Farmer's DIY Daughter

Do It Yourself = DIY

Dear Farmer has daughters...six daughters. Each daughter has a gifting. Something that sets her apart from her sisters. It gives her an identity. And it can change as they grow. Hopefully the emotional daughter grows out of it, and the pianist never stops. One of the daughters is an avid DIY-er. She loves all things DIY! Crafts, food hacks, furniture building, musical instruments...you name it!
The favorite in the house is food hacks.
The hardest thing about DIY is the contagious effects. When a DIY project begins...all want to partake! "So cool!" ,  "Me too! " ,and "Next!" Echo through the house. Usually these things are best done in the singular, but in a family of twelve homeschooling, good luck with that one!
So, when Farmer's DIY Daughter comes to the Wife with a great idea to try the Wife has to multiply the list of supplies by fourteen, add to it the amount of unwanted help, divide it by the sanity she has left on a hectic day, and decide if it's a go/no go.
There are times that the answer is a shrill laugh followed by a flat "no". Other times we all plunge in with vim and vigor! Regardless, there will be more DIYs right around the corner to try!

The Last Beach Days of Summer

In town the pool closed mid-August when school started. But the beach never closes. Hooray for the beach!
So we gravitated North to the lake...to the beach...when all those poor children had to be locked up in a classroom, we took our classroom outside. Walking by the lake, finding dead fish, crawfish, mussels, snails, minnows, rocks, and shells. Ahhh, this is the life!
Many farm kids don't get this lake life as well as farm, so we feel double blessed!!!I
The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting cooler, swimming days are coming to an end...but we have a couple more months of beach combing. Ahhh, treasured last days....

Springtime Sharing

There is a joy to be had in springtime! And for all of us, it usually starts with a cold.  Either from the overly anxious child who has run outside coat-less, barefoot, and in shorts proclaiming "It's WARM!"; when the thermometer is barley registering above zero. Or from the extreme temperature swings: 70F degrees one day, down to 30F degrees the next, and back up overnight to 60F.  It's absolute craziness, but also a good reminder...it's springtime!
March is coming in "like a Lion" on our farm.  The wind blows to 45mph gusts, the temperature swings back and forth, and the grass greens one moment, and freezes the next. The livestock wander out to the greening paddock to nibble on what little they can find. The people in the house wander around looking for chocolate. And then there's the sounds of spring...cough, cough, achoo!  And being a family that shares, everyone is making sure to be generous in the giving of cold germs with the family members they feel "deserve" it most.
O the joys of springtime!

Ice Skating in Ditches, The Wife is Encouraging it.

So, there's been no snow for the month of January. Though we have had rain. When the temperature gets cold enough, the ditches freeze. For the children(ours) who are used to the frigid windmills of Wisconsin, and having ponds, lakes, and frozen fields...they find any hint of frozen water to play on. Hence the gravitation to the frozen ditches.
They were supposed to be doing chores...instead they were skating down a half mile of frozen ditch. Then there were the races. Obstacles of tree trunks, cattails, and drain pipes making the race that much more exciting. However, my personal favorite was "ditch wars". Where the sisters stand on the road and pelt brothers with whatever alongside the roadside they skate down for the best time. A little much like some sort of survival games movie...but it kept the occupied on a dreary day for three hours! Outside the house!
The chores had to get done before they came inside...giving me an extra half hour of a clean house!
I love ditches!