Autumn busyness~

Fall is almost here...and then comes the "W" time of year! We still have so much to do before the cold settles in, but my family and I made a small dent in the work today...

Here are some of the things that got accomplished (told in a very random manner!)

My dad headed out for the hayfield right away this morning to bale, while the rest of us did our chores. Then we children got out the 3 rider mowers and got to some serious grass cutting!

Once lunch was over with, all of the guys headed out to the hay-fields around our farm to haul in all of the bales and to stack them. (They used tractors though... I just thought this picture was too cute not to use it here. :)

Meanwhile, mother and I were doing some laundry...

Part of my afternoon was spent in cutting up 3 gallons of apples for sauce and juice and making another batch of Freezer Tomato Sauce.

Once the bales were all stacked, the guys worked on putting a new floor in our small manure spreader until supper time. Oh, Andrew also put the new board on our teeter-totter, so now we can paint it--and use it!

After the apples and the tomatoes were cooking, I headed out to the garden--armed with a paper bag for collecting dill seed; an envelope for storing Calendula seed in; and a pail for hauling banana peppers to the house. While I was in the garden, I also picked one of our mystery squashes for our supper and 5 cobs of sweet corn. :)

A few minutes ago, I read this verse in my Bible and thought it applied nicely here: "Slothfulness casteth into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger." ~Proverbs 19:15

As nobody around here is to keen on the idea of "Suffering hunger", we keep working! :) Still, I'm very grateful that God made a time each day when it's alright to be "Cast into a deep sleep," aren't you?

Change~

Sometimes change is exciting! Sometimes it's a little sad.

Today, I felt a change that is exciting and yet sad in a way... Let me explain:

The Dagley family needed the skid-steer back for a project they want to work on in the next couple of days, so we decided to all take it back today and visit with them a little while. So, after eating our noon meal at home, we all piled into Andrews' pickup (which he already had hooked up to the trailer,) and we headed West. The hour and a half journey seemed to go by very quickly, as we were listening to another of Dr. S. M. Davis's sermons--this time about true repentance, or as he calls it, "Godly repentance."

When we arrived at the Dagley home, Mom, Jacob & I headed for the house while Dad and Andrew unloaded the skid-steer.

We all spent a couple hours of visiting, singing, and looking at their garden and had a lovely time, but several times I found myself feeling sad....... Why? Because there were no longer any young people to visit with...

Things have changed so much in the Dagley home since we first got to know them 7 years ago! Jonathan's married to Jaidra; David's married to Susanna; Ben's busy helping neighbors with harvest; Amanda's away with her fiance James and his family; and Michael is helping his older brothers work on a ranch a ways South of us.

Time changes so much.... Really, it is as it should be--the children are starting families of their own now, but it's just......different. The house seemed so quite.

We headed for home around 6:00 and Mom and I took turns reading from "The Walrus Hunters" (by Ballantyne). I highly recommend his books, as they make for very interesting reading while you're learning about far away people and places. In the few books we've read, Ballantyne's always talked about God (and the heros always have great character), so we've come to like his books better than Henty books for that reason. I personally think that sometimes he's a bit too graphic--about the aspects of war and such, but I guess that is reality...

When Andrew stopped at Steele to fill the gas tank up, Mom posted a sign for the Appleseed Project in the gas station there.

We ended up doing chores in the dark tonight and, once they were done with, Mother popped some popcorn and I ground some of it up for popcorn cereal--one of our favorites! We watched a Bonanza episode while we ate our late supper; then had family prayer time and now it's family bed-time!

Dorena & I ...

I love my tall sunshine friend!!!

My sunshine friend~

Today was filled with house cleaning; food preparing; cake delivery; canning; and the usuals, but it had one unusually bright spot in it---that being, when I heard my dear, dear, dear friend, Dorena W's voice on the other end of the phone line this afternoon......

I remember very clearly how Dorena and I met that afternoon--11 years ago... My family and I were attending the home-school graduation of some friends' of ours daughter (the same graduation I mentioned yesterday--where we met the people who are now our neighbors.) The program was over and the ladies were in the church-basement kitchen preparing the meal to serve to the large crowd. My mom was one of the busy ladies, and my dad and brothers must have been visiting with someone. Anyway, I was sitting all alone at a large table, watching the newly graduated young woman, Ruth play violin with Ben--a friend of hers (whom I later found out was Dorena's brother and whom Ruth eventually married!)

But, back to my story... I was sitting there, feeling very lonely, when a smiling girl walked up to me and introduced herself as "Dorena." We started talking (I don't remember what about), and pretty soon she asked me if I wanted to be her pen-pal. I said, "Yes, but I'd better ask my mom first." So, we walked over to the kitchen together and asked my mom. My mother tells me now that she remembers looking at Dorena's smiling face and thinking--"This is just the kind of friend I want for my daughter." We spent the rest of the day together, sitting on the church steps and getting to know each other.

So was the beginning of a long and dear friendship! We don't write letters very often like we used to, but when we do write them, they could be counted as small books. :) When my mother was very sick 3 years ago, Dorena came and spent 2 weeks with us to help with putting up the garden produce and everything. We got to be very close during that time, and had many early morning talks. :) Unfortunately, our families live about 4 hours apart, so we don't get together very often. In fact, in October it will be a whole year since I've seen my dear sunshine friend! There was a chance of seeing her twice, but things didn't work out. However, there's a possibility that we can celebrate our "One-year-of-not-seeing-each-other" anniversary together, as Dorena and one or two of her brothers may come to our Appleseed event!!!!! She said the only thing she knows of that would keep them from coming is that her sister is expecting the arrival of her/their 2nd child right around that time and she'd want to be there for the birth... I wonder if it would be alright for me to pray for the baby to come early? :)

It was just such a treat to talk to my old friend... (I'll try to find a picture tomorrow of us together at Ruth's younger sisters' graduation over a year ago--and then will share the picture here...)

A quilting cake~

A couple of days ago, I had an order for a chocolate-flavored birthday cake. The lady who placed the order quilts with the lady whose birthday it is, so she wanted a cake that had something to do with quilting.

So, after about 4 hours of time spent in baking; looking for ideas; planning and decorating, this is what I came up with:

Here's the quilt-block close up... Oh dear, now you can see that my points don't match up perfectly! :)

When I was finished with the cake, I went out to the barn (armed with Mom's camera,) as the boys were working on cleaning out the barns with the skid-steer we're renting from a friend and I wanted to see how it was going. Andrew was just about done with the middle section of the East barn when I showed up... They did 2 sections this afternoon and have 3 left, so they should be able to finish the smelly job tomorrow.

My dad took the boys' big steer into the butcher shop today and then did a little mowing around Fern's (the lady we rent some of our land from) old farm-yard. When he was through with that, he came home and went out to bale up a neighbors' flax straw... The bales are going to be used at our Appleseed Shoot--as backstops for the bullets to go into. As flax straw isn't good for feed or bedding, we'll use the bales later as a windbreak for the cattle this Winter.

Speaking of our Appleseed... My mom registered our whole family today. It was kind of funny because one of the questions on the form is something like this: "Why are you interested in attending this shoot?" Really and truly, I think our whole family wants to attend because of the great convenience of having a shoot in our very own pasture! :) Joking aside--We saw that the "Steele Appleseed" advertising posters are up on the website now, so Mom printed up several and is planning on hanging some up in Napoleon tomorrow when she goes to put money in the bank. It seems hard to believe that the shoot is only a little more than 2 weeks away!!!

Oh, one more exciting thing happened today.... My dad learned that we have new neighbors (well, they live about 7 miles from us, but we still call them neighbors!) He met the dad of the family and they talked for a little while. We had actually met these people at a home school graduation about 11 years ago, so we kind of know them. I'm pretty sure they home-educate their children, so it will be really nice to visit with them!

As you can tell, it was once again a busy and exciting day on the farm!

Some good info. on Appleseeds :)

I was just reading on the Appleseed website and found their Frequently-Asked-Questions page. I'm not sure if any of my readers are interested or able to come to our shoot, but in case you are thinking about it and have questions, I thought I'd point you in this direction... ----> http://www.appleseedinfo.org/as_faq.htm.

It's morning...

...and a rooster just crowed not too far from my window to confirm my statement! :)

HOORAY!!!

It's finally official!!!!! ---We're hosting an Appleseed Shoot at our farm the first weekend in October! We'd LOVE to have you join us!

Women, children, and military people are free; men over the age of 21 need to pay $70 for both days or $45 if they're attending only one day. (You get a free T-shirt if you come both days. :)

Bring your .22 and lots of shells and be prepared to learn much and to have a great time! We have room for people to camp-out in our yard, or there are campsites in nearby towns. If you'd like to come, you'll need to register on the site (http://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=9559.0;prev_next=prev#new) --the sooner the better, as the instructor needs to order materials in before the shoot...

I'd very much like to have you come learn with us, (to improve your aim and to learn some of the history of great riflemen in our country,) and to fellowship with us! Of course, I know that it won't be possible for all of my blogging friends to come because of the miles between us, but if this sounds of interest to you, perhaps you'd like to check the Appleseed website (http://www.appleseedinfo.org/as_schedule2.php) for a shoot in your area?

We'd appreciate prayers for nice, sunny weather the days of the shoot and also, it would be great if you'd spread the word about our event!

.....And now, I'd best get busy, as there's so much to do...

~ Cora

An apple day~

Between making apple sauce; juice and jelly (apple-mint; apple-cinnamon; and just plain apple) today, I managed to get the kitchen smelling of apples! The entryway smells of them too, as Jacob picked up all of the apples that were under the tree and hauled them in onto the steps. I just love apples--even when they seem to be everywhere!!!

My brothers also picked a gallon of chokecherries this afternoon and Mother made juice with them. One of our favorite things to do with the juice in the winter-time is to make pancake syrup. Mmmmmm....

If you would, please pray for my dad, as he was feeling today like he was coming down with the flu, and he actually took a nap on the couch---something VERY rare for him. I think he's feeling better now, but if you'd just pray for "It" to be gone in the morning (and for the rest of us to stay well), that would be greatly appreciated!

I thought it was funny that I should get 2 calls for babysitting today--as I haven't done any babysitting all Summer! The sad part is that neither one is going to work out, so I don't get to spend time with little ones anyway... Hopefully it will work out sometime, as I love little people.

Well, I should probably head out to the kitchen to make sure everything is in the refrigerator that needs to be in and then head for bed. Tomorrow morning is going to seem to come very quickly, as we're all getting up early to get chores done so Mom and Andrew can be up in Bismarck by 9:00 for appointments. Want to come help? :)

Thank you~

I'm still missing my Leisle today, but it's not as bad as yesterday, and just to know that others care is such a blessing! Thank you to all who left me a little note of encouragement~ I'm so grateful for the friends God has blessed me with!!!

This afternoon found Mother, Jacob and I saving cucumber seeds (we have a large bowl full now!) Then, my mom made a new recipe-- Cool Cucumber Soup--for supper, while I made Glorified Rice.

Oh yes, while Mother and my brother were out in the garden picking the cucumbers, I was in the kitchen getting our next batch of Kombucha started. We're now making 4 gallons at a time and we have several extra mushrooms in the fridge--even though we've been giving them away to friends! :) We really like the flavor of the finished Kombucha tea much better when we add fruit-flavored teas to the black tea in the beginning of the process, but recently our friend, Sarah said that she's read that if you do this too long, your mushrooms will start shrinking and dying off.?.?.? So, I'm going to be keeping watch for any such disastrous things to start happening... So far, (after 3 times of using the flavored tea) the mushrooms were a nice creamy color and were ever so plump, so they seemed pretty healthy yet to me... Does anyone else have any advice to share on this subject?

My brother, Andrew spent the day baling, and then cutting down more of our second cutting of alfalfa.

My dad got home in time for supper, although he was pretty tired from his long day! He drove a total of about 600 miles!!! I could never do that...

And now, we're all sleepy and are headed for bed.

Before I sign off, I'd like to leave you with a poem I found just now about this lovely month we're enjoying~

"September"

by Helen Hunt Jackson

The goldenrod is yellow;

The corn is turning brown;

The trees in apple orchards

With fruit are bending down.

The gentian's bluest fringes

Are curling in the sun;

In dusky pods the milkweed

Its hidden silk has spun.

The sedges flaunt their harvest

In every meadow-nook;

And asters by the brookside

Make asters in the brook.

From dewy lanes at morning

The grapes' sweet odors rise;

At noon the roads all flutter

With yellow butterflies.

By all these lovely tokens

September days are here,

With summer's best of weather,

And autumn's best of cheer.

~Enjoy these last days of Summer!