Oh I Just Love It!

I finally got to use my cloths line, Oh and I just love it! Everything smells so good, and on a sunny day it dries real quick.

We have strawberries. This is the first year we have really gotten a good crop. In fact I think we have enough for a years supply of strawberry jam.  Which in our house is called liquid gold. 
We have been out of our jam for several months and the kids have been begging for more, so I have no problem getting the strawberries picked when I mention what the end results are going to be.  Look he even has a smile.

Going Green?

NO! At least not in my opinion.  Shem's science class is part of a pilot study through the Audubon Arkansas.  The program is called 24/7.  They identify 24 plants and animals, and do 7 things to improve your world/make a difference. Well the neighbor boy is in the same class so us Mom's helped them come up with a few projects.   

We had these clothes line  poles up when we first moved here but we took them down to build the playhouse, with the intention of moving them closer to the house. That was a few years ago and I have missed them terribly, I love the smell of line dried clothes. 

 # 1 Put up clothes line.

#2 Put up a bird house
# 3 make a rain barrel.  

Shaun cut the top off the barrel several years ago and had it all rigged up, but we realized it was hard to get the water out.  Shem steps in with his project, he put the spigot on, made & attached a short hose, and set it up under the down spout.  Of course it was full the next day after a big rain storm that night.  Now we can use it to water the Chickens, garden & dog.
#4 Clean up after the ice storm (done)

#5 Recycle scrap metal

#6 Add plants, etc. to the neighbors butterfly garden

#7 Make a grocery bag

 Nothing like using your son's science project to get a few things done around the house.

Yesterday was such a nice day that we took the kiddos on a bike ride.  The city just finished a big length of bike trail, so we decided to check it out.  It was a great trail and we only went on half of it.  Now we are anxious to ride the whole thing.  This was Isabelle's first bike ride, She fell a lot at first but by the time we were done she rarely fell at all.  What a trouper!
Aleena kept begging "Take a picture mom!"  So here is her picture.

A little bit of this and that

A Happy Mothers Day.  The girls decorated my room for me with streamers and a banner.  Aleena made me breakfast in bed.  Sarah wrote me a very nice letter. Hannah gave me a chocolate bar that she bought herself.  Isabelle gave me a shell & pen. Shem played me a song on the piano. Dan gave me a hug.  They all helped make dinner & desert for me and for Grandma. Oh yeah Shaun gave me a trip to Switzerland  (which is also for anniversary, birthday, Christmas, etc...) I had a great day.

Sarah participated in a little Olympics on Saturday.  She ran the obstacle course, It was a team effort and she was put as the last runner because she was so fast. 
They ran 2 teams at a time,  which they won against the other team but they didn't win over all.
She also did the 3 legged race and got 2nd place.  She was pretty excited.
OK here is the picture of the bread made from the 7 grain mix from the last post. There is not a lot of taste difference between that and wheat.  We ground it just like we do the wheat.  Anyway it tasted good, of course I think all fresh bread tastes good.

Throw it into the mix

It has been a very busy week.  Thursday 2 friends and I left at 5:30 am and drove to Oklahoma City to the home storage center.  We did some canning and picked up some grain to make a 7 grain mix.  

Friday we got together again and made the mix.  We had 450lbs of grains and it made just over 10- 6 gallon buckets full.   In the mix we had kamut, spelt, red wheat, white wheat, oats, rye, barley, & millet.   Now we are ready to throw this in the wheat grinder  and make some yummy bread.  It took us a while to figure out the ratios and a system but we eventually got it, now we will be much faster the next time around.   It cost us about $43 per bucket, to buy it already done would have cost $71 so we saved a bit of money.
Tuesday I taught a class for the local smocking guild on how to embroider bullion figures and put them on baby cloths. This little bunny was so cute I couldn't help putting him on here.  
Well now I am off to prepare a lesson for Relief Society.  ( I think I am avoiding it and that is why I am blogging instead of preparing , Oh well I guess I had better get it done.)