back by popular demand :)

oh me oh my, how time does fly!

(just a little poetry for your morning ;) )

But despite my quirky poem, time really has flown by these past few weeks.

But oh how good the times were!

for starters, the last few weeks have included the following:

- tomatoes in the ground

- seeds starting to come up in the garden

- baby chickens integrating into the flock of big chickens

- finals… a perfect name for the FINAL things I needed to do to finish High School

- spray painting chairs… love love love the colors now… I love homeschool projects :)

- and loads more coming in more posts this week… get ready, folks!

To Move a Coop

This past year, my sister has acquired a new name for herself: The Chicken Mama. It has been a blast to see her build a coop, raise 6 chickens from 2 weeks old, and now, to move them outside.

My grandpa and grandma up north helped her to build the coop, and it was housed in our garage for a few weeks. The older chickens (who are now 4 months old) moved into the coop in the garage, while the younger ones (now 10 weeks old) took their place in the large rubbermaid container in the basement.

Now that the weather has warmed up, we were able to get the chicken coop to it snew location in the backyard. If only we could lift it all the way back there (the coop weight at least 150 lbs).

To save our arms and backs from pain, my parents devised the idea to back our minivan up and into the garage, then lift the coop only the 12 feet to the back of the car.

And praise God, it worked!

this picture below is a photo of the new area where the coop will be going. It looks much cuter now, as we have put up the fence, black metal gate (so charming!) and strung grapevine along the fence to add some sweetness. This summer, my sister Lillie will be putting in 4 raised garden beds in this now fenced area.

To say the least, my dad is a great driver, and managed to back the van across the vacant lot next door and into the chicken area- great work, Dad!

A few minutes later, we lifted the coop off of the van and onto its stand, connected to the run. These chickens are living in high style with a beautiful coop and nesting boxes, and a large run to, well, run around in.

We are so excited to start getting possibly 3 eggs a day (about 21-24 eggs a week!) from our girls, and are so so happy to have them outside and all settled in.

In case you wanted to get an inside view of “Ruthie’s Rhode Island Red Resort,” here’s a photo of the interior of the coop:

The stick-on tile is attached to a board that slides out for easy spray-off cleaning :)

And the nesting boxes attached to the left there.

Who knew that we would get chickens? It still makes me laugh some days…

Autumn Blaze

I wake up early this morning, stumbling out of my loft to close the window.
Wind advisories are a big deal when you live out here.
It doesn’t merely mean a little breeze, but gale force winds that rip across cornfields and bounce off of house, tear through trees and send vertical rain horizontal until it comes in under the front door.
Thankfully, there was no rain with this wind, just the swishing of amber leaves waving and praising the Creator, who is worthy to be praised.
The sun creeps out and then blazes, full glory, onto the bright colors of fall come in fast. And me, my hair still dripping from the morning shower, I whip out that purple scarf and run to the basement.
That purple scarf that grandparents who know me so well smiled when I picked it up at Penney’s and said, “You want that one?” And I smiled and nodded, stretching my box to include a purple scarf with tassles and sparkles and different hues of purple.
On my way down to the basement, I slide on mom’s clogs, the ones that my heels hang off of now, the ones I usually wear out and Mom comes out, stocking footed and asking where in the world are those clogs? And I smile because she knows it’s me.
I dig around until the camera turns up, and I grab that smiley dog of mine and we go out into the gale.
The wind takes my long, now tangled hair and whips it in circles. I see that the little Autumn Blaze maple is living up to it’s name- all ablaze with the wonders of fall and pointing strait up to the Creator.
The pond is clear now, the wind blowing all the green muck away, blowing away the stink and mire, leaving the surface clean and clear, brilliantly blue.
I snap pictures and tyr to capture the moments of fall blowing in, but the wind, it moves the trees and the water and the leaves so that all I see is a blur of glorious red and blue.
After a while I end up back in that tall house, climbing the first of 31 stairs, and I hear mom call down as the phone chirps, “Let it ring!”
And it echoes from sister to sister, “Let it ring!”
Yes- let the glory of the Lord ring from the mountains and valleys and let it ring in the rustling leaves and on the waters. For good and great is the Lord- he who made it all now calls it all to praise, and it echoes across this farmfield, and I hear.

To live out here…

is, when wondering which road to take home, consider which you would be the least likely to hit a deer on.

Driving home tonight from work, the dark night air swirled around the van as it forged its way through the damp fall weather.

No headlights, taillights in front of me, or in back.

Just dark. No street lights out here.

The whir of the engine and the glow of the dashboard the only things breaking this lightless silence. 

It kind of makes me twitchy, all of these ‘wide open spaces’.

I press the radio button and off the walls and into my ears sing praise songs, worshipful melodies.

See the faint glow of red up ahead of me, I release my shoulders a little.

I don’t care for country night driving.

But to live out here is to live in the country, and I think of all the times that I’ll be driving this route, high beams on and radio loud to keep my mind focused and relaxed.

So I take a deep breath and whisper scripture the whole way.

James 1, Romans 8:37-39,

and my all time favorite, 2 Corinthians 12:9- for when I need to remember that his grace is all sufficient.

And I pray like crazy that the reflectors I see in the ditch isn’t a deer.

And it wasn’t.

God is good.