A Quick Update

Hello! I have done a horrible job of blogging the last year or so. I miss it but it seems hard to come back when I feel so "far behind" in blogging. But here comes a random post or two and maybe I'll actually post on here more often again. 

     The picture above is my family and I at Christmas time. It was such a blessing to be together. 

     The 3 foster kids that I had for 4.5 months left at the end of November. I still keep in touch with them from time to time but not often.

  I have had a couple of sets of kids for quick emergency placement since. One set of kids were sick and little and we got lots of cuddling in.

My boys both got new apartments. Jonathan in St. Paul and Aaron in Duluth. Megan and I went and helped Jonathan decorate his. I wish they lived closer but am happy with the lives they are living.

I started dating a guy from Wisconsin. His name is Shawn. He loves the Lord and we have a lot of fun together. I have done a lot of studying on divorce and remarriage. I could share my study on it sometime if anyone is interested.

Megan was in Italy for 3 months as a nanny (and I got to visit her there - I will hopefully do a post about that soon). She is home again now. We have done a bit of traveling around MN since she came back. In this picture we were skating with Jonathan and my sister and family in the cities.

I still love being involved at church. The above picture shows a scene from the play that I got to help with in February.

My Sunday school class is going through the book of Revelation and we are having lots of fun with it.

We tapped maple trees at my parents again this year. It hasn't been a very good year for it however. But it is always fun to do.

We boiled down some of the sap over a fire here at our place.

This Spring has brought some good snowfalls. Here are Mara and boys out here at our place.

Ewan on the dock.

Megan, Gracie and I went to Winona, MN so Megan could check out the University there. Lord willing she will be going there this fall.

Luke and Bea are building a house on my parents property. I have enjoyed going out on quite a few Saturdays to help. Peter is pretty much always there too so I enjoy my Saturdays with my brothers. This Saturday however I stayed home to be a nurse to Megan who has chicken pox! I thought I had made it through raising children without that but I guess not. She is pretty miserable - poor girl!

  This was my driveway on Wednesday. We had another gorgeous snowfall! It has been melting ever since but is not all gone yet.

    I hope you all are doing well! May you have a blessed Spring!

A Good Harvest

There is something very wonderful about harvest time. It just might be my favorite time of year. (But then again Spring gives it some pretty strong competition and there are other fun and wonderful things to do other times of year as well so I just don't know....) It is also a wearying time of year as food doesn't just sit around in perfect condition waiting for you to have time to harvest or process. The canning sometimes takes longer than you think and you are up late waiting for the prescribed time to be done so that you can turn the burner off and take things out. But it is so fun to find the treasures in the garden and hive and a blessing to get meat from the pasture or woods as well. Whether we get our food from the grocery store or the garden it is a gift from God but I think it is often easier to remember that it is God who gives us all things richly to enjoy when we are out in nature harvesting things He has caused to grow. 

   After a two year break I had bees again this year. I had taken a break for a few reasons: 1. I still had enough honey from previous years. 2. My life got a lot busier when I had to go to work following Ken leaving and this was something I could skip. 3. In 2020 when I last kept bees I got stung near the end of the season and reacted to it much more strongly than I ever had before. I was stung on the ear (through the netting that had gotten to close to my ear) and both ears immediately started throbbing, my neck (but not my throat) and arms swelled up and I broke out into hives. It was a little scary. Since then I have taken a homeopathic treatment that is supposed to have cured my honey bee allergy but it hasn't been tested to I don't know if it worked or not. I also have a lot less stress in my life then I did that Fall (as my marriage was falling apart at the time) and I think that my body was quite possibly simply overloaded when the sting happened. Anyway I decided to try again but I have been careful and I didn't work with them unless I had somebody around that could drive me to the emergency room if necessary. 

The bees did well and I had fun watching the miracle that a bee hive is and sharing it with others (as I had nephews and nieces come to learn about it with me). I did learn a lesson this year about not putting off harvesting honey. I had extracted some honey in August (as they had pretty much filled the boxes and I needed more space) and then some in September and I got a nice amount from those times but I knew there was a lot more still in the hives. I needed to extract before it got to cold but it seemed like things were going fine that way. We didn't get a killing harvest at our place until this week. There were rainy, chilly days but for the most part it still seemed pretty nice. And I was hoping for a whole day to work on it and Saturday is the only day for me that is a possibility and I had been busy with weddings, working, traveling and company and it didn't happen. I finally got out to finish getting the honey out a week ago and discovered that the bees and all the honey (except for about a dozen bees and 20 pounds of honey in one hive) had completely disappeared. I honestly don't know what happened but I think in the future I had better not let it go so late. I had figured there was about 150 pounds of honey out there so it was a disappointment but in my learning to trust God in all things I was able to have complete peace about it. He knows what we need. He knows everything in the future all the could-have-beens and He knows what is best - Always. And I had perfectly cleaned out hives to put away and NO stings this year! 

Flowers are an important part of my gardening (and my life). I don't actually harvest these to store away for winter except in pictures. :-) Someone said once that being able to have flowers in every room of their house was a sign of wealth. I totally agree. I feel like I have "arrived" when I can enjoy flowers all over my home. I love being able to get them out of the garden to decorate. I am also super blessed because with my business I end up with extra flowers and with working part time at the flower shop I also can bring old (no longer sellable) flowers home and decorate my home with them. It gives me joy and I feel incredibly blessed. By the way I am curious about that- I have come to realize that not all people have the obsession with flowers that I have, some people will even say "No Thank You" when you offer them a bouquet - are you the type the loves them and find they give you joy or are they something that don't really stir any emotion in you?

I love canning tomatoes - they are so quick and easy. I canned quite a bit from my garden and then a neighbor also shared these lovely ones with me. 

Carrots that I got to dig from a friends garden. I love getting to dig carrots and potatoes and things like that! It feels like looking for treasure.

I have enjoyed harvesting wild mushrooms from our yard this year - such as this gemmed puffball.

One evening every burner was busy as I canned applesauce, cooked down goat bones, made tomato jam and salsa and blanched broccoli. I ended up canning quite a bit of broth and some soup too. I helped my parents with butchering a little and they blessed me with some meat. This year is a little sad as my parents got rid of all their goats. They have had goats since before I was born so this is a real change for them.

Thanks to my parents prolific apple trees I was able to dehydrate a lot of apples. They are a yummy snack. I love how efficient my current dehydrator is. I also canned apple pie filling and applesauce.

Today I made Kimchee. I think it is going to be a yummy (and good for you) batch and I am excited about it. I am thinking maybe I should make another batch.

   The freezers are full and the pantry shelves look lovely too. I am so thankful for God's many blessings. We got our first hard freeze last night so it is time to move on to the next season. I am looking forward to some sewing/crafting.

  Did you harvest anything at your house? What is a favorite thing for you to harvest?
 

Harvest Blessings

My garden was probably about this most neglected this summer as it has ever been. With a full wedding season to do flowers for, still quite a few music students to teach each week, working part-time at the floral shop and hosting AirBnB guests I just didn't have a lot of time left to spend in the garden. But even with my neglect we were blessed with many things to harvest and enjoy. My heart just overflows with thankfulness.

I just love the beauty of the Eggplant and it's flower. These first pictures were taken in late September. Up here in Northern Minnesota we don't count on being frost free after the beginning of September but not only do I think we had a fairly long frost free time anyway but we at our place are specially blessed with a longer growing season because the river gives us a special micro-climate were we get a much later frost then even our neighbors across the road from us. Yesterday and overnight we got snow and I was quite sure that was the end of my garden but I went up to find the the tomatoes still weren't dead and I was able to pick more of them and the cabbage, brussel sprouts and kale look great. It is rather amazing to me.

I just love the beauty of all the different flowers that we can grow easily in our garden! Zinnia, Calendula and Nasturtium 

Mara had started a lot of seeds in her apartment to plant in our garden - including Cabbages. I normally just plant them from seed in the garden but this was our best cabbage year so I think they enjoyed having a head start.

This was a prolific tomato plant. They were small so a little tedious to use but still nice to have.

Mara gave me Gladiola Bulbs for Mother's Day. They were gorgeous!

The beans did well. Some got away from me and I will either save for seed or dry to use that way. But I was able to put quite a lot of green beans in the freezer and I am very happy about that.

I have been able to can some salsa and tomatoes. I am thinking I might manage to do one more batch still.

Another thing we have been harvesting just lately is Shaggy Mane mushrooms that decided to pop up heavily in a section of our yard. We have included them in several meals and both Mara and I have frozen some as well. They are delicious! I love mushrooms!

Megan made this custard the other day using eggs from our chickens and Milk from my parents' goats. It is always fun to make and enjoy delicious food that comes from our own homestead.

Seeds saved from the dill and some brassicas (which I plan to use for sprouting), Apples from my parents (I did have one tree produce a few decent sized crab apples this year and another one that was prolific in unusable crab apples) - we are thankful for all the apples that they share. I have been able to make and can some applesauce and dehydrate quite a few. I still hope to put up some apple pie filling. Also pictured is a basket of tomatoes and peppers. 

Not something from the garden but branches from our woods and yard have been frequently heating our home this fall. I love having a fire in the fireplace that leaves the house feeling so cozy!

A special part of the harvest is picking the flowers! :-) I love them so.

Last Saturday we went beyond the garden harvesting and butchered chickens. Our laying hens were over 3 years old and were not laying much anymore. So it was time to do something. I was feeling a little overwhelmed by the project but Thomas and Mara said they would help. What a huge blessing. We all learned some new things that we hadn't done when just helping before. It actually went pretty smoothly and I am thankful to have that job done. I cooked pretty much all of it down for quite a few hours (since they were old and tough) and then canned a bunch of broth with meat in it. That is a lovely addition to both of our cupboards.

Megan meanwhile was working on Apple Pies. We also found more mushrooms that day.

Those are all of my harvest pictures but I thought I would share some other fun fall pictures as well...

Last Saturday after the butchering some friends came over and we went canoeing for a while. It was so fun to get out on the water and enjoy the fall colors there. It was also great to spend time with my new friends. A totally fun experience.

After ladies Bible study on Sunday we had fun roasting Hotdogs for supper. Heidi is especially found of doing this and she requested it. I was super thankful she did as it was a a fun way to get outside and enjoy fall just a bit more.

I cleaned our Chimney earlier this week (one of those activities that I hadn't done before but really wasn't very hard). The view from the roof was beautiful! 

How is your Autumn going? Are you counting your many blessings?

 

Our AirBnB is Up and Running!

   After over a year of working on our basement on free evenings and weekends I finally got it listed on AirBnB on April 16th (though it didn't go live until the next day). You can see the listing here. This project definitely stretched me as I learned how to trim windows, hang doors, lay laminate flooring, trim floors, put mud and  texture on walls and more. I had to refresh my tile laying skills and figure out how we would make this work to have other people (that we didn't know) in and out of our home. Everything - even the fun and fairly easy things like decorating took time. I was so blessed by the many people that helped me out as I worked on this project and the many more that encouraged me. 

   While working on it there were certainly many times I wondered if this would actually work. Would people actually pay to stay in our basement? Was there a need for a place like ours? 

   I guess the answer is "Yes!". Just hours after the listing went live I had an inquiry about someone look to come for the month of August. That one didn't end up working out as our place really isn't set up for long term stays and the guest was wanting a quiet place to write a book and our place might not be that quiet. :-) Then we did got for almost a week without any other interest but then the next Sunday afternoon 4 bookings came in within an hour or so. We have now had 2 sets of guests stay with us and next month is pretty packed with guests and then we have quite a few more booked later in the summer as well. I have also had 2 separate parties talk to me about pretty much filling up the rest of my summer as one is coming here a couple of days a week for work and would like to stay here and the other is interning here and is interested in staying as much as I have open. I said that I would like to meet both of them first before I commit to them being here for so long so they are both coming in early June. We shall see what happens.

     I had decided that if it didn't work to do AirBnB it would still be nice to have a finished basement but I am thankful that God has truly blessed with sending people to stay with us. Our first two sets of guests were super easy and fun to have. If everyone is that easy that will be a huge blessing!

Here are a few (maybe a lot???) pictures....

The eating area. My sister Keren was getting rid of this cute table and gave it to me and my sister Anna did the same with the chairs. My brother Luke gave Aaron this old radio which I polished up and thought it looked cute as a place for the coffee pot and water dispenser. My brother Peter made the coat rack for us years ago and I thought it went well with my look. The bright light in the corner is an old lantern that had some glass broken on it so I was able to stuff it full of Christmas lights for some extra lighting. There is not windows in this room and I thought it was a little dark. I was able to use a couple of photos that Mara had taken for decor in this room.

My Dad had cut this wood "frame" for me when he was cutting up trees from our place on his sawmill. I liked it but didn't know what to do with it. When I was decorating this room I really wanted to use it to go with the Paul and Babe/Logging theme. My niece Heidi suggested that I make a background picture in it to go along with my little birch canoe that I placed in the foreground. I still want to add some 3D Iris and Cattails in the foreground as well but even without it I kind of like the way it turned out.

I made this little kitchenette from scraps of wood that we had on hand. Mom and Dad had this little fridge that they gave to me to use. I found the microwave last summer at a garage sale. God really blessed with that - I don't have much time to go to garage sales but I knew I needed a microwave and coffeepot and so a couple of different Saturdays when I was out delivering wedding flowers I stopped at a couple of sales and I found both of those items and spent a total of $15. I did also get some pretty red mugs for 25 cents each at a sale. My sister Martha gave me a toaster,  my sister Keren an electric tea kettle and a little crockpot came from my neighbor. God so abundantly provides!!!

    The Paul and Babe on the top of the shelf were something I made from Paper Mache to go in the Christmas window scene at Ken's office. When he sold the business I said I wanted Paul and Babe.

I made a new rug for the bathroom. I am loving the bright colors that was have going on in here. The paint I found at the dump. The towels were some my friend Heidi had but didn't need when she moved (they were a whole set and brand new) so she gave them to me. The tile I bought for a good deal at the Habitat ReStore. 

I had to include a picture of one of my favorite helpers!

I found this picture in a Calendar and loved how the colors and subject matter went along with my bathroom and the basement in general so I decided to frame it for a decoration. Eventually I want some photos that we have taken or some art that we or somebody we know has made but for now I am enjoying this picture.

In the bedroom we also have  desk area to work at. I love how light and bright this room is even though it is in the basement.

My friend Christy gave me some rustic looking picture frames. I found some old local pictures (a couple we had from a local museum and the rest I found online and printed out and then rubbed with shoe polish to make them look like an old black and white photo) and put them in the frames. 

The playhouse has been enjoyed by many of our friends little ones and One AirBnB guest and her grandkids have already made use of it as well. It is underneath our stairs.

There is a bit room with ping-pong if people want.

  Once our first guest booked we had to work fast to get all the final things done. That was a week of very little free time and not a lot of sleep but it was so fun to finally get it all done! We had decided that if we had guests we would put up a door between our Kitchen (and the majority of our house) and the Side door that goes into our laundry room and then from there you can go down into the basement. 

 We couldn't put in a regular door - there wasn't a place that there was room to swing it- so we decided on this style of door. I am so grateful for parents who are so incredibly supportive and help me so much! I was going to tackle the door but felt a little in over my head and my kids thought I should get some help on this project too. Dad and Mom to the rescue! They went shopping with me on Monday (after the Sunday booking) to figure out what we needed to get. We managed to get a whole sheet of plywood in my mini van. Then they came over that evening and Dad cut it for me. Then I sanded it that night and put on the first coat of paint. I got up early the next day for painting the other side. Through the day I was able to find a couple of breaks between music lessons to get a 2nd coat on each side and that night Mom and Dad came back to help me hang it. It was ready in plenty of time before our guests came on Friday.

Though I think it would have been kind of fun to get to really know our guests and have them in our main living area more the kids are much more comfortable with this set up so that is good. 

   Our first two sets of guests were really nice and pretty quiet and left our place very, very clean. I am so thankful.  Though I know it may not always be quite this easy I do feel that God is really blessing this experience. He provides for us so well!

  I don't know if any of you have ever thought of hosting with AirBnB but if you think it would be neat I encourage you to give it a try. Their website is super easy to work with too. You just have to upload pictures, answer some questions and add some details. It is pretty nice. You communicate with people through AirBnB and get paid through them as well and it all goes quite smoothly. If you ever think it would be fun to host with AirBnB I encourage you to use this link as it would give you an extra $40 when you get your first booking and I also would be blessed financially if you go through my link.  I would appreciate that! :-)

  Anyway - that is some of what is going on my life and it has been a lot of fun! I was just looking through my pictures and realized there are tons of other things I would like to blog about but there just isn't time to do everything. This coming week will be a busy one as I am teaching Sunday School tomorrow (I have been teaching on the Sermon on the Mount to about 8 boys - and sometimes a couple of girls- ages 5-8 each Sunday and it has been such fun!!!0 and then in the afternoon I have the recital for my music students. 18 of them are playing (quite a few couldn't or wouldn't). The week will be filled with work- at the Florist, teaching lessons and working on Abbi's Bridal Design as I have several quotes to write- and then on Saturday is Aaron's Graduation Open House. So a busy but very fun week!

  I hope your week is blessed!