Busy Times

It seems like August was a blur. We were so busy with building the schoolhouse, getting an outdoor shower built, church groups, bible studies, and so much more. 

I went to my first ever singspiration in August. It was wonderful!!! If you have never been to one, or have never heard of it before, it is a song service where people from many different churches get together and go up in front of the church and give a testimony or sing hymns. Some people sang solo, some sang in groups. Anyone can just go up and sing if they feel led.  I went up with a friend and a few people from her church and joined in the singing. 

In August a few ladies from my bible class got together and went to pick apples then we sliced, peeled, and canned them. After we filled all the jars up for the lady we helped pick the apples for, we were able to get our own peeled and sliced to take home. I ended up with two pounds of apples! A few days later another lady from my bible study and I got together and canned our apples together. Now I have several jars of apples just waiting to go into a pie this fall! 

August also started my first visits to visiting the homebound. A couple of us ladies from our bible study are making time to visit a few people who are not able to get out and about as much and are lonely and need some extra love. 

August also brought a super hot heat wave, SO thankful that it seems to be at an end and cooler weather is on the horizon. We were blessed by one of our friends who allowed us to borrow one of her AC units to help keep our place cooler. We tried to stay cool by visiting Silver Dollar City and riding the water rides and watching the shows to beat the heat. 

August also was the start of school for one of our kids. The rest are being homeschooled so their first day of school is in September.

Now it is September and the garden that I had hoped to have just did not happen this year. Sadly the chickens got more out of it then we did. Next year the fence will be better and we will get an earlier start. I thought of trying to do fall garden but right now there are just so many projects going on that we decided to not wear ourselves too thin. 

It is getting that time where we need to start cutting all the wood we need for this winter. Thankfully we have a lot of wood that is left over from when the land was cleared that will make for some good firewood once it has been cut. It will also be nice to have those big piles of trees and brush gone. 

One exciting thing on our homestead for September is that we are getting our own eggs now!!! Our roosters are getting a little too rough with the hens so they are becoming dinner in a couple of weeks, but our lovely hens are finally starting to lay. On average I am gathering about 4 eggs per day. These eggs are from our flock that was born at the start of April of which we have seven hens, so hopefully in another month or two, our flock we got in May will start laying as well. One of our breeds is a cooler weather breed and is known to lay longer into the cooler months than the others and they were born in May so hopefully they will lay right into late fall early winter. Our youngest chicks were born in July so it is not likely they will be laying this year but will start next spring. 

Now a few weeks later we have a LOT more....

Normally we have the chickens free ranging but we are trying to teach them where to lay their eggs, instead of them just laying them all over the ground. They will be coop bound for about a month then allowed to free range again once they have gotten the hang of laying eggs in the nesting boxes

Speaking of birds on the homestead, our turkeys are getting big!!!

This September we have finished the final things to make the schoolhouse usable. We wired it all up so we can have outlets that we will use with solar and generators, added solar lighting, insulated the walls, put up internal walls, painted the walls, and finished the flooring, I would have loved the ease of vinyl flooring, but we had left over laminate flooring from the house so we used what we had on hand. Mark also found plans online for the child size chairs that will work perfectly in the schoolroom with the desks we have for the kids. 

Mark drilled the holes for the wires and I put in the wires and the insulation. I painted the room and he worked on the flooring. A couple of the kids even came over to help paint. 

Twice a week we head into town to do laundry. I take with me two little helpers who are great about helping sort the clothes. They work on fine motor skills by putting the coins in the slots for the washing machines. After all the clothes are finished washing and drying they put them in the laundry bags and help carry them out to the car. While we wait for the clothes to wash and dry, I help them with their schoolwork and they use this time to read to me. 

We have been loving Silver Dollar City and are so thankful we ended up getting season passes. We go at least once a month, sometimes more. We have watched the kids grow in confidence over the last few months.

Alina got a blanket making kit and finished her blanket

If you look closely you will discover a little surprise in the brush. He has been coming and helping himself to the chicken food. He has been not bothering the chickens, but has certainly been making a dent in our chicken food. We have moved where we feed the chickens now, so hopefully he will stop hanging around. 

During one of our recent laundry trips, we noticed the town square was closed off for a car show so we walked over and checked it out for a few mins while our clothes were drying. 

The first day of school for the kids was so exciting! The youngest three kids are the only ones who are doing school together so it feels a bit different. It is certainly a lot different than when I had a whole class of 20 kids back in the day. The older two girls are working on their own time as and when they want since they are also working part-time. I still help them with their school work when needed, but it is more for their own enjoyment (they love doing schoolwork) than anything else as they are both adults now.