Half acre homeschool

It's been a while. We got our sauna stove, stones, and chimney flue from Finland, in an enormous crate. There was much excitement!  My folks also sent some of my old things. I showed the kids some old photos. "You used to have such nice clothes, and now you're just a fashion disaster! What happened, mama?" was the verdict. Ah, children. Delightful creatures.  We manage to do a night of camping. It was little lady's first time in a tent, and I think she liked it. R slept the night through for the first time in three years, so I actually felt quite rested. And I did have the cutest little hot water bottle in my sleeping bag. We started yet another baby-led weaning journey. When A was 6 months, I bought the book, read it, cooked the recipes and did everything "perfectly". R told us he was ready about two days "early" by stealing salmon off my plate. He continued to enjoy eating mostly food shared with me for a l

We got our first duck egg today! Hopefully the rest of the girls will start laying soon too, as the kids have developed a taste for duck eggs.  We put up a second, smaller tunnel in the veggie garden. I moved all my pots there from the big tunnel, so Hubby could build another raised bed in. He also built another bed outside and helped me prep a few overgrown ones. Behold my neat polytunnel! (It's not going to look like that for long, if I know myself as well as I think I do...) The kids set up a paddling pool in the play area, because the goats went to work clearing the middle garden. A did about a hundred trips from the tap to the pool with a watering can, and they put it under a little slide. DIY water park complete! Tomorrow I plant. But for now I'll enjoy snuggling sleeping babies and trying to get through a full episode of a TV show before falling asleep. 

The chicks have graduated to the great outdoors. Well, nearly! They're getting a gentle introduction to soil and grass underfoot (or -claw) in an ibc tank full of compost. They seem very happy, and are getting regular room service of pellets and water from A. The plan is to keep bringing them in for nights until they are six weeks, and then let them out into the orchard with the ducks.  I took a whole day off gardening during the week, so I had an extra helper today to make up for lost time.  We got tomatoes planted into the tunnel, some herbs and peas out into the beds, peppers moved into bigger pots and did some work on the overgrown beds too. I stopped to admire my beans in the middle of my battle with mystery stabby weeds. Between the rooster attacks, nettle stings and what I presume are some sort of thistles stabbing me in the shins, I feel like I have earned my cup of tea by the end of the day! We managed over 8 hours outside today.  For so

The chicks are all three weeks by now, so we celebrated with another photoshoot. Miss W's milestone cards are getting reused! Little pirate man...   We also enjoyed change of scenery with a beautiful evening walk. When I say walk, I really mean a climb/roll/splash!  Nothing particularly productive got done today, but we had fun. 

Miss W doing her morning studies  Myself and W doing our morning exercise       Eating radishes straight from the tunnel      Helping little brother with his planters    First attempt at woodburning, some plant    markers made out of reused wooden cutlery   ...and a Rec Room logo!             Is chicken yoga a thing? Raising the raised bed, so I can contain the chickens while I plant stuff. Mr Pennywise needs height for his magnificent comb! Not pictured are all sorts of building work, goat getting shots, meal outdoors, chicken coops being cleaned, planting and tidying in the tunnel, shopping for the week and me huffing and puffing down the road as I tried to motivate myself to jog with the help of heavy metal.  Good day was had by all. Except maybe the chickens, who are confused by their move. And the radishes, who face their doom...

So, we all know the rules.  But if you happened to be an innocent bystander, whose property Fight Club was happening on, could you write about it? Asking for a friend... The kids asked for pancakes, so I whipped up a batter and baked them a batch for supper. They ate, and headed off to play. I went to bring the rest of the pancakes to Hubby, who was just outside tiling. And that's when I stumbled upon the dark underbelly of my home. Two small figures were standing in the yard, their tops off, mid-battle. To protect the identities of these characters, let's call them Fighter 3 and Fighter 6. The numbers may or may not indicate a skill level, or perhaps age.  They were facing each other, taking turns in slapping each other on the bare belly. "Be careful you don't hurt each other for real." I said in passing.  "Well, we are playing a fighting game..." said Fighter 6, clearly indicating my input was not appreciated. Fighter 3 was preparing for his next combo