The Farm!

Well, here is our miracle! We have been wishing for property for a very long time and now we will have some(at least temporarily!) Our heart has been to have a place where we could grow more than enough food for our family to eat, and the abundance we could give to needy people. However, we have not has access to land or the resources to purchase any. God is always bigger than our circumstances! In early December Brian got a call from a client that he has only met once. He wanted to offer his land to us to use until he is ready to develop it(in a couple of years). His own family had gardened there in the past and have some chickens there now. He was thinking abut the land and Brian crossed his mind! So, he called to offer to let us garden(farm) his land for free. We just can't believe how good God is to us! He is providing for us in ways that we would have never expected!
I will try to keep the blog updated with our adventures on, what we are calling, the farm! Please check in the Kitchen and Garden Adventures section of the blog.

Christmas Carol

Christmas Carol

The kings they came from out the south,

All dressed in ermine fine;

They bore Him gold and chrysoprase,

And gifts of precious wine.

The shepherds came from out the north,

Their coats were brown and old;

They brought Him little new-born lambs--

They had not any gold.

The wise men came from out the east,

And they were wrapped in white;

The star that led them all the way

Did glorify the night.

The angels came from heaven high,

And they were clad with wings;

And lo, they brought a joyful song

The host of heaven sings.

The kings they knocked upon the door,

The wise men entered in,

The shepherds followed after them

To hear the song begin.

The angels sang through all the night

Until the rising sun,

But little Jesus fell asleep

Before the song was done.

Sara Teasdale

Turkey Day Thoughts!!

I love this picture. I think this could have been me as a little girl! I still think a giant Tom Turkey is about the coolest looking bird on the planet! I will also admit that I don't really like to eat turkey, especially on Thanksgiving. I can't remember the last time a actually ate any of the turkey that was served. Every year Brian asks later if I had any of the turkey and I always feel bad when I tell him "No." Luckily, after 18 years of marriage he gets me, or has given up! Yes, Brian is the one who cooks the turkey at our house, and he will again this year. It always smells good, looks beautiful and everyone raves about how it tastes. I would say that maybe this will be the year that I eat the turkey...but I seriously doubt it!

We decided to make some hand print turkeys. This is one of my favorite crafts of fall! It always amazes me how much the kids hands have grown each year!

Camille always loves to get her hands dirty, so this project was right up her alley! I think she even had fun washing off all the paint by the way the bathroom sink looked when she was done!

After hand prints the kids took turns painting.


Joe loves to paint! Actually, he likes to do anything the older kids are doing!!

Yes, I did make them all wear the chicken apron that Elise and I made a year or so ago. I really need to get smocks...maybe for Christmas everyone can have their own smock!

We have been decorating for Thanksgiving and we are excited to have all of the family at our house this year!

My life is like a bowl of miso soup!

My life is like a bowl of miso soup! Recently, God brought some clarity and reassurance to me by giving me a picture of miso soup. I felt like He was telling me that the bowl represents myself and the soup is my circumstances. Then He showed me that He is gently cradling the bowl in one hand while carefully stirring the soup with the chopstick in His other hand. Just like the miso soup is better when stirred, my circumstances are stirred to bring about a higher good in my life and the lives of those around me. Please don't try to read too much into this analogy or take it beyond the simple picture given. I am thankful for a God who holds me in his hands and who uses ordinary everyday things to remind us of his love! ~Staci

Radical Adventure!!

A radical adventure with Jesus!
ad-ven-ture n. 1. A hazardous or uncertain undertaking. 2. An unusual or exciting experience. 3. Participation in hazardous or exciting experiences: the love of adventure.
Although I like the second definition better than the first, nowhere does the American Heritage College Dictionary mention Christianity. I think another definition should be:
4. The life of one who follows Jesus as His disciple.
I think the best adventure anyone can have is to follow Christ with radical abandon wherever HE chooses to lead you! This is the goal of my life and that of my family .
A radical adventure with Jesus!!

Brian and Kenya!

It has been a long time since I have had much to say on the blog. It has been a long summer, mostly uneventful, except for Brian's second trip to Kenya. He had an awesome, life-changing time serving in Kenya. The kids and I are proud to support him as he seeks to follow God's calling in his life! So, what new adventures lie ahead for the Keslers?
We aren't sure, but feel that our involvement in Kenya is just beginning!!!
We have watched everything the library has to offer about Kenya, Eastern Africa, and Africa in general. God is doing a new thing and we are humbled and excited to follow him into whatever adventures he has in store for us!
more info to come...

Sometimes an adventure has to end!

Our chicken adventure has officially come to an end. We are all very sad. It seems as though our chickens were "too country" for the neighbor that lives behind us. So, we have given the beautiful coop that Brian built to some friends, who have also (very graciously) offered to take our chickens. It is nice to know that they are in a great home, with friends.

End of school pictures!

To celebrate all of our hard work during the school year, we had an open house with our homeschool group. The kids all brought examples of their work and put them on display for family and friends to see. (Just like open house at public school!)

Elise had been studying U.S. history this year, so her end of the year project was about Abraham Lincoln. She wrote a paper about his both his public and private life, completed a lapbook about him, and made this diorama of the cabin where he was born. It all turned out great! Isaac was interested in the King Cobra, so we learned as much about this snake as we could! He also completed a lapbook about King Cobras and made a diorama. He did not like to paper mache the snake; he doesn't like to get sticky and dirty. He did like to spray paint the snake, add salt dough to and paint the box. The plants he chose from our yard and we hot glued them in place (I tried to let him do this but he burned himself; I guess a little help is OK!) The project turned out fantastic!!
This year, first grade, Isaac will learn how to knit. We are starting with finger knitting. He is excited to learn because Elise and I knit.
This was his first attempt!

I just learned a simpler finger knitting technique that will be a better starting point! I am excited to teach him!

(The smile below looks a little fake to me,

I think he was a little frustrated with the knitting!)

Here is Elise knitting a backpack for a stuffed animal! She is a natural when it comes to anything creative!

We got out watercolor paints and sea salt.

I showed the kids how the salt affects the color of the paint as it dries. The pictures turned out fabulous, so I cut them into letters and we used them to write "ART" above our art gallery!

This was Joe's first time watercolor painting.

I think he had as much on himself as he did on the paper.

He had a blast!

Camille always enjoys painting!

Isaac had a hard time believing that it was OK for his paper to be so wet (important for the salt technique)! Once he got past the wetness factor he did some beautiful work. It is nice to see him developing his creativity into deliberate work, rather that just throwing paint down on the paper!

Today, we turned in our Garden in a Wheelbarrow project to the county fair. It turned out great and it was a lot of fun. We would definitely do it again, but not next year!This is a science fair project board that we used to display our "evidence of learning." I divided it in half; one side is for Isaac and the other for Elise.

Isaac learned about where food comes from; seeds and plant life cycles; beneficial v. harmful bugs in the garden; sorting & counting seeds; he also wrote a story and a poem; and much more!

Elise did a large research project on Urban Options for Self-Sufficiency, which included the topics gardening, chicken keeping, and meat rabbits. She also did research on a moth that appeared dead on our porch and discovered that it was the Tomato Hornworm in the caterpillar stage. She also learned about the plant life cycle, the parts of a flower, Colony Collapse Disorder and wrote many poems.

We also discovered mushrooms in our wheelbarrow which led to an impromptu lesson on "NEVER eat a mushroom you find in the yard, even if it is growing in your raised bed, or wheelbarrow garden!"

Our plants did not grow very well, so Elise got to do some observations and conclusions about why that might be and added her findings to our project. When we got to the fair, several other wheelbarrows had similar components to their projects.

It did turn out nice, though. Elise made glittery signs welcoming the viewers to the garden, and naming the plant types, as well as, the kids names. Isaac made fences from popsicle sticks for a chicken run. Elise printed out pictures of a coop and chickens that are the same type as Daisey, Dolly and Charlotte. We added all of it to our wheelbarrow garden.
It was really fun to put all of this together today! Showing the kids how all their hard work really tied together was great also! They did work hard, and in the end it showed!

The Coop is Done!!

Brian built the coop in our side yard. We knew it would be heavy and didn't want to have to move it far!Joseph thought we built him a play house!

We made the coop to resemble our house. We used the same siding and painted it the same color. Green is my favorite color, so I really love it!Here Brian is working on the run. It is all enclosed with hardware cloth. We decided to put the coop along our fence where our persimmon tree was(read the earlier post about the persimmon tree!http://keslerfamily.blogspot.com/2007/12/very-busy-december.html ) So we ripped out the tree and some plants to make room for the chickens. The space is an awkward shape, which meant it was more fun for Brian to build!
Elise and Joe!
They are so sweet!

Here is the garden view of the finished coop!

(Notice the soybean and tomatillo plants!! YUM!)

The mostly finished coop!

Brian did a fabulous job!

The roof is designed to be "Green" so it will be full of plants! We thought that would help insulate the coop during our hot summers and give us more space to garden! I can't wait to see the coop with flowers and greens growing on top!

Elise & Dolly, Camille & Charlotte, Isaac & Daisy!

Isabel has her Puppies!

Isabel's puppies were born during the night of April 26th, 2010!For more info please check out her blog!

CHICKENS...Then & Now!

Shelby


Dolly, doesn't she look rediculus!

Koda

Aunt Bea

Dahlia... two pictures, one pose!

Thelma Lou

Charlotte

The Chicks New Home!

Elise and I worked together to build a lid for the chicks new home.

It is very important that the chicks can't fly out and that the cat can't get in.

We both decided that we hate working with hardware cloth!

Here is a view of the new, roomier chick home!

It is reddish because of the glow from the heat lamp.We bought a small wading pool at the goodwill,

which will help keep the pine shavings contained!

Then, there is a roll of corrugated cardboard as the walls of the enclosure.

And topping it all off is the lid we made!

The new home is in the garage, which is also Brian's office!
He does not seem to mind the chirping, it is really cute!

The chicks will eat right out of our hands!

Here they are eating Kale that we chopped up very fine!

I thought this was a cute picture of the chicks around their food dispenser.

So, the time came to clip the chicks wings!

Elise helped to hold them, and I did the cutting.

Charlotte was very patient as we clipped her wings.

Only one wing is clipped to cause the birds to become off balance, making flight more difficult.

Elise kept a feather from each chick and made this picture!

Isaac is holding Dolly!
We think she is a frizzle chicken,

which makes her look like she is having a bad hair day...everyday!

Elise is holding Shelby!

Camille is holding Thelma Lou.

We think she may also be a frizzle, we are waiting to see what she looks like when she has more feathers. Thelma Lou is the smallest chick, but is certainly not at the bottom of the pecking order!