Just For Fun

This week we are planning a short trip. We will be leaving to go camping/ atv-ing for a few days. We are going with three other families and are quite excited. We ride our atvs around the farm here, but it's been quite a few years since we took them out somewhere else to ride. It used to be a favorite activity of Mr Farmer and me.

 We'd go up to Wisconsin to camp and ride. They have trails up there that connect a lot of the little towns and you can just ride right up to the shops and restaurants in town. If you've never ridden atvs, you may be surprised at how much of a workout you get doing it.

This was Baby on one at just under three years old. She is not riding it here, as she doesn't have a helmet, but she's getting ready!

But kids tended to put an end to that fun! Now they are getting older and can ride their own 4-wheelers.  We are of the mind that children should be taught how to do things correctly from a young age. They started riding with us at birth and have been riding their own since they turned three. They each have a helmet and have been taught how to ride. 

We have the same philosophy with guns. Teach them correctly how to use and respect something, and when they are older, they won't go nuts with a new "toy". I think this kind of information and teaching has gone by the wayside as these things are seen as dangerous and no child should ever touch them. But how did all the children in times past manage to live? They were taught from a young age how to properly and respectfully handle dangerous things. They weren't some mysterious, exciting toy in the top of mom and dad's closet. Fire wasn't something to play with, it was something useful and necessary, dangerous and needing to be respected. It's almost as if parents got lazy and didn't want to take the time to teach these kinds of lessons. It is just easier to say, "Don't ever, ever touch that!" If a parent has dangerous items in the home, they should be responsible enough to teach their children how to use and respect them because kids don't always obey. And kids are not nearly as curious about things they already know about.

Here is Mr Farmer teaching the Boy how to use his new BB gun.

Wow! How did I get on that soapbox?!  This was just going to be a quick post on our upcoming trip.

With a cute photo.

The kittens are ready to go camping.

Homemade Ketchup

Yesterday I had the kidz pick all the cherry tomatoes. There are so many that we could never eat them all, so I decided to experiment with them.

I have never made ketchup before, so I have no idea how it will turn out, but here goes.

First, I took all the tomatoes and put them through my food strainer. I forgot to take pictures, so you'll have to imagine loads of golden and red cherry tomatoes tumbling and thunking into the hopper. Also picture Baby gleefully cramming them into the hopper hole while I turn the crank.

And now we catch up with some photos. I took the juice/ sauce and put it into the fridge overnight. Come morning, this is what you have.

Scoop off some of the water on top. Place in a pot and proceed to boil off the liquid until the sauce is fairly thick.

Then add your grated onion,

and the rest of the ingredients/spices. Let sit for a few minutes. Then thicken with sugar and corn starch.

It tastes pretty good by itself. I look forward to trying it on hamburgers tonight.

I scaled down a recipe I got from Amish friends and added a bit of heat to it. Here is what I used.

4C tomato sauce
1/8c vinegar
1/8 onion (I used a really small one instead)
dash of each of cinnamon, cloves, all-spice, powdered garlic
2 dashes of chili powder
1T salt
3/4c white sugar
1 1/2T corn starch

Something You May Not Know About Watering

Before you read any further, I must warn you. I kill insects and animals near the house that may pose harm to my family, animals, or gardens. It's a fact of life on our farm. If you have a problem with that, please go elsewhere. I will not approve nasty comments. Thank you and have a nice day.

Today started out beautiful. It is supposed to only warm into the 70s. The sun is shining. White, cumulus clouds dot the sky. A perfect day.

A day I was planning to take advantage of by running the mower to rid the lawn of weeds. After all, weeds are the only thing growing in the lawn this summer.  I thought I'd run the weed eater around the buildings, clean up the gardens a bit, etc.

I also had to run an errand in town that would keep me away from home for only a couple of hours. The kids got going on school to get as much done as possible before we had to leave.

I went out to the shop garden, pulled off way too many horn worms. Dispatched a nuisance raccoon. Picked half-eaten tomatoes. Put the hose in the pool to fill it up a bit. Went back inside to help with school.

At around 10, we left for town, ran our errands, and returned home around 1:00.

Eat lunch and start on some outside chores, was next on my list.

I start to make lunch and look out the kitchen window. And guess what I see.

Yep, the pool is overflowing. I had forgotten to turn off the hose before we left. Do you ever do such stupid things that you start to mutter to yourself and beat your head against the nearest hard object? Me, neither. I did however, berate myself and mutter quite a bit. I also called Mr Farmer and told him. You'd think he'd be used to getting these kinds of phone calls from me. He still likes to think that I'm not as blonde as I apparently am.

On a side note. As I muttered about how dumb I was, the kids heard me. They immediately jumped to my defense telling me how beautiful I was and that I'm not stupid. They even told me they still love me even if I make mistakes. Just when I think I've failed at parenting, the kids go and do that!

Lessons I learned today:

1. My kids can still melt my heart.

2. Horn worms make a huge mess if squished between two pavers. Make sure to step back.

3.Over filling your pool is not the most cost-effective way to water your lawn, though it may be the quickest.

4. And, as Mr Farmer pointed out to me, putting that much water in the pool is not good for it.

On the plus side, the pond (downhill from the pool) is filling up quickly! :)

A Little Batty

I'll bet you thought I was talking about me, didn't you?

Nope.

A couple of days ago I went out on the back porch where I found this poor critter.

He was just hanging there. His wing had slid down and gotten pinched between the siding and the corner piece. I thought he was dead at first.

Then Sissy got a closer look and found him to be alive. She got a stick and I coached her from far away how to slide his wing up the siding until it was no longer stuck.

I wasn't sure if he would be ok or if his wing was broken. He sure was feisty! 

Sissy let him grab onto the stick and put him out in a tree. By the time she got him out there, he seemed like he'd be fine.

What Kept Me Busy For About A Week

Last week I was MIA from my blog. I was quite busy you see.

First, the kids had VBS all week. And we helped in the kitchen, serving supper every night.

We were exhausted by the end of the week. Actually, we were exhausted at the beginning of the week.

 But this, this is what kept me going.

I was busy finding a new (to us) truck. It is a 2011 Ford F150 supercrew 4x4 Lariat. Got all that?

What you really need to know is how pretty it is. And it is pretty. 

It is loaded with everything you could imagine- navigation, bluetooth, sunroof, leather, etc. I can answer my phone by pushing a button the the steering wheel and talking through the speakers. I can load up to 3000 hours of cd music. I can see exactly where I'm going on a live map or have my route mapped out for me. I can see behind me when I'm backing up.

The seats are heated and cooled. It has power everything, including sliding back window and  folding mirrors.

 

 The back seat area is huge. The kids can't even touch the front seats!

 I'm not sure if it comes through or not, but I LOVE this truck. I traded in my Lincoln MKZ for it. I just wish Mr Farmer would let me out of the house more often so I could drive it! Sometimes I just go out and sit in it. It is extremely comfortable, even more than the Lincoln was.

A Day In The Life

Today was a fun day around here.

First up was school. Math was not fun with the Boy, but we made it through. Baby, however, was working slowly on her writing. I kept after her to focus. She replied one time, "I don't know what's wrong with me today. Oh wait! I know what's wrong! I don't have my thinking brain on. I just have my regular brain on."

I put a bunch of tomatoes in the crock. Granny taught me how to just cut them up and put them in, skin and all. Then use the stick blender to blend them up. They've been in all day and are looking and smelling delicious. I will be making more ketchup out of them.

Mr Farmer is heading to Wisconsin a couple of times this week, so I baked him a batch of his favorite chocolate chip cookies.

I also made 4 1/2 pints of wild grape jelly.

And we hosted some Olympian beach volleyball players. They played a few rounds in the front yard. The first question they asked was, "Who are you, China or Turkey?"

Then they donned their official volleyball sandals and grabbed the official volleyball.

Seeing as how so many of our world's players were busy over in London, they played with a skeleton crew. One player for the U.S. and one for the visiting team.

Something I'll bet you didn't know. Our farm has an official Olympic beach volleyball court. I know! I was shocked that someone would think to put one in way out here in the middle of nowhere, but here's the proof. See that branch? That's the net. And the lovely burnt grass is of similar color to sand.

The only problem is the branches tend to get in the way.

By the way, the U.S. won every game.

My Nailacure

Today Baby asked if she could give me a "nailacure", you know with those thingies you put in your ear? I agreed that she could do it and she set to work.

She gathered her tools: cotton ball, cotton swab, and cotton square.

Also grabbed were a tub of warm water,  her nailacure bench, and her manicure set.

I'm not sure where the girls got the idea for this, but they've done it for years. They like making the nails look shiny with the water.

 It is very relaxing.

Anyway, she set right to work. For about two minutes. Until her sister turned on a PBS show on the computer in the other room. She hadn't seen this one before.

 (Let's pretend her hair doesn't always look like she just came in from a windstorm. Even though it does. No matter what we do. Always!)

  So she disappeared, leaving my feet barely started and still quite ugly.

She promised to be back later to finish the job.

I'm still waiting. Unrelaxed. Ugly-footed.  I really need to lower my expectations when it comes to the kids and their promises of making me beautiful!