Adventures On a Rural Homestead

Our Week

I've missed many days of blogging, but it's been an interesting week. Last Saturday morning I cut my thumb very deeply. It took over two hours to stop the bleeding, and it hurt like belix, as my mama says. I am so glad that we had gauze and Wound Seal, which eventually stopped the bleeding. It's been tough this week to do routine things like wash my hair, wash the dishes, and chop vegetables to cook. 

Sunday afternoon we used my parents truck and help to get a beautiful antique sideboard to replace our IKEA art dresser in the dining room. It looks wonderful, and fits our style and house! 

We celebrated my Dad's birthday Monday with a wonderful lunch and dessert. We had a great visit and enjoyed looking at old photos together. 

The boys and I had a lovely car picnic and walk in town on Tuesday. The new path by the river is pretty, and connects to our favorite gravel trail loop. 

Wednesday there was a brilliant sunrise, ahead of another ice storm Wednesday night into Thursday. I bundled up to stand out in the pasture and soak up the beauty, it is so good for my soul.

Alex is working on printing more sets of bird greeting cards to sell, it was so fun to watch him print this week. 

Nick had snow days on Thursday and Friday, and we enjoyed family time together playing games and chatting by the fire. Friday afternoon we went to the huge 140,000 sq feet antique mall in Verona. It was the first store the boys and I have been in in almost exactly a year! We were nervous at first, but checked in to see how we felt. The boys loved looking at all the fossils and rocks, then found a Matchbox car stand. One of their current loves is building ramps to race cars, so they were thrilled to find some new cars. I found a beautiful set of 1930s china dessert plates that I got for my birthday. 

When we got home from the antique mall the mail was here, with a package from my Aunt Sondra. She wove a beautiful shawl for me, a lovely hug from her to me! I am so delighted, and have been wrapped up and warm in her hug and love. 

Other than my thumb injury and more ice we've had a good week. The middle of this coming week our weather predicts temperatures will be in the 50s. It should be perfect for winter sowing my garden seeds, and for hiking. We've decided to start hiking at some of our favorite places again, it's been a year since we've been to Braley Pond! I'm looking forward to more outings, and to finding joy outside. 

Snapshots of my Week

I've been reading good books lately, and am on book number 25 for the year. This book on finding yourself in the wilderness was great, and had parts on tracking and exploring that I read aloud to the boys. 

Eli and I were talking about missing being barefoot and grounded on the Earth. So on one of our evening pasture walks we took off our shoes! My acupuncturist has told me to keep my sore foot warm at all times, so I could only take one boot off, but it still felt so good. It was invigorating to walk through the snow with bare feet! 

As Alex sat drawing one afternoon he told me all about astronomers search for Planet Nine. I do love hearing what he knows, and what he teaches us. 

I ordered herbs from my favorite herbalist in PA, and am so delighted to have good healing tea to drink. I used lemon balm and beautiful calendula flowers that I dried from my garden too. 

Sweet Petey has been inside many hours during these cold winter days. We love his company! 

Today is National Ice Cream for Breakfast day, and we celebrated with ice cream on our homemade waffles. Such a fun start to the weekend. We have good food prepared for watching the Super Bowl tomorrow, go Chiefs! 

I'm thankful for another good week with my sweet boys! 

 

 

Snow Adventures

The kids and I spent over 3.5 hours outside together yesterday, on wonderful snowy adventures. First we spent over an hour tracking in our back pasture. We tracked rabbits, a cat, and what we think are coyote tracks. I sent photos of the tracks to our neighbor friend, and she said they have seen foxes and coyotes down by the spring next to our property. 

We came inside for some lesson time, and looked up the tracks in our nature books. The boys drew the tracks and animals while I read aloud. Then we bundled back up to go outside to play. While Alex chopped down an invasive Bradford Pear tree Eli rolled gigantic snowballs and we made a snow lady together. 

The snow lady is on our new land (not so new anymore, it was almost one year ago that we bought it!), and the boys decided they wanted to make another one closer to the house. The second one got so huge and tall that we had to make a board ramp to roll and heft the torso onto the base! By the time we were finished we were so exhausted we didn't make it look very uniform, but it was lots of fun. 

We had such fun adventures together, I am so thankful for this time and this space. We're off now to explore tracks on our adjoining lot! 

Snow Fun

We woke yesterday morning to 4" of snow, and got more throughout the morning. We had such a fun snow day together~ including sledding on the hill behind our pond. 

Eli surprised us by going down the hill standing up on his sled, he just silently glided down with amazing balance! 

The boys had fun standing to sled, a challenge that made us all chuckle! 

We had such a fun time together, followed by wood stove smores to warm up after our sledding. We enjoyed homemade pizza and chicken wings for a delicious lunch. 

The college was closed today so Nick had another snow day, more fun! I'm so glad we got a nice big snow. It's the first time in our 3 winters here that we could use our big snowblower to clear our driveway. We're all hoping for another big snow, the Farmers Almanac predicted a big February snow then an early March snow. 

Winter Hike

We had lunch with my parents yesterday, then bundled up to hike with my mom. We followed some deer trails again, and were thrilled to find parts of an old deer skeleton. Alex enjoyed fitting the parts together and showing us how they worked. It was a wonderful science lesson. 

The woods trail is very loopy and rocky, and the boys enjoyed the challenge of finding our way back to the road. 

We all loved our time together in the woods. By the end of our 3 hour explore my sore foot was hurting, I walked 9,700 steps yesterday! I hope to continue our weekly walks in the woods, even when it's blustery and cold! 

 

Our Week

This week seemed to last about a month, but the individual days were mostly good. We spent lots of time outside, doing fun things like having a winter picnic and flying kites with my parents. 

I had good walks in our back pasture with our sweet pup.

And there was lots of fort building. The boys tried to make a tree fort but didn't want to screw or nail into the tree, which proved to be too tricky.

Nick and I worked to help the boys build a neat two-story pallet fort in our woodsy area. 

Next to the boys pallet fort will be a "mama hangout," a big floor with pallets around three sides. This has been such a fun project. We'll work later today to finish closing in the pallet fort, and to secure the pallets around the mama hangout. We picture the mama hangout will be a great family picnic spot and wonderful outdoor lesson spot. I think we'll all spend lots of time out here! 

I'm looking forward to another good week with my sweet boys. Alex has a Valentines block carved and ready to print on cards, Eli is working on re-arranging his room, and I think we'll try to hike with my parents again mid-week. 

15 Years

Nick and I are celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary today. 15 years ago we never would have guessed we'd have 2 boys, 45 chickens and be living in Virginia! 

I am so thankful for Nick by my side on this journey. May we have many more years of laughter and smiles, and photos with bunny ears! 

We'll celebrate tonight with takeout dinner and dessert with the boys, then watch the college women's basketball game online. 

Winter Picnic and Hike

We picked up groceries yesterday, then took sandwich wraps to the park to meet my mom for a winter picnic and hike. It was blustery and cold to sit and eat outside, but we soon warmed up walking in the beautiful sunshine. 

Alex asked to explore off the trail, and we had fun following a deer path into the woods. 

We walked along the grass by a little creek, the boys had fun jumping back and forth over the water. 

It was a beautiful day to be outside, to visit with my mom and soak up the healing sunshine on our faces! 

Mundane Moments

In a time when the world seems to be in such turmoil, and I wake with stiff shoulders and a tense belly, I am finding peace in the seemingly mundane moments of my day. Our routine of starting the day with a dawn pasture walk is so healing. I feel such joy and calm walking this land and reveling in the sunrise. 

I am glad our roots are here, and that my boys can experience the wildness of starting their days outside. 

Levi keeps me company while I do my morning yoga, he is a pretty good audience. 

Our days are not always peaceful, so I remind myself to cherish moments of calm. The boys do such a good job of helping each other, like when they work together to fill Alex's nine bird feeders. They both enjoy bird watching, Eli especially likes to call Alex over to see a rare or unusual bird, like the Evening Grosbeaks we got to see on Christmas day!

The boys have been doing some cooking, so I can enjoy moments to myself to read by the fire. I do love woodstove season, and the time to drawn in and gather warmth. I am remembering to breathe deeply, hug my boys close and cherish every moment. 

 

Into the Woods

Our weather has been mild this week. Wednesday it was in the 50s and sunny, so we headed to the woods to meet my parents for a hike. It felt so good to be out in the huge trees and wilderness. 

My dad brings his knives for the boys to use to carve fallen logs and sticks. 

Eli found a neat rock that Grammy and Alex helped him to identify. 

The last 20 minutes or so the boys played "forest tag," racing through the woods. My parents and I sat along the trail chatting and watching the bare tree silhouettes against the deep blue sky. It was perfect, and just what we needed. 

"I will follow my instincts, be myself for good or ill, and see what will be the upshot. 

As long as I live, I'll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing. I'll acquaint myself with the glaciers and wild gardens, and get as near the heart of the world as I can." ~John Muir