Summertime Catch-Up...

It is 100 degrees outside, and tomorrow it is going to be 100 degrees outside. This is the only real challenge I've faced living in southern Indiana in the basin of the Ohio River. I really don't like heat. In fact, I'd be perfectly happy if we just skipped summer altogether, but...

I've been organizing and preparing for the fall. We don't really follow a traditional school year, but we do wax and wane in the intensity of our learning. Autumn, of course, is a time for waxing. It's one of my favorite seasons, and I love the burst of creative energy that comes to every member of our household each fall.

Our little farm is bursting with goodness. We belong to two CSA's this year--one run by my employers, The Daughters of Charity (I work part-time as a nurse caring for retired nuns), and one in western Kentucky which is Amish-run. In addition to these two invaluable sources of fresh, local, organic produce, we also have our little vegetable patch, which has been producing potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, squash, eggplant, and even figs! I've been busy every day with canning, freezing, cheese-making, and sauerkraut. Our chickens (everything from Araucanas to Buff Orpingtons) are laying a half-dozen eggs each day, our Alpine/Boer goats are producing around a gallon of fresh milk each day, and our Great Pyr doggies are requiring being hosed down each day to manage the heat.

Our plans for school are simple this year. Clara (16) is going to focus on SAT and early college applications. Ezra (14) will continue with his math and science focus and the Civil Air Patrol (which he loves!), Stella and Madeline (10 and 9) have made lists of all the topics they'd like to cover and field trips they'd like to take, including everything from volcanoes to ancient Greece, and Gustav (7) will be working on reading (he's really doing well in his early readers--quite an achievement considering that he's male, left-handed, and so dyslexic that he turns his paper completely upside-down and writes perfectly from the right side of the page to the left!)

I continue with my monthly packets to Bennington College, where I am obtaining an MFA in English/Creative Writing and Literature, and David is preparing for his five classes which begin toward the end of August. Our summers are really wonderful, because he teaches online, so he's home more to help with the farm when it's at its busiest.

So, that's where we are, and what we're up to! I'll begin posting pictures soon :)