Rachael Eliker's Blog, page 40

Lurking

Since moving, we've had a black cat that's been lurking around our house. Mostly, we've seen it out in the pasture, patiently waiting for a vole or mouse to come scurrying out of a hole so it could make a meal of it. I assumed that it was one of the neighbor's cats since farm cats aren't always content to stay where they ought to (thank goodness our cats have learned not to cross the road and instead, spend their time in the forest or barn out back). It seemed kind of coincidental that the bl...

Halloween 2017

Halloween is one of our favorite times of the year. It's the autumn colors, the crisp weather, pumpkins, face painting, candy, apple cider, costumes. All of it. We love it ALL.
Though Halloween is only one day, we drag out the celebrations as long as we can. We had a Halloween-themed dinner, complete with deviled eyeballs, hot dog mummies, chopped finger fruit dip, and boneyard brownies, which we ate by candlelight and bubbling, foamy witch cauldron.
We found some amazing pumpkins at the farm w...

Black Hat Dash

Ready, set, GO!Having run several dozen miles through Jack's foxtail maze, I decided it was time for the girls and I to do another fun run. The last one we did was in Nebraska with the cousins, when it was nice and warm. This Halloween fun run was a little more...cold.
Feeding off the excitement at the start line. Walking over to the start line, Evelyn asked why I had to pick a race on such a frigid day. Well, oops! I told her that we'd just have to start running quickly so we could warm...

Suspicions

We brought the horses into the barn the other day for the first time so we could groom them and get them used to the building before winter sets in and they might need to come inside. Stoney met Dolly through a crack in his stall and his sneaking suspicions that we don't just own horses anymore was confirmed.
The jury's still out on how he feels about living with a cow on the property.

Giant Puffball

I can see why they call it the giant puffball mushroom!On Sunday, Jack and I had to take separate cars to church and when it was time to head home, he took the older girls and left before I was done strapping in the other kids. As luck would have it (and it usually seems to be just that with Jack), Jack got lost. In his defense, New Harmony Road is broken up into about fifty segments. While trying to figure out where he was, he and ended up finding something only he could truly appreciate: gi...

Let the Fruit Roll In

This little tree is a bit backward on the seasons.One mistake that we've made at each of our previous homesteads was not planting fruit trees soon enough after moving in. Eventually, we'd commit to the cost and work of putting in an orchard, only to end up moving right as the trees started producing fruit. Determined not to have that happen again, one of the first projects we've completed at our New Harmony home is buying, planting, and tending our budding orchard.
Since most of the plant nurs...

Sous Chef

Now that Evelyn's eight, she's aged into a girl's group at church where she has a few activities a month to learn new skills, do crafts, offer service, and have fun with each other. As part of the group, she's also begun the Faith in God program, where she can personalize her goal setting while still meeting requirements to accomplish the entire booklet. After flipping through, she decided one of the first goals she wanted to check off was to make dinner all by herself.
She decided on mak...

Get Milkin'

Going out to the barn to milk is one of the best ways to spend a morning.Dolly and Parton (heehee yes, Jack purposefully named the calf Parton and the kids don't get the joke) have been with us for just over a month. Initially, they were one more fun pet to have on our farm. We'd been working on getting them used to us scratching their noses, wearing their halters, and working around them in the stalls while milking has been in the back of our minds. That is, afterall, why we bought a milk co...

Eat Up, Babies

Packing and moving is stressful, no doubt, but there is an upside to relocating--there's a chance to go through belongings and decide what to toss, recycle, or donate. While cleaning out our freezer, I discovered I had enough milk to donate to The Milk Bank, to those fragile babies who need milk supplementing. Since I've never had a problem with my milk supply, I've been able to also donate previously with Kate and Henry, too.

So, eat up, babies! There's plenty to go around.
Another goal crosse...

Morning Glory

If we have to have weeds, I will take a morning glory over a lot of other plants.