Queen of my Domain

Each season brings its list of things that need to be accomplished! We are in full swing summer time, which means I am spending way more time outside, away from the computer. This is a good and bad thing. I love being outside. I love to go out early in the morning when the sun has barely crested the mountain and a variety of birds are chattering in the trees. It is so peaceful and renewing. Aurora often tells me that I don't do enough for me. That I don't take time to renew my soul and spirit but being in the garden and rising with the sun and the birds is renewing even if she sees it as work. My parents taught me about hard work and I love teaching my children. I think it is a great opportunity to show my children the 'fruits' of their hard work when they get to eat all of the really yummy food from the garden. There are so many lessons to be learned while being in the dirt. Summer time allows us the opportunity to discover new things, get dirty and then clean agai...

My oldest had the opportunity to attend a University and College tour in Lethbridge for the past 3 days. With her return home this evening we had the lovely opportunity to discuss school options and life after high school. How did I get here?? I can't believe that I'm having this kind of a discussion with my 15 year old. What a wonderful evening. We talked about trying to decide what kind of courses you want to take and trying to find a school that matches what you are wanting to learn and study. I feels like it was only yesterday that I was trying to make these same decisions. What do I want to learn and where do I want to go? As the queen of my domain I have been moving forward in life raising kids and doing the day to day things that have to be done. All of a sudden time has caught up to me and we are discussing schools, post secondary education, life at college/university. We talked about people that we can ask questions about different career choices. We talked...

March is really my favorite month because it's my birthday month!! But it's so much more than that. We get to have two weeks for spring break! Spring is right around the corner or maybe it has already arrived!! We've been having some warmer temperatures that have been wonderful. Flowers start popping out of the ground which is just so wonderful. I love seeing Snow Drops, Crocuses, Daffodils, and Tulips!! All of those winter flowers waking up and blooming through the snow! With the spring flowers also comes the Years ago at a women's meeting a lovely friend talked about doing a room assessment as she did her Spring Cleaning in each room. Walking through each room, and assessing what needs to be repaired or replaced. As Queen of my domain and the fact that we've been here for almost 5 years, it is time to assess each room and do some fixing up as part of the cleaning. This year we are going to fix things up!! Kids wreak havoc on everything so it's time ...

Shortly after my last post in November my health seemed to take a bit of a turn. I was tired, lethargic and it just seemed that winter doldrums had hit me quickly. It wasn't until I missed my monthly cycle in December that a light bulb clicked and I realized I was expecting baby number 6. This was not something that we were planning as I was using and IUD.  This brought on a whole world of questions, worries, concerns, and fears. My age, the age of the kids, money, (really the lack thereof) and a million others. First our concerns were that I had an IUD still and what was the possible viability of this pregnancy. All of this was discovered on the 28th of December and of course trying to get in to see my doctor was impossible. So I had to wait. Once I saw the doctor I was referred to a gynecologist who gave told my chances of losing the baby in the first 12 weeks was 50% greater than a standard pregnancy. 'Okay, fine.' I thought. I'll wait until the 12 week ma...

So it's that time of the year where the summer has wound down and fall has settled in. We haven't any taste of winter yet, here. That being said as the Queen of my Domain, I take care of all the Domain in it's various capacities. This time of year is moving the walnut leaves away from the plants that I don't want damaged. I just pulled my Gladiola bulbs last night because I don't want to lose them. (care of Gladiola bulbs is a whole other post) All of my planter pots have had the dead plants pulled from them. The garden has been cleared and we are ready outside for mother nature to roll winter in. That being said, my biggest goal in life is to find the greatest life that you and I can live!! As we move indoors and become indoor dwellers there is a whole other part of Domain that has to be taken care of, on two different planes. First of all, after living out of doors all summer, my house is dirty, messy and cluttered. The second plane though is the well being of...

We seem to cycle through periods of time each and every year. We start the year in January with a renewed sense of self. We set goals, jump on the treadmill and sit quietly in the stillness of winter and deep frost. Spring rolls in with longer days, warmer sunshine and brings renewal of life. Plants and grass start growing, all animals bring forth their young. I find that my heart starts to soar knowing that I can get my hands in the dirt and I that the grips of winter and fading. Summer arrives with the end of school, beach days and lemonades. Then comes fall. There are those that love it and those that tolerate it. I would say I'm more in the tolerate side. I'm not a huge fan of sweaters. I don't seek out all the pumpkin spiced items and I start to miss the warm sunshine. Every day it seems the sun dips lower and lower on the horizon. There is a part of fall that I truly enjoy though and that is the harvest. To be able to see a manifestation of the hard work that starte...

I run a very busy life. Would I love more time?! Yes, wouldn't we all. That being said these are the days of my life and I am in the full swing of mommy-dom and child rearing so alas, my days are not my own. I have so many things that I want to pursue in life and I find it challenging to sit back and wait for the empty nest-er days. So I try to do it all. Some have called me Super woman but really I'm just a woman with dreams and realities that are closely tied. I get to spend all day every day with my children. I get to help them learn and grow. I get to watch them succeed and learn new things! I get to explore with them and try to figure out how the world works around us. We get dirty, we get messy, we sometimes lose our tempers with each other but that's all apart of growing! I wouldn't change it for anything. There are lots of other things that I do for my family and with my family. I won't bore you with those details but the hard part that I struggle with i...

I grow a large garden every year. We start our bedding out plants in March, as part of our schooling, or so and then we get started outside by May. Now don't get me wrong, it's not like I just waltz out to the garden and drop the seeds in. There is a lot of planning and prep work. But that's not for today's post. Once you plant that one seed you are now committed to months of work. Actually for me, it's more than half the year.  April ~ start working the land May~ hopefully get your seeds in June ~ weeding and watering July ~ weeding, watering, harvesting August ~ weeding,watering, harvesting September ~ weeding, watering, harvesting October ~ harvesting November ~ harvesting That's 8 months out of the year that I'm working the outdoors portion of the homestead. My husband was looking at a job in Manitoba that would take him away from home for 18 months. I started to say to him, that because we home school, I could come visit him in M...

We live on 2.45 acres in the Central Kootenays, in British Columbia. When we first moved here I just said we had land, or an acreage. It wasn't until recently that I determined that really, we have a Homestead. Each year we add a little more to what we grow, or how much we grow or learn new things. I think this is a great learning environment for my family.  I love this time of the year, when we can harvest the food that we have worked months at to grow. All of my kids, not just my girls help in the kitchen. I grew up in a traditional household where my brother didn't help as much in the kitchen and now he wishes that he had helped more and learned more in the kitchen. So I make sure that my kids, girls and boys, get ample opportunity to help.  Simple things like tipping and tailing beans can be done by the smallest of hands.    Here are two of my helpers working on the beans for supper. You guys... I just love seeing little people learning how to car...

So I didn't die. I just got busy with life! I have been exploring so many new and wonderful things in my life and I have managed to come back around full circle to my blog. I now full time home school my children. I have become quite the orchardist. Daniel started his own company and I have my own company. I don't know how we manage it all but you know what........ I wouldn't change it for anything. I want to share my life and comings and going with you and maybe you will want to share them with others as we go along!! My whole life I have always thought about and worked towards knowledge in all thing self reliant. Now I'm doing just that. I have learned through the school of life and I feel that I can share with you as you embark on a life of change, growth and self sufficiency. I'm going to try and post 3 times a week. So hopefully you can keep up!! Thanks for checking me out.

A number of years a go I was approached by My Memories Suite, a digital scrapbooking company that asked if I would be interested in trying their program for free and if I like it I could share it on my blog. Well, I do like it. I don't use it a tonne because let's be honest, I don't have time to scrapbook, digital or otherwise. Each week though they send me a link for a some of their free products that I can share with you, my readers. So check it out if you like. Ask me questions, if you'd like, it's just something new. Click here for the Friday Freebie! *Please note the Friday Freebie is only available for one week.

I know I've been MIA lately but life is crazy during harvest and of course there are just so many new things to learn and do. First of all let me just say that 38 walnut trees is a TONNE of nuts. My word, I have never seen so many nuts in all my life. We have had a whole bunch taken off our hands from the hutterites, which we traded for fryer chickens so that is pretty cool. Just two weeks ago we got a little starter flock of laying hens. We have 6 birds but we are only getting 1-2 eggs a day. Hopefully this will improve. Life here in my little patch of heaven is really great. In sad news though, my baby is walking. My last baby, my last little bundle is growing so fast. I don't even know what to say or think or feel. I'm trying very hard to not let the days past me by with out loving him and soaking in all that he is.

So the home that we purchased in Creston sits on 2.44 acres. I think it may have been a full fledged orchard back in the day but now it's just our own little piece of paradise. We have Apples, Peaches, Pears, Plums, Prunes, Apricots, Cherries, Walnuts, Hazelnuts, and Raspberries. In the short 2 weeks that we have been here we have already harvested fruit off the land. I don't have any pictures of the cherries but here is a picture of the apricots we picked up off the ground. The fruit on the tree isn't quite ripe yet but these ones have been fabulous!  This is one of my peach trees. It has quite a bit of fruit on it this year. I hope that it will continue to increase it's production over the years. I can't wait for them to ripen.  They are still quite tiny but I've been watering them so hopefully they will plump up.   There are a couple of different kind of apple trees on the property. I couldn't tell you which one is which. Only time will...

My girls have hit the age where they are gymnists and they are loving every minute of it. They are constantly comparing their cartwheels and handstands and round-offs. I love that they love to move their bodies. Here is some of their hard work.

Life has brought us many ups and downs over the years. The nature of Daniel's work has made home life a bit of a struggle with 5 children, so Daniel suggested that we move to Creston to be closer to family. It has been a very long up hill climb, not something that I want to share here but what I want to share is some of the fun that was had a long the road as I was struggling to move forward. Cardboard boxes....... children's dream come true!!!  Building a tower or something, who really knows. But they were having fun and that's all that they needed to do in that moment.  Empty boxes.... who knew?! Right?!

So in case you missed it the last 5 months have pretty much been a walk somewhere other than a park, or near a cake for that matter. The last 5 months have been the hardest 5 months of my entire 13 years of marriage. I will not get into the details right here right now but I will say this. The very distant light in the dark tunnel has finally come close enough that I can see my hand in front of my face. I can see that life will move forward. I posted a little saying on facebook yesterday that said "Making a Big Life Change is Scary. But, Know What's Even Scarier? Regret. So here we are, trying to settle life, once again. We just did this 3 years ago. This move has had it's ups and downs. What move doesn't, right?! I know we will come out on top, and then we can only go up from there!

I had a rough 2 weeks and I was in a really low spot yesterday but today I am back up on my feet. I worked out this morning. I have not eaten my weight in sugar. In fact I've had very little sugar today. I am feeling like I can move forward again. There are many variables in my life right now that I can't do anything about. They are all balls and they are all suspended in the air. One day they will come down. Hopefully they will come down one at a time or gently with reason, and not all come crashing down on the same day. The Lord has blessed me with a set of scriptures that I found while Pinterest/Blog hopping this morning. All 5 of them speak to me. I found them here . If you are feeling Weary try Matthew 11:28-30 If you are feeling Unappreciated try Colossians 3:23 If you are feeling like a Failure try 2 Corinthians 12:9 If you are feeling Anxious try Philippians 4:6&7 If you are feeling Unsure of your future try Romans 8:28 I needed every single one of thes...

I'm a Perfectionist and it's killing me. But the first step to solving a problem is admitting that you have one. That being said, it's not actually killing me but there are moments when it feels like it is. What can I say, I like order, I like it to be done promptly and without deviating from how I want it. (My kids just don't seem to get it) Being the mother of 3 older daughters and then a son, I thought I had the 'terrible twos' figured out. I DON'T! Boys are so different from girls. Now I don't need you to shake your head at me and roll your eyes and say 'DUH' but really they are so different. It started about 2 weeks ago when Gage started getting into mischief when I was nursing the baby. O.K. whatever, but it's only escalating and I know that the biggest reason for it is Archer (the baby) but what can I do about it. When I'm tied up nursing the baby I'm nursing the baby I can't be chasing a 2 year old. Yesterday was a prime...

I'm thankful for a loving Father in Heaven who showered his love on me this morning in the form of a bright, warm sun. The sun streamed through my window as I mixed up a batch of bread by hand. It smiled on my face and warmed my soul. I needed that today.

The kids wanted to help me make bread. So I let them help me mix the dough. Gage loved it! I love their little smiles!