Still Here

I'm still around. I'm still gardening, though less so. I'm spending more time driving my teens around to various activities and events. Often times I think wistfully of those days when I had time to knit and spin. And I've been consumed with politics and the woes associated with it. And since my Mom taught me not to say anything if I can't say anything nice. . . I've not been so "post-ative" lately.

The kids have discovered Swing Dancing.



In fact, they attended a formal at Pensacola Swing recently.

We got Gregory a suit for a home school formal earlier in the year and had no idea he would be able to wear it so often.



Gabrielle has me sewing again. I made this formal dress for her to wear.



And she just loved dressing up in vintage style.



Gabrielle now loves skirts that flair out when she dances.



Michael bought a fedora awhile back and loves to wear it whenever possible. Actually, he loves to dress up in nice clothes as much as the older children.



The love for Swing Dancing has traveled through our home school group and the kids have plenty of company when dancing.



And boy do they love to dance! Gregory wears himself out on the dance floor every time we go.



And Gabrielle cannot be asked to dance enough.



I can't stand how adorable they all look when they dress up to go.



But, both of the older kids now have a long list of clothes they want me to sew for them for dancing. Yes, these guys sure keep me busy these days.

Late Winter Harvest

I've been shamefully absent from my blogs for some time now. It seems the Spring gardening takes more and more of my time the older I get. I have little energy for anything else this time of year.

We've been harvesting our winter vegetables for some time now. Today I picked the bulk of our remaining cabbage.



I took a 6 gallon bucket with me thinking I'd pick some early beets, turnips and other veggies at the same time. Even without the outer leaves, the cabbage filled my bucket to overflowing. (The chickens got treated to the outer leaves this morning.)

I did manage to pick a couple beets and turnips. I thinned my carrots and clipped a few little shoots of broccoli from plants that bolted long ago. I also picked a few snow peas and some mustard greens.



I thought I'd make another batch of sauerkraut today. I plan to throw the colander full of veggies in with the cabbage to make a different kind of sauerkraut. I already have a 10 liter crock of ordinary sauerkraut fermenting on my counter. I think this batch will require my 15 liter crock, the one I got for making pickles. It takes 6 weeks to ferment a batch of kraut; I sure hope I won't need my crock before then for pickles. We might have to eat a lot of cukes before 6 weeks are done.

We are planting a fairly large garden again this year. I would love to grow enough vegetables for our family's use during the year. If we could get extra, it would be great to start selling at the farmer's market. Especially if I could get the Brix values of my vegetables high enough to have something really spectacular. I'd love to show my neighbors down here in the south just how good organic living can be!

Snow Day

One of the dearest, most selfless friends I've ever had lives in Brewton.

Back in December, I really wanted to take the kids to Foley's Christmas in the Park Festival. Unfortunately, the festival was scheduled on the same day as one of the craft shows I planned to attend to sell my soap, sewing, weaving and other items. Kurt had to study for a test and I didn't know what to do. Enter my wonderful friend Darlene. She drove all the way down to Foley to take the kids to the festival and keep them for me while I spent the day at the craft festival. I am so blessed. She also took pictures for me so I wouldn't miss all the fun.

Every year Foley has a special Christmas Festival. This festival is particularly special because it snows in the park every year on that day.



Well, this is how we do snow in the coastal south - we make our own. It was funny to think about snow with the 70 degree outside temperatures that day. It was also rough deciding how to dress the kids.

Of course the kids think snow is great fun. I mean, how great is the snow when you can have it and beach weather at the same time.

Michael has always wanted to make a snow angel.



Immediately when he got into the snow area, he dropped to the ground. (Next to someone wearing flip-flops, lol.) Since snow melts pretty fast at 70 degrees, it was too icy for a snow angel. So he discovered his next favorite snow activity.



Michael discovered he could throw snow at people without getting into trouble like he would for throwing anything else. And boy did he throw snow.



He showed Darlene's son, John Mark, no mercy. He even went after Darlene too.



Fortunately, both Darlene and John Mark are good sports.



Gregory had lots of fun snow fighting too.



So did Gabrielle.



Though I think she got more than she gave.



Of course with Gabrielle, it is always more about meeting new people than the activity itself.



As for Gregory, he was all about the fight.



He took aim at anyone he could hit.



And had a blast.

You can tell my kids have a knitter in the family. Each one of them wore wool mittens. You can't just walk into a store around here and get wool mittens.



The kids had an amazing day and we thank God for our great friend Darlene!

Baby Hats and Salsa

Despite being more busy than normal launching our fabulous soap and craft business, Finchwald Homestead, I managed to knit a couple of little baby hats for a shower I missed last week when I had the flu.



I love these little fruit hats.



I modified the strawberry slightly so it would have white seeds rather than green. I think it looks better with the extra color. (Under the hats, you can see some knitting I am blocking for a friend who commissioned me to make a hat and scarf for her daughter. I will blog about it later on the Finchwald Homestead blog.)



And because these little hats are such a quick knit, I thought I'd go ahead and knit a second one, a dewberry. Dewberries grow wild here in southern Alabama and the purple yarn I used from my stash was perfect. The above picture shows good detail, but the color is too light. The actual hat looks more like this:



I added a band of ribbing to the bottom edge of the hat for a slightly different look.

I sure hope the new mom-to-be thinks babies with fruit heads are as cute as I think they are. I suppose it is possible some people wouldn't appreciate a fruit headed baby, though I can hardly imagine.

Meanwhile, my Fall garden has given me plenty of purple peppers and some tomatoes. The bugs always seem to get the tomatoes when they are ripe, so today I fooled them and picked the tomatoes green. I added them to the batch of salsa I mixed up today. I sure hope green tomatoes taste okay in salsa.



I also added some purple peppers (and their more dangerous red incarnation) to the salsa to make it deathly spicy. I love spicy food. After 6 weeks fermenting in my Harsch Crock, I should have some super tasty, healthy and not-for-the-faint-of-heart salsa.

Finchwald Homestead

After many years thinking about sharing our homemade food and crafts via a home-based business, we finally did it! Please come visit me at my brand new blog: Finchwald Homestead. Thanks!

Stumped

With Kurt not presently working, I thought I would finally get some projects done around the house. Today, I asked Kurt and Gregory to dig out the stump from the middle of my garden. They dug off and on throughout the day and late this afternoon, they pulled it out with our tractor. The whole thing went beautifully. Then Kurt spied a large root. He thought he would pull it out too. He didn't do any digging first.



He tipped our tractor on its end just like Mater did in the movie, "Cars." Of course, the kids thought it was the funniest thing they ever saw.



And while Kurt finally worked to dig out the root with a shovel,



The kids posed with the tractor.



Gregory wanted a picture that made it look like he had been driving when the tractor tipped.



Kurt and Mr. Chris finally managed to dig out the root - without the help of the tractor.



They also located a large fire ant mound with their feet.



And for the record, Kurt sent the kids to fetch me and the camera. HE was the one who wanted to preserve the moment in pictures.

By the way, it doesn't take much to right a tipped tractor. Kurt thought he would need to crank it back down. He tied a line to the front axle while standing in the "fall zone" and when he gave the line a little tug, the tractor came crashing down. Kurt had to jump away from the falling tractor TWICE this evening. My heart is pounding still.

Sad Times

I haven't had the heart to post to my blog for a long time now. Times have been rough on the Gulf Coast.

The largest oil spill in our nation's history pumped millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. That oil began washing onto the pristine Alabama shoreline shortly after my mother's visit and our early morning beach trips. Instead of sugar white shores, we now have beaches marred with oil and chemical dispersant. At times, increasingly rare beautiful white sand covers the oil and at other times, waves and wind expose the hidden, buried oil. The beaches may never recover.

If the oil wasn't bad enough, millions of gallons of hazardous chemicals have been applied to the oil to sink it out of sight. These chemicals, called Corexit, are hazardous to life and health and they fill our local waters and beaches. Corexit is more dangerous than oil in part. because it is not readily seen. Local testing has uncovered Corexit on the beaches and in the local waterways.( Testing Finds Oil and Dispersant) Local beach residents have seen planes continuing to carpet bomb local waterways with the chemical despite official statements to the contrary. (Stress of Oil Spill Still Lingers) People cough and wheeze and suffer from congestion, including my own family. No one knows whether we are suffering from chemical exposure or unusual allergies or a really bad cold season. (Covert Spraying of the Gulf) A few people, who could afford blood testing, discovered oil and chemical residues in their bodies. (Gulf Coast Crud) The rest of us, if we think about it at all, are left to wonder. The media has been banned from all clean-up operations and the government wants us to believe the crises has ended. Yet oil and toxic chemicals still bathe our shores.

Many people here are out of work and businesses are failing. Our area relies on tourism and fishing for much of it's economy. Who wants to eat poisoned seafood or vacation on a toxic beach? Some do. Those who believe the propaganda. My family won't be returning to the beach or eating seafood for many, many years. There is no joy in living in this area any longer except for the company of the few good friends we've made in the year we've lived here.

Finally, our own family is feeling the pinch of these economic times. We have joined the ranks of the unemployed. Kurt has been out of work for a couple of weeks and we are currently a zero income family hoping for unemployment insurance to kick in and relieve some of the pain. It would only cover about a third of our bills, but we are praying. We know God has a plan in all of this and He will provide. Even if we lose our home and everything else material, we know God will protect us and provide for our needs. We wait upon Him and send out resumes whenever we see something even remotely fitting. We have also sent resumes out of the area, though those are few. My dream in all of this would be to be able to move to a cooler region in the country, one unaffected by oil and dispersant. Kurt would like to be able to go to school full time and finish his degree. Finding work begins to feel like an elusive dream.

If you think about our family over the next days, weeks and months, please pray for us. Pray for our coastal communities too.

Obama admin bans press from filming BP oil spill areas in the Gulf

Busy Spring

Days, weeks and now months have flown by in sit com speed, though problems are certainly not resolved as quickly. And we have been busy, very busy.

My mother visited.



I even managed to finish her sweater on time.



And best of all, it fit. Note to self: Don't offer to make a sweater for someone based on a highly modified pattern, when that person lives far away.

My Mom's sweater started with the Minuette pattern and I changed the yarn and the sleeves. I love the way it turned out, but it provided hours of stress as I worried it wouldn't fit my tiny mother. I'm so glad it fits. More glad than I can possibly communicate.

My mother visited right after the Gulf Oil Spill. Praise God the oil hasn't reached us yet.



Several mornings during my Mom's visit, we awoke at dawn and hit the beach before the sun was strong enough to reduce me to a burnt pile of blisters.



We all had a blast.



We brought our breakfasts to the beach and the seagulls did their best to steal it, and often managed.



My Mom and I agreed the one legged seagull appeared to be running a scam. He made you feel so sorry for him that you could not help but share your food. Of course the kids couldn't wait to get into the water and so they happily dropped some of their food.



The kids loved the waves best of all.



Gregory rediscovered the pleasure of body surfing.



And Michael lost all fear of the water.



Gregory was absolutely fearless.



And enjoyed laying down and letting the waves carry him around.



The kids kept going out farther and farther.



And I had to keep calling them back.



Which really interfered with my knitting time.



Though I did manage to get a little sock knitting time in each morning we spent on the beach, which was very nice.



And then the kids would be right back out in the deeper water in no time.



I wouldn't mind so much but Michael can't swim.



And we saw yellow and red flags flying.



Michael also likes to chase seagulls.



And I let him chase them after one of the little terrors stole my breakfast muffin right out of my hand.



We've been processing our meat chickens over the last month. In fact, my mother had the opportunity to experience the origin of her chicken dinners twice during her visit.



We got her to pluck a couple feathers just to say she did it. We are raising turkeys too and they are growing fast.



The garden is all planted.



And the soil in our new house turns out to be not so fertile. I've been cleaning out the chicken coops as much as possible to work on that problem, but there is only so much that can be done in a first year. I'm hoping we can improve soil fertility quickly despite that we are attempting to garden on a slope.



I've had a few things, like the beets, garlic and onions, sort of fizzle, so I buried them under piles of chicken coop bedding.

We have been getting some snap beans and tiny squashes so far.



We've also had a few new potatoes. I'm harvesting them because there is a bad wilt or blight killing the plants. I suspect verticillium wilt and that is bad. Very bad. I'm not really sure what I can do, organically speaking, other than improve my soil as much as possible and raise as healthy plants as possible.

We have plenty of one thing in the garden though.



Why do we always have so many fire ants? I hate those things. We compete for the produce. We had a bit of a dry spell and the ants got right in and attacked the plants for their moisture.

The bees have been very good this year. We have pulled off probably a hundred pounds of honey.



The extractor still wobbles and we still need to find a better solution than Kurt flinging himself on it.



We are also harvesting wax and will need to figure out what to do with it.



I would like to grow some herbs and make some salves. I still need to build an herb garden.

We had the opportunity to attend the wedding of some friends back in Brewton. It was so nice to go back and see so many people very dear to us.



Gabrielle had a great time dressing up in the skirt I recently made for her and curling her hair. The wedding was a much anticipated event for us. We're a little sad it is over. We had fun looking forward to it.

We still don't have our goats. It seems every time he is off work and ready to build our fence, we get rain or bee issues.

I like all we do, but I wish we weren't so busy so we could do all the other things we want to add to what we do now.