Who Needs Toys...

...when you have fire?

....maple syrup

....and snow!

On one of the many snow days the kids had this winter I found them making maple candy "just like the pioneers did". They made it with both store bought syrup and maple syrup we had put up last year. I was the sampler and voted for the homemade. Homemade is ALWAYS best no matter what it is. LOVE that my kids have such great imaginations! Tapping season is just around the corner......can't wait!

The fire picture at the top of this post was from a recent ice fishing trip when our heater broke. Maine Man & the kids started a fire for warmth & cooking. MM was pretty proud of his quadruple hot dog roasting stick.

Honestly, I have nothing against TV, video games, and toys when used in moderation. My kids have a Wii they bought with their own hard earned cash. I actually love playing Just Dance when I'm able body ...not as of lately ;) On the other hand I am against video games that encourage violence. I think they desensitizes children.

I am even ok with the kids watching TV although if it was not for MM & the kids I would so NOT have cable TV. I do not watch much TV. Although I will admit this season I am watching Survivor as there is a local Mainer in the game. We also have a Survivor pool going at work and I potentially could win $180. I was assigned Stephanie, the chick that had the heels on last night, WTH? I hadn't watched Survivor since Flower Girl was in the womb, 8+ years ago. She was actually named after one of the contestants...lol. I do not agree with some of the shows that are broad casted but there is also many shows that can be educational. Country boy loves watching Myth Busters & Man vs. Wild. I'm often amazed by what he learns from the shows.

As for toys, early on I learned not to waste a whole lot of money on them because in all reality my kids just didn't play with them and they often end up in the bottom of a landfill or Goodwill.

Good Ole' Mother Nature is the best toy box of all!

Good Old Fashioned Fun

Last weekend my neighbor, her children & grandchildren came over for some winter time fun.

Rona & Callie

Me & CB

Brother & Sister skating....love this pic!

MM

FG

Saphie (the girl next door)

When I Least Expect It...

When I least expect it ....My daughter comes running into my house after rescuing a chipmunk from the jaws of our cat.

I assure you he was not calm and friendly as seen here in these pictures. Good thing she had a bandaid on or she would have needed one after this little bugger came to life. Despite our efforts to convince her that the chipmunk would not survive she said, "he's a living creature, we have to save him!" So into the kids catch & release tank he went with some fresh bedding, water, and food. About an hour later I glanced out the window to see Maine Man in the pouring rain over by the wood line aka our "pet cemetery". A few minutes later he walked back with carrying my baby girl weeping in his arms. When I l in least expect it..........I am greeted at my car after work by 2 excited kiddos leading me to the barn to show me what they (Chantal, our friends daughter) caught in our front yard.

This snapper was nothing you wanted to mess with weighing in at 35lbs or so. She managed to get herself out the kids 50 gallon tank which is like a 5ft drop onto cement and down by the pond 200 yards away. I could not beleive it when the kids told me she was missing. Thankfully our dog Callie spotted her. I had heard her barking but never thought much of it until I put it all together.

She looks small in comparison to him. I can't imagine why! ;)

Maine Man got her safely back to her desired location, across the street to the river. She got out of the net faster then expected and was playing chicken, nearly road kill. What they say about turtles being slow is a crock. Thanks to MM this story had a happy ending.

When I Least Expect It...while I am mowing the lawn the kids run over with this baby groundhog in a net . I nod my head thinking it's dead and carry on mowing. Later that evening to my surprise it is still alive in the catch/release tank. This cutie made it a couple days. No matter what they try to "save" death seems too be inevitable.

You just never know what you'll find in the tanks. So far this summer the kids have had snakes, mice crayfish, salamanders, frogs, toads, and frog eggs in addition to the above critters.

What next?

It's the simple things.....

My uncle died suddenly 14 years ago. He loved cardinals as did my Aunt. Ever since my Aunt has always looked at the cardinal symbolically. She had a beautiful picture of one etched on his gravestone and has many throughout her house. So now when I see a cardinal I always think of and remember my Uncle Ray.

He's been trying to get in the house now for 3 + weeks. I'm thinking he just wants to check out our new digs.

This week we are putting up a real cool birdhouse my dad made...pictures to follow. Hope you enjoyed my series of "It's the simple things..." The end!

It's the simple things.....

Exploring their surroundings.





Kids being kids


The kids have a cabin above the shed. It is equiped with chairs, tables, radio and they even just
put up some curtains that we acquired through the tote. It is a great place for them to get away even on a rainy and/or windy day.

Wordless Wednesday

Maple Syrup Sunday

Last weekend we boiled down 9 gallons of sap. We used a propane turkey cooker and I cooked 2 batches, 4 gallons on Saturday and 5 on Sunday. It took all day, like 10-12 hrs each day. Most expensive syrup we've ever eaten. Had I planned ahead I would have gathered wood and cooked it that way but I did not. I also should have added to the syrup as it boiled down. The way I go about it this weekend will be based on the mistakes I've made. I will also use a shallow pan rather than the deep lobster pot as seen above. As of tonight we have 17 gallons to boil down. When the sap was boiled down I was unable to tell when it was ready. One web site said "it will have an oily appearance", and another said when it "reaches 219 degrees". I could use some HELP here from those of you that have experience with this!

Neither method worked perfectly for me. So I went by the guess factor and consistency, probably not the best method.

Batch # 1 after cooled had the consistency of honey. You could eat it by the spoonful and I DID! It is from nature, it must be good for you, right? :)
Batch # 2 turned out a bit on the watery side. Regardless of consistency it is the best maple syrup I've had since I was a child. As it cooked up the sweet aroma brought me back to my childhood at the sugar house in Canada. Interestingly, that is the ONLY memory I have of going there as a child.


On a final note, I will clarify that I did drink raw milk as a child. My brother reminded me after he read my post. My brother milked for some time as a teenager. He use to fill an old glass vinegar bottle after his workday was done. So I indeed did drink raw milk when I was at my Dad's on the weekends. Funny how I completely forgot about that. I think at the time I did not really know the difference. Last weekend we stopped and bought a gallon of raw organic milk from a farm in my brother's hometown and I made my first batch of mozzarella cheese and it was SO easy and tasty. The whole family liked it! I bet you can't guess what I'll be posting about in the next week or so. Things have been crazy busy here with Springs arrival. I will catch up on everyone's recent posts over the weekend.

Savoring the Moment

Maine Man & I were off today and the kids were in school. Unusual occurrence here on the homestead. He planned to go out back and gather wood since we only have a weeks worth left. We have burned about 7 cord this season. In my mind I was reviewing the endless list of things I could do then decided to go along. I find that sometimes you just have to say hell with it, "it can wait". It all to easy to get caught up in the routines of life.
That is something I love about the kids! Their spontaneousness (I'd say I just made that word up because spell check is not finding it) , their ability to completely change my focus for the day. They do that too me on a routine basis. I never regret it!

Any how, we gathered some wood then went for a walk on the trail.

There is still lots of snow but regardless it was a gorgeous day.



Even Callie thought so. She loves going out back. The minute she has the slightest idea we are going out back she goes ABSOLUTELY mental until you hit the trail.

We gathered bows for the goats to munch on.

MM stacks the down brush to help house the wild critters (rabbits) in the long Maine winters.

Even though the snow has been melting slowly and most days have been cool. The preparations of Spring are still underway. I planted green peppers and cauliflower and plan to start more seeds over the weekend. A green house is in our future....post to come. We have lots of peeping chicks and ducklings in our wood room. We sold all but the 20 chicks (rhode island reds) we are keeping and 10 ducklings(khaki campbells). MM always orders by th 100...uggg. I SO want an incubator but I also long for a new camera, pressure canner, and a dishwasher. That is my WANT list for 2009.

On Sunday we are going to tap our two maple trees. I look forward to that adventure. Another first! On a final note I am dreaming of finding a local source of raw milk so I can give homemade butter making a try. Then maybe I'll progress to yogurt and/or cheese making. Maine Man grew up drinking raw milk. I have never even sampled it.

~Sunday Stills ~ Reflections

It is that time of the week again for Sunday Stills photo challenge. It always creeps up on me and here I sit trying to get my post in before I head off to bed. This was a hard one for me. I took a bunch of shots in the mirror, none that I liked. This would be have been perfect one for Spring when the ponds begin to open up. I took a quick peak at some of the other submissions and there are some real cool ones like this horse eye. I am amazed by the creativeness (not in me) that this challenge sparked in others. This is by far my favorite one and as the warm weather comes I will be looking for more opportunities to take pictures of reflections. Next week theme is the moon.


Did you see my Harvest 2009 update on my side bar? Egg count thus far is up to a whopping 500. That is because MM put a timer and a light out in the barn for them. We were averaging 8 eggs a day for quite sometime and now we are up to 2 dozen a day....back to what we were getting over the summer and fall.
I was fooling with some angle shots as that was last weeks photo challenge but I goofed. This is one of our 2 maple trees that we plan to tap for a first time real soon.


Answering a few questions from my last post:

Kyfarmlife, I did not make the bird feeder my dad did. It is just a can painted with wood sides hanging by a chain. That would be a good project to do with the kids this summer.

Farmgirl DK, my brother and I were raised separately because our parents divorced and my brother decided to live with my dad and I stayed with my mother. Not too much of a story, seems like an everyday occurrence in this day and age.