A Winter-time Week On Our Homestead - Saturday

So, I've decided I feel like blogging again!  I decided that I would like to start off by simply documenting the next seven days here on the blog.  I'll be taking pictures and sharing the normal things that we do on an average day.  I don't even know if anyone visits the blog anymore so, in the end, the only people that may see this are our family and Grandma Colette!  I think this is something that she and Papa Mac will enjoy.

So today was Saturday.  We got up around 7:30 this morning.  I nursed Anna while the children did their morning jobs.  Andrew went and let out the chickens for us.  Shawn got a phone call from a friend this morning, so he spent a bit of time on the phone catching up with him.

I cooked up a big, late breakfast of homemade biscuits and sausage gravy with some scrambled eggs.  It was yummy good.  After breakfast the children went outside to play in what's left of the snow.

Despite the snow outside I still wanted to go ahead and get some seeds started.  Eventually Spring will come and we have high hopes for a decent garden this year.  Shawn rounded up all the supplies for me and then he went outside to work on the new bike building.  

(On a side note..Some nice "Homestead Homeschooling" was able to occur today when Shawn was getting the supplies collected for me to do the seeds.  We keep the potting soil out in the root cellar.  When he started scooping it out of the bag and into a bucket he discovered a frog had buried itself in the soil.  It was alive, but slow-moving considering the cold temperature.  So, we were able to talk to the children about why the frog had buried itself in the potting soil for the winter and why cold-blooded animals move slower when it's cold.  Then, after Shawn dug a little hole in the compost pile for the frog, we were able to talk to the children about why compost piles steam in the wintertime.)

This building is supposed to house all of the children's outside toys.  All of the bicycles, Tonka trucks, wagons, and balls are overtaking Shawn's shop.  Shawn has just about completed the building.  He was working on the doors today.  He told me not to post a picture of the building under construction because he wants me to give it a post of its own.  He'll probably have it completed later this week so I'll be able to share those pictures then.

I checked on the chickens and then came inside to work on the seeds.

We've started seeds for cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and then some culinary and medicinal herbs.  We have jugs of water on the bottom rack so that our "Great Tower of Seeds" isn't accidentally toppled over by wild children.

When Shawn brought in the mail this afternoon I was excited to receive some of the seeds that I had ordered and my replacement filters for my grain mill.  The replacement filters only cost $1 each, but then I had to pay $8 in shipping to get them here!

By around 4:30 Shawn was tired of working out in the cold so he put things away for the day.  He refilled food and water for the animals and even managed to get the chickens put to bed a little early tonight.  The hens gave us 13 eggs today.  I'm glad to see the number steadily increasing.

Tonight's supper was "Clean Out Momma's Fridge."  I had a lot of leftovers filling up the refrigerator so we ate it up tonight.  We had a variety of chili, Spanish rice, and roast chicken with peas and green beans.  After supper we had the children do their nighttime jobs and put on pajamas.  Shawn got the kitchen cleaned up while I took a shower.  Then Shawn popped some popcorn for us and we all sat down to watch a WWII documentary that we recently purchased.  

And now the children are in bed.  The house is quiet and it's time for Shawn and I to relax!