Getting Ready

This week has been pure insanity. We learned last Friday that there was a very good possibility we may have our first placement by the end of next week. Later developments have revealed that we meet with the case worker on Friday, and possibly appear in court on Tuesday. This has thrown us into a frenzy of preparation. I have been through the whole, nursery is complete but there is no baby, thing before. I was not going to put myself through that again, and our case worker has been very careful to make us understand that it may take a long time to find a match for us. (We have been praying for a sibling group of four children three and under.)

 We have been remodeling our kitchen over the past few months (I've been taking pictures of each step along the way for a blog post, but am waiting for it to be totally complete to do the post.), and all of our attention and energy has been focused on getting that done.

The two bedrooms for our future children have been used for storage over the past five years. I thought I had gotten a good handle on clutter, but this week has taught me otherwise. I hauled a packed car (Chevy HHR) load to donate to charity, and threw away 4.5 kitchen trash bags of stuff! There is still a lot more to do, too! My daddy has been doing some sheetrock work where we eliminated a door that led to the kitchen and a window that opened onto our enclosed back porch. We had hoped to paint and shampoo carpets last night, and then set up furniture tonight. However, that didn't work out and we will be doing all those things in one night! We feel an urgency to have everything ready for the case worker to do her final walk through tomorrow.

I covet your prayers as we push through our last day of preparing for our very first placement. The list of things that need to be done yet is impossible to us, but our Heavenly Father is able to do above and beyond all we can ever think or imagine!

Waiting

The blog has been quiet, but our life here on the homestead has been busier than ever. Throughout the autumn and early winter months Wayne and I have been completing the classes and home study process that is required to adopt though our state. We are now licensed care providers through the state, but we do not yet have a placement. We are praying for a sibling group of four children, three and under. The process has included many long, late evenings, nights, and some Saturdays in classes along with home study visits as well as changes to our home to comply with the standards required for children in state care. We are eager for the children God has in store for our family!

I've known for quite some time that I wanted my nursery's theme to be "The Robin's Nest" with a blue, cream, and brown color scheme.  I knew that I wanted this to be decorated with trees and birds. Throughout autumn an idea started growing in my mind about grafting trees, and how if done properly a graft is not obvious to the untrained eye once the it has had time to grow. It is my prayer that God will perform this kind of miracle in our family, that eventually we will be a seamless unit with many beautiful branches.

I love that in God's Holy Word He gives us many beautiful pictures of adoption, especially in relation to our salvation. Some of my favorites include:

* Ephesians 1:5
So He decided long ago to adopt us as His children. He did it because of what Jesus Christ has done. It pleased God to do it. (NIrV)

* Romans 8:23
And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. (NASB)

* These quotes were taken from Bible Gateway.

Breast Cancer Awareness

This post has been brewing for years. About a week ago someone put a status on Facebook that prompted me to write a mini essay. Another person posted some really great information that I thought needed to be shared. However, if I posted my thoughts as my status it would look like a rant. This is no rant. This is my well thought out and researched point of view. I respect that each of us has a right to our own opinions. My mother had breast cancer. Cancer, however, is not what killed her. She died of a drug overdose. The "medical professionals" gave her bushels of drugs that destroyed her liver and kidneys. The first step of her passing away was that her kidneys shut down and her liver wasn't functioning well. Both were the result of being overloaded with more drugs than those organs could metabolize. The AMA is a wicked, corrupt organization run by the pharmaceutical industry. The pharmaceutical industry is only motivated by making money. Big pharma has no intention of finding a cure. They want to string people along with their false hope and take them for every penny they have. I DO know that there are some physicians who have a sincere heart for helping people, and are doing their best to do so. They are rare, though. There are also some who went into the profession with good intentions, but have been brainwashed by the corruption that surrounds them. God has provided what we need for healing in nature via the plant kingdom and the earth (minerals). He has given us intelligence to know what is happening with our bodies, and if we invest the time and effort to study we can be healed of the vast majority of illness with what He has given us. I own an extensive library on nutritional and herbal healing, and there have been times that He has blessed me with nothing short of His supernatural understanding of what was needed; herbs that I truly didn't know much about, but came to mind and when I looked them up they were perfect for the ailment I needed to treat. I do believe there is a place for western medicine. Trauma is one example. Our doctors are really good at that. But for long term conditions- they stink.

I often feel judged because I do not participate in cancer awareness schemes. I think that my statement above is enough to explain my stance. I am certainly not going to give money to those who exist to make a profit at the expense of those whose suffering is unspeakable. Those who care and wish to be informed need to research. Some great places to start are listed below.

I will not be pinkwashed!

Abortions are linked to breast cancer.

Susan G. Komen supports Planned Parenthood 

Garden Walk

Our first three summers on the homestead we planted a huge garden similar to what we'd both grown up with. I'm talking about a 100'x30' area. We planted everything in rows far enough apart for a tiller to go between. By the end of the second month the weeds had won. Our vegetable plants were sprawling into the walk ways and there was no way you could get a tiller in there without destroying the vegetables. It was just too much space to keep weeds under control, especially in a previously unestablished garden. Last year I said, "That's it! I'm growing a micro-garden." I only used the flower bed that surrounds our back patio. I combined the methods of intensive gardening and square foot gardening to determine the layout. We harvested a lot of food from that little space! There were lots of tomatoes and peppers along with herbs and other things I've now forgotten.

This year we added two raised beds to our garden space. I really like having them close to the house. It's great to pause as you walk by to pluck a stray weed or two. I did my best to use square foot gardening to determine the layout of these beds.

I was weeding in the garden last night when something caught my eye. It was a cicada emerging from his exoskeleton. It was transitioning from the creepy beetle-like larvae to the beautiful winged insect we recognize. When I first discovered it, it's head was only about 1/2" out of the exoskeleton. In the time it took to get my camera it had already emerged as much as you see below. I took the pictures in the order shown, and he was completely emerged in about an hour's time. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

 

 The camera wanted to focus on everything BUT the bug! This at least lets you see how much he'd emerged.

 He was hanging on the underside of a moon and stars watermelon leaf.

 Finally! I got the camera to actually focus on the bug!

 Coming out a little more!

 Here is a shot of my east raised bed. It has pole beans, tomatoes, swiss chard, kale, cucumber, beets, and calendula. The flower bed surrounding the patio contains peppermint, ginger, cock's comb, Egyptian walking onions, calla lilies, lemon balm, honey suckle, violet, iris, and surprise lilies.

 This is my west raised bed. As you can see it has escaped! We don't have any cattle panels available and are trying to figure out a low cost solution to this problem. We are going to have to get these vines up out of the yard before the next mowing! This bed contains garden huckleberries, tomatillos, yellow squash, carrots, and water melon.

 Here are my tomatillos. I can hardly wait to taste their fabulous flavor!

This is chicken graffiti. It says, "Hen wuz here." This was created by using my flower bed as a dusting bowl, stepping up onto the patio, and shaking. Keeping the hens out of my garden is a constant war. There is a gap under our gate that they escape through, but if I fill it in the gate won't swing properly. At least they are keeping most of the bugs at bay.

 This is a ginger plant. My health food store was running a great sale on organic ginger. The piece I bought was huge, and started getting these sprout-like growths on it. They were similar to the hens-n-chicks plant, but white. I decided to plant a piece and see what happens. Time will tell if this is a worthwhile project, or just a little novelty.

 My cilantro bolted. It is an heirloom variety, so I am saving seed from it. I plan to use some of the seed for my spice collection, too. I adore the flavor of coriander!

A peppermint blossom. I am thrilled to have some flowers to attract the beneficial pollinators, especially honey bees.

 Here's our cicada still working hard to emerge. I was fascinated by the yellow-green appendages. They reminded me of frog's feet. I wondered if they could be his wings.

 Eeeek! At this point it looked like he could simply fall out! Would he plop to the ground once he had cleared his shell?

 A black oil sunflower that volunteered. We feed these to our goats. I let it grow to see if planting them ourselves would be a worthwhile endeavor. It would be SO great to be able to grow some of our own livestock feed!

 Lemon balm in bloom. This little herb makes me so happy. I love it's bright citrus aroma. I've repotted a bit of it to take to my classroom in the fall. I think it will make a delightful addition.

 Five color silver beet. Can't wait to enjoy these as well. I wish whatever is eating them would lay off. I can't ever catch anything on them.

 The first squash of summer.

 Calendula blossoms ready to break forth!

 Still pushing it's way out of that tough exoskeleton!

 A great shot of those yellow-green appendages. They are definitely his wings. It's hard to believe they are all crumpled up like that at first.

 What on earth is holding him in that shell?

 Ahhh!!! Free at last! Isn't it beautiful? I love how his wings are tinted green.

 Just hanging out.He stayed like this of a long time, with his wings blowing in the breeze. I tried to take a video, but it was so blurry you really couldn't tell anything about it. They were soft and flowy.

 

Simply perfect!

Night has fallen. He is all free of the exoskeleton, but still staying put. I have a feeling this is where he will spend the night.

Changes- After the Fact.

In January I added two La Mancha does to my herd. Their names are Tea Thyme and Little Alaska. Tea Thyme is my favorite goat ever. Her personality is as sweet as can be. She is friendly without being overbearing, and she is an excellent milker. Her behavior on the stand is absolutely fabulous. 

Tea Thyme

Little Alaska is also a dear. She has the warmest personality, and will win you with her charms. She is also the most conformationally correct goat I've ever owned. She does have one little quirk. About once a week she will stick her foot in the milk pail, and then look at you with a completely innocent expression, as if to say, "Why is my leg wet?" Despite this, she is a treasure of a goat, producing as much as the big girls, even though she is about 30% smaller than the rest.

Little Alaska

On March 8th Miracle kidded with twin doelings. I don't have pictures of them when they are tiny because I was at my grandfather's funeral 8+ hours away when they were born. Thankfully, Wayne was home and my dear friend, Michele, came down to assist with the birth. I named the girls Blessing and Anise. They are both little dolls with interesting personalities all their own. Blessing is very friendly and always curious. She nibbles at clothing and will climb on you if you let her. Anise is friendly, but not in-your-face. She enjoys being with you without having to be on top of you constantly.

Blessing

Anise

Baby continues to grow and flourish. She has the potential to be a wonderful milker. I am very eager to have her bred this fall and see how she freshens in the spring.

Willow Whip, aka "Baby"

And then there's Miracle. Bless her heart. I am loathe to put this picture up for you to see, but I try to always be honest about what is happening on our homestead. Miracle's condition has been deteriorating for about six weeks. No matter what I do (and believe me, she has been getting LOTS of extra everything), she cannot gain weight and in fact, seems to be losing weight. This past Tuesday I finally got an answer to the problem. She was infected with brown stomach worms. I have been deworming faithfully with Safeguard, but brown stomach worms are not susceptible to the standard dosage. When we ran a fecal exam on her she had no other parasites whatsoever, it was just the brown stomach worms. Just to be safe, since there is a good chance they've developed resistance to the Safeguard anyway, I dewormed her (well, the whole herd, actually) with Valbazen. I will repeat this in ten days and then again in another ten days to ensure I catch all the worms in the necessary life phase. In only five days she is already showing improvement. Her demeanor is better, she already seems to be picking up a few pounds, and her coat is starting to look less coarse.

Miracle

Six standard sized goats is a lot of mouths to feed for this little homestead. I was not prepared for the impact switching from Nigies to LaManchas was going to make on our pasture. I knew that they were bigger and needed more, but WOW! They burned through the pasture at more than double the rate of an equal number of Nigerian Dwarfs. I was also getting way more milk than we could use. I decided that downsizing the herd was not optional. I listed all of the goats for sale individually on both Craigslist and a couple of Facebook dairy goat groups. I prayed about which goats would sell and that they would go to good homes where they would be well cared for. Tea Thyme and Little Alaska have already moved on to their new homes. I need to sell at least one more, and my little herd will be just right for this little homestead. The proceeds from their sale is being used to complete the fencing of our property so that every available inch of pasture will be utilized. If I sell two more, then I will use the money to buy a Nubian doe. I've decided I'm ready to dip my toes in that water. Despite all the warnings of my non-Nubian loving friends, I really think I will like them. However, I am not ready to make a big leap. I'd like to get just one doe and see how it goes. Then I will be better equipped to make more decisions about the direction my herd needs to go.