Project Progress

"The Innocent Little Project" is not finished yet!  The saga continues.  Holes are dug, posts placed, and little workers go busily to work filling the holes.

The next day a T-Post which needs anchoring is tended to.  The Miracle Worker finds a way to anchor it without having anything but cable, a turn-buckle, wood, dirt and water.  Where there is a will, there is a way.

The day is drawing to a close with another spectacular display.  This time a partial rainbow!

And blazing color is the finale.

Sunday, the 11th, I started the morning quietly at 5:15 while the family still slept.  As I set out to my garden to water, I was greeted with this heavenly display.

As I get down to the garden, the golden sunlignt is just skimming the tops of the plants and the bees are already fast at work.

These sunflowers have already turned their heads to greet the rising sun.

These bees are intriguing.  Their eyes are whitish.  I have found large, medium, and small bees, and every size of bee has different styles and designs.  They're ALL different.  This one looks like he's got alien goggles on!

The following day, the Miracle Worker is also busy in the garden digging a hole for another corner T-Post.

Hole dug, post set, and busy little workers filling the hole.

A few days later the MW is back home from business errands, and drives his excavator back down to the T-Post to dig another hole to anchor it.  We have no wood or other materials in which to make conventional H-braces, etc. so he configures it another way through his infinite bag of tricks.  So, as I water my garden I watch him drive it down and marvel at the angle he's going!

Yesterday, with the hopes of a possible thunderstorm...

MW began setting up the first of the corral panels.

While I help hand him tools and parts, I can't help but find beauty right there at the new site for the animal's corrals....aaahhh, Arizona...

Hopes of a thunderstorm disipate right along with the clouds...so the work must go on...

At the end of the day we have about half of the corral panels up.

Now with the hopes of going up to the house to start dinner, I turn and am greeted by the sight of my boy covered in sweat, dirt, and a big proud smile.  "Bath. NOW," comes to mind, setting the dinner plans back a little!

 

This morning, the Miracle Worker is back at what he does best, which is to put a little catch in my throat as he uses his equipment.  Before moving the rest of the corral panels, dirt and rocks must be pushed around first.

The animals were in a smaller space than usual last night and into the morning.  After a little more work...

...they are at least in their new location tonight.  Tomorrow they will have the biggest part of the corrals to themselves while the stud will go where you see the goats and llamas now.

And, since I can do dirty work too, I must remember my feminine side and throw in this pretty pink flower!  No, wait, 'fire pink', yeah, that's better...Fire Pink Zinnia!  Gotta have some beauty to celebrate!

.

Why We Homeschool

Before we started a family, I was intrigued by the concept of homeschooling.  As time passed I learned more about its benefits and possible pitfalls.  From the beginning I understood there were very strong opinions out there about homeschooling.  Turns out the subject can be very 'polarizing' and very politically charged too.  It is without a doubt a personal choice.  Reasons vary extensively.  For every family out there, there is a reason to homeschool, or not to homeschool.

In our case, distance is a real issue.  The nearest school is 32 miles away, on a good day.  On a really bad day, it is potentially another 20 miles.  Why?  Weather, road conditions and the biggest barrier is the Big Sandy River.  If we have rain, and anywhere else to the north, northeast, and northwest of us, the water runs off the surrounding mountains into the Sandy.  It is well named.  When dry, you can see it is nothing at all but sand.  At times, if you don't know how to drive in sand, you could risk getting stuck, especially if you don't have a 4x4 to help you across. 

When the Sandy looks like this (above), no problem. 

But it has been a raging torrent that you can feel in the ground you are standing on.  When it is anything like this chances are you would have to drive the extra 20 miles of dirt roads to get to school.

Even on a perfect day, it would take about an hour one way.  If I were to go back home until school was dismissed, it would be another hour.  Then I would have to repeat the trip one more time.  It would then be a total of 4 hours in a car seat for my youngest boy, on a good day.  Something about that, seems to me, borders on neglect or even abusive!  It made me so sad to even consider it.

In addition, the school hours are from 8 o'clock to 4 in the evening, Monday through Thursday.  Since there are no school buses available, it is completely up to the parents to get their children to school.  Considering even a good day, that would add up to 10 hours per day the children would not be home.  Since these roads are not maintained on a regular basis, this is a rare and best case scenario.  In reality, about twelve of their waking hours would be spent on the road and in school.  I couldn't bear the thought of it.  When the worst case scenario happens, it would be 2 1/2 hours one way to school.

Clearly, weather, roads and geography play a very real role in our plans and considerations!

Those are Javelinas crossing the road!

So, the original interest in homeschool became a necessity.  The expensive wear-and-tear on vehicles and our inevitable insanity has been avoided and creatively resolved.  Interesting how everything comes together as if you planned it.  What do they say, "Everything has a time, a place, and a purpose."  Sure seems to be true.

Here is Cody watching his brother cut and paste a phonics lesson.  There is a term I am only now learning about.  "Unschooling."  Cody comes and goes from the kitchen table during school.  Yet he learns so much!  I haven't had to exert any effort for him to know how to count up to 30, sound out basic letter sounds, or learn world geography.  I can see why people are fans of this concept!  Proves children are sponges.  When he starts kindergarten a year from now, he will be well prepared!

One of the multiple benefits of homeschooling, is that you can stay on point for as long as necessary before moving on.  You can go at the child's pace.  It works out in the end! 

You can creatively teach following directions and measurements in a fun baking project.  Weston is inspired by "Remy" the character in the Pixar movie, "Ratatouille."

You can encourage strengths.  Tyler is a crack Lego architect.  How do you like his solar array mount?

Creative activities for math put the fun back in for hand's-on type learners.  Games, counters, and even semi-sweet chocolate chips help teach the math facts.

And my youngest gets to do school with his brothers too!  Such a big boy!

This is my first full year of homeschooling.  I began the first of the year unsure about just how it was all going to pan out.  It's not so bad, in fact, it's awesome.  I love watching them learn.  All because I simply try.  Who else has the best intentions for their children than their own parents?  Who else knows them better?  For that matter, who loves them so much that they won't do anything knowingly to fail them?

One other benefit that I must mention addresses the emotionally charged issue of "socialization."  Without fail, you will find people who are sure your children will turn out to be social misfits.  At first I was afraid of that possibility.  With research I have learned that it is an unfounded fear!  The overwhelming majority of homeschoolers are extremely well socialized, some despite being naturally shy and not having a great deal of interaction with their same-age-peers.  The reason I can point to is that in a homeschool, children are not daily bombarded by peer-pressure or even subliminal social pressures.  They are completely free to discover themselves, who they are, what they like, what they don't like, and have the chance to form a very healthy sense of self.  In addition, any child raised on a ranch, homestead, etc who is in touch with the natural world, tends to be healthier and more self sufficient.  Very little ruffles their feathers!  They go out into the world ready and thoroughly capable of learning new tricks.

My choice and even physical location has everything to do with our own family.  It is in no way a standard by which any one else should use to decide whether or not to homeschool.  If you find public school is your best answer, then more power to you!  Embrace the diversity.  Accept each other, learn from each other, and most of all, celebrate our differences!  It's what makes us great!

An Innocent Little Project

We have a small garden this year based on the space that was available.  The animal's pens have always been in some state of 'temporary.'  Summer is here and we are taking advantage of that fact in order to move the animals to more spacious environs.  The bonus is that I will have a much larger garden next year.  So what sounds easy, really isn't.  You'd think that moving the animals is quick and easy enough.  But not when you get into the details!

We are moving the animals from here.....

...to here...

Just several yards to the East of where they are now, but the space isn't large enough. 

So what needs to happen next, is to bring in the heavier equipment.  Thank God for equipment...or else this just wouldn't happen.

The Miracle Worker spends the 4th of July getting just a little dusty...heehee!!!  He clears the area with the Bobcat, then goes to work excavating...

...and scooping, spreading, and leveling...

And after a full day of work...

The space is well defined and ready for some tweeks.  We'll need to run water out to the area for the watering troughs before the animals are relocated.

On the 7th, another aspect of the project was to begin fencing the area to be the garden.  We need to keep cattle, rabbits, deer, javelina, etc, out of the garden.  After it is protected, we can then move the animals.

Today, we are still installing posts for the garden corners.  We aren't done yet! 

With Daddy's helper at the helm, the job will get done...eventually!

Here on the Homestead we start them early!  He really is digging!

All this for better, bigger spaces for the animals, and more of this...

It's so worth it!

As an added bonus this afternoon, we had a thunderstorm followed by a beautiful sunset.

Life up here is a beautiful thing.

So what starts out as an innocent little project really is more involved.  Everything takes more time, more effort, and more planning.  But that's perfectly alright when you look at the bonuses...such as freedom!  Freedom to dream our dreams and to make them come into being.

Friends - Human and Animal Alike

Some of the land out here has a Property Owner's Association.  Many of its members got together over the Memorial Day weekend.  Ralph and I are not members of the association, but we appreciate the community spirit.  We offered to bring some of our animals out as an attraction to help them raise money over the weekend get-together.  One of our neighbors (just one of many surrogate grandparents from the ranch) did a great thing that saved us time and effort; he picked up corral panels from our local rancher who was nice enough to let us borrow them.  Not only did he pick them up, but he set them up.  When the time came he even broke them down and took them back!  I was so thankful for that help that I had to demonstrate my appreciation.  This is Weston helping me peel apples for the Apple Crunch I made as a "Thank you."  Our rancher-neighbor received a "Thank You" Apple Crunch as well.

Neighbors like ours can't be beat.  It was my pleasure to take time out, make these guys a special dessert, and to deliver them.  And with help from Weston, it was even more fun!

This is our gelding, Harley, who is giving one of our friends an idea of what it is like to ride a Llama.  Most of the time Llamas are merely pack animals which can carry 25%-30% of their weight.  However, Harley here is rather cooperative having no problem with the light weight of his temporary cargo.  After some reading, I am learning that it is the males who were the workers, while the females remained in their pasture bearing and caring for young.  In the Andean culture, if a male was not a good worker/pack animal, he landed on the dinner table.  To this day, males are the best choice for learning to walk and pack with you.  Harley is a good example of that.

Speaking of useful animals, our chickens are growing up!  Three out of twelve chickens from last year survived the Bobcat.  We couldn't figure out why we were loosing on average one chicken per day.  Then one early June morning Ralph woke up due to some very loud and urgent squawking coming from the chicken coop.  Bleary-eyed he couldn't see much of anything, but he noticed one of the chickens had escaped and was sitting on a Llama's back down the hill (she knew she'd be safe on a Llama!).  Then he realized one of the 'rocks' moved, it was a Bobcat!  After the Bobcat-issue was taken care of, we noticed one of the three hens might not make it.  Her wing hanging a bit, and her lack of interest in getting out to forage, we thought she wouldn't make it.  The cat had grabbed her but couldn't pull her through the chicken-wire door.  That must have been how the second one literally flew the coop.  Ultimately, she didn't make it.  So we were down to two hens until this April.

This year we have a better enclosure to keep the chickens safe.  After a year of freedom however, the two older hens don't like being confined much.  Soon we hope to expand their quarters to give them more space.  And soon, we hope to be getting eggs from the other twenty-some hens as well.  This is what they looked like when we got them this April.

Like little puffs of cotton!

One of our plans for making the land work for us is to milk our Nubian Goats.  We hope to have them bred in December so that they won't give birth until May, 2011.  Our winters last a while and we would rather the baby goats (kids) weren't born in April.  Mid May would be best.  Once they kid, we'll begin milking.  I want to try making all kinds of things with the milk, such as cheeses, fudges, yogurt, butter and maybe even ice cream.

This is Shelby.  She's the nicest of the three does we have.  We anticipate her being a good cooperative milker.  Goat milk is very good for you, especially for those who are lactose intolerant.

This all goes hand-in-hand with our ultimate hopes of building a few cabins for visitors.  Anyone interested in any aspect of our operation, be it the garlic, the gardens, the orchard, or the animals, then they can stay for a discounted price if they wish to help out during their stay.  Either way we want visitors to have a comfortable stay where they can experience off-grid living.

Our vision includes a central building where a group can come together and have either family reunions, weddings, or whatever.  No matter who comes, we would like them to have a cabin and the opportunity to just sit around, read, relax, or enjoy the gardens.  Some may wish to see what it is like to care for animals while others may want to work a little in the gardens, garlic fields or orchard.  We feel this is a great way to incorporate everything we want to accomplish.  Visitors will have the chance to go home with fresh eggs, cheeses, fudge, fruit pies, fresh cut flowers, garlic, or whatever happens to be available during that point in the season.

Progress is slow yet steady.  While I work and wait, I'll just be scratching my head like my son here, wondering if we aren't just crazy.

*