Family Time

Birthday

October 12, 2022 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Yesterday was my birthday. It was a perfect day–a normal day! I did school with the children in the morning, and that went well. We’re winding down our school year already, finishing a few of the subjects for the year, so we don’t have as much to do. In the afternoon, I got to play in the garden for awhile, and got some more things planted. Then, I cooked one of my favorite meals in the evening (steaks from a steer we raised, roasted kumara/sweet potatoes, and Silverbeet/Swiss Chard, with a delicious dessert I hadn’t made since I did Home Ec in high school). I was amazed at the gifts my family gave me. Mr. Sweetie gave me that beautiful bouquet, Elijah gave me a bay tree, and James gave me a lavender plant. Then, Gayle brought in a gift, which I didn’t expect: he replaced the touch lamps on our nightstands, which came with the house and were much the worse for wear since they were loved by a toddler, with new ones! I feel very spoiled.

Peas

January 14, 2013 by NZ Filbruns 2 Comments

Saturday turned out to be a very long day. It was a good one, though, although we have no plans of repeating it. Gayle got permission from a local farmer to pick some peas out of his large field which he is growing for seed (a lot of people have been picking peas there). We went over and decided to just pick for an hour and see what we would end up with. We got five bushels! Our pickers are fast. Then–we had to shell them! We all sat around on the front porch all afternoon and evening. I am able to shell peas almost as fast while I read as when I don’t, so I propped a book in my bowl and read aloud. We read an entire 150-page book about a girl in Pompeii that afternoon! The baby played on the porch around us, and 3-year-old brought drinks of water around regularly. The afternoon was a great family time–but we didn’t finish the job till late at night, which was the not-nice part. We ended up with 38 kilograms (57 quarts) of peas in the freezer, but I decided that is not worth repeating (unless they would be organic; these are not).

Apple Picking

May 20, 2012 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

Yesterday afternoon we went to pick apples to feed to the cow. Well, it was a great excuse to take a drive around an area we don’t otherwise have an excuse to go to! We did get apples to feed to her, to help keep up milk production, and had a great afternoon together enjoying gorgeous scenery.

We drove through the hills to the west of us. Lots more rugged than right here where we live!

The first tree we found that had apples on it was at the top of a steep cliff! This cliff went nearly straight up–no problem for my fellows! The rest, however, found a slightly easier route a little to the left of this picture.

I did not go up. The two youngest stayed down with me. After the rest had all gone up, the 2 1/2-year-old decided he wanted to, also. As he was standing at the base of the cliff, facing it, he proclaimed, “I am going to climb up the hill!” After a pause, “Where is the hill?” I told him he was looking at it. The place he was standing at was an eroded, rocky spot that went up at about a 45° angle. He gave it a try, but soon gave up and told me, “This is a broken hill. This is interesting!”

The next tree we stopped at was beside this wool shed/yards. We only stopped there because we remembered the tree from last year. It bears small, delicious orange apples. There were two left. We went several weeks later this year than last.

The birds had gotten most of the apples from this tree, but we got some that weren’t too rotten .

After picking up apples from that last tree, we allowed the boys to run on ahead and see how far they could get before we caught up with them. We drove slowly to give them time, and I believe they got most of a kilometer! The one in the lead kept going till he had gone probably twice as far as the others before they gave up. They had fun doing that!

This hillside dotted with Angus cows was beautiful–and we got to see it from both sides. The road continues on, then doubles back just beside those pine trees at the top of the photo.

Sunday Evening

October 9, 2011 by NZ Filbruns Leave a Comment

We’ve had a lovely Sunday evening. Gayle had time to play games with the children.

I helped Simon bread and fry dandelions for a snack (no pictures–they got eaten too fast!). We went to the neighbor’s to thank them for boarding our heifer and bring her home, then after chatting with the neighbor for awhile decided to wait two weeks. Esther and I made a batch of 24 whole wheat tortillas for supper–they all disappeared! And Joe decided it was his job to sweep the floor.