Whew! What a post!
We accidentally didn't write a blog post last week, so this post is going to cover two weeks.
Last week, we began to tear all of the small tree of heavens out of our yard so that we can have a tree of heaven free yard. Alison thought that it would take a lot of work and a long time; however, Mike and the kids are very strong, so we got most of them out in two days. We kept working on them sporadically for a few other days, and now the entire yard is tree of heaven free (except for the strip between the carport and the fence, which we haven't yet done). We will have to grub up sprouts for a few years probably, but we're hoping that they will actually eventually stop.
While we were working in the yard we decided to dig an irrigation trench from the place where the kids always leave the hose on ("it's our creek!") all summer, to the place where we have planned a garden this year. We then planted some of the seeds which Alison bought so that we could have all of the early cold hardy crops planted out in time. We bought seeds from a local farmer who tests and breeds varieties to be adapted to our climate and overwinter or reseed or grow all winter in cold frames. We're hoping to get perennial leafy greens and save seeds from zucchini rampicante. We're also working on a permaculture fruit and berry section. The idea is to split half of the goat yard into three sections. The middle section will have strawberries, currants, and serviceberries that we collected (as shoots) from a mile down the road, as well as black raspberries and a mulberry. These are all well-adapted to our climate and should grow without much care beyond water. Then the two sections on either side will both open onto the remaining goat yard with gates. One year one side will be open to the goats and chickens (when we get them again) and the other side will be used to grow a garden. The next year the sides will switch. That will provide lots of fertilizer and kill plant diseases in our annuals. The greens that we want to go native will go in the permaculture, and the ones that need cold frames will go in the garden boxes around our patio. We are excited to try gardening again. Alison swore she wouldn't do it until we were done having babies, so now is the time to start up again.
During General Conference we set up the Reverence Tent like we always do, and the kids enjoyed that. However, while we were enjoying General Conference we ran out of Starburst jellybeans to feed the kids if they heard names of Jesus. We made do by feeding them dates. We did have enough mini unwrapped Reeses for everyone who figured out what the talk was about. Rea could almost always do it independently, and Sara could sometimes. Timmy tried, but he's not quite there. Gideon finally learned how to listen for names of Jesus! That took him way longer than his siblings, but he was happy this Conference. Alison and Mike actually got to listen to some of the sessions. There were some excellent talks!
Mike has been grading finals this week, so he has spent a lot more time on his teaching job than normal. Finals are now over, though, so Mike is free for one week in between semesters. Most likely he will only have one class next semester, which will be so nice. He had three last semester, and that was just too much. Normally two is perfect, but it will be nice to have one and get a bit of a break.
We have decided that maybe Elizabeth's hammock is too small, so we are getting her a new one that is larger. Fortunately it is possible to buy hammocks on the internet.
We discovered a new service which delivers milk, cheese, butter, and eggs for us, so that we do not have to go to the store for those things. We have done it for two weeks and like it. This week we are trying out one that delivers fruits and vegetables as well. We have already had toilet paper and toiletries and cleaning supplies delivered to our home from a similar service for years, so this is just another step in that direction. If it works, we can just never leave our home again for the entirety of our lives. :D (At least until our food storage of rice and beans and wheat and pasta runs out.)
We played lots of Legos these last two weeks as well. Timmy and Mike are especially enjoying it, but everyone has had fun. The kids listened to three audiobooks from the series "The Great Brain" and really liked them. They wish there were more audiobooks, but Alison can't find that any others exist, even though there are four more books in the series. They are not enjoying Alison reading chapter books nearly as much as audiobooks right now, so we're going the audiobook route. We might try Redwall next; Rea has been telling the younger kids those stories, and they really enjoy them. Watching them play Redwall brings back memories!
This week we did all of the regular Holy Week and Easter traditions; however, Alison is going to write about those in a separate post. It was really useful to have a special Easter post from last year to refer to while planning this year, so we'll have another one for next year.
We decided to sum up how much money we didn't spend this month because of social distancing and donate it to fast offerings to help those out of work. It was about $75, mostly from not buying gas and not going to the DI/Dollar Tree, and a little from not making extra runs to the grocery store. We had a little more extra grocery budget because we stayed with Grandpa Mike and Grandma Sheila for a week, so we ended up donating $100.
Last week, we began to tear all of the small tree of heavens out of our yard so that we can have a tree of heaven free yard. Alison thought that it would take a lot of work and a long time; however, Mike and the kids are very strong, so we got most of them out in two days. We kept working on them sporadically for a few other days, and now the entire yard is tree of heaven free (except for the strip between the carport and the fence, which we haven't yet done). We will have to grub up sprouts for a few years probably, but we're hoping that they will actually eventually stop.
While we were working in the yard we decided to dig an irrigation trench from the place where the kids always leave the hose on ("it's our creek!") all summer, to the place where we have planned a garden this year. We then planted some of the seeds which Alison bought so that we could have all of the early cold hardy crops planted out in time. We bought seeds from a local farmer who tests and breeds varieties to be adapted to our climate and overwinter or reseed or grow all winter in cold frames. We're hoping to get perennial leafy greens and save seeds from zucchini rampicante. We're also working on a permaculture fruit and berry section. The idea is to split half of the goat yard into three sections. The middle section will have strawberries, currants, and serviceberries that we collected (as shoots) from a mile down the road, as well as black raspberries and a mulberry. These are all well-adapted to our climate and should grow without much care beyond water. Then the two sections on either side will both open onto the remaining goat yard with gates. One year one side will be open to the goats and chickens (when we get them again) and the other side will be used to grow a garden. The next year the sides will switch. That will provide lots of fertilizer and kill plant diseases in our annuals. The greens that we want to go native will go in the permaculture, and the ones that need cold frames will go in the garden boxes around our patio. We are excited to try gardening again. Alison swore she wouldn't do it until we were done having babies, so now is the time to start up again.
During General Conference we set up the Reverence Tent like we always do, and the kids enjoyed that. However, while we were enjoying General Conference we ran out of Starburst jellybeans to feed the kids if they heard names of Jesus. We made do by feeding them dates. We did have enough mini unwrapped Reeses for everyone who figured out what the talk was about. Rea could almost always do it independently, and Sara could sometimes. Timmy tried, but he's not quite there. Gideon finally learned how to listen for names of Jesus! That took him way longer than his siblings, but he was happy this Conference. Alison and Mike actually got to listen to some of the sessions. There were some excellent talks!
Mike has been grading finals this week, so he has spent a lot more time on his teaching job than normal. Finals are now over, though, so Mike is free for one week in between semesters. Most likely he will only have one class next semester, which will be so nice. He had three last semester, and that was just too much. Normally two is perfect, but it will be nice to have one and get a bit of a break.
We have decided that maybe Elizabeth's hammock is too small, so we are getting her a new one that is larger. Fortunately it is possible to buy hammocks on the internet.
We discovered a new service which delivers milk, cheese, butter, and eggs for us, so that we do not have to go to the store for those things. We have done it for two weeks and like it. This week we are trying out one that delivers fruits and vegetables as well. We have already had toilet paper and toiletries and cleaning supplies delivered to our home from a similar service for years, so this is just another step in that direction. If it works, we can just never leave our home again for the entirety of our lives. :D (At least until our food storage of rice and beans and wheat and pasta runs out.)
We played lots of Legos these last two weeks as well. Timmy and Mike are especially enjoying it, but everyone has had fun. The kids listened to three audiobooks from the series "The Great Brain" and really liked them. They wish there were more audiobooks, but Alison can't find that any others exist, even though there are four more books in the series. They are not enjoying Alison reading chapter books nearly as much as audiobooks right now, so we're going the audiobook route. We might try Redwall next; Rea has been telling the younger kids those stories, and they really enjoy them. Watching them play Redwall brings back memories!
This week we did all of the regular Holy Week and Easter traditions; however, Alison is going to write about those in a separate post. It was really useful to have a special Easter post from last year to refer to while planning this year, so we'll have another one for next year.
We decided to sum up how much money we didn't spend this month because of social distancing and donate it to fast offerings to help those out of work. It was about $75, mostly from not buying gas and not going to the DI/Dollar Tree, and a little from not making extra runs to the grocery store. We had a little more extra grocery budget because we stayed with Grandpa Mike and Grandma Sheila for a week, so we ended up donating $100.
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