My Musings
It finally feels like fall
by Krista Manard on 09/07/10
I am glad that the hot nasty summer is finally over. My garden has been literally beaten to death by the torrential rains. I do not know how many times the entire driveway and front yard were completely under water.(before this year it had only very rarely flooded the front yard). You know it is pretty bad when the cabbage try to bolt and zucchini do not want to set on. So, we planted a late fall garden and seeded the winter greenhouse with greens:swiss chard, 2 kales, 3 spinachs, parsley and cabbage.
I still want to put out more lettuce and some turnips. Maybe some sugar beets for the goats.
I have been busy getting Sarah ready for college. When you homeschool you do not buy "school clothes", you just buy your children clothes when they need them. This was the first time we had to make sure she was completely set all at once. I am glad a friend of ours told us about TJMax. We were able to get great looking skirts and tops. Then there was the car to worry about and the million things the college wants you to do. Everytime I think "this is it, this will be the last letter or transcript, etc" It never is the last one. sigh. Sarah is hyper-organized and so that helped, but, she is also very intense about me meeting all of her deadlines. I have been enjoying her descriptions of her day. For her freshman experience class, she ended up with 15 football players and 2 girls. That has been a new experience for her.
We will be starting to build living quarters on the back of the store soon. It will also allow for a kitchen classroom space. I am so excited about streamlining this whole process. Starting this business has been a tough learning experience. Many tears and triumphs have went into this... esp. with this rough economy. Our old trailer has served us well, but, it is time for something more suitable. In addition to the back rooms we will be putting in a "professional exam room" up front. For the use of professions to see clients. We are looking at a chiropractor, a massage therapist, and someone to do pedicures.
Soon my brother, my nephew and his fiancee will all be in the mid east. My brother will be in Afganistan. Our prayers will be with all of them. I am proud of them, but, heartsick at the same time.
Kevin has been working with the community youth group here in town. It is a joint effort between the 2 churches and is doing very well. Last meeting we had 38 kids and 12 adults. Kevin was cooking like crazy over that fire to get everyone fed. The next meeting is this Sunday and will include a practical skill and a bible lesson.
I will be posting about the building so we get started. Will try and put pics on too.
Love and blessings to you all.
Summer is here
by Krista Manard on 06/18/10
Finally got to the point of writing. Let me catch up...we worked hard getting ready for Trade Days on May 22, 2010. The weather was cold and rainy and buffalo gnatty. The Friday before it was pouring rain until the afternoon. We were very concerned. Then the sun came out and for that Saturday we had the first nice day in a long time. Both kids graduated that day too. I made 2 historical dresses (mine 1850 and Sarahs 1795-1825) and 4 curtains that week before. Plus everything had to be cleaned up and we were trying to get our gardens in. Our church had a fish fry Saturday night and then a graduation ceremony the next morning on Sunday. I don't remember anything for a couple of days. We were all wiped out. I think we did have a touch of a flu that was going around. We enjoyed Trade Days and I want to thank the Mississippi Thespians, Reg Ankrom , the Adams County Historical Society and Iris Nelson for helping to commemorate the Stone's Prairie Riot. It was so interesting and exciting to get to learn about and participate in such an important historical event.
Sarah has been steadily working on chocolates and we have 2 new ones to offer: handmade caramel dipped in chocolate and mint and dark chocolate. The confections has been selling well. We have devoted customers just for the chocolate.
My gardens look good and we have been eating vegetables freely again. I can see Sarah's hair is thicker and has more shine. Interesting how such a small thing can make such a big difference. The rain every other day is making it hard to keep the weeds down. Plus, it is just down right hot. We have to work early or late to be able to stand it outside. Need to get our corn in.
We are starting homesteading classes. I am waiting on Kevin to finish the kitchen in the back of the store so that we can hold classes out there. Every morning there is a long list of things to do. The joys of summer. Blessings, Krista
Brand new blog
by Krista Manard on 04/30/10
Greeting Everyone,
How exciting to get the new website up and running. It is great to have a new blog to work on. All of my old entries are on the "old blog" page. It did leave out all of the pictures. That is alright . I will put them in somewhere else.
We have been separating our time between gardens, college activities, Trade Days preparation and working on the new website. Longsuffering Joey Calvey had to put up with a lot from me. He is gifted in computers and obviously I am not. I know he felt like strangling me several times, however, he did restrain himself and we got this all lined out. I hated to bother him, I know he is really busy.
The cheesecake bites have been selling like crazy and we need to just replenish all of the chocolate confection items. They sell out fast.
I hope you enjoy the pictures. They are all my family current and past. It is amazing that you can miss people who you never actually knew.
I will be putting together a facebook page for the store, hopefully tomorrow. I will be glad to get all of this computer stuff settled down. Blessings, krista
