Wild Times (Wildlife on Halls' Homestead)

We are blessed with lots of animals from the wild kingdom at Halls' Homestead.  An otter lives in our pond, a great blue heron likes to aggravate our dogs, various ducks stop in throughout the year, and then there's the normal gambit of coyotes, foxes, raccoon, moles, gophers, armadillo, squirrels, frogs, toads, turtles, snakes, rabbits, wild hogs, deer, fish, lizards, salamanders, turkeys, and opossum.  Not long after moving here, I found myself wanting to know more and wanting to be able to teach the kids more about the things we found on our nature walks.  I searched Amazon.com for a field guide and came across this one:

It's a handy little guide the kids and I use to identify the things we find on the farm.  One night, I found a dead moth in the house.  We immediately pulled out the guide and began looking for the exact species of moth we had found.  As we find and identify species, we place a check in our book next to the entry.  My goal is that the kids and I both learn more about our surroundings and that the kids learn to look for books for answers in addition to the internet.  I also want to increase their ability to notice details, and looking at the slight variations between species seems to be great practice.

There is also more excitement and general interest when we find things in the yard than there would be without the field guide.

This particular guide is "a mile wide and an inch deep" as one reviewer stated, since the book does cover the entire Southeast including coastal regions and sea life.  There are more extensive field guides available, but the kids and I are suckers for glossy, full-color photos.  It is a good fit for us as beginners.

Great Blue Heron

08/12/2014 Update: The other day I called my mother to excitedly tell her that I had discovered Butterfly Pea on our property using the field guide.  She must have thought I had been in the sun too long or really fancied myself as an expert with my field guide, because she thought I believed that I had found and identified butterfly urine.  After a brief "Who's on First?" style conversation, she finally realized that I had found a flower that is featured on the cover of our field guide.

09/02/2015 Update: Check out this Great Horned Owl that landed in our front yard this evening.

Great Horned Owl

Pip Squeaks (Squeaker Shoes for Littles)

When our son was first walking, one of his friends had squeaker shoes - they were adorable.  You knew exactly where the little boy was at all times.  Our son mainly went barefoot, but I filed that idea under "with our next child..."  Less than three years later, we ordered our first pair of squeaker shoes for our little girl for her first birthday.

What we really like about squeaker shoes:

1. They encourage those first steps from early walkers who still haven't decided if they like crawling or walking better.  The sound of the squeaking is an immediate reward.
2. You can keep up with your child more easily.  If you're not a parent of an early walker yet, don't judge.  Those little guys can move quickly.
3. By the same token, you have an idea when something is up.  One time the squeakers suddenly went silent.  I turned to find our little girl eyeing a worm in her hand hungrily.  Yep, were we glad we had squeakers at that moment.
4. And, finally, it's just so stinking cute!  

Warning - Squeakers aren't cute for everyone.  Consider where your child will be squeaking.  Our library is okay with it, but some libraries may not be. At church Sunday morning, let the volunteers/staff know that it is okay for your child to go barefoot for their sanity.  And, squeakers at a dog park - let's just say it's not a good idea.  Most squeaker shoes have removable squeakers so you can choose to squeak up or not.

Usually we are asked the same question over and over and over "Where did you get those?!! I would love to get some for my niece/nephew/granddaughter/child/cat/etc."  (Okay, kidding on the cat, but I had to make sure you were paying attention.)  We bought the most recent pair of squeakers for our second daughter on Amazon.com.  hide and squeak mary janeis the search I recommend for girls' shoes; use hide & squeak toddler boys to find squeaker shoes for boys .  Zulily often has squeakers too.  

While the average price of squeakers can be high (around $40), we think it is worth it for that special, one-time occasion such as a first birthday or baby shower.

Thinking about purchasing some squeakers but aren't sure of foot size?  Check out this chart (PDF file) from Zulily.com: http://www.zulily.com/images/size_charts/fit_little_feet_sizechart_US.pdf.

Are you buying this as a baby shower gift?  I would consider a Toddler Size 4.  Our first daughter could rock an Infant 3 at a year; our second daughter measured at a Size 4.  Squeaker shoes do seem to run larger, and larger is always better as they WILL grow into that size.  Also, take into consideration your area's climate and whether socks/hosiery may be worn.

I've Never Felt This Way Before (Making a Felt Board)

Somewhere in the back of my mind lies all of these cute ideas, ideas to dress up our home, amp up the fun, and to help our children learn.  Buried in that heap has been the idea of a felt board.  Felt boards have long been loved by teachers, librarians, and children alike for their hands on (and plain ol' fun) learning value.  What is a felt board?  It is a board that felt sticks to, specifically characters, letters, numbers, etc. cut out of felt.

A couple of weeks ago, the idea finally came to fruition in our house.  It began with two packages of pre-cut felt on deep discount in the after Easter sale aisle of the local Wal-Mart.  Other than the label showing Easter craft ideas, there was nothing inherently "Easter-y" about this plain felt.  I plopped my $5 down for the big stack and felt a spark light under the long-buried, felt board idea.

The next step was Google.  I found that felt sticks to flannel and that flannel is an ideal base for a felt board.  The fabric is inexpensive and easy to use - bonus!

Some people use cardboard for their felt board backs; others use wood.  I went with the suggestion I found for a canvas.  I had two, unpainted canvases in the attic that were the perfect size.

Next, I called my mother-in-law to see if she had any flannel on hand.  She is an avid quilter who really likes to back her quilts in flannel.  Turns out, she had the perfect shade of dappled blue on hand that resembled a sky, and she was already heading my way.

Once I had the flannel on hand, I wrapped it around my canvas edges and cut the fabric with out measuring.  Then I pulled the flannel tight around the canvas and secured it to the wooden frame on the back of the canvas using a staple gun.

Then the felt board was done!!

On to the fun part - Bringing out the scissors and the Sharpie markers I went to work cutting out shapes and coloring items for the board.  Be careful to let your Sharpie marker dry well and not to smear it before it's fully dry.

How excited was our middle child to see her very own unicorn flying across her new felt board!!

Now, I plan to use the remaining materials to make my son his own felt board, with a brown horse as requested.

Deer Me!! (Deer Bacon Burger Tacos)

This appears to be our first week of serious summer around Halls' Homestead. What to eat? What to eat?  Tacos!!  Everyone can pick exactly what he or she wants to eat, and we can make sure plenty of fresh veggies are piled available.  But these aren't your normal tacos...

These are deer bacon burger tacos.  My dad is a big hunter, and we are blessed with deer meat.  Deer is an exceptionally lean meat, so Dad likes to have his deer processed with a bit of bacon in order to make hamburger patties.  While the deer bacon burgers are tasty, we were ready for something different.  Below are the steps we take for delicious tacos.

Thaw the meat, and brown the deer bacon blend in a skillet with a bit of oil.  Add 8 ounces of taco sauce per pound of cooked meat, and sprinkle with onion powder, garlic powder, dried oregano, cumin, and paprika.  Simmer until sauce desired thickness and serve.  We like to pile on spinach/spring mix lettuce, tomatoes, onions, avocado, cheese, and sour cream.  Serve with chips, salsa, re-fried or black beans, and fresh fruit.

See the meatloaf recipe here: http://hallshomestead.blogspot.com/2014/11/deer-me-deer-bacon-burger-meatloaf.html

The Pits (Cherry Pits, That Is)

Last week, when reading a magazine, it came to my attention that there is a tool for pitting cherries - what?!!!  You mean all these years of carefully cutting out cherry pits with a butter knife in order for the kids to eat cherries was for naught?! I immediately went to Amazon looking for this handheld wonder.  Not only did I find the traditional handheld model but an even better mechanical model AND for only $5.99!! I don't know if I've ever hit "Click to Purchase" so quickly before.

 Today, we broke the pitter out of the box.  After my quick assembly, I let the older kiddos loose on it (with careful supervision, of course).  It was easy and fun to use.  My son was soon looking (aka begging) for something else, anything else to pit.

At the time of this post, only 10 are left in stock on Amazon, but check it out.  It was definitely worth it for us: Norpro 5120 Deluxe Cherry Pitter.  UPDATE:  This product has increased in price since just last week.  If you have your own cherry tree or for any reason pit a lot of cherries, consider this product.  If you are just going to pit some cherries every so often, the price increase may not be worth it for you.

One of Those Days

We all have them - one of those days.  Well, that was today for us.

A storm last night knocked out our internet and cell phone service, which meant the hubs could not work from home and we could not call anywhere in an emergency.  While I was in the shower, it was decided we should immediately load up the family and head to my parents' house in town for the day.  Too bad we couldn't call to tell them.  No worries though, they welcomed our brood with loving arms.

During the course of our day, our youngest rumbled with a brick hearth requiring a quick and unexpected trip to the only doctor we could find open with Dermabond on hand.  One glued forehead later, we were back in business.

Tee-ball was cancelled due to the storm, which was no biggie as it was a super late game.

When we arrived back home to returned cell/internet service - yay!-, we found that our annual order of homeschool books had arrived, been left on the door step, and been digested by our dogs - !!!!!!  After picking up the scattered pieces of our expensive order, we called the shipping company who said "call the shipper," who was, of course, closed for the day. A careful review of the damaged items found that only three items were seriously damaged at a cost of less than $18 - whew!!

The ironic part of all of this: one of the books that was in pieces was aptly titled, It Could Always Be Worse.  LOL and Amen to that!!

Here's to hoping you had a great day today.

Projects

We love projects here at Hall's Homestead.  I hope to post pictures of the quilts we've hung, our indoor swings and climbing rope, stenciled mailbox, roosting bar for the chickens, magnet board, orchard, herb gardens, and other little projects along the way.  Even though we both grew up here, we have a lot to learn, and we hope you join us on our learning journey.  Some projects we hope to tackle are vertical strawberry gardening, canning, making our own bread starter, growing pumpkins, and beekeeping.

The Promised Land

Praise God!  I feel like we have reached "the promised land."  Last Thanksgiving, we were able to move into our home and have our first house guest.  While it has taken a while to even begin to feel settled after a two year period of upheaval, I finally feel life settling, relaxing, becoming comfortable again.

Over the past few months, I have known the joy of using our house as we hoped we could.  We've welcomed guests into our home to experience country life and relaxation; we've hosted a college reunion where friends could hike and play; we've had family gatherings where everyone ate their fill, visited, and went fishing; we've used it for our day to day life of working from home and homeschooling; and we've even been blessed with the ability to have a weekly Bible study here.

During the building process, we realized this is God's house - no, I don't mean like a church but rather, everything we do, everything we have is for Him and should be used for His glory.  We prayed that God would be able to use our home in a mighty way and that other would be able to come to know God better somehow through our home.  It has been a blessing, in just the short time we've been here, to see everything coming together for His good.  We look forward to seeing how He will use this home in the future.

In Dallas, we realized that our home could be used for God's glory, even when we lived a small house not "designed for entertaining."  You can use your home - whether it be a dorm room, apartment, small house, mansion, etc. - for showing God's love to others.  Pray how God can use your home to be a blessing to others.

The Wilderness

This part was very difficult to write about, thus the vast amount of time since my last post.  My last post was during what I consider "the wilderness period."  We all know God called the Israelites out of Egypt.  That was his will.  It wasn't easy, and they repeatedly failed to trust in God, leading to 40 years in the wilderness.

The process of moving our family to another state with two young kids in tow and another on the way was not easy.  God paved the way.  God provided a clear cut path and direction.  However, I let the details stress me immeasurably.  That was definitely one of the toughest times in my life.  We've moved nine times, but this was different.  The details drowned me. My biggest fear - that we'd design a home that would be a burden to us and the generations after us.  This was, after all, a FOREVER home.  It is on family land and cannot be sold.  I often went from joy to despair - and back and forth.  I would berate myself for stressing over small details - first world problems - when I knew there were people in the world with REAL problems - lack of clean water, hunger, abuse, etc. By not trusting in God and letting Him take control, I entered into the wilderness, taking my loved ones with me.  Our journey could have been different if I would have fully trusted Him, held true to His promises, and relinquished control.

Although it was a tough time, it was not without joy.  We welcomed the birth of our second daughter.  We were blessed with an increased closeness to our families.  And, I learned.  I learned God's got this - not just the big stuff, but the details too.  I learned God and my family love me even when I am beyond difficult.  Even when we face difficult times, God is there.  God can use those times in our lives to bring us closer to Him, by trusting in Him more and learning more about His character.  We can also use those times to better understand those about us and to treat others with more love.

If you are facing a tough season right now, know that God is there.  He is not leaving you.