Potty Training

I am potty training Christian. For me that means setting up a childs potty in the bathroom and allowing my little man to run around half naked. Elle is on "squat patrol" and living in a place with mostly concrete floors has it's benefits. It is going really well... REALLY well... he loves it. He is so proud of himself and never has accidents anymore as long as he's not wearing any drawers, he goes in the potty.  He needs no reward (other than occational cheering), he waves and says "bye bye potty" as he flushes the toilet. It is actually quite the enduring episode to watch...
The catch is this... he wants to dump his own little tray.... Which would be fine....except... instead of dumping it away from himself into the toilet... he dumps it toward himself.... (I really do wish I could provide a video here.... it is as good as drama can get... will he make it in the toilet... or will it end up on the floor... or himself....and how do I keep my cool- in the name of his enjoying the experiance enough to keep at it- if either of the later occurs.) It can only be comical as he is so stink'n cute about the whole thing and I am just so excited to no longer need to buy so many diapers and any steps toward greater independance are like gold to me- the one he is so dependant on...
Anyway, just a little funny thing I thought I'd be fun to look back on and remember... =)

homemade cast iron tub round curtain rod

So, I knew that a circular shower curtain rod was more expensive than a regular shower rod, but I thought maybe $50 or something and it would still make it worth the savings to have used the cast iron tub I already had (sitting out in the pasture)... but I called the only plumbing place in town that I could find that carried them and the sales lady informed me that the most economic one started at $150!!! "But it is real nice quality, not cheesey or cheaply made." Were her words to try and revive me after I stopped breathing upon hearing "$150".... I carefully picked my chin up off the floor and told her "thank you" and "I'll have to get back to her"... and decided to figure out another way to get something to hang a few shower curtains on.

So... I went to Home Depot (where they actually know me... and my kids.... by name!) and got 2 electrical conduit rods. I brought them back, measured and bent them into the size needed to over fit the tub size and taped the joints together with duct tape (actuall duct tape...used for heat ducts... I had some left from installing the vent for the bathroom fan.. it is more rigid than the other tape.) I put 4 screws in the ceiling where the corners would go and tied ribbon around the rod at the corners and twisted them around the screws to hang the rod.... And woo-la! $6 shower rod that quite frankly I think looks pretty good! Although I will NOT be "selling" it as "real nice quality, not cheesey or cheaply made".... but for $6... and it is FUNCTIONAL... ( THAT is what is suppose to matter... right??) I'd say it's a great deal. =)

September projects

Okay... so for those of you who are interested.... The September project dates are as follows:

Blackberry Jam... THIS weekend... (Sorry late notice, but I HAVE to get these berries out of my freezer!) So Saturday (the 10th) I will be making them in to jam with anyone who wants to join in. If you want to take some home, then bring some sugar, pectin, blackberries and a jar... or $5 and you can have a jar of mine.

I am going to do the ice cream and butter on the same day... Next Thursday afternoon the 15th. If you want to take any of that home, bring some raw jersey cow milk. (you can buy it at the co-op in Olympia for about $10/gallon) Or you can just watch the process. If you want to make butter with cream and don't want the higher cost of the raw milk- you can bring whatever cream you want to use and do that..That is done in smaller ammounts so I won't have to mix it with mine. I haven't made the ice cream with this maker before so I am not totally sure how it will work out (amount wise) so it may be able to be done in separate batches, but maybe not. Either way- chip in $10 or so (this stuff is more expensive!) and you can take some home.

The Amish noodles...Tuesday the 20th is when I plan to do those. I may think up something else to do in there too because there is some dry time in there... or maybe that's when kids can just play or something... If you want some of these bring cage free/free range organic eggs and gallon size ziplock bags. These take a TON of eggs! Or you can take a gallon ziplock bag home for $3.

This should be fun! So far I have about 6 people interested. Let me know who can come based on these dates and if you think you will be wanting to take anything home (so I know how much stuff to get/prepare for). I just really missed doing things with people while I was in Miami and it really taught me the value and importance of getting together with people to learn/grow and enjoy one another while doing worth while things. So... I am just trying to provide opportunities to do just that. I am not proclaiming to be any sort of expert at these things. Some of them I have never done, some I have only done once or so. The process may or may not work out perfectly, but the idea is just enjoying it all regardless. I am not going to be stressing and doing a lot of prep into any of this. It will just be relaxed and casual. Kids are welcome. (YOU are responsible for them! Our place is NOT 100% child proof by any means- you can inquire further if you have questions.)

Final Before and After...

I FINALLY got my computer fixed! I no longer have to hold the top corner "just so" to keep the screen from turning all white. Now if I could just have consistent internet connection, it'd be ideal... nonetheless... here is the latest...

Okay, so remember this... this was the barn at not even a truly "before" as much had been cleared out, and the demo of the stalls and ladder had begun...

Here was pouring the concrete to level out the floor a bit.

And now for the "After".... I have to say, I just love it! I was happy to live in a dirt floor hut rather than Miami, so this is just a dream! =)

Here's my kitchen...

Love the sink... I had looked forever for old cast iron ones but found the same look for WAY cheaper at Ikea... new...

This photo is kinda dark, but it is from the front door... looks up to the main loft..

Living room. Behind the quilt is the kid's sleeping loft. (I am still needing to make wooden ladders... so excuse the ugly ones) - more on this wood stove later... it's a dream...

Here's down from the kid's loft

Across to our loft.

And the view out my living room window.

It is cozy and only around 600 sq ft, but for just the kids and I it is perfect for us to temporarily stay and will be an awesome space when we're done for work shops, selling goods and a place for guests to stay and kids to play...

I am glad we decided to put our money/energy into our place, rather than spend it on rent somewhere else... We'll see if I feel the same this winter... but for now, I am perfectly content here.  =)

Before and After: Group one

This is the start of the before and after photo's of our barn work we've done. This is the before shot of the back. Tons of concrete, random stuff previous owners have left, old fence....

This is after! I still have a lot of flowers to plant in there, we just planted carrots and peas for the hopes of a winter crop, and most of the remaining flowers I plant will be transplanted from the other yard (that needs to be thinned anyway), so that needs to wait until late fall. I got the bricks off of craigslist- LOVE them! I have the guy's contact info if anyone is interested....

Before shot of between the barn and chicken house. .. more concrete...

After! I already need to mow the lawn! This sod was a crazy endevor! I had no idea what I was in for. I thought it would be easier than seed as far as prep goes, but really it isn't. I had to get it all laid (photo's only show about 1/3 of what actually went down) in one day and I didn't realize how well the ground had to be prepped... So after laying it all out (It comes in rolls) in place the one day, I had to also haul 5 yards of soil to put underneath it all... not to mention 3 yards of sand for the bricks... and the bricks...And in the mix of it all I was wanting a little "instant appeal" and got some flowers to plant and put them in and then was putting in the T-posts for the fencing and hit a water line!!! It wouldn't have been that big of deal (I just turned the shut off switch to all the outside water and it stopped pouring up from the ground) but I had JUST laid all the sod that day and it has to be watered 2x a day or more to keep it from dying, so I had to fix it right away. That sort of thing sort of intimidates me, but I got it figured out... I even got to use a torch...(no one could believe I don't own a hair dryer! I guess that would have worked just as well... I figured I'd buy the torch, they cost about the same and I figured I'd get more future use out of the torch than a hair dryer.) I was exhausted at the "end" of this little project, to say the least... But I think it turned out well for such an amature! (If I do say so myself!)

This is a bed swing (ropes attach to the rafters above) I made for the little outside area from mostly scrap wood. I had a twin mattress I didn't have anything else to do with and thought this would be fun for the kids. They love it... and I must say, I do too!

This is the before shot of the outside area just off the barn....

This is after! Elle has a little art area and table to eat at. (Gotta love IKEA!)

All of their toys are out here and just a fun space for them to enjoy.

And this is a little random, but this is the bathroom... LOVE it- not bad for the space! I don't really have a "before" photo... but let's just say this space is where we housed our baby chicks last year...Used our milled cedar for the floor... and the claw foot cast iron tub from out in the pasture (that took A LOT of scrubbing... and I just spray painted the outside and feet with white spray paint, since they were just metal/rust color). I bucket out the bath water to water the lawn... we use the minimal ammount of water here. I haven't gotten the shower curtain deal done yet. I am going to make it from galvanized pipes... a "real" one for a tub like this (since it has to go all the way around) costs over $150!

More pictures of the inside soon. My computer is broke (again!) and it appears I need a new screen ($200! It's only a $450 laptop as it is!)... I have to hold in the top corner to keep the screen from going white... so this one handed typing is no fun.... But I am LOVING our little space. The kids are too and we just got our dog and cat back yesturday and they are just making themselves right at home. I am so excited to have "farm" classes here and share the "charm" of all our hard work! The kids and I have been picking blackberries almost daily, anticipating many winter smoothies, making jam, pies and ice cream! Yum!

Elle's House

As I have been working hard on our new living quarters, (photo's soon!) Elle has been working hard on her own house. Even has sawdust insulation! Her comment: "I built my house in a day, what's taking you so long?" =)

I asked Elle to help gather the rocks  out of the dirt (preparing it for sod to go down) and she gathered them together and made this.... she said it was me with pig tails! My little artist...

September projects

Anyone who is interested, let me know... I am planning to do the following projects in September and would love for anyone who wants to, to join me.
Make Blackberry Jam
Make butter for the winter (to store in the freezer) from raw jersey milk.
Try out my homemade hand crank ice cream maker
Make a LARGE batch of homemade noodles.

Let me know asap if you want to be a part!

Potholes State Park

The last few weeks have been CRAZY! I am overwhelmed by how many posts I have to get caught up on, so I am going to just start posting things, and it won't be very sequencial, but I figure that's better than not mentioning them at all. I'm not totally sure why I take the time to do this whole "blog thing" anyway, but if nothing else it will be really fun for my kids to look back on and have a record of some of the littler things in our life.
Here are some photo's of our camping trip to Potholes state park (about 30 miles from Vantage, WA). It was a WONDERFUL trip! I was totally "that person" for the trip. It started with me bringing an empty cooler, leaving behind a full fridge of prepared food, and then... closing the door to the van, not realizing that  while I was cleaning up Christian's "mess " he'd made on the grass while I was getting him a diaper out of the tent, he had locked the doors to the van., and when I shut it, it locked the key in there. (SO glad I still had AAA from my annual membership for traveling accross country).  The families we went with were AMAZING! Such beautiful families. The kids were so fun with Elle and Christian. It was so nice to have her with so many kids that were such good influences and such respectful kids. They all had ample food and were so nice to share with the forgetful unorganized me. =)
The park is a great spot. We were in the group camp, which was on the river. There was a lot of great green grass space, a big fire pit, nice shade trees, and clean pit toilets (which doubled as an echo chamber for the kids... yuk!)  The river was perfect. We drove up to a different spot to raft down the river with all the kids- that was so nice, I haven't floated a river in a long time. Elle's favorite were the rapids right there at the camp. (that's what most of the pictures are of) The kids (and adults) would step out on a rock and jump into the rapids and float down to a shallow spot where they had to quickly grab on and make their way to the side (parents always present to "save" any kids who missed the shallow spot and continued down river).

The inner tubes were just as fun off the river, as on the river.

 Elle showing her fresh water clam (at least that's what I think it is) she found.

 Here the kids were playing "monster". =)

 This is the rapid they went in below.

Feels like summer! =)

The end of the adventures of city life....

LET FREEDOM RING!!! (Happy Indepence Day!) The kids and I are leaving Miami. (insert whistleing, cheering and tears of joy!) Tomorrow will be our last day here. We are picking up my mom at the airport Wednessday morning and she is heading up to Virginia with us to Polyface Farm (Joel Salatin's farm) for their field day. We are going to visit a few other places along the way and then she is going to fly back from Atlanta, where the kids and I will head for Colorado to visit a friend of mine from college and then we'll be on our way home!
Michael will not be coming with us, but will be home to visit often until the job is done. Can't wait to see all our friends and family!

A Day with the Amish

Pulling up to the Amish farm it appears as any other beautiful farm, with a distinct "farm smell" and all.

The house looks like another charming farm house.

There is a large barn full of horses and cows and even a mother dog with a new litter of puppies nursing.

A large chicken house that contains over 3,000 laying hens.

A pond in the pasture beyond the garden area. Mother horses and baby colts frolicking nearby.

Very picturesque.

The difference is the people. (Here they are butchering chickens for those who were buying...)

Their kitchen is HUGE! This family has 13 children. So the kitchen/eating area must be able to accommodate 15 for meals... and many many more when company comes or they host a meal for the youth or house church service. They have no electricity but you can't hardely tell. Much of it is ran off of gas. There is no TV, no radio, no kitchen aid mixer or toaster...

This is set up in their front yard...

Christian playing with their baby kitten...

Beautiful.

Elle is getting a buggy ride. The oldest son (20 years old) trains horses, he was working with this one. We also went on a large wagon that they use for hauling hay. The horses are MASSIVE and so beautiful! They took us on a ride through the field, around to the grandparents field and to the Amish school and back. It was such a beautiful ride.

The girls cooled their feet in the water from the Artisian well that they have set up to pump out and stream down through their yard. There is a cup there for the kids (or anyone else for that matter) to drink from it at any time, and it is so refreshing for cleaning your hands or dipping your feet in as you needed.

And here are the boys cooling off in the big tub that was originally bought to raise fish in, but the Amish boys have made it their own! It is filled from that same Artisian well.

The day with this Amish family was life changing. They were such an incredible family. All that you see here (and I didn't take many photo's because the Amish do not like having their faces in photo's) is ran JUST by this family. They do not have hired hands, no employees. Really try and grasp this.... a family of 15... with the oldest child being 23 and the youngest just turned a year old a week ago.... they milk 50 cows (each of which they know by name- they are trained to go to their specific stall when they come in from the pasture. They are just called and they come in and go to their stall.) They clean around 500 DOZEN eggs A DAY! They take care of over 30 horses, 3000  laying chickens, 50 meat chickens, 50 cows, make their meals from scratch, train dozens of horses, and care for all of the young kids, on top of regular daily life stuff, selling all those eggs, tending a HUGE garden.....etc...etc... WOW! And all of this while the sun is shineing... they can't work in the dark. =) It is truly an incredible example of what can be done with a family that works together. (not to mention the lack of a TV or computer! ha!)

Even with all of this, the thing that really effected me the most was the dad, Harry is his name. He is the happiest man I have ever seen. I mean actually, really, truly happy- overflowing with pure joy. I didn't exchange many words with him, but I saw his face, and I saw him smile. It is hard to find a man with real joy these days. Even through their smiles, their jokes and their laugher if one looks close enough, they'll see the weight they carry, the burdens of their job, struggles within their family, poor choices coming back to haunt them, financial responsibilities, pressures of temptations etc... But not this man...this man was free. He was weightless and solid at the same time. The kids too. I spent a good deal of time with the oldest daughters (they helped at the "camp" for the first couple days). They were so geniune, so joyful and I really can't think of a better word than "free". They weren't nieve, quiet and "robotic" like some may think of Amish women. They had excellent sense of humors, were smart, but not above learning a new way of doing something, they were kind and EXTREMELY hard workers. The oldest son, who was just 20 years old had the confidence and sureity of a "successful" man twice his age, and yet the humility and kindness of a girl half his age. He too had that same freedom about him as the father did. They all did. Let me tell you, you really can not believe the depths of it unless you see it- and look.

 They are FREE. It was without question that if something tragic were to happen in their lives they would be unchanged in their joy and peace. They have a solidness about them I have never experianced. Their eyes hold what "freedom" looks like. They do not carry the burdens of this world, only the joy of hard work and real love for others. I want that same freedom, now more than ever... I can no longer convince myself that it doesn't exist. It does. I saw it, undeniably so, with my own eyes.