I have moved I hope you will visit me at Freedom Acres Farm
See you soon
~Brenda
Today I’ve been pondering, again, how much many of us are effected and influenced (might I say brainwashed?) by the way and what we were taught. Today I’m praising the Lord for the right to homeschool. The right to help my children think outside the box, think for themselves, find alternative options, find "the" answer in creative ways. I’m feeling sad that it has taken me so long to break out of the box and realize that there really IS more than one way to skin most cats. My mind and heart have begun to open and have acceptance for the diversity of others around me. I no longer look at a person as being wrong because they choose to do something differently than I but rather, I have begun (still have a lot of reversing to do) to realize that they are just different.
Our Monday morning women’s Bible Study is doing Emerson Eggerich’s "Love and Respect" video series. Even in marriage – neither of us is wrong, just different. He wears blue glasses and I wear pink ones!! It’s how God made us, it’s how we think differently but not wrong.
Yes there are many absolutes in the Bible but there are also many things that God wants us to approach in love and acceptance – May God be glorified in the way I treat other people from this perspective. Let us not judge others but rather leave that to God and hopefully in the end our Christian witness will be the better for it 
Pondering His Ways,
Brenda
We saved the small potatoes from last years garden in our "root cellar" through the winter. We ate all the big ones and the little ones that were left sprouted but we left them alone. We planted 125 hills from them and we are now waiting to see if they come up and work. We are so hoping this works.
In case you’re wondering about our "root cellar" we have a closet in our house that has the attic entrance trap door that we tested and found to stay at a NICE 52 degrees the whole winter. We heat the rest of our home with wood and it’s often in the lower 70′s in the winter but when we blanketed the bottom of the door so no warm air could get it – the thermometer read 52 from early October all the way through until the snow melted this spring in March!! My husband is so ingenious!!!!
I better get back to planting –
Brenda
This weekend I have spent reorganizing my menu planner, sewed 1 pair of pants and 1 pair of capri’s for Soph, and contemplated how I can be better organized in order to fit everything that I want and/or need to do fit into my life. The following is a list of what I’m trying to fit in. I’m very close to making it all work but will need to work even harder at time management this summer when I begin homeschooling the littles. The 3 older ones haven’t needed much in the way of schooling for several years now so beginning this journey again, while this time homesteading besides could prove interesting.
Sew almost all of our clothing for our family of 6 at home
Frugally cook almost all of our meals from scratch for the same amount of people
Plant, weed, harvest, and preserve a 50 X 50 garden
Make all of our dairy products from scratch with the milk from our cow
Tend 2 cows, 17 chickens, 1 dog & 1 cat
Keep our home relatively clean – at least enough to be sanitary
Keep up with a senior in high school & 2 young adults (most days they need more time from me than the little ones)
Begin homeschooling a 5 year old in June with a 4 year old and a 2 year old looking on
And my daughter and I are REALLY trying to begin a sewing business out of our home for extra income
I’m very close – I do all of the above right now (fairly successfully) except the last 2. These are the things we need and want to add. I’m only hoping that they don’t put me over the edge. The homeschooling isn’t an option but the home business is something that my daughter and I want to do and we have full support from my husband too. I’m just not sure how I’ll pull it off.
Besides good planning, does anyone care to comment on how to make it all fit in my day?
Today I went to town to buy the last of my garden seeds. I still don’t have my seed potatoes or my onion sets yet but everything else is bought. This year we will have:
Beans
Peas
Tomatoes
Pumpkins
Cucumbers
Sweet Bell Peppers
Hot Peppers
Dill
Onions
Potatoes
Carrots
Radishes
And perennials that we planted last year include strawberries, raspberries, grapes, and rhubarb.
The snow is melting fast, our yard is one huge muddy mess and it’s been raining since yesterday. It’s in the lower 40′s and I’m itchin for Spring!!!! Can’t wait to get dirt under my fingernails.
Today I also looked for work boots for me. I went to 3 places and came home empty handed. I guess they don’t think women work. I’ll be looking on-line for some I guess.
waynesweakervessel