A Diary of Lithuania - Part 2

August 6, 2007

Al left for work after eating some Cheerios, OJ, and coffee.  I would have fixed breakfast, but I woke up with a terrible headache.  The bed is extra firm and pillow not quite right.  But I did manage to get a good night's rest after Al let me go to bed early. 

Well, I had a lot of trouble finding lined paper at the store.  So the letter will finish out on what most work is done on...I saw a man on the plane writing on grid paper.  I thought it was very interesting.  When we went to the store, all I could find was tablets like this [grid paper]. Of course you can't write in cursive using this but it works.  I asked about lined paper and Dan's wife, who is Lithuanian, said they do have lined paper.  I guess it's not very popular. 

Well, the kids are up, fed, and rearing to go.  They ate cereal and fruit.  Cereal selections are limited, but you can find some of the same Kellogg's cereal with different names.  My intentions are to cook breakfast that sit in the tummy longer and avoid late morning snacks. 

I find lunch meats and breakfast meats very interesting here.  You find meat cases full of chunks of pork fat.  I wonder if that is how they grease pans and season dishes?  Anyway, bacon is very fatty here so I buy ham chunks and slice and fry it up.  Very delicious! Al loved the sausages I bought the first day.  I thought they were tasty too.  I do think they prepare them with vinegar. The eggs I buy are brown but the yolks very pale in comparison to what you have.  However, the flavor is really good. 

I think the milk here is very interesting.  They do not sell non-fat milk.  So needless to say, I haven't drank very much.  Leandra prefers skim as much as I.  I also find the creamy flavor is so much more different. It's more of an aftertaste, yet a different flavor as your milk.  I nearly gagged on it. 

Our shopping experiences are becoming a bit easier, but I have to learn to ask for meats, cheese, and the other types of food you find at the counters.  Yesterday, I saw the ground beef but didn't really know how to ask for the amount I wanted.  I have already learned many words for food, but saying it properly is another can of worms.  Al said I should buy a kilogram of it and divide it at home.  I will say the meat looks really good here.  I think pork and chicken are most popular.  At the meat counter, they had several piles of ground pork but only one pile of ground beef. 

Oh, the bread here smells and looks so delicious.  I could live in the bread department.  Yum!  Oh, desserts here are not overly sweet.  But, they do sell sweets in the bakery.  Yesterday I picked up three rolls for sandwiches.  Al sliced one open and found they have jelly in them.  We had to laugh.  They worked well for PBJ sandwiches.

We have rented a car from the embassy for about $95 a month.  Al has used the car and rode his bike to and from work.  Either way you go, it's dangerous.  The drivers here are crazy!  But, "when in Rome, do as the Romans do". We are working on traffic rules and find they are not too difficult.

The housing here in most places I've seen seems run down and old.  I do see some areas in which I see big, modern style, apartments, or houses. There are a lot of tall apartment complexes that make me think of the projects in Eastern US.  I thank God for the blessings he gives us daily.  I also pray I never take His gifts for granted.  I also wonder if by chance the people here are not so concerned about homes as they are making their house a home. 

I keep thinking that my letters to you would be great to keep as a diary of our trips abroad.  Hey, we could even publish them! NOT! But they would be fun to read years from now.

I bought a few puzzles yesterday that we could work together on, but I think I will need a cloth to put on the table.  Both puzzles are horse scenes and very pretty.

It feels strange to be using someone else's furniture. I am constantly reminding the kids to be careful. I told Al that it doesn't make much sense to trade it for "cheaper" furniture.  The kids need to learn to be gentle and careful.  All the furniture except the breakfast table is cherry wood.  It is very pretty.  The dining table is capable of seating 10 people with all three leaves in it.  The chairs are upholstered in ecru.  Yikes!But we have most definitely been working on manners.  I finally put a towel on Rebekah's chair.  I do think Andrew might need one too because he puts his hands down a lot. 

Each of the bedrooms has a tall dresser, chest dresser, mirror, nightstand, bed, and wardrobe. The master bedroom has 2 wardrobes, and 2 nightstands.  The bedrooms also have a nice upholstered chair.  Leandra's room did have two beds, but one was pulled into the "dress" room for Andrew [It's called the dress room on the floor plan.] The guest room/office had a desk, hide-away couch, and two book shelves.  The foyer has a phone stand with mirror. We moved that to the office between shelves and pulled the desk out.  The desk is in the foyer because there wasn't much room for the bed to fold out with the desk in there. 

Oh, the dining room also has a beautiful hutch and side board.  I plan to put my china in it.  I hope to some day buy a new set of china to feed more than six.  My sights are set on Polish [pottery], but it's extremely heavy and costly.  So I don't plan to be too picky. Right now there is also an armchair in the corner of the dining room, but I plan to pull it into the guest room.

There isn't anything in the basement except the freezer, fridge, washer, dryer, metal shelving, and a patio table/chairs which we took outside yesterday.  The basement is huge and I literally get lost in it. The main basement room is probably 30-40 by 12 feet.  There is a room next to it which is about 15x15 and has a lot of shelving.  Across that room is a room about 10x10 ft that leads to another room about 6x8.  Oh, at the end of the main room is a small room about 4x10. [Keep in mind my measure are not accurate.] All these rooms are left as you come down the stairs.  If you go right there is a very small room about 2x4ft.  Right next to that room is the laundry room which is about 12x20ft.  Every room in the basement has at least one drain in the floor and all rooms except the shelved room, tiny rooms, and the small one at the end of the main room, have windows.  It is a very nice basement.  There is so much play room.  The rooms also have heaters except a few. 

This really is a beautiful house.  The kitchen is small, but I think it may be common here in Europe.  The oven is quite small as is the dishwasher, but they work.  Large plates don't fit in the dishwasher, so I hand wash a lot.  I figure hand wash what doesn't fit.  Run it once a day.  I have already mastered the one sink hand washing dishes.  At first I stacked them all on the counter and put clean dishes back into the sink.  Now I put the rinsed dishes in the sink, wash, then put them on the drainer.  After they are all washed, I rinse and put on the rack. 

The kids drink hot tea every morning.  They think it's fun.  Drinking tea and coffee is quite the thing here.  The aisle in the store is huge.  I picked up a box of Lipton Mountain Berries last time.  I also drink my usual iced tea.  Al is in a funk because Pepsi can't be found here.  He did try a bottle of Just Cola yesterday and said it was good.  I told him I don't want soda in the house.  I just finished off the bottle of Coca-Cola that our sponsor bought a week ago.  Can you believe there was still carbonation? What gives?  Soft drinks in the U.S. don't last two days!!

There are several foods I miss and can't find here.  Popcorn for instance, isn't big.  I can find a very small amount of microwave but I prefer the kernels.  I also miss whole wheat bread.  You can't, as far as I can tell, buy it here.  At the bakery they sell plenty of bread, some nutty grain, most white or black.  I only see flour (all purpose) in the flour section.  We are going to check into ordering some items from the commissary in Helsinki.  Anything we buy would come next Wednesday.  Dan's pantry was stocked full of U.S. foods like Log Cabin syrup, refried beans, Skippy, cereal, and so on.  He offered me a jar of Skippy, but I declined.  

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but you have to buy your grocery bags.  Basically, you have the bags in front of the register and get what you think you need.  They run about 0,30 centu, which is equivalent to about 12 cents.  but you can bring in any bags you want.  I wasn't sure if you could use a Rimi bag at the Maxima, but you can.  I wonder what they would think if I pulled out a Walmart bag?  Kidding!!

Well, I wait anxiously fo our air freight to arrive.  I'm not quite sure when it will arrive, but at least we swill have a few more necessities.  I'm off to fix lunch.  I may, or may not, add more to this book later. 

~~~

In thinking back, I remember we called this house the pretty house, even before we moved there, but had seen photos.  We had the house mapped out in our heads way before we moved there.  We were all so excited to move into this home.  

A Diary of Lithuania - Part 1

I found an old photo of Leandra making bread with Rebekah.  This photo was in the first house we lived in when we moved to Lithuania.  

I was cutting a loaf of sourdough bread this morning and for some reason, the firm texture of the whole grain loaf brought me back to Lithuania when we purchased freshly baked, whole grain loaves from the local markets.  I'm not talking about loaves of bread wrapped in plastic (which they did have) but loaves found in a bin!  These loaves were very dense and tough to cut.  My own loaf, left out on the counter for the last day, was very similar to cut. 

It brought to mind a little diary I kept when our little family first moved there.  I wrote it to keep my mom and dad up to date (belated) while we were getting set up with internet.  I didn't want to miss a bit of the excitement!  

That's when it hit me.  No one but a few people have ever heard of our first days in Lithuania and I thought it would be a great experience for anyone else to read. Or not, you can be the judge!   

So, this will be the first post as I reminisce about a time in the past, that has left a lasting imprint on my mind and heart.  It is a place I hold dear to my heart and is often in my dreams.  No other place I have ever been, has ever taken root of my dreams like Lithuania.  I hope you enjoy!

August 1, 2007

We still aren't set up with phones, but it has only been one day anyway.  I totally forgot to pack a few envelopes and paper in my carry on, so I won't be able to mail this for a while.  I think Al called to have our belongings shipped, so hopefully it won't be long.

The house is very nice despite a few problems.  The kitchen counters are quite low but washing dishes hasn't been too bad.  The refrigerator is small, but they have provided a full sized one plus a large freezer in the basement.  The windows don't have screens but I have decided to allow a few mosquitoes to get a cool breeze.  Overall, the neighborhood is a "hit-or-miss" neighborhood.  The houses in the area are old and large, but are being completely refurbished.  The house next door has a humongous yard filled with a garden.  It truly is beautiful to look at.

I had my first experience shopping at Maxima.  It was a glorified convenience store.  Very small according to our standards.  But I was able to pay $165 litas for a few things we needed.  The currency exchange rate is approximately 2,50 litas per $1.  I had a difficult time calculating in my head.  I think I didn't care.  I paid 15,99 litas for Tide - probably not too great a price but not sure.  It will be hard to find products to match ones I am used to, but I think things won't be too hard.  As long as I learn to handle the other shoppers who know what they need and rush around me with little or no manners.  I joked with Marian [our sponsor] that the Lithuanians shop like they drive.  

Anyway, we are all tired and jet lagged.  Poor Rebekah fell asleep just after dinner.  The other two are equally tired.  The kids absolutely love it outside and spend a lot of time out there.  In fact, they found a few "very large" snails.  Andrew has named them already.  Cassie [our dog] loves the place and even found buried treasure...a bone.  She is content outside staring at all the cats. 

August 2, 2007

Well, another night with little rest.  Rebekah woke just as we were retiring for the night.  She fell out of her bed and was hanging upside down while she cried for me.  I got her a cup of milk and she went back to bed.

I wanted to say a little more about the store.  1st - you buy the grocery bags.  2nd - you bag your own groceries.  I think shopping is done in small amounts here so the sight of someone with an overflowing cart is probably seen as greedy or something even humorous. [shocking is more like it]

We have quite a few large spiders sharing the house with us.  Did I mention they are large? I hope they are as scared of us as we are of them.  We have killed 4 already  I have my sights on #5, but he hides behind the hinge of the back door.

The kids have met a few other chidren.  One boy, David, speaks Lithuanian as well as English.  Andrew automatically assumed if he spoke English he can't possibly be Lithuanian.  Funny, huh?  David just gave the kids some candy. Andrew, after some reminding, said his only known word, "Aciu".  [Thank you] I had him ask if he said it correctly and he was pretty close.

David, from next door, invited the kids over to play.  I walked over and his grandmother came out.  Her English is very limited as my Lithuanian is.  She is very nice.  I asked about a few things in her garden.  She picked me a zucchini the size of a watermelon and said, "present to you".  She also gave me a bouquet of calendula, daisies, and onion blooms.  [very fragrant blooms if you enjoy onions] She also gave me a handful of parsley and a few of the largest beans I had ever see.  At any rate, our talk was limited but I enjoyed the friendship.  I feel badly I can't give her much of a return gift.  I will bake something for her when my UAB [air baggage shipment] comes.  Oh, her name is somewhere along the lines of Adonia or Aldonna. 

August 4, 2007

Well, our third day went better in some ways, worse in others.  The kids have begun to fight like cats and dogs again.  It's much harder to cope with when you are jet lagged.  Usually I am sleepy all day long, but yesterday it hit me around 1 pm.  

I, or we, made our first trip to the embassy yesterday.  The people are so nice.  I met with the ambassador and his wife at the "Hails and Farewells" party.  The Marines who guard the embassy cooked up ground beef [hamburgers], hot dogs, and chicken.  Then they had several types of potato, rice, and pasta salads.  [all very bland] The cost was 50 litas for all of us to eat.  Plus the cost of drinks.  It raised money for something, but I can't remember what.  Anyway, like I said, the foreign service "family" seems to be very nice.  The kids met some friends there and had a blast.  At one point I heard Rebekah screaming in terror and found her poised a top the perimeter wall [four feet up].  I think she started at the 1 foot end with her back to the street, almost got to the 6 foot end, and then looked behind her.  I had to rescue her.  She didn't realize that in front of her only dropped a foot. 

After the party we drove to the XXX Maxima.  NO!  It has nothing to do with porn!  Maxima is a store chain.  The more X's the more stuff they sell.  This store was huge...more like a Walmart in Yuma.  You have to pay about 60 cents to use a shopping cart.  We ended up carrying a small hand basket because we didn't have change.  I like the store even though there is still the language barrier.  There were many more products and some of which have English [England] on them.  Hey! they even have Cheetos!! But I don't want to buy junk food.  Our trip last night was for basics until today.  I [bought] about 1 1/2 gallons of milk, [a] chunk of bacon, 2 loaves of bread, box of tea, 10 eggs [don't sell by dozen], 2 liters OJ, and 2 long use grocery bags for about 45 litas.  That wasn't too shabby. We bought the long shelf life milk which is about 2 [times] the cost of the other.  The other milk comes in a bag and needs a pitcher.  I don't have one. 

Our trash can is so small and service is once a week.  It's full already and we still have 1/2 a week to go.  I hope they give us permission for a mulch pit.  They said to bring the rest to the embassy cans.  

Rebekah had her first tumble down the stairs yesterday.  She bumped her face and said that nothing else hurt.  I think she learned not to come up without holding the bar.  We have decided to request bars to hold onto for the basement stairs.  They also said we could request carpet remnants if slipping was the problem. 

They had provided baby gates at the top and bottom of the stairs, but we removed the main staircase gates.  We left the one to the basement until later.  Evidently they had ordered a few dehumidifiers for the basement, but they hadn't come yet.  The basement's external walls seep when it rains, but I don't know if that is normal or not.  It's the internal leakage that is my concern as well as GSO's. Evidently, the owner was told to fix it or lose rent money so GSO could fix it themselves.  Not sure how they will fix it.  The portions that are wet look just like the wet spot in our old bathroom.  Some could be old, some new.  They need to look at what is above the wet walls and check the pipes.  Seems simple enough.  The bathrooms all have access doors to the pipes. 

Oh! Funny note...They don't really use shower curtains here.  The shower sprayers are adjustable height and you sit in the tub to shower.  Nate said he's been doing it for 4 years.

Let's see.  What else to say?

Oh yes.  We have to make a list of damages already present on the furniture, drapes, and carpeting.  That way we aren't responsible for damages unless we do it.  For the most part, all problems are small.  We also had to do a house survey to tell or report any and all damages [or] problems.  Hopefully everything is okay when we leave.  Evidently there has been a problem in the past with people not reporting any damages and leaving [for] their next post without paying for replacements. I am glad God has given me a sense of honesty. I would pay for damages to anything I broke or the rest of the family.  

Well, I guess that's all for now.  Today's schedule includes shopping and dinner with another family.  Actually, the guy and his wife are scheduled for c-section Sunday.  Hopefully I can get a little more sleep in before we leave.  I may snuggle on the couch while Rebekah plays.

 

The Beginning of a New School Year

 To bring in the new school year, I brought in a little organization centrally located in the dining room area.  Sure, I could have used the built in wall unit, but I would prefer to use that to house my dining room linens.  

So, I purchased a small shelf with four large baskets, but the baskets were too large for the shelving unit, so those were returned.  The books will simply have to sit on the shelf.  The smaller baskets I purchased were to contain their personal supplies like crayons, pencils, rulers, etc..  

Caleb started his new Language Arts and Math books this past week.  By new, I mean 3rd grade level.  The math lessons seem to be much longer than the previous year, so with his concentration level, he hasn't been able to keep his eye on the target.  He also has had a huge attitude this past week as well. I believe it has a lot to do with his sleep, which I will discuss in a bit.

By Thursday, Hannah had completed her Language Arts program and moved into level 4.  Her math still has several lessons to go, but that's okay.  

Abigail and Alexandra are still working through their current books, but they have the next books already in line for when they finish.  

Meanwhile, I bought a chalk board and mounted it on the wall so I could write a school schedule.  The plan is to use timed sessions rather than completed lessons.  After the session is up, I will determine if they need to do "homework" when the day is over.  It will be up to the individual child to figure out how much energy they want to put into their work for the day.  

If you want to know what subject study the kids are doing this year, you can find the page at the top of the blog.  Just click where it says Espino Family Homeschool. 

So why was Caleb not sleeping well? 

Because I discovered he was staying up late to play games on a phone.  Yes, you heard me right. Before you jump on me about what he was doing with a phone, let me explain.  A week or so ago, I asked Al if there was an old phone we could put music on for Caleb to listen to while he falls asleep.  Al fixed it all up, turned off wi-fi, disabled internet, and so on.  

Well, earlier this week, I was in bed at nearly 11:30 and heard that the girls were downstairs playing, rather loudly.  I went down, told them to get in bed, and came back up.  I went in to get a drink and in passing Caleb's room, I saw he was still awake and had the phone in front of him.  He immediately said, "It quit playing the songs."  I knew there had been issues with it, but he said he fixed it.  I told him to put the phone down and go to sleep.  

The next day, he was super obnoxious again, wouldn't do his work and was absolutely disrespectful and rude to me.  He was arguing about wanting to watch a video on YouTube and I said he couldn't.  He then said, "Fine, I'll just watch it on the phone!"  To this I said, "Um, no you won't."  I walked into the room where he had the phone charging under the pillow (which, by the way was super hot) and I grabbed it.  I started looking at the phone and discovered a few things.  One, the internet was on.  Two, Google Chrome had been opened on the phone.  Three, he had somehow managed to find an online gaming page in which he was playing video games.  The history showed he had been doing this for the last four days!  No wonder he was okay with me only reading one chapter in his book at night!  

Needless to say, I confiscated the phone, told him he could no longer listen to music, and I put a password on the phone should he find it after I put it away.  He was NOT happy. Tough love. 

That actually made me look on the phone the girls use for music.  Alexandra was reprimanded for attempting to play an online game, but there was no evidence that she was successful since the game was only on Facebook or Instagram.  The internet history didn't show any other attempts to access.  

I get it, the world of social media and internet seem so enticing to the teen, but it isn't a necessity and they don't need it.  While they might hate me for it now, I am okay with that.  As I have said before to them, "I am not here to be your friend, I am here to be your mother."

Well, Caleb is waiting to play some card games with me.  So I better get off this Chromebook and play.

Compost, Cantaloupe, and Lots of Weeds

Sunday work day...

This morning, after a breakfast of eggs and berry muffin bake, the kids and I went out to the goat yard to harvest gold.  

Okay. Actually, we were digging up and harvesting goat poop compost: beautiful garden gold. We had shovels, rakes, wagon, and wheelbarrow.  In some places, it is 8 inches of built up compost against the fences. 

We were filling up the wagon and wheelbarrow, pushing and pulling up to the medicinal garden, and dumping. It is some rich compost; sweet and earthy. We did finally stop for the day, but there is still a lot of compost to load up for the garden. 

After Al worked on getting water to the ewes in the eastern pasture where they were grazing, he used the tractor and grappled up all the old hay in the does' pen so we could move a new round bale in.  Round bale is now in with goats chomping away happily. 

In our homeschool...

We do year round school so that our schedule, the many appointments, and feast days don't interfere with making sure the kids learn the basics.  

This past week, Caleb finished both his math book and his language arts book, basically making him ready for the next level.  

The girls are at various lessons in their books.  Some are closer to being complete than others.  This week I plan to look over their lessons to see where they are at.  Then in an effort to have a more scheduled day, I will look at how we can best put our time to use without school dragging into the evening. 

History and science are not a focal point in our education plan, but I do make sure they have access to it.  Our history is typically done as a family, and the past few years, they have worked through science on their own.  

This year, the plan is to do a family science class with the younger two or three, then the older one, or two, will work on their own science.  Again, since I don't emphasize the science and history, I don't care too much if they take two years to get through one book.  

Our history is a family unit and we are working through the Revolutionary War.  We only do history two days a week, but I have plans to do it every day this upcoming "year" in smaller lessons.  Some days there are simple too many things to read.  

In the garden...

The main garden is an absolute wreck, but we have been bringing in cantaloupe.  These aren't nearly as nice as last year's bounty, but they are still good.  

My main focus for that garden in the next few weeks is to get the larger bed ready for the fall garden.  I want to get cabbage and broccoli in as well as some root veggies.  I had really wanted to get more beans in this summer, and while I do still have time, I have to prioritize it.  

The front garden is slowly coming along and it really doesn't present itself like it wants to grow tomatoes or peppers.  The squash are coming along, as are the cantaloupe.  The cucumbers are also up, though only two of three.  None of the Chinese cabbage came up.  

In the sheep yard...

Our asparagus patch actually lies where the original garden is out by the eastern part of our property.  We initially put a cattle panel border around it to keep the sheep from eating it, but the system failed.  The sheep could push on the panels and reach the weeds and asparagus growing in the small garden.  Eventually, they snapped the ties on the t-post and they devoured all my asparagus this past spring.  Fortunately, there were no ill effects.  

Al and I worked a bit on a newer fence earlier last week, and on Friday he was able to finish the job, making the pen twice as wide, 1/2 a cattle panel longer, and add more t-posts for security to prevent them from pushing through.  Now I need to work harder on keeping it cleaned up and mulched to encourage a stronger and healthier harvest. 

The rams have been separated for quite some time from the ewes because I needed the ewes to fatten up in time for breeding season.  They slowly started putting on weight, but those who still had lambs nursing were struggling to keep the weight on.  Finally, in the last few weeks, I was able to sell off the final three ewe lambs.  The ewes are looking great!  

With the asparagus patch finally finished, we were able to move them to a new pasture with something nutritious to eat.  With the rain we have been getting, we are hopeful we can get the other pastures to grow again before fall and winter.  Then, it will be back to the dry lot after breeding season.  

And for breeding season, the plan is to have two separate breeding pens.  One will have Lego (formerly Leg o' Lamb) with Sage and Basil, and the other pen will have Othello with Rosemary and Thyme.  (Yes, our breeding sheep are named after games and herbs, while our meat sheep are named after meat.) Meanwhile, Rosemary's ram lambs are still rather small and we aren't sure when they will go to the butcher.  We ended up naming them after games this year, which is fine.  We don't struggle with having difficulty eating animals with cute names.  Blackjack and Scrabble will still end up in the freezer before they are a year old.  

In the goat pen...

Some of you may recall we received devastating news that our wether (castrated male) was sick with Johnnes, or chronic wasting disease.  We did end up putting him down, and the quarantine lot will be left empty for a few more months more until we can clean it up.  The bucks will be retested come fall to make sure they do not have the same disease, but if they do, I am uncertain what direction we will go.  The bucks are all hanging out in the buck pasture and the woods.  They all look wonderfully healthy at this point (then again, so did Kobe, the wether).  We currently have four bucks in that pen (the new one makes five, but is in another pen) and I am watching the two youngest to see whether or not it is worth keeping them.  

The breeding plans are already in the works for the does.  I am hopeful that Maizie and Yelana, my two newer does, are pregnant.  They were bred to Oliver.  

Our newest buckling, Noir, fell ill a few weeks ago.  I didn't know what the problem was, but I did all I could to get him on the mend.  He made it!  But it was a difficult time.  His initial problem was being off feed and after checking him, his membranes were pale and he had a fever.  Fevers almost always indicate an infection.  Unfortunately, in treating him, I over treated with antibiotics which ended up tearing up his rumen and gut, causing diarrhea, and sending him even more into sickness.  He was given iron, Vitamin B complex, and also dewormed in order to cover all the bases.  He was also given two little girlfriends, Kahlua and Serenade, since it didn't matter if they got bred by him.  The good news?  He is completely back to full health and looking good.  And other news?  I am pretty sure he has bred Serenade.  So just a matter of waiting for Kahlua to go into heat.  

There are only two goats on the milk stand now, bringing in about a quart a day.  I stopped milking Juniper last week because her first freshener udder is just too difficult for me to milk.  So, she and Ivy will be the next two to be in the breeding pen.  I am trying hard to stagger the breedings so I will always have milk.  

The final breeding will be in early fall when Mocha and Amber will be bred.  After that, there won't be any breedings until spring IF some of our kids from this year are big enough.  

And Jersey, our runaway doe who has hated me from day one, has finally reached the point she will be sold.  

In the poultry pen...

Most of our laying hens (12 of them) are still laying eggs for us with an average of seven a day.  They are still in the front yard, tilling and fertilizing where the garden will be expanded this winter.  

The chickens we purchased this past spring are nearly full grown, but not laying yet. At this point, I still can't tell if they are roosters or hens.  I need to figure it out soon so I can separate or tag them for processing.  We were letting them free range until we realized the dog killed one.  Now, they are back in the electric fence.  We will eventually move the dogs out of the sheep pasture in order to give the chickens access to free ranging.  

Our turkeys all died.  Okay, the dog helped herself to a few and should have been removed from the realm of living at that point...but.  I decided to buy hatching eggs from a local guy, but after candling all the eggs, it looks like he needs to get out of the hatching egg business and start selling eggs for food.  I bought 30 hatching eggs and at this point, I only see viability in 3 of them.  Yes, you read that right.  Three.  But, BUT, here is the thing.  If I buy turkey poults online, which I should have, it would cost $14 a poult plus shipping with a minimum of 15 turkey poults in an order. So, even if three poults hatch, I still ended up with a deal.  Sort of. 

We have Freedom Ranger meat birds arriving this week.  This was to bring in a bigger bird for meat, but not one that is prone to heart attacks and broken legs like those meat birds raised commercially for grocers.  These are supposed to be able to breed on their own, which we will try.  If we can manage to pull this off with the help of Yah, then it will help us out with providing a bit of a bigger bird for the table.  If not, then we learned and we just live with smaller birds. 

Other news...

We have been working toward our annual stock up of hay for the winter.  We brought home about 26 round bales, plus what small bales we baled from our property and the neighbor's fields.  Unfortunately, I found out that some of the hay has been sprayed with Grazon which can affect the quality of the garden.  So in the future, we will definitely be more careful about what we feed our livestock and what we put on our gardens.  Be warned, many people are suffering from grazon taint in store bought composts and manure.  Grazon is used to kill off broad leaf plants and seems to really affect tomatoes. 

The well water is to be tested for contaminants and minerals, then possibly hooking it back up to the house, thus getting off of rural water.  

A split-pac unit was finally installed in the basement to allow for the girls to have an air conditioner during the summer.  The heater won't be used since there is already a propane heater down there.  

Abigail will begin her first phase of orthodontic care this week.  

I recently started a 22 week treatment through a local chiropractor to help alleviate pain in my neck as well as shoulder.  They are also going to help me find some more natural options for my insomnia.  

I guess that is about all I have to say about that.  😁

A New Blog, But Same Content

A random photo of my strawberry starts I have going.

The other day, I deleted my blog.  I felt I didn't want to do it anymore.  Then I realized I need an outlet for my thoughts and my journey.  

I guess the re-emergence of Facebook into my life, kind of put a damper on my desire to write and share what we do.  But in the last several months of being on Facebook, I felt like there was an inner struggle that isn't present when I am NOT on social media.  I finally got to the point I realized that I don't need social media to feel validated. 

Do I need to blog?  No.  Which is why I deleted my blog.  I don't want to come across as if I am trying to teach something.  I don't want to present my life and journey as though I am showing off, either.  

I am glad I saved all my data from the last blog, because I was able to load it up to a new blog and pick up where I left off.  

So where are we now?  

Still in the midst of gardening.  A lot of it has died.  The main garden has been over run with weeds and pests.  The front garden has been replanted and seedlings are already emerging.  My brain is whirling as I try to figure out how to make the main garden more manageable, while not losing valuable space.  

I have begun a new garden, which will be low maintenance, but will provide medicinal herbs that can regrow on their own.  So far, I have mullein, wooly lamb's ear, and yarrow planted in it.  I plan to dig up my comfrey and put it in there as well.  

At any rate, I don't want to sit here and write a long blog about "blah, blah, blah", but just want you to know I am still here.  

~Rachel