Life with Grandkids: Adventures and Gardening

Every time I think life will settle down a little, things just get crazier. Its amazing how three grandkids can make life so much more “interesting.”

Easter came and went. Of course that meant we absolutely had to join in some of the festivities, at school and out. One of the things we did was go to a community Easter egg hunt. Our pre-teen, Jordan, tried to be nonchalant about the affair. Amazingly, he ended up having fun despite being “too old” for such nonsense (he’s 12).

The 7 & 8-year old (Jazzy & Jojo) were more than happy to show their enthusiasm, before, during and after. Notice the stoic 12-year-old with Grandpa behind the bunny. It was wintry, but it sure was fun!

Then came the school activities as they prepared for summer break. Jordan starts middle school this year, so the elementary school held a Promotion Celebration. He was so proud to be an “upper class man.” Now he’s looking ahead to being on a basketball team once school starts. Personally, I’m thinking Grandpa will be the proudest and will be the one taking him to all the practice sessions. We plan on dragging all the kids to the actual games. After all, we have to be there to cheer our team on, right?

The weather finally broke and warmed up, so have prepped the garden area. This meant turning the soil over and mixing in all the compost we’ve been generating. While starting seedlings in the trays, we have also started working on the herb/flower garden as well. Step one: set up the border with a pebbled walk-way.

We discovered an earlier property owner had acquired a ton of pebbles that were dumped into two large piles. Over the years the large piles eroded and spread, but were concentrated in one large area.

So, the kids and I are gathering all the stones by hand. We then put them in buckets and cans. Once the future walkway is cleared and prepped, we dump our latest collection on the liner.

When not helping me with the gardening, the kids while away their time in the yard. They play on the swing set, play ball or run around the yard with the dogs. I received the wonderful gift of a Siberian Husky (named N’Mush). I had several non-Husky owners tell me that huskies are too dangerous for children. Well, here’s a picture of my Killer Canine after the kids finally stopped playing tag with the dogs. Be afraid, be very afraid!!

During all this I have to cook everyday for five people on a very limited budget. Plus, I don’t want to repeat the same thing night after night. There’s this one cookbook that has saved my butt and I love it. It tells me to use ingredients that don’t cost a fortune like so many other cookbooks. It is primarily a “vegan” cookbook, but I add meat to most (hamburger, chicken, etc.). Even better, I can find everything at any grocery store. It cracks me up that the kids are telling their friends that Grandma makes “gourmet” food! LOL

The book is called “Earth Song Cookbook.” I love the large print, so I don’t have to squint or keep taking my glasses off & on. Its on Amazon (click the book name for more info) and I am telling everybody about it. I think part of the reason I love it is all the information it provides with the ingredient list. It tells what vitamins and stuff everything has and how it helps build good health. Let us not forget the most important thing: the food is absolutely delicious!!

I’ve recruited the kids in doing my blogs. They are eager to “edit and create” and they have me working on the next one already. As a result, I’ll probably do a lot better in keeping up regularly!

From Chaos to Comfort: Our Family’s New Normal

Since the last time I posted so much has happened that it makes my head spin. In quick summary, we received full custody of three grandkids in April 2023. This meant all work on the homestead had to come to a temporary halt. To complicate everything, my Mom passed away in November 2023 (will be doing a tribute to her here at a later date).

When the kids first came to live with us (picture of the day custody was finalized), they were an emotional and mental train wreck. At their young age, they had already faced:

Seeing their dad pass away (cancer),

Living with their gambling, addicted mother out of an abandoned, stolen vehicle for about four months before she abandoned them at a hotel,

Having all their funds (their dad’s insurance and pension money) stolen by a foster caretaker before being abandoned again, and then

Being separated from each other while they went house-to-house in the foster care system.

With me and Grandpa, they had to learn new things, like:

Home cooked meals did not come out of a bag or barrel and are a good thing,
How to eat at a table as a family every night and how to use silverware,
How to clean off and fix a bed (beds are not for hiding toys and food), and
Normal hygiene (i.e., how to wash their entire body in a tub/shower) and brush their teeth.

Jazzy (the youngest and a girl) was almost 6 years old and still not using the toilet. These few details were just a few of the challenges we faced. So, all work on the homestead came to a complete grinding halt.

Their first Christmas had them not being able to sleep the night before. They knew their Uncle, Auntie and cousins were coming by for a huge present opening fest. They had presents with their names piled up around a Christmas tree!

Two years later they now believe they are entitled to have regular hot meals, are doing great in school and most of the major hurtles have been overcome. They are still fearful about the lack of food. So, we keep the pantry and refrigerator/freezer locked, but they know that snacks and meals are consistent and predictable. Snacks are just not available at any time — as in, no snacks 30 minutes before dinner.

They now know what its like to have family attend a school function. They even had a birthday party at an amusement park.

We want to tackle a camping trip this summer with tents and sleeping bags and meals cooked on a grill in the middle of nowhere. I hope they don’t relive the nightmare of street living, but instead see that tents and sleeping bags for camping can be fun.

We also plan to work on the homestead again. First on the list is prepping the garden areas. All three think this work is so much fun. They helped to pick and shop for seeds and are learning about companion gardening. Plus, they are learning the traditional Native American way of planting. So much to teach them and they are loving it (at least so far). The chance to dig in the dirt and get filthy-dirty seems to be the biggest thrill!

Now that things are settling into a basic routine (with everyone helping with chores), my little blog will hopefully be up and running again!

Moving Heaven & Earth

Weather was yucky for most of March, so we focused on things indoors. My big job was cleaning an original oil painting that I’ve been lugging around for decades. Cleaning an oil painting means working with a Q-tip and swabbing/cleaning one spot at a time. Since the painting is 5’x3-1/2′, it took most of the month. The first picture below somewhat shows midway the difference in the colors. The second is the final result.

Midway you can see the line between clean & unclean

The painting looks drab in the photos, but the colors are actually subtly vibrant.

Now that it’s finally warmer and non-wet, we figured out where our garden is going to be this year. It will be a 40′ x 20′ area for our first year.

I’m working the soil in the way my grandfather taught me — and the way his grandfather taught him, even though its a lot of work. Instead of attacking the area with a rototiller, this old method means digging in with a shovel and manually pulling out the weeds and sifting through the dirt, breaking up the clumps, and eliminating all roots from the soil.

Leaving the roots (whole or broken up), invites weed production later.

After the entire area is cleared of the weeds and their roots, then I will throw on top all the compost I’ve been making all winter and rototill everything together. Then let it rest for at least four days or until the next waxing moon (whichever is last) to begin planting. Here’s the before and after of one tiny corner.

This corner didn’t look too bad, so I started here

I will be planting the Three Sisters together in the traditional manner, but all the rest of the veggies (onions, tomatoes, etc) will be more-or-less in the modern rows. I’m debating whether to plant perenials like garlic in the garden area or in the herb bed or in a separate area near our planned barbeque area. What do you think?

Hate to admit this, but after cleaning that one little patch (shown above), I felt like I had been run over by a steam roller. Gads, I am soooo out of shape! Of course, my aches have nothing to do with the fact that I’m almost 70 years old — it’s just that I’m out of shape!

Warm Weather Begins

It’s no longer a mild Arctic region — temps in the 70s & 80s most days. I’m loving it! On one of the warmer days we were using the hoses to start softening the soil in preparation of gardening efforts. Well, one of our porkers (Wilbur), who is solid white with a few black spots, pulled a Houdini and got out of the chicken/pig run. Not a problem, except he wanted to cuddle after finding those great wet spots …..

We finished sealing the dining room ceiling and have painted it white (versus dark colors). The room looks so much bigger, the drafty feeling is gone and it now echoes in there!

The debate has begun as to what color to paint the dining room walls. Really kind of funny. I jokingly suggested lime green with flourescent orange trim. My poor hubby. Thought his eyes were gonna leave the sockets. I’ll take pictures to show the end result later!

Our other big challenge has been installing a door on the bedroom. To my delight, Jim put in a French door — am so excited about it. I’m almost done crocheting a curtain for it, which I’ll proudly show off when done!

Next on the agenda is finishing up the kitchen, then the living room. By then it should be warm enough to do the roof. In between all that, prep and plant the garden.

I keep telling myself to not worry about the shopping list of to-do’s but focus on one thing at a time. Anyone have hints on how to productively exercise patience?

Let There Be Light!

We have been focusing on finishing up the base coat of paint on anything that doesn’t need patching. Just the blah-white base coat is brightening things so much.

Corner of kitchen — OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

This is one corner in the kitchen. You can see where we’ve put down the base coat — the vomit violet is still visible around the area that needs patching. Behind this wall was the busted water heater we took out. As soon as the wall is done drying out, we will be able to patch it.

While I was putting base coat down, Jim got busy with the wiring. A lot of the wiring was done wrong, so he redid the wiring in the kitchen ceiling, installed a huge light fixture, and set it up so it has an on-off switch instead of a pull cord hanging off a light bulb. Wow — talk about a major difference! The fixture has wood trim, but it’s hard to see against the ceiling (which will be completely replaced one day).

Soon the piping for the stove will be redone so it will be against the back wall instead, and then, we will repair the wall by the wood-burning oven.

We have also temporarily set up the bedroom with a cot and a few amenities. This way we can come in to work, spend one night, and the following day work until late afternoon. We have animals to feed, so we can’t be gone that long!

Jim has also been rewiring everything in the bedroom. There were light switches that didn’t work, exposed wires hanging from the ceiling, and a bare bulb with a pull chain in one corner.

He’s installed an old hanging lamp he had in storage that works with a dimmer switch! It’s perfect for us in the bedroom. And, yes, we still have newspaper taped to the windows. We haven’t finished painting yet, so there was no point in removing the paper.

My seedlings should be ready to plant next week, so we’ll probably focus a little on rototilling the garden plot next time we are there. I’m so excited to start on our crop of veggies!

LeeFran Homestead

Surviving & Thriving in the Country

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