Journal Jottings of a Maine Mama: February 1, 2016

CLOCK READS
7:41am

WEATHER IN MY NECK OF THE WOODS
Warm weather ushers in February. Cloudy and drizzly, but we may reach 50 degrees. Where are the shorts? flip flops? A sneak-peak of spring!

OUTSIDE MY WINDOW and IN THE GARDEN

Bare patches of ground and grass are showing through the snow to the coop as the mid-winter thaw continues. The hens have been able to explore the yard again, pecking and scratching where they can, and the ducks have been swimming in the brook, preening after a dip in the icy water.

WHAT I'M DOING RIGHT NOW and AROUND THE HOUSE
I'm in my cozy bed with a cooling cup of green tea sweetened with honey beside me. I hear Cate stirring in her room. Wonder how she's feeling? She's had a low grade fever since Saturday.  And I think she's shared with me...

FEBRUARY TO DO LIST
☐ Fix Leaks (that Never Got Fixed in January)
☐ Declutter and Organize Utility Room
☐ Clothing, Linens and Blankets Purge
☐ Bring Donates to Salvation Army

MEAL PLAN
Monday - TBD
Tuesday - TBD
Wednesday - Fend for Yourself Night
Thursday - TBD
Friday - TBD
Saturday - TBD
Sunday - TBD

(Yeah, I don't really have a plan...)

WHAT'S ON TV
Nothing! It's been a while now since I've watched TV, but I think the new seasons of The Amazing Race, The Voice, and Survivor start something this month. I catch them the day after for free on Hulu as we don't have cable.

FROM THE CRAFT BASKET

Isn't it a cute pillow? It didn't work up as big as I thought, but it's a perfect accent pillow to go with my rippled fan afghan. (Pattern)

And here's a look at the progress on my temperature blanket for January. Color key? Purple is for under 20 degrees, navy for 20s, light blue for 30s, and green for 40s. It was a mild month for us. I didn't think I would need green yet! The random pattern based on temperatures is going to create a unique blanket.

I'm sharing my crocheting creations over at Lucy Blossom Crafts (Mondays), Frontier Dreams (Tuesdays), Small Things (Wednesdays), Oombawka Design (Wednesdays), and Lunamon Design (Wednesdays).

PAGE TURNER

A BLESSING
This month I will be doing a LOVE STUDY from Time Warp Wife. I'm excited about learning and applying the 4 types of love - storge, philia, eros, and agape - through bible scripture, on-line discussion, a study guide, and Four Loves by C.S. Lewis. I'll be jotting down prayers and reflections in the SWEET "Quiet Your Heart" journal. (For info on this study, click here. It's not too late to join in!)

DEVOTIONAL and INSPIRATION
Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer all men. (Colossians 4:6)

I'm linking up to The Simple Woman's Daybook, Darling Downs Diaries, and Happy Homemaker are Mondays.

Weekly Wrap-up: Week 29 - The One with a Yawn

:: yawn :: 

I'm going to sleep well tonight! In fact, I've been sleeping well for many nights now. Spending time OUTSIDE has a way of tuckering me out. But I REALLY wanted to post a weekly wrap-up for you all. It's been since April 16th since I've blogged. Days have gotten away from me.

April Vacation was last week. I'm not so sure about the VACATION part. With 5 kids, 6 for 1 1/2 days, things aren't exactly relaxing. But it's pretty darn awesome to have all these kids around just the same. We spent our days walking along the lake, dipping our toes in with thoughts of swimming, tossing baseballs and seeing my stepson-to-be's first game of the season, biking, watching videos, and gabbing around a fire.

And I got baptized.

With the weather warming up (and the bugs aren't out yet), we've been tackling outside projects. The yard is devoid of downed limbs, brown leaves and pine needles once again. Sam's been removing the rotted floor of the tree house, getting it ready for new plywood, and we repaired the chicken and duck run door. I'd like to say that the door looks awesome, but I CAN say it's FUNCTIONAL. The garden is prepped for sowing seeds when I get around to ordering them.

The Spring Peepers are singing. Nothing says spring like frogs humming at nightfall. They accompany us during our evening strolls with Rosie and Winnie, our dogs.

Before I crash for the night (with hopes that someone else will take care of the animals tomorrow morning), just 9 days until THE big day!

As always, special thanks to these bloggers for their weekly wrap-ups:

Happy Homeschooling!

A Peak At Our Week: Session 5 Week 1 - Beginning the Home Stretch

In My Life This Week

Spring HAS arrived at Our Side of the Mountain! Relaxing in the hammock under the budded maple trees, the Spring Peepers and wild birds sing loudly and the red squirrels scamper around the branches above. Green grass is growing and early flowers have sprouted in Sugar Maple's garden. The heat inside the house has been shut off and the windows are open days. And we're on our last session of Year #9!

Cluck and Quacks

The Saplings fashioned a make-shift pen for the lil' chicks out in the veggie garden for their first outside romp now that they have most of their big girl feathers. Although Nutmeg, Amber and Butterfly were on high alert, they scratched and pecked and fluffed while the older hens, outside the wired fence, ignored them.

On the Dinner Menu
☀ Ham, Cheese and Broccoli Strata with Pineapple Chunks ☀ Hot Dog Roast Outside with Baked Beans, Cole Slaw, Potato Salad, and S'mores ☀ Homemade Ham Fried Rice with Veggies ☀

Homeschool Happenings
SIMPLIFYING.

I've wanted to figure out a way to get some of this "delight directed" learning in despite my more "traditional" school views. But where to start? Gardening! Alaska! This week I decided to sit down WITH THE SAPLINGS and just learn about gardening and Alaska without any preplanned studies. We read. We wrote. We drew. We discussed. Whatever worked. And the sapling were confused. Not our usual approach to school.

We also read on in SOTW 2: Middle Ages, completing our mapwork and wall timeline along the way. And the younger saplings worked on their Saxon Math and Math-U-See. Sugar Maple is super excited that she should finish her ENTIRE math book this year.

In preparation for writing his first 10 page+ research paper, White Pine read How to Write a Term Paper (Elizabeth James and Carol Barkin) and then chose his topic: Comparing Union and Confederate Civil War Battles . He spent the rest of the week taking and citing notes from his research...and finished up his Computer Science 101 class from Coursera and continued on with Biology, World History, Geography and Cultures, US History Video Project, and Algebra. 

What We're Reading
☀ Darling Jim (Christian Moerk) (SP) ☀  Julie of the Wolves (Jean Craighead George) (SM) ☀ The Bear Scouts (Stan and Jan Berenstain) (BF) ☀ Prince Caspian (CS Lewis) (Read Aloud) ☀

Places We Went, People We Saw
☀ Scouts (All) ☀ Softball (SM) ☀ Library ☀ Co-op/Playground (All) ☀

Our Favorite Thing

Something to Share

As always, linking up to these WONDERFUL blog hops!

A Peak at our Week: Session 4 Week 6 - Peep! Peep! Peep!

In My Life This Week
I read the cutest book this week. A REAL PAGE TURNER! (Oh, and I won this book from Our Neck of the Woods. Awesome, huh?) Once Upon a Flock by Lauren Scheuer is a DE-LIGHT-FUL book about keeping backyard chickens, and has the sweetest drawings. See? I love her whimsical sketches! If you love chickens, check out her blog. (And no, this wasn't a review, I just thought I would share with my chicken friends.)

Photo Credit

We had a QUICK trip to the island to spend Easter Sunday with my family. Although 8 hours of driving for 2 days of family fun wasn't all that fun, it was WONDERFUL to get away and leave behind some of the stress and responsibilities of being a single Mom. With all my sisters and their families and grandparents, I could spend time unwinding while the kids had a blast and got spoiled (and I didn't have to do a single dirty dish).

Well, it's April. It's that time of year when school starts dragging and warmer weather pulls us outside. Even with the squishy mud everywhere. (The mop is getting a work-out these days...) But we're looking forward to kayaking and gardening again. 40 days until summer vacation!

On the Dinner Menu
Taco Salad
Subway
Meatloaf Patties with Smashed Tators and Carrots
French Toast with Cinnamon-Baked Apples
Roasted Whole Chicken with Rice Pilaf and Green Beans

Homeschooling High School and Elementary
Ever have one of those unfocused weeks where you're not sure exactly what you REALLY did? I know we did something! Let me think!

White Pine

• Evanhoe
• Radicals and Histograms
• Sponges and Cnidarians
• Intro to Physics: Wheels and Computer Programming
• "Ken Burns: The West" (1800s)

Sugar Maple and Balsam Fir

• Bobbsey Twins at Snow Lodge and Jigsaw Jones: The Case of Hermie the Missing Hamster
• Knights and Crusades
• Richard the Lionhearted and the Magna Carta
• Decimals and Estimation/Rounding
• Creative Writing and Handwriting
• Scooters and Bikes

Places We Went, People We Saw

☀ Grandpa and Nannie Lobster, Cousin Noodle and Family (All) ☀ Boy Scout Camp-In (WP) ☀ Scouts (BF) ☀ C__ visited (SM) ☀ Garage (:sigh:) ☀ Clarinet/Band (SM) ☀ Playground with New Friends (SM/BF) ☀

Our Favorite Thing
We were planning to add some new members to our flock this spring, but I had decided to hold off. (Un)fortunately, Nannie Lobster had some extra "peeps". :wink: The Wellies should lay brown-red eggs and Ava, an Ameraucana, should lay blue eggs. There was a WHITE egg in the nesting box on Tuesday. Did she forget to apply the blue?

Something to Share

Thanks for stopping by Our Side of the Mountain. I'm linking up to these WONDERFUL blogs.

Oh, and don't forget the Explorers Blog Hop! Click here to add your outdoor fun! I'd love to see what you're doing with the kids this spring!

National Poultry Day

Yeah, we REALLY do have a day for everything! ::wink::

Happy National Poultry Day!

My hens molting last fall: Speckles, Onyx, Rhodie, Mustard, Little Rhodie, and Sassy

So, if you've got some poultry - celebrate! Listen to some music!

And don't eat chicken today! Maybe the eggs, but NO chicken. ::grin::

Cluck and Quack Happenings: Featured Feathered Friend

Tammy over at Our Neck of the Woods does a Feathered Friend Friday post each week that I've been reading. Am I the only one that enjoys reading about other people's chickens? Probably! ::grin:: But I'm OK with that! Anyway, I thought I would do some FEATURING of my own.

Meet Speckles!

Now, we don't know for sure what type of chicken Speckles is. (All our chickens are mixes.) We do know that her Dad was an Ameraucana and certainly gave her her feathery ear muffs and "beard". But we think her Mom was a White Laced Wyandotte or some other "laced" mix.

She is our Head Hen. Oftentimes she acts like a rooster, cawing whenever she senses danger to warn the others. She's always on high alert!

And she's also a little snippy at times. At least with me. I think she knows I'm REALLY the Head Hen and she doesn't always like that. But for the most part she does her peck and scratch thing and doesn't mind a little, um, holding time with the kids or I. 

Cluck and Quack Happenings: Why Chickens are Cool

I know what you're thinking...or at least some of you...chickens? cool? huh? But really, they are. And I'm not a crazy chicken lady! ::wink:: (Who said YET?! I didn't make any of those hooded fleece chicken ponchos I saw on Facebook, did I? Or the indoor diapers...)

My Top 5 Reasons Why Chickens Are Cool

5. Free ranging chickens forage, eating a diet of plants and BUGS. Now, I don't know about "your neck of the woods", but here in Maine we have a plethora of pesky insects: mosquitoes, black flies, Japanese Beetles, No-see-ums, and ticks. Chickens will eat them all! Devour! I know some of you love your bugs and they do serve a purpose, but I'm OK with a few less in the summer nipping me and the kids.

Our Coop and Run, Speckles, Balsam Fir with Chee (RIP), Egg Salad Sandwich, and White Pine with
Chee (RIP)

4. And those free ranging chickens don't stop at just bugs! No, they also chomp on grass, always leaving a couple inches close to the ground. Now, yes, LARGE flocks can decimate a beautiful, lush lawn, but my feathered 6 haven't. Well, OK, I do have a less-than-lush lawn...Anyway, less mowing. And the digging aerates the soil, and the, um, poo fertilizes it. 

3. Chickens help my family be more "green". Not only do chickens provide a natural source of, um, Miracle Grow for our garden compost, but they also eat veggie and fruit scraps, old bread, rice, spaghetti, and many other things from our kitchen. Obviously with the cost of groceries "going through the roof", we eat as much as our food as possible but now next-to-nothing goes to waste. We even dry and crush egg shells to feed back to the flock for a rich calcium source! 

Not Chickens, But They Were Foraging in the Woods. Tops of Celery From Making Sticks forSaplings'
Snack, Dandelions Pulled From the Lawn and Dropped Pumpkin Flowers from the Garden Make a
GREAT Duck Soup

2. I bet you thought eggs would be 1, but nope! ::grin:: Fresh chicken eggs are remarkably different than store eggs. Sure, they all LOOK like eggs out the outside, but the inside...Have you ever seen the BRIGHT orange-yellow of a farm egg? Store eggs PALE in comparison. Literally.

1. Our chickens help my kids live a healthier life. How so? Well, we free range under supervision. Our chickens are our pets and we do what we can to ensure their safety while letting them be, well, chickens. My kids are out almost every single day with our flock for at least a couple of hours...rain? yes! snow? yes! bone-numbing cold? some of the time. Fresh air and "foraging" is good for kids too! And no, they're not "foraging" for bugs, but they're building lean-tos in the forest, riding scooters, building snowmen and forts, searching for frogs, and gardening (depending on the time of year). They are more active because of our chickens.

Balsam Fir With "Twin" Rhodies, Chickens Digging and Foraging in Flower Garden, Chickens On The Search
for Bugs in the Fall Leaves, Balsam Fir with Chee (RIP)

So, what has your flock done for you lately?

Our Six Disheveled from Molting this Fall: Speckles, Onyx, Rhodie, Mustard, Little Rhodie, and Sassy

Linking up to these wonderful blogs: