Happenin's 'round here....

On the farm -
We've finished the last batch of pear preserves, picked (and eaten!) lots and lots of muscadine grapes, cleared out the garden and planted fall cabbage and collards, transplanted some small pansies into the flower beds which are still beautiful while they await the first frost, tended to the four little pecan trees that we are growing from seed for experimental purposes, picked a few apples and getting ready to harvest more over at a relative's house (hoping to have enough sunny days to dry them), and transplanted two tomato plants from the garden into pots so that we can hopefully continue to have tomatoes after the first few frosts. We've confirmed our tree order and D has plans to help two different pecan growers in the next few weeks as they shake, harvest, dry, sort and package their nuts.


On the home front -
This week we have visited Alamance Battleground for their Living History Days (see Beth's post and pictures), talked a long time about flintlock muskets with the 6yo, crammed in several days of all 8 subjects, went to piano lessons, soccer games, practiced Awana verses, made black walnut ink for the quill pen that we made last week, painted my MIL's rental houses steps (5 sets of steps), sorted fall clothes and packed away summer ones, and will be going to the State Fair . We're planning on helping add to one of the ag exhibits next fall which will include pecans as a NC crop, so we are going to enjoy the fair but also to be thinking/planning how to help with that particular exhibit in the future.

In the family -
My uncle that we went to see a few weeks ago passed away during the early morning hours on Monday. So I took an unplanned trip to my sister's late Tuesday night, rode with her to/from the memorial service, and returned home late Wednesday. Thank you for your prayers for my safety - the drive couldn't have gone any smoother! My aunt and the family are all doing well.

In my heart -
Lately everywhere I turn I am reminded that God has a covenant with each of us as believers in the redeeming grace of Jesus. Not a contract (dependent on our actions) , but a covenant (eternal, unbreakable, unchangeable). It's just almost unimaginable that no matter how we screw up we are still His children, still saved by grace, still loved by an Almighty, Eternal Creator. Eph. 2:8-10 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them."

Field Trip

Earlier this week we went with some friends to the "Country Doctor Museum". I had taken my second and third children years ago (when I was pregnant with #4 I think?) and it was interesting then but they have added a lot of things and our tour guide was great! The herb garden was still in nice shape (it hasn't frosted yet) so the children got to grind their own herbal mixture and see the "pill shaper" demonstrated. One of the most interesting things to us was the iron lung machine (my mother had polio and although she wasn't put into an iron lung because there weren't any in her part of the country in the late 1920s it really helped my children relate to the trauma and severity of the disease). The children loved seeing the amputation kits from the Civil War and we even saw someone with our last name on the old docto's ledger from the Depression Era. Unfortunately (actually I think fortunately!) their leeches had recently died and the new ones hadn't yet arrived! If you're ever in the area, it's well worth stopping by to see.

Red faced and Egg on the face, too....

Well, tomorrow morning on my calendar was the Play "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever". We have been so excited all week about going, with my 8yo picking out a nice Christmas outfit, talking about play etiquette and even having a back-up plan in case one of the vehicles wasn't out of the shop in time. Well, this afternoon I get online to check my emails and a friend had written "Missed you at the play" --- huh?? Yep. It was this morning, not tomorrow as my "live or die by calendar" said. And had I gotten at least 3 emails referring to the play on THURSDAY? Yep. Had it registered in my scatterbrain that my calendar said FRIDAY? Nope. And who posted the information on our group's master e-calendar? Oh, that would be me. And who scheduled the reminders to go out to the group about the play? Ummm.... yep, me too.And who was the very first person to sign up for that play? Yours truly. So I am not only thoroughly disappointed but also thoroughly wiping the egg off my face! Next time I will be a little more diligent in making my dates and checking them twice!

Wheeewww.... what a week!

Well, tonight I sat down to look over days of emails and tried to catch up a little on the cyberspace side. This week we have had sinus infections, sick children, hubby's regular diabetes check-up, a relative's funeral, car problems, and just "life stuff". We didn't finish week 7 of school but that's OK because my youngest ones learned an important lesson 101 - "being there for family when bad stuff happens". Better than any textbook I know! And they also got to see some cousins that live out of state and re-establish their friendship with them.

We got rain - almost a full inch!!! - which is more than the total rainfall here since the beginning of June. Crazy, huh?! This morning dawned foggy and misty but we got in soccer pictures before it rained enough for them to call off the game.

That fact along with the cancellation of my daughter's performance at a local harvest festival (the acrobatics teacher was sick) freed up a mid-morning and early afternoon that we thought was going to be full so we dashed over to Oakview Park for their annual Heritage Day and enjoyed hayrides, carriage rides with HUGE horses compliments of "Cowboys for Christ", old-fashioned games, all types of farm animals and pets, antique cars, lots of interesting booths and demonstrations like blacksmithing, dog costume shows and even cane pole fishing - all for FREE!! Definitely worth the trip over there if you live anywhere close by. And as an aside, we saw an old friend showing his pottery and a new friend whose pecan orchard we visited last week. The park boasts a small pecan orchard of its own and we hope to go back in November for their "Pecan Day".

Finished off the week with a good meal tonight of salad, garlic bread, stuffed shells and brownies shared by family and a new friend. I'm so thankful for every day, every trial and every person that has shared our week in sickness, health, sadness, joy, love and the wonderful hope we have because of what our Savior did. For those aware of my 5yo's health problems, they are continuing to recur so please continue to pray that the doctors will be able to have wisdom in diagnosis when we go for further tests on Tuesday. Thanks and have a great week!
-F

Frugal Friday and other....

Got some good deals at Walgreens this week including 10 packs of 10-snack Reese's for 99c (not each, in total after coupons - they were supposed to be for Halloween but I think they'll be gone before then!), 4 free packs of gum, 4 Clorox supplies and bleach for $1.40 total and 2 gallons of $3 milk. Use Store coupons and manufacturer's on the same item and viola - free (or almost!).

We had another Field Trip this week where we learned about tree identification at a Nature Park and the kids really enjoyed it and are now telling me tree names! Perfect timing since we study trees and wood starting next week for the next 3 weeks. We will definitely have to go back to that park and explore more of their walking trails when it cools down a little and maybe as the leaves are changing. Wanna meet us there??

Pecan Orchard - I am ravenously reading everything on the web and any book I can find about pecans. We go to visit another orchard Saturday morning and it will be interesting to compare that with the one we saw last weekend. In the meantime, we also need to do soil samples and get them back to the Coop extension office, determine what varieties we want, chose a supplier and place our order in the next few weeks. Scary thought when there are so many varieties (over 400!!) and so many suppliers (over 40 commercial ones) and it's the biggest decision we will make (as far as money goes) about the orchard. Everyone we talk to gives us different information about both tree and supplier..... ughh.... pray we will make good decisions because quite frankly we can't afford to replant 500 trees if we make the wrong decisions!

That's a few of the things happening... this weekend's orchard trip, BIL's Birthday bash, Nursery duty Sunday am, a friend's baby shower Sunday afternoon, a family Ice Cream Social Sunday afternoon, my grown children visiting at different points throughout and still lots to be done in the house, flower garden, fruit orchard and yard... WHY am I sitting here blogging??? gotta go - have a great weekend!
-F

Field TRIP!!!

What a blast we had today at Yates Mill Park. Our tour guide was a professor from NCSU and was so great answering the children's questions and getting them to think about life in earlier times. The mill was built in the 1740's and it is amazing to think about standing in a building that was used before our country was even formed. The wife of the original owner wrote about what a terrible time they had with bears, cougars and wild animals to the point of barely keeping their livestock alive. Amazing to think about as you stand there with cars whizzing past about 20 feet away and knowing 1 million people are now living within 50 miles of that spot! Anyway, enough history lesson - here's some pics!!

Field Trip - Oak View

Yesterday we joined about 75 other parents, children and toddlers to tour a Historic Site called "Oak View". We had 3 programs after everyone arrived and the children had "met" the local pet goats. "From Field to Fiber" was where the children learned how hard it was to pick and de-seed cotton, saw a cotton gin and model, and learned about the boll weevil. "Artifacts" was really fun for the children to discuss and try to figure out some "weird" artifacts (our girls had an old-fashioned pre-electricity curling iron that was heated in the fire and the boys had a "boot jack" which I had read about but never seen. "Changes Over Time" was not as hands-on as the other two programs but the children enjoyed it and learned a lot from a mural depicting all of the changes to the area over the past 400+ years. The guides in all 3 programs were absolutely some of the best and after the programs we picnicked near a duck (goose?) pond in the pecan grove and then toured the main house, plank kitchen, herb garden and carriage house on our own. Lots of fun. My 5yo dozed off on the way home so what did I do then? Let him nap a little then we went to the pool for our (probably) last splash of the summer since it closes Monday and we have plans for the weekend.