We are into goats!

Firefly is a five-year-old doe who just gave birth to Butter on Saturday, April 14. Butter is a doe, both will be coming home with us sometime within 4-8 weeks. Just as soon as I finish the barn that will be theirs. Here is a picture of Butter with Kelsey.
Yesterday we started a goat class at Maplebrook Farm.
For 3 classes we will drive down to Ollala to learn all we can about goats. This past Tuesday we learned about the uses of goats, what they eat and we got to introduce all 4 babies to bottles for the first time and to romping in the field for the first time. It was so fun to watch these tiny little goats jump and run. Next week we'll learn to make goat cheese and do some more feeding, and also about fencing. The last week we'll get to milk the goats and have cookies with goats milk.

Here is Firefly with Butter (middle) and her adopted brother. Pretzel the other mama doe gave birth to triplets and Firefly only had one so they took one from Pretzel and have worked on her adopting him to even the mama's out.

Butter nursing.

Charissa took a liking to one of Pretzels does. This is dangerous. They are so cute we are tempted to take her home as well. But we'll hold off and Charissa will get the first one born to us next year.

Joseph with one of Pretzel's kids.


On A Few Other Notes:

We lost a chicken. Can't find any trace of anything around the fenced yard or coop. It's a mystery. I just really hope that one of my neighbors didn't walk off with it while we were away yesterday. No sign of forced entry. No pile of feathers anywhere. No half eaten carcass. It's sad.
Our guest house piers go in this Saturday and the week after the whole thing goes up in what we are calling an Old Fashioned Amish Barn Raising. We have 4 families joining us thus far. All will be taking Amish names for the day and Valerie and I will be making a t-shirt with their name on it with an Amish pic of some sort on the back. We hope to have the guest house (as rustic as it will be with no plumbing but having electricity) weather tight by the end of the day on the 28th.
Can't wait to break it in. Maybe someday I'll be able to advertise..."come work on a real working ranch for the weekend" and people will actually pay me to pretend they live on a farm for a weekend. LOL What a novelty these days!!! If it had a toilet I'd bet anything I could really make some money renting it out. But....oh...in the olden days people used outhouses. Hey...that could be part of the novelty couldn't it? ;)

Christ is Risen!

I dyed the red eggs for Church this year. It was fun!
I used mostly our eggs from our chickens, but had to buy 2 dozen store bought eggs.
Below you see the comparison between the sizes. The store bought ones are huge compared to my little chicken eggs.
Also, I attempted the traditional method of dying with onion skins and it was very successful! I doubted that it would work but I was proven wrong. They are so beautiful. And my farm fresh eggs soaked up the dye so much better than the store bought. My theory is the washing process that store bought eggs go through.

My babes on the Eve of Pascha.

He said I've been watching you dad, ain't that cool

I'm your buckaroo, I wanna be like you
And eat all my food and grow as tall as you are
We like fixing things and holding mama's hand
Yeah we're just alike, hey ain't we dad
I wanna do everything you do
So I've been watching you
Chorus to "Watching You" by Rodney Atkins

A Little Bit of Heaven

The other day, well, the other day in mother-speak which means it could have been up to 2 weeks ago, I had read that the hummingbirds were back from the migration away. I have always thought hummingbirds were the rare breed you never did get to see to much of because they move too quickly and well, I just never saw them no matter how much I tried to attract them with sweet nectar filled feeders on the front porch.
Here in our new home I have a big beautiful picture window at the kitchen sink...big. It's one of my favorite things about washing dishes is I get to look out over our beautiful front yard with not a street in sight. Our little deck runs along the whole front of the house and in front of that there is a hedge of flowering currant. Currently it is covered in beautiful bright pink blooms (you'll see below). In the last couple of days I've seen fleeting glimpses of a hummingbird, but.....last night!!!! I got a little bit of heaven in my own front yard!!! I stood and washed dinner dishes and after I awhile I noticed not one hummingbird coming to drink at the currant flowers but up at one point there were up to FIVE!! They danced around and drank and darted and fleeted and then they'd rest!! on the tree directly in front of the hedge. Yes, rested on the branch! Most of the time there were 2 or 3 and this went on for 30 + minutes. As soon as I was done with the dishes I braved the possibility of scaring them and grabbed my camera and headed to the porch. It was dusk and they move VERY quickly so I didn't know if I'd be able to get any shots but I tried. At first no flash so I wouldn't scare them but I didn't get much but blur. So I used the flash. The first picture below is without flash, hence the blur but I LOVE it because if you look closely you'll see the blur of the hummingbird moving up the picture. The other two are with flash, one the hummingbird is resting and the other it is drinking. I couldn't believe it. I was in awe standing out there on the porch. Charissa joined me and we felt so blessed as these little creatures darted about, sometimes just inches from us and they'd stop and hover just in front of us looking and then dart away. They make an incredible humming noise akin to a large bumblebee but louder.
I truly felt like I was in heaven.

Just some updates and a request.

We continue to get eggs everyday, averaging 3 a day so far. One day we had 5! I'm told we'll soon have more than we know what to do with. I'm not worried as we already have 3 families lined up to buy!!! I think we'll need more layers! This little prairie girl is the one who loves going and collecting eggs the most and working with them. Charissa loves the bonnet I made.


Below is a look at our fresh eggs frying. LOOK HOW BEAUTIFULLY DARK ORANGE THEY ARE!!!!! MMMMMM If you don't buy fresh farm eggs or "free-range organic" from the store you are not familiar with how an egg is suppose to look. Crack open an egg and compare it to this! You'll be amazed! I couldn't help myself...I just had to try one and it was delicious. I can't wait until after lent!! I'll be eating them everyday!

Here are our hens loving the outdoors now! They devoured the grass within the fencing very quickly and so as I've been digging up the sod for my garden (which will be to the right of this chicken run) I've been putting the sod chunks in the run. They love it! They follow me around now all over as they want more and more "pasture". It has convinced me of the necessity to provide as much natural as possible. They much prefer it. Their feed troughs of commercial food go untouched for the most part! yeah...money saving!!!


Last Friday, March 16th we had sun and 72 or so degrees! This is what the kids insisted on. Today? It was 30 degrees and frost on the ground!

And for my REQUEST!!!
I'm decidedly a very bad planner and therefore struggle nearly daily with the idea of cooking for my family. I would love some ideas of menu planning and some of your favorite FAMILY-FRIENDLY, TIME- FRIENDLY AND HEALTHY-FRIENDLY recipes! I know I have access to great cookbooks but I want to know what works for real people all the time. I can read through cookbooks and planning organization cookbooks...but what's life? Please share some recipes your family loves (especially if you have little ones). I emailed my aunts and uncles who all raised families and even some cousins who have little ones...but no one has written back. :(
I know my biggest problem isn't knowing what to cook it's more along the lines of self-discipline to actually follow through with the plan. Please pray for me.
You can email me recipes and ideas if you want or post them here for all to see.
susansophia (dot) f (at) gmail (dot) com

"You Can Farm"

I was introduced to Joel Salatin author of above book and owner of Polyface Farms.
Boy do I wish I had 2 days to just sit down and read the entire book!!! I am truly inspired!!
Watch out James!

I read something last night from the chapter regarding philosophies of farming. He lists different reasons to farm for the right reason basically. As I've read this book I often think of our friend, Rade. Rade you NEED to read this book!

Clean, nutritious, personally-inspected food. (title of section within chapter)
People's personal involvement with their food needs to be encouraged. I can't imagine why folks who see how many things get botched up by the government would entrust the safety of their food to that same institution.
Honestly, the government can louse up just about anything it sets out to do, in such creative ways you or I can scarcely imagine it. They set out to care for widows and orphans with something called Social Security, and end up with a boondoggle that will well-nigh bankrupt the country and that has grown into a retirement entitlement for all. They set out to reduce manure going into waterways and build manure lagoons that cause more contamination than if they had never been built. They set out to protect the American eagle and end up absconding a farmer's tractor and his livelihood because the fireline he ripped in as a last-ditch effort to save his home upset a nest of endangered mice. They set out to reduce filth in huge slaughterhouses and put all the neighborhood mom-and-pop shops out of business. The list is endless, and it doesn't matter whether you're liberal or conservative, you know about bureaucratic corruption and stupidity.
Why would any of us entrust the government with protecting our food? Do you think all the huge outfits that receive government oversight are dedicated to turning out the cleanest, most nutritious food? Of course not.
The sooner we involve people with their food and show them there is something better than Twinkies and PopTarts, cardboard tomatoes and cellulose apples, greasy spareribs and pale eggs (btw...I have NEVER seen such brilliant dark yellow yolks like I've seen in my newly laid eggs!!!), they will realize the "system" is totally rotten. We cannot get an educated, proactive populace as long as we have an agriculture so far removed from end users that they think milk comes from jugs and fish sticks swim around in the ocean.
Nothing is as clean and nutritious as a customer-inspected facility and business. When the relationship marketer must pass the scrutiny of the discriminating patron, who personally looks over the entire operation, you'd better believe not one in a thoughsan would risk doing something unscrupulous. But a huge entity with a lot of "No Admittance" doors, with a bank of Philadelphia lawyers and millions in product liability insurance to protect it can hoodwink, smooth talk, and weasel out of anything.
Let's restore integrity in the food system by getting involved with it, personally.

She's growing up!

Kelsey Anna is just over 10 years old and she is definitely in her preteen time. Hormones are starting to rage and she is developing an attitude I hope won’t last long. I decided it was time to have “the” talk with her. Mostly to talk about the change that was taking place in her body. I wanted to make this a special time so we had a date. I bought her a lockable case and put toiletries in it and then I bought her a journal. But this was going to be a special journal for US. I thought of this while at the store and really love this idea so thought I would share it with you in case someone else might like to use it. This journal would be a place for us to write back and forth with each other. Sometimes it’s hard to face your mom/dad with tough questions or just words of sharing. Sometimes it’s hard to face your kids to tell them something important or even to apologize about something. This journal will give us an opportunity to be open with each other without feeling proud or nervous. What better time to start something than while she is young and VERY receptive. She loved it! That very first night she wrote to me and even with questions from that days talk. She also wrote some quotes from a book she liked. She kept it 2 nights and the 2^nd entry had another question and something that SHE wrote (created).

Someday she may not want to write to me, as she gets older and more into her teens. But she’ll be able to look back at this and hopefully be reminded of our friendship and the love I have for her.

“The window of heaven is love and the door to salvation is pureness.” By Kelsey Anna

Wow!

What a weekend!

We had a wonderful and busy weekend! As James mentioned in this post we had a rare opportunity to travel down to LA without children for a 3 day date! The purpose of the trip was to go to The Getty Museum to see the exhibit of the St. Katherine Monastery Icons. I felt so blessed to be able to do this. It is still vivid in my mind. The beauty and the holiness! I do have to say it was astonishing how crowded it was. And knowing that the vast majority of those looking at the Holy Icons really had no idea of the awesomeness and holiness of the "art" they were viewing really did interfere with my ability to experience it fully. It was so crowded and so distracting. I even overheard someone joking, yes joking, by saying...."Hey, (someones name) you're suppose to touch them for luck." They both laughed! It was sad and offensive as many of us orthodox lovingly venerated these holy icons. But overall I am really glad that we took this opportunity and I know we were blessed being in their presence as God was there!
While down in LA were were truly blessed to be able to visit some wonderful friends. Friends we do not get to see nearly enough! Chance and Cybil were wonderful hosts. They opened their home to us and then promptly left for their own weekend trip to a wedding. So that visit was way too short (just a few hours) but it was so nice to see them and we are very grateful they offered their home to us the entire time. Thank you! Their little girl Salome is growing up so fast.


We visited often with the Aaron and Sara and their two little ones were very entertaining.

This is Basil, Juliana and me!

On Sunday we visited St. Barnabas Orthodox Church and then had lunch with the Plews and the Ma'ae family. Thank you all for such a wonderful time.

Above from left to right starting in back...Aaron, Sara, Juliana, Toy, John, Cassian and below Bella, Basil and Nava. We had such a great time!

And now the news that James speaks of...
Later that day I was in the house and all of a sudden I hear Charissa outside screaming as if for life. I think the worst and go running. She's standing in the chicken run screaming, as I get closer I hear that she is screaming "EGG, EGG, EGG" (You would have thought the child was being carried off by a hungry bear.) I ran back in to yell into the house, "She found an egg!". I run to the chicken yard and meet her as she is CRYING and holding this tiny egg, saying "I found an egg, I found and egg! Isn't it beautiful?" She is crying!!!! I said, "Why are you crying?" "I'm so excited!!" was her reply! Wow. After that we put it in the fridge and got to work getting the nests in. For an hour Charissa whistled and sang as she did farm chores for the chickens. She spread straw over mud and helped me with the nest. It was such a fun afternoon! (Despite my 3 hours of sleep the night before.)

spring one day....winter the next

Two days ago the weather was just amazingly beautiful. We had sunshine and mild temps. I took a walk to take in all the signs of spring. Above you'll the hedge of black currant in my front yard is budding and even has some flowers starting to open. It's gorgeous!


Then today as we sat inside reading and playing we hear very loud patters on the roof. What do we see? Snow pellets, large bouncing snow pellets about pea size dumping! They continued until everything was nearly covered. Then they slowly turned into a gently falling snow. The kids had a blast! They even built a snowman out of it.

Something I read...

I'm reading "First Fruits of Prayer: A Forty-Day Journey Through the Canon of St. Andrew" by Frederica Matthewes-Green, during Lent this year. I'm just in the introduction which is quite long and read something I just loved! I must share...
She's talking about sin being sickness. The goal of life in Christ is to be healed...
This is really a long process. It takes a lifetime. But it is God's plan for reclaiming and transforming His world....
Though we may do many things to increase our self-control (like fast, keep a schedule of daily prayer, tithe, and sacrifice time and money), one of the main things God uses for our spiritual growth is other people. As they interact with us, frustrate and annoy us, we are over and over given opportunities to act in love. The main evidence that we are growing in Christ is not exhilirating prayer experiences, but steadily increasing humble love for other people. (something she touched on at the retreat which I might have mentioned in my post regarding the retreat---is God speaking to me?)
The cardinal rule is humility. We don't understand humility very well in our culture; we're more attracted to a model of heroism, which deals out punishment to wrongdoers and wins admiration as a champion of the right. But this was not a usual feature of early Christian spirituality. Instead, even wrongdoers were to be treated with love, in the awareness that we are equally sinners....
So the goal is to avoid judging anyone, and steadfastly to resist getting angry. (My favorite sentence is next hence the emphasis.) Other people rub off our rough edges, and so we grow into the likeness of Christ, who forgave His enemies from the cross.

Oh Lord and Master of my life! Take from me the spirit of sloth, despair, lust of power and idle talk. But give rather the spirit of chastity, humility, patience, and love to they servant. Yea, O Lord and King! Grant me to see my own transgressions and not to judge my brother, for blessed art Thou, unto ages of ages. Amen (Prayer of St. Ephraim)

Forgiveness and Butchering day!

First and foremost....

As we begin this Lenten Season I bow before you and ask forgiveness if I have offended any or all of you, (my 11 person audience). May you have a fruitful Lent.


Secondly....the pictures below are not for the faint-hearted. Do not scroll further if you are a vegetarian (during lent only doesn't count-if you are curious about what's below). It isn't gross..I don't think.


Ironically, I chose to spend my Clean Monday cleaning (butchering) my very first chicken! I was very nervous and was not at all ready for this job. But a co-worker of James' was desperate to rid her coop of a mean, nasty rooster who attacked everyone and I was not about to let the meat go to waste. So after reading 2 different books on the subject all morning, James headed to Sharon's with pellet gun in hand. (He was warned that it was NOT a good idea to even get close to this thing.) An hour later he pulled into the driveway with bird in bucket. I immediately strung him up and went to work. Surprisingly, the roles my daughters took in this adventure were completely the opposite of what I would have ever expected!! Kelsey hid from it all saying who mean I was and Charissa was right there pulling feathers like a champ!
Below are a sequence of pictures. First of us plucking feathers. Second of the bird cooling in a bowl of water waiting for the "drawing"(a much nicer word for "pulling the innards out") and the last is of me and my prize. It went surprisingly well. Next time I'll remember to cut out the vent (which is where the contents of the intestines leaves the body) BEFORE drawing out.
I think I could get used this!

I interupt the post below for this public announcement.....
I just wanted the world to know that I love this man!!!!
He is my friend, my companion, my partner and the most incredible father in the world!!!

Thank you, James, for all you do for us. For always being there, for providing and for loving. for making my dreams come true!

Women's Retreat thoughts

I just got back from a wonderful weekend in Vancouver, B.C where I attended a women’s retreat hosted by St. Herman of Alaska in BC. The guest speaker was Kh. Frederica Matthewes-Green! It was really a wonderful, relaxing and growing time for me. She is a very sweet, soft-spoken humble woman who had a lot to share and it was very practical and needed for me. I will share one thing she said from each topic. There is so much I wrote down I want to share it all but it may not make sense and the post would become too long. If you ever get a chance to hear her speak, do.

She spoke on the 3 Basic Spiritual Disciplines:

1. Prayer (relates to relationship to God)

Specifically she talked about the Jesus Prayer. She gave us several scripture where Paul tells us to pray constantly. Romans 12:12, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Ephesians 6:18

Here are just a few snippets from her:

• Prayer is a spiritual exercise! Everybody wants to be transformed (poof) but nobody wants to change (work). Theosis is a process of change (work).

2. Fasting (helps us gain control of ourselves)

This one is hard to pick just one thing. She talked a lot about our passions and bringing them under control and doing that by fasting. But why do our passions torture us so? Because the evil one. He drags us down, he entices us, he wants us to doubt God, he nudges us, tempts us, violates us, lies to us. He tempts us with pleasures and then plummets us into despair by his whispers of doubt and lies. He works very hard at this. Western Christianity does not take this seriously. The evil one is a joke. Fasting strengthens us against temptations. Strengthens us against our passions.

3. Almsgiving (relationship with others)

If we want to test how we are doing inwardly (prayer and fasting) look at how we are doing outwardly (how we relate to others). If we are doing well inwardly it will reflect outwardly. We can’t always tell that our prayers are “doing” something to us or that our fasting is strengthening us. Sometimes we feel our prayers are dry but we force ourselves and we don’t always like to fast it gets old after awhile, but to test is to look at how we relate to others, we will be loving and giving more and more.

On another note…several people I spoke to had gone to the Getty Museum Icon exhibit. I WANT TO GO!!! I’m trying to figure out how I can get down there within the next 3 weeks (it ends March 4). I’m terrified of flying!!!!! I’d rather pack up my van and drive with four antsy children then get on a plane. Any suggestions! James said, “You are NOT going down there without me.”

Flying the coop!!!

Today was the day....

to fly the coop!!!!

We were all so excited!

The kids lined up!

The dog stood watch!

I got the camera out!

And....


an hour later...

they are still inside!

LOL But at least it's done!!!!

Creatures come to call...

I found this on the back porch tonight after I heard some clattering and went running to see what it could be...

Look at those fingers!

Another beautiful morning!!!!

I some are getting tired of it, but I think it is fun and Oh! so beautiful!

Ferrenberg Farm updates PLUS an URGENT prayer request

First and foremost...
I received an email from my cousin today who happens to live not far from me, his wife collapsed last night from complete heart failure. They are both in their 40's and have a 12 year old son. She was resuscitated after 1 hour of touch and go attempts at betting her breathing again. She was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle where they induced a coma so that her body could rest the most while they evaluate. It has been found that her heart is only working at about 8% efficiency. Good news has been heard in that she woke up, despite all the medication to make her sleep, and she spoke, recognized people and wanted to be awake. She was convinced that sleeping was best right now. We don't know the path they will take but a transplant has been mentioned as a possibility. There is a history here that I must explain. She was very sick in her teens with a bacteria infection that effected her heart. Her heart is weak and approximately 8 years ago she had open heart surgery to repair damage. They've always known that her heart could give out earlier than one hopes.
Please pray for Hilary, Richard and Mark(her son).


Updates...Nothing new just wanted to share some cute pictures. Guess the update is more for WOW...look how fast those chicks grow.

CHRIST IS BORN!

Glorify Him!

Today, The Nativity of Christ, we went to 10AM Divine Liturgy of St. Basil.
For the FIRST time in my Orthodox life I was at Liturgy with my entire family but had only ONE of my four children sitting on the floor in front of me. It was very odd, surreal. I didn't know what to do with myself. "Oh, I can pray, join in the singing." But no, I was too busy being proud of the 3 that were not sitting on the floor in front of me.
First, Nicholas. He just turned 6 on the 22nd and served his first Divine Liturgy today as an alcolyte. He couldn't wait!!! All morning it was..."let's go mom, I'm going to be late... We gotta go now! ... I'm gonna be late... Dad would you take me so I'm not late." He did very well! And was thrilled! Someone asked him after service if he was going to do it again, "Of Course."




Second, Kelsey and Charissa. Began singing in the choir regularly about 2 weeks ago. Charissa still comes over to us from time to time, but some days she is REALLY into it and does very well. Yesterday, the choir director and her husband gave them rave reviews and said they really heard their voices come out nicely. Charissa even has a little foot stool to stand on. This picture is really blurry but the little head hiding with the white scarf is Charissa and the other with the pink/purple one is Kelsey.

Waking Up

I feel like I've just woken up from a very foggy dream. My eyes have opened to a brightness I'm not familiar with. I can see the dirt qute a bit easier, I can see the dog hair far too easily, and the mountains I thought my house had grown are really just piles of laundry that for reasons completely out of my control had grown to enormous proportions. Yes, we finally were blessed by the presence of the electric company work truck to remove the large tree from the power lines, replacing three poles and restringing gads of wire to restore power to our little community. It has silenced the neighborhood...no more gas powered generators roaring from the neighbors 24 hours a day. Oh the silence of the country once again. I hardly know I have neighbors...UNLESS the power goes out!
There is a sort of mourning though as I wake to the brightness. I shall miss the simplicity that I learned to live with. No distractions from the TV or computer. The house was quiet, except for the children actually using their wild imaginations to entertain themselves in the dusk of the evening. It was amazing to watch them play, all together, for hours on end; sword fighting, princess rescueing and dragon flying! The glow of the candlelight was really quite lovely and welcoming.
Lessons I learned:
The email kept coming even though I couldn't check it everyday. The world kept spinning even though I couldn't watch the news to see that it was still there. And someone earned a million dollars, even though I wasn't there to watch it. (DON'T TELL ME!!!!!!) I can cook and heat water on the woodstove quite easily. I can bathe efficiently with a 24 qt. stockpot filled with hot water (heated on the woodstove) set in the shower. I can "sweep" dirt and crumbs off carpet with fantastic results. And a chest freezer that is stored outside on the back porch will stay frozen for 5+ days without trouble (in the winter). A chest freezer not plugged in will keep refrigerator items at the right temperature without freezing them nor warming them, if left on the back porch in the cold air. Candlelight is far superior to battery powered lanterns. Children can be sufficiently entertained without any kind of electric powered media or toys!!!

I'm tempted to flip the main breaker once a month!!

I just received a status report on my hit counter and see that I consistantly have 10 hits a day.
Thank you to all who are continually coming back to my humble little space on the web.
I wish it was more exciting.

That being said, I must share with you a book I'm reading. It's no secret I've done a lot of reading on sugar and it's ill effects on health. The more I educate myself on this white "drug" the more I become aware of WHY my body is falling apart. I'm not getting old!!! I'm slowly poisoning myself and my body doesn't know what to do with it.
The latest book I'm reading is called "Lick the Sugar Habit". I highly recommend this book to everyone, whether you believe you need to "lick the sugar habit" or not. It is profoundly informative on nutrition and allergies! I am amazed at what I am learning. She goes into detail about what an allergy is and how it affects your body. She quotes endless research studies and lists them in the back of the book if you doubt her. And my favorite so far is the section on what sugar does to your immune system. Here is a quote on some research done:
Two different research projects that evaluate the effets of sugar on the phagocytic index have been done at Loma Linda University. The phagoctes are those white blood cells of the immune system that eat up foreign invaders and debris; they are the Pac-men of the body. The more bacteria eaten by each phagocyte, the stronger the immune system becomes and the less chance the body has of becoming diseased. The phagocytic index indicates the average number of invaders engulfed by a phagocyte.
One of the Loma Linda studies, conducted in 1973, examined the effects of sugar(sucrose), glucose, fructose, honey, orange juice, and starch on the phagocytic index. Except for starch, all the substances were simple sugars. The starch was the only substance to cause a rise in the phagocytic index--the phaocytes actually ate up more bacteria after starch was ingested. The index was highest approximately thirty minutes after the volunteers ate starch. The sugars, on the other hand, caused the phagocytic index to decrease greatly. The index was lowest 2 hours after ingestion. In other words, the sugar had a negative effect on the amount of bacteria removed by the immune system.

The average American eats 10 pounds of sugar each month! That's 30-33 teaspoonfuls everyday! No wonder we are so laden with disease and so many new degenerative diseases on the rise!!!!

James would say, "Well, if sugar is so bad for you why doesn't the medical world tell us that? Why isn't it made illegal?" The authors answer to this is basically job security. If we aren't sick than the pharmaceutical companies are out of business. If we all go on a whole foods health kick, which is what we need to be healthy, then what would happen to companies like Kellogg, General Mills, Kraft!, Betty Crocker, Nabisco, not to mention the huge soda pop companies. Our entire economic system would drop out of the bottom of the bucket.

Sorry so long.

This is a book I'm definitely going to buy.

Updates and More

Hello there! Life has been so busy! We had a great Thanksgiving weekend visiting with many friends and family who ventured over the water to see our new home and US! It was so wonderful to see so many warm and friendly faces we hadn't seen in so long. We miss you all so much!!!! James wrote about it a little more here.

The chicks really do not look like chicks any longer. They are 5+ weeks old now!!! If there is a rooster or two we should soon be hearing some attempts at crowing.

And the wonders and beauty of snow!!!! Oh, I do miss it often. This time though it came with some deep cold that I did not like. Mostly because my little chicks just don't need that kind of temperature while they are still accumulating feathers for warmth. We had 18 for a low one night!!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!!!

Here are two fun pictures.
Killick is looking down at the chick and the chick is looking back. Killick LOVES to go watch them. They fly about and peep and he just watches. If you don't take him with he gets upset.
Mom took this picture of me holding the baby chick.
They are 3 weeks today!

...and grow!!

I am completely amazed each day when I go out to feed and water the chicks! It seems as if I notice new feathers each visit. I think that if I could sit there all day I'd see their feathers move.
We are having so much fun with these little ladies.
Here they are at 2 1/2 weeks. If you go here you can pop back to them at 1 week and you'll be amazed!!!!

Cousins, Cam and Kayla, came for a visit and they really enjoyed the chickens. Kelsey, Cam and Kayla all have a chick perched on their arms! That was fun!

I grow to love our new home each day as I walk around the property and work in the house. There is so much to see and do. So much to appreciate and love.
This weekend we were busy putting in new windows, stacking wood, hauling wood and a cutting wood. I spent a bit of time stacking wood that was delivered, trying to get it out of the pouring rain, but I had help. On Friday, right before the wood was delivered, Jenny (a dear friend from St. Paul's Church) came by ferry to spend the day with us! It was so wonderful to spend the day with her. She helped the guys put in the new windows and helped me throw and stack wood. It made me feel so good to hear her say "I'm going to quit school and come live here, this is so fun!"
On Saturday the cousins came as I mentioned above. We had a break from the rain and even saw sun much of the day. Early on my mom and James' mom went for a walk and mom took this picture! It is SO beautiful! It is the neighbors driveway but it's our property!!
This little piece of heaven is ours!

They grow so fast!

Here is a picture of the chicks at one week old! It is incredible how different they look. They are getting real feathers on their wings and hind ends. They are really fun to watch too! They are quite the characters. They chase each other and making little attempts at flying. I've lowered their heat some and added some scrumptious chicken scratch ( bits of dried corn) and they love to eat. We have 4+ weeks left to get the fencing in so that they can attempt to go outside to eat bugs if the weather isn't too bad. They'll love that!
It sure is fun to watch them!
The Fallin clan has joined us for the weekend and I loved Brendan's response to seeing the chicks..."No fair! You get chickens!" It was so cute!

They are finally here…

We were waiting yesterday morning for the phone to ring to tell us to come pick up the chicks from the Poulsbo Post Office. The call never came. By 8:00 a.m. I decided to call and see if they were there. I was greeted with “Sorry, they didn’t arrive. There is another truck at noon.” They were not on the noon truck and so we waited and knew they’d be on the 6:00 a.m. truck this morning.

About 2:00 a.m. we woke to complete darkness and silence. It was so bizarre to lay there and here absolutely nothing. No cars, no appliances humming, nothing! If you’ve never heard “nothing”, it is almost unbearable…the ringing in my ears was deafening.

(Sorry for the tangent)…Anyway, I was feeling pretty lucky at this point that the chicks had NOT arrived as they would have been in the dark cold coop for a few hours and I wouldn’t have known it. They may not have made it.

At 6:30 a.m. today I decided to call the Post Office and I was told they did not arrive. I was sad. I knew if they didn’t come now to food and water they probably wouldn’t make it and I was sure someone had forgotten them in a corner somewhere. For some reason Kelsey woke at this time and we were sitting on the sofa feeling sad for the chicks, talking about their demise when not 10 minutes later the phone rings and it’s the Post Office saying they indeed had our chicks!!!! We were thrilled!!!! Talk about a roller coaster ride of emotions!!!

We hopped in the car and were greeted at the post office with a SMALL box of very loudly peeping chicks! It was exciting!

We drove home quickly and one at a time took them out of the box and dipped their beaks in water so they could drink! They all made it but one!

So begins our adventure on the farm!

In a comment below Sara asked if I had any advice on making love the natural response to my children. After writing and finding my comment back quite lengthy I decided to make it a blog post. Not because I think I’m some expert but rather because I have struggled so deeply with this and have found comfort and mercy from God I thought maybe others might benefit from my experience.

Sara,

I'm so not worthy to give advice on this topic. I try very hard to make love the natural response but fail daily. My efforts include much prayer!!! Years ago I bought "Akathist to the Mother of God: The Nurturer of Children" and made attempts to read it once in a great while when I thought of it. I really wanted to pray this because it sought the Theotokoes in help to raise my children. Who better to ask? It wasn't until recently that my prayer life was less than desirable. But now I know that the one and only way to make "love the natural response" is through prayer. I've gotten very strict on myself with my rule of prayer, it's humble but consistent now and I can definitely see the fruits of my labor a tiny bit at a time. I decided to endeavor to read just two stanzas a day and not think about any more until I have consistently done this so that it was habit. Than I could slowly add one at a time. In the back of the book there are other prayers and I read one of those beautiful prayers to God each day. My favorite is A Prayerful Sighing of Parents for Their Children. You can find this online to print off if you do not own it, here.

But they are rather inexpensive to buy and are published by the Serbian Monastery in AZ...here.

One more prayer that I found online (can’t remember where) that I try and pray often is:

Christ my God, set my heart on fire with love in You, that in its flame I may love You with all my heart, with all my mind, and with all my soul and with all my strength, and my neighbor as myself, so that by keeping Your commandments I may glorify You the Giver of every good and perfect gift. Amen

Having a prayer rule used to be VERY overwhelming to me but once I became consistent and witnessed the fruits of it I find it hard to miss for if I do I REALLY miss it.

So my only advice is PRAYER PRAYER PRAYER for I cannot do it alone!

CHICKS!

I ordered 25 Rhode Island Red chicks today!!! We will have fuzzy day(or 2) old chicks on Friday morning!!!! We are excited! And busy making a brooder to keep them warm in for the first month and a half! MAYBE I can get pictures on here when we get them...if the dial-up allows!

I am giddy!!

What's happenin' at the Ferrenberg Farm....

While I'm still unpacking boxes I've found the time to get our and explore my little corner of the world a bit more. This past weekend we had my niece and nephew with us for 2 days and on Saturday I pulled on my boots and we headed to see what we could find out there in the beautiful forest surrounding our home. It was really quite fun and inspiring. I finally know where the property ends as I came across a wire strung up across the far east end of the property. Right next to the wire I found a peculiar sign posted....
"No vehicles allowed." We all laughed as we trampled through the trees and high brush that surrounded the sign. A road? One would have never guessed there was a path at one time that could support a vehicle.
On Sunday afternoon I changed into work clothes and once again pulled on my boots, but this time I went out and began to work on our soon-to-be chicken coop. There are 4 big windows in the coop, two have actual windows that will let in lots of light and the other two were just window openings. After some thought I decided to just board those openings up so as not to let in too much draft and critters. So hammer, nails and boards in hand I went a-poundin'. I then staked out the fence line where I'll have my chicken run. A nice big area that includes some brush and a small group of raspberries that need became out of control ( don't worry I have two rows of tame raspberries in another area, so i'm not wasting these-they'll be a nice treat for the chickens next summer). I look forward to finishing up the coop to welcome our new chickens in the next week or two. We'll get day old chicks that will live in a small brooder in our mud room for the first 4 -6 weeks. Once they lose their fuzz and grow feathers they'll head out to the coop.
OOOHHHH I can't wait to start getting eggs!!!!

Sr. Magdalen

I too was at the Portland Fall Women’s Retreat. I’m sure you saw our picture at either Dawn’s blog or Mimi’s. I feel compelled to explain the “roller derby” joke…but Juliana’s blog post from awhile back explains it best.

I just wanted to share a couple highlights for me. These are from my attempt at notes. Do not take these as complete and perfect quotes.

-St. Silhoun said, “The best catechesis for our children is LOVE.” We put the cart before the horse when we try to TEACH our children asceticism. The one who is loved and learns to love will desire asceticism.

-The sorrow we feel for our perceived failures can burden our children with guilt. A young boy said, “I don’t ever want a Christian wife because she’ll just be miserable all the time like my mother.”

- We can respond to our children with our face rather than our mouth.

- The best discipline is LOVE!

- Someone asked about equality/feminism and she said…

We in our society have developed the mistake of thinking equality means doing the same thing. If we can’t do the same thing as the man/woman we are not equal. Wrong! We all know God because He created us persons. We are all person. We all receive communion from the same chalice. We are all baptized the same baptism. What are we after? A cassock? A label?

While at the retreat I bought her book “Conversations with Children: Communicating our Faith”. I have only read the Preface and a couple things really made me pause and are needed in my brain….

-Teaching, like praying, is spoiled when we stop to consider how well we are doing—when we are continually second-guessing. We teach best when we simply enjoy the company of our beloved children.

-A lot of things in everyday family life go on as a matter of course. When conscious decisions or spontaneous choices need to be made, being a Christian will make a difference, but often a variety of decisions can fit in with Christian principles. Orthodoxy does affect one’s lifestyle, but Orthodoxy can live in many different lifestyles. A combination of healthy principles seasoned with common sense means that life goes on organically. If spiritual principles are put first, many decisions make themselves.

-This book is offered to parents even if they read it piece-meal or in random order; concentrated reading is for many a rare luxury. AHHHH someone who knows my reading life well!!!! And accommodates it! J

Going to Retreat

Well, after 2 solid weeks of unpacking, organizing, homeschooling and becoming familiar with our new surroundings I am packing my bags and headed to Portland with Dawn, Mimi and Vicki for the Women's Retreat at St. John Greek Orthodox Church in Portland. I'm so excited about meeting some bloggers face to face, about having some mommy time with full-size people and about hearing what Sister Magdalen of St. John the Baptist Monastery in England has to say.

I'M BACK!!!

After purchasing and installing a 56k Modem, stringing (and stretching to it's limit)50 feet of phone cord across the entire house (no working outlet upstairs) I am FINALLY reconnected to the internet. The connection is slower than molasses in January but I DON'T CARE. After being disconnected for over a week this slow modem connection is a welcome sight. I miss my daily connection to my family and friends across the USA!

We are still working on settling in. Emptying boxes and finding new homes for everything is a huge task for 6 people and their belongings. There are always little gliches to pass, like the non-working oven that welcomed us the night we moved in as we carried in 2 Take-n-Bake pizzas. But now I have a range that resembles the one I left behind...glass top stove and fresh clean oven.

Thank you for all your prayers and warm thoughts!

We finally did it and are excited for what the futre holds as we establish our new life her in the country.

Hospitality

The newest edition of The Handmaiden is dedicating to "The Ministry of True Hospitality".

Ever since we moved to Bothell and closer to the Church community surrounding St. Paul Antiochian Church James and I have loved to open our home to our friends and hosted quite a number of BBQ's throughout the last 3 years. It started with the notion that it was just easier since we had the most children that needed early bed times and tending to and also the fact we had a trampoline that was VERY entertaining for all the numerous children from the toddlers to the teens. But over time it just became tradition that many looked forward to including us. As we get ready to leave the St. Paul community I know that this is one aspect that I will miss above almost anything else. But as I join another community and Glory to God, within a short distance from the Church and many of it's families I hope and pray that we will be able to continue this tradition there.
As I read the new Handmaiden I realized that I have a lot to learn about hospitality despite the fact that I felt I was a very hospitable person. Mary Vaughn Armstrong wrote an article called "The Christ in the Stranger's Guise" which was VERY eye opening and oh so inspiring! Mary happens to attend St. Paul's where I currently go to Church. She is an amazing person and it shows in this article she wrote. My prayer is to take much of what I read and absorb it into my mind and heart so that I may become more hospitable not only to family and friends but to the strangers we meet. Mary says, "Hospitality has to do with the heart, and absolute trust that God Himself has sent each person who arrives on our doorstep. Every time we open our front door and invite someone to share our lives for a while, convenient or not, we offer ourselves."

Three main articles in this issue have to do with hospitality and I learned from every one of them. I can't wait to take my new found ideas and eagerness and welcome into my home many new friends and old alike.

To all , near and far, my home is open to share, to laugh, to listen, to love in peace and solitude. I can't promise complete silence because my 4 children will most assuredly welcome you as well, but with loud singing and laughing and eager voices to show you all that they do and love.
To my friends where distance will seperate us soon, I LOVE YOU ALL and will truly miss our times together, but know OUR HOME IS ALWAYS YOUR HOME!

"Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels." Hebrews 13:2

Do you ever feel like....

...you have no one to talk to? Like your mind is racing with so many thoughts you will explode if you can't share them someone? If you can't get advice from someone? But you just don't know that there is anyone out there who would understand or even want to understand?
Do you ever feel like you can't talk about it because than everyone will know your deepest darkest sins? Because then they'll think bad of you and they'll think bad of your husband and children?
How can you possibly share all of your fears and frustrations and still have someone who will care? Who will still love you despite all of your failings?

So you just sit back and let it simmer within all the while praying, begging God to have mercy. Praying and begging God to show you how to TALK TO HIM!!!!

Sometimes I think I have these feelings because I am all alone all day long with no other adults to converse with. No one else to share joy and sorrow with. I'm left to figure it out all by myself.(This is a whole other post.)

Glory to God!!!

Our appraisal on our sale came back with flying colors!!!

Reading Charlotte Masons....

"Original Home School Series" which is SIX volumes long and first originally written in 1907. It will take me years to really read it all but will sift through it. If you home school or want to I highly recommend familiarizing yourself with her. There are several great books out there that summarize her philosophy and some great websites, like Charlotte Mason Resource and Supply Company
and Simply Charlotte Mason.


I wanted to share something I read that was pretty profound to me. She's talking about authority, specifically with regards to parents and children.
Authority is that aspect of love which parents present to their children; parents know it is love, because to them it means continual self-denial, self-repression, self-sacrifice; children recognize it as love, because to them it means quiet rest and gaiety of heart. Perhaps the best aid to the maintenence of authority in the home is for those in authority to ask themselves daily that question which was presumptuously put to our Lord - 'Who gave thee this authority?' "

I'm reading from another section right now that I want to share later.