SOLD!

I can't believe it's been almost a YEAR since I last posted!

Well, our house sold in March. How encouraging it is to see God working. We've purchased 80 acres and are about to begin building as soon as we can get a road in. (Once we get to the property, we travel up to our campsite on the ATV.) We've set up housekeeping right there in the woods. :) This is part of our current "driveway".


This is a sample of one of our meals. Oh it was so good. It's been a few weeks now and we're all getting pretty good at campfire cookery, although we lost a few pieces of toast along the way. ;) Everything just cooks so much faster!Well, I have lots of pictures and weeks of adventure I could write about. I'll have to save it for another time...it's really late and I need to get to bed. We're down in town for a few days so I thought I would take advantage of an available internet connection.

Our house is for sale...link is below

A Country Home

he's finished!

I am SO proud of Levi. All in all, his sick day hasn't been very bad. He's kept busy with his bear most of the time and was determined to finish it before his daddy and brothers got home. He looks at the pictures we took of the pattern and pieces of felt and remarks that he can't believe he did this all by himself. It's been a good day. When his fingers would get tired of pushing the needle through the felt, he sat on the couch absorbed in the new seed catalog we got in the mail today from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.

felt teddy bear

Levi hasn't been feeling so well since yesterday. He spent most of his time laying on the couch looking at books and watching nature videos. I decided last night that if he was still down, I would give him a project to do. He loves to sew:



We found the idea and pattern to make it at Hearts and Trees. I will post a picture of his completed bear later. :)

He took a break for awhile and helped me to make more crackers to put in the dehydrator. This time we made sprouted wheat with onion and chives and also sprouted wheat with caraway seeds. I'm looking forward to the onion and chives crackers with some sunflower seed sour cream!

busy week

We've had a busy week with school... we seemed to have more projects than usual. Also, I've been experimenting in the kitchen with some raw food recipes from Rejuvenate Your Life by Serene Allison. We made some Italian Flaxseed crackers in the dehydrator and they were a big hit. We also made some raw pate' recipes: Mexican Chereezo Stuffer and Zinc Veggie Nut stuffer which are very good on the crackers or with corn chips. I wish I had photos to share. It made an attractive and colorful meal. I had a whole bunch of sprouted soft wheat that needed used up so we made crackers out of that too. I tried some in the oven and some in the dehydrator. I was surprised that we all preferred the dehydrated crackers over the oven ones. More raw, so that is good. I never expected them to be so crispy and cracker-like. They really are delicious!

God's goodness has been so very evident this week. We have heard and seen prayers answered for family and friends who have trusted in Him and believed that His timing is best.

window stars

My first Sew Crafty Friday! I've been doing a few crafty things here and there but haven't ever taken the time to share. This one is so fun so I thought I would post about it.


When we first started, we practiced on regular wax paper. Those turned out nice...sort of like snowflakes. Once we had the basic folds down we tried it out on the special colored paper.

We hung them on the windows in our dining room. We have bird feeders outside so we can watch the birds while we eat, but once in awhile they fly into the windows. Since the stars have been up they haven't hit the windows anymore.



We purchased the kit at Hearthsong.

If you would like to participate in Sew Crafty Friday or even just to see what others are working on, you can go here to Shereen's blog.

the Treehouse

Now I'm not talking about the "Family Treehouse" that we started last year...this is Levi's own treehouse that he built with Drew during their father/son week. We will be working on our big treehouse again this week. The camera I used in the beginning construction stage didn't take the best photos so I'll start here with the better photos:


The posts are in and the platform is in place and secured.



Next, the walls go up.

Here they are cutting the OSB for the roof.


Levi handing a section of the roof up to Drew from the deck of the scaffolding.

As soon as the rain and clouds go away I will go out and take some photos of the (almost) finished treehouse. They have the sides on, the shingles on and now all he needs is a door and windows.

Firewood

Something else that Silas wanted to do on his father/son time was to get firewood.


Last year we had some of our acreage logged which left us with an abundance of firewood and a lot of tree tops and brush to clean up. In three days they were able to get several cords cut, hauled to the house and stacked. They kept the brush piles burning too and the woods is really shaping up. In North Idaho we burned a lot of firewood and we always had so much fun getting it. Here in Missouri, we won't need nearly as much but they still had a lot of fun.

Backpacking

Silas and Drew went on their father/son backpacking trip and had a great time! They did a 12 mile portion of the trail in 2 days. We knew what time we were supposed to pick them up so we got a meal together and met them at their campsite. It was such a beautiful Fall day. Drew and I sat in the sun together while the boys played at the pond.

Silas found these HUGE puffballs. It was too bad they were over the hill. I'm sure they would've loved to have made them into puffball "steaks" for lunch.

This is Silas on the trail with his 20lb. pack! Drew said he did really well.

The end of Day seven

The roof is ready for the shingles. We're not sure when that will happen, but hopefully soon! As you can see, the gable ends still need put on and some finish work needs done before it can be stained. In time, a few windows will go in as well. What a week!

Day seven - Monday

By the end of the day, the whole roof was on and the tar paper was down. It is so nice to see them working together like this. :)

Doesn't he look happy? :) He has enjoyed this so much. I will post more pictures of the progress they made today. They were also able to get the sides on his cabin. It still needs more work but Drew is off this project for a time and on to backpacking with Silas. They leave tomorrow!

Day Six - Sunday

Roof rafters!! What a difference this step has made.

A view from the front. Ukiah has chosen where he wants to place bird feeders and a salt block so he can watch the birds, deer and other wildlife. I can already visualize him sitting on his front porch when this cabin is completed. :)

My Great-Grandma's Clematis

I want to tell you the story of this clematis. When I was a little girl, my Great-Grandma had a clematis so huge it covered one quarter of the garage behind her house in Pennsylvania. Now the garage wasn't that big but when the clematis was in bloom it was stunning! Masses of purple flowers cascading from the roof and down the sides. I wish you could have seen it.

She passed away when I was 15 and her husband remained in the house until he also passed away quite a few years later. I was now married and my great-uncle asked me if I would like to come and dig up the bulbs and any other plants in her yard. The house was going to be sold. Without hesitation, I said yes. Drew and I went and dug up literally hundreds of bulbs and many plants. The one thing I wanted most was a start from her clematis. Someday I would have a sea of purple all my own.

We took the bulbs and plants back to our home and found a special place for all of them. The clematis went in at the corner of our potting shed. Years passed and it did not do very well. A few blossoms here and there but not much more. I always hoped that one day it would just take off and grow right up over the top like hers did.

The time came when we decided to move to Idaho. As much as I wanted to take them along, I just couldn't do it this time. After three wonderful years in Idaho, we found ourselves on our way to Pennsylvania then Missouri to another new home. This time, Drew would be coming along behind us in another week. We had all been staying in PA until our MO home was ready. He needed to finish up some work. While there, my beloved husband was thinking of me and my Grandma's flowers. One day, he went to visit the people who had purchased our PA home and asked if they would mind if he dug up a few starts. They said "Take as much as you want!" When he arrived in Missouri he had a special surprise for me. As I remember that moment, tears are flowing. I opened boxes and containers filled with bulbs and yes, a start from my Great-Grandma's clematis. What you see in the photo above is the first bloom from that start, here in Missouri.
It bloomed this week! One single bloom. Earlier this spring we had rows of her daffodils blooming. I'm thankful that I have flowers to remind me of this special woman.

My husband's thoughtfulness and love amazes me. Yet I know that God loves us even more!

Day Five - Friday

This is SO exciting to watch. I told Ukiah that I want a cabin too!

Right now they are building the rafters. All four walls are up and it is really taking shape. When the siding goes on it's going to make a HUGE difference. I'm afraid I have "building cabin fever". This is just too much fun.

Day Four continued