Good morning from the mountain, it is a chilly 60 degrees here so I am passing on planting for the day.  I have new asparagus to get into the ground, potatoes, onions, peas, violas and more. I guess it will keep.  Thank goodness I have this never ending list of other stuff to get done.

 Well at least I got some stuff done before it rained...made butter from the goats milk, milked the goat, did some dishes and got boxes ready to go out.  Still need to clean the fans, vacuum the house, get the dishes finished, take photos of the birds for the web, do math, and history, make glass, gather seeds for peoples boxes and so much more...plus work on the cover for Abigail which is holding up everything...when you have a farm you learn to be flexible.

Yesterday we laid the ground work for another book in the slave series, it is still up in the air, plus I have another book I have to get done for school, never enough time to get it all done...lol

Looks like one last snow is headed our way, yuck...I am so sick of snow.  I need to get my plants growing so we can raise  enough to eat and sell, come on weather, help me out here.

I best get back to work...

Be Blessed
Shekhinah

News From The Doghouse and happy as the only rooster in the hen house....

The jonquils bloomed today and worked on farm chores with lower back pain from the milk cow knocking me through gate boards in the barn the other day, broke one board in 3-4 pieces....fixed the wheel barrow changing out the inner tube in a spare wheel and replacing the axle from the old one into the new tube spare one and now in business, not fighting and grinding metal and gritting my teeth....Yesterday was like 80-82 F and today its half that, also yesterday worked on the swimming pool, got the filter going and chlorine tablet cleaning the pool water....Elijah wanted to jump in and go swimming and I figured the water was like 40-50 degrees, it was covered over with ice just a few days ago, and ice is still on the ground in shady areas....but he jumped in like a polar bear (^*^) Got a fire going again in the wood burner and turned on the gas heater in the boys room again....found a goose nest w/ goose laying egg, so got some for the incubator and some
for sale soon....no baby goat yet, hopefully soon and healthy delivery too...


Michael...from the top of the mountain

Sorting seeds and my book about the life of Abigail is done...

Since Abigail the book is done, I can breath a little, it is now in the process of being made into a eBook for kindle and other devices and should be available to purchase some time this week.

As far as the farm goes, I and the boys have spent the days going through seeds, so far I have around 20 pounds of pea seeds in at least five different types.  We have many at least 20 types of flower seeds.  We have many types of vegetables seeds as well...so many I am hoping I can do this all in one day.

Once we are done and have pulled our seeds for the season, the rest will be offered up either by donation or by promise to save seeds from your plants this year to give to another next year.  You have to cover any shipping as I just can not afford to do it.

We plan on planting a fields of peas, turnips, beets, and corn this year.  All of these plants can be grown for our feed and animal feed. I am trying very hard not to continue my dependence on the feed stores.  GMO's are every where and it grows harder to not use them. We still plan on sprouting wheat to use for animal feed as well. Just have to make the time to do it.

So for now I am going to soak our peas and some other seeds and try to get them in the ground over the next few days.  We are also setting up our seedling on the table in the kitchen for now, as I am unsure as to if the cold has truly left us or not.

Other neat things we are doing is felting animals from our own wool, as well as from purchased wool.  I am also beading chickens for earrings and pendants.  I am never with out things to do, plus have to start on the next book and maybe finishing one or to of the others I have been working on.  I have to say that finishing Abigail was one of the greatest moment of my life.  It is strange as it is by far not my first published piece, but feels so new and right.  I am so happy that she has a voice, no matter how small.

My blessings to you all..feel free to email me at raziel133@yahoo.com if you are looking to get with us about seeds or other things...

Good morning from the mountain, the snow is just starting to melt and in places I can see patches of ground.  I see hope for planting in the very near future.  as to other things going on or not so...the Fed-ex has said, heck no we won't deliver up to your mountain in this weather, or so it seemed, he wanted me to meet him, not gonna happen I said, so Monday seems to be the new delivery date.

Other than shipment issues we are all doing just fine.

Be Blessed

morning from the mountain, fresh food, and war looms on the horizon

Good morning from the mountain, yes we are still stuck on the mountain and I guess this is all starting to read like a castaways journal.  Sort of like, day forty five, have not seen another living person..lol  there really is about four inches of snow still up here and it is making me want to see it all end.  I am so ready for spring and planting.  You know I really do not want to complain ,but even Fed-ex and the the Ups guy have not made it up here.

All said, we are really fine, have lots of food and the animals have lots of food to, which is a good thing.  I bought animal feed for the month due to the skirmish going on in the Ukrainian.  Most people do not know that they grow the second largest amount of corn and wheat, just under what America grows.  So this will in the long run effect the prices of food and plastic.

I found out that our animals are ready to be picked up at the butchers, my total came to $288.00 which is so reasonable, since it was, a goat, two sheep and half a pig ( I just want it know that I do not eat pig, nor condone anyone else eating them).  One sheep became sausage, I had Italian sausage made in sheep casings, and German sausage....we are so excited, I can not wait to grill them. The goat got chopped up for goat stew, so yummy...so it is all good.  I look forward to bring the cow in to get her done, then the freezers will be full again. It is nice to have food security in a insecure world.  Sort of like having money in the bank.

The Children are still learning about the presidents, I have enjoyed sharing with them the era of McKinley and Roosevelt.  I think they have learned at great deal.  Yesterday we watched a show on History together that showed how the giants of the era came into being, it was very interesting, both to them and for me. I think of the fact that McKinley had agreed to war eight months before the war, while saying the whole time we needed to be neutral, perhaps he just did not know what the world neutral meant.

History seems to in some form repeating its self right now.  We are on the edge of war with another country and it seems unlikely that in some form it was not planed.  Perhaps President Obama is unsure of the word neutral either.  Most wars are sought by those who have the most to gain financially by them, makes you wonder who who make money off of this potential war.  My self I am sick of the blood and fighting, I am sick of war and threats of thermal nuclear inhalation.  All the wars we have been though have not made us better people, it has just left our society to clean up mess after mess and forced us in to a rut of never ending battles. It seems with all that we have learned, there is still so much left to learn.

Now that I have had my rant I should get back to working on the book about Abigail, need to get it done...and the dishes need done too.

May you all be blessed

Good morning from the mountain...

Good morning from the mountain, I have just gotten off the phone with Hersh feed.  Due to inclement weather, the fact the Ukraine is second in the world in the production of wheat and corn, just under the United States, I have ordered a month’s worth of feed.  The cost of feed has already climbed and it is for sure not going to drop anytime soon, so it is like putting money in the bank. 

As many people know we have been battling to drop our bills; one of the bills I have had the hardest time with is Direct TV who much like HP and Netflix is a bit too big for their own good.  They have no idea of loyalty which is the same problem I have had with HP who did business with me for almost 20 years, I did not have that long in with Netflix, but I was there customer long enough to know that they do not honor their own words.  In dealing with Direct TV I have learned that Disney owns ESPN and forces this programming to be locked together, I find their form of business interesting.  While I am saddened by the fact that two cents once stood between having the Weather channel or the poorly done and lacking in facts Weather Nation, I am sick over the abuse of pricing packages.  I really think they charge about double of what they should…makes me a bit ill to think when money is so tight for so many people , and while I understand free enterprise, I fear that I must find a better way to get my TV fix. 

I have ordered a Roku box, which uses your WiFi signal to give you access to tons of free programming, some of it , just like what we are watching now, and some is even better than what I am watching.  Unfortunately it is delayed in shipping, due to poor weather.  It may get here today or it may not.  I bought this item through Amazon prime, as a refurbished unit, free shipping and they even gave me a $20.00 credit for it being late, which of course was outside of their control.  Amazon in my opinion is a good company to deal with, they are down to earth and they get customer service, when I call them I get an American, they listen and understand.

As far as the farm its self, I am a stand still till the weather gets better, we are selling hatching eggs, and southwestern art, but that is about it.

I cannot wait to get more seeds in the ground….

In big news my book should be on kindle on time…so Abigail becomes live in just a few days and should change the minds of what many people think about slavery in the south.  Abigail will be one is a serious of books we do not only about American history but Slavery.  The tentative title to the series is called, “The Americans you never Knew existed”, with the under caption being “America Slaves”.  Abigail’s story is just one that we will feature; there are others in the works, one will deal with Native American slaves, Slaves owned by Free Blacks and more…  The next book will not be part of the slave series per say, it will be about the life of a coal miner in West Virginia , during the time of the Blair mountain revolt , there I go again, spoilers…oh well best get back to work all this stuff is not going to do itself.

From all of us here on the Mountain Be Blessed

Just bought propane...

Just bought propane, used all but 20% of a 250 gallon tank, this is madness.  It is truly the coldest winter I have seen in Arkansas, it reminds me greatly of the wicked cold, ice filled, and snowy winters of Indiana.   The point is I get two years out of that amount of propane that I have gone through in less than 5 months.  Nothing has changed with the propane, it is still the same, but the weather having decided to take a nose dive, has taken my wallet with it. 

I thank G-d that we only use it to heat one room of the house. I mourn and cry with the parents out that use propane exclusively to heat with, to heat hot water with, or even to cook with.  I cannot imagine your pain or anguish.  The year now only 3 months old has caused so many of us to question our choices and our life styles.  One cannot indefinably gamble on their being a brighter tomorrow, when one sees only object poverty as ones path. It is truly unfair to those dear people who have been scraping by, and who had truly done the best they could.  Many of these people are your neighbors, your friends, some live in cities, some in the country, some on reservations, and many are people who never get a break.  We hear little of their plight, but here often of the wrongs done to others in other countries.  We as a country give money to many other counties who claim that there people are suffering only to turn a deaf ear to its own people. I feel this is simple shameful! 

 I feel that this severe almost doubling the price of propane is a deliberate act of price gouging, not from the gas companies for say, but from the wholesale end.  They are claiming supply and demand issues; to this I would politely ask them to quit burning it off, and also that they quit sending it overseas. I mean if we are having supply issues, should make the gas available to those living here in the states vs. some foreign power.  I think that China can wait and I am sure many people agree.  

I know I have had a hard start to the year, and would someone to please explain to me why millions of other moms in America have to make the same choice as I am making today?  Why should I go into further debt to keep a warm house?  I should not have to nor should anyone else.  Propane is the only fuel that our country does not regulate and to my limited knowledge there is not reserve.  When there is a gasoline shortage the government can open its reserves and let the price comes down to a more reasonable amount, maybe they should do this with propane as well.  It would elevate tons of suffering for hard working Americans who do not have the means in many cases to cover large propane bills.

 I want you all to know that even with my $197.53 credit from last season; I still shelled out $4.30 per gallon.  Mind you Ameriagas did not have restrictions on the amount I could purchase, but at that price I could only afford 100 gallons, so it better last the season and we will have to come up with a better plan for next year.  One of my friends has two 250 gallon tanks to service one house, I remember when I thought that was funny, not so funny know that I am paying $4.30 per gallon.  I paid like $1.97 at the end of summer when the price had dropped.  I wish I had two tanks! Well I am just going to have to buck up and come up with a better plan for next year, and I am sure my fate is much like the fate of dare I say millions of others in this country. 

Climate change is very real, and may be a part of a natural order or man-made, I do not care!   I do care about a future that I can afford to live in!  I want a future that will offer my children a better standard of living than I have now.  That is the American dream to create a better future, not just to exist at the very edge of poverty.  If a person’s hard work and determination does not offer one hope than it is indeed a sad day for us all.

Be Blessed

Shekhinah

Mahahanaim Farm