Life in the Country Blog

Sunday afternoon with Daddy

by Embrace Country Life on 04/29/12

Written By: Sarah Kasson (age 11)

Today was terrific! We scrapbooked in church school. It was our last day of the year. Alicia walked through the baptismal font and then got her feet washed for moving onto 9th grade.

When we got home, my dad wanted to go to Tractor Supply to pick up a canopy-thing. While there, I remembered that my horse, Sassy had some rain rot on her back. My horse trainer told me a good medicine to buy so my dad bought it. I had fun riding on the heavy-duty cart. Once we got home, I dressed for barn chores in my jeans and my Vestal volleyball shirt. When we finally got out to the barn, I fed my goat, Loniga. After Loniga, I fed Scooby and let her run around. Once my dad finished feeding the chickens and giving the horses their water, he told me he wanted to muck out the chickens' stall, horses' stalls, and porch. Immediately, I knew I didn't want to do that so I decided to train Sassy. I wanted to teach her that when I say, "ho" it doesn't mean to put her head down and eat. After, I finished training her that, I brought her in her stall and started brushing her. When I finished brushing her I remembered the medicine so I got one of the bath brushes and put a little of the medicine on it and dabbed it on her back. I used the bath brush because I didn't want to use my hands like my trainer said because it was all greasy. It smelled extremely bad so I led her outside to get fresh air.

When I was outside, I heard Loniga baaing loudly so I checked out what was happening. Loniga was trying to butt Patches with his horns. Meanwhile, Patches was trying to nip at Loniga. They kept this up until Patches got a good nip causing Loniga to do a big BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA and ran out of his stall. Then, after a minute, he went back into Patches' stall and did it again!!!! Loniga was fine though. I love my goat! :P

I finished my time outside playing wiffle ball with Alicia and Julia. Julia and I won 4-0!

It was a good day in the country.

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4-H

by Embrace Country Life on 04/27/12

The girls have been involved in 4-H for the last six years. They have made quilts, planted gardens in the community, completed scrapbooks, helped save endangered animals, baked homemade apple and pumpkin pies, and so much more!

This afternoon, they made bread during 4-H. When I was little and growing up in NJ, my parents went through a phase of making bread. They made all different kinds~sesame, rye, pumpkin, etc. I used to love coming home to that smell in the kitchen. I remember bowls of dough on the counter with the kitchen towels over them...the yeast doing it's job...rising up. And then when it reached the top, we would punch it down and let it do it again. When the bread came out of the oven, we couldn't wait to eat it. It tasted best when it was hot with lots of butter!

Today, the girls also enjoyed making bread. They measured the wet ingredients and put them in the bread machine. Then, they added the dry ingredients. The yeast was added in a "well" in the middle of the mixture. They didn't even have to stir it! They pushed a button and the machine did everything! There was a little window in the machine so you could watch the ingredients turn into a loaf of bread right before your eyes!

So, the steps were a little different than when I was a child, but when the timer went off on the machine, 58 minutes later...viola! The same smell, the same steam rising from the bread as it was sliced, the same look of the butter melting into all the fresh holes, and yes, the same taste as 35+ years ago...

Another day in the country....

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Is spring ever going to come?

by Embrace Country Life on 04/26/12

For the third time this week, Cliff and I had to scrape the ice off our windshields before leaving for work. It is April 26th! Is spring ever going to come?

We hope so! We are ready to put the plants we have been growing all over the kitchen in the ground outside!

Julia will tell you all about the seeds we planted:

"We used up some left-over soil from last year and took all the planters out of the hayloft. We also used the bottom of milk cartons to plant the seeds. We planted tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, green peppers and hot peppers.

My sister, Sarah planted strawberries in her tote. My cat, Crystal kept looking into her tote. Then, she started going into it and sleeping in the dirt! Her paws got all dirty so when she walked around she got the floors all messy!

My dad also bought blueberry bushes, grape vines, and raspberries. We have to water them every day. When I walk near the table, the light purple grape vine can touch my head. It is getting really big! The plants we planted are growing toward the window because the sun is there and they need the sunlight.

I didn't like to get dirty when we planted the seeds but after a few weeks I like to see them grow."

Just another day in the country...

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"Mom, we have 31 chickens now!"

by Embrace Country Life on 04/24/12

This post is written by Julia (age 9):

After we finished feeding the horses, I heard a noise from the chickens' stall so I told my dad and he said they were just playing. But then we checked the stall and the chickens were huddled in a corner. So my dad walked in to see what was the matter and he said a chicken died. Then he got a shovel and said, "You can go inside and I'll take care of the chicken." Then when I got inside, that's when I told my mom, "We have 31 chickens now." Alicia didn't do barn chores because her hair was wet from the shower. She asked so many questions about the chicken and it got annoying. Then, I went in the living room and opened the window and asked my dad if the chicken was really dead. He said, "Yes." Then I asked, "What did you do with it?" and he said, "Buried it." I said, "That fast?" He said, "Yes." The end!

Yes, one of our chickens joined the many generations that went before her in the great chicken coop in the sky. And I'm sure if there was a contest to see who could bury an animal the fastest, my money would be on Cliff. He has buried more animals over the last 15 years than I can remember. He has dug big holes and small holes in the middle of the summer, the early winter, and many in the spring. Our girls have become somewhat resilient to death seeing the circle of life on the farm. They have hatched eggs from an incubator and witnessed the deadly fall of one of their horses. The joy and sadness. Another day in the country.

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Monday~Snow in April?

by Embrace Country Life on 04/23/12

Today, we woke up to an out-of-season surprise...about an inch of snow covered everything outside! And when I say everything, I mean everything...lilac bushes in bloom, daffodils, Sarah's flowering plum tree, and our two dogwood trees. It was like all the plants and trees were frozen (no pun intended) in shock with this late arrival of snow! Some area schools had delays or closings but we were on time. It rained on and off all day so by noon, the snow was gone and it actually looked quite green by the afternoon.

After school, we played the usual juggling game, Julia had Zumba class, Alicia had lacrosse practice and Sarah would have had soccer practice until I convinced her coach (Cliff) that playing in 40 degree weather with rain wasn't a good idea!

When lacrosse practice ended, I took Alicia to her annual physical. We have gone to the same physician since she was born and even she couldn't believe how old she is getting. My first-born turned 14 last week...time really does fly. Our physician informed us that Alicia grew 5 inches in a year and a half! Yes, we grow them big on the farm!!

Cliff and the girls headed out to the barn after dinner with the only news to report was that Alicia did in fact get on Patches' back and ride him on the barn's porch back and forth...much to his disagreement.

After homework and some games on the Wii, the girls and I are retiring to our beds with our latest books. Cliff will continue to work downstairs on his computer by the wood stove until his eyes get heavy. I am sure he is enjoying the peace and quiet that is rare with our busy lives.

Until tomorrow...

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Sunday~Horsin' Around!

by Embrace Country Life on 04/22/12

Our Sunday was a little backwards today. Instead of going to mass this morning we went in the evening because Alicia had to referee a soccer game.

It was another cold, damp April day but it didn't stop Sarah and Julia from spending a couple of hours in the barn. At one point, I looked out the window and saw Sarah leading our oldest horse, Lizzy around the yard. They would stop every few minutes and both she and Julia would start brushing her. The horses are shedding their winter fur right now and the grass underneath Lizzy looked like a barber shop floor on a Saturday morning! The weather has been so crazy this winter that I am a little concerned that the horses are losing their fur now. They are predicting 12 inches of snow tonight just three hours away in Buffalo!

I made a "dinner" for lunch since we decided to go to mass this evening. I baked chicken in the oven. Due to the cold weather, Cliff has had the wood stove burning since Friday night. I put my pots of red potatoes and corn on the cob on the top of the wood stove to simmer. I use the wood stove as a stove most of the winter. I often think of myself as Ma Ingalls when I cook this way!!!

After lunch, Cliff and the girls headed out to the barn. I stayed in to do some research for the website. Since I wasn't in the barn, I am going to let Sarah write what they did:

At the barn, we first fed the barn cats, chickens + chicks, our dog Scooby, and my goat Loniga. When I went to get my horse down from the pasture, I decided I wanted to lead her outside the barn. When I got her halter on I saw Alicia putting her horse Patches' halter on him. When I finally got outside Sassy started eating when I did not tell her to eat, so I told her "no" and kept on walking. When I let her eat, she started rubbing against my body. Normally, Sassy does that to my dad when he is in her stall. Sassy rubs my dad so he is forced to back up into the wall. Anyway, while she was eating I saw Alicia leading Patches up to the pasture. After like 3 seconds Patches bolted down to the barn with Alicia standing stunned in the pasture! After that happened she kept on training him by bringing him back up to the pasture and back down without him bolting by putting tension on his bit. Meanwhile, I put Sassy back into her stall. Julia asked me if I could put Lizzy's halter on for her so she could lead Lizzy. But after 5 min of leading her Lizzy nudged Julia hard and that nudge hurt Julia's stomach. While I was leading Sassy the 2nd time our neighbor's horse, Gem started neighing at Sassy. But since Sassy knows not to talk to strangers, she just looked, put her head down and started munching grass. After all the leading, and training we finally fed the horses and gave them our leftover corn cobs. We had 8 full cobs, and three horses. So we gave each horse 2 full ones and 1/2. The extra half I gave to Loniga. While I was feeding Loniga his corn cob, I saw a perfect hole in the hay I gave him. After that we went in our Dad's Kawaski Mule, with 2 hay bales. We drove in that pasture and dropped the hay off. While in the pasture I found a large rock. Alicia immediately started woking on pulling it up. But we ran out of time and had to go. After we exited the pasture gate, we picked up some wood and stacked it on the porch so we could have wood for our wood stove inside. When we got inside, we had hot cocoa! And that is what we did in the barn today!

Yes, Sarah can write...let's hope her ELA's reveal the same! With that summary of the day, I will end tonight. Sweet Dreams!

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Busy Saturday

by Embrace Country Life on 04/21/12

Unfortunately, we didn't get to spend too much time in the country today. After our 6:45 am podcast we ate our farm fresh eggs and drank our coffee and hit the road running.

As predicted, the girls didn't wake up until 8:00. The weather was dreary today so only Julia had the ambition to go outside and ride her bike. She taught herself how to ride a two-wheeler and since we only have a small area of black-top, she has been mountain bike riding since she started. She was outside for about 45 minutes when she came in with a skinned knee. Her sisters took care of her since I was in the shower. Several band-aids later and she was outside again.

Cliff headed to the dome for soccer and the rest of us followed later. The dome is an indoor field and as much as it is convenient in the winter to be indoors, I am so ready to start watching the girls in the fresh air outside. Cliff coaches Sarah's team and is the assistant coach of Alicia's. Today, he will spend seven hours in the dome! Julia and I watched one of each girls' games and then we headed out.

Before we reached home, we made a stop at the fabric store. After reading the article about plastic in our food under the Healthy Living Links on this website, I purchased six glass water bottles this morning. I am still not confident about the glass and the girls using them but my idea is to sew a fabric sheath with lots of padding for them...hopefully that may stop any from breaking. Julia helped me pick out a bright fabric, breast cancer ribbon fabric, and lacrosse girl fabric. We will give it a whirl and see how the turn out. I am thinking I will also be able to embroider them. I purchased the breast cancer ribbon fabric because if I like the way the sheaths turn out, I could sell them at Relay for Life and give the profit to the team. We will see.

When we arrived home, we decided to make pizza for dinner. I will be the first to admit how easy it is to pop in a frozen pizza, wait ten minutes and ta da...dinner is served. However, since we started this website, I've been reading the boxes food comes in~SCARY! I have NO idea what more than half of the ingredients are!

Anyway, it was good one-on-one time with Julia who sometimes gets slighted with her big sisters involved in so many activities. I had her roll out the dough, spread the sauce and cheese. I convinced her to put some black olives on half! Yum. It smells so good in the oven now! We will make a salad next and then wait patiently for the rest of our family to come home.

Tonight will be an abnormal "barn chore" night. Cliff will be coming home and have just enough time to change into his suit and head to the High School Junior Prom. The girls will be feeding their animals without him tonight. I am sure they will have wonderful stories when they come in!!!

Hope everyone had a great Saturday~they really do go fast!

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We want to hear from you!

by Embrace Country Life on 04/21/12

I forgot to mention that we want to hear from you! Please write comments under our blogs! Have a great day! Embrace Country Life!

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Welcome to our blog!

by Embrace Country Life on 04/21/12

We are very excited to start our Embrace Country Life Blog! Thank you Lisa Hensler for the idea. Our hopes for this blog are to let everyone know the joys and tribulations of living in the country. We will talk about the challenges of living a simple life in a very busy world! A new post will be coming later today! Welcome!

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