Chicken Whisperer part 2

As I mentioned in the previous post, my little Ben loves the chickens. He has daily conversations with the chickens and just adores them.

Recently Ben came home from church excited to tell me about what he had learned that day. We had two chickens that had sadly died tragically in the weeks before. Ben was greatly affected by the death of these two birds. When we were sitting on the swing in the yard that Sunday evening, he said "Mom, those two chickens are up with Jesus. Jesus is taking care of them now. That is what my teacher told me." Ah how sweet. I don't know the situation with the souls of our chickens, but if that is how Ben feels, then maybe it is. Ben was very content and happy with the thought.

About four days later Ben comes running into the house. He was so excited to show me a frog that he had found. It was a large frog that I encouraged him to keep outside so that it could eat lots of bugs and be a happy frog. I warned Ben to not let it loose near the chickens since the chickens would peck it and it would die. Ben said he would be careful and guard the little frog from the chickens.

A few hours later he comes running in the house in full tears and a complete panic.

"MOM!!! The chickens ate my frog! The chickens ate my frog!!!"

Oh my. What do you say to a little boy who loves his chickens and loves his frog that is now gone.
While I comforted Ben, I sent the older boys outside and they discovered that there was no evidence of the frog being in the chicken coop. And trust me, there would have been evidence of a frog attack. But there was not a trace of any fowl activity. (sorry bad joke...couldn't help myself...Cory would be proud.)

"Ben" I started "I think the frog hopped away and is hiding. I think he will be ok"

"No. He's gone." His face was so forlorn. So solemn. "Mom, I need to talk to Jesus about this. Right now!" And before I could encourage him to go and kneel by his bed, he had dropped to his knees in fervent prayer. So I quietly left the room and left him to his prayer.

After a long moment later he came into my room. He was once again full of peace and he had a small smile on his face.

"Mom, Jesus will send me another frog to play with. It will be ok." I was so relieved that he was once again my happy Ben.

"Oh how nice Ben! I bet a frog will come out this evening when it cools down outside."
"Yeah probably."
"And your frog is probably with Jesus just like your teacher said. "

It was at that instant that a huge panic came over his face.

"BUT MOM!! THOSE OTHER TWO CHICKENS WILL PECK AT IT!!!!!"

It was all I could do to not laugh. Thankfully I convinced him that Jesus probably had a pocket to keep his frog safe and that it really would be ok.

That evening a frog arrived for Ben to play with..it looked a lot like the last frog he had. Ben still loves the chickens. And I am so thankful that my little boy's prayers are important enough that the guy upstairs will answer them and bring my little Ben the peace he needs.

The Chicken Whisperer

Meet the newest inhabitants to our little plot of land... YES it CHICKENS!!

Or as Mark calls them "Chee-eeens!!"



Some friends of Cory were unable to have their chickens any more, and so we happily adopted them. We also purchased a few from a friend who had raised them from egg.

It was quite a challenge to get the chickens here, and their coop, but it has been very worth it. The boys have had some great learning experiences with them. It took us about a month to get the chicken coop (yes that is my old garden!!...so glad its getting some use!) how we wanted it to be. First the sides weren't to high and the chickens kept flying over it....which is NOT helpful in keeping the neighborhood dogs OUT of our yard. So we made the walls higher and then added a wire roof. The boys are also in charge of cleaning the coop. It could be their new favorite job!!..ok maybe not.


The boys LOVE getting the eggs. Its like an Easter Egg hunt every day!! The nine chickens are producing about 7 eggs a day, and the kids are loving them! We have been known to have scrambled eggs for breakfast AND dinner--ok that only happened when the older boys went backpacking but it was GREAT! Mark and Ben were in egg heaven!



Ben has discovered a special gift with the chickens. He has become their Chicken Whisperer. When he comes out to the coop, he calls the chickens "Come'ere my little chickens!" and then he tells them stories, tells them what good chickens they are, and tells them to lay eggs like a good chicken. He hasn't always been this way, at first he terrified the chickens....and was partially responsible for the death of one chicken. But, alas, he has changed his ways and has started to love the chickens. When ever a dog comes into the yard he is the protector and runs out to tell the dog to "Leave now!"

The chickens love him in return. They follow him around the coop as if he has a special treat for them. Which he does many times of course.

Who knew chickens could bring out Ben's soft side! Yeah Ben!

Backpacking Adventure!

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James and his backpack! Yeah James!!


Recently Cory took Luke and James on their first backpacking trip. Last spring at the TJed Forum we listened to Nels Jensen spoke about the power of an outdoor adventure and so we decided to give it a whirl. But I pretty much chickened out on going. Yep..I am a big CHICKEN! I did go camping this year and that was a big step for me. I do love camping, but its been a while since we've gone. Having little kidos in an uncontained amount of area is really intimidating to me. Our house is only 1000 feet--so there is only so many places they can hide. Unlike the wide open spaces of the mountains, there are many many places that they can get to much faster then me! But I digress....


On a brief rest on their way up the mountain.

When Cory was younger, his Dad took him on a backpacking trip in the mountains east of Fillmore. There is a story from Cory's uncle about gold buried in the mountains just east of Fillmore. Legend has it that some Spaniards hid some old gold coins in a cave while they were fleeing from some Englishmen. Because the gold was cursed, when they went back to retrieve it, they couldn't locate it. Later some kids found some gold coins in a cave, they brought a few gold coins to show their parents but when they went back to the cave, they couldn't locate it. (Ok the cursed part is debatable but it sounds like something Uncle Lawrence would say, the story changes a little with time.) In the story, Uncle Lawrence Oliphant went with his two buddies to locate the gold. The three of them went down some shafts they believed to be close to the gold, however the machine that was there to refresh the air malfunctioned and they quickly ran out of air. Two of them were able to get out of the mine -however they do not remember how they got out. They just found themselves at the top of the mine passed out. Their third friend died in the mine and it was days before they were able to retrieve him.

When Cory's dad -Alan took him to locate the same gold. They found some old mines but when they saw the cave they believed to be THE CAVE, Alan ended up twisting his ankle and they were unable to continue. So they were unable to reach the gold also.

Now to me, the mine is sounding like the NOT the best place to hang out.

But off they went!

For three days they backpacked, explored, and camped. They found a nice little campground that I believe would be for horses. It was set up with picnic tables, fire pit, chopped wood, benches, and it was near the river! To fun! They even used the little portable cooking tuna cans that they made a week or so prior to cook their pancakes. Since they used old candles, they said that the pancakes had a distinct flowery smell.

The amazing pocket chair. What more can be said.



Here is James pumping water from the river for drinking. It was a wee amount of work..lol..


Gotta love MREs!


THE campsite.

With all of the exploring they did not find the mines. Cory thinks they were over a mountain to far. But they hiked some grand mountains and had some spectacular views!
Cory said it best..."We had a great time."

Pick-a-little-talk-a-little

When we bought our house ten years ago, I was elated to have a variety of fruit trees. We had a plum, 3 peach, apple, necterine, and we planted a pomegranite bush. Two of the peach trees (including the white peach tree) was infested in bugs and only lived for a year. We ended up burning the trees out and putting the garden in that area. The necterine has been a weak tree and has refused to produce anything of worth and the pomegranite, although 5 years old, it has yet to grow any bigger. The apple tree also only produces a handful of blossoms and apples. Each year I say that I'm going to take out the necterine tree, but the blossems are so bright pink and pretty, that I just can't do it. I keep praying for the apple and pomegranite to step it up, or they are going to end up in the fire pit as well.

All of that sounds really sad!!

Thankfully the plum tree and peach tree have made up for the lack of success with the other trees.

This past weekend was picking time! Luke and James were priveliged enough to pick ALL of the fruit. My boys are so great to help me with the canning. Last month we picked 50 pounds of cherries at a local farm and my boys pitted them all!!! Now we all enjoy our fabulous cherry pie filling.


But first, another side story. When James was 3 we had lived in the house for about a year and a half. I peaked out the window one day and saw his little feet dangling off of the roof! I come out and ask him what in the world was he doing!? He replied that he was getting his toy.

So you can imagine how I *laughed* when I came outside and saw James sitting on the roof picking the plums. >sigh< He was even in the same place.

So they picked and picked and picked!! And picked me 46 pounds of plums!!! It was AWESOME! I was so delighted! James then became out official plum cutter and Luke set off to pick the peaches.--He ended up picking almost 20 luscious pounds!

The next day we were able to make 37 pints of plum jam, peach jam and peach-plum jam-plus we froze some peaches. The jam even turned out nice!! (Unlike my last batch of raspberry jam that I over cooked and is so thick that you can't even spread it...such a waste of raspberries. ) We had a great time together! We listened to The Beyonders and had some great conversations about just about everything as we cut, blanched, mashed, sanitized, bottled, and more. Great memories...at least for me anyway.

If the world ends, I will have enough jam to trade for ANYTHING! I do wish that we could bottle when it wasn't so blasting hot. Seriously! Its 108* outside and I have all of my stove burners on high! I am so thankful for fans! We did save enough plums to snack on (although, after all the plum work, none of us are really in the mood to eat any.)



Apples are next. I can't wait!! Even though I end up purchasing apples from local farmers, I love making applesauce and pie filling with my boys. Ohh and I can't wait for pomegranates!! If anyone knows of any bright red pomegranate bushes (the super sour pomegranates) that I can pick in late Sept. or so, I will happily come and pick them (I will bring my boys too) and then we will bring you some pomegranate jelly! BEST JELLY EVER!

I feel very fulfilled when I do my various bottling. It is a great feeling to do this work with my family. Hooray for work!

Camping project

July is the month designated for campouts it seems like. Both James and Luke have scout troup campouts and then Cory is taking them on a backpacking trip in Fillmore.

The boys LOVE camping and are very excited to go for a few days in the mountain with just "the guys."

To prepare for their campout they are making portable fuel cans. This way they will be able to cook their food no matter where they are. The left overs we will put in our 72 hour kids.

They are super easy to make.

You need empty tuna, clean, tuna cans (or that size anyway)
cardboard, and wax -we use old candles.

Take your cardboard and cut it into a one inch long strip, coil it up tights and place it in the can.-this is your wick Pull the center of the wick out a few inches so that you can light it easily. Then melt your old candles or you can use paraffin wax from the grocery store. Pour the wax, but not the end of the wick that is sticking out, and starting from the center spiral around until you reach the outside of the can. Let the wax completely cool and then you're set!


They work just like a sterno can but cheaper. They would be great to have on hand in case of an emergency

Happy camping boys!!
I will be doing my OWN projects while you're gone!!! bwaahaahaa!!

Luke's smile!

Luke has an amazing smile!
I love love LOVE his smile. However, it has always been a challenge for him to smile. He has had challenges with his teeth for the past 5 years.

For starters his front baby teeth never came out. When he was 10 they were pulled out so that his adult teeth could come in....which they never did. He had no two front teeth for more than 2 years. He never complained and was so positive about it.

When he was 12 he had braces put on when one front tooth was finally starting to come down.

*WARNING IF YOU'RE SQUEEMISH**

He then had his front teeth cut out of his gums and forced down. Luke was so nervous for this to happen, but he did great! I think he was just so happy to FINALLY have front teeth.

For two years I didn't even have to remind him more than twice to wear his elastics!--ok maybe it was because every time I asked him and he didn't have them on, he had to pay me $5 but I digress....

So now, after 2 years of braces, Luke has a BEAUTIFUL smile! It was worth every penny for the confidence of his smile.

His teeth worries aren't done yet since it was discovered when the braces were put on, that he has a third set of front teeth and his adult molars are growing in sideways and are jammed into his other teeth. But those worries are for another day because today Luke is to SMILE!

Me? A guest blogger?

Recently I was asked to be a guest blogger at one of my favorite homeschooling sites. To say I was SHOCKED! is an understatement. I had the thoughts going through my head of "What in the world could I say about teaching science that would be beneficial to anyone!...Isn't everyone doing this already?" It was a lot of fun to rack my brain and to figure out how I had taught science to my boys, especially since I did very poorly in my science classes when I was young. I figured out that I was using the same process that I use with reading.

And holy cow, guest blogging is STRESSFUL!! At least it was my first time! Yikes! I tend to over-analyze..well..just about everything, and this wasn't any different. I even drempt about this stinking paper! Ha! But like everything else, the first time was the hardest and I think I might write another one for her. :-D

Thank you for this experience Mary Ann!
Happy day!!

Go check me out over at:
The Home-School Coach!!!