Why do we love country life?

Greenbeans in the Garden performed by the West Ladies...

I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. Blessings on your homestead wherever it may be!

Hanging laundry is like going to church

In the country my life seems to move slower then when we lived in town. gone are the days of 'running' to the store or going out to dinner on a whim. Our natural transition has been to slow down and wonder why the leaves are still on the trees. I look forward to hanging laundry and visiting with Pearsy in the mornings. I just love the smell of line laundry.

Hanging laundry is different from drying it. Hanging laundry isn't a race, its slow methodical there is no timer on the laundry line you can only hang so much, wash so much each day. It's slow in the winter and faster then the dryer in the summer (this is Texas!). When you hang it you reminisce about the items you own. The quilt with the red squares was made by a young couple in our Church Home Group for Parks 7 years ago! There are two white crocheted blankets on the line one from Jessica Bolding's Mom she made it for Pearson and the other was from Pastors Wife (aka Kendra) I do not know if she made it but we sure do enjoy it. An ultra cute burp rag from the Bevers and there are a couple of sheets given to us by the our friends the Curless', they are always so ready to share. These folks and many others make the fabric of our church that is interwoven through our lives.

 We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers. ³ We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thes. 1:2-3

May the Lord bless you this day as you find things for which to be thankful!

Fall

Its quiet in the house right now. Well, not silent the three eldest children are running about doing this and that. But both of the twins are asleep, a welcome change a nice treat for a tired mama. So I am sitting on the front porch in the cool air  and I cannot remember the last time I sat in these chairs. I am enjoying a moment of solitude surrounded by sweet blessings.

In the still you notice everything. The grey brown moth on the kitchen window the yellowing trees.The slow still breeze that smells like grass and gently sways the trees.

Funny though because even now the housework is always marching on the two girls are slopping the chickens and one is hanging napkins on the drying racks and I am slowly browning the ground beef we'll need for the next three weeks. But nothing is pressing nothing is pushing me forward or rushing me.

I think I 'll work in the flower bed and the garden today.  I wish  dear Wayne was here enjoying the simple breeze and sipping pumpkin coffee and making me laugh in the middle of the afternoon. I hope everyone is enjoying God's creation this Fall. I think this is my favorite season. Now where are those pumpkin cookies?

Saving money using dryer balls (Septic Safe*Green*Frugal!)

These are dryer balls. You've probably been using them for years but I am not a first acceptor. So I have had my dryer balls for about 5 months. I was skeptical but I bought them because I wanted to save money on dryer sheets. I bought 3 balls at Wal-Mart for $4.97. Let me tell you these things work really well our clothes come out nice and soft as if a fabric softener was used.  These balls are also perfect for your septic system because I am prohibited from using liquid fabric softener in the septic system. So I am no longer buying Fabric Softener. I may need to buy a couple of balls each year but this is nice little savings from the fabric sheets that I was previously using. So I would like to encourage you to buy a couple of these things and try them out in your dryer and see if you can't make the switch!

So the recap:

Septic Users: Eliminates all fabric softeners from entering your system

Frugal Crowd: Saves money eliminating the expense of buying fabric softener.

Green Crowd: Eliminates Fabric Softener sheets and the liquid ...you can also order more expensive pvc free ones if you just look around on line.

Master Composter

Well, I was finally able to take the Master Composter class offered by the City of College

Station. Although I knew the rudimentary level of composting now I really feel like I understand the process. I plan to read many sections of the Rodale book of composting and will most likely offer composting classes this summer to complete my 20 volunteer hours. So, this weekend I went around and reviewed our compost piles (3 piles) and determined their deficiencies and I will fix them over the next few weeks. Additionally, I determined that I want to have a 3 bin compost ,a mini wind row and vermi-composting for the kitchen scraps. We pay $28 for a pick-up truck full of compost about 5X a year. By composting our own kitchen waste, yard scraps & spoiled garden veggies. We will hopefully be able to eliminate that expense.

Additionally, I learned how to properly use compost in the garden. How to compost chicken manure in the coop and lower the smell in the coop.

For those of you that are interested the class costs $15 it is put on by BVSWM and run by Mrs. Shelia McQueen. During the class you receive about $75 worth of stuff including a compost bin, Rodale Composting book, T-shirt, lunch at Jason Deli (or the like), water bottles and there are several drawings for thermometer & truckload of compost. This is $15 well spent!

Rejoice!

K

Organic Veggies Available!

For those that may not follow the RH Farm blog, we have a homestead/micro-farm. We are are transitioning to organic gardening and switching to square foot gardening which should be less labor intensive and more fruitful. We already have 5 boxes up and two more are going up this week. We decided to do this after investigating the folks at Path to Freedom in California which produces 6,000 pounds of veggies in a garden 1/3rd larger then our garden. If we are able to increase our veggie production on such a small portion of our land this will free us up to use the rest of our land for other things. The Farm blog is already set up to take orders which can be delivered at set drop off locations or picked up at the farm. We currently have okra & eggs available. Over the next few months as they ripen: Lima Beans, green beans, tomatos, brussel sprouts, raddish, turnips, pumpkins , head lettuce mix, mesculun & of course eggs. If you are interested in signing up for our veggie co-op, ordering veggies each month please head over to Rooster Hill Farm and complete the order form or drop me an e-mail.

Come on by...

A king snake eating a snake...this was enough to make me consider ending my gardening career!

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I love fresh eggs!

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"He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for man to cultivate— bringing forth food from the earth.."Psalm 104:14

Butternut squash on the vine...posted for Jen B.

Yummy!

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He who works his land will have abundant food, Proverbs 12:11, 28:19

Repeated twice in the Bible perhaps it's time to start working with our hands more?

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Hospitality at home...neighborhood swimming fun!

Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings. Romans 6:23a ---I know it's kind of random but I love Gaius and his heart!

Busy Bees...

We are on a school break before we start summer school. We've been doing swimming lessons and that and that always wipes us out! Plus we have been harvesting our garden for the past few weeks. We have jammed mustang grapes, frozen green beans, okra, Swiss chard, turnip greens and we are shelling cream peas. We are getting ready to start canning tomatoes and storing butternut squash!

Preparing to offer homemade jams made on the farm. Starting with the grape jam which is difficult and time consuming to make.

Additionally we are hunting for an egg eating chicken. We are also getting ready to hatch about 40 eggs for new Fall

layers. As we prepare for a visitor this week and then off to a Wedding in Dallas & visit with he Renkes. Our summers are busy in fact I am actually scheduling time to relax at home. It's sad when summer is so busy you long for the organized and schedule days of Fall.

So we are a basically a bunch of busy bees.

Come on by...

I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine.
Psalm 50:11

We saw this Green Heron in a tree by the pond. Unfortunately, I did not have my camera so this is not the actual bird just one of his cousins.

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I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine.

Psalm 50:11

We saw a pair of Black Bellied Whistling Ducks outside the homeschool window. They visited us 2 days in a row the week of May 24th . According to John Hale (a local birder) these are very rare birds to find here this time of year.

Tea Party with Samira & Paymon

Here are some pictures of a recent tea party that we had with our Micah and our neighbors Samaria & Paymon. This tea party was a little more exciting then most of our tea parties. Here is how the tea party started......

and here is how the tea party ended. This is where the Paymon, a teenage boy, agreed to participate. I am not sure we are going to be able to top this one!

Tea anyone?

K

Come on by ...

This is less cute then then other "Come on by..." pictures except for the fact that my middle P took this picture! I'm thinking about having her do a retrospective and posting it. I case you didn't notice that is a little piece of a copper head or a small rat snake that I shot.

Come on by....

A Rooster Hill favorite ....but seriously who doesn't love baby ducks?

Did you know we rent these little cuties...If you want to experience raising animals for 5-7 days you can borrow some of ours!

Country Folk Ho' Down

If you are looking for a stiff sophisticated party fun,

HONEY this ain't it!

As the table centerpieces should alert you! I just love them they match the invitations!

Last week we had our first Ho'down and this is going to be a continuing tradition because this was a whole lot of fun! This was so much fun it's a double slide show event!

As for vittals we ate Steak-Kabobs & burgers, beans, banana pudding, rolls. Yummy for my tummy! We had two families and 3 recent college grads and a whole lot of fun!


After we ate game time began and we decided that we were going to play capture the flag. I had never played capture the flag but Julie suggested it and explained the rules. So when was the last time you played capture the flag?

We divided into two teams: Brian, Fernando, Kyle, PC & PH vs Wayne, Katherine, Jessica, Justin & Parker. (Julie twisted her ankle preparing for Jen's 5K & Kim is just no fun!!!) So that being said the teams hid their flags and the games began. Here is a pictorial review....

It's not important but just so you know my team won!


There is one new rule in regards to capture the flag...we have to play it before we eat! After Capture the flag we had a water balloon fight which turned into a hose, bucket, cup & bowl fight....

Then we played hide-n-go seek in the dark. That is such a scary fun game as you feel around in the dark for people that are hiding. Kim said it was so alarming to be hiding and to feel the person come near you but you cannot see them until they touch you! Wayne won this game I couldn't find the boy anywhere...you'd think someone 6'4" would be a little easier to find!

This is especially excellent day for husbands as they love the competition and a chance to fight and win for something. It's a Wild Heart kind of day for all! So let us know in the comments if you are up for fun and games but we are not accepting wall flowers everyone has to play and laugh a whole bunch! (Oh, and I must know you or you must attend LHBC before I give you my digits!) The next game will be around lunch time in April!

DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR FLAG IS????

Fun & Games,
RH

Rabbid Possum

While I was walking down to the mailbox to get the mail, I was really enjoying the glorious nature that the Lord created. I could hear the birds singing and the squirrels scampering and Opossum drinking...the what? In the middle of the day a possum not good this is a nocturnal animal...really bad!

So I walked and then ran up to the house and called my country consultant Kim but her hubby happened to be home and He (a true Country Boy) and I carefully explained the situation to him and being a man of many words he said "Kill it". When he said it he sounded like a character off of an old western.

So I hung up and went off to get the shotgun. So here I am running out of the house and the kids barely paid attention to the woman in the ankle long skirt walking quickly down the driveway with the shotgun.

Well, long story short-- no more daytime Opossum....So what's next???

A homeschool lesson I went and gathered the girls and down to the pond we went. They investigated the critter from a distance and had a few things to say but PK concluded their conversation with "Hmmm his ears are bigger then I expected." ???

Finally, on the way back up the lane the girls picked up the shot gun shells and adorned their fingers with them! They will forever remember that Opossums are nocturnal (like raccoons & skunks said PK), that vultures eat dead animals and of course that Opossums have big ears.

Country Living, gotta love it!

RH

Saturday Friends...

These are a few of my favorite things.....Lightning is second generation horse and her Mom is Non.

We ride every Saturday in the SHARE program which is a riding program for children with special needs. They compete in the Special Olympics though we never have, but may this year.

All the girls are able to participate because it is a family program so Pearsy has been riding since she was 1! For us horseback riding is not about competition but about the animals, ride and the slow country lifestyle.

<--- This horse's name is Anonymous they call her Non believe it or not she is a registered Appaloosa.

So every Saturday we head off to the stables. We would love to have some horses on our place but these animals are very expensive to own. They say the cheapest thing about a horse is buying it. The vet and feed bills will kill you. But I keep this dream tucked away in the back of mind because like the kids I enjoy horseback riding too and I'd love for us to take slow rides down our county road. But only the Lord knows the plans he has for us and if this is in our future I do not know. I'd even love to have riding program like SHARE as it has been such a blessing to our family and to the many Brazos families that participate.

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This last horse is Honey she is a registered Arabian and one of the kids favorite horses to ride. Her stride is very unusual she is a fancy horse and I think she may know it!

There are about 10 horses at the Share program and children & adults that have everything from Mild Mental disablities to folks with Moderate Cerbal Palsy ride in the program . They always need volutneers and this is a great please to reach lots of lost folks that are hurting.

YeeHaw!

Rooster Hill