Happy Hanukkah, Welcome Kwanzaa, Solstice Greetings, Merry Christmas and Yay Winter!

Greetings Y'all! What a busy month we've had! It seems like babies are poppin' out of our ears and we're having parties every night. They're not and we're not, but there sure is an abundance of both this holiday season! One of our dearest friends welcomed a baby boy December 22nd. Welcome Baby Jack!
Although it's been a little tough this time of year, keepin' our little world atop our shoulders, it's been worth it! We're in the process of planning a change in the pasture, expanding the garden plot and designing the rabbit coops. Nestled somewhere in that mess is Christmas. Despite the fact that we're so busy doing whatever it is that we do (homeschooling and homesteading and playing and practicing and and and) Christmas is almost made better because of all the work. This season has been just wonderful! I think it might be that we just thrive off chaos around here. The chickens are starting to lay again, which is always a wonderful sign for the coming year. Billy the kid has yet to "get it on" with Arwen and Maybelle, but he's at least warming up to the herd, or rather, the herd is warming up to him. And we're about to end one unit on Constructive Reuse and begin another on State Politics. Yay! I love the hope brought on by a new unit session. Love and Peace all!

Thanksgiving Tidings from around the Homestead

This Thursday is Thanksgiving. As usual, this holiday means a ton of work for me and mine. We'll probably abandon any premise of schooling this week and focus on our preparations and meditate on traditions. This year Thanksgiving means something more then the usual feast. This year, we actually worked for this day. This year, everything that will grace our table has been cared for, grown and harvested by us on our land. Aside from a few ingredients including and not limited to Bob's Red Mill organic flour, sea salt harvested in California and butter churned by the Rogue Creamery, each ingredient - vegetable, herb or flesh - has seen our administrations.

In addition to our joy concerning the menu, I'm pleased to report that Gretchen is doing just fine, now out back with her flock. It took about a week for Gretchen to become fully mobile again and the last test of her strength was a float in the tub. She did swimmingly! Jason also had a dentist appointment this week and although I try to never post such mundane things as dentist and doctor appointments (like trips to the store... necessary and completely boring), I couldn't help but post this photo. What pimp shit!

Yesterday, Saturday November 20th, we had butchered (by Harrington's in Boring) one turkey, 6 quail and one pheasant. The size difference between Limpy the turk and this tiny quail was spectacular. I wanted to butcher Limpy myself but was left in the dark when Nik told me that he wouldn't help me in my ventures. I've read so much about how to process a bird and I really wish I'd stuck to my guns and done it myself. Either way, she'll provide a wonderful meal for my family and I'm extremely thankful for her. Happy Thanksgiving!

On how big massive is...

Until recently I was under the belief that my 85 lb. love, Wyatt, was a big dog. I now know that to be a little less then the truth. I'd like to share some photos exhibiting DaVinci's massive size. Is he a lion? A bear? Oh no, he's our new dog.

And yes, our home is this messy. We work outside a lot folks! Do you know how hard it is to clean up after a million kids and animals?!?!?!!? Okay then!

Blue Moon Kitchen... or the Animal Hospital

What a day! When the kids and I went out to feed the ducks this morning, we noticed that Gretchen was unable to walk. After inspecting her, we couldn't find the reason for her disability. She's just unable to walk. Her little webbed feet push on my arm when I hold her and there are no signs of a raccoon attack. Needless to say I'm driven crazy with worry. So into the kitchen, ummm, I mean to our Animal Hospital she goes. She's been eating really well and drinking and quacking up a storm, but no solo traveling for our beloved Gretchen yet.

Sharing her space is an unlikely roommate. D.O.G. came to us yesterday. D.O.G. (name soon to be changed to DaVinci) is a 150lb Newfoundland/Burmese Mountain dog mix. He came covered in dreaded mats. In some areas the mats were 9 inches thick. He sat still for over 4 hours yesterday as I carefully cut the majority of them off of him. Near his rear the mats were so thick that he was unable to move his tail completely as his tail was matted to his bottom. Despite this painful condition, he's been nothing but a complete gentleman and wonderful companion. I am just stunned that he'd let me, a complete stranger, handle and groom him with the utmost patience. He's really a peaceful soul. Although he's spent most every night of his life outside, this evening he hung out with me while I made dinner and administered to Gretchen. He spent the time as pictured here, at my feet. He eventually got comfortable enough to stay still and let me walk around him, instead of him trying to follow me everywhere. He's so big that when he ambled around the kitchen, his wagging tail knocked down a glass on the counter and caused the bowl of apples to wobble dangerously on the table. Can't wait to see what this next week brings!

Mushrooms and Green Tomatoes and a bit of Free Geek

What a busy week! A friend brought over 5 lbs. of chanterelle mushrooms that he had picked at the coast. We traded a medium sized frozen chicken and a dozen duck eggs for the 'shrooms. Good deal as we've all decided that we love the chantrelles! They're in the dryer now. We'll seal the dried mushrooms into pint sized jars and freeze for 2 days to kill anything that might still be alive after the drying process. I'm keepin' my fingers crossed!

I've been told over and over again to include some computer based learning in to our curriculum. I've been told that to know the zen of the computer is to know the path of the future. Well fine. After rebelling against technology for years (except for this fine blog! I don't even have a Facebook page) I decided to include some technology based lessons into our studies by volunteering at Free Geek. If y'all don't know what Free Geek is, find out! It's so super duper cool and we so love all the Geeks working and volunteering there. Here's a link to their website, research! http://www.freegeek.org/ We spent 4 hours dismantling disk drives and recycling the different bits and pieces, learning what each part looked like and what each piece did. We're doing the Adoption program at Free Geek; volunteer for 24 hours and earn a computer. Simple eh? And fun! Stella and I don't need a computer but Joshua and Jason are super stoked to be able to earn themselves a computer that they'll be able to use all by themselves a couple of hours a week. See, I'm progressive!
Until super recently, we were able to draw out the growing season and were eating pretty much every day from the garden. Though the last few days have been nothing but deluge and downpour, I'm afraid to take a photo of what it looks like now. This picture was taken just a week ago and look how healthy we are! How happy! I feel like I could write a book about all I've learned this year with the garden and the animals and although I didn't achieve what I sought to achieve, I did learn a lot. I feel we're on the right path and I wouldn't have traded all these ups and downs for a million dollars. Every death, I carry with me and every triumph, I wear on my sleeve. All in all, a good harvest season.

Of Motorcycles and Master Recyclers

Today, after much debate and fearful consternation, Joshua rode on the back of a Victory motorcycle with my dad, Dan. I don't think I've ever seen my son so thrilled in his life. His confidence so ripe, I could smell it. My dad (a line I'm still so thrilled to utter as I only just began this relationship with him a year ago) took Josh up to his favorite leather shop in Vancouver and purchased him a rad leather coat. He then took Josh on a spin around the neighborhood. Oh My Goodness! The anxiety I felt those 10 little minutes! It felt like each of those minutes was an hour. Josh wouldn't take the jacket off until it was coerced from him at bedtime. Both joyous and a little sad, tonight was my last Master Recycler class. Every Wednesday from 6:30 to 9:30, for the last 8 weeks, I immersed myself in waste management theories and climate change graphs and anti-consumption conversation. It was heaven! One of the last speakers this evening wondered at the attendance of this course; he questioned why 30 people would give up their prime time hours in order to sit and listen to trash experts espouse bio-plastics. Little did he know that Wednesday evenings had quickly become the highlight of my week. I almost felt selfish at this indulgence. And I got a name tag! It even says my name, not just Volunteer but Rebekah Vincent... Volunteer. Oh to the heights we rise!

Ghetto Composter and Jerry-Rigged Wheelbarrow

Today was a beautiful, sunny day and darn it if we didn't deserve it! After a rainy and cold summer, my Summer To-Do list is but half it's original length. I'd have preferred it to be completed, but such is life. We did however, utilize the day in all it's splendor; we finally built the Habitat Composter!

Although we have an Earth Machine composter and a compost tumbler, we really needed something larger that could be turned easily as well as be centrally located. So out of pallets Joshua, Stella and I built two compost boxes. Eventually I hope to expand it to three. It's so totally ghetto that it's cool; we named it the "O", in honor of a metal letter O that we found at Scrap last year.

And can you believe it, we haven't had a working wheelbarrow ever?!?!?! We had bits and pieces of one that Jason and I surgeried together today. A few bolts here, an over sized metal rod there and voila! A working, if not slightly shaky, wheelbarrow. It works like it should and that's what matters most. Yay for usin' what ya' got!