Yarn Along

Joining in again with  Ginny, though I confess, I am not knitting much these days.  When spring arrives on a homestead it is hard to do anything that does not involve large amounts of manure.  I am still working on the same Noro hat I started 2 weeks ago,  I picked this hat because it was such a quick knit, well.........
I am getting lots of reading time in, and I am very excited about what I am currently reading.  I apologize for the lack of a personal picture, my budding 7 year old photographer seems to have mis placed my camera again.  Anyways back to my reading, Apostolic farming by Catherine Dougherty, from Madonna House in Canada. Her reflections of her youth in Russia, families farming and feeding the poor, respecting and healing the earth are simply prophetic.  This is a small, quick read, that I am busy highlighting passages from.
The second book I am reading in We Took to the Woods; old classic!  Fabulous, eccentric, read that speaks to my heart.

Quails

thought we would try out,  a new to us incubator, with fertilized quail eggs.  Not sure what we are doing, but it is a fun new project!

stay tuned........

More honey bees!

 

Today we dumped the the bees into the hives! Here is Flannery in her veil and Dad mid dump!

Easter centerpiece preparation

I picked up this adorable blue bird cage at the Goodwill, knowing it would make the perfect Easter table centerpiece.  Add a few 2 week old bunnies and we will be all set.

No worries, we are not leaving them in there until Easter, we were just trying them out as we plan our Sunday.

The Winner is......

  Emily.........."I can't wait to read it!"
  send me your address, I will get it right out to you!
molly@oliverhill.net

  

Give away-Made from Scratch

Well, the last give away was so fun, I thought I would do another.  I recently read, Made from Scratch, discovering the pleasures of a handmade life, by Jenna Woginrich and found it a fun and entertaining tale of one womans journey towards a more agrarian life style. 

The beauty of the book is the simplicity it lays out, showing the success and failure of raising animals, making bread,  and learning to play a musical instrument.  The last chapter includes recipes and patterns that the most basic beginner can easily follow.

if you would like a chance to win this book (yes it is OK for international) leave a comment, put it on FB and twitter and you get 3 chances!  Make certain to leave me a comment letting me know:) 
I will leave this open until Monday night.

Yarn Along

Joining with Ginny again to share what I am currently reading and knitting.  My knitting these days is sadly, slow and very little is actually getting accomplished.  This Noro yarn and One skein wonder book lured me back and casting on a hat for next fall.
The Dirty Life was a recommendation of  Tonya last week, it is a fun read, very inspiring to keep up local food production.  It will inspire anyone living this life to realize we all have good and bad days or even seasons.

Our daily bread

my daughters have far surpassed me in the baking department, of our homestead.  The girls have taken a real delight in baking the bread for our families needs and for gifting to friends. 
When we come in from outside chores I know I can count on fresh bread to fill all the many tummys over here and I can feel confident that what they are eating is healthy and fresh.
I love home education for this reason, children are given the freedom to explore their natural interest and develop them with out the busi-ness of text books and deadlines.  They are free to become bakers, artist,writers,  farmers or whatever their hearts desire with out the confines of forced boundaries in learning.  I am not trying to convince anyone of anything here, more so, I am reflecting on the gifts of our chosen lifestyle.

more on coltsfoot, that spring herb

we found another patch of coltsfoot while out driving the other day. I could not resist picking and drying more to have available for ourselves and friends.  Coltsfoot is excellent for respiratory ailments, it is easily harvested now, it loves to have it "feet wet" so look in swampy, yet sunny locations. 

Small flowers are what you will find now, later in the season the leaves,that resemble a colt's foot:)  will appear.

My helpful foragers.

Wooly Wednesday

I love this new blog Spinspiration, she hosts this wonderful day to gather spinners together to share what on their wheels:)
I am still working, SLOWLY on this HUGE amount of purple  wool.  Partly the reason for the delay is I have been teaching my children to spin using this wool and my large country spinner by Ashford.   Teaching children to spin is daunting, but very wonderfully encouraging to see their excitement for a lost art.

New kids.........

alpine twins, one male, one female!

and the winner is...........

Tonya from Plain and joyful living.

Do not be sad if you did not win, this was so fun, I am looking around for more fiber to give away.  Tonya, make certain and send me your address and choice of color on the fiber.

Give away-navajo churro fleece

In honor of starting this new blog, I will be giving away a choice of brown or white navajo churro fleece. The brown is in roving form the white is in batting form. 
I will leave this open until Monday morning, to enter become a follower, post it on facebook or tweet it and make certain to leave me a message telling me you did so.
Post it on your blog and you will be entered a fourth time.