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A great homeschool or home-from-school spring break project: plan the garden planting! Ivar and I spent the morning looking at the farmers almanac, our seed packs and notes from years past and wrote on our calendar when we should sow our seeds under grow lights and when we should get each item in the ground outside. It’s like the biggest word problem you’ve ever come across. Great critical thinking skills and a whole lot of hope because the farmers almanac seems to think we’ll be digging in mid-April. A hopeful word!
At dinner, during ‘hey, hey what do ya say? What was your favorite part of the day today?’ Alden reported that the best part of his day was busting up the ice between the truck and the van and asked if he could go back out after dinner. I just loved that at age 5, he has tapped into the universal joy and gladness of helping the ice go away.
A wonderful day with wonderful friends! About 50 undaunted Minnesotans braved subzero windchills to learn all about maple syruping and then we headed up to the (heated) barn for a pancake potluck. Good food, good fellowship.. a blessed time all around.
“Once upon a time a little girl was very happy to work. She love to work. All she wanted to do was working. She loved working. She was very happy to do that. The And.” If you need her, you can find Hattie loading and unloading the dishwasher...happily. Can you tell we talk a lot about the choice we have in working? You can work crabby or you can work happy!
Last year we had two families go home and tap their own maple trees that very afternoon! Our annual Great Maple Syrup Get Together is one week from today. We have just a few spots left for a morning of tree tapping, evaporator empowerment, snow pants and (new this year) a big brunch potluck up in the barn. We’d love to have you! Come try maple syrup in your coffee. You won’t be sorry. Gathering is Saturday, March 18th, 10:00-1:00ish. Sign up at gatherandgrow.us and bring something yummy to share!
Today Ivar led the tree tapping. Remarkable! He taught the kids how to identify maples and gave each one a turn with the drill and hammer. Every tap was dripping with sap which definitely means spring is on its way!
The Grovestead
The Grovestead
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A Very Photogenic Winter

  • February 27, 2023
  • Becca
  • Family

Working Together

  • February 20, 2023
  • Becca
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  • Farming

How Much to Grow?

  • January 14, 2023
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  • Rory
We’ve come a long ways in 10 years. The majority of days now we are eating full meals right out of our farm: lamb steaks with asparagus, fried eggs and…
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A Table for Generations

  • December 26, 2022
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  • Becca
With the addition of Abel, our kitchen suddenly felt very crammed- chairs and high chairs everywhere! I got it in my mind that I wanted a big table out in…
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Good News for Mothers

  • December 24, 2022
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  • Becca
This year for Christmas stockings, the kids wanted to draw names and each fill another person’s stocking. They were most enthused about this idea, wanting to draw pictures and make…
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A brave, young girl and her faith in Jesus

  • December 13, 2022
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  • Becca
They say the flames that were meant to burn Lucia simply danced away from her and she would not catch fire. As her executioners stood there, trying to silence the…
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Christmas Tea

  • December 8, 2022
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  • Becca
Elsie vaguely remembered that she had started sewing a Christmas decoration while at Aunt Louie’s last year. So we dug out the fabric bins, got out the sewing machine and…
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Sledding Season

  • November 18, 2022
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  • Becca
Ivar said to me this week, “Mom, I keep thinking it must be February or January, but then I remember winter just began” Oh brother! It honestly does feel that…
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