The little "read" schoolhouse

Ok, so this isn't the little red schoolhouse that many remember. This is the Little Read Schoolhouse. This, is homeschooling. My wife, Teresa, and I homeschool our kids. Our kids love to read and do it all the time. This, to us, is an important part of being sustainable. There are a million reasons why we homeschool, but one, as it pertains to homesteading, is that when school is done (and it doesn't take eight hours like it does at the public and private schools) the kids can help out around the homestead. Our kids know how to plant, harvest, chop, mash, cook, can, freeze, and eat what we harvest. There isn't a food they refuse (although there are some they don't care much for) and feel pride that they are an integral part of the growing process. They can help us research growing seasons and figure out why things aren't growing as well as they should. They can help water the plants (and sometimes each other) when the rain isn't plentiful, and there is hardly a day that goes by that at least one tomato doesn't need to be picked. So, as you can see, they are not only learning and pretending to help, they really are a big help and it would be exponentially harder to do what we do if they were gone every day to school. 

The Family that works together...

Hurts together. Sweats together. Stabs themselves with nails together. 

Today was about togetherness. Actually, no it wasn't. It was about salvaging all that we could from a 120 year old home. Someone generously let us have the materials in exchange for tearing it down. So, we took a home school field trip to demo this house. We darted among holes in the floor, spiders everywhere, rusty pieces of metal, and the remnants of a former tenant, to retrieve the good stuff and leave the bad. We got a bunch of good things, and there is still more to be done, but most importantly, we learned how to work together. We had assembly lines going with all hands on deck (minus the littlest one) and got the work done in record time. This day goes down on the books as a successful learning trip that will, hopefully, make us money in the end. Come back and read later to see what treasures we can get from a pile of old junk. 

 Before we started tearing the house down. 

 All of us in the truck on the way to demo.

 Teresa giving Selah instructions. 

 Benjamin unhooking the trailer.

 Selah moving the door. 

Teresa tearing out heart pine walls. 

 Loading metal on the trailer.

The end of demo day 1.

To be continued...

The incredible, edible peanut

One of the most anticipated times of harvest for my family is peanut harvest time. We watched with very little patience as the tops slowly turned yellow and signaled their time of peak perfection. My son, Benjamin, and I went out to pick the hopefully bountiful harvest in the heat of the day. We sent up a prayer for some relief from the heat and was instantly answered with a quick, summer rain. The hard, unyielding ground softened, and the legumes were easily picked. And washed at the same time! 

My wife, Teresa, set out to boil these delectable snack items, and by bedtime, we had us a warm, healthy snack. All in in all, we had 15 quart bags to freeze. Next year, we'd love to have more, but this year definitely outdid last year's harvest of six bags. 

The bonus came in the form of my middle child, who is 6, learning that the harvest must be done when the plant is ready, rain or shine. Perhaps that lesson is even better than the taste of those peanuts...but maybe not!

Michael