people who play different instruments...all at the same time...and all playing a different song?  

This room is also housing a number of house plants, and it's been known to hold trays of seedlings owned by my husband who is itching to start planting in the garden but has to wait until the threat of frost is over.

Speaking of my husband, even though there is this great designated office space at the top of the stairs where there is a desk, printer, file cabinet, and a terrific view from the window above, he still insists on having his morning coffee and browsing the Internet in my "dining room."

Finally, for whatever reason, this is the favorite room of our behemoth black cat, Star.  Yes, this is the one who threw out my back during Winter Storm Jonas when I tried to grab him before he went to the bathroom on a stack of backpacks.  If you haven't read about that, it's in my blog archives under the month of January.  And no, he really isn't supposed to be in here.  I am a glutton for punishment.

As my frustration mounted this week at the state of this room that really isn't a dining room, and never really was, I finally made my peace with it.  I don't know how other big families manage to have kid-free zones.  Maybe they don't.  I just know that in our house while there are still more children than adults living here, their things, their interests, their personalities can be found in every room, including this one.  I stopped fighting it, and decided to just accept that this is the multi-purpose room.  And then I decided to create something to make myself feel better.  So I went to Michael's and picked up plain wood boards glued together with twine attached at the top.  And my little girl helped me decide which alphabet letters would look and fit best on the wood since there are a gazillion different sizes, colors, and styles of letters to choose from right now.  And then I pulled out my hot glue gun and went to work.

Then I hung my finished project on the same wall that held the "artwork" that we painted over three years ago.  Above the new couch.  And above the portraits of our 8 blessings taken when they were all toddlers.  And I reminded myself that some day when this house is empty and quiet, and I'm sitting in the actual dining room having a grownup meal with my husband, we'll probably be reminiscing teary-eyed about the days when this room was filled with four musical instruments being played at once while teenagers texted on the couch, the black cat was sleeping on the chair, and my husband and I were popping Tylenol for our migraine headaches in the adjoining kitchen.  Or maybe we'll just sit there and eat in silence and relish the quiet in the room that is no longer used for multiple purposes but is actually used for dining.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Glimpses of Early Spring at Our Mountain Farm

It's a busy week here, and my days are filled with substitute teaching, taking children to appointments and activities, running to the grocery store, and tackling the endless loads of laundry.  I'm pretty sure none of you want to see or hear about all of that.  So I decided to post some pictures taken over the past few days of sights on and around our farmhouse.  Even though it was 22 degrees here this morning, everywhere you look, the beginning of spring is evident.

We drove past an Amish farm the other evening and witnessed this newborn foal getting up and walking on its wobbly legs for the first time.  It felt like we were witnessing a miracle.

I only wish I could have gotten closer.  These were taken from our vehicle with my phone.

No leaves on our birch tree yet, but its light colored bark really stood out against the blue sky and kelly green grass.  The kids managed to nail in some platforms on some of the tree limbs.  Our youngest son can climb to nearly the top, which is about even with the attic floor of our farmhouse.  He's bound and determined to turn my hair gray!

The sky on Saturday looked like a painting.  Unfortunately, this turned into wet, windy, cold weather the next day.  We had wind gusts up to 70 mph that night and part of Sunday.  Nothing was damaged here, thank goodness.

Little grape hyacinths have popped up near the creek.  We're hoping that Morel mushrooms will be following close behind.  The woods are full of them up here in May, if you know where to look.  They sell for an astronomical price on the Internet and at our local Wegman's.

The grass and mosses are really turning bright green everywhere, including this brook that flows down the mountain on the other side of our lane.

OK, so these may have nothing to do with Mother Nature and spring, but I found these paisley sneakers at Target this weekend, and I couldn't resist sharing.  I just want to wear them with everything.  If I could find them in a pair of ballet flats, I don't think I'd wear anything else for the next two months.

The children were outside most of the day Saturday.  My husband has our younger boys all pumped up about rocket mass heaters.  They now want to build these miniature versions out of bricks all over our back yard.  Our fire-loving son spent hours tending to his until it got hot enough to boil water.  Not sure why that was the goal, since the water didn't get used for anything.

Our sheep and goats are so happy to be out on green pasture again.  They're still eating hay too, so they are getting quite round.  It's almost time for sheep shearing and kidding.  We expect baby goats by next month at this time.  Can't wait!

I'm going to admit that these little mounds puzzled me when the younger children and I were at the park last week.  They looked like small ant hills, but there were small yellow/black bees or hornets hovering over them.  We get plenty of yellow jackets here, but I'd never seen them with nests in the ground before.  These flying insects weren't aggressive, and they would sometimes dip down into the hole and fly back up again.  I did some googling, and I can't determine if they are a type of yellow jacket or a ground bee or something else I'm not even aware of.  If any of you knowledgeable readers out there can enlighten me, I would really appreciate it.

I hope your first week of April is warmer than ours.  I am grateful, though, that we didn't get any of the forecasted snow here.

What Would Spring Be Without Pansies?

How many of you have already planted some pansies or violas in flower beds near your house or pots on your porches?  Maybe you have some in hanging baskets or window boxes.  These are one of my all-time favorite flowers.  When we lived in South Carolina, it was often too hot in the summer for them, but we could grow them through the winter and into the spring.  This weekend we picked up a few packs of a variety of colors, and I spent some time digging in dirt and potting soil for the first time this year.  It felt fantastic.

With a new bag of potting soil, compost from our barn floor, my pink gardening gloves, and a shiny new spade, I was set to plant on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

I was feeling rather grumpy before I started.  Do you ever just have one of those days when you feel so crabby and grouchy, and you don't even know why?  Saturday morning was like that for me.  Maybe it was because it got colder or because I had heaping baskets of laundry to do or because I needed to pay bills, balance the check book, and record monthly expenses.  Yuck.

Regardless of the reason for my bad mood, it was completely gone after mixing soil, digging holes, loosening roots, and getting my hands in the dirt.  The sun was shining down on me, the wind was blowing my hair all over my face, the frogs were peeping near our pool, and all was right with the world.

I didn't even mind when my husband corrected my planting methods and told me where the extras should go.

Planting those few pansies and violas reminded me that I have always had a love for these flowers, and I started searching through my house for pansy items.  Like this throw cover I purchased many years ago from a gift shop that one of my childhood friends owned.

And I rediscovered this doily that my great grandmother made decades ago.

And then I remembered that a lifetime ago, I baked a cake for a friend's birthday and put fresh pansies on and around it because they're a beautiful, natural decoration and are edible too.  I seemed to recall somewhere in the back corners of my brain some interesting facts about this flower, so I did some google searching and jotted down some notes.  I'd like to share them with you.  Maybe this is common knowledge to many of you, but I had forgotten most of this.

 *Pansies are a hybrid from violas.
*Lady Mary Elizabeth Bennet produced them via cross-breeding, and she introduced them to the horticultural world in 1812.
 *Their name is derived from the French word, pensee (meaning thought.)
 *They are winter hardy in zones 4-8, and they can survive light freezes and short snow covers.
 *Margaret Mitchell originally chose Pansy as the name of the heroine in Gone With the Wind.
 *Van Gogh created the beautiful painting of pansies in the work Mand met viooltjes in 1887. 

*They really are edible.

*They are often called the "Trinity Flower" because of their 3 petaled shape and were used like the shamrock to represent the Holy Trinity.  For this reason, they are also associated with the Blessed Virgin Mary and referred to as Our Lady's Delight.  They are often one of many flowers planted in "Mary Gardens."  

I wish all of you a week filled with sunshine, sounds of spring, and a few hours of getting your hands in some dirt.  I'm confident it will cure any grouchy mood.