eight and a half acre farm

The heavens have decided that for the past month my life was seeming a bit "together". The tailspin has been set in motion and it has been doing just that for the past almost two weeks. One hit after another and the divide between sanity and insanity at this point in time is a little bit...there. I reach out my hand and run my fingers along it and feel the pull, to nothingness, to what I think will be peace... But instead I go out on a girls night... I met my two lovely friends at Barrio, which is downtown, my third friend was sick so we had the chance to invite another wonderful woman whom I hadn't seen in a long time. After it taking me about 20 minutes to find parking, I sat down for a drink and emptied my first plate very quickly. It even took two forks to do so. Why 20 minutes you ask? Because I am Heather, and nothing is easy for me. The parking right behind Barrio was cash only, the street meters were only 1/2 to 2 hour meters and the second lot credit ca...

Bam, 3:47 on the dot and Krischan is home from school. Today is no different, he strolls in the house and I have to ask him if he has homework and check his folder. The end of the school year brings about summer fever, hence the lack of desire to do homework... ok, Krischan never has the desire to do homework, but it is because he is a genius and he is far more advanced than the work itself. (Don't you dare ever tell him I said that, I still need him to actually do his homework.) Jakob is resting in my bed, Kadence is taking her nap and I go downstairs to check on the brisket in the oven. Rick and I make a little bit of small talk and we both hear this gutteral cave-man type scream. I automatically assume it is Jakob because when he notices I am not in the room with him anymore he tends to panic. I calmly make my way upstairs and tell Jakob I am on my way. That is when Krischan turns the corner at the top of the stairs with his hand over his eye, tears streaming down his face...

When I am a bit stressed out I clean, and/or cook, and/or shop. Well, shopping is out of the question in this certain situation, so I cook. Then clean, and cook some more. This cooking adventure came to me from the Pioneer Womans cookbook. By the way, here she is if you don't know her. ( thepioneerwoman.com ) I started with going through her book, realizing that everything is so largely proportioned and largely "home-styled" But that is ok, I wanted to try a few things out. I made the trip to the grocery store buying everything needed for a weeks worth of breakfast, lunch and dinners and started my escapade. First, Cinnamon rolls. Wow, I thought, this is going to be a big undertaking. Her recipe creates 50 rolls so I cut it in half. I wasn't so sure about making that much. To my surprise, it was easy, and so fun. I over did the filling, along with adding my own little twist of brown sugar in it, and made the icing a bit too runny, but looks can be so deceiving. ...

This week has been a very rainy and unusually cold week. It all started on Sunday, and supposedly going to end today for a great warm and sunny weekend. I do have to say, even though the sun isn't out it was warm enough to get the kids outside without dressing them in their winter garb and to pay a visit to my garden. here they are enjoying the swings: This is the third year I have had a garden, and by no means am I a certified gardner. Remember the seed starters I did? ( read about it here ) Well, the beans were the only survivors of that fiasco. See, I accidentally left them out for two days and the birds had a feast. Which I guess is fine. I have planted seeds before, nothing new for me, throw them in the ground see what comes up. Here are the surviving green beans. But some nasty bugs are eating the leaves already. And see all the weeds I am going to have to pull? I thought if you did a garden in the same place, the weeds, after being pulled all summer, wouldn't...

Who doesn't love caramel popcorn? If you don't, your weird. Since it has been so rainy and cold this spring (it is may and I am still wearing scarves and sweaters) I wanted to offer up this recipe that is so warm and perfect. It not only is a great winter treat, but a summer one as well. Winter treat since it is a nice sugary comfort food type. Summer because it reminds me of carnivals and who doesn't love carnivals? If you don't, your weird. So, here it goes. Have you ever pan popped popcorn? If you haven't it is sooooo easy. Start with a frying pan (that has a lid) and coat the bottom with canola or vegetable oil. Just coat it, there shouldn't be an inch of oil in there, just enough to coat the bottom. Need me to say that again? Believe me, I have done this with too much oil before. Oily popcorn is not good. Turn the heat on medium and heat the oil up. Once the oil starts "moving" or gets warm, pour in 1/3 cup of popcorn kernels and place the ...

Every Friday morning I drop Jakob off at zoo class and Kadence and I go spend some time together. Last Friday was no different, other than for once, it wasn't raining. Kadence and I took in the zoo together seeing the Rhinos, and the Elephants, then walked up to the area called Asia Quest. We come up to a window and in the corner is the animal we are too see. This is what I am thinking: Poor house cat got stuck in this enclosure. Or are house cats in zoos now? Looks like a pretty pissed off cat. Wait...he kinda looks pissed...and hungry. Wow, he is staring down something like he wants to jump through the glass and eat it. Here is what he looked like: and this is what he was so hungrily starring at: Yes, he was starring at Kacence. He had hunger in his eyes and he watched her every move. Even when we walked away, his eyes stayed on her. This is what I imagine he was saying: (for some reason I put a spanish accent to it in my mind." "What a tasty looking mor...

Wow. It has been awhile since I have written anything. I have been in the throes of grading and wrapping up the school year. As much as I have loved teaching, it is kinda nice to know that I will not be going back so that I can completely contain my work at home, help Rick out with his business and be with my kids more. And again, I apologize for the lapse in my posting. Funny...I say that like I have millions of people reading this. A woman can dream can't she? Millions of people waiting with baited breathe on what crazy things happened to Heather Miller today... I have a hard time waking up in the morning. My only real time I can work and get anything done is when the kids go to bed, so I usually am up till midnight 1am easily. So now you can imagine why I don't wake up so easily come morning. My senses have become immune to my old alarm and without realizing it, my subconscious forces my arm out to hit snooze. Rick tells me that sometimes I hit is so much I get a good 2 ...

In this house, or out in the 'cuntry', we have always fought battles with the groundhogs. (They moved in after we won against the skunks our first winter.) They dig in behind our pole barn and make a home under the concrete slab and using the dirt floor of the other part of the building as their bathroom. Really makes Rick angry. So we set traps. Once they are trapped Chelsie goes in there and barks like mad at them. I think she is saying this: "Lucky that trap got you, I would have grabbed you with my teeth and tore you apart!" (and yes, she has part hunting dog in her so she has caught a few groundhogs of her own.) Tiny girl, but fierce. This afternoon was a day that: 1.) I was planting some seeds into my garden. 2.) Spending time with Kadence while Rick and the boys were at the ball field. 3.) Would soon find out that some guy was going house to house selling aerial photos of their homes. 4) Deer were out on an walk. Kadence and I are walking up to get m...

Minding my own business, getting dinner prepped, Jakob and Kadence playing on the floor behind me, I hear this snap. Then the kids go quiet. As I turn around to find out what just happened they are both staring at me with wide eyes. Jakob immediately points his finger and says "de rie id roke i." Translation: kadence marie did broke it. To give you an idea of how he says it you just have to say only parts of the word. So instead of saying the beginning and ending of kadence, just say the middle. Then the end of marie, id is the end of did, the end of broke, then the beginning of it. Simple huh? Well, I am fluent in Jakob and sometime it is a bit difficult to get what he is getting at. I look over next to them to find that the cabinet door has been pulled out of it's hinge. Now my cabinets aren't made the best and we do have plans to remodel our kitchen, just not yet. The one thing you have to remember: The people who built our house did it themselves. Cutting ...

I always look forward to Mother's Day. My kids are still little so I love spending the whole day with them. I am sure when they get older I will be spending Mother's Day at a spa away from them. But right now, as a family we always go out for brunch, then do various activities. One year we went to the zoo, another year we went for a hike, you get the picture. This year appeared to be no different. I was greeted by Krischan first thing in the morning with a card and plant that he put together at school and was told that we were going to the Cheesecake Factory for brunch. My absolute favorite place for brunch and a place we have gone to the past two years. Rick and I then plan to take the kids to see Rio, then to a garden center to by my mother's day gifts of flowers and plants for our landscaping plans. We are all ready to head out and I notice Rick is being a little slow and he tells me his body is just sore from working all day yesterday. okay...he also has a sore thro...

With it being Mother's day I thought what better gift to give than a tribute. Plus I didn't buy a card, so I have to make it up somehow... I love my mother very much. She has always been for there either cheering me on, giving me tough love, or standing right beside me. The memories I have growing up always share a seat with her, some are good, some unfortunately are bad because I know that I disappointed her with a decision I made, or an action I took. I am who I am today because in part of her, I am the mother I am today because she is someone I look up to and hope in some ways I am like. In Kindergarten there were days that peoples birthdays were celebrated. I, even though it was in the summer when school was out, still got my day. We were allowed to bring in a treat to share with the class in celebration of our big day. Mom made cupcakes. White cake with white frosting and those gummy rings were placed on top. She brought them to school and I got to pass them out to the...

Sitting down with a pen and paper seems to be something of the past now. E-mail is quicker, Facebook and twitter gets me to whom I want to simply say hi to much easier. But have you ever noticed that in this fast paced world typing those words in the computer keeps you moving fast and makes you move faster because you have to write this e-mail, respond to that one, say hi to a friend on facebook, then get back to the e-mail that just came in, go to lunch, check my phone, type a text on the phone while I am shoving food in my face and getting my phone all greasy... Whew...I am exhausted just typing about it. When was the last time you sat back and wrote a letter, an actual letter. Hearing the pen move across the fibers of the paper send calm up my arm and into my mind. Time slows down and I write with care. (The pen does not have a delete key.) I stop to think, to breath, to take in what I am saying and to whom I am saying it. I love the look of my handwriting on paper, the loo...

There are some days that there is so much going on, it is hard to process. Something that helps or doesn't help is when I get up early, just because the day seems so long it allows for more things to happen. Of course I always stay up late so that makes the day seem even longer. Like I said, some days this is a good thing and others it goes through my mind wondering when the day is going to end. Here is a summary of events: Jakob loves his train. Every 15 minutes he was calling me to fix it because he was running it so fast it kept derailing. Those poor passengers. The train viewing was matched with the watching of Polar Express, his all time favorite movie, even when it isn't Christmas time. At lunch he kept running from the table to the train and movie. Kadence on the other hand was having way to much fun with her food to notice anything else. Kadence is a good eater by the way, but she is a messy eater. The food usually ends up on the chair. ...and the floor. ...

Every year I plant a garden and have these grand ideas of everything that I will grow.Corn, Tomatoes, watermelon, grapes, zucchini, cucumbers, strawberries, herbs, onions...I could go on forever. And every year I wait until the last minute and end up planting the seeds in the garden and pray that something comes up. Last year was a good year. I had zucchini (Which I actually ended up having to pull a whole row out since I planted them to close to each other) Spaghetti squash, cucumber, beans and basil. The cantaloupe didn't work, the watermelon never ripened before it started rotting, the spinach never came up and the tomatoes were a wash. Corn didn't have a chance, and the bell peppers grew but never turned red like they should have. This year I am on a mission. I am in the process of planting starter seeds in old egg cartons. Of course after reading this great book "The backyard Homestead" by Carleen Madigan, I now know that the containers should be 3" deep a...