Quick-Takes from 2013

1. Getting settled in our new house took longer than we thought.  We got off to a rough start with the entire family falling prey to the flu within the first two weeks of January.  Gaining momentum after that was.....difficult. I still have stacks of photos that haven't been hung and empty walls begging for some sort of decoration.  We did get the school room painted - which I love - but the rest of the house is still beige.

2.  We have faced various difficulties with our home.  Including but not limited to:

• A brown recluse infestation.  No kidding.  We identified the first one in May and proceeded to catch at least 80+ on sticky traps through out the summer.  Oh. My. Gracious.  Can you even imagine the spider paranoia I have now?  We've also found a few black widows outside the house....but somehow those just aren't as scary to me.  Up-sides - our kids are pros at identifying the two most dangerous spiders in our country, and we haven't seen any new ones in months.  Here's hoping that never happens again. 
• Termites.  Thankfully the damage was minor.  And the house was under contract with an exterminator.  
• Water damage to the foundation.  Found near where the termites were. Should have been discovered by the home inspector before purchase.  It wasn't. Thankfully, the termite company repaired all the damage because of the termites.
• AC issues.  Twice. 
• Water leaks in the house - one due to poorly routed pipes in the attic, others due to poorly done roof. (which was just replaced two years ago due to minor hail damage).  
• Sinking portion of driveway and retaining wall.  Hasn't been fixed yet. 
• Upstairs Heater went out.  Twice. On the coldest week of the year, with wind-chills around -10°.

3. We got hens!  Six cute fluffy Rhode Island Red chicks, who rapidly grew into the sweetest hens ever.  And they're awesome layers.....they started laying at just 17 weeks old and we get an egg a day from each of them. That's right, I haven't bought eggs since June.

Grant loves the chicks....and they love him.  Even now. 

Our cute little hen house and run - while still under construction -  under our deck. 

4. I started drinking coffee.  It began as an occasional mocha when I was really tired.  Now it's becoming part of the morning routine.  We use an Aeropress and love it. Actually, that's probably why I started the habit in the first place.  It's just so easy to make 1 cup of coffee at at time, whenever you want. 

5. I ran my first 5K in May, with my sister Anna. Then I stopped running for awhile, injured both knees when I tried to start back up, and haven't run any more.  I'd love to run another 5K this spring, though.  I'm just having a hard time motivating myself to go running in the cold.  We've had wicked cold temps the past few weeks.  

It was snowing.  In May.  My lips have never been so cold. 

6. I gained 10 lbs. this year. I'm crediting that to stopping nursing, stopping running, and eating a lot.  Particularly sweets when I'm depressed. Or tired.  Or bored.  Or lonely. And I've been at least one of those pretty much constantly. 

I'm determined to get back into regular exercise and control my eating more.  

7. My mom battled and conquered breast cancer. I'm so proud of her.  And thankful that God has carried her through this trial victoriously. I'm also so thankful that we are here near her and Dad and could be some help and support for them.  

8. Grant and I spent 3 days building this.  In July. Wow, was that hot.  But totally worth it....the kids love it.

9. We got a used boat and spent a lot of time at the lake.  The kids learned to tube....and Grant learned to water-ski.  I *started* learning how to drive a boat.  Oh, and my first time tubing, with my younger sister Anna and a boat load of her friends, I almost lost my swim skirt.  I seriously had to let go of the tube while going 30 mph to grab it as the water pressure rapidly pulled it to my knees. That was.....funny.  

I wear one-pieces for tubing now. 

Annika and Corban

10. Grant and I got to take our first weekend trip without kids....EVER!  Much thanks to my parents for babysitting!  We stayed at a lovely bed and breakfast in Branson and enjoyed peaceful dinners out, shopping, Silver Dollar City, the Branson Belle Showboat, and ziplining.  

On the Showboat

11. I've made tons of new recipes, many of which haven't made it to the blog. Time just slips away from me and there usually seems to be more important things to do than sit down and write out a recipe and edit photos.  Assuming I even took photos.  But I still love blogging and I plan to continue posting the recipes we love as much as I can.

Here are a few of the recipes I've made in the past month.  Hopefully I'll get them posted sometime! :) 

Thanks for reading and coming to visit - I truly appreciate all of my readers and friends and love hearing from you!  Hoping for a wonderful New Year for each and every one!  

The Mini-Vacation Continues.....on to Crabtree Falls

Since we were planning on staying the night around the Staunton area, we wanted something fun and different to do on the way home on Friday.  Knowing that we would be traveling in the Blue Ridge Mountain area, we thought some hiking would be fun.

We had already booked a hotel in Staunton when we found out about Crabtree Falls and decided that would be our destination. 

 Crabtree Falls features a series of five major cascades and a number of smaller ones that fall a total distance of 1,200 feet. It's the highest vertical-drop cascading waterfall east of the Mississippi. 

We thought that sounded pretty awesome. 

So then I found some cabins for rent just down the road from the trailhead.....and we were able to book one and cancel our hotel.  I mean, who wouldn't rather stay in a place like this? 

I can't even describe how excited the kids were about this cabin.  They wanted to stay for a week.  And quite frankly, if we had the time, Grant and I would have loved that as well.

This is the kind of camping I'll do at this stage of life. 

Yes, I'm fully aware this is not camping.

And I'm perfectly fine with that. 

Cute girl.  See the big mess on her right leg?  That's where she knelt down to look at the broilers at Polyface Farm when I wasn't looking and when she got up, I saw she had been kneeling in a pile of cow manure.   Nice.

The furniture on the deck was so comfortable - and the swing was very popular with the girls.

The loft had no doors.....one double bed at that end.....

And a double futon at this end.  Along with a free standing toilet and sink.  I didn't discover the nice little screens they had for some privacy (hidden under the bed) until we were doing our last sweep of the cabin to make sure we hadn't forgotten anything. 

The ladder/staircase was pretty steep.....the kids thought it was great fun. 

(Do you see the spots on Marissa's pants?  Cow manure also. Just thought you'd like to know.)

We had a nice little kitchen, living room, and dining area - and the door at the back leads to the bedroom and bathroom. 

We spend most of our time outside, though.  The weather was perfect camping weather and we had this awesome fire pit....so we ate outside, built the fire, and had some read-aloud time (The Last Battle, Chronicles of Narnia) before it got too dark and then we ate s'mores. 

My studly man......sharpening some sticks to use for roasting marshmallows. 

The flash he used to take this photo was so stinkin' bright! 

Friday morning - we're on our way to hike!

This humongous tree was outside our cabin. 

Us.  ♥

The girls thought the waterfall was a little loud.  So silly. 

Corban was a great hiker - I don't think he even got tired. 

There were several spots to stop on the hike to see the different parts of the Falls. 

At one look-out deck we spotted this little guy.....non-venomous, but we kept our distance anyways.

Another area.....this is looking down.

We made it to the top - 1.7 miles of strenuous climbing.  Grant carried Ellia nearly the entire way (much to her chagrin). 

Funny story:

At one point, after Grant had explained carefully to Ellia (age 2) why she wasn't allowed to walk on the trail because it was so slippery, steep, and difficult and she could never keep up.....and that in a year or two, when she's older, she'll be allowed to walk more on such hikes - she turned to him and seriously remarked,

"Daddy, I three now.  I had my birthday last night."

I think she really thought she would convince him to let her walk after such a statement. 

You couldn't see much of the Falls from the top, but you could see this...... 

(it was hard to believe how high we had climbed!) 

And this.

How 'bout a close up of that pretty flower?  

Another stop-off point to look at more of the Falls. 

On our way down....which was harder in a way because we were all tired, hungry, and more susceptible to slipping on muddy spots and the rocky terrain.  We made much faster time, though. 

This was a little cave area that you could walk though.....the kids really thought it was cool.

The bridge over the river next to the parking lot.

Another shot of the bridge.

And on the side of the parking lot, there stood this lone telephone booth. 

We thought it was so funny.  You don't see many pay phones anymore.  We figured we'd better take a picture next to it so the kids could remember that they've seen one. 

Actually, it is probably used out there, as there is no cell phone service due to the mountains. 

But we still thought it was funny.

Maybe we were just tired.

Visit to Polyface Farms

Have you watched the documentary, Food Inc?  (if not, the description on Amazon says that it "lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing how our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. Food, Inc. reveals surprising - and often shocking truths - about what we eat, how it's produced and who we have become as a nation. You'll never look at dinner the same way again.")

Powerful film.  Watch it. 

Anyways, the farm featured on the film that does things the right way is Polyface Farms. It's a family-owned, multi-genenerational, pasture based, beyond organic, local-market farm and informational outreach in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. 

We went for a tour last week.  (Being home schoolers is so great - this was an amazing field trip for the whole family.)

It was fantastic!!

The tour included about 100 people and was led by Joel Salatin, the farm owner.  We rode hay wagons out to the far pastures of the property so we could see the hens and cows.

A few of the laying hens - out to pasture.

The hens weren't bothered by people at all....Annika was pretty thrilled to check them out. 

This is the farm dog/security system, Michael.  He's gigantic!  Very friendly dog, so sweet and gentle, just laid on the ground soaking up attention from the kiddos when we first got to the farm (we arrived early for the tour and ate our picnic lunch there) - then we came to find out that he roams the farm at night keeping away predators from the free-roaming hens, including packs of coyotes and other varmints, and apparently eats at least a couple of skunks a month (they only know about those because of his scent)....plus who knows what else.  I can't remember the cross of breeds that he is.....but you can tell that his back is just about as high as Ellia's head, so he's a big guy.  

The hens eat maggots in the cow manure - sounds gross, but is really beneficial for both the land and the chickens.  Did you know that the seven enzymes necessary for chickens' digestion are all found in cow manure?  

Yeah, I didn't either.

'

We only got a peek at a few of the cows - they were in a wooded area that day (the cattle and hens are all moved from pasture to pasture every day, the hens following behind the cows) and they wandered off where we couldn't see them much.

Michael met a tiny dog that another lady on the tour brought with her.  I thought their interaction was so cute!

Miranda started out in the Ergo with me but got really mad about it and so Grant took her, and she fell asleep.  So I was left wearing the Ergo with no baby and Grant had to carry her asleep.  He didn't mind so much.

More of the hens gathered around their "Egg mobile", the portable henhouse that gets moved from pasture to pasture every day. 

I had no idea chickens were so loud.  We had to strain to hear Joel speaking sometimes over the din of the clucking, squawking, and chattering. 

Marissa's favorite part of the tour.  She talked the nice lady into letting her hold the puppy, and that was the end of it for her. 

Ellia and me on the hayride.

Grant with Marissa, Annika, and still sleeping Miranda on the hayride.

This is the scenery we saw on the hayride.  Isn't it incredible?  The eight mile drive out of town (Staunton, VA) to the farm was just scenery like this.   

Corban and Ellia hanging out on the wagon.

Marissa and Annika liked the pigs. The pigs are free-roaming, rotating paddocks in the pastures most of the time.

Somebody's awake now....just barely.

Okay, she's perking up a little now.

These are the portable broiler houses - they get moved around the pasture every day so the chickens get new areas to eat.  They're very secure but have plenty of space to enjoy a natural life -  until they're processed.   The design of the little pens was so simple, yet really great. 

Miranda and me at the end of the tour.  Look at that face!

We really loved the farm and the people and everything about it.  It gives us dreams......wild, crazy, hair-brained dreams for city folk like us......

Stay tuned for where we went next on our trip.......hopefully I'll get it up soon!