July...

I told myself I would be better at blogging.. sigh... sometimes life gets so busy in the living that there is no energy or time for the blogging..

irony:  /'irene/

Three ladies heading out the door by a quarter to six in the morning, working all day at projects that will provide nutritious food for the people they love.  Only to fall back through the door at 3:30 in the afternoon so exhausted that they call the people they love and tell them that if they want to eat tonight they had better bring home a pizza.


yes..that is us..... busy. Yet, in the busy there is always the beautiful... happy July.

One of the reasons my July is so beautifully busy.

Preston joined Cody and Sarah's family in May.

Love this little man with all that I am.

Fall wheat is so very close...

Our Saviour shows us His love for diversity..

Believe it or not I did take some time to sit in the sun.

researching bulls for our new herd of heifers.

We began harvesting garlic...

  and downy ducks were hatching like Mayflies...

we spent time in the blue berry patch..

 

as well as the blackberry....

and uncovered hidden treasures...

The splits I made this Spring are flourishing.

I even had an unexpected guest drop by for a light lunch..

And as always Grace was willing to take us on a tour of the garden.

I pray you are taking time to breathe in the beauty of Summer....

May...

Having young ladies in our home adds a texture and a warmth that would have other wise been missing in day to day living... for example this morning I found my hive tools beautifully embellished with fanciful artwork....

My young ladies, however, also add balance. Lest my life should feel too sappy or charmed they leave reminders that they are also Holversons and Holversons keep it real....

If you were unaware of how bees make honey (it really isn't as graphic as all that but) I apologize.  Here are softer pictures......

May your day be beautiful....

Get To Know....

Plantain!

This humble weed that grows in your yard could turn out to be your best friend this summer...

Plantain... Psyllium.... it has many names and many uses but today I would just like to share one use and that is topical.

We were preparing for the arrival of tropical storm Bill... the weather man is predicting 6-9 inches of additional rainfall on a Missouri that is already drowning from continual rain.  I was worried about a few of my hives and needed to work with them a bit.

I didn't want to... in fact I would have rather pounded my big toe with a hammer than work those bees.  There is nothing crankier than a hive of bees with cabin fever. nothing.  And these poor girls had been rained in for days upon days.

I had lifted the lid on a second hive and all was going as expected, they were clinging to my veil and bouncing off my suit but I was safely inside and getting my work done.  All that changed though when one little gal realized that my pony tail was hanging out the back of my hood and squeezed into my veil, leaving a pheromone trail, another handful of ladies had no trouble following her on in.

They stung me all over my face and neck.  I was far from home and didn't have a mirror so the only thing I could do was leave them and head for the house.  By the time I got there all of the sacs had drained every drop of venom into my face.

As I walked through the yard to the house I grabbed a plantain weed and tossed it to Bethany. While I removed stingers, she ground it up in the blender with a small amount of water to make a poultice.  We began applying it with a washcloth to every sting we could make out.  It looked like someone had shot me with a salad shooter.

BTW~ I apologize for the great view of my nasal cavity.. I was born before the selfie generation..

Four hours later, I made it to church looking almost normal... you can still see swelling along my chin line but the stings on my cheeks and neck are completely gone and my lips are almost normal... and again, there is my charming nose...

Plantain is not a substitute for Benadryl especially if you are allergic to bites and stings and I am not a doctor.   I can only tell you that it effectively works for my family.  We usually try to keep some ground up in vinegar during mosquito season.  How great a God we serve that considers and provides for even small matters like bee stings.

A Mile High..

We have had a lot of rain.... A LOT of rain. and it's kept the bees cooped up.  The first nice day we had a while back, I inspected hives.  I noticed that one of the packages I installed in April had exploded and was building swarm cells..  I moved several of those cells into a hive that had recently lost their queen and began to destroy the rest.

As I squished the rest I gave the girls a pep talk.. "There is no need for this girls, it's only the rain keeping you penned up.  It'll end soon and you'll be able to get out more.  Here, I'll give you another box."   Well, somewhere between the squishing and preaching.... I missed a cell... and it doesn't matter how much additional space you give them, if you miss a cell ~ they're going to swarm.

And swarm they did...

On Monday, while I was fighting a nasty cold.

 I walked to the bee yard to let the sun soak into my bones and it was then that I spotted them, hanging at the top of an Oak tree some fifty feet or better in the air.  Why couldn't they have chosen a cedar?   I've caught swarms out of tall cedars before.. their branches are so dense that when you cut it, the tree rolls down kinda slow like and you collect your swarm and go home..

Not so with an Oak.. they fall, well, they fall hard like a mighty Oak tree... blah!   The first tree hit the ground and I wade into the branches, praying I hadn't hurt the bees too bad... I find them just as the queen takes off flying and am caught in a whirlwind of bees (It was actually kinda cool at the moment)

up...

up...

up...

and yes, still..... UP

she went to the top of the next Oak.....really?.....crank up the chain saw ... down it comes.... up she goes..... I can't get into her fast enough and she's not about to wait so we keep repeating the same steps over and over. She got so good at it, I swear,  she would fly and be in the next tree before the last one hit the ground...  With no short trees in sight, she mocks me all afternoon.


About the time enough timber has been cut to keep us warm for the next three winters, Shane comes home from work and drives out to the bee yard... In a single instant the poor man is faced with.....


1) His wife, slinging snot and slightly delirious thanks to her head cold,

2) She is bawling because she is ticked (and that did nothing to help her snot slinging)

3) The dead remains of at least six or seven huge, oak trees. His wife responsible for their murder.

4) piles of branches and bark, cut away from the carcasses in failed attempts to reach the swarm before it flies again.

And the only explanation he is given is a finger pointed to the skyline, far above our heads where there hangs one defiant bundle of bees...


 So no one should be surprised when he says......"WOMAN!" ...uhh.... yeah, I don't think we really need to go into all that he said, it was a shock to his system after all.....I'll just paraphrase this next part.


..........I am not allowed to cut down ANY more trees..........

And the bees will be allowed to go.  I went home. I went to bed.  But not before I hung a swarm trap, set up an empty hive and drenched the entire mess in Lemon grass oil.. The forest smelled like it had been properly dusted at any rate.

Tuesday morning I was in the bee yard bright and early.  They were still there hanging in the tree.  They hung there all day.  I know this because I did too.  When the boys got home from work, I had Zac go back and help me clean up my mess of ladders and boxes and such.

While we were back there the girls left.

I called Shane to let him know.  He replied "Good, now you can quit staring at them, Shell, you're going to make yourself nuts."  He has such deep sympathy for me.

I told Zachary, with 30 acres of timber that we wouldn't find them this summer but while he was hunting this fall, after the leaves were gone, to keep his eyes open and we could possibly cut them out next Spring.

Little did I know...

As we returned home, Cody asked me if I knew where they went?

No...

"Come here, mom."

He leads me to my front yard, and there happily humming is my swarm gathering around a hole way, way up in another oak tree.  All that timber and she brings it to my front yard.

She mocks me yet.

I sit here this morning, at the base of that tree looking skyward, like I have done for the past three days. She and her ladies are inside this tree, setting up house like her ancestors have done for the past six thousand years....... maybe she and I can just call a truce..... after all, I might enjoy having a mile high hive... I don't need anymore firewood, and I am grounded from the chainsaw......

So here's to a heart that refused to be tamed.

and Girl, I'll be looking for you next swarm season...

or should I say......

I'll catch ya later.

Standing...

It was a bright and beautiful Spring day. The bees were working the early blossoms of the Forsythia tree and a rooster crowed in the court yard.. I lazily sipped my coffee and then headed out to attend morning chores....


Alright, that is a lie.... a big fat lie.. not that I haven't had farm mornings like that..... oh, wait.... yeah...no, I have never had a farm morning like that.

Truth is.. it is 37* out there right now, the wind is whipping and it is trying to snow big, wet flakes.

And my cow... my cow decides she is going to see if her big head will fit in the fork of a tree...

Turns out, yes indeed,  it'll fit. Removing it, however, will prove a different matter entirely...

I had seen her in the distance, standing alone.  I thought "Finally! We are going to have babies start hitting the ground."

No. Such. Luck.

Oh well, getting her unstuck will be a simple matter.. I just need to build a ramp on the back side for her to stand on until her head is high enough to come out the wider part of the fork..

Easier said than done.

I began gathering logs and rocks and placing them in front of her feet.  But, she can't see her feet and can't see what I am doing so while placing logs,  I am also dodging kicks and trying not to get smashed as she attempts to blindly defend herself..

After I have the ramp high enough I push her onto it and all that is left is for her to lift her head and back out.  Except... for whatever freak of nature reason, when cows back up they put their head down and when she puts hers down it is too low in the V and we are back to square one.  I run around to the front and lift her head up, startled that I am shoving on her, she panics and steps sideways off the ramp. I make the ramp bigger.. but it's no good... this scenario repeats it's self more times than I want to tell you about.

we have a heart to heart....


we have a come to Jesus meeting.....


I even tell her how much I love rib-eye...


I note (very sternly) there is an auction this Saturday....

nothin' doing...

It doesn't take long wrestling with an 800 lb animal before your body is exhausted.. I gently scratch her big old ears and rest my head against hers... "Girl, if you would just stand still.. stand still and I will help you. I cannot help you unless you stand there and let me."

It's no use she's too scared... it is a two person job and my girls are not allowed in the same pasture as the bull... especially when we are messing with a cow.

I call Shane, and he sends Andrew.

The extra pair of hands is all that was needed. I push her forward and hold her on the ramp and Andy pushes her head up and back.  After three tries her head busts free. She runs as fast as she can to the herd for protection and comfort.

God's creation has always taught me my best lessons.  I wonder today, how many times have I wearied the Lord?  Oh, I know, He doesn't get physically tired but how many times have I tore into a problem in complete panic, like my hair was on fire, and all I needed to do was stand still?

I'm a mom, our job is to fix things. right? Wrong.

My job is to pray.... listen....

When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the Lord thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto battle, that the Priest shall approach and speak unto the people, and shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies:

let not your hearts faint,

fear not,

and do not tremble,

neither be ye terrified because of them;

For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. Deut 20


Did He bring you out of Egypt? Has He saved your soul? If we can trust Him with our salvation... why is it so hard to trust Him in the little things too?  Can we hear our High Priest? Or are we too busy shouting our own directions?  And lastly, God goes with us but He does not fight with us... He fights for us... without us..... He is the one who does the fighting and guess what?  He wins. He already won 2,000 years ago.  The only thing left is the mop up.  What a small god we must imagine if we think he needs help from us...

So today, I resolve

to pray.

to listen.

to stand still.

especially in the storm.

especially when I cannot see.

How to Worm a Cody...

Step 1:  While feeding Hogs, notice the male has ear mites. Determine they are bad enough to need medication..

Step 2:  Return to the house and make a large peanut butter sandwich. Inject enough Ivermectin into the bread to treat an eight hundred pound pig.

Step 3:  Smell it and decide to drench it in Maple syrup to help mask the medicine even more.

Step 4:  Walk away to give David instructions for feeding the sandwich to the pig.

Step 5:  Return to find Cody leaning over the plate, watch as sandwich and drool flies out of his mouth as he attempts to tell you that your sandwich tastes like a turd.

Step 6:  Resist the urge to tell Cody what you are really thinking at that moment.

Step 7:  Fail at step six.

Step 8:  Instruct Cody to spit the sandwich out immediately and rinse his mouth.

Step 9:  Rest in the knowledge that both Amish People and Third World Countries use Ivermectin on their children.

Step 10: Think about sending Cody to a third world country.

Step 11: Be astonished that you are no longer astonished that Cody has an iron stomach and survived.... yet again.

Stumbling Blocks...

This is not a normal post. Yet, it's what my children need to hear me say.

I am glad at times that no one can see my dashboard... my drafts.  Sometimes a subject creates in me such emotion that words and thoughts fly out at a rapid pace and jumble themselves together as to make me appear crazy.. those posts never make it here they just sit unpublished.

This will be my third attempt to write on one subject... Submission.... or to be more precise Obedience...


And while there are pages that I have written on the subject, today I promise to make this short so the point will not be lost.

Here is my question..

Why do people, and more embarrassingly Christians, consider submission and obedience to be signs of weakness and immaturity?

Stop and think.. honestly.

 I am having a hard time understanding.

When a person doesn't get their way and they moan, cry and stamp their foot what do we compare them to?  A two year old, right?

Why?

Because a child of the age of two is immature.  They don't have the mental strength to make themselves obey.

So here is the twist, when a woman or young adult seeks to honor God by honoring their head.  Seek to "salute the uniform" so to speak and make a CHOICE to lay down their will in deference to another... why is that weak or immature?

Laying down your will is hard.

It takes Strength.

It takes honor.

It takes dignity.

It takes a discipline of the mind and body that few possess.

On the contrary, demanding your own way takes no skill at all... a two year old can do it.

Moreover, this skill that you mock ~ it is one that God requires. I promised to keep this short, we all know the verses to some extent right?  Please be warned that when you throw your "door mat" philosophy at my family it flies over our heads and smacks God right in the face.




Now that's a sobering thought.



Can I just ask two favors...

Please don't waste your time telling me all the reasons that submission and obedience would never work in your family.  Save your excuses for the One who made the rules.

And second

Please don't waste my time telling me why it won't work in my family, you're too late, we already know better.

May you profit. Hebrews 13:17

When....

a baby boy is born...

We celebrate.

Because babies are fun.  Yet, in the birth of that baby there is a deeper purpose than chubby cheeks and dirty diapers.  A purpose chosen of God.  So we teach him to pray.   Pray not only for himself but the world he will someday influence and most of all the woman God will send to walk beside him.

While the years march on, we cherish his silliness.  We fight for him in his struggles.  And we always hold before him, his walk with the Lord...

We teach him that his Savior loves him, loves his children that will follow.  Teach him that the woman he chooses for a wife will directly impact the heritage that he is leaving behind.

 We see God's grace when a small stammering tongue asks for protection and a loving family for his wife, because he loves her even though he has not yet met her.

And are not surprised when she becomes so real to him that he sends her gifts over the space of time..

As he grows, his prayers become more specific. Lord, let her love children.  Lord, help her to keep herself pure that our marriage will glorify you. Lord, give us a goodly heritage.

And on he walks.... and waits.

Waits through his teen years while others tease and chide as to why he doesn't have a girlfriend yet.  After all "What's the matter with you?"

Shielding his heart from girls who were not taught better.

He walks with his eyes on Christ.  He fills his days with the glory of God's creation.

He waits past his nineteenth birthday

.... his twentieth.

 and the critiques intensify "People don't live like that anymore, Cody.".....

And yet he knows that while people change... the great I AM changes not.

Then one day God begins a friendship.  In one small space of time God honors all of his petitions and that friendship turns into so much more.

Pure is that relationship because Sarah has waited on the Lord too.

Their desire to keep Christ first is mutual...

Their love for children is shared.

The day has come for Cody to ask to court his bride, the answer is yes.

My heart is full of the Lord's goodness and mercy.  Thankful for His grace.

 The Lord's way is so very beautiful.

 May they always walk in it.

Add a Little Spice....

We finished up our lessons late one afternoon, I had a half hour before I needed to start dinner.  Not enough time to start many projects and too much time to allow my self the luxury of sitting around.  So I decided to head out to pick spice berries.

Me: Girls, I am going up top for spice berries. Do you want to come?

Grace: Sure, if I can drive!

Beth: I'll get some bowls.

Me: Great! but we only have a half hour, so let's get going.

We headed up with Grace in the drivers seat of the Rhino.  Shortly she stops to look at a turtle...

Me: Grace, half hour, sis.

On she goes... till we hit the cow pasture and she has to stop and chat with the cows and scratch the new calf behind the ear.

Me: Maybe, you should get out and when you are done checking the cows you can join us....

Giving a big old sigh, she takes off again.  Around the corner there are two LARGE cedar trees that have grown close together making passing between them next to impossible.  A new road is starting to form going around them.  Everyone else uses the new road, not Grace.  Giving a sharp punch to the accelerator, she plows through the branches and I let out a groan of complaint as the branches drag across my face and dry out my eyeballs, scratching and tearing at my hair.

Me: Grace! Normal people go around you know?

Grace: Say's the woman who only has a half an hour! I'm making up for lost time here!

Even minus my eyeballs we still managed to get a good picking of spice berries in a short amount of time, next time I won't hurry her like that. LOL!

If you are not familiar with the spice berry bush, you are in excellent company.  I staggered onto them quite by accident.  I found the berries while making my rounds checking the cattle pastures.  Not knowing what they were or if they were poisonous, I broke off a branch and sent it with the menfolk to the county extension office.  Such a pleasant surprise to find that the berries, bark and leaves are all useful!


Just a few fun facts:

Spice berries were substituted for allspice during the civil war.

The fruit, bark and leaves all have medicinal qualities.

The bark and leaves make a wonderful aromatic tea.

After we harvested the berries we rinsed them in cool water and placed them in our dehydrator over night.

The smell is heavenly!  To preserve the quality of the berry we freeze them after dehydration but it is not necessary and they do look pretty in a jar on the shelf.

Using spice berries is not as convenient as picking up ground allspice from the store. They need to be ground fine and are a bit sticky after being ground.  I place them in the blender and once they are pulverized I add the sugar required in the recipe to the blender and pulse it a few times. This will draw it all together and help clean the blender.
The inconvenience is minor, however,  when one thinks that  A) the berries are free, while spices are expensive and B) It is natural (non GMO, non hybrid, non anything if you will) and organic, growing on our place with no other hands touching it but ours.   I am sure that should have a C,D, and E in there but you get the picture.

I wanted to try the new berries right away so I sent Andrew to the garden to find a ripe pumpkin..

Pumpkin pie can take a long time when you make the ingredients from scratch...... :)

But once the pumpkin was cooked down and the berries dehydrated we were in business!

 I am not a winter person but I see many cold days spent experimenting with our new found gift in our future!  Thank you Lord, for making your creation so much fun!

Lying In Green Pastures....

Is this scary?

No? Okay, how about this?

I didn't think so either.... but, my cows...... my cows, they thought differently.  You see for the last two years they had lived on a little 16 acre pasture.. In this pasture they had grown together as a herd, here they were fed hay when the grass grew short, here they birthed and raised their babies.  Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter they lived their lives and had grown VERY comfortable where they were.

Enter now our plan for rotational grazing... We had spent the entire Spring fencing the perimeter of our property and were ready to rotate the cattle to the back pasture for summer grazing.  It was beautiful.. Lush grass and hanging grape vines over head~ cow paradise~ everything they could ever want just waiting to be munched by my ladies. I was filled with excitement as I walked along making sure all was safe for them when we turned them in the next day. It was going to be perfect.

But you know.... it wasn't.

 The next day, as our entire family gathered at the fence with grain bucket in tow, the cows became nervous.

When the gate swung open wide...

they balked.

 NO cow had ever gone out into the orchard before....and here we were trying to coax them past the orchard and down the lane...

Shane, tired of their hesitation, jumped on the four wheeler and tried to shove them through.....

 the cattle scattered.


Over and over we tried different tactics. What a fiasco! Every critter on four feet was scared and every critter on two was ticked.

 I wished at that moment that I could speak cow, I knew if I could just tell them of the deep, thick grass that was growing out back they would come. I had SEEN with my own eyes, great things waiting for them but they couldn't see anything wonderful from where they stood.  All they could see was us standing there,

 the gate,

the four wheeler,

the new road...

and all of it scary.

After an hour of running in circles, I called it off for the day and decided Andrew and I would try it alone the next day.

As we walked out the next morning I explained to Andrew that we would have to take them as they came... if only one cow followed the bucket, then we'd move them one cow at a time.  Under NO circumstance were we to go back for stragglers. Under no circumstance would we yell or use the 4 wheeler.

We braced ourselves for an all day ordeal.


To my surprise when Andrew shook the grain bucket, all ears came forward.  Andrew walked straight into the herd, showing off the grain as I opened the gate. They were totally focused on the bucket and on Drew. One cow stuck her head in the bucket and started a shoving match with another... Low and slow I say to Andrew "Run, Son."

Turning his back as if to hide the grain, he calls " C'mon cows!" and off he ran like a bullet from a gun, through the orchard gate and up the lane just as fast as he could go. (You would too if you had nineteen 1,200 pound animals running after you ;).  Everyone followed, oblivious to where they were,  focused only on the bucket and Andrew. Up the trail and to the back they went.

Only when they had eaten all the grain did they stop to look around at their new surroundings, surprised at where they were, they began to eat and rest in the lush grass.  Life became so simple when we all had the right focus.

Stuuuuuuupid cows right?  Let me ask you something.....

How is it with you, Christian?  

When the LORD asks you to follow Him, where do your eyes turn?  To the circumstances around you?  The strangeness?  The people watching?  To the unknown?

Do you understand, He has seen the other side.  He has complete view of the path, He's even walked it to make sure it is safe..  more than that he promises to lead you without fear if you will only turn your eyes on Him.....

Ride on, ride on triumphantly,
Thou glorious Son ride on!
Thy faithful children bravely take
The road that Thou hast gone..

I have no cares, O blessed Christ!
For all my cares are Thine;
I live in triumph, Lord!
For Thou hast made Thy triumphs mine.

Have you heard? We have a Pond!

Our home is obsessed with our pond, every free moment has been spent researching and planning.  We talk about our pond, we talk about talking about our pond....

POND!

POND!!

POND!!!

POND!!!!

Hey, there is a lot to learn before we get our fish on the 16th.

Drew, a few days ago found a publication on water quality and how to improve it.  One test seemed pretty straight forward.  Collect a sample of water in a glass jar, leave undisturbed for two days and see what settles to the bottom.  Easy Peasy!

Well, we took our sample, labeling it pond water we set it on the counter to begin the count down.

Day 1....

Day 1 and a 1/2 ..... safe

The eve before we get to peek... I walk into the kitchen to find Cody shaking the jar like a little boy would shake a snow globe....

"hey Ma, what's this?"

shake, shake, shake.  As he totally concentrates on the particles floating in the water I say....

"Oh, you know, just a water sample that we took from the pond.  It had to sit for two days to let the stuff settle to the bottom and we were going to look at it tomorrow.........."

As the realization of what I was saying sinks in, Cody's snow globe transforms into a stick of dynamite and he gently places it on the counter, slowly backing away.

"Sooooo, two days from right this second would be Saturday?"

I nod, switching off the light,  now having a better understanding of why some animal mommas just up and eat their young.

Unfortunately, Saturday is no better.  On Saturday I am washing dishes and ask Shane to run a bottle of sugar water out to the hive close to the house.  I noticed they were a little low on feed and want to keep them in good shape for a Spring split...  Like the sweetheart he is, he says "Sure" and grabs.. .....you guessed it.... my bottle of pond water.

"Oh, not that! The sugar water is over here!"

Shake Shake Shake... "What's this?"

"Nothing"  I say as I dump it down the sink...

Those fish are just going to have to live in whatever is out there because that jar is interrupting the peace and tranquility of my soul and home.. Nuff said.


On a funnier note, we've all been discussing what kind of fish we want in our pond as well.  Grace decided that we should have Sea Horses!  She even went as far as to find some for sale on eBay.  I was proud of the other children because, without laughing  (I can't say the same for me), they explained that "Sea" Horses had to have salt water to live.  Undaunted, she calls on Mr. Google to see if the people she lives with knew what they were talking about.  Turns out the Sea Horse has a fresh water cousin called a  Syngnathid..... who knew?  It looks kinda like a Sea Horse, kinda like a Sea Dragon... But as she triumphantly scrolled through the pictures her expression changed and to my relief she no longer wants them in our pond.  In her own words "they are so ugly, they would haunt my dreams!"  Whew! We dodged a bullet there......


At any rate, the fish will be here next week!  We have a Weeping Willow sitting here waiting to be planted when the goats are moved to their summer pasture.  We picked up a few pussy willow twigs at the Swap Meet  in March and are rooting them for the edge. Our Brandy Wine Crab Apple should be here shortly and if I could just find a few cattail starts we would be all set!!!  Cannot wait to see how this all plays out!  Pictures will follow!!!